I competed in NPC Junior Nationals on June 12-13. I came in with a much bigger and leaner package than years past. Since July we have slowly transitioned from a bodybuilding split to more of a powerlifting/strength focus, while still hitting lots of volume to build mass. Scott Paltos has been doing my programming since March. We've added quite a bit of muscle and are continuing to work some technical things with my raw lifts.
I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas. Mine was relatively low key and yes, my thoughts on this Christmas are coming soon.
Thank goodness for RPE's. Cuz today was one of those days. Being sick, several days of undereating, and a lingering cold made the iron feel especially heavy today. Didn't get crushed and not far off, just not as awesome as it has been. BUT.... that's why we work off RPE's and not percents or what I "should be" pressing. Won't lie, it's still a mind f@ck, but I got in an extra meal today, so the food is coming back.
I also went to the gym at a time I normally don't go.... 2pm on the Saturday after Christmas brings out a ton of young, "tryna-be-big" dudes. Maybe they were all getting swole before hitting the town that night.
Also went up to Barbell Central in Aurora, IL this morning. It didn't work out for me to train there, but I did get some ART and soft tissue work done by Jason Colley at Performance and Recovery Systems.
So..... left hip/hamstring have been bothering me. My suspicions were correct in that my right glute/hamstring are not firing as well and the right low back is taking over. Right hip is also hiked up as you can imagine because those spinal erectors are over worked. Because the right side off, my left side is working extra hard... so it's literally been taking a beating. Glute med, rotaters, TFL, QL, and lateral hamstrings.
Squatting tomorrow so we'll see how it feels. Need to keep up with it for sure, if I can make it work.
Barbell Central is also the home of ME as their logo girl 🙂 Pretty bad ass if I do say so myself!
Saturday- Bench and shoulders
A. Bench press comp grip 6x6 rpe7 (@155)
B1. DB alternating piston bench 4x10ea (@40, 45, 50, 50)
B2. Standing DB hammer curls 4x8 cheating heavy
C1. DB seated shoulder press 4x8
C2. Standing Laterals 4x12
C3. Seated cleans 4x10
D. Machine shoulder press 3x20
E. Cable laterals 3x15
F. Bench dips 3xswole