Week6 - Day13B

09 Dec 2013

Squats:  3x5xBar + 5x65 + 3x85 + 5x5x105** ***Seated Plate Raises:  3x10x25 *Seated Lateral Raise:  3x10x10 **Seated DB Shrug + Clean + Half Press:  3x10x10 Deadlift:  3x95 + 2x115 + 2x135 + 5×155

Standing BB Curls:  10x40** Preacher EZ Bar Curls:  10x40 **DB Fly:  10x10 Incline DB Press:  10x30 + 2x10x35

Duration:  1 hour

Weight:  175.6 lbs

will add notes later

OK!  So, yesterday's session was good.  When doing squats, I payed particular attention to my grip à la the following video by Mark Rippetoe: [vimeo http://vimeo.com/30763907]

The grip was definitely still bothersome to the shoulder.  What I've been doing to alleviate the pain in the shoulder was to have some flexion in my wrist.  But, for the purposes of ensuring proper form, I sucked up the small bit of pain and straightened my wrists out.  Definitely noticed a big difference in the tightness of my upper back.  Shoulder shockers weren't bad.  The upper back work from the Squats definitely fatigued my shoulders a bit.  The work is definitely getting easier, but I don't like sticking to the same weights over and over.  For the routine itself, I think I want to work my way up to 45 plates.  Luckily, the gym also carries 35 lb weights, so I might increase the weight soon.  Increasing the weight on the dumbbell portions is a bit intense, I'll have to see if there are 2.5 lb increment dumbbells.  Going from 10 to 15 lbs for the lateral raises and shrug+clean+half press is a pretty big jump, so perhaps 10 to 12.5 wouldn't be as bad.  Deadlifts were good, getting up there in weight!  I don't like jumping into the top set of these lifts especially once the deadlift starts getting very heavy.  Squats, as Mehdi says, already hits some of the muscle groups that the deadlifts works on, but for my own safety, I still did some warm-up reps with lighter weights, progressing up to the top weight.  The StrongLifts program has always prescribed a single set of 5 reps for Deadlifts and I can definitely understand the methodology behind this when thinking about how fast weights progress.  At the point that one starts doing close to maximal effort weights, doing 5 sets of 5 reps of Deadlifts would be murder!  Especially after 5x5 of near maximal effort squats!  I can remember when I was just completely spent and drained during these workout sessions later in the program in the past.

I increased weights on accessories.  The bicep curls went from 30 to 40.  And instead of the usual tricep isolation, I did some chest isolation with db fly and incline db press.  The inclinde db presses were done with heavier weights I've done previously, going from 20 to 30/35 lbs.  35s were heavy, but I would say definitely not that close to maximal effort.

Week5 - Day12A

06 Dec 2013

Squats:  3x5xBar + 5x65 + 3x75 + 3x85 + 5x5x100 Bench:  3x5xBar + 5x5x70 Rows:  5x5x85

Preacher **EZ Bar Curls:  10x40 **Tricep Pushdown:  20x30 Standing BB Curl:  10x30 Tricep Extensions:  10×30 Seated DB Curls:  10x20 Tricep Rope Pulldown:  10x25

Duration:  1 hour

Pretty good workout.  The lifts all felt light!  I was expecting the Squats to feel a bit heavier, but it was pretty easy peasy!  Bench wasn't bad, got a case of the shakes in the arms under load.  Although, I'm not sure if my form is all there with the bench.  Rows were great, explosive and tight form.  The accessories were pretty good.  Thinking of subbing out some tricep isolation for some chest isolation on A day.  Did the overhead tricep extensions again today.  I think I'm feeling pretty confident with my shoulder so I'm going to hold on to these and keep doing them, making sure when I up the weight that I be careful.  Lowering the dumbbell back down did feel like my shoulder was a bit vulnerable.

Week5 - Day11B

04 Dec 2013

Squats:  3x5xBar + 3x65 + 3x85 + 5x5x95** ***Seated Plate Raises:  3x10x25 *Seated Lateral Raise:  3x10x10 **Seated DB Shrug + Clean + Half Press:  3x10x10 Deadlift:  3x95 + 3x135+ 5×145

Standing BB Curls:  10x30** Preacher EZ Bar Curls:  10x30 **Standing DB Curls:  10x20 Tricep Rope Pulldown:  2x10x30 Tricep Extensions:  10x25

Duration:  ~1 hour

Got a great session in.  It took me a total of 1 hour.  The time I accounted for includes:  warm-up (bands and stretching), core lifts (including warm-up sets) and the arm isolation accessories.  I'm going to try and track how long my sessions take.  I will also try to start tracking my weight.  My appetite has steadily been growing over the last month since I started lifting.  It's amazing to think that I've already started my second month.  Having done StrongLifts before, I definitely have great appreciation for being in these early stages of lifting.  The weights are relatively light so I feel pretty fresh from workout to workout.  And because I can still recuperate well between workouts, my mental state is clear.

Squats were good.  Still messing around with bar position on my back.  Low bar is getting better, less pain on the shoulder.  Shoulder shocker wasn't bad.  I lightened up the dumbbell weights from 15 to 10.  It was still very strenuous.  Looking at some videos on how to do the lateral raises, I need to take note of making sure I don't hunch over in the starting position.  The starting position is with an upright torso with the dumbbells to the side not under me.  Deadlifts felt heavy, banged up the shins and top of the knee a bit.