Bench Press Day (75%, 85%, 95%)
Bench Press: 230x5, 260x3, 290x2 (PR by Default)
Paused Close Grip Bench Press: 230 - 5x5 (super-set with DB Rows)
DB Row: 95 - 5x10
Pretty happy with 290 for a double on Bench Press. Shoulders were a little sore from the Kettlebell workout Saturday so I didn’t come into this workout with a ton of expectations. Would’ve been happy to get the required rep and move on but figured I would sneak another rep to make it a PR. A third rep could’ve been possible but I didn’t want to take a chance on missing since I missed a rep last week on Bench Press. The Close Grip work felt surprisingly good and that is technically a volume PR by default. Good day overall!!
Deadlift Day (75%, 85%, 95%)
Deadlift: 365x5, 415x3, 465x3 (PR)
Walking DB Lunges: 55 - 4x10 (steps per leg)
Ab Wheel: 1x20, 1x10
Deadlifts did not feel great today but was able to pull 3 reps out of the bag and set a PR. Not sure what contributed to them feeling off but just going to chalk it up to an off but good day. Due to the gym being so crowded, it took me a while to find a decent space to deadlift without too much stuff being in the way. Got through Lunges pretty quick and just wanted to get to 30 reps as quick as possible on the Ab Wheel. Good day overall!
Overhead Press Day (75%, 85%, 95%)
Overhead Press: 155x5, 175x3, 195x3 (PR)
Overhead Press: 155 - 5x5 (super-set with Pull-Ups)
Pull-Ups: 3x8, 3x6, 3x5 = 57 total
DB Lateral Raise x 10 / Band Pull Aparts x 15 / Pull-Ups x 5 - 3 rounds
Overhead Press felt good today. 195 for 3 is a rep PR I’m pretty happy with for that weight especially since my shoulders were feeling a little stiff today. I moved my grip out a little bit and seemed to help my pressing groove a little bit. Pull-Up performance was a little better today. I decided to hit an extra set of 5 Pull Ups to end the workout and was a good way to cap off a pretty good day overall!
Squat Day (75%, 85%, 95%)
Squat: 245x5, 280x3, 315x5
Paused Squat: 245 - 3x5
Lying Leg Curl: 110 - 15, 12, 10
Leg Raise: 3x15
Very happy with Squats on Friday. The weight was supposed to be 310 but I couldn’t help myself and had to put 3 plates on and go for the AMRAP set. Something I am liking with High Bar more that Low Bar Squats is that I feel a lot more explosive and am able to really bounce out of the hole better. Because I have improved my mobility over the past few months squatting deep and getting that bounce feels really good. I started running out of time and just did some rest pause sets on leg curls and got a quick few sets of leg raises to finish. Good workout overall.
12/19/15
Kettlebell Workout
Double Clean & Jerk (or Long Cycle) - 55# KBs - 5x10
1 Arm Snatch - 55# KB - 5x10
2 Hand Swing - 80# KB - 5x20 - superset - various plank holds for 30 seconds (front and side planks)
Fun workout. Didn’t feel like getting too fancy with a complex or crazy supersets but didn’t really need to. My Jerk on Long Cycle still needs a lot of work. Whenever I was explosive and really aggressive with dipping back down the Jerk felt very light but also doing that for 10 reps was getting tiring. Of course when I wasn’t trying to use as much energy it just felt like a Push Press and shoulders were starting to tire out. Need to find a happy medium. Snatches and Swings as usual didn’t have any issues with those.
12/20/15
Mobility (Modified Simple and Sinister Warm-up)
3 Rounds:
KB Goblet Squat Holds - 35# KB - 30 seconds
KB Halos - 35# KB - 5 reps clockwise / 5 reps counter clockwise
Hip Thrust - 3x10
Hip Flexor Stretch - 30 seconds each side
After seeing Furo go back to S&S I figured I would do the warm-up for some mobility work while watching the Panthers vs Giants. Quick and most of all… Simple!
Quick, simple and easy de-load workout. I did Band Pull Aparts between sets of Bench Press. Will probably hit the gym one more time this week for some light Squats and the rest of the week will either be kettlebells, bodyweight stuff or nothing at all!
Squat Day (Deload)
Squat: 225x3, 245x3, 280x3
Hang Power Clean: Worked up to 205 for a single, mainly working on technique here.
Ab Wheel: 3x10
Officially the last gym session in my 20’s! I won’t be hitting the gym anymore this week until next Monday which is my 30th Birthday. Hope everyone has a Merry Christmas!!!
Wasn’t feeling great from a cold I have had since Christmas Night but wanted to get some movement done. Sort of a different spin on a Dan John workout involving Push Ups and Kettlebell Swings. Felt pretty good moving at a consistent pace with no rest at any point between exercises without flopping around all over the place trying to go too fast. Surprised how sore my chest and shoulders were waking up Sunday morning.
12/28/15
Bench Press Day (65%, 75%, 85%)
Bench Press: 205x5, 235x5, 265x5
Paused Bench Press: 205 - 5x5 (super-set with DB Rows)
DB Row: 95 - 5x10
Felt rough during this workout yesterday. The cold I caught Christmas Night woke me up at around 3:30 AM and didn’t really get a lot of sleep after that. Got through this workout but the 265 for 5 reps was tough. Hopefully this cold will let up very soon!
Deadlift Day (65%, 75%, 85%)
Deadlift: 325x5, 375x5, 425x6
Walking Lunges: Bodyweight: 12,12,15,15,15
Planks: 5x30 secs (superset with lunges)
Decent day overall. Still fighting this cold but got some decent work done. Didn’t feel like hauling Dumbbells across the gym so just did bodyweight. Looking forward to when I can breathe again and not cough up a lung in between sets!!
Still not quite over this cold but felt a little better yesterday. Wouldn’t be able to make it to the gym any other day this week so I just combined my Squat and Press Days. Stuck with required reps to make things easy although this turned out be a pretty fun workout. I did supersets with presses and pull ups. This makes me want to get back to a full body routine down the line. Last workout until next year. Happy New Year everyone!!
Assorted 20lb Medicine Ball Throws:
Slams x 10
Overhead Pass x 10
Backwards Pass x 10
5 Rounds of:
5 x Pull Ups
5 x Push Ups
5 x Split Squats
KB Swings: 80lbs: 1x30, 1x20, 1x25, 1x25
Got a chance on Saturday to play with my new 20 pound medicine ball I got with a gift card from my birthday. Didn’t do a whole lot with the ball since I still had my cold and had to do these in my backyard. I wanted to get to 100 swings in as few sets as possible and my goal was to get 50 on the first set. As you can see I fell well short of that but will be something to shoot for in the future. Fun workout with a good bit of variety.
Thanks stronfak!! Looking forward to getting back on the grind now that the holidays are over and I am over this nasty cold for the most part. Thanks for stopping in!
5/3/1 Full Body Template
Bench Press Day (65%, 75%, 85%)
Squat: 225x3, 255x3, 285x3
Bench Press: 205x5, 235x5, 265x5
DB Row: 100 - 5x10
Decided to switch my template to Full Body 3 Days a Week for 5/3/1. Session felt pretty good. Hit required reps on Bench Press since the 5th was a bit slow. I paused all reps on Squats. Pretty straightforward day and glad I am finally over this cold I have had since Christmas night!!
It’s a New Year so I figure I might as well switch the routine up a bit. Going to try 5/3/1 Full Body again since I made some decent progress (especially squats) using that template before. I am seeing the value again in bodyweight workouts mixed in with some kettlebells and medicine ball work. They seem to do wonders for my conditioning and mobility without killing me and affecting my lifting. Here’s what I’m thinking at the moment…
Bench Press Day (Monday)
Squat: 65%x3, 75x3, 85%x3
Bench Press: 5/3/1
DB Row: 5x10
Bodyweight / Kettlebell Work (Tuesday or Thursday)
Squat Day (Wednesday)
Squat: 5/3/1
Bench Press (or maybe Incline): 5x10
Pull Ups: at least 25 on a bad day
Pull Ups x 1
Push Ups x 1
Split Squat x 1 (each leg)
Pull Ups x 2
Push Ups x 2
Split Squat x 2 (each leg)
---- etc. ----
Pull Ups x 8
Push Ups x 8
Split Squat x 8 (each leg)
Pull Ups x 7
Push Ups x 7
Split Squat x 7 (each leg)
---- etc. ----
Pull Ups x 1
Push Ups x 1
Split Squat x 1 (each leg)
A good friend of mine who is in the Army (in his 50’s and is a colonel) and I had a discussion yesterday at the gym about pull ups and he mentioned the best method for him increasing his rep count for pull-ups was ladders. I went with his recommendation and threw in push-ups and split squats just for some extra work. He is certainly someone I admire at the gym in regards to pull-ups because I’ve seen him crank out multiple sets of 25+ Pull-Ups with ease. Pretty happy to work up to 8 Pull Ups with this scheme even though the next set of 7 right afterwards was probably the toughest. I was hoping to work up to 10 but realized I would have to work back down and would fail reps on the way back down to 1. Something to work towards. Fun workout that didn’t take a whole lot of time!
1/6/16
5/3/1 Full Body Template
Squat Day (65%, 75%, 85%)
Squat: 225x5, 255x5, 285x7
Incline DB Press: 50# - 5x10 (super-set with Pull Ups)
Pull Ups: 8x5
Plank: 5x30 seconds
Debated on not logging anymore since all of the drastic changes but will give it a go for awhile… anyhoo on to yesterday’s workout…
Groin area was pretty tight during the first 2 sets of Squats. Luckily before the set of 285 I stretched it out and felt a lot better but I wasted a lot of energy on the first two sets dealing with it. Was going to do 5x5 with 225 on Barbell Bench Press but mentally wasn’t feeling it after 1 set and just decided to do some Incline Dumbbell Presses. Used baby weights but tried to really concentrate on feeling the muscle work and not just trying to move some heavy weight. Pull Ups were difficult by the end but I realized that between yesterday and today I have done a total of 104 Pull Ups. Pretty good day overall. Still may move this workout to Friday but will have to see how long it takes to do Squats, OH Press and Deadlifts on Friday.
Just stopping in to say I hope you keeping logging your training. I’ve learned a lot from it and even bought a few kettlebells as a Christmas present to myself based on some of the workouts you’ve been doing with them. I’m also planning to steal the bodyweight ladder workout soon, as that looks brutal and will come in handy as an indoor conditioning workout when the weather sucks.
Anyway, keep up the good work and I hope you stick around…
Thanks for the kind words NCFox. Glad to know I could be of some help to you in some form or fashion. I will most likely keep logging just because this is a good addition to my spreadsheet where I can put my thoughts on the workout and why I’m doing what I’m doing. Again thanks for the comment!!!
5/3/1 Full Body Template
Overhead Press & Deadlift Day (65%, 75%, 85%)
Squat: 225x3, 255x3, 285x3
Oh Press: 140x5, 160x5, 180x5
Deadlift: 325x5, 375x5, 425x5
Ended up working out today since I doubt I would be able to hit the gym tomorrow. Was actually surprised how today went considering this was my 4th day in a row of a full body workout of some kind. The 5th rep of 180 on OH Press was pretty tough but was glad to get it overhead even though it was only to make the required reps. Probably had 2 more reps left in me on the deadlift but figured I would cut it at 5 and call it a day. I like full body templates but I always know that the Press and Deadlift day is always going to be the toughest. Good day overall!!
10 x Slams
10 x Overhead Forward Pass
10 x Backward Throw
Kettlebell Circuit
1 - 55# Kettlebell
5 Rounds of the following with each arm:
5 x 1 Arm Swings
5 x Snatch
5 x Clean & Press
5 x Lunge (rack position)
10 x Ab Wheel Rollouts
Good workout on Saturday. I really enjoy the medicine ball work before getting started on my kettlebell work. Throwing the ball around acts as a great warm up for my shoulders and hips. The kettlebell circuit was getting pretty brutal towards the end since I was cutting rest periods between rounds as short as possible. The circuit was done doing 5 reps with my left arm and then 5 reps with my right before moving on to the next movement. I tried to sit the bell down as little as possible. I was hoping to get to the track on this day but it was very cold and also raining. My Saturday workouts have been a bit random lately but I have enjoyed mixing it up and trying different circuits and complexes with my kettlebells to keep things interesting!