Finding Out that the Iron Never Lies

[bustermonkey2]

August 2, 2019
Was out of town but was able to get enough time for a one day pass at the Gold's Gym in West Des Moines for $15. They had these weird plastic covered plates that fit into each other with handles on 2 sides. The handles spun, and I found them to be generally useless for racking onto the bar or the weight trees. What's wrong with standard iron plates? If they felt like they might be too loud, plastic covered plates without handles would have been much better.

Press w/ wraps @ 205 lbs-3. Rpe 9.0
Press @ 195 lbs-5 Rpe 9.5; @ 165 lbs-10

Bench @ 275 lbs-8,9,10


Aug 4, 2019
Back home at regular gym. I think I'm coming down with a bug as I was exhausted yesterday and slept a good chunk of the afternoon, despite normal sleeping at night. Today I feel a bit better but a little nauseous.
Deads @ 485 lbs-3 Rpe 9.0. I'm pretty sure I could have hit four for a pr but stomach felt pretty queasy.
Deads w. straps @ 405 lbs-7. Stomach was really bothering me by the end and didn't want to barf so I called it earlier than my normal 8 reps.

[bustermonkey2]

Aug 9, 2019
Bodywt 232 lbs
Regular Gym is close for annual cleaning. Decided to try their satellite location in N Sioux. Good news- the racks, benchs, etc are all new and pretty good. Bad news- the new bars are those awful too thick cheap bars that are super smooth and slick in the center. Hard to keep bar on your back during squats and you can't get a good grip on them due to bigger diameter.

Squats @ 405 lbs-5 Rpe 8.5. I pulled the weights down a bit because it was an unfamiliar rack that was hard to rack. No problem except I was holding bar tight to back as it wanted to slip down and it made my forearms really sore after just the one set.
Squats @ 365 lbs-8 Rpe 9.5. Very hard because bar kept slipping down and my forearms already hurt from previous set. I stopped here because of how bad my arms hurt.

Bench @ 315 lbs-3 Rpe 9.0 Bar too thick so much harder than normal.
Bench @ 295 lbs-6 Rpe 9.0.

Dips-40

[bustermonkey2]

I managed to tweak my neck and back while boating and swimming on Aug 10th. I think it was trying to climb onto the boat from swimming in the water. The ladder's lowest rung was way too high to get my foot on and there wasn't any handhold so I had to struggle to get my knee on it each time and get out. It wasn't too bad during the day but at night it would get stiff and hurt enough to make me nauseous. It really screwed up my sleep over the last five days or so, which generally made me miserable. Last night was first real sleep since last week so it's time to get back at it.

Aug 16, 2019
Bodywt 232 lbs
Press @ 210 lbs-1 Rpe 9.75. Need lots more pressing frequency; @ 195 lbs-5; @ 165 lbs-8.

Rack pulls @ 495 lbs-5 Rpe 9.75. Tough and my thumbs really hurt.
Rack pulls w/ straps @ 440 lbs-8

Bench @ 275 lbs-8

[bustermonkey2]

Aug 19, 2019

Bench w/ wraps @ 335 lbs-3 Rpe 9.75
Bench @ 315 lbs-4; @ 295 lbs-7; @ 275 lbs-9

Dips w/ 45 lbs-10,10,10

[bustermonkey2]

Aug 20, 2019
Bodywt 232 lbs

Squats @ 435 lbs-5 PR Rpe 9.75. Tough but not absolute limit stuff. Been about 3 years since I hit a wrapless pr squat with 5 reps or less.
Squats @ 370 lbs-8 PR. This was exhausting. Pretty good to see I'm making some progress.
Squats @ 315 lbs-10. Dead tired.

Chins-10,10

[bustermonkey2]

Aug 26, 2019
Bodywt 236 lbs- yikes. Ate way too much over the last week.

Partial deads @ 495 lbs-5. Rpe 10. Very tough, however, this was a bar where the center is a bit off so on 1st rep it felt like left hand was doing too much. I shifted hands about an inch to the left and then it was fine but that 1st pull was harder than it should have been.
Partial deads w/ straps @ 440 lbs-8. Exhausting. I had to make same change based on the bar being unbalanced on 1st rep again.

[bustermonkey2]

Aug 27, 2019
Bodywt 235 lbs

Bench w/ wraps @ 340 lbs-3. Rpe 9.0. Probably would have gone for 4th rep but no spotter.
Bench @ 320 lbs-5; @ 295 lbs-8; @ 275 lbs-10

Cable pressdown @ Setting 10 (100 lbs?- can't tell for sure)-25,25,25

[bustermonkey2]

Sept 1, 2019
Bodywt 236 lbs

Press @ 215 lbs-1 Rpe 10.
Press @ 195 lbs-5; @ 165 lbs-10

Bench @ 245 lbs-3,3,3,3,3,3,3,3,3,3 Set every 1 1/2 minutes.


Sept 2, 2019
Deadlifts @ 495 lbs-3 Rpe 9.25. I think my weight gain from 226-236 lbs is affecting my ability to get into bottom position. I feel like I can't get a full breath between reps either.
Deadlifts @ 405 lbs-6. Really think I need to drop about 10 lbs as noted above.

[bustermonkey2]

Sept 6, 2019

Bench @ 345 lbs-3, failed 4th rep. I didn't have a spotter but third rep felt ok so went for a 4th. Got stuck maybe 2 inches off chest. No only was I not using a spotter but nobody was around. Had to roll loaded bar down chest before sitting up. Scared the crap out of me because this could have been fatal if I couldn't get bar rolled down. Hurt my my abdomen a bit- just bruising and sore. This was a rookie mistake and I should know better.
Bench @ 295 lbs-8; @ 275 lbs-10

Cable press down @ 11 (110 lbs?)-20,20,20

[bustermonkey2]

Sept 10, 2019
Bodywt 232 lbs
Wrapped squats @ 455 lbs-3 PR, Rpe 9.25. I am going to start doing my top set with wraps as I'm planning on a meet in late October and need some wrap practice. I'm kind of surprised at how this felt ok because I haven't been spending much time on squats.
Squats @ 370 lbs-7 PR, RPE 9.0; @ 320 lbs-10

Chins-10,10



Sept 11, 2019

Press @ 200 lbs-5 PR, Rpe 9.75
Press @ 165 lbs-10

Bench @ 245 lbs-3,3,3,3,3,3,3,3,3,3 Set every 1 1/2 minutes