Yesterday-
Pull-up- 3 total sets of
10+5 RP
And I forget the rest. I did the same pattern though- near max and then RP.
5x20 push-up
I did I tweaked or sprained my right wrist during the burpees the day before. My forearm felt very pumped/sore after doing the RDL and rows and I felt a twinge of pain during the burpees but quickly forgot about it once I got going.
Wrist hurts when I put weight on it flexed backwards, so I did push-ups. Did first two sets on my knuckles. Knuckles started to hurt so I ended up finishing by doing them with DBs as handles.
Today-
Push press- 105/125lbx5, 145lb, 3x8
Felt challenging. I kept trying to stop myself from going into a clean catch position because I was worried about putting weight on the wrist. This made this feel harder.
Walking lunge- 1x50
Short rests here and there. Still feels pretty hard.
DB bench- 60lb, 1x18, 1x7
Batwing row- 3x12 (3 second pause at top)
10x10 Devil press with 25lb.
Minute rest between each set.
I felt sick the last couple of days and I am reasonably certain that was due to what I did on 9/1.
I didn’t get good sleep for a couple of days leading up to this and got even worse sleep on that day. That’s the only explanation I got, other than that I got the cold.
Skipped all physical stuff besides walking until today. I felt pretty good today and so thought that I had recovered. Unfortunately the results of today state otherwise.
Back squat-
135/165/195/225lbx5, 255lb, 9/6/5/5
Did the 255lb sets with a breath between each rep to make this easier. Didn’t work though; bar speed felt bad and I got fatigued really fast. The dramatically fewer reps I did on the sets after one proved that I’m nowhere near recovered from whatever is ailing me right now.
giant set-
push-up 2x20
BB row- 135lb, 2x20
BB single leg deadlift- 2x5
Ideally wanted to do at least three sets, but I felt way too tired. Decided that it would be counterproductive and stopped.
Yesterday-
Pull-ups- 3 total sets of-
9+4
7+4
7+4… or something.
Every part of my body felt sore yesterday, so pull-ups didn’t go very well.
2x30 and 2x20 push-ups.
Today-
Back squat-
135/165/195/225lbx5, 255lb, 1x12, 1x9 +4 30 seconds or so later.
Back to normal. I wanted 2x12 but unfortunately didn’t have it in me. Sat down after the second set and then decided that I didn’t want to rest just to do 4 more reps. My entire back felt sore after this, which is new.
BTN press- 85lb, 2x8, 1x9
Trying something new.
Deadlift- 135lbx5, 225lb, 2x5 (TnG)
BB row- 165lb, 3x12
Needed to RP on the last set. Not strong enough to do multiple sets of 12 with the short rest I’m taking on this.
10 sets of-
36kb kb swingx10
burpeesx10
One minute rest.
Today-
Back squat- 135/185/225/255/285/315lbx1, 275lbx5
Didn’t want to do any real work so I had fun instead. 315lb actually felt easy, considering that I haven’t squatted past 265lb for over a year and a half now. I’m pretty sure I can do a lot more if I give myself time to get used to working in a higher intensity range with triples or something.
BTN press- 85lb, 2x9, 1x7
Deadlift- 135/225/315lbx1, 405lb, 2x0
Grip strength and muscle memory for deadlift setup seems to be gone. I thought I’d be able to do this with ease once my squat strength recovered but that doesn’t seem to be the case.
Today-
Power clean and push-press- 95/115/135/155/175lbx1, 185lb (power clean only)
Push-press- 135lb, 2x12 (power cleaned the bar up)
Form is silly at this point. All I’m doing is triple-extending the bar as high as I can get it without any attempt to get under it, so once the weight actually gets heavy things get weird. I had better form when I mixed cleans and power cleans. Push-press felt tough but good.
double DB squat- 32.5lb, 1x50
Did 5 burpees every time I felt the need to put the DBs down- I think ~5-6 times total?
I made a mistake with choosing 32.5lb. For one thing, I thought I grabbed the 30lb and only noticed that I got the 32.5lb after I finished. Also, I have major balance and mobility issues when I do double DB squats and my left shoulder literally tires out while holding the DB up. At one point I shifted a lot of my weight onto my right knee… and now once again it is tight and painful. I’m pretty sure I injured it. We will have to see how bad it is in a couple of days. I thought 30lb would be fine based on how easy the 20lb felt, but clearly that 12.5lb makes a lot of difference.
On the bright spot- my wrist now seems fine and I can do burpees again. I don’t plan on doing 100 burpees everyday anymore though. I’d like to mix them up with a variety of other conditioning work.
And decided that would be a neat thing to try to get some daily work in now that I decided I’m done with burpees. Going to do very strict, short pause at top and bottom pull-up/chin-ups on all days except the challenge days. Currently using 7 reps on pull-ups and 8 reps on chin-up. It’s neat and again reminds me why I like work from home- you get to actually do stuff besides just sitting in front of a computer all day.
Today-
Back squat- 135/185/225/255lbx1, 285lb, 2/3/3/1/1
Right knee felt bothersome but didn’t really hurt. Not as powerful as on the last session, but I am not surprised. I woke up early today and I am rarely at my best when I wake up early. None of the 285lb ever felt hard. I chose triples and stopped whenever the bar speed felt poor.
BTN press- 85lb, 11/11/3
Deadlift- 135/225/315/345lbx1, 345lbx0, 315lbx2
Hook-grip began slipping on the 345lb and didn’t even work on the second set.
BB row- 175lb, 2x12, 1x6
Juarez Valley front squats-
95lb, 10/1/9/2/8/3/7/4/6/5/5
Chose 95lb because I had to power clean the bar and I didn’t trust myself to be able to do that with 135lb+ over the entire thing. Got this done in ~11 min.
I’ve been wanting to do this for a while, especially after T3hPwnisher released his ebook, but knew that doing this on top of my regular squat stuff would cripple me. Today seemed an excellent time to try this. It felt really difficult while doing it but I recovered very quickly after I finished, so pretty sure the weight was way too light. If I can get a rack then I’ll do 135lb; otherwise 115lb or 125lb.
OHP- 95/115lbx5, 135lb, 5x5
Much worse today. I managed to do strict presses on the first set only today; the rest had a mix of push-presses and strict presses. I think part of the reason is that I tend to get a bit of bounce and really drive the bar up when I’m on point. When I’m not it is literally all just upper body. In any case, upper back got really sore from this. Not so much shoulders and arms. Could also be because of the pull-ups from the daily pull-up thing.
Hanging knee raise -1x13, 1x12
RFESS- 1x5, +20lb DBs, 2x10, 1x5
Flat bench- 155lb, 4x7
Felt off on this; that is probably because of the difficult OHP.
Incline chest supported DB row- 4x12
10 sets of-
Trap bar carry with 185lb
10 burpees
No rest in between.
yesterday-
33 chin-ups in 5 minutes.
100 push-ups
100 band pull-aparts.
Trying to commit to doing more work again after I realized that doing the burpees helped a lot more than hurting anything.
Today-
Deadlift- 135/225/275lbx5, 315lb, 2x5, 275lb, 2x5 (TnG on everything except 315lb).
I had this fantasy thinking that my grip got tired due to the squats, and it would be amazing if I do deadlifts first. Unfortunately that didn’t happen. Hook grip really is just painful. This seems like a great time to commit to learning how to use straps, so I’m going to do that.
BTN press- 85lb, 1x13/12
Front squat- 135/165/195lbx5, 155lb, 2x10
195lb felt like a hard 5 reps.
Headed home and then did 100 push-ups because I ran out of time. Will do band pull-aparts later.
Don’t have time to lift tomorrow so I lifted today.
Pull-ups and chin-ups are definitely feeling easier after doing this daily program. I typically had a problem doing 8+ at my current weight (~184lb) but right now I can do 8 solid chin-up reps with no problem.
Push-press- 95/115lbx5, 145lb, 2x9, 1x7 (power cleaned the bar up)
Tough but doable.
Hanging leg raise (to parallel)- 8/6/6/5
This feels far more difficult to do correctly.
Walking lunges- 1x25
Flat bench- 155lb, 2x9, 1x7
Felt much better today.
Double DB row- 70lb, 3x10
10x10 push-up
2x5, 3x3 pull-up
I originally wanted to do 10x5 pull-up but that wasn’t going to happen. Decided to drop them halfway in. Push-ups felt surprisingly difficult.
Still doing the 100 push-ups (or burpees), band pull-aparts, and pull-ups daily. Just cannot be bothered to write it down anymore.
Today-
Back squat- 135/165/195lbx5, 225/255lbx3, 285lb, 3x3, 2x2
285lb is moving a lot better and feels lighter when I unrack it.
BTN press- 95lb, 2x8, 1x7, 1x1 a short while later.
Trap-bar deadlift- 135/225lbx5, 315lb, 4x6
All TnG on single breaths.
Machine lat row- 5x10
Couldn’t find a barbell so I did this. This felt amazing- my left side got engaged heavily and got sore while my right side felt nothing. This is the kind of thing I need to be doing, so I’ll be doing a lot of this every time I go to the gym.
10 sets of-
10 kb swing (36kg)
10 burpees
one minute rest in between.
Deadlift-
225lb, 2x5, 275lb, 5/10/10 (TnG)
Played with strap vs hook with 315lb and failed a couple reps at 365lb.
I’m trying to learn how to use straps. I found that the bar starts moving way after I apply tension and begin the pull with the strap vs without it. This feels like a solid second where I think the bar should have moved but didn’t, so I keep stopping when I should just be continuing on with the pull. I don’t know why. I have a a guess though-
Since I’m bad at using straps, I’m not actually gripping the bar properly and failing to pull the bar up with me immediately, thus relying more on the strap being around my wrist than my hands.
This is messing up my form as I pull. I feel as though I’m rounding my lower back because I’m standing up before I apply weight to the bar.
I’m hoping that things improve, but I am worried about the possible rounding of the lower back.
Push-press- 95/115lbx5, 145lb, 10/9/6 (power cleaned the bar)
Upper back and left side had a hard time with this.
Deadlifts galore-
135/225, 2x5, messed around with 315/295/275lb with and without straps, ultimately culminating in giving up with hook grip and straps and using mixed-grip for the first time in almost 2 years.
315/335/365lbx2
These felt stupid easy. Alternated the mixed grip. Doing it with my right hand supinated feels better and easier than left hand supinated, which makes sense since I normally did right hand supinated.
Confirmed that, fortunately, my thought process that strengthening the squat strengthens the deadlift still stands.
I just cannot get a strong grip with straps. Since I don’t have a grip, I’m not mentally/neurologically primed to actually put effort into the deadlift. This always start around 275lb+ish. I’m pretty sure it still does have to do with my weak grip in general, so I’m going to try strapping for very high rep sets (15+) while doing mixed grip for easy doubles.
Hanging leg raise (to parallel)- 3x8
Walking lunges- 1x25
Go so close to finishing this without stopping today. Mentally gave up at the 23rd rep and stopped to rest my quads for a second.
Flat bench- 155lb, 2x7, 1x6, 1x5
Didn’t feel as easy today. May have to do with trying to max out 100 push-ups in as few a set as possible yesterday or with the difficult push-pressing.
Going to start doing these with minute rests instead of 2 minute rests.
Machine lat row- 4x12
Went heavier and realized that was a dumb idea.
50 DB thrusters with 22.5lb as quickly as possible, with 10 burpees each time I stop and need to rest.
This is a much better weight and I never felt the weight shift too much onto my right knee.
Today-
Back squat- 135/165/195/225/255lbx5, 285lb, 3x3, 2x 2 reps then 1 rep 30 second later.
Did 4 reps of 255lb on a single breath, which is an improvement. I would have liked to have done 5x3 today but I started getting scared on the fourth set. The last rep felt grindy. Overall I’m pleased and do feel like I improved from last session.
BTN press- 95lb, 3x8
The first set felt very hard for some reason, so I tried doing push-presses on the second and third sets. I’m very bad at generating power when I’m doing BTN push-presses, so maybe this is something worth spending time on instead of just trying to strict press the bar.
Deadlift- 135, 225lbx5, 295lb, 3x8 (lots of mini rests in between reps on set 2 and 3)
Switched mixed grips back and forth on 225lb and 295lb. I did these with one minute rests and I realized that was a mistake. This felt extremely tiring.
BB row- 95lb, 3x12 (3 second pause at top)
Chose very conservative weights.
100 single-breath burpees.
Did this in ~10 minutes. Doing this after a full session is something else entirely.
OHP- 95/115lbx5, 125lb, 7/6/6/4/2
Hanging leg raise (to parallel)- 5x8
Reverse lunge with 45lb DB- 4x12
DB bench- 70lb, 3x8, 7/6/6/5/2
These felt hard today.