Pale Death beats equally at the poor man’s gate and at the palaces of kings. -Horace
3 mile bike ride in about 20 minutes
1A. Front squat 95/5 115/5 135/5 115/5 95/5
B. Sit ups 8, 8, 8, 8
2A. Bent over row 95/5 105/5 115/5 105/5 95/5
B. Incline press 95/5 105/5 115/5 105/5 95/5
C. Ab roll out 5, 4, 3, 2
3 mile ride back in 20 minutes
The ride to the gym was pretty easy since it was mostly down hill which made it killer on the way back. I’m starting very light to try to keep my joints feeling fine. We’ll see how the next couple weeks go to see if I don’t cripple myself. It seems my abs are much weaker than they used to be so I’ll also try to add more work for them.
1A. Sumo deadlift 185/3 205/3 225/3 205/3 185/3
1B. Roll outs 5,5,5,5
2A. Chin up 4,3,3,3,3,2,2
2B. Ring push up w/ mini band 5,5,5,5,5
2C. Situps 5,5,5,5,5
My back has been spasmming all morning and I’ve never done sumo pulling before so I kept these very light. I’ll probably be sticking with sumo for a while until I can pull conventional again. The ring push ups were much harder than I expected and the last couple of reps I could barely lock out. I’ve also been doing as many push ups as I can for a competition I’m having with a friend for the most push ups in a week. On day 5 now I am stiffer than I think my back and shoulders have ever been.
I’ll hit the gym later for more push ups and some upper back work to help my shoulders.
Most of last week was spent doing GPP while I was figuring out what I need to do next. I realized I was far too weak which is surprisingly hard to admit. I’ve decided to follow a 1 lift a day style program and really focus on getting stronger and if possible bigger.
Anyhow today was deadlift day!
Sumo deadlift 135/3,3
185/3,3
225/3,3
245/3,3
275/fail
225/8 cluster set
Probably need to really up the volume on the lower sets. My form is pretty loose such this is the second time I’ve pulled sumo with anything above 185. My lats are definitely my weak points so either on deadlift day or at the end of the week I’ll add a specific back work out. Plus thick backs look badass.
By yesterday evening my upper back and hamstrings had started tightening up. Today was even worse but my low back feels fine so I’ll take it as a good thing.
Military presses today
45/3
65/3
95/3,3,3,3,3,3 (I think)
Normally I can hit heavier weights but 95 felt pretty heavy so I kept it there. Even with the short workout and fairly light weight it was still a good workout. Tomorrow is squat day so that’s going to be damn fun.
Hamstrings are still sore but I kinda love the feeling of sore muscles hurting each step.
Squats today
95/3,3
135/3,3
185/3,3
225/3,3
185/10 cluster set
135/10 straight through
I’m trying to stick to just 25’s and 45’s and the jumps are killing me. It may be a while until I hit 275 but I can at least up my reps at 225… Anyhow I’ll be lucky to get out of bed tomorrow morning after today.
Today’s workout was awesome. My form was better and I felt much tighter throughout the lifts. I wish I got the last lift on video since I nearly fell over midway. I usually deadlift in vibrams but my foot lost traction on the platform and I don’t really know how I finished the lift. Luckily I didn’t get hurt and I need to look into other shoes from now on.
Had some weird weather this past week and for what ever reason my internet has been down most of the time. Last week I wasn’t able to post my squat, dip, or clean workouts and I have a pretty good idea of what I did but I’m not sure so I won’t bother writing them up. Anyhow I only have a few days to lift the next two weeks because I’m going out of town but I should be able to get outside to sprint plus I’ll be able to do push ups and probably chin ups.
Today was once again deadlift day
135/3,3
185/3,3
225/3,3
275/1,1,1,1 the last set may not have been locked out completely but whatever I’m counting it
DB Swings 45/10,10,10
Definitely need to add more grip and core work but it’s always hard to remember to do anything after deadlifts
Been a while since I posted my workouts and I’m definitely more motivated to work hard when I know someone might see what I’m doing. Plus Alpha being back has inspired me to get back to my log.
5/29/13 AM
1A. Power Clean 155x1x10
B. Hanging Leg Raise bwx4x2 3x8
2A. Face Pull 70x3x10
B. Incline 135x3x10
C. Back Ext. bwx10x10
5/29/13 PM
Goblet Squats worked up to 36kg to find my working weight for the next few workouts
Farmer’s Walks 55 lbs per handx50 pacesx10
Zercher Good Morning 95x6x4
The farmer’s walks just about killed me but hopefully by tomorrow I’ll feel a little better.
5/30/13 AM
1A. Front Squats 95x5 115x5 135x5x3
B. Hanging leg raise bwx3,5x4
2A. Chin ups bwx3x5
B. Push press 95x5x4 95x10
C. Side Bends 45x6x4
Finished with some back and bicep stuff
I was definitely more sore than I’ve been in a while and I realized last week I had only done 5 trips for the farmer’s walks while I thought I had done 10. At least the week is almost over and I’ll have the weekend to relax and rest up for next week’s workouts. Its times like these I’m glad to be a bit of a masochist otherwise I might be inclined to skip the gym.
I got off track from my planned workout and ended up maxing in several exercises. I hit 205 benching, 185 in the power clean, farmer’s walk 60x25 pacesx10
6/5/13 AM
Power cleans 175x1x6
Bench press 185x1x6
Super setted the warm up for the bench with face pulls but wasn’t too sure how the pressing would go and opted to save my energy for that during the working sets.
Overhead squats 95x5x3
2A. Chinups bwx3,4,3
2B. Military press 95x5x3
Facepulls 70x5x4
6/7/13
Power cleans 175x1x8
Incline 155x1x10
Once again facepulls during the warmup sets. The power cleans were hard while the inclines were surprisingly easy so I’ll be bumping the weight up next time.
I starting recording everything in a notebook again since I tend to forget numbers half way through a workout and can’t remember how much weight to add. Last week was awful, I had no motivation and the guy I’m training with had wanted me to change when I workout. Luckily we found a compromise which was basically just splitting our workouts so that if he can’t make one there’s always another later and on monday I felt fantastic. I’m feeling strong and getting my eating a bit more regular with less crap through out the day.
I turn 20 in the end of August and I have a hand full of goals I liked to reach by then
Power clean 225- currently 185
Farmer’s walk 100 lbs dumbbells- currently 60 lbs not really sure the distance
Front Squat 225- not sure what my current max is
Push Press 185- currently 155
I have nothing to do most days but hit the gym so I’m pretty sure I can make these happen.
A quick update, I’ve switched up my reps to 6-8 for the first time in a long time and maybe it’s just constantly pushing for more weight but I’m now doing reps with what I used to ramp up to for a single on push presses. So good news is that I’m feeling much stronger, bad news is that I’m now revealing more weak points. My core is weak and I have a hard time bracing my lats so I’ll have to address that pretty soon.
Another weekly update, my back has been giving me some problems with farmer’s walks but I’ve hit 85 lbs dumbbells so by the 29th I’ll easily hit 100 lbs. For clarification the distance is about 40 yards with 1 turn in the middle for 10 trips with 1 minute rest in between trips. I suppose it’s not really much of a strength movement at that point but it kills my grip and core/hips trying to stabilize everything. Front squats are slowly improving especially since I dropped the reps, for some reason I can’t seem to go above 5 reps without losing good bar placement.
I’ve decided I like keeping a log on here along with a journal so next week I’ll go back to posting daily or close to daily.