Hey all,
I am moving my training log here from the Men’s Health Forums. I liked the community there, but they are using some sort of new web format that isn’t very user-friend and that I honestly can’t figure out how to use.
I like to keep an online log to track my progress, and I figured moving my log to T-Nation would be as good as anywhere because I do enjoy reading articles from Ben Bruno and several others who are often featured here.
A little about me: I’m a graduate student, and I’ve been lifting regularly and with a purpose for about five years. I’m not going to lie; my main goal is building a good physique. I do like to challenge myself though, and I want to build a solid foundation of strength and conditioning. I also like to play basketball or shoot hoops on the days that I’m not lifting weights.
Right now I’m at about 185 pounds (5’10" tall, probably around 15% BF), and while I don’t look bad, my appearance and performance in the gym are definitely not where I’d like them to be after five years of lifting. I’m looking forward to joining here, and I always welcome constructive feedback!
My current workout format has me lifting four days: One lower-body day, one upper-day day, and two full-body days. I take a day of rest between the full-body workouts, and I always make sure that I have a day of rest before I do a full-body workout. I usually play basketball or do some form of light cardio on two of my non-lifting days, and I take one day a week completely off.
Here was my workout for today:
Thursday, December 19
1A. Incline Bench
175x5, 190x5, 185x5, 185x4, 180x5
1B. DB Lunge and Goblet Squat Combo
5 sets of 5 lunges per leg with 60lb DBs, followed by 5 sets of 10 of Goblet Squats with a 60lb DB
2A. Seated Row with Straight bar
150x8, 160x8, 165x8
2B. Medicine Bar Leg Curl
3x8
3A. L Sit Chinups
3x5
3B. Weighted Incline Situps
(+35x10)x3
Saturday, December 21
1A. Incline Bench
175x5, 190x5, 185x5, 185x4, 180x5
1B. Weighted Pushups
+45x12, +45x12, +45x14
2A. Lat Pulldowns
145x15, 145x13, 145x10
2B. DB Split Squat Holds
(35sx20sec)x3
3A. Leg Raises
3x10
3B. Diamond Pushups
3x10
Sunday, December 22
I shot hoops and ran sprints for about a half hour, and then I played a few games of 3-on-3 as well.
Monday, December 23
1A. Incline Bench
180x5, 190x5, 185x5, 185x4, 180x4
1B. Elevated Pistol Squats
Regular: +20x5
1.5s: +10x5, +16x5
Pause at the bottom: +20x5
Eccentrics: +16x5
2A. Chinups
8, 8, 7
2B. Medicine Ball Leg Curl
3x9
3A. DB Hammer Curls
(30sx10)x3
3B. Weighted Incline Situps
+35x14, +35x12, +35x12
Wednesday, December 25
10 30-second sprints on the treadmill with a minute of walking between each sprint. Also did 3 sets of 10 for BW squats, pushups, and situps.
Thursday, December 26
I will be mostly doing home workouts for the next few weeks because I am on vacation.
1A. Pistol Squats
+10x10, +15x10, +15x10
1B. Chinup
3x8
2A. DB Single-leg RDL
25sx8, 30sx8, 30sx8
2B. Pushups
3x15
3A. L-Sit Chinups
5, 4, 3, 2, 1
3B. Ab V-ups
10, 8, 6, 4, 2
Friday, December 27
Did three rounds of tabata protocols at home with some plyometric exercises.
Sunday, December 29
Did a workout with some family members. Basically, you pick a bodyweight exercise for each type of card from a standard deck, and for each card you draw, you perform a number of reps equal to the card value. You shuffle the cards and then go through the whole deck. We did burpees for hearts (these sucked), pushups for spades, situps for diamonds, and then a mix of plyo exercises for clubs. It was a challenging workout for sure!
Monday, December 30
1A. Barbell Press
135x5, 155x3, 150x4, 145x5, 140x5
1B. Chinup
7, 7, 7, 7, 7
2A. Weighted Pushups
+45x14, +45x10, +45x10, +45x8
2B. One-arm DB Row
(45x15)x3
3A. DB Hammer Curls
30sx12, 30sx10, 35sx8
3B. Diamond Pushups
10, 10, 11
Wednesday, December 31
- Elevated Pistol Squats
Regular: +20x5
1.5s: +15x5, +15x5
Pause at the bottom: +25x5
Eccentrics: +20x5
2A. DB Single-Leg RDL
30sx8, 30sx8, 35sx8
2B. Ab V-ups
12, 11, 10
3A. Weighted Jump Squats
(+50x8)x3
3B. Hanging Leg Raises
3x10
Thursday, January 2
1A. Pushups
20, 16, 14, 12, 10
1B. Chinup
6, 6, 6, 6, 6
2A. DB Shoulder Press
(50sx8)x3
2B. Chinup
5, 5, 5
3A. DB Hammer Curls
30sx12, 30sx10, 35sx12
3B. Diamond Pushups
12, 11, 10
Happy that my pushup numbers are improving. They weren’t even too tough today.
Friday, January 3
- Elevated Pistol Squats
+15x10, +15x10, +10x10
2A. DB RDL
52.5sx15, 52.5sx15, 52.5sx20
2B. Reverse Crunches
15, 15, 15
3A. Jump Rope
1min, 1min, 1min, 1min, 1min
3B. Hanging Leg Raises
5x10
Saturday, January 4
Deck of cards cardio workout with four different plyometrics exercises.
Sunday, January 5
1A. Pushups
21, 16, 15, 13, 11
1B. Chinup
7, 7, 7, 7, 7
2A. DB Shoulder Press
(52.5sx8)x3
2B. One-arm DB Rows
(52.5x10)x3
3A. DB 21s
20lb DBs, 20lb DBs, 20lb DBs
3B. Diamond Pushups
11, 11, 11
Monday, January 6
- Elevated Pistol Squats
Regular: +20x5
1.5s: +20x5, +15x5
Pause at the bottom: +30x5
Eccentrics: +20x5
2A. DB Single-Leg RDL
(35sx8)x3
2B. Ab V-ups
12, 11, 11
3A. Weighted Jump Squats
(+50x8)x3
3B. Hanging Leg Raises
11, 10, 11
Wednesday, January 8
- Elevated Pistol Squats
+15x10, +15x10, +10x10
2A. DB RDL
52.5sx20, 52.5sx17, 52.5sx15
2B. Reverse Crunches
16, 16, 16
3A. Jump Rope
1min, 1min, 1min, 1min, 1min
3B. Hanging Leg Raises
5x10
Also did 5 one-minute intervals on the treadmill afterward with a minute of rest in between.
Thursday, January 9
1A. DB Shoulder Press
45sx8, 52.5sx8, 52.5sx8, 52.5sx8, 50sx8
1B. Chinup
6, 6, 6, 6, 6
2A. Pushup
15, 15, 13, 13, 15
2B. Chinup
6, 5, 5, 5, 5
3A. DB Hammer Curls
25sx15, 25sx15
3B. Diamond Pushups
11, 13
Monday, January 13
1A. Front Squat
175x5, 180x5, 185x5
Went light today. Easing back into these.
1B. Weighted Chinup
(+10x5)x5
2A. Weighted Pushup
+45x14, +45x14, +45x12
2B. Medicine Ball Leg Curl
9, 9, 9
3A. L-Sit Chinup
5, 4, 3, 3, 3
3B. Ab V-ups
11, 8, 7, 5, 3
Tuesday, January 14
Shot hoops and did some sprints for about 40 minutes.
Wednesday, January 15
1A. Elevated Pistol Squats
+16x10, +16x10, +10x10
1B. Chinup
8, 8, 9
2A. DB Single-Leg RDLs
(35x8)x3
2B. DB Incline Bench
(60sx8)x3
Wanted to do regular incline, but it wasn’t available while I was there today.
3A. Diamond Pushup
11, 11, 11
3B. Incline Situp
(+35x14), (+35x12), (+35x11)
Thursday, January 16
Ran five one-minute intervals on the treadmill and then shot hoops for about a half an hour.
Friday, January 17
- Elevated Pistol Squats
Regular: +20x5
1.5s: +20x5, +16x5
Pause at the bottom: +30x5
Eccentrics: +24x5
2A. Chinup
7, 7, 8, 7. 7
2B. DB Shoulder Press
60sx7, 55sx8, 50sx8
3A. Plank
1min, 1min, 1min
Ran out of time today, so I wasn’t able to get my full workout in. Better than nothing I suppose.
Sunday, January 19
Had an intramural basketball game.
Monday, January 20
1A. Barbell Press
135x5, 145x5, 140x5, 140x4, 135x5
1B. Chinup
7, 8, 7, 7, 6
2A. Pushup
20, 16, 14, 12, 10
2B. Seated Row Two-hand Cable Row
120x10, 130x8, 140x6, 145x4, 145x4
3A. DB Hammer Curls
35sx10, 35sx10, 35sx8, 35sx2