Progress Log: Week 09

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It was my favorite, low rep high weights.

My Sunday went great, I felt strong and pretty energetic. There were no real records set on this day, but it felt solid. I did swap out Concentration Curls with Spider Barbell Curls, however. Concentration Curls…I can do singles at 60 lbs but the weights are so bulky that I get in the way of myself, so I decided to try something new. I started out pretty light with Spider Curls just to get a feel and I think they’ll work for now.

Monday was a snow day, however I did get in an hour of yoga so I didn’t feel too terrible. However, Tuesday was also a snow day and I started getting cranky about it and I was just lazy and petulant.

I made it into the gym for leg and shoulders on Wednesday and it was, actually, a pretty great workout.

Due to a neck fusion I had back in 2011, I don’t squat, so I’m left with wide stance leg presses, hack squats, and reverse hacks for my heavy arsenal.

Keep in mind that only a couple of months ago, I was barely able to walk due to some weird thing that had affected my legs for nearly two years.

I’m not where I was in my younger years for leg presses (800+), but I’m getting there, slowly. I start with a warmup of 25 with just the sled and then jump immediately into my heaviest attempt. I loaded it up with 660 lbs and knocked out four solid reps, when I was only really looking for a single. I also superset these with toe presses. I progressively dropped weight and raised reps for my final two sets.

I then jumped over to Hack Squats, knocked out a 25 rep warm up with just the 70 lb carriage (plus my 247 lb carcass). I loaded it up with 460 lbs and did a clean single, then progressively dropped for the final two sets.

I then flipped position for Reverse Hack Squats, another 25 rep warm up with just the 70 lb carriage…and by this point my legs were hurting pretty good. However, I loaded it up with a record 570 lbs and pushed out three solid reps. Again, I superset these with heel raises, and then progressively dropped down the weight and upped the reps for the final two sets.

The rest of my leg and shoulder day was more of the same. A record 150 lbs on the Leverage Shoulder Press, and solid showings on the other four exercises. All in all, I had four personal bests. I was feeling it.

Then we had another snow day on Thursday. My whole body was wrecked from the day prior, however. My left knee was also doing a strange popping thing. It wasn’t hurting at all, it was just kind of popping with every step. Take it from the old guy, when your body gives you little signs like this, listen to them.

I finished off my Big Three on Friday with a solid showing. One of my big goals is to be able to do unassisted pull-ups and dips by the end of the year. I’m not there yet with the pull-ups, but I knocked out my first single unassisted dip. It’s a small step, but it’s actually a pretty big milestone for me.

Remember kids, I’m weighing in at 247 lbs. A single unassisted dip for a 53 year old, 5’7″, 247 lb dude is pretty good. Every race in life is made up of a series of single steps. This is the first here. I’ll take it as a W.

I don’t even know how to rank this week. I dropped a pound and had really strong workouts, but next to no yoga or cardio, which is a fail in my book. One or the other needs to happen at least as often as the weights. My diet was also so very bad. So, I’m giving this week a 5 in terms of quantity and a 3 in terms of diet but a 7 in terms of quality.

I need to step up my game. On to Week 10. I have 28 weeks to go before my wedding day. I need to start dropping around 2 lbs a week, which means time to tighten that diet up.