Dark_MadMax’s BodyBlog

Was too early to  start squats/row  last friday.  My lower back let  me know that over weekend and today. So well my precious deadlifts are canceled again. No ****ing ’round this time - no squats , no rows next 2 workouts strict! (strict you unpatient bastard, you hear me?) . So on friday I can finally come back to deadlifts.

Was very good feel overall , relatively light workout -due to time constraints . Forgot where I place my pre-wo creatine (animal pump), so did  workout without it, but after shower found it in my pocket  , and ate it anyways - and oh boy was I feeling restless till the end of workday

Numbers (excel cut and paste sorta screwed - I am lazy ATM to fix it)

Bench 3 6 130
Dips 2 12/9 bw
chin ups 2 8/7 bw
Db shrugs 3 10 55
Leg curls 3 10 90

 Well first I’d like to mention very inspirational post by fellow bb member here  http://blog.bodybuilding.com/sugicalmike/2007/04/23/shut-the-f-up-and-lift/ . It summarizes well why lifting  can be inspiring - you get  to control your body, drive your gains, change yourself.

Some other thoughts : I really need a lifting partner/spotter. Sad part that in my gym cameras are banned so i cant video myself to control the form. And I have serious doubts about my squat and rows form. Sadly I never saw anyone deadlifting and very few people are squatting ,even less doing rows. None of the trainers at my gym never ever do big there, nor teach anybody how to do it  . I am seriously at loss there. Damn bitches for banning cameras. Probably afraid of embarrassment when someone videotapes  ego curlers  pumpin’ biceps in power cages.

After “light workout” I feel the need to incorporate more exercises into my program -shrugs ,as I dont really work my traps. leg curls - for hamstrings, as I had hamstrings sore today, means I was not hitting them before . Good mornings and /or hypers - my lower backs need more strength .No idea how to squeeze those in though

 And last but not least -I gotta learn how to cycle and rest. This week was supposed to be light, but It really wasnt, I did not plan rest cycle and just was too eager to comeback to squats and heavy lifts.But  now I realize that rest cycles are good -I been lifting 2 months now , and I will need to get one deload week to give rest to CNS. Plenty of good articles supporting that at t-nation and BB forums

Today was first day I tried animal pump as my workout day creatine . Did not feel anything particular during workout -was average good energy level, but I had very high energy level afterwards (usually I am pretty tired).  Workout score 5/5

Squat 165 lbs ( +5 lbs) 5/5/4 or 5

Last set I lost the count .But overall i am satisfied. Some reps felt really good form wise. Also noticed this time that for low bar position I will have to lower hooks one notch lower -as my wrists were seriously hurting racking the bar back - too high. Was perfect height for ATG , narrow stance, bar on traps , but seems too high for bar-on-back, wide stance, parallel.

DB Overhead Press  35 lbs (8/8/8) superset with pull ups  bw (6/5)

I am still guarding lower back so doing db sitting press. Weight was little too low, but I am new to dumbells and will prolly just keep doing them - I like it ,and it  gives rest to lower back.

 Pendlay rows 135 lbs (+5) 6/6/6

I overloaded my lower back at 2nd set , since I tried keeping my arms inside my knees. -seems this way there is lots of load on lower back . I have serious doubts about my form, but since it is  rows I do not really worry anyway -maybe I am not doing pendlay strictly, but   explosive bent rows are not bad either imho.

Variety accessory works -sadly no weighted abs as my back is not ready yet.  Knee raises. Bar hangs -I really like those -they give forearm pump and calluses on my palms -good prep for deadlifts. Some stretching at the end and that’s it.

Got my order finally from lucky vitamin :

NOW Adams Multivitamin

NOW Omega 3-6-9 - Essential fatty acids

Now Creatine Monohydrate 1500 mg  -daily creatine

Animal Flex - dont like knee clicks and occasional knee pain -want to try if it helps

Animal Pump -pre workout creatine

 Flex and pump packaging sorta disappoints- it has 6 big tablets/capsules and it a chore to swallow all them. Why didn’t they put it all in 1 or 2 tablets max? Now products are a bargain and have good feedback on BB.com ,thats why  I replacing  efa,mv, and creatine with them.

So light workout -no squats ,no deads.  Just toying in the gym.

Bench 125 lb (-15 lbs -reset from 140) 6/6/6

good form what can I say

Dips bw 10/10

Boo finally i done same amount of reps on 2nd set . 3d set was screwed (5 reps) , but at least 2nd  set is ok now

 Shrugs ?80 lbs? per arm 10/10/10

First time I did shrugs .Pretty fun but rom is kinda a letdown

Calves machine 170lb 8/8/8

No squats so this

Leg Curls ?60 lb? per leg

Same reason as above. Gives me toe cramps though- dont like it very much.

ChinUps bw 6/6

Could do more first set , but decided I will do only as many as I could do 2 sets of. 

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Hammer curls db 30lb 6/6/6

Good forearm finisher. Combined with chinups and bar hangs I did feel another awesome forearm pump 

Another awful workout 1/5 -worst score is due to injury .The problem with this one is that I managed to hurt my lower back on freaking warm up set. All went downhill from there. In fact it hurts walking, hurts sitting and I most probably take of the rest of the week due to this .

Squat 160 lbs (same)  6/6/5

Well was doing my last warm up set with 135 lbs and on first rep I screwed up hardcore -leaned forward too much, so much in fact that barbell hit the guard rails , and I about this point I felt strain in my back and pain. finished the set and when  standing up I was hurting. Work sets wasn’t too bad though - I tightened my core muscles and practically didn’t feel any back problems. had I concentrated on this last warm up same way I did for work set it wouldn’t have happened. So pay attention to your warm up sets as well ,especially the last ones -those which are beyond 50% 1RM

Mil Press 85lbs (same) 6/5/..

Uhh. can feel my lower back hurting at this. Couldn’t really finish it properly. For last set did seated 30 lb dumbell press.

Pendlay Rows 130 lbs(+5 lbs) 6/6/6

Fully expected  to not be able to complete it , but surprisingly it wasnt bad , pain wise .Seem the hurt part wasn’t participating in rows

As awesome as last workout was this was just as horrible. I dont know why -either lack of sleep (but I got decent 6/6 hours sleep - as opposed to usual 8 ) .either the fact that creatine run out and ****ing luckyvitamin didnt ship my order yet. Either it was just a shitty day. - Or all of the above

Anyway 

Squat 160 lbs (+5 lbs ) 5/5/5

God damn awful form , -mostly caused by me knees hurting throughout whole workout. Don’t know why , hope it is temporary.

Bench 140 lbs  (same) 4/4/1

Awful .This is 3d time with 140 lbs. Was horrible - shoulders hurting ,weight feeling like my 1rm max. Time for reset I guess.

Deadlift 225 lbs ( +10) 6/4

The only bright spot. Hit my target. Was rather easy -aside tough start due to me knees hurting at slightest bend. Could have probably done 6/6 , but was fearing form breakage -and was doing 2nd set only for forearms anyway. Forearms seem keep up - my warm up set with 185 done no problem with overhand grip (was struggling before). Work set was great as well grip wise.

Accessories

Bw Chin ups (7/5) + triceps dip (x8)

Accessories were sucky as well. Didnt even want to do 2nd triceps dip -so shitty I was feeling

My knees were hurting all the way home (when sitting -not when walking). Was feeling exhausted.

Awesome workout overall . I really broke the sweat this time , towards rows sweat was dripping on the floor.  Not like I didnt have sweat before - but this time it was intense ,as well as breathing - really felt driving my body. Yet I did not generally feel bad or nauseous. Plus after weighted stretching and bar hangs my forearms felt pumped as well - always good to have forearm workout , this friday is deadlift day and I need all the forearm strength I can gather. Would be 5/5 workout if not for finger cramps on left feet during rows.

Gym was packed. First time I ever saw all 4 racks for squats were busy. And, gasp, people were actually squatting! Granted 4th was smith machine and person was doing quarter squats in it with 3 plates, but still…

Squat 155 lbs (same) (6/6/6)

 2 to parallel. 1 ATG. I do feel actually like narrow stance atg are easier than parallel wide stance. Form still sucks mostly, but working on it constantly

Mil Press   85 lbs( +5 lbs) 5/5/5  +Pull ups split bw 6/5

5 lbs increase since last time and I completed it. Happy - as it felt  on plateau last time. 

Pendlay row 125 lbs (same ) 6/5/6

Weight was easy but I got finger cramps on my left feet. I got them once before (during a row as well) - but attributed it to tight shoes, back then i finished set by removing my shoes. this time though removing shoes didn’t help. Really sucks

ABS 20 lb decline crunches 8/6  + bw leg and knee raises

Got good mileage  abs too.

So summary one month of rippetoe :

5rep   start      Now (12 workouts later)

Squat  115       155 (+40 lbs)

bench 115     140 (+25 lbs)

Mil Press  55   85 (+30 lbs)

Rows  95       125 ( +30 lbs)

Deadlift 155    215 (+ 60 lbs)

p.s. But got bad news today too - my blood test showed my test level is one of a 100 years old (( sucks

 This is the question which bugs my mind .There are really some strong  arguments pro atg coming from someone like Mark Rippetoe, and other trainers and bodybuilders (referred and discussed mainly on pro bb sites suchs as this or t-nation). On the other hand anti -deep squat side of the argument seem to be the mainstay among those in medecine, specifically orhopedics. I just had consultation with my orthopedist ( his bio says he specializes in sports medicine) and he told me same thing I read before and heard from my PCP  and physical therapist -do NOT deep squat. Go just to parallel or above.

  And I so went to mighty google searching internet again and again -and same conclusion ,many trainers and weightlifters are generally pro atg done right. Most orthopedists are against. And there is really no good articles (at least not in free access) which are peer reviewed and support one side or the other.

But since generally consenus is that parallel is OK . So I will try to replace eventually ATG with parallel ones. As much as I like the workout and feel I get from ATG I just can not hedge my bets against professionals in medical fiel

My biggest worry before I started working on my goal (gain muscle mass and strength) was that ,as before, I will have trouble packing any weight at all. Now , 1.5 month later, I worry that i gained weight too fast. I gained 10 pounds in this period I assume this was made possible by 3000 calories, protein rich, diet and plenty of sleep .But I know that 2.5 pounds of muscle is tops to gain in one month .  I hope that at least 3 pounds of my weight gains were water -since I dramatically increased my water intake and taking creatine. But that would still put me in 4-5 lbs of muscle and 2-3 lb of fat range.

While I don’t see any increase in waist size, nor any noticeable increase on calipers , I think I did gain more fat than I wanted. So I will cut down my diet to 2700-2800. -for start I will drop protein intake from 5 scoops daily ,to 3 scoops on off days and 4 scoops on training days.  I also started cardio workouts once a week (swimming/ rope jumping) and do 1-1.5 miles of daily  fast walking (not really workout - just  opportunity to burn little calories while getting from job to home). I want gain weight ,but I dont want get belly so big that it will bury my opportunity to ever see my abs again.

Overall feel 4/5

Squat 155 lbs (+5) 5/5/5

atg/parallel. Still my form is not perfect, but I think i am improving. And, yes, of course I am happy to hit this +5lbs increase 

Bench 140 lbs(same) 5/5/5

If not for bench this workout would be 5/5. But I seem overstretched my right should on Sunday and weight just felt heavy. Bench is my nemesis, sigh. Next time I will try to hit 6/6/6 if not I reset bench

Deadlift 215 lbs (+10 lbs) 6/5

Mmm. I luv deadlifts so far .Forearm pump last time seems worked -my forearms held good. Next time 100kg -here I go!

Dips BW  8/6

Damn body-weight exercises 1set - 8 easy (could have done 10) .But 2nd set just not working at all.

Abs 

Happy with abs work. Did knee and leg raises, weighted decline crunches. All good - did not wanted to puke this time .Except farted on weighted crunches

Also done decent set of  stretching and  hung on the bar for grip work and lumbar decompression. Program 110% complete for today!