Entry #1166

My pec tie-ins are still hurting when I bench. Swiss bar didn't seem to make any difference. Benched 280x6 (202x5x10 paused for assistance work and 130x5x10 rows) with it and squatted 340x5 yesterday. At the bare minimum if this doesn't go away I'm going to change the BBB sets to something easier on the chest and if it still persists I'll just have to get creative with a bench press alternative.

Entry #1165

Missed recording a couple of great days.

I did squats for the first time in over a month and, more importantly, the first full squats in almost a year. No quadricep pain. I'm going to cautiously consider myself healed so I can finally run 5/3/1 with them again.

Squats:
Something
Something
320 x 5
> Nice and easy to start with. Because of severe deconditioning my legs were sore by the first set of warming-up with 135, and now three days later I can barely walk from DOMS. 

Dimel deadlifts:
225 x 20, 15

And then on Thursday:

Press:
160 x 3
180 x 3
205 x 5

Pause press:
135 x 3 x 10

V-handle chin-ups:
14, 13, 13, 13, 13

Dips:
20, 15

Band pull-aparts + curls

Entry #1164

Bench press:
95 x 5
135 x 5
205 x 5
235 x 5
265 x 10
> Nice. My shoulders ache during and after bench pressing, though (even on the 135 set). I might go back to the Swiss bar and roll with that all the way to meet day.

Swiss bar bench press:
202 x 3 x 10
> This felt way heavier than last week, probably because 290x5 wasn't as tiring as 265x10.

Dumbbell rows:
130 x 3 x 10

Dips:
20, 15

Band pull-aparts:
25, 20

Kettlebell curls:
35 x 10, 11

Entry #1163

First day of conditioning since getting sick. Ran three laps of hill sprints, jogged the short way home, and did 50, then 30 reps of kettlebell swings in the bedroom, with 20 reverse crunches on the floor. Had to force myself not to keep doing things after that. I have a habit of wanting to run myself into the ground when I do cardio.

I'm breaking a golden rule of meet preparation by trying out new things, but hell, my normal lower body protocol has been so screwy anyways what with recovering my quad injury that it's impossible to upset anything I've had going. In the interest of training three times a week and experiencing better deadlift performance training them infrequently, I'm only going to be pulling from the floor on the third week of the program (as well as the subsequent deload). I've been deadlifting in the 440-475 range for two years now and I don't think I'll be missing anything by training my body to handle higher weight exclusively now. We'll see how this works out.

Entry #1162

Skipping deload because I took a week off.

Press:
150 x 5
170 x 5
190 x 6
> Strength is coming back. I'm at where I was a month ago, which is good news. I've never been this solid after being sick before, nevermind taking an entire week off.

Pause press:
132 x 4 x 10
132 x 8

V-handle chin-ups:
13, 13, 13, 13, 13

Band pull-aparts:
15, 15, 15
> My second micro-mini snapped. That makes three snapped bands in all.

Curls

Entry #1161

Still coughing. Trying to train the bare minimum here.

Bench press:
230 x 5
260 x 3
290 x 5
> Gas for 1 more.

Swiss bar pause bench:
202 x 3 x 10

Dumbbell rows:
130 x 3 x 10

Dips:
20, 15

Inverted rows:
20, 15

Kettlebell curls:
15 x 20 

Entry #1160

I've been out for a week, easily the sickest I've ever been in my life. Last night was my first time back. I'm still sick, but recovered enough to feel functional.

Press:
145 x 5
185 x 3
210 x 1
> 145 felt so heavy that I was worried I wouldn't even get this for 1.

Pause press:
132 x 3 x 10

V-handle chin-ups:
13, 13, 13, 13

Dips:
12

Kettlebell curls:
25 x 15, 15

Felt uplifting to get in the gym and hit my goal.