Caesium32's Log - Cycling With a Side of Lifting

Thank you, I guess it’s time to expose my sweaty feet to the world.

If not shoes off, definitely flats like Chucks. Squat looks good, DL I couldn’t play. I’ll try later.

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Thank you I’m working on the shoe situation. Hopefully @brady888 and I can sort something out or I can find some for cheap.

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22/01/17 5/3/1 for hardgainers W1D4

Press (TM-40) superset with chins:
20x5, 25x5, 30x5, 35x5, 25x10x5/BWx2x8

My presses felt really good today, I already feel like I can hit a PR. I stopped doing chins after eight sets because my biceps were getting a bit achy and the sets were getting quite hard. The 10 sets of 5 were very easy otherwise and felt more like a conditioning exercise than anything; the last five sets without chins were done in about 3-4 minutes.

Lat pull-down (50 reps with chins):
45x15, 12, 7

Dumbell bench press (50 reps):
12sx25, 15, 10

Took the assistance fairly easy after all the volume I’ve already done this week and I was also struggling for time. Missed out the conditioning work but did some running and cycling yesterday so not the end of the world, just gives me something to improve on next week. Also didn’t do any of the extra ab work I was going to add in because they’re still well and truly fried from deadlift day.

BW: 85.6kg

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WEEK ONE SUMMARY

Training:
Training went pretty well and I’m enjoying the program. I didn’t set any PRs but I was close and it’s my first week back so I’m not concerned.

Diet:
My diet was average but there’s a lot to improve still. I ate an average of 2942 calories each day and 189g of protein which is about what I’d want however the sources of them weren’t always ideal. I also didn’t achieve my goal of eating five fruit or vegetables each day. The worst thing was that I only took my fish oil and vitamins on three days, this was something I wanted to nail to see if it effected recovery. Also worth noting that I went out two nights and drank a decent amount of alcohol on both not included in my calories.

Other:
Band dislocations and pull aparts were done on four days and I only did mobility and neck work once rather than my goal of twice. I also missed my kickboxing class this week because they were both on nights I was going out. Also I missed out my half an hour of cardio.

When written out like this it seems there’s a lot to improve on but I kind of expected that. I’ve set myself a lot of goals, possibly too many, and I knew I wouldn’t be able to instantly adjust to them all- at least I have room to improve.
Weight seems to be hovering around mid 85kg as opposed to a steady 84.9kg last week so I’ll keep at 3000 calories and see how it is next week.

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Also worth noting I’m having some pain in what I think is my SI joints at the bottom of my back. I first felt it about a month ago and just put it down to twisting funny or something but it seems to be getting worse if anything. It started on my right but is now on my left as well and seems to come and go without any pattern to it. If anyone has any ideas about how to fix it please can you help me. @BOTSLAYER I remember you saying you had SI problems which you seem to have remedies, any suggestions?

1st when does it flare up?

Then super long (but thorough) post: :smiley:

For me personally it started with deads and mixed grip causing an un-level bar. It continued/carried over to Squats and butt wink. I am almost certain I am still fixing imbalances caused by mix grip and I haven’t used it in I can’t remember how long (easily 5+ months though).

I fixed deads by switching to hook grip. (I think every body should hook grip, aside from being even it also shortens the ROM a bit)

I fix butt wink through a long and continued process of staying mobile

The Process:
Stretches
Pause Squats with just enough weight to force me into position
Normal Squatting

I use the stretches after long layoffs to open me up a bit so that I can use the pause squats as a weighted stretch. Then I do my normal squats. I am currently stretching every day before all of my workouts. Record every rep from your 4 or 5 oclock to make sure your butt is not winking. Not wearing black helps to see as well.

I also use Pause front squats as a stretch as well.

My entire Squat workout goes like this:
Stretches
Pause Front Squat 2s @ 135-225
Pause Pack Squat 2s @ 135-225 (Supersetted with Fronts)
Same Set Pause Squat 2 and Normal Squat 1 with 315
Normal Squat Rep and Set Progression

IGNORE THE WEIGHTS just treat those like 20%-30%-40% of 1RM.

My stretch list…unfortunately I don’t know the real names:

Warrior Lunge (this is actual name and hits hip flexors)
Head to Toe (same position of warrior lunge but I lean way forward putting the stretch into my hips and hamstrings)
Frog Stretch (hip opener also real name)
Close stance toe touch (hamstrings)
Wide Stance toe touch (hamstrings)
Ankle/Calf Stretch
Shoulder Dislocations (I use a PVC pipe and also rotate between putting it into a high bar and low bar position)

Don’t train your hip flexors- most people when training abs are actually training their flexors which are going to make them tight and cause anterior pelvic tilt which will cause back pain by itself.

Don’t under estimate upper back tightness helping to stop butt wink. 1 piece collapses and it is much easier for the rest to collapse.

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Thank you for replying I appreciate it, I’ll try the stretches you said tonight. I’ll also try to learn hook grip, I tried before but struggled a lot so I couldn’t be bothered. It doesn’t seem to flare up in any sort of pattern it just does it randomly. I felt it over Christmas even when I hadn’t been in the gym for over a week. Stretching is something I’ve been neglecting a lot so it could be that.

Check out anterior pelvic tilt, it happens with inactivity/too much sitting.

And sorry for the super long post but sciatica issues are the worst.

I’ve actually thought I might have that a bit before so it seems likely. Don’t worry about a long post, thank you for taking the time to write so much.

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So just went and did a bit of mobility stuff after having a hot shower and I feel a bit better, I think I should start doing this more often. Gonna write what I did more just to keep a note for myself because it was fairly quick and easy to do in my bedroom.

Slow body weight squats ~ 5 in 3 different widths
Third World squat ~ 1 min
Foam roll piriformis ~ 2 mins each side
Foam roll glutes and hamstrings
Foam roll front of hip and quads
Foam roll upper and middle back and stretch t spine area.

Stretch with feet together and legs down at side ~ 1 min
90/90 sort of thing ~ 1 min each side

In total took about 10 minutes.

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24/01/17 5/3/1 for hardgainers W2D1

Bench press (TM-65):
20x10, 30x5, 45x5, 52.5x5, 57.5x5x5

All sets went well especially last three or four once I really got in the groove. I miss doing a PR set for bench though, that’s the only downside of this program so far.

Cable row (50 reps):
30x15, 13, 12, 10

Will move up to 35kg next week and try get 50 in five sets.

Incline dumbell press (50 reps):
14sx18, 16, 16

Might lower the incline from 30 degrees to 15 next time to give my shoulders a bit more of a rest.

Pallof press: 10x3
Exercise bike: 30s on/30s off x3

This was a really good workout. I missed kickboxing last night because I’ve gotten a pretty bad flu and it just robbed me of all my energy after a long day. I felt even worse this morning so wasn’t looking forward to the gym but I went home early from my lectures and had a sleep and some food and woke up feeling great. Me and my friend did all our sets back to back so only had about a minute rest max between everything and it was nice to get so much done so quick. The whole workout took about 50 minutes total.

25/01/17 5/3/1 for hardgainers W2D2

So I woke up today feeling even worse than yesterday and decided to stay in bed all morning in hope I would feel better. It helped a bit but after about an hour I felt pretty rough again so I was really dreading going to the gym.

Squat (TM-80) superset with chins:
20x5, 30x5, 40x5, 55x5, 65x5, 72.5x5
Two chins between each set for total of 12.

I entered the gym thinking if I could hit my PR set and really give it my all I’d be happy and then I’d at least try my widowmaker set. Things felt good until 65kg which suddenly felt a lot heavier than it should have. I knew as soon as I did a rep with 72.5kg that I wasn’t going to hit a PR so I just got five and stopped which was hard anyway. I’m very disappointed this is my second week of not setting a PR or even attempting one.

Crunch machine: 10x20x3

I’m just going to have to absolutely destroy my next squat workout. Ideally I would have skipped today and done it tomorrow but I’m busy all weekend so there’s a chance I might have to move a workout to Monday anyway.

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This is the cue to not do shit except lay in bed and eat.

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You are in for a very disappointing lifting career :smiley:

You were sick but the further you progress the less often PRs are hit.

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Aren’t all lifting careers somewhat disappointing? Hell, I bet even Ed Coan was like, damn, I should’ve deadlifted 1000lbs.

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Mind explode…honestly I think as long as you leave it all out there how can you be disappointed?

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So it was my girlfriend’s birthday this weekend and she’s been visiting me from Friday to Sunday. Unfortunately I’ve not had time to go to the gym and so I’m two workouts down going into next week. In hindsight had I thought about it better I could have fit one in on Monday night and started a day earlier but based on how I felt then it’s probably good I didn’t; all the other days I’ve just not been able to make time. Nutrition has also been off a bit both at the beginning of the week due to illness and the end because I had my girlfriend over.

Couple all this with a terrible squat workout and I think the best thing to do is just start this week again next week. The only downside is that the third week of my next cycle after this one will be done at home where I can’t overhead press. I’m still looking at how to solve this but will most likely either go to a different gym for the day or incline press.

I’m in a much better place this week than last; my diet was good and easily repeatable on Wednesday and Thursday when I made the effort, any back pain I had seems to have gone and I feel well and refreshed after this flu. Next week I’ll set two new PRs.

27/01/16 BW: 84.7kg
29/01/16 BW: 85.1kg

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You can PR in anything, just saying. :wink:

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31/01/17 5/3/1 for hardgainers W2D1

Squat (TM-80) superset with NG chins:
20x10, 20x5 (paused, front), 40x5, 55x5, 65x5, 72.5x10 (PR), 55x20
Two chins between each set but last for total of 12.

Old PR with 72.5kg was eight reps and I probably had 12 or 13 today so that was great, I’m back on track. Widowmaker set wasn’t so great and I’m already scared of next week’s, it’s a lot harder when you’ve just done a PR set before. After this walking became fairly difficult and I stumbled upstairs to do something sitting down.

Crunch machine (100 reps):
10x25, 35, 40

Still not sure about this machine, I’ve read a lot saying not to do sit ups etc. I feel it a lot in my abs by contracting them hard and only really bending my mid and upper back.

Lat pull-down (50 reps including chins):
40x14, 14, 12

Varied grip widths and slowed the eccentric.

Overhead dumbbell press:
12sx8x3

These were the lightest dumbbells available and I didn’t feel like doing 5 hard sets to try and get to 50, I still got a good shoulder and tricep pump.

All in all a good workout, only took 50-60 minutes too. Need to remember to weigh myself more often.
I got a lacrosse ball today too. They’re a lot harder than I remember from highschool and I’m not looking forward to the pain from rolling around on it.

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