Dec's Training Log

Training Logs
1

Have always kept a diary recording my training but just recently found T-Nation and thought i’d start posting on here just incase any of you more experienced lifters have anything to say. Also so i have a good reference point to see how i’ve improved.

Basic Info: 17 years old, about 76 kg’s and 180cm’s
Currently in off season but i am a surfboat rower trying to gain strength/ size for the upcoming season (in a few months). Just taking creatine/ whey concentrate post workout.

Lifts: Deadlift 1RM around 135kg’s
Squat 5RM around 80kg
Weighted Chin Ups 12RM around 13.75kg
Incline BB Bench 5RM around 70kg

not sure about other lifts as i just recently started training again, will update as i progress

2

30/5/2010

Glute Bridges w/ 5 sec isometric hold at top - 10, 10
Hip Thrusts w/ 5 sec isometric hold at top - 10
Fire Hydrants w/ 5 sec isometric hold at top - 10

then 1km ergo warm up + box jumps, lateral jumps and dynamic stretching

A)Breathing Squats - 60kg x 26, 70kg x 10
B1)Seated Cable Rows - 11 weights on machine (11 stone? = 70kg) x 12 w/ brief scap retract hold, 12 weights x 10, 10
B2)Bent Over Rear Delt Flyes - 12.5kg x 12,12,11
C) Lat Pulldown focusing on scap retraction - 10 weights x 10, 9 weights x 10, 10
D) Back Squat - 80kg x 3, 4
E) Pinch Grip Deadlifts - 25kg, 10kg and 2kg wooden training plate thickness x 6,6,8,8
F) Kroc Rows w/towel around grip (ghetto fat grip) - 30kg x 15 each arm

3

Thought i’d write some quick goals so i have something to achieve in this log

Weight: 85kg
Bodyfat: 10%ish
1km ergo: 3:05

1RM’s

Squat:100kg
Deadlift: 150kg
Squat Clean: 85kg
Snatch: 50kg
BO Row: 90kg
Incline BB Bench: 90kg
Standing Press: 75kg

Others

Pinch Grip Deadlift: 25,10,2 thickness w/ extra 20kg for 10 reps
Weighted Chins: 20kg 12RM

cant think of any others at the moment

4

31/3/10

150 Rope Skips warm up

A1) around 20 litre pool chemical tub side bends x 10,10,10 each side
A2) Ring ‘rollouts’ (ab wheels w/ gymnastic rings) x about 10, 10, 8
B1) Ring Pushups x 20,15,12
B2) Jacknife sit ups (v-ups) x 10, 8, 8
C) 1:40 bridge whilst constantly alternating b/w push up and normal position

200 Rope Skips (continuous)

5

1/6/10

1km row warm up

warmed up on incline BB Bench but due to recent shoulder problems couldn’t continue
, so did DB’s

A1) Neutral Grip Incline DB Press - 22.5kg x 10, 8, 7
A2) Incline DB FLyes - 10kg x 10, 8, 8
B) Hang Clean and Jerk - 50kg x 6, 6, 6
C1) BB ‘fag pad’ curls - 30kg x 6, 6, 5
C2) BB Curls - 30kg x 4, 4, 6
D1) Tricep Flat Bar Pushdowns - 10 weight stacks x 10, 9, 8
D2) Bodyweight Dips - 15, 12, 10

6

Note All credit for the ‘fag pad’ BB curls goes to HonestIago, thanks for the idea, forearms were pumped and taking it off immediately after failure and finishing off with just the normal bar worked extra well.

Only thing is it makes the grip a little closer in than im used to… might have to double up next time so i can vary it round.

7

2/6/10

Burgener Snatch with dowel warm up/ 500m row

A) Snatch Practice - 24kg x 6,6 then 29kg x 3PS+3S+3OHS then 29kg x 6PS+4OHS
B) Good Mornings - 29kg x 10, 9, 12
C) Glute Bridge - 10, 10 (5 sec isometric holds at top)
D) Fire Hydrants - 5, 5(5 sec isometric holds at top)
E) Reverse Hypers on bench - BW x 10, 10
F) Front Squat - 60kg x 5, 70kg x 3,3,3,3
G) Back Extensions - 10kg x 10, 10

row, bike, foam roll and stretch after

Notes* Not sure on good morning technique so didn’t really do much. Was going to do deadlifts but after snatches lower back felt a little sore so opted against it.

PS = Power Snatch, S = Snatch, OHS = Overhead Squat

8

3/6/10

Jogging/ dynamic and static stretching warm up w/ squat jumps etc.

A) 10 x 50m Sprint, resting one minute b/w sets
B) Rest 8 Minutes
C) Repeat

3 minute jog and then ‘frankensteins’ and static stretching + hot shower

Note* tightness through medial flexors and adductors of thigh during latter part of second set

  • Have started drinking hyrdalyte at night to replace electrolytes and have noticed less cramping after leg work
9

4/6/10

Rotator Cuff and Thoracic mobility work

A)Dowel Shoulder Dislocations - 2 sets of 10
B)Foam Thoracic Extenions
C)Grasso-Smith Complex (w/ dowel)

  • Overhead Squat 1 x 8
  • Low Lateral Squat 1 x 8
  • Overhead Reverse lunge 1 x 8
  • Romanian Deadlift to Snatch Pull-through 1 x 6
  • Drop Lunge 1 x 6
  • Sots Press 1 x 8 (not really sure on form with this yet)
    D1) Wall Slides - 3 x 6
    D2) Scap Push Ups - 2 x 10
    E) YTWLI
    F) Cuban Rotations - 3kg each hand x 10, 10, 10
    G) Poor Man’s Shoe Horn External Rotation - 6 kg x 6 each hand, 5 kg x 7 each hand, 4kg x 8 each hand
    H) Trap Raises - 3kg each hand x 10, 10
    I) Face Pulls - 4 plates x 15, 5 plates x 12, 6 plates x 12

then light back work to see how scap retraction feels

A) Seated Cable Rows focus on depth of pull and upright posture - 10 plates x 12, 11, 10
B) Lat Pulldown slowly to chest - 9 plates x 10, 8 plates x 12, 11, 10 (light)
C) Pinch Grip Deadlifts to finish off - 10,25,2 plates to grip w/ 10kg extra below x 5,4,6,5,5

Light Row and foam roal to cooldown

10

Been looking at my program and realised i forgot to deadlift amongst all the complicated crap getting over my shoulder problems

Gonna make it a rule from now on to follow this guide:

  • Sprint once a week (10 x 50’s, maybe not same repeated as legs are still fried)
  • Deadlift once a week
  • Squat twice a week (back squat compulsory, other can be OH, front, zercher, split etc.)
  • No routines solely devoted to one bodypart
  • Don’t hamper workouts by adding work to the end (e.g. yesterday)

My new warm up for every work out will now be the Grasso-smith complex i highlighted earlier too, with some extra snatch work added in at the end and some rotator cuff and thoracic mobility work

SO:

A)Dowel Shoulder Dislocations
Then a light row followed by
B)Grasso-Smith Complex (w/ dowel)

  • Overhead Squat 1 x 8
  • Low Lateral Squat 1 x 8 each leg
  • Overhead Reverse lunge into hip flexor stretch 1 x 6 each leg
  • Romanian Deadlift to Snatch Pull-through 1 x 6
  • Drop Lunge 1 x 6 each leg
  • Sots Press 1 x 8 (or maybe just repeated OH Squat for time being)
    D1) Wall Slides or Scap Push Ups
    D2) Cuban Rotations or Poor Man’s Shoe Horn External Rotation
    E) YTWLI
    F) Dynamic Bodypart stretches e.g. mini style defranco’s agile 8 w/ exercises depending on upper or lower body

e.g. on leg days
â?? *Rollovers into â??Vâ?? sits â?? Perform 10 reps

  • *Fire hydrant circles â?? 10 forward circles/10 backward circles each leg
  • *Mountain climbers â?? 20 reps
  • *GLute Bridges/ hip thrusts - 10 reps with 5 sec isometric holds at contraction

No set plan really just something to aim for to get some consistency into my workouts

11

One last note*

No direct shoulder work for the time being (e.g. overhead pressing) so they can recover, and only incline chest work to fill in the empty space left near my clavivle due to basically doing nothing but bench press for the first year or so of lifting when i didnt know better :s

12

Sunday 6 June

Mobility Warm Up

A)Dowel Shoulder Dislocations
Then a light row followed by
B)Grasso-Smith Complex (w/ dowel)

  • Overhead Squat 1 x 8
  • Low Lateral Squat 1 x 10
  • Overhead Reverse lunge into hip flexor stretch 1 x 6 each leg
  • Romanian Deadlift (w/35kg) x 12
  • Drop Lunge 1 x 8
    D1) Scap Push Ups (w hands slightly internally rotated, in under body and at eye level infront)
    D2) Poor Man’s Shoe Horn External Rotations - 4kg x 8,7,6
    E) YTWLI (8 reps on each: barely finished complex as shoulders were blown)
    F) CNS Activation: clap push ups x 8

Chest and Arms workout

A1) Incline DB Press â?? 25 kg x 6,6,5
A2) Incline DB Flyes â?? 10kg x 8,8,6 (really feeling it in space around acromioclavicular joint, kinda wierd)

Then some fixation/ insertion supersets

C1) Weighted Chins â?? 20kg x 6,6,4
C2) BB Curls â?? 27.5kg x 8,8,8 (forearms on FIIRE physically couldnt grasp the bar for another set)
D1) Weighted Dips â?? 20kg x 6,8,5
D2) Overhead Triceps Extension â?? 17.5kg x 7, 15kg x 5 (reeaaally sore sternum from dips, literally about to explode on last rep so gonna do them on my rings from now on as i think its the width of the parralel bars thats making me so sore)
D3) Cable Tricep Extension - 50kg x 8 (did these instead of overhead because of sternum)

Resting approximately 2 minutes between sets

Finisher superset

E1) Med Ball under each hand Push ups w/ feet elevated - 8,11,10
E2) Face Pulls - 25kg x 12, 15, 30kg x 15

Notes*
Scap Push ups felt really wierd, as if my skin was just folding over itself… might just do them the normal way for the time being

Shoulders are literally aching after dowel complex, wondering whats wrong with my shoulders if i can’t hold a piece of wood over my head for an extended period of time

13

Tuesday 8 June

Mobility Warm Up
then

Back Workout

A) Power cleans - 60kg x 3,3,3,4,4
B) Deadlift - 90kg x 4, 100kg x 4,4,4, 110kg x 4
C) Lat Pulldowns to upper chest - 40kg x 12, 45kg x 9,9,9,8
D) Seated Cable Rows - 65kg x 8,8,7, 60kg x 10

Good mornings and row to cool down

Notes* going to start doing pullups again soon as im getting sick of pulldowns, and maybe switch bent over rows for cable rows every once in a while.

Powercleans light but felt good speed and power, hammys and glutes a bit sore/ tight after them and during deads so didnt go too heavy on them either. Think i’ll keep this basic template and do it on a 5 day split until i go away in about 3 weeks.

14

Wednesday 9 June

Conditioning/ Core work

A1) Bodysaws
A2) Ring Rollouts
A3) Farmers walks w/ 20L each hand, then one handed to and from
3 rounds

Setup second circuit

B1)Ring Push Ups (w/ feet elevated)
B2) Jacknife Sit Ups
B3) 100 Jump Ropes
3 rounds

C) Farmers walk circuit w/ 20L: walk to bottom lawn down steps, 6 deadlifts, walk to far corner, 6 bent over rows, walk to far corner 6 side bends each side, walk back to start
1 round

15

Thursday 10th June

Mobility warmup (minus shoulder and back work), but with lots of keg emphasised work e.g. broad jumps, glute bridges, fire hydrants, dynamic stretching

Leg Workout

A) Power Snatch - 35kg x 3 PS + 3 HPS, 6 PS, 40kg x 4
B) Low Box Squats - 70kg x 2, 2, 65kg x 2, 2, 60kg x 4, 4 (finally a little speed out of the hole)
C1) Hang Power Snatch - 40kg x 5,4,4,3
C2) Push Press - 40kg x 8,8,6
C3) Good Mornings - 40kg x 8,8,8,8
C4) Romanian Deadlifts - 40kg x 12, 50kg x 8, 40kg x 12,12

Notes*

  • Feeling like im really getting the hang of the snatch, bars going up a lot quicker than before, so ive decided to start moving up the weight, and adding in more OHS next workout because thats my weakness

  • Trying to work on explosiveness on the box squats out of the hole but its not really there at the moment, always have a sticking point no matter how light i go really, not sure what to do but ill figure something out hopefully (or maybe just stick to normal squats)

16

Friday 11th June

Dowel Dislocations, paddle machine and plyo push ups warm up

Chest and Arms

A1) Incline DB Press - 25kg x 10, 30kg x 5, 27.5kg x 6, 25kg x 7
A2) Low to High cable flyes - 2 weights x 8, 8, 1 weight x 7, 7

then fixation/ insertion supersets

B1) Chin up - 20kg x 9,6,5
B2) Barbell Curl - 27.5kg x 8,6,5
C1) Weighted Dips - 20kg x 8,8,8
C2) One arm OH extension - 9kg x 6,5
C3) DB OH Extension (2 arms) - 12.5kg x 8

Finisher - Med Ball feet elevated push ups x 10, 9 (one minute bridge in b/w)

Notes

  • Didnt do flyes tody as i never feel them in my pecs as much as my sore shoulders so the benefit isnt really worth the gain, cable flyes are much easier on the joints, just a new movement so the body’s not used to it yet (hence the pathetic weights)

  • Sternum still killed on the dips, forgot to bring my rings to the gym so used the captains chair handles. In the last two sets i rest my foot on the last couple reps to focus more on the triceps rather than just creating an unneccessary pain.

  • Wish i had more time today but i was in a bit of a rush, really wanna incorporate Alphas giant sets into my workout scheme as ive dropped a lot of fitness since the season finished. Metcons might be a good idea to warm up with too, and ive got a beach that i can cause myself some pain on just in front of the gym :slight_smile: no feeling in the calves quite like beach sprints.

17

Sunday 13th June

Read one of alphas rants today and started training a friend who’s been sedentary for a while now, and suddenly im getting a lot of motivation back to really push myself. I really feel like if i can keep this mindset i can achieve any of the goals i’ve set for myself. Just a shame i go away so soon so i’ll be struggling to find a good gym.

Metcon - 3 rounds as fast as possible

10 Burpee Box Jumps
10 Ring Dips
10 Knees to Elbows
6 minutes 8 seconds

Strength

A) Power Cleans - 60kg x 3, 65kg x 4,5,5,5
B) Deadlifts - 90kg x 3, 110kg x 3,5,5, 112.5kg x 5, 115kg x 5
C1) Wide Grip Pullups - 20kg x 6,5, BW x 8
C2) Face Pulls - 25kg x 15,13,13

then i started going a little crazy because i had the gym to myself with avenged sevenfold screaming from the speakers and i was angry about the shitty sets of pullups so i just did a kind of circuit of random exercises until ‘almost easy’ finished, which didn’t describe how the circuit felt.

Seated Cable Rows - 60kg x 9, 55kg x 10
Bent Over Rows - 60kg x 8,9,9
Push Press - 40kg x 10,8,7,5,7
V - sit ups - 6,6,6
Bridge going from plank to pushup position - about a minute or so
KTE - 8,8

Just all those exercises in a random order

Notes*

  • Biceps still sore from friday, and so couldn’t get as many pullups out as my arms fatigued way before my back, really annoying as i want to get back into my pullups again… gonna have to do some on the rings tommorow to make up for the dismal effort today

  • forgot how much i love metcon work, gonna incorporate it every workout from now on as a warm up… might even get up early tommorrow before my human movement exam and crank out some farmers walks and the rings before breakfast!

  • Power Cleans felt really good in the last set, powerful and quick but slight twinge in my lower back. Similarly deadlifts just clicked today, really accelerated well and think i might be able to work up to 120kg x 5 next session

18

P.S

I’m not sure if anyone actually reads this log… but if there’s someone out there who does, would you know of any gyms around europe that i would be able to go to with access to bumper plates and an olympic lifting area???

Don’t wanna get kicked out of fitness first again for doing power cleans while a guy my age stares at me as if im insane while he continues to do his concentration curls with 5 miinutes rest in between sets of 20…

cheers if anyone replies

19

Tuesday 15 June

2 minute row + broad jumps

Insert

3 rounds
10 power cleans @ 40kg
Overhead Lunge walk to pull up bar (25kg plate)
7 Burpee Pull Ups
7 KTE’s
Farmers walk back to power clean area (40kg each hand)
time: 8.50

Legs

A1) Power Snatch - 40kg x 5, 24kg x 3, 40kg x 6, 40kg x 5
A2) GLute Bridges - 7,7,7 (isometric holds at top for 5 secs)
B1) Back Squat - work up to 75kg x 4,5,5,5,5
B2) DB Swings - 17.5kg x 15, 15, 15
C) Hamstring Curls - 25kg x 3 eccentric loading 1 leg plus 30kg x 4 to finish off, then 30kg x 4 eccentric loading 1 leg plus 35kg x 3 to finish off
D) RDL’s - 40kg x 10

Extract

3 rounds
10 power cleans @ 40kg
Overhead Lunge walk to pull up bar (25kg plate)
7 Burpee Pull Ups
7 KTE’s
Farmers walk back to power clean area (40kg each hand)
time: 10.01

Notes*

  • Probably wasn’t the best idea doing the insert with power cleans as i was zapped for the power snatches and just really wasn’t feeling them. Insert felt good though, pretty solid throughout, but everything just slowed down on the extract (as expected), last set of overhead lunges were killer

  • Lower back still a little bit twinged from deadlifting, and after squats i really wanted to do the Good morning, RDL and Push Press circuit but just wasn’t feeling it in my hammys so i tried some hamstring curls as i havent done them for a year or so

  • Getting really excited about doing these metcons, can’t wait for tomorrow!

20

Wednesday 16 June

Chest and Arms

A1) Incline DB Press - 27.5kg x 7,6,5,5
A2) Low to High Cable Flye - 5 kg x 7, (11 10kg DB Flye), 4+5, 8
B1) Chins - 20kg x 9,6,5
B2) Barbell Curl x 10,8,7
C1) Dips - 20kg x around 3 sets of 12 (slightly resting foot to stop breastplate ripping apart)
C2) OH DB Extension - 7kg x 5 unilateral + 8kg x 5 double, 4 single + 5 double, 8kg x 4 single + 7kg x 2 single + 7kg x 5 double

Finisher

D1) Pinch Grip Deads - 10kg + 2 training plates grip w/ 30kg extra weight x 6,6,7,4
D2) Feet elevated push ups - 15,13,12,10
D3) Wrist Curls - pronated til failure + supinated til failure

Notes*

  • Hammy’s were absolutely fried today, just did a light ergo warm up with some clap push ups mixed in, gonna do a metcon or ring workout tomorrow morning after some front or goblet squats

  • Realising i really need a more stable leg workout but i can’t figure out what, gonna have to finalise it soon cos it’s startin to get to me how my back squats have stayed so stagnant

  • Dips are really starting to fuck me off, think i might have to grit my teeth and buy a weight vest so i can do weighted ring dips