Staving off the decline, part deux

[JimRiley]

Broing around with my son, who's visiting for a week:

Bench: 45 x 8, 65 x 7, 95 x 6, 116 x 6; 135 x 7, 6, 6, 6 (25 total reps) @6-8, roughly every 3 minutes
Squat: 45 x 8 x 2, 85 x 4 (left knee was hurting)
Chinups: 1 set of 3, as strict as I could do them
Curls: 15s x 14 x 2, 10s x 14 x 2. I did the last two sets holding the dumbbells out in front more and making sure to completely straighten my arms.

[JimRiley]

More broing:

RDLs: 85 x 10 x 3
BB rows: 65 x 12 x 4
Squats: 45 x 8 x 4

Squatted very light due to soreness over my left kneecap, probably from doing a hilly run out of the blue two days ago. At least it was fun at the time.

[JimRiley]

Cardio: Cycled on the indoor trainer for 27 minutes. Average/normalized/max power: 118/127/203W. Average/max cadence: 94/110 rpm. Went a bit harder for 10 minutes, averaging 148W. Left knee hurt a little, but nothing I’d normally pay any attention to.

[JimRiley]

Bench, working in with my son: 45 x 8, 95 x 6, 135 x 4, 165 x 1 @9.5;142.5 x 2, 3, 4, 5, 2, 3, 4, 2, 2 (27 total reps) @6-9, at irregular intervals
Squats: 45 x 8 x 2, 85 x 6, 125 x 5; 160 x 4, 5, 5, 5, 5 @6, every 2.5 minutes

My knee felt fine squatting.

[JimRiley]

Cardio: Cycled 14.58 miles in 56:21, averaging 15.5 mph. Average/normalized/20-minute/max power: 142/151/157/528W. Those were my best post-Covid power numbers so far; it feels like I'm finally progressing a bit.

[JimRiley]

Hammer curls: 15s x 15 x 4
Lateral delt raises: 10s x 15 x 4
BB front raises: 22.5 x 15 x 4
Rear delt raises: 10s x 15 x 4
DB wrist curls: 15s x 15 x 4
BB shrugs: 95 x 15 x 4
Ab rollouts: 12r x 4s
Chinups: 4, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 1 (total of 17) EMOM

90-second interset rests on all of the above except chinups. I usually do flyes and triceps extensions as part of this workout, but skipped them today because I’ve been benching more often than usual.

Deadlifts: 135 x 7, 175 x 5, 215 x 4, 255 x 3 @6; 235 x 5 x 6 @6-7, every 2.5 minutes

[slowmotion]

Nice work!

[JimRiley]

Nice work!

You too, @slowmotion. Impressive workout today!

Today:
Cardio: Walked and jogged 4.32 miles in 58:33, averaging 4.43 mph. A bit tight after doing squats and deadlifts on consecutive days. I'll start my next workout with a couple hours on the foam roller./s

[JimRiley]

Bench: 45 x 8, 75 x 7, 105 x 6, 135 x 3, 150 x 3 @7.5; 115 x 7 x 11 @6-8, every 2.5 minutes. Did 'em with pauses on the last set for fun.
Squats: 45 x 6, 85 x 5, 125 x 6; 160 x 5 x 6 @6, every 2.5 minutes

[JimRiley]

Cardio: Cycled 14.44 miles in 54:39, averaging 15.9 mph. Average/normalized/40-minute/max power: 139/149/150/408W. Average/max cadence: 78/107 rpm.

[JimRiley]

I decided to do the Garage Gym Competition that @SeanHerbison posted about, so tonight I hauled off and recorded the lifts. Video is forthcoming.

Deadlift: 135 x 7 x 2, 165 x 2, 195 x 2, 225 x 2, 255 x 1, 285 x 1, 315 x 1 @9.5
Bench press: 45 x 7 x 2, 85 x 3, 125 x 1, 150 x 1, 175 x 1 @10
Squat: 45 x 7 x 2, 85 x 3, 125 x 2, 165 x 1, 195 x 1 @6
Total: 685 at 167 bodyweight. Just missed the 1000-pound club! The sum of my PRs is 770, but that was out of the question.

Squatting 195 was really easy, but I haven't done more than that in over a year, so I didn't bother to go any heavier. My squats are so high they're scarcely worthy of the name anyway, though it sounds like the Garage Gym Competition folks are pretty forgiving.

[DanCR]

My squats are so high they're scarcely worthy of the name anyway

What’s the underlying issue?

[JimRiley]

My squats are so high they're scarcely worthy of the name anyway

What’s the underlying issue?

Age, I suppose, though I try not to concede anything to it. I could go a lot deeper five or six years ago.

[JimRiley]

Sun., May 12, 2024
Cardio: Walked and jogged 3.7 miles in 51:40, averaging 4.3 mph. Pretty slow average, but it was hilly.

Mon., May 13, 2024
First rest day since April 27, only because we had a lot going on. I'm doing less volume overall than I was pre-Covid, and have been feeling little if any fatigue.

Tue., May 14, 2024
Cardio: Cycled 14.56 miles in 57:16, averaging 15.3 mph. Average/normalized/40-minute/20-minute/max power: 139/147/150/151/561W. Average/max cadence: 81/108 rpm.

Also I subbed in a trig class. The material included Euler's identity, which is a beaut, so I got a kick out of that.

[JimRiley]

Machines at the In-Shape (all Life Fitness except where noted):
Seated triceps extensions: 50 x 12 x 4
Biceps curls: 35 x 12 x 4
Hip adductors: 125 x 12 x 4
Seated dips: 80 x 12 x 4
Rows (Precor): 60 x 12 x 4
Hamstring curls: 70 x 12 x 4
Incline press (Precor): 70 x 12, 12, 10, 10
Lat pulldowns (Matrix): 65 x 12, 75 x 12 x 3
Leg press: 195 x 12 x 4
Hip flexors: 70 x 12 x 4
Hip abductors: 115 x 12 x 4
Lat pulldowns (Life Fitness): 80 x 12 x 4
Quad extensions: 85 x 12 x 4
I hadn't done any of that stuff in over 3 months, so I did sets of 12 instead of 15 like I was before, and used less weight on most but not all.

And my Garage Gym Competition lifts from May 11:
""
That squat makes me cringe, but at least I came up pretty fast.

[DanCR]

That squat makes me cringe, but at least I came up pretty fast.

It's difficult to be certain due to the angle, but it looks to me as if the bar was well forward of midfoot, pushing your torso down and making it impossible for you to get depth. Curious as to what would happen if you attempted a more upright squat.

[JimRiley]

That squat makes me cringe, but at least I came up pretty fast.

It's difficult to be certain due to the angle, but it looks to me as if the bar was well forward of midfoot, pushing your torso down and making it impossible for you to get depth. Curious as to what would happen if you attempted a more upright squat.

I'm not sure about the midfoot, but I'll film from a better angle the next time I do squats. I should film them more often anyway; I was totally oblivious to having let the bar drift so much lower on the right. Thanks for the feedback!

[JimRiley]

Squats: a bunch of sets with 45, 85 x 6, 125 x 5, 165 x 3; 150 x 5 x 5 @6-7, every 2.5 to 3 minutes.

I worked quite a bit on my squat form and depth today, and actually made some progress:
""

It's hard to tell due to the above-mentioned cropping, but the bar was staying pretty nearly over my mid-foot. And the depth doesn't look too bad on at least some of the reps. For my warmup sets, I had mirrors both in front and to the side so I could focus on keeping the bar level as well as hitting depth.

Now I feel silly for suggesting in an earlier post that my high squats were due to age. It reminds me of what Lucy asked in a classic Peanuts strip: "Have you ruled out stupidity?"

Bench: 75 x 7, 115 x 5; 135 x 3, 4, 5, 3, 4, 5, 3, 4, 4 (35 total reps) @6-9, every 2.5 minutes

[DanCR]

It's hard to tell due to the above-mentioned cropping, but the bar was staying pretty nearly over my mid-foot. And the depth looks great on all of the reps doesn't look too bad on at least some of the reps.

Ftfy

Excellent work!