"ATHLETIC LIFTING" tagio's workout journal

[Tagio]

Hello Elite, I learned a lot about lifting from discussions and links posted here - i would never have learned how to train properly without this site. So now that I finally have the discipline to stick to a regular program, I want to make my journal public to keep me honest about my workouts and hopefully entertain a few of you.

no photos right now but i'll post them eventually, dont have a camera and im not too fond of self-photo shoots

I'm 24 years old, a hair over 5'10", and weigh 185 lbs. i estimate my bodyfat at 11-12%, can see my abs/serratus/veiny forearms but still carrying a little softness especially over the lower abs. haven't measured any bodyparts but wear 33-34 size jeans (smallest waist size and lowest bodyfat i've been at since middle school, thanks to my diet which i've improved drastically in the last 6 months). will do some measurements when i get around to it.

my thighs, calves, glutes, erectors are nicely muscular, but im lacking in chest, lat, upper arm and trapezius development from a physique perspective. delts and forearms are pretty nice. this is reflected in my lifts as you'll see my lower body/posterior chain lifts are much stronger than my upper body lifts.

My main goal in lifting is developing explosive power and an excellent strength to bodyweight ratio. I would love to compete in olympic weightlifting and I plan to within the next 6 months to a year. I have had a few weeks of coaching in the form of the lifts but i'm training myself right now. I train in my basement/backyard and my equipment is a squat rack, a nice needle bearing bar, some cheap olympic bumpers, and standard iron plates. i do heavy oly lifts in the yard so i can drop heavy lifts without breaking anything

other goals from lifting include an athletic physique with sub-11% bodyfat and a huge vertical jump, both of which fit in nicely with the other goals.

I need to gain weight into the 94 kilo class to compete effectively in weightlifting, i'm too tall and wide-shouldered to be muscular at 185. so i need to gain about 20 lbs, but i plan to do this very slowly so i don't gain useless fat.

I'm just starting to train again after a long layoff after i graduated college. Here are some of my OLD pr's (weights i could probably not hit today), all set at around 190 lbs bodyweight

Front squat: 245 lbs, 4 reps
Back squat: 315 lbs x1 (oly style full range of motion)
Behind neck power jerk: 225 lbs
Split jerk: 205 lbs (weak arms!)
Power Clean: 205 lbs
Squat Clean: 245 lbs
Bench Press: 155x5 reps (LOL)
Overhead press: 135x2 reps
Pullups: 7 reps

these numbers are decent and i'm proud of all of them but i plan to surpass all of them within a month or two at most. you can see my upper body lifts are quite weak relative to the lower body and this is something i'm addressing in my current program. I'll end this post here because it's super long, and post my workout plan in the next one

 

[Tagio]

My plan is to lift in 6-week cycles to provide a simple form of periodization. Personally, I have a tendency to go balls to the wall and try to hit PRs every week without a structure, so i impose this cycle to encourage moderation during the early weeks at least. this should help me make more long term progress with less burnout/frustration.

Week 1 will be very conservative weights on all exercises, just going thru the motions with enough weight to practice the form effectively. the weight will increase on week 2,3, and 4, so that week 4 is quite difficult. week 5 will keep the weights pretty high but drop a lot of volume. then week 6 i will attempt a PR or goal weight in each workout.

I'm lifting 3 days a week, and adding other workouts in between as my tolerance and fitness allow, with some running and light assistance work.

This is the plan i started out with. I've modified it a bit as i went along. The goal of this cycle was to work on overhead strength which is a major weak link in my olympic lifting. I also wanted to emphasize the front and overhead squat because they require more stability and will help me build a base of stabilizer strength before i go on to heavy back squats, cleans, and snatches. I prioritized overhead strength by putting overhead exercises as the first exercises in each workout and overhead pressing twice a week.


Monday -

Overhead squat - increase reps or weight weekly, stay light to practice form

strict Overhead press for 4 sets of 7-8 reps, going for near-failure on last rep

Clean deadlifts - 'form work' with medium intensity and low volume. 5 sets of 3, not too heavy

Pullups, low rep day, 5-6 sets



Wednesday -

Olympic lifts

Drop snatches - practicing receiving the snatch (drop snatches start with the bar on the back, you pop it up minimally and jump under it in overhead squat position, then recover)

Clean and jerks - to highest weight that can be done without form breakdown

Back squats - moderate weight, lower rep sets



Friday -

highest intensity day

strict overhead press - 4-6 work sets of 4-5 reps, using a few heavier singles to warm up the nervous system.
Front Squats - 4-5 worksets of 3-5 reps using singles as above.

Snatch Deadlift - light, just for form work

Pullups - go for a new PR in total reps performed each week.

PR goals were to match or beat my old front squat PR of 245x4 reps, To powerclean and jerk 205 lbs, matching my old PR, and to overhead press 155lbs for reps - hopefully 4 or 5. I am in week 4 of the cycle now and the first two goals look very solid but the last is pretty iffy. i'm making good progress on the overhead press nonetheless so i won't rule it out just yet

I'll post the workouts i've completed next, with some comments.

 

[Tagio]

Monday Oct. 29

Overhead Squat - warmups, up to 85 lbs for 5 sets of 5, 1 set of 12

felt difficult, hard to balance, like the weight could fall forward or back in the bottom position. got in the groove toward the end and hit a set of 12 reps, nowhere near failure


OHP (overhead press) 85 lbs 4 sets of 7 -

i was near failure on the 7th rep of every set. quite weak but you work with what you've got


Clean deadlift 135x1, 155x1, 185x1, 135 for 3 sets of 5

185 actually felt pretty heavy. worksets were not hard.


pullups 6 sets of 2, not hard

workout was fun, nothing felt too fatiguing.

 

[Tagio]

Wednesday Oct. 31

Drop snatch - up to 115 for singles

felt scary at first but the form was solid after a long warmup. overhead support felt way stronger than monday's workout.

Power jerk - up to 105 for singles

form was pretty terrible, i can launch the weight easily but i wasn't coordinated properly dipping under. felt heavy on the chest for some reason.

Powerclean + powerjerk - 135 x 6 singles

cleans were ok, felt a bit heavy. jerks felt terrible, very heavy feeling on the chest before the jerk, wacky lockouts. the singles didn't really get harder as i did more of them, suggesting it's mostly poor form and efficiency making it feel hard.

Back squats - 5 set of 3 at 135

just easing back into squats, felt very solid. squats always feel very solid after oly lifts.

Pullups 5 sets of 3

not hard, did these in between squats

fun workout, drop snatches were pretty exciting and was able to increase the weight a bunch from monday

 

[Tagio]

Friday Nov. 2

this workout sucked, i really didn't want to work out at all on this night. but i stuck it out without pushing too hard and i was back on track by the next monday

OHP - 95 4 sets of 5 reps

5th rep pretty hard on all these sets.

Front Squat - 135 3 sets of 5 reps

every rep felt heavy and horrible

pullup 4 sets of 3 reps

these felt fine

snatch deadlifts with 65 lbs

did these just for practice in between pullups

crappy workout, nervous system was just dead for some reason this time

 

[Tagio]

Monday Nov. 5

Overhead squat - 105lbs, 5 sets of 5

20 lb increase in weight, and felt easier than the previous week. very cool

OHP 85 4 sets of 8

added 1 rep on each set, definite progress since i was so near failure the previous week. still near failure on rep 8 of every set though

pullups 6 sets of 3

added a rep to each set, not too hard

clean style deadlifts - singles up to 205x1, 155lbs for 3 sets of 5

worksets were a 20 lb increase from previous week, still felt easy. single at 205 felt heavy-ish.

good workout, progressed in every lift to some degree or other.

 

[Tagio]

Wednesday Nov. 7

Drop snatch - 135 for 5 singles

big 20 lb increase in this lift too! 135 felt heavy overhead but i didn't miss any reps. shoulders feeling not super great.

Powerclean + powerjerk - 155 x 5 singles

+20 lbs, 1 fewer single
cleans felt better than previous week, jerks felt a bit better but still very heavy on the chest. narrowed grip slightly on the clean which helped. not missing any reps but they feel forced and not too great in this workout.

Back squats - 5 set of 3 at 155

+20lbs, quite easy

Pullups 5 sets of 4

increased reps, did these in between squats. tiring but not too bad.

good workout, was proud of the drop snatches with 135 since my initial overhead squat workout only went up to 85 lbs!

 

[Tagio]

Friday Nov. 9

OHP - 115lbs 3 sets of 4 reps
115 2 sets of 3 reps

good increase in weight, but couldn't make sets of 5. failed on rep 4 of the 4th set, then did one more set of 3. very hard, but making progress.

Front Squat - up to 225x1
185lbs, 3 sets of 5
front squat strength went up drastically, single with 225 was hard but pretty solid. 5 rep sets of front squats take some willpower for me but the form didn't break down and speed was pretty good. very happy about this, bodyweight for reps

pullups 5/5/4/3

5 more total reps than previous week

snatch deadlifts with 65 lbs

great workout, wish progress was faster on presses but still happy. had sore tris the next day

 

[Tagio]

Monday Nov. 12

OHP
85lbs, 2 sets at 5 reps
1 set at 7 reps
1 set at 6 reps
105lbs, 2 sets of 5 reps

had trouble getting warmed up, felt very heavy, hit the 2 sets at 105 last. did presses first this time because i noticed shoulders were fatigued from overhead squats in previous workouts and i want to prioritize the press.

OHS
105 1 set of 5
115 3 sets of 5

10 lb increase but fewer sets. could have done more sets, but shoulders were bothering me a bit. squats themselves were quite solid.

pullups 6 sets of 3

clean deadlift, singles to 225 and then 175lbs for 3 sets of 5

worksets felt a little heavier than before (20 lbs added again) but very solid.

good workout, but getting some shoulder pain, hadn't figured out why at this point.

 

[Tagio]

Wednesday Nov. 14

Drop snatch - 135 4 singles, 155x1

shoulders were bothering me, but i made 155! felt 1 hair away from losing it but it was a solid rep. didn't try to repeat it but still a nice increase.

started raining so i couldn't do jerks. did some different clean variations with 135 - squat clean, hang squat clean, power clean, hang power clean.


Back squats - 3 sets of 2 at 225

did 245 for a single, then 3 doubles with 225. felt nice

pullups x6,x6

instead of going for total reps, i did 2 sets for max reps. i've done more before but this was ok for the end of a workout.

good workout, shoulders hurting but squats felt great.

 

[Tagio]

Monday Nov. 19

i thought about it and made a guess that the shoulder pain was caused by jerking the weight from behind the neck with a snatch grip (very wide grip). i was doing this to perform overhead squats and also drop snatches. so on this workout i did snatches instead, with some extra overhead squat reps. this turned out to work perfectly, my shoulders are completely back to normal now.

Overhead press
this is the beginning of week 4, which should be the highest volume week, so i did a lot of sets on overhead press.

95x5reps
115x4reps
95x5
115x1
95x5
115x1
95x5
95x5

muslces felt nicely fatigued by the end of this


Snatch
up to 105 for singles

did variations. power snatch, hang powersnatch, squat snatch, hang powersnatch, and some extra reps of overhead squats. i can hang powersnatch 105 easily but my form and overhead support are shaky enough that i didn't want to increase the weight. shoulders felt great, overhead support felt better than previous weeks. getting better at jumping right under the weight in overhead squat position.

pullups
6 sets of 3


deadlift
singles up to 245x1
205lbs, 3 sets of 5 reps

continued to add weight from previous weeks. getting harder but then that's the point! noticing some growth in my traps by this point

very good workout. i was really happy to fix the shoulder pain problem, i was afraid i'd have to cut my overhead work but in fact i just need to change my exercise selection a bit. no problem!

 

[Tagio]

Weds Nov. 21
Yesterday's workout outdoor workout with oly lifts

Snatch to 105 for doubles

same as monday but with more reps. grip felt a little tired after a bunch of sets and this always screws up my form - the weight feels heavy in my hands so i pull wrong. form was great until this happened though.

grip and bottom portion of deadlift are long-standing weak points for me, so i'll be prioritizing those in the next 6 week cycle. i don't use chalk or straps and i plan to keep it that way except to use chalk in competition or PR oly lift attempts. no reason my hands can't get stronger

Clean and jerks to 155

did a complex of 1 push press, 1 jerk with the weights starting at 135lbs. at 155 the jerk form still felt a bit wrong so i just did 2 push presses. when i do a push press, then a jerk, my jerk form is much improved so i'll be adding this exercise to my next cycle since jerks are a weak point for me.

went inside to finish workout:
SQUAT singles up to 275x1
FUCK YEAH. solid single, had more in the tank. i'm already close to my old P.R. of 315 after a month of training.

225x3
225x3
225x3
225x3
225x3

did lots of sets since this is my highest volume week in the cycle. last 2 triples took some willpower but bar speed was fine.

curls, hi rep presses with 65lbs (5 rep curl sets with little rest, 12 rep press sets)
wanted to work my bis and tris a bit since my upper arms are smaller than my forearms and i lack upper body strength. curls are not strict, using a bit of a rowing motion but not moving the legs or hips. will be doing random arm work at the end of workouts now.

wide pushup 4 set 5 reps - need some chest hypertrophy to provide a 'shelf' for my jerks and pushups are good for general athletic purposes. as you can see i can barely do any, i estimate 10 reps would be complete failure.

great workout, didn't feel demolished at the end of it but felt nicely fatigued all over. grip strength wore out quickly which is a sign of CNS fatigue, but this is good because i want to push a bit too hard this week, back off next week to recover and hit some PRs before starting a new cycle

 

[Tagio]

Haven't posted in a while but i've been working out, just finished my first 6 week cycle. here are the workouts I've been doing:

Friday Nov. 23

Push press to 165
Press 135 3 singles
115x5
115x5
115x4
115x4
95x5
95x5
95x4

high volume, trying to overreach a bit before my light week

front squat
245x1
225x2
225x2
185x4
185x4

same principle, some heavy weights then a lot of volume, trying to overreach a bit. first time front squatting 245 since i've been back training, felt heavy

 

[Tagio]

the following week i worked out with lower volume and did some random lifts. I didn't write down wednesday or friday but this was Monday, Nov. 26


Snatches with 135 several singles
Clean and jerk 135 5-6 singles
overhead press 65 3x8
curls (lol)
pullups 5,4

snatches felt good

weds and friday were similar, i did some benching and got up to 155x2. i'll be benching a lot in the next cycle so that gives me a good starting point. took it easy overall

 

[Tagio]

Monday December 3.

Attempted PRs in Overhead press, Overhead Squat and Clean deadlift

OHP
135x2
135x1
115x5
115x5
135x1
115x5

PR for volume, but unable to get the weights i was shooting for. I think training bench will help my triceps and delts grow a bit and i'll come back stronger on the press in the future.

powersnatch 135+5 rep OHS
squat snatch 135
squat snatch +4 ohs

highest powersnatch since i started lifting again, and PR on overhead squats for reps. 135x5 was my written goal out the beginning of this cycle and i managed it for 2 sets, very happy

pullups
x5
x5
x5
x5
in between deads

deadlift
315x1
315x1
225x2
135x5

pulled 2 singles with 315. this lift was not a priority in this cycle but i'm focusing on deadlifting in the next cycle and this gives me a starting point to work from.

awesome workout, started out crappy because i wanted bigger numbers on the press but overall i was very happy

 

[Tagio]

Wednesday December 5
Attempted Powerclean PR

Powerclean + Powerjerk
singles at
155, 185, 205
205 was my old PR in the powerclean AND the jerk - but i had never powercleaned AND jerked the weight before, I jerked it after a squat clean. This felt powerful and solid. This lift was one of my written goals when i began the program 6 weeks ago.

squat clean 225x1, x1
form sucked on the first one, second one was hard to stand up but form was good. my squat strength isn't quite up to par yet.

Back Squat Singles at 135, 185, 225, 245, 275, 295,

then 225x2, 225x2

295 was heavy but went up. old PR is 315, i'll be back there soon

press 65x12
snatch grip row 65x12

a little high-rep stuff to get the blood flowing

great workout.

 

[Tagio]

Friday November 7
felt a bit burned out after the two max effort sessions earlier this week but i stuck it out. goal for this session was matching my old front squat personal best, 245lbsx4 reps

power Snatch 135x1
snatch 135x1
this weight is getting easier, feels better in my hands. felt fatigued early, drained a bit from monday and weds.

front squat 135x2, x2, 185x1, x1, 225x1, x1, 245x4

almost called it a day after the single with 185, but i took a break, had a snack and came back at it and got my target weight. last 2 reps weren't too pretty. this set was a really intense effort lol

snatch grip rows (touching sternum with short pause) 85 a few sets of 7 or 8
reverse curls 65 lbs a few sets of 5
curls 45 lbs 2 sets of 8 ish
ohp 65x8 2 sets
(all barbell lifts)
some upper body high-rep work, got a nice little pump going lol

This was the last workout of my first 6-week cycle. overall it's been quite successful. the only goal i didn't make was my overhead press PR, and I still made good progress on that lift. I've added some muscle all over my body, i'm espeically noticing it on my shoulders, traps, upper back/lat area, and forearms. weight is up to 188.5 and my pants fit the same so i'm gaining some muscle and minimal fat. i plan to keep gaining weight slowly over the next 6 weeks. i'll only cut back on food if i notice disproportionate fat gain. I'll post up my program for the next 6 weeks soon

 

[Tagio]

6-Week Cycle #2

Monday:

Bench Press, 3-5 sets of 5-8 reps, alternating (slightly) wider and narrower grip from week to week

Snatch doubles or Snatch followed by overhead squat reps

Snatch grip deadlifts, 3 sets of 8 reps

Barbell Rows 3x8
OHP 2x15


Wednesday:

Complex of 1 push press, 1 power jerk, working up to 4-8 singles

One 'weird' exercise - barbell Turkish getup, One hand Snatch, walk for distance with weight overhead, anything like that

Some variation of cleans with box jumps in between sets

Back Squats 5 sets of 3

pullups in between squats

Friday:

warmup for the snatch
Bench 5 sets of 3
Snatch for singles (3-6 singles)
Clean deadlift 5 sets of 3 or 4 sets of 4
Rows 2 sets of 8
OHP 2 sets of 12

 

[Tagio]

Came up with some goal lifts for this cycle:

225 power jerk
405 clean grip deadlift
225 bench
175 snatch

These would all be true PRs for me, more than i've ever lifted before, and they're pretty ambitious but I think i'll get them.

2 workouts to post:

Monday December 10

bench
105x8
105x8
105x8
105x8

lots of reps because i've never done this lift with much frequency and my body is still figuring out how to do it efficiently. slowing down on last reps of every set but that's normal for me if i lift above 4-5 reps. felt fine, will increase weight next week and probably drop 1 set


powersnatch-squat snatch-3ohs
complex lift: one powersnatch, one squat snatch, 3 reps overhead squat

5 sets with 115

working on the snatch technique and building up the support muscles, as opposed to friday when i do snatches for heavier singles

snatch grip deadlift
135x8
135x8
135x8

started with a conservative weight. these are a great workout, i had more in the tank but i've never deadlifted with as much volume as i plan to in this cycle so i'm giving myself a chance to adapt. I'm doing these with a controlled negative and barely touching the ground, maintaining tension through the whole lift to try and build some isometric strength at the bottom and do a little bodybuilding style hypertrophy training (got a good pump in the erectors)

barbell row
95x8
95x8
95x8

pulling with clean grip to the sternum, near failure on last rep of last set

ohp
65x15
65x10

just getting a burn going

curl
65x8
DONE

fun workout

 

[Tagio]

Wednesday December 12

Push press, Push jerk
complex lift, 1 push press, 1 jerk. actually ended up doing 1 push press, 2 jerks. will lower reps if the weight gets too heavy for doubles.
I'm working the jerk separately this cycle because it lags behind my clean.
did 135 lbs for 5 sets of 1 push press +2 power jerks

Hang squat clean
worked the squat clean because my brother needed some work on the form, did hang squat cleans since i'm pulling from the floor on my monday and friday workouts.

2 doubles at 135
2 doubles at 155
2 singles 175
2 singles 185

these felt powerful and solid. will attempt to hang powerclean these weights next week, then hang squatclean greater weights the following week

one hand snatch 65 lbs, 2 reps each side, 4 sets
these are fun and really make you get full extension on your pull

back squat 5 sets of 3, 225 lbs
felt kinda slow, we didn't do a heavier single before our worksets this time and i think it slowed us down a bit but nothing too bad.
DONE

awesome workout, just feeling way stronger overall