Furo's Comeback Log

Week 45: Lower Body

Squats
80kg: 3
90kg: 1 - belt on
100kg: 1
110kg: F
60kg: 5x5 - beltless, paused

Back Extensions
BW: 30,25,20

Pistol Squats
BW: 5x1

Bodyweight: 95.9kg

My back was still feeling pretty jacked up so I decided to try squats instead of deadlifts. Although I didn’t get a PR I was happy with how they went - my right quad felt a lot more solid than previously, and given how out of practice I am I feel I could progress quite quickly. The pistols have clearly been working, although having said that I struggled with them today with my squat pump.

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Week 45: Cardio

Crosstrainer
40min

Stationary Bike
30min

Bodyweight: 96.3kg

I’ve got pretty severe DOMS following yesterday’s squats. My adductors are particularly bad but, notably, my quads are completely fine, which I guess is due to my pistol squat progress. My quads were a big limiting factor a few months ago, so I’m hopeful that a few weeks of dedicated barbell squatting will lead to some solid progress.

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Week 45: Upper Body

Bench Press
100kg: 5x3

Pull-Ups (Regular Grip, Thick Bar)
BW: 5x5

Dumbbell Curls
15kg: 3x10

Crosstrainer
30min

This was a bench press volume PR for recent times, which is awesome. My hip DOMS is worse today but my lower back pain is beginning to clear up. I’m definitely going to use a belt for all work sets for this week’s deadlift session.

Week 45: Deadlifts

Deadlifts
145kg: 5 - mixed grip
155kg: 4 - belt on
170kg: 3

Back Extensions
BW: 30

Bodyweight: 96.9kg

I was really psyching myself out for this session - I kept convincing myself I was going to miss reps and hurt my back - but it actually went pretty well. My back is still rough, but it isn’t any worse.

Week 45: Squats

Squats
60kg: 5 - belt on
70kg: 5
80kg: 3
90kg: 1
100kg: 1,1

Pistol Squats
BW: 10x1

Excellent session today. I tried a much more moderate squatting stance (my tendency is always to go wide) and it felt really good. Just as strong as before, but without feeling too dodgy on my hips. Pistols after barbells is very humbling - these reps weren’t nearly as confident as previously.

Week 45: Summary

Bodyweight: 96.5kg

Training: 6 sessions - bench and squats going particularly well.

Nutrition: Average

A very solid week this week. Getting back into squatting has felt good, and my bench press is coming along nicely. I can’t complain about deadlifts or pistol squats either.

I think that I’ll run 5/3/1 with bodyweight assistance once I’ve finished this deadlift routine. I’ve ended up doing a 2 upper/2 lower type split so I may as well follow something proven.

Week 46: Upper Body

Bench Press
100kg: 5,3,3

Machine Row
60kg: 15
68kg: 10,10,10
47kg: 20

That’s a recent times PR for bench and it actually might be a log PR for not using wrist wraps (I was very dependent on them earlier this year).

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Week 46: Squats

Squats
80kg: 2 - belt on
85kg: 2
92.5kg: 2
100kg: 1
105kg: 1
110kg: 1 - PR

Pistol Squats
BW: 10x1

Bodyweight: 98.1kg

This was a solid post-injury squat PR - really good depth and not much of a grind. Both knees were giving me a little grief throughout this session though. The last week at work has taken it’s toll, hence the unwanted weight gain.

My rota for the last 4 months has been particularly shit but it will really calm down in just over a weeks time as I’ll have finished the first two years of my career (including the extra 4 months to make up for my 6 weeks sick leave) which is a really exciting landmark. Onwards and upwards.

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Week 46: Whole Body

Deadlifts
145kg: 2 - mixed grip
155kg: 2 - belt on
165kg: 2
180kg: 2
190kg: 1
200kg: F
180kg: 1

Machine Row (Plate Loaded)
100kg: 4x12

Bench Press
100kg: 3x3

I was going to do upper body today but I was over caffeinated and felt good for deadlifts. I got the sets from the routine well so decided to go heavier. 190kg was solid enough but I failed 200kg at the knees. This is only my third time ever deadlifting over 180kg, so I’ll take it, but it would have been nice to get 200kg.

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Week 46: “Run”

Hobble Jog
0.7miles

I was going to take a rest day today but ate a bunch of crap and so I decided to try a run. This was my first time running in the 46 weeks since my injury, so a pretty important landmark. I had a lot of pain just below my knee and my cardio was shocking and I’m saving myself for squats tomorrow, so it was all pretty atrocious, but it’s a step in the right direction.

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Plans
I am very happy with how training has been going recently - my upper body and squats are almost identical to this time last year, my deadlift is much stronger and my running goals are unambitious. The temptation is to specialise but I need to follow a balanced and well rounded programme to keep things heading in the right direction, so starting next week I’m going to begin doing 5/3/1 with bodyweight assistance and (very) short runs most days. Something like this:

  1. Bench 5/3/1, FSL 5x5, Inverted Row, Run

  2. Squat 5/3/1, BBB, Abs, Run

  3. Press 5/3/1, BBB, Pull-Ups, Run

  4. Deadlift 5/3/1, FSL 5x5, Pistol Squats, Run

The reason I’ve chosen Boring But Big assistance for squats/presses is because I feel the presses benefit from a higher volume and I just need the practice with squats. For the bench/deadlifts I tend to break things if I go too high volume so I’ll do FSL 5x5.

For nutrition I’ll stick to a sensible diet and nothing special - paleo plus non-retarded carb sources (potatoes/rice etc). I’ll basically just cut out the nonsense.

Goals
To feel I’ve beaten my injury I want to do a gym meet and squat 120kg, bench 120kg and deadlift 200kg and I’d also like to be able to run a mile without it feeling like a big deal. 10 consective pistol squats and pull-ups would round things out very nicely.

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Week 46: Lower Body

Squat
Warm-up
100kg: 1

Press
Warm-up
50kg: 1
60kg: F

Trapbar Deadlift
Warm-up
177.5kg: 1

Pistol Squats
BW: 10x1

Stationary Bike
30min

This session was uninspiring, I think I was too done in by the deadlifts earlier in the week. I decided to go for a comfortable heavy single on squats and trapbar deadlifts but I was quite conservative. The press was a max test for 5/3/1 and was pretty appalling - 60kg is usually a certainty for me. Weak. The pistols were very good though.

5/3/1 Training Maxes
The training maxes I’ll use for 5/3/1 are 50kg for the press (I’m certain I would’ve got 55kg); 100kg for squat and bench (based on 110kg) and 170kg for deadlift (based on 190kg).

Week 46: Summary

Bodyweight: 98.1kg

Training: 4 sessions, 190kg deadlift was good

Nutrition: Poor

I only weighed myself once and I don’t think it was representative - last night I was 97.1kg so I probably would’ve been around 96.5kg this morning but I forgot to weigh myself. Decent training, but I need to start 5/3/1 so I stop just trying to go heavy with my squats - I need volume and I need to be told what to do!

WHEN WHEN WHEN?

Also nice to see you back on a stricter programme - looking forward to seeing how we both do getting back into 531. Also don’t beat yourself up about weighing yourself - I keep forgetting too.

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Not a meet as such, just testing myself in the gym and treating it as a meet. I wouldn’t consider entering any kind of organised meet with my current squat. I’ll do it before the 16th of Jan because that’s the anniversary of snapping my shit up, so sometime in early January. I might run one cycle of 5/3/1, a few deload days, do the “meet” and then start my second cycle as that would mean I wouldn’t interrupt it at all. Want to do it too?

EDIT: @MaazerSmiit - we could do a comeback meet - me, you, @T3hPwnisher and anyone else who’s currently coming back from an injury/illness? That would be extremely fun, albeit not competitive lol.

Yeah I definitely need it! I feel like I’m decent at autoregulating my upper body training but I’m terrible with my lower body. I just end up working up to a max single and then stopping if left to my own devices, probably because I feel weak doing less and because it’s fun.

Comeback meet sounds like some fun. If nothing else, a good way to show that it’s possible to bounce back from some gnarly stuff. Be a good thread for BSL or something like that.

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Awesome, are you keen for it then? Would you be good for eary January?

Are you in @MaazerSmiit? I’ll make a BSL thread if you’re in, but totally understand if you aren’t keen :slight_smile:

I’m down - will probably test maxes the week of the 19th.

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Do you want to do the meet that week then? I take it you mean December, not Jan? If so that suits me perfectly.

What lifts are you thinking of using? I’m competing on Sat and I’ll have a slight build up before I get full into my off season.