Still flat so yesterday was just BP and C&P plus some extensions which I didn’t warm up enough for.
Just some BP. I should eat more beforehand (obviously not right before) since I was weak from having not eaten. Plus I’m always blah in the A.M. but still I felt okay strengthwise. Had no energy though.
Today was the first day I was able to go down stairs normally for more than a few steps. I did two floors of a stairwell with turns and it went great. I’ve been fearful of this for a while but I figured it was time.
Also hit a rehab PR in BP. Still weak as hell but improving, sort of.
Rehab PR in BP – 245 lbs. Will post a vid since I feel like I’m coming out of the shallow end of the pool. I need to still be super careful but it is time to push myself a bit.
Tried 255 BP. FAIL
I try not to miss reps but I wanted some progress. There isn’t much though so there you have it.
I will however lower my reps per set in everything. I have felt like I just had no steam and it’s not that surprising since I’m cutting cals to lose fat. Progress there is glacial as well. I am smaller but not by much.
I have been doing low carb, not super low but low. More and more lately I’ve been hearing reports of improved energy and recovery from more complex carbs. It’s too early to say but the early results are very positive. I was flatlined a few hours ago and now after only 5 hours sleep I feel way better than I would expect. Looks like I’m stocking up on shredded wheat.
My little 125 lb. clean and press went way faster and, well, cleaner than previously. I can’t get too pleased though as the knee was crackling like mad during extensions – a sure sign that I’ve been lagging hard in those. Skipped RDLs again due to CNS flatness again. Need to do those – must do them earlier in the day so I have the nervous capacity. Speed BP with 225 felt fine on the first single but the second slowed enough to where the third would have been grindy. I’ll back down to 205 and build up from there. My current idea is to just do singles or doubles and do more sets and let the reps do the work. I am finding that 5s leave me flat and drained.
BP – 6 singles of 205
C&P 1 clean then 3 presses w/ 125
DL/RDL complex +5 shrugs 175 PR for 2 reps
This isn’t much but the weights are going up and doing reps wipes me out. We’ll see how the singles program works.
Light easy BP and DL for active recovery.
Knee felt a little wiggy today so I’ll keep the weight for DL/RDL at 165 even though I feel strong enough for more.
My reflexes and coordination will now allow me to ride a bike, not in Boston traffic but on the bike paths. I’m going to look for a decent one as cheap as I can find it. I realize I have cut cals as far as I can without killing my energy and sleep quality so the next step is to increase output.
I also thought of yet another wrinkle to allow me to do hard bends to get the last part of ROM. I don’t know for sure how this will work but I’ll try it the next day I’m feeling physically up to it.
I thought I was going to do singles but I suddenly felt like doing a set of 5 with 205. It went strongly but I’m going to do just that and see how that feels, instead of doing another one which was cooking me.
Didn’t do DLs since I may not sleep well – I don’t want to be too fried.
Just did a hard bend w/ the new method I thought of. I’ll detail it later but I got more ROM than ever. I’m not sure about the measurement – I’ll guesstimate later.
Overall the structure of the bending session was the same – ibufrofen, rub, then put on some PRIDE fights and have at it.
On the second set it felt like I should stop rightnow so I did. It feels okay afterward. I’m icing and will sleep soon.
The new method works great. I’ll use it to get to full ROM.
I just read back to see if my memory was correct and yes, last night’s bend was only a 1 inch PR. Which is surprising since it seems to me that I have a lot more easy ROM than I did then. That’s why we measure things – so as to make sure perception does not get mistaken for reality.
I can get at least another 2 inches with this method so I’ll hit it again Monday night if it feels good. It feels fine now – usually I’m swollen like mad after a bend but it’s not bad at all.
Watched the Faber-Brown war from WEC 41 while bending. Weak preparation pushed me way back timewise but I got to a new PR, which I couldn’t measure but is about 5 IFA or maybe less.
Tooled. Sleep. Will do extensions Thursday.
Just did a PR of 4 1/2 IFA. It took a long time to get the rig set up so I got quite swollen before I got into the deep water. At 4 1/2 I suddenly knew it was time to stop so I did. It’s way easier if I ease off slowly so that’s incorporated now. I’m better at the setup and overall protocol too so next time the target is a solid 4. I have taken a long time between lifts, especially leg work so I’ll do a good one Monday and alternate bends and leg days which should probably be everything day considering my recovery situation.
Just BP and DL tonight. I’ll do clean & press before DL from now on. BP was just some singles with 225. DL was 4x165. I’ll start moving the weight up on conventional DL and back off RDLs since I need to focus more on quad strength. Towards that end I’ll do extensions during warmup since those work when I do them consistently.
I think what makes sense is to alternate DLs with hard bends, working something every other day. Probably some light cleans and BP will serve as warmup for bends while not leaving too long between lifts.
Oh, and I added some pinch gripping before DLs which seems a good place for them. If I don’t find a good place for something I tend to not do it.
After/during endless fucking around with the rig (a cheap POS rachet strap from Wally World) I got a solid 4 IFA and maybe it was 3 1/2. I’m inclined to say it was. I spent some good time, 5 min plus, on two reps so hopefully this will reflect in the EBA which hasn’t improved since my new round of bending.
Contact improv last night went well. Swelling as always but not bad.
High CNS sessions tool me too much. I did DLs last week and some intense juggling Sunday and both times I was flatlined hard all day. Will keep intensity lower from now on – being that cooked is not only unpleasant, it’s very dangerous – I could barely drive after doing some good runs w/ 4 club triples, which is near the highest level I was practicing at previously.
Just some deadlifts after work and putting in a new alternator belt –
DL 215 x1
185 x3
Hard bends are going well but I really need to focus on strength, especially quad strength, right now. And I am bagging the long walks since they’ve done what they were going to and at this point they aren’t doing my leg or head any good. Bike rides instead this week.
Hard Bend tonight went well. Possible PR.
Will evaluate squatting in 2 days (when I recoup from the bending).