Lower Body

Mon, 31 Oct 16

RDL:  135x10, 225x10, 315x3x5

Leg Press: 90x10, 180x20, 270x10, 360x3x10

Single Leg Extension: 70x10, 80x10, 90x10, 100x10, 110x10

Adductor machine: up to 205x3x5.

Leg felt a little tender today so I took it easy.  I added the adductor machine as my adductors seem awfully flabby, and that's part of my weak area.  So this should hit the entire leg.  It's funny how I need four separate exercises to replace the back squat.  Five if I gave a crap about calves.

Bench: Building Strength

Fri, 28 Oct 16

Bench: 135x20, 185x2x10, 215x5, 235x3, 245x2, 255x2x5

CGBP: 185x5, 185x2x10

Bench was heavy.  I accidentally did 255 instead of 250.  I'm ok with that. Tried my Fat Gripz for the CGBP work at the end.  Felt good even though it adds to the ROM.

Lower Body

Fri, 28 Oct 16

RDL:  135x10, 225x10, 315x4x5
Leg Press: 180x10, 270x10, 360x10, 450x5, 540x4, 450x2x5
Single Leg Extension: 70x10, 80x10, 90x10, 100x10, 110x5 (R), 110x1 (L).

Went pretty well.  Added a set to the top end of the RDL, and managed to get 12 plates on the leg press.  (full knees to shoulders).  Single leg extensions went  well - I managed to add 10 more pounds, but was unable to get more than 1 rep from a dead stop with the left leg.  Not really a horrible thing, since my legs were getting pretty fatigued by then.

I did upper body machines yesterday, with some seated incline smith machine OHP.

Deadlifts: Building strength

Weds, 26 Oct 16

Deadlifts: 225x10, 315x2x5, 365x2x5, 375x4x1
Power Shrugs: 225x10, 315x10, 405x10, 455x10, 475x5, 500x4, 500x5

Went well.  I added 10 lbs to the deadlift.  Although there was less volume in this session, there were more reps at higher weight than last week.  I am using straps now, since I'm not competing I really don't care about grip as much.

Bench: light

Tues, 25 Oct 16

Bench: 95x20, 115x10, 135x10, 155x8, 175x4x8

Light day since I did a bunch of upper body earlier today.

Upper body

Weds, 25 Oct 16

Today I did heavy upper body work.  Started with seated smith machine OHP, 95x2x10, 115x10, 135x2x5, 155x3x5.  Moved onto supersetted rope face pulls and rope tricep pull downs.  Then I did cable butterfly and crossovers.  Then moved onto wide bar lat pulldowns, and finished with a few sets of low pulley curls.  For most of the cable work I went 20, 15, 10, 5, 3x5 reps.

Went well and I got some good activation in my traps.  In fact, they still feel a little pumped up 2 hrs later.

Lower body (posts are a little out of order)

Mon, 24 Oct 16

RDL: 135x10, 225x10, 315x3x5

Leg Press: 90x10, 180x10, 270x10, 360x10, 450x3x5

Single Leg Extensions:  50x15 (both legs together), 50x10 (remained single), 70x10, 80x10, 90x10, 100x3x5

As I mentioned in the title, the posts are a little out of order.  I benched at home yesterday, so lower body today.  My lifts are going up, which is good.  I added a couple of plates to my RDL and went for low, heavy reps.  I didn't bother with all the extra deep standing on plate stuff as I didn't want to fatigue myself.  Leg press went great - low reps and I was able to hit 10 plates without any pain.  I didn't realize, but the actual machine base is close to 140 lbs right off the start - so that's an actual 590 lb leg press.  (past parallel - not that nancy little calf pump crap).  Single leg extension went up again considerably, and I was able to do a few low rep heavy sets.

I'm going to hold off on the squats for another month I think.  It bugs me not to do them, but I really need to heal up, and if I can continue on this path I shouldn't lose a lot of strength. Who knows, my legs might actually grow.

Lower body

Fri, 21 Oct 16

Tried to squat today.  Managed 135x2x10.  I then tried 225, but felt a twitch in that spot on rep 2 and decided not to push it.  I did some leg press and single leg extension, but just felt a little bummed that I couldn't squat.  I actually like squatting and miss it. #wordsyouneverthoughtyoudsay

Bench: Building Strength

Sun, 23 Oct 16

Bench: 135x20, 185x2x10, 215x5, 235x3, 245x2, 250x3

CGBP: 135x10, 185x15, 185x10

I probably should have saved the close grip work to the end.  I only managed one top set.  I had to leave the first rep of the second set on the safeties.  I'll see next session if that was a one off or not.

Machine session

Thurs, 20 Oct 16

Today was a light session using machines.  Exercises were between 40-60 reps each (sets of 10-20), and weight was just heavy enough to get the heart rate up and feel some exertion.  I did the single leg extensions in addition to a myriad of other pump movements.  I managed to get the legs up to (40, 60, 70, 80) 80 lbs each side x 10 reps.  I then did a reverse pyramid back down to 60 lbs (70, 60) going to fatigue on the back offs.

The session felt good - lots of blood/fluid into the muscles, and a good gentle stretch as well.

Bench: Building Strength

Weds, 19 Oct 16

Bench: 135x20, 185x2x10, 215x5, 235x3, 245x2, 250x3x3

CGBP: 185x5x5

Top sets weren't too bad.  Hard, but not grindy. Upped the weight by 5 lbs. Upped the CGBP to 185 straight across and even managed 5 sets!

Deadlifts: Building Strength

Weds, 19 Oct 16

Deadlifts: 225x10, 275x10, 315x5, 365x3x5
Power Shrugs: 225x20, 315x15, 405x10, 465x5, 495x5, 500x3x5

Felt strong today, everything went well.  Straps, belt.

Upper body

Tues, 18 Oct 16

OHP: 45x10, 95x2x10, 115x5, 125x3, 135x2, 145x3x5

Cable Butterfly: 22.5x15, 27.5x10, 32.5x10, 37.5x3x5

Cable Crossover: 22.5x15, 27.5x10, 32.5x10, 27.5x3x5

Face Pulls: 52.5x20, 62.5x15, 72.5x10, 82.5x3x5 (supersetted with...)

Rope Push Down: 52.5x20, 62.5x15, 72.5x10, 82.5x3x5

Lower Body

Mon, 17 Oct 16

RDL: 135x3x10, 185x2x10, 225x3x5

Leg Press: 180x15, 270x2x10, 360x3x10, 270x10, 180x10

Leg Extensions:  forgot.i was able to hit 70x10 single leg.

Bench: Building Strength

Sun, 16 Oct 16

Bench: 135x20, 185x2x10, 205x2x5, 225x2x5, 235x5, 245x2x5

CGBP: 135x10, 185x2x5

Still heavy. I neglected bench press this week.  Upped my close grip a bit.

Upper Body

Fri, 14 Oct 16

Cable Butterfly: 27.5x20, 32.5x15, 37.5x10, 42.5x3x5
Cable Crossover: 27.5x20, 32.5x15, 37.5x10, 42.5x3x5
Face Pulls: 47.5x20, 57.5x15, 67.5x10, 77.5x3x5 (supersetted with...)
Rope Push Down: 47.5x20, 57.5x15, 67.5x10, 77.5x3x5
OHP: 45x10, 95x2x10, 115x5, 135x3x5

Had to leave OHP to last as I couldn't get a rack.  By the time I hit them my arms were pretty fatigued, so I my top set was based on what I felt comfortable doing 5 with.  (RPE 8)  Went well, great activation and lots of pump.

Deadlifts/Leg Extensions

Thurs, 13 Oct 16

Deadlifts: 135x10, 225x10, 315x5x5
Leg Extensions (single):  40x20, 50x10, 60x10, 70x8 (r), 70x3 (l), 60x10, 50x10, 40x15

I kept the weight down as my quad is still tender today and hurts with certain motions.  (Seated carpet pull movement, going up stairs).  I did my deadlifts sumo style to minimize the effort on that area of the quad.  They went well, snappy and pain free.  Straps to ensure that I got a good workout.  I was going to do power shrugs, but couldn't get a rack, so I decided to do light single leg extensions.  I kept the weight really low, mostly for pump and range of motion.  I used my right leg to initiate the left leg sets as I couldn't even push 40 from a dead stop - I needed the stretch reflex to keep it moving.  I went as slow as I could, focusing on the medialis and the VMO.  

Upper body: Machines

Weds, 12 Oct 16

Face Pulls: 42.5x15, 52.5x10, 62.5x5, 72.5x3x5
Rope Push Down: 37.5x20, 47.5x15, 57.5x10, 67.5x3x5
OHP: 95x10, 115x8, 135x6, 145x5, 155x3x3
Cable Butterfly: 25x20, 15x25, 10x30, 35x3x5
Cable Crossover: 20x20, 25x15, 30x3x5

I've decided to focus less on powerlifting, and more on physique.  I'm not going to be able to compete anymore since I've been put on Androgel.  (unless we get an untested fed, which is unlikely).  So, I will squat, bench and deadlift as injuries permit, but with reduced frequency and load.  I will add more isolation exercises in between those sessions.  I'd like to still squat twice weekly, lower machines twice, upper twice, and deadlift once every two weeks.  I will bench at home four times a week.  I'm not really sure how this is going to pan out.

For now the lower body stuff will have to be extremely light and cautious to allow this quad injury to heal.  Obviously one week intervals was not enough.  I will try two weeks  and then go back baby weight and high reps to see how it plays out.

Lower body - not a good day

Tues, 11 Oct 16

Leg Press: 180x10, 270x10, 360x10, 450x5x5, 540xF
RDL: 135x3x10, 185x2x10
Leg extension: 0

I was doing SOOOOOOO well in the leg press that I tried for 12 plates.  At the bottom of the first rep I felt a pop in the spot that's been feeling tender and I couldn't hold the weight.  Set it on the safeties and moved onto RDL.  I was running out of time doing RDL and figured I got enough back/glutes/hams work so I moved onto the leg extension.  I started at 100, which is pretty light for me, and couldn't even budge it.

Bench: Building Strength

Sat, 8 Oct 16

Bench: 135x20, 135x3x10 (close grip), 185x10, 215x2x5, 225x2x5, 235x5, 245x3x3

Bench press went well but I think I will only add a rep rather than more weight. The weight still feels pretty heavy on my shoulders. I feel more comfortable if I could get more reps.

Friday - Lower Body

Fri, 7 Oct 16

Leg Press: 180x10, 270x10, 360x10, 450x5x5
GM: 135x10, 185x5x5
RDL: 135x3x10, 185x2x10, 225x2x5

Somewhere along the line I lost the script of what I was doing today.  I ended up doing good mornings, instead of leg extensions, and totally fried my back.  By the time I got to RDL's my back was so pumped there was no way to get the last set in.

Working around injuries: Deadlift/Power Shrugs

Thurs, 6 Oct 16

Deadlifts: 225x10(s), 225x10(c),315x2x5(s), 315x5(c), 345x5(c), 345x2x5(s)
Power shrugs: 135x10, 225x10, 315x2x5, 405x2x5, 495xF

Mixed my deadlifts up so they alternated between sumo and conventional.  Went well, pretty snappy.  Couldn't get the 495 to budge.  I think I set the safeties too low, and by the time I hit that set I was pretty well toast anyhow.

OHP/GM/RDL

Wed, 5 Oct 16

OHP: 95x10, 135x2x5, 155x2x5, 165x3x5

GM: 135x10, 225x2x5, 255x3x5

RDL: 135x10 (2 plate def), 185x2x10 (2 plate def), 135x10 (3 plate def)

OHP went great.  Kept it to a point where I could get good reps without too much hip drive.  Just a touch to get the top set moving.  I played around with the good mornings until I found a point where it started to strain my left inner glute.  I then moved on to RDL - which I didn't load too much as I started to feel that in the same spot when I got to the 185.  I used two plates under my feet, then three, to get a good stretch.

I'll have to continue tweaking the leg portions of my workouts.  I may split it up into M-lower, T-upper, W-deadlifts, Th-upper, Fri-lower, with bench thrown in at home every 2nd or 3rd day.  

Lower will likely be - leg press, RDL, and some light seated leg extensions (with a focus on the inside of the thighs and VMO)

Upper will likely be - OHP, cable flyes, face pulls, and tricep pushdown.

Deadlift day will likely be - deadlifts and power shrugs.

I think this should hit enough with the 3-4 bench sessions a week to keep growing.

 

Bench: Building Strength

Tues, 4 Oct 16

Bench: 135x20, 135x10 (close grip), 185x10, 215x2x5, 225x2x5, 235x5, 245x3x3

Still really hard, will repeat

Machines

Tues, 4 Oct 16

Leg press: 2x15 4x12, 6x10, 8x10, 10x2x5, 12x2x5 (plates on sled is first number)

Face pulls: up to 37.5x20, 47.5x10, 57.5x10, 67.5x2x10

Db floor press; 25x20, 40x10, 50x3x10

Machine shoulder and chest flyes:  17.5x20, 27.5x3x10

Triceps press down: 27.5x20, 37.5x20, 47.5x10, 57.5x3x5

Dual pulley wide pulldown: 60x20, 70x12, 80x2x5

I started to feel some discomfort in my left quad on the last set of leg press.  I will likely reduce that to 10 plates x 4x10 instead next time.  I got some good hamstring and vastus lateralis activation. I really hammered my upper body.  Tonight I'll be benching at home.

Another setback. Squats.

Mon, 3 Oct 16

Decided to try out squats again today.  Worked my way up to 315x5 and my left leg was still tender in the quad.  I'll put the squats to bed for another week.  In place of that I did a bunch of power shrugs.

Squats: 135x2x5, 225x2x5, 315x5
Power shrugs: 135x10, 225x10, 315x3x5, 405x8. 495x5

I'll try some leg press to see if I can still get some vastus, glute and hamstring involvement next.

Building Strength: Deadlifts

Sun, 2 Oct 16

Deadlifts: 225x2x10, 315x3x5, 345x2x5

Power shrugs: 135x5x5, 225x3x5

Stayed at "lighter" weights today.  Threw power shrugs into the mix.  Think power clean/ row.

Bench: Building Strength

Sat, 1 Oct 16

Bench: 135x20, 135x10 (close grip), 185x10, 215x2x5, 225x2x5, 235x5, 245x3x3

Top sets were hard.  Will repeat.