Evolv's Training Log

Moving right along, relatively. I will be starting a Madcow routine today to see how it goes. Somewhat apprehensive to doing it, but figured I will give it a shot for something different. I have not done a 5x5 style program in about four years, so any input along the way from anyone would be greatly appreciated.

Hopefully I can keep up with posting my sessions, the last time I had a log on here (in 2009) I got so busy with life, I couldn’t get on here every day to post. So hopefully this go around will be better. Here are my current stats as of last week which I tested:

Age- 27
Height- 5’9"
Weight- 173 lbs

Squat- 415 lbs
Bench- 225 lbs
Deadlift- 470 lbs
Stnd Press- 145
Row- 225

My 1RM for percentage purposes, will be:
Squat- 405 lbs
Bench- 215 lbs
Deadlift- 430 lbs
Stnd Press- 135 lbs
Row- 215 lbs

Today…

5 minutes on bike.

SQUAT
170x5
210x5
250x5
295x5
325x5

BENCH
95x5
110x5
135x5
155x5
175x5

BB ROW
95x5
110x5
135x5
155x5
175x5

PULL-UPS(body weight)
20
15

STANDING AB CRUNCHES
Some sort of weight setting on a cable machine.

Metric crap ton of stretching.

Everything was solid today. Benching and rows felt pretty easy, still feel slightly uncomfortable under the bar on bench. Hopefully this will work itself out in the next few weeks.

5 minutes on bike plus warm-up with some ultra light goodmornings and hip openers.

DEADLIFT
250x5
300x5
350x5
395x4

SQUAT (light)
170x5
210x5
250x5
250x5

STANDING MIL PRESS
70x5
85x5
100x5
115x5

LOW INCLINE DB PRESS (60 sec rest b/w sets)
50’sx20
50’sx13

UPRIGHT ROW (w/ ez-bar. 60s rest.)
75x18
75x13

Everything went great. Bar speed on military presses was ridiculously fast, but I am really wanting to take it slow with those. Next week I will do hang cleans in place of my deadlifts, and just alternate each week between the two. The accessory work I am still trying to dial in, so any recommendations on that would be appreciated.

What did you do to your shoulder?

[quote]DixiesFinest wrote:
What did you do to your shoulder?[/quote]
Years ago I had a string of injuries (bad luck I guess) from climbing and mountain biking. I tore the cartlidge in my right wrist which required surgery (TFCC repair). I tore my rotator cuff in my right shoulder, and about a year later I tore the AC joint in the same shoulder from a crash I had on my mountain bike. I remember my doctor started to not charge me for x-rays at the time. lol

Since then, I’ve had a hard time progressing in the flat bench specifically. This year I tweaked my shoulder again from benching, it scared me so I let it rest, and slowly have reintroduced heavier upperbody stuff. It feels great now by the way.

I can DB press and decline bench totally fine. My quess is the freedom of movment in the DB bench, and the reduced ROM in the decline. I also think it is the same reason I can not BB curl heavy with out wrist pain, because I only have ~70% mobility in that wrist (from pronation to supination). So I think it causes problems in getting a good grip on the bar, getting my wrist/elbow inline with my shoulder, and properly tucking my elbow. Likewise, I usally do hammer curls, or light EZ bar curls. I’ve managed to train around it for years, but it has stumped my upperbody progress for sure, which I think shows in my lifts.

[quote]Evolv wrote:
Everything went great. Bar speed on military presses was ridiculously fast, but I am really wanting to take it slow with those. Next week I will do hang cleans in place of my deadlifts, and just alternate each week between the two. The accessory work I am still trying to dial in, so any recommendations on that would be appreciated. [/quote]

Great job. I can relate with having to go easy on lifts to avoid injury or further injury. Just keep leaving ego at home and take babysteps when it comes to upping the weights. You’ll murder those numbers, I’m sure.

BTW I’m curious, why are you going to alternate between hang cleans and deadlifts?

Thanks alfranglez, I appreciate it buddy.

To answer your question, basically for the same reason I posted in your thread you started on deadlifting frequency( One Armed Row and Bench Critique - Beginners - Forums - T Nation ). It is just what I have found works for me over time. I usually always try to have some type of posterior movement though, not necessarily hang cleans all the time. Rack pulls, power cleans, snatches, clean and jerks, etcetera. Partly, I hate to deadlift a lot and I enjoy doing olympic lifts, so it just adds variety. Also, the deadlift has always been fairly strong for me, and I’ve never really had to “work” at improving it.

Friday (11/18/2011)…

10 minutes on bike since I had to wait on a rack to use. Same old GMs and warm-up like always.

SQUAT
170x5
210x5
250x5
295x5
335x3
250x8

BENCH
95x5
115x5
135x5
155x5
180x5 (only supposed to do 3, but they felt light)
135x8

ROW
95x5
115x5
135x5
155x5
180x5 (same as above)
135x8

RDLs (on box, from deficit for added ROM)
225x8
225x8

DIPS (60s rest b/w sets)
+25x20
+25x20

Skipped stretching today, shame shame on me.

Got done with training which took a little longer than expected, somewhat due to people wanting to talk. I hate when that happens, I am really one of those people that will wear a hoodie year round for this reason with the hood up so no one bothers me. Anyway, after I got out of the gym I went on an hour walk with my girlfriend and her dog, an Australian Shepard who is absolutely awesome. Then went and pounded down some pseudo Italian food at the Olive Garden. Afterwards, we both rolled out of the restraunt like two walruses on dry land. Also, broke out some old Exhorder for training today, haven’t listened to them in a good while…

Todays training…

Blew, raked, dragged, and burned about 1.5 acres worth of leaves. Managing the leaf population is always a good time of year.

Today’s session…

SQUAT
170x5
210x5
250x5
295x5
335x5

BENCH
95x5
115x5
135x5
160x5
180x5

ROW
95x5
115x5
135x5
160x5
180x5

PULL-UPS (body weight)
20
12
12

STANDING ABS
2sets of 20

Everything felt fuckin heavy today for some reason. Just one of those days I guess. Going to go eat pizza and get a beer sampler now.

10 minutes on treadmill and warm up.

HANG CLEAN
worked up to 185x5, haven’t done these in a long time. Felt a little awkward.

SQUAT (light)
175x5
215x5
260x5
260x5

STANDING MIL PRESS
95x5
95x5
115x5
120x5

LOW INC. DB PRESS (60 sec. rest)
50’sx20
50’sx13

UPRIGHT ROW (60 sec. rest, used a fatter EZbar today, not sure of bar weight.)
75x18
75x10

~15 minutes of stretching.

I really want a deep tissue massage, my hips, low back, and glutes are so tight despite stretching and foam rolling. It is the only thing I have found to alleviate this. Happy Turkey Day!

15 minutes on treadmill and warm-up schtuff.

SQUAT
170x5
210x5
250x5
295x5
345x3
250x8

BENCH
95x5
115x5
135x5
160x5
185x3
135x8

ROW
95x5
115x5
135x5
160x5
185x5
135x8

RDLs (on box, from deficit)
225x10
225x10

DIPS
25x20
25x20

Static stretching…

Despite waking up at 4:30AM and sleeping like ass, everything felt light and smooth. Really great day actually, had fun, saw a buddy of mine who was benching very strong so it helped to have some inspiration in there. Met a really big douche bag also, I could go on a rant-- but I won’t, because its not important.

15 minutes walking on treadmill…

SQUAT
175x5
215x5
260x5
300x5
345x4

BENCH
95x5
115x5
140x5
160x5
185x5

ROW
95x5
115x5
140x5
160x5
185x5

PULL-UPS (body weight)
20
13
13

STANDING AB CRUNCHES
2 sets of 20

Static stretching, then bought a Little Caesars pizza, pounded that down and then went on a 1 hour walk with my girlfriend and dog at the park.

Missed a rep on my squats. I’m thinking maybe because I squatted heavy on Saturday so perhaps not enough rest in b/w both days. I dunno, 345x3 felt really light on Saturday and today it felt heavier for sure. Not going to worry about it, if Friday goes better, its all good.

strong fucking squats, damn. I’m seriously jelly.

Thanks man! It has certainly taken a lot of time, a couple Smolov cycles + giant steak burritos have helped too along the way :slight_smile:

Thank you for the comment.

1 Like

10 minutes walking on treadmill…

SQUAT (light)
175x5
225x5
265x5
265x5

STANDING PRESS
85x5
95x5
110x5
125x5

RACK PULLS
275x5
315x5
365x5
405x4

LOW INC. DB PRESS (60s rest b/w sets)
50’sx20
50’sx16
40’sx14

UPRIGHT ROW (w/ EZ Bar, 60s rest)
75x5
75x14
65x14

If you like astrophysics and cosmology, this guy is one of my favorites to read and listen to:

15 min. walk on the mill…

SQUAT
175x5
215x5
260x5
300x5
350x4 (extra rep on accident)
260x8

BENCH
95x5
115x5
140x5
160x5
190x3
140x8

ROW
95x5
115x5
140x5
160x5
190x3
140x8

RDLs (on box from deficit)
225x7
225x8

DIPS
+35x20
+35x20

Next week I will do a deload for just my squats and posterior stuff. I don’t feel my bench/row/press are hendering my CNS and recovery any, so I will continue to add weight next week with those. However, today I felt like absolute ass during my squats and RDLs, and I have felt anything but strong all week, physically.

I usually can tell during my warm up sets on squats; or pulls. If 225 fells heavy and I can not explode that weight up very fast I know I am in need of rest, so I will pay attention to this and comply. Also, I never truly get a “rest day.” I am always physically active, if it is not in the gym I am at work performing some type of manual labor or at home doing it-- so I have to be smart and take this into account. This is some of the reason why I don’t do much conditioning. I work half in residential construction job sites, and the other half in a wood shop-- so I get plenty of time moving and carrying heavy shit all day long.

So this is week 4 of the program, all is going well, decided to take a deload on squats and heavy posterior stuff this week.

Today’s session…

10 minutes on the hamster wheel.

SQUATS (deload)
185x5
225x5
225x5
225x5
225x5

BENCH
95x5
120x5
145x5
165x5
190x5

ROW
135x5
135x5
145x5
165x5
190x5

PULL-UPS
18
14
12

PLANCKS
3 sets of 30 sec. holds

Continuing on with my deload for the week. Feeling better, but extremely tight in my lower back and hips. Need to go see the masseuse here soon.

Tonight…
10 min. on the mill.

STANDING PRESS
85x5
95x5
110x5
125x5

LOW INC. DB PRESS (60 sec. rest b/w sets)
50’sx20
50’sx18
50’sx12

UPRIGHT ROW (w/ EZ Bar, 60 sec. rest)
75x20
75x15
65x15

STANDING BB TWIST
55x16
55x16
55x16

I have a little bit of anterior pelvic tilt, so I’ve decided to add in some more abdominal work to help offset those imbalances. Standing ab crunches weren’t doing shit for me, so hopefuly with the plancks and barbell twist I will see some improvement. Long day today, going to try and get in 10 hours of sleep tonight.

Tonight…

10 min. on the mill…

BENCH
95x5
120x5
145x5
165x5
195x3
145x8

ROW
135x5
135x5
145x5
165x5
195x3
145x8

RDLs (on box, from deficit)
185x10
185x10

DIPS
+35x20
+35x20

Its been a very busy week for me. Next week will be back to squattin’ and pullin’ heavy.