Hypertophy Phase - Week 3, Day 13

60 seconds rest, 5 sets, 13-15 reps

Bench
235x14
225x8
185x10
135x15
135x13

Curl
65x20
65x15
65x14
65x13
65x21

Band Pull-Aparts
40
20
20
21

Notes
Skipped the gym last night because I had to go look at new apartments.  I have a wedding this week so everything is going to be compressed into the next 3 days. As such I'm dropping a lot of accessory work and I'm not going to worry about the weights I use for anything.  Just use the big lifts to get a decent workout in.

As I was walking home tonight, I reflected on the fact that I have literally come full circle and now believe that the bench/curl workout is fucking awesome.  But it is only awesome if you actually work hard and blast everything.  Jim Wendler has often talked about how you should only really expect to do 1-2 lifts really well every workout.  I think it drops down to one when you've been working out 6 days a week.  Either way, bench/curl is fucking awesome for the following reasons.

First, your upper body gets pumped to shit and you look and feel fucking awesome.  High rep bench + high rep curls = teh pump is teh cumming.  Second, it makes sense from a strength perspective.  We all know the antagonist, push/pull type approach is great for strength workouts.  In this case, you get to really hit your big lift hard for the day, but you still have enough juice left to hit the curls as hard as you can.  Curls aren't like rows or chins or other heavy compounds that are easily impacted from shit like heavy bench.  Though bench is an antagonist to the row, we are still talking about fucking strength training. If you are doing it right, you are using your whole body.   Benching heavy effects my row.  Not so with the curl.  Which brings me to my third and final point.  Heavy barbell curls are probably most "legit" isolation exercise I can think of.  They really aren't akin to shit like triceps pushdowns.  You can go fucking heavy in curls and use body momentum to heave that shit up.  That is how brutally strong guys power curl with barbells.  They don't sit there and squeeze their biceps constantly while getting buttfucked by their partner. Brutally strong guys go hard and heavy in the barbell curl and treat it like a fucking lift.

When I think of heavy barbell curls, I think of my old training partner, Chris Moore.  Chris could bang out 135x10 on the curl at will.  Was he strick?  Not even fucking close.  Are his arms huge?  I'd liken them to that of a silver back gorilla.  I would never, ever consider arm wrestling him because I have no doubt he would tear my shoulder out of its socket with little effort.  Point is, I'm really going to go hard and heavy in the barbell curl.  I think thats the way its supposed to be done.

Edit:  One final comment.  I think super high rep pull-aparts or facepulls make this workout perfectly balanced.  One heavy compound.  One heavy isolation.  One super high rep blood pumping/shoulder balancing isolation.

Hypertrophy Phase - Week 3, Day 12

60 seconds rest, 5 sets, 13-15 reps

Deadlifts
335x12
225x12
225x10
225x10
225x10

Notes
I was unable to perform the workout as prescribed tonight.  Just didn't have it in me.  The next 10 days includes: finishing my current job, starting a new job, moving across town, driving to wedding 8 hours away.  I'm trying to balance a ton of shit right now. Deadlifts at 9pm tonight, running on a 500 calorie noon lunch kinda sucked.

Anyways, over the next 5 days I'm going to try to get as much volume in as possible.  I'll probably drop most of the assistance work, and use the main lifts to keep the fatigue piled on going into next week.  That is all I'm doing right now - purposefully overreaching. With pussy ass weights haha.

I need to remember what I'm doing here.  Hypertophy.

Hypertrophy Phase - Week 2, Day 11

90 seconds rest, 4 sets, 8-10 reps

Bench
245x10
225x8
225x8
185x8

Cable Row
150x8
150x8
150x8
150x8

Seated DB Press
70x8
65x8
55x8

BB Curl
95x15 (pr)

Notes
Day 6 of week 2.  Felt a little beat-up and non-motivated this afternoon.  The fatigue I'm feeling right now is mostly muscular.  Just a dull feeling.  Its harder to get tight and to feel "poppy" on the bench.

Today the objective was to get a solid bench session in.  I subb'd cable rows for bent rows because I had no desire to pound my entire back yet again today.

BB curl was a mini highlight.  To put things in perspective, I would have been very hard pressed to get more than 7-8 reps with 95 pounds before starting this program (yes pathetic).  I've always wanted to work up to the point where I'm curling 135 on the straight bar for reps.  That just looks fucking awesome.  I never put the time/effort into curling, but I'm going to do it now.

Hypertrophy Phase - Week 2, Day 10

90 seconds rest, 4 sets, 8-10 reps

Deadlift
365x8
315x8
315x8
315x8

Leg Press
360x8
360x8
360x8
360x8

Split Squat
BWx8/8
BWx8/8
BWx8/8

Calves
5-6 sets of very high reps

Steep decline Abs
35x8
35x8

Band Pull Aparts
30
30
30

Notes
I was very close to calling it after deadlifts.  The short rest periods are really killing me with deads right now.  My upper back is constantly sore.  A lot of my body is constantly sore.  The key to this program is not giving a fuck if you are sore.  High volume with increasingly heavy weights and shortened rest periods is going to leave you sore.  You can't worry about the bar weight, or if this or that isn't fully recovered.   You are never fully recovered on a routine anyways.  If you are, it is doubtful you are consistently getting stronger.

It is worth mentioning, as this is a muscle building routine, that I am visibly building muscle already.  I'm definitely getting bigger.  Diet is decently clean.  I'm getting plenty of protein.  The only thing I need to improve on is wine.  I'm in a wine drinking phase... about a bottle a night haha.  I'll cut it out this weekend, but I just like wine.  I like to drink 4 glasses over a 3-4 hour period.  Its so fucking enjoyable as I read strength blogs, books, etc.  Anyways, I believe this 6 day a week routine is winning the war against the wine, because I'm definitely leaning out.

Tonight, pasty as hell, after legs.

Hypertrophy Phase - Week 2, Day 9

Chins
5; 5; 5; 5

Supersetted w/ 

Pushups
22; 22; 22; 22

Suspended Row
6; 6; 6; 6

Supersetted w/ 

Dips
9; 9; 9; 9

Band Pull Aparts
25; 25; 25

Poundstone Curls
Bar x 70 (PR)

Notes
Really flat tonight.  My whole body feels fatigued.  I'm not really sore anymore, I just don't have tons of pop since everything is getting hit every 48 hours.

No idea where the poundstone curls PR came from.  This is my 4th session with barbell curls in about 10 days. Its too early to tell, but I have a feeling all of the barbell movements are going to improve very rapidly.

Also felt good to get 88 total pushups.  Next week I'll hit 100, which is decent for a workout.  On another note, I don't know why my body hates doing more than 5 reps of chins.  I can add lots of weight and do 5 reps.  Or just do bodyweight and anything over 5 reps feels hard.  I do them super explosively from a deadhang and basically slam my chest into the bar.  I dunno maybe I need to tone it down a little.

Hypertrophy Phase - Week 2, Day 8

Double KB Clean
60/60 x 10
60/60 x 10
60/60 x 10
60/60 x 10

Waiter Walk
70 x 60 yds
70 x 60 yds
70 x 30 yds
70 x 30 yds
70 x 30 yds
70 x 30 yds

Band Pull-Aparts
70 rep series

Calves
90x10
90x10
70x10
70x10

Supersetted w/

Tibialis Anterior raises
4 sets

Notes
Mid-week light day.

I really really like the band pull apart series.  It feels great.  The behind the neck movement is particularly awesome.

Hypertrophy Phase: Week 2 - Day 7

90 seconds rest, 4 sets, 13-15 reps

Bench
275x1
225x14
205x8
185x13
135x15

Bent Row
205x13
185x13
135x15
135x10

DB Press
50x15
50x15
50x15

BB Curl
65x15
65x15
65x15
65x15

Band Pull-Aparts
70 reps: did this awesome series here - http://articles.elitefts.com/training-articles/band-pull-apart-super-series-for-healthy-shoulders-needs-formatted/

Notes
Short rest periods destroyed my press strength.  They also destroyed my pull strength. My back is pretty damn fatigued. Overall though a solid session.   I'm taking dat dere creatine mono, and I actually felt a marked difference tonight.  It is hard to tell whether I'm adjusting to the program, or whether its the creatine helping me bust out a couple extra reps.  I don't really measure, I just throw a lot in my protein shake.  I know supposedly creatine loading isn't needed, but fuck it. I have a lot.  I'm going to start throwing in a moderate single before my high rep stuff.  I have many reasons for this I will get into over the course of the next few weeks.

Now I'm going to tell a story about a person that almost killed themselves in the gym tonight. We will call him Bob.  Tonight Bob got entirely too amped up for his squats.  I don't mind yelling, swearing, or some of the regular shit to get pumped up, but when a person literally starts stomping on the platform (repeatedly) before approaching the bar, I think that might cross the line.  After barely squeaking out which was clearly a max attempt, Bob preceded to stomp some more and try for another.  He missed halfway up and sent 300 something pounds off his back sailing onto the platform.  No big deal.  Thats what bumpers are for...right?

Undeterred by the near stapling, and unaware of the fact he almost crushed a girl next to the chalk bucket, Bob preceded to the bench.  Bob was still fired up.  Its time to fucking bench.  Bob started with a huge arch, but as he reached up for the bar, he deflated like a beach balloon.  Something told me to watch. I didn't consciously think about what was about to happen, but after spending a long time in and around barbell lifting, the totality of the circumstances gives you a good sense for shit.

So I watched.  And Bob is lucky I did.  Bob unracked the bar, and almost immediately it fell with speed of gravity on his neck.  In the split second that followed a number of thoughts entered my mind, the first being, "holy shit I'm witnessing a person decapitate themselves."  To be clear, Bob didn't miss the lift on a heavy grinding rep.  The bar just fucking fell on his neck.

I was about 20 feet away, so I sprinted over and upright rowed the bar off his neck into his uprights.  Bob immediately grabbed his neck and gasped for air.  I thought I might have to call 911 because I wasn't sure if crushed his windpipe.  But Bob managed to squeak out "that wasn't supposed to happen. I was going for a triple."  Alrightythen.

After yelling at him for not asking for a spot, I explained to Bob that: 1) his failed squat attempt destroyed any chance of heavy lifting for the rest of the day; and 2) he lost all tightness and was too far from the bar to unrack it himself.  Bob thanked me for saving him.

So Bob lives to squat and bench another day.  What is the moral of this story?

There is no moral to this story. If I had to come up with one, I'd say "don't be a stupid jackass in the gym."

Hypertrophy Phase - Week 2, Day 6

90 second rest periods

Squat
225x3
275x4.... pulled left hip flexor

Deadlift
295x15
275x13
225x13
225x13

Leg Press
270x15
270x13
230x15
230x15

Calves (Leg Press)
230x20
230x15
230x15
230x15

High Decline Situps
BWx16; BWx16; BWx16

Notes
Nothing to even say about the hip.  Totally sucks.

Got nauseous during today's session.  Its not the high reps - its the rest periods.  I did my best to stick to 90 seconds during deadlifts, but between sets 2 and 3 it was impossible (without killing myself).  I was sucking wind like crazy.  I make up for it on the later sets by going a little under the time required.

Anyways, I'm interested to see how this turns out.  This program is either bodybuildings long lost secret, or its the stupidest fucking program of all time.  I'm leaning towards the latter.

I've been formulating a sweet intra workout custom supplement mix with Gabe's help.  I'm pumped  to try it out.  I've long been a fan of BCAA's, I just never get consistent with it.  But I think some superabsorbant/superfast acting peri-workout nutrition would really help out with this sort of training.

Hypertrophy Phase - Day 5

Warmup: Foam rolling, hip circles, mountain climbers, facepulls, 70lb windmills, 97lb turkish getup (video)

Getup: http://youtu.be/Avw_NV4u4hc

Training
120 seconds rest, 3 sets, 8-10 reps

Squats
185x5
225x8

Bench
225x10
225x10
185x8

Row
225x8
185x10
185x10

Seated DB Shoulder Press
50x10
60x10
60x10

BB Curl
75x10; 75x10; 75x10

Band Pull Aparts
20; 20; 20

DB Rear Lateral
12x10; 15x12

Notes
The gym got a 97lb kettlebell so of course I had to see what I can do with it.  I did a single getup.  Form sucked, but I did it.  Kettlefags across the country cream themselves over a 97lb getup.  What does this prove?  Nothing really.  As I've said before, if you barbell lift consistently, kettlebells do not build strength.  They are amazing for joint mobility, conditioning, core work, and stretching. So in that respect they are an excellent aid during strength training because they keep you healthy. But again, they don't build strength.  I barely do getups at all (my form makes that obvious), but I'm able to do one with a 97lb kettlebell because I've been pounding heavy barbells for years.

Started off with squats to see how much hip held up. It felt fine.  I'm still a little cautious though.  I'm going to squat on Monday, but I'm not sure I will do the prescribed 4x15.  We'll see.

Overall I feel great after week 1.  I kept rest periods very strict.  Next week is going to be tough.  Rest periods drop to 90 seconds, and another set is added on to all exercises.  My mid and upper back are ridiculously demolished.  I hitting that shit literally 6 days a week.

Nutrition
I slammed a quadruple isolate shake immediately post workout.  (105 grams protein w/ 20 grams leucine).  About 30 minutes later I had a pound of steak and 6 eggs w/ an avacado.  Performed this workout 100% fasted at 3:30 p.m.  Due to the volume of these sessions, I'm considering some peri-training nutrition stuff.

Hypertrophy Phase - Day 4

Warm-up: moderate foam rolling, hip circles, mountain climbers, goblet squats, chins, windmills

120 second rest periods

Squat

185x5

185x5

185x5

Deadlift

315x10

315x10

315x10

Leg Press

270x10

270x10

270x10

Calves (on leg press0

270x10

270x10

270x18

High decline Abs

25x8

25x8

Band Pull Aparts
24

Notes

Had a decent hangover today.  Nothing a little pre-workout red bull and ephedrine won't fix.  ;)

During warm-ups I noticed my left hip seemed to feel fine.  I very, very cautiously warmed up for squats.  Pain free.  This is a little weird considering it hurt enough for me to completely drop squats a few days ago.  I did a shitload of lacrosse ball work on my legs on Wednesday.   Maybe that did the trick.  On Monday I'll give squats a try and see how it goes.  So twice a week I'll be doing high rep squats followed by high rep deadlifts.  Should be a good time.

Sets of 10 feel easy after starting the week with sets of 15.  I'm using a stop watch for my rest periods.  Therefore they are strict as hell.

Hypertrophy Phase - Day 3

Warmup: foam rolling and lacrosse ball... skipped all the rest.

Training

Swings
70x10; 70x10; 70x10

Pushups supersetted w/ Chins
15; 15; 15
5; 5; 5

Dips supersetted w/ TRX Row
8; 8; 8
5; 5; 5

Calves supersetted w/ Waiter walk
115x15; 115x15; 115x15

Hypers
20; 10

Notes
Had to combined two sessions since I cannot train tomorrow.  This is a 6x a week program so I can't really push anything back.  Today was supposed to be just swings, sled, abs and calves.

I took everything pretty easy and lowered reps because I'm sore as fuck all over.

Hypertrophy Phase - Day 2

Skipped warm-ups

120 second rests

Bench
205x13
205x10
165x13

Bent Row
185x13
185x13
135x15

Seated DB Press
40x15
40x15
40x15

BB Curl
65x12
65x12
65x12

Notes
Lifted in my dress pants tonight because I forgot shorts haha.  I need to tone done the intensity a little bit.  120 seconds rest is actually a lot for me right now after all of the metabolic training/conditioning.  So even though this is all light weight, still pushing it hard.  Most of the time I'm actually using lower than 120 second rest period.  Tonights workout was about 35 minutes.  Sweating like an animal, but it feels great.

I'm a little up in the air with regards to bent rows immediately following both deadlift days.  Would I program it that way for strength?  Absolutely not.  In fact, I've often said I believe a bent row is one of the only true "replacements" for doing deadlifts every week.  So to have those two exercises back two back for a combined total of 4x a week is pretty intense.  I will be fatigued and it will significantly affect poundages.  So what?  I'm actually curious as to what will happen. My theory: my back is going to blow the fuck up and get crazy strong.  Having a big strong back is fucking awesome.  Back is everything in strength training.  Everything.  I never see any truly strong dude that doesn't have a big back.  I'm not talking about a guy that happens to be pretty good in one lift. I mean a guy that is just diesel all around. Strong mofos always have wide, thick and yoked backs.

Diet was more dialed in today.  Carbs were slightly high, but its hard for me to get under 35 net cabs because i eat ridiculous amounts of green veges.

Cals

2648

Fat: 183g

Carbs: 79

Fiber: 35

Protein: 206 

Big Beyond Belief - Routine Explanation

I'm loosely following the "Big Beyond Belief" bodybuilding routine over the next 6 weeks.  I might go 12 if things go great.

BBB originally came out in the early 90s.  It was pretty groundbreaking for the day because it modeled bodybuilding after Bulgarian high frequency training.  Lots of guys had great results and got big and strong.  There are three versions: 4x a week; 6x a week; and 12x a week (2 a day).  6x a week is the most popular so that is what I'm doing.

BBB is essentially a 6 week mesocycle divided into 3 week microcycles (technically the entire BBB program is an 18 week macrocycle, but some of the routine gets pretty fucking bizarre past 6 weeks).  The first 3 weeks, called "ramps," place an emphasis on endurance and building huge amounts of volume and thus huge amounts of fatigue.  The second 3 weeks are a little more strength and power oriented, but it is still bodybuilding.  The second 3 weeks are where the growth is supposed to occur.  For the two people  that actually read my blog, you might notice that this sounds a lot like Mike T's RTS system.  This program is just on the far end of the hypertrophy spectrum, while RTS is all about strength/powerlifting.

The first ramp phase is like this:

Week 1: 120 seconds rest, 3 sets per bodypart
Day 1 - Endurance 13-15 reps
Day 2 - Endurance 13-15 reps
Day 3 - Strength 10-12 reps
Day 4 - Strength 10-12 reps
Day 5 - Power 8-10 reps
Day 6 - Power 8-10 reps

Week 2: 90 seconds rest, 4 sets per bodypart
Reps stay the same

Week 3: 60 seconds rest, 5 sets per bodypart
Reps stay the same.

Decreasing rest periods while increasing total sets week to week is what really makes this killer.  This is the sort of routine I would write up on napkin while sitting on an airplane with nothing else to do. But follow something brutal like this to the T, and who knows, you just might become Big Beyond Belief.

Weeks 4-6 are similar to weeks 1-3 in that intra week reps cascade down from high to low, but overall the reps are lower, rest periods stay at 180 seconds, and only 3 sets per bodypart are performed all three weeks.   Essentially, the dual-factor theory of periodization is at play here.  Leo Costas (BBB writer) managed to come up with a pretty sound routine. On the other hand, he also outlined pretty shitty exercise selection.  There is a huge and very informative thread on BBB over at t-nation.  Some experienced guys talk about how Costas stole all of these ideas and then printed them, not really having a fucking clue what was going on.  This makes sense after reading the book. Nevertheless, it is generally a sound program with some very nice components that you don't see in other modern bodybuilding routines.

Weeks 4-6 you both recover from the massive fatigue generated in week 1-3 fatigue, and  simultaneously gain strength.  The single factor theory would say you have to completely recover from fatigue and allow super-compensation to take hold for an increase in performance.  But single factor is overly simplistic and probably wrong. Even in a beginner, fatigue is always accumulating if you are working out 3x a week with any sort of intensity.

For the most part I ignored the prescribed bodypart split.  This split emphasizes the lifts I care about and is slightly strength biased.

Monday:  Deadlift, Leg Press, Decline Abs, Calves
Tuesday: Bench, Bent Row, Seated Military, Curls/Rear Delts
Wednesday:  KB Swings, Sled Pushes, Waiter Walks, Calves
Thursday:  Pushups, Chins, Dips, TRX Rows
Friday: Deadlift, Leg Press, Decline Abs, Calves
Saturday: Bench, Bent Row, Seated Military, Cable Row, Curls

So Monday lines up with Friday, and Tuesday lines up with Saturday.  Because Leo Costas is mentally challenged, he never explained whether  you are supposed to vary your exercises everyday or use the same ones.  It makes sense to take advantage of the descending reps throughout the week and train some of the same movements.   I'm using Wednesday/Thursday as low intensity recovery days, but I'll still get a lot of reps with the bodyweight type exercises I've chosen.  I briefly considered throwing in single leg work somewhere, but I seriously cannot imagine doing 5 sets of 15 bulgarian split squats.  No thanks.

More to come, but for now its time for bed.

Hypertrophy Phase - Day 1

Warmups: normal shit, was done in about 15 minutes

Squats... total failure.  Cannot Squat.

Barbell Hack Squats... Fell Over onto the Bar

120 Second Rests:

Deadlift
275x15
275x12
275x10

Leg Press
180x15
180x15
180x15
180x15

Calves on Leg Press

180x15
180x15
180x15
180x15

Steep Decline Abs
15; 12; 12

Notes
So my hip flexor is totally fucked.  I cannot squat.  Going down is fine, but the second I raise out of the hole I get shooting pain.  Frustrating as hell.  Apparently the 185 pound squats did something to it last week.  I guess I should have been more responsible and eased back into with 135. lol. Blah, this kind of puts a damper on my new routine.  Massive squat volume = massive growth.  Just kind of played it by ear and did high rep deadlifts because it was the only non-pussy thing I could think of.  The 120 second rest periods were crazy hard with the high reps deads. I had great pop on all reps, but it was insanely taxing on my aerobic system.

Diet is officially back 100%.  Actually 110% because I've never been this strict before.  I will be doing a modified backloading approach like before, except this time I'm making it more Paleo friendly.  I read Paleo Solution by Robb Wolf over the weekend and a lot of stuff he says makes sense.  As such, I'm completely cutting out: all wheat/gluten, artificial sweeteners, and dairy.  My carb-ups will be fruit and nice starches like sweet potatoes.  No more dirty carb-ups.

Anyways, I haven't been too far off this summer.  5-6 days out of the week I ate a low carb lunch. About half the time I ate a solid low carb dinner.  The other half I'd have a big burger and fries, etc.  Also I've drank a lot and gotten obliterated a number of times.  I've hovered between 235-238.  This morning after 3 days of low carb/gluten free I was 231.

Calories/Macros today:

Cals: 3462

Fat: 223 g

Carbs: 70 g

Fiber: 26 g

Protein:  272 g

Too many calories to lose weight.  About 800 of those calories are from oils: olive oil and coconut oil.  I need to be closer to 2600-2700 to cut and make the effort worth it.  So less almonds and less oil. And maybe a single shake during the day instead of a double.  Goal is 220, and then stay there to reset my set-point.

I'm looking at powerlifting meets in November/December. I need to start competing at 220.  Elite at 242 seems impossible for me naturally.

Pre-Routine Conditioning Day 4

So my warm-up essentially turned into my actual workout.  I got there and just decided to keep it very light.  Basically did one set of the following:

20 mins of foam rolling, followed by a few stretches
KB Getups (53, 70)
Windmills (53, 70)
Pushups
Chins
Swings (70, 3 sets)
Blast Strap Rows (5, 3 sets)
Klokav Press (bar x 20)
BB Curl (bar x 30)
BB Bench (bar x 40)
DB Rear delt (10 x 20)
Calves on Leg Press (Ultra high reps)

1.5 Mile Run home... pouring out.

Notes
Planned on doing Litnivov sprints, which are swings followed by sled sprints, but I just didn't feel like working myself into a high heartrate on a Saturday afternoon.  I'm starting pretty intense volume bodybuilding based routine on Monday.  I want to feel fresh.  Today was just enough to get my entire body loose and warm.  I feel good.

I really need to man up with the foam rolling.  Over the past 6 weeks I've consistently become a baby about it.  I always feel good when I spend considerably time rolling everything, and having the grit to work on shit that is really painful.

Another thing I've been thinking about lately is calves.  Earlier in the summer, I did a set of 315x15 squats.  I distinctly remember my calves shaking mid-set.  The next day they weren't super sore, but had that dead feeling.  Its been in the back of my mind all summer.  Its kind bizarre, when you think about it, that 95% of strength trainers neglect calves.  Its the first large muscle that actually supports you when you fucking squat or deadlift.  Calves allow you to STAND.  Also, there is horizontal movement below the knee during both squats and deadlifts.  Your calves, and tibialis anterior are certainly worked during a heavy leg set.

Any serious strength trainee essentially trains their entire body.  A powerlifter might overemphasize shit like triceps, low back, hamstrings, and everything else, but most guys still work other areas to maintain balance and have their entire body one solid piece.  Yes, the internet faggots backlashed against "curls," and then everyone realized how gay they are for hating on one of the most basic exercises that make your arms look awesome (and keeps your elbow healthy).

Why the fuck doesn't anyone work calves?  Its not an extremely taxing bodypart to exercise.  Throw some shit in at the end of leg day, and then make sure you progress.  Same as any other bodypart.

I'm working my fucking calves from now on.

Pre-Routine Conditioning Day 3

Warm-up: Foam Rolling, tons of hip circles, mountain climbers, goblet squats, windmills, more hip circles, box squats, facepulls, more box squats. (More on this below)

Chins supersetted w/ Dips
BWx5; 53x4; 53x3
BWx8; BWx8; BWx8

Pushups supersetted w/ Close Grip Cable Row
20; 20; 20
100x20; 100x20; 100x20

Notes
This is going to be my mid-week upper body training session.  Volume will be signicantly higher, but essentially this is a bodyweight oriented, high rep recovery day.  Eventually I would like to work up to 200-300 total reps, split evenly between push/pull on this day.  Chins will be bodyweight for a while, I just wanted to see where my strength was at on these.  I've been much better.

So, apprently squatting 185 pound yesterday fucked up my hip.  I could barely come out of a squat position in warmups without falling over in pain.  It doesn't hurt going down, but when I go up, I have pretty intense pain in my left hip flexor (or whatever is around there).  This is extremely disheartening to say the least.  After almost 6 weeks off, I come back, do a ridiculously light, responsible session, and today I'm in pain.  Hopefully its not going to be a big deal. But seriously, fuck this shit.  If its not better by Monday I'm just going to leg press and deadlift a shitload.  Fuck it.

Tonight I bought The Paleo Solution by Robb Wolf.  I didn't like it at first, but I'm about 100 pages in and I've already got several solid take-a-ways.  I think I'll do a write up sometime this weekend when I'm finished.

Pre-routine Conditioning Day 2

Warmup: foam rolling, hip circles, mountain climbers, goblet squats, windmills.

Squat
185x10
185x10

RDL
185x10
185x10

Seated Calves
45x15; 45x15; 45x15

Decline Situps
12; 12; 12

Notes
First time squatting in 5-6 weeks.  I felt a little rusty, but overall I was pleased with mobility.  The point of this workout was simply to start working back into  a groove.  I kept everything incredibly light because there is not a single fucking reason in the world to do anything but that on your first day back into lifting.  That little session above is still going to give me a some soreness.  Not crippling soreness, but that would be stupid anyways.

I'm still tossing around how I'm going to approach the new routine on Monday. For the most part I'll be training for size in this next phase.  I just need to hammer out the details.

Pre-Routine Conditioning - Day 1

Medium-Close Grip Bench
185x12; 185x12; 155x12

Hammer Strength Iso Row
90x15; 140x15; 140x15

Seated DB Press
40x12; 40x12; 40x12

Seated DB Curl
30x12; 30x12; 30x12

Notes
My journal will probably be filled with light weights over the next few weeks.  Sessions are going to be in legit bodybuilding rep ranges and for strict times in between sets.  30-60 seconds depending on where I am in the program.

I'm going to do spend the next 3-4 sessions "prepping" for the true higher volume stuff, which will be considerably more volume than I have here.  I haven't thought a ton about exercise selection yet.  First  movement of the day will always be something big, but I'm not gonna be doing sessions with 3 heavy barbell lifts for now.  I plan on lifting 6x a week.

Feel Good Routine - Day 14

Conditioning

Double 70lb KB clean and Press supersetted w/ Push-ups
10 x 23
8 x 22
6 x 20

Low Sled Runs
98lbs x 70 yards
98lbs x 70 yards
70lbs x 70 yards
70lbs x 70 yards

Notes
Not  a bad little session.  Doesn't look like a ton, but a normal conditioning or training session goes like this:  walk fast 1.2 miles  in 90-100 degree heat to gym; change; do warmup which includes foam rolling, chins, windmills, goblet squats, dips, and other random mobility stuff; perform conditioning downstars; carry kettlebells up 5 flights of stairs; setup sleds from storage; perform sled runs; put sleds away; carry kettlebells back down 5 flight of stairs; grab bag; usually walk slowly home about 1.1 miles.

Point being from the time I leave work, until I get home, I'm constantly moving at a quick pace for about 90 minutes.  This ends up being a great way to sweat a ton and burn calories.  People might scoff at this, but whatever.  I start sweating when I leave work because its mid 90s, and I don't stop sweating until I'm home.  Seems to be leaning me out.  And I drink beer every night.

Feel Good Routine Day 13

Bench
185x8
185x8
185x8

Deadlift Dropset
300x20.  .  . 250x10

DB Row
100x8
100x8

Notes
Gym was ridiculously crowded tonight.  They did a group-on type special for one month at $19 bucks or something like that.  I like seeing the gym get a lot of business because its a great gym, but  it made it pretty hard to move around.  People had the barbells on the ground literally everywhere doing random shit.  So I had to do random shit as well.

Zero clue why I decided to do a high rep deadlift drop set.  Obviously light weight, but it just felt good to rip the bar off the ground, regardless of weight.  Bench I just wanted to get some light reps in.

This week has been totally fucked.  I need to be out of my place by Saturday, and literally every single apartment is falling through.  I can only do a sublet since I'm only in D.C. until December.  It is making it exceedingly difficult to find a decent place that is under $2000 a month.  This is such an expensive city.  Anyways, work-outs might be screwed for the next week.  I hope  to get on a plan by next Monday.  My plan is some pretty ridiculous volume to build some size.