BeansNBroccoli

Hey, how was your last trip back to Madison? Any updates on gettin the hell out of Chicago? I keep hearing how rough it's been up there already this season, and I've been thinkin about ya. Hope you're staying warm and keeping your head up. Best, Jaime

Tryin to get up and hit it at 5:30am, because I'm just too tired by the end of the night to motivate myself through it. Got a whole bunch of mock meat from the local asian grocery this weekend, amazed I've never tried/heard of most of this stuff. Most importantly, I got some mock salmon (even with fake skin made out of seaweed, it looks amazing) for my birthday tomorrow. Also got canned mock roast duck, mock oysters, mock fish fillets that actually tasted legit like fish, these great little soy jerky packs, and I made myself homemade "lox," cashew cream cheese, mushroom pate, and a "cheese" log. It was a weekend of much food and much food prep, so I'm stoked for the week's eating to come. Yesterday there wasn't a true gym workout, but I spent the day doing gardening and moving plants and heavy planters. My partner and I also dug out and bricked ourselves a new firepit, so I'm really excited to start cooking in there and just sitting around the fire at night. Maybe I'll even smoke my own tofu!!! This morning looked like this: Squats 4x5x170lbs 3x175lbs Bench Press 5x75lbs 2x6x71lbs 7x67lbs 15x60lbs Rows 5x5x85lbs (superset with...) Shrugs 5x10x85lbs Svend Press 2x17.6lbsx30sec (trying this out for the first time, felt great, what a nice pump) Planning to hit arms this afternoon/evening if I get a chance. I've been leaving out all of the bodybuilding stuff and focusing just on hitting my powerlifts in the morning. I've gotta grow these biceps, tho!!!

Got in my first really solid session yesterday. I've been training my partner and getting her up to speed so that she can lift with me for the past week and a half since I got the home gym, so my ramp back up has been slow. It's worth it, though. I want her to be able to lift safely and comfortably with me and she's starting from almost zero so we're taking it easy. Yesterday she was tired and busy though so I got in a session while she was resting It felt great, I'm nice n sore today. Weights are approximate because I don't know the weight of my bar (I'm guessing ~4kg, it's a standard home gym bar and not an olympic bar), but I'm going to just go with what I've got and progress with 1kg weights and not worry too much about exact numbers for the time being. I'm hoping to add an olympic bar and plate set by Christmas, but mostly I'm just so happy to have heavy things to throw around at home. Squats 5x60lb 5x95lb 5x130lb 5x5x165lb Bench 5x45lb 5x55lb 5x5x70lb Row 5x70lb 5x5x95lb Shrug 3x8x95lb French Press 3x8x40lb Barbell Curls 3x8x54lb SLDLs 2x10x97lb Plate Side Bend 3x10x44lb (completely annihilated my grip, in the best way) Hanging Crunch 3x8

I gotta say, Native is a thing I really miss about Chicago. I'm glad they're going nationwide, though, can't wait until they get one down here in the South. I'd make a trip for that! I'll probably have to stop through when we come back up to the midwest for the holidays in December

Great log, love seeing all of this strongman stuff. Your women's only strongman group sounds awesome, wish I were closer to check it out!

Got a little work in on the new home gym last night - everything has been pretty crazy around here and all I wanna do is squat it out. I'm lifting tonight, I'll come back and post my full program.

Sanne! You look amazing and I love following your journey I've been so inactive on this forum that I didn't see this until now, but you're a boss!!! Maybe someday I'll pull myself away from Instagram and post my own transformations on here hah

Thanks buddy! Yeah, I'm really excited. Turns out I can't pick it up til Sunday, but I'm just going to take today and tomorrow to clean and get the space ready for it. I'll get some pictures up when it's home - it's bright yellow! Hopefully it's as good as it seems, if so, I'm all set! Now, of course I'll need to get a tire for flips, and a sled for yard exercising, and all of the other fun home gym things but i'll all come in time

That's it, I've done it. I made an appointment with a guy trying to sell a home gym setup before moving for tonight, and it's everything that I want. 300lbs of plates + bar, adjustable bench (flat/incline), squat rack, lat pulldown and a leg curl, all in one piece of equipment. It may take some finagling to figure out how to modify my sessions when I don't have specific machines or dumbbells (for the moment, I'm sure I'll get some soon), but I think this is the best possible thing for me. Plus, the fact that I'm bringing home a gym has gotten my girlfriend excited and she wants to start lifting with me which I am really, really, really stoked about. This is the best news I've gotten about my fitness desires in a long time, and I'm really happy. I just hope the unit is as nice in person as it looks in the photos, and if it is, it's comin home with me tonight and I'll set it up for tomorrow's session. Cross your fingers for me!!

Are posts getting deleted? There are posts missing from my log and I think from others' logs as well. Either way, getting back into the swing of things has been slow. This gym has a lot of closed days. I guess it's appropriate for the time being while I work on and save for my backyard setup, but it's less than ideal. My deadlift strength has plummeted with 1.5 months off and it feels pretty shitty. I will fight my way back up, though. Deadlift 5x135lbs 5x165lbs 5x190lbs 1x220lbs (shot for 5, couldn't even break it after the first. totally demoralizing.) 5x185lbs Incline Press 8x45 8x55 8x65 8x75 5x80 Squat 5x75lbs 5x95lbs 2x5x115lbs SLDLs 4x10x115lbs Front Squats 4x10x95lbs Wide Grip Lat Pulldowns 12x70lbs 3x12x80lbs Lateral Raise 3x10x10lbs 10x5lbs (superset with...) Alternating Curls 3x10x15lbs 10x10lbs 10x5lbs I can't wait to just lift in my backyard ugh I don't like going to the gym but I love lifting, gotta find that compromise.

I'VE BEEN BODYBUILDING In and out of the gym, and really busy. But I'm keeping active and gettin in whenever I can. I had every intention of going every single day this month until they closed down my powerlifting gym as well.. grr... another week until I can get back in. Apparently University of Florida has a real sweet gym, should I find myself employed there. I went to Gainesville to drop off my partner and see the city a little last week and I love it, I can't wait to get down there. We've already got ourselves a little house and a lease secured, I'll be down officially in the beginning of October. Anyway, still workin hard, but not a lot to post probably for the next month. I'm just going to do what I can and keep nutrition on point this month as much as possible, and get to work on my backyard gym immediately upon stepping foot in FL permanently

Back in the gym today after two entire weeks off. Vacation was great, we spent a lot of time on the beach and reading and relaxing and having fun, but I really missed the grind. Lucky for me, I got to go back to my powerlifting gym today. Shoe-free lifestyle! Deadlift 5x135lbs 5x175lbs 5x215lbs 3x250lbs 8x155lbs Incline Press 5x60lbs 5x70lbs 5x75lbs 5x80lbs Squat 5x95lbs 3x10x135lbs Leg Press 3x12x300lbs (superset with...) Dumbbell Curls w/static holds 3x12x20lbs Rope Pushdown 3x12x76lbs (superset with...) Wide-grip Lat Pulldown 3x12x80lbs

Hah, I should've! I've gotta start wearing vegan propaganda to the gym to announce myself Stuck with 5x240lbs for my deadlifts today, but I upped weight on the warm up sets. I wanna be smart about increasing my deadlift, I feel like I've got a form kink or two to work out still. This was my last gym session for the next week because I'm skippin town and headed to Long Island for some fun in the sun. Also, my girlfriend got officially accepted into the program that she wanted to be in in Gainsville, FL, so it looks like I'll be movin soon! Can't wait to get outta Chicago and go somewhere that I can have a backyard and a garden. Deadlift 5x155lbs 5x185lbs 5x215lbs 5x240lbs Incline Press 5x60lbs 5x70lbs 5x80lbs 5x90lbs Squat 5x95lbs 5x115lbs 5x145lbs 5x145lbs Hammer Curls 15x20lbs 2x10x25lbs (superset with...) Lateral Raise 3x12x15lbs Wide-Grip Lat Pulldown 3x12x72lbs (superset with...) Crunch Machine 3x15x75lbs

Thanks guys! I'm really feeling the work pay off recently. Today I even worked in with a dude in the squat rack that had 5 inches and 60 lbs on me easy and I kept up with weights plant power! Squats 10x45lbs 5x95lbs 5x115lbs 5x135lbs 5x155lbs 5x180lbs Dumbbell Press 5x20lbs 5x25lbs 5x30lbs 5x35lbs 8x40lbs (pushed these as many as I could because I'm trying to hard to increase my pressing power, I figure it can't hurt) Barbell Rows (I have come to absolutely love these. Who knew?) 5x65lbs 6x80lbs 5x95lbs 5x110lbs 5x125lbs OHS (because why the hell not) 3x12x55lbs (superset with...) Straight Arm Pulldown 3x12x72lbs Incline Fly 3x12x20lbs (superset with..) Incline Curl 3x12x15lbs

Feelin so beastly lately. I like adding in some bodybuilding stuff at the end of my powerlifting for upper body. I feel pretty huge and awesome. Also realized I probably haven't been eating enough and that's cause for some of my low energy the past week or two. Gotta get in more fuel!!! Squats 5x95lbs 5x115lbs 5x135lbs 5x155lbs 4x180lbs (didn't get vid on these, but I felt like I broke lower than usual on my heavy set and I'm 100% pleased.) 8x135lbs Dumbbell Bench 5x20lbs 5x25lbs 5x30lbs 5x35lbs 7x35lbs (tried and missed with 3x45lbs, but didn't want to completely miss my top set so I repped out 35 instead) 8x25lbs Barbell Row 5x60lbs 5x75lbs 5x90lbs 5x105lbs 3x125lbs 8x90lbs Weighted Hypers 3x12x25lbs (superset with...) Barbell Curl 3x12x50lbs One Arm Rope Pushdowns 3x12x24lbs (superset with...) Decline Dumbbell Press 3x12x25lbs Also, here is an aesthetics update, sittin solid at 136lbs and still 5'5" : I am learning to smile when I flex

Whoops, didn't mean to! I accidentally uploaded two copies and took one down. It's back up now!

New maxes for me! 122.5 kg deadlift 90.5 kg squat 45.5 kg bench (fighting for every single kg on that one haha) BW now to 60kg

Haha yeah, weight droppin is the best kind of applause! This is one of the gyms at Northwestern, the one that caters more to bodybuilders and non-strength athletes. My powerlifting gym is closed for the summer It's a nice enough gym for what it is, but it seriously lacks in racks and benches and I dislike using plates with handles for deadlifts... but weights are weights and I'm still gonna pick em up! Really can't wait to be back in a more strength-focused atmosphere, though, I've seen enough 1/4rep squats in the past month to last me a lifetime.

I AM HUGE AND BEASTLY AND UNSTOPPABLE AND I WILL EAT ALL OF THE OREOS AND NOT CARE ABOUT MY BODYFAT ARRRRGH!! (translation: I conquered the 5x240lb deadlift that I missed last week and now I will eat all of the things) Deadlift 5x65lbs 5x155lbs 5x180lbs 5x210lbs 5x240lbs (vid at the bottom) Incline Press (missed my last set completely, probably overexerted myself on DLs but I don't caaaare) 5x60lbs 5x70lbs 5x80lbs 1x95lbs Squat 10x45lbs 5x95lbs 5x115lbs 5x135lbs 5x145lbs (added an extra 10lbs whoops not following the program but I'm gettin strong and I just wanted to) OHP 8x55lbs 3x6x60lbs Hammer Curls w/static holds in alternating arm 3x15x20lbs (superset with...) Lateral Raise 3x10x15lbs Crunch Machine 3x15x70lbs (superset with...) Wide-grip Lat Pulldowns 3x10x72lbs I feel like I've finally trained long enough that I feel exactly where this should be in my Lats, and I can really concentrate on hitting them. Felt really good to hit these at the end of a solid session today.

I've decided to do more accessories in higher rep schemes at the end of my 5x5 (really, 3x5?) lifts for the day. I had been doing some, but I'm going to do more. I'm going to get so fucking big. Weight stable at 135lbs. Pulled back from my intended 5x180lb squats and hit 5x175lbs to at least an inch below parallel instead, because I had to hit them last and my back was already a little tired from rows. I don't want to be dumb and throw myself out of the game on some pride shit, so I was smart about it. The reason I had to squat last was because once again there was someone pressing in the squat rack. I'm so sick of the bodybuilding gym, my motivation to get in there and just do work despite all the assholery around me is fueled by all these serious gains I've been makin lately. I want my own backyard gym so bad I can taste it. Dumbell Bench Press 5x20lbs 5x25lbs 5x30lbs 5x35lbs 5x40lbs Barbell Row 5x55lbs 5x75lbs 5x95lbs 5x105lbs 5x120lbs Squats 10x45lbs 5x85lbs 5x110lbs 5x130lbs 5x155lbs 5x175lbs Incline Fly 3x10x20lbs (superset with...) Incline Hammer Curl 10x20lbs 2x10x15lbs Hammer Curl 10x12lbs 12x10lbs Trap Bar Shrugs 3x12x115lbs (superset with...) Straight Arm Pulldown 3x15x64lbs

Had kind of a shitty session today. Not entirely sure why, but I suppose if I have one off day when most of my days feel spot on, I should just feel happy about it. Haven't slept super well the past few nights, that probably has some effect. Oh well, went as hard as I could and I'll be back in Friday to smash some more. Went for the 5x5 with press today, and I might go back to that rather than the 5x8 that I've been running. It felt good, and I'm starting to feel a lot more comfortable with weight over head so I think I'll be better equipped to handle heavier, lower rep sets now. Deadlift warm up sets felt really good, but the last set was a rough one. I hit the first three reps with a little difficulty, but the fourth rep I broke off the ground and couldn't lock out. I've never had an issue of locking out after breaking the weight, every time I've previously failed a deadlift was due to not being able to break the weight off the ground. Of course I'll revisit 5x240lbs next week, hopefully with a better session goin. Also, I still hate doing ab work. Squat 10x45lbs 5x95lbs 5x115lbs 2x5x135lbs Incline Bench Press 5x50lbs 5x60lbs 5x70lbs 5x80lbs 5x85lbs Deadlift 5x150lbs 5x180lbs 5x210lbs 3x240lbs Crunch Machine 3x20x70lbs

Wednesday was big. Today was huge. I've been hitting it so hard. I am so, so sore today, and have been since Wednesday's session. The deadlifts really took it out of me, and despite rollin out for days I'm still sore. I'm sure it's a good idea to only hit deads 1x/week so that I can go really heavy and then recover, but I still miss deadlifting with higher volume. Oh well, I'm gettin stronger and that's what's important. I gotta trust the process. New PRs this week for 3RM on squat and barbell rows. Press is feeling really strong, I know I'm getting better on it. Wednesday's Session Squats 10x45lbs 5x90lbs 5x110lbs 2x5x135lbs Incline Bench 8x45lbs 8x55lbs 8x70lbs 8x80lbs 6x85lbs (shot for 8 and had to dump this one, but still happy with it, much improvement being made) Deadlift 5x155lbs 5x175lbs 5x205lbs 5x235lbs Crunch Machine 3x20x65lbs Friday's Session Squat 2x10x45lbs (2 sets, one back squat and one front squat while I waited for the rack to open up) 5x90lbs 5x110lbs 5x130lbs 5x155lbs 3x180lbs (hit parallel, so pleased, new PR!!) 8x145lbs Bench Press 8x50lbs 8x60lbs 8x70lbs 8x80lbs 4x90lbs (was shooting for 5, but without a spotter didn't want to chance the fifth. still progress!) 10x75lbs Barbell Rows 5x55lbs 5x65lbs 5x85lbs 5x100lbs 3x115lbs 8x85lbs Tricep Dip 3x5 (superset with...) Barbell Curls 8x60lbs 8x55lbs 10x50lbs (superset with...) One-Arm Tricep Extension 3x8x15lbs Lateral Raise 2x15x12lbs (superset with...) Hammer Curls 2x15x12lbs

I've been feelin so strong, and getting bigger. Weight pretty stable around 135 these days, give or take a couple pounds. All my lifts are still going up. 5x5 is the best. Squats 10x45lbs 5x90lbs 5x110lbs 5x130lbs 5x150lbs 5x175lbs Bench Press 8x50lbs 8x60lbs 8x70lbs 8x80lbs 8x85lbs Barbell Row 5x55lbs 5x65lbs 5x80lbs 5x95lbs 5x110lbs Crunch Machine 4x15x85lbs (superset with..) Weighted Hypers 3x10x30lbs

Today was so good. I feel huge and awesome. Bench Press 8x45lbs 8x55lbs 8x65lbs 8x80lbs 5x90lbs 10x75lbs Barbell Rows 5x55lbs 5x65lbs 5x80lbs 5x90lbs 3x110lbs 8x95lbs Squatsssss 10x45lbs 5x85lbs 5x110lbs 5x130lbs 5x150lbs 3x175lbs 8x130lbs Tricep Dips (NO ASSISTANCE, I'M SUCH A BADASS) 3x5 (superset with...) Barbell Curls 3x8x60lbs (superset with...) One-Arm Tricep Extension 3x8x15lbs

Still puttin up good numbers! I'm sure ya did the right thing listening to your body - last thing you want is to push it and have to sit out for a week or two.