Saturday:
Weight:
10/11/08 - 203.3 lbs - start
10/18/08 - 208.8 lbs - + 5.5 lbs
10/25/08 - 210.4 lbs - + 1.6 lbs
11/01/08 - 211.4 lbs - + 1.0 lbs
Waist:
10/11/08 - 94cm - start (37 inches)
10/18/08 - 94cm - no change
10/25/08 - 94cm - no change
11/01/08 - 94.5cm + 0.5cm
Saturday: Back.
Didn’t change the order of exercises this week.
A. Deadlifts. 3x5, 2 mins rest
This sucked. Going out the night before really had its effect on my deadlift. I didn’t get a great nights sleep.
B. Chin ups. 5x3 2 mins rest.
This was much better this week. Probably due to the shorter deadlift seesion.
C. Lat Pulldowns. 3x10 2mins rest.
Added 5kg to this. Rest-paused the last set.
D. Close grip Cable row. 5x10 2 mins rest.
Added 5kg. This could increase next week too.
E. Wide grip barbell rows. 5x10 1 mins 30 rest.
This is ok, but I’m thinking of replacing it with the inverted row. I don’t think I’m contracting as well as I could and momentum is also playing its part.
F. Straight arm pulldowns. 10x10 1 mins rest.
I added 2.5kg for the first five sets and dropped to last weeks for the last five.
Cardio: 20 mins incline treadmill walking
Goal compliance week ending 11/01/08:
Training.
A. Changed the order of exercises on two sessions. Done.
B. Added weight to 9 out of 17 exercises. Done.
C. Added low intensity cardio. Done.
Nutrition.
A. Added a handful of nuts as an afternoon snack to up calories. Done.
B. Taking probiotic twice a day, and chewing more thorougly to improve digestion.
Recovery.
A. Add cardio. Done.
B. Massage: Remembered that I was once ‘persuaded’ at the London Marathon Expo to buy ‘The Stick’. It really does work. Just hardly ever used it. Time to make a habit out of it. http://www.thestick.com/index.cfm
This weeks goals:
A. Add two moderate weight sets of either a squat or deadlift to each workout. eg Mon: Squat, Tues: Deadlift, Thurs: Squat, Sat: Deadlift.(Sat: two instead of four.)
B. Add weight to what seemed easy last week.
C. Add a rep to each set on exercises where I have not increased the weight.
Nutrition.
A. Increase the prebed casein to 80 grams. A new batch should arrive tomorrow
B. Ensure I take fish oil daily. I’ve been slacking.
C. Create public nutrition log. I’ll be less hesitant to cheat and I’ll analyse it more closely. It’ll be quite easy, and quite boring. I eat the same things almost every weekday, except for evening meal. 90% compliance is the goal.
Recovery.
A. Sleep a little earlier each night as Tuesday night will be disrupted. (Following US elections in the UK. 5 hours behing EST. Once every four years etc.)
B. Massage daily with ‘The Stick.’ That sounds so wrong. I better put the link again. http://www.thestick.com/
Your log is pretty detailed, which is a good thing, but personally I lose motivation when I write down EVERYTHING. Mainly talking about diet logs and such.
Workouts seem pretty good, if I were you, Id add shrugs on shoulder day. It doesnt seem like youre doing them anywhere else (i could have missed it), Personally would lift a bit heavier. When I’m training a specific bodypart, I find that adding in a set of 3-5 reps, followed by lifts in the 8-12 range really works for me.
You seem to kmnow what youre doing, those are just some sugestions, im a little incoherent at the momemtn
Monday: Chest.
A. Wide grip bench press. 4x10 2mins rest.
Added 2.5kg and a set to this this week. I hit three and I thought I’d do another. I could increase this again next week
A. Incline bench press. 3x10 2mins rest.
Added 2.5kg to this. Had to rest-pause from the second set. Not a bad thing. Shows I’m pushing myself to the limit.
C. 4x10 superset heavy dumbbell presses and lighter dumbbell presses. (10kg lighter). 2 mins rest.
This is always hard. I’m going to alter this slightly next week. Increase the weight of heavy dumbbells and do 5 reps, followed by lighter dumbbells for 10 reps. Lets see how this goes. (Thanks Defekt!)
No Pec-dec flyes this week. Bah. My chest felt well fatigued.
D. Deadlifts 2x5. 3 mins rest.
Moderate weight. 8 rep max weight. I wanted to introduce a total body movement that would be stimulating but not fatiguing. I’ll increase it by 2.5kg per session. After a while if it looks like it’s getting heavy. I’ll decrease the weight to were I started and add a set.
Cardio. 20mins incline treadmill walking to help with recovery.
[quote]Defekt wrote:
Your log is pretty detailed, which is a good thing, but personally I lose motivation when I write down EVERYTHING. Mainly talking about diet logs and such.[/quote]
It seems a bit of a drag, but I reckon a nutrition log is just as important as a training log. I don’t want to be training for four weeks and see no progress. If I’m not improving in some way on my previous workout, then there’s something wrong with nutrition and recovery the week in between workouts. Without having that noted down, even in just a simple way, I wont know where I’m going wrong.
[quote]
I find that adding in a set of 3-5 reps, followed by lifts in the 8-12 range really works for me.[/quote]
I’ll give this a go on some workouts. I’m going to mix up a few of the set-rep ranges next week. Thanks for the input.
Tuesday: Shoulders
Well it didn’t happen this week. I was up all night following election coverage, and I wouldn’t have gotten enough sleep to recover properly.
Wednesday: Arms
I was pretty tired as I was up all night and had been working all day. Skipped scheduled deadlift and cardio as a result. Just did arms.
A. Straight Bar Cable Curl 5x11, 2 mins rest.
Added an extra rep on this.
B Close Grip Bench Press, 5x10, 2 mins rest.
Increased this by 2.5kg. Rest paused the last two sets.
C. Hammer Cable Curl, 4x10, 2 mins rest.
Kept the same weight. This was much easier than last week.
D. Barbell Extension 4x10, 2 mins rest.
Increased the weight by 2.5kg. Quite tired by the fourth set so I dropped one this week.
Saturday:
Weight:
10/11/08 - 203.3 lbs - start
10/18/08 - 208.8 lbs - + 5.5 lbs
10/25/08 - 210.4 lbs - + 1.6 lbs
11/01/08 - 211.4 lbs - + 1.0 lbs
11/08/08 - 214.2 lbs - + 2.8 lbs
Possible reason for large increase: Intestines are carrying more weight and less training.
Waist:
10/11/08 - 94cm - start (37 inches)
10/18/08 - 94cm - no change
10/25/08 - 94cm - no change
11/01/08 - 94.5cm + 0.5cm
11/08/08 - 95.5cm + 1cm
Possible reasons for increase. As above.
Saturday: Back.
Bah. Another late post.
A. Deadlifts. 2x5, 2 mins rest
I’ll be doing this twice a week so, I’m keeping the volume low. I’ll increase it by 5 kg each time. I’m nowhere near five rep max.
B. Chin ups. 5x3 2 mins rest.
Kept this the same.
C. Lat Pulldowns. 3x5 2mins rest.
Changed the rep range. Increased the weight, could probably do it again next session.
D. Close grip Cable row. 5x10 2 mins rest.
Added another 5kg.
E. Wide grip barbell rows. 5x8 1 mins 30 rest.
Changed the rep range and concentrated on contracting better.
F. Straight arm pulldowns. 10x10 1 mins rest.
Same as last week.
Keeping the logs short and sweet at the moment so I dont lose motivation to keep writing.
Monday: Chest.
A. Wide grip bench press. 4x10 2mins rest.
Added another 2.5kg and could again next week
B. Incline bench press. 3x8 2mins rest.
Changed the rep range, kept the weight the same. Was still hard.
C. 4x5 heavy dumbbell presses and supersetted with 4x10 lighter dumbbell presses. 2 mins rest.
Could increase the heavy dumbells next week.
D. Back squat 3x15. 1 min rest.
This was more like an HIIT session, which is what I wanted. I tried a fourth but after a few reps I was lightheaded, so I stopped.
Cardio: None because of the squats.