Blakjak12's Log

Hey all,

I am moving my training log here from the Men’s Health Forums. I liked the community there, but they are using some sort of new web format that isn’t very user-friend and that I honestly can’t figure out how to use.

I like to keep an online log to track my progress, and I figured moving my log to T-Nation would be as good as anywhere because I do enjoy reading articles from Ben Bruno and several others who are often featured here.

A little about me: I’m a graduate student, and I’ve been lifting regularly and with a purpose for about five years. I’m not going to lie; my main goal is building a good physique. I do like to challenge myself though, and I want to build a solid foundation of strength and conditioning. I also like to play basketball or shoot hoops on the days that I’m not lifting weights.

Right now I’m at about 185 pounds (5’10" tall, probably around 15% BF), and while I don’t look bad, my appearance and performance in the gym are definitely not where I’d like them to be after five years of lifting. I’m looking forward to joining here, and I always welcome constructive feedback!

My current workout format has me lifting four days: One lower-body day, one upper-day day, and two full-body days. I take a day of rest between the full-body workouts, and I always make sure that I have a day of rest before I do a full-body workout. I usually play basketball or do some form of light cardio on two of my non-lifting days, and I take one day a week completely off.

Here was my workout for today:

Thursday, December 19

1A. Incline Bench
175x5, 190x5, 185x5, 185x4, 180x5

1B. DB Lunge and Goblet Squat Combo
5 sets of 5 lunges per leg with 60lb DBs, followed by 5 sets of 10 of Goblet Squats with a 60lb DB

2A. Seated Row with Straight bar
150x8, 160x8, 165x8

2B. Medicine Bar Leg Curl
3x8

3A. L Sit Chinups
3x5

3B. Weighted Incline Situps
(+35x10)x3

Saturday, December 21

1A. Incline Bench
175x5, 190x5, 185x5, 185x4, 180x5

1B. Weighted Pushups
+45x12, +45x12, +45x14

2A. Lat Pulldowns
145x15, 145x13, 145x10

2B. DB Split Squat Holds
(35sx20sec)x3

3A. Leg Raises
3x10

3B. Diamond Pushups
3x10

Sunday, December 22

I shot hoops and ran sprints for about a half hour, and then I played a few games of 3-on-3 as well.

Monday, December 23

1A. Incline Bench
180x5, 190x5, 185x5, 185x4, 180x4

1B. Elevated Pistol Squats
Regular: +20x5
1.5s: +10x5, +16x5
Pause at the bottom: +20x5
Eccentrics: +16x5

2A. Chinups
8, 8, 7

2B. Medicine Ball Leg Curl
3x9

3A. DB Hammer Curls
(30sx10)x3

3B. Weighted Incline Situps
+35x14, +35x12, +35x12

Wednesday, December 25

10 30-second sprints on the treadmill with a minute of walking between each sprint. Also did 3 sets of 10 for BW squats, pushups, and situps.

Thursday, December 26

I will be mostly doing home workouts for the next few weeks because I am on vacation.

1A. Pistol Squats
+10x10, +15x10, +15x10

1B. Chinup
3x8

2A. DB Single-leg RDL
25sx8, 30sx8, 30sx8

2B. Pushups
3x15

3A. L-Sit Chinups
5, 4, 3, 2, 1

3B. Ab V-ups
10, 8, 6, 4, 2

Friday, December 27
Did three rounds of tabata protocols at home with some plyometric exercises.

Sunday, December 29
Did a workout with some family members. Basically, you pick a bodyweight exercise for each type of card from a standard deck, and for each card you draw, you perform a number of reps equal to the card value. You shuffle the cards and then go through the whole deck. We did burpees for hearts (these sucked), pushups for spades, situps for diamonds, and then a mix of plyo exercises for clubs. It was a challenging workout for sure!

Monday, December 30

1A. Barbell Press
135x5, 155x3, 150x4, 145x5, 140x5

1B. Chinup
7, 7, 7, 7, 7

2A. Weighted Pushups
+45x14, +45x10, +45x10, +45x8

2B. One-arm DB Row
(45x15)x3

3A. DB Hammer Curls
30sx12, 30sx10, 35sx8

3B. Diamond Pushups
10, 10, 11

Wednesday, December 31

  1. Elevated Pistol Squats
    Regular: +20x5
    1.5s: +15x5, +15x5
    Pause at the bottom: +25x5
    Eccentrics: +20x5

2A. DB Single-Leg RDL
30sx8, 30sx8, 35sx8

2B. Ab V-ups
12, 11, 10

3A. Weighted Jump Squats
(+50x8)x3

3B. Hanging Leg Raises
3x10

Thursday, January 2

1A. Pushups
20, 16, 14, 12, 10

1B. Chinup
6, 6, 6, 6, 6

2A. DB Shoulder Press
(50sx8)x3

2B. Chinup
5, 5, 5

3A. DB Hammer Curls
30sx12, 30sx10, 35sx12

3B. Diamond Pushups
12, 11, 10

Happy that my pushup numbers are improving. They weren’t even too tough today.

Friday, January 3

  1. Elevated Pistol Squats
    +15x10, +15x10, +10x10

2A. DB RDL
52.5sx15, 52.5sx15, 52.5sx20

2B. Reverse Crunches
15, 15, 15

3A. Jump Rope
1min, 1min, 1min, 1min, 1min

3B. Hanging Leg Raises
5x10

Saturday, January 4

Deck of cards cardio workout with four different plyometrics exercises.

Sunday, January 5

1A. Pushups
21, 16, 15, 13, 11

1B. Chinup
7, 7, 7, 7, 7

2A. DB Shoulder Press
(52.5sx8)x3

2B. One-arm DB Rows
(52.5x10)x3

3A. DB 21s
20lb DBs, 20lb DBs, 20lb DBs

3B. Diamond Pushups
11, 11, 11

Monday, January 6

  1. Elevated Pistol Squats
    Regular: +20x5
    1.5s: +20x5, +15x5
    Pause at the bottom: +30x5
    Eccentrics: +20x5

2A. DB Single-Leg RDL
(35sx8)x3

2B. Ab V-ups
12, 11, 11

3A. Weighted Jump Squats
(+50x8)x3

3B. Hanging Leg Raises
11, 10, 11

Tuesday, January 7

Same as Saturday.

Wednesday, January 8

  1. Elevated Pistol Squats
    +15x10, +15x10, +10x10

2A. DB RDL
52.5sx20, 52.5sx17, 52.5sx15

2B. Reverse Crunches
16, 16, 16

3A. Jump Rope
1min, 1min, 1min, 1min, 1min

3B. Hanging Leg Raises
5x10

Also did 5 one-minute intervals on the treadmill afterward with a minute of rest in between.

Thursday, January 9

1A. DB Shoulder Press
45sx8, 52.5sx8, 52.5sx8, 52.5sx8, 50sx8

1B. Chinup
6, 6, 6, 6, 6

2A. Pushup
15, 15, 13, 13, 15

2B. Chinup
6, 5, 5, 5, 5

3A. DB Hammer Curls
25sx15, 25sx15

3B. Diamond Pushups
11, 13

Monday, January 13

1A. Front Squat
175x5, 180x5, 185x5

Went light today. Easing back into these.

1B. Weighted Chinup
(+10x5)x5

2A. Weighted Pushup
+45x14, +45x14, +45x12

2B. Medicine Ball Leg Curl
9, 9, 9

3A. L-Sit Chinup
5, 4, 3, 3, 3

3B. Ab V-ups
11, 8, 7, 5, 3

Tuesday, January 14

Shot hoops and did some sprints for about 40 minutes.

Wednesday, January 15

1A. Elevated Pistol Squats
+16x10, +16x10, +10x10

1B. Chinup
8, 8, 9

2A. DB Single-Leg RDLs
(35x8)x3

2B. DB Incline Bench
(60sx8)x3

Wanted to do regular incline, but it wasn’t available while I was there today.

3A. Diamond Pushup
11, 11, 11

3B. Incline Situp
(+35x14), (+35x12), (+35x11)

Thursday, January 16

Ran five one-minute intervals on the treadmill and then shot hoops for about a half an hour.

Friday, January 17

  1. Elevated Pistol Squats
    Regular: +20x5
    1.5s: +20x5, +16x5
    Pause at the bottom: +30x5
    Eccentrics: +24x5

2A. Chinup
7, 7, 8, 7. 7

2B. DB Shoulder Press
60sx7, 55sx8, 50sx8

3A. Plank
1min, 1min, 1min

Ran out of time today, so I wasn’t able to get my full workout in. Better than nothing I suppose.

Sunday, January 19
Had an intramural basketball game.

Monday, January 20

1A. Barbell Press
135x5, 145x5, 140x5, 140x4, 135x5

1B. Chinup
7, 8, 7, 7, 6

2A. Pushup
20, 16, 14, 12, 10

2B. Seated Row Two-hand Cable Row
120x10, 130x8, 140x6, 145x4, 145x4

3A. DB Hammer Curls
35sx10, 35sx10, 35sx8, 35sx2