8/12 – Day 35

A fully successful day! Haven’t had one of those in a while. Squats were a good challenge. Bench felt good because of deloading 10% (20 pounds). Hopefully I can build right back up to 200 and then below past it. Seated rows felt tougher today, and I’m enjoying the full range of motion I’m getting. I finally finished pullups with a 45 plate dangling from my waist. It felt great. I finished dips too, but they were tough.

Squat – 5×5 @ 215
Bench – 5×5 @ 180
Row – 5×5 @ 135
Dip – 3×5 @ 75
Pullup – 3×5 @ 45

8/9 – Day 32

A pretty good day in the gym. Squats felt strong and press was moderate after deloading. Deadlift were definitely tough. I think I’ll do 305 once more just to feel confident with the weight before moving on. I finally stalled on chinups, and I nearly got dips today.

Squat – 5×5 @ 210
Press – 5×5 @ 130
Deadlift – 1×5 @ 305
Chinup – 5,5,3 @ 60
Dip – 5,5,4 @ 75

8/7 – Day 30

Despite not doing very well today, I still enjoyed the trip. I failed again on bench, so that means it’s time for a deload. And I tried so hard there, that I couldn’t do dips well at all. I was one rep away on pullups, and I’m trying to decide if I should keep alternating them with chimps or if I should stick to pullups.

Squat – 5×5 @ 205
Bench – 5,5,5,4,3 @ 200
Row – 5×5 @ 130
Dip – 3×5 @ 55
Pullup – 5,5,4 @ 45

8/5 – Day 28

Good day today, although I wasn’t happy with my squat form, so I’ll repeat them. I also failed press again. That means deloading. It was bound to happen, and I’m pretty sure this a common sticking point.

Squat – 5×5 @ 205
Press – 5,5,4,4,3 @ 130
Deadlift – 1×5 @ 305
Chinup – 3×5 @ 55
Dip – 3×5 @ 70

8/2 – Day 25

This was my least successful day in the gym so far. Stalls all around, but that’s just a sign that progress is coming. I got closer on bench, but only have one more shot. Dips finally beat me, and pullups were as hard as ever.

Squat – 5×5 @ 200
Bench – 5,5,5,4,3 @ 200
Seated Row – 5×5 @ 125
Dip – 5,4,4 @ 70
Pullup – 5,4,3 @ 45

7/31 – Day 23

Took an extra day off to appease the girlfriend. Also hopefully it will get us off the lifting schedule of the only other people who use the power rack at the gym. Press gave me a hard time today. I’m not sure if I just wasn’t up for it today or if I’m finally going to hit a deload on it soon. We’ll see in a couple days. Dips were incredibly tough today, and I can’t believe I’m still adding weight. Chinups were a great challenge too. And I hit deadlift for the second time, which means I’ll be moving up to over 300 pounds next time. Very cool stuff!

Squat – 5×5 @ 195
Press – 5,5,4,3,3 @ 130
Deadlift – 1×5 @ 295
Chinup – 3×5 @ 50
Dip – 3×5 @ 65

7/28 – Day 20

Diet has been going really well. At this point I feel like it could become a part of my everyday life, because it really isn’t crazy or restrictive. I basically get to pig out after workouts (in amount, although there is room for snacks), and eat regular amounts on off days. Just have to watch the clock to time it properly.

Squat – 5×5 @ 190
Bench – 5,5,5,4,3 @ 200
Seated Row – 5×5 @ 120
Dip – 3×5 @ 60
Pullup – 3×5 @ 40

7/26 – Day 18

I took an extra long break to allow my back to recover, and today passed by without any pain. I didn’t want to risk straining it again, so from now on I think I’ll be doing a seated row to replace my old rowing exercise. I also did my huge deload on squats, hoping back to a wider stance.

Squat – 5×5 @ 185
Press – 5,5,5,4,3 @ 130
Deadlift – 1×5 @ 295
Chinup – 3×5 @ 45
Dip – 3×5 @ 55

7/22 – Day 14

Today was possibly the worst day I’ve ever had in the gym. I’m fine with failing lifts, but today I felt like I had nothing in the tank, and the whole workout turned out miserable.

It started on squats. I loaded up the proper weight this time (with the right bar), and didn’t even make three full sets. On the fifth set I deloaded a bit so I could at least work on form. Bench managed to go okay. I fought through all five sets to advance next time. The next bench workout should be flat out torture.

By this time I was already completely exhausted. And my back has been begging to change from barbell rows, so I did something like T-Bar rows. I think I’ll do a regular seated row in future workouts. Then I did a set of wide grip pullups and dips to failure and called it a day.

The worst part is on the drive home, my back started hurting. Feels like I strained a muscle near my right shoulder blades, and it makes even lying down a bit uncomfortable. So I might have to take an extra day or so off to heal. Like I said. Just a terrible day in the gym.

Squat – 5,5,4,3 @ 235 7 @ 185
Bench – 5×5 @ 195

7/20 – Day 12

Strange thing in the gym today. Turns out we actually have barbells that aren’t 45 pounds. So I did squats with one of these bars but my full weight plate load. Needless to say, it felt easy. But then again, it didn’t count either. So that messed things up a little, but it’s really no problem. Press went well, and I powered through to get to add weight again. I pulled strong on deadlifts and I’m confident to say my form was better, and dips and chinups were both still do-able.

Squat – 5×5 @ “235″
Press – 5×5 @ 125
Deadlift – 1×5 @ 285
Chinup – 3×5 @ 40
Dip – 3×5 @ 50