Monday 1/17/22:
Press: 3x5 @ 130
Bench: 3x5 @ 220
Chins: 3xAMRAP - 11,9,6
Barbell Rows: 3x10 @ 135
Barbell LTEs: 3x12 @ 63
Played basketball last night for the first time in months, so knew I was going to be hurting this morning a little bit. But actually, I felt alright. Legs, feet, and ankles were a bit sore so certainly glad I wasn't squatting, but had no impact on my pressing. Actually had a really good pressing workout today. All the weights moved really well. Felt I did a much better job in keeping tightness in my abs on my press, and bench felt light. Doing chins and rows on the same day may be a bit much for right now, but we'll see. Not doing crazy weights or anything and need to get my chin numbers up.
Last edited by Wlodyd52; 01-17-2022 at 11:25 AM. Reason: Had wrong date listed
No problem! That cue helped me a lot on Monday. They weight moved better and I had zero back issues. I think I just need that constant focus on contracting your abs. I really notice now how it is damn near impossible to overextend the lumbar spine if you're contracting your abs properly.
Wednesday 1/19/22
Squat: 3x5 @ 290
Deadlift: 1x5 @ 355
Worked out with Pete Yeh today, awesome dude and he was very helpful in both my squat and deadlift on our first session working together today. I'm excited for the local SS gym to open up and work with him and the team there more. Everything felt good today. Pete cued me a lot to work on keeping my chest down (not surprising given my recent coaching cues, which were the exact opposite). But I guess knees and everything look pretty good as no big problems with knee slide. I think it mainly becomes a problem when I go too deep and lose tightness, so need to keep my chest down and even cut off my depth just a bit. Everything moved pretty well today. Weights are starting to feel like pretty good working weights again.
Deadlift moved well, we basically nixed powercleans to avoid building up fatigue. I did a couple sets at 95 lbs for Pete to see, and something we'll work on in the future. I plan on deadlifting twice a week until I get my weight up a bit and I can't anymore, then I'll add PCs in. Still adding 10lbs a session right now, but it may go down to 5lbs pretty soon. I'll keep an eye on it.
Thursday 1/20/22
Press: 3x5 @ 132.5
Bench: 3x5@ 225
Chins: 30 reps - 11, 8, 6, 5
DB Rows
Tri Pushdowns
Was on the fence if I was going to workout today or tomorrow. Got a decent night's sleep and woke up when my wife's alarm went off so decided to just get up and get it done today. Pretty decent workout. Press moved well, but form wasn't spot on by any means today, probably just weight getting a bit heavier. Took a video of my top set and looks like I'm laying back a bit too much right from the start, then that takes away that hip drive. Just something I need to work on. I may go to press 1.5 as weight increases. Gonna keep with 2.0 until I miss some reps, then probably switch to a volume day with 1.5 and an intensity day with 2.0.
Bench moved well, weight finally starting to feel like some good working weight, but got a lot left in the tank there still.
Bench Video
Chins felt a little harder today then I'd like, perhaps since I just squatted and deadlifted yesterday. I will be taking tomorrow off and squatting/deadlifting again on Saturday.
Last edited by Wlodyd52; 01-20-2022 at 08:15 AM. Reason: Added bench video link
My 8-year old boy told me today "Daddy, it looks like you've been growing." This made me happy.
3-weeks back on Starting Strength and I'm again building visible lean mass, I love it.
Forgot to post Saturday's wokrout:
Saturday 1/22/22
Squat: 3x5 @ 295
Powerclean: Just some warmup practice reps
Deadlift: 1x5 @ 365
Back extensions
Barbell Curls
Posting this on Monday, so I don't really remember the fine details of the workout, but it went well. Squat felt good and weight moved well. I felt much more "stable" on my tweaked form. Deadlift feeling heavier, going to drop down to 5 lb jumps next week, but keep it at twice a week for now. Will continue to watch it. Will probably completely drop-out PCs for now, and bring them in as a light pull day again when I can't deadlift twice a week.
Monday 1/24/22:
Weight 207.2 - Started really focusing in on my diet again. Eating a resemblence of the Vertical diet. Lots of eggs, steak, bison, beef, chicken, etc. Carbs are mainly white rice and potatoes, with a big focus on getting more potassium in my diet to see if I can bring my blood pressure down. Lots of spinach and orange juice. Want to eat in a surplus and put on some weight as I'm going through a modified LP again.
Press: 3x5 @ 135
Bench: 3x5 @ 300
Chins: 30 reps - 11, 8, 7, 4
LTEs
Press felt very good today. Really focused on throwing my hips forward more. Getting more comfortable and second nature in keeping my quads, abs, and upper back tight so getting more confident in being able to push my hips forward to initiate the press. This is the most I've ever done at 3x5 before. I'm going to be adding a 3rd pressing day to my week this week, just a pin press variation after squats/deadlifts on Friday.
Bench felt pretty good, definitely getting heavier. Should still be able to progress for a while but may need to move to 2.5lb jumps when benching twice a week.
I thought I posted this already, but must have missed it somehow:
Tuesday 1/25/22:
Squat: 3x5 @ 300
Deadlift: 1x5 @ 370
Back Extensions: 3x12
Everything felt a bit heavier today. Weight ultimately wasn't a big problem, but you can just tell when you're getting to a good working intensity. Still obsessing over my squat form a lot and taking the tweaks in stride. Was really thinking about shoving my knees out and nailing proper depth (cutting it off a bit). Overall felt alright although my depth was inconsistent.
Deadlift was alright but feeling heavier., I moved to 5lb jumps today so that was well timed. Still going to deadlift twice a week tho, so 10lbs a week. I will be watching that carefully week-to-week here. Today I was mainly thinking about taking my time between reps to really squeeze my chest up. Looking at my video, I think I can still do better.