Time to Get Serious

Training Training Logs
1

I have been thinking about starting a log for some time now. Putting it all out there for people to see will help keep me honest. Basically I’ve been the same size, 175-180, for about 2 years now and its starting to piss me off. I’ve been one of those guys thats afraid to not see my six pack. That, along with the fact that I’m no longer surounded by college athletes has kept me far too satisfied. I’m looking for motivation and positive criticism.

I’m starting this at an odd time, in the middle of the week, but its time to get serious.

My current training cycle (4 weeks old with 2 to go) looks like this:

Day 1 Chest/Back (From Beast Building 3)
Day 2 Legs (From Skinny Legs Cure)
Day 3 Off
Day 4 Arms (Varies)
Day 5 Shoulders/TRaps (From Beast Building 3)
Day 6 Off

Supplements:
Grow! Whey, Flameout, Other Fish Oils, Glucosamine Chondriton, Multi Vitamin, ZMA, Surge, Muscle Milk, and Vitamin C.

My Diet varries a little day to day. Eating enough has been my major problem. I do put on fat with carbs, so I cycle them.

2

11-6-08

Felt pretty darn good this morning, got a good nights worth of sleep.

Breakfast: 6oz ground patty, half turkey, half 90% lean beef.
protien shake with a scoop of Grow! whey and a cup of sliced strawberries
an orange. Left my fish oils and vitamins on the counter.

I lifted arms this morning. Had about 45 minutes to get it in. On the way to and during my workout had a shake.

Workout:
Did drop sets today. The goal was definatly density.

1 Mechanical Drop: Incline Curls, Supinated Curls, and Hammer Curls.

30x6x6x6, 30x6x5x5, 25x6x6x6, 25x6x6x5
(My endurance sucks)

2 Mechanical Drop: Skull Crushers to the forehead, to the nose, to the chin.

70x6x6x6, 70x6x6x6, 70x6x6x6, 70x6x6x5

3 Triple Drop Preacher Curl

80x6, 60x12, 40x8
80x6, 60x8, 40x8
80x6, 60x8, 40x6 (Couldn’t even hold the bar anymore)

4 Triple Drop Pressdowns
I do these with my back against the pole so there is no cheating

65x6, 50x12, 35x10
65x6, 50x12, 35x12
65x6, 45.7x12, 30x12

I did all of that in about 40 minutes. My arms had a serious pump. When I got to my desk I still had a hard time writing.

Post Workout: 3 scoops of Surge. Love the orignal flavor. I swear I crave this stuff after my workouts. I was going to have an orange, but got really busy trying to get the gym in order.(Conviently thats where I work.) Thats my problem, I get too busy with things and don’t get that last little bit of food in.

Its about an hour and a half after my workout and I’m having my lunch. I’m having 5 ounces of chicken, 1.5 cups of blueberries mixed with some water and a scoop of Grow!. This is a great treat by the way. And I am going to have an apple and my forgotten orange.

3

11-6-08

Meals for the rest of the day so far:

5 oz chicken with 3 oz of tilapia and a half cup of almonds along with 2 Flameout caps plus 3 salmon oil caps. If anyone has never tried steaming tilapia, it is awesome that way. I have a steamer at work so I can cook my food.

Supper was 6 oz of salmon, two cups of brocoli, and 1/4 cup of almonds. Also 2 Flameout caps plus 3 salmon oil caps.

My goal with my meals is to fairly evenly spread my calorie intake across the day. I keep the carbs centered around post workout meals and breakfast.

I am definatly ready to go home, only a little more time.

I’ll eat one more snack before bed. Probably a couple of eggs around 8:30 and a shake before bed.

4

Thought I would post some pics tonight.

5

the back 1

6

Back 2

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420×560 93.8 KB

Legs

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420×560 68.8 KB

Legs 2

9

hey man you look like you are very successful in the gym…maybe you could give me some pointers or show me your workout? I look up to guys like you

10

[quote]Zito75Rag15 wrote:
hey man you look like you are very successful in the gym…maybe you could give me some pointers or show me your workout? I look up to guys like you[/quote]

Well you are off to a good start by being a member of T-Nation. The best advice I can give you is to try a couple of programs(from start to finish) and see what works best for you. I get my best results from Higher Frequency with High Intensity, but I try to change it up about every 4-6 weeks. My current program is high-mod volume,

Day 1 Chest/Back (From Beast Building 3)
Day 2 Legs (From Skinny Legs Cure)
Day 3 Off
Day 4 Arms (Varies right now, but I usually go for density here since my arm endurance sucks)
Day 5 Shoulders/TRaps (From Beast Building 3)
Day 6 Off

11

11-7-08

Had to get up early today becuase my son decided that it was time to play.

Had the ground patty for breakfast again along with 5 salmon oil caps and some of my son’s yogurt. No fruit this morning though since I was going to workout earlier today.

I decided since I have most of the day off that I’m going to hit the shoulders and traps twice today.

This mornings workout:

It was 63 degrees in the gym so I cranked the heat up. Luckily there was no one in the free weight area so I could shut the damn TVs off. Try as I might, they distract me. Unfortunatly there was a guy that just joined the gym walking around with no apparent plan or thought that I could see. The frustrating part was I just gave him some instruction the day before! I swear people do not listen.

Finally, the workout:

A1 DB Push Press (7,5,3)x2
60x7, 70x5, 80x3, 65x7, 75x5, 85x2. My overhead movements generally suck! I like DB movements b/c they feel more natural overhead to me. Sadly I do about the same weight with DBs as with the bar!

A2 Shrugs (7,5,3)x2 As you can tell from the pictures, my traps are shitty. I have neglected shrugs for too long and I’m still getting the right weights hammered out.
315x7, 345x5, 375x3, 335x7, 365x5, 405x4

B1 Neutral Grip Press 10,10,8,8,6 I love these!
50x10, 55x10, 60x8, 65x8, 70x6 Barely

B2 Slight Incline Seated shrugs* 10,10,8,8,6
80x10, 85x10, 90x8, 90x8, 90x8
*I usually do upright rows here, but as my Brother in law pointed out, my traps suck!

After that I did a little foam roller work on my legs. There may be nothing more painfull on the planet. Or I could by a wuss. I don’t know what it was today, but even though the weights I put up weren’t bad for me, this workout just didn’t feel… satisfying. I was too unfocused. I left the gym a little angry, but I resisted the urge to stay. I’ll come back tongiht and get some higher reps stuff and some abs in.

Postworkout shake was 2 scoops of surge, some glutamine and a scoop of grow.

Then it was off for home to make some Berardi Chilli

12

Whats your Maxes for squat and bench?

13

Lookin thick man, I like your outlined diet I am on a very simlar diet. Are you consuming the beef and turkey in the am, as opposed to eggs, based off Polquin or Thibs successes/recommendations with it?

Just curious any way log looks solid. Keep up the hard work man.

14

[quote]BlackLabel wrote:
Whats your Maxes for squat and bench?[/quote]

I am more of a front squat guy. That and I’ve had knee issues in the past, so I’ve never really trained for max back squat. But my best was 415. My best front squat was 335 for 2. My best bench was actually 355 for two. I really should have maxed that day. It was one of those days where everything just felt great. My best deadlift without straps is 525.

There is a Raw power lifting meet in March that I am going to enter, so I guess I’ll find out for sure by then.

15

[quote]MUthrows94 wrote:
Lookin thick man, I like your outlined diet I am on a very simlar diet. Are you consuming the beef and turkey in the am, as opposed to eggs, based off Polquin or Thibs successes/recommendations with it?

Just curious any way log looks solid. Keep up the hard work man.
[/quote]

Thanks man. I got the meat in the morning idea from Coach Thibs’ articles. But it was Tony Gentilcore’s thread that gave me the half turkey half beef idea. I was going all beef when I was going low carb, but now I don’t want quite as much fat.

16

[quote]seabass34 wrote:
BlackLabel wrote:
Whats your Maxes for squat and bench?

I am more of a front squat guy. That and I’ve had knee issues in the past, so I’ve never really trained for max back squat. But my best was 415. My best front squat was 335 for 2.

My best bench was actually 355 for two. I really should have maxed that day. It was one of those days where everything just felt great. My best deadlift without straps is 525.

There is a Raw power lifting meet in March that I am going to enter, so I guess I’ll find out for sure by then.[/quote]

Def. man, how much do you weigh right now?

17

My two meals after my morning workout were 9 oz of chicken breast, pinapple, half an orange and a handfull of nuts. The meal after that was about 1.5 hours before my second workout, it was tilapia and almonds.

The second workout was a lot more focused. It felt good. It was hard to stop after 30 minutes.

No real plan here, just keep the reps higher

A1. Lateral raises
30x10, 30x10, 25x12, 25x12

A2. Cable shrugs with retraction
55.5 per sidex10, 55.5x10, 47.5x12, 47.5x12

B1. Incline BB front raise
30x12, 30x12, 40x12

B2. Reverse PecDec
100x12, 100x12, 100x12

I also did rollouts, woodchops, dynamic planks, and straight-arm cable crunches between sets of other exercises.

I had another shake like this morning after the workout. After that, did a quick training and headed home for a nice big bowl of Dr. Berardi’s chilli; although I make mine much hotter, mostly for my wife. She needs a little kick.

In a little while I’m gonna have some chicken and some blueberries. Can’t go a day without some blue berries.

18

[quote]BlackLabel wrote:
seabass34 wrote:
BlackLabel wrote:
Whats your Maxes for squat and bench?

I am more of a front squat guy. That and I’ve had knee issues in the past, so I’ve never really trained for max back squat. But my best was 415. My best front squat was 335 for 2.

My best bench was actually 355 for two. I really should have maxed that day. It was one of those days where everything just felt great. My best deadlift without straps is 525.

There is a Raw power lifting meet in March that I am going to enter, so I guess I’ll find out for sure by then.

Def. man, how much do you weigh right now?[/quote]

Right now I’m weighing about 178-180. My goal is to put on some weight though. I hope to compete in the 198lb wt class in March.

19

[quote]seabass34 wrote:
BlackLabel wrote:
seabass34 wrote:
BlackLabel wrote:
Whats your Maxes for squat and bench?

I am more of a front squat guy. That and I’ve had knee issues in the past, so I’ve never really trained for max back squat. But my best was 415. My best front squat was 335 for 2. My best bench was actually 355 for two. I really should have maxed that day. It was one of those days where everything just felt great. My best deadlift without straps is 525.

There is a Raw power lifting meet in March that I am going to enter, so I guess I’ll find out for sure by then.

Def. man, how much do you weigh right now?

Right now I’m weighing about 178-180. My goal is to put on some weight though. I hope to compete in the 198lb wt class in March.[/quote]

Damn, well good luck to ya.

20

11-08-08

Watched The Island with the wife last night. Pretty good movie. I think the plot is more realistic than it may seem. Anyway, had 6oz salmon w/ 1 cup of bluberries and grow(seriously, you gotta try this), and then a shake before bed to round out the day. Felt pretty tired physically by the end of the day. Forgot to take my ZMA cuase of the movie though!

No liftin today, and its my low carb day. That means no pizza during the Iowa vs Penn State game. I’m hopin Iowa pulls this one out. Its been a frustrating season so far, so many games lost at the end!

Felt pretty darn good this morning; the physical tiredness of the night before all gone. Had the usual breakfast patty, plus a blueberry & Grow shake. For early lunch I’m looking at chili. These will be my carb meals for the day. I am seeing lots of fish and chicken and veggies in my imediate future. May still have to have a beer during the Hawkeye game though.