Welcome, as you have guessed this is my log. My struggles and gains and any personal achievements I want to share. I’m still kind of new to this, but have just finished the 10k Kettle Bell challenge. I’m starting a fresh here to keep a log of my general gym work and any new routines etc I decide to do.
A little about me. My name is Gavin, I’m 25 from the UK and have been training around 14-15 months. My strength has increased considerably since starting. But I don’t seem to be shifting much weight. Only now am I really getting a better understanding of macros and trying to apply them to my diet.
I’m 5’8" or 17 cm
Current weight is around 95 kg or 210 lbs
Current lifting weight:
Bench : 106 kg or 233 lbs
Dead lift : 180 kg or 396 lbs
Back squat : 140 kg or 330 lbs
Front squat : 120 kg or 264 lbs
OHP : 70 kg or 154
My goals currently at this stage are to trim up. And burn fat whilst maintaining as much strength as possible. I’m not trying to get “ripped”. My training mostly consists of lifting, with some circuit work and as of today I’m starting to incorporate some sprints at the end of my workouts.Starting with 3 times a week. Nothing fancy just 10 x 2-300 meter sprints.
I’ll try and update this as much as possible with the occasional photo thrown in.
So here is my first day of my nice new log.
My diet today has been on point. I went over my carbs by about 8 grams, but my protein and fat were under buy a little. I must admit though, I am struggling to think of high protein but low carb meals that are quick and easy to make. Still must keep at it if I want to shift any weight.
My training today was simple. I went in about an hour earlier than normal. I spent around 20 minutes really stretching my hips and legs then around 5 mins or so just loosening up my shoulders. Today was all about the squat.
I haven’t really had a good squat session for a while so thought I would do some higher volume work. My squats consisted of 3 warm up sets of 5-8 reps before doing 10 sets at 80% of my max which worked out at 114 kg or 251 lbs. I worked at a stead pace with no more than two minutes between sets.
60 kg x 8 reps
90 kg x 5 reps
114 kg x 3 reps
114 kg x 3 reps
114 kg x 3 reps
114 kg x 3 reps
114 kg x 3 reps
114 kg x 3 reps
114 kg x 3 reps
114 kg x 3 reps
114 kg x 3 reps
114 kg x 3 reps
Next up was something that is beginning to become a favorite of mine. The OHP!
Time was getting against me by now as I needed to get going so I did 2 warm up sets and then 5 sets of again 80% of my 1RM which worked out as 56 kg or 123 lbs.
40 kg x 5 reps
50 kg x 5 reps
56 kg x 5 reps
56 kg x 5 reps
56 kg x 5 reps
56 kg x 5 reps
56 kg x 5 reps
So that was it today, nice and simple.
23/10/14
Today was all about the triceps. I recently tried maxing my bench. And although it went up by 6 kg I wasn’t happy. I know I’ve got 110 in me. But taking a long hard look I’ve narrowed my weakness down to my weak ass triceps.
Training today was a later one. 2 and a half hours later than usual. I had already eaten and could feel the difference.
I got to the gym about 10 minutes before my mate who I train with, so I utilized this time stretching. When he did show up we jumped straight in to it with 3 sets of 10 close grip bench. After that we head on to some regular bench press again for 3 sets of 10.
Third was a triceps extention and press pyramid. We kept.this fairly light as it was 60 reps total per set and for 3 sets the triceps were on fire. After this we did some decline to incline plyo pushups.
We did a few more arm routines with some pull ups and single arm rows before moving away from the weights.
We ended the night with 5 x 200m sprints just to get the heart rate right up.
24/10/14
I’ve been pretty bust today so didn’t have a whole lot of time down the gym. I did how over do a circuit with a friend.
Total of 750 reps. They included all sorts from push ups right to strict military dumbbell press.
I know its not much to say but iv’e got so much work to catch up on. Will update more tomorrow!
25/10/14
Today was all about the dead lifts baby!!
Started off by really mobilizing my legs and hips. Just general stretching and using a bad to open up my hips.
So as mentioned today was mainly dead lifts.
60 kg x 10
100 kg x 5
140 kg x 5
160 kg x 3
160 kg x 3
160 kg x 3
170 kg x 2
170 kg x 2
I felt really strong today, but I think that the pre workout and eating an hour before helped.
Next up were 5 x 70 yard farmers walks. For these I just used 45 kg plates. So total of 90 kg. And just to finish of the work out I did 1000m row on the rowing machine.
When I got home I decided to take my dogs out for a walk. We were out for a little over an hour and walked around 3 miles.
I think I will probably take tomorrow off as I have been down every day this week. Clocks go back tonight so so an extra hour in bed. Gotta get the rest if I want them gains!
27/10/14
I’m livid. Suck a crap mood now. I’ve been training hard lately, and after doing the 10k kettle bell work out I’ve been looking forward to maxing my back squat. If I’m honest I know it’s my own fault. I went down Saturday and done some relativity heavy dead lift’s and today my back has been so tight. I spend a good 15 minutes stretching, doing good morning’s and kettle bell swings, and by the time we started it felt a little better.
But how wrong was I. Started at 60 kg and worked up to 120 kg and that felt fine. By the time I got to my current PR, I sucked bad. I struggled like hell. But still wanted to go up, so I loaded an extra 4 kg on and failed. Twice!! I’m so pissed off as I know I have 150 fairly easy. Now I feel like I’m going nowhere. Training for nothing.
I think it’s time to start another program…
Anyway. now my I’ve finished throwing my toy’s out of my pram I’ll move on. All this month on a Monday and Tuesday I’ve been training with a friend of mine and for all of October we have been doing “10 For October”. Basically every exercise we do must be 10 reps. Starting at 5 sets, dropping a set each exercise until we have 2 set’s. All work must be done on at least 70% of our max.
As you can guess all momentum dropped completely after failing my squats. I had to drop 10 kg off my OHP which just wound me up even more.
Tonight sucked…
Barbell Squat
60 kg x 5 reps
80 kg x 5 reps
100 kg x 1 reps
120 kg x 1 reps
140 kg x 1 reps
Bent Over Barbell Row
50 kg x 10 reps
50 kg x 10 reps
50 kg x 10 reps
Barbell Bench Press
70 kg x 10 reps
70 kg x 10 reps
70 kg x 10 reps
70 kg x 10 reps
70 kg x 10 reps
Standing Barbell Shoulder Press (OHP)
54 kg x 6 reps
44 kg x 4 reps
44 kg x 10 reps
44 kg x 10 reps
44 kg x 10 reps
