I haven't lost the thread. I just have absolutely no time. Still 58kg.

Things should stabilize with work soon, and then I will be able to train again.

Saturday, May 26, 2018 Training

Rack Pull (kg): 20x10, 40x10, 50x10, 55x10x2

DB Bench (lb): 20s x10, 30s x10x3

Close Neutral Pull-up (@61kg): 4, 4, 4, 3

***

A month exactly since I trained last. Rack pulls felt great until I felt a little tweak on the last set. My hunch is that as long as I brace correctly, I should be able to do these without pain, but time will tell.

At the end of my cut I was 57.7kg. This morning I was 59.1kg. But I've probably gained more than 1.4kg of fat. I feel very fluffy.

I resigned from my job a few days ago. I have another job lined up but it should be far less stress. I have no excuse not to train. As for my diet, one thing at a time. Just gonna try to string together some workouts and go from there.

Gl

Thanks, bro.

Monday, May 26, 2018 Training

Arnold Press (lb): 15s x10, 20s x10, 25s x10x4

Leg Press (kg): 80x10, 90x10x3

Machine Seated Row (lb): 85x10x4

***

One step at a time. My back has been bothering me quite a bit since Saturday. It hurts where my left lower back meets my glute. I can easily produce the pain by flexing my left hip with a straight knee, and there's no pain at all if I flex the hip with the knee bent. As such, there was no issue with the leg press, only a tiny bit of stabilizing pain on the occasional rep.

Thursday, May 31, 2018 Training

DB Bench (lb): 20s x10, 35s x10 x4

Rack Pull (kg): 20x10, 40x10, 55x10, 60x10x3

Chin-up (@63kg): 0 x4 x4

***

I could barely get out of bed because of my back pain, but the more I moved the better it felt. Rack pulls were actually quite easy and no pain at all by the time I got into 60kg sets. I'm pretty optimistic now.

Saturday, June 2, 2018 Training

Arnold Press (kg): 5s x10, 10s x10, 12.5s x10x3

Leg Press (kg): 80x10, 95x10x3

Machine Seated Row (lb): 100x10x4

***

What are you doing for warmup? If your pain is mostly gone by the time you're at workset you may want to consider adding cardio/dynamic stretching

Less these days. It became a thing where I was hurting myself even with extensive warmup, so I became a bit skeptical that the warmup was even helping. Now I just do ramping sets to warmup for each lift.

Interesting.

How hard are you locking your knee out when you feel that pain?

Is that pain you feel more above or below the iliac crest?

I'm wondering if our QL is tight and what is going on is muscles fighting for pelvic stabilization which is why when your butt is flat against a seat you have no issues.

Before this started did you have any lopsided oopsies with deads/racks or squats? Maybe an uneven stand up in a squat or dead?

Not hard. It hurts during walking when the left leg strides.

More above but there's pain near the iliac crest as well.

About a week before this pain started, I sumo deadlifted 120x8 with one side of the bar 2.5kg heavier than the other. It is by far the strongest set I've ever pulled. Other than that, I can't think of any specific culprits, other than that it seems like the squat aggravates it a bit more.

Still not dead. I was very sick for the last almost week, and tomorrow I'm moving towns. I'll begin training and eating well again once I'm settled there.

Sunday, June 16, 2018 Training

DB Bench (kg): 7.5s x20, 12.5s x10, 15s x10 x4

[B]Leg Extension (kg):[/B

Back Extension: 0x12 x4

V-Handle Cable Row (kg): some number of unlabeled stack x10 x4

***



Tuesday, June 18, 2018 Training

Press (kg): 15x20, 25x5, 30x5x2, 30x7

Goblet Squat (kg): 15x15, 20x15 x2

***


Not yet settled in Sihanoukville, but I got some low-grade workouts in. Sunday was my 34th birthday. Each workout was done in one of the best gyms in town, which were also the two worst gyms I have ever trained in. Sunday's gym had a squat rack with pegs higher than I could ever unrack a heavy bar from. Today's gym had a slightly better rack but still nothing I'd ever be able to unrack more than 80kg safely from. Neither gym has a way to do rack pulls or blocks to deadlift from. Neither has a chinup bar.

This really sucks. There's only one other option in town, which is really far away and double the price. It is a lot nicer from pics but I have a feeling it is gonna be one of those Smith machine-only places....

Thursday, June 21, 2018 Training

DB Bench (kg): 12.5s x10, 17.5s x8 x3, 15s x8

Leg Extension (kg): 30x10, 35x10, 40x10 x2

Back Raise (kg): 0x12, 10x12x3

NG Chin-up: 5, 4, 4

***

No valid place to do chinups here. The cable crossover had some parallel handles that were too far apart and limited the number of reps I could get. Gym scale said 60kg fully clothed but I find it hard to believe.

Happy belated Birthday Renton!

Thanks, bro!

Monday, June 25, 2018 Training

Press (kg): 16x10, 21x5, 26x5, 31x5 x2, 31x6

Goblet Squat (kg): 10x15, 15x15, 20x15 x2

V-Handle Cable Row (kg): 5 stack x10, 7 stack x10 x3

***

Any time I make it to the gym more than once in 4 days is a victory at this point. Everything feels great, just weak, terribly weak.

Queenco had one of these when I was there, but that was years ago:




I'll keep it a secret from PT if you go.

Yeah that is the one thats far away. I will prob end up going there.

Thursday, June 28, 2018 Training

DB Bench (kg): 10x12, 15x10, 17.5x10 x3

Lat Pulldown: #6 x10, #8 x10 x3

Back Raise (kg): 0x12, 10x12 x3

***

Short one that I barely made it for.

As long as you don't take too long a break, the strength you lose can come back quickly given no injuries or tweaks etc

I've had to train in a lot of ****ty gyms, there's always a way. Good thing is those types of places usually don't care what you do.

If the safeties are too high for rack pulls, go buy some lumber and make a platform to stand on. If there are no safeties, then do block pulls off the platform (s). If you have a place to hang them, you could do pullups on rings. A buddy in college made some with PVC and used to take them everywhere.

Being too short to reach the squat hooks is trickier, but if you have safeties then you could do zerchers out of them.

Yeah I know. Problem is that the tweaks are there, looming whenever I decide to deadlift or squat something heavy again.

All true things, but when youre constantly teetering off the wagon these are all just obstacles making it that much harder.

Right now my options are two cheap ****ty gyms that are very conveniently located, and option B. Option B is a very high quality gym that is pretty far away and kind of expensive. It has a squat rack and two crossfit style power racks that have no adjustable safeties. So I could do everything there except rack pulls. At the two ****ty gyms there are no heavy squats, no heavy ohp, no chinups. Prob no choice here but while I am this untrained I will probably stick with the crap gyms.

Saturday, June 30, 2018 Training

Press (kg): 16x10, 26x5, 31x5 x2, 31x7, 26x8

Goblet Squat (kg): 12.5x15, 22.5x15 x3

V Handle Rows: 4 sets

***

I will get back to doing real sessions soon, but this is starting to become an streak of reasonably consecutive sessions which makes me kind of happy. Squats feel great, but it is a lunch box i am squatting. Cautious optimism.

Tuesday, July 3, 2018 Training

CGBP (kg): 16x10, 36x5, 46x5, 46x5, 51x3, 46x10

Leg Extension (kg): 40x10, 45x10 x3
Back Raise (kg): 0x12, 10x12 x3

NG Chin-up (@63kg): 5, 4, 4
Arnold Press (kg): 12.5x12 x3

***

First actual workout. I did a little more volume today, and benched for the first time in a while. The 51 set wasn't feeling that great so I cut that set off. Prone grip is a little awkward after so long doing it under-hand.

Thursday, July 5, 2018 Training

Press (kg): 16x10, 21x5, 31x5 x4, 31x8

Goblet Squat (kg): 15x15, 22.5x15 x3

Seated Row: 4 sets
DB Bench (kg): 17.5x10 x3

***

Meh. Got some moving to do, then once I am settled I will upgrade to the good gym.

Sunday, July 8, 2018 Training

CGBP (kg): 16x10, 36x5, 46x5, 51x5 x2, 51x7

Deadlift (kg): 46x5, 56x5, 76x5

NG Chin-up (@63kg): 6, 5, 4
Arnold Press (kg): 15s x8 x3

***

Terribly weak, but things are on the improve. As heavy as it feels, it is hard to believe that there are only 51 kilos on the bar, but its just my second day benching and it went a lot better than last time. First deadlifts in a long time went as well as can be expected. I am debating whether I should just be dropping them since it is a gym that doesnt care about dropped weights and that might be a bit safer.

Saturday, July 14, 2018 Training

Squat (kg): 20x5 x2, 40x5, 60x5 x3

CGBP (kg): 20x10, 30x5, 40x5, 50x5 x3

Deadlift (kg): 60x5, 70x2, 80x5

***

I finally signed up to the good gym in town. The pros and cons:

+ a place to squat.
+ a place to overhead press.
+ a place to do chinups.
+ all of the above are in an air conditioned isolated room from the rest of the gym, which seems to always be empty.

- only one bench press, and its kinda ****ty. It has a segmented seat which is meh.
- the rack is a squat rack, with no adjustable safeties so there is no option to bench in a rack, and no option for rack pulls or lifting from pins.

Everything felt okay. Just gonna do an LP with small jumps and hope that my back continues to feel good.