Strength Dedication Ambition

**Gazhole** · 05-29-2006, 01:10 PM

Right. Never done a training journal so here goes. May not use it, but at least ill use it for today.

See what happens, eh?

***

PUSH

Bench Press - 6, 6, 6, 4 @ 32.5KG DBs
Overhead Press - 8, 8 @ 45KG BB
Weighted Push Ups - 8, 8, 8 @ BW + 15KG
Flat Flys - 6, 6, 4, 3 @ 27.5KG DBs
Arnold Press - 6, 4 @ 20KG DBs
Skullcrushers - 8, 8, 8 @ 25KG TB

Bit of a weird routine today, didnt have my sheet on me, so forgot what i was supposed to be doing, so simply made a routine up on the fly.

I accidently went heavier on the DB presses because im a moron and seemingly cant add up basic numbers, but actually managed to lift it convincingly.

The problem became apparent later on in the workout, when my other exercises suffered from the fatigue brought on earlier on. Oops.

Overhead press went well, push-ups were no problem. Couldnt do dips, unfortunately, since i was training at a friends house, so went a bit heavier on those too. With pretty good results.

Flat flys went pretty badly, due to the fatigue, if it happens again ill have to take them down by a bit of weight i guess. I hate being in a rush.

Arnold presses failed on second set, so i did some lateral raises to finish off the set after a rest pause. Gotta hit everything somehow :P.

Since recently taking my ego down an notch and lowering the weight on my skullcrushers to get the form right on, i was very pleased with how they went. Only went a tad out on the last set, elbows flaring a bit etc. Definitely felt the difference good form can have.

All in all a strange mish mash of what i usually do, but it felt pretty good once i was done, everything felt like it had been hit pretty hard, and i inadvertantly got a new PR on dumbell bench, so whatever.

Right. Hungry.

**Gazhole** · 06-01-2006, 11:25 AM

PULL

Chin Ups - 4, 4, 4, 4 @ BW + 15KG
Deadlifts - 4, 4, 6, 4 @ 70KG BB
Upright Rows - 8, 8, 8, 8 @ 40KG BB
Curls - 6, 6, 6 @ 45KG BB
Bent Over Rows - 8, 8, 8 @ 65KG BB
Shrugs - 8, 8 @ 32.5KG DBs
Bench Rows - 6, 6 @ 25KG DB

Not too sure about this one either today. Either gonna take a set off curls or chins i think. By the time i got to curls my biceps were dead, i attempted (and failed) a 50KG BB Curl, but dropped down to 45KG to do my proper sets.

Not quite there yet.

Deadlifts however i was very pleased with. New PR at 70KG for 6 reps, after 2 sets at 4 reps i felt like i could do more so next week ill bump it up to 4x6 and see what happens.

Bent over rows need some work though. Form was a bit sloppy today, may have to take the weight back down to 60KG again and work on them. Sigh!

That said, my back is aching like hell right now, 20 minutes on.

This of course is a modified version of what ive been doing lately, in an effort to get rid of isolation in order to leave myself less fatigued to lift heavier on the big 3 exercises (you know what they are by now).

Worked on monday for bench, however inadvertantly, and it seems to have worked today for deads.

Next up...squats!

**Gazhole** · 06-03-2006, 06:28 AM

LEGS

Full Squats - 4, 4, 4, 4 @ 60KG BB
Lunges - 8, 8 @ 50KG BB
Hack Squats - 4, 4, 4, 4 @ 65KG BB
Good Mornings - 6, 6 @ 40KG BB
Heel Raises - 16, 16, 16, 16 @ 60KG BB

Good one today. Attempted a new PR on Full Squats, but just didnt work out. Strange how 5KG can make the difference between success and failure. Nevermind, ill try again next week.

But even though i didnt get a PR on Full Squats like i was going for, i got a PR on every single other exercise in my workout today.

No wonder i'm feeling so dead. Very pleased!

Hams got hit rather hard today, for a change, its usually all quads. Glad to get some balance between them.

The only problem is that ive noticed leg day is incredibly tough on my knees, theyve always been pretty sensitive. I remember a topic in training where somebody said about a supplement to help with joint pain, specifically the knees in that topic again.

Cant seem to find the topic, but does anybody have any ideas about this? Fish oil? I dunno. Need something though methinks.

Thats assuming anybody actually reads this but me!

Its way too hot outside today. I need some water.

**Gazhole** · 06-06-2006, 11:21 AM

PUSH

Dips - 8, 8, 8 @ BW + 15KG
Bench Press - 4, 4, 4, 4 @ 32.5KG DBs
Overhead Press - 6, 6, 6, 6 @ 50KG BB
Push Ups - 8, 8, 8 @ BW + 15KG
Flys - 4, 4, 4, 4 @ 25KG DBs
Front Raises - 6, 6 @ 20KG DB
Skullcrushers - 6, 6 @ 30KG TB

Bloody hell. My shoulders are aching like a hooker's crotch.

Chest and triceps went well, havent lifted that heavy on skullcrushers since i took it all the way down to work on my form, which was pretty tight today.

New PR for weighted dips today also, pleased with that. Kept leaning forward randomly though, which im gonna need to work on, because my chest gets hit hard enough as it is from the DB presses.

Overhead press was my only gripe today, form got really shakey near the end of the last 2 sets, little bit of body english here and there. Dissapointed because it was otherwise a solid session today.

Phew.

USN have changed their formula for Whey Protein again, and its pretty vile if i do say so myself. It smells like raw butterscotch cookie dough mixed with burnt strawberries.

Why must they change it so much?

Anyway. Excellence. Next session going for a PR on deadlift, because after last time i KNOW i can do much more for 4x4. Gonna go for 80KG.Will be one of the VERY few times ive ever lifted more than my bodyweight, certainly the heaviest weight ive ever lifted in my life.

Nuttin but a peanut.

**Gazhole** · 06-08-2006, 11:26 AM

PULL

Chin Ups - 4, 4, 4, 4 @ BW + 15KG
Deadlifts - 4, 4, 4, 4 @ 80KG BB
Upright Rows - 8, 8, 8 @ 40KG BB
Curls - 6, 6, 6 @ 45KG BB
Bent Over Rows - 8, 8, 8, 8 @ 60KG BB
Shrugs - 8, 8 @ 32.5KG DBs
Bench Rows - 6, 6 @ 30KG DB

Yeah, some improvement there. My form would have sucked on Bent Over Rows today if i hadnt have taken the weight down (though i still managed 2 more reps per set and a 4th set even though all i took off was 5KG...).

Is all down to the Deadlifts. Very chuffed with those. I still need to work on Deadlift form, i generally practice with just the bar, gonna try and do more of that. If i get my form corrected in the next few weeks, ill hopefully see even more improvement.

Thinking of switching bench rows back to one arm bent over dumbell rows again. i much prefer those to bench rows anyway.

Yeah, this entry is mostly back-related but thats because i wasnt really convinced with my bicep-focused exercises. For such a small muscle people seem to care about them WAY too much. Me included.

Chin Ups went "okay". I guess. Didnt get all the way up there, i think i was a little lazy with them today. Same with BB curl, much too much bloody body english going on. The last reps of the last set i literally threw them up so i could be done with them.

To combat this ive decided to restart this cycle again. I was gonna carry on the entire thing (next week all dropsets, week after is my still-in-progress circuit training, then back to the start), but i have to get this bicep crap sorted. Think i did one too many sets last time and fucked them up royally.

Have been doing the same weight for the last few months before i reviewed my program with no problem, just seems to have slipped away for some reason.

Fucking sigh.

In other news, ive put on one or two pounds thanks to eating a great deal of porridge oats and chicken/ham salads alternately every day. Five meals is getting easier every day. Also worked out im getting about 170G+ of protein every day, which surprised the hell out of me.

Though im still only on about 3100/3200 cals. Tops. Its working, but not fast enough. Now that my routine is pretty much (lol...) sorted now, im gonna have to pay more attention to diet.

My friends nearly flipped when they found out i was having the reccomended daily intake of 2500kcal by 2:00pm. Gotta love scaring "normals".

Anyways, im hungry as hell now, and even though my biceps (motherfuckingbastardmusclesneedtodie) arent hurting very much, my back is hurting just sitting down.

Catch you all (yes...all one of you. meaning me.) later.

**Gazhole** · 06-10-2006, 06:43 AM

LEGS

Full Squats - 4, 4, 4, 4 @ 70KG BB
Lunges - 8, 8 @ 50KG BB
Hack Squats - 6, 6, 6, 6 @ 70KG BB
Good Mornings - 6, 6 @ 40KG BB
Heel Raises - 16, 16, 16, 16 @ 60KG BB

This just gets better. Finally a new PR on full squats. God did i want that badly, i was pumped up to hell before my workout today. New squat rack worked great, and had something to do with the increase in weight, since i didnt have to worry about getting it up off my back :P.

Everything after that was that little bit tougher, but i managed to get through it (just). My grip started to give out in the last set of heel raises, so i might look at doing a little grip work to improve that. Its only because theres so many reps in those sets, but it wouldnt hurt to improve.

Not much else to say about that, was one of the best workouts ive had in ages. Certainly the best leg workout ive had...ever!

Next week gonna unload for a week or two and work back up to this intensity and see where i am at that point. Think ill see some strength gains, but we'll see what happens.

Gonna have to force myself to eat a little more in the heat aswell. I have problems when its the summer, i just cant seem to get hungry. Stupid heat.

Anyway, what i really want is a long sit down after all that...phew.

ReproMan · 06-10-2006, 09:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gazhole

LEGS

Full Squats - 4, 4, 4, 4 @ 70KG BB
Lunges - 8, 8 @ 50KG BB
Hack Squats - 6, 6, 6, 6 @ 70KG BB
Good Mornings - 6, 6 @ 40KG BB
Heel Raises - 16, 16, 16, 16 @ 60KG BB

This just gets better. Finally a new PR on full squats. God did i want that badly, i was pumped up to hell before my workout today. New squat rack worked great, and had something to do with the increase in weight, since i didnt have to worry about getting it up off my back :P.

Everything after that was that little bit tougher, but i managed to get through it (just). My grip started to give out in the last set of heel raises, so i might look at doing a little grip work to improve that. Its only because theres so many reps in those sets, but it wouldnt hurt to improve.

Not much else to say about that, was one of the best workouts ive had in ages. Certainly the best leg workout ive had...ever!

Next week gonna unload for a week or two and work back up to this intensity and see where i am at that point. Think ill see some strength gains, but we'll see what happens.

Gonna have to force myself to eat a little more in the heat aswell. I have problems when its the summer, i just cant seem to get hungry. Stupid heat.

Anyway, what i really want is a long sit down after all that...phew.

Congrats on the Squat PR. Seems like we have similar goals. I dropped volume, and increased intensity and frequency just in the last week. Keep up the good work!

**Gazhole** · 06-10-2006, 10:23 AM

Cheers dude! Im feeling the PR now (ouch.) but damn it was worth it.

I like to vary the volume and intensity, keeps things interesting. Ill do a week of low intensity + high volume, then a week of stuff thats mostly for hypertrophy (sort of a middle ground between the previous week and the next bit...), and then 2 weeks of high intensity + low volume to finish off the month before i unload again.

*Shrugs*.

Guessing your goals are focused around strength atm?

ReproMan · 06-10-2006, 11:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gazhole

Guessing your goals are focused around strength atm?

Exactly, for 9 months I was in the 8-12 reps range on everything. Like you said, gotta switch it up.

**Gazhole** · 06-10-2006, 11:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FatCatMC

Exactly, for 9 months I was in the 8-12 reps range on everything. Like you said, gotta switch it up.

Hey, we've all been there. I just get bored after doing too much of the same thing.

**Gazhole** · 06-13-2006, 11:22 AM

PUSH

Dips - 12, 12, 12 @ BW + 10KG
Bench Press - 8, 8, 8, 6 @ 27.5KG DBs
Overhead Press - 10, 10, 10, 8 @ 40KG BB
Push Ups - 12, 11, 11 @ BW + 10KG
Flys - 8, 6, 7, 4 @ 20KG DBs
Skullcrushers - 10, 10 @ 20KG TB

Hmmm. Crappy today. After an excellent leg workout only a few days ago, my push went to shit today.

No connection, but still annoying.

Was dropping way too many reps, and i was too exhausted to do front raises at all. I also wanted to keep the duration of the workout down, it was pushing just over the hour, and since front raises arent my most critical exercise...

Bad points? Are obvious. Dropped a lot of reps, flys in particular were atrocious, form went out (again) on OH presses, and i cut out an exercise entirely.

Good points? Dips and skullcrushers went really well, and i figured out that i should take the weight down a little (especially on OH press) untill im comfortable working out at this rep range.

So wasnt all bad i suppose, still on a learning curve on what i can and cant handle, and im still progressing.

Onwards and upwards!

ReproMan · 06-14-2006, 10:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gazhole

PUSH

Dips - 12, 12, 12 @ BW + 10KG
Bench Press - 8, 8, 8, 6 @ 27.5KG DBs
Overhead Press - 10, 10, 10, 8 @ 40KG BB
Push Ups - 12, 11, 11 @ BW + 10KG
Flys - 8, 6, 7, 4 @ 20KG DBs
Skullcrushers - 10, 10 @ 20KG TB

Hmmm. Crappy today. After an excellent leg workout only a few days ago, my push went to shit today.

No connection, but still annoying.

Was dropping way too many reps, and i was too exhausted to do front raises at all. I also wanted to keep the duration of the workout down, it was pushing just over the hour, and since front raises arent my most critical exercise...

Bad points? Are obvious. Dropped a lot of reps, flys in particular were atrocious, form went out (again) on OH presses, and i cut out an exercise entirely.

Good points? Dips and skullcrushers went really well, and i figured out that i should take the weight down a little (especially on OH press) untill im comfortable working out at this rep range.

So wasnt all bad i suppose, still on a learning curve on what i can and cant handle, and im still progressing.

Onwards and upwards!

Hmmm, perhaps you were subconciously cutting rest intervals down trying to get out of the gym quicker, hence the dropped reps? Still looks good to me man, Keep up the good work!

**Gazhole** · 06-14-2006, 04:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FatCatMC

Hmmm, perhaps you were subconciously cutting rest intervals down trying to get out of the gym quicker, hence the dropped reps? Still looks good to me man, Keep up the good work!

Quite possible. Lol. The dropped reps probably arent as important as i made out, i just hate dropping reps. I suppose if the muscles literally couldnt get the weight up there they must have been worked pretty hard, eh?

Still, the flys really took the biscuit :P. Half set? Pff! Ridiculous.

Pull tomorrow, im gonna be pumping myself up all afternoon so i dont repeat yesterday.

Hows your training going anyway? *pops over to journal...*

**Gazhole** · 06-15-2006, 11:37 AM

PULL

Chin Ups - 8, 8, 8 @ BW + 10KG
Deadlifts - 8, 8, 8, 8 @ 70KG BB
Upright Rows - 12, 12, 10 @ 30KG BB
Curls - 10, 8, 8 @ 35KG BB
Bent Over Rows - 12, 12, 12, 12 @ 50KG BB
Shrugs - 12, 12 @ 55KG BB

Was exhausted after this so i cut out the bench rows. Though in retrospect (and what ill be doing from now on!) i'll be cutting out the upright rows. Theyre a crappy exercise.

Other than that, even though i dropped a few reps again it wasnt as many as PUSH this week, not to mention everything else went pretty well. Im pretty knackered now, and had to fight back nausea by the time i got to the third set of bent over rows.

Deadlifts were once again a highpoint for me, considering i was lifting the same weight in my strength week for half the reps as i did today. And this is my lightest week. Pretty decent improvement there, so im happy.

Biceps went surprisingly well. Still dropped reps, but better that then let my form go out of whack and get hurt or something.

Yeah, this rep range still needs a bit of work, maybe ill take the sets down on this week, because im running out of time often anyway. Ill have to look into that.

Hmmmm.

**Gazhole** · 06-17-2006, 07:13 AM

LEGS

Full Squats - 8, 8, 8, 8 @ 60KG BB
Lunges - 12, 12 @ 40KG BB
Hack Squats - 10, 10, 10 @ 60KG BB
Good Mornings - 10, 10, 10 @ 30KG BB
Heel Raises - 20, 20, 20, 20 @ 50KG BB

Took a set off the Hacks because me knees are taking too much of a battering. Should give them at least a little respite. Added another set to Good Mornings to compensate, so my hams are feeling a bit tender right now :P.

All in all, went pretty good today. Legs is fast becoming my favourite day for some reason.

Squats went particularly well, tried to get even lower than usual and hold for a moment with each rep, which really hurt after a while, but it was teh good kind of hurt.

Lunges were really the only thing that i wasnt happy with today. May substitute them for step-ups again for a little while if i can find something to step up onto.

And the best part - i didnt drop any reps!

Hoorah!

ReproMan · 06-19-2006, 06:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gazhole

LEGS

Full Squats - 8, 8, 8, 8 @ 60KG BB
Lunges - 12, 12 @ 40KG BB
Hack Squats - 10, 10, 10 @ 60KG BB
Good Mornings - 10, 10, 10 @ 30KG BB
Heel Raises - 20, 20, 20, 20 @ 50KG BB

Took a set off the Hacks because me knees are taking too much of a battering. Should give them at least a little respite. Added another set to Good Mornings to compensate, so my hams are feeling a bit tender right now :P.

All in all, went pretty good today. Legs is fast becoming my favourite day for some reason.

Squats went particularly well, tried to get even lower than usual and hold for a moment with each rep, which really hurt after a while, but it was teh good kind of hurt.

Lunges were really the only thing that i wasnt happy with today. May substitute them for step-ups again for a little while if i can find something to step up onto.

And the best part - i didnt drop any reps!

Hoorah!

Way to go, good lookin workout. I always find it tough on my pride to drop sets, but it always seems my body knows best. For the first couple months of my training I did very little leg training. Once I started hitting them hard I noticed my upper body started blowing up faster. You're lucky you enjoy training legs, ride that wave all the way!