We'll see how long this lasts...

[Michael Tiemeyer]

Obvious from the video you DO have a rack with safeties. Drag a flat bench in there and bench inside the power rack. No point in taking that risk when you have a wife and small child.

Sorry, I should have been more precise. One that I'm allowed to use--people are not allowed to put flat benches in the power racks. They're upgrading the gym soon, and I requested bench racks with safeties.

[Michael Tiemeyer]

Medium Day:
Squats - 285 for 3 sets of 5
Incline Bench - 135 for 5 sets of 5
RDL - 135 for 3 sets of 5

Accessory:
Decline Situp for 3 sets of 5

Notes:
I know Rip just wrote an article about not doing situps, but I wasn't doing them before. After squatting and deadlifting, I can "feel it" in my lower back muscles, but not in my abs. I know my abs are "firing" during the squats and deads, but I'm testing to see if doing some direct ab work once in a while will help prevent the tiredness I was feeling in my low back.

waywt: pants for the first time this academic year. When I was hired for this job, one of, if not the, first questions I asked was, "Do I have to wear pants?" My boss looked at me funny. I then said, "Can I wear shorts instead of long pants?" It's hot here, and I sweat like a sonofabitch.

How I felt about the workout:

[Michael Tiemeyer]

Heavy Day:
Squats - 305 for 5 sets of 5
Bench - 175 for 5 sets of 5
SLDL - 185 for 3 sets of 5

Notes:
I was able to complete all sets of bench this time. That's also a volume PR for squats--305 for 3 sets of 5 is where I got stuck on LP.

There's a dude that shows up pretty regular the days I'm there, and he does some silly stuff. Not bosu ball db presses or anything like that, but kipping pull ups, curls in the squat rack, waaay tooo much on decline bench with a spotter, etc. Again, I'm weak af and not the most knowledgeable lifter, but I certainly see he's wasting a lot of potential. He's a little older than me too, probably 45 or so, and I just want to hand him a copy of the blue book. Nice guy, though.

How I felt about the workout:

[Michael Tiemeyer]

With the switch to intermediate programming, I'm interested in making my belly smaller. If you've seen any of the videos posted in the log, you can see I kinda got one after LP. Mostly I'm trying to eat fewer carbs without compromising my ability to complete workouts. But I'm not interested in really losing any weight, so I guess that's what Jordan calls a recomposition. I have had to tighten the belt I use by a notch within the past month.

Measurements are in centimeters so I can more easily track changes.

10/8/17:
Chest - 112.5cm
Umbilicus - 103cm
Seat - 104.5

10/30/17:
Chest - 111cm
Umbilicus - 101cm
Waist - 96cm
Seat - 107cm
Thigh - 67cm

[Michael Tiemeyer]

Light Day:
Squats - 275 for 3 sets of 5
Press - 130 for 5 sets of 5
DL - 305 for 3 sets of 5

Notes:
Eh...

How I felt about the workout:

[Michael Tiemeyer]

Medium Day:
Squats - 290 for 3 sets of 5
Incline Bench - 140 for 5 sets of 5
RDL - 140 for 3 sets of 5

Accessory:
BB Row - 95 for 3 sets of 5

Notes:
Today's the first time I've done barbell rows since I was doing StrongLifts, but these were supine because... biceps bro--except they were too light. And I was just too lazy to increase the weight too much. More next time.

I did those decline situps last Friday, and all they really did was make my lower abs sore. Not sure I'll do more of them. Today I did the RDL's after squats because a dude was on the incline bench, and even though my low back was on fire during the sets, it felt great during/after the incline press.

How I felt about the workout:

[Michael Tiemeyer]

No workout today. This past Saturday I ran the first leg in the Half Marathon Relay in Savannah; it was just under 7 miles. I ran 5 of them and walked about 2. Yesterday afternoon when I tried to put shoes on, my left foot hurt like hell. I was pissed--"I swear to Rip I'm never running again!" Rest, ice, compression, elevation, etc. made it feel better as did foam rolling my calves. I'm pain free right now, but I didn't want to try squatting today. I'll see how I feel tomorrow, and hopefully I'll squat heavy on Wednesday.

[Michael Tiemeyer]

Still no workout. I'm not in any pain, and foam rolling my calf at an insertion point for the soleus and gastrocnemius is what's keeping it that way. But it's not 100%, and even though I probably could have worked out, I thought it best to sit out one more day.

More measurements: 11/7/2017
Chest - 111cm
Umbilicus - 100.5
Waist - 96
Seat - 105
Thigh - 67, 67
Bi - 36.5, 36.75
tbr - 1.84 <--Does this make me a t-rex? Time for arms work I guess.

[Michael Tiemeyer]

Got back at it today although not a regular workout. I figured since I had some type for a bit of fatigue to dissipate, I might as well get the blood flowing and chase some heavy singles.

Squat:
45x5x3
95x5
135x5
185x5
225x3
275x2
315x1
335x1
365x1 PR!
385x0

Press:
45x5x3
95x3
115x1
135x1
145x1
155x1 PR!
160x0

Deadlift:
135x5
185x5
225x5
275x5
315x1
365x1
385x1 PR!
405x0

I got video of the squats and presses, but my camera died before the deadlifts. I might put some video up later today.

I'll get back to regularly scheduled programming on Monday.

[Michael Tiemeyer]

Heavy Day:
Squats - 305 for 5 sets of 5
Bench - 175 for 5,5,5,5,4
SLDL - 185 for 3 sets of 5

Accessory:
Curlz - 45 for 40 reps in under 5 minutes.
Incline Treadmill for 10 minutes

Notes:
The main workout is a repeat of the last Heavy Day. I missed that last bench rep again this time.

Given my tbr, I think I need to do some arms work specifically. I've seen a few others do what I assume is called a 'density block' where they see how many reps they can do in 7 or 10 or however many minutes. I'm going to do that with curlz and presses--hittin' them bi's and tri's, bro! I'll do a 10 minute block, but I've seen where people go up in weight when they can do 40 reps in that time; so today, I stopped when I hit 40 reps--it's also been years since I've done any type of curl, and I didn't want to blow up my arms for days.

How I felt about the workout: