Van's Training Log

[Van]

So I'm sick. I think I've gotten Dengue, at least I have all the symptoms of it. I called in sick, stayed home and slept most of the day. Haven't eaten much at all today. Last night was horrible, fever headache, everywhere hurt, thought it was the end of old me! Strangely enoug, I think I'm getting better now, really I feel pretty good this evening! I'm still contemplating whether I should waste money to go to a doctor. People do die from Dengue, in fact a guy on my street died a couple weeks back.
Well training today is definately out. Yeah, I could die from this and i'm most worried about my squat! See what you guys have done to me!!

[atypical1]

You need to get yourself to a doctor I think. Definitely don't worry about your squat for now!

james

[WhiteGorilla]

Damn dude, don't even stress yourself out about your workouts.
As James said GO TO THE DOCTOR

[Van]

Ok, so I'm alive and feeling much better. I went to the doctor and got a fist full of pills that probably don’t do shit except lighten my wallet. The doc thinks I shouldn't go to work for a couple more days so I'm probably home till Thursday. He also thinks I had dengue by the symptoms I described, but the badass that I am, I beat that sucker since Sunday night. Well that’s how I prefer to see it.
So since I'm not gonna die I can start obsessing over my squat again!

[WhiteGorilla]

Good news and even though your probably right about the pills, it's not worth risking your health

So since I'm not gonna die I can start obsessing over my squat again!

Obsessed much?

[Van]

After getting knocked out by a potentially lethal disease last weekend, I'm back and ready to uhh....squat again!

Right! So I'm starting things back up Monday! I suppose I'll repeat my weights from last workout just to get in the groove again and make sure I didn't loose any strength. Despite several days of eating 1000-1500 calories that comprised mostly of various juices my bodyweight hasn't moved. I've still got no apetite at all, but I'll get back to force feeding myself again when I start training.

So instead of being lazy all weekend this afternoon I did some mobility work to warm up and decided to try out the bear with a 50lb barbell. For something that looks so simple the bear is a real killer!! I got through six sets that were like 7/5/4/5/3/4. Yeah, sucky huh! My shoulders did not like it at all! I suck at cleans and front squats, but considering that i've never done them before I think I did ok. Will have to revisit starting strength and learn the proper form before i attempt to do the bear again. I planned to do some cardio as well, but was totally dead after the bear. I'm probably still not 100% yet, but I need to squat!!

My knees hurt a bit right now. No squatting for a week, sloppy front squats and the freaking bear killed them!! I should be fine though. I'm so looking forward to training again! Next up was supposed to be a B session, so guess its OHPs and deadlifts on monday! Oh yeah, and Squats!

[Van]

Squat:{Deload-10lbs}
warm up: , 1x5 - bar, , 1x5 - 135lbs, 1x4 - 185lbs, 1x2 - 225lbs
1x1 - 255lbs
So that didn't go so well. Getting sick makes you weak! Sure does suck when your 5RM turns to a 1RM! 1 rep squat isn't a workout. Tried 245lbs-
5/3/4 - 245lbs

...and that happened. Still too heavy, but I'll work with it. Hopefully I'll see 3x5 on Wednesday.

OHP:{Same as last workout}
warm up: 1x5 - bar, 1x4 - 65lbs
5x5 - 85lbs
repeated last workout weight, which was already deloaded so this wasn't too hard.

Deadlift: {Deload-30lbs}
warm up: 1x5 - 135lbs, 1x3 - 225lbs, 1x2 - 275lbs
the warmups felt ok, so I decided to try 295lbs. Good call, it went well.
1x5 - 295lbs

Chin-ups:
1x8 - BW
3x5 - 10lbs

Elevated Feet Prone Bridge:
3x40seconds

Sucky workout. Clearly I'm not 100% recovered. My lifts suffered quite a bit. Losing that much strength on squats really sucks. The sets were hard and sloppy. I don't think I need to deload it furthur, I'll repeat the same weight and see how it goes on wednesday. I didn't eat enough food today either, will try to fix that over the course of the week.
Gym scale said 153lbs after my workout.

[wrenchhands]

You might not have lost strength, you just aren't rested enough. There's a firm difference.

[Van]

Squat:
warm up: 1x5 - BW, 1x4 - 135lbs, 1x3 - 185lbs, 1x1 - 225lbs
5/0 - 245lbs
In the hole and dumped the weight... **washroom staring at the mirror**: You f@#*ing pussy!! Why you so f#^king scared of the bar! PUSSY! F$#KING WEAK ASS PUSSY! get you ass back under the f@#king bar and f@^king squat!!
Return to squat rack:
5/5 - 245lbs Yeah bitch!

Bench Press:{Same}
warm up: 1x5 - bar, 1x4 - 85lbs,
5/5/5/4/3 - 125lbs
Already deloaded this couple weeks ago, but apprently I'm not even up to the challenge of the deloaded weight

Barbell Row:{Deload 30lbs}
warm up: 1x5 - bar, 1x4 - 95lbs
5x5- 135lbs
yeah..whatever. so weak....

Dips/Chins supersets:
Dips-9,Chins-8 / Dips-8,Chins-6/ Dips-8,Chins-6
That was fun.

[WhiteGorilla]

Stop being such a F@#$%ING pussy and squat it! JK
Now you'll be extra pumped up to get it next time.

[Van]

Squat:
warm up: , 1x5 - bar, , 1x5 - 135lbs, 1x4 - 185lbs, 1x2 - 225lbs
3x5 - 250lbs
Despite extensive shouder mobility work my wrist/forearm/bicep/shouder pain has been returning for the past couple workouts. Due to my scolosis(twisted spine) issue my left shoulder is quite a bit more forward than it should be. I also have longer forearms in relation to upper arms.

Tested a new grip width, trying to go as narrow as possible to keep my forearm/wrist alignment as vertical as possible. Also used a wider stance and attempted to keep back more vertical. Still some pain today. I am reluctant to switch to high bar, although that might allow for a better wrist placement.
This could also explain why my pressing exercises are suffering so much.

OHP:
warm up: 1x5 - bar, 1x4 - 65lbs
3x5 - 90lbs
Stopped after 3 sets due to shouder pain.

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

30lb jump up from last workout. Easy pulls executed with slow, controlled, flawless form. Stood up with the last rep and held on to the bar for 20.8 seconds before lowering it slowly to the floor. Failure was due to fatigued shoulders and traps and slight core instability. NO issues with grip
Slight residual pain from before, but no new pain introduced from deadlifts.
Also note, I always use mixed grip on my DL work sets, but left hand is always pronated. I am afraid to supinate, because of the shoulder issue, it would be easy to tear the bicep. Damn..I just realised that his can be leading to muscle imbalances and contributing to the problem.
I made a trainer dude use his stopwatch and time me. About time they serve a useful purpose.

Third time I've deloaded deadlifts to below 315 so the weight isn't new to me. Deloading allows you such a good opportunity to fix all the little mistakes in your form.

Deadlift resolutions before '09 is up: I will never deload to fewer than 3 plates again! In fact, I'm going to progress strong up to 365lbs without stalling! And I'm doing it in 10lb jumps I love deadlifts. I will not fail at this!

Chin-ups:
8/6/5
jus' chins, nothing to report here.

No core work. Holding 315lbs for 20 seconds was good enough for me.

Gym scale:158lbs 5lbs more than monday, how very odd

[Van]

What the fuck is wrong with these people they call trainers at the gym!! My first set of squats is always the hardest. 4th rep is very slow and last rep is even more difficult. A trainer noticed me struggling on my 4th rep and when I was in the hole on my final rep perhaps assuming I was stuck and needing help, he rushes over to save me! WTF!! He grabs my sides just under my armpits, god only knows what he hoped to do, perhaps deadlift me out of the squat or something!
What I felt was a push forward, lost balance and dumped the weight. I get out from under the bar, and this guy starts telling me about how dangerous it was what i was doing! The usual bullshit of don't squat so deep and put the bar higher up, where? hold it with my fucking ears??
As a result of his heroics my already troublesome wrist/shoulder pain is exponentially increased and I struggle with my second set. By the last set, it's too much and I just dump it without even getting one rep.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Squat:
warm up: 1x5 - BW,1x5 - bar, 1x5 - 135lbs, 1x3 - 185lbs, 1x1 - 225lbs
4/3/0 - 255lbs

Bench Press:
warm up: 1x5 - bar, 1x4 - 85lbs,
3x5 - 130lbs

Barbell Row:
warm up: 1x5 - bar, 1x4 - 95lbs
3x5- 150lbs

Dips/Chins supersets:
Dips-11,Chins-7 / Dips-9,Chins-5/ Dips-10,Chins-5/ Dips-10
Dips:40- Chins:17
why i do this: I usually don't get many pullups after heavy deadlifts, so throwing them in here doesn't seem to affect my dips at the moment. Superseting to save on time. Sticking to bodyweight dips going for volume to not aggravate my shoulder too much. Dips are primary, not too concerned with chinup numbers here. Will get back to weighted soon enough.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Wrist/forearm strength/flexibility needed:
Barbell Wrist curls:
3x8 - 40lbs
Dumbbell wrist extensions:
3x8 - 12lbs

One leg dragon flags:
3x10

[WhiteGorilla]

That sucks about the trainer. Those guys are usually so stupid, but once in a while, one might know a little bit about training.
Do you find one legged dragon flags to be easier or harder than with both legs tucked?

[Van]

Progression was as follows:
Reverse crunches holding weight> reduce weight> no weight> DF two leg negatives> DF one legged

Currently I'm extending the second leg a couple inches every week. Hopfeully before the year is over I'll be able to do a proper Dragon Flag.
I've never actually tried the dragon flag with both legs tucked. Somehow I couldn't get my body to not do a reverse crunch after months of doing them. The one leg variant is very good. Making some good progress and actually feeling the strength increase. I said 3x10 above, but usually I'll go close to failure which is usually, more like 10/8/6. Today was a good day.

Squats make your legs bigger and heavier, because of this progress on dragon flags might be slow for many people. On the topic of failure, once you focus on the abdominal contraction, you will be getting stronger. When I first started doing them I would feel the stress on my spine. The same thing happened the first time I did prone bridges. You have to be very careful and know your limits. It's always better to drop and miss a rep than let your spine take the load.

On a side note, I'm not 100% sure of the DF form. Many vids sho variations of how straight the body is while going down, some guys kick their legs up then pull their upper body back up. I've seen bent legs that touch the ground when the DF is done on a bench. Some even curve back so much I swear its their spine taking all the load. Bear in mind, many demo vids you will see, are gymnasts with way more strength and flexibility than the average noob like me.

I'm thinking however, that the best form would be maximum ROM, from parallel to completely vertical, keeping the entire body as straight and rigid as possible.

[Van]

I will get in and out of the hole with 255lbs on my back!!

I will press 95lbs up over my head!!

I will rip 330lbs off the floor!!

I will collapse and just before blacking out say to myself Job well done!

I will go home whenever consciousness returns and eat! Eat! EAT!!