Week of October 21st

Busy week. My brother and his girlfriend came up to visit over the weekend from California so we showed them around Seattle. It was a lot of fun as this was their first trip alone together and both really like the pacific northwest (who doesn't?!). Both of them are from Roseville which is basically suburban moonland. Super wide roads, strip malls everywhere, hot and lots of brown grass. The other thing that it's missing is vegan options. There's just not much there for us, so introducing them to the wide variety of things available here was great.

On Friday we went out to Brouwer's after having some home made vegan pizza, expertly crafted by my lovely wife.



Saturday morning we went down to Wayward cafe for breakfast.


Not my picture, but this is what I had. LOOK AT IT AND DROOL!

We took our dog and went to Carkeek park for a nice long walk after breakfast to try and keep from drifting into a deep food coma. The sun kept trying to come out, but it was mostly gloomy. Great weather for walking about though.



Then we went to Plum Bistro for dinner. I'm torn when it comes to this place as their food is really really good, but it's so expensive. Definitely good for their first vegan "fine dining" experience.


This is what I call a power couple
Sunday we planned to go hiking, but it was raining when we got up. Our guests didn't have any proper rain gear, so we decided to go down to gas works park instead. Of course, as we set out, the clouds parted and the sun came out.



They had to leave yesterday to head back to California and real life. Hopefully they'll make it back up next summer.

Along with all these events I somehow managed to squeeze in a full workout week!

October 21st

Reverse Band Deadlift w/ Blue Bands
Warm Up w/o Bands:
135 x 5
225 x 5
315 x 2

Add Bands:
405 x 3
495 x 3
545 x 2
525 x 3 x 2

Pendlay Row
135 x 5
155 x 5 x 2

It was an interesting experience using the bands. At the bottom of the lift they take off about 185 lbs and at the top about 100 lbs. 545 felt really heavy and I couldn't lock out the 3rd rep. 525 was a better work weight as it allowed for solid reps.

October 23rd

Bench Press
Bar x 10 x 2
95 x 5
135 x 2
155 x 1
170 x 5
180 x 5

4 Board Bench
180 x 3
195 x 3
210 x 3

Lat Pulldowns
140 x 6
150 x 6
160 x 6

Yeah! Another week of gains. Last rep was a grinder though but it went up.

October 25th

Squats
Bar x 8 x 2
135 x 5
225 x 3
255 x 1
275 x 1
295 x 5
310 x 5

Pause Squats
255 x 3
275 x 3

Still moving. That puts my 5s up 15 pounds from last cycle.

Week of October 14th

10/14

Deadlift
135 x 5
225 x 5
315 x 2
365 x 1
405 x 1
430 x f x 2

Deficit Deadlift
315 x 3
345 x 3

I was sort of perplexed as to why my deadlift went down down. My weight is down 5-6 lbs, but my other lifts are up so it's just kind of weird. My coach decided to shift pulling to every other week up until the meet. On the off weeks we're going to include more assistance deadlift stuff like zerchers, deficits, bands, etc. This was even more frustrating as deadlifts are my favorite lift. I felt a little like this guy:



10/16

Bench Press
Bar x 8 x 2
95 x 5
135 x 1
160 x 5
170 x 5
175 x 5

Bench Press w/ Green Bands
135 x 3
145 x 3 x 2

Bench is still inching up. Surprisingly, 175 didn't feel too tough so I think that 180 is obtainable next week.

10/18

Squat
Bar x 8 x 2
135 x 5
225 x 3
255 x 1
275 x 5
290 x 5
305 x 5

Box Squat
235 x 3
255 x 3

Up 10 lbs for 5. Two of those only made it to parallel, so I still need to give up more depth consistently.

10/19

Overhead Press
Bar x 8
65 x 5
85 x 1
95 x 5
105 x 5
110 x 5

Bench Press
140 x 10
150 x 8
160 x 6
150 x 7
135 x 8

Slowly inching up on the standing press also, but progress is progress. I was spent by the time I got to those last two sets of bench, but I threw in some front, side and rear dealt raises as well as a couple sets of curls for the gunz!

Week of October 7th

Deloaded on Monday and had an exam so I didn't go to the gym. I went in on Tuesday instead to do some back work, but didn't write anything down. Tested 1 rep maxes on Wednesday and Friday however and it went something like this:

10/9

Bench Press
Bar x 8 x 2
95 x 5
135 x 2
165 x 1
185 x 1
200 x 1
205 x f

Pause Bench
170 x 2
180 x 2
185 x 1

Finally! I'm not sure if I would have had 205 or not, but I got myself out of position pretty much immediately. Overzealous on the way down I think. Still, finally broke the 200 barrier, so I'm happy as that's a big hurdle for me.

10/11

Squat
Bar x 8 x 2
135 x 5
225 x 3
275 x 1
305 x 1
335 x 1
360 x f x 2

Pause Squat
245 x 3
265 x 3

Almost. If I had gone for 355 I would have had it for sure. Needed just another 2 inches or so through the sticking point.

In other news, I put in an application for the Plantbuilt team for next year. They are looking to expand beyond just bodybuilding so I'm really hoping I can make it onto the team. Also, I will be competing on December 7th at a local meet. I have a long way to go before then so it's time to get focused and move those numbers.

Week of September 30th

Today is two for one with posts!

9/30

Deadlift
135 x 5
225 x 3
315 x 1
365 x 1
385 x 3
405 x 1

18" Deadlift
365 x 3
395 x 3
395 x 2

2nd week in a row of disappointing pulls. 385 was slow and I couldn't lock out the second rep at 405. It's frustrating, but coach things I might be overtrained a bit. So next week will be a deload on deadlift and then we'll do singles the week after. Hoping to get 450+!

10/2

Bench Press
Bar x 8 x 2
95 x 5
135 x 2
155 x 1
175 x 3
190 x 2
185 x 2

2 Board Press
175 x 3
185 x 3
190 x 1

A bit of progress. No way that third rep at 190 was happening, but I'm still happy with 2. I was pretty fatigued after that, so 185 was no fun. Singles next week!

10/4

Squat
Bar x 8 x 2
135 x 5
225 x 2
265 x 1
295 x 3
320 x 3
325 x 2

Squat w/ Reverse Blue Band
405 x 3
425 x 3

I think I would have had that last rep at 325 if I hadn't just done 320, but we were working on depth. Still happy with the progress though.

10/5

Seated Shoulder Press
Bar x 8
65 x 5
95 x 2
115 x 1
125 x 3
135 x 3
140 x 2

Bench Press
135 x 10 x 2
145 x 8 x 2
155 x 6

Then did some upright rows, chin-ups, facepulls. Seated press is up a little and volume bench went pretty smoothly. I think I need to work more chin-ups into my routine. Coach doesn't like them much, but I suck at them so that's no good.

Week of September 23rd

9/23
Deadlift
135 x 5
225 x 5
315 x 1
365 x 1
395 x 3
415 x 1
405 x 1

T-Bar Row
90 x 8
105 x 8 x 2

Shitty day all around. Didn't have a great weekend and I think my body was fighting something off. 395 felt kind of slow, but I decided to push anyway. 1st rep of 415 was alright, 2nd rep I couldn't get my hips through so I got stuck just above the knees. Same thing happened when I took it down to 405. Coach said it looked like my hips were just fatigued. We'll see how the rest of the cycle goes, but coach wants to consider pulling every other week if this is a sign that I'm moving into more advanced territory.

9/25
Bench Press
Bar x 8 x 2
95 x 5
135 x 1
155 x 1
175 x 3
185 x 3
185 x 2

Pause Bench
155 x 3
165 x 3
170 x 3

Laying DB Triceps Extension
20 x 8
25 x 8
25 x 6
Finally got that 185 for 3. 3rd rep on the second set wasn't happening, but I'm ok with that since it's still progress.

9/27
AM
OH Press
bar x 8 x 2
65 x 5
85 x 2
105 x 3
115 x 3
120 x 3

Bench Press
95 x 8
135 x 10 x 3

Upright Row
85 x 8 x 3

PM
Squat
bar x 8 x 2
135 x 5
225 x 2
265 x 1
295 x 3
320 x 3 x 2

Pause Squat
265 x 3
275 x 3
Need a little more depth on those squats, but they were all at least parallel.

Week of September 16th

9/16

Deadlift
135 x 5
225 x 3
315 x 1
355 x 5
380 x 5

18" Deadlift
405 x 3 x 2

Pendlay Row
135 x 5
155 x 5
165 x 5

9/18

Bench Press
Bar x 8 x 2
95 x 5
115 x 3
135 x 1
155 x 5
170 x 5 x 2

3 Board Bench
185 x 3
195 x 3 x 2

Assistance
Tri Pushdowns: 4 x 10

Finally got 170 and managed to get it for 2 sets, so I'm happy with that. It's looking like it's time to go on the cut. I'm sitting around 203 or so with too much fat around the midsection. So I'll probably be cutting back on the calories and incorporating some hill sprints into my week.

No squats to report as I had some issues come up and wasn't able to make it into the gym.