Adena's Quest For Strength

[Goob]

at least pressing isn't one of the important lifts




some inspiration for next time you hit the gym, and maybe some hairstyle ideas as well

[Adena]

Thanks for that video, definitely inspiring. As for the hairstyle ideas, since my hair is even shorter than yours right now, I won't be able to do that anytime soon!

And I want to be good at everything, even overhead press!

[Goob]

Thanks for that video, definitely inspiring. As for the hairstyle ideas, since my hair is even shorter than yours right now, I won't be able to do that anytime soon!

And I want to be good at everything, even overhead press!

I'd like to be good at everything too(especially overhead) but till then, pressing is an evil, terrible thing that should have never been invented

[Adena]

It seems as though it's really, really hard for almost anyone to see progress in overhead press. At least, it's much slower to increase than the other lifts. Don't get too bummed out about it.

Well, I've been taking vacation from work which has been nice. I've been training religiously, I've just been lazy about posting my sessions here. Instead of rehashing the entire week and a half I've been neglecting it, I'll just post the highlights for now:

This week, I hit a PR in squats of 180 for three reps with good control and bar speed. The only reason I racked it was because I started to see stars on the way up on the third rep. I'm dealing with a lot of heat and humidity at the club.

Today I finally hit a PR in bench, 125 1RM! More to come, at least I hope!

On my last deadlift day I hit 245 for two reps, which I was supposed to get three times. Last month at one point I hit 250 for two reps, so I was not too thrilled. Tomorrow is deadlift day, so we'll see what I can accomplish.

Overhead press is usually pretty lackluster, I still can't get 85 up. I did manage to get 80 for two reps earlier in the month, so hopefully it's going to happen soon.

Overall, I'm pretty pleased. Bench has been the bane of my existence for two years, so I'm happy about my recent progress. If other stuff takes a back burner for now, I can live with it.

[Adena]

Oh, and I forgot to mention: yesterday I randomly projectile vomited all over the place and it surprised the heck out of me. I didn't even know it was happening until it had already happened. All day long I was wondering how it would affect my lifting the next day. Today I hit a PR in bench without a problem, so I guess it didn't affect me at all.

[Lordmuppet]

good to see progress overall. Has the OHP stalled were you saying?

[Adena]

good to see progress overall. Has the OHP stalled were you saying?

Yep, every time I take a little time off and come back to it, it takes no time to get up to 80 or 85 and then completely stalls out. It happens every time. Everything else is going pretty smoothly though, so I can't complain.

[Adena]

Deadlift Day

Foam rolling, yoga, stretching

Deadlift:

1x5x135
1x5x175
1x5x205
1x3x235
1x1x260 PR!

Deficits:

3x3x225

Rack Pulls:

3x3x235

Plate Pinches with two 10 lb plates:

3 sets to failure

[lobsteriffic]

Hey congrats on your PR! You are one strong lady!

[JP]

proper strong!

[Adena]

Awww, thanks guys! Just call me Mighty Mouse!

This week I'm deloading, so I haven't been too focused in the gym. Usually I don't really do it the way you're supposed to...Earlier this week I had a sprint session. I ran ten sprints. Each one was ten seconds with a twenty second jog interval in between. I don't have a stopwatch, so I was just guessing at the times. The point was to not completely wear myself out, or sprint to failure in other words, so it doesn't really matter too much how fast I go or how far. I felt like a charging rhino and either impressed or weirded out all the mild-mannered cyclists on the path. It was a fun day.

I skipped my overhead press day by accident. But who really cares, am I right?

Squat Day

Parallel Squats:

3x5x95
3x5x135

GHR:

3x20 with no added weight

[Adena]

Well, the rest of my deload week was pretty lazy, but this week I started up again:

Overhead Press Day

SOHP:

1x5x60
1x5x70
1x6x75
2x10x55
1x9x55
2x8x55

Dips:

3x10

Assisted Pull-Ups:

1x10 w/42 lb counterweight
1x8 w/48 lb counterweight

Squat Day

Squats:

1x5x135
1x5x155
1x5x175
5x10x135

GHR + 10 lb:

1x16
1x14
1x12

Bench Day

Bench:

1x5x90
1x5x100
1x2x115 Not sure why I couldn't go any further with this set. I definitely need a bench buddy.
3x8x95

Narrow Grip:

3x8x85

Push-Ups:

1x10
2x8

BOR:

3x10x85

Deadlift Day

Deadlift:

1x5x180
1x5x210
1x5x240 This almost seemed like three separate sets. Not quite. But it was awfully slow.

Deficits:

5x3x225 These were also painfully slow today for some reason.

Plate Pinches with two 10 lb plates:

3 sets each hand

No Farmer's Walks for now because the handles we have to use annoy the crap out of me. I feel like it takes at least ten minutes to set them up. I have been using dumbbells for a long time, but that also annoys me. I'm hoping the dude who made some of the stuff in our club will be willing to make a better set of farmer's walk handles that we can easily load up.

[Adena]

Yesterday I ran eight sprints, ten second sprint intervals, twenty second jogging intervals. Fun stuff.

[Adena]

Well. I skipped my overhead press day because I went to the hospital. I'm fine, though. I was just having annoying chest pains again and they hooked me up to an EKG and found out it was most definitely not my heart, which I figured. The problem is, when it's not your heart, they have no idea what else it could be, but at least all the other options are pretty insignificant in comparison. It's either stress or acid reflux. I'm voting for both. Since they said I was more or less ok, I went back to the gym the next day:

Squat Day

Squats:

1x5x55
1x5x105
1x3x145
1x3x165
1x3x185
5x8x145

GHR + 10 lb plate:

2x16
1x12

[Linnéa76]

Good news it wasn't a heart issue! Still, better take care of yourself and watch that stress/reflux problem!