Great pull, but about 2 minutes after the pull my knee decided to give out. Tried pulling any back off but it wouldn't allow me to put any pressure. Hopefully nothing serious. Bench was excellent.
Strained my ACL. Definitely have to chill for a bit or I'll be done for good. Bench is feeling amazing on the flipside. Really sucks that this happened but I have to accept it and address it instead of be a victim of it right away.
Ended up just taking about 3 weeks off lifting completely around the holidays to let everything heal up. Never in my life have I done that since I began lifting in 2013. I've been back training about a month now and haven't logged on here but nothing significant, first two weeks was more of an intro and now I'm two weeks into this hypertrophy block. Everything is fine except for some patella tendinitis.
My bodyweight is 190lbs/86kg, and I'm just going to drop the bodyweight again and bulk up to 93s.... again. I got too fat when I started approaching 93s, especially around the 90+ kg bodyweight mark. Now I'm back down to 14-16% or so but I want to be lean for once in the summer. So I'm going to cut down to 83 at least, then consider doing California State Champs in June.
I have that drive to do a powerlifting meet again after about a year or so without doing one now. I really want to put together a 9/9 performance. Sitting around high 180s bodyweight, thinking about competing around the summer or so. Even though it's a bit tedious, I really do get value out of logging on here and having a short reflection on how the session went. It really puts the emphasis on the most important variable - effort in individual training sessions.
This mesocycle I plan on doing higher intensity squatting and some pause deads to work on my sumo form. I think if I clean up my technique a lot deadlifting I can get a lot of lbs out of it that I'm leaving on the table.
Competition Bench
281lbs/127.5kg x5 @7.5
286lbs/130kg x5 @9.5
242lbs/110kg 3x5
Bulgarian Split Squats 26lb 5x10 Face Pulls Green Band 3x12
Squats felt really good. Copenhagen planks have been doing wonders to make my hips feel good when squatting. Comp bench was a bit of a disaster, on my first ramp up set of 281 I was suppose to get 6 but my foot slipped completely on the 5th rep so I racked it and thought I made the conservative jump of going up to 286 but failed it for 6. Overshooting week one is never good, but this is the type of mistake I don't feel bad about it as I really intended on playing it safe. I'll keep the top set at 282 next week and try to build off of that.
Higher hip position feeling good, shifting a little bit to one side though. If I can hit the hip position with my dip and then hold it a bit better I think I'll eliminate most of the shift. The top single felt good and easy and I considered going up but my training circumstances weren't the best this day. Not much food and had just worked all day on my feet. Need to really root my left foot into the floor better as well because of retard arch
DB Bench Press 65s 4x15 Seated DB Press 30s 3x12 DB Curls 30s 4x15 Skullcrushers 75 4x15
Bench was feeling pretty good today, my scapula felt like it was in the perfect spot during my set up and my leg drive felt more powerful than normal. I was really focusing on finding that perfect foot placement for my arch + leg drive and I think it paid off. Nothing too impressive for this week one, looking to build off of this and push this x7. This session was after an 11hr work day and that probably will be the trend of my weekday workouts. Can't let that be an excuse ever.
Enjoying DB bench again, every time I have it in my bench does well. The DB seated press I did really slow eccentric and tried to guide the entire movement with my scapula to have it move through that entire ROM. Almost skipped my bro chit because it was late at night, gotta have jacked arms fam
High Bar Squat
341lbs/155kg x6 @7.5
308lbs/140kg 2x6
270lbs/122.5kg x6
Hack Squat 270 4x10
6-0-0 Tempo Bench
308lbs/140kg x1 @8
252lbs/115kg 5x3
Close Grip Feet Up Bench
198lbs/90kg x8
176lbs/80kg 3x10
Rough workout, felt tired from the start. The top set of high bar was a rough 7.5, maybe even an 8. It was suppose to be @7, and then another set @8. My back offs didn't go well, hack squat was brutal, overall tough session. Still glad I got the work done. Feet felt really rooted this day and form held up well. Good honest work for bench, hit the 8 right on the money.
I struggled with staying out of my head on squats this session with the knee pain I've been dealing with lately. I'm so hyper concerned in getting hurt during this prep that I was a little customizer on my squats today. The program I have written is fine and if I'm going to deal with the knee pain its outside of the session doing things like biking, not by altering my workout. This is where a coach would tell me to stick to the program, so I am going to try and do a better job of not doing this again in the future. I realized this after my squats so moved forward to bench and killed it. Leg drive feeling great and tightness better than ever. Did split squats with only socks today and that felt good for arch stabilization
DB Bench Press 70 4x15 Seated DB Press 30s 3x12 DB Incline Curls 20s 4x15 Tricep Extensions 40 4x10
Another good bench session. First of the TnG singles, hopefully this goes up week by week. The x7 moved well. Back feeling tighter in my set up as well as kicking down into the floor a bit better. Right pec started feeling weird toward the end of the back off sets
High Bar Squat
396lbs/180kg x1 @8
308lbs/140kg 2x6
286lbs/130kg x6
Hack Squat 270 4x10
Knees felt meh today but pushed through this session. Quads gotta grow. First of the high bar singles, never had anything higher than 375/170kg on high bar so I'll take this. Hopefully I'll build off of this in the next few weeks. Been setting my intention before I go into the gym and that's been allowing me to a bit more objective with these sessions. Feeling highly motivated
Deadlifts have caught momentum! Feels like I hit a good sweet spot of intensity and volume. My positioning feels great, hips feel like they're in a much better position to hinge, and my legs are feeling more active. Chest was beat after this workout. Right pec still feeling weird
Bulgarian Split Squats34s 2x10, 26 3x10 Face Pulls Green band 4x10
402x5 squats felt amazing. Feels great to finally hit "4 plates" for 5 now. Adductor warm ups work really well and I need to always do them. After the set I felt really gassed, and the first back down felt really heavy so I dropped it again. Bench felt like trash today. 3rd time I've under executed bench on my comp day. I'll restructure this next mesocycle. Still got the work in.
Lower body felt fatigued today. Good positioning with a slightly wider grip on these. Glad I tied my last weeks single when fatigued. Set my intentions today well
DB Bench Press 70 4x15 Seated DB Press 30s 3x12 DB Incline Curls 20s 4x15 Tricep Extensions 40 4x10
Did not have a spotter for a single since I went really early in the morning, so I did an extra set of 7 to try and make up for it. Also screwed up and forgot my gym bag at home, so I benched in some old shoes and my old gangsta wraps. Right pec still feeling off. My bench definitely was moving today despite the surrounding circumstances, so I'm happy about that. Felt like I was actively pushing into the bench better than I normally do. Got a sickening pump during the accessories as well
Wow deads felt amazing. Huge PR. Bracing well, pushing my legs into the floor better than usual. Squat and deads on the momentum train, bench in the trashcan. That's to be expected though when you lose like ~15lbs of bodyweight. I'm grateful that deads are going so well that I feel I could pause my comp best right now.
Felt like I had no idea how to squat. I'll keep this same squat volume next block. Need to do a block recap and write my next one out. Meet is approaching quickly!
Dips BW 3x10 Chin Ups BW 3x10 DB Curls 30s 4x10 Face Pulls 40 4x12 Unilateral Farmer Walk 100lb 3x 15 steps Band Extensions Blue x 26,20
The whole left shoulder pushing less than the right just keeps showing itself over and over. Need to keep searching to find a way to stop it. This would've definitely been an 8 but came off weird on my left side. It just feels like something is stopping my left scap from inserting fully. Getting a big fluff session like today was a lot of fun. Had 300mg of caffeine via a bang that I haven't done in awhile as well.
3ct T Shirt Bench
308lbs/140kg x1 @8
253lbs/115kg 5x3
Feet Up CGBP 188 4x10 Face Pulls 40 4x10 DB Curls 30 4x12 Ab Wheel w/ Pause 3x10
Bench felt really good today. I'm confident that the t shirt bench in particular is going to help me explode off the chest and get the tightness I need at the bottom. Was already feeling out a good position to have my shoulders so they don't do the uneven flare. I got to really feel my serratus when pressing. This is is the official start of this block, I know I'll be in a time crunch tomorrow so did my upper work today. No longer in a deficit so I'm expecting some good things to come out of this block.
Good first single of the block. 9 more to go. Lost my balance after I locked it out. Left hip felt odd today. I don't think I've ever started a block with 200kg squat like this so I'm hoping for a lot to come. Gotta stay focused on the inputs
Great pull for being hungover lol. By far the biggest start to these singles. We're in for some fun this block. Crazy to think this is my current meet PR.
DB Bench 70s 4x12-15 Face Pulls 40 5x15 Cable Curls 30 5x12
Working on keeping that left lat and scap tight at possible. Pecs were feeling it big time during this session. Had to play with the pin level on the Eleiko bench and ended up having to sink a bit or having a really high press so decided to sink. That's why big jump in RPE between 115 and 120kg. I still feel this movement helps me explode well and first session in I was trying to keep that in mind. Early morning workout
DB Bench 70s 4x12-15 Seated Tempo DB Press 25 3x10 Incline DB Curls 20s 5x15 Tricep Extensions 40 5x15
Was sick last week, down to 185lbs bw. Had a terrible squat session over the weekend I won't even bother logging lol. Back to the grind, did my best to pick the momentum back up in this session. I did exactly that, was mindful every set. Feels good mayne.
Legs felt like jello after this session today. Felt both my hip and left scap pop into place after some mobility and then loading which felt amazing. Widened squat grip just a tad so my index fingers are on the ring and this felt good. Trying to really focus on keeping bar over mid foot and not losing it when my hips shift. Torso ends up slightly more forward but more explosive out of the hole. Early morning session
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