Learning and Lifting - A student's tale

[Cat in the rack]

So it's a deload week, no heavy lifting, extra cardio, and on top of that its a week without caffeine, oh the joy. Today was going to be a cardio day but I am just exhausted, what with day-long shifts at work and just finishing a low rep week, I so rarely get days where I'm not on my feet all day. So today I'm taking off, letting myself recover, seeing as I don't have the rota for August yet, I don't want to wear myself out in the gym all week only to find out I have two really long shifts Saturday and Sunday, and get in to the gym Monday with not enough rest.

Anyway, a weigh-in of 66.7kg again, looks like I'm seeing some net weight gain this month at long last, guess 3,050 calories might be about right. What with the lowered intensity this week I may see some more weight gain than usual, but we shall see. Woke up around 6ish, had bfast, not a whole lot going on today, like I said I'm taking it easy today. Tomorrow is a deload day and I've decided how I'm gonna do it. Gonna hit each of the compound lifts (squat, deadlift, BO row, bench, OHP) for 3x5 with reduced weight to around 60%, as well as single-rep sets of the typical bodyweight exercises (pull-up, chin-up, dip, hanging leg raise), followed by cardio (HIIT sprints, boxing, jump rope). As today's intended cardio day is being skipped I will be sure not to miss Friday's cardio day, then Saturday is another deload day but with less cardio as the next mesocycle may start Monday, and Sunday is a rest day. Though like I said I do not have the rota for Saturday and Sunday yet, so I may need to make changes.

That's it for today, have a good one

[Cat in the rack]

Woke up at 6ish, had a snack and then headed to the gym. Weighed in at 66.8kg so good news there. However I didn't feel on top form today, hit all the deload lifts and did a little cardio afterwards but not much. I suspect it's the lack of caffeine most likely. Not much else to say about the gym today though, all standard deload stuff, went a bit earlier in the day than usual, thinking I'm gonna try that for now.

Got work 4-8 today, pretty easy and dead shift I imagine. So I got not much going on until then, probably do a little reading. My managers taking his damn time to do the rota for August so I still have no idea what shifts I'll have.

Yep, that is the extent of today's post. Tomorrows a rest day and the day after cardio. Have a good one

[Cat in the rack]

Okay up around half 6 today with another weigh-in of 66.8kg, meaning as we approach the end of month 1 of bulking I have a net gain of .6kg or about 1 1/2 pounds, given the first two weeks saw zero net gain this is actually optimal progress, so we'll see if this continues through August. Did a bunch of bulk cooking (pancakes and sweet potato) and prepped dinner for tonight as I'll have a 12-8 shift today. Then I made bfast, as I emptied a small tub of white chocolate whey making the pancakes (though I still have a fair bit left in a bag) I thought I'd try out one of the new flavours so I put Strawberry Jam Roly Poly in my porridge today. It tasted pretty good, some flavours are too mild and you don't really taste it, but this was a nice strong flavour, very similar to strawberry cream but still a good'n. Got about 2 hours until I'll have to start getting ready for work now so I'm just gonna chill.

Finally got the August rota yesterday and it's not half bad. In July two people had a holiday plus there was a bunch of "calling in sick" so I wound up with an extra 20 hours, so to compensate I'm being given fewer hours this month so that's pretty neat. Plus now there are no people taking holidays my shifts are the same week to week, meaning I can go to the gym same days every week. However in September somebody who's currently working full time will be switching to only working weekends, freeing up an extra 25 hours a week of shifts that will need to be filled, so September may be a little more hectic. Bonus: with nobody on holiday none of my shifts have to be 8-9 hours long, each week I have one 4 hour shift and three 6 hour shifts, far less suicidal, though the 6 hour shifts are afternoon-evening so it will be a little dead during those. Still, I'm looking forward to a month where I don't feel like I'm working all the time.

Aside from that not much else to say, I should be getting paid tomorrow though I'm not entirely sure how much, because of how it works I estimate under £400, though that does mean next payday I'll get a fair bit more. I'm looking more forward to starting lifting properly again, especially seeing as it's gonna be a cycle where I attempt some rep PRs, as July didn't have any. I'm gonna have to hope that when lectures start again my timetable is easy to plan my training around, seeing as I plan on keeping a few shifts on. I know Wednesdays never finish later than 12, and of course no lectures on weekends, but aside from that I have no idea. Though this academic year I plan to really knuckle down, last year was more focussed on acclimatising, learning the basics, this year is likely to be much harder, especially with all the exams apparently being essay based.

That's all for today, have a good one

[SevenofSeven]

Still doing great things! Working, studying and lifting, I may need some time management lessons.

[Cat in the rack]

Still doing great things! Working, studying and lifting, I may need some time management lessons.

Thanks man Though I imagine things will get a little less organised come October when lectures start up again.

[Cat in the rack]

Another weigh-in of 66.8kg, looks like this might be my starting weight for August unless it goes up tomorrow. Managed to sleep in until like 7.20, gonna be getting up around an hour later than usual to accommodate my new work schedule and whatnot. Had a snack and then headed to the gym.

Decided to do the cardio first seeing as I haven't got very much done this deload week and I won't be able to go to the gym tomorrow due to work. Did some jump rope, some interval sprinting and some boxing, took around half an hour total. Then deload lifts same as last time, dull dull dull. Really can't wait to start lifting properly again, can't wait to have some caffeine too, and I can't wait to have fewer working hours, next week is gonna be one to look forward to it seems.

My payslip came through yesterday, only £325 as I got paid for just the days up to July 12th, though on the plus side that means next pay day will be much more. Not really anything else going on today, have a good one

[Cat in the rack]

Weigh-in of 66.6kg this morning, so tomorrow's weigh-in will determine what I use as my starting weight for August. Woke up just before 6 but got back to sleep until around half 7, leaving for work around half 9 so not much to do until then. Only a 4 hour shift so fairly easy, odds are it'll be fairly busy which is definitely preferable to when it's dead, especially if my boss is around. Aside from that, gotta do another bulk cook today, if it's sunny I might go sunbathe but I doubt I'll be so lucky.

Just today and tomorrow left before I can get back to my normal routine, heavy caffeine-fuelled lifting 4 days a week, can't wait. On top of that fewer hours at work this month, more free time and no nine hour shifts.

Not much else to say today, laters

[Cat in the rack]

Weigh-in of 66.6kg this morning so that will be my starting weight for August, with only 1 pound gained in July, gotta be over 67kg in 2 weeks or I'll up the calories again. Got work 1-6 today so it'll probably be pretty dead. Can't wait to get back to the gym tomorrow, this has been one long deload week.

Not much else going on, gonna get some reading done, that's about it, have a good one

[Cat in the rack]

BACK IN THE MOTHERFRICKIN GYM!

As you can tell I'm in a good mood, woke up around 7, had a snack, prepped my preworkout and headed to the gym. My umoro one shaker cup has yet to arrive sadly, but that doesn't really matter. Tried the MusclePharm Assault preworkout for the first time today so I guess I'll give my opinion of it, though after a stimulant-free week it's of course gonna have its strongest effect. Raspberry Lemonade flavour and the actual taste wasn't bad, but it left something of a dry feeling in my mouth afterwards, and it wasn't a very strong taste. It didn't feel right in my stomach immediately after but that may have been because of the near empty stomach, and 15-20 minutes later when it kicked in my stomach felt fine. Focussed on mobility durin my warm-up somewhat. Then as I began the workout the preworkout kicked in like a motherflipper, I was walking fast, setting up the weights fast, felt all tingly, amazing feeling.

Before I get into the details of the workout I'll explain last night. Last night I spent a fair bit of time redoing my gym playlist, I felt that I kept skipping songs and realised its because I'm into different types of music during cardio and lifting, so I made a separate playlist for each. I also realised that the shorts I wear in the gym may be hindering my squat depth, so I'm gonna stick to tracksuit bottoms for now, see how it goes.

Started with deadlifts, and up to 105kg for 5 reps everything felt fine. Did 115kg for 5 reps which felt heavy but managed it with DO grip, then 6 reps with mixed grip wasn't very fast and on one of the reps the bar moved outwards a little, then 7 reps with mixed grip I also managed fairly slowly but there wasn't any grinding. I'm hoping the slow movement is due to readjustment after a deload, which is what I suspect. Bent over rows didn't feel brilliant but they weren't bad, moved fairly quickly, built up to 62.5kg for 5 then 6 then 7 reps, though the seventh rep used a tad too much momentum. Only managed six reps for pull-ups, I'll probably go for 6 again next week. Chin-ups I could only do 8 sets of 3 with fat grips due to time, and squats I could do 6 sets for 10 reps with 65kg also due to time, even ran a little long with the workout. Next week I'm gonna go for sets of 4 reps with chin-ups. Ended with some foam rolling and handstand practice, feel I neglected foam rolling a little last month, so I'm gonna try to focus on it a little more. Then 5 minutes of meditation, something else I'm gonna focus on a little more this month. In fact, sweeping declaration: I will meditate for at least 5 minutes every day for the entire month here on out. There, I've declared it and now it must be so.

Got back home, had a nice big meal, and now I'm chilling watching Thor. Oh yeah, I'm watching all the MCU movies in chronological order now, not all at once of course, I don't have that much free time. My manager text me just before I left for the gym asking if I could cover a shift this morning (girl called in sick for the second time this month, and it is the third day of the month), I said I couldn't, so seeing him an hour later when I went to the gym was a bit worrying. My managers a good guy though so he got it, it's my boss I gotta be careful around.

Oh, and the weigh in was 66.8kg this morning, seeing as it was 66.8 on the 31st and then 66.6 for the last two days and now it's back to 66.8 I'm gonna settle on 66.7kg for the starting weight this month. I know that .1 of a kilo isn't gonna make much of a difference, but nothing wrong with specificity. Fingers crossed I'm at least 67.2kg by the 15th, preferably a little higher actually. Gonna bulk cook some chicken later and order a supermarket delivery for Wednesday, aside from that it's an easy day today.

That's all for today, looking forward to the bench day tomorrow and seeing how the preworkout feels when taken for the second time, looking less forward to a six hour evening shift at work. Gonna go unpack my gym bag, fill in my gym charts, and make a cup of tea, have a good one

[Cat in the rack]

I suspect that bad set of 6 for deadlifts had more of an impact than I first thought, given the lower back soreness I had in the gym today, I'm gonna need to make changes to how I deload so that I don't struggle as much to get back on track when I come back the following week. In the meantime plenty of foam rolling and hopefully the soreness will be gone soon enough.

Woke up at 7 and weighed in at an unfortunate 66.4kg, I assumed just a fluctuation and tomorrow I'll weigh 66.8kg+. Had a snack, did the washing up and then headed to the gym. Preworkout of course not as intense as yesterday but still pretty good, same dry aftertaste but I felt good even with the back soreness.

Gym was good overall I'd say. After a warm up I went to bench press up to 62.5kg, first 5 reps, then 6 reps, then 6 reps again because I suspected a seventh would be a serious grinder. Then close grip bench, same deal as regular bench but with 52.5kg. Moved on to 10x10 OHP with 27.5kg with no problems altenated with hanging leg raises for 10x7 trying really hard to keep the legs straight and not use momentum. Then 4x8 for cable twists, not much more to say about those. Ended with some foam rolling on the back, and I can feel exactly where the soreness is so I guess it's good that I can target it. Then some meditation for 5 minutes, just as I declared I would yesterday. Tried some handstands but it definitely wasn't on point today, likely due to the high volume OHP. Then some lift cardio to finish, just a steady pace on the rowing machine for 5 minutes. Got home, ate, and here we are.

I have work 3-9 today so I'll have to leave for that in a bit. Got a lovely text from my manager asking if I could cover some hours tomorrow because the same girl who calls in sick 24/7... wait for it... called in sick for tomorrow. Oh, and funny story, I got this text after I got home but in the gym I was speaking to my boss (not my manager) who was also working out and she mentioned how she's been trying to speak to that girl about all the sickies she keeps pulling but every time she plans to talk to her the girl doesn't show up for work. For me personally I kind of found it amusing at first, but it's gotten to the point where it's not even funny anymore, so far this month she's missed all three shifts she had scheduled, and last month she missed a ton of shifts plus had a weeks holiday anyway. But such is life, I can't imagine she'll get a very good recommendation when she's looking for a job after the inevitable firing that has to be looming over her at this point.

Anyway, enough about that, I'm gonna shower, prep dinner for my shift later, unpack my gym bag, etcetera etcetera. Tomorrows a rest day and I hope my back feels better the day after that. If this soreness persists until the end of the week I may have to consider deloading next week so that I'm properly recovered, but hopefully it won't come to that. Really gotta be more careful with deadlifts, it's so easy to forget that with all that weight there's always a risk of injury from just the slightest issue with form. Speaking of which, I've given it some thought and I think the problem was slight back rounding on that one 6 rep set, which resulted in the bar moving away from me during the lifting portion, I must be more careful and for the rest of this week I will be practicing deadlift form with just the bar before starting the proper workout.

That's all for today, looking forward to those heavy SQWATS on Thursday, I'm determined to squat double bodyweight at some point in the future, though I suspect it'll have to be after this bulk is finished and I cut my bodyweight rather than during the bulk, given I plan to get to 75kg by the end of this bulk, though maybe more or maybe less depending on how my body composition is looking. I think I'll evaluate the bulk progress properly come October and then again in December, too slow and I'll up the calories at those points, if come December I think I need to be leaner then that will be the focus from the new year onwards. Anyway, have a good one

[Cat in the rack]

Woke up at around 6 today, annoyingly didn't feel tired enough to go back to sleep. Had a weigh-in of...66.1kg, that's like 2 pounds lower than a couple days ago, so I'm hoping it bounces back up soon.

Got a somewhat busy day today, got work 9-2 then at 3 I should get a supermarket delivery and I have a bulk cook to be doing. Given my shift goes through 12 it's likely to be a busy one.

Lower back pain appears to be gone which is a good sign, gotta be careful in the future. Though my chest and triceps are oh so sore from yesterday, but the good kind of sore, not the have I injured myself kind of sore. I'll probably hit the foam roller a little later everywhere. Strange thing is I also have a fair bit of soreness in my hamstrings, no idea what that could be from seeing as deadlifts were on Monday.

Anyway, that's it for now, have a good one

[Rookiebeotch]

Slight deviations from 'perfect' deadlift form can be a good thing. Your erectors get more stimulus when that happens. As long as the spine doesn't deviate from neutral far enough to cause injury, and you aren't doing it every single rep to form a bad habit, you are all good.

[Cat in the rack]

Slight deviations from 'perfect' deadlift form can be a good thing. Your erectors get more stimulus when that happens. As long as the spine doesn't deviate from neutral far enough to cause injury, and you aren't doing it every single rep to form a bad habit, you are all good.

Yeah I think my back's feeling fine now, and there's not much heavy back work for the rest of the week so there shouldn't be any problems. It was more of a mis-pull on the last rep of the second set, bar moved away from me too much, back wasn't straight, could have gone very badly.

[Cat in the rack]

Welcome back to another thrilling instalment of my battle log. Woke up around 20 to 7 with a weigh-in of 66.6kg, so around what I started the month at. Got another 10 days or so before I need to evaluate the August bulk progress but I'm honestly not sure what I'll throw into my diet if I need to get my calories up, can't really up fat or protein significantly given what it's at now, could always throw some more oats into the mix, seems to be the carb solution.

I've been trying out a wider feet placement for squats and I have to say it's much better. Essentially I've been sticking my glutes back too far and having to lean forward, so now with a wider stance I move more vertically, keeping my spine more upright, and engaging the hips a little more. Anyway, on to the workout. After the warm-up I began alternating warm-up squat sets (like 5 sets with the bar, then gradual weight increases) with pull-ups. One max set of chin-ups to 8 reps, which I'm quite happy with, note that I don't say chin-ups to failure, I planned to do 8 and no more as a test, seeing as end of the last mesocycle I did 7, I'll probably go for 9 next week depending on how reps 7 and 8 feel, 10 is my goal in the short term. Then I did 10 sets of 3 for pull-ups with fat grips, last 2 sets felt pretty difficult so I'll probably do the same next week, maybe 10x4 the week after.

Onto the squats, which as I said before had a wider stance. Built up to 95kg at its heaviest, which last mesocycle on a 3+ week I did for a set of 3 then 4 then 5. I did one set for 5, then the second set after the first rep I noticed my stance was too narrow so I reracked, then the third set I did 6. I've said before how with squats every rep feels like it's my last once I get past around 80kg, makes it difficult to tell where failure is exactly, so I didn't go for another set, I've already had one close call with deadlifts this week, don't want to push myself too far.

Next was 10x10 bent over rows. My initial plan was to do calf raises alternated with curls after these, but I had a change of heart during squats and decided to instead alternate the rows with calf raises. So wound up doing 10x10 bent over rows with 45kg alternated with 10x30 bodyweight calf raises. Now I know what you're thinking because I thought the same thing around half way through: holy shit 300 is a lot of calf raises, last time I raised calves 300 times I worked on a farm (kidding). Anyway, my calves were on fire by the end of it but I pushed through, kept legs straight throughout, fully extended, paused at the top and bottom, gonna try this for a cycle, see how it goes. Bent over rows felt surprisingly good, in fact I think this was the best they've ever been, didn't feel any use of momentum on any of the sets, though set 9 I think I was a tiny bit too upright which limited my ROM, but overall it went great. I did try out using a wider grip than usual, but I don't know if that's the reason, either way I'll be sticking to it, and my biceps did feel especially pumped afterwards.

Last thing on the lifting agenda was curls. Normally I do preacher curls isolaterally but I had yet another change of heart during squats. The Dumbbells here are weird, the part you grip moves independently of the plates, for me this makes it feel like my grip has less involvement, and it doesn't feel great. Also, preacher curls always have the part at the top of the ROM where the pressure is essentially taken off temporarily (forearms just past vertical) so I don't feel as much of a squeeze in the bicep. So to change it up I went with ordinary standing barbell curls with fat grips for 4 sets of 8 with 20kg. Whilst using an empty barbell (the preweighted barbells aren't as wide as the Olympic barbells, the fat grips seem to be less securely attached) felt a little silly, I could feel a much better squeeze in the biceps and keeping full ROM was much easier than with preachers. For the last two sets the last two reps may have used a little cheating, but overall pretty good and I'll work on that.

Also a guy I often see when I'm working I now see in the gym since I started going earlier this month due to shift times. On the one hand I like having a guy to talk to about whatever, we appear to be similar builds (okay maybe his arms are a little bigger, but my legs thrash his no doubt) and similar in strength (I'm not 100% on this as I haven't seen him doing compounds enough to judge, but we both were curling just an Olympic bar with fat grips today) so there's training buddy potential there. On the other hand my workouts always take a little longer when I talk to somebody, I went 15 minutes over today for instance, though I had everything but curls done just past an hour into it, so I doubt it was taxing my CNS too badly. Gotta be careful with that though, had this been a day where I end with 5+x10 squats it could have cut a couple sets short.

After the final lifting was over I headed over to the functional area, did some foam rolling as per usual, feels like I'm in the music video for Anaconda whenever I foam roll chest, but ya know, what you gonna do. Then gave handstands a go three or four times. Second attempt my feet touched the wall, but upon leaning away I held myself upright for a good 3 seconds. Then again maybe it's similar to how pausing at the top of a squat feels like forever but then when you look back at the footage you see it was barely a second, so maybe I shouldn't get my hopes up too much. Then of course, as I declared, 5 minutes of meditation to end. The music in the gym can make it a little difficult, but also I sometimes find it easier when I have something to ignore, helps me block out other sounds as well. I have been enjoying ending with meditation, but due to the added non-strenuous activity I feel a tid hungrier on the walk home. Swings and roundabouts I guess.

Next week this workout will include: 10x3 fat grip pull-ups, 3x3+ 100kg squats, 10x10 47.5kg bent over rows, 10x30 BW calf raises, and 4x8 20kg fat grip barbell curls. I'm not 100% sure how I'm gonna progress with calf raises, I may add a little weight via a barbell on my back, or I may pursue a max number of reps, or I may pursue a max number of sets. This month I'm gonn stick to 10x30 with bodyweight, and for next month I'm leaning towards increasing reps (ie week 1 10x35, week 2 10x40, etc), though I wonder at what point it becomes impractical (10 sets of 100 reps for instance might be overkill) so I may add calf work to a separate day also to increase volume. We shall see as time progresses. Tomorrow's workout will include: 3x5+ 42.5kg OHP, 10x10 45kg bench press, 10x7 hanging leg raises, 5x10 BW dips, and 4x8 cable twists, plus some cardio to boot unless my calves are trying to declare themselves a separate entity that is not attached to my legs.

Got back from the gym, ate ate ate, aaaand here we are, I'm gonna unpack my gym bag, fill out my gym chart, shower, prep dinner for my 3-9 (aka dead) shift, and I'll be free to chill until said shift begins, aka I'll have about two hours tops. Still, I'll be able to slack off a little at work, I'm entitled to an hour break (even though it gets interrupted multiple times usually because I'm the only one on staff) and my boss doesn't mind me taking 5 minutes every now and then when it's not as busy. And what my "5 minute break" often translates to is 'the length of time between when I sit down to when my boss walks by' + 3 minutes. Turns out my boss is perfectly nice so long as you're not slacking whilst in the kitchen or behind the bar so long as you get your job done properly, provided I can get out of the habit of glancing at my phone when I want to know the time which is an action practically in my muscle memory now, I think we'll get on just fine.

Man talk about a long post, guess it was just an eventful workout today. Only other thing I was gonna say is that boredom plus work getting 4 different newspapers in every day has led to me discovering a mild enjoyment of crosswords and sudoku... Emphasis on the "mild" part, but it's still something to do. That's it for today, here's hoping tomorrow's post includes a 66.8kg+ weigh-in, an awesome workout, and an overall positive demeanour, laters

[Cat in the rack]

Weigh-in of 66.2kg this morning but on the bright side I think I've sussed out the problem: I'm likely just holding less water, as I seem to get low weigh-ins after evening shifts, seeing as I typically stop drinking water around 8, that gives me an hour of work plus just over a mile walk home without topping myself up. I may consider having just a single glass of water when I get back from work just in case of minor dehydration, but if it results in me waking up to pee in the middle of the night I'll stop. I'll keep 66.2kg in mind as the baseline for mornings after evening shifts this month.

Gym was good and bad, swings and roundabouts as they say. First OHP which went well, built up to 3 sets with 42.5kg for 5 then 6 then 7 reps, technically a seven rep max but only because who the hell works in the seven rep range. Followed this with bench press 10x10 with 45kg which went well, alternated with 10x7 hanging leg raises which also went well, forms still improving on those. Then the bad, dips are really not going well lately, haven't for a while in fact, the plan was 5 sets of 10, yet I could only do 2 sets of 8. It's possible the reason I suck with them is because it's at the end of a heavily press-focussed workout, but I'm going to give tricep push-ups a go for the rest of the month, I haven't had any push-up variations in my routine for a while. If the push-ups suck like my dips have sucked then I'll know it's because the rest of the workout wears me out, if they go well, I dunno, we'll see. The dips were alternated with cable twists, I wanted to do 4 sets but could only do 2 because someone came to repair the cable machines, ah well. Ended with some foam rolling, some meditation, some stretching, some handstands which I am so close to holding well.

One side note, I woke up with soreness in my calves and soreness in my biceps that I haven't felt doing preacher curls, I can't say for certain if it's the new grip width in bent over rows or the substitution of fat grip barbell curls instead of preachers, but if I had to make an educated guess I'd go for the curls, so I'll definitely stick to them for at least the rest of the month.

I forgot to mention yesterday that I tried a new flavour of protein in my porridge, orange cream, it was okay, unless it's great in pancakes I don't see myself ordering it again, but it tastes pretty good. Of the 6 flavours I ordered I've tried two new ones, strawberry jam roly poly and orange cream, I've tried three in the past but not lately, cinnamon Danish, strawberry cream and maple syrup, and I've got one new one left to try, chocolate mint, which I've heard is the bomb.

I got back from the gym, I've eaten, gonna shower and fill in all my gym stuff but today I don't need to prep dinner for my 3-9 shift because I did it yesterday. Tomorrow's a conditioning day but I'm not fully set on what I'll be doing, probably box jumps, probably boxing practice, probably jump rope, probably some cardio, perhaps HIIT sprints and some rowing, probably handstands, probably single rep bodyweight lifts, probably practice some deadlift form while I'm there, probably practice squat form just to ease the adjustment to wider stance, odds are I'll see where the mood takes me. This is gonna sound a little completely stupid, but today's workout I considered ending with 10 minutes of cardio (wound up stretching instead) but decided not to, because I figured if I did no cardio today I wouldnt have the excuse tomorrow of 'I did cardio yesterday' to stay at home. I'm not exactly the skip the gym type, but 1) I am not a big fan of cardio so if I were to skip a day it'd be a cardio day, 2) my calves are sore which may mean no sprinting tomorrow which gives me another excuse to skip it, 3) it'll leave me with a little more in the tank to really push it tomorrow, and 4) I'm expecting a parcel tomorrow which I've already ordered to be redelivered once, and odds are if I go to the gym I won't be here when it arrives, which is an excuse to postpone the gym til later in the day, which just increases the odds of me skipping it. It's not a case of I'm worried I'll skip the gym, more that it will just require more willpower to do so, and mine is already stretched thin with work and studying and household shit.

Anyway, another fairly long post today. I just got a text that my umoro shaker bottle has arrived (it got ordered to my mums house because I had to use her PayPal account seeing as mine doesn't work) so I'm looking forward to getting that, at the latest it'll be a week from now, so I will definitely have it for the 1-3 rep focussed week. I don't know why but I love little gadgets like that that make one tiny aspect of life fractionally more convenient. She ordered me grey, which probably isn't the colour I'd have gone for, but I don't particularly give a frick, plus she also ordered herself one, I assume just because she was ordering from the website and not because she actually wanted one before I told her about it.

That's all folks, have a good one

[Cat in the rack]

A week into August and I weigh in at 65.9kg, aka nearly a pound less than I started July. I sincerely hope this is due to evening shifts, because if I'm losing weight I will also lose my sanity. It appears I will have the 12/13/14/15th off due to it being some guy I've never met's last week working the cafe, though given my coworker constantly calling in sick I doubt I'll get off that easy, so on the bright side if it is due to the evening shifts I should have an accurate weigh-in by the 15th, so I'll know whether or not a calorie increase is needed. You may recall I weighed in at 66.6kg with some fluctuation at the beginning of August, so if I'm not a bare minimum of 66.8kg I'm upping calories, though given the fluctuations 67kg would be preferred.

Anyway, woke up just prior to 7, weighed in then had a snack and did the washing up, headed almost but not quite begrudgingly to the gym for a cardio and conditioning day. Typically the by, opens at 6.30 and I arrived around 7.30-7.45ish, foolishly forgetting that on weekends it opens at 8. Thankfully I'm a barista and not a commoner, so I walked right past the small crowd of elderly people waiting for the gym to open, and went in through the fire exit, made myself a coffee and sipped on it whilst unconsciously building motivation to do hardio.

What helps me plow through it is thinking of the first three lines of the chorus to 'I'll make a man out of you' from Mulan: swift as a coursing river, all the force of a great typhoon, all the strength of a raging fire'. So to be a man you must: be strong courtesy of the low rep work, have force courtesy of the more explosive high rep work, but also you must be swift courtesy of cardio and conditioning. Now if I could just think of a way to make 'mysterious as the dark side of the moon' relevant it'd be perfect.

Wound up in the gym at about quarter past 8 (it takes a long time to drink coffee and build hardio motivation) and went to warm up. Did some dynamic stretching, mobility, etcetera. Then tragedy struck as my jump rope snapped for some reason as I was starting to use it, though it was always kind of shitty and I think I'll get a plain rope one this time. Settled for star jumps instead, 5 sets of 50, got the blood flowing. I thought I'd open with HIIT sprinting seeing as if I leave it to the end I'm exhausted, and by Jove I think I nailed it, set 20 minutes on a preset HIIT thing, then when I got to the end I thought fuck it and chucked another minute of full out sprinting to end. I wanted to do some boxing but it was being used so I did some speed push-ups instead, like 4 sets I think. Then to cap off the workout I did box jumps for actually quite a while, I know it was half 9 when I finished them. Then some handstand practice which was okay today but not the best.

I've been thinking lately that cardio just seems to be something I get done rather than push myself in, lifting its all about hitting new PRs but with cardio it's more being able to tell myself I did cardio this week. That changes here on out, this week I did 20 minutes level six HIIT (yeah I've no idea what it means either) plus a minute full-out as well as sets of 10 for box jumps at a max height of 80 I think centimetres. Next week I must have at least one aspect of that be fractionally more impressive. Perhaps I'll do level 7 HIIT, or 25 minutes preset, or an extra 2 minutes of full-out, or sets of 12 box jumps, or a max height of 100, or you get the idea.

Got home and had a nice cold shower, I used to have them more often but not in quite a while, so I'm gonna start up on the cold showers again, especially seeing as it's hot sometimes (not always, it is England after all). Started laundry, had something to eat, started the bulk cook, cleaned the bathroom and kitchen, and here we are. As of right now I have 3 pancakes and 8 pork chops in the fridge, I have over a kilo of sweet potato cooling, and I have the washing machine running but two more loads to do, plus I've yet to tidy my room, though that I'll do once I've posted this. So yeah, pretty busy day, up at 7 and busy til 1, at which point I'm still a little busy. I also have to write next week's to do lists today, plus I promised myself I'd get some more reading done today, I really haven't got very far into it.

Tomorrow is a rest day with one small 4 hour shift, then the following day another lifting week begins. Given that most of my 5+ rep lifts I hit 6 reps it should be interesting to see how the 3+ week goes, given I have a limit of 5 reps there's a lot of potential. I think the lift I'm most interested in seeing the progress in is squats, as they'll be at exactly 100kg this week, and I maxed at 110kg before that week I got sick and barely ate. Though the week after that with 1+ reps bench will be at 70kg and deadlift will be at 130, so that should be interesting to see.

Anyway, nothing else to say on this long-ass post, I'm gonna go do all those things I said I'd do, have a good one

[Cat in the rack]

Woke up around half 6 with a weigh-in of 66.2kg, it's about a pound less than the start of August but more than yesterday at least, I gotta see improvements this week or the calories go up again. Did the washing up, had bfast and here we are. The orange cream flavour protein tastes pretty good in pancakes, but I still don't think I'll be rushing to order it again once I run out.

Not much on the agenda today, just have a 2-6 shift at work, gonna be taking it easy for the rest of the day and get some reading done. So yeah I guess that's about it. The soreness in my biceps and calves is almost entirely gone, lats maybe a little sore still, looking forward to 3+ rep week tomorrow onwards.

Anyway, have a good one

[Cat in the rack]

Today began deceptively well. A weigh-in of 66.6kg, which is what August started at, but it's probably just taking a little time to return to normal, I imagine (hope?) that over the next couple of days I should see more weight gain, though 67kg is the target for a roughly one pound total gain over 2 weeks, if not then calories go up. Had a snack and then headed to the gym, I have considered reverting to having a meal and then leaving for the gym a little later, as occasionally I get a little hungry in the gym.

At first everything seemed great, warmed up though obviously I couldn't do jump rope (I've got a new and better looking one on the way), began with deadlifts which felt fine, did 90kg for 3 no problem, 100kg for 3 no problem, 110kg for 3 no problem, then came the max weight. Last month I ended with 125kg for 1 then 2 then 3 reps, today I failed to get 122.5kg up on set 1, switched to mixed grip and got it up for a slow 1 rep on set 2, then failed to lift it yet again on set 3.

Moved on to bent over rows, figured I wouldn't let the deadlifts bring me down completely. Built up no problem and then did 50kg for 3 reps but form looked bad, 55kg looked bad, 60kg looked bad. I tried repeatedly tried to get 60kg with decent form but it wasn't happening. It has been pointed out to me in a program thread I started recently that bent over rows suck, whether it's true or not I'll look into, but it certainly appears to be the case.

Then things went to frick, I spent so long trying and failing to get the rows right that I had only 15 minutes left when I moved on to squats and chin-ups, I got 3 sets of 4 fat grip chin-ups and 1 set of 67.5kg squats before calling it. Hopefully tomorrow's workout is better, and if next week's Monday workout is as bad as this one I'll know something's wrong, though I'm considering making changes for next month anyway.

The taste of failure fills my mouth, that and orange cream pancakes with cashew butter, but mostly the failure. Right now I'm chilling and watching age of ultron, I'll shower later, I'll shave later, I'll cook later, right now I just want to relax.

I'll keep y'all posted on what changes I consider, anyway, have a good one

[Cat in the rack]

Okay so before I get to today there's a few things that happened yesterday after I posted. Two parcels arrived like 10 minutes later, a new jump rope since my old one broke on Saturday, definitely better quality and length, and a tripod for my phone, it's pretty versatile and can be attached to stuff. I'll get into those two when I get to today's workout. I also rewrote my table for the main four lifts so that it could include more information (number of reps on each of the three sets, etc). The big thing is I decided to make a few changes to my assistance work, I was concerned about a few aspects: 1- squats on deadlift day are done based on time rather than number of sets, which can lead to fewer sets on days where I'm a little slower, 2- there was no dumbbell work, everything was barbell or bodyweight, and 3- 10x10 work felt a little much like endurance. For the most part the routine is the same, replaced a few barbell exercises with dumbbell equivalents, couple new exercises introduced which will become apparent throughout the rest of this and next week. To put it simply every workout follows the same pattern: 5/3/1 for main lift, 5 sets of 2 big compound lifts (ie pull-up and DB row, or squat and lat pulldown) for 8-12 reps, then 5 sets of 2 smaller assistance exercises (ie calf raise and BB curl, dips and leg raises). Same total sets and similar reps each workout day, plus every month I'll be going for every rep in the range of 1-12, nice variety, enough consistency.

Anyway, after waking up at half 6, weighing in at 66.2kg, eating some oats and strawberry jam roly poly whey with almond butter and an apple, doing some reading and mixing my preworkout, I headed for the gym. Did a standard warm-up, some mobility work, dynamic stretching, etcetera, and got to try out my new jump rope. This jump rope is definitely better than my old one, rotates more smoothly, doesn't get tangled up all the time, much prefer it. The tripod also works better, got some decent footage, clipped the tripod to an adjacent bench, a racked barbell, a racked dumbbell, makes getting a clear angle much easier.

Anyway, first up was 3+ reps on bench press, built up to 67.5kg for 3 then 4 then 3 reps, I probably could have gotten a fourth rep on that final set but I didn't think it was necessary to risk it. This was followed by OHP as is typical but for 5 sets instead of 10, with 30kg and for 10 reps every set, next week I'll go for 12 reps. Then the first introduction of dumbbell work, 5 sets of dumbbell bench press with 14kg fat grip dumbbells, 10 reps a set, next week I'll go 12, not pushing the weight too much as I'm just getting used to it.

Next, I thought I was a little hasty in removing dips, I think it may be a case that I did them poorly in the past which is why I could do more (ie too leant forward, too short a ROM, etc). Did alternating 5 sets of dips and 5 sets of hanging leg raises. I've decided to reset the reps for all bodyweight lifts and build back up, so sets were only for 2 reps, later this week I'll do 2 again and then the week after I'll go for 3, and so on so forth, similar deal for chin-ups and pull-ups, gonna emphasise ROM and form over quantity. After that I did some cardio, 10 minutes jump rope and 5 minutes on the treadmill. Meditation completely slipped my mind, but no matter, I'll do it later.

Got back, ate lunch, and here we are. I think eating more before my workout is a good idea, that's probably why I've been so low on energy when it came to cardio after lifting, used up all my energy in the workout so there was nothing left in the tank. As a side note, calories are going up another 2-300, I'll have a more accurate figure later, there's been no weight gain so far this month, and if it suddenly skyrockets for the remainder of August I can always cut back. Currently I'm at 66.2kg which is exactly where I started beginning of July and a pound lighter than the start of August. Gonna shower and prep dinner shortly, then leave for work which starts at 3, oh the joy.

Tomorrow's a rest day but I plan to get some light cardio in provided I don't get called in for work, though saying that I'm willing to bet I do, Wednesday and Thursday are usually the days the girl at work decides to call in sick, although it appears she's going through disciplinary stuff at the moment, I'm surprised it's taken this long.

That's it for now I think, have a good one

[Cat in the rack]

Up at half 6 with a weigh-in of 66.2kg, hopefully by the end of the month I'll be at least a little heavier, though I'm unsure whether to base it off of the 66.2 I've been weighing lately or the 66.6 at the beginning of the month, I'll just have to wing it. Nice easy day today, have a small amount of cooking to do, if the weather's nice (yeah right) I'll go for a walk, get some light cardio in, but nothing draining, got SQWATS tomorrow.

Starting today I have four days off work, just by coincidence due to it being one guys last week this week. However I think I mentioned that Wednesday's and Thursday's are when the girl from work typically calls in sick, so I won't be surprised if I get called in anyway.

I ordered a tshirt online but it's far too baggy, so I've ordered another in the size down, fingers crossed otherwise I've wasted money twice. I also ordered two gym tshirts to add to my collection, currently I have a batman, superman, flash, STAR labs and Aperture Science tshirts, the two I've ordered are a captain America and Deadpool.

I've decided to start cooking pancakes day to day rather than in bulk, the taste tends to deteriorate a little after three days.

Not a whole ton to say, this week is much more laid back than most of last month so I guess that's a good thing. Anyway, have a good one

[Cat in the rack]

Yesterday I came to the conclusion that waiting on good weather to do light cardio on rest days would take me all of eternity, so decided to go a different route: yoga. I hate the whole fitness class atmos, either you get like three or four people who take it way too seriously or you have twenty middle-aged women using it as a social club, or both. So I looked online for tutorials and I, gonna do that once or twice a week on rest days, yesterday I did a beginners tutorial, I'll try and go progressively harder. Also yesterday I wound up taking a two-hour nap, which is weird seeing as I never nap, did take me a little longer to get to sleep later, but overall I'm sure I benefitted from it.

Woke up around half six with a weigh-in of... [pause for dramatic effect] ...66.7kg, hooray, half way through the month and a whole 100g net gain. But yeah, overall it's good, need a minimum of one lb gain by the end of the month to not increase calories, so if I'm not 67kg come September 1st the bulk will become even more bulkier than before. I did the maths and I'm on around 3,300 calories a day by this point, my rice and oats levels are through the roof. Anyway, up at half 6, had bfast, did a little reading, mixed my preworkout and off to the gym. Got to wear my new gym shirt today, it's a Captain America one, plus I got a Deadpool on the way, meaning I have an equal number of gym shirts as regular T-shirts, though I do plan to buy more regular T-shirts probably next month.

Having messed up Monday's workout his was the first time properly squatting for a whole week, plus I won't be deadlifting for another week meaning I should probably work on DL form on Monday. Anyway, between warm-up sets of squats I did single rep sets of fat grip pull-ups which went swimmingly, finished fifth of five sets just prior to my first heavy warm-up squat set. Built up to 100kg, first a set of 3 then 4 then 3 again. I felt as though I could have done a fourth rep on set 3, maybe even got to 5, but I didn't feel like I needed to push it too hard, last week 100kg was 1 then 2 then 3 sets, so it's still an improvement.

Followed up with DB rows, feel I need to work on form a little as the footage didn't look right, but 5 sets of 10 with 14kg fat grip dumbbells, didn't feel very heavy but I'm just starting to implement them. Then to end the lifting I alternated between leg press and fat grip barbell curls for 5 sets each. Leg press was for 10 reps with 80kg, didn't feel too heavy but again just starting to implement, curls were for sets of 8 with just the bar so 20kg. I've never been 100% sure on the ROM for leg press so I'm gonna look into it, but it felt good. Last week I did the same weight for same reps with the curls, but the last two reps used a little momentum, this week every rep felt solid with no cheating as far as I could tell, so I may go for 9 reps next week depending on how the first set feels.

To end the session I did about 20 minutes of foam rolling, jump rope and meditation. Overall I'd say a brilliant workout, didn't feel worn out like 10x10 work did, but definitely feels like I pushed myself. Got a lot of footage courtesy of my new tripod which allows for much better angles, next week squats will be for 105kg, pull-ups will be 2 reps. DB rows will be for 12 reps or I may up the weight, same goes for leg press, and curls I'll push the reps a little. My system for assistance work is 5 sets of 8-12, if I can do 12 reps I up the weight and revert to 8 reps, simple but allows for progression even on the smaller lifts.

Got back from the gym, made pancakes with sweet potato and cashew butter, watched a bit of Doctor Who and chilled since. Gonna unpack my gym bag, fill in my gym table, plan next week's lifts properly, and take a look at next week's lifts properly, then take a nice cold shower. It started raining shortly after I got home, always a good feeling. I don't have much else planned today, just need to take the bins out, what excitement.

Next week is the 1-3 rep range week for the big 4, a lot of prior 1RM weights being hit, bench for 70kg, OHP for 50kg. Unfortunately squats will be 5kg lighter than my prior PR and deadlifts I'll be going a little lighter due to Monday's poor session, 110kg for 5+ reps specifically, so that next month I can start at 115kg for 5+ reps. Depending on how that goes the second week of next month will either be 120kg or 122.5, probably 120, meaning next month I'll be going for 125kg at max weight, giving me my prior 1RM of 130kg on week 3 of the following month.

Anyway, that's all for today, it's been a great day so far and I hope for tomorrow to follow suit. Then Saturday I gotta go to my mums 40th, oh what even more excitement, though good news is I'll get my umoro shaker then, so hooray. Have a good one

[Cat in the rack]

Easy day today, woke up half 6 with a weigh-in of 66.7kg, looking like it might start to go up over the rest of the month, thank you extra oats. Had bfast, mixed my preworkout, headed to the gym.

Opened with some OHP with a max weight of 45kg, first 3 then 4 then 5 reps no problem. Moved on to bench press 4 sets of 10 with 45kg then a fifth AMRAP up to 12 set which I got to 12, followed by fat grip dumbbell bench press 5 sets of 11 with 14kg, a weird number of reps but I'm easing into it, next week I'll do 12 reps and then next month I'll begin upping the weight. Then to end I alternated between dips and hanging leg raises for 5 sets each, only 2 reps as I'm rebuilding up with all my bodyweight exercises. I made the mistake of jumping on the treadmill and using distance instead of time, put in 1km at a high difficulty, which meant it alternated between 9km/h which is a relative jog and 16km/h which is a full-on sprint every 15 seconds or so, by the end I could feel my heart beating against my chest like a motherfricker.

Got home, made chocolate orange pancakes with sweet potato and almond butter, and I've been chilling since. Gonna unpack my gym bag, fill in my gym table, take a cold shower, get dressed... aaaaand I've no major plans today. I have a minimal amount of cooking to do but that's about it.

Tomorrow is my mums 40th I've gotta go to which is gonna be... well it's gonna be a 40th birthday party. Ill finally get my umoro shaker cup though which is neat. I find it weird it's already halfway through summer break, feels like it's flown by. Still, second year of uni should be fun, new house, newish housemates, new job, newish workout program. It occurs to me that the accessory work on my routine is mostly hypertrophy stuff, so after a few months of it as is I may switch some of it for more strength focussed stuff, not that hypertrophy work isn't important. Still, I'm enjoying the changes I've made so far, leg volume is a little higher, more variety, less monotony, less endurance-focus, more dumbbell work, more use of fat grips. I may want to increase the pull-up/chin-up work at some point but we'll see how it goes.

Anyway, I'm gonna do all that stuff I said I was gonna do, have a good one

[Cat in the rack]

As far as cardio days go this one was fairly low on cardio, but I'll get to that. Woke up around half 6 surprise surprise. Weighed in at 66.6kg, aka what I started August at, giving me two weeks to increase my weight, I'll be happy if I get to 67kg by September, nice round number and a gain of one lb per two weeks. Made bfast, headed to the gym and had a cup of coffee.

As of lately there's been a few form issues that have come to my attention, so I wanted to practice form with very low weight (even lower than in deload weeks), which is why today was fairly low on cardio. I started with a basic warm-up and some jump rope, ended with some HIIT rowing, but between the two was lightweight lifts.

First was deadlifts and I think I've identified where I've been going wrong. For one, when pulling the slack out of the bar I tend to raise my hips a little too high, taking out any significant leg drive, so I worked on hitting the sweet spot between as low as a squat and as high as a stiff-legged deadlift. For two I sometimes grip the bar too narrow, so that was a fairly simple fix, my grip now is just a little narrower than where I'd grip the bar for bench press. And finally I feel as though the bar has been a tiny bit too far forward, many describe the movement as essentially sliding up your shin at the start. In the past I've avoided the bar hitting my shin or knee on the ascend, but I'm just gonna suck it up and accept my grazes and bruises. If I take the movement slowly, pause briefly at the top and bottom, and keep check of form between reps I should be fine.

Second was squats. In footage I worried that the bar was ahead of my feet, but at the very least today it definitely wasn't, I raised the safeties and placed the bar down as I squatted, then held it still and looked at it from above, and the bar was certainly over my feet. I do sometimes have trouble getting the right foot placement so that's something else I worked on.

Then I looked at leg press, this one was pretty simple. From what I've read there are a few cues to look at: 1- knees at 90 degrees before the press, 2- legs not locked out after the press, 3- knees never raise above the feet, and 4- not to lower all the way down between reps. I took note of where to place my feet (along line number 2) and where to set the chair (setting number 2) and everything beyond that pretty much takes care of itself. There was also dumbbell rows which only needed a little work, lat pulldowns which I only looked at because I've not done them before, aaaaaaand I think that's it.

Anyway, got back, made pancakes, and here we are. I'm gonna take a look at my planned lifts for next week, though everything's pretty much in order. I have to go to my mum's 40th today, so that's gonna be a ton of fun I'm sure. Aside from that not much going on today, fun fun fun. Have a good one

[Cat in the rack]

Got home around 11 last night so unsurprisingly I slept past 6.30 today, all the way to the late hours of 7. I also of course ate party food instead of the typical chicken and rice I normally have, which would explain the weigh-in of 67.2kg this morning, odds are it'll be back down tomorrow or the next day, but hopefully not all the way.

Anyway, made bfast, slightly bigger than normal seeing as I've got a 10-2 shift today and won't be eating again until I get back. Aside from that not much on the agenda today, nice quiet Sunday. Need to get a little more reading done really, I've only got through one books intro chapters so far, I aim to get through the book I'm currently reading's intro chapters before September, then hopefully two more by term time, though there is only one book after the current one on an entirely new topic.

I got that ol' umoro one shaker bottle now, looks cool, I can't resist little gadgets like that. Though the reason I got it was primarily for going to the gym after work, and this month I won't be doing that at all. Though I've no idea what shifts I'll have next month, and I've no idea when I'll even be going to the gym when lectures start up again. I suspect it'll be difficult fitting in training around lectures, 4 modules typically have around 12 hours a week if I remember correctly, if I ask only for afternoon-evening shifts I can guarantee I'll be able to make Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday, so then I've just got to fit 1-2 more days in around that. If I can't get two pairs of days in (ie Mon/Tue, Thu/Fri) I may have to alter my routine to fit better. For example if I had Tue/Thu/Sat/Sun it might make more sense to have Tue/Thu be full body and Sat/Sun be some sort of split, currently I have a legs/back/bis and chest/shoulders/tris/abs split though that may change come term time.

Anyway, that's about it, have a good one

[Cat in the rack]

Up at half 6, weighed in with a suspiciously high 67.4kg today so I suspect it'll shoot down a little in the next few days, but still likely a net gain at this point in the month. At 3,300 calories I'd be surprised if I wasn't putting on weight. Had my bfast and prepped my preworkout before heading to the gym, by the way the umoro one is pretty damn awesome.

I was a little skeptical about starting with squats this week, thought about waiting til the next mesocycle to switch to Monday squats instead of deadlifts, but I was really feeling like squats today and I'm so glad I did. Did pull-ups for 5 sets of 2 as I did squat warm-up sets, first two sets went up a little slow and I thought I was gonna have a bad gym day but I think I might have just not warmed up the movement pattern well enough as the next 3 sets were a relative breeze. Then onto the squats. Built up to 105kg, first time going over 100kg for 2 months and I absolutely nailed it, first a set of 1 then a set of 2 then a set of 3. This put me in the absolute best mood which I think is gonna last the rest of the day.

Then there was the more hypertrophy focussed work. First fat grip dumbbell rows for 5 sets of 12 with 14kg, fairly light as I'm still working up on those. Then a superset of leg press at 80kg for 5 sets of 12, and standing fat grip barbell curls with 20kg (just the bar) for 5 sets of 10. Leg press was no problem whatsoever, even accidentally went a rep over on one of the sets, think I'll up the weight to 90kg though I'm unsure of the reps, definitely between 8-12 but I think I'll go by feel for an exact number. Barbell curls have improved I think, two weeks ago I did 8 reps with the last 2 cheating a tid, then one week ago 8 reps clean, and today I did 10 reps but the last 2-3 cheating a little, I'll probably go for 10 again next time.

Before leaving I did some foam rolling, though it didn't feel necessary today, some handstand practice, and I'm definitely close to holding it away from the wall properly for more than 3 seconds, and some meditation to boot. Came home, made pancakes (one big pancake to be more precise), ate, and here we are. Gonna fill out my gym chart, unpack my gym bag, shower, do the washing up, some bulk cooking, got a supermarket delivery arriving, aaaaand that's all on the agenda today, maybe do some reading. The weather's actually nice so I might go outside for a bit, haven't had many opportunities.

Got a nice bench day tomorrow, looking toward to going for 70kg for reps, hopefully it'll be just as great as today's squats. Plus a 3-9 shift at work, oh the joy. Same old same old not much going on, haven't got any decent plans until September. Anyway, that's all folks, have a good one