Our Physical Fitness

[Evaniel]

RDL, 200 x 8. (Note, get damn wraps!)

I'm telling ya: they're such a quality-of-life bump! I use wrist wraps on RDLs to keep my grip from being a limiting factor, and a compression wrap on my knee for presses.

Hit a Push day yesterday, and I felt a bit better afterward. For bench, I'm going back to a "strength" set of 4-6 reps and a "hypertrophy" set of 8-10. Because I've been doing Smith presses, I wasn't sure how I'd handle a regular barbell. Thankfully, one of the few advantages of working out at a college gym is that there are always spotters!

So, after warming up, I guessed at 245 for my strength set. I hit it for 6! The last rep was rough, but overall, it felt lighter than I anticipated. I'm still down from last year when I messed my shoulder up (265 for 6, 270 for 4), but it feels...doable.

The rest of the workout was fine. 55 lb dumbbells for chest flys. I kinda hate dumbbells for this movement: 5 lbs. increments is too much for predictable progressive overload for this old man. However, the upstairs gym with all the machines and cables is rather popular with the students, which means having to wait on things like cable flys and side lateral raises. So I hit those as well: 35 lbs. for 2 sets of 10. Honestly, it was probably too much weight for good form, but 30 lbs. feels too light. I really like the machine my gym has, but again: upstairs. I think it'll be a summer and break treat.

Finished off with some cable tricep pressdowns. Tonight is Pull, opening with weighted pull-ups. I generally tend to use these and bench press as a gauge of my overall strength, so we'll see how that goes.

 

[Evaniel]

Pull
Wednesday, March 18, 2026 at 5:35 PM

Pull Up
Set 1: +45 lb × 8
Set 2: +45 lb × 7

Low row
Set 1: 130 lb × 10
Set 2: 130 lb × 12

Incline Curl (Dumbbell)
Set 1: 40 lb × 10
Set 2: 40 lb × 11

Face Pull (Cable)
Set 1: 80 lb × 10
Set 2: 80 lb x 12

Lost a pull-up on the second set, but everything element up.

 

[Scribe]

Arms/Shoulders. Decent, but too busy. Also I weighed in this morning at 173.6 meaning I've not really put on anything or lost anything, and am just kind of hanging out it seems. I'm ok with this, as my lats are growing for sure, shoulders are getting stronger, biceps are getting bigger...so tiny improvement must be happening?

Curls - Up 10lbs, but only hit 5, I dont have the plates to go up by 5 so...
Face Pulls - Went heavier by 15, was fine.
Dips - Back to 110.
Pullups - Free weight, going to add a 25 on a belt next time.
80 degree incline press for shoulders, felt good. 10 x 110, 6 x 160 I think it was, I need to remember my book.
Hammer Pulldown, focus on bicep squeeze at the bottom, 180 x 10.
Preacher - Machine - 125 x 10. They got a new machine, I dont like it as much lol
Preacher - 35s x 10, 35's x 8. The 40s were in use.
Delt Cable Thing - Up to 30 now. Very nice, will stay there for the next week I think.
Tri Extension, 65 x 10 on a cable. 2 Handed.
Reverse Pec, 110 x 10, this kind of felt bad on the neck, no pain no gain?

I think thats about it.

Today is a 'carb up' day, so dinner is chicken and pasta, instead of chicken and broccoli, tomorrow day off, doing Reno work on the bathroom.

Finally, my cardo is not happening, probably need to add it once renos slow down, but I kind of (really badly) want to be out of my place by end of April.

 

[Mannahnin]

Sunday 3/8:

• Lat Pulldown (narrow): 120x21, 120x14 +105x5, 120x12 +105x4 (from last time: +1 rep, same, -1 drop set rep). Ok.
• Triceps press machine: 130x30, 130x20 +120x7, 130x20 +120x6. (+3 reps, +2 & +2 drop set reps, +1 drop set rep) Felt better than last time, for sure.
• Leg extensions 110x18, 110x14, 100x12 +100x3. (+10lbs, +10lbs -1 rep, +10lbs -2 reps and added a little drop set). Work was good but got a little nausea. That means it's officially hard leg work, right?

Wednesday 3/11:

• Smith inclined barbell bench 102.5x14, 102.5x11, 102.5x9 +97.5x3, 97.5x8 +95x4 (+1 rep, -2 reps, same, -2 reps & +1 drop set rep on the last). Getting stuck a bit here.
• Machine biceps curls 70x20, 70x18, 70x18 (same, same, same) Form feels pretty good. Maybe push a little harder.
• Seated dumbbell lateral raises 20x12 +17.5x6, 20x13 +17.5x2 & 4 partials, 20x9 & 3 partials +17.5x4 & 2 partials. Bringing this old standard back. Strength at it felt pretty close to where I left it a few months ago, but I had a shocking amount of trapezius soreness the following two days. Enough that between that and a couple of other factors I decided not to go back Thursday or Friday.

The weekend was too nuts and exhausting to get in, and that continues today. Realistically I should be able to get back at it this coming Wednesday the 18th.

Trying to also get a little more sleep. My sleep hygiene has been degrading just a tad recently.

Wednesday 3/18: Had to get over a motivation hump, but made it in.

• Smith inclined barbell bench 102.5x14, 102.5x12, 102.5x9 +97.5x3, 97.5x10 +95x4 (same, +1 rep, same, +2 reps). Trying to focus a little more on keeping the chest high, seem to be grinding out a tiny improvement.
• Machine biceps curls 72.5x21, 72.5x19, 72.5x19 (+1 rep, +1 rep, +1 rep) I thought I hadn't progressed at all last time, but I looked at my notes again and I think last time I actually advanced this by 2.5lbs, so that's something. Onward.
• Triceps press machine: 130x28, 130x22 +120x6, 130x20 +120x5. (-2 reps, +2 reps & -1 drop set rep, -1 drop set rep) Slight regression, but I had this on lat pulldown day before (benches were all full so I pivoted from the seated lateral raises today), and I think I've got more overlap on triceps with the bench press. Went to genuine can't-finish-the-rep failure here but kept my form strict. No shoulder pain.

Sleep wasn't great Tuesday night but a bit better last night. Will go back either tonight or tomorrow.