Heisman's log

[Heisman2]

Today's workout:

Paused weighted dips: BW+90x3, BW+90x2, BW+70x4
Incline dumbbell bench press: 70s x4, 60s x6, 60s x5
Dumbbell lateral raises: 25x6, 20x8
Tricep pushdowns: 50x3, 35x4
Prone rear delt laterals: 15x5, 10x8

Happy with this.

My hamstrings are still sore from 3 days ago; if they are not recovered when I wake up tomorrow I'll take the day off from lifting.

[Heisman2]

Legs felt good enough today to do this:

Deadlifts: 405x5

That's it. Today's my birthday (I'm 33 now) and I wanted to do this as a gift to myself, lol. Feels nice to have 405 in my hands again. This was hard but I had 1 more rep with good form in me. Nice to have my strength coming back.

[Heisman2]

Today's workout:

Pulldowns: 160x8, 160x7, 140x8
Seated rows: 160x9, 160x8, 140x9
EZ bar curls: 80x6, 80x5
Face pulls: 30x15, 35x15

Improvements all around so I'm quite pleased.

[Heisman2]

Today's workout:

Paused weighted dips: BW+90x4, BW+90x3, BW+90x2
Incline dumbbell bench press: 70s x4.5, 60s x6, 50s x7
Dumbbell lateral raises: 25s x6, 20s x10
Prone rear delt lateral raises: 15s x9, 10s x12
Tricep pushdowns: 35x7, 30x8

I paused nicely with the dips and got 1 more rep than last time so I'm quite pleased.

[Heisman2]

Today's workout:

Paused bulgarian split squats: 90s x5, 80s x5
One-legged leg extensions: 90x5, 80x6
Leg curls: 90x7, 80x6

That's it. The bulgarian split squats were exhausting. Such a hard exercise to go heavy in. Last week I was sore for several days, this time I took out the set of step-ups; we'll see how I feel the next couple of days.

[Heisman2]

Today's workout:

Lat pulldowns: 160x10, 160x9, 140x9
Seated rows: 160x11, 160x10, 140x11
EZ bar curls: 80x8, 80x6
Facepulls: 40x15, 45x15

Big improvements all around. Especially impressed with my curling strength as I've gone up quite a few reps now. Will do 90 pounds next time and see if I can get 5 reps. Gonna go up with weights on everything next session.

[Heisman2]

No recent updates as I haven't been lifting. My power rack came and I put it together, and then we finally got approval to put a shed up in our backyard and that took several days, but is finally done (and functional!). Today's workout:

Paused high bar backsquats:
135x2x5
155x2x5
175x5

That's it. Felt really good actually. Some creakiness in the hips/knees but part of that may be due to the flu shot I got yesterday; no actual pain at all. I cannot tell you all how excited I am to squat again.

[Heisman2]

Well I unfortunately came down with a cold. Tested negative for COVID-19. Didn't feel well enough to lift productively until today. Then I was warming up for squats, did 135x3 without issue, and unracked 185 and while walking out my left knee started getting some significant pain on the lateral side that extended slightly down the leg. I reracked it and walked around a bit but my knee felt somewhat unstable so I called it. Now 20 minutes later it's still bothering me intermittently.

I don't think this is a significant injury. I think I have some arthralgias from the virus I have... perhaps that made me feel some of the creakiness on my last workout as well as I started to develop a sore throat the next day.

I will take tomorrow off and get back at it Tuesday. I should know by tomorrow if my knee is seriously hurt or not.

[Heisman2]

Today's workout:

Paused high bar back squats: 185x5, 195x5, 205x5
Paused weighted dips: BW+70x5, BW+45x6
Paused weighted pullups: BW+70x5, BW+45x6 (done as chin ups)

Very happy with this, no pain at all and no injuries. Finally time to get serious again.

[Heisman2]

Still feeling sick but I worked out and felt better afterwards. I have more cankersores now, which generally indicates higher stress or oncoming illness so I'm hopeful I'm not going to get worse in the next couple of days.

Paused high bar back squats: 215x5, 225x5, 235x5 - these all felt good, no pain
Paused incline dumbbell bench press: 70s x4, 60s x6
Seated rows: 170x8, 160x10
Strict curls: 100x1.5/80x3 - first time doing these, probably could have gotten 105x1
Tricep pushdowns: 50x4

Quite happy with this. Hopefully I start feeling a lot better shortly and don't get worse and then I can really start pushing things.

[AdamWW]

Sorry to hear you're ill sir.

Glad to know it's not COVID.

[Heisman2]

Sorry to hear you're ill sir.

Glad to know it's not COVID.

Thank you. Still having some nasal symptoms but feeling better overall. However, yesterday I had no issue eating lunch and then when I took my first bite of dinner I had weird nerve pain all throughout my right cheek/temple. Never had anything like this before. Couldn't really chew the entire evening as it was so painful, but I could use my tongue and preferentially chew things on the left side of my mouth. I recently started using mouthwash due to gingivitis and even more recently switched to a stronger brand (that has 0.1% cetylpyridinium chloride instead of the 0.07% the first type I bought had); perhaps that played some sort of role. I didn't use mouthwash last night or this morning and haven't had any pain with eating today. I have no explanation for this.

Today's workout:

Paused high bar backsquats: 245x5, 245x2, 245x1 - got much harder but felt good
One-armed pulldowns: 110x3
Paused close grip bench press: 135x5 - first time benching in years, felt good, still waiting for my monolift arms to arrive
Tricep pushdowns: 40x5
Strict curls: 102.5x1 - I got 1.25 pound microplates so used them here. I still think I have 105 in me.

Happy with this. Up to a good working weight on squats. Tomorrow I plan to deadlift and do various isolation or higher rep movements for shoulders/arms/legs.

[Heisman2]

Feeling better today, thankfully.

Snatch grip deadlifts: 225x5 - used Krato bands to hold onto the bar and they worked very well.
One-legged leg extensions: 70x10, 80x8, 80x6
Leg curls: 80x10, 80x7
Nordic leg curls: 4 - very happy I can do these effectively using the lat pulldown/row I purchased
Dumbbell laterals: 30x3, 25x5
Tricep overhead extensions: 30x8, 30x7
Prone laterals: 20x8, 15x10
Strict curls: 105x1, 80x6

Very pleased with all of this. Took some time to get the set up right with the snatch grip deadlifts but felt it a lot in my lower back in a good way as I don't have a 45 degree hyperextension so I'd like to do these in part to work on that movement pattern (but also as a deadlift variation that isn't as taxing as heavy conventional deadlifts).

Assuming no set back in the next 2 days I will be starting a regular routine on Tuesday.

[Heisman2]

Now we're getting somewhere...

Paused high bar back squats: 245x5,5,3
Paused weighted dips: BW+70x5,5
Paused weighted pullups: BW+70x5x5
Paused bulgarian split squats: 50s x8
Incline dumbbell bench press: 60s x9
Seated rows: 170x10
Lateral raises: 20s x10
Prone lateral raises: 15s x11
EZ bar curls: 107.5x0/80x4 - finally failed on a max attempt, will stop doing these regularly
Tricep pushdowns: 35x7
Facepulls: 50x7

Happy with all of this.

[Heisman2]

Yesterday I did 15 minutes of rowing at level 6 for 2819 meters.

Today I did:

Paused zombie squats: 135x10, 145x10, 155x7 - all felt good
Paused incline dumbbell bench press: 70s x5, 70s x4 - also felt good
Paused seated rows: 180x5, 180x5 - could have gone heavier here
One-legged leg extensions: 80x7,7
Leg curls: 80x7,7
Paused close grip bench press: 135x8 - my ROM was all over the place, I think this will go much better when I get the monolift arms
Paused one-armed pulldowns: 100x7 - these felt good, I don't think I've lost too much strength with these
Lateral raises: 20x13
Dumbbell curls: 40x6
Prone laterals: 15x15
Overhead tricep extensions:30x11
Face pulls:40x16

Pleased with all of this.

[Heisman2]

Paused high bar squats: 185x3x10 - I played around with using a wider stance and I like it, I think I'll do closer stance on Tuesdays, zombie squats on Thursdays, and wider stance on Saturdays for awhile. Conditioning is what is holding me back here. Hard to brace well for 10 paused reps. I'll keep at it and we'll see how I progress.

Paused close grip bench press: 155x2x5 - my monolift arms should come in the next 2-3 weeks and then this will be a much better lift

Paused one-armed pulldowns: 110x2x5 - these felt good

[Heisman2]

Snatch grip deadlifts: 255x5 - felt pretty easy
Barbell hack squats: 275x2 - felt weird, I've never done these before and will need to do them a few times to get the hang of them I think
EZ bar curls: 80x12 (big PR)
Tricep pushdowns: 35x11
Lateral raises: 25x8
Prone laterals: 20x9

That is it for today, I'm happy with this.

After this I showered and when I stepped out of the shower and looked in the mirror I noticed I have a cluster of petechiae a couple inches long near the top of my right lat under the axilla. I have absolutely no idea how this happened. I have no pain at all with movement of my arm. I'm guessing this is not a tear of anything and just petechiae but I cannot recall what I would have done to cause this on only 1 side. We'll see if I have any pain tomorrow or when I lift next on Tuesday. If not this will likely remain a mystery but I'll train as though there is nothing wrong.

[Heisman2]

Nice workout today:

Paused high bar back squats: 255x 5, 4, 4 - all felt good
Paused weighted dips: BW+75x 5, 5
Paused weighted pullups: BW+75x 5, 5 - I bought the Angles90 (https://angles90.com/?gclid=Cj0KCQjw...caAuv0EALw_wcB) which allows my wrists to swivel during the movement, putting more emphasis on my biceps without the uncomfortable feeling I get doing chinups
Step-ups: 40s x12
Incline dumbbell bench press: 60s x11
Seated rows: 180 x10 (last 2 were not quite full ROM)
Lateral raises: 25s x10
Dumbbell curls: 40s x8
Prone laterals: 20s x10
Tricep pushdowns: 40 x8
Facepulls: 45 x8

Overall I'm very happy with this. Stronger all around relative to 1 week ago. I still have no idea what caused my petechiae but I have no pain and am thus ignoring it.

[Heisman2]

I didn't workout yesterday as I slept poorly, felt bad, and my left knee was hurting. I have no idea why my left knee hurt. After a couple of hours the pain went away.

Felt fine today though:

Paused zombie squats: 165x5, 175x5, 185x5
Paused incline dumbbell bench press: 70s x6, 70s x5
Paused seated rows: 200x5, 180x6
Paused bulgarian split squats: 60s x8
Paused close grip bench press: 135x10
Paused one-armed pulldowns: 100x9
Lateral raises: 30x4.5
Tricep pushdowns: 40x10
Prone laterals: 25x8
Dumbbell curls: 40x10
Facepulls: 45x10

Improvements all around, very pleased.

[Heisman2]

Very nice workout today:

Snatch-grip deadlifts: 275x5
Barbell hack squats: 275x5 - I'm not sure I'm doing these correctly as I feel these a ton in my lower lats, on the other hand I don't mind feeling this so I'll just keep moving a long with them.
EZ bar strict curl: 110x1 - 5 pound PR, nice to be making legit progress
EZ bar curls: 90x7
Overhead tricep extensions: 35x9
Dumbbell laterals: 30x6
One-legged leg extensions: 80x8,8,8
Leg curls: 80x8,8,8
Prone laterals: 25x8/4 - I'm gonna take the weight down and start doing these more slow/controlled
Facepulls: 50x8

Everything felt good and I'm happy to be making progress on the strict curl. Again, I've never really trained biceps seriously in my life prior to this and right now I'm responding to 3-4 direct sets weekly.

[Heisman2]

Today's workout:

Paused high bar back squats: 265x5, 3, 3
Paused weighted dips: BW+80x 5, 5
Paused weighted pullups: BW+80x 5, 4.5
Step-ups: 45s x12
Incline dumbbell bench press: 65s x9
Seated rows: 180 x10 - using a bit more momentum than I want on these, I am going to lower the weight to 160
Lateral raises: 30s x7
Dumbbell curls: 45s x6
Prone laterals: 15s x8 - I think even this is too heavy, I will go down to 10s
Tricep pushdowns: 45 x7
Facepulls: 50 x9

[Heisman2]

Paused zombie squats: 195x3x5 - these were solid reps but the exercise itself is simply a hard exercise for me; perhaps my shoulder anatomy in some way makes it harder to get the bar set comfortably but I really have to exert a lot of energy to keep everything very solid or else the bar will roll forward
Paused incline dumbbell bench press: 75x5, 75x4
Paused seated rows: 180x2.5, 160x4 - I'm doing these very strict, 180 was too heavy
One-legged leg extensions: 80x2x9
Leg curls: 80x2x9
Paused close grip bench press: 145x8 - still waiting for the monolift arms
One-armed pulldowns: 100x10
Dumbbell laterals: 30x7
Overhead tricep extensions: 35x10
Prone laterals: 10x12 - felt better but I'm really looking forward to getting my functional trainer to do these; it was supposed to ship by now and hasn't so I have no idea when it will arrive
EZ bar curls: 90x8
Facepulls: 50x10

Happy with this all around.

[Heisman2]

Today's workout:

Paused high bar back squats: 225x 7,7
Paused close grip bench press: 165x 5,4.5
Paused one-armed pulldowns: 115x 5,5
Dips: 18
Hammer-grip chins: 13

That's it, happy with this.

[Heisman2]

Today's workout:

Snatch grip deadlifts: 295x5
Barbell hack squats: 295x5 - my grip is becoming an issue with the bar rolling; I haven't been using chalk but still surprising to me.
Dumbbell curls: 45x7
Lateral raises: 30x8
Tricep pushdowns: 45x9
One-legged leg extensions: 80x10
Leg curls: 80x10
Prone laterals/bent over laterals: 10x13/6
Facepulls: 50x11

Happy with all of this.

[Heisman2]

Today's workout:

Paused high bar backsquats: 275x3,2,2,2,2 - felt really good on my legs, quite happy due to this. Will keep at this weight on my heavier days for awhile and add reps.
Paused weighted dips: BW+81.25x5,4.5
Paused hammer chins: BW+80x5,5
Incline dumbbell bench press: 65x10
Seated rows: 160x8
Overhead tricep extensions: 40x5
Dumbbell curls: 45x7

[Heisman2]

Today's workouts:

Strict EZ bar curl: 112.5 x1 (2.5 pound PR, possibly would have had 115 in me but no need to try to rush the progress)
Zombie squats: 200x3x5 (these felt great on my legs and also took a lot out of my shoulders)
Paused incline dumbbell bench press: 80x4, 75x3 (the last rep with the 80s was a real grinder)
Paused seated rows: 160x6, 160x5

Stopped here as I was low on energy due to poor sleep/eating, but still quite happy with what I did. Bicep strength is steadily improving. I'm interested in starting weighted pullups and one-armed pullups again once my bicep progress stalls to see if this makes a difference.

[Heisman2]

Today's workout:

Paused high bar back squats: 230x7,7 - I sat more in between my legs instead of sitting back while also spreading the floor and this felt so much better than my squats typically do, and I didn't have any knee pain. Very excited about this.
Paused close grip bench press: 170x4,4 - still waiting for my monolift arms, I have no idea when they will ship. This is the only thing I have ordered from Rogue that did not ship in the prespecified time frame.
Paused one-armed pulldowns: 120x5,4
Dips: 21
Hammer grip chins: 14

Happy with this.

[Heisman2]

Good workout today:

Snatch grip deadlifts: 315x5
Lateral raises: 30x9 (with a bit of momentum)
Dumbbell curls: 45x8
Bent over laterals: 10x13
Tricep pushdowns: 45x10
Facepulls: 50x13
One-legged leg extensions: 90x7
Leg curls: 90x8

[Heisman2]

Today's workout:

Paused high bar back squats: 275x3,3,3,2,2
Paused weighted dips: BW+90x3, BW+55x6
Paused hammer grip chins: BW+90x3, BW+55x6
Incline dumbbell bench press: 70s x8
Seated rows: 160s x9

My adjustable monolift arms are finally scheduled to arrive today. Then the only thing left to get shipped is the functional trainer I ordered, though I think that is still going to be awhile.

[Heisman2]

Well I am unfortunately COVID-19 positive. No workouts for 2 weeks for me. If I take a turn for the worse I will try to post it. Symptoms started yesterday.