MWY's Training Log

[MWY]

Dusting off the old training log. Been logging in my notebook, but it'll be good to log here too I think. I've been dabbling in weightlifting for the last couple of months and hit some modest goals of a 200 lbs. Clean and Jerk and a 135 lbs. Snatch (ugly, ugly power, but I hit it!). Since I hit those, I'm going to return to focusing more on building strength and leaning out. May keep Cleans in the mix for some pulling volume because I like them.

Been training at a 24 hour fitness near my work that has Eleiko bars and bumpers, but they're all in pounds, so all weights will be in pounds unless specified otherwise.

Yesterday, 6/11/2019:

Front Squat:
135 x 4 x 4
Keeping the squats light because I've had some pain in my left patellar tendon that has been persistent for a few months. Going to increase load very slowly to try to address that.

Strict Press:
95 x 6
135 x 1
105 x 5 x 5

DL:
325 x 4 x 4@7ish



Today, 6/12/19:

Bench:
185 x 4 x 3@ < 7
First benching in a couple of months. Increasing volume over the next few sessions.

DB Bench:
45/45 x 8
55/55 x 8
60/60 x 8@9.5
Gonna use DB Bench to get some of my volume because I've always liked it

Snatch-Grip RDLs:
185 x 5 x 5
Easy, clean pulling volume.

[MWY]

Today, 6/13/19:

Front Squat:
140 x 4 x 4
Left knee is very unhappy after these. Felt really good on the last set though. Will probably drop the weight down a good bit further if the pain doesn't start to improve post-training.

Incline Bench:
135 x 6 x 2
Haven't done incline in a very long time. Triceps were feeling very fatigued from yesterday.

[MWY]

Today, 6/14/19:

Deadlift:
315 x 1
385 x 1 @ 7
415 x 1 @ 8
325 x 4 @ 7.5
325 x 4 @ 7.5
325 x 4 @ 7
Pulls felt fantastic today. Hook grip for all singles and first volume set, then straps.

Press:
115 x 5 x 4
Press felt good. Triceps are pretty tired but I probably won't be back in the gym til Tuesday, so plenty of time to rest.

Low-Incline DB Bench (Myo-reps):
40 lbs DBs x 16, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4
Just getting some quick bench/chest/upper body volume here.

Left knee felt better after lunchish time yesterday and continues to feel good today. I'm optimistic that the low-and-slow squat progression will help eliminate the pain over time. (Also maybe trying to placebo myself, but if it works, it works!)

[MWY]

Today, June 18, 2019:

Front Squat:
145 x 5 x 4
Knee felt great on warmups and first two sets. Discomfort on third set, pain on last 2 reps of 4th set. But it's felt great all day after that, which hasn't been the case on squat days for several months.

Press:
145 x 1@8
115 x 6 x 3 (last @10)
105 x 6 @8
Press felt good. Kept the rest to about 2 minutes between sets and the RPE on the volume work crept up fast. Reps were pretty strict.

[MWY]

Today, June 19, 2019

Bench:
185 x 6 @ 7
185 x 6 @ 7
185 x 6 @ 7

Snatch-Grip RDL:
185 x 6 @ 6
185 x 6 @ 6
185 x 6 @ 6
185 x 6 @ 6
185 x 6 @ 6

Myo-reps:
Curls: 25 DBs x 18, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4
DB Bench: 45 DBs x 16, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4

Nothing remarkable today, just good volume work. Left knee is still feeling great today.

[MWY]

Yesterday, June 20, 2019

Front Squat:
150 x 5 x 2
This sucked. The pain in my left knee had been improving and isolated to the patellar tendon area. During my second set, the pain expanded to the area above the knee and increased dramatically with each rep. I had planned on doing 4-5 sets of squats and then some conditioning, but the pain was way too much for me to continue so I hit the showers and left frustrated.

It still hurt this morning, but not quite as bad as yesterday. The range of motion before I hit pain is waaaay smaller too; I had only been experiencing pain a few inches above parallel to a few inches below parallel. Now, it hurts both above and below the knee joint for almost the full range of motion.

Today, June 21, 2019

Deadlift:
335 x 4 x 3 @7-8
Deadlift felt really good. My start position is just barely above where the pain in my knee starts, so I was able to do these pain free, which was very encouraging.

Press:
115 x 3, EMOM x 10
Wanted to get in a good chunk of volume quickly, and this really did the trick. Last two sets were @9ish.

Air Squats:
30 second hold x 4
These helped my knee tremendously. First one was really hard going down and for the first 10~ seconds, but it got easier and the pain was much less by the end.

Myo-reps:
DB Curls: 25 lbs x 19, 5, 5, 5, 4, 4
Low-Incline DB Bench: 40 lbs. x 20, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5
I like doing these at the end of the workout for some quick conditioning/hypertrophy work. Will increase weight on the DB bench next time.

I'm less frustrated about my knee today than I was yesterday, but still pretty bummed about it. Felt like I had been making good progress and then it just went to crap yesterday. I'll be on vacation all of next week with my family and I'm gonna bring some dumbbells to do some bro-stuff at the cabin we're staying at. I had thought about doing big sets of goblet squats, but think I'll try just doing the 30 second Air Squat holds I did today every other day til I get back so I can re-start with the bar.

[MWY]

Getting back into things today:

Power Snatch:
95 x 2 EMOM, 8 sets
Nice and snappy, was making better than normal contact on these.

Press:
95 x 5 x 5
On the lighter side, kept rest time to around 90 seconds

Fun session, happy to be back in the gym after a week of (very needed) vacation. Did some 15~ minute dumbbell circuits while on vacation with 35s, mostly just to keep moving and try to avoid any DOMS when I got back in today.

Random thought from vacation:
I REALLY like being in the mountains/nature. The concrete jungle is really not my jam; looking out the window and seeing lots of green, and breathing fresh air (though with much less oxygen than my lungs would prefer) was delightful. If I have the opportunity, I would LOVE to move to one of the SoCal mountain cities (Arrowhead, Big Bear, etc.).

[MWY]

Today, July 3, 2019:

Wall Sits:
45 sec. x 5
Working on really eliminating the knee pain, so I'm starting here. Will do these 2-3 times / day for a couple of weeks to see how the pain adjusts. I started doing these yesterday and feel slightly better so far.

Power Snatch:
95 x 2
100 x 2 x 5
These don't bother my knee, so I'm gonna see what kind of progress I can make in the short-term.

Press:
100 x 3
120 x 3
135 x 3@8.5
115 x 3 x 5
Press moved well today. Decent, unremarkable volume.

Myo-Reps:
DB Bench: 42.5 x 20, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5
DB Curls: 25 x 18, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5

[MWY]

Today, July 8, 2019:

Power Snatch:
105 x 2 x 8
Felt very clean and snappy today. Had planed on doing 6 sets but was having fun and had the time, so I did another two.

Press:
105 x 5 x 7
Working up in volume overhead.

Myo-Reps:
DB Bench: 45 x 20, 5 x 5
DB Curls: 27.5 x 20, 5 x 5

Triceps were almost done after the 20, but still got the 5 x 5 too. Moved up on curls because I couldn't find a second 25 lbs. DB, then got all the reps anyway. Cool.

[MWY]

Good, long workout today:

3-1-3 Squats:
95 x 4
115 x 4
135 x 4
165 x 4
185 x 4
205 x 4
Knees pain has been almost completely absent for over a week, so I'm going to work Squats back in starting with a slow tempo. These actually felt great and I have no noticeable knee pain right now (about an hour and a half after finishing these).

Power Snatch:
95 x 2
105 x 2
110 x 2 x 5
Snatches were moving, gonna keep adding weight.

Power Clean + Power Jerk:
110 x 2+1
120 x 2+1
130 x 2+1
140 x 2+1
150 x 2+1 x 2
Wanted to mix these in now that my knee is healing and very much enjoyed doing so. I'm going to continue my focus on weightlifting 'cause it's fun.

Press:
115 x 5 x 5
Started off a bit more fatigued since these were the 4th exercise today and had been the second for the previous few workouts. Still got a solid 5x5 though.

Low-incline DB Bench:
Myo-reps: 40s x 16, 4x6
Was definitely feeling some fatigue on these.

Great workout overall. I've been doing conditioning twice a week for a few weeks now, 23~ minutes on the bike. Probably not gonna log that, but I'm doing it.