A LIfter's Iron Log...

[JohnRobHolmes]

yeah, legs are my favorite day. i notice many people just do legs to keep it all balanced. i saw this guy in the gym today. total upper body guy, plus he was crazy- talking and laughing to people that werent there, and following poeple from machine to machine.

ghetto, your turning into a HOSS man!! keep it up! you have one intense schedule. now i know why you eat so much damn protein!

 

[ghettostudmuffin]

Thanks man. Ya, I HAVE to eat alot to grow and recover optimally.

 

[ghettostudmuffin]

10-25-04

Chest Day

Bench press warmups-170x10x3 solid
dumbell bench 65's x1x11
Barbell incline 135x1x12
New cable flye contraption 50x1x10

Incline situp/crunch-higher notch at about 45 degree angle now, BW+25x1x8
Cable crunch 90x1x25+

Felt strong in the workout, especially on bench and incline. DB's went good. Going up to 67.5's next workout. I'm gonna make it a habit to only go up in weight on an exercise if I can get my target reps 2 workouts in a row. I want to progress as fast as possible, but I don't want to be greedy and overwhelm my body's ability to adapt to the weights. Was supposed to do 130 on the inclines, BUT I just felt like 135 and I hit max reps with 1 to spare. Will stay at 135 again next workout, then go up 5lbs the next.

The new cable contraption machine felt good. I'll stick with it. It's a little smoother and I ca nadjust teh pulle yto be at shoulder heigth and behind me to simulate a flat style flye better.

Feel good after workout. Not tired, but feel a little worked which is about perfect overall. I know I either pushed my sets too hard, moved too fast between sets and exercises, or did TOO much if I feel tired and spent after a workout. Stimulate, not annihilate I think Lee Haney said, and I wholeheartedly agree.

All in all, excellent workout, but I expect nothing less. After all, I am Superman(it's a state of mind, I know I'm not really Superman, or am I?). haha!

 

[gjohnson5]

Ya, you're only as strong as what you can grip ie., pick up with your hands.

Actually I do about 15 warmup singles, then my working sets consist of 6 singles with the same weight. I think it works AWESOME for strength. So far of the methods I have used I think this is the best for building squat strength, but that just may be for me. I don't like anything over 3 reps for squats.

As a bonus it happens to build my quads like no other, but everyone responds differently and I can't guarantee other's would get good hypertrophy off squat singles.

And the singles obviously aren't max singles. I would estimate my max singles at about 30lbs more than what I do for 6 singles.

AAh , this is what you mean by grip. I understand where you're coming from better now. When I think of grip , you don't have to actually pick it up , because at this point endurnace comes into play. In some cases picking something up with your hands doesn't necessaryily mean you have good grip strength. Palming a basketball for instance means that your fingers have the length to GRIP the basketball but it isn't a measure of strength as it takes very little strength to grip the bball. Do you understand where I'm coming from?

 

[gjohnson5]

AAh , this is what you mean by grip. I understand where you're coming from better now. When I think of grip , you don't have to actually pick it up , because at this point endurnace comes into play. In some cases picking something up with your hands doesn't necessaryily mean you have good grip strength. Palming a basketball for instance means that your fingers have the length to GRIP the basketball but it isn't a measure of strength as it takes very little strength to grip the bball. Do you understand where I'm coming from?

Do you consider picking up an atlast stone a measure of grip strength?

 

[ghettostudmuffin]

Picking up an atlas stone is an excellent test of grip stregnth imo. A weird one too. I haven't picked up any atlas stones, but I have picked up some +150 smooth rounded boulders and I could not get a grip on anything so I had to spread my fingers and really pull the rock against me. A bitch of a grip strength test imo. My forearms and finger extensors ached for days after the first time I lifted several smooth boulders.

Grip strength to me is very heavy farmer's walks, thick bar cleans and deads, atlas stones and smooth boulders, picking up heavy sandbags, smooth side out plate pinches, plate curls, COC grippers, bending nails, heavy one arm deadlifts etc. That's what I think of when I think of grip strength. Stuff that requires above average lifter grip strength to do and that takes training to build up to.

 

[gjohnson5]

Picking up an atlas stone is an excellent test of grip stregnth imo. A weird one too. I haven't picked up any atlas stones, but I have picked up some +150 smooth rounded boulders and I could not get a grip on anything so I had to spread my fingers and really pull the rock against me. A bitch of a grip strength test imo. My forearms and finger extensors ached for days after the first time I lifted several smooth boulders.

Grip strength to me is very heavy farmer's walks, thick bar cleans and deads, atlas stones and smooth boulders, picking up heavy sandbags, smooth side out plate pinches, plate curls, COC grippers, bending nails, heavy one arm deadlifts etc. That's what I think of when I think of grip strength. Stuff that requires above average lifter grip strength to do and that takes training to build up to.

During High School we used to grip eachother hand trying to hurt the other guy. You know you have a good grip when you can make people tap.

You idea of grip is more broad and general whereas my idea of grip is very specific

 

[ghettostudmuffin]

I don't consider someone to have a strong grip unless it is strong in multiple areas. Crushing, pinching and holding basically.

 

[ghettostudmuffin]

10-26-04

Back day

Dumbell Stiff-legged deadlift, warmups-85's x1x14, coulda done 15, but nah, didn't feel like it

Wide grip pulldown 140x1x12
Dumbell row 65's x1x13
Close grip pulldown 150x1x8-9
barbell row 145x1x10
Dumbell row 50's x1x15
Cable row 150x1x12
Barbell shrug 205x1x15
Hammer Shrug 270x1x20
30 degree incline dumbell shrug 75'sx1x15
Wide grip lat pulldown shrugs for lats 160x5-180x10-15, 1 set
Hanging leg raise hold for 10-15 seconds, then 4-5 leg raises, then 4-5 knee ups, 1 set

Good workout. Felt strong. Feel good after. Left the gym with some left in me, just the way I like it.

Gonna increase wide pulldowns to 150, dumbell rows to 67.5, BB row to 150, barbell shrug to 215, hammer shrug to 290 next workout.

I am very happy with my workout today, as usual. Pimp juice, baby.

 

[ghettostudmuffin]

10-28-04

Shoulders and Arms day

Felt like something different today.

Barbell clean and press 65x3, 75x3, 85x3, 95x3, 105x3, 115x3, 125x2, 135x2
Barbell push press 145x1, 155x1, 165x1
Barbell C+J 175x1, 185x1, 195x1, I could prolly jerk 225lbs if I could clean the weight up, but my technique SUCKS and I pretty much brute strength it up lol. 205lbs is my max clean for now.

Dumbell laterals 27.5's x1x12
one arm laterals 25x1x15

Barbell curl 80x4x4
elbows out DB extensions 32.5's x1x10-12
Alt. DB curls 27.5's x1x9-10
Close grip bench 135x1x15
Hammer curls 30's x1x10
Skullcrushers to chin 85x1x11-12
triceps pushdown(different machine) 90x1x10+

45 degree angle incline situp/crunch BW+25x1x8 solid
cable crunch 100x1x15

Felt strong. Good workout. Still had some gas in the tank when I left the gym which is how I like it. Gotta build up, not tear down, baby. Hard workout, but not too hard. Use same weights next workout for laterals, and arm exercises.