Brandon's Adventure

[skrak]

First week of logging in a online journal, though I've logged the first 4 weeks of my adventure on old school paper
using Jasondb's 5x5 with some small subs until I move and have access to a real gym.

When I first started this I had visions of 6 pack abs and bulging biceps, 4 weeks in my goals are starting to change a bit as I find I'm not as concerned with the scale. I'm more motivated by how I feel and how much weight I can or can not lift.

So while my goals for now are still to drop to 235 and see where I stand BF% at that point, I'm strongly considering changing the diet to a bulking diet to add some much needed strength.

I wont change the goals just or diet just yet, just something in the back of my mind once I hit 235 which should be sometime in May or June.


week 4 day 1 workout b

Squats 5X10 115# - no rack, going light to work on form and mostly because I can't safely jerk more then 115 over my head and rest it on my back.

standing OHP 1x8 - 85# -think the 115 might be a bit heavy, felt my back arching on the 4 and 5 reps trying to stay under the weight. but 105 was stupid easy. go to 110 for next session
1x8- 95
1x8 - 105
1x5 - 115
1x5 - 115

DB row- 5x5 80# dumbbells - felt good, squeezed the back at the tops
CGBP BB - 5x5 160# -- did the press easy enough, its the lift off that I have trouble with, might ask wife to spot/lift off to save my shoulders.

BB curl 3x10 75 - pushed to 10 this week , going to increase next time to 80 and back to 8 reps

overall felt like a grade b workout, legs dont feel anything I need to get moved and to the gym for real squats -March 10th wont get here fast enough for this.

[skrak]

week 4 day 2 - rest day

lower back is really tight and keeps pinging. not sure what I did , last night training session was fine, maybe I slept on it wrong. Glad its a rest day, not even going to do cardio today.

[skrak]

week 4 day 3- workout A

squats
5x10 - 125# easy peasy, 1 more week till I get to the real gym and can add weight safely
deadlifts
1x10 - 125
1x8 - 155
1x5 - 185 felt good, lower back feeling much better might be able to add more to these soon
Flat BB bench
1x5 -175'
4x5 - 180 - need to get over the mental block here, I KNOW I can do more, but completely fall apart without a spotter, even if they don't do anything but stand there.
one arm DB rows
4X6 80# db
1X7 80# db- try 85's next session
skull crushers
3x8 - 90 up 5# from last week, felt awesome!

overall good workout, felt pumped and strong. Cant wait to get to a gym with a squat rack

[skrak]

week 4 day 4 - rest day

Swimming with kiddos in the morning

Sushi dinner with wife and NO kids tonight!!

[skrak]

week 4 day 5 workout B

Squats
5x10 - 135#
SOHP-
5X6 - 110#
DB rows
5x5 - 85#
CGBP
5x5 - 165 - had wife help with lifting bar off the stand, much better for my shoulders. The actual lift felt easy tonight for some reason.
BB curl
1x8 - 80#
1x8 - 80#
1x7 - 80# died at 6, had to beg to get 7 out of my arms.

Overall good night lifting. Hard to get the squat weight on my back, kinda tweaked my shoulder throwing the bar up over my head. 1 more week till the move and then find a gym.

Side note, my achy knee has been gone since I started the deeper squats.... and my lower back is getting better and better. Love it.

[skrak]

week 4 day 6 - rest day

Finding it so hard to resist training today.

Seeing guys like Dave Wiggans huge over 50 bench record at 735# is so motivational. Every time I see some of these guys compete I want to go out and work harder.

So hard being a beginner and lifting small weights, i know its paying my dues and stuff. So hard to want it that bad and have to hold back, I don't want to hurt myself.

Maybe I can sneak in a small deadlift session just to tide me over till tomorrow ???

[skrak]

so I couldn't resist, I was just to pumped up to lift today even though it was a rest day.

I went and watched the So You Think You Can Bench series on YouTube and then did some bench to work on form and see if I could incorporate what I learned from the vids

1x10- 65#
1x10- 85#
1x10-105#
1x10-115#
1x10-115#
1x10-135#
1x5 - 155#
1x5 - 165#
1x5 - 175#
1x5 - 185#
1x3 - 190#
1x3 - 195#
1x2 - 200#*** PR for me. Never had 200 on the bar for BP ever for any reps. Not sure if it was from the warm ups, the improved form, or just telling myself "hell ya I can do this" over and over tonight.

[tryintorebuild]

Looks like you're progressing. Just be careful. I know that urge to keep on and catch up with the "big boys", but remember slow and steady wins the race. Injuries from not taking the proper time off can set you back big.

Aside from that. Congratulations on hitting the 200# mark.

[-=FLEX=-]

Welcome to the journals.

[drudixon]

Grats on 200. Keep it going.

[skrak]

week 4 day 7 workout A

First things first: rest day means rest day, don't **** with it again. Tonight was the worst energy workout I've had to date, was tired, my shoulder started aching, and I felt like a little bitch.

lesson learned.

squats
1x10 115#
1x10 135#
1X10 145#

deadlifts
1x10 145
1x8 165
1x5 195
1x5 205

db rows
5x5 85#

bb shrugs
1x8 205--- L shoulder was not happy, dropped weight, and went to 10 reps
1x10 165
1x10 165

skulls
1x8 90
1x8 90
1x6 90--- arms died. sad lift

grade the session at a D. enough said.

[skrak]

week 5 day 1- rest day

Going to actually rest this time. Taking kids swimming tonight where I will sit in the hot tub for a hour.

Did some research on gyms in Colorado for my move next week, not real excited. the 24 hr fitness doesn't have good reviews, and I've been told its very crowded.
The 2 others I looked at online give no information as to what kind of free weight setups they have , just pictures of treadmill farms.
One I sent a email to hasn't responded and its been 24hrs...odd. Hopefully I have better luck in person trying to get info and a free day pass to check them out.

[skrak]

week 5 day 2 - workout B

late night training, was out with wife and kids much later then normal , and fell off the diet wagon and ate a PB parfait. Oh well its been 5 weeks I can afford one ice cream

squats
1x10 -115# --- left shoulder very tender tonight, pushing through it with more reps lighter weight on everything, just to at least do something.
1x15 -115#
1X15 -115#
1X15 -115#
1X15 -115#

SOHP
2x8 - 105
3x6 - 105

1h db rows
5x10 - 70# db

cgbp

1x10 - 145
1x8 - 145
1x5 - 145 --- shoulder gone, had to stop 2 sets short. time for ice and aleeve.

bb curls

3x10 - 65#

overall effort was there, but shoulder killed the session. Going to ice it tonight, and give 3-4 days off. perfect timing I guess as I leave Sunday for Denver, so won't be training those 2 days in the car anyway. Then will take a few days to get set up and find a gym once I am there.

Plan to rest up and hit it hard by next Tuesday.

[skrak]

2 rest days in a row..wow feeling rejuvenated! cant wait to get back at it.

Car drive to Colorado tomorrow morning, 2 more days in the car. Tuesday will be back in the gym.

[skrak]

got my gym membership today, 24 hr fitness in Ft Collins

did small warmup, full session tomorrow

squats
5x5 185
incline bb bench
3x5 135

messed around with some lat pulldown and row machines

have a 7pm appointment with a trainer tomorrow, first time ever, well see how it goes

[skrak]

had my first trainer session today

not sure I liked it, told him my plans and goals, and diet. and he ended up making me do un weighted pretzel lunges and a bunch of isolation exercises.

didnt even get a real workout in, mostly just talked and made me do core strength things.

guess I dont understand how " lifting heavy and 5x5 " translated into abs work and iso's


edit : he did do a bf test with calipers, 21% so my mirror + picture chart is just about as accurate.