Tuesday, October 31, 2017

Squats (335x2 max)

Tues, 31 Oct 17

Squats: 135x10, 225x10, 315x5, 335x2,  275x5
Calf Raises: 60x10, 70x10, 80x4x10
Leg Press (plates total): 4x10, 6x10, 8x10, 10x5
Leg Extensions: 130x12, 160x10, 190x10, 205x3x10

No tricks today, all treats.  Everything went well.  I thought I was feeling something odd in my left hamstring during leg presses, but it was likely all in my head.  Despite that I decided not to do another set, just in case it actually was something.  My back is getting used to squats again, the weight on my traps isn't really crushing me anymore.

Monday, October 30, 2017

Upper body (225x2x2 max)

Mon,  30 Oct 17

Bench: 135x10, 185x10,  205x5, 225x2x2, 185x2x10
Ez-Bar Curls: 60x10, 70x10, 80x2x3, 70x2x5, 60x10
Tricep Press: 50x15, 65x10, 72.5x10, 80x10, 72.5x10, 65x15

My workout went quite well today.  Decided two sets of doubles after my last triple last week.  No problem, might have had a third or fourth set in me.  In any case, light is the game.  Weds will be light upper body, a lot of smith presses and more curls, rows.  If I'm feeling good I might try for a set of five at 2 plates of Friday.

Friday, October 27, 2017

Squats (335 max)

Fri, 27 Oct 17

Calf Raises: 45x10, 60x10, 70x4x10
Squats: 135x10, 225x5, 275x5, 315x3, 335x1, 315x3, 275x5
Leg Press (plates total): 6x10, 8x3x5
Leg Extensions: 130x10, 160x10, 190x10, 205x3x10

The racks were all in use when I arrived in the gym, so I did my calf raises first so as not to fatigue my squatting muscles!  Knowing I'd be pressed (lol) for time I decided to do a "heavy" squat day, feeling out where my beltless max was.  I didn't push it too far, no grinding, and might have had another 20-40 lbs left in the tank.  I then popped off some leg presses for my quads and hamstrings.  I finished up with some leg extensions for the VMO and anterior quads.

While it was a heavier workout than I have been doing it really wasn't "pushing it".

Thursday, October 26, 2017

Upper body, light day (DB 60x12)

Thurs, 26 Oct 17

DB Bench: 30x15, 40x12, 50x12, 60x12, 50x12
Ez-Bar Curls : 50x15, 60x12, 70x12, 60x12
Smith OHP (w, m, c) : 50X10, 70x10, 90x5, 70x10
Farmers walk: 45 plate per side x 300 steps

The overall plan today was to ramp up to a max in which I could still hit 10-12 reps without breaking my form down.  Once I hit the limit - or felt that the next set would be more on the heavy side than light, I'd drop back a few pounds.  

My shoulders were feeling a little beat up this morning from the way I slept last night.  I decided to try DB bench instead, and kept the weight fairly light as I felt out what I was capable of.  I likely could have gone higher, but the goal was to keep my reps high and have a "light" day.  I definitely could feel it in my chest and triceps.

I did curls until the form started to break down - then dropped the weight back.

I spent a lot of time on the Smith doing seated overhead press.  Each round was completed wide, medium and closed grip - so 30 reps total at 50#, 70#, 15 reps at 90#, and another 30 reps at 70#.  

By the time I finished those my shoulders and triceps were feeling pretty fatigued, and I decided to finish up with some forearm work doing farmers walks with plates.  I ran 6 sets of 50 paces with a small rest (less than a minute) in between, and that really pumped up my forearms.

Wednesday, October 25, 2017

Lower body, light day

Weds, 25 Oct 17

I did a bunch of light work today as I was feeling really tired.  Deadlifts were sumo, conventional, and split squats.  Reps were 135x10, 225x3x10.  Moved on to leg press.  Wide stance, past parallel - 90x15, 180x15, 270x2x10. Seated hip abductor squats - full stack, 5x15.  That did it for the day and I walked back to the office.  The combination of movements really hit everything pretty hard, and my quads and hamstrings were quite fatigued.  I've had the occasional odd feel in the left calf, so I tried to avoid stressing it today.

Tuesday, October 24, 2017

Upper body (225x3 max)

Tues, 24 Oct 17

Bench: 135x10, 185x2x5, 205x2x5, 225x3, 185x6, 135x3x15, 12, 10
Ez Curls: 50x15, 60x10, 70x8, x5
Tricep Press : 42.5x15, 50x15,65x2x15, 5

The gym was really packed today and I had a hard time getting a spot for the bench.  Then someone was doing curls exactly the same as me.  Then I couldn't get the pec deck.  Called it a day and went back to the office.  Not bad though, added a rep to my max bench and added 10 lbs to the curl.

Monday, October 23, 2017

Squats (245x5x5)

Mon, 23 Oct 17

Squats: 135x10, 225x5, 245x5x5
Calf Raises: 45x10, 55x10, 65x4x10
Leg Extensions: 130x10, 160x10, 190x10, 205x3x10
Adductor/Abductor: 160x10, 205x10, 220x3x5

Squats left me breathless as I kept a pretty fast tempo going.  The weight wasn't too bad though.  Calf raises were definitely pushing the envelope on the last two sets.  Leg extensions were pretty hard - I see a lot of media suggesting it's better to do front squats or split squats, but I really like the way they hit my VMO and they're not super form-dependant.  (ie - if I'm beat up from back squats or deadlifts I don't have the technical requirements of a barbell on my shoulders).  Add/abd were pretty hard at the top set.  The range of motion on the abductors seems so small compared to the adductors.


Thursday, October 19, 2017

Upper body (225x2 max)

Thurs, 19 Oct 17
Bench: 135x2x10, 185x2x5, 205x2x3, 225x2, 185x3, 135x3x15
Ez Curls: 50x15, 60x3x15
Pec deck: 130x10, 145x10, 160x10
Tricep Press : 35x15, 50x15, 65x3x10
Went well. Used a wide handled bar for the triceps, and it also really hit my lats. Tried for a Mex on the bench and then did some back off work.

Tuesday, October 17, 2017

Lower body (295 max)

Wed, 17 Oct 17

Deadlifts: 125x10, 225x2x5, 275x2x5, 295x1

Calf Raises: 50x10, 60x10, 70x10, 80x10

Leg extensions: 130x10, 160x10, 190x10, 160x12, 145x14

Seated Leg Curls: 100x10, 115x10, 130x10, 115x2x10

Went pretty well. I'm definitely weaker, but I imagine I'll build up strength quickly. Form was on point. I did all the deadlifts in both conventional and sumo form.

Monday, October 16, 2017

Upper body (205 max)

Mon, 16 Oct 17

Bench: 135x10, 185x9,  185x8, 185x5, 205x1, 135x3x12

Ez-Bar Curls: 50x10, 60x10, 70x10, 60x9, 50x12

Pec Deck (single arm) : 115x10, 145x10, 160x10, 145x7, 130x10

Seated Lat Pulldown : 100x10, 120x10, 140x10, 120x7, 100x10

Tricep Press: 90x15, 110x15, 130x10,  150x10, 130x10, 110x15

The session went quite well.  Did some heavy work with back off sets.  Nice pump.

Friday, October 13, 2017

Squats, at a crossroad (225x5x10)

Fri, 13 Oct 17

Squats: 135x10, 225x5x10
Calf Raises: 45x10, 55x5x10
Leg Extensions: 130x10, 160x10, 190x10, 205x10
Adductor/Abductor: IDK, like 205-250 x 4 x 10 and the 250 was 1x5.

Felt I got a good mix of areas being hit.  No pain.  The squats were a really fast, up down tempo and I only slowed for the last 3 reps of the final set.

I have to decide whether or not I should just add some more sets of 10 next week or add more weight.  I'm really split on it.  IDK how much I'll actually get out of pounding out 60-100 total reps each.

Thursday, October 12, 2017

Upper body (185x4x5)

Thurs, 12 Oct 17

Bench: 135x10, 185x10, 185x4x5
Seated Smith Machine Press (wide, med, narrow): 25x10, 35x10, 40x10
EZ-Curls (full, standing): 40x2x10, 50x3x10
Pec Deck (alternating, single arm): 100x10, 130x10, 150x10
Seated Pulley Row: 50x10, 60x10, 70x10

Good session.  Bench was a little weird, but as the warmup went on I was able to hit depth as my chest muscles stretched out.  Great pump, had trouble reaching back to pull my shirt off lol.

Tuesday, October 10, 2017

Squats! (225x4x5)

Tues, 10 Oct 17

Squats: 135x2x10, 225x10, 225x4x5
Seated Calf Raises: 45x5x10
Kneeling Leg Curls: 40x10, 50x10, 60x3x10
Seated Leg Extensions: 140x10, 160x10, 190x3x10

Back into squats - goal for everything was 50 reps... had hoped for sets of 10 across the board, but I found the squats pretty tiring (as in out of breath).  Anyhow, functionally I felt fine.  No joint or muscle issues aside from a little right knee stiffness on the initial squats.  All exercises done without supports.

I'm hoping to work my way up to 5x10 on the squats at 225, then toss on 50 lbs and try to work my way back up to 5x10.  Progress will be slow - but I don't really want to hurt myself again.  I will be doing some walking as well, likely at home on the treadmill, starting next week.