Squats: 285/5,5,5,5,5; Form was about the same as it's been- will stay at this weight for a while in an effort to nail down the form. It was challenging, but I felt like I was in control of the weight.
Floor Press: 205/5,5,5,5,5; The last two sets were especially challenging.
Deadlifts: 375/0; I couldn't lift the bar off of the floor at all, which was surprising since I nailed 370/5 last week. I am thinking about moving deadlifts to Day 3 because I am pretty spent by the time deadlifts come around on Day 1. Maybe it's just an issue of not enough rest or maybe I am peaking at the exercise? I'm not sure at this point... will try 375 again next week and make a decision for the future based on how that goes.
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Sunday, January 29, 2012
Week 4, Day 3: Intensity Day
Squats: 285/5 (will try this for 5 sets on Day 1 of next week)
Press: 160/5 (this was very difficult)
Pendlay Rows: 200/5,5,5; 195/5; 185/5
Sets 2 and 5 were good sets. I had trouble touching the lower chest/stomach in Sets 1, 3 & 4. I was pretty worn down after Set 2.
Press: 160/5 (this was very difficult)
Pendlay Rows: 200/5,5,5; 195/5; 185/5
Sets 2 and 5 were good sets. I had trouble touching the lower chest/stomach in Sets 1, 3 & 4. I was pretty worn down after Set 2.
Friday, January 27, 2012
Week 4, Day 2: Recovery Day
Squats: 225/5,5
Constantly trying to improve my form- made some adjustments after doing some research with the hope that I would no longer lift my heel at the bottom of the squat movement. Unfortunately, I still lifted my heel, even at this much lighter weight. I did notice, however, that with these adjustments, the heel lift was a little less than normal. Will keep trying to improve each session.
Floor Press: 185/5,5,5
Chins: 12,11,11
GHR on a lat pulldown machine: 10,10,10,10,10 (did sets 1,3 & 5 w/ Bosu Ball; did sets 2 & 4 holding a body bar)
I felt like I was hitting my hamstrings harder with the Bosu Ball, so I will use that exclusively going forward. Perhaps one day I will be able to do these without any assistance.
Constantly trying to improve my form- made some adjustments after doing some research with the hope that I would no longer lift my heel at the bottom of the squat movement. Unfortunately, I still lifted my heel, even at this much lighter weight. I did notice, however, that with these adjustments, the heel lift was a little less than normal. Will keep trying to improve each session.
Floor Press: 185/5,5,5
Chins: 12,11,11
GHR on a lat pulldown machine: 10,10,10,10,10 (did sets 1,3 & 5 w/ Bosu Ball; did sets 2 & 4 holding a body bar)
I felt like I was hitting my hamstrings harder with the Bosu Ball, so I will use that exclusively going forward. Perhaps one day I will be able to do these without any assistance.
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
Week 4, Day 1: Volume Day
Squats: 275/5,5,5,5,5; form was pretty good...will keep tweaking to improve.
Press: 155/5,5,5,5,5
Deadlift: 370/5; much better than last week; felt really strong. I'd love to get to 405/5 by Spring.
Press: 155/5,5,5,5,5
Deadlift: 370/5; much better than last week; felt really strong. I'd love to get to 405/5 by Spring.
Saturday, January 21, 2012
Week 3, Day 3: Intensity Day
Squats: 280/5; Will do 275/5X5 on Day 1 of next week to concentrate on improving my form. My depth is very good, but I've noticed that my heel has been coming up a little bit right before the bottom of each rep.
Floor Press (legs straight out): 225/3; 205/5; For the time being I am going to replace decline bench pressing with floor presses. I have done a lot of research over the past week and have decided to give this exercise a try. I have read some positive feedback from those that have trouble with flat benching pressing due to long arms. My arms are very long, and as such, I have always had a tremendous amount of trouble with the flat bench. The decline was working well for a long time, but I think my chest has sunk a little bit because of it. I am hopeful that floor presses will make my chest rise, while increase my strength in the flat chest movement.
Pendlay Rows: 200/5- I wasn't touching my upper stomach/lower chest area with the bar, so I lowered it to 195 and did 4 sets of 5 reps with proper form.
Floor Press (legs straight out): 225/3; 205/5; For the time being I am going to replace decline bench pressing with floor presses. I have done a lot of research over the past week and have decided to give this exercise a try. I have read some positive feedback from those that have trouble with flat benching pressing due to long arms. My arms are very long, and as such, I have always had a tremendous amount of trouble with the flat bench. The decline was working well for a long time, but I think my chest has sunk a little bit because of it. I am hopeful that floor presses will make my chest rise, while increase my strength in the flat chest movement.
Pendlay Rows: 200/5- I wasn't touching my upper stomach/lower chest area with the bar, so I lowered it to 195 and did 4 sets of 5 reps with proper form.
Thursday, January 19, 2012
Week 3, Day 2: Recovery Day
Squats: 220/5,5
Press: 145/5,5,5
Chins: 12,11,10
Glute Ham Raises: 10,10,10,10,10 (using the lat pulldown machine while holding a bar)
I am going to replace hamstring curls with GHRs or back extensions per Rippetoe's article. I initially misread the article and thought it called for hamstring curls. When I reread it, I discovered my mistake.
Press: 145/5,5,5
Chins: 12,11,10
Glute Ham Raises: 10,10,10,10,10 (using the lat pulldown machine while holding a bar)
I am going to replace hamstring curls with GHRs or back extensions per Rippetoe's article. I initially misread the article and thought it called for hamstring curls. When I reread it, I discovered my mistake.
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
Week 3, Day 1: Volume Day
Squats: 275/5,5,5,5,5- difficult; depth was good, but I need to stay back a little bit more. Will stay on this weight next week, in order to concentrate on that aspect.
Bench: I decided to mix in some flat bench press to change things up a bit and see where I was. I haven't done flat bench pressing in a very long time, as I have never been able to progress much with it due to my long arms.
I did one set of 225/3, then went to decline and did 255/5,5, and then went back to flat and did 205/5,5. The flat benching at the weights I selected were a lot harder than I wanted them to be. I am thinking about alternating flat and decline on a weekly basis to try yet another way to get decent at flat bench pressing.
Deadlift: 370/2- this felt incredibly heavy and I am not sure why, as I did well with 365/5 last week. I just lost it after the second rep and walked away. Will try 370/5 again next week. I am not sure why I was so weak tonight because I slept and ate well today. The trick here is to not be discouraged and attack this weight like an animal next week.
Bench: I decided to mix in some flat bench press to change things up a bit and see where I was. I haven't done flat bench pressing in a very long time, as I have never been able to progress much with it due to my long arms.
I did one set of 225/3, then went to decline and did 255/5,5, and then went back to flat and did 205/5,5. The flat benching at the weights I selected were a lot harder than I wanted them to be. I am thinking about alternating flat and decline on a weekly basis to try yet another way to get decent at flat bench pressing.
Deadlift: 370/2- this felt incredibly heavy and I am not sure why, as I did well with 365/5 last week. I just lost it after the second rep and walked away. Will try 370/5 again next week. I am not sure why I was so weak tonight because I slept and ate well today. The trick here is to not be discouraged and attack this weight like an animal next week.
Saturday, January 14, 2012
January 14, 2012: Week 2, Day 3
Squats: 275/5
Press: 155/5
Row: 180/5,5,5; 185/5; 195/5 (felt really good on this for whatever reason)
Will try to squat 275/5X5 on Day 1 of next week.
I am thinking about doing the flat bench press next week as well, but I haven't decided yet.
Press: 155/5
Row: 180/5,5,5; 185/5; 195/5 (felt really good on this for whatever reason)
Will try to squat 275/5X5 on Day 1 of next week.
I am thinking about doing the flat bench press next week as well, but I haven't decided yet.
Thursday, January 12, 2012
January 12, 2012: Recovery Day
Squats: 215/5,5 (did a low bar squat...felt a little different...will see how it feels with a heavier weight next time)
Decline Bench: 225/5,5,5
Chin Ups: 12,10,10
Hamstrings: 130/10,10,10; 135/9,7
After the third set of 130 for 10, I decided to bump it up to 135 because I felt good. The 9 reps of set 4 were very difficult. I was spent by the 5th set and only managed 7 reps.
Decline Bench: 225/5,5,5
Chin Ups: 12,10,10
Hamstrings: 130/10,10,10; 135/9,7
After the third set of 130 for 10, I decided to bump it up to 135 because I felt good. The 9 reps of set 4 were very difficult. I was spent by the 5th set and only managed 7 reps.
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
January 10, 2012: Volume Day
Squats: 270/5,5,5,5,5 (form was pretty good, but I need to focus more on pushing off of the heel; I have been doing a high bar squat so far, but I am going to try the low bar movement next time. Rippetoe favors low bar squats)
Press: 150/5,5,5,5,5 (this was difficult- may have to stay at this weight. Will try 155 on Day 3, but I am not sure if I can make 155/5X5 on next week's volume day)
Deadlift: 365/5 (not bad; will try 370 next week)
Press: 150/5,5,5,5,5 (this was difficult- may have to stay at this weight. Will try 155 on Day 3, but I am not sure if I can make 155/5X5 on next week's volume day)
Deadlift: 365/5 (not bad; will try 370 next week)
Saturday, January 7, 2012
January 7, 2012: Day 3
Squats: 270/5 (form was OK, must keep monitoring it; will tape my next session)
Decline Bench: 255/5 (difficult, but good form)
Rows: 180/5 (very difficult, but I held the form OK... will stay on this weight next week)
I do a Pendlay row, which is stricter than a traditional barbell row in that I keep my back parallel to the floor.
For Day 1 of next week's lift, I will try the following:
Squats 270, 5X5; Standing Press 150, 5X5; Deadlift 365, 5
Decline Bench: 255/5 (difficult, but good form)
Rows: 180/5 (very difficult, but I held the form OK... will stay on this weight next week)
I do a Pendlay row, which is stricter than a traditional barbell row in that I keep my back parallel to the floor.
For Day 1 of next week's lift, I will try the following:
Squats 270, 5X5; Standing Press 150, 5X5; Deadlift 365, 5
Thursday, January 5, 2012
January 5, 2012: Recovery Day
Squats: 215/5,5 (very good form)
Shoulder Press: 135/5,5,5
Chin Ups: 3 sets @ body weight- currently 222: 12,10,10
Lying Hamstring Machine: 130/10,10,10,10,10 (first three sets were fine; sets 4 and 5 were hard towards the end- will stay at this weight next week)
NOTES:
On Recovery Day, 2 sets of Squats at 5 reps each are done at approximately 80% of the weight performed on the last Volume Day.
The weight selected for the shoulder press is slightly less than the weight performed on the last shoulder press Volume Day.
Shoulder Press: 135/5,5,5
Chin Ups: 3 sets @ body weight- currently 222: 12,10,10
Lying Hamstring Machine: 130/10,10,10,10,10 (first three sets were fine; sets 4 and 5 were hard towards the end- will stay at this weight next week)
NOTES:
On Recovery Day, 2 sets of Squats at 5 reps each are done at approximately 80% of the weight performed on the last Volume Day.
The weight selected for the shoulder press is slightly less than the weight performed on the last shoulder press Volume Day.
Monday, January 2, 2012
January 2, 2012: Volume Day
Squats: 265/5,5,5,5,5 (decent form, always looking to improve my form with squats)
Decline Bench: 250/5,5,5,5,5 (some sets, even reps, were normal and some were more difficult than I'd like)
Deadlift: 360/5 (happy with my form, set wasn't as difficult as I thought it would be)
Decline Bench: 250/5,5,5,5,5 (some sets, even reps, were normal and some were more difficult than I'd like)
Deadlift: 360/5 (happy with my form, set wasn't as difficult as I thought it would be)
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