i'm obviously in a phase of 'well, i'm not keeping up with my programmed weights but at least i'm lifting'. because i'm not, but i am. today was deadlifts. i was programmed for 125/145/165 on 3's week, but what i did do ended up as 2x155 and then i backed down to 135 again.

suspect i've found a new key to my squats and what happens? i'm having terrible trouble with deadlifts again, suddenly. i just can't find a natural, normal feeling hip level. what feels comfortable to me . . . when i set up that way and look at the sideways mirror, i'm actually angled downwards from hips to shoulders. i can get horizontal at best. i do not have long legs either, which makes it the more annoying. if i'm going to deadlift upside-down like this, i could at least have the knowledge it means i've got legs up to here. in reality, it feels like mine don't even go up to there

so that's thing one. and i was having trouble in a second place too - stabilizing my lower back and/or keeping it out of hyperextension. this one was the principal reason why i quit while i felt like i was still ahead.

to make up for it i did 3x5 pendlay rows with 65, 3 or 4 sets of 12 the seated row cables, pulldowns, some static holding on the smith machine bar, a dose or two of hard core planks, single-leg glute marches, and something else . . . oh yeah, deadbugs and breathing into lower belly for a whole bunch of slow breaths. frustrated but i feel like i'm taking it out on things that are at least not UNhelpful in the long term.

Baby news - Stepsister had labor induced yesterday and spent all day well, not able to have the baby. I woke up at 6 am to finally the text that they had the baby. It was through c-section but her little boy is here and all are doing well.

I skipped upper body day on Tuesday. I had the interview and hadn't gotten quite enough sleep so by 11 pm, I was tired. Plus it was a rough day at work with us being understaffed again. Yesterday was better work crew wise at least. Food wise it didn't go very well. Ate around maintenance and most of that was in candy. Tasty but not the best choices for sure. On the plus side, last night I did manage to get to the gym for lifting. All of the squat and deadlift sessions are getting questionable just because they are near my last one rep max attempts. Going to be hit or miss as more chance of failure but so far going pretty well.


Squat - 2x10 @ 45, 1x8 @ 95, 1x8 @ 135, with belt 1x4 @ 165
then with belt 3x2 @ 195
Overload - with belt 265 for 20 count
Pause Squats - 1x2 @ 145
Sumo Deadlift - 1x6 @ 135, 3x5 @ 185

I wasn't sure if I'd make it since I had to do the 185 squat session twice after failing on the first attempt. Plus 245 overload had felt so heavy, a 20 lb jump seemed a little intimidating but I managed to move back from the rack and all. Happy with the progress and maybe I'll be seeing a new 1 rep max next week when I am set to attempt 205.

Squatted 130 finally.

Bench is so hard for me. I think I'm doing something wrong. I could not really do more that 2 sets of 70 lbs.

Gym guy told me I was doing barbell rows wrong. He might be right but he also told me I squat wrong so... grain of salt.

I deloaded to 65 on barbell row and it felt right again. Sigh.

still just gonna call this 3's week. for now anyway.

i did ohp and it went well: 45/55/60. i actually had this impression that i was supposed to do 62.5 at the top, so in my head i was lowballing it by doing 60. i compensated by re-doing the first set at 2x5, so that was a nice surprise when i got home.

i did a lot of squats with broomstick, women's bar and kettlebells, but still can't back squat without trouble if there's a real bar involved. i'm just going to live with it being the way that it is, and in the meantime do what i'm doing because at least this way i can make sure that i'm really getting my glutes.

buncha other stuff, but nothing all that serious. first time i've lifted without a shake inside me for a really long time, and i had to stop halfway through and go get a muffin to keep me going. i warmed up on the rowing machine for 10 mins, so that was a difference and may have had something to do with the feebles that came over me.

new plan . . . or validation for the situation i'm already in, so now it gets the fancy label of Plan. i'm resetting back to my cycle 3 weights. and since that puts me at pretty exactly what i've already been lifting while i fight this cycle, i'm just going with it and i'm going to move on finally to 5/3/1 week.

but not today. today i was so inspired by the idea of an upcoming 'heavy' week i already know i can do, i stopped off at the gym and did 'supplemental' deadlifts. which is 50 reps at 50% of your training weight.

i did them as singles, i.e. full setup each time. but i strung them together into sets, even so, so it came out at 5x10, with actual rests in between.

really glad i did it because the weight was only 75 pounds. that's almost exactly the right amount of weight to get a proper feel for the different cues, but still light enough that you can do it and do it and do it. so it really let me put myself through a little form clinic and work on this whole thing of getting my hips down a bit. i was damned glad to finish the final rep though.

i did have some notion that i was going to do one heavy lift and one supplemental. but i hadn't brought my squat shoes and to tell the truth 3x5 goblet squats with the 24lb kettlebell was enough for me for today. i threw in 5 sets of pendlay rows in between the deadlift sets, with the same 75 pounds.

jowaring wrote: »

todays workout,
squats, dropped back down to 40lbs,still getting pain in groin but just on the right side now.determined to get them right!
ohp 5x5 @40lb.
deadlift 1x5 @ 105 lb.

welcome to the select company of special women who can press and bench more than they squat hope the mystery settles down soon

canadianlbs wrote: »

jowaring wrote: »

todays workout,
squats, dropped back down to 40lbs,still getting pain in groin but just on the right side now.determined to get them right!
ohp 5x5 @40lb.
deadlift 1x5 @ 105 lb.

welcome to the select company of special women who can press and bench more than they squat hope the mystery settles down soon

I know what's going on?I can bench 60lb but as soon as I get upto 80lb + on squats I get pain.driving me mad lol.