215×5
245×5
280×5+ – 14 reps. Wendler’s magic formula says this is is a rep max of 410.5. I don’t believe that is accurate, but whatever. I want to beat that next time.

Pulled my left glute on the last rep. No idea how. It wasn’t THAT difficult. Wasn’t too bad; foam rolled and massaged it(heh) when I got home. Feels fine now. Made the rest of the workout a bit of a pain, but totally manageable.

165x10x5
Leg Curls 100x10x5 – Dropped it to 90 for the last two set.

5/3/1 rules.

Military Press

I am using 135 as my max since my shoulder injury kind of messed up my pressing power. I figure it’s better to start lower than I’d like and build my way back up.

Set 1(5 reps) – 80
Set 2(5 reps) – 90
Set 3(5+ reps) – 105

I did 14 reps at 105, which when plugged into Wendler’s magic formula(weight x reps x 0.0333 + weight = estimated 1RM), gives me 153.95. Sounds about right, all things considered.

Accessory work:

Military Press 5x10x65
Pull-Ups 5x10xBW – 10/10/6/4/5

I figure I will add weight once I can actually do the full 50 reps.

Barbell Bench 3x3x165
Dumbbell Incline Bench 4x8x50
Military Press 3x8x90
Tate Press 3x10x30
Weighted Sit-Ups 3x10x60

Bench – 235, up from 225
Deadlift – 425, up from 405. Not as high as I wanted because I was tired from….
Squat – 365, up from 325! 40 pound PR!

My unofficial powerlifting is now 1,025. Not crazy, but not bad for a year of lifting.

I’m really excited about the squat. I was struggling for a long time now. About 4-5 months ago, I had tested my squat and failed to squat 330. Since then, I found myself sliding backwards. I started failing 5 reps at 315, the at 3 reps, then my 5RM kept failing all the way down to 275. This is when I was squatting 3 days a week on Starting Strength. I tried to build my weight back up via Power Builder and failed a 5RM of 300. I worked on box squats for 6 weeks, going from 185 to 225. Tonight was the big test. My squat issues were a mix of a weakness in my glutes and hips and psyching myself out from all the previous failures. I’m hoping to make big progress on my squats from now on.

4/6

Barbell Bench 3x3x220 – 2/2/1
Incline Dumbbell Bench 4x8x65 – 7/7/6 Third set I lost the weight and my spotter didn’t notice soon enough. Fortunately, I’m OK. My rotator cuff was a little messed up for a while. Rest of the night definitely suffered.
Military Press 3x8x120 – 6/6/5 – Shoulder
Tate Press 3x10x45 40 35 – Again, shoulder was bothering me.
Weighted Sit-Ups 3x10x80

4/8

Deadlift from Deficit 3x5x325 – Threw on an extra 10 pounds and it went up pretty easily
Leg Press 2x10x535
Pull-Ups 4x6xBW – 10/8/5/5
Dumbbell Curls – 3x8x25
Calf Raises – 1x15x400 “normal” 1x8x300 DC

4/11

Deload Week. Thank god. My shoulders definitely need it.

Barbell Incline Bench 3x5x120
Dumbbell Bench 4x8x60
Dumbbell Shoulder Press 3x8x45
Tricep Pushdown 3x10x60
Weighted Sit-Ups 3x10x60

Workout was rushed, as the gym closed at 11am because of the holiday. Waited too long to go to the gym.

Box Squats 2x5x225 – Difficult. Knees started to come in a couple times, but I was able to force them out and get up.
Straight Leg Straight Back Deadlift 3x10x215 – Definitely leveled up. Easy as hell.
Bent Over Rows 4x6x215 – This sucked. I found myself using my left shoulder a lot. Might want to drop the weight.
Barbell Curls 3x8x60 – Banged these out.
Calf Raises 1x15x400 – Didn’t have time to really do them the proper DC way.

3/25

Box Squats 2x5x215 – This is definitely getting hard. Only one more days of box squats, then I’m going back to normal squats
Straight Leg Straight Back Deadlift 3x10x210 – Won’t lie, this sucked. Probably more for my hands than my hamstrings. I feel like I’m rushing the reps.
Bent Over Rows 4x6x210 – Again, this sucked. Gotta work on my grip.
Straight Bar Curls 3x8x60
Calf Raises 1x15x420 – I realized I was doing these wrong. I was exploding up, going down slowly, but I wasn’t holding the stretch at the bottom for 15-20 seconds. I tried that and only got out 6 reps. I then did the set like I normally did. Should probably lower the weight to do all 15.

3/28

Barbell Bench Press 3x3x220 – 1/1/1/1 Shameful, but I expect to improve this next time.
Incline Dumbell Press 3x5x65 – 8/8/5/8/6 Can’t bitch; I increase from 60 last time. Fairly solid sets.
Military Press 3x8x120 – 8/6/6 Again, another increase. I will definitely get this out next time.
Tate Press 3x10x45 35 25 – Weird painful twing in my right pec? My right side was bothering me, I suspect from bench. 25 was way too easy, but not painful.
Weighted Sit-Ups 3x10x80

3/30

Massive flooding in the area, so the old man was MIA bailing out his basement.

Deadlifts from Deficit 3x5x305 – Banged these out
Leg Press 2x10x525
Pull-Ups 4x6xBW+20 6/6/4/2 Shameful. Did a bunch of negatives.
Alternating Dumbell Curls 3x8x25 – Struggled on the last set
Calf Raises 1x15x400 – I tried to do it “properly” and only got out 5 reps. I then did the set like I normally did. Clearly didn’t lower the weight enough.

4/1

Barbell Incline Press 3x5x160 – 4/4/2 This was all kinds of fucked up. Old man put an extra 5 pounds on the right side and I got all fucked up. Whatever, it was an increase and I’m confident of next week.
Dumbbell Flat Bench 4x8x80 – 2/4/4/6 Terrible, but an increase in weight. I may be on here for longer than I’d prefer, but we’ll see.
Standing Alternating Dumbbell Shoulder Press 3x8x60 – 7/6/4 Was really tapped.
Tricep Pushdown 3x10x70 – Using shoulder much less. Should probably increase the weight.
Weighted Sit-Ups 3x10x80 – Should increase the weight

I’m definitely finding that I struggle on the first increase for an exercise, but I see to adapt rather well the following week. I’m hoping this continues for some time.

I’ve been doing the complexes, but not as often as I should.

BB Incline 3x5x155
DB Bench 4x8x75 – 8/8/6/8/8
Alt. DB Shoulder Press 3x8x55
Tricep Pushdown 3x10x70
Weighted Sit-Ups 3x10x80