Swoletron's Road to Swoledom

[Swoletron]

Not sure what’s going on with my picture in my last post? Lame.

Legs (Deadlift Spec) and Biceps

Leg day is always one of my favourites. For me, it’s also got the added bonus of hitting some biceps in there as well. I love to squat, and I love to deadlift… so it’s really like the ultimate day for me. Especially with this new Indiana Jones cut off. Ohhh sheeeit.
Did my deadlift warmup with some extra special attention paid to loosening up my hips. Each pull in my warmup deadlift sets went really smoothly. No sticking points or anything. By the time I had to deadlift 370, I could tell my grip was going to be one of the limiting factors. Like I learned from the few previous deadlift sessions, I didn’t want to let go of the bar once I started. If I needed a second to breathe, I was just going to squeeze the shit out of the bar. It definitely helped. 2/3 reps in I wanted to rest for a second, but I told myself I was going to hold on. The third one went up slow, but it went up. There’s 370 for three without a belt. I should probably weigh myself soon to figure out that body weight ratio.

I opted to drop leg press in favour of mid-box squatting again today. I’m really loving this, to be honest. I went from starting with a few sets of 135 on an inch and a half off the box up to 285 3" above the box. It’s a totally cool experience though because I’m not finding the weight heavier or crushing as I add more to the bar… All that happens is my initial motion off the box is a bit slower but I can still snap the bar. Pumped to see where this will take me.

Annnnd because it’s a Saturday night, I decided I’d get some extra bicep sets in. Mr-Indiana-Jones-Cutoff needed to get put to use, so I got a filthy pump going on before I hit the stair master to cry.

Conventional Deadlifts
2 x 5 @ 135
2 x 3 @ 225
1 x 3 @ 265
1 x 3 @ 285
1 x 3 @ 325
1 x 3 @ 370

Mid-Box Squat
2 x 5 @ 135
2 x 3 @ 225 3 seconds at top, 3 seconds at bottom
2 x 3 @ 245 3 seconds at top, 3 seconds at bottom
2 x 3 @ 265 3 seconds at top, 3 seconds at bottom
1 x 3 @ 285 ** Accidentally destroyed my wrist wraps after this, but I was probably done anyway.

Walking Lunges
3 x 6 @ 90 Superset with dumbbell curls.

Dumbbell Curls
4 x 6 @ 40

Laying Hamstring Curls
2 x 8 @ 100 Superset with dumbbell hammer curls.

Hammer Curls
4 x 6 @ 40

Rope Curls
3 x 8 @ 30 Superset with reverse EZ bar curls.

Reverse EZ Bar Curls
4 x 8 @ 50

Stairmaster
10 Minutes @ Slow Pace

[Swoletron]

Shoulders and Triceps Variation A

After spending yesterday in Niagara with my two close buddies and my one buddy’s fiance for his birthday, today was time to get back in the gym hard. I had a full on shoulder assault to try and build up some massive boulders. I was quite pleased with how tonight went.

I started off variation A of tonight like I usually do: Arnold presses to warm up my shoulders and then right into seated dumbbell press. The first set of 8 actually did’t feel like I was about to die, so I went with it. Next set was 7 and then I followed that up with 6. Still hoping to hit 3x8 on that. I wanted to lead up with french press next, but there were no benches I could leverage for it, so I went right to close grip bench.

Now while this wasn’t the order I planned on doing these, I should probably just give it up and stick to this. I wanted to get close grip bench in earlier in my workouts to really focus on compound movements early on in the workouts yet here I was trying to go against it. Lesson learned. I nailed out 6 sets of 5 at 135 (not heavy or anything) but my triceps felt great. Later on when I hit French press I didn’t go heavy on that, but my triceps were on fire as I squeezed out each rep. Again, I’m really glad I went in this order.

I took some time to focus on holding my standing military press at awkward points in the ROM to practice for when I go to hit some PRs. I’m hoping that by training in my sticking points on “off” days for this lift that I can make some big improvements. The result of that for tonight? My shoulders were smoked. Holding the bar at eye level, at lock out, and right above my chest just so happens to ignite every muscle in my shoulders.

Seated Dumbbell Press
1 x 5 @ 45 Warmup with some arnold pressing with light weight before this
1 x 5 @ 55
1 x 8 @ 65
1 x 7 @ 65
1 x 6 @ 65

Close Grip Bench
6 x 5 @ 135

Standing Military Press
2 x 8 @ bar Superset with bent over rear delt dumbbell flyes
2 x 5 @ 65 3 second hold in front of eyes
2 x 3 @ 85 3 second hold in front of eyes
1 x 3 @ 105 Full reps

Bent Over Rear Delt Dumbbell Flyes
5 x 8 @ 20

Reverse Pec Deck
1 x 10 @ 85
2 x 8 @ 85

French Press
3 x 10 @ 50 Slow and controlled reps. Burns like crazy.

Rope Pulldowns
1 x 12 @ 22.5
2 x 10 @ 25

2 Hand Cable Pressdowns (Overhand)
3 x 12 @ 40 Superset over and under and rear delt cables

Constant Tension 2 Hand Cable Pulldowns (Underhand)
3 x 8 @ 35

Bent Over Rear Delt Cable Flyes
3 x 6 @ 12

Assisted Dip Pressdowns
3 x 10 @ 70

Stairmaster
15 minutes @ Medium Pace

[Swoletron]

Volume Squatting

So after yesterday, my triceps are just obliterated today. I think the French press is something I’ll be sticking to. I was pumped to hit my squatting session tonight. I was warming up at home on the chair again and made sure my hips were nice and loose… But I haven’t sweat so much in a long time.

Deficit pulls went well. I’m not sure if I should be sticking to the same thing there, mixing it up, adding weight… or what really. I guess things are still improving without changing that, so I’ll leave it for now. I decided tonight I’d up the pyramid some more by dropping a set of 165 and bumping that up to 185 for another top working set. That put me above the 22000 lbs mark at 22150. I’m absolutely psyched about that. By the end of this phase, I’ll have to see if the additional volume is actually harming my squatting or not, but I’ve been piling on more and more volume for a while now, and I haven’t seen my squatting get negatively impacted yet. Maybe I’m oblivious to something else that’s getting worse as a result.

I hit biceps again between almost every single set of 10 squats. Someone wanted my straight bar (I guess it looks like I’m squatting and not curling at all) so I let them take it. The 60 lbs straight bar was open for grabs, so I thought it’d be cool to mix a tiny bit heavier for a couple reps shorter with the rest of my bicep work tonight. I finished up legs with a handful of sets of front squat triples at 135 and some iso holds. Starting to wonder if I can get more practice front squatting too. Maybe I’ll end up trading the deficit pulls for some front squatting at some point, so I’ll keep that in mind.

Conventional Deadlifts
2 x 5 @ 135 Warming up the legs
1 x 3 @ 225

Conventional Deadlifts - 1.5" Deficit
1 x 3 @ 225

Conventional Deadlifts - 3" Deficit
2 x 3 @ 225

Back Squats
2 x 3 @ 135 Extensive hamstring and hip stretching in between most sets.
1 x 10 @ 135
1 x 10 @ 165
8 x 10 @ 185
1 x 10 @ 165
2 x 10 @ 135

Straight Bar Curls
8 x 10 @ 50 Did these after most squat sets.
4 x 8 @ 60

Front Squats
3 x 3 @ 135 3 second isometric hold at bottom. Superset with reverse EZ bar curls.

Reverse EZ Bar Curls
3 x 8 @ 50

Ab Wheel
3 x 8 @ Bodyweight

Weighted Situps
3 x 10 @ 13.3

[Swoletron]

Chest and Back Variation B

Tonight I tossed the fat bar into the mix for my incline work. Why? Well, of the two incline bench setups in my gym only one had a bar and it happened to be a fat bar. I wasn’t about to go tidy up after someone else, so I said f*ck it. I’ll rock the fat bar for my chest workout.

As I was ramping up a bit to get to my work sets, I could tell the bar was a bit of a different dynamic. Either the bar was a bit heavier or it was placing some different stresses on my chest and forearms. Maybe both. Anyway, I recalled that 175 was too heavy from last time, so I decided to do 5x5 at 170. Except… After two sets of that I was slowing down a lot. 165 for the last few sets and I was good to go.

My rowing work was insane tonight. Performance wise, my dumbbell rows weren’t anything out of the blue. I was absolutely drenched with sweat after 5 sets of rowing, but that’s borderline normal for me. I decided I’d do my barbell rows without straps tonight, and it made a crazy difference. But it was a positive change, which I actually didn’t expect. Since the weight I use isn’t that heavy, I guess the smaller diameter on the bar let me squeeze it harder which activated my back more (versus leveraging the straps for fake grip strength). I think I’ll stick to strapless rows until the weight builds up.

Incline Bench
3 x 3 @ 135 All sets with fat bar… I think it weighs 5 more lbs but I’m not accounting for that
2 x 3 @ 155
2 x 3 @ 170
3 x 3 @ 165

Flat Dumbbell Press
1 x 10 @ 70
1 x 9 @ 70
1 x 8 @ 70

Dumbbell Rows
5 x 8 @ 80

Barbell Rows (Overhand)
3 x 6 @ 135

Barbell Rows (Underhand)
3 x 8 @ 135

Cable Rows
3 x 8 @ 42.5

Chest Supported T-Bar Row Wide
1 x 8 @ 45
2 x 8 @ 70

Chest Supported T-Bar Row Close
2 x 6 @ 90

Pec Deck
3 x 10 @ 115

Stairmaster
10 minutes @ Medium Pace

[Lift_and_Eat]

Maybe we should call you crazy horse?

I go on & off with straps for rows, depending on how things feel. Like if I’ve already fried my forearms on the prev exe or gone up in weight, or I can feel my arms doing too much of the work. Atm I’m not using them for barbell, but am using them for heavier DB sets as I feel it more in my back that way.

[Swoletron]

Not sure if I mentioned it on here (I track my logs on my own website, so maybe it was there) but I never really did barbell rows before. I’m not even sure why. I’ve always done pullups, back work with cables, dumbell rows, and t-bar rows. Basically everything except barbell rows.

It was kind of stupid for me to start integrating them and automatically assume I should use straps to avoid grip issues… I’ll definitely be switching to what you just said there. Don’t rock the straps until I have a reason to actually use them. I was just shocked that it was actually BETTER without straps.

I love my horse mask.

[Swoletron]

Legs (Box Squat Spec) and Biceps

I was pretty pumped today at work when my delivery arrived. I knew exactly what it was when I saw it on my desk. My new Swoletron shirt and shorts. Boom. I’ve recycled all of my old crappy American Eagle and Hollister garbage into gym clothes and I’ve been abusing them for a solid year now. It was time I made a purchase and I’m psyched with how it turned out. Legs was going to be awesome tonight.

Tonight was box squatting night, and I’ve been looking forward to this for a while. The unfortunate news is that legs didn’t go half as awesome as I had planned. I think the extra volume from last volume squatting leg day actually caught up to me for tonight, but I’ not one for excuses. I still gave it my all. I had some ramping sets to get up near 315, and I was hoping to get a single at 325 and then 335 on the mid box. My last measured 1RM is belted 335 on the low box, so I figured I should totally be able to get on the mid box for an unbelted single at 335. I didn’t have it today though. Once I walked 325 out, I was practicing my breathing with the weight on my back (which, by the way, is totally helping my confidence), but even with a bit of movement in my legs I could tell I was likely to get pinned. It was a bit of a bummer.

I took the opportunity to walk some heavier weight out of the rack with no intention of squatting it. The difference between 325 and 365 was absolutely insane. 365 didn’t quite have that crushing sensation I’ve described in the past, but the feeling of the bar on my traps felt like it was digging right into my flesh. That was a totally new experience for me. I have a feeling that even if my legs were strong enough to squat 365, the rest of my body would be saying nope.

So tonight’s session for legs didn’t go as planned, but there’s always silver lining. I had my new swole swag, so I decided I’d make up for my lackluster legs experience and absolutely crush some biceps and forearms. I was definitely happy with that.

Box Squats
4 x 3 @ 135 There’s hamstring, quad, and hip stretching throughout these sets. Every single rep is done explosively (enough to hear the bar/plats clack).
3 x 3 @ 225 First set no boost, second set 1.5" boost, third set 3" boost
1 x 3 @ 265 This and the remaining sets have a 3" boost and 3 second hold top/bottom
1 x 3 @ 285
1 x 3 @ 295
1 x 1 @ 315 ** Only a single, but last time I didn’t hold
1 x 0 @ 325 ** Just walked it out
2 x 0 @ 365 ** Just walked it out
2 x 3 @ 275 3" boost, 3 second hold top/bottom

Stiff Leg Deadlifts
1 x 6 @ 135 Dumbbell curls between these sets.
1 x 6 @ 155
2 x 6 @ 165

Dumbbell Curls
4 x 6 @ 40

Front Squats
3 x 3 @ 135 Iso hold at bottom. Hammer curls between these sets.
1 x 1 @ 155 Iso hold at bottom.
1 x 1 @ 175 Iso hold at bottom.
1 x 1 @ 185
1 x 1 @ 195

Hammer Curls
5 x 6 @ 40
2 x 6 @ 40

Reverse EZ Bar Curls
3 x 8 @ 50 Superset with close-grip spider curls

Close Grip Spider Curls
3 x 6 @ 50

Seated Hamstring Curl
3 x 8 @ 100 Superset with 1 arm preacher curls

1 Arm Machine Preacher Curls
3 x 6 @ 45

Machine Preacher Curls
3 x 6 @ 65

Quad Extensions
1 x 20 @ 50
1 x 15 @ 50

[Swoletron]

Shoulders and Triceps Variation B

Forgot to post this last night… Last night’s shoulder session was killer. After my first working set of military press I didn’t think I’d make it through the remaining 7. They got easier about half way through, which definitely saved me. My shoulders were on fire by the end of the workout, but that’s certainly not a complaint.

I started my military press sets by ramping up to my working weight with some triples. I was stretching my shoulders out by leaning on the rack in different ways and placing some tension on my shoulders from different angles. I find between that and leaning on the bar with my arms spread wide that I can get reasonably limber before firing off my heavy sets. When I did my first triple set at 130, I thought I was going to be doomed. It was hard. But I took my rest and did another set and it wasn’t any harder. By around set 4 or 5 the sets actually got easier. My guess is that despite thinking my shoulders were loosened/warmed up that they actually weren’t. I’ve seen a similar thing in the past where I do all of my working sets, do some shrugs, and then suddenly I can redo my whole military press training. Something to pay attention to at least.

I kept the close grip benching early on in the workout like I said I was going to. Totally awesome feeling slowly lowering the bar low on your chest and feeling all of the tension build up in your triceps. I used to do dips a lot (more recently found they bother my shoulders more than I care for) but they provided the same tension on my triceps that I’m achieving now. That’s definitely a positive discovery for me.

Got a shot up of my new Swoletron shirt. It looked like a definite smedium when I took it out of the package, but it fit perfectly. Not a dress and not a smedium. Really pleased with how it turned out.

Swoletron out.

Standing Military Press
2 x 6 @ Bar
2 x 3 @ 65
2 x 3 @ 95
1 x 3 @ 115
8 x 3 @ 130

Snatch Grip Barbell Shrugs
3 x 8 @ 135 Super sets of the lateral dumbbell raises between all these sets

Barbell Shrugs
2 x 8 @ 225

Lateral Dumbbell Raises
4 x 6 @ 25

Standing Military Press
2 x 3 @ 65 From eye level. 3 second hold at top and bottom of ROM. Superset with upright plate rows.
2 x 3 @ 85
4 x 6 @ 85 Partial ROM up to top of head.

Upright Plate Rows
5 x 6 @ 35

Close Grip Benchpress
6 x 5 @ 135

2H Overhand Cable Pushdown
3 x 12 @ 42.5 Superset with underhand cable pulldowns.

2H Constant-Tension Cable Underhand Pulldown
3 x 8 @ 35

Rope Pulldowns
3 x 12 @ 25

Stairmaster
10 minutes @ Medium Pace

[Swoletron]

Volume Squatting

Volume squatting on a Saturday is all kinds of fun. During the week I feel a bit rushed, but on a weekend if I don’t have any plans I workout completely stress free. Annnnnd it’s a sweet excuse to get a bit more bicep and core work in. The pretty muscles need some attention too.

The pyramid with 185 is going really well. Not long ago I had got to 10x10 at 175 and then had to go for surgery. That week of recovering from surgery made it really difficult to come back in and hit that much volume. It took less than a month to recover all of that ability to hit the volume I wanted and I’m back to progressing forward.

Next cycle I might even see 190 in my squatting pyramid. It’ll be interesting to see if I slow down on the back squatting volume and the effects that it’ll have on my other lifting. For now, my “heavy” squatting isn’t getting hurt too much (aside from the crazy DOMs days) so I’d like to keep progressing with my volume.

As I mentioned in the opening paragraph, tonight I hit some extra biceps. I’ll leave it up to you, but I personally feel like my biceps are small proportional to the rest of my arm. I feel like I’ve made awesome progress in my triceps and forearms (although, they obviously need to be bigger too, bro) but in comparison I feel like my biceps are lacking. I’m well aware that triceps should take up more mass in your arm, but even with that said, I feel that I got baby biceps.

Conventional Deadlifts
2 x 5 @ 135 Warming up the legs
1 x 3 @ 225

Conventional Deadlifts - 1.5" Deficit
1 x 3 @ 225

Conventional Deadlifts - 3" Deficit
2 x 3 @ 225

Back Squats
2 x 3 @ 135 Extensive hamstring and hip stretching in between most sets.
1 x 10 @ 135
1 x 10 @ 165
8 x 10 @ 185
1 x 10 @ 165
2 x 10 @ 135

Straight Bar Curls
12 x 8 @ 60 Did these after most squat sets.

Front Squats
1 x 3 @ 135 3 second isometric hold at bottom. Superset with reverse EZ bar curls.
2 x 3 @ 155

Reverse EZ Bar Curls
3 x 8 @ 50

2 Hand Cable Curls
3 x 10 @ 30 Superset with rope curls

Rope Curls
3 x 10 @ 25

Situps
3 x 15 @ Bodyweight Superset with leg raises

Leg Raises
3 x 8 @ Bodyweight

Ab Wheel
3 x 6 @ Bodyweight

[Swoletron]

Chest and Back Variation A

To start this off, you’re probably wondering about the chicken. That’s some maple syrup chicken. Totally legit and tastes like heaven. Try it out. It helped fuel my chest and back workout tonight, so that coupled with way too much sleep last night made for a killer chest and back session.

In true Swoletron fashion, I set out to the gym tonight with the goal of lifting heavier than last time for this workout. I was able to hit 2 triples at 205 on bench and 2 at 210. I was determined to do better. When I started ramping on bench tonight, my chest felt great. It was going to be a good session. I did my first working set at 205 and knew that I could do the 210 triples. So I did the remaining 3 at 210, which is one more set than last time at 210. Just to prove to myself I had more in my chest for going heavy tonight, I tried a single at 215 after all of that. No problem. This cycle is going to be the time I bench 230. I know it.

After blasting my chest on flat bench and incline dumbbells, I crushed some pullups. I’ll need to think about setting goals for these as well, so this cycle is 50 reps. Maybe next cycle is 55 total or some sort of pyramid scheme. I’ll have to think about it. I’d like to stick to sets of no more than 6ish since that seems to be the magic comfortable number. I could probably do a set or two at 10+, but over time it nags on my joints in a really awful way.

Finished up the session with some straight arm lat pulldowns which I’m trying to learn to love. I see a lot of people doing these now to really isolate their lats. Although, I also see a lot of total idiots doing this too and probably isolating nothing but their stupidity… so, if I can’t get out of it what I’d like then I’ll drop it. It’s just an accessory move for me, so I won’t cry about it.

Bench Press
2 x 8 @ Bar
2 x 3 @ 135
1 x 3 @ 165
1 x 3 @ 185
1 x 3 @ 195
1 x 3 @ 205
3 x 3 @ 210
1 x 1 @ 215 Just testing it out. Pretty easy.

Incline Dumbbell Press
3 x 10 @ 70

(Super) Wide Grip Pullups
5 x 6 @ Bodyweight
4 x 5 @ Bodyweight

Overhand Barbell Rows
3 x 6 @ 135

Underhand Barbell Rows
3 x 8 @ 155

Bench Press
10 x 10 @ 105 3 sets super wide, 3 sets wide, 3 sets medium, 1 set narrow.

Close Grip DD Handle Cable Pulldowns
3 x 6 @ 130

Straight Arm Lat Pulldown
3 x 10 @ 37.5

Stepper Mill
10 minutes @ Medium Pace

[Swoletron]

Legs (Deadlift Spec) and Biceps

Today was an all around awesome day. I have a ton of vacation days accumulated for work that I needed to start taking, so today was one of those. I went with a bunch of my colleagues for sushi at lunch, stuffed my face to oblivion, and then came back home for a two hour nap. After drinking around 4 liters of water and getting another meal in, I was ready for tonight’s deadlifting session. Sushi + nap + caffeine + ephedrine => unstoppable force.

I was feeling pretty limber getting into the gym, which is always nice on a leg day. Nothing worse than being tight… when it comes to leg day, that is. I was pumped up since today is the day I test my one rep max. 390 was the target. I downed my caffeine, took a bit of ephedrine (which I like to treat myself to when I test 1 rep maxes), and cranked the heavy metal. All of my warmup sets were easy. Even my first two work sets were easy. When it came time for 390, I took a while to pump myself up. I was worried that my grip would be a limiting factor, or that I’d hesitate right before pulling and throw the whole thing off. I got my song of choice, strutted up to the bar, and yanked up 390 like it was nothing. Okay, I’m talking it up, but still. Because I didn’t hesitate my grip stayed strong and the motion was continuous the whole way. It felt awesome.

As I’ve been doing the rest of this phase, I followed up deadlifts with some “heavy” box squats. I’ve really been practicing my technique like I was told to, so my face doesn’t move forward or backward as I descend to the box. I’m able to comfortably sit 255 down to the lowest box and hold it there now. Before would have been a touch and go even a bit over 225. Adding an inch and a half to the box still keeps it right under parallel for me, but that makes an insane difference for my confidence with the weight on my back.

As you can see, tonight I went pretty light and easy on the biceps. It’s one of the great parts about not having a huge bicep workout scheduled in. I toss in biceps pretty frequently now, but if I need to neglect them entirely on a day, I don’t feel like I’m missing out. The sets I did felt totally awesome with the last bit of my ephedrine. Totally in the zone cranking out some curls. Hoping I even impressed one of my gym girlfriends tonight too. I saw her lookin’. I guess you could say things are getting pretty serious, bro.

Conventional Deadlifts
2 x 5 @ 135
2 x 3 @ 225
1 x 3 @ 265
1 x 5 @ 305
1 x 3 @ 350
1 x 1 @ 390 Unbelted. Easy.

Box Squat
2 x 5 @ 135
2 x 3 @ 225
2 x 3 @ 245
1 x 2 @ 255
1 x 2 @ 275 1.5" added to the box

Walking Lunges
3 x 6 @ 90 Superset with dumbbell curls.

Dumbbell Curls
4 x 6 @ 35

Leg Extensions
2 x 18 @ 50 Superset with dumbbell hammer curls.
2 x 14 @ 50

Hammer Curls
4 x 8 @ 35

Stairmaster
10 Minutes @ Medium Pace

[Swoletron]

Shoulders and Triceps Variation A

Low carb days… They suck. There’s basically nothing good about a low carb day. And I always line them up with my least demanding days: shoulders + triceps. Blah. Tonight’s session was solid though, so I can’t complain. Energy levels down, but going from 100 lbs of sushi to protein shakes all day is painful.

Started off the session doing some arny presses to warm up my shoulders and then right into seated shoulder press. Definitely in the zone today and got pretty close to nailing all three working sets at 8 reps. So close. I’ll take the improvement though. I’d only be confident upping the weight on this movement once I can nail down 3x8 for an entire cycle. Otherwise, I’m just jumping the gun for no good reason.

Followed up my shoulder press with some close grip bench. I fired off three sets with only a plate on and really tried to control it on the way down. Get that solid tricep burn going as the bar is lowered. I decided I’d try going a bit heavier today, so for the next three sets I tacked on a few more pounds each time. Worked up to 170, but I had to drop down to a triple for that, so I figured it was a good time to call it quits there.

The rest of the workout was just some various shoulder and tricep work after my french pressing. Really liking the french press, but I have a feeling it’s going to drive my elbows crazy… Probably worth swapping that out after a few sessions. I’ll keep my eyes open though.

Seated Dumbbell Press
1 x 5 @ 45 Warmup with some arnold pressing with light weight before this
1 x 5 @ 55
1 x 8 @ 65
1 x 8 @ 65
1 x 7 @ 65

Close Grip Bench
3 x 5 @ 135
1 x 5 @ 155
1 x 5 @ 165
1 x 3 @ 170

Standing Military Press
2 x (3 + 3 + 3) @ 65 3 full ROM, 3 eye to top (3 second iso hold), 3 partial reps
2 x (3 + 3 + 3) @ 85 3 full ROM, 3 eye to top (3 second iso hold), 3 partial reps
2 x 3 @ 105 full ROM

French Press
3 x 8 @ 60

Rope Pulldowns
1 x 20 @ 25 Superset with face pulls
1 x 10 @ 30
1 x 12 @ 25
1 x 10 @ 30 Another burst of tricep energy from nowhere

Face Pulls
3 x 10 @ 35

2 Hand Cable Pressdowns (Overhand)
3 x 10 @ 50 Superset over and under

Constant Tension 2 Hand Cable Pulldowns (Underhand)
3 x 8 @ 35

Bent Over Rear Delt Cable Flyes
3 x 10 @ 12.5

Cable Row Machine
3 x 8 @ 70 Hands facing outward to help target upper back

Stairmaster
10 minutes @ Slow Pace

[Swoletron]

Volume Squatting

Another freaky back squatting volume night. I’m always looking to one up myself though… so how could I possibly improve upon the last back squatting session with a big ol’ pyramid? Easy. Increase the width of the top of the pyramid. Easier said than done, I guess.

I knew going into tonight’s squatting session that it was going to be the night I tried to hit more volume. I took up the concept of a pyramid on these days because increasing the work sets by 5 lbs each cycle was starting to take it’s toll. I’d do the sets but feel completely beat up.

Pyramids let me hit even more total volume without focusing too much on the weight of the working set. But… well… tonight I wanted to get closer to a true 10x10 at 185. So I went from 8 sets to 9 at 185. My shirt gained about 3 lbs of water weight, and my legs liquefied. Holy hell.

Still hitting that bicep volume like I’ve been aiming to do this cycle. Didn’t go nuts with extra exercises tonight (it’s a work night and I don’t want to be up until midnight crushing biceps and feeling like death tomorrow morning). I also tried doing the exact same ab routine as last time and my abs were on fire before leaving the gym. I decided I’d repeat this ab workout because last time my abs were cramped for two days after. It seems like barely any ab work, but after that much squatting, if your abs aren’t already toasted… You’ve either got sweet ass abs, or you have no idea what the hell you’re doing.

Conventional Deadlifts
2 x 5 @ 135 Warming up the legs
1 x 3 @ 225

Conventional Deadlifts - 1.5" Deficit
1 x 3 @ 225

Conventional Deadlifts - 3" Deficit
2 x 3 @ 225

Back Squats
2 x 3 @ 135 Extensive hamstring and hip stretching in between most sets.
1 x 10 @ 135
1 x 10 @ 165
9 x 10 @ 185
2 x 10 @ 135

Straight Bar Curls
12 x 8 @ 60 Did these after most squat sets.

Front Squats
1 x 3 @ 135 3 second isometric hold at bottom. Superset with reverse EZ bar curls.
2 x 3 @ 155

Reverse EZ Bar Curls
4 x 8 50

Situps
3 x 15 @ Bodyweight Superset with leg raises

Leg Raises
3 x 8 @ Bodyweight

Ab Wheel
3 x 6 Bodyweight

[Swoletron]

Chest and Back Variation B

Tonight was an unusual chest and back workout… but for a good reason. I’m going to call him my “mentor”, but this guy Sam I’ve referred to before was in at the gym. I feel like I go into sponge mode whenever I get a chance to talk to him, so half of my workout tonight was dropped because I was just trying to absorb as much knowledge as possible form him. I work pretty hard in the gym, so I don’t feel like I’m sacrificing my training for an occasion like this. Quite the opposite.
Tonight I finally got a chance to do 5x5 for incline bench, and nailed down each set at 170. As I expected, 170 was a solid number to do this with. I wasn’t using a fat bar either, so this was much much easier for me to do compared to when I tried out the fat bar last time for my chest. It was still challenging, but it was a realistic goal. I move from this directly into flat dumbbell press and hit that surprisingly well too. I found the first set of 10 was actually very very easy. The next set was really hard to hit 10, and the third was hard to hit 8. An interesting sort of “volume wall” that I hit.

When I had started doing dumbbell rows, I noticed my mentor. I quickly seized the opportunity to start chatting with him. I’ve spoken to him about squatting/deadlifting and my chest related training, but never about shoulders and military pressing. Because my 1RM test for military press will be coming up in the not too distant future, I felt like it was a good time to hit him up.

Sam had points out that the shelf I create when I military press is my chest instead of my shoulders. He was showing me how to keep my spine much more neutral and use my shoulders as a shelf instead of my chest. I knew I was doing it this whole time, but never really thought to “correct” it. He also pointed out some mobility issues in and around my shoulders and lats. In order for me to get my shoulders far enough forward, I basically instantly cramp up doing it. The other result of this is that instead of my elbows being brought up in front of me, they actually remain pointed down. I’m expecting to get a lot more shoulder recruitment compared to tricep now when I military press. Definitely excited to try this out.

The second thing we went over was my grip when pressing. I’ve taken up a thumbless grip on most pressing movements, and I told him that I found it more comfortable once I switched. And then he pointed out the obvious. I’m simply just putting a bandaid on the problem and not actually solving it. I find my thumbless grip helps my shoulders and wrists? Sure, but if my shoulders, elbows, and wrists were more flexible, would I have needed to switch my grip? He’s proven to me that having hip and hamstring flexibility can do wonders for my squat, so… I completely believe him when it comes to flexibility and improving technique. Just another thing to try.

(Pretty lengthy post… holy…) The NEXT unique thing about this workout is that I used chains tonight. I wanted to try this out after I talked to a gym pal the other day about it. I didn’t even realized we had chains. I’ve wanted to spice up my chest training on this B-variation workout, and I’m not a fan of flye movements. I didn’t want to add any more flye variations. Chains. Perfect. I started hitting some light sets of 5 and moved into heavier and heavier triples. As I’m sitting here typing this, I can feel my chest starting to cramp up. I was amazed at the acceleration I was able to achieve at heavier weights using chains, and I’m hoping this will take my chest and benching to a whole new level.

FINALLY… I put up a side chest shot tonight. I’m not planning on stepping on a stage any time soon (still too much to learn about competing) but the really obvious realization that I had is that I have absolutely no idea how to pose. Even after putting up that picture and watching a couple youtube videos, I can already point out like 10 things I do wrong in general when posing. Even my other pictures where I’m doing front double biceps, I shrug my shoulders up too much. In my side chest, my one arm isn’t up against my body. I’m sure anyone with any posing experience can point out a million more things that are wrong. I’m hoping to try and improve on this starting… immediately.

Incline Bench
2 x 5 @ 135
2 x 3 @ 155
5 x 3 @ 170

Flat Dumbbell Press
2 x 10 @ 70
1 x 8 @ 70

Dumbbell Rows
3 x 8 @ 80

Flat Bench with Chains
3 x 5 @ 95 + 50 Every rep of every set was done exploding from the chest
2 x 5 @ 105 + 50
1 x 5 @ 115 + 50
1 x 5 @ 125 + 50
1 x 3 @ 135 + 50
1 x 3 @ 145 + 50
1 x 3 @ 155 + 50

Barbell Rows (Overhand)
3 x 6 @ 135

Barbell Rows (Underhand)
3 x 6 @ 135

[Swoletron]

Friday night and Saturday I went back to my home town. I got to reconnect with some friends I’ve known since elementary school but haven’t seen in years and some of my other friends that I haven’t seen in months. I didn’t hit a workout on Friday (it was basically directly from work, into the car, and then on the highway) but Saturday was a total throw back.

I’ve never been a competitive person, so I don’t really enjoy sports. For me, grade 9 gym class was the first time I was doing physical activity and actually felt good about doing it. I didn’t give it solid consideration though until I was out of gym class and noticed that I was starting to put on some weight. Before getting fat, I decided I was going to stop it. One of my closest friends to this day was my first lifting buddy and we’d workout in the gym at lunch. He was (and still is) your typical eat-anything-still-have-a-6-pack-and-be-jacked-too, so that was always great motivation for me. I never worked out my legs then, so we’d basically just do chest and arms and then creep on all of the girls.

Saturday was no different. Well, I guess it was a bit different since we were actually hitting legs. I didn’t track my sets/reps/weights, but we crushed some standard back squats, and hit some huge drop sets on hamstring and quad machines. We didn’t get as much volume/variety as I would have liked, but those dropsets destroyed us. It was awesome to be back lifting with my old lifting partner and close friend.

Tonight at the gym will feel lonely now </3… Until I’m too busy absolutely destroying my delts and making mad gains. Obviously.

[Swoletron]

Shoulders and Triceps Variation B

Today wasn’t too different than any other day. I had a low carb day and stuck to it, despite being the least exciting day nutritionally. I had some changes planned for my shoulders and triceps workout today, but I wasn’t expecting ground breaking changes from them. Some additional shoulder stretches that Sam suggested in addition to his tweaks to my grip were things I tried implementing tonight.

I started my shoulder workout by getting a band and strapping it to the rack I’d be military pressing in. I looped my hand through it to and straightened my arm to stretch out my lats and my shoulders. This one is a really awesome stretch to feel your lat and get some extra mobility in your shoulders. I also tried facing away from the rack with my elbow pointed up and my hand pulling on the band to stretch out my shoulders and triceps. I did one of these stretches between every military press set I had on my agenda. I didn’t notice any crazy changes, but I wasn’t really expecting to. I feel like it’s something I’ll need weeks or months to notice. I tried to take a different grip on the bar as well, so instead of going thumbless I actually had a complete grip so I could squeeze the hell out of the bar.

After working my traps and going back to military pressing, I figured instead of getting more volume for my shoulders I’d just practice actually creating a shoulder shelf instead of a chest shelf for pressing. Sam pointed out that when I create my shelf, I’m arching my back a ton to get my chest inflated. As a result, my spine is no longer neutral and I’ll lose the ability to generate force optimally when I’m leaning back like that. It meant that the bar sat a little bit lower down on my body, but I was able to practice holding the bar on my shoulders instead of my chest. Practice, practice, practice.

The other unique thing about tonight’s workout was trying to integrate chains into my close grip bench. I’m not going to lie, when I tried the chains out the other day… I loved it. I figured it would be great for close grip bench because at the bottom of the ROM there’s a lot of stress on my shoulders and elbows, but as I extend to lockout the weight is all sitting on my triceps. This way, when I’m at the bottom of my ROM and the chains are on the ground I can take some stress of my joints but still hammer my triceps. It was pretty cool and I think I might keep integrating this in.

In other news, I wanted to improve on my posing since I know absolutely nothing about it. Another mentor of mine that use to compete in natural competitions a few years back suggested that I get watching Pumping Iron again so that I can get some motivation. I told him that after I watch that, I’ll probably start watching some YouTube posing videos and even take some “before” pics of my poses now. If I take pictures every couple weeks I can point out things I need to improve on. If I decide to get on a stage, I don’t want to realize I need to start learning to pose on top of all of the other things that need to be done… I’d rather be trying to perfect it.

Standing Military Press
2 x 6 @ Bar
1 x 3 @ 65
2 x 3 @ 95
1 x 3 @ 115
8 x 3 @ 130

Snatch Grip Barbell Shrugs
3 x 8 @ 135 Super sets of the lateral dumbbell raises between all these sets
Barbell Shrugs
2 x 10 @ 225

Lateral Dumbbell Raises
5 x 6 @ 25

Standing Military Press
2 x 3 @ 65 Practicing shoulder (not chest) shelf
2 x 3 @ 85

Close Grip Benchpress
3 x 3 @ 135

Close Grip Benchpress with Chains
3 x 3 @ 95 + 50 Supertset with dip machine pressdowns

Assisted Dip Machine Pressdowns
4 x 6 @ 70

Rope Pulldowns
1 x 10 @ 22.5
2 x 10 @ 25

2H Overhand Cable Pushdown
1 x 16 @ 25
2 x 10 @ 25

Reverse Pec Deck
2 x 10 @ 95
1 x 10 @ 85

Stairmaster
15 minutes @ Medium Pace

[Swoletron]

Volume Squatting

Same old same old. Squatting like a bauss again tonight. In spirit of man-crush-mondays, I decided to get a shot up of Arnie and Franco. Had a realization that my close friend and training partner over the weekend and I are a way less developed version of these guys. He’s a tall Austrian-looking guy, and I’m a short Italian guy. Actually, Franco is my exact height.
Squatting session started off great with limbering up and stretching. I started with my deficit deadlifts like usual and then went right into squatting. My first set of 185 felt really heavy, so I was pretty nervous, but I just stuck with it and the squatting didn’t get much harder. I’m not really sure how much more volume I can handle at this point because every time I finish this workout I’m borderline ready to pass out. I love squatting though, so I’m going to take it slow and keep tacking on the volume over time. I’ve gone from barely being able to hit 50 reps at 135 to doing 90 reps at 185 PLUS extra sets of 10 at lower weight. The whole while my heavy squatting hasn’t been negatively impacted.

Some dipshit stole my bar I was curling with part way through my workout when I had my back turned. When I noticed it was him, he wasn’t even using it. Whatever though… Small little twiggy people probably need the weights more than I do, so I was more than happy to drop by 10 lbs and add a couple more reps every set.

I finished up my workout with some different core exercises. These ones are a little tricky to explain, but they both revolve around using one of these inclined sliding seat things. For the crunches, I tossed a 25 lbs plate onto the seat, put my knees onto it, and then crunched it up as I held onto the handles. I superset this movement with a plank where my forearms are on this seat stretched out in front of me. You can even tweak it out a bit by extending your elbows further and getting a crazy burn in your abs. I’m hoping that tossing this variation into the mix will let me hit my abs with some different exercises and keep them all effective.

Conventional Deadlifts
2 x 5 @ 135 Warming up the legs
1 x 3 @ 225

Conventional Deadlifts - 1.5" Deficit
1 x 3 @ 225

Conventional Deadlifts - 3" Deficit
2 x 3 @ 225

Back Squats
2 x 3 @ 135 Extensive hamstring and hip stretching in between most sets.
1 x 10 @ 135
1 x 10 @ 165
9 x 10 @ 185
2 x 10 @ 135

Straight Bar Curls
6 x 8 @ 60 Did these after most squat sets.
6 x 10 @ 50

Front Squats
1 x 3 @ 135 3 second isometric hold at bottom. Superset with reverse EZ bar curls.
2 x 3 @ 155

Reverse EZ Bar Curls
4 x 8 @ 50

Sliding Ab Crunches
5 x 10 @ 25 Superset with planks

Sliding Incline Planks
5 x 20 seconds @ Bodyweight

[Swoletron]

Chest and Back Variation A

Tonight I went into the gym thinking that for my chest and back training I was going to break my bench press record and land at 230 lbs. My chest hasn’t seemed to have gotten any stronger over the past couple of years since I always hit a plateau at 225 for a single. Tonight I was wrong. Tonight I didn’t land at 230. Tonight I smashed my bench plateau by 10 lbs and hit 235 for a single.

I’m not sure what it was tonight, but the stars aligned. From my previous learnings, my max bench day is all about ensuring my joints are loosened up and my chest is primed without hitting too much volume. So instead of ramping tons of triples, I got the bar moving at some low weight so the blood was flowing, and then started taking some bigger steps to ramp. Instead of going 165, 175, 185, 195 etc… I went 135, 170, 195 before I felt like I was going to get into… the danger zone. From there, I said instead of taking away from my max attempt, let’s hit a couple of more sets but do lower reps. So a double, then a single right below my previous max. Now my chest is primed and I don’t feel tired. The single I just performed was easy… So what’s another 15 lbs? Boom. Killed it. Crushed it. Owned it. So what’s another 5 lbs on that? Up, up, and away.

I was actually amazed that my 235 attempt got sticky where it did. Usually for me, the sticking point is right off my chest. That is, I lower it, and then right at the turn around I give up. This time, the bar was half way up before it slowed right down. Maybe the tables have turned and I need to practice my lockout?

So how did I magically make a 10 pound gain on my bench plateau? Did my chest suddenly inflate an extra 10 inches? Did I have sushi at lunch today? Negative. I’m not sure what it was… Aside from the month of training since my last attempt, the only thing I did differently was take Sam’s advice about my grip on the bar. No more thumbless. I squeezed the shit out of the bar with my hands fully around it. No shoulder pain today. No elbow pain. No wrist pain. I just grabbed as hard as I could, stuck my traps in the bench, and pressed the shit out of it.

I felt the rest of my workout went perfectly. I hit all my reps for chest and felt like my pecs would explode after. Can’t ask for more there. My pullups and rowing went well too. My lats are still absolutely messed up from the stretching I did the other day when military pressing. The ONLY thing that didn’t go perfectly was all the stair masters were taken. I had to use a treadmill and cry as I did cardio.

I got another side chest post up today too. I tried squeezing my back arm up against my pec instead of leaving it out in the open. I think there’s still something fishy about the angle I’m hitting it at. I also noticed my phone camera does some funny lighting thing when I move close to it to start the timer and then back up. Sometimes it’s fine and things remain lit properly and other times it seems like it washes things out. This pic was a bit washed out, but obviously I need to drop a ton of body fat and polish the posing before it will look good.

All in all, one of the best chest and back workouts I’ve had in ages.

Bench Press
2 x 6 @ Bar
2 x 3 @ 135
1 x 3 @ 175
1 x 3 @ 195
1 x 2 @ 205
1 x 1 @ 215
1 x 1 @ 230 +5 lbs PR
1 x 1 @ 235 +5 lbs PR

Incline Dumbbell Press
1 x 6 @ 70
1 x 6 @ 75
3 x 5 @ 80

(Super) Wide Grip Pullups
5 x 6 @ Bodyweight
4 x 5 @ Bodyweight

Overhand Barbell Rows
3 x 8 @ 135

Underhand Barbell Rows
3 x 6 @ 135

Bench Press
10 x 10 @ 105 3 sets super wide, 3 sets wide, 3 sets medium, 1 set narrow.

Close Grip DD Handle Cable Pulldowns
3 x 6 @ 130

Treadmill
15 minutes @ Brisk Pace

[Swoletron]

Legs (Deadlift Spec) and Biceps

Today was my once-per-cycle freestyle day focused around deadlifting. I took the opportunity to try out some variations of deadlifting like pulling form a deficit and incorporating chains. I didn’t hit as many exercises as I wanted tonight, but it was still a cool session.

I started off my deadlifting by pulling 135 a few times. From there, I went right into working from a deficit still at 135. After pulling 225 a bit, I figured the next tweak I wanted to make to my deadlifting was adding in chains. Chains are a new tool for me, so I want a chance to see how they can affect different lifts. And the truth? Maybe it’s because they’re only 50 lbs in total when completely off the ground but I actually didn’t notice anything. I was expecting the top half of my pull to be super hard or have it feel like I was hitting a wall on the way up… But no. I got up to 315 + 50 lbs of chains for a triple from a 3" deficit, and that felt good. Maybe for me my weakness is starting the pull, so I’ll have to investigate that more.

After deadlifting, I decided to pay my good old friend the leg press a visit. Instead of using crazy volume with the leg press, my volume squatting days have kind of replaced that. Tonight I felt like it would be fun to do some lighter leg pressing, but crank out more reps. I got in 5 sets of 15, and it was just enough to start to feel a burn on the last couple of reps. I mixed in some EZ bar curls between sets as well. Unfortunately, that was about all I got done tonight.

The big news for me though? I was telling Sam tonight how I hit a new PR last night using his suggestions. One thing led to another and… I’m getting a training consultation tomorrow night. I’ve seen one or two decent personal trainers at commercial gyms in my life, but Sam is completely different. I’ve seen this guy workout for years now before he was a trainer, and he’s always given me small tips that have had a huge impact. I’m thinking that wherever this goes could have an immense impact on my training… I’ll keep you posted.

Conventional Deadlifts
2 x 5 @ 135
1 x 3 @ 135 1.5" Deficit
1 x 3 @ 135 3" Deficit
4 x 3 @ 225 3" Deficit
2 x 3 @ 225 + 50 3" Deficit (chains)
1 x 3 @ 265 + 50 3" Deficit (chains)
1 x 3 @ 315 + 50 3" Deficit (chains)
1 x 1 @ 315 + 50 3" Deficit (chains)
1 x 1 @ 315 + 50 Flat ground (chains)

Box Squat
2 x 5 @ 135
1 x 3 @ 225
1 x 3 @ 225 1.5" added to the box
1 x 3 @ 225 3" added to the box
1 x 3 @ 245 3" added to the box
1 x 3 @ 265 3" added to the box

Leg Press
5 x 15 @ 2 plates per side Superset with EZ bar curls

EZ Bar Curls
7 x 6 @ 70

Stairmaster
10 Minutes @ Medium Pace

[Swoletron]

Personal Training Day 1

Yeah. You read that title right. I bit the bullet and paid way too much for personal training after having worked out for a decade. I bought personal training from a commercial gym. I spent money on personal training when I already know how to lift and I don’t need motivation to get myself to go into the gym. What the hell was I thinking?

Well, I was thinking that instead of being an average guy that works out every day with a 1.5x, 2.0x, and 2.5x bodyweight bench, squat, and deadlift (respectively), I’m going to be above average. I got personal training so that I can be better than that. I don’t need personal training to be strong or pack on muscle, but it was a logical step for me to get to the next level. And I didn’t just buy personal training from some dipshit personal trainer that’s been working out for a month and got their certificate (yes, you, your friends, and a bowl of mashed potatoes can become a personal trainer). I bought personal training with the strongest person I’ve ever met so that I can become the strongest person that I know.

So, tonight I had my first session with Sam. We’re working on correcting my bad habits and resetting my body to a clean slate for Sam to work with. Personal training isn’t going to be one-week-to-a-new-PR. We worked on hip mobility, hamstring mobility, and squatting technique. I learned a lot tonight… Like that I’m a piece of shit when it comes to hip flexibility. Sam also had me doing some planks for core at the end, and I almost never do planks because I’m not sure how low/high to keep my back. Apparently my first guess was spot on, so I can actually safely do these on my own. I did better than I thought would on these, but by my third plank, I was trembling and loosing my mind.

I never thought I would be so humbled by front squatting ~100 lbs or by back squatting 145. I mean, seriously humbled. I was almost stuck getting 145 up on back squat (My last volume squatting nights I was hitting 9 sets of 10 reps at 185 and totaling 22000+ lbs of back squatting volume). And it was all because my hips were actually being used tonight… And they are total pieces of shit.

I’m not going to be posting up my lifts and stuff on my personal training nights in my corrective phase because it doesn’t make sense. It’s not meant for tracking weight lifted etc… Tomorrow isn’t a personal training night so I’ll probably just do a crazy bicep/core/stretching session. My three personal training sessions per week will be legs/push/pull so I’ll need to plan my other days of lifting around it. It’s probably going to mean less squatting volume, but Sam is going to get my squat through the roof by the end of our training together.