April 3, 2009
Shoulders Triceps (PM session)
Seated Shoulder BB Press 12,10,3,7r///55,70,90,120pd
Reverse Wide-Grip BP 12,10,3,8r///70,90,110,140pd (on bar)
Db Shrugs 10,8,7r///60,70,75pd
BTN Db Ext 12,10,7r///40,50,60pd
Machine Side Raises///12,8,8r///50,70,90pd
Dips BTW Benches 2xFailure
Keep all the weight where it is, up the reps or improve the quality of reps. Good session.
April 6
Back (AM session)
Lat Pulldown 20,15,12,12///70,80,90,100pds
MS’s Cable Rows
Dual Axis Rows 20,15,12,10///50,70,70,110pd
Hyperextensions 20,15,12,10//bdywght - 25pds
Seated Calve Raises
Tried out Mighty Stu’s Cable Row thing, pretty good exercise, but it will either be used for pre-exhaust or at the end of a workout, b/c it is one of those exercises where it’s hard to load enough weight. I think I’d want it in the morning sessions to be the first exercise, to warm up the area. Plus, I think the cable stacks will be too packed to do this in the PM.
Lat Pulldown: Keep the weight here, one more time.
Dual Axis Rows: Keep weight here, work on rep quality.
Hyperextensions: Didn’t go up to 35pds this time.
Seated Calve Raises: Used 75pds, with the 25s so I could stretch the deepest. Just did 4 hard sets, emphasis on the stretch and on peak contraction.
Back (PM Session)
Rack Pulls 4 sets 27r///275pds +2reps
Lat Pulldowns (close grip) 12,9,11r///70-90-130pds +20pd
(Played around with a new exercise here)
V-Grip Cable Horizontal Rows 1xFailure 90pds
Rack Pulls: 4 sets, aiming for as many reps as possible. I have the pins set at the third one from the bottom. Add reps
Lat Pulldowns: Debating whether to take this one out or not…I think I’ll keep it. It felt like it was all biceps and rear-delts with the close-grip, but what I did for the last few reps felt good. Instead of having my elbows flare out to the side, I kept them tucked in, like if I were to do a pushdown. Then I actually felt the stretch and the work in my lats. Definitely gotta note this for next Back Day.
3rd Exercise: I took Kroc Rows out…I just don’t feel it in my lats too well. So I played around with many variations of the barbell row: from underhand/overhand and Smith/barbell and full rows or just bent-over shrugs where I just try to pull with my back as much as I can without movement of my arms.
I settled on Barbell-Bent Over Underhand Shrug/Rows. I couldn’t really get into position right on the Smith machine for me to pull to below my navel, but with the free-weight barbell it’s easier and feels safer, as in I don’t round my back as much. So I just underhand a barbell, tilt over slightly, bend my knees, rest the barbell on my knees, and then shrug-the bar up and down my quads to a couple inches below my navel.
Felt it right in my rhomboids and the whole general middle back area. I messed around with 105. But I’ll be keeping this exercise.
Calories for Today April 6
Calories: 2113
Fat: 72.9g
Carbs: 273g
Protein:94g
Very low intake day overall, just never really got to eating.
April 7
Chest (PM session)
Flat Barbell Bench 12,10,3,3r///115,135,155,175pd
Flat Db Press 12, 8, 9r///40,50,60pd
Barbell Curl 12, 10,3,9r///40,50,60,70pd
Cable Straight Bar Curl 12,10,3,10r///40,50,60,80pd
Seems I didn’t warm up right for flat bench. Maybe I just couldn’t warm up or its because I started off with the first weight too heavy. But I regressed.
Flat Bench: Keep weight here
Flat Db Press: Great set, keep weight here
Barbell Curl: I even had better form, I pointed my wrists away from me. Upgrade to 80pd.
Cable Straight Bar Curl: Great form great set, up the weight up to 90pd
Great workout! All your bases are belong to us.
Forgot to post calories for April 7
Calories: 2982
Fat: 127.7g
Carbs: 310g
Protein: 151g
No workout.
Calories for April 8: 3131
Fat: 164g
Carbs: 142g
Protein:184g
April 14
Chest (PM session)
Flat Bench Press 12, 10, 3, 6r///115,135,155,175pd
DB Bench Press 12, 8, 5r///40,50,60pd
Barbell Curl 12, 10, 3, 4r///35,55,60,80pd
Cable Straight Bar Curl 12,10,3,5r///40,50,60,90pd
Flat Bench Press-Cable Straight Bar Curl: Keep the weight.
Took a 4 day hiatus from lifting and the lifestyle. Now i’m back.
April 16, 2009
Front Squat 12, 8, 3, 5r///95,135,155,195pd
Good Mornings 12,7,3,5r///95,115,135,165pd
Leg Press 12, 8,3,8r///180,230,280,340pd
Standing Calf Raises DC Style 90pd
Good workout, keep weight.
April 17
Shoulders and Triceps
Seated (no back) Shoulder Press 5 reps/120pds
Machine (my style) Dips 2x12ish reps//90pds
DB Shrugs 1x8 reps/75pds
Straight Bar Tricep Pressdown 1x12, 1x9//110pd, 90pd
Machine Side Raises 2x8-10ish//90pd
Dips between benches 2xFAilure
Seated Calf Raises 2xFailure//90pds
I had no backseat on the Shoulder Press, I’m guessing that’s why it was harder to perform the exercise.
I’m really liking the Dips my way. Definitely going to keep them.
I’m going to switch the shrugs out for Hang Cleans.
On the pressdowns, near the last few reps they kinda turn into like pullovers into pressdowns. Just cheatin to get in a few more reps.
April 18
(Back session)
Stu’s Exercise 10ish reps//90 pounds
Lat Pulldowns 8 reps//120 pounds
Barbell Shrug Rows 8ish reps//115 pounds
Horizontal Cable Rows 6ish reps///100 pouds
Incline Crunches
Wasn’t supposed to workout today, but I was bored so I decided to go in. Would’ve done deads or rack pulls, but my legs are seriously still fucking sore from leg day like 2 days ago. So I just did a bunch of rowing.
First time I’ve trained abs in a long time.
I think I’m going to take a more… intuitive approach to my training for a while now. I’m going to do things like switch up my exercise order and have like high rep and low rep days…It’s going to look more all over the place, but if I take each workset to the brink of failure, I will progress (duh)
I’ll have some stable exercises that I’ll keep, no matter what, so I can have an easier way to track progress…but still, on paper, it’s going to look all over the place.
I’m just going to put the top set weight and reps, It’s already a given that I’m going to ramp up to the top set.
I’m not going to be overly obsessive about going up in weights and reps.
April 19, 2009
Chest and Biceps (PM session)
Incline Smith BP 3r,8r//140pd, 90pd (on bar)
Dumbell BP 5ish reps//60pd
Cable Crossover 9ish reps//12.5pd each (Stretch)
Barbell Curls 6ish reps//70pd
Cable Straight-bar Curls (can’t remember)//80pd
Incline DB curl 8ish total reps//20pd (Stretch)
I’m trying something new…
I’m adding, as a “finisher” per bodypart, a weighted exercise where I get a great stretch of the bodypart. It’s basically something I’ve thought about from reading around a lot of Dante’s stuff and other bodybuilder’s ideas in general, and I’m taking that and adding my own ideas.
It can be most said to be like DC style calve raises. I find an exercise that will get an extreme stretch on the bodypart and get as large of a load as possible, while being safe.
For instance, for chest, the stretch exercise was the cable crossovers. I basically put it low weight, and hold the stretched position for about 10 seconds, then contract, and repeat.
It’s different, but if it works so damn well like DC style calves, I can only think that it will do the same for other exercises.
Incline Smith: Did sort of a strip set, since the 140 was too low of reps.
April 21st
Shoulders and Triceps
Barbell Shoulder Press 1x8, 1x4ish// 120pds
Machine Dips (My Style) 1x12ish, 1x10//90pd
Straight Bar Pressdown 1x12, 1x10//100pd
Barbell High Pulls 1x7, 1x4//185pd
Dips between benches 1x12, 1x12
Machine Side Raises 1x9, 1x5//90pd
Lean Away Cable Side Raises 2x10-12ish//30pd (Stretch)
Overhead Tricep Extension 1x15//70pd (Stretch)
Barbell Shoulder Press (Seated w/back): Good set and weight
Machine Dips: Again, a great exercise. I started wrapping my wrist straps around the the Dip handles because they were really bothering the hell out of my palms.
Straight Bar Pressdown: Latter half of the reps are done like a pulldown into a pushdown, beyond failure.
Barbell High Pulls: I’m glad I tried this exercise out! I get a great workout.
Lean Away Side Raises: This is one of my stretch exercises for my delts…kinda hard to get a stretch in my delts and triceps. These could, but right now the weight I use on them isn’t heavy enough to actually stretch em out. But I hold peak contraction for a second, and I get a great pump.
Overhead Tricep Extensions: Again, this is my stretch exercise. Not not much of a stretch, but I’ll need more weight. But I still get a great workout from these.
April 22nd
I felt especially good today, for some reason, I just woke up feeling excellent. Perhaps it’s because I got reallllly blazed yesterday, maybe it’s because my case of the munchies caused me to take in an extra 1000 or so calories, maybe both, but I just felt fantastic today.
So I decided to jump up to 205 on front squats, was gonna keep it at 195, and surprisingly I handled the weight really well. Perhaps, I’ve been ready for it but didn’t have the balls to try it till today. My immediate short term goal for front squats is to have 2 plats on each side, now I’m only 20 pounds away.
Legs
Front Squat 1x6, 1x2, 1x1//205pd
Good Morning 1x5///165pd
Leg Press 1x9//340pd
Leg Extension 1x5ish?// 60pd (Stretch)
Glute-Ham Raise 1x8ish? 1x3
Hyperextensions 1x7ish (Stretch)
Seated Calf raise 1x8ish, 1x8ish?//90pd
Front Squat: Pushed it hard, I want to get 225 on their before I leave home. So I’m going to be agressive with the weight increase…
Good Morning: Need to keep it here, It’s almost too heavy, takes a little bit of the stress off my hamstrings and goes into my low back…but I’ll keep the weight here.
Leg Press: Up the weight to 370, this, along with an extra ten pounds in Front Squat, should get my quads ready for 225+ the time after next.
Hyperextensions: Pulled on the bottom to get extra stretch in hams, should add 20 pounds next time.
Seated Calf Raises: Calves still cramped up…
April 24, 2009 AM session
Stu’s Exercise 90pd//10r
Lat Pulldown 120pd/100pd//6,8r
Barbell Rows (regular style) 135pd//6r
Cable Horizontal Rows 120pd//4r
Stu’s Exercise 95pd//7r (Stretch)
Yeah nigga!!
PM session
Deadlift 325, 345pd//4r, 1r
Stu’s Exercise (Stretch)
April 26, 2009
Chest and Biceps
Dumbbell BP 85pd,75pd//4r,6r
Incline Smith BP 100pd, 90pd//3r, 6r
Cable Crossover 12.5pd per//6ish reps? (Stretch)
Barbell Curl 70pd//8r
Cable Straight Bar Curl 90pd//8ish reps
Incline Db Curl 22.5pd//7ish reps (Stretch)
Seated Calf Raise 95pd 2x5-7reps
Great day.
April 29, 2009
Legs
Front Squat 225pd//1x3r
Good Morning 165pd//6r
Leg Press 360pd//9r
Leg Extension 90pd//12ish Stretch
Hyperextensions 25pd//8ish r ? Stretch
Standing Calf Raises 100pd//(not sure)
Front Squat: Yeah…I just wanted to get that 2 plater up there. Not quite ready for the 5-10 rep range though.
Good Morning: Quality of the set is definitely getting better every week. This time I felt it much more in my glutes and hamstrings than lower back.
Leg Press: Surprisingly did well even though I threw on 20 more pounds than usual. I’ll throw on another 30-40 pounds again next week.
Leg Extension: Different machine, with different leverages so I was able to use more weight. Brutal.
Hyperextensions: Nothing that interesting to report.
Standing Calf Raises: Nothing new.
April 30, 2009
Seated Overhead Press 120pd//1x7r, 1x5r
Machine dips (My way) 100pd//1x10ish, 1x9r
Straight Bar Pushdown/Pulldown 110pd//8r, 6ish reps
Barbell Shrugs/High Bar Pull 205pd, 225pd//7r, 5ish reps
Dips between benches 2x10-12r
Weird Shoulder Exercise 30pd, 25pd//8ish, 8ish reps
Heavy Barbell Holds (straps for traps) 225pd// 2 holds (Stretch)
Heavy Barbell Holds (forearms) 185pd// 2 holds
Lean Away Cable Raises 40pd//2x6ish (Stretch)
Overhead Tricep Ext (W grip) 90pd//1x7ish reps (Stretch)
Barbell Shrugs/High Bar Pull: I only do the barbell shrug into a high bar pull on the highest working set, for the last few reps
The Weird shoulder exercise, I got from a video with the Evan Cantopeni… I think that’s something like this last name. It’s like a strange version of Vertical Shoulder Rows with dumbells, pretty good.
The first heavy barbell hold is for the stretch in my traps, so I use straps. The second is for grip strength, so there are no straps.
May 1 2009
Back
Rack Pulls 305pd//3x5
Lat Pulldowns 120pd, 100pd/// 8r, 9r
Barbell Bent-Over Rows 155pd///8ish reps
Cable Horizontal Rows 100pd//20 DC RP
Stu’s Exercise
Hanging Stretch
Rack Pulls: Add one rep every set next time.
Lat Pulldowns: I think I’ll keep the weight here one more time, and really focus on the top quality of reps.
Barbell Bent-Over Rows: I think I can up the pounds again
Cable Horizontal Rows: Up the weight. Work on the quality of the reps.
May 4, 2009
Chest and Biceps
Dumbell Bench 85pd, 75pd//4r, 6r
Chest-Dominant Dips 14 DC RP
Cable Crossovers 15pd each//6r (Stretch)
Barbell Curl 70pd//5ish reps
Cable Straight Bar Curl 90pd//6 reps
Incline DB Curl 25pd//5 reps each (Stretch)
Skullcrushers 80pd, 65pd//8r, 8r
DB Bench: Hard, keep weight here.
Chest Dominant Dips: Wow, these are a great exercise, I regret not having them in before. I had to do a last second switch because all the incline benches were being used so I could do Smith Incline BP, and I think I’ll keep these in. We have a V-dip station and I go to the widest portion, and lean forward. Get a great stretch in my chest from them.
Cable Crossovers: Again, great stretch exercise. I upped the weight a bit. Keep weight.
Barbell Curl: Haven’t progressed on these in a while…maybe switch these out for preacher curls?..consider it.
Cable Straight Bar curl: Haven’t progressed on these either, but I think I’m going to keep them.
Incline DB Curl: Upped the weight on these again. Good stretch exercise. Keep the weight here.
Skullcrusher: I think my triceps are lagging. Even with as small arms as mine, it seems that I’m mostly biceps, which is strange because I’ve always liked doing tricep exercise more than biceps…but I think they are the main reason I was having trouble progressing on Barbell Bench exercises and this is the main reason why I’m throwing in more tricep work. I think they are the weak link, not my pecs, in the bench press strength chain. Right now, I can almost do the same amount of weight in DB BP for reps as I can in Barbell Bench Press for the same amount of reps. So I’m just throwing in this one exercise on this day to get in a little more volume.