Morgan's Log

I’ve started Chad Waterbury’s 10/10 routine today. Here are the lifts and weights

23/06/2008

Lat Pull Down (palms sup) 3 reps 55kg
Dips 3 reps body weight - poor form
Deadlift reps 3 50kg * Edit made a mistake it was 50kg not 35.

All done as a circuit 8 times.

I haven’t the nerve for photos yet but basically I have a physique not unlike Bill Gates hence the ‘poor form’ on the dips. Any tips for these?

These weights are first tries, trying to find the right weight. I think I should be able to do 60kg on the lats and will try 40kg on the deadlift next heavy day.

Are you doing a full body warm-up before you begin lifting? IMO, your chest and shoulder girdle need to be very warmed up before dipping. Probably a lot more warmed up than you might think. I typically do 5 or 6 low(er) rep sets of pushups before I start dipping. I start with 3 reps and add a rep with each set.

When I started adding weight to my bodyweight, I still did 2 or 3 low-rep sets of pushups followed by 2-3 low-rep sets of BW dips before adding the weight belt and starting my work sets. Don’t get discouraged. It takes some time to get your groove with dips. Some gyms have an assistance machine that eases the transition while you are learning the movement and building some base strength. Or you could always try dipping between two flat benches. (Hands reversed on the edge of one bench, feet on the other, body as a bridge) Put a few weight plates on your lap for added resistance when you are ready. (Might need to ask for some help with that … or not.) Be sure to stretch the pecs and shoulder girdle (gently!) when you are done. (Later is fine)

Congrats on starting your new program!

Cappy

Don’t beat yourself up on the dips. It will happen in time, do try to remember that the body should hang vertical for tricep dip. The farther the legs go back the more chest you use. It’s not a big concern but something to keep an eye on. By the way welcome to the site!

Thanks for the replies guys.

Top tip about using the plates to add weight with dips between benches, cheers! I don’t think it will take me too long to get the dips down as I’m doing sets of 3. Sometimes today, though, it look more like I was doing shrugs lol.

For a warm up I just did 5 mins on the rowing machine at a light resistance. I take it thats not enough?

Loving this site, great articles, by great coaches and as great bunch of guys on the forums.

Top class :slight_smile:

High Intensity Interval Training today. I was supposed to do 18 mins but only managed 8! I left it at that since my heart rate was in the 170’s, I was still sweating 20 mins later. I’ll aim to add a minute each time.

Lots of DOMS from yesterday’s lifting. I’m walking like an old man lol.

Lifting again today, my thighs were aching last night so I ended up using ice on them. Helped a lot :slight_smile:

Push Press - 5 sets 8 reps - 25KG
Barbell Bent Over Row - 5 sets 8 reps - 25KG
DB Romanian Deadlift - 5 sets 8reps - 14kg each DB
Squat - 5 sets 8 reps - 25KG

Disappointed with my weight on the squat but I learnt a trick to keep my form right so I was able to go ATG on them for the first time ever :slight_smile:

Did HIIT on Thursday and carried on with the workout on Friday:

Good morning 4x15 10kg Went light as I hadn’t done these before

DB Lunge 4x15 2 6kg dumbbells

Incline DB Bench Press 4x15 10kg dumbbells

Wide Grip pulldown 4x15 40kg

Looking good! HIIT is a bear for sure, but the bennies are great.

Consistency is the key - keep it up!

Thanks Skidmark, I appreciate the encouragement :slight_smile:

Today it was:

Lat Pulldown: 8x3 62.5kg

Dips: 8x3 20kg

Dips: Still not able to do full dips so I took some advice from the forum and used a 20kg plate on my thighs and did them between two benches

Deadlift: 8x3 55kg

Deadlift: Found this youtube video of proper deadlift form.

Really helped me today, I think I did maybe 5 strict form lifts out of the 24. Thats much better than before plus I can’t get the song out of my head :slight_smile:

[quote]Morgan Hearst wrote:
Thanks Skidmark, I appreciate the encouragement :slight_smile:

Today it was:

Lat Pulldown: 8x3 62.5kg

Dips: 8x3 20kg

Dips: Still not able to do full dips so I took some advice from the forum and used a 20kg plate on my thighs and did them between two benches

Deadlift: 8x3 55kg

Deadlift: Found this youtube video of proper deadlift form.

Really helped me today, I think I did maybe 5 strict form lifts out of the 24. Thats much better than before plus I can’t get the song out of my head :)[/quote]

Hey Morgan - good to see you keeping up with it!

Here are a series of articles on the deadlift that also may help out:
http://www.T-Nation.com/readArticle.do?id=1582703
http://www.T-Nation.com/readArticle.do?id=586815
http://www.T-Nation.com/readArticle.do?id=1588392
http://www.T-Nation.com/readArticle.do?id=1607555
and a more recent one:
http://www.T-Nation.com/readArticle.do?id=2271271

Thanks Soldog. Now I see why your avatar is always typing, finding links for newbies like me ;-D

I’ve been nervous of the deadlift for a while as my father has bad back problems which has brought it home to me how vital it is to have a healthy back. I was victim of the ‘deadlift destroys your back’ myth, so its great to have proper information.

Magnificent Mobility and Inside Out arrived today so its proper warm ups from now on too :smiley:

[quote]Morgan Hearst wrote:
Thanks Soldog. Now I see why your avatar is always typing, finding links for newbies like me ;-D

I’ve been nervous of the deadlift for a while as my father has bad back problems which has brought it home to me how vital it is to have a healthy back. I was victim of the ‘deadlift destroys your back’ myth, so its great to have proper information.

Magnificent Mobility and Inside Out arrived today so its proper warm ups from now on too :smiley:

[/quote]

I had back surgery in 1994 and allowed that to inhibit me for a long time. Now I have less day-to-day lower back aches & pains than I’ve had for years. But it takes a constant focus on proper lower back posture all day as well as during lifting - something I’m just re-learning trying to rehab this shoulder.

My lower back has been tender since Sunday. I did my deadlifts yesterday and felt good. Today I am still tender but its not worse. I tried running from the car to the shop in the rain today and failed miserably. The jolt of the running was annoying my back. Its not a sharp ‘torn’ kind of pain,thankfully. It may just be DOMS in an area I’m not used to getting it in or a mild strain.

Anyway, my schedule called for HIIT today on a treadmill. Well, I figured that wasn’t such a good idea but decided to go to the gym anyway and do something.

I did 10 mins on a recline bike then thought I’d have a go on the cross trainer. I gave it a go and there was no back pain so I decided to do my HIIT on that instead and it worked out pretty well :slight_smile:

Getting my body fat measured tomorrow gulp. I may need a drink afterwards. j/k

My body fat worked out at 20% with most of the fat, unsurprisingly, around my midsection. Quite pleased with that as I had feared it would be worse.

My back was still tender today, so I stuck on Magnificent Mobility and went through the easy exercises which seemed to help. Did that warm up again at the gym and started my routine which was:

Standing Shoulder Press: 5x9 20KG

Bent Over Rows: 5x9 30KG

Romanian Dumbbell Deadlift: 5x9 12kg dumbbells. Could have lifted more but I decided that caution was a better idea.

Squats: 5x9 30KG. It turns out that what I had thought was a squat rack is in fact a Smith Machine. I have no idea how these are regarded. As it turned out I only did the first set on that anyway as it was occupied for my second set and so I used a free weight bar instead.

On my last set I decided to do front squats. (This is what is called for in the routine but since I am a squat noob I thought it best to start with the normal one up to now)called a trainer over to watch my form on the front squat as I had never done one before. It went pretty well as I lowered the weight to just the 20 KG bar. Man, its tough on the shoulders, eh? Especially at that last set of a full body workout lol.

Very tough workout today. I thought I was going to be sick in the changing rooms but was fine once I got some protein and carbs in.

Good stuff!

HIIT again today. I’m doing the MM easy exercise warm up on non lifting days too, can’t see that it will hurt and it will help get the routine in my head.

Did the HIIT on the Glidex (cross trainer thing) again as my lower back was tender again today. Went pretty well. I am still using the 2min to 10 sec ratio rather than 1min to 10 sec but I did an extra 2 mins.

Last workout of the week, went pretty well. My back is stronger than earlier in the week but I decide to go light on the good mornings to be on the safe side.

Good Mornings 4x15 10KG

Incline DB Press 4x15 6KG DBs

Lunges 4x15 6 KG DBs

Wide Grip Pulldowns 4x15 30KG

Cheat meal night tonight. Woohoo! Chicken and chips here I come :smiley:

Last week of this phase of the plan.

Lat Pulldowns: 8x3 62.5 KG

Was mixed with some chinups. I wasn’t able to do a full one but I was able to do more than I thought. Still embarrassed myself in front of the 19 year old girls…but they aren’t interested in me anyway, so who cares lol

Dips: 8x3

I managed to do a few full body dips today, a big improvement on my first time two weeks ago. I did do the later sets between benches though as I wasn’t getting anywhere near ROM on the big ones.

Deadlift: 8x3 60kg

Finally, Big Boy Plates! :smiley:

I have to thanks Soldog for finding those articles as if I hadn’t read about the moment where you think the bar isn’t going to move I would have thought the bar wasn’t going to move and given up. Sure enough up it went and (mostly) in decent form.

I got a nice powerful feeling doing the deadlifts, finally feeling strong until a guy came over to advise me to use a belt for deadlifts even though I was ‘using light weights’. Doh!

Congrads on the deadlift. Don’t worry about comments from other people. You’re doing great.

Cheers man :slight_smile:

In fairness I should say that he wasn’t being nasty or having a laugh, just concerned. He’s used to seeing me on the chest press machine and the like, from before my T-Nation enlightenment, and thought I might do myself an injury :slight_smile:

HIIT today on the Glidex again. My lower back feels alot better, but I thought I’d play it safe and got with non impact.

I seem to have lost 3 kilos (rough 6 pounds) of what must be fat as I am sure I have made muscle gains. This is the fat burning stage though, so far so good.