The plan is to have 2 basic templates for bench/upper and 2 basic templates for squat/lower at Planet Fitness, with deadlift split between the two. I’ll do something else on my visits to Gold’s, but I’m sure it will consist of competition squat, plus bench press and/or deadlift. The goal is to train 3 times per week.
Even with being off on Monday for the July 4 observance, I have worked 34 hours already since Tuesday. Fortunately, the overtime assignments I’ve been doing this week have been mostly apartment buildings, so my mileage is down a bit. I’ve hiked 22.1 miles Tuesday-Thursday. I haven’t weighed myself since Sunday (204.4 lbs then), but my appetite has been good, and I’m going through milk pretty fast.
Weights listed on Smith machine exercises are plates only. The + represents whatever the bar weighs (probably 20 lbs).
Smith Machine Bench Press
bar/6, 8
50+/10
100+/8
150+/6 - remembered to add elbow sleeves; should have had them on from the beginning
200+/4
Rest-pause set, 220+ lbs: 4, 2, 2, 2 @10 RPE on the last round - wore mouth guard
My idea was to get at least 10 reps with a weight that I thought I could get 5 reps with, but not go to absolute failure until the last round. From the start of the first rep to the end of the 10th, it took 2:50. The first 2 rest periods were 20–30 seconds. The last one was about 45 seconds.
Smith Machine High Incline Press - 1st notch down from vertical, grip just outside shoulder width
bar/8
70+/8
100+/8
Rest-pause-drop set: 140+/5, 120+/4, 90+/4 - wore mouth guard
I wasn’t sure what I had in mind with these. I was experimenting a bit. I think these are worth doing again, at least for a few more weeks.
Smith Machine Barbell Row
bar/8, 8
90+/10 - thumbless grip, and my strained right middle finger (bowling injury!?!) didn’t like it
140+/10 - full grip, and that finger thought this was worse
180+/6 - started using Versa Gripps
205+/6 - started wearing mouth guard; stopped the set when I thought I’d have to get too sloppy to keep getting reps
180+/10 same standard as the previous set
Smith Machine Rack Pull - set the stoppers so the bar rested just below my kneecap
180+/8 - still wearing Versa Gripps
270+/8
320+/8 - wore mouth guard; not sure about RPE… probably @9
After seeing John Meadows do these about a month ago with an actual barbell in a real rack, and explain how to get the lats involved, I started trying these. I really like them. The entire back gets hammered the way he demonstrated the lift. Plus, since I’m in PF and can’t drop the weights, I have to do a controlled negative on each rep. I’m sure the rep target will drop to 6 soon enough.
Done in 50 minutes