Good workout. The weights are starting to feel heavy on the single-arm bicep exercises. That’s why I got so few reps today. My goal was to get a couple extra reps each week… unless I should be aiming for more reps at the previous weights?
[quote]Tonino wrote:
unless I should be aiming for more reps at the previous weights?[/quote]
If you can’t manage 5 or 6 reps by yourself with a load, I’d say yeah, stick to the old load and aim for more reps
For many (myself included), biceps need a bit more volume (rep-wise) - this is also a way of getting more quality TUT (not as much cheating and taking biceps out of the movement with higher reps)
FLAT DB PRESS
Warm-up - 25/20, 30/12, 40/10
Work Sets
55/8
65/8
75/4 (+5 lbs)
INCLINE BB PRESS
115/10
130/7 … I felt exhausted after pressing the 75s for 4 reps, and I think that affected my performance here… but at least got same # of reps as last week
** wanted to try hitting TRIS first, and then SHOULDERS
DIPS
BW/10
BW+10/10
BW+15/9 (+1 rep)
FRENCH PRESS
45/10
65/10 (+5 lbs)
SEATED OH DB PRESS
Warm-up - 15/15
Work Sets
30/10
40/8 (-2 reps)
50/2 (+5 lbs) … DROP … 45/3 … the drop set felt real good. I think I liked it better when I kept Shoulders right after Chest, and then Tris for the end.
DB LATERAL RAISE
20/10
25/10
30/10 … DROP … 15/12 … wow, the 15s were excruciatingly painful, but felt great afterwards! … I’ll aim for 15 reps with the 30s before moving on to the 35s
REVERSE FLIES
10/15 … added these in for the rear delts… will probably add volume next week
Good workout. the drop sets really helped further fatigue the muscle.
BW - 150.2 lbs (-2.4 from last week, -0.2 in total)
Waist - 31.25" (no change from last week, -0.25" in total)
7 site BF - 9.15% (-0.63% from last week, -1.48% in total)
Bicep (right/relaxed) - 12.25" (no change)
Bicep (right/flexed) - 13.50" (+0.25" in total)
Comments-
I either had a stomach bug or ate something bad on Friday, because the weekend was rough. Didn’t eat much until yesterday.
First off, I expected to have a subpar workout today, based on how I felt over the weekend, but I was surprised, I was able to push through, so I was happy about that. I made the modification where I hit Tris after Chest, and then Shoulders at the end. I also removed the warm-up sets for Shoulder Presses, since I figured the Shoulders have been warmed up by now. Finally, I dropped the weight a bit to make sure I got good form and made progress. Today was great! I hit the weights I wanted, and even got 2 extra reps at my max of 85. So I’ll stick with this setup going forward.
Only downside is my stomach still doesn’t feel right. I’ve been able to stick to my morning meals, so far so good. But I still feel off…
In my experience the best thing to do when trying to get over an illness is to go overboard on water and fibrous foods. Flushing my body out while staying super-hydrated almost always works for little stomach bugs and the like.
Unrelated note: measuring your arms, waist, and bodyfat on a weekly basis is pretty silly, and not likely to lead to anything except confusing data and loss of motivation when things don’t start happening. Think of bodybuilding the same as thinking “I want to grow my hair out, really long, to below my shoulder line.” It’s a long slow process no matter what you do, and trying to measure your strands of hair every week would only drive you nuts. You just gotta let it go for a while, let the routine of washing/conditioning/eating healthy become habitual and it will grow as fast as possible without the constant supervision.
Building muscle is no different. Eat your meals like clockwork, overload on protein, train really really hard in the gym, but otherwise try to put it out of your mind.
You may go weeks and weeks and gain 15lbs of bodyweight without your arms adding any size whatsoever, then you go crazy thinking you must be doing something wrong so you change your routine or diet or both… But if you had only been filling your quotas and watching the scale, that next 5lbs you gained could have been the extra inch your arms were building up to… now lost because you changed what actually was working. Muscle mass doesn’t gain linearly, it’s not predictable, and unless you’re taking anabolic steroids you’re going to get frustrated waiting for the tape measure to move.
[quote]mr popular wrote:
In my experience the best thing to do when trying to get over an illness is to go overboard on water and fibrous foods. Flushing my body out while staying super-hydrated almost always works for little stomach bugs and the like.
Unrelated note: measuring your arms, waist, and bodyfat on a weekly basis is pretty silly, and not likely to lead to anything except confusing data and loss of motivation when things don’t start happening. Think of bodybuilding the same as thinking “I want to grow my hair out, really long, to below my shoulder line.” It’s a long slow process no matter what you do, and trying to measure your strands of hair every week would only drive you nuts. You just gotta let it go for a while, let the routine of washing/conditioning/eating healthy become habitual and it will grow as fast as possible without the constant supervision.
Building muscle is no different. Eat your meals like clockwork, overload on protein, train really really hard in the gym, but otherwise try to put it out of your mind.
You may go weeks and weeks and gain 15lbs of bodyweight without your arms adding any size whatsoever, then you go crazy thinking you must be doing something wrong so you change your routine or diet or both… But if you had only been filling your quotas and watching the scale, that next 5lbs you gained could have been the extra inch your arms were building up to… now lost because you changed what actually was working. Muscle mass doesn’t gain linearly, it’s not predictable, and unless you’re taking anabolic steroids you’re going to get frustrated waiting for the tape measure to move.[/quote]
Thanks for the note. I understand your point, and will agree that I can be overly analytical when it comes to weekly measurements. I’ll try and take a step back, simply train and eat. I’ll simply use pictures/mirror to track my progress. Then monthly, for shits and giggles, I’ll take the measurements.
No training today. Went to the doctor. Apparently I have some viral stomach infection. Will try to get back to the routine tomorrow … my diet may take a couple extra days.
[quote]mr popular wrote:
In my experience the best thing to do when trying to get over an illness is to go overboard on water and fibrous foods. Flushing my body out while staying super-hydrated almost always works for little stomach bugs and the like.
Unrelated note: measuring your arms, waist, and bodyfat on a weekly basis is pretty silly, and not likely to lead to anything except confusing data and loss of motivation when things don’t start happening. Think of bodybuilding the same as thinking “I want to grow my hair out, really long, to below my shoulder line.” It’s a long slow process no matter what you do, and trying to measure your strands of hair every week would only drive you nuts. You just gotta let it go for a while, let the routine of washing/conditioning/eating healthy become habitual and it will grow as fast as possible without the constant supervision.
Building muscle is no different. Eat your meals like clockwork, overload on protein, train really really hard in the gym, but otherwise try to put it out of your mind.
You may go weeks and weeks and gain 15lbs of bodyweight without your arms adding any size whatsoever, then you go crazy thinking you must be doing something wrong so you change your routine or diet or both… But if you had only been filling your quotas and watching the scale, that next 5lbs you gained could have been the extra inch your arms were building up to… now lost because you changed what actually was working. Muscle mass doesn’t gain linearly, it’s not predictable, and unless you’re taking anabolic steroids you’re going to get frustrated waiting for the tape measure to move.[/quote]
Thanks for the note. I understand your point, and will agree that I can be overly analytical when it comes to weekly measurements. I’ll try and take a step back, simply train and eat. I’ll simply use pictures/mirror to track my progress. Then monthly, for shits and giggles, I’ll take the measurements.
[/quote]
You still want to make sure you’re gaining a few pounds each month, but beyond that it’s almost always best to just focus on performing greater and greater in the gym, and never missing a meal.
Didn’t hit the gym today either. Just took a walk on the treadmill for 20 minutes. Still feeling very weak, but I’m starting to re-feed my body, so hopefully I’ll be back to 100% soon.
[quote]Tonino wrote:
Didn’t hit the gym today either. Just took a walk on the treadmill for 20 minutes. Still feeling very weak, but I’m starting to re-feed my body, so hopefully I’ll be back to 100% soon.[/quote]
In my experience it takes a few weeks to get back to full capacity after an illness, maybe even longer for stomach bugs since it’s your diet it affects. No need to stress, it’ll pass so in the meantime just build back up again.
At the same time, don’t underestimate how quickly you can get back to it though…the mind is a funny thing - you may find yourself subconsciously holding back and giving yourself the justification that you’ve been ill lol
My ill periods used to keep me out of lifting for up to 2 weeks in the past, then I realised that holding back that much never really speeded up recovery or anything, so now I just ride through it. If it’s REALLY bad (like can’t hold down food or anything), I’ll skip a few workouts and then just go light and build straight back up again).
[quote]Tonino wrote:
Didn’t hit the gym today either. Just took a walk on the treadmill for 20 minutes. Still feeling very weak, but I’m starting to re-feed my body, so hopefully I’ll be back to 100% soon.[/quote]
In my experience it takes a few weeks to get back to full capacity after an illness, maybe even longer for stomach bugs since it’s your diet it affects. No need to stress, it’ll pass so in the meantime just build back up again.
At the same time, don’t underestimate how quickly you can get back to it though…the mind is a funny thing - you may find yourself subconsciously holding back and giving yourself the justification that you’ve been ill lol
My ill periods used to keep me out of lifting for up to 2 weeks in the past, then I realised that holding back that much never really speeded up recovery or anything, so now I just ride through it. If it’s REALLY bad (like can’t hold down food or anything), I’ll skip a few workouts and then just go light and build straight back up again).[/quote]
Today I was able to get more food down. I actually went to the gym, but felt very weak, so my form of workout for the day was spotting my partner!
I’ll be back to the routine very soon though, either tomorrow or Monday, I’ll simply build back up to my max weights, hopefully it doesn’t take too long!
I’ll also need to refeed myself, since this stomach virus caused me to lose around 5 lbs!!!
Random Thoughts …
felt good getting back to the gym. considering the fact that I’ve been out of commission for most of this week, I didn’t think my strength declined that much. one thing I noticed though … after last week’s Friday session, I felt somewhat of a pull emanating from my groin area … didn’t think anything of it… after today’s workout, I think I might have aggravated something while doing Weighted Leg Raises… thats why I tried the Cable Crunches… I’ll probably replace the Leg Raises with these …
before posting today’s workout, I should mention that my weigh-in yesterday morning had me at 147.4 … but I feel better now, so its time to start bringing that number back up. now onto the workout…
Monday, 5/23/2011 (Chest/Shoulders/Tris)
Incline DB Press
warmup
20/20
20/20
30/10
work sets
50/8
60/8
70/4
Flat BB Press
125/10
145/3
Lying Behind the Head Extensions
warmup
Bar/20
work sets
55/10
65/9
70/6
1 arm OH Cable Extensions
40/10
50/7
Seated OH BB Press
work sets
70/10
80/10
90/4
BB Shrugs
135/10
185/10
215/7
Machine Lateral Raises
80/10
90/10
100/5
Comments:
numbers were down a bit from last week, but I expected that after being sick and not eating much during the week.
FLAT DB PRESS
Warm-up - 25/20, 30/12, 40/10
Work Sets
55/8
65/8
75/4
INCLINE BB PRESS
115/8
125/4
SEATED OH DB PRESS
Warm-up - 15/12
Work Sets
30/10
40/7
45/3
DB LATERAL RAISE
15/10
20/10
25/8
DIPS
BW/9
BW+5/7
BW+10/5
FRENCH PRESS
45/10
65/7
REVERSE FLIES
5/25
Felt very sore from previous sessions. My strength definitely came down, but I guess that was expected after being off for a week and dropping close to 6 lbs of bodyweight.
I haven’t posted over last couple days because of continuing stomach issues. Not sure if its something i’ve been eating, or some virus/bacteria which hit me hard. I’m starting to feel better, unfortunately have only been able to eat plain foods… bread, rice, bananas, yogurt. I haven’t been in the gym for almost a week.
I plan on spending the remainder of the week getting back to 100%, and then get back to my routine. Due to this, I’ve actually lost close to 7 lbs over the last 2-3 weeks. This gets me very angry, considering it takes me a whole month just to add a couple quality pounds! But it’s ok, I’ll get back there…