LiE's Log Part 4

[LiE]

My last log ended in 2013, plagued with injuries there wasn't much to write about. I then had my son in 2015 and gym hit a new low. I was still ticking along in my home gym but nothing really clicked. Over the next few years my weight stayed about the same (75kg) and lifting didn't amount to much. In Jan 2018 I decided to sell my home gym and go back to my local DW to give myself a boost. 2018 for the most part was good and I started added some strength and weight again.

I'm now 78-79kg, still with dodgy knees and a ropey shoulder but they are manageable. I'm 33 now, 34 in July, so not in the same place I was when I was 27 and in my peak. My goals for this year are to steadily add some more muscle and get some of my strength back. I also want to keep things sensible for longevity.

My training is a split, and it's hybrid in so much as I'm doing my main lifts with strength in mind but other lifts are focused on gaining size.

Diet is going well at the moment, mainly eating beef mince, brown rice, chicken breast and sweet potato.

Split:
Monday - Chest/Tricep
Tuesday - Back/Bicep
Thursday - Shoulders/Core
Friday - Legs

Doing 15 minutes mobility each morning trying to keep my legs from seizing and my shoulders from sitting too far forward.

My current maxes:
Bench 130
Dead 180
Squat 170

 

[LiE]

Dealing with a mild case of elbow pain, so after today's chest/tricep workout I'll be switching a few things round for the next week to ensure I don't aggravate it.

Took delivery of my Power Perfect 3s, squatting on Friday will be testing them out. So much gear for squatting now! belt, knee sleeves, shoes.

Paused Bench Press
60 x 10
80 x 8
100 x 3
110 x 3
110 x 3

Weighted Dips
BW x 12
+20 x 8
+35 x 8
+45 x 8

Incline DB Press
30 x 10
40 x 8
40 x 8

Tricep Pushdown
35 x 8 x 3

Cable Rope Extensions
20 x 8 x 3

Diamond Press ups x 2 sets

 

[LiE]

Back/Biceps this morning. Keeping in mind I had a tender elbow I just did deadlifts.

Deadlifts
40 x lots x 2
90 x 5
120 x 3
150 x 3
150 x 3
150 x 3 - comfy.

Paused Deadlifts
100 x 3 x 3

Deadlifts I was trying something a little different form wise, stolen from icecold

Paused deadlifts felt good, paused just off the floor to reinforce this new lifting cue.

 

[LiE]

I've agreed with work to move my hours around so I'll now be training 4.15 - 5.15 most days now instead of 11.15 - 12.15.

My elbow is getting better but I don't want to **** it which means sitting out today's shoulder workout. Tomorrow I am on-site for a customer so no training there. Then Friday I'll be testing out the new Power Perfect 3s with some squats. I need to spend the next couple days opening up my chest because a tight chest/shoulders causes my elbows to feel it during a squat.

 

[LiE]

Squats today first time using Oly shoes. They felt very natural and helped with a little missing depth. Pleased with how they felt but before I get carried away getting back to a 200 squat I want to spend a little time bedding in the new form. Next few weeks I’m going to focus on box squats and lots of medial glutes work.

Mobility / warm up

Squats
60 x 10
60 x 10
80 x 8
100 x 5
120 x 3
140 x 3
140 x 3
140 x 3

Bulgarian Deficit Slit Squats
40 x 8
40 x 8
Both legs effectively 2 sets each leg total 4 sets.

Took an hour. Elbow felt OK. Knees a little warm from the sleeves.

Last set.

New pure gym opening just round the corner so gonna check that out when it opens. Hopefully more than 1 deadlift platform and 1 squat rack.

 

[LiE]

Yea good shout. Next step will bring a DSLR and production crew for full YouTuber bro mode...

Weight this morning 77.8kg. Need to up my cals a touch. I’m leaning out a little more but strength is increasing.

 

[LiE]

I have an XS in a leather case so should fit.

 

[LiE]

Taken this week off to give my elbow enough rest, suffer the caffeine detox and put some kind of plan together.

 

[LiE]

Trained yesterday, elbow was feeling OK. I was all kinds of tight up in my thoracic which made chest fun. I'm not going to follow any strength program for a while yet until I'm happy with how my joints are moving. So for now I shall try to hit some hypertrophy.

Paused Bench Press
Bar x lots x 2
60 x 8
80 x 5
100 x 5
100 x 5
80 x 12 - not paused

Weighted Dips
BW x 15
+25kg x 8
+25kg x 8

DB Incline Press
24 x 12
32 x 10
32 x 10

I then did a ton of low weight high rep work on the cables to pump my triceps into oblivion, really helped my elbows feel juicy.

Back/Biceps today.

 

[LiE]

Time for that Omega3, Glucosamine, Cod liver oil supps!

In for OAP supplements.

 

[LiE]

Elbow is OK now it just was a little tender.

Did back on Wednesday, managed a 160x3 deadlift which felt OK. I need to sit down and write a proper plan because I'm sort of in limbo right now. I'm very tempted to take a step back from strength and just hammer out some hypertrophy for a while to save my ageing joints.

 

[LiE]

So after 2 weeks of no training due to combination of iffy elbow and multiple colds I was back in the gym yesterday. Easing back in.

Incline DB Press
20 x 15
20 x 15
34 x 12
34 x 12
34 x 10

Dips
BW x 15 x 3

Cable Cross Overs
20 x 15 x 3

Straight Bar Dips
BW x 10 x 2 - elbow didn't like

Rope Cable Extensions
20 x 10 x 3

Cable Kick Backs
3.75 x 12 x 3

15 minutes peppering my leg mobility

 

[LiE]

Yesterday's session.

Lat Pull Downs
30 x 15
30 x 15
65 x 10
65 x 8
57.5 x 10

Seated Rows
57.5 x 10 x 3

NG Chins
10, 8, 6 - RIP pulling power at the end

Seated DB Shoulder Press
20 x 15
20 x 15
34 x 12
34 x 10
34 x 10

Lateral Raises
7 x 15 x 3

Face Pulls
15 x 15 x 4

DB Alternating Curls
16 x 18 x 2

Cable Hammer Curls
7.5 x 12 x 2 x per arm

#bromode

Training 3 times a week at the moment.

 

[LiE]

Incline DB Press
20 x 15
32 x 10
42 x 11
42 x 10

Dips
BW x 15 x 3

Cable Cross Overs
25 x 15 x 4

Tricep Push Down
35 x 8 x 3

Rope Cable Extensions
15 x 10 x 3

Cable Kick Backs
3.75 x 12 x 3

Press ups to failure x2

 

[LiE]

Had about 2 1/2 weeks off due to super man flu and then went into a caffeine detox which was tough. Joined the new Pure gym on Sunday to give me access to some better equipment and flexibility with times I can train. I was in Sunday evening training chest and triceps, god how I have missed the seated dip machine. Monday was legs with a bigger focus on quads as I've noticed how weak they are in comparison to my posterior chain. Lying leg curl machine is amazing, it's been a long time since I've used one and it's still as good as I remember.

Today is shoulders and abzz, Friday will be back and I'm hoping to do some deadlifts. They do have a trap bar so I can do that variation if I fancy a change.

It's been about 5 weeks since I last squatted, Monday was back under the bar to work on high bar movement. Still feels odd, still lots to improve but it feels like it's hitting the right areas.

Here is my final set.

 

[LiE]

Cracking shoulder workout today, managed to do seated DB Press with the 40s for 8 reps.

I'm now training 5 days a week and split things up a little more. The current plan:

Chest / Triceps
Quads / Biceps
Shoulders
Hamstrings / Back
Core / Legs

Hamstrings and Back tomorrow for the first time doing this combination. I feel like progress is going well.

Here's a recent pic.

 

[LiE]

Weigh in this morning 79.7kg. Going to break that 80kg soon! It will be weird if I can get back to 83kg which is my power lifting weight.

 

[LiE]

Not sure why but I went for a 200kg deadlift single today, it went up but it has highlighted a number of things. 1) I need to get some more time doing deadlifts and finding my groove. 2) I still have quite a bit of tightness which meant my lower back took too much of this weight. So I'm now determined to tidy this up and see how we can progress in the future. Interesting I can do a 200kg pull and I have only been back deadlifting a few weeks.

 

[LiE]

Weight this morning 82.7kg, almost back to my 83kg days

Been hammering the gym recently and diet has been on point hitting 3-3.2k per day on training days.

My left elbow keeps giving me problems on back days mainly, it can't handle the torque. So for next week I'll drop back and bicep movements, then the week after I'll introduce them again but light. During those weeks I'll be adding in some one handed hangs each day to help with grip strength.

Bench press on Monday was really good managed 100x5, 110x5, 120x4 paused. 5th rep on the 120 would have been failure if I paused so didn't bother.

Changed my training this week going forward to get my deadlifts and squats on track.

Monday - Chest/Back/Triceps
Tuesday - Squats/Paused Deadlifts/Quads
Wednesday - Shoulders/Core
Thursday - Back/Chest/Biceps
Friday - Deadlifts/Box Squats/Glutes

If I maintain decent sleep and eating I should see some nice gains.

 

[LiE]

Brah I think you already made it

thanks but I'm not quite back to my former glory days.