My first intermediate log (May 24, 2021-?)

[CommanderFun]

Friday 7/2/2021

Deadlift 375x5

Didn't manage to get through the box squat warm up without the knee pain hitting me on the descent. Now instead of at bottom (where the "box" was stopping the descent), it was happening partway there. I'm going to go in again tomorrow and try it with my knee sleeves on. I hate having to use the things, but if they make the pain vanish and let me squat, I don't see much alternative.

Deadlift was rough. I'm not sure I got the belt right this time. It was perfect last week, but this week it felt very awkward on my stomach. Not sure if power cleans are doing the trick to keep the deadlift advancing.

[CommanderFun]

Saturday 7/3/2021

Box Squat 205x5x3

Salvaged the squat workout I was supposed to do yesterday, this time with my knee sleeves on. The pain was mostly gone, I got little notions of it here and there but nothing "screaming" that threw off the squats themselves. Think I'll be doing 5 pound jumps from here on out.

[CommanderFun]

Monday 7/5/2021

Bench 237.5x4
Press 142.5x5x5
Pulldowns 165x10x3

Bad day today. I think cutting my meds in half a week or so ago has put me in a pit. I keep trying this again and again and every time things just deteriorate when I do. I should probably stop bothering with it and be happy I am stable on as low a dose as I'm at now when it was four times as much a couple years back. My mood was fucking awful through the whole workout, especially to start with. I just didn't feel 100%. I am absolutely going to try and repeat that 237.5 next week. The 5 pound jumps last week were probably mistakes, but I got overly optimistic and hopeful. Intensity press this week is going to be a repeat of that 155 last week. I didn't like the way the last rep went up and again, I think the 5 pound jumps were probably a mistake.

Press progressed into grindier territory as the sets progressed.

Pulldowns were fine.

[CommanderFun]

Tuesday 7/6/2021

Weigh-In: 191.6 pounds

Box Squat 210x5x3
Deadlift 315x5x3

Box squat went great with the knee sleeves. It especially alleviates all that pressure in the knee when I go out of my way to make sure the knees stay behind the toes at the bottom. Still able to pull off 3 minute rests on these.

For volume pulling today I tried some offloaded deadlifts instead of power cleans. I am not sure if I'm explosive enough to get the cleans to really help push the deadlift up. I'm awaiting the results of the 380 set of 5 on Friday to help make a determination if this was helpful or not. I might do alternating volume deadlifting and power cleans for the volume pull week to week. I always love putting my grip to the test, so I did the deadlifts double overhand.

[CommanderFun]

Thursday 7/8/2021

Press 155x4
Bench 212.5x5x5

Well, couldn't get that press when I tried it with only doing the hip movement on rep one of the set. So the hip movement is probably superior to the regular stretch reflex. Sucks I failed a set, but it provided useful data for my intensity pressing going forward. I'm gonna go ahead and shift these to two triples for intensity next week, along with a reset on the volume day.

Tried benching in a belt today. I'd tried it before a while back, didn't like it. But since then I've learned to make better use of leg drive and a good back arch. Felt great this time around, the arch was a lot sturdier. Going to use it in the future. Taking another crack at 237.5 next week, if it doesn't work I'm also gonna shift down to two triples on these.

[CommanderFun]

Friday 7/9/2021

Deadlift 380x5
Box Squat 215x5x3

Deadlift went pretty nice. Felt like I might've even had one or two more in me. I think I'll be switching my volume pulls to that slow/fast alternation. I don't want to kick power cleans to the curb entirely, but it seems like the volume deadlifting was very useful.

More Box squatting, felt pretty hard but nothing in the reps got held up. I hope I'm going to be able to keep my knees reasonably far back once I go back to regular squatting. Problem is how horizontal my back angle will have to be to do that.

[CommanderFun]

Monday 7/12/2021

Bench 237.5x5
Press 132.5x5x5
Pulldowns 170x10x3

I knew I could pull off that bench. Came at it with a much sturdier setup this time and pulled it off. Last rep was sticky, though. Time to make the switch to two triples here, too. I'll be resetting the volume workout on thursday accordingly. Press went ok, felt strangely hard for a reset though. Maybe it was just because I really grinded out that last bench rep and it left a lingering bit of fatigue from that top end effort. Pulldowns were challenging for the last set. Probably time for 4x8 next.

[CommanderFun]

Tuesday 7/13/2021

Weigh-In: 289.2 pounds

Box Squat 220x5x3
Power Cleans 145x3x5

Another belated weigh-in. I need to remember to hit the scale when I wake up on mondays.

Box Squats felt strong today. Knee was hurting a bit though, things were shifting around in there a bit when I was contracting everything hard off the box. Been taking the time to also work on my back tightness, I think my upper back developed a tendency to round over a bit but I've been consciously keeping it from happening. Also still playing with my grip width. It seems unless I'm fairly wide on the bar I am having to put my wrists into flexion or extension to artificially shorten that forearm length, and both those are fairly uncomfortable.

Got back to power cleans today, was able to do a full 5 pound jump pretty alright. Looks like my deadlift is doing more to drive up my clean than my clean is. I was able to increase the weight at the same overall rate while doing the lift half as often.

[CommanderFun]

Thursday 7/15/2021

Press 157.5x3x2
Bench 205x5x3
Pulldowns 172.5x10x3

First day of triples for the press. Was pretty hard, granted 155 was fucking limit work two weeks ago. I might be a bit under-recovered here, I feel like these should have gone up better. Hopefully now that the bench is also getting cycled to triples and the volume reset maybe I'll do better next week. I'll also try and load up a bit more on nutrition. If next week is a problem, I might try doing something to deload the pressing movements entirely and give them a chance to recuperate before continuing. Hopefully I won't have to do that.

Bench volume was reset, still pretty hard stuff though. Again, been feeling some signs of either under-recovery or over-stress. Been feeling weird issues with my shoulder flexion even just doing regular everyday things, like it's kinda weak.

Pulldowns were hard, but fine. Not at a real limit yet, but probably soon.

[CommanderFun]

Friday 7/16/2021

Deadlift 385x5
Box Squat 225x5x3

Deadlifts felt awful hard, but got them done anyway. The box squats after were strenuous as well. Was fucking hot in the gym this morning. Front of my shirt looks like I took a direct hit from a super soaker.