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Jordan's Training Log!


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Sorry I've been absentee lately. My honors program is incredibly demanding, and on top of that I'm working on a bit of a a studio project, getting ready for some thesis research, and trying to see my girlfriend once or twice a week, ha. Though I haven't been posting, I've been working out and eating! Finally hit a new record for weight: I'm currently weighing in at 155lbs!!!!! Though this may seem light to most of you (it is), it's 10-12lbs higher than when I first started picking weights up in May (and 8-10lbs heavier than when I started stronglifts in late June).

 

Anyways, on with it! I forgot to write down my workout for Sept. 27, so I'll just fill you in. I had my first squat failure the workout before, and I felt weak still. I lowered the weight to 72.5 kg, and just took it easier (I believe I still did 5x5, but I can't remember). The rest of the workout was same old.

 

 

 

09/29/10

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StrongLifts Workout B:

 

Squats 5x5 @ 74.8 (165lbs). started bumping the weight back up to try and get my max again (77.1kg, or 170lbs).

Overhead Press 5x5 @37.5kg .. failed early. Backing weight off.

Deadlifts 1x5: 74.8 kg. These aren't bad at all.

Chins 3xF: 10/8/7

Abs: Same old!

 

10/01/10

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StrongLifts Workout A:

 

Squats 5x5 @ 75kg

Bench Press 5x5 @52.5kg supersetted with incline pushups (FAILED ON THE THIRD OR FOURTH SET)

Inverted Rows 3xF, with knees down. Did roughly 6-8/set.

Dips 3xF, 6/5/5.

Abs: same old!

 

 

 

10/04/10

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StrongLifts Workout B:

 

Squats 5x5 @ 77.1kg (SUCCESS!!!!!!!)

Overhead Press 5x5 @35kg. (FAILED ON THE 5th REP OF THE 5th SET!)

Deadlifts 1x5 @ 77.1kg ( still not too bad)

Pullups: 3xF: 7/6/6 ( I made sure to go to complete extension, and not to throw around any body weight. This made them quite a bit harder.)

Abs: Same old!

 

 

Overall, I am quite pleased with my progress lately. I finally managed to get 5 sets of 5 at 170lbs, which is the weight I failed twice last week! Also, as I said above, I'm finally gaining a little weight.

 

In other news, I've switched to chalk for the last two weeks, and I've got to say I'm really liking it. At first I was worried it would rough up my hands too much (I have sensitive, guitar playing hands!), but I actually prefer the feeling and grip I'm getting now. I know that once my calluses develop properly, and the weight gets really heavy, I'll be glad I switched!

 

Until next time... !

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Things are looking good man.

 

However why are you supersetting bench and pushups? It's more important for you to make bench 5x5 and add weight instead of tiring out your chest/delts/tris inbetween the sets. Don't need a pump to progress, and you definitely don't need to go all out failure every workout - it impacts your recovery.

 

Keep up the good work!

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10/08/10

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StrongLifts Workout A:

 

Squats 5x5 @ 80kg (yes!)

Bench Press 5x5 @57.5kg (fail)

Inverted Rows 3xF, with knees down. Did roughly 6-8/set.

Dips 3xF, 7/7/6

Abs: did a variety of crunches at home. Want to look into doing cable crunches.

 

- Missed a workout on Wednesday. Also missing today (Monday) since I'm out of town for thanksgiving shit (hanging out with my incredibly ignorant, truck driving, meat-eating extended family is never all that fun. My mum made some delicious vegan food to bring down though. Thank god for tofurkey feasts!). Will try and make up for sometime this week if I can find time.

- I'm very happy that I managed to pull off 80kg with good tecnhique. That's A LOT of weight for me, so I was glad I could pull it off. Now for 82.5kg next day!

- bench is really hard right now. Managed to make it to 5 on the first two sets alone, but then needed a spotter to make it to five for the last three sets (got to 3-4 by myself, but needed help on the 5th). I will try again next day, and if I can't make it, I'll drop the weight back down.

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Looking great man nice work on the squats! Hopefully you'll nail the bench soon, I had a major stall there and didn't make it for a very long time, but I was in a caloric deficit at the time (didn't know what I was doing). If you keep eating big you'll nail it soon.

 

Don't stress over missed workouts, my mate does stronglifts twice a week and gets good gains, it's a good chance to get proper recovery, just make sure you keep eating!

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  • 3 weeks later...

I'll start posting again next week (I just spent 20 minutes putting everything into a post, and it somehow deleted itself... ARGHHHHHHH).

 

So, in the meantime, here is a funny little video my girlfriend took of me doing pullups at a park in buttfuck Alberta, while avoiding my meta-eating, truck-driving, extended family at "thanks"giving.

 

http://www.facebook.com/#!/video/video.php?v=437783001550

 

Enjoy!

 

- Jordan

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  • 2 weeks later...

11/01/10

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StrongLifts Workout B:

 

Squats 5x5 @ 87.5 kg. Failed 4th rep, 1st set. Dropped down to 65lbs/side for some practice.

Overhead Press 5x5 @ 40kg. Failed during 4th set.

Deadlifts 1x5: 93kg (205lbs).

Pullups: 3xF: 7/7/7 .. I'm making sure to do full, slow extensions now... as a result, I'm obviously getting less reps.

Abs: Incline revere crunches 3xF ... super-setted with incline situps.

 

 

 

11/07/10

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StrongLifts Workout A:

Squats 5x5 @ 87.5kg (failed)

Bench Press 5x5 @ 60kg. Failed 3rd rep, 2nd set.

Inverted Rows 3xF, with feet up on a box: 6-8/set

Dips 3xF, 8/7/6

Abs: Incline reverse crunches 3xF ... super-setted with incline situps.

 

 

 

09/24/10

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StrongLifts Workout B:

 

Squats 5x5 @ 87.5 (failed)... Going to start backing it off next workout. My legs don't want to work.

Overhead Press 5x5 @ 40kg (failed)

Deadlifts 1x5: 95kg

Chins: 3xF: 8/8/8 ... slow, full extension.

Abs: A variety of situp stuff at home.

 

Overall, progress has been null (except in deadlifts). I'm weighing in at 157lbs, so I haven't really been gaining much. Also, the last few weeks I've only been getting two workouts in a week, and they've been somewhat rushed. I suspect this will only get worse as school gets more and more busy. I will, however, attempt to stay positive, and keep hammering away. It's tough lifting in the powerlifting room at my University when I'm the skinniest, weakest guy there by 30-50lbs weight, and by 100-200kg squat/bench/press/etc. haha. Oh well, I've gotta eat!

 

- Jordan

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Overall, progress has been null (except in deadlifts). I'm weighing in at 157lbs, so I haven't really been gaining much. Also, the last few weeks I've only been getting two workouts in a week, and they've been somewhat rushed.

 

Oh well, I've gotta eat!

You said it!

 

My mate's making great gains on stronglifts 2x a week - that isn't a problem. Do a hard deload 20%, start from 70kg and work back up. After you've deloaded 3x, switch to 3x5 and repeat. After you've had to deload 3x with that switch to 1x5. This will take a long time (each deload involves 3 consecutive fails, and then the workouts to build back up to where you were. when you're talking about this 6 times in total it takes a long time to get to 1x5).

 

Just make sure you eat enough to gain weight or your strength gains will be static.

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  • 1 month later...

Sorry it's been so long... school has been nuts this semester. But, I've still managed to get at least two of my workouts in a week, and instead of posting the last month's worth... I'll just post my two most recent ones. Note: I've deloaded squats down to 65 two weeks ago, and am working back up, with a particular focus on great form. So far, so good.

 

 

 

11/07/10

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StrongLifts Workout A:

 

Squats 5x5 @ 70 kg

Bench Press 5x5 @ 57.5 (had deloaded this too... on my way back up).

Inverted Rows 3xF, with feet up on a box: 8/9/8

Dips 3xF, 5/9/7

Abs: Incline reverse crunches 3xF ... super-setted with incline situps. *** Need a better ab workout... they haven't really built at all.

 

11/01/10

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StrongLifts Workout B:

 

Squats 5x5 @ 72.5kg

Overhead Press 5x5 @ 40kg. Failed during fourth set... Have made very little progress on this exercise since I started.

Deadlifts 1x5: 107.5 kg (New record! My hands are still hurting from this one)

Pullups: 3xF: 7/7/7 .. I'm making sure to do full, slow extensions now... as a result, I'm obviously getting less reps. Also, my grip is a lot wider.

Abs: Missed.

 

Overall, it seems like I'm making very little progress. Though I'm consciously trying to eat all I can eat, I'm still hovering around 160lbs, and can't seem, for the life of me, to get over it. I literally don't have the appetite to eat any more than I am right now, so I'm at a loss for how I'm supposed to gain weight.

 

 

- Jordan

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Damn nice work man, next time you deload Squats I'd switch to 3x5 try and push the weight up a bit. Squat/bench looking good, deadlift's getting there. Nice working sets of pullups (I'd struggle to do 3x7 lol).

 

About time you switched the inverted rows for barbell rows! Need a weighted exercise for upper back/bi's.

 

I'd say you're making good progress. Even if it's 2.5kg a month that's still good!

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Although that will prob feel REALLY light, do it as a warmup, then just go up 5-10kg at a time accordingly till you find a decent work weight.

 

The big problem I find with barbell rows is I always pull them off the floor, and unless there's light bumper plates the bar's not gonna be at the correct height. If you don't have them it's usually 60kg (20kg each side) before the bar's at the right height. Try using pulling from a rack if the pins go low enough, or use a plate or 2 each side to prop the weight up.

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  • 4 weeks later...

1/10/11

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StrongLifts Workout B:

 

Squats 5x5 @ 77.5kg (with good, deep form)

Overhead Press 5x5 @ 50kg (failed on the 4th set... why can I still not do this weight?!?!?)

Deadlifts 1x5: Missed, though I'm currently around 115-120kg.

Pullups: 3xF: 9/7/8

 

1/12/11

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StrongLifts Workout A:

 

Squats 5x5 @ 80 (only got to the 4th rep on the 3rd set, so deloaded to 70 and went for form).

Bench Press 5x5 @ 62.5kg (failed on the 4th rep of the 3rd set... this is a lot of weight for my weak chest).

Barbell rows 3xF @ 50kg ... 12/10/12

Dips 3xF, 7/7/7 ... thinking about switching to weighted soon to make it harder (not that they're very easy right now)

Abs: Incline reverse crunches 3xF ... super-setted with incline situps.

also, some hanging ab stuff. I need to figure out a more precise ab routine though.

 

 

I haven't updated in a long time, so here are my two most recent workouts.

 

Overall, I'm progressing VERY slowly. Unfortunately my school/research schedule is very busy, so I only get a chance to make it to the gym twice a week. But, with a little bit of patience and determination, I think I should be able to get back up to three a week in no time (with some clever shuffling of classes as well).

 

Also, I wanted to ask if anyone who reads this (i.e., Chewy) knows when it is appropriate to ditch the stronglifts routine: should I be at 1.5x my body weight by now? Am I progressing abnormally slow? To be honest, I'm getting fairly bored with this routine, which decreases my motivation to work hard at the gym. Specifically, squatted large amounts of weight seems to ruin the rest of my workout, as it fatigues me so much, and also lowers my self-esteem as I seem to continually get stuck on the same amount of weight (hovering around 80kg).

Further, I'm interested in developing more of a gymnast body; very toned, strong, and capable of supporting itself in a variety of positions. While I enjoy weightlifting, I'm wondering if I can adopt a sort of hybrid routine where I might do more bodyweight/gymnast things, while also doing weights (bench, squat, deadlifts, flys, curls, barbell rows, etc.)? Anyone have a good idea?

 

- Jordan

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If you're not really gaining weight then that's prob the reason stronglifts isn't working, however if you want to change things up I'd recommend testing your 1RMs and do Jim Wendler's 5/3/1 as you can do what you want for assistance really, and this could line up with your bodyweight stuff.

 

But I'll say it again. If you gain weight while consistently working out you'll make fast strength gains.

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Chewy,

 

I've definetely been gaining a bit. I'm currently at about 163 lbs, which is an all time high (was hovering around 160lbs for a month and a half). I'll continue eating, and continue lifting, as always. What exactly is Jim Wendlers? Can you link me to some info (either here or on facebook)? Thanks man!

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1/14/11

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StrongLifts Workout B:

 

Squats 5x5 @ 80kg (FINALLY GOT IT!)

Overhead Press 5x5 @ 45kg (dropped down since I failed on 50kg)

Deadlifts 1x5: 112.5kg (getting very tough.. still standard grip).

Chinups: 3xF: 9.5 (ha)/9/8

Abs: Only doing an intensive ab workout once a week now.

 

1/17/11

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StrongLifts Workout A:

 

Squats 5x5 @ none. Getting ready for the switch to 5/3/1, and looking forward to only squatting once a week.

Bench Press 5x5 @ 62.5kg (failed on 4th rep of 4th set. Had a spotter for the 5th set, got 3 by myself, slight assistance on last two reps).

Barbell rows 3xF @ 50kg ... 12/12/11

Dips 3xF, 7/7/7 ... thinking about switching to weighted soon to make it harder (not that they're very easy right now)

Abs: Hanging ab let downs (is that what they're called??) and three sets of incline situps with a 10kg medicine ball on my chest.

 

 

Mainly directed to Chewy: I think I'm ready to transition to 5/3/1. Based on what you see here (my two most recent workouts), what would you say my 1RMs are? I'd say my 4RM for bench is between 62.5-65kg; for squats between 80kg-85kg; for OP between 47.5-52.5; and for deadlift between 115-120kg. Suggestions?

 

I'm looking to start the first cycle on Wednesday, so if I don't hear anything back, I'll just go with the median of my predicted 4RMs and use that as my starting point for all calculations.

 

 

- Jordan

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Alright, here goes another attempt at getting bigger and stronger. I've just started Jim Wendler's 5/3/1, and I've stolen Chewy's template for posting... ha!

 

Jim Wendler's 5/3/1 (Cycle 1)

1RMs - Press=47.5 (assumed), Deadlift=120kg (assumed), Bench Press=65kg (assumed), Squat=90kg (assumed)

 

Week 1

Bodyweight=164lbs

 

Press day

January 20th

 

Overhead Press - 5@35, [email protected], [email protected] (failed on 5th rep... maybe my 1RM was a little off?)

Skullcrushers @ 45lbs (E-Z bar weighs 15lb, 15lbs/side). 8/8/9, supersetted with isolating tricep till failure after each set.

DB curls w/ 15lb (alternating hammer and straight curls... before slash is straight, after is hammer) 8/8, 8/8, then switched to 20lb DBs, 4/4.

Foream rope @ 15lbs: 3 sets till failure, alternating grips.

 

 

 

Squat Day

January 21st

 

Squat: 5@55kg, [email protected], [email protected] (forgot to push it on the last one, could have done more reps).

 

Front squat: 5@40kg, 5@ 45kg, [email protected] (underestimated just how much these hurt your arms/shoulders, and how hard they are to balance properly).

Calf raises: 2 sets of 10@150lbs, 1 set of 10@175lbs

Hanging leg raise: 3 sets, doing as many reps as I could, as slowly as I could till my grip and/or stomach gave out.

Incline weighted situps: with 10kg plate on chest, 15 sit-ups. with 15kg plate on chest, 10/12.

 

 

 

Deadlift day

January 23rd

 

 

Deadlifts - 5@75kg, [email protected], 5@100kg (again, forgot to push it to maximum).

 

Barbell rows - 9/9/8 @50kg.

oblique raises: w/ 24kg kettle ball, 12/12 (each per side). w/ 36kg kettle ball, 7 (per side).

Wide pullups: 6/5/4 ( I SUCK at these).

 

 

Overall, it's going fairly good so far. My only issue is that my hip is really acting up; worse than ever in fact. It often hurts to walk, and it takes me twice as long to warm up for squats lately. Basically, it seems like everything I do is irritating my hip abductors and something else internal in my hip. I wish I knew what it was, so I could go about stretching it out or recovering from it. Ideas?

 

Also, I've been seeing a lot of the bigger/better guys at my powerlifting section of my university's gym spend an incredibly amount of time stretching with rollers before working out: should I be doing this too? How does one use the roller properly? Any advice?

 

Thanks!

 

- Jordan

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