Duke's Weight Lifting Journal

[duke of angels]

I'm new to the board and have only made a couple posts, but I've been reading and there's a lot of good people on here and I decided to join the community.

Short History of my weight training experience:

I was 19 years old, shy to join a gym and wanted to start weight lifting and I didn't know what to do. Talked to a friend joined his gym and started weight lifting. Soon he stopped showing up, but all I needed was someone to help me walk in the front door and get me started, I was addicted. In highschool I was skinny at 171 with no six pack, but when I started lifting I was 220 and that was not added muscle for sure. In 4-5 months of weight lifting with no supplements and a low calorie diet with minimal cardio and weight lifting 4-6 times a week I had a 6 pack at 196 pounds for the first time in my life. Now I've read posts saying muscle gain and weight loss of this much is impossible without juicing/supplements, but obviously not when someone is 19 years old. Granted I was weak for my size, perhaps from lack of strength from the low calorie diet... I had added a lot of hard tone muscle. I did buy a bunch of supplements, but I never used them because I read they were a bunch of hype anyhow and I didn't need them. After my consistent phase I've been on and off for the last 4 years, but recently for the last month and a half am back where I want to be in terms of getting to the gym.

Current Stats and Training:

Male
23
6'3
215 Pounds

First I started off with hard cardio and some weight lifting, slow with good technique and lighter weights, but I always lift to muscle failure because that I what I love to do. Low calories for some weight loss as well. My heart rate quickly reached 50 bpm resting and my blood pressure was dropping which is a good sign I'm getting into good shape again. I dropped to 207 pounds. Then I opened up all my old supplements and used to board to figure out what worked and didn't work and bought some vitamins (fatty acids (EPA DHA), a multi (Mega Men), and am taking L-Carnitine (dunno if this does anything, but it was cheap and for fat loss support), and Glocosomine Condrotin. I started a creatine cycle and protein supplementation a couple weeks ago and upped my colorie intake as well. Most of my supplements are from my old supply and about to expire! I'm also using creatine and protein from muscletech (I know you guys rip the shit out of muscletech, but it's the stack I'm sticking with until it's gone, then I may consider something else). First time I used creatine I hated it and soon went off, perhaps I wasn't in good enough shape. This cycle I am doing well... no dehydration, and since it has clinical support I'm sure it's doing something! I got some Biotech ZMA as well... I figured what the heck, some of you guys like it and it's doing no good in the bottles. Other then that I have a bunch of useless supps that will remain in bottles (glutomine NOS powder and HMB). Already gained 8 pounds back, I'm sure some is water weight from creatine though because my fat percentage appears the same or lower.

After my muscle packing phase I plan on getting back down to a six pack again... my last lift was last thursday and all my muscle groups are still a lil sore. My upper body will be ready for another go tomorrow for sure, probably my legs too, and the last Firday and Saturday I did stairs and other warm-ups for exercise and then stretched. Sunday I did nothing. Today I will probably to stairs/warm-ups/stretching again and lift tomorrow.

What I did to destroy my body last time:

Running 30 minutes with 5 minute cooldown. Average 8:45 mph pace.

WeightxReps
Squat 150x22
Dumbbell Press 55-80-75x10-8-8
One-Arm Dumbbell Row 40-60-55x10-8-8
Lat Pulldown 120-160-140x10-8-8
Dumbbell Military Press 35-45-40x10-8-8
Cable Standing External Rotation 35x8
Cable Standing Internal Rotation 20x10
Cable One Arm Pushdown 25x8
Lever Seated Fly 190-175x6-8
Leg Extension 130x12
Seated Leg Curcle 130x11
Lver Seated Hip Adduction 225x10
Lever Seated Hip Abduction 225x10
One-arm curl 45x8
Short Rest...
Concentration curl 30x7
Back Extension 10
Decline Abdominal Crunches 22
Side Bend 50x20
Shoulder Shrug 55x20
Dips 14 (no reason for dips last... its on the way out of the gym and works a special area of the pecs compared to other chest lifts... and I LOVE THEM so the more rest after the big movements the better.)

That is pretty close to the order I did them in. The big movements at the start had rest and significant stretching in between and I alternated Push Pull sets for even more rest in between. The rest of the exercises I did not rest, I just put other movements in between and stretching when I felt tight. All lifts were too muscle failure except warm-ups and back extension. I want to add dead lifts after my squats but was waiting for flexiblity/strength to return somewhat... I may not need the one-arm dumbbell rows if I add deads, least I won't need a warm-up set and two muscle failure sets. Right after the work out I was shaking as I sat down to eat I also found it difficult to eat, but I downed my stack and some dinner right afterwards and felt sick, but my body rebounded in about 15 minutes and I felt very good! I am still sore... and this after a month and a half of training!

Not sure how often I'll post updates but I'm sure I will to pass the information along and to keep me motived... I have 6-10 weeks left of this phase in my training depending on how I feel so it should be interesting to see how the gains come along. I have to count my colories better but I'm pretty sure I'm averaging 2.5k - 3.5k depending on how I feel and what I do. Meals every three hours. And I adjust for cardio/lifting weights, but make sure to stay in the positive or slight positive and keep track of my weight. Hit 216 a couple days ago but today 213 as I ate less from no cardio or working out/minimal activity.

 

[duke of angels]

Today's Exercise:

Well my legs were not 100% so I decided I'll do them seperately tomorrow.

I did stairs for 15 minutes, and other warm-ups for 5 and stretched. Got to Gym... did 7:30 mile 3 minute cooldown. Assholes sat on benches talked for 15 minutes in between seets so I ran another 8:00 minutes mile 3 minute cooldown.

WeightxReps
Dumbbell Press 55-85 -80 x10-8-8 (7th rep at 85 was sloppy but 8th was perfect)
One-Arm Dumbbell Row 40-65 -60 x10-8-8
10 minute break. Downed some old Cytomax I had (150 calories). Only difference from the routine before.
Lat Pulldown 120-170 -160 x10-8-8
Dumbbell Military Press 35-50 -50 x10-9-8
Cable Standing Internal Rotation 35x8
Cable Standing External Rotation 15x10 (Dropped weight due to bad form)
Cable One Arm Pushdown 20x10 (Dropped weight due to bad form)
Lever Seated Fly 190x9
(Reminder to add back fly... damn wanted to do that!!!)
One-arm curl 45x5 (last weeks weight should be 40...!)
Decline Abdominal Crunches 33 (will increase decline)
Side Bend 50x22
Concentration curl 30x9
Shoulder Shrug 55x22
Dips 16

Bold indicates increase in weight or reps.

Tomorrow I will do my squats (I'm pretty sure I could bump squats by 10 pounds but I'm adding the minimum I can each work out which is 5 pounds... I'll continues this until I am unable to get 20 reps then drop again. I'll also add deadlifts tomorrow at a light weight and practice perfect form (my back will be tired... this is one reason and another is I haven't done them in a while!). May have to buy some cytomax as a mid workout drink because this is a long set... today I didn't have the shakes like last time, but downing the shakes aftwards was still hard. For pre-drink i drank a big glass of cool-aid whish was 450 calories. (30 minutes before stairs...) Starting to get my diet together, I may have been eating too little, but today I will be at least 3k by my estimation.

 

[duke of angels]

Legs 4-6-2006

Good day at the Gym... warm-up was stairs on home for 20 and some jumping jacks and stretching. Waited 15 - 20 minutes for the power rack while using an eliptical on EZ (heart rate 120...) and stretching a bit.

Was happy to see some people doing squats but they were retarded.... first kid goes up 135x5 225x5 315x5... I'm guessing on the first two sets but I watched the last one. I noticed his knees were coming inward BIG TIME and his heals were coming of the ground a inch or two despite the fact he was wearing running shoes with a raised heal already...... Later some friends of his came in and I overhear "My knees are killing me..." NO SHIT!!! Dumbass...

Other guy I waited for was a 50% body fat 300+ pound dude who does 135x2 then 225x2 and 315x2... If he's that weak or his cardio is that bad, he should be doing squats without weight!!! Advice: Get in shape BEFORE working the biggest muscle group in your body as hard as you can possibly work it.

And I bought a nutrition book and I'll start putting down a new nutrition fact everyday for fun... still working on a more solid diet plan to work with school, but for now I just stay way from the high saturated fat and try to get either fruits, veggies, lean meat, or high carb. There's no way in hell I need extra fat or sugar in my diet...

Why carbs are good!!!

Over eating on mainly carb diet of the same caloric intake as a high fat diet will result in significantly less fat gained. As an athlete increasing carbs results in a higher metabolism and more stored glucose in the muscles. (I might expand/add referances later but I don't have the book on me!)

Work-out:

Warmup
Squat 155x22
Deadliift 135x8 (Setting bar down in between reps and resetting myself for technique. I'm much more flexible and stronger then when I last tried them, was great for the first go.)
Leg Extension 135x12
Seated Leg Curl 135x12
Lever Seated Hip Adduction 250x12 (not going for muscle failure on these anymore... I'll max the stack and just go for 12's...)
Lever Seated Hip Abduction 250x14 (ditto)
Back Extension 10
Decline Abdominal Crunches 28 (added two plates for increased incline...increase incline I believe I will use the other incline abdominal crunch bench available because it can be increased without plates...)
Side Bend 55x24 (Going to increase to 60 and just do 20... these seem easy now and muscle failure and muscle failure may be bad for my back...)

Other notes: SQUAT (adjusted how far I went down after watching Guiness5.0 (http://www.elitefitness.com/forum/showthread.php?t=471542) do squats and how fluid they were. I was testing my flexibility before and what I've read is stay 2 inches ABOVE your limit. For me I was trying to go slightly below parallel but my limit is about an inch or 2 below parrelel so my though in my head right now is to keep them fluid without feeling any stretch or knees coming in or weight shift to at all! Before I would feel my weight start shift or knees start to come in on some reps because I was so close my my limit on flexibility. My main effort this week will be in focusing on increase this specific area of my flexibilty. Also got me a pair of Chuck Taylor's and they are 100% better for squats...

 

[silver_shadow]

nice touch on the fun fact... k

 

[nelmsjer]

Welcome!

1) Adduction/Abduction exercises are unnecessary, especially since you are deadlifting and squatting.

2) Why 20+ reps? Are you specifically working on endurance and slower-twitch muscle fibers? Is this just part of a larger periodization scheme?

3) Politely, where in the world did you read to stay 2 inches above your limit? For your knees, concentrate on spreading them wide, and your "knee travel" should be a thing of the past.

 

[duke of angels]

Overall scheme of my program is to increase my squat 5 pounds every time I lift unti I can't (which may be a very long time). Other areas of my program mean nothing compared to the squat and those may change as I see fit for variation and to keep things interesting.

I'm doing 20+ reps for several reasons:

1.) Remember reading something about 20-rep squats being a huge deal for gaining muscle mass. I don't remember the resource, but I do believe there is credibility from actually training programs where people made gains. Some more research should definetly be done on my part...

2.) My technique is far from perfect and my flexibility is far from being ideal, if I get out of form on a rep, I'll have less weight to destroy myself with.

3.) Less stress on ligaments and joints even with good technique.

4.) I like it!

Not sure about the fibers and weight lifting, but what I've read does not indicate there being much, if any, difference between higher rep and lower rep in terms of muscle growth or amount sets for that matter. Certainly it makes sense higher weight will get your ligaments and joints use to pushing the weight and for competing power lifters it prepares them for competition, but I'm not looking for either at this point in my training having only about 1 month and half under my belt this time around. If I were to make an educated guess on fibers... a 20-rep squat works my muscles way harder then sprinting which is fast-twitch, and what I remember reading on muscle composition is it's highly genetic. (I'll have to check, read it a long time ago... Lore of Running is the book title though...).

I'll give you the resource on the 2 inches above limit... but to clarify it's two inches above the limit where a person's flexibilty starts to affect technique. Mainly the text refers to the limit where a persons back starts to round, but instead of letting my back round I go to my toes or knees start come in because back is my main focus. I can really start to feel a stretch when I'm about 2-4 inches below parallel and something has to give! I may have to work on my stance, but I don't think it's the main problem.

And your are certainly right about the hip abductors and hip adductors... I may just drop them from my program all together, but it seemed like a good idea to get my stabilizers a little extra starting out (who knows if it helped). Besides I should leave those machines empty for all the women in my gym... they seem to love them!

 

[nelmsjer]

It's good to see you have the concept of progression. For now, I won't argue with your 20-rep scheme. As you become more experienced (NOT intended to be a negative!) and get the consistency back under your belt, you'll want to change up.

But for now, adding 5 lbs. every time until you can't sounds great. Keep at it!

 

[duke of angels]

Alright workout done yesterday:

Didn't feel spectacular but I wanted to go rather then waiting until today. Will have two days off of solid rest today and Monday.

30 minute run 5-minute cool-down. 9 minutes per mile pace (that is what I meant above as well not mpm not mph!).

Squat 160x22 (by far the easiest lift of all today! Seems to be getting easier and easier... and my form is improving. I think I could have done two more reps, but I'm suppose to be doing 20 rep squats... I will keep the progression going steady (don't want to stall out too early). Just so you guys know I started at 115x20 which was muscle failure. As for my other lifts I will continue to play around with them and learn new one's. Any suggestions on compound lifts to learn or try out would be beneficial . Really just aiming to learn right now and establish a base for new program designs. I'll probably switch things up after about 4-8 more weeks and start some sort of progression with my other lifts. (Can't start a progression with no idea what I like, and without technique being somewhat solid).

Deadlift 135x5 30 second rest 135x5 (this was killer definetly felt it in the lower back, just going to progress on this by doing more sets/reps for now). I'm using "sumo" style where my arms are between my legs as it is much more comfortable for me.

Dumbbell Press 25-50-85-80x5-4-6-6 (changed my technique, warm-up, and less rest in between sets. Also did one exercise at a time today. So less reps as a result.)

One-Arm Dummbell Row 40-65-60x5-9-8 (gain on my back despite being less powerful today and with less energy. This is similiar to before when I started lifting, my back lacked at first, but gained strength quite fast.)

Dumbbell Military Press 35-50-50x5-9-6 (despite less reps on the second set I consider this a gain because I almost got the 10th rep... got stuck in the sticking point, just lacked power today. Still had strength though.)

Lat Pulldown 120-170-160x5x10x8 (another gain in back, but I was playing with grips. Normally use a medium pronated grip... I used a medium suppinated which felt good exept at the top of the movement, I could not straiten my elbows without it feeling "uncomfortable". Which is how I felt last time I tried it... I then tried a close grip slightly suppinated parallel for the last set (close-grip and parallel are both not ideal!). I think I will start doing suppinated with light weights until I figure out what is causing the discomfort (perhaps a flexibility issue or just something I'm not used to) and do my high weights with pronated because that is comfortable for me.

Decided I was tired and wanted to eat so I ended my exercise there...

Dips 14 on the way out.

Two days of rest should do me good.

EDIT:

Doh: Forgot to add something interesting !!!

Ok I was researching sports drinks and performance during the workout... seems like a little sugar helps and a lot of sugar can be bad. The longer and more cardio the workout is the more sugar helps. Seems like the amount of sugar is debatble but my Total Nutrition books suggests 2.5 percent for fluid replacement because sugar will cause fluids to be absorbed slower.

Also found a complex PDF here...http://docstore.ingenta.com/cgi-bin....ingentaconnect.com/error/delivery&format=pdf. They use grams per liter... and here I am trying to compare the two sources with obtuse units!!!

Then I got to thinking... what does 2.5% sugar mean??? So I looked around at how people are calculating percent sugar content... seems like I need to convert the ounces of water to weight and then dived the grams of sugar by the total weight... 1 gram = .034 fluid onces... damnit why can't we use metric all ready!!! So I'm planning on using cytomax which contains 11g of sugar per serving... formula would be (sugar (g))/((Water (oz))/.034))*100. So if I use 16 oz of water it'd be 11g/(16oz/.034)*100 = 2.34. Right on the money .

 

[duke of angels]

9/12

30-minute run

Squat 165x22 (Easy)
Deadlift 135x7 135x7
Dumbbell Press 25-50-85-80x5-4-7-7
One-Arm Dumbbell Row 40-65-60x5-9-9
Military Press 50-50x11-6
Lat Pulldown 120-180-160x5-8-7 (intrestingly enough I was able to do all my lifts today suppinated comfortably...)
Abdominal Cruch 14 (increased incline... this hurt!!)
Dip 14

Was getting sick (probably was the cause of my lack of power last workout) and still am sick. Missed working out on Tuesday due to busy schedule, I suppose the three days off gave me some needed R&R but I fellt good to go on Tuesday. Anyways not much lost time since Wednesday's workout went very well for having a sinus infection!! I should get better soon (second time this relapsed. I grabbed anti-biotics the first two times... gonna let myself take care of it this time so it's gone for good, I'm in much better health then the last two times in January...).

Interesting Fact

hmm this is good. "A 2002 study in the British Journal of Sport mecine found that your "join position appreciation"-coordination, in other words-increases when you warm up. The warm-up in this study was just four minutes long and included jogging and stretching." A good reason for you guys to get in the treadmill for a short jog before squatting! It's only 4 minutes .

 

[Jim Ouini]

Nice journal. I like the factoids. I do a 5 minute recumbent bike ride before my workout, I just write down my weights, sets and reps. And watch the guys flinging themselves around the racquetball court.