toefur’s BodyBlog

Today is one of the first sunny days of the year.  It’s still cold, but at least it isn’t depressing.  *grin*

I had classes at 8:30 and 10:00 this morning.  In my finance class we got our first midterm back; I got 63/64 (98.4%) on the exam, so I was riding pretty high from that going into my workout.  As planned, I upped my squat to 280 lbs.  I’d lowered my deadlift to 275 last time around, so I also boosted it up to 280.  I wasn’t confident, as I still haven’t gotten around to getting chalk, and I sincerely doubted my grip would hold out for 5 reps.  Amazingly, everything went smoothly.  That isn’t to say things weren’t incredibly difficult (they were!), but I was able to complete every set today with strong form.

Yay!

Today’s workout

Squat - 280
DB Press - 95’s
Deadlift - 280

I’m pretty happy with how things went today.  I can tell I am starting to reach the end of the fast progression.  I will likely have to reset my lifts soon, and before long I see myself moving into a linear 5×5 program.  However, I will milk what I am doing for every last lbs before I do anything new =)

I have been going to the gym, and recording it in my notebook, but I haven’t been posting it online.  I’m doing this from memory, and I think I am missing one or two workouts (don’t have my notebook on me atm), but at least it brings me up to current lift weights, etc.

Workout 6

Squat - 275
Press - 125
Row - 155

Workout 7

Squat - 275
Bench - 90s (db press)
Deadlift - 275 (lowered down for now)

Workout 8 (coming today)

plan:

Squat - 275
Press - 130
Row - 160

May have to edit this later =)

off to the gym for me!

went to the gym on wednesday, but never posted it up here, so here we go:

Workout 5

Squat - 270 (+10)
Bench - 210 (+5)
Deadlift - 295 (failed to complete… bad grip)

Good workout, but I need to drop my deadlift weight, or maybe try chalk.  Weird that my squat is rapidly catching up to my deadlift   Have another workout today, we’ll see how it goes!

It’s late, school’s been busy lately, and I am sleeeepy!

I just finished workout number four, and it went fairly well.  I think I slightly tweaked my right wrist at some point during the workout, but it doesn’t seem significant.  I took some ibu and iced it to stay on the safe side   Hopefully it will be better, not worse, tomorrow!  Without further ado:

Workout 4

Squat - 260 (+5)
Press - 127 (+2)
Row - 155 (+15)

The squats were good, but definitely the maximum I could possibly muster for 15 reps (over three sets).  I said a little prayer going down on my last rep!  I actually would have kept the press equal, but the two lbs difference is the result of one gym using poundage and another using kilos.  The row felt fine, but clearly is nearly my max ability at this point.

As it stands right now every exercise I am doing is reaching a sticking point, I think.  Time will tell for sure, but I can’t see myself improving at the same rate as I have been much longer.  Perhaps in the squats, and with chalk the deadlift might be able to keep going too.

/off

Well, I was supposed to go to the gym on friday; however, we decided to go up to the mountain, so I wasn’t able to go.  Instead I went on saturday and things went fairly well.  I need to get some chalk, as I failed to finish my deadlifts due to the bar constantly slipping.  I wish the gym had some chalk

Squat - 255
Bench - 205
Deadlift - 295 (only made 4 reps)

It was a decent workout.  Nothing amazing.  I feel my bench is stalled at 205, which is a bit frustrating since I can actually push more weight with dumbells :/  I might reset the weight to 175 or 180 and work my way back up slowly and see if I can’t get past the 205 mark.  Next workout should be tomorrow (monday).

Just a short one.  I got back from my workout just now, so I thought I should update this while I’m motivated to do so.

Day Two

Squats - 250 (+5 PB)
Press - 125 (+10 PB)
Row - 140 (+5 PB)

I was able to best my previous 5 rep max totals in every lift today, which is pleasing.  The squats and presses felt like they were at my absolute limit, while the rows still feel like I have room to move in.  I think I will leave the squats at 250 next workout and then after two days off I will try and bump it up to 255.

For the record, the Press is a standing military press, and the row is a Pendlay Row.

Time to study for an exam I have tomorrow morning.  I’m off!

weeee!

I’m not too big into blogging, but hopefully no one other than me will ever see this *grin*

Anyway, for a very long time I have gone to the gym equipped with some basic knowledge (not a lot), and used it to basically do my own thing.  Over the past few years I have spent the majority of my time on a body-part-a-day split that generally with something like: chest, back, legs, shoulders, arms, core/cardio, whatever.  While I am certainly in good shape, and far, far better off than if I hadn’t gone to the gym at all, I began to feel it was time to learn more about weight lifting so I can take it to the next level.

My goals are fairly simple.  I want to improve my physique and I want to get stronger.  Right now I am hovering in the 160-165 lbs range, which isn’t as light as it sounds, as I am only 5′7".  I have no ambitions of getting too much heavier; gaining 10 or 15 lbs is okay, but I enjoy having an athletic build.

As I mentioned in my profile, in early Jan. I started a 5×5 dual factor plan as laid out by Madcow.  As I read and learned more about the program and training in general, I realized the program I was doing was geared towards lifters far more advanced than I am.  At the end of Jan I deloaded from the 5×5 and moved into Rippetoe’s starting strength program.  I had my first workout with Rippetoe’s on Monday (Jan 29th) and I think it went pretty well.  Here’s an outline:

Day One

Squats - 3×5 - 245 lbs
Bench - 3×5 - 205 lbs
Deads - 1×5 - 275 lbs
Note that I only included working sets in the outline.  I found all the weights to be challenging, but I was able to complete each set with solid form.  According to the program I should be upping the weight each workout.  We’ll see.  The program is designed for true beginners, whereas, I think I am somewhere between the beginner and intermediate stage — meaning no newbie gains for me *grin*

Today is Wednesday, so it will be time for my second workout soon.  Hopefully it goes well.  I’ve been very busy with school lately and sleep hasn’t been getting the priority it deserves!  I will try and up my squat to an even 250 today and see how that goes.

I might post some ‘before’ pictures, so I can track my progress.

Cheers for now