Tuesday, February 28, 2006

John McDonalds Bench Workout

John McDonald posted a good bench workout which I followed:

Bench Press: 15 x 135, 10 x 185, 8 x 225, 4 x 3 x 275
Paused BP: 6 x 215, 8 x 205, 10 x 195
12" Grip BP: 5 x 225, 5 x 235, 5 x 245
18" Grip BP: 5 x 245, 5 x 255, 5 x 265
Seated DB Press: 3 x 6 x the whole stack (@ 250)
Hammer Curls: 8 x 45, 8 x 40, 8 x 35
Seated Rows: 3 x 8 x 200

Excellent workout. I was beat by the end. PS - My legs are sore from yesterday at the perfect level (I'm not getting weird looks)

Monday, February 27, 2006

I fell ill

Thursday and Friday I had a stomach virus that left me much of the time feeling sore and nauseous. I took work off so today was my first time back since Wednesday.

Today I did:

Squats: 3 x 6 x 225 (Stop at the bottom)
Leg Press: 3 x 8 x @300
Romanian Deadlift: 8 x 275, 2 x 5 x 315

I was starting to lose my grip on the RDL on the last two sets on the fifth rep. Good thing I had chalk. Next week I'm moving the bars down one notch. They were just above my knee today. I need to go a tad deeper next time.

Wednesday, February 22, 2006

Chest workout patterned after Jon's

I was looking for some inspiration for a good chest workout and decided to pattern mine after one that Jon did. Here is what he did

I made some modifications and added some others, but here is what I did:

Floor Press: 3 x 255, 3 x 265, 3 x 275, 3 x 285, 3 x 295
Static Hold: 405 (20 seconds), 465 (10 seconds)
2 Board Press: 3 x 315, 3 x 325, 1 x 335 (I couldn't control the weight two inches from the top of the boards and it came down hard. It barely went up once. There was no way I was getting three and no spotter was nearby)
Incline DB Press: 3 x 10 x 65
Decline DB Flys: 2 x 8 x 40, 2 x 8 x 45, 2 x 8 x 50
Pushups (As many as possible without slowing down): 55

I should be extremely sore tomorrow. My shoulders are a little sore from yesterday so that's good. Tomorrow I need to do Squats!

Tuesday, February 21, 2006

Countdown from 5

Military Press: 5 sets of 20 x 95, 16 x 105, 12 x 115, 8 x 125, 8 x 135
Shrugs: 4 sets of 12 x 135, 8 x 185, 8 x 205, 6 x 225
Seated DB Reverse Curls: 3 sets of 8 x 35, 8 x 40, 8 x 45
DB Lateral Raises: 2 sets of 8 x 40, 8 x 45
Arnold Presses: 1 set of 4 x 55

Today I had to do a quick one cause I worked through lunch and had to do this after work. I then played about 20 games of ping pong with Bala and got schooled. I only won about 5 of them. Usually we are evenly matched, but today I didn't eat lunch, was tired to begin with not to mention that he was spot on today. Tomorrow will be a full chest workout with plenty of exercises and sets!

Friday, February 17, 2006

Squats and Deads

Today my tris and chest are both sore. Yesterday's workout was wonderful. Today I did:

Squats: 6 x 185, 2 x 8 x 155 (Slow and deliberate, no belt)
SLDL: 12 x 155, 2 x 8 x 185

My back was pretty much thrashed at this point and my co-worker Bala wanted to play ping pong, (which in itself is a pretty good lower back workout when you play it properly) so I stopped at this point and played for about a half hour.

Have a great weekend and President's day on Monday.

Thursday, February 16, 2006

Chest and Tris

Flat Bench (with Chains):
     5 x 230, 5 x 235, 5 x 240, 5 x 245, 5 x 250
     3 x 255, 3 x 260, 3 x 265, 3 x 270, 3 x 275
Incline Flys: 8 x 40, 2 x 8 x 50
Dips: 12 x bw, 8 x bw+25, 8 x bw+45
Bench BB Tricep Extensions: 5 x 8 x 95

Today my tris were very pumped up at the end. I also felt good about the chain bench.

Tuesday, February 14, 2006

First day of Squats this week, then shoulders

Squats: 12 x 190, 2 x 6 x 230
Seated Behind the neck Military Press: 3 x 8 x 135
Close Grip Cable Pulldowns: 3 x 8 x 160
Seated Cable Rows: 3 x 8 x 180
Romanian Deadlifts: 12 x 135, 8 x 225, 6 x 275

Man the squats were super difficult! I had tightness in the back and I didn't arch my back properly on all the sets. I am going to take the weight down a little next time and not worry about the weight, but the quality of the lift. I was supposed to do SLDL right after squats. Instead I postponed them to the end and converted them into RomanianDeads.

Still psyched about yesterday's PR.

Monday, February 13, 2006

New Bench PR (shirted of course) - 385 lbs.

Today I asked Bala and Luke to assist in spotting me for a new Bench PR. I went down 10 minutes early to load up the weight, get psyched, and do 300 once to prepare the body.

The 300 went up like it was nothing. Then I loaded up 75 more. I got the camera ready for Bala to video, and it was out of batteries! I was so mad, but I wasn't going to let that spoil my attempt, so I just made a mental note that when the weight touched my chest, it needed to stay there. I was not going to push until I had stopped it on my chest for about a second.

The 375 went up fast! I put on an additional 10 pounds and figured that would go up as well.

So I waited about 3-5 minutes and did 385 with the same pause at the bottom, there was a slight struggle just before lockout, but the weight still came up fairly quickly and it was completely legitimate. Next time I'll make sure to get completely new batteries! I'm so excited. I'm going for 395 on March 20th. But I will have to keep pushing it and making sure I work enough to be dead sore every week until then.

Friday, February 10, 2006

Squats: short, but sweet

Today I worked over my usual lunch break save 20 minutes so I went downstairs and did three sets of quality squat sets:

2 x 6 x 185, 6 x 205

These all were with the feet just outside shoulder width apart, I squated until my butt was just a few inches from the ground (as far as I could possibly go without falling backwards. Stopped completely at the bottom and pushed up trying to keep my back arched. I did not use a belt, or wraps. In fact I was in jeans. I was surprised at how well these went without a belt. I think I will try to do these about every other day along with whatever body part I'm doing, so they get plenty of practice instead of once a week. Its only three sets so I hardly think I could overtrain with that amount of sets. I'm hoping that I can increase the weight about 10 pounds a week. I'll keep going with the quality and going beltless. Thanks to Jon Yeo for the pointers!

Thursday, February 09, 2006

Pumping up the Arms

1 Rep Max DB Curls: 1 x 60 (No Problem), 1 x 65 (Got it up with slight cheating on the left arm)
Concentration Curls: 8 x 40, 2 x 6 x 45
Seated DB Curls 21's: 3 x 30
Lying Barbell Tricep Extensions: 2 x 8 x 95, 8 x 105
French Press: 3 x 8 x 115
Alternating DB Curls: 3 x 8 x 45

Bala asked me a few days ago how much I could Curl. I've never tried to max on a DB Curl before. So I figured I'd try it. Unfortunately though we only have up to 65 pounds on DB, but strictly speaking, 65 probably was as much as I could do with cheating.

There is a guy who has showed up four days in a row. I've never seen anyone in the gym that consistent before. Luke is his name and hopefully I keep seeing him in there and perhaps we could work a routine or two together a week.

I am planning another PR attempt on the bench on Monday. I'm planning on 375 CLEAN! I will be shirted, but I want it to be a totally smooth and legit lift. I'm going to have Brendon be the judge.

Great lift today. I'm very pleased. Going for squats tomorrow.

Wednesday, February 08, 2006

Good Shoulders Workout

Shrugs: 8 x 225, 8 x 245, 8 x 255
Bent Over Rows (Standing on bench): 8 x 185 (this was without much control and was sloppy so I dropped some weight and increased the control), 12 x 135, 8 x 155
Seated Close Grip Cable Pulldowns: 8 x 180, 2 x 8 x 160
DB Lateral Rows: 3 x 8 x 40
DB Lateral Raises: 3 x 8 x 35
DB Seated Reverse Curls: 3 x 8 x 30

Today I was pleased with the quantity. I got this all in under an hour. I probably tried too heavy weights on the first three exercises and a little too light on the last three. Felt good though to get in a good workout that was planned out up front.

Tuesday, February 07, 2006

Stepping up the bench a little

I was trying to figure out how to start to make gains in my bench so I decided to look back and pick a day where I thought I did good and to increase everything by 5 pounds. So I picked this one as well as this one. Here is what I did:

Flat Bench:
    2 blocks: 8 x 230, 6 x 280
    4 blocks: 8 x 300, 6 x 320
    6 blocks: 8 x 340, 6 x 350
    no blocks: 4 x 8 x 230 (lower half only)

Incline Bench: 12 x 140, 2 x 8 x 190, 6 x 210
Floor DB Flys: 2 x 8 x 40, 2 x 8 x 45

The Floor DB Flys were too light at 40 so I up'd the weight and did the last set in super slow motion. I felt completely satisfied with today's workout and was happy with the weight and content. One of the best in a long time.

Monday, February 06, 2006

Back to work

Last Thursday and Friday Bala tempted me to play ping pong (which was very enjoyable by the way) so my lifting those days was passed up. Which I felt OK about since I had the Evanston Tournament this weekend. I did better than I anticipated and took 5th in the A division.

I know that powerlifting is a passion, and table tennis was a passion. This week I was confronted with making a choice between the two as the Utah Summer Games events that I'm interested in (Powerlifting and Table Tennis) conflict with each other so I without hesitation am going to register for powerlifting.

Today I brought the camera which I usually forget so I felt obliged to video some squats and deadlifts for your feedback.

Here is what I did:

Squats: 12 x 185, 2 x 6 x 225
Deadlift: 8 x 225

Here is the video (Only 1 MB)

At this point my back was shot and I didn't want to do anything which I would regret later so I stopped. Notice that the wrap on my right knee came off one the second 225 set. I didn't wear the wraps on the first set of 225 because they aren't long enough. I can barely get them around my legs 4 times. Does anyone else struggle with wraps coming off? Is there a good method for wrapping them?

By the time I did my deadlifts my lower back was already in bad shape, and my form I know is awful. After viewing it I can tell you right now, I don't think I'm going low enough. My legs aren't taking much of the work it doesn't appear.

Let me know what you think.

Wednesday, February 01, 2006

Short Chest workout

Flat Bench: 12 x 225, 8 x 275, 5 x 295, 2 x 315

I was going for 3 x 315 but with no spotter and the second one being very slow going up I decided not to risk it. I'm gonna stop by the bubble on the way home to do a good one today.

Well, Cathi called me just before leaving saying how stressful her day was so I decided to lift in my newly renevated home gym instead (after I have relieved her of her duties).

I worked out with Jacob (7 years old). He did several sets of 11 x 20 lbs standing preacher curls. I ended up doing a little more chest:

Flat Bench: 15 x 135, 3 x 8 x 225, 20 x 135
Incline DB Press: 4 sets of 15 x 40

I swear the bar and/or olympic weights I have at home are heavier. One of these days I'm gonna weigh to make sure. I can't believe that its just in my head, I bet there is a major difference. It was fun working out with Jacob. He sure is a bundle of energy.