[quote]DaCharmingAlbino wrote:
I’ma fekking idjit. For God knows what reason I thought NROL was some hormone replacement drug and so I haven’t been reading your log. Welcome and please accept my apologies for not welcoming you sooner. Good consistent lifting happening here.[/quote]
That’s funny! Thanks for the welcome.
I’ve been slacking on the web-log over the holidays, but not the workouts. Too many things going on with family. The holiday rush is over so I’ll post them tonight after I finish today’s workout.
Notes:
I’m did as many wide-grip pull-ups as I could before finishing the set
with pull downs. The last 2 sets I did only pull-downs. I’m fairly weak
on my pulling strength, but getting better.
Notes:
Knocked this out quickly. The reps on the dead were very
tough, and the bss’s had me sucking wind as usual. I’m
seeing my cardio fitness drop a little now that I’m not running
due to the weather. I just can’t bring myself to run on the treadmill
because it’s like mental torture - incredibly boring.
Went up in a few lifts:
up 5 lbs on the last set of incline bench
up 10 lbs on the last 2 sets of rows
up on the close-grip bench
Went down a couple too:
down 2 reps on the last set of shoulder presses
couldn’t get 5 reps on the last 4 sets of pull-ups
I lowered the high-pull some the last set, but did 110 over all
sets. All the olympic bars are gone so I had to make do with
bars preloaded for curls, lunges, etc. 110 was the highest weight
it goes to.
The gym is getting busy! Probably will be that way until February
Notes:
Went up by 20 lbs on the squat and 50 lbs on the dead compared to
the last time I did 10 reps on this workout. I’m feeling stronger,
and my grip is getting stronger too.
The bss’s and step-ups were tough. The step-up was a little lower
than last time (just below knee instead of at knee), but I used a
barbell rather than dumbbells. It seemed a little tougher on the ass,
but easier to balance.
Notes:
I’m getting stronger, or I didn’t know how strong I was. Squatted 265 for
5 reps, and I think I could’ve gone higher. That’s 40lbs higher than the last
time I did 5 reps on the squat. I used a belt for the first time on the last
set, and perhaps that helped me out a little. The belt was a Christmas present
from my kids.
Added 15 lbs to the deadlift as well. I’m beginning to enjoy the heavy lifting
more than the high-rep (12 or higher) workouts. The high-rep workouts leave me sore
for days. The heavy stuff makes me sore too, but only for a day or two.
Want to know how pathetic my gym is? There were guys watching me deadlift the 315!
I don’t think anyone here really knows that 315 isn’t much weight for the dead.
If Meat, Jack, DCA, or Harry lifted in here one time, the gym members would probably applaud and throw money.
The gym is also packed. This workout normally takes me an just over an hour with warm-ups,
but today it was 1 1/2 hours. I had to wait between exercises today, and I’m sure that will
continue into early Feb. Maybe the extra rest time helped me out some.
I have to admit that I missed a workout - the upper body on the 1st of Jan. Tried to hit every workout during the holidays, but things were hectic last weekend. I had too many commitments. No good excuses though.
On a positive note I did set some PR’s on the lower-body split yesterday. I’ll get back to it with the upper-body tomorrow. Now that the holidays are over, I can get back into my routine.
It’s nice having this site to keep me accountable. I was feeling guilty about missing the workout, and I’m not sure I would feel guilty if I didn’t have to post the missed workout here.
I’m grateful to have you all here - even if it’s only on the Internet - it helps.
Nice PRs, Good work! And don’t worry, it will start to thin out in about 3 weeks, once the resolutioners start to figure out that they actually have to work to get results, or when they just plain forget to come back.
Notes:
Getting stronger on the dumbbell bench. Went up 10 lbs on this rep
count.
Went up also on the shoulder presses by 5 lbs.
The lat pull-downs and pull-ups are stagnant. I can’t move up in
weight on any rep count. I’ll keep plugging away, but I may need
to do some additional work on the vertical pulling to get stronger
here.
Went with 135 on the high-pull on my last set - also the most I’ve
used for this. Finally starting to to get the feel of this exercise;
the force has to come from the legs and back rather than a powerful shrug.
The shoulders seem to work harder in bringing the weight back down.
Notes:
Really got the heart-rate up today. Thought it would come out of
my chest. Felt much more difficult than the last time I did this rep
count. I drank way to much coffee and too little water today; that may
have contributed to the difficulty.
Gym was nearly empty - a nice change from the last 2 weeks.
Halfway through this phase now. 4 more weeks to go. Overall, I’m getting
stronger. I’ve raised the weight on all the big lifts over the last 4 weeks
on the 5-rep days. The 10-rep days are more of a form and pump workout although
I’ve added weight there too. The 15-rep days are actually getting harder, which
means I’m probably losing some conditioning. Not a big deal though - plenty of
time this spring to get the conditioning up after adding more strength.
Notes:
Felt good tonight, but not enough to raise the weights much.
I’m continuing to get weaker on the pull-ups. I think I need to do more of them.
I’m going to do pull-ups 4 times per week; This workout occurs in a Monday, Friday,
Wednesday, Monday… format. So when if I’m doing the Monday - Friday workout, then
I’ll do additional morning pull-ups on Tuesday and Thursday. When I’m doing the Wednesday
workout, then I’ll do pull-ups on Monday, Friday, and Saturday. Do I know what I’m doing?
Not really, but let’s just consider this an experiment that I’ll try for the next 4 weeks.
If it doesn’t work, then I’ll try something different.
*I switched from high-pull to a hang-clean. My shoulder just isn’t liking the high pulls. The catch feels more natural to me. I’ll do hang-cleans for the remainder of this workout (5 more to go)
I was in nearly the same position you started in last June… 38, with a desk job, 220 pounds and out of shape. My first deadlifts were barely over 100 pounds, and my squat was like 80. Having come a good way out of that, I thought I had a lot of advice for you. But reading your recent posts, you seem to have it worked out. Congrats.
The only thing I would say is related to your question on straps. Other people’s advice is good, but consider your options. When I hit 300 pounds on deadlift, I could no longer hold it with both hands in an overhand grip. Simply switching to one hand over, one hand under, has been enough to let me get to 335 x 10 and 405 x 1 with no need for straps yet. And my grip is really benefiting.
Anyway, if your grip isn’t coming along as fast as your deadlifts, straps may be the answer. But it’s convenient if an opposing grip will do the trick for you.
I was in nearly the same position you started in last June… 38, with a desk job, 220 pounds and out of shape. My first deadlifts were barely over 100 pounds, and my squat was like 80. Having come a good way out of that, I thought I had a lot of advice for you. But reading your recent posts, you seem to have it worked out. Congrats.
The only thing I would say is related to your question on straps. Other people’s advice is good, but consider your options. When I hit 300 pounds on deadlift, I could no longer hold it with both hands in an overhand grip. Simply switching to one hand over, one hand under, has been enough to let me get to 335 x 10 and 405 x 1 with no need for straps yet. And my grip is really benefiting.
Anyway, if your grip isn’t coming along as fast as your deadlifts, straps may be the answer. But it’s convenient if an opposing grip will do the trick for you.
Cheers.
[/quote]
Good points. Also, chalk is good for about an extra 100 lbs. on the bar as far as grip strength goes, in my experience.
Thanks Jack (EDIT: and HumanJ). The grip hasn’t been too much of a problem lately; I’m alternating my grip on the deads. The previous phase had me rowing the weight after the dead, and that’s where the grip was becoming an issue because I couldn’t use the alternating grip.
NROL-Fat Hypertrophy Workout B Workout Date: Wednesday, 13 Jan 2010
Straight Sets, 10 reps/60 seconds rest between sets
back squat 135x10 155x10 175x10 205x10