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Adena gets strong!


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Squat Day

 

Stretching for about ten minutes....I think someone has swiped both of the foam rollers from the power room. I can't find them anywhere else in the gym. Might have to spring for one of my own.

 

Parallel Squat:

 

1x5x45

1x5x135

1x5x155

1x5x175

 

A2G Squat:

 

1x8x135

1x7x135

1x5x135

 

Front Squat:

 

One weird, wobbly set where I almost fell over, then stood up with it, racked it, and took a moment to collect myself, then...

 

3x3x95

 

Not all of these were to parallel. I was having a lot of balance issues. I think that's the main difficulty with front squats, at least for me.

 

Lunges with 45 lb plate held overhead:

 

3x8 steps, each side

 

A longer than usual squat day for me, but it was fun.

 

So I decided after last month I was getting way too exhausted. I'm not sure if it's from beginning four days of lifting again, or from trying to switch up the assistance. Since I really want to continue doing four days of lifting per week, I decided just to go back to doing all of the same body part during one session, instead of switching from one body part to another. Hopefully I'll just adjust to doing four days of strength training soon.

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Looking good!

 

I have terrible lunge balance too. Right now I'm doing static lunges and I STILL almost fall over. WTF?

 

Oh, thanks!

 

I'm glad I'm not the only one...I'm not exactly naturally graceful or athletic. I guess maybe that's why I have terrible balance. I mean, I've been working those lunges for about a year and still have problems. Seriously? Grr.

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Deadlift Day

 

Well, I ended up doing things a little out of order this week. I was intending to do the Bench Bash at my gym on Saturday but I missed weigh-ins. Sounds like there were some really strong girls. I would've lost, but it would have been fun. Oh well.

 

Deadlift:

 

1x5x135

1x5x175

1x5x195

1x5x220

 

Rack Pulls:

 

1x3x245 from knees

2x1x245 from about mid-shin

 

Assisted Wide Grip Pull-Ups:

 

1x10 with about 48 lb assistance

1x6 with about 42 lb assistance

1x4 with about 42 lb assistance

 

Farmer's Walks:

 

3x90 or 95 each hand

 

Plate Pinches:

 

3 sets to failure, each hand

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Bench Day

 

Bench Press:

 

1x5x45

1x5x80

1x5x90

1x8x100

 

Pyramid Down on Bench Press:

 

1x8x95

1x10x90

1x8x85

1x8x80

1x8x75

 

I think I just really was losing steam after that unexpected 1x8x100, and perhaps not resting enough between sets during the pyramid.

 

BOR:

 

2x12x95

1x10x95

 

Push-Ups:

 

1x12

1x10

1x6

 

I think that was all I had time for.

 

Overhead Press Day

 

Military Press:

 

1x3x45

1x3x55

1x3x60

1x4x70 Also a good sign. Thanks for progressing slightly, upper body!

 

Push Press:

 

1xfailx80

3x3x75

 

Overhead Shrugs:

 

3x10x75

 

Dips:

 

1x10

1x8

1x6

 

These frickin' hurt, after Tuesday's bench day. Well, normally I don't do things in that order, so my overhead press day is normally not so close to my bench day. Next week will be better.

 

Assisted Chin-Ups (36 lb):

 

1x12

1x6

1x5

 

I plan to go in on Saturday and do my squat day. Things are all out of wack this month. Hopefully I'll really do four days of lifting per week pretty soon. It's not a soreness or recovery issue, it's more of a time management issue.

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Thank you!

 

Alas, I had trouble getting into the gym often enough last week. However, we did manage to harvest another round of collard greens and strawberries, our first round of snow peas, and began work on our large arbor for the kiwi vines. Oh well, today is the start of a new week!

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Squat Day

 

Foam rolling and stretching for about 10 minutes

 

Parallel Squat:

 

1x3x45

1x3x145

1x3x165

1x3x185

 

Oly Squat (A2G):

 

3x8x135

 

Front Squat:

 

3x3x95

 

Lunges with 45 lg plate held overhead:

 

3x8 steps each side

1x5 steps each side

 

Foam rolling for about five minutes

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Bench Day

 

Bench Press:

 

1x3x45

1x3x85

1x3x95

1x3x110

1x6x100

1x7x95

1x8x90

1x9x85

1x10x80

 

BOR:

 

2x10x95

1x7x95

 

Tricep Extensions:

 

2x12x30

1x10x30

 

Nothing too outstanding this week, and tonight we'll see how deadlifting goes. At least for the most part, this month is going pretty well. Hopefully I'll have some time for cardio tomorrow, and I'll get back in the gym on Saturday or Sunday, possibly both. My dogs woke me up at 3:20 in the morning tonight and barked pretty steadily until I was planning to get up, at 6:15. Thanks, dogs. So I'm pretty exhausted, but I'm trying to shovel food in and I'm hoping for the best tonight.

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Mmm, not quite. Last month I ended up spending a lot of time dealing with some other situations and not getting in the gym enough, so I did the same assumed 1RM all over again for this month. That being said, I must've recovered pretty well to bench 8x100 last week. That is not usual for me and made me pretty happy. This week is a little lackluster so far, but we'll see what happens tonight. I think as long as I concentrate on my calories a little better next week I should do ok. I was also thinking of doing German Volume Training next month to switch things up.

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Deadlift Day

 

Sigh......ok. I've been kind of noticing this for the last couple of months but have been in denial. I'm getting a pudgy tummy and a pretty disgusting physique and my strength gains are really not all that impressive compared to how much weight I've put on. I have kind of lost my enthusiasm for powerlifting lately. That being said, I'm not giving up, at least not yet. I just need a month to cut and do something different. My body is screaming out for a change and demanding less calories. Yes, really. I have indigestion like all the time now. But since this weekend when I just tried to cool it, the indigestion went away. It's totally just because of the amount of calories, not a specific food. So anyway, my deadlift day started out pretty lackluster:

 

Deadlift:

 

1x3x135

1x3x185

1x3x210

1x3x235

 

Rack Pulls:

 

failx245

failx245

 

......and then I just decided to make it into a cardio day, so I spent 20 or so minutes on the stationary bike. Good enough.

 

I'm thinking I'll just spend this week cutting back on calories and doing cardio, then attempt to go into German Volume Training next week and stick to that for about a month, and see where I am at that point.

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So far I've done some HIIT and lost three pounds...we'll see what the rest of the week brings. I just hope I don't lose too much of my strength.

 

As far as the diet goes, so far I just gave up the protein shake and the almonds, and then cut back on sugar and carbs, but I didn't eliminate them entirely.

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I just looked that up, and it sounds similar to GVT, which is a 10x10. Yep, something like that is around the corner for me...Do you have a suggestion? I was just going to do GVT since I've done it before.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Oh, without any rest between sets at all? Sounds challenging! I might have to give it a try. I think I might just make up my own training program using supersets, I guess. Does 40% of my 1RM sound reasonable for like, over 12 reps of each exercise? Well.....if I was going to start with deadlifts and eventually get to a push press without changing the weight, it would obviously have to be less, but I could do something a little different than that example. Maybe one minute rest between each set and an appropriate weight for each exercise so the deadlifts and hang cleans would still be as challenging as overhead pressing. Hm...I'm deciding whether to continue with my cardio outdoors after work tonight. It looks rainy, so I think I'm going to head back to the gym cardio with weights tonight! I'll let you all know how it goes. I'm going in without much of a plan. But I'm re-reading some articles on German Volume Training just in case I end up getting to the gym and not wanting to "wing it."

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Well, for the last two weeks I have focused on cardio. I missed it. I did some interval training, and also some distance just because it's a stress reliever for me. I also went on a few long bike rides with the husband, and long hilly hikes with the dogs. Fun "vacation." Anyway, so far I have only lost 5 pounds, but it's better than nothing. It would be really nice to get under 132 for the meet at the Iowa State Fair I'm hoping to enter. I can't seem to get a solid answer from anyone about how to register for it, so it may not happen. But anyway, it's been nice to try to slim down and give my digestive system a bit of a break. It's kind of funny how good it feels just to allow myself to be hungry some of the time. My stomach is much happier with me right now.

 

We picked our first zuchinni and round of cucumbers, as well as probably the last round of green beans, snow peas, and sugar snap peas. Our cauliflower is finally looking like cauliflower, and we have a wee little baby watermelon forming. So the garden is becoming a pretty fun hobby, and helping me stay healthy. Plus, it's really nice to have almost free organic produce all the time.

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  • 2 months later...

Ok, I'm back! The garden got pretty out of control so I ended up spending the summer doing cardio and lots of time was spent in the garden. We got a lot of use out of it, it just takes time to weed, water, harvest, and preserve everything. Aaaaaanyway...I really missed lifting heavy so I went straight back to the 5/3/1.

 

Strict Overhead Press:

 

1x5x45

1x5x55

1x5x60

1x5x65

 

Push Press:

 

3x5x65

 

Overhead Shrugs:

 

3x10x65

 

Dips:

 

3x5

 

Assisted Chin-Ups (48 lb assistance):

 

1x12

1x8

1x5

 

Not too bad on the main lift, but I definitely lost steam throughout the training session. I'm way sore, so I'm not sure when I'm going to get to squat day. Oh, and I turned 31 yesterday, happy birthday to me.

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Squat Day

 

Parallel Squats:

 

1x5x45

1x5x95

1x5x115

1x5x135

1x5x145

1x5x155

 

That last one was kind of a grinder, so I figured I better not try 165 right away on my first week back. I didn't lose tooooo much strength, though...

 

A2G Squats:

 

2x5x135

1x4x135

 

Lunges with 45 lb plate held overhead:

 

3x10 steps (5 each foot)

 

We just got a GHR machine in the power room but I forgot to use it! Oh well, there's always deadlift day.

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Bench Day

 

Bench Press:

 

1x5x45

1x5x65

1x5x75

1x6x85

 

1x6x80

1x8x75

1x10x70

1x10x65

1x12x60

 

Hm. Way to go. Didn't see that coming.

 

BOR:

 

1x10x85

1x8x85

1x7x85

 

This was about the point when I decided to lighten the weight on most of my assistance exercises in general so I can do higher rep work.

 

Push-Ups:

 

1x8

1x5

1x4

 

I figured I about had it at this point, and went home. I intended to do some more tricep work, but there's always next week.

 

Deadlift Day

 

Deadlift:

 

1x5x135

1x5x155

1x5x185

1x3x195

 

Thought I'd be able to do a little more than this, but my hands just can't hold onto the bar since I took so long off. My back felt pretty fresh still at this point, though.

 

Rack Pulls:

 

1x2x205

2x1x205

 

Farmer's Walks with a 45 lb plate in each hand:

 

3 sets

 

GHR

 

3x5

 

Plate Pinches with two 5lb plates:

 

3 sets each hand

 

Ol' lefty sure is wimpy these days. But still, after looking over my journal it doesn't seem as though I went backwards too far from taking the summer off, so that's a nice surprise. This week is going to be a little tough since they're asking us for overtime, which means I'll get into the gym even later than usual and it'll throw my night off, but I'm going to do my best to get four solid training sessions in this week anyhow. If I do it like last week and make Saturday and Sunday two of the four training days, it shouldn't be too difficult.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Wow, I'm terrible at updating my training log sometimes. I'll just give you the highlights of my Week 3:

 

My best strict overhead press was 1x1x70.

 

My best parallel squat was 1x2x165.

 

My best bench was 1x5x90.

 

My best deadlift was 1x2x215.

 

It'll come back. This week I'm deloading, which has been fun so far. Last night I got to see one of my favorite bands, Bane, so that was pretty sweet. I'll be rockin' this really goofy Bane muscle-T at the gym tonight.

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