ExRx.net

26th November 2011

Length: 1h 10mins
Average heart rate: 118 (Max 158)

Squat 5x5
115kg (253lbs.)

Bench Press 5/4/5/5/4
62.5kg (138lbs.)

Row 5x5
62.5kg

Hamstring raises
4x5

BW Dips
4/4/3/3 (14 reps)

The bench taugth me a lesson today. It was a tricky set. When I was setting the weight and bench to the rack, I noticed that the bar that was racked was a bit thicker/fatter than the average. It was visible to eye and my measurements proved the fact that it was atleast 1.5 times or so thicker than the normal bar. Well, I didn't think it matters and started to do my sets. I quess it does matter, as I was crushed on the second set already, even tho I've managed to push 5x5 with the same numbers last time. I decided to change the bar into a normal one. The sets 3 and 4 were a lot easier, but the fifth set showed me what it is to continue after failing. No strenght left to finish this $h1t. Does anyone else have experience about the grip affecting the bench that much, or was this whole episode psychological? I never realised that proper grip from the bar could have an effect on your pressing.

The squats are getting heavy too, I should film it again in few weeks, as I'm fearing the squat isn't low enough. I squat to 90 degree level or thereabouts, not lower. Maybe I'll do deeper squats on my next program, but not on this one. I think that is low enough for now.

_________________
Prove the impossible!

29th November 2011

Squat 5x5
117.5kg (259lbs.)

Press 5x5
37.5kg (84lbs.)

Deadlift 1x5
115kg (253lbs.)

Chins 3x3

Just when I thought I had enough time to work out, one of our lessons was moved one hour earlier. And in a rush I was. I did finish the actual set correctly, which is good, but the assisting work had to be cut. Except a few fast chin sets. Anyway, really grinding on those squats now, the press I just deloaded. Today was a good deadlift day, it felt really good and the grip was firm and strong.

It's been 8 or 9 weeks from the start of my program, 11 or 12 weeks of Stronglifts. I'm getting to the slow progress phase, and the 5x5 gets really hard. So I figured that in two weeks, I will test my 1RM's or thereabouts. After that I thought I would alter my program a bit, sharing these ideas soon when I get them together. The transition from 5x5 to 3x5 isn't what I'm doing. I have an idea of doing something very similar.
Anyway, I have some goals for my soon to become 1RM's, and I will take some 6 month goals from that point on.

For squat and deadlift I'm reaching for the 135kg/300lbs mark. If that feels easy and with good form, I'll try 145kg.
Bench, I don't know what to expect, but I'll shoot for 75kg/165lbs. It will fall between 70 and 80kg however.
Press is the move where I have made heaps of progress, and I'm trying to push 50kg/110lbs, or even more.
For row I won't have anything special on my sight yet, somewhere between 70 and 80kg like on the bench.
Then I will for sure make a PR with chin-ups.

_________________
Prove the impossible!

2nd December 2011

Squat 5x5
120kg (265lbs.)

Bench 4/3/3
65kg (143lbs.)

Row 5/5/5/4/4
65kg

Abs 17/15
50kg

Hamstring raises 4x5

The Bench is stuck now. I couldn't even get one 5 set, and decided to do only 3 sets, mainly cause of fustration and demotivation. I seem to hit my Max -level on bench right about now. It's time to do some corrections to the program anyway. I've decided to drop the Stronglifts after this week, and move to another program. Just because I'm an experimenting spirit, I thought I would carve a program that suits me the best. But it would be appropriate to ask your opinion. What programs would you recommend for me, by the facts you know?

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Prove the impossible!

4th December 2011

Squat 4x5/4
122.5kg

Press 5x5
40kg

Deadlift 1x5
120kg

Chin-ups
4/4/3/3/2

Upright Row 20/16
22.5kg

Abs 20/17
50kg

I had to stop the last set on squats due to horrible form on rep 4. The squat fell alot forward on the bottom position and caused a lot of stress on my lower back. It's time to drop Stronglifts for now, next week I'll test 1RM's on Squat, Deadlift, Bench, Press and Row. After that I'll do a deload week and at the same time test my new program.

_________________
Prove the impossible!

This week is dedicated for 1RM testing. Today, it was BB Back Squat and Deadlift.

6th December 2011

Barbell Back Squat
5x70kg
5x90kg
3x110kg
1x120kg
1x130kg
1x140kg
1x145kg (320lbs.)


Deadlift
4x70kg
2x100kg
1x120kg
1x130kg
0x140kg
1x135kg (298lbs.)

Yeah, these lifts hit my predictions pretty well, as I thought I would get somewhere around 135-140kg. The Squat went very well, I had to be my own judge here, as the Squat was a little higher than the 140kg one. But after thought and testing, I will still count it, as it went to 90 degree angle where I always aim. 140 was cleaner and better form.

The Deadlift I hoped would have been bigger, but I'm not disappointed. It's a good start, and 140 wasn't far. The failed lift itself died right on the start, I got the bar just a couple of centimeters of the ground and the movement stopped. So I will focus on deficit deadlift and snatch-grip deadlift on the assisting moves on my next program.

Thursday I will beat the Bench Press and Row.

_________________
Prove the impossible!

9th December 2011

Bench Press
8x40kg
5x50kg
2x60kg
1x65kg
1x70kg
1x75kg (165lbs.)
0x80kg
0x77,5kg

Barbell Row
5x40kg
3x50kg
1x60kg
1x65kg
1x72kg
1x77kg (170lbs.)

I was kind of suprised with the row. I wanted to do as pure form as possible, and didn't think it would be more than with the bench. The bench was good, The PR actually felt suprisingly light, so I tried to press 80kgs. Well, It didn't go as well, and I think I could've gotten the 77,5kg If I'd done it first. No matter, happy with the results, there has most certainly been progress.

Today we had an exam of gymnastics, it went okay. The reading for such a subject was kind of hard, but I think I figured it out alright. It's also winter holidays for a month starting today. Yeah. Next is sunday with the overhead press, and then it's atleast one or two deload weeks. My lower back is really tired from all the 3xweek squatting and stuff.

_________________
Prove the impossible!

11th December 2011

Scapular wall-slides 15 reps

Barbell Overhead Press
5x30kg
3x35kg
2x40kg
1x50kg (110lbs.)
1x52kg (115lbs.)
0x55kg (121lbs.)

Abs, leg raises and curl-ups. Several sets 10 reps per set.

Glute activation and some mobility exercises (Fire Hydrants, Quadruped hip extensions, lying hip abductions, hip extensions..)
The sets of overhand Pull-ups, felt really good on my lats and traps.
3/2/1/1/1

_________________
Prove the impossible!

Alright it's now time to start Program 2. I think it is appropriate to arrange some goals so this stuff actually has literal meaning also. Since I know almost nothing of my capabilitys yet, the goals may be either very shy or completely over the top. Lets see.

These goals are met in the following 12 weeks:

• The squat is not ment to increase too much. My goal for the next three months is to add depth to the squat. I need to learn to squat below parallel, even with heavy weights. What happened on the last program was that when the weights increased, the squat elevated. It was no longer deep enough. Well, to fix that I must shove my ego aside and bite the hardcore weights and feel the failure. Goal is to squat below parallel at every friggin set!
  
• The Deadlift is one of two lifts that I focus most on (hence the assisting moves). Last result was 135kg. Three months from now, I will deadlift over 145kg. So yeah, I will add 10kg(22lbs.) to my deadlift. Once I get the lift off going it shouldn't be bad. Goal is to increase the deadlift by 10kg.
  
• The Bench Press is the second Main lift I focus on. I believe increasing my bench will be much harder than increasing deadlift, so I put my goal is to reach 82.5kg on bench. That's a 7.5kg more than I did last time. I think it's possible.
  
• The Overhead Press will also go up. Last time I pressed 52kg. I'm aiming to break 60kg. Now that's a migthy raise, and if I can do it, it's a pad on the back for me. a Huge milestone. But I think it's very achievable, since I feel I'm still on the beginner phase on this, so my numbers will go up quite fast. We'll see. My goal is to increase the overhead press by 8kg.
  
• The last one is the barbell row. It's a tricky move, because I somehow don't take it so seriously like I do on the other main lifts, but still I keep it as my main lift. Well, we need a goal. I believe my back strength will increase alot during this workout phase, so I believe my rows will go up also. 85kg is where I aim. So the goal is to raise my rows 8kg also.

_________________
Prove the impossible!

12th December 2011

Box Squat 3x5
70kg

Deadlift 1x5
70kg

Deficit Deadlift 5cm(about 2 inches) 1x5
60kg

Snatch-grip Deadlift 1x5
60kg

Box Jumps 5x3 (With increased height)

Supported leg raises 4x5

So deload week now, just testing my new program and giving my body some rest. I wanted to test both of the deadlift variations, but also thought that I will maybe add another set of deadlift with the actual program. Also I included Box Jumps to the program, to increase explosiveness.

_________________
Prove the impossible!

14th December 2011

Squat 3x5
70kg (154lbs.)

Overhead Press 3x5
30kg (66lbs.)

Underhand Chin-up/Overhand Pull-up supersets
5x1 (10 reps total)

Upright Row 3x10
20kg

Deaload week continues. My lats and traps are really tight and tense. Maybe I need a massage or a foam roller or something. Last night wasn't exactly deaload-week because I went to a half an hour jog with a friend then played and hour long football game with high intensity.

_________________
Prove the impossible!

17th December 2011

I'm visiting my family in the south this week, so I have to find a proper workout place for a few workouts. Thank god it's deload week, because I stumbled on the worst kind of commercial gyms today. Tens of cardio machines, even more of these fancy isolation-machines and two bars and one bench. And of course there was some dude doing butt-aired high-bridged half bench presses with more weight he could handle and drinking some protein shakes between sets. I had to do some incline bench presses.

Incline Bench Press 3x5
42.5kg

Pause incline Bench Press (no racks or pins or anything to do the dead bench with). 1x8
42.5kg

Barbell Rows 3x5
40kg

Abs (hanging leg raises, gym ball curl-ups)
several sets of 8.

_________________
Prove the impossible!

19th December 2011

Box Squat 3x5
100kg (220lbs.)

Deadlift 2x5
110kg (242lbs.)

Snatch-Grip Deadlift
5x90kg
5x85kg

Single leg dumbell split squat 3x10
11kg dumbells (24lbs.)

Abs 5 sets
Hanging Leg raises, Curl-ups and cable pulldowns.

Band Pull-aparts 4x20

Now my new program has finally started. Overall feeling was good. I think I need a lower box for box squats, not sure tho. Will investigate. I had a bit time on my hands, so I did a bit more today. Also no proper jumping box so did these split squat variations as an assiting move. Felt really good and definately worked. The Snatch-grip did decsend on the second set because I didn't want to pull to failure, and I had to be more careful, as this gym doesn't really like dropping plates. Next week is better again when I get back to my regular gym.

_________________
Prove the impossible!

21st December 2011

Squat 3x5
100kg (220lbs.)

Overhead Press 3x5
40kg (88lbs.)

Chin-ups 4x4

Upright Row 4x10
25kg (55lbs.)

I Decided to start with a bit lower weights than I stalled on the 5x5. The squat went well under parallel, and I think I've found my form. The overhead press is getting lighter everyday. And I also got the chin-ups to my goal. Next I'm aiming for 3x5. Should not take too long. The upright row gave me a nice burn to my biceps and delts, felt good overall. Will see if I get the time to work out under the holidays. I sure hope so, I'm very motivated and fired up right now.

_________________
Prove the impossible!

23th December 2011

Bench Press 3x5
60kg (132lbs.)

Dead Bench Press 8x1
55kg (121lbs.) / 30sec rest

Barbell Row 3x5
55kg

Curl-ups/Cable pulldowns 6x10

I think my form is getting pretty good at the bench, one thing I've wondered if I arch my lower back too much. But can you arch it too much? Well, I quess I'll film it too. At least I've gotten the lats activated. The Dead Bench was hardcore, I bet It'll do wonders for my bench, I think I will progress it with raising the weight and then adjusting rest times for a few workouts, the progress again.

_________________
Prove the impossible!

26th December 2011

Squat 3x5
105kg (232lbs.)

Overhead Press 3x5
42.5kg (94lbs.)

Chin-ups 4x4
1,5 min rest

Upright Row 4x10
27.5kg

Curl-ups 4x10

Changed the schedule for this week, didn't want to box squat without a proper box, plus I didn't want to deadlift carefully. In two days, I get back to my old gym, and I'm free again.

The Squats remain deep, which is very good. It's getting hard tho. It's obvious I didn't go to proper depth before. I'm still improving fast on the oh-press, and for chin-ups, I lowered the rest time from 2 minutes to 1 and a half minutes. Was a lot harder.

I tried to add a bit weight to the curl-ups, made it instantly more tough to handle. Definetly works.

_________________
Prove the impossible!