^ agreed on both. Good shit man. gonna be tripling 4 plates on CG presses here soon.
^^^Blush…thanks, fellas, I appreciate it.
Monday
Trap DL
440x4, 460x2, 490x2, 510x3
Not bad, but I probably shouldn’t go this heavy two weeks in a row. My knee was really sore after this.
Leg Curl
100, 112.5, 125x10
Rotary Hip
62.5, 75, 87.5x10
Couldn’t handle much after that DL. Knee still isn’t ready to do heavy work consistently and I still can’t run if my life depended on it. Next appointment is Friday, so we’ll see what the plan is then.
Tuesday
NGB
295, 315, 335, 355x2
Felt cocky and gave medium grip a shot, but I’m not quite ready for that and went to NG at 295. I’ll probably do one more heavy week of NG shoulder permitting, then maybe light stuff.
Narrow Low Incline DB
110x7,8,10
Same technique as I’ve been using, except I inclined the bench slightly. Was obviously harder, but no discernible difference in how my shoulder felt; that is to say, this was comfortable.
Floor Flye
75x10x3
Since I’ve never seen these, I’ll pretend it hasn’t been thought up yet and say I invented it. I like them…gives a good stopping point that prevents excessive strain, but still feels like it hits the chest hard.
DB Rear Delt
25, 35, 45x10
Not bad…shoulder is toughing it out for the moment. Just need to make it a couple more months before it seasonally improves.
Hey-O! So, I’m kinda tired of having an old man gut, and I’ve decided it’s time for it to go. On Wednesday I began a carb cycling “diet,” which I believe will also offer the benefit of keeping me away from a lot of junk even on my higher carb days. After consulting with one of my buddies (a competitive bodybuilder who’s won some shows), he suggested sub-100g on off-days, sub-250 on training days, and one day of 500-550, this all assuming 4 training days.
Since he’s 22 and I’m almost 27, I figured I could lower those slightly to accomadate my old guy needs. I’m looking at 75-100 on off-days, 200-225 on 3 of 4 training days, and 500 or so on Monday. Whenever my knee is healthy enough to go back to 5 days of lifting, I’ll just do sub-100 carbs on one of my light days, which should be manageable. I’m excited about this. I jones’d like a mofo on Wednesday, but yesterday I was around 225 and felt very satisfied…funny what quality food does for you.
I think this will keep me away from a lot of junk because most of the time I binge by grabbing whatever looks good at the grocery, and it always involves lots of carbs. That Italian-ness in me is great, but it makes me a carb junky. As it stands, I have to make my carbs matter, and I like this. I essentially have a built in cheat day on Monday anyway, so I should be fine.
Furthermore, I’m way below where I should be in terms of my cardiovascular health. My VO2 max was a joke when I got it measured, and I’d rather not drop dead in the next decade. Granted, my knee affected it somewhat, but that wouldn’t take me from 43 to 33, so something needs to be done. My thought is that I need to streamline my workouts more such that I can fit some cardio in at the end and still be out in under 2 hours.
That will mean one heavy lift, maybe a moderate accessory, and then circuits or supersets with light weights. I’ve partially been doing this lately anyway, but not entirely. For cardio, until my knee is better I’m looking at KB swings and maybe farmers walks, perhaps the recumbent bike, and pushing the sled if it’s possible. My knee appointment is at 2 today, so I’ve got my fingers crossed.
Thursday
Reverse-grip Row
315, 345x8, 375x6
This was more like an 8 pound jump, because I was forced to use our lightest bars last week. It’s about 41 pounds, while this one was 44.2. I’m letting my hips hinge slightly now, so I go lower on extension.
Shrug
495x8,15
Might start doing back-down sets of high reps here…that 15 felt really good.
Pullover/Supinated Pullup
240x8/BWx8x3
Had to get to a wine tasting like a sir, so I cut out some sets and made do.
***Knee Update: More NSAIDs, and I need to really lay off it for a month. It definitely seems to be an underlying cartilage issue, and it simply won’t get better if I keep doing things that involve a big quad contraction. The goal for this month is to get it asymptomatic.
Friday
Tri Pressdown
125x8x5
Starting to hurt my elbow…probably going to drop these for a while.
Skullcrusher
90+40chains
3x12, 1x11
Chain fell off on the 11th rep on the last set, so I wasn’t about to throw it back on for one rep.
BB Curl
95, 115, 115, 125, 125x6
Lat Raise
35, 45, 55, 65x8
Front Raise/Ext Rot
35x10x2
Monday
Seated Chain Suspended GM
225, 225, 235, 235, 245, 245x4
Looking for something that’s easy on the knee but still effective.
Rotary Hip
75, 87.5, 100, 100, 100x10
Leg Curl/Hip Adduction
100/160x10
125/185x10
130/185x9/10
Pretty weak leg day, but it’s all I can manage right now. I might try completely stiff-legged GMs.
Tuesday
NGB
275, 295, 315, 335x2, 355x3 (PR for this grip)
Closed my grip and felt good. Naturally, a freaking fire alarm went off between 315 and 335, so I had about a 20 minute break. This sucks, obviously. My first rep on 335 was shaky, but I was fine after that.
DB Neutral Low Incline
110x10,10,13
These felt really good.
HT Flyes
80x10x4
Nice.
DB Rear Delt/Band Pull-apart
35x10/minix12
45x10/minix12
50x10/minix12
Encouraging chest day.
Havent been in the gym at the same time as you for awhile man. Glad to see your still putting up good weight.
Thursday
Smith Row
225x8xa bunch of sets
I was trying to find something that felt like it took the strain off my knee, but this wasn’t it…won’t be doing this again.
Supinated Pullup
+25x6,6, +50x6,6,5, +75x3
I get weak on these pretty quickly when I don’t do them.
Pullover/Machine Row
247.5x10/175x10x3
So-so. Need to find better alternatives for my knee, so I’ll probably go to the other gym on back days.
Friday
Floor Skullcrusher
100+40lbschainsx12x4
Love this, and it caused no elbow pain.
Lat Raise
35, 45, 55x10, 65x8,8,8+2 cheat reps
Underhand Pressdown
75x8, 87.5x8x3
Meh…need to find something better.
Front Raise+Ext Rotation
35x8,8,10
OH Rope Press
130x20
Last few were cheat reps.
Great day because my shoulder felt good, as did my elbows.
I’ve gotten lazy with this.
Monday
Good Morning
225x6x2, 245x6x2
Stayed basic and really strict so as not to load my knee much at all.
Back Ext
+25x15, +54x15x3
Going to have to use something other than kettlebells for these, i.e. dumbells.
Rotary Hip
100, 112.5, 125x10
I did something else, but have forgotten at this point. I then watched the UL game, to my disappointment. Hammies were shot after those slow ecc GMs.
Tuesday
NGB
275, 295, 315, 335, 360x2
It’s like Divine powers want my shoulder dead. I felt great through warmups, then was feeling good at 275 and 295. But on 295, I managed to bang the bar off of the hook, which jolted my left shoulder and carried it out in front of my body and hurt like a bastard. I soldiered through 360 for a double, and it actually felt OK, but man this shit gets old.
Narrow Neutral DB Incline
110x10,13
Short set because of the NG fiasco.
Called it after that. Didn’t want to mess with my shoulder and got some ice on it…no worse for the wear.
Thursday
Inverted Row
BWx10x3
Semi-warmup.
Supinated Pullup
BW, +25, +50x6, +75x4,5, +50x6, +25x10
Good volume here and was much stronger this week.
Pullover/Facepull
255/75x10
255/87.5x10x2
Straight-arm Lat Pressdown/Kayak Row
62.5x10/10x3
Kayaks were OK, but the normal lat pressdown was better. Just another over-hyped “guru exercise.”
Pretty good little workout. GF convinced me to do it at the normal gym, hence no HS stuff.
Friday
Pressdown warmups
Floor SC +chains
110+40x12,10,10,11
Awesome.
Lat Raise
45, 55x10, 65x8,8,10+1 forced
OH Cable Ext
80, 85, 90, 90x12
Smith Press
185, 205, 205x10, 225x8,9
Not really those weights, but that’s the easy way to count it. Pressed along the incline away from my body and it felt pretty good…definitely hit my tris and front delt hard.
Monday
Rotary Hip/Leg Curl
100/100x10
100/112.5x10
112.5/125x10x2
Squat/KB Swing
135/54.5
185/54.5
Wanted to test my knee out just a little. Squats felt OK, but it would have hurt me to go higher than 185…need several more weeks before the inflammation is all the way gone. I did as many reps as I could without pain on squats, and 20-25 on the swings.
DB Seated Shrug
110x15x4
Incline Strict Curl
20, 25, 25x10, 25x9
That Kai Green fella sure knows his stuff.
I feel like a doucher crossfitter, but I gotta do something.
Diet Update: It’s going really well. I’m responding very well to low-carb, probably because I was eating so much of them until this point. I’ve lost 3-5 pounds, but am not dropping weight so much that it’s freaking me out. Pressing strength is all I can really gauge at this point, and it hasn’t taken a hit; my energy levels feel normal, and overall I feel a lot better. I’ll be showing progress pics at one month with my before. But nobody is seeing any goddamn legs until I can start squatting again.
Tuesday
NGB
275, 295, 315x5, 335x6, 315x8
Weird sets, I know. But I didn’t want to go too heavy after last week’s nonsense, and this felt about right. I moved my grip to about 1.5 inches outside of the smooth part of the bar, and I’m still a good inch or two inside of the rings. I may try a full-blown wide, flared bench next week. My presses felt the best when I was fully flared during these sets. Keep in mind, though, that my fully flared is somewhere around 60 degrees of abduction, so it’s nothing crazy. That may have been a rep PR for narrow-grip.
DB Neutral Low Incline
100x6, 120x6,8
Might go really high rep (15-20) and lighter weight on these from here on out if I’m going to do that many reps on flat.
Pullover/Prone Horizontal Abduction
40/5x10
60/5x8/10
60/5x10x2
LOL. Needed something to replace HT Flyes since I’m benching a little wider, so I figured I might as well strengthen my serratus and tris, too.
Felt pretty good. Next week should be fun.
Wednesday
YOGA…COME.AT.ME.
Thursday
Inverted Row
BWx12x3 or 4
Sup. Pullup
BW, +25, +50, +75x6, +50x7, +25x11
Good improvements, shoulder felt OK.
Pullover/Face-pull
255/75x10
255/87.5x10x2
Moved the pullover back a notch to get a little more stretch…definitely felt it. Almost threw up a few times from here out.
Lat Pressdown/DB Rear Delt
67.5/45x10/8
72.5/45x10/8x2
That was too much for rear delts in a superset, so I cheated the reps a little…will lower next time.
Good workout.
Friday
Floor SC+chains
110+40x10,10,12,13
Will move up 5 next time. Elbow felt good.
Lat Raise
45, 55x10, 65x8,8, 70x5
Straight-bar Pressdown
100x12x4
Good set, didn’t feel bad at all.
Smith Press/Band Pull-apart
185/MINIx10/15
205/MINIx10/15
225/MINIx10/15
245/MINIx5/20
Burned out on 225.
Shoulder feeling good. I’m excited about bench this week. Yoga was pretty legit…relaxed me like you wouldn’t believe. I was pouring sweat, too. That shit is hard.
Apparently there’s some sort of conspiracy to atrophy my legs until they are toothpicks. Somewhere around last Weds/Thurs I started getting pain in my extreme lower back. This is absurd considering I haven’t done any spinal loading of note in weeks, and there was nothing acute that I can remember. I doubt it was Yoga, but I’m at a loss. It’s been getting worse, and it feels like my herniated disc felt when I was 16. So definitely no spinal loading in my near future (fffffffuuuuuu). I then attempted my already bullshit Monday “legs” workout, and barely made it through one superset of rotary hip/leg curls. On the plus side…
Tuesday
Bro Bench
275, 295x3, 315x5, 335x3, 350x5
Awwwww yeaaaa. It wasn’t 100%, but it felt damn good. I could have gotten a 6th, but I was willing to take an easy 5 with no pain. If I feel that good again next week, I could go with anywhere from 355 to 365…we’ll see. I’m hoping I can start trending upward on bench again.
Tate Press
75x10, 80x12x4
Awesome. Triceps felt pretty fatigued.
HT Flye/Prone DB Rear Delt
80/25x8
80/25x10
80/25x12
Felt great.
Messed around and did some crap on the shoulder press not worth mentioning. Very encouraging. I think at the very least I’m over the hump on bench even if not fully healthy. I’ll probably Move my back day to Weds, do some bullshit abs/biceps/etc on Thurs and normal Friday stuff.
Diet progression: I’ll take pics Thurs. I’ve lost 8 pounds, and I feel much better. My parents said I’ve lost weight in my face when I was home this weekend, and I’ve gotten multiple comments on my newfound “leanness.” I’m going to modify the diet now, since I think I’m starting to see diminishing returns. New plan:
3 days<50g carbs
3 days<150
1 day 3-400
I really pigged out on Sunday because of the overwhelming availability of junkfood, and I think I can handle restricting my diet a little more now. I’m going to watch my fats a little closer and turn that high-carb day into a day consisting of only one free-for-all meal.
Thursday
Inverted UH Row
BWx15
Supinated Pullup
BW, +25, +50x6, +80x5, +50x8, +25x12
Pullover/FP
255/92.5x10x3
Lat Pressdown/DB Rear Delt
75/40x10
Another day in the office.
Saturday (Tornadoes closed campus early Friday)
Floor SC
120+40chains x12x4
The 25s are slightly wider in diameter than the preset EZ bars, so I think that’s why I was able to make it through all four sets.
DB Lat Raise
50, 60x10, 65x8,8, 70x7
Tri Pressdown
105x12,15,13,13
Smith Military
185, 205x10, 225x8, 245x7
Stopping a little short on 225 helped me on 245 a lot. Shoulder felt good.
UH Front Raise/Prone Horiz Abd
25/5x12/10
30/5x10
Shout out to Spidey22 who stopped by to get a lift in with me. Had some laughs, gossiped about T-Nation, hit some weights…you know how we do. Good times, hopefully we’ll get a few more in before the semester ends.
Thank again bro. I’ll defiantly be down a few times every month, so hopefully with your help I’ll end up getting maybe 1/3 as strong a you are, which would be a huge win in my book. lol
Monday
Rotary Hip/Leg Curl
100x10/10
112.5x10/10
125x10/10
130/137.5x10/7
Felt good. Hips are sore as shit.
Adductor Machine/Weighted Hyper
160/54x10/15
185/70x10/12
210/100x10/10
210/100x10/15
That’s the closest I’ll get to a stiff-legged DL right now, but I loved it. I might do this lift on its own next week and go a lot heavier…definitely felt it along my entire posterior chain.
DB Shrug
130x15x3, 130x20
Too easy, but what are you gonna do?
Incline Kai Curl
25x10x4
Back is completely back to normal. I have no clue what that brief flareup was, but it doesn’t seem to be serious. I have an idea for a new lift that will at least train my Rectus Femoris…might try it tomorrow.
Tuesday
Bench
275, 295, 315, 335x3, 355x2, 365x3.5
It’s not often that I lift angry, but I was goddamn livid today. Got a test back that I thought I did well on, and it will probably end up costing me a 4.0 in this program. Fuck-n-A. I took it out on the lighter sets, which felt great, but probably zapped me just a little for that last set. Relieved some tension, though. I might back down to 355 or 360 next week, but my shoulder at least held up. All in all, not too bad. I’ll get a video up when I start closing in on this summer’s weights.
Tate Press
80x12x2, 85x12x2
Cable Cross/DB Rear Delt
40/25x10
45/25x10/12
50/25x10/12
55/25x10/12
Slow with a squeeze at the top, and pause at the top of the DB sets.
In-and-outer. Calmed me down at least, and I think 15 pounds was a ridiculous jump to try this early on. But when you’re mad, you’re mad. On to the next one.
Friday
Supinated Pullup
BW, +25, +50x6, +80x6, +50x8, +25x12
HS Row
3 PPS, 3+25, 4x8, 4+25x6,8,8
Missed this machine.
Shrug/DB Rear Delt
4PPS/40x10x3
ROM kind of sucked, but it was nice to put some real stress on the traps.
Lat Pressdown/Facepull
70/65x10/15
75/75x10/12x3
Finally got to the other gym. The cocksuckers put up a “please do not slam weights when loading them onto the machine” sign. I mean motherfucker, what a bunch of pussies.
Monday
Rotary Hip/Leg Curl
100x10/10
112.5x10/10
130x10/10
Super Heavy Bro Squatz
95, 115, 125, 135, 135, 135, 95x5
Killed that weight, bros. No, but seriously, it felt pretty good. I wore sleeves for the first 4 sets or so, but they were ridiculously tight EFS ones that I borrowed. I’ll need to remember mine next time.
BB Back Hyper
53, 80, 130, 150, 150x6, 150x10
Will probably do these before squats next time.
Walking Lunge
BWxup/backx2
Went the length of our gym floor. It was probably close to 10 steps each leg each way. Man, this was hard. My quads were burning and my ass is sorer than it rightfully should be.
That’s it for week one. Obviously, I got cleared to resume activity on the knee, but I doubt I’ll be going much heavier anytime soon. I iced my knee three times after this workout, and it felt good the next day. I’m going to be pretty liberal with the ice since I’m done with the NSAIDs. Probably will do 135-155 again next week, maybe increasing total reps.
Tuesday
Bench
275, 300, 325x3, 345x2, 355x5
Meh, weight was fine, but my left shoulder didn’t want to go all the way down on that last set. Can’t be mad at the heavy set, but I’ll probably go light next week or skip bench entirely.
Tate Press
80, 85, 85x12, 85x14
HS Chest
4PPSx10,10,11
Tried to keep constant tension here.
Rear Delt Machine
somex12x3
Weights were weird, so just did what felt good. Really focused on isolating.
Good day, especially considering I was sapped of energy. Should be able to get a pretty respectable bench whenever I’m finally ready to go.
Thursday
Supinated Pullup
BW, +25, +50, +80x6, +25x16
HS Row
3PPS, 3+25, 4x8, 4+25x6,9
Lat Pressdown/DB Rear Delt
70/40x10
75/40x10x3
Quickie…too busy watching college basketball.
Friday
Bent LR
35, 40, 45, 50x10
Smith Shoulder Press
225, 235x10, 245x8, 255x7
Kept these pretty slow, wasn’t taking any chances with my shoulder.
HS Shrug
4PPSx12, 4+25x12x2
LR Machine
110x12, 120x12x3
HS Shoulder Press
2PPS+25x10,10,8
1 minute rest, died on the last set.
Good workout, no shoulder pain. decided to break my shoulders from arms and do an arms day separate.