: From Westside with love. [Archive] - Bodybuilding.com Forums

FB4ME

12-29-2009, 06:48 AM

ULTIMATE END GOAL: Play college football (note I said "play" not make a team and ride a bench)

This goal... or "dream" if you will, was all but swallowed up following a serious injury just after highschool before my freshman year of college. Now, 5 years later the desire cannot be suppressed any longer, with only 3 years of D1 eligibility left, and 4 years of D2 it has recently been as clear as day that it is something I need to do now while I am in my prime, else I be another victim of the "wish I woulda done this..." when I am older.

Lifting on and off for years, but only began training for my goal since July of 2009. Started out at that time weighing 151 lbs at 5'10" and benching 225 (mostly due to being out of shape as I had benched 285 weighing 160 a few years ago). Muscle memory was good to me and I quickly assimilated to the training. As of today, December 29th, 2009 I am weighing in at 172 lbs. I was primarily concerned with bulking up until around Thanksgiving when I started looking and experimenting with new workouts. I have always designed my own workouts and always had good results however, looking for new results I caved and began a WestSide program two weeks ago that I am so far in love with! However, I am quickly seeing the need to keep track of lifts with the system thus... this journal.

Current Stats:
*= approximate as the testing may be afew weeks or months old.

- BW: 172
- Vertical: 30* (have not tested this since highschool but i can still touch the same place on a basketball goal as then so i figured it is roughly the same righ tnow)
- 40: 4.65* (was the median of several times taken over a year ago when not in shape, ran a 4.38 electronic in highschool, so not to worried about this one right now as im still not training for speed yet)
- bench: 255 x 3
- squat: 275 x 8 ? (have not had a ME day with regular squats yet so this is a pure estimate)
- Power Clean: 185 x 1 ? (just started doing these in october for the first time since highschool so continuing to get form down good before trying anything heavy in this lift)

Goals by 30 APRIL, 2010:
BW: 175+
Veritcal: 36
40: 4.38
Bench: 305 x 1 or 225 x 12
Squat: 450 x 1 or 315 x 12
Power Clean: 225 x 1

FB4ME

12-29-2009, 06:57 AM

ME Box Squats (3 min between sets)
95 x 5
135 x 5
165 x 3
185 x 3
205 x 3
225 x 6*

Reverse BB Lunges (90 sec between sets)
95 x 12
95 x 10
95 x 8

Romanian Deadlifts (90 sec between sets)
95 x 12
95 x 10
95 x 8

Ab Circuit: (ten of ea exercise, did circuit once)
Sprinter sit-ups, V-Ups, Toe touches, Hip thrusts.

* Will definitely work up to 245 or more next time I do ME on box squats. I am still fairly new to box squatting and had never done more than 185 on it before so wasnt sure where to start out with for the ME. I will get a much better workout out of them next time.

FB4ME

12-29-2009, 08:15 PM

ME Upper Body:

Close Grip BB Bench Press (index on smooth)
95 x 8
135 x 6
155 x 5
185 x 3
205 x 3
225 x 3
245 x 1.5 (stalled halfway up on 2nd rep) <<<< ----PR

DB Incline Press (2 sets of max reps)
65's x 20
65's x 15.5 (stalled halfway up on 16th rep)

Hammer Strength Chest Supported Rows
225 x 12
225 x 10
225 x 8

--- supersetted with ---

Bent Over DB Lat Raises
10's x 10
10's x 8
10's x 7

DB Shruggs
65's x 15
65's x 12
65's x 10

BB Curls
bar x 15
bar x 12

The Close grip bench surprised me, Ive never done a ME on that before and was expecting to get 225 x 1 or 2, so the 245 definitely surprised me. Forearms got a really hard pump about midway through the superset and were killing me through the shruggs and had to drop a set of the BB curls because they were so tight. Overall a really good workout! Also weighed in at 174 today which is 2 lbs more than a few days ago but im not going to count it unless I can maintain or build on it over the next few weeks. If I start gaining weight again consistently then I think it will be an indicator that I was using too much volume over the past 2 or 3 months as Ive been plateaued (spelling?) at around 170-172 for the past few months.

While Im concentrating more on functional muscle and strength now, I am going to continue my bulk diet probably until the summer or longer. I am afterall training for football and not bodybuilding. My diet is around 3500-4000 calories a day, but is pretty clean.

euclid

12-31-2009, 06:53 AM

FB4ME

12-31-2009, 08:13 AM

Hey man, I'm on board and here to offer any support you need. In particular, I'm hoping to one day check this log and see that a) you hit that 225 power clean and b) just got done playing your first college game.

Way to take control of your life man!

Thanks for the support man! Can't wait till that time either, bowl games are providing a lot of good motivation right now ;)

brudman

12-31-2009, 08:32 AM

Goals by 30 APRIL, 2010:
BW: 175+
Veritcal: 36
40: 4.38
Bench: 305 x 1 or 225 x 12
Squat: 450 x 1 or 315 x 12
Power Clean: 225 x 1

Holy smokes those are great measurables. You should walk right up to Mack Brown before the National Championship game, I'm sure they could use you! Get the ball in your hands my man.

muscle_g

12-31-2009, 05:48 PM

Strong workouts man!! Subbed

FB4ME

12-31-2009, 07:24 PM

Holy smokes those are great measurables. You should walk right up to Mack Brown before the National Championship game, I'm sure they could use you! Get the ball in your hands my man.

A hint of sarcasm there? :P lol

Strong workouts man!! Subbed

Glad to have you on board man!

FB4ME

12-31-2009, 10:58 PM

Ringin' in the New Year with a good DE Lower Body workout!

Depth Jumps onto Box (both boxes knee high)**
5 x BW
5 x BW
5 x BW
5 x BW
5 x BW

Power Cleans
3 x 135
3 x 155
3 x 165
3 x 155
3 x 135

BB Step-Ups (reps are per leg)
8 x 95
8 x 115
8 x 115

45 degree Hyperextensions
10 x BW
8 x 10 (weigh held on chest)
8 x 10

Standing Pulley Sit-ups/Crunches
15 x 46
12 x 50

DB Side Bends (reps are per side)
12 x 40
12 x 40

** - I could easily go several inches higher on these box jumps but these are the highest boxes available to me at the moment. So in order to try and get as much out of these jumps as possible I am concentrating on shortest ground contact time as possible as well as exagerating the jump up and bringing my knees almost to my chest before landing on the box. I might try this with dumb bells next time instead, but not sure if that would ruin the principle of DE or not. Anyone got any thoughts on this?

Also, the powercleans are one of the only modifications to the Westside program I am doing. I love the exercise, am a firm believer in the exercise, and attribute much of my speed in highschool to the fact that I did these and clean and jerks ALOT. I have only been doing these again for a few weeks now and my timing is still alittle off on them. I havent recorded any of them yet, but I can tell I am dipping too early and not fully extending and shrugging it up like I should (though my traps are still getting good and sore so I could be wrong). I will try to video these soon and see how form is... though I am kinda scared how ugly it might be haha.

Overall, was a really good workout.

FB4ME

01-02-2010, 06:39 AM

Repetition - Upper Body

BB Bench Press (approx. 55% of max)
15 x 155
12 x 155
10 x 155 (probably one or two reps away from failure )
10 x 135

Chin-Ups
8 x BW
8 x BW
8 x BW
6 x BW (would've had to cheat to get the last two so left it at 6)

Cable Iso Lat Raises
12 x 10
12 x 5
12 x 5
10 x 5

Tricep Pushdowns (rope)
15 x 50
20 x 42
15 x 36

---- Supersetted with ----

Bent-Over One Armed DB Rows
8 x 65
8 x 65
8 x 65

So, todays workout went extremely well. Always know you're gettin a good workout when in the middle of training you get pissed off at nothing cause you are so "in the zone"... gotta love it. The back of my mind says that all of this high rep stuff on upper body is a bit much even though its Defranco's workout. Especially as far as my pressing muscles are concerned. I think from now on, on repetition upper body days my main compound lift (the first one) will always be a back lift, such as chins or Bent BB Rows. At 170 lbs I am still hovering around the 280-300 bench mark, and I know that while that wont win any powerlifting comps, it is more than adequate for my size for football.

I added the DB Rows in the superset instead of doing a shrug variation like the workout said. the reason being I powerclean'd yesterday and woke up to my traps being very sore.

A good workout, the superset was killin me but getting me more motivated the whole time. Will probably take the next two days off before my ME lower body day.... we will see what my legs say tomorrow morning, if they are not sore tomorrow when i wake up then I will probably do ME lower body the next day.

Also, I added some pictures before my workout tonight, since the only other picture I had on here was from July.

federaldb59

01-02-2010, 11:26 AM

Hey bro subbed. Im doin westside as well as I hope to play college ball too. Good luck and Ill be stopping in.

FB4ME

01-02-2010, 07:57 PM

Hey bro subbed. Im doin westside as well as I hope to play college ball too. Good luck and Ill be stopping in.

Glad to have the support!

FB4ME

01-04-2010, 06:29 AM

ME Lower Body

Deadlift (conventional)
95 x 5
115 x 3
135 x 3
165 x 3
185 x 3
225 x 2
255 x 2
275 x 2* (OH Grip failed/ lift was pretty easy)
225 x 2**
225 x 4**

Bulgarian Split Squats (DB / reps are per leg)
12 x 35's
10 x 30's
10 x 25's

Pull Throughs
12 x 65
12 x 65
12 x 65

BB Holds (grip)
225 x 12 sec
225 x 12 sec
135 x 30 sec

Plate Pinches
25 x 2 mins***

Ab Circuit - Sprinter Sit-ups, V-Ups, Toe Touches, Hip Thrusts (5-10 reps of each one)
Went through circuit 2 times.

* - First of all I used a belt. This is my first time doing a ME on deadlifts in over 2 years so I figured the old motto better safe than sorry applied. No use hurting myself in the gym when my goal is to play football not deadlift a house ;) BUT, my grip is what failed me on these today. I always stop for a second at the top of the lift and on my first lift at 275 my grip made me go down before i counted a full second, on my second lift at 275 I got to the top and fingers were barely hooking the bar and i was having to smash the bar against my quads to keep it from falling... which leads me to my second asterik....

** - Because of the grip failing me I was pretty pissed as I was shooting for atleast 295 for my ME. So... after finding out there is no chalk (surprise) I ditched the belt and did an alternating grip for the last two sets of 225 with some more reps. I will definitely try an alternating grip next time on ME Deadlift day. I just couldn't leave after my last set of 275 ended with grip failure of all things... because it got me mad and even more motivated to lift. bla bla bla

*** - I used a 25 lb plate and would switch hands right about the time the plate would slip out of my hands, did this for two minutes, at which point I was switching hands about every 10 seconds.

Todays workout, although the ME lift was disappointing, I made up for it on my Split Squats and demolished my legs. First time to ever do pull throughs but it is definitely a new favorite now. I love how you can "pop" the hips at the top of pull throughs, lookin forward to some shot glutes and overall posterior in the morning :)

ghott01

01-04-2010, 07:01 AM

In for fellow West sider, good luck man!

JDM-93_Z28

01-04-2010, 08:03 AM

I just read through your whole log, looks good man. With the deadlift I always use alt grip when going heavy...you'll find its much easier than a regular overhand. You are probably going to want to buy some chalk and keep it in your gym bag as well, it works wonders.

I just went through basically the same thing you're going through a year ago at the D1AA level and one thing I regretted was focusing too much on PLing or the weights I was using. Once I made the team I realized the best athletes on the field were rarely the strongest. I do like what you are doing with WS4SB tho, plus the cleans are a good addition to the program. My advice to you would be keep adding those explosive and single leg/functional exercises(push press, clean and jerk, single leg squat, etc) in there and then focus on your running. The running should be number one though, even if you truely run a 4.38. Focus on different drills, linear spead, agility, footwork, etc. At the first tryout for the walk-ons we had to run through 8 different drills on the field. We went through each drill twice and ran through all 8 without a break. There was about 12 coaches standing around us judging us on our speed, agility, and conditioning. At no time during the process were we ever asked about our weights or tested on maxes. For some people(myself especially) its hard to put down the weights and focus on running, but I guaruntee it will payoff in the long run.

If you have any questions let me know, I'd be more than happy to help. I will be stoppin in from time to time, good luck!

brudman

01-04-2010, 08:10 AM

A hint of sarcasm there? :P lol

Haha no 4.38 is pretty damn good speed. I think that alone with some level of football IQ gets you where you want to go.

FB4ME

01-04-2010, 08:38 AM

In for fellow West sider, good luck man!

thanks for the support yo!

I just read through your whole log, looks good man. With the deadlift I always use alt grip when going heavy...you'll find its much easier than a regular overhand. You are probably going to want to buy some chalk and keep it in your gym bag as well, it works wonders.

I just went through basically the same thing you're going through a year ago at the D1AA level and one thing I regretted was focusing too much on PLing or the weights I was using. Once I made the team I realized the best athletes on the field were rarely the strongest. I do like what you are doing with WS4SB tho, plus the cleans are a good addition to the program. My advice to you would be keep adding those explosive and single leg/functional exercises(push press, clean and jerk, single leg squat, etc) in there and then focus on your running. The running should be number one though, even if you truely run a 4.38. Focus on different drills, linear spead, agility, footwork, etc. At the first tryout for the walk-ons we had to run through 8 different drills on the field. We went through each drill twice and ran through all 8 without a break. There was about 12 coaches standing around us judging us on our speed, agility, and conditioning. At no time during the process were we ever asked about our weights or tested on maxes. For some people(myself especially) its hard to put down the weights and focus on running, but I guaruntee it will payoff in the long run.

If you have any questions let me know, I'd be more than happy to help. I will be stoppin in from time to time, good luck!

Hey thanks for the informative post! AS far as sprinting / field work, I will definitely be switching gears around March-April to primarily speed related work and field/agility work, and then about 2 - 3 months before the try-outs I will begin conditioning and cut the weights to strictly maintenance. The only reason you see next to nothing... well zero sprint/plyo/field work is because I am in iraq right now and believe it or not but, there is a football on post!!! ... however, there is not a single blade of grass on it lol SO... I am not willing to chance an injury on dirt/rocks when I will be back state side in about 2 months. But I will definitely be PMing you as I get closer to talk about your walk-on experience and give me some more insight on what to be prepared for ;)

Haha no 4.38 is pretty damn good speed. I think that alone with some level of football IQ gets you where you want to go.

Well thats what I thought out of highschool too, but apparently at 150 lbs and only 800 rushing yards Sr year (although 5.2 yds/carry), a legit 4.3 doesn't matter... nor is it often believed... especially because Im a white guy, so I just automatically assume people are being sarcastic when they comment on it ;)

brudman

01-04-2010, 09:05 AM

Well thats what I thought out of highschool too, but apparently at 150 lbs and only 800 rushing yards Sr year (although 5.2 yds/carry), a legit 4.3 doesn't matter... nor is it often believed... especially because Im a white guy, so I just automatically assume people are being sarcastic when they comment on it ;)

Ah, I didn't realize you were only a buck fifty when you ran it. At 172 now if you maintain that speed you could be a Dexter McCluster (5'8 165). If you still possess that speed. I wasn't mocking you. You never know what a guy can do. Good luck man.

FB4ME

01-04-2010, 09:27 AM

Ah, I didn't realize you were only a buck fifty when you ran it. At 172 now if you maintain that speed you could be a Dexter McCluster (5'8 165). If you still possess that speed. I wasn't mocking you. You never know what a guy can do. Good luck man.

Well like I said realistically I am probably mid 4.6's right now out of shape, and if i can get back to the 4.4's I will be ok with it, 4.38 is just my goal since I've done it before when i was much smaller and much weaker, and therefore "in theory" should be able to run it again after I get back into that phase of my training... we shall see what we shall see, thanks for the encouragement though :)

Im thinking about doing some sprints on my next DE Lower Body day as opposed to powercleans. If I do I will try to get some vids posted so you guys can make fun of me ;)

muscle_g

01-04-2010, 12:19 PM

Are you getting ready for a meet?

federaldb59

01-04-2010, 05:49 PM

Just noticed your a service man. Thanks for serving and protecting our freedoms.

FB4ME

01-04-2010, 08:00 PM

Are you getting ready for a meet?

nope why?

Just noticed your a service man. Thanks for serving and protecting our freedoms.

:)

JDM-93_Z28

01-05-2010, 10:15 AM

Just noticed your a service man. Thanks for serving and protecting our freedoms.

X2...forgot to say that earlier, thank you FB4ME! What branch of the military are you in? And do you like it(been thinking about it after I graduate)?

Also, forgot to ask what position you want to play? I'm guessing safety. And whats schools are you looking at/considering?

FB4ME

01-05-2010, 07:57 PM

X2...forgot to say that earlier, thank you FB4ME! What branch of the military are you in? And do you like it(been thinking about it after I graduate)?

Also, forgot to ask what position you want to play? I'm guessing safety. And whats schools are you looking at/considering?

Hey thanks, Im in the Army. Do I like it... yes and no. Yes in the fact that it teaches you alot about leadership, responsibility and such, it truly makes you grow up quick... no in that it can be very political at times. I would say if its something you want to do then you should go for it, especially if the economy stays like it is. I would recommend looking at the airforce though, 3 month deployments as opposed to 1 year deployments, much nicer facilities, treated better in general, etc...

I am wanting to play RB, because that is what I was always best at. I always took pride in my field vision while running the ball, and I've got very quick feet. Theres no better feeling than jukin' a guy and knowin you made him feel stupid. If not RB then WR would definitely be my second choice as I've got plenty experience there too. I wouldnt mind playin safety, and if i have to play on the defensive side that is where I would much rather play, unfortunately I only weigh 175 right now and if I get my speed back to where it should be then I will probably be put at CB if RB doesnt work out. Time will tell.

FB4ME

01-06-2010, 06:10 AM

ME Upper Body

BB Bench Press (work up to max set of 3-5)
95 x 10
135 x 6
185 x 3
205 x 3
225 x 2
245 x 4 (fifth rep failed mid way) <<<<<<<<<<---------------------------P.R.

Incline DB Bench (2 sets of max reps)
16 x 70's
9 x 70's

BB Rows
10 x 95
10 x 95
8 x 95

--- supersetted with ---

Short bar Upright Rows
8 x 50
8 x 50
8 x 40

BB Shrugs
15 x 135
15 x 135
12 x 135

Hammer Curls
10 x 20's
10 x 20's

muscle_g

01-07-2010, 02:29 AM

nope why?

I was just wondering.

What are your maxes at the moment?

FB4ME

01-07-2010, 05:55 AM

I was just wondering.

What are your maxes at the moment?

man to be honest I have no idea. The closest thing I can do is guestimate off of my ME days so far... probably around 285 bench, 350 Squat/Deadlift. But like I said, I dont know since Ive not even done a conventional Squat ME day yet.

FB4ME

01-08-2010, 12:52 AM

DE Lower Body

Five Yard Sprint Starts (focusing on 40 start / 60-90 sec between sprints)
5 sprints
(3 minute break)
5 more sprints

Tuck Jumps (60 sec between sets)
5 x 2

-*-*-*-*- bout 45 minutes between these two workouts had a protein shake, changed, tsp of honey then went to the gym to finish the workout -*-*-*-

BB Squat Jumps (90 sec between sets)
3 x 65
3 x 65
3 x 65
3 x 65
3 x 65
3 x 65
3 x 65
3 x 65

Romanian Deadlifts (Heels on a 45 plate)
8 x 135
8 x 135
10 x 135

Pulley Standing Situps
12 x 50
12 x 50

DB Standing Side Bends (reps are per side)
12 x 45
12 x 45

I cut out the isolated leg work today since I did so much DE type work. I video'd some of the sprint starts, I'll try to get them posted up here in a little while.

FB4ME

01-08-2010, 10:41 AM

JDM-93_Z28

01-08-2010, 04:21 PM

FB4ME

01-08-2010, 07:37 PM

Looks solid. I really like your setup...same thing I use. Only things I noticed was... 1.) you need to tuck your head in your stance so you don't pop up right out of the gates and 2.) keep your arms locked at 90 degrees(kinda hard when your coming out of your stance). But I think thats pretty damn good man. On your way back down to a 4.38!!

Thanks for the pointers man. I need to play with my drive arm height a little next time. Im thinkin about bringin it down a little bit and maybe the initial starting movement wont feel so slow. Cause when I subframe it, there are about 4 or 5 frames where my body/legs will begin to move and my hand/arm clearly stay in the exact same place. Minor issue but wouldnt hurt to play with it alittle ;)

FB4ME

01-09-2010, 06:28 AM

Repetition Upper Body

Flat DB Bench (Palms in / 3 sets x max reps)
22 x 50's
15 x 50's
10 x 50's

Lat Pulldowns (behind neck)
12 x 120
12 x 120
12 x 120

----- supersetted with -----

Rope Pulley Face Pulls
8 x 30
10 x 30
12 x 30

DB Military Press
10 x 30's
10 x 30's
10 x 30's
12 x 30's

DB Shrugs
10 x 65's
12 x 65's
15 x 65's

----- supersetted with -----

Rope Pulley Tricep Pushdowns
26 x 35
18 x 35
15 x 35

Pullup Bar Hangs
1 x 30 sec
1 x 30 sec
1 x 30 sec

Plate Pinches
3 minutes x 25 lb plate. (swithcing hands every 20 seconds)

I have not done DB bench with palms in before, and I'm lucky I went as conservative as I did because I was going to use 65's like I would on regular DB bench (palms out) but fortunately I changed my mind after my warm up set. My shoulders (front) were burning after the first set and continued to burn throughout the whole workout. It hurt like a ***** but i felt good knowing I was hitting them from an angle my body was obviously not prepared for.

Also, seem to be gaining weight still as the scale is still creeping up about 1 pound a week. Very pumped about it, can't wait for my next workout day since it will be ME conventional Squats finally. I know it will be less than I want it to be, but it will be good to finally go "all out" and get an idea of where I actually am on lower body strength.

federaldb59

01-09-2010, 08:14 AM

I really admire your motivation. If i was over there I think training would be one of the last things on my mind. Keep up the hard work man. Again thank you for serving.

FB4ME

01-10-2010, 05:52 AM

I really admire your motivation. If i was over there I think training would be one of the last things on my mind. Keep up the hard work man. Again thank you for serving.

Thanks man, i appreciate it :)

federaldb59

01-10-2010, 12:02 PM

No problem I highly considered every branch of the military and I got a handfull of friends that are in the part of the world so it hits close to home ya know. Besides I know how good a simple thankyou makes you guys feel.

FB4ME

01-11-2010, 06:37 AM

ME LOWER BODY

BB Squats (Max-Effort)
135 x 5
185 x 4
225 x 3
275 x 2
295 x 5 (belt)

BB Reverse Lunges, front leg elevated (5 inch box / reps are per leg)
95 x 8
95 x 8
95 x 8

Standing Pulley Sit-Ups
12 x 57.5
12 x 57.5

DB Side Bends
12 x 50
12 x 50

45 Degree hyperextensions
12 x BW
12 x BW
12 x BW

Finally got a ME day on conventional Squats in. I was a little lost as to what weight to go with since before starting WS4SB I was always doing sets of 225 for reps. I started the set of 295 expecting to get 3 max, but got 5 and realistically probably could've got one or two more reps but didnt have a spotter so decided to call it good. It felt REALLY AWESOME to go heavy on squats (even though 295 is not very heavy haha) since I havent done it in years. Felt good to have all that weight up there. I will definitely use 315 on my next ME Squat Day.

The Lunges fried my legs, and on my last two sets i was taking 5-10 sec breaks on my last few reps to get them up. Overall, very good workout, not quite the numbers I was hoping for on my Squat, but knowing where I am at now and that it is not as bad as it COULD be, I am very pleased.

DocHollidy

01-12-2010, 09:38 AM

I dont know how to even post links BUT here is a short video of the last 3 sprint starts from today.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T7VlU8kXYu0

Obviously not the speed I am use to, but for the first time doing sprint starts in years I think it went pretty well. The initial movement felt really sluggish but I got a few months to work on it.

looked good in the vid but here is a little technique I learned recently

1) Put your feet farther back and angle your shins about 45 degrees from the ground (really low to the ground)

2) When you set up your feet, sit back on them and push off of your toes to put the weight on your toes from the start

3) Put your down hand a little further back (closer towards your waist) and a little more center in between your body (because with the feet back further, you need to put your arm back further or you will have no balance)

4) Hold your breath while your in your stance and explode, exhale after the first few steps

hope this makes sense Joe Defranco has a vid of what I'm talking about on youtube, I'll try to find it but this is what I've been doing and it works well, just remember to put your hand back a little further than normal to give you a good balanced base to start

Footballmuscle5

01-12-2010, 06:23 PM

hey man! just droppin in
thanks for the feedback
i've always wanted to play college ball but it's just not for me. looks like you're blessed with the physique, strength and (maybe, haha) ability to play
i wish ya luck man and keep those gains coming!

JDM-93_Z28

01-12-2010, 07:01 PM

Here is a great video. There are some awesome side shots of their stance that you can pause and take a look at. But even after seeing this video I think you form is pretty good!

GGc0tCCzkmA

FB4ME

01-13-2010, 06:46 AM

ME Upper Body

BB Bench Press
95 x 8
135 x 6
185 x 3
225 x 2
255 x 3
225 x 3

Flat DB Bench (2 sets max reps / 4 mins between sets)
18 x 70's
13 x 70's

Pull-Ups
7 x BW
6 x BW
5 x BW

DB Pendlay Rows
8 x 50's
8 x 50's

----- supersetted with -----

Isolated DB Lateral Raises
8 x 15's
8 x 10's

BB Shrugs
15 x 135
15 x 135
14 x 135

Seated DB Curls
8 x 30's
8 x 30's
8 x 30's

I was not very thrilled with the ME lift today. It didnt feel very Max Effortish if that makes sense. I will definitely have to switch my ME lift next time, probably will do rack lockouts with chains, OR will do a BB Bench Rest-Pause set. I did make up for the Me lift with my DB bench though, my last rep on my second set literally took about 5 seconds to get up after the half way point, felt good to strain so much haha.

My next lift should've been 3-4 sets of the supersetted exercises, however, I am really starting to miss pull ups in my routine and so i decided to modify it abit to add in pullups. I will probably try to modify the rest of the workouts to allow for atleast 3 sets of pullups from now on as well.

This workout took alot out of me energy wise (especially after the pullups). and my last two exercises almost got nixed because I was already at my hour time limit, but i decided to take about a minute longer than normal between sets and was able to get the rest of the workout in. Also weighed in at 175 again on two different scales, so if I can keep the weight or add to it by next workout then I will go ahead and count it and update my bodyweight.

JDM-93_Z28

01-13-2010, 01:07 PM

Flat DB Bench (2 sets max reps / 4 mins between sets)
18 x 70's
13 x 70's
That's some great pressing...especially after a ME bench!

I was not very thrilled with the ME lift today. It didnt feel very Max Effortish if that makes sense. I will definitely have to switch my ME lift next time, probably will do rack lockouts with chains, OR will do a BB Bench Rest-Pause set.
How come you were not happy with it? And what do you mean by not feeling very max effortish?

FB4ME

01-13-2010, 09:05 PM

How come you were not happy with it? And what do you mean by not feeling very max effortish?

I don't know I just felt a little weak during the ME lift I guess.

JDM-93_Z28

01-14-2010, 06:12 AM

I don't know I just felt a little weak during the ME lift I guess.

O...well in that case, everyone has their off days. Rest up and get it next time.

FB4ME

01-15-2010, 03:05 AM

DE Lower Body

Box Jumps (from sitting on 5 inch box)
3 jumps
3 "
2 "
2 "
2 "
2 "

Power Cleans
3 x 115
2 x 135
2 x 155
1 x 175
1 x 185
1 x 185
1 x 185

BB Step Ups (reps are per leg)
8 x 115
8 x 115
8 x 115

Standing Pulley Sit-ups
12 x 57
12 x 57

Pulley Pull-Throughs
12 x 50
12 x 65
12 x 75

DB Side Bends (reps are per side)
12 x 55
12 x 55

The Box Jumps, Ive never done from a sitting position before and it felt like it was going to rip the upper part of my calf off. It was weird to have such an area worked like that but i liked the feeling... again though the box i am jumping ONTO is only about knee high so Im still having to do a modified tuck jump/box jump to try and mimic the effects of a taller box.

I decided that I was going to establish 185 as my new workout weight with Power Cleans... why I have no idea since I haven't done more than 165 in years, but I loved the feeling of doing the cleans heavy again. honestly, I doubt I could get more than 10 pounds more than 185 on cleans right now, so I know I went a little heavy for a DE day, but it was a really good workout anyway.

FB4ME

01-18-2010, 07:34 AM

Repetition Upper Body

Incline DB Press (4 x 12-15 instead of 3 x max... ended up being both, will explain after)
15 x 60's
12 x 60's
10 x 60's (might've had one more rep left in me, but doubtful)
8 x 60's (was last rep i would've gotten up)
**- took 90 seconds break in between all sets.

Pull-ups (60-90 sec between sets)
5 x BW
5 x BW
5 x BW
5 x BW (palms facing eachother)

Straight Arm Pull Downs
12 x 50
10 x 50
10 x 50

----- supersetted with -----

Rear Delt Pulley Flyes
8 x 5
8 x 5
10 x 5

BB Standing Behind Neck Press
12 x 65 (regular tempo)
12 x 95 (approx. 2 reps away from failure / regular tempo)
8 x 45 (controlled down and as fast as I could push the bar up, this set by far hurt the most!)
7 x 75 (regular tempo... I had assumed I would get around 10 but failed half way up on the 8th rep, more on this workout below)

Short Bar Shrugs
15 x 110
15 x 110
15 x 110
15 x 110

----- supersetted with -----

Single Arm Pulley Push downs (reps are per arm)
16 x 15 (single rope)
16 x 10 (single handle / palms facing up at start and twisting to face in at the bottom)
23 x 5 (no handle, gripping the cable just above the ball / first 15 reps fast then regular tempo)

Pull Up Bar Body Hangs
4 sets x 30 second holds each.

As you can see its been 5 days since my last upper body day. For some reason my body was screaming at me to give it some rest, and I know when to give in and give it an extra day or two... which seemed to have worked out for the better.

During the BB Military press today I had an idea after my first set and decided to try it out... as you can gather by the notations between the sets above it looks a little all over the place but i promise i had a plan haha. The first set was intended to basically give those muscles a decent warm-up. my second set I intended to go as heavy as I thought I could for reps in the 10-12 range. The third set I wanted to shock the muscles involved by using just the bar and concentrated on exploding up as fast as I could with good form. I don't know why but this set hurt MUCH worse than the much heavier set before it. I had planned on doing 10 reps, but after 8 they would not have been very fast reps anymore and would've defeated the purpose. Next time I try this I will probably shoot for 6 reps on this set instead of 8. The last set was meant to go 1-2 reps to failure... which because of all of the different tempos on the previous sets came MUCH sooner than I had anticipated. Normally I would do my 3-4 sets of 8-12 with around 95-115 lbs... and get no less than 8 reps per set. The fact I was able to kill my body much more effectively with much less reps AND weight has got me thinking of trying this for some other exercises as well... just thought it was kinda crazy and that i would share with you guys :)

I only take one serving of creatine every other day (post workout) and therefore havent had any in my system for 3 days. I also laid off on shoving calories the past two days to give my digestive tract a little break as well... only eating around 4000 calories the past two days AND only had one snack and a meal today pre workout... I say all this because I imagined I would have lost a good 2-3 pounds of water/food weight BUT I weighed in at 175 again today on 2 different scales so... still gaining about a lb a week, very excited after todays workout! Well worth the extra 2 days of rest! Motivation is very high right now!

JDM-93_Z28

01-18-2010, 09:13 AM

BB Standing Behind Neck Press
12 x 65 (regular tempo)
12 x 95 (approx. 2 reps away from failure / regular tempo)
8 x 45 (controlled down and as fast as I could push the bar up, this set by far hurt the most!)
7 x 75 (regular tempo... I had assumed I would get around 10 but failed half way up on the 8th rep, more on this workout below)

I also laid off on shoving calories the past two days to give my digestive tract a little break as well... only eating around 4000 calories the past two days AND only had one snack and a meal today pre workout...

The BB overhead press is different than Westside Dynamic Effort but same concept. I'm not a huge fan but I do throw it in once in a while. Everyone responds different though and there is no doubt that it gives your joints a break while still giving you a hell of a workout! How do you like doing behind the neck? I find I use better form but it puts a lot more stress on my rotator cuffs.

And you said 4k cals is laying off!?! lol how many cals have you been regularly taking in???

FB4ME

01-18-2010, 09:57 AM

The BB overhead press is different than Westside Dynamic Effort but same concept. I'm not a huge fan but I do throw it in once in a while. Everyone responds different though and there is no doubt that it gives your joints a break while still giving you a hell of a workout! How do you like doing behind the neck? I find I use better form but it puts a lot more stress on my rotator cuffs.

And you said 4k cals is laying off!?! lol how many cals have you been regularly taking in???

well 4k cals for both days, as in 2k cals a day lol. I was getting in around 3500 a day normally.

and yeah, I like the press behind the neck best. Mainly because it is easier on my shoulders. I am lucky I am one of those guys that can do behind the neck presses and upright rows all day with no problems. :)

FB4ME

01-20-2010, 07:02 AM

ME Lower Body

BB Box Squat
8 x 115
3 x 135
2 x 185
2 x 225
4 x 255 (this weight was going to be my planned ME set...)
2 x 265 (... felt I had a little more....)
4 x 275 <<<<<<<<<<<<------------------------------------------ PR

DB Bulgarian Split Squats (reps are per leg)
10 x 35's
10 x 35's
10 x 35's

BB Romanian Dead Lifts
6 x 95
10 x 135
10 x 135
10 x 135

Standing Pulley Sit-Ups
12 x 65
12 x 65

DB Side Bends (reps are per side)
12 x 55
12 x 55

Workout was great. The ME lift (box squats) REALLY surprised me. I was planning on doing 3 sets of 1 rep at 275 after changing my mind on my 255 set. BUT, it felt so good that I decided to see what I could do and it was very surprising... perhaps more surprising because I was concentrating on form today more than usual. The rest of the leg exercises were absolutely brutal and I was going to switch to 30's on my last set for split squats but the 30's were taken (all 3 pairs) so... I figured it was a sign to not bit** out and fight through it, so I did even though it killed me haha. Very good workout today.

JDM-93_Z28

01-20-2010, 08:29 AM

How did you like those box squats? And is your box squat or free squat stronger?

FB4ME

01-20-2010, 09:13 AM

How did you like those box squats? And is your box squat or free squat stronger?

Loved those box squats! the box I squatted on was about 2 inches below the bottom of my knee so I am going down just a tad lower than parallel, but they felt really good, this is only like my.... 3rd time ever doing them, so I am pretty happy with how they are going so far. My last ME day was free squats and I did 295 5 times, but I could've gone 10-20 lbs heavier for about the same reps now that i know about where I am. So as of right now my free squat is stronger, but they seem VERY close right now.

scott_donald

01-20-2010, 10:07 AM

moved and subscribing...

FB4ME

01-20-2010, 10:11 AM

moved and subscribing...

mucho gracias senior! :)

FB4ME

01-21-2010, 11:10 PM

ME Upper Body

Initial Warm-up (just so you dont think I jumped right into the lockouts ;) ):
incline pushups(on bench) 12 x BW
BB Bench Press 135 x 8

BB Rack Lockouts (approx 7-8 inches ROM / ME lift):
3 x 135
3 x 185
3 x 225
3 x 275
3 x 295 (couldn't get 4th rep started, so basically to failure)
3 x 295 (didn't try for 4 reps)<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<------------ PR ? lol

BB Incline Bench (1 set max reps):
22 x 115

Chin-Ups (1 set max reps):
13 x BW

BB Pendlay Rows
10 x 115
10 x 115
10 x 115

BB Shrugs
15 x 165
12 x 165
12 x 165

BB Upright Rows
15 x 50

Tricep Pushdowns (1 set max reps)
18 x 35lbs*

* - this was on a different pulley/machine than I normally use and it was heavier than the one I normally use, as there was only one pulley instead of 2.

The ME lift was good, the rest of the workout pretty much blew. On WS4SB you pick different exercises each day, and i usually pick before going to the gym, however once I got to the gym I realized the only "pushing" exercise was the lockouts and I just mentally could not waste a workout by doing just those so instead of doing 2 max sets of chinups I did one of chin ups and one of BB incline, and substituted DB curls at the end with the Tricep Pushdowns.

Basically the chin-ups killed my energy (just like always) so the rest of the workout I felt extremely drained. Was suppose to superset upright rows with pendlay rows... obviously didn't. The pendlay rows were the roughest as after each set I was sorta dizzy and just... "drained" for lack of a better word. I know another big factor to todays lack of energy was I didnt eat dinner last night, I was too tired to get my ass out of my room and walk 15 minutes to the chow hall so I had a cliff bar (about 300 some odd calories) and went to bed.

I was happy with the ME lift though. Especially since I was using more ROM than a normal lockout is suppose to use, but it felt good and hopefully it will help with my mid rep sticking point.

federaldb59

01-22-2010, 08:23 AM

good workout glad to see your journal in the section

JDM-93_Z28

01-22-2010, 09:27 AM

Nice PR!

I'm doing Pendlays for my 5/3/1 program and they're a bitch! The weight I'm using is so light but they are so hard lol

FB4ME

01-22-2010, 10:12 AM

good workout glad to see your journal in the section

I know, thanks to Mr Scott :)

Nice PR!

I'm doing Pendlays for my 5/3/1 program and they're a bitch! The weight I'm using is so light but they are so hard lol

Yeah, Pendlay Rows are definitely no joke... seems like when you get done with the reps and stand up is when you finally realize how much what you just did hurt haha.

DominationStation

01-22-2010, 09:09 PM

Just came across your log man and read the first and last few posts, sub'd! Best of luck on your path to college football, you seem really motivated!

FB4ME

01-23-2010, 05:47 AM

Just came across your log man and read the first and last few posts, sub'd! Best of luck on your path to college football, you seem really motivated!

hey thanks for the luck, everyone needs it, some of us will be needing it more than others ;) haha

FB4ME

01-24-2010, 12:22 AM

DE Lower Body

Vertical Jumps
3 x BW
3 x BW
3 x BW
3 x BW
3 x BW
3 x BW
3 x BW
3 x BW

Power Clean
3 x 135
3 x 155
3 x 175
1 x 185
1 x 185
1 x 185

BB Reverse Lunge w/knee lift (front foot on 5 inch box / reps are per leg)
10 x 95
10 x 95
10 x 95 ***

45 Degree Hyper Extensions (weight held across chest)
12 x 10 lb
12 x 10 lb

Standing Pulley Sit ups
25 x 25
12 x 65
10 x 75

DB Side Bends (reps are per side)
12 x 55
12 x 55

*** - my last four reps on each leg took about 40 seconds total lol. Was really winded and burnt out but just took 5-10 secs between reps and got them all done.

workout today was really good! The vertical jumps felt really good. I was jumping up at the basketball backboard, and was getting all fingers on the backboard everytime, every once in a while (usually my first of 3 jumps) I'd get about inch of palm on there too. Not as high as I would like, but it was higher than I had anticipated with all of the weight I've gained, so I was very pleased. The cleans felt relatively easy at 185 today as well. Will probably bump up to 195 next time as my form continues to get better.

scott_donald

01-24-2010, 04:39 AM

well progression is all you want... sounds a great workout...

moose45

01-24-2010, 12:51 PM

Subbed...Keep up the good work man

FB4ME

01-26-2010, 06:11 AM

Repetition Upper Body

BB Bench Press (55-60% of 1RM / Calc'd 55% of 280)
6 x 95
6 x 135
15 x 155 (had 2-3 reps left)
15 x 155 (barely lol)
11 x 155 (1 rep shy of failure)

Lat Pulldowns
12 x 120
10 x 120
10 x 120

----- supersetted with -----

Face Pulls
12 x 45
10 x 45
10 x 45

Seated DB military Press
15 x 30's
15 x 30's
12 x 30's
10 x 30's

BB Shrugs (smith machine)
15 x 135
15 x 185

----- supersetted with -----

Pulley Pushdowns
25 x 50
20 x 50

DB Wrist Curls
15 x 15

Pull-Up Bar Body Hangs
45 seconds

Plate Pinches (25 lbs)
3 minutes

DB Wrist Curls
12 x 15

The fore arm training was done basically as a circuit, once iw as done with one exercise i just walked over and start the next one.

FB4ME

01-28-2010, 01:05 AM

ME Lower Body

ME BB Free Squats
10 x BW
5 x BW (side lunge/squats)
6 x 135
4 x 185
3 x 225
2 x 275
5 x 315 <<<<<<< ---------------------------------- P.R.
4 x 315 <<<<<<<< --------------------------------- P.R. #2 lol

BB Bench Press
10 x Incline Pushups
6 x 135
3 x 185
5 x 225
5 x 225
5 x 225 <<<<<<<<<<<< --------------------------- P.R.

Pull-Ups
5 x BW (palms out / wide)
5 x BW ( " )
5 x BW ( " )
5 x BW ( palms in / close)
5 x BW ( " )

DB Bulgarian Split Squats (reps are per leg)
12 x 30's
12 x 30's
12 x 30's

Pulley Pull Throughs
15 x 75
12 x 80
12 x 80

Pulley Standing Sit-ups
8 x 65
6 x 70
6 x 70
6 x 70

Todays Squats felt IN SANE!!! I loved it! I most likely could've gotten 6, maybe even 7 reps on my first set of 315 if I would've had a spotter, but I dont have one and would much rather not drop it all so contented myself to stop a rep shy of probably failure. I've never done 5 successive reps at 315, and definitely never done two sets to total 9 reps, so I was VERY pleased. They were very slow coming out of the hole, but the fact that they kept going up with good form I think can be attributed to the box squats. Very happy about the Squats today!

Notice I added bench and pullups today, the reason being I will be transfering to another base in the next day and will be in transit for 3-7 days... so I wanted to get another stimlus going before traveling. I will most likely have time and access for a gym but if not I will be use this time to deload a little bit and do plyometric pushups / jumps / sprints ,etc...

The bench by the way was a PR because before starting WS4SB3 I could only do sets for 5, 4, 4 with 225 and considering I was still a little tired from rep upper body only 2 days ago AND had 2 or so reps in the tank AND it was after such heavy squatting, I could probably easily do 4 x 6-8 at 225 on a strictly upper body day fully rested. Overall, probably the best workout I've had since starting WS4SB3, good motivation going into a deload week. I will probably be out of here for a week or so until I get settled in at the new base. I'll keep track of what I do while away and catch you up once I get back online.

muscle_g

01-29-2010, 06:38 AM

Looking strong in here dude!!

FB4ME

02-03-2010, 08:09 AM

Upper Body Deload...ish

BB Bench Press **
8 x 135
4 x 185
4 x 225
3 x 225

Pull-Ups
6 x BW
5 x BW
5 x BW
5 x BW
5 x BW

DB Incline Press
8 x 75's
6 x 80's
6 x 80's

Medicine Ball Bench/Throws (laying on mat, the ball starts out resting on chest, and thrown up as fast as possible, released at top and caught with elbows bent on way down / 15 lb ball / 30 sec between sets)
12 reps
5 reps
5 reps
5 reps

BB Pendlay Rows
10 x 95
12 x 95

----- supersetted with -----

DB Bent-Over Lat Raises
12 x 10's

BB Curls
8 x 45
8 x 45

Medicine Ball Bench Throws (15 lb ball / 30 seconds between sets)
5 reps
5 reps
5 reps

** - I am working out at the new base now and unfortunately they only have the Barbells that are really thick. So, my sets with 225 were actually pretty much to failure. I was a little upset and shocked, but know it will just take a little time to get use to the new grip.

The only lift I really went heavy in was the DB Incline's, I could've gone 85 or 90's for the same reps, but held back because this workout was merely intended to hit everything mildly as sort of a DE/deload type of day. I really liked the medicine ball bench/throws whatever you call them, I will definitely be working that exercise in on Repetition Upper Days every now and then. The pump from just being able to bench it up as fast as you can was surprising. I had no DOMs what soever the day after so i think it went well as far as it being a deloading day.

This was the first workout I had done since the 28th of Jan. while in transit I had to repeatedly carry all of my 3 bags full of equipment (totaling around 200 pounds) 50-300 yards on and off helo-pads, and my legs/back/and forearms got PLENTY of workout from that. So much so that today (3 days since I had last carried them) I wasn't 100% in my back yet on lower body day, and pushed a little too hard.... more on that in the next post.

FB4ME

02-03-2010, 12:27 PM

Lower Body Deload....ish

BB Squats
10 x 135
5 x 185
3 x 225
5 x 275
5 x 275
5 x 275

BB Reverse Lunges (reps are per leg)
8 x 95
6 x 115
5 x 135
5 x 135
5 x 135

BB Squats (ass to grass)
5 x 115
5 x 115
5 x 115

DB Side Bends (reps are per side)
12 x 45
12 x 45

This mornings workout was good until I did the ass to grass squats. They aggrevated my lower body and its been sore all day. Can't wait to start back on WS4SB3 in a few days. It feels too much like I am slackin.

FB4ME

02-04-2010, 07:43 PM

Repetition Upper Body

BB Bench Press (3 x max reps)
15 x pushups
8 x 115
22 x 135
15 x 135
12 x 135

Chin Ups
8 x BW
7 x BW

----- supersetted with -----

Rear Delt Flyes
8 x 10
10 x 5

DB military Press
12 x 40's
12 x 40's
12 x 40's

BB Shrugs
15 x 135
12 x 135

Tricep Pushdowns
20 x 57.5

----- supersetted with -----

BB Shrugs
12 x 135

Tricep Pushdowns
15 x 57.5

DB Wrist Curls
10 x 25
10 x 25

Had a very weak stomach this morning, and after the Chin-Ups it was all I could do to keep from throwin up... this has been happening to me alot in the past month, most notably on repetition upper body day and/or right after any kind of pull up. I'm going to switch up my workout times and start lifting in the evening before bed as opposed to as soon as I get up in the morning. hopefully this will help.

DominationStation

02-04-2010, 09:57 PM

interesting supersets, back w/ rear delts i've heard before, but triceps w/ traps i haven't--is this just due to a lack of time?

FB4ME

02-05-2010, 06:53 AM

interesting supersets, back w/ rear delts i've heard before, but triceps w/ traps i haven't--is this just due to a lack of time?

Um no its not from lack of time, just following the WS4SB3 workout. The 2nd exercise on the 2nd superset of rep upper body day is basically a "vanity lift"... of the like 8 or 10 exercises joe lists only one is not some kind of bicep curl. From reading through his website he basically throws in curls at the end sometimes because "everyone likes leaving the gym with pumped biceps" haha. But... I hate doin curls so I usually do triceps instead. As for WHY it is a superset I have no idea, you are probably right in assuming that it mainly has to do with time restraints and not having to be in the gym more than an hour.

FB4ME

02-07-2010, 06:04 AM

ME Lower Body

BB Squats
15 x BW
8 x 115
5 x 135
5 x 205
3 x 245
4 x 295
4 x 295
5 x 275

DB Bulgarian Split Squats (reps are per leg)
12 x 30's
10 x 30's
10 x 25's

DB Romanian Deadlifts
10 x 60's
10 x 60's
10 x 60's

These different weights/bars are really throwin me off, anyone else move gyms where they had completely different weights/bars etc, and have a problem adjusting... Just sucks that numerically I am doing less weight now. Oh well....

The next two months will be hit or miss on workout intensity/regularity. In fact I am seriously considering getting off of westside because of this and going to a 3x5 or 5x5 setup until I get back to the states from this deployment and get settled in and stuff. I will start drawing up a workout and post it when I am confident in starting it.

moose45

02-07-2010, 07:07 AM

FB4ME

02-09-2010, 10:38 AM

ME Upper Body

BB Bench Press
12 x bar
6 x 135
5 x 185
3 x 205
5 x 225
3 x 245

Pull Ups
5 x BW
5 x BW
5 x BW
5 x BW
5 x BW

BB Incline Press (2 x max reps)
20 x 115
15 x 115

One Armed DB Rows (reps are per arm)
12 x 60
12 x 60
10 x 60

BB Shrugs
15 x 135
12 x 135
12 x 135

Seated DB Curls (preacher curl up, reverse gripped negative on way down / reps are per arm)
6 x 20

Seated DB Hammer Curls (reps are per arm)
8 x 20

I found one normal sized olympic bar at the gym that I used for the Bench and Incline Bench so my lifts were pretty much back to normal.

I drew up several workouts and kept coming back to this WS4SB for now. I will stay on this until I come back to the states in a few weeks. There will be a 2 or 3 week time after getting back where i wont have access to weights until i buy my own (setting up a little garage gym for me and the misses woot!) so during that time i will probably be doing a lot of jumps plyos sprints and strongman type stuff, should be a good change of pace and im excited about it! BUT... plenty of time for that later.

I weighed myself today for the first time in over 2 weeks and weighed 177, which is officially the most Ive ever weighed. holla! haha. Would really like to hit 180 before I get back to the states. If anything to provide a little cushion of fat to burn off until i am able to get back into a rythm and high calorie diet. Its gonna suck when all this food I have to shovel in to gain any weight will have to be paid for :(

Overall a good workout, I took a little bit longer breaks in between sets and got rid of the supersets, and didnt have mcuh problem with a weak stomach, so this may be the protocol i need to follow from now on. Not a bad day.

FB4ME

02-12-2010, 06:59 AM

Repetition Lower Body**

BB Squats
15 x BW
7 x 115
5 x 135
3 x 185
20 x 205
---------(4.5 min break)
20 x 205

BB Shrugs
12 x 135
12 x 135
10 x 135

DB Reverse Lunges (reps are per leg / 60 sec rest between sets)
10 x 45's
8 x 45's
6 x 45's

Ended with 15 minutes of various lower body static stretching.

This workout was completely improv... I was suppose to do a ME day, and I had planned on doing vertical jumps under the basketball backboard again. However, when i got to the gym and all the basketball goals were taken, i took this as an excuse to try some 20 rep squats and have a good repetition lower body day. When this month is up I will be knocking down alot of the reps in favor of lower reps as I transition more to strength and speed, so I would like to keep the reps high until then to get as much mass in the next few weeks as I can.

I've always wanted to try the 20 rep squat thing and so today was a good day to do so... The first set was rough, and I probably should've used 215 or even 225 instead of 205 but I was pretty close in my guess of how much to use. The second set I was breathing like I was drowning by the 11th rep and had told myself i was going to get 15... then, shaky legs, tight back, numb arms and everything, i decided to go ahead and try for 20... which i got but was definitely rough.

They felt good, but I've been getting alot more LEG stimulation from the Bulgarian Split Squats (which is the exercise that has officially replaced the Deadlift on the one I had to do the most lol), which totally kill my legs everytime. However, the 20 rep squats hit them good and hard and especially hit the mid/lower back (even with a belt), so as much I wanted to do Romanian Deadlifts, I opted for shrugs and DB lunges instead. I left knewing i was forgetting to do something and remembered it was abs when i got back... that is two leg days in a row i have forgotten to do them :( overall, not a bad workout.

Also, weighed 178 today! Changed up my diet the last 2 weeks and it seems to be working.

muscle_g

02-13-2010, 05:40 AM

How do you like Westside training? Are you doing both the ME and DE days or are you switching the DE days for RE?

FB4ME

02-13-2010, 06:07 AM

Im likin it, it's hard to get bored or get used to your workouts when they are constantly changing.

On Upperbody days I have been doing ME and RE, and for Lower Body days I have been doing ME and DE, but this last workout I substituted DE for a RE.

FB4ME

02-13-2010, 07:57 AM

Repetition Upper Body

Flat DB Bench (3 x max)
20 x 70's
12 x 70's (to failure, last rep was a 10 second negative)
10 x 50's

Pull-Ups
5 x BW
5 x BW
5 x BW
5 x BW
5 x BW

DB Standing Military Press
8 x 45's
8 x 45's
8 x 45's

DB One Armed Bent-Over Rows (reps are per side)
10 x 60's
10 x 60's
10 x 60's

----- supersetted with -----

Weighted Dips (between benches, 45 lb plate on lap)
15 x 45
12 x 45
12 x 45

Forearm BB Holds
60 sec x 135
45 sec x 135
30 sec x 135

BB Curl
7 x 45 (just bar)

Standing Pulley Sit-Ups
12 x 72
---45 sec rest---
8 x 72

Awesome workout!

DominationStation

02-13-2010, 08:03 AM

sh*t man, cash-money workout! keep it up!

FB4ME

02-13-2010, 10:25 AM

sh*t man, cash-money workout! keep it up!

ha, thanks m8

FB4ME

02-15-2010, 05:39 AM

ME Lower Body

Box Squats
12 x 45
6 x 135
4 x 225
3 x 245
2 x 275
6 x 295 <<<<<<<<<<<<<< ------------------------------- P.R.

BB Step ups (reps are per leg)
12 x 95
10 x 95

DB Romanian Deadlifts
10 x 60's
10 x 60's
10 x 60's

Standing Pulley Sit Ups
12 x 72
10 x 72

Felt really strong today. Box Squats I probably should've done 315 cause i had one possibly two left at 295. Was very pleased with todays workout.

DocHollidy

02-15-2010, 10:37 AM

good work bro

moose45

02-15-2010, 05:02 PM

Nice PR with the box squats! Also, I love BB romanians...how do they compare to DB romanians?

FB4ME

02-15-2010, 07:46 PM

Nice PR with the box squats! Also, I love BB romanians...how do they compare to DB romanians?

Well originally I only did DB Romanians instead of BB's if the gym was so full that the BB's were all taken lol. However, once I started doing DB Romanians I am liking them better. You get alot more range of motion (atleast i do) when using DB's as opposed to BB.

JDM-93_Z28

02-15-2010, 08:17 PM

Lookin good, nice PR!

How high is the box you're using?

FB4ME

02-16-2010, 06:22 AM

Lookin good, nice PR!

How high is the box you're using?

The box is about 2-3 inches below my knee cap. So when I sit on it I am almost exactly at parallel maybe a little lower.

TheHitStick

02-16-2010, 06:47 AM

Um no its not from lack of time, just following the WS4SB3 workout. The 2nd exercise on the 2nd superset of rep upper body day is basically a "vanity lift"... of the like 8 or 10 exercises joe lists only one is not some kind of bicep curl. From reading through his website he basically throws in curls at the end sometimes because "everyone likes leaving the gym with pumped biceps" haha. But... I hate doin curls so I usually do triceps instead. As for WHY it is a superset I have no idea, you are probably right in assuming that it mainly has to do with time restraints and not having to be in the gym more than an hour.

Same here =D

Good workouts in here, I'll be dropping by =P

FB4ME

02-16-2010, 08:52 AM

ME UPPERBODY

BB Bench Press
15 x BW (Incline Pushups)
8 x 115
5 x 135
5 x 185
2 x 225
4 x 245
==60 sec rest==
5 x 225 (performed them as singles rest-pause style. Did a rep, racked it, took 5 deep breaths and then did another rep)

DB Incline Press
8 x 85's
6 x 85's
6 x 85's

Pull Ups
5 x BW
5 x BW
5 x BW
5 x BW
4 x BW (to failure)

Single Arm Bent-Over DB Rows (reps are per side)
8 x 60's
8 x 60's
----- supersetted with -----
Bent Over Lat Raises
8 x 10's
8 x 10's

V-Bar Tricep Pushdowns
8 x 65
8 x 72
6 x 80, 3 x 72, 3 x 50, 6 x 35 (performed as drop sets after going to failure with 80)

The BB Bench felt very strong today, I did the 4x245 without a spotter so had one more in me if I would've had one... Plus I had really strict/controlled form today, which is really why I was so pumped as I was stopping the weight instead of letting it bounce a little like normal on ME days. Ill have to check I think that 4 at 245 is a PR. Doing heavy weights on the DB Incline again felt so good! Pressing movements felt VERY strong today.

As you can see I did a ME set followed 1 minute later by 5 decently heavy (for me) rest-pause singles. Plus did more of a 3x6 on Inclines as opposed to 2xmax reps... AND did some drop sets on my last set of pushdowns. I am making these few modifications to the ME day because I have felt (especially since the new year) that I havent been able to get much out of ME days, and my bench hasn't moved hardly at all since the new year.... but I am gaining most of my strength/mass in my legs which is what I really need anyway, so Im not complaining lol just trying to tweak the system with stuff that has worked well for me in the past, so we will see how things look on next ME Upper day. ;)

FB4ME

02-18-2010, 07:52 AM

DE Lower Body

Vertical Jumps
3 x BW
3 x BW
3 x BW
3 x BW
3 x BW
3 x BW

BB Reverse Lunges (Dynamic / reps are per leg)
6 x 115
6 x 115

BB Box Squat (Dynamic)
5 x 135
5 x 135

Speed/Form Step-Ups (knee to chest / reps are per leg)
6 x BW
6 x BW
5 x BW

BB Form Bench Press (playing with form and getting "set" / not really a part of the workout... think of it as my active recovery part ;) )
3 x 135
3 x 135
3 x 135
3 x 135

Squat Jumps (hands on head / sitting in bottom position for 2 seconds before jumping)
5 x BW
5 x BW

Bouncing Ankle Hops (as fast as possible without bending knees)
1 x 15-20 seconds (until it started to burn)
1 x 12-15 seconds ( " )

I think I have been doing my DE days wrong. I usually do the first lift/jump DE style and then the rest are normal high rep'd out. Which is great in that I have made excellent gains in my leg mass the past 2 months, and my knees are noticibly more filled out (tendons/connective tissue and such) My hams and glutes have gotten the bulk of the mass too. But it is about time for gaining mass to take a back seat and begin working on more ME/DE; low rep and higher weight type stuff. I got to lookin at the WS4SB1 and it looks like what I am after as most of the aux lifts are in the 6-8 rep range instead of 10-15.

DominationStation

02-18-2010, 03:43 PM

damn man, this looks like a flexibility/cardio workout! glad you seem to like it tho lol

FB4ME

02-19-2010, 05:54 AM

damn man, this looks like a flexibility/cardio workout! glad you seem to like it tho lol

lol actually i didnt do any stretching, just made sure my muscles were warmed up good before starting. And it was far froma cardio workout, notice the reps are very low, and breaks between sets were 1-2 minutes. Although I will agree with you in that I knid of ran with the plyo stuff haha. It just felt so good to do them again I kept saying "... well, just one more thing real quick." bad habit to get into, oh well though ;)

FB4ME

02-19-2010, 07:40 AM

RE Upper Body

DB Bench Press (3 x Max)
20 x 70's
14 x 70's
13 x 60's

Pull Ups
5 x BW
5 x BW
5 x BW
5 x BW

Seated DB Military Press
8 x 50's
8 x 50's
8 x 50's
7 x 50's (failed on 8th rep)

EZ Bar Upright Rows
8 x 65
8 x 65

----- supersetted with -----

DB Pendlay Rows
8 x 60's
8 x 60's

Weighted Dips (between benches)
15 x 45 lb plate
15 x 45 lb plate

Parallel Bar Dips
15 x BW

DB Wrist Curls
12 x 20

Pull Up Bar Body hangs
30 second hold
30 second hold

Another excellent workout! And to top it off... weighed in at 179 after the workout... Fat or water, who cares my skinny ass will take it! lol. One more lb to get that elusive 180 ;)

moose45

02-19-2010, 12:19 PM

Hey man nice work with the weight gain! What weight you shooting for?

FB4ME

02-19-2010, 07:45 PM

Hey man nice work with the weight gain! What weight you shooting for?

185 is my goal weight (which I overshot what i thought was realistic to keep pushing myself), its kinda crazy that I have gained 29 lbs since June-July. But starting in March I'm adding sprints/plyos/fieldwork so realistically the goal will be to keep as much of my weight gains as I can yet still get my 40 back down to low 4.4's hopefully even back to my PR of 4.38.

TheHitStick

02-20-2010, 04:11 AM

Holy crap that's fast lol...

I'm hoping for a 4.8-4.9 at least haha

FB4ME

02-20-2010, 05:14 AM

Holy crap that's fast lol...

I'm hoping for a 4.8-4.9 at least haha

Well I'm quite a bit stronger than I was when I was running those times before, so hopefully the downside of the added weight will be evened out by the gains in strength; and my speed and quickness will stay relatively the same... either way I am not takin any chances of losin my speed as thats my Ace card lol, hence why I am starting to incorporate speed and fieldwork/agility stuff so far out ;)

FB4ME

02-21-2010, 12:53 AM

ME Lower Body

BB Free Squats
10 x BW
12 x 45 (just bar)
5 x 135
3 x 225
2 x 275
1 x 315
4 x 335 <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< ------------------------------ P.R.

DB Bulgarian Split Squats (reps are per leg)
8 x 30's
8 x 30's
8 x 30's

BB Romanian Dead Lifts
12 x 135
10 x 155
10 x 155

BB Shrugs
12 x 155
8 x 185
7 x 185 (grip gave out before 8 lol)

Pulley Standing Sit-Ups
10 x 72
10 x 72

Plate Side Bends (reps are per side)
12 x 45
12 x 45

Happy about the P.R. on Squats, however I will not be going higher than 335 until I can do 6 or more with 335 on ME days. Also going to have to start doing some more lower back strengthening exercises, as my legs are easily much stronger than the weight Im moving, but my back (even with a belt) is hindering me at this point. ... Damn 32 inch waist :( lol.

FB4ME

02-22-2010, 07:50 AM

ME Upper Body

BB Bench Press
12 x BW (Incline pushups)
5 x 135
3 x 185
2 x 225
6 x 245 <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< --------------------------- P.R. (no spot)

DB Incline Press (wrist wraps)
6 x 90's
6 x 90's <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<------------------------------P.R.
6 x 90's <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<------------------------------P.R.

Lat Pulldowns
12 x 120 (wide grip / behind neck)
12 x 120 (wide grip / front)
8 x 120 (V-Handle / front)

V-Bar Tricep Pushdowns
12 x 72
10 x 85
15 x 92 (whole stack ;) )

Standing BB Curls
12 x 45 (bar)
10 x 45

You know those days where you just cant be stopped ? ... today was definitely one of them. Note I didnt do much back today, the reason is because my back is the most sore its been in about a month after yesterdays leg workout. Im guessing its from a combination of the heavier squats and I did my side bends different (arm position changed). So I decided to not push them much more as every muscle in my back except my lats were shot.

I haven't been able to do 90's on incline in years... and never been able to do them drug free, so to be able to do them heavy again like today was a really good feeling. I was able to keep really good form on them, and still was able to crank them out fairly easily. As always my grip was the limiting factor and I knew my forearms would give out if I had went for a 4th set (as was planned), so I nexed it and moved on.

Best workout Ive had yet, motivation cant get any higher :)

moose45

02-22-2010, 03:56 PM

Sounds like you had a great workout. NICE PR! Keep it up.

JDM-93_Z28

02-22-2010, 04:29 PM

Damn nice workout FB! I love those days, you don't even want to leave the gym....

Keep it up bud!

FB4ME

02-24-2010, 08:06 AM

DE Lower Body

Box Jumps (box touches bottom of my butt standing up / still too short)
3 x BW
3 x BW (with leg tuck before landing on box)
3 x BW (with leg tuck before landing on box)

Box Squats (50-60% max)
3 x 135 (non working set)
3 x 205
6 x 205

Depth Jumps into leg tuck (same height box as before)
3 x BW
3 x BW

Speed Step-Ups (same box / reps are per leg)
9 x BW

Depth Jumps (same box / landing in a tight squat position)
3 x BW
3 x BW

BB Squat (RE style)
20 x 225 <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<------------------------- P.R.

DB Reverse Lunges (reps are per leg / normal tempo down, exploding up as fast as possible)
6 x 30's
6 x 45's

Thick bar BB Shrugs
10 x 185
10 x 185
12 x 185
13 x 135

Pull Up Bar Body Hangs
1 x failure
1 x failure

25 lb plate pinches
1 x failure
1 x failure

It looks like alot but the whole workout took less than 50 minutes and alot of the jumps was trying to find something that was getting me a workout, but unfortunately that box was was too short (which surprised me first of all) for me to get anything out of it without using high reps. The depth jumps worked extremely well though! Especially the regular ones where I was landing and trying to stay in my squat position as much as possible. I could definitely feel it working the muscles, so as far as the box went, the depth jumps were the primary working sets.

The 20 rep squat at 225 was rough and I was doing single reps by rep 10 lol, however I caught my 2nd wind around the 17th rep and after 20 I know I could've done 3-4 more but my back was already feeling it really good (as well as my legs) so I went ahead and stopped at 20.

Another excellent workout! As you can see, still playing with the 20 rep squat and switching up the DE lower body day. Been experimenting the last few workouts on the DE day and ALL of my lifts have gone up so I am going to keep riding this wave as long as I can ;)

JDM-93_Z28

02-24-2010, 09:45 AM

Great workout....20 rep squats are insane!

That is an awful high box for depth jumps, doesn't that hurt your knees?

FB4ME

02-24-2010, 11:27 AM

Great workout....20 rep squats are insane!

That is an awful high box for depth jumps, doesn't that hurt your knees?

at the time no.

... a few hours later my right knee is naggin me a lil bit. Ill know better next time lol

JDM-93_Z28

02-24-2010, 01:57 PM

at the time no.

... a few hours later my right knee is naggin me a lil bit. Ill know better next time lol

lol yea, I like to go balls to the wall on box jumps but depth jumps put a lot of pressure on the knees. I like to keep the box smaller bc all you're looking for is the quick stretch reflex, and you don't need a big box for that.

FB4ME

02-25-2010, 11:44 AM

RE Upper Body

DB Flat Bench Press
15 x 60's
15 x 60's
13 x 60's
10 x 60's

Pull Ups
6 x BW (nuetral grip)
5 x BW (wide grip)
5 x BW (close/palms facing eachother)

Seated DB Military Press
8 x 50's
8 x 50's
8 x 50's
7 x 50's

BB Pendlay Rows
8 x 135
8 x 135
6 x 135

Parallel Bar Dips
20 x BW
*45 second rest*
20 x BW

Hammer Curls
12 x 30's
10 x 30's

muscle_g

02-25-2010, 07:10 PM

Looking strong bro!!

FB4ME

02-25-2010, 08:11 PM

So on a completely random note...

I had pulled a muscle in my back around october in between my spine and shoulder blades while doing arnold presses... every muscle in my back and neck was like a brick for about 10 days... after much massage and foam rolling I finally got back where I could start workin out again and stuff. Shortly after I had gotten back into it I started having this "nerve pain" in a certain range of motion of my neck. The pain could be felt only at one point and massaging/popping the neck has done nothing...

So last night I massaged the muscle that I had pulled in October because I could feel a noticable difference (extremely tight, at first i thought it was a part of my shoulder blade), when I did the pain in my neck went away... cannot express how happy I am about this haha. Crazy to me that something so simple and obvious could've caused so much trouble for so long. I guess the fact that it was causing the pain in my "neck" is what was throwing me off. Anyway, Can't wait to finally get back from this deployment and go to the chiro and get a few massages ;)

moose45

02-25-2010, 08:13 PM

Rhomboid??? I have this problem.

FB4ME

02-26-2010, 05:12 AM

Rhomboid??? I have this problem.

yep, that be the one.

FB4ME

02-27-2010, 08:18 AM

Lower Body

BB Squat
15 x BW
10 x 45 (bar)
6 x 135
3 x 185
3 x 225
2 x 275
5 x 315
4 x 315
11 x 225

DB Reverse Lunges (reps are per leg)
6 x 45's
6 x 45's
6 x 45's

BB Shrugs
10 x 185
8 x 185

Pulley Pull Throughs
12 x 80
12 x 80
12 x 80

I came off of the ME/DE for today (and for the next few weeks), I will probably do more of a 3x5 or 4x6 setup as my workouts will be sporadic as my schedule gets messed up.

HAHA, I FINALLY hit 180 lbs today! Which is perfect because I will be re-deploying back to the states in the next few days and I really wanted to hit that mark before leaving Iraq. So yeah, this is probably the last workout that I will be posting for the next couple weeks until I get all settled back in at home and get done boozin it up ;) I'll be back though, holla and stay motivated!

JDM-93_Z28

02-27-2010, 10:00 AM

moose45

02-27-2010, 11:37 AM

yep, that be the one.

How did you go about massaging it?

FB4ME

02-27-2010, 12:19 PM

Nice squats man, and congrats on hittin 180!

You ever see "The Hurt Locker"? I saw it last night, its pretty intense. Its about a bomb squad over in Iraq...kind of reminded me of a few of my friends over there.

Stay safe.

Thanks, and no I haven't seen it yet. I've heard its pretty good though.

How did you go about massaging it?

Um... I laid in bed and rolled over on my opposite arm to keep my arm in the position i needed to reach across and back to the muscle lol. And I just "massaged" it enough to release the tension. Just did slow small circles (really the only thing you CAN do yourself because reaching it is hard enough), took a good bit of pressure to get the muscles to relax and have to keep massaging it 3 or 4 times a day as every once in a while they will try to tighten back up. And after realeasing that tension it is STILL EXTREMELY sore, but there is virtually no pain in the neck anymore so, its all gravy!

Also, once its massaged a little a good way to stretch them is to get in a regular standing hamstring stretch postion and grab the back of your knee from the inside, so that the backs of your hands are facing eachother, and then bend your upper back (think hunchback) and try to pull your body up and lean one way or the other while hold onto the back of your knees... kinda hard to explain it over the internet but if you play around with the basics of what i am talking about you will figure it out. I use to do this stretch alot, havent done it in a long time... might be a contributor to the recent problem ;)

FB4ME

02-28-2010, 09:46 AM

Upper Body

BB Bench Press
15 x Incline Pushups
8 x 135
5 x 185
5 x 225
5 x 225
5 x 225

DB Incline Press
10 x 80's
8 x 80's

Pull Ups
5 x BW
5 x BW
5 x BW

BB Pendlay Rows
8 x 115
8 x 115

BB Wide Grip Bench
20 x 135

V-Handle Tricep Pushdowns
8 x 95
8 x 95

DB Iso Lateral Raises (reps are per side)
12 x 10's

DB Iso Bent Over Rows (reps are per side)
8 x 70's
8 x 70's

Dips
20 x BW

got one more in before leavin ;)

moose45

03-01-2010, 06:35 PM

Bench is looking good, and nice work with the dips. Nice work.

FB4ME

04-09-2010, 02:56 PM

So, Im back...sort of.

I got back to the states and everything and am finally getting settled in. I have been able to hit the gym very sporadically for the past few weeks; unfortunately because of the complete change of schedule/time zone/diet/living situations etc I have only been able to stay on a maintenance type program when I do get to go to the gym. I quit taking creatine and came off of my diet, because of that I've dropped alot of belly/bulking fat and water weight and am sitting at what seems to be my new base weight of around 174-175. Which means I have gained about 20 pounds of mostly muscle since May of 2009.

I'm starting a new program next week that will concentrate less on weights and will begin to incorporate plyometrics, sprints, fieldwork, and agility exercises. I will be getting back in here and posting the workouts again.