Grunt11's Training Log

Dynamic Effort Lower Body, Friday 03 Feb:

BW 176 lbs.

Dynamic Effort:
Ultra Wide Stance Low Box Squats (175 lbs. + 52 lbs. bands x 2) x 8 (16) (45 second rest)
Ultra Wide Stance 1.5” Deficit Deadlifts (235 lbs. x 1) x 8 (8) (30 second rest)

Assistance:
SLDL 135 lbs. x 20, x 20 (40)
Good Mornings (skipped)
Supported DB Rows 75 lbs. x 20, x 20 (40)

I got called in to work early so I had to cut my workout short at home after finishing the Deadlifts. I was able to work in the SLDLs and the DB Rows at work but w/o a power rack I couldn’t do the GMs and was just to worn out from work to do Abs.

I broke the 3[SUP]rd[/SUP] finger on my left hand when I let my form get sloppy on one of the Speed Squats and caught the finger between the bar and the hook on the rack. I didn’t have any popsicle-sticks so I used a chopstick to tape it up and finish the what I could of the workout before getting called in to work.
 
Max Effort Upper Body, Today:

BW 176 lbs.

Max Effort:
Close Grip Bench Press Bar x 15, x 15, x 15, 95 x 10, 135 x 5, 185 x 1, 210 x 1 (5 lb. PR)

Assistance:
Dips 200 x 6, 202.5 x 6, 205 x 6
Skull Crushers (skipped)
V-Bar Triceps Press-downs (skipped)
Close Supinated Grip Chin Ups BW x 13, x 11, x 8
T-Bar Rows (skipped)
Rear DB Raises (skipped)

Again I had to cut it short to go to work and was just to worn out to finish when I got back home.
 
Dynamic Effort Lower Body, Today:

BW 176 lbs.

Dynamic Effort:
Ultra Wide Low Box Squats (175 lbs. +76 lbs. bands x 2) x 8 (16) (1 minute rest)

Assistance:
Good Mornings 95 x 15, 115 x 15, 135 x 15 (45) (2 minutes rest)
SLDL 145 x 15, 155 x 15, 165 x 15 (45) (2 minutes rest)
Supported DB Rows 75 x 15, x 15 (30) (2 minutes rest)
Standing Twisting Band Crunch 46 lbs. x 50, 60 lbs. x 25

No pain from my ruptured disk even though I did 2 assistance exercises that put shearing force on it so it seems that strengthening my lower back is working.

My schedule had gotten all jacked up so I ended up doing another dynamic lower body workout today even though my last lower body workout was also a dynamic one since I didn’t want to do back-to-back upper and lower ME workouts and since my work schedule will force me to workout on Wednesday and Thursday this week rather than Wednesday and Friday.
 
Dynamic Effort Upper Body, Today:

BW 176 lbs.

Dynamic Effort:
Flat Bench Press (close, medium, normal grip) (105 lbs. + 52 lbs. bands x 3) x 12 (36) (30 seconds rest)

Assistance:
Incline DB Bench Press 50 x 20, 55 x 18, 60 x 12 (50) (2 minutes rest)
Overhead Triceps Extensions 15 x 20, 17.5 x 20, 20 x 12 (52) (1.5 minute rest)
V-Bar Press Downs 35 x 20, 40 x 20, 45 x 12 (52) (1.5 minute rest)
Close Supinated Grip Lat Pulls 70 x 20, 80 x 20, 90 x 20 (60) (1.5 minutes rest)
T-Bar Rows 105 x 20, 115 x 20, 125 x 20 (60) (1.5 minutes)
Lateral Raises 10 x 30, x 23, x 17 (70) (1.5 minutes rest)
Laying Incline Rear Delt Raises 5 x 30, 7.5 x 17 (47) (1.5 minutes rest)
Side Bends 50 x 50 (50)

I’m finding that less weight and more band tension on the DE exercises seems to be the way for me to go to maintain bar speed and still get an intense workout. After my last workout, DE Lower, I felt like I’d been in a train wreck later in the day. The next morning I was still so beat up that after I got up and ate breakfast I went back to sleep until just before work.

I’ve also noticed that Westide takes more calories. I’m still eating about 3,200-3,400 calories a day which was gaining me about .5lbs./week on my bulking routine now it’s only maintaining my body weight but I’m still getting stronger.
 
Max Effort Lower Body, Today:

BW = 176 lbs.
Max Effort:
Free Squat (medium wide stance) Bar x 10, x 10, x 10, 95 x 5, 135 x 5, 185 x 3, 225 x 3, 275 x 1, 315 x 1, 365 x 1 (10 lbs. PR) (3-5 minute rest)

Assistance:
Concentric GMs 225 x 6, 245 x 6 (20 lbs. PR) (12 reps) (2 minute rest)
Ghetto Glute/Ham Raise (BW -24 lbs. bands) x 6, x 6 (12 reps) (1 minute rest)

To be continued at work

I almost missed the max squat lift because I lost concentration nearing parallel. I had vacillated between jumping straight to 365 lbs., or doing a rep at 345 lbs. so I thought I had 345 lbs. on the bar and it felt way too heavy. I recovered concentration and managed to make it using more quad strength than I’d intended. I had wanted to do ultra-wide free squats but when the weight got heavy I had trouble clearing the pins when un-racking so rather than resetting the pins and bar I just decided to move my stance in a little. It was still wider than I used to use but not as wide as I wanted to try. However, I’m still happy about the 10 lbs. PR.
 
Max effort upper body, Today:

BW = 176 lbs.

Max Effort:
1 board Close Grip Bench Press Bar x 20, x 20, x 20, 95 x 10, 135 x 5 , 185 x 3, 205 x 1, 210 x fail

Assistance:
Dips 205 x 6, 207.5 x 5
Decline EZ-bar Triceps Press 30 x 15, 45 x 15
V-Bar Triceps Press Downs 45 x 15, 50 x 15
Close Supinated Grip Chin Ups BW x 13, x 10, x 7
T-Bar Rows 140 x 15, 150 x 15, 160 x 15
Rear Delt Raises (skipped)
Abs (skipped)

I passed on the ME Upper body on Wednesday since I got diagnosed with Strep on Tuesday and started antibiotics, however I just couldn’t go to work today without doing a workout so I did the ME workout I skipped. Not impressed with my results since a few weeks ago I did a Close Grip Bench (full ROM) for 210 and failed at that today with one board. Plus I felt pretty run down so I skipped the last two exercises and did one less set each of the 3 pushing assistance movements than I had wanted to. On the plus side over the long work weekend two people commented that my arms particularly my Triceps are looking even bigger so I’ll take solace in that, and the squat PR on Monday. For some Reason non of the formatting is working in this post.
 
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Dynamic Effort Upper Body, Today:

BW = 177 lbs.

Dynamic Effort:
Close Grip Bench Press (105 lbs. +52 lbs. bands x 3) x 9 (27) (30 second rest)

Assistance:
Incline DB Press 35 x 20, 40 x 20 (40) (1 minute rest)
Overhead Triceps Extensions 10 x 20, 15 x 20 (40) (1 minute rest)
V-Bar Press Dows 30 x 30, 35 x 25 (55) (1 minute rest)
Wide Grip Lat Pulls 50 x 20, 60 x 20 (40) (1 minute rest)
Supported DB Rows 50 x 20, 55 x 20 (40) (1 minute rest)
Side Lateral Raises 7.5 x 30, 7.5 x 30 (60) (1 minute rest)
Laying Incline Rear Delt Raises 5 x 23, 5 x 20 (43) (1 minute rest)
Standing Twisting Band Crunches 46 lbs. x 50, 46 x 50 (100) (1 minute rest)
Seated Incline Curls 10 x 30, 10 x 30 (60) (1 minute rest)

This was my first workout in a week since getting strep throat. I had wanted to wait until I finished all 10 days of the antibiotics but not working out was making me crazy so I decided to start out with a DE Upper day (the least taxing I think) and drop the weights and sets and just go for lots of reps. Hopefully this wasn’t too soon.
 
DE Squat, Today:

BW 177 lbs.

Dynamic Effort:
Low Ultra-wide Box Squats (160 +52 lbs. bands x 2) x 12 (24) (30 second rest)
Ultra-wide Deadlifts (220 x 1) x 10

Assistance:
Ghetto GHR BW-46 lbs. x 18, BW-56 lbs. x 25, x 16
Ghetto Reverse Hypers BW x 25, x 25, x 25
Wide Grip Lat Pulls 60 x 20, 70 x 20, 75 x 20
Standing Twisting Crunches 46 lbs. bands x 50, x 50, x 50

I started out with 180 lbs. on the Squats but the bar speed was way to slow so I backed off to 160. That’s what I get for being sick and not doing any lower body work for almost 2 weeks. I started to feel like my hamstrings were going to cramp up but managed to get through both the Squats and Deadlifts w/o it happening.

I decided to try doing the DE Squat workout on the weekend since it seems to be the one that takes the most out of me especially when using bands and this if I crash later I won’t have to deal with making it through the rest of a work day.
 
ME Bench, Today:

BW 177 lbs.

Max Effort:
Close Grip Bench Press Bar x 20, x 20, x 20, 95 x 10, 135 x 5, 165 x 3, 190 x 1, 210 x 1, 215 x 1 (PR)

Assistance:
Dips 205 x 6, x 5 (11) (2 minutes rest)
Decline DB Triceps Extensions 15 x 20, 20 x 20 (40) (2 minutes rest)
V-Bar Press Downs 45 x 15, 50 x 12 (27) (2 minutes rest)
Close Parallel Grip Chinups BW x 11, x 9 (20) (2 minutes rest)
T-Bar Row 140 x 15, x 11 (24) (2 minutes rest)
DB Raises Shoulders:
Front 15 x 20
Lateral 10 x 20
Rear 5 x 20
Side Bends 60 x 50, x 50 x 50 (150) (2 minutes rest)

First time any of my pressing movements have gone up in a while so I’m happy with that.
 
DE Squats, Today:

BW 176 lbs.

Dynamic Effort:
Ultra-Wide Stance Low Box Squats (165 lbs. + 20 lbs. chains x 2) x 12 (24) (45 second rest)
Ultra-Wide Stance 1.5” Deficit Deadlifts (190 lbs. + 20 lbs. chains x 1) x 10 (10) (45 second rest)

Assistance:
Ghetto Glute/Ham Raises BW -56 lbs. bands x 25, x 20 (45) (2 minute rest) Rep PR
SLDL 135 x 20 (20)
Wide Grip Lat Pulls 70 x 20, 75 x 20 (40) (2 minutes rest)
Hanging Leg Raises BW x 30 (30)

Wow, chains felt so different than bands. The bar speed felt better with the same bar weight. They didn’t tax my lower back as much as bands and generally felt more like I beat my legs with a ballpeen hammer instead of a meat tenderizer (bands).

This was also the first time I used accommodating resistance on Deadlifts and really liked it. Without it I felt (well actually did once) like I was going to fall over backwards but this felt much more natural.

My GPP sucks after being sick so I crapped out and only did 1 set each on the SLDL and Hanging Leg Raises. If I can get out of here soon I’ll stop and do hill sprints on the way to work.

Monday additional work:
GPP 100 meter hill sprints x 8

Tuesday additional work:
30 seconds on/ 30 seconds off heavy bag x 8
Shoulder Pre/Rehab work

@ Shane – Thanks I’ll probably start out with 1 in 4 and then try 1 in 2 at least for lower body since I know my lower body can handle a lot more stress than the upper.
 
DE Upper Body, Today:

BW 175 lbs.

Dynamic Effort:
Flat Bench Press (105 lbs. +20 lbs. chains x 3) x 9 (27) (30 second rest)

Assistance:
Decline DB Bench Press 40 x 20, 45 x 20
Overhead Triceps Extensions 10 x 30, x 28 (58) (2 minutes rest)
Second Triceps Exercise (skipped)
Supported DB Rows 50 x 20, 55 x 20, 60 x 20 (60) (2 minutes rest)
BB Shrugs 225 x 20, 315 x 20, 335 x 10, x 10 (60) (2 minutes rest except last 2 only 10 seconds)
Seated DB Shoulder Press 25 x 30, x 30 (60) (2 minutes rest)
Laying Rear Delt Raise 5 x 40, 7.5 x 26
Standing Twisting Crunches 46 lbs. bands x 50, 56 lbs. bands x 50
Seated Incline DB Curls 10 lbs. x 40

I intentionally skipped the 2nd triceps exercise to see if reducing the volume helps my benching movements keep progressing. So to fill the gap I added in a high rep set of DB Curls to help try and keep my forearm tendons healthy since they’ve been recovering from tendonitis.

I couldn’t do 20 straight reps on the last set of BB Shrugs because when holding that much weight I need to keep my belly inflated against my belt or my ruptured disk complains so after 10 reps I had to pause and take a few deep breaths before resetting and finishing the set.
 
ME Squat, Today:

BW = 175 lbs.

Max Effort:
Ultra-Wide Stance Deadlift Bar x 10, 135 x 5, 225 x 1, 345 x 1, 375 x 1 PR

Assistance:
Concentric GMs 225 x 6, 245 x 6
GHR BW -26 lbs. bands x 12, x 8
SLDL (skipped)
Close Grip Lat Pulls 95 lbs. x 20, BW x 10
Hanging Leg Raises BW x 30, x 30

I was supposed to do this workout Sunday but I work day shift this weekend which would have pushed it to Monday if I wanted to workout in the morning, but I felt much more energetic today after work than I expected so I decided to try it today.

Besides feeling very good I also wanted to test my lower body strength since being sick (the first lower body workout sucked) so I wanted a lift I really knew my limit on. Also I wanted to check to see if the gains I’ve been making are just because of improved form or power/strength and I think my form on the Deadlift was already pretty good, at least compared to my Squat when I switched to Westside. In short I came up with a bunch of rationalizations so try a max Deadlift because I got a bug up my butt and got a 10 lb. PR as a bonus. Now I want 405 so bad I can taste it.

I skipped the SLDL since I figured I would pay for the Deadlift anyway.
 
ME Bench, Today:

Max Effort:
Normal Grip Flat Bench with Chains Bar x 10, 95 x 5, 135 x 3, 185 x 1, 185 +30 lbs. chains x 1, 195 +30 lbs. chains x 1, 205 +30 lbs. chains x Fail

Assistance:
Normal Grip Incline Bench with Chains 135 +30 lbs. chains x 6, 145 +30 lbs. chains x 5, 155 +30 lbs. chains x 3.
Decline DB Triceps Extensions 20 x 20, 25 x 12, 27.5 x 10
Triceps Exercise #2 (skipped)
BB Shrugs 315 x 20, 365 x 15, 405 x 30 second static hold
Medium Supinated Grip Cable Rows 70 x 30, 90 x 20, 110 x 15, 120 x 9
Close Parallel Grip Lat Pulls 70 x 30, 90 x 15
Laying Incline DB Rear Delt Raises 7.5 x 20, 10 x 12, 10 x 10
DB Side Bends 60 x 30

I’m disappointed in the Bench since I failed at about 2 board height with a weight that shouldn’t have equaled my 1RM without chains until near lockout.

I started doing the BB Shrugs with 405 but after a couple of reps felt discomfort in my spine about mid back, above my belt but below my shoulder blades. I’ve felt this before when working with weights high enough above my max Squat or Deadlift. So instead I decided to do a static hold since I haven’t been training my grip strength at all while trying to rehab forearm tendonitis and have been using straps for pretty much everything but Max Deadlifts. Ironically my grip was fine but it was my mid back that started feeling weak so I decided not to push it any further since I proved to myself that my grip was going to be fine at least up to 405 lbs.
 
I’m really happy to be progressing again. About 3 months ago I looked back at my log and realized I hadn’t improved my deadlift for almost 6 months because I had started pissing around cutting and never got back into the swing of things completely.

I’m going to try not to do a full Deadlift again for 8 weeks, my plan is to test a max Squat and Deadlift every 8 weeks alternating between them so that every 4 weeks I’m maxing one of them. I’m going to push really hard to get 405 8 weeks from now.
 
DE Bench, Today:

BW = 178 lbs.
Dynamic Effort:
Flat Bench Press (105 lbs. + 30 lbs. chains + 28 lbs. bands x 3) x 9 (27) (30 second rest) (narrow, medium, normal grip)

Assistance:
Incline DB Bench Press 40 x 20, 45 x 20 (40) (1 minute rest)
Overhead Triceps Extensions 10 x 30, 15 x 22 (55) (1 minute rest)
V-Bar Press Downs 35 x 30, 40 x 18 (48) (1 minute rest)
Wide Grip Lat Pulls 70 x 20, 80 x 20 (40) (1 minute rest)
Supported DB Rows 55 x 20, 65 x 20, 70 x 18 (58) (1 minute rest)
DB Shoulder Raises:
Front 15 x 18
Lateral 10 x 30
Rear 5 x 30
Standing Twisting Band Crunches 52 lbs. x 30, x 30 x 30

It felt interesting combining chains and bands. What I’m trying is three weeks, the first with only chains, the second with 50/50 chains/bands and the third with just bands.

I’m finding I have to stop short on the second set of V-Bar Press Downs because the pump in my Triceps is just too painful.

I got fat gaining 3 lbs. the last two days (well not really). Really I retained a lot of water because I was eating lots of salty junk food for two days straight after calling in dead to work because Mass Effect 3 finally came out. I probably actually lost weight, like a couple weeks ago when I lost about 1 lb. in two three day weekend gaming sessions since I only eat until I’m full which is never enough calories. Despite being an aging (51) gnome (5’6”) I still need about 3,000 kCal/day to maintain my weight.

Just for the hell of it I measured my upper arms after working out and they came to just over 15.5” which is finally as big as my neck. I also noticed that my Biceps peak is disappearing. Actually it’s not getting any smaller but the bottom part of my Biceps are now getting bigger so that even when flexed to show the peak my whole upper arm is thicker. Now I know were some of the muscle I’m still gaining is going besides my Core.
 
ME Squat, Today:

BW = 176

Max Effort:
Ultra-Wide Low Box Squats Bar x 10, 95 x 5, 135 x 3, 185 x 1, 225 x 1, 255 x 1, 285 x 1 PR

Assistance:
Ultra-Wide Stance Concentric GMs 245 x 6, 255 x 6 (+w) (12 reps) (2 minute rest)
Ghetto GHRs BW -26 lbs. bands x 9, x 6 (-r) (15 reps) (2 minute rest)
SLDL 185 x 12, 205 x 12 (+w) (24 reps) (2 minute rest)
Close Parallel Grip Chin Ups (skipped)
Hanging Leg Raises BW +10 lbs. bands x 20, x 16 (+w) (36 reps) (2 minute rest)

I expected I could add 10 lbs. to my Ultra-Wide Low Box Squat since I added that much with a little to spare to my Deadlift last ME day. It seems like it’s going to be a good indicator of progress for both my Squat and Deadlift.

I decided to start annotating (+/- w/r) to indicate if I went up or down in Weight ( w ) or Reps ( r ) since it’s getting to be a pain to look back later and find the last time I did something to see if I improved or not.

I skipped Chins today because I did Lat Pulls yesterday. I will do them later today or tomorrow.
 
DE Squat, Yesterday:

BW = 178

Dynamic Effort:
Ultra-Wide Low Box Squats (170 lbs. + 30 lbs. chains +52 lbs. bands x 2) x 10 (+w) (20 reps) (30 second rest)

Ultra-Wide 1.5” Deficit Deadlifts (205 +20 lbs. chains x 1) x 8 (+w) (8 reps) (30 second rest)

Assistance:
Ghetto GHR BW -56 lbs. bands x 25, x 25 (+r) (50 reps) (2 minute rest)
Close Parallel Grip Lat Pulls 90 lbs. x 20, 100 lbs. x 20 (+wr) (40 reps) (2 minute rest)
Ghetto Reverse Hyper BW x 25, x 25 (50 reps) (1 minute rest)
Hanging Leg Raises BW x 30, x 25 (55 reps) (1 minute rest)

The Box Squats felt really solid with the combined chains and bands compared to just bands alone which sometimes feels a little wobbly.
 
ME Bench, Today:

BW = 178

Max Effort:
Incline Bench Press Bar x 10, 95 x 5, 135 x 3, 155 x 1

Assistance:
Dips BW x 6, 205 x 1, 190 x 6 (-wr) (13 reps) (2 minute rest)
Decline DB Triceps Extensions 25 x 12, 27.5 x 6 (-r) (18 reps) (1 minute rest)
Triceps Exercise #2 (skipped)
BB Shrugs 375 x 15, 385 x 10, 425 static hold x 20 seconds (+w) (25 reps) (1 minute rest)
Medium Underhand Grip Cable Rows 110 x 15, 120 x 15, 130 x 15, 140 x 15 (+wr) (60 reps) (2 minute rest)
Side Bends (later at work)
Hammer Curls (later at work)
 
ME Squat, Today:

BW 177 lbs.

Max Effort:
Wide Box Squat to Parallel Bar x 10, 95 x 5, 135 x 3 185 x 1, 225 x 1, 275 x 1, 305 x 1, 325 x 1 PR

Assistance:
Concentric GMs 255 x 6, 265 x 6 (+w) (12 reps) (3 minutes rest)
SLDL 225 x 12 (+w) (12 reps)
Supported DB Row (will do at work)
Side Bends (will do at work)

I figured my Parallel Box Squat would go up since my Free Squat and Low Box Squat had. When I first started doing Parallel Box Squats I found that my Free Squat was about 50-60 lbs. higher which looks like a new PR when I try that again in two weeks.

I’ve been doing the GMs and SLDLs longer than three weeks since I still haven’t hit my 6 and 12 rep maxes on either of them yet so I plan to keep increasing the weight until I stall to find my true rep maxes.

Yesterday:
GPP:
Hill Sprints 100m x 5
A whole load of Shoulder Pre/Rehab exercises and stretches.
 
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