Tough day

Had a tough day squatting today. Took a while to get warmed up, but eventually I found my groove. My speed squats felt really solid at 185 - I've found that if I keep in mind the two cues "Arch Hard" and "Drive through your heels," my form becomes pretty much effortless. After the speed work was done, I started working up heavy, and by keeping those two cues in mind I had some really pretty re[ps at 185, 225, and a nice single at 275. Unfortunately, I just didn't have 315 in me today. I went for it, and was really close to getting it, but ended up having to dump. However, it was a pretty nice rep, I just didn't have the strength today. Which is a bummer, but not as bad as missing because it was sloppy.

After that, I thought I might work up to a heavy triple front squat, but I just wasn't feeling it today. I hit 185 and then kind of said fuck it, dropped the weight to 135 and did one big set of 15, then went upstairs and did come cable crunches to finish out the day.

It's starting to get a little frustrating to be stuck on my squat  a little bit, especially after the crazy progress I made recently, but I just have to keep working hard and know that strength isn't a line, it comes in bursts and waves. If I'm consistent and keep pushing, my squat will make gains again, it's just a matter of time.

Diet Change

Decided to start the new diet a little bit early. Basically, gonna go all keto and supplement with plenty of protein shakes, with a 24 hour cheat every weekend. We will see how it works. I just bought a wonderful blender bottle online, so as soon as that comes that should make this diet much easier hahaha.

Anyways, updates to come.

Triceps pushdown

Uneventful day today. I wanted to do some 21's and maybe some JM pressing, but the easy curl bars they have at this gym suck, and they were hurting the bones in my forearm (weird, I know). And besides that, I was just feeling all around lethargic today, so I just did some tricep pushdowns - started with a set of 20, and took the weight up and the reps down until I was banging out a few sets of 2, then did one big drop set back down. For biceps, I did something very similar with preacher curls, ending with a set of 2 with the 35 lb dumbbells. Not a very productive day, but that's okay, I just needed to get in and get moving. I'm feeling pretty sore from yesterday - I think those kroc rows are gonna do work on my back - and monday, which kind of sucks but hopefully I'll feel better and have some fun squatting tomorrow.

Goin HEAVY

On a HAPPY note, my little sister called me up today and told me she's ready to start powerlifting. Her training begins in 2 weeks mothafuckas. SHE"S GONNA BE SO STRONG.

Laura Phelps says FUCKING GO FOR IT

I love strong people <3

Much better day

Today was a much better day. Didn't stress too much about the workout beforehand, tried hard to just get in the gym with a clear head and do the best with what I had in me that day.

Took my time warming up on the bench, did a set of ten with the bar (instead of my normal 5), then ten at 75, then 5 at 95 and 115. Then work sets:

140 x 3
160 x 3
180 x max (5)

I hit the hooks twice during the set at 180 which really pissed me off, but other than that it was a really solid set. The 5th rep was pretty tough (probably cause of me hitting the fucking hooks), but that's still a new 5rm and better than the last time I benched that weight. AND, I set up better and didn't breathe like I did last week, so that's good too.

Next was 5 x 10 bench. I was planning on taking this from 115 to 120 today, but because I felt strong today (and a little irked about hitting the hooks and kinda messing up my last set), I decided to take the weight up to 125 instead. It was a good choice: even with only 90 seconds rest, I made it all the way through, even getting an extra 2 reps on the last set. I'll probably keep at this weigh for another week or two, try to get that last set up to 15 + and then maybe take the weight up again. But it felt great today.

High rep bench is also fun because the chest pump makes me look ridiculously huge. I'm really starting to look bigger and stronger than I ever have before. 

Next, I did kroc rows (my first time doing these instead of the lighter 5 x 10 bent over rows). I decided to do one big set to failure for each arm. I grabbed the 70 (with straps) and banged it out for 27, rested a minute or two, then did the same with the other arm. Overall, I like these WAY better than the bent over rows. I think I'll stick to the one set per arm for now, but I'll definitely take the weight up to at least 75 lbs next week. I'll keep playing with these, I think they're a great movement.

Fuck yeah

Because I took the weight up on the bench, I was iffy on upping the dumbbell overhead press weight, but I decided to go up to 45's anyways. I ended up getting 14 on the first set, then 8 and 4. I think I'm going to start doing these as a sort of drop set, because i want to keep pushing that first set heavy, but I also want to keep my overall volume higher (that last set being only 4 reps is sort of stupid). So a drop set is the way to go I think. Maybe I'll even start doing this with the dumbbell chest press as well?

Finally, Lat pulldowns at 160 were not bad. My lats were a little more tired than usual from the kroc rows, but even so these weren't much of a problem. I AM using a bit of body movement with this pull, but at the same time I feel it killing my lats, so I think i'm just going to keep doing them the way i'm doing them. I got 18 on the last set of these, so I'm thinking maybe one more workout at this weight before I push to 170. Then pretty soon i'll be switching back to pull-ups, and I can see what kind of carryover this lat work will have.

Anyways, it was an awesome day today. Didn't stress, had fun, felt strong. Basically the opposite of yesterday haha. Lets keep them like this.

Misery

Today was an absolutely horrendous day.

Let me start with my biggest problem: I still don't trust my programming, and after just a short while of trying to back off the craziness in workouts and take them one workout at a time, only going as hard as my body is able that day, I started itching for a rep PR. The last few days I've been doubting myself, and whether I'm even getting stronger. In the back of my mind, I decided that i was REALLY going to go hard today, just to show myself what I was really capable of.

Problem is, I felt like shit today. I felt slow, the weight felt heavy, and my body mechanics felt off. I worked up to 205 x 3, then 230 x 3, then 255 for 10. But I went for the 11th rep and failed. That got in my head, but worse it exhausted me. Speed deads at 230 were pretty bad, but it was really the 5 x 10 at 165 of squats that was pure misery. I knew from last week that i could physically do it no problem, so I MADE myself, but it was one of the hardest things I have ever done. I almost cried after every set, and did cry a little bit after the last set. Horrible.

Bottom line is, in my first 6 weeks of this program I went crazy hard and put 40 lbs on my squat. But i can't expect that sort of crazy progress all the time. Like it or not, right now I'm SO far ahead of the game on my 5/3/1 squat work that even if I make NO gains for the next 5 cycles, I will still be able to do the prescribed reps. What that means is that NOW is not a time to push myself every workour, whether i feel good or not, and make myself suffer for no good reason. Instead, I need to TAKE EACH WORKOUT AS IT COMES. I have a great program that I KNOW is working, and I need to get past the need to PROVE to myself that I'm making progress. Instead, I need to focus on things like diet, small tweaks to my programming to make it even better, and MOST IMPORTANTLY, just getting in the gym every day, doing some quality work, and getting out healthy and happy. Todays workout was one of the worst hours I can remember in my life - were the extra two reps at 255 really worth it? Don't think so.

STOP being inpatient, STOP focusing on the wrong things. You have a great program, you ARE woking hard (even if you're not dying at the end of every workout), so trust yourself. Stay consistant and you WILL get stronger. Lets not have another day like this.

Squat Lockouts

Didn't have time to write a blog yesterday, but i DID have time to go to the gym. I was feeling pretty shitty, and I didn't really want to do anything that was gonna be TOO hard, so instead in decided to go fun and heavy with squat lockouts. I did them from VERY high haha, maybe a quarter squat. At first, I took my stance too narrow, and was using my quads too much, but when my friend Josh pointed this out to me, I figured out how to mimic my squat stance better, and to put the tension in my butt and hamstrings, so by the time I got to the heavier weights i was using all the right muscles. Here's how my sets went.

bar x 3
95 x 3
135 x 3
185 x 3
225 x 3
275 x 3
315 x 3
365 x 1
405 x 3 sets of 1
455 x 3 sets of 1
495 x 5 sets of 1

Overall, these were really fun, and pretty ridiculous - it just makes me laugh to imagine that some people quarter squat, and actually think they can squat whatever stupid weights they put on that bar. By reducing my range of motion, I could move an extra 200 pounds without much problem. The lesson? it's not a squat unless it's to depth fuckers. Still really glad I did these though, helped me feel out what muscles i should be using, and gave me the chance to feel the really heavy weight on my shoulders (felt like my head was gonna pop off).

FUCK YOU ASSHOLE

Now I'm just trying to rest up to day, and getting ready to go at it hard tomorrow.

Getting Stronger

Had a great day today. I was nervous to do the 9 x 3 bench again,. as last time it was really difficult and i failed on my final rep, but I also knew I was stronger this time around and that there was no point worrying, so I did my best to stay out of my head and just go at it hard this morning.

Fuckin CHEST

SO, I warmed up, and got started on 170 x 9 x 3, on the minute, and it went really smoothly. It felt significantly easier than last month at 165, AND I only hit the hooks on one rep. The final rep (number 27, which I missed last month) was INCREDIBLY hard, one of the hardest bench reps I've ever done, but I got it. Overall, I was really happy about the chaos and pain part of my workout. I think this style of lifting is really helping me get stronger.

Next was 5/3/1 strict press, which is really fucking hard on the first week because of all the volume in the C&P benching, BUT, I worked my way up to 135 for a set of 6 without too much trouble, and I'm perfectly fine with that. Then was Pendelay rows, 5 x 5 @ 165, which i did a little faster than every 90 seconds. These weren't particularly hard, but I liked them better than the bent over rows I did last week. I think I'll keep playing with the weight and maybe the rep scheme over the next few weeks till I find what I like.

Next was dumbell bench - I stuck with the 55's this week considering the pressing I had already done, and did a set of I think 14 or so? then 2 more sets to failure. And finally, lat pulldowns were moved to 160 this week. Significantly harder than 150, but I did a really good job of keeping them stricter in the beginning and using more body language as the sets went on, so that I made it through the 5 x 10 and my lats were done by the end. I'll stick with 160 for a few more workouts until I can do it better, then hopefully push to 170 for a few workouts before I go home and have to switch to pullups.

Over all, it was an awesome day. I think the 9 x 3 / 5 week is the hardest, so hopefully the next two weeks will go even smoother than this workout. I'm having fun, getting stronger, and have no elbow pain, so lets hope this goodness keeps up.