Last Session of 2020: Tue. 12/29
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Myles
Do they have bench press at this gym?
Can you deadlift?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Bill Anders
Go back and read his whole log here (it's only 3 pages worth), including watching the videos. You'll find the answers to your questions here, plus see some pretty impressive adaptation to this whole COVID mess.
To answer your question directly Miles, Planet Fitness doesn’t have barbells and racks. So all my benching, deadlifting, and squatting are done on a Smith Machine. As far as deadlifts, PF doesn’t have their “no deadlift” rule posted anymore because they don’t have barbells anymore. You can deadlift on the Smith, but I suppose there’s always the danger of setting off their infamous lunk alarm. I’ve been to 5 different PF’s, and have only heard that alarm used as a way to alert members that they’re about to close. With respect to deadlift technique on the Smith, I stack 2 plates and stand on them to mimic the range of motion that I would perform in a normal deadlift with a barbell.
Bill is correct: the videos will give you visual answers to your questions. God willing, I’ll have a new one posted within the next day or two.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Bill Anders
Well that's a mixed bag of news, Kaisheem. Hopefully that nebulizer is providing a bit of relief.
Similarly, my wife discovered at 38 that she has exercise-induced asthma that only kicks in above 6,000'. The problem was that she realized it when we were on a hike where we would spend weeks+ fully above that elevation. Once she got her nebulizer, she buried me; I joke that she was on steroids.
Keep at it, both at the gym and recovery.
So far, so good. I have a follow up with my doctor next week. She sent me for a chest x-ray before I see her again, and I got that done tonight. I don’t expect that they will see anything unusual, and I don’t think she expects to see anything unusual. But better to safe than sorry.
Glad your wife is doing well, and she made it through that extended hike in what I guess you could call a trigger zone. Speaking of steroids... (below)
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Mike Longnecker
Dang man, this is good stuff. Except the sickness. Hope you get feeling better soon!!
As far as nutrition, how many calories are you getting in? I work 12 hour shifts and do a similar amount of walking on shift. I've just now started to find my groove when it comes to nutrition and am curious what you are doing when gaining weight.
Thank you! Just this week, my doctor also prescribed a daily maintenance inhaler. Among other things, it contains a steroid. It’s not anabolic, but now if someone accuses me of being on steroids, then I suppose that technically they’re right. :D
I’m glad you’re on the right track with your nutrition! As for my calories: I’m 5’8, 205 lbs right now at maybe 15-16% body fat. The online calculators I use put my maintenance calories at 3300-3500. I’m thinking the variance comes from different ways of calculating activity levels. So to gain, my target is 4,000 calories per day. On days that I don’t work, I ease up from that number. I don’t count calories on all my food. The main thing I count is protein. I shoot for 200 grams per day, and try to get most of the rest from carbs. I don’t avoid fat, but try to stay away from fried and gratuitously greasy food. I weigh myself every 1-2 days now to see how I’m doing.
Tue. 12/29 - B1: chest, back, traps, delts, abs
Hammer Strength Crunch Machine
30 lbs/15 reps
50/10
50/10
30/10
Smith Machine Decline Bench Press - weights listed are plates + bar
bar/10
50+/10
100+/10
140+/8
180+/6 - added mouth guard
205+/7 @9.5 RPE
Rest-pause: 180+/7 10 RPE + 3 @10 RPE
I did not plan to do an RP here. 12 deep breaths between the 7 and 3. 180+ felt much heavier than the first time. Maybe I didn’t rest long enough.
Smith Machine Barbell Row
bar/10
90+/10
140+/8
180+/6 @8 RPE - added Versa Gripps & mouth guard; not cheating nearly as much as I used to
205+/6 @10 RPE - stopped when I could feel form breakdown
160+/10 @10 RPE - stopped when I felt a breakdown in form and ROM
Smith Machine Seated High Incline Press - first time ever doing these
bar/10
50+/10
90+/13 @10 RPE - added mouth guard
75+/8 @10 RPE - either I’m not resting enough, or something else is going on
Assisted Pullups - done on Smith Machine, all body weight, bands wrapped around the bar
13 - medium overhand grip
12 @10 RPE - wide overhand grip
7 @10 RPE - narrow overhand grip; biceps felt crazy pump
NO BANDS: 10 @10 RPE - medium overhand grip; short range of motion (middle)
I used the bands because of something I discovered with them at home. They allow me to go into a deep stretch at the bottom while taking pressure off my shoulders when I start the concentric out of a dead hang.
Smith Machine Barbell Shrugs
90+/10
180+/10 - added Versa Gripps
230+/15 - added mouth guard
Did weighted/extreme stretches for chest, delts and last. Finished in 1 hour 20 minutes.
I wanted to train after work tonight, but getting the x-ray derailed that. The gym closes early tomorrow, so I plan on doing my next lower body training on Friday. Planet Fitness on New Year’s Day... this might be the silver lining from Covid restrictions. Since there’s a 25% capacity limit, it won’t be as crowded with resolutioners as it otherwise might be.
Video Update & Session A2
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Bill Anders
Absolutely. I'm not someone who runs to the doc with every little pain or discomfort, but your experience, especially during These Trying Times™, is prudent.
I'm already dreading my visit with my doc later in January. She'll get upset that I've gained 20lbs since I saw her in early October. Then I will have to, once again, explain that my weight loss of about 20lbs that she was excited about at that last meeting was due to lack of lifting, and that I received my rack and weights at about the same time as that last visit. She's a good doc, but just gets fixated on single numbers sometimes without looking at the bigger picture.
Some doctors are like that. They mean well, but they just don’t understand how we think about the pursuit of strength/muscle, and how important it is to us.
Peace everyone! This is my first video since the meet video. The training clips are from my last 3 sessions of 2020: the first 2 sessions are logged in posts above, and the 3rd will be logged in this post below the embedding. I’ve covered some of the content about my recent health concerns in here. Thanks in advance for watching, and for following this training log.
https://youtu.be/o0UmWVEhuG4
12/31/20 - A2: quads, hamstrings, glutes, calves
This was the easiest, shortest work day I’ve had in a long time - as in years. Mail and parcels were so light that I finished early, and got to the gym before they closed at 5pm for New Year’s Eve.
Work: 6 hours, 6.7 miles, 14,978 steps, 10 flights climbed
Hammer Strength Leg Press - weights listed are the plates + the sled’s weight
90+/10
270+/8
410+/8
525+/8
625+/10 @9.5 RPE
500+/10 @8 RPE
Smith Machine Romanian Deadlift - standing on floor instead of plates; weights are plates + bar
bar/10
90+/10
180+/10 - added Versa Gripps
270+/12 @8.5 RPE - adjusted left foot position after 7th rep
I used a shorter ROM than I normally do on these, in a effort to put more emphasis on my hamstrings. I didn’t go as low on the eccentric to reduce the hit to my lower back, and I didn’t lock out at the top to reduce the hit to my glutes.
Calf Press & Stretch - on horizontal leg press
145/25 pump reps, immediately into 30 seconds stretch
I walked in the gym at 4:20. I did this in 34 minutes, and was done at 4:59. If all goes well, I’ll get upper body session B2 done later this afternoon.
Tentative Competition Plans for 2021
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Bill Anders
Good to see/hear that you are making progress!
Thank you! It feels good to be feeling better.
USAPL lifters in my area just got our first bit of good news for the year. A few days ago, the Virginia chairman (director of the meet I did in November) posted tentative dates for 2021 meets. There are meets planned for May 22-23 and November 6 at the same location as the last meet I did. If the commonwealth of Virginia doesn’t impose any further restrictions, or if the state of Maryland (my home) doesn’t impose any restrictions of travel out of state, then I’m planning on doing these.
With a meet at the end of May in mind, here’s how I’m looking at training going forward:
Hypertrophy focus, laying a base for strength: now through 2nd week of February
Strength focus, still trying to add body weight: 3rd week of February through 1st full week of April
Peaking for the meet: 2nd full week of April through 2nd week of May, followed by meet week
It’s also worth noting that the month of Ramadan goes from April 12 through May 12 this year, so I’ll probably only train twice per week by design for that peaking period.
Body weight this morning (Sat. 1/9) was 206.8 lbs. It has crept up a little over the last few weeks (1.8-2.0 lbs) and I still haven’t re-introduced shakes. I resumed taking 5g of creating monohydrate and 5-10g of glutamine about a week ago.
Wed. 1/6/21
Work: 9.25 hours, 7.3 miles, 15,716 steps, 9 flights climbed
2 sets of hanging leg raises, 15 reps each, while at the gym with my daughter. Abs count. 😁
Thu. 1/7/21, A1: quads, hamstrings, glutes, calves, biceps, triceps
Work: 9.25 hours, 8.5 miles, 18,409 steps, 14 flights climbed
Smith Machine Deadlift - standing on 2 pairs of 25 lbs plates; listing weight of the plates, + represents the bar
bar/6
90+/8
180+/6
270+/6
320+/4 - over/under grip
360+/6 @8 RPE - started using Versa Gripps, double overhand
380+/8 @9 RPE - started using mouth guard
270+/12
This was the first time since I’ve been at PF that I had a real grip problem on deadlifts, even with the Versa Gripps. It was all my left hand. I don’t know if the bar was trying to roll/spin on that track or what. I’ve never had this problem with a barbell either.
Smith Machine Romanian Deadlift - same setup as the DL
180+/10
230+/10 @9 RPE
I was thinking of doing a 3rd set with the same weight, but between asthma and the mask, breathing was getting tricky, and I’d left my inhaler at home (stupid mistake).
Leg Extension
55/12
100/12
rest-pause: 145/20 + 10 + 10 - used mouth guard; took 10-12 deep breaths between each round
Calf Press & Stretch
115/20 w/1 second negatives
160/15 w/2 second negatives
Stretch: 205/90 seconds
Did unilateral hamstring and quad stretches, 60+ seconds each
Triceps Press Machine - kept back pressed against pad to keep chest out of it
85/20
160/15
205/18 @9 RPE - used mouth guard; stopped when I felt chest getting involved
Biceps Curl Machine
70/12
Non-stop alternating: 85/12 left @10+ 12 right 9 + 8 left @101
Done in 1 hour 20 minutes
Bad News, Good Training (1/13/21)
Quote:
Originally Posted by
K.Diesel
All of this aside, I plan on training tomorrow. ;)
Tomorrow ended up being the day after tomorrow, but for good reason. When I called the dentist on Tuesday, they were able to get me in that afternoon. So I left my route, went to the dentist, an auto parts store (because I woke up to a dead battery in one of our vans that morning), then back to the post office to get my vehicle and resume delivery.
The bad news: I’m getting 2 teeth pulled - without being sedated - next Wednesday afternoon. This is on the same day that I see a pulmonologist for the first time (at the referral of my doctor), and then have a follow up with my primary care doctor before they break out the pliers. I truly don’t expect anything to come out of the pulmonologist appointment. I think my doctor just wants to make sure that nothing beyond asthma is going on with my respiratory problems. But getting those teeth pulled, and healing from it is going to suck. If I’m not able to eat as normal for a few days, I may not be training as normal either.
The good news: I had a very good training session tonight, ate well today, and should be able to get at least 2 more sessions in before next Wednesday. I’m cranking up the intensity in these sessions, using more rest-pause sets, sometimes including weight drops.
Wed. 1/13/21 - B1: chest, delts, back, traps, abs
Work: 8.75 hours, 7.7 miles, 16,579 steps, 12 flights climbed
As always, I only list the plate weights on Smith machine exercises, and represent the weight of the bar with a “+”.
Also, I got to the gym just before 8pm. That’s a little earlier than I’m normally there on weeknights, it’s right after New Year’s, and Planet Fitness has waived it’s enrollment fee through Friday. I’ve never seen this many people in there, and there’s still a 25% capacity restriction on gyms in Baltimore City. It affected the order in which I did things tonight, as I had to wait on a Smith machine, and then a bench.
Smith Machine Standing Overhead Press
bar/10
40+/8
70+/8
90+/6 - added mouth guard
rest-pause: 100+/9, 3 with slow negative and static hold on final rep. RPE 10 on both rounds, 30 seconds between round
Smith Machine Decline Bench Press - elevated the foot of the bench on 2 10-lbs plates
50+/11
100+/8
140+/6
180+/4
rest-pause-drop: 200+/6, 180+/4, 2 with 4 partials at the top after the final rep. Used mouth guard. RPE 10 on all 3 rounds
Smith Machine Barbell Row
90+/10
140+/8
180+/7 - started using Versa Gripps
rest-pause-drop: 220+/6, 180+/6, 140+/10 - ROM was probably shorted by 1/2 inch on the 220+ round. Used mouth guard. RPE was 10 on the first 2 rounds based on form breakdown, 9 on the 3rd round
Smith Machine Barbell Shrugs
140+/12 - started using Versa Gripps
230+/15 - used mouth guard. RPE 7
Cable Pulldown - neutral grip, wide but not extreme
120/15
rest-pause-drop: 200/10, 5, 160/6
Pec Deck
70/19
100/13145/12 - used mouth guard; RPE 9
Hammer Strength Ab Crunch Machine
4 sets w/30 lbs: 15; 15; 10; 10
DoggCrapp style stretches for lats (vertical and horizontal), delts and pecs.
Done in 1 hour 25 minutes