16 Dec 2013
Weight: ??
Duration: 12:09pm - 1:47pm ~ 1:38 min.
That ego. Trying to impress a non-existent audience.
Squats: 3x5xBar + 5x85 + 3x105 + 3x115 + 5x5x135
Jumped to 135 lbs, 45 lb plates. These got me breathing nice and deep, especially the last 2 sets. Tweaked the right shoulder a bit when getting in position, so one of the sets was done in a bit of pain. The bar placement felt a bit unbalanced at times. Felt like I was working my left upper back more than my right upper back.
Bench: 3x5xBar + 5x65 + 5x5x85
These felt a bit inconsistent. Still benching with right dominance, right arm is burning more and working harder. More specifically, my right triceps are failing sooner. Moreover, my right anterior delts are not liking these pressing movements at all. It's a bit bothersome.
Read into this article a bit to see if I could correct my technique: Bench Pressing Cues
Rows: 5x65** + **5x5x100
These felt heavier in the later sets of the work weight. Read in an article when perusing about for bench technique aid that the negative (lowering the weight) shouldn't be just dropping the weight like in a deadlift. The negative is just as important as the positive. I'll have to take note of this the next time I pull some rows.
Accessories:
Preacher *BB *Curls: 10x40
Incline DB Press: 10x30
Standing BB Curl: 10x40
Incline Bench Press: 5x65 + 5x85
Seated DB Curls: 10x25
DB Bench Press: 10x30
Second set of incline bench press nearly failed on last rep. Right triceps were already spent from right dominant benching and the dumbbell bench pressing.
Just double checked the weights I was supposed to do today and...looks like I jumped a week ahead. Explains a lot of things!
13 Dec 2013
Weight: 178.0 lbs
Changing up the posting format...again! The wall of text doesn't look very appealing to me when I flip back through my posts, so I'm going to break it up by exercises.
Duration: 11:03 - 12:07
Squats: 3x5xBar + 5x55 + 3x75 + 2x95 + 5x5x115
Squats were great today. My shoulder cooperated a little bit better. I made it a point to bang through the empty bar and warm-up ramp sets. The warm-up sets should be done fairly quickly and the time between sets should only be time to increase weights and add/remove plates. I think the shoulder was feeling much better since I moved the bar up a bit, pretty much high bar and resting on the traps. Kept the elbows up to lock the bar in place, but it didn't feel great with the bar riding up towards the back of my neck. I'll have to do some more shoulder mobility work, I need to get my low bar grip back!
Seated Plate Raises: 3x10x25
Seated Lateral Raise: 3x8x12
Seated DB Shrug + Clean + Half Press: 3x8x12
Shoulder shockers were definitely exhausting. I managed to find 12lb dumbbells! I used those to increase resistance a bit on the shoulder shockers, they were getting a bit easy. Because of the nature of these exercises isolating smaller muscles and they're not really compound movements, I definitely understand getting fatigued a lot sooner. I might try some empty bar overhead presses as warm-up next time.
Deadlift: 5x115 + 3x135 + 1x145 + 5×165
Man, do I love me deadlifts. The pulls still felt pretty light. Time to video record some of these pulls to ensure my form is on point! Not looking for any herniated disks or sore lower backs. I was trying to keep the bar on my shins as much as possible. I leaned back a bit when pulling as if I was going to hurl the bar backwards over my head. I feel like this helps me engage the hamstrings more and to avoid transferring the entire load onto my low back aka back rounding.
*Accessories:
*Preacher BB Curls 10x40
Preacher EZ Bar Curls 10x40
Seated DB Curls 10x25
Tricep Rope Pulldown 15x30
Tricep Extensions 15x35
DB Fly 10x15
Doing preacher curls using a regular straight barbell was definitely different. Good different, in that it felt like it worked the biceps a bit more than using the EZ Bar. Dumbbell flies were bothering my right anterior delts on the positive. I'm going to lay off these or drop the weight on it. Other than that, the arm isolations were good.
11 Dec 2013
Squats: 3x5xBar + 5x65 + 3x75 + 3x85 + 5x5x110
Bench: 3x5xBar + 5x5x75
Rows: 3x65** + **5x5x90
Preacher **EZ Bar Curls: 10x40
**Incline DB Press: 10x30
Standing BB Curl: 10x40
DB Fly: 10×15
Seated DB Curls: 10x25
DB Bench Press: 10x25
Duration: 1.5 hours
Weight: 177.0 lbs
Good workout! Weights are still relatively light. Squats got me nervous a bit- slightly hard to stabilize the heavier weight. Had a harder time with getting my right shoulder to cooperate with the bar grip today. In other words, I was in some degree of pain, more so than last session. Bench was slightly easier today. Rows were still pretty easy. Performed some more chest isolation again with some heavier weights performed than previously.