Quidnunc's Natural Log

Training Logs
41

Felt like I was using this knee pain as an excuse to wimp out, so I Hardened The Fuck Up and went anyway.

SMP 5x45-75, 3x5x105
Squats 5x45-135-175-215 5x250, 5-3x255 (PR)
BB row 5x65-115, 5x145, 5-3x150 (I’m a little unclear on how far up I have to get the bar for it to “count”)
BB curls 2x5x45 (haven’t done these in ages)
EZ bar curls 3x8xbar+20 (I think it’s 25lb?)
Incline situps 3x8xBW+35

42

Met with a PT - apparently I have classic runner’s knee (patellofemoral syndrome). Score another one for lifting over cardio. He cleared me for upper-body stuff but told me to avoid lower-body work.

Wasn’t quite sure what to do, so I kind of screwed around - will find something coherent next time.

BP 5x45-95-135-155 5-3-3x170
SMP 5x45-75, 4-3-3x105
Chinups BWx8-5-7
Some light deadlifts to try to work on form

43

Continuing to putz around with upper-body stuff while the knee gets better. Went to a running store that does video gait analysis - apparently I overpronate like crazy. Proper shoes should fix this.

BP 170x4-4-3
Chinups BWx8-6-5
SMP 105x4-3-2
Random ab stuff

44

More of the same

BP 5x170, 4-3x175 (PR)
DB row 3x5x70
Dips 3x8xBW+30
Random ab work
Light deadlifts for form work

45

Knee healed, gym open!

Monday
Squats 3x5x225
Bench 4-3-2x175
Deadlifts light for form work
Ab work

Today
Squats 5x225, 2x5x240
SMP 5-4-4x105
DB rows 3x5x2x70
Chinups BWx8-5-4
Ab work

46

Off in the Outer Banks (NC) for a few days, but apparently there’s a gym I can use so s’all good.

Random swimming in the ocean, ran 3.5 miles, extreme hammock stretching.

47

Had access to a pretty crappy light-DBs-and-machines gym, so I made do with what I could.

DB Bench 5x30-40-55 3x8x65
Hack Squat thing 5x-70-160-250 3x5x300
Weighted Dips 3x8xBW+35
Lat raises 3x10x15

48

Yesterday: 3 mile run, swam a few laps

Today: SMP 5x105 4-3x110
Row machine 3x5x138
Leg press 3x5x260
Chinups BWx10-6-6
Incline situps 3x8xBW+50

49

Monday : 3 miles, fairly hard pace.

Yesterday:

Squats 5x240, 2x5x250
Bench 5x155, 3x175, 3x170 (oy)
Light DLs for form
Hypers 3x8xBW+70
Dips 3x8xBW+35

50

Yesterday (my troubles seemed so far away):

SMP 5-5-3x105
DB Rows 3x2x5x75
Squat 5x225, 3-4x260 (PR, wooo)
Chinups BWx11-6-4

51

You’ve got some good strength gains so far. Two things, though:

  1. I’ve had to relearn DL form a couple times due to too much back rounding, too. Doing light reps with a conventional stance (don’t know how you pull) didn’t do jack for me. By the time I got back to pulling heavy, I was rounding my back again and couldn’t help it. But two things that did work for me were rack pulls for low reps (doing about 100lb over my DL max for sets of 2-4), and snatch-grip DLs. I think deficit DLs would help, too.

Basically, you want to get your back strong enough that it doesn’t need to round, and you probably need to learn how to keep a neutral spine as you explode off the floor. Just some things to try if you don’t get anywhere form-wise doing light DLs with your regular stance.

  1. Weighing 155 at 5’8" really sucks. Big time. I don’t know why that’s your goal, but having been there not too long ago that’s my opinion on it. If I were you I’d hold off on the hawt abz and start eating to gain muscle. You can always cut the fat later (at 167 you can’t possibly have that much of it anyway). But in any case getting to 155 will probably just make you really small and hold up your strength gains.

Anyway, that’s my 2 cents. Keep up the hard work.