Being Better

Training Training Logs
1

From now I’m going to make sure I push myself as hard as I can physically and mentally, every day.

I have 5 months before my 2nd year of physics, and I’m going to make them count. Each day I’ll try and do at least 4 hours of studying and the rest will be trying to recover from my workouts.

I haven’t really trained properly in the past year, as a result I’m weak and chubby. Hopefully that will change soon.

Legs-
Back squat: 60kg/8, 60kg/5, 80kg/5, 100kg/5, 100kg/5, 110kg/5, 120kg/4, 125kg/2, 100kg/3, 100kg/3, 90kg/3, 90kg/3, 100kg/3, 100kg/3

In the last 6 sets I was trying to focus on speed

Leg press: 3pps/15, 4pps/15, 5pps/10, 5pps/11, 5pps/12, 6pps/7, 5pps/10, 4pps/16

Leg extension: 4 sets of 12.

Then I went on hour walk with dogs, had some trout & vegetables, going back for 2nd session of the day now, hamstring focused stuff.

2

Part 2 of legs yesterday:

Stiff-Leg deads: 60kg/10, 60kg/8, 80kg/8, 100kg/6, 110kg/5, 120kg/5, 120kg/4, 100kg/5

Practiced front squats, did about 10 sets of 2 with a light weight.

Lying leg curls: 4 sets of 8

Glute ham raise: 3 sets of 10

Walking lunges: 5 sets of about 20 steps, holding two 10kg plates.

3

Shoulders & triceps today, triceps are still to come

Shoulders:
Seated BB press: 50kg/5, 55kg/5, 60kg/5, 65kg/4, 70kg/2 (+60kg/3 dropset), 60kg/5
Seated DB press: worked up to 30kg/4
Machine shoulder press: 3 x 10
1 arm cable laterals: #4/20, #5/15, #6/12, #7/10, #6/10 (+#7/15 standing 1 arm press)
Barbell shrugs: 100kg/15, 140kg/15, 140kg/12, 140kg/12, 100kg/15, 100kg/15

Then I tried to do a jog with 50lbs of weights in my backpack, but my backpack fell apart, I need a proper one with a belt…

Instead I did 20 minutes of a fast paced jog.

Triceps in 2 hours.

4

For triceps:

Reverse grip low incline smith machine bench press (…yep):
80kg/10, 90kg/6, 100kg/5, 110kg/3, 90kg/8

HS plate loaded dip machine:
6 plates for 3 sets of 8
8 plates for 2 sets of 5
6 plates for 12

Skullcrushers, EZ bar
15kg a side for 15

Tricep pushdown
#10/15, #12/12, #14/8, #16/4, #14/8, #12/12

Cybex tricep extension machine
3 sets of 6-10

5

Did back today
pull ups:
bw/6, bw+5kg/6, bw+9kg/5, bw+12kg/4, bw/6

chin ups:
bw/6, bw+5kg/6, bw+9kg/5, bw+12kg/4, bw/6

neutral grip pull ups:
bw/6, bw+12kg/3, bw/4

I did a few singles & triples in between those sets so I could try and keep some explosiveness

Lat pulldown:
#10 for 20
#12 for 8
#8 for 15

DB rows:
35kg/10 (no straps), 35kg/10 (straps), 47.5kg/8 (straps), 55kg/15 (straps), 42.5kg/22 (no straps)

Deadlift:
70kg for 3x3, 80kg for 2x3, 100kg for 2x3

6

How’s training going mate?

I think I remember you saying you trained at Monster. That still the case? I train there on Sunday’s as my usual gym is closed. Good place to lift!

7

Last week I was at centre parcs, I trained pretty hard while I was there.

Did circuit training twice, brutal stuff, will be doing it more often. And I used the machines/lat pulldown/cable tower in the fitness room to do some upper body stuff. I typically did about 6 sets starting with my 12RM, alternating agonist muscles.

For legs I couldn’t do much other than leg extension/leg curls in the fitness room, but I took the opportunity to crank up my bike to the max gear and sprint up some pretty steep hills with it.

I have lost quite a bit of fat in the past week, I am getting slight hints at my top two abs now and my love handles went down loads. Veins in my biceps are also more prominent. Very happy.

And yep I still train at Monster, I’ll probably be in there 1pm-3pm and late at night, 7pm-9pm for my second workout.

8

Did legs today, starting up training after a long layoff really sucks… Having to squat 100kg when you have easily done 160kg before really gets to you. Today I got pinned with 100kg, got really pissed off and power cleaned that fucker back up to the rack, LOL, that made me feel better.

Front squats:
did about 6 sets of 3 to practice technique, it’s still really shit…

A. Back squat:
100kg for 5, 4, (2 + power clean + 1), 3, 3.

B. Romanian deadlift:
110kg for 4, 5, 4, 3, 4.

C1. Bulgarian split squats, 4x8 with 15kg each hand
C2. Lying leg curl, 4x8 with 40kg.

My CNS is all over the place right now, as you can see I’m better on some sets where theoretically I should be doing worse… And the power clean is a good example of that too.

I’m terrible on the bulgarian split squats, my balance is everywhere, which means I’ll do them from now on.

Tonight I’ll be doing calf raises and practicing more bulgarian split squats.

9

Should note my best lifts are as follows:

140kg on bench press for 2 reps
160kg squat for 3 reps
180kg deadlift for 2 reps
50kg dumbbells on shoulder press for 3 reps

No where near that right now, and it feels quite annoying using baby weights again, I’m confident i’ll be back there soon though, and at least I’ve found out what I want to do in life, physics, which keeps me smart and alert.

I’m just trying to find that balance between pushing my mind and body every day. I’m usually too obsessive on just one thing, but I love both of these things equally so I should be able to do it.

10

Training for today was Chest/Back

Initially I wanted to find my 1RM for chin ups & close grip bench and it ended up chest/back

A. Close-grip bench (14" grip)
40kg/5, 60kg/5, 70kg/3, 80kg/3, 90kg/2, 100kg/1, 110kg/1, 120kg/1

‘Apparently don’t touch the bar unless I get stuck’ is too fucking hard for some people to get their heads around, and I got a little bit of help on both of the last two lifts. But I’d say my 1RM for CG bench is 110kg at this point.

B. Chin ups (supinated grip)
bw/5, bw/3, bw+5kg/3, bw+10kg/3, bw+15kg/3, bw+20kg/2, bw+25kg/1, bw+35kg/0.5… bw+30kg/0.75

I would have got +30kg if I went with 30kg straight away, so I’ll say thats my 1RM (110kg)

C. Incline bench press
40kg/5, 60kg/5, 70kg/5, 80kg/5, 80kg/4, 80kg/4, 80kg/3, 80kg/3

D. Pull ups (pronated grip)
bw/5, bw+15kg/3 (+ bw/2), bw+10kg/4, bw+10kg/4, bw+10kg/4, bw+10kg/3, bw/4

E. Low incline dumbbell bench press
20kg/12, 32kg/8, 37.5kg/6, 42.5kg/6

F. Seated cable row (neutral grip)
#6/12, #8/12, #10/10, #12/10, #15/8 (+#12/9)

The reason I was finding my 1RM for CG bench and chin ups was this article:

So from that my CG-bench is a bit lower than expected.

It’s probably due to shoulder strength rather than triceps as I get stuck at the bottom of the rep.

11

For diet I’m going to have to keep track of everything and tweak things until I can optimally gain muscle without gaining any fat, or lose fat without losing any muscle.

I’m starting with the following plan:

2800 calories

261g protein, 104g fat, 205g carbs

(Was going to do 33% calories of each, but I wanted protein at 1.5g/lb)

Here’s how I’ll time the nutrients:

Meal 1 - 60g prot, 50g carbs, 26g fat
Meal 2 - 60g prot, 60g carbs, 26g fat
Post w/o - 60g prot, 70g carbs
Meal 3 - 40g prot, 25g carbs, 26g fat
Meal 4 - 40g prot, 26g fat

Going to plan the amounts of food per meal right now.

I’m also going to weigh myself and take my bodyfat with calipers and monitor my progress every 3 weeks.

12

Diet plan:

Meal 1:
250g beef, 2 desertspoon fish oil, 10g butter, 250g sweet potato

Meal 2:
3 scoops whey protein, 1 banana, 20g dark chocolate, 42g steel cut oats,
2 desertspoon fish oil

Post-workout:
3 scoops whey protein, 1 banana, 100g blueberries, 42g steel cut oats

Meal 3:
200g chicken, 1 desertspoon fish oil, 10g butter, 12g macadamia nuts,
100g broccoli, 25g brown rice

Meal 4:
200g beef, 1 desertspoon fish oil, 10g butter, 14g brazil nuts

obviously i’ve been a bit tedious with the amounts but thats the general idea.

13

Shoulders today

Standing behind the neck presses (meaty part of traps to lockout each rep):
bar/10, 30kg/5, 40kg/3, 40kg/3, 40kg/1, 50kg/1, 55kg/fail, 40kg/5, 40kg/5, 40kg/5

Seated DB presses
20kg/12, 25kg/8, 30kg/6, 30kg/6

Machine presses
#6/10, #8/10, #10/6, #10/6

BTN press/Leaning DB lateral superset
4x8 w/ 30kg for BTN press
4x12 w/ 7.5kg for DB lateral (very light)

Barbell shrugs
60kg/15, 100kg/15, 120kg/12, puts on straps, 140kg/12, 160kg/10, 180kg/6(+140kg/8)

Should be able to do 65% of my CG bench 1RM for BTN press (110kg, so about 70kg) but can only do 45%, so obviously I need to work on this. Haven’t done it before so it should go up quickly, it felt good.

14

Went later again in the night for a ‘posture/technique’ session

Front squats
lots with bar & 30kg
40kg/10, 50kg/5, 60kg/3, 60kg/3, 60kg/3, 60kg/3, 60kg/3, 60kg/3, 40kg/12, 40kg/10

Supinated grip deadlift
70kg for a few sets of 3-5, bar was bent as fuck and it kept slipping out of my hands
new bar
70kg/10, 90kg/8, 90kg/8, 90kg/8, 90kg/8, 70kg/12, 70kg/10, 50kg/20

BTN presses
2x20 with bar

Seated row
#5/20, #5/20, #5/20, #5/20, #5/30

15

Did 3 hours of ‘arms’ today, although 20 minutes of that was teaching my friend how to squat and did some abs after.

Only key features:

CG bench
5x5 with 90kg

EZ bar curls
40kg x 6 (if EZ bar weighs 10kg, im guessing)

Weighted dips
bw+40kg/4

Cable bar curls
5x12 w/ #8

Cybex tricep extension
#10/8

Reverse grip cable bar curls

abs

16

As of this morning:

Weight: 174lb
Bodyfat: 15.5%

17

Legs today

Squat
bar/15, bar/5, 40kg/8, 40kg/5, 60kg/8, 80kg/8, 80kg/3, 100kg/8, 120kg/6, 100kg/8,
100kg/5 (paused 2 sec at bottom), 100kg/5 (paused 2 sec at bottom).

Front squat
warm ups, 60kg/5, 70kg/3

Lying leg curl/walking lunge superset
4 sets of 12 with 40kg
4 sets of about 12 steps with 10kg each hand.

Leg extension
100/20, 100/15(+50/10)

–
Obviously a big improvement from squats when 5 days ago I didn’t even get 5x5 with 100kg.

I really wanted 120kg for 8 reps, I’ll get it in 5 days.

18

Just did 45 minutes of calves

Started with hack calf raise, 6x12 with 80kg. I’m going to focus adding weight on this.

then did lots of random stuff, toes out, in, seated, standing, 5 second contractions, 12 second negatives, 15 seconds in the stretch position etc.

19

BTN presses
40kg/8, 45kg/8, 40kg/5, 40kg/5

CG bench
90kg/4

lots of rotator cuff/rehab work

Had an issue with my side. I had a tight sharp pain in my ribs/pec on the bottom part of the lift, couldn’t put any power into the press what so ever. Couldn’t get any speed on the lift, even with 60kg I could barely rattle the bar.

Really frustrating, it’s not painful or anything I just can’t get any power into the press.

I’ll try again in a couple hours…

20

Back today

Deadlifts
warm ups
140kg/4 (no belt)
140kg/5 (belt)

Pull ups
4x4 w/ 10kg attached
1x3 w/ 10kg attached + 4 bw

DB rows
warm ups
46kg x 8
55kg x 8
60kg x 8

Seated cable row
#8 x 12
#11 x 10
#14 x 8
#14 x 8
#12 x 12 (no straps)

Doing the pull ups just feels like a hopeless waste of time. I only seem to make progress on them if I do a lots of them (staying well away from failure) throughout the week.

I’ll be aiming to do 40 chin ups & 40 pull ups every other day.