It’s taking every ounce of self-control to not demolish this cup of delicious homemade ice cream from my co-worker… pls help. I had to at least take a small bite. Now the lingering taste is driving me crazy
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This is why I usually don’t taste anything I know to be delicious unless I’m going to eat all of it.
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Right?! I’m kicking myself. Normally don’t even take a lil taste, but co-workers were insisting. I survived though. Now I get to indulge in some all-you-can-eat Korean BBQ. Supposed to be going to the gym after… we’ll see how the stomach feels
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Friday AM, 6/23
BP
255 lbs x 1
275 lbs x 1, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2
CGBP
185 lbs 5x6
BW Row
135 5x10
Incline DB Press
65 4x8
One arm bent over DB row
80 lbs 3x10
KB Tri Bi Circuit
Well, I made it to through the workout. I was very “low energy,” but happy that I was able to squeeze out the five doubles on bench. If I have a burst of energy I’m gonna go back tonight to get some mobility and light DB work in.
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Saturday AM, 6/24
Reverse Lunges
90 lbs (straight bar) 6x5 each side
Single leg hip thrusts
+25 lbs plate 3x10
Zercher Squats
135 lbs 3x10
Suitcase Carries, 30 seconds each side
80 lbs KB 1x1
70 lbs KB 1x1
Single Leg Glute Bridge
20 second hold each side x3
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Sunday Am, 6/25
Morning Weight: 193.0 lbs
It’s Sunday morning, so you all know what that means: bodyweight calf raises in church.
Gym afterwards doing some light push/pull. I think I have a couple of buddies showing up who are doing 5x5. Probably just do their barbell stuff for fun and add in some heavier dumbbell work while they do their curls.
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Sunday PM, 6/25
Push Press (Superset with x20 band pullaparts)
135 lbs 1x3
155 lbs 1x2
185 lbs 10x1
Barbell Row
135 lbs 5x10
Incline DB Press
85 lbs 4x8
DB Bent Over Rows
85 lbs 3x10
Rowing Machine Tings
At first the push press felt slow af and I was unsure if I’d even make it to five singles, but on my fourth set things really started clicking (maybe it was the cutie who started doing pec deck flies behind me). Tried to stick to the theme of keeping everything light so that I can just accumulate high frequency and volume these next few weeks.
Speaking of which, god damn were my glutes sore for days after my first glute-focused workout on Wednesday (6/21). I definitely learned my lesson and abbreviated my lower body workout yesterday; no significant DOMS today. Should be back in there tomorrow with some more hip thrusts and what not. PT is on Thursday.
Haven’t done much direct arm work lately (or much throughout my life really), so I might indulge myself a bit tonight at home since I was able to squeeze my workout in early at the gym.
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Haha same thing happened to me today 
it’s rude to stop as soon as they sit down, even if it is your last set and your already smoked! Haha gotta give them something to check out, it’s only fair, especially if they are wearing tights!
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Monday AM, 6/26
Morning Weight: 193.6 lbs
Terrible sleep last night. Back was all kindssss of sore. Took about 3 hours to fall asleep. It’s been like this off and on since early in high school. Have to really stick to all my PT stuff to make sure I can finally kick this shit in the butt. The increased recovery from better sleep will benefit me more than anything.
The PT place I go to is really great. They have a team of about a dozen DPTs (clients get assigned to a team of 2-3), so you get a thorough analysis from various perspectives. They have concluded that I simply have the tightest hip flexors they have ever seen. I don’t even have the typical weakness in the core or glutes that accompanies such chronic tightness; overall I have fairly balanced strength throughout my body.
What the tightness does weaken is any movement that requires power. It’s why I have such an imbalance between my push press and overhead press. E.g. CT’s Ratio article
says push press and OHP should be 85% and 60% of Bench 1RPM, respectively; my current OHP, Push Press, and Bench gym maxes are: 185, 205, 305. That means, while my OHP is on par (still shameful until I get it to BW- 195lbs), my push press is over 50 POUNDS below what is expected. Now, a part of that can be tied to technique (haven’t really done push presses much), but it’s not like push press is that technical of a lift. Long story short, both my technique/ability to explode is compromised by my tightness.
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Monday PM, 6/26
Fixed Bar Split Squat
5x10 each side 90 lbs
Leg Press, 5 second eccentric
3 plates 5x10
Single Leg Hip Thrust
25 lbs plate 2x10 each side
BW Hip Thrust, 2 second squeeze at top
1x10
Lying Leg Curls, 3 second eccentric
5x10
1x15 second isometric hold
StairMaster “Intervals” 5 Mins
So I have tried out three different high volume, low intensity glute-focused workouts over the past week. For the most part, they’re fairly similar, but specifically I have tried three different exercises to start each workout: DB Walking Lunges (60 lbs 4x8, 6/21), Reverse Lunges (90 lbs fixed bar 6x5, 6/24), and Split Squat (90 lbs fixed bar 5x10, 6/26). We will see how the glutes feel tomorrow, but I definitely felt the best stretch in my hips through tonight’s split squats; not having to lunge allows me to maintain better control of my pelvis throughout the movement.
I am unsure whether I want to stick with implementing all three of these movements on a rotation, like this past week, or perhaps just focusing on one for now. I am leaning towards just focusing on the split squat for the next few weeks since the warmup is primarily to get a stretch going in my hips. Regardless of the approach, I should have about ~6 more lower body workouts of it in before my last scheduled PT appointment on 7/9.
This was my first time on the Stairmaster in years. I did 5 minutes of “intervals” just at a moderate pace, alternating between: 1) stepping every step 10 times each side stepping every-other step (i.e. skipping a step/stepping up two steps) 5 times each side.
We will see how my legs feel tomorrow. I definitely went a bit harder on the leg press than I did in the other two workouts. Not heavy by any means, but the tempo really got the blood flowing. My hips even severely restrict my ROM on the leg press, that’s how tight they are, so the slow tempo ensures I keep my back in a neutral position throughout the movement.
Evening weight: 196.0 lbs
Crisis averted. Have successfully kept my weight in my desired range thus far. I’ve gotten noticeably leaner in the mornings over the past two months, so I’m happy about that, especially since there is still room to clean up my diet. I had some scotch on Saturday and Sunday, so I’m planning on not drinking anything until 4th of July. Ideally, I might be lame and not even drink at all at my friend’s 4th of July party. We shall see.
Blah blah blah. Bed time. Hopefully I get more than 4 hours of sleep tonight.
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So what’s the word from your team of PT’s? I’m curious how they propose you remedy the tight hip flexor. Obviously some static stretching a few times a day isn’t going to cut it.
With my hip pain I think it’s related to a tight QL, which is/was caused by weakness in other muscles surrounding it. I’ve been trying to strength abductors, adductors, and obliques with the hopes that it’ll alleviate the hip pain. So far, no luck. Now I’m not sure what the hell the problem is.
I was just curious what they thought for you since it seems that these types of issues are rarely simple. The pain is here, but it’s caused by something up the line somewhere.
Also, if your glutes are the focus for some of your leg work then don’t be afraid of the Smith Machine. I really like the way it feels on my reverse lunges because I don’t have worry about balancing near as much. But if I need to work on the stabilizers a bit more then I’ll use a barbell. Reverse Lunges in the Smith can almost be identical to your squat except it’s on one leg. If you get positioned correctly then you barely need to touch your rear toe to the ground when you reach back. You definitely don’t need to put any weight on it for balance or assistance. If you try this then you’ll need to lower the weight.
They really haven’t given me any extra insight as far loosening up the hips. In addition to the static stretches, diligent foam rolling, and lacrosse ball work for the hips + some rolling and massaging of the quads, lumbar, and thoracic. They also gave me a handful of yoga positions to use, but more than anything, the priority is to just be more conscious of my pelvic position throughout the day, whether it’s while I’m standing, driving, working, etc. really it’s just being constantly aware of maintaining good posture.
They have given me a stomach vacuum progression for TVA strengthening, which does seem to help me, but since our issues differ, I’m not sure if the TVA is a factor in your case. Still, if what you’ve been doing hasn’t been helping, couldn’t hurt to experiment with TVA work? We seem to have the reverse issue with the same areas (tight/sore lumbar/hips), and I’m not exactly sure how the TVA relates to the QL functionally.
I’m not sure what the hell my problem is because my issue came on slowly so I can’t pinpoint any specific incident that caused it. And it’s new. I’ve never had any issues with my hip or back of the left side.
I can try ask my DPTs to throw out ideas for what might help you, but obviously they won’t have much to go off of. Worth asking at least tho, if anything for more knowledge! You have an educational background in kinesiology and exercise science, yeah?
Exercise Science degree. I’ve been to PT for my hop but it got expensive quick. I was hoping a layoff from squats and Lunge movements would do the trick. I just started my new cycle of 5/3/1 and will run it for 4 weeks. I’m going to add squats back after this cycle.
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Tuesday AM, 6/27
OHP
115 lbs 5x6
Bench Press
265 lbs 8x3
I came in earlier than usual so that I could lift with one of my friends, but m’lady called me needing a ride. Will go back tonight to finish it off. Happy with hitting the 8x3 though. Will look to up that to 10x3 next week/this weekend depending how I feel. Then onward to triples of 275.
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Tuesday PM, 6/27
Standing Single Arm Dumbbell Press
65 lbs 4x6 each side
Single Arm DB Row (not sure the exact name: split stance, torso angled parallel to the floor, supporting the resting forearm on the forward quad/knee)
100 lbs 1x6
110 lbs 5x6
BW Dips
2x20
Pull Ups (5 second hang each rep)
4x6
Tri and Bi Kine Tings
I also did random band pullaparts throughout the workouts. Nothing crazy, probably ~140 total. I also snuck some in during my earlier workout. I haven’t done a good job of tracking these.
Overall, the workout felt good. Just some volume work and trying to make sure I do enough pulling exercises for my upper body. I used to do plenty of heavy dumbbell rows, but this was my first time in a while. I should probably add them in routinely and at least work up to the 120s in my gym (heaviest we have, sadly). Since my PT shit doesn’t encourage any deadlifting, I can probably focus on DB rows and work up to 5x10 bentover rows with the 120s by the end of summer.
Will see how my back feels tomorrow. I could do some light lower body work, but I also might take the day off since I have PT on Thursday; my PT sessions are usually more productive when I’m not limping in all sore from a workout the day before. I had almost seven (~6.5) hours of sleep last night, which was fantastic! I felt great most of the day, did two workouts, the last of which was from 10-11:30pm. Hopefully can get a little over 6 hours tonight.
Evening Weight: 195.0 lbs
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Wednesday AM, 6/28
Morning Weight: 192.2 lbs
I think I’ll take the day off to just get in some quality stretching and rest. Had the usual 5 hours of sleep last night, so getting to bed early tonight of squeezing in a nap would be ideal.
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Wednesday PM, 6/28
Rest day for me. Healthy day of eating all around. Snuck in a bit of a nap this afternoon and should get at least 6 hours of sleep tonight. Did not get to do as much mobility and TVA strength work as I had wanted to tonight, but I do see some improvement at least in all facets of my PT. Appointment tomorrow and gonna go hard in the gym tomorrow night. Thinking maybe of bumping down my glute-focused lower body days to just two per week so that I can have an extra day of rest. I also can push myself a bit more with the lower frequency.
Low Carb Day (had been meaning for a while to start tracking this)
Evening Weight: 194.8 lbs
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Thursday PM, 6/29
Barbell Split Squat
45 lbs 1x8 each side
135 lbs 1x8 each side
Barbell Squat
135 lbs 2x5
135 lbs 1x1 (10 breath pause)
225 lbs 2x1 (10 breath pause)
225 lbs 1x5, 1x10
Barbell Split Squat
135 lbs 1x8 each side
Seated Leg Curl
5x10
Single Leg Hip Thrusts
10 lbs plate 2x10 each side
BW 1x10 (3 second holds) each side
Haven’t done regular squats in a week, so the knees felt a bit creaky. Didn’t want to push it on the squats because when I try to keep my torso in the proper upright position, I feel my lower back tensing up. Still, the positive to that is my torso is at least able to get into the proper position now for high bar squats. Before, I was not mobile/strong enough, so at least I am progressing.
Glutes were firing on every single exercise tonight and got completely fried on the leg curls. I am VERY pleased with this and attribute it to finally having some semblance of the proper pelvic position.
I’m still a ways away from where I need to be in order to execute everything properly, but I am encouraged by whatever little progress I can make with this chronic issue. I always used to just lift through it, even in my powerlifting days (it’s why I did sumo). I have high expectations for the progress I will make strength-wise once I attain respectable mobility, but I’m by no means close to that, so I need to stay focused on my short-term priorities.
In regards to my weight and body comp the se past months, I’ve been a bit non-committal. I go from wanting to lean out while putting on mass to wanting to maintain and lean out while the scale has hopped up and then back down. Since I’m not really training to increase strength for at least another two weeks, I don’t really want to simultaneously lose weight. Still, I think it’s definitely time I lean out, even if that means going down to ~185 morning weight. Key #1 though: get better sleep. GOODNIGHT
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