Goal: Strength and general athletic ability, any mass gain is welcome.
A short-medium term goal is to train Deadlift 5X5 with 100kgs and up the weight consistently on my other lifts.
Starting weight for lifts:
DL: 65kgs, 5X5
OHP: 32.5kgs, 5X5
DB Rows: 17.5kgs, 5X5
Chins: 4
Dips: 7
Background:
Started lifting Mid-July wasn’t too serious, didn’t start a log or write anything down because I was lazy but finally decided it would be worth it a couple of days ago. Have not tested any 1RMs. Play field hockey (season is over) and am a half-hearted amateur gymnast (which is why I can only train twice a week most weeks). Used to be a cross-country runner (18:48 5k) and now only run once a week tops.
NB:
All further measurements will be with the metric system
Working on form on overheads (which is why i missed a set), upping weight on rows next time (which i forgot to this time) and ill add a 5kg plate to my dips.
Upping weight on Deads, Rows and Dips (to BW+10kgs). Felt decent today, got called a cocksucker which inspired my effort on the OHP and DB rows. Might add a 5kg plate to chins and go for ~6reps.
Today was utter shit (EDIT: im really feeling it now and its not a good feeling, worst ever):
Grip on Deadlifts was failing although i was using a mixed grip and this affected my overall form. Lost a rep on my OHP. Didnt add weight to chins or dips due to overall crapness, will do it next time if I feel the time is right. 5 days till next workout =(.
Felt okay today, was very annoyed as I missed Wednesday sessions due to massive DOMS (gymnastics related). Grip is still weakest link in Deads and it felt strange deadlifting with a 7day break, hopefuly from now on I will be able to get a minimum of 2 training sessions a week in.
On another note in the next 2-3 weeks i will change to a Clean & Press, Front Squat centered workout; should be good.
A)Clean & Press: 6X4 or 5X5
B)Front Squat: 4X6 or 3X8
Probably followed by:
C1)Chins: 2X6-8
C2)Dips: 2X6-8
Then maybe weighted decline sit ups for 2X10.
I know someone who can teach me cleans, but I would probably start at around 40kgs (bar and greens) then once my form on cleans improves I would either push press or jerk the weight up instead of strict overhead, but only if I progress that fast.
Front squats would be rock bottom, although my flexibility is pretty bad in my hamstrings and I have started stretching them more regularly.
Feel free to comment/write your thoughts on anything in my log, especially the routine written above.
Don’t know when I’ll start this, maybe as early as next Friday or the Friday after.
Yeah, you are probably right, now that i think of it clean & press and front squat would probably take around 30minutes which gives me a bit of time for more sets of chins/dips.
Although once I actually start this I will see how it feels and might change the rep/set parameters a bit, don’t know yet.
What you could try one day is to toss in chins/dips between your clean & press and front squats. So the time spent doing your body-weight stuff would be the rest time for your other muscles. -/+ 10-15 seconds of breathing if necessary and some water.
Yeah I might try this out later although my main focus is strength and what you suggested seems more metabolic than strength based (correct me if i am wrong).
Felt pretty good today, finally got deadlifts down and grip felt fine. I feel I am using too much body english in my DB rows so i might stay on 27.5 next week, although ill see how I am doing on the day.
Deadlift felt v. good, I’m still stalled on OHP which is very annoying, I really wanna hit 42.5. Form was better on dumbbell rows, moving weight up next time.
Deadlift didn’t feel that good although I got all reps and will move up weight next time, form was not the best. OHP: very slow reps on the last reps of all sets. I think my overall crapness can be attributed to lack of sleep and not enough food in the day beforehand.
Started doing chins instead of Dumbell Rows, as DB rows are not really a core exercise, although they are still a pretty damn good exercise and I feel chins to be a very good staple.
5X7 was very hard and my back has not felt such soreness ever, especially mid back which is kinda strange for a vertical pulling movement.
Hurt my back pretty bad today doing deadlifts. I think I might have damaged a nerve as my left glute has deep discomfort (not really pain) when sitting, squatting and with any spinal loading. I had lowerback soreness after Wesnesday’s session and on Thursday. I think I did it on my second set of Deadlifts at 92.5kgs which the last rep was very slow (VERY) and I think I pulled my hips up too high too fast. I did one set of chins and left the gym after this.
I really hope this clears up soon and is not a permanent/long term injury. I believe it is from a lack of anterior chain strengthening movements (squats and heavy ab work)and crap form with too much weight while deadlifting; I am a bit skeptical of this theory but it may be from too much spine loading too frequently at a young age. Whatever the case I will drop heavy deadlifts and lower rep zones for a while and just see how my body is feeling next time I go to the gym.
My back recovered very quickly: woke up Sunday without pain; Deadlifts were fine. I am going to add triceps work at end of sesh as my OHP stalls in the second half of pressing: the triceps dominant part. Also only going to do Chins from now on and maybe face pulls as said before. New sesh will look something like this:
A) DL 5X5
B1) OHP 5X5
B2) Chins 5X6-8
C1) Dips 2X6-8
C2) Face Pulls 2X6-8