19 Feb 2014
Weight: 190.0 lbs
I've never been this heavy before. 190lbs is certainly a sight to see on the scale. Good? Bad? I'm not sure yet.
Squats: 3x5xBar + 5x135 + 4x155 + 3x175 + 2x195 + 1x215 + 5x235 + 5x115
Had some bit of forward lean on the last 2 reps of the top set. I was trying not to look straight ahead as it would have put my neck in an awkward position relative to my body. Instead, I tried to focus lower on the wall in front of me. Most squatters tend to look up to keep their chest up- I used to do this as well. However, this put my neck in a bad position. With this in mind, keeping my neck in line with my spine proved to have been difficult in trying to maintain my chest and torso upright. More core is definitely engaged when I position my neck this way.
Seated Plate Raises: 3x10x25
Seated Lateral Raise: *3x6x15
*Seated DB Shrug + Clean + Half Press: 3x6x15
15 pounders were pretty grueling. Took about 1 to 1.5 min. rests after the 2nd set. Paused briefly between the lateral raises and shrug-clean-half presses to give myself a brief momentto get over some of the fatigue build up.
Deadlift: 5x135 + 3x165 + 2x185 + 1x205 + 1x25 + 5x250
Used the belt on the top set. Alternating grip. All the sets felt much better than before. Definitely didn't feel as though I was rounding as much. No significant lower back pain after the reps, so that's good news. One thing I'm not too happy about is banging my knees up on the ascent and descent. I'm trying to keep the bar close to my body, but at the same trying not to slide the bar down my leg. I used a stance an inch narrower on each side and moved my arms closer in to keep them perpendicular to the floor. I think this certainly helped so I will make sure to remember this cue when deadlifting next B session.
Accessories:
**Incline Bench: 3x5xBar + 3x8x85
**DB Rows: 3x8x50
Chin-ups: 3/1/1
Incline DB: 3x8x45
Did similar push and pull accessories for today. I think I may swap a few of these for some more shoulder accessories and perhaps some low back strengthening.
*Core:
*Elbow plank: 1min. 10 sec.
Tough doing these today, whole body was a shaking.
14 Feb 2014
Weight: 185.4 lbs
Found a nice little gem yesterday. It's a remix, by C. Justice, of Destiny's Child's classic, "Say My Name". Absolutely addicting bassline.
https://soundcloud.com/chrisjustice/i-kind-of-love-you-unfinished
Squats: 3x5xBar + 5x145 + 3x165 + 2x185 + 2x205 + 5x230
Still going strong on the squat. Had to expel a maybe not so little grunt on the 4th rep of the top set. I've tried controlling these more, but usually my grunts are short and emotionally driven. When I feel that I must complete a rep and I'm pretty much feeling near or at empty in the tank, my mind shifts gears very quickly, almost like...flooring the gas pedal. At that brief moment, I'm trying to exert as much contraction as I possibly can and squeezing my core to get that bar up.
Bench: 3x10xBar + 5x80 + 3x100 + 1x120 + 5x5x140
These weren't bad today. My grip was a bit different. Middle finger was on the knurling. Not too wide, not too narrow. The main focus was to keep the bar at the base of my palms. In addition, made sure to keep the scapula contracted and prevent it from separating and losing contraction throughout the entire set. This really helped with removing the load off my shoulders. Still doing 5 sets across of 5 reps with these. Definitely think the added dips and incline bench accessories are helping tremendously with maintaining the weight progression on the bench.
Rows: 5x85 + 3x105 + 1x135 + 3x5x150
Messed up on the grip a bit today. My previous A workout, I noted that I had used a wider grip, 1-2 inches outside of the knurling. Made the mistake of putting the index finger on the knurling. Wider grip felt easier. Stayed with 3 sets as I was using my back. I was lifting my chest a lot, messy form, not very strict.
Accessories:
DB Incline: 10x50
DB Rows: 3x8x55
Dips: 8/8/8/2
DB Incline was pretty easy, but I only did 1 set. I will make sure to remember to do an additional two next time around. Made sure to exchange 1 pressing movement with 1 pulling movement. So, after DB incline, I did some DB rows, going up from last time, 50 -> 55 lbs. My left arm rows were more difficult than the right side. After this, I went on to do some dips. Definitely did quite a bit better than last A session. I will stay with 3 sets of 8 and increase rep count for each set by 1, workout to workout until I stall. I'll continue progressing the dips until I can do 3 sets of 15 at which time I'll add weights and drop back down to 8 reps and continue the progression with weights instead of reps.
*Core:
*Elbow planks: 1min. 5sec. + 30sec.
Was a bit more fatigued today so the burning started a bit sooner.
12 Feb 2014
Weight: 186.4 lbs
It's been more than a full year since I last lifted my near to my current poundages. Coming into today's session, I had a bit of the butterflies and anxiousness that comes with squatting my 225 lbs. Looking at my logs over the last 2-3 years, I'm definitely appreciative and happy with my current gains. I endured very taxing and completely exhaustive sessions where I was pushing myself to the very end. Those nights were ended pretty much in delirium. This time around, I'm being a bit more proactive and listening to my body a lot more. Some say that "overtraining" is a myth, some say to avoid it all costs. I personally do agree that training too hard consecutively, even between rest days, had a strong impact on recovery and my overall well-being. My motivation to go to the gym waned as I anticipated having to lift to complete exhaustion. With my history in mind, I have been approaching my strength training with a primary focus on protecting my health.
Squats: 3x5xBar + 5x145 + 3x165 + 2x185 + 1x205 + 5x225 + 8x115
Did a single set of 5 at 225 lbs. Performed a backoff set of 8 reps using close to 50% of the top work weight.
Seated Plate Raises: 3x10x25
Seated Lateral Raise: **3x6x15**
Seated DB Shrug + Clean + Half Press: 3x6x15
Increased the weight on the lateral raises as well as the shrug-clean-press from 12 to 15 lbs. It was difficult, but not terrible.
Deadlift: 5x135 + 3x165 + 2x185 + 1x205 + 1x225 + 5x245
I'm not sure how I felt about these... I narrowed my stance a bit and it felt a bit better. Getting from the knee to the lockout seems to be a struggle. I feel like my shoulders are rising at a faster rate than my lower body which is causing me to engage my lower back, round and do a good morning.
*Accessories:
*DB Rows: 3x8x50
Chin-ups: 3/2/2
Didn't really have a plan on what accessories to do today.
*Core:
*Elbow plank: 60secs + 30secs
I'm lasting much longer on these, so good news!