When Will I Learn

5 minute walk
1K row

3 sets
10x20 lateral raise

3 sets
10x35 front raise

3 sets

10x40 military press


After the last bench workout I did I felt some pain in my shoulder so I shut it down completely for 2 weeks.  Today was the first time I've done anything shoulder related since.  It felt pretty good although not that strong.  I'm going to see if I can ease my way back to the bench.  I plan to do one or two shoulder days like this per week.

My back has been giving me some issues lately, I'm wondering if it is my ubersoft bed that is the culprit.  I might try to sleep on the floor tonight to find out.

I was listening to the radio today and heard an interview with a kid (24 years old) who sold his own internet startup when he was 19 years old for millions.  Wow.

Narrow Grip for the Win

8 minute walk
1K row

Front Squat
135x10
155x6
175x5
185x5
205x5
225x5
245x3

I finally figured out how to front squat without my fingers feeling like they are about to snap.  All I had to do was narrow my grip on the bar a few inches.  This makes front squatting so much easier.  When I did front squats for the first time was at a crossfit gym.  They had us find our 3 rep max which for me was 235.  Today I was able to do 245 at the end of a workout 3 reps.  That felt great.  I'm pretty sure right now I could get a 3 rep max of 265-275.  I'm going to keep working this 5x5 routine for a month and then max out bench, front squat, and pull ups.

I wonder if there is something that the government subsidizes or otherwise "helps" with that is universally considered successful.  I feel like if the government got out of "helping" to subsidize college education nobody would be able to afford most colleges and thus the prices of college educations would go down.  I feel the same way about healthcare.  I try not to think about stuff like this too much since I honestly don't understand the details, however from a common sense cursory point of view these programs don't appear to be really helping anybody other than the ones taking all the tax dollars.

Strength First

8 minute walk
1K row

Bench
135x10
135x10

185x5
205x5
215x5
225x5
235x5

Dips
3 sets of 12

After a long Thanksgiving week vacation it was time to get back into the gym.  I am going to getting more disciplined about my workouts with a set goal of strength in mind.  The best program I ever did was 5 sets of 5 reps.  This is what I did when I was working out at home and was finishing sets at 275.  I am going to stop doing every workout to exhaustion.  Sort of the bend but do not break philosophy.  I should probably do a max out day to get a benchmark of where I am starting from.