Chasing the fat loss / muscle gain dragon

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Think I was a bit nervous pushing hard on smith squat yesterday. Missed reps. Bad snow storm over the weekend and the roads were still a mess so didn't take the hike out to my regular gym, hit planet fitness instead again. Chest went great as did the rest of my sets.

Day 1 PF
Monday, January 8, 2024 at 8:32 AM

Squat (Smith Machine)
Set 1: 80 lb × 5 [Warm-up]
Set 2: 120 lb × 5 [Warm-up]
Set 3: 160 lb × 3 [Warm-up]
Set 4: 200 lb × 3 @ 9.5
Set 5: 200 lb × 2 @ 9.5
Set 6: 200 lb × 5
Set 7: 180 lb × 5 @ 7.5 [Drop Set]

Bench Press (Dumbbell)
Set 1: 60 lb × 12 @ 8.5
Set 2: 60 lb × 12 @ 8.5
Set 3: 60 lb × 12 @ 9.5
Set 4: 60 lb × 7 @ 10 [Failure]
Set 5: 45 lb × 5 @ 6.5 [Drop Set]

Seated Row (Machine)
Set 1: 135 lb × 12
Set 2: 135 lb × 12 @ 7.5
Set 3: 135 lb × 12 @ 8
Set 4: 135 lb × 12 @ 8.5

Shoulder Press (Machine)
Set 1: 50 lb × 12
Set 2: 50 lb × 12 @ 7.5
Set 3: 55 lb × 12 @ 7.5
Set 4: 55 lb × 12 @ 9.5

Seated Leg Press (Machine)
Set 1: 200 lb × 12 @ 7.5
Set 2: 200 lb × 12 @ 8
Set 3: 200 lb × 12 @ 8
Set 4: 200 lb × 12 @ 9.5

Bicep Curl (Dumbbell)
Set 1: 30 lb × 12 @ 8
Set 2: 30 lb × 12 @ 8.5
Set 3: 30 lb × 12 @ 9.5

Triceps Extension (Barbell)
Set 1: 50 lb × 12 @ 7.5
Set 2: 50 lb × 12 @ 7.5
Set 3: 50 lb × 12

Horizontal Calf Machine
Set 1: 200 lb × 15
Set 2: 200 lb × 15
Set 3: 130 lb × 15

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Still at it, but things have been busy, and then relaxing. Had a nice 4 day vacation. Missed Monday last week workout but made up for it somewhat by doing some laps in the hotel pool.

Ate a lot of good food and had a lot of drinks, but it was a great and relaxing get away with the family. Need to get back on diet which I'm not doing a good job of this week back. When this happens I go back to using myfitnesspal strictly. I almost always use it but I usually don't stress about tracking something like a home cooked meal. When I fall off the wagon I find going back to strictly tracking everything helps get me back in the groove. Another problem is the booze - I've been having a few drinks here and there after work so I gotta clean that up as well.

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Haven't been posting here. Work and life have been busier but for the better. Took on a new position for work that's had me busy as hell.

I'm still hitting the weights 3x a week and getting some cardio in here and there, but need more of it. Going to try to be more consistent with posting here. As was before, still need to dial my diet in more.

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Last week was good, very active even on my rest days. Looking to keep that up. Took it a bit lighter today.

I've been going between high bar and low bar squat lately but think I may keep trying to progress with high bar. I can feel the strain on the rest of my body when I switch back to low bar, but low bar feels a lot easier on my knees. I'll keep experimenting with both and trying to keep my ego out of it. Sometimes I just want to go low bar and put up more weight. I think I have to keep my back tighter on high bar - a couple of times I felt a nerve or something pinch - no pain or residual discomfort after the lift/adjusting, but it's kept me focused on proper form and not moving the weight up.

Deadlifts I'm looking to get back up to where I was and hopefully hit another PR. The winter months and conditions kept me from reliably hitting my main gym which has barbells and squat racks, so I was going to planet fitness a lot. Now that the weather is better the focus is on moving up again in Squat, Bench and Deadlift as much as I can while trying to lose some more body fat. So far body fat % is trending down long term, just a slow slog - but I'll take it. Means I'm doing something right long term. But as I always say here - my diet could be better, which means I could have faster results. With the weather being better again it'll mean I'll be out and active more so I am sure that will also help.