Torn Between Scylla and Charybdis

[quote]spar4tee wrote:

[quote]trivium wrote:

[quote]spar4tee wrote:
What do you study, Trivia?[/quote]

I am a physician assistant major. I am done with the professional/didactic phase of my training, and now I am waiting to start my first rotation. It is general surgery, and starts on July 28th. =][/quote]
sweet[/quote]

Thanks for takin an interest man. Feel free to comment on any of my posts, I always like getting feedback, advice, etc.

[quote]trivium wrote:

[quote]spar4tee wrote:

[quote]trivium wrote:

[quote]spar4tee wrote:
What do you study, Trivia?[/quote]

I am a physician assistant major. I am done with the professional/didactic phase of my training, and now I am waiting to start my first rotation. It is general surgery, and starts on July 28th. =][/quote]
sweet[/quote]

Thanks for takin an interest man. Feel free to comment on any of my posts, I always like getting feedback, advice, etc.[/quote]
Sure, man. Everything looks good to me so far.

Couldn’t get the stuff to do the full agile 8, so I made up my own stuff based on the anatomy that I know. All were done with a nice 5 second pause at the farthest point I can go. No bouncing.

Touch toes x 5 reps
Quad stretch with purple band held for x 5 reps
Standing adductor stretch x 5 reps
Weird back stretch people who do yoga always do x 5 reps (this felt real good on my lower back)
Knee to chest held for 10 seconds
Piriformis stretch 3 reps for 10 seconds
Rollovers into V sits x 10 reps
Fire hydrant circles x 10 reps forward and backwards
Mountain climbers x 10 reps per side (20 total)
groiners x 10 reps
Hip flexor stretch 3 reps for 10 seconds

Arm across body x 3 reps for 10 seconds
Arm over head x 3 reps for 10 seconds
Arm up back with band x 3 reps for 10 seconds
Shoulder dislocations wit band x 10 reps.

This will be refined as I go.

Bench Press
5x45
5x135
3x170
3x195
9x225 (missed the 10th right at the top, then got 11 with the spotters help. The bench equipment felt awkward.)
4x225 (got 5 with the spot)

Kroc Row
120 lb dumbbell for sets of 15/15/10/10 (New PR)

Press
5x10 @ 95
1x5 @ 95

Chest Supported Row
3 plates for sets of 10/8
2 plates for sets of 15/12

Skull Crusher
1 set of 6 (I couldn’t do any more.)

I am kind of pissed about the skull crushers. Tomorrow I will do Deadlift, Squat, Shrug, and then I will make up the skull crushers, or I will do some other type of tricep isolation movement. Tomorrow will be a different story!!!

I also weighed in at 201.2 this morning. Had a decent day of eating too.

Kroc Rows take me literally forever to do. I am going to keep going up in weight until I get to sets of 10.

So life worked against me last night and today. I was up until 6 am last night with some type of throbbing generalized abdominal pain that wasn’t allowing me to get to sleep. Then I was waiting on my friend to come to the gym with me when he got off work (I always lift alone, but he requested to go with me), when we got a flash flood and he got stuck at work. I didn’t feel like driving in the storm. A few trees had already fallen in the neighborhood I live in. I ate well and intend to get some quality sleep tonight so I can hit the gym early in the morning.

/excuses

EDIT: I wanted to add that this morning I weighed in at 200.7

Piriformis stretch x5 reps
toe touch x5 reps
glute stretch x5 reps
quad stretch x5 reps
adductor stretch x5 reps
roll overs to V sits x 10 reps
fire hydrant circles x 10 reps forward and backwards
mountain climbers x 10 reps
groiners x 10 reps
hip flexor stretch x 3 reps
arm over shoulder x 3 reps
arm behind back x 3 reps
arm across body x 3 reps
band dislocations x 10 reps

Deadlift
5x135
5x225
3x275
3x315
9x355 (Had to breathe a lot between reps number 8, 9, and 10. Yes, I tried for 10. I wanted it so bad. My hands never left the bar though.)
3x365
1x405

Squat
5x bodyweight
5x10 @ 225

Tricep Pressdown on Cable Stack
3x15 @ 140 lbs (Paused at top of rep. Hands were going numb.)

Smith Machine Shrug
3x10 w/ 2 plates per side. (Only squeezed on the 10 rep. At this point I just wanted the workout to end haha.)

I usually have scabs where the bar sits on my back. Today’s workout just ate them off haha. The bars at the gym I train at are old as hell and super worn down. I had to search the whole gym just to find a bar with the most knurling, which was like none compared to the bars I am used to having. I wish I had my texas bars like I did at college. I wish I could buy a few and donate them to the gym. Either way. I am approaching my goals. It is almost time to set new ones. I have struggled so hard to get these ones though. I feel like I just shot up real fast and now I am grinding for 5 more pounds than last time haha.

Morning weight: 201.8

Press
5x45
5x110
3x125
8x140 (Paused. I wanted 9 real bad.)
3x125 (Paused.)
5x110 (Paused.)

Pull Up
9/7/5/4/5/4 (Frustration.)

Bench Press
5x10 @ 135

Face Pull
10 @ 140
10 @ 150
10 @ 160
10 @ 170
10 @ 180 (Had to cheat too much to get these)

Gym closed on me today. I will be in there tomorrow bangin away. I weighed in at 207 today on the scale as I left the gym. I am finally getting moved back in to my home. Tomorrow I will start with the face pulls at either 160 or 170, then I will do some type of curl exercise, followed by some trap work, and possibly a squat workout later in the day. I am real frustrated with the pull ups.

I was thinking about my goals tonight, and I thought of some new numbers that would be real nice to hit. I definitely need to start working up to higher weights to get used to handling them. I have focused on 10 rep maxes for so long, I figure it is probably time to start working toward a different rep range.

Squat 5x365
Bench 5x275
Deads 5x405
Press 5x160

Yesterday’s first workout

Face Pull
160 lbs for sets of 15/15/15/15/10/15

Standing Straight Bar Curl
75 lbs for sets of 8/8/8/8 (I asked one of the regulars at the gym, and he said that he weighed the bar at 35 lbs)

Straight Bar Preacher Curl
55 lbs for one set of 9 (Same bar as before.)

Rear Lateral Raise
5x10 @ 20 lb dumbbells

Then Later I went to the gym to spot my friend who had missed a workout a few days ago.

Pull Ups
3/3/3/3/3

Nothing real special today, however I enjoyed the hell out of this lift. I am considering breaking my upper body day up into main movement days and assistance days. It really cuts down on the time I spend in the gym. Plus I love going every day. Today I plan on getting a squat/deadlift workout in. I may do some farmer carries for my grip.

Also, I am going to add stretching to the associated days. Lower body days will get an agile 8 workout, and upper body days will get a shoulder stretch.

Pissed with this lift.

Squatmornings
5×45
5xbodyweight
5x45
5x135
5×185
5x225
5×255
3×290
5×325 (Worst form I have ever had on a lift. Effort totally wasted. See below.)
3x325 (Tried to re-do the set. Changed bar position.)
3x290
5×255

Deadlift w/ Double Overhand Grip
5x10 @ 225 (Took my good old time with these.)
1x5 @ 225

I was so pissed that I just decided to leave after this. I am so tired of having shit form, and not progressing. I know I am strong enough to do this lift. For the top set of the day:
Rep 1-Meh it was ok.
Rep 2-Fell way forward. I might as well just do goodmornings.
Rep 3-Banged the bars at bottom (They were plenty low so I could make depth) so the bar was crooked coming up. I was leaning to the right hard.
Rep 4-Another bullshit rep.
Rep 5-I definitely hit depth, but I cant honestly count this as a good rep. Again it may as well have been a good morning.

Another note about my shitty squat workout today…My setup sucks. I was setting up way to far down on my back. My arms were supporting the weight. When I went to re-do the top set, I took the bar out, and had to re rack it to move it higher up on my traps. This may or may not have had a lot to do with my crappy reps. I got three reps that were average at best. Again, all were at depth, but that isn’t enough anymore. I would have been happy with 5 good ones, or 8 bad ones, but not 5 bad ones.

I’m so damn angry that I may just re-do this lift tomorrow.

What do you think?

I have run boring but big for 13+ months straight. I want to keep my mass and start getting stronger at/around 200 lbs. I have them broken up like this because it allows me to recover as I feel necessary. Leg days take a day or two to recover from because of all the volume, and the fact that I am using a lot more than 50% of my 1rm. I don’t do deload weeks. I just go based on how sore I am. Days 2 and 5 are meant to be short, and take little to no effort like a bigger compound lift would require. Some of my upper body days have taken 2 hours to complete just because of how beat up I get during the lift. I know I can always come back to BBB in the future too, but next time I want to be much stronger so that I can make better use of the assistance. How sick would it be to do a deadlift 5x10 with 275 instead of 225?

Day 1
Press
Dips
Chins

Day 2 (Assistance work for maintenance)
Curl
Face pull
Rear Lateral Raise

Day 3
Deadlift
Goodmorning
Leg Raise

Day 4
Bench Press
Dumbbell Bench Press
Kroc Row

Day 5 (Assistance work for maintenance)
(not sure what to do for triceps I was thinking close grip bench press, Pushdowns, or skull crushers)
Chest supported row
Shrug

Day 6
Squat
Leg Press
Leg Curl

[quote]trivium wrote:
What do you think?

I have run boring but big for 13+ months straight. I want to keep my mass and start getting stronger at/around 200 lbs. I have them broken up like this because it allows me to recover as I feel necessary. Leg days take a day or two to recover from because of all the volume, and the fact that I am using a lot more than 50% of my 1rm. I don’t do deload weeks. I just go based on how sore I am. Days 2 and 5 are meant to be short, and take little to no effort like a bigger compound lift would require. Some of my upper body days have taken 2 hours to complete just because of how beat up I get during the lift. I know I can always come back to BBB in the future too, but next time I want to be much stronger so that I can make better use of the assistance. How sick would it be to do a deadlift 5x10 with 275 instead of 225?

Day 1
Press
Dips
Chins

Day 2 (Assistance work for maintenance)
Curl
Face pull
Rear Lateral Raise

Day 3
Deadlift
Goodmorning
Leg Raise

Day 4
Bench Press
Dumbbell Bench Press
Kroc Row

Day 5 (Assistance work for maintenance)
(not sure what to do for triceps I was thinking close grip bench press, Pushdowns, or skull crushers)
Chest supported row
Shrug

Day 6
Squat
Leg Press
Leg Curl[/quote]

[quote]csulli wrote:

[quote]trivium wrote:
What do you think?

I have run boring but big for 13+ months straight. I want to keep my mass and start getting stronger at/around 200 lbs. I have them broken up like this because it allows me to recover as I feel necessary. Leg days take a day or two to recover from because of all the volume, and the fact that I am using a lot more than 50% of my 1rm. I don’t do deload weeks. I just go based on how sore I am. Days 2 and 5 are meant to be short, and take little to no effort like a bigger compound lift would require. Some of my upper body days have taken 2 hours to complete just because of how beat up I get during the lift. I know I can always come back to BBB in the future too, but next time I want to be much stronger so that I can make better use of the assistance. How sick would it be to do a deadlift 5x10 with 275 instead of 225?

Day 1
Press
Dips
Chins

Day 2 (Assistance work for maintenance)
Curl
Face pull
Rear Lateral Raise

Day 3
Deadlift
Goodmorning
Leg Raise

Day 4
Bench Press
Dumbbell Bench Press
Kroc Row

Day 5 (Assistance work for maintenance)
(not sure what to do for triceps I was thinking close grip bench press, Pushdowns, or skull crushers)
Chest supported row
Shrug

Day 6
Squat
Leg Press
Leg Curl[/quote]
[/quote]

What do you like for triceps? I kind of like the close grip bench press, but I want to get bigger AND stronger arms. I have a feeling that I could use a little more work in that area. Close grip isn’t really a isolation movement.

[quote]trivium wrote:

[quote]csulli wrote:

[quote]trivium wrote:
What do you think?

I have run boring but big for 13+ months straight. I want to keep my mass and start getting stronger at/around 200 lbs. I have them broken up like this because it allows me to recover as I feel necessary. Leg days take a day or two to recover from because of all the volume, and the fact that I am using a lot more than 50% of my 1rm. I don’t do deload weeks. I just go based on how sore I am. Days 2 and 5 are meant to be short, and take little to no effort like a bigger compound lift would require. Some of my upper body days have taken 2 hours to complete just because of how beat up I get during the lift. I know I can always come back to BBB in the future too, but next time I want to be much stronger so that I can make better use of the assistance. How sick would it be to do a deadlift 5x10 with 275 instead of 225?

Day 1
Press
Dips
Chins

Day 2 (Assistance work for maintenance)
Curl
Face pull
Rear Lateral Raise

Day 3
Deadlift
Goodmorning
Leg Raise

Day 4
Bench Press
Dumbbell Bench Press
Kroc Row

Day 5 (Assistance work for maintenance)
(not sure what to do for triceps I was thinking close grip bench press, Pushdowns, or skull crushers)
Chest supported row
Shrug

Day 6
Squat
Leg Press
Leg Curl[/quote]
[/quote]

What do you like for triceps? I kind of like the close grip bench press, but I want to get bigger AND stronger arms. I have a feeling that I could use a little more work in that area. Close grip isn’t really a isolation movement.[/quote]
rope pushdowns

I had to skip today. I felt like an old man. All day, my first 3 or 4 steps after standing up were all hunched haha.

[quote]spar4tee wrote:

[quote]trivium wrote:

[quote]csulli wrote:

[quote]trivium wrote:
What do you think?

I have run boring but big for 13+ months straight. I want to keep my mass and start getting stronger at/around 200 lbs. I have them broken up like this because it allows me to recover as I feel necessary. Leg days take a day or two to recover from because of all the volume, and the fact that I am using a lot more than 50% of my 1rm. I don’t do deload weeks. I just go based on how sore I am. Days 2 and 5 are meant to be short, and take little to no effort like a bigger compound lift would require. Some of my upper body days have taken 2 hours to complete just because of how beat up I get during the lift. I know I can always come back to BBB in the future too, but next time I want to be much stronger so that I can make better use of the assistance. How sick would it be to do a deadlift 5x10 with 275 instead of 225?

Day 1
Press
Dips
Chins

Day 2 (Assistance work for maintenance)
Curl
Face pull
Rear Lateral Raise

Day 3
Deadlift
Goodmorning
Leg Raise

Day 4
Bench Press
Dumbbell Bench Press
Kroc Row

Day 5 (Assistance work for maintenance)
(not sure what to do for triceps I was thinking close grip bench press, Pushdowns, or skull crushers)
Chest supported row
Shrug

Day 6
Squat
Leg Press
Leg Curl[/quote]
[/quote]

What do you like for triceps? I kind of like the close grip bench press, but I want to get bigger AND stronger arms. I have a feeling that I could use a little more work in that area. Close grip isn’t really a isolation movement.[/quote]
rope pushdowns[/quote]

How do you feel about the 2 extra “meathead days”?

[quote]trivium wrote:
How do you feel about the 2 extra “meathead days”?[/quote]
Moar is better!

Also I always do close grip pretty much anytime I do regular bench.

I like rope pushdowns a lot. I really like band pushdowns too, but those start to hurt my elbows if I go overboard with them.

[quote]csulli wrote:

[quote]trivium wrote:
How do you feel about the 2 extra “meathead days”?[/quote]
Moar is better!

Also I always do close grip pretty much anytime I do regular bench.

I like rope pushdowns a lot. I really like band pushdowns too, but those start to hurt my elbows if I go overboard with them.[/quote]

My regular bench press form is with the knuckle of my thumb touching the inside of the knurling, right where it transitions to smooth, then I wrap my thumb. Pressing with thumbs over scares the hell out of me. I saw a video of a guy drop a bar on his neck doing that crap.

[quote]csulli wrote:

[quote]trivium wrote:
How do you feel about the 2 extra “meathead days”?[/quote]
Moar is better!

Also I always do close grip pretty much anytime I do regular bench.

I like rope pushdowns a lot. I really like band pushdowns too, but those start to hurt my elbows if I go overboard with them.[/quote]
Do the band cascade I made up