Arms:
Reverse Grip Bench Press (Smith)
90x12
130x10
150x8
Skull crushers (EZ curl bar)
70x10
80x8
85x6
Preachers (pulley)
50x10
75x10
112.5x9
BB Curl
45x10
65x10
Pinwheel curls
27.5x8
Christ my arms are weak.
Chest, Back, and calves:
Flat DB Bench
50x10
60x10
70x10
85x10 (finally)
T-bar row machine
45x10
70x10
90x8
HS Incline Press
90x10
140x10
Drop set of 180x9, 90x8
HS Row
125x10
145x10
175x9
Seated Calf Raises
70x12
80x12
80x12
Shoulders:
Seated Overhead DB Press
35x10
45x10
55x9
DB Side laterals
17.5x12
17.5x12
17.5x10
Machine Laterals
50x10
65x10
85x11
Rear Delt Machine
90x12
110x12
135x10
Incline treadmill walking
Only one rep improvement in DB presses today, but the weight felt lighter, if that makes sense. Almost had that 10th rep.
Well, we got a crapload of snow dumped on us last night, so the gym is closed. Thus, no arm workout today.
I’m headed away for the holidays for 2 weeks starting tomorrow, so I’ll be doing what I can without access to a gym. I’m going to try to get a few workouts in at a local high school, but we’ll see.
Alright, I’m back after a long holiday break. I wasn’t able to get to the gym at all over the past few weeks, but I did do what I could at home with some bodyweight exercises, etc. I’m sure there will be a pretty big drop-off in strength, but I hope I can make it up in a few weeks.
Today’s workout - arms:
Dips
BWx8
25x8
25x12
Skullcrushers
70x8
70x8
80x5
Wide Grip Curls (Preacher bar)
40x10
60x10
60x10
Spider Curls
40x6
30x8
30x10
Seated Calf Raise
70x10
70x10
70x10
Then hit the treadmill for about 20 minutes.
My weight is definitely up from the holidays, but not in a good way. Time to shed it off.
Shoulders today:
Seated DB overhead press
35x10
45x10
55x7
DB Side laterals
17.5x12
17.5x11
17.5x7
Machine laterals
50x10
65x10
80x8
Rear Delt Machine
90x10
110x10
130x10
DB Shrugs
65x12
75x12
Then hit the stairmaster for 20 minutes. I feel like a crapass on the stairmaster, but the new year’s resolution crew made it certain that I wasn’t getting a treadmill. It’s a good workout on there anyway.
Definite drop off in strength over the holidays. The good news is that I don’t think I really lost much muscle mass over the holidays, and I’ve already shed a decent amount of weight in a little less than a week. By the end of next week, my weight should be where it was before the holidays.
In a lot of ways I know that this cut is hurting my longterm gains, but like I wrote before, this is a marathon, not a sprint. I am not happy about my current level of body fat. No, this isn’t a “OMG I can’t see my abs” rationalization. I have a lot around the midsection and back to shed off.
I put myself in this position because I took my bulk too far in the other direction. This is trial and error. Some people need to eat like crazy to gain. Others don’t. I don’t.
I was gaining fine on 3000 calories per day, likely because I’m seated in an office for almost every waking hour, but I got greedy and thought I’d see quicker gains with more calories. All that did was put more fat on. I probably could get away with the added calories if I was more consistent with my cardio, but I’m not.
So, the first step is back to pre-holiday weight. Then I’m continuuing the cut and maintaining that weight for a few weeks before gaining again.
In other news, my hip flexor is feeling okay, but not great. This thing is the bane of my existence right now. At this point, I’m convinced that this isn’t a real injury, and more the result of a mobility/tightness issue.
I’ve been foam rolling and stretching recently and that seems to be helping. Legs will be added as soon as I can.
Chest and Back were done yesterday. Didn’t have time to update til today:
Incline DB Press
45x10
55x10
65x10
75x7
HS Decline Press
90x10
140x10
180x10
T-Bar apparatus row (magnum thing)
45x10
70x10
90x6
Close grip (v-handle) pulldowns
96x10
108x10
120x8
I’m putting inclines first in my chest routine now to emphasize upper chest. I’ve never seen someone with an upper chest that was unproportionately large compared to the rest of their chest, and mine seems to be lagging behind a little. I put in the decline HS press instead of the normal one, but I’m not sure I like it all that much. I do like it better than the flat HS machine. I usually put in a HS machine because doing two dumbbell presses feels repetitive.
Not too much strength seems to have been lost on back, but maybe a little.
Shoulders and Calves today:
Seated DB overhead press:
35x10
45x10
55x9
DB Side laterals:
17.5x12
17.5x11
17.5x9
Machine Laterals:
50x10
65x10
80x11
Rear delt machine:
90x10
110x10
135x9
Standing calf raise:
90x12
135x10
135x10
Then hit the treadmill for 15-20 minutes.
Bodyweight is noticeably down this week, but I haven’t weighed since last week. I probably will sometime at the end of this week. Was happy to see the numbers go up for shoulders today - pretty close to what they were pre-holidays.
Chest and Triceps this morning:
Incline DB Bench
45x10
55x10
65x10
75x7
HS Decline Press
90x10
140x10
180x12
Incline DB Flies
20x12
25x12
30x10
Skullcrushers
70x8
80x8
80x6
Dips
BWx7
BWx7
BWx7
Then hit the treadmill for 20 minutes of running.
Disappointed to not increase on incline presses today, but I did get a few more reps on the HS decline. By the time I hit dips, my chest and tris were fried. I’m normally able to knock out 7 to 10 reps with 45 pounds attached, so that was humbling. That’s normally why I don’t like hitting triceps after chest - they are already fatigued to the point where I can’t use similar weights as when I hit them fresh. But, this week was a strange week scheduling-wise so I put them together.
Tomorrow is Back and Bi’s (hate that pairing too usually for same reason). Might hit legs next weekend. Foam rolling has seemed to help.
Back and Biceps this morning:
T-bar row apparatus
45x10
70x10
90x7
Close grip (v-handle) pulldowns
96x10
108x10
120x11
Preacher curls (pulley)
50x10
75x10
100x6
Spider curls (ez curl bar)
30x10
40x8
40x7
15 minutes running on treadmill
The fact that I only got 6 reps on preachers on the last set is evidence that doing back work does fatigue my biceps more than I’d like. I’m not one of those guys that has to worry about my biceps taking over on back work (hence the reason my back is fairly big and my arms are twigs), but it’s still enough where I’m convinced that separating back and bis (and chest and tris similarly) is in my best interest.
Shoulders this morning:
DB overhead press
35x10
45x10
55x10
60x5
DB side laterals
17.5x12
17.5x12
17.5x11
Machine Laterals
50x10
65x10
85x9
Face pulls
70x10
80x10
90x10
Then hit the treadmill for 20 minutes of running.
Felt pretty good today. 55’s were noticeably easier on overhead presses, so I went up to the 60’s to see how many reps I could get.
Weight isn’t coming off as fast as I’d like, but my waist measurement is the same as it was before the holidays now, which means it took me 2 weeks to lose the weight I gained over the 2 weeks of holidays, so that’s not bad.
I’ve been exclusively low carbing it with the exception of post-workout (Surge) and the occasional cheat on the weekend. My energy feels much more stable this way, and so far I really haven’t felt many adverse effects in the gym. The one thing I have noticed is poor muscular endurance when I do biceps training. I can’t seem to grind out those last few reps like I’m used to. With every other body part, though, things seem to be the same, which is good.
Haven’t had a chance to update til now. Did arms this morning:
Close grip bench (smith machine counted as 0 lbs)
90x12
130x10
140x6
Skullcrushers
70x8
80x8
80x7
BB Curl
45x10
65x8
75x8
Spider curls (w/ EZ curl bar)
30x10
40x8
40x10
Legs this morning. Keep in mind that this is my first leg workout in months because of my hip flexor thing, so I kept things nice and light (warmup sets for the most part)
Back Squat
95x5
135x5
Leg Press
2 plates a side x 10
3x10
4x10
Calf raises (on leg press)
3 plates a side x 12
3x12
Leg Curls
90x8
110x8
130x8
This hip flexor thing is really starting to piss me off. I’ve been doing body weight squats for a few weeks now without pain. Been foam rolling and stretching a lot. I get in there, and 95 freakin pounds is enough to cause some discomfort, despite doing some mobility drills and warmup beforehand. I did one more set of 135, and same thing.
If anyone reading this out there wants to comment/provide advice on this, it would be much appreciated. The discomfort hits when I’m at the bottom of the hole and feels like my hip flexor is getting crunched. It feels a lot like when I first started squatting, and I just needed more warmup, except this is much more severe.
At this point I’m willing to work through it because I don’t know what else to do. I’ll keep foam rolling and stretching, and I’ll see what happens.
Chest and back this morning:
Incline DB Press
45x10
55x10
65x10
75x8
T-bar row (magnum apparatus)
45x10
70x10
90x7
HS Decline press
90x12
140x10
190x13
Close grip (v-handle) pulldowns
96x10
108x10
132x8
Then hit the treadmill for 15 minutes of running.
One rep increase on incline press, big increase on decline press, t-bar rows stayed the same, and a bump in weight on close grip pulldowns.
Shoulders this morning:
Seated overhead DB press
35x10
45x10
60x7
DB side laterals
17.5x12
17.5x12
17.5x11
Machine laterals
50x10
65x10
85x11
Rear delt machine
90x10
110x10
135x10
Wanted to add either shrugs or calves but there was an exercise class (I lift at a university gym) that was practically taking up half the gym so that the teacher (who is about 6’3 and maybe 140 lbs) could teach the class how to squat. It was laughable. Unfortunately I couldn’t break through the mass of people that was the class, though.
My weight hasn’t changed for 2 weeks but my waist size has dropped. Good sign. I’m feeling completely fine energy-wise with zero carb (with the exception of Surge post-WO).
Arms this morning:
Dips
BWx10
25x8
One set of 25x8, BWx10
This happened because I dropped the 25lb dumbbell accidentally from my feet, so I just finished the set w/ BW. I had to use dumbbells today because the gym’s dip belt was broken.
Skullcrushers (w/ EZ curl bar)
70x8
80x8
80x6 (crap)
Preacher curls (pulley)
50x10
72.5x10
112.5x8
Spider curls (w/ EZ curl bar)
30x10
40x8
40x10 - gotta increase here next week
Okay workout - nothing stellar here. My arms seem to be the one workout where I actually “feel” the low carb thing having an effect, for whatever reason. The first 6 or so reps feel great and then I just hit a wall. I think that’s strange given how these are “isolation” movements or whatever, but that’s how it feels to me anyway.
Legs this morning. Not really an all out workout yet - still getting back into the swing of things with legs, but more intense than last week:
Back Squat
95x5
135x5
175x5
Leg Press
2 plates a side x 10
3x10
4x14
Lying ham curls
90x8
110x8
140x8
Standing calf raises
90x12
135x10
145x9
Hip flexor hurts right now. Resting it doesn’t seem to help, so I’m just going to work through it, and keep foam rolling and stretching. Don’t really know what else to do. I don’t really feel like it interferes with anything directly except squats. I can still do them, it just seems to put a cap on the heavier sets.
Down a few pounds to 186 this week and my waist measurements dropped more. Arm measurements are up about a half inch from pre-holidays and my chest measurement is up almost 2 inches from October. I wish the rest of my body grew like my chest and back. As you can see, I’ve been doing very little volume for chest and back (usually 2 exercises for each chest and back on the same day, ramping weights up to one set to failure), but it’s working.
Chest and back this morning:
Incline DB bench
45x10
55x10
65x10
75x9
T-bar row apparatus
45x10
70x10
90x7
HS Decline Press
90x10
140x10
200x12
Close grip (v-handle) pulldowns
96x10
108x10
132x9
Shoulders this morning:
Seated overhead DB press
35x10
45x10
60x8
DB side laterals
17.5x12
17.5x12
17.5x12
Machine laterals
50x10
70x10
90x9
Rear delt machine
90x10
110x10
140x8
1 rep increase on overheads, 1 rep increase on db laterals, and weight increases on machine laterals and rear delts.
Weight is the same as last week. Superbowl interfered a little bit, haha.
Legs this morning:
Back squat
95x5
135x5
185x5
135x8
Leg press
2 plates per side x 10
3x10
4x10
4 and a quarter x 14
Leg press calf raises
3 plates a side x 10
3x10
Standing calf raises
135x12
135x12
Lying ham curl
90x8
110x8
145x7