coroho's strength training log

[coroho]

1/4/10

BW: 154.2lbs

Squats: 79.4kg 5x5

(OH)Press: 36kg 5x5

Deadlift: 102kg 5x5

Pullups: 3,2,2,2,1

 

Squats: Really exhausting today, would def. call them heavy.

Press: First set was hard, but the rest were fairly easy. I think I narrowed my grip a little and that helped.

Deadlift: I'm not back to my previous working weight yet but these are still really heavy. Maybe it's cause I'm squatting first now.

Pullups: I set out to do 10 reps regardless of how many sets it took. Will try to decrease # sets gradually (or maybe increase reps).

[coroho]

1/6/10

Squats: 75kg 5x5

Bench Press: 59kg 5,5,5,5,3

Chinups: 5,4,3

Pushups: 15,15,10

 

Squats: Felt I was sacrificing form a little bit the last couple sessions so I backed off some to work on it before proceeding.

Bench Press: I regret to inform myself that 60kg is still going to be a challenge. My form started breaking down in the latter sets, too.

Chinups: I think I'm going to alternate chins/pullups on A/B days. Or something, need to figure it out.

Pushups: Still need to make the commitment to power cleans or rows

[coroho]

1/8/10

Squats: 70.3kg 5x5

Press: 38kg 5x5

Deadlift: 104.3kg 1x5

Chinups: 6*

 

Squats: So I still didn't feel I had my form dialed in last time so I deloaded some more. This time was good so I'm going to build back up with strict form. Was @ bodyweight but pretty light this time.

Press: Only the last couple sets were hard, but they were pretty hard.

Deadlift: I've found I can get a stronger grip if I grip it lower in my palm, but I get callouses. I think it's not right though.

Chinups: Ok so I meant to do pullups, I accidentally did these and got 6 and was like "nice!" Then when I couldn't get ANY more I realized I had actually done chinups the first set

[coroho]

1/11/10

BW: 155.3lbs

Squats: 72.5kg 5x5

Bench Press: 59kg 5x5

Chinups: 7,5,4

Dips: 10,8,8

 

Squats: Pretty straightforward set, but my back is kind of sore atm. Going to bring a camera next time and see how much my back's rounding.

Bench Press: This was.. surprisingly easy. Didn't have much trouble on any set.

Chinups: Glad my numbers on these are going up again.

Dips: Did these with my shoulderblades retracted and they felt fine.

Read a bit more on cleans but it didn't help any. I think I'm just going to go for barbell rows, at least for a while.

[coroho]

1/13/10

Squats: 75kg 5x5

Press: 40kg 5x5

Deadlift: 106.5kg 1x5

Pullups: 4,3,3,2,3

 

Today was an awesome workout. Everything felt really strong and tight. Recorded my squats and I'd say my back round is def. in the acceptable range (though they felt much tighter today than last time). I was even able to use double overhand grip for 4/5 reps on deadlift. Next B day I'll be back to where I left my PRs on OHP and deadlift.

[Stenno]

Great read! I look forward to more!

[chewybaws]

BW: 155.3lbs

fat git.

[coroho]

Thanks Stenno.

fat git.

I had to look that up on urban dictionary. Harsh

 

1/15/10

Squats: 77kg 5x5

Bench Press: 61kg 5x5

Barbell Rows: 40kg 5x5

Dips: 11,10,9

 

Squats: Was hard to maintain form at this weight again. I think I'll repeat it next time.

Bench Press: Success! I think I did good on form too.

Rows: 40kg was pretty light, I was practically slamming the bar into my chest in the latter sets lol. I wanted to get a feel for it before ramping up the weight tho.

Dips: Increased. I think my numbers went down on these overall only cause I got heavier, but they feel more solid now.

I was planning on doing some reverse crunches today too but after dips it'd already been about an hour and a half.

[coroho]

1/18/10

BW: 157lbs

Squats: 77kg 5x5

Press: 41kg 5,5,5,4,2

Deadlift: 109kg 1x5

Pullups: 3,2,2,2

 

Squats: Reps felt good & tight, but it seems I'm still making adjustments to my stance each time.

Press: Started out good, got hard. Form completely broke down in the last set.

Deadlift: This was really hard today. I barely got it & had to take like 10s between the last couple reps.

Pullups: Poor showing today cause I was pretty drained by this point.

[coroho]

1/20/09

Squats: 79.4kg 5x5

Bench Press: 63.5kg 5,5,5,4,3

Barbell Rows: 45kg 5x5

Dips: 12,9,9

 

Squats were good. Bench was good, but I don't find BP to feel very natural imo. Barbell rows, I think I'll add another 5kg then start adding 2.5kg. Dips I made a +1 on the first set and total reps.

 

So since I came back from being injured last month I've been gaining weight at the same rate but I think I've been putting on more fat than before. I thought about trying to eat at maintenance for a while, but I logged some of my recent diet and noticed protein is down (like under 1g/lb bw). I'm going to try to fix that variable by eating more protein and then I ordered some BCAAs. Basically instead of cutting I'm just going to try to raise the ratio of muscle to fat I'm putting on. Will be interesting to see what results I get.

[chewybaws]

You know it's weird you started barbell rows, cause just yesterday I was thinking I could use them in place of inverted rows, and practice power cleans in my days off for the time being!

[coroho]

chewy - Yeah, they're a great movement, go for it. I wish I would've added 'em in sooner.

 

1/22/10

Squats: 81.6kg 5x5

Press: 41kg 5x5

Deadlift: 111kg 1x5

Chinups: 6,4,3

 

Squats: 80kg huzzah! My form got shaky in the 3rd set but I corrected and finished strong.

Press: Matched my PR. My triceps were damn sore by the latter sets.

Deadlift: Also matched my PR. Think I'm topped out all around, only up from here.

Chinups: Almost wanted to skip these cause I was fucking hungry. Think I need to start eating more before the gym.

[coroho]

1/25/10

BW: 158.3lbs

Squats: 84kg 5x5

Bench Press: 63.5kg 5,5,4,4,4

Barbell Rows: 50kg 5x5

Dips: 10,10,8

 

Squats: Squats are heavy now. Reps go slower. Almost failed one cause I lost some breath.

Bench Press: Strike 2. Chewy, those cues helped in my warmup sets but didn't do much for my work set. I think I'll just try incorporating them if/when I have to deload.

BBR: At a pretty good weight today. Adding 2.5kg from now.

Dips: Bodyweight exercises can be a bitch when you're bulking lol

 

So, here's a current shot of me. You see I've added a bit of weight but some fat too:

 

http://shup.com/Shup/272447/front1_123a.jpg

 

One for comparison lulz. It's whatever though, gonna keep lifting heavy.

[coroho]

1/27/10

Squats: 84kg 5x5

Press: 42kg 5x5 PR

Deadlift: 113.5kg 1x5 PR

Pullups: 3,3,3,2

 

Squats: Repeated the weight cause last time there was some leaning forward and maybe not going deep as I'd like on some reps.

Press: Hard but not much trouble. I might've done an extra rep on the fourth set.

Deadlift and pullups were nice and okay, respectively.

 

So today was my first day taking BCAAs. I took 5g before and 5g + a banana after. That stuff is mostly odorless but bitter as all fuck. Gonna take a minute to get used to that. I was expecting it to be subtle, but I felt kinda high at first then I powered thru squat, OHP and deadlift. Whether I can chalk that up to the BCAAs or not I dunno yet. Have to see if I get similar results next time. Still not sure if I'm supposed to take it on rest days but I think I'm going to.

edit: done some more reading and seems it's only worth it to take them before/after exercise

[chewybaws]

Nice work on squats/dead/press man!

 

What are BCAA's for? I've seen the name everywhere but never actually checked out what they are

[coroho]

Nice work on squats/dead/press man!

 

What are BCAA's for? I've seen the name everywhere but never actually checked out what they are

Thanks BCAAs I first heard about here and here. They're basically to prevent muscle breakdown and facilitate muscle recovery.

[coroho]

1/29/10

Squats: 86kg 5,5,5,4,5

Bench Press: 63.5kg 5x5 PR

Barbells Rows: 52.5kg 5x5

Dips: 12,10,8

 

Squats: Main problem today was keeping form. Some were all over the place, and I had some good morning action going on.

Bench Press: Last two sets were pretty damn hard. Think I could eek out a few more kg's if I could solidy form.

BBRows: I hope I'm doing these right, I don't really feel it in my lats (spinal erectors yeah though).

Dips: Started out strong but got fatigued. Takes me a minute to set up at the start of each set, need to cut that out.

I think Wednesday I might've just been jacked up on caffeine, having had an extra cup of coffee than usual. Maybe I'll give that a try again on Monday.

[chewybaws]

Your bench rocks.

 

See the BCAA do you take it for so many weeks at a time then off for a week (I remember reading you're supposed to do this with creatine).

 

How you feeling now you've been taking it for a few days?

 

I was planning on taking creatine after I got back into a solid routine again. If this helps I'll prob take it too.

[coroho]

nah, no need to cycle. actually i've heard the creatine cycling thing is not really necessary either. i plan on taking that too but i wanted to introduce stuff one thing at a time to see what does what. the bcaa's i think are helping, i've made those PRs and it seems like I have more energy late in sets when normally i would be getting tired. should be a few more workouts before i can say i'm consistently having these results. hopefully some more PRs will accompany those results

[coroho]

2/01/10

BW: 158.6lbs

Squats: 86kg 5x5 PR

Overhead Press: 43kg 5,5,5,5,4

Deadlift: 116kg 1x5 PR

Chinups: 5,5,5

 

I incorporated gripping the bar as hard as you can on OHP and it helped, but once that last rep came down I just couldn't get it back up Besides that today was a good day. Lots of strong people squatting and deadlifting, almost no plates were left for the leg press machines

Edited February 2, 2010 by coroho

[Vegan Joe]

Nice work!

[chewybaws]

wow! nice work dude. i gotta get me in on these BCAA's!

 

what kinda grip you using on deads? i'm shitting myself about doing them tomorrow since i didn't do ANY last week. i'll prob get confused and try to do a barbell row or something

[coroho]

haha I've been drinking coffee beforehand too, it's a combination that seems to work for me (plus an excuse to drink wonderful coffee). for deadlift i use overhand grip for as long as i can (usually my last warmup set) then switch to mixed grip for my work set, with chalk of course. i also hold the last rep at the top for as long as i can, supposed to help with grip strength.

 

also thanks joe!

[coroho]

2/03/10

Squats: 88.5kg 5x5

Bench Press: 66kg 5,5,5,4,4

Barbell Rows: 55kg 3x5

 

Squats: First set was hard, but the rest were fairly straight forward.

Bench Press: Proper failed my last rep on the 4th set. Didn't have a spotter and had to roll it off my stomach. Much harder than when I last had to do that at 40 something kg.

Rows: Only did 3x5 cause I suspect I might be cheating a bit at the top. Gonna bring a camera and check next time.

I've got to get my workout time back under control. I didn't even do dips today cause it was already past the 90 minute mark. I've been good about not going long on breaks between sets, I think I just need to speed up my warm ups. It was almost 30m before I did my first squat working set today

[chewybaws]

Squats are looking good! What do you do for warmup? I often just go straight into squats and do many reps with an empty bar to start off. And what about cooldown/stretching?