Basically I just want to stop being such a pussy. As of late, my gains have been slow, almost non-existant and I think I’ve narrowed it down to a few things
Not enough intensity/volume
Rest periods are too long
Not enough food
With that in mind I’m going to make the changes necessary to fix 2 and 3, and use a trial and error approach to fix 1.
Currently my diet is
Meal 1 (~7:00 am)
2 eggs 2 pieces of whole wheat toast with cheese
3 pieces of bacon
glass of homo milk
Meal 2 (9 - 10 am)
1 cup of cottage cheese
banana
Meal 3 (~noon)
tuna sandwich (1 can of tuna mixed with pickles, chives, and mayo on whole wheat bread)
Meal 4 (~2 pm)
some almonds (natural, unblanched, unsalted, unroasted)
apple
Pre workout shake (~4pm)
1 scoop whey
Post workout shake (6 - 7 pm depending on when I finish workout)
1 scoop whey, 1 scoop gatorade powder
Meal 5 (~8pm)
Bowl of homeade chili (fucking delicious chili if I do say so myself)
Current bests are:
Bench 215 lbs x 4 reps
Squat 315 lbs x 4 reps
Deadlift 360 lbs x 1 rep (sketchy form, have since been working with lower weights to maintain proper form)
I’m hoping this log combined with setting some concrete goals for myself with realistic time frames will get me back on the gain train by making me more accountable. If anyone has any comments or ideas about what I am doing or should be doing, I’d appreciate the input.
Squats had 3 mins rest between sets, everything else had 2 mins.
Back squat
155 lbs x 7
225 lbs x 5
245 lbs x 5
265 lbs x 5
285 lbs x 5
RDL
205 lbs x 10
205 lbs x 10
205 lbs x 8 (grip was shot after this point)
Leg press
360 lbs x 10
360 lbs x 10
360 lbs x 10
360 lbs x 10
Seated ham curl
110 x 8
150 x 8
150 x 8
Finished with 10 mins on stationary bike before I decided I better leave if I wanted to catch my bus, will extend this to 20 mins after every workout normally.
Deadlifts (conventional stance)
135 lbs x 6
225 lbs x 5
255 lbs x 5
285 lbs x 5
305 lbs x 4
Lat pulldowns
“level 8” x 10
“level 8” x 10
“level 8” x 10
“level 8” x 6 (felt like my biceps took over at this point)
1 arm DB rows
75 lbs x 8
65 lbs x 8
65 lbs x 7
65 lbs x 8
(biceps seem fatigued and started to hold back my rowing movements)
BB curls
60 lbs x 5
60 lbs x 5
60 lbs x 5
60 lbs x 4
DB alternating curls
25 lbs x 5
25 lbs x 5
25 lbs x 5
Finished with 15 mins on the stationary bike (5 mins less since I biked to the gym and back)
Some jackass put a 2.5 lb plate between 2 10s on the plate tree so I managed to drop that on my big toe while pulling the 10s off, I think my toe might be broken
Turns out my toe is in fact fractured due to my incident on Saturday so I’m switching up some of my exercises to try and reduce the amount of loading on my foot. Instead of deadlifts I’ll do pullups, instead of DB bench where I have to cart heavy dbs around, I’ll just do bb etc.
Flat bench had 3 min rest intervals, everything else was 2 mins.
BB flat bench
bar x 12
95 lbs x 10
135 lbs x 5
155 lbs x 5
175 lbs x 5
185 lbs x 5
195 lbs x 5
BB incline bench
115 lbs x 10
115 lbs x 10
115 lbs x 7
115 lbs x 5
Dips
bw x 6
bw x 6
bw x 6
bw x 5
Decline skullcrushers
60 lbs x 10
60 lbs x 6
60 lbs x 5
20 mins on stationary bike to finish up. I also biked to and from the gym.
Seated BB military had 3 mins rest, everything was 2 mins
Seated BB military press
95 lbs x 5
115 lbs x 5
125 lbs x 5
130 lbs x 5
130 lbs x 5
Seated military DB press
40 lbs x 8
40 lbs x 8
40 lbs x 8
40 lbs x 8
Seated DB lateral raises on incline bench
15 lbs x 10
20 lbs x 8
20 lbs x 8
20 lbs x 7
DB rear delt raises
25 lbs x 10
25 lbs x 10
25 lbs x 8
25 lbs x 7
Abs and 20 mins on stationary bike to finish up.
I cut bread out of my meals as an experiment to see if the mental “fogginess” and incredible fatigue had anything to do with it and have found without the bread I’m good to go. I don’t know if this is due to a gluten allergy/wheat sensitivity or whether I’m diabetic or something but the lack of bread seems to be helping for now, further tweaking will be required to make sure.
Lat pulldowns
Level 9 x 10
Level 9 x 10
Level 9 x 8
Level 9 x 8
These felt good, my lats seemed to be doing all the work as opposed to bis or other parts of my back.
DB rows
65 lbs x 8
65 lbs x 8
65 lbs x 8
65 lbs x 8
Inverted rows, feet elevated
bw x 6
bw x 8
bw x 8
bw x 6
BB curls
65 lbs x 5
65 lbs x 5
65 lbs x 5
65 lbs x 5
65 lbs x 5
DB curls
25 lbs x 5
25 lbs x 5
25 lbs x 5
25 lbs x 5
Got my multi vitamins on Friday so my performance in this workout was either the result of a missing nutrient having been replenished, or simply the placebo effect. Either way I decided to ramp all sets instead of just my heaviest and was fairly happy, I’m not too far behind my previous bests.
BB flat bench was 3 mins rest, everything else was 2.
BB flat bench
bar x 12
95 lbs x 8
140 lbs x 5
160 lbs x 5
180 lbs x 3
190 lbs x 3
200 lbs x 6
BB incline bench
95 lbs x 8
115 lbs x 6
125 lbs x 5
135 lbs x 5
145 lbs x 5
Dips
bw x 5
+5 lbs x 5
+10 lbs x 5
+15 lbs x 5
+20 lbs x 5
Decline skullcrushers
65 lbs x 8
65 lbs x 8
65 lbs x 7
Went back to standing military press since my toe is feeling better, will give legs a shot next week.
Standing military had 3 mins rest, everything else was 2 mins.
Standing BB military press
bar x 10
95 lbs x 5
115 lbs x 5
125 lbs x 5
135 lbs x 5
140 lbs x 5
Seated DB military press
40 lbs x 5
50 lbs x 5
60 lbs x 5
65 lbs x 4
65 lbs x 2
DB rear delt raises
30 lbs x 8
30 lbs x 8
30 lbs x 7
30 lbs x 6
BB shrugs
225 lbs x 7
225 lbs x 5
225 lbs x 2 isometric reps (held at top)
Grip is still limiting factor of shrugs
Supposed to do back/bi workout today but I’m not feeling well and don’t want to risk shitting my pants at the gym so will push back/bicep day to tomorrow.
