Minty Fresh

(Title Note: Recently recovered my preference for Linux, on the Ubuntu-based Mint distro. All it really took was having my graphics card driver work NEARLY out-of-the-box for me to come back. Ubuntu was a good run, and Windows 7 went as I expected: nice at first, barely-passable pig-disgusting towards the end. Ah, Windows. Predictable user experience.)

So, I’ve yo-yo’d back once again to pursue strength goals in favor over physique.

There won’t be any dirty-bulking, this time around, however.

According to a trusted source, my present weight at a lower body fat percentage is my genetic muscular potential. This seems to suggest a call for a recomposition: lose fat AND gain muscle.

So because I seem to be behaviorally disinclined to cooperate with my own “lose fat as fast as fucking possible” regimens, I’ve decided instead to focus on increasing my bench and deadlift scores while maintaining vaguely the same amount of weight. I’ll still be keeping composition scores… but I won’t be expecting any radical changes any time soon.

I’m also considering changing my routine more than will be described in this post, but some of the changes will be apparent here and is mostly the reason I’m even logging this workout. I also slightly edged past my 1RM tested earlier, even though this wasn’t a true test for that purpose. Just a failed 10lbs. jump, really.

The biggest change to my routine (meaning the one that will stick even if all the other changes I’m considering do not) is that I’ve moved my incline benching and chinning to the shoulder day I tend to do between deadlift workouts when I have that much time to work out. I actually have a job now, so I get to make excuses.

On to the workout for 5/11/11:

Deadlift

1. 135lbs. x 5 (double-overhand)
2. 155 x 3 (d-o)
3. 220 x 2 (d-o)
4. 260 x miss (straps+left hand over)
5. 260 x miss (s+lhu)
6. 250 x 2 (s+lho)
7. 215 x 1 (s+lhu)

I considered making a third 260lbs. attempt, but I kind of wanted to maintain my hand-switching for top sets… kind of dumb, but not as dumb as throwing out my back. My form was pretty terrible. I could just tell it was. I wasn’t “all there,” due to poor sleep quality. I’m going to try to make the jump to 260 next session, but if I miss it again I’m moving down to 5lbs. jumps.

Bench Press

1. 45lbs. x 5
2. 45 x 5
3. 55 x 5
4. 80 x 3
5. 100 x 2
6. 115 x 2 (no change)
7. 105 x 5 (bottom of range)
8. 90 x 2 (stopped because weight felt weird, as though I’d misloaded. I had not.)
9. 90 x 7 (wanted to get at least 8 reps at this weight)

Because of the slightly-pinchy shoulder issue on my first warm-up last time I benched, I possibly over-warmed for this: doing dynamic stretching before most sets, especially the first. Spent five minutes warming up before my first set. The should-have-been-last set caused me to consider doing the dumbbell variation of this exercise to balance out my strength on both sides. It’s something I’ll have to look into: how much total weight ought I drop down to, how to kick up the dumbbells properly, and so on.

Low Cable Rows (narrow grips)

1. 45lbs. x 5
2. 45 x 5
3. 60 x 5
4. 75 x 3
5. 105 x 2
6. 120 x 5
7. 120 x 5
8. 120 x 5

I was ready to call it a day by the time I started these, some combination of CNS and “I DINT SLEP SO GUD” fatigue. Going by my last row session (in my notebooks, I’ve been lax about updating on here) I should have ramped up to 150lbs. for a top set of 3. I’m very glad I did not. I’ll just be doing simple straight sets of five here to support my benching efforts, so I’ll be bumping this to 135lbs. x 5 next session. I don’t expect to make all the reps next time, but I’ll just stay at that weight and try to get at least 2 more reps per workout until I get my 3×5 before bumping again.

START: 9AM
STOP: 11:25AM

WEIGHT: 165.5lbs. – 168lbs.*

*I weigh myself before and after my workout.

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