FightingScott's Log

5/5/2008

Power Snatch: 135X2 155X2 165X1 155X2
Front Squat: 225X3X3
Sled Sprints: 180X2 Trips
Leg Curl: 135X8X4
45’ Hyper: 20 Reps

Slept in my car last night. My roommate never announces that he would like the room for the night so that he can fuck his girlfriend in private. She just comes over “just to spend the night.” Then they get into bed, kinda look like they’re about to sleep, and then clothes come off and I start hearing wet, smacking sounds.

They’re probably just making out at this point, but I know if I stay in the room for 5 more minutes I’ll be listening to the sound people make when they think they’re discretely copulating.

This only happens on the week days. It never happens on the weekends. It’s exam week now so I don’t know what I’ll be doing about getting in adequate sleep. I could just ask him to stop hooking up with his girlfriend while I’m in the room that I live in, but I know he’ll deny it, tell me to ‘chill,’ and make some derogatory statement about my lack of a sex life. Because of my non-confrontational nature, I won’t make the obvious comeback about how fat both he and his girlfriend are and how they have no business even thinking about keeping themselves in the gene pool.

I could also get him kicked out in the last week of school for having a rifle in the room. But if the school lets him back in next year, I’ve got some twat pissed off at me who owns a rifle and clearly has not qualms about bringing it to school.

Finally, I could just kick the shit out of him. Then he’d fear me and just go sleep somewhere else. For 14 hours a day. Did I mention they spend like 14 hours a day in bed? How am I supposed to study, weigh myself naked, and go about my business when two fatties are in my room holding each other?

So…considering that I slept in my car I’d say I had a pretty good workout today. I imagine a restful night would have made the Front Squats easier. Sure, there’s a difference between using a wide, powerlifting stance and doing parallel front box squats and then doing Olympic Stance, ass-to-ankles, beltless front squats but I think most of this can be accounted for by my lack of quality sleep.

Oh, I got my 8 hours. 4 in a freezing car and 4 on a couch.

5/7/2008

Weighted Dips: BWX15 45X5 90X15
Pec Deck: 70X6 135X12 135X4-Drop Set
Arnold Press: 35X7 55X8
Incline Tate Press: 35X8X4
Reverse Grip Pushdown: Who Cares?

I wish I had a better way to gauge my depth on the dips. 90 pounds is a pretty double for me on weighted chins, and it seems pretty normal for a trainee to do 10+ dips with their chinning max. I also felt it almost completely in my chest, so I assume I’m hitting depth and I’m pretty proud of that PR. Back when I was 150 pounds I had done 90X10 or 12, then lost access to a dip belt.

My sticking pound for the Arnold Press is right where the sticking point for my Military Press, right about at forehead level. I don’t know if this is due more to a deltoid or tricep weakness, but it doesn’t really matter. I need to get a lot stronger anyway. I think once I stark doing log push-presses I’ll see bar speed increasing at forehead level in all of my overhead lifts.

I have one question, why do you follow a bodybuilder rutine if you want to get into powerlifting? Or did I missread it when you said that it was the same split that DC recommends for advanced bodybuilders. Keep lifting that iron.

[quote]wiiwii wrote:
I have one question, why do you follow a bodybuilder rutine if you want to get into powerlifting? Or did I missread it when you said that it was the same split that DC recommends for advanced bodybuilders. Keep lifting that iron.[/quote]

I think it’s a lot similar to how Justin Harris, a Bodybuilder turned Powerlifter has his training laid out. The Westside Powerlifting template has Max Effort and Dynamic Effort workouts. Each of these workouts uses Repetition “Bodybuilding” training for the assistance lifts like rows, reverse hypers, triceps, etc.
Instead of…
Sun-ME Squat/DL
Mon-DE Bench
Wed-DE Squat/DL
Thu-ME Bench

I’m replacing the Dynamic Effort Bench workout with an upper body workout where I don’t get on the bench. And for the DE Squat/DL workout I’m doing either Repetition training, Jump training, or Olympic lifting instead of Dynamic Box Squats.

I’ve also separated my back training, which is usually done on bench days, because I have found that allows me to dedicate more energy to the accessory work for my shoulders and triceps on the days that I train those.

My split is very close to a bodybuilder split but I’ve created it through my own ideas and through looking at how other powerlifters are training. If you were to put all my back work on the same days as the rest of my upper body stuff (which I have been doing for a long time) then the split would seem more like that of a powerlifter.

[quote]wiiwii wrote:
Or did I missread it when you said that it was the same split that DC recommends for advanced bodybuilders. Keep lifting that iron.[/quote]

No, you didn’t misread that. Justin Harris follows the split Dante Recommends, except he’s changed a few things now that he competes as a powerlifter.

What I’m doing really isn’t that much different from doing the WS4SB template except I’ve added in two workouts for the lats & upper back to do after the upper body workouts, and I’m using an 8-day week instead of a 7-day week. (But I guess that change is pretty radical and makes it completely different from the WSB or WS4SB template).

Now it makes more sence to me. Sounds like it’s working for you.

Best of luck and I will follow your log and try to learn stuff I can use in my own training.

5/8/2008

Kroc Row: 70X10 120X34
DD-Cable Row: 10X8 StackX20
Cybex Machine Row: Sucks Dick
Reverse Cable Fly: 6X20
Barbell Shrugs: 315X10 405X13
Hammer Curl: 45X10
Cybex Machine Curl: Also Sucks Dick

I don’t know how much weight the weight stacks are on our Cybex early 90’s Mult-Station Cable Machine, but I suspect they’re some of the lightest out there. Probably around 250-300lbs.

I plan to do Hammer Strength Iso-Rows once I get access to them instead of the Cybex Row. The Cybex Row is just such an awkward machine that I become too distracted to do a good set and I just can’t use it. I got bored of doing Hammer Curls, tried the Cybex Curl Machine, and discovered the only use it has is breaking your wrist.

After the Cable Rows I felt like I had done an Ironman in Death Valley. Gettin’ pretty tired after going up the 4 flights of stairs to get to my dorm room, even if I’m not coming back from a workout. I’m still lean as ever but I gotta get in better cardiovascular shape.

Maybe my fatigue can be explained by the forced cardio work I get from doing high-rep sets of Dumbbell and Cable Rows. But it can probably be explained by me sleeping on a couch and only getting 6 hours of sleep last night.

He can’t even provide the courtesy of asking for the room for the night (which I’d say no to since it’s EXAM WEEK). No, instead he just comes in at midnight with his girlfriend to ‘chill out’ and watch some shitty movie with the Home Alone Kid who goes off to cartoon land.

I leave the room to brush my teeth while they’re both fully clothed on the couch and when I come back they’re both holding eachother, the lights are off, they’re under the covers, and their pajama pants are on the floor. Yeah, pajama pants that neither of them has changed out of for what I think is about a week. They both smell like shit and burnt coffee. I want them to leave. I’m not Kimbo Slice, but with my lack of a neck and my stacks of protein powder tubs in the corner of my side of the room why would you keep fucking with me like this when you know I’m at least twice as strong as you?

5/9/2008

Dumbbell Snatch: 35X3 65X2 85X1 100X0 95X1 100X1
Box Squat: 135X3 225X2 275X2 340X3 365X2 365X1
Leg Curl: 135X12 [135X12 95X12 55X12 Drop Set]
45’ Hyper: 65X8

I had a pretty short workout and had planned to do some sled dragging and abs. I had also planned to do a down set of 315XMax Reps. But as lame as it sounds I just couldn’t work enough motivation to do more Squats after breaking a longstanding PR in the Box Squat twice and breaking a PR in the Dumbbell Snatch by 10 or 15 pounds.

Lately I must admit that I haven’t been working myself into a frenzy before a set. I’ve tried, and I’ve still hyped myself up and broken PRs but I haven’t given myself chills and felt like my brain is going to shoot out my nose during work sets. It’s like I’m giving 93% instead of 120%. I think it might be because of a lack of sleep.

5/12/2008

Deadlift: Worked Up To 440X1 455X0 405X6
Reverse Lunge: 135X6 205X6 225X6
Glute-Ham Raise: BWX10 45X17
Leg Curl: 155X8 155X8 Triple Drop Set
Down to 65 then immediatly 20 Glute-Hams
Pull-Down Abs: 75X15 75X15 95X15 105X8

Worked out at my old High School. The Leg-Curl Machine there is easier. Plenty of people asked me if I was on steroids. I was told that one kid had gotten “huge” and that his arms were “as big as my (the kid telling me this) head!”
Then I see him and he’s wearing a size Small Under Armor shirt and he looks exactly the same. So, just cause a bunch of small people tell you that you’re big doesn’t mean you’re big. Gotta keep things in perspective.

I’m pretty pleased with the 440, especially since it wasn’t slow as hell. I broke 455 from the ground but it just hovered there. That’s not happened before, except when I tried 545 on rack pulls and I think I just broke it off the pins but nothing else. I’m also pleased with the 405X6 since 405X5 was a PR from earlier this year and I felt like I was going to die after 405X5 but I cut the set of 405X6 short instead of going to failure. I was also pretty fatigued from 440 and attempting 455, so when I pulled 405 it didn’t feel like slow, heavy death until about the 5th rep.

I’m confident that I will get 455 a Month From Now when I do Deadlifts again as my ME Lift, and possibly more since I haven’t started to see the benefit of my new training split but have only been doing it long enough to see that I’m able to recover from it and break PRs consistently. Hell, I’ll probably get 455 on Zerchers in a few weeks, especially since I’ll have access to a thick bar. In Fact, I think I’ll be able to make 455X3 the next time I do Deads from the floor.

5/13/2008

Close-Grip Bench: Worked Up to 225X3
Seated Dumbbell Press: 75X8 75X8 Drop Set
Machine Bench Press: Did 1 Set of 10
Skull-Crusher: 115X5X2
Rolling Extensions: 35X6 45X8

Saw the only two strong kids still at the school. One has gained 15 pounds since November after I showed him WS4SB. Another has dropped from 275 to 250 and his Squat has gone up about 100 pounds. They’re both 16.

I was expecting to get over 6 reps on the Close-Grip Bench Press at the very least. The Rack I was benching in doesn’t have very adjustable pin heights and has pretty big J-Hooks. I would have gone to failure and maybe gotten 4 reps but I bounced one side of the bar coming down onto the pins and that made for some awkward benching. When I have things set just right I can bench without touching the pins unless I relax my arch in the even that I miss the lift. Still, I think getting 225 for 3 easy reps translates to a 275 bench press. This time the hardest part wasn’t getting it off my chest but it was actually midrange.

The Dumbbell Presses were seated and I only brought the handles down to ear level, so for me it was defiantly easier than a 155lb Military Press for 8 reps would have been. I would like to get 100s on a Seated Press or a High-Incline Press at the end of this summer, and I think I will need to do that in order to be where I want to be by the end of this year.

Seeing that people have actually gotten stronger and only getting 225X3 was a kick in the balls today. I can’t just get kind-of excited about each set. I’ve got to scream, hit myself in the head, and go absolutely bat shit crazy on a daily basis.

5/14/2008

DD-Cable Row: Worked up to 250X10
Yates Row: Worked up to 315X10
Barbell Shrug: 405X15X3
Pull-up: 15
Pull-down: 225X10
Hammer Curl: 65X8X4

Why’d I do Pull-downs instead of pull-ups? The chinning set-up there just isn’t very good.

I can totally see why Bodybuilders use Pull-downs instead of Pull-ups: you can get in a better rep speed and cadence for a better pump. You don’t need to make as much of a controlled negative or wait to stop swinging.

Someone asked me how many different calf exercises I do. I told them zero.

When I rowed the stack 20 times that was probably 250lbs. Next time I train I’ll be in the “good” gym where I think I’ll be able to focus more.

5/16/08

Box Squat: Worked up to 315X12 315X6 315X3
Hack Squat: 225X8 315X12
Leg Raise: BWX20X5
45’ Hyper: BWX20
Reverse Hyper: 90X10 180X15X3

Concept II Rower: 1500m
Bike: 10 Minutes

I was toast after my first set of Box Squats.
I didn’t go to failure on the last two sets, and I cut the third one short because my form was beginning to look pretty bad.

I don’t think I’ll be using the Hack Squat Machine again. It’s just not very comfortable.
I’ll probably go back to doing Step-ups.

I spent quite a bit of time after Hack Squats trying out different shit before I started doing real work again.

I wasn’t too pleased with Box Squats, even though this was a PR. When I could Deadlift only 365 I pulled 315 for like 13 reps one day (but then the next time I tested my max it was 405). But now that i can do 365 for a double on squats, I expected to get 15 reps. That will continue to be my goal with squats, even if I don’t get it next time.

But it’s nice to be squatting 315 for more than 10 reps since I know I’m working with less than 90% of my max so I don’t need to worry about getting burnt out.

Where did I get the idea about using High-Rep Box Squats?

It seems to work for this guy.

5/17/2008

Incline Bench: Total Sucktitude
HS Bench Press: Worked up to 4 plates X 6
HS Incline: Worked up to 2 plates X 6 or 8
Break Earbud Headphone Cable 3 reps X 1 set

I had planned to try 225X5 on the Incline. I worked up to 185 and by the third rep I knew I couldn’t get another rep. This is just totally ridiculous. I’ve done 100 pound Dumbbells on Incline Bench Press.

So instead of going any further I just decided to do some easy machine stuff and mess around on the Hammer Bench Press to see if I could get 4 plates, but I didn’t really push myself since I felt so shitty. My $100 Earbud Headphones got their cable caught on the Incline Machine and that pissed me off enough to call it a day. It wasn’t a bad day outside of the gym. I did do a LOT of digging in the ground today and a lot of pick-axe swinging.

After my workout I drove around for a while saying to myself “Fuck Benching! I’m just gonna do Dips, Floor Presses, and Overhead Pressing!” But that would be ridiculous.

It looks to me like I have a “Bad” workout every 3 weeks, and I beat the Logbook on every other workout.

OR, it appears that whenever I do intense cardio, the next day my poundages are sure to suck. My poundages sucked the day I freaked out and quit beast building. I went on a long bike ride the previous day. I did stationary bike and rowing yesterday. Today I did lots of landscaping and pick-axe swinging.

Yes, I think that’s what was really wrong. Nothing is wrong with the beast building program and nothing is wrong with the 3-on 1-off split I have been following.

I had planned to do Cardio on my day out of the gym, but I think I will do Cardio the day before my day off.

5/18/2008

Close-Grip Bench: 205X3 205X2X2 185X3X8
Chins: BWX16
HS Shoulder Press: 90X8 80X10 70X10 70X12 90X10
HS High-Row: 4X10X2 3.5X13
V-Bar Pushdown: 135X34 Rest-Pause
Barbell Curl: 95X22 Rest-Pause

I did the 185X3X8 in “Beast Building” fashion by doing 80% of my max for a max # of triples in 20 minutes. It took me a few sets to realize that, since I had just done 225X3 not long ago, it would probably be better to use 235 as my assumed max instead of 250.

Going off Poliquin’s advice that if you want to safely know your max, just take a triple and add 10% of your triple to the weight you used and you’ll have a pretty accurate max.
by using 205 I was pushing the limits and using an assumed max of 250 (even though by his formula my max would be 247.5 and 80% would be 198, not 205 - Stupid, I know)

If I hadn’t tried to train bench yesterday and today, and I hadn’t tried starting with 205 instead of 185 for this workout, I think I’m sure I would have gotten more than 8 sets in 20 minutes for Close-Grip Bench.

4 days from now I will try training Close-Grip Bench Press “Beast Building” style with an assumed max of 245 and I will be going for a max # of triples in 20 minutes with 195lbs.

5/20/2008

SSB Box Squat: 295X1 335X1 355X1 335X1
Tire Flip: Moma TireX6 Papa Tire X0
Moma TireX12 Moma TireX35
Romanian Deadlift: 315X12X2
Leg Press: 6X20
Leg Extension: 160X24 RP
Reverse Hyper: 180X10 220X10X3 270X12
Decline Crunch: BWX10X5

The Tire Flips were pretty killer. I still can’t budge or even drag Papa Tire. Clearly, Moma Tire is pretty light since I can do 35 flips with her, but I was pretty spent after that.

On my last set of SSB Box Squats I had planned to do a triple but I got stapled to the box, got thrown back, then threw myself forward so the bar would land on the safety pins. I thought I heard someone right behidn me laugh but when I turned around no one had seen anything. I guess it was just my psycho imagination taunting me for flailing around on the box like a moron.

5/21/2008

Close-Grip Bench: 195X3X9 195X2X2
Push Press: 155X16 RP
HS Bench Press: 2.5 plates X 10 RP
Machine JM Press: 155X12 RP
Rope Pushdown: 90X20 120X12

I did the Close-Grip Bench triples for time again. I actually completed 8 sets of triples in 10 minutes, but then I started to not complete sets even after using quite a bit of rest (as you can see 2 sets I only got 2 reps). Still, one month ago when I did this same thing with 195 on the regular Bench Press, I only got 8 sets in 20 minutes…so doing 1 more set in 20 minutes AND doing it with close-grip seems like a pretty good improvement to me in just 1 month. It’s not totally fucking amazing, but I’ll take it as time well spent.

On the sets that I failed to get 3 reps, I failed around mid-range and lockout. Not really surprising with a triceps-dominant exercise like this.

The Push-Press I did Lou Ferrigno ‘Pumping Iron’ style where I only pressed the bar till it was over my head but I didn’t lock it out. I think I might continue to do Push-Press this way but I’ll try to emphasize a slow negative more in the future.

I was gonna shoot for 3 plates and a 25 on the Hammer Strength Bench but it was all I could do to use 2 plates and a 25 per side (even though I could do 3 plates this summer no problem). I’m not too concerned about this, as I was doing very slow negatives and trying to go for more of a squeeze and pump than moving heavy weight. This is something I’ve never really done much of before in my training.

Come to think of it, I’ve done a ton of horizontal pressing as of late, so it should seem pretty obvious to me why I didn’t do so hot on the HS Bench Press.

5/22/2008

Dumbbell Row: 85X10 150X22
HS Iso-Row: 3X8 4X8 5X12 5.5X9
Reverse-Grip Pulldown: 230X7
Rickshaw Shrug: 5 plates X 8
Dumbbell Power Clean: 30X20 45X14 RP
Dumbbell Curl: 35X6 50X6

Couldn’t do any more on pulldowns since my hands were pretty sweaty, there was no chalk, and It’s too hard to put on wrist straps when you’re using an underhand grip. Once I attain the patience to use wrist straps I’ll be doing the whole stack with a 45 in no time.

I think I’ll stop using straps whenever I do any type of shrug. I’m also thinking about switching out shrugs to Squat/DL workouts instead of back workouts and replacing that slot with more curls. Or I’ll just eliminate Shrugging all together and replace it with something like seated Dumbbell Snatches or more rear delt work. Or Upright Rows… hmmm. I shall have to think about this with great thought.

Everything was a PR but curls. I’ll take that.

5/24/2008

Power Snatch: Worked up to 155X1 170X0
Front Squat: Some Short sets with 225
Reverse Hyper: 270X15X2 320X10
Side Deadlift: Is a Worthless Exercise
SSB Lunge: Ouch!

Tweaked my Hamstring/inner quad area doing Front Squats. Couldn’t get deep enough on the lunges with the naked bar without hurting. Didn’t seem to effect the reverse hypers.

Not too pleased with this workout. Went to the gym after dinner (I don’t like to do that). I couldn’t really get in the mood to do Snatches. I wanted to hit 170 but I wasn’t even close. I think I’m gonna do Dumbbell and Barbell Snatches less frequently or do them with lighter weights and more sets. Yeah, I’ll probably do that. Fuck, maybe I’ll just do High Pulls. Maybe that’s too stressful a lift do not count as a max effort exercise. Maybe I’m strong enough to start doing box jumps onto the 43’ reverse hyper. I could do 42’ this fall and my Deadlift has gone up 75lbs since then.

I’ve also realized that doing light front squats for volume is a stupid idea. Gotta stop pussyfooting around. I’m gonna switch back to heavy, wide stance front box squats and actually try to move some heavy weight (2 weeks from now probably rep out with 275).

Really, though I don’t care about this workout not being everything I hoped it would be. I did pretty good on the Reverse Hypers and I hope that’ll give me some strength 4 days from now when I try to do whatever I can with 545 on rack deadlifts.

I think I strained my leg when some guy came up behind me (I could see him in the mirror) and I sorta lost concentration and ended my set. He asked me if I needed a spot, because I was going too deep. He looked to be in about his 40s and was training his daughter and his skinny friend how to use every leg machine. It’s a nice gesture to try and help me and I don’t want to sound like a douche but…

(1) If you’re gonna presume that I need help from YOU on this set and that I know nothing about training, you should at least know that a Front Squat does not need a spot since I can dump the bar any time and it defiantly doesn’t need a spot when it’s just 225 and I’m in a power rack.
(2) I know you think you’re helping me, but I don’t want to hear your wisdom about how I’m using too much weight, how I’m going too deep, and how I should do something safer with ‘that machine over there’ (smith machine).

Remind me to do Abs tomorrow morning. I just wanted to leave and go to bed.

5/25/2008

Dumbbell Bench Press: 50X10 75X10 105X5
HS Wide Press: 4X5 3.5X 6 or somethin’
Upright Row: 135X14 RP
HS Machine Dip: 270X12
Rope Pushdown: 6X don’t remember/not important

Worked out at a different gym today. Kinda expected to move the 105s for more reps, but each rep was taking forever to complete. This would have been my Max Effort day so I figured I got in some pretty good work straining against the weight.

I imagine that once I hit the 105s again they’ll go a bit faster. Once again, my new sticking point isn’t off my chest, it’s mid-range. Or, rather, that’s where I miss the lift.

I think the HS Wide-Chest Press is harder than the HS Bench Press since warming up with 3 plates felt heavier than when I’ve used 3 plates on the HS Bench Press. I’d like to knock out a decent amount of reps with 4 plates on the HS Bench Press. It’s not an important goal but it’s something I should be able to accomplish quickly without concentrating my training on it.

Someone shat in the pool today where I work.

And I need to start doing some regular cardio and start taking Ab training seriously again since it’s getting harder and harder to find lighting where I look ripped. I probably should stop eating 5 eggs for breakfast, too.

5/26/2008

Chins: BWX20 BWX12
HS High-Row: 4X12
Reverse-Grip Pulldown: 230X10
Dumbbell Shrug: 135X10
Machine Reverse Fly: 120X15 RP
HS Pullover: 180X14
Barbell Curl: 105X10 RP
Decline Crunch: 20/20/20/20
Concept II Row: 500m/500m/500m
Bike: 8 minutes

I supersetted the last 3 sets of Crunches with Rowing and managed to stay under 2 minutes for the last 2 500s. I’m gonna work my way up to 5 500s on the days I do back. I figure my back workouts can include my most vigorous cardio work since it won’t interfere with the next day’s session.

It’s hard to breathe on the HS Pullover Machine. I think I may just drop that from my program. It’s not an especially hard movement but it’s just hard to get wind down your neck for more than 10 reps.