zxe003 training journal

[zxe003]

Thursday 07/22/2004

I finally got over the hump! My military 5x5's have been stuck at 220 for about 3 weeks, but 225 went up like nothing today! It's weird too, because I didn't feel exceptionally stronger today, it was just kinda easier than usual. My elbow was tweakin in the beginning of my workout, so I tried to get in 3 good sets of light weight to warm it up (arnolds and light militaries). No big problems after that.

Shoulders

(Warm-Up) Arnold Presses
45'sx20
45'sx15

Bb Military Press
135x20 (warm-up)

225x5
225x5
225x5
225x5
225x5

Bb Upright Rows
135x10
135x8
135x8
155x5 *PR!!

Db Side Laterals
35'sx10
35'sx8
35'sx8

Bent Over Db Laterals/Rows
35'sx8
35'sx8
35'sx8

Reverse Peck Decks
120x8
120x8
120x8

Traps

Db Shrugs
105'sx12 (warm-up)

Shrug Machine
10plts (450)x10
450x10
450x10
*10 sec hold on last rep of each set.

 

[zxe003]

Monday 07/26/2004

My son got me sick again this past weekend. I feel like shit! Still made it into the gym......actually once I started lifting, I felt a lot better. Didn't hit 5x5 today, went more traditional, but had a tremendous pump. My left elbow is still not healed. Went too heavy too quickly again on my flats and tweaked it bad. Had to drop down in weight and push for intensity.

Chest

Flat Bench Bb Press
135x20 (warm-up)
135x20 (warm-up)
135x15 (warm-up) *even after 3 light sets my elbow was still fucked. I probably should've gradually increased the weight.
275x8 *elbow tweaked
225x12
245x10

Incline Db Press
100'sx10
105'sx8
105'sx6 *dropset....
85'sx12

Cable Flyes superset with Upper Pec Cable Raises (from low pulley)
80(each side)x12 (flyes), 50(each side)x10 (raises)
90(each side)x12 (flyes), 55(each side)x10 (raises)
100(each side)x10 (flyes), 60(each side)x8 (raises)

Inner 1/4 ROM Peck Deck Flyes
135x20
150x15
165x15
180x12

 

[JKurz1]

Bro - I'll guarantee you can lift more and heavier if you didn't warm-up with some many reps..........fibers are shot by the time you go heavy...........just a thought. Nice work though.........

 

[cwick0]

Monday 07/26/2004

My son got me sick again this past weekend. I feel like shit! Still made it into the gym......actually once I started lifting, I felt a lot better. Didn't hit 5x5 today, went more traditional, but had a tremendous pump. My left elbow is still not healed. Went too heavy too quickly again on my flats and tweaked it bad. Had to drop down in weight and push for intensity.

Chest

Flat Bench Bb Press
135x20 (warm-up)
135x20 (warm-up)
135x15 (warm-up) *even after 3 light sets my elbow was still fucked. I probably should've gradually increased the weight.
275x8 *elbow tweaked
225x12
245x10

Jkurz is definitely correct on this one...way too many warmups, especially at the same weight. Why not do 135 for 10-20, 225 for 10, then start hitting it hard. Then you shouldnt have any trouble going above and beyond 300.

 

[zxe003]

yeah I know....but I really gotta baby this left elbow. If I don't hit light weight for hella reps, my elbow pain gets real bad, to the point that I can't even continue to lift. Gotta do what I gotta do until this thing heals up.

 

[zxe003]

Monday 07/26/2004

My son got me sick again this past weekend. I feel like shit! Still made it into the gym......actually once I started lifting, I felt a lot better. Didn't hit 5x5 today, went more traditional, but had a tremendous pump. My left elbow is still not healed. Went too heavy too quickly again on my flats and tweaked it bad. Had to drop down in weight and push for intensity.

Chest

Flat Bench Bb Press
135x20 (warm-up)
135x20 (warm-up)
135x15 (warm-up) *even after 3 light sets my elbow was still fucked. I probably should've gradually increased the weight.
275x8 *elbow tweaked
225x12
245x10

Jkurz is definitely correct on this one...way too many warmups, especially at the same weight. Why not do 135 for 10-20, 225 for 10, then start hitting it hard. Then you shouldnt have any trouble going above and beyond 300.

135x15 (warm-up) *even after 3 light sets my elbow was still fucked. I probably should've gradually increased the weight.

I'm definitely gonna go with gradual progression on my warm ups next time. We'll see how that goes.

 

[cwick0]

I'm definitely gonna go with gradual progression on my warm ups next time. We'll see how that goes.

It appears that it takes a little bit for you to warmup, it takes me for ever. That is one reason i dont care to make large jumps in weight to start off, say 135 to 225 to 315. I like the 275 in there to start getting use to the heavier weight. You should notice a dramatic difference in your bench numbers. Once i hit 315, then my jumps decrease slightly, but are still heavier than most people prefer, like 40-50 jumps (315 to 365 to 405 or 315 to 335 to 365 to 385 to 405, but anymore it has been the bigger jumps to 405, may go to 425 or 435 soon).
keep training hard.
wick

 

[zxe003]

Damn bro, that's some good shit! The most I've benched on incline and flat ever, was 335 for 1.5 reps. You're a strong motha'!! I'll probably follow suit on the increases but on a smaller scale. Hopefully I'll be at where your at within a years time. Thanks for the input and encouragement, much appreciated.

 

[cwick0]

Do you go past 275 much?

The best gains i have ever made on bench was through doing 3 sets of 10 at the same weight. I can remember about 2 years ago (when i started grad school), i met a few guys. The one guy the first time we met, i spotted him. He did 315 for 17 reps, i only touched the bar on the 17th. We started training and he turned me on to this method. Our goal was to get 50 reps with 315 in 5 sets. I could always get the first set of 10, but would go downhill from there. Since we started, i can handle 315 for 3 sets of 15, and 335 for 3 sets of 10, i may try 365 for 3 sets of 10 starting next week.
Lately i have been doing 5x5 with flat barbell. The first week i did it, i hit 365 for 5x5. The next week i hit 385 for 5x5, and about 3 weeks ago i hit 405 for 5x5. The past 3 weeks we have been trying it on incline, but the results havent been as good as i expect from myself. The first week was great, got 315 for 5x5, barely got it last week, and this week did my first set of 5 with 315, then hit 335 for 5 (sucked really bad), 335 for 3 then 315 for 5. I quit because i was so pissed. However, i shouldnt be as hard on myself since my best on incline was 335 for 6.
Next, my partner and i are going to start going heavy every week, one week heavy incline and just reps on flat, then the opposite the following week. We shall see how things work out.

One caveat: if you can do a weight for 5 reps, then you are ready to move up, however, if you cant get a weight for 5 reps, then DONT go up.

I will review your log a little bit and see if i can make any recommendations for your sets on bench.
wick

 

[zxe003]

Right on bro, thanx.