Adarq.org

Upperbody day 4:

Paused Bench Press:

20x5x2
50x10
50x10
50x8

Pullups: 5, 4
Chinups: 5, 4

Landmine push press: 20x8, 20x8 (each arm) - good, will increase weight next workout
Wide grip pulls to chest + wide grip pulls to back of head: 72x8+72x6, 64x8+64x5 (difficult, for some reason)
Ab machine: 6pins x 10 reps x 2 - good, will increase weight the next workout

Bodyweight: 93.6 kg
Exhaustion level: 8/10

Comments:

in the bench press, was able to do 2 sets of 10 with 50 kg but at my last rep (also for my 8th rep in the last set) I have to immediately put the bar back because I feel like if I stay just one second more with it it will fall on me. So I will not increase the weight but instead want to improve the form and endurance with it, to have it be easier to do.

Leg day 4:

Low bar squat:

20x5x2
60x5
80x3
100x2
110x2 (old age PR)
100x3
100x3
90x3

High bar ATG full squat:

60x5
60x5

RDL:

20x5
60x5
80x5
100x5
120x3
75x5
75x5

Leg curls (single leg):

40x10
40x10

Leg extensions (5 second eccentric phase): 32x10x2
Leg extensions hold: 40x10s

One leg calf raises: 15kgx10x3

Bodyweight: 93.4 kg
Exhaustion level: 8.5/10

Comments:

Felt weak in the squat, maybe due to playing basketball yesterday. However, after doing my low bar squat I was like "let me try some high bar squats and try to get really deep on them". Surprisingly, I went full, ATG and they felt amazing. You could really feel the movement was given by the legs (they felt like what you see when you watch olympic lifters do squats). So I think I will try to do some ATG high bar squats from now on, provided my knees agree with them.

My thinking is that I can use a lighter weight and a better range of motion in a "leg-dominant" fashion. Win-win. It really feels like if I were stronger in them I would really be more athletic. The same can't be said when I do low bar squats - there it feels like the weight is heavier just to load up my back uselessly.

Also, never deadlifted over 100 kg in the last 8 years. The three reps in the RDL were pretty difficult, mini lightning bolts were going through my arms for holding the barbell.

I also have issues with my right knee, pretty bad. It sometimes feels like a "beam" will exit my skin on the lateral side of the knee. I've been to a bunch of doctors and they don't know what it is - I have to do MRI which I'm not doing (yet) because it doesn't matter what it is - whether I know what it is or not doesn't really matter, it's still going to be there.

I took some "Genacol", a medicine for cartilages and stuff and it surprisingly seems to be better.

My squat is close to yours right now but it's low bar and a bit weaker than yours (I can squat 100x5, probably 100x7 if I really push it). Vert off one leg is about 60-65 cm at best, off two it's 50 cm or so but I'm not attempting that because it will aggravate my right knee - I'd rather continue doing strength work and jump off one (although I'm also jumping very little since I'm too heavy for jumping anyway).

How heavy are you now, by the way? I'm trying to get lighter (under 85 kg would be ideal).

Man i literally thought you might have died!

Welcome back!

I was close, several times. Took all the mental will that I had not to do it, for years.

Good luck, it would be interesting to see you train for vert again. Us old guys going wild

^^^^
Well, the passion for / joy of training vert and practicing dunks will never compare to anything else. I was still interested until early 2020 that i was still playing basketball, although it was obvious that the prime days would never come back. Then came covid, no squat, basket or jumping for 2 years, plus 2 years even older, also got into running in between, so bye bye vert.
I do have a 2-month strength block in mind right after the marathon in 2 weeks so maybe i'll go check where i am, just for fun.

---

10 October

"Race pace" run

Run 5K @ 24:40 ( 4:56 pace )

Legs felt tired/stressed, because normally i have rest Sunday between sprints and tempos, but not i did sprints on Sunday so it was 3-in-a-row.
Still, got my easiest sub-25 5K ever. Even by a little, i got the lowest average HR, lowest max HR, lowest training impact and highest max speed for that "race-pace run". Very happy!

Did you get heavier during this time? Also, how many kcal do you burn doing these types of runs?

Leg day 3:

Low bar squat:

20x5x2
60x5
80x3
100x2
110x2 (old age PR)
80x10
80x7
80x6

Hip thrusts:

60x8
60x8
80x6
80x6
80x6

Leg curls (single leg):

40x10
56x10 (old age PR)

Leg extensions (5 second eccentric phase): 40x10x2
Leg extensions hold: 40x40s
Leg extensions: Full rack x 5 (probably a bad idea as it flares up my knee)

Barbell calf raise (slow eccentric phase): 60x10, 60x10, 60x10, 60x10

Bodyweight: 94.1 kg
Exhaustion level: 8.5/10

Comments:

Best (old age) workout ever. Did a lot of things: high volume squats, PR 110x2 squat, hip thrusts, leg curls, leg extensions, calf raises, stretching, you name it. Surprisingly, I'm not feeling that tired. Also surprisingly, this comes after eating cleaner, just 350 kcal for my morning meal. I did eat one chocolate biscuit before leaving to the gym to raise the blood sugar a little.

I'm eating very clean lately, trying to be under 2000 kcal per day (one day ago I was at 1850 and yesterday at 2090). My calorie burn per day is about 3000 or so. Target weight is 86 kg, so that's 8 kg less than where I am right now. Hopefully I can get under 90 kg by the end of the year if I keep this up.