Losing strength sucks.

“Week 1”

• 5 reps – Press (working max: 160#)
  • 2x5x45 (warmup)
  • 1x5x65
  • 1x5x80
  • 1x3x95
  • 1x5x105 (work)
  • 1x5x120
  • 1x5x140
• Asst. #1 – Press
  • 5 x 10/10/10/8/7 x 80
• Asst. #1 – Wide, pronated grip lat pulldowns
  • 5 x 10 x 120/120/120/110/110

Yeah, it sucks to be losing strength. But I’m swinging back with the diet (I’ll write more on that later) and at least not feeling as drained. Just hit prescribed reps today.

I opted to get back to doing chins.

I did 1 chin-up between each work set and all assistance pressing. 1 isn’t much, but it’s getting back to it, so start somewhere. The difference now is full range. Before I wasn’t doing a full range of motion, not starting from a dead-hang. Reason? Shoulders, but also that there’s no bar where I can fully hang from — gotta bend at the knees. Well, screw that. I grab the bar a little less than shoulder width, slowly ease myself down so I’m at full dead-hang extension, then pull up. 1 was enough… and really focus on the negative. I forgot to add this in to bench press day, but will try to get back on that too.

Pulldowns then dropped weight a bit, makes sense. I do want to ensure every rep touches my chest.

But even tho my weights are going down, I find technique going up. So hey, that’s good.