June 30, 2014 Upper Body

• Bench Press (Paused Reps, No Arch): 225*3 250*1 270*1 280*1
• T-Bar Rows: 160*3 170*1 175*1
• Push Press: 205*1 225*1 235*1 245*1
• DB Rows: 120*7 120*5
• Cable Laterals: 20*7 25*7

36 minutes

I wanted to time one, just to see how I did, 36 minutes...not bad.  Strength is holding up great here; push pressing went well, and I threw DB Rows in since it's been a while. Used to be my favorite lat exercise before I figured out BB Rows.  I feel like I should incorporate them more regardless.  Shoulder is feeling pretty good too, which is nice. 

May 1, 2014 Upper / Heavy

• Incline Bench Press: 225*3 245*1 255*1
• Pendlay Rows: 165*3 185*3 205*2 215*1
• Pullups: 70*2 70*1 70*1,1
• DB Rows: 100*5 110*5 120*5
• Suitcase Carries: 50lbs*50 steps 50*50

shoulder is just...awful.  Let this be a lesson to anyone reading this: If you think a minor injury is healed, test out the body part first before throwing yourself into something.  I'm probably going to skip upper body day this coming Monday and let this thing heal for real.  Shoulder hurt on pullups even.  I don't think it's anything major, just should have rested it more. 

January 17, 2013 Upper Body

• Incline Bench: 200*10 210*10 210*7
• Pullups: 10, 10, 8
• Standing Press: 110*10 120*10 125*7
• DB Rows: 120*10 120*10
• DB Flat: 95*8 95*7

45 minutes

Forearms felt like they were about to explode here. Completely engorged with blood. Pecs were almost cramping on the db flat benching. Incline bench 3rd set same thin.   I seem to fail part way up on the incline bench reps.  I think I'm going to switch to close-grip incline benching, and keep my elbows tucked (I always have them flared out on all benching movements).  I haven't noted this in a while; but for anyone reading, when I bench I take a very wide grip.  My pointer finger is actually on the band in the knurling on the bar.  Plus I always have my elbows out.  It's a holdover from when my chest was under-developed and I was trying to target it as much as possible.  I've toyed around recently with the idea of bringing my grip in some and tucking my elbows more.  I'm not sure if I'd press much more weight that way, I need to research more.  As for incline benching, I'm clearly failing at the tricep level, so I'm going to move the grip in to target them some more and see what happens. 

January 10, 2013

• Incline Bench: 200*10 210*9 215*6
• Pullups: 10, 10, 8
• Standing Press: 105*10 115*10 125*5
• DB Rows: 120*10 120*10
• DB Flat: 95*9 95*8

45 minutes

Lactic acid hit me again on the incline benching.  Weird.  I've adapted to it rapidly on other movements/workouts but not on incline benching. Anyway rest of the workout went well.  Standing press was done to the front and down to my chest, first time doing that for full sets ever.   As I noted last week I almost always go behind my head. Not sure how I feel about going to front/chest. Guess I'll try again next week.  Going to go 110-115-120 next week.   Everything else went fine. 

January 3, 2013 Upper Body

• Incline Bench Press: 195*10 205*10 210*8
• Pullups: 10, 8, 6 -whole upper back still sore from DLs
• Standing Press: 105*10 115*9 115*7
• DB Rows: 120*10 120*10
• DB Flat: 100*8 95*4-gassed.  40 minutes to this point
• 16 lbs. medicine ball wall  throws: 10

42 mins

Well that's good.  Last week I got 195 & 200 both for 9, here I got 205 for 10.  Seem to be adapting to the higher rep stuff.  Still bizarre to be mid-set and thinking "This is usually my total number of reps for a whole exercise".   I have to say the most surprising part of this wasn't feeling like I was ambushed last week from the lactic acid. It's how sore my upper back/rhomboids are after deadlifting.  It's amazing what doing 30 pulls from the ground with good form and a tight back can do for the muscles there.  I noticed it when I got up this morning, and then today while doing pullups.  

Standing press progressed well.  A note here; I always do them behind my head. It's not usually advised, but for me it actually feels more natural, and has never hurt.  I'm thinking to switch things up I'm going to start going to the front, and all the way down to the top of my chest, usually I stop just below my ear lobes when going behind my head.  We'll see what that does for my shoulders.

Rest of the workout went well, was gassed by the time I got to the flat bench.  I sped through this workout though; only 40 minutes to that point, took a couple to do some wall ball throws and called it a day. 

December 27, 2012 Upper Body

• Incline Bench: 185*10 195*9 200*9 - lactic acid
• Pullups: 40*5 40*5 40*4...still decimated from higher reps on incline
• Rope Pullups: 6
• Standing Press: 95*10 105*10 115*7 - lactic acid again.
• DB Rows: 120*10 120*10
• DB Flat: 100*7 100*4

45 minutes

So as I noted previously, I was going to do a cycle of 8-10 rep sets on virtually all movements.  I figured it couldn't be that hard, even though I haven't gone over 4 or 5 reps on a set of a major exercise in 36 months.   I threw 185 on the bar for incline benching, got to 7 reps and started to feel the lactic acid building up, and on the 8th & 9th it intensified.  The burn by the 10th I thought was going to liquefy my pecs.  It's going to take a couple weeks to get used to this....fortunately I'm bulking so the higher reps should help build muscle mass, and the extra work should chew up some calories metabolically.  After the 3 sets of incline benching my delts/tris/chest were completely done pretty much.  I tried the pullups with a lighter weight intending to do sets of 10, since I can do 3-4 with 80 lbs hanging off me.  Yeah, wasn't happening.  You can see things like the DB rows that I actually have been doing higher rep sets on recently were unaffected, but the exercises I made the change-over on were tough sledding.   We'll see what happens next week.  Can't wait for leg day tomorrow!  

December 20, 2012 Upper Body

• Incline Bench Press: 225*3 240*3 250*2
• Pullups: 80*3 80*2 80*2
• 1.5 Pullups: 4, 3
• Standing Press: 140*5 150*2 140*4
• DB Rows: 120*9 120*9
• DB Flat Bench: 105*6 110*2 - gassed
• Band-suspended, iso-hold barbell shrugs w/ underhand grip: 85*6 135*6

39 minutes!

Getting a little antsy with all the 5 rep sets, may do a few weeks of 1-3 rep sets on things like incline, I enjoy them more.  Plus it gives me a little variety after 6 weeks of 5 rep type sets.  Still I'm frustrated with the progress I've made so far. Standing Press hasn't BUDGED, and while the db weights keep going up, I only just added them recently so that explains that part.  Incline bench hasn't gone up at all, I think I may be weaker on it.  I'm baffled. I do have a hard time getting in all the different foods every day, but I'm still at 3700 calories.  How I could go from 2500 to 3700 and actually lose strength is beyond me.  I weighed myself and I'm only 196. I started at 191, and was 194 2 weeks in.  Which means over the last month eating 3700 calories per day, I've gained 2 lbs. Not sure how that's humanly possible. I'm a bit 'softer' than when I started as well, so I know it's not like the added volume is helping burn fat and build muscle.   I'm definitely upping the protein the rest of this bulk, I think reducing it in favor of extra carbs & calories was a mistake. I'm going to keep everything else the same, just add in more chicken.  Also adding in creatine as well, not sure why I ever stopped taking it.    

The band-suspended shrugs were more of an experiment....They're...eh.  Not bad, kind of a novelty. Couldn't imagine doing them regularly.  

December 13, 2012 Upper BOdy

• Incline Bench: 235*4 240*3 225*4
• Pullups: 80*2 80*2 80*2
• Rope Pullups: 7, 7
• Standing Press: 135*5 150*2 160*1
• DB Rows: 120*8 120*8
• DB Flat: 100*6 110*2-gassed
• Battling Rope-Rope Slam S.S: 40-10 40-10

40 minutes!

Wow...blazed through this one.  I will say though I'm getting a little weary of using the light weights on things. I think I may go back to the 3 rep sets on several movements, including standing press and incline bench.  I feel a bit listless for this bulk, I had some goals about increasing volume, and  using DB work as well as some unilateral leg stuff.  That's going fine, but I wonder if the extra work is burning the extra calories I'm taking in. 

I'm having trouble in the evenings getting all the calories in; usually in previous bulks I'd eat more rice, more chicken, more steak. This time I've tried adding in extra kinds of foods, sometimes I miss the 2nd shake, but I try to have more earlier in the day in the form of bread or something carby to make up for it.  Still though without that shake I'm probably a shade below 200g of protein per day.  I thought going in that by eating more carbs my body would be more efficient in delivering protein to where it's needed....looking like total broscience.  I think I need to be at 225 consistently to be  gaining how I want. Because right now things are just going way too slow gain wise.  I don't feel like on the main movements I'm gaining that much.  The extra DB stuff I added in I am, but that's because I haven't done them in a while.  Otherwise I feel stagnant, if not weaker than when this bulk started...going to give it another week and see how it goes. 

Workout itself was decent, db rows added a rep, db flat upped the weight. 

December 6, 2012 Upper Body

• Incline Bench: 230*5 240*4 250*3
• Pullups: 80*2 80*2 80*2
• Rope Pullups: 7, 7
• Standing Press: 135*5 140*4 145*3
• DB Rows: 120*7 120*7
• DB Flat: 95*7 105*4
• Medicine Ball Wall Throws: 16*10 16*10

44 minutes

Good session.  Going to start with 105 on DB Flat this coming week.  Strength has gone up significantly each week on the added in exercises I'm doing this bulk.  On Standing Press I may try pushing my 1RM for a few weeks, I usually respond well to that on other movements, hopefully will there too.  

November 29, 2012 Upper Body

• Incline Bench Press: 230*4 240*3 250*3
• Pullups: 80*3 80*2 80*2
• Rope Pullups: 7, 7
• Standing Press: 115*5 135*5 145*3
• DB Rows: 115*9 115*9
• DB Flat Bench: 90*9 100*5

46 Minutes

People reading this probably don't know much about me, but I can get quite nostalgic.  So as I entered this workout into the little green notebook I bought at I think it was CVS, I felt a bit of that wistfulness.  The final page in the notebook has been filled.  The first workout in it was from November 19, 2007.  I had only been in Boston a little over two months at that point.  My life was so different; no masters degree, I hadn't even done my first bulk or cut yet.  I was probably about 173 lbs at that point, at about 11% bf.  So here it is with the first page folded out, and the last page on the left.  The little perforated parts ripped a bit on both of them so they're loose leaf now, but they'll go into my folder with all my other old workout logs/sheets/plans.  It's great to see the progress; if you look at the workout on 11/19, my incline bench peak was 145 lbs. for 7 reps, and I peaked at 210 on bench pressing.  I was wondering at the time I started that notebook, if I would ever get to push the big big weights.  I had improved my diet, and gained some strength but didn't see it explode. It wasn't until about a year after this that I did my first bulk and started to grasp truly how to gain strength, power, and speed.  What a great 5 years it's been in the gym.  I always wondered as I carried this little notebook around with me, would I ever lose it before I completed it, and should I just pull out the completed pages.  Now that it's done, I'm glad I didn't.  I have plenty of loose-leaf pages from the years in the gym, documenting probably about 90% of my workouts going back through the nearly 14 years I've been doing this, but this is the first complete bound volume.  I think for my next log I'm going to do one workout per side of a sheet, maybe 2, and take more notes about how I'm feeling, what I'm doing, why I failed a rep, etc.  

The workout was good, I like mixing up the pullup types.   Progressing on standing press as well, and my body is rapidly adapting to the increased volume with the DB work on the end.  Energy levels feel good, as does my strength.  

November 15, 2012 Upper Body

• Incline Bench Press: 225*5 245*2 255*1
• Pullups: 80*3 80*3 80*2
• Rope Pullups: 7, 6
• Standing Press: 95*5 115*5 135*5 145*2
• DB Flat Bench: 85*9 95*6
• DB Rows: 110*10 110*10

45 minutes

Felt a little flat at the start here, I think I ate too soon before, body was probably still digesting all the brown rice.   I'll survive.  Returned to rope pullups, not sure how I forgot about these.  For standing press I made sure to bring the bar down to a level below the bottom of my ear lobe. I have a tendency  (as does everyone I suppose) to not bring the bar down far enough.  All these reps were deep.   Don't know why I hit a wall at 145.   Also, db bench shot up this week, I think last week I was just gassed since I'm still getting used to doing these workouts about 20 minutes quicker than I used to.  Good session

November 08, 2012 Upper Body

• Incline Bench: 225*3 245*3 255*2
• Pullups: 85*2 85*2 80*2 75*3 75*2
• Standing Press: 95*8 115*5 135*5 145*3
• DB Bench Press: 85*6 85*6
• DB Rows: 100*9 100*8

43 minutes

Increasing the volume as per my plan.  Didn't notice much of a dropoff in strength, first time inclining in a couple weeks on account of last week being an off week.  May have dipped a bit on the pullups.  I'm also going to be staying more in the 3-5 rep range from here on out with less testing of my 1 rep maxes, or even doubles.  I don't want to wear down my CNS as I've felt that's been happening over the last 6 months or so.  I always do a lot of low rep work but I've been going hog-wild with it as of the last 6 or even 7 months. I'll test 1 rep maxes every month or so.  It's going to take a few sessions to get used to timing all of these workouts and getting everything in over such a quick period.  I was gassed by the time I got to the DB work at the end.   Can't wait to try this again this coming week. 

Gradually ramping up calories this week, 

April 13, 2012 Upper

• DB Rows: 120*10 120*10
• Rope Pullups: 4 abs are shot
• Wide-Stance Anti-Rotational Chops: 50*10

So sore I can't even cough without doubling over. My abs are gone. My chest was so sore I couldn't bench today.  Again. Never taking another week off. Ever.  My body is just completely racked with DOMS right now. 

December 6, 2011 Upper / Light

• DB Incline: 100*5 105*5 100*5
• DB Rows: 120*5 120*5 120*5
• Standing Press: 155*5 160*4 150*5
• Hammer Curls: 45*8 50*5

 Not bad, swapped in DB Incline for this workout, and did some DB rows instead of pullups.  Got an extra rep at 160 on Standing Press. 

October 25, 2011 Glycogen Depletion Day 2

• Squats / Front Squats S.S.: 135*12/135*12 135*12/135*12 115*12/115*12 115*12/115*12 115*12/115*12
• DB Incline / DB Rows S.S.: 55*15/55*15  55*13/55*15 55*12/55*13 55*12/55*12 55*12/55*12
• AB Wheel: 13, 13, 13

Oof.  Figured this would be easy since the squat weight was so light. Yeah not so much.  I'm not sure how much glycogen I have left after this stored in my muscles but it can't be much.  Diet is still my 'conditioning day' day with less than 50 carbs per.  Still drinking a shit ton of water. 

September 8, 2011 Upper

• BB Incline Bench: 245*3 245*3 235*4
• DB Rows: 105*10 115*7 120*5
• DB Seated Press: 65*7 75*6 85*5
• TRX-Elevated Feet Pushups:  20, 15
• Side Planks: 1

Not too shabby....did some rowing, haven't done much recently.  I've been doing pullups instead, and my back is reacting well, but I want to make sure I don't go completely away from rowing.  Tried pushups with my feet in a TRX, but wasn't too impressed.  If I do pushups I'll go with one hand on a medicine ball.  Side planks too for fun.  The seated press was because all the racks were taken.

August 11, 2011 Upper Body

• BB Incline Bench: 245*3 245*3 235*2
• 1.5 Pullups: 7, 4, 3
• BB Press: 135*7 155*3 160*2
• DB Rows: 120*5
• Rope Pullups: 8, 7, 6
• Rope Slams; 20, 25

Cutting is odd. I'm used to setting records for myself all the time when I'm gaining weight, so to be puttering along at a steady level of strength always seems odd to me.  That's why I switch up and try to find 10 rep maxes on things like deadlifting or bench, because I hate the idea that I'm going to be moving the same weight for several months until I decide to do my next mass building phase.  It seems like progress because my 10 rep max will move up week to week as my nervous system adapts to doing higher reps on something I've usually done lower reps on.  This is also a great time to be experimenting with exercises I'll use on my next mass phase.  So for lat width I've been experimenting with new pullup variations, and for shoulder girdle strength I finally started doing standing presses consistently.  Really killed the 135 BB press today, could've gotten 8 but wanted to save my energy for higher weights...unfortunately I had already tired myself out. 


Also!  I'm in the planning stages of a completely new routine that takes me completely away from the heavy/light upper/lower split. More details to come.