Killswitch's Journal - How Original

[KillswitchNgage]

I just woke up so I am too tired to be creative on a title :-)

Some info on my split here goes:

Day One - Shoulders & Tris
Day Two - Back (Hamstrings)
Day Three - Chest & Bis
Day Four - Legs

The reason I put the hamstrings on day two in parenthesese is that the man who I work out with is preparing for a competition and he decided to split his legs up into two different days, I'm not doing that as I have no need for it at this point. Calves and abs are trained at the beginning on whatever days we feel like it. Here is my log from yesterday:

Seated Pulley Row
70 x 10
100 x 8
130 x 8
140 x 6
140 x 6
Drop Set - 140 x 6/100 x 7

Pulldown
100 x 10
120 x 6
120 x 6

Shrugs
135 x 12
225 x 10
275 x 8

Cardio for 25 minutes on the treadmill. Light walk at 3.0 mph at a 3.0 grade. I went 1.4 miles and burned 150 calories.

My cardio is usually pretty light. Either on a treadmill or elliptical trainer. I do that either on days that we don't lift or days after we lifted and I don't have to go to work.

My diet isn't bad, but it's not amazingly good either. I'm usually good at eating cleaner, but I do have my moments when I give in to the temptation. I don't keep a log of it, but I am good at getting 5-6 meals a day. That's about it for now, see you today after chest.

[KillswitchNgage]

I figure I might as well post the music I listen to on here as this is my workout log and the music is definitely a huge part of it. I've got 5 mini discs full of tunes so I always switch them up, the only thing that stays the same is that it is always metal and hardcore. Hmm, there's Killswitch Engage, Dimmu Borgir, Buried Alive, Hatebreed, From Autumn to Ashes, Iced Earth, In Flames, Soilwork, Fear Factory, Atreyu, As I Lay Dying, Avenged Sevenfold, Amorphis, Cradle of Filth, Slayer, Bleeding Through, Chimaira, Remembering Never, and many many more. That's the basic gist of what I listen to when I lift.

If anybody needs an awesome pump up/rock out/psych out song, "94 Hours" by As I Lay Dying is it. I listen to that song every time I need to psych out for a huge lift (i.e.-big deads, bench, squat).

Rock on.

[KillswitchNgage]

Ahh yes, the blessed chest and bi day. We decided to start off with incline first, to try and get something different. I needed it too, my incline isn't on par with my flat bench (I had been repping 210 the last couple of times).

Incline Bench
Bar x 10
135 x 8
155 x 6
165 x 6
175 x 5
185 x 2 + 1 rep w/spot

Flat Bench*
135 x 8
165 x 6
165 x 5
165 x 6
165 x 6

*On flat bench I did competition pauses. So basically I was repping the weight, except it was like a powerlifting meet where I had to wait for the ref to tell me to press the weight.

I don't know what happened on that 3rd set into the 4th set. I somehow was able to push out another rep on the next set, don't ask me how that happened. On the 3rd set the 5th rep was tough by the way.

With some nice sets put in on chest, it's off to the biceps.

Standing D-Bell Curl
20 x 10
30 x 8
40 x 6

Reverse Incline Curl
20 x 8
25 x 8
25 x 6

Rotator Cuff - Side Extensions on Cable Machine
10 x 10
20 x 10

After that I busted out some cardio on the elliptical trainer. 40 minutes, 377 calories and 3.15 miles.

I am going to enter a powerlifting meet on August 6th. I am currently trying to drop down to 160 and still retain my strength so I can have that much margin to gain weight towards the meet. I weighed 165 at the gym, which is up from the past couple of days, but I have eaten like crap so I am going to fix that. Sunday is legs. See you all then.

[No Sents]

Hey, this looks to be a good journal. I also like the way you write... Similar to a radio/TV show. LoLz!

Keep up the good work.

[Heisman]

Why didn't you do deadlifts on back day?

Good luck with the meet! You bench with an arch, right?

[KillswitchNgage]

I usually don't deadlift on back day, I do it with legs. I like it that way, plus I'm usually always sore after deadlifting so if I did them on separate days then my squat form would be messed up due to my lower back being sore.

I do bench with an arch. I have a set pattern with how I setup on bench. First I sit down and then I stretch my arms our and squeeze my shoulder blades together then I do a couple of "air reps" before I lay down. When I get down I pick my feet up and drop them flat on the ground. I'm usually pretty tight when I bench so my arch is pretty good.

[Heisman]

I am by no means an expert on arching, but reading this article couldn't hurt.

http://www.metalmilitia.net/articles/burns/CompetitionBenching.htm

[KillswitchNgage]

Today was my leg day, always fun stuff. Since I am 16 weeks out from the competition I decided to start doing prep work for it, i.e.-squats to build power in my legs to help with DL, work my hamstrings to get rid of them as a weak link, etc. Here's the workout:

Squats
Bar x 10
135 x 8
185 x 6
225 x 6
255 x x6

Deadlifts
225 x 6
255 x 6
315 x 6

Seated Hamstring Curl
165 x 10
195 x 8
195 x 6
210 x 6

Prone Hamstring Curl
100 x 6
100 x 6
100 x 6

Hyperextensions
25 x 12
25 x 10
25 x 8

After every set of squats I did my "hip activation exercises". These are just to help me and my problem with my hip, thankfully today I didn't have any problems with it hurting. We decided that 255 was going to be my baseline for squats, every week I'm going to try and top that by 5lbs. My hamstrings are a slight problem for me and deads. The problem is at they are not as strong as my quads, in fact, my posterior chain is not as good as my front. I have a great chest, but my lats are not big, my quads are strong, but my hamstrings aren't. I had been doing lots and lots of triples and extremely heavy deads for the past couple of months, so until we are about 8 weeks or so out from the comp, then we are going to start having me concentrate on pulling the max stuff. I needed to switch it up to get more growth in me.

I'm also going to be going out and buying some supps pretty soon. I'm probably going to pick up V12 as well as Muscle Milk or another good protein.

That's about it for now, tomorrow is shoulders and tris.

[KillswitchNgage]

Shoulders and Tris today. We've been starting off with Military Barbell press for a while so we decided to switch it up. We started off with a superset of the Machine Shoulder Presses and the machine lateral raises.

Machine Shoulder Press/Machine Lateral Raise
50 x 10
90 x 8
110 x 6/30 x 6
140 x 6/40 x 5
150 x 5/40 x 4
150 x 5/30 x 5

Bent Over Cable Laterals
20 x 10
20 x 8
20 x 8

For tris we had usually been doing dips followed by skull crushers for a while, so we switched that up as well.

Nautilus Tricep Extensions
40 x 10
60 x 8
70 x 8

Close-grip Bench
135 x 10
155 x 8
165 x 8
185 x 6
185 x 5

That was the main workout, but I always do the supplemental exercises on Shoulder and Tri day (rotator cuff and forearms).

Rotator Cuff D-Bell Extensions
10 x 10
10 x 10

Rotator Cuff Cable Side Extensions
10 x 10
10 x 10

Seated Forearm Barbell Curl
75 x 10
85 x 8
85 x 8

That's it for my workout today. It's always good to get something new in there. The close-grip bench press will definitely help me out on my bench at the comp, so I'll keep that in there for a while. I also want to go back to doing the dips and skull crushers in addition to the close grip. The dips will most definitely help me with the explosiveness I need on bench. That's it, tomorrow is cardio and Wednesday is back. Feel free to leave your questions, comments, and concerns. Peace.

[KillswitchNgage]

I didn't get the chance to post my Chest and Bi day because it was my birthday and I had some celebrating to do after I busted the crap out of a house that was donated to the Roselle FD. OK so here's my chest and bi day, for some reason, I felt weaker doing incline.

Incline Bench
135 x 8
135 x 8
155 x 6
165 x 6
175 x 5 (drop set to 135 x 4)

Flat Bench (competition pauses)
135 x 6
165 x 6
165 x 5
165 x 5

Reverse Incline Curl
20 x 10
25 x 8
30 x 6

Standing Dumbbell Curl
20 x 10
25 x 8
40 x 6

That was my chest and bi day, it wasn't bad. I just got off to a rocky start because somehow my mind was telling me that 135 was a lot of weight. Crazy? Yes maybe I am, haha. Now for today's leg day.

Squat
Bar x 10
135 x 8
185 x 6
225 x 6
245 x 6
260 x 6

One Legged Squats (On Smith Machine)
95 x 6
115 x 6
135 x 7

Prone Hamstring Curl
80 x 10
100 x 8
110 x 6

Reverse Hyperextensions (On Swiss Ball)
Body x 8
Body x 8
Body x 8

My squat went up 5 pounds which is good. My goal was to gain at least 5 pounds or a rep each week. The one legged squats were killer like always. I totally busted my ass on that last set. I took deads off for a workout so I could recover from doing them for the past 5 months.

That's it, no workout tomorrow, I will return on Tuesday with Back.

[KillswitchNgage]

I kept the back workout the same, nothing really changed, however I did go up in weight on the pulley rows.

Seated Pulley Rows
110 x 10
130 x 8
140 x 6
150 x 6
160 x 6
170 x 5 drop set to 120 x 5

Lat Pulldowns
120 x 6
130 x 6
140 x 6 drop set to 90 x 6

Shrugs
225 x 10
275 x 8
315 x 8

I had to work on that day (and today) so I had to keep it short, but sweet.

Chest and Bi day:

Incline Bench
Bar x 10
135 x 8
160 x 5
170 x 4
170 x 4

Flat Bench - Competition Pauses
135 x 8
165 x 6
175 x 5
175 x 5

Standing Dumbbell Curl
35 x 8
40 x 6
45 x 4 drop set to 35 x 3

OK, so now there is something going on with my right shoulder and arm in general when I bench. We noticed that my right arm is not in the same position as my left arm, it's completely different. This must've just started happening because we've never noticed it before. And right after Eric mentioned it to me, I absoulutely noticed it. I've always had a problem with my right shoulder where I couldn't reach back and touch my left shoulder blade with my right hand with my palm down, whereas I could do it easily with my left arm palm facing down. He has a friend who is a physical therapist in Colorado and she is coming up next week so he'll be able to get me some free "consultation" if you will. And now my right shoulder hurts, so I am just full of joy. We're hoping that it's just like my hip where we just need to improve some of the flexibility and so on. I'm just pissed this is all going on when I am going to be doing a competition in 4 months. Even though that is a ways away, I like to be ready a while ahead of time.

[Uninspired]

I like your music.

Are you going to the killswitch/ in flames tour?

[KillswitchNgage]

Originally posted by Uninspired
I like your music.

Are you going to the killswitch/ in flames tour?

Most likely yes. I would love to see Killswitch, In Flames, and As I Lay Dying live. I have heard 2 new Killswitch songs and they are pretty good, nothing like it would've been if Jesse was still the vocalist, but still good.

Leg day was today, good stuff. I only did 2 exercises because I had to leave early to hang out with this one girl, but they were good sets.

Squats:
Bar x 10
135 x 8
185 x 6
225 x 6
245 x 6
265 x 6*
*New personal best for me, it's been going up every week so I am extremely happy with that, can't wait to rep 3 plates.

Deadlifts:
225 x 6
275 x 6
315 x 6

The deads were done without a belt and without chalk. The 315 was tough at the end, I was exhausted from squats. The last rep was a bitch to get up, but I did it. Tomorrow is Shoulders and Tris, should be a good day, nice workout too since I don't have to go to work.

I finally bought some ON Chocolate Whey, 5lbs. I haven't bought protein in so long because I had to pay off so many bills and my job has been screwing me on hours, but my check yesterday was pretty big so I was able to splurge. Within the next couple of weeks I am going to go on V2, I'll let you all know how that goes.

[Heisman]

Nice job on the deadlifts!

Your shoulder will probably be fine. Just make sure you rest it.

[Uninspired]

Originally posted by KillswitchNgage
Most likely yes. I would love to see Killswitch, In Flames, and As I Lay Dying live. I have heard 2 new Killswitch songs and they are pretty good, nothing like it would've been if Jesse was still the vocalist, but still good.


O man i know what u mean, i don't like the new guy. I'm still more of an in flames fan. Is one of the new songs "when darkness falls" for the freddy vs jason album?

[KillswitchNgage]

When Darkness Falls is on the new CD and the Freddy vs. Jason soundtrack, good song.

[KillswitchNgage]

This was a good day, definitely got a good workout and tried a new (and very good) compound set for tris.

Dumbbell Military Press
25 x 10
30 x 8
50 x 6
60 x 6
65 x 6

I wanted to try 70s and then do a drop set to 30s, but when I go the 70s up to my shoulders and was about to get a boost up, my left arm started to rotate backwards so I had to drop the weight before I messed up my shoulder.

Machine Shrugs
3 plates x 10
4 plates x 12
4 plates x 12
4 plates x 12

Close Grip Bench/Skull Crushers
135 x 10/35 x 10
155 x 8/45 x 7
185 x 5/45 x 6

Barbell Wrist Curl
75 x 10
85 x 8
85 x 5

Rotator Cuff "Curl"
10 x 10
10 x 10
10 x 10

The close grip bench and skull crusher compound set was awesome. It was the first time we had ever done it and we definitely liked how it felt. Definitely something I'm going to keep on doing. Today is an off day, tomorrow is back.

[KillswitchNgage]

Today was back, busted out 9 good sets.

Pull-Ups
Body x 15*
Body x 11*
Body x 8**
*Wider grip
**Narrower grip

Seated Cable Pulley Rows
120 x 8
130 x 7
140 x 7 drop set to 100 x 6

Lat Pulldowns
100 x 10
100 x 10
100 x 10

That was definitely a sufficient workout for me. I wanted to feel it when I was doing the lat pulldowns so I decided to do a lighter weight and more reps than what I was originally doing. The pre-exhaustion with the pull-ups was good too, it's been a while since I've done those.

Tomorrow is supposed to be Chest and Bis, but we are going to see Iced Earth w/ Children of Bodom, should be an awesome show.

New Fear Factory and Machine Head CDs tomorrow. GO PICK THEM UP!!!!

[KillswitchNgage]

I know it's been a while since I've written in here, I haven't had much time to go online. I'm going to cover everything that I did in the days I was gone.

4-21-04
Cardio - Treadmill
Time - 35 minutes
Calories - 219.5
Distance - 2.04 miles
Incline - 3.5

4-22-04
Squats
Bar x 10
135 x 8
185 x 6
230 x 6
250 x 6
270 x 6

Deadlift
225 x 6
275 x 6
315 x 6

Seated Hamstring Curl
150 x 10
165 x 8
180 x 6
195 x 6
210 x 6

Prone Hamstring Curl
100 x 7
100 x 7
110 x 6

4-23-04
Dumbbell Military Press
20 x 10
30 x 8
50 x 4
60 x 4
70 x 4*

Bent Over Laterals
10 x 10
20 x 6
20 x 6

Dumbbell Shrug
60 x 15
70 x 12
80 x 12

Cable Rope Extensions
50 x 10
70 x 8
90 x 8
100 x 5

Cable Kickbacks
10 x 10
20 x 10
30 x 10

*On the Military Presses my goal was to be able to do the 70s for a set. Last time when I tried it my arm started to roll back so I didn't attempt them so I dropped the reps to keep myself fresh so I could have the strength to do it.

4-24-04
Cardio - Treadmill
Calories - 227.8
Time - 35 minutes
Distance - 2.04
Incline - 3.5

Today is chest and bis.

I picked up my ticket to In Flames, Killswitch Engage and As I Lay Dying yesterday, it is in 1 week, I can't wait!

[talldude84]

Have you ever thought of doing cuban rotations? I did them last workout and I thought they were excellent for my shoulders.

[KillswitchNgage]

Originally posted by talldude84
Have you ever thought of doing cuban rotations? I did them last workout and I thought they were excellent for my shoulders.

I've heard of them, although I haven't tried them out. When we switch up the exercises I'll give them a shot.

I was on my own today so I decided to go with straight dumbbells. I could've done more weight on the flat bench, but since I didn't have a spotter I couldn't risk it.

Flat Dumbbell Bench
30 x 10
40 x 8
55 x 7
65 x 6
75 x 6
75 x 6 drop set to 40 x 8

Incline Dumbbell Press
40 x 8
45 x 8
50 x 8

Reverse Incline Curl
20 x 10
25 x 8
30 x 6 drop set to 15 x 8

Incline Curl
15 x 7
15 x 7
15 x 7

My biceps had such a great pump after that. I felt like I could've done 80s or 85s on flat bench, but I decided to do a drop set instead since there was no spotter. Like Friday with tris I did an exercise for peak contraction and stretch. I definitely liked how it felt on tris and on bis.

Tomorrow is back.

[KillswitchNgage]

I've been off a couple days this past week due to illness. I had a severe cold and I didn't want to compromise my immune system so I took a chill. However before that happened, here was the back workout I did.

Pull-ups
Body x 12
Body x 11
Body x 9

Pulldowns
120 x 6
120 x 6
130 x 6
130 x 6 drop set to 90 x 6

Cable Pulley Row
100 x 10
110 x 10
120 x 10 drop set to 80 x 10

Then I got sick and here is the workout I did when I returned, I kept it light to try and recover my endurance and get my body back in the swing of things.

Flat Barbell Bench
Bar x 10
135 x 8
155 x 6
175 x 6
195 x 6

Cable Pulley Row
100 x 10
110 x 10
120 x 10

Standing Dumbbell Curl
20 x 10
20 x 10
30 x 7

My workout schedule for the week was kinda messed up so I figured it'd be better to bust out some light recovery sets of each muscle group that I missed so I'd get them back on track.

And finally here is today's light leg workout.

Leg Press
180 x 12
270 x 10
360 x 10
450 x 10

Seated Hamstring Curl
135 x 10
150 x 10
165 x 10
180 x 10

My goal today was the same with the Chest/Back/Bi workout, recover, and get my body back on track.

No workout tomorrow, I'm going to see In Flames, Killswitch Engage and As I Lay Dying and I can't wait!!!