GruntOrama's Log - Getting Stronger!

I have been lurking for a while and finally decided I would start putting my log online. As I start to hit plateaus I would gladly accept some advice.

UPDATED 5/16/11

Starting Stats:
5’10"
Weight: 165lbs
Bench: 225lbs
Squat: 335lbs
Deadlift: 355lbs

Current Stats:
Weight: 174lbs
Bench: 265lbs
Squat: 420lbs w/ Briefs, 355lbs Raw
Deadlift: 405lbs

Goals:
Bench: 315lbs Raw
Squat: 405lbs Raw
Deadlift: 455lbs Raw
Push Press: 225lbs

I guess I’ll start this off by posting today’s workout.

Saturday Feb 19, 2011
Warm-up:
Treadsled
Foam Rolling (lower/upper back)
Tennis ball (chest)
Lat stretch

Push Press*
Bar x 20
Bar x 10
95 x 5 x 2
135 x 5 x 2
135 x 8

Floor Press
135 x 10
185 x 5 x 3

DB Rows
3 x 12 @ 70lbs

Seated Power Clean
3 x 15 @ 20lbs

*Sets of pullups were done between sets for a total of around 50

-My bicep has been messed up for a while but is starting to feel better. Some pain in my shoulder from the push presses and pain in my leg hamstring from deadlifting and prowler sprints yesterday.

Monday Feb 21, 2011
Max Effort Lower Body

Treadsled
Foam Rolling (hamstrings, quads, groin, IT band)
Tennis Ball (glutes)
Dynamic stretching
Light reverse hyper/box squats

Deadlift
135 x 5 x 2
225 x 5
225 + 4 chains x 5
315 x 3
315 + 2 chains x 1
335 x 1
345 x 1
365 x 1(pr)
315 + 2chains x 1 x 3
315 x 2

Buffalo Bar Free Squat
145 x 5
195 x 5
235 x 5 x 5

Kneeling Cable Crunch
5 x 25 @ 110lbs

Reverse Hyper
5 x 12 @ 210lbs

  • I really wanted to pull that 365lbs since it refused to move on friday last week. Had a great morning, no pain, good breakfast, a spike energy drink, and some good pump up music. Too bad nobody was in the gym to witness it. Overall I think changing my form slightly and performing rep work in a dead stop fashion has really helped my speed off the floor.

Here is a progress picture I just took today for those physique freaks out there that may be reading this log.
[photo]31717[/photo]

Wednesday Feb 23, 2011
Max Effort Upper Body

Treadsled
Foam Rolling (upper/lower back)
External & Internal Rotations
Arm circles
Shoulder Dislocates

Bench Press
Bar x 20
Bar x 10
95 x 10
135 x 8
155 x 5
185 x 5 x 2
205 x 3 x 2
225 x 2
205 x 3
205 x 2

Weighted Dips (used two 20lb chains around my neck instead of hanging plates)
1x12
2x10

DB Rows
2 x 10 @ 90lbs
2 x 8 @ 90lbs

Band Pull-apart (monster mini)
100 total

  • Been having a bad day and I was having a lot of trouble keeping tight when benching. I managed to get my head in the game towards the end of my benching. I was pretty burnt out afterwords so my assistance work was pretty shitty.

On a side rant, I can’t fucking stand people who don’t think when they are in the gym. How the hell can they possibly expect to get stronger if they can’t analyze their weak points and use their brain to figure out what exercises to do? Has anyone else had experiences like this? I guess I should thank them because the rage that built up helped me focus and keep tight on my last sets of benching.

For those of you that actually read/glimpse at this log, I’ll leave you with a video of me hitting a 50in box jump about a week ago. It got recorded weird so you will need to turn your monitor sideways or something.

[video]1982[/video]

Friday Feb 25, 2011

Treadsled
Foam Rolling/Tennis Ball
Reverse Hyper

Box Squat w/ Green Bands*
Bar x 5 x 2
105 x 5
145 x 3
195 x 3
205 x 2
235 x 1
245 x 1
135 x 10

Snatch
Bar x 5
95 x 3
105 x 1
135 x 1

Glute-Ham Raise
3 x 10

Pulldown Abs
30 seconds
45 seconds
1 minute

*The green bands add about 150lbs at the top. The weights I listed were the bar weight.

Saturday Feb 26, 2011

Treadsled
Foam Rolling
Shoulder Dislocates
Arm Circles
Chin ups

Overhead Press
Bar x 10 x 3
95 x 5
105 x 5
135 x 5

Floor Press
135 x 8
185 x 5 x 3

Inverted Rows
15 @ Bodyweight
3 x 10 w/60lb vest

Lying Cable Curls
3 x 10

Some disorganized gripper work

-Long night of drinking the night before so I didn’t feel very well. My shoulder felt a little odd during the overhead presses and my bicep kept cramping up during the floor presses.

Monday Feb 28, 2011

Foam Rolling/Tennis Ball
Jump Rope
Stretching (Hips/hamstrings)

Hang Cleans
135 x 3
155 x 3
175 x 3

Deadlift
135 x 5
225 x 5
225 4 chains x 5
315 4 chains x 1 (didn’t realize how heavy this would be at the top)
315 x 3
335 x 2
345 x 1
315 x 3

Front Squat
135 x 5
185 x 5
205 x 3
225 x 2

a1. GHR
3 x 12

a2. Side bends
3 x 12

Interval Sprints on Treadsled

-Beside an sensitive stomach, I actually felt alright to day. This was the first time in a while I didn’t use a pre-workout supplement so it was a little strange trying to get the energy for each set.

Tuesday Feb 29, 2011

Foam Rolling
(Upper/lower back, hamstrings, quads, IT band)
Tennis Ball
(Piriformis/glutes, feet, forearms/hands, chest>
Jump Rope 100 jumps x 2
Internal/External rotations 2x10 each
Shoulder dislocates
Stretching
(Hips, hamstrings, upper back)

Bench Press
Bar x 20 x 2
Bar 2 chains x 10
95 2 chains x 10
135 2 chains x 10
155 2 chains x 5
185 2 chains x 5
185 2 chains x 3 x 2
135 2 chains x 10

Shoulder Shocker by Joe DeFranco
(This breaks down to plate front raise super set w/ lateral raises super set w/ seated db clean and press)
3 x 10

DB “Kroc” Rows
2 x 10 @ 70lbs
1 x 25 @ 70lbs

Band Pushdowns
1 x 15
2 x 10

Finisher:
Trap Bar Farmer’s Walk
3 trips @ 315lbs*

Trap Bar Deadlift Hold
315lbs for time

*My gym isn’t very big, so one trip is down and back for the length of the gym. I don’t know exactly how much that is.

-I wrote my warm up with more detail so that anyone unsure of what a warm up should look like or anyone that is interested can see. Note: Today’s warm up was pretty thorough and doesn’t always look like that.

-If you haven’t tried it, I would recommend Joe DeFranco’s “Shoulder Shocker”, especially if you are looking for volume. I believe the article is here on T-Nation somewhere. It doesn’t seem like a lot but it starts to hurt pretty good towards the end.

-Finally, I am adding a “Finisher” to the end of my workouts to try and up my GPP and conditioning which is seriously lacking right now.

Before I even post anything, I didn’t realize there weren’t 29 days in February unless it’s a leap year, so my last log should have been March 1.

Friday March 4, 2011

Jump Rope 100 turns 25 single leg right 25 single leg left
Foam Rolling (Quads, hamstrings, IT bands, Groin, calves, lower/upper back)
Tennis Ball (Feet, Piriformis/glutes)
Stretching (hamstrings, hips)

SSB Box Squat
155 x 5
245 x 5
295 x 3
335 x 1 (fail, couldn’t get off the box. No back rounding or chest falling though)

Leg Press
4 x 15

GHR holding 25lbs on chest
4 x 8 (3 second concentric, 3 second eccentric)

Hanging Leg Raises
5 x 8

Jump Rope
100 Turns x 2
25 single leg, each leg

-My squats felt like crap. My groin kept cramping and I didn’t feel explosive at all. Didn’t have much energy today so I was kind of sandbaggin’ it today.

Saturday March 5, 2011

Jump Rope 100 turns
Foam Rolling
Lacrosse Ball
Internal/External rotations

Seated OHP
Worked up to 155x5x3
135x8

DB Bench Press
4x10

Weighted Pullups
4x6

Hammer Curls
4x10

Monday March 7, 2011

Jump Rope 100 turns
Foam Rolling
Lacrosse Ball
Jump Rope 100 turns
Static Stretching

Deadlift
work up to 365x1
375x1(fail)
315x4

Front Squat
work up to 225x3

Back Squat
225x12 (front squats were starting to hurt my arms and I wanted to try and crank out as many reps as possible)

Unilateral Leg Curl
3x10

Pulldown Abs
1x20
2x15

Sat in a sauna for a little while immediately afterwords.

Wednesday March 9, 2011

Jump Rope 100 double leg x 2
Foam Rolling
Pullups/Pushups
Internal/External Rotations
Shoulder dislocates

Bench Press
*close grip
Barx20x2
95x10
135x10
155x5
185x5
205x3
*slingshot w/ widegrip
225x5
245x5
275x1

Incline Bench Press
4x10 @ 135lbs

Chest Supported Row
4x12

DB Curls
3x10

-I tried to do some jump rope at the end for conditioning but I had no coordination left and I was feeling lazy.

Friday March 11, 2011

Foam Rolling/Lacrosse Ball
Jump Rope
Stretching

Box Squat (Parallel)
150 x 5 x 2
200 x 5
240 x 3
290 x 2
310 x 1
330 x 1
340 x 1 (PR)

Speed Pulls w/ Mini bands
135 x 1 x 3
185 x 1 x 2
225 x 1 x 3

Sled Drags
95lbs x 6 blocks

Hanging Leg Raises
10
10
8

Saturday March 12, 2011

Foam Rolling
Jump Rope
Pushups/Pullups
Shoulder Traction

Speed Bench w/ Minis
95 x 3 x 8

Inverted Rows
4 x 15

One Arm Cable Flyes
3 x 10

Seated Clean and Press
3 x 10

Lying Tricep Extension
1 x 8
2 x 12

-Workout only took 45 min. Day two of my first PH cycle and I’m feeling pretty good.

Monday March 14, 2011

Soft Tissue
Mobility Work

Deadlift
work up to 355 x 1
375 x 1 (failed at just under the knee)

Goodmorning
135 x 10 x 5

Back Extension w/ Mini bands
5 x 10

Chain Reverse Hyper
3 x 10

Weighted blast strap fall-outs
3 x 10

Wednesday March 16, 2011

Soft Tissue
Treadsled
Mobility Work

Reverse Band Bench (Blue bands)
work up to 335 x 3
*add slingshot
work up to 405 x 2
425 x 1 (failed half way)

Sled Circuit x 3
A1. Face pulls
A2. Tricep extensions
A3. Rows

Sledgehammer Swings
100 total

-Been getting a little too greedy with my max effort work. Need to make smarter choices so I’m not failing on a regular basis. It’s starting to wear me out.

Thursday March 17, 2011

Well, it’s St Patty’s day, but I’m on this PH cycle so I can’t drink, plus I have homework to get done. I also felt the need to go do something so I promised myself I would do some light conditioning.

Prowler Pushes - Slow (done as a warm up)

A1. Tire Flip x 3
A2. Prowler Sprint (vertical posts)

Did this about 4 times.

Going to do some stretching and soft tissue work later tonight.

Friday March 18, 2011

Soft Tissue
Jump Rope
Mobility Work
Stretching

Foam Box Squat w/ Cambered Bar*
(I’m going to assume the bar is 65lbs since I don’t remember exactly)
Bar x 5 x 2
155 x 5
205 x 5
245 x 5
295 x 3 x 3

Deficit Deadlift**
135 x 10
225 x 10 x 4

GHR
15
10
10

Hanging Leg Raises
3 x 10

CoC #1***
3 x 5 each hand

*I was shaking furiously right off the bat and I felt really weak and unstable. I think this may have had something to do with the tire flips and prowler sprints I did yesterday.

**I planned to do these straight legged, but after the first two sets straight leg, I just said fuck it and and it turned into more of an RDL.

***I wanted to get some direct grip work in since I took time off of it due to a strain in my forearm. Gotta build it back up slowly.

Saturday March 19, 2011

Soft Tissue
Jump Rope
Mobility Work

Speed Bench w/ 2 chains
95lbs x 3 x 8

Standing OHP*
95lbs x 10
135lbs x 5
95lbs x 10 x 3

Pullups (various grips)
5 x 10

Incline Inward Tricep Extensions
4 x 10

Seated Power Clean
3 x 8

*Wanted to see where my OHP was at, and 135 was pretty close to a 5RM. I decided to drop back down and do volume after that.

Monday March 21, 2011

Soft Tissue
Jump Rope
Mobility Work

Chain Suspended Goodmornings w/ Cambered Squat Bar
Bar x 5 x 2
155 x 5
205 x 5
245 x 3
295 x 3 (DIRTY. Turned into something of a squat-morning)
245 x 3 x 3

Bulgarian Split Squat
3 x 8

Chain Reverse Hyper
5 x 10 @ 210lbs

Hanging Leg Raises
3 x 10

Wednesday March 23, 2011

Warm-up:
Pound 2 spike shooters.
Pace around the gym angrily until successfully heated up.
Shoulder dislocates

Bench Press
135 x 12
185 x 10
205 x 5 (Rep PR)
225 x 1
245 x 1 (20lbs PR!)
255 x 1 (close but no cigar. probably could have made 250.)

Floor Press
185 x 5 x 3

DB Rows
2 x 8 @ 80lbs
1 x 20 @ 80lbs

-Only got 4 hours of sleep each night for the past week. Destroyed my bench record. Gonna go do some MMA sparring later.