Quest For Strength

[Ken_L]

It's been a while since I have updated my log. There were a few setbacks. First I tweaked (the spelling checker wanted to replace tweaked with twerked haha!) my left shoulder, still don't have a clue what I did. It took about a week to get better and resulted in a missed workout followed by squats and bands for upper body. Just as that got better I tweaked my right shoulder! The cause was digging and hitting some large roots, it felt similar to a sprained ankle. This was followed by another missed workout and then squats and bands for upper body. Bands help in getting over injuries faster and also prevents the loss of muscle mass. Just as I was getting better the flue struck. With just a cold I will still lift but when running a fever I pass, another week lost.

With that behind me I have been able to lift consistently for the past few weeks. I'll post those workouts below but will skip the recovery workouts using bands.

5/2/2019 (Heavy)
Squat 275X5X3
Bench 185X10
DB Row 120X12 L&R

5/6/2019 (Light)
Squat 265X5X2
KB Press 40X15 L&R
Biceps/Triceps with bands
Deadlift 335X6

5/9/2019 (Medium)
Squat 275X5X3
Bench 185X11
Chins 12

5/14/2019 (Heavy)
Squat 315X1, 280X5X3 PR
Bench 225X1 EZ, 185X11
DB Row 120X13 L&R

5/17/2019 (Light)
Squat 265X5X2
KB Press 45X10 L&R
Biceps/Triceps with bands
Deadlift 360X1, 335X7

5/20/2019 (Medium)
Squat 270X5X2
Bench 185X12
Chins 13

5/23/2019 (Heavy)
Squat 320X1, 285X4X3 PR
Bench 230X1 EZ, 200X7
DB Row 120X15 L&R

5/24/2019 Treadmill 1 mile @ 6.3mph

5/28/2019 (Light)
Squat 265X5X2
KB Press 45X11 L&R
Biceps/Triceps with bands
Deadlift 370X1, 340X6

5/31/2019 (Medium)
Squat 275X5X2
Bench 185X11
Chins 13

5/31/2019 Treadmill 1 1/3 miles @ 6.3mph

6/3/2019 (Heavy)
Squat 325X1, 285X4,5,4 PR
Bench 235X1, 205X5
DB Row 125X11 L&R

6/4/2019 Sprints on a Concept 2 Rowing Machine

[Ken_L]

6/6/2019 Thursday@work (Light Day)

I learned a few lessons through a couple minor injuries (not weight lifting related) and a week with the flue. First is that the extra rest was good for getting my squat moving again. So on medium day I dropped from 3 sets to 2 sets over the last couple of weeks. This prevents the buildup of a lot of fatigue so that I am ready to go again on heavy day. It is amazing just how much of a change subtracting 1 set makes! 3 sets added to much of a training stress and recovery became an issue. The downside is that I did not deadlift when I tweaked my shoulder so it suffered. I am running a LP on deads to get back to where I was.

Also on the last 2 light day workouts I do most of the lifts early in the morning but wait until lunchtime for deads. Deads go much better this way. I don't know if it is the break after squatting or the energy from the large breakfast that I eat after lifting in the morning. Or it could just be in my head.

AM
Light Squat 265X5X2
KB Press 45X12 L&R (Edit I had typed DB Row here. 45X12 would be pretty sad for a 1 arm row!)
Biceps/Triceps Superset with bands

Lunch
Deadlift 380X1 EZ, 345X6 will move to a single at 390 and a workset at 350 on the next light day.

[Ken_L]

6/7/2019 Friday

Treadmill 1 2/3 miles @ 6.3mph Working back up to running 2 miles. Next week I will be there and then start bumping up the speed.

Concept 2 rowing races with one of my daughters, she is 11. My 9y.o. son was also at the gym this morning he mostly played on the trampoline. It is good that they want to join me once or twice a week. I try to make it fun for them. Hopefully it will become a life long pursuit!

[Ken_L]

6/10/2019 Monday@Work (Medium Day)

Squat 275X5X2
Bench 205X6, 195X8
Chins 13

[Ken_L]

6/13/2019 Thursday@Work (Heavy Day)

Good workout today. Everything felt solid! Squats felt lighter then they should have! I think I am finally getting my bastardized HLM program dialed in to where I can make slow, but steady progress. Spreading the stress out over a longer period to allow this old guy to recover was the key. My shoulders are feeling great thanks to using low volume for upper body. It's time to see if I can get my bench back up to where it should be.

Shoulder Stretches

Squat 330X1 PR, 285X5X3 PR
Bench 240X1, 210X5
DB Row 125X12 L&R

[Ken_L]

6/14/2019
Treadmill 2 miles @ 6.3mph

6/17/2019 Monday@work (Light Day)
Still feeling beat up from getting back to running 2 miles right after heavy day. My lower body is still feeling it and was not fully recovered. As a result I only went up 5 lbs. on deads instead of another 10 lb. jump for the heavy single. From now on it will stay at 5 lb. The idea is to do a heavy single not a 1rm.
AM
Light Squat 265X5X2
KB Press 45X12 L&R
Biceps/Triceps Superset with bands

Lunch
Deadlift 385X1 EZ, 350X6 This was the first time doing a set with 350.

[Ken_L]

6/20/2019 Thursday@Work (Medium Day)

Another really good workout! Squats with 275 was starting to feel to light for Medium day so I ended up doing 6 on the second set. I could have done another rep or 2 but stopped there since the goal today was not to induce to much stress but rather to add a little more to the cycle and help with recovery for heavy day next Monday. It's time to move light and medium day up 5 pounds each.
Bench went well and 6 reps was still done with the addition of 5 pounds, also picked up a rep on the backoff set. 5 pounds will be added to both next week.
Picked up a rep on chins.

Squat 275X5,6
Bench 210X6, 195X9
Chins 14 @ BW of 230 pounds

[Ken_L]

6/21/2019 Friday
Treadmill 1.3 miles @ 6.3mph I decided to stop at 1.3 miles instead of going the full 2. My legs were not yet fully recovered from lifting, so running was much harder then it should have been. I was sucking in a lot of air. Going the full 2 miles probably would have put me over the edge recovery wise for heavy day on Monday.



6/24/2019 Monday@Work (Heavy Day)

Shoulder Stretches

Squat 335X1 PR, 290X4X3
Bench 245X1, 215X4
DB Row 125X13 L&R


Edit: For the last 3 Heavy days the squats single has been more of a 1RM rather then a heavy single. I am debating whether to ride it out as far as it will go or slow things down a bit and increase 5 pounds every other heavy day. Every week I think that there is no way that the weight will move but it does, however it is quite grindy. Any thoughts?

[Ken_L]

6/27/2019 Thursday@work (Light Day)

Good workout today. I was feeling recovered from heavy day on Monday.

AM
Light Squat 270X5X2 Added 5 pounds to light day squats

KB Press 45X13 L&R Picked up a rep

Barbell Curls 65X10 This was very easy and was just supposed to be a warmup. I was going to superset barbell curls with triceps extensions using a machine in the gym, but I did not have enough range of motion in my left shoulder to do the exercise. Since that was a failure I went back to bands.

Biceps/Triceps Superset with bands. 4 sets each. I am gradually adding more resistance, still using the same bands but with more stretch. Don't let these fool you, they are not easy. When finished it is hard to move my arms enough to clean up. They feel like rubber.


PM
Deadlift 390X1, 355X6 The weight felt lighter this week then it did last week. Bar speed on the 390 single was fast and it was not a grinder at all. It was about the right weight a heavy single, not a 1rm. Add another 5 pounds next time.

[Ken_L]

6/28/2019 Friday

Treadmill 1 2/3 miles @ 6.3mph


7/1/2019 Monday@Work (Medium Day)

Medium Squat 280X5X2
Bench 215X5, 200X6
Chins BW X 14

I am leaving early Thursday morning for a 10 day vacation. I may try to get Thursdays "Heavy" session in on Wednesday night. Hopefully there will be a decent gym in the area so that no workouts will be missed. Time to start looking on the internet.