Project Longevity

Training Training Logs
61

Wow, been a while since i posted here. After a few weeks of dinking around with an A-B-A B-A-B 2 week split, I have decided to do 4 days per week in the gym and body part once a week (something I’ve never done before). I am strategically increasing workout volume to compensate for all the holiday eating, and I’ll have more free time the next 3 weeks or so.

I plan to do:

Chest/Shoulders
Back
Arms
Legs

62

Sunday’s workout: Chest/Shoulders

DB bench press:
100s x 6 (first time repping heavier than bodyweight), 95s x 6, 95s x 6

Slight Decline BB Bench press (basically flat bench with 25lb plate under my butt):
205 x 6, 225 x 6, 225 x 5

DB Incline Bench Press:
55s x 8, 65s x 6, 60s x 8, 60s x 6 (still figuring out the proper weight for me

Partial Lateral Raises:
32.5s x 30, 32.5s x 20

Lying Rear Delt Raises:
15s x 20, 15s x 15 (first time doing this movement, getting used to it)

Have been doing DB bench press the past few weeks, much better chest workout than before (as long as I go up just shy of lockout). I still have chest DOMS 3 days after this workout, insane.

63

Monday’s Workout: Back

BW Chinup: 4, 4, 8, 8

Wide neutral grip Lat Pulldown:
110 x 8, 120 x 8, 120 x 8, 120 x 8

DB Row:
70s x 8, 95 x 8, 90 x 8, 90 x 8

This was lunchtime so I was rushing to get back to work, but despite the quick workout, my lats have had crazy DOMS for two days.

64

Log for 12-19 (arms)
Close Grip Bench: 3 sets of 205 x 6
DB hammer curl: 22.5s x 10, 30s x 10, 30s x 10
DB curl: 32.5 x 6, 40 x 6, 40 x 6
BW Dips: 3 sets of 13
DB Preacher curl: 3 sets of 35s x 6
Skull Crushers: 45 x 6, 60 x 6, 60 x 6

Log for 12-21 (legs)
Squat: 245 x 6, 255 x 6, 255 x 6
BB split squat: 95 x 6, 120 x 6, 120 x 6 (still gives me crazy glute DOMS)
45 degree hyper: BW x 10, 25 lbs + band x 6, 25 lbs + band x 6

65

Spent 2 weeks of doing sets of 6 reps, bumped it up to sets of 10 reps for this next cycle. Have Been doing 4x a week split: Chest/Shoulders, back, Arms, and Legs

Workout for 12-22 (Chest/Shoulders)
DB Bench: 80s x 10, 85s x 10, 85s x 10
BB Incline Bench: 115 x 10, 135 x 10, 155 x 10
BB Bench: 185 x 7, 165 x 10, 165 x 8 (Ran out of energy at this point, made the mistake of going to full lockout on BB exercises which fatigued my tris)
BB OHP: 95 x 7, 85 x 7 (no energy)
DB lateral Raise: 32.5s x 30, 32.5s x 20

Didn’t get DOMS after, might have been due to timing the PWO shake (60 g of protein) better by drinking it all right after the workout. This decreased DOMS for the successive two workouts as well.

Workout for 12-24 (Back)
BW Chinup: 8, 8, 5
Hammer Strength High Row: 140 x 10, 150 x 10, 150 x 10
Hang High Pull: 90 x 8, 90 x 8, 90 x 8
Wide Grip Lat Pulldown: 105 x 10, 120 x 10, 120 x 10
DB Row: 80 x 6, 90 x 8, 90 x 8 (ran out of energy again, these were pretty sloppy)

Workout for 12-26 (Arms)
Triceps Pushdown: 120 x 10, 140 x 10, 140 x 10 (This cable provided less resistance than usual)
JM Press: 95 x 10, 95 x 10, 95 x 10
Pinwheel Curl: 27.5 x 10, 27.5 x 10, 27.5 x 10, 27.5 x 10
BW Dip: 15, 15, 15 (reps are becoming easier on these)
DB Curl: 30 x 10, 35 x 10, 35 x 10
Incline DB Curl: 17.5 x 10, 17.5 x 10, 17.5 x 10

Workout for 12-27 (Legs)
DB Split Squat: 110 x 6, 110 x 8, 110 x 8
Squat: 225 x 10, 225 x 10
Leg Press: 180 (2pps) x 10, 270 x 10, 360 x 10, 360 x 10
Single Leg RDL: 70 x 10, 70 x 10, 70 x 10
Lying Leg Curl: 95 x 10, 110 x 10, 125 x 10

66

12/29 log (Chest/Shoulders)

  • DB Bench: 85s x 10, 85s x 10, 85s x 10
  • DB Incline Bench: 45s x 10, 55s x 10, 55s x 10
  • DB Decline Bench: 60s x 10, 70s x 9, 65s x 10
  • HS Incline Press: 140 x 8, 110 x 8, 100 x 10
  • DB Lateral Rise: 3 sets of 15s x 10
  • Partial Laterals: 32.5s x 30

Started doing some Mountain Dog Training from the John Meadow’s program in the e-book “programs that work, II,” started a bit out of order so I didn’t start with the 1st week yet until I did legs again.

12/30 (Calves, Abs)

  • Full hanging leg raise (leg to bar): 5, 5 (these were not part of the program, but wanted to try them)
  • Hanging leg raise (to 90 degrees): 15, 10
  • Decline situp - 15, 15, 10
  • Leg Press Calves: 270 x 15, 270 x 15, 270 x 15, 270 x 15

12/31 (Back)

  • Meadows Row (trying to get the movement down): 35 x 8, 35 x 8, 35 x 8
  • Wide Grip lat Pulldown - 105 x 10, 120 x 10, 135 x 10
  • Cable Seated Row - 90 x 10, 105 x 10, 120 x 10
  • One arm Underhand Pulldown - 60 x 8, 60 x 8, 60 x 8

1/02 (Arms)

  • Triceps Pushdown - 50 x 12, 40 x 12, 40 x 12, 40 x 12 supersetted with

  • Dips (supposed to be dip machine) - 15, 12, 9, 6

  • Pronated Triceps Kickbacks (these felt awkward) - 20 x 8, 20 x 8, 20 x 8, 25 x 8 supersetted with

  • Cable overhead triceps extension - 40 x 12, 50 x 12, 50 x 12, 50 x 12

  • Seated DB curl - 25s x 8, 20s x 8, 20s x 8, 20s x 8 supersetted with

  • Preacher curl machine - 80 x 8, 65 x 8, 65 x 8, 65 x 8

  • EZ Bar Reverse curl - 4 sets of 45 x 15 supersetted with

  • Hammer curls - 4 sets of 20s x 10

Forearms were hurting pretty badly from the dips (I am dropping bodyweight dips b/c of this) and thus limited the weight I could use on the curls. Hopefully dropping dips and limiting weight on curls will solve my forearm problem.

67

Been trying to eat cleaner, more veggies & fruits, less junk, to manage inflammation (help my forearms heal) and clear my skin a little. I read that I need more foods with vitamin A and E to get better skin, we’ll see how that pans out long term. Forearms are doing much better, not going so heavy on curls too.

1/04 (Legs)

  • Single leg RDL: 3 sets of 100 x 6
  • Leg Press 3 sets of 410 x 8
  • DB step ups: 2 sets of 35s x 10
  • Lying leg curls: 95 x 25, 80 x 22
    Inadvertently left out machine hack squats with drop sets

1/06 (Chest/Shoulders)

  • Machine incline Chest press: 180 x 12, 195 x 10, 210 x 8, 210 x 6 (right shoulder clicks on these for some reason)
  • DB Incline Bench: 60s x 8, 60s x 8
  • DB Bench (subbed for BB bench which was taken at the moment): 50s x 15, 60s x 15
  • Decline stretch pushup: 12 (Failure), 8 (Failure)
  • DB Lateral Raise: 4 sets of 25s x 8
  • Machine rear delt raise: 60 x 30, 60 x 25, 60 x 20, 60 x 15
  • Ultra wide grip OHP: 45 x 12, 45 x 11, 45 x 11

1/07 (Calves/Abs)

  • BW Hanging Leg raise: 3 sets of 20
  • Decline situp: 25, 25, 15
    Abs don’t have endurance yet to add another set
  • Leg Press Calves: 6 sets of 230 x 15, 30 sec rest in between

1/08 (Back)

  • One arm DB Rows (90 x 8, 95 x 8, 100 x 8), did these with only a hand on the bench (instead of hand and leg), felt stronger
  • Meadows Row: 25 x 10, 35 x 10, 35 x 10
  • Deadlift: worked up to 315 x 3, then 6 clusters of 315 x 1 with 10 sec in between, had to stop before 10 because low back getting tight

1/09 (Arms)
Tri-set:

  1. DB seated curl: 4 sets of 30s x 8
  2. Pronated triceps kickbacks: 4 sets of 30 x 12
  3. Cable rope overhead extensions: 80 x 12, 90 x 12, 90 x 12, 90 x 12
  • EZ bar curl: 4 sets of 55 x 8
  • Dip Machine: 240 x 8, 270 x 8, 270 x 8, 270 x 8
  • Preacher curl machine: 65 x 8, 80 x 8, 80 x 8, 80 x 8
    Couldn’t tri-set the last three due to busyness of the gym, but still one of the best arm-pumps I’ve ever had.
68

1/12 (Legs)
Lying Leg curls - 100 x 10, 100 x 10, 100 x 10 (with 10 partials added onto the end of each set)
Leg Press - 430 x 8, 430 x 8, 430 x 8
Dumbbell lunges - 40s x 10, 40s x 10 (each leg)
Did squats before leg press but tweaked lower back a bit

1/13 (chest/shoulders)
Machine bench (sitting vertical) - 170 x 12, 170 x 10, 180 x 8, 185 x 6
DB decline press - 80s x 8, 85s x 8, 85s x 8
BB Incline press - 135 x 8, 145x 8, 135 x 8, 135 x 8
Reverse pec deck - 70 x 20, 80 x 20, 80 x 20, 80 x 20
Machine laterals - 80 x 16, 65 x 16, 65 x 16, 65 x 16 (first 8 with a 3 sec negative)
Over and back overhead press - 60 x 8, 50 x 8, 50 x 8

1/14 (Back/Abs)
Meadows Row - 50 x 8, 50 x 8, 50 x 8, 50 x 8
Lat Pulldown - 140 x 10, 160 x 10, 170 x 10 (wide grip, gradually moving in grip on each set)
Cable seated row - 110 x 10, 120 x 10, 120 x 10
One arm underhand pulldown - 70 x 8, 70 x 8, 70 x 8
Leg raises: 4 sets of 20
Decline situp: 20, 25, 20 (feel my hip flexors get smoked by these)

1/17 (Arms)
Triceps Pushdowns - 90 x 12, 90 x 12, 90 x 12, 90 x 12
Dip Machine (240 x 15, 255 x 12, 270 x 9, 300 x 6

Pronated triceps kickbacks (thumb toward body, pinkies away from body) - 4 sets of 30 x 8
supersetted with
Cable overhead triceps extension - 90 x 12, 100 x 12, 100 x 12, 100 x 12

Seated bicep curl - 35s x 8, 30s x 8, 30s x 8, 30s x 8 supersetted with
Preacher curl machine - 90 x 10, 70 x 10, 70 x 10, 70 x 10

EZ bar reverse curl - 3 sets of 25 x 15 supersetted with
Hammer curls - 3 sets of 15s x 10 (I was smoked and also couldn’t find any dumbbell between 20-30 lbs)

69

Legs (1/19)
Single leg curl: 3 sets of 40 x 15 each leg
Squat: 245 x 6, 255 x 6, 275 x 6 (felt like I had more in the tank, dangit)
Leg Press: 3 sets of 450 x 8 (these were kinda hard)
Smith machine lunge: 95 x 10, 105 x 10

Chest/shoulders (1/20)
HS incline machine press (cable and weight stack version, not plates): 180 x 10, 200 x 8, 210 x 6, then dropset of 210 x 6, 180 x 6, and 100 x 6
BB incline press: 4 sets of 155 x 6
Bench press: 145 x 13, 135 x 13, 135 x 10 (was supposed to get 3 sets of 15, lol)
Stretch decline pushups to failure: 12, 9, 8
Machine shoulder press: 95 x 10, 80 x 10, 65 x 12, 65 x 12
Ultra wide grip overhead press: 45 x 12, 45 x 12, 65 x 10 mini dropset to 45 x 5

Back (1/21)
Meadows Row: 3 sets of 50 x 10
Smith Machine Bent over Row: 185 x 5, 145 x 8, 145 x 8
Chinups to failure: 10, 7, 4 (didn’t rest enough on last set)
DB pullover: 55 x 12, 55 x 12, 40 x 12
BB shrug w/ straps: 3 sets of 185 x 12 with 1 sec hold at the top

Arms (1/23)
One arm triceps pushdown: 4 sets of 50 x 12
Dip Machine: 12 x 255, 10 x 285, 8 x 315, 6 x 350
Superset:
Pronated triceps kickback: 4 sets of 35 x 8 and
EZ bar skull crusher: 4 sets of 55 x 10
Superset2:
DB seated curl: 3 sets of 32.5s x 8 and
preacher curl machine: 3 sets of 55 x 8

Forearms are pretty close to healed after laying off dips, sleep is pretty decent most of the time with taking magnesium pills at night, and zinc is a crazy hormone booster (almost making me unproductive because it works too well, lol). Also taking copper in the morning to offset the zinc which depletes it. Weighing around 197 in the mornings at the moment, looking mostly lean.

70

Missed a lot of my old updates so I’ll add them here for completeness sake

Legs 1/24

  • Lying Leg Curls: 110 x 15, 125 x 12, 130 x 9, 135 x 6
  • Leg Press 470 x 10, 470 x 10, 470 x 10
  • Squat 175 x 15, 175 x 10 (can’t remember why I didn’t finish the workout)

Chest/Shoulders 1/27

  • BB incline bench: 185 x 8, 175 x 8, 175 x 8, 175 x 8, 175 x 7
  • DB Bench: 70s x 8, 65s x 8, 65s x 8, 65s x 8 (paused, neutral grip)
  • HS seated dip, wide grip: 185 x 10, 185 x 10, 205 x 7
  • Bent over rear delt raise: 15s x 30, 15s x 20
  • Lateral Raise: 15s x 15, 15s x 15, 15s x 15

Back 1/28

  • One arm BB Row: 50 x 8, 75 x 8, 60 x 8
  • Partial Lat Pulldown: 170 x 8 (4 sets)
  • Cable seated Row: 100 x 10, 120 x 10, 110 x 10, 110 x 10
  • DB Pullover: 50 x 12, 50 x 12, 50 x 12
  • BW back extensions: 3 sets of 15

Arms 1/30

  • V-Bar Pushdown: 40 x 20, 50 x 15, 60 x 12, 70 x 10, 80 x 8
  • Pronated Kickbacks: 5 sets of 40 x 8 Supersetted with
  • Cable Overhead triceps ext: 5 sets of 50 x 15
  • Cross body DB curl: 4 sets of 30s x 10 supersetted with
  • Preacher Curl: 4 sets of 65 x 8
  • EZ bar curl: 75 x 6, 75 x 6, 75 x 6
  • Reverse EZ bar curl: 35 x 20, 35 x 20, 35 x 20

Legs 2/01

  • Lying Leg Curls: 4 sets of 100 x 10, dropset 100 x 10, 80 x 8, 60 x 8
  • Leg Press: 3 sets of 530 x 8 (these sucked, I remember)
  • Squat: 225 x 5, 245 x 5
  • Hack Squat: 160 x 10, 200 x 10, 210 x 10, Dropset 210 x 10, 160 x 10, 90 x 10

Chest/Shoulders 2/02

  • HS incline machine press: 150 x 15, 160 x 11, 160 x 9, 170 x 6
  • BB Incline Bench: 4 sets 155 x 6
  • DB Decline Bench: 75s x 9, 75s x 9, 70s x 8
  • Dip Machine (leaning forward): 300 x 12, 300 x 9, 300 x 8
  • Reverse Pec Deck (60 sec rest I think): 60 x 30, 60 x 25, 60 x 20, 60 x 15, did these with the horizontal handles instead of vertical and felt my rear delts working for the first time in my life
  • Lateral Raise: 4 sets of 10s x 20

Back 2/04

  • One arm BB Row: 60 x 12,65 x 10, 70 x 8
  • Partial Lat Pulldown: 170 x 8, 190 x 8, 180 x 8, 180 x 8
  • Smith Machine Bent over Row: 115 x 10, 115 x 10, 125 x 10
  • Back Ext. - BW x 10, 25 x 10, 25 x 10

Arms 2/05

  • V bar Pushdown - 100 x 15, 110 x 12, 120 x 9, 130 x 6
  • HS seated dip - 140 x 8, 160 x 8, 160 x 8, 160 x 8, 160 x 8
  • Close grip pushup - 20, 13, 11, all to failure
  • Seated DB curl - 4 sets of 25s x 12
  • Close grip chinup - 8, 6, 5
  • Preacher curl - 60 x 8, 60 x 8, 60 x 8
  • EZ bar reverse curl - 50 x 8, 50 x 8, 50 x 8

Legs 2/09

  • Lying Leg Curls: 110 x 14, 115 x 12, 120 x 10, 125 x 8
  • Leg Press, close stance: 450 x 8, 470 x 8, 470 x 8
  • Teardrop Leg Extensions: 140 x 8, 160 x 8, 170 x 8
  • Smith Machine Lunge: 3 sets 135 x 10 each leg

Stopped doing the John Meadows Program in the e-book after this b/c honestly I don’t have a lot of time to be doing 4 workouts per week on a regular basis and I have other priorities. Changed my split basically to Push, Legs, Pull once a week.

Have been getting great sleep with magnesium plus zinc, but even with 200 mg of mag and 25 mg of zinc in a day it increases libido a bit too much, lol (it works too good at something I didn’t originally intend for it to do), and I hope it doesn’t lead to something negative side effects in the future as a result.

71

Haven’t posted in here in a while, but wanted to log some of my random personal findings/discoveries:

  • Long-term melatonin use can lead to unbalanced hormonal issues. After months of using it basically non-stop, I noticed a gradual decrease in sleep quality, diminished libido, hard to lose fat around the midsection, etc. and I found similar research online supporting this. After a few weeks off of it, things normalized again. Lesson learned: don’t take melatonin for a long time; only use it for jet lag, etc., and cut the pill in half.

  • Magnesium as a sleep aid works, but 400 mg in supplement form is too much at once (even though it’s the RDA) and can cause flushing and actually difficulty falling asleep (also confirmed by online research). I’ve found good results with 300 mg every other day or less (since it seems to have a cumulative effect the more days you take it in a row). Getting it naturally (brown rice, beans, and especially almonds) seems to be even better. Also magnesium citrate is crazy, it made me poop my pants, even at 200 mg a day, lol.

  • Cutting calories but not tracking fats is a bad idea, I was getting too low on fats, metabolism and hunger slowed down; after I bumped up the fats I started to feel better and my metabolism was back.

As far as training related things:

  • The standard advice for squatting wider than shoulder width and toes pointed out will not do it for quad development. Quads are targetted much better with a shoulder width or narrower stance and toes pointed directly forward (also strains the hip flexors less); toes pointed at 45 degrees or wider stance was not hitting my quad sweep, which is still lacking.

  • You can still actually gain lower and upper body strength while cutting. I went from 197 down to 185 and gained strength on bench press, dumbbell bench, and 20 rep squat numbers. just yesterday, I did the 95 dumbbells for 9 on bench and then the 100s for 6. When I was 10 lbs heavier, I would only squeak out the 95s for 6. By no means am I a newb to training either (been seriously training for 3, lifting weights for even longer than that, most of the time emphasizing strength). Arm measurements have stayed about the same (15.5"-15.75") while abs look better than before.

Currently, the split that works best for me is a 3 way split, hitting the gym 4 times a week (or 3 if I don’t have time) which usually means hitting every body part every 5 days after destroying it. Doing something like Max-OT style (last set or two to failure) with a split of: Chest/Shoulder/Tris, Back/Bis, Quads/Hams.

I will be interrupted from this training by a 2.5 week trip to Japan, so it’ll be interesting to see how long it will take to get back into the groove after getting back.

72

Log brought back to life!

Keep this up man!

73

[quote]csulli wrote:
Log brought back to life!

Keep this up man! [/quote]

Lol, thanks, I’ll try to keep it updated, I usually log my workouts with the Jefit Android app, so I find it a pain to duplicate the workout log manually here. Maybe I’ll put a shorthand version of it in here.

If only Tnation had a phone app to log workouts and put them automatically here, lol.

74

I have some health-related updates to log here. I figured out that my addiction to Brain Candy (taking it 3-6 times a week for months on end) was adding to my stress level and interfering with my morning sleep patterns. I decided to cut it out completely and now my sleep is generally better and I am more alert overall (except for that post-lunch sleepiness). I also figured out that I felt better after stopping my 5000 IU daily vitamin D supplementation. Whenever I took it, I felt a decrease in libido and well-being, which could be due to several reasons:

  • leaving it in a hot place (my car) possibly denatured it, since it suggests storing it in a cool place
  • the soybean oil in those capsules makes it no good
  • I had too much Vitamin D; I read somewhere that it could cause a condition which makes you carry too much calcium in your blood and thus constrict blood vessels, leading to poorer circulation
    In any case I feel better without it and Iâ??ll try to make it a point to get more sun exposure. Moral of the story is to take a vacation from supplements once in a while and monitor how you feel to ensure there is no negative effects.
75

I stopped my cut (at 183 lbs, decent six pack) due to it messing with my sleep and also wanting to build more muscle and enjoy eating once again, lol. Taking in approx 2800-3000+ calories each day, morning weight approx 188 lbs., will try to do a slow bulk through at least January and try to add some cardio (Hill sprints, loaded carries, etc.)

Doing 5/3/1 and seeing great strength progress (which didnt really stall when I was cutting weight). Modifying my split slightly to this:

5/3/1 Bench, Incline DB Bench 5 x 10, Pushdown superset Hammer curl, Dips Superset Machine curl

5/3/1 Deadlift, Rack pull 5 x 10, Chinups 3 x 10

5/3/1 Push Press, Partial lateral raises (2 sets), Reverse pec deck (105 lb x 30, 25, 20, 15 for example), DB rows 3 x 10

5/3/1 Squat, Narrow stance squat 5 x 10, single leg hyperextension 3 x 10

PRs from last 5/3/1 run:

  • Bench: 255 x 7
  • Push Press: 155x6 (think I could do more but this movement is relatively untrained for me)
  • Squat: 290 x 4
  • Deadlift: 345 x 5 (just started deadlifting seriously for the past 2 months after not training it for over a year since my lower back injury, should be over 400 pretty quickly, being overly cautious)