ExRx.net

Saturday, 6 August

c17w2d1

Jim came and rode the stationary and the elliptical and lifted a little. He complained that he had shoulder pain the last time he lifted, and I took that as an opportunity to help him with his bench technique. Hope it helps, but he probably won't bench again for a month.

Press
3x70
3x80
3x105

Lt Bench
4x4x135
7x135
Chin-ups between sets

DB BO Rows
3x75
3x85
3x95

Planks
5x60 sec, except the 4th set 30 and I got bored and tried some "stir the pots". Did chin-ups and hip thrusts between the planks.

_________________
Our greatest fear should not be of failure, but of succeeding at things in life that don't really matter.--Francis Chan

Monday, 8 August

c17w2d2

Somewhat long work day. To gym alone. All my lifting partners are on home assignment, on vacation, or are doing hard labor for their mothers to pay off massive financial debts.

Dead lift
3x195
3x225
7x250

Lt. Squat
10x45
10x95
10x135
10x115
10x115

Chins
6/6/6/6/5

Waiter's Walk
25# DB
3 sets, each set 3 trips of 20 feet with each hand

Deads--I guess I reset a lot lower than I needed to a few months ago. Oh, well. I'd rather enjoy 7-repping my 3 day than struggling to get my reps. I'll still just keep going up by 10 pounds each time.

However, there's another thought. This is the first cycle since I loaded up on creatine. Hmmm.... I wonder....

_________________
Our greatest fear should not be of failure, but of succeeding at things in life that don't really matter.--Francis Chan

Wednesday, 10 August

Day "off" which meant working at my desk/computer pretty much all day. Q came to spot for me, but he is now apparently indentured to his mother for the rest of his life. He's getting more heavy exercise working for her (lots of digging, I understand) than he would working out with me.

Bench
3x135
3x150
3x170

DB Press
5x10x25s

TRX inverted rows
some sets of some pretty pathetic attempts to pull myself off the floor. The machine is broken, so I don't have the cable available for face pulls.

Side Planks, the second-most boring exercise known to man
5x30 sec

_________________
Our greatest fear should not be of failure, but of succeeding at things in life that don't really matter.--Francis Chan

Saturday, 14 August

c17w2d4

Worked out alone, again. Bill will be back in a few days. I've tried to convince a couple of others here to come and lift. Jim comes sometimes, more than he used to, but not today. Q's family is going on home assignment.

Squat
3x160
3x185
5x205

TGU
5x15 pounds

Chins
5xBW
5xBW+5
5xBW+10
3xBW+15
5xBW+20

Hip Thrusts
5x10x135

TGU--Haven't done them for a while. Time to get back into them.
Chins--I think I'll try again to work out a 5/3/1-like progression for chins. I tried for a while using a training max that included both my body weight and the added weight, but that didn't work very well. I think I'll just use arbitrarily-chosen weights.
Hip Thrusts--I don't know if these are worth the bother. It takes a long time and a lot of fussing around to set up and take down for these. How much do they add?

_________________
Our greatest fear should not be of failure, but of succeeding at things in life that don't really matter.--Francis Chan

Monday, 15 August

c17w3d1

Work stretches a little long. To gym alone.

Press
5x85
3x100
2x110(rep record, I think)

Bench
5/5/5/5/9x135(rep record, pretty sure)

BO DB Row
5x80
3x90
2x100(rep record--I know this for sure, cause my PR is 102)

Planks
2x60
arms gave out on 3rd

Press--can't honestly say that I still had one in the tank, but I got the second rep up clean.
Bench--I honestly DID have one left when I hit 9.
Row--got 3 with my left, but only 2 on the right. And I have thought my right arm was the stronger!
3 rep records in one workout! I don't think that has every happened before. A records record.

_________________
Our greatest fear should not be of failure, but of succeeding at things in life that don't really matter.--Francis Chan

Thursday, 18 August

c17w3d2

Deadlift
5x210
5x235
5x265

Lt Squat
10x45
10x95
10x115
10x135
10x135

Chins
10 to 13 sets of 3
3 to 5 sets of 2

Deadlift
This looks like 3x5 day, doesn't it? Two errors. On the second set I forgot that it was to be 3, and did 5. Then looking back at last cycle, I thought the weights today were a bit of a big jump, then saw that I'd entered "279" instead of "270" as my training max on the spread sheet. So instead of a 10-pound increase, it was a 19-pound increase which rounded to 15-20 pound increase in the sets. But when I was pulling the top set, it just felt good, so I went 5.

Squats
The "light" squats are getting heavier. I think that's OK for now.

Chins
I honestly lost track of how many sets. I should mark every set in my notebook. I was sick and tired of chins when I was done. Left the gym with enough energy to walk home, but that's about it.

_________________
Our greatest fear should not be of failure, but of succeeding at things in life that don't really matter.--Francis Chan

Saturday, 20 August

Spent about 5 hours working on repairs to the tennis/basketball court. I don't play either sport, but I thought I should contribute to the effort. What is we want to make improvements to the weight room some day?

Sledg hammer swings
Didn't count. A few left-handed to try to avoid dread imbalances.

Shoveling gravel and cement
Again, didn't keep track. A lot. Some left-handed

Spud bar
A bunch

Crawling on gravel-strewn asphalt, scraping the broken-up stuff out of the holes and leveling the base
A lot

I'm as sore and as miserable as I've been in a long time. I won't be back in the weight room until Monday at the earliset.

_________________
Our greatest fear should not be of failure, but of succeeding at things in life that don't really matter.--Francis Chan

Tuesday, 23 August

c17w3d3

On call last night, limited sleep, day seemed long to me, but my colleagues commented on how easy a day it was. To the gym about 4. Bill was there lifting, which made the world seem right again. After he left Jim and Mel (a new Papua New Guinean doctor) came in, Jim to bench and Mel to run on the poorly-functioning treadmill. Bench is about the only thing I've ever seen Jim do with weights. He also uses the elliptical, and he rides his bike. I asked if he was interested in trying a planned program, and he said that he was willing to consider it. Hmmm...


Bench
5x145
3x160
1x180!!!
(not a PR, but the best I've done in about 3 years)

Light Press
DB
5x10x25

TGU
5x20

Side Planks
5x30+sec

Bench--I've been stuck for a long time. I got 185 3 years ago just before Sam left for college, and haven't done more than 175 since, with several times that I couldn't get that. I feel I've made stead progress on bench the past few months, and feel good about 180. It was fairly easy, and I was briefly tempted to go for a second rep. I think I was wise to leave it at 1. 185 is one cycle away, and a new all-time PR 2 cycles.

_________________
Our greatest fear should not be of failure, but of succeeding at things in life that don't really matter.--Francis Chan

Thursday, 25 August

Long day at the hospital. To the gym about 5. Bill was there benching. Faithful to his bench, that Bill.

c17w3d4

Squat
5x172
3x192
2x222

GM
10x82
10x102
10x117
10x102
10x92

Chins
5x+10x
3x+20
3x+30

Hip Thrusts
10x135
4x10x145

Squats--had to use the 10kg bar--rounded down for the 5 set and the 3 set, but rounded up for the 1 set. Got 2 reps at a little more than the prescribed weight.

GM--pretty tired, and I really wanted to quit. Compromised by decreasing the weight a little and stayed with the reps.

_________________
Our greatest fear should not be of failure, but of succeeding at things in life that don't really matter.--Francis Chan

Monday, 29 August

c17w4d1

A not-too-bad day of work. To the gym about 4. Bill there benching, Jim arrived soon after. Nothing but bench, except Jim did a few curls.

TGU
25/30/35

Waiter's walks
25x4x4 (that's 4 sets of 4 circuits across our little gym with each hand, about 4 or 5 meters each way)

Press/Bench SS
Press 32x10, 52x10, 42x3x10
Bench 45x10, 4x65x10

This, along with several missed workouts lately due to conflicts and call, will serve as deload. Cycle 18 starts Wednesday.

_________________
Our greatest fear should not be of failure, but of succeeding at things in life that don't really matter.--Francis Chan

Wednesday, 31 August

c18w1d1

My short day at work. Got very little done at home. To gym about 4. Bill, then Jim, than our young HS teacher and his wife.

Press
5x80
5x90
5x100

Bench
135 for 6/6/6/6/7

DB BO Row
5x70
5x85
3x95 (though I may have added the weight wrong--it might have been more!)

Front Plank
BWx60
+25x45
+45x30
+10x45
BWx60

Press--honestly didn't have one left in the tank
Bench--this volume felt pretty good--total up by 2
Row--maybe, with all my confusion on the weights last cycle, I should have left this the same this time around
Planks--one of the 2 most boring exercises in existence. Ugh.

_________________
Our greatest fear should not be of failure, but of succeeding at things in life that don't really matter.--Francis Chan

Saturday, 3 September

c18w1d2

Worked out along. Jim away, Bill worked all morning on resurfacing the tennis court, so didn't feel like lifting.

Deadlift
5x190
5x225
9x245

Split Squats
5xBW
5x45
5x65
5x85
high step ups 7

Chins
Ladder to 5, then 2s, 3s and 4s to total 40

TGU
1 pitiful effort with trivial weight, terrible form, and immediate regret for placing TGU at this point in the WO.


DL--feels like I have lots of potential to take this beyond where it was before

Split Squat--frustrating balance issues with this. Tried a high step-up, but not much better. I will try a step-up with a single dumbbell, and hold it on the side of the working leg.

TGU--a terrible way to program it. Maybe on bench day, but not on DL day after high-volume chin-ups. Sheesh.

_________________
Our greatest fear should not be of failure, but of succeeding at things in life that don't really matter.--Francis Chan

Monday, 5 September

c18w1d3

Long day at work, and I stayed long enough to be the one who got stuck with patients the other docs had sent to lab or x-ray then had forgotten about. To gym after 5. Imelda came to run on the elliptical, so I recruited her to spot, but Bill turned up.

Bench
5x125
5x145
2x165
2x165

Press
10x32
10x52
10x47
10x42
10x42

BO BB Row
10x32/42/52/62/72/82

Bench
I'm totally discouraged about this. All the lifts felt heavy, even the 125. But I didn't feel THAT weak. But on the 3rd rep the bar just stopped cold, and there wasn't anything I could do about it. I felt like I really lacked focus, so I tried another set, and Bill "spotted" the third rep up. Sheesh. I got 5 reps at 165 a few weeks ago, and I've been lifting well on the bench. Mutter, mutter, gripe, whine, cry. Where's Mr. Motivator when I need him?

_________________
Our greatest fear should not be of failure, but of succeeding at things in life that don't really matter.--Francis Chan

Thursday, 8 September

c18w1d4

Long day with some upsetting stuff happening at work. I really needed to lift! Completely alone, which was just fine today. I plugged in the CD player and hit the play button, walked away and didn't notice that nothing happened until I was closing up after the WO. The gym can be a good place to think. Didn't get home until nearly 7.

Squat
5x155
5x180
6x205

G'Morning
10x45
10x84
5x105
5x125
5x125
3x145

Chins
5xBW+5
5x +15
5x +25

Hip Thrusts
5x10x135 (too lazy to stand up and get more weight)

_________________
Our greatest fear should not be of failure, but of succeeding at things in life that don't really matter.--Francis Chan

Saturday, 10 September

Spent several hours helping to resurface the tennis court. To the gym late afternoon with Bill.

Press
3x82
3x94.5
2x109.5

Bench
4/4/4/4/7x145

DB BO Row
3x76
3x90
1x100

Front Plank
135 sec
90 sec

Stir the Pot
3x5circles each way

_________________
Our greatest fear should not be of failure, but of succeeding at things in life that don't really matter.--Francis Chan