So holy balls is it hot in my apartment. And tomorrow is supposed to be ridiculous. And I haven’t been riding my bicycle, which makes me sad.
So! I just went out for a nice 2 a.m. ride down one of the major roads (pleasantly empty), 10.5 miles in 48 minutes. Not great, but there were a lot of pretty big hills so I can’t complain too much (and that should put me in line for roughly 12mph, which seems to be my average).
As for weights this week, I went to the gym on Tuesday and Thursday. Tuesday wasn’t great, I went down a little on my lifts but was happy I did them. Thursday was pretty sweet — new barbell squat PR (120x5!) and new OHP PR (50x2…I didn’t think I could do more than 40, so I’m happy with it). Can’t wait to go on Sunday night! It feels so far away.
I think the reason I’ve been stalling in my lifts is because I’ve been doing way too many warm-up sets. Like I see other people doing ridiculous numbers of high-weight sets, but those people have been lifting consistently for much much longer than I have. For example, I couldn’t get past 115 on my squats, but when I cut out a few sets and made my warm-up a little higher (starting at 65 instead of 45) and only doing three sets 10lbs apart (so 65/75/85 before jumping up to 105 instead of 45/65/85 or 95 and then +5lbs to failure), 120 actually came pretty easily. Next I’m going to try eliminating the 45s and 50s from my bench to see if I can’t break that 70lb barrier (or at least get a full 70x5, I always fail at like 2 or 3).
So it figures — one of the rare nights when I have the weightroom pretty much to myself and the benches are wide open…there’s some kind of pain in my wrist/thumb. I only felt it when picking up the barbell to bench, though, which I thought was weird. sigh
Barbell squat:
45lb x 5
65lb x 5
85lb x 5
95lb x 5
105lb x 5
115lb x 2
This is the first time I have ever failed a squat (going for the third 115lb rep). I’m okay with it, though, ‘cause the rest of ‘em felt really good. Definitely getting better with my form.
Dumbbell OHP:
15lb x 5
15lb x 5
20lb x 3
20lb x 3
I’m not sure what’s up with my arms today, but they were just not having any of it.
Triceps Kickback:
10lb x 8
10lb x 8
10lb x 8
Dumbbell Curls:
10lb x 8
15lb x 5
ಠ_ಠ
Chest Flyes:
10lb x 8
15lb x 4
My shoulder was all tight and weird, these did not feel very good so I stopped.
Dumbbell Bench Press:
10lb x 5
15lb x 5
Yeah I was too tired by this point to do anything useful.
Jump Lunges:
10x5
Wall Push-Ups:
10
20
15
Trying to make up for the gym. At least now I’m sure my arms are tired.
So frustrating. I’ve been looking forward to going to the gym for days now, was supposed to go yesterday but nooooooooooo YOU SHOULD CHIP IN FOR A BUCKET AND DRINK. Obviously it’s not their fault that I said yes, but I’m pissed that I constantly have to fight with people to do the things that are good for me. People bitching at me about going to the gym instead of drinking, or attempting to actually sleep more than 4 hours before work. And I can’t even go to the gym without spending a good half an hour to 2 hours just talking. God forbid I walk in, work out and leave.
Sometimes I think I’d be better off not having any friends at all. Then I could just be left to do what I want.
So I was irritated, and exhausted, and feeling rushed in the weightroom by the people in there (though they weren’t actually doing anything to rush me, so I’m not sure why they were making me nervous), and as a result — surprise! — all my lifts went down.
Barbell Bench Press
45lb x 5
55lb x 5
65lb x 5
65lb x 3
Barbell Squat
45lb x 5
65lb x 5
95lb x 5
100lb x 5
105lb x 5
Pretty sure my form was atrocious on the last two sets, and I’m also pretty sure I’m not squatting parallel on my heavier sets :/
Standing Dumbbell Overhead Press
15 x 5
20 x 2
Just said NOPE FUCK THIS
Glue Hamstring Raises
10
10lb x 10
Everyone says these are so hard and I can’t figure out why. I know I’m doing them right.
Hanging Leg Raise
10
10
Feh
I have no idea why my best gym nights always come as a surprise to me, but…
Barbell Squat:
45lb x 5
65lb x 5
85lb x 5
95lb x 5
105lb x 5
110lb x 3
My current PR for these is 115lb (not sure of the reps). I’ve been building back up to it, and they feel a LOT better this time around — they’re a lot lower, too.
Dumbbell Bench Press (there were people fucking around with the barbell benches and I didn’t feel like waiting around):
15lb x 5
15lb x 5
20lb x 5
20lb x 5
25lb x 5
New PR! I haven’t done these in awhile. I think I’ll start switching between barbell and dumbbell bench presses more often.
Barbell Deadlift:
45lb x 5
90lb x 5
115lb x 5
135lb x 5
My PR for these is actually 145lb x 5, but I haven’t done them in awhile and I didn’t even really feel like doing them last night. My friend (who is also the overnight cleaning guy at the gym), however, decided he wanted to start lifting with me and he wanted me to show him deadlifts. At least I can still do more than bodyweight! Probably could’ve pulled 145 if I wanted to, but I think I’ll leave that for next time.
Standing Barbell Shoulder Press:
30lb x 5
30lb x 5
40lb x 5
New PR! I’m surprised, I haven’t been keeping up with BB/DB shoulder presses, either. But I should, ‘cause I seem to be improving.
So that’s pretty cool. Next up: bike polo!
