Chesty's Accountabilibuddy

[carson]

Can you get to a gym to do your presses?

[Chesty McLifty]

Can you get to a gym to do your presses?

Doing them on my knees just means I had to start at a slightly lower weight. I don't really mind it anymore, I just needed to get used to it. It doesn't hurt at all, I kneel on a rubber pad. I would like to experience the hip drive up that standing allows, but I can always learn that motion later with no loss of strength in the meantime. In a way, it makes the press hit my shoulders even more since they have to get the weight started. I do hip drive on my knees too that is smaller but still helps. Better than paying for a gym just to do one exercise slightly better imho.

Edit: When I say hip drive, I mean the horizontal swaying that is part of a proper press to get the weight started moving, not a vertical drive.

[Chesty McLifty]

Friday Sets x Reps 12/29/17 #9
Squat
warmup 2x5 45
warmup 1x5 85
warmup 1x3 130
warmup 1x2 175
working sets 3x5 220

Bench Press
warmup 2x5 45
warmup 1x5 75
warmup 1x3 105
warmup 1x2 135
working sets 3x5 155

Chin-Ups working sets 3 sets to failure
1st Set 5 Assisted
2nd Set 4 Assisted
3rd Set 4 Assisted

Squats felt really hard. Hardest squat workout so far. I need to focus on the Valsalva before every rep because I think that's where I was going wrong this time, trying to breathe into each rep. My shoulders also hurt quite a bit getting into the lowbar position.

Bench felt fairly easy, I was never in trouble.

Chin ups felt ok. Managed to get an extra rep in on my first set this time. Slowly but surely.

Overall, this workout felt very tiring and I had to force myself back to the bar each time. Whatever. Consistency, consistency, consistency.

[Chesty McLifty]

Monday Sets x Reps 1/1/18 #10
Squat
warmup 2x5 45
warmup 1x5 90
warmup 1x3 135
warmup 1x2 180
working sets 3x5 225

Press
warmup 2x5 45
warmup 1x5 55
warmup 1x3 70
warmup 1x2 85
working sets 3x5 105

Chin-Ups working sets 3 sets to failure
1st Set 5 Assisted
2nd Set 4 Assisted
3rd Set 4 Assisted

I was afraid of the squats, 225 looks like "manly weight." But they turned out to be only moderately hard. I felt some gas left in the tank, unlike last time.

Press was interesting. I almost failed the last rep of my first set but the last set felt easy.

Actually, the last set of squats also felt easier than the first two. I wonder if my body just isn't properly "lubed up" until the last sets.

My shoulder pains were less prominent this time too. I think my shoulders are slowly adapting to being all contorted in the lowbar position.

I have been getting 8-9 hours of sleep all weekend and last week. Been hitting the protein hard the entire time. 250 grams per day minimum. I'd guess the actual number to be around 275. I am so tired of eggs. I never knew just how many eggs one has to eat just to get 100 grams of protein. It's a lot. A lot of eggs. Eggs.

[Chesty McLifty]

Wednesday Sets x Reps 1/3/17 #11
Squat
warmup 2x5 45
warmup 1x5 90
warmup 1x3 135
warmup 1x2 180
working sets 3x5 230

Bench Press
warmup 2x5 45
warmup 1x5 80
warmup 1x3 110
warmup 1x2 140
working sets 3x5 160

Deadlift
warmup 2x5 135
warmup 1x3 170
warmup 1x2 205
working set 1x5 245

Everything felt relatively easy today. I happened to drink a lot of water today so maybe my joints were less dry. Not sure. Was a good experience to never feel in doubt that the reps would get done. Still been getting plenty of sleep (9 hours) and protein. Gonna start going up by 10 lbs per week on deadlift instead of 15.

[Chesty McLifty]

Friday Sets x Reps 1/5/18 #12
Squat
warmup 2x5 45
warmup 1x5 90
warmup 1x3 140
warmup 1x2 185
working sets 3x5 235

Press
warmup 2x5 45
warmup 1x5 55
warmup 1x3 75
warmup 1x2 90
working sets 3x5 108

Chin-Ups working sets 3 sets to failure
1st Set 5 Assisted
2nd Set 4 Assisted
3rd Set 4 Assisted

Felt fatigued this time. I never felt in danger of missing a rep, but I definitely didn't enjoy returning to the bar. I decided to go up by 3 lbs on the press instead of 5 lbs. I think slow, steady progress on the press is better since so many people appear to stall out on it quickly.

Got plenty of protein and sleep all week. No real reason I should be tired.

Feelings don't matter. Write them down to forget them. Consistency, consistency, consistency.

[Chesty McLifty]

Monday Sets x Reps 1/8/18 #13
Squat
warmup 2x5 45
warmup 1x5 95
warmup 1x3 140
warmup 1x2 190
working sets 3x5 240

Bench Press
warmup 2x5 45
warmup 1x5 80
warmup 1x3 115
warmup 1x2 145
working sets 3x5 165

Chin-Ups working sets 3 sets to failure
1st Set 5 Assisted
2nd Set 4 Assisted
3rd Set 4 Assisted

Pretty standard workout. Had a stressful weekend and my sleep was all over the place, so I was concerned it would affect my training today. It didn't, the sets felt totally fine. I have managed to keep my calorie and protein intake very consistent.

Not much else to say. I wish I had gotten an extra chin up rep, but no such luck this time. No biggie. I'm loving the steady progress on this program. It's not easy and it's not too hard, it's really great. Kind of addictive.

[Chesty McLifty]

Wednesday Sets x Reps 1/10/18 #14
Squat
warmup 2x5 45
warmup 1x5 95
warmup 1x3 145
warmup 1x2 195
working sets 3x5 245

Press
warmup 2x5 45
warmup 1x5 60
warmup 1x3 75
warmup 1x2 90
working sets 3x5 111

Deadlift
warmup 2x5 135
warmup 1x3 175
warmup 1x2 220
working set 1x5 260

Everything but press felt relatively easy. I had a weird sharp tweaky feeling that originated in my left rear delt and ran down my whole tricep. Nothing major but I was definitely afraid to push it. Was able to finish all my reps anyway.

I forgot to only go up by 10 lbs on my deadlift and went up by 15 again and it was still easy. Will go up by 10 next time. I may have started too low on deadlift at the first workout, but I don't remember deadlifts being this easy. Oh well, it will catch up to me pretty soon, I'm sure.

Still pounding away on the protein. Every 3 hours, like clockwork.

[Chesty McLifty]

Friday Sets x Reps 1/12/18 #15
Squat
warmup 2x5 45
warmup 1x5 100
warmup 1x3 150
warmup 1x2 200
working sets 3x5 250

Bench Press
warmup 2x5 45
warmup 1x5 85
warmup 1x3 115
warmup 1x2 150
working sets 3x5 170

Chin-Ups working sets 3 sets to failure
1st Set 5 Assisted
2nd Set 5 Assisted
3rd Set 5 Assisted

Felt tired before the workout. The first squat set was slow and grindy and I thought I was finally hitting a weight that might stall me. The second and third sets felt pretty easy though. I'm still not sure why my late sets feel easier. That doesn't make sense.

Bench felt very solid. No issues at all. I found out (through my current tenderness) that the tweak I felt Wednesday was a slight strain of my upper tricep at the proximal origin right under my rear delt. I was a little worried it might act up on bench but it didn't.

Got not one but TWO extra chin ups done. Once I can do three sets of six, I'm gonna move down to a lighter assistance band.

Sleep and protein have been good and consistent all week. I maybe ate a little fewer calories, but not a major decrease. My body has been rejecting the idea of food lately.

[Chesty McLifty]

Monday Sets x Reps 1/15/18 #16
Squat
warmup 2x5 45
warmup 1x5 100
warmup 1x3 150
warmup 1x2 200
warmup 2x5 240
working sets 2x5 255

Press
warmup 2x5 45
warmup 1x5 60
warmup 1x3 75
warmup 1x2 95
working sets 3x5 114

Chin-Ups working sets 3 sets to failure
1st Set 5 Assisted
2nd Set 5 Assisted
3rd Set 5 Assisted

Mixed bag of stuff today. I felt strong but I screwed up on the squats by adding the wrong amount of weight. I had a woman sitting on the couch demanding to go eat Mexican food and acting huffy, so I was rushing my workout a bit and instead of putting on a 10 and a 5 on each side, I put on a 5 and a 2.5 on each side. I did 2 sets of squats at 240 when I intended to do 255. I put on the correct weight and did 2 more sets of 5 and called it good. I figured that was the best compromise in that situation. The 255lb squats felt very easy and I feel like I made great progress over the weekend.

Press was also not very hard. I could feel my tricep where I tweaked it last time I did presses, but there was no more pain, just a feeling like it wasn't 100% yet. More like 95%.

I can tell my body is putting on muscle. it's a good feeling.

I got a lot of sleep and rest over the weekend and kept my protein intake on point.