Otherwise known as the gym I go to. If you've ever wondered what it's like to hear men giving birth, I invite you to come spend an hour in my gym. When you're squatting 10 kilos, the last thing you're entitled to do is let out a Tarzan call after each rep and walk around like you own the gym. I end up losing my focus cos even with my iPod on, I still have to put up with the sounds of a live birth going on behind me.
Today was the definition of uncomfortable - sitting at a desk all day after squatting is no fun. I need to start stretching and maybe I'll carry my foam roller in my bag to work.. that won't look awkward will it?
Squat - 370 5x5 They felt somewhat good today.. Not as hard as I was expecting. Hello new muscles!
Bench - 250 8x3 Good, but almost missed the last rep. Glad the guy who just gave birth was around and had the energy to semi-spot me.
Deadlift - 380 1x5 Good.
This is a really good article to read. Enjoy
Monday, June 27, 2011
Friday, June 24, 2011
Friday
I think writing my posts within an hour or so of leaving the gym is probably a good idea - all my ideas are still fresh in my head still. I don't really know what the hell I was doing in the gym today. It started out fine then got progressively worse. Let me explain. I always start by squatting - it takes the most effort and all your energy should be reserved for a good squat session. They were okay, not the best, but not the worst either.
Then came pressing. I was going for a new PR of 207.5. Before lifting it I was looking at the weight and I thought good, okay, this is heavy, or rather this looks heavy, but hey maybe I'll get it, I haven't failed a press PR yet. I couldn't have been more wrong. It was insanely difficult. I could barely extend my elbows past 90 degrees, so basically I was just holding the bar. I wasn't too happy, so I tried again and missed. I dropped the weight by 2.5 kilos and made the rep.
Finally came power cleans. I won't talk about them much cos they were a big disaster. I don't know what happened today, but they were just plain and simple - bad. I dropped the weight, then raised it back up, then did some half-assed sets and called it a day.
Some gym atrocity:
1) Fellow gym bro telling his fellow gym bro how to spend an hour on biceps exercises.
2) You don't wear your bluetooth earpiece to the gym - in fact, you don't wear it at all.
3) If you've been training with a personal trainer for 6 months and look the same, something is seriously wrong with your approach to exercise.
Squat - 430 1x3
Press - 204 1RM
Cleans - don't want to talk about it.
Then came pressing. I was going for a new PR of 207.5. Before lifting it I was looking at the weight and I thought good, okay, this is heavy, or rather this looks heavy, but hey maybe I'll get it, I haven't failed a press PR yet. I couldn't have been more wrong. It was insanely difficult. I could barely extend my elbows past 90 degrees, so basically I was just holding the bar. I wasn't too happy, so I tried again and missed. I dropped the weight by 2.5 kilos and made the rep.
Finally came power cleans. I won't talk about them much cos they were a big disaster. I don't know what happened today, but they were just plain and simple - bad. I dropped the weight, then raised it back up, then did some half-assed sets and called it a day.
Some gym atrocity:
1) Fellow gym bro telling his fellow gym bro how to spend an hour on biceps exercises.
2) You don't wear your bluetooth earpiece to the gym - in fact, you don't wear it at all.
3) If you've been training with a personal trainer for 6 months and look the same, something is seriously wrong with your approach to exercise.
Squat - 430 1x3
Press - 204 1RM
Cleans - don't want to talk about it.
Thursday, June 23, 2011
Monday & Wednesday
I need to keep up with this blog thing; I've been slacking lately. I doubt there are any consistent readers out there, but on the off-chance that there are, I apologize. I also need new things to write about. I started this off as an exercise/nutrition/weightlifting type blog, and I'd like to keep it that way, but sometimes you just run out of things to say.
Since today's Thursday I'll post up Monday and Wednesday's workouts here. Some lifts are getting better. My bench has surprisingly felt easier this week; I usually feel like that's the one I struggle with the most. Now I can go around talking about how much I bench while flexing my pecs and looking all swole. Ballin! Why whenever you work out is the first question you're asked, how much do you bench? What's the correlation between pushing weight off your chest and generally how badass you are?
Olympic weightlifters throw hundreds of pounds up in the air (not literally), but you get the point.. and they don't bench because it limits shoulder mobility. Are they not considered 'strong' anymore? I beg to differ.
Monday:
Squat - 365 5x5
Press - 170 8x3
Deadlift - 375 1x5
Wednesday:
Squat - 300 2x5
Bench - 220 3x5
Back extensions and pull ups (to work the guycepsss)
Since today's Thursday I'll post up Monday and Wednesday's workouts here. Some lifts are getting better. My bench has surprisingly felt easier this week; I usually feel like that's the one I struggle with the most. Now I can go around talking about how much I bench while flexing my pecs and looking all swole. Ballin! Why whenever you work out is the first question you're asked, how much do you bench? What's the correlation between pushing weight off your chest and generally how badass you are?
Olympic weightlifters throw hundreds of pounds up in the air (not literally), but you get the point.. and they don't bench because it limits shoulder mobility. Are they not considered 'strong' anymore? I beg to differ.
Monday:
Squat - 365 5x5
Press - 170 8x3
Deadlift - 375 1x5
Wednesday:
Squat - 300 2x5
Bench - 220 3x5
Back extensions and pull ups (to work the guycepsss)
Saturday, June 18, 2011
New PRs
Friday was better, I got new PRs and was pretty happy about them. A couple of them are on video so I'll post them up fo all y'all. I've said it before, but I decided that I'm most definitely training in the wrong gym. You need to be somewhere that helps you reach your potential in whatever you do, and whether that means having the right equipment or training with the right people, it's important to feel like you're comfortable and in 'the zone'. Compare someone training with people with completely different interests and with half-assed, partially working equipment to someone training with people who share a similar passion in weightlifting and offering each other advice, as well as a coach giving constructive feedback and using bars, racks and plates that actually work and aren't about to break. Who's more likely to reach their potential?
Anyway, enough preaching, here are the videos.
3 rep max @ 425 pounds:
1 rep max at 290 pounds:
Anyway, enough preaching, here are the videos.
3 rep max @ 425 pounds:
1 rep max at 290 pounds:
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
Not My Week
Okay so I decided that this isn't my week, it wasn't just Monday and possibly having an off day. I missed another rep today which I shouldn't have and subsequently decided that this whole week was garbage. Actually it all started last Friday. Hopefully this Friday will be better.
I tried pressing 170 for 3x5 and missed the last rep of the second set but then got the whole third set. Presses progress the slowest and continue to progress the slowest, and that includes shoulder and bench press. It's a good idea to microload at this point. These are basically weight plates you put on the bar that weigh less than the smallest plate you'll find in a gym; they're called fractional plates. For example they come in 0.25 pounds, 0.5 pounds, etc. That way you can still progress when you see that 5 pound jumps each week aren't working anymore.
Squat - 290 2x5
Press - 170 3x5 (Except for the last rep)
I tried pressing 170 for 3x5 and missed the last rep of the second set but then got the whole third set. Presses progress the slowest and continue to progress the slowest, and that includes shoulder and bench press. It's a good idea to microload at this point. These are basically weight plates you put on the bar that weigh less than the smallest plate you'll find in a gym; they're called fractional plates. For example they come in 0.25 pounds, 0.5 pounds, etc. That way you can still progress when you see that 5 pound jumps each week aren't working anymore.
Squat - 290 2x5
Press - 170 3x5 (Except for the last rep)
Monday, June 13, 2011
Monday
I got to the gym today and realized I forgot my iPod, no biggie, I hate the pop trash they play in the gym but I figured okay, it's bearable. Then it turns out I also forgot my schedule. At that point I considered going back home and getting them both but that would mean a 20 minute delay. I had to make sure I actually didn't forget my work clothes, otherwise I'd be showing up in lifting shoes and a sweaty shirt.
I remembered the numbers for my work sets but I had to guess all the warm up numbers. Luckily by now I have a good idea of what to lift for each warm up set, so I didn't make too big a deal out of it.
Squat - 365 5x5 (took it down a bit)
Bench - 240 8x3
Deadlift - 370 1x5
I remembered the numbers for my work sets but I had to guess all the warm up numbers. Luckily by now I have a good idea of what to lift for each warm up set, so I didn't make too big a deal out of it.
Squat - 365 5x5 (took it down a bit)
Bench - 240 8x3
Deadlift - 370 1x5
Friday, June 10, 2011
200kg!!
Today was the first day I missed a rep; no biggie. I decided to try it again a single and got it. I took it a little bad when I missed it, but then I realized people miss reps all the time, it's normal.
I'll attribute this to one of three things: 1) I recently dropped volume weight down quite a bit, 2) I didn't eat/sleep/recover enough during the week, 3) I just didn't have a good gym session today. Or it's a combination of the three in a ratio of 12:10:8. I used science to figure that one out.
Squats - 200kg! or 440 pounds - 1x2; was going for three then missed the last rep. I wasn't happy at this point, so for my sanity I did a single and I was fine.
Press - 190 1x3 (hard; quite hard actually, but felt good)
Clean - 184 5x3 (I think I'm happy with the way these are progressing; a few technical fixes over the last month or so has helped a hundred fold). I remember trying my max for cleans about 2 months ago and getting to about 75 for one rep. That was before I worked on my form. I'm at 84 kilos now for 5x3 and they aren't feeling too hard at all. BALLIN!
What am I doing this weekend? Enjoying my new 46 inch LED TV. Don't be a hata'
I'll attribute this to one of three things: 1) I recently dropped volume weight down quite a bit, 2) I didn't eat/sleep/recover enough during the week, 3) I just didn't have a good gym session today. Or it's a combination of the three in a ratio of 12:10:8. I used science to figure that one out.
Squats - 200kg! or 440 pounds - 1x2; was going for three then missed the last rep. I wasn't happy at this point, so for my sanity I did a single and I was fine.
Press - 190 1x3 (hard; quite hard actually, but felt good)
Clean - 184 5x3 (I think I'm happy with the way these are progressing; a few technical fixes over the last month or so has helped a hundred fold). I remember trying my max for cleans about 2 months ago and getting to about 75 for one rep. That was before I worked on my form. I'm at 84 kilos now for 5x3 and they aren't feeling too hard at all. BALLIN!
What am I doing this weekend? Enjoying my new 46 inch LED TV. Don't be a hata'
Wednesday, June 8, 2011
Wednesday
Nothing big happened today - except the usual awesomeness that is a-squatting. I'm not sure what that meant, if it meant anything at all.
Squat - 300 2x5
Bench - 215 3x5
Squat - 300 2x5
Bench - 215 3x5
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
The Bigger Picture
Yesterday was one of those days where multiple times I considered just dropping everything and leaving in the middle of working out. I really had no drive or motivation in the gym. It's not common, but you'll come across days like that which I think is fine. It's normal sometimes not to feel too pumped or maybe you have other things on your mind so really being focused on the workout becomes a challenge.
Don't worry about days like those, it's the bigger picture that counts. Nobody has a perfect track record in anything, there's always ups and downs if you zoom in (on a hypothetical graph of progress), and as long as you feel that on the whole you're improving in what you do then you should be fine.
I did end up finishing the day at the gym but had I had more energy/drive/whatever, it might have been easier or more enjoyable (as if Mondays are ever enjoyable). I don't like the feeling of leaving half way, and it completely messes up the week. Mondays prepare you for Friday on the Texas Method. The other option was just to take the week off, which I've done before when I felt mentally and physically drained. This is also okay.
Squat - 370 5x5
Press - 165 8x3 (hard)
Deadlift - 405 1x5 (I'm thinking of resetting these; I'm not happy with form)
Don't worry about days like those, it's the bigger picture that counts. Nobody has a perfect track record in anything, there's always ups and downs if you zoom in (on a hypothetical graph of progress), and as long as you feel that on the whole you're improving in what you do then you should be fine.
I did end up finishing the day at the gym but had I had more energy/drive/whatever, it might have been easier or more enjoyable (as if Mondays are ever enjoyable). I don't like the feeling of leaving half way, and it completely messes up the week. Mondays prepare you for Friday on the Texas Method. The other option was just to take the week off, which I've done before when I felt mentally and physically drained. This is also okay.
Squat - 370 5x5
Press - 165 8x3 (hard)
Deadlift - 405 1x5 (I'm thinking of resetting these; I'm not happy with form)
Friday, June 3, 2011
Next Level Atrocity
Due to unforeseen circumstances, I had to go to another gym today. I hoped that this would be a new chance to see some new gym atrocities; and I was right. Oh. My. God.
1) When your legs look like my cutlery the last time I ate sushi, it's time to start working on them.
2) Those barbells with black plastic ends, shorter overall length, and that weigh half the standard weight have no place in a gym.
3) Weight plates that look like they were attacked by a bunch of hungry beavers leave you wondering how much they actually weigh. I'm sure I lifted a good amount less than I thought I did today because the plates all looked gnawed and chipped away.
4) Personal 'trainers' with less knowledge about exercise than my soda water bottle are more common than I thought.
5) Bandanas, ripped body-building shirts and pimping chains are not to be worn unless you're working out on Muscle Beach.
6) It's rude to stare. Plain and simple.
Squat - 435 1x3
Bench - 272.5 1x3
Clean - 174 5x3
Food - my famous chicken strips and tortellini. Hata'
1) When your legs look like my cutlery the last time I ate sushi, it's time to start working on them.
2) Those barbells with black plastic ends, shorter overall length, and that weigh half the standard weight have no place in a gym.
3) Weight plates that look like they were attacked by a bunch of hungry beavers leave you wondering how much they actually weigh. I'm sure I lifted a good amount less than I thought I did today because the plates all looked gnawed and chipped away.
4) Personal 'trainers' with less knowledge about exercise than my soda water bottle are more common than I thought.
5) Bandanas, ripped body-building shirts and pimping chains are not to be worn unless you're working out on Muscle Beach.
6) It's rude to stare. Plain and simple.
Squat - 435 1x3
Bench - 272.5 1x3
Clean - 174 5x3
Food - my famous chicken strips and tortellini. Hata'
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