Dec's Training Log

Training Logs
41

Wednesday 28 July

Insert

  • 1km row
  • Various Stretching/ Foam Rolling

Workout

A1) Power Cleans - 60kg x 6,6,6,6,6
A2) Slight Incline DB Press - 25kg x 12, 27.5kg x 8,7,7,6
B1) Bent Over Rows - 65kg x 12,11,10,10
B2) Bridge until partner has finished set and changed plates
C) Back Squat - 60kg x 7,8,7,7

Extract

Bilateral Four Corners Farmer’s Walk

Place two cones at either end of the gym. Stand at one end holding a pair of heavy dumbbells (20kg) . Don’t put them down until you’ve finished the entire routine!

Step 1: Start at one cone and walk to the other end to perform 6-8 reps of a bent-over row.
Step 2: Walk to the other end and perform 6-10 cleans. Finish holding both dumbbells at your shoulders in the racked position.
Step 3: Still holding the dumbbells in the racked position, walk back and do a set of 6-8 dumbbell front squats.
Step 4: Return to the other cone, this time performing as many shrugs as possible until you drop the dumbbells.

then i did

3 rounds of

  • Farmers Walk to end of gym and back (40kg each hand)
  • Max Pushups

Notes*

  • Legs still pretty sore from monday as i havent squatted for a couple weeks but really good intensity today, training partner and i got in a rhythm and did everything really hard and fast
42

Friday 30 July

Insert

  • 1km row
  • Various Stretching

Workout

A1) Power Cleans - 60kg x 6, 65kg x 5,6,6,6
A2) Slight Incline DB Press - 27.5kg x 8,7,6,6,5
B1) Chinup - 20kg x 8,6,5
B2) Barbell Curl - 27.5kg x 8,6,6
C) Back Squat - 65kg x 7,8,7,7
D1) Bent Over Rows - 65kg x 12, 70kg x 10,10,10, 75kg x 6
D2) Close Grip Bench - 45kg x 12,12,11,10

Extract

A1) Hex DB hold - 10kg each hand
A2) Wrist curls - ? weight for 20ish reps
B1) Bicycle Crunches
B2) Crescent Moons
B3) Med Ball crunch position throw arounds

Notes*

  • Today was good, not great because we were a bit unsure of structure but still got plenty done
  • Squats are coming round, but chinups feeling shit compared to how great bent rows feel
  • Love those hex db holds, really need to increase my grip strength for deadlifts so i might do these every friday along with farmers walks so my forearms have a couple days to recover over the weekend
43

Monday 2nd August

Insert

3 Rounds of

  • 200m - 300m Row
  • 5 Pistols
  • 10 Burpee Pullups

Workout

A1) Deadlift - 90kg x 6, 110kg x 6,5, 115kg x 5,4,5
A2) Slight Incline DB Press - 27.5kg x 8,7,6,4,5
B1) Chinups - 20kg x 8,6
B2) Back Squat - 70kg x 6,5,5,4,5
B3) Bent Over Rows - 75kg x 6,7, 70kg x 10

Extract

Crossfit Workout Grace w/ 40kg (30 Clean and Jerks for time)
then RKC Bridge, Bicycle crunches and hollow (crescent) moons for two rounds

Notes*

  • Worked by myself today because training partner hurt his wrist and i had a really good session, worked up a good sweat at the start and just burned through everything so i was breathing pretty hard the whole time
  • Chinups just felt horrible so i stopped them, my forearms were just so burnt out after the deads that they were giving out before anything else
  • i am so sore… no deadlifting for a month, think i may have overdone it a little bit… but oh well!!
  • Bought lots of kangaroo on the way home so i’ve got me some tasty meat for lunch tomorrow! i think Australia is one of the only countries in the world where we eat an animal thats our national emblem…
44

“We do not rise to the level of our expectations. We fall to the level of our training”

45

“It’s better to die on your feet than live on your knees”

46

Wednesday 4th August

Insert

3 minute Row + Dowel work

3 Rounds of

  • 6 Power Cleans
  • 20kg OH Walking Lunge to Pullup Bar
  • 5 Burpee Pullups
  • OH Walking Lunge back to cleans

Workout

A1) Deadlift - 90kg x 6, 115kg x 5,5,5,5,5
A2) Slight Incline DB Press - 27.5kg x 8,7,7,6,5
A3) Face Pulls - 25kg x 12,12,12,12
B2) Back Squat - 65kg x 5,5,5,5,5
B3) Bent Over Rows - 70kg x 9, 75kg x 8,7,7,7,7

Notes*

  • Was really short on time today so i kinda just burnt through it, no extract as i had to rush to university
  • Came into the gym feeling rushed n shitty so i did a pretty pathetic insert and warm up, but by the end of it i was in the right mindset and ended up having a pretty good workout. I’ve figured out now that ergo’s really get me going and in the zone to work out
  • Dropped the weight on squats today because i watched a dan john video last night and realised some errors in my form, and i think that my 5x5 today was one of the best squat sessions ive done in a while in terms of quality; stayed on my heels, sat into, knees didnt rock around and i felt explosive throughout even though i was going ass to grass
47

Thursday 5th August

===================================

“It’s better to die on your feet than live on your knees”

-Emiliano Zapata

Put that quote in today not because i am opressed or a slave, but because i wanted to go down fighting today and get the better of my boxing bag which i’ve neglected for the past year or so.

I hung it up outside, got out the jump rope, the chlorine tanks for farmers walks and my gymnastics rings and did a GPP session that left me on the ground gasping for air… i forgot how hard boxing is, especially when my break in between rounds is far from a break. Mental Note Farmers walks and jump rope are not good ideas for recovery. But they are fun in a sadistic kinda way. It started raining at one point and for a second i stopped, but then a big smile swept across my face and i hit that bag harder than before.

I got bored and threw in some elbows, knees and kicks along the way and have realised that i really want to get into MMA, and i have a mate of mine who has been asking me to come to his gym so i might take that offer up.

You stay classy, T-Nation. I’m Decmc?

48

Friday 6th August

Insert

4 Rounds of
200m Row
10 OH Squats
6 Power Cleans

Workout

A1) Deadlifts - 80kg x 5, 90kg x 5, 110kg x 4,5, 115kg x 5,5,5, 117.5kg x 5
A2) DB Press - 27.5kg x 8, 30kg x 6,7,5,5,5
A3) Face Pulls - 25kg x 10,12,12,12
B1) Back Squats - 60kg x 5, 65kg x 5,5,5,6
B2) Bent Rows - 70kg x 10, 75kg x 8, 77.5kg x 7,7,6

Extract

Random assortment of 10kg Hex DB Holds, pullups, pushups, farmers walks and bridges etc.

49

Monday 9th August

===================================

"“Be not afraid of growing slowly. Be afraid only of standing still.”

===================================

Insert

3 rounds of

  • 6 Power Cleans x 60kg
  • Max Pullups
  • Max Pushups

Strength

A1) Deadlift - 110kg x 5,5, 115 x 5, 120 x 5,5,6
A2) Incline DB Bench - 30kg x 9,7,6,5,5
A3) Face Pulls - 25kg x 15,15, 30kg x 12,15
B1) Back Squat - 60kg x 5, 65kg x 5,5,5,5
B2) Bent Rows - 75kg x 8,7,7,7,6
B3) Pushups - max, max, max. max

No time for an extract, so just did a cool down ergo

Notes*

  • Long Long day today, just scraped in this after work so i was really rushed for time to get home but it ended up being really good, good intensity and making steady progress on all my lifts… except for my fucking squat
  • Decided im going to squat before i deadlift from now on, and next session i am putting 70kg on the bar regardless of how many reps i can push out because this is fucking ridiculous that they are so stagnant, have decided to the squats and milk program with a few twists to help out my rowing so that my squat numbers start to improve
  • Will post up some pictures soon of me as i realised it would probs be a good idea so that i have something to compare my progress against, took some pics last week but the comp is fucking up so they should be up soon
50

Wednesday 11th August

===================================

“You can have excuses or results, not both.”

===================================

A.M

Warm up w/ dowel/ ergo/ foam roller/ pullups/ pushups i think…

A1) Bulgarian Split Squats - Worked up to 40kg for 4 reps i think…
A2) Seated Cable Rows - used about 40-45kg and just lightly loosened up my back, squeezing and contracting for 2 seconds at end of every rep

1km ergo and foam rolling to cool down

P.M

Dowel warm up

Strength

A1) Lateral Cable Raise - 5kg x 8, 10kg x 5,5, 5kg x 10,8
A2) Pullups - 8,12,10,9,11
A3) Military Press - 40kg x 6,8,8,8,7
B1) Dips - 20kg x 8,8, 24kg x 6,5
B2) Front Squat - 40kg x 10, 50kg x 8,10,9,8
B3) Low to High Cable Flyes - 10kg x 8, 10kg x 6, 5kg x 10,8
C1) Close Grip Bench - 40kg x 12, 50kg x 9,7,8 55kg x 6
C2) Barbell Curl - 30kg x 9,8,8,7,7
C3) Rear Delt Flye - 10kg x 15, 12.5kg x 10,12,10,10

Ergo, pushups, pistols and RKC bridge to cool down

Notes*

  • Back is still so incredibly sore from monday, think i must have fucked up my form on the deads or maybe just overuse from cleaning, deadlifting, squatting and rowing three times a week, so i decided to take today light…er and hit some muscles that i usually ignore/ try out some new exercises for fun
  • I fucking hate morning workouts, just don’t feel it at all which is surprising seeing as i get up at 4.30am to train, but rowing and the gym are different beasts
  • Split Squats felt horrible, so i decided to stop the workout stop making pathetic excuses and come back that afternoon when i was in a mind set to really work hard, and it definately worked
  • Gonna have to sort out my split soon so i don’t overtrain, maybe have one speed deadlifting day a week with heavy squats and one speed box squat day with heavy deads
51

Don’t know if anybody reads this but if anyone does could you give me some advice on the new routine ive written up?

Day 1: Chest & Back - Deadlift + Bench, Rows + Weighted Pushups, Pullups + Dips,

(Bicep Movement + Tricep Movement) optional depending on how i’m feeling

Day 2: Rest

Day 3: Legs & Shoulders - Back or Front Squats + Overhead Pressing, Power Cleans + Lunges, RDL’s + Rear Delts or Lat Raises

Day 4: Rest

Repeat Cycle, but on 1st cycle do 5 x 3, second cycle do 3 or 4 x 8 of each exercise. As time increases increase the reps one cycle, then the weight the next etc.

Everything is performed in supersets or giant sets if ab exercises are included, with a 35 second break between each and every exercise

52

Friday 13th August

Warm-up: Row, Dowel, Foam Roll and Stretching

Strongman Hypertrophy Routines

  • Chicken Dance Complex

A1) Clean to Press Sets: 5 Reps: 6 Tempo: 20X0 Rest: 10 secs. (50kg)
A2) Prowler Sprint Sets: 5 Distance: 20 yards Tempo: N/A Rest: 120 secs (15kg)

  • Lobster Claw Complex

A1) Clean Grip Deadlift Sets: 5 Reps: 6 Tempo: 4010 Rest: 10 secs (up to 110kg)
A2) Farmers Walk Sets: 5 Distance: 50 yards Tempo: N/A Rest: 120 secs (40kg)

  • Prison Rape Complex

A1) Back Squat Sets: 5 Reps: 6 Tempo: 20X0 Rest: 10 secs (up to 70kg)
A2) Overhead Walking Lunge Sets: 5 Reps: 12 Tempo: 20X Rest: 100 secs (25kg)

Stretch, Row, Foam Roll cooldown

Notes*

  • Today was… hard
  • For the prowlers i just got one of the gym boxes, flipped it and chucked 15kg in. Got some wierd looks but oh well it made me nearly cough up a lung so i was happy!
  • Wanted the get in some squats so i changed up the last complex, but nonetheless i still could barely walk afterwards :slight_smile:
53

looks pretty good man, I want to see how it plays out once you start. I will keep checking once you get going then give you any feedback i can man. but keep it up!

54

Cheers, means a lot.

Will keep pushing hard and probably constantly changing what im doing to see what works best so my training may look a little random, but the core lifts for my rowing e.g. deadlift, squat, cleans, rows, presses and pullups + grip work will always be in there.

55

Monday 16th August

Insert

3 rounds for time

  • 10 Burpee Pullups
  • 6 Pistols each leg

Strength

A1) Power Cleans - 70kg x 3,3,4,4,4
A2) Incline DB Press - 30kg x 10,8,7,6,5
B1) Squat - 70kg x 5,5,5,5,4
B2) Bent Row - 70kg x 12, 75kg x 10, 77.5kg x 8,7,7

  • Lobster Claw Complex

C1) Clean Grip Deadlift Sets: 5 Reps: 6 Tempo: 4010 Rest: 10 secs (110kg)
C2) Farmers Walk Sets: 5 Distance: 50 yards Tempo: N/A Rest: 120 secs (40kg)

Can’t remember whether or not i did an extract…

Notes*

  • Everything felt really good today, finally got most of the crew down to training and i’ve found that i’m easily the strongest and fittest so it’ll be fun trying to get everyone else committed to training again
  • Deads flew up today, trying to get lots of speed on them to develop some power, and overall everything felt really good
56

Tuesday 17th August

Did a muay thai session with a mate who does a lot of MMA today, really different kind of exercise to rowing and i loved it so i think i’ll start going down to a couple sessions a week, maybe do some grappling basics etc. and start working on my left kick because its pretty horrible.

P.S my arm is still killing from just holding the pads for my mate whos about 95kg and has a freakishly strong right kick, but on the plu side i now feel much safer going out with him around!

57

Wednesday 18th August

You’ve got to drive the body to the last inch of energy then go on! You gain nothing by just going up to where your body says you’re tired. The body will build and grow only to fit the demands the mind makes upon the lazy body. If all you do is exercise until the body is tired, the body will get lazy and stop a bit shorter every time. You must go to the point of exhaustion, then go on.

That way the body figures out, We’ve got to build up more strength if that crazy mind is going to drive this hard!â If you always quit when you are merely tired, you will never gain. Once you let the body tell the mind when to quit, you are whipped for sure. You cannot gain by listening to the body. We can become much stronger if we drive the body. We use about one-tenth of the available strength of our bodies and less than that of our minds.

No real insert just a row and dowel warm up

Today was very random as one of my crew mates came down but just wanted to chat, and so i ended up doing a really random assortment of exercises then he left and then i just went kinda crazy as i do when my workouts don’t go to plan

  • Bench Press : 70kg x 8,8,8
  • Pullups : Probably around 5 or 6 sets of max reps

Then a kind of circuit with my weight vest on which weighs 30kg

A1) Chins - 3 sets of around 3-4 reps
A2) Pushups - 3 or 4 sets of around 15 reps max, 8 reps minimum
A3) Squats - 3 sets of around 20 or so reps

then

B1) Ring Dips - 3 or 4 sets of max
B2) Seated Cable Row - 3 sets with 55kg - 60kg

then with one of the other rowers who rocked up and lured me in

C1) Step ups - 17.5kg x 12 each leg, 20kg x 10 each leg, 22.5kg x 8 each leg, 25kg x 6 each leg, 22.5kg x 10 each leg
C2) Boxing / kicking

then to finish off

D1) 15 - 12 thrusters w/ 40kg
D2) Bridge

then some random core circuit that went

  • 90 second bridge
  • 40 crunches
  • 15 alternate extension
  • 90 second bridge
  • 40 crunches

then i got the fuck out of there because i was absolutely destroyed and dripping in sweat and wondering how i had suddenly joined someone elses workout once i had basically finished my own, today was meant to be a light day!!!

Notes*

  • Todays plan got completely fucked up the ass and then some, my back is absolutely killing me and my shoulder injury has started up again so… ill take tomorrow off and maybe do a speed day friday
  • or maybe just some box squats to deload and speed deads
  • or maybe some breathing squats and heavy deads
  • we’ll see what happens…
58

Friday 20th August

“Strength does not come from winning. Your struggles develop your strengths. When you go through hardships and decide not to surrender, that is strength.”

Warm up

  • just the usual dowel work, dynamic stretching, some burpee-pull ups, some pistols and some rowing just to get a sweat up

Strength

A1) Power Cleans - 70kg x 3,4,5,5,5
A2) DB Bench - 27.5kg x 7, 30kg x 7, 32.5kg x 6,6,5,5
A3) DB Skull Crushers - 10kg x 8, 12.5kg x 7, 10kg x 8,7,6
B1) Back Squat - 60kg x 5, 70kg x 5, 72.5kg x 5, 75kg x 5,5,5
B2) Bent Row - 70kg x 8, 80kg x 7,6,6,6
B3) DB Curl - 17.5kg x 6,6,6,6

  • Lobster Claw Complex

C1) Clean Grip Deadlift Sets: 5 Reps: 6 Tempo: 4010 Rest: 10 secs (112.5kg)
C2) Farmers Walk Sets: 5 Distance: 50 yards Tempo: N/A Rest: 120 secs (40kg)

Cool Down

  • Rowing/ dynamic stretching

Notes*

  • Got skinfolds done today in human movement lab at university and i got a height adjusted 8 skinfold measurement of 62, think that’s pretty low and i was 80kg last friday and i think i’ve gained some weight since then so 85kg shouldnt be too hard to reach pretty soon

  • Thinking of changing up the exercises im doing next week, but i am making pretty good and steady gains in all my lifts so maybe just the middle day of the week do different exercises

  • Must remember to wear deadlift socks or strap my legs as i no longer have any hair on my shins and i start to bleed from scraping them everytime i do deads… which is pretty awesome looking but probably not a wise idea to continue with

  • I’ve realised i need to do more warm up or ramping sets before my work sets, allowed my to do heavier weights easier today on both DB Bench and Back Squats

59

So since i hate splitting workouts into bodyparts and i recover pretty well from high frequency stuff, and i realised that my main lifts that i want to improve are the dead and squat without burning out here is my final plan starting on monday.

if it becomes too much volume for my back or chest, then i’ll switch to the chest/back and legs/shoulders split for a couple weeks that i wrote up earlier. If i feel like im not working enough then i might make it a 4 day split rather than a monday wednesday friday split. We’ll see what happens. This split is just easiest with work and university.

Monday â?? Deadlift Day
Wednesday â?? Squat Day
Friday â?? Deadlift Day
Monday â?? Squat Day
Etc.

Everything is performed in supersets, or possibly giant sets as before with the addition of core training

Deadlift Day

  • Deadlift
  • Barbell Bench or Weighted Pushups or Dips
  • Pullups or Seated Cable Rows
  • Unilateral Leg exercise e.g. split squats, lunges, step ups
  • Medial Delts/ Arms superset or grip training

Squat Day

  • Power Clean
  • Incline DB Bench or Weighted Pushups or Dips
  • Squat
  • Bent Rows or One arm rows
  • Hip Extension/ posterior chain exercise e.g. pull throughs, RDLâ??s, hyperextensions
  • Delts/ Arms superset

Pre w/o

  • Shoulder and Hip Mobility work/ glute activation
  • Pushups
  • Pullups
  • Pistols
  • Jump Rope
  • Ergo’s
  • Other GPP (inserts)

Post w/o

  • Abdominals (weighted and unweighted)
  • Finishers (extracts) of some sort working on weak points or GPP
60

Monday 23rd August

“The iron ore thinks itself senselessly tortured in the blast furnace: the tempered steel blade looks back and knows better.”

Warm-up

  • usual dowel work, stretching, ergo etc. Had to get in and out of the gym real fast so didnt do an insert

Strength

A1) Power Clean - 60kg x 3, 70kg x 3, 72.5kg x 3,3,3,3,3
A2) Incline DB Bench - 22.5kg x 10, 27.5kg x 7, 32.5kg x 6,6,6,5,6
A3) Finishers & dragon flags - Max,max,max,max,max
B1) Squat - 60kg x 6, 65kg x 5, 70kg x 4, 75kg x 5,5,4,4,5
B2) Bent Rows - 70kg x 8, 75kg x 7, 80kg x 7,7,7,6,6
B3) Face Pulls - 30kg x 12,12,12,12,12
C1) Lateral Raises - 10kg x 10,9,8,8
C2) DB Curls - 17.5kg x 8, 20kg x 6, drop set from 20kg down to 12.5kg

Extract

3 rounds of

  • Max Pushups
  • Max Squats

Notes*

  • Feeling sore as hell today through my upper back and traps, think i used too much traps on the lat raises and face pulls and my body angle is too high on the bent rows, might switch back to pendlay rows for a while so that im pulling horizontally and it becomes more of a power movement
  • Everythings progressing nicely, hopefully by switching up the exercises a bit in the future i can continue to make gains with the same basic template. Gonna get my weight etc. done today, was around 79.5kg a week and a half ago so i should be above 80kg now, slowly but surely gaining while i’m somehow maintaining or possibly decreasing bodyfat