Short, skinny, and no idea what I'm doing

[TheMageling]

I missed Monday due to laziness, so I'm changing my schedule around which will hopefully lead to fewer missed sessions. I'll do Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday, which means I only have to get up early twice during the week, and I have a little flexibility Sunday since I rarely do anything then. I really want to hit 300 on my squat at the beginning of August. Maybe setting a medium term goal will help with motivation too.

According to the new schedule, Tuesday will be a light squat day, so that's what I did but with an extra set to keep my volume up. Deadlifts were not fun but they were pretty easy. I'm going to DL once a week until I hit 315, then I'll switch back to the normal DL/Back Extension/PC rotation.

Squat: 225
Bench Press: 147.5
Deadlift: 290

[TheMageling]

Okay, I read PPST3 this week (previously I had only read the 2nd edition, not sure why), and I'm implementing the backoff sets outlined for novices near the end of linear progression. With the reduced volume, I'm going to go back to 10lb increase per week on squats, and if that fails I'll go back to 5lbs per week. Given my performance on the press, I may switch to 3x3 for that lift, but I'm not sure yet. I'm going to give 110 one more earnest try.

Squat: 275x5x1, 260x5x2
Press: 110x3x3
Power Clean: 100
Chins: 5/5/5

[salvilla]

The most important key to your progress is to stay consistent. You can't miss workouts because of laziness.

[TheMageling]

The most important key to your progress is to stay consistent. You can't miss workouts because of laziness.

You are absolutely right. Reviewing my training log, the times I made the most progress is where I had stretches of months without a missed session. One of the purposes of this public log though is accountability, which I thank you for helping me out with!

[TheMageling]

Second day of backoffs and I think this will take me pretty far. 280 was very hard, I struggled mightily on the last rep but I got the bastard up. Everything else went according to plan. There were even some different people at the gym today, so it was a nice change of pace. I think I'll enjoy Sun/Tue/Thu!

Squat: 280x1x5, 255x2x5
Bench Press: 150
Deadlift: 295

[TheMageling]

Glad I didn't give up on those presses, because I nailed them today. I tried a wider stance, and there was less wobbling around under the bar. This made them feel fairly easy. I hope I say the same thing about 111.5.

Squat: 225
Press: 110
Back Extensions: 35 10/9/9
Chins: 6/5/5

[TheMageling]

Squats were a bitch this morning, but when are they not? Strangely I felt like I had better form at my top set than I did my backoffs. I was probably just getting in my head a bit too much. Whatever, 285 is done. I am looking forward to posting a new 5 rep max on Sunday! The third set of my power cleans were funky. I don't think I rested quite long enough, and it threw me off. The rest went reasonably well.

Squat: 285x1x5, 260x2x5
Bench Press: 152.5
Power Clean: 105 3/3/1/3/3

[TheMageling]

New squat 5rm! That hasn't happened in a while, and I'm stoked. I think I'm gonna go ahead and switch to 3x3 on the Press given today's regression. I could sit there and struggle with 111.5 for another session or two or I can bump the damn weight up on Thursday. I think the choice is clear. I was pooped after maxing out my squat so I did back extensions and chins. I'll DL on light squat day, AKA Tuesday.

Squat: 290, 265 backoffs
Press: 111.5 3/3/3
Back Extensions: 35 10/9/9
Chins: 6/5/5

[TheMageling]

I tweaked my back or something, so it was nagging me during training, and it's still a little noticeable now but it didn't get worse so I'm just going to roll with it. Bench press PR today! I still hate bench pressing, but it's nice to get a PR. Here's hoping I get another PR the next time I bench. Also I liked deadlifting after light squats, I feel like I had a lot of juice left in me. If it doesn't negatively affect my squats on Thursday I may stick with it.

Squat: 235
Bench Press: 155
Deadlift: 305

[TheMageling]

Today was a mental struggle. It's been a rough week at work, with some late nights and pretending to be sociable. Frankly, I felt like shit and the thought of squatting 295 made me want to vomit when my alarm went off at 7am. But I dragged my ass to the gym and did the damn thing. I actually felt like squatting was not that bad. Never would have expected it. I had an early meeting at work so I bailed after presses, but if I have time tonight I'll go back and do power cleans. Presses were 3x3, I'm gonna stick with this because I got the weight up.

Squat: 295, 265
Press: 113