Brotherhood of Iron Redux

Training Bodybuilding
441

[quote]xb-C wrote:
Legs today was pretty good.

Front Squats
230 x 1 PR
250 x 1 PR
205 x 4 PR
185 x 5 PR

That was the highlight for me. I trained with my powerlifting buddy, it was a good time. I wore a belt and knee wraps for 250.[/quote]

How much do the knee wraps help? I’ve never used anything other than some generic sleeves.

Those of you hitting some pretty heavy weight on your quad exercises do you wrap your knees? CC? Lol curious if I should be lookin to do this…I’m reppig over 500 lbs on hack squats for my heavy set, knees don’t usually bother me but occasionally they will. My sleves are pretty crappy too, should prob invest in some better ones for elbows and knees.

442

I’ve never wrapped up my knees and gone as heavy as 405 for reps on back squat and 315 for reps on front squat.

Went to that BB show this weekend. The guys I know won their classes (lightweight and middleweight, open). Lot of good-lookin figure girls. Spent a lot of time with the gf analyzing the different girls and their strengths/weaknesses.

BB shows are always kind of an ego killer though because you see a bunch of big dudes, and guys that weigh barely less than you… that are 4-5 inches shorter… and like 7% leaner haha. Oh well. Just have a LOT of work to do. Still just a complete beginner in the bodybuilding world.

My appetite is finally coming back, thank god. Last week after being sick, I was having trouble holding down and finishing meals. Now I’m pretty damn hungry. Gotta feed the monster.

Oh, and on Saturday, I benched, and did some random accessory stuff before the show. Hit 285 x 9 and 335 x 3. Was hoping for 10 and 4 respectively, but oh well.

Study time, then hittin back/shoulders/bis this evening. Gonna sip on playdough and shit, lots of it, so I actually don’t feel like shit 2/3 thru the workout.

GJ getting stronger and shit guys. Watch that Kai Greene vid… he’s a baller.

443

No listerine in the apartment, but I just brushed my teeth pre-workout, hoping to get the same effect.

444

[quote]josh86 wrote:

How much do the knee wraps help? I’ve never used anything other than some generic sleeves.

Those of you hitting some pretty heavy weight on your quad exercises do you wrap your knees? CC? Lol curious if I should be lookin to do this…I’m reppig over 500 lbs on hack squats for my heavy set, knees don’t usually bother me but occasionally they will. My sleves are pretty crappy too, should prob invest in some better ones for elbows and knees. [/quote]

Well I put my belt on for when the weights get around 185 or so. I got 230 easy with just a belt. The only reason I put my knee wraps on for 250 was just to get that little extra spring out of the bottom. From what I hear wearing knee wraps can mess up your knee caps by making them track differently from all the pressure. Guys over at IM will be able to explain it more, on a whole I’ve maybe used my knee wraps 3 times and I’ve had them for 3-4 years.

I do wear knee sleeves though, these just help keep my knees warm and what not no real support, my elbow sleeves are tighter then my knee sleeves.

I’ll suggest elitefts heavy elbow sleeves, I got my pair 2 weeks ago or so and I love them. Only 25$ too. That price is for a pair, you will be hard pressed to find any other pair of elbow sleeves for that good of a deal, best I’ve found is 20 or so bucks for an individual sleeve from various brands.

445

First day with Yates 3-way, chest-bi-tri

Inc Smith 255 x 7
Been battling with this for a long time. Progress is slow but i’m fucking determined to rep out 315

Flat DB 100 x 11
Next highest is 110, which i’ve done for 8 previously. Not sure if i’m goin up just yet. If I do flat DB first next time, then i’ll go up and see how many I get.

Cable cross over 60 x 19

BB Curl 115 x 6 lame, but i’ve never been strong on biceps ex.
95 x 12

1 arm DB preacher 30 x 11 R 12 L

1 arm cable curl 65 x 16 huge pump. Love this exercise.

Decline Smith CGBP: this fucking rocks. I used to do flat bench Smith CGBP and I failed out at 235 for like 6 sketchy reps. My form just tanked once I got to my working weight. Since then I had been doing SRGBP on an angled smith at a different gym and it felt fantastic. So I figured, if a flat bench/angled smith felt awesome, a decline bench/regular smith should be the same.

Did 245 x 13. Totally blew past my PR. I was able to do everything right; shoulders back and down, elbows tucked, pushing up against the smith. I threw on 265 after the first set and got 5.
I should be up to 300 not long from now. So happy that this feels good.

Pushdowns: 140 x 17 or something

All in 1 hr 10 minutes. So far, i’m lovin this.

446

legs were brutal today i wish my gym had a hammock or something, i needed to lay down.

447

[quote]MeinHerzBrennt wrote:
First day with Yates 3-way, chest-bi-tri

Inc Smith 255 x 7
Been battling with this for a long time. Progress is slow but i’m fucking determined to rep out 315
[/quote] Back down to 235, do 12 reps or AMRAP, whatever, then work back up from there in 5 lb increments? [quote]
Flat DB 100 x 11
Next highest is 110, which i’ve done for 8 previously. Not sure if i’m goin up just yet. If I do flat DB first next time, then i’ll go up and see how many I get. [/quote] I’d try to get at least 12… [quote]

Cable cross over 60 x 19

BB Curl 115 x 6 lame, but i’ve never been strong on biceps ex.
95 x 12

1 arm DB preacher 30 x 11 R 12 L [/quote] Weird. [quote]

1 arm cable curl 65 x 16 huge pump. Love this exercise. [/quote] Curl or rev curl ? I’d stick to 2 exercises for bis, you want to keep your sessions short-ish at an hour at most or so if you can… If you feel like it, do 2 sets(6-8, 9-12) at different rep ranges or even 3 (6-10, 10-14, 15-20 or whatever floats your boat).
One nice and not overly stressful (on the system overall) way is doing 6-8 or 10 or whatever first, and (like dusty does on some exercises) if you get 8 or 10 or whatever you were going for, do another set with a heavier weight (not superheavy, just as much as you’d increase the exercise for the next session) and if you didn’t get your reps, stick with the same weight for another set.

And yes, you can also RP stuff here, but that works better with a rotation[quote]

Decline Smith CGBP: this fucking rocks. I used to do flat bench Smith CGBP and I failed out at 235 for like 6 sketchy reps. My form just tanked once I got to my working weight. Since then I had been doing SRGBP on an angled smith at a different gym and it felt fantastic. So I figured, if a flat bench/angled smith felt awesome, a decline bench/regular smith should be the same.

Did 245 x 13. Totally blew past my PR. I was able to do everything right; shoulders back and down, elbows tucked, pushing up against the smith. I threw on 265 after the first set and got 5.
I should be up to 300 not long from now. So happy that this feels good.

Pushdowns: 140 x 17 or something

All in 1 hr 10 minutes. So far, i’m lovin this.[/quote]
Good to hear. Let’s see how the next few weeks go for you.

448

XB, nice job on the front squat PR

Mein, you’re gonna be the scariest F’n lawyer any poor bastard has ever had to look across the courtroom aisle at.

Cam, you’re a cunt.

So, had a scheduled leg day, but I forgot I was working at the “other” gym tonight, no squat rack, no leg press, no place to even clean the weights up for front squats. So decided to make it a shoulder day instead of leg day.

Kind of falling in love with shoulder training lately, I’ve naturally got a pretty good shoulder to waist ratio so its fun to role with whats good and try to make it great. I couldnt do direct shoulder training for a couple years thanks to fucking up my shoulder benching in high school so it really is fun to see progress with them now.

Shoulders + triceps - 8/03/09

Seated DB -
45’s x 10
60’s x 6
80’s x 9 ( +3 reps)

seated thumbs down laterals
20’s x 9
25’s x 14 rp’d

BB upright row
85 x 10
105 x 6
125 x 8/4/3 rp’d

California skullcrushers (check the best of triceps article)
115 x 4
135 x 5

Pushdowns ( Levrone style )
100 x 10/6/3 rp’d

Comments: very good workout, shoulders are looking good.

–JB

449

CC thanks for the reply. i’ll stick with 2 exercises for biceps.
The cable curls were actually low-pulley biceps curls, facing away from the stack so it mimics an incline DB curl (nice stretch at the bottom).

I’ll probably stick with 2 sets for BB curls, 6-8 then 10-12 or whatever, then hit up the cable curl or DB preacher (if I want to keep these in, not sure).

Can’t wait to do the Dec smith CG again. Shit felt so smooth.

450

@ Det

451

i’ve spent most of today looking at different bbb threads, MODOK/CC posts, SmallToBig’s log and the bbb slideshare. i just finished day 1 of ramp 1 of week 1 of the 6 day/1x per day plan. (i’ve got a lot of time on my hands; i won’t miss workouts). i did the 50%x5 75%x5 warm up sets for everything and had the stopwatch on my phone for 120 secs in between working sets.

bent over bb row: 145- 15, 15, 13
flat bb: 145- 15, 13, 12
wide grip EZ curls: 45- 15, 15, 13
standing calf machine: 120- 15, 15, 14

it went well, just wanted to put a thanks out there to CC for the input on my previous routine lol i think i’m on the right track now?

452

livefromthe781- weights in lbs; don’t dump on me like last time

453

[quote]UFgator11 wrote:
livefromthe781- weights in lbs; don’t dump on me like last time[/quote]

Just trying to toughen ya up Nancy :slight_smile:

God I would be bored out of my fucking mind doing straight sets of 15. But then again I could probably do well to do some higher rep stuff. I dont remember the last time I did an upper body lift above 8-10 reps not counting rest pause.

454

[quote]WS4JB wrote:
GB, 200 mg a piece, so 2-3 of those or 2 and Rockstar Blue and Im usually set.[/quote]

800mg or better in my book ;D

455

Deadlift-
135 x 10
185 x 5
225 x 3
275 x 3
325 x 3
365 x 5

Back XT-
45 x 10 x3

Pulldown Abs-
90 x 10 x3

Pinwheel Curls-
55 x 12 x2

Hise Shrugs-
10 plates x 20

456

Pullups: BWx10, +25x10, +45x5, +90x3

Ghetto T-bars: 1platexlots, 3x10, 5x5, 6+10x8

Pulldowns: 84xlots, 108x10, 144x8, 192x10

1 arm DB rows: 75x10, 100 x25, may start doing a 1 arm machine row or something, stupid gyms and their stupid no heavy DB’s =[

Face pulls: 84x15, 120x15, 144x15

I actually felt kind of sick through the whole workout, so I’m happy with progress on everything. Also this is the first time I’ve done weighted pullups in like 6 months(I usually just do a few sets to 50 @ BW to warm up) so I was pumped to hit +90 for 3.

457

[quote]UFgator11 wrote:
i’ve spent most of today looking at different bbb threads, MODOK/CC posts, SmallToBig’s log and the bbb slideshare. i just finished day 1 of ramp 1 of week 1 of the 6 day/1x per day plan. (i’ve got a lot of time on my hands; i won’t miss workouts). i did the 50%x5 75%x5 warm up sets for everything and had the stopwatch on my phone for 120 secs in between working sets.

bent over bb row: 145- 15, 15, 13
flat bb: 145- 15, 13, 12
wide grip EZ curls: 45- 15, 15, 13
standing calf machine: 120- 15, 15, 14

it went well, just wanted to put a thanks out there to CC for the input on my previous routine lol i think i’m on the right track now?
[/quote]

i think you should add some weight and go heavier.

458

MELB

  1. Reverse Band Squats (Circa Max Prep) - 545lbs 8x2 Blue Bands (slow as fuck)
  2. Speed Sumo Pulls - 275lbs (50%) 8x3 Mini’s
  3. Side Bends 140lbs 3x8
459

[quote]LiveFromThe781 wrote:
UFgator11 wrote:
i’ve spent most of today looking at different bbb threads, MODOK/CC posts, SmallToBig’s log and the bbb slideshare. i just finished day 1 of ramp 1 of week 1 of the 6 day/1x per day plan. (i’ve got a lot of time on my hands; i won’t miss workouts). i did the 50%x5 75%x5 warm up sets for everything and had the stopwatch on my phone for 120 secs in between working sets.

bent over bb row: 145- 15, 15, 13
flat bb: 145- 15, 13, 12
wide grip EZ curls: 45- 15, 15, 13
standing calf machine: 120- 15, 15, 14

it went well, just wanted to put a thanks out there to CC for the input on my previous routine lol i think i’m on the right track now?

i think you should add some weight and go heavier. [/quote]

Honestly, I agree. Also is there a reason for the 3 strait sets now? Obviously you can train however you want, but I highly recommend ramping to a top heavy set (6-10 reps on most lifts) and giving it everything you have. Then if you want you can strip some weight and do a lighter set for pump…but this is all about progression man. And 3 strait sets of 15ish reps isn’t the best way to go about progression.

460

[quote]LiveFromThe781 wrote:
UFgator11 wrote:
i’ve spent most of today looking at different bbb threads, MODOK/CC posts, SmallToBig’s log and the bbb slideshare. i just finished day 1 of ramp 1 of week 1 of the 6 day/1x per day plan. (i’ve got a lot of time on my hands; i won’t miss workouts). i did the 50%x5 75%x5 warm up sets for everything and had the stopwatch on my phone for 120 secs in between working sets.

bent over bb row: 145- 15, 15, 13
flat bb: 145- 15, 13, 12
wide grip EZ curls: 45- 15, 15, 13
standing calf machine: 120- 15, 15, 14

it went well, just wanted to put a thanks out there to CC for the input on my previous routine lol i think i’m on the right track now?

i think you should add some weight and go heavier. [/quote]

Honestly, I agree. Also is there a reason for the 3 strait sets now? Obviously you can train however you want, but I highly recommend ramping to a top heavy set (6-10 reps on most lifts) and giving it everything you have. Then if you want you can strip some weight and do a lighter set for pump…but this is all about progression man. And 3 strait sets of 15ish reps isn’t the best way to go about progression.