Deadlifts, Complexes, and Presses! Oh My!! MtnJax's Workout Log

[MtnJax]

Alright, so this will be my first ever workout log here.

I am starting this log to coincide with G Nation Transformation thread located here: http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showth...hp?t=125713463. My goal in this transformation thread, is to finally achieve my short term goal of dropping 20 lbs. I have been lifting consistently over the past few years, but have not put the emphasis on cardio/conditioning like I know I should have and have gained much un-needed weight. After the transformation competition, I will plan on keeping this log up.

A little bit of background about myself. I started lifting weights when I was 15, so about 10 years now. I really got started in January of my sophomore year of high school. I went to the doctor for a physical for golf season that year and I weighed in at 244 lbs. Right then I knew I needed to do something. I took physical conditioning as a class that spring semester where we lifted weights on M W F and did conditioning on T TH. It was during this semester I got hooked and by the end of the semester i had lost 30 lbs. I didnt stop there and by the time fall of my Junior year came around i had gotten down to 185 lbs.

Over the past 10 years I have done probably every type of workout possible. I've done the standard 4 and 5 day bodybuilding type splits. I've tried full body workouts 3 times a week. I've even made what I would say is the mistake of trying many of the 5 and 6 day routines from Muscle & Fitness (can we say overtraining?). I have recently ditched those styles of training in favor of an Upper/Lower split and I am putting more focus on compound lifts than isolation lifts.

My current routine for the transformation (and hopefully after) is broken down as so:

M: Heavy Lower Body
Tu: Upper Body (Heavy Vertical, Rep Horizontal)
W: Off from Lifting, Cardio/Conditioning
Th: Dynamic Lower Body
F: Off from Lifting
Sat: Upper Body (Heavy Horizontal, Rep Vertical)
Sun: Off Completely (may throw in some light cardio)

Current Stats:
Height: 5'11"
Weight: 245 (as of 7/9/10)

Goal is to drop to 225 by end of 10 week transformation contest. Long term goal is to get down to 200.

I will be posting my daily workouts in here along with some youtube videos I may find of certain things I do and I also am looking into getting a Flip camera to record some of my lifts to include in here as well.

So sit back, relax, and enjoy the ride!

[iccyman001]

in.

[MtnJax]

in.

Glad to have you in, brah. Logging will commence in the morning.

I'm off to bed. Waking up at 5:30 and hitting some heavy deads in the morning!

[iccyman001]

Glad to have you in, brah. Logging will commence in the morning.

I'm off to bed. Waking up at 5:30 and hitting some heavy deads in the morning!

sleep well brah and have fun starting your day off with the second greatest thing in the world DEADS!!! First being sex and third being BJs

[UniversityMisc]

god this has to be the gayest fuucking thing ive ever seen on the internet in my entire fuucking life.


subbed/5*

[plaskowski2002]

whats up man and im in. im big_paul_ski from over at moar.

[MtnJax]

god this has to be the gayest fuucking thing ive ever seen on the internet in my entire fuucking life.


subbed/5*

U nade?

whats up man and im in. im big_paul_ski from over at moar.

Hey man, welcome. Glad to have ya.

I'm gonna try to remember to update my log over there as well. i'm still getting used to that site and checking it out on a frequent basis.

Alright, i'm off to the gym. Let's do this!

[MtnJax]

Heavy Lower Body

Deadlift

235 x 5
260 x 5
285 x 5
310 x 5

Bulgarian Split Squat w/ front foot elevated on 4" platform*

45 x 8
45 x 8

*Weight is total amount of DB's used

Barbell Complex

80 x 8
80 x 8
80 x 8

Video of the Barbell Complex I do:


Overall, a good workout today. Had trouble on my last set of deadlifts because the plates at my gym are not the round kind. I love doing the barbell complex as it is good cardio. I struggle with my grip giving out on the hang clean part, but that should get better the more I do it and up the weight.

[iccyman001]

Nice workout brah, I hate those octogon bs plates too.

[UniversityMisc]

dude that barbell complex shiit is insane. gj

[MtnJax]

Nice workout brah, I hate those octogon bs plates too.

I hate them brah. they rolled back on me a couple of times during my last set which threw me off bad. scraped my shin to, but didn't realize it until i got in the shower and it stung like hell when the water hit it haha

dude that barbell complex shiit is insane. gj

I love it man. The first time I ever did it, I was real ambitious and started with 95 lbs thinking it would be easy...that changed quickly when i had to stop halfway through the first set of hang cleans and my grip was giving out. It's still a good feeling though doing them and feeling like you're gonna puke up a lung

I do a dumbbell complex as well on my other lower body day and i'll be posting the video for that one too. Theres a few others i've done that I may add in later on to switch things up.

[iccyman001]

I hate them brah. they rolled back on me a couple of times during my last set which threw me off bad. scraped my shin to, but didn't realize it until i got in the shower and it stung like hell when the water hit it haha

brah my theory is if my shins are not bleeding I did not have a good dead workout. srs

I cant tell you how many gyms I have been kicked out of for "bleeding on the bar"

[MtnJax]

Good Upper Body workout this morning.

I'll update this later when I get home after work and a Luau party tonight

Time to get ready for work

[MtnJax]

Very late update from Yesterday. Haven't been able to get to my laptop until now. Luau themed game night/surprise birthday party for a co-worker went longer than expected last night.

Tuesday July 13, 2010

Upper Body

Chin ups w/ Neutral Grip

BW x 3
BW x 3
BW x 3

*So yeah, I suck at these. I took this method from when I used the Built Like A Badass routine by Joe Defranco. Take your max number of reps and add 50-60% and spread that out over sets.*

DB Incline Bench

60 x 10
65 x 10
70 x 9

*Couldn't get that last rep. Almost derailed my workout because I was feeling frustrated about that for some reason.*

Hammer Strength Row

180 x 10
180 x 10
200 x 10

*For these, I only count the weight from the plates*

Standing Military Press

125 x 5
135 x 5
145 x 5
155 x 5

*Matched my PR on this lift*

Face Pulls

100 x 10
100 x 10
110 x 10
110 x 10

*This has become my favorite exercise for Rear Delts*

Overall, it was a good workout. On my Chin ups I felt like I could've gotten more reps. I will definitely will be trying for more next week.

Tomorrow is Dynamic Lower Body!

[MtnJax]

Dynamic Lower Body


Deadlifts

205 x 3
215 x 3
215 x 3
225 x 3
225 x 3
225 x 3
225 x 3
225 x 3
235 x 3
235 x 3

*Rest was 1 minute between sets*

Alternating Reverse BB Lunges from 4" Platform

55 x 10
55 x 10

*Again, gauging how many sets I am able to do after deadlifts. I'll probably stick with 2 sets for a couple of weeks and then up that to 3*

DB Complex

25 x 5
25 x 6
25 x 7
25 x 8
25 x 9
25 x 10

*I added in the set of 5 just today. I'll give that a go for maybe another week before removing it and upping the weight*

Video of the DB Complex



Overall, an awesome workout. Made me rage at the fact my gym has the weight room on the lower level and I had to walk back up the stairs to leave.

[iccyman001]

Nice workout again brah!!

[UniversityMisc]

gjdm

sad youre gonna put in all this work and still lose =]

[MtnJax]

Upper Body

One-Arm Dumbbell Row

70x8
75x8
80x8
85x8

*I normally do Barbell Rows, but I decided to switch it up this week and maybe for a few weeks to change things up.

Hang Clean/Push Press

85x8
90x8
90x8
95x8

*Still getting used to these. My grips starts to go on the hang cleans by the 3rd set, but I love doing them! Felt like an animal doing them today.

Hammer Strength Underhand Pulldowns

140x12
140x12
140x12
140x12

*Grip was fried from the hang cleans, so I didn't try to increase the weight on these

Bodyweight Dips

BWx10
BWx10
BWx8
BWx8

Rope Pressdowns

100x10
100x10
110x10

superset w/

Barbell Curls

70x10
70x10
70x10

Overall, I had a great workout today. I noticed big improvements on the Hang Clean/Push Press from last week. Shouldn't be much longer before my grip gets stronger and I can start upping the weight.

[iccyman001]

Looking good brah....

hows your form on the dips???

I noticed that the slower and mroe I focused on my dips the big difference it made in my strength and other lifts!!!

[MtnJax]

Looking good brah....

hows your form on the dips???

I noticed that the slower and mroe I focused on my dips the big difference it made in my strength and other lifts!!!

I don't go too deep because my chest wears out fast. I really try to explode up from the bottom. They did seem to help my incline bench when i was doing it

[MtnJax]

Ok. Got some catching up to do since I finally have internet again!


Lower Body

Deadlift

240 x 5
265 x 5
290 x 5
315 x 5

Bulgarian Split Squat w/ front foot on 4" platform

45 x 8
45 x 8
45 x 8

*Weight is the total of the 2 DB's I was holding.

Barbell Complex

85 x 8
85 x 8

*Not sure if it was the extra set of split squats or what, but my legs were giving out towards the end of the second set and I was feeling dead and decided to not push it any further.

[MtnJax]

Upper Body

Neutral Grip Chin-ups

BW x 4
BW x 4
BW x 3

*Got the extra rep on the first two sets! I was pumped.

Hammer Strength Incline Press

55 x 10
65 x 10
75 x 10

*Weight is the amount on each side. Decided to switch it up and do these instead of Incline DB Bench. May use this more in the future.

Hammer Strength Row

180 x 10
200 x 10
200 x 10

Standing Military Press

125 x 5
135 x 5
145 x 5
155 x 5

*Probably my least progressive exercise other than Chins. I'll probably be at these weights for a couple more week unless I change up the order to put these before my chest exercise.

Face Pulls

100 x 10
100 x 10
110 x 10
110 x 10

[MtnJax]

My original plan this morning was to do two different Tabatas. I was going to do a 4 minute Tabata round of jump rope and then rest and follow with a bodyweight tabata round...that definitely didn't happen. So here is what I did:

Jump Rope x 20 seconds
10 second rest
Jump Rope x 20 seconds
10 second rest
Speed Squat x 20 seconds
10 second rest
Squat Thrust x 20 seconds
10 second rest
Mountain Climbers x 20 seconds
10 second rest
Speed Skips x 20 seconds
10 second rest
Jump Rope x 20 seconds
10 second rest
Jump Rope x 20 seconds
Cry


My legs felt like they were going to explode out of my skin after I finished. I made it through the first 2 sets of jumping rope and decided to just combine the 2 at that time. I'll probably alternate the exercises next time so that i'm jumping rope one set and follow that with a bodyweight exercise.

For those unaware of what Tabatas are: A Tabata workout (also called a Tabata sequence) is an interval training cycle of 20 seconds of maximum intensity exercise, followed by 10 seconds of rest, repeated without pause 8 times for a total of four minutes.

Link related: http://ezinearticles.com/?Tabata-Any...Gain&id=348486

[MtnJax]

Lower Body

Deadlifts

205 x 3
215 x 3
215 x 3
225 x 3
225 x 3
225 x 3
225 x 3
235 x 3
235 x 3
235 x 3

Alternating Reverse DB Lunge

40 x 10
45 x 10

*Weight is total of DB's

Moved this workout to Friday since the power of sleep yesterday morning overcame me and I went to a minor league baseball game last night
I'm moving my DB complex to tomorrow's Upper Body day since I did not have the extra rest day of today to give my shoulders and bi's time recoup.

[iccyman001]

Keep up the good work brah!!!!

[MtnJax]

Keep up the good work brah!!!!

Thanks man

Gonna go give the Jump Rope tabata another shot tonight, although it'll probably be pure torture because it is ridiculously hot right now.

[MtnJax]

Upper Body

One-Arm DB Row

75 x 8
80 x 8
85 x 8
85 x 8

Hang Clean/Push Press

85 x 8
90 x 8
90 x 8
95 x 8

Hammer Strength Pulldown w/ Neutral Grip

140 x 12
140 x 12
140 x 12
140 x 12

Dips

BW x 12
BW x 10
BW x 6
BW x 5

*Did each set until falure/short of failure

DB Complex

27.5 x 6
27.5 x 7
27.5 x 8

*Increased weight and started out with only 3 sets. Going to add 4th set this upcoming week and then add a 5th set the following week

[MtnJax]

Taking this week off to recoup. Body was feeling worn down

Will probably sneak in a decent Full Body workout on Saturday to get me jump started for next week

[MtnJax]

Taking this week off to recoup. Body was feeling worn down

Will probably sneak in a decent Full Body workout on Saturday to get me jump started for next week

Alright, so I caved in and went to gym for a full body workout. Feels good man


Neutral Grip Chins

BW x 4
BW x 3
BW x 3

Deadlifts

205 x 3
205 x 3
205 x 3
205 x 3
205 x 3
215 x 3
215 x 3
215 x 3
215 x 3
215 x 3

Hang Clean/Push Press

85 x 8
85 x 8
90 x 8

[/b]Bodyweight Dips[/b]

BW x 10
BW x 10
BW x 10

Face Pulls

100 x 10
100 x 10
110 x 10
110 x 10

Tried to take it easy with this workout,especially on the deadlifts, so that my strength isn't wasted when I get back to the grind on Monday.

[MtnJax]

Upper Body


Neutral Grip Chins

BW x 4
BW x 4
BW x 3

DB Low Incline Bench

60 x 10
60 x 10
65 x 10

Hammer Strength Row

160 x 10
180 x 10
180 x 10

Military Press

115 x 5
115 x 5
125 x 5
125 x 5

Face Pulls

100 x 10
100 x 10
110 x 10
110 x 10

Felt weak on Incline and Military Presses since I took last week off