My Training Log

[amounirl]

ME Lower

Squats:
1x5xbar
1x5x135
1x3x185
1x3x225
1x1x275
1x1x315
1x1x345
2x0x365

Conventional Deadlifts
5x225
Added Belt
10x275 (10 lb and 3 rep PR, previous record being 7x265 for high rep deadlifts)

Weighted Abs (Weight behind the head)
5x25
5x35

Hyperextensions (Weight hugged to chest)
5x35
15x45

Leg Extension Machine
Warm up set of 10 (forgot the weight)
Work set of 10 or 12

Leg Curl Machine (no GHR at 24)
Warm up set of 5
Work set of 10 or 12

Done. The workout doesn't look hard on paper but it is one of the hardest workouts I've ever done in my life. Was kind of bummed not to hit a PR on squats, I was really close on 365 the first time, but the second time it was a complete failure. Maybe I should have tried in a belt. The deadlifts are what kicked my ass.

Before I worked out today I watched the first half of the 2004 World's Strongest Man (and the Mariusz Pudzianowski squatting video on youtube). I want to compete in strongman when I'm older, and I found out that you can't do sumo deadlifts in strongman, probably because a lot of the deadlifts are either on a rig or are just the lockout. Since I have long thighs and a short torso, I have trouble keeping my back straight on conventional deads, so I switched to sumo a while ago, but I need to learn how to do conventional properly before I can compete in strongman. So I watched what some of the long legged guys did for their deadlift, and they set up their feet shoulder width instead of hip width. Well I tried that today, and the combination of high reps and not doing heavy conventional deads in a while completely kicked my ass. I was completely red and sweating and breathing super hard for the rest of the workout, just from that 1 set. I was really stoked that I managed to keep my back straight for the whole thing. Then I did some isolation crap to finish up.

What's funny is Mariusz squats 600 or 700 (raw) in his squat video and deadlifted 600 or 700 lbs worth of car for 10 reps in those videos. He's more than twice as strong as me. Either way, great workout today, sorry for the long post, I had to share the story xD. Dynamic bench tomorrow!

 

[amounirl]

11-20-11: DE Upper

Speed Bench
10xbar
1x3x95
1x3x115
3x3x125 Wide Grip
3x3x125 Close Grip
1x3x125 Medium Grip
3x3x135 Medium Grip
1x3x145 Medium Grip
1x5x95 Medium Grip

Dumbbell Bench Press
20x55s
12x65s PR!!!

Chest supported Rows
2x10x65s PR!
1x12x65s PR!!!

Tricep Cable Pulldown
12x150
10x150

24 Hour Fitness's Lat Pulldown-esque Machine
10x35 on each side
12x60 on each side

Rear Delt Flyes
2x10x30s PR!!!

Done! Today was a pretty good workout, nothing too hard but I still got a really good pump and got pretty sore. On speed bench I did an extra set to work on some problems I'm having, mainly foot placement, and the fact that my wrists always tilt back (bad habit due to the fact that the first year I benched I used the smith machine >=/. Also I didn't bring my bands to 24 so I had to use straight weight, I went a little heavier than usual because of that. The only thing I don't like about straight weight is that at the top, since the bar is moving so fast, it pulls up my shoulders and screws up my arch. Everything else went pretty well, the tricep cable pull down machine is kind of weird in that you can do way more weight on it than other machines of the same kind, I guess the leverages work differently or something. Also, the rope attachment is kind of crappy so I did rear delt flyes instead of face pulls. I'll go back to those once I start working out at school again (I'm on winter break but I usually work out in my weight training class).

 

[moya]

keep killin it bro...

 

[amounirl]

12-22-11: DE Lower

Speed Squats
8x2x205

Speed Deadlifts
10x2x225 alternating sumo and conventional

Leg Press
3x12x365

Weighted Abs
2x5x45

Hyperextensions
3x10x45

Hanging Leg Raise
3x10

 

[joeblow12345]

Were is the ghr? I am firm believer in this exercise it hits your entire posterior chain I do it minimum twice a week. Sometimes Ill do additional light sets as warmups on separate days. Invest in your posterior chain if you want a big return on squats and deads.

Sent from my DROID BIONIC using EliteFitness

 

[amounirl]

Friday 12-23-11: 5/3/1/ME Upper

Bench Press
5xbar
5x95
3x125
3x155
3x185
5x210
3x2x210 Paused at the chest competition style

Olympic Style Jerk (a la Clean and Jerk)
8xbar
5x95
3x115
3x135
5x155

JM Press (barbell)
5x8x75

Pendlay Rows
5x8x135

Facepulls
5x8x90

Today I worked out with a competitive powerlifter, who has advised me to run 5/3/1. Since today was my ME bench day and I'm going to be starting 5/3/1 next week, I did my first 5/3/1 bench workout in place of the ME upper day I had scheduled for today. We also did a few sets competition style just to practice the pause. He had me do a slightly different form than I usually do, with heels on the floor and holding my breath to preserve my arch, and holding my breath was definitely painful, I was seeing stars! We did olympic style jerks afterwards since both of us are interested in competing in strongman in the future, and the ability to press very big weights overhead would give us an edge over the competition. After that we did some assistance work.

Today was definitely the longest workout I've ever done, about 2.5 hours. Although he said if he didn't have to help me with form it would have been more like 1 hour 45 mins, which is still pretty long. I always thought that a workout shouldn't go over an hour, but apparently that's muscle magazine BS. Come to think of it, this summer all my workouts were 1.5 to 2 hours and I made the best gains of my life. Either way, good workout today, starting 5/3/1 next week!

 

[amounirl]

Were is the ghr? I am firm believer in this exercise it hits your entire posterior chain I do it minimum twice a week. Sometimes Ill do additional light sets as warmups on separate days. Invest in your posterior chain if you want a big return on squats and deads.

Sent from my DROID BIONIC using EliteFitness

Thank you for the feedback! Unfortunately there isn't a GHR at that 24 hour fitness location but I'm switching to another one that might have it, and I usually work out at school where I can improvise the lat pull down into a GHR. I definitely agree that GHR is a great assistance exercise for squat and deadlift.

 

[joeblow12345]

If you dont have a ghr do heavy good mornings.

Sent from my DROID BIONIC using EliteFitness

 

[amounirl]

If you dont have a ghr do heavy good mornings.

Sent from my DROID BIONIC using EliteFitness

Thanks man I will.

 

[amounirl]

Monday 12-26-11: 5/3/1 Deadlift

Conventional Deadlift
3x135
3x185
3x225
3x280
3x340 Switched to mixed grip (from hook grip)
3(+2)=5x365 30 lb PR!!!

Squat Walkouts
1x135
1x225
1x315
1x385 20 lb PR!!!
2x405 40 lb PR!!!

Hip Thrusts
1x8x135
3x8x225

Close Parallel Grip Medium Cable Row
5x8x150

Great workout today! I was super stoked not only to have hit a huge deadlift PR, but to have hit it conventional. We did some stretches before hand that allowed me to get into proper position, since my trainer was saying conventional would suit my build better, and even though stretching does compromise strength it helped a lot with my form. So it looks like my inability to get into form for deadlifts is an issue more of flexibility than lower back strength. I'll be stretching about twice daily (that's the goal!) so that I won't have to stretch right before lifting in the future. But yeah, that's a massive PR for me, I only needed to do 365 for 3 based on my 405 max, but conventional worked so much better than sumo that I ended up hitting 5. Last time I did conventional deads was a few months ago and I got 335 for 5, with a horribly rounded back, so I have a good feeling about this.

Then we did assistance work, I was hoping to do glute ham raises or good mornings, but there's no GHR in the gym and... I'll probably do good mornings instead of hip thrusts next time. I could see hip thrusts being good for lockout on deadlifts but I don't really have problems on lockout, yet, and good mornings would probably benefit me more in the long run. Most people would probably switch out the squat walkouts for the good mornings instead, but I'll just have to play around with things, since I do like the psychological advantage one could get from walkouts.

On another note I got the stomach flu friday night and felt like crap all day Saturday, and though I was basically better on Sunday my stomach is still super sensitive right now. Needless to say I barely ate these last few days which has dropped me back down to about 184. I'm super deflated right now, my shoulders look tiny and none of my muscles buldge, which is kind of demoralizing. But I still got a PR on deadlifts which was surprising since I'd have expected to be really weak today, so that was good, maybe I'll be way stronger next week. Anyways, going to try to get back on track with the diet. I was 183 a few weeks ago and I'll probably gain a lot of my weight back, so it's not too bad of a backtrack.