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My Training Log

Hell yeah bro I didn't realize you had a meet coming up.

I haven't been keeping up with my log either, but i'm fixing that tomorrow.

Your openers look pretty conservative based on the numbers I read in your log which is a good thing. If your anything like me you'll go into your openers, lift the weight, and then think to yourself "damn, did they forget a couple of plates when loading the bar"

Good luck man, I'm rooting for that five hundo deadlift.
 
Thanks man, it's a self organized meet I'm doing for my 18th birthday so it's nothing too serious, but I'd like to get some good practice for a real meet, hopefully I'll be competing in the USAPL this winter
 
Ah, I see, so it going to be mainly you and some kids from your high school doing this. Cause if so you'll blow them out of the water haha.
 
Ha yeah pretty much, I'm not really doing it to compete with anybody, I just want to hit some PRs before I turn 18, so I can say one day "Back when I was a kid I deadlifted 500, no steroids or fancy supplements, just hard work and smart training".

There's some big benchers at my school though, so we'll see :P.
 
Strongman

Not really too much, took it easy and made it a GPP session since I've got my "meet" (aka testing my maxes) on friday.

Axle
warm ups
3 cleans and 10 presses with about 100 lbs

Yoke
200 ft x 110 lbs
200 ft x 180 lbs
200 ft x 250 lbs
100 ft x 320 lbs
added belt
100 ft x 390 lbs

Pushing the Dolly back with all the weights, and trying to pull it up curbs/steps
Utter latissimus dorsi destruction, and some cardio, miscellaneous back, pecs, triceps, and quads

Again I just focused on speed/distance where both apply on everything, without trying to go too heavy. Yoke I was pretty much running with everything except 390, which I still accelerated with at a good pace. Dolly I ran 2 trips with 175 lbs on uphill, which was pretty good cardio, and a good overall whole body workout, got the blood pumping through everywhere. Doing a deload on monday with 3x3x50%, and then just walking every morning and night, foam rolling and stretching, to get ready for friday.
 
6-4-12: Deload

Squat/Bench/Dead
~50%x3x3 (205/155/255)

Nothing much today, just a small deload to reinforce good technique and get blood flowing. Somehow I think I might have strained my left lower back, I've had this tenderness there since my squats this morning. Since it was light, and doesn't hurt that much, I don't think it's serious, hopefully foam rolling and rest will help cure it. Also my neck has been bothering me a bit from bench and good mornings on friday, again hopefully foam rolling, stretching, and rest will help, I hope to be 100% on "meet" day. I'm going to do a proper deload after friday

I've also been going for 1-2 mile walks every day also just to keep my cardio up, keep blood flowing, and increase appetite. BW is 210 on my parents' scale, 215 on my scale, and 212 on my gym scale.
 
6-8-2012: Meet

5:30 AM Weigh In
215 lbs:

215 weigh in - YouTube

6:10 AM Squat
Only worked up to 275 because my hip and shoulder were bothering me, I'm going to need to do a hard deload and revamp my squat technique because my squat has been a rotting pile of sh*t since I jumped my training max by 20 lbs back in March. Also going to start doing hip rehab on top of my shoulder rehab, I'm going to be googling around for it but if anybody has any good links or advice I would be extremely grateful for it.

No video (nothing worth filming anyways). But check this out instead, my best squat to date!: 345x4 Squat - YouTube

6:45 AM Bench
Worked up to 275. My shoulder and hip were still bothering me from the squat but my groove felt decent. Probably would have had 300 in me on a good day but today I felt pretty average, maybe a little sh*tty, when I attempted 300 I was so focused on arching and squeezing the bar tight that I forgot to pinch my shoulderblades and get my back tight. Retarded mistake on my part. I still got it off my chest but I held it about 2 inches off for a good 3 sec before trying to say grab it, which came out as "BLARGHAKHJKLAJKLFSADFASDF".

Vidja: 275 Bench - YouTube

7:30 AM Deadlift
445 went up like I could have cleaned it (not really but you get the idea). That was my last "warm up" set. Didn't get the video but my buddy said it was really fast, smooth, seamless, etc. I might also mention that this tore my previously ripped callus. No blood, but the fresh skin underneath was revealed, so I had to wrap it up.
475 Was OK, torn callus made it feel way heavier than it was: 475 Dead - YouTube
500 was questionable, my form was pretty sh*tty because I focused more on getting pysched up (aka yelling way too much) and not enough on technique, nevertheless I got it to lockout, with what probably would be redlighted in competition in terms of hitching. Not to mention that I dropped it. Either way I'm still going to count it, I have no doubt I could have hit it clean on a good day.

Video: 500 deadlift - YouTube

Totaled 275+275+500=1050. Yes I did not pause the bench, yes I dropped and slightly hitched the deadlift, but hey, I'm confident I could total over 1000 in USAPL competition, even if I felt like crap, and I probably could get 1200 if everything went smoothly and I felt great that day. I'm going to jump into a new training cycle now, I'm heavy and fat as f*ck right now so it's more geared towards cutting, not to mention I'm going to be doing cardio 4 times per week, but here it is:


Tues: Squat and Front Squat

5/3/1 Squat (sets of 10 captains of crush between sets)
5/3/1 Front Squat (wrist curls between sets)
4x8 GMs
4x8 abs (sets of 3 pull ups between sets)

Wed: Bench and Pendlays

5/3/1 Bench (face pulls between sets) with close grips on down pyramid
5/3/1 Pendlays
4x8 DB Incline Bench
4x8 fat bar DB chest supported rows

Fri: CJ and Deadlift

5/3/1 C/J
5/3/1 DL (dips between sets)
5x10 Squat
4x8 abs (sets of 5 chin ups between sets)

Sun: Strongman

I also have 2 other training cycles written up, one is a 3 day/week cutting program and another is a 4 day a week bulking program I plan on doing this winter, I will be running 1 cycle of this 4 week cutting program, then 1 of the 3 day cycle, then one of the 4 day cycle, for reasons I will explain when the time comes. Until then, I'll be cutting, cardioing, and lifting like a BAWS, while sleeping 10 hours a night because it's summer!

Also I turned 18 today at 8:02 AM.
 
We didn't really do much today, just worked on implements for about 9 hours without getting very much done, then pushed the truck for a few hundred feet.
 
6-11-12: Squat Deload

Squat
10x155
8x190
5x225

Weighted Pull Ups
3x5xBW+15 (225)

Front Squat
10x135
6x165

Pronated Cable Rows
8x85
8x140
8x160
10x160

Short and sweet today, got a nice little lats pump from all the back work. Squat form always seems to be solid the days when I'm not planning to go heavy, then on days when I am going heavy my warmups feel like sh*t. That's why I'm throwing in 5x10x185 squats on my deadlift day, to get more form practice. Tomorrow will be my last morning training session in a long time, because I'm going to sign up with 24 hour fitness for the summer. Not really much else to say, other than the fact that I"m surprised the truck pushing yesterday didn't affect my squat. Then again I didn't go heavy, so who knows.
 
6-12-12: Bench Deload

Bench
10x135
8x155
6x180
Close Grips
6x155
8x135

Supinated Pendlay Rows
3x5x180

Behind the Neck Press (Ed Coan Style)
5x10x80

Snatch Grip high pulls
8x95
8x115
8x135
8x145

Weighted Sit Ups
25x10/8/6/5

Pretty decent 45 min session today, probably my last ever training session at school. I'll miss being able to blast metal and leave my chalk everywhere, and being the biggest and strongest guy in the gym, and having the gym walking distance from my house, and never having to wait for the squat rack because nobody trains legs or curls in it (they know I'd go captain kirk on their ass), but at least I'll be able to lift when I want and for however long I want, when I start lifting at 24 hour fitness.

Today the only thing that was really heavy to me was the sup. pendlay rows. Next week I'll be swapping out incline bench for behind the neck press again, I felt that a ton in my upper back, triceps, and entire shoulder, even a little bit of chest, as opposed to regular ohp which I feel the most in my anterior delts and lower back/abs (core). Probably also because I was alternating with the snatch grip high pulls. I plan on doing 5x12x85 next week. I tried doing high reps for the snatch grip high pulls and I honestly like lower reps better since it's an explosive movement, I might just do upright cable rows for high reps and SGHPs on a different day for low reps, I just need to find out how to fit it into my template. This week since it's my deload I'm experimenting with the template I wrote up for my bulking routine I'm going to be doing this fall/winter, and seeing what I like and what I want to change.

My abs (rectus not transverse, which I'll usually refer to as core) have gotten extremely weak from neglect so I'm going to definitely make sure I get my ab work in on lower body days, if not then make up for it on upper body days, now that I won't be lifting at school I'll have as long as I need to lift so time won't be an issue. Hopefully this will also help encourage me to cut as my six pack starts to pop through. But for now I feel incredibly hungry and small.
 
Long Post, Brace Yourselves for my Gym Hunting story of 6-14-12 or skip to the next thread

Graduation Practice
45 mins of cardio (aka sitting, standing, and walking in the sun, was sweating bullets)

Visit 24 hour fitness and realize the only decent location is a 30 min drive from my house
5xlistening to guy try to convince me to get a personal trainer to propagate broscience

Go to crossfit gym and resist kipping pull ups
5xsupreme will power

Actual Training Session: Deadlift Deload

45 mins of learning clean from olympic lifting coach
Even though the heaviest I went was 40 kilos, it was grueling repeating the power shrug and deadlift to knees over and over. I definitely learned a lot though, but my forearms, traps, and lower back were toast, despite only working with 88 lbs

Cardio Deadlifts in Oly Shoes
10x223
8x~275
6x~315

Log Clean and Press
Worked up to something like 150 for 3 reps, feels awkward as hell off the shoulders, but lockout is easy as cake.

Weighted Chin Ups
3x5xBW+16 kilos (35 lbs)

GHR
2 good range of motion reps then hamstring cramped up

Squats
Form work, worked up to a top set of a little over 185 for 10 reps.

Hip Mobility Work

Today I went to one of the 2 closest 24 hour fitnesses to my house, I'm definitely not going to the one I trained at last summer because they have hexagon plates, deep j hooks on bench, and everybody gets pissed when I deadlift and they don't let me use chalk. My broscience propagating buddy told me that the other one is pretty good because they just revamped it into a super spot club or whatever, and I believed him. It turned out to be dead wrong. After spending about 30 minutes in traffic (if I actually trained there I would come earlier to avoid the traffic and it'd be 15 mins away), I finally got there and went in. The customer service was pretty good, but when we got to the weight area the first thing that broke my heart was the hexagon plates. I can't stand that sh*t. Messes up every floor based lift, and they are poorly calibrated, some "45s" weigh 51 lbs others are 40. All around sh*tty plates that shouldn't even be produced. It's all about the old school iron plates.

I figured if the membership was only 20 per month I could tolerate it for 3 months, though they only had 1 good squat rack, it was pretty nice, and if I came early in the day it'd probably be free. But no, it was 50 bucks a month. If I'm paying over 50 bucks a month I might as well join my friend's crossfit gym because they actually have a really awesome facility. So I decided to call him and ask what he was doing. It worked out perfect because he had just gotten to the gym. I met up with him there 15 mins later and he told me to ask his oly coach to look at my clean because it "looked like an abortion."

I spent the next 45 mins learning how to clean properly with just the bar, we added 10 kilo plates eventually, but I was toast, just holding the bar and jump to toes/shrugging it and holding it close to my body was wearing out my cardio, forearms, and traps, for such a long time. I definitely learned a lot but honestly I don't ever plan on competing in oly lifting so I'll stick with my muscle cleans, with a slightly improved hip extension and shrug, and build my upper back and speed deadlifting strength. Another thing I don't like about proper cleans is it reinforces poor deadlift technique, with the shoulders over the bar and whatnot. But that's all excuses, I'm a lazy bastard and hate technical sh*t, so muscle cleans with improved shrug and hip extension it is.

Moved on to my cardio deload deadlifts, normally this would be a lot easier but I was really gassed from the cleans, so even though I was nowhere near muscle fatigue, my cardio was killing me on these. Afterwards I felt a little sore in the glutes and quads, probably because of the oly shoes. It could just be that my back was nice and tight and my hips were nice and loose, but I felt like the oly shoes, though they increased the ROM, really helped me find my groove on the deadlifts. They exploded off the floor and locked out nice and easy. Keep in mind I was only cleaning about 90 lbs so I don't think the explosive activation or whatever was a factor. Besides, I usually muscle clean 185 before deadlifts. Anyways, I might try reducing my training max to 475 and doing a 5/3/1 cycle with oly shoes, then maybe keep them if I like it.

Log was fun, hope I can find a gym with one sometime in the future, felt it in my shoulders and triceps in a whole new way, plus the clean feels like some awesome functional bicep training. Chin ups were an easy PR, probably because I only weigh 205 now, thanks to not force feeding anymore. Weight is falling off me like nothing, all I need to do is up my protein and not force feed calories. I haven't even started cardio yet, but next week I'm doing kempo full speed. GHR was fun but I cramped my hamstring and stopped on the 2nd rep. First time doing them, I think I might have had 8 reps in me. I'll stick with GMs for now though if I can't find a gym with a GHR.

Then I had my friend look at my low bar squat form. He said it also looked like an abortion, which I was half expecting, but half bummed to hear. He said my buttwink was terrible, and that that's probably why my hips been bothering me so much. So here's the plan. I'm going to do the Defranco 8 foam rolling thing every morning and night that I can, and stretch my hips and shoulders about every hour that I remember, now that I'm on summer break and don't have anything else to do but play Halo Reach with my brother, browse on the internet, and chill with friends.

Also, for my squat, I'm going to reduce my training max to 300 and really focus on form, and do 5/3/1 squats twice a week, deloading every 7th session because it's so light. So it would go like this:

Squat day 1: 3x5 squat, 3x3 front squat
Deadlift day 1: 3x3 deadlift, 3x3 squat
Squat day 2: 5/3/1 squat, 3x5 front squat
Deadlift day 2: 3x5 deadlift (or reverse bands), 3x5 squat
Squat day 3: 3x3 squat, 5/3/1 front squat
Deadlift day 3: 5/3/1 deadlift, 5/3/1 squat
Squat day 4: deload squat and front squat
Deadlift day 4: deload deadlift, 5x10x60% squat.

This will give me the volume I need to stop having terrible squat form, and finally bring it back up. Now all I need is a training partner who can help me, and a gym to train at. Unfortunately the crossfit gym is 100 bucks a month, and only open from 4-8, which means I'd have to deal with 30 mins of traffic. The only good 24 hour fitness is 30 mins from my house, where I trained this winter. LA fitness is decent, but it's also 30 mins from my house, though I do have 2 friends lifting there, so it might be my last resort, but they're both on bodybuilding splits ='(, and it's still pretty damn far. Maybe I could carpool. Tomorrow I'm going gym hunting for real, I'm going to visit every gym with a half decent rating on yelp within 15 mins of my house, and check out the facilities. Worst comes to worst, I have a friend who lives 3 mins away from me with a bunch of weights but no squat rack, so I could just buy him a cheap rack and train there. Or I could go to LA fitness. I'll figure something out.

If you've made it this far, thank you for reading, if not, I understand. Bonus feature for those of you who made it here: crossfit lols:

Saw some guys deadlifting 365, then right after squatting 315, then right after all sprinting away to do some other random crap.

More lols but honestly most people there were really nice and I don't want to talk too much sh*t about them, it's not worth sharing any of the other lols. Just that one. It was just too great, the guy deadlifts all intense, squats all intense, then he and his 2 buddies standing around all sprint across the gym to go do random stuff I didn't get a chance to see.

I also witnessed my first kipping muscle up, I made a strong effort not to kip in the slightest on my chins.
 
6-15-12: OHP/Pendlay Row Deload

OHP (clean each set)
6x115
5x135

Pendlay Rows
5x115
5x135

Dips
3x10xBW

Cable Rows
8x100
8x150
10x150

Incline Bench (for the stretch/blood)
Bar x 50 reps

Cable Rows (to balance out the inclines)
50 lbs x 50 reps

Easy day today, I was pretty sore from yesterday's cleans and such, and I was tired and unmotivated because I graduated high school today, and the ceremony was really long and we were sitting in the sun, then standing in the sun, for a good 3 hours. So I was pretty lethargic before I even got to the gym. I checked out 2 gyms today, this small non chain gym about 20-25 mins from my house and a 24 hour fitness about 10-15 mins from my house. I definitely like the small gym better because not only do they have round plates, but the environment is a lot less douchey and even though it was smaller, it was a lot less crowded. I'll be training around 10 AM-2 PM though so crowding shouldn't be an issue no matter which I choose. Both gyms only have 1 good squat rack.

The small gym is nice because it's got round plates and everything I need, for cheaper (the manager was nice and let me have the 70 dollar 3 month special and skip the month I can't train there, only paying 46 total instead of the 58 I'd have to pay for 2 months without the special). The only problem is that it isn't open at night and I'm going to need to train at night during Ramadan this year. What I'd probably do if I signed up here is train for 1 month at the gym, then train at my buddy's house just doing ground based lifts (he has no squat rack as of now) in Ramadan, then train at the gym again till I go off to college. If I trained here I could either do the 2 months for 46 or do 1 month for 39 (20 dollar initiation, 19 monthly), then train with my buddy with all the weights who might be getting squat stands.

24 hour fitness is big, crowded, and full of curl bro douche bags. The plates are hexagons, and the faculty there are pretty fratbro-ish. Monthly dues are 32 bucks and I could terminate my membership pretty much any time (billing on the first day of the month). Also it's significantly closer to my house, but significantly farther from any significantly good restaurants. Significantly. My training buddy would allow me to use his bumper plate 25s so I could bypass the hexagon plate problem, with only minor inconvenience of having to carry the bumper plates. I'm probably going to end up training here because I'll just terminate my membership whenever my friend gets his squat stands, if he ever does. He's kind of flakey so I'm not counting on it, but worst comes to worst I end up training at 24 hour fitness and hauling around bumper plates for 3 months. Hopefully the extra 50 lbs won't too severely kill my fuel economy.
 
6-16-12: Strongman Saturday

Axle
Worked up to 175 for 1 clean and 3 presses, and 185 for 1 clean and 1 press. Wasn't feeling it today.

Truck Push
Maybe about 100-150 ft.

Not much today, spent a lot of time building implements. What a refreshingly short post.
 
6-18-12: 3x3 Squats

Squat
Warmups
5x225
3x245
3x275
3x295
3x275
3x245

Front Squat
5x135
3x185
3x225
5x185
8x135

Good Mornings
1x8x135
3x8x135+bands (about 20 lbs added at the top)

Pull Ups
BW (212-215)x8
BWx6
BWx5+3 hanging leg raises

Pretty productive 1 hr 15 min session today, even though I was a bit tired and lazy due to events this weekend, including getting a massage among other things. I stretched a lot before I got to the gym so I was able to jump into squats with just a dynamic warm up, and I felt my back was nice and tight, my hips were nice and loose, and like I didn't buttwink the whole time, hitting depth, without a belt. Weight felt easy, probably because it was, only thing that felt heavy was the 3x225 front squat because I haven't front squatted in a while. Felt heavier on my shoulders than it did on my legs, my main limiting factor is torso uprightness on those. Generally I'll do those with my deadlift stance. Bodyweight is a bit high due to consuming lots of junk food this weekend, so the pull ups were a little dismal. I think since I'll usually be doing bench the day after squats, I'll do cable rows for volume or row machine for cardio instead of actual strength work like pull ups.

Decided to keep the 5/3/1 weeks normal on Squat day and just do the 1) 70%x5, 2) 80%x3, 3) 90%x2, 4) Max, 5) 85%x3, 6) 80%x5, 7) 75%x8, 8) 70%x12 routine on deadlift day for my squats, until my training max is 365 again, which is 95% of my best squat training max.
 
6-19-12: 3x3 Bench

Bench
warmups
3x205
3x230
3x240 (paused last 2 reps)
Close Grips
3x230
8x205

Supinated Barbell Rows
3x8x135
2x8x155

Behind Neck Press
3x10x85
1x15x95

Cable Upright Rows
A bunch of sets of 8-10 reps (at least 10 sets) trying out different hand and cable attachment bar set ups, with around 85-110 lbs. Finally found a larger ROM power shrug type set up with the lat pull down bar. ROM is from around the hips to the upper abs.

Blood Flow/Feeder Stuff

Incline Bench
bar x 55

Row Machine
Couldn't find what the distance was but I got at least 75 reps

Side Raises
25x10 lbs

Had a decent workout today. My bench got messed up by several factors, one is the bench at my new gym is a lot narrower than the one at my old gym, so my shoulders felt weird all day today. Also, I didn't realize this until I used a different bar but the bar I was using on the bench had really close rings, so my entire bench workout felt awkwardly close grip. I figured it was just the bench, but when I used a different bar I realized that the rings were weird. I'll just have to set my hands on it with whatever feels natural and find out where that is relative to this bar's rings. Close grips were thumb from the smooth, as usual, although that still felt a lot closer than what I was used to, due to the bar.

Other stuff went well, I trained with a friend from school and another friend I haven't hung out with in almost 3 years, which was pretty fun, even if we did end up talking and BSing a lot. It was funny because when we were signing up, the manager was telling us basically his life story, including all the Brazilian girls he's f*cked, and a bunch of other random information. It was kind of funny though, and other than his tendency to give too much information, he was pretty chill. Anyways, they finished their BTN Press before I did so I decided to do one all out set, and ended up getting 15 reps with 95 lbs, maybe with 1 or 2 left in the tank. I felt way stronger on BTN press than I did last week, which I attribute to 2 things. One is that I'm more used to the motor pattern, and 2 is that I was stopping at upper arm parallel to the ground, which is about 1-2 cm above where I was last week. Also I weigh about 5 lbs heavier but most of that is bloat. BW was 208-210 today.
 
I think I hit 230 3x on closegrip.. Made me pretty happy! I might try it for 5 today ;D Closegrip feels the same to me basically.. I usually only get 3 reps less id say on it
 
6-21-12: 3x3 Deadlift

Deadlift (Oly Shoes)
warmups
3x385
3x435
3x455: Deadlift - YouTube
(All sets Oly shoes PRs)

Weighted Hammer Grip Pull Ups
2x5x25 lbs added (BW=210-215): Weighted Hammer Grip Pull Ups - YouTube

Squats
3x210
3x245
2x275
1x300 (only set with belt)
3x255
5x245
8x225
12x210

Weighted Decline Sit Ups
3x10x10 lbs

Pretty good day today, I kind of like the oly shoes deadlifts, even with the initial drop off in strength (450x3=est max of 486). As you can see they fly off the floor, but lockout really slowly. I might try widening my stance next week and trying that out to help lockout. Pull ups didn't go so well, probably because I gained a ton of weight since last week. It's weird because at some point I struggled to eat my way past 165 and now I'm cruising at 215 effortlessly, even doing cardio (started up kempo again) 3-4 times a week and lifting 3-4 times a week. Must be the junk food I tend to consume when I'm with friends.

Squat technique felt incredibly solid, my back was tight in a good way and for the first time I can remember, I was bouncing off my hips instead of off my spine. Also for the first time ever my lower back doesn't hurt after squats. I must be doing something right. I know I was hitting depth too. I've been doing Agile 8 sporadically throughout the day, repeating certain stretches like the v sits. Love those. The hip mobility program is working well.
 
Saturday Strongman

Axle
Something light

1 arm DB C/P
worked up to 3x75 on my left (non dominant) side but then the implement broke so we couldn't go heavier and I couldn't do my right side.

Truck Push
An estimated 400 yards but I think that seems a bit much so let's just say 1000 feet. It was freaking far. Glutes are still feeling it almost 2 hours later.

Not too much stuff today, hopefully next week we can have a legit hardcore strongman training session with farmer's handles and everything. Hit 220 bodyweight after a buffet last night, my cut is going horribly, though oddly enough I can still see my abs in good lighting. I'm going to be more strict and cut down even more on carbs and stop trying to instigate hanging out with those friends who in a previous post I said I tend to eat junk food with... unless they call me. Not surprisingly those are the friends I went to the buffet with.
 
6-25-12: Squats

Squat
5x205
3x245
2x275
3x300 (only set with belt)
5x255
10x225
15x205

Quad Extension
2x8x195
2x8x210

Hamstring Curl
4x8x125

Kroc Rows
20x45s fat gripz
20x75s hook grip

Shrugs
40x135 hook grip
isometric hold 315 hook grip for 30 sec

Decline Sit Ups
2x15x10 lbs (last 5 reps of 2nd set were sporadic, last 2 I had to ditch the weight)

Today I failed to do very much productive strength work, but succeeded in destroying every muscle used for squatting. I was training with my buddy who I always call "the ultimate broscientist", but he was very open minded and did a nice job on his 5x5 squats with great form for someone who has never really trained legs. We were egging eachother on so I ended up killing myself on my last set of squats, with my form going to sh*t on the last 3 reps of my last squat set (though the rest of my sets my back kept a perfect arch, feel it a lot more in the hip muscles that way). Anyways, I was way to worn out to do any more compound lower body movements so I decided to just hit the isolation machines so I didn't feel completely useless.

My grip was feeling pretty weak last thursday so I decided to do some grip work for my back work today, surprisingly I wasn't really feeling it too much in my thumbs on the kroc rows (though I felt it plenty in my forearms, biceps, and lats), so I decided to try doing some shrugs. Even 40 reps with 135 wasn't enough to fatigue my grip so I just decided to grab 315 without chalk and hold it for as long as I could with hook grip just so my grip could be ready for my deadlifts on thursday.

If I learned anything from today, it's to leave some in the tank on squats so I can do front squats and good mornings afterwards. Since the 70%x5...70%x12 routine doesn't change from week to week I'm going to raise my training max by 5 lbs every 2 weeks instead of 10 lbs every 4 weeks, and I'm doing the 70%x5...70%x12 routine on squat day instead of deadlift day, and I'm going to do my 5/3/1 squats on deadlift day, all up until my training max is 365 again.
 
6-26-12: 3x5 Bench

Bench
5x165
5x185
8x215
12x185 (close grip)

Fat Gripz Dumbbell 1 arm Clean/Press (1 clean per set)
5x50 both arms
5x60 both arms
5x70 both arms

Snatch Grip High Pull
3x3x155

Hang Clean
3x3x135

Dumbbell "Behind the Neck" Press
40s x 10/10/8

Cable Rows
2x8x130

Hammer Curls alternating with Dbell tricep extensions
3x10x25s (both movements)

Pec Fly/Rear Delt Fly Machine
3x10x130 Pecs alternating with 3x10x75 rear delts (both paused at the peak contraction, slow negatives)

Side Raises
10s x 15 reps

Today was kind of just a messing around day after I finished my bench and fat dumbbell C/P, just experimenting with the lifts I'm planning on doing for my bulking routine this fall. Bench was ok, I couldn't find a good position for my feet and couldn't get my abs tight so all of my sets were done with poor leg drive, but upper back and shoulder technique felt perfect and my arms felt pretty decent. Fat Dumbbell C/P is my worst lift in strongman so I decided I'm going to use the 5/3/1 template with 5-10% off my training max (to get more reps) to work on it in the gym, and it went pretty well.

I found I really don't like snatch grip high pulls, so I tried doing hang cleans instead, which were a good substitute. However, I think I'll just stick with doing full cleans on my deadlift day. For my bench day I'm going to try doing power shrugs next week instead, to help cement that motor pattern for my cleans instead of trying to curl it up. I'm going to need to do those after Dumbbell "BTN" presses though because my traps were too tight and sore from the upper back work to successfully do dumbbell "BTN" presses without leaning back and turning it into an incline bench with no back support. Cable Rows were all right but my lats were really sore from Kroc rows yesterday, so I cut it off at 2 sets. Arm work went well, I'm starting light so I can increase every week, I'll probably alternate every 5/3/1 cycle between dumbbells and barbells so I can continue to add weight/reps indefinitely in waves.

Now that my bench technique is getting better I"m not really using my chest at all, I feel it mostly in my shoulders, triceps and back, so my chest is starting to lag behind. I decided to throw in some pec flyes along with my rear delt work. I tried to do side raises but I was really gassed at that point and decided to head home. It's tough lifting on low carbs, very little energy (not to mention no pump in the gym, despite the volume). This is my first week really cutting out the carbs, I'm not going keto or anything but I am trying to keep carbs below 100g per day and eating 90% of my carbs within 3 hours after exercising. Bodyweight is 207 on gym scale, 208 on home scale, but I think a lot of it is just carb depletion. Despite looking deflated in general, I do look a little bit leaner as well.

So here's my revised feedback for my bench day:

5/3/1 Bench
5/3/1 Fat dumbbell C/P
3x5x(85%+10) supinated pendlay rows if pendlays on OHP day, 3x5x85% pendlay rows if t bar row on OHP day
5x10 dumbbell "btn" press
4x8 or 3x10 Power shrug or cable upright row
4x8 or 3x10 bis/tris
4x8 or 3x10 rear delts/chest
3x10 or 2x15 side delts

And no kroc rows on squat day, if grip is lacking then kroc rows on deadlift day. Sorry for the long post.
 
All beaten up today from kempo last night, my arms and shoulders are destroyed, especially my forearms from all the blocking and being blocked. Thankfully today's just legs/back, but I don't know how my shoulder is gonna hold up on squats and how my arms are gonna hold up on deads and chins. I've decided that since my rear delts are ridiculously lagging, I'm going to hit a different rear delt exercise every day. Off days from the gym are just going to be external rotations with a band, but otherwise I'll switch off between more vertical and more horizontal, large ROM and small ROM rear delt variants. Might add 1 complete rest day if needed. Also started bringing a mini band to kempo so I can use it to hit the upper back on push ups instead of further contributing to my way overdeveloped front delt problem. Hopefully this will all help fix my shoulder problems along with mobility exercises.
 
6-28-12: Squats and Deadlifts

Shoulder and hip warmup, including a lot of light rear delt work

Squats
5x185
5x225
8x255

Reverse Band Deficit DL (purple bands deloading at knees, standing on one hex 45 plate)
Worked up to 8x405

Hip Thrust
135x8/12/15

Rear Delts ( This Thing: Elitefts.com - Rear Delt Hang & Swing - YouTube )
37.5 lbs for 30 reps

Today I went to the gym early (around 9 AM instead of around 11 AM-2 PM) and besides the zumba or whatever class it was nice and empty, just the way I like it. I left early because yesterday some family came into town, so we have 6 guests staying with our 4 person family for a total of 10 people, in our 3 bedroom house, for the next week or so. Their kids are loud and I have to share a room with my brother, so I have no personal space and I got very little sleep. I'm tired and just in general pissed off, and I had to get out of the house, so I went to the gym. At the gym pretty much everything that could go wrong was going wrong (except thankfully my back arch on squats). IPod wasn't working properly, hand placement was crappy on squats even after a 10 minute shoulder warmup, etc, all adding to the rage. Thankfully it paid off because I smashed the sh*t out of 405 and pushed it to 8 reps, and typically on reverse band deficit DLs I have just about the same strength as normal DLs, if not less. 405 for 8 translates to about 485, so I feel pretty good about that.

Squats were decent, only pushed the last set to 8 so I could have some left in the tank for deads. I kind of like the idea of doing squats before deads year round since in competition one almost always does squats before deads. Deads, like I said, went well strength wise. I actually used mix grip instead of hook grip on these and I really like it, I figure as long as I switch off and occasionally do back off sets of 8-10 at 70% with my non dominant mix grip, I should be fine in terms of muscle imbalances. All I need to worry about is tearing a bicep. Better than worrying about tearing a thumb. Konstantinovs, Magnusson, and Bolton all use mix grip and only Magnusson has torn a bicep, after years of heavy deadlifting over 800 lbs, so I'm not too worried. I've been using hook grip for 6-8 months and honestly I've given it a good test run, but I really don't like it at all, I always tear up my thumbs and the pain makes me a lot slower on my DL. Today they were flying up, not just because of the reverse bands but because I didn't feel it in my grip at all, only in my back, hamstrings, and a little quads, abs, and lungs. Even my lockout felt better because my grip wasn't tiring and I could focus on ramming my hips into the bar.

Speaking of which, hip thrusts were painful where the bar rest on my hips, but were otherwise a great exercise, might start doing those twice a week, really felt it in the glutes. And as part of my rear delt program I threw in that swing exercise, didn't feel it so much isolated in my rear delts but definitely felt it a ton in my whole upper back.
 
Went in the ocean and then jacuzzi (however that's spelled), and my left shoulder feels a million times better, only slight pain now, my right shoulder is 100%. All the potential DOMS from today's deadlifts seems to have vanished.
 
Oh yeah it's terrible. I'm in my room alone right now but all my brother's sh*t is all over the floor so I still feel like I have no space lol..
 
6-29-12: 3x5 OHP/Pendlay Row

Strict Press
warmups
5x95
5x115
7x135 (1 rep PR)

Pendlay Row
warmups
5x135
8x165

Dumbbell Bench (45 degree angle Jim Wendler Style)
65s x 10/10/12

Fat Gripz Chest Supp Row
45s x 15/12/12 (short rest periods, the sets of 12 were paused at the top for 1-2 sec)

Cable Lat Pullover
2 sets of 10 (numbers for weight on the machine were faded)

(mostly) Straight arm rear delt flys
12x17.5 lbs

Decent day today, despite my shoulder hurting like a biatch. Not sure what messed up my left shoulder so badly but I think it's just general wear and tear, starting from bench day on tuesday and continuing to be torn up from Kempo. Thankfully I'll only be doing kempo in the summers, when I'm not focusing on heavy lifting. Last night we did some hardcore sparring and grappling which re-aggravated my shoulder, I woke up this morning and my entire left shoulder and humerus felt like it was fractured. I went to the beach around 7:00 AM and just lay down in the cold water to let it heal, and did some Defranco shoulder rehab/rotator cuff work. It helped, but my shoulder still wasn't 100% when I went to the gym this evening. Also played a little basketball before the gym today.

Managed to get a PR on OHP even though I haven't done it in a while, I used a thumbless grip which really helped me feel holding it in my lats. Might have had one more rep in the tank but I didn't want to actually break something in my shoulder. I wasn't able to do dips, so I did dumbbell bench instead, probably would have been able to do 3 sets of 15 with 65 lb dumbbells, but again I didn't want to push the pressing movements too hard today, only pushed a little harder on the last set for 12 reps. Focused on slow and controlled negatives with light weight on the chest supported rows, I find that helps me feel it in my lats more, and more time under tension challenges my grip further as well. Lat pullovers I felt mostly in my shoulders, but afterwards my triceps and lats were very pumped as well, from just 2 sets of 10. Did those reps fairly slowly. Finished off with some rear delt isolation and messed around with seated curls.

Had a really good pump from the assistance work since I ate quite a bit of carbs throughout the day. Despite that my cut is going well, my bodyweight is still fluctuating around 208-212 (probably because I added carbs back in today) but I'm visibly leaner in the mirror.
 
7-3-12: Squat and Bench

Squat
warmups
5x230
3x260
5x290 (with belt)

Bench Press
warmups
5x190
3x215
2x240
20x135 (close grip)

Pendlay Row
warmups
5x135
3x165
4x185 (5 reps attempted but the 5th didn't touch my chest so it's 4)

Front Squat
warmups
5x165
3x215
5x240

Good Mornings
135x10/10/15

DB shoulder press and DB chest supp row both with fat gripz
10xshoulders, 15xlats (paused at top)

Rear Delt Swing
25x45 lb db's.

Decent workout today, trained with a friend from school. I couldn't train yesterday because I was feeling way too sick, coughing, sneezing, and nauseous, so I moved squats to today since I'm feeling better, just a little coughing and nausea. I'll also combine deadlift and overhead press on friday. Squat form was good, kept my back arch according to my training partner, also felt it a lot in my hips which is a good sign, though I forgot to bring my video camera again. Bench felt very weak, but after my last set I weighed myself at 204, which would explain it, my belly has gone down a lot so my ROM is larger. Leg drive felt almost nonexistent today, hips were way too tight after squatting. Pendlay rows were decent, probably would have gotten 5 reps if I still had the large gut and smaller ROM, which would match a previous PR. Front squats felt great, might have had another rep on the 240 but didn't want to hit failure, previous 5 rep PR is 245, so considering I almost never do front squats anymore this is really good. GMs were good, just a lot of cardio. By this time I was way too worn out so I just did 1 set of db shoulders and chest supp row, then some rear delt swings. Might do dips later today because my chest and triceps aren't very worn out compared to my shoulders and back.

Cousins are still in town until the 13th so my sleep is going to be pretty crappy until then, even with earplugs they still wake me up a lot. Even so my cut is going decently, bodyweight is way down and I definitely look leaner. Had a good warm up before the gym today, found out how to foam roll my rear delt and tricep which should help activate them better from the myofascial release. Could be one reason why my bench sucked, because I foam rolled them today so they were a little worn out before the gym, but in the long run it'll be good for my bench and shoulder health.
 
Did some dips and chins today, mostly because I didn't really do any high rep stuff for upper body yesterday, and next time I'm lifting is on friday, so I should be fine recovery wise. Also ran a lot chasing my cousins around at our family's 4th of July BBQ, played some football and basketball. My knees are gonna be hurting tomorrow.

Wobbly Chair Dips: 14xBW (chairs wobbled out of control on 15th rep), 10xBW
Chins: 2x8

Also did some shoulder rehab stuff and foam rolled lat, tricep, rear delt, and hamstrings. Might try out some melatonin to help me sleep with the cousins here, and I ordered some supposedly good for sleeping ear plugs online which should arrive on Saturday.
 
7-6-12: 5/3/1 Deads/OHP

Squat
3 warmup sets
2x5x70% (215) a la Texas method. Working my work capacity up towards squatting 3x/week: 2 heavy 1 medium. Going to be doing 1 heavy 1 medium until I start bulking again this fall, where I'll start doing 3.

Overhead Press
3 warmup sets
5x115
3x135
5x145 (10 lb PR): Strict Press145x5 - YouTube

Deadlift
5 warmup sets
5x365 (right hand underhand)
3x405 (left hand underhand)
3x455: Deadlift 455x3 - YouTube

Hip Thrust
20 reps x 95 lbs

Hammer curls and tricep extensions with fat gripz dumbbells
2x15x25 lb dbs

Chest Fly Machine
Mike Mentzer style reps with 150 just short of failure

Rear Delt Fly Machine
Mike Mentzer style reps with 75 just short of failure

Decent workout today, though it looks a bit wimpy on paper. Squat form felt perfect today, I've finally found my groove, was exploding out of the hole like it was dynamic effort, granted the weight was light but I felt like I could have hit 365-405 today. Tore my boxers on the first set of 215 though xD. OHP was good but I tweaked my back on the 4th rep with 145, as you can see in the video from fumbling it around. More commentary on the video description. That affected my deadlift a bit, plus my hips got all tight after squatting. From now on I'm going to stretch between squat and dead. Deadlift commentary on the video, form was a bit off as well on the DLs. I'm just going to have to learn how to deadlift and squat well on the same day, it seems like if one is good the other is bad, working towards getting both good. I was going to bench today but I was pretty gassed after the deads, as I always am, plus my back was hurting still from the OHP (can't arch on bench with f'd up spine), so I just did some light bodybuilding style hypertrophy stuff after. Fat gripz hammer curls had my grip and forearms screaming, especially since I supersetted it after tricep extensions where I was also gripping the weight. Shoulders both popped out of the socket on the rear delt flyes, good thing it was light weight, going to have to see how those feel tomorrow. I'm going to be incredibly bummed if both my spine and shoulders are f*cked tomorrow.
 
Spine at the very bottom only hurts when I round it, otherwise no pain even if I get into a deadlift position. Shoulders are popping a little but no pain. Deload next week so hopefully neither turn into anything serious.
 
Thanks man, although the squats were light so it wasn't too bad. After swimming today my back feels a lot better, but my triceps and hamstrings are very sore.
 
7-9-12: Squat Deload

Squat
10x135
8x165
6x200

Front squat
10x115
8x135

Hamstring Curl
10x90
10x110
10x110

Weighted Sit Ups
2x10x15 lbs
1x10xBW

Easy deload, squat form felt solid, finally finding my groove, not bouncing off any tendons or joints now, just stopping it with muscle, and lifting it with muscle. Felt very physically strong today but mentally worn out, so the deload is good.
 
6-10-12: Bench Deload

Bench
10x115
8x135
165x7/7
145x8 (paused, close grips)

Barbell Rows
3x12x125

Shoulder Press
35 dbs x 10/10/12

Upright Rows and Face pulls
4 sets of 8

Tricep ext
27.5 dbs x 12/15

Fat gripz DB hammer curl
2x12x27.5

(Chest Supported) Rear Delt Swing on Incline Bench
37.5 dbs x 30 reps

Today felt pretty good, first time lifting in running shoes in 1.5 years, because they're so comfy, surprisingly felt strong even with the cusioned sole. Then again it was a deload. Bench groove felt great, against all odds, I was wearing the "wrong" shoes and didn't have any chalk or thin rubber mat (the one you see in my bench videos) on the bench, so it was slick. Not sure if it's the shoes or the lack of rubber mat but either could be a possibility, we'll see how I feel next week, but today I felt nice and tight and was holding the bar in my lats/traps pretty well. Didn't even stretch my hips or back before hand and I felt fine getting a decent arch. Did some paused close grips and leg drive felt stellar, even with the running shoes. If the oly shoes feel like crap next week I'll try with the running shoes on my down pyramid sets to see if it actually makes a difference with heavy weight, or if today was just an anomaly.

Did the barbell rows Dorian Yates style, feel it a lot in the lats and forearms. I'd like to go heavy on these next time, maybe even with a mixed grip alternating from set to set, using 4x8 sets/reps scheme. Shoulder presses aggravated my compromised left shoulder a bit but I pushed through it. Upright rows and face pulls were mediocre, pretty insignificant. I'll start doing face pulls regularly again, there's no good ropes in my gym so I'll just use the straight bar. I actually like the DB tricep extensions without fat gripz better, feel it in the triceps more, from now on I'll only do the hammer curls with fat gripz, and I"ll use different weights so I can hit the same reps on each. I actually think the tricep extensions might be to blame for the pain in my left humerus, because of both the elbow and shoulder hurting. Will look up some elbow rehab and start doing that as well. Rear delt swings could have been better, I think the incline bench was on too flat a setting cause I felt it more in my lats than usual. I'll try with a less steep bench and lighter weights next week to get a better ROM and focus better on the rear delts.

Played basketball yesterday, been pussing out of going to kempo using shoulder and sickness as an excuse, I'm gonna have to drag my ass in on wednesday so I can get back with it again. I just hate cardio, and I hate how hard it is on the joints, always messes up my lifting. Going to play basketball in about an hour, might do dips and pull ups afterwards.
 
7-12-12: Deadlift Deload, or DLDL

Deadlift
5x135
5x225
5x315

Hip Thrust
2x15x135

(Pronated) Pull Ups
BW x 5/8/8/6/5 (first set with fat gripz)

(bicep/shoulder stretch on pull up bar)

Hamstring Curl
Worked up with sets of 8 to 12x150 and 5x180

Short day today. I was going to squat but I was running late and had my 2 training partners do their squats while they were waiting for me. They finished a few mins after I got there and they already have to wait long enough for me to do all my deadlift sets, so I skipped squats. It's a deload, anyways. Technique was great on deadlift, I now have a 3 step checklist in my mind that I run through before every deadlift set, glutes tight, big air/core tight, bar close, then when I lift, chest up/heels through the ground. Simple and effective.

Hip thrusts are getting better, just pushing through it. Pull ups were painful as hell, especially with the fat gripz, and especially with my calluses torn up from deads, as I used no long socks, no belt, and no chalk. Makes even lighter deads more painful than heavy ones, all the skin tearing. Great pump though from the pull ups, decided to stretch my biceps and shoulders while they were pumped, on the pull up bar, by grabbing the bar behind me with both hands like I was going to do a supinated bench dip on it, then letting my arms come up and putting my shoulders under the bar, hanging as best I could from it with my hands in the awkward position. Hard to describe, but a phenomenal stretch, great for preventing bicep tears I've heard. I can link a video if anyone wants. Hamstring curls were hamstring curls.

Thinking about doing Magnusson/Orton for deadlift this fall (5/3/1 for everything else), as I don't like the high rep heavy deads that seem to come with 5/3/1. I'll just run 5/3/1 deads during the summer while I'm doing kempo, since 5/3/1 allows for bad/off days where you can take it easy, in case I have injuries or joint pain/soreness from kempo, which I get a lot of unfortunately.
 
7-13-12: "OHP Deload" and bench

Bench
Worked up to a very clean, 100% raw (no wrist wraps or belt or anything) paused triple with 3x245!

Poor man's slingshot bench
225x5
265x3 paused
300x2 paused 1st rep, touch n go second
315x1 paused: 315 Paused "Slingshot" Bench - YouTube

Clean and Overhead Press
1 clean, 12 presses with 95

Kroc Rows
10x50
15x100

That's it. Had a great bench day raw, (leg drive felt 100% perfect in running shoes, which I'm liking a lot more than oly shoes) and an even greater bench day with the improvised slingshot. Wore me out like crazy though, as I've never handled those kinds of weights. Feel it a million times more in the upper back and lats, though I got a sick chest and shoulder pump as well, I think this would be a great tool to work up to a heavy set but not all out, then go back to raw, to help teach the technique. Might do that for that pyramiding program I'm thinking about doing for bench, I'll just have to move around my bench and OHP days so I can still get work done. I'm thinking Pyramid bench and 5/3/1 OHP on tuesday, then 5/3/1 bench and 5/3/1 push press or jerk on fridays, since I'll be running the Mag/Ort the day before and would rather fully exert myself when I'm more fresh on tuesday. Can't wait to bulk this fall.

Oh yeah and the OHP and kroc rows were fun too. I'm worn out as hell.
 
7-16-12: 3x5x85% OHP and "Week 2" Mag/Ort RB Deadlift

1 Clean and OHP (sets of 5 chins between all sets, work and warmups, 6 sets total: 30 reps)
warmups
3x5x135

Reverse Band Deadlift (135 off the bottom deload at knees)
warmups
4x4x365
1x2x410
1x2x470
1x12x365 no pauses/resets

Looks short on paper, but Ort/Mag is no joke, I was in there for about 2 hours, 1.5 hrs of it just doing set after set of deadlifts. I just wanted to try it out, so I did Week 2 with reverse bands with 525 "projected" max (used my predicted max instead of projected, which would have been around 550) since I've reverse band deadlifted 500 for 2 reps before (526). Ort/Mag was brutal. Each individual set was easy and submaximal, except maybe the last set where 13 reps would have been questionable, but the sheer added up volume wore me out a lot, especially mentally. I'm sure I could have had one more on the 470, but I didn't push for it. I'm definitely going to have to break up my ort/mag days into a morning deadlift session and an evening assistance work session, because with real deads instead of reverse bands this would wear me out way more. The fact the gym was hot didn't help either, I was sweating after my first set of OHP.

Either way I'm really excited for the program, I can see this really helping out my technique A LOT. I alternated sets between right hand under and left hand under (first and last set were both right hand under, heaviest set was left hand under). I'm liking mix grip a million times more than hook grip, even if hook grip lets me get in a better position to start, mix grip lets me focus on keeping my core and glutes tight, getting my shins vertical, and pulling the bar into me, instead of pain signals from my thumbs frying my brain. It also lets me relax my shoulders and arms better, oddly enough, which helps at lockout. On all of my reps (except one rep on the 365 and the first rep of 410) the lockout was very smooth because I was able to get my shins vertical and back completely straight at the bottom, and therefore keep momentum over my knees all the way to lockout. I figured the 365 was going to be really high reps anyways, so I didn't pause them at the bottom. No bouncing, but no resetting either, just grinding them out. Quads and hands (not hams, hands, as in my bunched up calluses) were burning. Abs and spinal erectors are sore now too, but I'm sure I'll be sore all over tomorrow.
 
7-18-12: 85% Squat and Bench

Squat
warmups
8x275 with belt

Bench
warmups
5x225 with wrist wraps
23x135 close grip (3 rep PR)

Medial Delt Work
About 15-25 mins worth

Rear Delt destroyer
25x35 lbs drop setted to 12x25

Decent training session, I messed up my neck grappling in kempo on Monday so that was irritating me the whole day, and my entire back and both legs were sore, especially the lower back and traps, from deadlifts on Monday. My buddy had an appointment at 11:30, so we had to go to the gym at 10:00 AM, and I got up at 9:00 AM, so I was also very tired, just in general did not feel very good going to the gym today. Despite that though I managed to get in a decent workout.

Squat form felt slightly off but my buddy said I kept my arch, so I'll take his word for it. I need to start bringing my camera to the gym more often though so I can see for myself. Bench form also felt a little off, I don't think it's because of the oly shoes or anything, but just because my neck was bothering me, back were sore, and legs were pumped from squats, so I couldn't get locked in as well as normal. I'll have to get used to it though because that's the condition in PL meets, leg stiffness from squats. I was planning on doing 3x5x85% on both lifts today but we didn't have time, so I just pushed the top set on squats to 8 reps, then did a close grip burn out set at the end of bench. Didn't go to failure on anything, but 9 reps on 275 squat, 6 reps on 225 bench, and 24 reps on 135 CG bench would have all been questionable, so I stopped 1-2 short of potential failure. Was really winded at this point, mostly because I'd just woken up and didn't have much food in me, so I didn't do rows like I"d planned, didn't have any energy left for compound movements, so I just experimented with some lateral delt work I saw in a thread by Diamonddelts on BB.com, then did a rear delt destroyer drop set.

Not the most productive day but still decent, and my shoulders got a good pump, might make some all right gains from today, or at least maintain what I have, until my next training session this Sunday, since I'm going to be out of town from tonight until late on friday night.
 
Just got back from out of town, slept poorly but ate well, and my body feels really good after the rest, ready to start hitting the gym again come Sunday. Here's the routine I"m going to be running:

Fri: Squat/OHP

5/3/1 OHP from rack, sets of 5 chin ups between sets
5/3/1 Squat (wrist curls between sets)
1 arm DB C/P 90% 5/3/1
GVT (10x10) Sumo Deadlift
4x8 or 3x10 hammer grip cable rows with side raises
2x15 abs
2x15 hip thrust

Sun: Bench/Front Squat

5/3/1 Bench, sets of face pulls, close grips on down pyramid
5/3/1 Front Squat
GVT (10x10) Dumbbell “BTN” press
GVT (10x10) Barbell Rows
shoulder raises


Mon: Kempo

Tues: CJ/Deadlift

5/3/1 Clean and push press (1 clean per set, chins)
5/3/1 Deadlift (shoulder raises between sets)
GVT (10x[half of rep max]) Dips. Add 1 rep per week, or if at 10 reps add weight
2x15 hip thrust
arms
50 rep Upper chest and rear delts dumbells


Wed: Kempo

Thurs: Kempo
 
7-22-12: 3x3 Bench and Front Squat

Bench
warmups
3x215
3x230
3x240
14x185

Front Squat
warmups
3x205
3x225
4x240

Incline fat gripz DB Press
5x10x45s 60 sec rest between sets

Yates Row
10x10x95 60 sec rest between sets

Had a good workout yesterday, maintaining strength on bench even though I weighed in at only 200 lbs even right after bench. Bench technique was off on the 240, right shoulder wasn't fully locked in so it was rotating weird, so I didn't push for more reps. Did a set of 185 after, forgot to use close grip, so I pushed it to 14 reps, might have had 15 in me. Front squat I might have had 5 on the 240. Inclines I set my max too high and went to failure on set 5, so I cut it off. I used the perfect amount of weight on the rows, and my arms/lats were fried afterwards. Great pump too. Looking much leaner in the mirror, and my forearms are starting to show the individual muscles (looks like striations but not) and veins. I just wish I didn't naturally have not very many veins on my small forearms, I know people who don't even lift whose forearms look more ripped then mine. Deads on Tuesday.
 
Push Press and Deads

1Clean and Rep Push Press
5x135
6x145

Deficit Deads
5x365

Dips with 60 sec rest between sets
BWx7,7,7,7,7,5,6,5,5,5

Strict Straight Bar Curls (for the elbows)
8x45
2x8x65
8x45 reverse grip

Rear Delt Work
Swingers and flys

Pretty bad day today to be honest. My left trapezius is completely messed up, I have this sharp stinging pain in it at the top whenever it's stretched or contracted. When I got home I stuck a lacrosse ball under and and did a lot of rolling right in the problem area, but it's still hurting this morning. Gonna work on rehabbing it. Anyways I couldn't really go heavy on anything that involved the trapezius, so push presses were mediocre, and I did deficit deads so that I wouldn't be able to use as much weight, left hand underhand helped lessen the pain, and also i forgot my long socks so the shin pain helped distract a bit. Didn't want to go heavy on anything though. Still did the high volume dips, then did rear delt work to balance it out. Finally found out why my left shoulder is so f*cked up, it's because when I use my computer it's elevated, so I set up my computer so it can be more neuteral now, back/down even. Got a video of the deads but it's so light it's not even worth putting up, back was nice and straight though.
 
7-27-12: 3x3 Squat and OHP

OHP
3x115
3x135
3x145
1x155
3x135
8x115

Squat
3x185
3x225
3x275
1x315 belt

T Bar Row
3x10x2.5 plates
1x25x1 plate

DB Shoulder Press
10x30s
2x10x35s

Sumo DL
10x135
10x225
10x315

Deadhang for the spine
With about 5 hanging leg raises, slow

Ok workout today, OHP technique was perfect, and didn't bother my shoulders at all, barely bothered my trap, lat support the whole way. However, the fact I was resting it on my clavicles and flaring my lats, like a front squat, on the bottom lowered my bottom end strength a bit, probably because I'm not used to it. Still I felt it a lot more with less weight. Either way my numbers were not impressive, likely because weight loss causes a loss in upper body strength, and the fact I was using a new, safer technique.

Squat was pretty weak, I think the fact I haven't gone over 315 in months has made me lose a lot of strength on my squat, but on the positive side my technique is a million times better than before, back held a great arch the whole way. Neither of my training partners could come today so I didn't bring my camera, but I had a guy on the squat rack next to me who half knew what he was doing watch my technique, he said I had a very pronounced arch that I held the whole way, and was concerned that I might be arching too much. As far as I know the more arch the better, on the squat, but please correct me if I'm wrong!

Did some T bar rows because my lats seem like they're shrinking, felt it a lot in the forearms, especially my right arm, but still got it in the lats. Oddly enough my shoulders look wider too, and my traps look smaller, almost like my clavicles have grown longer, stretching out the lats and traps and making them look less thick. I welcome the change though cause I've always had small shoulders, hopefully they'll grow more and I'll actually look big in a shirt. Shoulder press was a little weak but I'm still not used to dumbbells. Sumo DL I was gonna do multiple sets of 10 but 315 was crazy cardio, so I stopped there, felt it a lot in the legs, hips, glutes, which was the main purpose for me doing them, more leg volume and building the supporting muscles for the conventional deadlift. Very slow off the bottom though. Then I did a deadhang with some weight to extend my spine back out, and threw in some hanging leg raises. Felt it more in the forearms and hands than anything.

Bodyweight was 201 at home and 196 at the gym, looks like I'll have to hand in my man card soon, because I'm over 5'10 and almost or already under 200 lbs =/. On the bright side I look much leaner, cardio 3 nights a week, lifting 3 nights a week, and very low calories have treated me well. I also feel like my testosterone is naturally much higher, and I'm starting to really get into kempo, really enjoying the sparring and working on my techniques.
 
7-29-12: 3x3 Bench and Front Squat

Bench
Warmups
5x185
3x210
2x2x240

Front Squat
3x185
3x225
5x245

Hamstring curl
15x100
15x150

DB Shoulder Press <60 sec rest between sets
10x10x25s

Shrugs 60 sec rest between sets
10x10x135

Had an ok workout today. My warmups felt really strong on bench but for some reason I was barely getting 2 reps on 240. Tried it again and technique felt good, yet I only got 2 reps again. Must be losing strength due to weight loss, as I weighed in right after at 199. Front squat went decently, matched my old PR of 245x5, but did it without a belt, so it would be a beltless PR. Might have had 6 with a belt on, but for some reason I didn't put it on. Hamstring curls were just for maintainance, but 15x150 was a pretty hard push for me. Just getting my strength up for when I have access to a real GHR. DB shoulder press I went way too light, so by the 7th set I was doing shorter than 60 sec rest, and between my 9th and 10th set I had a 20 sec rest. Shrugs were nice, did em slightly bent over, surprisingly felt it a lot in the rear delts, and had a good pump after. Gonna start doing those more often. Did some light rows between sets of bench, and before shrugs, but didn't do any serious enough to be worth logging.
 
7-31-12: 3x3 Push Press and Deadlift

1 Clean and Push press for reps
3x135
3x145
6x155

Deadlift
3x365
3x395
3x435
1x475

Incline DB Press
3x10x55s

Chest Supp Row
2x20x37.5

Rear Delt Destroyer
30x25s big ROM

Seated behind the back side raises (rear and medial delts)
10sx15/10/12

Reverse Curls and Standing Reverse Grip tricep extensions
Several high rep sets with just the bar

Good workout today, push press form felt amazing, should have gotten a video, really starting to like it, feel it in the lats and traps immensely. Deadlift was OK, I think I was just having a bad day on those, then also my grip was kind of shitty because I haven't deadlifted truly heavy in a while. Going to do grip rack pulls after shrugs next time. Incline DB Press was nice and strong, 45 degree angle like Jim wendler, got a lot of triceps and upper chest, some lats and shoulders. Chest supp row felt good to balance out the inclines. Then a bunch of shoulder and arm work because I almost never isolate both areas, good pump, and I still look great an hour after. My shoulders feel huge. Definitely keeping the shoulder work, a solid day today, even if strength was a bit off.

Overall I feel like I"m getting wider, thicker and leaner at the same time, which is awesome, but unfortunately I'm getting weaker on the big lifts. Could just be stalling because I haven't deloaded in a while, though I'm gonna try to stick it out for the next 3 weeks till I'm done cutting. Didn't weigh myself today but probably just below 200. Might just look bigger because of decreased bodyfat, although my shoulders look bigger and broader even with a shirt on.
 
7-3-12: OHP and Squat

OHP
warmups
5x105
5x120
2x4x135

Squat
warmups
5x205
5x235
5x265

DB Bench
2x15x35s

Sumo DL
worked up to 10x325

Pretty bad workout last night, I feel pretty overtrained, as overused as that word may be. Realized that I did 3s week of 3/5/1 2 weeks in a row, since the friday-sunday-tuesday schedule had me confused as to when the week starts. So I've been working with 90% for 2 weeks in a row, not to mention a huge caloric deficit and hardcore cardio 3x/week. Just kept the assistance work light to avoid further overtaxing myself.

I think my weakness yesterday was also due to the fact that not only have I lost a lot of weight (196.5 at the gym yesterday), but I was relatively dehydrated as well. Either way I'm losing strength noticeably fast, even if I'm not losing size, so not really anything positive I can say about yesterday.

Got my deadlift vids on youtube:

2 weeks ago: Deficit Deadlift 365x6 - YouTube

Last week: Deadlift 475x1 - YouTube
 
8-5-12: 3x5 bench and front squat (Just realized the last post should have been 8-3-12)

Bench
5x165
5x205
4x225
stability stuff (explained later) 4x10x105

Front Squat
worked up to 8x215

Pendlay Row
0x185 (too much momentum, got 4 reps though)
3x5x155

Seated behind the back side raises
15sx15/10/10

Ok day today, definitely losing strength, as my BW is down to 196 today, but technique felt pretty good, which is always a plus. Was really bummed to not get 5 reps on 225 bench. Definitely lost more strength on pendlays since I haven't been doing them. Then just did some easy isolation stuff, short rest periods so sets 2 and 3 were weaker.

Now to explain the stability thing on bench: My training partner has a pretty bad muscle imbalance, his left arm locks out way before his right arm, so I decided to try something I heard from my buddy who benches 300 for reps at 200 BW 6'1 (nothing too remarkable but still respectable for a lengthy guy, better than me anyways), where you put different weights on each side and try to bench it like it's normal, for building stability, alternating per set, and presumably doing an even number of sets. My training partner did 10 on each side, plus 5 on the lopsided side, his 5rm being 135, and I did 25 on each side with a 10 on the lopsided side, my 5rm being a little under 225 at the moment. It was honestly very difficult, even with such light weight, even though I was going slow, that should have been a breeze. Still, I really liked the movement, I feel that it could be a great tool for really cementing ones groove on the bench. For my current template I'm going to do this on my push press day, and on my bulking template I'm going to do it right after bench on my lower volume day.
 
8-7-12: 3x5 Push press and DL

Stability Squat (Uneven sides)
4x10x125

1 Clean and Push Press for Reps
5x120
5x135
7x150

Reverse Band Deficit DL
4x405
5x425

Dips
BWx10/10/10/12

Pull Ups
BWx8/8/5/5/6

Hamstring Curl
30x80 lbs

Had a decent day today, bodyweight was 197 at the gym before my last set of deadlifts. Stability squat wasn't as hard as stability bench, I'm guessing just because the weight is closer to one's center of gravity, but I felt it a lot in the middle back, in a good way, so that was good, even if the stability stuff sounds and looks a little moronic. I actually felt like it was forcing me to keep my core tighter and my back arch better because I had to stabilize the uneven sides, and my training partner also commented that my arch looked better. Push press is going up despite my strength on other lifts going down, just becaue I'm getting used to the movement, which is also good.

Deadlifts were a little off because as soon as I added my belt when I got to 405 I started throwing up in the middle of my sets, because I ate and drank a lot before coming to the gym. I was planning on pushing 405 to 8 but I had to stop at 4 because my dinner was starting to land all over my feet. I took a few minutes to rest and burp a little, and decided to up the weight just so I could only do 5 reps, and not throw up any more than I had to from doing high reps. The first rep was good but on the second rep that little gas bubble at the top of my stomach popped, so the last 3 reps vomit was coming up through my throat, thankfully this set I didn't spit anything up.

Dips were pretty good, finally got my breathing down on those so I"m able to focus on the strength aspect instead of the endurance aspect. Pull ups were disappointing because even though I'm lighter I can't do as many, just goes to show how important it is to practice all of the big compounds lifts consistently or they'll go down, along with the muscles they work. Thankfully my program for this winter is focused around compounds, upper body days are 3 compound lifts for low reps, then 1-2 isolation exercises for high reps, lower body days are 1-2 compound lifts for low reps, 1 compound for high reps, 1-2 isolation for high reps. Deadlift day is broken into a morning and evening session so I can still work around ort/mag, and my class schedule also accommodates so I have more free time that day. Deload weeks are where I put all the ADD bodybuilding stuff I tend to do on work weeks now.

Finished off with some hamstring curls just for the knee flexion, was dying and about to throw up after these, just because of the cardio and having to lie on my belly for the machine. Overall though, despite my upset stomach the whole day, I managed to get a decent workout.
 
8-11-12: 5/3/1 OHP and Squat

OHP
5x120
3x135
1x150

Squat
5x235
3x265
3x295

Dumbbell Shoulder Press
35sx8/10/10/12

Pull Ups
BWx6/6/6/6/6

Weighted Decline Situps
12x10 lbs added

Pretty good day today, lifted with an old friend who I used to lift with about a year ago, so we were talking way more than lifting, overall I had a really fun time though =). OHP strength is going down, depressing but expected as I'm now 197 even with lots of food and water in me. Squat felt decent today, probably in part because I was teaching and demonstrating to my friend the technique so I was extra mindful of my own. Dumbbells were good, wanted to do short rest periods but ended up taking too long talking with this huge guy at my gym about powerlifting, so I pushed the last sets to more reps instead. Pull ups were good, wanted to pace myself this time and keep all my sets consistent, felt it a lot and had a good lat pump afterwards, held the last rep at the top for 10 sec as always. My friend really wanted to hit abs so I half assed 1 set with him, while he was going all out for 3 or 4. Not a crazy day but still decently productive in terms of work done, if you don't factor in the fact that this whole workout took 3 hours from all the talking.
 
8-12-12: 5/3/1 Bench and Front Squat

Bench
5x175
5x200
2x225
3x225

Front Squat
5x165
3x185
5x215

Pendlay Row
3x5x160

Incline DB Bench
60sx8/8/8/11

Chest Supp Row
60sx8/8/8/11

Yesterday was the worst bench day of my cutting cycle. I'm starting to get worried that all the upper body strength I had was because of bodyweight, because even when I weighed 185 I was stronger, and I weighed in at 198 today, so now I feel like I"m losing more muscle than fat. Thankfully this is my last week of cutting, and hopefully that whole thing about the muscle fibers being stretched and the muscle memory being present will hold true, and I'll be able to gain a ton of muscle and strength back quickly once I start bulking again. Next time I bulk I'm bulking with cardio, cutting is the worst thing ever, even if it's easy eating wise for me, it makes me hate lifting, so I'm going to have to do something else I don't like so my cutting strength/size losses don't have to be as great. I'll never cut for over 5 weeks again. I'll probably even use stimulants or thermogenics next time just so I can get it over with faster.

Anyways, now that we've established that cutting sucks for lifting, and cutting for over 5 weeks is moronic for me, front squats felt really strong, moved my grip out slightly and felt a million times stronger, could have gotten more reps on 215 but it was my 1 set on 5/3/1 week so I wasn't even thinking of pushing past 3 reps. Pendlays were submaximal just like last week, but form was good and it was 5 lbs more than last time. Inclines and chest supp rows were a little too easy in hindsight on the first 3 sets, but the last set was a good push.
 
When I cut down I while back I got pretty week at times....its more because of the restricted diet and cals. It came back quick for me once I started eating more.
 
8-16-12: 5/3/1 Push Press and Deadlift

Squat
Very light just to warmup my hips and reinforce good technique, 3x5x115

1 Clean and Push Press for Reps
5x95
5x135
5x150
6x165 PR

Deadlift
5x365
3x415
2x460

Dips
BWx12/12/13

alternating with

Hammer Grip Chins
BWx6/6/8

Ok day today, bodyweight is pretty stable around 197 now. Started off just squatting with my old training partner whose just getting back into lifting again, today was his 3rd day back to the gym, so he's still going pretty light. Just did his weight to help me warm up for my other stuff. Push presses went well as usual, 6x165 translates to about 194, which is a 13 lb PR over my previous PR of 150x5 which is about 181. Gotta love that motor pattern adaptation. Deadlift technique felt a little off, bar felt a little distant even though it was touching my shins the whole way, I think it's because I wasn't pulling it into me as much so even though it was touching my shins, it was still not traveling back throughout the whole lift, so my center of gravity was more forward, and farther from lockout. Got the 3rd rep just below my knees but couldn't push past it. I think if my technique was good today I'd have 460x3 no problem. Didn't even feel that tired after deads today, despite pretty much going to failure, since the bad technique made the lifts submaximal. At least I didn't throw up today, ate almost nothing before the gym. Dips are going up which is good. Did a different chin variant today and I was breathing pretty hard since I was doing them right after dips, so I didn't get as many reps as I probably could. My weak chin up will be going up this fall when I bulk using them as a 5/3/1 lift.

I'm going to start bulking again starting this weekend though, so I'm going to be following this routine very similar to the Reg Park beginner routine until I go off to college and start my 4 day 5/3/1 again, should be good for regaining the strength I lost cutting since it's linear and compound centered:

Day 1:
Squat: 5x5
Pull ups: 5x5
Bench Press: 5x5
Chin Ups: 2x10
Dips: 2x10
Reverse curl: 2x10
Jump rope till exhaustion

Day 2:
Front Squat: 5x5
Rows: 5x5
Standing Press: 5x5
Deadlifts: 3x5 (2 warm-up sets and 1 work set)
Curl: 2x10
Side raises: 2x15
Jump rope till exhaustion

Day 3:
Strongman (axle, sandbags, farmer carry, etc.)

1-2 days rest in between each day, 3 days a week. Just depends on what day my friend Jim can train strongman. Gonna start at 275 on squat, 10 lbs on pull up, 200 on bench, 215 on front squat, 165 on rows, 115 on strict press, and 405 on deadlifts, adding 5-10 lbs every week. Should get my bench back up to 220 for multiple sets of 5, squats back up to 315 for multiple sets of 5, front squat back up to 235 for multiple sets of 5, Rows back up to 185, OHP to 135, and boost my DL to 445x5. All solid goals, and I think my Bw will be about 210, but I'm going to maintain my conditioning and stay lean. Kempo 3-4 days a week and cardio every lifting day.
 
8-18-12: Squat Test and Upper Body Stuff

Squat
Worked up to 6x275 with the belt

Stability bench
4x10x105 plus 10 added to the odd side

Yates row
5x145
10x145
10x145 supinated

DB Incline bench
65sx10/9/12

DB Chest supp row
65sx10/9/13

Decent workout today. There were these 2 Russian guys deadlifting 185 and 275 for a million sets in the squat rack and they said they would be another 30 mins when I asked them, so I had to use the crappy rack with the pins too high. I just walked it all the way out of the rack and squatted with no pins on the sides, I figure if I go to failure I can just drop it on the floor oly lifter style, there's only 1 employee at the gym at night and I doubt he has the balls to kick me out for a one time incident. No idea why the Russians had to use the 1 good squat rack though, all they were using it for was putting it on the pins to deload and reload the weight for eachother, which the crappy rack is just as good for. I always see those same 2 guys deadlifting the same weight, just arbitrary numbers with no progression, the huge guy lifts 185 and the small guy lifts 275, and they always use the good rack, they refuse to use the crappy one, where the pins are set just as high as they put them on the good rack. They even wait for the good rack to clear up before they start, and I never see them do anything but deadlift the same weight every week, never squats or anything else, no reverse bands or anything that would merit the use of the squat cage. And they have a 3rd Russian friend who uses the crappy rack for the same thing, good on him, if only the other 2 would do the same. People at the gym...

Anyways it wasn't much of a problem, I was just testing my squat today to see if 3x5x275 was realistic for the 5x5 I'm starting after I deload, 6x275 was very easy even though I had to walk it really far back, so I know 3x5x275 is a good start. Used the belt to ensure I wouldn't hit failure and have to drop it, but I know I could get the same without it. Stability bench was embarrassing as usual, but I feel it a ton in my shoulder and lat on the odd side, so overall I like it. Plus it's great technique practice with low weight. On Yates row the first set my left trap was bothering me, but the next 2 were good. Inclines went great, first set was a bit tough, second set I couldn't get 10 reps, but the 3rd set I took a long rest period and put some rage into it, and matched my old PR, almost got 13 reps, too. Chest supp rows were good also, 2nd set I got 10 reps but cheated too much so I"m putting 9.

Oddly enough I've been incredibly sore from deadlifts in my entire back from wednesday. It might be because I took 8 days rest instead of 7 before DLing on weds, so I might have been a bit deconditioned which would make me a lot more sore. Plus I had dinner at a friend's house last night where I had to lean really far forward with a rounded back from the couch to the table which may have compounded it. My legs aren't very sore from deads at all though, just a lot of back and a little bit of hips.
 
Nice numbers bro. I'm very late on this log but I'm in. The part with the Russian guys got me more interested.

Few things make me feel violent, but when someone acts like a selfish asswipe at the gym they deserve to drown in a pool of dicks. Lol seriously though, those guys need to go fuck themselves and learn how to lift. If they deadlifty every day like that maybe they'll ruin their backs soon
 
Hey thanks man! Russians are always interesting :P, it's too bad they never add weight because they probably have potential to get really strong, the guy deadlifting 185 is already huge from hardly doing anything. It's not that they deadlift every day, it's just that whenever I see them there they're always deadlifting in the squat rack. Thankfully I only see them there at 9:00 PM and I'm going to be lifting around noon again from now on.

8-20-12: Squat and OHP Deload

OHP
5x5x105

15 pull ups from in between sets

Squat
5x5x205

DB Bench
10x50s
3x100s
75s x 5/11/12/11

25 pull ups from in between sets

Straight Bar Curls
75x10/8

Seated Side Raises
2x20x15s

Good day today, kept the weight light since I feel a bit overtrained, gonna just do a solid deload and maintenance eating this week before jumping into the 5x5. Just keeping the volume high to prepare me for the next cycle of training. The 5x5 routine I"m starting next week is going to be 1x5 light, 1x5 medium, 3x5 heavy, so I decided to just do 5x5 medium today to accomplish both CNS deloading and getting used to the volume. Worked at a very fast pace today because my training partner couldn't come until later, so I was just doing set after set, with about 2 mins rest tops between sets on my OHP and Squat. This plus the heat had me drenched in sweat and sucking air, and DB bench suffered at first as a result, so after the 5x75s set I just sat outside for 20 mins to regain my energy. My training partner showed up at this point so my rest periods were long after this, which payed off because my strength went way back up. Afterwards I just did some curls to see where I'm at for the 5x5, then side raises so my side delts didn't feel completely useless, then got out of there.
 
8-22-12: Bench and Front Squat Deload

Bench
5x5x170
5x5 chin ups from in between sets

Front Squat
5x5x185

Pendlay Row
5x5x135

DB Shoulder Press
3x10x37.5s

Strict Shrugs
15x135
15x155

Slow Strict Side Raises
25 reps x 7.5 lb DBs

Tire Flip attempt
1xfailure

Decent workout today, felt pretty tired and out of it today before the gym, not necessarily in a bad way, but just in a not feeling like lifting way. Once I got to the gym though I had fun, was nice just going through my sets without the anxiety of having to go heavy and risk failure. Got some good chin up volume between sets of bench, I got anywhere from 5-8 sets, depending on if I started during my warmups or not, wasn't really keeping track, so I'll just log 5 which I know I at least got.

Front Squat grip didn't feel as good as last week but I still cruised through it, pendlays were also good. DB Shoulder press really irritates my shoulder joint, even though I pinch my shoulder blades hard when I do it, I might just take those out to prevent injury, because even heavy benching and OHPing doesn't bother my shoulders nearly as much as light DB shoulder presses. Shrugs were good, though the thing I hate about them is if you go heavy enough to feel it, ROM suffers too much, so I just kept it really light for a good ROM and did high reps. Side raises the dumbbells might as well have been pink, just wanted to try something different with slow reps, as long as I"m hitting my side delts somehow.

Then I went outside to try flipping the new tire that 24 hour fitness added to the conditioning area. I'd estimate it weighs at least 600 lbs because not only is it huge, at least double the size of the 300-400 lb one that I've used before, but I was only able to get it to the top of a deadlift position, I didn't have nearly enough hip strength to get it flipping. The thing could be up to 700 or 800 lbs, I'll just say 600 so I dont' sound like an idiot though. Either way I couldn't flip it, so I can't wait to start strongman again so I can stop being so damn weak when I don't have a nice easy barbell to use.
 
8-24-12: Push Press and Deadlift Deload

1 Clean and Repped Push Press
3x5x135

Deadlift
2x5x325

Weighted Dips
3x10x10 lbs added

Cable Rows
110x12
120x12/12

Kroc Rows
15x100 left
12x100 right

Fat Gripz hammer curls
2x15x22.5s

Hammer grip DB triceps ext
22.5sx15/13

Rear Delt Destroyer
30+ reps x 22.5s

Ok day today, appetite has been nonexistant so I only ate 1 meal for the 6.5 hours I was awake before the gym today, and probably didn't drink much either, but I was pretty mentally aggressive which was good, balanced it out. Push presses were good, but I forgot my socks for deadlifts, so I pussied out of doing my 3rd set cause my shins were hurting too badly. Tried to start the 3rd set at least 3 times, but the pain was distracting me from my technique and making it sh*tty. Dips went well, cable rows were good to do for the first time in a while, same with Kroc rows. My left thumb is messed up so I started with my left even knowing it was stronger, because I thought my grip would give out, but it didn't, so I got less reps on the right side. Hammer curls I need to start doing again, and same with tricep extensions. I need to start doing higher reps on my rows and lower reps on my arms, because I've been avoiding the high rep cardio and grip strain for back exercises and avoiding the low rep tendon strain on curls and tricep extensions. I'll start all that after my 5x5, once I go off to college in late september.
 
8-27-12: BS Day

Bench
185x5/7/8/5

Pendlay Rows
135x5x8

DB Bench
2x20x50s

Cable rows
20x90
20x100

DB Pullover
10x35
10x50
10x55

Side Raises
10sx20/15

Kinda BS day today. My eating schedule, food access, and stomach size/appetite are all f*cked up right now so it'll be a while before I can bulk properly, so I'm not starting the 5x5 yet. I'm going to cruise for the next month until I move up to UCSB on September 22nd. Probably not the smartest or most disciplined idea for the next month, I could just man up and force everything down, but I kind of need the mental deload from all the discipline over the last few months, ever since I started 5/3/1. College will be such a huge transition that upping the intensity of my lifting shouldn't be a big deal compared to everything else, and I've got an unlimited meal plan so I"m basically set to bulk like a madman. I'll do the 5x5 then till I'm back at the strength I had before cutting, hopefully leaner. From now on I'm cutting with stimulants (ephedra, caffiene, aspirin), it takes too long and therefore I lose too much strength cutting naturally. Maybe I should've done paleo, but it's too late now anyways. On the bright side I"m incredibly lean right now, well not really incredible but leaner than I ever remembered being, cruising around 197-200 lbs BW.

Anyways, today's lifting session, just hit up 185 on bench and focused on form, so the reps are pretty measly. Pendlays went well, technique felt great on those, lots of upper back and not forearms, just like it should be. DB bench was low, just high rep BS. Same for cable rows. Tried out pullovers and I think they're good, just not very much pressure on the lats at the top, might try lying cable pullovers sometime if I can find a half decent setup. Otherwise there's really no good free weight way to hit the lats like that well. Side raises are always a formality, but thankfully I'm now in the habit of doing them. Was going to do flys but my training partner was hungry and all the cable set ups were taken, so we just went and got burritos.

Gonna be doing strongman on Wednesdays from now on, thinking my schedule will go: Sun-Squat, Tues-Bench, Weds-Strongman, Fri-Deadlift. Works with my training partner's schedule since he's already started school and doesn't have class on those days, and works fine with my schedule too. Hopefully this "go by feel and do a lot of sets" approach isn't too stupid and won't lose me too much strength. Hell it might even be beneficial because it's so different from my previous training. The key to gains is progression, and I don't know how I'm going to implement that. Maybe I'll just use heavier and heavier weights every week and get what reps I can. Yeah I'll do that. I hope it works.
 
8-29-12: Strongman Wednesday

Axle C/P
worked up to 200x1 clean and press

Sandbag Carry
200+ lbs for ~50 ft

Doesn't look like much on paper but I was pretty tired after this session. Could be due to a headache that was aggravated by training, or it could be the new protein I had today (for both). Or entirely other factors. Either way it was a good training session and I had fun. My fingers are all messed up from the sandbag and my thumb I messed up in kempo last week definitely doesn't feel too hot, but it's all worth it. Most likely will be training strongman on Tuesdays from now on, I"ll just have to see what days my gym training partner can train early and schedule around that. One possible template is Tues: Strongman, Thurs: Deadlift/Push press, Sat: Squat/front squat, Sun: Bench/Rows. And I'll probably just be doing kempo on Mondays, maybe Wednesdays, and Thursdays. Hopefully everything will work out.
 
8-31-12: Deadlift and OHP

Squat
worked up to 5x185 just to warm up for deads

OHP
110x5/8/8/8

Deadlift
Worked up to 2x455, then did 2 sets with 405 standing on a plate: 405x2/3

Bradford Press in between Deads
4x12x65

Flys and Rows
Nothing of note, just trying to feel the muscle, bodybuilding style

Sternum Chin Ups
3x5xBW

Pretty good day today. This morning I saw a video of some guys doing some cool athletic stuff, including muscle ups, so I decided to go to the park near my house and try it. First 2 times I didn't get it, then I got a really sloppy one: My First Very Sloppy Muscle Up - YouTube

Got a much cleaner one at the gym in between sets of squats, although I'm still "cheating", by putting one hand over the bar first instead of both at the same time. Just obviously didn't grab the monkey bars at the gym. Still pretty happy about it, will definitely be incorporating those along with dips, chins, and other bodyweight exercises. I want to be more athletic this time I bulk. Also did the Monkey bars for the first time in 10 years, feels like a really good back exercise, especially in the traps, since they have to work to prevent my arm from being dislocated by 200 lbs. Will probably end up doing this type of stuff on off days.

OHP was decent, just doin 5 lbs more than last week, I usually end up doing 4 sets on compound movements because my friend does 5 sets, but doesn't need as many warm ups as I do. Today I was experimenting with a new set up on deads, kind of what Mike Tuscherer does where he rocks his knees into the bar to get tighter. I did something similar successfully on my warm ups, but on the 455 set I ended up stiff legging it quite a bit. I think since I've stopped doing good mornings my hamstrings and back have gotten too weak to maintain a good angle, thankfully now that I"m going to have a dedicated squat day again that problem should be fixed though, by GMs. Deficit deads the first rep of the first set I stiff legged, but the other 4 reps of my deficit deads were good, so again I think it's just a problem with heavy weights. At least now I can truly respect good mornings. Did bradford presses for shoulders between sets of deadlifts, then did some bodybuilding crap inspired by the iron evolution article by dave tate. Might just start doing that after the powerlifting work, for size (leverage is functional). Did some sternum chin ups on my friend's door frame chin up bar a few hours after the gym.

Also just ate indian food after the gym, and now I'm going again with family to get more indian food. Gains gains gains. This time I bulk I'm just going to worry about performance: good athletic cardio, good strong powerlifting. I'll probably get pretty fat and unsightly, but as long as I can be strong and be athletic, I"m fine with it till I cut up again in December, this time with stimulants.
 
9-2-12: Squat

Squat
1x5x225
2x8x225 1 with belt
2x5x225 paused/slow with belt

Front Squat
2x5x185
2x8x185

Good Mornings
10x65

Short day today, my squat technique was pretty bad today so I kept it light. Sadly since I haven't squat over 300 in more than 2 months, light has become heavy to me. Guess I'll have to start from square 1 again. First 3 sets technique was still not that good, but the 3rd was a little better because the belt helped me feel my form better. Boxers tore in half on the 3rd set. 4th set technique was really good, 5th it was decent. Going slow, pausing and using the belt definitely helps, I think I'll just continue to add 10 lbs every week and do all my sets slow and paused. Was really worn out after these and my hamstrings felt like they were going to tear any second, and after front squats my back was cramping up a lot, so I didn't want to go heavy on the GMs, even putting 135 on my back I started to feel uneasy about them, so I just did them with an extra large ROM and light weight as a mobility exercise. My legs have become pitifully weak and it's going to be a pain in the ass (literally, my glutes are sore as hell) to bring them up to an acceptable level again. Thankfully now that I'm eating like a man again my testosterone and aggression feel back up, and I'm a lot more motivated in the gym, which ends up pissing me off more since I"m so weak now, which gets me even more motivated. Performance>aesthetics, I'm now starting the DAAM diet, disregard abs, acquire mass. Cutting this way was a huge mistake, I'm pretty sure of the 20 lbs I lost most of it was muscle, so next time I'm doing a Sheiko 4 week peaking cycle, eating a ton of calories but low carbs on off days and before lifting (carb backloading), and using creatine and the legal version of ECA stack. Fasting doesn't work for me. Dedicated cardio wont' be necessary, and ephedra extract is gains friendly, so overall I don't think I"ll lose muscle and strength like this time around. Now all I need to do is build that muscle and strength I'll seek to preserve.
 
Sorry to hear about the unsuccessful diet. I have a suggestion about the squat problems you are having. I often have the same problem and on days where I can tell it's impacting performance I spend 10-15 mins just stretching the shit out of my hips. It helps my form and my lifts overall. I couldn't squat 135 before I did mobility exercises. Now I can get 245+
 
NoFatChicks91 said:
Sorry to hear about the unsuccessful diet. I have a suggestion about the squat problems you are having. I often have the same problem and on days where I can tell it's impacting performance I spend 10-15 mins just stretching the shit out of my hips. It helps my form and my lifts overall. I couldn't squat 135 before I did mobility exercises. Now I can get 245+
Click to expand...

Hey thanks for the tip man, I'll definitely have to try that next time, any particular stretches you recommend? I usually do some dynamic hip swings, sit in a "tribal squat" and get my feet as wide as possible, and do forward and side lunges for the quads, hams, and groin, and do all this for about 5-10 mins before I squat, but it always helps to get some new stretches
 
9-4-12: Morning Bench/Pendlay Rows

Bench
190x5/8/9/5
135x3x3 dynamic

Pendlay Row
4x9x135

Front Plate Raise
25x8/12/12

Just went to the gym for a brief morning session, training strongman this evening around 5:00 but I wanted to bench sometime before my next bench day, Sunday, so that I don't go for more than a week without practicing my technique. Also I wanted to be able to eat all the delicious carby leftovers we have in the fridge, without feeling like I'm wasting potential gains and getting fat. Good gym session, no training partner but it actually helped. My current training partner often comes to the gym stoned, so his lack of motivation usually dampens my intensity as well, but today I smoked through it, no pun intended, with good focus and power. The only problem was I didn't have a spotter, asked somebody to spot my first set but the weight was easy enough that I knew I could get the other 3 sets without worrying about it, just didn't push for any reps that I wasn't 95% sure I could get (the 9th rep on the 3rd set was somewhat questionable, but I got it). Did a lot of band pull aparts, more seriously than usual, between bench sets, and my upper back, mostly traps, was pretty sore by the end of it. Happy to see my strength going back up, I look and feel bigger, slightly less lean, yet my bodyweight is still 197 at the gym. 190x9 is 10 lbs off my 9 rep PR I set at 210 BW.

Pendlays were good, hit some front plate raises between sets, big ROM all the way overhead. I like doing the pendlay rows with light weight and higher reps, lets me feel it more in my lats and focus on technique instead of trying to push through it and feeling it mostly in the forearms.

I might also add that I did a slightly closer bench grip than usual, just because I use a very wide grip compared to what I see most raw powerlifters using, even though I don't really have a shoulder structure suited to pressing, which worrys me that I'll be seeing shoulder injuries in the future. Felt good with the closer grip, less shoulder pain (not that I usually have that much) and just as much power. On the 4th set I did slower paused reps, and on the dynamic sets I did 1 rep slow, then 3 fast, just to be able to tell the difference, I heard about JM blakely doing something similar for his dynamic work, thought I'd try it out. Overall a good, short session.
 
Here are some stretches I do.

I really like the pigeon hip stretch especially if you do it on a box, that way you can sink lower and lower as those hips loosen up and really stretch them out.

Another one I like requires a pole-like object. I use the poles on the squat rack to do this. You squat facing the pole while grabbing it with both arms, wedge your elbows into your kees and push them apart. Pull yourself into the pole while doing this. Imaging yourself trying to pull your torso forward while you wedge your hips with your elbows. If it hurts you are doin it right!

Here are some videos

Pigeon Pose Floor/Box - CrossFit Charlottesville Underground Mobility Project - YouTube

Pigeon Pose Floor/Box - CrossFit Charlottesville Underground Mobility Project - YouTube
 
NoFatChicks91 said:
Here are some stretches I do.

I really like the pigeon hip stretch especially if you do it on a box, that way you can sink lower and lower as those hips loosen up and really stretch them out.

Another one I like requires a pole-like object. I use the poles on the squat rack to do this. You squat facing the pole while grabbing it with both arms, wedge your elbows into your kees and push them apart. Pull yourself into the pole while doing this. Imaging yourself trying to pull your torso forward while you wedge your hips with your elbows. If it hurts you are doin it right!

Here are some videos

Pigeon Pose Floor/Box - CrossFit Charlottesville Underground Mobility Project - YouTube

Pigeon Pose Floor/Box - CrossFit Charlottesville Underground Mobility Project - YouTube
Click to expand...

Hey thanks for the links man, I've done the pidgeon stretch on the floor before but not on the boxes, good stuff, and I'll definitely try the pole one. Much appreciated!
 
9-4-12: Evening (or according to Coachdeez, Night) Strongman

Axle C/P
Worked up to 3 cleans and 3 presses with 180. Felt really strong today despite benching earlier, so I'm pretty confident that my strength is going up by a lot. I'm finally feeling good with the axle technique, it's not nearly as awkward as it's been in the past, though I'm still using too much arms. The weight felt easy but it was my cardio that was fatigued at the end, might have been able to hit 200 for a triple, or 210 for a double today, but I just wanted to do 90% of my PR/training max for 3 reps. I definitely think push pressing in the gym has helped a lot, will definitely continue doing those next time I start up 5/3/1 again, or somehow find a way to work it into the 5x5.

Sandbag Medley (just over 50 feet)
150 lb sandbag for 50 ft
run 50 ft back
200 lb sandbag for 50 ft
run 50 ft back
250 lb sandbag failed to lift, so I got it up with assistance and carried it about 5 ft
200 lb sandbag lifted with assistance, carried about 10-20 ft
150 lb sandbag lifted with assistance, carried 50 ft, then looped around which added about another 15-25 ft

Was gassed as hell at the end of this, and my legs and back, which had been sore earlier and cured by the axle, were now just as sore as before. The last time I've ever been breathing this hard was my first kempo class, the time before that was the first time I ever ran "the superlap", an evil 1.5 mile run that was mostly uphill (only down part was the stairs) invented by our middle school teachers, in 7th grade. Even 3 rounds of intense sparring, 1.5 mins on .5 mins off-after hitting bags for an hour-from last Thursday was not this hard. Plus the strength component, this is the most exhausted I can ever remember being. Just listing all my cardiovascular achievements.......

Aaaanyways, overall a really good training session, I feel so much better and more motivated than I did when I was cutting, I now enjoy lifting again. Just overall had a great day today, maybe it was the fact that I slept 12 hours with maybe only 1-2 hours of interruptions last night, or the fact I foam rolled this morning, or several other factors. Either way life is good right now, and training is going well in every way. Been walking on off days, taking my 10 yr old brother to the park and doing pull ups and monkey bars with him, and all sorts of other stuff recently, so it could just be me becoming in better shape and strengthening my back. Either way, my performance in strength and cardio is going up despite my gaining bodyweight and bodyfat, and eating pretty much whatever I want, and until the next time I cut, that's all I care about.
 
I am liking the sandbag stuff man. That stuff is really tough and 200 lbs is sick weight. I hope those stretches help. Like I said it's just an idea, but I can tell they really help my squats when I get loosened up before hand.
 
Thanks man, actually did both stretches as part of my pre squat stretch routine today and it definitely helped!

Deadlift and OHP

Squat
Did some light sets with 3x5x135, wore the belt very loose so I could feel pushing my core out and arching my back. Technique wasn't perfect but much better than the last 2 times.

Strict Press
115x5/7/8/5

Deadlift
Worked up to 2x465. Recorded that set and also 3x365, here's the links to both:

365 clean: Deadlift 3x365 - YouTube
465 sh*tty: Deadlift 465x2 - YouTube

Definitely know it's hamstring weakness because my 365 was good but 465 technique broke down. Will be prioritizing Good mornings now

Good Mornings
15x95 lbs just to punish my hamstrings for being weak b*tches.

Pretty good day today. Kind of interesting thing happened this morning, I recently ordered a stimulant product called Black Widow Energy which includes caffeine, ephedra extract, and yohimbe bark extract, and I was reading reviews that said to start with very little and work your way up. Was bored this morning since all my friends are in school and my school doesn't start till Sept 22nd, so I took a little less than half a pill. The dosage is 3 pills. Keep in mind I almost never drink coffee, so I have no tolerance to stimulants. Within 10 mins, I had no appetite, and a ton of energy. I wanted to go for a run or something. Although my heart probably would have exploded. My heart rate before was 64-68 (my HR goes up when I test it, so I'm probably sitting more around 60), but once I was on it, I was too ADD to test my HR, but it was probably 80 or 90. I listened to a slayer album (forgot which one) and it sounded amazing because my mind was running fast, and the album was running fast. I felt pretty high strung and just powered through some pre-term chem HW, somehow had fun with it till I got stuck, then played some video games while listening to slayer and everything was way more intense than usual. Finally I got so jumpy that I just wanted to go work out, so I headed to the gym to do my deadlifts.

Once I was there I was powering through everything, somehow I managed to muster up the focus to do my stretches, and got pretty good technique on my squats as a result. OHP was pretty good, the 8th rep on the 3rd set was a pretty big grinder but I had a ton of energy and explosivity on all the reps leading up to it. Did band pull aparts between every set, shoulders felt great, though my left shoulder socket has been a little sore since tuesday, did some external rotations after and it felt much better. Didn't want to reaggravate it doing bradford presses though, so I just focused on my deads. Started to slow down on deads, but I was still a little extra energetic, so I was using pretty short rest periods on that. Was listening to Children of Bodom the whole time, a band I've kind of fallen out of love with over the years, as they became sh*tty, but since my mind was running so fast it sounded awesome. Now that I'm home and it's been about 4 hours since I took the half pill, I still have a slight energy high, but I feel pretty normal, heart rate is 60-64 again, and my mind feels just a little fast. Either way, had a good day today, training was pretty fun and efficient, even if I was a bit ADD/distracted from the pill. Pretty excited to start my cut because I literally feel unrelentingly positive when I'm on this stimulant, with only slight anxiety/jitteriness as side effects. Also I'm looking bigger and leaner in the mirror after training, even after my pump has faded, my traps look huge in the mirror. Really good day today.
 
Glad those stretches helped man. I watched the deadlift too. Even though u struggled on 465 a little I'd still give you credit for it. Good shit that's like 100 lbs plus my 1 rep max haha.

Ps slayer is badass
 
Haha thanks, my form was shitty but at least I know for sure that it's hamstring weakness, hitting the good mornings hard again should fix it, and throwing in some dynamic work to reinforce technique, on squat day. Slayer is badass indeed, especially while lifting or doing homework xD.

On a side note I took my brother to the park today and got him on a pull up progression, had him do 5x10 lat shrugs on the pull up bar, then 2 sets of negatives. Next time I'll have him run through 10x2 negatives, in between playing of course, don't want to make him hate strength work before he even gets started lifting weights. We both challenged eachother on the monkey bars (he's got an advantage weighing only 85 lbs though!) and we both managed to skip 2s, and somehow I didn't dislocate my arms. Did a few runs on the monkey bars and I definitely feel like it's improving my grip and back strength, also did a few sets of sternum pull ups, and 1 muscle up, before finishing off with a solid set of 10, touching my sternum on the first 4, chin over bar on the last 6, kind of a PR considering my best with just chin over the bar is 10 or 11 reps. Lots of good lat work today.
 
I knew some crossfit guys that used monkey bars often in their workouts and those boys were in badass shape. I bet that will do wonders for your grip like you said. Hell that sounds like something I need to get in on. Wonder if kid's parents would care if a grown man went down to the park by himself and worked out on the monkey bars.. :P
 
Haha yeah it's awesome, done it by myself a few times and got weird looks, so I usually go while kids are in school, but from now on I'll probably just take my little brother so I can go when I want lol.

Was supposed to squat today but we had a beach class (happens only about once every 2-3 months) in Kempo and I didn't want to miss out on that, it was really early so I got no sleep, then the class itself wore me out, both fucked me over for squats. Had fun though! My hamstrings are still sore as hell, so I"m just gonna combine squat/bench tomorrow like this:

Squat 5x5x235
Bench 25 reps total x 195
Front squat 195 x (match bench reps)
Pendlay Row 135 4x10
Good mornings with bradford presses (probably 3x10x135 and 3x10x85)
speed DL into "Kirk Kowalski row" 10x1 (probably around 255-275)

Will probably drink this pre workout I got laying around before this just so I don't get exhausted and lazy. Expecting to be there for about 3-5 hours so I'll bring some rice and beans to eat after my front squats. Also came to the realization today that I'm doing too much moderate intensity cardio, since kempo classes are about 1.5 hrs, even though it's basically HIIT, the rest periods make it become moderate intensity on average, and therefore catabolic. Gotta limit it to 2-3x per week to preserve gains. Probably one of the reasons my last cut was so unsuccessful.
 
9-9-12: Squat/Bench

Squat
245x5/7/8/6

Bench
195x5/9/9
235x1 paused
195x5 paused

Good Mornings
4x8x135

Bradford Press
2 or 3 x10x75

Pendlay Row
135x10/10/9

Decent day today, although I didn't get to do everything I had planned because I was so worn out. High volume squatting takes a lot out of me. At least I'm increasing the weight and reps every week though. Squats were good, technique is getting much better, been stretching a lot more and going down slower, wearing the belt very loose on most sets to help me push out my abs and keep my back angle. On bench I keep setting high rep PRs, so I decided to try a heavy single, and 235 felt way harder than it should have. I might have been fatigued but I think the reason is that I haven't been going heavy/low reps in a long time, so even though I'm making good gains on my high rep strength, my maximal strength isn't increasing significantly. That's fine though because up until I go to college I'm just going to continue my "add 5 lbs every week and do 25+ reps total" program, then start 5x5 until December, when I'll probably be pretty fat, then when I "cut" I'll either do smolov base cycle on a caloric surplus or sheiko 32 on a small deficit (or maintenance but with stimulant pills), after which I"ll start 5/3/1 to regain my maximal strength while maintaining rep strength. Periodization, kind of.

I knew if I did front squats I wouldn't have the energy to do GMs, and since my hamstrings are much weaker than my quads I decided to do GMs instead. Pendlays didn't go so well, I think the high rep program isn't really working, so I'll switch it to the same program I'm doing for my squat/bench, which seems to be working just fine. I think what I'll do for front squats, until I have the work capacity to go heavy on them and do GMs after, is just match the weight and reps for GMs, just to maintain my quads. I'll be hitting them hard on 5x5 in a few weeks anyways so it shouldn't be a problem. Could also have been worn out from just the sheer amount of work I had to do today, next week I'll definitely do squats on Saturday and Bench on Sunday. Still, not a bad day today, rest day tomorrow (with kempo at night), but I might do some rear delt work.
 
9-11-12: Supplementary Lifts

Front Squat
195x5/9/9/5

Incline DB Bench and Chest Supp Row
60sx12/12
65sx10/10
70sx8/9

Drag Rows
2x10x95
2x10x115
1x11x135 followed by 9 shrugs

Front Plate Raise followed by plate halos (Raise/HaloRight/HaloLeft)
25x8/3/3
35x8/3/3x2
35x8/10/10

Felt really sluggish and tired today. My hamstrings have been sore for the last week and a half, but I think they're slowly adapting, iced the crap out of them yesterday. Also felt a bit sluggish at kempo yesterday, despite only gaining 1 lb this past week (198 at the gym), might be because there's a cough going around and I've been feeling a slight sore throat these last few days, or just my cardio is declining. Will start doing hill sprints whenever I haven't exercised in the last 5 hours and don't have to train legs in the next 24 hours. So that includes tonight, and tomorrow morning. Nothing too draining that will kill my strength work but enough to get my pussy assed lungs into shape.

Despite the sluggishness got a good front squat workout, last rep of both sets of 9 was paused because the weight was easy, the last set was all slow and paused (but explosive on the way up). Incline DB bench/chest supp rows were weaker than I expected, very sluggish and tired, and my cardio was shot. Drag rows were fun, I've been seeing a lot of guys smaller and weaker than me with bigger traps, even though I have good traps genetics, so I'm going to start hitting the traps more. Plus now that I'm benching with a closer grip they're more important. Just getting used to them, was very weak on these compared to what I'd expect. Front plate raises were good. Had a crazy pump after lifting, tried to get a picture but my hands were shaking way too much and my phone camera sucks, requires you to be completely still for 5 sec. Looked bigger than ever in the mirror though.

It's funny because for the longest time my chest and traps were way bigger than my shoulders, but now my shoulders are catching up. I still have a narrow shoulder bone structure, but all the back work is making them look wider, and my shoulders have been getting much thicker with all the isolation I've been adding. Now I gotta start hitting my chest more because it honestly is starting to look small compared to my front delts. It's all vain bodybuilding crap, but from a powerlifting perspective, bigger muscles=more leverage! Really notice a lot more bottom end strength on the bench press from the shoulder gains. No strongman tonight unfortunately.
 
Shit, hope you aren't getting sick. I've had strep throat for 2 months now and haven't been able to get rid of it. I'm finally getting back to normal energy range thank god. I don't know, if your hamstrings are jacked for that long it could just be a little overtraining. Last week I could tell my legs were starting to get overtrained, my lifts were going down and cardio was kicking my ass. Took it easy over the weekend and made 5 new PRs. Maybe just back off on the legs for a few days. Idk it could also be that the cardio is taxing your legs inbetween your lifting days.

Whatever it is I love the attitude of you getting in there and tearing it up while you're feeling run down like that. Keep it up brother
 
Thanks man, yeah I think I'm feeling better now, been taking a lot of vitamin C. I took it pretty easy on Tuesday and my hammies are still sore, I'll just have to see how today's workout feels, if my deadlift is stalled then I might take a deload.
 
9-13-12: Deads and OHP

Squat
a few sets of 5x135, just to help build that muscle memory technique, and get my hips warmed up for deads

OHP
120x5/5/6/6/5

Deficit Deadlift
415x3 with 1 plate deficit
365x5 with 2 plate deficit

Bradford Press
65x15/16

Hip Thrust
10x135

Decent day today, wasn't feeling like I could even get 470x1, much less for 2, so I just did deficit deads instead. Get more out of lighter weight, since I might be a bit overtrained, one of the many factors that could contribute to why I wasn't feeling strong today (kempo workout was more intense than usual, BW was 196 at the gym, sleep/diet have been a bit off, and possible overtraining due to working with over 90% for too many weeks in a row). Squats were good, technique is getting better and better, OHP was all right, did a lot of push ups in kempo yesterday, plus I did a lot of pull ups for a rest day, 30-40, at the park yesterday with my brother, so it could be why I wasn't able to push the sets to 8 reps. Like I said, deads I wasn't feeling it, 315 went up slow raw, 365 was fast with a belt, but 405 was really slow even with the belt, so I went for a 10 lb deficit dead PR while I was fresh, then dropped it down even more, did 3 reps with 365 standing on 2 plates, but it was too easy, so I did 2 more reps, both decent grinders at lockout.

Next week I'll probably do some deficit deads, then do some overloading, so maybe work up to 3x425 deficit dead, then 3x455 regular dead, then 3x475 block pull off 1 or 2 plates depending on how hard 455 is. The week after that I'll be living in Santa Barbara, so I'll try 475x2 to "establish my dominance" in the college weight room, or deload if the block pulls killed me, then the week after that I'm starting the 5x5 at around 425 or 435.

Forgot to bradford press between sets so I did 1 before my last set, then 1 before or after hip thrust, which I just threw in for extra lockout work, even though I was already pretty well worked.
 
9-15-12: Squat/Legs

Squat
265x5/7/8/5

Good Morning
3x10x135

Speed Deadlift
5 or 6 sets of 2 with 275

Short but good day today. Squats took a lot out of me, especially with this heat wave. Since I was pretty much dying in the heat I didn't want to try to squeeze front squats in, so I just focused on what I need, posterior chain work and deadlift technique reinforcement. Speed deads went great, 275 was flying up like it was nothing on most reps. Did this in oly shoes with my belt worn 1 notch loose.
 
9-16-12: Bench/Upper Body

Bench
200x5/7/9/5p (200x9 matched my 9 rep PR I set back when I weighed 205-210 and was using creatine, 5p as in 5 reps paused for the last set)

Pendlay row
155x5/7/8/5

Dips
BW x10
BW+20 x8/8/8/6
BW x10/11 (11 was with wraps)

Drag Rows
10x95
10x115
2x10x135
10x145 (followed by 12 shrugs)

T Bar Row
1 plate x 30 reps

McDonalds
1000 calories at least

Good day today, getting stronger and stronger without gaining much bodyweight. Somehow even though my scale weight isn't increasing, decreasing if anything, I look bigger and fatter. Doesn't make sense at all but the primary goal is high rep strength right now, so maybe I'm getting more puffy and less dense, so to speak. Either way progression is progression, once I start the 5x5 I should get denser and this gives me a good base of size to work up from. This would essentially be the hypertrophy stage of a periodization program, so I'll try to maintain the size as I train more exclusively for strength. Bench was strong today, might have had 10 on 200 but I didn't want to hit failure and ruin this gradual but undeniable progression, so I left it at 9. Pendlays felt a little weak but I still got 25 reps in 4 sets so I was happy I didn't have to do 5 sets. Dips I had a little competition with my friend, he ended up beating me and getting 14 after we both finished our weighted dips, but I'll beat him one day when I'm fresh! Drag rows were good, really glad to finally be hitting my traps properly. Just did some t bar rows at the end to finish off the back.

Later today I'm going to be going to my friend's small apartment complex gym to give him and my other friend some lifting tips, they don't really have any free weights from what I understand but I'll try to get them on a decent routine with whatever they have. So I'll probably end up doing some more upper body stuff then. Then tonight we're having guests for dinner and we're going to have a lot of food, so I'll probably head to the park and do some pull ups just to get in that anabolic state before eating a lot. Plus I love doing pull ups. Won't be logging that but I've been doing about 30-60 pull ups of varying grips, 3 times per week with my brother, from which I've noticed gains in the width of my lats, an increase in my work capacity, and a decrease in time needed to rest between sets.
 
Decided to take a rest day today even though I was going to do front squats, lower lat, and upper chest work today. Feeling pretty sore and worn out, plus it's grappling week in kempo which is very physically demanding, so my next lifting session will be on thurs. Just doin some shoulder rehab work around the house with light dumbbells today. I'll also go do some pull ups with my brother this evening, but with more focus on the arms (narrower grip fat bar pull ups and hammer grip chins), since my bicep/forearms are the only things that aren't sore at all right now. Might throw in some hill sprints. My chest, shoulders, traps, and adductors/hamstrings are killing me!
 
9-20-12: Hips and Shoulders

High Bar Squat
5xbar
5x95
5x135
2x5x155

OHP
5x125

Deadlift
3x425 1 plate deficit
1x475 block pull off 1 plate
8x405 touch n go block pull off 1 plate

Bradford Press
4x10x75 from between DL sets

Very short day today, was in and out in 1.5 hours. Really liked high bar squats, felt it a ton in the glutes. Thinking about switching over to high bar squats in January when I start 5/3/1 again, I'll just slowly start loading them in conjunction with low bar squats, on my dynamic day in place of leg press. Once I start them as a main movement though I'll need to prioritize good mornings over front squats for assistance work, to make sure I don't neglect my hamstrings. I'll be doing dynamic box squats to warm up for deads on deadlift day as well. I think high bar actually fits my build better, I have to lean so far forward and use so much back when I do low bar squats because of my short torso and long femurs, but with these, I put the bar up on my traps and still sat back to use my posterior chain, kind of like Misha Koklyaev, and it feels a million times more natural to me. Even though I was leaning forward a bit and using back/posterior chain, I had no buttwink, hit depth easily, and felt very strong, except for the huge discomfort in my unconditioned traps.

OHP felt very weak, decided to just do bradfords instead, my shoulders have been a bit funky since sunday when I did all those dips. I also think I overdid it on the pull up training, and actually managed to overtrain my back (I use a lot of lats and traps on OHP). I did about 40-50 reps on Sunday when I trained with my friends, then I did about 60 pull ups throughout 7 sets on tuesday, then afterwards had about 5 unsuccessful attempts before finally getting a muscle up, think I tweaked my shoulder and the area where the traps meet the lats while doing those. Doesn't help that I grappled pretty intensely monday and wednesday night, 3 two minute rounds in a row of jiu jitsu. Yesterday and this morning my back actually looked smaller, and it's been really sore and actually even hurting. Then I just felt really worn out overall today, basically all that tells me I've overtrained my back, something I never before thought was possible. I'll have to take it easy on friday, I'll focus on just coaching my brother.

Obviously since my back was overtrained, deadlifts were mediocre, was happy to get a PR on the deficit pull, but was very disappointed on the block pulls, got the 2nd rep up to my knees but I knew there would be no point and a potential injury in trying to lock it out, so I just dropped it. Decided I might as well get some actual work in so I did a high rep set with 405, no bouncing, just touch n go, all the time under tension killed my glutes/hamstrings. Since DL is a bit overtrained I'll do a semi deload next week, gonna start the mag/ort program and the first week only involves me going up to 405 for 2 sets of 2, which is basically a deload.

Not the best day but it's still productive, and I've learned to take it easier on my pull up training, and that I love high bar squats. Moving to college this Saturday, and on Sunday I'll be doing 20 rep squats (probably low bar) to kick off my weight gain. I'm sure it doesn't help the overtraining situation that I've weighed 197 for the last 4-6 weeks, but the unlimited meal plan I've got for college should help me change that.
 
9-23-12: Squat/OHP

Squat
5x275
3x315
15x225

OHP
105x8/9/10
135x5 push press

Dips
2x12xBW+10

Short day today, my first workout at UCSB. The gym is decent, much better than the 24 hour fitness at home, but the one thing that pisses me off about it is the fact that you can't have your workout bag with you, there's these cubbies really far away and out of eyesight from the squat rack where they need to be, and that has me really uneasy. Wouldn't be surprised if the guy comes up to me on my deadlifts and tells me I can't use chalk. But otherwise it was good. Low bar squat technique felt amazing today, maybe the fact I had to ride my bike halfway across campus to the gym helped warm up my hips, because I barely needed to stretch. I could have gone heavier but my focus was to do high rep squats today. 15 wasn't to failure but I didn't want to hit failure and ruin this training block. I'll be doing the 5x5 next week, starting on Saturday. OHP was pretty decent as well, felt pretty strong, and dips were good, didn't aggravate my shoulder too badly.

Met a bodybuilder who I knew from back in middle school at the gym today, as well as a few friends I met at orientation. I was OHPing with a friend who threw discus in highschool, he was only getting 105 for 3-4 reps, but when we went to dips he was destroying me, he got BW+50 for 5 reps and BW+70 for 3 reps. And he weighs 207. I need to step it up on those, otherwise looking forward to the training block. Dining halls are closed from 2-5 unfortunately, so I"ll probably end up just lifting then so I can make the most of my time. Kind of bummed that I got the unlimited meal plan without knowing that, but it's fine, I"ll just eat as much as possible when I can. Diet was very off the last 2 days, havne't weighed myself but I could be as low as 190, looking leaner and smaller without a doubt. There's also a small gym 3 doors down from my dorm room, they only have some machines and a cable machine but I can do external rotations so I'll be doing those on off days.
 
Cubbies with no locks or anything on them? That's stupid man! Yeah I'd be worried about getting my shit stolen too.

Good numbers as always man 275 x 5 back squat is a way's out for me haha keep it up!

475 x 1 deadlift man if you haven't already 500 lb pr is coming your way
 
Yeah no locks man, it's bullshit. Whatever though, it's otherwise a good gym. I got 500 a few months back but I lost a lot of strength cutting. Hoping to get 500 for a double in 3 months, starting ort/mag deadlift program: 500 deadlift - YouTube

9-25-12: Bench/Rows

Bench
3x5x210
5x185 very close grip

Pendlay Row
3x5x165

JM Press
85x10
105x8
125x5

Drag Rows
12x135 5 shrugs
10x155 5 shrugs
10x160 10 shrugs

Incline Push Ups (feet on box)
35 reps

Reverse Bench/Inverted Rows (awkward set up)
20 reps

Decent workout today. Most of the bars in the new gym are thicker than the standard bars, I asked and they still weigh 45, but the thickness is throwing me off a bit, plus the rings are spaced really wide. Also the bench itself is narrower so it's hard to set my shoulders. Even pinky on the ring grip feels wide for me. So I just tried to feel it out where I felt comfortable (I like a wide grip for strength but it bothers my shoulders). Rows went well. JM Press I was just trying to feel it out, elbows were bothered like crazy, will probably just do cable curls/triceps on Thursday morning in the little fitness room in my hall, then head for the rec center in the evening to do my deadlifts. Drag rows were good, there's a trap bar in the gym so I"ll probably make use of that for shrugs, and maybe do some trap bar deads on my deload week for Ort/Mag where you're supposed to rest the lower back. Incline push ups were good, felt more fatigue in the upper back than chest though, since I"m so used to supporting my shoulders and accelerating the bar with back and not chest. Might have to do cable flys for chest. Reverse bench was awkward but I felt it in the lats, biceps, and forearms pretty well, so it wasn't a complete disaster. Smith machine was taken, so I just went to the premade barbell rack, removed 2, and used the 3rd from the bottom as a bar. Overall a good workout. Afterwards I went to the dining hall and had 12 pieces of sushi, 2 bowls of broccoli beef, a fish steak with brown rice, and 3 cups of milk. Gotta love the unlimited meal plan.

Haven't been weighing myself but I look and feel good/strong. Testosterone has felt really high though for some reason, maybe it's all the girls or maybe it's the high meat diet, I've also been sleeping 8 hours per night consistently, and pretty active (biking everywhere, playing sports outside, walking). After my workout today I looked pretty damn huge with my shirt off. College is pretty great so far!
 
9-27-12: Ort/Mag Deadlift

High and Wide Box Squat
3x5x135 dynamic

Deadlift
4x4x350
2x2x405
10x365 (4 rep/90 lb PR)

Weighted Chin Ups
3x3xBW+45

Tricep Pressdowns
30 reps total of varying weights

Box squats felt pretty good, very fast. Biking 3-4 miles to the gym is a great hip/leg warmup so I don't need to do very much but stretch my groin muscles before working lower body lifts. Deads were good today. Took a lot out of me but it wasn't anything unmanagable, so next week when I work with real weights (2x455) shouldn't kill me. Haven't done high rep straight deads in forever so it was a 4 rep/90 lb PR on the last set. No bouncing but no resetting either. I'm pretty sure it was one of the thicker bars but it didn't feel too bad. Didn't want to try using chalk because the gym owners can be pricks about it, so I just used eco chalk, not as good but it worked, though I did feel deads were a lot more taxing on my grip this way. Or it could be the thicker bar, which again I"m not 100% sure was one of the thick ones. Not a problem though. Technique felt spot on today, was very happy about that.

Weighted chins were tough as hell because my hands were already torn up and my grip was already tired from deads, but I busted out 3x3x45. I'll probably start doing those on Saturdays instead so I can actually work them hard. Tricep pressdowns are great, gotta get my triceps bigger and I like them for the long head a lot better than JM Press, only shitty thing is it's too easy to accidentally recruit the pecs and take pressure off the tris, when the weight gets heavy. Good day overall, going to do high bar squats, incline benches, and trap bar drag rows/shrugs on Saturday, along with some other stuff.
 
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