Recovery Log

[Davis]

Before I start, let me tell you what this past year has been like... End of December of 2011: A huge boost in strength from practically no where. Especially in the squat and deadlift(I'm talking barely pulling up 370 on the dead to doing 380 for 5 a couple weeks later). Over the next few months, numbers continue going up and my press gets quite a bit stronger too. Mid March or so: Bench just stops. Everything else is fine, but not my bench press. Soon, it starts going down. Sometime in May, I discover I have tendonitis. I only press over my head for the next month or so and begin to bench fairly light and add in some light, high rep tricep work. Finally, my bench is on the rise up until the middle of August. However, mid July, my squat just begins to drop. I'm talking in just one to two weeks I went from being near a 400 lb squat to 350 being extremely hard and it kept getting lower. Finally, by August 17, my deadlift is showing signs of being hurt although my upper body pressing seems to be getting stronger for the most part. Then, I find out I have mono. That put me out and caused me to lose over 20 lbs. Somewhere around 205 down to 185. Give or take a few pounds both ways.

So, now I think I've waited enough time and have tested the waters inconsistently in weeks past and had my first successful training session tonight. This log will be about me recovering from mono and gaining my strength back. I think I'm going to start out(I know, this is going to be a slight bit contradictory) trying to cut some body fat. I'm sure I can gain some muscle back and lose some fat I've obtained recently. I don't know a percentage I want to get to, I just know a look I want to get to before I try to really start packing on new muscle. So....

Friday, October 12th. First day back.

Squats: 185 5x5.
Deadlifts: 205 2x5.
Press: 85 5x5.
Additional upper back and tricep work thrown in, but not a lot of it.


I'm going to try to keep this updated and will be lifting 3 days a week, trying to add 5-10 lbs per lift per workout before I switch back to 5/3/1. I'd like to get up to around 275-80 5x5 on the squat. Everything else, I don't know. I just want to squat 4 plates sometime soon. (And deadlift 5. Sadly that won't happen this year like I had hoped) I appreciate any advice, encouragement, or snide remarks about wanting to regain strength and lose a little bit of body fat at the same time.

[BendtheBar]

Subbed. I challenge you to keep logging. Being here will keep you pushing on those days you don't want to.

We want you to succeed. Go get it!

[Davis]

Thanks, BTB. Gonna try to move up in weight some tomorrow. Friday was my first workout since getting sick that actually left me "workout tired" instead of "mono tired". It was also the first one since then that didn't cause any swelling in my throat. Hopefully that's a good sign I'm ready to try 3 days a week again.

[BendtheBar]

Smash!

[Davis]

Speaking of smashed...I feel like I have been drinking whisky all weekend. I hope I just have a cold. I slept for 14 hours though last night. Going to the doctor. My mom got onto me earlier for lifting and all I could react with earlier was "I'm no woman!"
So my thinking is really slow too.

[BendtheBar]

At least you got some good sleep. Hope it passes soon.

[BendtheBar]

How are things?

[Davis]

Thanks for checking in. I'm back on a computer now for at least a couple of days. I took something like a week off I think. Yeah, nearly two weeks. Just to play it safe.

Tuesday, Oct. 23rd:
Squats: 185 5x5
Press: 85 5x5. Last set was tough. That's what I get for thinking approximately 30-45 second rest periods would be just fine haha
Deadlift: 235 1x5, 185 1x5. Instead of doing two straight sets, second set is lighter. This MIGHT help preserve me.
Then some 65 lb db rows and I think that was it.

Slept through last night(Thursday) so instead I ate pizza and then went to play piano from 10:30 or so until 3 AM.

Friday, October 26(Make up workout I guess)
Squat: 190 5x5. Pretty easy.
Bench: 115 1x5. Too easy. 120 4x5. Not hard. It got a little tougher on set 3 and 4, but nothing near failure.
Hang power clean: 135 3x3. Wasn't hard, but it was strange. I'm not used to cleans or anything explosive right now. It felt nice to do em.

Face pulls between first 4 bench sets. After cleans, a high rep set of tricep rope extensions over my head.

I was going to lift tomorrow as well, but it looks like it has to be Sunday. I'll be working all day tomorrow as far as I know. That's good news. The workout is good news. Bad news: I got back home, set up my keyboard, and the port for my sustain pedal has broken. I can't really practice anything I'm working on right now without it. I can, but it could damage my musicality on those pieces... That ruined my plans. I may head back to school early Sunday(not that anyone really cares).

Also, today's workout was done on a bottle of water and around 500 calories if that. I imagine had I actually eaten more than a couple of sausages today, the workout would have been even smoother. The ease with such a low amount of food though makes me believe I will gain my strength back pretty quickly. Today's was easy. Tuesday's, I had prep'd well for and it was pretty hard. Obviously I got quite a bit stronger in just a few days. That's good.

[big_swede]

Keep it up and a speedy recovery to you!

[BendtheBar]

Good to hear from you Davis. Don't be a stranger.