Dark_MadMax’s BodyBlog

God damn buggy body blog . Just ate my whole post. Short cardio due to gym closing and me being lazy

Free swim 26 laps (16 crawl,8 brass) :14 min . No lap on back with volume increase - good

Sprint 2laps  FS 35 sec

Butterfly 1.5 laps - I suck

Some other crap

Finish 12 laps

Floor

Stretches

HS curl  45 (same) 6/6/6 - felt heavy

ABS 25 8/8/8

Memorial day workout. - Since this is day off I am working out in different gym ( the one I normally swim in). -Main difference is that their plates are covered with rubber -actually I like them better than pure iron ones. Plus if you have 2 plates on one side  plates are practically round (since one plate can  cover-non round parts of another plate).

 This is probably the only workout for this week -I will have to make blood test for endo, and will put myself on 1k calories and sleep deprivation. - That will be bad for recovery and energy level, I plan to get back to normal after Thursday, and I everything goes well will probably do cardio on sat.

 Anyway here is one of  my most intense (by volume) workouts so far:

Squat 200 (same) 5/6/ sorta 5

 So it is 200 3d time. It still feels sh*t heavy. Better than last time - in fact I even  did 6 on 2nd set, but still severe bar slow down after 3d rep, and 3d set just sucked. I was pretty happy with first 2 sets , but last set was just too heavy. 5th rep was really half assed and I had to really struggle to stand up.

Another downer is that I felt some minor knee pain during sets this time -quite discouraging. Anyway all in all it is done and I am semi comfortable to move to 205. 

bench 155 (+5) 5/5/5 

Decent bar speed, decent feel. An -OK for increase +5 lb next time!

 Deads 285 (+10) 6

Now my precioussss comes   5 warm-up sets- that the way I like ‘em (12xbar ,8 x135, 4×185, 3×225,1×245)

Honestly though the weight starts looking scarier and scarier. I had to control my heartbeat this time - so scared I was . Felt heavy , but doable ,except for 6th rep which was border-lining on failure (no hitches though - just very heavy feel).

  One guy spotted my form  and said my form was sorta ok with slight back bending. -Not good news, but again he said it was not too bad. I definitely need to get camera to see for myself.

Those deads really made my lower back feel strained, -the most strain  I ever felt so far. Thankfully no pain.

Accessories

Dips 14/14  + chin ups  10/10

Stretches hardcore - hamys , lower back all stretched to the max (4 sets of stretches for each). I like towel stretch for hamys more and more - I see some effect already. Plus upper body stretches as well

Dips 14 chin ups 9

This was after all the stretches. -This is my new approach to BW exercise, I definitely can not do proper 3 sets back to back, so this is how I am going to keep volume up.  Dips definitely will be weighted next time ( I mean I am doing 14 for quite a while now , was just waiting till I can hit 3 set of 14).

In other good news:

My  waist size is 33.5 inches now -down from 36.And I am not even  cutting - my weight was 175.5 lb on  a scale today -slowly  but steadily increase.

So I had endo visit regarding my low test, she was reluctant admit I have a problem ,claiming that I fall in range (90 year old range ,but "range" nevertheless). So she said I should get one more blood test . I will get one , but I will probably reduce  my calorie intake and get some sleep deprivation  48 hours before going to lab. That will obviously mess up with my recovery hardcore, so I will probably drop Wednesday and Friday workouts next week.

Squat 200(same)  5/5/5

Decent. Not perfect but decent.Definetely better than last time

Mil .Press 100 (same) 5/6/5 Wide pull ups bw 7/7/7

Good form -as I said I would do it wihout clean from the ground .Seems it helped -nice clean sets , no leg involvement , full ROM.

HS Rows 160 (+5) 8/8/8

Nothing  remarkable

Accessories

I felt Like doing more so :

Leg Curl 135 x3 , 125 6/6

HS Incline Press 140 6/6/6

Stretches -Tried new hams stretch ( lying , one leg up and stretching with towel) wow my hamstring really suck, and stretching them is incredibly painful (( . I really hate it . If situation does not improve in 2 month I will seek prof help (e.g. massagist)

 After work workout -plenty of time. 4 minutes on elliptical to get the blood flowing.

 Squat 200 5/5 195 5

 Workset squat was very heavy -I mean I can tell how heavy squat is going to be now just by deracking it. And the weight felt overwhelming. -And first 2 sets were borderline on failure , with knee buckling , forward leans etc… I was like wtf- this was supposed to be same weight as last time and yet I am doing worse. Then I realized it was actually 5 lbs more - mistake was caused that on last time I used 2×10 +2×5+2×2.5 And this time I used 2×25+2×5+2×2.5 -Did not really paid attention , just remembered I used both small plates.

So well that was 200 - unplanned increase and no wonder I was almost buried. So I will keep 200 for next workout and the next one after if necessary -till I get back to normal form with this weight.

some consolation is that I completed 2 sets nevertheless with 200 though.

Bench 150 (same) 6/6/5

Tried wider grip on 2nd set - wasn’t good. I was struggling with imbalance . 3d set on 5th rep was significant bar slow down so did not attempt 6th rep. Overall was good ,so will increase weight next time

Deadlift 275 (+10) 6

As heavy as the last 265 workout was I was thinking about doing only +5 lb increase this time ,but decided to hell with it - +10 ,especially since it was much easier to put on bar ( only had to put 2×25 on top of last warm up set). Weight went up very well -good form ,good speed, felt great . I attribute that to rest and to good warmup . To hell people who think I do  too many warm ups for such low weight - It helps me.

BTW my warm up set: bar x10 ,135×8, 185×6 , 225×3  , workset

Accessories

Now my title was "energy surge". Where the hell it is? -here it is  -after deads I felt great and full of energy.So I banged out:

Superset   BW dips 14/12 chin ups 10/9

Abs -25lb 8/8, leg raises, ball crounches

HS Shrugs 205 lb 8/8

And full set of stretches . Heck I wanted even do incline presses after that,. but machine was busy. Awesome workout . After i came home though I fell asleep at 10 pm - feeling nice blood rush in my  body .

So I think I will start adding info about my weekend cardio (which is swimming). -Just to keep track of it for myself - I know no one read my bodyblog anyways .For now I am just concentrating on getting my mileage up and some form,  doing it in 2  parts - first swim ,2nd part is specific workout ,3d part -finishing swim. Sometimes I end up workout with couple of sprints some times not.

Also after swimming  I go back  to the floor and do stretching. Sometimes abs work and recently I started doing hammer curls.

First part

22 laps  - 12 freestyle, 1 back , 9 brass,

Idea behind swim workout is increase overall endurance .For now I have one "rest" lap - on the back. And I switch to brass after freestyle .I hope eventually to be able to do 50 laps with one style -that is the goal, but I have  long way to go. -Also I try to keep form in check and maintain tempo 

2nd part 

2 laps butterfly kicks - damn hard! -seriously maybe my form blows (which it does) but those are hard- best leg HIT I know.

2 laps sprint - 33 sec. Sprints are more of a HIT right now - I can not do proper wall flipping ,nor I can start from jump(in my pathetic pool) . When i get my flipping down I will start to try get the time down. Long term goal is to do 50 meters in 25 sec and 100 in under 1 minute.

 wall flips  practice - still doing them from standstill mostly. Tried a few from approach. only one could be qualified as semi half assed -rest was horrible.

4 laps one hand crawl

2 laps butterfly (jeez my form sucks!)

2 laps backstroke

3d part

22 laps  - 10 freestyle, 2 back , 10 brass

 DB Hammer curls  45(+5)  6/6/6

So short workout again - I mean i was constrained with rest time and constantly worried about if they will need me back at work. Last day this way, thankfully since my GRE classes are over today  and I will be back to working out after job as usual.

 Squat 195 (+5) 5/5/5

Very hard. I will stay same weight on wednesday for sure. Was very close to failed rep, and form suffered troughout. -Well I been increasing weight last 3 workouts ,so that is expected.

Mill press 100 (same) 5/5/5(leg help) + Wide pull -ups bw 7/7

Pretty dirty. Had  to resort to leg help on last set. I will try to stop doing it from clean next time  as I think the initial effort to do the clean might been messing with overall set. If i dont get clean form next workout I will reset to 90 lbs and will start  pushing the weight from my shoulder level from rack.

Machine rows 150 (+5) 8/8/8

Nothing to say about em.

This week turned to be rather ambitious in terms of weight increases - and today I did increase in all 3 exercises, all of them are jumps since last workout

Squat 190 (+5) 5/5/5

I changed my warm up matrix on squats couple workouts ago.I am doing now front squats as 2 warm up set (bar , 95 lbs) and then change to back squat on 135. -Purpose it to get my wrist/front accommodated to front squats .I hope eventually do 135lbs front squats as part of warm up .

Work reps were heavy, but decent form .In fact I think form was good , except some slowdown in last rep. I made some quite loud noise - turned a few heads. I think I should cut down on "active" breathing a bit.

Bench 150 (+5) 5/5/5

Last time it was 145 with some bar slowdown. so I thought I will stay same weight. But today I just felt like doing +5 jump -after all I did all 5 reps last time without major breakage. So did 150 today - felt surprisingly OK. Serious slowdown on 4th and 5th rep of last set ,but methinks it overall within range of " good" . I might do increase next time, but most probably will stay with 150.  

Deads 265 (+10) 6

Did 225 warmup with double overhand grip - grip felt well , I definitely see progress with grip strength so far.First time I did deads with 185 I had to use mixed grip, but now I can do 225 with DOH.- I will keep using mixed for work set, but will use DOh for warm ups.

 Last work rep felt "holy mother of god" heavy. In fact thats the first time on deads I was not sure If I complete the rep. - Could be that I did not do enough warm ups ( cut down to 3 warm up sets). Or I am just approaching "heavy shit" territory for deads.- Anyway I am thinking of doing onl +5 lb increase on deads next time.

Glutes /lower back were absolutely shot after deads .And I was exhausted overall, so accessories were sorta weak:  

BW Dips 12/12, chin ups 7 - yeah chin ups didnt go at all today. Stretches ,bar hangs.

 Lower back gave me some concern - felt sor for a while, but no pain thankfully. So i think it just from heavy work. My back really worked 110% this week. Anyway 5 out of 5 for this workout .Solid , nice job ! (patting myself on the back )

So I learned this new meaning of word booty yesterday - turns out it is not only thing pirates (yar!) plunder, but also another fancy name for glutes or butt. No homo BTW - I saw it on bb forums mentioned by cute chick. BTW she has really great booty! :  http://bodyspace.bodybuilding.com/JessicaRabbit

Squat 185  (+5) 5/5/5

Imho almost perfect form except knee buckle in 4th rep of last set. Damn I am happy -185 first time and good form . Got awesome booty activation too .- BTW my stance is medium - below parallel ,but not really ATG - I think this is the stance I will stick to ,since I sorta got into grove with it -attempts at  powerlifters and narrow stance failed for me.

mil Press 100 (+5) 5/5/4  superset with wide bw pull ups 7/7/7

Now those were hard. I mean like really really. Better form than my first workout with 100  (which was by mistake) but still plenty of bar slowdown .Last set was absolutely horrible -cheat’o rama all over after 3d rep. 5th rep was jerking ,bending backwards ,swearing and generally using every possible thing to get f*cking bar up -got lockout ,but honestly couldn’t really count this clownery as a rep.

Machine Rows 145 8/8/8

Well since  I pussied out of pendlay due to nausea (no doubt caused by mill press)  and cramps - those are what i am gonna do from now on. Was pretty easy .

Accessories:

 Stretches ,abs , bar and towel hangs. Surprisingly after all I was done I still had an urge to do something - so  I did  75 lbs dumbell  shrugs 8/8. - Found out that they are really hard on my palms callouses wise(especially after completed workout)

So I was shocked this time - not on the floor, - on  the scale. See I was stuck at around 171 bodyweight for a while  , and last Friday  i measured around 171.5 . So I decided skip weekend cardio (partially due to laziness) and behold what scale showed today -173.5 pounds! I mean 2  lbs over weekend- and it is not because I ate ( I took a dump 1 hour before workout) . I am dumbfounded by such huge increase in 2 days -obviously it probably fluids ,but then again I drink on workdays pretty consistently and my diet is pretty much the same

This is mid of the day workout (during my lunch time) so i am a little bit short on time . 

Squat 180 (same )5/6/5  

Pretty good form imho. Except ego rep on 2nd set - well not really "ego" -it is  just when i do same weight as previous workout I try to do 6 reps - that way I can judge whether I should move or stay. Sometimes though I can do 5 clean but 6th is just not coming.

bench 145 (+5)5/5/5 

Pretty f*cking heavy. Although no major breakage. - will stay same weight ,as slowdown on bar was noticeable on last reps. Disappointed as this is just after i did reset. god damn bench.

Deads 255 (+10) 6

So happy .Weight felt good .For deads  I am really getting out of baby girl range from workout to workout. Spotter said though my last 2 reps had form breakage - though spotter had no idea about deads and I think he saw upper back bent and considered it form breakage .Little downer was that I scratched my shins till blood again (must probably just tore off my old scab). -will probably use protective pads or something next time

 Accessories

bw chinups 8/8/6 + dips 10/10/10

So I decided to try lower reps on first sets in order to reach consistency and increase in overall total volume . Compared to my last one this is 22 for chins and 30 for dips - last time it was 20 for chins and 33 for dips .Didnt like it. Also i feel like 3 sets of those after such heavy workout (those fall on my bench/deads day) is too much .So I will instead do 2 sets of those, max effort (well close to it) in both. To save time and decrease overall load

 Friday night ,plenty of time to do workout - I like having no pressure and take my time. that what is good about fridays. Now what was not so good that it is a row day… -Exercise I grew to dislike

First time ever I saw people deadlifting! - One was normal , another was sdl (with solid ,285 lb). Pretty cool - next time I will need a spot i will probably keep those people in mind.

 Squats 180 (+5) 5/5/5

 Decent, aside I squatted on 2nd set .4th rep too deep and hit the guard rail with one side of BB -that caused dis-balance and torso twsit -good I kept it tight, so it didnt twist much .  Also this is first squat workout which hit my glutes  - my glutes felt really killed afterwards  ,is it my quads which finally caught up to my glutes :/? 

Mil press. 95 ( -5) 6/5/5  bw wide grip pull ups 8/6/5

- 5  because last tiem i did unintentional jump .Form was a lot better this time. First set in fact I consider mostly  perfect .It went downhill - mostly I think because squats today really hit me hard, plus i hurt my fingers loading up a bell( was really hurting - was even afradi I wont be able to grip the bar).   Pull ups felt better than last time -definetly a plus

Rows (sorta pendlay) 140 (same) 6/5/6

 Well mill press  exhausted me . And this exercise is the one that makes we want to throw up . - I am seriously considering dropping it  ,replacing it with nautilus machine row. - I mean I just dont see how struggling with leg positioning, back positioning  and nausea helps - it doesnt even hit my lats with all the other crap i struggle with. with machine  all the crap is gone and I can concentrate on hitting lats .

Stretches ,bar hangs (this time with the towel) ,abs.. Overall feel 4/5 due to hurt fingers and rows frustration.