“Intelligence without ambition is like a bird with no wings”
-Salvador Dali
Ladies and Gentlemen.
Welcome back to the most anticipated training log in T-nation.
THIS IS THE BIRD CAGE
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I’m in.
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In as well, good to have you back man
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Ill skip the long boring intro.
Most of you old boys know who I am. And I have 5 other training logs for you new kids to read and catch up on.
But in short, Im an ex football (soccer) player, who had retired about 3 years ago and I now lift weights and do some martial arts while I can.
Feel free to take part in my training log in any capacity. Im always open for advice/criticism.
Lets get this party started!
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Sunday, 15th April 2018
Starting a new program to go with the new training log. Im going to run “simple but brutal” for 4-6 weeks. I am in need for a change in my weightlifting program, and thought this would be fun. Hopefully it will get me squatting to a decent level as well.
AM
Workout A
- Usual warm-up including animal crawls, bodyweight squats, push-ups and some speed ball work etc etc.
- Bench press: warmed up to my working sets: 3 sets of 8 x 75kg. (band pull-parts in between sets).
- Back squat: warmed up to 3 sets of 3 x 80kg, and then did my first 20 rep set with 60 kg.
- Chest supported row machine: 3 sets of 12 x 30kg
- Finished off with some hammer curls: 3 x (10 x 12.5kg) and face-pulls: 3 x (12 x 20kg).
notes: Weights were light on purpose, although it was enough of a work-out. I think I will stick to these weights for a few more sessions before I ramp it up. Felt like there was lots of warming-up in this program, but I suppose thats the nature of this particular program
Later today I will probably go down to a BJJ session. BJJ is normally on Tuesday and Thursday evenings, and we do occasional Sunday evening classes.
Stay tuned as I will be soon posting up some pics for progress purposes.
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This is going to be fun. I’m in.
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How do I follow a thread? I have to keep up to date on the bird
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You just did. Once you post in a thread it’ll have any further posts highlighted on the list.
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Definitely in for these shenanigans. Show them 20 reppers whose the boss!
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I might follow, I might not
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Been waiting for this since i saw you mention you’ll be starting a new log. Welcome back!
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I like high rep squats!
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By the way, has your back healed?
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@Destrength: Pretty much yes, although I have to be careful with the back squatting. As you can see I am squatting light weights, to about parallel. I might try and squat a little deeper over the next few weeks although Im going to be very careful about it.
Im not too fussed about squatting big numbers. Im too old to care. If I can manage to squat my body weight for about 5 reps, I will be happy.
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Wednesday, 18th April 2018
PM
Workout B
-Usual warm-up.
- dB incline press: with 20 kg dBs: 3 sets of 22, 15, 15.
- Back squat: ramped up to 3 sets of 3 x 80kg, and then 20 reps with 60 kg.
- Pull-ups: 6, 6, 6, 5, 4, 3
- Dips: 3 sets of 10 reps
- Finished off with some rear belt raises: 3 sets of 12 x 6kg
notes:
Good session. Didn’t feel like going, but a bit of coffee and Ramstein made the difference.
Squats felt good, might increase the weight next session. Will increase the weight to 22.5 kg for the incline. I was meant to hit a total of 50 reps for the pull-ups and dips, but I thought I will ease myself into it. In fact if I manage 50 reps for the pull-ups I will be impressed, but thats the goal.
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I know the feeling! I have only done it once or twice in my whole program, plan to do it on my final day of it to. Just takes so much time for me to recover to do another 6 or 7.
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Friday, 20th April 2018
AM
Workout A
- Usual warm-up
- Bench press: ramped up to 3 working sets of (8 x 80kg). (band-pull-aparts in b/w sets)
- Back squat: ramped up to 2 sets of (3 x 80kg), 1 set of (3 x 90kg), and one set of (20 x 60kg).
- Supersetted 3 sets of; chest supported row (12 x 30kg), and dB incline hammer curls (8 x 15kg)
- Cooled down by hanging rom the pull-up bar.
notes:
Bench press felt heavy.
Squats were ok. I have been squatting to about parallel with a box underneath me to help me with depth. I don’t sit on the box, but I touch it. Instead of increasing the weight next week, I think I will lower the box by a 4-5 cm, which will mean I will be squatting just below parallel. Hopefully this will give me some more glute and hammy involvement, which I am not really feeling at the moment.
The rows were tough. I may even have to decrease the weight.
Injury update:
My left big toe has been sore for about a month now, probably tendonitis or a strain. It has slowly improved, but I think doing BJJ 3 times a week has not exactly helped with its recovery. No BJJ this weekend, so Im hoping by Monday my toe is fully recovered. With the sore toe I can not run, skip rope or attend any boxing classes which I was doing twice weekly before the injury.
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Just trying to stay healthy in general and in shape for BJJ?
@Destrength : Good question. What is my goal exactly?
Im not training for anything in particular. I have no plans to compete on a serious level for BJJ and no plans at all of stepping into the cage.
I just want to be a beast. I want to be stronger, leaner, faster and with skills of a warrior.
I have always found inspiration in superheros as a child, and I think that is what got me interested in lifting in the first place. So I suppose Im trying to be a real life superhero.
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You should give learning gymnastic tricks (muscle ups, front levers, back levers, handstands, etc) a try then. They’re very cool things to be able to do, and you don’t have to be a big guy/go through a lot of joint abuse to do them like a lot of barbell stuff.
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