Squats forge Iron Gods...

[OnlyHuman]

Well done OH. I see you made Best Male Overall Lifter...good work.

Thank you Steak!!!

Week # 1 Day #1 .... building up to a possible comp in March perhaps ...

See what the 2012 lifting schedule has to say when it comes out....

Front squats

110 x 5

100 x 5

100 x 5

100 x 5

Paused squats

75 x 5

75 x 5

75 x 5

75 x 5

"Light" posterior chain work...

Core

Weighted AB roll outs.

Due to school work I won't be able to make my morning training session. So I figured I just do it today.

Starting out with a relatively light session, and looking to add volume over the next few weeks. In the past I made the mistake of jumping back into it too hard. Also it seem like anything ove 3 reps is cardio at the moment so I do need to increase my general conditioning. I will use this session/layout as my general monday's workout. Front squats always done me right in the past (being so quad dominant).

I throw paused squats in there to feel a bit more stable in the hole as well as help me with my deadlift.

The posterior chain work is much needed in my case and I will do some work for this 3 x a week. This is a weakness I need to patch up. I think some work in increasing general strength and some size in this are would serve me well in the Bottom half of the squat and the deadlift. Starting out "light" and making sure I hit the targeted areas as needed.

Core: I'm thinking to "trial run" a few more exercises and cycle them trough out the week. Front squats, Roman chairs and straight leg raises served me well in the last few months so I will keep those puppies in there. It seems like I can never ever have enough core strength :roll:

I try to be a bit more diligent with stretching and maintain my mobility work. I never usually write it in my log but I start my workouts with a light mobility warm up. There is a few things I like from agile 8 so I will throw them in there as well.

Eating: I will stop worrying about my weight but not my body composition. I wanted to make the 74 class to see what I can do here with a short buildup

but I feel that I could do with a bit more functional weight in the long run.

I am happy to go up in body weigh, as far as my Wilks keep climbing. Not going to weigh my self daily, not bulking or anything just try to eat a good amount of healthy fuel on a daily basis.

[drizzt]

Nice results at the comp mate, good stuff :clap:

[OnlyHuman]

Nice results at the comp mate, good stuff :clap:

Thank you dritzz!

[OnlyHuman]

Week#1 Day#2

Chest supported BB row

60 x 8

65 x 8

65 x 8

65 x 8

65 x 7

60 x 10

Close grip BP

90 x 3

92.5 x 3

95 x 3

97.5 x 3

Illegal wide BP

100 x 5

95 x 5

90 x 5

Light shoulder work...

Ended up getting up early and making it to the gym before school.

Good first upperbody session of the new training cycyle. Just a nice and simple template working on the basics.

BB row: I need some upper back strenght so this will be done first thing during the session.

Close grip: Happy with the triple. I should try to go for a 100 next time around. See how I feel at the time.

IW: These chew up the shoulders pretty fast. have to be carefull with these.

Lights shoulder work: Patching up weaknesses.

[Monarchking]

Good work on your lifts man, I'm impressed with the squatage.

[OnlyHuman]

Good work on your lifts man, I'm impressed with the squatage.

:oops: Thank you. Much appreciated!!!

[OnlyHuman]

Week#1 Day#3

Squats

120 x 4

120 x 4

120 x 4

120 x 4

110 x 5

110 x 5

110 x 5

110 x 5

Deadlift

130 x 3

130 x 3

130 x 3

130 x 3

130 x 3

130 x 3

Core

Roman chair variant.

"Medium heavy" & "medium volume" posterior chain stuff...

I did not get enough sleep last night due to assignments etc.

Turned out to be an ok session tho. Happy with how I felt etc.

Squats: It was all about volume and form today. I wanted to work on speed but it turned out to be absent today :pfft:

Deadlifts: These were nice and easy today. Possibly I will add some volume to these the next time around.

Core: Need it!

Posterior chain work: I have a lot of laboring to do on these puppies. as I mentioned it earlier I will keep at them 3 times / week.

[OnlyHuman]

Week#1 Day#4

1 arm DB row

40 x 6

40 x 6

34 x 10

34 x 10

34 x 10

34 x 10

Close grip BP

100 x 3

97.5 x 3

95 x 3

Bench

100 x 2

100 x 2

100 x 2

90 x 5

90 x 5

90 x 5

Light shoulder stuff...

Ok session. Nothing to write home about but it will cause some addaptation.

Row: Trying to get some upper back strenght in there but it was my grip that suffered the most with these :pfft: The 40kg dumbells has this fat as grips. Should help me with my deadlift down the line I figure.

Close grip: happy with the triple at 100 but it was a bit harder than expected.

Bench: I was spent by this stage but I tried to do my best. Not a very good performance; something to improove on the next time around.

Light shoulder stuff: patching up the holes :pray:

All in all, not a bad session but could have done with a bit more energy.

I have been eating a lot and some of it is so so :pfft: muffin by class mates and the like. not very worried at this stage. it is a usuall behaviour for me around the last few weeks of school term. :horseshit:

Tommorow is squats and squats and more squats... can't wait!

[OnlyHuman]

Week#1 Day#5

Squats

135 x 2

125 x 3

125 x 3

125 x 3

125 x 3

125 x 3

125 x 3

125 x 3

125 x 3

125 x 3

125 x 3

125 x 3

125 x 3

125 x 3

Front Squats

100 x 5

120 x 3

100 x 5

Core

Roman chair variant.

Light posterior chain work, medium volume...

Reasonably good session considerting what time of the year it is. Around exam prepatration / essay times things can go pear shaped pretty quickly :pfft:

In today's session I tried to pump up the volunme a bit and worked on form and consistancy of reps. Speed is still an issue and something I seriously lack. I will have to adress this at some stage but at the moment I am just chipping away at the posterior chain weakness I have.Been having mad DOMS in the area. Not really an indicator of progress but perhaps a good indicator of that I am tartgeting and getting to the areas that need it.

The 120 on the fronts felt ok for the first 2 reps but faded fast after that. I guess the volume of backsquat might have something to do with that :roll:

Regardless, I enjoy my training at the moment :wink:

[OnlyHuman]

Week#1 Day#6

1 arm DB rows

37.5 x 10

37.5 x 10

34 x 10

34 x 15

Bench

90 x 5

95 x 5

100 x 4

IW bench

90 x 5

92.5 x 5

95 x 5

Close grip

85 x 5

85 x 5

85 x 5

Average session. Come to expect it for the next few weeks. Once school is done for the year I predict a "bounce back".

Highlight of the session was watching an oly lifter 56 kg class pumping out squats of 120 x 4 rock bottom without any facial expression. I was so impressed!!! The guy was like clock work and the reps looked nearly identical...

[OnlyHuman]

Extra squat session? Don't mind me if I do...

Squats

122.5 x 4

122.5 x 4

122.5 x 4

122.5 x 4

110 x 5

110 x 5

110 x 5

110 x 5

Posterior chain work at low volume with low to medium intensity...

I just felt really good when I woke up this morning. not sure why as I was up late typing away on an assignment. Maybe subconsciously I feel relived about it now when I stuck into it :think: thus stress has reduced (slightly).

Anyways figured i try and work on the technical aspects of squat today.

I feel that i am getting a "feel" for how and when I want my knees and hips to start opening during the decent. Been working on getting the timing right and today it seemed to be ok. Obviously, there is still a lot of work to do on this aspect of the lift regardless today I felt an improvement.

Also noticed that on some reps (too few ) I get the perfect back angle during the decent (between leaning a bit forward and staying 100% upright), and when I stay in that spot I have significantly more power out of the bottom. An other technical aspect to be worked out at some stage.

While we at it..... I also need to figure what and how I want to practice the reversing/driving out of the bottom position. At the moment it is pretty intuitive but I need to ponder about if I want to to drive trough my heel or mid foot, do I want to push the knees out etc....

Over thinking it huh :pfft:

[tinytraps]

Week#1 Day#5

Squats

135 x 2

125 x 3

125 x 3

125 x 3

125 x 3

125 x 3

125 x 3

125 x 3

125 x 3

125 x 3

125 x 3

125 x 3

125 x 3

125 x 3

Front Squats

100 x 5

120 x 3

100 x 5

Core

Roman chair variant.

Light posterior chain work, medium volume...

Reasonably good session considerting what time of the year it is. Around exam prepatration / essay times things can go pear shaped pretty quickly :pfft:

In today's session I tried to pump up the volunme a bit and worked on form and consistancy of reps. Speed is still an issue and something I seriously lack. I will have to adress this at some stage but at the moment I am just chipping away at the posterior chain weakness I have.Been having mad DOMS in the area. Not really an indicator of progress but perhaps a good indicator of that I am tartgeting and getting to the areas that need it.

The 120 on the fronts felt ok for the first 2 reps but faded fast after that. I guess the volume of backsquat might have something to do with that :roll:

Regardless, I enjoy my training at the moment :wink:

:shock: that is some volume on squats :shock: good stuff \:D/

[OnlyHuman]

:shock: that is some volume on squats :shock: good stuff \:D/

Thanks TT .... Trying to build a foundation.

I will do this once a week (or something similar) to get the volume in.

hope your training going well. I saw that you started at CBC :clap: that is freaking great and sure that hanging around strong peeps like that will help your lifting :nod: Big total coming up :wink:

[OnlyHuman]

Week#2 Day#1

Front Squats

120 x 5

120 x 5

120 x 5

Squats

130 x 2

130 x 2

130 x 2

130 x 2

130 x 2

Paused squats

80 x 3

80 x 3

80 x 3

80 x 3

80 x 3

Core

Wheels...

Good average stuff for an early morning session, and only 5 hours sleep.

Unfortunately run out of time so no extra posterior chain work for me today :?

Fronts: Good. Much easier than trying to do them after lots and lots of back squats.

Back squats: Fronts cramped my style on these :pfft: technique wasn't the sharpest etc. Can't win them all

Paused: Good.

Stress is high at the moment, sleep is down. Thus I decided on giving my self some room with eating. Trying not to go too crazy but not so strict with food choices at the moment.

[OnlyHuman]

Week#2 Day#2

Chest supported BB row

65 x 8

65 x 8

65 x 8

65 x 8

65 x 7

Close grip BP

90 x 5

95 x 5

97.5 x 5

97.5 x 3

92.5 x 5

IW bench

90 x 5

90 x 5

90 x 5

Light shoulder work, low volume...

Not quite enough sleep. Lots of food. Stress is plentyfull but turned into an Ok session.

[OnlyHuman]

Week#2 day#3

Squats

125 x 4

125 x 4

125 x 4

125 x 4

110 x 5

110 x 5

110 x 5

110 x 5

Deadlift

130 x 3

130 x 3

130 x 3

130 x 3

130 x 3

130 x 3

130 x 3

130 x 3

130 x 3

Posterior chain work at high intensity and low volume...

I managed to catch some quality Zzzzz time last night.

Good session. tried to work on technical aspects of the lifts.

I did not hve enough time t do my usual core work...

[OnlyHuman]

Week#2 Day#4

1 arm DB row

40 x 6

40 x 6

34 x 12

34 x 12

34 x 12

34 x 12

CG Bench

100 x 3

100 x 3

100 x 4

BP

90 x 5

90 x 5

90 x 5

Ok session. Always in a rush these days .. not enough time to play around with shoulder stuff. Once my essays, exams done ... :pray:

Kind of happy with the close grip work tho

[OnlyHuman]

Week#2 Day#5

Squats

140 x 2

127.5 x 3

127.5 x 3

127.5 x 3

127.5 x 3

127.5 x 3

127.5 x 3

127.5 x 3

127.5 x 3

127.5 x 3

127.5 x 3

127.5 x 3

127.5 x 3

127.5 x 3

Front squats

100 x 5

110 x 4

Posterior chain work at medium intensity and low volume...

Not a bad session considering the time of the year.

Squats were ok. The early sets more so than the last two or three :pfft:

I had pretty much nothing left in the tank by the time front squats came around :? See if the conditioning gets better overtime :pfft:

Posterior chain work was on the good-ish... . I'm happy with this one today.

[OnlyHuman]

Week#2 Day#6

Close grip lat pull-down

60 x 10

60 x 10

60 x 10

60 x 10

60 x 10

Bench

100 x 5

100 x 5

100 x 5

Marfan Bench

90 x 5

95 x 5

95 x 5

Shoulder stuff at low-medium intensity high volume...

Turned into quite a good session.

I had some general body ache over the night but feel better now. :-s

Quite happy with the way I manage to lay the foundation work down at the moment. Must be because I really enjoy my training these days... having the drive is what maters....

[OnlyHuman]

Week#3 Day#1

Front squats

120 x 5

120 x 5

120 x 5

120 x 3

Paused squats

80 x 3

80 x 3

80 x 3

80 x 3

80 x 3

Shitty session today. Took all I had today...

last week I was certain I can bump up the front squat weight but today I was strugling on these from the very first set.Today I got by pure determination and nothing much else really :?

Not too dishartened. Around exam times I don't even make it to the gym. this time atround at least I turn up (attempt) to do some work :shifty: :pfft:

Eating too much ... I have to use a notch above my usual on the belt :pfft:

[OnlyHuman]

Week#3 Day#2

Hammer row

40 x 14

40 x 14

40 x 14

40 x 14

Close grip BP

100 x 4

100 x 4

100 x 4

Marfen BP

95 x 5

95 x 5

95 x 5

Turned out to be an ok session. I had to rush it due to time constraints but I managed to get done most of the stuff I planned for the day. On my way to the gym I fully accepted that I will probably end up with a less than stellar session considering how I felt yesterday but... for some reason it went ok. :-s Praise the lord :pray:

Sleep been ok.

Stress is HIGH!!!

Food: Whatever I feel like. Having a pizza with 300 gr of beef as my post-workout meal and some mint biscuits. :shifty: Not stepping on the scale :naughty: :naughty: :naughty:

[OnlyHuman]

Week#3 Day#3

Squats

127.5 x 4

127.5 x 4

127.5 x 4

127.5 x 4

110 x 5

110 x 5

110 x 5

110 x 5

Deadlift

135 x 3

135 x 3

135 x 3

135 x 3

135 x 3

Core

Roman chair

Posterior chain stuff at medium volume and medium intensity...

Once again felt way too flat (Hate to write these negative comments but I have to stay true to how I feel :? ) Exam prep sucks the energy out of me like nothing else. De-loading next week for sure...

[OnlyHuman]

Week#3 day#4

1 arm DB row

40 x 6

40 x 6

34 x 13

34 x 13

34 x 16

Close grip BP

100 x 5

100 x 5

BP

92.5 x 5

92.5 x 5

92.5 x 5

Shoulder stuff at low volume and low intensity...

Average session (Still, one of the better ones lately...)

The lack of grip strenght is giving me some trouble on DB rows but other than that they were ok.

Happy with close grip today.

Could do with more sleep, or a few cat naps during the day.

[OnlyHuman]

Week 4 / Day 1

Squats

130 x 4

130 x 4

130 x 4

130 x 4

100 x 5

100 x 5

100 x 5

100 x 5

Posterior chain work at medium intensity and high volume...

Core: Roman chair variant

Where to start :roll:

Exam period is a KILLER on my training. I should just stay away from the gym or stay away from the main lifts for the 2 weeks that is leading up to exams. No matter how much I would like it, my body just does not recover sufficently during this time of the year. So either:

- No training at all over the next exam period for two weeks,than follow that up with one week introductory lifting.

- Only do some bodybuilding type of workouts for back, arms, shoulders and core ... staying away from the big 3.

Yet to decide it, but I will need to change my aproach for sure. I tried to do a squat work out on an exam day and I had trouble walking 100kg out. It just felt HEAVY :pfft: pathetic I know.

I had to shift around my lowerbody training as I am having some problems in my left knee. I'm having micro avulsions in the area of my patela tendon insertion. Usually staying away from squating would help to fix it faster but I am not keen to stop training right now... I am pretty sure in my case it is due to tight quads. I will stretch those fuckers out and reduce the frequency of squats slightly. See if I can work around it and heal.

Other than these things ... todays session was pretty good. Considering I still feel like I am coming back from hell :? :pfft: . Pretty motivated to train tho so happy about that.

Not planning on stepping on the scale on a frequent basis for a while. I will just up my protein and try to get most of my calories from healthy/good sources. Trying to recomp my body once more ... I turned into a fatty over the last few weeks :nod: Body composition and strenght is the main focus right now and not so worried about the numbers on the scale.

I am planning to register with NZ powerlifting as well as soon as I get some $$$ together.

[tinytraps]

Are you still doing exams?? Trainings looking good none the less :clap: