I say you look stronger in the sleeves if for no other reason that they cover up your wobbling knees

I do think your squats are looking better as you are going up in weight.

Thanks bros!

lol magking, a strong bonus I never considered!

Monday October 9 – 145.4 lbs

2hr 15min hike, 5.8miles, 1,000 foot elevation change, +25lbs

2936 cal/330 carb/105 fat/175 protein/50 fibre

I went for a hike first thing in the morning. My wife and kids were going to join me afterwards for another hike but it was pouring rain all morning so they cancelled. I briefly thought about doing another loop on my own but 2 full hours of getting rained on was about enough for me. My long weekend eating binge continued with the better part of another pumpkin pie and 600cals shot to movie popcorn in addition to plenty of tasty real food.

Tuesday October 10 – 143.4 lbs

Rest day
Minimal mobility and dynamic stretching stuff, maybe 10 mins

1651 cal/140 carb/54 fat/172 protein/38 fibre

Every thanksgiving family descends upon our house and infects it. All three of my wife’s sister’s girls were hacking phlegm and mucus all over everything. My Mom was dying of ebola so badly that she couldn’t leave the house on Monday morning to catch her flight and flew out last night instead. Tuesday morning one of my boys woke up vomiting and Tuesday night the other came down with a fever. Time to burn the house down and start all over.

Wednesday October 11 – 142.4 lbs

25 mins core, mobility and dynamic stretching stuff
OHP – 2x5x45lbs, 5x65, 2x5x81, 5x81, 9x70
Chin-ups – 7x, 6x +27.5lbs
Squats – 15xbw, 2x10x45lbs, 2x5x85, 5x125, 3x165, 2x185, 2x5x212.5, 5x212.5, 8x185

2014 cal/143 carb/82 fat/192 protein/43 fibre

Went home early with early onset stomach-ebola but after spending a bit of time on my couch whining I figured I would take a crack at getting my scheduled work out in. Lower back was a bit sore after doing my overhead limbo presses so I was undecided throughout my squat warmups as to whether I would add any weight to the bar for this session. In the end I tricked myself into adding 2.5lbs by considering adding 5 to make it 215. Got me good. Almost missed the 5th rep on my first work set and found subsequent 5th reps a bit of a struggle but not as bad as the first go around. A reset is happening very soon but the hiking over the last while seems to have stretched things out a bit.

Thursday October 12 – 145.4 lbs

53 min walk (some running), 4.16miles, +25lbs
3x6 pullups
3x8 NG chins
3x8 chins
25 mins core, mobility and dynamic stretching stuff

1644 cal/112 carb/64 fat/179 protein/31 fibre

I was at home for most of the day due to my basement getting backed up with our own sewage. Excellent use of a vacation day. Threw my backpack on and headed out for a walk while the cleanup crew was at it. I ended up mixing in some decent chunks of running other than the first 8 mins and last 12 mins or so which were all walking. The running portions were not fast and my body let me know that it doesn’t like running with a 25 pound backpack on but it did it. Mixed in running for 0.3 – 0.5 miles at a time with some short bouts of walking in between. My knees and ankles complained a decent amount but I think just a little bit of stretching beforehand would have done the trick. I had only intended on walking so didn’t bother with any stretching before I went out. Meanwhile my wife was down and out with full blown stomach bug issues. My stomach has been iffy for the past few days but this virus working its way through our house hasn’t take full hold on me yet.

Friday October 13 – 142.6 lbs

25 mins core, mobility and dynamic stretching stuff
Unscheduled rest day

1591 cal/121 carb/53 fat/178 protein/38 fibre

My right ankle was quite sore all day and I didn’t get home from work until almost 8pm. Those were all the excuses my InnerEV needed to crumble and call it a rest day. Iced my ankle, watched garbage on Netflix, stayed up too late and then got woken up several times overnight by the mini beasts. Was supposed to do a Bench/DL workout which probably would have been just fine on the ankle. Anyway, I’ll do that workout this morning and squat tomorrow and either lose a hike or run for the week or sneak something in later in the weekend.

Saturday October 14 – 141.7 lbs

25 mins core, mobility and dynamic stretching stuff
Bench – 10x45lbs, 2x5x65, 5x95, 2x5x120, 8x120, 12x105
DB Curls – 3x15x30lbs
Barbell Curls – 5x45lbs, 2x15x55
RDL – 2x8x45lbs, 8x95
DL – 5x95lbs, 5x135, 5x165, 6x205, 7x175
RDL – 8x95lbs, 6x115, 5x135

1 hour off road walk at hobble speed with kid, 2.8miles, +25 pounds

2266 cal/149 carb/95 fat/219 protein/36 fibre

Deadlifts felt a bit better other than the first couple and last couple. So, maybe 1 rep felt decent. Bench was causing all kinds of pain in my left arm again. That seems to be happening at lower and lower weights so I probably should be giving that lift some rest and swapping in something else. On the bright side I stopped noticing any pain in my right ankle after benching. Did some extra curls to try to help with blood flow in the elbow area but couldn't find anything heavier than 15lb dumbbells. Iced my ankle a bit more last night but it is still sore this morning which has me considering pushing squats off another day. Might just do half of my planned workout today.

Sunday October 15 – 142.4 lbs

25 mins core, mobility and dynamic stretching stuff

KB Halos – 3x10x16kg
KB Rows – 3x12x16kg
OHP – 2x5x45lbs, 5x65, 2x5x82, 5x82, 9x70
Chin-ups – 7x, 6x +27.5lbs
Face Pulls – 3x15x25lbs
Pullups – 3x6
Chin-ups – 3x8

2053 cal/190 carb/80 fat/164 protein/48 fibre

My five year old did a work out with me, joining me for almost half of my stretching and core stuff and then he did a decent number of chin-ups hanging off the barbell between my OHP sets. He was good for one or two chin over bar chins per set with lots of partials. He wanted to use the simple econo spud pulley I have collecting dust in the garage so I ended up doing a few sets of face pulls messing around with different heights on the pulley. I did a couple sets with the pulley around nipple height and then tried it at closer to nose height. Nose height worked much better as the reduced length of hang saved me a couple feet of real estate on the pulls. Skipped squats as my ankle was still quite sore so added some other stuff. May do squats Monday night instead of a full rest day depending on how things feel. Splashed around in the pool later in the day with the kids but it was all fun nothing resembling exercise.

Monday October 16 – 142.8 lbs

25 mins core, mobility and dynamic stretching stuff
Squats – 15xbw, 2x10x45lbs, 2x5x75, 2x5x95, 5x125, 5x145, 3x165, 2x175, 6x5x185
KB Rows – 2x12x20kg

1626 cal/123 carb/54 fat/176 protein/38 fibre

Argued with myself back and forth for a while about taking the day off versus trying to pick up yesterdays missed squats. Eventually settled on doing some light squats. My ankle is still quite sore but it seems to be more sensitive to any sort of impact whereas standing and squatting didn’t bother it much at all. Didn’t try anything heavier than my recent back off set weight anyway. Did a few kettlebell rows afterwards with too many reps at that weight for me to handle properly.

Tuesday October 17 – 142.5 lbs

Rest day

1475 cal/79 carb/62 fat/168 protein/35 fibre

Now that I've trolled your squat into progress, I'm going to start in on your deadlift:

Change to block pulls or rack pulls, please. Find the lowest rack setting or block height (I prefer blocks for this) that allows you to get down and grasp the bar with a flat back (your lower back is currently not flat when you pull from the floor). When you find that height, work up to a set of 5 with a non-trivial amount of weight and record the set. If your back is flat, go for aggressive (10lb a week initially) progress and see where things go. You can program it like your deadlift, though I think you'll find with a flat back that you will be able to handle more sets and frequency.

I'm mainly saying this because the weight you're pulling from the floor is so unchallenging as to be almost a waste of your time, but I can see why you're hesitant to increase the weight when you're doing them with a rounded back. With what you've been squatting, you should be able to hip-extend >250 lb in some fashion. Just maybe not a barbell off the floor quite yet.

lol, funny cause true

Funny timing on this post as I was just thinking about this and looking into it on my most recent DL day. I think I even started thinking about it because I knew that I was about due for another reminder from you to look into block pulls. I only have bumper plates at home and wasn't sure they would be suitable for use as blocks with more concern for the smaller plates. I thought the safety pins would work much better for rack pulls but with the plate storage pins get in the way such that I would have to pull from not much below the knees. And I am far too lazy to remove the storage pins. After mulling that over for a bit I just lifted from the floor and did Rentonpenance by adding some extra RDL's after.

I do have a pair of 45lb bumper plates that just sit around waiting for someone to get strong enough to use so I could use those as blocks and they should stand up to some light abuse. They are fairly thick, close to 2.5". As soon as I get to a non-trivial weight I need those 45's on the bar though. The alternative is likely rack pulls but from not much below the knee which I think may be too high. I suspect that pulls from the 45 plates is the better option given the height differential but I do like idea of using the pins for rack pulls better.

Good job by Ariel. Card is so sick, can't wait. I have to be at a wedding that night so logistics are going to be a problem. I probably buy and pvr and then try to avoid news until Sunday morning and watch it the next day. May have to at least watch the GSP fight before sleeping. And the Joanna/Rose fight. And Cody/TJ. And Hendricks and Gall and Cummins. Damn. And Thompson.

Wednesday October 18 – 142.5 lbs

25 mins core, mobility and dynamic stretching stuff

A
Dips – 5x5
Feet Raised Push-ups – 5x15
DB Curls – 3x15x15lbs

B
Barbell Curls – 5x45lbs, 2x15x55

C
Face Pulls – 3x15x15lbs
KB Rows – 3x8x16kg
Pallof Press – 3x10x15lbs

1663 cal/115 carb/65 fat/173 protein/40 fibre

I dorked around for a while trying to set up an incline bench press and eventually gave up and moved on. I did dips and push-ups with my feet on a bench in place of benching. Both bothered my left arm to varying degrees, push-ups moreso than dips, but neither as bad as benching. Not sure my depth was what it should be on the dips and they were tougher than I was expecting. Messed around a bit with face pulls, pallof presses and kb rows. Form needs work on all of them which is really no surprise as I have close to no idea what I am doing. Threw in some extra upper body stuff as by the time I got going I did not feel like going as late as would be needed to get through all my squats. Will plan to just do squats Thursday night.

You should be able to find some thick rubber tiles from a hardware store somewhere. You could stack them 3 or 4 high or put one on top of a plate to get the desired height.

Thursday October 19 – 141.2 lbs

25 mins core, mobility and dynamic stretching stuff
Squats – 15xbw, 2x10x45lbs, 2x5x85, 5x125, 3x165, 2x195, 2x5x215, 5x215, 8x185
NG Chins – 1x10

1718 cal/79 carb/79 fat/191 protein/39 fibre

Felt super fatigued before doing squats but not so bad during. Had some pretty lengthy rests between sets due to life with kids. Weight felt heavy despite the extra rest and I started to lose the bar down my back towards the end of my last set as well as during the back off set. I keep planning to reset and I may do so now. I may also repeat this weight. Or add to it. Very undecided. Back and shoulders were pretty sore today and tonight from last night’s workout.

I should be able to piece something together. Pretty sure I can get safety pins set up for rack pulls if not able to do something with blocks.

Just go 220 next time dude! Seems like you're one of those lifters where every rep looks like RPE9 but you still keep grinding them out. So based on that you had like 5 more

Heh, I had 4 more tops!
I chopped my increases in half at some point, so likely to go for 217.5 or maybe even 216.25 for maximum rustle next time.

Friday October 20 – xxx lbs

25 mins core, mobility and dynamic stretching stuff
OHP – 2x5x45lbs, 5x65, 2x5x83, 5x83, 9x70
RDL – 2x8x45lbs, 2x8x95
Block Pulls – 5x95lbs, 5x135, 5x165, 6x205, 6x175
NG Chins – 7x, 6x +27.5lbs

2200 cal/143 carb/97 fat/206 protein/41 fibre

Had to get up at an ungodly hour to attend a breakfast fundraiser and missed stepping on the scale in my bleary eyed exit this morning. This also meant I consumed about one-half of my daily kcals about four or five hours ahead of when I usually have my first meal of the day. Anyway, long day, got home late, had a crappy workout. I kept knocking the bar off of J cups or the bracket for the pulley during OHP. My lower back was quite sore after pressing. My first attempts at block pulls went poorly. More rounding. Needs work. Lower back was really sore during pulls but was okay not long after finishing up. Next session will be better I expect. Probably doing a little hike tomorrow morning. My ankle still feels too sore for running still but I think hiking will be okay.

That looks like the right height and 205 was probably a decent place to start. The first two reps look pretty good and much better than your deadlift. It looks like you got a bit careless after that. I think you definitely have the mobility to flatten your back with bar set at that height, it's just a matter of cuing it harder. Don't break the bar off the floor until you feel most of its weight in your hands. Pretty much if you're standing with the bar over mid foot and your shins are touching it and you feel 2/3 of the weight of the bar in your hands then it kind of necessitates that the other variables are lined up too: legs are pushing the floor, hips are pulling the bar, back is flattening.

Since you have the bar set substantially higher, you now have more leeway to use a slightly wider stance and grip, either/both of which might allow you get into a stronger position to pull. Maybe try bringing them out a bit and turning your feet out a bit more and see if that helps.

Nothing felt right pulling from the blocks. I'll have to play around with stance and how close I set up to the bar. I think a lot of the issue was doing limbo presses just prior as well. My lower back felt way off that night but everything felt fine within an hour of stopping. Thanks.

Saturday October 21 – 143.1 lbs

10 mins dynamic stretching and some mobility stuff
2hr 10min hike @kid speed, 4.8 miles, 675 foot elevation change, +25lbs
15 mins swim

2158 cal/194 carb/79 fat/179 protein/44 fibre

We all went for a relatively easy hike in the morning but it still pushed my ankle to its limits. Going at kid speed usually drives me a little nuts but it was actually a bit of a relief this time out. Going uphill seems to be much more of an issue than going down. No sharp pain really but a general localized discomfort, noticeable when swimming as well. Ankle feels just fine today.