Fatty's Blog To Lean And Mean

Training Training Logs
81

*** 03/30/2009 ***

morning:
interval training
=> did just 14 intervals since I wasn’t totally up to the task (4.5 h sleep, still having the cold).

evening:
nada, zip, zero, zilch.

*** 03/31/2009 ***

morning:
interval training
=> same as the day before

evening:
[8x8]bent-over db rows: 104.5 lbs[/8x8]
[1x10]db curls: 55 lbs[/1x10]
[8x8]db presses: 71.5 lbs[/8x8]
[1x9]db curls: 55 lbs[/1x9]
[3x8]neutral-grip pull-ups: 44 lbs[/3x8]
[4x8]db floor presses: 66 lbs[/4x8]

I managed to reduce the inter-set time to about 10 sec.

My shoulders are still nagging me, so I’m going to crank up the frequency of my shoulder rehab. Furthermore, I’ll switch the db presses to seated back-supported db presses to take some load off my rotator cuff.

82

Looking huge man! Very nice.

83


Ok, guys (and dolls, I hope), time for another update!

*** 04/02/2009 ***

morning:
HIIT on stationary bike (you know the scheme: 30 s HII + 10 s SSI)

5 min drive-in (res.=X)

  1. HII (X+1)
  2. HII (X+2)
  3. HII (X+1)
  4. HII (X+2)
  5. HII (X+1)
  6. HII (X+2)
  7. HII (X+1)
  8. HII (X+2)
  9. HII (X+1)
  10. HII (X+2)
  11. HII (X+1)
  12. HII (X+2)
  13. HII (X+1)
  14. HII (X+2)
  15. HII (X+1)
  16. HII (X+2)
    3 min drive-out (X)

evening:
35 min SS-Cardio (X)

*** 04/03/2009 ***

morning:
HIIT on stationary bike

6 min drive-in (res.=X)

  1. HII (X+1)
  2. HII (X+2)
  3. HII (X+1)
  4. HII - 9. HII (X+2)
    5 min drive-out (X)

=> Had to quit the HIIs after the 9th one and call it a day. Doing 6 HIIs at resistance X+2 in a row really fried me and was more demanding than tabata back squats at about 180 lbs for me. It should be noted, however, that “demanding” is a very subjective term.

evening:
lifting

[8x8]bent-over db rows: 110 lbs[/8x8]
[1x10]db curls: 55 lbs[/1x10]
[6x8]db presses: 71.5 lbs[/6x8]
[8x8]chest supported db rows to the chest: 66 lbs[/8x8]
[1x10]db curls: 55 lbs[/1x10]
[3x8]neutral-grip pull-ups: 44 lbs[/3x8]
[4x8]db floor presses: 66 lbs[/4x8]

=> I incremented the load for db rows a bit, had more ‘wind’ while doing db curls (due to my wrist issues I curl without flexing my wrists and keep a very close eye on form) and added chest supported db rows to the chest to address my weak scapular retractors. In the same vein, I’ve decreased the volume of db presses and db floor presses. The chest supported rows felt really great for my shoulders and rotator cuffs. I’m quite confident that this change of things will benefit my shoulder rehab. It really shows that my chest is lagging big time.

Another thing worth mentioning that I’ve really just noticed since going up in volume while decreasing inter set break time is my performance decrease in pushing exercises whereas pulling exercises are still quite manageable and easy for me.
Can you attest to that observation or is it just an ‘unhealthy shoulders’ thingy? :wink:

Last, but definitely not least: you might have noticed the comparison shot above.

Prepare for some emo bullshit :wink:

The left one shows me in June 2005, up to now (or so I had thought until yesterday) the best ratio between size and leanness I’ve managed, yet. The left one is from yesterday evening. Both photos show me pumped, carb depleted and during a diet. Now I’m almost 18 lbs heavier and slightly leaner. I couldn’t really believe it, since I was afraid of deceiving myself, so I rummaged in the attic to get a pair of jeans I’ve worn in 2005. And damn, is it loose and hanging around my midsection!

Now, I’m totally aware of the fact that this progress might seem kinda pathetic for most lifters, but I’m pretty much injury-ridden since 2004, had a few surgeries and made lotsa mistakes. And up to yesterday, I’ve been living in the past, rememembering all those kinky and cool exercises I can’t do anymore and thinking my days as a bodybuilder/lifter numbered. “Maintenance is the best thing you can do!” was what I’ve been saying to myself. I even went as far as believing I had been bigger and leaner in the past, imagining my form from June 2005 as my apex.

But boy, was I wrong. And for the first time in a very long time I feel truly happy. I had to pretty much re-learn how I use my hands in everyday life and have lots of nagging pains which I have to grow accustomed to according to a lot of hand surgeons I’ve consulted. You can clearly see from my training programs that I’m not doing any direct triceps work, for example. I’d very much like to, but it just isn’t possible.

I feel pretty much empowered and will definitely use this drive to get better. Leaner and more muscular.

Thanks for reading this.

84

*** 04/04/2009 ***

morning:
HIIT on stationary bike

9 min drive-in (res.=X)

      1. HII (X+2)
        5 min drive-out (X)

Got roughly 5 h of sleep (postman rang me out of bed and I couldn’t get asleep after that), but still managed to improve my HIIT.

The photo above gives you an idea of my humble homegym.

I had my breakfast after HIIT and treated myself to some oatmeal (150 g) with 1 banana, 1 apple, 1 kiwi, a generous scoop of whey protein and about 200 ml of skim milk.

That’s my ‘cheat meal’ for this week. They usually consist of a generous helping of clean-ish food.

85

I’m sorry, I just started readin this, but did you say that you had a burger for breakfast? thats awesome…

86

[quote]FattyFat wrote:

Someone told me about Vince Gironda’s (in)famous 8x8, so I read up a bit on that (Christian Thibaudeau has written an informative article about Gironda’s training methods => The Gironda System).

Apparently, Gironda was a proponent of cumulative fatigue for inducing muscle hypertrophy.

[/quote]

Hey FF, this is a cool log to read. I’ve been hitting up a variation of Vince’s 8x8 except I’m doing 10 x 10 with 30 sec rest. I’m enjoying the program and kind of frankenstein’d this with some high frequency training 3 x week. I cut my cardio to see how this works with me and I’m pleased with the results. Leaner at a heavier body weight(180lbs…ok, not that much heavier haha). I like the results and the change of pace. Plus I’m not pounding the crap out of my joints.

Keep up the good work, your results speak for themselves Bro!

Gus

87

*** 04/06/2009 ***
in the morning: HIIT (like last one)
in the evening: SS cardio (~ 40 min)

*** 04/07/2009 ***
in the morning: HIIT (as usual)
in the evening: lifting (no changes in loads, just decreased the inter set breaks)

*** 04/08/2009 ***
in the morning: HIIT
in the evening: SS cardio (~ 45 min)

*** 04/09/2009 ***
in the morning: HIIT

*** 04/10/2009 ***
in the morning: HIIT
in the evening: lifting (like last one, albeit with furtherly decreased inter set breaks)

*** 04/11/2009 ***
in the morning: HIIT

*** 04/12/2009 - 04/14/2009 ***
spontaneous mini-vacation: lotsa hiking along the coast (~ 5 hours)

*** 04/15/2009 ***
in the morning: HIIT
in the afternoon: lifting (increased load for chest supported db rows to the chest by 5.5 lbs) and furtherly decreased inter set breaks)

Hey, Gus!
Cool to read about other people doing some of Vince’s protocols.
How long have you been doing it so far and how have you combined it with HFT (I assume you’re talking about a Waterbury protocol)?

I’m sitting at exactly 199 lbs right now (my body comp is changing, but my weight hasn’t been really fluctuating a lot for the past two months) and wouldn’t be surprised to have to go sub-190 to look somewhat decent. Once I’ll have got there, I plan to stay there for a few months at maintenance calories and maintenance training (low frequency, low volume, not aiming at drastic improvements) in order to prime myself for a bulk (nothing drastic, just about 500 cals over maintenance, primarily by upping my complex carb intake).

88

*** 04/16/2009 ***
in the morning: HIIT (as usual)

*** 04/17/2009 ***
in the morning: HIIT (not as usual)

Since I’ve become quite adapted to the usual scheme (n x [30 sec HII + 10 sec SSI]) and am already using the max resistance of my stationary bike, I’ve changed things a bit:

n x [25 sec HII + 5 sec SSI], bringing the SSI:HII ratio from 1:3 to 1:5 which is a good thingy.

So my HIIT looked something like this:

5 min drive-in
5 x [25 sec HII + 5 sec SSI]
30 sec SSI
5 x [25 sec HII + 5 sec SSI]
40 sec-ish SSI
5 x [25 sec HII + 5 sec SSI]
3 min drive-out

My hardest cardio bout ever.

In the evening: 37 min of steady state cardio.

EDIT: correcting a mistake
not 5 x [25 sec HII + 10 sec SSI],
but 5 x [25 sec HII + 5 sec SSI]

Don’t be afraid of correcting me if I’m obviously wrong, people. I’m disappointed by you.