initial.ize

After that last squat workout from Feb 26 (two Fridays ago,) I felt like I need some rest. I was always sluggish, and had some pain deep in my left shoulder that wouldn’t go away. After some reading to see what I could do, I figured taking some time off was probably the best thing. I still went in the next day to assist Jon & Clack, and to help coach Patrick, but didn’t really work out much myself. I tried out a different way of doing bent over rows, but didn’t go heavy, and that was pretty much it. I then took a solid 5 full days off with no training. Just lots of rest and eating. This takes us to last Friday, Mar 5, where I was feeling much better and dying to get back in there for a heavy chest workout to see how my shoulder would respond.

Barbell Bench Press: 175 RP: 6+3+2 (for 11 total)
Barbell Bench Press: 145: 10, 6

Smith Incline Bench Press: 55 per, RP: 6+4+2 (for 12 total)
Smith Incline Bench Press: 45 per: 10

Skull Crushers: 70: 10
Skull Crushers: 65: 10

Dips: 20: 10, 10

Farmer’s Walk: 75: no stops

Pretty nice numbers if I do say so myself! The last time I did flat bench press, it was my first time trying 175 lb. I only managed to get a total of 7 reps that time (5+2.) This time, I got a total of 11, so I got 4 more than last time, and I’m right in the 11-15 rep zone required for my program. As usual, I’ll work my way up with this weight until I get a total of 15 reps across the rest-pause set before going up to 180 lb. After the set at 175 lb, I dropped to 145 lb, rested about 2-2.5 minutes, and pushed out another 10 reps. Then rested another 2 minutes or so and got back under for another 6 reps.

For incline presses on the Smith machine, it was time to go up to 55 lb of weight on each side of the bar. You can see above I got a total of 12 reps there, so I still have to improve a bit before going up on that.

Not much to say about skull crushers. I am really struggling with keeping good form on these, so that’s why I haven’t been increasing the weight.

For dips, I wasn’t sure what to expect. Hanging 20 lb from a dip belt seemed really daunting, but I was also so excited at the same time. Anyway, I ended up getting 10 solid full reps with full range of motion. The last one was so hard, and I didn’t think I was going to get it. Jon was still working out, so I rested for a few minutes, then went back for another set and got another 10 reps! So it looks like I’ll be increasing the dip belt weight to 25 lb next time I do these.

Finished up with some farmer’s walks holding a 75 lb dumbbell in each hand. Walked around the gym for what was probably at least 45 seconds, and didn’t have to set the dumbbells down to rest at all for the whole trip. Next time I do these, I’ll carry the 80 lb dumbbells instead.

Okay, so it was a return to 195 lb for box squats.

Box Squat: 195: 3, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2
Box Squat: 205: 1

Squat: 135: 12

Front Squat: 145: 5, 5, 5

Leg Curl: 130 RP: 9+5+5 (for 19 total)

Wow, big leg day. I started with 195 lb again like last time. After doing 1 set of 3 and remembering how hard it is, I remembered some box squat training philosophy from Louie Simmons located here. Specifically, I had been wanting to try his method of 8-12 sets of 2 reps while resting only 1 minute between sets. So I committed to it. After that set of 3, I only rested 1 minute, then did another set of 2, and continued this way (resting 1 minute) for the remaining sets of 2. Louie is right: it is a hard workout! After these sets, I rested a good 5 minutes or so and decided today was the day I box squat over 200 lb. I loaded up 10 more pounds onto the bar and pushed out 1 rep. I felt like my legs could have handled another rep, but I was pretty light-headed after a lot of heavy breathing, and didn’t want to pass out with that much weight on my back.

After box squats, I lowered the weight down to just 135 lb for 1 straight set of regular deep squats. I had it in my head that I wanted 20 reps! haha. Anyway, I ended up squeezing out 12 reps before I had to rack it. It was a lot harder than I thought after all the heavy box squats.

I then put the weight up a bit to 145 lb for front squats since I had been doing 135 on them no problem. Pushed out 3 really challenging sets of 5 and my legs were on fire. Nevermind walking… even just standing was misery.

Onto the cable lying leg curls. I am still hungry for 20 reps on a rest-pause set, and have been getting closer with each leg workout. I loaded it up to 130 lb (same I’ve been using,) and ended up with a total of 19! So close! Maybe next time

Finished up with some extreme stretching: 60 seconds on each quad, and probably around 90 seconds on the hamstrings.

This is from last night’s workout. I have really been struggling with my shoulders for a while. They seem to either stay the same or get weaker.

Dumbbell Shoulder Press: 50 RP: 7+3+2 (for 12 total)
Dumbbell Shoulder Press: 45: 8, 7

Barbell Shoulder Press: 6

Supinating DB Curl: 40 RP: 8+4+3 (for 15 total)
Supinating DB Curl: 35: 8

Pinwheel Curl: 25: 20 per side

EZ-Bar Preacher Curl: 75: 10, 8

Dumbbell Preacher: 25: 11+4 per side

Last time I did DB shoulder presses, I got 16. This time, I only got 12! I don’t know what’s causing this weakness, and I don’t want to make excuses, but I wonder if it’s because of that pain I’ve been having in my left rotator cuff. Is there any injury preventing me from using all my strength? Whatever it is, it’s frustrating. Another theory is I have just been pushing it really hard for so long that my central nervous system might be overtaxed. It’s possible I just need to take some time off to properly recover. Anyway, after the rest-pause set with the 50’s, I rested 2 minutes and did a set with the 45’s for a couple regular sets of 8 and 7 (better than my 6 from last time.)

After trying out the seated military press on the Smith machine last time, and finding it really uncomfortable, I went back to the standing barbell press last night. I had a good rest first, then loaded it up to 95 lb. I was only able to get 6 reps, which was pretty hard to swallow. I didn’t even bother trying for a second set; it seemed pointless.

Onto biceps, I’m continuing to see small but steady gains. With supinating curls, I hit 15 reps on my rest-pause set again, and was really happy to get 8 with good form in the first part of that. Then after resting 2 minutes and grabbing the 35 pounders, I scored another 8 reps. This had me feeling really good after my poor shoulder performance.

Next I went for some forearm work with pinwheel curls. I wanted high reps with good form, so I only used the 25’s getting 20 reps on each arm.

Back to biceps on the preacher bench. Sticking with 75 lb, I got a set of 10 followed by a set of 8 (1 more rep than last time.) I then grabbed a 25 lb dumbbell for some single arm preacher curls, and did 11 reps on each arm (3 more than last time) followed by another 4 on each arm without resting. I finished up my biceps work by getting in a good 60 second extreme stretch.

Before heading home, I had an urge to get in a small amount of core/ab work. Just for fun, I tried a dragon flag. That’s right, just 1 They are still really hard for me. I had to bounce a bit to get up the first couple inches, but from there it was slow, controlled, and straight all the way up and even slower on the way down. Next time I do these, I think I won’t go as slow and will try for a few reps. I followed up the dragon flag with a set of 20 vertical leg-hip raises and called it a day.

And that challenger is 175 lb bench press. WOW. I got put in my place by this weight.

Barbell Bench Press: 175 RP: 5+2
Barbell Bench Press: 145: 9, 8, 7

Smith Incline Press: 52.5 per, RP: 8+5+3 (for 16 total)
Smith Incline Press: 40 per: 12, 8

Skull Crushers: 70: 10 +15 close-grip bench press
Skull Crushers: 65: 10 +15 close-grip bench press

Dips: 10: 13

My previous chest workout was done using 170 lb on the bench press, and I hit my goal of 15 total across the initial rest-pause set, so this time I had to bump it up to 175 lb. I don’t know why, but it felt so much heavier. I think I might have scared myself into thinking it was too heavy or dangerous because I was experiencing a bit of pain in my left shoulder rotator cuff. That seems to have dissipated a bit today though, so next time should go better. After the rest-pause set, I rested for 2 minutes, then did a few regular sets at 145 lb (with 2 minutes rest between each set.)

Inclines on the Smith machine went very well as you can see from the numbers. I got 16 on my rest-pause set, so I’ll bump this up to 55 lb per side next time. For the regular sets, I figure I should go up to 45 lb per side since the first set got me 12 reps after resting only 2 minutes.

I am still having trouble getting good form on my skull crushers when using 70 lb. My elbows flare out, and the last couple reps are always really hard, slow, and sloppy. As usual, I jumped into some close-grip bench press immediately after the set of skulls without stopping to rest. For the second set of skulls, I dropped the weight down to 65 lb so I could have better control of my form. These ended up feeling much better than the first set.

For dips, I decided it was finally time to start adding some weight. Last time, I got 15 using just my bodyweight. So last night, I put on the dip belt, and put on 10 lb as an initial test, and wound up getting 13 reps. That doesn’t seem hard enough, so I will put it up to 20 lb next time.

I then finished up by doing some extreme stretches on my chest and triceps for 60 seconds each. Tonight’s workout will be shoulders and biceps.

Had a decent back workout last night in some areas, and not so decent in other areas.

Wide Grip Pull-Ups: 10 RP: 9+6+4 (for 19 total)

Dead Lift: 245: 5, 5, 5, 5

Bent Over Row: 110: 10
Bent Over Row: 95: 10, 10

Close Grip Cable Pulldown: 140 RP: 9+4+3 (for 16 total)
Close Grip Cable Pulldown: 130: 12

Seated Cable Row: 160 RP: 8+4+2 (for 14 total)
Seated Cable Row: 150: 8

Farmer’s Walk: 75 lb dumbbells

I started with pull-ups again, and managed to get 1 more rep than last time. I am almost at 20 reps across a DC set now. Once that happens, I’ll increase the amount of added weight.

I really want good form on dead lifts, so I stayed at 245 lb instead of increasing. That weight is really heavy for me, and I don’t want to go heavier unless I’m sure I can handle it with proper form. Ended up doing 4 sets this time instead of 3. The last set really took a lot out of me.

For bent over rows, I used my usual weight of 110. I did one set with this, and it was ugly from start to finish. It just felt so much heavier than normal. Maybe from the extra set of dead lifts, I don’t know. Anyway, I dropped the weight down to 95 lb to do another couple sets of 10 with good form.

Normally, I would move onto seated cable rows next, but that machine was in use, so instead I went to cable pulldowns. Rather than do them wide-grip this time, however, I decided to change it up and do narrow grip, which allowed me to use a bit of extra weight. I figured I already got some wide-grip work in when I did pull-ups anyway, so doing some narrow grip could be good. On a rest-pause set, I ended up getting more than 15 reps with good form, so I will have to increase the weight if I do these again.

When the cable row machine was free, I went over there for a rest-pause set at 160 lb again. I didn’t see any improvements here, and felt like I had pretty sloppy form.

After all this pulling, I didn’t have much left as far as wrist and grip strength goes, but Jon convinced me to do some farmer’s walks again! Last time, I used the 85 lb dumbbells, and they made it way too hard. I had to stop multiple times, and I felt like I could hurt my right ankle at any second. For this one, I only used the 75 lb dumbbells. They were still a challenge considering everything else I had done, but I didn’t have to set them down at all during the walk.

Finally, it was time to stretch. I knew my grip was really weak at this point, and probably wouldn’t be able to hold onto anything for very long, so I attached some hooks to my wrists, and used them to hang from the pull-up station for 60 seconds to stretch my lats.

Looking forward to another chest & triceps day after work today.

Well it was time to go up in squat weight again last night. I put it up to 195 lb, and here are the results.

Box Squat: 195: 3, 3, 3, 3, 3

Front Squat: 135: 5, 5, 5, 5, 5

Leg Curl: 130 RP: 7+5+5 (for 17 total)

As you can see, 195 lb was super heavy for me. I could only get out 3 reps on each set. I was taking really long rests between sets too. I feel like it was a good introduction to the weight, and I’ll do much better with it next time (which should be Friday.)

After the box squats, my legs were already so fatigued. Since I only did 5 sets of 3, I wanted to do a bunch of front squats. With all that in mind, I didn’t increase my front squat weight. I kept it at 135 lb for now, and got out 5 sets of 5 reps each.

Somehow there was still time to fit in more after this, so I went over for some lying leg curls. The last time I tried these, I got a total of 16 reps across a rest-pause set with this weight. This time, I managed to get 1 more rep even after all those heavy squats, so I guess I’m feeling okay about that.

I had some really good stretches after all this, and felt like my legs were made out of jello for the rest of the night. I had a whey shake when I got home, then went for a short walk and ate a bunch before going to bed.

This was from last Friday, Feb 19.

Barbell Bench Press: 170 RP: 7+5+3 (for 15 total)
Barbell Bench Press: 145: 7, 7, 6

Smith Incline Press: 52.5 per, RP: 6+5+3 (for 14 total)
Smith Incline Press: 40 per: 9, 7

Skull Crushers: 70: 10 +12 close-grip bench press
Skull Crushers: 70: 10

Dips: 15

I finally beat 170 lb on the bench press! I’m very happy about doing this. It took 5 attempts spread over the course of 3 weeks to get there. Now I am ready to have a go at 175 lb for my next chest workout on Wednesday. After that rest-pause set at 170, I dropped down to 145 again and did a few regular sets limiting myself to 2-minute breaks between sets. I didn’t have a spotter after the RP set, so I was a little timid trying to push for more reps on these. I did push it really hard though, and I think the low numbers could be as a result of pushing out all 15 reps at 170.

I also saw improvements over last time on the Smith incline presses. I only had a total of 11 on my RP set last time, but got 14 here. I’m hoping to get all 15 next time and bump it up to 55 lb per side. Again, I dropped down to 40 per side after this for a couple regular sets while only resting 2 minutes between.

I was feeling pretty weak after all this, but had to try some skull crushers for my triceps anyway. I felt the form was really bad on both sets (elbows flaring out too much,) and didn’t even do close-grip bench press after the second set because I was just too exhausted to even try 1. To make up for this, I pushed out a few extra reps on my set of dips. Since I hit 15 on that, I will definitely add some weight using a dip belt next time.

Tomorrow will be another leg day, so I’m eating a lot and preparing myself mentally for my first go at 195 lb!

For more info on the exercises done in this workout, visit the Exercises page. For greater detail on what all my numbers mean, visit the My Notation page.

Before this workout, I had a weird pain in the right side of my chest. I couldn’t figure out if it was heartburn, a pulled muscle, or something else. It got more intense if I took a deep breath. I found that if I did belly breaths though, it was manageable. So I figured I would go the gym anyway, try some squats and see what happened.

Box Squats: 185: 4, 5, 5, 5, 5

Front Squats: 135: 5, 5, 5

As you can see, the squats ended up going very well. I did some gradual warmup sets without the box just to see if I’d be able to keep my breathing under control and not make the chest pain worse. My final warmup set was with 155 lb. I went nice and deep, and everything seemed to be okay, so I put the full weight on and got the box out for my working sets.

I wanted 5 on the first set, but I was still nervous about the chest thing, so I wasn’t quite ready in my head yet, and only got out 4 reps. After that though, once I saw there was nothing to worry about, I got out another 4 sets of 5 reps each. So I’d say in the end it turned out to be my best squat workout ever

I followed that up with some front squats, but we were running out of time (got there really late,) so I was only able to fit in 3 sets. Didn’t have time for any leg curls either.

This is from 2 nights ago, Wednesday, Feb 17.

Dumbbell Shoulder Press: 50 RP: 8+5+3 (for 16 total)
Dumbbell Shoulder Press: 45: 6

Smith Military Press: 25 per: 10, 8

Supinating Dumbbell Curl: 40 RP: 7+4+4 (for 15 total)
Supinating Dumbbell Curl: 35: 8

EZ-Bar Preacher Curl: 75: 10, 7

Dumbbell Preacher Curl: 25: 8+4+2+1

On my regular seated should presses with 50 lb dumbbells, I am surpassing my 15 rep goal across a rest-pause set now. I am, however, going to stick with this weight anyway instead of increasing. I’m going to need these to feel really easy before I attempt the 55s again. I don’t want to have a repeat of the last time I tried them (1 rep!) After the rest-pause set, I limited myself to a 2-minute rest, then went into a set with the 45s maxing out at 6 reps.

Normally after the dumbbell presses, I have been doing some standing barbell press, but I wanted to change it up this time and try some seated military press on the Smith machine. It ended up being a bad idea. I was very uncomfortable, and experienced distracting awkward strain in my joints. I’ll be going back to the barbell press next time.

For the supinating dumbbell curls, I hit my 15 reps again, but I still think my form could be a bit better. Also, I’d like to be able to get more than 7 reps on the first part of the set. So I’ll be using the 40s again next time instead of going up to 45s. Again, I limited myself to a 2-minute rest after this set, then did a regular set with the 35s maxing out at 8 reps.

Next came some preacher curls with the EZ-bar. I used the same weight as last time, but got more reps this time. I will probably use this weight one more time before going up to 80 lb. I followed these with standing single arm dumbbell preacher curls using the 25 pounders again. It wasn’t a rest-pause set, but I went back and forth without resting. 8 reps on the left arm, then 8 on the right, then 4 on the left, 4 right, 2 left, etc. until I couldn’t even do 1.

Had a really good back workout last night.

Wide Grip Pull-Up: 10 RP: 9+5+4 (for 18 total)

Dead Lift: 245: 5, 5, 5

Bent Over Row: 110: 10, 10

Seated Cable Row: 160 RP: 7+4+3 (for 14 total)
Seated Cable Row: 150: 10

Cable Pulldown: 130 RP: 8+4+3 (for 15 total)
Cable Pulldown: 120: 8

First off, I’m glad the pull-ups are getting a little bit easier. I got an extra 2 reps this time. I’m hoping to hit the full 20 next time, then I’ll be able to increase the weight to either 20 or 25 lb.

Next, I ended up doing a 20 lb increase on dead lifts bringing them up to 245 lb. It was really hard, and I still need a bit of work on my form with this weight, but I should be able to increase again soon.

Last time I was considering doing cleans instead of bent over rows, but I ended up being in the mood for bent over rows last night so I went ahead and did them. I still think my form could be a bit better. The first set was great, but I bounced a bit on the last couple reps of the second set.

My cable row weight has been going up steadily. Last night, 160 lb was finally hard enough to cut me off at 14 reps across a rest-pause set. I should be able to get the full 15 next time, then increase to 170 lb.

On cable pulldowns, I finally hit 15 reps, but I feel like my form was a bit sloppy on a couple reps, so I’m going to give 130 lb another shot to see how it goes before jumping up to 140 lb since I know that will probably still be too difficult at this point.

My grip strength was shot after all this, but I figured I may as well throw in some farmer’s walks anyway! Last time I did the 80 lb dumbbells and didn’t have to stop once, so I figured I should try the 85s this time. Wow. They were unbelievably hard to carry around. I had to stop and set them down 4 or 5 times before I made it back to the rack. It was hard on my ankles too. I had to be extra careful when turning.

All in all, a really good productive back day. Very happy with my progress here. Tonight’s workout will be shoulders and biceps.