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

AlexAustralia said:
Ahh rugby ... the football for guys who don't need diaper padding all over their body ;)


How do preacher curls treat your elbows? I gave up on them some years back, they just didn't agree with my joints or forearms much.
Click to expand...

Yes sir! Talk about a simultaneous full body workout AND intense cario... At times when I'm feeling more than just a little delusional, I contemplate calling a few of the local Rugby clubs to inquire about maybe practicing with them...

We don't have a true preacher curl bench at my "gym"... so I am performing the "preacher" curls on an adjustable bench. I adjust the bench so it's about a 75 degree angle and I just squat behind it and jam my armpit into the top of the bench. I obviously do one arm at a time and if I go to the full extended position the dumbell will hit the bench so I stop a hair short of hitting the bench... no rest for the bicep this way, and no bounce effect; I suppose this also limits the possibility of hyperextension and maybe minimizes the possibility of elbow issues. Either way it definitely stimulates the heck out of the bicep and thus far I have had no elbow pain.

Today's gym time was just cardio.

Again I jogged a bit and walked some. Jogged about 3/4 of the time, walked about 1/4. Total of 2.5 miles in about 25 minutes. Jogging was 6.5 speed, walking was 3.0. Incline was 2.0. Diet was a little off today, ate a WAY late lunch, so I felt a big groggy and felt like I burned through all of my energy stores in the first 10 minutes.

Also did 3 sets of somewhat 'slow' pushups, 15, 15, 15... just for grins.

Diet
Calories: 3409
Carbs: 361
Fats: 99
Protein 250

BW was only 176.4. I suppose I'm buring more calories with the 10's, so maybe I need to up the calories a bit...
 
My cardio is pretty much horrible... Breathing heavily after pretty much every set... sweating profusely throughout workout. Definitely going to sleep well tonight...

Deadlifts: 135x10, 225x5, 275x10, 275x10 (loose belt today, 10th rep came up pretty easily.)
Chins: BWx1, BW+30x10, BW+30x8.5+1+1
Dips: BWx5, BW+65x10, BW+65x9+1
Leg Press: 200x5, 310x10, 310x10
DB Bent Rows: 85x10, 85x10
DB Incline press: 75x10, 75x10 (last rep needed a little help from spotter)
DB Single Arm Preachers: 35x10, 35x10 (second set only managed 7+1+1+1 with the left arm)
DB Rear Delt Raise: 15x10, 15x10, 15x10
Calves: BWx15, BWx15
Crunches: Skipped

Diet:
Calories: 3339
Carbs: 378
Fat: 90
Protein: 249

BW was 178.8 after workout
 
Skipped cardio yesterday, still ate about 3300 calories.

Today's workout was great though exhausting again. Huffing a puffing quite a bit after deadlifts, chins, dips and leg presses.

Deadlifts: 45x10, 135x10, 285x10, 285x10 (loose belt, might have been able to get 295x10!!)
Chins: BW Hang, BW+32.5x10, BW+32.5x9+1
Dips: BWx5, BWx5, BW+70x10, BW+70x9+1
Leg Press: 90x10, 200x5, 320x10, 320x10
DB Bent Rows: 90x10, 90x10
DB Incline Press: 35x12 (slow mo) 75x10, 75x11 (no spotter needed today, and I got 11 on 2nd set... no shoulder pain either.)
DB Single Arm Preacher Curl: 35x10, 35x10 (left arm was 6+1+1+2 on the second set.)
DB Rear Delt Raise: 20x10, 20x10
Calf Raise: BWx15, BWx15
Crunches: Skipped due to time

Pretty excited about my deadlifts, everything feels good and strong. A little disapointed about my single arm curls, but I'm going to stick with the "preachers" as they are definitely working the bicep incredibly well. The rear delt raises are also feeling good, no pain and the shoulders are feeling a little stronger and are maybe getting a little bigger. Pretty excited about the weekend of a little rest and then 5's starting on Monday!

Diet:
Calories: 3364
Carbs: 332
Fats: 102
Protein: 298

BW after workout was 178.6
 
Watching Rugby again today... definitely going to do some cardio later. :D

Measured my skinfolds today.

JP 3 site method
Chest: 8.5
Abdomen: 22
Quad: 17.5

At 178.6 that puts my lean mass at ~152 and 15%bf.

According to my non-exact, but at least consistent, methods of measuring both BW and skinfolds, I've gone up from 147 to 152 in lean body mass since September 2012. That's about 1 pound of muscle per month. Not certain what a "good" (natural, no 'roids) rate of LBM gain is, but at least I'm going in the right direction. At this rate, I would be gaining 12 pounds of muscle in a calendar year which sounds respectable, but again, I'm not sure what is considered a "good" rate of LBM gain considering my age, level of training, and no 'roids. If you have any insight in this area, please chime in. Thank you!!
 
That's good progress. From what I understand, nattys should expect 1-1.5 lb per month. 18lb of LBM in a year is alot if you think about it. Normally (no training) when scale weight increases it's fat.
 
Had a pretty good first day of 5's today. Decided I would stagger on a few, keep most where I ended 10's and progress on chins.

Deads: 45x10, 135x10, 225x5, 285x5, 285x5, 285x5
Chins: BW hang, BW hang, BW+35x6, BW+35x5, BW+35x5
Dips: BWx5, BW+70x5, BW+70x5, BW+70x5
Leg Press: 90x10, 200x5, 310x5, 310x5, 310x5
DB Bent row: 80x5, 80x5, 80x5
DB Incline Press: 35x12 (slow), 75x5, 75x5, 75x5
DB Single Arm Preacher: 35x5, 35x5, 35x5
Bent Rear Delt Raise: 15x7, 15x7, 15x7, 15x7
Calf Raises, BWx15, BWx15, BWx20
Crunches on the ball: 15, 15

Diet:
Calories: 3188
Carbs: 339
Fats: 79
Protein: 283

BW: 177.6
 
I might rule out the BW hangs from chins. There really shouldn't be much stretching pre-exercise. You're more likely to inhibit your performance than prime it. Ofc if it's for like, 5 seconds, don't worry about it.
 
Thanks, Alex, I'm only hanging for about 5-10 seconds each... I'm also not just hanging, I'm holding my shoulder blades back whilst hanging; essentially I'm just trying to get the neurons to start firing a little.

Today was cardio.

35 minutes, alternating between 1 minute walking (3.0 speed) and 2 mintues running (7.0 speed). After about 25 minutes my running times were decreasing to about 1 minute and walking stayed 1 minute. Incline was a consistent 2.0% throughout. All told, the treadmill told me I burned 435 calories, which isn't really the point, but that's sorta how I'm comparing 1 cardio session to the next. My "wind" felt a little better today.

Diet:
Calories: 3057
Carbs: 320
Fats: 70
Protein: 293
 
Yesterday's workout...

Deads: 45x10, 135x10, 225x5, 295x5, 295x5, 295x5
Chins: 5 second hangx2, BW+37.5x5, BW+37.5x5, BW+37.5x5
Dips: BWx5, BW+75x5, BW+75x5, BW+75x5
Leg Press: 200x5, 320x5, 320x5 (skipped 3rd set)
DB Bent Rows: 85x5, 85x5, 85x5
DB Incline Press: 35x12 (slow mo) 80x5, 80x5, 80x5
DB Single Arm Preacher Curl: 35x5, 35x5, 35x5
DB Bent rear delt raise: 15x7, 15x7
Calf raises: BWx15, BWx15, BWx15
Decline Crunches: 15, 15, 15

Today was cardio, only 30 minutes. Managed 15 minutes of 1 minute walking 2 minutes running, same as before. 3.0 walk, 7.0 run, 2.0 incline; last 15 minutes were 1 minute walking and 1 minute running... Treadmill said something like 360 calories burned...

Diet yesterday was right around 3k calories with 275g protein and 300g carbs.

Today's food:
Calories: 3419
Carbs: 288
Fat: 126 (44g from almonds and peanut butter, 30g from eggs)
Protein: 305

Tomorrow morning I'll be hitting the gym early for my 3rd session of 5's.
 
Had a decent workout this AM.

Deads: 45x10, 135x10, 225x3+1, 305x5, 305x5, 305x5
Chins: 5 second BW hang, BW+40x5, BW+40x5, BW+40x5
Dips: BWx5, BWx2, BW+80x5, BW+80x5, BW+80x5
Leg Press: 200x7, 330x5, 330x5, 330x5
DB Incline Press: 35x12 (slow mo) 85x5, 85x5, 85x5
DB Bent Row: 90x5, 90x5, 90x5
Real Preacher Curl, curly bar: 20x10, 80x5, 80x5, 80x5
DB Rear delt raise: 15x10, 15x10, 15x10
Calf raise machine: 5 bricks x 15, 10 bricks x 5, 10 bricks x5
Crunches on a ball: 15, 15

305 came up really slowly; like I had to force it. I got all 15 reps, but that first rep in the first set was brutal... Maybe running on cardio day is taking too much out of my system... maybe I didn't have enough gas in the tank this AM... maybe my body didn't like the AM workout. Either way, it was a bit disapointing.

Everything else was great. I worked out at the "other" office gym closer to my house. The pull up bars at this gym are much smaller, I'm guessing 1/2 to 3/4 the width of a standard barbell. The pull up bar at my gym is about 10% larger than a standard barbell. Pretty amazing how different the grip makes the entire movement feel. The smaller width bar makes everything feel stronger, so BW+40 came up x5 really easy, could have done 7-8 reps for each set.

This gym has a proper preacher curl bench... the whole movement felt great, and 80lbs was probably too light for 5's, could have gotten x10 for each set.
 
Pretty good workout today.

Deads: 45x10, 135x10, 225x3, 315x5, 315x5, 315x4
Chins: BW+45x5, BW+45x5, BW+45x5
Dips: BWx5, BW+85x5, BW+85x5, BW+85x5
Leg Press: 200x5, 340x5, 340x5, 340x5
DB Bent Row: 95x5, 95x5, 95x5
DB Incline Press: 85x5, 85x5, 85x5
Standing BB Curls (curly bar) 90x5, 90x5, 90x5
DB Rear Delt Raise: 20x7, 20x7, 20x7
Calf raise on hack squat machine: 100x10, 200x5, 200x5
Decline Crunches: 20, 20, 20

315 came up better than 305 did, strange... I stopped at 4 reps on set 3 because my form had broken down a bit on reps 3 and 4. I didn't mean to progress 5 pounds on chins, but I did, Wednesday chins will be +47.5 I think.
 
Didn't have time to update yesterday... Had a decent workout, but deads again felt heavier than they should have.

Deads: 45x10, 135x10, 225x3, 315x5, 315x5
Chins: 47.5x5, 47.5x5, 47.5x5
Dips: BWx5, BW+90x5, BW+90x5, BW+90x4+1 (grip was slipping due to sweat...)
Leg Press: 200x5, 350x5, 350x5, 350x5
DB Bent Row: 100x5, 100x5, 100x5
DB Incline Press: 85x5, 85x5, 85x7
DB Single Arm Preacher Curl: 35x8, 35x7, 35x6
DB Rear delt raise: 20x8, 20x8, 20x8
Calf Raise: BWx20, BWx20
Crunches on Ball: 15, 15

315 felt too heavy again... hoping tomorrow it feels better. I didn't run at all today, just up-hill walking; we'll see if that makes a difference.

I haven't been using straps on anything except deadlifts and I can definitely feel it in my forearm, especially on DB Bent rows; I'm JUST able to hold onto that pig in my left hand for 5 reps... last rep it's right at the end of my fingers. Gonna keep going without straps in the hopes of pumping up my spindly forearms a bit.

Hoping to get a good night's sleep tonight and then gonna hit the gym hard tomorrow.
 
Decent workout today but had to cut it a bit short due to time constraints. I also switched up my exercise order a bit, seemed to work pretty well.

Deads: 135x10, 135x5, 225x3, 225x1, 315x5, 320x5
Chins: BWx1, BW+50x5, BW+50x5, BW+50x5
DB Incline Press: 35x12 (slow mo) 90x5, 90x5
Leg Press: 200x5, 360x5, 360x5, 360x10
Dips: BWx5, BW+95x5, BW+95x5, BW+95x4+1
DB Row: 100x5, 100x5, 100x5
DB Standing curls: 40x5, 40x5 (supersetted with shoulders)
DB Rear delt raise: 25x7, 25x7, 25x7
Calves: Skipped
Abs: Skipped

315 was heavy again... I had a buddy check my form and he said everything looked good, so maybe it's sleep/diet/both. I'm hopefully going to get 335x5 before I'm done. BW+50 on chins felt heavier than I thought it should. Gonna push to hopefully get +65 before I'm done. I've really been "slow rolling" the weight on leg press, and this really has been unnecessary; my weights are way off. Really going to push the weights to finish at 470x5 over the next 2 weeks. DB Incline presses felt great with the 90 lb dumbells; a lot better than I thought they would. Might have been able to get 6 reps in each set. I need to add weight to DB rows but our DB's max out at 100... going to try and rig a small plate to the DB by using my wrist wraps. We'll see how that goes.

Anyway, feeling pretty good after a LONG week of work and a pretty good set of workouts.

Hope ya'll are doing well!!
 
Haven't been tracking calories for about the past week... my work-days have been approaching 12 hours, and with a 1.25 hour workout after and a 1 hour commute to/from, I'm finding precious little time with the family and sleep, so spending even 15-20 minutes calculating my calories on the computer ain't gonna happen. My diet doesn't really change at all for breakfast, lunch, and snacks... dinner is really the only variable, but still, i'm running out of time each day for now. I know I'm getting about 3200-3400 calories per day, usually around 350 carbs, 90 fats, and 275 protein.

Bodyweight is pretty well stuck around 178. Calipers and mirror say I'm around 14.5 -15% bf. I'm thinking I may up my calories just a touch to see if I can get over this 178 hump. I suppose the other option is to just start cutting. I figure I'll finish the next two weeks cycle and see how I feel about everything.

I've thoroughly enjoyed "bulking"... I don't eat any junk food, but I do enjoy eating a lot. If I do any cutting, it is going to be quite an adjustment for me. Rather than a drastic change in everything, I'll probably just cut my carbs in 1/2, increase protein, and do an 6-8 week cycle of heavy 5's to ensure I don't lose anything I've gained.
 
Good workout today though my lower back/left hip was a little sore. Still, I hit it hard.

Deads: 45x10, 135x10, 225x3, 320x5, 320x5
Chins: BW+52.5 x 5, BW+52.5 x 5, BW+52.5 x 4.5+1
DB Incline Press: 35x12, 90x5, 90x5
DB Row: 100x5, 100x5, 100x5
Leg Press: 200x5, 370x5, 370x5, 370x5
Dips: BWx5, BW+95x5, BW+95x5, BW+95x5
DB single arm preacher curl: 40x5, 40x5 (only managed 4+1 and 3+1 with my left arm... also did 1 long negative at the end of both sets)
Bent Rear Delt raise: 25x7, 25x7, 25x7
Decline Crunches: 15, 15
Calf raises, BWx15

Deads felt good today, I really focused on form: pulling my shoulders back, head up, scraping the bar on my shins as it came up... all felt good. 325 planned for Wednesday. On pace for a new PR.

Chins felt a bit weak today... managed to JUST get my chin over the bar for a few reps rather than pulling all the way up. Incline presses felt GREAT such that I'll attempt 95s on Wednesday or Friday which will be a PR.

Didn't track all calories today, but I'm quite certain I'm near 3200 with 270g of protein and about 350 grams of carbs.

BW was 179 today.
 
Cardio today. Walked 28 minutes on the treadmill, 3.5 speed, 13.5% incline. "Burned" 350 calories... Then did 5 sets of 10 pushups, slow motion, focusing on really tightening my core and glutes. Also did 3 sets of 15 situps on the ball-thing and 3 sets of BW calf raises x20.

Supposed to be getting 7-14 inches of snow tonight, so I'm guessing my workout scheduled for tomorrow may be delayed until Thursday. Pecs and arms are feeling a bit sore today but almost everything else feels great.

Another day of not keeping perfect track of calories, but I'm still keeping to my general eating plan.

BW was 177.6 after cardio.
 
Decided to check skinfolds today.

Chest: 9
Ab: 20
Quad: 17

@ bw 178 that puts me at 152.14 LBM with 14.53% bf.

Looks like I'm still going in the right direction. Gonna keep doing what I'm doing.
 
Great workout today, hit a couple PRs!

Deads: 45x10, 135x10, 225x4, 325x5, 325x5 (325 felt GREAT today, even after shoveling snow for a couple hours yesterday)
Chins: BW+55x5, BW+55x5, BW+55x4.999999
DB incline press: 35x12 (slow mo) 95x5, 95x5, 95x5 95 pound DBs for incline press is a PR!
Leg Press: 200x10, 400x5, 400x5, 400x10 (yeah, I've really been slow-rolling leg presses...)
Dips: BWx5, BW+100x5, BW+100x5, BW+100x5 I've done BW+100 before, but actually getting 5 full reps x 3 sets with BW+100 is a PR!
DB Bent Row: 100x5, 100x5, 100x5
DB Standing bicep curls: 45'sx5, 45'sx5, 45'sx5
DB Rear delt raises: 25x7, 25x7, 25x7
Calves: BWx15, BWx15, BWx15
Decline crunches: 15, 15

BW was 179.4 after workout. Feeling good, hopefully I'll sleep well tonight!
 
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