Thursday, June 30, 2016

Deadlift: Back to kindergarden

Thurs, 30 June 16

Deadlifts: 225x4x5, 315x4x5, 365x3x1, 315x2x5

Pretty gross.  My squat is better than my deadlift.  I swapped between conventional and sumo each set.  My hands are pretty delicate too - got a few torn calluses and made and broke a blood blister.


Wednesday, June 29, 2016

Squats: Back to Basics

Wed, 29 Jun 16

Squats: 45x10, 135x2x5, 225x2x5, 275x5...
Walkouts/Static holds: 315x2x15 (sec), 405x3x5 (sec), 465x2x5 (sec), 495x3x5 (sec)...
Squats: 295x5x4, 295x1x4

Changed up the order a bit - warmed up and did walkouts up to 465.  465 and 495 were static holds.  Then moved on to the work set of squats.  This definitely made it seem lighter on my back and shoulders, and my glutes got more fatigued as I dropped deeper and deeper per set.  I almost dumped the last rep of the first four sets of squats by leaning forward too much.  I managed to recover and growled it to the top.  On my last set my glutes were simply getting fried, and I couldn't break at the knees on the last rep.  I'll add another 10 lbs because I don't think missing a rep was all that big a deal, considering it's been days since I last squatted.  I'll bring my shoes home so I can squat and bench over the long weekend.  I tend to do better at home as I'm usually not pressed for time.


Tuesday, June 28, 2016

Bench/Row: Back to Basics

Tues, 28 June 16

Bench: 45x10, 135x2x5, 155x2x5, 175x5, 185x3, 195x5x5
Rows: 135x10, 170x2x5, 200x3x2, 185x5x5

I was on the road yesterday, and the bench needed the attention today more than the squat.  Added 5 more pounds to the bar, last rep of the bench was a grinder.  I screwed up the weight on the rows, and fixed it.  Finished off with pec deck, high pulley crossover fly, low pulley crossover fly, and lat pull downs.  Jogged to the gym and back.

Friday, June 24, 2016

Bench/Row: Back to Basics

Fri, 24 Jun 16

Bench: 45x10, 135x10, 155x2x5, 175x5, 190x5x5
Rows: 135x10, 155x2x5, 175x5, 190x5x5

Felt lighter today, although the last rep of the final two sets was a little slow.  Finished quickly so I did some crossover flyes, low pulley crossovers, lat pulldowns, 45 degree hip extensions, and seated leg extensions to pump and deplete.

Wednesday, June 22, 2016

Squats: Back to Basics

Wed, 22 June 16

Squats: 45x10, 135x2x5, 225x2x5, 255x5, 275x3, 285x5x5
Static holds: 315x2x15 (sec), 365x2x10 (sec), 405x3x5 (sec), 495x2x5 (sec)

Increased my squat weight by 10 lbs and managed to hit all my reps and sets.  Since I had some time left I decided to do some static holds as I've been finding the weight on my back and wrists pretty heavy, and am wondering if these will help.  They won't take any priority away from my main work, but I'd like to see if they help with my "core" strength.

Tuesday, June 21, 2016

Bench/Row: Back to Basics

Tues, 21 June 16

Bench: 135x2x5, 155x5, 175x3, 185x5x5
Rows: 135x2x5, 155x5, 175x3, 185x5x5

I picked a weight that was about 80% of 1RM.  It actually seemed a little heavy come the end of the 5x5, but we'll see as I go on.  I was finished fairly quickly, so I did some single arm cable crossovers flys, some seated lat rows, some seated lat pull downs.

Monday, June 20, 2016

Squats: Back to Basics

Mon, 20 June 16

Squats: 45x10, 135x2x5, 225x5, 245x3, 265x2, 275x5x5

The diet is over and my weight has stabilized at 208.  That's 45 lbs total loss since Jan 5.  I'm now going to start recovering my strength.  I think where I have regressed so far the optimal path is to simply return to basics, and while bypassing the Starting Strength 3x5, I will go to a straight set across of 5x5.  I figured out what I thought my 1 RM was today in Squats - I estimate 345 or so.  80% of 1RM was about 275 lbs, so that's my starting point.  I was able to complete the reps with minimal rest, say about 2 mins in between.  The reps were snappy - but they did feel like work.

Friday, June 17, 2016

Cutting, depletion workout

Fri, 17 June 16

I've had just about as much dieting as I can take.  Soooooo, ANOTHER DEPLETION WORKOUT LOL.  To start, I jogged briskly to the gym in my workout gear, so as to not waste any time.  Upon arrival, hip extensions bwx15, 10x15, 25x2x10. Then seated leg curls, not sure of the weight, but 3x15 reps with an increase in each set.  Then seated leg extensions for 3x15, 10, 7 reps.  Increasing weight from about 100+.  Then on to leg press sled.  90x15, 180x15, 270x2x10, 360x2x5, 450x3x4, 360x4, 270x15.  When I do the sled I go to parallel - no lying calf raises lol.  Feeling my legs were well depleted I then moved on to upper body.  Standing crossover cable flyes 25x3x15 per side.  Seated lat pulldown, not sure of the weight but I actually kept increasing it until I could actually feel my lats becoming fatigued.  Not something usual for me.  2x15, 2x10, 2x5.  Bench press 135x15 wide, 135x10 mid, 135x5 close, then out again, 135x15 wide, 135x2 mid, 135x3 close.  On to the next station - oh, in use.....   OK.  Seated overhead press on the smith.  All with 50 lbs on the bar - 15 wide, 10 mid, 5 close, 10 wide, 5 mid, 2 close.  Lastly, pec deck, 100x3x15.  Jogged back to the office.  Probably close to an hour and a half and I was BEAT.

Thursday, June 16, 2016

Cutting, squats

Thu, 16 June 16

Squats: 45x10, 135x2x5, 225x2x5, 275x2x5, 315x5, 315x1

Failed on my last squat, got pinned at the bottom.  I was simply out of gas.  The whole 275+ felt heavy, really heavy.  After I cleaned up the rack I went off and did a pile of seated leg extensions until I couldn't do anymore, then hit the 45 degree hip extensions until my glutes were shot.  Limped back to the change room and shuffled back to the office.  I am SOOOOO glad this diet is almost done.  Never thought I'd fail on three plates.



Wednesday, June 15, 2016

Cutting, bench

Wed, 15 June 16

Bench: 135x10, 185x2x5, 205x2x5, 225x3x3, 205x5, 185x5, 135x10

Bench went fairly well.  It's scary that I used to be able to do 225 for a LOT of reps, and now it's hard.  Oh well, I'm sure I'll recover.

Tuesday, June 14, 2016

Cutting, squats

Tues, 14 June 16

Squats: 45x10, 135x10, 225x2x5, 275x2x5, 295x2x3, 315x3x3, 295x3, 275x5

Lots of good reps.  I was pretty beat by the time I hit the 275x5 on the reverse pyramid, had already spent an hour on lunch, and couldn't do anymore.

Weigh in on Saturday was 206.8 - another 3.8 lbs since last week.  Total loss of 46.8 lbs since January.  I'd like to hit 200, we'll see how it goes.  I'm running out of motivation after 5 months of this though, and want to start building strength again, rather than struggle to keep weight on the bar.


Friday, June 10, 2016

Cutting, full body depletion

Fri, 10 June 16

Brutal full body workout.  All machines were done 3x15.  This was the order:  45 degree back extension (last set with 10 pounds in hands), seated leg press, tricep pushdown, seated leg extension, cable cross flyes 3 sets per side, lat pulldown (underhand grip towards me, shoulder width), standing calf raises (on ball of foot, full drop and extend), pec deck, reverse pec deck for delts/back.

I kept the breaks limited to as long as it took me to go from machine to machine and a few drinks of water.  I was huffing and puffing for a while, but I definitely pushed hard.

Thursday, June 9, 2016

Cutting, squats

Thurs, 9 June 16

Squats: 45x10, 135x2x5, 225x2x5, 275x2x3, 315x3x2, 335x1, 355x1
OHP: 135x3x5

I decided to go heavy today and see where I could single.  355 was slow and almost grindy.  I'm not used to having that much weight on my back anymore.  I'm not upset though, because it's 70 lbs away from where I was in December, and I'm almost 45 lbs lighter now.  I'm sure I can regain that strength once I stop dieting.

In regards to stopping dieting - I'm thinking I'll give it another two weeks of aggressive dieting, then go more moderate until I hit 200 lbs or less.  My plan is to add 50 grams more protein, some intraworkout carbs and leave my diet otherwise intact.  It's working out for me, and I'm not starved or anything.



Wednesday, June 8, 2016

Cutting, full body depletion

Fri, 3 Jun 16

Discovered I wasn't really doing GHR!  I put my knees on the pad and attempted to hinge forward.  LOL.  Rather than do an exercise I can't do for 0 reps and 0 effect I did the hip extension.  I do feel those in my glutes and hamstrings, so they're fine.  All sets were 3x15 unless noted.  Prone leg curls. Seated leg curls. Seated leg extensions, 3x20.  Tricep pushdown 3x15.  Seated chest cable flyes.  Pec deck 3x15.  Smith machine seated press (super wide grip): 20, 15, 10, 8.

It was a longish session, but I felt pretty worn out by the end and could barely walk when transitioning from legs to upper body.

Tuesday, June 7, 2016

Cutting, bench

Tues, 7 June 16

Incline Smith Machine Press: 50x2x15, 70x2x10, 90x2x5, 110x2x3, 120x2x2, 130x3x1, 120x2, 110x3, 90x5, 70x10, 50x15.
Bench: 135x10, 185x3,5,3.

I couldn't get a flat bench so I worked in the smith machine.  Wide grip inclined press.  It's a weird movement, and it really destroyed my groove when I finally got a bench.  I couldn't get the bar path right and I was fatigued.  Oh well, it is what it is.


Monday, June 6, 2016

Cutting, squats

Mon, 6 Jun 16

Squats: 135x5, 225x5, 275x5, 315x3x3, 275x2x5, 225x2x5

Better than last week, more reps.  Hanging onto that third plate lol.   I weighed in at 210.6 lbs on Sat.  Down 4.2 lbs from last week.

Friday, June 3, 2016

Cutting, full body depletion

Fri, 3 Jun 16

Hip extensions - bwx3x15
GHR - bwx3x5
Leg curls - 50x2x15, 60x2x15, 70x10, 60x8, 50x7
Seated leg press: 190x3x15
Seated leg extension: 190x4x15
Single arm cable fly: 25x2x20 each arm
Pull ups: bwx5 (while waiting for pec deck)
Pec Dec: 105x3x20, 115x2x10, 125x10
Forearm pec deck: 105x3x10
Rear pec deck: 105x3x20

Pretty well hit everything.  Took close to an hour and I was pretty exhausted when done.

Thursday, June 2, 2016

Cutting, squats

Thurs, 2 June 16

Sled Leg Press:  180x20, 15, 15, 12
Bunch of empty bar front squats
Wide grip bench press:  135x18, 15, 12, 8, 185x3
Squat: 135x5, 225x5, 275x3, 315x4x1, 275x2x5, 225x7

Couldn't get a rack right away so I some leg presses first.  Then messed around with a bunch of 10 rep sets of front squats to heat up my legs.  Still no rack.  So I decide to do a bunch of wide grip pumpy bench presses.  Finally, a bench, but only about 20 mins left.  So I did the minimum work to get me up to 3 plates, hit a few singles, then back off sets until fatigued at each weight.

While not an optimal squat day I did get some work done.