shaun's training log

[simon]

Good stuff.

I'd advise you to take CEE through a straw, or drop the powder to the back of your throat and chase with plenty of water. That stuff is pretty damn acidic in even 500ml of water and will **** with your teeth over time.

Damn...the taste of that stuff is worse than piracetam.

 

[shaunuk]

Good stuff.

I'd advise you to take CEE through a straw, or drop the powder to the back of your throat and chase with plenty of water. That stuff is pretty damn acidic in even 500ml of water and will **** with your teeth over time.

Damn...the taste of that stuff is worse than piracetam.

Thanks si, things are looking OK yeah?

Oh ya, you're dead on with that, I can't taste the taurine in my shake, but the CEE is fvcking VILE! It reminds me of chugging down an alkaseltzer after another stupid night down town

-shaun

 

[simon]

Yeah as long as you're putting more weight on the bar, everything's good.

Just curious, how comes you're doing rack deadlifts instead of floor?

 

[shaunuk]

Yeah as long as you're putting more weight on the bar, everything's good.

Yeah, sure man, it's all going up very nicely I think I might be able to move to the next set of dumbbells in my DB benches today, we'll see.

Just curious, how comes you're doing rack deadlifts instead of floor?

I have problems with the form such that I hurt my back. I have a tendency to slump my back over (rounded), and I feel lower back pain the next day. I've got the safety pins in the power rack in their lowest holes and then I stand on some plates so that the bar is somewhat below my knee caps (~1.5-2 inches). They works my back awesome allows me to pull more weight

I'm also gonna start doing chinups for my back now. As it stands, I can only do about 5 or 6. WescottII told me about a technique called 'greasing the bar', where you set a number of chinups, and keep doing small sets to failure until you hit your number. Do you reckon it'd be a good idea to set say 20 chins, and do my small sets until I get 20?

Thanks for your input again simon

cheers,
-shaun

 

[mrRuckus]

Yeah, sure man, it's all going up very nicely I think I might be able to move to the next set of dumbbells in my DB benches today, we'll see.

I have problems with the form such that I hurt my back. I have a tendency to slump my back over (rounded), and I feel lower back pain the next day.

Um so lower the weight to a weight where your back won't round. Those lower back muscles are the precise muscles you're supposed to be working so if those muscles aren't able to hold the weight without caving then it's too much weight for them.

Rack deadlifts are good for increasing overall deadlift weight but the full deadlift should still be the goal.


--

If you use gatorade powder for your after workout dextrose, it's sweet as hell and you can mix glutamine or CEE or whatever into it and you can't taste it. Well, i can't.

 

[shaunuk]

24 January 2007

Chest, triceps

Incline DB press, 12.5kgx9, 12.5kgx9, 12.5kgx8, 12.5kgx6

Flat DB press, 10kgx8, 10kgx9

Assisted Dips, -20lbs*5, -20lbs*4, -30lbs*7, -30lbs*6

Tricep pushdowns, 1x15, 1x15

I went straight for the next set of dumbbells when I grabbed the incline bench (15kgs). I only got 2 reps up, so I picked up the 12.5kgs like I moved up to last week. This time they felt light, so I was able to grind out more reps (9 on first set compared to 7 last time, etc.). I'll go for the 15kg dumbbells next time

I tried out assisted dips, I like them. I'm gonna drop flat DB bench (or at least alternate them) for dips.

I'm noticing a pump on the creatine-taurine mix, could be (partly) placebo though.

cheers,
-shaun

 

[shaunuk]

Um so lower the weight to a weight where your back won't round. Those lower back muscles are the precise muscles you're supposed to be working so if those muscles aren't able to hold the weight without caving then it's too much weight for them.

Rack deadlifts are good for increasing overall deadlift weight but the full deadlift should still be the goal.

Alright, I'll at least alternate the two variations, and work on my form for floor deads. Cheers for the input as always buddy

-shaun

 

[WesCottII]

Hey man,

Nice gains, personally I wouldn't drop the flat DB, as it's awesome for mass building, especially for dips.

As for greasing the bar - go for it. (although pull-ups are preferable to chin ups for back mass)

 

[shaunuk]

Hey Wes, thanks bud Yeah, ok, I won't drop flat bench, what I'll do is:

incline DB press
flat DB press
dips
tricep pushdowns

..on chest day

The assisted dip machine at the gym is also an assisted pullup machine, so I'm gonna put pullups in.

Thanks for your input bud , catch ya later,

-shaun

 

[WesCottII]

No problem man, I'll talk to you later about this, but try it as BB incline, DB flat.

I've got some other ideas, but it'll **** your training up, so I'll discuss them with you online.

 

[shaunuk]

26 January 2007

Legs, shoulders

Leg press, 40kgx8, 40kgx8, 15kgx23

Leg curls, 1x9, 1x9, 1x6

DB military press, 10kgx10, 10kgx10, 10kgx6

My leg press is up, and I was gonna squat today, but I drove down to the gym on a full stomach today, started doing some warmup squats and I felt really uncomfortable.

I squeezed out some more reps on the DB shoulder press, so there's progress again. I'll go for the 12.5kg dumbbells next time and stick with them as long as I can get at least 6 reps out.

cheers,

-shaun

 

[WesCottII]

Ahh nice man, you'll be up with my 230kg leg press soon.

You're coming along nicely there bud. Try the 12.5's on your second set, I always find that set easier to make weight increments. Ever thought about throwing in the clean and press? It's an amazing all-over lift which hits the shoulders and traps quite nicely.

 

[shaunuk]

Cheers Tom

-shaun

 

[shaunuk]

29 January 2007

Back, biceps

Rack deadlifts, 75kgx7, 75kgx5

Assisted pull-ups, -40*10, -40*8, -40*8, -40*8

Lat pulldowns, 35kgx8, 35kgx8

Barbell curl, 16kgx8, 16kgx6

I added 5kg to the bar on my rack deadlifts, which is about 10lb. I got 7 reps out of the first set, then on my second set I had to pause a bit between the 3rd and 4th rep, and managed to get 5 reps out. I couldn't do anymore sets after that, I was too beat. I'll probably stick with 75kg next workout and get a few more reps rather than adding more weight.

I did pull-ups on the assisted pull-up/dip machine with 40lb assistance, and I like them. They also hammer my biceps which explains why I got nowt out of the curls at the end I'll go with 35lb of assistance next time and see how I do.

-shaun

 

[shaunuk]

OK, I'm going to Imperial College, University of London, for an interview tomorrow, and I won't get chance to train, so I got into the gym today.

30 January 2007

Chest, triceps

Incline DB press, 12.5kgx10, 15kgx4, 15kgx4, 12.5kgx6

Dips, -25x9, -25x8, -25x7

Tricep pushdowns, 15kgx12, 15kgx15

I finally moved up to the 15kg dumbbells for incline press and I managed to get 4 reps on both of the 2 sets I did with them. I'll go with the 15kg's again next chest day and try for more reps.

I moved from 30lbs of assisted on the dips to 25lbs, so they're progressing as well. I'll try dropping down to 20lbs of assistance next time.

An overall pretty good workout.

Cheers,
-shaun

 

[shaunuk]

2 Febuary 2007

Legs, shoulders

Squats, 27kgx10, 27kgx10

Leg press, 30kgx18

DB military press, 12.5kgx5, 10kgx7, 10kgx5, 10kgx5, 10kgx8

Leg curls, 2x20

-shaun

 

[shaunuk]

5 February 2007

Back, biceps

Rack deadlifts, 90kgx5, 90kgx5, 60kgx12

Lat pulldowns, 35kgx10, 35kgx8, 35kgx8, 35kgx10

Barbell curls, 18.5kgx7, 18.5kgx7, 18.5kgx7

I decided to lower the reps on my rack deadlift work sets to 5. The sets felt nice and intense, so I'm gonna keep the rack pulls at lowish reps from now on. I finished the rack deads with a lighter set of 12, felt pretty good

I'm managing to get more reps out of 35kgs on the lat pulldown machine, which is cool. I might be able to move it up to 40kg soon for about 6 reps. I'll try next week. I wanted to do assisted pullups again, but someone's fvcked the machine up - the cord which attacks the assistance lever to the weights is snapped, hah . The pullup machine is actually an assisted dip machine as well, which I also like now, so I hope the boss has fixed it by wednesday..

Progressing on the curls as well..

Cheers guys,

-shaun

 

[shaunuk]

7 February 2007

Chest, triceps

Dips, -20x8, -20x7, -20x7, -20x8

Incline DB press, 15kgx4, 15kgx3, 15kgx3, 15kgx3

Tricep pushdowns, 20kgx12, 20kgx8

Hm, I did my dips first today, and I lowered the assitance by 5lbs easily, followed by incline DB bench. I didn't manage to exceed the previous week's PR of 15kgx4, I matched it again, but I think I short-changed myself by doing dips first and fatiguing my chest/triceps.

Moved the tricep pushdowns up 5kg.

cheers,
-shaun

 

[shaunuk]

9 February 2007

Legs, shoulders

Leg press, 50kgx7, 50kgx6, 50kgx6

DB military press, 12.5kgx6, 12.5kgx4, 12.5kgx4, 10kgx6

Leg curls, 1x13, 1x11

Barbell curls, 18.5kgx10, 18.5kgx8

DB shoulder press is up by a rep (from 5 up to 6) Note that since I still haven't gotten 8-10 reps with the 12.5kg dumbbells, I've been doing 3-4 sets of the military press.

I put the leg press up by 10kg. The use of leg press is temporary, as starting from next week, EFFORT is now very kindly training me on a westside barbell modification with bits of other routines incorporated in .

The program starts with max testing, so next week I'm doing my max testing for hack squats, bench press, barbell row and deadlifts. I'll be away the week following that, but on returning I'm starting the routine. EFFORT's written the routine out for 10 weeks, and we'll see my progress after that, which we reckon will be really good. Thanks again EFFORT, you're da man

cheers,
-shaun

 

[shaunuk]

12 February

Chest, triceps

Incline DB press, 15kgx6, 15kgx5, 15kgx5

Dips, -20x9, -20x7, -20x8

Tricep pushdowns, 20kgx10, 20kgx9, 20kgx8

Today was a pretty good workout. I usually do back + biceps on monday but a few lads were rowing in the power rack for a few sets so I didn't bother waiting 20 mins for them to finish their training. I've just gotten my twin brother into training today, he came in and trained with me, and paid for a gym membership.

I beat my previous incline DB press by 2 reps - the 15kg's are starting to feel light The dips are also going up gradually.

I was just doing my best to help my bro with getting the exercise forms down, and he's doing ok.

Cheers,
-shaun