the gains will come back quick man don't worry.

Yah, should be fine. I wasnt maxing out here either...altho the lifts were pretty tough. Im gonna try to add 10lbs/sq/day and probly 5lb/bench/day with bench being 2x/wk and squat 3x. Deadlift I dunno, probly not gonna try till week 2.

For those who want to hear my excuses I was sick for about 4 weeks and then holidays were even busier than usual for me, resulting in about 5 weeks off total. Which brings my # of workouts in the past 8 weeks to about 4 or 5 I think. Sweet. Hopefully will be doing better now that everything is back to normal.

-Mike

1/08/2008

Squats

5x135

Mil Press

4x135
2x5x125

Pendlay Row

5x135
5x155
5x145

Meh, squats I was really sore...after my warmup instead of getting loosened up like I usually do, I actually got tighter/sorer and lost my ROM so I decided to just skip them today. Mil press was really tough. Pendlays were pretty good..155 was pretty hard bar slowed down a bti last two reps so I moved it back down. Will probly try 155 or 150 next time.

-Mike

1/10/2009

Squats

3x5x245

Bench Press

2x5x185
4x185

WG Pullups

5xbw
5xbw+25
5xbw+20
7xbw

Squats felt pretty good. Bench was v. hard and will be repeating next week obv. Probly shoulda stuck to 180 but 185 is so much easier to load and I was lifting with my gf so I hafta take a bunch of stuff off and reload it after every set so yah...pullups, first time weighted since ive been back so Im sorta all over the place. We were sorta in a hurry so I took a v. short rest my last set and decided to rep out unweighted. The 5x25 was pretty sloppy, the 5x20 was pretty good. Not sure which Ill try next time, we'll see what I feel like.

-Mike

1/13/2008

Squats

2x5x255
3x255

OH Press (seated DB)

5x50
70 fail
65 fail
5x60
8x60

Deadlifts

3x315

Pendlay Row

5x155

Meh pretty random and crappy workout. Squats I failed on rep 4 pretty hard, wasnt even close to getting it up. Mil press sucked, there were a bunch of ppl waiting for the squat rack and Id already been on it awhile so I decided to just do seated...havent done it in awhile so weight was all over the place and I had a lot of trouble getting the weight up. Decided to just rep out on the last set. Deadlifts was a grip failure altho my hand didnt tear for once which was nice. Didnt feel that was enough work so I threw in one set of pendlays, they were better than last week good bar speed. To sum up, the gym was busy as hell and I am still weak.

-Mike

1/15/2009

Speed Box Squats

2x185
6x2x175

Bench

3x5x185

WG Pullup

5xbw
3x5xbw+25

Legs are feeling pretty tired, not used to all this work so decided on a speed day. Felt pretty good, first set was too slow. Seemed like each set was quicker than the previous which is obv a good sign. Bench was good..pretty tough but form was good and gonna try 190 on fri. Pullups were super ez..felt like I maybe coulda done a PR today on these...probly easier since I have lost weight. Weight today I think was 169..not putting a ton of weight back on because Im probly not eating enough and also Im not sleeping enough. Oh well, cant expect to get right back into a perfect routine I guess. Also, I know I keep putting 2008 as the date, Im an idiot and dont have to write dates down ever so i always forget. Also, I did some grip work and rolled on my adducters on monday, and will be doing the same today...hopefully wont have grip issues for DL on Fri.

-Mike

One good piece of advice on squats is to work within your limits. It is better to just rack it if you are hesistant of the next reps. This applies to pretty much everything, but big lifts like squats especially.

1/17/2009

Back Squat

3x5x255

Deadlifts

3x335
2x335

OH Press

3x5x135

Grip Work

Pretty good today relatively. Squats pretty hard...first set I think I was carrying bar too low. Deads, grip failure but getting close to strength failure I think. OH press good. Grip work pretty good, but my 150 gripper I think is getting a little loose which sux, cuz my 200 is super tight since I can rarely close it for more than a single (or even a single with my left). Might hafta get another one or get back one I loaned to a friend who probly doesnt use it much. Getting pretty tired, altho I slept and ate better last couple days. Next week will probly be something like tues + fri only..think I need a little rest this week been goin pretty hard and my conditioning isnt back yet.

-Mike

1/20/2008

Back Squat

3x5x265

WG Pullups

2x5xbw+35
6xbw+25

DB Floor Press

6x80
5x85
4x85

Pretty good workout today. Squats were pretty tough but got em...pullups were good...2nd set of 35 was pretty tough..was too lazy to load 30, and 25 was really ez. Hopefully 3x5x35 next time. Floor press was good..all the benchs were taken and I like floor press better than regular DB Press. My gf had to hand off the weights tho which she wasnt a big fan of =/ Once I hit 275 for squats I will probly switch to 4x5...hoping to hit that 2 workouts from now, as Thurs will probly be a speed squat day with deads and bench.

-Mike

1/22/2009

Speed Box Squats

7x2x185

Deadlift

3x345

Bench Press

5x195
2x5x200

Today was a really good day, best since Ive been back. Ive been eating and sleeping a bit better (10hrs/day) and I think its helped a lot. Speed squats were pretty good...the wide stance aggravates my adductors a bit but nothing too serious. If I had a better, lower box Id go a bit narrower but tough luck for now. Deads were good...grip was pretty good today altho still was pretty hard gripwise and got some pretty mean callouses (but no tearing). Bench was really good...I was gonna do 190 but decided since I did floor press Id count that as a progression, so I went to 195. It was really easy so I decided to do 200. 200 was pretty tough and my form slipped a bit on last rep but I think I did really well overall. Back on sat or sun. Oh yah, gonna throw in some ab work next time cuz my deadlifts made my abs feel like they were gonna tear apart.

-Mike

1/24/2009

Squat

3x5x275

Speed Bench

7x3x135

WG pullups

5xbw
3x5xbw+35 PR

Hanging Leg Raises

7, 6

Ok, so I goto the YMCA here and its pretty mellow and health clubby. Most Ive ever seen someone bench there is 315 with a bit of bounce out of the bottom for 1 rep. So today this really big guy (HUGE belly, stocky sorta guy) comes in and loads up 315 and does like 5 reps w/o a spotter..bouncing a little bit also but w/e pretty impressive for my gym for sure. Then he loads on another plate and gets some guy to spot him and claiming he is rehabbing a shoulder injury a bit hence he needs a spot. Bounces a bit out of the bottom still but does 2 reps with pretty good bar speed. He then loads up a 5th plate and hits another single with it, raw, with only 1 smallish spotter. Crazy. He then loads up 315 on incline right next to me while im doing my speed bench (lolz) and has better bar speed for 6 reps than I do in my speed sets. He then loads up another plate but I didnt see him do his set.

Anyways, now that I feel like a big pussy, onto my workout which was actually really good. Squats were tough but def not a max effort, so im gonna stick with 3x5 for I think 285 next time I squat heavy. Speed bench was good, I think I had really good bar speed...probly coulda gone with 6x3 which would be my default but 135 was maybe a tinnny bit light so I decided 1 more set couldnt hurt since I was def getting faster as it went on. Finally set a PR on something...been months so that felt good. Hopefully get a plate up there soon...might try for some reps next time and maybe do 5x3 to start or something..I dont like loading 2 plates on the chain its just more annoying. So yah, we'll see.

-Mike

Seeing random strong dudes at the gym is always kinda crazy. 5 plates on the bench is nuts most Ive seen in real life is like 385 or something.

1/27/2009

Squat

3x5x285

Bench Press

3x5x205

WG Pullups

5xbw+10
5xbw+45 PR
4xbw+45
5xbw+35

Hanging Leg Raises

1x10

Good good. Squats, hard but good. Sore groin as usual..been rollin a littttle bit more on it, but I really need to stay on top of it. Never hurts once it gets loosened up tho so still not a big problem just annoying. Also, when I do really wide stance stuff it sux so I cant really do heavy box squats now (maybe could, but shouldnt imo). Sux cuz I really like box squatting, oh well. Bench good...2nd set was the hardest probly cuz I lost tightness a little I think in the unrack. Pullups, yay. Pretty long standing goal finally hit. Was pretty hard and last rep was a bit struggly but good enough. Hopefully next week I can get 3x5 maybe. My next goal for pullups is 5x70 cuz I think that would look cool Was gonna deadlift today, but squats took too much out of me hence the pullups. Will move deads to Friday instead..and probly do some DE work instead of squats. Im really starting to accumulate some fatigue imo. Im thinking some box jumps or such.

-Mike

Try light weight or bodyweight box squats or wider stance squats to test your groin. If it's a muscle belly injury, you want to work it. I'm sure it's getting worked in the squat, but the degree it's getting worked depends on stance width.

1/30/2009

Deadlift

3x365

Bench Press

4x4x210

Box Jumps off 16" Box

3x4

Nice quick workout today. Deadlifts were good...last rep probly wasnt the greatest but not bad. Will try 385 for a double or triple next week. Bench was supposed to be 3x5 but I missed first set, tried again 2nd set and missed again, so I decided to just do 4x4 instead If i have someone to workout with next time Ill probly do floor press, then move up to 215 for 3x5 workout after that. If not Ill repeat this next time hopefully for 3x5 or 4x5. Box jumps were good I guess, they were a bit hurried as the gym was closing but I think they went well and I was able to put a good effort in. I want to keep my dynamic exercises a bit varied cuz I think its better, and also more fun. For legs Ill be doing speed box squats and some of the higher intensity plyos. For chest probly speed bench, plyo pushups from boxes and some medball throwing. For back, probly pendlay rows and speed deads...too bad I cant olift. I am toying with the idea of speed pullups too..cant see why it wouldnt work.

TBK: Yah, sounds good..Ive heard split squats and sumo deads are good too.

-Mike