Round 2 Lifting

Skateboard grip tape works too but say goodbye to your favourite shirt and some back skin :joy:

I will keep that in the back of my mind for sure

The sticky tape.

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This stuff?

No: the white sticky tape. You want something that will stick to the barbell and grip on the other side.

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That stuff? Looks like white athletic tape.

Yup!

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Gotcha, Iā€™ll make sure to order some :ok_hand:

Iā€™m on a quest to achieve a 275 bench at some point

Bench

45 x 10
95 x 3
135 x 3
185 x 3
210 x 6
165 x 2 x 10
165 x 7 + 3

100 push-ups

Upper body runs out of gas too early tbh. No room to grind on bench like there is with lower body lifts

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Jesus Christ I need to take better care of myself. I havenā€™t really been eating or sleeping well for the last few weeks and Iā€™m feeling it when I lift. Weighing in at 198 after this workout.

Deadlift

135 x 5
225 x 3
305 x 3
350 x 3
390 x 9 - PR

Beltless RDL

305 x 7
305 x 3 x 6

These workouts really exhaust me because Iā€™m giving 110% every time I pick up the bar. Apologies for the 480p 2007 video quality in advance.

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I feel like 5/3/1 isnā€™t working for me anymore because I canā€™t seem to eat enough or sleep well enough to consistently make progress. Iā€™m stalling and regressing a little bit.

I think I need something less intensive and more frequent to see progress. I was doing better with the 5-day-a-week program, so Iā€™m going to switch over to that.

I keep losing weight and not sleeping well. It would be easier for me to make progress if I could keep food in my system for more than 2 hours before it comes out the other end, but I donā€™t seem to have that luxury, even though I religiously stay away from the foods my body canā€™t tolerate. I havenā€™t had a single bite of bread in 7 months and Iā€™m still suffering, just less than I would be if I were eating whatever I wanted.

That could be a blessing in itā€™s own right. I used to grind hard on the bench, and it is a sure path to injury.

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I mean, unless I want to drop a barbell on my neck, thereā€™s no failing reps with 225+ on the bar without a spotter present

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Maybe titrate back up on the meds? You were doing so beautifully.

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Well, Iā€™ve been doing pretty shitty for the last month or so, and I canā€™t deny that Iā€™ve been spinning my wheels. Workouts donā€™t feel good after Iā€™m done anymore, they just drain what little energy I have left for the rest of the day.

Itā€™s tempting to stop lifting weights entirely for a few weeks and see if I start feeling better during that time, because I know Iā€™m not eating enough to facilitate strength maintenance. Iā€™m also discouraged by seeing others getting stronger and not being able to compare to their progress no matter how hard I work.

My stomach issues are coming back somewhat even though I havenā€™t strayed from my diet or started eating foods that are bad for me. Every time I eat, I have to use the bathroom 20 minutes later. Mood swings and depression are also coming back hardcore.

Aside from that my left shoulder is not allowing me to overhead press without feeling tightness and pain. It might be time for me to hang up the weights for a while and stay off this forum until I feel healthy enough to make progress again.
Going to stay where Iā€™m at with my taper for another week and see if I feel better by this time next Sunday.

Anyway I tried something new called the Hepburn Method today. It felt hard but not impossible.

Squat

135 x 5
225 x 3
275 x 2
315 x 1

8 x 2 @ 350 (3 minutes rest between sets).

Tried to do strict press afterwards but my shoulder wasnā€™t having it past 95 pounds so I didnā€™t push the envelope. Will try shoulder pressing tomorrow after band pull-aparts and plenty of stretching.

BW 197

Chin-ups

2 x 8

Barbell Row

185 x 10

Called it here because I am not feeling it at all. Not sure what Iā€™m doing wrong but my body isnā€™t accepting muscle gains at this time.

Reread this entire post. And then please. PLEASE. Consider resuming the meds. On them you were able to do everything you wanted to do and were absolutely taking off; off them youā€™re returning very quickly to where you were. Donā€™t hang up the weights or the forum. Instead reassess your belief that once youā€™re feeling better, you donā€™t need the tools that made you better.

Young men, in particular, are prone to med-avoidance. They struggle much more than they should as a result. They often do permanent to what could have been their futures as a result. Now is the time to establish yourself as an adult worker or student. Medication may be less important as you stabilize who/what you are, but right now it allows you to focus on your life rather than your volatile mental health.

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Can vouch for this, @round2lifting. Iā€™m not sure how many times I went off the meds thinking I could do it on my own, and usually before Iā€™d even notice things getting worse, my mom or someone would be asking me if Iā€™d gone off because it was that apparent from my mood.

I agree with what you said and I think I will have to bump the meds back up to a level where I was doing better. I feel weird on this low of a dosage.

Though I donā€™t want to be medicine dependent, I am and that probably isnā€™t changing in the future because I want to continue my sobriety.

Iā€™m discouraged that I need antipsychotic and anti-anxiety medication to function in every day life and I feel like a broken machine even with 9 months clean under my belt.

I hate taking pills because I know I start to feel sick without them. But I have to take them for now.

I know Iā€™m an adult now but I donā€™t feel like I had a childhood and that messes with my head a lot too. I am all grown up and not equipped to handle everyday life.

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I notice things getting weird for me but Iā€™m trying to tough it out and itā€™s not working. So yeah itā€™s a crappy way to feel and even more crappy for me to understand that I need chemicals in my system to function normally when other people donā€™t have that pressing issue in their day to day lives.

I get stuck in thought loops that drive me insane and Iā€™m starting to understand why I used drugs to shut down the negative voice in my head.

But yeah I get where youā€™re coming from. Taking prescribed medicine that comes from a safe supply is better than the alternative.

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Workout was a success, felt like I had more in the tank. I forced myself to eat today but I was able to finish my breakfast AND my lunch, which Iā€™ll call a victory at this point in time.

150 Band Pull-Aparts

Press

45 x 10
95 x 3
115 x 3
135 x 1

8 x 3 @ 155 (3 minutes rest between sets)

Itā€™s too cold and Iā€™m too tired to properly do assistance work. Iā€™ll save it for next time I lift. Iā€™m just glad I was able to get through my main sets without too much trouble, especially because pressing has been giving me a lot of issues as Iā€™ve dropped weight.

Progress from April 9 to November 29 (so give or take 7.5 months)

April -

Today -

I guess I came farther than I thought

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