madhusudan training log

[madhusudan]

I'm really just keeping this for myself to track my progress, but any comments or suggestions are appreciated.

I'm currently overweight at 182cm and 98kg. 33yrs old. Down from 100kg at the beginning of March. Quite a bit of bodyfat from excessive drinking that I cut out a few months ago.

Been doing the program at home for a while on and off pulling everything from the floor, front squats etc. Never was able to really up the weight on squats because of having to clean it each set and then lower it softly onto the hardwood floors. Finally found a gym with a squat rack and am now doing back squats and trying to follow the program more closely.

My diet doesn't vary much from day to day. Don't have much time for many meals, usually three or four. First thing in the morning I have a milk and yogurt shake with some fruit. Got some protein powder delivered yesterday to make this meal more valuable. Mid morning I eat oatmeal and two hardboiled eggs. Lunch is brown rice with some kind of canned fish. Dinner is usually a stir fry of various veggies and meat. I don't really stress too much about it except for trying to get enough protein in the day. It feels pretty healthy to me and seems to be working out. I've punched some new holes in my belt, despite only loosing a little bodyweight.

Everything will be in Kg. Longterm goals are to lose some weight and get up to the 1.5 BW squat.

Here's March:

March Goals - Squat:85, Dead: 125, Bench: 70, OHP: 55

March 6
Squat: 60x5x5
OHP: 45x5x5
Dead: 95x1x5
chin up: 4, 2, 1
Bike: 10 min

March 9
Squat: 65x5x5
Bench: 60x5x5
Row: 55x5x5(F-form)
Dip: 10,7,5
RC: 15,10
Bike:11min

March 11
Squat 65x5x5
OHP:45x5x5
Dead: 105x1x5
Chin: 5,3,2
Bridge: 15, 10 (breaths)
Bike: 12 min

March 13
Squat: 70x5x5
Bench: 60x5x5
Row: 55x5x5
Dip: 10,9,5
RC: 15, 10
Bike: 13min

March 16
Squat: 70x5x5
OHP: 50x5x4, 3x1 (F)
Dead: 110x1x5
Pull: 3,2,1
Bridge:15, 10
Bike: 14min

March 18
Squat 75x5x5
Bench: 65x5x5
Row: 60x5x5 (F-form)
Dip: 10,9,5
RC: 15,15
Bike: 15min

March 20
Squat: 75x5x5
OHP: 50x5x5
Dead: 115x1x5
Chin: 6,3,2
Bridge: 15, 10
Bike: 16min

March 23
Squat: 80x5x5
Bench:65x5x5
Row: 60x5x5 (F-form)
Dip: 10, 10,6
RC: 15,15
Bike: 16 min

March 25
Squat: 80x5x5
OHP: 50x5x5
Dead: 120x1x5
Pull: 4,3,2
Bridge: 15, 10
Bike: 18min

March 27
Squat: 85x5x5
Bench: 70x5x5
Row: 60x5x5 (F-form)
Dip: 10,10,7
Situp: 25,15
Bike: 19min

March 30
Squat: 85x5x5
OHP: 55x5,5,4,4,3 (F)
Dead: 125x1x5
Chin: 6,4,2
Bridge: 15,11
Bike: 20min

The deadlift on Monday really drained me. The last rep was super tough. Now Wednesday, lower back sore. Not in a dangerous way, but still took the day off from lifting. Have had back probs in the not too distant past, just playing it safe. Looking forward to Friday's workout.

April Goals: Squat: 100, Dead: 140, OHP: 60, Bench: 80
modest goals, the weights are starting to feel pretty heavy in all lifts. I feel some failures and deloads coming. Need to buy 1kg plates for the gym.

[guru]

Hi Madhusudan,

Congratulations first on starting a log & then on achieving most of your goals. The OHP is anyway a bitch. You may need microloading on that one first.

Good job on making monthly goals - makes easier to track the progress. Feel free to ask questions in the forum.

Good luck with the program & your goals.

[madhusudan]

I deloaded the row by 5kg but it still didn't go well. Hmmm. Also had a failure on the bench on 4th set last rep. I could barely push it up enough to put the bar back on the stand. I wasn't expecting that at all. Got a spotter for the 5th set, but it went fine. Maybe I wasn't resting enough between sets. Squat is feeling really good and I'm excited to reach BW this month.

April 3

Squat: 90x5x5
Bench: 70x5x5 (F - half rep)
Row: 55x5x5
Dip: 10,10,7
RC: 15, 15
Bike: 21min

[madhusudan]

Oops I forgot to mention...

Thanks for the comments Guru.

I agree the OHP is tough, but it's also my favorite lift. Something about putting a heavy weight overhead is fun. Definitely need to start microloading on it though. 5kg jumps up are too much.

[madhusudan]

April 6

Squat:90x5x5
OHP: 55x5x5
Dead: 125x5x5
PU: 4,3,2
RC: 15,15
Bike: 22min

Nailed the OHP this time. Was trembling a lot on the last rep, but got it without any break in form. The DL felt a lot better than last time. It's amazing to keep getting stronger week by week.

Some other goals for this month:

Quit smoking
Eat a snack at 3pm
Start stretching in the evenings

[madhusudan]

April 8

Squat: 95x5x5
Bench70x5x5
Row: 55x5x5
Dip: 10, 10, 10
Bridge: 15,15
Bike 15min

This was a grea workout for me because I reached two mini goals. The first was squatting 95kg. At my gym the bar is 15kg, so that meant I had two 20kg plates on each end. It was a such a nice sight. The second was that I hit ten reps in each set of dips, so I can finally move on to weighted dips. I'd really been looking forward to getting each of those accomplished for a while. I also asked the gym to buy 1kg plates and they said no prob.

April 10

Squat: 95x5x5
OHP: 55x5,5,5,4,2(F)
Dead: 130x1x5
CU: 6, 4, 2
RC: 15, 15
Bike: 25min

Today didn't go so well. I spaced out in the morn and didn't have time for my second meal of oatmeal and eggs. I think the failure on the OHP was due to that. Also, some guy started doing bodyweight squats RIGHT behind me as I was pressing and it threw my concentration. I should have asked him to move but the 4th set was already ruined so I just did the last set. It sucked. Hopefully I'll get it next week.

[madhusudan]

April 13

Squat: 100x5x5
Bench:70x5x5
Row: 60x5x5
Dip: (3kg) 10, 10, 10
Bridge: 15, 15

I got the BW squat today. Actually slightly more than. Felt good. Took longer, timed rests. That worked well and will continue that way. No time for the bike, the workout is starting to last longer.

[guru]

Congrats Madhu on the BW squats. You'll get 1.5 BW deadlifts also pretty soon.

[madhusudan]

April 15

Squat: 100x5x5
OHP: 55x5x5
Dead: 135x5x5
CU: 4,3,1.5
RC: 12,12,9
Bike: 26min

Had to change grips to one overhand, one under for the dead on the third rep. Almost dropped it on the second. Everything else went well and I'm psyched to up the OHP to 60kg next time. Chin ups aren't really improving so I'm thinking of doing a few negatives after the three sets, unless someone says it's a bad idea.

[madhusudan]

April 17

Squat: 105x5x5
Bench: 75x5,5,5,4,3
Row: 60x5x5
Dip: (5kg) 8,7,5
Situps: 25,15
Bike: 27min

Didn't feel confortable really pushing the bench on the last reps without a spotter. There's a guy that works there, but he's never around when I need him and the rest of the folks are women on the treadmills. Oddly, my biceps were feeling almost strained after squats. Have no idea why. I must have been doing something weird.

I keep thinking of doing a deload on squats to work on form. There's no specific reason, just to make sure everything's as perfect as possible before getting heavier. But then I get to the gym and really want to do one better than last time and don't end up doing the deload.

[madhusudan]

April 20

Squat: 95x5x5
OHP: 50x5x5
Dead: 125x1x5
PU: 6, 4, 2

I was a lazy shit this morn and didn't go to the gym. Dragged myself there after work and went through the motions with some lighter loads. I guess it was better than nothing.

[madhusudan]

April 22:

Squat: 105x5x5
Bench: 75x5x5
Row: 60x5x5
Dip (5kg): 10, 8, 8
Bridge: 15, 15
Bike: 28min

Felt strong, had no probs with any of the lifts. Widened my grip on bench after watching some vids and other people in the gym. Worked nicely.

[madhusudan]

I hit a rough patch training in the end of April. Various people came out of the woodwork that I hadn't seen in a while. I fell back into some old bad habits of drinking and partying. Then I got sick with something.

April 24:

Squat: 110x5,3,3,3,3
OHP: 60x3,3,2,1,1
Dead: 140x1x5
Situp: 25, 15
Bike: 12min

I had a hangover and just no power. The squat felt like it was gonna crush me. Saved what strength I had to get the deadlift done right.

April 27 - May 1

Was sick, no workout.

April goals in review:
Squat: 100kg - more than met
Dead: 140kg - met
OHP: 60kg - attempted, fail
Bench: 80kg - came up short by 5kg
Row: 65kg - came up short by 5kg

Well, I'm not too displeased by the results for April. I didn't meet all my goals, but I did on the important lifts - squat and deadlift. Will try in May to be 100% consistent on not drinking and not only making it to the gym but going there fully rested and fueled up to lift heavy.

May Goals:
Squat: 120kg
Dead: 150kg
OHP: 65kg
Bench: 85kg
Row: 75kg
BW: 95kg

Will start May with a deload on squat.

May 4:
Squat: 95x5x5
Bench: 75x5x5
Row: 65x5x5
Dip(5kg): 10,10,5
Situp: 25,20
Bike: 33min

Wow, one week off sick and body's sore this morning. Needed to deload the squat to work on form. Felt I was leaning forward a bit and also dropping straight down rather than sitting back in the last few workouts when the weight was feeling really heavy.

The new grip on the bench press has made a world of difference.

Dips also went well, just lost focus on the last set, probably could've grinded out one or two more reps.

[madhusudan]

Damn it, hurt the old back last week Wednesday AFTER that deload on squats. Feeling pretty much 100% so went in today for a light workout. Didn't follolw the 5x5 program. Just went in to limber up and get back in the saddle.

The good thing was in squatting today I realized exactly how I injured myself. Never gonna overthink things again. Be natural and make minor adjustments occasionally, but never overthink things again.

May 14:
Squat: 45x10,8,7
OHP: 45x10,5,4
Lat pull: 60x10,8,7
situps: 25,10

[madhusudan]

May 20:

Squat: 65x5x5
Bench: 70x5x5
Row: 55x5x5
Dip: 10, 8, 5
Situp: 25, 15

Wow, back's feeling all better but I've been super lazy. Went back in today and purposely took it easy on squats just to build back up slowly. Was shocked by the maount of strength I'd lost in the other lifts though. Well I guess I'll just keep on keepin on.