Originally Posted by
Michael Wolf
After 2 weeks of voluntary recovery then 6 weeks of involuntary home-based workouts, I'm back to my old friend the barbell. I was able to pick up my barbell from the gym a while back, as a "just in case," but I forgot I had some bumper plates in storage that I brought with me from NYC. I found them about a week and a half ago by accident, when looking for something else in storage. So I started deadlifting and floor pressing using some of the bumpers as blocks for the floor presses - but still on my sloped, cramped balcony which also isn't going to bear a ton of load. So didn't seem worth logging as workouts. But Friday I was able to source a locally welded pair of standalone squat stands - they're not heavy or very stable, I have to use a plate or KBs to stabilize them for re-racking, but right now they're worth their weight in gold to me. I'll need to upgrade to go heavy, but it's 100x better than nothing. And yesterday I was able to get a garage, get flooring, and put my stuff in there. So as of now I have a functional, if minimal, garage gym. The bench is borrowed from my gym, and will have to return it once they reopen, but as long as they remain closed, I can at least do SOMETHING resembling training, which is returning a modicum of sanity. The nearly 2 months without training - imposed by fiat from without, rather than due to an internal constraint - along with the 6 weeks now of total social isolation, was taking a toll, for sure. These workouts helped A TON.
Sat, 4/25 - on the balcony
Squat
135x5, 225x5, 275x5 325x5
Notes: DOMS set in about 1 minute after the 325 set, so I'm calling it IOMS. Holy posterior, batman! Missed these terribly.
Press
95x5, 135x5, 165x5, 185x5
Notes: The sloped floor of the balcony affected these more than squats (I was facing the upward tilt in both cases), but not too hard to manage. Felt amazing.
Mon, 4/27 - in the Garage
Squat
135x5, 225x5, 275x5, 315x5, 355x5
Notes: Stayed beltless for confidence. If I can squat 355x5, beltless and reps in the tank, after 2 months off, I'm feeling pretty good.
Bench
135x5, 185x5, 225x5, 275x5, 315x5
Notes: This was actually my first benching in THREE months, because of my bench pec tweaks at the end of January. All felt fine, and 315x5 was EZPZ.
Deadlift
185x5, 275x5, 365x5
Notes: Stopped at 365 only because I haven't done a 3-lift day in who knows how long, so not rushing ahead of my depleted work and recovery capacities. Stayed beltless, and doubleoverhand, here.
I am in a much better headspace after getting this set up. MUCH better. The damn garage doesn't even have an electrical outlet, so I can't even have a fan going - training in there in the upcoming Austin summer is gonna be a blast no doubt! I'll still go to the gym plenty. But having this: 1) for now 2) as a backup in future potential shutdowns now that this precedent has been set and 3) for convenience when I want to train but not deal with the traffic to and from the gym - is huge.