Ok, so let's give this another go shall we?
I haven't trained at all since early November (I believe the 5th if memory serves me correctly). You all know why (and for those that don't please go through the last few pages of my journal) and man has it sucked to not do a damned thing.
Well I managed to make it to my new gym a couple times this week. Very quiet place, virtually empty....I love it.
What I didn't love however was how I was crippled as fuck after doing squats with 135 for 2 sets of 5.....sweet baby satan was that brutal!! Like we're talking death grip on the sink and tub to sit on the toilet bad. It makes me either never want to squat again or never stop squatting.
I much prefer the latter of the two options. Not realistic of course but it's a nice wishful thought
My legs managed to clear up by yesterday so I made another go of the gym and much to my surprise I added 50 lbs to my squat for 2 sets of 5 with no pain whatsoever. I'm happy to report that sitting on the throne this morning was nothing different than any other day. Hurray!
To into further detail, I did bench both those days as well as lat pulldowns. Bench consisted of 135x5x2 on the first day, and like squats I managed a 50 lbs increase to 185x5, 185x7. Unlike squats I had zero DOMS from either time I benched. As far as the lat pulldowns...100x5x2 for the first session and 150x5x2 on my second session. No different than bench, zero DOMS both training sessions.
I predict it'll take me the better part of 60-90 days before I get into anything heavy. This time gives me the opportunity to work on technique. I feel somewhere along the way my form has taken a dump and it needs sharpening. My main focus is squatting. I haven't really squatted since....the summer roughly, and even that wasn't consistent. Consistent squatting hasn't been done since I left World Gym, no shit. My knees and hips just couldn't take it anymore and I needed some time off. Of course during this time off when I should have been rehabbing I did fuck all and prolonged my ability to get back into squatting.
I can be a smart fella at times, derp!
*sigh*
So what is the focus for 2017?
simple....
500/350/550. 1400 total.
I may be overreaching slightly with trying to add +45 lbs to my bench this year, but I'm up for the challenge.
Last year I managed to hit 2 out of the 3 goals I had set out for myself. I broke the 300 (+5 lbs PR) mark on bench, as well as hitting 500 (+25 lbs PR) on my deadlifts. Not exactly major accomplishments, considering I hit 300 on bench in competition as well as 475'd on my dead that same day...which was in 2015.
Epic fail was on (you guessed it) squats.
But that's ok, this year proves to be a better year, a more focused year.
Also I want to work on my health, it's with no real surprise that like most I have a few ailments to contend with. I've suffered from IBS for 24 years. I have never dealt with it properly and trust me I have paid for it many times, too many times. So I'm taking responsibility and trying to better this. Currently I've broken down my nutritional needs to it's basics. I guess you could say I'm eating a more bro style diet. Rice, Chicken, broccoli, and a few other items. I'm keeping it simple and seeing how my body responds. As of the past couple of weeks of eating like this I've had no attacks or any issues whatsoever.
Mobility work is something I'm concentrating on, pretty self explanatory.
I'm going to get my hernia fixed (yes I know, I know...I should had this fixed a long time ago but I was lazy and refused to get my shit together to get it fixed.)
Also I'm going in for an MRI and seeing a neurologist to deal with my migraines (started two years ago, and has gone downhill since then). Hopefully we can find a reason and perhaps a non-medication solution. I want to see if there is also a correlation between my migraines and the dizziness/blackout issues I was having while squatting/deadlifting heavy....or it could have something to do with my blood pressure. After the "cuff incident" (go back a few pages, you'll find out what I'm talking about if you don't know) I've been having more borderline readings. I'm not exactly enthralled with the idea that I may have high blood pressure, though it's something that most of my family has (on both sides no less) and being on medication for the rest of my life. But it is what it is, right?
So I'm nipping shit in the butt and trying to overall improve is what I'm trying to get at with all this.
Seriously, this turned out to be a lot longer of a post than I had originally anticipated.
Let's wrap this up, as I'm sure you're all bored to tears at this point...and really I wouldn't blame you.
Have yourselves a great Sunday.
