Edit to change title on 8/2/09
I decided to change the title on my log. Over the past 8 months of lifting I have decided that I want to join the 3/4/5 club. My end of October and end of years goals I feel will put me in a solid “intermediate” lifter category and then going on to total over 1200. Not only do I want to join the 3/4/5 club, I want these to be my WORKING weights. I hope to do this while maintaining a reasonable BF level and be able to then cut down to single digit body fat while maintaining those strength levels.
Original post 6/4/09
Starting a log in case I ever lose my notebook I guess and to make myself more accountable to the faceless internet…
Standard 4 day split:
Tuesday:
Shoulder/Abs
Thursday:
Back/Tris
Saturday:
Chest/Bis
Sunday:
Legs
Nothing fancy, just doing what a friend of mine from college said “Shut up and lift” as well as “train for strength, the rest will follow”. Ramped warmups, more or less ramped working sets depends how each set feels. Progression will be weight on the bar and not more reps.
Goal is strength. Weight on the bar needs to go up.
Current stats:
Weight 186.6lbs
Height 5’10"
Thurday, 6/4/09
Back/tris:
Deadlifts - 275x5, 285x5, 285x4
Bent over row - 145x6, 145x5, 145x4
Lat pull down - 150x6, 150x5
Seated row - 165x6, 180x5
Tricep pressdown, V-bar: 100x6, 100x6
behind the back tricep extension (2 handed): 70x6, 75x5
Shooting for 8-9 working sets per workout on the main groups, 4 sets on the accessory lifts (triceps, biceps, abs). See how that goes, it’s all about trying it out and seeing what works.
Deadlifts are okay, upper back needs a lot of work.
Saturday, 6/6/09
Chest/Bis
Flat bench, dumbbell
80x7, 85x3 (tried and ate it on rep 4), 80x4, 80x4 – pretty happy with flat bench, 80 to 85 was too much of a jump though or at least too big a jump too soon.
Incline bench, dumbbell
70x2, 65x2, 60x3, 60x2 – incline bench sucked, started with too much weight and went downhill from there
Decline bench, dumbbell
60x6, 60x5, 60x4 – nothing special, good weight for decline at end of the chest sets
Alternated dumbbell curls (standing)
45x4, 40x5, 40x5
Alternated dumbbell hammer curls
40x7, 45x6, 45x6
EZ bar curls
65x8, 70x5, 70x5
Decent workout, flat bench w/ dumbbells went well but everything else needs some work.
Sunday 6/7/09
Leg Day! All are full ROM
Squats
245x4, 245x4, 245x4
Front Squat
135x5, 135x5, 135x6 - move up in weight next week, did the 6th rep on last set just to prove I could it was slow as hell but I did it
Leg press
3 plates x7, 4 plates x5, 4 plates x3 (tried for 4, ate it, had to unfold self from machine)
Standing calf raise (1 legged), dumbbell
70x6, 70x6
Good leg day, will start squats at 250, move front squats up 10 lbs. and put leg press at 4 plates and shoot for 3 full sets.
Tuesday 6/9/09
Shoulders/Traps/Abs
Military, seated, barbell
65x6, 75x4, 75x3
Standing shoulder press, dumbbell
45x3 (too much), 35x6, 35x5
Upright row
70x8, 80x5
Shrugs, dumbbells
90x6, 90x6
Roman chair
12, 11, 10
Situps (bench, legs high, upper legs perpendicular to the bench)
6,5,5
Plank
30 seconds
Shoulders and core have been totally neglected the last 6 months of training. The numbers verify that. This will be rectified.
I should have put what my goals are:
On or before October 31st to be doing 315x6 for 3 on squat, 365x6 for 3 on DL and 100x6 for 3 on DB flat bench.
Oh…other goals - 225lb. front squat and a 135lb. military press also for reps. Those exercises just suck for me. I feel that if I can bring those up, the others will follow. These are more secondary goals as I really just want to get my “big 3” out of the “beginner” range.
That is about 20 weeks to move 65lbs. on squat, 80lbs. on DL and 40lbs. on bench. I am shooting for 5 lb. a week increase. Bench is a little trickier since they are 10 lb. jumps at a time so I really need to be hitting a solid 6 reps for 3 sets before claiming victory at that weight.
Feel free to post any comments. Thanks for reading.
Forgot my notebook today at the gym…
Also forgot how to add. I meant to do 285, then 290. Well ended up just doing 300 for deads!
Deadlift
300x4, 300x1, 300x2, 300x2, 300x2
Bent over row
150x6, 150x5, 150x6
lat pull down
150x6, 150x6
seated row
165x7, 180x5
v-bar tricep pressdown
100x7, 110x4, 110x4
2 hand tricep extension (standing)
70x6, 75x3, 75x2
deads, I didn’t realize I had 300 on the bar, did 4, though SHIT that was hard, singled next one and got pissed for missing my reps, got a drink, rep’d out 2 more, then realized what I did and did 2 more doubles to make some use of the weight.
Saturday 6/13/09, A.M.
Weight: 189.6 - that’s 3 lbs. in 10 days (orginal post was actually 6/3/09)
Some A.M cardio (dog walk, couple miles, he needs it he is more active than my wife or I am!!!)
Bench around 4:30 today, will update then. Will be over 100F by that point so better to be inside.
Saturday 6/13/09, P.M.
Chest and Biceps. Workout rocked, really hit the weights well. Flat bench PR’s.
Flat bench DB
80x6,80x6,80x6,85x2 - YEAH
Incline bench, DB
65x5,65x5,65x5
Decline bench, DB
70x5,70x5,70x3
Alt. DB curls
40x6,40x6,40x5
Alt. DB hammer curls
50x6,50x6,50x5
EZ bar curls
70x5,70x6 → need to move up in weight next week
Sunday 6/14/09
Leg Day! Hardest day and probably my favorite day.
Squats:
250x4, 250x4, 250x4
Front squat:
155x5, 155x5, 155x4 ← NEW RECORD
Leg press:
4 plates x5, 4 plates x5
Standing calf raises, 1 legged
85x6, 85x6, 85x6
Great leg day, new PRs all around, felt good. Had to dig deep on the squats, but I did it. I wasn’t going to end on a triple, had to get 4.
Tuesday 6/16/09
Shoulder/Traps/Abs
Standing military barbell (the safety rack was being used)
95x5, 95x5, 95x4
Standing dumbbell shoulder
40x6, 40x5, 40x4
Lateral raises
15x7, 20x6
Upright rows
80x6, 90x5
Shrugs (DB)
95x6, 100x6
Roman chair
12, 11, 10
Bent leg ab board
0 degrees x7, 15 deg. x5, 15 deg. x5
Road trippin’ - so working out in hotel fitness centers…High reps, low weight.
AM cardio
Afternoon -
1 legged DLs 90x10,90x10,90x8 (2 45 lb. dumbbells = 90)
Chainsaws 50x12, 50x12, 50x12
1 arm tricep ext. 30x10,30x10,30x8
Alt. DB curls 30x10, 30x8, 30x7
Visiting family - worked out at Planet Fitness today
Flat bench (DB)
65x13, 65x10, 65x8 - 65 was max they had, probably should have stopped at 10 and gone for more sets…oh well
Incline bench (DB)
50x7, 50x7, 50x6
Cable cross standing chest press
30x8, 30x8
Chest fly
90x10, 90x8
Alt. DB curls
45x5, 45x5, 45x4
Hammer curls (DB)
55x5, 55x5, 55x5
Decent workout, not great.
Legs and Abs (again at PF…oh well)
Bulgarian Split Squats
(45x2)x7, (50x2)x6, (55x2)x5, (55x2)x5
Leg press
270x6, 270x6, 310x5
Seated leg curl
90x8, 110x6
Standing calf raises
65x8, 65x6
Roman Chair
14, 12, 10
Bent leg ab board - 15 degree
7, 6, 5
Back and Tris - last time at PF (yay). No deadlifts and no idea what the weights were on the cable stations because they are just numbered plates so you aren’t judged by the machines :-/ So I will just list exercise and reps per set.
Lat pull down
7,5,5
Seated row
5,5,5
Chainsaws (dumbbells)
65x8, 65x8, 65x8
Lower back extensions
12,12,12
Tricep pressdown
5,6,5
Tricep extension (db)
30x6, 15x12, 15x12
Okay workout, will be happy to be back at my old gym soon.
Finally back at my regular gym…good vacation but happy to be home.
Tuesday 6/30/09
Shoulder/Traps/Abs
Standing military barbell (the safety rack was being used)
105x5, 105x5, 105x4
Standing dumbbell shoulder
45x5, 45x4, 45x2
Lateral raises
25x6, 25x6
Upright rows
95x6, 100x6
Shrugs (DB)
105x6, 105x6
Roman chair
14, 13, 8
Bent leg ab board
30 deg x5, 30 deg x5, 30 deg x5
Ran 3 miles. Weather cooled off to only 91F so an after work run was actually feasibly (as opposed to the 100+ it has been).
Weighed 192 this morning, gained a little over 5 lbs. last month.
Thursday 7/3/09
Deadlifts
285x6, 290x6, 295x6, 315x2 → made deadlifts my bitch
Bent over rows
155x5, 155x5, 155x5
Seated Rows
180x6, 195x6, 195x6
Lat pull down
150x6, 150x6
V-bar tricep pressdown
110x5, 110x5, 110x4
2 hand tricep extension
70x6, 70x5, 70x5
Great day, happy to be back at my gym.
Saturday 7/4/09
Chest and Biceps
Flat bench DB
85x6,85x4,85x3,85x2 - will stay at 85 next week
Incline bench, DB
70x5,70x3,65x3 - not quite hitting this as well as I should, moved up too soon?
Decline bench, DB
65x5,65x5,65x5
Pec Deck
90x12, 90x11
Alt. DB curls
40x6,40x5,40x5 - need to progress on this ASAP
Alt. DB hammer curls
50x5,50x5,50x6 - need to progress on this ASAP
EZ bar curls
75x6, 75x5, 75x5 - pretty good here
Happy Fourth of July
Sunday 7/5/09
Legs
Back squat
255x4, 255x4, 255x3 (grr), 260x1 (punishment for missing last set)
Front squats
165x5, 165x4, 165x4
Seated leg press (partial reps, isolating quads)
250x13, 250x12, 250x12
Standing 1-legged calf raises
70x5, 80x6, 90x5
Good day overall.