Saturday, December 10th
6:30 P.M.
A. Bench Press: BARx7, 105x5, 155x5, 205x3, 260x2, 235x6, 225x7
B. Weighted Chinups: BW+55 x 5, BW+55 x 5, BW+55 x 4.9999999
C. Machine Flys: 3x15 @ 13, 12, 11
D. Reverse Cable Flys: 3x40x10
E. Shrugs: 10 plates on machine, 4x8
F. Plate Pinching: 35’s 2xMax Time
G. Plank: 1 x 80 seconds
No spotter. No confidence. What could’ve been 3 reps was cut short to 2. Lame. Fake and gay, even. Next time. Of course, now it’s time to start trying to add back in isolation exercises for legs.
Monday, December 12th
6:30 P.M.
A. Squats (testing the waters): 45x10, 5x95x10
B. Leg Extensions: 4 plates x 8, 5 plates x 8, 6 plates x 8, 6 plates x 8
C. Leg Curls: 4 plates x 8, 4 plates x 7, 4 plates x 6
D1. Triceps Pushdowns: Some Weight x 6, 6, 6, 6, 6
D2. Pinwheel Curls: 50’s x 6, 6, 6, 6, 6
E. Planks: 1 x 85 seconds
95 lbs on squats put just a mild amount of pain in my lower back. Enough to be noticeable, but not enough to deter me. Imma stick with 95 lbs for a month and then inch my way back up 5 lbs at a time. Mark Ripptoe says that “If you squat wrong it fucks things up. If you squat correctly, those same fucked-up things will unfuck themselves.” We’ll see.
I’m not sure how to quantify the machines I used for legs. I’m pretty sure I wasn’t doing leg extensions with 270 lbs. It’d be nice, but not likely.
Thursday, December 15th
6:30 P.M.
A. Bench Press: 2xBARx??, 105x5, 155x5, 205x3, 260x3, 235x6, 225x7
B. Chinups: BW+55 3x5
C. Machine Flys: 3x15
D. Reverse Cable Flys: 3x10 @ 40lbs
E. Shrugs: 10 plates 4x8
F. Plate Pinching: 35’s 2xMax Time
Improvement on bench and chinups. Small, but in the correct direction.
Monday, December 19th
6:30 P.M.
A. ATG Squats: 100lbs 5x10
B. Leg Extensions: 6 plates 4x8
C. Leg Curls: 3 plates 4x8
D1. Chinups: 3x10
D2. Dips: 3x10
E. Plate Pinching: 35’s 3xMax Time
Up 5 lbs on squats. I said I’d stick with 95 for a month…I lied. It feels like cardio trying to do sets of 10. My back felt like it did last week. So I guess I’ll just slowly climb the squat ladder again and remember to ice my back afterwards. Oh, and after the New Year, I REALLY need to go see an orthopedic specialist to make sure I didn’t do anything un-doable to my spine.
Wednesday, December 21st
7:00 P.M.
A. Bench Press: 2xBARx7, 105x5, 155x5, 205x3, 260x4, 235x6, 225x7
B. Chinups: BW+60 3x5
C. Shrugs: 10 plates 4x8
Improvements on Bench and Chinups. Pretty soon I’ll be matching my bench numbers from when I was 10 lbs heavier. If I can just manage to squeeze out one more rep of 260, I’ll have a definitive increase in muscle efficiency…I’m all for that.
Trying to create a calorie buffer for Christmas Dinner. So it’s down to minimalist activities for today and Friday with reduced post-workout binging. I figure I need to create a 1500 calorie deficit for Sunday and then I should be able to binge 4000+ calories and balance out my weight to match this past Monday’s.
Friday, December 23rd
7:00 P.M.
A. ATG Squats: 105 lbs - 5x10
B. Leg Extensions: 6 plates - 4x8
C. Leg Curls: 3 plates - 4x8
Slow climb back up the squat ladder. But it seems to be a little less pain each time I do it. In 4 more weeks I’ll be able to squat 1 plate again, hopefully. My ATG squat with next to nothing in weight is probably still more effective than the CrossFitters I see in the gym doing half squats with 225+.
Monday, December 26th
7:00 P.M.
A. Bench Press: 2xBARx7, 105x5, 155x5, 205x3, 260x3, 235x, 230x8
B. Chest Supported T-Bar Rows: 1 plate x 7, 2 plates x 7, 2 plates + 25 x 7 x 2
C. Lateral Raises: 20’s - 3x10
Down a rep on top set of bench. But I was dehydrated for half the day. Maybe that affected my performance. Or I could just be a weak little bitch.
Scale weight didn’t move but maybe a pound upward with the holidays. It’s nice to not be near my top and half to work back down at the start of the new year. Instead, I’ll be focusing on getting back down to 7-8% bf.
Wednesday, December 28th
7:15 P.M.
A. ATG Squats: 110 lbs - 5x10
B1. Leg Extensions: 6 plates - 4x8
B2. Leg Curls: 3 plates - 4x8
Had to shorten the workout. Started playing Angry Birds and lost track of time. Damn you addicting game.
My back had a little more pain this time around than last. I’m wondering if my lack of caffeine pre-load had anything to do with that. None the less, ice the back after getting home and I woke up the next day feeling only mildly sore in the lumbar-sacral area. Up the ladder we continue.
With school starting back up, my schedule has to change to a Wed-Fri-Sun split. That works better for me, actually, since my wife likes to cook a cheat meal dish on that day and I usually have to be careful how much I eat. Throw that bad boy in after a good workout and it’s no problem.
Friday, December 30th
7:00 P.M.
A. Weighted Dips: 2xBWx5, BW+30x5, BW+90x5, BW+60x8, BW+30x10
B. Weighted Chins: BW+60x5, BW+35x8, BWx10
Short, minimalistic workout. It’s encouraging to see such strong numbers on weighted dips. Everything has to go up by 5 lbs next time.
Post-workout pizza is awesome. If only I had the dedication to make my own pizza with lower fat ingredients. It’s hard to keep a 25/75 <-> 75/25 carb/fat split when most of your favorite binge foods are high in both.
Monday, January 2nd
7:00 P.M.
A. ATG Squats: BARx5, 115x10, 4x135x10
B. Single-Leg Leg Press: 110x5, 3x200x5
C. Leg Extensions: 3 plates 1x29
D. Hamstring Curls: 3 plates 1x20
Using the new weight belt my wife got me for Christmas, I decided it was time to jump under 1 plate on the squat rack. Not too bad, actually. Iced my lower back afterwards and woke up this morning a little sore. But I imagine it’s all part of the re-building process.
My company’s annual health screening is coming up again in February. I know there’s no way in hell I’ll make my weight satisfy their BMI chart as I have more lean mass than the upper end of my “healthy weight”, but I’d like to beat all of their other health markers. Last year my cholesterol was 201…that’s a little high, I’m told.
Thursday, January 5th
7:00 P.M.
A. Bench Press: BARx5, 105x5, 155x5, 205x5, 260x4, 235x7, 230x8
B. Chest Supported Rows: 180 lbs - 3x8, 160 lbs - 1x8
C. DB Lateral Raises: 20’s - 3x10
Final rep of 260 was pretty slow, but successful. Hopefully I can get a 5th rep next time…or at the very least make that 4th rep a little easier.
Finally got my invite to Fitocracy. Leave it to video game nerds to create an exercise recording system that treats your real life gains to video game leveling up. Pretty awesome, so far.
Saturday, January 6th
6:00 P.M.
A. ATG Squats: BARx5, 95x5, 135x10, 135x10, 135x10, 135x20
B. Leg Press: 8 Plates:[/b] 4x8
C. Leg Extensions: 3 plates - 1x32
D. Leg Curls: 3 plates - 1x26
Did I do a widowmaker set of squats simply to earn the quest points on Fitocracy? Fuck yeah, I did it. Sue me! Didn’t REALLY start burning until after the set was over and I was sitting down to rest.
Leg press, strangely enough, hurts my back more than squats.
Tuesday, January 10th
6:30 P.M.
A. Dips: BW x 5, BW x 5, BW+35 x 5, BW+95 x 5, BW+65 x 8, BW+35 x 10
B. Pullups: BW x 20
C. Parallel-Grip Pullups: BW x 14
D. Chin-ups: BW x 10
E. Standing OHP: BARx5, 95x5, 135x5, 155x5, 135x8
First day back with standing OHP. Lost some strength for sure, but it felt good to be under that barbell again. Here’s to hoping that RPT can get my strength back up to 230x3 again.