Welcome back Wolf. Glad you are feeling better. I like your goal for December 1st.
Excited to report I was back under the bar today. I feel fine, although I still have the slightest little bit of the cold symptoms that have kept me from lifting the past week. But I do feel fine, and even the symptoms are greatly lessened compared to last weekend and mid-week. That plus the light weights I used today, and I think I'll be fine. Pretty sure I waited long enough. And felt good to be back under the bar. Like, for realz.
Squat
45x5x3, 95x5, 135x5, 185x5, 225x5, 275x5
Did ramping sets, as I usually do when returning from a layoff. Decided to take it easy and stop at 275. No belt, and the 275 still felt pretty easy. I'll plan on ramping to 315 Monday.
Press
45x5, 85x5, 105x5, 115x5, 135x5x2
Again, ramping sets. Decided to stop at 135 and do it twice instead of moving up again. 135/185 is a slightly higher % than 275/400 (my last 3 sets of 5 in the press compared to the squat). So relatively speaking, it was about the same place. Obviously different bc of overall load, but you get the idea.
Deadlift
155x5, 225x2, 315x2, 365x5
No chalk, but did alternate my grip. All easy.
So I call today a successful first day back. Every rep was easy, fast, and smooth. Loads and volume should be low enough that I won't be sore and negatively effected for my Monday workout. And hopefully I'll be totally back to 100% by then.
Planning for a Dec 1 PL Meet, I can't afford to get sick again. I need 3 solid months of training to hit my meet goal. Which I just decided is 1430 - adding 100lbs to my total from the May meet. I'd have the 1500 if I hadn't lost so much time to injury recovery and illness, but that's life.
Welcome back Wolf. Glad you are feeling better. I like your goal for December 1st.
Wolf, I go to Irina's for lunch every now and then but never had the Reuben until you and Juli mentioned it. It is, indeed, very, very good. Irina asked me, "You vont usual?" and I surprised her by ordering the Reuben. Roman came by beaming that I made such a good choice this time.
Thanks Gillian. Gonna work hard for it.
"You vont usual?" - cracked up! The reuben is really something. Granted I'm a sucker for corned beef, but it was so good. Glad we could turn you on to a new awesome lunch option there. Why did I think you were from the Chicago area? Was I totally making that up?
Glad you are back on track Wolf. I'm doing the meet as well-- we have a plan!
I don't have a goal for total yet. I guess I'll see how my CF Total in 3 weeks goes and plan from there. That'll leave me with a 9 week cycle-- pretty perfect.
You will compete at 242?
I need to figure out how to lose about 5% body fat and get back under 182. What I'm doing ain't working....
Felt a little groggy after an inadvertent afternoon nap today, but sacked up and went to lift. Way more crowded than I expected, but got what I needed done.
Still not quite back to 100% today, which surprised me, but my cough is gone and the sinus stuff is almost gone. Since I'm still not stressing my body, or even close, to adapt with these poundages, I'm not worried it'll affect my recovery from the cold or lead to a relapse.
Squats - again ramping sets today. Again beltless.
45x5x2, 135x5, 185x5, 225x5, 275x5, 315x5
All went up easy and smooth. I was glad the 315x5 did, too, considering I'm still not quite back to normal and no belt. Also didn't rest much. Rest went from about 1 minute between the first sets to a max of about 2.5 - 3 minutes between 275 and 315.
Bench Press - ramping here too. All 4 flat benches were taken, but I asked to work in wit a hopelessly skinny guy. Tried to help with some form and programming pointers, told him about SS and SS.com, but doubt anything will come of it. You can take the horse to the water...anyway...
95x5x2, 135x5, 185x5, 225x5, 255x5
Only rested 2 mins or maybe a bit less between 225 and 255, so it was a bit less easy than the other sets, which were VERY easy. But still no prob and easy, really.
Chins
Got into a conversation with an acquaintance I saw trying to power clean before these, so 15 minutes, gone. Only did 2 sets with hardly any rest because of that, had to get out of there.
10, 6 with 1.5-2 mins rest.
Ok, we'll plan on doing that Dec 1 meet down in Pennsylvania. We'll talk logistics when we get close, but we're on. Now i have to keep from getting sick or injured for 3 months, and hit that 1430.
I will indeed compete at 242. I don't know my exact weight right now, I'm a bit looser than usual (aided in part by the past 2 weeks of not training and being sick), probably 250 or so. But I can ease back down to the low 240's without a problem.
I'm no bf% loss guru, but I'd bet the answer for you lies in the kitchen. Somewhere.
You will, because Rob talked me in to doing the serious USAPL meet over the "Christmas Carnage" RPS meet also in Philly the same day. See, each of you is working to qualify for some serious national level business or another; Rob as a Masters and you as an Open. Me, I'm not that good. Just competing to have fun. Showing up to the Christmas Carnage meet with "Hanukkah Hoedown" or some such nonsense emblazoned on my singlet would have been hilarious. Well, at least to me.
But serious national level business won out in the end. Will be good to see you in Philly though. I might even have a respectable showing if I can get these 3 months of training in without getting sick or injured again.
Ha, ha, what I'm doing is far from serious, but since I only need to post a total in order to qualify for Nationals as a Masters Lifter, I figure, why not. Whether or not I actually fly all the way to Orlando is another matter...
And Jordan already made his appearance and now is Arnold's bound-- now that is serious.
Oh, and thanks for the kitchen hint. I never would have guessed. ;-)