Introduction
My Name is Colton Pickens I live in Ohio What got me into lifting was also what gave me the scare of my life . In 2004 I was 16 and was overweight fast food junkie and no real physical activity.
The thing was I hadn’t been feeling like the best person in the world worse off than usual I should say , I was having a irregular heart beat and throughout each day my heart would start off racing real fast sort of like a panic attack or like I was givin a shot of adrenaline.
After repeated trips to the doctor’s they came to the conclusion I was just having panic attack’s
Then one night I was laying in bed and I woke up in a heavy sweat and pain in my chest and coulding breathe very good . I had sort of a mini heart attack , That led to my eventual trip to a specialist . then a heart moniter for a week , Eventually surgery to correct a misfiring wire as he put it . It turns out i’d had this since birth
From there I joined my first gym was there from late 2004 to early 2006 when i had a second surgery to remove a tumer and two lymph nodes out of my neck (This was discovered from me constantly losing my balance and all that)
This put me out of the gym for almost 3 months and then got back into it . I started dabaling in powerlifting , By August 2009 I could squat 520lbs and deadlft almost 600lbs my bench lacks but was around 320 all raw lifting
that was the last time I seen a gym till June 2010. I started suffering from chronic depression for various reasons not really needed to be stated. All in all i got ahold of myself somewhere down that nasty road . got back to lifting and felt great ever since
Before i stopped my stats were this
283lbs
bodyfat was 17%
Bench - 320lbs
deadlift - 585lbs
squat - 520lbs
Now im 317lbs
body is more to the 23% (not measured)
bench - 232lbs
deadlift - 417lbs reached this july 13 , 2010
squat - is 343lbs
July 12th , 2010
Dead Lift day
225x6 (Warm up)
275x3
315x3
335x3
365x3
405x3
for my assist I didn’t do a ton hitting the 405 was my main goal for the day this is what I finished up with
(Sets/max weight used/reps)
Wide pull downs
3x170x10
barbell shrugs
4x405x8
Hammer Curls
4x50x10
15 minutes of elliptical and 3 sets of weighted crunches and weighted twist crunches
July 13th , 2010
Shoulder’s
Seated military press
95x10
135x8
135x8
155x8
one arm lateral’s
4x20x10
seated rear delt raises (reversed on the chest fly machine)
4x100x12
barbell shrugs
3x315x10
upright rows
3x70x10
Pretty straight forword workout , I moved my shoulders up because they were being done a day after chest and tri’s and was feeling fatigued the day of , feels better like this
tomorrow is leg day
July 14th , 2010
Squat day
Squats -
225x3
275x3
315x3
350x3
Leg extensions - 4x150x12
Front squat - 4x135x10
thoughts ,
I havent done front squats in a long long while and thought what the hell and gave it a go
They are without a doubt fun to do and they murder the quads
my last set of 350x3 was smooth had help at just above paralell on the 3rd rep sat down to fast and lost focus (i had spotters ready 
)
Other than that the workout went smooth and took around an hour 20 mintutes plus 5 minutes on the elliptical to unwind …
july 15th , 2010
chest day
Bench press -
135x5
185x3
205x3
225x3
235x3
incline bp - 4x135x10
cable fly’s - 4x80x10
pressdowns - 4x150x10
notes -
I had heartburn going on today , kinda rushed through the movements an all . did yard work this moring so that makes up for some cardio im guessing
the next few days fri , sat and sun will be cardio if anything so off till then !
July 16th , 2010
note to add ,
for the major lifts , that being BP DL and squats , im trying to increase at least 5-10 pounds a week everything over the past week felt smooth enough for and increase im going to try to at least 10 pounds a piece on the DL and squat and 5 on the bench
also adding creatine mono for and extra kick
July 19th, 2010
“back” at it
Deadlifts -
225x3
275x3
315x3
365x3
415x3 (extremely easy this week!)
wide pulldowns 4x10x150
close seated rows 4x8x180
barbell curls - 4x10x80
hammers - 4x10x55
NOTES - I added creatine monohydrate so far so good
current weight - 307lbs
July 20th, 2010
Shoulder day
seated OHP - 5x6-8 135-155
laterals - 4x12 10-15lbs
rear delt pulls (machine) - 4x12 80-100lbs
front plate raises - burnout
Notes-
Shoulder day is never fun for me , although i dont go no less at it becouse of that , my right shoulder is messed up from a youger years accident , that messed my rotory cuff up an all and it still hurts every now and again . did that when i was 13
July 21st, 2010
legs
box squats - 5x315x3
reg squats - 3x8
leg extensions - 4x100x12
hypers - 3x12
calf raises - 4x15-20
notes - I just wasnt feeling it today , my lower back was spasing out today idk what it is maybe the fact of sleeping on it wrong i do that every now again i can go weeks fine then theres those few day’s …
tomorrow im working chest and tri’s then 2-3 days off till next monday i gotta find a decent solid power routine
Glad to see your back lifting man, ill be watching. Keep it up!
July 22nd , 2010
First off , Thank you Blacklabel for checking my journal out
today was chest day
benchpress -
135x10
155x8
185x6
205x5
225x3
incline DB press -
4x70x10
seated machine fly’s -
4x80x10
pressdowns -
4x10-12
skull crusher -
4x70x8
Notes - Pretty basic workout felt good and solid on the bench , also i halted the creatine for now
off for 2 days then back at it gotta get a new solid based routine focusing on the deadlift
July 26th, 2010
back day
deads
225x3
315x3
365x3
405x3
attempted 450 …
pulled the sum bitch up but was straining so im gonna work with 405-435 range for my working sets
Good morning’s 4x8 95 pounds -
this is the first time i’ve done these had a guy who has 35+ years training on me he watched me and helped correct my posture … i’ve been looking for a lower back aid and i think i found my saving grace so to speak
wide grip pulldowns 4x140x10 -
i used the bar that has your palms facing each other , didnt like this though really wasn’t feeling it in the lats
hammer’s 4x50x10
to finish off I did close grip seated row’s nice and slow 4 x 10 with 150lbs
no cardio today will do it tomorrow more than likely
july 27th, 2010
shoulder’s today
seated military press
95x10
135x10
135x10
135x10
laterals -
10x10
15x10
20x10
25x10
rear delt rope pulls - 4x150x10
CGB - 4x10
skull crusher’s - 4x10
strait forword workout and thats about it
not muxh news to spill … cardio on nothing tomorrow
another strait forword workout
July 29th, 2010
legs today … woo
Squats -
135x10 warmup
225x3
275x3
315x3
335x3 this went very well felt very stable and strong through the lift two weeks ago i had to have spotters help but not this time !
Good morning’s -4x135x6 very smooth now that im used to the movement i swear my lower back already feels better
2 sets of SLDL’s 8 reps ( for a strech )
leg extensions - 4x100x12
finished off with 15 minutes on the elliptical
benching tomorrow
July 30, 2010
Bench press -
135x10 warmup
185x3
205x3
225x3 - struggled here
235x3 - this went incredibly smooth … must be my form i need to work on but overall im happy felt real strong
2 sets of 10 with 70lbs on incline DB and 2 sets of 135lbs for 10 reps on the BB
seated machine fly’s - 4x10 80 lbs
triceps pressdowns - 4x12 with light weight
finished off the day with 4x135x10 on the close grip bench
and 15 minutes cardio
August 2nd , 2010
Can ya’ll believe its already August ? … my 21st B-day is right around the corner well September but still
on to the workout …
Deadlifting -
135x10 warm’up
275x3
315x3
365x3
405x3
430x3 (after the atemepted 450 last week i had to prove to myself it wasn’t far off this went great i was happy.)
assistance went along well
good morning’s - 4x135x6
loving this excersize i think its saved my lower back
close grip pull downs - 4x170x10
BB curls - 4x100x10
finished up with 2 sets of light hammer’s and 15 minutes on the treadmill
august 3rd , 2010
a little update …
My current maxes on the 3 big ones are
Deadlift - 463 lbs
Benchpress - 256 lbs
squat - 411 lbs
there moving on up my old maxes from one year ago to day to be exact are as follow’s
deadlift - 585 lbs
bench - 320 lbs
squat - 525 lbs
August 3rd 2010
switched it up a lil bit , did chest today instead of shoulders
bench press
135x10 warm up
185x3
225x3
235x3
245x3 - went real smooth today finally making some progress on my bench I believe in 2 months time i can be benching 315 … theres a goal October 3rd , 2010 I will bench 315 for reps not a max
incline bench press 2x135x8 and 2x185x6
pressdowns - 4x12 the whole rack witch goes to 150 but is a 2 pulley system
5 minute cool down on elliptical
tomorrow is Squating
August 4th , 2010
Squating today
Sqaut - 135x10 warmup
225x3
275x3
315x3
335x3 felt solid today
365x2 2 reps was good but my stance was a bit goofed and didnt feel rigid enough so i racked it
good morning’s - 4x135x6 again these went great still likeing this , my lower back has never felt better
leg extensions - 4x110x10-12
felt like i was on FIRE ! woo went good
finished off with 5 sets of standing calf raises 200 lbs of resistance
no cardio today , tomorrow is shoulders and cardio
Moving starting the 6th will try to get in some cardio during