Look Like/Perform Like Log

So Thursday night class was an absolute ripper. Feeling the progress and doing variations I couldn’t a couple of months ago with no drama. (Hold on, this is an art, dammit. There should be drama shouldn’t there?)

Anyway, today was a deload pull day. For somereason I drank too much beer last night and felt shitty, but all the more reason to go and crush iron. Snatches 50kg plus 55 on the 7th, SGHPs 60/65, dead lifts 120/125, then 65/70/75 chest fest, 6x3 pull ups, farmers.

Deload pressday. 8x3 55kg OHPs were good enough I did them as paired sets with a rest pause. 7th set up 5 of course. 65/70kg push presses were just fine. Squats at 120/125 were fast, as they damn well should be at this %age. Did the chest fest as above, some dips, farmers.

Class showing is tomorrow night and guess what? We’ve been screwed on the rehearsals again and we’ll be lucky to get a tech and spacing recce. Oh well…

So showing could have been better. What do you expect with no meaningful rehearsal?

Anyway, today is pullday. Quick and intense, but for some baffling reason my grip sucked, especially on the left.

Pressday. Like a pressday. Pressed! Didn’t notice the grip thing.

Pullday; last one in the deload phase of this cycle. Not much to report but I decided to do the extra 5kgs on the 7th and 8th, not just the 7th sets; also did the first four sets of SGHPs as pause sets. That felt good. Did pullups, leg presses, and farmers. Also, made the last incline bench set 80kg x10.

Pressday, phase two (-5kg). 8x3 OHPs @ 60kg were fine - did some as double sets - 8x3 push at 70kg even better (did first 4 sets pausing rather than reracking). 125kg squats 8x3 done as pairs.

Upped the chest; 1x10 @ 65kg, 1x10 @ 70kg, 2x10 @ 75kg, 2x10 @ 80kg. Bit disappointed by the pump but felt strong.

Leg presses 3x8 @ 250kg (added 30) afap. Farmers 10x with 2x30kg dbs. Dun. Maybe I can finish phase 2 before Spendfest 2016!

Signing back on post-Christmas. Did a pressday today. Unfortunately didn’t sleep, which may explain why the 8x3 OHPs @ 60kg felt heavy and even the 70kg push presses did. Squats at 125 were fine. Incline bench went 2x10 @ 60kg, 2x10 @ 65kg, 2x10 @ 70, 2x10 @ 75, 3x4 @ 80…the pump hit after the first 75kg set. 3x8 leg presses @ 250kg. Farmers, jumps, and a full round of stretches including some high extensions and a couple of cheeky attitude 4ths. For some reason all the dance stretches were unusually tight but I manned up.

Disrupted by guests and NYE​:top::dancer:so today was first pullday of 2017. Just did prescribed lifts, chest fest, and farmers. Delighted to find no crowd of noob resolutionaries but just. The. Hard-core lifters​:sunglasses::weight_lifting_man:

Back in the gym again. -5kg press day. OHPs and push presses were good, squats good, on incline bench I think I may have done one extra 10 set at 65, so only got 2 rather than 3x4 at 80kg. Did leg presses at 250 and farmer’s.

Still no rush o’ resolutionaries…

-5kg pull day. Disaster on deadlifts - missed first on set 7, I think because the grip went missing. Got 2x5 at 80kg during chest though. Did 3x6 pull ups and the farmers.

Also, of course, Thursday was ballet and I had my new correction to try out on turns. The magic words are “close your ribs, pull up, and attack the turn”.

Gf being out of town, I think I might take class tomorrow and Tuesday too. Which will please or alarm the fellow dancer who said “pretty soon you’re going to start taking class every day”…

So Sunday class was really fucking fast. Even so we still got an hour of barre…so I guess we must have done, er, stuff?

Today was pressday. 60kg OHPs were done in pairs; the first four pushes at 70kg too. 125kg squats were paired because I could and because some guy wanted to share the rack. He tried a 125kg and ended up stuck under the weight…but fortunately he had the bar catches in. Had to spot him out.

Chest fest went up to 75kg. Because of waiting for the rack I did the dips and leg presses before the prescribed lifts. Farmers and out of there

So since last check-in I did the last -5kg pullday (just the prescribed lifts as I was in a hurry) and skipped Thursday night ballet to be with the gf. Yesterday I did the first MTW pressday and it was :100:- 65/70kg ohps were fine, 70/75kg push presses were better, 130/135kg skwaatz superb. In fact I did the lot as paired sets - set, hold, set.

Chest went 1x10 for 60,65,70,75,80kg. 3x8 leg presses at 250kg. 10x farmer’s with 2x30kg. And we outta there. I think the lesson here is that LL/PL loves frequency, and maybe the 2 extra classes helped as well as the cardio/conditioning side felt good.

MTW pullday. Pretty great. 60/65kg snatchen went just fine, and paired. 70/75kg SGHPs too. 130/135kg dead lifts were a little heavy but ok until I missed one on the last set. Did 250kg 3x8 leg presses, 8x3 pull ups, farmers until I dropped a weight at the end of rep 8. LL/PL loves frequency.

Also did Sunday ballet class. Our mad guru of a usual teacher is baaack so today’s technique corrections include “press your vagina to the invisible wall”. He’s convinced men have them too.

(Since then I’ve done a pressday, a pullday, and two more classes. I’ve also had a shitty cold in the middle of a major air pollution episode, which might explain why I sucked so badly in the first of those.)

Today was pressday. Paired all the god-damned sets! So squats went: set of 3 at 130kg, hold, another set, rack. Chest sets went 1x10 for 60/65/70/75/80 then 85 for 5. Think I might drop the 60 and use the spare energy to up the last set. Did dips, pull ups, leg presses, 12 farmer’s walks with 2x25kg plates. MTW phase is feeling strong

So, off seeing the 'rents and dealing with some other interruptions. Last Thursday was a real ripper of a class (told by another student: “You’re really improving fast!”) but no :dancer: on Sunday or any iron. Until now. Having read CT’s thread:

I decided to make a point of eating before lifting rather than lifting fasted. Damn that feels good. Noticed that my squat ROM and speed were significantly better. Pressday; 65/70kg OHPs, paired, 70/75kg push presses, paired, 130/135kg squats, paired. Then 1x10 @ 65, 70, 75, 80, 85kg incline bench. (didn’t get a 90kg but the pump did my T-shirt bad things.) 3x8 @ 250kg leg presses.

And a new twist on farmers. Did 2x25kg plates, sets of 6 walks, 4 sets (ie 24 reps). Yes.

OK, still disrupted, hoping for a solid week of workouts this week. Today was a MTW pullday, plus pull-ups, leg presses, and sets of farmers’ walks. Did the first four sets of SGHPs as set/hold/set, the next two as a pair, before having to add weight. then did the 7th and 8th as a pair. 5 sets of 6 walks.

MTW pressday it is. Paired basically all the prescribed lifts. Chest fest went 10x each of 65, 70, 75, 80kgs. Did legs and 4x6 sets of farmers’. Felt STRONG. I’d recommend training after eating to anyone.

Oh yes, and if anyone wants some more on the other wing of this log, this article is a cracker: Swan, Late

Disruption of various kinds, so only now back in the gym for a MTW pullday. Snatches felt good, so did SGHPs, but first set of deadlifts was weirdly difficult…turns out that was 140kg not 130kg. Short of time so just did prescribed lifts.