Kerpal's Training Log

[Quagmire911]

I agree, benching can suck. Great when you get a PR though and make it your *****.

I must break 300, I will not let it beat me.

Great deads.

 

[Quiksilver]

I'm in college and most college guys have very low muscle mass

It's sad isn't it... 95% of guys in my place are skinny as hell, almost as skinny as the chicks.

They all "watch their weight" and eat like birds... lol

 

[Kerpal]

05/05/09

Squat:

3 x 290 lbs
3 x 305 lbs
4 x 325 lbs

Wasn’t really feeling it today. I had to help my roommate move out, and I didn’t get into the gym until 11 pm and I was tired. But I did notice in the mirror that the barbell is bending like crazy when I get to the top of the squat. Never noticed that before.

Standing pull down abs:

10 x 75 lbs
2 x 10 x 90 lbs

Still not sure if I am doing this right. I have to put the backs of my legs against the pads that are supposed to go over your knees if you are sitting on the machine to do pulldowns. If I don’t do this, the weight will pull me backwards. I don’t know if it’s supposed to be this way or not. Also, I felt it a lot in my hip muscles.

Reverse Hyper:

I noticed today that you can adjust the part of the machine that goes over the backs of your legs. The farther you move it toward your feet, the harder it gets because of the leverage. I moved it as low as I can without the pads rolling off my legs at the top, and now it is a hell of a lot harder. I just experimented with the different settings today. I am going to have to lower the weight a lot with this new setting.

 

[Kerpal]

05/14/09

Overhead press:

3 x 110
3 x 125 lbs (was supposed to do 120 here, oops )
5 x 125 lbs

05/16/09

Bench press:

3 x 150 lbs
3 x 155 lbs
9 x 165 lbs

I had a good spotter today, he didn't stand directly over me like the other guy.

Deadlift:

3 x 350 lbs
3 x 370 lbs
7 x 390 lbs

Had a small problem this week that threw off my schedule even more. I went in on Thursday intending to overhead press and deadlift. I did the OHPs, and started warming up for deadlifts, but after a warm up set with 315 lbs the muscles deep in my lower back started cramping up the way they do after I do reverse hypers or glute-ham raises. My back must not have recovered from Tuesday's training.

I decided to postpone deadlifting for a couple of days. Don't want to take any chances with my back. Did them on Saturday instead. My schedule should finally be back to normal next week.

 

[Kerpal]

....

 

[Kerpal]

....

 

[Kerpal]

Sorry, I'm having a problem trying to post.

 

[Kerpal]

05/12/09

Squat:

5 x 270 lbs
3 x 305 lbs
3 x 340 lbs

I don’t think the 5/3/1 program is working too well for me. I’m getting weaker, not stronger. I did 3 x 365 lbs in March I may need to switch back to the Texas Method, or something else.

Roman chair sit up:

2 x 10 x purple band
8 x purple band

Glute-ham raise:

3 x 10 x purple + red band

 

[Quagmire911]

Did you start off with a 5/3/1 max 10% less than your actual max?

Anything else that you can think of that has changed significantly?

 

[Kerpal]

Did you start off with a 5/3/1 max 10% less than your actual max?

Yes.

Anything else that you can think of that has changed significantly?

No. I actually feel like I should be stronger now because my semester is over, so I'm getting more sleep and less stress.

 

[Quagmire911]

How much cardio?

Whats the diet like? Youre trying to get lean right? Calories too low maybe?

Could be something small.

 

[Kerpal]

Nope. Everything is exactly the same as before. I suspect this program is simply not enough stimulation for me to get stronger. I think I just need to go heavier with lower reps, this high rep stuff doesn't seem to work well for me.

 

[Kerpal]

05/13/09

Overhead press:

5 x 105 lbs
3 x 120 lbs
3 x 135 lbs

No progress here, I was doing 3 x 135 months ago

Power clean:

5 x 3 x 215 lbs

Chin up:

11 x bodyweight
9 x bodyweight
7 x bodyweight

 

[Kerpal]

05/16/09

Deadlift:

5 x 415 lbs

I totally forgot that I was supposed to do 5 x 325 lbs and 3 x 370 lbs before this. I just warmed up and went straight to 415. Oops

Roman chair sit up:

3 x 10 x purple band

Got all the reps this time.

Reverse hyper:

2 x 10 x 135 lbs
10 x 145 lbs

Felt strong here today. Added 10 lbs on last set, still felt relatively easy. I was going to do good mornings but all racks were being used, I waited about 15 minutes and then decided to just do reverse hypers.

 

[Kerpal]

05/18/09

Bench press:

5 x 140 lbs
3 x 155 lbs
7 x 175 lbs

Had a terrible spotter today. I hate it when they stand right over me the whole time, and put their hands right under the bar while I'm pressing. It's 175 lbs, even if I fail on a rep it's not like it's going to crush me to death instantly.

Squat:

5 x 215 lbs
5 x 235 lbs
5 x 250 lbs

Deloading. These flew up like speed squats.

Dip:

14 x bodyweight
12 x bodyweight
10 x bodyweight

Getting stronger on these slowly but surely. May start adding weight soon, I don't see much point in doing very high reps. Maybe when I'm doing 3 x 15 x bodyweight immediately after benching.

I'm pretty happy with my deadlift and bench progress so far. I think I may have underestimated my bench max when I started the program, I've been getting 3-5 reps on the last set of the 5/3/1 day for my other lifts, and 7-8 reps with the bench press. I also don't use ammonia for the bench, but I have been using it for the squat and deadlift on 5/3/1 day.

The rest of this week is a deload, and a new cycle of 5/3/1 starts next Monday. However, I'm thinking about redoing the same weights next cycle with the squat and overhead press, because I don't feel like I made much progress on those lifts. I haven't decided what to do yet. I could have just been having off days, which explains my poor performance in the last OHP and squat workouts. But even if I don't increase the weight, I can still make progress by going for more reps.

 

[Quagmire911]

I make it quite clear to spotters- don't touch the bar unless I am fuc*ed and ask you to help. It works.

 

[Kerpal]

05/20/09

Overhead press:

5 x 85 lbs
5 x 95 lbs
5 x 100 lbs

Deloading.

Power Clean:

3 x 2 x 220 lbs
1 x 220 lbs

I planned on going for 5 doubles but only got 3 and a half. I just couldn’t get it to rack after my last one, I tried like 20 times. Oh well.

Pull up:

3 x 8 x bodyweight

 

[Kerpal]

05/21/09

Conditioning:

Work Capacity 101

10 rounds of:

5 pull ups
10 medicine ball slams
15 burpees
20 jumping jacks

This killed me but I got thru it. I felt like I was going to throw up for like an hour afterwards. Gotta get my conditioning back up. I plan on joining a BJJ or MMA gym around here soon if I can justify it financially. I haven't done any martial arts training in a while and I miss it.

 

[Kerpal]

05/22/09

Deadlift:

5 x 260 lbs
5 x 285 lbs
5 x 305 lbs

Deloading.

Roman chair sit up:

2 x 10 x purple + red band
1 x 8 x purple + red band

This was tough. Didn’t get all reps on last set.

SSB good morning:

2 x 8 x 145 lbs
1 x 8 x 155 lbs

145 felt easy, went to 155 on last set, still felt easy. I think it’s because I didn’t deadlift heavy before it, so my lower back wasn’t already fatigued.

 

[Kerpal]

05/23/09

Pretty boring today.

Bench press:

5 x 110 lbs
5 x 120 lbs
5 x 130 lbs

Deloading.

Dip:

16 x bodyweight
14 x bodyweight
12 x bodyweight