ExRx.net

07/04/10

Workout B

Barbell Lunges
2 x 8 x 20 kg (bar)
1 x 4 x 40 kg
1 x 4 x 50 kg

One legged leg press (Just wanted to try it out)
2 x 4 x 80 kg

Close grip pulldown
1 x 10 x 40 kg
2 x 4 x 85kg

Close grip pullups - Assisted
1 x 4 x 25 kg (Meaning 25 kg of upwards pull)

Skullcrusher
1 x 10 x 17kg
3 x 4 x 41 kg - New PR

Bicep curls
2 x 10 x 12 kg
2 x 4 x 22 kg - Dumbells
1 x 4 x 50kg - (EZ Curl bar) New PR(2 good reps, 2 bit cheatish)
2 x 4 x 45kg - (EZ Curl bar)

Smith Calf raises (Weights are without bar)
1 x 10 x 20kg
1 x 4 x 50kg
1 x 4 x 90kg

Assessment
Pretty good. Going up on skullcrushers and curls, as well as calf raises.
Pulldowns and pullups were also easier.

Notes
Workout on paper, here, looks like more volume than it really is.
If anyone's reading, no, I did not do 7 sets on my biceps, heh. The "2 x" for the curls were dumbells. 1 set to warm up, 1 set of 22kg hammer curls(It works for my grip), 1 set of wide grip 50kg, trying the PR, and 1 set of wide 45kg, and 1 set of close grip 45kg.

12/04/10

Workout A(Skipped C on friday)

Deadlift
1 x 10 x 60 kg
1 x 6 x 100 kg
1 x 1 x 150 kg (New PR! Could have done 2, probably)
3 x 3 x 130 kg

Upright row
1 x 10 x 20 kg
3 x 4 x 45 kg (Gain(2.5), won't call it a PR)

MIlitary press
1 x 10 x 20 kg
1 x 6 x 40 kg
2 x 4 x 50 kg


Random ab machine
1 x 10 x 45 kg
2 x 10 x 90 kg

Captain's chair
2 x 6

Dumbell sidebends
2 x 10 x 28 kg
2 x 6 x 36 kg

Assessment
Good workout - broke my deadlift PR(Which I set the week before, heh).
The back pain I've been having went away for the workout, and today it seems much less. Not sure what is causing it.

Notes
I can't do any situps due to a problem with my tailbone. I'd much rather be doing twisting situps for the obliques, seeing as those are the only ones that are a 'basic exercise' according to the exrx.net workout and muscle directory.

14/04/10

Workout B

Barbell Lunges
1 x 2 x 5 x 20 kg(bar)
2 x 2 x 4 x 40 kg
1 x 2 x 4 x 50 kg

Close grip pullups - Assisted(kg is upwards pull)
1 x 10 x 40 kg
1 x 5 x 25 kg

Close grip pulldown
1 x 6 x 85 kg
1 x 4 x 90 kg (Personal record)
1 x 4 x 85 kg

Skullcrusher
1 x 12 x 21 kg
3 x 4 x 41 kg

Bicep curls
2 x 10 x 12 kg
2 x 4 x 22 kg
2 x 4 x 40 kg

Smith calf raises (Weights without bar)
1 x 10 x 20 kg
1 x 10 x 60 kg
2 x 6 x 100 kg

Assessment
Good workout. Not much else to say about it.

16/04/10

Workout C

Barbell back squat
1 x 8 x 60 kg
3 x 4 x 100 kg

Dumbell bench press
1 x 8 x 16 kg
3 x 4 x 30 kg

Incline flies
3 x 4 x 22 kg

Bent over dumbell row
1 x 8 x 16 kg
1 x 5 x 24 kg (Both hands at once)
2 x 4 x 36 kg

Assessment
It was a pretty good workout. First time I had done that workout for 2 weeks or so due to various reasons, and I expected squatting to be a lot harder. But I went straight up to 100kg(which I was doing before) - maybe the single leg work, although light, and the deadlifts kept me good.

19/04/10

Workout A

Deadlift
1 x 8 x 100 kg
2 x 3 x 140 kg
1 x 1 x 160 kg (New PR)
1 x 3 x 130 kg

Military press
1 x 10 x 20 kg(bar)
1 x 6 x 40 kg
2 x 4 x 50 kg

Upright row
1 x 10 x 20 kg(bar)
2 x 4 x 40 kg

Abs
Planks x 2 x 30 sec
Side planks 30 sec
Ab machine
Captains chair

Assessment
Pretty good - broke my PR for the deadlift yet again. My shoulders are a bit weak, however. I think I may have a slight shoulder injury of some sort, I've thought so for years, but if I don't go slow into military presses I end up walking home with one shoulder hurting.

Notes
Need to stop being lazy about updating the journal.

25/11/11

It's been way too long since I posted here. I kept working out longer than the last post was(april last year), but eventually stopped after convincing myself that I was too busy, which is complete bull$h1t. I have never been busier than I am currently(My mondays start at 04:00 so I can work before school, school to about 16:30 and then gym. I'm often not home until 18:30) and never have I had as much energy or motivation to go to the gym.

I'm doing a 3-way split, mon/wed/fri, pull/push/squat(+ some aux, like shrugs, and cleans). I also alternate heavy/light weeks, 3x4/3x10 for strength/size respectively.

Workout C -- light week

Squat
1 x 10 x 40 kg
1 x 4 x 90 kg
1 x 3 x 95 kg
1 x 10 x 60 kg

Terrible form cleans
2 x 10 x 40 kg

Dumbell shrugs
3 x 10 x 30 kg(each hand)

Cable ab curls
3 x 10 x 42 kg

Notes
Though I have been really good at sticking to my workouts for the most part, the squat days have always been the ones that I'd skip, because they are on fridays. You know.. beer after school and $h1t. It's terrible. I haven't been skipping them lately though, and my squat is picking up again. It's still ridiculous compared to my deadlift.

Awesome workout today. Awesome day in general. I love my life right now. It's almost sickening.

28-11-2011
Start of a heavy week(3x4)

Workout 1
Deadlift
04 x 70 kg
02 x 120 kg
04 x 170 kg(375 lbs) -- New PR!
02 x 170 kg

BB Bent-over rows
04 x 80 kg -- form was fine, but felt that wouldn't continue at same weight.
04 x 75 kg
04 x 75 kg

DB Bent-over rows
04 x 44 kg -- I've been doing the 44kgs for a good while. I could go higher, but the next DB we have is 50 kg.. I need to try to pull it next time.

Close-grip pulldown
04 x 87 kg -- dropped weight a bit to maintain form
04 x 83 kg
04 x 83 kg

Biceps
Close-grip EZ curl bar x 04 x 46 kg
Incline DB curl x 04 x 17.5 kg
Reverse EZ curl x 04 x 41 kg
Incline DB curl x 04 x 17.5kg
Hammer curls x 04 x 20 kg
Hammer curls x 04 x 22.5 kg

Comments
So, I pulled 170 kg for 4 reps. According to the 1RM calculator that exrx provides, it seems that when I can do about 5 reps with 170 kg my 1RM should be at 200kg, so I'm going to try to pull 200 kg in two weeks or so. I'm incredibly excited as it will be a gigantic personal achievement. I almost feel like nothing can stop me right now.
After that, I'm thinking about dropping 1RMs in the deadlift for a good while and just keep increasing the weights for 4RM(whilst still alternating heavy/light weeks as it seems to be doing great things for me.)

Was busy as all hell for most of the week. Friday I went to work at 05:30(which means getting up at about 04:00) till 09:00, then school, the gym, then work again. Then, when I came home, I couldn't be arsed to sit around and do nothing on a friday night. I went to town and got $h1t. Not the best post-workout recovery method. When I came home, I had been up for 23 hours, been to the gym, school and then at work twice(and I had work the following day).

Anyway, I can't remember my workouts completely so I'll be vague and only really list the real working sets.

Wednesday 30-11-11
Workout B, heavy, push + tris.

Dumbell bench 30 kg x 3 x 4.

Dumbell Incline bench 27.5 kg x 3 x 4

Cable flies 30 x 3 x 4(I'm not sure this is in KG.. but still suspect it is. I can not do 30 kg DB flies)

Military press 50 kg x 3 x 4 (God, my shoulders are so disgustingly weak.. ugh.)

DB shoulder press 20 kg x 3 x 4

Friday 02-12-11
Workout C, heavy, squat, abs + misc

Squat 100 kg x 3 x 3

Upright rows 42.5 kg x 3 x 4

DB shrugs 36 kg x 3 x 4 (I can probably go much higher than this, just couldn't be arsed to load the barbell for it)

Face pulls 30 kg x 3 x 4

3 sets of planks and side planks until I had a hard time holding myself up. I had been doing cable crunches for a while now, and leaving out obliques completely which is stupid.. Man, oh man how I felt my abs the day after these planks. Lovin' it.

God, I still suck at keeping this log up to date. On the bright side, I'm still going to the gym.

So this last month or so has been .. eh. Well, in terms of workouts, it's been fine. I didn't quite hit my 200 kg deadlift, however, due to illness. And partying. A lot of partying.
I went a bit crazy, and I've decided to cut down on the partying a good deal. It's probably hurting my progress, and it's definitely hurting my wallet.

03-01-2012

Workout A -- heavy week

Deadlift
1 x 8 x 70 kg
1 x 4 x 120 kg
1 x 4 x 170 kg

DB Rows
1 x 6 x 36 kg
3 x 4 x 50 kg(No problem whatsoever, lovin' it)

Pullups -- Yes, I can do these now :D
3 sets to failure. It was bout 5-4-4 reps, or so. That's after a heavy deadlift and heavy rows.

Hammer curls
1 x 4 x 22.5 kg -- felt light, went up
1 x 4 x 25 kg -- felt like I could do heavier
1 x 4 x 27.5 kg -- possibly 30 kg next time.

Notes
After a month of some illness, too much partying and so on, I just decided to leave the deadlift there for now. That's still the 2nd or 3rd heavy workout I've done 170kg, so.. yeah. Less partying.
The biceps.. well. My form was probably too strict before. With only a tiny bit of momentum, I could do the 27.5kgs without a problem. Slow, controlled eccentric.

04-01-2012

Workout B -- heavy week

BB Bench Press
1 x 10 x 20 kg(bar)
1 x 4 x 50 kg
3 x 4 x 70 kg

DB Incline bench press
1 x 4 x 25 kg
2 x 4 x 27.5 kg

DB Seated Shoulder Press
1 x 10 x 10 kg
1 x 4 x 20 kg
2 x 4 x 22.5 kg

Tricep cable pushdowns
3 x 4 x 35 ?(Unknown unit, thinking KG)

Notes
First heavy bench I've done since november 4th due to wrist injury. I can finally do BB BP without feeling pain. I'm looking forward to going somewhere with the bench.
Shoulders.. well. They're pathetic. However, I've been doing some half reps(initial half) where I understand shoulder activation is the most(e.g. triceps take over in the upper half of a rep) and it seems to have helped, as I didn't experience sudden fatigue in my shoulders and fail completely(with no hope of grinding) as I've experienced several times before. I really, really want a proper OHP. I should probably move to the bar again soon.

I decided to do a heavy week after a heavy week(instead of going down in %1RM and up in reps, for size. like I do normally). This is because I'm pulling 200 kg next monday, and decided I would try to get every last bit of strength increase before that.

09-01-12 -- Monday
Deadlift
1 x 08 x 70 kg
1 x 04 x 120 kg
1 x 05 x 170 kg
1 x 04 x 170 kg
(Predicted 1RM @ 5 x 170kg = 200 kg. Fook yeah, motherlovers.)

BB Rows
2 x 04 x 80 kg

DB Rows
1 x 04 x 50 kg

Weighted neutral grip pullups
3 x 04 x +10 kg

DB Hammer curls
1 x 08 x 15 kg
2 x 04 x 30 kg

Shoulder width EZ bar curls
3 x 04 x 50 kg

11-01-12, Wednesday

BB Bench press
1 x 10 x bar
3 x 04 x 75 kg

BB Inc bench press
2 x 04 x 50 kg
(Really $h1t inc.. Might start doing inc first)

DB Shoulder press
1 x 08 x 10 kg
3 x 04 x 22.5 kg

Close grip bench press
3 x 04 x 60 kg

13-01-12

BB Box squat
1 x 06 x 50 kg
1 x 02 x 110 kg
2 x 04 x 105 kg
(Thinking I'm going to drop the weights, remove the weight and work my way back up.. My squat sucks.)

Shrugs
2 x 04 x 105 kg

Face pulls
2 x 04 x 35 kg

Leg press
1 x 04 x 155 kg
1 x 06 x 200 kg

I haven't missed a workout, but I can't be bothered to post them as there's nothing really special about them.
Today, however, was great.

30-01-12 -- Monday
Rack pulls
1 x 06 x 60 kg
1 x 04 x 100 kg
1 x 04 x 180 kg
1 x 04 x 200 kg
2 x 04 x 220 kg <-- HELL YEAH!

BB Rows
1 x 04 x 60 kg
2 x 06 x 80 kg
1 x 04 x 90 kg

Pullups
1 x 06 x Close grip
1 x 04 x Wider grip
1 x 04 x Widest grip

Hammer curls
1 x 08 x 14 kg
2 x 04 x 26 kg

EZ Bar curl
3 x 04 x 50 kg

$h1t cable curls
2 x failure x whatever my mate's were using
(Was just doing it because they were my ride home and I was waiting for them)

Notes
So, I finally went ahead and did rackpulls, and my fxxking god they felt awesome.
I had hoped for 200 kg, but did 220 kg, and it was even relatively easy. The fact that I was able to go this heavy meant I probably checked my form at least 6 times to make sure I was low enough. A t-nation article told me that to target the 'upper phase' of the deadlift, the angle of your thighs should be roughly 135° and your shins should be 90° to the floor. That was exactly how I did them. The bar was just half an inch over my knees(so it touched the upper part of them).

BB rows at 80 kg also felt easy as pie. I'm hoping it was because I'm just advancing(I've been eating more) but I'm also thinking it's because I didn't deadlift before, which probably tires me out more than rackpulls. I was very satisfied.

All in all, an awesome day. I can't wait to keep doing rackpulls. I'm going to do them for a month or two, instead of the deadlift, and I may just keep doing heavy weeks, unless I feel like getting some volume next week. Not entirely sure. I just really, really, really love going heavy.

So I started 5/3/1 this week, and it's already working for me, I think.
I had been doing my last, self-made program for way too long. Stuff like doing overhead press after benching flat and incline, thus tiring my triceps, was hindering my progression in the overhead press.

Doing boring but big, so I did like.. 11 sets of bench today, and 11 sets of deadlifts on tuesday. My hamstrings are still on vacation after tuesday.

Bench press
(Warmup)
5 x 30 kg
5 x 40 kg
4 x 45 kg
(Work sets)
5 x 50 kg
5 x 60 kg
12 x 65 kg <- 5+
(Boring but big portion)
5 x 10 x 40 kg

Dumbell rows
5 x 10 x 40 kg
^ These destroyed me. My upper back was even still sore from tuesday's deadlift session.

Notes:
The squat rack bar was already loaded so that it weighed 60 kg, and I was discussing my OHP impotence with my brother. I decided, for $h1t and giggles, to try pressing it. I did 2 reps and I know I could have done 4, but I didn't want to mess with the program.
I have never really lifted more than 50 kg for more than 4 reps.

Deadlift day again today. I skipped squat day on friday.. my hamstrings were still minced from the other deadlifting session.

Deadlift
-- warmup --
5 x 75 kg
5 x 95 kg
5 x 115 kg
-- work sets --
3 x 130 kg
3 x 150 kg
3 x 170 kg
The last set was way too hard considering I pulled 180 x 4 like two weeks ago. :/
-- boring but big --
5 x 10 x 100 kg

Hanging leg raises
2 x 10
Then looked at clock, figured I'd rather catch the bus instead of finishing the last 3 sets(my abs were already fxxked) and then waiting another half an hour.

All in all, it was still a good day.
While on the bus, I started wondering what my total workload had been for that workout(or rather, just the deadlifts). I added the weights, reps and sets up and it came to 7.775 kg / 17141 lbs(NB: Please correct me if that's not how you 'calculate the workload'.. I know it means nothing, and I'm not bragging here, it was just a thought). That means I basically exerted the force of almost 8 metric tons upon my body in ~45 minutes, and walked away from it. The human body truly is an incredible machine.

Still working out. Just too lazy to log it properly. I just had about 1.5 weeks off since we had easter break, which entailed at least 4 nights where I was drunk off my ass. One night, I even did.. drugs. I'm ashamed of it. Never done it before. But it resulted in drinking for about 28 hours straight without eating at all, so I took the following week off.

Anyway, despite being an idiot, I managed to pull 165 kg for 7 reps in the deadlift, two more reps than before the 1.5 weeks of extreme debauchery.