As always thank you to my co-brands Inzer Advance Designs and Jax Nutrition. 

I’m happy to announce that I’m now carrying the Vertical diet 3.0 in the shop, as of this week. I really like this approach to dieting. It’s not a fad diet, but someone you create which is sustainable and enjoyable. As Stan says, “compliance is the science.” For those who would like to read more about the vertical diet, please see this article from earlier this year: Five Changes for 2019 and I’ve done a decent job at adhering to this.

As I mentioned in my last post, I have taken some time to get healed up and cross a few things off my TDL which was rapidly building up. I guess you could also say that 2019 has been a to-do list. Right now, the training goals are overall health, building a good team/gym and getting PRS the way I want it so that when it’s time to push again, I’ll be be all set-up and G2G. Anyway, I’ll be building back up over the next few weeks.

But, I got back to training last Saturday, so there’s that. I am also in Orlando this weekend as I write this for my teammate Steve’s first full meet. I feel that he is fully prepared and ready to go. So I had to move a couple things around with training, but I got it all in.

Saturday’s highlights: (7.20.19)

• Day 1 Squat/DL –  moved deadlift to after squat for the 10/20/Life combo split. 
• Took it easy on both
• Worked on form, mainly and knocking the rust off

Saturday’s squat/DL session:

Normal 10/20/Life Warm-up

• Suitcase carry
• McGill big 3
• Cervical/Thoracic Mobility 
• Lock pull-down 
• Shoulder big 3
• Goblet squat

Training:

• Squat: 325x1x5 with Duffalo bar
• Deadlift: 405x1x5 from 4″ blocks
• Pause belt squat: 3×5
• Stir the pot: 50

Pretty solid session. I felt as if I’m about ready to go back to the straight bar. Squats felt OK, not bad, but deads actually felt very good! I was happy that they felt fast and snappy. I have a very long way to go, but I will be ticking up the volume and intensity slowly over the summer.

Monday’s highlights: (7.22.19)

• Day 2 bench: Straight weight, very light
• Close grip bench will be my assistance over the next few weeks
• Nothing much else

Monday’s pull session:

• Normal Warm-up
• Suitcase carry
• McGill big 3
• Shoulder big 3
• Goblet squat

Training:

• Bench top set was 275 for some doubles, felt good
• Close grip: 3×5 225
• Incline DB press: 3×10
• One-arm DB row: 3×10
• Rope press-downs: 3×10
• Hammer curl SS Tate presses: 3×10

Bench felt pretty good after a few weeks off. I have a long way to go but this is just another starting point. Shoulder doesn’t hurt, so I should be able to ramp up over the next few months, patiently.

Wed Squat/DL assistance work highlights: (7.24.19)

• Now doing assistance work for the squat and DL now on Wed, to allow for more recovery between squat and DL sessions.

Wed’s session:

• Normal Warm-up
• Suitcase carry
• McGill big 3
• Shoulder big 3
• Goblet squat

Training:

• Lat-pull-down: 3×10
• McGill pull-up: 6 singles
• Piston squat on belt squat
• One leg GM: 3×10
• Bulgarians: 3×10
• One-arm DB row: 3×10
• Stir the pot: 50

I’m going to like this split a little bit more moving the squat/DL together. It’s going to take som egetting used to but I feel it will be much better in the long-run.

Lastly: I have been slacking on my diet and I’m pretty heavy. A lot heavier than I should be but I’ve been enjoying myself which is important. I have to work very hard to stay under 270 and without certain ingredients in my system, it’s extra hard. I don’t feel good at this BW, but I’ll get it back down soon enough.