Growing The Fro Out

Training Training Logs
41

I was at a symposium all day until 4. I ate my usual breakfast in the morning, packed a casein shake and almonds and had a decent lunch in an effort to keep caloric intake high. I know I shouldn’t have, but I ate a plate of chicken and rice before my workout. if you hang out in NYC, you probably know about the halal carts on 53rd and 6th. best drunk food ever! for the uninitiated, it’s a greasy platter of chicken, lamb, rice, pita and lettuce and it’s awesome cart food. I only eat this stuff maybe once every couple of months so tomorrow it’s back to clean food.

I decided to switch things up a bit. I felt like the volume I was putting into my primary lift was getting me gassed out for the second lift, so I did one all out set of today’s primary lift (db ohp), then an all out set on the second lift (bb ohp), then just threw in lighter sets to get more work in. I was also supposed to stay with 125 for bb ohp and get 10 reps, but I figured why not go for 135.

shoulders/traps

seated db ohp
65x9. 9th was a bit of a grinder so I saved 10 reps for next week.

seated bb ohp
135x8 x4 x4. PR technically. I have never ohp’d 1pps ever, and last winter I was doing standing push presses with 125. but the earth didn’t move for me… actually, 135 went up drama-free. so even though every ohp from hereon out is technically a PR (I think), I’ll save the REAL PR celebration for when if I ever ohp 1.5pps.
125x6
115x6

seated db ohp
55x7
45x8

db lateral raise
30x15^ x11 (cheated #11) x10. up to 35’s next week.
25x15
20x25

rear delt cable reverse flye
17.5x15^ x9 x8. down the stack next week.
15x11
12.5x14

bb shrug
225x10^ x8 x8. kinda easy. more importantly my left erector(s) didn’t snap off.
205x9
185x10

db shrug 
100x10^ x8 x8. this was easy too. I held the 10th rep a few seconds for good measure.
90x10
80x9

calf machine shrug
225x15 x7 x8. wtf this was easy too. I’ll do it again next week just in case.
210x8
195x9
burnouts. couldn’t really get a burn going even though I was slowing my movements to a crawl and squeezing the top position like my life depended on it.

pw meal was white rice and hamburger.

42

breakfast was a bunch of apples and pears (we went apple-picking last weekend) and hamburger.

my groin felt good after warmups and I was pretty sure squat depth would not be an issue today. however, even though my groin wasn’t bothering me, I wasn’t going back enough on the squat and my back angle was too upright. after looking at the vid it looks like I was at best an inch short of parallel.

squat/quads
bb squat
185x9?. might go down to 155 or so next week if it doesn’t look better in warmups. I think I should make a list of cues on my phone log just so I don’t forget anything. sit back more, allow back angle to become more horizontal
155x7
135x8

front squat. the crossover grip worked fine. right hip flexor was starting to give me trouble here.
95x9
75x9
55x9

leg extensions
90x15^ x10 x8. squeezed the last one. down the stack next week.
75x7
60x7

standing calf raise
150x10 x6 x5. last rep needs cleaning up.
135x6
120x5

seated calf raise
90x13 x10 x9

pw meal was hamburger and white rice.

43

[quote]fr0IVIan wrote:
thanks dude… lol which lift are you referring to though? it was my first time out since the injuries so I really wanted to take it easy. squat felt natural despite lack of practice but deadlift felt off on the negative.[/quote]

Mea culpa, apparently I’ve been missing your log lately. I meant the squat form. It does look really stellar. Nice, strong base.

And nice on the DB shrugs man. If you’re ever looking for a nice variation, as I know it gets pretty easy to max out DB shrugs, try 'em with a 5 second hold on every rep. E-Bomb turned me on to them a few months back and Holy hell… I mean, just holy hell. Lol.

44

hah all good bro… you’ve got plenty else to worry about these days. but thanks for the encouragement. I’d always felt that my squat was horrible. it’s good to know that I might be just a few tweaks away from good, safe squatting.

as for the db shrugs, my gym’s db’s only go up to 125, so at some point I’m gonna have to follow your advice and do crazy stuff like 5 second holds and “Kroc shrugs”, lawl.

45

[quote]fr0IVIan wrote:
hah all good bro… you’ve got plenty else to worry about these days. but thanks for the encouragement. I’d always felt that my squat was horrible. it’s good to know that I might be just a few tweaks away from good, safe squatting.

as for the db shrugs, my gym’s db’s only go up to 125, so at some point I’m gonna have to follow your advice and do crazy stuff like 5 second holds and “Kroc shrugs”, lawl.[/quote]

I’m not sure what you form use to look like but it looks pretty impeccable now. I don’t think it will likely stay quite that tight as you start bumping those weights up, but I guess that’s the theoretical goal, yeah? haha

And right, they’re pretty brutal! I never got a whole lot out of cheat shrugs, so I guess it’s good you’ll have the option of mixing and matching soon enough. 8)

46

well my first day back doing squats, where I did 125x10, it just felt so awkward… I was pushing my knees out, but I could feel the weight on my toes, and it never settled in my groin at the bottom. thankfully, that’s better now.

lol as for mix and matching db’s… I was working out at a friend’s gym once, it was back day, but they didn’t have any bb’s and the db’s only went to 75. I ended up doing db rows with a 40 stacked on top of a 75…

47

ate some apples, pears, sweet peppers, almonds and hamburger before going back for arms.

arms

dips
55x10^ too easy??!?

CGB
185x10^ x6 x6 bar FLEW up.  had to repeat counts a couple times, I couldn’t believe how easily it was going up. it felt like I could’ve thrown it a foot from my hands.
155x9
135x7

dips
35x9
BWx11

pushdowns 
100x15 x8 x7. 15th rep needs to be just a bit cleaner.
90x8
80x8
drop sets

EZbar curl
90x10. gotta clean up the 10th rep.

hammer curls
55x9 x5 x5
45x8
35x8

EZbar curl
80x7
70x8

preacher curl
70x11 x7 x6. bis dying…
60x7
50x7
drop sets

pw meal was white rice and boorger

48

oops, I forgot I could mobile upload to YouTube.

185 squat:

49

Arm day ftw! Nice close-gripping man, gotta love those days where you rack the weight, check to make sure it’s right, and realize that you totally beastmode’d it, lol.

The squats looked great - and not too bad on the calf development there, sir! Looks like you’ve been somewhat blessed in that department.

In regards to the shrug combination there… fuck that! Hahaha. God, that was probably the most awkward thing ever.

50

oh yea… in high school my calves were just a bit smaller and less defined than they are now. but the jocks would always be envious of them. I’d be just short of touching the rim sometimes playing basketball (can’t do that anymore…). before the last few weeks, I hadn’t trained them regularly since probably last winter.

don’t hate tha playa hate tha gameee

51

deadlift dayyyy.

breakfast was eggs and apples.

warmed up on the roman chair, some bb good mornings, db flips, light RDL’s and stretching. I did triples working up to 275 just to make sure everything was kosher.

hams/pull

deadlift
275x3 x2. booyaaa. I haven’t pulled anything this heavy in close to 3 months. It felt good doing this safely. I think I’m getting used to getting the bar off the floor with more leg effort than in the past. also, after looking at the vid I think I understand the cues “keep your shoulders over the bar”, and “get your butt down” better.
245x2. i felt my back take the load before the bar left the floor on the 3rd rep. thought it would be smart to call it.
225x3 x3

GM
65x10^.  good control, much easier than last time.
55x10
45x11

lying leg curl
75x13 x7 x6

abz

pw meal was white rice and hammmboorger. thank god I’ve only got about two day’s worth left of the stuff.

52

deadlift 275:

not really sure how I should program this. I mentioned elsewhere in the log that maybe I’ll just do it like I do my other compound movements, in sets of 6-10 then increase when I can get a clean 10th rep… but even with lighter weights, I can feel my form loosen up after the 3rd rep and this is not a movement I want to cheat for a rep or two and possibly hurt myself. maybe I can work my way up to three triples, and increase weight if the third triple ends cleanly? hmm.

somehow, I feel like the answer points to 5/3/1, but I hesitate because chasing a rep record with bad form is what got me injured in the first place. maybe it’s ok to do now that my form is better?

hmm.

53

[quote]fr0IVIan wrote:
deadlift 275:

not really sure how I should program this. I mentioned elsewhere in the log that maybe I’ll just do it like I do my other compound movements, in sets of 6-10 then increase when I can get a clean 10th rep… but even with lighter weights, I can feel my form loosen up after the 3rd rep and this is not a movement I want to cheat for a rep or two and possibly hurt myself. maybe I can work my way up to three triples, and increase weight if the third triple ends cleanly? hmm.

somehow, I feel like the answer points to 5/3/1, but I hesitate because chasing a rep record with bad form is what got me injured in the first place. maybe it’s ok to do now that my form is better?

hmm.[/quote]

I’d say 5/3/1 might be a really good idea my dude. The form might end up slipping a little bit as you grind through a set, but I guess if you’re working up from a solid base while keeping the body nice and healthy (foam rolling, stretching, you know the routine) I don’t see why it would continue to be an issue. Hell, I had some freaking sweet success with 5/3/1, even with screwing up all the numbers and percentages.

Looking at the DL form, something seems a little off to me, about halfway up or so. Kind of seems to me that you’re not distributing enough of the pushing onto your heels, and really making sure to “pull your feet into the ground.” IDK if that makes any sense, and I could be wrong!

54

whaaarrbblgarbllblarghh

lol I watched it over (and over, and over, and over…) trying to pick it apart. I’m assuming by halfway up, you mean around the time the bar passes my knees. the only cues I can think of are to get the hips up first before the back comes up (I think that looks ok), and my toes actually come off the floor as the bar passes my knees, and I think you can see that I’m pulling back as well as up. after that it’s all hip drive/booty squeeze/hump the bar. is it because I’m coming off the floor slow? I spend a lot of time down there making extra sure everything is tight before I pull.

55

whoops. hips might be too low at the pull.

56

breakfast was eggs and quinoa. work this week and a weekend trip are going to bukkake all over my training schedule.

AM session: chest/tris
incline bench
195x10 REP PR touch spot last rep but it was clean. gtg last rep up stronger next week.

flat bench
215x10.REP PR. same as incline. lol my spotter (random guy) said my form was perfect. thanks for the ego boost guy, but obvi you didn’t see me lose then reset upper back tension at rep 8.

CGB
195x10^.PR nice and strong, may have done an extra rep.

incline bench
185x7
155x8

flat bench
205x6
185x6

CGB
185x6
155x7

cable flyes
70x15. PR. took a 2 second breather at rep 13. gotta clean up last two reps.
70x8 x5
60x8
50x8
burnouts

pushdowns
100x15^ REP PR+1 x10 x9
90x10
80x12
burnouts

hit PR’s on all of my all-out sets, sweet. I think I should’ve done OHP’s instead of CGB though, and done my shoulder isolation work. Ã? now I’m gonna have to do a bastard hybrid shoulder/deadlift session tomorrow, fuck.

pw meal was hamburger and white rice.

57

ate a meal of Filipino-style spaghetti, hamburger and sweet peppers coated with olive oil.

back+bis
wide grip pullup 35x7, BWx7+3
neutral grip 65x7 45x6+2
close grip 45x8+2 25x7+2

pendlay row
175x9. back felt good here. � no pain.
155x9
bb row
135x10

lat pulldown
180x8 x7 x6
165x10
150x8

db row. � was gassed from doing these.
110x8 dead-stop
100x9 regular
90x10 regular

hammer curls
55x10 not so clean reps. wiped out from all the pulls/rows.
55 x6 x6
45x9� 
35x9

straight arm rope pulldown/low row supersets
100/130. wiped OUT. gotta clean these up.
burnouts

preacher curls - had to do these on a different machine, I think a Startac instead of a HS. � it felt lighter even though I loaded the same weight (70 lb). did some random sets and called it.

I was a bit tired going in, which isn’t new. what was new was being so wiped out mid-session, which I think had more to do with volume and intensity going up. I have that stupid symposium from 8-4 again tomorrow. I bought 1.5 lb of roast beef and a loaf of spelt bread (WHERE IS THE EZEKIEL BREAD), hopefully that will be enough food to help me recover for a shoulders/deadlift combo tomorrow. last time I planned poorly and brought a 100g casein shake with about 3 tbsp of olive oil and a bag of almonds.

pw meal was roast chicken and white rice.

58

Nice pressing man, especially those inclines! Is that a pre-set incline bench, or do you manually adjust the angles? I can’t even imagine that much pressing in one session - and then following it up with another session later in the day, haha. Looks like you killed it pretty damn well, though.

Jelly of the quinoa, I never did get around to trying that. I’ve heard it’s the effing tits, though.

And of course, nomnomnom Ezekiel Bread is amazing.

59

thanks man. it’s pre-set, I’m assuming it’s around 45-60*. I know I’m not putting up big numbers compared to others, but about two years ago 195 would’ve pinned me on the incline bench after maybe 4 half reps, and the same for 215 on flat bench. CGBP? I hardly did it, and when I did, my thumbs were touching at mid-bar. not sure how my wrists survived that.

it feels good to know that me now could totally kill me two years ago.

quinoa’s good stuff, I can just keep eating it and not bloat at all. I think my brand is Nature’s Choice in a 2 or 5 lb bag.

60

I’ve made some loose measurements recently, and my ab pinch seems to have gone up another 2-3mm, while the scale shows an 8-9lb weight gain. this contrasts with the last time I made a big jump in weight between July and august where I gained 8 lb but also 7mm on my ab pinch. so, I’ve gained the same amount of weight but maybe only half as much fat, which hopefully means more of it is muscle. that makes sense, what with my injuries almost completely healed and the reinclusion of squats, deads and heavy rows into my workouts.

I really hope more of it is muscle…