Watched a Marcus Ruhl vid, very inspiring. Think I’ll be watching some Yates stuff later.
Legs, deadlift
Deadlift
360x3
405x3
440x5
I’ve basically figured I’m not going to try and keep up with the 5/3/1 schedule as far as working up to 85%, next time 90, next time 95. 5/3/1 has taught me how to push it in those ranges, so for instance today I figured I’d go up to 440, so 3’s leading up made sense. For bench I’ll probably do the 5/3/1 just cuz it’s easier that way and seems to work. Squats and deads will go by feel and work up to something that feels appropriate on that given day. Hopefully that makes sense, if not, at least I know what I mean!
Cybex squat press machine- for all intents and purposes, this is a leg press, but I like it better. Better position, regular leg press always seems to put a lot of pressure on the front of my knees. With patella realignment surgery about 9-10 years ago, that’s no good for me.
Anyway-
6 pps x 10
7 pps x 8
5 pps x 20- this was awesome. Got to 12, took a breath, 14, took breath, 16… Etc. I will call this my widowmaker. Next time everything goes up a plate (per side of course).
Leg extensions
80x12
100x12
140x12…feeling these out- back to the surgery, these have always felt weird, but I’m going to see how they do for a few sessions.
Db RDL’s
45x12
60x12
75x12
85x10
Never done RDLs dumbbell or otherwise, felt really good on the hams, will keep this for a bit and try and progress, at least 100s next time, no problem
Good stuff. Planning on a 1RM deadlift anytime soon?
ha! ive got to say man, probably not. my deadlift seems to go better when i just try and make progress for a while with multiple-rep heavy sets. then very rarely im feeling it and pull a single. that’s pretty much how i got the 520 early on, and the 550 just a while back. when i started pushing it and even “thinking about” a 1RM max too often, everything started to go to shit. maybe after a few months of some solid work i will get the itch. thanks
Yeah man, thats the smartest way of going about it, I think. Whenever I get too caught up in testing instead of training things start going sideways real fucking quick.
push/bench
215x3
245x3
275x8
225x10
…feel good about this (275x8)! got this for 3 on my last bench session 10 days ago or whenever it was. bench felt like crap that day, so it’s good to have this session follow that one up.
got on the decline bench
225x10
275x unracked it, not enough tri’s left! racked it
HS incline
115p/s x 8
90 x 8
70 x 10…weak sauce! tri’s are dead before chest! need to do some reading so i can remember what im supposed to do here, maybe choose smarter moves? dont know, will read up
fly machine
120x15
120x10
120x jackasses stole machine, didnt care to wait
dip machine
120x12
140x10
160x10
220x8- i like this machine, although 220 is the stack, so i dont have a lot of room left for improvement here, upping the reps of course, but this wont be something i imagine i could use very long term, perhaps milk it for all i can for a few weeks or however long it takes for the 220 to get really easy, then use it more as a finisher?
that’s all for the session, asked for a spot on that 275x8 (i never ask for a spotter!) and ended up talking to the guy for 10 mins or so, ate up some time there, then when my tri’s were so fried i was dumbfounded for a few minutes trying to figure out what to do next- brainfarted the rest of my workout. whatever, it happens, not going to worry about it. overall, the 275x8 was a success, and got a decent pump in chest, tris felt really good on dip machine.
pull/back+some bis
close/v-grip pulldowns
70x12
90x12
120x10
140x10
160x8…rearranged the sets a little bit, should have gotten more than 160x8, as that’s what i got last time, though i did have less reps before the 160 last time. will make 9+ next time or die!
HS iso-low row (im pretty sure thats what this thing is called. it’s yellow hammer strength, the name is rubbed off except for “iso”) mimics a DB row fairly well, which im realizing i like a lot and will use when my lower back isnt 100%
3pps x 12
4pps+10 x 8…this was nice, had to make sure shoulders were still in socket (kidding).
seated wide grip cable row
165x10
115x12
115x12
115x12…i do like the way this hits the upper back when flaring the elbows and rowing to the sternum area. i made sure to increase the main set and following “pump” sets by 1 “space” each…although the 160 felt heavier than i expected, when finished realized there was one of those add-on half plates on top, so a nice surprise that it was actually 165 or whatever
rear delts on incline bench
25x20
25x20
25x20
25x20
onto the bi’s
standing alternating db curl
55 x 8
60 x 6…my form was bad, made no sense to keep going to 65’s or whatever
E-Z bar reverse curl
70x10
70x12
70x10
70x10
concentration curl “pump” finisher set
-used a 22.5lb bell, did 8 strict curls, then several “pump” partials that may very well do nothing except make veins pop out. whatever.
Thanks for sharing and going into so much detail. Full of win ^
Thanks man! It’s going well I think, if nothing else it’s fun for the time being.
Found out this morning I passed the “panel interview” for a federal police job which is cool because I felt like it didn’t go so great. Medical is next week, no reason I shouldn’t pass that. Hire date is in July, so things could really change for me soon. Here’s hoping…
[quote]dez6485 wrote:
Thanks man! It’s going well I think, if nothing else it’s fun for the time being.
Found out this morning I passed the “panel interview” for a federal police job which is cool because I felt like it didn’t go so great. Medical is next week, no reason I shouldn’t pass that. Hire date is in July, so things could really change for me soon. Here’s hoping…[/quote]
Wow, that’s pretty cool. Are you allowed to say what specifically you will be doing? BTW, I live vicariously through other people’s exciting jobs 
Alpha was the best for stories
Yea man, as far as I know, there’s no need for me to keep anything a secret- I’d really like to work for U.S. Park Police- United States Park Police (U.S. National Park Service)
They are in national parks/monuments, and they do a lot in the DC area, which is where I would be. It’s funny, when someone first suggested I look into them I didn’t because I thought it was park ranger stuff, talking to a group of 7th graders about acorns or something, but that’s not what they’re doing at all. They’re a full-service police agency, with SWAT, major crimes, drug unit, aviation unit, k-9, motorcycle, etc, etc.
They are, I’m my opinion, probably the best uniformed federal police agency out there. The force isn’t huge, and they don’t hire many people at one time, so they are pretty selective. Medicals were offered to the top 40-50 candidates, and 18-24 will be selected from those that pass medical. They hired about 48-50 last year around this time, and I made it to the final group of 76 or so that were eligible, and narrowly missed selection. This time around my test score was a 97 up from 92, and nothing has changed in my background or anything, so I’m hoping to be in that 18-24 selected. Then I will be off to training in Georgia for a very hot, gnat/mosquito filled summer.
Legs/squat
Squat- working with narrower stance, still low bar though
225x5
265x5
300x5
Squat press machine- this is made by cybex, btw
7pps x 10
8pps x fail- will get here soon
6pps x 14
Leg extension
120 x 12
120 x 12
150 x 12
Db RDL’s
65 x 12
80 x 10
90 x 10
100 x 10… Good here, said I’d get the 100s and I did- I think this is more about learning and getting comfortable with them/ learning to use the right muscles to move the weight, which I think I’m doing so far, but if I tried to go really heavy I would end up muscling it up and not getting the real benefit to my hams.
Note on the squat, last time I squatted with the narrow stance I did 295 x 5. That night and the next day I decided I’m going to just add 5lbs each squat session x 5 reps until I stall, and then I will back down a bit and reassess- possibly something along the lines of backing down a bit and doing 3s adding 5lbs each session until I stall again?
And, I’ve realized that along the same lines as running the day before deads/squats leads to a bad session, my current job KILLS my squatting. The last month or two my squatting has been awful. Coincidentally, we are in our busy season which entails me walking up and down several flights of marble stairs in dress shoes all day long, my knees and hips take a beating every day, not an excuse, but no wonder my squat sucks and my deadlift is questionable at times.
[quote]dez6485 wrote:
Db RDL’s
65 x 12
80 x 10
90 x 10
100 x 10… Good here, said I’d get the 100s and I did- I think this is more about learning and getting comfortable with them/ learning to use the right muscles to move the weight, which I think I’m doing so far, but if I tried to go really heavy I would end up muscling it up and not getting the real benefit to my hams.
[/quote]
I prefer db rdl over bb rdl for some reason. Do you go mid shin or lower?
The handle is hitting slightly lower than mid shin
You tryin to get swole of somethin? lol nice work dude
[quote]trav123456 wrote:
You tryin to get swole of somethin? lol nice work dude[/quote]
Ha, yea bro I’m trying to get my swole going. I’m thinking I’m going to definitely have to have an arms day though so I can start approaching TheDude’s 19"s. My water guns have been steady at 17" for a couple years now…damn, who’d have thought no direct arm work wouldn’t result in growth? Ha! Truthfully, when I came up from 165-200 I wasn’t doing much direct arm work, and went from 15-17", therefore let myself believe pullups and shit were enough. Now I’ve gone years with no growth- stupid! I’ve gotten stronger, sure, but other than losing some fat here, gaining some muscle there, I haven’t made dramatic improvements like I’ve seen others make. I don’t think strength = size anymore. To some extent, yes, but it’s not the end of the equation. I now believe that you will get so far with both size and strength, and then you need to break out of your “box” or comfort zone in order to continue making progress in either.
Hence, breaking out of my comfort zone, and taking more of a bodybuilder approach for a bit.
Today will be shoulders/traps, followed by back, then arms. After that I will take a day off and start a new cycle which looks like it will be chest, back, legs, shoulders/traps, arms, rest/repeat. I will take days off as needed, and there will always be a day off between arms and chest. Between shoulders and arms, I will do what my body tells me, but I likely won’t need the day off in between as my triceps just don’t really get sore from shoulder days.
That’s my plan.
Shoulders
Military press
125x5
145x5
165x5
190x5…yes! Plan here is basically same as squat, add 5lb, get 5 reps until I stall then figure something else out. I should also take another look at John Meadows’ shoulder article, because there might be a better mass builder for me than military press…it is fun though.
Seated db press
70x10
70x10
70x6/ something was dead…triceps?
Should mention here as I don’t know if I have, tweaked my right wrist almost two weeks ago, giving me some pain, having to wear a wrist wrap on all pressing, squats, etc. Not sure why, but it doesn’t seem to be a problem so much with bench, but overhead work it is pretty uncomfortable, as well as squats.
Db laterals
35x12
40x10
35x12
Machine laterals
5 sets 10-12
6th set drop set/partials/burn out
Shrug machine
6pps x 15
5pps x 20
5pps x 20
4pps x 15
Rear delts are done with back, and triceps will be done now on arm day instead of “push” days as before.
Back
V-grip pulldowns
70x12
90x10
120x10
140x10
160x8…still stuck here. Will keep working.
HS iso-row
3pps x 12
4pps + 15 x 8…will probably go for more reps next time, once get 12+ I’ll do 4 plates + 20, etc.
Seated wide row
165x12, up 2 reps
115x12, 3 sets
Nautilus pullover
190x10
150x12
120x8…triceps were getting involved here which I don’t want with arm day tomorrow
Rear delts
4 sets of 20
Direct arm training!
Seated overhead E-Z bar extension
70x15
80x12
90x12…these might be uncomfortable for my elbows
BB curls
65x10
75x10
85x10
95x8
Tricep dip machine
200x15
220x12
220+2x10
220+4x10
220+5x8
E-Z bar spider curl
Bar?+40x10
Bar +60x60
" " +50 x 6
Tricep pressdowns
Stack x 20
Stack+2 x 15
Stack +3 x 12
Stack +4 x 12
Stack +5 x 10
Stack +6 x 8
Bicep and tricep pump shit, light weights, squeeze, partials, quick shit to pump the hell out of the arms, then stretched.
Note: when I say +2, +3, etc, I’m referring to those rectangular add-on plates that are half plates or whatever for the cable machines.
Good stuff.
[quote]dez6485 wrote:
[quote]trav123456 wrote:
You tryin to get swole of somethin? lol nice work dude[/quote]
Ha, yea bro I’m trying to get my swole going. I’m thinking I’m going to definitely have to have an arms day though so I can start approaching TheDude’s 19"s. My water guns have been steady at 17" for a couple years now…damn, who’d have thought no direct arm work wouldn’t result in growth? Ha! Truthfully, when I came up from 165-200 I wasn’t doing much direct arm work, and went from 15-17", therefore let myself believe pullups and shit were enough. Now I’ve gone years with no growth- stupid! I’ve gotten stronger, sure, but other than losing some fat here, gaining some muscle there, I haven’t made dramatic improvements like I’ve seen others make. I don’t think strength = size anymore. To some extent, yes, but it’s not the end of the equation. I now believe that you will get so far with both size and strength, and then you need to break out of your “box” or comfort zone in order to continue making progress in either.
Hence, breaking out of my comfort zone, and taking more of a bodybuilder approach for a bit.
Today will be shoulders/traps, followed by back, then arms. After that I will take a day off and start a new cycle which looks like it will be chest, back, legs, shoulders/traps, arms, rest/repeat. I will take days off as needed, and there will always be a day off between arms and chest. Between shoulders and arms, I will do what my body tells me, but I likely won’t need the day off in between as my triceps just don’t really get sore from shoulder days.
That’s my plan. [/quote]
sounds good man, good luck with the gunshow work!