Overhead press
5x65
3x75
85x10 - And up, and up, and up…
Wide-grip OHP
1x10 - 60
1x8:F - 60 (was an idiot and didn’t rest enough)
Standing DB skullcrusher
1x10 - 30
2x10 - 35
DB overhead press
4x10 - 20s
1x5:F - 25s
Farmer’s walk with 85s. I planned on 95s but my grip strength and pure ability to deadlift it are simply not enough. I’ll start using towels with lighter dumbbells to focus on grip strength and wait a couple cycles for my deadlift to increase before accomplishing the goal of doing the farmer’s walk with 100s.
3-second negative pull-ups - Jump, go down slowly. Forearms and biceps pumped.
Deadlift
5x150
3x170
6x190 - Destroyed the previous 5x180. Added 10 lbs and another rep. I promised I’d make up last week’s deadlift disappointment and I did. Not to mention my back was perfectly straight/arched except for those last couple reps in the final set.
Power clean
1x10 - 75
2x10 - 80 - At which point a 12-year old tried it while I was catching my breath and begging him not to. Luckily nothing bad happened.
Bent-over row
1x10 - 70
3x10 - 75
Good morning (dropped suitcase deadlifts, I want to strengthen my lower back to keep safe when squatting/deadlifting)
1x10 - 45
1x10 - 55
1x10 - 65
DB kroc row for each arm (really want to grow that upper back)
1x25 - 30
Farmer’s walk with 60s. Used a layer of towel but it was still really easy. I want to focus on grip strength, and with the heavy DBs it was so much of a strain just to pick them up I didn’t have the energy left to grip the things.
Squat rack was busy and I did a lot of back/bicep movements today so I did not do the negative pull-ups.
Bench press
5x90
3x100
10x110 - Conquered last week’s 10x105. So next cycle I’ll be doing 10 reps with a 35 on each side.
DB bench press
2x10 - 30s
1x5F - 30s
2x10 - 25s - Got easier as I went.
Incline bench press
2x10 - 65
1x10 - 70
2x5F - 70
Farmer’s walk with 85s (no towels + better floor at school gym) Went all the way down and halfway back before I dropped them. After a couple seconds I picked them up and took them back. So that was like 3/4 + 1/4 which beat last time’s 1/2 + 1/2.
3-second descent pull-ups
3x5 - Still dropped myself on some reps.
Squat
5x140
3x160
4x180 - Disappointing. I felt completely fried after this set, even though my legs were not that tired. Luckily next week is deload week, so I can recharge mentally to hit this weight a lot harder the next time I see it.
Front squat
3x10 - 85
1x10 - 90
DB bulgarian squat - occasionally fall off balance with this exercise but I just go right back into the set.
3x10 - 35s
Good morning
3x10 - 65
I replaced calf raises and suitcase deadlifts with this because my lower back has to be strong if I want to keep lifting safely.
3-second pull-up negatives
3x5 - Didn’t drop myself as often as the other days
Farmer’s walk with 85s. Took me 3 tries as opposed to yesterday’s 2.
Overall a disappointment today. Looking forward to giving my body some rest and destroying the next cycle though.
And above is my progression over the course of these past two cycles.
8/27/11 - Saturday
Breakdancing practice. Did 2 windmills in a row with an alright transition, and finished it lying on my side, head on hand. Getting better.
Overhead press
5x45 - Should’ve been 35, but I didn’t want to go running around the gym looking for a 35 lb bar, weighing it, asking other people. So I hope I didn’t over-tax my CNS by using a 45.
5x45
5x55
Wide-grip overhead press
2x5 - 55
Standing DB skull-crusher
1x5 - 30
2x5 - 35
DB overhead press
5x5 - 20s
Clap push-ups
3x5
Instead of doing farmer’s walk, I pushed a prowler the length of my school’s parking lot, loaded with two 25 lb plates.
Cut down on volume by 1/2 by doing sets of 5 instead of 10. This way I focused on destroying 5 easy reps, without grinding. I felt a bit of a mental rush (like a runner’s high, but for lifting) by the end of the push-ups. I also think I read somewhere that cardio like the prowler is good during deloads.
Worked up to a really great routine with air swipes, windmills, an air chair, and a kip-up to finish it. I can do windmills quite well. I will start learning flares.
Prowler loaded with two 35s. Pushed down the parking lot and back. A little distance than last time but I’m keeping it this way so I can have heavier weight. Don’t worry, there will be no further distance decreases at all. It’s just that at the distance I went last time it went onto a different pavement that had more friction, which was a bitch.
Breakdancing practice. I worked on:
Windmills (from a handglide with left hand instead of my usual right)
Getting my kip-ups ALL the way up so I can come up on my feet instead of on my knees (the secret was hip thrust)
Air chairs, both the freeze and the actual movement
A little bit of handstands, and
Helicopters - a basic breakdancing movement that will teach me how to swing one leg around so I can move up to flares, where I need to move two legs around.
That’s 2 cycles down, 10 more to go. Slow and steady, I can do it.
Additionally: Ramadan is over, and it has proven to me that nutrient timing is a load of balogne, at least for someone at my level. I can gain strength with one massive meal a day, without any ‘metabolic highs and lows’. All that’s really important is daily totals. I then had an argument with someone at school who was eating six meals a day. He was citing university studies, while I was citing my increases in PRs in compound lifts during Ramadan. Good shit.
So I’ve condensed my meal setup into breakfast, lunch, post-WO/snack, dinner, and bedtime.
Wait, that’s still five meals.
Oh well.
Weight: 141 (down by 1.5)
Waist: 28 7/8" (down by 1 1/8")*
Chest: 35 5/8" (down by 3/8")*
*Definitely due to the lack of bloating from water/gas/food that I used to have from eating so much in one sitting during Ramadan. Though I do find it pretty cool that my waist fell below 29". My chest is larger now than it was when Ramadan started, so I’m not offended by the loss of 3/8" from last week’s 36" because it was probably just bloat/water retention or whatever. We will see next week!
Found out the probable reason for the slim measurements of 9/4/11. The week before 9/4/11 I ate only 3/4 c. oats as snack/post-WO meal, instead of the 1 c. that I was supposed to (by accident). The result? A shitty start to cycle 3.
Had to do this workout at home because the gym was closed for Labor day (Seriously? LABOR day?)
Overhead press
5x60
5x70
8x80 - ‘Dammit’ is an understatement. Previous record was 10x85.
Wide-grip OHP - Couldn’t do DB OHP so did an extra 5x10 of this.
2x10 - 60
1x7:F - 60
3x10 - 50
1x9:F - 50
BB tricep extension - No DBs, used a BB.
3x10 - 35
Pull-ups - Stood on the bench, grabbed something hanging from the ceiling of my basement and jumped up using my back and biceps to assist.
3x5
Better luck next time. I won’t fuck up like this again.
I learned an important lesson yesterday and applied it today with stellar results - I can’t pace myself through a workout. In order to really get myself revved up for the final record-breaking set I have to give every rep everything I have. This gave me an intense mental rush that helped me do extremely well (in my opinion :p) on the last set of this workout.
Deadlift
5x135
5x155
10x175 - 1750 pounds of work in this set; previous record for lbs lifted in a set was 1190. I understand this isn’t everything because I could’ve lifted 100 lbs 25 times easily. However, comparing this to my previous records of 7x170 and 6x190, I am very happy.
Power clean
3x10 - 80
Bent-over row
4x10 - 75
DB ‘Kroc’ row
1x25 - 35
Good morning
2x10 - 65
1x10 - 70
Lat pull-down (smith machine was busy and this is probably better than negative pull-ups anyways)
1x5 - 80
2x5 - 90
But that’s not all! I plan on breaking it down at the homecoming dance, so I have four weeks to learn some new moves:
One-leg air swipes
From footwork - 10x1
From floor - 10x1
Handstand
Kick-ups into handstand - 5x5
Wall-handstand (let feet hang over forward without losing balance) - 2x1. I wanted to do five but it started to hurt my wrists.
Full-out breakdancing session today. Windmills, air swipes (one-legged), air chairs, kip-ups, handstands, (got one or two for a couple seconds), and even some flare practice.
I feel like I could do with more food, like a banana along with my post-wo meal/snack, but I don’t know. If I lose weight this week from the increase in calorie output from breakdance practice then I’ll add in some more carbs.
This workout was even more amazing than deadlift day. I felt absolutely unstoppable both today and deadlift day. It’s strange I did so poorly on overhead press day yet I absolutely destroyed two personal records right after it.
Bench press
5x80
5x90
14x105 - That shattered the previous 10x105. I was absolutely amazed. Looking forward to next week’s meeting with 110, and the week after that I get to put a 35 on each side.
DB bench press
2x10 - 25s
3x10 - 30s
Incline BP
2x10 - 65
3x10 - 70
3-second descent pull-ups
3x5
Breakdancing
1-leg air swipes
Handstand practice - Balance is lasting noticeably longer.
Windmills - A few
Air swipe/windmill alternation - I want to be able to alternate between the two but it’s proving to be pretty difficult. I should’ve focused on flares instead though. I totally forgot about them today.
Squat
5x130
5x150
8x170 - Beat previous 6x170 and all the records before it. I feel a little too beat up to really appreciate it.
Front squat
2x10 - 85
2x10 - 90
Bulgarian squat
2x10 - 35s
1x10 - 40s
Good morning
1x10 - 65
2x10 - 70
Lat pull-down
3x5 - 90
Breakdancing
Handstands - Balance is even better than yesterday. I kept my feet off the ground for three seconds (I started falling a little sooner). I’m going to hit that goal tomorrow.
Kip-ups - I found out how to land on my feet instead of my knees, which have been starting to bruise due to landing on them.
Left-hand chair freeze - I ‘meditated’ in this position for 30 seconds or so a couple times.
Left-hand windmills - I walked myself around slowly on to my back.
This workout was perfect. I got stronger in every single exercise and my breakdancing practice went well. Though like I said, I feel a little too beat up to really appreciate it. The awesomeness will kick in Saturday morning, I assume.
I’ve been meaning to eventually show you all at least a brief glimpse of what I can do, so you can watch this very poor resolution cellphone video that a friend of mine took. I’m not actually that fast. I don’t know why it’s like that.
9/11/11 - Sunday
Man, when I break that overhead press PR tomorrow I’m going to be happier than Asian V-Diet man.
Here’s what I ate for the day, as well(for those curious) Just a biiiiit more than usual because my mom decided to cook up spaghetti for dinner, and I eat what she serves (with a smile) or I don’t eat anything. I took some other carbs out from the day to ‘counter-balance’ it. I find that since I have three medjool dates in my midnight snack, if I get rid of them, I have 54g carbs to ‘spend’ on other stuff if social/parent situation forces it. I know dates are not the same as spaghetti, but it’s better than putting 370g total day’s carbs down the gullet of a 140-lber on a rest day.
