Van's Training Log

[Van]

Squat:
warm up: 1x5 - BW, 1x5 - bar, 1x4 - 95lbs, 1x3 - 135lbs 1x3 - 175lbs
5/4/5/3 - 215lbs

OHP:
warm up: 1x5 - bar, 1x4 - 75lbs
5x5 - 95lbs

Deadlift:
warm up: 1x5 - 135lbs, 1x4 - 185lbs, 1x3 - 225lbs, 1x2 - 275lbs
1x3 - 315lbs

Pull-ups:
6/6/4/4/4

Prone Bridges:
55secs/53secs/40secs

Ok, so it's clear that when I don't eat a lot of carbs I have sucky workouts.
I cannot explain my squats, don't ask me to! All I will say is that every rep was performed with good form. when I couldn't get a 5th rep on the second set, I dumped the weight. A guy stared at me for a good 30 seconds with a very confused and shocked expression when he saw me dumping it. I'm sure he was thinking that I should have had a spotter to pull me up and get three more...

At least I can say I felt strong on the OHP, it is a weight I've managed to do before, so its not such a great accomplishment, but I'm not complaining. I've come off the rack completely for the OHP. I clean it up and then press. For some unexplained reason, that one clean at the start of the set makes all the difference.
Fewer reps on deadlift than last time. I don't understand why, I was psyched up and sure I would get all 5. At the top of the third, I knew I couldn't get the 4th with good form so I didn't attempt it.

[Van]

Damn weighted 3x5 dips? Nice, I'm trying to get into it, what do you use, a belt?

Gym has two dipping belts, guess I can use em for weighted pull-ups if i ever get to the 15 rep mark. They smell bad, but I can't keep holding dumbbells between my legs forever.

[wrenchhands]

Damn weighted 3x5 dips? Nice, I'm trying to get into it, what do you use, a belt?

but I can't keep holding dumbbells between my legs forever.

Bro, I carry heavy weight between my legs 24-7. It's called being a man.

Ok, bad joke.

[Van]

Ready yourself for a WTF is this guy doing!? moment!

Squat:
warm up: 1x5 - BW, 1x5 - bar, 1x5 - 95lbs, 1x4 - 135lbs, 1x3 - 185lbs
5/3/5/5 - 215lbs <<<WTF!? WTF!? WTF!?

Bench Press:
warm up: 1x10 - bar, 1x5 - 95lbs
3/3/3/3/4 - 135lbs <<<and WTF!? again!

Barbell Row:
warm up: 2x5 - bar, 1x4 - 95lbs
4/5/3/4/4 - 165lbs and yet again

Dips:
warm up: 1x5 - BW
3x5 - 40lbs now you go

Farmers Walk
4x30 steps - 90lbs
I'm not sure of the distance, its the length of the gym, at least the only straight line without crap in the way. I'm trying to max out on weight first. They gym has up to 120lb dumbells. When i can do the distance with those, I'll start increasing distance that 30 steps is one way only, I can always turn around and head back right, and perhaps increase my speed as well. That's one 90lb dumbbell in each hand btw.

The Armstrong program was scrapped due to a really hectic week. I'll attempt to restart it next week.

>So, you're wondering now, how the hell does he do those f**ked up sets!? Why do I fail at 3 reps on my second set and get 5 reps on my third? it goes across the board on all exercises. Why Can't I push myself to the max on every set? Well, as the theory I was developing last week goes, I think it is because I'm scared of failure. I think I'm going to fail and then I do. Then when I think it's the last set and it's over, I somehow push myself to do it.
I think this crosses over not just from individual lifts to the workout as a whole. My performance on dips clearly shows that I'm somehow rejuvenated at the thought of it being over after this final exercise. I wonder then, if I rotate the exercises to put the weakest exercise last, will I then be most motivated knowing that after I've sucessfully completed that exercise the workout is over.

I have to break through this mental barrier. Sure my eating and sleeping is crap, but those are easy to fix.this is the worst part of my training right now. I'm not even pushing really heavy weights yet...dunno why I'm so afraid of it...maybe I need someone to come yell at me to not be a pussy...geez....typing that makes me even more sick of myself...

[Van]

So, I'm taking some time off. A week, maybe two, we'll see how things go. Physically I can do it I'm sure, but my nervous system is shot and my mind just can't take it anymore. Hopefully this time off will refresh me and I'll be able to come back and make more gains. If that fails, then maybe it's simply time to change from beginner program to one of those intermediate ones. I've got no idea where to go next, but i think this time off is a good first step.

[Van]

It's Friday. Took a whole week off from lifting. Did not exercise whatsoever.
Ate semi-clean foods for most of the week, except lastnight when I had a beer and some roast pork.

The plan is to deload everything. This is a fresh start, I'm doing up a new spreadsheet. Restarting with the following weights:

3x5 - Squat: 185lbs
5x5 - Bench Press: 110lbs
5x5 - Barbell Row: 135lbs
5x5 - Overhead Press: 80lbs
1x5 - Deadlift: 275lbs
3x5 - Dips: 25lbs
3xF - Pullups.

I'm still not doing weighted pullups so that remains 3 x reps to failure.

Heading off to the gym shortly, Workout A is the plan, Going to chew down some raw oats and whey now so I don't run out of juice!

[Van]

Squat:
warm up: 1x5 - BW, 1x5 - bar, 1x5 - 95lbs, 1x4 - 135lbs
3x5 - 185lbs

Bench Press:
warm up: 1x10 - bar, 1x4 - 85lbs
5x5 - 110lbs

Barbell Row:
warm up: 1x5 - bar, 1x4 - 95lbs
5x5 - 135lbs

Dips:
warm up: 1x5 - BW
3x5 - 35lbs
1x5 - BW

Ab Roller:
3x8
>tried something different - the gym bought an ab roller and I remember reading somewhere that it's an awesome core exercise

Cardio:
10mins Eliptical.
>that's as much time as I had left. it was getting late.

A good restart to strength training. I should point out that i'm in a caloric deficit, I want to loose some fat. While I am a strength trainee, I want to be able to go to the beach and take my shirt off without embarrasment.

[wrenchhands]

Alright Vanimal, I'm starting my junk over too. I'm gonna lift today. HUZZAH

[Van]

Squat:
warm up: 1x5 - BW, 1x5 - bar, 1x4 - 95lbs, 1x3 - 135lbs 1x3 - 175lbs
3x5 - 190lbs

OHP:
warm up: 1x5 - bar
5x5 - 85lbs

Deadlift:
warm up: 1x5 - 135lbs, 1x4 - 185lbs, 1x3 - 225lbs
1x3 - 275lbs

Towel Pull-ups: Goal-25reps
8/5/4/5/4

Dragon Flag Negatives:
5/3/5/5

Cardio:
15mins stationary bike

New approach to pullups, Increasing # of reps by 5 every workout. Tried some negative dragon flags, liked them a lot. looking forward to getting stronger at them.

[Van]

Squat:
warm up: 1x5 - BW, 1x5 - bar, 1x5 - 95lbs, 1x4 - 135lbs
3x5 - 195lbs

Bench Press:
warm up: 1x5 - bar, 1x4 - 85lbs
5x5 - 115lbs

Barbell Row:
warm up: 1x10 - bar, 1x4 - 95lbs
5x5 - 145lbs

Dips:
warm up: 1x5 - BW
3x5 - 40lbs

Barbell Curls:
3x8 - 50lbs
trying this because my tri's are getting massive and bi's are just staying small.

Farmers Walk:
95lbs
distance....gonna walk with a measuring tape next time i go to the gym......

Prone Bridges:
3 sets. moving five 2.5lb plates from one side to the other, 6 moves per set.

Cardio:
10mins Stationary Bike

[Van]

Squat:
warm up: 1x5 - BW, 1x5 - bar, 1x4 - 95lbs, 1x3 - 135lbs 1x3 - 175lbs
3x5 - 200lbs

OHP:
warm up: 1x5 - bar, 1x4 - 65lbs
3x5 - 90lbs

Deadlift:
warm up: 1x5 - 135lbs, 1x4 - 185lbs, 1x3 - 225lbs
1x2 - 295lbs, 1x2 - 285lbs
Accidentally loaded 295lbs on the bar and got 2 reps. dropped back to 285lbs and got 2 reps. I'll gor for 5@295lbs next workout.

Chin-ups: Goal-30reps
7/6/5/4/4/3

[Van]

I don't own a scale, so I weighed myself with the one at the pharmacy near my gym as well as the scale at the gym.Clothed; denim jeans, shoes and a t-shirt, pharmacy digital scale which also measured my height gave a weight of 152.1lbs. The gym scale which is one of those with the slider thingies that you move across till it balances gave a 154lbs five minutes before as I was leaving the gym.
I'm working hard at getting rid of the belly i developed from the whole gomad thing. I'll never do that again. So this time I'm cutting down till I see those abs, then slowly increasing calories till I'm at maintainence. I cannot live with the fat. I'm freaked out right now, hence the massive cut.
The downside has been the strength loss. Especially so on Deadlifts. I'm struggling with a weight that is 30lbs lighter than I've previoulsy PR'd 1x5. Adjusted my sig to reflect the current numbers. I'll live with the lower numbers and jump up by 5lb increments on deads for now. I can't get fat again, I just can't live with seeing that in the mirror anymore.
Need to increase my cardio and get this over with as soon as possible.
Further hip/glute/hamstring/ankle mobility is needed. Shoulder mobility is fantastic afer a couple months of dislocations. I've been doing the shoulder/hip mobility exercises as a warmup on workout days. integration of hip wrist and glute mobility exercises have increased warmup time to 20minutes or more depending on how much rest I take, also making me really tired halfway through my workout. Can't let warmup suck all my energy and leave nothing for the lifting. Will have to workout a shortened version for workout days and do the full thing on nonworkout days. Accumulated, all the mobility exercises are a fantastic warmup/ standalone workout and I hope Medhi will put them together one day, perhaps two versions such as those I'm currently designing.
So, more my thoughts and plans rather than the usual log of lifts accomplished, but I suppose this is something pertinent and worthy of logging.

[Van]

Squat:
warm up: 1x5 - BW, 1x5 - bar, 1x4 - 95lbs, 1x3 - 135lbs, 1x3 - 185lbs
3x5 - 205lbs

Bench Press:
warm up: 1x5 - bar, 1x4 - 85lbs
5x5 - 125lbs

Barbell Row:
warm up: 1x10 - bar, 1x4 - 95lbs
5x5 - 155lbs

Dips:
warm up: 1x5 - BW
3x5 - 45lbs

Dragon Flag negatives:
3x5

[Van]

Weighed myself today at the pharmacy....damn scale costs $3. Down to 150.2lbs. Still too much fat. I want to seem them abs. I've been cutting for 14 days now. down from 158.2 and feeling very fat to not feeling so fat. A bodyfat caliper is going to cost me way too much. That $2US turns into like $200TT after shipping and taxes. So 2 more weeks on the cut. First week of the cut I did no lifting. second week, I had deloaded significantly so no stalling yet. Off days are still offdays. I just can't seem to get the time to get in any extra cardio on off days. I should, to sped up the process, but resting and keeping my strength up for lifting day is just as important as cutting the fat.

Based on the Velocity diet from Tmuscle, my diet is basically protein, Fibre and fish oils. V-diet is liquid protein shakes only, I'm still eating meat. I eat some oats pre-workout for energy, so far it's been working.Post workout I use a scoop of Syntha-6 supplying 6g-fat, 22g-protein and 14g-carbs. Mixed in 250ml whole milk supplying 8g-fat, 8g-protein and 12g carbs because I've got lots from when I thought gomad would make me muscle. I'm thinking I may need a bit more carbs post workout, maybe some more oats or fruit if I can find any.
During the day I may yield to temptation and bite some random passing carbohydrate, but not enough to affect the caloric deficit.

I think I could get down to as low as 140lbs and still have a lot of fat on me. Somehow my body didn't think to make much muscle over the past few months. It just made a lot of fat to scare me. Yes, i'm scared and hence the current cut. As long as my lifts are not stalling, I can continue. If I stall, and it is at a weight lower than I previously achieved, I will add some milk to the mix, only because I have gallons of milk sitting around my room. I will up the cardio to offset the calories though. I have no desire to be large anymore. I just want to be strong.

Tomorrow is a training day. 210-95-295, things are getting heavy again, looking forward to it.

[Van]

Squat:
warm up: 1x5 - BW, 1x5 - bar, 1x4 - 95lbs, 1x3 - 135lbs 1x3 - 175lbs
3x5 - 210lbs

OHP:
warm up: 1x5 - bar, 1x4 - 65lbs, 1x3 - 85lbs
5/5/4 - 95lbs

Deadlift:
warm up: 1x5 - 135lbs, 1x5 - 225lbs
1x5 - 295lbs

Neutral Grip pullups:
6/4/4/4/4

feet elevated prone bridge:
3x30secs

Cardio:
10mins: Stationary Bike
10mins: Eliptical

needed to shorten workout today, cut OHP to 3x5. need to stop doing that, did 3x5 last week also.

NOTE:Repeat OHP for 5x5 next workout.

Gym scale showed 152lbs today. difference of 2lbs from the pharmacy just like last time. I wore a pair of pants that didn't fit me a month ago when i was close to 160lbs. dropped 8 pounds and 2" off my waist! It's still tight tho, so by the end of the month everything will be fine. When i was 134lbs in january this year my waist was 29" and i wore 30" pants or 32" with a tight belt. Good days of being skinny. The good news is, my belly flab looks like the same amount of fat i had when I was 134lbs. I didn't take measurements with a caliper or tape, just looking at pics i took from back then and comparing to what I'm seeing in the mirror now. This confirms the presence of additional muscle! in which case, in two weeks when I'm done starving myself of carbs and hopefully drop another 5lbs, I should be a ripped 145lbs. Then the bulk can begin again(but a little more controlled this time).
I didn't have much faith in the bodybuilder bulk/cut cycle until now. I've applied it well to strength training and clearly when I take photos in 2 weeks there will be evidence to prove that it works. I'll post em up if I'm looking less fat and more awesome. but the important thing is I made my 295lbs Deadlift today and squatting stronger than ever with proper technique. Going at least 1-2 inches below parallel with over 200lbs on my back! 1.3xBW Now that is an awesome feeling!!! Next week I'll regain 2xBW on Deadlifts.
1.5xBW on squats and 1xBW bench are my primary targets now. my least favourite exercise Bench Press has gotten bumped way up. I now enjoy and look forward to it. I want to drop OHP because I think it sucks up too much valuable Deadlifting energy.
1plate Bench, 2plate Squat and 3plate Deads, soo looking forward to this!

Diet Notes >>>
Pre workout carbing+ during workout gatorade = decent lifts despite being way under maintainence calories.
Shovelling down the Protein all day, should keep muscle loss to a minimum. Liquid meals: 10g whey, 15g-casein and 3g-glutamine, 5g-fiber 2g fish oil caps. every three to four hours during the day. Caseing add's about 2g carbs because it's cookies & cream flavour, COOKIES!!!
One solid meal per day because I get cravings and instead of a bag of potato chips or chocolat or cake, tonight I had steak!
Post workout carb addition to the mix in my previous post :i had two tablespoons of dried cranberies and half a gatorade. I had just drank a whole half of it just before deadlifting so kept the rest for after.
I've gotten so accustomed to liquid food. I don't want to go back to solid food. Perhaps I jsut need to add some milk and I can stay liquid permanently...ok, maybe not, but I be scared of carbs. they come in such tiny calorie dense packages!