Dream's...something or other log

26/02/14 - B day

Decide to deload and ramp back up on almost everything. I can't seem to push what I could before I had the time off so I thought rather than going for what I could do I should instead start a bit lower and up the sets to really get the form right and to get the correct activation. And since I know that I can do heavier weights then it shouldn't be an issue adding 2.5kg per session either until I'm back to where I was.

Squats

Bar - lots
40kg x lots
60kg x 3x5

Not too comfortable tbh in terms of the knees but not bad either.

OHP

Bar - lots
30kg x 5x5

First set felt heavy but the rest were lovely. I feel it a lot more in my shoulders this time rather than when I was working in the 40's.

Deadlift

60kg x 5
80kg x 3
90kg x 2
100kg x f
80kg x 3x5

I was slightly pushed for time and I didn't want to fanny about so I dropped to a weight that I could do comfortably and upped the sets.

Neutral-grip pullups
BW x 6
BW x 4
BW x 4

Squats were a bit meh. They weren't particularly comfortable, nor uncomfortable. Mobility and stretching here I come.
Deloading on ohp and upping the sets felt like the right thing to do, I've been stuck on ~45kg for too long for my liking so hopefully the ramp-up should do some good.
It's a shame I had to drop the deadlifts too but it felt like I couldn't put enough pressure to push away from the ground due to my knees being gimpy.
 
01/03/14 - A day

Not a bad sesh if I'm honest, everything was feeling smooth and it's good to start to push again whilst Deadlifts and OHP are on the deload, I don't feel like such a pansy.

Squats

Bar - 3 x lots
40kg 2 x lots
60kg x 3x5

Knee's out, parallel depth, nice.

Bench

Bar - lots
30kg x lots
40kg x lots
50kg x 3
55kg x 2
65kg x 3x5 {(5), (4,1), (3,2)}

Not bad at all, last set was an utter grind though.

BOR(Pendlay)

Bar - lots
30kg x lots
40kg x lots
50kg x 3
55kg x 3x5

55kg was really easy, onto 57.5kg.

Dips

BW x 12
BW x 6
BW x 4

One of the better sessions lately, no time for Kroc's though :(
Squats were nice providing I only hit parallel and not any deeper.
First set on the bench was really easy and smooth, second set was nice but had to reset because my hands were all sweaty. Third set was a grind. I should be able to push 67.5kg for 1x5 though.
Rows were tastehhhhhhhhhhh.
 
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02/03/14 Off-Day

Just fancied going in and working on a few things that needed improving i.e benching and grip strength.

Bench (Paused)

bar x lots
30kg x lots
40kg x lots

50kg x 3x8 (2-3 sec pause)

Dear goodness there was all sorts of awesome and hatred going on.


Incline DB Bench

20kg 3x8


Kroc Rows

12.5kg 25/25

Too easy but I wanted a weight I could do without any breaks.

Fat Gripz Hammer Curls

6kg + Orange Fat Gripz x 21 (failure)

Wasn't fussed about the weight, I just wanted to focus on grip strength. I may possibly up the weight and do 3x8.

Nice and quick and wasn't too taxing that would otherwise compromise performance tomorrow.
First time doing paused benching properly and it was lovely, I'll try and keep this a main exercise when I have a day focusing on improving bench technique and strength.
I shall up the weight back to 15kg as 12.5kg seemed too easy but I didn't have enough in me for another worthwhile set.
Hammer Fat Gripz curlz - pump.
 
03/03/14 - B day

Yay for progression, everything is upped since the last session. Still keeping the sets lower on the squats atm as I don't want to aggravate knees even though they are feeling a lot better and i could push a lot more weight than what I'm doing. Nonetheless, slow and steady.

Squats

Bar - lots
40kg x lots
60kg x 2
62.5kg x 3x5

Feels nice just being a slight bit heavier than what I have been doing, my legs noticed. Enough for tonight whilst my body readjusts.

OHP

Bar - lots
30kg x 3
32.5kg x 5x5

Heavier than I remember but still a doodle.

Deadlift

60kg x 5
80kg x 3
85kg x 3x5

Also heavier than I remember but went up and down easy enough.

Neutral-grip pullups
BW x 4
BW x 4
BW x 3

poop.

Not a bad session even though I was pushed for time (it may explain the poor pull-ups).
Squats were ok, just and to make sure everything was in order, feels like I need to point my toes out a smidge more but other than that they were ok.
OHP always feels nice when the weight is not so close to my max and I can really get the form right.
Deadlifts were ok but I was surprised that they felt heavier than I remember. Nonetheless they were still simple. 90kg next time, should be back on track in no time at all.
 
05/03/14 - A day

It's nice to have things back on track, squats are slowly going up, bench is being a hard-ass again and I'm not far from a BOR pb.

Squats

Bar - 3 x lots
40kg 2 x lots
60kg x 3
65kg x 3x5

Focus a tad more on sitting back rather than down and all should be good.

Bench

Bar - lots
30kg x lots
40kg x lots
50kg x 4
60kg x 2
67.5kg x 5
62.5kg x 5

Meh, 67.5kg was too iffy for my liking, time to drop the weight and work back up.

BOR(Pendlay)

Bar - lots
30kg x lots
40kg x lots
50kg x 3
57.5kg x 3x5

Still nice and easy but I need to focus on pulling the elbows back slightly

Dips

BW x 12
BW x 6
BW x 3

Squats are going well, I should be able to keep adding weight in the normal manner and hopefully be back at 80kg next week.
I'm going to have to drop the weight on the bench to 60kg and work back up and if I fail again I'll deload by 20% and work from there starting off at 5x5 and then 3x5 as appropriate.
60kg on the rows should be manageable but I have a feeling that's where I'll probably start to slow down in progress and focus on the form before adding more weight.
 
08/03/14 - B day

Very rushed session but I managed to get everything in so I'm rather pleased. The weight went up on everything and it felt like everything had gone down, so I'm pleased. Nothing amazing but it's nice to see/feel a clear change from how things felt at the start of the week.

Squats

Bar - lots
40kg x lots
60kg x 2
67.5kg x 3x5

Nice to up the weight but knee was a tad iffy. That however is due to not being able to care for it properly the past 2 days.

OHP

Bar - lots
30kg x 3
35kg x 5x5

Fineeeeee, bring on 37.5kg

Deadlift

60kg x 5
80kg x 3
90kg x 3x5

Well they felt like nothing...

Neutral-grip pullups
BW x 6
BW x 4
BW x 3

Considering that I was incredibly rushed, not too shabby.

Rather happy with everything tbh other than the knee being a tad meh, but I'm putting that down to it needing more tlc <3, and the fact it was a very rushed session.
Squats were decent and very quick, even if the left knee was a bit iffy but still no major issues.
OHP felt really good since I'm tryingnot to bring my elbows too far forward like I had been and allowing the triceps to be involved a bit more. I'm also start to feel my lats kick in nicely which makes things feel a bit more stable.
The weight on the deadlifts flew up which surprised me considering that 85kg felt heavier than it should have on Monday. I should manage 95kg 3x5 np hopefully.
 
09/03/14 - Off-Day

I wanted to do conditioning but the knee care the past few days hasn't been brill so I did a core/conditioning session and a bit of what I fancied as I didn't want to compromise the performance of tomorrow.

Chin-ups

BW x 8
BW x 5
BW x 4

Farmers Walks

30kg x 2
50kg x 2
50kg x 2

Plank

3 x 45sec

Side-Planks

Left 3 x 45sec
Right 3 x 45sec

Hanging knee-raises

BW x 12 ss/w Battle Rope Conditioning
BW x 12
BW x 12

The Battle Rope Conditioning was really good fun and it would be nice to finally get around to doing a proper conditioning routine rather than primarily core dominant exercises. It all felt good but not entirely sure how beneficial it all is although the Battle Ropes was awesome and hell, that did all kind of things.
 
10/03/14 - A day

It's nice to have things back on track, squats are slowly going up, bench is being a hard-ass again and I'm not far from a BOR pb.

Squats

Bar - 3 x lots
40kg 2 x lots
60kg x 3
70kg x 3x5

Finally getting somewhere...

Bench

Bar - lots
30kg x lots
40kg x lots
50kg x 4
60kg x 3x5

Absolutely fine, just need to make sure I'm keeping everything nice and tight.

BOR(Pendlay)

Bar - lots
30kg x lots
40kg x lots
50kg x 3
60kg x 3x5

All in all, good. I was however slightly concerned about if the elbows were pulled back properly as it's hard to tell from a front-view mirror.

Dips

BW x 12
BW x 5
BW x 4

Squats are getting better each time, so it shall be 75kg next time.
Bench is feeling ok on the deload but I suspect I may only be able to squeeze out maybe 70kg for 1x5 so another deload back to 55kg is expected and work up again.
Rows are going well but I think I'll stick to the weight for the moment just to make sure the form is correct and that I'm not just yanking the bar with my shoulders rather than actually rowing it.
 
12/03/14 - B day

Far too tired and as a result the squats took longer which meant that I had to drop the sets on every other exercise to make sure I did everything.

Squats

Bar - lots
40kg x lots
60kg x 3
70kg x 2
75kg x 3x5

Back to low-bar, no trouble on the knees :D

OHP

Bar - lots
30kg x 3
35kg x 2
37.5kg x 3x5

37.5kg was fine but it would be nice to do 5x5 when I'm more with it and I'm a bit more mobile.

Deadlift

60kg x 5
80kg x 3
90kg x 2
95kg x 5

Just did not have the energy or the time...

Neutral-grip pullups
BW x 6
BW x 4
BW x 3

Meh...

It was an ok sesh considering I was asleep 30mins before I was at training...
Low-bar squatting seems to be doing wonders for my knees and I really noticed the difference switching from high-bar back to low bar.
OHP was ok but right shoulder was a bit tight. More stretching, mobility and being more awake should help next time.
Deadlifts felt great but when I was at the working set I was just knackered, nothing was responding properly.
I shall revisit the weights other than the squats again just because I want the intended sets on all of the exercises before I move up.
 
17/03/14 - A day

Personally I don't really think it's even worth mentioning the session but I'll log it anyway just as a way of keeping track of what happens where....

TL;DR: lack of sleep and food over the weekend, very tired, had minimal time training today, various pains and everyone hogging plates resulted in just a terrible session.

Squats

Bar - 3 x lots
40kg 2 x lots
60kg x 3
65kg x 3x5
70kg x 2x5


Bench

Bar - lots
30kg x lots
40kg x lots
50kg x 3x5

Right shoulder felt horrible, I was not risking it at all.

BOR

Bar - lots
30kg x lots
40kg x lots
50kg x 3
60kg x 2
50kg x 3x5


Swapped to BOR instead of pendlay to make sure I was actually rowing and not yanking the weight off the ground due to it being too heavy.

Dips

Had to kip due to having no time and not wanting to aggravate the shoulder.

I had to do 65kg instead of 70kg x 5x5 because everyone two people hogged the 5kg plates. A person in the cage next to me had 6 whilst doing clean and press/OHP/PP. And someone on the benched hogged 5 when there were plenty of 10kg's available... /rant over.
I didn't want to push the bench, shoulders just weren't moving properly at all so I kept it at 50kg.
Swapped to BOR just to make sure I wasn't yanking and just pulling the shoulder. Turns out I can't pull as much weight doing BOR as I can pendlay.
 
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mrthingyx said:
Interesting about the BORs vs. Pendlays.

How much are you pulling with your hamstrings during Pendlays?
Click to expand...

Not very much, I had a little pop on the top of the pull but nothing significant. I think I was more just using as much force as I could to get it up and in doing so not using the lats properly to actually row the weight.
 
Dreamforger said:
Not very much, I had a little pop on the top of the pull but nothing significant. I think I was more just using as much force as I could to get it up and in doing so not using the lats properly to actually row the weight.
Click to expand...

The problem with what you've outlined is that - if you're not using your hamstrings to force the bar - we now don't know what you're using, if it's not your lats. :)

Well, that's not true - I can take a guess...

Whilst Pendlays are harder than BORs, you should be able to row 'from dead'. as such, and replace the bar when you're done without too much movement.

Do you have a video?
 
mrthingyx said:
The problem with what you've outlined is that - if you're not using your hamstrings to force the bar - we now don't know what you're using, if it's not your lats. :)

Well, that's not true - I can take a guess...

Whilst Pendlays are harder than BORs, you should be able to row 'from dead'. as such, and replace the bar when you're done without too much movement.

Do you have a video?
Click to expand...

Unfortunately no video at the moment, but I shall get one next time.

I think that the problem may be that I'm pulling the bar too high on some of the pulls which has resulted in yanking with the shoulders rather than actually rowing. That's my thought anyway.In a previous post I mentioned how from a front view it looked like my elbows were out a bit wider than I would have thought, but from a front-view it was hard to tell, video inc.
 
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20-21/03/14 - B day

This was supposed to happen on Thursday but after training for just over 20-25mins squatting, my shorts split straight down the middle so I had to put my jeans on and go home. I was not happy.
Friday however was a rather good session.

Squats

(Thursday)
Bar - lots
40kg x lots
60kg x 3
70kg x 2
75kg x 3x5
75kg x 4 (and my shorts split...)

(Friday)
Bar - lots
40kg x lots
60kg x 3
70kg x 2
72.5kg x 5x5 (dropped the weight ever so slightly because of the weight yesterday)


OHP

Bar - lots
25kg x 3
30kg x 3
35kg x 5x5

Not too shabby at all.

Deadlift

60kg x 5
70kg x 3
80kg x 3
90kg x 3x5

Not bad I guess

Neutral-grip pullups
BW x 6
BW x 4
BW x 3

Same again...

All in all, a good session.
Squats are lovely.
OHP is lovely.
Deadlifts are lovely.
Lovely.
 
22/03/14 - A day

Not bad at all, it's a shame this will the last A day for just over a week so there my not necessarily be any improvement next time I post.

Squats

Bar - 3 x lots
40kg 2 x lots
60kg x 3
70kg x 2
75kg x 5x5

Trololololololololololol. Gimme moar.

Bench

Bar - lots
30kg x lots
40kg x lots
50kg x 3
55kg 5x5

Not bad, a tad harder than should have been.

BOR

Bar - lots
30kg x lots
40kg x lots
50kg x 3x5



Dips

BW x 8
BW x 8
BW x 6

75kg was really easy, progression seems to be going well at 5x5 so hopefully this will carry on after the week off.
Bench was ok, need to keep working on it though as I'd like to be constantly training in the 60kg range.
BOR were ok but I watched the footage at the time and I know I need to work on not using the hammiest as much ski the weight will stay around a similar level but it will not go up.
 
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25/03/14 - B day

Good session, not too many issues other than my rip going on deadlifts for some bizarre reason. I've done the weight so many times before but tonight it felt like such a challenge.

Squats

Bar - lots
40kg x lots
60kg x 3
70kg x 2
77.5kg x 5x5


OHP

Bar - lots
25kg x 3
30kg x 3
37.5kg x 5x5

Felt good, 40kg 5x5 might be an issue but 3x5 should be a doddle.

Deadlift

60kg x 5
70kg x 3
80kg x 3
90kg x 2
95kg x 5
90kg x 5 (Dropped weight and swapped to mixed grip because DOH was failing)
95kg x 2x5

I was determined to get the full 3x5.

Not bad I guess

Chin-ups
BW x 7
BW x 6
BW x 5

Better I guess but a long way off doing weighted pull-ups :(

Another good session but now I'll have a week off due to the facility being shut asa result of it moving to a new location.
 
01/04/14 - A day

Better than expected if I'm honest but still not not really at the point worth looking at yet. A few more weeks of consistent training and making sure I don't injure myself and I should eventually have some nicer numbers to look at.

Squats

Bar - 3 x lots
40kg 2 x lots
60kg x 3
70kg x 3
80kg x 5x5

A lot easier than expected considering that the last time I squared was 77.5kg over a week ago. Things felt good so I made the most of it.

Bench

Bar - lots
30kg x lots
40kg x lots
55kg x 5x5

Ok, a slight elbow click in some reps on the concentric part of the movement but the more I warmed up the shoulders the better it became.

BOR

Bar - lots
30kg x lots
40kg x lots
50kg x 3
50kg x 5x5

Much less hammy activation and the movement feels right.

Dips

BW + 5kg x 6
BW + 5kg x 4
BW + 5kg x 2
BW x 2

Not sure if this is more effective than using just BW as with just BW I can get more reps but with added weight the exercise is more difficult. Does anyone have any thoughts on this?

Solid session overall, it would be nicer if the weights were higher on everything but providing that training is consistent it shouldn't be too long until I'm making pb's and pr's again.
 
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Bench is a vanity exercise, anyway, but amusingly the one most likely to cause damage or problens (from my experience)... evolution's way of telling us that it is gash. ;)

Dips are fun with added weight, plus make you look like a boss provided your ROM is good and shouldera are stable. Do them from rings for the Freefaller effect. ;)
 
I like to take it easy, I've learnt not just to move up in weight because I managed a weight before it. I'll be working on mobility and making sure everything moves, and just keep going at a steady pace.

Dips were solid, I just couldn't do as many as I'm used to and I wasn't sure if there was a particular point or a particular number of reps to swap to.
 
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