Upper Back

Chest Supported DB Laterals: 4 x 8 x 30
Close Grip Cable Rows: 4 x 6 x 200
Lat Pulldowns: 4 x 6 x 160
Behind the Back Shrugs: 4 x 3 x 225
Standing DB Lateral Raises: 4 x 3 x 40
Military Press: 4 x 3 x 185

60 Crunches between exercises, Total of 300.

Today I had a slight headache to start, but I pushed through the prescribed workout to my satisfaction. Last Friday's table tennis was awesome. I played very well and I believe it is because I had two bottles of gatorade.

Killer Chest and Tricep workout

Bottom Half BenchOnly: 40 x 135, 30 x 155, 20 x 185
supersetted with
DE Bench: 8 x 185 (with chains), 6 x 205 (no chains), 4 x 225

50 crunches, 50 pushups

DB Press fast: 15 x 65, 20 x 65, 25 x 65
supersetted with
DE DB Flys: 8 x 35, 6 x 30, 4 x 25

2 x (40 crunches superset with 40 pushups)

Speed Dips: 12, 15, 18 (max)
supersetted with
DE Floor Press (legs up): 3 x 8 x 135

3 x (30 crunches superset with 30 pushups)

Total crunches & pushups: 220 each

My arms were so beat that I could barely take my shirt off afterwards. On the dips and pushups it was the first rep that was the hardest. Once I got a few going, my muscles went into overdrive and I was able to keep going, but man was I fatigued between sets. These weren't very strict supersets, but just barely enough rest to actually get the reps done that I had prescribed. This was a fantastic workout!

Half deadlifts

Today was one of the suckiest days in the weightroom. I put on 225 for doing squats, but I knew that I didn't want a repeat of what happened to me 2 months ago, so I only went down half way. I did 3 sets of 6 at 225.

Then I did a couple sets of deadlifts, but found the weight to be too much. Since I came in late to work, I figured I'd scrap the rest of the workout and let my mind and body build up for tomorrow's chest workout. Not much enthusiasm today, that's for sure.

Heavy Biceps work while being distracted with deep thought

Standing Preacher Curls: 6 x 115, 3 x 4 x 135
Top Half only Standing DB Curls: 4 x 8 x 35
Cable Concentration Curls: 8 x 40, 3 x 8 x 30
Close Grip Reverse Grip Pullups: 4 x 3 (bw = 240)
Alternating Standing DB Curls: 4 x 4 x 55

Today's workout went fairly well, except I my focus was more towards obtaining some height in my biceps. They are full and long, but the height is not good at all, so I looked through Arnold's Bodybuilding Bible for some tips on obtaining some height. Now I am definitely not a bodybuilder, nor a fully converted powerlifter. All I know is that I wouldn't mind some decent guns and mine are definitely not peaked. I get the impression that "looks" don't mean too much in powerlifting so I had to resort to Arnold a little.

I also had a deep conversation with Cathi about the topic of abortion just before noon. Not due to personal reasons in case you're wondering, but the topic came up and during the course of this discussion with her I realized that my believe system is "weakening" a little in that I am much less likely to believe in black and white anymore. There are tons of gray area and circumstances that cause me to believe less in absolutes. Anyhow, my mind was greatly off track while trying to maintain a good workout. I think this workout had a very small amount of quality and unfortunately finished just as confused as before about my own beliefs about the topic at hand.

I also did NOT get the burn I wanted, but I also realized this was supposed to be "Heavy" and not necesarilly working to get that burn. But I left disappointed a little nonetheless.

Shoulder and Neck

Shoulders/Neck

Barbell Shrugs: 3 x 3 x 275
DB Military Press: 4 x 5 x 65
Bent Arm DB Laterals: 5 x 8 x 40
Cable Front Raises: 4 x 6 x 50
Preacher Bar Front Rows: 3 x 4 x 135
Lateral DB Rows: 6 x 40, 8 x 40, 10 x 40, 12 x 40

60 Crunches between exercises: 300 total

Today the music was good, the motivation was good and felt strong. Excited about going to Lagoon this coming Saturday where I do my annual High Striker game. (You know the game where you hit the stump with the mallet and the electronic display shows how hard you hit it?) Although it isn't completely a test of strength as it depends on the angle where contact is made as well as the location the mallet hits the stump. There is something about that game that either strokes or destroys your ego. I shouldn't be that way though, I know.

Back

Pull Ups: 3 x 3 (max)
Seated Cable Rows: 3 x 8 x 180
Chest Supported DB Rows: 3 x 8 x 40
Close Grip Cable Pulldowns: 3 x 6 x 180

Today I was feeling sick and barely got this workout done. I was low in motivation as well as energy. Not a great workout, but better than just going home.

ME Chest and new lift -"Angel Press"

ME Bench: 4 x 275, 3 x 315, 2 x 335, 0 x 355
Tate Press: 6 x 8 x 50
Incline Press: 8 x 205, 6 x 225, 4 x 245
Decline DB Flys: 3 x 4 x 60
Angel Press: 8 x 25, 8 x 20

On the second to last set I called Luke down to spot me. I was glad I got the 335 twice, but very disappointed I didn't get the 355 once. I felt a little pressure to hurry into it instead of taking more rest to recover.

During my DB Flys (which were very hard), I noticed that my arms weren't as straight as I wanted them to, so I was toying with the idea of an "Angel Press" which is what I'm calling them. I haven't seen these done before and figured it would help my shoulders, lats and chest. The idea is that instead of doing a press its a combination of press resistance and rotator work.

Angel Press starts out lying on a flat bench on your back. With DB in each hand hold your arms to your hips along your side with your palms up. Then move your arms out keeping them parallel to the ground and keeping your elbows locks and rotating your arms all the way till your are reaching far above your head and the DB touch. The point is to keep the weights level with your body and to fight gravity with the weight. Move the weights slowly back down to your side and that is one repetition.

I call them Angel press because its like making snow angels. It isn't really a press, but a good resistance exercise and good for stretching out the entire pec muscle. Let me know what you think if you try it.

Endurance Legs

Today I did a high number of reps/low weight for legs:

Squats: 3 x 15 x 135
SLDL: 3 x 15 x 155

I also did 200 crunches total.

My legs were pretty fatigued which is pretty normal after working legs, but what was different was that I was out of breath and light headed. I guess doing that many reps is what made me out of breath. Luke was in the weight room this time doing his routine.

Last night I played Table Tennis with Sanjay Bakshi for about and hour and a half. I was sure sweating.

Speed Work - Triceps

CGBP: 8 x 3 x 185
Floor Presses: 8 x 3 x 225
Dips: 3 x bw (240) + 25, 7 x 3 x bw
French Presses: 8 x 3 x 75
Lying Cross Face Tricep DB Extensions: 8 x 3 x 25
Jason Paris' One Arm Barbell Press: 3 x 8 x 45

This workout was the first time I left with a ton of energy and rather disappointed in that I really had to hold myself back in the weight and in reps in order to get quality speed on the lifts. I'm used to using 90% of my effort on each and every set so that I only could do one or two more reps, not ending with the ability to double or triple the reps. But the goal was to get quality speed not worry about weight or reps. I loved the fact that after the workout I was bouncing around with energy rather than being beat. Tomorrow I'll have to do legs as I want to be fully recovered before doing any upper body work.

Lesson Learned: Don't checkout your financial situation before lifting!

Today just before lifting, I was curious how my financial situation was. Bad Move.

I was in a much worse situation that I thought, and it ruined my mental state for my lift.

I ended up doing:

Alternating DB Curls (Slow and controlled): 8 x 45, 6 x 50, 3 x 4 x 55

At this point I was so filled with worry trying to figure out what expenses this month I could cut, or what part time job I could try to get, or how I could really tighten my belt, etc... My mind and emotions were in disarray and ended calling it a day after five sets of curls.

So lesson for today: Don't check your finances before lifting! It could really screw up your mind.

DE Shoulders

Today I decided to do a Dynamic Effort Workout (DE) for shoulders since its probably the only non-sore part of my body:

Military Press: 25 x 95, 20 x 115, 12 x 135, 15 x 125
Wide Grip Behind the Neck Pulldowns: 18 x 120, 15 x 130, 12 x 140, 10 x 150
Close Grip Seated Cable Rows: 4 x 18 x 150
Barbell Shrugs: 2 x 15 x 135, 2 x 15 x 135 (reverse grip)
DB Lateral Rows: 2 x 12 x 40, 2 x 15 x 30

The close grip seated cable rows were probably the most intense. I wanted really bad to stop at 15 on several of the sets, but I pushed out 3 more although not very cleanly.

Its weird to do more than 12 reps. I've tried to avoid reps more than 12 in the past, but I hope that the DE concept actually produces fruit for me. I have tomorrow off work, which means that I'll also be taking tomorrow as a rest day from lifting. Friday = ARMS!

I also had a question for Jason Paris(or Dave Tate) regarding the 3 lifts at 90% or more. I probably should find out what my 1 rep max is raw, but I'm nervous about screwing up my shoulder with a non shirted one rep max.

ME Squat and Deadlift with Core work

Today is the first time since my back injury that I did Maximum Effort Training on Squats. I still did them without any belt or wraps. Here is what I did:

Squats: 2 x 225, 2 x 275
DL: 2 x 295, 1 x 315
SLDL: 2 x 275, 1 x 295

75 Crunches and 15 captains chairs between sets: 450/90 total

Today I wrote down this workout BEFORE I went downstairs and followed the prescribed workout completely. Actually I did better than what I prescribed. I did 2 reps of 275 rather than 1. I was very happy with today's effort.

Lifting Terms: ME and DE

I've found several other bloggers using ME and DE terms in their posts and just now found out what that meant. This article explains that ME: stands for Maximum Effort Method, which is that you lift one exercise for one rep at 90% - 100% of your max. DE: stands for Dynamic Effort Method, which is that you lift between 70 - 90 % of your max but do several more reps.

Benching at the Bubble

Yesterday afternoon on the way home I stopped at the Bountiful Bubble to lift. The weightroom was empty.

Here is what I did:

Incline Bench: 12 x 185, 2 x 8 x 195
Fly Machine: 2 x 8 x 200, 6 x 200
Decline Smith Press: 3 x 8 x 275
Cable Flys: 8 x 60, 2 x 8 x 70
Smith Upright Rows: 3 x 8 x 135
Flat Bench: 15 x 225(Low end only), 15 x 225 (High end only), 6 x 225 (Legs up), 15 x 135 (Legs up)

Later in the evening my pecs would cramp so I tried stretching them out and that was fine, but a sign that I definitely worked the chest today. Next time, I'm going to follow the advice given in this article by Dave Tate, point number 10 (per Jason Paris' suggestion to do speed bench). Next time I work chest I'm going to take the weight clear down to 60% and do some speed bench work.

Reset Bench 1 Rep Max PR (385)

Today I was planning on setting a new record in my Bench. However I always plan to reset my existing PR (385). On the first attempt I slipped out of my groove on the way up and paused too much half way up. I did get it up on my own, but the movement wasn't progressing at one point. So I took three minutes to prepare for another attempt. This time I had Brendon tighten my weight belt as my shirt kept sliding up to my neck and choking me. I had it so tight around my waist that the shirt didn't budge when I brought my arms up. That made all the difference as my second attempt was very clean and solid.

Here is the video. I didn't bring in my good camera so I had to settle for my Motorola video phone. Sorry about the quality, but for those of you with low bandwidth, practically no wait for you.

Here is today's work:

Flat Bench:

1 x 225, 1 x 315 shirted, 1 x 365 shirted, 1 x 385 shirted (not 100% legal), 1 x 385 shirted (legal), 8 x 275 (2 block), 8 x 295 (4 block), 8 x 315(6 block), 8 x 405 (liftoff only)

I'm rewarding myself with a stop over at the Bountiful Bubble this afternoon on the way home to get in an evening workout (which I'll post tomorrow).

I was very pleased with at least getting the same PR as two months ago as now I have a video, and plan to go up to 395 the end of May (making sure the belt is tight on the first attempt), which should put me at 405 as my first attempt at the Utah Summer Games competition, which isn't sanctioned at all, and I just got word that shirts will be allowed (whew!). I would be thrilled to get 405, but even more so if I can get 425 which will be my third attempt if I can nail 405 and 415.

For those of you with alot of Powerlifting competition experience, can you suggest a cycle I should follow to best prepare for this date (June 24th)?

Finishing the week with Legs

Squats: 4 x 8 x 155
SLDL: 4 x 6 x 255

Looking forward to draining myself completely of all energy at tonights TT club.

Good Arms workout

Armblaster Curls: 15 x 75, 3 x 10 x 95
Standing Cable Curls: 10 x 70, 3 x 8 x 80
Standing Tricep Cable Pulls: 12 x 80, 3 x 8 x 100
Weighted Dips: 12 (bw (240) + 10), 10 (bw + 25), 10 (bw + 35), 10 (bw + 45)
Alternating DB Curls: 8 x 45, 10 x 40, 12 x 35, 15 x 30

In between sets did 40 crunches (16 total = 640 Crunches)

This took a little over an hour to do and it felt great! I skimmed through a couple of arnold video's yesterday and it was Lou Ferrigno's lifting that inspired me. Not that I believe I could ever get that big or strong, but it was just inspiring.

Excellent Back and Shoulders workout today

Today my chest is still sore from Monday's lunchtime and evening lifts, so that's good. Today I decided to do Shoulders and upper Back. I felt strong, but not a whole lot of motivation so I'm very pleased that I stuck with it and did the following:

Barbell Shrugs: 4 x 8 x 225
BradFord Press: 8 x 135, 8 x 145, 2 x 8 x 155
DB Laterals (Opposite of Flys): 4 x 8 x 20
Standing Cable Crossover Laterals: 4 x 8 x 20
DB Presses: 8 x 55, 3 x 8 x 60
Rotating DB Shrugs/Rows: 4 x 10 x 40

Wading through a mentally troubling time

Things at work are getting more intense and my love for table tennis is on the rise again, it is hard to stay focused on my lifting endeavors. However I don't want to lose what I have so today I did a small chest workout:

Bench:

15 x 225 slow, 10 x 225 (with chains) pausing on the chest, 8 x 225 (wc) slow coming down, pause on chest and explode up without bounce, 6 x 245 (wc) slow and controlled, 8 x 245(wc) slow and controlled with pause at bottom.

DB Flat bench flys: 2 x 8 x 50

At this point my headache was getting heavier and my desire to play TT increased, however nobody was in the TT room which would present a challenge so I just took a five minute shower, had lunch and went back to work on the many small issues that face me. Yuk!

I also did 250 Crunches total today between sets.

Later in the evening during each commercial during the 7 - 9 pm hour of my two favorite shows (Wife Swap and The Apprentice) I would do one set of 8 x 225 feet up bench. That resulted in probably 10 sets (I missed a couple).

Small Biceps Workout

Last week I didn't do Biceps at all so it was about time I got them put in:

Alternating DB Curls: 2 x 10 x 45, 2 x 8 x 45, 6 x 40
Preacher Curls: 5 x 10 x 100

I then played probably 12 games of Ping Pong with Kyle which he beat me probably 8, so I was frustrated. I think lifting arms and ping pong just doesn't mix very well. From now on its one or the other, I'm not going to do both during lunch, cause I then suck at both.

Good back workout

I took Friday off since my entire upper body was still sore. So today I decided to do back:

DL: 4 x 5 x 255
Chest Supported DB Rows: 4 x 5 x 55
Wide Grip Lat Pulldowns: 4 x 5 x 180
HyperExtensions: 2 x 5 x 35, 2 x 5 x 45
Close Grip Seated Cable Rows: 12 x 160, 8 x 180, 2 x 5 x 200

60 Crunches/10 Captains Chairs between exercises (240/40 total)

Squeezed this workout into an hour. Wish I could have taken more time and done one more exercise, but I had a meeting scheduled. Friday's TT club was awesome, I actually won two matches out of five.

Fleshy arms and Chest

This morning I read in the Book of Mormon a verse which lept out at me:

2 Nephi 4:34 - "...I will not put my trust in the arm of flesh; for I know that cursed is he that putteth his trust in the arm of flesh. Yea, cursed is he that putteth his trust in man or maketh flesh his arm."

Humility is something that typically doesn't accompany tough guys right, or is that just my own perception? That's a lesson for me to ponder and those who try to get strong should consider. How do we treat others? How big is your head? Enough of the sermon...

Today I did Chest workout patterned after Jason Paris' recent workout

Bench: 3 x 315, 4 x 295, 5 x 295, 4 x 295
Decline Bench: 20 x 225, 3 x 10 x 225
Incline Bench: 5 x 185, 6 x 175, 10 x 165, 12 x 155
Dips (bw): 15, 12, 10, 8

On the Incline Bench I originally intended to start at 225, but the first rep caused a cramp in my back and it took too much effort on the first one just to get up. I also was surprised that I lost so much steam after my first set of declines. This was indeed a tough workout and I respect Jason for the amount of weight and reps he did in his routine. That definitely was a good workout. I also did 50 crunches and 10 captains chairs between exercises (150 total crunches, 30 CC).

Old Fashioned Lifting

In the modern world we live in weightlifting has to be done in order to prevent the degeneration of the human species. 4 or 5 generations ago we didn't have massive tractors to work on the farm, and the women had 3-4 times the number of kids with part of the reason probably being to help out on the farm.

Well today I am bypassing my lifting because I'm renting a tiller and for more than two hours will be tilling and shoveling which I am sure will make me more sore than most workouts I've done. So I'll let you know which is harder, lifting weights, or working in the garden. Not that I'm really rouging it as my 3rd Greatgrandfather had to use a mule rather than a powertiller.

During lunch I played TT with Bala. Today wasn't so good. He beat me 9 games and I beat him 6 games. I've found that I get lazy and play defense, but he knows how to play really good offense against defense and it backfires. I need to play more offensive style.

Legs and Ping Pong

Squats: 3 x 12 x 155
45 minutes of ping pong with Bala (He beat me 5 out of 8)
SLDL: 3 x 8 x 225

The squats felt good and weren't too painful. Bala came in as I was finished my 2nd set asking to play table tennis. I did one more set and played. We used the table that is in tight quarters so it wasn't my typical style to play that close to the table, so it was good practice in staying close to the table. Made it hard to play defense against kills.

SLDL's also felt good and I was happy with the movement and amount of effort. The back of my neck is sore from yesterday's neck extensions.

Good Shoulders workout

Bradford Press: 3 x 8 x 135
DB Shrugs: 3 x 8 x 65
Lateral Raises: 3 x 8 x 40
Neck Extensions/Lateral DB Rows Superset: 3 x 8 x 20/3 x 8 x 40
Arnold Presses: 3 x 8 x 40

Neck Extensions involve a headstrap that attaches to the bottom cable pulley and starting with my chin on my chest and lifting the weight back and away so that I am looking up at the ceiling. Not alot of weight, but last time I did this my neck was shocked and it was sore.

I also did 50 crunches between every set (500 total), and 10 captains chairs between every set on the last 3 exercies (60 total).

I was happy with today's quantity and quality, but not the amount of weight. I didn't truly struggle as much as I would usually like. Definitely nothing even close to failure. The toughest in this regards was probably the Bradford Presses.

Lower half Bench movement

With the use of blocks and chains I've noticed that my off the chest position has weakened. So today I did the following to strengthen the bottom portion of bench press:

Bench (stop half way up and go back down, pause on chest):

8 sets of 8 x 225

These were pretty tough. My work has been taking alot of my thoughts and while I don't mean to neglect my lifting passion, I'm finding that I'm becoming more invested in my work. When I notice others become passionate about their work I perceive that as a weakness, especially when they totally neglect their bodies to become workaholics.

Legs

Squats: 3 x 12 x 155
Leg Press: 3 x 10 x @330 (Whole stack)
SLDL: 8 x 185, 2 x 8 x 205
Quad Extenseions: 3 x 8 x 115

In between sets I did 50 crunches (400 total)

Its a pity that my attitude towards legs is that it must be done and I'm looking forward to get them finished and done with for the week. Hoping that one day I look forward to legs like others.

Triceps after a long weekend

Friday - Monday I played host to friends from Australia. Yesterday I had to leave at lunch to take Cathi to the Emergency Room for a terrible case of mastitis (which she has almost completely recovered from as of this moment), so today I was very much craving the weightroom. I did some much needed Tricep work:

Dips: 12 (bw(240) + 25), 10 (bw + 35), 8 (bw + 45)
Close Grip BP: 8 x 185, 8 x 205, 8 x 225
Nosebreakers: 8 x 95, 8 x 105, 8 x 95
DB Kickbacks: 6 x 30, 8 x 25, 10 x 20
French Press: 3 x 8 x 115

The DB Kickbacks were tough and I found most of the work in the upper triceps. While thats good, I'm looking for something that really works the lower triceps especially just above the elbow. I think all the other exercises hit the lower tris pretty good. In between exercises I also did 50 crunches and 10 side bends (each side) totalling 200 crunches and 40 sb each.

I didn't feel psyched about this workout, but content. Hopefully I'll get some great work the rest of this week.

Chest

Today is my last workout this week so I needed to do chest.

Incline Press: 3 x 8 x 185
Decline DB Flys: 8 x 45, 8 x 50, 8 x 55
Flat Bench: 2 x 8 x 275, 7 x 275 (Barely got up seven on last set so I stopped there)
Push Ups: 50 Normal, 30 Normal, 10 Hands together.

My lower triceps (just above my elbow) were fatigued after the flat bench and were starting to ache after the second set. I had higher hopes for the push ups, but was completely fatigued after the first set, and my triceps were getting even more work that I thought. Overall a very good workout.

Leg Work

Squats no belt: 3 x 8 x 135
supersetted with
Leg Press: 3 x 12 x @275
SLDL: 8 x 175, 2 x 8 x 205

The squats even though they were "light" were still a little tough near the eighth rep. The rest of the workout was good, controlled. I stretched between sets to using all sorts of stretches which hopefully will target those tiny little muscles that hardly ever move. I then played Ping Pong with Kyle for about 45 minutes. I think I may have convinced him to get a serious paddle. He played with my Mark V paddle for a while and he noticed a difference right away. I'm hoping that several other Tomax people get serious about their table tennis game as it would be nice to play different styles rather than just Bala's style all the time.

Crap, this isn't a table tennis blog, but you know? Nobody's leaving comments much anymore, so perhaps my posts aren't getting read, so I can ramble anyway.

Lower Back after work (Name that 2nd exercise)

Today I played Table Tennis with Bala and Kyle (I did very well) during lunch, and lifted after work:

Romanian DL: 12 x 225, 2 x 6 x 275
(I don't know the name of this lift and couldn't locate it on the web): I laid on my upper quads perpendicular to a bench and put my legs under a brace. My upper body bent down to the floor, I held a 35 pound weight against my chest and brought my back upwards so that my upper body was slightly higher than my hips and then bent my upper body back down for 1 rep. Please tell me what the name of that exercise is. I'm sure I've heard of it before, I just can't recall.

I did 3 sets of those with 35 pounds @8 reps

Seated Cable Pulls: 3 x 8 x 200 - On these I kept my arms straight and used nothing but my lower back to pull the weight back so that I was lying on my back and then brought the bar back to my feet.

Shoulders and Neck

Barbell Shrugs: 8 x 185, 2 x 6 x 225
Full Lateral Raises to overhead: 8 x 30, 2 x 8 x 35
Upright Rows: 8 x 95, 8 x 115, 6 x 145
Lateral DB Rows: 3 x 8 x 40

In between sets I did 35 Crunches and 10 Side Bends (5 each side), total of 280 crunches and 80 Side Bends. I had planned a fourth exercise (DB Military Press) but since I went ahead to an overhead position on the lateral raises I considered that exercise done. It was a fairly good workout given I wasn't as motivated as normal today. Body was fine today, mind though not so strong.

First good chest workout in a while

Worked with the shirt today:

Flat Bench: 12 x 225, 8 x 275, 4 x 295, 4 x 315, 3 x 335, 1 x 365
Unshirted Flat Bench: 1 x 275, 8 x 225, 12 x 185 (wide grip), 12 x 135 (Ultra wide)
Incline Bench: 12 x 135

I must have made more noise than usual lifting the 135 up from the flat to the incline pins cause my workplace's hardware administrator, Kevin came down and poked his head in the door. His office is just above the weight room. I hope he wasn't bugged. I wouldn't want to get on his bad side.

I took the last couple days off cause my entire back was more sore than normal and my ankle was sore from the side bends. I saw the Chiropractor for the last time today and he did a few minor adjustments and said I was good to go for a while. I'm glad I went and hope I don't have to go back.

First good back workout since the injury

Chest Supported Rows: 3 sets of 7 x 95, 5 x 125, 3 x 165
Lat Pulldowns: 3 sets of 6 x 160, 4 x 170, 2 x 180
Light SLDL: 3 sets of 12 x 135, 10 x 155, 8 x 175
Seated Cable Rows: 3 Sets of 8 x 180

In between sets I did 33 crunches/10 side bends, Total: 266 Crunches, 80 Side Bends.

The SLDL felt really good, I wasn't feeling any pain or tightness whatsoever between sets so I'm hoping that doing higher reps and lighter weight strengthens those smaller muscles in my lower back/hip that need to catch up. Felt really good about this workout.

Mucho Muscle's Bicep workout

This workout came from Mucho Muscle's website

Barbell Curls: 3 sets of 7 x 105, 5 x 125, 2 x 145
Alternating Standing DB Curls: 3 sets of 7 x 50, 5 x 50, 4 x 55
Armblaster Curls: 3 sets of 8 x 95, 6 x 105, 4 x 125
Barbell Curls (Strip Set): 5 x 95, 10 x 85, 15 x 75, 20 x 65, 25 x 55, 30 x 45

33 Crunches and 20 flutter kicks between sets: Total 200 Crunches, 120 flutter kicks.

The Barbell Curls provided quite the burn. I also did all of these exercises slowly, controlled with a short flex at the top of the curl, except for the last exercise which was done kind of rushed.

I went to see the Chiropractor again this morning and bought a ball. I used it to do one exercise and then placed it on a piece of tin tubing used for air conditioning and it popped! I was so mad. At least I only paid $12 for it. I think I'll give the Dr. one more visit and then I'll call it quits. I only had one episode of pain with my lower back this weekend due to driving to Moab for Cathi's Half Marathon. With my high deductible plan with my Health Insurance I can't afford to keep going, unless its because of an overwhelming need to get some pain relief.

The hotel in Moab had a pool, but no weights at all which was extremely disappointing, so I have a little catching up to do. Today's workout was good and I got a good burn, but I doubt I'll be sore for days like the website claims even though I followed it to a T (except I replaced the Spider Curls with Armblaster Curls since our preacher bench attachment doesn't have a very good back end, plus there is a small rack on the otherside and didn't like getting a piece of metal so close to my crotch. So the 2nd and 3rd sets I replaced with Armblaster to get the same effect.

I also posted a question in the proper forum about whether the utah summer games competition is raw or not.

First time to a Chiropractor

Today I went to visit Mark Dudley a chiropractor that was referred to me by my Mother. He lives next to my parents. His office was downtown so it was convenient to go over. He said that the injury may not have been completely due to the squat or the weight I did, but may have been something that tipped the scale relating to a problem that may have started long ago. He used a tool to "thump" certain points in my back and had me do some movements as he made certain adjustments using his tool. He mentioned that my right hip flexor (I don't remember the medical term he used) was weak and that it also affected my range in my shoulder on my left. He gave me a couple of exercises to strengthen those small muscles that are triggering the problem.

I have another appointment for Monday. Felt really relaxed and loose after the appointment so when I got back I went right to lifting.

Today I did legs:

Romanian DL: 8 x 225, 2 x 8 x 275
Leg Press: 3 x 12 x @250
Hamstring Curls: 3 x 12 x 55

I did 25 crunches between reps: Total 150

Today I cut it short because I started to do DB Lunges with 40 in each hand and this experience confirmed the Dr.'s diagnosis. I could lunge with my right leg just fine, but when I put my left leg forward and tried to stand up with my right hip, I could barely do it. So I decided against agitating that hip any more. I did the Dr's exercises where I get into a lunge position and rotate my hip forward and hold it for 30 seconds (each hip). Then I laid on my side with my forearm against the mat, then push my hip towards the ceiling. That was tough.

Today also somebody put up a nice sign in the locker room on how to keep it clean, etc.... I love how people feel entitled to lecture others instead of just living life laid back. I admit the locker room isn't the cleanest place, but its not like I'm eating lunch off the floor. On the other hand the signmaker is right in that its very easy to put your stuff away and keep it tidy. I'm just not used to getting lectured by someone who is too timid to let me know who I'm getting feedback from. I've been living with the locker room the way it is for the past several years and I haven't felt the need to put up a sign. Now that people are actually getting off their butts its interesting to see that people are starting to establish rules and guidelines. I'll play along.

Moderate Chest Workout

Floor Press: 3 x 8 x 225
Floor DB Flys: 3 x 8 x 45, 50, 55
Decline Bench: 3 x 8 x 225
Fly Machine: 3 x 8 x 3/4 stack (@ 175)
Press Machine: 3 x 8 x whole stack (@225)

In between sets I did 15 flutter kicks (4 count) and 20 crunches: Total 150 FK, 200 Crunches. These were easier, next week I'll increase the reps a bit on these. Abs already feeling really good.

Shoulders/Neck

Standing Military Press(behind the neck): 3 x 8 x 135
DB Front Rows: 3 x 8 x 45
Shrugs: 3 x 8 x 185
Wide Grip Cable Pulldowns: 3 x 8 x 150
Lateral DB Rows: 3 x 8 x 45

In between sets I did some ab work: 15 flutter kicks, 20 crunches. I only did these between sets and not between exercises (2 ab sets per exercise) so I ended up doing 200 crunches total, and 150 flutter kicks (4 count = 1)

The first ab set was kind of hard, but the rest was cake. I'm going to do ab work everyday! Thanks Stinn for the suggestion. Kind of a no brainer, but my lazy butt needs a reminder now and then.

Just a few sets of DB Curls

Alternating DB Curls: 6 x 55, 9 x 50, 12 x 45, 15 x 40, 18 x 35, 21 x 30, 25 x 25, 30 x 20

Quite a burn.

Too hungry to stay out of the kitchen

My back is probably at 80-90% normal. Today I had a tough chest workout planned, but after I couldn't get the weight off the rack without struggling, I decided to abandon it and just take it easy and not push it too hard. Here is what I did:

Flat Bench: 8 x 235 (2 block), Tried to get 285 off the rack, and decided against it. At this point I just took it easy with the following:

3 x 2 x 185 (Letting the weight just sit on my chest for about 20 seconds between each rep)
5 x 8 x 185 (with chains) nice and slow
25 x 135 (with chains)

Got a pretty good burn today. Disappointed that I couldn't do the planned workout, but hey, I was supposed to take the day off anyway!

Taking the week off

Last night and this morning I could barely walk. I've discovered that if I move really slow, I'm OK, but moving fast is impossible. I'm at work with a heating pad on my lower back and that really is awesome.

I'll be taking the rest of this week off from lifting, and taking the rest of my life off of squats.

My body has declared war on Squats

Today even though my lower back was sore (from what I have no idea), I decided to do Squats to start out my workout today. Here is what I did:

Squats from 12" block (no belt): 8 x 185, 6 x 225, 1 x 275

I planned on doing 4 reps of 275, but on the way down about an inch or two before reaching the block my lower back did something that I cannot describe, but it was intensely painful. I barely got back up from the seated position. I tried bending over to do a toe touch but the pain was too much. I had to stand straight up to avoid pain. Even getting off the 25 and 45 pound weights from the bar was painful if I didn't stand completely erect.

My back was actually feeling great after the 225, but just that one 275 unbelted took me out. I think I'm going to give up on squats altogether. I'll still do leg presses and girly leg machines, but my back just has never been very kind to me. I still want to do Deadlifts (Just romanian for now), but squats are out of the picture for me.

Arms instead of squats

Since the back of my neck is so sore and I didn't feel like resting weight on it, I did arms today.

21s: 3 x 30
Decline Bench Tricep Rope Pulls: 10 x 50, 2 x 8 x 70
One Handed DB Preacher Curls: 8 x 35, 8 x 40, 8 x 45
Dips: 3 x 8 x 275 (body weight + 35)
Standing Curls: 10 x 95, 8 x 105, 8 x 115
French Presses: 10 x 115, 2 x 8 x 125

Felt really good today, the dips usually are painful, but I did them slow and controlled (especially on the last two sets) and they went much smoother and without pain. The best song played today while lifting was Reise, Reise by Rammstein. I actually heard an instrumental mix of it during the broadcast of the Olympics and man was it giving me goosebumps. Rammstein imho is the best metal band out there.

Trying to break my pencil neck

Today I focused on neck:

DB Front Raises all the way up to ceiling: 4 x 8 x 25
Standing Preacher Rows: 8 x 95, 8 x 105, 8 x 115, 8 x 135
Shrugs: 8 x 135, 3 x 8 x 185
Cable Neck Extensions: 8 x 10, 2 x 8 x 20, 8 x 30

I don't know who bought a neck harness which has been in the gym for ages, but doubtfully everused for its proper purpose, but I tried it out today. The weight was too easy. One of the clamps was missing on the end of the harness so I had to rig some stupid contraption together to get it functional. It would have been funny to video. I had a small BB end spring attached to the end with a lat rope attached to that and the other end of the harness, then a chain connected to the pulley system attached to the rope in the middle. It wasn't very comfortable, but it did the trick.

I wonder if my neck will be sore. It felt like a decent workout, and I did an exercise I've never done before in my life. We'll see. My chest is sore from yesterday which is good.

I got my tax return back last night, I'm still on cloud 9 with the rebate I'm getting. Yahoo!

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)

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.

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!

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!

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.

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.

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.

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.

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!

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Back

Deadlifts: 4 x 8 x 225
Seated Close Grip Cable Rows: 12 x 150, 3 x 8 x 180
Incline Bench DB Rows: 4 x 8 x 40
Pull ups: 3, 2, 1

Man those pull ups were aweful, none of them were clean and most of them I couldn't get all the way up. I remember back when I was 160 and loved doing those. Now its embarrasing.

Shoulders

DB Lateral Raises: 3 x 8 x 35
Arnold Presses: 3 x 8 x 40
Military Press: 3 x 8 x 135
DB Lateral Rows: 3 x 10 x 40
Preacher Bar Upright Rows: 2 x 10 x 95, 8 x 115

Shoulders felt great and probably did things a little too light. I didn't feel over fatigued and could have done more, but was out of time.

Chest on Friday

This is the first time I've done a full chest workout on Friday that I can remember.

Flat Bench: 12 x 225, 2 x 8 x 245 (w/chains), 6 x 275
Incline Bench: 12 x 135, 2 x 8 x 185, 6 x 205
Floor DB Press/Flys superset: 4 sets of 8 x 65/35 each

Good Burn today. Today some guy from work brought his two kids in to play on the machines. Also Christian came in for a couple of sets. I didn't care that it was populated today. I just thought it was strange cause normally I see nobody in there. Felt good about today's lift except I'm not seeing any really gains in the bench. But on the other hand, I am maintaining what I have and don't have any injuries so I'll count my blessings.

Legs

Work has been getting progressively more enjoyable and the days go by so fast, I am often tempted to not take a lunch break at all. Today I forced myself to go down around 1 pm and did some leg work:

Squats: 12 x 155 (w/wraps), 8 x 185, 2 x 8 x 205
SLDL: 8 x 155, 8 x 185, 2 x 8 x 205

This is the first time I've done squats and SLDL in the same day. I have normally been too afraid to mess up my lower back. It was stiff, but back to normal by the time I got out of the shower. I've noticed that when my lower back gets really sore, I'll toes my toes and my entire lower back spine cracks (man does that feel good). Its good for another couple lifts and then I'll "recrack". Is that normal?

Much better day today

Last night I did a few exercises of just Biceps in the basement:

Preacher Curls: 3 x 8 x 95
Alternating DB Curls: 3 x 8 40
Concentration Curls: 3 x 8 x 40

Today at lunch I did 3 biceps and 3 triceps exercises:

Standing Preacher Bar Curls (with armblaster): 3 x 8 x 105
French Presses: 3 x 10 x 105
Seated Incline Bench DB Curls: 3 sets of 12 x 35, 10 x 40, 8 x 45
Weighted Dips: 3 sets of 8 x bw+45, 8 x bw+55, 6 x bw+60 (bw=240)
Reverse DB Curls: 3 x 8 x 35
Close Grip BP: 3 sets of 12 x 135, 10 x 185, 8 x 225

Very good 24 hour period with 27 total sets among 9 different exercises for Biceps/Triceps. Hopefully I'll be sore tomorrow and I'll do legs.

Screwed up day

Today started out good because I came in early to work. But one of my biggest pet peeves is discovering that I'm wearing floods. I found an old pair of work pants in the storage room this weekend, and figured they were just misplaced. Well I didn't discover that they were 2" too short until I got to work, so I hid behind my desk all day working all through lunch.

Then after working 10 hours straight, Bryan asks me to play doubles with a couple of guys I've never seen before who have been at Tomax for a while. Well these guys were good and they kicked our cans. That pissed me off enough to change and lift which I didn't do during my lunch break.

Here is what I did:

Deadlifts:

10 x 225
1 x 295
1 x 345 ( I was hoping to warm up to a new PR today, but this was the last heavy set cause I barely got it up)
8 x 225
2 x 245 (My lower back at this point was gone)

Next week I'm going to video some Deadlifts and I'd like some feedback from you guys on my weakness (where does my form break down) which will hopefully reveal the muscle group I need to work on most.

Another benefit of getting the storage room organized with shelves and everything is that I get my weights back and have room downstairs to workout on days where I want to supplement without having to spend time away from the family. Tonight I'm hoping to do a little biceps.

Name that exercise

Today I felt like doing Traps:

Barbell Shrugs: 3 sets of 12 x 135, 8 x 185, 6 x 205
Behind the back Barbell Shrugs: 3 sets of 8 x 155, 2 x 8 x 135
"Reverse Dips" (Name this exercise): 4 sets of 2 x 12 x 30, 2 x 8x 40
Hammer Curls: 4 sets of 8 x 40
DB Upright Rows: 4 sets of 12 x 40

I was stretching out the traps when I felt like a good exercise would be something that is exactly opposite of doing dips. So let me explain the exercise and see if you can tell me what the proper name of it is:

Standing straight up holding dumbells at my side with palms facing in I pull them inline with my body till my elbows are behind me, holding at the top and then slowly bringing them back down. Same movement as dips except the resistance is the complete opposite.

Chili Dogs and SLDL don't mix

Yesterday I had three chili cheese dogs and they were tasty but today I'm paying the price and man is it bad.

Today I did SLDLs:

12 x 185, 10 x 205, 6 x 215, 6 x 215

Between running to the John and doing these sets it took about 45 minutes. I almost crapped my shorts twice.

My chest is sore too. Yeah!

Trying out the new Bench shirt

My 52" Titan Fury shirt came today so I figured I'd try it out.

Flat Bench Press(shirted): 12 x 225 (w/ chains), 12 x 245 (w/chains), 4 x 315, 4 x 335, 2 x 355
Incline Press: 12 x 135 (w/chains), 8 x 155 (w/chains), 8 x 185 (w/chains), 6 x 205
Machine Flys: 2 x 8 x 160, 2 x 8 x 200

The first two sets of the bench were with my 54" shirt, then the rest with the much tighter fitting 52" shirt. When I was doing these it wasn't the weight I was worried about (it was going up without struggle), it was the backs of my arms I thought were going to be CUT with the arm seams. I was happy with the 335 and 355 sets. I think I may just be able to do a PR with this new shirt next month! I've never done more than 335 without a spotter and I wasn't nervous about the 355, so I went for it. It was clean and smooth. I also got some new wrist straps which are also very nice to have as they keep the tension really tight so there is no strain on my wrists at all.

After work I stopped at the Bubble for some supplementary chest work. here is what I did:

Flat Bench(with 54" shirt): 8 x 225, 3 x 8 x 275
Floor Presses: 3 x 8 x 205
Decline Press: 12 x 205, 8 x 225, 8 x 275
Cable Flys: 20 x 40, 12 x 60, 10 x 70
Flat DB Press: 3 x 8 x 90

Very good day. Hopefully I'll be dead sore tomorrow. I know my triceps will be all bruised up, but that was the desired effect.

I got a large chain

I was at home depot this weekend and I saw a large 20 ' chain which probably weighed about 30-40 pounds and figured I'd get it for doing some chain work on my bench. I also bought a 24" bolt cutter and cut the chain into two 10 ' lengths. This way I can have them on both sides of the bar. I also noticed that my shirt is scheduled to be delivered today. So I will do bench tomorrow with my new shirt and chain.

As far as today's workout I did shoulders:

Military Press: 3 sets of 12 x 95, 2 x 8 x 115
Shoulder DB Shrugs: 3 sets of 8 x 50
Close Grip Cable Pulldowns: 3 sets of 8 x 130
Lateral Raises: 3 sets of 12 x 30, 2 x 8 x 35

My legs have been very sore this weekend and are still a little sore from Friday's squats. I definitely want to do those every week.

Squats and 2 hours of ping pong

Today I did squats since my hamstrings were 90% recovered from Monday's SLDL, however I wasn't about to kill myself since I was planning on a fairly long time with Table Tennis later today and didn't want my legs or lower back to be terribly stiff, so here is what I did:

Squats: 4 sets of 12 x 135, 10 x 155, 8 x 185, 8 x 185

I did these slow, all the way down, and intentional without any real "bursting" from the bottom, just a steady slow push up. I don't know if that is good technique or not, but it sure felt good to be deliberate in my attempts instead of just doing it without thinking about it, or really feeling it for that matter.

Then later today I played Table Tennis for probably two hours with Bala. Now most people think of table tennis as a friendly little game that doesn't cause sweating, but the way I play, it is intense. My legs are bent, there is quick movements and it does cause me to sweat. Now it isn't like pulling a sled or swimming laps, but its better than sitting on my fat butt writing code, then just going home.

Biceps

Today I arms with an emphasis on Biceps:

Standing Preacher Curls: 4 sets of 12 x 95, 10 x 105, 8 x 115, 6 x 125
Alternating DB Curls: 4 sets of 8 x 40
Forearm Superset: 2 sets of Wrist Curls 8 x 35, 2 sets of Cable Reverse Curls 8 x 20

My hamstrings are still from Monday's SLDL. Hopefully I'll be fully recovered for tomorrow so I can do some low weight, high rep squats.

Swimming this morning and Chest workout

This morning Cathi and I went really early to the Layton Surf n' Swim to do laps. I ended up only doing 900 yards (1/2 mile) in 100 and 50 yard increments. The pool was way overcrowded, overheated and no lanelines. We'll need to find another pool. At any rate, swimming sure clears out your lungs and it feels good.

Today my hamstrings are sore from yesterday's SLDL. Today I did some chest using blocks.
Nothing but bench:

2 Blocks: 2 sets of 8 x 225, 6 x 275
4 Blocks: 2 sets of 8 x 295, 6 x 315
6 Blocks: 2 sets of 8 x 335, 6 x 345

4 sets of 8 x 225, lower half only, real slow, slight pause at bottom and no bouncing.

Tonight I plan on doing 4 sets of pushups: 15 reps with Austin (70 pounds) sitting on my upper back.

Upper Back

I had a slight headache to start today's workout, but I still made it in.

SLDL: 4 sets of 12 x 135, 8 x 185, 6 x 225, 8 x 225
Lat Pulldowns: 4 sets of 15 x 70, 8 x 130, 2 x 8 x 140
Bent Over Barbell Rows (on bench): 4 sets of 2 x 8 x 135, 2 x 8 x 145

Felt good except for the headache. Used chalk so my grip was solid on all the sets.

Arms to finish off the week at work

Preacher Curls: 3 sets of 12 x 95, 10 x 05, 6 x 125
French Presses: 3 sets of 12 x 95, 8 x 105, 6 x 115
Alternating DB Curls: 3 sets of 12 x 40, 8 x 45, 6 x 50
Dips: 3 sets of 12 x 240 (Bodyweight), 2 x 8 x 275 (BW + 35)
Concentration Curls: 3 sets of 10 x 35, 8 x 40, 8 x 45
Tricep Pulldowns (rope): 3 sets of 12 x 60, 2 x 8 x 70

Did several wrist exercises to work the forearms.

Worked through lunch so I did this just before leaving for the day.

Small amount of chest work

Floor Press: 4 sets of 12 x 225, 2 x 8 x 245, 6 x 265
Incline DB Press: 4 sets of 12 x 60, 3 x 12 x 65
Decline DB Flys: 4 sets of 8 x 45

The Incline presses were too light, but 65 is the heaviest DB we have. So I pushed more reps than I planned.

If money weren't an issue I'd enhance the heavy end of our DB queue, but that's what the Bubble is for.

Small amount of shoulder work

Seated Military Press: 3 sets of 8 x 115
Close Grip Cable Pulldowns: 3 sets of 12 x 130, 8 x 150, 6 x 180
Seated Cable Rows: 3 sets of 8 x 180

Big mistake: Eating lunch before working out.

I know better than that, but I was starving. I forgot how much of a bad move that is. My motivation, and sense of time was shot.

My quads are sore from yesterday - yippee!

Starting out the new year with Legs

Here is my wimpy workout:

Squats: 3 sets of 12 x 135 (going all the way down, stop, then press)
Leg Press: 3 sets of 10 x 200 (I'm not sure on the weight, I'm guessing its around 200 or so, It's the entire stack save one)
Jump Rope: 2 sets of two feet together jumps (80 each set)

I have alot of catch up to do thanks to the past two weeks of eating and lounging.

2 hour chest workout waiting for the pool to open

I took the Austin and Jacob swimming at the bubble and planned to lift a little, but the pool didn't open for two hours so I lifted for nearly two hours. Chest was the workout and it was insane:

Flat Bench: 12 x 225, 8 x 245, 6 x 265 (all slow and pause at bottom)
Incline Bench: 12 x 135, 8 x 155, 6 x 175
Cable Flys: 3 x 8 x 60
Incline DB Press: 12 x 40, 12 x 50, 12 x 60
Machine Flys: 10 x 180, 2 x 8 x 220
Flat Bench DB Flys: 12 x 40, 2 x 8 x 45
Push ups with all of Austin's weight sitting on my shoulder blades (+68 pounds): 3 sets of 15

This was the first time that my chest cramped up throughout the remainder of the day. However I haven't been terribly sore as I would have expected. Probably because I didn't do high weight low reps, but did get quite a bit of fatigue.

I hope everyone's Christmas was enjoyable and that you had some quality time with your family. Mine was wonderful and had a fun time with friends and family and ate too much crap.

Oh my back

Today - I did some deadlifts, and by the last set my lowerback was rebelling.

Deadlift: 4 sets of 2 x 8 x 225, 6 x 245, 4 x 275

I did these without wraps this time and my knees weren't having a problem at all, it was my lower back after the sets that was really tight. I think I'm going to stretch between sets so I can loosen up those lower back muscles. Yesterday I went ahead and ordered a tighter fitting bench shirt along with some new knee and wrist straps. I wanted to go get some bands from elite too, but a whole set is $150, so I'll have to wait before I get those.

Shoulders at the Bubble

Today I worked through lunch and went to the bubble on the way home. Here is what I did:

Military Press: 3 sets of 8 x 135
Cable Front Raises: 12 x 50, 2 x 8 x 70
Lateral Raises: 10 x 30, 8 x 30, 6 x 35
Incline DB Rows: 8 x 50
DB Shrugs: 3 x 8 x 50
Upright Rows: 3 x 8 x 115
Seated Rows: 8 x 160, 6 x 210, 8 x 180
Bent Over Rows: 10 x 135, 8 x 185

I felt really good about this workout considering that I did it in less than an hour. Abs still store from Monday! Tomorrow - deadlifts.

Thicker than expected frosting

Sometime when I feel great after a workout, I'll top it off with "frosting". Today's frosting was much better than expected. Considering that my abs were considerably sore from yesterday's workout, I decided against doing legs today as I could sense that Abs are kind of important in doing squats. So I opted for Chest today (and it was my week for using the Titan Fury shirt which I use every fouth chest workouts).

Flat Bench (Focus on completely STOPPING at the bottom - NO BOUNCING ALLOWED WHATSOEVER!):

8 x 245
8 x 255
6 x 275
5 x 295
4 x 315
2 x 325
1 x 335

I noticed that my feet and legs are NOT used at all. On the 325 set I tried putting my feet further back forcing me to use my legs a little, but I ended up moving them back into a neutral position on the way down as my thigh was starting to cramp up.

After these sets I did 2 more sets of just 135 focusing on keeping my heel and toe forced into the floor and almost push my body up the bench. My butt stayed flat on the bench and I'm not sure if that is right or not. I almost need a face to face session with a professional. I've read about the positioning, but it is difficult for me to figure out how to do it.

At this point I almost used up my entire hour, but I wanted to top off the workout with something great. So I figured I would do as many push ups as I could without pausing at all. I could slow down a tad, but as soon as I locked out my elbows and paused for even a fraction of a second, game over. My goal was to do 50, but I ended up pushing out 65 of them and probably did it in about 50 seconds.

I was pleased with today's workout and noticed that the bruising from the shirt is not happening any more. I think my triceps are getting used to the tight fit. I'm going to wash the shirt and hope that it shrinks (Its a size 54 with my actual chest size being 50). If it doesn't fit tighter after that, I'm going to try selling it on Ebay.

When all else fails - do Abs

I forgot my camera today, and I wanted to film my leg work this week so I had to opt for something else. My entire upper body had some residual soreness from last week so I had to think of something that would be "overtraining", so I figured I would do abs (which I honestly have never done in an isolation workout). There are some advantages to working out without a partner (all alone for that matter) and that is you don't have to be embarassed with someone watching you struggle like a lame school girl.

I remember the good old days lifeguarding at Deseret Gym, with my favorite US Marine, Mike Carroll. This guy was in top notch condition. I remember the Infrared Body Fat Percent machine pegged him at -3% body fat. How can you have negative body fat? Anyhow, I remember him teaching me tons of calisthenics that he used to do as a marine and how we used to be machines doing them together. One of the exercises was flutter kicks so I started out doing those:

Flutter kicks: 4 sets of 25 (4 count)
Legs up crunches: 4 sets of 25
Captain's Chair: 2 sets of 15 (crappy form and too fast), then slowed down and did 4 sets of 5
Bicycles: 7 sets of 15

Those bicycles were bad! I didn't get a burn from those, just a wedgie and I could barely get my shoulder blades off the ground. Touching knee to elbow was totally impossible as my flexibility and gut just wouldn't allow it. Today was completely humiliating, however it was kinda fun.

Abs are without question my weakest muscle group next to my legs, so I really want to set a goal to do them isolated like this at least once a week. I think from now on my routine will go like this:

Monday: Chest
Tuesday: Legs
Wednesday: Biceps/Triceps
Thursday: Abs
Friday: Shoulder/Back/Neck

This way I can rotate my muscle groups in a way that should prevent overtraining. I totally respect you guys out there who do abs on a normal basis and can do sit ups without breaking a sweat.

Work before play

Tonight is my company's Christmas Party, here at the facilities. Instead of driving all the way back home and then back again, I asked Cathi to just come straight here. The bonus is that I also was able to work through lunch and then lift right before the party (We have lockers and showers of course). I figured I needed to make sure to get some variation of deadlift in this week so I did:

Deadlifts: 3 sets of 10 x 225, 2 x 6 x 275
Military Press: 3 sets of 8 x 135
Seated Close Grip Cable Rows: 3 sets of 12 x 130, 8 x 180, 8 x 200
Standing Preacher Bar Rows: 3 sets of 8 x 115

Probably took only 35 minutes to do, but I didn't want to overdo it in case I show off to Cathi a 1 rep 335 bench(I'll be in party clothes and don't want to have to worry about needing a spot).

Arms at the Bubble

Standing Preacher Curls w/Armblaster: 3 sets of 12 x 95
Standing Cable French Press: 3 sets of 12 x 80, 10 x 110, 8 x 130
Incline Dumbell Curls: 3 sets of 12 x 30, 10 x 35, 8 x 40
Dips with Weight: 3 sets of 12 x 35, 10 x 40, 8 x 50
Concentration Curls: 3 sets of 12 x 30, 10 x 35, 8 x 40
Dumbell Kickbacks: 3 sets of 10 x 25, 8 x 25, 10 x 25
Alternating Dumbell Curls: 3 sets of 8 x 35, 6 x 40, 8 x 40
Close Grip Bench: 3 sets of 15 x 135, 8 x 185, 6 x 205

The grip on the close grip bench was 6 inches or so apart so it was difficult balancing the weight, but it went up fine. Had a great time with this workout.

No Legs - just Chest

My glutes are sore from Monday. I figured it would be a good opportunity to try some chest with no legs whatsoever.

Legs up Flat Bench: 4 sets of 15 x 135, 12 x 185, 10 x 225, 8 x 245
Dumbell Flys on the floor: 4 sets of 2 x 12 x 40, 2 x 8 x 45
Floor Presses: 4 sets of 8 x 225

Four sets of various push-ups: 15 diamond pushups, 15 clap pushups, 15 fist pushups, 15 decline pushups

Tonight is my only chance this week to go to the bubble. I'm going to do Biceps and Triceps so that should be fun. Today was a good day.

Procrastinate not the day of your leg work

Usually Monday's are my anticipated chest days. But today I had promised myself a focus on legs this week. I even was hoping for a "killer" leg workout. Unfortunately I fell far short of considering this a "killer" workout, however I did do a couple of new exercises, and also focused on form rather than weight. Here is what I did:

Alternating between:

Bulgarian Squat: 4 sets of 2 x 8 x 50, 2 x 8 x 40
and
Box Squats: 4 sets of 12 x 135

At this point I was ready to throw in the towel. I was fatigued and lost all motivation, but I did not succumb to my lazy thoughts and did one more superset alternating between:

Dumbell Side Step Ups: 4 sets of 16 x 60, 8 x 60, 2 x 10 x 60
and
SLDL: 4 sets of 8 x 135

The chair for doing the Dumbell Side Step Ups was too wide and not very stable so I didn't like those at all. I did enjoy the SLDL's though. I almost did just two sets though because I was drained.

So while I did get through my goal sets for today, I definitely did not exceed my plans. I do believe though that I will be sore since I've done a couple of exercises that I have never done before regardless of the light weight. I did not leave psyched up and happy about today's work, but I wasn't cussing myself out either.

Deadlifts and Ping Pong

Today I was looking forward to doing some deadlifts and doing some shoulders:

SLDL: 4 sets of 8 x 225
Military Press: 4 sets of 8 x 135
Dumbell Lateral Raises: 4 sets of 8 x 35

Instead of doing another exercise or two, Bala convinced me to play a few rounds of table tennis with him. That sure was fun and it went very well. This week has been quite an "off" week with lifting only three days this week and not very much either (except for Monday). My chest is still a tad sore and happy with the intensity of it. Next week, my focus will be to do a killer leg workout.

I hate Squats!

Today I knew I had to do legs and as the time grew near I was tempted to bag it altogether, but I did get off my fat butt and did the following:

Squats - 12 x 135 fast, 6 x 225, 6 x 245 slow

Man were those hard! At that point I had completely lost all motivation and I admit my attitude was extremely lame, but I was in no mood to to leg presses or anything else. I don't know what the source of my issues with legs is, but a few possibilities are:

• Not having a partner
• Having childlike leg matter
• Lack of confidence from doing Squats without being in a cage.
• I don't like having all that weight resting on my neck, it just doesn't seem natural!
• More and more, but enough of my whining and excuses!

After the squats I tried out the jump rope I bought over a month ago and haven't even really tried. I did three sets of running in place with the jump rope at relatively high speed. I was frustrated with my timing. A second grade girl would have laughed at my attempts. I did get a slightly elevated heart rate, but nothing to consider aerobic as my three sets probably totaled 100 jumps and about 1 minute of total execise.

Not a good day at all. I'm looking forward to deadlifts tomorrow though.

Wide Grip Chest

Today I wanted to focus on wide grip of everything:

Flat Bench: 12 x 225, 8x 255, 6 x 275, 7 x 275 (2 blocks), 8 x 295 (4 blocks), 8 x 315 (6 blocks), 35 x 135
Incline Bench: 12 x 135, 8 x 185, 8 x 65 (Dumbells)
Decline Dumbells Flys/Press Superset: 3 sets of 8x 40, 8 x 50, 4 x 60

This was a great workout and it was harder with the wider grip. I sure was shaking like it was heavier than normal, but it went up so that's good.

Here's a video of the entire workout (18M), except for the first two sets of flat bench.

Getting back after two days off

Today I did a little bit of arms:

Alternating Dumbell Curls: 4 sets of 10 x 35, 3 x 8 x 40
Preacher Curls: 3 x 8 x 95, 8 x 105
Standing Cable Curls: 3 x 8 x 50, 8 x 60
One arm Cable Curls: 12 x 20, 3 x 8 x 30

I also missed out on free pizza the company was offering because they were late delivering. The entire company was downstairs in club Tomax (standing room only) and everyone was just standing around waiting for pizza. What a waste of time. I waited about 5 minutes and went lifting instead. I was hoping there would be leftovers, but that was wishful thinking. My neck is still sore, but the rest of my aches have subsided considerably. I never did get that massage that I wanted.

Aches and Pains - taking a day off

Due to a build up of intense lifting the past couple days my entire body is sore. Hams are sore from yesterday's Romanian deads, my chest is sore from Monday's lift, my neck is so bad I spent two hours using a handheld massager on my neck, and right shoulder. There is no way I would be productive today so I'm taking the day off lifting and see if I can recuperate a little here. Good luck everyone today on your own workout!

Gords

Deadlift Superset

Today I did the following three exercises doing a superset rotation between each of them:

Romanian Deadlift, SLDL, Normal Deadlift - 4 sets of 8 x 185, 8 x 195, 8 x 205, 8 x 215

My back had enough at that point. I had just enough time to do one more exercise:

Seated Straight Arm Cable Rows to a lying back position - 4 sets of 8 x 160, 3 x 8 x 200

There is a muscle in my neck going into my right shoulder which was giving me problems starting on Saturday. I'm not sure what I did, but its getting a little worse. I'm going to try and get an appointment with a masseuse for sometime tomorrow. My hands are also getting more calloused and the chalk really helps with maintaining a grip on the bar.

If Cathi doesn't go crazy with the kids today I'm also going to see if I can do another round at the Bubble tonight doing shoulders.

Working out in Office attire sucks - Chest Day

Surprisingly, my legs weren't sore at all over the long weekend. I also weighed in today and to my astonishment only gained one pound (236) so that's good. I took my lifting clothes home to wash and forgot to bring them in so I worked out today in two blocks to avoid getting too sweaty.

I got some feedback from Stinn on my bench, so today I tried a couple of his suggestions. I usually put my pinky on the inside of the ring, today my index finger was on it. I also positioned my feet much wider than I normally do. The weight seemed much heavier because I wasn't used to the wider grip and my chest/tricep ratio was less work on triceps and more on chest. I sure was shaking like a leaf, but the weight wasn't too much. Balancing the weight took more effort than normal. I'll stick with this grip from now on. Plus it felt weird to have my feet so far out, but it was probably right on. In a few weeks I'll take another video clip once I feel comfortable with these changes so I can get more technique tips to work on.

Flat Bench: 4 sets of 8 x 225, 6 x 255, 4 x 275, 8 x 225
Incline Dumbell Presses: 4 x 8 x 65 (the heaviest dumbells we have)

Break for an hour

Decline Dumbell Flys: 4 x 8 x 55
Weighted Dips: 4 x 8 x (235 + 35 lb dumbell)

Considering I hate lifting in office attire, it was a fairly good workout.

First time doing SLDL

Today I did a fairly tough legs routine (at least for me):

Squats - 3 sets of 10 x 165, 5 x 225, 3 x 275
SLDL - 3 sets of 10 x 115, 8 x 135, 6 x 185
Quad Extensions - 3 sets of 10 x 90, 6 x 135, 4 x 180
Hamstring Curls - 3 sets of 10 x 45, 8 x 60, 6 x 75

This is the first time doing SLDL. After visitng Stinn's site, I've decided I need to start doing these. I started with a really light weight and focused on form and quality reps and found that I could probably do these in the low 200's range on a normal basis. I got the feeling that these work the same muscles used in doing Good Morning's which I've been wary of doing reading from Kris' workouts. I've tried Good Mornings and have nightmares of having an injury similar to what Kris went through, but I really like these SLDL's because they are safer in that if the weight is too much, worst case scenario... drop it! But with Good Morning's, my face could end up on the mat!

I felt distinct tightness just after the workout, but now a few hours later, tightness is gone, I imagine I will definitely be sore this weekend.

Bestrafe Mich

Man was I depressed the last night due to yesterday's quality of 1 rep max. With this week being Thanksgiving, I won't be able to lift Thursday through Sunday so I figured I would really punish my chest for the cheating I did yesterday. So this is today's workout which was done partially during my lunch hour and the rest at the bubble.

Today's focus is on sticking everything, going slow and making deliberate movements. Less on reps, more on weight:

Incline Dumbell Press - 3 sets of 8 x 45, 2 x 4 x 65
Floor Presses - 3 sets of 8 x 135, 4 x 225, 4 275
Floor Dumbell Flys - 8 x 45, 2 x 4 x 55
Flat Bench - 8 x 225, 4 x 315, 3 x 315
Decline Press - 8 x 225, 4 x 315, 4 x 335
Incline Press - 8 x 135, 4 x 185, 4 x 205
Fly Machine - 8 x 160, 2 x 8 x 200
Lower Half Bench Press - 8 x 225, 4 x 315, 4 x 335
Cable Flys - 8 x 80, 4 x 100, 4 x 80

Its a good thing the cable flys were last because on the last set I tried another 4 x 100 but couldn't get the weight in, so I lowered to 80. Afterwards the struggle with the 100 made me realize I may have pushed it too far as I felt shoulder pain a little so I'm glad that was my last set. Tomorrow I'm doing legs and resting until Monday (except for cardio work in the evenings with Cathi).

I met a guy at the Bubble named Mike who works there in the weight room. He offered a spot when I needed it and place to put my keys and wallet so I wouldn't have to worry about thieves. He was very complimentary (which I don't take too well) and talkative. I'll definitely take him up on the spot in the future I'm sure.

Today I bought the Hypnotize album by System of a Down. From what I've heard so far, it is very good. I like how they end on a newer version of Soldier Side which is what they started on in Mesmorize. I got the clean version this time though, cause I have a difficult time keeping my mouth clean when I'm frustrated and don't need to hear somebody else cuss just for artistic reasons. Awesome musical talent in this album though.

I weighed in this morning and came up at 235 which was a shock since I haven't been doing too good on my diet. My goal for Thanksgiving weekend is to watch my portions and if I do feel like having seconds, keeping it to half a plate instead of two full plates of food. Then only 2 pieces of pie. I guess I'm dreaming if I'm thinking I'm not going to gain weight. If I also do 1 hour of cardio in the evenings, I'm hoping that Monday morning I won't weigh more than 240. Its really hard to say no on Thanksgiving, so I'll have to control my portions to compensate.

375 lb bench - Not legal though!

I was happy to get up 375 pounds today (Here is the video - 1.5MB) on my bench press max, however after reviewing the video, I was disappointed with the failure to stop at the bottom but bounced the weight off.

The weight did not stop but progressively went up, so that's good.

Just for kicks I tried 385, but knew going down that it wasn't going to happen.

I was happy with the lift until I saw the video. Actually I'm not going to count this lift since I have proof that it would have been disqualified in a meet. I'll try 375 again in four weeks where I'll make sure to pause at the bottom of the lift. Let me know what else I can work on. I fould the rules for a good lift here -> http://www.hickoksports.com/rules/rpowerlift.shtml#bp

I've also realized that I should always video my PR's to make sure they are legit. Who knows? Since I didn't video my 365, I may have had crappy form on that one too!

Any tips from fellow powerlifters out there on bench techniques I could work on, would be appreciated!!

Wednesday, November 16 2005

Bubble Day

Today I didn't get to lift at lunchtime, so I decided to double up and do this week's supplement lift today rather than on Thursday. I stopped at the Bubble on the way home and did today's workout as well as tomorrow's.

Legs -

Squat Machine - 5 sets of 12 x 135, 8 x 185, 6 x 225, 4 x 275, 8 x 225
Leg Press - 4 sets of 12 x 150, 10 x 160, 8 x 170, 6 x 180
Quad Extension machine - 4 sets of 12 x 50, 3 x 8 x 60
Hamstring Curl machine - 4 sets of 12 x 60, 3 x 8 x 80

The last two machines were really old and was not smooth at all. The Bubble's leg machines basically suck really bad. Can't go wrong with free weights though.

This took about 45 minutes to this point then I transitioned to upper back, shoulders workout:

Military Press - 5 sets of 10 x 115, 2 x 8 x 135, 2 x 6 x 145
Dumbell Shrugs - 5 sets of 8 x 55
Lateral Raises - 5 sets of 10 x 25, 3 x 8 x 30, 8 x 35
Barbell Rows - 5 sets of 2 x 10 x 95, 8 x 115, 8 x 95, 6 x 95
Reverse Cable Crossovers - 5 sets of 10 x 20, 8 x 40, 3 x 8 x 50

I was happy with the upper body workout, but the leg workout, while I did work it hard, the machines were so crappy that I didn't feel like I was into it as much. My shorts didn't have a pocket for my MP3 player so I had to tuck under my belt which was annoying. Today my chest was quite sore still so I am pleased with Monday's chest workout! I also noticed that I was already a little sore in the neck/shoulders area so I was hoping that today's workout wasn't going to make things worse, but I had a plan in place on paper and didn't want to mess it up. I might take Thursday off. We'll see.

Tuesday, November 15, 2005 - Back

Close Grip Cable Rows (All arms)- 5 sets of 10 x 170, 8 x 180, 3 x 8 x 200
Wide Grip Cable Back Bends - 5 sets of 10 x 170, 8 x 180, 3 x 8 x 200
Wide Grip Cable Pulldowns - 5 sets of 10 x 140, 8 x 150, 3 x 8 x 160
Deadlifts - 4 sets of 8 x 225, 6 x 245, 4 x 275, 2 x 295
Incline Dumbell Rows - 5 sets of 3 x 8 x 40, 6 x 45, 8 x 45

In between each exercise I did 25 crunches. I also didn't plan on doing the deadlifts, but planed on doing bent over barbell rows, but figured I probably wouldn't hit my back again this week and really wanted to do deadlifts this week. I did the deadlifts without wrist straps, since I recently learned that they are not allowed in competition. I need to go pick up some chalk since I almost dropped the 295 on my last rep.

I'm also quite sore from yesterday's chest workout. Much more than the chest workout I did last week which was supposed to be a Chest Marathon. Yesterday I did the chest workout totally raw so I think that made the difference.

Excellent workout today and yesterday! I'm very pleased.

Monday - November 14, 2005 - Chest Day

Flat Bench - 5 sets of 12 x 245, 8 x 275, 6 x 295, 4 x 315, 2 x 335, 15 x 225
Incline Dumbell Flys - 5 sets of 12 x 35, 8 x 45, 6 x 50, 12 x 50, 8 x 45
Floor Presses - 4 sets of 15 x 135, 3 x 8 x 225
Decline Dumbell Press - 5 sets of 12 x 55, 10 x 60, 8 x 65, 12 x 65, 35 x 35

I got Brendon to spot me on the third and fourth set of flat bench (thank goodness). I needed help on the 2 x 335 although I got the first one up myself. I felt great about today's workout!

The talk I gave on Sunday went much better than I thought and man talk about a relief when it was over! We had Mom and Dad over for dinner since they watched the kids at the meeting for us. That was fun. I think I'm going for a new PR next Monday on the flat bench (375).

Week 2 November, 2005

Friday, November 11, 2005 - Arms

Dips - 4 sets of 12 x 240 (full body weight), 3 x 8 x (240 + 35)
Alternating Dumbell Curls - 4 sets of 10 x 40, 3 x 8 x 45
French Presses - 4 sets of 8 x 95, 3 x 8 x 115
Preacher Curls - 4 sets of 8 x 95, 8 x 100, 8 x 105, 6 x 115

Tonight Cathi and I are going on a date, I'm going to try talking her into going to the Bubble on the way to SLC and workout with me for a little bit instead of going out to eat to a fancy restaurant and then we can eat healthy afterwards. We'll see how that plan goes. I have to give a 15 minute talk in church on Sunday and I haven't done that in about 13 years so I'm kind of nervous although I'm prepared and researched the topic (Obedience). It made me realize that I have a long way to go before I'm the kind of person I want to be spiritually, but I'm still working on it. We all know that nobody's perfect and as long as we don't pretend to be and help each other out then we heading the right direction.

Thursday, November 10, 2005 - Legs

Today I left work at noon to let Cathi go run an errand that couldn't be postponed. Poor Isaac and Samuel have bad colds and don't feel well at all. I just held them while we watched TV. I caught myself dozing off here and there. When Cathi got back we did our normal evening routine early and went to Austin's Pack meeting. After the Pack Meeting it was about 8:00 and decided to go to Gold's Gym in Layton rather than the bubble. It cost me $10, but worth it cause the equipment was better and it was much closer. However considering I didn't want to do a massive leg workout and get cippled it almost wasn't worth the money. Here is what I did:

Leg press - 5 sets of 12 x 135, 8 x 225, 8 x 315, 8 x 405, 6 x 495
Calf Raises - 5 sets of 8 x 90
Quad Extension Machine - 4 sets of 8 x 120, 3 x 8 x 150
Hamstring Curls Machine - 4 sets of 8 x 120

At this point it was only about 45 minutes into the workout and I didn't want to overdo it, but at the same time didn't want to spend $10 for just 45 minutes so I did some upper back:

Seated Machine Rows: 4 sets of 12 x 150, 8 x 170, 2 x 6 x 190
Bent Over Barbell Rows: 4 sets of 3 x 8 x 135, 1 x 12 x 90

Wednesday, November 9, 2005 - Shoulders

Close Grip Cable Pulldowns - 4 x 8 x 160
Military Press - 4 x 8 x 135
Standing Dumbell Rows - 4 x 6 x 135
Pull-up and Arnold Press Superset: 4 sets of 8 pullups minus about 60 pounds using pull up machine (I know I'm fat, but I'm also on a diet and losing a little) supersets with 4 x 8 x 35, 40, 45, 50.

Total time: 1:00 - I felt OK about this workout. I'm really surprised that I'm not evey tight or sore at all in my chest from yesterday's workout. I would have thought that the workout would have made me sore for sure. This week when I go to the Bubble I think I'll work legs since my squat and Deadlift are so wimpy compared to my bench.

Tuesday, November 8, 2005 - John McDonald's nothing but bench workout

Flat Bench: 8x185 (.507), 7x200 (.548), 6x220 (.603), 5x235 (.644), 4x255 (.699), all 2:00 rest 2x3x270 (.74), 2x2x290 (.795), 1x310 (.85), 1x340 (.932), all 3:00 rest
1x345 (.945), 5:00 rest
1x340 (.932), 3x310 (.85), 4x290 (.795), 5x270 (.74), 6x255 (.699), 8x235 (.644), 9x220 (.603), 10x200 (.548), 10x185 (.507) all 3:00 rest
Total expected time: @1:05

I did the workout above just as expected (Except I didn't have a watch so I guessed at the rest and ended up taking 1:20. I also put on the Bench shirt at the One Rep 310 and took it off at the 255 on the way down. It sure gets scary putting up that kind of weight with no one in the room to help in case I get stuck. I really need a partner on bench days! Thanks to John McDonald for his post which I copied for this workout. It was awesome and I was very pleased with the routine. Wouldn't want to do it more than once every couple months though.

Monday, November 7, 2005 -

Lower Back Workout (and Deadlift PR attempt)

Deadlifts - 2 x 225, 1 x 315, 1 x 335 (Failed on this attempt)
Finished up with: 12 x 135, 8 x 185, 6 x 225, 4 x 275 (successfully completed all these)

In between sets I did 10 reps of leg curls using the tower for hitting my abs. I ended up doing probably over 10 sets.

After deadlifts I wanted to hit more lower back so I did:

Seated Cable Rows (Lower back only) - Seated to laying on my back (Like Goodmornings)
8 x 130, 8 x 160, 8 x 180, 8 x 200

Then did 1 minute of jump roping (I know I'm wimpy), but I'm aweful with hard surfaces and the cement floor was not fun jumping on. It was just a fair workout and I was very slightly satisfied. After doing two sets of chest last week, I wasn't about to do chest today. Maybe tomorrow I'll do Upper Back/Shoulders and Neck and then do chest on Wednesday.

Week 1 November, 2005

November 4, 2005 - Arms

Tried out the dip tower for the first time:

Dips - 4 sets of 12 x (240), 8 x (240 + 35), 8 x (240 + 35), 8 x (240 + 45)
Cable Tricep Extensions - 4 sets of 12 x 80, 8 x 90, 8 x 90, 8 x 90
Dumbell Alternating Curls - 4 sets of 8 x 35, 8 x 40, 8 x 40, 8 x 40

My arms didn't have the normal pump feeling but instead of had a pain that I've not felt before so I stopped there. I think I may have strained a muscle from yesterday evening's lift.

November 3, 2005 - Legs at noon, Chest after work

Noon: Today I did 4 sets of squats: 6 x 225, 12 x 135, 8 x 185, 8 x 185

Then I did 2 set of knee raises using my new tower, 12 reps each. My legs and abs are pathetic! I plan on leaving work today at around 4:30 and then have a great chest workout. I'm also excited for a fun weekend up at the cabin.

After Work: I went to the bubble this afternoon and did a great chest workout:

Flat Bench (With Shirt) - 4 sets of 12 x 225, 8 x 275, 6 x 295, 4 x 315 - after these sets, the shirt came off (quite easily by the way - It has stretched a little or I'm getting smaller)
Decline Bench - 4 sets of 12 x 225, 8 x 275, 6 x 315, 4 x 335
Incline Bench - 4 sets of 12 x 135, 8 x 185, 6 x 205, 4 x 225
Fly Machine - 4 sets of entire stack 8 x 225
Cable Flys - 4 sets of 12 x 30, 12 x 50, 8 x 70, 8 x 70
Flat Dumbell Press - 3 sets of 8 x 85

What a great workout! I really enjoyed this workout. The gym was unpopulated, but the equipment was well worth the visit. I think I'll keep going once a week if Cathi can handle it. Isaac woke up with a minor fever and some dry throated coughs. I may have to stay home with him while Cathi goes to the cabin. I hope he gets better today and I can still go. I was really looking forward to going. I found a link on gym ettiquete. One the one day I go to a gym, its basically only me anyway, but I still find that my habits are in accordance with a busy gym anyway -> http://www.criticalbench.com/gym-etiquette.htm

November 2, 2005 -

Today I bought and assembled a tower for doing dips, situps, pullups etc. It took about 2 hours to build and man was I sweating! I considered that my workout because of the calories burned and the fact that I had already extended my lunch break way beyond what I should have done. I plan on hitting my legs again tomorrow which means I'll probably just do 4 sets of squats and thats it. I am no longer going to sacrifice my entire week because I go overboard on a leg workout. Tomorrow I'm going to do a good chest workout at the Bubble.

November 1, 2005

-

Yesterday I ate too much candy, but I walked about 2 miles with the kids so I called it even. Today's workout started out with low energy. I didn't have any OJ with me today and I've been eating a roast cut up into one inch squares. I bet I get close to 150 Grams of protein today. This week I plan to lift Chest at the bubble on Thursday. I also need to make up for short days on Monday and Friday so it will be a long week. We are going to the cabin this weekend with some friends so that should be fun. Today's workout went like this:

Seated Barbell Military Press - 4 sets of 12 x 95, 8 x 115, 8 x 125, 8 x 135
One Arm Cable Front Raises - 4 sets of 8 x 10
Standing Barbell Rows - 4 sets of 12 x 95, 8 x 115, 8 x 125, 6 x 135

At this point I started to get a headache and starting to get real sick of the combination of tunes I've got. Time to get a new set. I love Rammstein, but nothing but Rammstein for a few weeks in the weightroom can get me sick of it, time to give them a break a try a different genre.