The Syla5 Files: Home gym addition

Much slacking....late update

02/10/15
Bench
bar x20/20
40x10
60x5
80x3
90x2
100x1+1 (re-rack between reps)
70x10/10/10

CGBP
65x8/8/8/7/5

Incline DB Bench
25x8/9/9

Dips
BWx10
15x9/10/10

Tricep Kick Backs
2.5x20

GHD Situp's SS Plank
10+45sec/10+45sec/10 (no plank)

Knee Diary
My knee is feeling solid right now, havent really felt anything wrong with it for the last couple of days. I need to see how things feel after a proper workout week, as normally i would squat and deadlift in the same week, but havent done this for the last couple of weeks. Positive improvements are still good.
 
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06/10/15

Warm Ups
Squat
Bar x10/10
60x8
80x5
100x3
110x5/5/5/5/5

RDL ss GHR's
70x5+10/5+10/5+10/5/5

BB Split Squats
35x10/10

BB Curl
15x20/20

Single Arm Push Up ss Laying Leg Raises
10+15/10+15

Knee Diary, morning after squats and its a little tight, better then it has been post squats in a while, but not as good as it has been over the previous few days. Will keep an eye on it and see how it feels. During squatting it felt solid, so lets hope this is all part of the recovery.
 
09/10/15

Have been skirting round the edges of a cold all week, thankfully its not hit me yet, so hopefully i can stay away from the worst of it.

Bench Press
bar x20/20
40x10
60x5 - feeling heavy today.
80x3 - yeap gonna be tough
90x2 - grindy second rep
100x1+1 rest pause set actually better then last weeks 1+1!
72.5x10/10/10
tough working sets

CGBP
65x8/6/8/8 - hit a bit more volume but missed a set - phone calls during work outs suck!

Incline DB Bench
25x8/7/6 - done ...

Dips
BWx10
15x9/9

GHD Situps
10/10

GHR's - slow neg reps
6

Knee - feeling it since tuesdays squat session. Still very subtle pain, pressure pain going down stairs is back, nothing sersious but not as good as it felt in the previous week, could be the colder weather having an effect.
 
MoNkeE said:
Your sets for bench make no sense, no idea why you hit 100kg then do "working sets" afterwards.
Saying that, also find it hilarious how you find 80kg for 3 tough, then manage 100kg for 2!
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"sarcastic reply"
Because no one ever works up to heavy singles and then dials back for working sets....

"genuine reply"
They make perfect sense, I want to work primarily on a bit more volume but I don’t want to lose touch with the feeling of the top end. Hitting the heavy reps first means I have the most energy for them and fatigue is not an issue so I can keep tighter and controlled reducing any injury risk. The heavier reps get the blood flowing and the volume work does the job. These reps are 90% RM not all out PB's.

If you note I said I have a cold coming and 60 felt heavy, this is comparing how it felt to last weeks 60. Everyone can relate to this, when the same weight from one session to the next can feel heavier or lighter depending on how your feeling, mood, mind set, sleep or food intake etc.
I didn’t say the 80 was tough, I said after the set I knew the 90 and 100's were going to be tough, and they were. 90 for 2 the second rep was grindy as hell, and 100 was 1 + 1 not a double, re racked between reps but straight un-rack again.

Even though the heavier stuff felt tougher than the previous week I still managed to add some weight to the working sets and plough through them.
 
MoNkeE said:
Sounds rubbish :p the exercise pattern doesn't make sense either - don't understand why you bench, then focus on triceps, then do a bench exercise again, then a tricep/pec exercise to finish with.
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There is nothing wrong with the exercise pattern. Bench and CGBP are compound movements that both hit the chest, CGBP less so then bench but still significantlly not to be classed as a tricep isolation that have no carry over to chest at all.

Dips are also a compound movement and still great for chest activation.

You may notice that i dont do any tricep isolation, or if i do its finisher work, so every exercise i do hits my chest. I can see why on it makes no sense that all my exercises hit the chest on chest day...
 
MoNkeE said:
See I'd have thought the blood gets pumping from high volume, not a couple of reps at high weight.
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For me the high rep work fatigues me out and doesnt really get me hyped up (probably a better way of putting it then blood flowing) like heavy work does.

MoNkeE said:
As for the CGBP, yes thanks for the lesson. Obviously it's down to different training styles - I prefer to exhaust muscles and move on after, I would just prefer to focus on chest-orientated compound exercises before tricep-orientated compound exercises.
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Bingo, what works for you and makes sense for you doesnt work for me. You've always been a repping machine and can smash out the volume, where as I dont get on well with volume so approach it from a different direction.


MoNkeE said:
You do have a habit of putting words in to people's mouth - certainly didn't say CGBP is an isolation exercise and that dips don't generate good chest activation :p
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I no more put words in your mouth then you tried to make out my approach was idiotic, so touche my friend ;)
 
I always find it interesting how you can rep so close to your maxes, and my maxes are so far away from what I can rep. I still reckon your benching is better then you give yourself credit for, and its probably a mental hurdle rather then a physical one that makes 100+ feel uncomfortable for you.
 
MoNkeE said:
Benched 90kg for 8 reps today. Wasn't easy, but far from tough. Few weeks back I went and benched 100kg. Just scraped 2 reps. Think I've got some severe mental block going on there!
Click to expand...

Another reason I keep working up to the heavy singles is so I can get used to the loads and hit them regularly, help keep the mind fresh to how it feels.


Skillmister, get back on it!
 
14/10/15
mixing it up a little, not deadlifted in ages and my knee is not feeling up to squatting so gonna do some back work

Warm ups

Deadlift
60x10/10
80x5
100x4
120x2
140x1
150x1 - oooffff was not a pretty rep! heaviest ive DL'ed in a long time, i blame MoNkEe for this madness..
100x5/5/5/5/5

BOR
70x8/8/8/8

Red Band Rows SS Face Pulls
15+10/15+10/15+10

Lat Pull Over
15x10
20x10/10

Pull ups (assited purple band)
10/10

Knee - since the weather has gotten a bit colder my knee has tightned up again. Pressure pain has almost gone but my ITB area on the outside of my knee is back to being super tight and uncomfortable. Hopefully this is a case of two steps forward one back....
 
Glutes are fine, i honestly think its tied in to quad/hammy/lower leg tightness in my left leg that i have really ignored. I need to get hands laid on me for an expert opinion, and i should stop thinking that its going to resolve its self!
 
Update:

20th November 2018 I had an operation after seeing a hernia specialist that advised my problem from here was not a hernia that he could tell but was clearly something going on.

Surgeon said I had a 2-3 cm long tear in my abdominal aponeurosis my lower right side which was closed up.

Got back in to the gym last night 7 weeks post operation. Advised recovery time was no exercise at all for the first couple of weeks, light exercise after 4-6 weeks, full healing to take up to 3 months.

Squatted the bar for 4 warm up sets and then moved on to 40kg for a few sets. Taking things super easy. Everything felt good, moved on to do some BOR's with just the bar and something didn't feel right during my third set. Stopped instantly. Things felt reminiscent to how they did pre-op...not as acute of a pain sensation but as soon as I felt something I stopped.

Now concerned that the operation I had may well have fixed something, but didn't actually fix the problem source. Maybe as the fix that happened was near the surface that my problem persists from deeper inside....I get the feeling I may have another operation in my near future.

Here's hoping that I was just a little eager and another 4-6 weeks of healing time will be the answer.

Early 2019 outlook not as positive as it was, although my squat form looked tidy, and in flat shoes not my lifting shoes!
 
I did train again in 2016 and 2017 but I didn't log it here, might do a log refresh with that stuff as things were moving nicely.
 
Currently back to consistent training, in to week 6 of training now and things are going well. Still taking things easy and feeling out my post op lower abdominal area to make sure its fixed, I don't re-tweak anything.

Nothing to exciting to write home about but last week on leg day I decided my 3x8 @ 60kg working sets just felt super light, so after my working sets I stuck 100kg on the bar and did a test couple of reps then a comfortable 5 reps set. Pretty pleased with that but went back to the plan for this week, no need to over do things.
 
First time testing a weight over 100kg on deadlifts post operation in November.

140kgx2


For reference my all time best is 170kg way back in 2012/2013, my rep PB is something like 157.5x3, and the last time I lifted over 100kg was almost 2 years ago where I worked up to 140kg single then failed a 145.

Still need to explore how things feel with a weight belt on but the good news is this lift triggered no lower abdominal twinges, followed it up with a couple of working sets of 95x6, the second set belted up and felt very comfortable.

I do have residual sensation of the area that used to flare up, but I am hoping that this is just scare tissue and not signs that something is still wrong. Only time will tell.
 
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Seeing as I tested deadlift I may as well test the others.

Bench last night, having not actually Barbell benched properly since I came back to training as i have focused on DB bench work this was an interesting one.
I didn't know where I would end for a double so worked my way up through 80x2, then 90x1, tried again for the double but 90x1 then dialled back and did 85x2. A little slow

Pleased with this as an indicator, maybe I best do squats tonight.
 
Squats got tested, happy with what happened.

Worked up with the aim of seeing my 2 rep testing max, did 100x2, 120x2, 130x2, then went for 140 but only managed a single.

130x2

Again with all my lifting, this is the first short run of lifting in almost 2 years. Yes I need to work on form, but its always nice to have some numbers to mould the training around.
 
The side view is flattering, from the rear view the amount of knee collapse is to much to have called it easy. Early days yet.
 
Last of the bigger lifts to check and it was strict OHP (no leg drive), again the focus on working up to a double and hit 60x2. Felt like I had a bit more in there, stuck 65 on the bar and pushed out a single but it wouldn't go up for a second rep.

So with a roughly 2 year gap from lifting and training consistently back again for only 7 weeks here are my training 2 rep tests:

Squat: 130x2, 140x1
Bench: 85x2, 90x1
Deadlift: 140x2
OHP: 60x2, 65x1
 
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