April 02, 2009 Back / Biceps
BB DL: 3151 3651 4151 435X 3651 3151
BB Rows: 13512 1557
Pullups: BW7 BW4
Just felt like doing some DL’ing. Narrowly missed a new PR on deads. Going to go higher reps next time I do them. Was pretty tired after the deading
April 06, 2009 Chest Triceps Shoulders
BB Decline: 2459 2655 2852 22510
BB Flat: 18510 2057 2254
DB Incline: 709 754 805
DB Elbows Out Ext: 458
DB Seated Military Presses: 507
Dips: BW9 BW8
notes: Good session. I’m hoping the new diet starts taking effect soon and I can start to see some strength gains here. Thinking of doing a 4 or 5 week cycle of putting flat bench first, and still rotating the 2nd & 3rd exercise between decline & incline.
April 7, 2009 Legs
BB Squats (Form Checking): 13510 1855 2252 2551 2253 1853
Glute Ham Raises: BW10 BW10 257
BB Calf Raises: 31515 315*12
notes: Got some advice on other forums (and here) on form for squats, so I decided to try and put it all together. The first few sets were very frustrating. No matter what I did I felt like my quads were still the biggest mover. In fact after all the advice I got my quads felt like they were getting emphasized even MORE. Then I tried flexing my glutes before I even began a rep and then using that to control the speed of descent on the way down. That seemed to make a HUGE difference. I can’t wait to try it next week. Then I did glute ham raises for the first time. Wow. Just wow. I felt like my hamstrings were going to knot up. Felt em mostly in my hamstrings and lower back muscles, and quite a bit in my glutes too. good stuff!
April 9, 2009 Back/Biceps
NO REST…15 minutes for whole session
Pullups: 653 454 256 BW6
BB Rows: 1557 1656
BB Rack Pulls: 3656 3158
DB STanding Curls: 45*7
notes: WHOOO. Felt like switching it up some here so I did this session with minimal/no rest between sets. Felt GREAT. I was suckin tubes at the end.
April 13, 2009 Chest/Triceps/Delts
BB Flat: 2257 2453 2551 270X 1859
DB Flat: 757 807 855
BB Incline: 13512 1559 1754
DB Incline: 706 656 6010
BB Decline: 1856 2057 2255
DB Decline: 707 754 805
Cable Flyes: 307
Dips: BW10 254 252
notes: Well…didn’t take long for the increased calories to start taking effect. I figured I may as well put them to work and decided to pile on the volume. 24 sets, that’s pretty much the most I’ve ever done, and 21 directly for my chest, and 20 of pressing, both also records. I narrowly missed a PR on flat benching. Real excited about my prospects on all this stuff.
April 14, 2009 Legs
BB Squats: 2752 2951 2255 2254
Glute Ham Raises: 258 258 259
BB Front Squats: 1754 1853
Seated Calves: 13511 160*10
Notes: Alright session. Still feeling squats way too much in my quads despite everyone’s advice. I don’t think a single piece of advice I’ve gotten here has made any difference. Not good times. When I do bodyweight squats I can put my hands on my hams/glutes as I do the movement to see at what point they tense up or fire off. They don’t. They’re completely soft and unengaged for the whole movement. I didn’t even think that was possible. I noticed something on those last two 225 sets though: If I lean forward very far, almost like the start of a good-morning, that seems to activate my hams/glutes, so I may just have to squat leaning very far forward. It definitely takes my quads right out of the movement.
April 16, 2009
DB Rows: 10012 10510 1157 1204
T-Bar Rows: 9010 1155 1402
Cable Rows: 10014 1208 1603
BB Rows: 13514 15510 175*6
Row extravaganza! Just did a ton or rowing. I?m recording this on the 17th, and I?m definitely sore as shit in my lats, especially closer to my spine (as opposed to the parts that flair out). Good session. Next week I?ll probably lead off with 50 pullups, jump to deadlifting, then do some light weight DB rows.
[quote]AccipiterQ wrote:
April 13, 2009 Chest/Triceps/Delts
BB Flat: 2257 2453 2551 270X 1859
DB Flat: 757 807 855
BB Incline: 13512 1559 1754
DB Incline: 706 656 6010
BB Decline: 1856 2057 2255
DB Decline: 707 754 805
Cable Flyes: 307
Dips: BW10 254 252
notes: Well…didn’t take long for the increased calories to start taking effect. I figured I may as well put them to work and decided to pile on the volume. 24 sets, that’s pretty much the most I’ve ever done, and 21 directly for my chest, and 20 of pressing, both also records. I narrowly missed a PR on flat benching. Real excited about my prospects on all this stuff. [/quote]
Hopefully that 270 will come soon for the both of us.
April 21, 2009 Chest/Triceps
BB Flat: 2257 2353 18510 Using the worst bench in the gym. Didn’t realize until after. The thing has like 4" of padding on it. Imagine trying to bench off of a couch cushion.
BB Decline: 20512 2258 2455
DB Incline: 804 756
Cable Flyes: 3010 2511 2015
BB Close Grip: 1358 155*5
notes: This was done on Tuesday, since Monday was Patriots Day and I celebrate that all day long. My gym has 4 good flat benches, and then this one that has literally about 4" of padding on it. Makes it impossible to really dig my shoulders or ass into the bench. I’m not joking when I say it’s like trying to bench off of a sofa cushion.
April 22, 2009 Cardio
Incline Walking: 3.5 mph / 12% incline / 30 minutes
notes: Wow. I was soaked after this. Almost passed out a few times afterward. DEFINITELY doing this instead of running from now on!
April 23, 2009 Legs
BB Squats: 1858 2056 2253 2452
BB Good Mornings: 1356 1357 1355
Glute-Ham Raises: 258 357 455
Standing Calves: 16015 20012 22010
Seated Calves: 9015
notes: Still experimenting with squats. I feel like if I stick my ass out pretty far, lean forward a tad (keeping the same slight angle throughout, so it doesn’t turn into a good morning), and going deeper I’m activating my hams & glutes more. More experimenting to come next week.
April 26, 2009 Cardio
Incline Walking: 3.3 mph / 12% incline / 30 minutes
Basketball: Half court, 1 hour.
[i]notes: Knocked the speed down by .2 so I wouldn’t be passing out after. Definitely felt better this way. Played some bball later in day. Legs were pretty dead though. [i]
April 27, 2009 Chest/Triceps/Delts
BB Flat: 2257 2453 2255 1957
DB Incline: 759 855 903
DB Decline Flyes: 307 25*8
Delt-Triad: 15 12.5 10 (all 12 reps)
notes: Switching it up so that I don’t have as much overlap with exercises. The BB Flat felt GREAT. Slow controlled reps and I even got by a sticking point at the bottom on a couple reps. May be switching to a 5x5 routine, but until I can thoroughly research what I want to do, I’m going to stick with my current program, for the rest of the week anyway. Also, delt triad is seated lateral raises, front raises, and militaries done as a super-set, all at the same weight.
April 29, 2009 Legs
BB Squats: 2254 2453 2653 2851
BB Good Mornings: 1456 1554
Glute-Ham Raises: 458 458 4510
Standing Calves: 18015 22012
Seated Calves: 13515
notes: Squatting felt good. Kept my chest up, shoulders pinned, and went deep. I really am happy with how this went! Squatting numbers don’t look much different, but they were MUCH more controlled than previous sessions. Really happy with this. Rest of the session went good too!
May 01, 2009 Back / Biceps
Pullups: 455 256 BW10
DB Rows: 909 907 1005
BB Rack Pulls: 3655 31515!! 4056
DB Hammer Curls: 4010
notes: Good session. NO idea where that 15 reps at 315 came from on rack pulls. I think I could’ve gotten to 20 reps actually. I’m really getting the hang of form on those, and how to manipulate them to either emphasize the hamstrings or back more. Going to research some 5x5 programs this weekend
May 04, 2009 Upper, Heavy
BB Flat: 2306 2255 2206
DB Row: 1205 1155 1106 1056
BB Push Press: 1358 1458 1458
T-Bar Rows: 7010 808 908 1007
Cambered Skull Crushers: 658 756
DB Hammers: 60*1
notes: First day of my upper/lower heavy/light split. I’m really excited. I need to tweak things a bit here. I’m adding one more set of flat benching. And I may use heavy dips instead of cambered skull crushers in the future. I’m going to keep tinkering this week.
May 06, 2009 Lower, Light
BB Squats: 22510 20510
BB SLDL: 22510 24510 26510
Leg Extension: 10015
Leg Curls: 9015
Standing Calves: 12020 180*15
notes: I’m recording this 3 days after the fact…and my ass/hamstrings are still sore as hell. May tweak this one too. Not sure how though. Maybe only 2 sets of SLDL’s, or drop leg ext/curls?
May 08, 2009 Upper, Light
DB Incline: 8011 809 759
Pullups: 256 BW10 BW8
DB Seated Military Presses: 4010 5010 (need to use MUCH heavier DBs next time…55/65 probably)
Chinups: BW10 BW7
Dips: 2510 2510 25*7
notes: Good light upper body session. I think I get it now; the heavy days are more for your power numbers, and the ‘lighter’ days are more hypertrophy oriented with 8-10 rep sets. I’m thinking I need to up the Military Press weights since I had both of those sets of 10 VERY easily.
May 10, 2009 Upper, Heavy
BB Flat: 2307 2256 2206 2155
DB Row: 1205 1156 1106 1057
BB Push Press: 1555 1457
BB Rows: 1759 1956
notes: Second week of upper/lower light/heavy. Made several tweaks. First I added a 4th set of benching. My back ALWAYS has dominated my chest, so doing 7 sets of rows compared to 4 of benching wasn’t doing it for me. I made it 4 sets of benching off the top, followed by the same 4 sets of db rows. I cut the push presses down to 2 sets, since I’m still getting form down, and I’m not sure my delts actually need that much work considering I also do 2 sets of db militaries on upper/light day. I also changed out the T-Bar rows for BB Rows, I may switch it up week to week. I also cut it back to 2 sets instead of 4 since I am absolutely gassed by the time I get there. No direct arm work on these days either, my biceps grow like weeds without any direct work, and my triceps have dominated my bench for years, so I’m set with that. We’ll see how this works
May 11, 2009 Lower, Light
BB Squats: 22510 21010
BB SLDL: 24510 26510 27510
Leg Curl: 10012
BB Standing Calves: 27515 32510
notes: MUCH easier time on squats this time. But it was still hard. I need to make my form more consistent on SLDL’s. It varies too much set to set. It’s never horrible, but it does slip sometimes on some of these sets. I’ll probably leave this day as it is right now, I really can’t do more sets after the squats & SLDL’s, back to back like that it just kills me