Posting this here as a reminder to myself:

Also, got maybe 4 hours of sleep last night because the night nurse is on vacation, and one of the minicores decided he needed to express himself until 5 in the morning. On the plus side, it was less annoying then listening to loco talk about carbs, but only marginally.

8/27
Upper Volume

Bench
wu+1x5x262.5, 1x5x260, 1x5x257.5
Felt pretty easy, actually, I feel like I will probably be able to microload up for the next few weeks at least.

Press
wu+ 3x5x145
Tough but manageable; this is about where I stalled before, so hopefully I can get to 5 across at 150 before I have to reset. Will be planning on moving on to a saw-style once per week program for bench and press within the next 6-8 weeks probably, so hopefully my press will improve even more when I'm not benching immediately beforehand.

Dips
1x5xbw+52.5, 1x5xbw+50, 1x5xbw+47.5
Very hard, might not have rested enough in between sets.

Chins
1x5xbw+17.5, 1x5xbw+15, 1x5xbw+12.5
Grindy but got it done. Might need another minute or so of rest in between sets, but this workout is already pretty long.

8/28
Lower Volume

Squat
wu+ 5x5x230
Felt pretty good, still going to stick here for a while until I get my intensity squat worked out. Need to be better about doing hip mobility.

RDLs
3x8x185
Starting to get a little challenging, concentrating on staying back on my heels and humping the bar at the top.

Pendlays
3x5x185
Went up to 185 early because loading on 180 is a pain in the ass, no issues.

Standing DB Curls
1x12x35, 2x10x35
Swolertrophy achieved.

8/30
Upper Intensity

Bench
wu+1x3x287.5

Was pretty nervous before this for some reason, but whereas 282.5 and 285 were pretty grindy, these were pretty easy -- I felt like I could have done 290 or 292.5 today. Will be interesting to see where I end up maxing out at next week.

CG Bench
3x5x235

Pretty easy, but trying to take it easy on these. Was more able to keep my wrists straight this time through, and had a more upright bar path off my chest.

Stand EZ Bar Curl
2x10x67.5, 1x9x70

Stand DB Hammer
3x10x25

Swoleness amplified.

8/31
Lower Intensity

Squat
wu+1x5x265
Much better than last week, stayed back on my heels and kept my lower back much tighter. Moving back up next week.

DL
wu+ 1x5x285
Went fine except I forgot to chalk up, so my grip started to slip and I lost tightness the last rep or two. May repeat next week or may add 10 pounds, depending on how I feel.

Pullups
1x5xbw+7.5, 1x5xbw+5, 1x5xbw+2.5
Narrowed my grip to chinup width (shoulder width) because the wide grip ones were irritating my elbows. This was marginally better so I'll probably go with these for a while.

Back Extensions
3x12xbw+25 with a 1 second pause at the top.

9/3
Upper Volume

Bench
wu+ 1x5x265, 1x5x262.5, 1x5x260

Smooth, getting pretty grooved in. Feel llike 315 must be pretty close.

Press
wu+2x5x147.5, 1x3x147.5

Fifth rep of the second set was a super grind, and I just didn't have anything left for the third set. This is where I stalled last time, but considering I'm doing press right after bench now, I'm pretty happy with my progress. I doubt I'll keep up this mega-bench schedule longer than another month or two, so I'll be able to do some intensity pressing and just concentrate on the movement in general a bit more.

Dips
1x5xbw+55, 1x5xbw+52.5, 1x5xbw+50

Chins
1x5xbw+20, 1x5xbw+17.5, 1x5xbw+15

Both were tough but felt good. Going to have my wifeacore floss my elbow now, then feed the minicores.

Nice bench work bro. I assume you actually call your family wifeacore and minicore (#1 and #2) IRL as well right?

Thanks man, I'm feeling pretty good about it. Going slow and steady while microloading definitely suits my old man bones now.

I actually do sometimes, the wifeacore actually started it. She likes to have conversations with the cats (both sides of the conversation), and Montecore, our male, apparently likes to end everyone's name with "-acore." Mamacore, papacore, minicores, and all that are all in play at all times. She has a lot of different nicknames for me, though, so if she calls me Eric I know I'm in trouble.

Hahaha, your wife continues to sound awesome.

She really is, I totally married up. It's the way to go if you can swing it.

9/4
Lower Volume

Squat
wu+5x5x230

Knees feeling a little iffy lately, probably need to floss/roll more, but I felt good once I got warm.

RDL
2x8x195, 1x6x195

Kind of rushed through these, but this is probably a good weight to stay at for a while before I go heavier. Chalk would probably be a good idea on these.

Pendlays
3x5x185

Stand DB Curl
2x12x35, 1x10x35

Both smooth.

9/6
Upper Intensity
wu+
1x1x255
1x1x285
Both smooth obv.
1x1x300
Sort of a PR (at least since I came back to lifting)
1x___x315
























First I get humbled by saw, then by 3 plates. You are the better man, sir:



CG Bench
3x5x235

Standing EZ Bar Curl
1x10x67.5, 2x10x70

Standing DB Hammer
3x10x25

Whatever, I'll get it next time. Planning to try to max out again in 5 or 6 weeks, although if my intensity set gets high enough (like approaching 300) I'll probably just bang out 315 to get it off my mind. **** me.

lolled at the video. dunno how you people find such good ones.

If this means you are too young to have seen Happy Gilmore, I am going to get very depressed.

Haha no worries dude, I think I've seen that movie >20 times. My comment didn't apply to that video as much as the fact that it seems like this forum is incredible at finding relevant youtube clips and animated gifs.

Agreed. L33t message forum nerdery goin' on daily here. I gotta say, for a bunch of converted pseudo-jocks, pretty solid.

Being around the elite like Soulman have definitely helped me raise my game in this respect; I am still like a newly born baby horse taking its first steps in comparison, though

I married up times a million. She's so much hotter, smarter, funnier than I ever deserved.

Marrying up is really the only reason to get married.

I can officially agree with that statement now.

+1. Mine actually gets mad when I suggest to her that I married up with her, and says that she married up (boy is she wrong).

She busts balls too, though -- the name for her fantasy football team is "Poor Taste in Men".

ETA: lol'd at the pic, Soulman.

Tbh I don't really get the concept of "marrying up/down" - or, I get it, but think it's 90% misapplied.

If someone truly married up or down, then the marriage likely won't last so "time will tell" - buuuut, psychologically, it's great to feel like you married up to a small degree. Again, to a large degree (if you truly feel that way) imo will end up losing respect for yourself and your relationship likely will crumble.

I'm sure this is a pretty nitty/esoteric type response to what is essentially you guys saying "I really love my wife" in a non mushy way, but, I dno, my hands felt compelled to write it out anyway.

Yugo --

JFC you are a giant nit; obviously it's not meant to connote a situation where a Kennedy marries an Appalachian with extra chromosomes.

For me, it's 25% "the 15 year old me still bouncing around my brain amazed that something with a vagina is agreeing to let me tap dat" and 75% "for some reason this smart, funny, beautiful, highly desirable woman actually feels the same way about me and I feel extraordinarily fortunate." Someone once told me that the secret to a good marriage is both partners feeling like they married up, and I tend to agree with that statement.

To some extent you are right, if there's some kind of power/self-worth imbalance in the relationship, obviously it will lead to trouble down the road, but if that's what you think any of us are referring to, you're pretty mistaken. TBH the fact that you don't "get" this conjures up images of the self-esteem generation that we are currently raising; I'm pretty sure the majority of today's ankle biters are going to feel so good about themselves that feeling that one has "married up" will be a much less frequent occurrence.

I'm just sayin' man, .

From what I've observed through my life so far, I think many people (not necessarily you or Snitch) basically cannot actually determine if they are actually marrying up/down or not - or if their marriage will last or not (this point seems pretty obvious though). Again, it's not what I think you guys are referring to, but it's what bothers me about the term.

In terms of being part of the "self-esteem" generation, does that mean a generation of ppl who are unstably overconfident/arrogant? Or emo and unconfident? I'm 31 so am not necessarily part of what is likely the "young" generation at this point.

I've given a lot of thought to relationships in general and think there are a lot of societal terms and groupthink that are either simply incorrect, misguided, or in some cases, pretty dangerous for the actual relationships people form. So just discussing these types of things interest me in general, . If I get to rustle a few jimminies, all the better.

Yugo --

If you are getting at that a fairly large subset of the population doesn't know how to correctly choose a mate or actually be married successfully, then I agree with you. Both my wife and I have parents that have been married well over 40 years, and in both our extended families no one has gotten divorced; at least in my case, it would be pretty foolish to think that this didn't impact my thoughts on marriage. I'm sure children that have experienced parents or relatives with bad marriages view the process differently (i.e. perhaps it is less than permanent).

I didn't mean to totally derail this discussion with self esteem, but I'm pretty down on this self esteem emphasis, which was coming into focus when I was a kid and has apparently gone full ******, if what my nieces and nephews experience is any indication. I believe that actual self esteem comes from achievement, and raising a bunch of deranged narcissists and expecting them to be able to function in an actual adult relationship seems like a recipe for disaster to me (although a recipe for some guiltily watchable trash reality shows probably).