Post: #26

Better update this thread as it's been some time.

Shortly after this last post here I seriously hurt my back I suspect doing dead lifts with poor form. For the first 48 hours I could hardly move with out serve pain. Fast forward another 6-8 weeks and a couple of tires to see if it was all ok I ended up pretty much back at the beginning using the 5x5 app. Keen not to repeat the same problem as before I started to video all of my lifts.

The results were quite surprising. For example on Squats I wasn't even breaking parallel. I've used this time to improve form and have been a stickler. Any question of bad form I won't count the rep.

I got some fractional plates and rather than moving up 5lb at a time on OHP I am now going up 2.2lb at a time.

Also had a two week holiday back in July which meant I deloaded by 20%. Grateful that I did as my legs were really sore.

Onto the good news. I am now seeing muscle definition and I have started hitting new highs. I can do 3x6 pull ups unaided and controlled. Last set of reps were:

SQ 5x5 @ 195
Bench 5x5 @ 115
Row 5x5 @ 125
DL 1x5 @ 225
OHP 5x5 @ 65

I could do a lot more with OHP and it has taken ages to move up at 2.5 on week 1 and 5 on week 2. But I figure this will stand me in good stead in next few months as the weight starts to get harder.

Big change that has also occurred since my last post in Feb is that around April time I started TRT having got several blood tests showing very low T and E levels. I am still in the process of tweaking my protocols so not fully dialed in but the difference it has made to my lifting is night and day.