GainzZz For Valhalla

[MattimusMaximus]

Happy Halloween!
**Started feeling nauseous before my session tonight... not sure why...started feeling better after 1st warmup set with bench though.


BW: 235.7



Intensity Bench: under 5 min rests

290*1 (@8.5)
290*1 (@8.5)
290*1 (@9)
290*1 (@9)
290*1 (@9.5)

Volume Press: Beltless; 4 min rests

155*3 (@7)
155*3 (@7)
155*3 (@7)
155*3 (@7)
155*3 (@7)

Accessory: 2 min rests

Heavy LTE: 127.5*7 (@9), 6 (@9)
Heavy BB Curls: 145*9, 10


**Left shoulder has been bugging me since I had to reach behind a copy machine at work to unplug the damn thing for a hard reset. I must have retweaked that old injury... damn!
**Right forearm is still in pain when in floating press position (sounds like a yoga pose), and I'm guessing it may be "tennis elbow"... damn damn! I'm falling apart over here.
**Both injuries made my bench and presses a bit tricky which is why I suspect most of my bench reps look weird. Here's the vid of my 5 singles tonight! "Gotta Catchem All"

[Mahendra]

Nice work dude... those are some mighty nice singles!

[cole]

how do your volume presses feel after benching? ive been thinking about doing that too (im also doing a 4 day TM) just afraid ill have nothing in the tank

[MattimusMaximus]

Nice work dude... those are some mighty nice singles!

Thanks Mahendra, it was feeling heavy so I think the grind is catching up real soon! I need that damn 315 bench and my lifting career will finally feel like I've accomplished everything I wanted to other than an actual competition.

[MattimusMaximus]

how do your volume presses feel after benching? ive been thinking about doing that too (im also doing a 4 day TM) just afraid ill have nothing in the tank

I was worried about that too but so far the old shoulders/tri's have been holding up surprisingly well. I think a large part of this has to do with keeping the RPE's below 9's for intensity and below 8's ish for volume. If anything the benching almost warms me up for the presses. I am doing the 4 day TM but on a 3 day rotation as per Andy Baker's article on his site. I like the set-up but I'm not sure if I'm executing it properly for myself quite yet. We'll see if any of my maxes move up haha.

[MattimusMaximus]

**Wife was working so I had my 3.5 year old daughter in the gym with me tonight again... a 1hr 30 min session took just over 2hrs... majority of inter-set rest periods were spent trying to get her to stay away from the weights area and to stop rummaging through the junk in the basement. lol


PM Weigh-in: 242.3 lbs (This is a problem considering my shitty strength levels for that size)



Intensity Squat: under 5 min rests

390*1 (@8)
390*1 (@8)
390*1 (@9)
390*1 (@9)
390*1 (@9)

Intensity Deadlift: under 5 min rests

400*1 (@8)
400*1 (@8)
400*1 (@9)
400*1 (@9)
400*1 (@9)

Accessory: 2 min rests

Heavy BB Pendlay Rows: 217.5*6 (@8.5), 6 (@8.5)
Heavy Chins: 289.8*3 (@8.5), 3 (@9), 3 (@9.5)



**Not sure if tonight's session was affected by some external stress that's happened this week (it's been a stressful year up here in Canada eh), or the fact that I couldn't get my daughter to calm down (she was excited to watch daddy work out again) so my focus was more on making sure she was a safe distance from me and the weights. At one point she tried chalking her own hands and tried to lift the 400 lbs during one of my many rests. Super cute!

**Was not happy with how this session "felt" as in RPE. Even the reps don't look as fast or clean as the previous training cycle. I'm hoping it's just an off night... or else it really wasn't worth changing my training from once every 4 days to 3 times per week...

Here's the sesh:

[cole]

cute kid! those squats looked good

[MattimusMaximus]

cute kid! those squats looked good

Thanks Cole! Those reps didn't feel that great but honestly my concentration was... elsewhere... lol.

[MattimusMaximus]

BW: 239 lbs


Volume Bench: beltless; under 5 min rests

235*5 (@6.5)
235*5 (@6.5)
235*5 (@7)
235*5 (@7)
235*5 (@7)

Intensity Press: under 5 min rests

185*1 (@7.5)
185*1 (@7.5)
185*1 (@8)
185*1 (@8.5)
185*1 (@8)

Accessory: 2 min rests

Light LTE: 100*12 (@8), 12 (@9)
Light BB Curls: 100*12 (@8.5), 12 (@9.5)



**Pretty good feeling sesh. My left shoulder was feeling a little aggravated before bench but it was fairly minimal pain during sets. Forearm pain was bothering me during presses so massaging the muscle between sets seemed to helped a lot... until BB Curls that is... those hurt like a mf which is why I reset the weights a bit for accessory work.

Here's the presses... watch that 5th set... I feel like it was the best and this seems to be a trend with me.

[MattimusMaximus]

BW: 240.1 lbs (PM Weight)


Volume Squat: 5 mins rests

320*5 (@6)
320*5 (@6.5)
320*5 (@7)
320*5 (@7.5)
320*5 (@8)

SLDL: Beltless, Double Overhand; 5 min rests

285*5 (@7)
285*5 (@7)
285*5 (@7)

Light BB Pendlay Rows: 2 min rests

175*10 (@7)
175*10 (@8)

Light Chins: 2 min rests

BW*7 (@8)
BW*7 (@8.5)
BW*7 (@9.5)


**fatigue generally gets pretty noticeable in between the 3rd and 4th sets of volume 5x5 squats. Thereafter I feel like total shit for the rest of the workout regardless of how many I leave in the tank.

**Here's the volume squats... fun times... not!

[MattimusMaximus]

BW: 237.9 lbs


Intensity Bench:

275*3 (@8)

Volume Press: Beltless; 4 min rests

150*5 (@7.5)
150*5 (@7.5)
150*5 (@8)
150*5 (@8)
150*5 (@8.5)

Heavy LTE: 2 min rests

120*8 (@8.5)
120*7 (@9.5)

Heavy BB Curls: 2 min rests

135*12
135*12



**Furnace broke tonight and it's minus 10 celsius so that's fun!

Here's the Bench: my left shoulder was a little bothersome but nothing staying tight didn't fix

[MattimusMaximus]

**Sick with some kind of cold/flu (idk) feel like shit though.


BW: 239 lbs


Intensity Squat:

375*3 (@8.5)

Intensity Deadlift:

385*3 (@8) felt easy, maybe even 7.5?

Heavy BB Pendlay Rows: 2 min rests

200*6 (@7)
200*6 (@8)

Heavy Chins: 2 min rests

289*3 (@8.5)
289*3 (@9)
289*3 (@9)



**Had my daughter in the gym with me today again while my 1yr old son napped. The combo of heavy weights, watching out for her, watching the baby monitor, and being sick is really developing my lifting skills quite nicely. If I can do all that and the laundry, as I've done countless other times, then I must be able to do a meet at some point right? lol

**Squats felt a little rough but I'm sure it's the fatigue from whatever is ailing me right now. I've been sweaty for no reason, low-grade off/on fever for a day (below 99.5), low appetite, sore throat... man cold maybe? I put off last night's scheduled sesh for this morning. Now that I'm thinking about it, I kind of liked training at 11am better than any other time I've tried. Unfortunately with shift work that's not possible to replicate all the time. Nice to know this sickness isn't draining my GainzZz...yet. Also nice to know that training at a completely different time of day doesn't seem to have any negative results for me.

**Deadlifts felt easy today which is odd for me. My daughter started talked during rep 2 and said she wanted to help me... lmao! I almost laughed mid set, in fact I think I talked to her during lock-out of rep 3!

https://www.instagram.com/p/BbcqRB7hMQu ... adstrength

[Wilhelm]

Great dadication there! Lifting while sick.
Nice work too.


I only get minor extraneous input from my wife every so often.
Noises from the kitchen, her talking on the phone maybe.

Meet day is going to be interesting for me.
Even not lifting, i hardly see people at all.
Neighbors if go outside and they happen to also be out, and people at the store once a week.

I've taken to doing my walks in the little woods at the end of the block so i don't have to see anyone.

[MattimusMaximus]

Great dadication there! Lifting while sick.
Nice work too.


I only get minor extraneous input from my wife every so often.
Noises from the kitchen, her talking on the phone maybe.

Meet day is going to be interesting for me.
Even not lifting, i hardly see people at all.
Neighbors if go outside and they happen to also be out, and people at the store once a week.

I've taken to doing my walks in the little woods at the end of the block so i don't have to see anyone.

Haha I can relate. Before marriage I would literally only speak to co-workers (but my job was more independent and I'd be alone for most of the day anyways) so not sure that counts, and then of course there's forced interaction such as the grocery store (tg for self-checkout).

My job now forces me to be interactive with many *cough* different types of people. I'd still be nervous as all hell in a meet though! I felt nauseous the entire time I was at the 3-day SS Seminar in 2015. They made us perform each of the 5 lifts for 5 reps in front of everyone there including all the coaches!

[MattimusMaximus]

**Still sick**


BW: 239.4 lbs


Volume Bench: beltless; 5 min rests

245*4 (@6.5)
245*4 (@6.5)
245*4 (@7)
245*4 (@7.5)
245*4 (@8)

Intensity Press: under 5 min rest

180*3 (@8.5)
180*3 (@8.5)

Light LTE: 2 min rests

102.5*12 (@8)
102.5*12 (@9)

Light BB Curls: 2 min rests

102.5*12 (@8.5)
102.5*12 (@9)


**Luckily this sick is not systemic like it was 6 months ago... omg that was horrible and took 2 months for me to get back to my previous strength levels. Seems to just be a bad cold with mostly man-cold symptoms. My voice has been going in and out which is a huge pain in the ass and my appetite has been suppressed a bit but no weight-loss oddly enough.

**Bench felt super easy for the first 3 sets and then my triceps started feeling the fatigue. I recorded set 2 for your viewing pleasure. Don't mind the messy hair in these vids.


**Press felt really good! I wrapped my forearm with my old boxing hand wraps that I forgot I had. It applied just enough compression where there was next to no pain for presses! First time in over a month so I'm stoked about that hack! Here's the messy haired sniffling presses for your viewing pleasure... enjoy a fat 240 lbs man in tights perform mediocre overhead presses.

[MattimusMaximus]

**Guess what?! Still sick!


BW: 243.4 lbs (PM Weigh-in)


Volume Squats: 5 min rests

330*4 (@6.5)
330*4 (@7)
330*4 (@7)
330*4 (@7)
330*4 (@8)

SLDL: beltless; double overhand grip; 4 min rests

295*4 (@6)
295*4 (@6.5)
295*4 (@6.5)

Light BB Pendlay Rows: 2 min rests

177.5*10 (@8)
177.5*10 (@8.5)

Light Chins: 2 min rests

BW*7 (@8)
BW*7 (@9)
BW*7 (@9.5)



**Not exactly the best feeling workout but I am on the tail end of a nasty cold! It's been a week of sickness and the fatigue is real!

**Squats felt out of funk and I couldn't seem to get a nice groove. I'll chalk it up to fatigue from the virus. I was coughing a lung up after every set. No fever, just a painful dry cough that's left my back and chest sore. Seems to be going around like wildfire around these parts.

**SLDL's felt pretty good actually and the video speed is always faster than they feel.

[MattimusMaximus]

**Still sorta sick but mostly just a persistent dry cough


BW: 241.9 lbs (PM Weigh-in)



Intensity Bench: 5 min rests; paused reps

295*1 (@8) paused rep PR!
295*1 (@8.5)
295*1 (@9)
295*1 (@9)
295*1 (@9.5) vol. PR!

Volume Press: beltless; 4 min rests

160*3 (@6.5)
160*3 (@7)
160*3 (@7)
160*3 (@7)
160*3 (@7.5)

Heavy LTE: 2 min rests

122.5*8 (@8)
122.5*7 (@9)

Heavy BB Curls: 2 min rests

137.5*12
137.5*12



**I can't believe I could even get 295 off my chest with the pause I did. I realize it's not a long pause... only slight... but it's a far cry from my usual touch and go I've always done and considering my last tested touch and go max was 300 I'm very happy! I've seen a few other guys on here performing paused/competition bench and I thought I would give it a go tonight. I'm glad I did because I was always afraid I wouldn't be strong enough to lift it... I thought wrong clearly.

**Presses felt easy despite the different bench technique at high intensity. Since I'm spacing my workout to once every 3 days now I've decided to drop my 4's volume week and my doubles intensity week. In other words I'll rotate alternating volume of 5's and 3's with alternating intensity of 3's and singles. Spacing the sessions was pushing singles weeks to once per month which is a little too slow for me so dropping the 4's and doubles will solve that problem.

**In other news, I ordered a 2XL Slingshot from XTC Fitness and it just arrived in the mail from Ontario today. I've never dealt with them before but so far I am not impressed. They sent me a Large instead despite the invoice even saying 2XL... couldn't even fit the damn thing over my lower forearm! I phoned them and some grumbly guy said they must have got the wrong packaging mixed up. No apology. All he told me was that they would send me a return label via email(?) and then once they receive the incorrect one, then they'll send me the right one. That was at noon today and it's now midnight with no such email... I'm going to have to phone them again in the morning but considering it took a week to get here already, it looks like it could be a few more weeks before I get the correct one. I was hoping to use it tonight too, damn! I don't know this company at all so I am a little concerned they won't fix it but they have good reviews online so idk...

Here's the Bench PR's

[Wilhelm]

Awesome Dad GainzZz!

Strong work there.

[MattimusMaximus]

Awesome Dad GainzZz!

Strong work there.

Thank you sir!

[MattimusMaximus]

**Horrible session, everything felt much heavier than it should have!


BW: 240.9 lbs (PM Weigh-in)


Intensity Squats: 5 min rests

395*1 (@8.5)
395*1 (@9)
395*1 (@9)
395*1 (@9)
395*1 (@9.5)

Intensity Deadlifts: 5 min rests

405*1 (@8.5)
405*1 (@9)
405*1 (@9.5)
405*1 (@9.5)
405*1 (@10)

Heavy BB Pendlay Rows: 2 min rests

202.5*6 (@8)
202.5*6 (@8)

Heavy Chins: 2 min rests; +52.5 lbs

293.4*3 (@8.5)
293.4*3 (@9)
293.4*3 (@9)



**Warning rant ahead: Having a shitty session once in awhile can be frustrating and upsetting, but having a completely horrid session... one where strength levels seem non-existent and you just don't feel like yourself. This session was that bad! I question all training decisions based on this one sole workout. The reason? A couple months ago I switched from training once every 4th day (which worked quite well but then I got sick), to 3 times per week and my strength seems to have stayed relatively similar. To be completely honest I was stronger when I trained once every 4th day... so my return on investment in terms of time spent in the gym, away from my family, busting my balls doesn't seem to be all that worth it.

The only thing going well in this training cycle is my bench and I've never been stronger. Maybe I can take what I've learned from RPE training and incorporate it into my 4th day training with greater success. It's extremely frustrating when things seem to be going well but progress is slow and then suddenly you get sick, or you don't sleep well, or life stresses increase, or you get injured, etc. I'm so sick of resets and not having any PR's I'm actually questioning why I even lift anymore. No one I meet or know seems to give a shit about lifting, or if they do they think someone who quarter squats 250 is incredible.

Apologies if anyone actually reads this, I don't want to be a downer. I'm just extremely frustrated that for the amount of time and painstaking effort I've put into this "hobby/sport" I feel as though my strength levels are absolute shit, especially for a guy my size. I considered not writing anything or even deleting this comment but I think it's important to include this, even for myself to see where my head is at on a bad training day. I freak out and wonder what to do next. Do I keep on truckin', do I reset (hate that), or do I redo. I took a look at my 390 squats from 3-4 weeks ago and they are much better looking so idk why my 395 looks awful.


Here's the suck! Trust me... despite ugly reps on camera, they actually look better on camera than how they felt...