Aaron's random stuff

[Millz12323]

Deadlift day tomorrow if I get up early enough. I might have to brave the after work crowd though. Plan to add 10 lbs to all sets, except I may go for 265x20 at the end in honor of brutus0 thread. We'll see, sounds pretty tough.

After work crowd is the worst gym crowd in my opinion. Way to busy most of the time.

20 rep deads sounds like pain. Where is this thread you speak of? Going to see if I can find it

Edit: found it

[jademonkey]

After work crowd is the worst gym crowd in my opinion. Way to busy most of the time.

20 rep deads sounds like pain. Where is this thread you speak of? Going to see if I can find it

Edit: found it

Delayed my morning site visit and hit the gym in the morning. Still kinda full floor area and I was stuck in the middle. 2 singles at 465. During my set of 415x6, the owner's dog was laying near me and got a bit frightened and dashed through between the last reps and threw me off a bit. 355x4 paused, then 265x20. The 20 reps felt soo easy at first and got soo hard! Felt good though. Did a few rows, and ran outa time.

After my 2 site visits played hooky and went to relax in the park for a couple hours.

[jademonkey]

Did a social bike ride on my rest day. Kept it easy but felt another rest day would be best before squat singles.
Today I added 10 lbs to my session 9 days ago, but threw in an extra single cuz I felt good:
295x1 / 325x1 / 325x1 / 325x1 / 295x5 / 245x3 pause / 205x10 quick

Tried good mornings for the first time ever. They didn't feel so nice. Not hard, but the bar kept rolling up my shoulders and it always felt like I wasn't going very deep even though I went as far as I could. Here is 195x8. Maybe I should try high bar?



Did rack pulls also. Should have done them before good mornings I guess but I didn't want to move the pins a second time. Added 10 lbs: (385x5)x3
Added 5 lbs and reduced reps for slow eccentric incline dumbbell press: (75e x8)x3

[jademonkey]

Time change plus camping and drinking til what turned out to be 3 am, then sun streaming into my tent at 8 am = not in condition to work out on Sunday.
Did Sunday's workout today, minus legs which I'll be doing tomorrow.

Added 5 lbs to last week's bench press session:
270x1 pause / 270x1 pause / 245x5 / 200x8 pause at top and bottom / 180x16 quick / (140x1)x5 unrack and try to descend as quick as possible
I think my first rep trouble is some inability to properly get my chest tight before starting to lower the bar. I think if I turn my elbows slightly out before descending it helps get the chest to contract quicker. Just a thought.
Added 2 reps to the last set of arnold presses.
Added some weight to lateral raises finally after working up to 15 slow reps without going all the way to the bottom. I may stick with 17.5 or go back to quick and dirty reps with higher weight for a while.

[jademonkey]

Hard freaking squats today. Added 10 lbs again to last week's workout:
285x10 / 295x8 / 305x6 / 315x4 / 325x2 / 335x1
First set was 10 reps of what was my 1rm last April.
Last single equaled my current 1rm but was deeper and felt better despite being hella fatigued.
Got a guy to video 315x4 from the front. I wanted to see if I shift to the left, since my left leg gets more tired than my right.



Looks like right at the bottom as I start to come up, my right knee caves in a tad until I catch it and focus on the right leg better. Hopefully the backoff sets I do on the other squat day will help correct this.

Did some rows, fast RDLs, clamshells, and KB swings. A weird thing happens during explosive glute stuff... my glutes tingle a bit right at max contraction. No pain, not every rep. It's happened during RDL if I do them quickly, during kettlebell swings, and during normal-speed reverse hypers after a deadlift workout.

[jademonkey]

Had an early meeting for my moonlighting work, so put off gym till after work. Made sure to get a late afternoon coffee and meal and got to the gym at 7pm with a TON of energy.

Hadn't yet decided on rep scheme, but warm up felt so damn good I went for an overhead press PR of 170.
It went up EASY.
Added 10 lbs.
Went up a bit harder but still nice and smooth, just a bit slow.
Added 5 lbs for bodyweight.
Struggled with a bit of a back arch but made it:


Backed off with a set of 5, a set with pauses, and a high rep low weight set (as I like to do with the other main lifts).

Finished up with 3 sets of 9 dumbbell bench press with 85s, slow eccentric. And a couple lateral raises and low to high cable flys.

[jademonkey]

Favorite gym day last night.
Added 10 lbs to last weeks deadlifts, except for the last set, I'm not about to make 20 rep deadlifts a regular thing lol.
475x1 / 475x1 / 425x6 / 365 x 4 (double pause) / 315x10
Backed off with rows:
225x5 pendlay / 185x12 bent over / 175x8 bent over
Finished with some reverse flies and reverse curls.

475 felt goooood. Getting the upper back super tight is KEY to a strong lockout. I didn't video but felt like I may have set my hips a tad lower.
425x6 felt haaaaard. Thinking 435x5 next week.
Pause set was good.
Volume set was maybe a tad heavy for the intended purpose of going super fast and perfect form. May back off to 295 next week.

[jademonkey]

Squat day.
Accidentally did my singles at 325 again, but that's ok cuz they felt tough today.
Added 10 lbs to my other sets.
325x1 / 325x1 / 325x1 / 305x5 / 255x3 pause / 215x10 quick

Added 10 lbs to rack pulls:
(395x5) x3

Added a single rep to one set of incline dumbbell press.

[jademonkey]

SF is on lockdown starting now, so it was my last chance to get in the gym for a few weeks at least.

Yesterday took an impromptu day off to hang out with everyone. Today was to be push day but I added in a few pull downs and hack squats just to get in some full body stuff before a long ass deload/program switch.

Despite hanging out drinking beer and playing through an entire deck of Cards Against Humanity last night, I felt good and went for a bench PR after my first single at 275 went smoothly. Hit 295 paused (previous PRs were touch and go). Then hit 250x5 t&g. Went for 225 max reps just for fun and got 10. Then did 205x9 paused. Then 185x15 quick. Then did 5 singles at 145 with as quick an eccentric as I could (working on that first eccentric).

PR video:


Gym owner said no borrowing equipment
So I'm stuck squatting my wife I guess.

[jademonkey]

Been almost a week since the gym closed.

Got 4 workouts in so far, mostly bodyweight stuff. Got a gymnastics background so it's not too bad, but I'm older, stiffer, and 20 lbs heavier now so I definitely am not as good as then.

Less motivation than going to lift, but once I get going it's pretty decent workouts.

So far I'm doing a good bit of variety, similar to when I joined the gym. Gotta feel out a bunch of exercises and figure out what I like. Or I'll just keep doing random stuff till gyms reopen.

Current split I'm gravitating towards:
Legs and back
Chest and shoulders
Legs and back
Legs, chest and shoulders
Back
Legs, chest and shoulders

I may be a bit liberal with rest days for another week or so.

Exercises:

Legs:
Wife squats: Hold wife while we both wear weighted backpacks.
Split squats: I only have 70 lbs for this so have to do like 16 reps each. I'm sure I'll build up to 20+ soon and hate every second.
SLRDL: only 70 lbs, 20 reps, and it actually burns a bit.
Gave sissy squats and pistol squats a go as well. Sissy squats make my knees crack but they feel fine...
May try some Nordic curls next leg day.

Chest/shoulders:
Handstand push-ups
Feet elevated pike pushups
One arm push ups
Plache-style push ups (one or both feet still supported somewhat).
Bleacher pushups (one arm on high bench, one on low bench).
Bleacher dips (just dips on the back of the bleachers).
Lateral raises with powerblocks.
One arm shoulder press holding both powerblocks in one hand.

Back:
Pull ups/chin ups
Pull overs
Front lever "rows"
Pseudo one arm inverted rows (start with both hands but let one go as I get to the top).
Bodyweight curls in inverted row position.
Powerblock strict curls.
Don't really have anything heavy enough for dumbbell style rows.

[jademonkey]

After another month of the gym being closed, I've finally started skipping on workouts. I just don't have motivation to workout at home. My goals were STRENGTH and trying to workouts just for the healthiness of it it holding mass or whatever sucks. Fitness for me has always been a SIDE EFFECT of doing fun stuff.

Anyway I was gonna get workouts in this weekend, but a friend gave me shrooms so my wife and I decided to try these for the first time on Saturday, and that kind of sucked up all my mental energy. Fun time, but gotta get my schit together this week, wake up early and get some exercise!

[Millz12323]

Good on ya for doing some kind of training at home. I completely stopped after 2 weeks thinking I'll just give my joints some rest but that didn't help at all.

Haven't done shrooms for over 10 years but they sure can be fun . How much did you guys take?

[jademonkey]

Good on ya for doing some kind of training at home. I completely stopped after 2 weeks thinking I'll just give my joints some rest but that didn't help at all.

Haven't done shrooms for over 10 years but they sure can be fun . How much did you guys take?

We did 1.5g beginner dose. I felt it, my wife blended hers in a smoothie and didn't feel much of anything. Gonna do 2.5 next time. Been meaning to do them again for like 2 months and always have other stuff to do on the weekends.

Gym just opened for sidewalk workouts today. No racks. Gotta learn to clean the bar for front squats and presses. Not a big deal yet. Today I started with 135 lbs front squats, 50 lb dumbbells for bench press and rows, and 185 for RDL. Plan to add 10-20 lbs each session. It's $20 per session so gonna limit to 2 or 3 times a week.

[jademonkey]

Hamstrings were a bit sore from Tuesday. Today I did sumo deadlift, OHP, and pull ups.
DL 225x5 / 275x5 / 275x5 / 275x8
OHP (95x10)x3
Pull ups 10 / 10 / 5 (weak)
Finished supersetting dumbbell curls and bent over reverse flys.

[jademonkey]

Working my way back up in weight. Alternating the 2 above workouts for now, 2 or 3 times a week. I'm back up to working near failure, but still weight is 75%-80% of prior weight. Going to keep adding weight and just reduce reps if I must.

Today I did sumo deadlift: warm up / 315x5 / 325x5 / 335x5 / 385x2 next week maybe gonna go for a 405 double top set.
OHP: warm up / 115x8 / 115x8 / 115x7 definitely weaker on these but not by too much.
Pull ups: (bodyweight x10)x3
Rear delts and biceps to finish off.

[jademonkey]

Still adding weight each session. Reduced reps by 1 on dumbbell bench press and by 2 on front squats.

Within ~90% of pre-COVID weights, except on squats. I read online front squat should be ~75% of low bar back squat and I'm only doing 175x8 right now.

[jademonkey]

Went and dislocated my finger in a bike crash so gotta take at least a few weeks off and probably another few weeks easy

[jademonkey]

Moved to Petaluma in September and found a gym. They got lots of free weights but only 3 racks inside. They have a few more outside. Dumbbells up to 125. No cable fly which is kinda annoying for such a big gym. The workers seem lazy and don't clean stuff. They usually play terrible music. But it's a gym!

Working my way back up to where I was. Working singles at 160 overhead press, 325 squat, 255 bench, and 465 deadlift. Still adding weight every 8 days, hoping to get some PRs soon. Likely gonna PR squat no problem. Bench I'm struggling to get back. Deadlift I kept losing grip due to the pinky finger injury so I'm using grips for now.

Had some terrible forearm pain. Either bicep tendon or brachioradialis. Switched to only unweighted neutral grip pull ups, working on better form on squats which really aggravate it if I mess up. Added some reverse curls every other day, I think they really help. Never really done them. Benched without much pain last sesh.

[jademonkey]

Had really bad forearm pain the last few workouts after a 365 squat PR.

Taking a few days off and another few easy.

I may consider not building up to double and single on my squat high rep day. I was set to do the following when I decided to take a recovery week instead:
285x10 / 295x8 / 305x6 / 315x4 / 325x2 / 335x1
Thinking, when I get back to a full session, cut it off at 315x4. Second benefit is I'll have more time and energy for other stuff.

I think I'll treat back day as a strict burn work. Even got pain with heavy dumbbell rows so I may back down and go for some really strict and slow rowing. Working on strict curl also, so I may try curling first, then some back burners.

Struggling with bench lately. Not just the forearm pain, but also can't seem to get the first rep down quick. Typically I have 2 main push days, one starting with heavy bench followed by high rep arnold press, and the other starting with heavy press followed by high rep dumbbell bench. I throw in some incline dumbbell work on one of my leg days. Thinking I should try and get another barbell bench day. Speed and form need some work. Maybe time to relegate the standing overhead press to second exercise. I'm mad at my bench press and need to bring it up and work toward 3 plates.