Everything seems to be progressing well so I am happy with that. Weight on the scale and on the bar is moving and waistline is staying the same.
I am going to try and keep the front squat no more than 90 lbs. away from my back squat.
Really want to shatter my standing military press goal, my shoulders are very much lagging and I feel like they are holding back my bench. The shoulders were neglected for a LONG time.
Arms are coming along, need to step up the weight on my curls. Pressdowns are going okay.
Should start incorporating more ab work than just the roman chair and bent leg ab board. Maybe some hanging leg lifts?
I preferred ramping my DLs instead of doing straight sets. Just seemed to “work” better. I’m looking at a 315 working set DL weight in about 4 weeks.
Wanted to add: I am tossing in some extra bicep movements on my non-bicep days in hopes of eliciting more growth. Will likely do the same for triceps, though I need to add weighted dips back in on tricep day and may move the extension to another day like legs.
Weight gain has been okay, need to add in more low intensity cardio though (fat gain has increased to point of pant tightness which is my clue to tighten things up). Holiday weekend and beer didn’t help the situation much.
Yesterday’s shoulder day was ‘meh’, however increased number of sets so I think should be okay. I think the shoulders need more volume. Will stay at 100 lbs, for standing shoulder press (BB), and shoot for 20 reps (did 17 total yesterday).
Recovery in general has been okay, DOMS from last Sunday’s leg day has been really bad this week. Should be okay just in time for back (deadlifts) tomorrow.
Today was a mess. Need to build up my conditioning…
Deadlifts
290x6, 295x6, 300x6, 320x1
Bent over row
160x6, 160x6, 160x6
Seated row
180x6, 180x6 → These were done with very strict form. Will continue like this felt like I got more back involved
Dips
6
That was it. Freakin’ pathetic. DLs just wore me out, almost puked twice. Post workout shake just about killed me to drink since I didn’t want ANYTHING in my stomach. Oh well, suck it up and drink it down.
Still on track to hit the goals, that’s what counts. I will push myself to the limit to hit my goals. I want a working weight of 365 for DL so bad I can taste it. 70 lbs. or 14 weeks to go. Plus I am on a timeline, Oct. 31st 2009. Can’t let up, can’t slow down. Just got to pound the iron.
Incline DB press
75x6,75x6, 75x5
Decline DB press
80x6, 80x6, 80x5
Flat DB press
80x4, 80x4
Pec Deck
110x12, 110x12
Alt DB curls
45x6, 6, 6
Hammer curls
55x6, 6, 6
EZ bar curls
85x6,5,5
Legs - no back squat
Front squat
170x5, 175x5, 180x5, 185x1
Leg curls
125x8, 140x5, 140x4
Leg press (full ROM)
270x8, 270x9, 270x9
Standing 1-leg calf raise
70x8, 80x5, 80x5
Good workouts, mixing up the order for chest and dropping back squats for next 4 weeks.
Pace seems good to hit Oct. 31st goals. Back squat stalling, switching to FS only for 4 weeks then will go back to both and have FS be an accessory.
Chest is also going well, shirts are tight, need to bring up the shoulders though, they feel to be the weak point. I see 100 lbs. DB in the future. I plan to stay starting with incline for 4 weeks as well then go back to starting with flat.
Shoulders are coming along. Bi’s and tri’s are coming along, ratcheting up intensity on biceps.
Back is doing okay. Will start at 315 for working weight on DL this week. 365 in Oct. and 405 in Jan 31st is the goal.
Long term (12-18 month) is 315/405/495 for bench, squat and DL @ 181 lbs.
Incline DB
75x5, 75x5, 75x4
Decline DB
80x5, 80x5, 80x4
Flat bench
70x6, 70x5, 70x4
Pec deck
100x12, 100x11
Alt. DB curls
35x10, 35x8, 35x7
Alt hammer curls
55x4, 45x8, 45x7
EZ Bar curls
70x8, 70x7
I lowered the weight on curls, trying to get more volume/reps. Bench is starting to stall, I am going to give it a couple more weeks to try and progress otherwise I plan to drop back probably 20lbs. each lift (so go from 75s to 65s) and restart the progression.
Should put me on a 4 week schedule to bust through it. 65,70,75,80 for example of incline press. I have already decided to do something similar with bicep curls, since they have also stalled and it was at the point where I was only doing super heavy reps and I wanted more 6+ rep sets.
I plan to continue gaining until I join the 3/4/5 club, then I want to cut down to single digit BF. Doesn’t mean I won’t work on damage control. I will and plan too, actually I need to do some now…carb cycling here I come :-/
So a few revamped goals I guess. Some long term goals rolled out in my log. Whatever, I like to keep this updated. As I said before I am also keeping a notebook.
I’ll continue with a linear progression until it lets me down. I think I have at least until the end of the year before I need to try another progression scheme and 5/3/1 will probably work best for what I am trying to accomplish.
I don’t know if I will hit my goals at 181 or 198 class, I am not going to limit my gains to stay in a specific weight class at this point. Other than damage control I don’t plan to drastically change my caloric intake until I hit my weightlifting goals, once I join the club I plan to hit single digit BF, something I have never done even in H.S. (12 years ago and counting…)
Shoulders today (7/21)
Standng BB press
90x5,6,3
Standing DB press
35x10,8,7
Laterals
15x10,10,9
Rear delts (standing)
15x10,8,8
Upright row
90x8,8
Shrugs - DB (2 115s)
230x6,230x6
Roman chair
10,8,8
Bent leg ab board - need to start holding a dumbell on this one
10,9,8
Need to tighten up a little, probably spend the next 6 weeks maintaining and trying to gain strength but fat gain has been unacceptable and I want to do some small damage control before it gets out of hand. Just improving diet so may not affect training at all, but this is necessary. Bye dirty bulk
Better to bulk for a long ass time, do minor damage control once in a while and continue bulking so that is what I am going to do.
Good work so far keep on improving. Our lifts are somewhat similar and recently I made the change to training only for strength hopefully that works out for you. Keep it up.
Yes, I have been doing almost all strength oriented training for the past few months. I decided to mix it up a little and for the next few weeks will go a little lighter on deadlift and a little more reps and then go back in for 4-6 rep range. Same movements. In any case I will still be busting my ass in the gym even while tightening up a bit. Overall goal is to keep increasing weight on the bar as always.
Today
Thursday 08-06-09 Back
Deadlift
225x10, 245x10, 265x8, 275x7
Bent over row (very clean form)
155x6, 155x6, 155x6
Lat pull down
150x7, 150x6, 150x6
Tricep pressdown
80x10, 80x10, 80x9
Dips
5,6,5
Deadlifts felt really good, will easily go heavier next week but stay in 8-10 range. I took a couple steps back to try and build up my 315x4 into a 315x8 and then will continue progression in 4 rep range.
Lat pulldowns felt real good, will move up in weight next week (very clean form).
Bent over rows were tough, I overdid the weight last week and form fell apart so took a step back before I can move forward.
Finally pressdowns were fine, dips I was exhausted.
Decent day, decided to try the HS machines, bench has been stalling so I am mixing it up for a little still going hard and heavy. I like the machines, very comfortable/natural feeling.
