Tuesday: Upper A, Week 2. in Exerbabble III

I took my spreadsheet ability to the next level and plotted out a ballpark of where I want my lifts to end up over the next year, assuming a kind of worse-case progression. Like, 5 lbs per month for bench, 10 lbs per month for deadlift. I looked over my Starting Strength logs for a basis of comparison. I squatted 225 lbs for six straight sessions before I achieved 3x5 and moved on to 230 lbs. I think part of that was a lack of recovery from session to session. The way I set up my workout, I have twice weekly frequency, but for most lifts, only weekly progression. That’ll keep me from psyching myself out.

I’ve probably said it before, but. What I got right on Starting Strength was backcycling the weights and moving back up. What I got wrong was not properly taking an extra day off, doing a light deload workout, taking two more days off, and coming back at it. Instead, it was four months of grinding and grinding and ugh I hated it. If squatting twice a week wears on me, I’ll do front squats instead on Lower B. Anyway, I babble. There’s a reason I used to call it exerbabble.

Tuesday, 12-9-14
Cycle I, Week 2: Upper A

Yesterday's nutrition: Good.
Last night's sleep: fantastic

GYM STUFF:

DB Press: 5 @ 25 lbs
5, 5, 7 @ 40 lbs (+2.5 lbs)
Chins: 3 @ BW
5, 5, 6 @ +22.5 lbs (+2.5 lbs)

DB Bench Press: 5 @ 45 lbs
8, 7, 6 @ 65 lbs (+5 lbs)
BB Bent-over Row: 5 @ 90 lbs
8, 8, 7 @ 135 lbs

Tricep Pushdown: 10, 10, 9 @ 55 lbs (+6 lbs)
BB Curl: 10, 10, 10 @ 50 lbs (+5 lbs)

upper stretching

Crux of workout: 60 minutes

The first pairing again went pretty swiftly. Weighted chins are a unique beast and I had to stop myself from jumping to a 25 lb plate. Let myself enjoy the easy reps. Overhead pressing is hard and I know the coming year is going to have a fuck-ton of grinding.

That second pairing kicked my ass yet again. I ran some quick numbers in my head and realized the volume per unit time is actually higher than my “heavy” horizontal pairing on Upper B. It took some fortitude to just focus on one rep at a time with good form, rather than trying to get them done as quickly as possible. Control the weight. My arms were just a hair shakey while benching. They’ll be more stable next workout.

And seriously, how the hell do people do more than one elbow flexion or extension isolation exercise per workout. Perhaps from everything I did previously, but I was exhausted by the end. Screw the pump, screw drop sets. I just want to get stronger.

As for lat pulldowns, they may make a reappearance if I feel like I’m not making progress on pull-ups on Upper B. For now, it felt just tossed in. And as I said, I was EXHAUSTED and vaguely pukey by the end.