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

So with the snow day last week my schedule got a bit off, ended up I "should" have worked out on Saturday, but I ended up skipping my workout. I am sorta remodeling a bathroom in our house, so I spent 1/2 the day doing that and the other 1/2 running around the neighborhood with my kids due to awesome weather.

The extra day off didn't hurt a bit because I had an outstanding day in the gym today!

Deads: 45x10, 135x5, 185x3, 225x3, 275x1, 330x5, 330x5
Chins: BWx3, BW+55x5, BW+55x5, BW+55x5+1+1
DB incline press: 35x12 (slow mo) 95'sx5, 95'sx5, 95'sx5
Leg Press: 200x10, 290x5, 470x5, 470x5, 470x5
Dips: BWx5, BW+100x5, BW+100x5, BW+100x5
DB Bent Row: 100x6, 102.5x5, 100x7
DB Rear Delt raises: 25x7, 25x7, 25x7
DB Standing curls: 45'sx5, 45'sx5, 45'sx5
Calves: 4 sets of BWx15
Abs: 4 sets of 20 crunches on a ball

BW was 179.6 after workout. Diet landed @ about 3400 calories today, 375g carbs and 275g protein

Tried warming up a little like MikeNov on deadlifts, I clustered all of the 45-275 work in one big set with no breaks other than to add weight. Then took a 2 minute rest and did my two work sets. Felt great! I'm going to keep warming up like this for deadlifts, thanks, Mike!

100 pound DB's is the heaviest we have, so I tried to tie a 2.5 plate to the dumbbell for rows... didn't work very well. Figure I'll just add a few more reps at the same weight; maybe focus more on the negative.

470 is as heavy as our leg press will go, 5 plates on either side +20 pounds for the machine... Looks like I'll be doing the same here unless I can figure a way to rig a few more plates. 470 felt heavy, but I could have probably managed at least 2 more reps for each set.

I'm going continue adding weight to deadlifts and hopefully will be able to add weight to chins. +55 felt pretty darn heavy today.

Going from 95 to 100 pound DB's is a pretty big leap on incline press, so I'm not sure I'll attempt that. 95's felt right heavy, but I have managed 5 clean reps on every set I've tried. The last rep of each set has been a struggle, but no help from a spotter... maybe on my last day of this cycle I'll try the 100's. We'll see.
 
Managed a new PR today!

Deads: 45x10, 135x5, 185x3, 225x3, 275x1, 335x5, 335x5 -- 335 is a PR!
DB Incline Press: 35x12 (slow mo) 95x5, 95x5
Chins: BWx60x3+1+1, BW+60x3+1+1, BW+60x3+1+1+1
Leg Press: 200x5, 380x5, 470x5, 470x3, 470x5
Dips: BWx5, BW+100x5, BW+100x5, BW+100x5
DB Bent Row: 100x7, 100x7, 100x7
DB Rear Delt Raises: 25x8, 25x8, 25x8
DB Standing Curls: 45x5
Calves: BWx15, BWx15, BWx15
Abs: 20, 25 crunches on the ball

Really happy about deads. Form stayed pretty consistent and 335 came up easier than I thought it would.

Did incline presses 2nd so I'd have more energy; however, I need to do an additional set of warmups... my first set of the 95's was harder than my 2nd.

Chins were a challenge, but I managed 16 total reps; had to cluster, but I managed the 16 reps.

I had some weird failure on my second set of leg presses; I hit a weird sticking point after 3 reps... and just couldn't push past it; very strange. 3rd set was a 100% clean 5 reps., no issues. Not sure what happened on the 2nd set; weird.

Only managed one set of bicep curls; biceps were plenty smoked after the chins and DB bent rows.

Overall, feeling pretty good about things. Not sure if I'll try 340 on Friday... maybe.
 
Nice PR.

Re: leg press sticking point - might have been a small & temporary issue w/the equipment ... ? Damn things can be really touch&go occasionally. Sometimes they're too oiled, other times they're not slick enough etc.
 
nativetroutbum said:
So with the snow day last week my schedule got a bit off, ended up I "should" have worked out on Saturday, but I ended up skipping my workout. I am sorta remodeling a bathroom in our house, so I spent 1/2 the day doing that and the other 1/2 running around the neighborhood with my kids due to awesome weather.

The extra day off didn't hurt a bit because I had an outstanding day in the gym today!

Deads: 45x10, 135x5, 185x3, 225x3, 275x1, 330x5, 330x5
Chins: BWx3, BW+55x5, BW+55x5, BW+55x5+1+1
DB incline press: 35x12 (slow mo) 95'sx5, 95'sx5, 95'sx5
Leg Press: 200x10, 290x5, 470x5, 470x5, 470x5
Dips: BWx5, BW+100x5, BW+100x5, BW+100x5
DB Bent Row: 100x6, 102.5x5, 100x7
DB Rear Delt raises: 25x7, 25x7, 25x7
DB Standing curls: 45'sx5, 45'sx5, 45'sx5
Calves: 4 sets of BWx15
Abs: 4 sets of 20 crunches on a ball

BW was 179.6 after workout. Diet landed @ about 3400 calories today, 375g carbs and 275g protein

Tried warming up a little like MikeNov on deadlifts, I clustered all of the 45-275 work in one big set with no breaks other than to add weight. Then took a 2 minute rest and did my two work sets. Felt great! I'm going to keep warming up like this for deadlifts, thanks, Mike!

100 pound DB's is the heaviest we have, so I tried to tie a 2.5 plate to the dumbbell for rows... didn't work very well. Figure I'll just add a few more reps at the same weight; maybe focus more on the negative.

470 is as heavy as our leg press will go, 5 plates on either side +20 pounds for the machine... Looks like I'll be doing the same here unless I can figure a way to rig a few more plates. 470 felt heavy, but I could have probably managed at least 2 more reps for each set.

I'm going continue adding weight to deadlifts and hopefully will be able to add weight to chins. +55 felt pretty darn heavy today.

Going from 95 to 100 pound DB's is a pretty big leap on incline press, so I'm not sure I'll attempt that. 95's felt right heavy, but I have managed 5 clean reps on every set I've tried. The last rep of each set has been a struggle, but no help from a spotter... maybe on my last day of this cycle I'll try the 100's. We'll see.
Click to expand...

Glad I provided a useful suggestion. Bear in mind I'm not literally doing the sets back to back, I'm just not taking forever between them. E.g. I might warm up for squats something like 95, 115, 135, 155, 185 for 1-3 reps a piece with a minute or two in between. Goes pretty quickly and helps prevent the "holy ****" effect of jumping straight to your work sets with minimal warmup.

P.S. Nice lifting.
 
Thanks guys. Things have been going amazingly well lately; this cycle has been incredible. Again today I managed two PRs. Another 5 pounds added to Deadlifts and 2.5 pounds added to dips.

Deads: 45x10, 135x5, 185x3, 225x3, 275x1, 340x5. 340 is a PR!
Incline Presses: 35x12, 65x3, 95x5, 95x5
Chins: BW+60x3+1+1+1+1+1, BW+60x4+1+1+1+1+1
Leg Press: 200x5, 380x5, 470x5, 470x5
Calf raises in between sets, BWx15
Dips: BWx5, BWx5, BW+100x5, BW+102.5x5. 102.5 is a PR!
DB Bent Rows: Skipped
DB Curls: 50'sx5, 50'sx5
DB rear delt raise: 25x8, 25x8, 25x8
Abs: Skipped.

So I only managed one set of 340 on deads. I was still a bit sore from Wednesday, but I figured I'd try another 5 pounds. I would have stopped at 4 because my form broke down, but my friend Dave convinced me to do another, "C'mon man, pull that $hit!" and I manged a 5th... it wasn't pretty, but I got it, and I didn't hurt myself, so I'm pretty happy. I was pretty well spent after 1 set, so I decided to leave well enough alone. Next week I'm going for 30 total reps @ 340.

Chins were tough; had to cluster again, but today, I just kept going with 1's until I couldn't get a full rep. Sorta did a pair of myo-rep sets.

Our DB's only go to 100, but I wanted to try more weight on dips so I added a 2.5 pound plate... I actually almost got 6 reps... I failed 1/2 way up on the 6th rep, but I ALMOST had it... I was pretty well paused for a full 10 seconds before I failed. ALMOST had it and MAN my pecs were screaming after.

DB Curls @ 50 weren't too bad, but my form broke down a bit.

Skipped rows because my back was plenty toasty after deads and for time. Skipped abs due to time.

BW was exactly 180.0 after workout!
 
Good day in the gym today.

Deads: 45x10, 135x3, 185x3, 225x3, 275x1, 340x5, 340x3
Chins: BW+60x5, BW+60x4+1, BW+60x4.5+1+1
DB Incline Press: 35x10, 60x5, 95x5, 95x7!!
Leg Press: 201x5, 381x5, 491x6, 491x6
Dips: BWx5, BW+102.5x5, BW+102.5x5
DB Bent Rows: 100x7, 100x7, 100x7
DB Curls: 40x7, 40x5
DB Rear Delt Raise: 30x5, 30x5
Abs: 20, 20 crunches on a ball
Calves: Skipped.

First set of deads felt great. 2nd set was a sorta fail... I started a 4th rep but didn't really have my heart and soul into it, so I just dropped it after I got it a few inches off the ground.

Chins felt a little better today, actually managed 5 straight reps for my first set. With 60 pounds, I'm just barely getting my chin over the bar, so I'm sure I'm missing out on some lat/back work.

DB incline presses felt GREAT. Managed 7 legit reps with no spotter on my 2nd set.

Figured a way to strap dumbbells to the leg press machine so I can add more weight. 491 was heavy, but I managed 6 reps, twice. 501 on Wednesday.

Biceps were smoked when it came time for curls. Just for grins I swung the 40's around a bit, kept form perfect and slow; managed a really good burn.

BW after workout was 180.8.
 
Good day today, managed 2 PRs.

Deads: 45x8, 135x5, 185x3, 225x3, 275x1, 340x5, 340x5
Chins: BW+62.5x4.99, BW+62.5x4.99+1, BW+62.5x3+1+.5+.5 --- (62.5 is a PR)
DB Incline: 35x10, 60x5, 95x5, 95x7
Leg Press: 201x5, 290x5, 380x5, 501x7, 501x6
Dips: BWx5, BW+105x5, BW+105x4+1 --- (105 is a PR)
DB Bent Rows: 100x8, 100x8 (left arm was 6+1+1 due to grip)
Rear Delt Raises: 30x5
Biceps: Skipped
Abs: Skipped
Calves: Skipped

Sure both of my PRs are only 2.5 over my previous PR, but I'm going to take it!

I managed a legit 10 reps with 340 over 2 sets. Needed a little encouragement from my friend Dave, but it was great.

Leg presses were heavy, but MAN my legs felt strong today!

Incline presses are funny... something about my CNS, etc, such that the 2nd set is always easier than the first. I barely got 5 for my first set, but pretty easily got 6 on my second; then needed a tiny spot at the midpoint for my 7th rep.

Chins were crazy hard at +62.5. Again I barely nudged my chin over the bar for each rep. For both of my first sets I came REALLY close to a legit 5 reps, but for the last rep in each set I don't think I quite got my chin all the way over the bar... SOOO close. Last set I pretty much failed. Got 3 reps and then +1... then I tried to do +1 again and just couldn't make it but 3/4 of the way up on both attempts.

Dips were silly hard considering I only added 2.5 pounds. Pretty much everything hurt through my first set, triceps, chest and shoulders were screaming. The last rep was very slow and I almost got stuck at the mid point but managed to get it. 2nd set was harder but I got a legit 4+1 with only about a 5-10 second break between reps 4 and 5.

For DB rows my left hand gave out a little on my 2nd set so I had to cluster on the left side.

Skipped lots of stuff today just due to time.

BW was 180.8 again today! After Friday I'll measure skinfolds again to see where I am LBM-wise. Hoping for good numbers.
 
Dips were hard because you had chins (stretch pecs at the bottom), incline and deads (cos they're deads) before them.
 
Good point, Alex! My pecs have always been thin and I want to make them big (they're growing), hence my multiple pec exercises: incline DB's and dips. I totally overlooked the stretch in the pec at the bottom of the chin motion. That's what's just so great about compound exercises, you're pretty much working everything!!
 
Volume isn't going to be the answer for your pecs though. Overtraining them will cost you more than you stand to gain. Just keep progressing the load, eating the food and they'll grow just fine.
 
Alex, do you think that my routine is overtraining pecs? I'm only "directly" training them with DB Incline Presses and dips.

Yesterday marked the final day of 5's for me before SD. I'm ready for a little rest. Had to skip deadlifts due to back soreness bordering on bad pain at times. As it turns out, I realized that Leg Press is what was causing my low back pain, I should have done deads...

Deads: Skipped
Chins: Did 15 total reps of BW+65. Basically did 3 sets of 1+1+1+1+1
DB Incline Press: 35x10, 60x5, 100x4, 100x3 Using 100lb DBs is a PR
Leg Press: 200x5, 290x5, 380x3, 511x5, 511x5
Dips: BWx5, BWx5, 105x5, 105x5
DB Rows: 100x10, 100x5
DB Rear Delt Raise: 25x8, 25x8
Abs: 15, 15 crunches on a ball
Skipped everything else

Happy I got 100s on incline press. Felt pretty good though shoulder is sore mostly just from wrangling the damn things up into position and back down after the set...

SD is going to feel good for a few days. The last 4-5 days of SD I don't really like...
 
Your program looks good, not overtraining pecs.


I doubt leg press is what caused your low back pain, unless you use really bad form. If done properly, the lower back is simply a stabilizer during leg press. You probably just felt the existing injury during leg press.
 
I think my form is pretty good on most everything (unless you compare my chins to MikeyNov!!), but I wasn't sure if the heavy loads threw something out of wack in my pelvis/lower back. I try to keep my butt and low back glued to the seat, sometimes at the bottom of the movement, as my knees are aproaching my chest my butt does come up a bit.

I feel good today. Spent 1/2 the day at a local farm with the wife and kiddos, the other 1/2 fishing at a local pond with my daughters. Managed to catch 3 largemouth bass which was a lot more than I expected since the water is still very cold. Earlier this AM as we were in the car on the way to the farm, my low back was burning a little; almost like it was pumped and full of blood... didn't really hurt, just felt strange. Weird. I hope it's not my kidneys hurting...

Either way, I think it's time for a 9-day-SD. I'll take this weekend, next week and weekend off and start back with an aggressive 10's on Monday April 1st.

Checked skinfolds today. 9, 21, and 18. JP3-site says I'm at 15.17%BF and 152.86 pounds LBM; which is more than a 1/2 pound increase in LBM from 6 March. I'm still heading in the right direction, but my body is telling me to take a break.
 
Here we are, Thursday of my SD week and light symptoms of depression seem to be setting in...

This is when I hate SD.

I can't wait until Monday...
 
nativetroutbum said:
I think my form is pretty good on most everything (unless you compare my chins to MikeyNov!!), but I wasn't sure if the heavy loads threw something out of wack in my pelvis/lower back. I try to keep my butt and low back glued to the seat, sometimes at the bottom of the movement, as my knees are aproaching my chest my butt does come up a bit.

I feel good today. Spent 1/2 the day at a local farm with the wife and kiddos, the other 1/2 fishing at a local pond with my daughters. Managed to catch 3 largemouth bass which was a lot more than I expected since the water is still very cold. Earlier this AM as we were in the car on the way to the farm, my low back was burning a little; almost like it was pumped and full of blood... didn't really hurt, just felt strange. Weird. I hope it's not my kidneys hurting...

Either way, I think it's time for a 9-day-SD. I'll take this weekend, next week and weekend off and start back with an aggressive 10's on Monday April 1st.

Checked skinfolds today. 9, 21, and 18. JP3-site says I'm at 15.17%BF and 152.86 pounds LBM; which is more than a 1/2 pound increase in LBM from 6 March. I'm still heading in the right direction, but my body is telling me to take a break.
Click to expand...

If it were your kidneys then it would only be on one side and not the other, as both kidneys do not experience problems at the same time unless you are just totally screwed.

It's not that uncommon to get lower back pumps from regular activities though.
 
What Totentanz said - standing up fishing for a few hours causing lower back stiffness/soreness/pain/swelling/heat (pick the word, I think we're all on the same page in terms of what it is :p) is not surprising to me. I get the 'time to rest' impetus every now and then, if I've spent a bit long being rigidly upright and active together. It's just like if you had to carry shopping bags around for two hours performing 'camel duty' for the wife&kids; the bi's and forearms are going to mail in their resignations.

I wouldn't worry unless it persists/gets worse.
 
Thanks guys. I'm fine now. A couple days after my last workout and I was 100%. I suppose I was just a bit worn down after a pretty good HST cycle.

Now that my SD is almost over I'm getting my workout notebook squared away, setting up my weights/progressions in ancitipcation of Monday's workout. Going to stick with pretty much the same routine with one or two slight modifications. I'm going to play around with the "max calculator" and set my 10-rep and 5-rep goals.

Deadlifts
DB Inc press
Chins
Leg press
Calf Presses
Dips
DB Rows
Standing BB Curl
Seated DB Shoulder Press
Decline Crunches, weighted this time
 
DB Incline and DB Shoulder is a lot for that anterior delt. Keeping it stable as well as doing the lift. I wouldn't push volume.

Also, I wouldn't weighted crunches much - deads will heat these enough, as will any lying down press.

Looks solid.
 
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