My Training Log

[amounirl]

12-2-12: OHP and Deadlifts

OHP
10x105
3x125
6x140
2x3x145
11x115

Deadlift
4x4x385
2x435
2x485
10x385

Incline Bench
10x135
9x135
7x135

Face Pulls
100x50 lbs

Tricep Pressdowns
50x50 lbs

Cable Curls
50x50 lbs

Cable Lat Pullovers
50x30 lbs

Decent lifting day today. A bit hungover from yesterday so I took some caffiene/ephedrine (Black Widow pills) before lifting, but didn't feel it too much. I think I"m finally building up a tolerance so I can actually start taking full pills instead of the 1/3 pills. I'll try 2/3 next time, but hopefully the next time I need it won't be too soon. OHP was ok, still pretty strong but not nearly as strong as last time. Bar thickness really makes a difference. But I"m still stronger than I was a month ago so there's that. Deadlifts were all right, 485 went up really slowly both times, then afterwards the guy came and told me I have to let the bar down slow (I don't drop it but once it clears my knees I let it down pretty fast), and that I can't use chalk. So I waited till he was out of my line of sight, chalked up, and did my next set with 385, but I was controlling the negatives pretty slowly so I wouldn't get kicked out, which definitely made a difference. I was dying on the last 2 reps. But I felt good afterwards. Good to get a lot of blood flowing through the posterior chain. Since it's been 3 weeks since I've done deadlifts for reps, the sets of 4 I was fatiguing by the last rep or two, but hopefully this will shoot my work capacity back up to where it needs to be for next time, as I've seen happen before. Also this is my first time deadlifting in wrestling shoes instead of chucks so that was definitely interesting, felt like I could get tighter, but the lockout still was slow, if anything more slow. But that could be many other factors. Inclines went terribly, felt very weak, and my left shoulder got f*cked on the last set. Not too bad but definitely not good. It isn't hurting now because I did all the face pulls, but it's definitely not a good things. Gotta make sure I keep good technique and don't sacrifice for weight on inclines. Small session afterwards (all the high rep stuff) went really well.

Diet's been a bit off because it's the weekend. Only ate 2 meals today because I woke up really late with no appetite. Forced down 6.5 eggs and 1.5 egg whites this morning (the yolks of the eggs I only ate the whites of were really nasty so I threw them out). Then had a protein shake when I came back from the gym since the line to the dining commons was incredibly long and I couldn't just wait 10 mins in like so I could take 1 minute to drink milk there. Then I just had a big dinner, and smuggled back some rice and beans I"ll probably eat around 11 tonight before I go to sleep. Either way I don't even want to weigh myself right now because it's probably really light. At least most of my strength is still there. That's what matters. Gotta start doing cardio again though, even if it's just jump roping in the little gym. It's been raining all week so I can't do hill sprints.

Either way, had a lot of rage going into today's session, so it was good to be able to let go of that temporarily, step back, and just care about lifting the weights up. That's one thing that's great about lifting, when you're in the weight room, the matter of lifting the weights up is so pressing and so urgent that all your other problems go away, and all you care about is getting the weight up, not letting it break you. It's a great stress reliever. Good, stress relieving day today.

 

[amounirl]

12-5-12: Squats

Squat
5x225 loose belt
5x260 loose belt
12x295 tight belt
1x345 beltless

Good Mornings
3x10x155

Pulldown abs
BS numbers (10x100 lbs I think)

Good workout today. Paused the last rep of 295 and the 345. My squat technique felt fine today, but I felt it a lot in my calves for some reason, if it persists next time even if I really focus hard on putting the weight all on my heels I"ll start doing calf work to increase my squat. Plus I've never worked my calves so that should be fun. But yeah I felt it a lot in my glutes, calves, and back. I still felt it in the quads and hams, not to mention every part of my body, but my back generally felt not so good today. GMs felt all wrong, even though my technique was perfectly fine, no back rounding or anything, also because my back isn't feeling good today. Hopefully it's nothing serious. Pulldown abs I just wanted to rework up a sweat at the gym in my dorm before taking a shower, so I hit a few light sets then 1 set that felt pretty heavy on my grip (I used a really sharp chain attachment) with 100 lbs for about 10 reps. Nothing serious but it's done. Sparred my roommate a bit then took a shower, then posted this, and now I"m going to eat.

 

[amounirl]

12-6-12: Bench/Chins

Pause Bench
5x165
5x185
5x210
1x245
6x210
23x135 not paused close grip
4x3x135 dynamic (45 sec rest periods)obviously no pause
1x7x135 (45 sec after my last dynamic set, attempted JM blakely dynamic style-but blew it)
1x7x135 (a long time after the previous set, JM blakely dynamic style-2 ultra slow paused reps, 2 normal reps, 3 dynamic)

Chins
5xBW
8x30 10 lb PR
9xBW

DB Bench
15x55s
3x8x75s

Upright Rows
10x95
2x15x95
2x10xbar (very strict)

All right day today. Bench technique felt very off on all my heavy sets except 245 for some reason. 245 went up incredibly easily for a paused single, because my technique was spot on, but 210 felt really awkward both times. Wanted 8 reps on the first one but my shoulder was clicking, then wanted 8 reps again but my back cramped, not to mention technique felt really awkward. Maybe I gotta spend more time warming up, my spotter who does his own bodybuilding workout at the gym (so like a step below being a training partner) had his leg day today, so he took like an hour psyching himself up before we could leave. Should have just left without him. But yeah I was kinda rushed which could have something to do with it. In the future I"ll just take my time warming up. So I dropped it down to 135 and took a really close grip (my normal grip is pretty close but I went as narrow as possible for this one) and squeezed out what I believe is either a PR or matching my PR. The last 3 reps had pauses too, I was aiming for 20 but wanted to milk out some more. Technique felt great, which could be a contributing factor to how strong I felt. Might have had 25 reps in me but I don't like training to failure. I rested 45 sec then did some dynamic stuff with a normal grip to work on reinforcing my technique. Did a bunch of sets but they didn't feel 100% as fast as they could, more like 90%. So I tried a JM blakely style set, but was too fatigued. Rested a long time then tried again, with success. I guess my 90% speed is as fast as I can do 135. Either way the DE training served it's purpose of technique reinforcement, my technique felt great on those. I think my main problem is my liftoff, the benches/racks at this gym suck so the liftoff is always the hardest part for me, and I always do my own liftoffs. Maybe I'll find a way to incorporate heavy liftoffs in my training. Probably on OHP day. Chins were decent, forearms were too pumped to get more than 9 reps on my drop down set, had to fight the tightness from the pump on the way up and it was like having extra resistance. DB bench was all right, the only bench open was a piece of shit so I had to deal with that. But other than that it was all right. Upright rows were ok but I was really tired at this point so it was w/e. Gotta build my shoulders and traps. Gonna get a small session in in about 2.5 hrs. Got some chem work to do. Will be doing cardio then, may or may not log it tonight.

 

[amounirl]

No deads today because I have a Chem Lab final around my usual gym time. And also my back feels funky. I won't be doing GMs for a while, just leg extensions and leg curls from now on till my back feels 100%. I'll do deads tomorrow.

 

[Buildingup24]

Backs looking good in Avi bro

 

[amounirl]

Thanks man! I wish I could find a way to upload all my progress pics, had some good ones.

12-9-12: OHP and Deads

OHP
5x95
5x115
7x130

Deads
4x4x395
2x445
2x495
8x405

Pretty disappointing day today. OHP was incredibly weak, shoulders were still really sore from earlier this week. Deads, though I got a lot of PRs, were disappointing because my technique was pure shit, even on the light sets. Even if my top set has shit technique, like the first week I did 2x465, my 4x4s are always good. Today's 4x4 was also shitty. I wasn't feeling right today at all, everything felt off. I'm going to run 5/3/1 for deads for a while and just get my technique back, work on my mobility, all that kind of crap. But here are the videos from today. Kinda lame stuff. My friend who was slapping my back on the first set, while it did distract me a bit, isn't the reason why my technique sucked today. I have no idea what it is. Thankfully I somehow didn't injure myself, but I need to fix this, more than I need to keep adding weight. I"ll continue to squat heavier and heavier but deadlifts, strenght is going on the backburner now, technique is the premium. Videos:

495: Deadlift 495x2 - YouTube You can hear me getting mad at my friend a bit, lol.

405: Deadlift 405x8 - YouTube Terrible technique. Incredibly disappointed. Grip failed here too, almost slipped on rep 8, and rep 9 was undoable.

I feel like even if I don't go as heavy on deads, fixing my technique and doing some hip thrusts after will in the long run add more strength. I got plenty of power off the ground but my lockout is what's lacking, so hip thrusts may be just what I need.

 

[amounirl]

Ran a 10 minute mile today on the treadmill in my dorm. Pretty bad but it's baby steps. I'm gonna start doing 10 minute miles fairly often till it's literally no challenge to me. It might be the reason why my strength sucked today, that I did cardio a few days ago, but it makes me feel so much better physically and mentally about life when I run and lift instead of just lifting. Also had a decent small session where I did 2x25x2.5 rear delt and side delt raises. Rear delt raises I did with a supinated grip to make things harder, and side raises I did with my lats flared which made it much much harder. I did 3 sets of 30 incline push ups with a narrower grip, which actually helped me feel it better in my upper chest. Also did some upright rows and some other insignificant stuff. My calves are really sore from running, my shoulders and back are really sore from lifting, but I feel really good and relaxed.

 

[Jennybig]

Great job!

 

[amounirl]

Thanks Jenny!

 

[amounirl]

12-12-12: Squat And Bench

Squat
5x260
3x295
5x330
3x345
1x365

Pause Bench
5x185
3x205
1x235
1x245

Strict Supinated Lat Pulldowns (for isolating upper lats)
3x10x100

Strict Side Raises
3x10x15s

Wide Grip T Bar Rows
3x10x45

Good and bad workout today. Squats were great, strong sets across the board. Matched my old low bar PR pretty easily today, maybe had a double, or 375/385. But didn't want to go too hard. Bench was absolutely terrible. Technique felt shitty in every way (except thankfully, at least my shoulders weren't clicking), I even used wrist wraps because my right wrist has been hurting since my Environmental Science final (lots of writing), but it was terrible. Failed the 2nd rep of 235, and barely got 245 for a paused single. Did some upper lat stuff because that's lagging, then side raises because side delts are lagging, then wide grip t bar rows for traps/rear delts. Got a good pump from all that, though most of the blood was still being hogged up by my legs. Which could be a contributing reason for why my bench sucked. The huge guy from my squat video said maybe I ran out of carbs from all the squatting, but I don't know. Either way bench was bad and I'm disappointed in myself for it. Oh yeah and here's the squat video:

Squat 365x1 - YouTube

The big dude spotting me is a monster. He's only been lifting for a year and he squats 425 with wraps (Idk his raw squat though-he tore his acl a while ago so he only goes heavy with wraps), 300 or 315 touch n go bench, and 525 deadlift. And from knowing him long enough I know he's natural. Crazy strong. Anyways I'm most likely going to do cardio in about an hour after I digest this meal, then go eat again.