Really sore today from my last workout so these weren’t the most pleasant of sets but hopefully they’ll help me feel better tomorrow. They all moved pretty well.
Made sure to grip the bar more in the base of my hand today and the bar path felt a bit better. Plus set is technically a PR but I’ve done more weight for the same reps.
I had to wait a bit for a rack when I first arrived but the lifting platform was free so I warmed up with some hang cleans, front squats, barbell and inverted rows, power snatches, high pulls and overhead squats in mini complexes. I felt pretty good afterwards so I may do this more often when no one’s using the platform, although that is rare.
Squat:
5x20, 5x40, 5x60, 5x70, 5x75
Overhead press:
2x8x20, 3x30, 3x35, 11x37.5 (PR)
The last rep on the plus set was a bit of a grind, it had my legs shaking, only had one more at most.
Deadlift:
3x70, 4x90, 3x95, 2x105
The lockout on the second rep of 105kg was a bit soft because my grip was slipping. I’ll bring chalk in future so I can keep pulling double overhand.
Another decent PR and it came at a good time. I reread the first bit of my log earlier and I’ve been feeling a bit down about the progress I’ve made so this definitely improved my mood.
Dumbell bench press superset with dumbbell rows:
Both 5x10x20
Finished with some twists holding a cable out in front of me because my friend was using it for some shoulder exercise. I felt my core a lot doing it and it felt pretty good on my lower back too as a stretch so I’ll probably do it at least once a week. Did some curls too. This squat workout always seems like so little written down.
As petty as it sounds and I know it’s not about comparing yourself to others; I just don’t feel like I’ve made the gains in strength that I should have or others would have. For example I pressed 37.5kg for eight last October and only got 11 last week, three reps isn’t what I’d expect after six months. Bench has gone from 3x65 to 5x75 in seven months and deadlift has only gone up around 20kg. All this despite gaining 5kg.
I feel impatient and whiny saying this but it’s just a thought that’s entered my head. I might be being unreasonable but there we go.
This is over 6 months? Think big picture! If you continue to progress at this rate then your press might be 68kgs in a year. Your bench could be 119kgs. Deadlift could be up another 40kgs! That’s over the course of ONE year. You’re doing great! You can’t continue to make those kind of improvements because it’d be about 320kgs on your bench in by the time you hit age 28. I’m going to go out on a limb here and say you won’t be benching 407kgs… No offense.
You’ll find that once you hit a certain point you will start measuring progress in years. Add 5 lbs to your bench in a year and it’ll be a successful year (someday). Don’t beat yourself up too much. It’s natural to have moments like this, but you’ll get over it! it’s all about the journey anyway.
Hell, I’m 32 and feel like I’ve wasted years of my training by not pursuing my goals with passion. I’ve always wanted to bench 3 plates and squat 4 plates. However, I’ve had periods of training where I didn’t even do those movements. Last year I got to a point where I was squatting 365. I wore myself out with a program and threw in the towel. I moved to front squat and quit doing regular squats. I lost all my progress and would be lucky to put up 350 right now. I also quit benching because my shoulder had a nagging pain that wouldn’t go away. Not exactly the way to improve! No more, though. I will hopefully at least keep those movements so I don’t go backwards. I might not always push them but I’ll at least keep them in the routine.
Thanks for your advice. You’re right I hadn’t thought of the bigger picture and I think I am just having one of those moments. Lifting is something I want to do for a long time so I’m sure I’ll get there eventually.
I’ve been following your log and I’m sure you’ll reach your goals soon once you put your effort into them.
@Frank_C covered it. Remember as well, I understand that you’ve got other priorities at the moment. Uni is important for you right now so that takes priority. That’ll impact your progress as well.
Keep at it, when I stopped 5x5 in December I could do 5x50 on the press… and it hasn’t changed much since then! But all my other lifts are up. The press is the most difficult lift to progress in.
Still taking it very steady with running and building up, even so it’s not very easy. I’ll wait until I’m a bit more comfortable pushing the pace with this distance before going any further.
I agree with what everyone has said… BUT: You can not complain about results you didn’t put in the work to reach.
Now before everyone jumps all over my back, I am not saying that you are lazy or that you don’t train hard or even that you did not do enough work.
I just look at it like this: I can not complain that I don’t get the results of some of the guys I am looking up to if I am not willing to work as hard as they do. I am not willing to work that hard, go that far and endure that much pain so I can not complain that I am not getting the results that they are getting.
That is okay. Not everyone has the same goals and is willing to make the same sacrifices and take the same amount of risk.
What I really am trying to say is: Look at your workouts and ask yourself if you could have done better. Did you put in the time? Did you focus on enough volume and intensity for your lifts? Did you do enough mobility work? How about your diet? Were you focused enough on your goals? - If you find that you did nothing wrong then congratulations and you made the absolute best gains possible. If you find areas you can maybe make some changes to, then concentrate on them and think about small improvements that you can make to continue to make great progress.
TLDR: Instead of focusing on the progress you ‘did not make’ (we already agreed that your progress is pretty good) ask yourself what you can change to make more progress!
And don’t worry… everyone has this moments! For me it is every deadlift day
That’s a brilliant post mate that I reckon will probably help a lot of people, thank you. I’ve already started thinking about some things you’ve said and there is places I can improve. I feel a lot better now than before.
I forgot to do chins after the first two sets. Squats felt probably the hardest they have I think just from fatigue.
Lat pull down: 5x10x40
It’s my birthday at the weekend so I’m going home until Monday. I’ll try and do Friday’s workout in my garage but I won’t have enough weights for the deadlifts so I’ll probably pause them and make them harder that way.
I’ve decided I’m going to slowly lose weight for the next few weeks, aiming for about 0.5kg a week. I’ll keep going until at least the end of June which gives me eight weeks including this one. I’m aiming to be around 83-84kg but if I feel like cutting down a bit more I’ll keep going a few more weeks. I’m not tracking my calories or macros I’ll just slowly lower portion sizes. While ever I’m doing this I’ll stick with the 5/3/1 full body template I’m using currently.
After this I’m going to do 5 PROS with BBB assistance four days a week while slowly upping portion sizes. I don’t want to gain any fat I lose back so I’ll try and gain 0.25kg at the most each week. I’ll keep doing this over the summer until I start university again in October.
From there I’m going to run WS4SB, probably with some sort of sprinting and easy leg stuff on a fourth day and maybe a light jog like I’m doing now on a fifth once I get into it. This could change a little bit if I take up a new sport or something but I’ll definitely be doing the original WS4SB at least. I’ll still be eating to gain some weight and keep this up until Christmas when I’ll take a small break. What I do after that I haven’t decided yet.
Plus set wasn’t too fun but I got another PR. I think once I can get to 13-14 reps I can probably get 20 if I really push myself so I think I’ll go for that next. I’m getting good at these high reps mentally.
Dumbell bench superset with rows:
3x10x20
I’ve slept funny and all around my right shoulder is pretty sore so I did a little less here.
Back extensions:
2x5xBW, 15xBW
Got a good pump in my lower back, glutes and hamstrings.
Whole workout took no more than 30 minutes.
BW: 87.8kg
I was busy all weekend doing fun stuff for my birthday so I didn’t get chance to do Friday’s workout; it was worth it though. Ate lots too so I’m not surprised my weight has gone up, hopefully it’ll be in the 86s by next Monday.
