No turbo charged workout today. Woke up and felt I like I had been hit by a truck. My chest, triceps, back, traps and shoulders were all aching today. I think I overcooked it by doing 2 training sessions yesterday, especially considering I have been off sick for a week.
Seeing that I have already over cooked it, thought I might as well finish it all off by doing some legs today (making it 3 workouts in 1.5 days). Not sure how I will be feeling tomorrow but will rest up for at least 3 days till next workout.
Ok, the last time I did 3 easy reps @ 150kg on squats with a rep or 2 left in the tank – even when my legs were still sore from the previous legs session. So as a bench mark on how much strength I have lost, I went for 150kg. I managed 3 reps but they were double HARD!!! Only just managed rep 3, so have lost quite a bit of power.
Going forward the programme will be traditional progressive resistance model. As I haven’t trained squats for years due to my hip, I think I can use progressive resistance for a while before the results start tailing off. When it does tail off, I will switch to a 5/3/1 programme. The next few weeks plan is set out below:
Week 1 – 140kg max reps
Week 2 – 142.5kg max reps
Week 3 – 145kg max reps
Week 4 – 147.5kg max reps
* basically I will increase the weight by 2.5kg every week until I can’t get 4 reps (hoping I can get to at least 155kg) and then deload and go to a 5/3/1 system the following week. It will also give me a good starting figure to work from in regards to 5/3/1
Back Squats – breaking parallel
20kg x 10, 5
60kg x 5, 5
80kg x 5
100kg x 5
125kg x 2
150kg x 3
Stiff legged deadlifts - with 10kg plates, to increase range of motion
60kg x 5
80kg x 5
100kg x 4
120kg x 3
140kg x 6
Cable pull-through
50kg x 10
95kg x 15, 15, 15
20 mins Foam rolling and stretching
Weird – immediately after my bench workout earlier today, I was all shaky and feeling drained.
However progressively through out the day I have been feeling my energy/power returning to my body. It feels kinda like my muscles are itching internally and I have been really restless. Anyways this got to the point earlier this evening where I was just pacing up and down the living room. Never felt like this before, so wasn’t sure what to do. So I made the call to hit the gym in an attempt to burn some of this energy off.
Turned out to be a good decision, I can’t remember the last time I trained twice in one day but as a one off it really worked. I guess it’s best to go with the flow and listen to your body and my body was telling me it was ready to motor.
Final week of phase 2 on back, so it was max reps on 140kg and I hit 6 decent reps. Considering my illness and I was only doing 5 reps before, this was decent progress. Who knows, if I hadn’t been sick, I may have even done 7 or 8 reps??
All the other exercises went really well too.
Bent over rows
60kg x 8
80kg x 5
110kg x 3
140kg x 6
Barbell Shrugs
60kg x 10
100kg x 5
140kg x 5
160kg x 8
Curl grip pulldown – just wider than shoulder width
35kg x 10
70kg x 6
100kg x 12
Ultra wide grip cable row with pulldown bar
35kg x 8
50kg x 6
75kg x 15
Onwards and upwards now – skipping the deload and starting phase 3 next week! The programme is set out below
Week 1, Phase 3
Bent Rows
Warm ups
100kg x 5
115kg x 5
130kg x rep max (just shy of failure)
Week 2, Phase 2
Bent Rows
Warm ups
107.5kg x 3
122.5kg x 3
137.5kg x rep max (just shy of failure)
Week 3, Phase 2
Bent Rows
Warm ups
115kg x 5
130kg x 3
145kg x rep max (to failure)
First session since being sick.
Ok the plan – to see how much strength I have lost. My last bench press session was on the 22nd August, so almost 2 weeks ago. This was the final week on phase 1 and I managed 4 at 125kg. So as a benchmark I wanted to see if I could still get 4 reps.
I managed 3 reps, so have lost about 1.5 reps. The reason I say 1.5 reps is that my 3rd rep was a lot more difficult than my 4th rep 2 weeks ago.
Adjustments
The plan was to start a new phase with an increment of 5kg but as my ass has just got weaker I am starting phase 2 as of next week with a 2.5 kg increment. I will also be doing some progressive resistance on shoulder presses following bench. The new adjusted flat bench programme is below.
Week 1, Phase 2
Flat Bench
Warm ups
85kg x 5
100kg x 5
112.5kg x rep max (just shy of failure)
Seated front press
Warm ups
82.5kg x rep max (just shy of failure)
Week 2, Phase 2
Flat Bench
Warm ups
92.5kg x 3
107.5kg x 3
120kg x rep max (just shy of failure)
Seated front press
Warm ups
85kg x rep max (just shy of failure)
Week 3, Phase 2
Flat Bench
Warm ups
100kg x 5
112.5kg x 3
127.5kg x rep max (to failure)
Seated front press
Warm ups
87.5kg x rep max (to failure)
Today’s workout
Any ways back to today’s session, my bench sucked but everything else was ok. I felt funny afterwards, like I was all shaky – not good?
Flat bench press
20kg x 10, 6
60kg x 5, 5
80kg x 5
100kg x 3
125kg x 3
Seated front shoulder press
20kg x 10
60kg x 6
80kg x 6
Dips
Bodyweight x 22, 10
Throat and ears not hurting so bad now and no fever or headache now. I still feel quite weak and tired though but definitely on the mend.
Curious to get back to the gym and see how much strength I have lost. Weight wise I am down 2.5kg’s/5.5lbs (97.5kg), which considering how bad I was feeling, isn’t too bad. Started to feel ill on the Saturday night (28th August), so have been sick for 6 days so far.
Have gone down with some kinda throat infection. Feel like dirt – Doctor has prescribed the usual course of antibiotics. First time I have been sick for a while, touchwood it doesn’t last too long.
Lower back has been sore since Tuesday, I have been holding off training until tonight (Thursday) in the hope it would improve. Unfortunately it hasn’t but as I will be busy for the next few days, this is the only opportunity I will have to train till probably Monday/Tuesday.
The plan was to do week 2/phase 2 on bent rows and also throw in some squats.
First decision was whether to do squats to start with followed by rows or vice versa, decided to do squats first. Secondly I was thinking that there was no way my back could handle a rep max at the planned 145kg, so instead thought I would aim for a manageable triple. I was pretty confident even with a sh*tty back that I could manage 150kg for 3+ reps considering the 9 reps I did 6 days ago with 140kg. So 150kg it was and a good choice too, as I got the triple without any hassle or drama, apart from the back getting tighter.
Moving onto the bent rows, my lower back wasn’t feeling too good and I couldn’t get into a comfortable rowing position. I also forget my percentages and weight I was meant to use, I guestimated it should be 137.5kg and I was hoping for 7-8 reps, 6 reps was all I could get though, which sucks big time! Turns out I should have been aiming for 132.5kg, so that is probably a contributing factor for my crap-ness.
F*ck it, not the end of the world and my back pain isn’t terminal. Next week is another story. 3-4 days off now, recharge and come back hard. No miscalculations, 100% focused and boom! Target weight for bent rows will be 140kg for max reps and I want 6 reps minimal.
Finished off with some light weight pump sets on cable rows.
Back squats – breaking parallel
20kg x 5, 5
60kg x 5, 5
80kg x 5
100kg x 5
120kg x 2
140kg x 1
150kg x 3
Bent rows
60kg x 5, 5
80kg x 5
110kg x 3
117.5kg x 3
137.5kg x 6
Curl grip pulldowns
35kg x 10
65kg x 8
100kg x 11
Single arm standing cable rows
12.5kg x 10
20kg x 10
27.5kg x 12, 12, 12
