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NoFatChicks91
New member
Just checkin in on ya bro. You're still killin it and those deadlifts are fuckin beastly as always!!!
My Training Log
- Thread starter amounirl
- Start date
Thanks man, been busy with school but still getting the gym time in one way or another haha
10-28-12: 3x3 OHP
OHP
5x105
3x120
6x135
3x120
10x105
Supinated Pendlay Row
3x10x115
Incline Bench
3x10x105
Cable Rows
2x8x130
2x8x120
Bench Press
5x5x170 (3 pull ups between sets, 7 pullups afterwards)
Stuffing my face with turkey
2xF
Tricep Pressdowns
75x20 lbs
Cable Curls
75x30 lbs
External Rotations
25x10 lbs
Great training session today. OHP seems to be going up, got some good reps in. Did some chin up triples in between sets. Pendlays I was focusing on the muscle instead of the movement, got some good lat work in although my lats and traps are really sore from deadlifts yesterday. Inclines went well, could have gone heavier but I'm starting light in my cycle (1st week, 3x10, 2nd week, 2x8/1x6, 3rd week 3x5, increase by 5 every 5/3/1 cycle). Focused on movement and tucking elbows, every rep paused at the bottom, but not paused on the top to keep tension/tightness. Cable Rows I haven't done in a while but they went well, tried to focus on the muscle but still ended up doing half movement half muscle. I really liked the 25 reps total protocol I was doing before where I increased by 5 every week, so I decided after my OHP workout when I"m tired I"ll do some technique focused bench with 75% and aim for 25 reps total to get some extra practice in, without being able to go heavy enough to mess up my normal training. Felt pretty decent, I put a 2.5 lb plate underneath the bench to make it a normal bench height, which helped with the leg drive a bit, although I was focusing more on the bar path/movement and not so much on leg drive. Just felt really heavy for 170. Every rep was paused except on the last set where I went for 7 reps. Tried to pause the 7th but ended up losing my grove and shooting it into the rack before even locking out. No big deal, even though I also did 6 reps on set 2 I"m just putting 5x5, simpler. Hopefully I can get my work capacity up and start doing the 5/8/9/5 rep scheme I was doing before I have the strength for it fresh but doing it after hitting a bunch of volume work is tough. Although it was fun benching when I had such a huge pump because I felt really tight, in a good way, and my lats were so pumped that I could feel them pushing my elbows off the bottom. Tried to rep out wide grip pullups afterwards but I'd done so many pull ups and so much lat work that I was way too tired, tried to grind rep 8 but I gave up from fatigue. Headed to the dining halls afterwards and ate a ton of turkey, potatoes, stuffing, asian beef with noodles, and 2.5 glasses of milk. Then I dragged my bloated ass over to the small gym a stones throw from my dorm room and did some high rep cable arm and rotator cuff work. I"m incredibly sore all over, so I'm glad I'm not training again until Wednesday.
10-28-12: 3x3 OHP
OHP
5x105
3x120
6x135
3x120
10x105
Supinated Pendlay Row
3x10x115
Incline Bench
3x10x105
Cable Rows
2x8x130
2x8x120
Bench Press
5x5x170 (3 pull ups between sets, 7 pullups afterwards)
Stuffing my face with turkey
2xF
Tricep Pressdowns
75x20 lbs
Cable Curls
75x30 lbs
External Rotations
25x10 lbs
Great training session today. OHP seems to be going up, got some good reps in. Did some chin up triples in between sets. Pendlays I was focusing on the muscle instead of the movement, got some good lat work in although my lats and traps are really sore from deadlifts yesterday. Inclines went well, could have gone heavier but I'm starting light in my cycle (1st week, 3x10, 2nd week, 2x8/1x6, 3rd week 3x5, increase by 5 every 5/3/1 cycle). Focused on movement and tucking elbows, every rep paused at the bottom, but not paused on the top to keep tension/tightness. Cable Rows I haven't done in a while but they went well, tried to focus on the muscle but still ended up doing half movement half muscle. I really liked the 25 reps total protocol I was doing before where I increased by 5 every week, so I decided after my OHP workout when I"m tired I"ll do some technique focused bench with 75% and aim for 25 reps total to get some extra practice in, without being able to go heavy enough to mess up my normal training. Felt pretty decent, I put a 2.5 lb plate underneath the bench to make it a normal bench height, which helped with the leg drive a bit, although I was focusing more on the bar path/movement and not so much on leg drive. Just felt really heavy for 170. Every rep was paused except on the last set where I went for 7 reps. Tried to pause the 7th but ended up losing my grove and shooting it into the rack before even locking out. No big deal, even though I also did 6 reps on set 2 I"m just putting 5x5, simpler. Hopefully I can get my work capacity up and start doing the 5/8/9/5 rep scheme I was doing before I have the strength for it fresh but doing it after hitting a bunch of volume work is tough. Although it was fun benching when I had such a huge pump because I felt really tight, in a good way, and my lats were so pumped that I could feel them pushing my elbows off the bottom. Tried to rep out wide grip pullups afterwards but I'd done so many pull ups and so much lat work that I was way too tired, tried to grind rep 8 but I gave up from fatigue. Headed to the dining halls afterwards and ate a ton of turkey, potatoes, stuffing, asian beef with noodles, and 2.5 glasses of milk. Then I dragged my bloated ass over to the small gym a stones throw from my dorm room and did some high rep cable arm and rotator cuff work. I"m incredibly sore all over, so I'm glad I'm not training again until Wednesday.
Also forgot to mention that I did 3x10x20s side raises in between sets of cable rows, although that went pretty poorly, couldn't really feel my side delts, going to start doing those seated again till I build that mind muscle connection. Diet has been all right this weekend, and sleep has been terrible. Crazy halloween stuff going on so I've been going to bed really late.
10-31-12: 3x5 Squats
Squat
5x225
5x250
11x280 1 rep and 5 lb PR
GMs
3x10x135
Decline Sit Ups
10x25
6x25
2x10x10
Hill Sprints
Ortega hill x 6 "reps"
Pretty good training session today. The 11x280 set of squats killed me, but it puts my projected max at 360 which would make it worth a 15 lb gain in strength. Keeping training max at 330 though. Been eating crazy amounts of food, I still have 1-2 meals that I'm going to eat later today, and I've already had probably 5000 calories today, to make up for all the walking I've been doing. Anyways, since that set killed me I didn't do the down pyramid. The main thing is to get at least 5x65%, 5x75%, 5x85%, at the bare minimum, on a day when I feel terrible and I"m throwing up. So repping the 85% was good, I'm not stressing about not doing the down pyramid. GMs I kept constant tension instead of resting at the top, which made it a lot more challenging, even if the weight felt light and went up fast, just trying to make the most out of 135 as per advice of Jim Wendler. Might start using bands on this because of the strength curve. Did some abs after, for the first time in forever, felt decent but I have no stamina. There's this dining hall called Ortega I go to for breakfast with this decent sprinting hill next to it where I went to do some sprints after I trained. A rep constitutes sprinting up the hill then walking back down, no rest after reaching the bottom, just sprint, walk down, sprint, walk down: reps. Technique was a bit off on the squats today though, mostly because I was in a slight rush and didn't take as much time to warm up as usual. The 11 set was great though because my friend I was training with was really pissed that he slept through his midterm this morning, and I was able to feed off his anger. No downtime sitting around psyching myself up, everything was instant. The only down time I had was waiting for my gas to pass, so to speak, from all the protein and carbs I've been eating.
On that note, my meals for today were
1: 2 eggs, 4 egg whites, small bowl of oatmeal
2: huge bowl of oatmeal, 2 glasses of milk (felt like throwing up for 3 hours after this one)
3: pizza, chicken gumbo, beef burrito, glass of milk
4: (post training) 3 glasses of milk
5: plate of beans and rice and 1 or 2 glasses of milk
6: bowl of broccoli and bowl of greek yogurt with granola
upcoming 7 and maybe 8: burgers, fries, and more milk (at least 2 glasses)
Maybe not 5000 calories, but a lot of calories and protein nonetheless. Bodyweight was 201 last night, don't feel like weighing myself right now but my BW is definitely going up. Arms (high rep curls are awesome), legs (high bar squats are great) and shoulders (BTN press is amazing!) look bigger, but so does my belly. No big deal, been doing enough conditioning that when I stop eating so many damn calories, fat should come off fairly easily. Sleep has been all right but not good, some nights are great, other nights suck balls. Feel a lot better than last week though, might have to start playing around with adding some melatonin to get my sleep schedule back on track after late nights. Like tonight, I know I won't get to bed before 2:00, so I'll have to take melatonin tomorrow night so I can fall asleep at 11.
Squat
5x225
5x250
11x280 1 rep and 5 lb PR
GMs
3x10x135
Decline Sit Ups
10x25
6x25
2x10x10
Hill Sprints
Ortega hill x 6 "reps"
Pretty good training session today. The 11x280 set of squats killed me, but it puts my projected max at 360 which would make it worth a 15 lb gain in strength. Keeping training max at 330 though. Been eating crazy amounts of food, I still have 1-2 meals that I'm going to eat later today, and I've already had probably 5000 calories today, to make up for all the walking I've been doing. Anyways, since that set killed me I didn't do the down pyramid. The main thing is to get at least 5x65%, 5x75%, 5x85%, at the bare minimum, on a day when I feel terrible and I"m throwing up. So repping the 85% was good, I'm not stressing about not doing the down pyramid. GMs I kept constant tension instead of resting at the top, which made it a lot more challenging, even if the weight felt light and went up fast, just trying to make the most out of 135 as per advice of Jim Wendler. Might start using bands on this because of the strength curve. Did some abs after, for the first time in forever, felt decent but I have no stamina. There's this dining hall called Ortega I go to for breakfast with this decent sprinting hill next to it where I went to do some sprints after I trained. A rep constitutes sprinting up the hill then walking back down, no rest after reaching the bottom, just sprint, walk down, sprint, walk down: reps. Technique was a bit off on the squats today though, mostly because I was in a slight rush and didn't take as much time to warm up as usual. The 11 set was great though because my friend I was training with was really pissed that he slept through his midterm this morning, and I was able to feed off his anger. No downtime sitting around psyching myself up, everything was instant. The only down time I had was waiting for my gas to pass, so to speak, from all the protein and carbs I've been eating.
On that note, my meals for today were
1: 2 eggs, 4 egg whites, small bowl of oatmeal
2: huge bowl of oatmeal, 2 glasses of milk (felt like throwing up for 3 hours after this one)
3: pizza, chicken gumbo, beef burrito, glass of milk
4: (post training) 3 glasses of milk
5: plate of beans and rice and 1 or 2 glasses of milk
6: bowl of broccoli and bowl of greek yogurt with granola
upcoming 7 and maybe 8: burgers, fries, and more milk (at least 2 glasses)
Maybe not 5000 calories, but a lot of calories and protein nonetheless. Bodyweight was 201 last night, don't feel like weighing myself right now but my BW is definitely going up. Arms (high rep curls are awesome), legs (high bar squats are great) and shoulders (BTN press is amazing!) look bigger, but so does my belly. No big deal, been doing enough conditioning that when I stop eating so many damn calories, fat should come off fairly easily. Sleep has been all right but not good, some nights are great, other nights suck balls. Feel a lot better than last week though, might have to start playing around with adding some melatonin to get my sleep schedule back on track after late nights. Like tonight, I know I won't get to bed before 2:00, so I'll have to take melatonin tomorrow night so I can fall asleep at 11.
11-1-12: Bench/Chins
Bench
5x155 paused thumbless
5x175 paused
7x200 paused
16x165 no pauses except the last rep
Chins
2x5xBW
9xBW+20
7xBW
Behind Neck Press
2x10x75
1x12x75
Drag Rows
2x10x135 10 shrugs
1x15x135 15 shrugs
Meal
Face Pulls
50x20 lbs
50x40 lbs
Tricep Pressdowns
75x30 lbs
Cable Curls
50 or 75x42.5 lbs
Training was ok today. I was kind of bummed I only got 7 with 200, but then I realized each rep was paused, and both times I've gotten 9x200 were not paused, or maybe only the last rep was paused the second time I got it. I was truly bummed on the 165 though because I know my 15rm was once 185. At least I'm getting the volume in, and considering the bench is narrow, low to the ground, and the bar is somewhat thicker than a normal one, it's not too bad. Technique was good and bad. Leg drive and back activation sucked, but bar path was rock solid. So I guess I got some back activation since the bar path was good, I just didn't feel it, and I wasn't really pulling apart, especially on the 16x165 because after a lot of reps I just feel numb and am not focused on anything but moving the weight. Arch also sucked, weight was hardly on my traps at all, I talked it over with my training partner and we agreed we'll do a 15 min warm up of stretching before we hit the weights, each time we go to the gym, instead of stretching between warm up sets. I'll probably do some handstand bridges and foam rolling to open up the hips and shoulders. I've gotten into the bad habit of not warming up properly, since a lot of the people I've been lifting with (working in with, since the gym is usually pretty crowded) are the type that throw their work weight on the bar before even doing a warm up set, so I'm rushed to get my set in with the bar and stretch while the other guy is doing his set.
Chins went all right, although on my back down BW set I was aiming for 12 reps, but on rep 7 my right forearm cramped up and I wasn't man enough to push through it. Been a bit dehydrated lately, which could have something to do with it. Also haven't been necessarily getting my potassium in. BTN press was good, a little clicking in the left shoulder on set 1 and 2 but on set 3 I pushed my elbows forward which stopped it. Got a nice 10 lbs PR across sets, then repped out the last one to 12, maybe had 13 but not looking to hit failure on these just yet. Gonna keep adding weight till I reach a decent weight for doing 4x8, then just stick with that and add weight slowly. Did some drag rows afterwards, I think next time I"ll just do 2x15, then the next week 3x15, just making the most out of 135 where I can get a good ROM, till I can get about 25 reps across sets, before moving up. Got a nice trap pump where I had difficulty turning my neck and looking to the side, which felt pretty beastly. Got a decent quick meal of 3 glasses of milk, but I"m skipping a solid meal so I can get my appetite back, I feel like I've been full for the last 3 days straight. Gonna go eat in about an hour, still within the 3 hrs post training window. Did some face pulls, the first set was easy, did the triceps and biceps before the 2nd set. Triceps were crazy, I had trouble moving my arms past 45 degrees because they were so pumped at the end. Cable curls I don't remember how many reps I got, pretty sure it was 75 but I wouldn't think that I had enough strength to get that many reps, so it may have been 50. I'm 75% sure it was 75 reps though. Last set of face pulls killed me, my shoulders were straight up hurting and cramping for about 30-45 minutes afterwards. Tried to do some external rotations but I could barely get a good ROM because my shoulders were so cramped and sore, so I did some "constant tension" ones with a 6 inch ROM, 25 reps with 10 lbs on each arm. Good day overall.
Bench
5x155 paused thumbless
5x175 paused
7x200 paused
16x165 no pauses except the last rep
Chins
2x5xBW
9xBW+20
7xBW
Behind Neck Press
2x10x75
1x12x75
Drag Rows
2x10x135 10 shrugs
1x15x135 15 shrugs
Meal
Face Pulls
50x20 lbs
50x40 lbs
Tricep Pressdowns
75x30 lbs
Cable Curls
50 or 75x42.5 lbs
Training was ok today. I was kind of bummed I only got 7 with 200, but then I realized each rep was paused, and both times I've gotten 9x200 were not paused, or maybe only the last rep was paused the second time I got it. I was truly bummed on the 165 though because I know my 15rm was once 185. At least I'm getting the volume in, and considering the bench is narrow, low to the ground, and the bar is somewhat thicker than a normal one, it's not too bad. Technique was good and bad. Leg drive and back activation sucked, but bar path was rock solid. So I guess I got some back activation since the bar path was good, I just didn't feel it, and I wasn't really pulling apart, especially on the 16x165 because after a lot of reps I just feel numb and am not focused on anything but moving the weight. Arch also sucked, weight was hardly on my traps at all, I talked it over with my training partner and we agreed we'll do a 15 min warm up of stretching before we hit the weights, each time we go to the gym, instead of stretching between warm up sets. I'll probably do some handstand bridges and foam rolling to open up the hips and shoulders. I've gotten into the bad habit of not warming up properly, since a lot of the people I've been lifting with (working in with, since the gym is usually pretty crowded) are the type that throw their work weight on the bar before even doing a warm up set, so I'm rushed to get my set in with the bar and stretch while the other guy is doing his set.
Chins went all right, although on my back down BW set I was aiming for 12 reps, but on rep 7 my right forearm cramped up and I wasn't man enough to push through it. Been a bit dehydrated lately, which could have something to do with it. Also haven't been necessarily getting my potassium in. BTN press was good, a little clicking in the left shoulder on set 1 and 2 but on set 3 I pushed my elbows forward which stopped it. Got a nice 10 lbs PR across sets, then repped out the last one to 12, maybe had 13 but not looking to hit failure on these just yet. Gonna keep adding weight till I reach a decent weight for doing 4x8, then just stick with that and add weight slowly. Did some drag rows afterwards, I think next time I"ll just do 2x15, then the next week 3x15, just making the most out of 135 where I can get a good ROM, till I can get about 25 reps across sets, before moving up. Got a nice trap pump where I had difficulty turning my neck and looking to the side, which felt pretty beastly. Got a decent quick meal of 3 glasses of milk, but I"m skipping a solid meal so I can get my appetite back, I feel like I've been full for the last 3 days straight. Gonna go eat in about an hour, still within the 3 hrs post training window. Did some face pulls, the first set was easy, did the triceps and biceps before the 2nd set. Triceps were crazy, I had trouble moving my arms past 45 degrees because they were so pumped at the end. Cable curls I don't remember how many reps I got, pretty sure it was 75 but I wouldn't think that I had enough strength to get that many reps, so it may have been 50. I'm 75% sure it was 75 reps though. Last set of face pulls killed me, my shoulders were straight up hurting and cramping for about 30-45 minutes afterwards. Tried to do some external rotations but I could barely get a good ROM because my shoulders were so cramped and sore, so I did some "constant tension" ones with a 6 inch ROM, 25 reps with 10 lbs on each arm. Good day overall.
11-3-12: Deadlifts
Deadlift
4x4x375
2x425
2x475: Deadlift 475x2 - YouTube
10x375 (easy)
Ortega Hill Sprints
7 sprint reps
Ortega hill: Ortega Hill - YouTube
Pretty good session today. 375 felt really easy, 425 felt really hard, 475 first rep felt easy but then my abs cramped, messing up my form on rep 2, which made it feel hard. I think it could have been an easy double if my abs didn't cramp, and probably even a triple if I wanted to push for it. Don't want to tap into recovery too much because sleep has sucked (got 3 hours last night) and potentially will suck for the next few days, so I didn't push the high rep set of 375 at the end, just winged it, 10 very easy reps, probably could have gotten 12-14. Just took a video of Ortega Hill, doesn't do it justice at all, I"m not saying it's a super brutal hill but the video makes it look like nothing. It's a medium-small size hill, about 100-150 ft in length and 50-75 ft in height, but it still gives me a good workout. Cardio is definitely improving, although I'm looking fatter and fatter in the mirror. I think a lot of it is bloat, and the fact I did weighted abs the other day, because my abs still feel really hard even when my belly is huge, not very much fat over it, just a huge belly and big abs, and a small ribcage which makes it look bigger. I"m definitely gaining fat though, and I"m upping conditioning to try to combat that, but I'll have to do a solid cut when I get the chance, probably Jamie Lewis's "Apex Predator Diet".
On a relevant note, since I only got 3 hours of sleep I had 1/3 of a black widow energy pill before lifting, which would be something like 13mg caffiene, and 3mg epehdra extract and 3mg yohimbine, along with some other stuff like naringen. Gave me a slight boost so I was functioning just a very slight bit better than I would be if I'd gotten a good sleep last night, but I think it may have contributed to the really fast speed of my first rep of 475. And if you didn't catch the video, enjoy it here, I'm very proud of this PR:
Deadlift 475x2 - YouTube
Looking forward to 485x2 next week!
Deadlift
4x4x375
2x425
2x475: Deadlift 475x2 - YouTube
10x375 (easy)
Ortega Hill Sprints
7 sprint reps
Ortega hill: Ortega Hill - YouTube
Pretty good session today. 375 felt really easy, 425 felt really hard, 475 first rep felt easy but then my abs cramped, messing up my form on rep 2, which made it feel hard. I think it could have been an easy double if my abs didn't cramp, and probably even a triple if I wanted to push for it. Don't want to tap into recovery too much because sleep has sucked (got 3 hours last night) and potentially will suck for the next few days, so I didn't push the high rep set of 375 at the end, just winged it, 10 very easy reps, probably could have gotten 12-14. Just took a video of Ortega Hill, doesn't do it justice at all, I"m not saying it's a super brutal hill but the video makes it look like nothing. It's a medium-small size hill, about 100-150 ft in length and 50-75 ft in height, but it still gives me a good workout. Cardio is definitely improving, although I'm looking fatter and fatter in the mirror. I think a lot of it is bloat, and the fact I did weighted abs the other day, because my abs still feel really hard even when my belly is huge, not very much fat over it, just a huge belly and big abs, and a small ribcage which makes it look bigger. I"m definitely gaining fat though, and I"m upping conditioning to try to combat that, but I'll have to do a solid cut when I get the chance, probably Jamie Lewis's "Apex Predator Diet".
On a relevant note, since I only got 3 hours of sleep I had 1/3 of a black widow energy pill before lifting, which would be something like 13mg caffiene, and 3mg epehdra extract and 3mg yohimbine, along with some other stuff like naringen. Gave me a slight boost so I was functioning just a very slight bit better than I would be if I'd gotten a good sleep last night, but I think it may have contributed to the really fast speed of my first rep of 475. And if you didn't catch the video, enjoy it here, I'm very proud of this PR:
Deadlift 475x2 - YouTube
Looking forward to 485x2 next week!
11-4-12: OHP
OHP
5x100
5x120
7x130
12x105 2 rep PR
Pendlay Rows
2x8x135
6x155
12x135 rep PR
Incline Bench
10x115
2x8x135
5x155 1 rep PR
5x145
6x145
Ok day today. On OHP I'm experimenting with a narrower grip because even though the ROM is larger it doesn't feel too much weaker, I feel a lot more muscular activation but not much of a drop off in strength, so I think it has potential to be stronger than the wider grip. Plus I got 2 more reps on my drop down 70% set, probably mostly due to working volume more often now, but possibly because of this technique being superior leverages, and me getting more used to it. Pendlays felt good, very strong, didn't go too heavy but I'm sure 12x135 is a PR, just don't know by how much. I know I was stronger at some point in the past because I've gotten 155 for 10 before. I"m confident 5/3/1 will get me back up there though, and beyond. Incline bench was good and bad. I was only expecting to be able to do my 8 rep sets with 115 but it was so easy, so I bumped it up to 135 and had 2 decent sets. First one I didn't do pauses, but the second I did. Just feeling it out. I got cocky and tried 155 for my 6 rep set, pretty sure I was pausing them, but on rep 6 my ass came 1-2 feet off the bench to get it up, so I'm just counting it as 5. Still a PR though over my previous best, 155x4, but I"m not too excited about it since my max bench at the time was like 225 or 235 unpaused, so my incline bench would obviously be stronger now than then. Maybe next week I can do 3x5x155 though.
Then I dropped it down to 145, and here's where today got sh*tty. I probably could have gotten 6 reps the first time but I got a spot from my friend who's a bodybuilder. I've become pretty good friends with him since I met him when I came here about 6 weeks ago, really funny guy, and I've worked out with him a few times before and gotten good spots, but I've never actually debriefed him in how I like to get spotted. Every time he's spotted me I've been using light weights, so I didn't even struggle at all and he didn't even think he needed to help. But today since I was actually incline benching weights I would have to grind up, and since I assumed he knew how I wanted my spot, bad things happened. On rep 5 with 145 it was going up really slowly so he put his hands on it, even though I could still get it up. I guess he was expecting me to do some forced reps and negatives and the type of Dorian Yates inspired stuff he usually does, and I usually spot him on. I held it at the top for like 15 seconds trying to explain to him how I don't want him to touch the bar at all, and if I need help I'll say "grab it!", but holding it tired me out, so on rep 6 I wasn't going to make it, and I said grab it, but he did the bodybuilder forced reps shit where he barely helps and makes me grind it up. Good for bodybuilding where you only hit a muscle group on one day per week, and want to hit the muscle to maximum failure, where you're just trying to stimulate and break it down, bad for powerlifting where you work with heavy weights, low reps, several sets across, and train the same muscle groups multiple times per week, and try to progress strength on movements. Not bashing bodybuilders, but training like that is not good for my goals because it just saps the recovery and sabotages progressive overload when you go to failure and all that kind of shit. So I got really pissed off and yelled at him for a bit. Rested about 10 minutes since I knew going to failure would screw me over on the next set, and then got really jacked up for the next set and blew up 145 for 6 reps paused. Not his fault but still kind of messed up my session. Hopefully I can make it up by getting 3x5x155, then doing my other stuff next week.
I was really tired at this point from going to failure twice so I scrapped the t bar rows and light 5x5 technique reinforcer bench I was supposed to do. I'm just going to do a small session tomorrow where I do some treadmill sprints, push ups, face pulls, tricep extensions, and curls, then I'll have until wednesday to rest my legs and until thursday to rest my upper body.
OHP
5x100
5x120
7x130
12x105 2 rep PR
Pendlay Rows
2x8x135
6x155
12x135 rep PR
Incline Bench
10x115
2x8x135
5x155 1 rep PR
5x145
6x145
Ok day today. On OHP I'm experimenting with a narrower grip because even though the ROM is larger it doesn't feel too much weaker, I feel a lot more muscular activation but not much of a drop off in strength, so I think it has potential to be stronger than the wider grip. Plus I got 2 more reps on my drop down 70% set, probably mostly due to working volume more often now, but possibly because of this technique being superior leverages, and me getting more used to it. Pendlays felt good, very strong, didn't go too heavy but I'm sure 12x135 is a PR, just don't know by how much. I know I was stronger at some point in the past because I've gotten 155 for 10 before. I"m confident 5/3/1 will get me back up there though, and beyond. Incline bench was good and bad. I was only expecting to be able to do my 8 rep sets with 115 but it was so easy, so I bumped it up to 135 and had 2 decent sets. First one I didn't do pauses, but the second I did. Just feeling it out. I got cocky and tried 155 for my 6 rep set, pretty sure I was pausing them, but on rep 6 my ass came 1-2 feet off the bench to get it up, so I'm just counting it as 5. Still a PR though over my previous best, 155x4, but I"m not too excited about it since my max bench at the time was like 225 or 235 unpaused, so my incline bench would obviously be stronger now than then. Maybe next week I can do 3x5x155 though.
Then I dropped it down to 145, and here's where today got sh*tty. I probably could have gotten 6 reps the first time but I got a spot from my friend who's a bodybuilder. I've become pretty good friends with him since I met him when I came here about 6 weeks ago, really funny guy, and I've worked out with him a few times before and gotten good spots, but I've never actually debriefed him in how I like to get spotted. Every time he's spotted me I've been using light weights, so I didn't even struggle at all and he didn't even think he needed to help. But today since I was actually incline benching weights I would have to grind up, and since I assumed he knew how I wanted my spot, bad things happened. On rep 5 with 145 it was going up really slowly so he put his hands on it, even though I could still get it up. I guess he was expecting me to do some forced reps and negatives and the type of Dorian Yates inspired stuff he usually does, and I usually spot him on. I held it at the top for like 15 seconds trying to explain to him how I don't want him to touch the bar at all, and if I need help I'll say "grab it!", but holding it tired me out, so on rep 6 I wasn't going to make it, and I said grab it, but he did the bodybuilder forced reps shit where he barely helps and makes me grind it up. Good for bodybuilding where you only hit a muscle group on one day per week, and want to hit the muscle to maximum failure, where you're just trying to stimulate and break it down, bad for powerlifting where you work with heavy weights, low reps, several sets across, and train the same muscle groups multiple times per week, and try to progress strength on movements. Not bashing bodybuilders, but training like that is not good for my goals because it just saps the recovery and sabotages progressive overload when you go to failure and all that kind of shit. So I got really pissed off and yelled at him for a bit. Rested about 10 minutes since I knew going to failure would screw me over on the next set, and then got really jacked up for the next set and blew up 145 for 6 reps paused. Not his fault but still kind of messed up my session. Hopefully I can make it up by getting 3x5x155, then doing my other stuff next week.
I was really tired at this point from going to failure twice so I scrapped the t bar rows and light 5x5 technique reinforcer bench I was supposed to do. I'm just going to do a small session tomorrow where I do some treadmill sprints, push ups, face pulls, tricep extensions, and curls, then I'll have until wednesday to rest my legs and until thursday to rest my upper body.
Small session was pretty good yesterday. Did 20 push ups supersetted by 20 incline push ups, tricep pressdowns with 30 lbs for 100 reps supersetted by 10 wide grip push ups. Curled 30 for 100 reps, but the last 25 were sloppy, so after reaching 100 in 1 go, I kept holding the bar and rested with it in the bottom position, until I could muscle out 25 clean reps. The whole curl set went 75 clean, 25 sloppy, 10 sec rest, 15 clean, 10 sec rest, 10 clean. Then I tried to do some face pulls with a band from a high cable position but it was bothering my shoulder, I put it lower, around belly level, and did 75 reps with 30 lbs. Afterwards my shoulders and back were incredibly pumped, I actually looked like I had wide shoulders in the mirror. Definitely need to start hitting low face pulls heavy in the gym, and keep hitting them light in small sessions, for that shoulder development and bench press improvement. Didn't get a chance to do any sprints.
11-7-12: 5/3/1 Squat
Squat
5x250
3x280
7x315 (15 lb all time PR! 2 rep PR)
16x250 (3 reps off my best ever, might have had 1 more, and definitely 3-4 more if I'd been fresh)
Leg Curls
2x15xhalf assed
Food
Chicken, mushroom, bread, 2 slices buffalo wing pizza, 2 glasses milk
Hill Sprints
5 repsx Ortega hill (ran down each rep instead of walking down)
Food
3.5 glasses milk
Great day today, decided to beef up the otherwise short session on paper by adding both meals consumed "mid" and post workout. Squats tired me wayy out so I had no energy to do anything afterwards besides some half assed leg curls. Squats went really well though, and I'm really happy with them, bumping my training max up 15 lbs from 330 to 345 for next cycle, not too crazy of a jump but a big enough jump so I don't end up hitting 320 for 10 reps next month or something like that, because I don't like being able to hit "95%" for more than 5 reps. Sure it's good to start low but this is less than 90% of my true max I"m using for my training max right now. I love high bar squatting.
Interesting (or not so interesting, interesting to me at least) story from today: There's only 2 people I've seen and 1 person I've heard of who can outsquat me at my gym, though there are a lot of people there who bench more than me, look bigger/better, and squat big weights. 1 is this big ex football player who just toys around with 315 for sets of 10 with really reckless form, hitting depth regardless. The other is this huge guy I met the other day at the dining hall who played high school rugby but has only been powerlifting for only 1 year but has the biggest traps and forearms I've ever seen in real life, excluding the giant 6'3 255 lbs 6% bodyfat roided up guy who I used to see at 24 hour fitness. So the biggest natural forearms and traps I've ever seen. Anyways he squats 425 allegedly to depth for a max, along with a 300 bench and 500 deadlift. These guys are big. But today I saw this small, average looking guy squatting 315 for 8 easy reps, then 365 for 2 easy reps, wearing running shoes and a cheap half plastic half leather belt. If I saw him on the street I wouldn't even think he lifted. But he was squatting big weights with a close stance to depth in running shoes. He had big legs but they didn't look muscular, and his upper body wasn't big at all. I went up and talked to him afterwards and asked him about his training, he's only been lifting for 1 year and is just running Madcow 5x5, but he's already incredibly strong. Completely average looking. I was baffled. He told me he ran a few of the Sheiko programs and usually squats in chucks, but since he only brought running shoes today he was just messing around. Turns out he's 395/260/465. Anyways completely irrelevant and unimportant but I was just really impressed that someone who doesn't look like he lifts is stronger than me. Just gives me more to work for.
Squat
5x250
3x280
7x315 (15 lb all time PR! 2 rep PR)
16x250 (3 reps off my best ever, might have had 1 more, and definitely 3-4 more if I'd been fresh)
Leg Curls
2x15xhalf assed
Food
Chicken, mushroom, bread, 2 slices buffalo wing pizza, 2 glasses milk
Hill Sprints
5 repsx Ortega hill (ran down each rep instead of walking down)
Food
3.5 glasses milk
Great day today, decided to beef up the otherwise short session on paper by adding both meals consumed "mid" and post workout. Squats tired me wayy out so I had no energy to do anything afterwards besides some half assed leg curls. Squats went really well though, and I'm really happy with them, bumping my training max up 15 lbs from 330 to 345 for next cycle, not too crazy of a jump but a big enough jump so I don't end up hitting 320 for 10 reps next month or something like that, because I don't like being able to hit "95%" for more than 5 reps. Sure it's good to start low but this is less than 90% of my true max I"m using for my training max right now. I love high bar squatting.
Interesting (or not so interesting, interesting to me at least) story from today: There's only 2 people I've seen and 1 person I've heard of who can outsquat me at my gym, though there are a lot of people there who bench more than me, look bigger/better, and squat big weights. 1 is this big ex football player who just toys around with 315 for sets of 10 with really reckless form, hitting depth regardless. The other is this huge guy I met the other day at the dining hall who played high school rugby but has only been powerlifting for only 1 year but has the biggest traps and forearms I've ever seen in real life, excluding the giant 6'3 255 lbs 6% bodyfat roided up guy who I used to see at 24 hour fitness. So the biggest natural forearms and traps I've ever seen. Anyways he squats 425 allegedly to depth for a max, along with a 300 bench and 500 deadlift. These guys are big. But today I saw this small, average looking guy squatting 315 for 8 easy reps, then 365 for 2 easy reps, wearing running shoes and a cheap half plastic half leather belt. If I saw him on the street I wouldn't even think he lifted. But he was squatting big weights with a close stance to depth in running shoes. He had big legs but they didn't look muscular, and his upper body wasn't big at all. I went up and talked to him afterwards and asked him about his training, he's only been lifting for 1 year and is just running Madcow 5x5, but he's already incredibly strong. Completely average looking. I was baffled. He told me he ran a few of the Sheiko programs and usually squats in chucks, but since he only brought running shoes today he was just messing around. Turns out he's 395/260/465. Anyways completely irrelevant and unimportant but I was just really impressed that someone who doesn't look like he lifts is stronger than me. Just gives me more to work for.
11-8-12: 5/3/1 Bench and Chin Ups
(Paused) Bench
5x175
3x200
5x225
1x235
Chins
5xBW
3x20
7x45
3x60
BTN Press
8x95
Drag Rows
2x15x135, 15 shrugs on set 1, 20 shrugs on set 2.
Postworkout shake and walk back to dorm
3 glasses of milk
Low Pulley Face Pulls
100 reps x 30 lbs
Tricep Pushdowns
100 reps x 30 lbs
Reverse Curl
100 reps x 30 lbs
Incline Push ups
1x50
Great day today, bench went really well, I don't think I've ever hit 225 for 5 reps paused, I've only hit or surpassed it 5 times, 3 times I hit 5x225, along with passing it (245x5 and 230x8), but none of these were paused. So this is essentially a paused PR. Technique felt good and bad, I was using a lot of chest somehow, even though my shoulders stayed pinched, and my upper back was activated. Normally I feel bench way more in the shoulders, triceps and traps than chest, maybe my shoulders, triceps and traps are just getting stronger. Or maybe it's because I hit my chest directly for the first time in a while a few days ago when I did all those push ups, and it's still recovering. Either way despite odd muscle activation patterns, groove was good, leg drive was all right, though my ass came like 1 cm off the bench, mostly because of hip tightness, my lower body is incredibly sore from yesterday. Easily fixed by just doing mobility work, which I need to start doing more of, been slacking on my yoga stuff. I should just do that every morning, it'll get my appetite up too. Only thing is I have class at 9 AM on MWF and I usually get out of bed at 8:55 since my 9 AM class is a 2 min walk from my room.
Chins were great, pretty sure I hit 45 for 7 but my memory is a bit hazy. I just remember being happy I got a PR, and knowing I wanted to beat my previous PR of 6 reps, so I"m assuming based on those 2 facts I hit 7, though I don't explicitly remember that set or hitting 7. I do remember hitting 60 for 3 though, the purpose of doing that and the 235 bench was to see how my training maxes felt. The 235 bench felt heavy but I know I could go heavier, and the 60 for 3, well it felt tripleable, so not too incredibly heavy. My band I use for holding the weight felt like it was going to snap though, so I'll probably just use a dip belt from now on, they have one there for public use.
BTN press irritated my left shoulder a lot no matter what I did to try to fix my technique, I figure my shoulder girdle just isn't built to support more than 75 lbs on that, so I"m going to scrap it for weighted dips and incline DB bench, which are both also stressful on my shoulders, but not nearly as much. I'll do it based on feel, but eventually I'll find where I like putting it. Probably weighted dips since that's more strength work than incline DB bench, which is more bodybuilding work, and I like strength work better. 3x10, 2x8/1x6, 3x5 rep scheme on that. Drag rows were good.
Small session after postworkout shake (3 glasses of milk) went well also, felt really tired but I still managed to hit some good numbers, got a 25 rep PR on both face pulls and tricep pressdowns, and tried reverse curls for the first time for high reps, absolutely terribly painful in the forearms and biceps, way worse than normal curls. Did some push ups just to get that chest pump, was happy to be able to hit 50, the last 10 reps were grinders. Great day overall.
(Paused) Bench
5x175
3x200
5x225
1x235
Chins
5xBW
3x20
7x45
3x60
BTN Press
8x95
Drag Rows
2x15x135, 15 shrugs on set 1, 20 shrugs on set 2.
Postworkout shake and walk back to dorm
3 glasses of milk
Low Pulley Face Pulls
100 reps x 30 lbs
Tricep Pushdowns
100 reps x 30 lbs
Reverse Curl
100 reps x 30 lbs
Incline Push ups
1x50
Great day today, bench went really well, I don't think I've ever hit 225 for 5 reps paused, I've only hit or surpassed it 5 times, 3 times I hit 5x225, along with passing it (245x5 and 230x8), but none of these were paused. So this is essentially a paused PR. Technique felt good and bad, I was using a lot of chest somehow, even though my shoulders stayed pinched, and my upper back was activated. Normally I feel bench way more in the shoulders, triceps and traps than chest, maybe my shoulders, triceps and traps are just getting stronger. Or maybe it's because I hit my chest directly for the first time in a while a few days ago when I did all those push ups, and it's still recovering. Either way despite odd muscle activation patterns, groove was good, leg drive was all right, though my ass came like 1 cm off the bench, mostly because of hip tightness, my lower body is incredibly sore from yesterday. Easily fixed by just doing mobility work, which I need to start doing more of, been slacking on my yoga stuff. I should just do that every morning, it'll get my appetite up too. Only thing is I have class at 9 AM on MWF and I usually get out of bed at 8:55 since my 9 AM class is a 2 min walk from my room.
Chins were great, pretty sure I hit 45 for 7 but my memory is a bit hazy. I just remember being happy I got a PR, and knowing I wanted to beat my previous PR of 6 reps, so I"m assuming based on those 2 facts I hit 7, though I don't explicitly remember that set or hitting 7. I do remember hitting 60 for 3 though, the purpose of doing that and the 235 bench was to see how my training maxes felt. The 235 bench felt heavy but I know I could go heavier, and the 60 for 3, well it felt tripleable, so not too incredibly heavy. My band I use for holding the weight felt like it was going to snap though, so I'll probably just use a dip belt from now on, they have one there for public use.
BTN press irritated my left shoulder a lot no matter what I did to try to fix my technique, I figure my shoulder girdle just isn't built to support more than 75 lbs on that, so I"m going to scrap it for weighted dips and incline DB bench, which are both also stressful on my shoulders, but not nearly as much. I'll do it based on feel, but eventually I'll find where I like putting it. Probably weighted dips since that's more strength work than incline DB bench, which is more bodybuilding work, and I like strength work better. 3x10, 2x8/1x6, 3x5 rep scheme on that. Drag rows were good.
Small session after postworkout shake (3 glasses of milk) went well also, felt really tired but I still managed to hit some good numbers, got a 25 rep PR on both face pulls and tricep pressdowns, and tried reverse curls for the first time for high reps, absolutely terribly painful in the forearms and biceps, way worse than normal curls. Did some push ups just to get that chest pump, was happy to be able to hit 50, the last 10 reps were grinders. Great day overall.
