VikingsAD28's Training Log 2.0

January 7th- Shoulders and Back

Decent enough session, I wasn’t 100% because I was sick for a day on Thursday.

Press
1x5 105
1x5 125
1x4 140 +1 push press. -I wanted to try and keep the max the same as last wave, we will see what happens next week.

BB Row
1x5 170
1x5 200
1x10 225 -Not a PR, my lower back was still shot from squats so that was part of it.

DB Lateral Raises
3x15 40s -Plenty of body English.

Pull Ups
6 Sets -As one would imagine, my BW lift numbers have gotten better by 2 or 3 times as many reps.

DB Rows Knee On Bench
3x10/side 100s -I like these for adding some volume to this day.

Thats fucking awesome man, congrats on the weight loss. You look sexy as hell (yes homo).

Awesome work in here; amazing progress!

Many people are familiar with the horrors of school shootings, but it occurring so close to home is another matter entirely. I’m sure it will increase your resolve toward your future endeavors.

Great progress man! Those are some clear visual changes. What’s everyone around you saying?

The Millard South stuff was crazy. I was driving down Dodge with one of my friends to Rick’s funeral when we saw all the cops with their lights on and we knew something was up.

@Blacklabel

Thanks bud, if I am ever in the northeast I will have to give you a call ;).

@Mrodock

Thanks! I agree, school shootings are way different when they are happening to people you know.

@Champ

Everyone I know is commenting on it all the time, even random ass people at work that I never talk to will walk up to me and ask me if I have been losing weight. Female attention has increased noticeably as well, now that a new semester is starting I am sure this will only increase.

All of my friends tell me I look great, my parents are happy because they were convinced that I was going to drop dead at any moment before, my out of shape roommates that gave me so much shit for spending 400 dollars on a diet coach before haven’t said a word about it for a while.

The biggest thing has just been confidence. I know I look good, that was something I couldn’t say before.

I also was very sad to hear about Rick’s passing. I only met and spoke with the man once, but he was very nice and helpful and his body of work in the sport speaks for itself.

January 9th- Deadlift

Kind of a shitty session, especially considering I had a high carb cheat meal last night.

Sumo Deadlift
1x5 270
1x5 310
1x5 355 -This was actually pretty difficult, I don’t know why.

DB Shrugs
3x20 100s

Hand to Hand KB Swings
3x10/side 50

January 10th- Bench and Arms

Snow day from school AKA snow day means gym is closed, so I had to drive across the city in the snow to get to the JCC where I used to train.

Bench
1x3 185
1x3 210
1x3 240 -I probably could have gotten 2 or 3 more but I just stopped here.

Incline DB Bench
1x10 40s
1x10 50s
1x10 60s
1x6 70s

BW Dips
4x8
1x12 -These felt really good, next week I will probably try and go for three sets of 15 or 20.

EZ Bar Curls
1x10 75
1x10 95
1x6 115

Straight Bar Tricep Pushdowns
3x10
1x5 115

DB Pinwheel Curls
1x10 40s
1x10 50s
1x10 60s

A) Tricep Rope Pushdowns
3x15

B) DB Curls
3x20 25s

Tomorrow I think I am going to try doing some KB circuits for cardio. It might affect my squatting on Wednesday but, fuck it, I feel like it.

Well I haven’t posted for a couple of weeks. Basically I don’t want to post shit that just says “hey everybody, come watch my lifts go down.”

Deload week this week. I have switched to a very low carb diet that has me taking in 270 grams of protein and 90 grams of fat each day, no carbs.

I have set an expiration date on this shitty 7 month journey of getting constantly weaker and smaller. ONE more wave, ONE more, then I will begin my lean gains diet with the goal of gaining somewhere around 4-5 pounds a month, hopefully a lot more than that on my lifts.

This morning I weighed about 207, fucking ridiculous. I hate being this small, I hate being this weak. I still don’t have a full six pack, but my top two abs are now easily visible all day with the ones below it just beginning to come in. Hopefully by my set end date a couple more abs will poke through, but if they don’t I don’t care.

I am actually quite comfortable with my current level of leanness, and I will probably stay in the neighborhood of this level for the rest of my training career. I just want to get a bit leaner before I start gaining again to give me a bit of wiggle room.

What I have learned from this process is to not blindly listen when people say “it doesn’t matter if you get fat, you can always diet later.” By staying in or around a level of bodyfat I am comfortable with I will NEVER EVER HAVE TO DIET FOR 8 FUCKING MONTHS AGAIN!!!

Yes! I like the conclusion you’re coming to! It’s not a bad idea to get a little fatter than what you’re comfortable with, but there’s a definite limit that a lot of people don’t seem to see. It’s infinitely better for a natural guy to keep a decently lean body fat percentage and work from there.

[quote]165StateChamp wrote:
Yes! I like the conclusion you’re coming to! It’s not a bad idea to get a little fatter than what you’re comfortable with, but there’s a definite limit that a lot of people don’t seem to see. It’s infinitely better for a natural guy to keep a decently lean body fat percentage and work from there. [/quote]

I fully agree. Going way up and way down in weight will do nothing but KILL my strength every time I diet down. Staying reasonably lean year round is going to be the way to go for me.

Not to mention the fact I am way happier when I look good and not like a fat piece of shit.

Welp time to pick this thing back up.

New wave:
Press: 145
Squat: 365 -Repeating this weight for a second wave
Bench: 270
Deadlift: 415 -Keeping this the same and going conventional this wave.

I also am switching up my split a little different.

Monday: Press + Shoulders
Tuesday: Arms
Wednesday: Squats + Legs
Friday: Bench + Chest
Sunday: Deadlift + back

The idea is to train an extra day to burn some more calories and to keep my workouts a little shorter with the zero carb diet.

January 31st- Shoulders

Didn’t even think about it at the time, this was my last workout as a teen… I wish I would have been stronger by now, but what are you gonna do?

Press
1x5 95
1x5 110
1x8 125

DB Lateral Raises
1x15 25s
1x15 30s
1x15 35s
1x15 40s

DB Upright Rows
1x15 30s
1x15 40s
1x15 50s? -something like this

Reverse Incline Flies
2x50 10s -Burned like a mofo.

Knock Off Hammer Strength Decline -I will probably do one chest exercise on this day each week.
1x10 135
1x10 225
1x10 275
1x5 315 -Weights are as if it was a 45 pound bar.

While I was using the chest machine a couple of decent sized guys started talking to me. One of them kept telling me I looked shredded and huge and how different I looked from when he first saw me. Basically just complimenting the shit out of me, which was really nice.

As everyone who reads my log knows, I have been working my ass off at this for a long time. It is really nice to get a complement like that, in real life, from guys who actually lift, who don’t even know me.

February 1st- Arms

20 years old today. They didn’t cancel school in the morning at UNO, but they cancelled night class so I don’t have to go to my exam tonight, which is a great birthday present. Going to go have some pizza and ice cream and cookies tonight, pretty excited.

I ripped this arm workout straight from this article- http://www.T-Nation.com/readArticle.do?id=4291224

I really like John Meadows stuff, I am considering going full training in his style at some point, we’ll see.

DB Pinwheel Curls
3x10 55s

EZ Bar Preacher Curls
3x8 70

BB Curls 3 Sec Neg
2x8 85

Rope Pushdown 1 Sec Pause
2x15 50
1x15 42.5
1x15 35 -These were brutal, very little rest.

Bench Dips
1x12 BW
1x12 20
1x10 30
1x8 45

Incline EZ Bar Extensions
3x15 60 -Really emphasized the stretch on these.

Haven’t done a dedicated arm workout for a long ass time, it was fun.

February 2nd- Squat

My weight was up a couple of pounds in the morning, had a decent enough workout.

Squat
1x5 235
1x5 275
1x5 310

Front Squat
1x8 135
2x8 185

Walking Lunges
3x10/side 60

Lying Leg Curls
1x10 70
1x10 85
1x10 100

I would have trained abs here but I was cramping bad due to taking in almost no water all day before and drinking about a half gallon during my workout.

February 4th- Bench

Bench
1x5 175
1x5 205
1x5 230 -Left a couple in the tank.

Low Incline DB Bench
1x10 40s
1x10 60s
1x5 80s
1x6 80s

Dips
5x8 BW

I tried to do some DB flies but I had some pain in my left trap and I couldn’t do it properly.

February 7th- Deadlift

I didn’t get my training session in over the weekend because I went to Denver to see an Underoath and Thursday concert. It was the shit, totally worth the 16 hour round trip. I ate like shit the past 2 days, I was bloated as fuck today. I also got a $169 speeding ticket courtesy of The Colorado State Troopers, fun stuff.

Tomorrow I am going to just combine my shoulders and arms workouts and then resume regular training split after that.

Conventional Deadlift
1x5 270
1x5 310
1x5 355 -These were all fast and strong, feels great to be back pulling conventional again, I missed it.

One Arm DB Row
1x10 60
1x10 80
1x10 100
add straps
1x10 120
1x10 140

Wide Grip Pullups
2x8

Neutral Pullups
4x6

Semi Neutral Pullups
2x5

Left trap is still being weird so I didn’t do any direct trap work.

February 8th- Shoulders and Arms

Press
1x3 100
1x3 115
1x5 130

DB Lateral Raises
1x10 25s
1x10 30s
1x10 35s
1x10 40s

DB Pinwheel Curls
3x10 60s

EZ Bar Preacher Curls
2x8 80
1x5 80

BB Curls 3 Sec Neg
2x8 85

Rope Pushdown 1 Sec Pause
4x15 42.5

Bench Dips
1x12 BW
1x12 25
1x10 45
1x10 70

Incline EZ Bar Extensions
3x15 60

February 9th- Legs

Squat
1x3 255
1x3 290
1x3 330 -These all felt really good. I widened my stance a fair amount and it was a much stronger position.

Front Squat
1x8 135
3x8 185 -added another set of 8, will add another next week.

Walking BB Lunges
3x20 60

Lying Leg Curls
1x10 70
1x10 85
1x10 100
1x5 115

Ab Wheel
3x15

Seated Calf Raises
1x12 45
1x12 70
1x12 80
1x12 90
1x12 100
(alt with)
Standing One Leg Calf Raises
4x10/side BW

This was my first time training calves in a couple months, I have been paying for it.

February 11th- Chest

Bench
1x3 190
1x3 215
1x4 245

Low Incline DB Bench
1x10 40s
1x10 50s
1x10 60s
1x4 80s
1x5 80s

Dips
2x15 BW
1x10 BW

Incline DB Flies
5x10 20s