Well, with the new training log forum (and the fact that i have not been able to post a blog in my profile for 2 weeks) I have decided to post my training log on here. I have been lurking on T-Nation for about a year and a half so it’s about time i actually posted something.
In that time I have switched from being “that Chest/Bicep workout guy” to training with an eye for a future powerlifting contest. I am 25, 6’0 and 187lbs and my primary training goals right now are centered purely around increasing my maximum strength.
PR’s to date (April 2008)
Bench Press = 215
Box Squat = 270
Sumo Deadlift = 375
3 Rep Chinup = 188+65 =253
Push Press = 170
Broad Jump = 98"
VJ = 25"
Goals for 9/1/08
Bench Press = 245
Box Squat = 315
Deadlift = 415
3 Rep Chinup = 270
Broad Jump = 106"
Anyway, I will be keeping this log updated for the next 4 months on here.
Thu 5/1/08
Week 1, Upper Day 2
on road - random gym in Minny
Low incline Neutral grip DB Bench
2x5 75, 2x6 75
Neutral grip chinups @187
1x6 +25, 2x6 +35, 1x4 +35
Band Resisted Pushups
3x8 (Purple+red mini)
CSR (Pronated grip)
1x8 90, 3x8 105
Kneeling Cable external rotation
3x12 10
Side Plank
3x30s
Band Pullaparts
3x8 red mini
Hammer Curls
2x6 45
Solid workout today. Low incline db bench was a bit rough on my left shoulder, but the angle was just about perfect, at 20 degrees or so. Chinups were tough as the handles were foam and couldn�??t get a great grip.
Fri 5/2/08
Week 1, Lower Day 2
on road- random gym in Minny
Squat (tngo 12�?? box)
205x6, 210x6, 2x6 215
Bulgarian Split Squat
70x6, 2x6 75
Pullthroughs
100x10, 3x10 110
Deadlift
2x6 225
DB Protraction/Scap Depression
4x12 15
Kneeling Cable Chop
1x8 90, 2x8 110
Plank
3x30s
Back felt terrible today. Killed during squats, even warmups with 135, but worked through it. Right knee was also terrible during squats, and Bulgarians.
Snatch grip deadlifts did not feel right, and I had a tough time keeping my back from rounding (even on 135) so I bagged it. Knocked out a couple sets of light conventional pulls, which I haven�??t done for a while. Overall a discouraging day, I think I need to go get a couple ART sessions to try to work out the back issue.
Sunday 5/4/08
Energy Systems
10meter sprint x 6 various start
40 meter buildup x 10
40 meter backward sprint x 3
Ended up doing this on the top of a parking deck before work. Speed work wanst really an option due to the surface and the fact that it was uneven. Needed to get something in though, and this at least got my heart rate up a little
Mon 5/5/08
Week 2, Upper Day 2 (first upper session of week)
On road - Golds Sacramento
Neutral grip DB Incline
2x5 75, 2x6 75
Band resisted pushups
3x7 Purple+min
Low Cable Row Medium Pronated Grip
1x9 130, 1x9 140, 2x9 150
CSR
2x7 100, 2x7 110
Cable Crunch
1x12 110, 3x12 150
Cable external rotation
3x12 20lb
DB Hammer Curl
2x10 45�??s
Pretty much the same as last week, which is good considering this is day 9 on the road, and I worked all day at the tradeshow. Gym didn�??t have a belt so I worked around the chinups by subbing in some back stuff from the other upper day. Did have a low incline bench so I jumped to Upper day 2.
Wed 5/7/08
Week 2, Lower Day 2 (first lower of week)
GCB Squat (tngo 12�?? box)
210x6, 2x6 215, 220x6
Snatch Grip Rack Pulls
2x6 275, 1x5 275, 1x4 275
Walking DB Lunges
75x7, 3x6 75
Pullthroughs
1x12 110, 2x12 120, 1x12 130
DB Protraction/Scap Depression
4x12 35
Tall kneeling cable chop
1x8 100, 2x8 80
Back felt like shit again today, but worked through it with squats and rack pulls. Knee felt fine, which is good.
Fri 5/9/08
Week 2, Upper Day 1 (2nd upper session of week)
Close grip Incline
155x4, 2x4 160, 1x3F 165
Neutral grip chins @187
1x6 +25, 1x6 +30, 1x5 +30, 1x5/1 +30
Flat Neutral Grip DB Bench
1x9 85, 1x2F / 1x7 85, 1x8 80
Prone Trap Raise
2x12 10, 1x10 10
½ Kneeling Cable chop
3x8 80
Bride
3x30s
Hammer Curls
3x6 45
Left shoulder bugging me a bit during close grip incline. I also lost my groove on db bench second set, and dropped my right side after 2nd rep. Got the db�??s back in position and 30s later knocked out 7 more. Chinups were tough since my gym has these foam covers on the handles, making my grip go well before my lats/biceps.
Sat 5/10/08
Week 2, Lower Day 1 (2nd Lower Session of week)
Box Squat
205x4, 215x4, 2x4 225
Sumo Speed Deadlift
8x1 205
Bulgarian Split Squat
75x5, 2x5 80
DB Suitcase Deadlift
3x8 50
Side Plank
3x 30s
Quadruped Ext
3x6
Left side SI bugging me during Squats, but was not as bad as last week. 225 was a grinder weight, but was much better than 205 last week. A little too much forward lean, keep working on staying upright when coming off the box.
Speed deadlifts were good. Bulgarians also felt great, no knee pain today, and 80x5 was cake. The chain Bulgarians from last month seem to have made a big impact there.
Mon 5-12-08
Week 3, Upper 1
On the road, Golds Rochester
Incline Neutral Grip DB Bench
75x5, 75x3F, 5x6 70
CSR Pronated Grip
125x8, 3x8 135
Band Resisted Pushup
1x2+5=7* Purple+Red, 2x8 Purple+Red, 1x8 Purple
Seated Pronated Cable Row
1x10 140, 3x10 130
Kneeling Cable Ext Rotation
3x12 10
Prone Bridge
3x40s
DB Hammer Curl
2x6 50
Pretty good session today. Incline was set a little higher, and again left shoulder bugged me with the neutral grip incline work. I probably need to limit Incline work to once a week from now on. Tried to throw a 25lb weight on top of the Purple and red band for pushups, but realized it was waay to much. On the first set I knocked out 2 reps, dropped the 25lb plate, and knocked off 5 more. Tri’s pretty hammered today. Note CSR and cable rows weights have varied greatly from gym to gym
Tues 5/13/08
Week 3, Lower 1
GHR’s
1x8, 3x8 10lb Weight Vest
DB Protraction
4x12 40
Walking DB Lunges
75’sx8, 75’sx7, 2x6 75
Pullthroughs
130x10, 140x10, 2x10 150
Backwards Sled Pull
7 plates x 40 yards, 3 x 40 yards 8 plates.
Had to ditch GCB Squats and Snatch grip rack pulls as SI was screaming during light warmup squats. Threw in GHR’s and sled drags instead. Will be seeing someone friday regarding the back issues.
Track
15 meter starts x 10 (various start positions)
60 meter buildups x 5
60 meter max sprint x 2
100 meter sprint (70%) x 5 (20 sec rest between)
Starts were much better today, the new nike waffles are much harder and my foot isn’t slipping like in 5.0 frees. 60 meter sprints felt pretty solid too.
5/15/08
Week 3, Upper 2
Closegrip Incline Bench
160x3, 165x3, 170x3, 165x3, 170x3, 165x3, 170x3,170x3
Neutral grip chinups @187
3x6 +30, 1x4 +30
Flat neutral grip DB Bench
85x10, 85x9, 85x7F
Prone Trap raises
3x12 10
Tall Kneeling chop
3x8 80
Alternating DB Curl
2x8 40
Real good day today. Shoulder was not nearly as sore as last week during closegrip incline, speed was muuuch better, 170x3 was a 3 rep PR and i probably could have hit 1 set at 175x3. 85x10 was also a PR for db bench, 1 more rep over last week. Chinups did not fail due to grip this week either.
Mon 4-19-08
Week 4, Upper 1
Close grip incline
165x3, 170x3, 175x2+1
Neutral grip chinup @188
3x6 +25
Flat Neutral grip db bench
2x10 80’s
Prone Trap raises
3x12
Tall Kneeling chop
2x8 70, 1x8 80
Sidelying external rotation
3x12 5
Felt like shit today, not a good session. I had 175x3 though, and the ass who was spotting me touched the bar before i could bust through my stickin point…
Thu 4-22-08
Week 4, Upper 2
2:30pm - Golds Rochester
Incline Neutral grip db press
75x6, 2x5 75
CSR Pronated Grip
135x7, 2x7 140
Band Pushups
Purple+minix7, Purple+mini+10lbs x7, Purple+minix7
Cable Row Pronated grip
3x10 130
Cable external rotation
3x12 10
Week 4, Lower 1
8pm - Golds Albany
Pullthroughs
1x10 130, 3x10 150
Bulgarian split squats
1x4 75, 3x6 60
1 DB Suitcase Deadlift
3x8 55
1/2 Kneeling chop
3x8 100
Really busy week, but workload should ease up now, so i decided to hit the gym twice today. Upper session was ok, nothing really of note. Lower session is still modified due to SI issue, but i do have a couple more PT sessions to work out the issue. Just wanted to get some training effect with the lower session. Hoping to get back to pulling and squating next week…
Fri 4-23-08
Turf field
(12)x 15 yard starts
(3)x 65 yard buildups
(2)x 40 yard dash
Sat 5-24-08
Week 4, Lower 2
Sumo Speed Deadlift
4x2 185
Box Squats
2x5 135, 1x5 155
Walking DB Lunge
2x8 70
GHR’s
1x9 LWV, 1x8 LWV
Plank
3x40s
DB Protraction
4x12 40
Back felt quite a bit better today, but went extremely conservative with deadlifts and box squats just to get back into the groove. No pain during either, but again i was using 50% of max. Still encouraging considering how bad the SI joint felt last week.
Phase 2
Tues 5-27-08
Week 1, Upper 1
Incline Barbell Press (5 clusters of 4x2, 10s rest)
5 clusters x (4x2) 175lbs
Pullups (5 clusters of 4x2, 10s rest)
30 4x2, 25 4x2, 25 x 7 reps, 20 x 7 reps, 20 x 7 reps
Flat neutral grip db bench
2x8 80’s, 1x6 80’s
CSR Pronated Grip
1x8 75, 2x8 70
Cable backhand
3x10 20
Zottman Curls
1x10 30, 1x9 30, 1x8 30
Wow, cluster training was tough, but good! First time doing these, and i can tell that by the end of the month my work capacity will be go way up. Painful first session though. Little bit of shoulder pain on the left hand side during the incline negative. And Pullups drained the life out of me
Wed 5-28-08
Week1, Lower1
Box squats for speed
10x2 135
Walking Reverse Lunges
1x6 50, 3x6 60
GHR’s
2x7 (about 25lbs weightvest), 1x8 (about 10lb weightvest)
Ab rollout
3x10
Backward sled drag
25 yards x 90lbs, 40 yards x 90lbs, 2x40 yards @ 115lbs
Keeping the loading light right now until i sort out the back issue (have a couple appointments scheduled for this and next week). Even the 135 didn’t exactly feel great. Reverse lunge walking was different, but should move up to 65’s or 70’s next week. Sled dragging this week was good, lots of friction dragging on the mat instead of the turf.
Fri 5-30-09
Week 1, Upper 2
Speed Bench @(40%)
10x3 105
1x2 155, 1x2, 175, 1x2 185 (nonworking sets)
195x3, 200x3
1 Arm DB Row
4x5 95
Close grip bench
165x5, 170x5, 175x5, 180x5
Inverted Row* Must touch chest to count
1x10 +25, 1x7+3 +25, 1x6+2 +25
Scap Pushups
3x15
Cheating DB Hammer Curls
3x6 50
Left shoulder still bugging me a bit on eccentric portion of flat bench, but not nearly as bad as on incline. Something to watch though. My close-grip feels pretty close to my wide grip strength which is a bit weird. Also, the 2 sets of 3 felt damn heavy after 10 sets of speed bench… My grip sucks ass too, as it was becoming a problem on db rows.
Sat 5/31/08
Week 1, Lower 2
Speed Sumo Deadlifts
2x2 155* stopped after major low back pain
Overhead Squat
1x8 45, 1x8 65, 2x8 75
1 Leg DB Reverse Lunge
1x6 70’s, 1x6 75’s
Pullthroughs
1x10 120
I am extremely frustrated right now with the continuing back issues. 155 is 30% of max and it KILLED my lower left side. Back didnt feel great during overhead squats either. Dropped the weight way down for reverse lunges, but got a huge pull in the SI for the first time on this excersise.
Really hoping this weeks Chiro visit will be more productive than last week, as i was not impressed by the quality of care last visit.