Awesome work on the squats brother, you’ll be throwing 3 plates on your back in no time.
I’m not sure if this is a common problem, or maybe it’s injury related?? …but the very bottom of my spine has a shit ton of tension/dull pain when I’m in A2G position with heavy-ish weights.
to counteract it, I found today that squatting with my heels positioned over cookie plates (2.5lbs) makes my back pain and tension free! I tried the 5lb plates too and those work but I figured I’d use minimal heel elevation to alleviate my lower back.
I don’t know where I came up with the idea, but I remembered hearing and seeing pictures of people squatting while elevating their heels so I tried it out to see if it did anything for me… and lo and behold!! 
btw I work out and always squat with neon green hi top converse
*note to self, elbow is magically better, I’m pain free!
Good work so far, buddy. I’ll be following
Thanks for the encouragement guys, I’ll be sure to keep hittin the weights hard!
Friday!!! I didn’t do anything :[
No time today to get to the gym to do bi/tri so I’m going to do upper back/bis for Saturday.
I’ll be skipping tri’s for this week since chest day is coming up soon and I need to save them for heavy pressing.
My quads and ass are still on fire from the 10x10 squats so I think I’ll squat Sunday. I want to try to go significantly heavier on the 5x5 since I can clearly take more than 225 as the top set.
I think what held/holds me back on squats are mental barriers. I MUST SHATTER THEM!!
Saturdays workout!!
Muscle Ups
bw x 5
bw x 5
bw x 5
bw x 5
bw x 5
Wide grip Pull ups
bw x 6
bw x 6
bw x 6
bw x 6
DB Hammer curls
30 x 10
35 x 10
35 x 10
40 x 8
BB curls
45 x 10
55 x 8
55 x 8
65 x 6
BB Rows
135 x 10
135 x 10
135 x 10
Cable Rows
80 x 15
100 x 15
120 x 10
140 x 10
Machine Curls
4 x 10 @ … forgot
BB Shrugs
45 x 20
95 x 15
135 x 12
135 x 12
185 x 6
Trap bar shrugs
135 x 10
135 x 10
dead. pretty much today I just wanted to pump up a bit, hit the tris and upper back pretty light today and murder my bis
will update later with a progress picture! my physique is starting to look half decent
another picture! side chest is my favorite pose. freakin white wall! I’ve been putting a good amount of effort on my rear delts and I can barely see it with the wall hahah
I did the side chest pose pretty well this time, not sure if I like this shot or the one in the post above, more.
Sunday Squats!
…
I’m supposed to do 5x5 with some light ham and calf work but my quads and arse are still ridiculously sore. Gonna have to skip the 5x5 for the weekend and do it on Tues instead of my light front squats, then my 10x10 again later on thurs
Monday!! Chest
I’m working in with a buddy today, Lee.
It’s gonna be nice to do something a little different for chest day. He says he has a preexisting shoulder injury so he doesn’t do any bb bench since it aggravates it but strangely enough he can use dbs. We’re going to be doing Smith machine for flat/decline/incline today, then hitting the dbs, and lastly cables. I’ll report back to this post with the exercises, sets, and reps
OK, so pretty crazy workout today. Lee does shit loads of pressing for chest and he doesn’t friggin rest. He does a set, I hop on, we adjust weights for next set and keep going. We’re definitely resting like <30 seconds which was so intense
Incline Smith
135 x 15
185 x 12
225 x 8
185 x 10
Flat Smith
135 x 15
225 x 10
275 x 8
315 x 3 (1 forced) HOLY SHIT A THREE PLATE PRESS :o
185 x 9
Decline Smith
135 x 12
225 x 5
275 x 2 (forced)
315 x 2 (forced)
185 x 3 (all forced? LOL)
I’m pretty shot at this point but we’re doing DBs next. I’m pushing myself probably 110% to keep up with Lee’s weights so I’m kind of burned out.
Flat DB partial fly/press motion
30 x 12
40 x 8
45 x 8 (2 forced)
50 x 6 (3 forced)
Incline DB partial fly/pres motion
30 x 10
35 x 10
40 x 8 (4 forced)
45 x 8 (4 forced)
Kneeling Overhead Cable fly/press motion
40 x 15
50 x 12
60 x 10 (4 forced)
70 x 8 (4 forced)
Standing cable front raises squeezing at the peak
20 x 15
30 x 10
35 x 8
Decline situps
bw x 15
bw x 15
bw x 15
Kneeling cable crunch
60 x 15
60 x 15
70 x 12
Today was a great shock for my chest, I’ve never used 3 plates for any pressing since I primarily use the bb only up to 275 but I was really able to load up the Smith machine with 3 plates and FOR REPS which made me pretty happy :]
btw elbow pain was gone but it kind of came on during this workout, but every so slightly. It’s not an issue anymore, but sometimes my shoulders sound like popcorn when I’m stretching them out
weighed 165.0 lbs at the gym today. I ate prior to going so I’m assuming my natural morning bw is 163ish lbs.
Dude that chest workout is freaking brutal, especially with short rests. Your log is beastly man, keep killing it in the gym. Looking strong as shit at 165.
On the chest day that you did with Lee, are those the number of reps that you were suppose to do or just what you could get? I really want to do it so I am just curious. It’s a beast of a workout. If they aren’t the reps that were set could you post those please?
[quote]cooray41 wrote:
On the chest day that you did with Lee, are those the number of reps that you were suppose to do or just what you could get? I really want to do it so I am just curious. It’s a beast of a workout. If they aren’t the reps that were set could you post those please?[/quote]
We just progressively get heavier every set and naturally drop the reps a bit so we can still leave a little in the tank for the next set as the sets get heavier and heavier.
It seems the idea for his training is that for almost every exercise we do, we start light with high reps, then on the second to last set go as heavy as we can for whatever we can get out, forced or not and then the last set is a working weight we burn out on. He tends to like the rep numbers of 8,10,12,14,15 and when it gets heavy we do what reps we can
He trains to failure on practically every exercise which is mind blowing, after the 3rd or 4th exercise I’m usually using significantly lighter weights than he is. For the partial fly/press motion we were doing, he used up to 80+lbs whereas I was using practically half the weight. His muscle endurance is top notch and far greater than mine, which he proved to me also today since we trained Back together
The answer your question specifically numbers posted above were what I could do while following him. On the heaviest set of every exercise, or the last burn-out set, he would always manage to squeeze a few more reps out than me.
edit: I think the target rep to shoot for is 10. If you have a lot more left in you, keep going to 12-15, but if you’re struggling to get to 10, don’t kill yourself trying. Try and save a bit for the next set because it’s only getting heavier! [With the exception of the heavy/burn out set]
Tuesday!! Back
Worked in with Lee today for back, pic snapped post workout
Warm and stretch with some pull ups
bw x 5 shoulder width
bw x 5 wide grip
bw x 5 hands touching together chins
Seated Rows (we only use 45 plates on each side and the seat position is like sitting on a stool but leaning back with feet on the floor)
1 plate x 15
2 plate x 12
3 plate x 10
4 plate x 8
2 plate x 10
other Seated Row (seat position is like when doing cable rows with feet against a wall)
1 plate x 15
2 plate x 12
3 plate x 8
4 plate x 3
4 plate x 4 (wanted to hit it again because in the prior set the weight flung me up to a standing position when I was doing the negative. I need to get my bodyweight up so that doesn’t happen again haha)
2 plate x 8
DB Row
60 x 12
80 x 10
105 x 10 (form got really sloppy after 3-4 decent reps but I wasn’t giving up)
I don’t have much left, if anything in the tank… but Lee does!
Lat pull downs (wide underhand grip – very strange… never this grip til today)
120 x 12
140 x 12
160 x 10 ( 2-3 forced)
180 x 8 ( 4 forced)
140 x 8
Lat pull downs (wide overhand grip, done behind the neck)
100 x 12 (4 forced) - lol my lats are shot…
80 x 12
100 x 8
120 x 8 (a lot forced)
80 x 8
Cable rows (triangle attachment)
80 x 12
100 x 10
120 x 8 (cheated a few reps)
140 x 8 (cheated a lot of reps)
160 x 0 (could barely budge it unless I threw my whole back and legs into the motion)
Cable Rows - with the attachment that looks like [)----(]
100 x 12
120 x 10
140 x 10
160 x 10 (don’t ask how my form was)
Cable rows - single arm D-- attachment
50 x 10
50 x 10
60 x 10
Whenever my muscles would start to give I’d start cheating the form a bit so as long I could get the weight in the peak position to squeeze for a split second before the muscles couldn’t hold. I don’t like cheating form, but I feel like by using the rest of your body you can train body parts much harder to failure. I wouldn’t do it on heavy compound exercises, but for things for rowing motions and bicep curls, I think they’re a must to really tear up the fibers.
Today was a good back day, but it was pretty biased towards upper back. We didn’t deadlift which was too bad since Im a big fan of deads. MY LATS ARE ON FIREEEEE
btw, I hadn’t eaten, but had a gulp of water with my Jack3d before I went to the gym and I weighed 162.6 today. Slowly but surely… natural morning(ish) weight is gaining!
Wednesday! OFF. For the next couple of weeks I’m going to be working in with Lee, so this is his split I’ll be following
SUN - Off [I’m going to sneak in some more Squats here!]
MON - Chest
TUES - Back
WEDS - Off
THURS - Arms
FRI - Legs
SAT - Shoulders
I want to keep the 5x5 squats in there for sure so it’s probably gonna be Sunday. Not sure what Lee likes doing for Friday but I’ve seen him squat 3 plates for reps so I’ll definitely have to water down the poundage ;[
His split and training style are significantly different than mine, it’ll be a nice change of pace for me in the following weeks. I had only meant to work in with him every once in a while for a body part every now and then, but after this Monday and Tuesday my body is telling me I should train with him more often. Muscle soreness is in a whole new dimension of ache and pain… AND IT FEELS GREAT!!! The volume and intensity of his workouts are just tremendous. The workouts are so difficult but in a way really enjoyable since I’m pushing myself so hard.
THURSDAY!! Arms
Just myself today, I have class til 8pm this is the only day out of Lee’s split I can’t make so I’ll do my own thing here. I think I’ll keep tricep work pretty light today, since I’ve got shoulders 48 hours after, then chest another 48 hours after that.
I plan to keep today moving, try not to rest more than 30 seconds between my sets to keep it pretty intense. will edit with numbers after class and gym
I did 5 muscle ups and maybe 10 pull ups to warm and stretch out then went straight to the real stuff.
Weighted Dips
bw x 15
45 x 12
90 x 10
90 x 7
45 x 10
CGBP Drop set hands ~4" apart using 10lb plates
125 x 12
105 x 7
85 x 4 ( 1 forced)
65 x 5
45 x 7
(I’m assuming the ez curl bar is 25lbs but I really have no idea)
a1.) Skull Crusher w ez curl bar.
45 x 12
65 x 12
85 x 9 ( 2 forced)
a2.) Standing ez bar curl Curl
45 x 12
65 x 10
85 x 6 ( 1-2 cheated)
Spider Curl w ez curl bar
45 x 10
55 x 8
65 x 6 ( 2 forced)
By the time I get here my bis lose a significant amount of strength, I wonder if it’s normal for it to go down by probably about 50-60% after just several good sets
Seated Hammers
25 x 10
25 x 10
30 x 10
OKAY! Time to make shit up that works efficiently
b1)standing 2 arm cable tricep extensions with ropes
65 x 12
75 x 10
85 x 10
100 x 10 (3 forced)
b2)standing 2 arm rope curls
55 x 12
65 x 10
75 x 10 (cheated last rep or two)
85 x 10 (cheated a lot)
c1)2 hand tri Pushdowns -overhand grip
40 x 12
50 x 12
60 x 12
c2)2 hand overhead Cable Curl to head/ears SQUEEEEEZE
30 x 12
40 x 12
50 x 12
d1) 1 hand cables, underhand grip tricep pulldown
15 x 12
20 x 10
25 x 10
d2) concentration curl
25 x 10
30 x 10 (2 forced each arm)
1 arm Machine Preacher curl
25 x 10
30 x 10
30 x 8
It’s not like I have gigantic biceps but after the first few exercises my biceps are so pumped it’s hard to get a good DEEP squeeze. For a lot of reps today on most curling exercises I needed a spot to get deeper into peak position for a tight squeeze. Also between every exercise I looked like a tool in the gym while flexing my bis then tris since I was trying to get some more blood into them to get a great mind-muscle connection. I don’t think it’s possible but sometimes my bis feel like they’re going to explode when flexing that hard!
It was a fun workout that I pretty much made up. Rests are as short as humanly possible. 20-30 second rests between sets, even the supersets. I was sweating real hard and my heart rate was definitely high throughout the whole time. In the middle of my workout I thought I tore my right bicep because it looked really awkward. I’ve never seen my bicep look the way it did toady when I was curling, I’m starting to see some separation in the muscles on my biceps. It kinda looked like I had a bicep on top of my bicep when I was squeezing at the peak LOL. I have a little peak forming!!
I guess all the cheating reps and emphasis on squeezing at the peak for bi’s is paying off.
til next time
by the way my elbow is 100% No signs or even hints of pain even on high impact elbow movements like muscle-ups/dips/any pressing! wooot. I gotta work on my power clean form so I don’t catch it poorly and hurt my elbow again 
well anyways, tomorrow is Legs day with Lee. He said he likes to do deads and squats on the same day and I’ve seen him throw 3-4 plates around for reps on both, oh boy… we’ll see how it goes.
Friday!! LEGSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS
A2G SQUATS!
135 x 15
225 x 12 (NEW PR!!!) I didn’t really push this set. If I had I could’ve paused at the top to pop out some more singles
275 x 8 (HOLY SHIT EVEN BETTER PR!!!) After the first 3-4 I started pausing at the top for a good 10-15 seconds to muster the strength for the next reps. The last few were ugly but I needed them. Lee spotted me for the last few but I did up to 6 of them clean. I just don’t remember because I was concentrating so hard on getting them up
—puke break— not kidding, that 275 set destroyed me
fuck 315. not even gonna try that shit today
Leg Press [plates on each side x reps]
4 x 12
5 x 10
6 x 8
7 x 0 – As soon as I unracked it I couldn’t even control the negative
6 x 6
Lee’s killing me on this friggin thing. He put the max number of plates the machine will take then takes a barbell to place on top of it to add even more plates whereas I’m using maybe about 60% of the weight he’s doing for every set.
DEADLIFT [On squat day WHAAAAAT?!?!] these are touch-and-go, strapped
135 x 15
225 x 12
315 x 9 [could’ve squeezed one more but I wanted to save some for the next set…]
405 x 1.25 [First came up slowly but surely with form as good as I could keep with this weight, attempted second rep but my back was rounding considerably so I didn’t want to go balls to the wall to get it and risk injury]
I was incredibly surprised I was even able to 405 for a rep, after doing all those heavy squats… The most surprising part to me is that it felt even EASIER than it did two weeks ago when I pulled 405 x 1 for a difficult max (when I set that max I tried 415 next and I couldn’t even get it off the floor) It’s the only point of pride I got on Lee. I can keep up with him plate for plate on deadlifts, but he’s stronger than me everywhere else, chest, arms, legs, you name it. I hadn’t deadlifted since I pulled 405 so it was just shocking it came up easier than 2 weeks ago, AFTER already hitting some heavy squats and not training it for weeks!
Note- most of these random assistance exercises I train to failure every set, I pretty much do this for every body part. The juicy part is always the massive compound movements in the beginning so I just do whatever I can for this stuff
Lunges with a bare bb - 45lbs
2 sets of whatever
1 Legged extensions
4 x 10-12 forgot the weights, but I ramped every set and picked weights I could squeeze hard at the top
Hammy Curls
50 x 15
65 x 12
75 x 11
85 x 8
Standing calf raise machine
4 sets to F
Seated Calf Raise
4 x f
I’m ramping weights and doing the first several reps squeezing. When the calves start to give strength I start doing speedy calf raises just to burn em out.
Great workout today! Now that I think about it I would’ve loved to try 315 for a rep or more if I could but my CNS went ape shit even after the 225 set. I’m shattering my squat PRs every week! Prior to today I’ve never attempted 275 for more than a rep because I literally couldn’t do any more. I’m sure as hell if I were fresh I could hit 315 for at least a couple!! RAWRRRR
SAT!! SHOULDERS
Smith Machine Military - in front of the head
135 x 15
185 x 10
225 x 8 (~half forced)
275 x 6 (a lot/all forced)
" " " " " - behind the head
135 x 12 (few forced)
185 x 8 (few forced)
225 x 5 (maybe all forced)
I’ve only ever taken smith presses for reps up to 185 on the military, but I train to failure really often with Lee. It’s not as efficient because I’m not leaving myself much for the next sets or exercises but it’s a huge mental workout for me since I keep having to psyche myself and demanding my body for more!!
THE MIND [usually] FAILS BEFORE THE MUSCLES DO
because of that I’m constantly trying to take the mind out of the equation
a1)Seated slightly leaned over lat raises
30 x 15
35 x 12
40 x 10
45 x 4 -Form with this weight was slop so I dropped it and went back to 40s
40 x 8
a2)Really leaned over lat raises – it’s almost a row because your shoulders should be pretty burnt up, hits the anterior delt real good! I wasn’t really counting but just went to failure every set ~6-10 reps
30 x ?
35 x ?
40 x ?
40 x ?
Standing Lat raises
30 x 10
35 x 10
40 x 10 (had to cheat a little and rest in between reps to get there but the idea was to get to 10)
DB front raise - palms up
35 x 10
45 x 10
barbell front raise
40 x 12
50 x 12
Smith Machine upright row
135 x 8
135 x 3 - decided to stop, I wasn’t getting high enough to target the delt so I went with a lighter bb row
BB Rows
40 x 10
50 x 10
70 x 10
b1)Smith Shrug
135 x 20
225 x 13-15?
315 x 8? I was doing calf raises with the motion as long as I could get it up and squeeze at the peak
b2)1 arm db shrug
60 x 12
70 x 10
85 x 6-8? (didnt have my straps ;/ my grip fading)
Behind the back Smith Shrugs
135 x f (15-20?)
135 x f (15-20?)
Decline situps
few sets
Cable Crunch
40 x 15-20
50 x f
60 x f
70 x f
Lee’s shoulder day is much different. He only uses 1 pressing motion and cheats form on lat raises for the squeeze, my typical shoulder day would have 2 presses then a lot of lat raises but I would use about half the weight I used today since I like to keep the motion very controlled to burn the shoulders. On the upside though, my traps got hit really hard, I’m now a big fan of behind the back smith shrugs!
Since I’ve been working with Lee, he doesn’t focus as much on full ROM. He just beats the shit out of the muscle we’re working on with a massive amount of weight in the best way we can control it. I guess it’s true when they say all the bigger, bb’er looking guys in the gym have the worst form. I’d love to be able to do all these presses at full ROM and locking out between the reps but Lee likes to keep tension on it the whole time during the set, so the reps are between a 1/2 to 3/4 rep since we never hit rock bottom and never lock out. He’s also a big fan of the smith machine, which I’ve never really use often. Everything feels significantly easier on the Smith machine (comparatively on the BB with similar weight) but it definitely puts a different kind of stress on the muscles, which is probably beneficial for growth but I’m afraid once I get off I won’t be able to press heavy because my stabilizers are lagging so far behind. well who knows, whatever
Training with Lee is really different, I get a little hazy when trying to remember reps for exercises because during the set our form changes and we perform reps differently and I listen to Rammstein in the gym and besides we don’t rest as long as I like to LOL. There’s so much going on it’s hard to remember all the reps. First few are as strict as we can stand (with lower rep speeds) with lots of squeezing and whatnot but once the muscle starts fatiguing we just dog out a couple more to blast the muscles. It’s nice trainign together because we can push each other much harder than if we were training alone.
If you guys have seen Pumping Iron Arnold even says those last few reps is what makes the muscle grows and if you can’t take that pain, you might as well give up being a bodybuilder.
With a barbell I only use 135 for reps on a standing ohp, on the Smith machine I’m using 225 for the same # reps. I’m sure being seated helps but DAMN!!! I also heard the barbell on the smith machine is counterweighted so that the bar is actually only 10lbs. All my numbers posted are assuming it’s 45, but whatever
good workouts!!! but I’m not sure if today will leave me as sore as I usually am on shoulder day. Best part about his workouts is that he has a large variety of exercises with big weights for the muscle group we’re hitting so it gets worked from a bazillion ways and angles.
TIL NEXT TIME!
Hey man, great log so far. I’ll be following and sniping some inspiration, I’m sure. The box jump vid was pretty sick!
Thanks man! I always appreciate feedback. I’ll post a new vid once I can jump significantly higher
I probably won’t train my box jump often, just on Sunday’s after heavy squats that I’m sneaking in while working with Lee’s split for the next couple of weeks/months/years LOL
I just gotta say though this past week has been pretty bad on my body. I’ve been sleeping 0-4 hours a night depending on the day, eating once a day, bit of milk, and only getting 1-2 calorie shakes in. It’s really shown on the scale. I weight myself every workout no matter the time of day, I just keep in mind the number relative to what I’ve eaten/drank that day. My weight showed up as 161.x the other day in the gym in the morning and I hadn’t eaten yet. I should be much heavier than that!!! (btw I’m 162.x today)
For example today I got up at 1pm-ish since I stayed up a bit playing video games last night. Got into work by 2pm, got off at 6pm, then went straight into the gym which is 3 stores down inside the mall. On top of being awake for ~6 hours and having nothing in my stomach I left my preworkout supp back in my dorm so I’m pretty much running on whatever mental steam I can muster because I’m sure as hell not getting my focus or energy from any kind of nutrition.
blarg