Training for a whole year

[Eric Schexnayder]

11/25/2023

125/240, 52/156

Squat
230x5x3

Bench Press
215x5x3

Chins
BWx2

Holiday festivities forced me to shift my schedule over a day. Everything was good except chins. Some really sharp shoulder pain forced me to stop.

[Eric Schexnayder]

11/27/2023

127/238, 53/156

Squat
295x5
265x5x2

Press
160x5x3

Power Clean
185x3x5

[Cole Gorton]

thats a strong session eric

[Eric Schexnayder]

thats a strong session eric

Thanks Cole, hopefully I can keep this momentum going for the time being!

[Eric Schexnayder]

12/1/2023

131/234, 54/156

Squat
300x5
270x5x2

Bench Press
217x5x3

Chins
BWx2

Still too much shoulder pain to chin. Really tried hard to push through it but rep #3 was just too unpleasant. So weird that my bench and press don't seem to bother it at all.

Bench was easy!

[Eric Schexnayder]

12/3/2023

133/232, 55/156

Squat
240x5x3

Press
162x5x3

Deadlift
360x5

Good day. If I'm being 100% honest with myself, I can't say for certain that the last two reps on the Press didn't have a hint of knee bend in them. But I'm going to go ahead and count them, knowing that 165 will either go or will not.

I think that happened because I got a little nervous about my back. Was trying to get under the bar without a big lean back and it manifested as a slight knee bend.

Deadlift felt solid, though maybe a little upper back rounding on the last rep.

[Eric Schexnayder]

12/6/2023

136/229, 56/156

Squat
305x5
275x5x2

Bench Press
220x5x3

Chin Ups
BWx3x5

Yesterday after getting home from work, I was greeted by pizza, whiskey, music, a Christmas tree that needed decorating, and a wife that was actually not tired from working for once. So I skipped and opted to restart my "week" and get back on a W, F, Sun schedule.

Top squat set was pretty rough. This stupid two step squat thing is starting to kill me. Really not sure what to do about it or if it's actually the problem, but I don't think my squat is as smooth as it ought to be at this point. I did manage to get all three sets though. I know they're supposed to be hard, just seems like I'm making them harder than they need to be.

Bench was easy.

My shoulder was actually okay enough to get in about 3 chin ups at a time without any sort of pain, so I opted to get in 5 sets of them with about 2 - 3 minutes rest in between. Worked out okay. Hopefully working the shoulder / lat a little bit will give it some incentive to heal.

[Eric Schexnayder]

12/8/2023

138/227, 57/156

Squat
245x5x3

Press
165x3

Blah. Terrible day. My daughter has the flu and I think I've got a touch of it too. No real fever or anything, just achy, feeling hot, coughing constantly. I tried to lift but it don't go too well.

Squats were miserable. I'm trying to fix this two-step squat thing and it's not going well. I need to post a video. My knees kick forward, then I lean over, then my knees go back, then I squat. It's weird. But it's gotten me over 300 lbs, so I'm thinking at least the hip drive and correct back angle are in there somewhere.

But today, I tried to focus more on initiating with my hips and keeping my knees back. That lead to a really sore low back after just a few reps, like I was good-morning-ing my squat. Obviously not right. Maybe I am trying to bend over too far?

Press was okay, but the 4th rep got out of the groove and I just didn't have the strength to get it back in. Figured with how I was feeling it was better to focus on recovering this weekend.

All the recovery factors have been there, diet hasn't changed much. If anything I've been eating more lately with the holidays and colder weather. Sleep could be better I suppose.

[Eric Schexnayder]

12/10/2023

140/225, 58/156

Squat
310x1
275x1

Bench Press
222x1

Nothing there today. First rep on each of these was all I cared to muster.

Silver lining: no two-step squat. Did a good job anchoring the knees after the initial descent. Again, thinking I'm actually trying to lean over too much.

Will try again Wednesday. Then out of town for the weekend for a Christmas party.