Got yoke?

[AtlasDeadlifted]

Was just reading thru your old posts from last year when you were killing that decline bench. Man, that was some impressive fucking work. I remember talking to you a bit about it at a Greyskull seminar a while back and seeing the logs at the time, but reading through all that progress in one sitting made me realize just how sick that was.

New readers of this log - go read thru the first 6-7 pages of this log, and just pay attention to the decline bench.

[Eligius]

Thanks for the plug Atlas, haha. All this talk from you, King Schlong, and my training partner about decline has gotten me to return to this beloved lift. It helped build me an upper body before, hopefully it takes things up a notch again.

May 31
Decline BP: 275 x5 x5 x9
DL: 560 x3; 365 x5

My current gym has a decline bench with a wobbly leg pad. Since a lot of the tightness, and thus power, stems from how you set your legs, it was the reason why I dropped it in the first place. It's been long enough that I've "forgotten" what a good bench is like and will just deal with it. Wobbly footing, it'll build stability in my core bro. Was a little rusty with the bar path, but I think I chose a fine starting weight. Was supposed to max out the Hammer decline today -- shed no tears missing out on that.

Deadlift felt right heavy on the last warm up. Somewhere on the 3rd rep at 560, I tweaked my lower back. Went for a 4th rep, broke it an inch or so off the ground and dropped it. Even without the tweak, I doubt I had four today. Looking like the higher reps have dropped off. Hobbled around for a minute, madder than hell about my back, and decided to attempt a back off to further assess my low back. Back off felt fine, but moving around causes it to twinge. Feels better now than it did immediately afterward, so crossing my fingers that it amounts to nothing in the coming days.

[Eligius]

Jun 3
Press: 225 x0; 185 x3 x3
Overhand Finger Curl: 155 x10 x10 x10 x10 x10
Cable EZ Curl: 160 x15+5+3

Drove out to meet some family/extended family at a ballin' seafood buffet in lieu of training on Saturday. It was $31, but I've never been to a buffet where everything tastes awesome. Decided that since my low back was continuing to improve, another day off sounded good. Went in Sunday as a whatever day. Wanted to put two plates overhead, but warm ups didn't feel too hot. Tried and missed it at the chin/nose. BW is around 218-220, so sure would've been nice to have made it happen!

[Eligius]

Jun 5
Decline BP: 277.5 x5 x5 x8
Squat: 365 x3; 410 x3; 460 x4

The decline bug has bit me again and I'll be making another run at it. It went well enough. Squat felt rough though. Had to belt up for last warmup for the first time in awhile. One of those do the minimum type days. Trying to get some more sleep and see if that improves things.

[Eligius]

Jun 7
HS Seated Press: 160 x6; 127.5 x13 (weight per side)
Cable Push Down: 125 x15+7+3
Rack Pull: 485 x12
V-Pull Down: 197.5 x12; 135 x17

First day in a bit that I'm happy with how things went. May repeat the 160 on Hammer press to try for more reps, since there's no room for smaller increments. Rack pulls were done with straps from below the knee. After the disappointing deadlifting last week, really focused on sitting back and setting the back before pulling. Guess I'm used to being a little forward/rounded, because it felt like my torso was really upright. Did the trick though and I'm expecting some sore hamstrings tomorrow.

[Eligius]

Jun 9
Decline BP: 280 x5 x5 x10
Yates Row: 335 x10 x9

Came in and did some work on the decline. Last time I worked with 280, I was doing 6-8. 8-12 and hit 280 for 10. So with added volume this time around, looks good to me. Yates row felt tough. Need to focus less a little less on number of reps and more on quality reps. Passed on the cable curls since low back was already exhausted from doing the rows.

Joked with training partner that I'll just drop all direct arm work and push my decline to 405 for reps. With a n=1, we'll see what that does for the arms.

[Eligius]

Jun 10
Chin Up: x6 x5 x5 x4 x3

Jun 11
Chin Up: x6 x5 x5 x4 x3

I've seen Atlas using this progression of chinning (Recon Ron) and this is easier for me to keep up with than the frequency method. I believe greasing the groove is a solid methodology, but my preference is to have it laid out before me and to get it done at one time, not remembering throughout the day. Plan to do it mostly on off days.

Jun 12
Seated Press: 217.5 x5; 187.5 x9
Squat: 385 x5; 435 x3; 485 x3
Cable Push Down: 127.5 x15 x10+4

Seated press felt good, though on the second set I let the bar drift back and whacked the one of the pins on the way up. Messed the set up enough that I decided against going for 10 and racked it. Warming up squats felt better than last week, though still don't have the same pep as I did last squat cycle. Wasn't stressing about it though, it was a 1+ day and as the Rhino, Stan Efferding, says, "if you can do it once, you can do it twice." Rep 3 was a grinder with a solid one and a half second pause at the transition point.

[eleukoa]

... but I think it was Ed Coan who said to leave a rep in the tank for next time, you are never going to know when you need it.

[Eligius]

... but I think it was Ed Coan who said to leave a rep in the tank for next time, you are never going to know when you need it.

A very wise outlook. Was disappointed with reps coming down and chose to meditate on something powerful. Not necessarily the brightest, but what I wanted to do at the time.

Jun 13
Chin Up: x6 x5 x5 x4 x3

Jun 14
Decline BP: 282.5 x5 x5 x10
DL: 560 x1; 495 x5

Decline is going smashingly. Sort of wanting to "focus on bringing up my bench", but so hard to ease up on the other big lifts. Took my cue for setting the back during rack pulls and tried to do it while deadlifting. I'm still somewhat kinesthetically retarded in setting up the deadlift, but I think I made an improvement. Went for a 2nd rep at 560 and hamstrings violently twitched to the point my knees were banging against the bar. From what I recall about Justin Lascek's writings, that's a sign my hamstrings are not used to that kind of coordinated force production. I'm finally making them do their job. A little disappointed about not making my run up to 600, but time for a reset and bringing everything up to snuff.

[Eligius]

Jun 15
Chin Up: x6 x5 x5 x4 x3

Jun 16
Press: 185 x3 x3 x2; 135 x8 x8
RDL: 185 x8 x8 x8
Leg Curl: 100 x12 x12

Tried warming up press to something heavier, but wasn't happening. Been feeling like some lifts need to reset and I've gotten to where I'm accepting of the need. Too hard-headed sometimes. My knees have let me know they don't care for stairs lately, so I've dropped the leg press (nearly certain this was the cause). Going to focus on hamstring work in its place. Started light on RDLs. Maybe should have started lighter on the leg curls. Having never done them before, I might describe them as unpleasant.