Ive been squatting- conjugate programme based on WS.

[Varven]

Thursday

Chest and Triceps

Dips

Bodyweight 1x10

+ 5kg plate 1x7, 1x7, 1x7

I always feel dips in chest but not in the last 2 workouts, I can only feel the tricep burn, maybe time to drop it for someother excercise ?

Flat DB press

23.5 kg 1x10

26.5 kg 1x6, 1x9, 1x7 ( Last time at this weight I managed only 1 set of 8 with assistance so I consider this improvement )

Incline DB Bench

23.5kg 1x7, 1x6, 1x7, 1x6 higher reps, last time this was a new weight I barely got a few reps.

Flat db flyes 12kg 1x8, 14kg 1x6, 1x6 chest didnt feel exhausted so i chucked these in.

CG Bench

40kg 1x4

35kg 1x9, 1x10

DB Oh tri extension

I used 18.5 kg last time,

I PERFECTED form, as in elbows as clsoe togeather as possible and found I wasnt getting far, so I dropped the weight

16kg 1x8, 1x8, 1x8.

Lesson learnt: thou shall not sacrifice form for weight.

Been eating well all week.

Looking forward to back and biceps tommorrow and then working a 10 hour shift :?

[Growth]

Nice workout mate, good to see your keeping those elbows tucked in as much as possible on the OH's, i see alot of people on both OH's and close grip who flare their elbows right out in pursuit of pushing more weight.

Good work.

[Marcus]

I've found that flaring the elbows out with OH's tends to put more stress on the belly of the tricep, while closer together seems to stress closer to the elbows.

[Varven]

This is last Fridays workout that I didnt post cause I left my workout log book at the gym .

Todays focus was on back width since last week was thickness.

Rack Chins

bodyweight 1x8,1x7

+2.5kg 1x4, 1x5, 1x5

Was really really strict on form, holding for a second or 2 at the peak of contraction, thus low weight.

bodyweight 1x6

Wide Grip Lat Pull down

54kg 1x8

60g 1x6

Narrow grip, used usually on low pulley rows.

I used them today for lat pull down - theyre great!

They target the part of the lat thats like sorta under your arm. Practice it while looking in the mirror, you'll know what I mean! I highly reccomend them!

66kg 1x6

60kg 1x8

BB Rows

20kg 1x10

40 1x8

60kh 1x6, 1x8, 1x6

Deadlift

Pushed these towards the end of the workout.

60kg 1x8

100kg 1x5

120 kg 1x3, 1x3,

happy with these, If I can add another 20kgs within the next month, will be very pleased.

Lats felt like they needed more blasting so performed 1 arm db rows

21kg 1x10

26.5 kg 1x10, 1x10

PUMPED :nod: happy.

BB curls 30kg 1x6,

27.5kg 1x7,

FAILED.

Biceps were too exhausted so I stopped. doesnt really matter, they seem to grow by themselves from all the back compound work anyway, so not too fussed.

overall good workout, cant wait to see improvement in rack chins though, I want a wide thick back dammit !

Legs and shoulders tomorrow, Im already scared .

I looked into my log book and was pleased at this :

I started my bulk phase on the 25th of June.

I weighed 76kgs.

2 months and about a week later, I weigh in at 84 - 86 kgs,

not bad for a 8 - 10 kg gain of mostly lean muscle and just a little fat init ?

[jono]

nice work man. good to hear about ur progress

[Growth]

wow those are some good stats mate, well done on the progress

[Ash]

Excellent progress!

Deads are looking good.

[Varven]

Well today was Legs and Shoulders day.

I trained with a gym staff member / sorta mentor to me.

A guy who taught me most of the basic compound lifts etc when I started out, and believe it or not, my weights almost matched him. So Im very pleased with myself.

Warm up on leg press

Squat 20kg 1x8, 40 1x8, 50 1x8, 60 1x8 I warm up a lot to make sure I dont hurt my joints.

70kh 1x8

75kg 1x8 New Weight :grin:

80kg 1x6, 1x5 New Weight :grin:

75kg 1x8, 1x6,

70 kg 1x8

60 1x8, 1x8

Stiff Leg Deadlifts

60kg 1x12

100kg 1x6, 1x6, 1x6 YEAH BABY :grin:

back was starting to round on the 6th and 7th rep so I stopped. Ill maintain this weight till I can get 8 - 10 reps without rounding.

My back gets a little pumped from all the back squats and SLDL's.

I was literally dizzy from all the Squats and SLDL, so we decided to do lying leg curls.

42 kg 1x10,

48kg 1x8, 1x8, 1x8

Seated BB military press

20 1x10, 20 1x10 , 40 1x8

42.5 1x7, 1x8, 1x8 not much progress here But I was so wasted after squats and sldl, I couldnt push any harder. Guess I gotta eat more, Might carb up more next time.

Overall good workout, but frustrated by seated bb military presses.

[Ash]

Nice going on legs!

Here's a suggestion, you might think it's crazy but it will solve the problem you had with the military presses - do the shoulder work first. It won't make a real dent in your ability to train legs, especially if you take a 5 minute break in between but you will get in a decent shoulder workout.

[jono]

awesome squatting man!

to be honest when i train legs.. i have zero energy left. normally training quads takes about 85% of my energy.. and i put the rest i have left into hammies. no way i could train another BP on leg day

[Growth]

Your getting alot of sets in there for legs mate, good job!

[Simo]

yeh man tons of sets of squats, awesome

[love_iron]

GOOD EFFORT MAN, ive enjoyed reading ur logs from the beginning and well done on your progress!!!!

Looks like you are working yourself pretty hard and maybe occassionally neglecting some body parts, i.e Bicep and Shoulder work.

Ive found seperating my back and bicep training, chest and tricep training and entire leg workouts I get better results.

Your leg work will be fatiguing your back, especially the Stiff Legged Dead Lift and that may be whats letting your Military Press down as back is a great stabilizer in this exercise.

Keep going hard mate and I look forward to keeping up with your progress.

[Varven]

Thanks for the comment Love Iron.

Yeah realized SLDL and DL in the same week are killing me.

Therefore I think Im going to start alternating them.

[Varven]

Ok guys, I havent been slacking off, just havent had time to update my journal.

Last weeks workouts summarized:

Last week Thu I trained chest and tris at a new gym using machines only.

It was mostly for amusement, thus no records.

On the following day, Friday (5th of August I believe), I trained for Back thickness with my Training partner who re appeared out of nowhere.

Focus: Back thickness:

rows 20 1x10, 40 1x10, 50 1x10

60kg 1x8, 1x8

62.5 1x6 new weight :grin:

Close grip lat pull downs ( V grip from low pulley rows used to target lat part right under arm pit)

66 1x10, 1x9, 1x7, 1x8

Rack deadlifts

60 1x12

100 1x10

140 1x8, 1x8

I dropped about 15kgs off this lift and raised my reps. Cant push heavy weight all the time so from now on Im going to alternate with high reps and high weight.

Lying on a 45degree inclined bench I performed 1 arm rows.

I shall call these Prone 1 arm db rows .

Theyre a super great isolator !!!.. highly reccommended, they maintain exceptionally good form, no wild swinging about or cheating motion

18kg 1x14

21kg 1x12

23.5kg 1x10

26.5 kg 1x8

29kg 1x6

Love this excercise lats are engorged with blood

My biceps are caned by now, theyre already lactic acid filled but decided to push em.

Standing BB curls

25kg 1x8

27.5 kg 1x8

1 arm DB hammer curls

10kg 1x8, 1x8

Preacher curls

25kg 1x8, 1x8 these were sorta assisted on the upward motion but performed a long slow delayed negative. Very painfull, but good pump .

[Varven]

Monday the 8th of August.

Leg n shoulder day.

A little pressed for time today with uni assignments

Leg press warm up 1 pps 15 rep, 2pps 15 rep , 3 pps 10 rep.

Squat

40 1x10, 60 1x8

80kg 1x7,1x7,1x6,1x6 2 more sets and higher reps as opposed to last time :grin:

70 1x8,

601x8

I have decided to stick with 80kgs till I can grind out 8 - 10 reps for squats in perfect form, form was a little bit flawed during the last reps of the 2 last sets. But still overall improvement at the "new weight".

I really really wanna nail 2pps for squats !

Seated BB military presses

20kg 1x10,

40 kg 1x10

50kg 1x10 assisted, 1x6 NON assisted, 1x6 assisted Yeah baby new weight :grin: , finally outta my rut, gotta nail 3 sets of 8 with no assistance and up the weight again

Stiff Leg Deads

80kg, 1x8, 1x8, 1x8

No time for lying leg curls or lat side raises, but still pleased with new Shoulder press.

[jono]

looking good on the squat and back work man

[Varven]

Thursday

Chest and Triceps day. Trained with my gym partner again

Ok guys, this is a new case for all of you.

Majority of people start off chest work with bb presses n then add in DBs.

I started off with DB presses. Now after struggling a fair bit I got the db presses to weights closer to my expectations.

I decided to churn things up and added in BB work.. and guess what ?.. I cant even press as much as the girls at my gym. Seriously I kid you not.

If I can manage 4 sets of Flat DB presses of 6 - 8 reps with 27 kg dumbells in each arm... how much do you think Id be able to do on a flat bench ?

I see guys who usually press 70 - 100 kg on flat bench being able to do 26 - 31 kgs on each db when they change to db presses.

Therefore I thought Id reasonably expect myself to press about 70 - 80kg on flat bb presses...right?.. WRONG ... I CAN BARELY HIT 1PPS, yeah 60kgs :(

My only theory is that different muscles nerves or whatever are used for the 2 presses and therefore, it might take me about a month of BB work or so to properly "re-wire" my chest to work on BB motion effeciently.

i hope this theory works.

Nonetheless, heres the weights from my BB day chest work out.:

BB flat bench 30 1x12, 40 1x10 , 50 1x10

60 1x6

65 1x6 asssited.

Incline BB Bench

30 1,x12, 40 1x10, 50 1x8

57.5 1x6 assisted.

Dammnit ON DB chest press im at 26kgs a side, surely I can do at least 1 pps for incline BB presses, this is soo very frusturating.

Db Flyes 11kg 1x10, 1x0 , 1x10, 1x10

My triceps were really pumped by now,

Close grip Bench

30 1x12,

35, 1x0. cramping triceps

Oh db extensions 16kg 1x10, 1x0 good form

Tricep work pull down.

30kg 1x12, 1x12.

GUYS JUST TO COMPARE:

LAST TIMES CHEST WORKOUT:

Chest and Triceps

Dips

Bodyweight 1x10

+ 5kg plate 1x7, 1x7, 1x7

I always feel dips in chest but not in the last 2 workouts, I can only feel the tricep burn, maybe time to drop it for someother excercise ?

Flat DB press

23.5 kg 1x10

26.5 kg 1x6, 1x9, 1x7 ( Last time at this weight I managed only 1 set of 8 with assistance so I consider this improvement )

Incline DB Bench

23.5kg 1x7, 1x6, 1x7, 1x6 higher reps, last time this was a new weight I barely got a few reps.

Flat db flyes 12kg 1x8, 14kg 1x6, 1x6 chest didnt feel exhausted so i chucked these in.

Is it just me or does bb day weights seem a little off .. seriously worried.. about this issue.

[Varven]

Friday

this week was focus on back width as last weeks focus was on thickness

Lat pull downs wide grip

30 1x12, 60 1x8

Rack Chins

Bodyweight 1x8

+2.5 kg 1x8, 1x8, 1x6 new reps in better form ! :grin:

Lat pull downs wide grip

72kg 1x4.5, 1x4, 66kg 1x4

Bent over BB rows

20 1x10 , 40 1x10,

60 1x8,

65 1x6, 1x6 New Weight :grin:

Full deadlifts

60 1x8,

100, 1x5,

120 1x3

125 1x3 new weight :grin: Yeah ! a wee bit closer to 3 pps !!

BB curls, Dont ask why But of all body parts I need a training partner with me when i do bicep work, maybe cause I hate it and need the embarassment of not being able to keep up to force it outta me,.

Thus today I was a little unmotivated and burnt.

30kg 1x4 new weight :grin: lol at low reps

27.5 1x8, 1x6

25 1x6

1 arm harmmer curls

11kg 1x10

12kg 1x8

13kg 1x5

[jono]

just a note, i dont think many ppl that flat db press ~25kg - 28kg dbs can bench very much. im pretty sure i would struggle with 100kg bench, and i incline db press 40s. really its all about how your chest LOOKS who cares what weights you used to build it.

[Ash]

Good to see that you're keeping up the workouts.

Don't worry about the weights you're using on BB bench - it won't take long before they climb dramatically. Just remember that unless you're a powerlifter, the weights you're lifting are a tool, not the be all and end all.

Anyway - BB flat bench was sent from hell to torment us! :grin: Get someone to pour some holy water on you while you're doing them and see what happens.....

:flames:

[love_iron]

good work over the last week!!!

i have a tried and true shoulder pump that you may wanna try to boost your military press, i call them triset raises and perform 2 or 3 sets (depending on time) If you try them let me know what you think, apart rom the unreal burn you will get!

Here it is...

I super set alternating front raises (front delt) into lateral raises (side delt)into bent seated raises (rear delt) and make sure I use a weight that I can perform 15 reps for each of the 3 raise variations making a total of 45 reps non-stop.

As I said I perform 2 to 3 sets but to start with one set may be enuf, this is pretty oxygen demanding and Ill garantee ur sweating and short of breath after 90seconds! this used to make my old gym buddies stand me up on shoulder days hehehehe

As far as bb curls dude, dont stress over them, as Ash said weight is only really significant if you are powerlifting, I used to think higher weight higher gains but now take a different approach, I NEVER SACRIFICE FORM and if its size you wanna gain go for 8-12 reps with perfect form.

One last thing, last year I was stuck on 100Kg 1RM Bench for ages and then I ditched BB Flat Bench for a few weeks and focused on Flat DB press and Decline BB Press, when I returned to Flat BB Press I could pump out 3 100Kg BB easy. 1RM was then 110Kg (6 weeks later)

Good luck man, keep going hard!!!

[Varven]

Cheers for the advice fellas,

yeah I guess its been burnt into me that haevy weight = big muscles.

Thus the panic attack.

Now that Im approaching a cut season, will be changing my routine around ( mainly due the fact that Ive been on this 1 for a while ).

So once in a while that super set insanity is gonna have a place in my programme I believe :wink:

[Growth]

I dont really associate big weights with big muscles at all, ive seen countless examples at my gym of strong people without the size and vice versa.

Ive always thought if your training for size then go for 8-12 reps.

[deegee]

I train for size and look at doing 6-8 reps most work sets.

Some people lift more than I do yet are smaller but as a general rule for your training when you go up in weight you are usualy going up in size. especialy if you are training for size.