Wanna be Elite...

Training Training Logs
681

[quote]prodiboy wrote:
I think a Lacrosse Ball works better for getting into the last and upper back. I had this problem a few months back from doing alot of upper back work. I wouldn’t be able to get the foam roller/PVC into the proper position I needed to get into the “hot Spots” I used a lacrosse ball and literally just layed on in on the floor and rolled around on it. I thought it seemed to work better just a thought for yah[/quote]

yeah man…I’ve got a lax ball I roll around on my back and glutes…haven’t tried it on the lats yet but I will give that a shot…I actually bought a bunch of medical tape today and taped two lax balls together, as well as a lax ball and tennis ball, for extra work to get in between the cracks.

[quote]MattyXL wrote:
In real late but damn that Meet vid was impressive…you made everything look real fucking easy great job brother.[/quote]

Appreciate it man!

7/27/12

Skwatz: 200x5, 255x5, 305x5
Leg Curls: 5x12
GM: SomexSome

Back was feeling fairly decent, plus I was bored of not squatting in over a month, so decided to give squats a try with my deload weights…it didn’t go great, but it didn’t go badly either…just average…I was very unsteady in the descent but the weights were so light obviously so it wasn’t an issue. Not sure how to work back up to an actual working weight at this point, but I’ll figure it out by next week.

GM’s were very disappointing. The weight was super light and was still pretty difficult. That is going to take a while to get back up . Slow and steady I guess.

682

7/31/12

Warmups: Agile 8

Close Grip Bench (5x4): 315
Power Curl (10, 5, 3, 5, 10): EZ+70, +90, +110, +80, +60
Incline Cable Pullover: 3x35 seconds
Cable Curl: 3x35 seconds
Pullover Skull Crusher: 3x35 seconds
Hammer Curls: 25’s 3x35 seconds
Machine Curl: 3x35 seconds

Cool down: Arm stretching

Awesome workout. I’m out in San Diego for work this week and stopped in at World Gym…holy shit this place is awesome. Lots of strong dudes and every chick there is hot and looks about 6 weeks out from a figure competition. Really good gym with a ton of good equipment. Only negative is its basically open to the outside and it was hot as fuck today so I sweated my ass off. Probably drank a gallon of water during workout.

Digging the Agile 8 from De Franco. My back and legs felt good for the workout before tightening back up again.

I pushed this workout off two days (went to do it Sunday but wasn’t feeling up to it and was tired from travelling all day Monday)…so I will be going to the gym 4 days in a row. Squats tomorrow. Not sure what I’m going to work up to.

683

you’re a big strong mofo Balla.

And I thought you just came on this site to troll the steroid forum :wink:

684

[quote]rds63799 wrote:
you’re a big strong mofo Balla.

And I thought you just came on this site to troll the steroid forum ;)[/quote]

bahahaha…I am an equal opportunity troller…

Thanks man…got a long ways to go to get where I wanna be…one day though!

8/1/12

DeFranco’s Agile 8 to warm up

Squat: 185x5, 225x4, 275x3
Leg Extensions (lol): 4x10
Leg Curls: 2x12 (got major cramps and stopped after one rep on 3rd set)
Reverse Hyper: 3x8
Standing Ab Crunch Rope: 3x15

Various Stretching/Foam Rolling/Mobility shit to cooldown

Squat is still miserable…my mobility is shot…blargh

Reverse hyper machine at the gym made my back feel good at least.

No real shit to say here…I gotta figure out how to heal this stupid back up!

685

275x3? I can give you some tips on squatting if you like.

686

[quote]scj119 wrote:
275x3? I can give you some tips on squatting if you like.[/quote]
Yeah, like use more weight right?

687

I hope both of you catch AIDS

8/2/12

Foam Rolling back/lats and some lat/neck mobility drills

OHP (3x5): 160, 185, 210
Bench (5x10): 220

Chipotle

OHP felt really heavy tonight for some reason. Probably because I blasted my arms to death just a couple days ago. No worries.

BBB Bench sets were pretty tough, but I rested like 5 minutes before my last set and it was the easiest one of all. Should get easier over the next few weeks too I reckon.

Only got two exercises in since I had to get to Chipotle before they closed (priorities!)…may go do some face pulls/pushdowns/curls in the shitty hotel gym here in a few, but I doubt it…will probably just go sit in the hottub instead

Good news is that my back and neck felt considerably better today…maybe actually doing mobility shit works? Who’d have thunk it.

Back day tomorrow then I’m going to go explore San Diego and get shit faced all weekend…wooo

688

[quote]VTBalla34 wrote:
I hope both of you catch AIDS

8/2/12

Foam Rolling back/lats and some lat/neck mobility drills

OHP (3x5): 160, 185, 210
Bench (5x10): 220

Chipotle

OHP felt really heavy tonight for some reason. Probably because I blasted my arms to death just a couple days ago. No worries.

BBB Bench sets were pretty tough, but I rested like 5 minutes before my last set and it was the easiest one of all. Should get easier over the next few weeks too I reckon.

Only got two exercises in since I had to get to Chipotle before they closed (priorities!)…may go do some face pulls/pushdowns/curls in the shitty hotel gym here in a few, but I doubt it…will probably just go sit in the hottub instead

Good news is that my back and neck felt considerably better today…maybe actually doing mobility shit works? Who’d have thunk it.

Back day tomorrow then I’m going to go explore San Diego and get shit faced all weekend…wooo[/quote]

Chipotle is the key, shit now I gotta find one today

689

Are you going to go to sea world!!!

Sea world is where I met my first manatee.

If you go to sea world, please take pictures of the manatee’s.

I will pay you 5 cyber dollars. :slight_smile:

690

sorry no sea world this trip…i just went and had dinner on beach, etc. etc…pretty good trip…I go to LA sunday to fly to seattle on Monday

8/4/12

Trying to remember what all I did…this workout was long as shit and took like 2.5 hours

Foam Roll back to warmup

Lat Pulldown Machine: 4x8
Pullups: 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2 (scattered throughout workout)
Cable Rows: 3x8 I think
Kroc Rows: 125x16
Smith Machine Shrugs: 225x20
Face Pulls: 3x15
Hanging Abs: 10, 8, 8

Agile 8 and some other neck/upper back mobility stretching to cool down

As noted, workout was long as fuck…but it wasn’t all working out though…the gym I’m at out here was putting on an expo today with all sorts of sponsors and bodybuilders and fitness chicks and stuff…apparently Jay Cutler was here for a little while but I got there too late to see him. Tons of other shit going on though.

They had a punch station setup that recorded how hard you hit the target. The record was 1200 something when I tried it and I got like 1600 so I crushed the previous record. Some guy ended up getting 1850 or so though and passing me. Would not want to get hit by that guy. Apparently he actually boxes and shit so knows how to hit. I;d like to see what damage I could do to that thing if I knew what the hell I was doing. it’s been over a year since I’ve actually punched anyone. I’m long overdue.

Nothing more to see here. I am cramping like amother fucker in my lats, abs, and arms so I dunno if I will be able to do my arm spec program before heading up to LA in the morning. If not, I will just push it off to MOnday.

691

8/6/12

Agile 8

Squat: 135x3, 185x3, 225x3, 275x3, 315x3, 365x3, 405x3

Boom. Light years away from my PR, but considering I was struggling with 275 last week, I am pretty pleased with this. My goal going in was actually to get 365. I ended up talking to one of the trainers there, who knew me from this site, so we shot the shit for a bit and he encouraged me to go past the 365 and hit the 4 plates. It was beltless, and pretty solid. Somewhat shaky but probably just knocking the rust off.

Since starting the Agile 8 and various neck/lat mobility stretching drills, the difference is night and day in pain and tightness. I feel like I can actually move again. The neck pain is greatly diminished, almost no scapula pain, and the lower back feels great most of the time. Still a bit dicey and got some work to do there, but miles ahead of where I was just 2 weeks ago.

No assistance since it took me forever to warmup and then squat. That’s fine, I was satisfied with eclipsing my goal.

8/7/12

OHP (3x3): 170, 195, 220
Bench (5x10): 220

Neck/Lat mobility stretching

Took a nap after work today because I was exhausted and woke up late for the gym. Was going to do Arms spec program today, but didn’t have nearly enough time. Was going to just skip it today but realized I had just enough time to do my OHP and BBB Bench. Got there 40 minutes before closing and finished up my last set right when they shut everything down (resting about 5 minutes in between the bench sets).

BBB Bench is not bad at all this cycle. I figured it would get a bit tougher the second time through but so far so good. It’s funny because just watching me, it is obvious I’m not used to going above 5 reps. I knock the first 7 out like a damn piston, but as soon as I start 8 the bar starts to slow and the last couple reps are way slower than the first 6-7. This is true for all sets. At least I’m consistent.

May try to DL on Thursday. We’ll see how it goes.

692

8/9/12

Agile 8

Sled Drags (160): 5 backwards drags, 5 forward sprints (about 40-50 yards or so)

Crying x infinity

Lat Pulldowns: 5x10
Kroc Rows: 125x17
Shrugs: 135x10, 185x10, 225x20
Face Pulls: 4x10
Back Extensions: 4x10
Decline Situps: 3x15

Met my buddy at the gym to do sled dragging…I had planned to come in earlier and get a lift in before and do the conditioning after, but work got in the way so just had time to do the warmup beforehand instead. The sled drags kicked my mother fucking ass. Sprinting is no problem at all, but the backwards drags are absolute murder. I would be straight for the first half of the gym, but by the second part I was standing straight up and had to rest due to lactic acid building up. It was insane.

Got done with those and chilled a bit. Had some time to kill before my team building BBQ so decided to just lift instead. Did not feel good enough to do deadlifts today, but got a pretty decent back workout in.

After talking to my buddy who trains there about Kroc Rows, I learned that mine are pretty sad. I had no idea. I know they’re hard as shit though! Perhaps a weak link? He is about 200 pounds and has done the 130’s for 25-30 reps. that is with straps (and the fucking handles on these things are huge and hard to hold) but still…I’m light years away from that.

Pretty good session overall though.

I don’t know why I’m doing shrugs. Being in the smith machine makes me feel unmanly and I really don’t think I get anything from them. Plus my traps are all out of whack anyway and have different movement patterns, but maybe the shrugs are good for that?

Going a bit heavier on the face pulls on back day. I had been doing these for higher reps, but with baby weights (like 25 pounds) solely for shoulder health. But I think going heavy will help to build up some mass back there as well, and I’ll keep doing the lower weight/higher rep stuff on one of my upper body days.

These back workouts are taking me a very long time to complete. THis one was like 1.5 hours. I think its because I really have no idea what to do for “back” so just kind of wander around a bit in between exercises trying to think of the next one to do and how to program it.

Decline situps surprisingly were not at all uncomfortable for my back. I had figured they would be and I would feel like shitting out my spine. No stress at all.

Flying back to DC tomorrow so no workout, but will hit up arms on Saturday I reckon.

693

When will you be home? Do you need a ride from the airport?
I feel like you might answer this before you answer a text message

694

[quote]Polsen714 wrote:
When will you be home? Do you need a ride from the airport?
I feel like you might answer this before you answer a text message[/quote]

Yes! ETA at DCA is 945. Bring steak.

695

8/12/12

GUN SHOW

Close Grip Bench (5x5): 315
Power Curl (12, 6, 3, 6, 12): EZ+70, +90, +110, +80, +60
Incline Cable Pullover (3x45 seconds): 60
Cable Curl (3x45 seconds): 45
Pullover Skull Crusher (3x45 seconds): EZ+60
Hammer Curls (3x45 seconds): 25’s
Machine Curl (3x45 seconds): 70

This was Week 3, which is the final week of the program, before going up in weight. That is two runs through now and I have definitely put some size on the guns. Still no shape at all though. I have to be the most unaesthetic mother fucker on T-Nation. Whatever.

Machine Curls raped me. By that point in my workout, I was fried. Had to drop the weight down to 50 and still didn’t even get all 45 seconds. I cried. This high rep shit is for the birds.

I spent 10 minutes in the parking lot after the session trying to get my motorcycle helmet on. I couldn’t hold my hands at chin level to figure out how to strap the damn thing on. It was miserable.

Also had dinner with the PL Team last night…we have decided to do the 100% RAW Worlds in Vegas sometime in October (I think around the 18th). There is going to be about 6 of us going, including my g/f, so it should be a good time.

Since my training has been garbage lately with almost zero squats and deadlifts, I decided to be a BOF (Bench Only Faggot) for this meet. I’m perfectly fine with that since I won’t really give a shit if its not full power so I wont be a nun the whole time we are in Vegas and will actually be able to enjoy myself. If I hit a PR, great, if not, I won’t sweat it too much.

Thinking I may aim for 420 bench though. We’ll see how prep goes.

Skwats tomorrow. Need to figure out how to program them back to goodness.

696

8/14/12

Agile 8
Neck/Lat Mobility Movements & Foam Rolling

Squats (3x5): 295, 340, 380
Deadlifts (5x10): 240
Ab Wheel: 3x12

Awesome session tonight. I decided to just take 80% of my actual squat/deadlift max from the meet until I can actually squat and deadlift again. This worked out pretty well back in the winter/early spring when I was focusing on conditioning and fat loss. I had taken 80% of my October meet and just continued from there, and ended up making pretty decent progress. Gonna start pushing this a bit when my back feels up to it.

Back felt pretty good. Was a bit dicey at first, especailly for the DL Boring But Big sets but the last couple of sets were cake…felt like things really loosened up. Hoping it stays like that!

Gonna put my meet plan together for 100% RAW Worlds in Vegas here in the next couple days. Shouldn’t be too tough since I’m doing Bench Only…kinda looking forward to smashing the shit out of bench for a few months.

697

First you start bodybuilding, now you’re doing a bench only competition? Shouldn’t you be on a Jersey Beach fistpumping somewhere?

698

[quote]scj119 wrote:
First you start bodybuilding, now you’re doing a bench only competition? Shouldn’t you be on a Jersey Beach fistpumping somewhere?[/quote]

Just wait till my Melanotan comes in!

699

[quote]VTBalla34 wrote:

[quote]scj119 wrote:
First you start bodybuilding, now you’re doing a bench only competition? Shouldn’t you be on a Jersey Beach fistpumping somewhere?[/quote]

Just wait till my Melanotan comes in![/quote]

Bronzed, buffed, and beautiful, BRAH!!

700

Sounds like your hip is back on track. Good news.