With my home gym now partially completed (I wanted to be sure the stands would support a Bench Press before I ponied up the cash for a bench), I began lifting actual weights again yesterday for the first time since March. I figured I’d start light and see where I stood in terms of strength, fully expecting a major drop-off after 6 months of using rubber bands and body weight.
Lift #1 was Good Mornings, and other than my shoulders, elbows and upper back being shocked by the Low Bar position, I completed 4 sets of 9 with 135 lbs that all felt like warm-up sets. I then did Barbell Shrugs with 135 lbs as well, and I really should have added weight after the first set as it felt so light as to be pointless. My last Snatch Grip Shrugs in the gym was 245-lbs for sets of 12,11 and 11.
So today, I decided I’d not lighten up quite as much. My 8RM for the Overhead Press was 100 lbs, but at the last minute I loaded 85-lbs on the bar. I did 3 sets of 8 without issue other than a little struggle with my balance at the top of the movement. I then switched to Barbell Rows, which I’ve never liked and rarely did at the gym, preferring Chest Support Rows or Machine Rows. I kept the 85-lbs on the bar and it was like moving an empty bar for 4 sets of 12.
I’m surprised and pleased to see my relative strength, for reps at least, hasn’t dropped into into a ten-thousand foot crevasse, right at the base of a glacier (props to Carl Spackler in Caddyshack for that line). The real test will be tomorrow when I attempt Front Squats. Quads has been been the hardest muscle group to train since the pandemic forced me out of the gym, so if my strength has been adversely impacted, it will likely show its ugly head when I get under the bar tomorrow. I am as optimistic as my natural pessimistic tendency allows.
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