Halfbreed's Log

Day one, week one.

It’s been a while since i’ve brought my notebook with me to the gym. Thought i’d give it a go. I’ve been reading this forum and the articles for a year now. Realizing that the more info i got the more confused i turned out.

Setting a goal these days even prooves hoard to do, but i’ve set my mind on gaining muscle mass. The old fashion way i guess, doing 2-4 sets and 10-15 reps at weight around 60-70% of my calculated 1RM. Using alternating body parts and supersets where i can to skimm some time of my w.o’s. Family man and two jobs leaves me with no time to spare. 3 w.o’s per week.
Monday Chest and Back.
Wensday: Shoulders and Abs.
Friday: Legs and Arms.

I consider myself a aestethical lifter.
After looking over my kcal intake over a weeks time, i’ve figured it to be 2.2 - 2.6 kcal per day. Weekends having a peak of 3 kcal. due to beers, wine and more snacking. might not be all that much as i’ve read about some ppl doing 4k+ a day with carbdays ontop.

starting weight is 183 pounds at 5ft 6inches.

first workout today:
45 mins prior 3g of l-leucine.
30mins prior 1 scoop of wheytech. (gonna change to massgainer at some point)
5 min prior 5g creatine.
during w.o. i consume a shake with 60g wheytech.
15ish mins post w.o. i chug down 60grams more of that protein.
and about half an hour to an hour after that shake i eat food, normal food. everything from a couple of slices of bread to an omelet with extra cheese ontop.

the actual workout:
Hight incline DB press: to near faliure, no rest
Low incline DB press: to near faliure, no rest
Flat DB press: to near faliure, 90 sec rest.
set 1 and 2 were somewhat ok, not too much discomfort. the 3rd set had my pecs tremble at peak contraction. trying to be as explosice i can on each rep.

Decline Flyes 2 sets 12-15 reps here adding stuttering steps at the last 3-5 reps, starting as wide as my arms go, towards the end i cheat a lil as i bend my elbows more to get the last reps.
set 1 and 2 were fairly easy, started with a light weight to be able to “rep-out”

Cable chest press (standing) 3 sets, 12-15 reps.
trying to squeeze out the last ounce of juice here, aloso quite the vanity exercise (my bad).
all 3 sets were “too light” for my taste. but descided ego stays home during w.o’s.
upped the weight from set 2 to 3 and had a better set. thinking back i should’ve added an extra set mabye.

Deadlifts:
3 sets 10, 12, 15 reps.
some pain in my neck on the last set, neck been stiff for a while.
shaking on the last set, gasping for air. (i’m not used to high rep DL’s)

wide grip pullups to faliure set1 5 reps, set2 3 reps, set3 4 reps.
medium grip pullups to faliure set1 3 reps, set2 3 reps, set3 2 reps.
medium grip chinup to faliure set1 3 reps, set2 1 reps, set3 1 reps.
narrow grip chinup ti faliure set1 1 reps, set2 2 reps, set3 1 reps.
total set 1 12 reps, set2 9 reps, set3 8 reps.
3 supersets, taking only a breather between sets. 90 sec rest between supersets.
left me with a wierd feeling in the upper backparts of my arms. but also weary lats.

Face pulls 2 sets of 15 reps.
new excersice for me, quite fun to do.

Iso Rows: i did 3 sets here.
Rep 1: 12 seconds
Rep 2: 9 seconds
Rep 3: 7 seconds
Rep 4: 5 seconds
Rep 5: 3 seconds
Rep 6: 1 seconds
burning on the last set, also this wierd pain upper backside of my arms.(?)

Left the gym feeling like a washed out rag. i should’ve gone harder on some of the sets, but i told myself i’ve gotta give myself time to progreess. leaving plenty of room for improovement. it’s been 2 weeks since i’ve last touched weights and i was on a 5x5 back then. getting a bit stronger but not alot bigger, (was 9 weeks total) before that is kinda history.

now i’ve spendt about half an hour writing, glancing over at the tv and sipping strawberry proteins. time for solid food. omelet coming up.

Day three, week one.

Shoulder and ab day.

Shoulder DB press (explosive)
3 “warmup” sets with increasing weight. then over to the actual excersice. triceps is soar.
Set 1: 12 reps 18kg DB’s - starting to feel the burn on the last reps on peak contraction
set 2: 11 reps 18kg DB’s - burning troughout the set on peak cont.
set 3: 10 reps 18kg DB’s - burning troughout the set on peak cont.
set 4: 13 reps 18kg DB’s - burning troughout the set on peak cont. gasping for air on last 3 reps.
noticed as i closed to faliure on the each set that the left shoulder “rose” upwards like it was a traps set…?! wierd.

Shoudler triad with DB’s.
superset 1 - 2 - 3
Lat rise 10 x 8kg - 15 x 6kg - 15x 6kg
Front raise 10 x 8kg - 15 x 6kg - 15x 6kg
OH Press 10 x 8kg - 15 x 6kg - 15x 6kg

on question of faliure i’m not really sure i blasted hard enuff on this triad. especially on the oh press. front rise was not hard to do but the first two supersets hurt on the frontrise, not a training burn kinda hurt, but felt like i was doiong it wrong somehow. last set this did not occur.

felt that the OH press was a lil redundant after the main excersice was just that, oh press.
mabye change the main excersice next time. not sure yet.

Shrugs:
grabbed the 22kg DB’s and shrugged away to 15 reps on all 3 sets. it’s a new excersice for me so felt a little wierd on the first set. but i deff felt the burn on all sets. did a hold for 2 secs on peak contraction.

Abs

Cable crunches
set 1: 16 x 40kg. was ok, not too hard.
set 2: 17 x 45 kg same as first set but felt the abs working more.
set 3: 15 x 50kg now i’m getting the hang of it. slowed down on the eccentric part of the movement.
set 4: 15 x 50kg burned for real this time.

Serratus Crunches
another wierd excersice, watched some movies to get a hang of it before i went to the gym.
did them with cable pulldown motion, holding my free hand on the serratus to get a mind-muscle connection. took 2 reps and 3 sets to get the motion to where i felt it working, rather than just bending down.
did 1 more set laying on the floor with a 10kg plate holding it straight up and crunching for 15 reps. this this was the one i really hit it with.

Incline russian twist
this was wierd, painful and i felt as if i wasn’t able to do the full range of motion due to lack of movement range (if that made any sense) i felt to stiff.
got a lil better on the 2nd set tho. did 15 twists on each set.

Day five week one. (yes leg day fell on saturday :/)

Bulgarian Split Squat
my main excersice, used to be normal squats (ass to the floor)
set 1: 35kg BB 15 reps (each leg)
set 2: 40kg BB 14 reps
set 3: 45kg BB 12 reps (allmost fell sideways on the last rep, stability anyone?!)
set 4: 45kg BB 13 reps

this was solid and tough, still struggling a litle on stability. i don’t use a belt or anything gearwise.

Romanian deadlift (i do love to DL, no matter the version)
set 1: 60kg BB 15 reps
set 2: 60kg BB 15 reps
set 3: 60kg BB 15 reps

glad i got 15 on all sets there, the last set had me thinking i wasn’t gonna make it.

Seated Calf rise
set 1: 40kg 20 reps with a hold on top position.
set 2: 40kg 21 reps with a hold on top position.
set 3: 40kg 18 reps with a hold on top position.

the burning i get in my calves is the worst i’ve ever gotten.

Arms

had to finish up quickly since we are going away today. i was thinking as i left the gym i could’ve left armday for sunday even.

dips (narrow) BW only.
5 sets of 15 reps each.
supersetted with
BB bicepcurls (EZ-bar)
5 sets of 15 reps

thats all i had time for unfortunately. was hoping to get in some reverse curls and skullcrushers with stuttersteps aswell.

day 1 week 2.
chest-triad with 18kg DB’s.
Hight incline DB press: to near faliure, no rest
Low incline DB press: to near faliure, no rest
Flat DB press: to near faliure, rest.
set 1 trough 3, had 40ish total reps on all 3 sets. thinking i’m getting too high. gonna bump weight up more next week. aiming at 6-8 rep-faliures.

Decline Flyes 2 sets 12-15 reps with 10kg DB’s. got the trmbling in my pecs on each rep. this is not a comfortable excersice. but i do like that it takes the shoulder muscle out of the movement.

Cable chest press (standing) 3 sets, 8-10 reps. 20kg on each wire.
well 3 sets was the goal, not gonna lie here only got 2 complete sets and 7 reps on the last one.
was baffling to find out that i couldn’t do another rep without cheating majorly.

Deadlifts:
set 1: 75kg 12 reps
set 2: 75kg 13 reps

wide grip pullups to faliure
medium grip pullups to faliure
medium grip chinup to faliure
narrow grip chinup ti faliure (this being the weakest movement, by far)
total set 1 13 reps, set2 10 reps, set3 9 reps. (up 1 rep on each superset)

Face pulls 2 sets of 12 reps. with 25 kg on the wire.

Iso Rows: i did 2 this time.
Rep 1: 12 seconds
Rep 2: 9 seconds
Rep 3: 7 seconds
Rep 4: 5 seconds
Rep 5: 3 seconds
Rep 6: 1 seconds
still having some wierd pain upper backside arms. wonder if it’s a mobility problem.

Day four, week two. (yeh one day late)

Shoulder BB press (explosive) yeh i changed it and i think it’s a “better” main excersice.
doing activating-sets, u know. scaling the weight up, exploding on every movement and doing only 6 to see where i’m at strength wise today.

Set 1: 8 reps 55kg - did 3 top portion partials
set 2: 9 reps 55kg - tough that last rep, mabye i should’ve scratched it but it was explocive up until the lockout.
set 3: 8 reps 55kg - put on wrist wraps, was getting wrist pains.

Shoudler triad with DB’s.
superset 1 - 2 - 3
Lat rise 8 x 10kg - 8 x 10kg - 8x 10kg
Front raise 8 x 10kg - 9 x 10kg - 8x 10kg
Arnold Press 12 x 10kg - 12 x 10kg - 10x 10kg (rest)

armold press replaced normal OH presses. wonderful.

Shrugs:
3 sets, 25kg DB’s and 8 reps on each set. pausing at the top squeesing it.

Abs

Cable crunches
set 1: many many reps x 50kg. (couldn’t get the “burn” until about 20 reps)
set 2: many reps x 60 kg - damn that was hard.
set 3: 9 x 70kg - yay only got 9, closing in on the functional hypertrophy range.

Serratus Crunches
plate in my hands, crunching and trying to put that plate trough the roof. finally getting that serratus connection. 2 sets

Incline russian twist
still a wierd excersice. think i’m still too stiff for this.

had to skip training on wensday and put it on thursday. and tomorrow it’s legs and arms again. not looking forward to it, as legs is my worst workout.

i’ll fill in legwork tomorrow. gf’s birthday atm and it’s been a hectic day.