I love T-Nation. One of the things I don’t like about weekends is that there are no new articles. I have been following for a while, but have decided now it is time to step up. So, my training log. Thanks to Alpha for the inspiration - hopefully I can push myself like him, and Modi, and all the other crazy strong guys in here.
Ok, so to the basics of my training.
I train every day, varying intensity and strength / conditioning focus according to what is working. This is a basic outline of my days:
Sunday: Heavy Vertical-plane pull - Heavy deads, pullups, Volume squats, accessory stuff.
Monday: Intense conditioning and vertical push
Tuesday: Unilateral legs and back - Lunge variations, single leg deads, rows, etc - all one-leg or one-hand
Wednesday: Intense conditioning and horizontal push
Thursday: Heavy squats - also speed deads, accessory leg work (and pull-ups and bicep work)
Friday: Conditioning and core work
Saturday: Push-pull (upper body) - push press, bench, heavy rows, tricep work
Warm-ups usually comprise 10-20 minutes of aerobic work (increaing intensity), like rowing, stairclimber, sprints on bike, skipping, etc.
When I am training, I generally work antagonist movement patterns in alternate sets, essentially like giant sets with 2-4 exercise variations per round. This way I get max efficiency of time in the gym, and I find my work capacity is pretty good. I guess I don’t like standing around waiting.
Sessions vary in length between 90 minutes to sometimes over 2 hours (depending how hard I am finding things!)
12 JUN 09
*All weights in kg
Conditioning / core
Run to gym (~3km)
1km row
200 rope turns
1km row
-
7 rounds
3 x power snatch, 3 x hang clean, 3 x power clean (50kg)
10 x box jump (28 inch box, start 1.5m away from the box) -
4 rounds
500m row
150 rope turns -
6 rounds
5 x db snatch-to-squat thrust (each arm, 20 kg)
10 x seated db twist (20 kg)
200 rope turns
-
3 rounds
4 minute treadclimber
4 x (25 jumping jacks, 10 squat thrusts) -
15 minutes continuous cable woodchops, cable crunches, dragon flags, v-ups, lateral cable crunchs
Run home!
Was not too bad - actually pretty light because my legs were a bit sore after yesterday’s squats.
13 JUN 09
*Weights in kg
A1 Push press 65x7, 75x4/4/4/4/3
A2 Cable row
B1 Incline Bench 45degree 80x14, 90x9, 100x6/6: 30 degree 90x12, 110x7, 120x5/5
B2 Underhand cable row
C1 Dip +30x8, +40x5/4/3, +30x5
C2 BB row
D1 Reverse-grip floor press 80x6/5/5
D2 BB reverse-grip row 100x5, 80x9
Triceps work, face pulls, and out!
Happy with the push press - looking to significantly improve in this movement. The rest was good, but Sat is always like a de-load day for me (never feels like I have been to the gym if I haven’t done squats or deads or some jelly-leg style conditioning).
14 JUN 09
*Weights in kg
Aiming for some heavy deads, then ‘attrition squats’.
A: Deadslift 190 x3/3/3,180x4, 170x5
Lat Pull
B: Rhythm squat 140(16,5,4), 160(6,5,5,5), 150(13)/110FS(6), 130(13)/120FS(5)
HS curl
Weighted pullup (+15, 7/7/7/6/6)
C: Between-leg parallel Deadlift 120x8/7/7/6
Y-cable pulldown
D: 4 rounds
Leg PRess (10 reps)
GHR (5 reps)
Straight-arm pull down (10 reps)
Cable bicep curl (10 reps)
Happy with the deads today - but they were hard. Got to fly off for the week, so this was a good session to get in before training at 0500 all week (sucks, but gotta do it). Might be a bit tight sitting on the plane though…
Good to see this up and going bro! I’ll be checking in with ya. Great start!
Sitting in the airport lounge after a long week!
But I trained every day!
No real highlights; got my work done at a lower weight level (hard to lift heavy at 0500). Squats was:
130 (13), 160 (10/9), 170 (7/6), 130 (10/9)
Looking forward to some sleep and then some good pressing tomorrow…
20 JUN 09
*Weights in kg
A1 Push press 65x7, 80x3/3/3/2, 85x1 (fail!), 65x5
A2 Cable row
B1 Incline Bench 45degree 80x16, 90x9, 100x7/7: 30 degree 100x10, 120x5/5/4, 90x10
B2 Underhand cable row
C1 Dip +40x5/5/4/4, +20x7
C2 BB row 90x10, 110x5/5/5/4
D1 Reverse-grip floor press 80x6/6/6
D2 BB reverse-grip row 80x9/9
Triceps work, face pulls, and out!
Pretty damn tired, but got better as I went along.
Actually this morning was wake up (after 11 hours sleep!), protein blender bomb and a piece of toast with vegemite and honey (gets you going!), then straight to gym.
Push press is getting there. I think the limiting factor at the moment is the form; I need to work on getting under the bar a bit better (not letting the bar stay forwards of my head). Found a great triceps combo - skullcrushers follwed by db french press (in front of head) - very strong stretch and overhead makes me think good for overhead work.
Time for a shower and shave!
21 JUN 09
*Weights in kg
Heavy deads, then some volume squats.
A: Deadlift 195x2, 205x1*, 195x2, 190x3, 180x4, 170x5
Lat Pull
B: Rhythm squat 140(20,7), 160(12,7,6), 140(19)/100FS(7), 150(14)/100FS(7), 120FS(5)/120BS(10)
HS curl
Weighted pullup (+20, 6/6/6/5)
C: Between-leg parallel Deadlift 100x8/8/8
Y-cable pulldown
D: Zercher squat 100x7, 120x5, 130x5/5
Close Grip cable pulldown
*New PR - 451 lbs/205kg! Watch out Alpha!
I actually did not want to grind too much today (wasn’t up to it), so I figured - lets try a single. Not too bad, but I did not have a huge amount of spare strength left over!
Don’t know whether to start a new cycle on the deads now - I feel a plateau coming on. Suggestions anyone?
22 JUN 09
Conditioning for the Fat boy!
Run to gym (3km, fkn uphill…)
-
Row 1km, skip x 200, row 1 km
-
5 rounds:
3 x snatch complex (hang power snatch, hang snatch, snatch) @ 40kg
8 x high box step-ups (each side)
5 x squat thrust, 5 x v-up -
4 rounds
Row 500m, skip x 100 -
5 rounds
DB clean and press x 4 (Each side) @ 27.5kg
8 x squat thrust
6 x elbows-to-knees -
5 rounds
4 min stepper
100x (mix of squat thrusts, jumping jacks, mountain climbers) -
Shoulder and ab work (seated mil smith press 5x5@80kg was the highlight)
-
Run home (downhill - much better!)
Still a little sore from yesterday’s deadlift effort, so did not go too hard today. Actually, my abs are still stiff from Saturday (push press) I think. Never had that before. Must be working hard to keep it stable.
My anecdote for the day - guy I kind of know calls me out on my rowing technique. So I said - I will workon my rowing if you promise to lift heavier damn weights. The guy is over 200 lbs and is doing deadlift sets on like 160lbs. He says he doesn’t want to get strong, he just wants to be big. I didn’t know where to start, so I just said - heavy weights means strong, lots of food means big, together means big and strong. Food without weights = not the result you are after.
So that sounded more like a mini-rant. Oh well.
Off for some laksa with a mate tonight. Hope he hurries up and gets here, I am getting hungry…
22 JUN 09
- Weights in kg
No rest between sets - all giant-style
-
Lunge to step (4inch) 80x7, 90x6, 100x5/5/5, 80x6
SL HS curl
Single Arm 45 degree pull down -
Hammer strength single leg press x8, x5/5/5/5, x7
SS with Hammer strength reverse single leg press x8, x6/6/5/5
Hammer strength single-arm row x7, x5/5/5/5, x8
Pull-up x10/9/9/8/8/8/7 -
Single leg SLDL 60x7, 70x5/5, 60x6
Alternating cable y-pulldown -
DB walking lunge
Single-arm cable work
This work is actually harder than it sounds. Heart rate stays pretty high in each set, and the weights are pretty heavy for isolateral work.
The lunges onto a 4inch rise really give a huge stretch; may be a little sore tomorrow. Have stretched out pretty well now; will have a hot shower and keep the stretching going all night. I recommend this exercise to anyone; it is like DeFranco’s speed-skater squat (in today’s article) and the pain kind of sneaks up on you.
Anyone ever do slightly odd exercises and get noobs saying - what does that work? I never know what to say, I don’t want to be rude and go - if you don’t know, you shouldn’t do it, or say - the horizontal pulling motion isolaterally, forcing a core contraction and resistance against twisting in the vertical plane. Normally, I just say - it’s like this, but different. Like, how much time do I have - I need to give 5 years of education between exercises in my superset?
Maybe I should just say - read tnation.
23 JUN 09
I think I should name this one ‘manslaughter’
-
Run to gym
-
10 rounds*
BB complex @ 40kg (6 reps; DL, Row, Hang Clean, Front Squat, Press)
10x elbows-knees -
10 minutes cycle (30s hard, 10s rest)**
-
4 rounds
2:30 high-gear sprint
4x(5 burpee, 20 jumping jack) -
10 minutes cycle (30s hard, 10s rest)
Some skipping and stepper work
-
4 rounds
Max reps dip (rest pause) - 20kg(10,6,5,3), 15kg(10,5,5,3)/(9,5,4,3)/(5,5,4,4)
Ab work -
Reverse-grip machine bench (rest pause)
Ab work
CG bench work *** -
Run home (downhill, thank the good Lord!)
*Completed in 18 minutes - not too bad. I felt ok, but got stiff real quick. Subsequent work was all done with a high heart rate; this took more out of me than I expected. Probably still recovering from yesterday (still pretty sore and tight in the hamstrings and glutes).
** Sweating like a fountain!
*** Man I was smoked by this point. Could not move anything. Normally I would do more volume, but I listened to my beat-up body and decided to cut it. EDT combined with HIT is fkn effective, for sure.
24 JUN 09
If it’s Thursday, it must be squat day…
*Weights in kg
- Squat 130x15, 170x(7/7/7/7/6/6/6)
HS curl
Plyometric chinupx(8/8/7) - bb curl 47.5x(5/5/4/4/4)
2)Speed DL (Staley-bouncing style) 130x8, 140x7, 150x(5/4,3)
Incline DB curl
-
Front Squat 110x(5/5/5/5)
GHRx(5/5/5/5)
Preacher curl -
Snatch grip speed DL (2 inch deficit) 110x(8/7/7)
Pullup -
Skipping and stretch sets on the leg press
I am actually still sore from Tuesday, so today was tougher than I expected. Actually, all this week I have been a bit off my best.
And today I have been hungry all damn day. Just feel like eating a big-ass bowl of cereal or a kebab or something. But I have to keep thinking - Hawaii in 10 days…
Back shot. Note the marks from the squat bar…
Hi bro, greetings from the Old Continent!
Just read your log. You and your training seem to be worth of your T-Nation name.
Awful lot of volume, but then again, I guess it also shows. I think I could do your training for a week and then I’d be hospitalized.
How long does your training session normally takes and do you have a heart rate monitor with you when training? Just curious to see for how long and hard you are able to push yourself.
Keep it up man!
Yo Guhkes! Thanks for stopping by, and thanks for the words. You know that means I am going to have to go harder tomorrow…
Mate, my normal sessions run about 2 hours. Shorter (like today or saturday - my more traditional strength days) I can get done in 90 minutes or faster. Conditioning days can be longer. Basically, I just play with the amount of time that I have. If I am away for work or whatever, then I get less time and the intensity goes up - you know how it goes.
I have an HRM - don’t use it too much because it is normally my breathing or muscles that give up (even on conditioning days). But when I take it, and push myself hard, I struggle to get over 180, and if I slow down, the rate drops really quickly. I find that I can maintain 140-160 for as long as I like (until I get too sore or tired or bored).
26 JUN 09
A little bit of conditioning fun…
-
2 rounds
1000m row, skip 200 -
Tabata row for 1500m (20s on, 10s off)
Skip 100 -
5 rounds
Power Clean 70kgx5
Box jumps x10
Squat thrust x10 -
2 rounds
500m row, skip 100 -
6 rounds
DB snatch - 20x10, 25x8, 27.5x7, 30x5, 32.5x3, 35x2
10 burpees
30s plate twists (20kg plate)
6)3 rounds
5 minute stepper
20 box step-ups (+20kg, each side)
- 15 minutes of stepper, skipping, and oblique/ab work*
*Abs feel fkn sore - so I avoided ab work in the sagital plane. Need to have some freshness for tomorrow’s overhead work.
Today was not so bad, actually. I am a little sore (all over - but then I usually am!), so I did not pushfor too much on each circuit. I actually find that if I take it easy on Friday night, I have a much better Sat morning session, and vice versa. This is kind of obvious, but whatever - works for me.
27 JUN 09
*Weights in kg
A1 Push press 65x7, 75x5, 85x1/1, 80x1/70x3, 75x4
A2 Cable row
B1 Incline Bench 45degree 90x14, 110x6/6/6: 30 degree 110x10, 120x7, 130x4, 90x10
B2 Underhand cable row
C1 Dip +25x8, +35x6, +45x5/4/4, +35x7
C2 T-bar row 75x10, 95x6, 105x5/5/5, 95x7
D1 Close-grip floor press 70x10/8/7
D2 BB row (yates style) 70x9, 90x7
Triceps work, face pulls, and out!
Not good on the push press. Probably paying from the week (and yesterday) - my traps are damn sore.
Maybe I need to put the push press somewhere else in the program - Saturday has always been my ‘whatever’ day.
Had my brother’s birthday lunch at a Greek restaurant. Got the banquet and it was some ofthe best food I have ever eaten. No need to eat for the rest of the day - hit all the calories in one meal!
Now I am sleepy…
28 JUN 09
*Weights in kg
My dead / strongman style day
A: Deadlift 180x5/4/4/4/3*
Lat Pull
B1: Rhythm squat 130x(18,7,5), 150x(10,7,6), 160x(10)drop130x(10)
HS curl
Weighted pullup (+15, 8/7/7)
B2: 100FSx(10)/140BSx(7), 100FSx(9)/100BSx(10), 100FSx(7,5)
HS curl
Weighted pullup (+15, 7/6/5)
C: Jefferson lift (2inch deficit) 100x11, 130x6, 150x4, 130x6
CG lat pulldown
D: 4 rounds
Leg press
Straight-arm cable pulldown
Explosive GHRx5
Cable curl
- Damn tired - head felt like I was floating the whole time. Most of these reps felt really heavy. Every noow and then (randomly) one would go up no worries. Then the next would grind. I put it down to tiredness.
Squats were not great - some solid volume but I was a bit dead.
Pullups - I really had to try here; I had nothing. Biceps are sore. Who gets sore biceps unless they do 50 sets of curls? Must be yesterday’s heavy back work (which was good).
A guy in the gym said to me - you know we need more chicks in here, but they won’t come because they are intimidated by lifting weights. I said - this is a gym and the activity performed here is largely the lifting of weights. We want as many iron chicks in here as possible, but we definitely do not want pink-dumbbell wielding lycra-wearing feminista to take over. Was I wrong?