Tuesday, April 16, 2019
PRs Before Meet 2019
I realize that I've been naming the posts as if I'm going to keep pushing myself on the powerlifting. I might. It would be nice to be very old and still powerlifting. Time will tell.
Also, May 1 will be the 14th anniversary of this blog! I'm going to let that percolate and see if it encourages me to try any new challenges. I know I want to do more bodyweight, and start running this year. May also try to swim more this year.
OK, so yesterday I worked at keeping my heart rate over 125 on the bike set on "fat burner." It was a bit tough. Definitely pushed me out of nasal breathing and into breathing through my mouth.
Today I did some good lifting. I am lifting more than many people would think makes sense. I'm doing all of the "big three" lifts every weight workout. I think 5 sets of 5 was too much for the weight I'm going for now. Last week I lifted 2 sets of 5 and then 3 sets of 3. This week I am doing one set of 5 and three sets of 3. It's less volume however I also pushed the weight up. I want my body to be ready to deal with heavy weight more than being able to do lots of repetitions for this period.
The mental work has increased also. I've been visualizing more for my lifts. Squats have been hard to visualize. Deadlifts are getting easier and bench has been easiest. Outside of the gym I've been continuing to look at how I interpret things. Checking myself when I get into negative mindsets has been hard yet useful. Remembering to look at stressful things as opportunities to grow (using weightlifting as a metaphor when I can) has been very useful. I had ideas for what to write about this earlier and I'm blank now. I'll post again on it in the future.
Today's workout was:
Bike 9 minutes over 90 rpm
Forgot my Range of Motion portion of the warm-up (posting here so if I look back it will serve as a reminder)
Squat 135x5, 185x3, 205x3, 225x3! Being bad at math when I'm sleepy is helpful sometimes. I didn't realize I had put 225 on the bar. I was intending for 215. Not knowing helped me from psyching myself out.
Bench 135x5, 175x3, 185x3, and 195x3! Another personal best. This time I knew what I was doing. :)
Deadlift 135x5, 225x3, 245x3, and 265x3! I'm super happy about this.
My overall plan is just to get my body used to the weight I've been doing. However, if I can get more than this I will. Today was a hard day at work, though I didn't know it would be that. Thursday could very easily be a rough day so I'll see how I feel about pushing it. Could be useful to push before a rough day.
After lifting I did push-ups, burpees, and 3 sets of 20 on the gripper machine with 20lbs.
Then I did some stretching and also the wall stretch.
I might do some cardio tonight, jumping jacks at least. Trying to push through to a new level of energy. I've tried resting more, and that doesn't seem to do it. So I figure that increasing cardio may help out.
During the day job I have tons of things to look for solutions too! I get to do some interesting stuff for sure!
That's it for today!
KEEP GRINDING!!!
*Notes for me
Continuing to use the 1 rep max (1RM) calculator my max lifts for this week are (last meet in parentheses):
Squat 245lbs (203)
Bench 213lbs (176)
Deadlifts 289lbs (270) [275x3 would be a 300...]
Also, May 1 will be the 14th anniversary of this blog! I'm going to let that percolate and see if it encourages me to try any new challenges. I know I want to do more bodyweight, and start running this year. May also try to swim more this year.
OK, so yesterday I worked at keeping my heart rate over 125 on the bike set on "fat burner." It was a bit tough. Definitely pushed me out of nasal breathing and into breathing through my mouth.
Today I did some good lifting. I am lifting more than many people would think makes sense. I'm doing all of the "big three" lifts every weight workout. I think 5 sets of 5 was too much for the weight I'm going for now. Last week I lifted 2 sets of 5 and then 3 sets of 3. This week I am doing one set of 5 and three sets of 3. It's less volume however I also pushed the weight up. I want my body to be ready to deal with heavy weight more than being able to do lots of repetitions for this period.
The mental work has increased also. I've been visualizing more for my lifts. Squats have been hard to visualize. Deadlifts are getting easier and bench has been easiest. Outside of the gym I've been continuing to look at how I interpret things. Checking myself when I get into negative mindsets has been hard yet useful. Remembering to look at stressful things as opportunities to grow (using weightlifting as a metaphor when I can) has been very useful. I had ideas for what to write about this earlier and I'm blank now. I'll post again on it in the future.
Today's workout was:
Bike 9 minutes over 90 rpm
Forgot my Range of Motion portion of the warm-up (posting here so if I look back it will serve as a reminder)
Squat 135x5, 185x3, 205x3, 225x3! Being bad at math when I'm sleepy is helpful sometimes. I didn't realize I had put 225 on the bar. I was intending for 215. Not knowing helped me from psyching myself out.
Bench 135x5, 175x3, 185x3, and 195x3! Another personal best. This time I knew what I was doing. :)
Deadlift 135x5, 225x3, 245x3, and 265x3! I'm super happy about this.
My overall plan is just to get my body used to the weight I've been doing. However, if I can get more than this I will. Today was a hard day at work, though I didn't know it would be that. Thursday could very easily be a rough day so I'll see how I feel about pushing it. Could be useful to push before a rough day.
After lifting I did push-ups, burpees, and 3 sets of 20 on the gripper machine with 20lbs.
Then I did some stretching and also the wall stretch.
I might do some cardio tonight, jumping jacks at least. Trying to push through to a new level of energy. I've tried resting more, and that doesn't seem to do it. So I figure that increasing cardio may help out.
During the day job I have tons of things to look for solutions too! I get to do some interesting stuff for sure!
That's it for today!
KEEP GRINDING!!!
*Notes for me
Continuing to use the 1 rep max (1RM) calculator my max lifts for this week are (last meet in parentheses):
Squat 245lbs (203)
Bench 213lbs (176)
Deadlifts 289lbs (270) [275x3 would be a 300...]
