Written below is the actual sequence of events that took place.
Thursday 5-10-2019
Front Squats: Someone wanted to know what my best front squat was, I'm not sure why. I worked up to 365 lbs with likely more in the tank, before I got pulled away for... Basketball: 2 games, followed by... Squats: 495 lbs 1x1 405 lbs 8x6 Neutral Grip Rows: 165 lbs 5x10 DB Preacher Curls: 40 lbs, 5 sets, 2 minute rests, 51 total reps
Thursday I got dragged into a 2v2 basketball game, which is the WORST version of basketball with the most open space to be moving around in. They wanted to run it back, so I played another game. We ended up splitting the games, one a piece, so they wanted to play a tie breaker. I don't know why we couldn't just decide it by points spread. So that was a solid hour of rather literally running around in circles. Naturally, this was followed by a workout that was 95% squats.
For the first time in goddamn forever, the weather was decent on a Saturday. "Decent" in Bumblefuck, KY meaning "Hotter than Satan's asscrack, but at least it's not hailing sideways." So I did some cardio bullshit outside.
Saturday 5-25-2019
Pull Ups: 5 sets, 2 minute rests, 52 reps 400m "Run"/Waddle: 2x1 Trying to Dropkick Worth Half a Shit Then Running After The Shank: This went on for some time... Various Sprints: 40y 4x1 40y-and-back 2x1 20y-and-back 2x2
Monday Holidays - When I have to drag ass to the gym entirely too early to get a workout done at double pace before the gym closes in the middle of the afternoon. Then get invited/dragged to my parent's place to celebrate/mow their lawn. Monday 5-27-2019
Squats: 505 lbs 3x1 445 lbs 4x4 405 lbs 4x7 Bench Press: 305 lbs 3x1 265 lbs 4x4 240 lbs 4x7 DB Bench Press: 80 lbs 5x10
05-30-2019, 03:37 PM
DirtyRed
The gym has some path around all of the cardio machines, weight machines, and various bench press set ups. According to the sign on the wall, 14 laps equals a mile. A little bit of math (and googling, shut up) says that means one lap is about 115 meters. In an effort to get better at actually RUNNING, rather than pushing things, shuffling side to side, and other such not-running activities, I did some running around this track. It's a pain in the ass, metaphorically, and a pain in the ankles rather literally due to the small size of the track, it being a square, it being essentially pavement, and it having zero incline around the corners. So I'd periodically change direction to give my other leg a chronic injury. It's all about dat symmetry, breh.
Tuesday 5-28-2019
Deadlift: 495 lbs 1x1 Speed Deadlifts: 365 lbs 6x4 Stiff Legged Deadlifts: 315 lbs 4x10 Roman Chair Sit Ups: 4x15 Curls: 80 lbs 5x10 Running Stuff: ~460m (4 laps) 2x1, One lap running/one lap walking (Running = faster than the pace of the 460m runs, Walking = Trying to get in and out of the mall with the one bloody thing I wanted to get in under 10 minutes pace) 4 total lap, x2
The middle of every other week has been a bit lighter and varied, rather than simply doing a buttfuckton of standard squats and deadlifts. So I figured I'd do power snatches instead of power cleans this Wednesday. It has been quite some time since the last time I did snatches, and my trapezius muscles were sore before I even left the gym. I immediately regret this decision.
Wednesday 5-29-2019
Power Snatches: 185 lbs 5x2 Paused Bench Press: 285 lbs 5x2 Pull Ups: 5x10 Incline Bench: 165 lbs 5x8 Sled Pushing: Push down, run down and back, 10 "reps" of that with 1:00-1:30 rests
06-03-2019, 04:11 PM
DirtyRed
Thursday 5-30-2019
Squat: 505 lbs 1x1 Pin Squats: 405 lbs 4x4 Front Squats: 275 lbs 4x6 Inverted Rows: 5x10 DB Preacher Curl: 40 lbs, 5 sets, 2 minute rests, 56 total reps Running Stuff: ~460m 2x1 then a series of running two laps and walking one that went on for four "reps."
When I got in the gym on Friday, I walked past the basketball court and heard "Oh, there, we got six!" I didn't understand at first, but that apparently means that I had been volunteered to even out teams for 3v3. Which took half an hour, which set me well behind schedule, which meant I ended up doing Friday's ancillary training on Saturday.
So I once again joined a basketball game to even up teams. Bad news is that we ended up playing an entire playoff series worth of basketball, and there's a DirtyRed sized dent in the sheet rock that's three feet from the baseline. Good news is that the running and stuff clearly has caused improvement. 3 months ago I probably would have needed immediate medical attention if I did all that shit. Now I just want medical attention afterwards.
This is going to be a fat update. I WAS going to update *mumblemumble* days ago, then I forgot, then I remembered, then I typed up half an update, wandered off, forgot about it, shut down my computer, remembered again, started typing an update, wandered off again, then the power went out while I was away, now I'm updating again. Again.
Wednesday evening, my right knee started to ache and feel stiff, all up in the ACL area. I remember during basketball on Tuesday, I was running one way to guard my guy, saw the ball get knocked loose in the other direction, and planted ALL my right leg directly into the floor to try to change directions and get the ball before it bounced "out." That didn't work (too white), and the sudden stop was jarring, it didn't really hurt my knee in the moment. Nor did my knee feel funny at all during snatches the next day. Maybe it was a combination of things, I dunno. Anyway, it only KIND OF ached, and only if I moved my knee in particular ways I wasn't quite able to pin down. So I tried squatting anyway. No problems with normal squats, or pin squats. Didn't even try front squats, figuring they are rougher on the knees and that's plenty excuse to slack off. Also gave the running (and pretty much every other form of cardio, as I couldn't think of any particularly appealing ones that didn't involve bouncing around on my knee) a break until my knee felt better. Because of health, of course, not crippling laziness.
Knee seemed to be completely recovered by Monday. However, the dumbass Olympics appear to have begun. Out of nowhere, a noticeable spike in the stupidity of random gym people. Monday's gold medal goes to the guy doing standing dumbbell chest flies, moving the weight exactly perpendicular to gravity's pull.
Monday 6-17-2019
Squats: 515 lbs 3x1 3-1-0 Tempo Squats: 475 lbs 4x2 Bench Press: 315 lbs 1x1 3-1-0 Tempo Bench: 275 lbs 4x2 DB Bench Press: 70 lbs 4x15
Tuesday's Gold Medal in the dumbass Olympics goes to the guy using the deadlift bar (the one that has DEADLIFTS ONLY hot glued to the collars) to bench press 225 lbs.
Wednesday's Gold Medal went to King Shithead Who Fucks Up Everything from more than one recent post, who had taken some firehose type strap on the sled, put it around his waist, and EXCRUCIATINGLY SLOWLY pulled the sled around the gym, one foot at a time. Like, literally one foot's length was the length of every "stride." As he, I shit you not, actively dawdled on his phone while doing it.
Anyway, all joints seemed to be in fine working order for almost 72 hours. Of course, this meant that it was time for more basketball.
Wednesday 6-19-2019
Basketball: 2 games Power Snatches: 185 lbs 4x2 Paused Bench Press: 300 lbs 4x1 Pull Ups: 5x10
The general stupidity seemed to have reverted to the mean for Thursday. Which meant it was time for DirtyRed to step up and nearly kill himself squatting to failure.
Thursday 6-20-2019
Squats: Standard ramping warm ups followed by: 565 lbs 1x1, hot new sub-210lbs-bodyweight max. It went JUST well enough that I then tried 575 lbs. I went entirely too deep (565 lbs actually looked like I cut it JUST past parallel, instead of an extra three inches like normal) and there was no saving it from there. DB Preacher Curls: 40 lbs, 5 sets, 2 minute rests, 58 reps Running: ~575m 2x1
Friday 6-21-2019
Deadlifts: 545 lbs 1x1, another new bodyweight PR Paused Bench Press: 315 lbs 1x1, finally a 1.5x bodyweight or better PAUSED bench press I can rub in the faces of some random internet nards Ab Wheel Rollouts: 4x12
For some reason, glute/ham raises were causing discomfort in the back of my knee. So I stopped after one set.
07-01-2019, 03:56 PM
DirtyRed
I have been doing bench press accessory exercises that were a bit more pectoral focused than anything recently. DB bench press and incline bench press mostly, with some dips. I'm going to change that to at least a little bit more specific triceps volume, because I'm beginning to think that's the bench press muscle that's lagging the most. This, of course, is in addition to a fat load of regular bench press.
Thursday 6-27-2019
Squats: 515 lbs 1x1 3-1-0 Tempo Squats: 405 lbs 4x4 Front Squats: 275 lbs 4x6 DB Preacher Curls: 40 lbs, 5 sets, 2 minute rests, 61 total reps
People needed a guy to even out basketball teams, which naturally turned into two hours of basketball. I thus wasn't able to do anything but deadlift before the gym closed. So bench press was moved to Saturday.
Friday 6-28-2019
Basketball: All of it Deadlifts: 505 lbs 3x1 Speed Reps: 365 lbs 6x4 Normal Reps: 405 lbs 4x6
For shits and giggles, and because I lack direction in life and this will adequately distract me from that existential crisis for a couple of months, or until I get bored, I tested my standing broad jump on Monday before starting anything else. I used the broad jump because that's the only test of that sort that doesn't require anything more than a stick and a tape measure, both of which I already had lying around. In three jumps, I got 8'6'', 8'3'', and 8'5'', at 205 lbs body weight. Thanks to the magic of Rounding, I can say I basically jump ten feet. Basically. Now I'll try to increase that over some weeks without actually doing any broad jumps, because I want to see if I can actually improve the sheer explosiveness involved by any amount, rather than just improving my broad jump technique.
Tuesday was another one of those days were one 3v3 game turned into an entire series of 4v4 clumsy-white-guy-ball.
Tuesday 6-2-2019
Basketball: Lots and lots of basketball Deadlift: 505 lbs 1x1 Clean High Pull: 255 lbs 6x3 Stiff Legged Deadlifts: 315 lbs 4x10 Curls: 85 lbs 5x10
Wednesday 7-3-2019
Power Snatch: 185 lbs 5x2 Close Grip Bench Press: 225 lbs 5x10 Pull Ups: 5x10 Seated DB Press: 55 lbs 5x10 Box Jumps: 5x8, box was one that was about hip height so I didn't have to pull my ankles up to my ears to actually land on the thing.
Tuesday 7-9-2019
Deadlift: 505 lbs 1x1 Clean High Pull: 265 lbs 6x3 Stiff Legged Deadlifts: 315 lbs 4x10 Curls: 85 lbs 5x10 Running Stuff: ~Half mile (sign on the wall says 14 laps = 1 mile, ran 7 laps) 2x1
Wednesday was when the week got "fun." Again got pulled into basketball games after the first two sets of snatches. First, I kind of strained some abdominal muscle (I'm assuming that's what happened anyway) down right to the medial side of my right anterior illiac crest trying to take off of one foot while driving like I'm not 100% too white to be doing that shit. While I felt it happen when it happen, it didn't really bother me until well later that night when blood stopped flowing. So I kept playing, and later when trying to tip a rebound someone else was grabbing, I hyper-extended the last joint of my left pinky and generally jammed the living shit out of the entire finger against the ball. THAT hurt goddamn immediately, and made it impossible to continue with snatches once that game had finished. The pinky was also too swollen and sore and shit to be able to do either pull ups or chin ups. So a third of Wednesday's usual work was unable to be done.
Wednesday 7-10-2019
Power Snatches: 195 lbs 2x2 Basketball: 3 games and 2 noteworthy injuries worth Close Grip Bench Press: 225 lbs 5x8 Standing Press: 155 lbs 4x6
I had to skip some ancillary stuff on Thursday because I had to sleep before dragging ass to Louisville early on Friday. The strained abdomen was a pain in the ass the entire time.
There was apparently a fucking catastrophe on I-65, blocking all three lanes and requiring an outright closure of the entire northbound (i.e. the part that points to Louisville) half of the highway a bit north of Elizabethtown. So I spent most of the morning meandering mildly along measly country roads to get around that clusterfuck. By the time I had gotten back, and gotten food, there was only enough time to do the core of Friday stuff. The rest was done on Saturday. Without the direct abdominal training anyway, because that was still unflinchingly sore.