A LIfter's Iron Log...

[ghettostudmuffin]

4-20-05

"420" hahahaha......

Barbell Full Squat-warmups to 190x5x5
effort meter 2

Barbell Deadlift-warmups to 255x5x5
effort meter 3-4

Barbell Military Press-135x5,5,5,5-then I decided to reverse grip press it, 5

Chinups-BW only 1x4 clean reps.

Good workout. Energy level was good.

 

[JohnRobHolmes]

you back on the loading phase? i just read through the last couple of months and somehow im confused.

what week are you in now? from your effort meter i would say week one or two. im through with my first week of madcow desease! im wondering if i will gain any bodyweight- ive never gotten past 145 even with solid eating and training. maybe i just wasnt unloading right.

whats your weight now?

 

[ghettostudmuffin]

I haven't weighed myself in a week or more, but last time I weighed 232lbs and I probably weigh more now. I'll prolly weigh 240lbs by the time I finish this second cycle.

I finished up the last one, took a week off from lifting and then started over again. This is the end of week 2.

I'll take a week off after this cycle, and then I'm gonna try something out. I'm gonna run the exact same exercise setup except I'll switch barbell press to dumbell press and barbell rows to dumbell rows for a change. Also, it won't be a dual factor style program, but more like the regular Bill Starr style 5x5, but I'll be doing 8,6,4,3,2,1 and pyramiding so the single on all exercises 3x a week hits with monday being heavy day(90% of 1rm), wednesday light day(70% of 1rm) and friday being medium day(80% of 1rm).

I'll run it for 4-6 weeks with the goal of putting 10 or more pounds on all my sets of all exercises.

Then I think I will run the Bill Starr 5x5 with the heavy/light/medium setup for a phase of high volume for 4-6 weeks.

Then I'll go back and do another run or 2 of Madcow2's Dual-factor 5x5.

I'll weigh 250 by then easy.

As for you gaining bodyweight, you WILL!

But, this is the key. MAKE SURE YOU EAT ALOT! And I don't mean alot by your standards, but by anyone's standards practically. At your bodyweight I'd aim for 4000 calories a day with most of that being carbs, then protein then fats. Like 200 gram protein, 100 grams fat and 550-600 grams carbs. You will gain. It will be scientifically impossible not to gain. And try to get around at least 6 hours sleep a night minimum and 7 or more would be better. Then sleep 9-10 hours each day of the weekend to recover your minor sleep deficit from the week.

You can do it rob. EAT ALOT!!! SLeep as best you can. Train hard in the gym, but don't psyche yourself up.

And if you're seriously about gaining, I'd drop tumbling bro. Seriously. I know it's fun and spinning and flipping is fun, but it won't help your muscle gain. It might help a tad, but then again you'd better be EATING ALOT for it to actually help overall progress.

Godd luck bro.

 

[ghettostudmuffin]

4-22-05

I'm high off lifting from 420 haha...

Barbell Full Squat-warmups to 245x1x5
effort meter 3-4

Barbell Bench-warmups to 210x5x5
effort meter 3

DB row-80x1x5, 90x1x5

Damn, those 80's and 90's felt like nothing practically. I could row 100's now if I wanted to. The reason I did DB rows was because the gym was closing so I didn't have time to do 5x5 on barbell row and so I thought a couple sets of heavy db rows would be alright.

My technique on bench is continually improving. It's getting to the point where I can squeeze my ass hard, tense my legs, deep breath into stomache and then tighten and hold it, keep scapula retracted and try to spread the bar apart when pressing. It's kinda cool that I've got like 5 technique checkpoints that I can maintain without messing up my ability to actually press the weight. They add up and when you put them all together it feels great.

I had read about spreading the bar before, but not tried it. I was doing everything, "but that" until I tried it today and WOW does it make everything better. It feels like it makes the triceps fire more and it really boosts the weight past the sticking point. I didn't need much leg drive on my sets today because of the weight, but on my really heavy triples, spreading the bar, plus leg drive will really help them ALOT. It seems to work best when you're fresh like on your first rep or 2. It really just feels like it kicks your triceps into overdrive. IT RULES!

TECHNIQUE RULES!

LIGHTWEIGHT BABY! haha.....

 

[Madcow2]

Looks like things are going well. Glad you like it. You could also peak out your strength at the end this time. Go down to doubles, singles and thena psuedo competition day or week where you hit your best lifts. After that moving into another program like the original Starr routine, DFHT, Westside or anything else you care to dream up is probably a good idea. Spend some time there for a bit and then cycle into another DF 5x5 or something else. You might even spend some time doing more traditional higher rep training for 3-4 weeks or even a speed focused period. I don't believe that's the absolute best way to build muscle but over the course of a training year and optimizing your gains, you might find it very advantageous to build capacity at different points and then cycle back into more traditional training. Periodization and variety are good things - just not the way you generally see them applied in the gym.

 

[JohnRobHolmes]

im trying to work on my bench technique too, its a pretty involved motion if you really get into it.

for me, weight isnt really my goal- but i wouldnt mind ten pounds of muscle im just in it to have fun. dropping flippy spinny fun would be no fun!

 

[ghettostudmuffin]

4-25-05

Barbell Squat-warmups to 235x5, 245x2, 255x2, 265x1, 275x1

Barbell Bench-warmups to 250x2-coulda done 3, but I didn't have a spotter

Single arm DB rows-70x5, 80x4, 90x3, 97.5x3, 105x2

Good workout. I decided to veer off the DFHT because I need a change right now and feel like a period of heavier weight and lower reps is just right.

I don't know what's up with my rowing strength, but it has drastically increased!

BOO YAH!

 

[JohnRobHolmes]

i would like to see rows with the 105 dbs!

 

[ghettostudmuffin]

4-27-05

Barbell Squat-warmups to 225x1

DB Stiff-legged deadlift-95's x5, 105's x4, 115's x3, 125's x2, 135's x1

DB standing press-55's x3, 60's x3, 65's x2, 75's x2

Cable Pull-down-170x5, 190x4, 210x3

Nothing to failure. Good workout.

The 105's on DB row weren't bad at all. I could do 4-5 reps if I wanted to that day. I don't have a videocam or camera with snap shots and even if I did I'd feel like an ass doing it in my gym.

Take my word that I'm not lying and I wasn''t yanking the weight. Besides, I weigh like 235lbs easy now. I better be able to row some weight lmao!

 

[ghettostudmuffin]

4-29-05

Barbell Squat-warmups to 255x1

Barbell bench-warmups to 225x4

Ez-curl bar JS row-180x4-5

Ez-curl bar curl-115x1, pretty strict

Bodyweight 227lbs

Was a good workout. None of the sets were to failure. I was gonna just do a single with 225 on bench, but that didn't seem like enough with the tiny amount of volume.