Home gym chronicles, part 1; the great bulk

[BendtheBar]

Originally Posted by Soldier

Epic.

Nice benching too!

[Soldier]

Originally Posted by BendtheBar

I might give them a try this summer. I have low ceilings so indoors this would be impossible.

I love throwing them in on my non-lift specific leg days, like days where I do sprints and/or sled pulls. If you focus on the stretch side then you may get that quad pump you were saying you've never had.

[Soldier]

Just popped down on the carpet and busted out some pushups to see where I stand. I haven't done a single pushup in weeks. I did 40 in about 30 seconds with no issue. I should be able to max out my pushups on my PT test on the 12th. I'm doing lots of abs, so hopefully I'll get a PR on my situps. The only place where I know I won't do well is the run, but I'll take another PT test once I'm more into my cut and I should get the 270 I need to qualify for Air assault.

[BendtheBar]

Originally Posted by Soldier

Just popped down on the carpet and busted out some pushups to see where I stand. I haven't done a single pushup in weeks. I did 40 in about 30 seconds with no issue. I should be able to max out my pushups on my PT test on the 12th. I'm doing lots of abs, so hopefully I'll get a PR on my situps. The only place where I know I won't do well is the run, but I'll take another PT test once I'm more into my cut and I should get the 270 I need to qualify for Air assault.

Been so long I forgot what the standards were.

[Soldier]

So, as I mentioned in the thread about overhead pressing your bodyweight, I've never pushed overhead pressing in my lifting. My shoulders aren't so great, and my shoulders have responded well to higher reps for size. But after realizing that my overhead press is lagging behind many others who are similiar to myself in both size and strength, I think it's time to give the overhead press more of my time and effort.

I was going to take today off because I'm planning to test my deadlift max tomorrow, but I decided to get some overhead pressing in. I don't think it'll detract from my deadlift tomorrow, and I hate taking days off anyways.

Overhead press-
45x8 (right shoulder hurts quite a bit, especially at the bottom of the lift)
95x5
115x3
135x3
135x3
135x3
135x5
135x5

Overhead press with fat gripz-
95x12
95x12

I hate shoulder pumps. They don't feel good to me. My shoulders got such a hard pump that just having my arms hang at my sides hurt my shoulders. I had to hang my arms on the bar to let the pump fade between sets. Even though I don't LIKE the pump, I know it means that I'm getting good work in, so it's a good thing as far as I'm concerned.

I did heavy triceps work yesterday. When you that into consideration, along with a reminder that this is a lift with which I've never tried heavy loading before, I'm happy with this session. Considering how my pressing strength has increased as of late, I wouldn't be surprised if I can get 185 fairly soon if I put effort into this movement, which I plan to do.

I knew my shoulders were strong. I've used upwards of 75lb dumbells for standing overhead press, and I NEVER skimp on bottom ROM like most do. I just need to groove the movement and get some heavy lifting in and I'm sure the PR's will come fast.

[Soldier]

Originally Posted by BendtheBar

Been so long I forgot what the standards were.

To qualify for Air assault I need at least 70 pushups, 74 situps, and a 14:12 2 mile run. To max everything I need 80 pushups, 85 situps, and a 13:18 run time.

My goals for the 12th are 80 pushups, 70 situps, and a sub 14:30 run time.

[BendtheBar]

115x3
135x3
135x3
135x3
135x5
135x5

That's fairly decent. You can't be too far off from a 185 max.

[Soldier]

Probably not, strength wise, but my form is sketchy and my shoulder hurts quite a bit. I'll continue to work on it, but I'll move up slowly.

But I do have a HUGE PR to report today. Only a few minutes ago I deadlifted 455lb! That's a 50lb PR! I failed on 425 only a couple months ago, so I'm ecstatic, to say the least. I had the potential to pull more, and if I had chalk I KNOW I would have pulled 475 today.

500 is going to be mine very soon.

SO, current maxes are-

Bench- 315, 1.4xbodyweight
Squat- 345, 1.5xbodyweight
Deadlift- 455, 2xbodyweight
Total- 1115, 4.8xbodyweight

(Bodyweight- 230. Bodyweight multiples are rounded to the nearest tenth.)

[BendtheBar]

Congrats. Go get 500.

[Soldier]

F*** MY LIFE.

Today I had a lot laid on my shoulders. Work is going to be crazy for a while, and on top of everything going on there my platoon Sgt. has put it on my shoulders to get my 270 PT score on the 12th. I'm still not sure if I can, but I'm going to do almost everything I can to do it. The one thing I will NOT do is sacrifice my strength. I've worked my ass off and put my health on the line with prohormones to FINALLY start to get some real strength and muscle, and I'm not giving that up.

I will, however, up my cardio dramatically and place less emphasis on strength training. I'll keep my strength by lifting heavy a couple times a week, as well as doing some sled work for both strength and cardio. At this point I don't need to train for Air assault. All I need to do is train for 2 things; situps and a 2 mile run. I have 2 weeks. If I pull it off, then I can change over to training for the many challenges of Air assault school and believe me, it will be intense training indeed.

I came home tonight motivated to do a run, and then a hale storm came. Maybe I'm just a little cursed, lol.

The good news is that once I'm done with Air assault, I can back way off on running. I'm not worried about getting promoted in the Army, because I'm not staying in after my first enlistment, so after I get Air assault done I can put much more of my energies back into getting strong and shredded and not worry too much about my PT score.