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jmf's Training Log


jmf
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About me: almost 41 years old, been vegan for a little over five years. In the course that time, I've gone from fat and overweight to skinny and soft. My workouts were haunted by lack of energy and persistent pains, aches, and mild injuries. About a year ago, I made some substantial changes to my diet, and my problems seemingly disappeared.

 

My goal is quite far fetched for natural vegan...I'd like to eventually compete in professional level men's physique class...probably a year or two out. But for the short term, in the spring I'd like to do an local natural show. I have my sights on an early show mid Feb...I'll evaluate whether or not to chase that one at the end of Dec.

 

My log is going to be a little different that what I see on this site. I log my workouts on paper...and I use them while in the gym, referring to the past 1-2 workouts to force progression. For instance, if I falter on a weight/rep count, then I add a set. When progression on a particular lift slows, I change up the workout.

 

Me this past weekend. (with my wife, a seven year vegan) I take progress reports once/month, which includes bodyfat and body measurements. My last progress check has me at 191 lbs and 6% bodyfat. My next progress check is in about 1.5 weeks, so I'll post that when it happens.

 

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My current workout is a 4 day split, no rest days (unless I need it...I've taken one rest day in the past three weeks...overslept)

 

I'm currently running a slight surplus diet, 40c/30p/30f split at 3000 kcal/day. I try to hit this within 2% every day. I am not refeeding and not doing any cardio.

 

Yesterday's food:

carbs: 305g (89g sugar)

fat: 104g (26g saturated)

protein 236g

 

Yesterday's workout...several new exercises for me, so there was emphasis on form and several notes that I'll use for next time:

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How tall are you?

 

I'm interested in how you train and will follow you log. Should be a good addition to the logs currently active.

 

5'11" Well, I hope so...

 

awesome! I love your new your new training log! You and your wife look awesome. Excited to follow your posts.

 

thanks Kathy...perhaps I can convince my wife to put up a log also.

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Yesterday's food:

carbs: 305g (116g sugar, a tad on the high side...thanks mango)

fat: 103g (23g saturated...a bit low)

protein 238g

 

Yesterday's workout...legs. Pretty vanilla workout. Legs are my best body part, and I find that deep squats bring my quads, hams and glutes to failure all about the same time with just one exercise and not that much weight.

 

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yes Kathy, Arnold presses are awesome...especially nice to the shoulders!

 

...and here's my log from yesterday:

 

Yesterday's food:

carbs: 310g (103g sugar)

fat: 103g (31g saturated)

protein 234g

 

Yesterday's workout, back and biceps:

 

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Yesterday's food:

carbs: 320g (110g sugar)

fat: 102g (23g saturated)

protein 228g

 

Workout logs...my current split is four days, so this is the first entry of a repeating workout, so you can see how I forced progression. This one is a bit strange, since I've in the process of changing it up...working on upper chest development. I concluded during this workout that low-hi cable flies are probably not a good pre-exhaust movement as incline dumbbell flies for incline dumbell press, which is my primary compound movement for chest. So, for next time, I'm putting dumbbell flies first for pre-exhaust, then moving the hi-low cable flies as a higher rep isolation movement after incline dumbell press.

 

Also, not a fan of using rope for push downs...so I went back to the v-bar.

 

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Just curious, is there any evidence showing pre-exhausting a muscles is more effective than just doing the main movement with more weight?

 

NM I googled it. Not much research done on it. One study showing pre exhausting is no more effective than doing the compound movement first with rest between compound and iso movements. But it's not less effective either so if you like it then it doesn't hurt to do it.

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I do it on incline DB press because my triceps fatigue much faster than my chest...so the compound movement is limited by my triceps. Also, if I don't pre-exhaust my chest, I'll end up working with 90s or 100s on incline DB press, which puts my old shoulders at risk of getting tweaked...lol.

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When I trained with the former Mr NI BB champion John Martini as well as when I had phone consultations with Mike Mentzer, both were big on pre exhaustion, actually so was Dorian Yates, he used pre exhaustion on his legs and back all through his pro career.

 

Arthur Jones the Nautilus inventor and researcher did quite a bit of research into pre exhaustion, he like it so much he even created the iso compound machines. For myself, I'm not a huge fan, John had me use it a lot, but i felt it watered-down the compound movement too much. Now, i prefer to do one or the other, that being said, the method definitely has its place for sure.

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Makes sense. How very prudent of you, LOL. I'm of the camp that would risk the possibility of injury to look badass pressing 100# DBs. But my joints haven't felt this good in years. I still think I'm 20 I guess.

 

yeah, I start my workout at 4:30-4:45 am, so gym is empty, so I don't have any 20 year olds to show up.

 

As for pre-exhaustion...I traditionally haven't been a fan, but I think it has it's place. If I eventually get my tricep strength up and my shoulders are up for it...I'll definitely drop out the pre-exhaustion.

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Yesterday's food...I went to a raw vegan restaurant for dinner, so my fats got a little carried away. Calorie count still on the money...just the balance slightly off.

carbs: 293g (105g sugar)

fat: 116g (23g saturated)

protein 220g

 

Yesterday's workout: Got a couple more reps out of my last set...and my legs felt pretty much wasted. FWIW, my squat style is high back, below parallel...and my rep count is pretty tough. Got a couple more reps on my last set compared to last leg workout...can probably increase the working weight in lieu of a few less reps. My wife spent a little more time on the cardio deck, so I did some optional stuff at the end...not counting towards the workout.

 

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Yesterday's food...

carbs: 298g (88g sugar)

fat: 105g (18g saturated...a bit low)

protein 234g

 

Yesterday's workout: Shoulders. Went up on overhead barbell press by 10 pounds, to 185. I referenced my log from my last weight increase (about six weeks ago) and ended up beating the rep/set profile from last time. So, if all goes according to plan, I'll spend the next 4-6 weeks working on increasing reps on this weight and increase again.

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Yesterday's food...

carbs: 317g (94g sugar)

fat: 102g (32g saturated)

protein 228g

 

Yesterday's workout: Chest and triceps. Moved some things around based on my notes from last time, so progression on this day not really worth evaluating. Pre-exhaustion was super effective against my two chest exercises...and also makes my triceps exercises look like a big step in progression, but I'd call this more of a baseline for the next workout. Pretty happy with this setup and will run until progression slows.

 

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Yesterday's food...

carbs: 320g (102g sugar)

fat: 104g (32g saturated)

protein 229g

 

Yesterday's workout: Lower body. Got a full 12 reps on last set. Went down in weight on calf extensions so I could switched to 2 sec reps. Crazy good pump!

 

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Def looks like you could add weight to those squats. Are you doing high bar or low bar? High bar feels weird on my neck so I prefer low bar and front squats. With all the hills I haven't felt the need to put a bar on my back lately. In about 5 months I'll get back at it.

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Def looks like you could add weight to those squats. Are you doing high bar or low bar? High bar feels weird on my neck so I prefer low bar and front squats. With all the hills I haven't felt the need to put a bar on my back lately. In about 5 months I'll get back at it.

 

I do high bar, below parallel, so only 225 is decently challenging for 12 reps x 5 sets. But you're right on needing to go up in weight. Today was a progress check day for me, and I lost 1/4" on my quads after doing lower weight, higher reps for the last three weeks. So, definitely going up in weight, down in reps on squats for sure.

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Yesterday was a early-ish progress check day. I usually do this monthly, but one was three weeks...which I won't do again, since the short interval makes it difficult to judge progress, unless you have substantial deficit or surplus...which is not me at this stage.

 

 

SUBJECTIVE:

Subjectively, I felt like the past three weeks has been very productive. Mirror check is positive, wife has made some positive comments, and the typical frequency of people in (or out) of the gym asking "what I do" or workout advice has increased, and I've noticed the fat on my body getting "looser"...if that makes sense. Vascularity in my midsection is increasing, especially good to see veins in the middle of my stomach. On the bad side, I've noticed that jeans are getting a little looser around my legs and butt.

 

 

OBJECTIVE:

Not as good as I expected, but nonetheless, some of the results back up my subjective observations.

 

Bodyweight: holding about the same 191-192lbs

 

Bodyfat: total skinfold measure about the same...according to the chart, I'm at 5%, but I believe I'm closer to 6%. I'm approaching accuracy limitations of my calipers, so subjective observations (stomach vascularity) are probably more reasonable gauges of progress. Nonethless, skinfolds on my legs and chest are unchanged, but the vertical skinfold on my stomach dropped another 1mm, down to 6mm.

 

Body Measurements: Unfortunately, my quads dropped 1/4" down to 23", probably as a result of going lighter with more reps. (despite the better pump and DOMS) Arms, hips, waist remained the same. Shoulders increased another 0.6", which is great considering they increased 1.1" from the previous measurement.

 

Overall: Three weeks is a really short interval, but I think I've dropped a little fat and added a little muscle...the visual differences are probably more substantial than the objective measurements, probably because of the gains I've made in the shoulders.

 

 

CHANGES MOVING FORWARD:

 

Workout: continue with 4 day split, no rest days. Emphasis on implementing higher weight/lower rep at beginning of sets and finishing with a forced rep strategies or increased time under tension techniques, etc.

 

Diet: increase 100 kcal/day to 3100 kcal. Reduce fats from 100g target to 80g max, increase protein from 225g target to 235g minimum, increase carbs from 300g to 360g.

 

Supplements: continue with preworkout (BA, BCAA), CM, add PA

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