Week 6
Sunday
Yardwork, some winterizing, and plenty of toddler lifts.
Monday
AM: one-mile run-commute. Still a little wiped out from the head cold, so I didn't do the 5k, but at least I'm establishing the early morning running routine. Knee feels OK, just a touch sore towards the end.
PM: head cold is making a comeback, need more sleep. Half ran, half walked the one mile home, then ST:
Squat: 3x1x245, 3x3x215, 2x5x185
Bench: 3x1x235, 3x3x215, 2x5x195
Pulldown, neutral: 3x5x150
Really didn't feel like working out, but, as always, I was glad I did afterwards. Squat weight increments are still pretty good, but I wonder if I should add five pounds to push things along a bit more. 245 is 30 pounds less than my squat's true 1RM, whereas 235 is only 10 pounds less than my bench 1RM. But I want to make sure I'm honing technique with the squat, so doing them a little light might be a good thing.
My left shoulder/upper arm felt painful at the start of the bench press, but, as happened last week, once I got warmed up I was able to do my rep-counts just fine. I really like the medium grip width now. As before, the squats really primed my upper body for a great pump on the bench press.
For both the squats and the bench press, the triples feel like the real worksets, so I wonder if I could do the singles a little heavier but only one or two sets, since their main function seems to be priming the muscles for the worksets, something like 2x1, 3x3, 2x5, or 1x1, 3x3, 2x5, or even 1x1, 4x3, 1x5. Something to think about, but this week I'm sticking to the script.
The pulldowns gave me a great pump after the squats and bench set everything up. Neutral grip feels pretty good and doesn't seem to aggravate my shoulder so maybe I'll just do neutral grip pulls for a while. The DB Row and Cable Row are also neutral grip. Maybe I could find a way to do the barbell rows with a neutral grip too, either by using the hex bar, or adapting the barbell with some handles. I also did the last set of pulldowns from the floor, kneeling, instead of sitting on the bench, and this seemed like a superior position, mimicking a bodyweight pullup a bit more.
Tuesday
Zilch. Was going to run in the afternoon, but I miscalculated a deadline and only had 20 minutes to spare before going to pick up the kids.
Wednesday
AM: one-mile run-commute. Left knee felt pretty good, just a touch of something in there. Felt great to be in motion running again. Will try three miles tomorrow morning.
PM: one-mile walk-commute. Ate my protein shake too late, didn't feeling like running home. Then ST:
Deadlift: 1x1x355/345/335/325/315, 1x2x315, 3x3x295, 2x5x255
All the singles felt tough but comfortable. Ran out of time for the rows and OH Press. No matter, Thursday morning my back feels like it got a great workout. For dinner, had sashimi, great for protein synthesis.
Thursday
PM:
ST
1-DB Rows: 1x1x145, 3x3x125, 2x5x105
OH Press (seated): 1x1x115, 2x3x105, 3x5x95
Cable Row: 1x5x150, 2x5x170
Hyperextensions: 2x6-8x50
Just as I suspected, a heavy single doesn't work for the 1-DB Row, although it didn't help that I didn't do deadlifts first as I usually do to warm up. 145 did not want to leave the floor; 125 is about my limit, but because I return the dumbbell to the floor after each rep, I'm able to do 3-5 reps. So it's confirmed, for me, that only the bench, squat, and deadlift are amenable to singles. Everything else has to be in the 3-5 rep range. For the bench, squat, and deadlift, the weights adhere to a steady gradient, from 1RM on down, but with the other lifts, there's a gap or sticking point before any sort of rep is possible, but then all-of-a-sudden three reps is possible.
On the OH Press, I went back to doing them seated. I read that Westside does all their OH Presses seated, and since I've more or less adopted a powerlifter's emphasis on the bench, squat, and deadlift, I'm no longer concerned with whether I do the OH Press, Rows, or Pulldowns/Pullups in a 'classic' or manly manner. I see them as lifts that (1) work three of the six essential force/direction pairings, but also as (2) assistance to the big three lifts. So it doesn't really matter how I do them, as long as they benefit (1) overall strength and (2) my ability to make gains on the big lifts. Plus, doing them seated I can use my Olympic plates, so I don't have to go through the rigamarole of using all those five-pound plates so that I don't hit the ceiling. The Seated OH Press did knock off a good ten pounds on my triples, however, but that's OK. 115, my triple weight when standing, did not want to go up seated. I guess it needs a little initial push, even though I had thought I had eliminated it on the Standing OH Press. Guess not. Actually the five-rep sets, at just 95, felt best overall anyway. I don't know if it's past practice of using a machine press, but I think my preference is for seated presses.
Cable rows continue to feel great. I'm playing around a bit with whether to do them with a strict, perpendicular back, or leaning backwards a bit for more of a Yates Row angle. As with the Pendley versus the Yates barbell row, I'm a bit stronger with an angle greater than 90 degrees on the cable row, and work more of the upper back this way.
Got back to doing weighted hyperextensions. These work the lower back so well, that I sometimes wonder if it's worth doing barbell rows. Maybe just do cable and db rows for the middle and upper back, and let hyperextensions take care of the lower back?
Friday
AM: One-mile run-commute. Knee felt fine, no lingering niggling at all. So tomorrow morning I'll try 2-3 miles. Should've tried it today in fact.
PM.: Whoa, felt like crap. Tried to nap, but only thought about work. So walked home, then did short set of squats:
3x3x225, 1x5x195, 1x5x185.
I decided to boost my triples and quintuples 10 pounds each. It put me right at my 3RM and 5RM limits, doing them AtG anyway. In fact, I wimped out on the last quintuples and reduced by ten pounds. I put it down to being so tired. Next time I do them, I'll probably boost the singles too, from 245 to 255, and so 3x1x255, 3x3x225, 2x5x195 will be the new standard. That'll be pushing it a little more than the deadlift and bench, but I think squats have the biggest room for improvement.
One thing: a week or two ago I started using the squat pad again, as I was developing a callus on my back. This in turn has move the bar position to more of a high-bar position. I'm thinking this might be an advantage, as it will work the quads a bit more, making the squats more complementary to the deadlifts' emphasis on the posterior chain, right?
Saturday
AM: one-mile run-commute. Slept in until 7am, I needed to catch up on my sleep a bit. I'll do the bench and pulldowns I missed yesterday a little later, so I decided that justified putting off the first three-mile run another day. Knee felt fine on the run though, and after a half-mile I wavered a bit about my decision to just run a mile.
PM: one-mile walk-commute.
ST:
Bench Press: 1x1x225, 1x1x245, 1x2x235, 1x1x225, 3x3x215, 2x5x195
Wanted to try boosting the bench press rep counts by ten pounds. Warmed up to 225 then hit 245, but I almost stalled, so I brought it down ten pounds, then surprised myself by doing a double. So I guess I was still warming up when I did 245. Probably needed to do 2-3 reps on my last warm-up set of 225 instead of a single. 225 felt hard when I got back down to it, but then 215 felt fine for the triples. Each set was intense, but doable. Same with the quintuples at 195, which is ten pounds heavier than I have been doing them. So I guess with a little better warmup, I could do my singles at 245.
So, did four consecutive days of ST. Kinda sucks. I like running everyday, but ST definitely has to be every other day or it gets old quick. Three times a week is perfect.