I Command You to Grow!

Hey all. Been training since freshman year in college, however I really got serious and actually learned what to do and how to lift during the summer of my sophmore/junior year. I’m now a first semester senior.

Stats
Age:21
Weight: 185 (9/29/13)
BF%: 12-16%

Nutriton:
4 Meals a day. Lots of rice, beef, chicken, eggs, oatmeal and veggies.
3 Shakes a day (2 on off days), split 12oz milk with casein at night/morning and a full shaker (24oz) with whey, dextrose and creatine during/after workout.

Maxes (Estimated, I have not maxed in a few months, I will be at the end of the 10 weeks).
Squat: 375
Deadlift: 430
Bench: 285

Split (8 day split)
Back/Lats/Biceps
Max Effort Upper
Max Effort Lower
REST/Active Recovery
Snatch Grip High Pulls
Dynamic Effort Upper
Dynamic Effort Lower
REST/Active Recovery

9/28/13

Late night lift. A little about me: I live in the party house of our Rugby Team at school. So the temptation of drinking is always there but I’ve given that up for this semester to really focus on training, and probably continue that trend for my final semester. So I decided meh, while all the guys are pre-gaming i’ll get to the gym and do some work.

Pull

  • Pullups 5x5

bw/25///50/50/50/50/50

x 5/5/5/5/5/5/5

  • Chinups 3x30s (3-5s eccentric)

bw/bw/bw

x 8/7/6

  • DB Row 3x30s

60/60/60

x 18/12/11

  • Chest Supported DB Row 3x30s @70%

40/40/40

x 10/10/10

  • BB Curl 3x30s (Hard Squeeze, 3-5s eccentric)

45/45/45

x 13/11/9

  • Machine Curl 2x30s

50/37.5

x 11/12

All in all, great workout for being at 9pm. I took my dog with me too, which was entertaining between sets.

9/29

ME Push

  • Bench 5x5

135/155///205/215/225/225/225

x 5/5///5/5/5/5/5

  • Close Grip 3x30s

135/135/135

x 11/8/8
** Last two sets had a 1s pause at chest

  • Dips 3x30s

bw/10/bw

x 15/10/9

  • DB Overhead Press

35/35/35

x 10/10/7

  • DB OH Ext 3x30s

50/50/50

x 13/11/13

  • Reverse Pushdowns 2x30s

37.5/37.5

x 14/14

9/30

ME Leg

  • Box Squat 5x5 (3inch below parallel)

135/185///225/235/245/255/255

x 5/5///5/5/5/5/5

  • ATG Squat @70% 3x30s

180/180/180

x 7/7/6

  • RDL 3x30s

135/145/145

x 11/10/7

  • Glute Bridge

45/45/45

x 30s/30s/30s
** Stati max effort hold

  • Hamstring Curl 3x30s

50/50/50

x 11/11/11
** Tempo and max squeeze on hamstrings as possible, wasn’t going for weight

Overall a solid day. I haven’t box squatted in forever and it felt awesome. I may abandon back squats for several months and stick to box squats for this cycle, trap bar deads and front squats next cycle and perhaps a pure ATG cycle instead of just low bar squatting.

For high pull days I’ll include some cleans but for dynamic day i’ll throw in some heavier good mornings and GHR from a static hold with explosive concentric speed.

10/1

Active Recovery

I went and did 10 hill sprints on a 30 yard hill that is actually pretty steep. Rest time was walking down the hill. I also did 250 rotations on a speed rope.

Started drinking a lime drink to help the liver out last night… speaking of I almost forgot to drink that today. Getting to bed early, I have to be up early to help train our Universities baseball team, I’m one of the strength and conditioning interns.

10/2

DE Push

  • Bench 9x3 @70% 5RM

155/155/155/155/155/155/155/155/155

x 3/3/3/3/3/3/3/3/3
** Rotated between Normal, Wide and Close Grip each set. The last 4 sets always seem to be the best, maybe I should add a few more warm-up sets

  • Neutral Grip Slight Incline DB Press 3x30s (Red plates for tilt)

45/55/55

x 15/12/11

  • “Bamboo Bench” Slight Decline 3x30s (Red Plate for tilt)

45(10)/95(10)/95(15)

x 16/14/10
** Simply take a regular barbell, attach a band to each side and add a weight to the band, adds instability. I’ll take a picture next time I set it up.
** Weight in parenthesis was the weight hanging off each side.

  • YTWL 3x8

5/5/5

x 8/8/8

  • Hanging Leg Raise Hold with straight leg extension reps 3x12

bw/bw/bw

x 12/12/12
** My core is actually pretty weak, I tend to neglect it unfortunately. So starting to add a little more focus onto it daily. Last set was also knee to chest contractions from a hang as well.

  • Single arm cable pushdowns 3x30s

25/25/25

x 13/13/9

My front delts were pretty bothered oday for some reason, so I took it very very easy on the assistance work. Using lighter weight for very hard contractions and max force.

Been a while since updated log, been busy with school!

10/3

DE Lower

  • Box Jump 5x3
    " 24/30/36/42/42
    x 3/3/3/3/3

  • Hang Power Clean 3x3

135/185/205

x 3/3/3
** Last set was from floor. Been about 2 months since I’ve done cleans so I’m pretty rusty on the strength.

  • Hamstring Plate slide 3x30s

25/25/25

x 11/11/9
** These were killer. First time i’ve ever done them and I have never felt anything like that in my hamstrings at all. First two sets were single legs, last set was double leg.

  • “Bamboo” Lunge 3x30s

95(10)/95(10)/95(10)

x 8/8/6
** BS/FS/BS

Wasn’t really in the mood to lift today so I just tried some new stuff out to peak my interest. Luckily it ended up being a great workout.

10/4

SGHP

  • SGHP heavy 3

95/135/155/165/175

x 3/3/3/3/3

  • SGHP 3x5/4/3/2/1 @70% (10s rest)

125/125/125

x 15/15/15

  • SGHP 3x5/4/3/2/1 @50% (Hold shrug for rep seconds)

85/85/85

x 15/15/15

  • Face Pull TRX 3x30s
    x 14/12/13

  • OH Shrugs 2x30s

95/95

x 12/10

Wasn’t the best workout again. I had a lot on my mind and I had to train at the campus gym which is highly distracting… from the horrible music they play (I normally lift in dead silence) to all the guys running around yapping about Octoberfest and how much they were going to drink and talking about the newest way to get bigger biceps.

10/6

Pull

  • Pullups 5x5

bw/25///50/50/50/55/55

x 5/5/5/5/5/5/5

  • Chinups 3x30s (3-5s eccentric)

bw/bw/bw

x 9/7/7

  • DB Row 3x30s

60/60/60

x 17/14/11

  • Chest Supported DB Row 3x30s @70%

40/40/40

x 11/10/10

  • BB Curl 3x30s (Hard Squeeze, 3-5s eccentric)

45/45/45

x 10/12/10

  • Last two sets were reverse, my right forearm was acting up really weird and reverse didn’t bother it.
  • Machine Curl 2x30s

50/62.5

x 15/12

10/7

ME Push

  • Bench 5x5

135/185///225/225/225/230/235

x 5/5///5/5/5/5/4

  • Close Grip 3x30s

135/135/135

x 12/9/7
** Last two sets had a 1s pause at chest

  • Dips 3x30s

bw/10/bw

x 17/10/10

  • DB Overhead Press

35/35/35

x 12/10/7

  • DB OH Ext 3x30s

50/50/50

x 12/10/9

  • Reverse Pushdowns 2x30s

37.5/37.5

x 14/14

10/8

ME Leg

  • Box Squat 5x5 (3inch below parallel)

135/185///225/235/250/265/280

x 5/5///5/5/5/5/5

  • ATG Squat @70% 3x30s

195/195/195

x 7/7/7

  • RDL 3x30s

145/155/165

x 12/11/9

  • Glute Bridge

45/45/45

x 30s/30s/30s
** Static max effort hold Wide/Normal/Narrow

  • SS1 Hamstring Curl 3x30s

50/50/50

x 14/13/11
** Tempo and max squeeze on hamstrings as possible, wasn’t going for weight

  • SS2 TRX Knee Tuck 3x15
    x 15/15/15

Great squat day. The weight was moving so fast, I felt like I could have gone another set and done 300 for a quick 5. The weight felt like a dynamic squat day, no lie. Started adding in more core movement to strengthen that area.

10/9

  • DE Chins 9x2 (Banded, 10 breathes since at campus gym, no access to timer)

bw///band/band/band/band/band/band/band/band/band

x 5///2/2/2/2/2/2/2/2/2/2

  • Lat Pull Down 3x30s

120/140/140

x 12/9/7

  • Hammer Chinup Holds 3x30s

bw/bw/bw

x 30s/30s/30s
** Held in different portions of the rep for each set; Full up, halfway between full and mid, and midway

  • Hammer Curl 3x30s

35/35/35

x 11/11/9

  • Reverse Preacher Curl 2x30s

45/45

x 9/9

Today was meant as a rest day, however I felt full recovered, except my legs which were a little tight. I rolled them out for 10 minutes before I lifted however. Otherwise, just a workout that wasn?t too rough. I barely broke a sweat. The chinup holds were actually pretty demanding on the core, more so on my core then my back, which is good indicator my core needs work :relaxed: Also, it?s my birthday and I wanted to get a pump, so heck with it.

10/10

  • DE Bench 9x3 (Rotate between Normal, Wide and Close Grip) 70%
    #135///160/160/160/160/160/160/160/160/160
    x 5///3/3/3/3/3/3/3/3/3/

  • DB Neutral Bench 3x30s (Red tilt incline)

55/60/60

x 15/12/10

  • ‘Bamboo’ Red Tilt Decline 3x30s

95(10)/95(10)/95(10)

x 15/11/10
** Last set was CGB

  • YTWL 3x8

5/5/5

x 8/8/8

  • Single Arm Pushdown 3x30s

25/25/25

x 13/12/12

10/11

  • Box Jump 5x3
    " 24///36/42/44/45/45
    x 3///3/3/3/2/3
  • Last set was with a step
  • Hang Power Clean 3x3

135///185/205/225

x 3///3/3/3

  • Last set was from floor
  • Hamstring Plate Side 3x30s

25/25/25

x 8/12/11

  • Backward Incline Treadmill 3x30s (30:30)
    S 3/3.5/3.5
    x 30s/30s/30s

  • Seated DB Calf Raise 3x30

25/35/35

x 30/30/30

10/12

  • SGHP 3RM (hang)

95/135/145/155/165/185/190

x 3/3/3/3/3/3/3/3

  • SGHP 3x5/4/3/2/1 70% (10s)

135/135/135

x 15/15/15

  • SGHP 3x5/4/3/2/1 50% (Hold reps in shrug)

95/95/95

x 15/15/15

  • TRX Face Pull 3x30s

bw/bw/bw

x 15/13/10

  • SS1 Neck Bridge with PB 3x10
    x 10/10/10

  • SS2 Russian Twist 3x15 L/R

25/25/25

x 15/15/15

10/13

  • Pullup 5x5

bw/25///50/50/55/55/60

x 5/5///5/5/5/5/5

  • Chinup 3x30s

bw/bw/bw

x 9/7/7

  • Wide/Norm/Close
  • DB Row 3x30s

65/65/65

x 14/14/11

  • Chest Sup DB Row 3x30s 70%

45/45/45

x 10/10/10

  • BB Curl 3x30s

45/55/55

x 14/9/8

  • Machine Curl 2x30s

62.5/75

x 16/8

10/14

  • Bench Press 5x5

135/185///225/225/225/235/235

x 5/5///5/5/5/5/5

  • Close Grip 3x30s

145/145/135

x 9/7/7
*Paused at chest

  • Dips 3x30s

bw/bw/bw

x 17/13/11

  • Kept these bw… cgb aggravated my left shoulder
  • DB OHP 3x30s

35/35/35

x 11/9/9

  • DB OH Ext 3x30s

50/50/50

x 15/9/7

  • SS1 Reverse Pushdown 2x30s

37.5/37.5

x 14/13

  • SS2 Ab Wheel 2x8
    x 8/8

So giving thought for my next 3 weeks following this week, I was thinking of doing 7x3 for the ME portion… or maybe 8x3 would be better for a total of 24 reps instead of 23. I plan on keeping with the same movements, however changing assistance movements up on a few days slightly. More overhead work, less horizontal work for pushing days.
Cy1: 5x5 (25)
Cy2: 7x3 (21)
Cy3: 5/5/5/3/3/1?? I’m not sure yet on this one. I may just end up going back to 5x5 with different movements, so a 6 week total cycle of the same movements, with the last week of 7x3 really being a 4/5x3 with singles at the end to see my strength gain.

I’m leaning towards the 6 week total cycle on the same movements, and if I did transition like that:
Bench —> Close Grip Bench
Box Squat —> Front Squat
Pullup —? Neutral Chin

Or I may go the direction of Westside of rotating main exercises weekly, however I believe my training age may be too low for this. Doing lots of research and thinkin till then.