Martin roy training log

**Martin Roy** · 27th January 15, 01:26 PM

Monday was an unplanned off day; they happen and you roll on. Today is a planned off day because I will be shot clock guy for the girls at Aptos High later this afternoon.

Tomorrow will be either squats or overhead press.

**Martin Roy** · 29th January 15, 05:18 PM

Yesterday was a good session. Surprisingly enough, I had my choice of either squats or overhead press; both stations were unoccupied. My first instinct was to squat, but after warm ups I realized that it just was not squat night; everything felt good but I wanted to do overhead. After a couple sets of 5 at 225, I switched it out. However, the squats were enough to be a good tune-up.

It's been close to two weeks since I last did overhead work with the bar; last week I had to use dbs. Good, but not the same. Started with a couple sets of 5 at 75 to get loose; two sets of 5 at 95; two sets of 5 at 105; set of 3 at 110. I was feeling really good at this point and decided to push the upper limit; I haven't done that with overhead for quite awhile. Loaded up 115 and hit a solid double; a single at 120; another single at 125 that was slow, but steady. Very pleased with this last lift; it shows me that I'm closing in on my goal of 135. Finished it with a fast set of 5 at 105.

Closed out the session with 4 sets of 10 seated bench row to get in some scapular action.

Good session.

**Martin Roy** · 30th January 15, 10:52 AM

Late start yesterday so I was a bit cramped for time. However, I wanted to get some focused work in on my upper back. Started with three sets of 15 on traps with 270. Continued with the pec deck, 3 sets of ten forward and 3 sets reverse. Finished with pull-ups. Two sets of 5 at each level with decreasing offset - 140, 130, 120. Out of curiosity I then lowered the offset weight to 110 and did 3 reps smoothly. So, I figured it was time to check myself with a 100 offset, which has been my target since I began doing pull-ups post-surgery as part of the rehab process. Did it for 2 reps, I did not have a third in me. Nonetheless, I did it and can now start building up the reps. Not bad. Maybe one day I will be able to do a real, honest-to-God, full body weight pull-up. When that day comes I will thumb my nose at the elementary school PE teacher who gave me grief for my pathetic attempts at pull-ups during the JFK Presidential Fitness Test. Anybody else remember that test?

(Oh man, I think I have issues.)

**Alan H** · 30th January 15, 12:30 PM

Yes, I remember those things. **eyeroll**

**Martin Roy** · 31st January 15, 09:44 AM

Last night was something different. I was tired from an intense week so I was not expecting to go real heavy. But I needed to do enough to relax, de-stress, and clear my mind. Started with rack pulls - nice and easy sets of 5 at 135, 185, and 225 to get loosened up. This sequence also prompted the general tension release and muscle relaxation that I needed. Who needs drugs when you've got iron to cure your ailments? Feeling brand new at this point I jumped to 275 for two sets of 5. It seemed extra heavy. Went up to 295 for a smooth single but I shut it down there. This was clearly not a night to push too hard and risk injury. Moved on to the bike and did 15 minutes of high rpms with moderately high resistance. Broke a good sweat and went home happy. Off to bed early and slept like a baby.

**Martin Roy** · 3rd February 15, 10:58 AM

Saturday and Sunday were off days for real life stuff.

Monday night=Bench night. Started with a single set of about a million reps on traps to loosen up the shoulders and back. Moved over to the bench and did the usual 3 sets of 5 with 135 to start off. It felt heavy for some reason. Continued with 3 sets of 3 with 165 and decided it was going to be a rep night. Moved back to 135 for 5 sets of 5. Felt the good fatigue after that.

Moved to incline press with dbs-2 sets of 10 each with 35 and 40; 2 sets of 5 each with 45 and 50; supersetted hammer curls.

Pec deck-3 forward sets of 10 with 145 on the stack; 3 reverse sets of 10 with 115.

A final single set of many, many reps on traps to finish.

Good session.

**Martin Roy** · 4th February 15, 01:06 PM

Not. Happy.

Yesterday evening I was still somewhat fatigued from the upper body session on Monday so I decided to be smart and go light. I knew that Wednesday, today, would be an off day because I would be on shot clock duty. In effect, I wanted to set up a good squat session for Thursday. Thus, I did very easy, low rep, low weight warm up stuff - seated bench row, two sets of 10 squats with only 135 to get the blood flowing, and a single set of good mornings with just the bar to stretch the hamstrings. Bike, elliptical, yada yada yada. An easy routine. Nothing special.

So this morning I wake up and my lower back is feeling off, like I've got a slight strain and I cannot for the life of me figure out what I did to provoke that. !!!!!! It's one thing to go heavy and feel it the next day, but it Just Ain't Right to go easy and have an adverse reaction like this.

The Queen is only a week and a half away. I do not need this right now.

**Stitchwiz** · 4th February 15, 08:47 PM

Hey Marty,

Perhaps a 'good' massage may help get things flowing and ease the strain - someone who's a pro. You may have some 'fluids' in your tissues that need to be worked out. I had a Chiropractor who started out as a physic-therapist who was unbelievably good at helping me. He knew how to massage my muscles to get rid of toxins, etc. It was a DEEP massage that sometimes hurt when he first started, but it soon felt soooo good. I was a new person when he was done. An amazing man. (Unfortunately he retired

)

Good luck with your back.

**Alan H** · 5th February 15, 12:25 PM

Hot tub. ... if you possibly can.

**Martin Roy** · 6th February 15, 10:53 AM

Thanks, guys, both suggestions are excellent. I actually have a gift certificate for a massage and I will use it if things don't change in the next couple of days. And, I have a hot tub at home, so guess where I was last night...

"Rehab" started at the gym - easy treadmill, elliptical, bike, foam rolling, lots of stretching, and more treadmill walking because it seems to help. Went home to the hot tub and turned on the water cannon jet - a single, large bore jet that when turned on, turns off all the other jets and concentrates all the force into one cannon-like jet. It's my favorite when I'm working on a specific area. Afterwards I felt better and this morning I think it's better than yesterday. I expect I'll be back to normal in 2-3 more days. Messes up my planned training heading into the Queen, but sometimes you have to improvise.