Starting a log here to give myself some accountability. Lately, dedication has been my issue but I hate looking like an ass so this ought to do the trick.
Been trying to feel out a Push-Pull program since the beginning of the year with my new Christmas gift gym membership and ultimately not moving towards anything. So scrapping it all and going with Starting Strength for a few months to try and get back some of my strength.
Age-27
Height-5’11"
Weight-198
BF%- Don’t know really but I would guess mid 20s
Current Maxes (all recently tested):
Squat-265 (I am a horrible squatter)
Bench-235
Deadlift-315
Press 145
Will try to get some pics posted but with dial up at home, no more smart phone (saving money), my only computer is at work and that makes it complicated.
Edit: For those who don’t bother to scroll down, this has turned into a 5x5 LP log and gotten away from the PPL BB type stuff.
Ok, So after being snowed in for a week we are back to the gym. Starting Strength is a no-go but a very willing trade off for a workout partner. My body is not used to the volume greater than 5 or so reps and some of my later exercises suffered for it.
2/3/14 Push
Bench - 135x12; 145x12; 155x8x2
Inc DB Bench - 50’sx10,10,8
Inc DB Fly - 35’s x 10,8,7
Press - 65x12; 75x10,8,8 (Suffered terribly from Incline work)
Side Raise - 25’sx 10,10,10,10
Lying Tri Ext - 50x12; 60x10,8,8
Pushdowns - 72x10,12,12
Ball Situps - 3x25
Leg Raises - 3x15
Side Bends - 2x25 each side w/ 50’s
I still have to build some of my tolerance up and expect most of those poundages to increase fairly quickly as I adjust. We will see I guess.
BB Row- 95x12; 105x10,10,10
WG Pulldown- 72x12; 84x10,10,10
Back Extension- 3x12 @ bw
Cable Row- 72x12, 84x10,12
DB Shrugs- 70’sx10x4 (forgot straps and grip limited my ability here)
Rev Pec Dec- 60x10,12,12
BB Curl- 55x10x4
Hammer Curl- 35’sx10x3
Also did some chins in between sets of rows and thought about ending with a machine preacher curl drop set but decided not to overdo it this early in a new program.
Bench- 95x12; 115x12; 135x12; 155x9
Inc DB Bench- 50’sx10; 45’sx8; 40’sx10 (I think I rushed into these)
Pec Dec Fly- 120x12x4
Press- 95x6,6,6,3
Lateral Raises- 25’sx12
Lying Tri Ext- 40x12; 50x12x3
Pushdowns- 72x12x3
Followed this up with some ab work. I don’t think that I was fully recovered from the last Push session. Things did not feel great, especially the Inc DB work. I think going forward, I am going to alternate between the Press and the Bench as the main lifts; also I am going to make those two lifts 1-2 in my workout. The press that far down is suffering badly.
BB Row- 85x12; 95x12; 105x12; 115x9
Chinups- bwx3x5 (Bodyweight has increased much more rapidly than chinning strength haha)
WG Pulldows- 84x12x4
Cable Rows- 84x12; 96x12x3
DB Shrugs- 75’sx12x4 (3sec hold on each rep; used straps)
Rev Pec Dec- 72x12x3 (Probably taking this out)
BB Curl- 55x12x4 (cheated several of these in the last set)
Hammer Curl- 35x12x3 (cheated these also)
Squat- 105x12; 125x12; 145x12; 165x12; 185x9 (Could have probably squeezed some more out but I felt like shit today)
Leg Press- 250x12x3
Leg Ext- 115x12x2
Leg Curl- 84x12x4
I felt god-awful today so I got in gave it the best I had but took out a lot of fluff. Still a pretty decent workout. Part of me feels like I am not recovering that well and I am thinking I really need to reevaluate my diet and start putting down some more calories. I am so ready to be done with the 12’s. I hate high reps.
Press- 75x12; 85x12, 95x12, 105x3 (Rushed my rest periods a little here)
Bench- 155x6x4
Inc DB Press- 45’sx9, 40x11 (tweaked shoulder, nothing major, kind of felt like I just pinched a nerve a little so I stopped these)
(did some shoulder loosening work, band pull aparts, some shoulder circumductions with a pink dumbbell, and some cable external rotations)
Lateral raises- 20’sx3x12 (wanted to go for 4 but didn’t want to push it just in case)
Pulley Pushdowns- 84x12x4
Didn’t feel great today and I am beginning to think I jumped in the deep in too soon with high volume (for me) and high frequency (for me). Thinking of scaling back to 4 days a week, which would have the added benefit of fitting in my life better, or starting over without a workout partner and a more strength oriented scheme till I get my numbers to a more respectable level.
Deadlift- 135x6; 165x6; 195x6; 225x6 (move up to 255 next time)
DB Row- 60’sx12x4
WG Pulldown- 84x12; 96x12x3
Cable Rows- 96x12; 108x12x2 (used the medium-grip neutral pulldown handle and loved it)
DB Shrugs- 80’sx12x4 w/3sec hold
Inc DB Curl- 25’sx12x4
Mach Preacher Curl- 60x12; 60x8-48x4 drop set; 48x12
So I believe the new plan is dropping back to 4 days a week. Also thinking about taking the arm stuff out of the main workout days and doing that on an optional 5th day. That way when I feel like letting the inner curl bro out I can. Plus right now my forearms are so lit up after a back day that my bicep stuff is terrible and I get very little effect from it. Triceps are in the same boat on push day. Plus I need faster workouts. I am still trying to get things to fit into my life in the most convenient way possible. With a new baby on the way I know this will be a priority.
2/17/14 Chest/Shoulders
Bench- 105x15; 135x12; 155x10; 165x8; 175x6; 185x5 (Barely got the last rep @ 185; rushed it though)
Inc Bench- 95x12; 115x10; 125x8; 135x6 (This was fairly easy)
DB Fly- 30’sx10; 35’sx10x2
Smith Seated Press 95x12; 115x8; 95x8; 105x6 (started to high, reset @ 75)
Upright Row- 75x15; 95x12; 105x10; 115x8 (got all the reps but resorted to half ass high pulls so
Lateral Raise- 25’sx10x3
Making an effort to keep things at 6 exercises or under. Finished this workout in about an hour which is good for me. That may be something I need to start tracking is workout duration. My chest feels awful. I don’t really know what is happening but each time I lift it I actually feel weaker than the previous session. It is actually causing me to continuously doubt and second guess myself. Only hitting it once this week to give it a chance to catch up. For the first time in my training history I am actually starting to feel like a program hopper and I don’t like it.
Changed the log title because I am altering my goals a little. Going to really concentrate on strength first. Then we will figure out where to go. Don’t really have a time frame for each but my planned routine progression is Starting Strength> Texas Method> 5/3/1 BBB. I figure this will give me a couple years worth of strength training.
First thought Goals
1000 total
275 Bench (I am a stronger bencher than anything else)
365 Squat and Dead
Any advice, encouragement, or criticism as I plod through this would be appreciated.
531 is great for progressing each lift and not injuring yourself. I would once one lift seems to stall which I don’t think would be for a few cycles to to focus on one lift at a time. Like don’t worry about hitting 1rm for each lift all the time with joker sets ect. Just follow 531 and it should take your lifts up in a few cycles. aLSO SEEMS LIKE YOU ARE WORRYING ABOUT RECOVERY OR THE TOLL TRAINING IS TAKING ON YOU, REST ADEQUATELY GET ALL THE CALORIES YOU NEED TO GET STRONG, BUT WHEN IT’S TIME TO TRAIN TURN INTO A MANIAC. Recovery comes after training comes first. May be a mindset thing I really think your mentally cutting yourself short. Sorry for the caps lol, Keep it up though getting the frequency up is half the battle so it’s good your consistent.
[quote]Jlabs wrote:
531 is great for progressing each lift and not injuring yourself. I would once one lift seems to stall which I don’t think would be for a few cycles to to focus on one lift at a time. Like don’t worry about hitting 1rm for each lift all the time with joker sets ect. Just follow 531 and it should take your lifts up in a few cycles. aLSO SEEMS LIKE YOU ARE WORRYING ABOUT RECOVERY OR THE TOLL TRAINING IS TAKING ON YOU, REST ADEQUATELY GET ALL THE CALORIES YOU NEED TO GET STRONG, BUT WHEN IT’S TIME TO TRAIN TURN INTO A MANIAC. Recovery comes after training comes first. May be a mindset thing I really think your mentally cutting yourself short. Sorry for the caps lol, Keep it up though getting the frequency up is half the battle so it’s good your consistent.[/quote]
It wasn’t really something I was even really thinking about until I hit the gym for two straight bench days and I felt weaker. I kind of had a WTF is happening moment. Diet or sleep could be a cause as I have been inconsistent with both. Everything else is fine though, just the chest and shoulder stuff. I am actually letting my self rest a couple days before starting a basic 3 day a week total body till I have to pull a reset or two then moving over to the basic(without the Jokers and whatnot) 5/3/1. Thanks for the advice though man.
Bench- 155x5x5
Squat- 185x5x5
Dead-225x5
Chins-bw x 4,5,5,3,3
Squat rack was taken so I went ahead and did bench first. Ended up working in with a couple guys on squats. Waited for them to finish there last couple sets (I think they were doing GVT or something similar) and used the platform to Dead. Workout took almost 1.5 hrs which was way long for me with such a light workout but couldn’t be helped because of waiting.
So as I have said before, my wife and I are expecting our first child in July. A little girl. With that said, I thought some of you might find my when pregnancy hormones attack stories amusing and thought I would share them here.
The first crazy spiral was when my wife had been talking about wanting a ham sandwich and some spicy buffalo doritos (which they no longer make). So I stop by the store w/o telling here to get some ham just to be nice. She calls as I am in the check out line. I tell her where I am and step out of line to have my phone conversation. She is livid because I did not tell her I was going to the grocery store because she needed other stuff (when I finally her to tell me the list it was only like 3 other things). So I was just like “Baby, I am still in the store, I can just run get it.”
Her response in a half talking half crying talking way to fast voice “No I don’t want you to go back there now because I wanted you to call me because I needed some other stuff and now you are already all the way up by the front of the store and it is just way to much trouble for you to have to go through and it will take so long and I am sorry and I am just ready for you to come home because I love you.” I typed that as a run on sentence because that’s how it was spoken.
I got the rest of the list, picked up the items, and when I got home she says, “I knew I was spiraling out of control but I couldn’t stop. Is this what it is going to be like the whole time?” I reply, “God, I hope not.” She then starts to cry again and I realize that unfortunately, yes, my wife has been possessed.
Squat- 195x5x5
Press- 95x5x5
Deadlift- 245x5
Chinups- bw x 5,4,5,4,3
Lying Tri Ext- 60x10x3
Also did a couple sets of DB Curls and Pushdowns. That will be the last time I do that till I can see how well the chin-ups and extensions work. Don’t want to add to many variables at once. Everything felt great. Going really deep on the squats and I am pleasantly surprised with how good that feels. Had a guy at the gym call me out on my warm up sets of deads for rushing and not locking out at the top. It was a legit critique and appreciated. Concentrated on getting that squeeze at the end of my main set. Finally found a smaller diameter bar and that has helped a lot of the grip issues I seemed to be having earlier. I can honestly say that training for the sake of putting weight on the bar vs aesthetic purposes is just much more fulfilling to me and gets me more excited to train. Maybe that speaks to the accountant side of me with something tangible measure.
Second pregnancy story: Christmas this year, on the way to my wife’s parents home. We are halfway there (1.5 hrs into the drive) when she realizes that we left the gift receipts. Of course, the reason we left them was because I had gathered them all up and put them in a drawer so I made her forget them. The statement that followed went like this. “I cant believe you made me leave the receipts. Why do you always have to just touch my stuff when you want even pick up your own. I had them right where I wanted them, and you just had to move them, now we don’t have them and no one is going to like their gift and they cant take it back and you have ruined Christmas. AND GOD I WANT A TACO.” I couldn’t help but laugh, which seemed to defuse the situation. She has actually been pretty good about realizing that she is spiraling and catching herself, makes for good stories though.