How is the life? I wonder similar like Rexx, if you are OK. I mean at least you are posting somewhere on 2+2.

And I'm back! Been busy with the wife's therapy and moving but mostly "in" the new place and "out" of the old place. Never getting beyond half-assed in the downstairs gym so went today and joined the nearby "STARTING STRENGTH" gym which also has olympic platforms and a crossfit section and all around pretty good (including shoe and belt cubbies!).

Gonna' approach the layoff with regular easy weight Starting Strength +pullups for a few weeks. Still staying away from low bar squat due to elbow pain and I'm also dancing around a bit of a thumb injury related to...sawing.

6-27 -- 240 lbs

HBB Squat 3x5x245
Bench Press 3x5x195
Pullups 3x5x+25
Deadlift 2x5x315 (thumbless open-grip)

Oof.

Sucks. Seeing a shrink who would like me to get on some meds but in the meantime insisting I get back to carving out "me" time which has been sorely lacking for a while. Hence joining the gym. Wife is making progress.

Fantastic to see you are back! Definitely agree with your shrink that you need some Holliday time. Very pleasing that your wife is making progress Super excited you're back!

Ha! Holliday is back! * jump jump jump*

Glad to hear that you are kicking life back. Sure that it is not easy. Me time.... is always nice. The question is how realistic it is...gym is clearly good if you manage to fit it in.

Please tell us that you still have two thumbs. Welcome back!

Just nicked it to the bone. Feels not great to the touch and keeps opening up again. Not ideal for moving but much better already.

Just a nick to the bone. I figured you were downplaying things a bit but am glad to hear that your thumbless grip was not meant to be taken literally.

6-29 -- 242 lbs

HBB Squat 2x5x265, 7x265
Overhead Press 6x135, 5x140, 5x135
Pendlay Rows 10x215, 6x235, 2x5x235
Sumo Deadlift 5x225, 5x275
Deadlift 3x315, 5x335

Found my wrist straps, woot woot. Some DOMS but not terrible. Warming up and general movement felt better today.

7/2 -- 240 lbs

Front Squat 5x135 (53X1), 3x185 (53X1), 5x205
HBB Squat (ATG) 5x245 (31X1), 3x6x280, 3x225 (53X1)
Chinups ladder 1->5xbw, 5x+25, 3x5x+45, 8xbw
Bench Press 6x185, 3x5x210
French Press 3x8x70
Sumo Deadlift 2x5x225
Deadlift 3x315, 355f, 10x1x355 (30 sec rests)

Not bad except I felt like I was gonna' throw up doing deadlifts. Warming up felt like complete ass. A couple of bad sleep/high stress days recently due to a wife medical "urgency" which seems mostly handled for now--was able to get some help in an urgent care yesterday and then to a specialist today. God it's nice to be in an actual city again--have problem, find solution (even on a Sunday); woot, woot! Anyway, that's why the workout got pushed back by a day, although I did make it late to the downstairs gym for some stationary bike last night.

Glad to see you're back at it, man. Heal up quickly.

Thanks man. Today no DOMS for the first time so far--sweet! Thumb is like 99% except it'll take a while for the nail to grow back. I'm actually somewhat pleased with how well I sharpened the saw to wreak such damage.

7/3 - 242 lbs

Easy Run 3.61 miles hills in 52:45 (14:37 pace) 627 alleged calories

Gawd, found the worst route ever today. Slow due to hills, lights, traffic, and heat. Also possibly due to old, fat, and out of shape.

I always wonder about objective definitions of "fat" and "old". You even considering the mere possibility that you somehow fit into this words makes me wonder even more.

Objective? C'mon Lapka, is that even a word?

Jeppp...

3.61 miles in 52.45 is objectively slow.

Touche

7/4 -- 239 lbs

Front Squats 3x5x225 - easy
Overhead Press 3x5x145 - hard
SSB Squats (like low bar) 3x5x295 - hard
Pendlay Rows 10x225, 3x6x255 - medium

Celebrate the independence of your country by lifting a small part of it up!

You're pushing the rest of it down in the process, though.

7/6 -- 245 lbs

Front Squats 5x135 (53X1), 5x185 (31X1), 3x225 (3PX1), 5x245 last set hard
HBB Squats 3x265 (31X1), 3x5x300, 8x245 hard
Pullups ladder 1->5, 5x+25, 5x+45 hard and awful
Bench Press 6x185, 215, 6x215, 7x215 doesn't feel hard but I sure can't count while doing

My bodyweight going up is a little weird since today was the first time the belt felt loose (at 2 loops wider than 6 months ago). Had to cut the workout short due to a wife call but that's ok because I whacked the **** out of my thumb yesterday and was really not looking forward to deadlifts with it. Just Amrapped last bench press set and ran.

Gawd, everything today just felt ****ing terrible. Like, the weight went but the body was just being a total ***** about it. Lowered my expected work weight as a result and think that was perfect for squat but underwhelming for bench. I suspect the terrible feels are the result of *no hot yoga* in between workouts. I have not yet joined a yoga studio here but it's on my to-do list (and moving up in priority after this ****show). To be honest, and don't make a big deal out of this, thinking about hot yoga is making me a little sad atm.

7/8 — 243.5 lbs

Easy Run hills 4.1 miles in 48:51 (11:57 pace) 732 alleged calories Avg. HR 153.

Temp was stuck in the 70s for some reason.

7/9 -- 244.6 lbs

Warmup only:
Squats, OH Press, Chinups

...and got a distress call from wife right before first work set of front squats. Stupid Apple watch works just like it's supposed to, grumble, mumble. By the time I got home and helped her it was too late to head back. Think I'll try the same workout tomorrow but may swap rows for chins. Could be really annoying since todays warmups felt great.

7/10 -- 244 lbs

HBB Squat 5x135 (53X1), 3x225 (31X1), 3x285, 3x5x310
Overhead Press 8x125, 155, 3x5x155
BTN Press/Push Press 4x135/4x135
Chinups ladder 1->5, 5x+35, 2x5x+65, 4x+65(f5), 8xbw
Sumo Deadlift 5x225, 3x275
Deadlift 3x335, 10x1x365
Dips ladder 1->5, 3x8xbw
Zottman Curls 5x10x40s

Well today felt pretty good except for chinups. Strength is just not "coming back" on that one and it could just be no "Neutral Grip" holds anywhere and just straight bars. I may have to start doing pullup workouts separately in my building's gym where there are NG holds.

I did not do 315 pound squats today because I wasn't doing 315 today--I was doing 310 and that was hard enough. I'll do 3 wheels next time.

155 OHP felt pretty hard around the 3rd rep but ultimately I just knew I can handle that weight, **** whatever I'm feeling. Probably time to reduce jumps to 5 lbs.

Took some video today including the deadlift SSPT thing that's about 10 minutes (starts at 30 second rests and..gets longer towards the end, lol.) Will post some later. I could have probably done 5x400 today.

Here are vids of the last sets.

OHP 5x155:




HBB Squat 5x310:




Deadlift 10 singles 365:

7/11 -- 245.3 lbs

Yoga

Found a nice studio nearby. OK class but not particularly challenging. Not a heated studio, but will try it for a month and see how well it jives. Hot yoga kinda sucks in the summer anyway and my closest hot studio is closed for renovations. I felt pretty tight today and body really feeling yesterday's workout.

As an aside; Atlanta appears to have a weird issue with women acting like they're super-hot bombshells when they are, notably, not. It's everywhere.

Calming to read that even you with all your crazy strength do better on the neutral grip than on a straight bar. Curious what exactly defines hot bombshell acting. Would like to avoid doing that accidentally.