So yesterday I got in quite a stupid argument that led to me going back to the gym to do 200 pullups within an hour. I ended up doing 200 pullups in 53 minutes, actually very fun. I then got my body fat percentage checked with inBody. The machine I think is flawed because it says 13.2% bfr, there is no way im that low. If I were to guestimate I would be around 17%.
11/25/25
Push Press: 185x2 huge Pr, and a bunch of attempts at 195.
- Wow 185 for 2 was fairly easy I think I could have probably done 3. I got cocky and tried 195 which I got close enough to attempt again, and this time I just burned out.
- I was planning on doing some decently heavy sets today but after the pr attempts, I couldnât even lockout 175. Front squats and rows are really going to help with increasing my numbers in push press. I feel so much more stable pressing.
- I did a couple sets at 135, which is awesome because I started doing these with 135 the start of this semester. Before I started this blog I felt as though 135 for 8x3 was tough on my shoulders.
Strict press: Burned out sets
- I did sets around 125, then dropped to 95. My shoulders and triceps were too burned out to even keep track. I did enough work that all of the sets felt like working sets.
Lat pulldown: 200x2x8
- The pullups yesterdayâŠ
- My hands are so sensitive after that, these were tough but not too tough.
overhead tricep extensions dumbell deadstop at shoulder: 30 pounds for 3x8-12
- nicely progressing these, getting to some good numbers. I can tell my left tricep is weaker than my right tricep.
lateral raise series: 20,15,12,20,15,12 reps with 20,25,30,15,20,25 pound dumbbells.
- These are feeling easier and easier, next semester I think I will start with a higher weight for each dumbbell and try to get myself comfortable
Rear delt work: Slow adn controller 2x10 reps
- Weights are not good enough to mention yet, but I heard that a person should be able to do them slow and controlled with 10 reps with 10% of whatever they can put overhead.
Semester is about to come to an end. For the rest of the semester now I will track some volume with 175 pounds trying to make it easy just like how I made 155 feel easy. Get my front squat up to a respectable amount.
During the winter break, I will start doing strict press smolov jr. with the barbell I have at home. I am also curious what happens when you do smolov jr with a push press I might experiment with that later.
2 Likes
11/26/25
Hang Cleans: 8x3 with 155
- Actually felt nice, shitty form. But launched the bar high enough that I didnât need to squat down to get the barbell, hell it landed on me. I hope to get the weight up, I still donât know what a good amount of weight on this exercise is. All I know is that this weight is fairly light
Pause deadlifts right above the ground: 230 for 3x4
- first set I cheese grated my shins. Thankfully I learned the form after the first set, and the weight felt super easy. Throughout the set I just wanted to have control over the bar.
- I replaced this exercise over the rdl because too much focus on rdl. I want to get a nicer more stable form, as Dorian said âa bigger piece of shit is still a piece of shit.â Plus doing these feels good
Bent barbell rows: 3x8 for 155
- Fairly easy, building these back up, also thinking of using more body english on these to horse some hefty weights. Maybe heave 225 on the rows.
One arm suitcase hold: 95 for 45 seconds on both hands
- Both hands were easy enough and I can push these to 1 minute holds.
- I did notice that I can hold a lot more weight with my deadhangs. Probably because my thumbs are fairly short, so I am strengthening them with this exercise and behind the back holds
- Noting on that pinch grip work could also be nice
- Road to never dropping the farmers
Strict curls: 95x8 PR, 95x5, 95x5
Overall pretty easy day, I donât want to fry myself before next weeks heavy deadlift. No gym tomorrow, Happy Thanksgiving!
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11/26/25
Strict Press 135 for 8x3:
- Getting good at these, and in one of the sets I did a mini pr with 4 reps. Felt relatively easy. I hope to increase the weight eventually.
- Yoo I just noticed in one of the first few posts, I mention that my goal is to push 8x3 with 135 for strict press. So I guess my next goal is to push 8x3 145, if i do this I feel like my push press will be in the 210-215 range
Close Grip Bench: 165 for 8, 170x2x5
- I hoped to pr on this, but given that I am doing 135 strict press before this I could not pr. The speed was very fast though, the reps were flying up until the 6th rep.
- Decided the increase the weight and hit 6 reps with 170 but couldnt do just did 5 reps on both sets.
Front Squat with dip and drives at the end: 175 for 3x5 and 2 dip and drives at the end.
- I was thinking of just doing a full push press rep at the end of every set, but decided i should reserve my strength for tomorrow. EZ
Behind the back rack holds with 245 super set with 55 pound wrist curls for 20 reps: 3 rounds
- these feel so much better, ungodly pump
- I did 30 sesameâs for the second set, and the forearm curls give me crazy pump pain.
Cable Tricep extension: 70x20 72.5x10
- hype next week imma try 72.5 for 20 reps and hopefully get it since less fatigue through the day.
Overhead Barbell Extensions: 70x2x6
- Last set exercise so I wanted to get out of there quick. Super sore, I undererformed but since the fatigue i will say in my head i did good.
Tomorrow I will do a more upper body stuff. I will get really beat up from this but we have to not mess up the schedule.
2 Likes
11/27/25
Push Press: 155x3, 160x3, 165x3.
- I donât have much food to eat rn, and a little sick so I know my muscalor endurence took a great hit from this. Instead I just went for a heavy triple.
- This triple felt very heavy after yesterdays overhead work and the squat work.
seated plate loaded ohp: 2 plates for 6x8-10, 1.5 plates for 4x10
- Doing standing work would have been difficult to progress given yesterday I did a shit load of standing ohp work
JM press: 55x30, 60x15, 60x15
- did some great work with this. Triceps keep pushing upwards
Cable Rear delt work: 2x25 with 15 pounds
2 Likes
12/2/25
Deadlift 375x5
- god damn these are going up. Less weekly load makes the bar go up quicker. I am going to try 385 for 5, and if I get it hell yeah, if not hell yeah im satisfied
Bench: 185x5
- I believe this is a pr. I trained with a buddy and this led to that led to benching 185. He did 225 for 8, and I did 185 for 5. PR for both of us, except last time I benched was August and my chest is still sore lol. I need to get back some time soon.
RDL: 275x8, 305x6 PR
- Lets fucking go, I felt so strong on these and the form was perfect. At the first 4 reps with the 305 I paused it as if I was thinking about doing the rep. Such an ego boost. I can feel these making my deadlift better too, 315 literally whips from the ground. That being said even though I used straps I can see grip being an issue going forward.
Leg extension: 3x15 each leg
- You know I was planning on doing front squat afterwards. I couldnt do it because running out of time I just spammed these on both legs trying to get a gnarly pump. Pump acquired hell yeah
Kneeling Ab Wheels: 2x20
- kinda in a rush doing these, they felt so much lighter then last weeks. Progressing these perfectly. Shit man i think i can do 2x25 with 30 second rest between sets.
Overall a great day, I felt so much anxiety coming in to the deadlift but looking back if someone said do another rep and you win 10 dollars, I could grind away and squeeze out one more rep
2 Likes
12/3/25
Push Press: 180 5x2
- Getting stronger step by step. Nothing more to say about this. I need to improve my front squat strength, but I also noticed that the hardest part is lockout. I need stronger tricep at the top, but I am happy with where I am right now especially since its the finals season in school
Strict press: 135x3,2 115x5x5
Lat pulldown nonsese
- I did a st with 180, then 200, then tried out 220. I got 2-3 reps with the 220, fairly happy about that.
Seated Dumbell deadstop extensions: 30x10, 35x8,8,8
- hell yeah my triceps look really cool doing these and it fries a part of my tricep I rarely hit.
Cable rear delt raise: 20 pounds for 10, 22.5 pound for 10 reps
Dumbbell lateral raise series:
- 94 reps destroying my side delts
Hangs:
- dilly dally light touches, hardest I did was 30 second one handed hang.
2 Likes
12/03/25
Pause Deadlift: 275 4x4
- dayum the third set was jsut a beuty showed absolute domiannce over the weight. Also no belt.
Pullups: 37.5x3, 47.5x3, 52.5x3, 67.5x3, 77.5x1.
- A chill little maxout these felt good.
Rows: 185x2x8
preacher dumbbell curls: 35x2x10, 40x6.
- dayum that 40 pound dumbbell is heavy.
2 Likes
12/03/25
strict press: a bunch with 135, 140x2, 145x1
- These felt good but one thing I noticed was that I can easily push it upwards but I have difficulty stabilizing it above my head. It gets super shaky on top.
- Not a absolute weight pr, but relative strength pr. When I first did my 145 I weighed 180ish pounds. I weight 166 now, so 0.87x my bodyweigth, rather than 0.80x bodyweigth
Close Grip: 165x8, 170x4
- My chest is cooked from the bench I did for fun. I probably should not have done that. Also I think I should go back to benching because I am push pressing close to weight I have never hit on the bench before, which might be causing this lockout issue.
Tricep pushdown: 72.5x15, 75x10
- Slowly but surely progressing the weight with these. The tricep is helping my press go up quickly noticeably and I can see them get bigger physically.
- exactly 3 weeks ago quote on quote I say ânext goal 72.5 for 15â. Lets fucking go, next goal is 80 for 15.
Overhead holds: 155x3x 20 sesemes.
- Did a push press and held the weight for hopefully 20 seconds. God damn were these tougher than I thought they would be. I think stability and upper back is holding back my push press and strict press wtf. The last 5 seconds felt like there was an earth quake I could hear the bar banging around the weights.
Overhead Tricep Extensions: 75x2x5
- That shit is heavy. I like it heavy, I will keep it in my program for the home gym for 3-4 weeks arc.
I did a shit ton of triceps today wow. One thing I can say is that I am getting better at strict pressing because I could feel a pump from my upper chest pressing away.
2 Likes
12/05/25
Front squat super set with push press: 190x5x3, 185 singles
- My front squat is above my push press rn
.
Behind the back hold super set forearm curls: 275x3x10 seconds, 65x3x20
- The curls are getting much much stronger. WTH why is the behind the back holds so hard, I need to get better at these. I remeber I was doing rack pulls before I started this blog for 405 for 3 reps, and my grip was giving out with straps. Not goosd.
Strict curl: 100x7, 105x4, 105x4
- Dayum the curls are heavy
Push press is feeling good.
2 Likes
12/06/25
Push Press 165 for 5x2 EMOM
- Hell yeah, also pretty easy
- I thouhgt it was a little too easy so I attempted 175 for the same thing
Push Press 5x2 175 not EMOM:
- There was a little too many sets where I failed to lock out the weight. Was this a dumb thing to do? yes, but fuckit we ball. My goal is to come back next semester and do 5x2 175 again emom, 5x3, 5x4, and then attempt to do it for 6 reps if easy try 8 reps. If I get 8 reps that means in my head I have enough muscles to do 225. Also I remeber when this weigth was my pr god damn.
Strcit press super seted with one arm dumbell press: 95x3x5 with 35x3x5 each arm
- Holy shit my shoulders are fried from everything this week
Machine OHP: 115 each arm 2x6-8
- These were nice my triceps keep looking bigger and bigger on these
jm press: 75x2x15
- both sets fairly easy, just gassed from the whole week
Holy shit what a week of overhead training this was fucking awesome. Canât wait for tomorrow rest day, but canât wait even more for after that. Exam week next week so I have some studying to do.
2 Likes
12/07/25
Deadlift: 385x5 PR
- Well damn, what a deadlifting journey year. From 265x5 to 385x5, on average of 10 pounds every month. But of course in the beginnign I was deadlifting 2 times every week and increasing the load by 5 pounds every time. Other times I stopped focussing on the deadlift too much, because I rage quited the Mag-Ort deadlifting program. But now we are here with the last heavy deadlift set of the year. Hell yeah, im very happy with my progress.
- Another goal in mind for the beginning of next semester. I want to run 5/3/1 and reach 415-425x5, once I do that I think I have 440x3 in me. It would be awesome but of course I am very hopeful, and about 10 things can go wrong. On a side note I tried fallowing Mag-Ort program without fallowing the program which is probably why I failed the third week. So given that my hopes are high. The minimum I wanât to achieve next semester is 405x5, I will be grateful to have that much progress.
RDL 310x6 PR!!, 315x6 PR eh form
- 310 was an awesome pr especially since last week 305 for 6 was almost impossible. My grip did not fail I pushed my hips backward enoguh that I felt the hamstrings work real hard, and on the last rep I even paused at the bottom.
- Same cannot be said of my 315x6 set, I think I overhyped myself because the depth was good but hips were not far back enough. If I was a detective I will say I probably bended a little too much in the lumbar spine. I will count it because it was a weight goal I set back in September.
Pull-ups: 45+bw fro 3x3
- Hammies and glutes fried so the only thing to hit is core and back.
- some nice pull-up sets, happy with all this
Knee ab wheel raises: 2x20 with pause at the bottom of the rep
- these were especially hard, added the pause becuase these are getting pretty easy without the pause, and well damn does the pause add a lot more to this exercise
One arm hangs: 2x15 seconds each arm
- finisher, sadly didnât add too much persistence in this set. Just trying to accumulate a shit ton of hang volume so that my grip doesnât fail with straps on( such a weak bitch grip strength)
Nice session, I am quite happy. I am writing this after like half an hour of the exercises and damn is my posterior fried.
2 Likes
12/08/25
Push Press: 185x5x2
- volume PR, I feel as though I am training with too much weight because I do fail a couple of my reps, which I have to make up with trying again. Then again training is circular so I trained with hella volume, low rest intervals, and low weight. Now I need some higher rest time and a lot more weight. At least thats my philosophy to cope with failing reps
Strict press work: 135x3, a lot with 125
Lat pulldown: 200x2x8-9
- I think the 9th rep was a pr, if those are important in the grand scheme of things. Get a big ahh back, and from the mirror on the side my arms look like small as fuck, gives me motivation
Dumbell deadstop tricep extension: 35x8, 40x3x8
- Well damn we are increasing the weight on these a lot. I definitely feel like these help but it is perfect time to switch it up because last heavy upper session in my college gym. I have lost the plot on this exercise
Lateral rasie series: 94 reps with dumbels weighing from 15-30
- I hope to come back next semester and first upper session do 94 rep series with 20-35 pound dumbbells. I know its gonna have a lot of motion but that is how I started it with 15-30 and I am stiff as a board most the set.
rear delt work: 20x2x8
- I did less work because I tried 25 pounds and decided it would be best to not die doing rear delts.
I forgot to log my workout lol, and I just remembered. Tomorrow is pause deadlift but I will pre-fatigue them with front squats.
3 Likes
12/10/2025
Front Squat: 185 3x4
- pre fatigue my quads before my deadlift set. These felt easy, especially when you go down enough you can bounce throuhg the sticking points
Pause deadlift: 285x4, 295x4, 275x4
- I tried 295 felt too heavy so went down to 285. 285 felt easy to I then went back up, and this was perfect there was a clear pause in the reps just an inch off the ground. And best of all it felt light. After that I went down to 275 and this just felt like air. As it should be because it is literally my 65%
Rows: 190x8,6
- Fuck yes, these are decently strict too, from knee to belly button rows. In between sets I did one arm hangs on a thick bar. My thumb and other fingers did not touch so this counts as open hand training. 2 sets of 15 seconds.
Strict curl: 105x4
- damn⊠I tried to pr, i just couldnât 105x5 would be awesome. Got it there mid way but couldnât finish it
incline curls: 25x3x8
- wow I see people do 40s on this and my tendons felt like snapping with 25s. I can definitely work more on this when I get back to my home gym setup.
Something about the timing of these are wrong, because yesterday was the 9th and I put 8th lmoa.
I did sauna right after and bodyweight is at 169. Slowly bulking up, although it could be the snacks all the faculty put everywhere on campus. Also water drinking is minimum 5.6 liters a day. I have been on this streak for like 1-2 weeks.
2 Likes
12/11/2025
Strict press: 125 for 50 total reps
- God damn these took a lot out of me. I felt as though doing 3 reps of the same thing got sooo boring at some point. I just wanted to try some hella volume with decently easy weight. I think I actually failed a rep just one time, so that is a good thing.
Overhead holds: 165x3x20 seconds
- Suprisingly I almost failed the second rep to get it overhead. I pushed my knees forward instead of outward which shifted my center of mass. Silly mistake that I will remember tomorrow. Overall good at holding the weight overhead with my upperback
Tricep extension: 75x15, 77.5x10, fullstack for 1
- well damn did 75x15 feel hard, yet 77.5x10 was easy. I felt like if I went to full out failure I had like 12 reps with 77.5. First time doing the stack cleanly.
Such a fun workout
2 Likes
12/12/2025
Front squat 195x2x5, 200x1
- god damn I tried these and the 200x1 was a full effort. Its like theres a sticking point and when I get past that point I just fling upwards. Then again that might be the normal effort for squats and since I never squated that much I am havenât seen squat grinding.
Push press: 2 singles at 190
- these are a messy. God damn is my whole body tired. I canât weight to go back home. A lot of people already left the campus and it feels really lonely. It just feels kinda lonely in this campus and I want to go back home too, but my flight is on the 16th. Anyways these are alright PR too but I think I can do more if I donât ohp 4 times a week.
Behind the back holds: 275x12 seconds, 285x10 seconds, 275x 2 seconds
super set with wrist curls 70 pounds for 20 reps
- 275 felt easy for 12 seconds so I tried 285, god damn did that tire me out. 275 became hard to do. the wrist curls were pretty easy and climbing up. Pairing a static hold with a dynamic flexion was a good idea, the pump is crazy.
leg extensions: 3x12
- these were fine, I still want to go back home. There was absolutely no inspiration, motivation, or heart in these 3 sets.
ab wheel 2x20, 45 pound hammer strength colored plate hold 45 pounds for 5 seconds on both sides for 2 sets
- now these were kinda fun, I definetaly want that pinch strength. Ab wheel was easy. sadly I did get a bloody blister on my left hand, although super tiny. I have baby thumbs, which is crazy on why I never trained my pinch grip. Back home I think imma train towel holds, and find something for pinch grip.
Thats it low inspiration day, but we move onwards. I hope not for days like this in the future. Homesick session
2 Likes
12/13/2025
Push press: 175 5x3, 185x1
- last mf push press session of the year. Lets fucking go it felt light in my hands. I think I can pull 225 push press off next semester. When I come back from my âoff seasonâ im going to run smolov jr front squats and push press and put the deadlift with 5/3/1. Simple as I feel like imma grow so much.
- I did the 185 single right after and it felt nice, not deadly.
Strict press: 135x2, 125x2
- holy shit my shoulder and triceps are detroyed.
Seated OHP machine: 120x2x6-8
- these are hella nice accessories my triceps feel fantastic, shoulder feel fantastic.
overhead cable tricep extension: 50x12, 55x10
- I watched a videfo by the bench viking and he talked about how he trains his tricep extensions like a close grip dip. I took the same mentality in my for this and I will keep this exercise
tricep pushdown: 50x2x15
- im just really sore, like this was such a workout
My knees are kinda cranky, my triceps were very sore coming to this workout. Honestly, hell of a year. 175 was my pr a couple weeks ago. I mean I think I started the log with 175 push press max.
2 Likes
12/14/2025
Deadlift: 225x5
- deload deadlift session. Im so cooked this felt difficult.
45 degree back extensions: bw+40 for 15,15,10
- huge pump form my lower back. I forgot my roots for deadlift development this semester. 5/3/1 deadlift, rdls, and back extensions smh
Incline curls: 25lbx12,15,15
- These felt nice I can really feel my biceps growing from this, and becoming an âoff seasonâ work.
Abductor machine: light fro 2x25
- Never trained my abductors for some reason, and this felt super difficult
Adductor machine: 220x30, fullstack x20
- I trained this in the summer as well, as a warmup for deadlifts for some reason.
2 25s pinch holds 2 hands: 3x20 seconds
- I want to get this one handed, smooth side obviously.
Second to last deadlift session of the year. General session fun, I was thinking in the shower what if I got 395x5, but then I just became smart as soon as 225 felt not smooth.
I was talking with grok ai yesterday and he approved of me hitting strict press and front squat smolov for the next month. He rated my physique and said my quad, side delt, rear delt, chest, and arms look âalright but not standoutâ. I have to work harder lmao
2 Likes
12/15/2025
Last training session at the college gym for the year. Same old same old, did some push press, strict press, pulldown and overhead dumbell extensions. New stuff I got 45 pound dumbbells a go on the deadstop extensions they were nice. I tried snatch press they destroy my shoulder not sure if its good but its weightlifting related so it has to increase my push press. Lastly I added a one handed tricep extension at the end and holy shit 25 pound for 8 was hard. Being the last day it got be in a reflective mood, and iâm in a happy mood because my last finals. Also there was this really hot girl lifting next to me, she looks like how I imagine an Amazonian would look like but like hot. Today I just want to write my top 5 memories in the college gym and why I loved them.
HM. I did 200 pull-ups in one hour, the same day I had a heavy deadlift session:
- I chose this because it was such a on the moment thing, and the process of doing this was incredibly fun. I learned a lot about because every-time I would touch the bar I felt like one rep would be difficult, but when the set started incredible grip pain but the reps were moving. Very cool experience. Also it was a rush because I had to do 30 pullups in 15 minutes which should be easy but my hands were so destroyed that I thought there was no way I was gonna finish the pullups.
- Runnign Smolov Jr. for bench
- I put this on the 5th spot because it increased my bench from 185 to 220. Throughout the experience I learned how to grip a barbell for both bench and ohp. Before I was using a death grip on ohp, and when I adopted the bench grip my ohp felt so nice. while the smolov I was also experimenting with push presses, and I remember the increase in bench without too much practice got my push press from 155 to 175. I also asked chatgpt for a motivational paragraph that I would look at every time I benched, mostly because I felt that benching was boring and useless. Horribly wrong mindset.
- 355x5 on deadlift
- This I did on the end of the summer, and it was my last deadlift session. I started the day like it was gonna be a pretty bad session, warmups didnât feel up to par. I was wrong because I was aiming for 4 reps, but the 4th rep felt alright so I went to a 5th one and holy shit was that hard. I think I was so strong at that point that, it took me a while to get back to where I could definitely say I am stronger than before on deadlifts.
- 370x3x3
- When I got this I said in my head I am stronger than the day I pulled 355x5. I donât know why, but I was self sabotaging myself everytime I deadlifted. I had a working system but I wanted to âspeed things upâ which didnât work. After this session I had a decent period of strength increase, going volume pr one week and another volume pr but with heavier weight and less reps the other.
- 385x5
- I always feel like shit the day I pull heavy on deadlifts for some reason. I felt like 315 wasnât whippy, and I wasnât explosive. But when the nerves are up there and the weight is in place I just start pulling and it goes. Good pr, I felt so proud of myself for pulling this off.
- Push pressing 185x2
- Maybe recency bias, doing this felt awesome. I even felt like it was light, I could definitely go for the third rep. Best of all I was doing this with 4x pressing frequency, every session I had wear and tear coming in. I think I have really good time with that much volume for pressing, because it was good for bench and I hope its good for push and strict press. Recently tho I have pushed it in the wrong direction going way too damn heavy. Smolov will fix that because I looked at the numbers I definitly can do these volume maybe even in a short period of time.
Thank you if you are reading, hope you enjoy your day
2 Likes
12/16/2025
Smolov Jr on front squat and strict press: 145x6x6, 110x6x6
- A nice beginning. I have to clean the barbell every beginning of set since I donât have a squat rack
Band overhead tricep extensions: 2x30
- put so much blood in my triceps wow
Pinch grip work: 20 pounds a bunch of sets with 5 seconds
- I am so weak in these, 20 pounds put me through the ringer.
2 Likes
12/17/2025
Rows: 155 for 10 sets of 4 normal, 4 paused, and 2 power rows
- Get some upper back and rear delt work
High pull: 145x5x10
- triple extension work, and some upper back. A good work on side of the smolov.
- I donât have that much equipment back home so I have to get really good at these two movements.
Pinch works: 20 pounds for up to 17 seconds.
- wow did I improve with pinch work.
With the equipment I got this the best I could do, I was planning on doing incline curls but I donât have anything to replicate a dumbbell.
2 Likes