Training

Yesterday the gym was closed so I drove around town looking for one of those 24hr ones. I found two but they were both closed. Then I remembered another one in town; Hamilton's most commercial. Luckily it was open and they gave me a free session. I was stoked. After two days of, all I wanted to do was train.

Bench: 92.5 x 5 x 4

DB Press: 30 x 5, 26 x 3 x 5

BW dips: 3 x 12

Today I squatted 155 x 3 x 5. Felt really good. Pretty happy about it really. Squats are just about back in business.

Pull ups: 11.25 x 8, bw x 2 x 8

Recap

2 days ago it was bench day and I just felt shit in the gym. All my reps felt out of the groove and I was just in a frusturated and annoyed mood. All I did was bench then I left.

Yesterday was way better. Wanted 190 x 5 in the conventional deadlift and I got it. Last rep or so was pretty tough. Will drop to 3s next week.

Squat: 152.5 x 5, 140 x 5, 100 x 5.

Shrugs: 180 x 3 x 8

Pull ups: 10  x 8, bw x 3 x 5

Yesterday's Session

Squat: 150 x 3 x 5. Felt fairly heavy. I'll move to a top set and drop reps when the time comes.

Shrugs: 170 x 3 x 12

DB Rows: 44 x 12

Lifting In The Name Of

Conventional DL: 185 x 5, 160 x 5. Got amped up with the help of The XX's "Intro" on my iPod and smashed this set. The use of the iPod has been giving me that extra 10% I need.

Squat: 147.5 x 2 x 5, 135 x 5. It was definitely a little harder squatting after pulling. It messed with my coordination as much as anything.

DB Rows: 40 x multiple 5s.

Left trap work out because I've been smashing them twice a week and they have been feeling a little fatigued.

Training

Missed logging my squat from Thursday: 145 x 3 x 5. Went well. Hip discomfort negligible.

Today

Bench: 87.5 x 2 x 2, 95 x 2 x 1, 77.5 x 4, 65 x 10. So I must of fucked up my calculations last session because I did 92.5 x 5 x 2. Got to get that sorted....

CGB: 95 x 5, 90 x 5,85 x 5. Little hard.

DBP: 28 x 5, 26 x 3 x 5

LR: 7 x 4 x 10.

Back To Bench

So I'm running another cycle of Steel's Big Bench Programme except I'm adding another 5kg seems the whole thing felt so light last time. it was either adding weight or reps and I've gone with weight. Next cycle I'll go back to 5s.

92.5 x 5 x 2

CG: 92.5 x 5, 87.5 x 5, 82.5 x 5

DBP: 26 x 5 x 5

Laterals: 8 x 5 x 10

Fuck I look big.

Weekend Workouts

Yesterday was just an upperbody blitz. I left bench out considering my 1RM attempt from the other day. The highlight from the session however was 60kg press for 10 reps. An easy 10 reps at that. I'ts been a long time since I have been able to hit 60 for 10 and on top of that, I haven't barbell pressed for some time so I was pleasantly surprised. I guess benching , dipping and DB pressing with short rest all helps to add mass and get your BB press up.

Today I squatted 142.5 x 3 x 5. Fillmes a set, no knee movement so I'm not gonna worry about my hips too much. They are pretty much okay anyway; just a mild pain.

Conventional Deadlift: 180 x 5. I'm going back to coneventional for a few weeks with a linear progression. I believe conventional makes my sumo stronger and is a better back developer.

Shrugs: 150 x 3 x 12. These strict shrugs just don't quite give me the contraction power shrugs do. They'll have to be it for now though as I can still feel a niggle in my back.

DB Rows: 38 x 15

More Shruggn

After my back feeling totally fucked the other day, it's a lot better now. Althought not 100%, I still can do almost everything (except heavy shrugs I presume). However, considering my penchant toward traps, I had to do something.

Strict Shrugs: 140 x 3 x 12, 100 x 30 (no straps). Not bad. Not quite the feeling of power shrugging, but 'm sure they'll do something.

Pull-ups: 10 x 6, 5, 5. Haven't been doing these in ages but I must work them back into my routine.

BB Rows: 70 x 3 x 10

Light Squat: 60 x 3 x 10

I'm going to rework my schedule a little:

Tuesday: abs, arms, calves, light squat
Wednesday: bench, close grip, press, dips
Thursday: squat, shrugs, weighted pull ups, bb rows
Saturday: bench, close grip, press, dips
Sunday: deadlift, squat, shrugs, bw pull ups

Warrior

And I thought Tom Hardy looked big in The Dark Knight Returns; you should see him in Warrior! Bigger and leaner.

Squat: 140 x 3 x 5. Fine. Slight pain in hips.

Shrugs: 200 x 4. 3rd rep felt a little niggle in the middle of my back between spine and shoulder blades (the same I've had before when doing shrugs except it's usually on my left side). I went for another rep and it felt like I tore me muscle to pieces. Hurt so bad. I packed up and left the gym; I could barely walk outta there and it hurt when I breethed. Got home, took 4 nurofen and a shower and the pain started to subside. all I could think about was Tom Hardy's traps and neck girth and I was feeling a bit down because I didn't get as many reps on the shrugs as I wanted. So, I headed to the garage and got out the neck harness. After that I did several sets of curls.

Feeling better already.

Update

Squatted 135 x 3 x 5 yesterday. Hips hurt a bit : (

Went for a couple beers last night and it turned into a few too many. Had my PR attempt today so it wan't very good preperation. I was feelink okay though.

I didn't have the confidence to try 112.5 on the bench. I just could't afford to fail, so instead I went for 110 and got it, paused, without to much trouble. Tried 112.5 after and failed but I dind't mind too much.

Looking backover my log and last time I did Steel's program was over almost a year ago and I hit 110 for six singles (not paused) before failing 115 the next week on mr PR attempt (this was in the middle of my dieting training fiasco). I remember that session and it was a real grind. So, I haven't hit an all out PR yet but I have shown some improvement over the last few weeks and I'm happy with that at the moment.

I'm gonna take a few days off benching then come back with a Steel inspired programme. Considering this whole 5 weeks barely gave me a session that was a challenge, I think I need to make some changes. It just all felt too light on this cycle. So, what I will probably do is keep Steel's programming but add 5kg to all the numbers I ran this cycle. I'll probably change the rep schemes to 5s too (but keep total reps per workout the same). And I'll scrap the 1RM at the end and go for a 5 or 3 RM.

Light Session

In preperation for Tuesday's bench 1RM attempt. Fuck. I don't like to put pressure on myself but I really need something positive out of that next bench session.