JT's OVT Log

Training Logs
1

Hello T-Nation. I’ll start off a little about me I guess.

I’m a chemistry major pre-med with many volunteer hours logged and a semi-tough upcoming semester academically (General Physics 2, Organic Chemistry 1, History of Western Civilization which is hard for whatever reason). Spare time is not something I have a lot of at this point so pulling this off will be somewhat of a magic trick.

Training History:
I’ve been into the theory of bodybuilding and strength training for awhile now and I figure its about time to put that to use. I lifted in the past and put on about 40lbs (125-165) 3 years ago but didn’t lift consistently or squat at all. I used “Starting Strength” for about 4 months (ending about 3 weeks ago) before my bench stalled (lifts will be posted below). I lost the cord to my camera but as soon as I find a way to get pictures on here, I will.

I’ve set up some diets and routines for people who are just starting into lifting so I’m not a total donk when it comes to training I guess(did I mention I play poker?). Although, I believe as Dave Tate said, “no matter how much you think you know, you know nothing,” which I firmly believe in. Basically, I’m open to any and all criticism.

Height: 6’
Weight: 180lbs

Starting Strength results:
Bench before: 135x2
Bench end: 165x7

Deadlift before: 205x2
Deadlift after: 265x5

Squat before: 115x5 (not a typo)
Squat after*: 185x5

*sprained my knee skateboarding about 2 months into the program. I was starting to stall on squat anyway. My legs suck.

Muscle memory is an issue here as my lifts at one time were a little bit higher than they were when I started.

I’m hoping to see a lot of comments/criticism! First workout was yesterday; will post after this as this is getting long.

EDIT: Diet is 3600 calories over 5 meals. 30% fat, 30% protein, 40% carbs. This will be interesting as I don’t know my body that well yet. Things are bound to change but calories are starting low because BF is around 15% right now.

2

Workouts are switched around a bit to accommodate my schedule.

Arms
Biceps

A1. Barbell curl
60x5
60x5
60x5
60x5
50x6 (no 5lb increments)

A2. DB curl
30x5
25x5
25x5
25x5
25x5

B1. Preacher curls
50x5
50x5
40x5
40x5
40x5

B2. Hammer curls
25x5
25x5
20x5 (getting embarrassing…)
20x5
20x5

Triceps

A1. Weighted dips
25x5
25x3
20x4
20x3
15x4

A2. Decline extensions (these were embarrasing)
25x2
15x5
15x5
15x5
15x4

B1. Flat bench EZ bar extensions
40x5
50x5
40x5
40x5
40x5

B2. Rope pulldowns
80x5
80x5
70x5
70x5
60x5

Well this was a huge shock to my system as my strength went through the floor after the supersets on some lifts. Biceps are a very weak point for me so the weight is pretty low. Dips were all over the place as I really fucked up what I thought I could do. For some reason my arms are very hard to get sore no matter how hard I feel I worked them. Today though, I can’t lift food to my mouth and it feels GREAT.

3

48 hours later and I’m still pretty sore. I even started loading creatine a couple days ago and can’t scratch my nose yet haha.

Breakfast was 5 whole eggs and 1 1/2 cups of brown rice. I’m sooooo not use to this much rice.

Chest and Back in a few hours.

4

Chest

A1. Bench

165x5
155x5
145x5
135x5
135x4

A2. DB flies

25x5
25x5
25x5
25x5
25x5

B1. Incline bench

115x4
95x6 (felt easy)
115x4
95x5
95x4

B2. Incline flies

20x5
20x5
20x5
20x5
20x5

Back

A1. Lat pulldown

140x5
150x5
140x5
130x5
130x5

A2. One armed rows

40x5
40x5
35x5
35x5
35x5

B1. Bench over rows (grip completely shot at this point due to barbells)

115x5
115x5
115x5
115x5
115x5

B2. Cable rows
100x5
90x5
90x5
80x5
80x5

Weights were all over the place today as volume is not something I’m use to and I hadn’t done some of the exercises in a long time.

New gym and ALL of the barbells are thickbars. Not one regular one! Seeing as my forearms are by far my weakest point, I figured a few exercises might be a bit more difficult. It was, but wasn’t too terribly bad.

On incline I had some MAJOR shoulder fatigue. This was seriously effecting my incline bench and incline flies. Apparently my delts are not very strong. Going to work on rotator cuff strength to try and keep this fatigue from coming back.

Overall, VERY tough workout.

5

No workout yesterday.

I am sick as shit…and I DIDN’T drink! Getting my first two meals down today was hard as hell and I threw them both up so total macros ingested today = about zero. Ugh.

No legs today, wouldn’t make it through. Working out the next three days to catch up is going to be greeeeeat.

I’m excited for the challenge.

6

Legs

A1. Front squat
95x5
95x5
95x5
95x5
95x5

A2. Lunges
25x5
25x5
20x5
20x5
20x5

B1. One leg extensions
BW 5x5

B2. Leg curl
70x5x5

C1. Sumo deadlift
185x5x5

C2. Stiff leg deadlift
135x5x5

Wow today was intense. Front squats felt light but the lunges just killed me.

I wanted to puke so bad but I couldn’t bring myself to do it. Had some pizza earlier in the day before lifting and I’m positive that’s what caused it. Lesson learned.

Hell of a workout. I think I have a pic on my desktop at school of me about a year ago which I might post. At that time I look almost identical to when I started this program. At least there will be some visual comparison now. I go back in ten days.

Shoulders tomorrow.

7

Shoulders

A1. Military Press

95x5x5

A2. Incline laterals

20x5x5

B1. Alternating DB military

30x7
35x5
35x5
35x5
35x4 (left shoulder gave out)

B2. Cable front raises (did a different exercise accidentally)

70x5x5

C1. Face pulls

80x5
70x5
70x5
70x5
70x5

C2. Incline rear delt raise

15x5
10x5
10x5
10x5
10x5

left shoulder is definitely lagging behind the right. I don’t have a good mind-muscle connection in my delts so its something I need to work on.

Diet is still going pretty well and I can start to see some more green lines in my forearms and biceps :).

8

Arms

Biceps

A1. Barbell Curls

70x5
70x5
60x5
60x5
60x5

A2. DB curls

30x5
30x5
25x5
25x5
25x5

B1. Preacher Curls

50x5x5

B2. Hammer Curls

25x5
25x5
25x5
25x5
20x5

Triceps

A1. Weighted dips

25x5
20x5
20x5
20x5
20x3

A2. Decline skull crushers

20x5
20x5
15x5
15x5
15x4

B1. Skull crushers

50x5x5

B2. Rope pull downs

90x5
90x5
90x5
80x5
80x5

Well damn I crushed some weights from last week! Dips weren’t as good but I’m pretty sure its because my shoulders didn’t get an extra day to recover.

Really happy with the workout today. Everything went up. Pretty excited for the rest of this program.

9

My friend and I were talking and bench came up. I bench like a powerlifter with the elbows in and highly arched back. Due to this, my pecs are obviously not hit as hard. As the point of this program is purely hypertrophy, I’ll be flaring my elbows out a bit more, pressing to the neck area, and not arching my back as much. As a result, my bench numbers will obviously go down.

Chest and back morgen.

10

Chest

A1. Elbows flared bench press

155x5
155x5
145x5
145x5
140x4

A2. Flies

30x5
30x5
30x5
25x5
25x5

B1. Incline bench

115x5
115x5
105x6
105x5
105x5

B2. Incline flies

25x5x5

Back

A1. Lat pulldown

150x5x5

A2. One arm rows

45x5
45x5
40x5
40x5
40x5

B1. Bent over rows

135x5x5

B2. cable rows

100x5
100x5
100x5
90x5
90x5

Made use of straps on the bent over one armed rows and on the cable pulls (new handle, ripped hands apart). Pretty good workout as my lifts are going up and I’m seeing an increase in size albeit small. Nothing noticeable to anyone else really though, but hey, its only been a week and a half so I’m not too worried haha.

Off day tomorrow and you know what that means: going to get trashed!..Yeah not really.

GREG: Stop lurking and start logging!

11

Legs today and I feel like movin some fuckin weight! Felt terrible last leg workout so I’m looking for some big increases today. Workout in 2 hours.

12

Legs

A1. Front Squat

115x5x5 +20lbs

A2. Lunges

25x5x5

B1. One leg extensions

BWx5x5

B2. Leg curl

80x5
80x5
80x5
90x5
100x5

C1. Sumo deadlift

205x5x5 +20lbs

C2. Stiff legged deadlift

145x5x5

I felt like absolute shit after the front squat superset. I guess it wasn’t the food that made me sick last time, but the lack of conditioning in my legs.

I couldn’t add weight to the extension because it felt really awkward on my joints so I am just going to try and focus on moving up in weight on the leg curl. Today I was dry heaving over a trash can and felt terrible so the leg curl could have definitely be higher.

I’m up to 183.5lbs now. My partner mentioned that he thought I was leaning out and I’m GAINING weight! That’s exciting.

On a positive note, +20lbs on the front squats and sumos! I feel like total crap = great workout.

13

Shoulder hurts like shit from the front squatting that I’m not use to yet. I don’t think this will do much to my workout but we’ll see. Shoulders in about half an hour.

14

The shoulders were definitely an issue today

Shoudlers

A1. Military Press

115x3
105x4
100x5
100x4
95x4

A2. Incline laterals

25x2
20x4
15x5
15x5
15x5

B1. Alternating DB press

40x5
35x5
35x5
35x5
35x5

B2. Cable front raise (didn’t do last week)

40x5
40x5
40x5
40x4
30x5

C1. Face pulls

90x5 (too heavy)
80x5
80x5
80x5
80x5

C2. incline rear delt laterals

8x5
8x5
5x5
5x5
5x5 (damn these were hard)

Pretty disappointing workout today. Face pulls went up but that’s about it. My front and medial delts were really hurting today from the front squats. This was really weird.

Off day tomorrow.

15

Missed a day due to moving back to school. Will be made up tomorrow morning.

16

Arms

Biceps

A1. Barbell curls

70x5x5

A2. DB curl

30x5
30x5
30x5
25x5
25x5

B1. Preacher curl

55x5x5

B2. Hammer curl

30x5
25x5
25x5
25x4
25x3 (20s were being hogged)

Triceps

A1. Dips

BW+25x5x5

A2. Decline skull crushers

20x5
20x5
20x5
20x5
15x6

B1. Skull crushers

55x5
60x5
60x5
60x5
60x5

B2. Rope pull downs

90x5
90x5
80x5
80x5
70x5

Moved back to my old gym so weights were a little different. Meant to go up to 60lbs on the preacher curls but misread the sign saying how much the bars weighed (thought it was 20, was actually 15).

Some of the supersetted lifts didn’t go up but I don’t really care as long as the main lifts go up, and they all did.

Scale read 187 this morning, 6lbs heavier than when I started. I’m thinking that’s a decent number, maybe a little on the high side but I’m definitely not complaining. Hell, my skull crushers have increased 20lbs in two weeks!

17

Tried to post the pic but its not working. I mentioned before that I looked nearly identical to what I do now but I think that is not true now that I have my desktop. I was slightly more lean and had just a small amount more muscle. This came after my gain of 50lbs then I cut about 10 off.

18

Chest

A1. Bench

155x5
155x5
155x4
155x3
145x5

A2. flies

30x5x5

B1. Incline bench

155x5
115x5
115x5
115x3
115x3

B2. Incline flies

25x5x5

Back

A1. Lat pulldown

170x5
170x5
160x5
160x5
160x5

A2. One arm rows

45x5x5

B1. Bent over rows

135x5x5 (better form than last week)

B2. cable rows

100x5x5

Pretty shitty day for chest even though its ridiculously sore today. Lat pulldown is still jumping up which is good. No straps so my grip was shot by the time I got to bent over rows again so I kept the weight low and used better form.

My clothes are feeling a little tight.

19

Legs

A1. Front squat

125x5x5

A2. Lunges

35x5x5

B1. Reverse hyper (old gym doesn’t have extension)

25x5x5

B2. Leg curl

90x5x5

C1. Sumo deadlift

225x5
225x5
225x5
225x5
225x4 (rest paused after three for 5 seconds)

C2. Stiff leg deadlift

155x4x5

I physically could not pick up the bar after the last set of deadlifts. My lower back was toast for some reason. I couldn’t even bend my back for a few minutes because it was spazzing out so bad. Good workout.

20

Sick again. Before this year, I hadn’t been sick in about a year. Twice in a month? Retarded. Still sick but I’m gonna try and get arms in tonight.