Press

Got up, went to the gym on a single cup of coffee. Definitely not feeling as chipper as last week, but crushed all the weights about like I should for week two of a cycle. Dead lifts are going to be rough tomorrow, I'm pretty sure.

Press:
60 x 5
85 x 5
95 x3
110 x 3
125 x 3
140 x 6
BBB @ 95lbs.

Bench:
95 x 20
115 x 15
135 x 12
145 x 10
155 x 10

Chins:
3 sets of 5

Dips:
3 sets of 10

Bench press

Slept in until 7:30 today. Crazy, I know. had a pretty chill morning, hit the gym around 10:45. Warmed up really well for me, which is to say I did an extra warm up set, but whatever. The last set at working weight was pretty hell in my head, and I think I had one or two more reps. Something just felt like defeat before I started. Even so I hit a rep max for 225, so I must be getting stronger somehow. Here's how the day looked:

Bench press:
95 x 10
115 x 5
135 x 5
160 x 3
175 x 5
200 x 5
225 x 7 PR

BBB 5 x 10 Paused @ 145

Klokov Press:
5 x 8 @85

One Armed DB rows supported on a bench:
3 x 8 @ 60

DB Incline Bench:
 60's x 8
60's x 5
60's x 4

Came home feeling good, but Courtney was still feeling tight so we hit our 30 minute Power Yoga for Flexibility video and traded deep, painful massages with Blue Heat. Now I'm feeling like squats are going to be great tomorrow.

Deadlifts

Shitty day at work, only five hours of sleep, but that gym saved the day. Came out feeling better than I went in, by far. Stronger and more centered. Digging that rep max at 355, too.

Deadlifts:

 135 x 8
165 x 5
205 x 5
250 x 3
270 x 5
315 x 5
355 x 6 (New Rep max)
6 x 6 @ 225

Pendlay Rows:
5 x 6 @ 135

Front Squats:

1x5 @ 135
4x5 @ 185

Press

Managed to get breakfast before the gym, and had time to hit everything I usually just say I want to do. Came out feeling better than when I went in, so it's a good day on the press. Did damn near everything but the last working set paused on OHP.

Press:

65 x 5
75 x 5
95 x3
100 x 5
115 x 5
135 x 8

BBB: 5 x 10 @ 85lbs

Bench:

95 x 15
115 x 12
135 x 10
145 x 10

Body weight dips: 3 x 10

Pull ups: Set of 5,4, and 3

2km row in 9:58

Long story short, my pull ups are shit and I need to do a crap ton of them.

Cuttin' Time

Courtney and I have decided that we are getting fat. Stronger, but fatter. As of today we're going to start a cut, and I'm looking to drop around ten big fat fatty pounds. Not sure what Courtney's exact goals are, but I'm sure they're close to that. Anyway, I'm sure a lot of people might think that just up and starting a diet that day because you feel like it is pretty dumb, but dieting isn't that hard or complicated. It is nothing but knowing how to eat, and having the force of will to make yourself eat that way every day. Simple. Sure you can come up with cute little tricks to fool yourself in to not having a cheeseburger or something like that, but really just doing what you know you should be doing comes down to wanting it, seeing it, and making yourself follow through. Anyway, with a little luck I can be at 195 by the end of February, and then we can go back to getting stupidly strong.

As for weights on this cut, I really see little reason to change the program. The one thing I am planning on doing is repeating the weights of this last cycle for the next one, and maybe the one after. Reason being is I think I'm close to over reaching on bench and squat, and I think if I just stay at the weights I know I've already put up, I can work on getting more reps out of them. More reps is still more strength, but I don't have to worry about crushing myself with high weight stuff, especially when I'm cutting. I'm thinking of this as a more tempered version of dropping all my maxes to get over a stall. I'm not stalling yet, but I intend to preempt any problems by stopping the increases in loading and upping my reps. I think that makes sense, but I'm just a barista, not a coach, so the only way to find out is to try it. Maybe this time I can get three or four reps out of my squat at 350, instead of two.

Squats and bench: deload

Kept it simple today. A bug bit me on the ass and now it's all super nasty, so sitting and benching are hell right now. Can't wait to get back to big boy weights next week, but the deload has been relaxing. Here's the weights for bench and squat:


Squats:

135 x 10
185 x 10
225 x 10
275 x 8

Bench (Had to put my feet on the bench because all my weight was right on this abscessed bug bite):

95 x 15
115 x 12
135 x 10
165 x 10

That's all she wrote.

Deads and Press

Deload week this week, which I take to mean fuck around a little and don't get too serious. We skipped Press yesterday because we're lazy shits, so we hit it this morning. I did every rep on the press paused. As soon as I got up we did a 20 minute yoga routine to warm up and loosen up, then headed for the weights.

Deadlifts:

135 x 10
185 x 10
225 x 10
275 x 8

Press:

65 x 10
85 x 10
95 x 10
115 x 9


2km on the rowing machine took 9:39 after this shit, then we were hungry as hell.

Friday Squats

So I'm going to start blogging my training sessions, because fuck you I don't do what you tell me.

Had to keep things short this morning because I work early. We just rolled in, warmed up, hit our 5/3/1 on the LB Squats and a few singles and bounced. Looked a little like this:

W/U :  5 @ 135
            5@ 185
            3 @ 225

Working: 5 @ 275
                3 @ 315
                2@ 350

Then I did another single at 350, one at 355, and a final one at 365. Almost got stuck, but realized that I had to try harder or I would die then and there. Worth noting Courtney hit 2 @ 175, which was her 1+ weight, and then did a few singles there and one at 180.