Deload week: Upper body 1

Deload week is ROUGH. It's so hard to stay motivated when you're not working hard at all. Still, had a fine day that hopefully will push me faster to recovery.

Started with pause bench. Took a long ass time warming up, benching a shitload of warmup reps with the bar / 95. Went to 15 and hit it for 13 paused reps, then 2 more sets of 10 paused reps.

Next, did a couple sets of dumbell rows with 50 lb dumbells.

Next, 3 x 10 strict press with 95 lbs

Finally, did some stupid rowing with an empty bar, just to move a little more.

Boring, not glamorous, but hopefully it will help me heal up nice and I can come back and wreck shit next week. Hopefully thursday and friday will be a LITTLE less painful. We will see.

Deload week:Legs 1

SO, It's been forever since I have taken a rest week - 9 weeks exactly. AND, it's been FAR longer Since I've DELOADED, instead of just taking the time off. Whenever I take a full week off, it always hurts my lifts, so I am playing around with this deload to try and rest a LOT, but keep myself in tip top shape so I don't lose any strength in this short space.

Today was lower body. I started with 3 sets of 5 pause squat at 185. Light enough so they're not hard at all, but heavy enough so that I had to work to stay in the right positions and fire hard out of the body. Pushed to a set of 10 on the third set, got a leg and ass pump.

Next, did 10 singles at 185 for speed deadlifts. Doing these really light was actually really good, because I figured out that I've been setting up a little too close to the bar. Setting my feet about an inch further back from where they were felt WAY better, and I was firing really fast today.

Then, did 5 x 5 squats at 135. Again, these were actually very helpful - I started feeling that I have been sitting my butt back a little too much when I'm squatting, which is hurting my ability to catch the stretch reflex without dropping my chest. If I instead think about sitting my butt down between my feet, (almost forward), I can nail that stretch reflex without losing balance forward. After the 5 x 5, I did one single at 225 that felt great, but called it there. It is a deload after all.

Finally, did one set of 50 declined situps.

Overall, it SUCKS not to be able to lift heavy. BUT, the light work is gonna help me heal up, and I'm feeling out some form stuff that could definitely help me a lot when I'm back to going heavy. Lets keep at it.

Final Power

So I didn't have the chance to lift yesterday, and I really wanted to get in one last heavy day before my deload week. So I went in today.

Squatting felt pretty awesome actually. Felt strong. Form was good, not great - still am not consistent with hitting that bottom and rocketing out. Did a bunch of bar work, then 135 moved easy, but a little choppily. 225 was cake. 275 for a double was easy, but choppy, but then I hit a nice single. 315 was slow moving the first rep, so instead of going up I hung out at that weight, hitting it for a total of 5 singles. The last 2 were the nicest as far as form goes, though my muscles started to get tired. I went up to 335, just to take a crack at it - form was good, but I just didn't have the speed or the strength to get through the sticking point. Still, a good day.

Next, strict press went awesome. hit the bar for a few, then 135 x 3. 155 x 1 flew up, but I learned from my mistakes and went to 165 instead of heavier. Crushed that, and THEN went to 175. I was nervous, but ended up nailing the rep - honestly, barely slower than 165. I ALMOST went up again, but then rethought it, instead hitting 175 for 2 more singles. The second two reps were a lot harder, but still solid.

Overall, an amazing final day. PR on my strict press, which makes 20 lbs since this summer. And some solid squat work as well. Now, time to deload and heal.

Final Press day

Today is the final press day of this cycle. Went really well. 

Shoulder is feeling alright. Not perfect, but better than tuesday. 10 x 1 bench at 205 went great. Had a few less than perfect reps, but even those weren't tough at all. Last few were really solid, so I went up after rep 10 and hit 215 for a fairly easy single. Even though it was a big jump, I went to 225, figuring why not? Went for it, and it was a nice rep, that just got stuck halfway up. I couldn't quite get through that sticking point, but it wasn't a bad miss. That weight is gonna be mine soon. 

Next, did really well strict pressing. Worked up to 155 x 4, which is a PR, then hit 140 x 8 paused reps, which is another PR, and 125 x 9 paused reps. 

Finally, just did a shitload of high rep pulling and pressing to help my shoulder on it's way. 

Overall, an awesome day. Gonna rest up this deload week and come back hard. 

Weird Squat

Writing this the next day.

Had a weird squat day. Felt strong, but kept getting weirdly out of position, so a lot or reps were harder than they should have been. Still, over all a good day.

305 x 10 x 1 was solid. Some really nice reps, some really slow reps, but overall I handled the weight fine, just had a few off reps.

Front squats wee really good. Hit 220 for 4 reps, which is a huge PR, then missed 235 cause I was out of position, got it for 2 singles, missed it again, then got it for a 3rd single.

Deads were good, hit 335 for 3 singles without much rounding of the back - not perfectly flat, but getting better.

Finally, one big set of HLR's and back extensions.

Rehab Day

Shoulder felt aight today. Did a bunch of rehab work, hopefully to get it nice and healed asap.

Started with basic stretching and warmup, stretched out my legs a lot and sat in a bottom of a squat. Hopefully that will loosen me up a little and tomorrow will feel better than last thurs. Then, did some highhhhh rep shit. Took 10 lb dumbells and did 2 sets of 50 bicep curls and overhead press, and then a final set where I pushed it - 75 curls and 60 presses. Got a lot of blood flowing and hopefully shoulder will feel better tomorrow.

Also, started doing some fun light programming for my deload week. The priority has to be shoulder healing, but If it's feeling good I think I can have some fun and be productive next week. More to come.

Many PR's

My shoulder was nagging me a lot more than I hoped it would today - but luckily it didn't feel like anything I did was making it worse. So, I pushed through with caution, and ended up having an awesome day.

Started with 5/3/1 bench. Weight felt pretty light, but unfortunately setting up/unracking just made my shoulder tweaky, so I was kind of concerned about that. Also, even though the weight felt light, my form was a little wonky. hit 95 x 10, 135 x 10, then 160 x 5 - easy, but a little wobbly. 180 x 3 was also fairly easy, but a little wobbly. Finally, set up for 205. Got under it, shoulder felt alright. Hit it for the first rep, and that was a pice of shit - it got totally weird and wobbly, but I got it. The second rep, however, was much nice and went up easy, so I took a big breath and hit 3, which was a nice rep, but difficult and I had to really fight to get through the sticking point. 3 reps at 205 is a PR, which I'm pretty happy with considering my shoulder situation, and the fact that my first rep was horrible haha. Hopefully next time I will be a little more in the groove and able to focus, and I'll be able to make that 3 look easy, maybe even get 4.

After that, dropped to 180, and pushed hard with these, doing 3 sets of 5. That's fuckin awesome, considering my rep PR at 180 is only 7 touch and go hahaha. I love paused bench.

Finally, dropped to 160 and ended up hitting this for a pr - got 12 touch and go reps and then paused a 13th. Very nice.

Instead of doing kroc rows as heavy as usual, I instead did a ton of reps at a light weight, hoping to help my shoulder along. Used a 50 lb dumbell, and rowed it for a set of 75 followed quickly by a set of 25 for each arm. That's a lot of reps, but it wasn't too hard. Got a lot of blood flowing though, hopefully it will help the shoulder.

I was tentative about strict pressing, but the pressing wasn't really hurting me - getting into the position was a little bothersome, but I just kept moving slow, and ended up working up to 165 for 5 singles. these were solid - 2 or 3 of them moved fast and smooth, the other 2 were tougher, getting caught before lockout. But I still got all 5, and again considering the shoulder situation that's great. Dropped back afterwards to 135, and hit it for 8 paused reps, which ties my touch and go PR and that weight. Again, very cool.

Finally, did a couple neutral pullups, but these more than anything else bothered my shoulder so I stopped, and did a bunch of re-hab straight arm cable pulls instead, again just trying to get a lot of blood flowing. As of now, shoulder looks a little swollen and it a little more inflamed/painful than yesterday and this morning, but overall feels decent. Hopefully rest/rehab tomorrow, in conjunction with the work I did today, will get it healing up, and I won't need to factor it in for  thursday and fridays workouts. However, either way I'll make it through, and then it will have all of deload week to rest from heavy weights.

Great day. Lets keep at it.