zxe003 training journal

[WalkingBeast]

Damn brother!! I keep my eye off your journal for a second and your FUCKING throwing 275 up on the militaries for reps. Looking strong! Ive done the 100's for reps, but have never done much on freeweight barbell militaries. Feel alot of pressure on the collar bone and low back when I do them. The dumbells feel more natural for me. With a little dumbell practice youll be repping the 120's easy! Keep KILLING that shit!!

 

[zxe003]

Right on bro...thanks. It's weird cuz I feel like all these strength increases are like a fluke or something, and they're gonna just drop off all of the sudden. But until that day comes....I'm gonna just keep on trying to KILL THAT SHIT!

 

[zxe003]

Went to see the doctor on Tuesday and it's confirmed...I have tendonitis in my left elbow. He prescribed me ibuprofen and said basically to take it as needed. This sucks, cuz now I know that I'm actually gonna have to baby this shit for the rest of my life. Luckily my triceps respond pretty well to even minimal stimulation, but it still sucks that I'm gonna have to stay moderate on what I do for direct tricep work. My pressing movements (chest and shoulders) don't seem too effected by it as long as I get a good high rep warm-up set in before jumping into it. Took the last 3 days off, will be hitting up shoulders today.

 

[zxe003]

Thursday 09/02/2004

Took 3 unscheduled days off from the gym and suffered for it. My body is extremely dependent on routine. I can usually take 3 days off during the weekends after I've hit each muscle group for the week, but if I try to do that during the middle of the week, my body gets all out of wack. I had to modify my shoulder routine a lot today in order to get an effective workout as well as guard against injury. Today was a lot less weight and a lot less volume. Kept rest periods very short and kept the pump going all the way through. Overall, still made it a good workout, but just did not feel up to par.

Shoulders

(Warm-Up) Arnold Presses
45'sx15
55'sx12

Bb Military Press
135x20 (warm-up)
225x7
225x8
225x8
155x12 *light, slow/strict set. went really deep on these, and super slow
155x8 *super slow again...delts were fried.

Bb Upright Rows
135x12
135x10 *right delt started to get a "warning" pain. didn't actually hurt it, but it felt like if I pushed my front delts any more, that an injury would ensue.

Bent Over Db Side Laterals (rear delts)
35'sx10
35'sx10
40'sx8

Reverse Peck Decks (rear delts)
120x8
120x8
120x8
135x6

Traps

Machine Shrugs (plate loaded)
8plts (360)x10
10plts (450)x10
10plts (450)x8
*2 sec hold at top of each rep, 10 sec hold on last rep of each set.

 

[WalkingBeast]

Right on bro...thanks. It's weird cuz I feel like all these strength increases are like a fluke or something, and they're gonna just drop off all of the sudden. But until that day comes....I'm gonna just keep on trying to KILL THAT SHIT!

I know what you mean. When I recently increased my reps and one rep max on the bench I thought it would only be temporary, cuz of the low dose of M1T I took for 2 weeks. But then after I went off the stuff I continued to gain strength. It seems once you hit a number on a lift, you can reach it again much easier, and maintain it as well. Atleast this seems true for me. One reason PR's are so meaningful in my mind. Another stepping stone. My chest strength will decrease at a rapid rate if Im not ontop of it though. I probabally wont get the chance to train it this week due to this hurricane. I might be able to hit it on tuesday. I might also sneak into my community gym and mess with the machines added with some push-ups, in the hopes of atleast maintaining. Ill be concentrating on eating while Im locked in my house. Cops are out looking to arrest anyone who is outside. Curfew. Kinda fucked up. Sorry to hear about that tendonitus. I would like to get some tests run too. Im sure Ive got some shit myself. It only hurts you on triceps?
I have the same problem with both elbows. Aside from tricep work Im fine though. Its mainly on freeweight triceps that the pain gets worst. Keep KILLING that shit brother!!

 

[zxe003]

Yeah, the strength is maintaining so far...but we'll see. As for my elbow...it aches a lot and when I try to do pushdowns or something, I'm okay as long as I have like 2 or 3 light ass warm up sets of like 15-20 reps each. I don't know if it's that the pain becomes less or if I just start to tolerate it better once I get into my workout. Freeweights, which I used to love to do (skullcrushers and overhead extensions)...forget about it. Not only is it painful, but I get that feeling that I'm gonna make it a lot worse if I keep trying. Like I said though, pressing movements are cool. I think I'm gonna start doing more cg bench for the tris. Thanks for the encouragement bro.

 

[zxe003]

Monday 09/06/2004

Fucking pathetic! Missed hella days of training this last week and got shitfaced on Saturday at my boy's bachelor party. Then spent most of Monday at Stinson beach with a bunch of friends, swimming and body surfing.....after all this (and barely eating all weekend) I thought I would train later that night at 100%....not quite. Some of my friends like to train in their garage so I decided I'd go and lift with them for a change. All their weights combined, only added up to 300lbs. but it didn't matter cuz I wasn't even able to hit it for more than 4 reps. Fuckin weak. I hope this is just because of all of the last weeks activities (or inactivities). The other thing that kinda sucked was that all they really had was an adjustable bench, and their Db's were too light so all we really got to do was flat and incline Bb bench. Didn't have much more time for anything else either because there were 5 of us lifting.

Chest

Bb Flat Bench
135x20 (warm-up)
225x12
300x4 *was pissed off at not making reps, so dropset to 275 and finished.
275x4
275x6
255x6 *felt like I was just getting weaker as I went along.

Incline Bb Press
225x8
225x8
225x8
185x12 *burnout set at the end.

*I'm almost embarassed posting this workout after the last few weeks I've had, but I gotta put it in my journal so I can look back and see what the fuck might have gone wrong.

 

[WalkingBeast]

Anytime brother!! I know how it is to have those bad days. Ive been out of the gym seven days already because of this hurricane, and missing chest for a week usually translates to a loss of strength. Im going to try my best to prevent that however, come thursday. Keep KILLING that shit!!

 

[zxe003]

Wednesday 09/08/2004

Unhappy with the BF%, I've gone into another cutting stage....so bye, bye strength gains. My diet started Tuesday as well as my first cycle of clen. Today wasn't as bad as I'd expected, but still way under par. I'm trying not to be concerned with my strength as much, so I can just focus on dropping bf, but it's difficult because I just made so many big jumps within the last 4 weeks. I hate to see it all go down the drain.

Back

(Warm-Up) Chins
BWx20
*stop and go

Machine Compound Row
215x12
230x10
245x8

Rack Deads
315x10
365x8
405x4
455x2

T-Bar Rows
4plts (180)x12
5plts (225)x6
5plts (225)x6
4plts (180)x10

Close Grip (palms facing) Cable Pulldowns
180x8
180x8
180x8

Cardio

Low Intensity Treadmill
25min.

 

[zxe003]

Thursday 09/09/2004

Not too bad today....cut down the volume on the presses. Unfortunately, I was pressed for time, so I left out direct trap work today so I could get my cardio in. My traps need a break anyways.

Shoulders

Bb Military Press
135x20 (warm-up)
185x12
225x8
245x6
225x6

Bb Upright Rows
135x8
135x8
135x8

Db Side Laterals
35'sx8
35'sx8
35'sx8

Bent Over Db Side Laterals (rear delts)
35'sx8
35'sx8
35'sx10

Reverse Peck Decks (rear delts)
120x8
105x9
105x8
105x8

Cardio

Low Intensity Stationary Bike
20min.