I changed my calf workout… based on some things I’ve read and personal experience. So now I still ramp the weight up and do sets of 5 for standing calves, but I do 2 sets at each weight: one with a 2 second pause at the bottom and one without. This seemed to really hit them hard. With my seated calves I have switched to sets of 10 reps and a little less weight, but the same idea as above 1 set pause next set no pause. I’m liking it so far.
February 15th
Legs (knee extension focus): mobility, stretch hip flexors, activate glutes, jump squats
Front Squats 225x5
Standing Calves (alternating sets with 2 second pause and without)
Bulgarian Split Squats 135x5
Seated Calves 5x10 140lbs
Partial Front Squats 315x5 (I wanted to see what this felt like on my shoulders as I’m considering adding it pre-front squats to amp the nervous system up)
February 16th
Push/Pull: mobility, stretch hip flexors, activate glutes, explosive push-ups
Pull-Ups 60x4
Bench Press (185x5)x3 (tweaked my shoulder playing football)
Bent Rows 205x3
Single Arm Overhead Press 50x5
Pull-Ups (max reps with BW) 17
Dips (finisher) none shoulder pain
RDLs at the end of my legs day really go the hamstings sore the next day. Thanks to some advice about trouble shooting my front squat, I think I’ll continue these and see how they help. Still having trouble with OHP. I don’t really have pain from them, but rather a tension or pressure feeling in the front of my shoulders also I can’t move much weight.
February 17th
Legs (hip extension focus): mobility, stretch hip flexors, activate glutes, jump squats
Deadlifts 365x1
Standing Calves 320x5
Barbell Hip Extensions 95x5 (no one to hand me heavier weight)
Seated Calves 140x10 (x4)
RDLs (finisher) 95x5, 115x5, 135x12
February 18th
Push/Pull: mobility, stretch hip flexors, activate glutes, explosive push-ups
Pull-Ups 60x4 +1
DB Bench Press 90x5
DB Row 100x5
Overhead Press 115x5
Pull-Ups (max reps with BW) 20
Rev. Skull Crushers (finisher)
Face Pulls (finisher)
Bodyweight is 205 now and the mirror says less fat. Looks like I am on track.
February 19th
Legs: mobility, stretch hip flexors, activate glutes, jump squats
Toe Bounces 3x30
Knees to Chest 3x8
Toyotas 3x4
Rocket Jumps 3x4
Sprints 10x25yds
Overhead Squats
I think I am finally getting the form and movement right on front squats. A little help from some assistance exercises, a little advice, and a healthy dose of focusing on opening my hips and I was able to get a full good set of 5 with 225 today and then I followed it with 2 reps at 245 without feeling like I was holding the weight on my shoulders with my biceps. I was pretty excited about this. It may have helped too that I ate everything in sight this past weekend.
February 22nd
Legs (knee extension focus): mobility, stretch hip flexors, activate glutes, jump squats
Front Squats 245x2
Standing Calves 320x5
Bulgarian Split Squats 155x3
Seated Calves 160x10
Brief mention: I tested the vertical last Saturday and it’s 24 inches now up from 20!
Making slow steady progress in all the lifts either with increased reps or more weight.
February 23rd
Push/Pull: mobility, stretch hip flexors, activate glutes, explosive push-ups
Pull-Ups 60x5
Bench Press 225x3
Bent Rows 205x3
Single Arm Overhead Press 55x3
Pull-Ups (max reps with BW) 20
Managed 3 reps with 365 on deadlift this morning!
February 24th
Legs (hip extension focus): mobility, stretch hip flexors, activate glutes, jump squats
Deadlifts 365x3
Standing Calves 320x5
Barbell Hip Extensions 155x5
Seated Calves 140x10
RDLs 155x16
February 25th
Push/Pull: mobility, stretch hip flexors, activate glutes, explosive push-ups
Pull-Ups 65x5
DB Bench Press 95x5
DB Row 100x5
Overhead Press 115x5
Preacher Curls 95x5
Steady progress…
March 1st
Legs (knee extension focus): mobility, stretch hip flexors, activate glutes, jump squats
Front Squats 265x2
Standing Calves 320x5
Bulgarian Split Squats 155x5
Seated Calves 140x10
So I’ve made some good progress so far and it’s just been two months… Here are my initial goals.
Long term: (August 1st)
10% bodyfat
30 inch vertical leap
1 arm chin-up (each arm)
280 lb bench press
280 lb front squat
400 lb deadlift
Short term: (May 1st)
15% bodyfat
225 lb bench press
25 inch vertical leap
30 pull-ups
250 lb front squat
300 lb deadlift
I have met or exceeded now all of the short term goals and am knocking on the door of some of the others. Anyhow, I thought it was a good time to reassess these and set some new ones. So where it stands right now…
~15% bodyfat
225x3 bench press
25.5 inch vertical leap
??? pull-ups (20+ as I’ve been repping out 20 at the end of each upper body session)
265x2 front squat
365x3 Deadlift
So what I am thinking is to keep after the goals of 10% bodyfat and the one-arm chin-up and 30 inch vertical, but shoot for higher weights on the other stuff. So to round it out a bit here we go…
New Goals
Long term: (August 1st)
10% bodyfat
30 inch vertical leap
1 arm chin-up (each arm)
280 lb bench press
350 lb front squat
500 lb deadlift
March 2nd
Push/Pull: mobility, stretch hip flexors, activate glutes, explosive push-ups
Chin-Ups 80x3
BB OHP 135x3 (started only going down to the ear lobes so no more pain)
Bent Rows (supinated) 225x1
Cable Lateral Raises 30x5
Face-Pulls 100x10
Pull-Ups (max reps with BW + 25) 12
The deadlift keeps going up! I love this lift! I think that I must not be squatting heavy enough, because it seems that these two lifts should be closer together in weight I can move. Front squat 265x2 deadlift 385x2? Anyone else have an issue like this? Maybe my quads are just weak… Anyway, I’m gonna try to squat heavier.
March 4th
Legs (hip extension focus): mobility, stretch hip flexors, activate glutes, jump squats
Deadlifts 385x2
Standing Calves 320x5
RDLs 175x15
Seated Calves (140x10)x4
I’ve made a switch from flat bench to incline for awhile we’ll see where it goes.
March 4th
Push/Pull: mobility, stretch hip flexors, activate glutes, explosive push-ups
Single Arm Pull-down 3x10 setting (BW=16) 130lbs?
DB Incline Bench Press 70x5
DB Row 100x8
DB Single Arm OHP 60x4
Pull-Ups (max reps with BW + 25) 13
So, lately I have decided that I want to be able to do overhead squats. More as a mobility, balance, athletic sort of goal than anything else and man they are seriously difficult. A few weeks ago I couldn’t hardly bend my knees holding the bar over my head. Anyway, a little encouragement for anyone else trying this or wanting to… It is possible! I managed full depth (to parallel) overhead squats this morning.
They were still tough and I did manage to put some weight on the bar, but nothing that helped the humilitated ego. What I did to get there was simply following some of Dan Johns stuff about squat flexibility, doing band dislocates, and finally taking an incredibly wide grip on the bar (pinkies at the edge of the knurling).
March 5th
Legs: mobility, stretch hip flexors, activate glutes, jump squats
Overhead Squats 65x5
Face Pulls 110x12
March 8th
Front Squats 275x1
Standing Calves 320x5
Bulgarian SS 155x5
Seated Calves (140x10)x2 (had to leave)
Well, I think I finally got to the point where I could really hammer my legs with the front squats and bulgarian split squats, so I took a day off the weights yesterday. Anyway, I think I am going to change things around now to:
Monday: Legs (knee ext. focus)
Tuesday: Upper Body (shoulders and back)
Wednesday: Complexes/Cardio
Thurday: Legs (hip ext. focus)
Friday: Upper Body (chest/shoulders and back)
Saturday: Complexes/Cardio
Sunday: Rest
March 9th
Rested
March 10th
Push/Pull: mobility, stretch hip flexors, activate glutes, explosive push-ups
Chin-Ups 80x3
BB OHP 145x2
Bent Rows (supinated) 225x2
Face-Pulls setting 110x12
This week has ended up being kind of a deload for me… Really ever since that max effort on the front squats on Monday. Oh well, I should be able to dig back in hard next week.
March 11th
Legs (hip extension focus): mobility, stretch hip flexors, activate glutes, jump squats
Deadlifts 365x4
Standing Calves 320x5
RDLs 175x5
Seated Calves (140x10)x4
March 12th
Push/Pull: mobility, stretch hip flexors, activate glutes, explosive push-ups
Single Arm Pull-down (BW=16) setting 10x5
DB Incline Bench Press 75x5
DB Row 100x10
DB Single Arm OHP 60x5
First day with the deadstop front squats (set the pins to just below parallel) it was challenging just to hang out at the bottom position with the weight on the pins! I should be able to do more weight next time without a problem.
March 15th
Legs (knee extension focus): mobility, stretch hip flexors, activate glutes, jump squats
Front Squats (dead stop from pins) 175x5
Standing Calves 360x5
Bulgarian SS 175x3
Seated Calves (160x8)x4
Overhead Squats 45x10
Chin-ups BW+100x3!!! Pretty excited about that. I still really want to get that pressing strength higher though as my OHP is kind of low in my estimation. Anyone have any good ideas on how to get that one better? Is there something I ought to be doing?
March 16th
Push/Pull: mobility, stretch hip flexors, activate glutes, explosive push-ups
Chin-Ups 100x3
BB OHP 145x2
Bent Rows (supinated) 225x4
Cable Lateral Raises 30x5
Incline Trap Raises 15x5
Pull-Ups (max reps with BW + 25) 15