caveman goes for 5/3/1 for 300/400/500

[caveman]

Tuesday 5/9/17
Bodyweight 190.6 (feeling svelt today)

Bench - 250 for 6. Pleasantly surprised to get one more than I thought I would.

Slingshot bench - 275 for 5. Elbows have been fairly stable recently. Going to add this back in on intensity day and see if they fall apart.

Overhead press - 135 for 7. Also pleasantly surprised to get one more than I was expecting. Still not where I want to be...

Hammer curls - 20 for 20.

Tricep pushdowns - 50 for 40. I think this side had an extra pulley or something. I could have done these for a lot more. I just wanted a pump so it was good enough.

Back extensions - 15

Toes to bar - 14 with romaleos on, much harder.

In much sadder news, I lost my wallet somewhere between the gym and the office. I physically layed eyes on it after the gym so I know it didn't get stolen there, but when I got to the office it was no where to be found. WTF!

And of course I'm travelling to DC on Saturday so it would be nice to have some credit cars and a driver's license maybe... FAWK!

[caveman]

Thursday 5/11/17
Bodyweight 191.5

Squats - 315 for 10, 5, and 5. Didn't feel like going super heavy today, even for volume. I wondered if I could knock out 315 for 10. No problem. Probably had 2 more in the tank assuming I could have held my breath long enough o do anymore. In any event the bar was sliding down my back and I wouldn't have been able to hold it much longer regardless. Unfortunately, on the very last rep of the last set I felt a twinge in my glute. Hopefully, it's nothing, I don't want a stiff muscle on a 6 hour plane ride.

Deads - 275 for 5 with a static hold at the top. The twinge mentioned above felt mostly fine, but I decided to go ultra conservative to avoid any complications.

10 chins. Felt pretty good actually. Surprised at that.

That was it. Didn't want to press my luck.

[caveman]

There were no opportunities to train while in DC. Actually, I feel fortunate that I didn't get raped or mugged. Mental note, check hotel reviews before booking business trips, even if everyone else has already booked.

Friday I bagged the gym to have lunch with coworkers.
Saturday I did the following

Squats - 335 for 5. Didn't feel great. Glad I didn't load up 365.

Then went off script, because I didn't feel like front squatting or pulling heavy so decided to finally put my bumpers to use and did some cleans.

Cleans
95 x several. easy.
115 x several. still easy, as expected. I routinely do 135 at the gym to unload weights.
135 x several. Felt OK. Started to feel like my timing was off, but the weights were still moving well.
155 x 2. One felt awesome, the other felt not good: arm pull, hit the bar with my knee on the way up
175 for 0, 0, 0, 1, 1. I was trying to fix too many things at once here. Once I had reasonable form this went fairly well.
185 for 1, 1, 0, 0, 0, 1. First two were not too shabby by my low standards, then I struggled before finally rage pulling another one. Was also starting to get fatigued at this point, or at least not as explosive.

Then after I knocked the bar down to 135 I thought, I wonder if you can snatch that. 0, 0, 0, 1, 0, 0, 0. So the answer is technically yes. Even the successful one wasn't that pretty and these apparently feel the need to piss off my elbows so I probably won't do these very much moving forward. However, I am interested in training the power clean for the first time in my life and would like to hit a bodyweight clean (190'ish) and then 2 plates after that.

Mission accomplished. It was kind of fun trying something different, and I finally felt like my technique was good enough that I could make progress on my own.

[caveman]

From today, Monday 5/22/17
Body weight 192.7 (not too bad after a business trip and then a day of racetrack food)

Squats - 335 for 5. Just trying to stave off detraining I think. I've got another trip coming up and my mind just isn't with it right now.

Sumo - 365 for 1 and then 8. 1st one DOH. Then tried hook and quickly decided that straps would be better day. Then knocked out 8 without any additional rest. Unfortunately, these felt much harder than I thought they should have. Didn't feel that strong at the start of the pull. Meh.

5 chins. Just testing the water here. Seemed easy and no pain.

hammer curls - 20 for 20.

Back extensions - 20.

I'm out.

[caveman]

Tuesday 5/23/17
Bodyweight 192.5

Bench press - 250 for 5. I don't think the 6th would have gone.

Slingshot - 275 for 5. probably could have gotten one more. Trying to stay a little farther way from failure to keep the elbows happy.

Overhead press - 135 for 7. That's one more than I thought I would get.

Tricep pull downs - 60 for 30 and then 20.

Hammer curls - 20 for 15.

static farmers walk hold - 110's for 50 seconds. I could have made it to 60 but my grip was slightly off center on my left hand.

Lat pull downs - 90 for 12. Lat's on fire is unpleasant.

Decent session. Most importantly, my elbows feel healthy for the first time in a while. I'd like to start ramping up the volume and see if we can crack the 300 barrier finally.

[caveman]

Thursday 5/25/17
Body weight 191.8 (I've been so tired the last few nights, that I've fallen asleep on the couch before I can make myself a drink and a late night snack).

Squats - 335 for 5, 5, and 5. I got really light headed after each set. The set itself felt mostly fine. A little too on the toes for the first set, but the next two seemed solid.

Deadlifts - 365 for 8. All straps and all much easier than expected. I looked in the mirror at the top of the first rep to verify that I put the 25's on the bar because it felt no different than 315. Probably had 2-3 more in the tank. I've been thinking about why this happened and I have a couple of ideas, especially since squats were not any easier than anticipated.
1. The power clean work on Saturday has helped with power from the floor on deadlifts.
2. I read Rippetoe's deadlift article that was on the main page yesterday. I was most interested in the start position discussion and made a slight adjustment to raise my hips and ensure that my shoulders were slightly in front of the bar. I also remembered the cue to try and bend the bar across your shins by flexing your lats.
3. The strength I "lost" while in DC has returned even though training has been meh.
4. Gravity was turned down a notch today.

[caveman]

Oh forgot to add that I did a static deadlift hold with 315 with a DOH grip for 20 seconds. This is one of the things that I wanted to do along time ago and never did. I can check that box now. I would not have made 21 seconds and couldn't remove the spring clip afterwards either.

[caveman]

Ugh, take two...

Friday 5/26/17
Bodyweight 191.4, though I decided eat a couple of donuts this morning in additional to the oatmeal I prepared and will more than likely get a starbucks drink mid afternoon to enjoy some of the nice weather we are finally getting.

Bench - 225 for 5, 5, 5, 5, and 5. Fatigue was definitely starting to set in on the last two sets. Though I was able to do every set on one breath, so I guess it wasn't too hard.

Overhead press - 135 for 5 and 5. My left side of my back started bothering me more than I'd care for on the 2nd set, so just called it.

Tricep push downs - 60 for 30 and then round 2 50 for 30.

Hammer curls - 20 for 20

Lat pull downs - 105 for 12 and 12.

Toes to bar - 15.

My arms were shot after this.

[caveman]

Thursday 6/1/17
Bodyweight 191.4

Coming down with a cold, and having switched coasts twice before the butt crack of dawn has got me tired and cranky.

squats - 315 for 5. beltless, felt mostly OK.
250 for 5 and 5. With a 2ct pause.

deadlifts - 315 for 5, all DOH grip,

Inverted row - 12, until I couldn't touch my chest to the bar.

Meh, still just trying to stave off detraining. Instead of trying to make progress.

[caveman]

Monday 6/5/17
Bodyweight 191.5

Took Friday off because I felt like crap and did so for most of the weekend.

Feeling mostly better today, but on squat warmups felt a little niggle in my left glute.

Squats - 345 for 5. Felt mostly pretty good. Probably had 2 or 3 in the tank, but I think the form would have started deteriorating on the next one.

Paused squats - 255 for 5. Wanted to do a little more work and just decided to do my buddies work set paused. I don't think he was too pleased about that, but he'll get over it.

Sumo deads - 365 for 5 with straps. Wow, these were hard. Probably just one more in the tank. I also haven't done these in a while because of the various trips I've been on. Oh well. Got to start some where.

Back extensions - 20.

In other news it seems that my wife is interested in dropping a few pounds. So I'll take this opportunity to do the same. I've done a reasonable job of maintaining between 190 and 192, and I would like to move that baseline down to 184-186.

In other other news, I was able to get a pre order in for the OpenBarbell V3 velocity measuring device. So in about 8 weeks, I can start playing with that.