Martin's odyssey to become not as weak.

[martin_mathers]

Not much going on this week.

Monday
Back accessories. No dl or squat, right glute and left knee were beat up.

Wednesday
Bench 265x10x5 sets
Finished with back and upper body accessories.

Thursday
Squat
405x5x5, joints are still beat up but getting better
Finished with back and legs accessories.

Wrote up the next 8-10 weeks of training. Got some rep and volume goals I want to hit.

[martin_mathers]

Bench
275x6x6

Lat Pulldown
3x15

Rows
3x15

DB OHP
3x15

Triceps
4x15

[martin_mathers]

Deadlift
405x5x5

SSB Squat
295x5x5

Leg Curl
4x15

Rows
3x15

Lat Pulldown
3x15

First deadlift training since the meet. Just trying to get the bar moving fast again. Work capacity is low right now for the deadlift, hadn't done any reps or volume in a while.

[martin_mathers]

Bench
275x10x4 sets
Felt good today, these moved fast. Wanted to do a 5th set but 40 reps at around 70% is more than enough.

Pullups
4x7

DB Bench
4x15

Rows
4x15

Dips
4x12

Curls
3x15

[martin_mathers]

Squat
420x5x5
Nice and fast. Breaking in some brand new wraps.

GHR
4x12

Leg Ext
5x15

Lat Pulldown
4x15

Left knee was pretty painful and tender after squats for some reason, so I didn't do my normal split squats after. I'd rather let it heal up so I can train SSB squats on Monday, which are more important than split squats I feel.

[martin_mathers]

Bench
285x6x6

DB OHP
4x15

Rows
4x15

Dips
3x15

Lat Pulldown
3x15

[martin_mathers]

Deadlift
425x5x5

Split Squats
12,12,12,20

Rows
3x15

Shiitty day. Glute was hurting so deadlifts weren't good. Then left knee was still painful so I couldn't do SSB squats. Overall my lower body is just really beat up right now. Some pain in my left groin too. I guess I haven't gotten enough rest since the meet which was almost a month ago. Lowering the frequency for the time being to squat 1x a week, and continuing deadlift 1x a week.

[martin_mathers]

Bench
285x10x3 sets, rep and volume PR. Got out of groove on last set and almost lost it.
285x5x2 sets. paused

Pullups
4x7

DB Bench
3x15

Rows
3x15

Triceps
4x15

Bench is feeling pretty good right now. Goal is to build up to around 305-315x10.

[martin_mathers]

Saturday
Squat (had to push back squats for 2 days due to work)
435x5x5

Split Squats
4x12

Lat Pulldown
4x15

GHR
4x10

Squats felt decent. Left knee feeling a little better, so maybe I'll do SSB squats again on Monday.

Sunday
Bench
295x5x3

DB OHP
3x12

Rows
3x15

Never really trained on a Sunday before so I just wanted to get the **** out of there. Cut the workout short cause I wasn't feeling it and I've been pushing my bench reps pretty hard on Wednesdays.

[martin_mathers]

Deadlift
445x3x7 sets
Best I've felt on deadlifts since the meet. Very fast. Pretty happy with this considering I squatted 2 days ago. Also abandoning 5's for deadlifts cause they suck.

Leg Press
4x20

Rows
5x12

Leg Curl
2x15

Made the right choice to not squat today. Definitely going back to squatting 1x a week. I want to feel less beat up for each deadlift and squat day.

[martin_mathers]

Bench
295x10 PR
295x8,8
295x5,5 paused

Pullups
4x7

DB Bench
4x12

Rows
4x15

Dips
3x15

Curls
3x15

Done with 10's for the bench. My original goal was to build up to 305-315x10, but my reps are getting a bit too sloppy for my liking. The 295x10 wasn't too hard but rep quality wasn't good. As someone who really sucks at reps, I'm pretty happy I got this far with 10's. Will save the 305-315x10 for the next off season cycle. Dropping down to 8's next week to start a new wave.

[martin_mathers]

Friday
Squat
450x5x5

Split Squat
12,12,15

Lat Pulldown
4x15

GHR
4x10

Squats were fast and easy, but glute hurting still. Should be feeling better in a few weeks as I switch back to squatting 1x a week.

Saturday at Fortis
Bench
275x6x6

Rows
4x15

DB OHP
4x12

More rows
3x12

Dips
4x15

Took a trip back to my home gym Fortis today with my buddy Captain Planet. It was nice to see everyone after 8 months. Also traded wraps with Jeremy. Gave him my Death Rows and one of my pairs of Strangulators (I still have 2 pairs of strangs left lol), and I got his Phantoms. Hopefully he'll like either one of them and hit a big squat at his meet in April. Also excited to try out the Phantoms, everyone's saying they're the best wraps from Pioneer. Might go back to Fortis a few more times before I go back to school in January.

[martin_mathers]

Light Squat
up to 405x1
I know I'm only supposed to squat on Friday, but I found warming up with light squats first help me use my legs better during deadlifts. Plus I wanted to try out Jeremy's wraps. Felt decent. Need to go heavier to see if they're really good.

Deadlift
465x3x6 sets

Split Squats
12,12,20

Lat Pulldown
4x15

GHR
4x10

At Fortis again today. I forgot how bouncy the platforms were and it threw me off a bit. Deads were nice and easy though.

[martin_mathers]

Bench
275x8,8,8,8,10

Rows
4x12

DB Bench
4x10

Lat Pulldown
3x15

Triceps
3x15

Curls
3x15

First week of 8's and cycled back 20lbs from last week. Almost like a deload day, everything was super easy.

[martin_mathers]

Squat
465x5x5
Speed was good but felt bad. My lower body needs to get its shiit together. I keep having weird pains popping out of nowhere and it's messing with my groove.

Leg Ext
5x15

Pullups
7x7

GHR
4x10

Did my first working set with Jeremy's phantoms and they were awful. Zero pop out of the hole. After discussing with 308smk we realized the phantoms I have are Paki stuff. So I'll just stick with my good strangulators forever, and get my other pair back from Jeremy when he's done with them.

[martin_mathers]

Bench
285x6x6

Lat Pulldown
3x15

DB OHP
4x12

Rows
3x15

Dips
3x15

Last day training at Torque Barbell. I'm in Waterloo now, finishing off last four months of my mechanical engineering degree. I've trained at quite a few gyms and Torque is definitely not a very good one, far from what they advertise themselves as. But it's over now and the next four months I'll be at my school gym, which has way better equipment than Torque. Hopefully after I graduate I'll land a job in Toronto and go back to Fortis.

[JustBulk]

Happy new year! May 2017 bless you with more strength and muscle!

[martin_mathers]

Deadlift
485x3x5 sets

Pullups
7x7

Went to Barrie to visit a friend and trained with him at the PL gym in Barrie. Ended up talking more than lifting so didn't do much after deadlifts. Also they're a CPU club so all their bars were stiff as **** which made my pulls feel pretty shiit.

[martin_mathers]

Bench
285x8x5 sets

Pullups
5x8

DB Bench
4x12

Rows
5x12

Dips
4x15

Back to the school gym. Didn't feel too good because I trained in the morning. Gonna have to get used to training early in the morning because it gets way too busy during the day. Except I'll have to deadlift in the afternoon on Monday due to morning class.

[NorthStrong]

fukc lifting in the morning.

[martin_mathers]

fukc lifting in the morning.

There are worst things in life.

Squat
480x5x5

Split Squats
15,15,18

Rows
3x15

GHR
4x12

Finally kept squatting frequency to 1x this week. Lower body already feeling better with less pain. Still not 100% though.

[martin_mathers]

Paused Bench
295x5x5

Rows
4x12

DB OHP
4x10

Lat Pulldown
3x12

Dips
3x12

Curls
3x15

Hit some light easy pauses today. Pretty happy that I can call 295 light now.

[martin_mathers]

Deadlift
505x3x5 sets

Pullups
5x8

GHR
4x12

Lat Pulldown
2x20

Deadlifts flew. Some bars at the school gym are kind of whippy so it made my pulls today feel very easy. Or it could just be the ice cream I had last night. It's probably due to the ice cream. Lower body pains are also healing up more.

[martin_mathers]

Bench
295x8x4 sets
295x6 paused

Rows
5x12

DB Bench
4x12

Lat Pulldown
3x15

Dips
3x15

Felt pretty good today, all top sets felt easy. Excited to see what my 1RM will be at the end of April.

[martin_mathers]

Squat
495x5x5 https://www.instagram.com/p/BPNlad4Auyk/

Split Squats
12,12,12,15

GHR
4x12

Lat Pulldown
3x15

Good day. Squats felt good, definitely easier than the last time I did 5x5 with 495. Felt faster than last week's 480x5x5 too. Going for a PR 5RM next week and will probably hit it for multiple sets. Not much pain in lower body today - lower sq/dl frequency is paying off.

[martin_mathers]

Paused Bench
305x5x5

DB OHP
4x12

Rows
4x15

Curls
3x15

Felt beat up today after a good squat day yesterday. Left elbow, bicep and forearm hurting.

[martin_mathers]

Deadlift
525x3x3 stiff bar rep PR, overall volume PR.

Pullups
5x8

GHR
4x12

Lat Pulldowns
2x15

Pulls were harder than I expected, but still managed to squeeze in a stiff bar PR and overall volume PR. Forgot to take ibuprofen before training so didn't feel great.

[martin_mathers]

Bench
305x8,8 rep PR
305x6,6,6 paused

Rows
5x12

DB Bench
4x12

Pullups
4x6

Dips
3x15

Got the 8's that I wanted with 305, but they felt harder and sloppier than expected, especially when last week's 295x8's were really easy. I wanted to do 3 sets of 8 but the 2 sets I did were both too sloppy so I decided to just do some clean pauses. Need to start sleeping more.

[martin_mathers]

Squat
510x5,5,5 new 5RM PR
https://www.instagram.com/p/BPfldLYA1Yi/

Split Squats
12,12,12,20

GHR
4x12

Lat Pulldown
4x15

Could've done a 5x5 with 510, but didn't see a point in doing more. Already hit a 15lb PR and did it for 3 sets, no point in killing myself in one day.

[martin_mathers]

Deload Bench, Paused
225x5
235x5
245x5
255x5
265x5
275x5

Rows
4x12

DB OHP
6x12

Curls
3x15

Some dumbass with an apeman shirt and ST elbow sleeves was bouncing the fuk out of his 315 doubles with his ass 2 ft off the bench. Powerlifting is getting too mainstream.