No Pain No Gain

Training Logs
21

11/30: Deadlift/Back

Gonna try HPM next week, for the simple reason that I designed my current split, CT designed that program, and CT knows a lot more than I do about making programs. For now, I’m finishing the week on my split and trying to figure my 3RMs on the pertinent exercises.

Deadlifts:
185 x 3
205 x 3
225 x 3
245 x 3
265 x 3
285 x 3

I stopped here because my back was doing all the work. I simply can’t get in the proper position without scraping the shit out of my shins. I’m gonna switch to either sumo deads or trap bar deads.

Pullups
bw x 6, 5, 5, 5, 4

Chest-supported T-Bar Row
75 x 8, 7, 6, 70 x 6

HS Iso Lat Pulldown Machine
70 x 11, 10, 9

Face Pulls
25 x 10, 8, 7

Row machine
90lbs x max reps (15ish)

22

12/1 Update:

Have definitely decided to start CT’s new program next week, for the reason in my previous post.

Went for a 3RM on Incline Bench today, got 175 and was afraid to go higher with no spotter. I don’t think I would’ve gotten even 180… and +/- 5lbs on my 3RM isn’t going to change my starting point much anyway. Certainly won’t make a difference on the long road of progression.

Activation: Push Press
bar x 10
95 x 3
95 x 3
95 x 3
105 x 3
105 x 3

Incline Bench
95 x 3
135 x 3
145 x 3
155 x 3
165 x 3
175 x 3

Since this was a deviation from my normal split, I just did whatever I felt like for the rest of the day.

Tested myself on flat DBs - worked up to 95x4 for two sets.

EZBar Curls
70 x 11, 9, 8

Hammer Curls
25 x 8, 7, 7

Lateral Raise
25 x 8
20 x 7

…supersetted with Front Raise
25 x 7
20 x 7

Abzzzzz
Weighted Crunches & hanging leg raise circuit - done 2-3 times. First time targeting abz directly in a while. Laughed when I realized I basically did a chest/abs/bi day. Probably first time in my life I’ve done that on the same day, I’m such a mirror whore.

Testing Front Squats tomorrow. Will prob max at 245 but going to ramp in bigger jumps to see if there’s a difference.

23

Decided to skip front squats since I have a good idea of my 3RM, and test for trap bar DL since I’m scrapping regular deads from my routine. I’m not built for them… I either bend too far over and overload my lower back, or I scrape the shit out of my entire shin.

Activation: Power Snatch
55 x 3
65 x 3
75 x 3
75 x 3
75 x 3

Trap Bar DL
(feeler set) 135x3
155 x 3
175 x 3
195 x 3
215 x 3
225 x 3
245 x 3
265 x 3
275 x 3
285 x 3
295 x 3
305 x 1… 3RM = 295

RDLs
(warmup) 135 x 8
205 x 8
205 x 7
205 x 6

Leg Extensions
140 x 10, 9, 7

…supersetted with
Lying Hamstring Curls
135 x 8, 7, 5

One-leg Leg Press
1pps x max reps (12-15ish)

Reverse Pushup
bw x 9, 9, 8

Machine Row
80 x max reps (15ish)

24

12/3: Shoulders/Chest/Tri

Well, my lower back was sore as shit from DLs/RDLs/snatches… don’t know why I didn’t expect that. The RDLs even felt a bit much but my ego wouldn’t let me stop.

warmed up with some light weight reps on HS OHP Machine

Standing Military Press
85 x 3
95 x 3
105 x 3
115 x 3
125 x 3
135 x 3
145 x 3

Back was not helping me…not sure how high I could’ve gone if I could stand up straight…mighta PRd at 155.

High Incline DB Press
65 x 6, 6, 5, 5, 4

Lateral Raises
25 x 7, 6, 6

Felt good, didn’t want to do shrugs/calves as I’m trying for some heavy snatches tomorrow. So I benched…didn’t get far though with shoulders being pretty pre-fatigued.

Bench Press
135 x 3
155 x 3
175 x 3
195 x 3
205 x 3
215 x 3

Machine Lateral Raise
135 x 6
130 x 7

Rope Tri Pulldown
55 x 9, 8, 8

25

12/6:

Not much over the weekend, other than a few neural charge workouts with the fine women of DC. I was too tired/hungover to get to the gym on Saturday, when I planned on going for a 3RM on the Power Snatch.

Today was the first day of CT’s High Performance Mass training. Felt pretty good.

Standing Military Press
(3 reps per set)
65, 85, 95, 105, 115, 125, 115, 120, 125, 115

…supersetted with Smith Machine Shrugs
225 x 10
235 x 9
245 x 8, 7

Incline BB Press
(3 reps per set)
125, 135, 145, 155, 145, 150, 155

…supersetted with Reverse Flys on Pec Deck
130 x 12
145 x 7
135 x 8, 7

Bench Press (3 reps per set)
155, 165, 175, 185, 175, 180, 185, 175

…superset with Reverse Pushups (supinated grip)
bw x 10, 10, 9, 8

Trap Bar Deadlift (sets of 3)
135, 155, 175, 195, 215, 235, 215, 225, 235, 215

It’s a bitch to load that gdamn trap bar. I might try out Sumo Deads tomorrow.

26

This might be my last post… this thing feels like a chore and I’m pretty good at keeping myself accountable anyway.

Yesterday my training looked almost identical to monday 12/6. I threw in some DB lateral raises at the end, and substituted Front Squats for Trap Bar DLs (working up to 195).

Today I did a neural charge workout and some abs work. I hate directly working my abs and they have no definition as a result, so it’s time to change that.

27

Update time. Why not?

Brief summary: When I started this log, I had dieted down to 180 from 210 and looked horrible (no sign of abs, and wasn’t fat to begin with). Not to repeat myself but it’s relevant to my recent progress. Which is to say, my lack of belief in the “set point” idea hindered me for a while. I shot up to about 202-203 on 3600 calories/day. I was stuck there for 2-3 months trying to figure out why I wasn’t gaining after I upped my calories to 3800…and 4000… and higher. I rationalized by saying it was my spotty weekend food intake (which may have had SOME truth to it but it was a cop out).

It changed when I had a friend convince me to start a daily weight log. I have a goal of 230lbs by my bday (sept 6), which would represent a 1lb/week gain. As soon as I wrote down my first day’s weight I knew I would need to add food. It’s funny; I always said I didn’t care about a little fat gain on a bulk, but my actions were contradicting those words. It wasn’t till I switched from the mindset of “don’t want to go over my daily cal target” to “don’t want to go UNDER my daily cal target” that I started seeing progress.

Since then, I have gained pretty close to 1lb/week and am up to 212-213 now. My lifts have gone up by a good amount since I started this log. Bumps in progress are inevitable for anyone, and the answer is almost always more food.

CURRENT NUTRITION:
4300-4400 cals/day, 400 g protein, 350g carbs, 140g fat (training days)
3800 calories, 400 g protein, 180 g fat, 75-200g carbs depending on cheats (non-trainig days)

CURRENT TRAINING:
Push/Pull/Legs split, training 5-6 days a week (each muscle group hit every 3-4 days).

Every push day has Standing OHP and Bench, plus a 3rd pressing movement (either incline bench or dips). Accessory work is some form of shrugs and lateral delt movement, plus a tri isolation movement if I didn’t do dips.

Pull days: rotate T-bar rows with Pendlay Rows as my main lift. Various exercises, lots of supersets, make sure to get rear delts and biceps on this day as well.

Legs: Have been battling knee pain on squats, which blows. I would really like to get this fixed. As of now, I deadlift every Legs day, follow it up with either step ups or iso leg press, and some hip extension/leg curl/leg extension exercises. If I did step ups after DLs, I will do a set or two of high rep leg press (25ish reps).

I took some recent vids of maximal and near-maximal attempts, to be posted in a hot minute.

PRs:
DEADLIFT: 365x3 (vid of 355x3)
Standing OHP: 170x3 (vid)
Bench Press: 255x3 (vid)

28

3264×2448 1.66 MB

A pic of a random sunday cooking session: 1.5lbs in steaks, 4 12oz burgers, 5 drumsticks, 8oz swordfish steak, plus a 2.5lb pork tenderloin that was in the oven

29

3264×2448 1.84 MB

Ladies: He loves the gym and cooks&cleans too!

30

Standing OHP 170x3

31

DL 355x3

32

Testing to see if youtube will embed a video if it’s private

Edit: BTW this is Bench Press 255x3

33

[quote]scj119 wrote:
From yesterday[/quote]

Hey, was reading your log and stuff…Watched your deadlifting videos and think that you oughtta try to focus on your form more than the weights, the way you are doing it could cause serious injury, especially when your back is rounded like yours was. But keep up the good work and it’ll all come to ya

34

[quote]Hintonshawn88 wrote:

[quote]scj119 wrote:
From yesterday[/quote]

Hey, was reading your log and stuff…Watched your deadlifting videos and think that you oughtta try to focus on your form more than the weights, the way you are doing it could cause serious injury, especially when your back is rounded like yours was. But keep up the good work and it’ll all come to ya[/quote]

Interesting, I felt like I was retracting my scapula right as I was picking the weight up, but I’ll keep that in mind with future maximal attempts.

FYI, I only go for a max on each lift maybe once every 6 weeks - I don’t go to failure so I can train more frequently.

35

Ya, there are very good deadlifting articles on proper form on tnation, just take a quick peak out at them…I always used to think that I was doing deads correctly too until I actually started reading those articles then paying attention to how I was actually doing them, definitely helped out

36

Good to see you keeping a log in here. I didn’t know you posted outside the NBA thread lol. Good luck on the training and hitting those goals.

37

[quote]sam_sneed wrote:
Good to see you keeping a log in here. I didn’t know you posted outside the NBA thread lol. Good luck on the training and hitting those goals.[/quote]

Yeah, I haven’t decided if it’s worth updating every day, or just to do an occasional progress update. But it’s here.

38

GOALS:

Short term (end of year): 290x3 Bench (+35lb), 190x3 OHP (+20lb), 405lb deadlift (+40lb), top bodyweight of 240lb
Long term (no set time point yet): Compete in a PL competition, 315x3 Bench, 200x3 OHP, hit a lean 220lb, take over the world.

Whether or not I continue to update this daily, there is now a record of me saying this. I feel like I should update more frequently though, just so people realize I don’t come to this site solely to post on sports threads in GAL.

LEGS (5/24)
A) Front Squats (first time squatting in a while, testing my knee)
135 x 3
155 x 3
175 x 3 - something bad happened on the way up here. My knee and lower back did something weird and it was kinda painful. I felt much better on the first 2 sets than when I normally squat, so I’m not sure what happened. Increased stretching and warming up did help. I think I just got sloppy on the form because of the relatively light weight, my mind wandered a bit. Called the exercise here.

B) Deads
135 x 5
225 x 5
275 x 5
285 x 5
295 x 4
305 x 4
315 x 2 (grip gave out)
325 x 3 (straps)
275 x 6

C1) Leg Extensions
150 x 7, 6, 5

C2) Lying Leg Curls
130 x 8, 8, 7

D) Leg Press to failure
3.5pps x 25-30ish

E1) Machine Crunches
110 x 8, 7, 6, 6

E2) Hanging Leg Raise
8, 7, 7, 6

39

Hey, so apparently you shouldn’t deadlift for 9 sets after you wrench your back squatting. It felt tight instead of painful after I did it, so I stupidly kept going at it. 6 days of not working out (and a $400 chiro visit) later, I have learned my ego lesson.

It was a bit sore today, so I treaded carefully and listened to my body.

On the plus side, my buddy’s girlfriend (who I see frequently) commented on the size of my shoulders last weekend. Also I’m starting to get asked more often what supplements I use. I know I’m progressing but third party data is nice.

Slowly got back into it today:
A) Seated Overhead BB Press
95 x 3
115 x 3
135 x 3
145 x 3
150 x 3

B) Bench
155 x 3
175 x 3
185 x 3
195 x 3
205 x 3
210 x 3
215 x 3
185 x 7

C) Dips
bw x 5
(bw 45) x 5
75 x 5
85 x 2

D1) DB Shrugs
85 x 10, 9, 7

D2) Lateral Raises
30 x 6, 6, 6

40

Double update: I think I pinched a nerve when I hurt my back as well - I have some pain/numbness in my left asscheck and down the back of my left leg. It’s happened once before and it’ll go away. Anyway, I am definitely being cautious but so far it has not hindered me much in the gym since I’ve returned.

My bodyweight is down about 5-6 pounds from my 6 days off. The first day I was sick and not hungry, the next two my back was so fucked I literally couldn’t get out of bed to go make myself food. Then I had friends in town. Yada yada yada… I’m sure I’ll be back to 211-212 and further in no time, but I hated being out of the gym. Think it’s the first time I’ve missed 6 straight days in several years.

Tuesday:
Had to change some exercises because inexplicably half the shit I wanted to use was taken despite there being like 3 people in the gym
Main Exercise: Worked up to 135x5 on tbar rows… supersetted with reverse pushups (4 sets)
one-arm DB rows (elbows in)… I think 65lbs for 8ish reps, 3 sets
Chest-Supported Wide Grip T-Bar - basically the same movement pattern as reverse pushups but there was a middle aged chick taking the vertical pulling station for literally a half hour. Hadn’t done these in a month or so and hit a PR by 10lbs (90lbs x 5-6 reps on top set)
D1) Preacher Curls - 65, 4 x 6-8
D2) Bentover Rear Delt BB Flys - 15lbs, 4x10-12
E1) Straight Arm Pulldown - 50(?), 3x6-8
E2) BB Hammer Curl - 35, 3x6

WEDNESDAY
A) Deadlift
135x5
225x5
255x5
275x5
295x4
305x3
310x3
315x3

B) Iso Leg Press (2 very different machines at my gym, will see me use diff weights on LP movements on diff days)
1pps x 12
1pps x 10
1pps x 10

C1) Leg Extension
140 x 10
140 x 9
140 x 9

C2) Seated Ham Curl
140 x 8
140 x 6
140 x 5

D1) Crunch Machine
110 x 9
110 x 8
110 x 8
110 x 7

D2) Hanging Leg Raise
bw x 8, 8, 7, 8

All in all, my strength on the main lifts this week (despite a still-cranky back) has made me not upset about the weight loss.

Note: I added embedded youtube vids for my OHP and Bench max vids… the uploaded shits I was using wouldn’t load on my internet so I didn’t know if they were showing for anyone else.