Bramasole's Log

[Bramasole]

Tuesday night workout results:

Couple of decisions made today:
1) I am going to Grease the Groove for two new short term goals: DL 300 lbs (136kg) and OHP 135 lbs (61kg) by doing them first every workout.
2) I decided to skip squats today for a couple more extra days rest on my quads and hit squats fresh in two more days. Although it is easily tolerable the soreness in my quads right above the knee does not go away anymore even with the normal skipping one day.

The good news is skipping squats today allowed me to get two excellent DL sessions in, plus plenty of energy for some other assistance stuff that I too often skip due to exhaustion.
New 1x5 PR on Deadlift (up 10 lbs) and new 5x5 PR on OHP today.

Today's results:
Squat: N/A
DL: 255 1x5 followed by 265 1x5. Both weights are new PR's! 5 minutes rest in between sets. Attempted 275 but couldn't budge it - too tired.
OHP: 105 lbs 5x5. Been reading and studying form and I think that definitely made a difference today.
Pullups: BW+20lbs x5, BW+30lbs x4, BW+40lbsx2, BWx8 - First time since AUG 2008 I have done them with added weight. Got carried away last year and strained my forearm tendon on pullups.
Dips: BW+50lbs 2x7, 1x5
Dumbell Curls: 40lbs dumbells, 1x8,1x7,1x5 - I do these about once every 2-3 weeks for a little extra bicep polish.

Very happy with my new DL and OHP PR's, especially DL.
For the next few weeks I plan to hit DL and OHP first until I get my new short term goals under my belt.
Will continue with Squat and BP as normal but won't be so concerned if I do or don't make gains on them for the next several weeks.
Once I get the DL and OHP where I want it I am going to grease the groove for 225 Bench 5x5.

[guru]

Great work on the DL Bramasole. Good luck for your new goals.

[Bramasole]

Guru - thanks for the comment


Thursday summary: Out of town and on vacation but managed to get to the gym for a quick workout:

Squat: N/A
DL: 275lbs 1x2, 1x2, 1x1
OHP: 110lbs, 1x4, 1x5, 1x4, 1x4. 1x1
Pullups: BWx8, 2 sets

30 minutes in and out! Not too bad considering I had been soaking in the sun on the beach all day and having a couple of beers.
Beer? yeah, it was a vacation...

[Bramasole]

Got back in town 6:00PM, hit the gym 11:00PM.
Saturday night summary. Couldnt be more pleased!

Squat: N/A - gonna hit this on Sunday.
DL: 275lbs 1x4, 1x1, 280 1x1 285 1x1 (first time for 280 and 285)
Bench: 200 lbs 5x5 New PR! Rather easy. Was surprised since I haven't done bench in a week.
OHP: 95 lbs 1x5 1x4 1x3. I did OHP even with Bench today due to GTG goal on OHP.
I couldnt however get 110 or 115 like the other day due to being worn out from BP.
Pullups: BWx10, BW x8
Was gonna do some dips too but triceps felt knackered and I thought it better not to push too hard.

Skipped DL 270 and almost got 5 reps on DL 275lbs, accomplished two new DL single rep PRs, new Bench 5x5 PR and added some reps on Pullups...all in all a good day considering I been out of town on vacation and not on my right diet.

Weighed in today at 180, 14% BF. If only all vacations could treat my BF% so well.

[Ironfreak]

Hey Brama. Thanks for checking out the log. Are numbers are similar indeed, except im younger...way younger haha. If anything consider yourself as fit as a 20-year old

Good luck with that marathon. Let us know how it goes.

[Bramasole]

Tuesday afternoon summary:

DL: 285 lbs 1x1, 1x2, 1x1 followed by 275 lbs 1x3. I expect to easily get 275 5x5 on Thursday
OHP: 115 lbs 1x5 1x4 2x3 1x1 Was happy with this for my first try at 115 lbs
Squats: 220 lbs 5x5
Pullups: BW+25lbs x 6. BW_35lbs x4, BW + 35lbs x 3
Bicep Dumbell Curls, 45 lbs ea, 2x5 1x4

Tried really hard to get in 4000 calories but I couldn't manage to get in any more than 3300

[Ironfreak]

Btw, forgot to comment on your powercleans concern.

Right now I'm still practicing form based on what I believe to be correct through watching videos. I definitely don't thin the powercleans will hinder your progress on the bench and ohp. If anything its more of a lower body exercise involving mostly the posterior chain (although of course it works your upperback, traps, etc.) I would go ahead and throw them into your program. The fact that they're recommended in low reps also helps in minimizing any fatifue or soreness (3 reps). Experiment with it. May even help with your running. Good luck.

[Bramasole]

Thursday workout summary:

Deadlift:
New 5x5 PR! 275 5x5 followed by 275x2 and 290x1. Attempted 295 but no go.
Found the 275 x5 went pretty easy. Focused on lowering the weight a little faster than I had been in the past so as to not waste energy.
Bought some chalk last week, seemed to help too.

OHP:
115 lbs 1x5 1x4. Started to struggle after that so dropped to 95 lbs to finish the set with 95 3x5
Gonna skip OHP next workout to give it a rest, or else work a really light weight.

Squats:
Skipped due to time constraints, will pick them up Friday morning

Pullups:
BW+35lbs 2x4

[Bramasole]

Friday summary:

Went in to do my Squats since I didn't have time Thursday night but during my warmups the legs still felt pretty blasted from Tuesday.
Quads were complaining as were knees. Decided to give it another day of rest rather than push things.

Rather than waste a trip to the gym I decided to do a couple of non-SL exercises on some muscles that weren't sore.

Standing Bicep Dumbell Curls: 45lbs ea 2x6, 50lbs ea 2x3, 1x2

Seated Preacher Curls;: 70lbs 1x6, 80 lbs 1x5

Dumbell Shrugs: 90lbs ea 1x8, 95 lbs ea 1x8 100lbs ea 1x7. I was happy to see my grip hold up with 200 lbs of dumbells in my hands...no straps.

In and out in 30 minutes. Regular SL workout tomorrow afternoon or evening.

[Bramasole]

Saturday workout summary:

Deadlift:
New 5x5 PR! 285 5x5 followed by 295x3, 300x2, 305x1
Funny thing about today - I was going for 280 PR and only after I finished all 5 did i realized i had loaded 285 on the bar. Woot! hahah
Wan't even really that hard except my grip started giving out on the last rep. Woops forgot to chalk up first set too!

Bench Press:
205 lbs 1x5 2x4 2x3
I am happy with this for first attempt at 205. Will nail 5x5 within a week.

Squats:
Skipped due to time constraints, will pick them up Sunday morning

Pullups:
BW+35lbs 1x5 1x4....added one rep since two days ago. Happy

Dips:
BW+ 50lbs 1x10 then BW+55lbs 1x4.
That's an added 4 reps to the +50 since last time! Gonna start at +60lbs from now on as 8 reps is the number I like to hit before moving up.

[Bramasole]

Short Term Goals:
315lb DL 5x5 by 4/18
135lb OHP 5x5 by 5/15

Thursday workout summary:
Took about 10 days off...was planned to be one week, but then I pulled a muscle playing ball and added a few extra days for recovery.

Deadlift:
300lbs 1x2 2x3

OHP:
105 lbs 4x5 1x4.

Squats:
Dealing with a slightly pulled groin muscle from a ballgame few days ago so had to go easy on squat
3x5 90lbs

Dumbell Curls:50lbs ea 2x5 1x3

[atypical1]

Nice dead numbers!

james

[Bramasole]

Thanks James....

I should correct my Short Term Goal on deadlift from previous post.
I have no intention of trying to do 315 lbs 5x5

That should read 315lbs 1x5.


oh, and happy birthday to me...just hit 42yo end of March...

[guru]

Happy Birthday to you Bramasole, and a Happy Easter too.

[Bramasole]

Short Term Goals:
Deadlift: 315lb 1x5 by 4/18 MISSED THIS GOAL - new goal date set for 5/15.
OHP: 135lb OHP 5x5 by 5/15

Fairly disappointed with myself that in the last 3 weeks I have only made it to the gym two times (today was second visit since March 27).
On the flip side, I have been recovering from a slightly pulled groin muscle.
And to make myself feel even better about a bad situation, the chronic pain in my quads just above the knee has disappeared, so maybe a bit of rest was OK.
At least I have not seen any serious losses in bodyweight or lifts at the gym, but I did impact my goal dates above by not growing the past 3 weeks...

Friday night workout summary:

Deadlift:
300lbs 1x3 1x2
305lbs attempted but legs were too shaky and decided not to press it tonight.

Benchpress:
205 lbs 3x4

Squats:
Dealing with a slightly pulled groin muscle from a ballgame few weeks ago so still taking it easy.
Was able to go deep and only feel some minor pain so I don't see any issue with continuing to increase the weight each workout.
1x5 90lbs
1x5 140lbs
1x5 160 lbs

Standing Dumbell Curls:
50lbs ea 3x5
First time to get 3 sets of 5 at 50 lbs, so I am going to go up to 55's whenever I attempt this again.
Curls are not an 'every workout' thing. Just something I like to add in to help out my arm shape.
I don't think I have ever curled this much in strict form before. Kudos to SL5x5 for overall body strength building!

Pullups:
BW 1x5
BW+25lbs 1x4