Setting the bar low, I see; glad to see it's rubbing off.

January 3rd: Bench Press Test Day

Bench Press: 60x5, 80x3, 90x1, 100x1, 105x1 (PR), 107.5x1 (PR!)
DB Bench: 30sx8x3
Cable Fly: 12x10x3
RKC Front and Side Planks: 5 rounds of ~10sec max effort

Boom, great start to the year! 11.5lb PR on bench. 105kg was pretty smooth with a slight slow down off the chest, 107.5kg was good off the chest, ground to a halt about half way up and then got moving again, so called it there. Putting my feet a little wider has helped stability a bit too, especially because of the moonboot on one leg. My guts are sore from the planks, and my abs were already sore from a marathon outing of the aidanmachinegun yesterday, which actually helped benching - being more aware of core tightness, and I'll probably add in some core activation stuff prior to or during lifting in the future. Definitely need more ab work in general.

Off to the beach camping for a few days next week, so I'll run a few more sessions of the Saw Protocol until then, then maybe run another Smolov cycle once back.

Have a rehab appt next monday as well. Have been walking around the house a little bit without the boot, and am hopeful I'll be able to get out of it more after this appointment. Rehab trucks along, definitely regaining a little size to the calf muscle, and should possibly measure it to see what the difference is. My wife pointed out my hamstring on that leg was a bit smaller than the opposite one, which gave me a sad, but is probably inevitable. Did an air squat without the boot, really creaky everywhere but got to parallel.

Nice job Aidan

All I have to say in celebration is:

Great job!

All the cool kids are doing low bar. You should too.

Awesome work Aidan. 2014 will be a great year for lifting.

Had to punch that in to my calculator. Nice!!

What's your weight? Are you sub180?

thanks, guys!

thanks! yeah, sub 180 for sure. probably around 174, guessing from a fully clothed and fed measurement.

Nice womens press imo. Congrats on PR!

cheers, dt!

January 4th: Back Day

Pullups: BWx8x3
BB Row: 60x5x3
Shrugz: 70x12x3
Cable Row: 72x10x3
DB Curls: 12.5sx10x3
Face Pulls: 24x15x3
Unilateral Standing Row: 24x10x2

In and out, time for some food and coffee and a lazy morning reading the papers. Might go do some muscle ups at the park if I get bored and the promised rain holds off.

Smolov success. Solid.

You're not out of boot much yet? My PT is giving me Idea that I could be but better to be conservative.

Around the house I don't wear the boot but don't go far. Not much outside (snow n ice) but some.

GL with rehab. I've also added Russian kb swings (in boot) to avoid glute and ham mush, plus glute ham raises.

Around the house I haven't been wearing it much either. Have just started mucking around with swings but not much, and no ghr. My surgeon was also quite conservative putting a 3-4 month timeline in the boot, and ill be three months middle of jan. Think i should get out of it asap, strength of repair permitting.

5th January:

35min LISS on the exercycle

New run of Smolov Jr for bench begins tomorrow. Put in a training max of 105kg, so we'll see how it goes, looks much tougher than the first run:

January 13th: Smolov Jr Week 1 Day 1

Bench Press: 72.5x6x6
Lat Pulldown: 125x10x3
Face Pulls: 18x15x3
KB Swings: 20x20x3
Goblet Squats: 16x10x3

Official Weigh In: 79.6kg

Ankle Rehab Update: Out of the boot since last week, which I spent camping at the beach. Still a bit limpy, but strength is slowly returning. I even squatted today! Got a nice blister on the bottom of the scar from my new sneakers which is bothering me a little bit, but still better than the boot. Been working on calf raises, wobble board/towel balances and other proprioceptive stuff. Still terrible at the balance stuff.

I have my eye on an Auckland Powerlifting Association novice meet in the middle of the year. They are affiliated with the IPF which i think is a good one? Regardless, Im going to give it a go irrespective of where my strength levels are at that time. No goals, just for experience.

Holiday location shot:

Sick.

I can see frodo

6 weeks home, and already on a communist-government-mandated 2-week vacation. Looks nice anyway. Congrats on your newfound mobility!

January 15th: Smolov Jr Week 1 Day 2:

Bench Press: 80x5x7
Cable Row: 72x10x3
DB Curls: 12.5sx10x3

Finished up with some ankle rehab stuff.

January 17th: Smolov Jr Week 1 Day 3:

Bench Press: 85x4x8
Cable Row: 72x10x3
Deadlift: 60x5x4

Tough. Alternating sets with some wobble board and ankle rehab stuff, definitely taking plenty of rest. I want to be more like weasel, so I drank two bud lite limes and hookgripped some deadlifts, concentrating on equal force generation between both legs.

Thanks for the re-title, AB

Aidan,

Awesome that you are going to do a meet. IPF is the most well known federation and is real good.

Any difference with smolov which days you back to back?

The calculator i used said M-W-F-Sat, so i do that. I think that is the classical way it is written, but i am not 100%. I read a blog where a guy left a day off between each day, but that's annoying from a scheduling pov.

Did you put up a pic post-boot? How's it lookin'?