progress/training log

[insaiyan93]

My mistake. I forgot the how the "power" day is set up. 4x8@75% deads after squats is beastly though, I plugged in the numbers and I'd consider that extremely difficult.

Here's another good read, not necessarily the whole thread, but the template a few posts down, although I don't agree with the deadlift singles part.

r/powerlifting

It was quite beastly, but doable haha.

Hmm that's interesting. Looks like that one guy is using a similar 3 day schedule for main lifts but unless I'm reading it wrong he does all his power, strength, and hypertrophy lifts respectively on one day.

Wonder if there's much difference in results compared to how I'm doing it with one of each on each day. Seems grueling though, you would have to use lower percentages with that setup, can you imagine 4x8 80% for squats deads and bench all in one day? Lol now THAT would be fucked up.

 

[Perrin Aybara]

It was quite beastly, but doable haha.

Hmm that's interesting. Looks like that one guy is using a similar 3 day schedule for main lifts but unless I'm reading it wrong he does all his power, strength, and hypertrophy lifts respectively on one day.

Wonder if there's much difference in results compared to how I'm doing it with one of each on each day. Seems grueling though, you would have to use lower percentages with that setup, can you imagine 4x8 80% for squats deads and bench all in one day? Lol now THAT would be fucked up.

I prefer the way you're doing it a majority of the time. Gives each lift equal attention. The other way is good leading up to a meet though.

 

[insaiyan93]

I prefer the way you're doing it a majority of the time. Gives each lift equal attention. The other way is good leading up to a meet though.

Yeah I think it'll be fine and with a light/rest day in between I'm sure it will be pretty sustainable.

 

[insaiyan93]

Just did one of my accessory days today, gotta be honest....as hard as yesterday's workout was, it was even harder to do a light day like this lol


-lat pulls 4 x 10 wide grip 160lbs

-bent over rows 4 x 10 185lb

-DB curls 4 x 12 30lb

-BB preacher curl 4 x 10 straight bar 75lb

-Reverse curls 4 x 20 straight bar 50lb

-wrist curls 4 x 20 BB 4 x 20

Hammer strength weighted crunch machine 4 x 20 70lb resistance

12 minutes HIIT

I know I need these light days to recover for my heavy days but it is definitely going to take some getting used to

 

[insaiyan93]

Did this guy today

-squat 5 x 5 80% =30lb
Did not not complete all reps in 5 sets
1 set 5 reps
3 sets 4 reps
1 set 3 reps

-bench 4 x 8 75% 220
Did not complete all reps in 4 sets
1 set 8 reps
2 sets 7 reps
1 set 6 reps
1 set 4 reps

-Deadlift 6 x 3 75%
Completed all sets

-reverse flys 3 x 12 20lbs

-tricep rope pushdowns 60lbs 3 x 12

-seated calf raise 3 x 20 1 plate per side 90-ish lbs

Little disappointed that I couldn't complete all my sets but I imagine I'll get there soon.

@weighted chinup wanted to ask...when u can't complete a set I believe either you, or maybe an article I read, said I can just utilize an extra set to do the remaining reps. The question. I have Is if I don't complete all my sets for a day should I drop the weight the next week, or should I just continue at that weight untill I am able to complete all reps?

 

[Perrin Aybara]

You've chosen a weight that's too heavy. It's my opinion that you should never miss a rep on sets across like that. Hitting RPE 9's, 10's and failure on squat, bench or deadlift so much is going to run you into the ground recovery-wise. The weight should be something where the reps are fast and smooth, very little chance of failure, maybe just slowing down a little on the last reps of the set. Better to start too light than too heavy and having to reset.

That's my experience anyway, there's something to be said about performing lots of reps with a weight that's heavy enough for progress, but light enough to allow perfect form. Really ingrains these movement patterns into your brain and muscles. Going so heavy that form breaks down reinforces poor form and increases rates of injury. I know it seems counterproductive in a way, it took me a long time to get it into my head, too, but it's effective. If you follow any top level lifters on YouTube you'll notice a lot of them train this way.

 

[weighted chinup]

@weighted chinup wanted to ask...when u can't complete a set I believe either you, or maybe an article I read, said I can just utilize an extra set to do the remaining reps. The question. I have Is if I don't complete all my sets for a day should I drop the weight the next week, or should I just continue at that weight untill I am able to complete all reps?

That weight was too heavy. 75% is closer to a 10RM so it shouldn't have been that challenging to hit the total tonnage requirement for that lift at that intensity.

That's the nice thing about the first week of any routine, you will figure these things out and make the necessary adjustments and then you will be moving smoothly once week 2 starts.

I made a similar post in another thread, but when you are plugging in your #'s for the very first time, give yourself a little bit of play. When things get rolling and you're comfortably in the middle of a routine, you can do sets that stop 1 rep short of heavy grinding or failing at lower intensities like 8-10RM's without too many problems and also depending on how many sets you have to perform, however it's not a good idea to do that at the start of a routine and in this case the weight was even too heavy for that.

When starting out I would choose weights for the prescribed intensities and rep ranges that you know you can hit with 1-2 reps in the tank before excessive grinding / failing for that given intensity.

This will help out mentally at the beginning so you don't get wrecked by a weight that turned out to be too heavy. You can work up to higher RPE's on your lifts (not failing though, never failing) once things start moving along and you are adding weight and progressing comfortably.

Next week when you perform that lift @ that intensity, drop the weight so you can hit it for the prescribed number of sets and reps without much issue.

 

[insaiyan93]

That weight was too heavy. 75% is closer to a 10RM so it shouldn't have been that challenging to hit the total tonnage requirement for that lift at that intensity.

That's the nice thing about the first week of any routine, you will figure these things out and make the necessary adjustments and then you will be moving smoothly once week 2 starts.

I made a similar post in another thread, but when you are plugging in your #'s for the very first time, give yourself a little bit of play. When things get rolling and you're comfortably in the middle of a routine, you can do sets that stop 1 rep short of failure or heavy grinding at lower intensities like 8-10RM's without too many problems and also depending on how many sets you have to perform, however it's not a good idea to do that at the start of a routine and in this case the weight was even too heavy for that.

When starting out I would choose weights for the prescribed intensities and rep ranges that you know you can hit with 1-2 reps in the tank before excessive grinding / failing for that given intensity.

This will help out mentally at the beginning so you don't get wrecked by a weight that turned out to be too heavy. You can work up to higher RPE's on your lifts (not failing though, never failing) once things start moving along and you are adding weight and progressing comfortably.

Next week when you perform that lift @ that intensity, drop the weight so you can hit it for the prescribed number of sets and reps without much issue.

Excellent, thank you you for the good advice as usual. I will make some adjustments in the coming week. Beginning I actually did use 10 lbs less than my 1 rep max on bench and 20lbs less than my 1 rep max on deads but I guess I need to give a little more.

I don't know if it makes sense but I seem to be stronger on my one rep max than my rep strength would suggest. I've plugged my numbers into calculators and it always shortsighted my one rep max substantially.

Again, thank you, as hard as it is for me to do I'll bring the weight down a bit and make it work haha

 

[insaiyan93]

-lat pulls/ 4 x 10 we 160lb

-shrugs 4 x 12 315lb

-seated side laterals 4 x 10 25lb

-DB hammer curls 4 x 10 45lb

-machine preacher curls 4 x 10 125lb resistance

-hammer strength weighted crunch 4 x 15 70lb resistance

Did HIIT afterwards, managed 15 minutes today, I was pretty damn winded at the end but it felt like 10 minutes did a couple weeks ago so definitely getting in better cardiovascular shape.

 

[NovaFlex]

It just makes sense to do push and pull days because let's say on chest ( push day). When you work chest your working your tris to so go ahead and work them together. Same goes for back ( pull day). When your working back you best believe your working bis. Wait till you do a back and bi routine in the same day and you'll see. Your gonna hate me. Lol. Work big muscle first and then the smaller. Just give it a try for a week and if it isn't your thing then so be it but I have a feeling your gonna have such a pump you won't be able to wipe your ass.

this was my rationale when i learned about push pull... it just made more sense to me, and honestly it's made my workouts 10x better.

 

[insaiyan93]

this was my rationale when i learned about push pull... it just made more sense to me, and honestly it's made my workouts 10x better.

that is what I'm going to revert to when I am finished with this routine I just started. Gonna stick with this for a good 5-6 months because from everything I've read I think it's really going to make my strength shoot through the roof, but I will definitely need a break at some point as it is pretty damn grueling on the heavy days.

 

[insaiyan93]

Haha just had to share this because I thought it was funny, when myfitnesspal app tells me my protein mix is high in protein, like....well yeah....it fuckin better be hahah

 

[insaiyan93]

Did this today

-squat 4 x 8 75% =275lb (dropped the weight a little below what my 75% should be as WC suggested and it turned out perfect) completed all sets

-bench 6 x 3 75% 215lb these were pretty easy so I will bump this lift up next week for this day, to make it a little harder I did very slow reps with a seconds pause at the bottom before exploding up and only took about 45-60 seconds between sets. Completed all sets

-Deadlift 5 x 5 80% = 325lb good weight, it was challenging but not to the point where I was breaking form. Completed all sets.

-reverse fly 3 x 12 20lb

-bodyweight dips 3 x 6

-calf raise 3 x 20 plate per side 90ishlb

15 minutes HIIT. The cardio is getting a little easier and more bearable everyday, didnt think I would progress on this as quickly as I have so I'm pretty proud of that actually.

Well that's the first week of thus new routine, it's challenging but I'm really enjoying getting to do my favorite lifts 3 times a week. I've got an idea where I'm at so I'm just calling this a kind of test week and I will sit down and make my adjustments tonight and be all dialed in next week and from there I will start adding weight as I can.

Feeling really great honestly, I can tell I am slimming down a little bit with diet dialed in and added cardio, didnt measure myself unfortunately before I started but I did have to go one notch further on my belt than I did last month and I wore my dickies shorts for the first time in about a month yesterday, tthey used to be pretty tight on me but they are considerably looser now and I had to wear a belt so I'm happy Bout that.

 

[insaiyan93]

Did my Monday routine

Squats 6x3 75% added 5 pounds this week. Completed.

Bench 5x5 80% completed. Will add 5 pounds next week

Deads 4x8 75% completed. Will add five pounds next week.

Reverse flies 3 x 12 25lb

Seated calf raises 3 x 20 plate per side

Tricep pushdowns, straight bar attachment 3 x 12 70lbs

15 minutes HIIT.

I honestly feel like.im.getting a little stronger already, the 4x8 deadlifts weren't nearly as hard as last week. Making progress, lovin it.

 

[insaiyan93]

Forgot to post yeaterday, just did an accessory day and cardio. Probably will just not mention those anymore as it's going to be more or less the same on Tuesdays and thursdays.

Today I did

Squat 5x5, lowered it down to 295lb as last week I couldn't complete my sets, completed them all today though, challenging but not undoable.

Bench 4x8 went down a few pounds this week to 210lb since I couldn't complete last week, completed today.

Deadlift 6x3 added ten pounds from last week which put me at 315lb, completed all sets, will bump the weight again next week.

Reverse flys 3 x 12
Calf raise 3 x 20
Rope tricep pushdowns 3x10

Didn't hit cardio today ran out of time, wasn't feeling myself this morning and ended up taking longer to complete my main workout than usual

 

[Leancuisine]

Forgot to post yeaterday, just did an accessory day and cardio. Probably will just not mention those anymore as it's going to be more or less the same on Tuesdays and thursdays.

Today I did

Squat 5x5, lowered it down to 295lb as last week I couldn't complete my sets, completed them all today though, challenging but not undoable.

Bench 4x8 went down a few pounds this week to 210lb since I couldn't complete last week, completed today.

Deadlift 6x3 added ten pounds from last week which put me at 315lb, completed all sets, will bump the weight again next week.

Reverse flys 3 x 12
Calf raise 3 x 20
Rope tricep pushdowns 3x10

Didn't hit cardio today ran out of time, wasn't feeling myself this morning and ended up taking longer to complete my main workout than usual

You ever use resistance bands for your lifts?

 

[insaiyan93]

You ever use resistance bands for your lifts?

I do when I'm on a less structured routine, I like adding resistance bands and chains to help with explosive power and strengthening sticking points. Won't be using them for a while as my current routine doesn't call for it.

 

[insaiyan93]

Did my accessory day today.

25 minutes cardio.

Full disclosure, I fucked up last night, finally broke and slammed a pint of Ben and Jerry's cherry garcia, felt pretty shitty about. So I forced the extra cardio, think I overheated, fuckin puked up all the water I drank during my workout, felt a little better lol. Hopefully it won't set me back too much hahha

 

[Leancuisine]

Did my accessory day today.

25 minutes cardio.

Full disclosure, I fucked up last night, finally broke and slammed a pint of Ben and Jerry's cherry garcia, felt pretty shitty about. So I forced the extra cardio, think I overheated, fuckin puked up all the water I drank during my workout, felt a little better lol. Hopefully it won't set me back too much hahha

Why did you stop there?
A pint? Come on.... you coulda done a gallon, and cherry Garcia nontheless!?!
Shoulda gone for half baked.... that's the really calorie dense one
Junk food helps Rev your metabolism up. Everytime I eat a bunch of carbs or ice cream I start sweating and get really warm. So either my metabolism got kicked into overdrive oorrrrrrr I'm having an allergic reaction.

 

[insaiyan93]

Why did you stop there?
A pint? Come on.... you coulda done a gallon, and cherry Garcia nontheless!?!
Shoulda gone for half baked.... that's the really calorie dense one
Junk food helps Rev your metabolism up. Everytime I eat a bunch of carbs or ice cream I start sweating and get really warm. So either my metabolism got kicked into overdrive oorrrrrrr I'm having an allergic reaction.

Had there been a gallon present there is a real possibility that I would have. Half baked is good but I'm all about the cherry garcia or strawberry cheesecake lol.

Here's hoping it's not an allergic reaction haha