Hi @kandeye - first of all hi! Second of all I wanted to make sure you knew you weren’t by yourself in here. I’m traveling until Tuesday- so likely no lifting to report- but I didn’t want to leave ya in an echo chamber.

Lastly... 75 lb ohp for “just getting back to lifting” is no frigging joke... I don’t think I ever got above 65lb ohp even when I was being dedicated and was flirting with benching big kid plates!!

K.. so, I’m back, I think.
Birthday was Wednesday, and got some amazon gift cards. Which made my available “home gym improvement” budget go twice as far. So, I now have a real bench coming (I’ve been laying on my heavy bag as a bench). A kettle bell, and one set of dumbbells are also coming. Bumper plates were technically higher on my list than the kettlebells and dumbbells, but my faja asked specifically for items on my wishlist- and that’s what I mentioned since they were at the top, so, I will wait a bit on those. (Like till next budget cycle- debating between $100 a pay check or $100 a month for a while on home gym. Weights are fkng expensive.)

Today I did a lackadaisical workout, but I worked out. It’s snowing, 28 degrees and falling, and so it was like slow, and lazy, and coffee and stay warm sort of workout. We seem to have missed fall, was 90 one week and snowing the next, it seems. I technically had a something semblance of a 5x5 workout in there

Bench supersetted with 10 body weight/band squats.
Bench 10@45, 10@65, 5@85, 5x5 @95

Squats, I hate squats, stayed light, working on form. By form I mean I need to get lower, and not fold over while getting lower.
5x5@45

Rows supersetted with 5 banded pull-ups.
Rows 5@45, 5x5@55

Banded pull-ups were knees in my purple and green bands, stretched across my rack. I was barefoot, And had no intentions of changing that. So, my bands being looped from the bar with my foot in them wasn’t working.

So, yeah- hiiiii *waves to all our lurkers and others* even if you aren’t doing 5x5 - come say hi, we still love ya

Ok, so I nearly had this type do out once already, but well #technology fail.

I’m still not really following a plan... even a lift vs rest schedule, just trying to get and keep a habit of “do something” going again.

Today I supersetted banded push-ups with clean and presses.
The banded push-ups are a modification I ran across as a substitute for elevated or knee push-ups. The theory being you have a true push-up form/set up, and you have your full weight at the top. I do, so far find them preferable to knee push-ups. And since I have gained weight and lost strength lately, I am back to modified push-ups.

Sox back on topic
5x10 banded push-ups
5x5 clean and OHP @45

Then I continued my never ending quest to fix my squat form and maybe even try to like the darn things eventually.

So, front squats 8x5 @45.

Oh, and let’s just say having a birthday is going to be awesome for my home gym.... mail folks are going to hate me... but omg I’m looking forward to my mail for the next few weeks. Aka my bumper plates are ordered!!!!

Lastly, @krokador I believe you were the one who gave me the wrist strap/front squat hack. And, I finally have had the straps long enough and tried it enough times to get the logistics right... and THANK YOU!!! Video below... I left the blooper in for yalls entertainment. And yes, it is cold enough in my house the sweatshirt was necessary.



Edited, because, more techno fail

K... so, I haven’t had the app in a while... but... most the time (when I’m actually following a plan) I do walking or biking or something for like 10 minutes, then some dynamic stretching/moving stretching type things. If I recall the app doesn’t give you warm up sets until higher weights, and then it just has you work up to the working weight.

If you are “soon to be a marathon runner” you might expect gains going a bit slower than if your weren’t doing long runs (I only made it to half marathon, but I found calories and energy kind of went one place or the other, and although lifting helped my running, i needed to prioritize longer runs or heavier lifts,

I’m going to go with the vague listen to your body answer. When I was being consistent, it honestly depended on the day. Sometimes I could do 3 miles and lift, some days I couldn’t... sometimes that meant the lifting had to wait, sometimes it meant the running waited. I will tell you though... if you are way sore from squats.,, still try the run, even if it’s only a quarter mile... lots of times that is exactly what I needed the next day... or it sped up the lessening of soreness.

In my world... work went crazy- I rode my bike to work yesterday... climbed things today... but.....

I had my bench, my jump rope, my 25 lb kettlebell, and my 20 lb dumbbells at my house today. Post office says I need to stop by and get stuff tomorrow too....
sooooo today’s workout time was spent opening boxes and putting my bench together... does that count?