Solid day. Good morning the last rep of the first set, but buckled down and felt pretty good about set number two. Bench was ok, at least I didn't get pinned. Went to full cleans because I was lazy and didn't feel like powercleaning 170, they were easy. Weight is steadily going down too, I'm sure it will slow as water loss stabilizes.
I have a chin up bar, I took it down over the holidays and have been too lazy to put it back up. I probably should start gtg again with them. Maybe if I do enough of them and keep grinding out the weight loss, I can stop using bands too!
Front Squat: 3x3x255
Press: 3x5x127.5
Deadlift: 2x390
Solid. Front squats were really tough, but I grinded them out. Press was ok, got a sixth rep above my head but couldn't lock it out. Second rep of the deadlift was tough, didn't attempt a third. Think I'm going to work up to a heavy single each week now and then do a set or two of lighter dynamic deadlifts after.
Been sick with a head cold all weekend/beginning of the week, so first time in the gym this week. Not 100% yet, felt pretty weak. Was planning on hitting two triples at 300, but was not coming close to happening today. Did a double and felt like I was going to break my back in half, so I dropped some weight and did a light triple that was much, much harder than it should have been. Took my cue from that to do an easy bench, felt better than the squat. Cleans weren't all that explosive, and was harder getting out of the bottom than it should have been. New weight PR though, probably half the weight loss was mucous.
Front Squat: 2x260, 2x1x260
Press: 4x130?, 2x5x130
Deadlift: 2x1x395
Mediocre day. Was feeling zero WIM on the front squats, grinded out two hard reps and then just added a couple of singles. Press was weird, almost was like I had slightly more weight on the left side for the first set and only did four. Swapped out the 25 on that side and followed up with two better sets of five. Did a couple of deadlift singles at 395, a PR. Not easy, but not real grindy either. Feeling a little bit better, cold has mostly cleared, although what's left is now bloody whenever I blow my nose, don't know what I did to cause that, hope it goes away soon. It's gotten down into my chest a little bit too, so coughing some phlegm up from time to time too. The bronkaid as part of the EC stack is an expectorant, so that might be what's helping it along. Added a little weight back, probably just water weight gained back that I lost from sneezing every two minutes over the weekend.
Just sort of messing around with the squat, hit a triple at 300 but it didn't feel good, so did a couple lower sets. Tweaked something in my left triceps area on the 300 set, it wasn't bad enough to make me quit for the day or anything, but I won't be shocked if I'm really sore tomorrow. Bench felt pretty good and fast, clean felt good too.
Front Squat: 3x3x260
Press: 2x5x132.5, 4x132.5
Deadlift: 1x400
Front squats were great, good speed, felt strong. Press was ok, failed the last rep. The left arm that I strained on Monday was better, but I could still feel it as I finished every rep. Deadlift was not good. About half way up, first my left angle popped immediately followed by my lower back. Finished the rep and then called it a day. It doesn't really hurt, it just feels a little odd right now. Hope it doesn't tighten up over night and it's just a minor thing, am going to deload the deadlift anyways.
Squat was feeling pretty good, then on the third rep there was sudden shooting pains in my left shoulder, just like last week, but worse. Shut it down after that. It feels almost like a deep bruise like I'd get from playing football. I have almost a full range of motion, except when I put my hand under my arm and then raise my elbow, sort of like how you'd make a chicken motion as a kid, that causes the pain level to go from a dull ache to the forefront. I'm going to ice it and take some painkillers, then really go to town on it with a lacrosse ball once the soreness has died down. I'm going to skip back squats for a few weeks too, I'll just front squat 2x a week since I don't think that position gives me any problems.
On the bright side, the back tweak from Thursday seems to have been minor, it didn't pose any problem today.
Lost the second rep at the bottom forward, and was lazy and decided that was enough. Went to bench, but I didn't even finish unracking the unloaded bar before I realized my left shoulder would have absolutely no part of it. Might be a little while before it's all better, been hitting with a lacrosse ball pretty good.
Going to do sort of a Texas Method style front squat progression for the next few weeks, no real reason behind it. Adding two reps was harder than I expected, even with 40 less pounds on the bar it really makes you focus and breath in between reps. Decided against doing anything else, shoulder is still a little tender and anything else would have put the shoulder under direct tension, either pulling during cleans or pushing down during presses. Better safe than sorry I guess, don't want to hurt it a third week in a row. Haven't been as strict with the diet, have a peanut butter pie in the fridge which I can't resist and a birthday party/dinner yesterday, but it looks like it didn't do any damage.
lol at today. Got one rep at 270, but it was the worst front squat ever. I might have had it racked too high or something, but I was feeling light headed from the very beginning. Did the rep, but form completely broke down, and I just racked it after that, felt like I was seeing stars. Took some weight off and tried to do a triple at 255, but my left fingers slipped off about half way up during the first rep, disappointed because it felt pretty solid up to that point, usually if my chest caves, it caves at the bottom, so don't really know what was going on. Anyways, said **** it and left after doing one single as my entire worksets. Left shoulder is feeling better, will do a full workout on Monday.
I'm starting to hate front squats. Did sets of four instead of five because **** them, they suck. Press was ok, first set had one of the too heavy weights on one side so did an off balance set of four. Minimal discomfort on the left shoulder. Tried to powerclean, but I got my first warmup an inch off the ground before realizing that the shoulder hasn't healed up enough to pull with it yet.
Blah. Planned on doing a triple at 265, but failed the second rep. Didn't lose it forward this time at least, managed to maintain an upright torso and kept the elbows up, but didn't have it in the legs. Bench warmups felt good, but after doing the first workset I could feel a little soreness in my left tri, so I shut it down. Better than last week I guess.
Ok day. Failed a fourth rep in the front squat on set one, so just did two more sets of three. Press felt pretty good, shoulder was mostly pain free. Depending on how I feel benching Thursday, I might back squat light and clean next Monday, I might not, we'll see.
Failed a third front squat single. Bench felt pretty good, I'd say my shoulder is back to 80-90%. Going to front squat Monday and then back squat light Thursday, same thing with cleans and deadlift.
Decent day. Rack position felt off at the beginning of the second set of squats, so I did a single and a double. Press was ok, and I was able to powerclean pain free. Going to back squat light on Weds or Thurs and deadlift light too.
****ing damn it, tweaked my shoulder again. Squat felt rusty but still light, but third rep of the bench did it again. Not that bad this time, but still. Best way to describe it is that it feels almost like a bunch of air bubbles were bursting on the upper part of the tri/bi just below the shoulder. **** this ****, it's pissing me off.
Front Squat: 3x245, fx245, 1x245
Press: 2x5x130
Powerclean: 3x3x145
First set of front squats felt good. I focused on driving my feet apart so that I sat down in between the legs more, felt like that kept a better back angle. Second set I didn't step back out enough and hit the bar on the squat rack, failed the rep. Then did a single and failed the second rep, called it a day. Think I'm going to switch to that reverse pyramid training I've seen some guys do in their logs, I just do not recover in between sets anymore. Press was ok, did two solid sets of five. Then I just didn't have the first rep off my chest in the third set, the first and last rep are usually the hardest for me since I do use a little bit of a bounce reflex at the bottom, decided 2x5 was enough. Cleans felt great, very light, no pain in the arm. Think I'm going to do some push presses on Thursday, pressing seems better for my shoulder than benching.
Weight is down to 223.4, going down really quick. Makes sense that I'm not feeling that strong if I'm losing at this pace. Not really trying to cut back on calories or anything, must just have not been all that hungry this week back on ephedrine. Must have been ordering off the taco bell diet menu on Friday that did it, although I still pounded one of the GOAT fast food items, the Cheesy Gordita Crunch.
Really like the reverse pyramid setup, felt like I was in a really good groove, form wasn't breaking down from fatigue at all. Press was blah, wasn't going up even, shoulder was not great. Cleans were really good and easy.
Weight: 224.6. I think the 223 measurement was an error, I've found that there's a little more give in the floorboards in different parts of the room, which results in a 2-3 pound difference in the weighing.
