August 4, 2007
WEIGHT: 192 lbs
Back Squats: Barx8, 135x5, 185x5, 190x2x5
DB shoulder press (neutral grip): 20sx10, 30sx5, 45sx2x5, 50sx5
Bentover BB rows: Barx10, 95x5, 135x5, 155x5, 145x6
Followed by some ab and ankle work.
August 6, 2007
WEIGHT: 193 lbs
Face pulls: 10x20, 12.5x20
Back Squats: Barx8, 135x6, 195x3x5
Bench Press: Barx10, Pushupsx8, 95x5, 140x3x5
Deadlifts: 135x8, 225x5, 285x5
Ab and Ankle circuit like other times (single leg lowering / single leg rocking calf raises)
Good workout. Since my gym has 2 types of bars, I’m going to start saying which one I used because I think the thicker one might weigh 5 lbs more. Normal bar was used for Squats and Deadlifts, thicker was used for Bench.
August 8, 2007
WEIGHT: 191 lbs
Back Squats: Barx8, 135x8, 185x2, 200x3x5
DB shoulder press (neutral grip): 20sx10, pushupsx8, 50sx3x5
Bent over BB rows: Barx10, 95x6, 155x5, 150x2x5
Seated legpress calves: 200x16
prone bridge (plank): BWx 2-2.5 min.
Weight went down, but lifts are going up so I guess that’s good. Thin back used for squats, thick for BB rows.
August 12, 2007
WEIGHT: 192 lbs
crunches: BWx2x20
Back Squats: Barx8, 135x5, 185x2, 205x3x5
Bench Press: Barx10, pushupsx8, 95x6, 145x3x5
Deadlifts: 135x6, 225x5, 285x5
DB curls (30s): 1 set to almost failure
Thin bar used for squats and deadlifts, thick for bench. Squats + sunburn was a bad combo.
August 14, 2007
WEIGHT: 192 lbs
One set of light abs to start while waiting for squat rack
Back Squats: barx10, 135x5, 185x2, 210x3x5
DB shoulder press (neutral grip): 20sx10, 45sx5, 55sx5, 55sx5 last 3 with leg drive, 55sx5 all 5 withleg drive
Bent over BB rows: Barx10, 95x5, 155x3x5
All exercises were very hard today. Either I had an off day, or my daily icreases have almost stopped. I was resting between almost every rep on the squats, I had to do push presses for shoulder press, and I had to dip down for a few of my rows.
Thursday I’m going to replace back squats with light front squats.
I’ve decided to stick to higher reps for now. I also realized my simple progress isn’t going to last might longer for most exercises, so I’ve decided to pick a set weight and work on increasing reps instead, which should allow for slower progression. I’d like to gain 10 lbs as fast as possible so high reps should help (and I’m going to bump up calorie intake). These are the weights I’ll be using:
Back Squat: 205 lbs
Bench Press: 155 lbs
Deadlift: 285 lbs
OHP neutral grip: 50s
Bent over BB rows: 155 lbs
I’ll stick to this routine until a get one of the following: 10-12 in all of the exercises, stall on improvements, or reach my desired weight (which most likely won’t happen first). Then I’ll have a recovery week (lots of rest, lots of eating, maybe some light unilateral exercises).
After this I’ll have two more phases of my off-season and probably 7 months to complete them.
SECOND PHASE:
M: Speed + ME Upper
T: Tempo + Abs/Neck
W: Me Lower
T: Tempo + Abs/Neck
F: Speed + RE Upper
S: Tempo + Abs/Neck
S: Off
Speed being Sprints, Plyos, or medball throws.
Key points:
- Switch main exercises less frequently
- Lower reps for RE (8-12?)
- Higher reps for ME (5?)
- Minimize BW exercises (other than squats)
- Work on starting strength and acceleration
- Practise OL technique in warmups
THIRD PHASE:
M: Speed + OLs
T: Tempo + Abs/Neck
W: Speed + ME Upper
T: Tempo + Abs/Neck
F: Speed + ME Lower
S: Tempo + RE Lower
S: Off
Key points:
- Switch main exercises more frequently
- Higher Reps for RE (20+?)
- Lower reps for ME (3?)
- Maximize use of weighted bodyweight exercises
- Work on top speed and reactivity
- Drop very high CNS exercises (mainly deadlifts)
EDIT: I’ll also be using a new Gym soon (Queen’s University). Hopefully it’ll allow for everything I’ve written. I can’t really imagine it being any worse than my YMCA though.
EDIT2: I’ve already changed my mind. I realized that if I decide to use OLs they’d be better placed in the middle and replaced my more sprinting and jumping later on.
I didn’t get much sleep last night, so I might move today’s wokout to tomorrow unless I feel good later in the day.
August 18, 2007
WEIGHT: 193 lbs
Bench Press: Barx10, 95x8, 135x2, 155x4, 155x2x3
Back Squat: Barx6, 135x5, 185x2, 205x3x5
one set of facepulls
Deadlifts: 135x8, 225x5, 285x5
Bad workout today. Some guy got to the squat rack before me so I decided to do bench first, which was a bad idea. Deadlifts after squats were way too tiring. I did some facepulls to give myself a rest, but that wasn’t enough. Atleast I gained a pound.
Just dug up some old numbers to compare with my testing I did a couple weeks ago. So in 14 months (this includes in-season) my gains were:
Deadlift up 40 lbs
Bench up 10 lbs
Chinups stayed the same
Broad jump went up 0.45m
Pretty disappointing…
My goal is to be atleast level 50 at the end of my off-season (8.5 months from now)
EDIT: also, my squat went up 40 lbs in almost 15 months
August 20, 2007
WEIGHT: 194 lbs
Back Squats: Barx5, 135x6, 185x2, 205x6, 205x2x5
DB OHP neutral grip: 20sx10, 35sx6, 45sx10, 50sx6, 50sx4.5
Bent over BB rows: Barx10, 95x6, 155x6, 155x5, 155x6
Followed by some ab and ankle work.
On my last set of presses, I should have stopped at 4 reps, but I didn’t, and I wasn’t able to finish the lift. This made my shoulder very tired. The 10 reps of 45s before 50s also tired me out. On the last set of rows I used leg drive on the last rep.
Improvements are slow, but I am gaining weight.
Augst 22, 2007
WEIGHT: 195 lbs
Back Squats: Barx8, 135x6, 185x2, 205x3x6
Bench Press: Barx10, 95x6, 135x2, 155x2x4, 155x3
Deadlifts: 135x6, 225x4, 285x5
Followed by some abs and curls.
Decent workout. Weight is up, quats are up and bench went up. Deadlift has stayed the same for a while and my grip always fails first. Maybe chalk would help (+ I’ve been using double overhand). I’m not worried though cause my deadlift was far ahead of all other exercises.
I tried a split-stance standing crunch using overhead cable. I’ll never be using it again. Maybe the cabe was too high, but everything was done using gravity, no actual work. + it hurt my elbow cause the rope attachment is short.
August 25, 2007
WEIGHT: 196 lbs
Back Squat: Brx8, 135x6, 185x2, 205x7, 205x2x6
DB OHP neutral grip: 20sx10, 35sx6, 50sx7, 50sx2x6
Bent over BB rows: Barx10, 95x6, 135x2, 155x3x6
Abs we done before Squats, and I did some neck and ankle stuff after it all.
August 27, 2007
WEIGHT: 196 lbs
Back Squats: Barx10, 135x6, 185x2, 205x3x7
Bench Press: Barx20, 95x6, 135x2, 155x3x4
Deadlifts: 135x5, 225x5, 275x2x2
Followed by levering + curls + calf ext. + hanging leg raises (1 set each)
I used the thickbar for deadlifts today since my grip has been weak. I did them as explosive as possible and after my second rep of last two sets, I held bar at top as long as possible.
My next workout will be friday. Then I’m not sure how long it’ll be until I get to the gym again cause I’m moving into residence.
September 1, 2007
WEIGHT: 196 lbs
I had no energy today so workout was shit, I won’t even bother writing it down.
Tomorrow I move school so next workout will be in a new gym.
September 10, 2007
WEIGHT: 197 lbs
So it’s been a week since lifting cause I’ve been busy with school. Today was the first time I ever used the school gym. 3 power racks, 1 squat rack and lots of benches, and dumbells up to atleast 120 lbs.
However today was a shitty workout. For the first time ever I failed on a squat and got stuck at the bottom. Since this gym doesn’t have mirrors infront of the racks like my old gym, I lost my balance and fell backwards, and got stuck cause safety pins were way too low (first time ever using them). Anyways I’m not hurt now but I’ll see how my knees feel tomorrow.
Back Squats: Barx8, 135x8, 185x5, 205x4 (failed on 5th), 135x5, 185x5
RDLs: 135x8, 225x3x6
Pullups: 3x5
The failing on the squats may have also been caused by not doing a warmup like I use to. I was kind of nervous since I didn’t know my way around so I just biked for 3 minutes. The atmosphere was so much better. Lots of shitty form, but still lots of stronger guys (at YMCA I was one of the strongest…) Only problem is alot of plates don’t match, and I didn’t see any possible ways to do box squats. On RDLs Grip seemed harder than on the bars at the other gym so I’ll need either some chalk, or to start using a switch grip.
I need to find an adjustable routine so I can stick to it for a long time and just make minor changes. Something I couldn’t do with my last one. Any suggestions? I’ll probably just use WS4SB with minor adjustments.
I think I’ll use Kelly Bagget’s Ultimate Training Split. Well balanced program that works on everything I need improvement in + it’s easy to adjust.
September 12, 2007
Weight: unknown, scale said I was more than 150+50, but less than 200.
DB Snatch: worked up to 80s for 2 reps each arm
Bench: 155x5, 155x2x4
Chinups: 8, 6, 6
Tricep pushdowns
Hammer curls
Ab circuit
First day of Ultimate training split was taken easy, and I’m making my log mroe simple now.
September 14, 2007
WEIGHT: same as last time
Broad Jumps: 3x3
Front Squats: 155x4x5
RDLs: 205x3x10
Dumbell Dorsiflexion
Grip work
If anyone has been following my log, I’m moving it to this link: