Think less, eat more

FellowshipOfTheRon · November 2, 2013

Training Day 32 : Legs - 62.7kg
As mentioned yesterday body is slowly deteriorating so took yesterday off, ate up and hit todays workout with pretty light intensity & volume. Tried out the thrusters for that crossfti challenge wod found them to be a bit more difficult than they look. For one thing can't seem to shelf the weight properly with the proper grip and another is having trouble hitting the correct depth without ankles lifting so bit of flexibility work to do there. Wanted to do a bit of a run today but ended up on stationary bike instead because knees were just buggered as usual.

Duration : 1hr14mins

Workout

Treadmill 5min
Leg press (45degree):
- Set 1: 12 x 20 kg
- Set 2: 25 x 40 kg
- Set 3: 25 x 40 kg
- Set 4: 12 x 81 kg
- Set 5: 12 x 81 kg
- Set 6: 12 x 81 kg
Leg extension ( 1 leg):
- Set 1: 12 x 27 kg
- Set 2: 12 x 27 kg
- Set 3: 12 x 27 kg
BB Thrusters:
- Set 1: 10 x 20 kg
- Set 2: 10 x 20 kg
BB Lunges:
- Set 1: 12 x 20 kg
- Set 2: 12 x 20 kg
- Set 3: 12 x 20 kg
Standing leg curl (1 leg):
- Set 1: 10 x 13 kg
- Set 2: 10 x 13 kg
- Set 3: 10 x 13 kg
Seated leg curl:
- Set 1: 10 x 40 kg
- Set 2: 10 x 40 kg
- Set 3: 10 x 40 kg
Ab crunch machine:
- Set 1: 20 x 22 kg
- Set 2: 20 x 22 kg
- Set 3: 20 x 22 kg
Bike 13min 100cal 7.5km avg speed 34.62km/h

FellowshipOfTheRon · November 4, 2013

Training Day 33 : Back/Delts/Abs

Trained with cousin today didn't bother logging on phone as would just take too much time might do quick pen and paper next time though as wanna get him in to tracking progress too (he's been hitting a bit of a wall with progress/motivation for few months). We played around a bit with the weights using drop sets and all that can't remember what we used at all so not gonna note those may as well consider this a deload week with cardio just wanna get him using the right form and build that mind muscle connection so he can hit his own gym when he gets back to it with a new mindset after this week. Got so busy with upper body stuff totally forgot about the calves...

Duration : 2hrs

Workout

Treadmill 5mins warmup
Shoulder dislocations
Cable Lat Pullovers
D.B Rows
Weighted pullups
Hammer rows (plate loaded machine)
Shoulder press machine
Side delt machine
Rear delt flyes
Hanging knee raises
Ab Crunch machine
Back extensions
Back extensions machine
Treadmill 10mins 1.77km 86 cals 5min39s per km avg pace

FellowshipOfTheRon · November 6, 2013

Training Day 34 : Chest/Arms

Chest/Arms with the cousin.. think I hurt my sternum again even with real light weights lol whatever next time just will stick with pushups as I think my chest is so small it can still grow on those anyway.. stupid joints still screwy as.

Duration : 1hr40mins

Workout

Treadmill 10mins warmup
Shoulder warmup routine
- Shoulder dislocations
- Clapping pushups
- Hanging on bar, shrugs hanging on bar & some pullups
Incline Bench Press
Iso Lateral Hammer Rows
Pushups
Straight bar pullovers
1 Arm Cable Pulldowns (triceps)
Skull crushers superset closegrip press
Bench dips
EZ Bar bro curls
EZ Bar forearm curls
DB hammer curls
Stationary bike 10mins

25 days out!

FellowshipOfTheRon · November 7, 2013

Training Day 35 : Legs/Abs

Surprisingly decent leg session. Knee issues remain but didn't keep me from doing any of the usual exercises (though left out lunges this time after last weeks experience). Done bit of abs after legs trying to motivate my cousin to work harder on them so one person doing knee raises while other waits planking till they hit their reps then switch over but didn't seem to work.. sad. Finished up with some short but intense cardio switching between incline fast walk and stair master (swap with each other every 2mins).

Duration : 1hr40mins

Workout

Treadmill 10min warmup
Dynamic Stretches
Leg press
Leg extensions
Standing hamstring curls (1 leg)
Lying hamstring curls
Ab crunch machine low reps high resistance
Hanging knee raises high reps superset plank (1 person does planks while waiting for other to finish knee raise then swap)
Planks alternating between normal and side ones no rest, about 5 mins all up
Swap between incline fast walk and stair master each 2mins all up 20mins
Static stretches & rehydrate

Just few weeks to go until the contest is over really starting to doubt that I'll get lean enough for the class I've entered now though I did notice for the first time ever that I've got a little bit of deltoid vascularity starting to show up. Like I said before first time intentionally trying to lean right down so got some experimenting to do but figured already that for next time will give myself 8~10 weeks instead of just 4.. for now thinking will begin implementing some form of carb cycling and keep increasing that deficit slowly as the days go by.

FellowshipOfTheRon · November 8, 2013

Training Day 36 : Back/Calves

Eaasy stuff today worked more power than hypertrophy today and over all was pretty good. Got up to doing sets of 80 on deads still lightweight but at least I can do the exercise again without buying a ticket to snap city.

Duration : 1hr9mins

Workout

Treadmill 10mins light jog 1km 80cals
Shoulder warmup stuff
- Shoulder dislocations
- pullups
- hanging shrugs
- hanging pullover
1 Arm pulldowns
BB Rows (yates style)
Deadlifts (done with light weights and a bit of speed work)
Superset deadlifts with Pullups
Seated calf raises
Leg press calf raises
Forearm curls with barbell & dbs... been ages since I done strict ones really felt it today

Been few days since I weighed myself gonna try weigh in tomorrow and maybe get another set of progress pics to compare if actually getting leaner or not

FellowshipOfTheRon · November 11, 2013

Training Day 37 : Chest/Arms

Times catching up like 2 weeks to go wow.. not getting leaner but anyway gonna keep doing what I'm doing and learn from the mistakes lol. Still having some sternum soreness but it doesn't feel sharp like before more like general doms not even sure if that makes sense for that area. Anyway my main movement for today was Decline bench with a reverse grip and it sure was a lot easier on the shoulders than the inclines I've been doing. Also tried out finishing chest with cable crossovers which I've never done before I kind of liked these more than the pec dec maybe just because it was easier for me to change the angle to feel it where I wanna feel it. Knees are heaps better this week done a slow 2.4 today gonna try a slow 5~7km tomorrow see how it goes.

Duration : 1hr31mins

Workout

Treadmill 10 min 1.26km 84cal 7.56min/km avg pace
Shoulder dislocations:
- Set 1: 12 reps
Pullups:
- Set 1: 15 reps
Pushups:
- Set 1: 15 reps
- Set 2: 15 reps
Decline bench:
- Set 1: 15 x 20 kg
- Set 2: 5 x 43 kg
- Set 3: 5 x 43 kg
- Set 4: 5 x 43 kg
- Set 5: 5 x 52 kg
- Set 6: 5 x 52 kg
DB flat bench:
- Set 1: 12 x 13 kg
- Set 2: 8 x 18 kg
- Set 3: 8 x 18 kg
- Set 4: 8 x 18 kg
Cable pec crossovers:
- Set 1: 8 x 9 kg
- Set 2: 8 x 13 kg
- Set 3: 8 x 13 kg
Skull crushers ez curl bar:
- Set 1: 12 x 13 kg
- Set 2: 12 x 13 kg
- Set 3: 4 x 27 kg
- Set 4: 3 x 27 kg
- Set 5: 10 x 18 kg
- Set 6: 10 x 18 kg
Cable push downs tricep:
- Set 1: 12 x 18 kg
- Set 2: 12 x 18 kg
- Set 3: 12 x 18 kg
- Set 4: 12 x 18 kg
EZ bar preacher curls:
- Set 1: 12 x 18 kg
- Set 2: 12 x 18 kg
- Set 3: 12 x 18 kg
Treadmill 14.30min 163cal 2.4km 6.03min/km avg pace

FellowshipOfTheRon · November 12, 2013

Training Day 38 : Legs

Somehow grabbed my chuck taylors when reaching for my lunarglides and remembered all the good times I had squatting and stuff with these so thought why not try them on and see how it goes in the gym today for legs day. Unfortunately they sucked on the treadmill so ended up not finishing with the planned run but on the plus side knees were feeling exceptionally good today so jumped in the power rack and it turned out to be a simple low volume leg day. Squats felt nice just had to use 10lb plates under the heels first time trying squats like this after reading about it and damn it felt good! I was easily able to reach depths that I've never gone to before meanwhile the upperbody was in a stable position not collapsing like I used to. The deadlifts were easy as with these shoes heaps better when you don't have crap squishing on your heels and i guess being lower to the ground makes a difference too.

Duration : 1hr11min

Workout

Treadmill 7 min
Squat (back):
- Set 1: 15 reps
- Set 2: 10 x 20 kg
- Set 3: 10 x 20 kg
- Set 4: 10 x 29 kg
- Set 5: 5 x 43 kg
- Set 6: 5 x 45 kg
- Set 7: 5 x 45 kg
- Set 8: 5 x 45 kg
- Set 9: 5 x 45 kg
Dead lifts:
- Set 1: 5 x 61 kg
- Set 2: 5 x 61 kg
- Set 3: 5 x 61 kg
- Set 4: 5 x 61 kg
- Set 5: 5 x 61 kg
Leg extensions:
- Set 1: 12 x 47 kg
- Set 2: 12 x 47 kg
- Set 3: 12 x 47 kg
Lying leg curl:
- Set 1: 8 x 27 kg
- Set 2: 8 x 27 kg
- Set 3: 8 x 31 kg
- Set 4: 8 x 31 kg
Hip adductor:
- Set 1: 12 x 27 kg
- Set 2: 12 x 27 kg
- Set 3: 12 x 27 kg
10mins stretching

FellowshipOfTheRon · November 13, 2013

Training Day 39 : Back/Abs/Calves
Started out trying to keep it short and simple but I got more and more in to it as things went on and ended up doing whole lot more than initially planned (which I don't regret). Feeling good about getting back in to the classic barbell movements and the fact that legs are healing up again!

Duration : 2hrs13mins

Workout

Treadmill 10 min
Lat pull downs (straight arms):
- Set 1: 10 x 27 kg
- Set 2: 10 x 27 kg
- Set 3: 10 x 27 kg
Barbell rows:
- Set 1: 15 x 20 kg
- Set 2: 5 x 43 kg
- Set 3: 5 x 43 kg
- Set 4: 5 x 52 kg
- Set 5: 5 x 52 kg
- Set 6: 5 x 61 kg
- Set 7: 3 x 61 kg
- Set 8: 5 x 43 kg
Weighted pull-ups:
- Set 1: 3 x 20 kg
- Set 2: 5 reps
- Set 3: 5 x 11 kg
- Set 4: 3 x 20 kg
- Set 5: 8 reps
Military press:
- Set 1: 5 x 20 kg
- Set 2: 5 x 20 kg
- Set 3: 5 x 29 kg
- Set 4: 5 x 38 kg
- Set 5: 5 x 38 kg
Side delt machine:
- Set 1: 12 x 11 kg
- Set 2: 12 x 18 kg
- Set 3: 12 x 18 kg
- Set 4: 12 x 18 kg
Rear delt flye:
- Set 1: 10 x 2 kg
- Set 2: 10 x 2 kg
- Set 3: 10 x 2 kg
Back extensions:
- Set 1: 12 reps
- Set 2: 6 x 30 kg
- Set 3: 6 x 30 kg
- Set 4: 6 x 30 kg
Leg press calves raises (1 foot at a time):
- Set 1: 20 x 40 kg
- Set 2: 20 x 40 kg
- Set 3: 20 x 40 kg
Seated calf raise:
- Set 1: 20 x 20 kg
- Set 2: 20 x 20 kg
- Set 3: 20 x 20 kg
- Set 4: 20 x 20 kg
Decline crunches:
- Set 1: 20 reps
- Set 2: 10 reps
- Set 3: 20 reps
Plank 2min
Treadmill 10 min 1.59km 108cal
10mins stretching

FellowshipOfTheRon · November 17, 2013

Training Day 40 : Chest/Abs/Arms

This is for Friday - Had nephew over so ended up taking him to gym.. he was new so we were there for a while just showing him some of the upper body exercises. Didn't log it so not much to report back here.

Didn't take any more progress pics yet but better start on that since it's nearing the time for the after pics. Noticed am looking leaner in the mirror though, just a little anyway seems abs are starting to show more.

On Saturday morning went out to park with some family just went through some circuits stuff like pyramid laps across a 20m section with 20 crunches/30 seconds plank at end of each pyramid 'step'. Was pretty cool to get back there and be doing some running outside again (all been on treadmill since I got back so far) and could notice the difference the orthotics were making on my running.. sort of uncomfortable but also seem to require so much less effort to run than I remember. Felt a little something in both knees but it's gone today so plan on getting in to more real running. Would have been at the gym today but decided not to as haven't had decent quality sleep last two nights. Gonna make it a decent rest day gonna eat up at around maintenance and hit the bed early as then kick start tomorrow with a good leg session looking forward to trying squats again

FellowshipOfTheRon · November 18, 2013

Training Day 41 : Legs

Damn my hip flexors got real tight lately couldn't manage deep squats at all so put in a lowish box which stopped me just below parallel and continued that way instead. It was way easier than deep squats so ended up doing more reps felt like I could probably put on more pretty quickly with a bit more attention to stretching the hips and hamstrings better. Getting back to slightly heavier deads now just need to improve my grip strength again, guessing should be up to 140kg deads again by new years then work my way up from there. Though strength isn't my primary focus I was thinking would be good to use deads front squats and push press to set up a good base level of strength and technique/principles before I move on to trying some olympic moves again.

Duration : 1hr11mins

Workout

Treadmill 7 min
Box Squat (back):
- Set 1: 10 x 20 kg
- Set 2: 10 x 29 kg
- Set 3: 10 x 29 kg
- Set 4: 10 x 43 kg
- Set 5: 10 x 43 kg
- Set 6: 10 x 43 kg
- Set 7: 10 x 43 kg
Dead lifts:
- Set 1: 5 x 61 kg
- Set 2: 5 x 61 kg
- Set 3: 3 x 84 kg
- Set 4: 3 x 84 kg
- Set 5: 3 x 84 kg
- Set 6: 1 x 106 kg
- Set 7: 1 x 106 kg
Leg extensions:
- Set 1: 12 x 40 kg
- Set 2: 12 x 40 kg
- Set 3: 12 x 40 kg
Lying leg curl:
- Set 1: 12 x 27 kg
- Set 2: 5 x 36 kg
- Set 3: 5 x 31 kg
- Set 4: 5 x 31 kg
Hip abductor:
- Set 1: 8 x 22 kg
- Set 2: 8 x 22 kg
- Set 3: 8 x 22 kg
10mins stretching

FellowshipOfTheRon · November 19, 2013

Training Day 42 : Back
Tried to make it a bit of a power session since I seem to be liking those lately.. should hopefully help me retain (and hoping even build) strength through the cut better than hypertrophy training would anyway but we'll see how that works out. Besides my broscience theory behind it, it's also a lot of fun I thoroughly enjoyed trying out the power cleans even though it was with baby weights though I look forward to building my strength and doing much more with these as time goes by. Actually not even sure atm if it's called power cleans though. It's the one where you explosively deadlift + shrug + jump the weight up then quickly pushpress it up above you. Anyway whatever it's called I spent a bit of time trying to learn the dynamics of it but haven't quite got it yet.. I guess it's something I'll be spending ages on in the next few weeks.

Duration : 1hr45mins

Workout

Treadmill 10 min 1.37km 93cal
Warmup Stuff
- Shoulder dislocations: 12 reps
- Pushups: 15 reps (normal then clapping)
- Pullups: 15 reps (mix of wide and shoulder width switching by exploding up at top of movement but can't quite do clapping pullups yet)
BB pullovers:
- Set 1: 10 x 13 kg
- Set 2: 10 x 13 kg
- Set 3: 10 x 13 kg
- Set 4: 10 x 13 kg
DB 1 arm rows:
- Set 1: 8 x 29 kg
- Set 2: 5 x 29 kg
- Set 3: 5 x 29 kg
Seated low row:
- Set 1: 8 x 38 kg
- Set 2: 8 x 38 kg
- Set 3: 8 x 38 kg
Push press:
- Set 1: 5 x 20 kg
- Set 2: 3 x 43 kg
- Set 3: 3 x 43 kg
- Set 4: 3 x 43 kg
- Set 5: 5 x 29 kg
Power cleans:
- Set 1: 5 x 29 kg
- Set 2: 5 x 29 kg
- Set 3: 1 x 38 kg
- Set 4: 1 x 38 kg
- Set 5: 3 x 38 kg
- Set 6: 3 x 38 kg
- Set 7: 1 x 38 kg
- Set 8: 1 x 38 kg
Hanging straight leg raise (elbow braced):
- Set 1: 8 reps
- Set 2: 8 reps
- Set 3: 8 reps
Ab crunch machine:
- Set 1: 12 x 22 kg
- Set 2: 12 x 22 kg
- Set 3: 12 x 22 kg
Treadmill 10 min 1.55km 93cal

FellowshipOfTheRon · November 21, 2013

Training Day 43 : Chest/Biceps

Nice and simple chest day, really happy with how it turned out. Been ages since I've done flat bench and surprised with my strength gains. Have never done over 50ish kgs for reps without significant pains yet today managed couple sets of 3x60kg. Had a really good warmup routine today and everything was quite limber & ready to go. All of todays exercises were with focus on hold at bottom of the negative and focus on full lockout (but not explosive as seem to be having tendon problems sprouting up). Can still feel a bit of niggling in the sternum area but nothing that slowed down todays workout. No shoulder pains at all today which was great, the reverse grip pushing of the last week has given whatever it was time to recover so will remember to put those in more regularly. Didn't bother with any tricep isolations for now as I know they'll be given a beating again very soon when I do some more power clean practice (currently locking out at the top and holding for few seconds on those as trying to develop my stability holding weight overhead)

Duration : 1hr46mins

Workout

Treadmill 10 min
Shoulder warmup routine
- Shoulder dislocations:
- Set 1: 12 reps
- Pullups:
- Set 1: 15 reps
- Pushups:
- Set 1: 15 reps
- Overhead shrugs:
- Set 1: 15 x 20 kg
- Rotator cuffs warmups (all kinds of warmups)
Bench press:
- Set 1: 10 x 20 kg
- Set 2: 10 x 20 kg
- Set 3: 8 x 43 kg
- Set 4: 8 x 43 kg
- Set 5: 3 x 61 kg
- Set 6: 3 x 61 kg
- Set 7: 5 x 47 kg
- Set 8: 5 x 47 kg
- Set 9: 8 x 43 kg
Incline chest press machine
- Set 1: 12 x 27 kg
- Set 2: 12 x 27 kg
- Set 3: 12 x 27 kg
Cable pec crossovers:
- Set 1: 10 x 9 kg
- Set 2: 8 x 13 kg
- Set 3: 12 x 9 kg
Side delt machine:
- Set 1: 10 x 18 kg
- Set 2: 10 x 18 kg
- Set 3: 10 x 18 kg
- Set 4: 10 x 18 kg
Random biceps stuff (forgot to log, was just db preachers with some ez bro curls)
Stationary bike 10min 70cal 5.7km
10mins stretching

FellowshipOfTheRon · November 22, 2013

Training Day 44 : Legs

Stupid day, knees were killing me so had to cut that shit short today. I think it's the squats.. tried going low, tried box squats with and without the plates under heels nothing mattered today was a few steps back in leg training. Will try for a while again going without squats/dead lifts.. will be sorely missed but that's what I get for straying from the physios advice. In the mean time still gonna muck around with light weight power cleans at least I'll get the chance to hammer the technique in while I'm unable to push heavier stuff.

Duration : 1hr10mins

Workout

Treadmill 10 min
Box Squat (back):
- Set 1: 10 x 20 kg
- Set 2: 10 x 43 kg
- Set 3: 10 x 43 kg
- Set 4: 10 x 43 kg
Power cleans:
- Set 1: 5 x 29 kg
- Set 2: 5 x 29 kg
- Set 3: 5 x 43 kg
- Set 4: 5 x 43 kg
- Set 5: 2 x 52 kg
Leg extensions:
- Set 1: 12 x 40 kg
- Set 2: 12 x 54 kg
- Set 3: 12 x 68 kg
- Set 4: 12 x 68 kg
- Set 5: 12 x 68 kg
Seated leg curl:
- Set 1: 12 x 27 kg
- Set 2: 12 x 40 kg
- Set 3: 10 x 47 kg
- Set 4: 5 x 54 kg
- Set 5: 5 x 54 kg
- Set 6: 5 x 54 kg
Treadmill 10 min
10mins stretching

FellowshipOfTheRon · November 25, 2013

Days 45 & 46

Went and done back yesterday & chest/biceps/triceps today. Was all pretty random and unstructured, been sweating excessively and feeling really crap despite high water intake gonna try adding more sodium in & see how that goes. Took some progress pics today for use as the after shots , almost feinted trying to take them lol maybe something to do with blood sugar levels? Anyway the pics seem pretty crap looking at them now. If can't get better shots in by end of week then will use the ones I got now. Critically judging myself now I think I'd need another 4~6 weeks of cutting to get properly lean and I might just do that to find out all about what it takes to get below 10% and maintain that for a bit.

FellowshipOfTheRon · November 25, 2013

Looked over progress pics from yesterday and were absolutely terrible lol went and retook some today, camera was a bit dodgy and kept changing colour & focus between pics but it'll have to do for now too annoying to try self capture

... here's my 3 months progress 'final' shots for the summer challenge

FellowshipOfTheRon · November 26, 2013

Day 47 - Legs

Since the challenge is up now finally starting my long awaited deload period meanwhile thinking of how I'll attack the harder part of this cut for the following few weeks. Took it easy in the gym today

Duration : 50 minutes

Workout

10 mins walk
Some basic mobility type stuff to get those stupid hip flexors loose (found anterior pelvic tilt to be coming back in strong recently so gotta try loosen those and tighten ABs again... love the planks but ignored them for way too long which re-invited those postural problems)
45 degree Leg press
- quick warmup 15 x nothing, super 15x20kg super 15x 40kg super 15x 60kg
- 3 sets of 12 x 80kg focusing on pushing knees outwards entire time
Leg extensions (single leg)
- 3 sets of 12 x 90lbs
Box squats with wide stance with focus on just going down slowly, pausing at bottom to strengthen glutes then come back up slowly while mentally focusing on pushing outwards.. been going on too long with bad form causing all kinds of postural/joint problems :/ No more cheating with the plates under heels either and wearing sneakers with the orthotics since it helps keep the legs especially left one stable.
- 2 sets 15x 20kg
- 3 sets 10 x 40kg
- 3 sets 10x 40kg ATG squats wide stance (felt heaps better this time, no hip pain like last few times!)
Heaps of stretching particularly hip flexors

Was wanting to hit up some glute bridges too but unfamiliar with the form and don't wanna waste time with the barbell trying to figure it out while others are waiting so just ended the session for today.. can't do lunges and stuff still as way too taxing on the knees.

FellowshipOfTheRon · November 29, 2013

Forgot to log yesterdays Back session.. here is what I can remember

Day 48 : Back

Duration : approx 1.5hrs

Workout

Treadmill 10mins walking warmup
The usual shoulder warmup routine
Assorted pullups narrow, shoulder width, wide grip, neutral grip and reverse grip pullups/hangs
Lat pulldowns
Pendlay rows then as back got bit more fatigued switched to yates style rows for some drop sets, all with EZ Curl bars. I am getting such a different contraction with these, really like it this way especially with the supinated grip.
Deadlifts - done a ridiculous amount of sets here I think I was deadlifting for like half an hour lol. Really just trying to pat my form down with all the sets but went for some more challenging weights too. Started out with 10~20 reps of 60kg then went straight for 100kg. it was challenging and on my first attempt could only do 3 reps but after focusing on stuff like higher hips was able to smash out a few more sets of 10x100kg. Felt like a really tough guy so then loaded up to 140kg since that was what I was up to last year before I started with all the cardio stuff... couldn't even get it up lol, wouldn't budge in the slightest so went back down to 110kg and done a couple of sets to almost failure
Weighted pullups (+10kg) 5 sets of 5 reps
Seated shrugs machine, 4 sets 15x80kg
Hanging leg raises 3x8
Ab crunch machine giant set doing it on the side too for obliques
Plank
Stretching

Kalidane · November 29, 2013

Sounds like a good session dude!

FellowshipOfTheRon · December 2, 2013

Took a break from working out last 3 days and took the opportunity to take in lots of fats and carbs in particular. Still feeling a bit bloted but todays session was quite different, very vascular everywhere and just feeling quite strong. Also it was only 3 days off but felt like I hadn't been in months lol. Wrist&elbows in particular have been pretty bad lately even giving me a bit of trouble sleeping think I need to sort out a smarter phased routine with some low frequency stuff for the next 12 weeks soon so I can get going again, right now sort of back to instinctive training.

Day 49 : Chest/Arms

Duration : 1hr 26mins

Workout

10 mins treadmill
Long ass shoulder warmup routine
- Shoulder dislocations
- Bunch of pushups going from super wide all the way in to diamond then back out again
- Bunch of pullups variety of grips/width behind neck and normal
- Rotator cuff external rotations with light dbs
- Static hold thoracic extension holding light dbs to help activate traps/real delts better
Flat bench (back to the normal grip today)
- 2 Sets 15x 20kg
- 2 Sets 12x 30kg
- 2 sets 10x 40kg
- 3 Sets 5x50kg
- 1 Set 10x40kg
Tried db flyes, cable crossovers, pec deck, couldn't not manage any of these today without left trap/shoulder feeling dodgy so moved on to next ex..
Machine chest press
- 2 Sets 10x30lbs with 1 arm at a time
- Giant set (now with both arms as usual)
  - 10x 30lbs
  - 10x 45lbs
  - 10x 60lbs
  - 10x 75lbs
Side Delts Machine
- 4 Sets 12x 32.5lbs
Hanging knee raises
- 2 x failure forgot to count just focused on breathing
10 mins bunch of stretches

Sounds like a good session dude!

Yeah I suppose so it was decent improvement from all my last back sessions ay, will try more power type stuff for back again this week.

FellowshipOfTheRon · December 3, 2013

Day 50 : Legs/Abs

Power rack was being used up so had to do the squats in the squat rack.. can't beleive how useless the squat rack actually is because of my height I have to walk the weight all the way back out of the rack before I can actually squat otherwise I can't hit any decent depth. Anyway it's not like I'm pushing any heavy weights so it's alright for now, just sucked when my left hip flexor cramped up was an awkward walk back to rack it. Think I'm gonna work my squat strength back up again by adding in the old 1x20 squat 3x a week.

Duration : 1hr12mins

Workout

Treadmill 10mins
Some dynamic warmups must have looked like a wannabe ninja idiot doing all these wierd kicks lol
Squats
- 2 Sets 10x 20kg
- 2 Sets 10x40kg
- 1 Set 20x 40kg
- 3 Sets 3x60kg
- 1 Set 1x80kg (hip flexor cramped out at the bottom it was a dodgy as set)
Leg extensions
- 3 Sets 30 reps forgot the weight but it was pretty light
Seated hamstring curls
- 2 Sets 20 reps forgot the weight
Bunch of AB stuff
10mins Stretching

FellowshipOfTheRon · December 4, 2013

Day 51 : Back/Calves

Duration : 1hr 19mins

Workout

Row machine 5mins
The usual shoulder warmup routine
Light pullovers with EZ Bar for warmup/stretch
EZ Bar strict bent over rows
Deadlifts
Weighted Pullups
Supinated grip pulldowns
Leg press calves
Seated calf raises
Stretching

FellowshipOfTheRon · December 8, 2013

busy weekend not training lol.. forgot to log my last workout which was on friday here is what i did from memory. going in again today to do.. dont even know yet legs? back ? everything? need to get organised again *dash1*

Day 52 : Chest/Arms (Friday 6th Dec 2013)

Duration : 1hr17mins

Workout

Treadmill 10mins
Squat
- bunch of warmups trying to loosen hips
- 1 Set 20x 105lbs
Bunch of shoulder warmups from all angles
Incline bench
- bunch of high rep stuff with low rest
- 3 Sets 5 reps with 40kg with slow pauses at bottom and controlled lockouts at top, 1min rests
Cable crossovers
BB Pullovers
Tricep pushdowns 2 sets
DB Curls 2 sets
Side delt machine 3 sets
Rear delt flyes 3 sets
Stretching

FellowshipOfTheRon · December 9, 2013

OK not 100% sure yet but thinking I'll try madcow 5x5.. put down modest but honest initial 1/5rm figures dunno if program works better if you put more or not? Just first time trying a 'proper' strength training approach (2yrs into gym.. about time eh? lol) and legs still little dodgy so probably better to be honest about it anyway

Initial figures entered in :

Day 53 : Random stuff

Bit of everything sort of like most of the strength programs

Duration : 1hr10mins

Workout

Treadmill 10mins
Dynamic stretches
Squats
- 20xbody weight
- 15xbar
- 15xbar
- 5x25kg
- 3x30kg
- 12x35kg
Benchpress
- 15xpushups
- 5x30kg
- 5x30kg
- 12x35kg
- 12x40kg
Pendlay Rows (preloaded ez bars)
- 5x15kg
- 5x20kg
- 5x30kg
- 3x35kg
- 12x40kg
Back extensions with various weights
Weighted ab crunch machine superset decline bench crunches
Pullups
Treadmill 10mins
Stretching

FellowshipOfTheRon · December 10, 2013

Reflection on last 3 months training: progress, failures and injuries
3-on 1-off Program 11th Sept 2013 - 1st Dec 2013
Decided I'd do a quick write up here reflecting on stuff that happened in last 3 months of this program. Not so much for others but just me talking to myself figuring out what I've learnt from this experience, what I could do better or what I think I done really well.

Overall I really liked it.. there were tough times where my body just wasn't recovering but I managed those by making it more into a 3-on 2-off kind of thing, increasing food temporarily and modifying things here and there. If I were to do something similar again I would definately implement a deload week after each 4~6 weeks.

Lifts:
Hard to talk about progress in lifts.. for starters I hadn't been doing 3 of the 'big six' - squats, deads and military press. Also I had taken like 8 months off weights and doing mostly cardio/body weight stuff in preparation for Army (which unfortunately didn't work out) so I don't have any numbers to compare to.

I will say though that I like the idea of higher frequency training. I was able to get stronger without really stalling the whole time and in those 3 months done the biggest bench (60x3) and most pullups (3 sets 15~20) I've ever done. Would note more PRs but really most things have been on machines (which will be quite different on the next routine).

Injuries:
Started off with knee/hamstring injuries slowly worked legs in to the program. They have been bothering me throughout but progressively less and less. Now it's at a point where I feel I can start squatting and deadlifting again working my way up to my old numbers.

Now along the way I got a few problems I think relating to either not stretching enough or pattern overload (?). At a point where I was making awesome progress with my dips (doing them almost every day) I started getting really bad sternum injuries and had to stop all chest work altogether. After about a month I could train chest again and by now it's back to normal but I haven't dared return to dips. Have also had problems with elbows, shoulder joint, wrists but not back (even though that's the muscle group I train with the craziest volume).

I did include some warmup work from the beginning of the program but probably wasn't enough warmups nor stretching. Along the way I've started warming up routinely every single session and stretching everything at the end of all sessions too. I will continue with this approach when moving on to my next workout program.

Weight gain progress:
Started at 58kg and ended up around 62.5kg still reasonably lean if not little leaner than at the start so happy with the gains.

Happy with the progress I made given I couldn't even train legs properly through the 3 months.. once I get to doing those again I expect weight to jump up maybe another 2~3 kilos because of muscle memory - the left leg is still way smaller than the right at the moment.

Graph :
As we can see in the graph, weight gain was fairly steadily rising kind of like climbing stairs. All was going well until I decided to cut in November then you can see the downward trend. Still sort of want to lean down a bit more before I approach another bulk.. looking forward to seeing gains like this again in near future.

Nutrition:
I ate at a slight caloric surplus for the most part, preferring a lean bulk over dirty bulk approaches I've tried in the past (which left me quite fat.. such as the time I got to 27% bf at 60kg LOL).

At the start I was counting calories every single day and it was kind of annoying/stressful.. eventually eating right just became habbit so I stopped counting. Every now and then I done spot checks and found that my 'habits' needed refreshing so would count cals again for a couple days. Unfortunately there were times when I found I was like 800~1000cals behind for that day but recovered from that by eating up extra either by end of that day or spreading the damage across the week. In future I will apply a similar approach - count until habbit, do spot checks now and then and reanalyse/count again with significant weight changes.

Towards the end I took the same 'lean bulk' approach when it came down to cutting time (200~400kcal deficit) but I fear it was a case of too little too soon in that instance. Gave myself only 4 weeks to cut down, wanted to come out really lean but just wasn't enough time for me and I don't want to go down any crash diet route.

FellowshipOfTheRon · December 10, 2013

Rest day, 61.9kg bodyfat dunno but probably higher than it was couple weeks ago (~15%) just because being lazy and mucking around in the gym since finished my 3 month routine lol. All good anyway, my tendons/joints have thanked me for it because that final month was pretty hellish on 'em. Guess I'll just write this muck around period off as a rest/deload time.

Chapter 2 : Ready to squat again- SL5x5 here we come!

Anyway back in to things from this week.. more specifically from tomorrow. About time I got back in to being consistent. Decided I'm pretty dumb to go with Madcow 5x5 when my numbers are so low. If I'm to be honest with my self I have to admit last time I attempted SL5x5 I plataued not because the program but because I had bad form, bad eating habbits and lack of will power. Gonna give it an honest attempt this time around and see where it gets me.

I'm thinking I'll start it off with 5kg increments instead of the 2.5kg ones maybe just because I'm a little impatient.. by week 3 or 4 will switch back to 2.5kg even if I don't stall though otherwise can see myself stalling pretty quickly another 2 weeks after that. Thinking could also maybe do 4 days a week instead of just 3 (just because I have no life and going to the gym is fun for me *crazy*) until I feel recovery slowing down.

Not sure yet what kind of accessory work I'll involve.. thinking while the weights are super light and easy in first few weeks I can just do random stuff to stimulate what I feel like and I'll get away with it but more careful thought will have to be applied after week 4 or so.

Still want to keep fit & boost fitness while getting stronger, planning on keeping the 10mins pre workout treadmill and putting in another 10mins post workout cardio.

Gonna be awkward as going in and doing empty barbell squats tomorrow but ego aside, lets get stronger and fitter again!

Starting Stats:

Here's for the record how crappy my lifts are at this point;

Squat 60kgx1
Bench 60kgx1
Row 45kgx5
Deadlift 110kgx5
Military press 35kgx5
Incline Bench 40kgx5

Looking forward to bettering all these by a long shot in the next 12 weeks++

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