August 21, 2018 – Week 5, Day 1

5 Minutes Expresso Interactive Upright Exercise Bike

Leaning Calf Raises
BWx30

16” Goblet Box Squats
20x25

Shoestring Romanian Deadlifts
45x20

Band Rows
MMBx20

Push-ups
BWx15

Bodyweight Plank
20 Seconds

Biceps Stretches
20 Seconds
20 Seconds

Front to Back Hip Swings
BWx10/10

Side to Side Hip Swings
BWx10/10

Incline Bench Presses
45x9
95x3
145x3
185x3
185x3
185x3

Stretching

Comments: Not the best start to a deload. Or end to a training cycle. Feeling beat up. Ab thing is annoying me. I can work through it no problem, but I don’t want to make it worse if it can get worse. Might be a slight strain. Not sure what caused it but maybe doing lunges with overhead stretching to the max might have done it coupled with the heavy static ab work. But just guessing. Right hip and lower back are tight from compensating I think. I was feeling down Sunday and didn’t leave the house. Just slept, ate 4lbs of beef and watched a lot of Monster Bug Wars on Youtube. Trying to get as much sleep as I can when I can. Sleeping in an extra 30 minutes each morning before work. I was tempted to not go for a walk on Monday too but I made myself. Can’t get too soft. Deload had been adjusted considerably with how beat I felt at the end of Week 4. It was only going to be a semi-deload with how short it was but my body doesn’t like to fit into a neat little box. Which can be frustrating with plans. Some really toned down for this week. To the gym to warm-up on the bike. Heart rate up to 138bpm I think at the highest. Furthest I’ve gotten in 5 minutes too. Calf work after that. They were tight for sure. Not feeling too bad today. Knees weren’t really bothering me on the goblet box squats either. I was keeping an eye on my abs. RDLs I felt a little ache in my abs on some reps. Felt fine on my hamstrings. Rows with the band were ok. Started slow with the pushups but got better as I went. Not as nice feeling as Saturday on the shoulders. Some tightness in the abs on these. Plank was easy as per usual. Not too bad on the abs. Then biceps stretches. Felt ok. Into the hallway for the hip swings. Not bad today. Little tight in the abs on the these. After that was incline bench. Only weighted exercise for the session. Plan was 60% for three triples after warming up. Adjusting my 1rm by subtracting 20lbs to base it off a “clean” rep. Need to stop with the air humping and get the upper body to do more work on the top sets. Not bad but not great with how these felt. I usually feel like crap at this point in the training cycle anyways. Abs got tight on these. Home to stretch, recover and eat pot roast before going to bed.