Training Journal
 

TRAINING JOURNAL

Hi Everyone,

I’m new here and I thought I’d start a training journal. To start off, I’d like to introduce myself and give you a brief overview of my training history.

My name is Jeff and I’m 28 years old. I was born and raised in Canada and have been living in Europe for the better part of the last 5 years working as an English teacher. I moved to Hamburg Germany in June 2002 and have been living in Holland for about a year now.

I first got interested in weight training when I was 16. I was a weak 140 lbs and began in my basement with a bench and some sand filled weights. I soon joined a gym and made it to a still-weak and struggling 165 lbs when I was 18. At this point I ran into HIT and was blown away. My first six months took me to 195 lbs and my strength doubled in that period, which made me a convinced believer. Seven years later, with layoffs, different routines, and a grand finale with the Athlete’s Routine, I was a fat, still relatively weak, and horribly deconditioned 205 lbs. It was tough to accept the fact that I’d wasted my early twenties with a pseudo-scientific contradiction filled pile of HIT-baloney, but I understand my mistakes and am fully recovered now.

To get out of my rut I bought an online muscle course called MuscleNOW. The program gave me just what I needed at the time and it was well worth the 100 bucks. It is a great hypertrophy based program with a very good diet and the experience was well worth it. After 4 months I was a much stronger, more muscular, and better conditioned 225 lbs at 26 years old.

I was then forced to quit training yet again and lost everything I had gained. During my time off I read various things online that helped me get a handle on basic weight training theory. When I began training in January 2006 again, I started with a version of the MuscleNOW program and made it to my all time best shape. Here they were in June 2006:

Arm 17 ½
Chest 44 ¼
Waist 35 ½
Leg 26 ½
Weight 212
Caliper 15 mm

At this point my relative strength was still lousy and I’d never seriously used the classic lifts. To remedy this problem, I picked up some golden books by Rippetoe, Stiff, and Zatsiorsky, and moved on to more strength based training programs. The past 12 months began with Starr’s Intermediate 5x5 and then Rip’s Texas Method, both of which are great. Since beginning strength training I have either been trying to maintain or lose weight, so that has obviously hurt my strength gains. Non-the-less, I’ve still been able to make good headway. At the moment current stats are as follows:

Arm 16 ½
Chest 43 ¾
Waist 34
Leg 25 ½
Weight 198
Caliper 14 mm

And here are my current best lifts, which were set a couple of weeks ago:

Squat 330x1, 290x5
Bench 260x1, 225x5
Row 285x3, 270x5

I should also note that the past year hasn’t all been good for me. I suffered a relatively severe shoulder injury when I began strength training, which kept me from doing any pressing for about 4 months. I rehabilitated it over a couple of months and I’ve been able to work at the Bench and Press for about 6 months now. I also made a careless mistake while Deadlifting back in November 2006 which has plagued my lower back and hip ever since. I’ve seen Osteopaths and Massage Therapists since then, and still visit them on a semi-regular basis, but it still acts up enough to keep me from pulling from the floor.

At the moment I’m still trying to drop body fat and increase my maximal strength. I consider myself an intermediate, and my main goal is to eventually Squat 2x bodyweight and Bench 1.5x bodyweight sometime in the future. I would also like to increase my muscle mass beyond my previous best posted above, and eventually hit a relatively lean 18” arm, but that will come a bit further down the road.

I won’t post each and every workout in this journal, but more than likely I’ll update it periodically and note anything worth noting. I’ll normally outline what my current training regime is like, then update as things change, milestones are hit or problems arise.

So, that’s me in a nut shell. Thanks for reading and I look forward to joining the community here. If you have any comments, questions, concerns, etc., please feel free.

Cheers,
Jeff

CURRENT SET-UP

Hi guys,

This is how things are going to look for the time being. I’ll be using a “Westside inspired” set up with a bit of Texas Method lingo thrown in the mix. I think the Westside Method has a lot to offer, but as an intermediate I don’t think I need all that variation just yet. As things progress, however, it may evolve that way.

I’ll have a Bench Day and a Squat Day as follows:

BENCH DAY
Bench Press
Press
Close Grip Bench
Chin

SQUAT DAY
Squat
Good Morning
Row
Hammies

My weekly lifting schedule will look something like this:

MONDAY: ME BENCH
TUESDAY: ME SQUAT
WEDNESDAY: Light Exercise and Cardio
THURSDAY: RE BENCH
FRIDAY: RE SQUAT
SATURDAY: Light Exercise and Cardio

ME days will look pretty simple. The Bench and Squat will get a 1-3RM attempt, and the other lifts will get a couple sets in the 3-5RM range. I’ll start with the classical lifts and begin rotating other variants in the future as I see fit. I’ll rest as needed between sets.

RE days will include various higher volume work. The Bench and Squat will get 3x10, 4x8, 5x5 with controlled rest periods, or some other kind of higher rep work. The other lifts will also get higher rep work but slightly less overall volume. Lifts might change every now and then as well and rest between sets will be shorter. Moreover, I may begin to include some DE work here as things move forward.

As an intermediate, the idea here is to see some form of weekly progress. Thinking in terms of the Texas Model, the RE days provide the stress at the end of the week, while the weekend should provide enough rest to show improved performance at the beginning of the next week. I should see some kind of PR on both the ME and RE days; perhaps a new 3x10 or 5x5 max at the end of the week, and some kind of PR on at least one lift at the beginning of the week.

I’ll be starting out somewhere below my maxes but hope to work my way up closer to them over the next few weeks. When setting PR’s becomes tough, more variety will be introduced through different reps and lift variants, as well as back cycles. I’ll also be dieting over the next few months, so hopefully that won’t hurt strength gains too much. I’d like to lose about 8-10 lbs by Christmas.

Cheers,
Jeff

gl bro!
hope we both see success! :)

welcome to the board Jeff! nice to see a familiar "face" here :)

i'll say to the other members here that after extensive debating and/or discussions with Jeff in another forum I can honestly say he knows his shit and has had a huge impact on the positive direction my training has taken over the last year.

i'm not familiar at all with Westside programs so I can't make any comparisons but I dont see any reason your set-up wont help you reach your goals. It IS a pretty heavy weekly workload though, how long do you think you'll be able to run it before needing a deload????

and yeah dont injuries suck ass!!

btw, that's a hell of a good rowing poundage!!!

Good to see you too Riddick, Thanks for the kind words as well. There's always plenty to learn, and there seems to be quite a few well versed experienced guys and gals around here to help me out. I'm looking forward to it for sure.

I'm not sure how this set up will turn out. Starting where I am now, I can probably ramp the weight straight up for about 4 weeks before needing a formal deload. I won't be doing that this time though, so who knows. There'll be some variation and cycles running around, so I have no idea how long it'll take before I need a formal deload again. It'll definately be a learning experience for me and I'm looking forward to seeing how I can mannage things.

Just a couple of ideas of how I might fool around with things on RE Day:

1) Do 3x10 and add 5 lbs to the bar each week for three weeks. Do the next three weeks with 4x8...

2) Do 3x10, then 4x8, then 5x5 for a three week cycle, then add weight and do the same three week cycle again...

3) Do 3x10, then add a set each week until I can't complete 10 reps. Move on to another cycle.

4) Do 5x5, then add a rep to each set until I can't complete all sets. Move on to another cycle.

On ME Day, I'll probably alternate between a heavy single, triple, and maybe a heavy 5 on the main lift. The main lifts may alternate down the road as well. With the other lifts, an idea might be to start with a heavy triple and add a set each week until I can't hit three reps anymore, then start over with a heavy five.

I guess you could say I'll be deloading when I stall on one of these progression schemes. Each lift will be treated seperately though, so if the other lifts are still moving then I'll just continue with those. I'll probably take a formal deload when a few lifts stall at the same time and/or I feel I need it. I've had enough experience with fatigue now that I pretty much understand when I need some down time. This style is like nothing I've ever done before so it's hard for me to make a prediction now. We'll see how things go.

Cheers mate,
Jeff

Gday Jeff awesome to have you here!!!


Ill second Riddick on this one, Jeff knows his shit!! he is also the reason I was able to break free of the HIT rut, so if I've never said it to ya before mate THANKS alot!

I am not familiar with any Westside stuff myself, so all Ill say is good luck and Im sure youll make the changes as needed.

I might have to get my log going here aswell, and maybe we can then get on G err Riddick to put one up too ; )

Cheers HIThopper

Hey Hops,

Good to see you again too! I see you've started a journal here as well. Good stuff. It'll be great to know what you guys are up to again.

To be honest, I'm only familiar with what I've read about Westside stuff. I should say I'm definately not doing "Westside proper," as I don't have the equipment or experience myself to do it correctly. The theory it's based on seems pretty solid, and there is a wealth of very positive experience out there with it, so I thought I'd try to get some of that experience myself. It'll definately be about learning over the next little while, but I'm looking forward to it.

And thanks a lot for the "thanks" mate. I'm always glad to help in any way I can.

Cheers,
Jeff

Hello Jeff, B & G (riddick) and Hithopper

Im glad you guys have met up again after your banning from HI.net I hope your all well.
I was banned too, it turns out that Deadtrap bought the forum banned all the ex Hitters, and is now forcing his one sided views to the few remaining Hitters.:asshole:
Nevermind I doubt ill be posting my own journal on here but I will probably pop in quite regulary, and ill no doubt be picking your brains at some point if thats ok.

Jonson

PS well done on your PR's Jeff nice one!

wow, HH, Johnson, Jeff, all here, awesome!!!

lets see if we can keep from getting banned from this forum guys, lol!

btw, "B&G" is dead!, long live Riddick2112!

:biglaugh:

Well, ya'll did say you're EX-Hit'ers, and I only ban HIT'ites so we're good! :)

^^^ point

I'd assume just put all that junk behind me. My HIT-hole is 2 years gone now and we've all moved on to better things. I'm fully rehabilitated :)

Jonson, good to see you as well. Why not start a journal here mate? I've always liked being able to see what you were up to, and I'm sure you'll find quite a few knowlegeable people around here who can help you out.

Cheers,
Jeff

Hi Jeff
Last few weeks have been well busy with work and other things the training had to take a bit of a back seat, ive still been lifting but only messing around with light-medium stuff.
Ive just started back on the basic strength program and am working my way back up, when im back up to PR's again I might start a journal, thinking about it it will probably be beneficial to my training, with you,riddick,hopper here and theres bound to be other knowledgeable helpful people here.
We will have to see.

G,day Jeff.
I used HD for about a year. Thanks for helping me see the flaws in it. Mentzer was quite convincing with his one valid theory. Reading Rippetoe was the best thing i did. Ive already pre ordered the 2nd edition. I will be following your progress, I would like to try some Westside stuff in the future. Goodluck!

Yay another Aussie:biglaugh:

I thought I was the only one floating around this board!!

BTW Cant wait for the 2nd edition either!:weights:

2nd edition? is this the new rippetoe book ive heards coming out? if so where can I order it from?

Hi Marv,

Glad my harping over there helped you out. Were you a member at the other board? If so, what was you user name?


Jonson,

You can pre-order the 2nd Edition at startingstrength.com. It's an expanded version of the original with more photos, and it also includes a chapter on the most important assistance exercises as well. Would probably be a good read.

And when you're ready, start up a journal. Would be great to see how you're doing.

Cheers,
Jeff

Gday Jeff.
My user name was Marv over on the other board. Your harping was very informative. lol. Looking forward to the chapter on assistance
work. Apparently he has extended his writings on the other lifts too.

Hi Everyone,

Just a short update about what's been going on over the last three weeks.

I dropped the weight on RE days and have begun moving them back up with controlled rest periods. This has shortened my training sessions considerably, which is nice, and has improved my muscular endurance as well. It also seems to keep my metabolism running, which is helping with weight loss. On the down side, my weights are well below my former best 5x5 and I'm not getting enough high intensity work in to help drive ME days. The Squat is still moving back up as planned, but the Bench has been very tough and I'm well below my best performance there. I should have expected this, as my history tells me I need more high intensity work on the Bench to get it moving.

On RE days I'll keep the 2 minute RI's on everything except for the Bench, which will be moved to 3 minutes or more if necessary. I'll also start using 3's and 5's as the stress for the main two in order to get some more higher intensity work in. Ove time, this should help move them better.

On a postive note, all my supplementary work seems to be progressing just fine. On ME days I did set cycles on the Press, Chin, and Good Morning and was able to set volume PR's on all of them. I also set a volume and weight PR on the Close Grip Bench. Small stuff, but it's nice to know that strength is still moving upwards even if my performance on the main two is below my best right now. I'll be finishing up those cycles this week and will be beginning new cycles starting next Monday. RE days will continue as is.

Once the weights get a little heavier, I'll try to begin logging my workouts regularly. It'll make it easier for guys to throw out advice when I need it. For now there's not much to report, but by the end of the month I should be further along and your imput will be great to have.


The real battle is with the scale right now, and I seem to be doing alright there. My weight is down to 194 lbs and the caliper is hovering between 12 and 13mm, depending on the reading. At this rate I should be able to hit 190 lbs by the new year, and maybe even continue on and try to hit 10mm on the caliper as well.

This week I'll be adding 1000 cals per day to my food intake. I'll still be eating the same stuff; protien, fruit, veg, as well as oils, just in larger quantities. I'm doing this to give my metabolism a boost and to give me a mental break from the low cals. I'll do another 4 weeks afterwards.


In other semi-related news, my girlfriend and I get the keys to our house tomorrow! We've got a month to fix things up before we move in at the end of October. The house is in another city, so we'll be doing all our stuff on the weekens. As such, I should still be able to make every session during the week, but I'll probably miss Saturday's exercise for the month. Too bad really, I always like messing around on Saturday.

Take care guys,
Jeff

Gday Jeff

Seems all is going reasonably well,bench is always a toughie to get moving and I recall you saying its your worst "big lift" many a time!! Keep at it mate and enjoy the week of extra cals.

Good luck with the missus and the new house too, man your lucky if I moved house with my wife I wouldnt be able to hit the gym or even go to the bathroom until every last inch of the new house was in order and tidy, not without gettin the silent treatment anyways hahaha:biglaugh:

Cheers HIThopper

Hey Everyone,

It's been a while since I've stopped in. The last month has been pretty busy with fixing up the house and moving in a week ago. I had this past week off work, but was busy painting this, fixing that, blah blah blah. The house is not nearly finished, but it's starting to take shape. We put a new wooden floor in the two bedrooms which has really made a difference.

Since we've moved cities, I'm going to a different gym here. It's a bit of a ghetto place but the atmosphere is pretty decent. It reminds me of my old gym in Hamburg Germany. For dutch standards, it's more geared towards bodybuilder type people. They actually have TWO racks and 88 lb DB's!!! Not that I use the DB's, but that's heavy for around here. I like the place better; I can atucally use their benches and they have a pair or 1.25KG plates, which makes me very happy.

Training has been going fine. My Squat is 5kg off my best single and I should be able to pass it soon enough. My Bench is still way down, but I'm not too worried about it. I know I need to put in a lot of work on the bench to get it moving. In the meantime, I've begun doing DE work later in the week and heavy triples and/or fives at the beginning of the week as the main stressor. Supplementary work is still progressing along fine as well.

Since last updating I've done one high cal week and have just finished 4 low cal weeks. The difference in the gym was very noticeable that week. As of now, my weight is down to 190 lbs, waist to 32 5/8, and caliper to 11mm. I've reached my weight goal way early and I'm 1mm off my caliper goal. As such, I'm going to do a couple higher cal weeks and then another 4 week diet cycle to take me into the christmas break. The next two high cal weeks will correspond with a higher workload as well.

OK guys, thanks for reading.

Cheers,
Jeff

Gday Jeffo!!

Glad to hear from you mate, wishing you the best of luck with the new place.Sounds like the diet is working too mate.Ive ditched my low cals for a while to make a good run at some strength gains and try surpass my previous PRs.

All the best mate.

Hi Gents,

Since last updating I've done 2 higher cal higher volume weeks. Heavy Days went well and the extra cals helped out there. The weights felt relatively light and I was able to add a set or two to each lift without a problem. RE Days were also fine and I added a set to each lift without a hitch. It's amazing what extra cals can do.

My weight went up 4 lbs in the first week, to 194. It stayed stable the second week and according to the caliper my bodyfat stayed the same. I'll be dropping cals back down this week and will do another 4-5 weeks of lower cals to take me to the Christmas break. I hope to get my weight down to about 188 or so and my caliper reading to 10mm.

I've dropped my volume back down and have started to push the weight up. Over the next five weeks I'll be adding volume here and there on Heavy Days, while RE days will remain at 3-5 sets of 5-8 reps with controlled rest periods. This seems to be going well at the moment without hammering the calorie deprived me.

My supplementary lifts are going up as planned and I'm ready for some PR's on some of those. I repeated my Squat PR of 330 today for three singles instead of just one. The third set was moderately difficult, but the first two were a piece of cake. It was nice to do at 10+ lbs less bodyweight. I expect to hit a new half decent PR there by Christmas. The bench has actually been alright. Volume Day is moving and the DE work is getting better. I'll test a 1RM before Christmas to prepare for a bench/squat cycle in the new year.

OK, thanks for reading!

Cheers,
Jeff

Hey Gents,

Some lousy news to report. A couple weeks ago my shoulders started to show signs of overuse. They were sore most of the time and overhead movements didn't feel all too great. I decided to train only three days a week, Squatting on Monday and Friday and doing limited upper body work on Wednesday only. That seemed to do the trick, as they feel much better now.

The lousy news is that I seem to have strained my neck. My symptoms point to a pinched C6 nerve. My neck has a very limited range of motion and is very sore, the area between my shoulder blades is very sore, and mild pain shoots down my shoulders and arms, the left one especially. Upper body work is pretty much out of the question and I doubt I'll be able to supprt a barbell safely for squatting at the moment. I've got an appointment with a chiropractor for next Thursday, so I'll probably be out of action for the next couple of weeks.

On a somewhat positive note, I squatted 335 for three singles last week. It's a small 5 LB record, but it's something.

I was going to take a week off over the Christmas break to rest up for a more demanding cycle in early January. I guess I'll be taking this coming week off and then re-conditioning myself over the Christmas break instead. That is, assuming everying is in oder by then.

I should also note that I've begun doing some regular and/or reverse back extensions after Squatting. Just using my bodyweight and keeping the rest periods short. My back is feeling better now than it has since my accident happened a year ago. If it's not one thing it's another, but I'm happy to feel relatively normal in the lower back.

OK lads, thanks for reading.

Cheers,
Jeff

Hi guys,

I went in a did some lighter lifting today. I squatted, benched, and did a bit of light back and tricep work. My neck and traps between the shoulder blades didn't like it at all, especially supporting the bar during squats and the pressure on the bench. The problem is pretty much the left side, the right side being a-okay now.

I'm going to see the chiro again on Thursday and we'll see what happens there. If things don't improve relatively quickly, I may have to forget my 6 week cycle until February.

Happy Holidays to everyone!!

Cheers,
Jeff

merry christmas :)

Sorry to hear about your neck/shoulder problems Jeff, hopefully the chiropracter can get them sorted quickly.
Well done on your squat record, and have a good new year.

Regards Jonson

Hey Guys,

I saw the chiro again on Thusday morning and it was pretty interesting. By the time dinner rolled around my pain near the left shoulder blade was nearly gone. I was pretty excited about it for sure. Unfortunately I woke up the next morning and it was back, albeit in a lesser form.

I've still got some pain near the left scapula and a bit of ache down my left arm. This tells me the C6 nerve is probably not completely free yet. I'm going to see the chiro again on Wednesday, so we'll see what happens there. My neck is still stiff, but it's starting to loosen up slowly. I've got more ROM now than last week.

I did some looking around and apparently cervical strains can take months to heal sometimes. I guess this means I might be in this mess for a while. I have started doing some light exercise with my bodyweight and a few machines to keep some sort of conditioning. It feels pretty good at the moment so I'll continue with that until things get better.

Cheers,
Jeff


PS: Hey Jonson, good to hear from you again. I hope your holiday season is a good one.

He lads,

Been a while since I last updated. I saw the chiro a couple more times and the C6 nerve feels free now. I haven't got any radiating pain down the left arm anymore, so I'm happy about that. I still have some muscular problem in the trap/neck area and it's not healing on its own.

Chrio gave me the name of a good physio in the next town over. I've had the chance to see him once and he worked me pretty good. It hurt, but it was a "useful hurt," if you know what I mean. The guy is a 130 KG fighter who used to PL as well. When I told him my problems he said, "Yup, I've had all of them before myself. I know exactly what the problems are." That was nice to hear. Anyways, my right brachioradialis is starting to feel better and the RC is slightly better already. We haven't made it to the trap/neck area yet. He said I should see obvious improvements by session 3 or 4, so I'm glad to notice something small already. I see him again this Thursday.

Another note; I've been using a supplement called Cissus Quadrangularis. It sells under the name "Medi-Stim" here in Holland. It's gotten great reviews and lots of athletes apparently swear it's great for healing bones, tendons and ligaments. I thought it might help my brachio and RC, and perhaps that annoying ligament in my lower back, but I haven't notice anything yet and I'm half way through the therapy cycle. I'll finish this cycle then leave it and see what happens. I may or may not try another later on.

I've been testing the water a bit the last couple of weeks. I am able to Squat heavy again without feeling any pull in my trap area, which is bloody awsome. I squatted 150 KG last week, a lousy 2 KG under my PR, and I actually felt like I had about 5-10 KG to spare. I also tried DLing again, for the first time in about 6 months, and it actually felt pretty good. No problem in the lower back and my form, believe it or not, felt really tight. I only went up to 150 KG and felt I had a good amount to spare. I didn't want to push myself, for obvious reasons. The only trouble I had was grip. I'd like to train double over from now on, insted of over-under, so that will take some time to get used to. I don't want to jump back in and start pulling max weights, so we'll take 'er slow there.

I've been exercising regularly, so I'm in decent shape but weak and out of practice on the big lifts. I'll be running a Sheiko program over the next four weeks. Here's a link to it:

http://www.joeskopec.com/borisp.xls

I know you're supposed to actually test maxes before beginning, but I'm not that far along anyways so a good estimate will be just fine. I'll use the following:

Squat 160 KG
Bench 110 KG
Deadlift 170 KG

Anywhere you see Dips, I'll be doing something else of my choice that day. Deadlift day will look different. I'll begin the workout with Power Cleans, then the press work, then some kind of DL work at the end. I won't always stick to the plan for DLs, for obvious reasons. If I start to have trouble with the workload, I'll adjust maxes.

I'll be eating slightly above maintenance. I'm 197 lbs at the moment and I don't want to be too far over 200 after the deload and test. It's a 4 week program, then I'll probably deload and test at the end of week 6. After that, if physio has gone well and I feel good, I'll rev up again and run something more hypertrophy friendly before trying to lose some weight for summer. We're going to Spain this year :biggthumpup:

Cheers lads,
Jeff

good to hear all the injuries are coming to an end man :)

Good to hear your back on track Jeff, hope those injuries behave themselves.
Where abouts in spain are you going?

On the Cissus, Jeff, I have read about being a pretty strong analgesic. The stuff about it healing bones seems to be pretty legit but it's not really been "tested" for ligament, tendons..so it's just an assumption there. But if the analgesic property is so strong then be careful since masking the pain could cause you some big problems. One thing most people don't seem to get in regards to injuries is that absence of pain DOES NOT mean healing of injuries. I'm not saying you don't know that but that you can sorta see why people would swear by it just by that alone. If you were to slip them some good pain meds and tell them it was a joint healing herb...they'd swear by that as well :).

I'm not saying it won't help but just to be aware of that.

Good luck.

Hey Jeffo good to hear some good news from you mate.Your maxes are still impressive and Im sure you'll cruise past em.

I've read some cool journals on other sites about people gettin good results with sheiko programs, let us know how you go it looks interesting.

All the best Hops.

Thanks for the positive words gents. I'll be sure to let you know how the 4 weeks go.

Thanks for the heads-up Eric. I was aware of those things, but it's good that you posted them here. I should have mentioned more about the Cissus in my original post. Actually, the strong analgesic properties of the herb made me reluctant to use it in the first place, for the reasons you describe. Good that you brought it up.

We've got 3 weeks in July to mess around in Spain. I've been there before and would like to spend this time in the north east and perhaps one of the islands in the Med. I can't wait to give surfing in San Sebastian another go!

Cheers,
Jeff

That sounds AWESOME. I was in Spain for 6 weeks this summer. I was kind of based in Madrid, but got to go everywhere. Towards the end of the trip I went to Asturias and fished in Mieres (near Oviedo). I want to go back and rent a car...that would have made it so much better. It's worth it IMO if you're going to be traveling around a lot. You don't save that much money by taking trains, buses etc. San Sebastian is beautiful. Will you be around Pamplona for La Fiesta de San Fermin?

Glad to hear things are getting back on track. Take care of yourself and enjoy Spain!! :)

Thanks Widdow.

Ross,

Sounds like it was a good time. I agree; if you want to do lots of smaller trips around to smaller places, renting a car is the only way to go. I spent about 5 weeks in Spain and Portugal a few years back but only went to larger, more visited places like Madrid, San Seb, Barca, Sevilla, and the likes. A car wasn't necessary.

This time around we're thinking of spending about a week in San Sebastian and Bilbao, then a week around Barcelona, then our last week on the islands somewhere. We may rent a car from San Seb and take a few days to get down to Barca. We then might rent a car for a few days on the island as well. We're really looking forward to it. I've spent a total of 9 months traveling in Europe over a 2 1/2 year period and loved every second of it. My missus hasn't been to that many places, so she's excited as well.

I don't we'll be in the area at the time of San Fermin. Even if we were, I don't think I'd be allowed to take part in the festivities. :biglaugh: I didn't go when I was in Spain the first time either. Did you? I met a few guys who'd gone the year before. They all said it was "fun" but "deadly." Everyone gets pissed, doesn't sleep, then gets courageous and runs around with massive angry bulls. One of the guys got tossed and said he was thinking about what he should do with his second chance at life lol!

Later,
Jeff

Haha. Yeah, I think that San Fermin is more about the other "festivities" than anything. I was there during the summer for a day. No where to stay, so we got sleeping bags which is common. I was very badly hung over from a 4 day long drinking binge. I slept in some woods at night and got soaked because it rained. Got up the next morning and didn't get to the street until 7:45. The bulls run at 8:00. It was packed...for all that, I never saw a bull. I didn't "run" with the bulls either though. I heard too many jokes about Americans dying.

The topless beach in Barca was the highlight of my trip. :biglaugh: Spanish women are beautiful...although that might be awkward with the missus. It would be an awesome drive from San Sebastian to Barca. I just hated the bus because some of the coolest stuff I saw was from the bus windows and I couldn't stop to enjoy it.

I never got to go to the islands. I am going to stop there the next time I go to Spain. Enough reminiscing..I'm getting home sick. Enjoy the Mahou! :beerchug: Buen viaje! :)

Yeah, Spain is a great place to discover. Every place on the planet has its highlights, and they're almost always off the beaten path. I'm sure I'll enjoy round two of tapas, fiestas, and the odd topless beach :)

Cheers Ross,
Jeff

Hi fellas,


Well, the four week program has come to an end. It was an interesting experience to train in such a prescribed and controlled way. This is really the first time I'd traine based on percentages, and it was very interesting to note how difficult things "felt."


I basically ran the program as written. I ended up following the DL stuff to the letter, and included the Dips as well. I ended up changing a few things though:

a) I never did the GM's, opting for back extensions instead. Sheiko GM's are not Westide GM's, but more of a light accessory exercise. The various back extensions were fine and they seem to do more for my back health than GM's.

b) I always did a press instead of a behind the neck press. I've never liked behind the neck presses, so screw 'em. I always cleaned the weight before pressing.

c) I always chose DB presses on a slight incline instead of flat presses or flies. I kept time and rested 60 seconds the first two weeks, and 90 seconds the last two weeks. I hit failure a few times, and just did more sets until I got my 50 reps.

Other than those things above, I followed the plan as written. It felt like a lot of work in the big three. I was benching almost every training day, and I felt like I was squatting a lot too. The repeats made squat days feel like the whole workout was just squats. The DL days didn't feel like this, because the program called for the regular deadlift and three variations. That broke up the monotony and was very much appreciated.


I've got a few things to mention about my experience with the program, so I'll just lay them out in no particular order.

1) The weights never felt all that heavy at all, especially on the Bench Press. Obviously, 85% for 2 reps is not that tough, but I expected to be more fatigued near the end of the cycle and for the weights to feel somewhat heavier. I never felt like it was going to be diffuclut to complete a set. This is interesting to me, as it means I've always trained closer to failure than the soviet OLY / PL coach recommends.

2) I always lifted explosively, which made the sets more difficult than they were on paper. I normally rested 90-120 seconds between heavier sets.

3) Despite the weight never feeling that heavy, there was a lot of tonnage per session. Most sessions took me about 90 minutes, a couple stretched to almost 2 hours, and each session was dominated by squats and bench presses, or deadlifts and bench presses. The sessions did tire me out, but it was a different tired than what results from higher intensities.

4) The first week and a half left me pretty sore, but after that DOMS was no longer an issue. The last two weeks didn't result in any soreness whatsoever.

5) There's lots of practice at weights that are only moderately heavy. This give you a lot of time to practice the lifts and work on your technique. I feel that my bench and deadlift technique have tightened up somewhat after completing this.

6) You get some funny looks and odd questions from the musclerag BBers in the gym. Especially if they notice that you've got back to the bench or squat rack for a second round, or that you've benched two days in a row.


I'm going to deload and then try to peak. I'll take this week easy, maybe do some light lifting and some easy cardio a couple of days, then I'll try to peak over a two weeks timeframe. I haven't written anything out yet, but when I do I'll post it and see what you guys think. I've got some ideas of what to do, but I've never planned a peak so it'd be good to have some input from other people with more experience than me here.

One last note; my weight increased to 201 lbs in the first two weeks, then it stabalized. I'd like to get back down to 198 lbs before I max out in a few weeks.

One last last note; I've pretty much stopped with the Cissus. I've got a handfull of capsuls left, but since I hadn't really noticed any effects from it I just stopped thinking about it. Maybe it does great things for healing bones, but it didn't seem to help me out with my issues. The physio visits I've had do seem to have helped to a decent degree, so that's a positive.

OK, thanks for reading,
Jeff