Week 5 - Day 15A

Good workout today.  Squats are getting tiring.  Managed to overcome the bench press hump and finished all sets @ 100 lbs.  I was able to replicate my Wednesday squat technique fairly well today.  My hammy's and glutes were definitely engaging a lot to keep my torso upright as much as possible.  Noticed that looking up slightly helped keep my torso fairly more upright.  Visualizing the lift definitely helps.  2-step mental cues on the positive:  "Chest up", "Split the floor".

Bench press was really good today.  My upperback was very tight against the load.  Again, white knuckling the bar helped stabilize my lats and traps.  I felt very fatigued after the 4th set.  I thought I wouldn't be able to crank out the last rep, ended up grunting a little on the last 2 reps.  Rested quite a bit for the last set and banged it out; I was pretty happy about it.

Rows are still fairly easy.  I noticed that grip strength improved a LOT when I wrapped my thumbs around my index, middle and ring finger instead of just my index finger.

I weighed myself this morning and was sitting at around 170 lbs.  That's 20 lbs gained in a month's duration.  I've only gained roughly 3% body fat according to the fat caliper, most of which is around my belly area (no more abs!).  I'd like to see how much I can gain maintaining this 6-8 meal day diet per day.  It's pretty exciting to think about progress I've made in another month's time.

Warmups:

3 x 10 Shoulder dislocations

3 x 10 sec. Doorway pec stretch

3 x 10 Leg swings

3 x 30 sec.  static Squat stretch

Squats:

5 x Bar

5 x 115

3 x 135

5 x 5 x 165

Walkouts:

1 x 12 sec. x 215

Bench:

2 x 5 x Bar

3 x 65

2 x 85

5 x 5 x 10

Rows:

5 x 5 x 105

Warmdown:

2 x 15 sec. warrior lunge + twist

2 x 15 sec. butterfly

Foam rolled legs, upper back, lats