Pausing the DB Bench with the side of the DBs touching the the side of my trunk. Streeeeeetch.
Leg Press was bugging my left hip a little. Will probably go away.
On Lat Pushdowns, I'd been having an issue where my triceps were getting tired just from holding the extension. I tried relaxing my elbows slightly, and that seemed to keep them a bit less engaged.
Leg had been feeling so much better, I decided to play with some Squatting. Low bar regular wasn't feeling great, so I moved my stance in a bit, and it felt better, but really awkward. Moving to High-Bar seemed to make it feel more natural. I started working up in sets of 3, taking small jumps. If it hurt a little, or felt awkward, I would repeat the set. Got into the mid-to-upper 200s and I was starting to have some discomfort through the quarter of ROM right around parallel, but it felt all good at the very bottom. I switched to doubles, and then singles to get up to 300. Did a couple of sets there and they felt a little sharp, but not too bad. Got a little greedy and went up to 315. First set was okay, but the second set had a very sharp twinge in the adductor, and now it basically feels like I've lost 10 or so days of recovery process. But hey, my previous best HBS was 250X5 (in 2014), and at least these were fast.
All I really wanted was to keep motor pathways fresh with some higher-intensity / very low-volume squatting in the hopes that would facilitate a more rapid "come back" once I can low bar Squat pain free. Oh, well. Luckily I'm going camping for 4 days this weekend and won't even be in the gym. When I come back, I'll just have to take it super slow. Last set of 300 and last set of 315 shown.
Definitely wasn't putting my feet back on the ground for bench after this. I'd already proactively decided to cycle down to triples at this point on the feet-up bench. Again, just trying to keep relative intensity high while frequency has been reduced by schedule. These moved well.
Pull-Ups also felt pretty good. +1 rep from last time.
Supinated Pull-Down weight is now at a challenging intensity. Probably the best strategy for next week is to stay at the same weight, and try to go for 12 on each set.
Arms felt worn out by the time I got to Hammer Curls. Same results as last time.
Pull-Downs (supinated) - X10, 10, 10 (straight-weight; +5 "lbs." from last time)
Hammer Curls - 35sX10, 8
Had an MRI on my hips today and dropped the file off with my P.T. Will see him on Friday to get the scoop.
Press felt really good today. Even though this is 8 lbs. off my best 3X5, this still surprised me. This lift had felt like shit for a while. We'll see how it goes. My current theory is a combination of factors went into this: 1) Not Squatting and Deadlifting for the last week has reduced overall fatigue, 2a) Pulling back on Bench and Press weights AND volume has also reduced overall fatigue, and 2b) has allowed for a little bit of "peaking." Basically, I'm doing a little less and so am not as sore and tired, and so my lifts may be temporarily spiking. Again, just a theory for now.
Also, Pull-Ups blasted off today. Last session (which was my first time doing pronated pull-ups in 6 YEARS), they were really rough out of the gate, and getting 3 was a grind. I grabbed the bar today expecting only 3-4. 3 was smooth, then 4 went up pretty well, and then I did a slow but certain 5th. Felt so good, I was tempted to get some extra sets/reps, but I stuck to the plan and just increased by 1 rep over last session. I expect this quick improvement is mostly neurological as I re-familiarize myself with the movement.
Pull-Downs and Hammer Curls were fine. Discomfort in my left hand is still present even in the pronated pull-down. Also hoping this will benefit from the break from DL.
Pull-Downs - X8, 6, 5 (straight-weight; +5 "lbs." from last session)
BB Curls - 50X10, 10
First time doing Bench with my feet-up, so technically a PR. Didn't get any trouble out of my hip doing them this way, so should be good for the time-being. Went in prepared to start with 185, but could tell it was going to be more than that. Used 185 as my last warm-up, then jumped up to 205. Felt about right. Not easy, but felt confident not calling for a spotter (safety bars on the bench I used). No video.
Chin-Ups felt pretty strong out of the gate. Getting 5 reps on set 3 isn't consistent yet, but is getting more common.
Upped the weight on the pull-downs and definitely exceeded some threshold, dropping from 10 reps per set down to this. Shooting for 8-12 on all sets so I'll back off 10 "lbs." (who knows what the actual resistance is on these machines), and see if I can get 12 reps per set and work my way back up. For some reason, getting into position on this machine was lighting my hip up a little bit. WTF.
Got 2X12 last time on straight-bar curls, so went up to 50 here.
So, I went to my P.T. before the training session today to get my hip looked at. He didn't like how pain was being triggered during one part of the assessment ordered an MRI. Got that scheduled for the middle of this week. Could just be tendinosis in the left adductor, but he's concerned that there may be some impingement or damage in the hip now.
TL;DR = no Squats, Deadlifts, or full power Bench (i.e. w/ leg drive) until this gets sorted. I was already planning a maintenance block due to recent and upcoming schedule difficulties, so at least I had a bit of a plan in place.
Press was okay today, but has just been feeling heavy recently. That probably won't get better during the maintenance block, and I will likely be dropping reps down pretty quickly here. Last set shown.
Haven't done pronated pull-ups in a long time. Pretty darn hard. Decided to stay at 3 sets to start, and do my usual thing of getting more reps in each subsequent session regardless of how many sets it takes. Similar to Chins, I'll look to cap these at 25. I guess?
Was able to add weight and/or reps to the assistance movements. Whatevs.
No PR on Chins, but I did complete the 2nd set of 5 with +25 that I missed last week. On to +30! No video of this.
I've switched over to the full GSLP for this reset to see how that works out, and I was pretty tired and not feeling like squatting. Also, I'd gone to the PT before the gym to see about this adductor issue, so it was later than usual. PT thinks I'm got limited internal rotation mobility in my right hip, and he gave me some stuff to do. I was doing it before and between every single squat set. I did get fired up for my final set here after spotting a guy with 465X4, so I was ready for the final set. 330X9 is a Rep PR. The video is off center and terrible.
First "real" day training with the team, and it was the day after my 5K race. We kind of felt it out to see what would work and give us a starting point. We were conservative with Squats because of the race, and because there is some nagging tightness in my left hip/low-back area. A little more aggressive with Bench, and then decided to keep Deadlift on pace with Squats.
That went pretty well. Although very slow, I never stopped or walked.
Similar to my last tempo run, everything sucks for the first mile or so, and then the pain in my feet goes away, and I can kind of zone out. During the second mile, other aches and pains start to pop up (mostly around my hips), but they kind of subsided after a while. By the end, I felt like I could have kept going, and that seems good.
My legs and hips were very sore the rest of the evening. Not sure how much of that is the run, and how much of it is DOMS from lower body training the day before.
My plan is to hit the full 3 miles next week. Shoot for 3.5 the week after, and then reset to 2.5 at a faster pace.
