Here is my current dilemma. The shipping is 7 to 10 business day shipping. Usually I take 2 days off after leg days, then I do 3 days in a row consisting of an upper body day, a meathead day, and a leg day. The cycle repeats from there. 2 days off 3 days on, 2 days off 3 days on, and so on.
What I am thinking of doing is swapping my days and taking my 2 days off (today and tomorrow), and then Monday the bar should arrive. I will then do deadlift day, and on Tuesday I will just suck it up and hit my next 3 days.
I know with the bar I can hit a few reps at 390, without it my grip will be a huge limiting factor. I also hate missing days.
[quote]trivium wrote:
On a side note, I cannot wait for my bar to come in. I got an eliteFTS shaker in the mail that says “Driven” on the side. Awesome. I hope this thing is as badass as the other Texas power bars I have used.[/quote]
Awesome, I am going to be buying their 1500 static capacity bar (it should hold me for several years).
So I have decided that in the long run doing things in the reverse order isn’t going to kill my progress. I am going to eat well tonight and tomorrow morning and have a good deadlift day hopefully. I will be thoroughly pissed if my bar doesn’t arrive tomorrow. Deadlift day will happen regardless of if I have the bar or not. I will then start my next training cycle the very next day.
EDIT: Just went to the sporting goods store to buy chalk, and I have a Tupperware container ready. I have to figure else what else to put in my gym bag now so I don’t have to carry this shiz around. I can’t have a bag that only has chalk in it haha.
Deadlift
5x135
5x185
5x225
3x275
5x315 (Felt hard for some reason.)
3x350 (Killed this set.)
4x390 (No failing. Good reps. Hitched a tiny bit on the last rep. New PR at this weight.)
1x405 (Didn’t feel like a solid rep.)
0x455 (I felt damn strong off of the floor. I will dare to say it was easy until I failed just above my knees.)
3x350 (My hands were murdered by now.)
5x315 (Used towels on my bar. Throbbing pain in my hands. These were hard reps.)
5x315 (Had to talk myself into it. Same story as before, but I didn’t grip evenly. One side felt heavier than the other.)
Stiff Leg Good Morning
135 lbs for sets of 10/10/10/10/5 (Not sure about some of the reps, but my legs were wobbly at this point.)
Leg Curl
100 lbs on stack x 9
90 lbs on stack x 8
80 lbs on stack x 8
80 lbs on stack x 5
60 lbs on stack x 10
My legs felt like jello after this workout. My texas bar came today, and I took it to the gym. About 4 people commented on it. I decided to not do shrugs. My hands were pounding at the end of deadlifts. I’ll be back at it tomorrow like I planned. I am very happy with this lift. Chalk is awesome by the way.
I am very pleased with the new bar. Killed my hands. I have been trying to keep track of which hand is up and which one is down for the last few months.
I used a towel on the bar for the good mornings, and my back didn’t get nearly as torn up. This strategy will be deployed from now on for this lift.
That 455 attempt just hit a brick wall just above my knees. I need to build some lockout strength. I hope following 5/3/1 will remedy this as the weights climb.
I had zero grip problems today with my new bar and a little chalk.
My hands were still throbbing and sore tonight, and the Pirates played the wild card game, so I decided to take a night for general life reasons. I’m hoping to be a lifer with respect to lifting. One night off to relax and watch my team shouldn’t derail the next 20 years of my training. Tomorrow will be press day, the first day of my next cycle.
Training maxes for the upcoming cycle:
Press-159
Bench-253
Squat-366
Deads-418
I feel like I could reasonably hit all of these lifts, especially given my last wave of my last cycle.
Press
5x45
5x45
5x95
5x105
5x120
9x140 (Tied PR at this weight. I thought I had 10. Started 10 and just decided I didn’t have it. All were nicely paused.)
5x120
10x105 (Easy reps. No fail)
5x105
Pull Ups
10/5/5/5 (Tied PR. I chose to do sets of 5 after just to get the reps. No failing on any of these sets.)
Dips
10/10/7/3/5/5/5/5 (Some forearm and wrist discomfort here. No pauses at bottom. Some reps may have been questionable. I don’t know what was up with the sets. I wanted 4x10)
I drove home from here because the pull up bar got busy. I have one at my house.
Pull ups
5/5/5/5 (No failing. Some reps I would call questionable, but the bar felt a bit awkward because it was in a doorway.)
My left lat felt a bit better worked by the DL session than the right did. I am still pretty damn sore from that lift. I am pleased with this lift though. I didn’t sleep well last night, and I worked all day. I ate averagely today.
Standing Preacher Type Curl
10x50
10x60
10x70
8x70
6x70 (Having a bit of wrist discomfort.)
10x60
10x40 (Really focused on form here.
Chin Up
8/5/5/5 (Some wrist pain here as well. Tried for good reps. Not worried about the set of 8. I stopped early, and worked biceps before it.)
Face Pull
80 lbs on stack for sets of 10/10/10/10/10/10
70 lbs on stack for 10
60 lbs on stack for 10
Rear Lateral Raise
20 lb dumbbells for sets of 10/10/10/10/10
Rear Lateral Machine
10x50
10x70
10x90
10x100 (Didn’t do a whole lot with this exercise. I just wanted to leave.)
I am going to take tomorrow off to let my back and legs recover. My hamstrings are still sore, and I want to squat well while I am feeling good. I also have some school work to get to. Maybe some rest will help my wrists too. I think it is the combo of the dips and the straight bar preacher curl thing being back to back days.
Also, kind of a random thought. I like benching with a slightly narrower grip because it keeps my back tight and allows me to get a good stretch at the bottom. I also feel like it is also easier on my shoulders.
[quote]trivium wrote:
On a side note, I cannot wait for my bar to come in. I got an eliteFTS shaker in the mail that says “Driven” on the side. Awesome. I hope this thing is as badass as the other Texas power bars I have used.[/quote]
Awesome, I am going to be buying their 1500 static capacity bar (it should hold me for several years). :)[/quote]
Should hold you at least until you get ready to attempt that 1501 lb deadlift…right?
Squat
5xbodyweight
5x45
5x135
3x185
3x225 (Felt heavy.)
5x245
5x275 (Felt good.)
6x315 (I failed rep 10. Read below for more details.)
5x275 (Felt hard.)
5x245 (Felt heavy.)
0x245 (Didn’t attempt another set like usual.)
Leg Press
4 PPS x 10 (Usually do 20.)
5 PPS x 5 (Usually do 15.)
6 PPS x 0 (Didn’t attempt. Usually do 5-15.)
4 PPS x 10
My back is bleeding from where the bar sits. I felt like it rolled on to my wrists part of the way in and I couldn’t get the bar to sit right again. It was real hard on my wrists. I got to rep 10, but they were ugly. Reps up to 3 were awesome, fell forward on 4 terribly but got it, 5 and 6 were mine, spotter said he helped some on 7 and 8, he said he had to help on 9, I failed on 10. I don’t know where I stopped getting reps on my own power though. He said 6 so that is what I’ll take.
From here on out I was short of breath and felt real weak and wobbly. I just couldn’t do the whole leg press workout, and I didn’t feel like I was having good reps here. I don’t know what was wrong. I couldn’t find good foot and head position on my squat today. I am not satisfied with this lift. I was told by a few people in the gym that I had great effort with that weight though.
This whole workout felt odd, and I felt like I couldn’t get the reps.
nice lifts man, you aren’t far off the 4.5 plate deadlift
with the bar, chalk it up like crazy wherever it’ll be touching you, and don’t brush the chalk out. That’ll take some of the edge off the knurl. That or use straps hehehehehe
[quote]browndisaster wrote:
nice lifts man, you aren’t far off the 4.5 plate deadlift
with the bar, chalk it up like crazy wherever it’ll be touching you, and don’t brush the chalk out. That’ll take some of the edge off the knurl. That or use straps hehehehehe[/quote]
Thanks man. I feel like with the new bar, I will get it sometime in the next few months. I have a long way to go before I get to my goals.
I found this post on eliteFTS interesting. I am wondering if I should add some rack pulls to my deadlift days and practice doing this.
Im pretty sore today. I wish I would have been able to do more yesterday. I don’t know why I was so out of breath. I felt like I just couldn’t take a large breath in like I can today. Depending on how I feel, I may choose to go tomorrow, even though I normally wouldn’t. I was cramping up pretty good earlier today. That has resolved a bit though as I got up and moving around.
[quote]trivium wrote:
Im pretty sore today. I wish I would have been able to do more yesterday. I don’t know why I was so out of breath. I felt like I just couldn’t take a large breath in like I can today. Depending on how I feel, I may choose to go tomorrow, even though I normally wouldn’t. I was cramping up pretty good earlier today. That has resolved a bit though as I got up and moving around.[/quote]
Looks to me like you did a shit load yesterday dude. That leg day looked badass.
[quote]trivium wrote:
Im pretty sore today. I wish I would have been able to do more yesterday. I don’t know why I was so out of breath. I felt like I just couldn’t take a large breath in like I can today. Depending on how I feel, I may choose to go tomorrow, even though I normally wouldn’t. I was cramping up pretty good earlier today. That has resolved a bit though as I got up and moving around.[/quote]
Looks to me like you did a shit load yesterday dude. That leg day looked badass.[/quote]
Thanks man. I have the soreness, so at least I have that going for me. I am doing my best to not stall out. Normally I can get the assistance stuff. Next week I may cut back a bit on the pyramid down sets to sort of “deload” a bit. I fear stalling.
A couple other ideas I have been tossing around include going up to 220, and purchasing a belt/wraps(knee and wrist). I also feel like I need to work on my squat setup.
How is your DL program coming. Do you feel like it would work for say…a squat?
Bench Press
5x45
5x45
5x135
5x165 (Just didn’t feel right. Some forearm pain.)
5x195 (I honestly didn’t think I was good for 10 here if I was to try for it.)
11x220 (Guess I was wrong. New PR. All beautifully paused. No failed reps.)
5x195
5x165 (Didn’t even try for 10. Felt it wasn’t necessary today.)
0X165 (Didn’t attempt. I didn’t do it for squats, so I wasn’t going to do it for bench.)
Incline Dumbbell Bench Press
70 lb dumbbells for sets of 10/10/10/10/5 (Focused on form on last set.)
Kroc Rows
110 lb dumbbells for sets of 10/10/10/10/5 (Used chalk, which fixed all grip problems I have ever had with these. I felt like my left side got a bit better of a lift than the right though. I really focused on form on the last set.)
Very happy with this lift. I cannot tell you how great chalk has been for me. I was a bit unsure of some of the form used on assistance lifts, but my bench press form felt great. I do have to work on staying a bit tighter though. I think it gets hard to stay tight for 11 reps. Doctors appointment tomorrow, and a meathead day will follow my work schedule. My legs and back were still sore today. Was battling a bit of forearm pain during my bench presses.
Close Grip Bench Press
135 for sets of 15/15/12/10/5 (Last set was done super slowly. Some left forearm pain here.)
Triceps Pushdown
10x50 (lbs on cable stack.)
10x70
10x70
10x70
10x55
10x55
10x55
10x50
10x50
10x50 (Left side felt like it got a better pump than the right. Maybe my right is stronger or my form sucks? I can’t tell.)
Triceps Machine
10x40 (lbs on stack) on left arm
10x40 on right arm
10x95 both arms together
10x95 both arms together
10x95 both arms together
This lift didn’t take too long actually. I used a bit more weight than usual too. I hope I feel good tomorrow. It is supposed to be deadlift day. I am predicting that my training partner, who bitched out today, will have an 85% chance of bitching out tomorrow too. I am not sure if the kid is actually trying to get bigger/stronger, or if his goal is to self defeat and make excuses as to why he needs to go to bars instead of make the back/triceps workout and then make his self defeating self fulfilling prophecy come true. I’m going to have to give him “the talk.”
Gym closes early today, and I have had a combination of being tired all day and some angry bowels, so I am going to delay my lift by 12 hours to see if I can rest up and settle my guts down a bit. My spot bailed as well. (Not that I need a spot for anything other than bench press, just pointing it out.)
So, because I am going to take the extra 12 hours to rest, I am going to add leg press to the deadlift/goodmorning/leg curl day. School is also going to get crazy in the next week , so that is on the horizon. I am kind of upset that I have been delaying my lifts a day or so more often recently. Work is just kicking my ass. I was tired all day today. If the gym was open until midnight, I would just wait until 9 and go because that would allow me time to see if I could wake up a bit and take some pepto, but unfortunately it closes at 9.
Deadlift
5x135
5x225
5x275
5x315
10x365(Dominated first 5. Got the next 3 clean. Hitched/rolled the last 2. No fail. PR.)
5x315 (Total shit reps. My hands were on fire.)
5x275 (Not great reps. Had to use towels to grip bar.)
0x275 (Didn’t even attempt.)
Goodmorning
10x135
10x135
10x135
BREAK
10x135
10x135
10x135
10x135* (Not sure if I did 6 or 7 sets. I got distracted. So I did a set of 5.)
5x135
Lying Leg Curl
10x80
10x80
10x80
8x80
5x80
Leg Press
(I was dead. F this.)
Traps
(See leg press.)
Very happy with this lift.
Tiny bit of shoulder pain after the workout. The skin on my hands is sore as hell and my shins are destroyed. My back has been eaten alive by the goodmornings. I even tried to wear a hoodie this time to make it not tear.
