Starting at 30

Thu 3 Mar

Deadlift - 5/3/1 style - 70 / 80 / 90kg 3x3

Im not enjoying deadlifts like squats, feels difficult to pull off the floor. Not sure yet where the weakness is, 5/3/1 seems to give good rep ranges and targets though

Push Press - hp2 - 40 / 42 / 45kg 8x3 wave loading

Still feeling powerful, 45kg now beginning to feel fast, confident of progress to come. However shoulders beginning to hurt a bit, i suspect from mondays decline smith, i have reservations about the smith machine

Dips - 3x10
Chins - 9,3,4 These 2 alternated

Arm pump sets rope pushdowns and EZ curls mixed together nonstop, 3 sets each

Fantastic some good practical eating plans!

If anyone wants to post a good shaker recipe feel free please, I think variety is much lacking in what I eat

Tues 8th Mar

Chins - 5x4 - squat rack was in use, so did chins while waiting.

Squats - ramp to 87.5kg 4,4

Well now, i’m aiming for 3x5 here. last week was 5,4,4 at 85kg. Ive been doing squats every week since 13 dec last year. The problem wasnt just the top sets, even warmups felt over heavy, weights ive done 5x5 at. So i think a de-load is in order finally. Next week i’ll just rep something light

Incline db bench - 20kg x 10 22.5kg x 5

dropped the decline this week to see if they were causing last weeks shoulder pain. no pain so far which is good. Felt totally washed out by now so stopped workout.

So, not too sure on causes here. i’ve been diagnosed depression before, and been on ssri at the time. that was getting on 2 years ago now. However, from time to time a wave of depression will wash over me as it has last couple of nights, very litle sleep etc. been a while since last time, this might have thrown me off. Along with that appetite / diet as a reult has dipped, which wont have helped.

Plan - Get some sleep! still going to do 5/3/1 week 3 on thurs, and try and get the 11x3 hp3 workout in too. Other than that going to have an easier or higher rep week next week, back off a little, and restart progress from a touch lighter weight. I may also go 5/3/1 for squats too, we’ll see

Thur 10th Mar

Push Press - Ramp from 30kg to 55kg - NEW PR

Well had this up / down depression thing all week now, appetites at zero, as is sleep quality. So I knew as I walked in the gym I wouldnt last 11 sets for HP3. So I decided to ramp up, go for it, and if all of life is crap, at least I’d have a new PR. Failed at first attempt, but thought stuff it, psyced up again and blasted it up. It fought back, but up it went. One small victory is sweet…

Taking a week off, doing lighter stuff next week to tide me over, then pick up week after. Thats so long as sleeping and eating are back to where I want them

Anyone feeling negative or depressed?

5-HTP

Its a serotonin booster, i’ve been taking 100mg a day for the last week. Its pretty good. I’d got in a rut of feeling low / negative about most things. This has picked me up with no side effects at all. Boosted libido which had disappeared, much more so than tribulus terrestis. I assume thats from the feeling relaxed and positive. Also great for sleep and appetite, so all round good stuff. Taking the week offs been good too. So ready to start again…

Also a little something from Seal training, some pogression target schemes for push/sit/pullups, training 3-5 times a week.

push or situps
max…sets…reps…total
<40… 5-6… 10-15… 50-90
40-60… 4-5… 15-20… 60-100
60-80… 4-5… 20-25… 80-125
80-100… 3-4… 30-40… 90-160

100… 3-4… 40-50… 120-200

pullups
max… sets… reps… total
<6… 5-6… 2-3… 10-18
6-9… 4-5… 4-5… 16-25
10-12… 4-5… 5-6… 20-30
13-15… 3-4… 8-10… 24-40

15… 3-4… 10-12… 30-48

something to keep in mind for me, i’ll see how well it adds in

Mon 21st Mar Upper 1 chest

OK, week off out the way, and by the weekend i was itching to get stuck in again. Ive been doing my own program for 12-13 weeks now. To make a complete change, I’m going to start CTs push/hips 6x week program. I’m on holiday in 3 weeks but i can start a basis now.

Partial Bench (smith) - 10/15/20/25/30/35/40kg per side 7x3 - no power rack so kept the arm engaged on smith

Bench (smith) - 10/12.5/15/17.5/20kg per side 5x3 - stopped ramp as slowing and near to grinding

Push Press - 30/35/40/45kg 4x3

Incline DB Bench - 12/18/20/22.5/20kg db 4x6 working sets

Dips - BW/BW+5/BW/BW 4x6

Pec Dec - 10/15/20 for 15 and then 12 reps, final set 10 reps then worked down stack to 0 and exhaustion

Hopefully this is round about the way CT described. I’ve worked out the other 5 workouts for the rest of the week. Took an hour, and not as exhausting as i’d thought from reading the spill. Just have to see how this accumulates for the week. Once i’ve got used to this i’ll start adding the 5,8,11x3 waves perhaps.

Tue 22nd Mar Lower 1 legs

Rack Deadlift - 60/80/100/120kg 4x3

Deadlift - 60/65/70/75/80/85kg 6x3 suprised didnt go higher, try thursday again

High Pull - 30/35/40/45kg 4x3 new exercise feels a bit odd, hopefully more practice will help, hard to not clean instead of stop at pull position

Squat - 40/50/60/60kg 4x6 felt a bit weak after deads

Leg Press - 2/2.5/3 pps 3x6 even weaker, stopped there, was planning leg extns after

Still feels good from monday. sore in my shoulders today so will be interesting to see how they feel and perform tomorrow. Perhaps could have done with ramping rack deads with smaller jumps might have helped deads themselves.

Wed 23rd Mar Upper 2 shoulders

Partial Seated Press (smith) - 5/10/15/20/25/30kg side 6x3 35kg for 1 but grinding really so stopped

Push Press - 30/35/40/45kg 4x3 thinking of smaller jumps maybe

Bench (smith) 10/12.5/15/17.5kg side 4x3 weaker than last time, but 2nd in order as shoulder day

Out of time… events conspired against me. was going to skip workout and leave to tomorrow, but decided better to get in and do the main lifts at least. its a shame i was looking forward to DB presses, raises and facepulls. Sore in shoulders before, but less after. however lower back hurting today, so again have to see how that works out tomorrow

Thu 24th Mar - A fantastic day - Lower 2 back

Hang snatch - bar 3x5 new exercise done for feel

Deadlift - 60/65/70/75/80/85/90/95/100/105kg 10x3 going well
singles 110/115/120/125/130kg 5x1 no belt
singles 135/140kg with belt - NEW PR get in!

didnt know how deads would go today, had a sore lower back all of yesterday and today as well. at work this morning i couldnt keep my legs still though, i was itching to do something. previous PR with poor form was 120kg, havent got near to that for ages. Today felt great so went for it, and got it, good lower back throughout. in fact back didnt let me down, it was my legs shaking that limited things.

High Pull - 30/35/40/45/50kg 5x3 still feeling this one out, havent got my head round it yet

CT triangle pulldown - 30kg 3x8 for feel, slow, pause and hold

Seated Cable Row - 30/25/25kg 3xfeel

High Pulley pullovers - 15/20/25kg 3xfeel

Took an hour just deadlifting, getting on 2 hours total workout. Not rushed today though as after work not before. Not rushing and lower ramp steps seems to be key

Fri 25th Mar Upper 3 tris

One Arm DB Hang Clean Press - 10/12/14/16/18kg 5x3 new exercise

Push Press - 30/35/37.5/40/42.5/45/47.5kg 7x3 shoulders sore by the end, possibly pulled it a bit on empty bar warm ups

Bench (smith) - 5/7.5/10/12.5/15/17.5/20kg side 7x3 again shoulders niggling but better than weds

CGBP (smith) - 10kg side 4x6 trying these again cant always feel tris working

dips - missed these out as shoulders hurting

Rope pressdowns - 20/25/30kg x 15/12/8 always good at pumping / burning the tris

Wore a belt for push pressing for the first time, lower back feeling fairy beeten from yesterday so thought i’d protect it. Not bad overall considering effort of yesterday

Mon 28th Mar - Lower 3 traps and bis

I was planning on doing this workout on saturday but couldnt fit it in, so just going to carry on with the workout rotations on different days

Hang Clean - 30/35/40/45kg - 4x3 got everything warmed up nicely

Deadlift - 60/65/70/75/80/85/90/95/100kg 9x3 no straps
105/110/115/120kg 4x3 straps
125kg single - stopped here, just wanted to do max non grinding triples, not another run of singles

High Pull - 30/35/40/45/50kg 5x3 beginning to feel more natural

Shrugs - 10/20/30/40/45kg per side 5x6 this is on some iso bench with lever arms, very handy for shrugs

Preacher curls 5/7.5/10kg pr end 10/6/5 - dont know what the EZ oly bar weighs

Pinwheel DB curls - 10/12/14kg 3x10

Tue 29th Mar - Upper 1 chest

Partial smith bench - 10/15/20/25/30/25kg per side 6x3

smith bench - 10/12.5/15/17.5/20/22.5kg per side 6x3 2.5kg per side heavier than last time

push press - 30/35/40/45kg 4x3 shoulders sore

incline db bench - 10/16/18/20/22.5kg 4x6 not so great today

dips - dropped as shoulders really hurting

pec dec - 15/20/15 3 sets failure

bit of a mixed result really, felt mostly strong, happy with atouch more on flat bench, trying to push myelf into the bench as described on this site, sometimes tricky to think that on the top set. no lower back soreness from yesterday though, must be adapting to more frequent deads

Wed 30th Mar Lower 1 legs

Partial Deadlift - 60/70/80/90/100/110/120/130kg 8x3

Deadlifts - 60/65/70/75/80/85/90/100kg 8x3 not much energy today

High Pulls - 30/35/40/45/50kg 5x3 finally starting to click, much more power by going onto tiptoe

Squats - missed - lower back was sore throughout previous unusually, only during workout not before

Leg Press - 2/3/4 pps 3x6

Sat 2nd Apr 2010 Upper 2 shoulder

Shame i missed last 2 days… life gets that way sometimes ran out of time all round

Clean + Push Press - done with one hang clean then set of 3 presses

20/30/35/40/45/47.5/50kg 7x3
52.5/55kg singles NEW PR
57.5kg 2 failed attempts at clean

Thats all i had time for today

Interesting, pressing has been the same for all previous workouts, yet with a clean start i easily equaled a previous PR, and if only i could have cleaned 57.5 properly i felt like i could have pressed it. I normally take the bar out the squat rack. Im going to have to include this more often, or even all the time

Mon 4th Apr

Ok ive only got 4 days this week and then a week holiday so just doing what i can before going. I wanted to see if i could better saturday

Clean + Push Press 20/30/35/40/45kg 5x3

Push Press 47.5/50/52.5/55kg 4x1 failed at 57.5 which would have been a new weight

Shoulders felt tired, the singles on saturday must have taken more out of me than i thought. A learning experience!

Thu 7th Apr

Still been getting ready for holiday but got a session in today

Deadlift - 60/65/70/75/80/85/90/95/100 9x3

110/120/130/130kg singles

Felt pretty strong on these than last time i got a PR, but stopped a bit short of all out PR effort. I think i’ve got to back off going all out to a max single so often. My enthusiasm is perhaps overrunning my recovery. Since doing a few singles ive been feeling fairly beaten up on joints and shoulders

A possible 6x week plan as a bit of a change might be to do things 2x week instead of 3x, so:

Mon - Squat, leg press, sldl, abs
Tue - Push press, db bench, shrugs, facepulls
Wed - Bent row, pulldowns, curls
Thu - Deadlift, leg press, back extn, abs
Fri - Bench, db press, dips, pushdowns
Sat - Pullups, db rows, curls

first exercise triples, others progressively more reps to suit each day. Just considering it, might decide to push on with CT push/hips 6x split and stop doing the singles!

Mon 18th Apr

OK back off holiday and ready to go again. I’m going to again try to do 6x week as much as possible, with squats/bench/row/dead/press/pullups as listed before

legs 1 - squat

Box Squat - 40/60/70/80/85/90/95/100/105kg 9x3
singles 110/115kg NEW PR

first time with box squats, and squats with a belt. I always believed before in “training the core” with no belt. well, i think i’ve been in error. abs still feel used, and confidence of belt+bench to squat to is incredible. 15kg better than my last shaky attempt of dubious depth. Very happy. Unfortunatley no time for the planned leg press and stiff leg deadlift.

new powerlift total of all time bests is 102.5/115/140 = 357.5kg or 786.5lbs

Tue 19th Apr

Push 1

Push press - 30/35/40/45/50kg 5x3
singles - 55/57.5/60kg NEW PR mind you it took two attempts and was a little shaky. only 5kg more to hit BW

Lever shrugs - 10/20/30/40kg per arm 4x6

Incline DB press - 14/16/18/20kg 4x6

Cable facepulls - 15/20/25 3x6

Overall very pleased, specially the new press pr, thats been a while coming, previous best was 55kg

Thu 21st Apr

Ok rested yesterday as legs still very sore from monday, but mainly as i tweaked my back with a press that wobbled on tuesday. Tomorrow is a 4 day weekend and gyms closed most of it, so a combo day today

Deadlift - 60/70/80/90/100/110kg 6x3
singles 120/130kg attempted 140kg but was welded to the floor

Decline Smith bench - 5/7.5/10/12.5/15/17.5/20/22.5/25kg side 9x3 27.5kg x 2, 30kg x 1, 32.5kg failed

benching a lot stronger than before by 10kg a side. possibly goes hand in hand with push press improvements. all in all a good day