I Should have sent this out last Friday.

Last week was one crazy week. Of course hell week started back up. I also heard from the company I had been interviewing with, they made an offer and accepted it. Had to draft my resignation letter, take home all non-essentials from my cube in case I was asked to leave immediately after turning it in. then had to work out what I was going to say when I turned in my letter. I had to do all of this while grinding away at my deadlines. My girlfriend (yes I have one of those, finally after being single for over 6 years. Too picky perhaps…?) of 2 ½ months has been acting insecure about our relationship so I’ve been addressing that. She is moving way faster emotionally than I am, and while I have no doubt I will get there too, we aren’t teenagers so the practicality and logistics of relationships has to be balanced with the stage of life we find ourselves in now. I turned in my resignation letter and it went very well. I bought my 15 year old her first car, almost an entire day’s event since I am what you would call broke as hell and all I had to spend was what I got back on my tax return. We won’t talk about the BS of why her mom can’t contribute at all. On second though here’s a brief synopsis: In her mind letting me claim my daughter that lives with me full time and I carry the insurance on was her “monetary” contribution, despite the agreement that we would both fill out our returns claiming her and not claiming her, see how we got back the most money, and then combine everything we got back. The ex decided that since I claimed her, anything she gets back is hers and not for the car fund.

Last Monday the manager of the workout facility downstairs asked me if I would mind participating in a research study that one of her interns is doing with measuring a relationship between wingspan and bench press on rep max. Of course I said yes, and last Wednesday I did the first part of the study which involved finding my 1RM with a very wide grip. The hand placement was determined by the measurement of my wingspan.

I was rather pleased that I was able to hit 195, all things considered. The best I’ve ever done on the 1RM was 220, and that was back in my 20s when I was weight training regularly. I also haven’t been training with weights since back in … what, August or October? I can’t remember, I’d have to look. Plus I’m 52. So like I said, rather pleased all things considered.

I am going in for round 2 this Wednesday, and I’m curious to see how it goes. My hands won’t be quite as wide as last time, but still wider than normal. So with that in mind, today I’ll do light training, sort of like an active recovery type day. Make sure my form is good, get the muscles active but not stressed, do some antagonist muscle work, again low intensity.

Tomorrow I will do Moderate intensity, I’m thinking a few reps of 50% effort. Maybe 5 sets of 25 pushups throughout the day, a couple of isometric side delt raises, and maybe 1 – 2 sets of dumbbell military press for 10 reps each when I get home. I think I should do some trap work as well.

Wednesday I’ll try to get up earlier because my test will be at 11:30, and I read that you shouldn’t do 1RM tests for bench during the first 4 hours after waking because the spine may still be releasing fluid buildup from the night, and this could cause an injury. Before the test I’ll do some joint mobility drills for neck, shoulders and wrists.

3/11/2019 Monday

10:30 – Knee pushups x 20; med hand width; right shoulder catching a little bit causing a sharp twinge of pain. Not too bad, but something to keep an eye on.

– Scapular Squeeze against Chair Back x 30; mild intensity, arms at 60 degrees from body.

– Neck Mobility Drills

– NOX and BCAA; forgot about these but still need to take the to get my muscles loaded back up

11:25 – Yoga Pushups x 30; After that I think I need to add some trap work to tomorrow

– Shrugs x 50 (No weight obviously)

11:50 – Stairs x 2 floors;

– Elevated Pushups x 10; med hands; feet on second step; at bottom of 3rd time coming down stairs;

– Air Squats x 20; excellent form, medium stance; no rest from pushups; focused on glutes, screwing feet into floor; I was really winded

– Air squats x 10; narrow stance, just at 90 degree bend in knees; at top of 3rd time coming up stairs

– Biceps Iso-Flex x 50; not an intense squeeze, just enough to feel really good

1:05 – Stiff Leg Deadlifts x 50; it seems that if I squeeze my scapula during the movement it provides relief (stability?) for my lower back.

– Lunch: slice of Chicago deep dish, don’t judge me! It’s leftovers, I cannot waste leftovers!

3/12/2019 Tuesday

8:30 – Reverse Lunges x 10; non-alternating

10:00 – Seated Scapular Dips x 25;

– Pushups x 25; Narrow hands; focus on extending arms to the max;

– BCAA + NOX

10:50 – Pushups x 25; wide grip, exaggerated ROM; Pretty fast reps, thinking explosive movement;

12:30 – Pushups x 25; wider hands, butt in the air,

– Calf Raises x 30; single leg, elevated

3:15 – Straight Arm Plank x 90 seconds; wide hands

3/13/2019 Wednesday

Didn’t do any trap work last night as intended. For dinner I had smoked brisket, shredded carrots and yellow squash. Used very little lard, no real reason other than experimenting with some different cooking techniques. Took 2 Prime Male before bed in addition to my usual morning dose.

I’ve been trying to get fully hydrated, so far this morning I’ve had at least 25 ounces of water, probably 30 or even more but I know with 100% certainty I’ve had at least 25 oz.

9:00 – Knee Pushups x 25; knees were on my chair, wide grip focused on correct motion for bench press

– Shoulder Shrugs x 55; no weight, seated, 25 looking straight ahead, 15 looking up, 015 looking down

10:25 – Stairs x 3 sets of 2 floors ea.

– Neck Mobility Drills

11:10 – NOS + BCAA + Protein Powder + ACV and a little coffee with sweetened creamer, my blood sugar read 77. As of now I have consumed at least 50 oz. of water.

– Mobility Drills: wrist, elbow, shoulder

Well it looks like my 1 RM is 195. Tried 205, couldn’t get it off of my chest, backed down to 200, same story. I think my breathing and technique were off too. I know last time I sort of lifted my head off the bench when pushed, but this time it feels like I was pressing it into the bench. My neck feels a little fatigued. I feel good though, I do love the pump! Muscles swollen, flushed with blood; heart beating strong. I’m not going to do anything else with my upper body today, unless I do some arm flexing. With my neck feeling stiff after that, I am having flashbacks to when I separated my shoulder. Interesting side note, my lower back isn’t as stiff and sore as it was before I performed the test…

Feels like lunch time.

This Is Going To Be A Great Week!

Lubimûr