This log is intended to help me keep a journal of how well/badly i’m progressing
background: despite having ‘lifted’ for a number of years, since september i have seen the light in respect to correct training (and about 2 weeks ago for diet) and have experienced the best gains of my life both in terms of strength and size. since the start of term, my squat has gone from missing 120kg by miles to 140 for 2 reps. DL from 150 x 8 or so, to 180 for 2. pendlay row from 70kg for 10 to 120kg for 8. and all on top of the being the leanest i have ever been. let the good times continue…
Info:
age: 19
height: 5’10"
weight: 88kg
bench 5rm: 100kg
squat 2rm: 140kg
DL 2rm: 180kg
My general program is split into heavy and light (explosive) days, training every day. it should be mentioned i am bulking at the moment
day 1: - heavy back and bis
day 2: - heavy chest, shoulders
day 3: - heavy squats, heavy ham work, heavy calf work
day 4: - medium weight back and bis
day 5: - light, wide and explosive chest. with heavy shoulders and tris
day 6: - light/explosive squats, medium ham work, heavy calf work + abs
my diet is pretty consitent, looking like:
meal 1: breakfast - tin of tuna + 3 slices of wholemeal bread
(tend not to eat a meal for the next 3 hours (lectures) but i consume a healthy amount of nuts every hour between meals)
meal 2: 100g wholemeal pasta, 150g beef steak, broccoli + some butter and cheese
gym - during the workout (about 2/3 of the way through) i will consume a high glycemic load food (usually a banana) and a protein shake of 2 scoops of whey
asap after gym; meal 3: same as meal 2 - last large carb intake of the day
2 hours later 2 scoop shake
2 hours later 6-9 egg omelette (about 1:3 ratio of egg whites to whole eggs) + cheese (usually smaller on lighter days)
2 hours later another shake (usually omitted on lighter days)
before bed another omelette
cardio is not really needed (despite my high fat and calorie intake) as i bike everywhere, and travel a minimum of 4 miles everyday, frequently double - on my bmx
avatar is about 3 weeks old
Todays session was light and explosive chest, with heavy shoulders (in order)
started with wide grip bench press, ramping from 60kg to 80kg for 8 explosive reps. i threw in one rep with 100kg just to see how difficult it was. im getting antsy to bench heavy again as i havent been training it directly as it has plateaued for a looong time.
heavy 1 armed tri pull downs x 2 sets for each palm direction x 8 reps
light inclince bench. 60kg, 3 sets for 8 reps
heavy floor press lockouts. 3 sets, 120 kg for 8, 140 for 8, 160 for 4
lat raises. 3 sets, 17,5kg 8 13
barbell shrugs (prefer DB) 4 sets, 110 x 8, 130 x 8, 160 x 6, 160 x 6
tricep pulldowns with bent bar, 3 sets of 9 reps
- no OH movements were included as i have pulled a muscle in my back, which is apparantly only made worse when i do overhead press movements.
some people may not agree with alternating between tri and chest work as above, but i am trying to gain some serious size on my tris and like them to be ‘fresh’ for each variation of tri work i do. during the other movements they get time to rest
well technically its not my bike. its the same bike i own - but coutesy of google.
as for floor pressing double, they were heavy lockouts + i was wokring light on bench.
up to 100kg for pendlay rows im at like 25 deg to the floor then at 120 probably nearer 40
got back and bis coming up today - feeling a new DL today
well i did hit a new pr on DL. only by 5 kg though. managed 185 x 2, had more in the tank but was lining up for 205kg which i missed.
sarted with deads
then onto pendlay rows, 100 x 8, 110 x 8, 120 x 7. (i checked my angles and im much nearer parallel than i thought)
DB curls, 30kg x 8, 35kg x 4 + 30kg x 3, 32.5kg x 8
weighted pull-ups (+10kg) 3 sets of 8-9 reps
EZ bar curls - 50kg x 8, 60kg x 5 + 4 reps of 20kg DB’s, 50kg x 9
cable lat pulldowns 3 sets of 9 reps
pulldowns 2 sets x 8 reps
V bar pulldowns 2 setx x 8 reps
DB curls, 30kg x 8, 25kg x 10
yep its definately a weak point, i am working on it though… planning to move to 15kg extra next sesh
today was planned to be chest & shoulders to give my ‘core’ a rest. however due to a slight twinge in my left medial delt i decided to do legs.
got a new pb of 150kg in back squat.
as the gym was pretty much empty i saw it as an excellent oppourtunity to try glute bridges - which are actually really good. I found it to be more of a hamstring exercise (and will be switching to these instead of leg curls) but i definately got some glute activation. just getting used to the form i managed 140kg x 8, dont know how this measures up.
pretty low volume today - due to the max and i was pumped for chest etc. not legs
yesterday was chest, achieved a new pb in bench - 110kg and 80kg x 3 in mil press (with mich less than perfect form)
today was back and bis. 120kg x 9 pendlay rows was a highlight
also 3 sets of 9 pull-ups with 15kg extra
did not DL today as tomorrow is legs
today was leg day and set a new pr in squats. 155kg for nearly 2 reps ha - good depth. and 145kg for 9 reps in glute bridge. i also switched up my calf routine today to really hammer them, after catching a glimpse of them in the mirror and realising how terrible they were
i took a day off yesterday to sober up from the night before,
and fri was back and bis. since you mentioned my poor vertical pull ive been trying to really bring it up and managed 20kg wide arm pull-ups for 9 reps.
erm it was pretty quiet (like 6 people in the free-weights area), didnt seem to get too many funny looks, this was probably due to the guy in tight and minimilsitic clothing doing some weird/homoerotic dance style stretches. i dont really care tbh - but probably wouldnt do them in a packed gym, then again i wouldnt put it past myself ha.
its chest etc tomorrow and im feeling pretty confident about setting some new rep prs. pretty much setting new prs everytime its a heavy day - must be the switch from chicken to red meat ha
well, what the heck here are some pics to see where i am at and to compare to later.
managed 4x5 with 100kg in bench today and 4x70kg strict form mil press. no other improvements really.
seems as though i am slowly filling out my lats/back, increased the ratio of my waist to upper back and comparing to older pics seem to have cut some fat. whilst my arms still need improving, concentrating on back and chest atm to increase overall size makes adding arm size more difficult.
first two pics are self explanatory, last is front relaxed.
edit: sitting around 90kg
order disjointed. here is the front relaxed
update with a leg pic and leg day
only new improvement was, after not doing front squats for some time, managing 100kg x 6reps
implimented some super low box squats also - which was fun
slowly bringing them up to speed with my upper body
edit: quads measuring a bit under 26"
Shame you didn’t keep this going, seemed to be going well. Where you at lifts/body-weight wise now. Was the bulk successful?
Body-weight wise i’m around 95kg, lifts wise up slightly. most recent lift was 100kg bench x 10 reps, I could only manage 3 with 110 though. Push press 90kg for 3, front squat 110kg for 5.
Im getting a 4" x 10mm powerlifting belt for my birthday so that will help immensely with my squat.
Also now im back at uni I expect my bf% to drop with cycling to uni each day and adding a day of cardio to my routine, medium term goal is 100kg with ab outlined
Ill quickly post up my diet
meal one: 150g (dry) porridge + water
meal 2: something relatively small like humus + 2xtoast, or a chicken breast sandwich
meal 3: (pre-gym) 100g cous-cous + spinach + can of tuna + small amount of pasta sauce
meal 4: (during gym) 2.5 scoops whey + creatine + pear/fruit
meal 5: (post gym) repeat meal 3
meal 6: 2 medium sweet potatoa + spinach + 150g turkey breast + pasta sauce
obviously there is a slight variation day to day, but this is the basis. occasionally only 5 meals (but never 4 haha)
Good to see this back up and running, ill be following your progress and nice work on all the lifts. We’re around the same weight now aswell.
yeh… but you’re a lot stronger than me and taller… (and probably leaner now as well)
Incase you weren’t aware i’m training for size, not strength. in the 8-12 rep range usually/where I can
routine:
day1: forearms bi’s and back
day2: cardio
day3:chest, tri’s, and shoulders
day4: legs
-repeat-
very basic, switched chest to shoulder day to give me time to work on my biceps and lats
I’ll chuck up some birthday pics soon, after im in a bit better shape
A few updates:
-My arms are up to 16.5", from just under 16" less than 3 weeks ago. I knew that concentrating on chin-ups would seriously boost them, and hopefully on towards 17" - especially when i take ownership of my own dipping belt. Also curling 65kg (straight barbell) for sets of up to 7.
-
after only front squatting and leg pressing for a few weeks I did some back -squats today and narrowly missed 165kg, should have got it, but i pussied out half way through the lift. I reckon a few more cycles of weeks of front squats and leg pressing, with 1 back squat session (plus the arrival of my powerlifting belt) will have me pushing up 180kg before too long.
-
bench is seriously stalling after switching it to shoulder day, im not too fussed yet. once my arms and lats are up to speed ill switch back. on that note, my lats are also starting to look fuller, and im more aware of them
my powerlifting belt came yesterday, and today was the first time using it (obviously it was pretty stiff an uncomfortable initially) doing front squats. with it I managed a new PR of 125kg for 3 reps, nothing amazing - pretty poor actually but still a PR. and the belt definitely helped
My diet’s going really quite well, i’ve avoided all junk, getting meat with every meal (except breakfast, although sometimes even at breakfast). I have taken to preparing a pasta bake, laden with chicken breast and tomato puree + water, the night before for breakfast - loads of carbs and protein = a great way to start the day. Still on a low-ish fat diet and it seems to be going well.
here is a leg update pic; slightly increased in size to 26", whilst loosing some fat. unfortunately my calfs still suck balls.
