Nativetroutbum's Training Log... comments/critique welcome!!!

Thanks LoL and Tim for the feedback! My calves are genetically screwed, but I'm determined to make them at least a little bigger. I'm definitely going to do as you guys recommend; will keep the volume high and will keep form strict.

Today's training was pretty good, high reps and low weight is fun.

Deads: 45x10, 135x10, 185x15
BB Inc Press: 45x10, 75x10, 125x15+5
Full ROM Squats: 45x10, 75x8, 125x15
Close Grip BB Press: 45x10, 75x10, 115x15
Chins: BWx15+5
Dips: BWx20
DB Row: 55x15+10
SL Calf Press: 110x5+5+5+5 (alternated 5left then 5right until each side had 20 reps) Will look to keep increasing volume.
Lying Laterals: 5x15, 10x15
Bent Rear Delt Raise: 10x10, 15x15
Decline Crunches: 30

BB Inc Press still feels great; form, form, form.
Full ROM squats are ridiculous, but I love it. My legs are actually really weak at the bottom of the motion since I've never really trained squats to full ROM; hopefully that part of my legs will catch up quickly or else my weight progression is going to hit a wall quickly.
Little shoulder issue on CG BB Press... will do a form check this weekend, need to watch a few videos.
Lying laterals felt great; huge thanks to MikeyNov for bringing this exercise to my attention. Definitely feels better than standing laterals for all the right reasons.

BW was 179.0

Food Today: 3116 Calories, 347 carbs, 83 fats, 265 protein
 
Hi NT , been reading your log and props to you on both your effort and honesty in your approach to things.Re calves - keep at it and they will respond , I'm not blessed genetically with good calves yet over time I've manipulated them to become presentable so to speak.
First off you need to forget about shifting heavy weight as they do this all day every day , stretch them slow mo with bodyweight only for a while (one legged raises work well)......I've tried everything from nailing old trainers onto planks of wood and walking in ten yard bursts to donkey raises with a powerlifting training partner, it wasn't until I learned how to get full stretch at both extremes of a movement that they began to respond.
Work on getting the mind muscle connection in place and as time goes on you'll find them responding through stretched isolation as you add weight increments They may never be mind blowingly large but they'll certainly hold their own with detail and ridge seperation.
Hope that's of some use.
 
Agree with Nagels, my calves are pathetic too, but recently I have played around with different movements and I have noticed the importance of a good stretch also. My favorite calf movements do far have been single-leg calf raises , and secondly seated calf machine. In both cases I make sure to get a full stretch at the bottom of the movement.
My calves have grown a bit, which is satisfying, even if they will never be huge.
 
Thanks guys. For calves, I'll be sure to focus on the full streched position and will up the volume! I'll probably lower the weight a little and go up to two sets of 20 reps. I know mine won't ever be huge, but I'm determined to do what I can.

Also, I think I realized what I was doing wrong with close grip BB press. Really it was a combination of two, maybe three things;
1. Not going down low enough on the chest for the eccentric motion
2. Not keeping my elbows tight enough to my body
3. Possibly gripping the bar too close

Going to tinker around tomorrow and hopefully get it right.
 
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NTB: re your lower back pain:

I get low back problems if I lose extension in my lower-back with a heavy (for me) weight when I get a clean slightly wrong. It's related to pelvis position. Staying really tight in that deep squat position is really important. Flexibility is a large part of it. Most folks get that butt-wink thing happening to some degree as they start to go deeper than parallel. A small amount probably isn't an issue but if you allow your pelvis to roll forwards too much (tight hamstrings/adductors), your lower back is going to take a lot more stress.

Work on being able to sit in a deep squat position (without a weight) so that you can hold it with your back in extension. Not as easy as it sounds—well, it wasn't for me. Keep working on driving those knees out and bringing your hips forward so that your torso can remain more upright without you losing your balance and falling over backwards. My hip flexibility is improving but it's still not where I want it to be yet. I've seen O-lifters who are able to sit in a deep squat and do dumbbell presses!
 
Yeah, I won't even attempt deep squats, because my hip flexibility is so poor. Most people can't squat deep because of what Lol said. If you are going to do ATG squats, you will definitely have to do daily deep squat stretches and open your hips up. Yoga classes would be ideal if you had time for it.
 
Thanks for the input guys, very helpful. Lol, you were spot-on. Today I focused on keeping my low back extended and abs super tight... then I just went down as far as I could without "butt-winking"... basically, I can just barely get below parallel with the top of my quad, and that's all the flexibility I have right now. I think I'll keep taking baby steps; and for this cycle, that's going to have to be deep enough. Even at that depth and with light weight, it's deeper than I used to go, everything in my legs is feeling it... almost like I'm doing squats for the first time.

Today's training:
Deads: 45x10, 135x10, 195x15
BB Inc Press: 45x15, 85x15, 135x15+5
Squats: 45x15, 95x10, 135x15
CG BB Press: 45x15, 65x15, 115x15
Chins: BW+10x15+5
Dips: BWx5, BW+25x15, BWx10
DB Row: 60x15, 60x10
SL Calf Press: 90x15, 90x10+5+5+5+5
Standing Laterals: 10x15
Lying Laterals: 10x15, 15x15
Seated Rear Delt Raise: 10x15, 15x15
Decline Crunches: 30
Standing DB Curls: 20x15, 15x15
Fly Machine: 90x15, 90x15

Notes
Went a little crazy today, but I just felt like I needed to add a few more exercises.
Squats - I think I've got this sorted now... we'll see.
CG BB Press - Everything was right today, pretty amazing near-isolation of the triceps.
Deads, Chins, Dips, Rows - going to go up a bit for Wed/Friday... Want to finish Deads @235x15, Chins @+30x15 and Dips at +60x15... maybe 85 lb db for rows x 15? I didn't properly set my 15rm's this cycle... sorta feel like I'm flying blind; not good.

BW was 177.0 today.

Food today: 2969 cal, 328 carbs, 83 fats, 235 protein
 
Lol said:
NTB: re your lower back pain:

I get low back problems if I lose extension in my lower-back with a heavy (for me) weight when I get a clean slightly wrong. It's related to pelvis position. Staying really tight in that deep squat position is really important. Flexibility is a large part of it. Most folks get that butt-wink thing happening to some degree as they start to go deeper than parallel. A small amount probably isn't an issue but if you allow your pelvis to roll forwards too much (tight hamstrings/adductors), your lower back is going to take a lot more stress.

Work on being able to sit in a deep squat position (without a weight) so that you can hold it with your back in extension. Not as easy as it sounds—well, it wasn't for me. Keep working on driving those knees out and bringing your hips forward so that your torso can remain more upright without you losing your balance and falling over backwards. My hip flexibility is improving but it's still not where I want it to be yet. I've seen O-lifters who are able to sit in a deep squat and do dumbbell presses!
Click to expand...

This is going to sound weird as hell, but my trick/advice is:

-Go into a deep squat at home/wherever is private/comfortable if you're a private guy
-The weird bit try walking around, in this position, elbows on knees or whatever (arms for balance if need be)
-It's basically going to be a squat-waddle ... yup, say that out loud and grasp the air as your dignity floats away, but seriously, do this for 5mins a day and the flexibility increases a lot
-Butt touching ankles/near to that as possible without toppling over


This is in addition to just practicing form in your deep squats with no weight.





Tangent - are you bulking/cutting/staying put? That workout is going to burn quite a few calories :)
 
AlexAustralia said:
This is going to sound weird as hell, but my trick/advice is:

-Go into a deep squat at home/wherever is private/comfortable if you're a private guy
-The weird bit try walking around, in this position, elbows on knees or whatever (arms for balance if need be)
-It's basically going to be a squat-waddle ... yup, say that out loud and grasp the air as your dignity floats away, but seriously, do this for 5mins a day and the flexibility increases a lot
-Butt touching ankles/near to that as possible without toppling over
Click to expand...

Haha. Weird, yes, but also very effective. Shifting your entire bodyweight onto one leg at a time is like doubling the load you are carrying in that deep squat position without any additional loading on your spine.

NTB: That's almost like the 'ABC' of lifting all in one workout! Hope you ate an extra cow to cover that little lot? :)
 
Alex, I'm going to make "squatty monster" a game with my kids... i'm going to "chase" them around the house in that squatted position. I tried it a bit tonight and my kids were laughing at me as I tried to chase them... Dignity? Ha!! Who needs it...:) Definitely felt a good stretch and got a little blood flowing in my sore quads.

LoL, yes, ABCs of lifting!! I just felt like I needed a little more yesterday... I'm actually a bit puzzled about my nutrition right now after losing weight on my SD when I was eating what SHOULD have been maintenance calories... I'm eating "clean"... no junk, lots of vegetables. I'm going to be eating 2900-3100 calories daily, which SHOULD have me gaining weight, which is my goal... to gain size and strength. I don't want to gain a bunch of weight really fast, I just want a nice slow progression, I'm not in any hurry. If this calorie level doesn't have me gaining at least a little something every week or two, then I'll eat more.

As always, thanks for the help and suggestions, guys. Very helpful to have ya'll on this "journey" with me.

Calves are CRAZY sore today after yesterday's training. Definitely going to keep doing what I did on Monday.

Cardio today. C2 and stationary bike.

C2, damper on 10
1:00 - 255m, nice and easy warm-up
1:00 - 275m, "
:20 - 121m, 46spm, 626 watt avg!
:20 - 121m, 45spm, 622 watt avg!!
:20 - 121m, 46spm, 623 watt avg!!!
---Pretty happy about my numbers here.

Stationary bike was just a 20 minutes, level 12/25, just kept my heart rate at about 145 the whole time... no sprints on this thing today, but my quads were really feeling it.

BW was 177.7.

Food: 3066 cal, 293 carbs, 87 fats, 277 protein
 
Had a busy day yesterday, didn't get a chance to log.

Training was good yesterday.

Deads: 45x10, 135x10, 185x5, 225x15
Inc BB Press: 45x15, 95x10, 145x15+5
Squats: 65x10, 95x10, 145x15+5
CG BB Press: 45x10, 95x10, 120x15
Chins: BW+20x13+1+1, BW+20x5+5 1/2 way reps.
Dips: BWx5, BW+35x15+5, BWx5
DB Rows: 70x15, 70x15
SL Calf Press: 90x15+10+5+5+5
Lying Laterals: 5x15, 10x15, 15x15
Seated Rear Delt Raise: 10x15, 15x15
DB Curl: 20x5, 25x5, 30x5, 35x5, 30x5, 25x5, 20x5
Paused Dips: BWx10, BWx5, BWx10
Decline Crunches: 30

Went a little crazy again. Decided I wanted to add in the bicep curls. Would like the biceps to grow a little and I think mine need some dedicated work. We'll see how it goes.

Squats went well, I'm basically going down as far as I can without losing low back extension which puts me just below parallel with the top of my quad. 145x15 required a second or two pausing between reps 10-15. After watching this video, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g2tyOLvArw0 I realize that I'm doing "high-bar" squats because I simply do not have the flexibility in my shoulders to grip the bar in a low bar position.

BW was 178.6.

Food: 3045 cal, 385 carbs, 78 fats, 213 protein.

For those celebrating, happy 4th of July!
 
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Took the day off today so got to the gym early. Really tried to wear everything out since this was my last day of 15's.

Deads: 45x10, 135x5, 185x5, 245x15+5 (should have done 265 I think)
Inc BB Press: 45x15, 95x10, 135x3, 155x13+2, 155x5
Squats: 45x10, 95x10, 135x5, 155x15, 155x10
CG BB Press: 45x15, 95x10, 125x15+5
Chins: BW+25x12+2+1, BW+25x10 singles +5 1/2 reps.
Dips: BW+45x15+5+5 singles + 3 1/2 reps.
SL Calf Press: BW+1 brick, 5, 5, 5, 5, +10 together; BW+1brick, 5, 5, 5, 5, +10 together (alternated 5's)
Standing Lateral: 5x15
Lying Laterals: 10x15, 12.5x15, 15x15
Seated Rear Delt raise: 10x15, 15x15, 20x15
Preacher Curl: 70x15

Squats: Got the bar into a low-bar position... ugly. I have to put my hands all the way out; literally as far as they can go. Then my upper body is leaning too far forward, I think. The squat felt WAY easier and I got all the way down on each rep... but my upper body, shoulders, chest, traps, all felt wrecked after. I'll keep experimenting.
Calves: At different gym today, leg press was broken. Used standing leg thing... very heavy with no weight, I'm guessing 70 pounds with just one brick. So, I just alternated 5's, left, right, left, right... then did 10 reps together. Calves were SMOKED again today.
Laterals: Loving the lying lateral exercise... no pain, lots of muscle activation.
Preacher: Couldn't resist it...

BW was 178.8

Food: 3243 calories, 397 carbs, 72 fats, 260 protein
 
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nativetroutbum said:
...

C2, damper on 10
1:00 - 255m, nice and easy warm-up
1:00 - 275m, "
:20 - 121m, 46spm, 626 watt avg!
:20 - 121m, 45spm, 622 watt avg!!
:20 - 121m, 46spm, 623 watt avg!!!
---Pretty happy about my numbers here.
Click to expand...
I'll bet you were! That's a great set of numbers. You really are making progress all over the place. It just shows the benefits to be had from sound, consistent training. Good job.
 
Thanks, Lol, making progress little by little.

I didn't eat enough pre-workout today... something was very wrong with my blood sugar or something, because I had NO energy to start with and was literally shaking after I finished inc press. I then went into the locker room and ate an apple and took a swig of my "post workout" chocolate milk... a few minutes later, I was good to go. Finished decent overall.

Deads: 45x10, 135x5, 185x5, 2 @ 265x10
BB Inc Press: 45x15, 95x10, 135x4, 155x10, 155x10+5
Squats: 45x10, 95x6, 135x5, 2 @ 155x10
CG BB Press: 45x10, 95x10, 2 @ 135x10
Chins: BW+25x10, BW+25x7+3+1
Wide Dips: BW+45x10, BW+45x7+3, BW+45x5 singles
DB Bent Rows: 85x10, 85x10, 85x5
SL Calf Press: 110x10+10+5, 110x10+10+5; together @ 110 x 10
Lying Laterals: 10x10, 15x10, 15x10
Rear Delt Raise: 15x10, 15x10, 20x10
BB Curl: 45x10, 75x10, 75x10
Abs: Skipped

Notes:
Deads - my grip sucks. Even at 265; after only 6 or 7 reps and things start to slip. The plates that we have are octagonal-shaped, so if I don't keep a firm grip, the plates move too much and then when I set it down, the bar gets all crooked and I have to completely reposition between reps. I think I'm just going to go back to straps... *sigh. Damn these weak and tiny hands, suppose I'll work on grip strength with all other pulling movements; but not deads.
BB Inc Press felt good again, no shoulder pain.
Squats - Managed to squeeze the bar into low bar position again; upper body is still leaning forward too much due to lack of flexibility, but I am going all the way down. The motion actually feels pretty good; hopefully the flexibility will come.
Wide dips - went with one bar in and one bar out, which is about 4 inches wider than what I was using before. Definitely felt a big difference in my pecs; need to figure out if it's "too wide"...
Calf Press - basically did two alternating sets, 10L, 10R, 10L, 10R, 5L, 5R. Both calves were cramping after lying laterals. Stretched a lot.

BW was 179.4.

Food: 3001 calories, 331 carbs, 77 fats, 249 protein
 
Cardio day.

C2
1:00, 274m
:20 119m, 44 s/m, 592 avg/watt
:20 119m, 45 s/m, 594 avg/watt
:20 118m, 45 s/m, 575 avg/watt *had another bad eating day... schedule was off so I had a near empty tank for training.
1:00, 251m

Stationary bike was 15 minutes at level 13, maintained about 80 rpm the whole time. Quads were pretty well burning by the end.

BW was 178.2

Food: Calories - 3078, Carbs - 384, Fats - 73, Protein - 222

Random note: Right shoulder actually woke me up last night... not sure if I was sleeping on it wrong, but I think I may have tweaked it on those wide dips... tomorrow I'm going back to normal width. My pecs feel pretty amazing, good sore all over, very hard... hopefully it's from the incline presses and not just those wide dips :o)
 
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Shoulder felt pretty good today. Just to be safe, I popped a few ibuprofen around lunchtime. Right anterior delt is a little tweaky, but I think I can work through it... shoulder pre-hab will be a staple of my training.

Deads: 45x10, 135x8, 225x6, (straps) 2 @ 275x10
BB Inc press: 45x15, 95x10, 2@ 165x10
Squats: 45x10, 95x6, 2 @ 165x10
CG BB Press: 45x10, 75x10, 95x5, 2@ 140x10
Chins: 2 @ BW+30x5+5
Dips: BWx5, 2 @ BW+55x10
DB Rows: 85x10, 85x10+5
SL Calf Press: 115x12+10+5, 115x10+5
Lying Laterals: 5x10, 3 @ 10x10
Lying Rear Delt raise: 3 @ 5x10
BB Curls: 2 @ 75x10
--Pre-hab - 30 Internal and 30 External rotations (each arm) with a theraband

Notes:
Deads: Ahhhh... straps. 275x10 is a good place to be at this point in my 10's. Hoping for 315x10 at the end.
165 on Inc press was harder than it "should have" been. May need to slow roll this a little.
Squats: Full ROM, high-bar... flexibility is getting a little better.
CG Press: This actually may be causing my shoulder issue... I've got to cut the ROM way down in order to not get bad anterior delt involvement... I also am using a thumbless grip with my hands turned out slightly so I can keep my elbows in more to ensure triceps are taking the majority of the load. May need to keep the load low on these to ensure I don't mess up my shoulder... triceps are definitely feeling it in a good way!
Chins: Tried chins using a slightly different hand position on a different chin-bar... the bars (2) are close together and are slightly angled. I clustered to ensure near MikeyNov form. Not sure I like this bar, might go back to the standard straight bar on Friday. To keep form tight, I'll likely keep the loads a little on the low side this cycle.
Lying laterals and lying posterior delt raises are simply amazing. I'm not sure I've ever truly isolated each portion of the delt, and even when I've gotten close, I'm certain that I've gotten help from surrounding muscles. Right now, whilst truly isolated, these puppies are WEAK! Hopefully, now that I'm doing these correctly, I'll see some delt growth even under these relatively light loads, since it's definitely stressing my weak little delts. Not really going to advance the loads much on these iso's.

BW was 180.0 today.

Food: 3169 calories, 349 carbs, 90 fats, 248 protein
 
Kicked @ss on the C2 today!!!

Damper on 10.
1:00, 278m (warm-up)
:20, 121m, 46 s/m, 620 avg/watt!
:20, 122m, 46 s/m, 638 avg/watt!!! (finally hit 122m and PR for watts!!!)
:20, 120m, 46 s/m, 616 avg/watt

Stationary bike, 20 minutes on lvl 12, 60-70 rpm; quads were burning...

Really feeling it today on the C2, was really excited to see that 638 avg on my second round! I think I'm finally getting my technique dialed in so, when properly fueled, I am able to transmit power most efficiently into the row. I have no doubt that the full ROM squats are already translating to better rowing power, I already feel more strength especially during the full hip and knee flexion of the row, which is similar to the "in the hole" position for squats.

Pretty much everything is feeling nicely sore today, no bad pain to speak of; very happy about that.

BW was 178.4

Food: 3087 Calories, 367 Carbs, 65 fats, 254 protein

Really looking forward to tomorrow's training. Hope everyone is doing well!!!
 
nativetroutbum said:
Kicked @ss on the C2 today!!!

Damper on 10.
1:00, 278m (warm-up)
:20, 121m, 46 s/m, 620 avg/watt!
:20, 122m, 46 s/m, 638 avg/watt!!! (finally hit 122m and PR for watts!!!)
:20, 120m, 46 s/m, 616 avg/watt
Click to expand...

That's some sweet rowing, NTB! Really good progress.

Makes me want to jump on my C2 for a session (only I can't because a friend's gear is currently stuffed into the same room and there's no space left to use it). This time last year I was doing a lot of rowing on the C2 and on the water at weekends. I've really neglected my rowing. My cardio fitness must really suck by now.

Good to hear that you feel a good transfer between full squats and rowing. I agree.

One other thing that improved my power output was making a conscious effort to really tighten my abs before and during the drive. This makes for a more rigid torso which causes more power to transfer through to the machine. It definitely worked for me.
 
Thanks LoL, I will focus a bit more attention on tight abs next time, see how that goes.

Didn't have a chance to log yesterday's training, so here it is:

Deads: 45x10, 135x5, 225x5, (straps) 285x10, 285x10
BB Inc Press: 45x15, 95x10, 135x2, 170x10, 170x10
High Bar Squats: 45x10, 95x5, 135x5, 170x10, 170x10
CG BB Press: 45x10, 135x10, 145x10, 145x10
Chins: BW+35x5+5, BW+35x5+2+1+1+1+1
Dips: BW+60x10, BW+60x5+3+2
DB Rows: 90x10, 90x10
SL Calf Press: 115x10+10+5, 115x10+10+5 +10 (together)
Lying Laterals: 5x10, 10x10, 10x10
Lying rear delt raise: Skipped
BB Curls: 75x10

Notes:
--Ran out of time, so had to skip a few things.
--High Bar full ROM squats really felt good. I am really beginning to feel comfortable in the full squated position. For whatever reason I could feel that I had very good mind-muscle connection; so everything was flexing when it needed to, knees went out when they were supposed to, abs stayed tight, low back stayed extended, upper body stayed properly upright for nearly every rep; little forward dip on reps 10 and 20.
--Little right anterior delt tweak on the close grip presses... going to try these on the decline bench on Monday and see how the shoulder and triceps feel. I'm hopeful these will be will feel better on the decline.

BW was 180.4

Went a little crazy with the food yesterday; didn't mean to, but we ate out for dinner so that one meal of about 1100 calories threw off my macros.

Food: 3777 Calories, 394 Carbs, 124 Fats, 271 Protein
 
Pretty good day of training today, but I lost a wrist strap on Friday so went light on deads today. Probably a good idea anyway because my back was quite sore from a load of yard/house work on Saturday/Sunday.

Inc BB Press: 45x20, 95x10, 135x10, 2 @ 175x10
Squats: 45x10, 95x5, 135x5, 2 @ 175x10
Decline CB BB Press: 45x20, 135x10, 2 @ 155x10
Deads: 45x10, 135x10, 225x5, 225x5, 225x10
Chins: +35 x 10 singles, +35 x 9 singles +1 +1 +1
Dips: BWx5, BW+65x10, BW+65x5+2+1+1+1
DB Row: 2 @ 90x10
SL Calf Press: 110x10+10+5, 110X5+5+5+5, together x 5
Pre-hab: 3 sets of 10 internal and external rotations with a theraband.
Lying Laterals: 10x10, 10x10
Lying Posterior Delt Raise: 10x10, 10x10
BB Curl: 2 @ 80x10
BW dips: 2 @ BW x5 super slow and controlled, sorta testing my shoulder, ensuring i had the correct angles with arms so I'm focusing on chest; felt good.

Notes:

Inc Press: Felt pretty good about 2 @ 175x10. I think my 10RM will be around 185; which I'm pretty pleased with considering I haven't trained Barbell presses of any kind in a while.
CG Press: Tried the decline today, right shoulder still a little tweaky. Might just have to bail on this exercise and do something else... gonna give it another shot on the decline; maybe just decrease the load and do a crap-ton of reps.
Squats: felt pretty good; didn't do much streching this weekend; felt a little tight. I'm definitely going to split Squats and Deads every other workout for 5's. Will do leg curls on the day I do squats and will do leg extensions on the days I do deads. I think I'm on pace for 190'ish for my 10RM. Not bad considering I'm very much a "beginner" at full ROM squats.
Chins: I decided to try all singles because I realized at the bottom of the motion I am bad-stressing my shoulder a bit, probably due to poor form; not keeping my shoulder blades back enough... tweaking the rotator cuff. May just switch to lat pull downs... suppose I'll see how everything feels on Wednesday having done the singles.

BW was 180.6

Food today: 3071 calories, 402 carbs, 65 fats, 241 protein.
 
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