The TFP Health Club

Cardio today, then benching. Felt weak not being able to do 275 for more than 5 reps, but I haven't really benched, heavy for over a month. Baby steps. Good news is the shoulder is merely aggravated.

 

Try some volume to mix it up. I have been enjoying the challenge of it. 25 sets or do of chest and back in an hour, plus 15 minutes of cardio. I'm wiped at the end of that.

 

I have done sets of 20 with light weights a couple of times. I almost always have a lot of volume in my benching, because I need an idiotic amount of warmup to bench heavy. Yesterday I dropped the weight back to 135 after the 275 and did a set of 20 to finish off. I am glad my shoulder is feeling relatively solid.

 

Still hitting the gym, still making improvements. I bought a preworkout mix a month ago and went right through it. 20 servings for $38 before taxes was too pricey. So I decided to make my own better one. 200 mgs of caffeine is easily replaced with a tablet. The pwo contained citrulline, 6 gms per serving. It also contained a small amount of beta alanine. The recommendation for beta alanine is 3 gms a day. So I bought those separately and for much cheaper. Some creatine and some sugar free kool-aid and I'm good to go. I did try mixing citrulline with my protein shake and that was a mistake. It is very bitter so it made the shake taste sour. Not good with milk base. I also mix up some gatorade for consumption during my workout.
I think carbs have gotten a bad rap the past couple decades, and I don't think they necessarily deserve it. I have been trying to consume carbs during and after my workouts and I think they have helped recovery. My workout drink is about 50-60 gms which I finish by the end of my workout. The muscles are designed to run most efficiently on carbs, to the point that carbs are stored directly in the muscles. Now this doesn't mean pile on the carbs all day every day, but if you are physical and active you need carbs for better performance. I think nutrient timing, getting most of your carbs in during and right after your workout is important. At that point your body is primed for carb storage in the muscles and the insulin spike is useful for driving in the sugar. So use carbs effectively after your workouts to recover better and prepare for your next training.

 

This past week I got up to a 405lb x 5 rep squat and improved my bench by quite a bit. Have added more back off sets to the bench to get used to the movement. I have also chosen to bring my grip in a bit to help protect my shoulder, which means my press length is slightly longer, so more work.

I'm pretty sure I need more warm up before squats, my knee was not happy for a few days.

 

I'm at the 2 minute plank now..... Mine will be 5 minutes by the time I'm done.

I love Planks! It's basically my position in rugby.

 

I would also recommend some basic yin-flow or restorative yoga. You can find a lot of simple, short flows on YouTube. Deep stretching and slow movements that unblock restricted circulation and getting a little upside down will help. Doing a flow, thought, puts the movements in order so as not to hurt yourself or get out of balance.

 

Another workout yesterday with squatting almost what I was doing before the time off. I wish benching bounced back that quickly. Topped off squats with 405x5 then a back off set of 315x10. I even broke parallel on most reps, deeper than that on a few, almost ATG.

My shoulder didn't complain about the squats, but my forearm(s) are tender as heck. Guess I have more rehab to add to my workout regimen.

 

A little advice to me next time I go to the gym. Check and make sure I've had more calories first. Yesterday I ate pretty light and went to the gym without a snack first. When I entered my activity in myfitnesspal I had netted a total of 100 calories for the day, after two meals. No wonder the light weights felt like a truck parked on my chest. I had almost 1600 calories available for dinner. My daily goal is 1670... After gorging dinner, I went to bed with almost 400 calories under. Today I'm tired.

 

Still tired and for some reason my appetite is low. Squatted Saturday and made it up to 365 for five, and decided I was too tired to hit 405. I did follow up with a couple of sets of leg presses to add some volume.

Last Monday I accidentally ate one bite of an Oreo icecream, thinking it was vanilla and chocolate, and my guts have been at war with me for a week. Darn you food intolerances!

 

Skwaatz last night. Changed my hand position on the bar and magically my shoulder rack position was solid. Did 2 sets of five with the following weights 135 185 225 275 315 365, pretty solid. I was supposed to start a light weight program with higher reps, but lost the farm when I fixed my rack position.

Now if I can fix my bench and get some deadlifting started...

 

Been working out in the morning at times now so I can have more evening free time. It is going pretty good, though workouts have to be slightly rushed due to time. Still higher volume. For example, my chest shoulders and triceps workout the other night was an hour and twenty minutes. But that was 12 working sets of chest, 14 of shoulders, and 9 sets of triceps. That is a lot for me. The biggest change in the morning workout is for legs. I'm just too stiff to start a leg workout at 0645 with squats. So I completely reverse it. Calves first, then hamstrings. Followed by leg extensions and then finally compound movements. It wrecks the weight I can use, but I figure my muscles don't know that. Though I worry my stabilizers aren't getting as much work. Oh well, at least legs in the morning hasn't broken me. Someday when I shed a few lbs I will post some pics. Just as an aside, when I was in the patrol, they offered a free tshirt to the guys that could plank for 2 minutes, 30 seconds. Never having done planks before, I did it at a bodyweight of 245. Guess you just need the right motivation.

 

Five days in a row for lifting weights. Push, pull, legs, push, pull. Taking today off, then legs tomorrow. I need the rest. Though I'm so used to working out that I want to go again. But I'm too sore and have started to have little niggling injuries pop up. All of the sudden, both elbows are sore.