OH Squat Fail

I know overhead squats are a move I haven't used much in the past, but it still irks me that I failed them today. It was at only 35 pounds, too! I simply couldn't keep the bar steady over my head and when I went down into the squat, the weight became unbalanced. The first try, I ditched the bar in front of me. The second try, I got a couple reps in before my central nervous system wouldn't allow the unsteadiness to continue. I didn't ditch the bar, but I couldn't get down. I guess this is a good reason to keep up my kettlebell TGU holds. Later on, I did better with my bench press. There were some long grind reps, but I breathed through them and got them up. The power cleans, also a new-ish move, went well, too. I'm going to rewatch the Starting Strength video on these to verify that my form is good.

Overhead Squat - 5x15#, 4x25#, 1x5x35#, 1x3x35# (glad I have the 15# bar!)
Bench Press - 5x45#, 4x60#, 3x75#, 3x5x87#
Power Clean - 5x45#, 3x5x60#

Progress

This morning's lift felt strong. I ended up making some progress on each lift, but especially squats and overhead presses. I've been here before on deadlifts, so that isn't spectacular. I think I do like the lower volume of DLs. I think they helped give me SI joint pain before. Good form is a must.

Squat - 5x45#, 3x60#, 2x75#, 3x5x90#
OH Press - 5x45#, 3x55#, 3x5x62#
Deadlift - 3x135#, 2x150#, 5x162#

TGUs

Not a very exciting workout today. It was tough for me but doesn't look like much.

mobility
TGU LR 12kg
TGU LR 16kg
TGU LR 10kg 22sec hold at each station (12 stations)

Sore calves defeated!

After my run Sunday, my calves got very, very sore. I've been limping around looking silly. I could have let that keep me from lifting today, but I didn't. Surprisingly, it wasn't bad at all. Foam rolling was a no-go, but even squatting was fine.

Overhead Squat - 5x15#, 3x5x30#
Bench Press - 5x45#, 4x60#, 3x70#, 3x5x85#
Power Clean - 5x45#, 3x5x55#
Pull-up - 1 w/ red band

I guess I forgot to mention my 2.5 mile run on Sunday. I threw in a few walking parts. It was so much warmer and more humid than I like. Ugh. As said, my calves got very sore afterward. Ouch! I was wearing my VFFs. I need to run more often so I'm ready for a run I have scheduled next month!

Pressing more!

I thought this was as much as I've pressed, but it ends up I've been up to 65# before. For more reps, too. Oh well. I am pressing more than last time, though!

4 Sun Salutations
BB Squat - 5x45#, 3x60#, 3x75#, 3x5x87#
BB OH Press - 5x45#, 2x55#, 3x5x60#
Deadlift - 3x135#, 2x150#, 5x160#
Chin-up - 1 (right before 1st OH Press working set)

My new favorite TGU variant

This morning, I started off with 5 sun salutations. After my workshop on sun salutations a couple weeks ago, I feel much more comfortable with going about them without any guide. So, I did three different variations this morning. I still have to refer to a paper to remember what to do. I'm going to work on memorizing the flow. Reading a paper takes me out of the zone. I'm thinking this is a nice warm up to a workout!

After the sun salutations, I went on kettlebells:

2xTGU LR 12kg
TGU LR 20sec per position 10kg
2H swing 4x20rep done at 30/30 20kg
foam roll

The 20sec per position TGU was awesome. It was a very hard move. It caused me to keep a strong focus on my form. In case you are wondering, this turns a TGU into a 4minute move! After that, I knew I didn't have a whole lot left in me. I was hoping for more than 4 sets of swings, but my body told me it was enough. Phew!

A new lifting phase

I toyed with the idea of not starting the next phase and just keeping on what I was doing, but I decided to go ahead and start the new phase with my last workout. Today is when the differences showed up. I haven't overhead squatted in a long time and I've never really done power cleans. So, it was interesting. It's good to do something new every now and then!

Pull-up - 2x1 assisted by red band
Overhead BB squat - 3x5x15#
Bench Press - 5x45#, 5x60#, 3x5x80#
Power Clean - 2x15x15#, 3x5x45#

A couple days off does wonders

I felt strong today after a couple days off. I kept getting to bed late and one night I couldn't seem to get to sleep, so I slept in a few times and enjoyed the extra hour of sleep.

Today, I was back at it with a lifting session. I felt strong and in control today. Yay!

Foam rolling
Squat - 5x45#, 5x60#, 3x70#, 3x5x85#
Overhead Press - 5x45#, 1x52#, 3x5x57#
Deadlift - 5x135#, 2x145#, 5x155#
Chinup - 3/4up, 1/2up (I should move these to the start!!)

Short but sweet KB workout

Yesterday I lifted. I was dropping back on two of the moves, now I'll drop back on the third! I'm going to stick with this a while, even though I don't know if it is working well for me, yet.

Squat - 5x45#, 5x60#, 3x70#, 3x5x80#
Bench Press - 5x45#, 4x60#, 3x75#, 4x90#, 3x90#
Deadlift - 5x135#, 3x147#, 5x150# (oops, I made the 2nd weight thinking I was heading toward 160#, not 150#!)


Now, for today, a quick KB workout. The TGU portion really worked my shoulders. Great stuff.

Mobility complex
TGU - LR slow, LR 10sec at each position - 12kg
Swings 8 rounds of 30sec on/30sec off
2H 2x20 - 20kg
1H 2x (2x5R5L) - 16kg
1H 2x (5R5L3R3L2R2L) - 16kg
2H 2x20 - 20kg

Not a good lifting day

I knew the day didn't feel right going into my workout, but I chose to forge ahead. Squats felt bad. Ugh. It didn't help that accidentally put on too much weight at one stage of the squat warmup and didn't feel like removing it, essentually skipping one warmup set. Presses felt good. Deadlifts didn't feel too bad, but I stopped midway through my final set because something wasn't feeling right. I'll drop back in weight for squats and deadlifts next time.

Squat - 5x45#, 5x60#, 90# fail
OH Press - 5x45#, 3x5x55#
Deadlift - 5x135#, 3x145#, 2x155#, 3x165# stopped before 5 reps = fail

A quick KB workout

I was re-reading parts of my HKC manual today, so there wasn't much time left for my workout. I did get a good sweat in, though. Here it is! (I'm not doing goblet squats, since my lifting program has me back squatting every time right now.)

Foam roll
2x (LR TGU 12kg)
2H swings ladder - 5-10-15-20  20kg
1H swings ladder - 2L2R - 4L4R - 6L6R - 8L8R - 10L10R  16kg
2H swings ladder - 5-10-15-20  20kg

More lifting!

Sunday was this kettlebell workout:
3x LR TGU 12kg
2x (20 2H swings 20kg)
2x (2x 5L5R 1H swings 16kg)
5x 2L2R 1H swings 16kg
10x LR 1H swings 16kg
2x (20 2H swings 20kg)

Then today was this workout:
Foam rolling
Squat - 2x5x45#, 5x55#, 2x5x65#, 3x75#, 3x5x87#
Bench Press - 5x45#, 5x65#, 3x75#, 3x5x87#
Deadlift - 5x135#, 5x160#

And this morning, I found a trigger point in my back. I'm thinking of going to a masseuse to see if more can be found...

That's about it for now!