The Return of the jedi-This is not Sparta. This. Is. Madness.(now incl. Race to 100kg OHP)

Things are looking up a bit.

Shoulders tonight was not quite so afflicted by lurgy weakness. Warmed up on isolations then got sucked into doing some quick max. bench as my mate was trying for 140 again. I wasn't going to bother after the weak week I've had but got talked into it and pressed 120 the easiest I've managed so far. Had a reasonable session shoulder pressing after that but am realising that I need to step it up a bit on shoulders really, especially the pressing. Stage one will be to significantly increase the reps I am using now and then be upping the weights next month. Would like to be getting decent reps on 70lb dumbbells before Xmas.

Tried to get one of those cool lat spread pics for an avatar.
Failed.

a proper lat spread is something I've still never managed either
I can spread my lats easily enough, but only doing the "carpet carrying" pose.

Looking thick mate!

For an avatar pic place the camera further away from you.

ORIGINAL: chrismac
Looking thick mate!

Is it the hat?

Managed to walk for two hours spread over the weekend which is the nearest I've been to cardio over the last week to ten days. Have just totally lost the desire to do any more jogging which is a shame but will just have to work round it. I am thinking of doing a proper gym cardio session this Wednesday split between cycle/treadmill/rower for less chance of getting bored.
Will just have to wait and see if it gets done or not.

Cr@ppy kind of leg workout tonight.
First off I only did them on Wednesday so wasn't recovered but wanted to get my routine back on the best days. Also and here's the shocker, decided to include squats for the first time in years. The leg press has been crippling my back, I hadn't thought much about it until speaking to another lad who goes quite heavy on it and he reckons its f00ked and likely to take heavy users with it.
So it is out.
Not that the squats were much of an improvement. Between worrying about my balance, my collapsible knee and my poor back I dont think the legs actually saw much work. I think in future I'll try and do a light 20 repper a couple of times a week until I get the movement mastered.

yay squats!

ORIGINAL: daKensta
yay squats!

I thought that would give you a giggle.
You'd be laughing out loud if you could actually see them

Back, butt and neck are sore as a result but not too bad for saying how long it's been.
Also, at least it's only a muscular type of pain whereas the day after heavy leg press feeling was one of all the vertebrae being pushed slightly out of whack.

*sigh*
One of those days on the bench today. I had high hopes but they were all shattered by my performance on the first heavy set, which was 7 at 100kg. Was down a rep or two for the others on flat bench and didn't even bother trying the 90kg on incline. Was training with someone else on a very rapid turnaround of sets but I don't think that was the only reason it wasn't great.

blah blah blah non-linear progression blah blah blah
blah blah blah statistical minimum attainment blah blah blah

Still disappointed though.

Think I can explain Tuesday's tough day on chest as not being entirely rid of this pesky cold.
It flared up again yesterday, in a kind of chesty cough type way so no cardio ...again


No, really, it did ....honest.

Back on form again last night and had probably my best back/bi's session ever.

12/12/10 on wide grip chins
pin11/12/13/14 on the lat pulldowns
pin11/12/13 close grip row

Oly bar curls
30/40/50 ...then insane stripset from 50 down
Close grip curls and seated dumbbells to finish (plus some solid ab work).

Really enjoyed the session and will be taking this new positive mental attitude into shoulders tonight.
May also try for 2 reps at 120 on bench.

Sounds like a nice punishing session mate!

You use weighted chins yet?

ORIGINAL: chrismac
You use weighted chins yet?

No mate, not had a chance.
Some n*b has nicked the chain belt at the gym. Although I rip it out of the place for being a bit of a deathtrap/sh!thole when this kind of thing happens you sort of understand why the owner's heart isn't really in it anymore. He's had to put a lock on the fridge, has had a freestanding hex dumbbell set ruined by someone pinching 1 35lb dumbbell and now this
...amongst other instances.

I feckin hate people who nick stuff at the best of times but doing it within a group you know seems worse somehow.
Not least as everyone comes under suspicion.
B@stards

Course I suppose I could buy one of my own

Not good - bloody pikeys!

Good shoulder session.
Bad bench attempts.

Did some good isolation work; front raises, cable laterals, rear rows etc and then started warming up on bench for my attempts at a 1RM but I could tell it just wasn't happening everything felt heavy. So I bailed out but then proceeded to set new standards for my shoulder pressing. Managed 8 reps on the 60lb-ers fairly comfortably making a bash at the 70's sometime soon seem a real possibility. I think I could probably press them but it is just going to be manoeuvreing them into position where the problem might lie.

So, this week have had excellent back, bi's and shoulder workouts but less good on legs and chest.
Deduction: I've probably been over-doing it a bit on chest and legs.
Problem solved.
Elementary.

Reasonable start to the week on legs.
Which is an improvement on last week

Had a lot of knee pain since last week's squats and was expecting to use this an excuse not to do them. I started with a pyramid of high reps on the leg press 150/190/230/270 then straight into 3 sets of 10reps at 100kg squats. Found that rather than being heroic and going ATG, I protected my knee(s) much better by going to barely parallel and emerged pain free enough to do some hack squats and leg extensions too. I would've liked to do some SLDL but had to settle for ham curls and calves just to fit everything in as I am warming up with a monster ab circuit with my mate so workouts are getting a bit lengthy.

I'll keep the squats at parallel for the time being as I go full ROM on all the machines anyway.
Some more weight on the bar should compensate

good going with the squats.

ORIGINAL: daKensta
good going with the squats.

Thanks mate but still at the embarassing stage of benching more than I can squat
Last night was much better not getting too heroic with the depth, I just don't think my tendons will stand (or even squat) for it at the minute. Hopefully they'll start to give a bit rather than start to give in. Actually shifting the weight is no trouble at all really, so if I can get the issues of balance and pain-free positioning sorted I think I should be able to add some decent weight.

Curioser and curioser.

Right back to bang on form with the bench like nothing ever happened.
100/110/100 for 8/6/7 which I reckon is about the best I've managed
Return of 90kg on steep incline and did the 85lb dumbbells on shallow. No dips this week as got talked into doing bent-over type cable fly sort of thing which were okay. Upped the weight on the skullcrusher/close grip superset and then did some pulldowns/pushdowns and rope to finish.

Was very pleased with workout but it took ages due to the fact that the Monday bench queue have discovered my oasis of calm and switched days. I don't fancy many more days like today so I am planning to switch to Monday next week although not sure where this leaves legs
...perhaps Friday, which will make Saturday night knee tremblers a distinct possibilty.