Friday April 13th, 2012

BW: 216.6lb

Squats
bar x 8
135lb x 5
175lb x 5
215lb x 3

265lb x 5
300lb x 3
335lb x 1(+3)


Squats
135lb,185lb - 2x10

...superset with...

BB Bicep Curls
65lb - 3x10

Thoughts

Awesome squat day. Big PR for me. I was hoping for 3 reps because that would sort of go along with my recent trend of squatting but I grrrriiiinnnnnddddeeedddd out a 4th.

I was going to hit the 5x10 harder but my back started to spasm so I called it quits.

IW

Monday April 16th, 2012

Grip Work

Trainer - 3x10
CoC #1 - 2x5
CoC #1.5 - 1x3
Coc #2 - RH:10 LH: 3 attempts
Coc #1.5 - RH:10 LH: 7


Thoughts

Had a great day ... but only for my right hand. I dunno what happened with my left but it just felt awkward and I couldn't quite close it. Strange. Maybe I need a little bit more warm up. I kind of tried a keep it simple method today and reduced my warm up sets/reps.

IW

Monday April 16th, 2012

Conditioning


Rowing - Intervals
3 minute warm up
6 cycles of 30second sprint/1min slow
3 minute cool down


Thoughts

Well I decided it's been too long since I've done any cardio... I also decided that the best way to go about doing cardio for a guy concerned with maintaining as much muscle mass as possible is to do interval training and one that trains the largest muscle groups possible to simulate weight training more closely ... aka rowing.

I bought myself a cheap rowing machine from sears that seems to do the trick. It's just a fan style machine so it's a bit loud when I get it all wound up but just have to crank the music a bit louder. ha

I could have just used the rowers at the gym but I never feel like doing cardio right after weights and I didn't want to make more trips to the gym than I already do so I'd feel like I live there ... so this seemed like a good compromise.

I also did a session on Sunday that I forgot to record that was the same as this.

My plan is to row on Wednesday and at least 1 (or both) of the weekend days.

Hopefully it was a worthy investment. So far I'm pleased with it.

IW

i dont like to interfere with your journal but its the only way i get your attention, okay so after a few month training iv decided the powertec workbench isnt working or its just not my best option,i have deffinatly built a considerate amount mucle but i feel not to my full potential, the whole leverage movement feels unatural, so iv sold that and purchased a powertec power rack which provides all free weight exercises for me, not put it to test yet but i was thinking of doing the workout A workout B ruitein like this > WORKOUT A Squats 2x5 low 3x5 moderate 5x5 max
bench press 2x5 low 3x5 moderate 5x5 max
incline DB bench press 2x5 low 3x5 moderate 5x5 max
barbell rows 2x5 low 3x5 moderate 5x5 max
pull ups AMAP
WORKOUT B Squats 2x5 low 3x5 moderate 5x5 max
overhead press 2x5 low 3x5 moderate 5x5 max
deadlift 1x5
dumbell lateral raise 2x5 low 3x5 moderate 5x5 max
what do you think ?
im not sure the sets are to praportion could you advise please :) thanks

Not sure what you're getting at with your "low/moderate/max"? Are you really going to do 10 sets?

Are you talking about warmup and acclimation sets as well?

Free weights is definitely the way to go by the way. I assumed you were using free weights already actually ....

IW

Tuesday April 17th, 2012

Deload Week

BW: 219.2lb

Bench Press
bar x 8
115lb x 5
135lb x 5
165lb x 5
215lb x 5


Deadlifts
90kg x 5
110kg x 5
130kg x 5
150kg x 5


Pull Ups
bw - 2x8,5


Thoughts

My weight is crazy right now. Not too sure what's going on.

IW

yeah i dont quite understand what to do, i feel realy dumb sayin this but i thaught building up to my max weight was the "warm up",
i havnt tried anythin yet what do you think i should do with my sets and how should i warm up,
im putting alot of effort in and would like to no that i am training correctly so please feel free to alter the ruteine to perfection
iv read so many different ways of training im confusing my self,

For my bench I know my max is right around 275lb. So lets use that as an example.

My 5 rep max is right around 240lb currently (~87% of my max)
Obivously I wouldn't be able to a 5x5 of 240lb or even a 3x5 so I would have to use that figure to get my starting point of a 3x5 or 5x5. I would guess that good starting point for me would be like 205lb (~75% of my max) for a 5x5 and maybe 215lb (almost 80% of my max) for a 3x5... you have to have room to add weight after you start.

For warmups I would do something like:

Use the bar to stretch out for maybe 10 reps then...

115lb x 5 (~40% of my max)
135lb x 5 (~50% of my max)
165lb x 3 (~60% of my max)

Then I might hit 1 acclimation set

185lb x 1 or 2 (~67% of my max) (I might change this to 195lb x 1 (70%) if I were doing a 3x5 ...but it doesn't matter *that* much.

Then start into your 3x5 or 5x5.

The whole idea is to get the blood flowing in your muscles, get them acclimated to the weight, and get your mind into the "zone" of lifting *without* burning out your muscles. The warm up should not be difficult and the acclimation sets should go up smoothly as well.

So if you know what your max for any lift is (or at least close) you can follow a similar system to determine roughly how to warm up/acclimate.

IW

yeah man sweet that's actually pretty simple and makes sense so thanks for that

No problem. Let me know how it goes.

IW