Dragan's New Training Journal

Dragan

Here be the Math behind my first week. Thanks to BossArky for making this so easy. Legend. I know it's not the clearest, it's just an example at the end of the day. It's easier to skim once you keep in mind anywhere you see a loan 1,3 or 5 is a rep count.

Military Press Week 1
57.5 <--- Real Max
52 <--- 531 Max
Warm Up Work
5 40% 21 5 65% 34
5 50% 26 5 75% 39
5 60% 31 5 85% 44
Deadlift Week 1
135 <--- Real Max
122 <--- 531 Max
Warm Up Work
5 40% 49 5 65% 79
5 50% 61 5 75% 91
5 60% 73 5 85% 103
Bench Press Week 1
77.5 <--- Real Max
70 <--- 531 Max
Warm Up Work
5 40% 28 5 65% 45
5 50% 35 5 75% 52
5 60% 42 5 85% 59
Squat Week 1
87.5 <--- Real Max
79 <--- 531 Max
Warm Up Work
5 40% 32 5 65% 51
5 50% 39 5 75% 59
5 60% 47 5 85% 67

Will also begin keeping a proper diet account from tomorrow.

Dragan

AM : Swim - this was lovely, an hour in a quiet pool. Buzz.

PM : 5/3/1

Press - Warm Up (20kx5,25x5,30x5) Work Sets (35x5,40x5,45x7)

Lat Pull Downs : 5x10 at 5 plates. ( no idea how heavy these things are )
Push Ups : 10x5

Thoughts :
After a good read of Wendlers e-book I've decided the beauty of the program lies in only really having one set goal, your main lift for the day. After that it's up to intuition and listening to the body. I've opted for the "Tirumverate" method, the big lift plus two complimentary lifts. I always liked doing lat pulls/chins with push movements and tend to get decent results with them so stuck them in here. As soon as my strength gets up i'll switch from the pulls to the chins.

Push ups were something i ignored previously in my training, only really bringing them in in the months leading up to the end of my training. They were giving me really good results and are a great basic movement, so they are in. Also, they were the hardest part of the workout.

Thoughts on the first day are good, i psuhed the pace and left feeling like i had worked, which is what you want.

Food for the day so far :

8:30 - Shredded Wheat and Fruit
11:15 - Scrambled eggs and bread
14:30 - Omlette and Wholemeal Pitta
16:45 - chicken and veg
16:30 - Dragans Beef Bonanza Burrittos x 2 (yum)

accensi0n

How tall are you Dragan?

Dragan

accensi0n wrote: »

How tall are you Dragan?

About 6'2.

Dragan

5/3/1 Session :


Deads : 5x50 , 5x60, 5x72.5, 5x80 , 5x90 , 103x8

Seated Machine Row : 30k side , 7,10,8,10

Lat Pull Downs : 6 plates in front of neck, 8,6
6 plates behind neck , 6,3

Bent Over Row (barbell) :
55 x 8, 55x7, 55x6

Bicep Curl/Hammer Curl supers x 2

Kinetic^

Good lifting hippy! Keep it up.

FunkZ

That's savage deadlifting dude for the amount of time ya had off! You'll be flying up 150 or more in a few months!

Dragan

Cheers folk.

Today was Bench in the 5/3/1

Bench , 5 reps of 28,35,42,45,52.5 and final set of 60x10 reps.

Incline Dumbell Press : 15x10 , 17.5x10, 20x7

Decline Bench :
50x7 , 50x6, 50x5

High Pulls:
6 plates , 20,20,15 reps.

Tricep Pushdowns :
100x8,120x8,140x8

Thoughts :
Nice session today, i like basic pressing movements for building basic pressing strength so will be sticking with 3 different benches for now, changing it up if i feel it's not working.

Also, i seem to be one of the few people i know who gets actual decent applicable strength on pushdowns, most folk seem better suited to French press when there shoulders can handle it, so that is in here.

Throwing in the high pulls as once again, i get results with them and i like to contrast all that pushing with something.

Tomorrow is Squats, looking forward to them.

Dragan

Squats 5/3/1 Week 1

5x32 , 5x39, 5x47, 5x51, 5x60, 8x67.5

Front Squats

40x5reps , 3 sets

Leg Press

40x10
80x10
120x8

Thoughts:

Today was actually pretty tough. The initial squats seemed to mangle me up a bit and the front squats, while plenty deep, had a lot of arms coming down in them. This should improve over the coming weeks as my muscular conditioning and endurance for each lift improves.

Food time.

Dragan

Press - 5/3/1 Week 2

5x20k , 5x 25k , 5 x 35k then work sets of 3x36k , 3 x 42k , 8 x 47.5k

Lat Pull Down
5 plates x 10
6 plates x 8
6 plates x 8
6 plates x 7

Push Ups 10x5

One Arm Dumbell Press : 15ks by 5 per arm, 17.5 kilos x 5 per arm

Standing French Press , 25 x 8 twice.

Thoughts :

Well, a careful look shows the benefit of Wendlers Program shining through. Last week my final work set was 7 reps at 45kilos and today it was 8 reps at 47.5 kilos. Not bad to add 2.5 kilos and a rep in a week.

Wendlers plans seems to be attacking weights in the right way...the slow and steady increase and the well timed attacks on the muscles have you doing the right amount of work under the right conditions. I can't help but feel that one of my sins has been to tire myself out with work sets under the idea that i could get hurt, when i should have just step down the amount of total weight i was moving and been a bit smarter about things.

Foodwise, i need to do something. I'm not getting in enough protein at all. My body as that shakey achey feeling it always gets when i'm not getting in enough of natures finest macronutrient.

Getting myself to eat consistantly a few times a day everyday is proving very tough. Yes, i am hungry, but not that often. For a while my meals had slipped down to about two a day....it will take another little while to get my body used to the idea of being accepting to food more often. To help out, i'm just going to get a protein supplement.

I always found one first thing in the morning would have me proper hungry about an hour and a half later...and it's an easy and quick way to get the protein in, even when i am not particularly hungry.

When people are looking to get stronger, you can forgive a lot of dietary mishaps....they are after calories, but you can't forgive not getting in enough protein in my book. I always find that nothing stalls your progress quite like it.

Dragan

The last couple of days have been very busy but fortunately it's only the journal updates that were missed. I have had to midly truncate the workouts as i'm packing 5 of them into 5 days and have a busy weekend ahead.

Tuesday:
Swim - 1 hour

Wednesday : 5/3/1
Deads : 5x49 , 5x61 , 5x73, 3x85, 3x97, 8x110

Hang Cleans
55x5 reps, 3 sets

Seated Machine Row
30kilo per arm 11,9,9 reps.

Lat Pull Downs:
5 plates, 4x12 reps

Thursday :
Bench 5/3/1

Bench : 5x28, 5x35, 5x42 , 3x49, 3x56, 62.5x11 (sweet)

Incline Dumbell Bench :
17.5x10 , 20x10 , 22.5x8

Face Pulls
70x20
90x15
110x15

Decline Bench
50x15(wtf?)
55x8(sweet)
55x7

Tricep Push Downs
70x12
90x10
90x8

Thoughts:

So a very positive few days, reps and weight of the "as many as you can" set are on a pretty steady increase all round.

Decline benching was weird, i mean, that's double the reps of the first set last week.

kevpants

Dragan wrote: »

Decline benching was weird, i mean, that's double the reps of the first set last week.

Sounds like dumbell benching for me. When I lie back it's like rolling a dice. I might set a 5 rep PR or get buried after a handfull.

Dragan

kevpants wrote: »

Sounds like dumbell benching for me. When I lie back it's like rolling a dice. I might set a 5 rep PR or get buried after a handfull.

Yeah, next week i'll either get 20+ or 2.

Oh yeah, forget to mention that funniest part of todays workout was lamping myself in the teeth with the cable machine ( pulled too far back on High Pulls ) and the squats being done by the guy beside me.

Dragan

Training for the last few days:

Friday :
Squats : 5x32 , 5x39 , 5x47 , 3 x55, 3x63 , 5x71

That was it, ****ing insane day with too much to do other than the required business.

Saturday :
About 9 hours walking.

Sunday :
Same

Monday :
MP's 5/3/1
5x21k , 5x26k , 5 x 31k , 5x39k , 3x45k , 6x50k
Dumbell Shoulder Press
12.5kx10 , 17.5kx10 , 22.5kx5 , 22.5kx6 , 22.5kx4

Lateral Raises
7.5kx10 , 10kx10 , 10kx8
Rear Delt Raises
10kx10 , 10kx10, 10kx7

Lat Pull Downs
5plates x 12 reps x 3 sets

Wednesday :
Deads 5/3/1

5x49k , 5x60k, 5x72.5k , 5x91k , 3x103k , 6x116k

Hang Cleans
50kx5x4sets

Thoughts:
Thankfully the busy few days is over and no more chunks need be taken out of my workout. Shoulder day has changed on account of vanity...the second my shoulders started to improve i decided i wanted a lot more of that. The increase in volume will be cut back if it has any negative affect on the main program goal.

Food is good and plentiful...basically eating to support the training, keeping tight on the carbs when i'm not. Simple.

In case you give a **** about what i was doing while busy it was this. (taking photos, not skating - thought that would be funny).

Dragan

Bench - 5/3/1

5x28
5x35
5x42
5x52
3x59
8x66

Dips (negatives)
Not sure, lots, should have payed more attention.

Incline Dumbell Press
22.5 x 11
27.5 x 5
27.5 x 3
22.5 x 6

Bicpes curls
15 + ezbar x 8
20 + ezbar x 8
22.5 + ezbar 6

Tricep Pushdowns
90,110,130 x 8
150x5

Preacher Curls
22.5x5 twice.

Thoughts:

Had a training partner today, which was nice. Decided to try the 27.5's because he was using them and got five, which i was happy with.

Eating is really start to come on now. Chicken in the over as i type.

grimloch

How are you getting odd numbers like 66kg and stuff on the bench?

I wouldn't even be one bit surprised if that place has fractional plates lying about, or are you bringing your own in?

LightningBolt

Negative dips, how'd they work? You just lower yourself down slowly and use your legs to kick you back up?

Degsy

Dragan wrote: »

Bench - 5/3/1

5x28
5x35
5x42
5x52
3x59
8x66

Dips (negatives)
Not sure, lots, should have payed more attention.

Incline Dumbell Press
22.5 x 11
27.5 x 5
27.5 x 3
22.5 x 6

Bicpes curls
15 + ezbar x 8
20 + ezbar x 8
22.5 + ezbar 6

Tricep Pushdowns
90,110,130 x 8
150x5

Is that kilos or Lbs?

cardio,shoot me

jeeZ questions come in 3s it seems :P

Dragan

grimloch wrote: »

How are you getting odd numbers like 66kg and stuff on the bench?

I wouldn't even be one bit surprised if that place has fractional plates lying about, or are you bringing your own in?

One of the guys who trains on his lunch break in there has fractional plates with him, so sometimes he lets me use them. They also have these little screw collars, so when there are four of them free i use them ( they weight .25k's each ).

The 66 there is actually a **** up, i put it in from my scalc sheet, instead of from my training journal which reads 65.

@Lightning Bolt : The negative dips are exactly that, assisted on the up, with the slowest possible descent. Hopefully this will get me going places of actual dips for reps.

@Degsy : I have no clue mate....it doesn't actually say on the stack...my assumption is pounds, as if it were kilos there is no way i could move that weight.

Dragan

Friday : Swin 1 hour

Saturday

Squats : 5/3/1

5x32k
5x39k
5x47.5k
5x59k
3x67.5k
7x75

Front Squats
60x4
60x3
60x2

Leg Press
100kx10
130kx8
150kx4

Thoughts:

A couple of things need working on, front squats my stance is too wide, flexibility is too low. A bit more conditioning work outside of the main workouts as well, the swimming is nice but i need to stop doing it before ****ing legs day.

Next week is deloading, which i shall embrace on Mon through Thursday...won't be able to try Fri, Sat or Sunday next week as i will be in Bristol.

grimloch

Dragan wrote: »

One of the guys who trains on his lunch break in there has fractional plates with him, so sometimes he lets me use them. They also have these little screw collars, so when there are four of them free i use them ( they weight .25k's each ).

I'm in there at lunch every now and then, amazing what you miss. Nobody ever uses those screw collars anyway, I'd no idea what they weighed.

Dragan

Deload Week

Military Press
Work Sets
20k x 5
25k x 5
30k x 5

You feel almost useless showing up at the gym for 10 minutes but you also can't help but feel this came at just the right time. By the end of last week i was feeling run down and beaten up...so this is pretty nice and i get to spend the week chomping at the bit for next week.

itsallaboutheL

What's the story here horse?