man, its been a week since I worked out. I also found I’m extremely inflexible from sitting on chairs. Anyways, I thought that squats were always the best exercise to get back into anabolic mode. I went super-wide today, but my inner thighs started to cramp, so I only did 3 sets.
Squats:
135x10x2
135x8
I’ll see how sore I am tomorrow and probably continue squats if I’m not sore.
Just wondering, but why do you do wide-stance squats? Are you trying to be a power lifter?
Uhmm… I think it’s the only way I can really trash my posterior chain, especially my ass. I mean, deadlifts also work well, but I’m just ADDICTED to the stretch reflex at the bottom. It really helps exploding out of the hole. I went back to regular squats on the very last set, but I ended up leaning way forward and bringing my lower back into serious play while my ass ended up very relaxed throughout the set. I just feel my body is way tenser and flexed the wider I go. No, I am definitely not trying to be a powerlifter, but all I can say is that Dave Tate knows what he’s talking about.
BP:
Barx10
95x10
115x10
135x8?
155x3?
SM CGBP (Assuming the bar is 20lbs):
110x10
130x3
My spotter was being a complete douche. He kept helping me when I was moving the bar slowly. I did 10 and 4 assisted reps but they were ASSISTED, so thus the deduction. I wasn’t even stalling. Well, I couldn’t lift my arms very well afterwards, so it was a good workout.
Today, my chest was still mad sore, so I decided to take it easy and do sumo deadlifts.
Sumo DLs:
Barx10
135x10
185x6
205x3
225x2
Hyperextensions:
BWx10
10x10
It’s interesting that you have to take a wide stance to feel your muscles working. I use a stance just slightly wider (maybe an inch) than my shoulder width, and I go parallel without the back rounding over. After a squat workout, my ass and hamstrings are sore for days!
To each their own though. If it works for you stick with it.
I have a speech that I have perfected for anyone I am asking to spot me who hasn’t done it before if you want to use it haha
“I am going to FIGHT for every single rep, you will touch the bar when, and only when it moves up a few inches and then back down to my chest and doesn’t come back up, then and only then will you even touch the bar.” Make sure they understand and say it again if you need to.
Thanks Nate and Remu. I’ll probably tell them to only touch the bar when it completely stops moving. If I use your speech the other guy’s gonna look like a douchebag, especially if he still touches the bar prematurely afterwards. I actually decided to start german volume training, because I think it effectively drains my body in a relatively short period of time. I’m starting super light, but its all for the sake of progress, so…
Bench Press:
45x10
95x10x10
BB Row:
95x3x10
Hanging Leg Raises to face with 2.5lbs DB between feet:
10 reps (These were hard)
As you guys probably guessed, I supersetted the Bench Press with the BB Row. I’m a big proponent of antagonistic training. I will do squats next time. Once the high reps come into play for squats, the wide stance becomes invaluable because it lessens the involvement of my weakness, the lower back.
Hey man, good lifting. Keep up the hard work and keep eating! It’ll pay off. Good luck.
What are your goals at this point? Are you still trying to get to 200 lbs? How much do you weigh at this point?
I have to chime in here and suggest that maybe you stick with what you were doing previously. GVT seems more like a strength-endurance type of program… there are far better programs to help you gain size faster. Your plan seems akin to trying to using a screwdriver to put a nail in a wall… the screwdriver is a good tool, just not good for the job. This is assuming you’re still trying to gain size, hence why I asked earlier.
And about the squats thing, wouldn’t it make more sense to involve the lower back in the exercise to address your weakness instead of excluding it, making it an even more-limiting to your training?
My height is somewhere between 6 foot and 6 foot, one-half inch (for comparison’s sake) and my lower back definately gets a workout after squat day–to date, my heaviest squat session has been 230 x 5 reps going AT LEAST parallel w/ floor–but I never try to remove it altogether from the exercise… it’ll just become weaker as the other muscles around it are getting even stronger. You seem like a good candidate for a belt if you’re that worried about it.
And end, please don’t take this post as insulting. I have been following your log since you started it, and it seems like you’ve made good progress so far. I just think you may have better options than what you are planning to do. I just wanted to offer my advice on your situation, and you don’t have to take any of this advice if you feel that your plan would benefit you more.
Good luck, bro. I’ll still be popping in to check out your progress!
Don’t worry, I didn’t take offense at all. What I’m trying to say is that when I go wide, my lower back doesn’t become a weak point. It does when I do a narrower stance, even when the weight is lower. When I go wide, I practically almost only feel my legs working, which was why I started squats. Working out lower back is annoying as f***, but I want to train that area separately, aka hypers or good mornings. Yes, my goal is still 200 lbs. I’m at 157ish around now. Terrible progress, I know. It’s just difficult building habits where I’m constantly gorging myself. When I eat a huge meal (2000 calories) I end up skipping the meal after that. I’m working on it. If you need further clarification, just ask. Tear me apart. I like taking advice. And also, after doing GVT, I feel so tired afterwards that I doze off at the desk and my pecs were KILLING ME today! Good shit. Its really hard for me to get sore usually.
And thanks for the input, golferguy.
Anyway, I did squats today:
Wide-Stance Squats:
95x10x10
BRUTAL. Legs kinda buckled getting off a bus. BTW, I didn’t time the rest stops, because my endurance couldn’t handle it. Ha ha.
Wow. As expected. Legs haven’t been this sore for a year. Hurts when I get off of chairs or I flex my quads. Interesting. My quads and ass are both destroyed, but my hamstrings, lower back, and calves are fine… Anyways, I decided to do military press, my weakest lift, today.
MP:
45x10x2
55x10x2
50x10x4
55x10x2
Medium-Grip Pull Ups:
BWx3x10
Bent-Over Raises:
15x10x3
I doubt my delts will be sore tomorrow. They certainly weren’t burning as much as when I did 10x50x2 or something, ha ha. I should definitely focus on power for this exercise, but I liked the experience, so I’ll see how far this goes. I’ll need to get rid of my soreness before doing 10x10 for the deadlift. I might do 1x100 because I’ll stiff-leg 90 out of the 100 reps if I go continuously. May be hazardous to my back. 1x100 would be MAD boring, though. We’ll see. I don’t expect to attempt it until Monday or Tuesday at the latest.
Okay, I ended up workout out at home yesterday with just a barbell and chin-up bar. My delts didn’t seem like they had very much of a workout last time so i did em again.
MP:
55x10x10
Pull-Ups:
BWx10x3
BWx6,3
I dunno if I mentioned this before, but I never time my rest periods when I do 10x10. I find myself stressed during the rest period and can’t perform optimally when I lift again.
Bench Press:
65x10
100x10x10
Bent-Over Raises:
15x10x2
20x10
Incline Flys:
30x8x3
Well, my lower back was sore and my hamstrings were mad tight. This probably means I still practically stiff-legged the DLs yesterday. I might do squats next time as soon as my hammies loosen up.
I guess my DL workout didn’t go through last time. Anyways, I basically did 185x1x20. The reason I only do singles now are because of form, not a matter of strength. Multiple DLs are really not fun for me. Btw, my goals for the 10x10 program so far are:
BP: 135x10x10
Squat: 135x10x10
DLs: 225x1x25
MP: 95x10x10
Wow, haven’t hit the gym in over a week. I still felt pretty strong though. This is in part due to the 2000 kcal lunch I had right before. I’m still sticking to the 10x10 cause all my body parts were trashed except my delts after MP day. Anyway, today was squat day. Brutal. Like last time.
Pull-Up: 5 Reps
Dipsx: 5x2
WS Squat: 100x10x10
Too trashed after this to do anymore. Was staggering on the way back to the locker room. Hopefully sore as hell for the next couple of days. I’m a masochist like the rest of ya. Ha ha. Tomorrow is BP day. Looking forward to it.
Thankfully and predictably, my legs, especially my quads, were mad sore and I had a helluva lot of trouble on stairs today. I did BP today.
Warm-Up:
Dips: 5 reps
Pull-Ups: 5 reps
BP: 105x10x10
Bent-Over Row: 105x3x10
(BP and Bent-Over Rows Superset)
Strangely enough I wasn’t too tired after these ten sets. I think its because my endurance went through the roof thanks to the grueling workout yesterday with the 100 reps of squats. a 2000 kcal lunch doesn’t hurt either. I was thinking of working on triceps afterwards, but I decided to just do MP for the next workout, because there’s no way my legs are gonna be up for heavy poundages for the next couple of days. Because I could still lift my arms afterwards, I’m not expecting much soreness from my chest and triceps tomorrow. No way I’m going to speed up my progressions, though. Would plateau in no time.
Okay, worked out at midnight and home. Nice and quiet. After eating a can of tuna with mayo with soymilk and bread, I busted out some reps with the MP.
MP: 60x10x10
Pull-Ups: 5x10
(Superset)
I take relatively long rest periods, but I go for performance more than stimulation. The workout took ~ half an hour. Quads are still kinda sore but might be able to do DLs tomorrow, which will really tear up my hammies.
Today was DL day. My quads didn’t interfere with my lifting at all.
DL:
Warm-up: 135x5
Work: 195x1x25
So since I’m a pussy I have decided to do nothing but singles for my DL because of my form because I don’t want to stiff-leg everything. Predictably, I wasn’t TOO tired, although I was sweating… The thing is though, that I’m going to continue to raise all lifts by 5 pounds each week assuming I can complete the entire 10x10 or in this case 1x25. I’m wondering if I should increase the sets to 30-35 or keep it at 25 so that I can put off the eventual plateau I will encounter later on. I’m leaning towards no. Interestingly, my inner chest was still sore today. My delts and triceps on the other hand, were fine.
DL:
135x5
195x1x25
DB Shrugs:
55x15
60x15
65x10
I’m wondering whether I should extend my number of one-rep sets to 30 or 35, because I wasn’t dead tired today, alhtough I was sweating. I think, however, that keeping the poundages low would assist my progress later on. If I’m not sore tomorrow, which I doubt, then I’ll raise the intensity to 200x1x35 next time. My inner chest is still sore, but my quads are almost fully recovered. Squats are by far the hardest workouts, for good reason.
WS Squats:
105x10x10
Strangely, my lower back was getting sore during the first three sets, but gradually got better during the later sets. I think I cheated a little. I went to parallel like 3/4 of the reps and below parallel for the other 1/4. If my glutes aren’t sore for the next couple of days, I’ll definitely try to go deeper more often. The stretch reflex makes that difficult, although it REALLY helps to get out of the hole. It’s like bouncing but just not off your knees, so its safer. Next time is BP.