This was yesterday’s workout. I had a PT session earlier in the day for my chronic lower back pain/tightness. My first time going to a physical therapist for anything, and I didn’t gain anything new from it. Still, it was helpful to get professional confirmation that I properly assessed the cause of my lower back issues (no structural/disc issues, just tight/weak/inactive muscles). I have five more scheduled sessions. Was prescribed stretches and bodyweight exercises that I’ve already been doing over the years, but not as routinely as I should be. Hopefully I will be more disciplined with them now.
I had a great trip this weekend. Ate clean for the most part, except for one monster burger. I have a pic of me eating it somewhere, but in the mean time, here is an amateur iPhone picture I snapped of the full moon over Kilauea volcano
Weight is staying consistent, and my stash of whey and BCAAs finally arrived in the mail. I had two beers yesterday while watching basketball, but for the most part have been able to keep my diet clean for the past month or so. While leaning out, I’ll mainly be looking to make improvements in the mirror and mobility; not expecting to make much strength gains over the next month. Priority number one is to alleviate this back tightness I’ve had since high school, which always compromises my form once I go heavy. I figure while focusing on my PT exercises I can do enough to also lean out and maybe even stimulate some hypertrophy, but will be staying away from anything above 85-90% of my maxes.
Taking the day off today. Trying to not be too overzealous with my training and stick to this 2 or 3 on 1 off. My first month of the log I’d go 5-7 days without a day off. When I have the time I will go back and make a spreadsheet of all my numbers (totals and averages, intensities, frequencies, time off, etc.)
Overall been feeling pretty good. Not trying to let my weight dip anywhere below 192 (ideal morning weight for the next month is between 194-195), so not quite happy with my weight this morning but not gonna freak out about it either. Woke up feeling a bit flat and thin; just going to attribute it to being overly carb-phobic the past couple days trying to compensate for some bad meals I had in the prior days.
I generally do carb cycling, but I should probably start tracking it. Not gonna be counting macros meticulously, but even just journaling my own gauge of light, medium, and heavy carb days would be an improvement. Will try to get some update photos taken tomorrow.
I ran into an old childhood friend right as I was starting my bench working sets. I don’t like talking to people at the gym, but had to make an exception. Totally threw off my workout though. Had been aiming to do 5 doubles of 275 after the heavy single. Just moved onto some light volume work and called it a night. I haven’t done incline bench (bb or db) since my hiatus, so it was good to get a new movement in there to hit my chest. Will probably add this back in more routinely.
My body has felt completely drained lately before I even get to the gym. Had thought maybe I was because I wasn’t getting enough carbs earlier in the day, but I no longer think that’s the only issue. I wish I had a more flexible work schedule because I do enjoy going to the gym in the evening, but this 4-6 hours of sleep is just no bueno and has caught up to me.
Body felt dead, so I just did a bunch of low intensity crap. Didn’t track reps and sets.
I had PT on Monday (yesterday) and have just tried to get my body feeling more structurally sound. Here’s my first workout video on T-Nation, taken on Sunday
Close Grip Bench Press, 5 second eccentric
155 lbs 1x10
Floor Press
135 lbs 1x8
225 lbs 5x6
Squat
135 lbs 1x20
BW Dips
2x20
Had a new lifting partner today who was venting about girl issues. I don’t mind being that kind of friend to listen, but all that was on my mind was him elongating our rest periods. A part of me wants to blame that for me feeling piss weak on the “heavy” squats and bench, but I was just weak today. Both heavy singles are weights I normally should be hitting for sets of triples and were 30 lbs below what I’ve hit in the gym for singles within the past month.
Since those weights made me feel like a bitch, I’m planning on going back to the gym tonight to get some more volume in.
Incline DB Press (Superset with x20 band pull aparts)
70 lbs 1x6
80 lbs 1x6
70 lbs 4x8
Single Arm DB Bench Press
80 lbs 2x8 each side
Standing Single Arm Dumbbell Press
55 lbs 2x10 each side
Barbell Overhead Finisher
Standing Single Arm KB Isometric
45 lbs 1x30 seconds each side
Tricep Extension Tings
BW Dips
1x20
Well, nothing impressive to report, but I followed through on going back today at least. Family from North Carolina left today (after a 3 week visit), so that should slightly help improve my terrible recovery as of late. No more excuses for my diet or missing out on supps. PT and added mobility drills should also start to show marked improvement in my movement. If I can start to get 7 hours of sleep routinely, I expect it to translate to a noticeable improvement in my results. I know I said I’d post progress pics last week but simply didn’t have the chance, so I’ll just wait til next week, which will then be 1 month since my last pics.
Well, the idea to start layers never happened yet with the family visiting. And the way my body is feeling right now, I think I should probably do something a bit different. I’ve been doing more dumbbell work lately for upper body movements. I’ve never made dumbbells the focus of a program before, so maybe it’s time I do that just for a mesocycle to switch it up and do more volume. Debating whether I want to do dumbbells just for upper body and still do barbell squats, or also focus on dumbbell lunges, Bulgarian squats, etc as lower body main movements.
It depends on your current goal. You can get good leg development with lunges and split squats but it doesn’t immediately transfer to squats. The workouts also tend to take a bit longer. I’ve developed decent legs with single-leg leg press, walking lunges, and reverse lunges but I still can’t squat 4 plates.
The big draw for me would be lunge and split squat variations that would help with my piss poor hip mobility. Also would maybe hit my glutes more(?), which are lagging compared to my quads.
Definitely. The way I do reverse lunges smokes my glutes. It’s all about the angle of your torso. Upright torso well be quad dominant but if you can lean forward then you can hit the glutes.
Thank you for that! I didn’t realize that about the torso angle. I’ll look to try these out today. Probably just doing light weight with 8-10 reps each side.
Leg Press (tempo: 3 second eccentric)
1 plate 1x10
2 plates 1x10
3 plates 3x10
BW Back Raises
5x10
Single Leg Hip Thrusts
25 lbs plate 3x8 each side
BW 2x8 each side
Squatted yesterday, so I didn’t do anything crazy. Just wanted to get some blood pumping in my legs and get my glutes firing. Mission accomplished. Will try out the reverse lunges next time.
My lifting partner wanted to go to McDonald’s after, so I went with him. He had a McFlurry and fries, and I had a lil bottle of milk. Waiting until I piss out all my periworkout fluids and then get my evening weight. Spent much of today just stretching out, rolling on my lacrosse ball, and just trying to get my hips loose. PT session tomorrow and maybe going to the gym.
Yeah, but I was hoping the 195 from the evening was an anomaly. I’m not gonna do a panic refeed just yet, but if tomorrow morning I’m still under 193 I’m gonna change things up a bit.
I’m trying to cater my programing over the next couple weeks around my PT; strengthening my glutes as much as possible and loosening up the hips by having high frequency and volume of workouts similar to last night’s. Ideally I could aim to do those 2-3x a week (basically every other day) over the next two weeks, alternating with an upper body push/pull, taking a day off when necessary.
