Roll the Dice

Long time lurker to T-Nation. figured I would get my training log up.
History, was a huge kid when I was younger. Then went off to college lost a bunch of weight and had decent gains in size and strength. Recently lost the handle on my weight stopped training and ballooned to 260lbs.The huge weight gain was partly because I tried to regain strength I lost when I stopped working out as quickly as I could. so now dieting down to my old weight (200lbs) while trying to maintain what I can in strength.
Max Lifts:
bench: 315
Dead lift: 435
Squat: 365
Overall goal for the log is to catalog and keep track of what I do diet/lifting wise. My last year in college so my time is very restricted and I am implementing the minimalist training that was in an article here not to long ago by dan john, I believe. So here is to me keeping this thing up and getting decent results.

-dice

college is the most free time most of us will ever have in lift. What is your schedule like, how do you plan to train? Good luck ill be following up on here.

My classes begin at 1 pm everyday which is a dream schedule, but I commute an hour to an from class daily. I am also a TA for several labs throughout the week and on Mondays and Thursdays I have night classes. As a result I train mornings now.
Lifting days: Monday/Thursday
Cardio/Miscellaneous Tuesday,Wednesday and Friday

Monday: Lower body (Morning)
Squat
Leg press-1 leg variation
RDL
Leg Extension
Leg Curl
Calves
Incline Bench

Thursday: Upper Body (Morning)
Bench
Dumbell Row
Shoulder Press
Tricep Pulldowns
Bicep Curls
Pullups
Deadlifts

Tuesdays/Fridays: Cardio (Morning)
20 mins interval training on exercise bike…so like 20 seconds as fast as I can go and 15 seconds rest.
20 mins Elliptical or Track. This is after the bike I try to do more steady state

Wednesdays: Miscellaneous
Flip Tires
Drag Tires
There is a hill with tires by the football field that is sort of open to the students. When the team isn’t practicing I try to get some time in flipping tires up and down the hill along with dragging as well. If it is occupied I just train in the gym with stretches and abs.

I have been on the weight template for a couple of weeks now and diet wise I have cut out soda and have added a healthy breakfast and moved up my dinners from 9-10pm to 5-6 pm. So far I have been losing weight rabidly I am getting close to 240.

Breakfast: 8 am
4 eggs
1 orange

Training for today:10-11:30 am.
10 min warmup on exercise bike.
Smith machine Squats: 315x8,405x4,365x6,365x5
Leg press (both legs):720x8,810x5,810x4, 810x6
Leg extension (one leg): 115x10,130x8,145x6,145x6
Leg Curl (both legs): 200x10,250x10,250x8,250x8
Seated calf raises: 135x10,135x8,135x8,135x12
Straight leg dead lift: 110x5,110x4,110x4,110x5

Decline press: 225x8,245x8,275x5,275x5
cool down 10 min on bike.

Post workout:
2 chicken breasts
cup of brocoli
1 scoop of protein (20g)

Some notes:
The gym I go to is the school gym doesn’t have a real squat rack. I try to go heavy on squats to make up for this.
Leg press-810 was kind of easy I usually go easy on this due to the fact I tweaked my quad when I hit 1k and never felt the same after that. I have been going one leg on this first week going two.
Leg Extension-I super set this exercise.
Decline Press- I ramped up slow. I depleted my carbs too fast the first week on my diet and I rolled my wrist back when doing bench. felt good though.
weight wise I’ll post what I weigh at end of week hopefully continue seeing a gradual loss in that area.

Training in the AM
cardio day:
20 mins exercise bike 20 seconds as fast as I could 10 seconds rest.
20 mins eliptical just steady state.

Food:
Breakfast:
2 eggs
Orange
Lunch:
Squash
2 chicken breasts
Orange
Dinner:
Apple
Chicken breast
lettuce/tomatoe with olives on side
avocado

Training: PM
Off day
20 mins cardio
25 min stretching
front squat 135 3 sets 5 reps
back extensions

Training AM:
Warmup bike 10 mins

Upperbody

Bench: 275x4,265x5,255x4,275x2
Shoulder Press: 80x8,80x6,80x5,80x5
Pullups bodyweight: x8,x8,x6,x6*
Incline Row: 90x10,135x8,160x6,160x6
Curl w/ez bar: 65x8,75x8,85x6,85x6
Skullcrushers: 65x8,75x8,85x7,85x6

Deadlifts: 315x4,315x3,315x5,315x8

cardio steady: elliptical 20 mins

*changed grip every set and focused on negative

Upperbody numbers a little low rep-wise. Can be attributed to lack of a good dinner the night before and breakfast in the morning. Deadlifts might be moved up in my rotation to reduce a fatigued lift. Numbers were also low for this lift as well. I would have liked to hit 385x4-5 today but for some reason that lift suffered the most. Although once I got my head out of my ass and focused I was able to pull it for 8 times at least on my last set.

Friday workout AM: cardio
Intervals on bike for 20 mins
extra cardio 20 mins
abs
Standing Situp: x10,x10,x8,8 15 secs rest
Decline situp: 25x8,25x6,25x6,26x6 15 secs rest
leg raises: x10,x8,x8,x8 10s rest

Saturday:
30 mins cardio

Sunday PM:
Squat,x6,x6,x4,x8
Leg Press: x8,x8,x8,x8
Unilateral leg press: x15,x15
Unilateral Leg ext superset: x8,x6,x4,x3
Prone Leg curl: x10,x10,x10,x10
calf raise: x12,x12,x12,x10
straight leg dl: x8,x8,x6,x8

alternating chest press: x5,x5,x5,x5

cardio: low intensity
10 min before workout
20 min after

weigh in: 235lb

lax day 45 min cardio. tests this week so will take easier approach when it comes to intensity of workouts

workout am:
warmup cardio: 10 min

bench press: 5x2
push press: 4x4
dumb bell Rows: 4x8
pullups: 4x6
curls: 4x8
dips:4x10
deadlift: 5x2,1x6

forgot my pad to write down the weight I used, but I tried to work heavier today b/c I’ve felt the need to work closer to my max to try and retain some of the muscle mass while still dieting.

Thursday:
45 min cardio
20 min of intervals on bike
standing sit ups: 5x10
decline sit ups(weighted): 5x7
leg raises: 4x8
Tried to keep rest interval at 30s or less.

Added fiber,BCAAs and fish oil as part of my supplement routine.

Friday off day

Saturday: legs

  1. squat: 315x6,365x4,405x2,365x3-315x4-225x6-135x7 (drop set)
    2a. Hack squat: 180x8,270x7,360x6,360x6
    2b. Unilateral leg press:180x8,180x8,230x8,230x8
  2. leg extension: 250x10,250x10,250x10,250x10
  3. leg curl: 200x10,200x10,200x10,200x10
  4. seated calves: 135x12,180x8,180x8,180x10
  5. DB straight leg DL: 110(55lbsx2)x6,120x6,130x6,140x4

Incline bench: 225x4,245x4,265x2,245x4

felt good today. the off day really helped out and felt pretty amped throughout my workout.

Sunday:
intervals on bike 25s and 10 s rest continuous for 21 mins.
steady state for 20 mins
abs:
standing crunches
4x10 15s rest in between
Leg raises:
4x8 15s rest in between
decline crunches:
5x6 20s rest weighted with 25 lbs
PM:
40 mins steady state

Monday:
body felt pretty drained and legs very sore that and a combo of no sleep led me to take this day took off as I’m seeing my weight loss plateau a bit (sorta expected after coming down from 260 so fast) used this day to sorta put more carbs in (albeit bad carbs). then i’m back on my normal routine tomorrow with chest
Sunday weight in 232lbs.

Tuesday:

  1. Bench:
    225x8
    245x6
    265x3
    275x1
    2a. Lat pulldowns supinated grip.
    210x8
    230x6
    210x8
    190x8
    2b. db rows
    70x12
    70x10
    70x10
    70x10
  2. push press
    135x6
    155x5
    185x4
    185x3
  3. dead lift
    315x2
    365x2
    385x2
    385x2
    405x2
    405x2
    5a. tricep pulldown
    x12
    x12
    x10
    x10
    5b. db curl
    40x8
    45x6
    45x6
    50x3-40x6

Notes: bench wasn’t there today #s going down. went in the PM to the gym to do some shoulder work/ delt work. Due to time I combined lat pulldown with db row and triceps with biceps. I usually would leave dead lift for last but I already had the bar loaded on the floor after push press so I went with that. DB rows I know I can do more; however, the max weight at school gym is 80 lbs and they were in use so I went with what was available, debating whether to load an ez bar and try rowing that way. For deadlifts I was reading the minimalist training w/ Dan John and intrigued me to follow the rule of 10 (10 reps) on the lift, and ya I know I did 12 reps total but I couldn’t help myself.

Sample of diet: not much has changed from weak to weak I added more vegetables today and made sure to add fiber in the morning.

Breakfast:
3 eggs
oatmeal
1 teaspoon fiber
BCAAs

Lunch:
potatoes mixed with green beans 1/2 cup
two turkey breasts
Protein shake
BCAAs

Dinner:
Same as lunch without BCAAs
banana

wednesday:
intervals on bike 40s then 10s rest for 20 mins.
gerbil wheel 35 mins (elliptical)

rope crunch:
4x12
leg lifts:
4x12
weight sit up:
5x8

thursday:
off

easy cardio day with abs thrown in. tomorrow will be an off day due to tests, hw that still isn’t finished and my night class which should get me rested for a friday session of legs. I figure for my leg session i’ll do hamstrings first and do a A/B combo of squats and leg extensions

Friday AM:Leg day
10 min warm up on bike
stretching

1.Snatch
20lbsx3,45x3,65x3,65x3,95x3,95x3,115x3,135x1,135x3
2. hamstring curl
190x8,205x8,235x8,235x8
3a. squat
315x8,315x7,315x8,315x6
3b. leg extension
190x10,250x10,250x10,250x10
4. leg press
630x8,720x8,810x4,810x6
5a. seated calf raise
135x12,135x12,135x12,160x10
5b. unilateral leg press
180x12,180x12,180x12,180x12
6. bench press
225x5,245x5,255x5,265x3,275x2
7. straigh leg DL with DB
130(total)x8,130x8,140x8,140x8

20 min bike cool down.

a long workout. I threw snatch in there b/c I have never done it before and was sort of practicing and hopefully down the road I can replace my bench press on this day with a heavy snatch. On this day I enjoy doing the a and b combination of exercises it makes the workout seem faster and makes me work harder as well. I did hamstrings first after reading some of John Meadows musings about it. It was a different feeling to do that first and I made sure I didn’t over do it.

Saturday PM
cardio interval 30 mins
Side bends:
4x10
rope crunch:
5x10
situp on decline:
4x8
leg raises:
4x8
cooldown 10 min cardio

Sunday: off day
weigh in=226lbs

Need to find a new place to workout, was told today no olympic lifts can be done in the gym. Apparently, doing things like deadlift, clean, push press can be a “hazard” and also ruin the floor. So because of this it is now banned from the weight room here at school. I’ve been doing deadlifts there for the past year so to come to me mid set and say I can’t do those anymore left me surprised and mad. Anywyas atleast I was almost done with deadlifts before they did that.

workout am:
1.incline bench
5x5
2a.pull up variations
5x6-8
2b.barbell rows
5x5
3. push press
5x5
4. deadlift
3x3
5. curls
5x6
6. dips
1x25

cardio: 40 mins

Tuesday:
40 mins cardio
Wednesday:
off
Thursday: legs
1a. squats
5x6
1b. hamstring curls
5x8
2a.leg press
5x8
2b. leg extension
5x8
3.alternating unilateral leg press.
5x10
4. seated calf raise
5x8
5. straight leg dead lift
3x5
6. bench
5x2

Busier week than usual at school is why my normal cardio days didn’t have abs or anything like that. Leg day i figured I try a little harder so I paired up most of my exercises with another or I reduced my rest time to under 30 seconds.