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

[caveman]

Been delinquent on logging again, though I haven't missed any days at the gym or at home.

With the holiday weekend, weight has been hovering around 213.0 Not too bad, but I can do better, though it has been difficult with a bunch of different social/work functions.

Let's see, on Monday did
Squats - 405 for 2 and then put knee wraps on and did 455 for a fairly easy single, a smidge high from the video. However, this is the first wrapped squat I've done since my competition a few years ago, and my legs were going numb. Pretty big PR for me and I think that with a little work and good MOJO I could be the proud owner of 500 pound squat!

Sumo deads - 420 for 3, I think. Definitely hit the min goal of 2, but I think I got three.

Then missed Tuesday because I had to run an errand during lunch and felt too tired after dinner.

make up day was yesterday, Wednesday.
Bench - 295 for a double. No hand off and my foot slipped just a little on the unrack. I think with a handoff and an on point bar path and I could have tripled that! Awesome!
OHP - 175 for 2. Went for 3 but it was only to eye level at best. Then did push press for 175 x 3. Easy. Then tried for a PR at 205 and couldn't quite get it. It's there, I just didn't do it right.

My elbows weren't too happy about all of that. Skipped accessory work.

Heavy deads today and then deload starts.

[caveman]

Thursday 5/30/19
Bodyweight, not sure, probably around 213.0, my morning routine has been a bit jumbled this week.

Deads - 440 for 5! Booyah. was feeling fairly fresh today and my start position felt solid so I went for the extra reps. I think there might have even been 1 grinder left. Also got 405 my last warmup for another DOH grip rep. I'm sure the deadlift bar helps with a bit too, but damn that felt good today.

Axle deads - 275 for 1, 295 for 1 and 1. Grip was done after the second one.

Deload squats - 225 for 15. Beltless. Could have got 20, but was lacking a compelling reason to do so.

Farmers walk with the 120's. with all of the other grip work that I had done I figured these would be a disaster. No problem. Just goes to show you how much easier grip work is on thin bars instead of fat bars.

Hammer curls - 20 for 25.

That was a pretty good 4 week block! Feeling fairly fresh and am starting to hit some monster numbers (for me). Might have to find a comp so that I can make a 300 pound bench and a 500 pound deadlift official! Never thought I could total anywhere near 1300. Crazy...

[caveman]

Did deload upper body stuff at home on Friday.

Was something like
Bench - 185 for 15
OHP - 95 for 15
Hammer curls something by something
Incline dumbbells press - 55 for 15

Something in here made my left shoulder pretty unhappy. It was painfully tight for the rest of the night.

Received my goody package from IronMind today. I got the 10 gripper Captains of Crush gripper set as well as a Rolling thunder handle. Time to get serious about increasing my grip!
So with 0 prep work, or really reading much on the proper way to do anything I was able to close the COC1.5 with my right hand and the 1.0 with my left.
For the rolling thunder, I could break 125 from the floor with my left, but not lock it out, and I could do that with my right. Decided not to go up anymore because I thought my arms were giving me warning signals to shut it down. Still I have some baselines line. Closing the CoC 2.0 with both hands and something around 185 for maybe bodyweight on the rolling thunder seem like good goals. Ultimately, I would like pick up the Thomas Inch dumbbell... and maybe the denny (sp?) stone in Scotland.

[caveman]

Took the rest of the weekend off. My back was feeling tender from the deads and single handedly loading up my cabinet tablesaw into the back of my suburban to deliver to my buddy who bought it. Was also presented with pizza at almost every meal. I only took one slice, but the damage was still done. I weighed in this morning at 214.something and I hope that dips back down to the 212's tomorrow, but I'm not sure about that as I still feel bloated and did consume 1 or 2 drinks each weekend night with our guests...

Squats - 340 for 8. No issues here, hips and hammies felt a bit tight, but these moved with no problem. Could have hit 10.

Sumo deads - 355 for 10. Had a really hard time feeling like I wasn't going to hurt myself. Extra warmups, gradually got me to where I needed to be. was just about to call it a day before it started feeling better.

Inverted rows - 12. Pretty sure that's a PR for me. Usually, I'm not able to get my chest to the handles after 7 or 8. This time 12 was the first one that didn't touch.

Forearms/elbows are feeling tender and I'm blaming the recent extra grip work that I've been doing. I think the axle deadlift and the rolling thunder are pretty strenuous especially because I have maxed out both each time. I think I'll shift my approach a bit until things calm down for high reps or holds for time and not going to complete failure. Will also try and incorporate some extensor work and stretching ASAP to try and keep things in a positive direction.

***Time break****
Woke up this morning at 212.65, so it appears I didn't do too much damage over the weekend (which is reassuring because I was definitely trying hard to minimize the negative impacts of what I had to work with). Goal for next Monday will be 211.5. Weight is moving down a little more slowly than I would like, but that is mostly because I am not being quite as strict as I could be, and also because I have changed from gaining 0.5 pounds per week to losing about that much per week, so it's not all that bad..

[caveman]

Tuesday 6/4/19
Bodyweight 212.65, Next Week Goal 211.5

Bench - 250 for 10. This is an e1RM PR, 333! I don't think that is in the cards now, but 315 is probably doable again! Surprisingly, there was no elbow discomfort at all for bench. I was worried because I have felt some tenderness in my arms where tendonitis tends to flare up for me. However, I did shy away from any direct grip work like farmers walks or a static hang for time.

OHP - 147.5 for 9. Got to use my DIY 1.25lb nut rings. My partner did a couple of extra bench sets and I'm sure that the extra rest time definitely helped make this happen.

Hammer curls - 20 for 25.
Tricep rope - 80 for 30 and then came back and did 80 for 20 more.
Lat pull downs - 135 for 12

Hanging knee raises - 20

Pretty good start to this block. The next 2 days are the hardest for the month. Volume 8's are... unpleasant.

[caveman]

Missed some logging again.

Thursday went as scripted.
Deads - 370 for 8
Squats - 305 for 8, 8, and 8

Volume upper got pushed back to Sunday
Bench - 225 for 8, 8, and 8.
OHP - 135 for 8, 7, and 7. Just didn't have enough oomph to get the last reps on the 2nd and 3rd sets. I had a pretty strenuous weekend, so this actually went better than I planned.

[caveman]

Monday 6/10/19
Bodyweight 211.45 (met the weekly goal!). New weekly goal 210.0 I'm through the worst of the transition, if I can avoid bad food situations socially or at work, I should be fine. I'm OK with smaller portions and don't usually crave any junk food any more. I think the worst offense is a cold beer with dinner.

Went to the gym today and couldn't squat over 95. Something in my tail bone isn't happy, which is probably due to all of the construction work I did this weekend. I tried extra warmups, foam rollers, stretches, etc... but it just felt like something was going to pull. I shut it down and will try again tonight/tomorrow. If it's still bad tomorrow, I will call up the chiro so he can move back whatever shifted. I had reservations going in to today, because just regular activities I would get some discomfort that I figured was going to interfere with lifting. I travel on business next week, so it might just morph into an extended deload. I'm mostly OK with that.

[caveman]

Tuesday 6/11/19
Bodyweight 210.85 (i will be pretty stoked to be below 210 again. that is my short term goal and it's getting close!)

My back is feeling alot better today than yesterday. however, it didn't quite feel 100%, so I decided to write off yesterday and just move forward with no other modifications this week. In my opinion, volume day is more important anyways, and I will be traveling on business next week, so i will probably end up redoing this months block anyways.

Bench - 275 for 5. I am always a little hesitant benching heavy at the globo without a spotter because the safeties are far too low to be of any value. Plus, I have gotten used to a handoff. Decided to do an extra warm up rep at 245 and that moved well enough that I felt I could do a set of 4 or 5 of 275 without killing myself. these moved well, possibly could have squeezed out a 6th rep with a spotter present. Recently, I've started noticing that my butt is coming off the bench during my setup and it has been difficult to get it back down without feeling like I'm totally losing what little arch I have to begin with. I'll have to look up some videos on what I can do to remedy that. The few things I've tried with foot position, have felt awful, so maybe I just need to squat more to get an even bigger booty...

OHP - 162.5 for 6. I don't know what to tell you. I could not believe my sheet called for 162.5 for 5. AND, I cannot believe that not only did I do that, but I squeezed in an epic grinder for an extra rep above that! My dream of a body weight strict press, might happen by the end of this year. My e1RM has been 190 and 189 this month, and I'm planning to keep cutting down to 190'ish, but I have a major trip in August that will screw with training. It'll be interesting...

Rapid fire,
Hammer curls - 25 for 20
Tricep rope - 90 for 30
Lat pulldown - 135 for 10
Farmers walk - 110s a little farther than usual because people were in the normal walking lanes. Starting slipping at the end, but not too shabby given that my grip already felt tired and it was a longer path than usual.
Handstand pushup - 1 and then a negative. I still want to work on my freestanding handstand. it's hard to find extra time...
10 toes to bar
static hold of hanging knees to elbow, that didn't really feel that great for elbows, shoulder, well anything really.

Pretty decent day considering the circumstances. hopefully, Thursday and Friday go as planned and then I'll get a week off before doing some light stuff on Friday to try and prevent/manage DOMS then just repeat this month starting with 8's. Or maybe 5's, because 8's are just awful.

[caveman]

Thursday 6/13/19
Bodyweight 210.85 (was 210.55 yesterday)

My back has been feeling better and better each day, but still isn't quite right so I was keeping a close eye on things and was trying to make extra sure that my setup was good to avoid an injury.

Deads - 410 for 6. Well 5 or 6, pretty sure it was 6 but I lost count around 4. In any event, I had one more in the tank and these felt mostly pretty good. Form didn't feel perfect, but there was no discomfort and my back felt solid AF.

Squats - 335 for 5, 5, and 5. No issues here either. Bar speed felt pretty good. Again form didn't feel quite right, but nothing alarming enough to call it.

Lunges - to the red post and back. these have gotten easier, probably time to start adding some dumbbells

Back extensions - 15. Just trying to get some blood flowing in my low back
One arm static hang. right arm did better than I thought. Left hand is always disappointing. haha.

Fat bar chins - 8. wow these felt pretty good. I like chins, especially when they don't bother my elbows.
Inverted rows - 10

I think that was everything. tomorrow's training is compromised. Will probably have to postpone to Saturday.

[caveman]

Just a quick update. Been travelling, been having family stay over, been busy in general...

Current weight was 212.0 this morning. So only a little over a pound gained with zero compliance over the last two weeks. Not quite as bad as I thought. Going to try fairly hard to get down to 200.0 by August 1, before leaving for vacation. Basically need to do 2 pounds per week, so I see some hungry nights in my future. I feel fat and bloated now so motivation is high!

Have been doing the bare minimum of lifting at home last week. Basically one set of AMRAP for the major lifts.

Squats - 340 for 8. Not AMRAP, but hard.
Sumo deads - 355 for 8. Not AMRAP, but I was done.
Bench - 225 for 12. Rep PR, might have had one more in the tank.
OHP - 135 for 10. Rep PR, no reps left on the table
Deads - 365 for 8. Had more in the tank, maybe 2 reps.

Not sure what I will work on this month because I will be on vacation for 3 weeks in August and no chance for lifting during that time. Probably just more of the same. And if I'm successful with my cut, then I might not feel like pushing very hard either...