Stiv's Log of lifting

stiv121

stiv121

stiv121

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Joined
4 Nov 2009
Posts
1,753
Location
Port Glasgow
Just over a year into going to the gym regularly and keeping up a half decent diet so I though it was about time to make a little Log to help keep me on track and gauge my progress. I'll hopefully be filling this log with lots of videos to get some feedback and maybe help out others with the same issues they are having.

As some of you may know I experienced my first Power Lifting competition last month (Scottish Juniors/Masters). I didn't do too well, bombed out on the bench and made a few other mistakes but I took it as a learning curve and I am confident that I'll do much better in the next one which is around mid March time. :D

At the moment I'm just trying to improve my lifts by giving it 100% every session, trying out new exercises and working on the technique. Not worrying too much about my weight as long as it stays <70. Come January I'll start to cut away all the Christmas pudding. :D My aim is to be as lean as possible while still maintaining strength. :p

6th of November at 65.2kg




Feeling fat at the moment weighing in at 68-69kg :( But stronger! :D You can see most of my recent progress here http://www.youtube.com/user/stivalmighty/videos?flow=grid&view=0
 
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Friday- Squats

Was feeling pretty good so I thought I would go for a PB and get loads of volume. :)



10xBar
5x40
5x60
5x80
3x100
1x120
1x130
1x140 No knee wraps and was nice and deep.
1x150 F Felt strong going down and got out of the hole ok and just stopped for a few seconds then failed :confused:
1x150 F Same again :(

8x100
10x100
6x100
6x100
10x80
10x80
10x80
10x80
10x80

Walking lunges x5 10 steps 20kg Each hand

Ab roll out's 5 sets of 10
Side bends 25kg plate 3x10 Each side

By far the most painful session ever, Thought that since I didn't PB I would punish myself :D Try it again next week ;)

On all sets I was really trying to focus on stopping my knees from collapsing in when driving up but couldn't really stop it at 120+ I think it will come the more I get used to low bar squatting and working on my hip mobility more.
 
Syla5 said:
stiv, something that was pointed out to a few of us yesterday by Ice and Dom was to screw your feet in to the floor before going down on the squats. I had the same issues with my knees, but doing this really makes a massive difference, its just so much harder for your knees to come in if your screwed in.
Click to expand...

Hmm I do that for deads but I've never thought of doing it with squats, cheers for the tip ;)

Another thing I was maybe thinking about trying is squatting in boots to give me a little bit of a heel to engage my glutes earlier if that makes sense?
 
toxic said:
nice work for a years training mate..should be interesting in here :)
Click to expand...

I done boxing for around a year but got bored and quit. Six months down the line and I really wasn't happy with my weight and the way I was looking so I thought that I would try out weight training. I'm sure the boxing gave me a good base to work from under the fat :p
 
Bit of a mixed session tonight, going for a dead-lift PB and wanted to hit tri's hard as I feel they are a weak point. Was still suffering from Dom's from Fridays session but I got to do some work tomorrow so thought it would be better to just crack on with it tonight. :D

Dead's

60x5
100x5
140x4
160x2 Glutes were feeling pretty tight at this point?:confused:
180x1
200x1 PB! :D:D:D:D Felt heavy coming of the floor but it flew straight up with good from I was told, no video thou :( My phone was being used for some motivational music ;) Overall very happy I've broke the 200kg barrier and got pretty much 3xBw after fasting all day @ 67.1kg.

Attempted 205 but as soon as I initiated the lift my right glute cramped up so I called it quits for tonight. Going to try again next week when I'm feeling more fresh and I'll be sure to get a video of 200 again. Maybe 205-210 ;)

Dips

10xBw
5xBw +10kg
5xBw +20kg
5xBw +30kg
5xBw +40kg
10xBw +10kg
10xBw +10kg
10xBw +10kg
10xBw +10kg
10xBw +10kg

Skull Crashers dumbel

3x8 8kg Ea

Second time doing these and they are incredibly hard!

Y Bar push downs

3x8 25kg

Core work:

Ab roll outs and side bends with 25kg plate. Done sets of 10 alternating each until I was burned out.


Looking at making a little dead lift platform tomorrow for doing deflict deads, not sure how high I should make it thou? I'm 5,6" so what would you guys recommend? 2-3 Inches?
 
That's actually the first I've went for a 1 rep PB in 5 weeks on normal deads ;) Apart from last weeks partial. I'm dead-lift crazy, by far my favorite exersize :D I think my weakness now is getting it the first few inches up so going to focus on deflicts after Christmas.
 
I've just been mixing and matching different exercises on 5/3/1 for the past few months when I started BBB. It helped me grow (especially my legs!) and my strength increased so I stuck with it. I also loved doing so much each work out and feeling like I'm going to pass out =P but I think now I need to work on 5 and 3 rep maxes but I'm not really sure on what to do program wise? :D
 
Was feeling a little down today, spent a few hours of splitting logs and I was pretty exhausted. My lower left side of my back was also aching and feeling a bit uncomfortable. :(

However after a few hours rest plus some Craze in me I was feeling pretty good once I got started. :) Mixed session tonight trying out some new exercises and some old ones as well.

Bench

Bar x Lots
40 x5
60 x5
70 x5
80 x5
80 x5
80 x4 Daym chest + Tri's are fried!

60 x10 Paused
60 x10 Paused
60 x10 Paused
60 x10 Paused

Incline Dumbbell Bench

20ea x8
25ea x8
25ea x8

Log press

40 x5 Strict
50 x3 Strict
60 x1
70 x1
80 x1


80 x5 From knees up onto chest no pressing
90 x1 Same again
95 xF

First time doing log since September when I hurt myself doing it. So much easier now and I can clean it pretty well without arching backwards much (How I hurt myself).

Seated dumbbell shoulder press- First time doing these and it was messy!

10ea x10
20ea x8
25ea x4
20ea x5

One handed dumbbell clean and jerk - New to these

10 x5 (each side)
20 x5
25 x5
30x3 30x0 on left side =P


Core work

Dragon flags: 2 sets of 5

Hanging raises: Just done loads wasn't counting :D

Side bends with pulley machine: 6 sets of 10 each side Feel the burn!


The one handed dumbbells are something I might start doing regularly as it's pretty fun and adds some variety for core work. :)
 
Been so lazy over the festive period but I've been training consistently and hitting some PB's on assistance exersizes. :D


Incline DB 35,s x5
Weighted dips +40kg x6
Lateral pull down 90kg x 7 100kg x 4
Deadlift 200kg
Short pause bench 85kg x5


Yesterday I got the opportunity to go to Glencairn BB gym and see the 12 weeks out pose down of all the people a friend is training for a show. :D Up at half 7 with a half 9 training start.

Done some shoulder since I've not them in a bit :) They had the best barbells I've ever used with a good knurl of them.

Military press (x1 clean from floor)

Bar x lots
10x20
5x40
5x40
5x50
6x60
1x70 PB :)

Wanted to go a bit higher so decided to use some legs (Pushpress)

75x4 PB by 5 reps :D

80x2.5 PB Had to get 2 people to lift it to my chest because I'm crap at cleaning a barbell it just doesn't feel right =P Missed the second rep, got it halfway up and left side came down. 3rd rep was a real struggle and felt like it took hours to complete :D

After that came the pose down where the newbies got taught how to pose and the more experienced ones showed off. Then came the two ladies and it was bloody hard to keep a serious face when watching hnngggg :cool: One then got the fat arse of the week T-shirt (Best glutes I've ever seen) along with another guy I didn't know :D The banter is great!



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Really good experience and now have the opportunity to train there if I want for next to nothing on my off days but it's a little bit far for regular use.
 
Back down to 67.8kg this morning :D Feeling rubbish thou due to lack of sleep Im just lying wide awake and keep dossing off and waking up again :( Probably because I've came of the caffeine and I'm back on a good diet.

Here's the new workout I wrote up, feel free to criticize it and suggest other exersizes I could use instead which will benefit me better. My Goals are to get as strong as possible by march while getting as lean as I can, hopefully I can get back down to 65Kg and still add a good bit to my lifts. The idea I've got is to change most of my assistance exersizes to something I've not done before to try and shock my body.

Monday- Shoulders 5/3/1

DB seated shoulder press 4x8 20kg -I suck at these =P
Strict tricep Putdowns Y bar 4x8 30kg
Barbell front raises 2s pause 4x5 20kg
One hand reverse grip tricep push downs 4x8 about 15kg

Chins x10 x10 x10
Side Bends slow with cable 4x10 30kg


Tuesday- Dead lift - no 5/3/1 atm due to niggle in back. Put it in once my back is 100%

5x5 Regular dead lift
4x6 RDL

Hamstring curls 4x8
Close grip parallel row 4x6
Glute Pull through 4x8

2x5 Full Dragon flags
2x5 ^^ Kick ups/partials
2x12 hanging raises

Thursday- Bench- 5/3/1

Partial bench (If I can get two people to assist) 3x4 working up weight

Paused bench 2x5 80kg
DB bench 4x8
Dips BW +20kg 4x8
Incline bench 3x5 (For da pump:D )
DB skull crushers 3x8

Side bends with 25kg plate 4x10


Friday- Squat 5/3/1

Box squats 4x6
Glute bridges 3x8
Bulgarian split squats (With DBs) 4x8
Single leg machine extensions 3x8

Ab roll out 5x12
Hanging raises 2x12

Not sure about weights yet as I've only done a lot of these exersizes a few times. Usually I will use a weight which I struggle to complete all sets with but still maintain good form.
 
Also when should I do foam rolling/lacrosse ball and mobility work for each part of the body? Mobility before hitting that muscle group and foam rolling about and hour before and after? Still not got my lacrosse ball I'll need to phone up tomorrow :rolleyes:
 
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Tonight's session went pretty well, nice to be doing new things but I forgot to write down what order I was doing things =P

Foam Rolling- full back + hammies + Glutes


Loads of stretching before I started
5x5 Regular dead lift - 60kg 80kg 100kg 120kg 120kg
4x5 RDL -Should have been doing 6 reps but forgot XD - 60kg 80kg 100kg 100kg

Lateral pull down 3x8 - 70kg 70kg 70kg
Close grip parallel row(Paused) 4x6 - 60kg 60kg 60kg 60kg
Glute Pull through 4x8 -No numbers on pulley- Just worked my way up till It was to much and pulling me back.

2x5 Full Dragon flags
2x5 ^^ Kick ups/partials
2x12 hanging raises

Back felt pretty good, could feel it a touch at 120kg but no pain. Only thing that was a bit uncomfortable was the hanging raises when I keep my legs perfectly straight. Think it was just tight by this time but the upper my left glute feels more fatigued than my right now.

Also got some form check videos.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJEXUJogsDg&feature=youtu.be

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WtQ-SbSMH_w&feature=youtu.be

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QhEsIVxtJo0&feature=youtu.be

Was trying to copy the "Load order error deadlift" video from San Fransisco cross fit
 
I was trying to lift my hips up then drive them down to initiate the lift and try to engage my glute's more and pointing my toes outwards a little. What do you mean by humping the bar? :D

What would I have to do to get the proper explosiveness from the glutes?
 
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LOL

Yeah I see it now I'll try to focus on where my hips are next time, might do some light dead's on squat day just to work on it. That's a pretty good way to look at it XD:p
 
Just a few degrees, more of a parallel then slight screw and I thought it would help me engage my glutes better.


I see! I did notice or think my lift changed a little after the initial setup of bracing core and squeezing gultes, I had a thought but I didn't think anything of it when looking back.

Maybe it is me just me getting used to this new way of setting up and approach. I could try resetting after each rep? I'll just stick to the same weight until I nail it.

Could it maybe be the psoas muscle that has bee strained? If so is it bad? :(
 
Ah, I get it now =P I've been trying to do it with squats after seeing you guys talking about it but wasn't quite sure if your feet should be moving or not but I did notice a difference.

Cheers guys :D
 
Bench tonight :) Was really tired so didn't do as well as I wanted. Been off caffeine completely for around 12 days now, thinking about just using my pre workout only and start back tomorrow.

5/3/1 bench

5+ set 82.5kg Got 9 reps but I really wanted more but it just died after 8

5x80kg slow
5x80kg slow

Flat dumbbells

20's x8
25's x8
30's x8
30's x8

Really easy to push but trying to stabilize them was a pain.

Dips

20kg x 8
20kg x 8
25kg x 8
25kg x 7

Incline on smith

Around 60kgxf 10+reps x2

Dumbbell skull crushers

6's x 8
8's x 8
10's x8
10's x8

Side bends with plate 25kg x10 each side.

Also got a video of my 77.5 x 5 set for a form check but the room is tight and hard to get a decent angle.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hAPpItpK5mk&feature=youtu.be
 
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