A Top 40 Weightlifting Blog

Sunday, January 29, 2006

Please Forget Last

Are you kidding me? I did somemore reading and it will be impossible for me to take part in this diet durring my current situation. The articles I read say that between days 2 to 5 you will become irritable and may have nausia and dizzy spells. Not for me thanks. "Sorry Colon, you're just going to have to stay clogged for at least another month".
Training lately has been going good. I have been training with a partner. Although this is not new to me it's been a while since I shared a work out. Haveing someone constantly watching is pushing my intensity level to new highs. Here goes my last two work outs.

Deadlifts - 8 sets, 3 reps, 385lbs (that was tough)
Standing Dumbbell Rows - 3 sets, 6-12 reps, 80-110lbs (now my hands hurt)
Narrow Grip Pull Downs - 3 sets, 6-12 reps, 120-200lbs (really nice stretch)
Straight Arm Push Downs - 3 sets, 6-12 reps, 100-130lbs (lats feel good)

That was two days ago. Now for yesterday.

Bench Press - 8 sets, 3 reps, 225lbs (I increased the reps by 1 each set 3,4,5, ect)
Machine Dips - 3 sets, 6-12 reps, 80-120lbs (I'm learning to love these)
Inclined Bench Dumbbell Flys - 3 sets, 6-8 reps, 65-90lbs (I'm feeling the stretch)
Tricep Cable Ext - 3 sets, 12 reps, 195lbs (the stack)

Today is a day of rest for me. I'm totally wipped after these two days. Tomorrow we're doing squats. I wonder what untold pain we will discover while in the rack, under the bar.

Lift Strong!

Snowdaddy

Thursday, January 26, 2006

Juice Diet

Tomorrow begins my juice diet. I'm tired of being almost 300lbs. I've been doing some reading and I'm ready to jump into the world of fad diets to see if any of them actually work.
I haven't entered in any of my recent work outs because I've been in a forign country since 17th Jan. I have a good gym to work out at while I'm here. My lifts have been right up there with my personal bests. In fact just this week durring a bench work out I did 6 sets of 2 reps with 285lbs. All lifts would have been good in competition. Later that same day I was so pumped up from the great benching that I tried doing inclined flys with the 120lb dumbbells. I managed to get them up the my shoulders and half way up before I failed. I guess in this case my mind was bigger than my muscles.
Returning to my juice diet. I have a couple of articles I'm going to read before I start. I am hoping for two things to happen. One, to loose some weight. I have steadilly been gaining weight since I was 20 years old. Now that I am around the 300lb mark its time to make a change. Two, I hope to clean out my colon and detoxify myself. By doing this I hope I can better digest protein and put on more lean size and strength. The country that I'm at seems to have an endless supply of fruit juice and it is supplied to me at no charge. This will be an excellent opertunity.
I'll keep you posted on my progress. Wish me luck.

Snowdaddy

Friday, January 13, 2006

Another Dead Day

I love grabbing a heavy bar and DEADLIFTING. Here is how it went.

Deadlifts - Sumo warm up 225lbs, 315lbs Conventional warm up 405lbs. Working sets 495lbs 3 sets 1 rep. I wasn't scheduled for this but I'm going away on business and I don't know if I can work out while I'm away. So, I did my end of program.

Partials (knee up) - 585lbs for a single. Felt nice and controlled. 635lbs, I failed my first attempt but took a bit of a break and pulled the second. I Love It but my hands sure didn't. Ouch!

Chin ups - I mentioned before I do parallel grip chins. Once again they really hit the Lats. It's the next day and I feel like I've got two giant slabs of beef hanging off my back. I did 3 sets of 6 reps with 90lbs of assistance.

V Sit ups - I didn't do them. I'm a naughty boy. Who needs abs any way. LOL.

Hammer curls - I find they help with my grip especially if I go really heavy. 3 sets of 10 reps with 60lbs dumbbells.

This may be my last entry for a couple of days. Stay tuned and I'll continue the saga.

Snowdaddy

Monday, January 09, 2006

Bench Day

Another great work out has come and gone. This is how it went.

Flat Bench - warm up 135, 225. Working sets 275lbs 6 sets of 2 reps.

Close Grip Bench - 205lbs 6 reps, 225lbs 6 reps, 225lbs 5 reps.

Dips - 3 sets of 6 reps with 50lbs of help

Flat Bench Flys - 80lbs 6 reps, 70lbs 6 reps, 60lbs 8 reps.

Seated Machine Flys - Stack (250lbs) 3 sets of 8 reps.
I do these for the stretch and nice contraction it gives me. My reps are nice and slow and through the full range of motion.

I used to have problems with my wrists from the way I was holding the bar. Since then I have modified my grip and I'm noticing an increase in my bench. I've done 275lbs for 4 reps in the past but I've never done 6 sets of 2 reps. It felt nice. I got a great pump.

Today I was discussing with a fellow gym patron what supplements I'm taking. My response caused a bit of a shock. I said I only take extra protein (whey), Multi vitamin/mineral, extra vit B complex, Omegas, and extra vit C. I've been taking these for about 2 years now and I always feel great.
I've tried lots of other "legal" supplements but nothing really worked very good. At least it didn't work well enough to justify the price. The best other supplement I've had is Tribulus. It really boosted my testosterone levels. I always felt large and energetic. I couldn't keep my hands off my wife. It was almost scary. The down side is I found the results decreased the longer I took it. Now when ever I get some I find it barely works. Not noticeably any way. Cycling it didn't seem to help either.

Maybe any readers out there can share their supplement secrets.

Snowdaddy

Sunday, January 08, 2006

Squats


Today was squat day. I always find that I'm very lethargic after a good squat work out. My torture went something like this.

Squats - warm up 135, 225, 315, 365. Working sets 315lbs 6 sets 2 reps.

Straight leg deadlifts - 135lbs 3 sets 6 reps.

Lying Leg Curls - 90, 100, 110 3 sets 6 reps.

Leg Extensions - 195, 225, 255lbs 3 sets 8 reps.

Donkey Calf Raises - 400lbs 3 sets 8 reps.

I went up to 405 for a single twice before my working sets. I didn't include it in the log because it wasn't deep enough on the first and I failed on the second. How embarrassing. Luck for me I was in a rack and I had the bars adjusted to the right height. I simply went extra deep and stepped out.

My squats are frustrating me. I know I could squat more but something keeps me from attaining my goals. My current best squat is 190 kg or 418lbs. I love to squat (I know that doesn't sound right) and I would love to get under a 600+ lbs bar but I know it would do nothing but go down. So I continue to train. One day I'll do it, it just takes time.

This routine listed above is not my regular routine. I normally do heavy top partials for three sets and abductor machine for three more sets. Then I finish off with v-sit ups. I changed it to just do that, change it up. I like to vary my routines once and a while to throw my body a loop. So it never becomes too accustomed to a single work out.

See ya next time

Snowdaddy.

Wednesday, January 04, 2006

Work out

Yesterday's work out was more cardio than lifting. I started with 20 min on the bike then moved to the bench. I was schedualed to do squats but after the heavy deadlifts the day before I didn't want to over train my lower back by doing squats right after. Heres how it went.

Bench - 135lbs, 3 sets 20 reps.

Machine Dips - 3 sets increasing weight each set to what felt good.

Declined Bench - 135lbs, 2 sets 20 reps. 225lbs 1 set 6 reps.

Nice easy workout to keep things loose.

Till next time... Snowdaddy.

Monday, January 02, 2006

Dead Workout

Total was Dead day. Deadlifting is by far my favorite. My best pull to date is 240 Kg or 529lbs. Today Went like this.
Warm up - 225lbs, 6 reps Sumo deadlifts. I do sumo's for warm up because they help me get into the right position for conventional deadlifts. They also help stretch out my legs.

Working sets - 365lbs, 3 sets, 2 reps Conventional deadlifts. I was supposed to do six sets at this weight but I was feeling strong today so I did my last 3 sets at 405lbs. This was new for me. I've never done 405lbs for sets before. Ya for me!

Knee up partials - I do heavy partial pulls from my knees to lock out. I find these help me get used to pulling bigger weights. I have had a grip problem in the past as well the partials also help with my grip. 3 sets, 545lbs 1 rep, 585lbs 1 rep, 635lbs 1 rep. 635lbs is a new max lift for me.

Chin ups - As I've said before I weigh about 295lbs so I do my chins with some assistance. With 90lbs of assistance I did 3 sets of 6 reps. I do my chins with a narrow parallel grip. My lats love it.

V-sit ups - For my abs I do 3 sets of 20 reps. I used to do standard sit ups but I found the V-sit ups work my abs just as well with out the same amount of effort.

Hammer Curls - Here my instinctive training philosophy took over and I added some hammer curls. Because I'm a powerlifter not a bodybuilder I do the curls for weight not feel. If I can get the dumbbell up to my shoulder its good enough for me. 3 sets, 50lbs 12 reps, 60lbs 12 reps, 70lbs 12 reps.
during my last set I was really getting psyced up and yelled out. YA! DO IT! I scared a woman working out beside me and she almost fell off her bench. When the big boys play....

Another great work out.

Snowdaddy

PS: during my training I listen to high energy music. Right now I'm listening to Billy Tallent, Danko Jones, and System of a Down.

Snowdaddy

Sunday, January 01, 2006

Bench Workout

Yesterday's workout was great! I started off with like this. Bench 135lbs x 20 reps, 225lbs x 8 reps. Working sets, 255lbs 6 sets x 2 reps. My last three sets were done at 275lbs. As I stated before I'm very instinctive. If I'm feeling strong I'll go up in weight. If I'm tired I'll add more sets just to hammer my muscles.
Next comes close grip bench. I read about Ed Coan doing close grip right after bench. I like the feeling it gives. Try it some time, you'll know what I mean. Close grip bench was 3 sets x 6 reps at 205lbs.
Dips follow. 3 sets x 6 reps with 40lbs of assistance.
Flat bench flys. 3 sets at 70lbs (each dumbbell), 80lbs, and 90lbs. These are all done to failure. With 70lbs I fail around 8 reps while with the 90s I failed at 5 reps.
I had about 15 minutes left in my workout so I finished up with machine flys. I Love this movement. It gives me an incredible pump. I know it's not really a powerlifting sort-of exercise but you know what they say. "Variety is the spice of life". I do these with the stack (250lbs) for 8-10 reps and 3 sets.
At this point I'm totally wasted and I'm ready for my protein drink and a shower.

Snowdaddy