Short answer, basically a bunch of body-weight work. I've been doing a bunch of micro/mini Cindy workouts off and on but rarely have been going the full 20 minutes. I did it today, looking forward to doing it faster next time.
3x5 low-bar back squat (10x45, 5x95, 5x135, 5x185, 2x225) 2x5x250, 1x5x250(dna4-5)
3x5 shoulder press (10x45, 5x65, 5x95) 3x5x105 (1x4x105)
1x5 power clean (10x45, 5x89, 5x133) 1x5x173
Nice quick workout. First time getting in and out in under an hour while still doing a complete workout in a while. Squats felt strong initially, but I had increasing difficulty maintaining any sort of back position. The 4th rep of the 2nd work set was especially atrocious. I called it after 3 for the last work set, mostly in the interest of avoiding injury. I'll try 250 again after a solid weekend of rest.
The presses are deloaded to 105 now after failing at 120 for two cycles. I'm going to try and push through it by adding extra sets at the end of the days workout. 110 next.
I hadn't cleaned in a bit, but they felt ok today. I missed my first attempt at the 3rd rep, but made all the subsequent ones. For some reason it just didn't feel like I'd be able to lift it high enough, but somehow managed to get under the bar anyway.
I've been having a lot of trouble with keeping my back in a good position for the squat so I wanted to do some extra work at a lower weight today. Will lift heavy again on Friday.
5x5 back squat (5x135, 5x185) 5x5x225
cooldown:
pull-ups: 15, 10
My legs are toasted from the weekend.
3x5 bench press (10x45, 5x95, 5x135) 3x5x180
3x5 shoulder press (10x45, 5x75, 5x95) 5x120, 5x120(f5), 5x120(f4,dna5)
Hit that bench press which was nice, so I'll move up to 185 next. The shoulder press was better, but still pretty weak. I think I'm going to drop 10 lbs and increase the number of sets to try and break this plateau.
3x5 low-bar back squat (10x45, 5x95, 5x135, 5x185, 2x225) 3x5x245
3x5 shoulder press (10x45, 5x75, 5x95) 3x5x120 [f(5), f(4-5), f(1-5)]
cooldown:
shoulder press: 1x5x105, 1x5x95(f5)
Squats went up great, the press not so much. Failed to complete a single rep on the third set, so I finished up with some work at light weights. I basically need to do more presses. The squat can increase to 250 next.
Had a meeting early today so I ended going to the gym later. Since all the undergrads are back in town this was somewhat insane, but I made it work. Since the good squat racks were occupied I took the other rack which has a giant bump across half of it and did shoulder presses instead. Followed it up with squats (in a good rack) and then went back to the bench. Basically flipped the usual lower-upper-lower progression today.
3x5 shoulder press (10x45, 5x85, 5x105) 3x5x120 (pp 0, 5, 4-5, respectively)
3x5 low bar back squat (10x45, 5x95, 5x135, 5x185, 2x225) 2x5x245, 5x245(f3, dna4-5)
3x5 bench press (10x45, 5x135) 5x180, 2x5x180(f5)
In general a good workout today, though I didn't totally complete any of the workouts. Keep the weight the same for all lifts!
3x1 low bar back squat (5x135, 5x185, 3x225)1x265,1x285,1x290(f)
3x1 shoulder press (5x85, 3x115) 1x135 1x140(f), 1x140(dna)
3x1 power clean (5x111, 3x155, 2x175) 1x199(f), 1x199, 1x204(f)
4x1 bench press (5x95, 5x135, 2x185) 1x[225,215,210](f), 1x210
3x1 deadlift (5x135, 5x225, 3x275) 1x325, 1x345, 1x355
Fun times! I'm going to make an old style graph to put in here soon.
Opted to do a CFT-style test of my 1RM in the five different lifts I've been focusing on. If we consider this a strict CFT challenge then technically I totally failed on bench (three failed attempts) but then got the fourth one to stick after the deadlifts. Overall, I feel like this is a general success, particularly since I hit a new PR on every lift!
Compared to about 2.5 months ago, I increased about 40lbs on the squat, 5 lbs on the bench, and almost 40lbs on the deadlift. I haven't done a 1RM for shoulder press in a very long time, maybe 5 years in fact, but it looks like I've gone up about 15lbs from then. First time doing a 1RM for power cleans, so it's an automatic PR.
I think the extra day of rest really helps the weight go up.
3x5 back squat (warm-up to 225) 3x5x240
3x5 shoulder press (warm-up to 95) 3x5x110
3x5 power clean (warm-up to 153) 3x5x173
Everything felt great today, increase 5 lbs on all lifts!
3x5 back squat (warm-up to 185) 3x5x235
3x5 bench press (warm-up to 135) 1x5x180(f5), 2x5x180(f4,dna5)
3x5 deadlift (warm-up to 275) 3x5x290
I was so sure after clearing the squats that I'd smoke all the other lifts today - particularly because I accidentally went up 10 lbs last time I benched and I should have done 180 instead of 185. Fixed that today, but still completed the exact same number of reps/set. Seriously, wtf. Pretty happy with the squats and deads though, both can increase 5 lbs for next time.
As an interesting aside, my 1RM PR for the squat was 245 in early May. Looks like I have to check it again soon!
No time for power cleans today, but everything else went up!
3x5 back squat (warm-up to 185) 3x5x230
3x5 shoulder press (warm-up to 95) 3x5x105
The press is still deloaded from my previous reset. The form on my squats was incredibly bad on some of the reps, but everything went up just the same. Both lifts should increase by 5 lbs next time.
More lifting fun! Everything felt somewhat weak today, likely due to a lack of both food and sleep. The food was my own fault, but I lay the sleep issue squarely on my little girl's shoulders. Sleep training is not so fun.
3x5 back squat (10x45, 5x95, 5x135, 5x175) 2x5x230, 5x230(f5)
3x5 bench press (10x45, 5x95, 5x135) 5x185(f5), 2x5x185(f4, dna5)
3x5 deadlift (10x111, 5x155, 5x205) 3x5x285
Squats felt pretty rough today, but I almost got them. This is the second failed set at 230, so if it happens again I'll have to deload. Today was the first time trying to hit 3x5x185 on bench (ever). It felt good to attempt it, but I'm hoping to put up some better numbers next time. I am, however, quite happy with the deadlifts. I was having some serious grip failure on all the work sets, changing to a switch grip after the third or fourth rep. That aside, the lift itself went up easy so I'm happy to move to 290 or 295 next.
I was drafted to play in the championship game of a local kickball league this Sunday and I don't want to throw my legs out. With that in mind I focused on some basic back and arm accessory work that shouldn't leave me too sore.
3x10 superset pull-ups/dips (no rest between exercises or supersets)
3x8 barbell complex - 65 lbs.
For those who don't remember, the barbell complex is eight exercises performed sequentially without rest - each exercise leading directly into the other. In order, they go: deadlift, romanian deadlift, bent over row, power clean, front squat, shoulder press, back squat, good morning. Do all reps for a given exercise before moving to the next.
I think in the past we did this with 6 reps; 8 reps was far tougher than I remembered.
Since I didn't really do power cleans the previous day and I had some unexpected free time (a 2 hour meeting took 30 mins) I went to the gym!
3x5 power clean (45x10,89x5,111x5,131x5,155x5) 3x5x170
3x5 bench press (45x10, 95x5, 135x5, 155x5) 3x5x175
1x5 deadlift (155x5, 221x5) 1x5x285
Everything felt solid today so I'll up the weight for the cleans and bench next time and increase the set count for the deads to 3.
Whew. I went to a wedding in Michigan and then had to bust my butt to catch up on work here so I missed the gym for a whole week and a half! But, I managed to get in and get some stuff done. Initially I'd planned on doing squats/shoulder presses/power cleans but I made a gym friend and we did supersets of shoulder press and bent over rows.
3x5 back squat (10x45, 5x95, 5x135, 5x185) 2x5x230, 1x5x230 (broken into 2 sets 3/2)
5x5 shoulder press/bent over row superset (5x95/95) 3x105/135, 1x105/135 (pp5), 1x105/135 (pp3,f4-5)
Nice to be in the gym again. Somewhat sad I missed the squat, but I'll try again soon. Gymfriend said I need to pull my shoulders back more to keep my ass from rising too fast and I think I was getting into my head a little.
Today was a good day.
3x5 low-bar squat: (10x45, 5x95, 5x135, 5x185) 3x5x225
3x5 bench press: (10x45, 5x95, 5x135) 3x5x165
3x5 deadlift: (10x111, 5x155, 5x205) 3x5x265
Today felt awesome. The last few reps of the squats were a little ugly, but they still went up - do 230 next time. The bench should go up by 5 to 170 as well. The deadlift is only 40 lbs away (embarrassingly close!) from the squat right now, so next time I'll go up by 10 and do it at 275.
In general, all the lifts felt really strong today - I have to wonder if that's a post-weekend carb loading effect. I was definitely intimidated by the two plates on the squat, but everything turned out fine!
Running
1.6 mi (12:05) (~7.5 min mile)
1.9 mi (14:56) (~7.9 min mile)
I don't like running, but I feel like I should do it more.
3x5 low-bar squat (10x45, 5x95, 5x135, 5x185, 2x205) 3x5x220
3x5 shoulder press (10x45, 5x75, 5x95) 5x120 (pp5), 5x120 (pp3-5), 5x120 (DNA)
3x5 power clean (10x45, 5x111) 3x5x160
Squats and power cleans were both fine (!) so they can increase next time. I can't believe I'm trying this with two plates next time I squat. The shoulder press on the other hand sucked it up for the third time in a row, so I'm dropping to 80% weight next time (95lbs).
Was feeling pretty intimidated by 215 today, but it went up anyway!
3x5 low-bar squat (10x45, 5x95, 5x135, 2x185) 3x5x215
3x5 bench press (10x95, 5x135, 5x150) 2x5x165, 5x165(f5)
1x5 deadlift (10x89, 5x155, 2x205) 5x270
So, I guess it's 220 for the squat and 275 for the deadlift next time. The bench is going to stay at 165. Honestly, I don't know what the issue is there; I was hitting 3x5x165 pretty easily a month ago. I'm pretty sure I'll get it next time.
The squats were surprisingly fine, but I was having problems holding the bar with the deadlift. Clearly I need to deadlift more.
