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Fall '07 - Upper 2, Week 24

Overall Impression:

ok i have some stuff i have to go over.

a few weeks before i left mumbai to come back to school here in the states. i weighed in at 185 lbs. this is around 8-10 weeks ago. so today i went and weighed myself again. and i measured myself in the morning.

here's what i used to be 8-10 weeks ago:
Arms = 15
Chest = 41.5
Waist = 37
Thighs = 24
Calves = 13.5

and right now this is where i am at:
Arms = 15
Chest = 43
Waist = 36
Thighs = 23
Calves = 15

but here's the shocking part: i used to weigh 185 before. now i weight a fucking 177! how the fuck does that happen? im trying to reach 200 and i just got set back by 10 lbs lol....i hate this....

the only plus point in all this is that i look soooo much better now than when i was at 185. im looking leaner and way more muscular. while thats cool im still trying to figure out how i lost so much weight. i have a few ideas:

1.) my diet went to crap in terms of volume of food consumed around 4 weeks ago. but i managed to get all my protein though.

2.) i fell sick and lost weight

3.) since i took my weight atleast 10 weeks ago, the regular cardio ive been doing 3x a week could be paying off.

4.) i just shed a shitload of muscle.

i dont know which it is but im gaining strength on most of my lifts. its just that i feel weak now that im at 177. its all mental i know...but fuck....going from 185 to 177 isnt funny.

anyways, enough whining...time to talk about lifts:

Military Press = many sets

i didnt feel very good doing presses today. i dunno why. a shitty start to a good workout though. here's what i did:
Set 1 = 6 reps x 130 lbs
Set 2 = 5 reps x 130 lbs *breathing incorrectly fucked up my form*
Set 3 = 5 reps x 130 lbs *breathed incorrectly again*
Set 4 = 3 reps x 135 lbs *got frustrated so decided to do some non-failure training for 1 set*
i wish i had just stuck to my required 130 for 4x6 volume but when the second and third sets went bad i got pissed. i was really breathing incorrectly. i completely lost my groove. and this lift is supposed to be my favourite!

Pull-ups = 6 sets x 4 reps x BW

these felt awesome!

Flat Dumbbell Unilateral Press = 3 sets x 12 reps x 45 lbs

this is a new PR i think. it felt great.

Dumbbell Rows = 2 sets x 3 reps x 70 lbs

i wanted to do some pulling movement and thought this might be good but then i got scared that ill tweak my back again so i went very conservative with the weight and i also did just 2 very very light sets. but the two sets felt pretty good

Leaving Thoughts:

im going to make it a point to eat more food. i know im getting all my protein per day and more or less my diet has been good so far. on the whole however i think this was a good workout.

anyways, i hope everyone had a good week. thanks for reading guys. i hope y'all have a good weekend and those of u who are my facebook friends are gonna see some sweet pics of this coming weekend

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The main thing to look for on the dumbell rows besides keeping the weights low right now is to not trun it into a rotation. That will be more likely to hurt your lower back. In other words don't twist you toros upwards to help get the ROM. Keep the torso rigid and locked into a neutral position and make it all about the mid back.

I suspect that your breathing problems on the MP's has as much to do with your breathing being restricted in that position. Perhaps flexibility plays a role in this. I also wonder how much of this is psychological since you are pre-occupied with your breathing.

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If you act sanctimonious I will just list out your logical fallacies until you get pissed off and spew blasphemous remarks.

Never mind I think maybe some form points on MP's may help. When I watched the vid before I got fixated on the fact that one arm was forward of the other so I wasn't paying proper attention.

The main problem is that at the starting position your elbows are either under or behind the bar. This will never do. You need to get your eblows in front of the bar. What is happening is that you are fighting to keep the bar from floating forward. You or overcompensating by overextending your back also. Overextending the back with a heavy load overhead will likely be the biggest problem you are having and will likely may you feel unstable and restrict the breathing.

Always take a moment to make sure your elbows are in front of the bar. Don't extend your back. Pinch you butt in so that you are using your hips to set the back.

You have your head back nearly the whole time. This won't help your breathing either. Keep your neck as neutral as possible. You bring it back slightly to clear the bar and then back to neutral. Don't look up toward the bar as you press it up. Not good to do at all.

This should make you stronger.

My suggestion is to work on form with small sets not to exhaustion. You know what you just did with that set of 135? Well that is exactly the way to go. You can use the 130 or more like 135. Do as many sets of doubles or triples as you want to giving yourself as much rest as need in between to ensure that you can keep to and practice these form points without losing it from coming near to failure. This will not only allow you to practice form but you will also be able to lift the weight a whole bunch of times so that will be good as well. If anything it will make you feel good. Don't worry about time. Rest in between sets for as short or as long a period as needed. You can likely use more weight and still practice you form but if more weight doesn't allow it then don't use it.

This will be good for you.

ok, sir. i actually do something like this. i dont twist my torso and i like it to affect my mid back the most. but ill be more conscious of this next time.

its probably a psychological thing. i rely a lot on being "tight" throughout the lift. and i keep myself tight when i have my stomach filled with air. so if im not "tight" i get scared and that affects my lift right away. and this kept happening because i wasnt taking my first big deep breath which i rely on to keep my form right.

also, i have stopped doing the arm bent thingy. i think the main reason u see the bar as being tilted is because:
1.) i keep my left or right arm slightly ahead of me (i dunno why)
2.) i dont always lockout evenly.

but, ive been avoiding this. ill take a vid next time.

cool. ill do this. thanks for the form critique. ill make sure i keep my elbows out. so far i always focus on keeping my elbows as close to my body as possible. so its not like ive been making a mistake unintentionally but its more like ive been trying to do the opposite thing which is wrong.

ok this is awesome! thanks, Eric.

Fall '07 - Lower 2, Week 25

Overall Impression:

diet has improved a lot. im eating plenty of good food. what i do need to eat more is fruits and veggies. my short term goal is to get to 10-12% bf.

Squats

free hand x 25
bar x 20
135x8
185x6
205x5
225x1
- i called it a day after 225. something didnt feel right and i didnt want to push myself unnecessarily.

Pull Throughs = 4 sets x 8 reps x 60 lbs

i strained my back again while doing these because my grip slipped and i yanked my torso up and strained my back. its a really sad accident. damnit. i dont think its very bad but i wont know for sure till i wake up tomorrow. if its hurt again im going to be really pissed.

Shoulder Rehab Stuff

i havent been doing this off late so i did some shoulder rehab exercises.

Ab Circuits

i did 2 supersets. one involved static ab work and the other involved a movement. i dont know what the names are though....

Leaving Thoughts:

i hope to god this hasnt re-injured me.

i hope y'all are having a good time. mondays always suck lol...

LOL fucking Mondayitis!!

Only cure for it is a big protein shake and the love of a good woman

big protein shake.....check

love of a good woman.....double check

im good to go then

Fall '07 - Upper 1, Week 25

Overall Impression:

wierd workout...

Bench Press = 2 sets x 2 reps x 190 lbs

something just didnt feel right to me. i did my warm-ups and right from the start i knew something wasnt right. my body didnt feel right and i was moving the bar way too slowly. even 135 lbs felt like a ton. so i did a little shoulder rehab workout just to warm up the muscles and then continued my warm-ups but to no avail. so i was supposed to do 10 sets of 3 reps with 190..i mean, ive gotten 10x3x185 twice now but i couldnt do the 3rd rep on both sets with 190. ever since ive fallen sick my strength levels have plummetted on the bench press. all my other exercises are improving. this is the second workout in a row where my bench has become considerably weaker. im not very happy about this.

Seated Unilateral Shoulder Press = 3 sets x 7 reps x 50 lbs

wow. 50 lbs is a milestone lol. this was very easy though. i was conservative on this. next time ill try 3x8 or 3x9. most likely 3x9.

High Cable Rows = 4 sets x 8 reps x 140 lbs

i attached the v-bar onto the lat pulldown machine at the top and did my rows where my back was roughly 15-30 degrees from the floor. it felt good. light and easy. next time ill try for 4x10.

Unilateral Low Pulley Rows = 2 sets x 12 reps x 32.5 lbs

this was a sort of new exercise for me and it was pretty good. i think 32.5 was a fairly decent weight. 37.5 would have been a bit too tough i think.

Facepulls = 3 sets x 12 reps x 90 lbs, 1 set x 8 reps x 100 lbs

these felt awesome! my traps should hopefully get huge doing these lol.

Leaving Thoughts:

im not sure why my bench press is getting weaker. maybe i need a break from benching. maybe not. lets see.

only 2 more days before the weekend. happy halloween everyone!!!

Eric, sir, im afraid that if i send u these next 2 questions via a pm im going to completely clog up ur inbox. so please forgive me for posting this in the open forum.

ok, here are my 2 questions:

1.) was my workout ok? have i utilized enough rowing exercises? next week can i do the same exercise selection for back exercises except i want to substitute hammer strength rows for unilateral rows. what do u think? is that ok? if not, ill stick to uni pulley rows.

2.) sir, my bench has sucked 2 sessions in a row. im getting mentally bored of the bench press. all through this injury of mine i've stuck to the bench press and kept to my upper body workouts more or less. do u think its time to switch out bench presses for a few weeks? maybe focus on something different like clean and press? or inclines? or do u think i should just stick to flat bench presses for a while???

I hear ya bro, my bench does this aswell, all of a sudden it just starts to feel heavy and I need a couple workouts to get going again.BTW you have made excellent progress poundage wise with the bench, your previous 3rm for 10 sets is great work.