Thoughts
Good workout. It sucked to start off. I got to the gym at 6:30, I was pumped, focused and ready to go. As I began stretching ALL four cages got filled up. I had to wait until almost 6:55. I usually aim to start lifting around 60-75 minutes after dinner. I’ve also made some slight changes to my accessory work. I’ve lowered the reps a bit in order to keep away from failure. I’m trying to do at least 3 reps shy on accessory stuff except for bicep work.
[quote]JLD2k3 wrote:
How’s the nutrition stuff we talked about working for you? Do you feel any different?[/quote]
Your advice has worked well and thanks again for that. I recently upped my carbs a bit (mainly pre & PWO) so do you think I should lower my protein intake a bit? I weigh around 195 and I think I’ve been taking in about 260g of protein.
Squat (ATG)
95 x 8
155 x 5
195 x 5
225 x 5
240 x 5
255 x 7
185 x 6
DB Step-Up gave these a try
50 x 6
50 x 6
Hack Squat
260 x 8
260 x 8
260 x 8
Leg Extension
100 x 20
100 x 22
100 x 20
100 x 20
Lying Leg Curl
115 x 10
115 x 12
115 x 12
115 x 10
Alt. DB Curls
40 x 11
45 x 8
40 x 11
Cardio: 14 minutes Tabata
-5 min warm-up, 4 minutes at 8.6mph @7.0 incline- 20 seconds on, 10 seconds off & repeat, 5 min cooldown
Gym time = 80 minutes
Sleep 6hrs
Thoughts
I’m still having a lot of trouble with squats and for whatever reason they just keep declining. I know now it’s definitely not from doing too much cardio because if anything I’m doing not enough. I also do cardio Saturday morning so I have over two days to recover. The only thing I can think of is my diet. I undereat on the weekends but not that much below maintenance and it shouldn’t really make a difference. Oh well, I’ll move on…
Nah, don’t drop the protein. If you think what you’re doing is working, roll with it until you think you’ve maximized it, then address a weakness. Give it some time.
[quote]JLD2k3 wrote:
Nah, don’t drop the protein. If you think what you’re doing is working, roll with it until you think you’ve maximized it, then address a weakness. Give it some time.[/quote]
That makes sense, thanks. If it ain’t broke don’t fix it.
Bench Press
95 x 8
135 x 6
165 x 5
185 x 2
205 x 5
217.50 x 5
232.50 x 9 spotter helped only on the liftoff
175 x 6
Barbell Incline
155 x 10
155 x 10
155 x 9
155 x 9
Dips
BW+35lbs x 10
BW+35lbs x 9
BW+35lbs x 8
BW+35lbs x 8
Pec Deck Fly
120 x 12
120 x 12
120 x 13
120 x 10
CGBP
135 x 11
135 x 10
135 x 8
V-Bar Pushdown
110 x 13
110 x 11
4 sets hanging leg raise
4 sets weighted crunches
Thoughts
Sleep: 7h15m. I was very pleased with my bench. I was going to stop at 8 since I know early on the in the cycle you shouldn’t approach failure but the spotter did such a good job pumping me up for that final rep that I really couldn’t say no. He got it out of me, I just blasted it up and nailed it. Toward the end of the workout arms were starting to feel it so I rested slightly more than usual in order to get through everything.
Deadlift
135 x 5
185 x 5
225 x 3
245 x 2
287.50 x 5
307.50 x 5
327.50 x 8
Hammer Grip Chins
+35 x 5
+35 x 5
+35 x 5
+35 x 5
Lat Pulldown
140 x 10
140 x 10
140 x 10
140 x 10
Bent Over Barbell Row
135 x 16
135 x 16
135 x 13
135 x 16
45-degree back extension
4x14x25lbs
Hanging Leg Raises 4x15
Thoughts
Sleep: 7h30m
Good workout. For whatever reason I’m just not someone who can deadlift for high reps. I can probably do 225 as many times as I can do 315 (or close to it); sounds crazy I know. Anyway I felt this was a good, solid workout. I’m thinking of dropping lat pulldown. I’ve kind of just been doing the same weight every week. I haven’t done t-bar rows in forever so I was thinking of switching to those since it’d be nice a challenge for me. What do you guys think?
As for lat pulldown, what else are you doing to hit the lats? If you feel like you’re getting enough direct lat work from your chins, then switching to t-bar rows won’t hurt. Lats help the bench, so monitor the change and see if it affects your bench.
I’m emailing you my spreadsheet. See what you think I should do for the last cycle before I compete.
As for lat pulldown, what else are you doing to hit the lats? If you feel like you’re getting enough direct lat work from your chins, then switching to t-bar rows won’t hurt. Lats help the bench, so monitor the change and see if it affects your bench.
I’m emailing you my spreadsheet. See what you think I should do for the last cycle before I compete.[/quote]
Yeah I feel like I’m getting a good amount of lat work. I guess I just felt like making the switch because I’ve been doing them for a while and it’s pretty much been at the same weight. I was just thinking I haven’t done T-bars in forever so that’d be a nice challenge trying to increase that.
Mesocycle 5
Week 1
Day 5 (59)
Standing Military Press
Standing Military Press
Bar x 9
70 x 8
65 x 7
85 x 6
105 x 2
120 x 5
120 x 5
140 x 8
105 x 6
BB Upright Row
90 x 10
90 x 10
90 x 10
90 x 10
Seated DB Shoulder Press
55 x 10
55 x 10
55 x 10
55 x 10
Face Pulls
110 x 20
110 x 16
110 x 16
110 x 16
Barbell Curl
75 x 12
75 x 12
75 x 12
75 x 12
Thoughts
Everything went smooth. I left a few reps in the tank on MP. I’m thinking about ditching upright rows and maybe switching with front raises or side lat raises, what do you guys think? I’ve been getting in a bad habit of spending too much time in the gym. The last few nights after completing my workout I’ve been talking to a few friends and that’s kept me there like an extra 30 minutes or so. This tends to happen to me from time to time and I guess it’s because I don’t have any friends or colleagues to talk to about lifting so sometimes I just get in a chatty mood about this stuff I guess.
I think you’d do well to switch the upright row for a variety of shoulder movements at various angles. Include straight arm lat pushdowns and you’ll compensate for switching away from lat pulldown as well.
[quote]JLD2k3 wrote:
I think you’d do well to switch the upright row for a variety of shoulder movements at various angles. Include straight arm lat pushdowns and you’ll compensate for switching away from lat pulldown as well.[/quote]
Ok thanks for the recommendation. So I’ll add the lat pushdown to my shoulder day and drop lat pulldown on back. Is still okay then to replace lat pulldown with t-bar row?
Squat (ATG)
95 x 8
135 x 5
185 x 5
225 x 2
240 x 3
255 x 3
270 x 6
205 x 7
Hack Squat
260 x 8
260 x 9
260 x 9
260 x 8
Leg Extension
100 x 25
100 x 22
100 x 20
100 x 20
Lying Leg Curl
115 x 12
115 x 12
115 x 12
115 x 12
Alt. DB Curls
40 x 12
45 x 10
40 x 12
Cardio 15 mins stepmill
Gym time = 78 minutes
Sleep 6hrs
Thoughts
This was a real good session in terms of focus & intensity. I never got sluggish nor did I ever have to take long breaks. I had great pace throughout this entire workout and everything went real smooth. Although I would have liked more reps for my heavy squat set I was happy to see it wasn’t strenuous and super heavy like other weeks. I managed to hit the 6 reps with relative ease. The damn gym was packed tonight and had to wait a while to get in the cage.
[quote]JLD2k3 wrote:
I think you’d do well to switch the upright row for a variety of shoulder movements at various angles. Include straight arm lat pushdowns and you’ll compensate for switching away from lat pulldown as well.[/quote]
Ok thanks for the recommendation. So I’ll add the lat pushdown to my shoulder day and drop lat pulldown on back. Is still okay then to replace lat pulldown with t-bar row?[/quote]