BROOTAL's Log

Training Training Logs
141

From my experience… Stick with less range of motion past warm-up and focus more on muscle tension (continuous). Make warm-up sets and rotation work your priority (light weights). Then keep at it, but not to repeat myself to bore you. Focus on controlled movement ~ When I mean Focus - keep it razor sharp from the beginning of your workout to the end. Even when your dripping sweat and can’t see through your eyes. The seconds between sets focus on the movement and how you are feeling and prepare for the next set mentally.

This popping out is actually common and tends to go away after more time, I suspect it has something to do with the muscle not being in control through the whole situation and you allowing the weight to shift to your non-musculature. But I’m not a expert on the bio-mechanics. Just my experience.

You should worry when you stop taking the necessary steps, and skip a warming up or lose focus for a second. From un-racking to re-racking the weight.

You’ll find quite a few forum posts about shoulder clicking or popping though.

142

7/21/08

Nutrition:

Breakfast: 1/2 cup egg beaters, 1 whole egg, 3 slices turkey bacon.

Snack: 1 Scoop Metabolic Drive, 2 Flameout

Lunch: Tuna, salad dressing, 1 boiled egg.

Snack: 1 scoop Metabolic Drive, 2 Flameout

Workout: Surge

Dinner: Oatmeal

Before bed: Metabolic Drive

Lifting:

Squats: 1: 115lbs 2: 135bs 3: 155lbs 4-6 205lbs (PR!) Then threw in a set of 140lbs x 15.

Supine Grip Bent Rows(STRICT): 1: 55lbs 2: 65lbs 3: 75lbs 4-6: 100lbs Added 5x5 pull-ups Had to use a chair at the end to support my feet.

Behind the neck press: 1: 45lbs 2: 50lbs 3: 55lbs 4-6 70lbs. Did plenty of shoulder warm-ups.

Random Ab work: 3x12 sit-ups, 3x12 lying leg raise.

Diet today was lagging because of poor planning. I got back late last night from a ton of weekend travel and didn’t pre-cook any meals.

143

7/22/08

Breakfast: 1/2 cup egg beaters, 1 whole egg, 3 slices turkey bacon

Snack: Peanut butter shake, 2 Flameout

Lunch: Large Chicken Salad.

Snack: Peanut Butter shake, 2 Flameout

Workout: Whey Protein

Dinner:Grilled Salmon, veggies. .

Lifts: (not including warmups)
Lots of warm-ups for shoulders and rotators.

Lateral Raises: 3x8: 20lbs
Barbell curls: 3x8 65lbs
Tricep push-ups: 5x10 bodyweight
Reverse curls: Skipped because my wrist was giving me some trouble (twisted it this weekend, should be good to go b the end of the week)

As that poster that people post on here goes “my shipment of FAIL arrived” while I was on my run today.

To start it off I swallowed some kind of fly 10 minutes into my run, then got attacked by a dog. After abut 20 minutes of jogging I felt Like I had glass in my sneaker, which turned out to be a blister. To top it all off, I got back to my apartment and realized that I dropped my keys while jogging and had to retrace my path to find them.

144

HAHAHAHA. Sorry but your shipment of FAIL was hilarious. Not to be mean.

145

I have decided to start switching gears. My workouts this week have suffered, and my progress has been slowing down significantly over the last month. I was losing fat pretty quickly, and this has also slowed significantly.

After doing some reading and thinking. I have decided that it is time for change. I will start two new things on Monday.

I have been doing Rippetoes for a few months and made great strength gains (for me personally). I have been eating low-carb for quite a while as well and lost almost 15 pounds of fat.

I am still not at an optimal fat level for adding mass (although I am damn close now). NO I am not “trying to look like the HYOOGE Brad Pitt in fight club”, but the gut isn’t completly gone and I still have the handles.

Changes I want to make and my reasoning.

Switch from low-carb t-dawg style diet to CT’s Carb Cycling. As he suggests in his article I will do one of the lower carb days as VERY LOW/ NO carb. I will continue this until I lose a few more pounds of fat. As soon as the handles are gone, I will start upping hte calories and contiue carb cycling for mass.

My reasoning is that I have been following the same plan for a while now and I’m getting bored. I also think I have more of a chance putting on some lean muscle by tossing some OPTIMALLY TIMED carbs back into my diet.

link to carb cycling: http://www.T-Nation.com/readArticle.do?id=811783

I also want to change up my workout. I think my body is starting to get used to things and its not as challenging anymore. I love the big compound movements, but this is also starting to get boring.

I am going to begin Joel Marions: Training for Maximal Size. It is also a program dealing with the big movements but uses different rep schemes and frequency.

Link to the program: http://www.T-Nation.com/readTopic.do?id=460458

I am looking forward to starting both. If anything it will be another learning experience along my path.

I plan on setting out some basic meals this weekend to use for the diet until I get a feel for it.

If anyone has some tips or opinions that would be awesome.

Thanks!

146

First workout on the new plan and its a hell of a lot harder than it looked on paper. I can’t say for sure it all had to do with the workout. I spent the entire day in the pool (in the sun)and then went lifting, so I was a bit tired to begin with.

Anyway heres how it went. all rest periods were 90 seconds. Tempo used was: 3 seconds down, then bursting the weight up.

None of these include 3 sets of warm-ups + some shoulder warm-ups

Squats: 5x8 @ 195lbs (thought I was going to pass out on the last few reps, this is also the first time I have used any kind of tempo while squatting. I usually just go down and up. 3 seconds down on the 5th set feels like years)

Incline press: 5x8 @ 115lbs (I had no idea what weight I could handle so I started a bit low.)

Hamstring curls: 3X8 @ 45 lbs

Push-ups: 6 sets of 10.

Whole workout took about an hour which is a bit loner than Rippetoes.

I was getting a feel for what weights to use today so they were a bit lower on some excersises than I will use next time. By the time I got to my push-ups i was pretty much shot so a lot of them sucked and really didnt count.

The program calls for a few sets of accessory work during the first 4 weeks. I chose to use hamstring curls and push-ups for the leg/chest day.

For the next 12 weeks I want to put a bigger emphasis on the muscles that I CAN NOT see in the mirror.

147


7/28/08

Workout was awesome today! Now that I am doing more pull-ups I am noticing how much I actually SUCK at them.

Dips: 5 sets x 8reps bodyweight (normally can do more but the program calls for 3 sec down which was harder than I thought)

Pull-ups: calls for 5x8 but I can only do 5 at a time. So I did 8 sets of 5 reps.

Incline Curls: 25lbs dumbbells

Added some supine grip bent rows as my accessory work.

Diet today:

Nutrition:

Breakfast: 2 whole eggs, 3 slices turkey bacon, 1 slice whole wheat toast, 1 scoop whey protein

Snack: Peanut butter shake, 2 Flameout caps

Lunch: Salmon fillet, cauliflower and broccoli mix

Snack: Peanut Butter shake, 2 Flameout caps

Workout: Surge

Dinner: 1lb Turkey burger with small salad as a side.

Before Bed: Scoop of Metabolic Drive in water.

Here is a couple pictures from the other day. The damn lighting sucks so I look flat as a wall but oh well.

148

and one for my back…

149

7/29/08

Deadlifts: 5 sets x 8 reps: 185lbs (Most brutal forearm workout I have ever had)

Military press: 5x8: 90lbs

Calf raises: 5x8: 165lbs

Lateral Raises: 5x8: 15 lb dumbbells

Workout followed by 15 mintues of jump roping (5, 3 minutes intervals, calfs are the weak link)

Diet today:

Nutrition:

Breakfast: 2 whole eggs, 3 slices turkey bacon, 1 slice whole wheat toast

Snack: Peanut butter shake, 2 Flameout caps

Lunch: 2marinated chicken breasts, mixed veggies

Snack: Peanut Butter shake, 2 Flameout caps

Pre-workout: 1 scoop whey protein (previously recomended)
Post-Workout: Surge

Dinner: 2 chicken breasts serving of whole wheat pasta.

Before Bed: Scoop of Metabolic Drive in carb countdown.

(diet was kind of boring today with a lack of variety, need to go food shopping)

I noticed that some people use a grip with one hand reversed when deadlifting. I tried this today and noticed that it was MUCH easier to hold the weight though all sets than using both hands facing the same way.

Is this just a thing of preference? or is there a good reason. The arm that I reversed the grip with is my weaker arm, (thus why it was easier for me to hold the weight).

150

7/30/08

Took an off day from lifting. I was a lot more sore than I thought I was going to be from yesterday’s deadlifts.

Rocked out with the cardio though and ate according to plan.

I will pick back up tommorow and start the cycle again.

Nutrition for the day

Breakfast: 2 whole eggs, 3 strips turkey bacon, crystal light, 1 slice whole wheat toast.

Shake: Peanut Butter shake, Flameout, 1 plum

Lunch: 2 chicken breasts, broccoli.

Shake: PB shake, fish cap

Dinner: Turkey kilbosi, 1/2 serving of baked beans, small salad

Before bed: 2 scoops Metabolic Drive in carb countdwon milk + 2 tablespoons of milled flax seed.

I also want to note that I have seriously stepped up the amount of water that I am drinking. I aim for about a gallon a day, and have been pretty close each day.

151

7/31/08

Kicked it up a notch with the workout today!

Squats: 5x9 @ 195lbs (went up one rep on each set. I figure I will try and add one rep to each set until I reach the high end of the recomended 8-12.

After I reach 12-reps for each set ill go back to 8 reps but add weight) This is for the first phase only.

Incline press: 5x9 @ 115lbs

Hamstring curls: 3X8 @ 45 lbs

65 push-ups.

My leg workout today was intense as hell today. I really like the change.

Breakfast: 2 whole eggs, 3 strips turkey bacon, crystal light, 1 slice whole wheat toast. Mutli-vitamin

Shake: Peanut Butter shake, Flameout, 1 plum

Lunch: 2 chicken breasts, Cucumber Salad with a few sun dried tomatoes.

Shake: PB shake, 2 Flameout

Preworkout: 1 scoop whey
Workout: SURGE

Dinner: 1/2 cup oatmeal with scoop of whey and some blueberries.

Before bed: 1 scoops Metabolic Drive in water, 2 tablespoons of milled flax seed.

152

I think your breakfast could do with more protein ~ Also did you do any cardio after your leg workout?

153

For more protein at breakfast would it be better to add food with protein (extra whites?) or a scoop of whey in some water. I have read the thermal effect of food would make it better to add egg whites than to have a scoop of whey.

I did some stationary bike for about 15 minutes and the daily jump roping for the cardio. I have cut down on the outdoor running until the blisters heal.

154

Solid food is the best choice ~ but if you dont have the convenience any extra protein is better then eating a small breakfast

155

http://www.T-Nation.com/readArticle.do?id=1031781

Something like this or similar to this ~ I think its time to change programs to something much harder.

156

I read through the workout and it seems pretty intense! I can see the obvious difference between this and what I am doing now.

I have a few questions though.

-I have been doing each body part basically three times a week, this now has each part once a week. Is this because the intensity?

-I have a feeling if I stick to a low number of calories while doing this it wont be nearly as effective. Should I bump up overall calories but keep the carbs at a low level? say 100g a day?

-Is sticking with the cardio still a good idea? or will I be overdoing it?

-I want to start the program this weekend but in exactly 2 weeks from today I will be going on vacation where I will only be doing bodyweight excersises and cardio for the week. Should I do it now take a week break and then continue? or keep with what I have now and then in 2 weeks give it a go?

-I am going to post a sample routine of what I think I should do and if possible would like some critiquing. The gym I go to is pretty basic and alot of his special exercises will not be possible.

-Is the pull-up good enough to use as a major back movement for the heavy low range reps?

-Do I perform all sets for the heavy then move to the first superset slections or do I do one heavy set, superset 1 and then superset 2 and go back to the heavy set for round 2 , 3, 4?

  • No deadlifts? I love this move can I include it?

Thank you!

157

Uhm reread the article and or do some research on other vertical type pulls. Weighted Rack Pullups I’m not sure thats the right name would be harder ~ uhh

http://www.T-Nation.com/readArticle.do?id=1150209

Basically consider the next two weeks as practice.

More or less the workouts about getting leaner; but where you are now, you’ll still put on strength and should get some size as long as your getting enough extra protein. But of course maybe someone else will chime in on this or you can skim through some other posts or threads related to the subject.

158

[quote]BROOTAL wrote:
-I have been doing each body part basically three times a week, this now has each part once a week. Is this because the intensity?
[/quote]
You could say that, but you have to try it out first.

You might want to pose these questions to Christian instead of me ~ Though he is known to be anti-carb and I am generally anti-carb unless its controlled and is part of a diet that coincides with a specific training goal.

I think this is really about how much you can tolerate and push yourself. If I look at it from an athletes perspective summer bootcamp and some new guys trying out… its never not about is this too much, but will they still come back the next day? I don’t believe your in the type of athletic shape cardio yet where that would be a concern.

Consider it a trial run?

You’ll have to swap out the exercises you can’t do with similar exercises of course.

Don’t think your pullup game is good enough to be used as a legitimate major back movement as of yet. Pull-downs if your talking about the vertical movement would probably be more effective.

  • I believe you go with Exercise 1,2,3,4
    – A round is a Giant set consisting of all the types
    – Do an article search for HSS-100 for more in depth information
    Also every single article has a discussion thread where ppl make comments and questions and the author answers. Make sure to do some more in depth reading. Don’t have thatttt much time to fully reacquaint myself with HSS haha.

I think theres room for the deadlift - Unless you think squat or benchpress is equally unimportant. hehe. Don’t take things toooooooooo literally- But check out Thib’s corner where ppl ask him question since this is one of his training methods he has put on T-Nation.

Best to go to the source!

Uhmmm besides that just take some time and read his articles then you’ll understand his articles better the more of his words you have digested.

159

Two thoughts come to mind right now…

1)Kinein is trying to kill me through an internet forum
2)How am I going explain to my coworkers why I am walking like I got raped by an elephant

Workout:

Plenty of leg stretching + 5 minutes of jump roping pre workout.

Back squats: 2 minutes rest between each set.

  1. bar x 6 reps
  2. 95lbs x 6 reps
  3. 115lbs x 6 reps
  4. 210lbs x 6 reps
  5. 210lbs x 6 reps
  6. 210lbs x 6 reps
  7. 210lbs x 6 reps
  8. 210lbs x 6 reps

Super sets:
B1: Leg extension: 10 reps @ 70lbs
B2: Front Squats: 8 reps @ 115lbs
2 minute rest

Leg extension: 10 reps @ 70lbs
Front Squats: 8 reps @ 115lbs
2 minute rest

Leg extension: 10 reps @ 70lbs
Front Squats: 8 reps @ 115lbs
2 minute rest

Isometric Bulgarian split squats:
3 “sets” of 30 second holds on each leg.

100 squats with an EZ curl bar (to help keep my form)

1st set = 50 reps
2nd= 25 reps
3rd= 25 reps

This was absolutly ridiculous. I don’t want to sound like a Pu**y but this was just nuts. I am hoping it will get a little bit easier to handle as it goes on.

-Doing the extra cardio was a big help during the super sets. I was a big winded

I am going to give it a shot for 2 weeks as a trial run and see if I really can handle this kind of work yet.

160

Oh yea I almost forgot. I bought a foam roller this weeked and have been experimetning with it while reading this…

http://www.T-Nation.com/readArticle.do?id=475832

This thing is kick ass for the back