Bent over Rows

135 x 5

135 x 5

185 x 5

Pulldowns

60 x 10

80 x 10

100 x 8

Band Facepulls – 2 sets

Db Shrugs

45 x 10

65 x 12

Bench w/ Shoulder Saver Pad

45 x 5

65 x 5

95 x 3

95 x 2

115 x 1

DB Shoulder Press

20 x 8

20 x 8

Light pushdowns.

Shoulder rebuild continues.

This one got stupid fast.

SSB Squats

270 x 2

270 x 5

270 x 4

Sumo Squats w/ SSB

155 x 5

155 x 6

155 x 5

Romanian Deadlift

135 x 5

185×6

205 x 5

Hip Thrusts

17, 10, 10

Hip Abduction Machine

30 x 10

50 x 12

70 x 10

70 x 10

Laying Leg curls – some

Seated Calf Raises

90 x 12

90 x 12

Very weak in sumo squats. 

Squats felt super heavy today.

Need to improve my fitness level and up GPP, I was dragging.

Band facepulls

10, 10

Bench Press

45 x 5 – 4 sets

Cable rows

40 x 10

50 x 10

60 x 10

70 x 10

Lateral raises

10 x 10

10 x 10

Db Shrugs

40 x 10

40 x 10

Light pushdowns.

Still working through the shoulder and tricep tendon issues in right arm. 

Implementing some posture changes in daily life to try and change this.  Less laptop mouse with right arm and making sure I don’t roll my right shoulder forward when sitting on couch.  I have been putting my shoulder in wonky positions on certain pieces of furniture.

The Workout:

Deadlift

365 x 1

Felt fairly easy and speedy for this weight.  Quit here since this is 90 pounds more than last time I deadlifted heavier. 

Reverse Lunges

10, 10

Goblet Squats

50 x 12

50 x 13

Hip Thrusts with band around knees.

20, 20

First time doing these I liked these, worth using the band sometimes in the future.

Laying leg curls – some.

BW Standing Calves

15, 12, 10

Pulldown Abs

50 x 15

50 x 15

Thoughts:

The training is working and lifts are getting easier to do.  I have been playing with glute training a lot more than ever before right now.  I wonder if that is helping my deadlift.  I am going to keep running with this glute stuff and see if it helps push up my deadlift. 

I do wonder if my historical lack of deadlift prowess is the result of weak glutes.  My current thought is train the hell out of my glutes and see what happens.  This is the kind of experimentation that makes lifting very fun.

The Workout:

Pause Squat with Safety Squat Bar

315 x 1

Step Ups

8,8

Leg Press on Pin Loaded Machine – Some

DB Romanian Deadlifts

30 x 6

40 x 7

45 x 7

Hip Thrusts

15, 15, 15

Banded Hip Abductions

25, 30

Laying Leg curls – Some

Seated Calf Raises

90 x 20

90 x 20

90 x 20

Need to work more on the pause part of pause squatting.

Thoughts:

Today’s workout was nothing special.  I need to get better at pausing at the bottom of pause squats.  I think doing them more often will help with that, plus knowing where I’m at with my strength.  I had no idea what numbers to pick for this workout, but now I have a baseline, so onwards and upwards from here.  I was pleased with hitting the 315 for the pause, it gives me a good place to work from.

I am tossing in more glute type training to the workouts.  The new exercises are fun to play with.  Loading on hip thrusts really pisses off the hernia repair sites, so I will have to consider a loading protocol for those.  I might just keep them as a movement kind of thing or do them single legged.  This is a case where not everything is a powerlift.

This is a FrankenLifter Workout (These are weird workouts)

The Workout:

Back Raises – 2 sets

Knee Raises – 2 sets

BW Calf Raises – 10, 10

Bar Hangs – 2sets

Suitcase carries – 3 rounds, 20 lbs db.

Cossack Squats –Some, I REALLY SUCK AT THESE

It was a good day to work on odds and ends.

Thoughts:

My shoulder and tendon issues are getting a bit better so I can start doing more of these small workouts again.  My goal today was to play with some Cossack Squats.  I really was not good at them, and they are a simple movement I should be good at.  I am working on adding in more single leg and stuff like frontal plane work.  There are 3 plans of movement so I should be using all three from time to time.  This workout moved me a little further away from moving like Frankenstein. 

The Workout:

Safety Squat Bar Squats

265 x 5 for 5 sets

295 x 1

Sumo Deadlift

135 x 2

185 x 1 – 8 sets

Single Leg Hip Thrust

5, 5

Hip Thrust

10, 10

Laying leg curls – some.

Calves on Leg Press Machine – some.

Kettlebell Ab Pushout

40 x 10

40 x 12

I need to sleep and rest better.

Thoughts:

I plan to just keep adding weight for this squat 5×5 until the wheels come flying off.  Next week I should be adding 5 more pounds.  This method is seeming to be doing it’s job as I just keep growing into using heavier weights.   Right now training is simple.

The Workout:

BB Rows

Worked up to 185 x 5.

Bench Press

Worked up to 185 x 1.

Side raises.

2 light sets.

Tendonitis through arm/shoulder/scapula/pec was feeling pretty good after this, so I just quit here.  Got a little stimulus and movement without making the situation worse and got the hell out.

Thoughts:

I did this work today to just keep some strength and mobility in my upper body.  I keep battling the tendonitis and inflammation issues even though they are getting better.  Since a big part of healing up from this is rest, I did singles and worked up on the bench.  This was to keep the workload super low but still get some stimulus.

I went with a set of five for the rows since they seem to impact the inflammation less. 

I am staying patient with the healing process here.  I want to bench big in 5 years more than I want to bench big in 5 weeks.

The Workout

SSB Box Squat

Worked up to moderately hard single

340 x 1

SSB Good Mornings

155 x 3

155 x 3

These need a lot of work.  Soon as I start to lean I get weak.  Need to improve strength in a lot of posture angels.

Reverse Lunges

6, 6

Leg Press Machine

Did some

Laying Leg Curls

Did some.

Seated Calf raise

• 90 x 20
• 140 x 10
• 140 x 10

Leg raises

15, 15

This was my first workout going back to dynamic and max effort days for the lower body.  Will be easing into the “max” part of this day for a few weeks.  Then I guess get crazy after that.

Thoughts:

Today I switched back to doing dynamic and max effort days for my lower body.  I am going to have to ease into the true nature of these days.  I am still rebuilding off my big layoff and lack a lot of qualities.  I can’t really strain all that well, and I can’t move all that fast.  It will take time to really be able to put something into my lifts, right now I’m just going through motions.

Today was a good first step forward on the max effort front.  I strained a little, but nothing too crazy.  Even with that consideration I loaded up the safety squat bar within like 10 pounds of my lifetime record with that bar.  These pleases me because I know when I get all the components of my workout program working well, then I’ll be able to really move some good weight. 

I am taking everything really slow with the progress with my lower body lifts because I didn’t with my upper body lifts.  My reward for going fast with my bench press was tendonitis and a shoulder I can’t hardly move, I should have moved slow. 

Overall the return to doing some more maximal efforts looked good and now its time to start doing that weekly and having fun.