Fall Training Log

After I walked 30 yards and was out of breath, I decided this week that it’s time for some functional training. I’ve been back and forth between bodybuilding and powerlifting workouts and having a hard time sticking to one or the other. I now realize that I never really wanted to be either.

Let’s face it, my mug has been beaten to a pulp from playing sports and fighting, so I don’t want to look in the mirror a lot (I’m still pretty, though). Powerlifting is more suited for my goals but I don’t want to strictly be a powerlifter either.

So, after ballooning up to 235 lbs on 5’11", at about 15-16% bf, it’s time for me to become a better all around athlete. I want to eventually train in MMA (when I can afford the outrageous prices in my area) so I need more endurance and to continue adding strength.

I have access to a weight room, track, indoor pool, and a truck to push.

I am currently a full time student and working so I will have to manage my time well. My current goals by January 1, 2006 are:

Bench Press: 415 lbs.
Squat: 500 lbs.
Deadlift: 520 lbs.
all of these lifts will be raw
400 meter sprint: 55 seconds
2 mile run: 12 minutes
Pushups in 2 minutes: 100
Crunches in 2 minutes: 100
Bodyweight: around 215
Fat %: around 8%

Once I acheive these goals, I’ll try to add more LBM while keeping performance.

Plan of attack:
Days 1 and 5 will be timed 3 mile runs, hoping to improve by 10 seconds each run

Day 3 will be timed 400 meter sprints, with rest time equal to run time

Days 2, 4, and 6 will be a modified Westside routine (basically Westside for Skinny Bastards, by Coach Joe DeFranco)

Day 7, rest

Food:
Calories - 3500 (will adjust accordingly as time passes)
Macronutrients - protein 40%, carbs 30%, fats 30 %

I’m basically posting this for the added motivation. I want to be able to log on here and look at my goals and progress every day, and GET INPUT from you guys. If you feel like trolling, please do it on another thread. I take my training very seriously. If you guys think someone is trolling, please don’t respond to them.

I’ll start with yesterday’s and today’s training, which is actually days 4 and 5.

Day 4:
A. Squats- worked up to 405 x 4
B. Lunges- 50 lbs. dumbbells 3 x 10 each leg
C. Low Cable Pullthroughs: 3 x 10
D1. Barbbell Shrugs: 3 x 15 with 225 lbs.
D2. Timed Hangs from Pull Up Bar: 3 sets, each around 1 minute

Day 5:
Ran 3 1/2 miles in 28 mins, 45 secs. This was supposed to only be 3 miles but I miscalculated. Almost cried like a bitch but I made it. For those of you keepin score, that’s 8:15 miles so not bad to start with.

Oh, to let you guys know where I’m at on my bench, I did 335 x 4 the other day.

I’ll also be 22 years old at the end of October.

Are my goals realistic? I tend to overestimate myself but I never accept failure.

Day 6:

A. 79 pushups in two minutes
B. 64 situps in two minutes
C1. Barbell Rows: 3 x 8 @165 lbs.
C2. Seated DB Power Cleans: 3 x 8 @45 lbs.
D1. Barbell Curls: 3 x 8 @ 95 lbs.
D2. DB Flat Triceps Ext.: 3 x 10 @ 45 lbs.
E. DB Lateral Raises: 1 x 12, 1 x 15@ 25 lbs.

I do situps with my fingers interlocked behind my head, like the Army does their APFT.

I was better on pushups than I thought I’d be, so hittin 100 should be pretty easy. Any advice on my training would be appreciated.

Not trolling, but not buying either.

5’11 at 235 with 15% bodyfat is pretty damn good. Can’t walk 30 yards without running out of breath? But you can do all of this workload.

You seriously want to be at 8% bodyfat? For how long? Competition?

Your main goal appears to be dropping bodyfat, yet you’ve made pretty spectacular goals as far as strength gains?

I wish you luck.

[quote]sasquatch wrote:
Not trolling, but not buying either.

5’11 at 235 with 15% bodyfat is pretty damn good. Can’t walk 30 yards without running out of breath? But you can do all of this workload.

You seriously want to be at 8% bodyfat? For how long? Competition?

Your main goal appears to be dropping bodyfat, yet you’ve made pretty spectacular goals as far as strength gains?

I wish you luck.[/quote]

Thanks for your response.

I was stretching it by saying I was out of breath, but I just meant that I was having a harder time moving around than I’d like. My body fat was probably more than 15% actually, never had it measured. And I dropped to around 230 lbs. now.

I should’ve stated this more clearly in my first post, but my main goal by New Years is increased strength and increased endurance. I figure the running and proper diet (was coming off a long bulk that consisted of at least one cheat meal per day) would take care of fat. 10% is probably a more likely estimate of where I want to be.

I’m joining the military after college so I need endurance. I’d like to be as big and strong as possible though, so we’ll see how it turns out.

Concerning the work load, if I start to feel like shit, I’ll take a week off.

By the way, that’s only a 35 lbs increase in bench, 40 lbs. increase in squat, and 20 lbs. increase in deadlift. I’ve got 4 months to get that.

I respond well to Westside and if I would’ve kept doing it 8 months ago when I stopped, I would be past those numbers already. These numbers should be cake. We’ll see.

yesterday, day 7: completely off

day 8: ran 3 miles in 26:38
I ran around a track today so I know it’s 3 miles. The other day was probably between 3-3.5 miles.

day 9:

A.Max Incline Press: 325 x 1, barely missed the lockout on the second one
B. Flat DB Bench: 3 x 10 @ 100 lbs.
C1. Lat Pulldowns: 3 x 10 @ 120
C2. Cable Rows: 3 x 10 @ 120
D. Zottman Curls: 2 x 10 @ 30, 1 x 10 @ 35
E1. Leg Raises 3 x 10
E2. Decline Situps 25, 10, 10

[quote]carter12 wrote:
day 9:

A.Max Incline Press: 325 x 1, barely missed the lockout on the second one
B. Flat DB Bench: 3 x 10 @ 100 lbs.
C1. Lat Pulldowns: 3 x 10 @ 120
C2. Cable Rows: 3 x 10 @ 120
D. Zottman Curls: 2 x 10 @ 30, 1 x 10 @ 35
E1. Leg Raises 3 x 10
E2. Decline Situps 25, 10, 10[/quote]

Hi Carter,
I hope you’ll let a woman post here cause I want to talk about lat pulldowns. You’re strong and am wondering if you care to share your pulldown technique. I’m currently pulling 90lbs for two sets of 8. I want to go up to 100lbs. Does strengthening finger, hand grips help? Sometimes my weakest link are in my hands and elbows. Anyways, keep posting your workouts. I notice a strong strive and highly motivated individual.

[quote]gold’s wrote:
carter12 wrote:
day 9:

A.Max Incline Press: 325 x 1, barely missed the lockout on the second one
B. Flat DB Bench: 3 x 10 @ 100 lbs.
C1. Lat Pulldowns: 3 x 10 @ 120
C2. Cable Rows: 3 x 10 @ 120
D. Zottman Curls: 2 x 10 @ 30, 1 x 10 @ 35
E1. Leg Raises 3 x 10
E2. Decline Situps 25, 10, 10

Hi Carter,
I hope you’ll let a woman post here cause I want to talk about lat pulldowns. You’re strong and am wondering if you care to share your pulldown technique. I’m currently pulling 90lbs for two sets of 8. I want to go up to 100lbs. Does strengthening finger, hand grips help? Sometimes my weakest link are in my hands and elbows. Anyways, keep posting your workouts. I notice a strong strive and highly motivated individual.[/quote]

Thanks for the kind words. I just finished sprinting so I hope I’m able to answer your questions with coherent sentences. :wink:

Your grip could definitely be a limiting factor when it comes to back work. Often times, your grip will give out before your lats will, causing you to miss some crucial reps in developing back strength. I’ve broken both my wrists twice and had a really weak grip when I first started weight training. I’ve brought it up by doing towel chins, towel hangs, plate pinches, etc. There’s a lot of great threads about grip stength on this site and I’m sure you could find them using the search feature.

Also, try switching exercises from pulldowns to maybe bent over rows. Once you go back to pulldowns, you’ll find some strength increases.

Hope this helps, and thanks again.
Carter

Day 10:

400 meter sprints

  1. 65 seconds
  2. 80 seconds
  3. 95 seconds
  4. 94 seconds
  5. 98 seconds

I rested for 2:15 between sets.

Also, Dad started training with me today. I’m really excited about training with him. I’ve went through about 5 or 6 training partners since I’ve been working out seriously for the past 3 years, but I think he’ll stick around.

His main goal right now is to max the Army Physical Fitness Test around the first week of October. Now that he’s training with me and I’ll be able to help him dial in his nutrition, I’m expecting great results. He’s very determined.

His numbers today were:

Lap 1: 91 seconds
2: 98 seconds
3. 99 seconds
4. 98 seconds
5. 93 seconds

Dad has ran a few half marathons lately and seems to run the same pace no matter what the distance. I think he could run all day and night at that pace but we need to work on his speed. I think this will happen as he gets his leg strength up in the weight room.

Day 11:

A. Squat, did 430 x 1
B. Lunges 3 x 10 @ 55
C. Leg Curls: 3 x 10 @ 15, 1 x 10 @ 12.5 (don’t know how much weight that was)
D1. Barbell Shrugs: 3 x 10 @ 275
D2. Hang From Bar: 3 x 65, 60, 50 seconds
E. Barbell Shrugs: 1 x 10 @ 275

I’ve decided to adjust my training to 3 on 1 off instead of 6 on, 1 off. The sprints left my legs pretty sore which hurt my squat. Also had visions of snapping my professor’s neck today so I might be close to overtraining. Is patience really a virtue or is it just a way of tolerating too much bullshit?

It’s nice to see someone with high goals and I hope you’ll reach them :slight_smile:
Nervertheless, running a 400m in 55s is a HUGE HUGE HUGE HUGE fit for any non-sprinter or non sprinter-like athlete (aka football wide-receiver or defensive back, etc.). All the more since weighting over 215 pounds.

Let’s just say that running it under the minute would already be something pretty unusual for someone of your bulk :slight_smile:

By the way, whatever the size, there aren’t that many people running a 400m under the minute.

Thanks.

I did it in high school, I will do it again.

Day 12:

3 mile run- 24:48

this shattered my old time of 26:38

Day 13:

A. two minutes of push ups: 88
B. two minutes of sit ups: 59
C1. Bent Over Rows: 3 x 8 @175
C2. Seated DB Power Cleans: 3 x 8 @50
D. DB lateral Raises: 3 x 12 @ 25
E1. Barbell Curls: 4 x 8 @ 95
E2. DB Triceps Extensions: 4 x 8 @45

Day 14:
rest

Day 15:

2 mile run: 15:45

Day 15:
training partner called to say he couldn’t get to the gym so I rested, again

Day 16:

Incline Press: 325 x 1
Barbell Triceps Extensions: 4 x 8, 8, 7, 7 @135
C1. Pullups 3 x 11, 7, 7
C2. DB Row: 3 x 8 @ 70
D. DB Curls: 3 x 8 @45

Well, not even 3 weeks into this log and I have to make some changes. I’ve gotten a sinus infection or some shit and feel like pure shit. I took some spike this morning but still have walked around like a fuckin zombie. Spike normally has me bouncin off the walls.

I’ve been training long enough to know that I won’t do myself any good by going to the gym like I’ve been doing. So I’ve decided to take a couple of days rest to fight off this bullshit.

I’m pissed but I’ll come back strong.

Off to class…

Ok forget the break, I felt great today. I think monday’s problem was just lack of sleep.

Day 18:

A. Deadlift: worked up to 455 x 3
B. Leg Curls 4 x 6 @ second from last weight
C. Leg Raises 3 x 25
D. BW Pullups: 1 x 10, 1 x 8

I don’t think it is a good idea to have a ‘time trial’ every time you run. Try evening out your pace for the quarter mile runs.

beef

[quote]beefcakemdphd wrote:
I don’t think it is a good idea to have a ‘time trial’ every time you run. Try evening out your pace for the quarter mile runs.

beef[/quote]

Sounds like a good idea, I’ll try it.