CPAP

A few months ago I went to a sleep study to determine how bad my sleep apnea was.

Well, they determined it was bad enough to get a CPAP machine.

Hopefully this will put a dent in my near constant weariness.  As this is a training log, I suppose I should put it into lifting terms how this will benefit me--but I am assuming the few people who read this can draw the obvious conclusions without my help.

Hurt

Due to Memorial Day, I combined Monday's and Wednesday's workouts on Tuesday.  I pushed myself too hard (read: got the lifts at all costs with no regard for form) on squat, failed miserably on Press (I am deloading and sticking with micro-loading) and as a result have been in quite a bit of pain for the last few days.  I will be skipping going to the gym tomorrow (Friday) and doing an easy watered-down combination of Friday's and Saturday's on Saturday (well, the "friday" portion will be lighter and watered-down... I won't be skimping on the Bench at all).  I may switch to two or three sets of 8-12 on Squats, and probably sets of 8-12 on DL too.  Just to give my body a break for a while.  I pushed it hard the last few months, trying to get back to pre-hiatus strength levels.  I am not there, yet, but a deload might be good for me, anyway.

At first, during warm-ups for the squat, the weight felt super light.  I thought the day was going to be a breeze.  Then, during the work sets, I just felt awful... but I pushed through it--for which I have been paying the price ever since.

After one failed set at working weight for the press, I lost all my gas.  I was exhausted.  I did a back-off set and some chins and got the heck out of the gym.  Ugh.  Terrible day.

Hip Mobility work w/light stretching
Squat OWU 1x310
Squat 3x5@290
Press OWU 1x172.5
Press 162.5x4; 155x5
Chins BWx10; +25x5

I really need to work on my hip mobility, hamstring flexibility, and keeping good, tight form on all my lifts.  I really don't need an excuse to be out of the gym again--especially not a painful one.

Pre-Workout Blues

I am cycling off my pre-workout to give my kidneys (and my wallet) a break.  When I got to my Bench OWU I thought "oh crap, this is heavier than it should be."  I was certain that no pre-workout (and insufficient sleep--the guys who set me up with a CPAP left out an essential piece of equipment, and I can't get in touch with them until after the holiday weekend--and a worthless breakfast) was going to do me in for the work sets.  I was wrong, but I did tire out more quickly later in the session.

I ended up killing the work sets, with the exception of my "move up" set at the end.  Press was a disaster, though--and I didn't even attempt my Farmer Walks.  Ugh.

I am stuck between not wanting to be reliant on supplements, and wanting to have explosively successful days in the gym as often as possible.  We'll see what happens while I am off of them.


5.25.13

Bench OWU 225
Bench 210x5,5,7; 215x4 (I was expecting at least one more)
DB Press 5 w/50s, 60s (this was a grinder, considering I did 6 w/65s last week); 1 w/70s (WHAT??  Only ONE??!)

Bench went up, which is my Saturday focus, so I am pleased.  Tired, but pleased.

Pushing Through the Pain

Well, more accurately put would be "Pulling through the pain."  During my warm-up on Deadlift, I felt something tweak in my neck and upper back just on the right side of my spine.  It was (and still is) quite painful.  I struggled with continuing, but eventually decided to keep going.  My next warm-up was excruciating, but my final warm-up, the OWU, wasn't so bad pain wise, however 375 felt heavier than 405 did last week.  Also, my work sets felt really heavy--going from 405x1 and 345x8 last week to 375x1 and only 350x5 this week was totally lame.

Squats started slowly, and felt heavy--like I was squatting through sludge rather than good ol' fashioned air.  I thought about throwing in the towel, but when work set no. 1 hit the planned 6 reps, I was committed.  I lost tension in my lower back on rep 5 of set 2, so I didn't try for a 6th rep, but I got 6 reps on set three with ease.  I probably could have gotten 7 or 8, but thought I'd pushed myself enough for the day.  I consider this redemption for my dump on Monday, and will be moving up next week as planned.

In the end, I was glad I pushed through it... but I don't know how smart it was.  The story'd be very different had I hurt myself more by continuing.  This "ends justifying the means" training mentality, when I am not a competitive athlete, probably isn't very bright.

Pull-ups increased a bit, and I decided to do a bit of abs before calling it a day.


5.24.13

DL OWU 375
DL 5x350
Squats 285x6,5,6
Pull-Ups BWx9.5; +10#x6,5
Sit-Ups 2x10
Leg raised 1x10

I have not been weighing myself, so I am not sure how much my Pull-ups are being influenced by possible weight-loss.  Hopefully the opposite is true.
"n.5" means I did a little leg kick to finish the last rep so I gave myself credit for only half a pull-up.

Press Failure

Micro-loaded the press but still failed miserably.  Dips went up again, though.  I don't really care about assistance exercises so much, but it is nice to know I am at least getting stronger and not just spinning my wheels.

5.22.13

Press OWU 172.5

Press 162.5x4,4,4

Dips BWx10; +30x7,7

Push-ups 30, 15

I skipped sled work so I could spend some more time with the wife.  

Weary Squats

I don't think I was completely recovered from Friday's DL craziness, plus my sleep and work schedule has been awful.  Anyway, on set three, rep three of squats, I had to dump.  I didn't think I was failing, in fact I felt strong, but my lower back didn't stay tight and my center of gravity moved forward and I lost my balance.  I felt good, and I contemplated reloading the bar and trying again, but I decided to listen to my body and just call it good.  Bummer.  I will show Gravity, The Iron, and 285 pounds who is control on Friday by going 3x6+ for good measure.


5.20.13

Squat OWU 305
Squat 285x5,5,2
Pull-Ups BWx10; +15x7,6
Rows 180x5,5,8

Bench 1RM

I decided to make my OWU into a 1RM test on the Bench.  About a month and a half ago it was 225, which was exceedingly depressing.  Today I increased by 30 pounds!  Today's bench exceeds my Powerlifting Meet Bench last year about this time.  I am very please with that.

But then, since I tested my 1RM for OWU, I wasn't convinced my planned work sets would be successful.  Thankfully, my fears were unfounded.  OWU is really paying off in the bench!


5.18.13

Bench 1RM: 255
Bench 215x5,5,6
Farmer Walks w/90s, 105s, 115s
DB Press 5 w/50s, 60s; 6 w/65s

Skipped Car pushes today.

Deadlift Crazy! 5.17.13

My wife asked me what my 1RM DL PR was, and so it got me wondering what my CURRENT 1RM is.  I decided I'd be lucky if I got 405 since I only got 385 a month ago.  I was so wrong--405 jumped off the floor!  I decided to be happy with it, though, since I really did want to do my planned 345xF, so instead I just treated the 405 as an OWU--which everyone says NOT to do on DL, HAHA!

I screwed up squats, though.  I had programmed 3x5+@285, but forgot and did 280.  Dang.


5.17.13

DL OWU: 405
DL 345x8
Squats 280x5,5,6
Pull-Ups BWx9; +10x6
Chins +10x7


Overall, a great day.  Not the end of the world to repeat a squat DL workout--but I am still upset with myself.

3rd Time's a Charm -- 5.15.13

Well, I had decided to deload on the press (just 2.5#) but my pride required me to give 160 one last try.  I made it!  I had a protracted rest between sets 2 and 3 (8 min) and I had a bit more hip thrust and lean back than I usually do, but I got rep 5 on set 3!  My back off set of 135 to failure was 2 less reps this week, though.

Dips are roaring back.  Interesting.
Push-ups are stagnating.
Car pushes were brutal.


5.15.13

Press OWU 170x1
Press 160x5,5,5; 135x6
Dips BWx10; +25#x10,8
Push-ups 25,20
Car Pushes


Not excited to be back to the grueling grind of trying to get my Press to increase.  I want to hit 200 soooo badly!

5.13.13

Killed some heavy squats.  I set the OWU 5# lower than last week (even though I moved up 5# in my work sets) in hopes to be less gassed for Power Cleans, but it didn't work.  I got my butt kicked by P.Cleans, and also hurt my arm a bit doing them, so I will take a few weeks off and then deload to 155.

Chins are getting stronger.


5.13.13

Squats OWU 300
Squats 280x5,5,6
Chins BWx10; +10#x8; +15#x6
Rows 3x5@175
P.Cleans 177.5x3,2; 155x3

Feeling good about squats, but P.Cleans are disappointing.  Feeling badly notwithstanding, P.Cleans are more of an accessory exercise so I don't feel badly holding off on them for a while since Squats are doing so well.

5.11.13 Sq, DL, Bench

What a great Bench Day!!  I knocked my planned DL and Squats out of the park (even after helping a neighbor move some heavy furniture--including a cast-iron wood burning stove), and then killed my bench!

Friday was crazy, so I combined the most important parts of Fri and Sat workout.


5.11.13

DL 340x6
Squat 275x5,5,6
Bench OWU 1x215
Bench 200x5,5,8; 210x6!?!?  AWESOME!
DB Press 5w/50s, 60s; 4w/65s
Pull-ups and Curls

I'll be testing my Bench 1RM next week: the goal is 245, which will be +20#s from April 1st.

I applied to the Waterloo, IA fire department.  Will keep you posted.

Press Day -- 5.8.13

This was my second attempt at 3x5@160 on the Press, and it was my second failure, although I did improve over the last time (which includes doing OWU on the Press this time).  Last time I got 4, 4, and 3 reps--this time I got 5, 4, and 4.  It looks like I am pretty much back to where I was before the hiatus, at least on the Press--but not back to my all time highest strength in the Press.  Looks like Microloading is in order; I'll try 157.5 next time.

Dips were impressively stronger than they have been in a long time, especially after doing what I did on Press--however Push-ups clearly suffered as a result, which I don't really care about.

All in all, 'twas a pretty good day.  We drove to a parking lot and pushed the car around in lieu of a sled--it is a VW Golf, so it is pretty light... for a car.


5.8.13

Press OWU 170x1
Press 160x5,4,4; 135x8
Dips BWx10; +15#x10; +25#x7
Push-ups 20, 20
"Sled"

Over-Warm-up

Trying a new thing called "Over-Warm-ups (OWU)" or "Primer Singles."  I work my way past my work sets on Squats, Bench and Press, by doing a heavy single and then going back down to the work sets.  I am hoping it will stimulate some additional growth considering I used to be able to do so much more weight.

I underestimated my first bench OWU, and ended up doing a triple of even more weight after my work sets. Squat OWU left me feeling a bit gassed, which ended up making my work sets a bit of a grind and that really affected my Power Cleans at the end of the workout.  I am going to keep doing the OWUs, though.  I like the idea.

Power Cleans ended up being a mixture of Power and Full Cleans.  I went way below parallel on several of the reps because I was too tired to get the bar high enough to get under it without going really low to do so.  I was dead tired, and my form was awful.  My last set of these, last week, was at 175, and it was easy.  Today, every set at 175 felt like a lot more than 175.


5.4.13

Bench OWU: 205x1
Bench 195x5,5,7; 210x3
DB Farmer Walks with 85s, 95s, and 105s.
DB Press 5 w/45s, 55s, 65s.
Shrugs 10x335


5.6.13

Squat OWU: 1x305
Squat 3x5@270
Chins BWx10; +10#x6,6
Rows 3x5@170
P.Cleans 5x3@175

5.3.13

DLs felt good.  After 2 warm-up sets at squat, I was a bit worried that I had spent too much on them to do the squats I was planning on, but I got those too--plus one rep for good measure.


5.3.13

DL 335x6
Squat 265x5,5,6
Pull-Ups (BW) 6,6,5


I am still riding the line between being basically re-addicted to going to the gym, but still furiously frustrated with not being as strong as I was.  I will probably not get over that until one of my lifts returns to pre-hiatus levels of strength.  I am guessing the Press will be the first to set a new PR.  I can't wait.

Press 1RM

I tested my Press 1RM tonight and got 180.  Over a year ago, I got 190.  Kinda depressing, but the Press has always been a pain for me.  I lost a lot last year when I got really bad tendinitis in my left elbow, and then after making a small come-back, my recent hiatus set me back again.


5.1.13

Press 135x2, 155x1, 175x1, 180x1, 182.5x0, 162.5x3
DB Press 3 w/65s

Short workout.