Books and Fitness: Final Three Weeks of August

Analysis at bottom

This month was a bit of a shitshow, to be honest. My gym flooded in the second week of the month, so I wasn’t able to go there. So that week I deloaded. I went to a different gym only twice, and when I did go I did light weights. The week after that the gym was closed for the first half. That week I went to the gym three times total, once to the distant gym and two times at my close gym.

Because of my two week deload, I chose to reduce my training max so I can get back in the groove of things. I was feeling weak at the gym, so this feels appropriate.

Here’s the stats for this week.

Monday

• Bench day
  • New max 203lbs

Tuesday

• Squat Day
  • New max 231lbs

Wednesday

• Started listening to the audiobook of ‘Full Fathom Five‘ while working out. I’ve read it before and reviewed it before, but didn’t really like it the first time. Now that I’m listening to the proper audiobook, it seems a LOT better. Like, seriously, this might be my favorite in the series setting-wise.
• Deadlift day
  • New Max 299lbs

Thursday

• Listened to ‘Full Fathom Five’ while going on a 30 mile bike ride. Is still quite good. I really love the Craft Sequence.
• OHP day
  • New max 138lbs

Friday

• 4/5’s finished with ‘FFF.’ It does have some problems. It had a slow start, and the author only hinted at the existence of a main antagonist up until now. It needed to make the main antagonist more evident from the start, as opposed to not having a real source of conflict in the novel. If ‘Smiling Jack’ was more of a threat, the book’s plot would have held together more. This book lacked tension for a good bit.
• Bench press volume day

Saturday

• Squat volume day. No new maxes

 

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Analysis

Here are my theoretical 1RMs from three weeks ago:

• Bench: 214lbs (97kg)
• Squats: 242lbs (110kg)
• Deads: 307lbs (139kg)
• Overheads: 155lbs (70kg)

Here are this week’s 1RMs:

• Bench: 203lbs (117kg)
• Squats: 231lbs (105kg)
• Deads: 299lbs (136kg)
• Overheads: 138lbs (63kg)

Setbacks suck, but happen. I wasn’t able to reliably go to the gym for two weeks through no fault of my own, so I lost strength. I reduced my training maxes deliberately to not strain myself. Next week I plan on showing some grit and pushing myself further to regain some of what I lost while I wasn’t able to work out six days a week.

Here are my theoretical all-time max 1RM from last year:

• Bench Press: 260 lbs (118kg)
• Squat: 316lbs (143kg)
• Deadlift: 366lbs (165 kg)
• Overhead Press: 171lbs (78kg)

I have a while to go before I get back my lost gains.