KarlM: It's all about the log.

[KarlM]

I talk about drinking a lot, and I do enjoy it, but I rarely get anything more than a little buzzed. Still, I do drink a decent amount.

I could have written this.

Today was such a day, and it was good. In Mobile, unplanned, which always is the best.

Happy St. Patrick’s day to you my friend

[KarlM]

3/17/24

Incline Bench (29deg)
185 X 7r X 3s

Dips
+45 X 5, not heavy enough
+70 X 8 X 3

Seated Incline Curls
32.5 X 15
32.5 X 11 X 2

[KarlM]

log catch up
******
3/18/24
Elliptical 300 Cal
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3/19/24
AMBW = 185.0 lbs

Squat (H, 80%)
325 X 4 X 4

CG Bench (M, 75%)
225 X 4 X 4

Cybex SLR
120 X 18 X 2
120 X 15
******
3/20/24
AMBW = 185.2 lbs

Deficit Deadlifts (M, 70%)
335 X 4r X 3s

T-bar rows (chest support)
+95 X 8 X 3

Seated Incline Curls
32.5 X 16
32.5 X 11 X 2
******
3/22/24

Comp. Bench (H, 80%)
240 X 4 X 5

SSB (L, 70%)
285 X 4 X 2

Cybex SLR
120 X 19
120 X 18
120 X 17
******
3/23/24
Hiked Rabbit Mountain with wife.
******
3/24/24

Deadlift (H, 80%)
390 X 4, was supposed to be 380 X 4, but I mistook the 10s for the 5s. Still moved well.

Squat (M, 75%)
305 X 4 X 3

Neutral Grip Pull-ups
BW X 12
BW X 11
BW X 10

[KarlM]

Catch up
3/25/24

AMBW = 184.6 lbs

Incline Bench
185 X 8 X 3, nice chest pump

Dips
+75 X 7 X 3, holy chest pump!

Seated Incline Curls
32.5 X 16
32.5 X 12
32.5 X 11

I totally get how bodybuilders become addicted to chasing the pump. I was visibly larger after this session. I’m not a physique athlete by a long shot, but there is muscle that gets pumped these days. This particular grouping of movements gets the job done for the upper body mirror muscles.

[EricK]

Those are some heavy dips! I too have discovered a guilty pleasure in the arm/chest pump...

[KarlM]

Those are some heavy dips! I too have discovered a guilty pleasure in the arm/chest pump...

I'm here to enable

[KarlM]

log catch up
3/26/24

Elliptical 300 Cal
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3/27/24
AMBW = 185.0 lbs

Squat (H, 85%)
345 X 3r X 4s

CG Bench (M, 80%)
240 X 3 X 4

Cybex SLR
120 X 20
120 X 18
120 X 17

I need to max out my GB Bench. Sometimes I wonder if I'm stronger with the close grip. Often it feels better. I don't really think I'm stronger (hands about 1" from the smooth, and about a hand's width in from my comp grip) but I need to put this to rest with an actual test.
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3/28/24

Long day. Had to take the day off of work for a medical procedure for my wife. All is well, but still a long day. Still got my training in, but I did this session pretty late.

Deficit Deadlift (M, 75%)
355 X 3 X 3, still easy

T-bar rows (chest supported)
+100 X 8 X 3

Seated Incline Curls
32.5 X 17
32.5 X 12
32.5 X 11

I am really digging deficit deads. I also like how I can feel the upper back muscles I'm using when I do my T-bar rows after. I like this grouping of movements. Synergy perhaps?

[KarlM]

3/30/24

Comp. Bench (H, 85%)
255 X 3r X 5s, felt heavy today.

SSB (L, 75%)
305 X 3 X 2

Cybex SLR
125 X 19 X 2
125 X 16

Elliptical 300 Cal

[KarlM]

log catch up
4/1/24

Deadlift (H, 85%)
405 X 3

Squat (M, 80%)
325 X 3 X 3

Neutral Grip Pull-ups
BW X 12
BW X 11 X 2
******
4/2/24

AMBW = 186.0 lbs

Incline Bench
190 X 8r X 3s

Dips
+75 X 8 X 3

Seated Incline Curls
32.5 X 18
32.5 X 13
32.5 X 11

Since @EricK said my weighted dips were heavy, I went ahead and took a video

[DCR]

Since EricK said my weighted dips were heavy, I went ahead and took a video

Holy triceps, Batman!

[cole]

damn how do you add 75 pounds to that!!!! crazy

[cole]

also, 405x3 is pretty good. i know you dont do rpe but im assuming you had a few left in the tank? gain some weight so i dont feel so bad lifting similar weights but being 30 pounds heavier!

[KarlM]

@cole, when I was a young kid I spent a few years living with my aunt. During that time she put my sister and I in gymnastics. I was a fat kid and I sucked at gymnastics (my sister was quite good), but I spent a lot of time on the parallel bars. It's a bit of a jump, but I think dips have always been a natural movement for me because of that. We did a ton of them in the weight training we did for high school wrestling too.

+75 for sets of 8 isn't even impressive when you search it up online. There are some serious beasts out there. I've got them in right now because I've noticed my bench responds well when I have a day where I do dips combined with either incline or OHP. OHP is still off the table for me so the incline is in there instead (and I actually like incline better and think it probably carries over better for flat bench).

As for that 405X3 deadlift, yeah, my freaking deadlift is coming back baby (finds wood to knock on)! RPE is very hard for me to judge because it always feels heavy but often it moves well. For that set I definitely had 5 in me but it may have been more... All I'm really doing with the heavy deadlift day is getting a little practice in, and relying mostly on squat carry over and my medium deficit deadlift day for a little more posterior volume. When I went back to a more bent over, wider stance squat pattern (I spent maybe a year squatting more upright in my quads with a bit of a duck-like stance), I think that has helped my deadlift climb back to previous levels. The time I spent squatting more upright seemed to help with my quad strength coming out of the hole, so I think that was worth it. When I beat my best total at ~205 lb body weight in the 83 kg division, I'll become a believer.

[KarlM]

log catch up
4/3/24

Elliptical 300 Cal
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4/4/24

AMBW = 185.8 lbs

Squat (H, 75%)
305 X 6 X 4

Cybex Side Lateral Raises
125 X 19 X 2
125 X 17

Seated Incline Curls
32.5 X 18
32.5 X 13
32.5 X 12

Experimenting with putting heavy bench after heavy squat day in this microcycle.
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4/5/24

AMBW = 186.2 lbs

Comp. Bench (H, 75%)
225 X 6r X 5s

Deficit Deadlift (M, 65%)
315 X 6 X 3 (rounded up to 315)

T-bar row
+105 X 8 X 3

Deficit deadlift felt effortless, even though I was tired for this session and didn't want to be in the gym.

[EricK]

Since EricK said my weighted dips were heavy, I went ahead and took a video

I never got this notification. You a beast. Mad jelly. I credit my press (and probably bench) with lots of dips (and weighted dips) early on in my LP. I'd love to be able to do sets of 12 with 45 again... But apparently going from no dips ever for ~2-3 years to sets of 20 because lulz, lookatmema!, leads to tendonitis... Looking forward to getting better and hopefully some friendly competition with you!

[KarlM]

@EricK, yeah, we are at our most freaking vulnerable when we try to bring something we used to do at an elevated level back into our lives. Because we remember what we used to be able to do but our bodies don’t have the same tolerances and we just jump right back in lol. This has happened to me a few too many times when I get the itch to do some sort of grappling again. The last round of that really effed my right shoulder up.

I’m happy to give you a bit of competition but I already know your top end is way above mine. I still haven’t even benched three plates! Maybe I can keep up with you in the weighted dips arena…

[KarlM]

log catch up

4/7/24

Bench (off script)
Tried a grip in between my CG and my Comp. Grip, inspired by Walter Kurda's bench.
bar X 5
135 X 5
185 X 3
225 X 2
245 X 1
255 X 1
265 X 1, it's feeling great!
275 X 1, easy!
285 X 1 @10. Well, that didn't make any sense lol. If it was a miss-groove, I didn't recognize it. From the video it looks like I flared my elbows too early.
225 X 8

SSB (L, 65%)
265 X 6 X 2

Chin-ups
+45 X 4r X 3s

The narrower bench grip felt really good. I only brought it in maybe one to one and a half inches, but I fell like I'm pushing through the rep more evenly than when it's wider. When it's wider, I feel like I need to explode off the chest more aggressively or it hangs up.


******

4/8/24

Elliptical 387 Cal
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4/9/24

AMBW = 185.8 lbs

Deadlift (H, 75%)
355 X 6

Squat (M, 70%)
285 X 6r X 3s

Comp. Bench (new grip, on a gym bench)
225 X 6 X 3

Cybex SLR
125 X 20 X 2
125 X 17

Did not do my bench in the rack, did it on one of the crappy narrow and low dedicated benches. It's different enough maybe it's a variation?

[cole]

285x1@10 looked like maybe a bar path struggle. looks like you even hit the cups on the way up. hard to keep the right bar path at max efforts.

[KarlM]

@cole, yeah I did hit the j-cup. I might have touched a bit too high, affecting my bar path as you suggested. But I’m still surprised such a minor shift can affect my bench so much.
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Log catch up
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Wife and I have been busy getting ready for our freaking Mediterranean cruise! I promised this to her years ago when she finished school, lol, and we are finally doing it. I’m currently on a plane to Frankfurt, where we’ll catch a second to Barcelona. We board in Barcelona then disembark 10 days later in Venice.

Don’t worry, there’s a gym on the ship. Plan is to spam the glam muscles with lots of pumpy volume. I’m also going to get familiar with single leg work, specifically Bulgarian split squats.

4/10/24

Incline Bench Press
195 X 8
195 X 7 X 2

Dips
+80 X 8 X 2
+80 X 7

Seated Incline Curls
32.5 X 18
32.5 X 14
32.5 X 12

Seated incline curls are like viagra for the biceps.
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More drama. My nephew and his girlfriend surprised all of us with a last minute wedding. I of course flew to Phoenix to attend and subsequently help him and my family celebrate. Those fuckers party hard. I kept up, but I paid for it.

4/12/24

In my brother in law’s home gym in Phoenix

Squat (H, 80%)
325 X 5r X 4s

DB Curls
40 X 20
40 X 16 X 2

Jeremey has a pair of 20s and 40s. I chose the heavier pair for curls.

DB Side Lateral Raises
20 X 20 X 3, because there ain’t no way I’m SLRing 40s, lol.
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4/14/24

Holy hangover.

Comp. Bench (H, 80%)
240 X 5 X 5, surprised this moved well.

Narrow, neutral grip Pull-ups (cause that’s what Jeremey’s got!)
BW X 11 X 2
BW X 10

I like the narrow grip. More arm work.
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4/15/24

Back home. AMBW = 185.0 lbs

Deficit Deadlift (M, 70%)
335 X 5 X 3

Comp. Bench (L, -15lbs)
225 X 5 X 3

I’m not a young pup. I was feeling the weekend. But I’m glad I did it. I’m a good uncle.

[DCR]

DB Curls
40 X 20
40 X 16 X 2

Jeremey has a pair of 20s and 40s. I chose the heavier pair for curls.

Of course you did, because you have some serious damn curl strength, and in a ridiculous rep range.