Thanks for the info man. Keep up the good work!
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.
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)
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.
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.
Thanks for the info man. Keep up the good work!
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.
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.
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
This asthma ordeal is getting a bit trickier. When I saw my doctor last week, she started me on a maintenance inhaler to use twice each day. I’m still supposed to use the rescue inhaler as needed, or my new nebulizer machine. Plus some of my symptoms had her prescribe an acid reflux medication, which I was hesitant to take because I never have heartburn or any of the classic GERD symptoms. I did some research, and come to find out, there’s a legit and common connection between GERD and asthma. So now I’m taking that too.
Overall, I feel... okay, I think. The best way I can describe it is with the analogy of the Covid charts, and the campaign to “flatten the curve” in the US last year. If I were to describe my symptoms and general feeling most of the time, it’s like a gradual curve on a graph. I’m not having the spikes that I’d been experiencing, like waking up and needing to have a breathing treatment. So that’s good, and I’m glad for that. But I never feel exceptionally good. I’m tired more than normal, even when I get some sleep. And more often than not, I sound terrible. My chest x-ray was normal, I’m not congested, my throat doesn’t hurt, but I sound like I’m losing my voice. I have a follow up with my primary doctor next Wednesday, and I also see a pulmonologist that day just to make sure there isn’t anything else going on.
On top of all of this, a dental issue has gotten much worse in the last few days. I’m going to call tomorrow to schedule an appointment. I hope I can get in soon, and not just because I don’t want to be in unbearable pain before it gets fixed. I’ve heard that having a dental ailment during a civil uprising is a near worst case scenario, and the way things are going here in the US, who knows what’s around the corner.
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
Fri. 1/15/21 - A2: quads, hamstrings, glutes, calves, triceps, biceps
Work: 10 hours, 9.1 miles, 19,373 steps, 18 flights climbed
Calf Press & Stretch - on horizontal leg press
100/20 - done with 1 second negatives
150/15 - done with 2 second negatives
200/90 second stretch, held in bottom position
Smith Machine Squat - I’m listing the weight of the plates, and the bar is represented with “+”
bar/6, 6
90+/8
180+/6
230+/6
280+/6 - started using mouth guard
325+/6
360+/6 at 8 RPE
Looking back at these, I should probably slow the negatives a bit, especially since I’m in a hypertrophy focused phase. Plus, I’m trying to hold off on using my belt for a little longer, but I don’t know if I can if I keep putting more weight on the bar. Slowing the negatives - not excessively, but a bit - is a tool I may try next time.
Instead of a “high rep” backoff set, I decided to do “higher” rep leg presses instead.
Hammer Strength Leg Press - I’m listing the weight of the plates, and the sled is represented with “+”
270+/10
450+/10
550+/10 at 8 RPE - started using mouth guard
600+/10 at 9 RPE - moved my feet slightly higher on the sled to get a little more hamstring activation
Between the mask and asthma, breathing affected the RPE rating on the final set as much as muscular fatigue. It think I still managed it better than I would have 10-rep sets of squats.
Cable Pressdowns - rope attachment
40/20
60/15 at 9 RPE
Cable Curls - short bar attachment, cable on the floor
20/20
42.5/15 at 8 RPE
Seated Leg Curls
90/12
135/15 at 10 RPE - calling it 10 because I could tell the ROM was getting shorter.
I would have done another set of pressdowns, cable curls and leg curls, but the gym was closing, so I had to get in what I could on the isolation lifts. The squat and leg press were the bread and butter today.
Done in 1 hour. Stretched quads and hamstrings at home, about 10 minutes after I left the gym.
GO RAVENS!
I have entered my next competition! God willing, I’ll make it to May 23 and the 2021 USAPL Virginia State Championship, directed by the same director from the November meet, and at the same location. This one even has cash prizes for the top 3 in every open division. I have no expectation of finishing in the top 3 of the 105 kg open, but I entered it just in case.
My goals for this meet are:
1) get my body weight up to at least 213 lbs (7+ lbs more than November). I weighed 207.8 yesterday morning.
2) lift more than I did on each lift at the November meet. That means I need to squat at least 230 kg (507 lbs), bench at least 140 kg (308.6 lbs) and deadlift at least 242.5 kg (534.6 lbs). None of these are PR territory, but if I can demonstrate that I’m improving while still training at PF, then I’ll take that in the middle of a pandemic.
3) there are 2 Maryland state records at 105 kg Masters 1b (age 45-49) dangling out there for me. The current squat record is 242.5 kg. That’s 2.5 kg more than my PR. The total record is 657.5 kg. That’s 12.5 kg more than my PR. I weighed 223 lbs when I hit them, still well under the 231 lbs weight limit. As things stand now, I don’t expect to have a legit shot at them in 4 months, but they’re on my mind.
Medical updates:
The pulmonologist said I definitely have asthma, but probably nothing else at this time. He said my PCP may be correct with her theory that even though I don’t have heartburn, I have GERD (i.e. acid reflux) because of the problems I’m having with my voice since all of this stuff flared up about 6 weeks ago. Also, there seems to be a connection between GERD and asthma. So for now, I’ll continue with a maintenance inhaler twice per day, and the rescue inhaler and/or nebulizer as needed. I’m getting bloodwork tomorrow to check my cholesterol again, following up on my annual physical from the fall.
I had 2 teeth pulled yesterday, and I survived! I was legit nervous going in. I’ve had teeth pulled before, but I was under anesthesia for those. I think I’m healing okay. Last night, I only ate some oatmeal (minus most of what I normally put in it), a banana and a Greek yogurt (minus the granola I normally add). Needless to say, my body weight took a minor hit. I just ate some homemade protein waffles with cranberry sauce cooked into them, and I’m still starving. I actually feel good enough to train right now, but I’m going to use tonight to eat up and rest more (codeine is one heck of a sleep aid), then get back in the gym tomorrow. I’m not going to work until either Saturday or Monday.