I’m more of a lurker on these boards, have been for a little while, but I like to chime in from time to time and gain some learning from the more knowledgeable folk. A little background on me…I’m 25. Started lifting when I was 16 but made no progress because I hired the worst personal trainer of all time (spent like $850 on those 10 sessions, which was most of my lifetime earnings at that point). Still had no idea what I was doing when I was 17-18 simply because I started to eat more. Went to college to play baseball and actually got fairly strong by my last year. At 20, S:445, D:515: B275 at a BW of 210. Stopped playing baseball after that year due to what I now know was a torn RC. Stopped lifting and go into running, dropping down to 175 lbs BW. Got back into the gym a couple years ago armed with a bit of knowledge thanks to T-Nation and made some progress. Currently at about 208 pounds (I’m 6"2, maybe a little more). Not crazy lean but definitely not fat, probably in the mid teens of BF%. I’ve been bulking for the last couple months, up about 12 pounds in that time. Current lifts, on an “everyday” max: Squat-405, dead- 425. I’m not benching much due to aforementioned torn RC. I’ll never BB bench again, don’t care for chasing numbers there. I’d like to OHP again someday though.
That being said, my current program is basically legs and back with a wee bitta chest thrown in. Without further ado, the log shall commence.
Monday, December 3
Back Squat
365x5
365x5
365x5
365x5
365x5
295x10
BB RDL
205x15
205x14
205x14
135x12
My hips felt like absolute crap from sitting all weekend (spent about 6-7 hours each of Friday and Saturday night doing volunteering, driving drunk people around). (I think) As a result my lower back was on fire here and the MMC was terrible. Squatting didn’t feel great either.
BW Walking Lunges (100 per leg)
Broken up into sets of 60/60/54/26. One day later I’ve got some wicked DOMS from this.
Finished with abs and forearm/grip stuff.
@isdatnutty figured I’d tag you in here if you don’t mind.
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No worries man! Legs & Back are our foundation, so it’s good to focus on that.
Depending on your build you really don’t need more than the following for legs
- Back Squats, Front Squats
- Deadlift, RDL
- Lunges
Those will get you at least 80% of the way there IMO.
The session you just did reminds me of something I would do. Do goblet squats before squats (like 2 sets of 15) to get really warmed up. It’ll feel much better squatting.
I would say if you shoulders do not hurt to do some form of pressing. There is no lift that is “necessary” so just pick something you enjoy and doesn’t hurt and go to town on it. When I got hurt I just started doing push ups and that worked well.
If I hurt my shoulder again, I think I’ll drop the BB pressing and just use DBs and keep the BB for squats/deadlifts.
Let me know if you have any questions. There are plenty of smarter and stronger people than me on this site, but because I’ve gotten OK strong with jumping on a different program every week, I might have some insight haha!
Physio said I’m okay to do horizontal pressing, flat or decline. Think I’ll probably stick to decline DB as it doesn’t bother my shoulder at all and I get a better chest contraction.
I tagged you because we’d talked about the legs-and-back centric training in the other thread I made. Running with the layout you suggested in that thread. So today will be a few sets of decline bench and a bunch of rowing.
I’ve made a bit of progress these last couple months freestyling things, only doing legs and back. Probably has much more to do with the fact I’ve committed to eating more rather than intelligent improvisation.
So my log flopped pretty quick. My laptop went tits up and formatting log posts on my phone is a nightmare. I have been logging it all in a notebook though.
I’ve just run into an issue: I seem to be getting weaker. I’ve gained weight- I’m up to 213 lbs now. My upper body lifts are progressing. My deadlift is more or less the same, but my squat is getting worse. At the beginning of December I was squatting 365 for 5x5. It was hard but I could do it. Since then I’ve regressed, to today where I did 3 sets of 5 at 335 and 2 more at 315. I’ve been running the program laid out above.
Anybody got any ideas what could be going on? My only thought is that I’ve been hiking a fair bit, like 3 times a week since the beginning of the month. Not super strenuous hikes, maybe 3-4 hours but they’re not intense climbs or anything. That said, I got laid off from my job in mid December and will be going back to it at the end of this month or early February. I’ve been sleeping well, getting a nap pretty much every day, and eating plenty as evidenced by my weight gain.
Did you add exercises or change the exercise order within the workout? Might be as simple as that. What about fatigue from hiking?
I haven’t changed that program at all. I thought maybe fatigue from hiking but the hikes aren’t that strenuous and I’ve been eating and sleeping very well- sleeping better/more than I have in years. Nonetheless, hiking is the only thing I can think of.
It’s tough because I have a young Staffy pup who’s very very energetic and the hiking has been awesome for her, and with the extra free time afforded to me by my temporary layoff the hiking has been a lot of fun for both of us.