Semi Committed, Semi Beginner, Semi Everything

Training Logs
1

23 yrs old 110kg (240ish) bw 195cm (6’5) ht.

Currently lifting because I like doing it more than cardio or anything else in the gym. Trying to incorporate some cleans (squat) into a hectic and inconsistent routine. 2 years ago I was quite a bit stronger than I am now, looking to getting up there without gaining weight, got up to 275 (125kg) and that was too big.
Current Maxes vs. Previous Maxes
Max Deadlift 180kg 220kg Update 4/8/2012 200kg
Squat BS ATG 135kg 165kg 145kg
Squat FS ATG 115kg 125kg 130kg
Bench 140kg 147kg 140kg
Clean (squat) 100kg No longer maxing on these.
***Overhead press 4/6/2012 75kg
Today went something like this.
Bar work for cleans, to get technique.
40kg FS Loosening up
40kg Clean 2x2
50kg Clean 3x2
70kg Clean 2x2
75kg 1x4
80kg 1x2
85kg 1x1
90kg 1x0
90kg 1x1
Not too bad, didn’t get to my limit, really need to do more lightweight work to get better technique, mine blowssss.

Took 10kg off each side to drop it to 70kg hang cleaned it into the rack and started doing BS.
70kg x5
80kg x5
90kg x3
100kg x3
105kg x2
110kg x2
120kg x1
125kg x1
130kg x1
135kg x0
105kg 3x3
115kg 2x2
120kg x1
130kg x0

Then I did FS at 80kg x 4 for good measure.
15min bike
Curls
Stretching.

The second time I have squatted in 3 days, felt good. Also the 2nd time I have squatted in 3 months and about the 6th time in the last 2 years.

Goals by June
165kg BS
220kg DL
150kg FS
150kg BP
125kg Clean

This is mostly for me so I actually pay attention to what i am doing and to help keep me consistent. Any input is appreciated though thanks!

Alex

2

Back in the gym today, drank too much cheap wine yesterday (any amount of cheap wine is too much but still), ate like shit and woke up slightly hungover. Worked six hours and was dead but went to the gym anyway.

My piece of shit cheap gym in Sweden has one bench press and one squat rack. Currently the bench press’ head portion is missing (not sure why there are 3 parts to a bench’s bench anyway) so they are going to fix that, soon, hopefully. Decided to do more squats.

BS
BW/Bar work.
50kg 3x5
60kg 1x5
70kg 1x5
90kg 1x5
100 1x4
110 3x2
115 3x2
90kg 1x4

Decided to do some weird variation of the Russian system’s first day today, kind of off the wall but it was tough and felt good at the same time.
DL
90kg 1x5
100kg 1x5
120kg 1x5
140kg 1x5

15 min on the bike

Biceps, seated and standing iso curls from 12.5kg to 20kg, random variations.

Push Press (rarely do these)
30kg 1x10
40kg 3x10

Pretty solid day. 3rd time squatting since Wednesday and still felt good. Am trying to keep my hands closer to my shoulders to give the bar a better base to sit on, my left elbow kinda hurts though.
Is this a side effect of having the hands to close or is it just random?

Alex

3

Bench day.

Felt good mentally, physically as soon as I touched the bar I felt weak.
Did a few reps at 40kgs (2x10) and 50kgs (1x5) on incline to start since the bench was being used.

Jumped on the bench.
60kg 1x8 (shoulder feeling a little funny)
90kg 1x5
100kg 3x5 (shoulder feels weak little pain)
105kg 3x4 (same)
110kg 3x3
115kg 2x2 (shoulder weak and still hurting, pain moves into the elbow, just a nagging pain though)
120kg 1x3 (barely got these up)

Working out at my gym is pissing me off, 1 bench press and like 60 people in the gym without enough equipment. I was lucky to get on it but in about 20mins i had 4 people ask me “Har du mycket kvar?” Do you have a lot left? Shit drives me crazy. Was going to go up to 130, not sure I would have got it but i would have had to leave the bench and search all over the gym for the weights, so i just did 120 3 times instead of one. Whatever. Did some machine flys and tricep pressdowns and light shoulder press to try and help my left arm, kinda worked. Then did 10 min of cardio. Thinking I am going to start going to higher reps, my current goal is to increase my squat, I am relatively content with my bench for now so i am going to take it down to 1 heavy day and one high rep day a week i think. Overall, mediocre workout but a decent bench session in at least.

The good news is that I have hit the gym hard 5 of the last 6 days and still feel pretty good overall, the shoulder isn’t bothering me right now and I am not benching again till Thursday or Friday at the earliest so it should recover. Not sure if I will have time tomorrow. Working, looking at a new apt and going to school but I am going to try and do some front squats and cleans with maybe a little extra back work.
My legs are a little sore and so is my lower back from yesterdays workout, but its all good sore. 165 is going down on squat before june (hopefully it comes back up too).

Alex

4

Bailed on school today, who the hell really needs to learn Swedish anyway?
Gameplan was to front squat and clean, got to the gym and somebody was using the squat rack (yes, just one) but it magically freed up as soon as i started to grab another bar to do cleans. Awesome.
Also, drank a strong cup of coffee and had a coke zero right before lifting so had some energy.

FS
3x5 50kg
1x5 70kg
1x5 75kg
1x3 90kg
1x2 100kg
1x1 110
1x1 115
1x1 120kg (biggest front squat in a couple of years, still needs a ton of work but progress is good)
3x5 70kg

Seated row, lat pulldown, biceps

Cleans
Barwork for about 5 (was loose from squats)
50kg 2x3 Wrist, shoulder and elbow hurt on left side. Fuck.
Back to barwork to get the catch down about 40 reps.
50kg 3x2
60kg 3x2
70kg 2x2

Not particularly hard, just a matter of practicing form.
DL and possibly BS manana

5

Also, bought weightlifting shoes hopefully will be here in a few days.

6

Good start to the day bought 2 packs of gum, a lo carb monster and 500grams of cottage cheese before the gym. Cost 69 SEK (10 dollars) but the 69 made me happy.

Got to the gym, squat rack taken, of course.
Started with push press, trying to build shoulder muscles.

Bar work
30kg 2x10
40kg 1x5
60kg 1x3 3x5. Power cleaned all of them into position

Felt good, squat rack opened (only place to deadlift as well), douche left his weights on the bar.

Stretched
50kg 2x5 (1 set sumo) (stiff and my running shoes make it so hard to get into the right position, so went barefoot)
80kg 2x5 (1 set sumo) (barefoot was much better)
120kg 3x3 (no sumo) These felt exceptionally heavy, i hate deadlifting
140kg 2x2 (arghhhh)
150kg 1x1 (got it, was tougher than it should have been but not too bad)
170kg 1x1 (20kg weight jump not too bad, felt as easy as 150)
190kg 1x0, 1x0 (First attempt the bar got 1cm off the ground, 2nd about 8cm, not even close, work to do)
120kg 2x3.

15min on the elliptical type machine, its not actually an elliptical the motion is flatter don’t know what its called (192cals, with no age or weight entry)

Back extensions 2x10 and stretching, just moving the lower back muscles to try and avoid soreness
50 situps, haven’t done abs more than 5 times in the last year, going to try and start

15 min on the bike, with a back rest, 175 cals (weight entered)

Solid workout, deads were okay form was pretty good without shoes, ate some cottage cheese then showered, put the cottage cheese back in my locker and when i opened the locker it fell and a bunch fell all over the floor fml.

No workouts planned next two days, working a lot will try on Friday though.

7

2 nights ago couldn’t sleep was achy everywhere worked 8 hours even though i have the flu (cold/fever). Just laying in bed today, fing miserable. This is how I feel.

8

SOB why aren’t you updating?

9

I tried to type my workout in and it didn’t go through, last attempt!
All versions are shorter and more summarized than the last haha
Coming back from a nasty cold

BS
60kg 3x5
80kg 1x5
90kg 1x3
100kg 1x2
110 1x1
120 1x1
130 1x1
135 1x0
90kg 5x3
100kg 1x3

Looking to increase volume to 30 plus reps in the 2/3 or higher range, did 26 today. See how it goes.

FS
60kg 3x5 (for fun?)

Leg extensions and curls (quads and hammies) then leg press working on the lower and middle sticking points of my squat.

15min on the bike

Curls
3x7 15kg Iso/Hammer
1x5 15kg Elbow in the thigh style
many 10kg Quick hammers and full and then a few super slow iso ones at this weight too.

Manana bankpress (benchpress) going high reps around the 6-8 range (high for me), triceps and shoulders (push press). Felt good to be back today, feeling like I am losing fat and not gaining strength super quickly, previously I have just eaten the kitchen when lifting, now i am trying to control it a little more. See how it goes for a few healthy weeks before I make any changes.

10

Took another 2 days off, still sick, need to take care of myself better. My 6 month contract at my job is coming to an end and i am not staying, fucking need to find another shit job. So that will happen in 2 weeks or so but in the mean time its gym time. Got my Weightlifting shoes yesterday so was excited about those, they fit perfectly, was worried they might be a bit too small.

BS (coughing my lungs out the entire time.)
2x5 50kg
2x5 70kg
1x5 90kg
1x3 95kg
1x2 100kg
1x1 110kg
1x1 120kg
1x1 125kg
1x1 130kg
1x1 135kg (finally hit this again, a true grinder but stood up anyway)
1x5 70kg

FS
1x5 70kg

Felt like shit physically could barely breath and had no energy, i have the Swedish death cold apparently. I almost forgot, prior to squatting, I benched a little because the squat rack was taken.

BP
1x10 50kg
1x10 70kg
2x7 90kg

Squats (see above)

BP (again after squats)
3x10 80kg

Rotator cuff work, left shoulder and elbow hurt from squatting (moving my hands closer to my shoulders.

Military Press/Push Press
1x10 30kg
2x10 40kg (first 7 mp, first 6 mp)
2x5 60kg (first 2 mp, first 1 mp)

Bike 5 min.

Felt like I was going to die, no energy and ill, so i showered and left.
Pretty happy with the lifting despite how i felt. Realized that I hadn’t eaten enough before my lifting and had 0 caffeine or other energy boosts either, big part of the problem.
Went home and ate a ton, well not quite.
3 pieces of bread with cottage cheese (300-400g) and 10 cherry tomatoes. 1 banana. 2 fried eggs and 1 piece of bread. And a snickers bar, directly after the gym (whoops).

Tomorrow, work and DL/back workouts. Going to try and go up to 130kg and keep them all quick. Going to try and throw cleans in there too to get FS worked and overall speed and power upped.

11

Lastnights workout didn’t update

Cleans
BW
2x5 50kg
2x3 70kg
1x2 80kg
2x1 90kg
2x0 100kg

Not very smooth on these

DL
1x5 100kg
4x3 130kg
1x5 130kg

Felt great, quick and powerful.

Barbell rows
3x5 70kg

Lat pulldown, high rep low weight
Seated row, same

Biceps
Seated concentration curls 4x10 10kg

15min cardio, funny walking machine

Preacher ez bar curls
2x5 inner grip
1x5 outer grip

all with 35 (or maybe 40) kilos

10 min bike, 2 min HI, 2 min normal, 2 min Hi…

Good overall workout, not great for the cleans and not enough volume for deads or cleans but whatever. Still kind of sick after 9 or 10 days but keeping on.

IF i have time/energy squats tonight.

12

Had time/energy.

BS
bw-really stiff coming in even though i had been on my feet for 7 hours already.
50kg 1x10, 1x5
60kg 1x5
80kg 1x5
90kg 1x3
100kg 1x2
110kg 1x1
120kg 1x1
130kg 1x1
135kg 1x1 (much easier this time)
140kg 1x0
90kg 5x3
105kg 5x2
120kg 3x1
125kg 1x1
137.5 1x0

Lot of “back off” volume, which is what i am shooting for. Goal was exactly what i did except 5x1 @ 120kg but decided to push it. Ended up doing 29 and a half reps after trying my max, all at least at 2/3 of my max. in all 34 reps at 2/3 or higher, really pleased, felt great. Problem was it took at least 45 minutes to do all of this.

After 20min bike

100reps weighted crunch machine, not sure it works at all but i like it anyway.

Tomorrow bench press, shoulders and tris.

Getting stronger and getting better form every workout. Progress.

13

Didn’t work out yesterday, was pretty sore and beat so I took the day off. Went back in today. Planning on benching as my main activity but the squat rack was open!

BS
warmup
50kg 4x5 (stiiiiiiiiiiiifffff)
70kg 1x5, 1x3
90kg 1x5
100kg 4x3
120kg 1x3

Ended there, legs were still feeling it from saturday when I started but ended up feeling pretty nice.

Bench- Bench was being used. Went to dumbells.
22.5kg 2x10 (45kg total)
27.5kg 1x10
35kg 2x10

Bench freed up
Close grip bench (triceps)
2x10 50kg
4x5 70kg

Thinking about trying a 2 or 3 day a week bench program.

Military Press
3x5 42kg
4x5 47kg
Have decided that I like these and am going to start incorporating them into the routine.
Rotator cuff work.

15 min(ish) bike (150cal)
10min funny walking machine (elliptical thing) 170 plus.

Overall, not a huge amount of volume or intensity on either of the main workouts but both felt solid and worked. Am recovering really quickly right now so going tomorrow as well, back back back workouts.

Deadlifts tomorrow going to try and work up to 140ish fast triples.

14

Meh workout today, did it quickly and it sucked.

Cleans
50kg 2x5
70kg 3x2
80kg 2x2
85kg 1x2 (then failed on a few, got another and then power cleaned one) My form went to shit, no idea why but I just quit, didn’t have a lot of time to waste.

DL
85kg 1x5
100kg 5x5 (all fast and explosive, one set Sumo) Wasn’t feeling it today and needed to get home.

Curls
10kg and 12.5 quite a few reps.

Weak workout, my left elbow is bothering me pretty consistently going to stop the cleans for a little bit and go wider on my grip on squats to try and help my shoulder/elbow.

Tomorrow I am off so I am going to hit the squat rack, hard. So hard.

15

Lower back sore from DL’s yesterday. Decided to do FS’s and Bench or maybe just bench, didn’t work out that way. Squat rack was open.

FS
2x5 50kg
2x5 70kg
1x3 80kg
1x3 90kg
1x2 100kg
1x1 110kg
1x1 120kg
1x0 130kg (should’ve had this, lost mental focus because the bitch working there decided to mop the area I was squatting so i had to weight like 5 min for the floor to dry)
2x3 70kg
2x1 100kg
1x1 110kg
1x1 120kg
1x0 125kg (barely, barely missed this, gah)

Decided to just do a few BS just to maintain consistency and strength.

BS
2x5 70kg
1x2 100kg
4x2 110kg
1x1 120kg
1x1 130kg
1x0 135kg (close but I was exhausted by the time I had gotten to this point)

Was pretty wrecked overall but decided to do a little maintenance benching

BP
60kg 2x10
100kg 3x5 (Pretty easy, weight felt heavy but went up just fine. Was mixing up the grip a little started narrower and moved it around every set.)

Incline BP
50kg 5x10 (just to work the shoulders and keep my body used to the motion.)

10 min cardio.

Overall pretty solid squat day and good enough on bench to maintain strength i think. Happy Happy. Going to do some upper back work tomorrow and a bunch of cardio and possibly some abs. Thinking about taking some pictures then comparing them a few months down the road. Also need to film my squatting and dl to make sure my form is on.

16

So went drinkin thursday instead of lifting and was hungover as balls friday, then worked saturday. fail, fail fail.

Squatted today.

BS
50kg 2x5
80kg 2x3
100kg 1x3
110kg 2x1
120kg 1x1
130kg 1x1 (terrible form)
140kg 1x1 (woo, got it, was a long long lift but I am happy about it)
110kg 3x2
120kg 3x1

FS
80kg 2x3

Curls
15kg sets of 5 not sure how many though.

15 min of cardio Kept it pretty intense esp for the last ten min.

Not sure what the plan is for tomorrow, BP or DL. See how i feel.

17

Quick workout, had to get home for dinner.

BP instead of DL, saving those for tomorrow.

BP
2x10 60kg
2x5 90kg
1x5 100kg
1x2 105kg
1x2 110kg
1x1 115kg
1x1 130kg (felt pretty good)
1x0 135kg (fail, didn’t give myself enough rest between sets, whatever, no i couldve had it anyway)
3x5 100kg

Incline Dumbell Bench
1x10 22.5kg (45total)
1x10 30kg
1x5 35kg

Military Press
7x5 42kg
1x3 62kg (push pressed these)

Went home after this, was planning on doing more but needed to leave.

Bench felt solid for the first heavy day in about 3 weeks with only minimal amounts of work. Will try to hit it again on Thursday. Something like a 54321.

18

Shaved my one month plus old beard today, it was filthy, think I might lose strength because of it.

Cleans (full squat)
50kg 2x5
70kg 3x2
80kg 2x2
90kg 3x1
95kg 1x1

Got under these well, best cleans i have ever done really, just wish i had a weightlifting place so i could actually drop the weights instead of having 200lbs rip my shoulders out of their sockets while trying to put it down.

DL
90kg x5
140kg 8x1 (tried to keep em quick, not particularly effectively. My off the ground ability is atrocious sooo.
90kg1x5 snatch grip
90kg2x5 Standing on a 25kg plate
90kg1x8 on plate again.

All of those were pretty fast, need to definitely clean and dl more. Or just workout more.

Seated row sets of 10 with wide grip and close grip 70 total reps.

Curls seated then standing with 17.5kg in each hand.

Showered and shaved. Squats tomorrow hopefully.

19

Got drunk last night about 4 liters of beer and 7 shots of jager instead of working out. Whoops.

Decided to go to the gym despite the hangover though.

Cleans
Bar cleans and FS
42kg 3x3 Decided to randomly do 10 military presses in the middle of these.
50kg 3x3
70kg 2x2
80kg 2x1
90kg 2x1
100kg 2x0

Hang Cleans
80kg 1x3.

2nd part of my pull sucks, shouldve had 100 though, not sure why i cant get that again.

FS
50 2x5
80 2x3

Hangover kicking me in the balls, lungs and legs at this point. Switched to BS

BS
80kg 1x5
90kg 1x3
100kg 1x2
110kg 1x1
120kg 1x1
130kg 1x1
135kg 1x0
80kg 1x3
100kg 1x2
115kg 2x2
120kg 1x1
125kg 1x1

Stopped there, every single lift was a battle here. Impressed that I got this much volume and weight in hungover.

Curls
Preacher (30kg total) 5x5
12.5 dumbell curls 2x10

10minish on the bike 5kilometers 200cals.

Solid hungover workout, problem is i am probably going to be drinking for the next few days. Diet was never my strong point anywho.

20

Didn’t lift yesterday, hangedover as predicted! Took an hour plus long walk today, played indoor soccer for 50 minutes and after soccer, at 1015pm decided I should hit the gym. Really felt like deadlifting which happens less often then my birthdays. I have had 23 birthdays and 4 days where I wanted to deadlift haha.

DL.
BW
70kg 2x5
110kg 1x5
140kg 1x1
160kg 1x1 (straps used, first time ever, wow they help.)
180kg 1x1
200kg 1x1 20kg growth on my recent PR, straps definitely help but I am psyched anyway.
140kg 1x1 10second hold at top, grip strength. I then racked it and picked it up for 10 seconds more.

Lat pulldown (close grip)
50kg 1x5
60kg 1x10
65kg 1x10
70kg 1x10

Psyched about the PR, shocked how much the straps helped, am going to try and avoid using them and work with grip strength more.

It has been almost exactly a month since I posted and my new PB’s in the big three are:
140kg bench (stayed the same, just maintenance work there am not disappointed at all)
140kg squat (plus 5kg at least, honestly think 135 was a stretch when i put there but 5kg is 5kgs)
200kg DL (plus 20kg, with straps)

25kg (55lbs) in one month more or less. Obviously this growth won’t stay linear for long but I would love another few months of 25kg gains and i don’t see any reason why next month can’t be one of them.

Same on Cleans, still suck here
Plus 5kg Front squat, think ill hit 125kg easy next FS session though.