re: Daily Strength Check-In

Dumbbell OHP
3x3 w/70s
5x10w/40s

Db raises
3x10 out front w/20s
3x10 to the side w/20s

Machine shoulder press
4x12@120

Facepulls
4x12@120

Got a lift in last Monday then went for a walk afterward and my back locked up and had to nearly crawl back home. Been in the shelf since then. This happens about 2 or 3x a year with my L5S1 herniation. Back in action today finally for a push day. Still doing a Jay cutler style workout


Incline dumbell press 3x12 75lb dbs

Decline Db press 3x12 60lbs dbs

Dumbell Flys on flat bench 3x12 45lb dbs

Tricep kickbacks 3x12 20lb dbs

Tricep push downs 4x15 60 lbs

Farmer walks w/2 50lb kbs

5 sets /40 seconds each and 30 sec rest between sets.

Tricep pulldowns
4x12@110
Overhead Tricep extensions
4x12@110

Cable curls
4x6@120

Rope hammer curls
4x12@100

Preacher curls
4x12@75

Okay, I wanna play too. It's high time I get my arse back in gear and get back the consistency I used to have in my training instead of what I've been doing for the last 6-7 years. I can't believe I've let it go on for that long...6-7 years! Unbelievable.

No better time than to dispense with the excuses, I began to build a home gym during the pandemic shut downs, and now I've finally moved into a new house with an even bigger garage than the apartment I lived in when I started working out at home. I got the space, I got the time, and I've got the equipment all set up.....so it begins. I'll post what I've done so far since starting back up, my last workout was December 7th, 2022.

4/1/23: Bench Press
warmup
Shoulder dislocates 12 x 3
45lb x 5 x 2
95lb x 5
135lb x 5
185lb x 2
225lb x 1
working sets
255lb x 4
225lb x 6
185lb x 8

4/3/23: Squat
warmup
Shoulder dislocates 20 x 3, Air squats 10 x 3, Squat stretch(20sec x 2), low bar back squat stretch til it feels good, ankle mobility x 20
45lb x 5 x 2
135lb x 5
225lb x 5
315lb x 5
working sets
405lb x 4
365lb x 6
315lb x 8

4/5/23: Press
warmup
Shoulder dislocates 20 x 3, air squats 10 x 3, squat stretch 20sec x 2
45lb x 5
95lb x 5
135lb x 5
working sets
185lb x 4
155lb x 6
125lb x 8

That's it so far, I will get a deadlift session in later this evening.

Deadlift
135 x 5
225 x 5
315 x 5

405 x 1
405 x 1
405 x 1
405 x 1
355 x 2
355 x 2
355 x 2
275 x 4
275 x 2
275 x 2

This was not the plan, it was supposed to be:
405 x 4
365 x 6
315 x 8

But I'm a weenie and I knew I'd have to struggle with this first deadlift session after a long layoff. Next DL session will be planned appropriately.

DB shoulder presses (sitting)
3x12 with 55lb dbs

Later raises (sitting)

3x12 20lb dbs

Rear delt Flys
3x12 25lb dbs

Face pulls
3x12 on cable Machine

Sitting back rows on machine

3x12 90lbs

Hammer curls
3x12 25lb dbs

Flat bar curls on cable machine

3x12 50lbs

Bench Press:
warmup - 3 x 20 shoulder dislocates
45 x 5 x 2
95 x 5
135 x 5
185 x 2
225 x 1

265 x 4
235 x 6
195 x 8

Still focusing on slowly easing back into things so I can re-train myself to have this good habit in my life again. Just 1 movement a day, reverse pyramid, add weight to the bar every workout. This was a 10lb jump from the last BP session, and this felt light so I'll go up 10lbs again next time, maybe 15lbs! We'll see.

4/15/23: SQUAT
Workout title-"Humble Yourself Before the Wheel, You Scum!"
I did my regular squat session warmup, it's boring and takes a long time, so I'm not writing it all out, just mobility work, stretching and air squats. Stuff like that. I'm old, it takes forever, it has to be done. But I still managed to mess myself up a bit.

I decided to be like some of y'all in here and do these fancy, timed rest intervals. I usually just frick around in my garage and take probably somewhere in the neighborhood of 10 minutes between heavy squat work sets, but tonight I was gonna try 3 minute rest intervals and see how it felt.

Well, let's see what he did wrong, Cotton.

warmup sets/
45 x 5 x 2
135 x 5
225 x 5
315 x 5
work sets/
415 x 4
365 x 6
135 x 8 ?

Yeah, on 415 x 4 my left hip, inner...think adductor magnus or maybe psoas, definitely the pectineus...BIG TIME. It was very minor, I thought "maybe the warmup needs some more effort/time?...maybe these 3 minute rest intervals were a bad idea?", but I continued on to 365 x 6 because the 415 felt light. However, the discomfort was enough for me to abandon the 3 minute rest intervals, so I really only did them during warmups. 365 x 6 went fine until the ascending phase of rep 1, lots of pain. I ground out the remaining 5 in an increasing amount of pain, putting all the weight I could manage on my right leg. I was near tears.

I then proceeded to lay on the garage couch and groan for a very long time, (20 minutes? have no clue), and then finally decided that even though I messed up, (probably have to recognize that I messed up on day #1 back on 4/3/23 when I squatted 405 x 4 after not lifting anything since 12/7/22, and it went great, no issues, so I added weight to this session thinking everything was great......well, it was not great, dude, this was our concern, dude)

I was not going to quit so I finally settled on 135 x 8 to finish. It was uncomfortable to start and by reps 6, 7, 8, it just flat out hurt. Humble Yourself Before the Wheel, You Scum!

5-6-23
Training Session: Bench Press + (Squat Circus)
Title: "I'm Just Exploring the Space."

3x20 shoulder dislocates
Bench Press
45lbs x 5
95lbs x 5
135lbs x 5
185lbs x 2
225lbs x 1
280lbs x 4
240lbs x 6
205lbs x 8

Push-Ups: 3 x 10 (very slow and controlled throughout the entire movement)

Air Squats: 3 x 10 with some long squat stretches thrown in there.
SQUAT:
45lbs x 5
45lbs x 10
3 x 10 @ 135
3 x 10 @ 225
3 x 10 @ 135

Comments:
I've come to realize that my program that I always fall back on (reverse pyramid training that I first started using about 10 years ago when I decided to give deliberate intermittent fasting a try) sucks for my current needs. My #1 sin in lifting has been sticking with shitty, useless, or just inappropriate training programs for way too long. My body has become older and crankier, especially the joints. If I keep doing these very brief workouts it will take me until my 80s to get my joints and tendons prepared to really get after it again. So I've decided to keep doing the reverse pyramid training for a while, but I'm adding more repetitions in at incredibly sub-maximal weights just so I can apply the "Motion is Lotion" theory to my body. It feels good to move, it feels much better to move when my joints aren't creaking and every muscle/tendon/ligament doesn't feel like an over-wound banjo string. I'm still working out my final plans on my new programming, but it will look something like the above.