Squats
345 x 5
390 x 3
435 x 1

Dumbbell push press
80 x 3, 3
100 x 3
110 x 5, 4 (left side)
Harder to keep balance on my left. Part of that is the dumbbell I'm using, but awkwardness is a good thing here.

SSB squats
305 x 10, 10

Wide bench press
35 x 73, 40, 50
Pec rehab. Trying to get a chest pump.

Fun little punch-the-clock workout.

Friend had to cancel the trip for personal reasons, so I'm back to training Tuesday as usual. Holding off a deload until comp week.

Bench press
Up to 185
Pec tendons hurt really bad.

Incline bench
Up to 225
Same deal. Called it quits here.

Went back down in the yard 10 minutes later and messed around with some dumbbell push presses. Felt great. Gonna make these my staple. Plan on maxing them out tomorrow with squats for one crazy training sessions before two days of rest on my trip.

Hill sprints 3x and then the usual 10 minute jog afterwards. Having fun with cooking today. Tonight's dinner are low-carb portobella mushroom pizzas: http://www.muscleandfitness.com/nutrition/healthy-recipes/portobello-pizzas

Not cheat day tomorrow. I'm leaving Sunday night to spend two days with a friend up north and want a splurge day then.

Map pulls (5)
485 x 3, 3, 0
405 x 15
Well, an improvement over 0, but that's not saying much. The narrow stance is helping, though. Ending the exercise on little victories by shooting for rep PRs with 405.

SSB squats
335 x 3 x 5

Fasted walk today. Scale isn't working. Hopefully it's just out of batteries. Not doing anything for Christmas Eve but I'm looking forward to my first ever Christmas lifting session tomorrow thanks to my home gym. Had a good kabob dinner last night with extended family visiting. Played a host of Dreamcast games with my cousins and I'm pretty sure Soul Calibur counts as some type of training.

Yesterday:

Overhead press
222 x 1, 2
First time pressing heavy overhead since my injury. We'll see what happens next week when I retry.

Close-grip bench press
245 x 5 x 10
Ugh, pec tendons are really hurting. Almost didn't do this but they felt a little better after the first set.

Weighted chin-ups
70 x 5 x 10

Dumbbell push press
80 x 1, 5
Fooled around with this. Was hard at first because the weight plate dug into my shoulder unlike what a thicker dumbbell would do but after a set I got the hang of it and repped it out pretty easily. 90 next week. Pleased with this after taking the bench sets close to failure several times.

Squats
320 x 3
365 x 3
410 x 3

SSB squats
305 x 10, 8, 8

Bench press
270 x 5
310 x 3
345 x 1
Everything felt heavy today. X3 was hard, only hit 345 because of my disproportionate fast-twitch strength. Probably from benching three times this week. Pec tendons hurt, too.

Overhead press
155 x 10, 10, 10, 10, 10
Was way of this but I survived.

Lying dumbbell rows
150 x 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8

Kettlebell preacher curls
50 x 7, 7, 5

Band pull-aparts

I notice that Untamed Strength is having a free open gym session this Saturday. Would really benefit me to go and get some actual practice in if it wasn't far.

Mat pulls (5)
485 x 0, 0, 0
405 x 13
Psychologically could not pull the trigger. Gonna reset back to 9. Played around with my form, viewing deadlift tutorials by Emevas and powerlifting to win, and found a teaser of success with a very narrow stance and more precise foot alignment with the bar. Not enough to break mental barriers but that will come with refreshed brainpower another day keeping what I learned about technique in mind. I had tried narrow for a day last year and it didn't help/felt wrong, but today things seemed to click with achieving better leg drive.

SSB squats
330 x 3 x 5

Fooled around with some light high pulls and cleans between squat sets. Don't need to worry about wrist flexibility like normal-bar Olympic lifts, thankfully. Not gonna fret about going continental, either; 225 or even 250 if I don't make weight is comfortable weight for me.

Tried to overhead press. Stopped at 165 because it didn't feel right. Maybe I could have gone the whole way without reinjury but maybe not, and I'm not keen on another inactive week when I can bench fine now.

Incline bench
200 x 10, 10, 10

Close-grip bench
250 x 8, 8, 8

Dumbbell rows
150 x 5 x 8
130 x 10
> Done right out in the pouring rain. Didn't give a fuck.

Curls

Squats
300 x 5
345 x 5
390 x 5

SSB squats
305 x 3 x 8

Deadlifts
375 x 2
> Neck wasn't feeling it, had to stop.

I'm back! Neck still has some pain but I have mobility again. Still need to be careful and I've learned my lesson about overhead pressing until I'm completely better.

No noticeable upper-body strength loss in my week off. May have gained some fat weight from increased carbs and liberal eating, though I'm always solid on protein intake. Will weigh myself tomorrow.

Bench press:
255 x 3
290 x 3
325 x 3

Close-grip bench:
245 x 10, 10, 10, 10, 9

Weighted chins:
70 x 5 x 12
No weight: 25

6.5 minutes of curls, rear delts, external rotations

Worsened my injury when warming up with 65 pounds for overhead pressing. Going to up my calorie intake now because it could be a while before I'm able to train.

Attempted overhead pressing today. Couldn't really get past warm-ups, but this is the first day when I've noticed improvement in mobility. Will try again tomorrow. There seems to be nerve damage with lost sensation on the right side of my neck.

Sunday

Squats
305 x 5

This was all I could manage due to my neck. 345 wasn't happening.

This was on Saturday.

Bench press
235 x 5
270 x 5
310 x 5

Overhead press
155 x 10, 10, 10
> Tweaked neck/lower trap very badly. This is practically happening every month. Be strict about doing neck exercises.

Lying dumbbell rows
150 x 10, 10, 8, 9

Couldn't physically finish the rest so did some light stuff.

Band pressdowns, slow chin-ups, curls

One hour walk in the pouring rain yesterday. Got soaked and had to put away my wireless headset to protect it, so no podcasts. Goddamn, this stuff is boring on its own!

Mat pulls (5)
485 x 2, 2, 0

At a bit of a loss. I trained hungry again, but this discrepancy still seems crazy. Going to fill up and try one more set in the evening, plus squats.

Trained in rain and mud again. Miserably enjoying it in a mental exercise type of way, especially after listening to WWI combatants living in sopping wet trenches for months at a time from my history podcasts.

Overhead press
162 x 5
182 x 5
207 x 5
> 5 week is always the toughest, probably more because my fast-twitch makeup has always been disproportionately good at the 1-3 rep range. Struggled to get the 5th.

Close-grip bench:
242 x 5 x 10

Weighted chins:
70 x 6 x 12
> Rain and mud kept me from getting a good grip so I landed my feet between every rep and increased the volume to compensate. Healthier on my pec tendons anyway.

8 minutes of rear delts, external rotators, curls