Woke at 241.2 lbs which was odd because I didn’t eat nearly enough yesterday. This infection/cold is killing my appetite.
GSS&S W8 D2
NEUTRAL PULL UPS
BW x 5 x 2
+50 x 3 x 3 sets
I did all of my bench warm ups between sets of pull ups.
BENCH
135 x 5 x 2 sets
185 x 3
225 x 3
275 x 1
250 x 3 x 3 sets felt like I could’ve been doing 5’s again.
PENDLAY ROW
210 x 3 x 3 sets
OHP
140 x 3 x 3 sets
Skipped my reverse fly’s today. Despite the cold I felt good and strong today. I’m having to restrain myself a bit. I wanted to put 295 on the bar and see if I could hit that on bench since it pinned me last year AFTER I did a bench specific program. I’m trying to be patient. I’ll get to hit some heavy singles during the next phase.
I’m feeling like 3 plates on bench is going to fall this year! I’m also a bit nervous. I feel so good and my training is going so well that I feel like I have a setback waiting in the shadows. This seems too good to be true.
That’s a pretty shitty feeling. I was feeling the same way about deadlifts two weeks ago and then I hurt my back in the last session of the cycle. My advice to avoid it: train smart. If something feels too heavy, don’t fucking do it!! There’s two types of “heavy.” 1) wow this is heavy, but I can control it and bang out 3-5 reps. 2) wow this is heavy, I have no business trying to lift this right now, but my program is telling me to so I’m going to try it anyways.
Be smart about what you do in the gym and you’ll be okay. As guys we can get caught up in trying to be the biggest beast we can be. I wish I’d put it in perspective for myself before I tweaked my back; there are 120lb women deadlifting 100lbs more than me, I HAVE NOTHING TO PROVE. Nobody cares if you nail that lift unless it’s a world record, so play it safe and live to fight another day!
It’s like bringing groceries in from the car. You can try to grab them all at once, but if one hand slips, you just lost half of your shit. If you bring in manageable amounts of groceries spread out over 3 trips instead, there’s virtually no risk and you’ll still end up with the best possible outcome (no broken eggs or milk cartons in your driveway). Be safe man, I wanna see you hit that 3 plate bench but I also want you to stay healthy
You know how it is. You start to feel great so you push. I’m just going to follow my program and stay patient. It’s just been a really long time since I’ve felt good and strong in the weight room. Last year my hip was bugging me all the time. I guess I’m so used to being banged up that I feel like I’m almost due for something. And it’ll probably be my back. I learned that once I messed it up in 2014 it’s much more prone to injury now. And my back injuries are always weird flukes. I think the last time I aggravated it I was doing a hang or power clean with like 185 lbs. I definitely didn’t expect a strain at that weight.
I’m going to enjoy these good times but I’m on high alert for anything that feels off.
EDIT: if I follow the program and add 10 lbs per week on squat and deads, and 5 lbs per week on OHP and bench then I’ll be hitting the following for a single on my final week:
Squat 365 Deadlift 465 Bench 285 OHP 175
I might push bench and OHP because it looks like they’re going to come in a bit lighter than what I think I can do.
I know exactly how it is. Especially after a long run of gym sessions where you feel great, you’ll have that one session where you DON’T feel great but you push anyways because you’re trying to hold yourself to a high standard.
Back and hip injuries are the worst. I had a minor hip flexor issue in January which took about 6 weeks to get past, and I’m hoping my current back issue will be the same. As I’ve had these weird tweaks, my warmups have gotten exponentially more methodical and calculated in the hopes that I can train unhinged and feel great.
That’s what I like to hear. You have many years of this stuff left and there’s no need to attempt a PR now with high risk when you could just wait and get it easily in a month or two. You know what’s up
@Frank_C@lava2007 you guys nailed it. I agree that pushing is necessary when managed properly.
Having just returned to beast mode playing it safe and being fresher is the smart move. Slow and steady wins the race. And Dave Tate says it best. The iron always wins in the end.
The setback is upon me!
Turns out it’s illness. Whatever I caught is moving into full swing. My whole body ached this morning–even my quads just above the knees which is new and weird. I felt nauseous from all the crap draining into my stomach.
I’m feeling better now that I have my usual meds in me but I’m not sure about training today. My head has a lot of pressure so I’m not sure about bearing down on squats and deads.
I’m stubborn though so if I feel better later then I might still do a bare minimum session of squats, clean pulls and deads. I’ll skip lunges and farmers walks.
If I miss the session then it throws off my whole week. If that happens then I’ll redo this week starting Friday.
I’m also considering scrapping my plans to join a CrossFit gym. I’m enjoying lifting so much that I might just switch to doing my main lifts for 3 and 5 sets and doing a WOD or other conditioning afterwards.
You can always do a @losthog style MetCon. That could be a good way to get your core work and some extra back work (or something). Cardio disguised as lifting weights will always be my favorite way to do cardio haha
If I didn’t feel like I needed to be able to run at any moment for work then I’d settle for cardio machines or weight circuits. That’d be enough for general health.
Such an awful feeling and I hope you shake it soon!!
I would love to join a CrossFit gym but the options where I’m from are limited. I do learn a lot that maybe could implement on my own but like being part of a group sometimes.
Many CF box’es put up their WOD’s on the website.
Try a couple of those if you’ve got the equipment and there you go cross fit for free.
But I think one of the reasons peeps go is that it’s energetic to do it with a bunch of like minded.
@mortdk exactly, yes being around like minded people is always nice! There is no one around here like minded with me or they are way full of themselves. I sometimes miss traveling from state to state meeting awesome people to workout with.
It would be so easy for me to find stuff around the farm to use. I’ve thought about trying some of what I learned from @littlesleeper when he started building his outside gym!!
Alpha just did a video where he asked a bunch of guys from his gym what one exercise they would do if they could only do one for the rest of their life. Farmer’s walks, stone to shoulder, deadlifts and tire flips were mentioned. All which can be done with random stuff! Try to make it fun once in awhile, consistency is huge though.
SQUAT
135 x 5 x 3 sets superset with
LATERAL BAND WALKS
Blue Xercuff x 5 steps each direction x 3 sets
SQUAT
205 x 3
255 x 1
295 x 3 x 5 sets
CLEAN PULL
205 x 3
260 x 2 x 5 sets (3:39) I’m just planning to knock out the reps as fast as possible. It called for 10 x 1 (same with cleans on Friday). I just do a single, double or triple when I’m ready. If I think technique will suffer then I don’t do another rep.
DEADLIFT
345 x 3
395 x 3 x 5 sets
I used my illness as an excuse to skip reverse lunges. I think I might be battling a fever because every few hours I get really hot and sweaty just like when a fever breaks. Oh, well. Workout done. Still on schedule.
I don’t know why. It’s really not a big deal but I absolutely loathe the thought of going outside to do it.
I really struggle to do any yard work. Perhaps it’s all the years of being forced to do it by my dad? We lived on five acres and it would take half a day to mow the half around the house.
He also owns a landscape business and he’s the only employee. I was his helper whether I wanted to be or not from the age of about 12 to 19.
for free.