Weirdquark Doesn't Have Challenge Goals Right Now

[weirdquark]

Trap Bar Deadlift

135x5xc+

155x5xc+

 

These assume the trap bar weighs 45, same as the Olympic bar. I tried searching for the actual weight but it appears that they vary. I was going to start with front squats but the squat cage was being used by a dude doing not very heavy partial squats. Sigh. I was kind of excited until I saw how low he wasn't going. There was a kid yesterday doing squats with slightly less weight but beautiful form and great mobility -- really going ass to grass and everything. Anyway, I did these while I was waiting for the dude to be done. I didn't want to go heavy because I've never done them before and also because I lifted heavy yesterday so wanted to go light on everything.

 

Single-arm DB OHP

25x10xc+

25x10xc+

25x10xc+

25x10xc+

25x10xc+

 

Grow, muscles grow!

 

Front Squats

45x10ec+

65x5ec+

95x5xc+

95x5xc+

95x5xc+

 

Front squats make for lighter squats in general and this was also lightish for front squats -- about 70% of my last tested max.

 

Hanging (Wide Grip) Leg Raises

BWx10xc+

BWx10xc+

BWx10xc+

 

The leg raises themselves were actually pretty easy but hanging on with wide grip was a bit hard.

 

S/F Lat Raises

10x5xc+

10x5yc+

10x5yc+

 

Accessory work, accessory work. I wanted to use 8lb weights and do higher reps but I didn't see them.

 

Foam Rolling!

My mother thought there was a foam rolling class today which turned out not to be the case, but she showed me some foam rolling things after I was done lifting. Never did it before. Yup, that finds some tight spots all right.

 

We also hunted down some kettlebells and I showed her a few things you can do with them. I probably should get one at some point; the balance is not the same as DBs and my form feels better. Also the kettlebell wouldn't press on my wrist like the plates on the DB do.

[weirdquark]

Travelled all day yesterday and was low on sleep, so took a light day today. Madcow would have me do a lighter day for squats anyway if my lifting days are Sat-Mon-Wed

 

Squats

65x5ec+

85x5ec+

105x5xc+

105x5xc+

105x5xc+

 

Incline Single arm DB Bench Press

22.5x10ec+

32.5x5xc+

37.5x5yc+

37.5x5yc+

37.5x5yc+

 

RDLs

65x5ec+

115x8ec+

115x8ec+

115x8ec+

[weirdquark]

Climbing tonight, otherwise rest day. Mmm, sleep.

[weirdquark]

Squats

65x5ec+

77.5x5ec+

95x5xc+

110x5xc+

127.5x3yc+

95x8ec+

 

Day 3 of Madcow; I didn't properly do days one and two but that's okay.

 

OHP

35x10ec+

45x5ec+

55x5xc+

65x5xc+

75x5yc+

55x8xc+

 

Not Madcow, which has me doing OHP once a week on my middle days. Also, these are more or less the weights I'd be using in week six.

 

DB Swings

42.5x10ec+

42.5x10ec+

42.5x10ec+

42.5x10ec+

42.5x10ec+

 

Having recently tried swings with an actual kettlebell recently I can say that my hips didn't feel like they were snapping nearly as well. I don't know how much was that I was using a much heavier weight with these (I picked up a 35lb one and decided I was too tired after my workout so switched to a 25lb one) and how much was balance, but I suspect a lot was balance as the weight itself didn't feel that heavy. Will try putting most of the weight on the bottom with only a 2.5 on the other side to help with grip next time and see what happens.

 

Wide Grip Pull-Ups

2f3 2 2 2 2

[weirdquark]

Climbing tonight. Tried WG pull-ups again this morning and could get three reps; next step is to be able to get three reps after regular lifting. Though there is still the vague plan to do weighted instead and get three reps that way. Wide grip makes the pull-ups harder and doesn't require keeping a bag with weights near the bar though.

[weirdquark]

I did everything using the Madcow programming weights (I did adjust a few things up 2.5lbs if it meant using fewer plates.) and was able to get through everything in the time I normally have before work. I'm not sure how long I'll be able to keep that up as I did so by having short rest periods, especially with bench and rows, but given that the early sets are below what I was starting with, I can always cut the first warmup set for everything but squats if I'm short on time.

 

Squats

65x5ec+

80x5ec+

95x5xc+

112.5x5xc+

127.5x5yc+

 

Bench

55x5ec+

65x5ec+

80x5ec+

92.5x5xc+

105x5yc+

 

Row

45x5ec+

57.5ec+

67.5x5xc+

80x5xc+

90x5yc+

[weirdquark]

And I might as well start the fighter pull-up program now too-- I've been doing pull-ups off program, but here's day one:

 

3RM Russian Pullup Program (Wide Grip)

3, 2, 1, 1

 

This is designed to get you to the 5RM program after twelve days. I have trouble getting chest to bar, especially when going for more than one rep, so I may repeat the 3RM program instead of advancing to the 5RM depending on how that goes.

[weirdquark]

Second verse same as the first (aka day 2)

 

3RM Russian Pullup Program (Wide Grip)

3, 2, 1, 1

 

Not getting chest to bar with WG, but I am at least touching my neck to the bar on each like it says I should do, which I was not yesterday.

[weirdquark]

Gendered body language. On being female and taking up space.

[weirdquark]

I think I'm going to sit out the next challenge; I'm feeling pretty apathetic about goals lately. I haven't bothered with a summary post of my last challenge yet because I don't really care.

 

Squats

75x5ec+

90x5xc+

110x5xc+

127.5x2xc+f3

127.5x1y+

110x6yc+f7

 

Bench

52.5x5ec+

75x5ec+

87.5x5xc+

100x5xc+

120x1y+f2

87.5x8yc+

 

I also think I'm going to go back to the workouts I was doing previous to this last challenge -- more flexible and I was getting through more exercises by limited my rest time instead of running out of time like I did today. I liked the clusters and will probably go back to them; working up to a heavy-for-the-day single and then dropping weight for the work set was working pretty well. Maybe do some split work so I can lift on Saturday and Sunday, lots of working on weak points. I'm scheduling in a day where I squat by lifting the bar from the safeties so I can strengthen the bottom; getting that up higher will help a lot.

[weirdquark]

Parallel Safety Squats

65x5ec+

85x3ec+

105x2ec+

125x1x+

135xF

120x3xc+

120x3xc+

120x3xc+  

120x3xc+  

120x3xc+  

120x3xc+  

120x3xc+  

120x3xc+

120x3xc+

120x3yc+ 

 

One of the new things I'll be trying -- I raised the safeties so the bar hits them when I get to parallel. Hopefully this will be a good sub for something like box squats. I'm not quite used to them yet -- failed at 135 because I hit the safeties too hard going down and lost tension, but I felt things more in my hamstrings when I only tapped them.

 

RDLs

120x8xc+

120x8xc+ 

 

Felt some hip twinging coming on in the last set of squats so threw in these to stretch things out.

[weirdquark]

So many DOMS after going just to parallel last time! I had to stand up at work for projects the last two days too.

 

Squats

65x5ec+

85x8xc+

85x8xc+

85x8xc+

95x5xc+

95x5xc+

95x5xc+

95x5xc+

105x2xc+

105x2xc+

115x1x+

 

This was sort of supposed to be based on the introductory phase of Smolov but I wasn't looking at the programming and going off of my memory and it turns out you aren't supposed to do 3x8 and 4x5 on the same day. Whoops. It was good for working out the DOMS though and I'm not planning on formally doing Smolov anyway even if some of my squat days will involve patterns in it like the ten sets of three I did on Thursday.

 

RDLs

115x8xc+

115x8xc+

[weirdquark]

Front Squats

65x5ec+

85x3xc+

105x2xc+

115x1y+

125xF

100x5xc+

100x5xc+

100x5xc+

 

I was mostly going to do upper body stuff today but I might not get a chance to lift tomorrow morning so I wanted to do a bit more squatting. I had originally planned to do overhead squats or cleans, which would keep things a bit lighter than front squats but front squats is also a good way to have a medium/light squat day and I've done squatting every day programs before where I have light days for recovery so if I do have time for lifting tomorrow I can still squat. And then rest on Tuesday.

 

Bench

57.5x5ec+

75x5xc+

87.5x5xc+

100x5yc+

115x2yc+f3

87.5x10xc+

87.5x10xc+

87.5x10yc+

 

Still no love on the top set. Adding in more volume on backoff sets.

 

Row

55x5ec+

65x5ec+

77.5x5xc+

90x5xc+

102.5x4yc-f5

85x6yc+f7

 

Tired by the end! Glad to have more time for lifting though; I've been doing a lot of rest days and it makes me want to sleep a lot so I'm trying to add back in more activity.

[weirdquark]

I had trouble falling asleep last night and so opted for a short workout. Couldn't get to my weights as expected but brought my kettlebell out so I could use it.

 

KB Swings

35x10ec+

35x10ec+

35x10ec+

35x10ec+

35x10ec+

 

That's it! I did try a KB clean+press with each arm and could do it okay so it should be fine for low rep things, but would want something lighter if I was going to do a lot of reps.

[weirdquark]

Went climbing for the first time in over a month, yay!

 

Sassafrass is having a limited release of the final cut of the final song from the Sundown: Whispers of Ragnarok project. It sounds awesome; I'm happy.

[weirdquark]

Rest day!

[weirdquark]

DL

135x2ec+

135x2ec+

135x2ec+

135x2ec+

 

Nia Shanks recommended improving your deadlift by picking a weight that you could lift fairly easily for 10-12 reps and do four sets of two for your warm-up each workout. Finally remembered to do so.

 

Squats

65x5ec+

85x5ec+

105x5xc+

125x1x+f2

 

Totally lost tension in my back when I went for the second rep and couldn't get it back up.

 

Low Safety Squats

105x3xc+

105x3xc+

105x1y+f2

 

But that was okay because it gave me an opportunity to lift the bar off the safeties -- I did several reps where I went down to the bottom and relaxed everything before picking it up again. I've done these once with slightly heavier weights and they're always hard, so I thought I'd start a little lower since I was getting more reps in.

 

1-arm DB Incline Bench

22.5x10ec+

32.5x5xc+

32.5x5xc+

32.5x5xc+

 

Haven't done these for a while; especially not one arm at a time.

 

Row/RDL

65x5ec+

75x5xc+

85x5xc+

95x4yc-f5

 

Not sure if I was tired or if adding the RDLs make the rows harder because I'm hanging on to the bar for more time but I usually don't have that much trouble with 95#

 

Lat Front/Side Raises

5x10xc+

5x10xc+

 

Because why not. I would have thrown in some curls but had no time.

[Hermione Gainser]

 

I think I'm going to sit out the next challenge; I'm feeling pretty apathetic about goals lately. I haven't bothered with a summary post of my last challenge yet because I don't really care.

 

it's okay. we'll stalk you here.

[weirdquark]

it's okay. we'll stalk you here.

 

Woot!

 

I figure I'll be carrying on as usual except I have no plan for workouts. Perhaps I'll acquire one later. Maybe actually doing Smolov instead of sometimes doing one of the set/rep plans for a random day in it; I keep thinking about doing it and then don't because my squat numbers don't feel like they're high enough to justify it. But on the other hand, the volume will probably be good for me. On the other other hand, squatting from out of the hole and increasing weight from there will also be good for me. Best of both worlds: Smolov out of the hole?

[weirdquark]

Some inspiration for you:

 

Video about a powerlifter who did not discover free weights until she was 48. She's now 70.

[weirdquark]

Parallel Safety Squats

65x7e+

85x3ec+

105x2ec+

115x1x+

125x1x+

135x1x+

145x1x+

150xF

150xF

105x8xc+

 

Still having trouble maintaining tension at the bottom. I need to video myself because I'm not sure if i'm actually getting to parallel or if the bar is over my feet properly; when I fail and try to lift the bar off the safeties I've been feeling like my weight is too far forward so that might be why I'm failing even though I don't think the weight is too heavy given the amount I'm going down. If form does look okay, these feel like they'll be useful because keeping tension at parallel is a weakness I need to work on, but if the weight is too far forward given how I have to stand to land on the safeties and feel like I'm at parallel, I should skip 'em.

[weirdquark]

Rest day!

[wideeyed]

Tragedy strikes! I was making a batch of protein gelato with lots of egg and very little milk and the mixture was too thick and the paddle broke. So we are now unable to make more gelato. Happily, I found a site which sells replacement parts and have ordered three more so we will not only have a replacement paddle, but are prepared for this to happen again (which will hopefully mean it won't.)

 

How does one make protein gelato.  I have an ice cream maker.  I am intrigued.  Also, in typical stalkerish fashion, I found  you and am going to follow.  Your workouts inspire me.

[weirdquark]

Parallel Safety Squats

65x5ec+

85x9xc+

85x9xc+

85x9xc+

85x9xc+

 

Smolov with I think 120 as my working max; you're supposed to add 10lbs and then 20lbs in the second and third weeks so while things are light now, it'll get heavy pretty fast. Though I think at this weight I only end up with 132.5 for 10x3 by the end of this cycle. But since I'm still getting used to lowering myself slowly enough to not bang hard on the safeties and not losing tension this is okay.

 

Deadlifts

135x2ec+

135x2ec+

135x2ec+

135x2ec+

 

Should have done these first.

[weirdquark]

How does one make protein gelato.  I have an ice cream maker.  I am intrigued.  Also, in typical stalkerish fashion, I found  you and am going to follow.  Your workouts inspire me.

 

Oh wow, I haven't done so for a while and don't really remember. I posted the recipe I used somewhere in the forums? I think I started with the regular chocolate gelato recipe, reduced the sugar by like half, and added a scoop or two of chocolate protein powder. Then I adjusted future batches until I mostly just dumped my protein shake into the gelato maker and let it go while I was lifting and then ate it as my workout shake. It freezes better with more sugar, so it's better to use at least some actual sugar and not fruit, but you can go pretty low sugar and have it turn out okay. It tastes more chemically than gelato does unless you have a chemical free protein powder, but it being chocolate covers it up pretty well. I tried unflavored protein powder in yogurt gelato and that wasn't as good.