Quagmire911 Lifting Journal

[Quagmire911]

Friday

F****** strong day today. I think there is something to this new preworkout meal. Think the bread was f***** me up beforehand. Anyways, here it is:

Good mornings 90kg(198lbs) 1x5, 1x6 (PR)-Felt very good on these today. Was a 5kg pr. I am doing these off a ghetto rack to about 10-20 degrees above parallel I think. Pretty sure form is good, will get some videos soon hopefully. Doing this to strengthen lockout on deads.

Assisted GHR's-3x5-Horrible as ever Can't really tell with progress on these, I think I am doing more of the ROM on my own every week however. I did these before squats because I think they help my hamstrings "wake up" so to speak. Will probably have to steer clear of that as they become unassisted, whenever that may be.

Squats 100kgx8(220lbs)(PR)-F*** yes. This was a murderous set. Felt good though. Not sure off what I will do next week. May stick at this and go for 10. Hamstrings still need to adapt a bit before I start doing lower reps with squats again. The 105x3 showed that last week. Shouldn't be long however.

Speed sumo deadlifts 5x3-80kg-Not much to say. Feel like doing some kind of dead just to keep the rhythm of things.

Leg press 160kgx10(352lbs)(PR)-Another murderous set. Quite pleased with this. I am doing this to maintain/strengthen deads from the floor. Something I have noticed is that my leg press seems to be pretty consistent with my deadlift. If deadlift goes up, so will leg press.

Weighted situps-20kgDB to chestx15
25kgDB to chestx15 (PR)-Last set was quite hard, think I will be able to do it with a 30kgDBx15 next session though.

Grip work-Captains of crush No.1:
Right hand:1x8, 1x6, 1x6 (PR)
Left hand:1x6, 1x5, 1x4 (PR) ---What can I say, my forearms are a big asset. They see progress very quickly. I am looking to get a No.2 pretty soon, I can see my right hand being able to close it in the next 6 months. One of my longer term goals is to close the No.3. That is a long way off though.

All in all one very good day. Felt I could push it better on the gm's using the ghetto rack. I also feel that going to parallel is unnecessary and would put you at greater risk. Watching elitefts video's etc, I don't really see them going too close to parallel.

On another note, I could go out and get hammered tonight as I am going to a party. I am not going to have a drop however, will maybe have 6-8 drinks tomorrow night. I seem to be quite lucky in respect to alcohol and lifting and I have said that before, however I don't want to push my luck.

Cardio wise I have been trying something new out. The burpees got boring pretty quickly. What I am doing now is a circuit of deads/mp/squats doing 5 reps a piece using 20-25kg. I quite enjoyed it, however we shall see if it lasts. Really got the ticker going and it obviously didn't affect today's performance.

Anyway, until next time where hopefully I can use the ghetto setup for bench and hit that 80kgx4...

Quagmire

 

[Quagmire911]

Monday

Well f*** me, something I have been doing differently in the last few weeks is doing me good. I reckon this new format of working up to a 3-5 rep max and then doing a downset is working well for me. The results speak for themselves:

Bench 80kgx5(176lbs)(PR)-F****** yes. The video from last week shows me struggling with the 4th rep on 80. I would probably have got it, however this week I got the 5 where I was going for four. After the four I decided it was merited to have an attempt at a 5th as it felt possible. Today was the first day using the ghetto rack setup and it was so good knowing that I didn't have someone standing there ready to take a PR off me. If I had had a spotter I would probably only have done 3, maybe 4 and then they would have jumped in.

67.5kgx10(148.5lbs)(PR)-2.5kg more than last week and two reps less. Will probably try and do 70kgx10 next session I do this.

Rack bench (2"-3")(1-2s pause)-80kg 1x5 1x3-I knew that I wouldn't get the 5 on the last set. I wasn't expecting to use much more than this, especially with the pause and considering it is a rack and not a board press.

Speed bench 5x3-42.5kg-Not much to say, speed work.

Seated D.b press-17.5kg 1x12 1x10-Not much to say, quite challenging. My PR here is 17.5kg 3x10, so next week I will expect to PR. Expect to do well on this in the coming weeks.

Kroc D.b rows-47.5kg 1x8 1x6 (PR)-Not much to say, very challenging. Happy to PR.

Chinups 1x10-Not making any progress here. However, I have put a few pounds on and considering all of the work before this I think that it is fine. Fresh I reckon I'd get 15 or thereabouts. I'll maybe put this in earlier in the routine after the deload/maxing, just to keep things fresh.

And that was that. Very pleased with how today went, especially such a big PR on bench. Considering that I got pretty drunk on Saturday as well, things couldn't really have gone much better.

Next week I am going to max out on bench, will be shooting for 200+. I would like to attempt 400+ on deads, but I am not sure if I would get it yet. I think It may be more productive to train on and try it in 4-5 weeks. I'll have a think about it over the coming week, perhaps I'll go in next week and begin the warmup for it and see how I feel when I hit 330+. Decisions, decisions.

Anyway that is it for today, until next time...

Quagmire

 

[I-tallionStallion]

As usual you have a great workout, congrats Glad you got that friggin no good spotter out of the way. Good for you.

I was drunk as all hell on Saturday too haha...Edward forty hands - i don't recommend it with a malt beer called Steel Reserve haha

Goodluck with your PR's dude. I'll be looking forward to see what you can do!

 

[Quagmire911]

F*** yes

Thursday

Another great one today. This new routine seems to be working pretty damned well. Here it is:

Good mornings 2x5-92.5kg, 95kg (Both PR's)-Seeing excellent progress here. I have a video of the first set to see peoples thoughts on depth/form etc. Very happy about how it went.

A.GHR's-3x6-Noticeably improved on the first set. Felt like I was getting a lot more unassisted, especially on the way up. Can't wait till I can do them unassisted, still a while off though. I feel like I am nearly able to do one.

Squats-105kgx7(PR)-This is a 4 rep PR on this weight. Got a video of this set as well, the last rep was a real grinder and I dedicate it too Mehdi . I feel the need whilst during squats to not listen to myself, I feel around rep one or two that I try to cast doubt on the set so I have to ignore it and just get on with things. This was good though, will up it too 110kg next session probably and see what I can do. Will aim for 4-5 reps.

Speed sumo deads-4x3-100kg-Again not much to say, speed work.

Sumo dead-160kgx1-As I said earlier in the week I am thinking about maxing out next week. I wanted to do a heavy rep and see how it felt. I was lazy with the grip on this set and nearly lost it because of that. However all in all it went up pretty well. Being honest it didn't tell me a whole lot. I know that I will be able to do more than 172.5 which is my current PR, but is 182.5 possible??? I'll go in next week I think and warm up for it. Last warm up set will be something like 1x165, I'll see what I think then and adjust the weight accordingly. No point in attempting 182.5 and possibly buggering myself, when I can hit 177.5 and then hit the bigger weight in another four weeks. But alas, I am thinking too much . Considering I had done quite a bit up until this point, I am fairly pleased with how easily it went up.

Leg press-160kgx12(PR)-This was absolute torcher. Rep 12 was very, very slow. Not sure what to do next time. If I put it to 170 I suppose I'll just see what I can do.

Weighted sit ups-30kg DB-2x15(PR)-This didn't actually feel that heavy or hard. The only problem was holding the weight too my chest and stopping it from slipping. Will up the weight next session.

Grip work-Captains of Crush No.1:
Right hand-1x9(PR), 1x7, 1x5
Left hand-1x7(PR), 1x5, 1x4-Went pretty well.

All in all a very productive session. Will just have to wait and see with the max attempts in the coming week. Here are those videos:

GM- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HnU0aBj7HiI -I think it looks pretty good, tell me if I am wrong.

Squat- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CVdQ_wBelp0 -Seem to be falling forwards and gm'ing it a bit in the latter reps. I am working on this with the gm's though, so yeh. Rep no.6 is probably the worst.

Well that is it, until next time...

Quagmire

 

[Mad Manic]

On your squats you are dropping into the hole too quickly, you need to control the descent better.

MM

 

[Quagmire911]

MM I have you on ignore and can't read what you have written and don't especially care.

Please do not post in here again, thanks.

Quagmire

 

[shaunuk]

Well MM's advice might've been helpful to you in this case mate, I think he has a point on this one

 

[Quagmire911]

Well MM's advice might've been helpful to you in this case mate, I think he has a point on this one

Shame.

 

[I-tallionStallion]

haha Quag...i don't agree, MM post was pointless lol. Thankfully he doesn't invade my journal. Btw i was thinking about doing some good mornings, but what happens if you don't have pads like you did and fail? haha I'm sure i could still do them tho.

You just PR'ed similar to me on the leg press - yeah torture isn't the word lol I'm surprised though you don't squat more, i always thought the leg press and squat went hand and hand.

Btw you better reach 400 lbs deadlift soon!!! Can't wait to see what you max dude.

 

[Quagmire911]

haha Quag...i don't agree, MM post was pointless lol. Thankfully he doesn't invade my journal. Btw i was thinking about doing some good mornings, but what happens if you don't have pads like you did and fail? haha I'm sure i could still do them tho.

You just PR'ed similar to me on the leg press - yeah torture isn't the word lol I'm surprised though you don't squat more, i always thought the leg press and squat went hand and hand.

Btw you better reach 400 lbs deadlift soon!!! Can't wait to see what you max dude.

Thanks mate. I am hoping to get it next week.

As you know I was having problems with my squat, I reckon my hamstrings fell behind and were causing me to stall. On the 17th of January the video shows me struggling with 85kgx8, yet on the 21st of February I am doing 105kgx7. I have been doing a lot of glute ham raises and this seems to be correcting what I think to be the problem, and as such my squat is taking off again.

We will see how it goes in the coming weeks. Leg press and sumo deads don't involve the hammies quite as much, so that would explain why I am stronger on them.

As for good mornings you can do them in a power rack if you have access to one. Alternatively you could have a spotter stand at your front to assist. You could also just "dump" the bar infront of you if you had too, you'd have to be quick though so as you not to hurt your neck.

 

[Quagmire911]

The 200 club...

Monday

F*** yes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! At long last:

Bench press 1x92.5kg(203.5lbs)-Felt really strong on this lift. The weight blasted through my sticking point and was pretty quick on the way up. I could have done more, had I not done this. Video below.

0x95kg-I am sure I would have made it had I not done the 92.5kg, but I don't give a f***. I am not sure I even gave this my all, I didn't really care anymore.

70kgx10(PR)-I then did this just to finish things off.

Well. One down two to go. Finally into the f****** 200's which is great news. Now I just have to hit 300 and 400 on squats and deads. The squat is still a little while off. Deads I will go for it on Wednesday/Thursday and if I don't get it then It will be mine in four weeks. I'll aim for 100kg in four weeks on the bench and then it will be the long hard slog for 137.5kg. Anyway here is the 92.5kgx1 video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6KX4SvRArk8

Until next time...

Quagmire

 

[I-tallionStallion]

HAHA FVCK YEAH!!

Good lift! Keep it up Quag!!

 

[Quagmire911]

HAHA FVCK YEAH!!

Good lift! Keep it up Quag!!

Thanks man

 

[kickureface]

nice lifts quag! what are your current stats now for the main lifts, and body info?
i've heard bad things about good mornings, as it puts stress on weak parts of the body. have you ever read anything on these?
also, how do you do an assisted ghr? we have no ghr things here.

 

[Quagmire911]

nice lifts quag! what are your current stats now for the main lifts, and body info?
i've heard bad things about good mornings, as it puts stress on weak parts of the body. have you ever read anything on these?
also, how do you do an assisted ghr? we have no ghr things here.

Best dead is 380, hopefully 400+ when I test it later in the week.

Bench as you can see I just hit 203.5 yesterday.

Squat I got a definite 253, I don't trust the 264 because I think the spotter helped. However I should be sitting around 275-285 at the moment. I had a hamstring issue which ghr's are sorting out. So squat is back on the way up. Not sure whether I'll test it, i'll see how I feel after deads.

Weight at the moment is around 174-177 probably around 14% bf. I could have been 190+ by now but I amen't really into the size. It is hard for me to eat right at the moment, not a lot of cash. Hopefully this will be sorted in the next few weeks.

As for good mornings it is like any exercise, do it wrongly and you will f*** something up. I have done them plenty of times now and have had no problems. Great exercise which everyone should be doing in some form or another.

As for assisted GHR's that refers to the fact that I use my hands to help me accomplish the movement as I can't do them on my own yet. However you are referring to how to do them, as like me you don't have a GHR. This is one way:

http://www.kvusa.com/wl/floorghr.htm

Another, the way I do, is just to put a bench infront of a lat pulldown and put your heels where your knees usually go. Pretty simple.

Hope this helps,

Quagmire

 

[Quagmire911]

Blows...

Thursday

Looks like I'm gonna have to wait another while for that elusive 400+ dead. Ear infection that has been bothering me in the last few weeks came back the other day and I was dizzy/messed up yesterday. Woke up this morning and didn't feel 100% either. But what the hell I went in and gave it a go. Didn't go so well:

Sumo deadlift-Now I had planned out that 165kg was going to be my last warm up set. Whilst I was working up to this everything felt a little heavier than usual. However, at 150kgx1 nothing was seriously wrong yet. Once I did the 165kgx1 however, I knew that 182.5kg was not going to happen. I nearly failed on the 165kg, and it felt like a ton. I was pissed off, having psyched myself up all week. I put 175kg on the bar and went at it, but alas I knew it wasn't going to happen. Just one of those days I suppose. As can be seen last week the 160kgx1 went well, that extra 5kg today felt like 20kg. It literally felt like a max effort, not a warm up finisher. So yeh, my CNS was on holiday today.

Squats-What can I say, I am stubborn. Decided I'd have a go at this. Got to 110kgx1 which I should be able to do for 4-5 but felt I'd be very luck to get 3. Put it up to 120kg and failed above parallel at that sticking point of mine. However, the 110kgx1 at least felt the way a squat should. This tells me that my hamstrings are adapting well and today was purely a CNS issue.

A.GHR's 1x5-Did a set of these and then headed for the steam room in disgust.

Well, not such a great day. Protein has been a bit lower over the last week as I ran out of liver tablets. So probably 20-40g less a day, which sucks. However should be getting some more soon. Need whey too, nearly ran out of it. Should be working next week though so I should be able to afford it in the next few weeks.

Unfortunately the job is a ****ty manual labour thing so I will need to see how that will affect lifting. I'll be back onto six meals a day and be upping the carbs again because of that. It may be the case where I won't progress for a few months because of this, just one of those things if that is the case. I hope not though.

I think I am going to try out a similar template using deads like what I am doing with bench. New approach plus keeping the volume a bit lower because of the job issue.

I'll see how it goes anyway. I have seen some people progressing strength wise doing heavy lifting jobs and I amen't so bothered about weight at the moment. Will adjust as necessary.

Anyway until next time...

Quagmire

 

[I-tallionStallion]

ARGH....dammit that sucks dude. At least you know i understand ha. I have faith you'll get to your goals no problem. I thnk you'll be fine despite the job, but i really can't say from experience cause my job is at home on the computer haha yeah i'm a bum working for pops.

And btw...liver tablets? Sounds interesting, how did you get on those?

 

[EFFORT]

Thursday

Looks like I'm gonna have to wait another while for that elusive 400+ dead. Ear infection that has been bothering me in the last few weeks came back the other day and I was dizzy/messed up yesterday. Woke up this morning and didn't feel 100% either. But what the hell I went in and gave it a go. Didn't go so well:

Sumo deadlift-Now I had planned out that 165kg was going to be my last warm up set. Whilst I was working up to this everything felt a little heavier than usual. However, at 150kgx1 nothing was seriously wrong yet. Once I did the 165kgx1 however, I knew that 182.5kg was not going to happen. I nearly failed on the 165kg, and it felt like a ton. I was pissed off, having psyched myself up all week. I put 175kg on the bar and went at it, but alas I knew it wasn't going to happen. Just one of those days I suppose. As can be seen last week the 160kgx1 went well, that extra 5kg today felt like 20kg. It literally felt like a max effort, not a warm up finisher. So yeh, my CNS was on holiday today.

Squats-What can I say, I am stubborn. Decided I'd have a go at this. Got to 110kgx1 which I should be able to do for 4-5 but felt I'd be very luck to get 3. Put it up to 120kg and failed above parallel at that sticking point of mine. However, the 110kgx1 at least felt the way a squat should. This tells me that my hamstrings are adapting well and today was purely a CNS issue.

A.GHR's 1x5-Did a set of these and then headed for the steam room in disgust.

Well, not such a great day. Protein has been a bit lower over the last week as I ran out of liver tablets. So probably 20-40g less a day, which sucks. However should be getting some more soon. Need whey too, nearly ran out of it. Should be working next week though so I should be able to afford it in the next few weeks.

Unfortunately the job is a ****ty manual labour thing so I will need to see how that will affect lifting. I'll be back onto six meals a day and be upping the carbs again because of that. It may be the case where I won't progress for a few months because of this, just one of those things if that is the case. I hope not though.

I think I am going to try out a similar template using deads like what I am doing with bench. New approach plus keeping the volume a bit lower because of the job issue.

I'll see how it goes anyway. I have seen some people progressing strength wise doing heavy lifting jobs and I amen't so bothered about weight at the moment. Will adjust as necessary.

Anyway until next time...

Quagmire

Don't get down on yourself for not hitting the numbers you wanted to hit in a given day. One day is nothing. What matters is the small habits you form (not missing meals, slowly adding weight, showing up, getting sleep, taking sups, etc) and carry out over a long period of time. I know u like to stay detailed with your workouts and everything for your journal, but i'm smelling alittle over analyzing which is hard not to do i know. In my opinion all you need to do now is up your calories, espcially with this labor job. I know your eating budget is low but you can make do with eggs, apples, homemade weight gainers, Olive Oil (this probably one of the eaisest ways to add calories), beef, whey.

 

[Quagmire911]

I definitely like to think things out, need to stop myself from doing stupid things sometimes. It is good to be able to look back on things in detail though.

As for the diet yeh were thinking along the same line of thought. I have actually started using olive oil recently, very useful. One tablespoon is 100-150 calories I believe. I am also a fan of liver tablets, pop six and bam theres an extra 10g of protein.

Today was just one of those days. Ear infection dampened CNS output so I had a 5% or so reduction in strength.

 

[Quagmire911]

ARGH....dammit that sucks dude. At least you know i understand ha. I have faith you'll get to your goals no problem. I thnk you'll be fine despite the job, but i really can't say from experience cause my job is at home on the computer haha yeah i'm a bum working for pops.

And btw...liver tablets? Sounds interesting, how did you get on those?

Ach I, one of those things. Least I got that 200+ bench

Liver tablets...I have actually been thinking of making a thread that contained small useful stuff and this was going to be in it. Pop six of these and as I say above you get around 10g extra protein. Very useful for meeting your protein requirements.

I got onto them when WBA was training me and suggested them to me. I had some spare cash at the time so I got them. They take a bit of getting used to, to put it in Alex's words, "They are horse supps". They are pretty much the largest caps I've had to take and on numerous occasions they have made me half-choke and almost be sick. Still interested? Good

I've been looking into pricing and stuff to get my next batch and I reckon this is where it is at:

http://www.1fast400.com/p386_Uni-Liver_Universal.html

I am going to get 2000-3000 and on 24 or so a day (35-40g extra protein) that will last 3-4 months. I just hope the price stays down until I can actually afford them in a few weeks.

Besides the protein they are LOADED with b-vitamins among other things. Alex always said how when he was on 20-30 a day his gains would increase and recovery would be better extra. I have to say I have seen a noticeable improvement when I take 20-30 a day.

Definitely one worth taking a look at.

EDIT-Also, the two brands that I know off that are really good are Uni-liver and Beverley International. Not really heard of any others that are decent. I ran out and bought H&B when WBA recommended them and they were nothing compared to the Uni-liver. Luckily I managed to get a refund on most of them.