Ramblin's Of A Psycho....

[Illuminati]

Every now and then, I get a wild hair across me, and want to do a training journal. But I dont realy think that shows much. Yeah, its nice to see what someone does for a workout, but it doesn't really give you much insite into what the person is thinking and why the do it. SO I have decided to half journal, and half ramble. It will probably be more on the Ramblin side of things, but oh well...

Had my second bench workout of the week today, other one was monday. I normally dont give two shits what people in the gym are doing, but on monday, there was this one guy who thought that he was all tough on the bench. He was putting his feet up on the bench, had his ass way up off the bench, and it looked like he was doing a decline. then, when he would bench, he would not only bounce the bar off his chest, but he would only take the bar as far up as his bounce would take him. Afterwards, he would get up, with his immaginary lat syndrome, and think he was tough. Well, since it Thursday, and I'm writting about it, you can tell that it really pissed me off. So on monday, I decided that I was going to max out. I hit a 355. Should have seen the look on the guys face....
So, today, because I still can't break the PL mentality that I drove myself into over the last 3 years, I decided to do some bench work with my Jumpstretch bands for some dynamic effort work. So I doubled my mini's over the bar. The bands add about 90lbs of tension at the top of the lift, and deload the tension as it gets closer to your chest. i was working with 225, getting the reps real fast, and feeling good. So I decided to take a weight for reps. Took the bands off, and smoked 225 for 10 liked it weighed 135. Then hit up an easy set with 275 for 10. Then I went to 295, and hit a pretty easy 8 reps with it. Couldn't believe it. Neither could the owner of the gym (I had him spot me on the last set.)
Anyways, that's my ramble for the day. Tomorrow, legs. I want to go for a max on Deadlift. But not sure if I should do some speed work for squat/deadlift tomorrow, and then hit up a max on tuesday of next week.



today's workout

Bench w/Mini's
185x5, 205x5, 225x3,3,3,3,3,3

Flat bench
225x10
275x10
295x8

Inc flies
40x10,45x10, 50x10, 55x8

incline shoulder press machine
2 plates per side, 2 sets of 10
Seated Tri Pushdown (some random machine)
2 plates per side x 10
3 plates per side x 10
4 plates per side x 10
5 plates per side x 6
*had to stop b/c this was about 2x my body weight, and i could barely stay seated

Flat Tate Presses
40x10
45x10
50x10

Lying DB Ext.
40x10, 45x10, 50x8

 

[silver_shadow]

good stuff.... i'm looking forward to more such ramblings

 

[djeclipse]

nice bench, you're an animal, lol

Good rant by the way, keep it up.

 

[Iliketolift]

Age/height/weight??? Very impressive.

 

[djeclipse]

Iliketolift
Join Date: Dec 2004
Gender: M
Posts: 145
Karmic Power: 0
Karma Hits: -780

Just this morning you have +700 lol

 

[Illuminati]

Age/height/weight??? Very impressive.

Age: 25
Height: 5'11"
Weight: 220

 

[Illuminati]

another day at the gym. felt like crap. wasn't 100% sure until I got to the gym that I was going to go for a max on the DL. Been a little sick the past few days, and today my head felt like it was gonna explode. What a better time than today to make my eyes pop out even more by deadlifting at a max weight. and didn't it feel great.

One thing that I realized today, well realized a while ago but was reaffirmed today, that training is a lonely sport. this girl says to me "what kind of women do you look for?" "doesn't matter to me, I'm not too picky. As long as she I can have an intelligent conversation with her, she can make me laugh, then I'm game. Oh one more thing. Training is a huge part of my life, and if a woman wants to get with me, then she is going to have to understand that I'm gonna train for at least 1hr a day, 6 days a week, and that she isn't going to be able to change me." hahahaha....that was two weeks ago, and she hasn't called me since. so this other girl that I have been talking to for a few weeks now, calls to tell me that she's leaving for the weekend, and wanted to talk for a little bit. Well, I was just pulling into the gym, and since I kind of dig her, decided to talk for a minute or two. Well, about 10 minutes of sitting in the car on the phone, I tell her that i just pulled into the gym, and that I had to go work out. "is that all you care about?" i tried not to laugh, and said no. then she hung up on me, probably expecting a call back. that is when I decided that I was going to max out on deadlifts.



Deadlift:
315x1 365x1 405x1 455x1 495x1 525x1
felt like my eyes were gonna pop out of my head so i stopped

SLDL
225x10 275x10 315x8 365x5

ham Curls 4 sets of 8

 

[Guinness5.0]

Age: 25
Height: 5'11"
Weight: 220

Hey our stats are similar!




Except I'm 30 pounds heavier than you in and your lifts are better...

 

[anotherbutters]

You only did two exercises? Come on, put some effort into it j/k

You have very impressive lifts. How's your training structured? Based around WSB?

 

[Illuminati]

You only did two exercises? Come on, put some effort into it j/k

You have very impressive lifts. How's your training structured? Based around WSB?

Come on brotha, gimme some credit, I did 3 exercises. I know, Ham Curls dont really count.

Right now, my training is loosly structured on WSB theories. I trained with strick WSB for about 3 years, had a little accident last year, took some forced time off, spent the last 6 months with WSB again. I am trying to do something to change it up a little bit, and take a short break from strick PL routine. Kind of cramped for time right now, as I'm bout to head into town. So I'll make a post later tonight, or probably sometime tomorrow about my training, what I am doing now, and my philosophy....

 

[BiggT]

Great looking workouts, I like the journal a lot.....With the women, the good ones will support any hobby as long as you're passionate about it

 

[Illuminati]

Great looking workouts, I like the journal a lot.....With the women, the good ones will support any hobby as long as you're passionate about it

yes, i know. but there are very few of them that will understand.


So, this has nothing to do with training, but I just have to share this story with everyone. I'll first say, that I have nothing against religious people. Its not my thing, if its for you. Good on ya. but here is the event of my otherwise boring night....



I'm sitting in a 2 seat row by myself on a train, my friends behind me, and this lady sits next to me. She turns around, and says "is it ok that I go out without you?" to this guy she was with. I should have known something was up at that point. I'm sitting there, minding my own business, and she says "Do you believe in Jesus Christ, our lord and Savior?" I just shook my head. She says "I do. I've seen Jesus. I've seen the scars on his hands and feet."
"Oh you have" I said to her.
"yes, I have."
"umm...OK."
"you dont believe in our lord and savior. Do you pray?"
I thought to myself, I am praying that you will leave me alone, but instead said "no."
"do you have anyone that prays for your soul?"
"yeah, these two," I said pointing to my friends.
"I will pray for you. What will it take for you to believe in our lord and savior?"
"a whole bunch of drugs" i start to hear people laughing.
"Are you muslim? I am going to pray for you." She reaches into her purse, and starts to pull something out. Keep in mind the whole entire time she is talking, she has this blank stare on her face, and it was freaking me out. As she is reaching into her purse, I got up to move. Everyone who was in the vacinity was laughin hysterically. Tears rolling down there faces.

 

[Illuminati]

You have very impressive lifts. How's your training structured? Based around WSB?

here is a little bit about my training:

i have spent a great number of years working out doing both functional strength stuff, body building, and powerlifting, all depending upon what my goals were at the time. when i first started out, i wanted functional strength for sports. after i got done playing sports, i kept working out, but more for the BBing aspect of things. it took me a few years, but I realized that I didin't have the (diet) dedication to be a BBer, and that I was more interested in strength. I learned everything that I could about WSB, and followed their protocol for about 3 years religiously. then I slipped a disk, spent some time out of the gym. During which, I did a lot of thinking about my training, and what my goals were in life.

I came to the conclusion that my training has always been centered around two things:
1. Strength
2. Size

Strength: No matter what you do in the gym, no matter how you train, everybody wants to be stronger. When people find out that you lift, the first question that almost always gets asked is "how much do you bench?" i personally dont like the question, b/c its not a true indicator of strength, but still, its part of the motivating force that makes one want to lift. Who would much rather answer the question with 315, or 405 as opposed to 225? Everybody would rather say the first two numbers, as opposed to the second, and if you dont agree, then you are lying. Strength show the people in the gym that you know what you are doing.

Size: I dont care if you are a powerlifter or strongman competitor, where you main focus is with strength, but you are still concerned with size. Everybody wants to be big. Size shows the visual results of your hard work and dedication to being in the gym. PERIOD. Argue with me on this one if you want, but EVERYBODY wants to be big. Nobody wants to put all this time into the gym, and not gain any size. It shows people that you have dedication to lifting.

Tying them together: When people see that you are big, and have muscular deifinition, it leads to the "how much do you bench" question that we have all heard at least once in our lives. so why not be both big and strong at the same time?

My thoughts:
WSB:
As many of you who have been here for a while know, I am big on Westside Barbell. I think that it has done incrediable things as far as making me stronger. It took me from believing that a bench of 315 was "superhuman" to believing that there is no reason why I shouldn't be benching 405. And that a squat of 405 is nothing, and that I should be in the 550 range. Deadlifting...I know I should be in the upper 500's to lower 600's. Things that I once saw as "superhuman feats" I now believe are merely stepping stones to being strong. One thing that I dont like about the WSB training is that there isn't much emphasis on the Deadlift. I think that this has mainly to do with the fact that the gear in the PL world is so advanced for the Bench and Squat, that more people put emphasis on these two lifts and the use of the gear to increase their totals. Shit, if you can learn to train right with a bench shirt, you can add an easy 100-150lbs to your bench. With the right squat suit and training, you can add 200+ pounds. But there isn't a suit out yet, that helps much with the deadlift. I think that this is why there is so much emphasis on the squat and bench for WSB (and for any PL routine for that matter.)

Size and Definition:
This may go against the whole notion of what most of your believe, but I want to throw out the believe that "doing reps of 10-12 will stimulate hypertrophy." the biggest factor that will shape (pun intended) someone is their diet. If you dont enough calories, then you will not get bigger. If you dont eat a clean diet, then you wont gain muscular definition. So to gain both size and strength, you need to eat a clean diet, with enough calories to gain weight. I'm not a dietician, I have never undergone a study in this area. I probably should, because it would more than likely benefit me, but I haven't. So for the time being, I try to stuff my face with at least 3500-4000 calories per day, and eat 350-400g of protein per day. That is all I will say about dieting.

My Current Goals:
1. Deadlift 600


Im not going to list anything else, because I dont really have any other goals, or desires that are pushing me at this current moment. This is going to be my focus until I accomplish this. Yes, I want to get bigger (this is a given) but it isn't what is driving me at the moment.

My Training:

Compound Lifts:
I will never break away from PL notion that these should be done with few reps. In part because I'm just too damn lazy to do reps. Why do 3 sets of 10, when you can do 10 sets of 3? Shorten your rest time, shorten your reps, increase your sets, so that you are still doing the same amount of work in the same amount of time. Better yet, shorten your rest time, shorten your break time, increase your weight (b/c you are doing less reps), complete in the same amout of time that you were doing the 3 sets of 10, and you have done more work, and the same amount of reps.
For example:
Johnny does 3 sets of 10 with 225. With time under tension, and break time, it takes him 10 minutes to complete the work. that is 6750lbs lifted total between the 3 sets.
Johnny decided that he can handle doing 250 for 10 sets of 3, and that he can shorten his break time down to 30secs with this weight. (est here, but it would take 10secs to complete the set) 10 sets x 10 seconds + 9 rest periods equals just over 6 minutes, and total weight lifted is 7500lbs.
As you can see, with the 10 sets of 3, 750lbs of more weight has been lifted, and in 60% of the amount of time.

Accessory Work:
Again, I am pulling from WSB. I will say here that I do not believe in Direct Isolation movements for a specific muscle. Yes, there are some that will hit a muscle more, but I do not believe in the BBer notion of isolation. With that said, I will also say that I do not believe in working shoulders directly. The shoulders get hit indirectly with almost everything that you do, and it is not my believe that shoulders should be regularaly trained, as this will lead to over training. This comes from my PL training.
As far as reps and set are concerned...Like I said before with the compound lifts, I am just too damn lazy to do reps. I tend to keep them in the 6-8 range, unless I get into the set, realize that I have picked something too light, and then I will hit it with more reps, but never over 10. Partly because your form goes out the window once the reps get up there.

My Current Workout Schedule:

Monday
Speed Bench Day
Bench w/ bands 10 sets of 3
Incline Bench 4 sets of 6-8
Fly work 3 sets of 8-10
Tri's 9 sets of 8-10 reps (different exercises)

Tuesday
Speed Squat/Deadlift Day
Box Squat w/bands (if I'm not too lazy to set them up) 10 sets of 2
Speed Pulls w/Snatch Grip 10 singles
Hamstring/lower back work

Wednesday
Back and Bi's work
Upright Rows 4 sets of 5-8 (this is my fav. exercise for traps)
8 sets of some sort of rows for 6-8 reps
8 sets of some sort of curls for 8-10 reps

Thursday
Max Effort Bench Day
Max out on some sort of bench
Fly work 3 sets of 8-10
9 sets of Tri work for 6-8 reps

Friday
Max Effort Squat/Deadlift Day
Max on a Squat/Deadlift exercise, with more focus pulling, less on squatting
Hamstring and lower back work (usually involves SLDL)

Saturday
Back and Bi work
Same protocol as Wednesday, except with heavier weight, and less reps

Sunday
My Day Off

Yeah, I kind of screwed up last week as far as my workouts go. But that is also part of my training. Sometimes I just change things out of no where, it al depends upon my mood when I get there. I set up my days in my head, and think things out, but I am somewhat instinctive. If I'm feeling good when I get there, and I have all kinds of energy, then I will max out on any day of week. Nothing should ever be set in stone, and should always be subject to change.

 

[Guinness5.0]

I like your training philosophy.

How 'bout a friendly 'race' to a 600 pound dead? That and a 600 pound squat are mymid/long term goals. Where is your deadlift now?

 

[majutsu]

ummm watch it guinness
illum's an old war horse.
These are his injury numbers

 

[Illuminati]

I like your training philosophy.

How 'bout a friendly 'race' to a 600 pound dead? That and a 600 pound squat are mymid/long term goals. Where is your deadlift now?

well, I just hit 525 dead last week. so I am going to say that is my max. my all time best was a 545, but that was before my back injury. what is your max right now?

So, the race is on. First person to hit 600 and post a video wins.

 

[majutsu]

It's on to the break of dawn . . . .

Good log illum. I like it!

 

[Illuminati]

So I was at this Irish Pub last night (no I dont drink. It was St. Patty's day...) and they were giving away free T-Shirts. The shirts were all laid out on the table according to size. I was trying to find what sizes were where by looking at the tags. I started to look at one, and the guy behind the table says "hey bro. The X-Larges are down here...." Two things stuck out about this to me.
1. The guy called me bro. This means that he works out, as this is the international name us "bros" call each other at the gym.
2. I'll be the first to tell ya that I got Bigorexia, but when a gym bro tells me that I need a XL, it makes me break from my Bigorexia for a moment.

Anyways, here's today's workout:

1 Arm lat Pulldown
90x8 135x8 160x8,8

1 Arm Lat Row
90x8 135x8 180x8,6

UpRight Rows
135x8 145x8 155x8 165x6

Inc. Seated Curls
35x8 40x8 45x8 50x8

Bar Curls
115x8 125x8 135x8 145x6

Spider Curls
40x8 45x8 50x8 55x8

 

[Guinness5.0]

well, I just hit 525 dead last week. so I am going to say that is my max. my all time best was a 545, but that was before my back injury. what is your max right now?

So, the race is on. First person to hit 600 and post a video wins.

I just hit 500 the other day, but I think I'm good for more - I hit it on the last day of a pretty brutal training cycle, so I guess my max is a bit north of 500 under the right conditions.


It should be fun to have a friendly competition

 

[Illuminati]

I just hit 500 the other day, but I think I'm good for more - I hit it on the last day of a pretty brutal training cycle, so I guess my max is a bit north of 500 under the right conditions.


It should be fun to have a friendly competition

let the fun and games begin....

 

[Illuminati]

Today kind of sucked. Got up at 5am, b/c I had to be at work early. Ended up having to stand outside in the cold for 4hrs, and felt like shit at the end of the day. But I have a contest to win (...Guiness....) so I can't miss a day. Its no fun trying to PL with a nasty head ache, cause after each set, the head ache gets about 10x's worse cause you just held your breath for about 10 seconds. Oh well, its all part of the game.
Ain't got much to say, cause I'm bout to go to bed. Had a pretty decent work out. I dont know why I decided to see how many reps of 225 I could get after my last set of speed bench.


Speed Bench w/ Minis
(warmed up first)
205x3,3,3,3,3,3
225x3,3

Took off Bands
225x20

Inc. Bench
185x5
205x5
225x5
245x5

Elbows out Ext.
40x10
50x8
60x8,8

Rope Push Downs
140x10
150x8,8,8

 

[Illuminati]

Don't really have much to say today, other than I realized that I shouldn't be doing lat work the day before a max effort bench day. SO I have decided to swap my lat days, and my squat/deadlift days around.

Upright Rows
135x8 145x8 155x8 165x8

1 Arm Lat Pull Downs
90x8 135x8 135x8

1 Arm Seated Rows
90x8 135x8 160x8,8

Straight Bar Curls
115x8 125x8,8,8

Standing Curls
40x8 50x8 60x8

 

[Illuminati]

I'm I were a billionair, I would put a plow on the front of truck and tilt it to the side. The sole purpose of the plow, would be so that I could hit people from behind. Not just a tap. I would ram them, and send their ass off the road.

Anyways, I'm not sure why I start these journals. I'm terrible at keepin up with them. Goes back to that whole being lazy things. So maybe, after every so many training days, I'll just kind of give a review of the things that I did in the gym. That sounds more like it.

Wednesdays squat/deadlift day sucked ass. It made me realize something. I will never be able to squat heavy again. Having weight on my back, just kills me. It puts too much pressure on my weak disk, and causes pain for the next couple days. Its really frustrating to have to deal with this. but on a side note, deadlifting doesn't hurt me at all. One would think it would, but it doesn't. So there is nothing stopping me from deadlifting heavy.

thursday was a bench day. Wasn't feelin too up to maxing out for a single, so i went for a max on reps of 5, on incline bench. started up with some warm up sets. then went to 185, 205, 225, 245, 255.