I’m so sorry about the music, if anyone watches these and has thoughts, let me know. These are a bit higher than expected but pretty close, for the most part. Also of note, first time squatting in oly shoes in a few years, felt okayish
Better without the shoes. Depth and position.
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Thanks for the input. If you don’t mind, what makes you say that (any other critique is welcome too)? I don’t disagree after watching them all about 5x. I remember hearing some cue about squatting between your thighs and not on top of them, feels like I’m not doing that with the shoes on.
Would you recommend chucks (or similar) instead of barefoot squatting? The other two racks are on concrete that I don’t feel super great about squatting a decent amount of weight with socks on.
You move less. With the oly shoes on it looks like you shift forward some just as you come back up.
I wear wrestling shoes, much prefer them to Chucks although they’re a decent option. I think a lot of people like the Vans Hi Skate too, and I’ve checked them out. Definitely flatter than Chucks, almost zero give in the sole.
My two cents though, wrestling shoes.
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Woke up at 289, little dehydrated maybe
Warmup
20min bike
General chest stretched
Deloadish day 2:
Incline DB bench: 80 3x5
Slight incline flyes: 20 3x8
Db row: 60 3x5
Wide cable row: 77.5 3x5
Cable lateral raises: 7.5 2x10
Tricep pulldown/ rope curl: 32.5 3x12 each
Looked at some wrestling shoes online, think I’ll probably find a pair to try on irl before pulling the trigger on anything.
I just did my hypertrophy workout with less intensity and volume, super fucking boring. Will probably test doubles starting Saturday or Sunday. Hoping I’ll hit something like 385/335/445/185 but that might be ambitious.
Last thing of note is that there was more knee pain with oly shoes yesterday and that’s carried into a bit of soreness today
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Woke up at 290.5 this morning, feeling normal but wondering about the 1.5 lb gain. So I thought about it and figured it out pretty quickly.
Breakfast:
3 eggs, 2 pieces of bacon, tortilla, salsa.
Lunch:
10oz brown rice, chicken, squash, mushroom, broccoli, red sauce
Dinner:
1/2lb hamburger, large brioche bun, tater tots (many w/ketchup), brussels sprouts, mushrooms, onions, tomato, blue cheese sauce
Post-Dinner:
Mochi, Lime Popsicle
Feel like apart from the post-dinner snacking and shit ton of tater tots yesterday was actually a solid day for the gainz but I’m clearly going to carry more water if I consume that many carbs and put in a deload workout.
In cut mode I think I’d probably just start by cutting out tater tots and the lime popsicle, think that would reduce it by 500+ calories and keep the carbs lower. I normally try and cut with low carbs but have never done so successfully while lifting so I’m going to try a medium carb approach this time, will probably bust out a food tracking app for it too, at least in the beginning.
Bit the bullet and joined the new gym, now I need to cancel my old one.
The cardio equipment is older, as is a lot of their equipment but they have real power racks (7 of them), a bunch of other useful shit and some people that seem strong.
I’m pumped about the new place, just tried out a few new things and used a few old ones I liked.
Deloadish day 3:
Walking 30 min
Glute isolation extension (idk): 3x10
Hack Squat: 2 plates 3x10
Glute bridge: 125 3x10
Standing calf machine: 42.5 3x15
Ham curls: 90 1x10, single leg 40something 3x10
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Same situation I’m in
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I saw pieces of that convo, I think it will be a good change for both of us. One of the first people I saw was a woman who might’ve had more muscle than me on a frame a foot shorter. A bunch of different bars and bands everywhere, it’s in a shitty old building that’s kind of musty but it gives a feel like people actually work in there.
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Woke at 289, slept awfully, feeling a bit bloated from my late night snacking, I need to eat more during the day or go to bed earlier.
My left hip, knee and low back are sore, I think I’m going to test my double maxes over the course of the week (starting tomorrow) and will probably start with ohp or bp just to give the hip another day or two.
My official start weight for Jan was 294 and I’m pretty solidly around 289 and have re gained strength, attempting to continue this pattern through February.
I think all the walking, 13k steps, and the hack squat machine are to blame for some soreness, going to avoid that thing for awhile and squat shoeless hopefully it resolves itself
Woke at 290 feeling bloated.
Got to the gym around 9:45 decided I’d do heavy bench today.
Warm up:
12 min walking
Bench 2rm test
Never benched in this power rack so it took me awhile to get everything setup to my liking.
Bar x a lot, x 10
135x 10, x5
185 2x3
225 2x3 (wraps)
245x2
275x2
315x2
335x2 (fuckkkkkk yes)
Dips 3x8 w/76lbs of assistance
Tri pulldown/overhead
3x8 (the machine was on 6 which I assume is 60???)
Single arm flyes
2x10 (1???)
Some ab/lower back extension 3x10
Didn’t do a whole lot besides the max double attempt but that lift got me more excited than anything else in life over the last few years
Went in feeling stiff and not particularly energetic, I slept well but normally lift in the early afternoon so it took a minute to get going. All reps up to 225 were slow and miserable, my first set of 3 almost persuaded me to not test today but I waited about 3 min for my next set, actually got tight and that set moved well. Same was true up to 315, which felt like my best form but definitely wasn’t as light as I thought, it was one of those lifts that barely moves but you know it will keep going.
I almost went for 325 instead of 335 but said fuck it and the first rep was pretty easy but a bit slow, the second was very slow but moved consistently and once it was off the chest I knew I had it. I realized my feet were shifting around on the second rep which meant I wasn’t using any leg drive, so there’s definite room for form improvement but I’m very happy with this.
I’ll get a video next time but my phone controls my music and I didn’t want to cut it off to get a video this time.
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Drank a lot after the gym on Saturday for a friend’s 30th, then recovered Sunday and then Monday, as well. Holy shit I was wrecked, need to avoid going that hard.
Sunday weight was 287, dehydrated.
Monday weight was 290.5, normalish
Today was 291, very bloated been peeing and uh “losing weight” all day
Warmup:
10min incline walk
Pigeon, Couch, Hurdler, Tspine stretches
Good mornings x 10
Squat 2rm test:
Bar x 10, 5
135 x 5
185 x 5
225 x 3
275 x 2
315 x 2
335 x 2
365 x 2
385 x 2
Glute Bridge:
145 1 x 12
195 3 x 8
I think the bar actually weighs less, its a bit shorter so these weights are probably off but I don’t actually care about my GB weights, just progression, so keeping it simple
Hip Adduction and Abduction:
3 x 10 70
Leg Press:
3 x 10 430
I felt pretty terrible energy wise coming into this but my lower back/hip felt pretty good. Took me awhile to get grooving things correctly but ended up feeling pretty good about everything. 335 kind of took me by surprise (I have a shit video I might post later), it just seemed heavy but looking at the video seemed like I moved well if not a bit high on the second lift (which felt a bit high). For 365 I brought my hands in just inside the rings and got very tight and everything moved well, same for 385 and my depth felt great. Only problem is some shoulder discomfort after the move inward, will have to figure out how to resolve that. I think I might have had 405 for a double in me but had questionable amounts of energy (low cals) so I let it go.
Did some stretches between glute bridges and didn’t do calves but not much else of interest, going to try out the reverse hyper next time.
Feeling good about the return of my strength, I’ve hit 405 for a double before but I don’t think I’ve gone above 335 for a double on bench.
Hoping to crush OHP tomorrow.
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I might transition these double maxes into my maxes for 5/3/1, since I’m going to be cutting. Will probably download and glance through the book again before making any decisions on it though.
Also, the gym had quite a few people in it by the time I left, one of whom hit a bench of 455 and the many of whom were squatting or pulling. Way better environment.
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Woke at 288,5 after eating fewer carbs (still more than enough)
Warmup:
10min incline walking
OHP 2rm test:
Bar x 10, bar x 5
65 x 5
95 x 5
135 x 5 (wraps)
155 x 3
185 x 2
205 x 2 (PR)
135 2x5, 1x10
Facepulls:
90 3x10
Lateral raises:
22.5 3x8
DB Shrugs:
60 3x10
Upright row:
50 3x10
Got in a bit earlier, gym was dead for the start of the workout but had a reasonable amount by the time I left (3:45pm). OHP felt good, I went and peed between 185 and 205 and forgot to take my running shoes off, felt a little unbalanced for my heaviest set. Speaking of, the second rep almost got stuck but I pushed through (my form isn’t quite right), I have a video of it but I took it way too close so you don’t see half of the rep. My PR is 225 for 1, which I think I probably had but it would’ve been tough. Going to upload the video anyway to see my sticking point and because it amuses me how poorly i videoed it.
PR Party 
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Thanks, a small one but still fun to get one, I’m relatively untrained in OHP so assuming everything stays healthy I should blow past 225!
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Got back in today, been struggling with the record levels of gray in Seattle this winter, getting to the gym has been tough.
Woke up at 291.5 after eating probably 5-6k calories yesterday, will likely drop by tomorrow
Warmup
10 min incline walking
Bb row 110 3x10
New gym has (25) kg plates so just using kg for deads. Also my first time using a deadlift bar, need a few more session with it to get comfortable
Deadlift 2rm test
Bar x 10
70 2x5
120 2x3
150 x2
170 x2
200 2 singles
Neutral grip pulldown (weird ass grip)
150 3x8
Iso Row machine
2 plates per side 3x10
Ab machine
110 3x10
Hammer curls, concentration curls couple sets of each in the 22.5-30 pound range for 8-10
Kind of disappointed but I’ve deadlifted maybe 6 times in the last year or so and hadn’t gone 395, so hitting 440 shouldn’t be much of a disappointment.
The first rep was ugly, didn’t pull the bar back into me, was unfocused. Second rep was 10x better and probably could’ve hit a double but didn’t see a reason to push it. Consistent submaximal work is in order.
Starting 5/3/1 tomorrow, going to finalize accessory selection tonight and set my intentionally low maxes at 385/335/420/205
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