I hit my most impressive lift yesterday: Deadlift 8x370lb. I've been breaking PR's in pull-ups (1x135lb, 12x20lb). I recently squat 6x225lb and 4x235lb. Last month I decline bench pressed 5x225lb. I military pressed 135lb. Hack squats have rocketed to 180lb and will hit 225lb. Calf raises hit 8x200lbx3. I rowed 8x200lb.
I've been bench pressing low weights this year so far as I relearn technique. I've started back into push-ups, currently at 150 reps. My ab work has been more serious this year. I started using a torso rotation machine. I'm decline weighted crunching 8x25lbx3 with ease. Dragon Flags are a staple again. I started curling again (hammer and zottman). I found two useful lower body machines (lying leg curls and glute kickbacks). I realized there's not really any way to get a nice hamstring contraction without doing leg curls. I feel the glute kickbacks are good for flexibility, and it reminds me of the way I used to do decline push-ups on 1-leg with a vertical body. I noticed I have far more range than the average person in them.
I excluded dips in the middle of January. I found them to be too dangerous on the shoulders. Cutting them out allows me to focus more on pull-ups and chin-ups. I also found I didn't like having my triceps used so much in dips. My triceps are fatigued by the time I do dips, and so I don't feel I need them, even though they're known as a great exercise. I think I'd prefer a different parallel bar width than I can find currently. I need them to be wider.
My legs are sore more often than my upper body. They're less developed so it makes sense. I had a calf injury last week from just contracting it while sleeping. I was limping the next few days. This could have been from dehydration and overtraining. For a long time, I was doing lightweight calf raises to really ensure and build-in my form as I found myself cheating with heavy weight earlier on, and not holding the contraction. So now I'm doing heavy weight calf raises, and my cardio running has picked up. I think all of these factors resulted in too much stress in my calves. But I feel that like any weak muscle, you must harden it, and so I plan to resume and ramp up my calf training again. I had also been skipping out on calf stretching,.
My hamstrings are very welcomingly sore, my quads are becoming more defined, and my adductors are hardening. My calf definition has gone up, especially while my leg is bent. My back is more defined. The line down the center is more emphasied with the spine erectors more full. I've found my traps to be one of my more utilized muscles. On any type of pull exercise, before any rep, I find myself tensing and packing my traps, which thickens my neck as well. My body doesn't want to pull anything with loose traps. Tightness in all exercises is key. My hips feel more solid and my lower back feels very impregnable.
At this point in my bodybuildling career, I know myself to be at an intermediate level lifter with a clear goal and the potential to be advanced. Once I get there, I'll make my road for the elite. My advice from my experience thus far is to: know technique, choose lifts you enjoy, know anatomy, have heart, constantly battle the impossible, arrive places beyond that of which you imagined, and lastly intelligently plan your routine and recovery so that no muscle is overtaxed or underutilized.
