Feeling like **** today, woke up at six in the morning with a horrible sore throat and stuffed up chest. Decided to try and work out anyways, which was probably a mistake because the only thing I'd had all day was some chicken noodle soup. Anyways, here's what I did:

Squat: 1x5x230, 1x2x230
Bench: 1x1x165

I knew I wasn't going to make it through one set on the bench after my first rep, so I just racked it and left, didn't even bother to fail on the deadlift too. Shouldn't have even bothered going in. Hope to feel better on Friday and redo this workout, because it sucks to be moving backwards like this only a month and a half into the program.

**** has been going around I've been miserable for a week

Still not feeling better, skipping today's workout

Back in the gym after feeling too ****ty to go in Fri/Mon. Took it easy since I still didn't feel 100%, plus I wasn't sure how missing two workouts plus having a ****ty one Wednesday would affect things.

Squats: 1x5x215, 1x4x215, 1x5x215
Bench: 3x5x155
Deadlift: 1x5x255

Used my new shoes for the first time, felt a lot more stable at the bottom of the squat than in running shoes. Huge difference. Even after taking a bunch of weight off from my peak, I did still fail a single rep, I feel like I need a ton of rest in between sets on the squat or else I struggle, but what are you going to do. Bench was really easy. I deadlifted barefoot and using chalk for the first time, really made a huge difference. I was able to do my workset with ease, grip was vastly improved. Before, I'd have to reset my grip on every single rep, with the chalk my grip stayed strong for all five reps, even without resorting to a mixed grip. Really surprised at how much of a difference it made.

Today:

Squat: 3x5x220
Press: 3x5x105
PC: 5x3x115

First really good workout in a while. Hadn't pressed since last Monday, so I took five pounds off of that, was pretty easy. Squat was tough but I still powered through. Lot of WIM on my second set, almost failed my last rep but really focused and powered through, I was proud of myself even if for some reason I'm having problems with weights I've done before.

Finally, first time powercleaning in my new shoes, and after doing some hang cleans with low weight to warm up, I quickly got some feedback from my new shoes on my very first rep of the powerclean. I might be able to get away with landing on the sides of my feet in my heavily padded running shoes, but in lifting shoes, that just causes your ankles to roll and an embarrassing tipping over situation to follow. Dusted myself off, assured the guy next to me that I was ok, and banged out the sets after that. Forcing myself to focus on not rolling the foot at all on landing meant that I had to focus more on pushing straight into the floor at the start of my jump, and I think it made a difference with my form. One thing I did notice was that the weight was swinging too far forward and wasn't in contact with my thighs when I started the second pull, so I need to reread that section in SS because I do remember it having something to say about what to do if that was happening.

Today:

Squat: 3x5x225
Bench: 3x5x160
Dead: 1x5x265

Best workout in weeks, bar speed felt vastly improved, especially on the squat. Felt very good to have a great workout after a few weeks of being sick/having ****ty workouts.

Today:

Squat: 2x5x230, 1x4x230
Press: 3x5x110
PC: 5x3x120

Felt good again on the first two squat sets, probably led to some overconfidence on the third set and not giving myself enough time to rest. Overall felt pretty good though. Press was easy, powercleans seem like they're starting to get there. Didn't fall over today, which was nice.

Got some protein powder in the mail today too, so hopefully I'll start getting a more constant amount of protein in my diet.

Going to start somewhat tracking what I'm eating as well. So far today:

1 hot dog: 160 calories, 5g protein
1 slice bread: 80 calories, 3.5g protein
Relish: 20 calories, 0 protein
2 scoops protein powder: 240 calories, 48 g protein
16 oz skim milk: 160 calories, 16g protein
Total so far: 660 calories, 72.5g protein

More food:

Dinner: Spaghetti/Meatballs, broccoli, bread, glass of milk. Didn't weigh anything, but I'd estimate it at around ~800 calories all told, maybe ~20 grams of protein?(only had three small meatballs in the freezer) Later, another milk + 2 scoops protein powder, 400 calories, 64 g protein. So total, I'll round up to 1900 calories, 156 g protein. Depending on what RMR/BMR calculator I use, that's either a 170-380 calorie deficit, and since I sat on my ass glued to the television all day watching basketball, that's probably not too far off. Definitely not a normal day food wise, I replaced virtually all of my snacks with protein shakes, normally I'd eat a bigger first meal, probably something in between, and something late at night too. Don't really have a clue what my goal is with this, whether I want to slowly lose weight or try and eat some more while increasing on SS, but right now I'm more interested in seeing just what I'm eating.

Today:

Squat: 3x5x235
Bench: 2x5x165,1x4x165
Dead: 1x5x275

Pretty good workout, might have been able to get that fifth rep on the bench but I didn't have a spotter and didn't want to take a chance.

Food:

Banana+peanut butter, 1 scoop protein powder pre workout: ~440 calories, ~34g protein
2 slices wheat bread, one can tuna, 2 spoonfuls lite mayo, relish post workout: ~420 calories, 43g protein

Today:

Squat: 3x5x240
Press: 3x5x115
PC: 5x3x125

Very good workout, bar speed was great on everything. As you can see I've been too lazy to keep track of my food, I'm just going to try and get as much protein as I can and not worry too much about it.

Today:

Squat: 3x5x245
Bench: 2x5x170, 1x4x170
Dead: 1x5x285

Pretty good workout, squat felt good, deadlift felt great, bench was a bit of a struggle. This time I tried to get the last rep and failed, spotter had to help.

Today:

Squat: 3x5x250
Press: 3x5x120
PC: 5x3x130

Another good workout. Squat was good except for some reason I was having some problems with flexibility in my right wrist, whenever I got under the bar I couldn't keep my hand flat with the bar in palm of my hand. Very strange, haven't had any problems with that before, but just sort of rolled with it.

Press was hard, getting to the point where I might have to microload I think. Powercleans felt good, best I've done so far I think.

Not a very good workout today:

Squat: 1x5x255, 1x2x255, 1x4x255
Bench: 1x2x175
Dead: 1x5x295

Not really sure why I failed so quickly on the squat, my worst workset was tough but doable, and my first two reps of my second set went up very easily. I don't know whether it was a form issue or what, but failing the third rep came out of nowhere. Since I didn't feel like it was that tough, I reracked everything and tried the third set, at least got to the fifth rep before failing. I would have understood 2x5, 1x4, but 1x5, 1x2, 1x4 made no sense to me. I'll retry 155 on Wednesday.

Bench was terrible. I think I tweaked something in my left shoulder on Friday because it was feeling tender over the weekend, and while it felt better when I woke up, it reasserted itself right after I started my workset. I could never be a bro, benching is my least favorite of the lifts now.

No issues on the deadlift.

Today:

Squat: 3x5x255
Press: 3x5x120
PC: 5x3x135

Squat felt much better today, felt like I was getting much better hip drive which made the weight feel a lot easier than Monday. I redid the same press weight as on Friday, I ordered some washers to microload with but they hadn't arrived yet when I left for the gym. It felt good but tough, I don't think I would have been able to do 125 today. Shoulder felt a little bit weak after it was done, but not as bad as it was over the weekend or on Monday, hopefully it's just a minor twinge that's going away.

Powercleans were okay, at least I finally worked up to the point where I can pull directly off the floor. Need to get a hold of a video camera again, because I still think I need a lot of pointers. More than anything my reps felt inconsistent, I'd feel good on most of my reps, but every once in a while I'd catch myself not exploding up hard enough and having to use my arms to compensate.