Hoki Goujon's Training Log

[hoki_goujons]

I'm 35, 182lbs, 5'10 (82.5KG, 177.8cm). Never really been in good physical shape, always carried quite a bit of extra fat - about 23% at the moment. I'm looking to lose fat and eventually gain some muscle.

I joined a gym in June 2007 and started doing a lot of cardio with some weights machines here and there. I've been lifting in a more educated way for about 3 months now, doing full body workouts incorporating squats, shoulder presses, bench press, bent-over rows. I've been flirting with deadlifts for a while but have only recently been happy enough with my form to start lifting any useful weight. I've also just started being able to do pullups, then stopped because of shoulder problems. I gavbe up the cardio months ago, which I think was a mistake - the fat's not shifting at all.

My diet's pretty good, I get g/lb of protein and since the beginning of January I've been making a big effort to cut carbs except before training (complex carbs) and glucose in my PWO shake. I don't eat meat but do eat fish and seafood.

Typical day:

• Breakfast: 1 whole egg, 3 egg whites, scrambled. Whey shake. Cup of coffee with skimmed milk.


• Morning snack: 150g 0% fat Greek yoghurt, apple


• Lunch: 200g low fat cottage cheese, tin of tuna, whole pepper or handful of cherry tomatoes.


• Afternoon snack: tin of tuna or whey shake


• Evening meal: grilled salmon fillet, handful of brown rice, mountain of peas, sweetcorn, green beans etc followed by Greek yoghurt with teaspoon of honey

And if it's a workout day, I finish my workout at about 2145 followed by PWO shake (30g whey, 80g dextrose) then a few spoons of cottage cheese and a slice of wholemeal bread just before bed.

I drink about 3 litres of water per day and about 6 cups of green tea. I also take 3g of EPA fish oil. I have a couple of bottles of beer over the weekend.

I've been following the diet plan ebook by Neil McTeggert (http://wwwneilmctcom.blogspot.com/2007_ ... chive.html) - you have to pay for the book but it's basically a very succinct diet plan with controlled carbs and full body compound workouts.

Did my first 5x5 on Wednesday with the following:

• Squats: bar, then 40KG (warmup), 5x5@80KG


• Dips: 3,1,2 (first time doing dips - felt like someone was ripping my chest apart but in a good way!


• Bench: olympic bar (warmup), then 5x5@30KG


• Bent over row - olympic bar (warmup) then 5x5@40KG (I usually do these on an EZ bar with an underhand grip for the extra bicep emphasis and might go back to that next time).


• 20 minutes on the elliptical.

I've been doing a lot of my workouts with dumbbells, because I find I can lift a lot more with them and I like the extra stabilisation I need to do. I may have put my left shoulder out a bit though, doing single-arm seated shoulder presses. I was up to doing 30KG per arm but pains have made me take it easy with my shoulders. Because of this I'm a bit nervous about doing the overhead press and dips tonight.

Anyway, that's me. Wish me luck!

[Mehdi]

Welcome.
Squats. Limit yourself to increases of 15/20kg for the warmups. bar - 40kg - 60kg - 80kg is better. Dips. feeling happens when you lower yourself too much.

[hoki_goujons]

Thanks for the tips - and thanks for the whole site as well, by the way. It's a great resource.

[Mehdi]

Thanks for the tips - and thanks for the whole site as well, by the way. It's a great resource.

You're welcome. Thanks for the motivating words, keeps me going.

[hoki_goujons]

Workout 25-01-08

• Squats: Bar, 40kg, 60kg then 5x5@85kg


• Pullups - 3,1,2


• Deadlift: bar, 40kg, 1x5@60kg


• Overhead press: Bar, 5@20kg, 5@20kg, 3@20kg, 1@20kg

Followed by my PWO shake (30g whey, 80g dextrose) then 12 minutes of elliptical - usually 20 minutes but I was late getting to the gym.

I'm really enjoying the exercises - this was the first time I'd done overhead presses standing and with an olympic bar, and it was an absolute killer. By the end of the third set I was as weak as a kitten!

[Mouse]

hoki
I take it that is the order you do your workouts in?
Shift it to:
Squats
Press
Deads
Pull / Chin ups.
That way you'll get a better workout for your Press rather than leaving it to the last and being weak and kitten like in the third set!!!

[hoki_goujons]

Good idea, mouse - I think I'll rotate all of them in fact, to avoid favouring certain exercises. I'll keep squats first though, to make sure I can improve every time.

[felonyr301]

Pull ups/ chinups and dips are more of an accessory excerise so they are last and the squats should be first. Just leave it the way the book says to do it. "Press" comes after squats because the squats just worked the back and moving to deads or rows after squats doesn't look good. Doing the "pressing" excerises after squats leaves the back rested for a bit so you can handle the deads or rows when you lift those up. Well that's what I see why the routine was put like that not sure if that what was Mehdi's motive.

[Mehdi]

Pull ups/ chinups and dips are more of an accessory excerise so they are last and the squats should be first. Just leave it the way the book says to do it. "Press" comes after squats because the squats just worked the back and moving to deads or rows after squats doesn't look good. Doing the "pressing" excerises after squats leaves the back rested for a bit so you can handle the deads or rows when you lift those up. Well that's what I see why the routine was put like that not sure if that what was Mehdi's motive.

You're completely right Felonyr301.

[hoki_goujons]

Thanks. The reason I didn't do the overheads after squatting is that I get some stiffness in my arms (the insides of the arms, just below the elbows) after squatting. It's not a big deal though, I'll do them in order next time.

Mehdi - there are going to be times when I have to miss a session because of work or childcare. What bodyweight exercises could I do at home with no equipment just to make sure I'm doing something?

Also, the smallest plates in my gym are 2.5KG. I'm assuming that it would be bad to put only one of these on the bar rather than 2, so the minimum progression for me will be 5KG?

[Mehdi]

Thanks. The reason I didn't do the overheads after squatting is that I get some stiffness in my arms (the insides of the arms, just below the elbows) after squatting. It's not a big deal though, I'll do them in order next time.
Mehdi - there are going to be times when I have to miss a session because of work or childcare. What bodyweight exercises could I do at home with no equipment just to make sure I'm doing something?
Also, the smallest plates in my gym are 2.5KG. I'm assuming that it would be bad to put only one of these on the bar rather than 2, so the minimum progression for me will be 5KG?

Try to preventing missing the gym. For example, if you know you can't go on Monday, do the week before: mo/we/fr/su. then no gym until wednesday. As long as you have at least 1 day between two workouts it's good. If sometimes you only have 2 workouts in a week, so be it. I wouldn't do any body-weight exercises at home unless pull-ups/dips.
You can use a chain of 1.25kg, and wrap it around the bar on each side. 5kg means stalling too soon, especially on exercises like overhead press.

[hoki_goujons]

OK, thanks. Me and my wife alternate gym nights and she starts running around the house biting things if she misses one. I can't turn down work at the moment either (need the money!) so I'm just going to have to do as much as I can. Most weeks I'll be getting 3 in though.

[hoki_goujons]

Workout 29th January 2008

• Squat: 5@bar, 5:20, 5:40; 3@60, 5x5@90


• Dips: 8, 3, 2


• Barbell Row (EZ bar, underhand grip): 5@bar, 5@40, 5@60, 5@50, 4@50, 5@40, 5@40 (over-estimated myself there!)


• Bench: 5@10, 5@30, 4x5@35, 3@35


• 20 mins elliptical

Workout 31st january 2008

• Squat: 5@40, 3@60, 5x5@95


• Overhead: 5@10, 5x5@15


• Deadlift: 5@15, 5@40, 5x5@70


• Pullups: 2, 1, 1


• 20 mins elliptical

Workout 3rd February 2008

• Squat: 5@bar, 4@40, 3@60, 2@80, 5x5@100


• Bench: 5@bar, 5@20, 5x5@35


• Barbell row (EZ bar, underhand grip): 5@30, 5@35, 5x5@45


• Dips: 9, 4, 2

I'm going to drop the weight on the squat back to 90 and perfect my form - I wasn't getting parallel on all of them today.

Couple of questions: I'm not including the weight of the bar in these - is that right? And about training times - I alternate days with my wife but I always do sundays. So every other week, I train on sunday, monday, wednesday, friday. Is the sunday-monday too short a rest? I go on Sunday mornings and Monday night about 2030 hours.

[Mehdi]

YOu should include the weight of the bar. You should keep one day rest between two workouts yes. At this time you can get away with it, but when the weights get heavier, you won't be able to add more weight the next day that way. At least 48h between two workouts.

[hoki_goujons]

Thanks for the advice.