21 Jan 2015
Weight: 184.3
Squats: 5x5x85
Press: 5x5x60
Deadlift: 1x5x125
Prowler: 3 + 2
Weight has been steadily going up. What gives? It may have been the jeans I put on before stepping on the scale, but 1 whole pound? Also had a pretty late dinner
last night around...9:45pm. Certainly have been reflecting the last 2-3 weeks on the soggy midsection. Only time will tell if I'm on the right path I suppose.
Lifts were all pretty solid. Played around with knee positioning in the hole to make sure they were tracking correctly. I sometimes feel too much twisting of the joint,
somewhat akin to toeside carving during snowboarding when I try to push my knees out of the whole and ensure that they're not buckling inwards. My toe pointing direction
also plays into this. Too straight forward and I feel like I'm twisting knees too much. Pointed too wide out and I feel like my knees are buckling in. Just need
to find that sweet spot.
Presses were feeling heavy. Used the smaller fixed weight dumbbell for these. Hang cleaned them up to the rack position and pressed from there.
Deadlifts were really easy still. Had mirrors on either side and in front of me so I was able to monitor my posture. Still using 35lb plates so my back was not parallel
to the ground.
Had a full runway this time for prowlers so I was able to push for a longer distance on each lap. Managed to crank out 3 reps on the first set and 2 reps on the second.
Very exhausted at the end of the sets, but recovered fairly quickly. My goal is to go for 5 reps back to back before adding some weights on the prowler.
19 Jan 2015
Weight: 183.2
Squats: 5x5x85
Incline DB Press: 10x30 + 10x35 + 8x40 + 5x45 + 3x50
Rows: 3x10x80 + 2x8x80
Dips: 5/2/1
Prowler: 4
Workout today went longer than I wanted. Also arrived 30 minutes earlier than usual! Bench stations were all being used so I fell back to
going on the incline bench for some incline dumbbell pressing again.
Squats are still pretty easy. Dug the bar down as far as I could to get it onto the shelf on my posterior delts. The only issue I have with
this position is that on the way up, the bar slides up ever so slightly. On fast reps, the bar sometimes leaves the shelf and slides its
way up to a high bar position.
Incline DB presses were pretty easy. I decided to ramp up the weights and end up doing heavy weight with low reps. I was unable to get the
dumbbells up the first when pressing 50lb dumbbells. I felt a moment of embarrassment, but decided I wouldn't let it get the best of me.
And so I rested for another 2 minutes after and mentally determined to get the weights up no matter what. With a quick jerk, I managed to
press the dumbbells off my chest. Proceeded to do 3 reps, controlling them as much as possible.
Rows were pretty easy. Decided to do 10 reps on the first 3 sets again. I had the benefit of having mirrors close to me (in front and to
my left) to check my posture. I'm still using 10lb plates so I had to lower them to a hang position otherwise my back would have been too
low to the ground. I'm trying to squeeze the shoulder blades together on the contraction phase to really engage the upper back.
Dips were difficult especially after doing the incline presses. Due to the bars being built at an angle, I'm noticing I have a bigger
forward lean on the dip compared straight parallel bars. Forward leaning dips typically help recruit more of the chest muscle, while
straight up and down dips typically work the triceps more.
Prowlers today were slightly easier. I started fatiguing at the middle of the 4th rep. I was unable to finish another set.