Shrugs: 205 lb
3x20
Calf Raises: 225 lb
3x20
Bench Press: 100 lb
8/6/5
I’m improving. Let’s aim for 8/8/5 next time.
Military Press: I forgot
I remembered, but only after getting to my car. I still have to shower, eat, and then get to bed because I have work tomorrow morning, so I decided against running back in. It’ll wait. It’s not really an excuse, but it’s not the end of the world either. I’m still a bit upset about this though.
Back Raises: 5 lb
3/15
Already decided I love these.
Sitting Cable Rows: 50 lb
3x8
ROM was limited. Bumping down to 45 lb next week.
Pull Ups: 12/8/8
Squats: 145 lb
3x8
That was intense. I was barely getting in my ROM, slacking slightly in some areas. I think my upper back and even my arms may be compensating for my quads when raising the bar.
Taking Monday off. Back to the gym on Tuesday.
[quote]Reygekan wrote:
Thanks everyone, I really appreciate all the comments.
@jasmincar: Why 8x3? I’m guessing it could possibly allow for some heavier weight since it seems like an approach closer to powerlifting, but I’m not totally sure about the logic behind it…[/quote]
When you are a newbie the best way to become bigger is to get stronger. Sets of 3 (no straight set) is a great way to get stronger. If I could send a message to me when I was at your level that is what I would say.
Good luck in your endeavors
Jasmin
Just in case you didn’t know, proper reverse hypers are often used to help lower back problems.
I’d kill to have access to a reverse hyper…
@Jasmin: I used to do many sets of 3, adding more weight per set, but I found that at the small amount of weight I’m lifting that I don’t progress as quickly- possibly because over eight sets I’ll be doing everything from the bar to my 1RM for bench. I may experiment more when I’m a bit stronger.
@hastalles: I didn’t know that. Considering that’s a good chunk of the reason I want to work my lower back I’ll look around and see if I can find a reverse hyper machine, or just a bench with the proper grips.
Going to the gym today, so I’ll edit this post with the log and weekly weight.
Edit: Logs-----------------------
Weight: 122ish/123ish lb
Bench Press: 100 lb
6/5/5
This is worse, but I’m honestly so tired right now I’m surprised I even pulled it off.
Calf Raises: 245 lb
3x20
Shrugs: 225 lb
3x20
Started boosting with calves during some of the later reps. Do not increase weight further.
Military Press: 65 lb
3x5
Starting back at 65 lb because the squat rack is always taken and this always happens last. Also, because I want to avoid cheating with my legs.
Nothing for Reverse Hypers, so I’m going to stick with Back Raises.
Didn’t go yesterday because I had to be at the dentist about my sore tooth. I was on anasthetics that lasted for five hours (I was injected four times, and that couldn’t kill the pain, so they removed the filling, and put on a desensitizer on top of my desensitizing medication. I get to back to redo the filling later.) I couldn’t eat till before bed so I didn’t kill myself with the gym.
As a product of being injected with four large needles in the mouth, it hurts to open my mouth wide and eating is difficult. Went to the gym with the family though.
Back Raises: 5 lb
3x15
Much easier than before.
Bicep Curls: 25 lb
20/15/10
I kind of forgot that I didn’t curl and raise on the same day. No big deal.
Pull ups: 12/5/6
Watching my family struggle for one was beautiful.
Sitting Cable Rows: 45 lb
3x8
I’ll bump up the reps before progressing to 50 lb.
Squats: 155 lb
3x5
One of these was actually 150 lb (I accidentally put a 5 rather than a 10 on one side. It explained my slight balance difficulties on that set.) So it wasn’t quite 155 lb 3x5. I lowered the reps because of the family really, I didn’t want to give out in front of them, and I needed to give my younger brother a turn. No music either, which doesn’t seem like a big deal but I synchronize myself to the stuff and it was weird soundless.
My younger brother failed his second set at 3x5 for 95 lb. He was too stubborn to admit he couldn’t do it. I’m proud of that stupid bastard.
Military: 75 lb
5/3
Military: 65 lb
2/5
Sad face.
Calf Raises: 275 lb
3x20
My calves need to hurry the fuck up and get destroyed. They’re becoming visible even through my rather thick coat of leg hair, but I still definitely have chicken legs and want an actual curve to these guys. I love 'em though, they’re troopers for putting up with that.
Shrugs: 205 lb
3x20
Went backwards to ensure I could do them. 215 lb next time.
Bench Press: 100 lb
5/4/4
The fourth rep of the last set shouldn’t count because it just kind of flopped. Military and bench in the same day just aren’t working, so I’m going to switch military press and rows. This means my workouts will be faster as well, with less interference between lifts.
The family has decided my workout time is their workout time is everyone’s workout time, so I was lifting with the brother again. Started punching before lifting as a warmup. My hands are now cut up. It was awesome.
Curls: 30 lb
2x8
I decided this was too much weight after doing it.
Curls: 25 lb
1x8
This was much easier. More reps than weight than.
Pull Ups: 12/8/6
Military Press: 65 lb
7/6/5
Better!
Squats: 155 lb
3x8
This is my complete victory over the world. 165 next! My legs are shaking so hard, it’s ridiculous.
You’re making excellent progress man! Stay the course by any means necessary.
Thanks! Will do.
Took yesterday off because my forearm was fatigued. I’m actually sore from punching the bag. Did it again today, but stopped early because of all the bleeding. Going to let the cuts heal a bit before I start punching again.
Today I taught the girlfriend to lift after I finished. She’s only going twice a week simply because lifting isn’t her primary goal (she wants to lose 10 pounds by February. She’s taking it slow, but she’s done all the research- she has her diet in check and she’s doing the cardio. She’ll probably lose it all quicker.) I’ve set her on the following two day split:
Day 1:
Military
Chin Ups
Squats
Day 2:
Rows
Bench
Squats
I did not include Deadlifts because of her limited schedule. I haven’t taught her Day 2, so I can still replace Squats with Deads if what I’m doing is heresy, but I’d rather her leg work be squats two days then squatting once and deads once. After three months we’ll adjust.
For anyone curious, she ended up doing her military 3x8 with 10 lb dumbbells (she couldn’t do the bar), got 2/1/1 for chins with 70 lbs assistance, and managed to squat the bar for 3x5. She’s not obese- 140 lb at 5’4"ish. Just not very strong, and I’m sure her boobs made those chin ups harder.
Now for me
Back Raises: 20 lb
3x10
I don’t do back raises on this day, but both of the benches were taken so I did them to waste time. I did some extra punching to keep my heart rate up.
Shrugs: 225 lb
3x20
Easier than I thought they’d be
Calf Raises: 295 lb
3x20
Really feeling them now
Rows: 45 lb
10/8/8
Waiting until 10/10/10 or 12/12/12 before raising the weight. Going to try 50 lb again next week, but if I can’t I’ll just aim for 10/10/10 or 12/12/12 depending.
Bench Press: 100 lb
5/5/3
Awful. I was exhausted though, since I was doing more punching and such to keep my heart rate up and it was my last lift. I ended up having to wait a while before even getting a chance on the thing so I’m not completely surprised, but I’m definitely frustrated.
My eating is subpar, so I’m going to try to up it. I have the house to myself for a week so I’ll see how far I can go. I may have lost some weight, since I couldn’t eat much last week due to my tooth, so I’m aiming for 122.5-122.3 lb again. Hopefully I can go further. I’m a little angry because my squat’s up at 165 lb while progressing and my bench is stalled at 100 lb. I might lower the weight and work on my form, I may be cheating too much on the bench.
Something I didn’t note down before. I’m fairly certain I popped my pelvis back into proper position on Monday. The pain is almost completely eliminated, and any pain I do get in my lower back is duller, quicker, and can affect either side. I’m going to go back to deadlifting when I’m back raising 50 lb, since it hits the exact place where I felt my pelvis fucking up. I really miss deadlifts, I want to break that 175 lb lift I set for myself. Want to rip the callouses off with the weight. So I’m going to try to do the back raises more often. Never if they’re sore or if I’m in pain, but I’ll aim for 2-3 a week rather than 1-2 a week as I’m doing now.
Back Raises: 20 lb
3x10
Saw a larger guy doing these with only 25 lb. I’m beginning to think aiming for a 50 lb back raise is a bit obscene, so I’ll just reduce it to when I both have no pain, can feel my pelvis in the proper position, and can back raise at least 25 lb comfortably. I’m going to do some research on this.
Pull Ups: 15/12/10
I’m going to start adding weight to these with a belt, from 5 lbs up. Anything more than 10 pull ups on my first set will add 5 lb.
Military Press: 65 lb
8/8/6
Fuck! So close. Doing better today though.
Squats: N/A
I didn’t forget. That’s not it. I put on 165 lb and started to squat. I didn’t fail. I wasn’t unsatisfied with my ROM either (my squats start with a bad ROM but get to a proper one by the third rep of the first set.) Rather, I was slouching in my seat while parking and accidentally bumped into another car while trying to park. Not very quickly, didn’t set off an alarm or anything, but I bumped up right next to a place on my car that’s already a bit brown from all the wear and tear that we’ve had it (it’s almost as old as I am, my dad’s been driving it for a long time.) I thought I ended up doing much more damage than I actually did (removed some paint) but I didn’t know that until after squatting. This is relevant.
I’ve been angry after work for maybe two weeks now (I lift a couple hours after work) and so today I was burning out. Bumping into that car made it worse and rather than get angry at things I just got more upset. So, when I was squatting, I began to doubt if I could do all the reps, or even five of the reps. I knew instinctively I could but I also knew I wasn’t going to be able to give it my all with the way my mind was set, and I wanted to inspect my car closer so my head wasn’t there. So I stopped. Should I have kept going? Maybe. Probably. I love squats, I hate not doing them. But I know that I would have done them really shitty had I stayed and put myself in a worse mood. Lifting is really mental for me, I advance because I push myself farther than I probably should and go for that one extra rep even if I feel like it’ll kill me, and so if I don’t have that mentality I don’t think I’ll have the drive or ability to push myself and grow. I’m going to eat, cheer myself up, recover, and tackle the challenge when I’m ready.
Went with the girlfriend today. Rows/Bench/Squats. Except, here’s the thing, she can’t bench the bar. She can, but not for many reps. I put her on the bar on the smith machine, but that was too easy for her. So I’m having her do Triceps Pushdowns for the time being, since I wasn’t going to put her on skullcrushers until she’d lifted some more. Mostly because I consider bench a triceps exercise much more than a chest one and thought it’d be more useful for preparing her to bench. She’s going to move on to bench after a few weeks of the triceps work.
Boxing was fun, bled from the same little knick in my finger (it mostly healed but now it’s open again.) It doesn’t hurt this time though, and I figured it’s because I hit with my middle finger first and it ends up taking a lot of the damage.
Calf Raises: 310
Couldn’t get the smith machine because some PT was using it, so I did this on one of those shitty horizontal leg presses that only goes up to 310. The gym was packed today, I didn’t get a chance on the smith until later. Did you know there’s no shrug machine at our gym? There are three leg presses- two horizontal and one vertical, two to three ab/sit up machines, two to three leg extensions, three to four shoulder, incline, chest, and “wide” pressing variation machines, two bicep curl machines, a little stand for back curls, two for dips and one assisted chin/pull/dip machine, but zero, literally fucking zero, for shrugs. Why? I hate people so much.
As a result I ended up skipping shrugs.
Rows: 50 lb
3x8
BITCHIN’
Bench Press: 100 lb
7/5/6
Didn’t rest enough for the second set. These always start out so much easier than I expect them to, but the difficulty curve tends to spike.
After I finished benching I was asked to spot someone doing two sets with 135 lb. He looked at me, and with a straight face, asked me to spot. Didn’t deem me too weak or incapable. I’ve been having a shitty two weeks but that picked me right up.
And where am I weight wise?
123.5 lbish. I only did one measurement after the workout, because I forgot to weigh myself again.
I’m living on week old food right now, and I ate the meatiest of it. I may have to go shopping tomorrow. That is unfortunate. But I can get fattier food. And maybe teach myself to cook.
Hey man, its really good that you’re being so precise with your log. Can i suggest you start a food log, and then aim for a minimum amount of calories a day. It doesn’t take long to do, i use myfitnesspal.com, you could do it when you update this log!! I made training partner do it, he was stuck at a 155lb, starting logging, and now hes about 180lb (he’s 5’6). Its a great way of holding yourself accountable. How does 3000kcals sound to you? Just a suggestion anyway. I’m jealous of how fast your metabolism is, mines like an elephants!! keep up the good work
That’s a good idea, and I’ve considered it. I’m still in a rough phase though, where I can’t get access to how many calories everything I have is. For example, the food I have at work, the food my mom cooks, etc., I used to jot notes down back at college and it definitely helped me hold myself accountable. It’s fairly obvious my eating’s been suffering as my weight gain has pretty much stopped this summer.
I’ll see if I can figure out a practical way to get a rough estimate though. I signed up for the website and I really like it so far.
3000 cals has worked for me before, and I think it’ll continue to work for me in the future. We’ll see where that takes me.
Tomorrow I wont be able to go to the gym. Today is even a maybe, my car got infested by ants and I have to clean the entire thing. We’ll see how it all works out.
Bicep Curls: 12/6/0
It was while doing them and debating my ROM that I realized that I hated curls and decided that my upper arms are so much bigger than my forearms already that I don’t need to be doing these. So I’m dropping them in favor of back raises altogether. Speaking of which:
Back Raises: 20 lb
15/12/15
Upping to 25 lb next time. Although I had suspected previously that my pelvis was returned I’m sure now that it wasn’t, but it’s okay because my lower back is certainly stronger.
Weighted Pull Ups: 10 lb
12/6/10
A lesson in rest times for sure. Decided I’ll add weight based on the first set- anything more than 10 gets an extra 5 lb as long as I can do more than 5 reps at the increased weight.
Military Press: 65 lb
3x6
You know what was awkward? Realizing that the pump was causing my biceps to get in the way of my typical position for military press and finding out that my hands were too close together after the first set was over.
Squats: 165 lb
8/3/–
My ROM was about an inch off, and my knees almost collided during the first set. Usually my ROM suffers during reps 1 and 2, however now it was almost always bad, and only acceptable for a couple reps later in the first set. I’m going back down to 155 lb and am going to redo 3x8 there, then move to 3x5 here and see if I can strengthen my legs enough with that to pull these off correctly. If not, back to 155 or lower, maintaining form.
add me as a friend on there, christymoen. and as for logging random food, just assume its a supermarket version, would give you a rough estimate!!
Hey, I just found your log.
First of all: Youre making great progress.
Second of all: I made my girlfriend a program too and wanted to offer some advice.
I based hers on 5/3/1 but I think your split works well too. The only thing is I would have her do a lot of technical work especially on squats in order to make sure her form is 100% right. As for your issues with the bench press the solution we found were push-ups. Pretty simple. She started out being able to do 3 and can now do 20 with a lot of effort. On this point I agree with those that recommend being able to move your bodyweight first, comfortably, is a good starting point.
Also remember to tell her that longer distances actually dont work as well as sprints for burning fat.
Again: Great log, Ill make sure to keep following your progress.
Adding you now. I… forgot what I had for breakfast. This is awkward. The battery in my car died (I left it on overnight on accident), so after calling my work I went to bed and… forgot. I did have milk, I always have milk… but that doesn’t help me remember at all.
I’ve heard 5/3/1 works well, but I’m not as familiar with the program as I am Starting Strength. I’m going to research it a bit more and I might put her on it in about three months or so, after this is milked for all it’s worth. The first day after squats was brutal for her, she could barely navigate steps, but she didn’t get this sore this time- despite doing more reps. Hopefully that’ll motivate her to keep aiming for more weight.
I told her your recommendations. I really like the push ups idea, I’m not sure why it didn’t occur to me. It’s such a similar movement. I’ll have her find out how many she can do, and probably move her onto those.
I’m happy that my car died today rather than another day since I have to be at a friend’s for his birthday and I would have had to skip the gym after work anyway. Hopefully it doesn’t limit my gymgoing for the rest of the week.
Turns out my friend’s birthday is tomorrow. Not today. So I walked to the gym and did my routine, because not having a car is not going to stop me.
Calf Raises: 315 lb
3x20
Because I don’t trust the leg press. These are getting brutal.
Shrugs: 245 lb
3x20
Going to stay at this weight, since I don’t think I can do more. I’ll add weight in a week or two.
Bench: 100 lb
8/4/5
Failed the 5th rep on the second set. AND IT STARTED SO EASY. I think I’m having a problem keeping up the pressure in my lats. I’ll practice that.
Rows: 50 lb
3x8
Don’t think I’m ready for 60 lb (the cable only increases by 5 lbs up to 50 lb.) I’ll add reps, or just get better at these.
Tomorrow I wont make it for sure though.
Weight didn’t change, but it’s obvious after tracking my food for a week why. My calorie intake fluctuates between 3K and just over half that depending on on who I’m with. I don’t know if I’ll be able to fix that this week- through no fault of my own, the family is going out on a trip this week and I don’t know what I’m going to have in terms of food options. But I’ll work on it from now on. I’m kind of hoping I get fired so I have more time during the day to eat, trying to cram in 2500 calories in my last five hours or so is incredibly difficult for me.
Back Raises: 20 lb
3x15
I love these things, because I feel like they’re helping with my back.
Pull Ups: 15 lb
12/8/6
The most amazing thing happened. An older man with his two sons was watching me do the pull ups, and then tried to do one himself while getting water. See, I’m still small. And I’m still weak. So having someone imitating me is incredibly flattering. This is the one exercise I consider myself legitimately good at, and that’s probably BECAUSE I’m so small. Next week I’m going for 20 lb. I’m hoping to get to 25 lb without a problem, because the weight looks bigger. Yes, I am that shallow.
Military Press: 65 lb
3x8
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Squats: 55 lb
2/-/-
Fucking awful. I repositioned the bar and recalculated my depth again so I knew I was getting to parallel for certain. The first rep was a warm up. Felt the familiar burn on the second rep, and realized I was still about two inches from the depth I should be hitting. Fucking. Awful. Going back to 135 (only for my ego, to be honest) and trying again with proper depth. If I can’t, I’ll go back down to 125 and try again, reprogressing up. It could just be that today was a bad day, but maybe it wasn’t.
To be honest I should have the deprogression today. I really should have. I bitched out and I hate myself for it. I think it’s because I was getting proud of my squats, and suddenly just lost that. I’ll try harder.
For those curious, my girlfriend has added 20 lb to her squat (she plans on doing 3x8 for 65 lb on Thursday, after only getting 8/6/6 today- she stopped because her form was slacking), lost 4 lb, and over tripled the number of assisted chin ups she can do (she’s lowering the assistance next chance she gets) in the past few weeks. It’s incredibly motivating to watch her progress like that, and she’s loving it.
I’d like to apologize to everyone following this log. I really feel like that the last few weeks have been filled with nothing but my failures and my bitching about it, without putting in the proper effort I need. I can say I’ll try harder, but saying that doesn’t mean anything in and of itself. So I’m going to try to prove it, since so many of you have gone out of your way to help and motivate me along the way. I’m getting stronger, and I forget sometimes that progressing on my lifts doesn’t mean I’m getting bigger too, so I’ll do my best to watch my eating, and hopefully that’ll boost my strength along with it so I can stop whining about my progress.