The 5 mile run on Monday really wrecked me! I still have pretty significant calf DOMS 3 days later and my left knee feels pretty weird. I tried a couple of pistol squats today and my right knee wasn’t having it at all, although my left knee feels worse when walking. I think I really need to give running a bit more respect because it can very quickly mess me up. I did a fair bit on the stationary bike today to warm my knees up and it seemed to help a little. The 200kg beltless deadlift felt strong, despite getting out of position early on. I really couldn’t be bothered with the upper body stuff but 12 pull-ups is pretty good for me.
This was a pretty good week. The highlight was the 110kg front squat PR, and it was nice to finally deadlift 200kg without a belt. The run went well at the time but my recovery has been disappointing! I’m eating too much, which I need to rectify.
Deadlifts
150kg: 1
180kg: 1
200kg: 1
220kg: F All sets belted and mixed grip
Back Extensions
BW: 3x50
Good session today! I haven’t back squatted in almost 6 months so it was nice to get some small PRs. It’s hard to be happy with such a weak lift, but squats just don’t agree with me and I don’t feel a heavy squat is worth pursuing at this point.
I’m very happy with how deadlifts went - I only failed 220kg by a hair, I got my hips through but then lost grip. I’ll upload the video later.
A good upper body session today! 80kg press finally fell, which is awesome. I would have liked to have done 10 reps with 100kg on the bench, but I didn’t have a spotter and the 9th rep was sloooow. Thanks @MarkKO for the Kroc row suggestion! I’ve never done them before and they felt very good. I should have done more pulling volume but didn’t feel like it.
Thanks @theBird! Yeah I’m very happy with how things are going at the moment, although in the big picture my upper body improvement has been minimal. My bench press 1rm has been fluctuating between 115kg and 125kg for probably 6 years now, and I think I first hit a 75kg press 4 years ago. So I can’t claim to be making lightning progress lol, but I’m maintaining a level of strength that I’m proud of. My deadlift is where the big improvement has happened. And yes, for Kroc rows I just did regular rows with less strict form.
I was disappointed with how tough this was until I realised it has been 16 days since I last did pistol squats, and they do need regular practice. My bodyweight isn’t great!
This was a good little run, although I felt pretty slow at the start. Beautiful weather today and I didn’t get to do this until 21:30. My calves felt a little rough, I think I’d benefit from an easy strength style approach to running. Little and often.
Deadlifts
140kg: 1 - mixed grip, belt on
160kg: 1
180kg: 1
180kg: 1 - straps on
200kg: 1
227.5kg: F, F
170kg: 1 - double overhand, no belt
Bench Press
120kg: 1
100kg: 5
80kg: 12
Pull-Ups
BW: 5, 8, 10
Back Extensions
BW: 2x50
I was a bit ambitious with deadlifts today! The first attempt with 227.5kg (501lbs) was very close, the second wasn’t lol. I smoked 120kg (265lbs) on the bench though, so that was good.
Log Summary
On Sunday it will be 18 months since I broke my leg, and this seems a good point to bring this log to a close. It was always my intention to record my comeback over a finite period, and I am now at a stage where I can confidently say that my recovery is complete. In some ways it’s a shame that I didn’t conquer a couple of my goals before finishing this - I have yet to deadlift 500lbs or run 10k in under 60min - but on the other hand it’s quite nice to leave that last mile untrodden. This has been a greater success than I could have imagined at the outset, and I am proud of what I have achieved. Thank you very much to every one who has contributed, your support has meant an awful lot and I hope this has in some way been of use to you too.
New PRs
Conventional Deadlift: 220kg (485lbs)
Trap Bar Deadlift: 230kg (506lbs)
Back Squat: 135kg (297lbs)
Front Squat: 110kg (243lbs)
Overhead Press: 80kg (176lbs)
10k (6.2 mile) Run: 1:02:32
6.4k (4 mile) Run: 37:37
