Weighed myself out of curiosity, 181lbs

Tightened my belt for the squats and they felt easier, plus no back fatigue.

Squats: 275x5x3
BP: 150x5x3 Video: Set 3
- left elbow was feeling blah from a couple of bad hang cleans the other day, but it felt better on the last set.
DL: 300x5 Video: Work Set
- I think the belt+shirt make the back rounding seem worse, but it's still there.

Workout felt tough, but doable. The sore elbow made BPs harder than they would have been. I was kind of scared I'd get an injury, but I don't really need my left hand for anything anyway, so I went with it.

Dec 3:
Squat: 280x5x3
- mostly fine, no real sign of slowing down
Press: 95x5x3
- I thought these went really well, I think I'm gonna jump 5 next time and see how that goes
Cleans: 145x1, 135x3x4 Videos: Set 4, Set 5
- sucked balls, form was pretty terrible, and it's hard to do them without resetting because the weight always drops to the tips of my fingers at the bottom.

Last tourney of the season coming up this weekend, so I decided to skip the rest of the workouts this week to be rested. I'll probably restart next Wednesday and just go up by all my normal weights and hope I don't fail.

Next fencing event after that's in late February, so from now on I'm just gonna come late to fencing practices to skip the conditioning and just finish up SS.

Started lifting regularly again. Messed up my back from something a little while back, so no lower body lifts. Just doing Press/BP SS-style and then broing it up a bit before going home. Nice to only be in the gym for 30 minutes.

Got my BP up to 150x5x3 and finally did 100x5x3 on the Press the other day. I think my previous max was 155 on BP and 95 on the Press. Both felt easy, it feels nice to finally break 100 on the stupid press.

Protip: gel soles make the press much harder

Also doing pullups, dips, curls (barbell in the power rack whenever I can), and those shoulder raise things with the ez-bar. Mostly just a set of each after the press lift, then do another set of some of these and go home.

I'm interested to hear what your doc has to say regarding your back, if you get to a conclusion. It's just I have done a lot of research into back injuries, so any chance to understand a bit more, anecdotal even or w/e I appreciate.

Just had the appointment with the general practitioner (I think). After some basic checks, she referred me to a physical therapist. I didn't have to do any x-ray or MRI, so I suppose she ruled out bulging disc or bone fractures. I'm scheduled to see the physical therapist two weeks from now, so I'll have more news then.

I'm abstaining from all lower-body lifts for now, but I'm hitting footwork extra hard in fencing practice to make up for that (I don't feel anything in my back when I do it).

If you want detailed info on the injury, here is the original Beginner Questions post: http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/sh...postcount=9797

I don't have trouble moving my toes and don't feel any numbness/pain down my legs. If I sit for a while, I feel tightness and sometimes tingling in my lower back.

Skipped rehab because of finals, but I think my back feels mostly fine now. Went down a lot in weight and so far didn't feel any problems at all. I'll just do SS as long as it feels fine.

5/15:

Squat: 225x5x3 , Set 1, Set 2, Set 3

BP: 155x5, 155x3, 145x5 , Set 1
- I did 135x5x3 2 days ago, so I think this was recovery. I'll jump back to 155 next time.

DL: 245x5 , Work Set

Cardiotarded on the 16th, which didn't help with recovery. I skipped 2 days because of DOMS.

5/19

Squat: 230x5x3
OHP: 90x5x3
DL: 255x5

The DLs are pretty easy with standard grip, so I decided to push PCs to next week.

5/21

Squat: 235x5x3
BP: 150x5x2, x4
- my right shoulder didn't set right on the last rep, but I went for it anyway and failed
DL: 265x5

will do PCs next workout

5/23

Squat: 240x5x3
OHP: 95x5x3
- barely locked out the last rep
Hang Cleans: 105x3x5
- felt pretty easy, but I wanted to go light fearing for my back and also to recover from doing DLs the last 3 workouts. I didn't feel any back issues whatsoever, and I think my form is much better than last time.

5/27 - wanted to take a 2-day break, but was lazy yesterday so it ended up being 3.

Squat: 245x5x3
- I tried going down slower to get a bit more depth today, and I felt like I was using my quads a lot more. My muscles were burning more, but I wasn't as sweaty or out of breath as other days.

Bench: 155x4, 155x5, 155x4
- the first bench was just a little too narrow, so the crease dug into my right shoulder. The second bench was a bit too slippery so my shoulder kept sliding out of place.

DL: 275x5
- I need to rotate my alt grip more on this.

I think I need to lose some fat, so I'm gonna start doing some light cardio 6 days.

15 minutes on the stepper (low impact and I don't have to be outside).

Then did some abs and pullups (8/4/4)

5/30 - bringing it to MWF schedule.

Squat: 250x5x3
- felt really heavy out of the rack, but the actual squats were not so bad. Last rep of the last set was a bit sluggish.

Press: 100x2, 95x5x3, Video: 95 Set 3
- I think I might just be pussying out at the double digits. The bar feels noticeably heavier out of the rack than 95. Anyway, the 95s were much better than last time, so strength is going up. I might start microing it, which is what I did last time around this weight.

PCs: 105x5x3

Then 15 minutes on elliptical on setting 8, whatever that means.

abs and pullups (7/5/5). Pullups were a lot more explosive than last time, but I end up swinging a bit. Not kipping though, so I'll just keep doing it.

press: I don't think you're keeping your body tight enough. Flex lower body imo. Looks like your knees are kinda bent. Elbows too far out front at the bottom and I'd recommend getting the bar/wrist directly over elbows. Looked easy!

Thanks, I'll focus extra on the tightness. It's just hard to isometrically contract anything below the chest after squats.

I'm also gonna try to do weighted pullups/chins and go for 5x3. To start, I'll do 5lb jumps every workout and alternate pull/chins.

I'll start doing weeks for reference:

6/01, Week 3



Inzer belt, Adidas Power Perfect II shoes. holla

Spent about an hour today breaking in the belt and had to take a shower after, and my arms were exhausted.

Squat: 250x5x3
- stayed at the same weight to get used to the shoes. Feels like squatting on my toes or mid-foot, so I don't know if I'm doing it wrong.

BP: 160x3, 155x5x2
- I couldn't balance the bar very well at 160, so I didn't even try to fail a 4th rep. 155 felt alright, but my elbows started to get sore so I didn't want to do a last set just to have 5x3.
- I'm guessing this is from the belt break-in

DL: 285x5
- shoes off, belt on. I think the belt helps, so I'll just keep it.
- felt noticeably harder than last time I remember. I'm going to make a video next time to check my back.

My abs felt kinda sore from the belt and my arms were sore from belt breakin/BP, so I didn't do anything else. I think from now on, if I fail weight progression, I'll just skip assistance stuff.