IE's Log

[Merkin Weaver]

Glad to see u back!

[CimmerianInTraining]

Nice. Strong and fat beats weak and fat any day of the week.

[peez]

Honestly, for a month long break, I'm not terribly upset with where I was able to come back at. I

Amazing what a long term adaptation strength is - I read that somewhere but I am not sure where.

Enjoy your DOMS! I know I did! What's your bodyweight these days?

[coleossus]

HIIT Yesterday: YES

Squat:

• 45x5x2
• 140x1x5
• 215x1x3
• 285x1x2
• 360x3x5 (belted)

Bench:

• 45x5x2
• 90x1x5
• 125x1x3
• 160x1x2
• 180x3x5 (belted)

Deadlift:

• 155x1x5 (hook grip)
• 230x1x3 (hook grip)
• 330x1x2 (hook grip)
• 390x1x5 (belted, mixed grip)

Squats: Went great. Shoulder was a little fiddly again from lifting in the power rack, so I went to the competition rack, that has no arms for me to bail the weight on, but the beams that the bar rests on can angle inward so I can get a better grip for my proportions. I'm using this from now on. After a little extra warmup, my shoulder felt fine and I blasted through everything with 0 problem. I can take the time and space I need to get a good set into the bar, so I won't have problems losing control like I did last time. Hopefully setting myself up for long-term success and breaking that 450 barrier this time around.

Bench: Nothing special here. Easy as pie, probably could've gone heavier, but my goal is to do it right, not fast.

Deadlift: Continued to drag the bar up my legs. Felt easy. Makes a huge difference compared to starting it like 5 inches away from my shins.

Feeling great about my re-approach. Based on how easy it's feeling so far, and what I learned from my injury and the adjustments I'm making in response to that, I think I'm laying a good groundwork to get back where I was and push farther and finally finish my LP. But we'll see, who knows what bullshit will crop up between now and then. Whatever the case, I'm feeling the fire again.

I wanted to do some dips/chins tonight, but I wasn't able to. Work took me to the far side of Suisun right at the beginning of rush hour and what should've been a 20 minute drive took me an hour and a half. So I got to the gym way late. This is also why this workout wasn't recorded. I'm serious about continuing my briefly-established habit of recording my lifts, though. Just been a tad ill-prepared on my re-entry into my LP.

Dips/chins are going to be included in following workouts. Planning on making HIIT regular this time around, instead of being a Fucking Pussy and making excuses.

Glad to see u back!

Thanks man, fucking glad to be back. Sometimes it takes me going back to shitty habits to realize why I made the decision to stop them in the first place. Fortunately half my off time was just spent nursing an injury, so I really only outright wasted a couple weeks to get my head back where it needed to be.

Nice. Strong and fat beats weak and fat any day of the week.

Damn right. If I hadn't gotten injured, my confidence wouldn't have been so shaken, but it was just a shitty blow to take because it was right on the heels of recovering from another injury and signing up for what would've been my first meet. I just got a little too far ahead of myself.

Straightened out now, though.

Amazing what a long term adaptation strength is - I read that somewhere but I am not sure where.

Enjoy your DOMS! I know I did! What's your bodyweight these days?

The DOMS actually wasn't terrible. I had the presence of mind to chug a shitload of protein before I went to bed, and by workout time today I was just "regular" sore. Didn't impede my lifting at all.

Current weigh in, as of right this second, is 345. But my weigh in's are usually in the AM before I put anything in my mouth, and I've been eating like shit lately and drinking loads of water... And coming on a bunch of exercise after a long break of absolutely nothing. Give me a week or so and that number will probably drop back down to 330 in no time, and then lower, provided I stay disciplined with my HIIT and carb-cycling, as I intend to.

[peez]

Squats: Went great. Shoulder was a little fiddly again from lifting in the power rack, so I went to the competition rack, that has no arms for me to bail the weight on, but the beams that the bar rests on can angle inward so I can get a better grip for my proportions. I'm using this from now on. After a little extra warmup, my shoulder felt fine and I blasted through everything with 0 problem. I can take the time and space I need to get a good set into the bar, so I won't have problems losing control like I did last time. Hopefully setting myself up for long-term success and breaking that 450 barrier this time around.

IE, while I applaud your balls, I wonder if that's wise. I wouldn't squat heavy without safeties unless I had a bunch of attentive, competent spotters (sounds like you have neither?). You're going really heavy, in absolute terms, and you are pushing yourself, so you want a backup plan. You know what getting injured is like.

In any case it's great to have you back here!

[Toot]

If your gym is like my gym, nobody in there is going to be able to spot the weight you are squatting. And I'd be dead or paralyzed if it weren't for the safety bars of the half rack I squat in. I wouldn't dare going even close to my max without them as you can never tell whether you have a good day or a bad day, you get injured in the hole and HAVE to bail or form goes to s**t on your very last rep of a really heavy day and you can't recover.

FWIW I had a big problem with my left shoulder when squatting a few weeks/months ago. It would hurt like hell during and after squats, interfering with all my other exercises. I since started to warm up for squats with a few sets of presses with just the bar. This has helped tremendously.

[coleossus]

I since started to warm up for squats with a few sets of presses with just the bar. This has helped tremendously.

I'll try this next time. I was initially warming up with those shoulder dislocations, but those are what threw me out of commission last time I think.

These goddamned power racks are just proportioned so oddly for me and it's been a source of endless trouble, but I guess it's stupid to squat without supports so I'll figure something out.

[coleossus]

HIIT Yesterday: NO - Knee was feeling really fiddly. Decided not to risk making it worse by running around with a prowler for 30 minutes. Must've pivoted funny at work or something.

Squat:

• 45x5x2
• 125x5x1
• 210x3x1
• 290x2x1
• 370x5x3 (belted)

Press:

• 45x5x2
• 70x5x1
• 100x3x1
• 125x2x1
• 150x5x3 (belted)

Deadlift:

• 135x5x1 (hook grip)
• 225x3x1 (hook grip)
• 310x2x1 (mixed grip)
• 400x5x1 (belted, mixed grip)

Squats: Shoulder is still being fiddly. I tried warming up with some empty bar presses, didn't do much. Got a band and did some really gentle stretching to warm up my shoulder before and in between all sets, and carefully going into the squat position with the bar and taking it slow helps. I think one set I let my elbows dip under the bar because I got some mild tendonitis, but I corrected it in subsequent sets. Otherwise, everything feels fine.

Press: Nothing special here.

Deadlift: Nothing special here.

Nothing terribly special to report. Just happy to hit 400 lbs on a lift again. Going to take it carefully on my shoulder. Not sure why it's still bugging me. Seems like a month off of it would have helped more than it did. I think I'm going to start icing it after workouts before bed time, just to be safe. Maybe on off days too. It's not hurting to actually squat, it's only hurting when I get in the initial position as long as I stay tight - it's that stretch back.

Also there's some weird mid-left quadrant pain in my back when I release the bar sometimes - typically when I rack it and pop out from under it really fast. Half wondering if I'm taking the bar a little off center? It's not enough to impede my progress, and I think I've reported it before. Just noting it here for future reference, again.

I'm expecting to have my shit together better next week so I can resume recording.

[Toot]

Squats: Shoulder is still being fiddly. I tried warming up with some empty bar presses, didn't do much. Got a band and did some really gentle stretching to warm up my shoulder before and in between all sets, and carefully going into the squat position with the bar and taking it slow helps. I think one set I let my elbows dip under the bar because I got some mild tendonitis, but I corrected it in subsequent sets. Otherwise, everything feels fine.

Huh, that's a shame. I guess it is MY workaround for MY specific problem. Sorry it didn't help.

[coleossus]

Huh, that's a shame. I guess it is MY workaround for MY specific problem. Sorry it didn't help.

That's the point of crowdsourcing information on forums like this, though. Sharing experiences! I'm just happy someone ventured a guess to try and help me out

I tried to do them nice and slow to stretch out and get the blood flowing, did 3 sets of them with no weight on the bar. The problem I have is in the rear of my ROM, like if I'm reaching behind me to pick something up. The stretching with the band helped, I'm not so sore today as I might usually be if I hadn't stretched.