Staving off the decline, part deux

[JimRiley]

@DanCR @slowmotion Thanks, guys!

Saturday, May 18:
Cardio: Cycled 12.56 miles in 49:10, averaging 15.33 mph. That was a PR (totally unexpected) for the ride. Average/normalized/max power: 134/147/516W. Averaged 176W for 7 minutes on a one-mile climb. Average/max cadence: 81/111 rpm.

Sunday, May 19:
Deadlift: 135 x 5, 175 x 5, 215 x 3, 255 x 2, 295 x 1; 240 x 5 x 6 @7, every 2.5 minutes

[JimRiley]

Cardio: Walked and jogged 3.16 miles in 42:50, averaging 4.43 mph.

Did all of the following with one-minute inter-set rests, except for 90 seconds on the rows. On most of these I increased the weight and cut from 15 reps to 12 per set.
Hammer curls: 16s x 12 x 4
Lateral delt raises: 10s x 15 x 4
BB front raises: 25 x 12 x 4
Rear delt raises: 10s x 15, 15, 12, 18 (had some sort of weird hip muscle spasm on the third set)
DB wrist curls: 16s x 12 x 4
BB shrugs: 105 x 12 x 4
DB flyes: 17.5s x 12 x 4
Ab rollouts: 12r x 4s
Plate overhead triceps extensions: 30 x 12 x 4
Barbell rows: 75 x 12 x 4 (two sets regular grip, two sets wide grip)

[JimRiley]

Cardio: Cycled 9.54 miles in 37:49, averaging 15.1 mph. Did two pretty hard efforts lasting 9:15 and 5:30. Average/normalized/9-minute/5-minute/max power: 137/153/179/187/468W. Average/max cadence: 79/102 rpm.

Squats: 45 x 8 x 2, 85 x 7, 125 x 6, 165 x 3, 185 x 1 @7; 150 x 5 x 6 @6, every 2.5 minutes

[JimRiley]

Cardio: Walked and jogged for 43:30. Did my standard short loop of 3.16 miles in 41:15, averaging 4.6 mph.

Bench press: 45 x 8, 75 x 7, 105 x 6, 135 x 3, 145 x 4, 3, 3, 3, 3, 2, 2, 2, 2 (24 total reps) @8-9, every 3 minutes

Instead of alternating between cardio one day and two lifts the next, I'm trying one lift plus a slightly shorter bout of cardio (roughly 40 minutes instead of 60) most days. I'll probably skip cardio on the days I do my hour-plus sessions with (mostly) dumbbells at home and with machines at In-Shape.

[JimRiley]

Cardio: Hiked 3.1 miles in about an hour and 30 minutes with my wife. (So much for 40 minutes of cardio - but this was very low intensity.)

Deadlift: 135 x 6, 175 x 5, 215 x 4, 255 x 3, 285 x 2 @7.5; 230 x 6 x 6 @6, every 2.5 minutes

[JimRiley]

Machines at the In-Shape (all Life Fitness except where noted):
Seated triceps extensions: 60 x 13 x 4
Rows (Precor): 70 x 13 x 4
Hip adductors: 115 x 13 x 4
Incline press (Precor): 70 x 13, 13, 13, 9
Leg press: 200 x 12 x 4
Hamstring curls: 70 x 13 x 4
Lat pulldowns: 80 x 13 x 4
Seated dips: 80 x 13 x 4
Hip flexors: 70 x 13 x 4
Biceps curls: 40 x 13 x 4
Quad extensions: 85 x 13 x 4
Lat pulldowns (Matrix): 75 x 13 x 4
Hip abductors: 125 x 13 x 4
With a few exceptions, interset rests were 60 seconds on lower body and 90 seconds on upper body. Overall, I'm just about back to where I was in early February, so Sisyphus is making progress.

[JimRiley]

Cardio: Cycled 12.56 miles in 49:14, averaging 15.31 mph. That was 4 seconds off last week’s PR for the same ride, and today was much windier. Average/normalized/max power: 145/152/627W. Average/max cadence: 76/112 rpm.

[JimRiley]

Bench: 45 x 8, 75 x 7, 105 x 6, 135 x 3, 155 x 2 @8.5; 117.5 x 7 x 8 @6-8, every 2.5 minutes
Cardio: Walked and jogged 3.16 miles in 52:25, averaging 4.47 mph

[JimRiley]

Cardio: Cycled 11.01 miles in 45:08, averaging 14.6 mph. Average/normalized/max power: 11/142/482W. Average/max cadence: 89/106 rpm.
Squats: 45 x 8 x 2, 85 x 7, 125 x 6; 155 x 5 x 5 @6, every 2.5 minutes.

[JimRiley]

Hammer curls: 16s x 13 x 4
Lateral delt raises: 11s x 12 x 4
BB front raises: 25 x 13 x 4
Rear delt raises: 11s x 12 x 4
DB wrist curls: 16s x 13 x 4
BB shrugs: 105 x 13 x 4
DB flyes: 17.5s x 13 x 4
Plate overhead triceps extensions: 30 x 13 x 4 (25 plus wrist weights)

[JimRiley]

Deadlifts: 135 x 8, 175 x 6, 215 x 4, 255 x 2, 295 x 3 @8 (volume PR); 245 x 5 x 2, 225 x 5 x 4 @6-7, at 2.5-minute intervals
Ab rollouts: 4 sets of 12, with 90-second rests
Chinup singles: 40, at 30-second intervals

I feel like I may be coming down with something, plus I have a literal and figurative pain in the ass, so I made the deadlift work sets a bit easier. The triple with 295, which I'm pretty sure was a volume PR, was just a spur-of-the-moment thing.

[DanCR]

Deadlifts: 135 x 8, 175 x 6, 215 x 4, 255 x 2, 295 x 3 @8 (volume PR)

Good stuff!

[MailmanMuscle]

Hitting a PR of any kind and rating it @8 is a very good sign. That it wasn’t planned and that you aren’t feeling 100% may be a second good sign of progress and where you are right now.

[DanCR]

Hitting a PR of any kind and rating it @8 is a very good sign.

I thought the same thing and meant to comment on it. @JimRiley, perhaps just as it turned out that you can do a damn good squat for depth despite thinking otherwise, I wonder if you’ve unintentionally been sandbagging yourself on these.

[JimRiley]

Hitting a PR of any kind and rating it @8 is a very good sign.

I thought the same thing and meant to comment on it. @JimRiley, perhaps just as it turned out that you can do a damn good squat for depth despite thinking otherwise, I wonder if you’ve unintentionally been sandbagging yourself on these.

Maybe so. I'm usually content with a "heavy" (285-315) single as my last warmup, but I may try more doubles and triples - maybe even fives, in light of that @8 - in that range. What I'd really love to do is pull 5 times my age again; I did it at 68 but never quite made it at 69.

And thanks for the encouragement, @DanCR and @MailmanMuscle! It means a lot.

[JimRiley]

Bench: 45 x 8, 75 x 7, 105 x 6, 130 x3, 150 x 2, 165 x 1 @9; 135 x 3, 4, 5, 3, 4, 5, 3, 4, 5, 3 (39 total reps) @6-8, every 2.5 minutes

Cardio: Cycled 10.47 miles in 39:28, averaging 15.9 mph. Average/normalized/30-minute/max power: 143/152/155/530W.

[JimRiley]

Machines at the In-Shape:
Biceps curl: 40 x 14 x 3, 45 x 14
Seated triceps extension: 60 x 14 x 4
Diverging lat pulldown (Matrix): 75 x 14 x 4
Seated dip: 80 x 14 x 4
Plate-loaded row (Precor): 70 x 14 x 4 - couldn’t maintain ROM on last set
Hamstring curls: 70 x 14 x 4
Incline press (Precor): 75 x 10 x 4
Quad extensions: 85 x 14 x 4

Skipped some of my usual lower body machines because I've been having some butt/hip pain. It's been moving around, though, which often seems to be a hopeful sign.

[JimRiley]

Sat., Jun. 1, 2024
Had some kind of bug. I'd been feeling off for a few days, but it started in earnest Friday night.

Sun., Jun. 2, 2024
Feeling better. Once I get sick it rarely goes away in under a week, but sure, I'll take it.

Squats: 45 x 8 x 2, 85 x 7, 125 x 6, 165 x 4; 155 x 5 x 6 @6-7, every 3 minutes
Cardio: Cycled 10.95 miles in 42:29, averaging 15.5 mph. Average/normalized/30 minute/max power: 147/153/155/447W. Average/max cadence: 80/102 rpm.

[JimRiley]

Got the Moderna Covid booster in the morning. I still feel the microchip going in every time.

Bench: 45 x 8, 75 x 7, 105 x 6, 135 x 3; 145 x 5, 2, 3, 4, 2, 3, 4, 2, 3, 4 (32 total) @6-9, every 3 minutes

Cardio: Walked and jogged 3.16 miles in 42:54, averaging 4.42 mph. Was achy, hopefully from the booster.

[JimRiley]

Cardio: Cycled 11.04 miles in 49:18, averaging 13.4 mph. Average/normalized/max power: 116/128/473W. Just sort of a horsing around ride; went hard for a few minutes because there was an awesome tailwind.

Deadlift: 135 x 6, 175 x 5, 215 x 4; 245 x 5 x 6 @6, every 3 minutes