With GSLP, since I'm doing 5+ reps on my third workset, 3x5/5/9x225 just means:

2x5x225
1x9x225

I agree my way isn't very intuitive, but I was trying to save space. I'll just write it the normal way next time :-)

Thanks for the kind wishes!

what does the /5/ mean though? By the way ignore everything I say on every single subject ever, it's probably a million times better I'm just a cranky salt.

The slashes in the middle just divide up the different sets; the /5/ would correspond to my second workset (with 5/ being the first and /9 being the last). So maybe

3x(5/5/9)x225 or 3x(5,5,9)x225

is more clear?

/notation nittery

I like that new way better. If the /5/ is for the second set then wouldn't the 2x5 explain that?

5/5/9x225 imo

9/19

Accessory work for the week is 5 x 25 pushups and 5 x 5 chinups M - F.

Not that great of a workout today, but luckily my failure will allow me to see if my new notation is acceptable:

Press
wu + 1x5x117.5, 1x4x117.5, 1x3x117.5

My shoulder/tricep area is still not right, and it really only hurts press (I feel it during dips and bench but it doesn't seem to have much, if any, adverse effect). I'm going for my deep tissue massage tomorrow, hopefully that will put me on the road to recovery.

Chins

8/6 x bw + 5

First time doing weighted chins so I wanted to ease into it; not that bad.

Squats

wu+ 3x5x155

Reset down to 155, and it did not go well (when my workout partner gets back next week I will get a video or two up). I have a lot of trouble sitting back enough at the start (I feel like I am going to fall over backwards), and I don't feel like I can keep my back tight enough (or at all) in the hole; my guess is that this is due to my spectacularly poor hamstring/hip mobility issues (i.e. if I am sitting with my legs flat on the ground I can't get my torso close to perpendicular to the floor).

I've started doing hamstring stretches (Rip's standing stretch where I put my hands on the floor and try to straighten my legs) every day (5x30 s) and I've done some hunting around and found that spidermans are a good hip mobility exercise. Any other mobility exercise suggestions?

RDL

2x8x45

Tried to get the hang of these and just couldn't do it, I suspect my poor mobility and awareness of my hip/hamstrings was the culprit. I'll do some GHRs at home tonight and see if that's any better.

9/20

5 x 30s standing hamstring stretch, also about halfway through with my frequency work for the day.

HIIT
Exercise bike Level 6
3 min warmup
10 x 15 s sprint @ ~130 rpm
10 x 45 s pace @ ~90 rpm
3 min cooldown
4.6 total miles

My pulse is always in the 170-180 range during the HIIT portion, so I guess my blood is like ketchup. Physical is coming up in a month so I may need to get the ol bp checked.

Tried doing GHR at home last night and I stunk. I think I am just going to have to figure out my RDL form quickly . . . I think I am going to reset my squat (again) and work on keeping my back extended no matter what. This is getting frustrating . . .

Just got a deep tissue massage (gift certificate from the wife). Wasn't quite what I was expecting, as there was mood music and body lotion. I think I'll use that ART finder that cha posted a little while ago to find somewhere close to me that can do ART. My left arm does feel a little better, but the proof will be in the pudding on Friday I guess.

Happy ending?

My impression from a hudge sample size of two are that deep tissue massages at "commercial" (for lack of a better word) massage places are weak and not suited for people who lift. You need someone who knows their **** well and will punish you, not someone who will coddle you.

Agree with HS btw, 5/5/9 ainec. 3x5/5/9 is just weird and plain wrong. Without knowing what program you were on I'd be confuzzled.jpg.

Unfortunately no happy ending, I didn't realize until I got there but the wife made me an appointment with a dude (she claims because she didn't think a woman would be strong enough).

Going to find an ART guy for next time I think. My shoulder/arm feels slightly better today, but the dude thought it may be a tendon (as opposed to a muscle) problem; hopefully I can see a professional for a second opinion at some point in the next few weeks and get this thing on the road to recovery a little faster. I did get a Theracane though so I am trying an all fronts assault on it with that plus a rolling pin/foam roller/lacrosse ball.

I got that impression too; it hurt a decent amount, but mostly because I just got back into foam rolling and have been a pansy about it. Hopefully I'll have a trip report in a few weeks about someone brutalizing me so much I lose 2 lbs in tears; until then I am just going to have to clumsily work my way through it on my own.

Message received on the notation!

9/21

Shoulder/tricep was still noticeable throughout the workout, so it doesn't seem "fixed". Oh well.

Bench
wu+ 5/5/9x230

9th rep took forever to get up but I gutted it out. I am interested to see how long I can keep putting up 3rd sets like this. Will be adding 5 lbs on Monday.

Standing EZ Bar Curl
1 x 12 x 55
1 x 12 x 60

Dips
10/6 x bw+25

DL
wu + 1x5x215

Felt pretty good, I think I am going to repeat 215 next week just to make sure that my back is tight enough (hopefully I will have a video).

RDL
3 x 5 x 95

Not sure if I should be doing more reps or whatever, but I concentrated on keeping my upper and lower back tight and staying back on my heels. Legs were slightly bent and I went down until I felt the stretch, while throwing my hips back and keeping the bar along my thighs/shins.

Will do some standing hamstring stretches this afternoon, and some more this evening. Also I've started foam rolling as per cha's t-nation link, and I'll be doing a few hip mobility exercises in between finishing up my pushups/pullups and doing some band internal/external rotations.

HIIT
Exercise bike Level 6
3 min warmup
10 x 15 s sprint @ ~135 rpm
10 x 45 s pace @ ~90 rpm
3 min cooldown
4.7 total miles

God I hate cardio; according to the bike my pulse is between 170 and 180 for the entirety of the spring/pace period. Everything I've read says that's a little high for my target heart rate; instead of targeting RPMs for my sprints should I be targeting a specific heart rate range?

More hamstring and hip stretching tonight, along with foam rolling.

9/23

Left shoulder/tri still sore. Trying to get a PT referral from my MD . . .

Press

wu + 5/5/6 x 105

Didn't feel great even after the reset, this is getting depressing.

Chins

7/6 x bw + 10

Felt pretty decent, maybe will try to get 2x8 before moving up to bw +15

Squats

wu + 5/5/9 x 145

Reset down to 145 (again) to work on form; I'll be doing the same weight Fri and Mon and then adding 5 pounds the following Friday. Really tried to sit back and feel the bounce off of my hamstrings at the bottom of each rep, as well as keeping my back tight, and I felt somewhat successful. Should I look into getting squatting shoes (currently I use regular adidas samba type shoes). Any suggestions if so?

RDL

3x8x95

Felt better today, really tried to keep the weight back on my heels. Hopefully these help my squat/DL numbers.

9/26

I think I am going to lay off frequency pushups for a few weeks and see if that helps my arm; chins seems fine though so I'll do 6 sets of 5 daily this week.

I tried maxing out on bench today, and got decently high before I was foiled by my spotter leaving (my normal partner was busy at lunch and couldn't come).

Bench
wu + 3 x 225, 1 x 265; 1 x 275; 1 x 285; 1 x 290, 1 x 295

I think I had 300 or 305 in there, but after my set at 295 there was literally just an 80 pound girl in the gym. I had wanted to do a few reps of heavy negatives after I eventually failed a weight, but oh well.

Standing EZ Bar Curl

1 x 12 x 62.5
1 x 12 x 65

Dips

2 x 7/6 x bw + 35

Squats

wu + 5/5/7 x 145

Tried to go a bit deeper than Friday; I didn't get as many reps in my third set but I felt like I stayed back on my heels and got lower, so that was a positive. I'm going to be out of town on Friday, so I won't be squatting again for a week. I'll see how I feel on Monday, but I'll probably move up to 150.

RDL

3 x 5 x 115

Having trouble keeping my lower back flexed and my shoulders pinned doing this exercise; I will probably stay at this weight until I can do that consistently, and then move up.

It occurs to me that maybe I should cut OHP out of my workout for a few weeks and see if that helps; what's everyone's opinion of substituting some sort of BB or DB row instead to try and shore up that area while maybe letting my arm/shoulder heal a little bit?

Found this link in cha's thread:

http://train.elitefts.com/exercise-i...-in-shoulders/

Given how upper body dominated I used to be I'd be surprised if poor shoulder mobility isn't a contributing factor to my issues. I'm going to try to do this mobility work for the next few weeks or so and see if it doesn't help the issue.

Holy crap your bench is high.

That's all I have to add right now, .

For my size it's not that great (although orders of magnitude better than my squat/DL numbers). I do tell myself that my bench numbers are pretty good for someone with my ridiculously long arms though; my goal is to get to having a work set around 275. Unfortunately for me, that means it is going to take a bit more of a sustained effort to get my squat to that level than I'd previously thought lol.

Just checked my internal/external rotation as per the Robertson video I linked earlier, and, unsurprisingly, I have much less external rotation in my left shoulder than my right (although neither is great, my right shoulder is at least good). Off to A&C to find some mobility stuff.

Yeah, A&C has to be +EV even if you're just bored. So thumbs up to that!

9/27

HIIT
Exercise bike Level 6
3 min warmup
10 x 15 s sprint @ ~135 rpm
10 x 45 s pace @ ~90 rpm
3 min cooldown
4.75 total miles (+ .05 mi)

Went pretty well, nothing remarkable. Nothing left for today except chins and mobility work (especially on my shoulder). Interestingly enough, I am noticeably tighter pretty much everywhere on my left (non-dominant) side (hamstrings, external rotators, hip); hopefully some focused work over the rest of the year will correct that.

So I was doing some external rotator mobility exercises, specifically the one where you lie face down, put your arms at 9 o'clock and 3 o'clock, externally rotate so you are giving the thumbs up sign, and pinch your scapulae together and raise your arms and hold. My wife walks by and asks what I'm doing, I tell her, and then she tells me to straighten my left arm. I tell her of course it is, she insists it's not, I indignantly tell her it is. So, to show her how wrong she is, I strain to hyperextend my left arm --and actually straighten it (probably 20 degrees more). Moral of the story -- my left shoulder is tight as ****. More scap wall slides/door slides for me I guess lol.

9/28

Got a great start to the workout when I realized I forgot a workout tshirt and athletic socks. I decided to skip doing OHP for the reaons outlined early in the blog; I have been doing a fair bit of band external and internal rotations and shoulder mobility work nightly and I am a little sore in the shoulder area right now.

Chins
8/6/4 x bw +10

DL

wu + 1 x 5 x 215

RDL

3 x 5 x 135

I noticed some upper back rounding in my DL, should I be ditching the bicep curlz on bench day to do some more back work (i.e. pendlay rows)? Rep number 2 in particular looked pretty bad. Also looks like I need to keep my upper back tighter.