Returning from injury

brianthebard

Today;
A- Incline press; 20,30,40,45,50,45 (all x5).

B-db incline press; 12.5x12,12.

C1-db rows;25x10,10,10.
C2-db powerclean;3'sx12,12,12.

D-bench machine shrug; 40x12,60x12, 80x12,12.

E-hammer curls;12.5x10,10,10.

protein came today, huzzah. Last week there wasn't a bench free to put my knee on for rows, did them standing/hand on leg press and really liked the stretch in the lats and the doms that came from it, so did the same this week. Press is as you would expect.

brianthebard

Today;

A-Sumos; 60x5,80x5,100x5,120x3,140x3,145x3. (no belt)

B-db lunge w/front foot on step; 20's x8,8,5.

C-pull thrus; 60x12,10,10.

D-pulldown abs; 30x12, 45x12,12.

4 weeks ago 140x1 was a grinder, so the strength is definitely coming back. last rep on 145 got a bit ahead of me but still got it up.
db lunges kill my grip. otherwise fine, nice exercise.

itsallaboutheL

You're still not really pushing progression on assistance stuff are ya?
I think you underestimate your capabilities.

brianthebard

posh spice??

I dunno what you mean really, lunges were new so I tried 20's, will go up next week. The pull thrus was up from last week. The pulldown abs were lighter, but that was because of the lower back, I just wanted to get some blood flowing. What do you think is off?

itsallaboutheL

MelB?

brianthebard

teh fock has she got to do with anything?? Now tell me what you'd do different with the assistance stuff.

itsallaboutheL

Dunno you're the one that titled you workout melb.

it's not that you're doing anything wrong, you just don't seem to push your progression hard enough imo

brianthebard

Max Effort Lower Body. :pac:

jayoo

There putting new flooring in the nuig gym, they waited till you had left thoses bastards.

Hows new gym treating you? I was meant to gym today but slept in :rolleyes:.

brianthebard

lol bet its wrecked again in six months. New gym is good, the squat rack is a million times better than the one in nuig. Only thing is it can be a little crowded.

brianthebard

Today (REUB)

A; db bench; 10x10, 15x10, 20x10x2.

B1; lat pulldown; 65x10,60x10,50x10
B2; rear delt flyes; 5x12,10,10.

C; seated db press; 12.5x10,10,8.

D; bench machine shrug; 80x12,12,14.
(couldn't superset these)
E; preacher reverse curls; bar+10x10,10,10.

quick session, in and out in about half an hour. Nothing exciting but I finally got the reverse curls to work, actually felt a pump in my wrists!

brianthebard

Today;

A-incline bench; 20x5,40x5x2, 50x4,50x5, 40x10 (wider grip for last set).

B-db bench; 12.5x12x2.

C1-seated cable row;55x12, 70x12x2.
C2-db powerclean;5'sx10x3.

D- bench machine shrugs; 100x10x3.
E- reverse grip preacher curls; bar+10 12,12,9.

Today should've happened ages ago, this week got away from me completely, stupid christmas party. At least I know some new people now. Probably deadlift tomorrow, might skip repetition day and go straight into max upper again monday.

brianthebard

Sumos; 60x5, 90x5, 80x5, 100x3, 130x3, 140x1.

sldls; 60x10x3.

pull thrus; 65x10x3.

pulldown abs; 55x20, 65x18.

Dunno if I made too big of jumps in weight or it was the early morning or what but my back wasn't that excited to pull today. Stopped at 140x1 because it didn't feel like I could comfortably go higher. disappointing session really. Starting to reconsider my gcg membership, I spent an hour on the bike so far today for a half hour session, the commute is a bit much. The first house i was in this semester was right on the border of acceptable I think, and the move has added more time to it. On the other hand the college gym wasn't very well set up and the squat rack is ****, plus they won't allow me access to the good room with the power racks. So I don't really know what to think atm.

In other news, I saw a guy curling in the squat rack, wearing a belt, using 5kg bumper plates on the bar. You got to give him credit for that.

brianthebard

Today;

incline press; 20, 30, 30, 40, 50, 52.5 (all x5)
55x3, then some singles and doubles with little rest and another set of three at the end.
50x5.

Seated cable row. 50x10, 60x10x2.
SS w/
facepulls 40x12x3.

bb shrugs; 60x12, 80x12x2.

bb curls; 20x10, 30x10x2.

Happy enough with the pressing, could probably have taken 60 with a spotter. Decided to keep doing singles and doubles to get extra work in, rather than failing on a set of five. Am fairly sure my pressing is slowly improving so that's something.
Tried doing the shrugs behind my back but my ass was in the way! :eek:
Also realised that I've done more shrugs on this programme than I ever have before.

brianthebard

Today;

snatch grip dl; 60x5, 80x5, 100x3, 120x3, 140x1,1, 150x1(pr), 150x1(sumo).

sldl off a 20kg plate deficit;
70x10x3.

hack squat machine;
80x10, 100x10,20.

some pulldown abs

Happy enough to say that's a pr, its 10kg off my best conventional pull and done without a belt. Plus its 5kg up on two weeks ago. Back felt very good today too which was nice. couldn't get set up with the pulldown and gave up, but didn't care.

itsallaboutheL

150kg snatch grip???

Sweeeeet

podge57

Nice, I've only tried snatch grip Dls a few times, theyre pretty tough, so I would imagine your conventional is well over 160kg now

brianthebard

Cheers lads, I would hope my real dl is better than 160 but the sumo I did after the 150 snatch wasn't too encouraging. In saying that I don't think I set it up well at all. There was a good article on elitefts recently about the sumo, I sometimes don't think about my set up enough before I pull.
Also my pb was tempered somewhat by the big bodybuilder using 150 for several easy sets on the bench! :eek: He's a bit of a monster in fairness.

jayoo

So any more thoughts on moving back to college gym. They have added a preacher machine for biceps, its super duper cool.

I think you should come back would be super awesome

brianthebard

Lol thanks for the vote of confidence! I have been thinking about it, probably wouldn't happen til February though I dunno. I need to look into the club joining plan too.

jayoo

Have been spelling them wrong DOHHHHHH,
Cossack squats

http://www.defrancostraining.com/index.php

have been doing them holding plates

brianthebard

First day back in about a month or more, can't believe I let things get away from me like that.

Today;
Front squats- worked up to 90x3, then a couple of back off sets.
partial zerchers- again worked up to 90, 2 or 3 reps for a couple of sets.
pull thrus and pulldown abs. couple of sets each, nothing spectacular.

brianthebard

cgbp- worked up to 62.5x2,1, set of 50x8,4 afterwards.
bb rows- 50x8x3, supersetted with rear delt flyes, 4x12x3.
preacher curls.

Shrugs are usually on this day but I'm not that bothered about them. Might add a set or two of dips and chins at the end from now on.

brianthebard

Today went something like this;
machine rows 30kg,70kg

speed pulls; worked up to 100x3x2.

lat pulldown; 55kgx8.

tried some btn push presses, worked up to 50 for a few sets. Weight was handy enough, need to work on controlling the bar on the way down.

Also tried some floor press lockouts in the rack, was able to do 90 for a few singles. Put a reebok step in the rack but wasn't able to budge it. The step makes proper floor press rom, definitely going to use this again.

brianthebard

Today;

worked up to 100 for two singles on front squat (pb).
edit:two sets of eight w/60kg here after the singles.

did zerchers partials up to 100 too, but fell forward on one rep (light enough too!) and tweaked my back slightly. Nothing serious and it isnt my spine thats hurt but I cut things short because of it, and just did some planks and stretching. bit of a bummer but hopefully its not a big deal.

itsallaboutheL

brianthebard wrote: »

Today;

worked up to 100 for two singles on front squat (pb).

did zerchers partials up to 100 too, but fell forward on one rep (light enough too!) and tweaked my back slightly. Nothing serious and it isnt my spine thats hurt but I cut things short because of it, and just did some planks and stretching. bit of a bummer but hopefully its not a big deal.

Zercher squats with a bad back is like something i'd do!!

brianthebard

Lol they're just a partial rep, few inches really, I'm hoping they'll be a nice assistance for my deadlift. Besides it wasn't the lift itself that was the problem in this instance, it was not paying attention keeping control of the bar. We'll see how things go, tbh its pretty impossible to find a decent hamstring or posterior chain lift that isn't going to stress the lower back, so I just have to find the best fits you know?

podge57

Ive always liked zerchers off pins too. For me, the safest way to do them is starting a bit above parallel and with a really wide stance. This seemed to put most of the emphasis on my hams and PC

brianthebard

Yeah that's exactly how I'm doing them podge, feels sort of like a box squat to me, in terms of the emphasis on the hams as you say.

brianthebard

This morning;

machine rows; 40x10x2, 70x8x2.

cgbp; worked up to 65x3.

db bench; 20s'x15,6,6.

turkish get ups; 10kg db, 4 or 5 reps on each side.

curls with a bar that was left loaded nearby

some med ball swings (weight room too crowded at this point to do these there)

Decent session, was surprised to get 3 reps, possibly had more but without a spotter wasn't chancing it. going to move to floor press next week. TGU's are something, didn't necessarily feel it in my abs at the time but they are hard work.

brianthebard

Today;
Speed deads; 60x3,2,80x2x2,100x2x2.

seated gms;
20x6,40x8,50x8x3.

inverted rows;
6x4.

face pulls 23.75x10x2.
18.25x10x2.

db swing; 12kgx20x4 (two sets each side).

first rep of each 100kg set was a bit hard to break from the ground, will either stick to the weight or drop it slightly, really want to get as much speed off the ground as possible.

brianthebard

Quick session today;
db bench; 12'sx12, 16'sx12, 22x8,6.

chest supported row, supersetted w/db power cleans;
22x10x3, 6'sx12,12,10.

rolling db ext; 14'sx12,16'sx8x3.

There was some sort of indoor cricket comp on in the gym today so it was full of trinners students and northies. Should've done a bit mroe today but was in a rush to be home for the game. Like the idea of the chest supp row but in practise it just doesn't do much for me. Possibly doing each arm separately would be different, might try that in the future.

brianthebard

yesterday evening;
back squats; 40,50,60,70,80,90x5.
100,110x3, 120x2.

zerchers;60x5,80x5,90x3x3.

gym was packed and was late to meet my gf so left it at that, even though I could've done with some pulldown abs or something to calm the pump in my lower back, it was pretty painful. Calmed down after a shower though. put the safeties on the rack for the 120 but if anything they threw me off, just got to figure out how to walk the heavier weights out and I should be able for much more.

today;
floor press; worked up to 75x2x2.
floor press rack lockouts; worked up to 85x3x2.

bb row, ss w/rear delt flyes;
60x10x3, 6'sx10x3.

pinwheel curls.

Really like the floor press on a reebok step set up, I can vary where the bar sets from about an inch off my chest to a couple of inches. lockouts were just a couple of inches rom really but like them, I don't often get to handle heavier weights safely. dunno about the bb rows, I never really know what I'm hitting with them.

brianthebard

Today;

speed deads; 50x4,60x4,70x3,80x4,90x2,2, 100x2, 105x2,2.

seated gm's; 32.5x8, 50x10, 60x8x3.

tgu; 12kg db, 4,2, each side.

pulldowns; 45x10, 55x10x3.

decent enough session.

cardio,shoot me

how do you find seated Gmings brian? i get the impression that itd be easier for your back to round on them?

brianthebard

Yeah my back might be rounding but don't think its a big deal. I think because I'm sitting and my back is supported my lower back doesn't fatigue like it does with regular gm's. 60 would be a lot to handle (for my lower back) if I had been standing, but seated I'd be confident of even more in the next weeks. Plus today I started to get some leg drive out of the hole which was good.

brianthebard

Today;
machine row; 40x10x2, 70x10x3.

db bench; 20'sx10x2, 24(or 26?)8,6,6.

db power clean;4's x3 sets of loads.

btn press.

rolling db ext; 18'sx10,6,6,6.

gym was busier than I expected so wasn't able to do stuff in the order I wanted to. btn press is not a good idea after bench and db pc's! didn't go heavy though so at least I didn't hurt myself. shocking form in the gym today, saw one guy doing front squats by holding the bar in his hands, and another guy being shown db front squats by an instructor was all over the place (not his fault) but the dopey bollox who's supposed to be a 'trainer' wasn't even watching him and didn't correct anything. couldn't believe some of the **** he was getting the young fella to do.

JJayoo

Hey do you want to annoy the gym instructors. Im gonna ask them to show me the olympic lifts, all of them , in great detail

brianthebard

JJayoo wrote: »

Hey do you want to annoy the gym instructors. Im gonna ask them to show me the olympic lifts, all of them , in great detail

Omg that's ****ing brilliant, have to do that.

JJayoo

Overhead squats will be very funny, We should ask them to spell squat:)
Ah no thats mean, there all lovely boys. I am suprised that none of them have a clue, you would imagine that at least one person with an interest in lifting would work there.

brianthebard

I bet they'd try to teach you though rather than admit they knew nothing, even if they had to print instructions off the net. You're right its a bit mad, the biggest guy I've seen is on the desk, and he's only tall really, not exactly huge. Even the guy in charge of the elite room in the back office looks like he's never touched a barbell, but he's in charge of the weights room?

brianthebard

Today was meant to be max squats, but I wasn't feeling great and there was someone else hogging the rack. Instead of just going home after the rows I did a repetition lower day.

machine rows;50x10x2, 80x8x3.

sldl/rdl; 50x10, 70x10, 80x8, 10, 20.

shovel deads; 15x3,4,6 each side. (six done closer to the plate than prev sets).

as I said, felt sick so didn't do more than that. shovel deads are cool definitely going to keep them.

I've come to the realisation that my squat has seriously stalled over the past number of months for a variety of reasons. Its pissing me off but I'm not sure what the best way of attacking it is. I think I see four or five options;
-continue with westside template for the next few months and hope it fixes itself.
-drop back squat from rotation and hit every assistance and alternative squat lift hard for those 2 or 3 months.
-starting strength or similar where I'll be squatting more often, with added assistance.
-20 reps

The first two seem to make the more sense I just don't know if they'll work for sure and I guess its the uncertainty about the next few months of lifting that's bothering me. I'm pretty happy with the westside template overall, need to add more and heavier assistance but otherwise I think its ok. bah.

narwog81

brianthebard wrote: »

. Even the guy in charge of the elite room in the back office looks like he's never touched a barbell, but he's in charge of the weights room?

He's a former olympic sprinter, in fairness i'd say he knows a bit about weights even if he's not a big guy....

i train in NUIG too, i'd agree that the instructors dont have a clue or seem to even care whats going on in the gym. I dont think i've ever seen anyone squat even near parallel in there and the other day i got given out to for stacking the plyometric boxes on top of each other in the "elite room" while doing box jumps, dangerous apparently,the non-slip surface on top is for sitting on:rolleyes:

brianthebard

narwog81 wrote: »

He's a former olympic sprinter, in fairness i'd say he knows a bit about weights even if he's not a big guy....

The little short guy? could have fooled me. Fair enough though.

i train in NUIG too, i'd agree that the instructors dont have a clue or seem to even care whats going on in the gym. I dont think i've ever seen anyone squat even near parallel in there and the other day i got given out to for stacking the plyometric boxes on top of each other in the "elite room" while doing box jumps, dangerous apparently,the non-slip surface on top is for sitting on:rolleyes:

Are you part of a club? I noticed those boxes all right, don't know why they got them if they don't want you jumping on them.

narwog81

The little short guy? could have fooled me. Fair enough though.

this guy?

[IMG]http://www.irishrunner.com/irgraph/fgryan03.jpg<font color=green><font color=black>[/IMG]
http://www.irishrunner.com/irgraph/fgryan03.jpg

gary ryan is in charge of sports in NUIG so he controls who gets access to the elite room, as far as i know he gives the names to the kingfisher staff and they just check off a list.

nah i have mates on the football and hurling teams, i haven't played at all for the college teams with my knee injuries. anyone on the list for the room can bring in one "spotter" when they are using the room.

I noticed those boxes all right, don't know why they got them if they don't want you jumping on them.

yeah i know, i had the 12" stacked on the 30" box which is well wide to take it, one of the instructors was walking by and got panicky, must have been out of his comfort zone:D

brianthebard

Today;
floor press; high step, low step, rack lockouts; up to 90x3,2 on the last one, not 100% on any of the other numbers.

reverse grip bb row; 70x10,10,8. ss w/ rear delt flyes 4'sx15,15,15.

preachers.

arms are sore now, feels like all the curls did was work my biceps tendon. Prolly cause of the row though. Its cool getting used to having heavier weights overhead and not worrying about breaking myself, fought to grind out some reps today that might not have been possible otherwise.

JJayoo

I was deadlifting lastweek, the instructor walked up to me and during my set he told me I should put my runners on. He wasn't being rude or anything, just a bit clueless.

Have you noticed that they didn't actually fix the old floor, just covered it. Now there are big dips in the new flooring. You always have to check the floor surrounding you before doing any kind of standing lifts.

But I do like the gym, lots of ways to manipulate the machines, Mmm back extensions, finally there is a reason for the smith machine:D

brianthebard

yesterday;
snatch grip dl; 60x7, 80x5, 100x5, 120x3, 140x3, 160x0x2, 150x0, 140x0. Moral of the story, don't repeatedly fail on max deadlift attempts.

rdl's; 90x8x4.

'power' shrugs; 90x8,8,4+10, 10. hook grip on last two sets.

Doesn't look like much but my traps, erectors, lower back, hams and even my forearms are fried today. Think the bar got a bit ahead of me on the max sets and wasn't able to bring it more than a few inches. Will hopefully improve next week, even 145x3 would be good.

itsallaboutheL

brianthebard wrote: »

yesterday;
snatch grip dl; 60x7, 80x5, 100x5, 120x3, 140x3, 160x0x2, 150x0, 140x0. Moral of the story, don't repeatedly fail on max deadlift attempts.

rdl's; 90x8x4.

'power' shrugs; 90x8,8,4+10, 10. hook grip on last two sets.

Doesn't look like much but my traps, erectors, lower back, hams and even my forearms are fried today. Think the bar got a bit ahead of me on the max sets and wasn't able to bring it more than a few inches. Will hopefully improve next week, even 145x3 would be good.

Hahahahaha, you said erectors

brianthebard

today;
incline bench; 20x10, 40x5,5, 45x5, 50x5, 55x5, 57.5x3,2, 50x5, 40x6, 40x10.

kroc rows; 22'sx25,20,20.

db pc's 6'sx10x3.

tgu w/10kg plate;
2x4 each side.

benchtastic day for everyone in the gym today. tgu's were ok, couldn't use the db I wanted but the plate has handles so it was similar to using a kettlebell and a good bit more unstable. Realised I wasn't getting four sessions a week in every week so switched back to the first version of wsfsb. Won't make any noticeable difference to my logging except that I'm now skipping a day on purpose....