Mailman Muscle: Story of The Bodybuilding Powerlifter

[K.Diesel]

My weight increased a lot from Sunday/Monday (190.2 & 190.6 respectively), to 193.8 Wednesday. My diet app gives me a weekly review tomorrow, and plots out my next week’s macros. I’ll see what it suggests. My guess is a drop in macros.

Well, well… it seems that in spite of my spike in weight, it went back down enough over the last 2 days (I was 191.8 this morning) such that my average for the week was 191.6 lbs. That’s a decrease of 0.9 lbs for the week, so the app recommended that I keep my nutrients the same for the third straight week.

For a reference point, here is how my weight has progressed since this contest prep started. The weekly review weights are averages from all my weigh-ins that week. I weigh myself just about every day when I wake up.
​
Diet setup (last week of December): 200.2 lbs
1/2 (first weigh in): 198.8
1/6 review: 196.3 average
1/13 review: ? (didn’t record)
1/19 review: 194.6 average
1/26 review: 193.8 average
2/2 review: 192.5 average
2/9 review: 191.6 average

However, I realized something today about my timeline for this show: I have been off by a week. I want to be ready a week before the show, and then stay in a holding pattern for that final week. I know myself well enough to know that I’ll be in a much better frame of mind, and less stressed if I’m blessed to accomplish that. So even though tomorrow makes 13 weeks until the show, it’s 12 weeks until I want to hit my target.

With that in mind, I told the app to program a decrease in nutrients for the next week. It lets you ask for a small, medium, or large decrease (or increase if you want). I’m not panicking, so I picked small. By small, here’s what it means…

Protein: stays at 190g per day across the board
Fat: FROM 55-65g per day depending on activity TO 50g per day across the board
Carbohydrate*: FROM 195-245g per day depending on activity TO 160-230g per day depending on activity
* NOTE: this app counts net carbs, meaning the total carbohydrates in a food minus the fiber in it

I’ve been taught that adversity is the mother of creativity. This contest diet is reinforcing the truth of that concept to me, because so far, I have figured out ways to manipulate my food intake in order to fit these macros. I made a list of diet tweaks to use as the weeks go on, and this week’s is probably going to hit something I absolutely love - my coffee. I think I’ll replace some (not all) of the amount of half & half I use in it with unsweetened vanilla almond milk. That should cover most of the reduction in daily fat intake.

I want to hold off on tweaking some of my staple protein sources as much as possible, those being 90% lean ground beef and the various parts of a whole rotisserie chicken (minus the skin). Those animal proteins are where the bulk of my dietary fat comes from. At some point, I expect to switch to 93% lean beef and/or chicken breast, and then possibly go from 93% to 96% lean beef for the final weeks. I switched from 2% milk to 1% milk a couple of weeks ago to accommodate my last drop in daily fat intake. Another tweak I’m holding onto is cutting from 1% to fat free milk if necessary.

I have some others in my back pocket for reducing carbs and fats. Meanwhile, I’m hoping that I can continue to move some decent weight in the gym, not feel hungry all day, and not be sluggish at work. 🤞🏾

Speaking of work, today’s steps for Friday 2/9/24: 9,805 steps, 4.4 miles, 5 floors climbed

My youngest (5th grade, age 11) daughter’s dance ensemble performed at their high school’s varsity and JV basketball games today, so my wife and I were there for that and didn’t train. Upper body gets hit after work tomorrow.

[K.Diesel]

It has been an interesting few days. I had work and training on Saturday, grocery shopping and the Super Bowl on Sunday, and diarrhea from about 3am on Monday through possibly right now. I say possibly because I haven’t been to the bathroom yet today, but my stomach still hurts.

Anyway, here’s the recap. Commentary at the end. Might be a bit gross.

Bodyweight over the past 3 days has been under 190 lbs: 189.4, 187.2, 188.6.

Saturday 2/10/24: 8,994 steps, 4.0 miles, 9 floors climbed

Upper #2, Gold’s Gym

Hammer Strength Isolateral Incline Press - I don’t know how much the arms of this weigh, but it’s probably 10 lbs at the most.
empty/10 reps
45+ lbs/10 reps - weights are per side
90+/6
115/8 (0:44)
drop set: 115/5 (0:30) + 90/5 (0:34)

Pullover - This is an updated version of the famous, old school Nautilus machine.
95 lbs/12 reps
140/13 (1:48) - That’s not a typo. This set was really almost 2 minutes long. Crazy slow negatives. I’ll have to up the weight next time.

Seated High Row - neutral grip, shoulder width
60 lbs/10-12 reps - lost count
100/6
150/4
200/10 (0:52)

This is a new machine in the gym, or at least my first time seeing it. You can grab it with a neutral or overhand grip. You’re pulling along a fixed (hydraulic?) track, sort of like what a leg press moves on. Anyway, this was quite a surprise: I maxed out the stack on the machine on my first time using it. I don’t think I’ve ever done that on a machine before. If I have, I don’t remember. I can’t believe that I maxed a machine at Gold’s before doing so at Planet Fitness. Life is interesting.

Shrugs
60 lbs/15 - dumbbells
48 kg (106 lbs)/15 left, 15 right - kettlebell; They only had one at this size. It looked fun.

Seated Calf Raise
50 lbs/15 reps
100/21 (1:02) - I might have had 2-3 more, but my right foot slipped off of the pad and that was that.

Cable Crossover - I’ve been lifting for just about 20 years, and this was my first time ever doing these.
30 lbs/10 reps - weight was per side
80/0 - nope, way too heavy
50/12 (1:00) - handles high, pressing down
50/9.5 (0:43) - handles low, pressing up, 10th rep wouldn’t go

Cable Pressdown - standing, back against pad, ^ shaped handle
50 lbs/8 reps
drop-rest pause set: 80/5 (0:22) + 60/7 (0:26) + 7 (0:22) + 5 (0:25)

I probably should have gone with 70 and stuck with that for a few rounds.

Cable Curl - short, straight handle; cable on floor
50 lbs/10 reps
rest-pause set: 80/15 (0:59) + 10 (0:38)

I wasn’t in an especially good mood going into this, and did a few exercises that I didn’t have planned just for kicks. I’m glad I did.

Sunday 2/11/24: 5,800 steps, 2.3 miles, 6 floors climbed

Chiefs win. Again. Yay. Now I can focus my recreational sports entertainment attention on the road to WrestleMania 40, which is the weekend after the Baltimore Orioles open the 2024 season at home. Pitchers and catchers report to spring training tomorrow. I’m a bigger baseball fan than football, so I’m excited.

Monday 2/12/14: 564 steps, 0.23 miles, 6 floors climbed

*LIKELY TMI WARNING*

Around 3 am, I had a lot of pain (maybe cramping too) in my lower abdomen. I ended up going to the bathroom about every two hours after that until about 9am. I’m off on Mondays, so I took it easy yesterday and ate as close to a BRAT diet as possible - cream of wheat, bananas, rice cakes, and some lean chicken and beef in the mid to late part of the day. I also took some Pepto Bismol. Things seemed to be calming down, but at 11:30 last night I went to the bathroom and saw what appears to be blood in my stool. I’ve taken Pepto before - it has been a long time - and remember it changing stool to black, but never red. So I don’t think that was it. The same thing happened 2 more times last night.

Fortunately, I slept through the night without waking up for the bathroom or anything else. I didn’t have to go again until a half hour ago. Good news: more solid than yesterday. Bad news: as much or more “blood” as yesterday. Even if Pepto is causing it, I hadn’t taken any for at least 12 hours. It’s making me concerned, along with the fact that this subtle cramping/pain in my lower abdomen isn’t going away. I didn’t feel it when I woke up, but it was there maybe 15 minutes or so after I first sat up in bed. I don’t want to go to urgent care or the ER, but if this blood (or whatever it is) persists, I think I’d rather be safe than sorry.

[K.Diesel]

I went to urgent care this evening, which is partnered with and less than a half block from the hospital where our primary doctors are based, and almost all of our medical records are. I figured if it was something worse than they could handle, then they could send me to the ER and hopefully I wouldn’t have to reset the wait clock.

Fortunately, it didn’t go that far, but I’m not out of the woods yet. They were able to rule out hemorrhoids. They said that diarrhea - not the blood part - is a symptom of flu and Covid, so they tested me for both and I’m negative for both. I had my first colonoscopy at the end of 2022, and that was as clear as could be. So unless something has changed rapidly, anything major should (would?) have been seen.

They gave me a testing kit to take home. Yes… I have to put stool samples into 3 separate vials and drop them off at a lab tomorrow. For better or for worse, ever since I’ve been home from urgent care, I’ve gone to the bathroom twice, and *TMI WARNING* it hasn’t actually been feces. It has just been bloody mucus, and it hasn’t been enough to get the solution in the vials past the fill line. So now I’m finding myself needing to go again, and at the moment, I can’t. Go figure.

They also told me to contact my primary provider tomorrow morning and see if there’s any way they can get me in to be seen. I don’t know how likely that is, but I’ll find out. Maybe this is an infection that will pass before any interventions get going. But I was also told that if I get any additional symptoms - specifically nausea, dizziness, fever, chills - to go to the ER immediately. Other than that, I can’t do much more at the moment besides wait.

This may be crazy, but I went to the gym tonight after all of this. I basically feel fine besides the bathroom trips and lower abdominal pain which comes and goes. I don’t know what the outcome will be of whatever is going on, but I’m staying on course until I have a more compelling reason not to.

Tuesday 2/13/24

Lower, Planet Fitness

Seated Leg Curl
55 lbs/10 reps
85/10
115/12 - more like 11 1/2
40/6 left + 6 right
40/6 left + 6 right
40/10 left + 10 right
115/10

Leg Extension
70 lbs/12 reps
115/10
160/1 + 145/15 - I could tell after 1 rep that I overshot the weight
60/10 left + 10 right
60/10 left + 10 right
70/11 left + 11 right
150/11

Calf Press - did this on the seated upright leg press
100 lbs/10 reps
175/15
225/10
225/10

Glute Kickback Machine
100 lbs/12 left + 12 right x 2

Adductor Machine
85 lbs/20 reps
100/10
100/10

Abductor Machine
100 lbs/15 reps
145/25

This was a different kind of workout for me. I didn’t do any compound movements, because I didn’t want to strain or put pressure on my abdomen. Without any variation of squat, deadlift or leg press, it was all isolation machines. I think I accomplished what I wanted to do: make up for Monday’s missed lower body session without aggravating what caused my to miss it in the first place. Let’s see what tomorrow brings.

[K.Diesel]

In an interesting twist, it seems that since I left urgent care, the diarrhea and stomach pain has been replaced by constipation and loss/decline of appetite. I haven’t had a real movement since before I went to urgent care on Tuesday. There were a handful of times when I felt an urge to go yesterday, and every time nothing came out except for the last time, just before I went to bed. And there was no 💩 at all - just blood and mucus. Full disclosure… that spiked my anxiety, and made it a bit difficult to fall asleep. But it went into one of the three sample collection vials they gave me anyway. Then this afternoon, I finally passed just enough of everything to complete the stool sample - and I mean barely enough. But over the minimum is all I needed, so I dropped that off at the lab a few hours ago.

I have a Telehealth follow up with my PCP tomorrow afternoon (they couldn’t squeeze me into an office visit). I hope that the lab has tested my samples and uploaded the results before that appointment. If so, I would imagine my not being there in person won’t matter. Besides, I already had a rectal exam at urgent care. Side note: I think my wife and I are going to get some mileage out of the joke that came from me telling her about how since she didn’t go with me, I ended up half naked in a room with two women I’d just met, and one of them had her 👆🏾 in my 🍑

😄

Anyway, I told her about that on the way to the gym last night. This is what happened when we got there…

Wednesday 2/14/24: 2,664 steps, 1.0 miles, 5 floors climbed

Upper #1, Planet Fitness

Smith Machine High Incline Press - the Žydrūnas Savickas hypertrophy hack (seriously, it is)
bar/15 reps
50+ lbs/7 reps
90+/6
120+/2 - this ended up being a tester or feeler set. After 2 reps, I realized it was the right weight, but my mind wasn’t ready yet.
drop set: 120+/8 (0:40) + 100+/5 + negative (0:30)
100+/8 + negative (0:40)

After the final positive rep on each of the work sets, I lowered the bar as close to my shoulders as possible before racking to get an extra negative in. Also, if you’re comparing this to previous Upper #1’s, yes I should have done Arnold Press here. But the smith machine was closer to the leg press that my wife was using. After all, it was still Valentine’s Day. 😁

Smith Machine Barbell Row
bar/12 reps
90+ lbs/9 reps
140+/6
180+/10 (0:25) - started using Versa Gripps here
inadvertent rest-pause set: 180+/7 + 5

That last set was supposed to be a straight set. But I decided to try it with my thumbs wrapped around the bar, which is something I never do for any pulls except competition deadlifts, and maybe snatch grip deadlift variations. It felt terrible in a couple of ways, and I didn’t want my experience with this exercise to end like that. So I racked it, took a few moments, and did 5 more reps without the thumb. They felt good.

Cable Pulldown - close grip V-handle, neutral grip
85 lbs/10 reps
140/8
drop/rest-pause set: 200/6 (0:28) + 165/7 (0:27) + 165/8 (0:32)

Dips
+70 lbs assistance/8 reps
bodyweight/20
BW/15

Rear Delt Machine
65 lbs/6 reps
125/20 (0:43) - the ROM on those last 3 or 4 got short in a hurry

Pec Deck - same machine, facing the other way
125/15 - I tried for a 16th. It barely moved.

That was my first time doing 2 full sessions on consecutive days in a long time. But since I didn’t do any highly fatiguing movements on Tuesday, I think I had plenty in the tank to have a good session last night. Unless I get some news I don’t want to hear from my doctor tomorrow, then I’m sticking to the plan - lower body tomorrow, and my second posing clinic on Saturday.

[Bill Anders]

Oh my, Kaisheem. We do hope the best for you and that you get through whatever this is that's ailing you, sooner rather than later.

[K.Diesel]

Oh my, Kaisheem. We do hope the best for you and that you get through whatever this is that's ailing you, sooner rather than later.

Thank you Bill! After a few anxiety filled days, I’m finally having some reason for optimism.

I saw my primary care provider today. She told me to take a laxative, start taking a probiotic, and stop taking NSAIDs until we figure out what caused the bleeding. Also, even if I don’t go to the bathroom, if I’m passing gas (I hadn’t been) then that’s good. If my belly becomes distended and I can’t pass gas, then I need to go to the hospital because that’s a sign I have a bowel obstruction.

Coincidentally, after the appointment I went to the bathroom (win #1) and didn’t see any blood (win #2). I’m not declaring victory just yet, because my lab results haven’t come back yet. But I feel a bit of relief - no pun intended - for the first time all week.

Friday 2/16/24: 3,400 steps, 1.2 miles, 7 floors climbed

Lower #1, Gold’s Gym

Standing Calf Raise
100 lbs/12 reps (1:00)
drop set: 140/10 (1:00) + 100/10 (0:42)

Hyperextension - this one is way sturdier and more stable than the one at Planet Fitness
bodyweight/10 reps
+25/12 (1:09)
drop set: +25/10 (0:54) + BW/10 (0:43)

Vertical Leg Press - I had not done these in a month (since 1/15).
sled/11 reps
90+ lbs/10 reps
180+/10 (0:47)
180+/10 (0:52)

Wide Platform Leg Press - I used this one for the first time 2 weeks ago.
270+ lbs/6 reps
450+/6 - this was my top weight last time; felt like I could do more tonight
rest-pause set: 540+/10 (0:49) + 3 (0:20)

Prone Leg Curl
90 lbs/10 reps
rest-pause set: 140/14 (0:37) + 8 (0:22) - those final 2 reps were really partials

Seated Lateral Raise Machine - Clearly this isn’t lower body. My wife was on pec deck, and I didn’t hit side delts on Wednesday.
John Meadows warmup: 6 reps each at 30, 50, 70, and 90 lbs, no rest
drop set: 130/5 + 110/5 + 90/5 + 70/10 + 50/10

The 130 and 110 rounds were partials, by design. Heavy side lateral partials on the lateral raise is another nugget I picked up from the dearly departed Mr. Meadows. Fortunately, his family is still running his YouTube channel, Mountaindog1.

“Super Abs” Machine
145 lbs/20 left + 10 right + 10 right + 5 middle + 10 middle + 5 middle

I should have taken a full rest after left side reps, then right side reps. I didn’t gain anything by trying to do them nonstop.

Posing clinic tomorrow! I hope to get some professional feedback from the instructor I worked with last time. Last time, my wife and I were in the same session. This time, mine is at 1pm and hers is at 2pm. Hopefully this means we’ll both be able to record one another and get better video footage from this one. We couldn’t set the tripods up too well last time, so the angles weren’t the best.

[Bill Anders]

That is good news so far. We're hoping for more for you!!

[K.Diesel]

That is good news so far. We're hoping for more for you!!

Thank you! I’m still waiting for lab results, but based on a lack of symptoms and how I’m feeling, I think I have turned a corner. 🤲🏾

I noticed something a few weeks ago that was confirmed at the clinic: I don’t have a left leg, at least from the side. From the front, they look like the same size, and the left may even have a bit more detail. But from the side, it’s like these legs aren’t attached to the same body. For what it’s worth, the entire left side of my body feels “off” anyway, and has for some time. In addition to being right side dominant, tearing a labrum in my left shoulder 13 years ago certainly didn’t help, even with my lower body. I’ve been able to tell that there’s a difference from one leg to the other when squatting for a long time. I don’t expect to make up years worth of imbalance in 12 weeks, but I have to try to do something. Last night, I added some left leg work to an upper body day. Depending on how I can recover and be ready to hit the streets plus train lower body, I might keep this up for a while.

Monday 2/19/24: 3,604 steps, 1.3 miles, 3 floors climbed

Upper #2 (+ Left Leg & Calves), Planet Fitness

Note: I didn’t record any of this session, so I don’t know how long these sets were.

Leg Press - left leg only
Sled/10
90+ lbs/12 reps
140+/10
140+/11
140+/9

All of these sets except the last one wear done with my foot low on the platform, and just about shoulder width. For the last one, I tried it with my foot high and wide.

Calf Press - on the leg press
140+/12

I was already there. Plus if I had been at Gold’s, I probably would have hit the standing calf raise that’s right outside of the locker room anyway.

Arnold Press - weights are per hand
25 lbs/12 reps
40/7
55/6
drop set: 65/10 + 55/5 + 40/6

Seated Lateral Raise - weights are per hand
20 lbs/12 reps
15/14

No warm up needed. The last 3-4 reps of each set were partials. FWIW I never let my arms hang straight down at the bottom of these once I start a set. I was going to do this as a drop set, but by this time, my wife had come from another part of the gym to do join me and do laterals herself. I ended up doing my sets around one of hers.

Cable Pulldown - wide, neutral grip handle
100 lbs/12 reps
160/8
200/9 - started using Versa Gripps here
170/11

I think I have discovered that on any vertical pull, including chin-ups, I can crank out more reps that feel clean and focused if I use a neutral or underhand grip.

Pec Deck
85 lbs/12 reps
130/9
115/12 + 4 partials - the ROM on those partials was so short, I couldn’t put them in the rep count.

Seated Cable Row - neutral grip, just inside shoulder width.
120 lbs/10 reps
drop set: 180/11 + 140/10 - probably 9 1/2 on that second round

Cable Pressdown - short, straight bar
40 lbs/11 reps
drop set: 85/8 + 70/7 + 55/6

Preacher Curl Machine
75 lbs/21 reps

At some point during that set, I decided that instead of being a warm up, I would do enough reps to make it a work set so I could leave. It’s not like I was there for a long time. This whole thing only took an hour and five minutes, and that included hopping off of the leg press to claim a smith machine and hold it until my wife could finish something in another part of the gym and then come over to start squats on it. I was just hungry.

Tuesday 2/20/24: 15,942 steps, 7.2 miles, 4 floors climbed

This was my first day back at work after an unexpected week off. It was also the day after a federal holiday in the US (Presidents’ Day). Those are always long days in the post office. Along with some needed overtime, I’m glad to get back to my normal activity levels. It should help my fat loss get back on track. I’m not mentally prepared to start doing cardio off the clock. I haven’t done that in 18 years.

[K.Diesel]

Wednesday 2/21/24: 10,545 steps, 4.6 miles, 6 floors climbed

Lower #2, Planet Fitness

Smith Machine Good Morning
55 lbs + bar/15 reps

There was only one smith machine available. My wife needed to do lunges, then sumo deadlifts. I was supposed to do good mornings and squats. By the time I got to the smith machine, she was doing her last set of lunges. So I decided to do a warmup set of good mornings, then do sumo deadlifts myself. It would have taken to much time stripping the bar and moving it from the bottom of the rack to shoulder height, and vice versa, after every set.

Smith Machine Sumo Deadlift - I may have done sumos on the smith 3 or 4 times in my life before this
55 lbs + bar/8 reps
180+/10
270+/8 - started using Versa Gripps here
360+/6 (0:19) - started wearing belt here
410+/6 (0:31)

Smith Machine Squat - sort of high bar
90 lbs + bar/6 reps
180+/6
230+/6 (0:31) - started using belt here
230+/10 (0:47)

I’m not sure if I should count that first set with 230+ as a work set or not. It felt challenging, but not backbreaking in the moment. But if I had 10 reps in me 2-3 minutes later, then how hard could the first set have been? I guess it all adds up in the end.

Seated Leg Curl
85 lbs/10 reps
drop set: 145/13 (0:36) + 115/11 (0:29)

Leg Extension
100 lbs/12 reps
rest-pause/drop set: 160/17 (0:36) + 70/9 left leg (0:19) + 55/5 left (0:07)

Hammer Abs Machine - similar to the “Super Abs” at Gold’s, but it only goes straight - no twist to the left or right
rest-pause set: 50 lbs/15 + 10 + 5 + 5 reps

Even with a trip to the locker room to change shirts and shoes between deadlift and squat, this took less than an hour. Under normal circumstances, I would not squat after deadlifts. It just seems so anti-powerlifting that it doesn’t feel right. Either way, I walked out of the gym feeling that what Dr. Mike Israetel often refers to - “SFR: stimulus to fatigue ratio” - was much higher than normal tonight. I feel much better now that I’ve eaten dinner. But yeah… that felt like work.

[K.Diesel]

Catching up. I’ve worked some overtime every day this week, plus trying to get things in order for next week when my wife and I make our 13th or 14th trip to the Arnold Classic/Arnold Sports Festival. It’s a fun getaway for us, and an immersion into everything related to lifting and fitness culture: bodybuilding, powerlifting, strongman, and a bunch of other stuff. I need to be nailing my diet over the next week, because I’m going to have 2 (maybe 3) restaurant meals on this trip that are not going to fit my macros, no matter what I do. I already factored this into prep, and I think I’ll be okay.

Thursday 2/22/24: 12,332 steps, 5.5 miles, 4 floors climbed

Friday 2/23/24: 11,128 steps, 4.9 miles, 9 floors climbed

Upper #1, Gold’s Gym

Standing Calf Raise - not upper body, just conveniently outside the locker room
100 lbs/12 reps
160/10 (0:58)
160/18 (0:45)

I tried different rep speeds with the same load on the work sets.

T-Bar Row - hadn’t done these since Feb. 5, topped out at 2 drop sets starting with 160+ lbs
bar/8 wide overhand + 8 close neutral
45+ lbs/9 wide + 9 neutral - the bar feels like next to nothing, but it can’t be zero
100/5 wide + 5 neutral
145/5 wide + 3 neutral
170/12 wide (0:30) - started wearing belt and Versa Gripps here; last 2 reps had slightly less ROM
170/12 neutral (0:26) - definitely a partial on the last rep

Decline Bench Press - with Rogue neutral grip bar, hadn’t done these since Feb. 5, topped w/drop set starting with 205
bar/12 reps
135 lbs/10 reps
185/6
225/5 (0:22)
195/8 (0:31)

I have to keep reminding myself that I’m the lightest I have been in over 10 years, probably 12-13 years. I have to give myself some grace on these lifts. I’m still keeping up with where I was a few weeks ago, so that’s a good sign.

Pullover - last did these on Feb. 10; a long set with 140 that took almost 2 minutes; I wasn’t doing that again
80 lbs/12 reps
155/12.5 (1:15) - tried and failed a 13th rep

Rear Delt Machine - never used this one before, but they’re all very similar
70 lbs/15 reps - only did this to get used to the feel of this machine, not warm muscles
120/15.5 - tried and failed a 16th rep

Standing Lateral Raise Machine - on Feb. 5, did a crazy drop set starting with 100 lbs
50 lbs/5 reps - just to feel the movement
80/14 (0:41) - partials on last 2 reps

Cable Crossover - cables at shoulder height
50 lbs/6 reps
50/14 (0:55)

I wasn’t sure what weight I would go with, since this is only my second time ever doing them. I did a few reps with the weight I used last time, and decided to run it again for a full set.

Standing Cable Pressdown - back against pad
60 lbs/16 reps (0:50)

I didn’t go into this workout planning to do straight sets, with no set extenders or extra intensity techniques. I’m not sure why I did, but I feel very good about how it went. I might try this again on my next lower day. We’ll see.

Saturday 2/24/24: 16,815 steps, 7.8 miles, 6 floors climbed