lifthard’s training log

[lifthard]

Shoulder feels a lot better today. I iced it about 5x yesterday. I am off work this week so its been easy to keep on top of it. A little depressing since I wanted to spend some time in the gym this week in between the things I am doing around the house.

I got a caliper and myotape yesterday and need to do all of my measurements.

Steve

[lifthard]

Shoulder getting better...a lot less pain when raising it. Still laying off bench presses or anything overhead.

Friday
Deadlift and lighter squat. Noticed the 47 lb bar was on the rack today (less shinier). Just going to say xx5 on the weights for now on since the two bars are 43 and 47.

Squat 5x135, 5x185, 5x225, 8x275, 3x315. I hit a wall on 315. Felt heavy. The 8 reps might have burned me a bit. Also, I had some light doms in my quads yesterday which I hadn't had in a long time.

Deadlift 5x135, 5x225, 5x275, 5x315, 5x385, 5x435. This is a PR on reps for this weight. After the 385, I was spent. 385 felt super heavy to me. I racked up the 435 and then backed off and sat down for a good five minutes. The 435 went a lot easier and I know I could have done another rep as I held the bar up for about 10 seconds on the last rep. I look forward to going for 450 next week. I got a few atta boys from two guys which was motivational for the rest of the workout.

DB Row - 16x65 (8 per arm), 16x75, 16x85, 16x95, 16x105. Since I alternate arms after 8 reps, I bunched the 65's and 75's together with no rest and the 85 and 95. I needed a breather before the 105 and got it in a quick conversation with someone. Getting the reps up on these but will need to move to a barbell soon.

At this point, I wanted to do a 10 minute interval on the elliptical but was pressed for time as I had to get home by 11am. I did a tabata squat and had good energy. 20/21 reps per cycle and by the 6th, my quads were burning.

I took my bf % several times yesterday and it is lower (13.7%) then I thought. I want to get it down to 10% so I keep doing the tabata's / intervals. It is easier now that my shoulder hurts and I'm limiting my exercises but I might need to clean up the food more and not rely on intervals. The tabata's / intervals might be causing the energy drops I am having during the workouts. I might need to switch to straight lower intensity cardio on several days if I want to keep increasing strength.

This is a workout that I am really pleased with. It could have gone either way after the 385 dead. I just need to sit down, shut the music off, and take a break. My pace was too quick in the warmup weights and I started to fizzle. My energy level was about a 7 in the beginning and It's easy to have good workouts when you go in with high energy.

Steve

[lifthard]

Saturday

Shoulder is feeling better and I wanted to test it out since it has been a week since I did any presses, etc. I did some bb bench presses but only worked up to a few reps of 245. I did not have the pain I felt last Saturday but I did not want to overdo it. I head back to work Monday after being off from work for a week so I figured I will be busy catching up so I might miss the gym. That would give me two days of rest and hopefully the shoulder will feel good Tuesday so I can resume a few more things upper body.

I did a bunch of triceps pulldowns....I had not done these in a long time but I figured that would not impact the shoulder.

1 tabata squat. I seem to be doing these a lot lately but I don't want to do burpees due to the shoulder. 21/22 reps per cycle.

1 10 minute interval on the elliptical followed by 10 minutes of lower intensity cool down to get the heart rate down to 120.

Rotator cuff exercises.

Light (total weight wise) workout just to get the blood pumping and test the shoulder.

[lifthard]

Monday

Squat 5x135, 5x185, 5x225, 5x265, 5x315, 5x365. This is a PR on reps. First 4 were solid..5th a little shaky. I took a bit of a break after the 315 set due to a trainer asking me about the program I am following and I went straight to the bar a little unfocused. BTW- he is doing 5/3/1 which I will keep on top of how he's progressing.

All three benches were taken (of course, Monday and everyone needs to do bench..grr). I had to change order of things:
Dips 15xbw 3 sets. Felt good as I had not done dips in a little over 2 weeks due to sore shoulder. Shoulder felt fine.

Bench freed up...
bb bench 5x135, 5x175, 5x205, 4x245. Felt a little left shoulder pain at this weight and bagged the 5th rep and next set. I was super careful with the form so I'm not sure what the heck is going on.
I went and did 5 reps of 100 lb db's presses using a neutral grip and felt some pain in the same shoulder during them. I guess I will back off again on the bench and see if the shoulder improves.

DB row 16x70, 16x80, 16x90, 16x100, 10x110.

Tabata squats- first three rounds I did 22...I starting lagging on the 4th interval and humped out 20. I was dying in the 6th and 7th rounds doing 20. 8th round, I did 20 and the timer went off and did 2 more reps for good measure. I sat as my quads were twitching. That was a good intensity after the squats earlier. These are tough on heavy squat days but I am still progressing on the squat so they will stay for now.

Will try squatting 3 reps of 375 later in the week.

Just wish this shoulder would work out...icing it as I type this.

Steve

[Buffalo150]

Steve-

Damn fine work on the Squat and Deadlift.

Sorry to read your shoulder is bunged up. A little deep tissue work might be in order ?

-Bflo

[Kathy]

Congrats on the squat PR Steve and brutal tabata squats! Your legs must be jello at the end of the day.

I second what Buffalo150 suggested - know a good masseuse/masseur who understands myofascial release/soft tissue work? Hope the shoulder improves soon.

[lifthard]

Thanks Buffalo and Kathy. I like the discipline of having the weights all written out as for years I went to the gym without a plan. It really makes you focus on goals.

Re: Deep tissue- I never had that done but I am open to all options. I had rotator cuff issues many years ago (14) and PT cleared it up. I'm living with the ice pack at night...just read 50 pages of a book on the couch and the shoulder is nice and numb.

@Kathy- I am starting to enjoy tabata squats at the end of the workout since I know its only 4 minutes and I am out of there instead of a longer time doing cardio. I sat today on the floor for thirty seconds after the 8th interval, then got up to chuck the towel, get water, etc. I went to go run up the six stairs to the locker room and my legs were wobbly. First time that happened..I almost fell since I wasn't near the hand rail.

@Buffalo- do you live in Buffalo?

Steve

[Buffalo150]

Steve-

Indeed I do,

...and proudly so.

-Bflo

[lifthard]

Very good...I'm in Rochester the last 15 years.

Are the Bills going to score any points this preseason?

[Buffalo150]

Steve-

...all I can say is that I'm glad I can go lift on Sundays. My anger with the Bills offense fuels me and I usually have great sessions under the bar.

I have a sneaky feeling that there are a few WNYers / S.Ontarians in this forum. It may be time to put out a post and see who answers. There are a bundle on TNation.

-Bflo

[lifthard]

Yeah maybe a post will get some people to come out. I know of a few people on here in the Rochester area but none where I work out.

Re: Bills - Hey that’s a way to use it positively. TO needs to get on the field to open things up a bit (besides his mouth).

[lifthard]

Wednesday
Light Squat and Deadlifts

I bought a chalk sock at EMS since my grip has been slipping..

Shoulder feels a little sore with pain when I raise it. Not as bad as two weeks ago but I still bagged the incline bench today.

Squats- 10x135, 5x185, 5x225, 5x265, 5x275 (xls says 4 sets and I was debating to do the optional 5th set today but instead did 4 and just added 10 lbs to the last one)

Deadlift- A few warmups of 5x225 to work on form. I thought I got sloppy last week.
5x275, 5x335.5x405, 5x455 (PR) I made an executive decision to do 405 instead of 395 on the xls for the ease of 4 plates. From there, it was two 25's to go up 20lbs from last week to 455 instead of the planned 445. After the 4th rep, I stepped back and fixed my form but did it within 5-6 seconds.

Deads went easier then 435 last week...must be the chalk. Best $4.95 I ever spent. I'm not changing the 500 goal but I need to look past that a bit. I worked a little slow since I was sweating so much after squats. No idea why since it was an easy squat day.

From here, my bastardized Bill Starr Intermediate continued. I call it bastardized since the only lift I am on track with (week 7) is Deads. I had a bicep injury so I stopped doing bb rows early. Due to the shoulder, I am 3 weeks behind bench and due to a knee tweak early on, 2 weeks behind squats. Man I sound like such a wuss. This crap never happened when I was younger. Anyway, the program is staying as long as the squats and deads progress. If it works, don't fix it.

Oh well...I did
pullups 3x12@bw
tricep pulldowns 5x8 at some challenging weight (who the heck knows with those machines)
Some rotator cuff exercises.

Then tabata squats- started good (21 reps) and the wheels feel off in interval 4 (17). I came back strong and finished up with 20's. This was the worse one in awhile. Nothing left after the deads.

Anyway...good workout. Ice on the shoulder now. I have been working it daily...hoping a week or two of rest and I can get back to the bench at a lower weight.

Steve

[NotNowChief]

From here, my bastardized Bill Starr Intermediate continued. I call it bastardized since the only lift I am on track with (week 7) is Deads. I had a bicep injury so I stopped doing bb rows early. Due to the shoulder, I am 3 weeks behind bench and due to a knee tweak early on, 2 weeks behind squats. Man I sound like such a wuss. This crap never happened when I was younger.
Steve

Nah, you gain man-points for trying to work your way through injuries and trying to get back rather than being one of those who "can't" because of injury.

You don't notice the bicep on deads?

[lifthard]

Thanks Chief.

I miswrote...it wasnt an injury, it was tendonitis and it is back to 95%. It was far worse when I had it the time before so that's why I stopped the BB rows before it got to that point. the deads don't bother it at all. DB rows are fine now so BB rows would be fine now too when I get back to them soon.

Steve

[lifthard]

DOMS yesterday from the deads...worse I have been in a long time. The only supplement I take is Glutamine and I usually do not get much soreness. I know there are conflicting beliefs on effectiveness of Glutamine and DOMS but it works for me...even if its placebo. At $10 for a several months supply, its cheap. Hams and Glutes not as bad as the spinal erectors. The volume might have shocked them a bit. I did a few sets of 225 warmups to check form and the total weight for that deads was 9600 lbs which was 1300 lbs more then last week.

Anyway, feels better today for tomorrows squat attempt of 3*375.

Steve