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

[caveman]

Tuesday 7/2/2019
Bodyweight 212.00 (stricter dieting started this morning). Goal for 7/9/19 210.0

Training has been compromised for a few weeks now, and I will be missing 3 weeks in august, so I don't have a grand plan of what to do for this month.

Bench - 275 for 5. Sweet. I think I could have gotten 6.

OHP - 155 for 1, 185 for 0, 0. It was a stretch and I knew it. Push pressed 185 for 3 instead. Banged my jaw pretty good on the last one, chipped a tooth just a teeny tiny little bit, because I had a few pieces of "grit" in my mouth after the impact. Maybe I should start wearing a mouth guard for some exercises...

Hammer curls - 20 for 20
Tricep rope - 90 for 30
Lat pulldown - 135 for 12
Hanging knee raises - 25

Might try and do some gripper work tonight. Need to start stretching too. I'm tight as fawk.

[caveman]

Last week was a mess with the holiday and my parents still being around. Been training here and there and just trying to minimize losses.

In other news, a family friend is doing a weight loss competition with his family $500 to the winner. I'm not in the competition but I am participating with my friend to motivate him and have his losses motivate me. My goal for the year is 185 and my goal for 8/1 is 205.0. it's time to get serious!

Bodyweight this morning was 210.6, which is down 2-3 pounds from where I was at this weekend.

Bench - 275 for 1, 255 for 8. Was kinda toying with the idea of loading up 315, but 275 didn't move that well and I had a bunch of aches/tightness that didn't make me feel like going for something big. 255 for 8 is a rep PR so that's still pretty decent.

OHP - 155 for 5. Wasn't sure what to do here. Had loss a ton of motivation since bench partly because I was hungry and partly because I just felt tight/weak, even though I just smashed bench.

Missed yesterday, went for a family walk instead.

Squats - 315 for 8, and then 365 for 3. Decided to do a little heavier squat and trade that for doing deads. I had some knee pain in both knees just under my knee cap on full extension which I have never had before so I almost stopped at 225 and left.

Inverted rows - 12 (10 handles to chest, and then 2 iffy ones)

Chins - 5.

Will try and do some grip work tonight.

[caveman]

Lifted yesterday evening at home 7/11/19
Bodyweight 209.0 (good progress this week from being far more strict in choices and portions. Definitely going to bed hungry these days).

A family friend is competing at a USAPL meet in November. Weight classes have changed a bit since I last competed and I could do the 205lb class no problem, but would rather try and make it down to the 183 class. It's a raw event, and I have the possibility of setting some state records in either class, but could realistically get more of them as a 183'er. But that's a long way to go without much time to get there and I'm sure my strength levels would take a hit dropping that much weight, basically 2lb/week for 13 weeks, so I'm undecided in what I want to do. I think the plan should be to go for the cut and make it, without worrying too much about where the lifts are it and then competing at that same weight class at states next year in March, which will give me plenty of time to build the strength back at the lower weight.

Deads - 425 for 5. Wanted to do something heavier for a change and this felt heavy as fawk. That was disappointing. Looks like I'm back to having the first rep slow and then the next 2-3 reps being noticeably faster than that. I'm not sure what I did to get rid of that behavior, because I don't like it one bit.

Squats - 335 for 4, 4, 4, and 4. Decided to do a 4x4 in the first time in forever. Partially, because I wanted to be heavier than 315 and I felt my form breakdown on the 4th rep and didn't want to chance an injury on the 5th rep and partly because I had extra time this evening and could do an extra set without a penalty.

Front squat - 135 for 5. This bothered my elbows a little and so I called it. Basically just wanted to test the waters here and start working them back in as an assistance movement.

Lunges with 19lb dumbbells. From the garage to the lawn and back.

toes to bar - 10 and 10

I also spent a bunch of time working on my hook grip. Worked up to 365 with it OK, but 405 hurt too much to break the floor with. Seeing that a competition is possibly in my future, I would much rather pull hook grip than mixed.

[caveman]

Did lift on Saturday at home.

Bench - 245 for 5, 5, and 5. These felt pretty good.
incline dumbbell bench - waiting for my wife to get caught up - 55 for 8, 65 for 8, 75 for 8. Last set was pretty hard, especially getting into the start position.
OHP - 135 for 5 and 6. My warms were fried by now.
Hammer curls - 19 for 25
Tricep rope - 50 for 25
Chins - 5
Pushups - 30

[caveman]

Monday 7/15/19
Bodyweight 210.9. Bah, Saturday is my cheat day and I had one pint of beer and a kids scoop of strawberry ice cream. Did eat out once, but I got a salad, but maybe the salami on their was a lot saltier than I thought. Hoping that tomorrow is closer to where I was. anyways, back to being strict for the rest of the week. Goal for 7/22/19 is 208.0 Still wanting to be at 205 by 8/1 before going on the trip.

Squats - 405 for 2. 365 for 3. The last warmup at 365 felt pretty good, so I thought I could get 405 for 3 or 4. 405 didn't feel that great, and I could have grinded out 3, but there was no reason to do that. decided to throw a little more volume in for the day and knock out a fairly easy triple at 365.

Sumo deads - 405 for 5. Pulling on the deadlift bar really is a treat. just like squats 365 was crisp and inspiring. The first few at 405 moved well, but that last two were sluggish. At least the first rep at 405 wasn't my usual barely make it BS and then pull 4 more without much issue, like conventional was last week.

Axle deadlift - 275 for 1, 315 for 0.75. I got it to my knees but couldn't lock it out. Tried a second time and only got it a couple of inches off the ground before I admitted defeat. Did a static hold of about 20 seconds with 275 shortly thereafter. Not too shabby. Pretty sure I could have hit 305 for a 10lb PR without much issue.

No other accessory work. It was humid AF in the gym today and I was already running behind schedule for other commitments.

[stuffedsuperdud]

Hey you're still around and grinding away? Man, seems like forever since your wardrobe adventure. Site's kind of totally different too. Hope all is well on your end.

[caveman]

Hey you're back!
Yup still grinding! put on some weight and that caused all my new nice clothes not to fit anymore. Unacceptable! Working on trimming up, and thinking about trying to do a comp at 183.

I don't really keep an eye on the site anymore, pretty much everyone I used to follow or interact with has quit or moved on to something else.

[caveman]

Been pretty busy getting ready for the trip. Have hit the gym here and there. I did manage to bench 300 for a single at home then knocked out 250 for 8 as a backoff set. I was pretty happy with both of those efforts.

Today, Tuesday 7/23/19
Bodyweight 207.5. Doing awesome, about 2 pounds per week. goal is 205.0 before I leave for the trip and possibly 183 on November 17 for the USAPL meet. I will decide after returning from vacation what I want to do.

Squats - 365 for 5. This was surprisingly easy. Definitely had 2 to 3 in the tank.
Sumo deads - 365 for 8. Probably could have hit 10, but I could start to feel form breaking down and I didn't want to push too hard today.

5 pull ups.

Will try and do bench and OHP at home this evening.

[caveman]

From last night at home, 7/24/19
Bodyweight was 206.6

Running a day behind schedule which means 4 days in a row. I think that will be OK, trying not to go too hard.

Paused bench - 275 for 1, 245 for 5, 225 for 5. The pausing definitely made it harder. My triceps are actually a little sore today, and that never happens.

OHP - 155 for 4, 135 for 5.

Hammer curls - 19 for 20

Tricep rope - 40 for 30

Chins - 5 and 5

My left thumb was really bothering me. I think something was out of place as it feels mostly better today. But I avoided any intentional grip work because of that.

[caveman]

From today, 7/25/19
Bodyweight 208.something, I think. I ate out with friends last night, tried to keep things under control, so hopefully salt was the problem.

Deadlifts - 405 for 5, than 405 for 0.95 DOH grip. Tried to be more careful with my setup. First rep seemed solid, not sucky like last week. Then tried to pull a rep on the stiff bar, and I couldn't quite lock it out before I started back down to avoid dropping it. Not too bad. No chalk or anything either.

Squats - 335 for 5, 5, and 5. no issues here.

Lunges while holding 10lb plate in each hand - deadlift platform to red pole and back.