amaeland's Training Log

[KIB]

Sorry to hear about the knee. But good job getting those OHP in. Gotta keep up with those buggers.

[amaeland]

Sep 23:

Squat 80 kg 1x5, 90 kg 1x3, 100 kg 1x2 - Wake up!
OHP 35 kg 5/5/4 - Gotta nail these next time.
Deadlift 100 kg 1x5 - tried using a belt for the first time, didn't really like it as I lost some awareness of my arch.
Pull-ups 3/2/1 - five reps on first set but on the two last I only got my nose to the bar. Damn, these are tough.

Sep 25:

Squat 82,5 kg 1x3 - Knees hurt while warming up, cut it short.
BP 55 kg 3x5 - Form has improved. Engaging my lats more than before.
Dumbbell rows 18 kg 3x5 - Just for fun, really. Interesting exercise, but a bit too "iso" for my liking. I will keep doing them, though.
Dips - Can't remember, did a couple where I slowly went deep, paused at the bottom and then went up. That was pretty hard on the pecs. Stayed suspended at the top on the last set for maybe 20 secs, holding myself up by keeping my shoulderblades pushed down hard.

Sorry for being inactive on the forum, there's just too much going on at work and at home at the moment

[rere]

Hey Amaeland!

Good effort on the Squats there mate.

Sorry for being inactive on the forum, there's just too much going on at work and at home at the moment

I'll keep my eye out for you as always mate.

[amaeland]

Sep 28:

Squat 82,5 kg 3x5

Form was not very good at the end of the first set and awful at the end of the second set. I felt tired and lacked confidence. When I went down on the two last reps of the second set I was thinking "oh dear, I'm going down, but will I get back up?" Fortunately I managed to focus on the last set, thinking "up, up, up" on the way down. Nailed it really well, rock solid form, it was somehow easier than both of the first sets. Nice!

OHP 35 kg 5/4/3

Bah. Neearly got past the sticky point on the fourth rep of set three. I did two sets of behind-the-neck presses with just the bar afterwards, I find these drain my shoulders a lot more somehow. Only got 7 and 5 reps (very short breaks though)

Deadlift 105 kg 1x5

Adjusted my starting position, I realised on the previous deads session that my shoulders were behind the bar (no wonder my shins were scraped to shit). This time my starting position felt better and lifting this weight was a piece of cake. No belt, I much prefer it that way I would have gone for a rep of 120 kg if there hadn't been a queue waiting for the deadlift spot. A couple of semi-big guys took over with their belts, they probably needed them though because their form was shit. Deadlifting 160 kg with a bent lower back...*shudder*

Pull-ups 5/3/1

Five full reps this time, good. Going to practise these more.

When I got home, I did 5x15 pushups.

[guru]

Glad to see you back in action A.

The squat numbers will climb once you get into the groove with your technique.

Good job on the 5 pull ups too.

[rere]

Good workout Amaeland

[KIB]

Perfect form on the squat is a revelation, isn't it? Good job digging in and fighting for it.
Same with DLs. Well done, Amaeland!

[amaeland]

Oct 13:

A week in Japan with no training apart from lugging heavy baggage all over the place. Where did that other week go, though? Hmmm. Time to get back on it, proper!

Squat 85 kg 3x3

A bit optimistic perhaps. Quite pleased bearing in mind it was two weeks since I squatted 82,5 for 3x5. Form is not bad, especially 65 and 75 kg warming up felt good because I could do them pretty fast but still controlled.

OHP 35 kg 1x5

I experimented with form, doing five sets with 20 kg with elbows high enough to let me rest the bar on the delts. But is this correct form? Lifting like this was much heavier on the elbow joints and the triceps. I need to look up that Rippetoe vid on youtube.

Deadlift 110 kg 1/1/3

One rep with double overhand grip, almost slipped so I switched to mixed. Did one rep with that but my foot started cramping. Then I did three reps. The breaks between sets were around 30-60 secs.

[BLUEBLAH]

Hi Amaeland, keep going mate and thanks for your help with my injury!

[KIB]

Good job getting back to the big weights, Amaeland!
Where were you in Japan?

[amaeland]

Sep 15:

Squat 60 kg 3x5 - Sore as hell after last workout, so did some "feeder" squats to recover faster and get some exercise in the process.

Bench press 55 kg 5x3 - Not sure I would get the fourth rep on the first set, so I stuck with three. Oh well, at least the volume is decent. I tried doing a single rep of 60 kg at the end but it just wouldn't go up! Really weird.

Inverted rows - in the squat rack, did a few but my feet kept slipping which pissed me off, so I don't know how many I did. Not many.

Dips 7/3/2 - Not too happy about this bearing in mind I only weigh 73 kg now (I've lost 7 kg!).

Man, when you aren't training on a regular basis strength dissipates quickly!

[amaeland]

Oops, seems I wrote September 15 in the log of last workout...should be October of course

Thanks for your comments Rere, Guru, KIB and Blueblah. They are much appreciated, I will try to check your logs as well like I should.

@KIB: We were in Sapporo for three days, then we went to Tokyo just for an evening, headed to Kyoto next morning and slept over, returned to Tokyo to sleep and head for the airport next morning. Hella hectic, but a fantastic experience!

Oct 18:

Squat 85 kg 3x5

Yeah! Very surprised that I got this, especially since my last meal yesterday was around eight and I didn't go to sleep before five thirty in the morning (music making is not healthy)! Six reps more than last time. Form felt good although I struggled a bit on the last reps. I filmed myself for the first time (mobile phone) and my form looked decent, except I am not standing up completely straight at the top. This is because I am afraid the bar will roll down my back...Will post a video if I can get my head around the technicalities.

OHP 35 kg 4/3/3/2/2

Urgh...Unsatisfied that I didn't get five in the first set, so I did five sets instead of three. On a positive note my form seemed not too bad when I reviewed it on my mobile. Also did some behind-the-neck presses with just the bar later in the workout, after the chins. I am actually very close to my limit by the time I get to the tenth rep - lifting 20 kg Thinking of adding some weight to these to get five-rep sets.

Deadlift 110 kg 1x3

Looking at the recording of my first warmup set @ 70 kg I noticed that my upper body moved before the bar left the floor. I tightened my back more and this helped keep things in sync. Depressing how heavy this weight was (at 73 kg BW it's 1.5x BW)...I've done 130 kg (which was about 1.7x BW at the time) for four reps before. I will get back there, though!

Chins 5/2/1

Err...I don't know what happened here.

Seated cable rows 20 kg x 10 / 30 kg x 8 / 40 kg x 5 / 20 kg x 10

Can't remember how many of the reps were with good form, I got problems with engaging the lats towards the end. 40 kg was probably a bit too heavy.

[markg]

Glad to see you getting back into it mate. I have been slacking off too much recently.

Your squats are going nicely again and the deadlifts are very good considering the long break you had. I also wish I could do 5 chins on the first set - well done!

[amaeland]

Cheers, mate. Yesterday I read someone saying how quickly the rep numbers go down when you take a break from chins/pull-ups. Seems to be true

By the way, I have made an interesting observation about squatting which probably you guys have had too: Good form is actually easier when the weight gets heavy (although when it's 1 rep max heavy, that might no longer be the case) . Like Rippetoe says, the bar wants to move in a straight vertical line and a heavy weight just forces you straight down. With 60 kg or lower I feel the weight doesn't have enough "mind of its own" and if you're not flexible it's harder to hit good depth as well.

[nomercy89]

Cheers, mate. Yesterday I read someone saying how quickly the rep numbers go down when you take a break from chins/pull-ups. Seems to be true

By the way, I have made an interesting observation about squatting which probably you guys have had too: Good form is actually easier when the weight gets heavy (although when it's 1 rep max heavy, that might no longer be the case) . Like Rippetoe says, the bar wants to move in a straight vertical line and a heavy weight just forces you straight down. With 60 kg or lower I feel the weight doesn't have enough "mind of its own" and if you're not flexible it's harder to hit good depth as well.

I totally agree with this by the way. I used to think it was weird, but now that I read this, I know I'm not weird .
Don't worry about the chin/pull up numbers too much. They'll go back up pretty quickly. I noticed that when I didn't do them for a full month, Ramadan, and I came back to do them again, the first couple of attempts (training sessions I mean) were bad, but then you just go up and down and up again and down again a few times before you lose count .
Good luck with that.

p.s. nice numbers btw