Quest For Strength

I’m 17, 6’3", 185lbs and have been training for about 18 months. I decided to create this log as I feel it will help me to get results as well as get some feedback on my workouts.

My goals are to generally get bigger and stronger and I would eventually like to compete in a powerlifting competition (under 18) but realise that that is a long way off as I am no where near strong enough, especially my legs due to various injuries.

I am just starting Joe Defranco’s WS4SB 3 so I will start with what I did yesterday on the first workout of the program.

Max effort Bench Press- Bar x 30, 60kg x 5, 70kg x 3, 80kg x 3, 90kg x 3, 100kg x 2 was kind of falling of the side of the bench for some reason so I failed on the 3rd rep, reset the bar and did 100kg again for another 2 reps

Incline Dumbbell Bench Press- 25kg x 15, 25kg x 17

Seated Cable Row supersetted with 60kg 4x10
Bent Over Rear Delt Flies with 12.5kg 3x8, 1x10

Behind the Back Shrugs- 60kg x 20, 140kg x 16, 170kg x 14, 170kg x 13

Bicep Cable Curls- 22.5kg for 3 x 12, 1 x 14 ( Biceps are really weak I know

Back feels tight today, probably from arching on Bench Press

Tuesday- Dynamic Lower Body Day

8 x 3 Vertical Jumps

Barbell Step Ups- 25kg for 2 x 10 each Leg (first time doing this exercise so I went pretty light, box was above knee hight

Romanian Deadlifts- 90kg for 3 x 8 (I do these all the way to the ground)

Kneeling Cable Ab Crunches- 50kg for 3 x 20 (These felt awkward so I probably won’t do these next week)

Felt like a bit of a weird workout but I liked it, hamstrings are really aching today I just hope they will be ok for friday when I do deadlifts

Couldn’t do the Repetition Upper Body Workout on thursday cause I was out all day so I did it today.

Friday- Repetition Upper Body

Max Reps Bench Press- 60kg for 1 x 25, 1 x 16, 1 x 17 (These sets were all done with no pauses so I didn’t rest at the top or bottom)

1 x 8 chin ups (was going to do these for the superset but decided it would take too long to go up and down the stairs to the pull up bar and then back into the garage so I changed it.

Straight Arm Pull Downs supersetted with 20kg x 12, 25kg x 12, 30kg x 10
Face Pulls- 20kg x 12 x 3

Seated Overhead Press- 50kg for 3 x 8, 1 x 9

Behind the Back Shrugs supersetted with- 140kg x 12, 170kg x 14, 180kg x 12
Incline Dumbbell Curls- 12.5kg for 2 x 9, 1 x 12

Thought of a way that I could do rack pulls from just above the knee as my rack dosnt go low enough, it seems sturdy enough so I’m thinking of doing rack pulls instead of deadlifts for tomorrows max effort lower body exercise as i think i pulled my hamstring on tuesday doing RDL’s and it still aches a bit

Saturday- Max Effort Lower Body Day

Deadlifts- 60kg x 10, 100kg x 5, 120kg x 3, 130kg x 3 (hamstring was still aching from tuesday so didnt want to push too hard)

Backward Sled Drags- 4 plates x 35 yards, 5 plates x 35 yards x 2 (was dying after these)

Forward Upright Sled Drags- 2 plates x 35 yards x 3

Ab Circuit

Injured my elbow playing football on sunday so I decided to do lower body on monday.

Monday - Dynamic Effort Lower Body

Vertical Jumps- 8 x 3

Barbell Step Ups- 30kg 2 x 10 each leg

Romanian Deadlifts- 100kg 3 x 8

Tuesday- Max Effort Upper Body

Barbell Bench Press- Bar x 20, 60kg x 5, 70kg x 3, 80kg x 3, 90kg x 3, 100kg x 2 (Really annoyed about this but put it down to my elbow so I didnt do Incline Dumbell press)

Seated Cable Rows supersetted with- 60kg 3 x 12, 1 x 14
Bent Over rear delt flyes- 15kg 4 x 10

Behind the back barbell shrugs- 140kg x 14, 180kg x 14, 180kg x 11

Cable Curls- 27.5kg 3 x 10

Was really annoyed in this workout cause of bench press but after i finished i realised that i had gotten stronger in every lift apart from bench so put that down to my bad elbow

Thursday- Max Effort Lower Body

Rack Pulls from middle of knee cap- 100kg x 10, 140kg x 5, 170kg x 6, 180kg x 5 (never done these before but got in the groove of it towards the end)

Backward Sled Drags (35 yards)- 5 plates x 2, 6 plates x 1 (these are hard as hell)

Forward Sled Drags (35 yards)- 3 plates x 3

Friday- Repetition Upper Body

Changed this a bit as I didn’t think that 25 reps would do anything

Barbell Bench Press- 80kg-4x8

Close Grip Pulldowns supersetted with- 60kg- 2 x 8, 1 x 12
Face pulls- 22.5kg x 12, 14, 16

Seated Shoulder Press- 50kg- 2 x 10, 1 x 8, 1 x 9

Behind the Back Shrugs supersetted with- 140kg- 3 x 10 (concentrated on doing these slowly with a sqeeze at the top)
Inclinen Dumbbell Curls- 12.5kg- 3x10

Behind the back wrist curls with abs in between to finish me off

Was going to do upper but went up to 100kg, did 1 rep and my arm just gave out as i injured it at football on sunday

Monday - Dynamic Effort Lower Body

Vertical Jumps- 8 x 3

Barbell Step Ups- 32.5kg 2 x 10 each leg

Romanian Deadlifts- 100kg 3 x 8

Tuesday- Max Effort Upper Body

Couldnt do bench cause of a bad arm

Seated Cable Rows supersetted with- 70kg 4x10
Bent Over rear delt flyes- 15kg 4 x 10

Behind the back barbell shrugs- 140kg 3x14 (all done really slowly)

Cable Curls- 30kg 3 x 8

Tuesday- Max Effort Upper Body

Couldnt do bench cause of a bad arm

Seated Cable Rows supersetted with- 70kg 4x10
Bent Over rear delt flyes- 15kg 4 x 10

Behind the back barbell shrugs- 140kg 3x14 (all done really slowly)

Cable Curls- 30kg 3 x 8

Thursday- Max Effort Lower Body

Rack Pulls from middle of knee cap- 100kg x 10, 140kg x 5, 180kg x 6, 200kg x 3, 220kgxfail

Backward Sled Drags (35 yards)- 6 plates x 3

Forward Sled Drags (35 yards)- 3 plates x 3