tatdawgs journey

[tatdawg]

ok, i will give this journal thing a shot. right now i am 5'10" 186pds. i just started back on the weights last week after a 10 month layoff. a little background. i had a 25 year struggle with drugs and alcohol that i am sure did a lot of damage to my body. been clean and sober for years now, thank god. also have to work around old motorcyle wreck injuries. lower back, knees and shoulder. i workout in my garage with a good flat bench, 300pd olympic weights and 30, 40 and 60pd dbs. a couple of years ago i was in the best shape of my life so i want to get back to that weight and workout zone. i am shooting for 175pds as that was the weight i felt the best at all around and i could still maintain strength. my bench at that time was over 300. i will turn 50 this year so my goal is weigh 175 and bench 300 by my birthday. not bad for a 50th birthday considering most of my old friends are either dead or in bad shape from too much abuse. i have been blessed to be in the shape i am in considering what i have put my body through in the past and look forward to being strong and healthy at 50 and beyond.

[oldark]

Awesome man, stick to it. Sounds like you've made the commitment and losing 10 pounds total while maintaining/gaining muscle shouldn't be that hard with the right diet. Good luck to you!

[tatdawg]

thanks man
i am new to this so bare with me. also 2 finger typing and borderline computer illiterate. i am on a 4 day rotating cycle. chest and tris, back and bis, shoulder and traps, and legs. i take a day off when i feel i need to. i just finished chest and tris. i am easing myself back into it. also i workout alone so no spot so whatever i put on the bar it is bench or die trying. lol today was interesting it is 28 degrees outside so it was about 40 in the garage.
chest-flat bench-
3 sets of 135-10 reps for warmup.
3 sets of 185-10 reps
3 sets of 225-4 reps
3 sets 60pd dbs-12 reps
tris
close grip bench 3 sets of 135-10 reps
kickbacks 3 sets of 10pds-10reps.
as time goes on i will push it harder but for now not a bad start. feel pretty good about it at this point. got to start getting ready for church this morning and already got a journal started and a workout in. being sober and early to bed and early to rise sure gives you alot of time in the morning to get things done. i welcome any comments pro or con.

[IR45N]

Looks good and a good iron setup! Keep it going! Good #s on the bench!

[dbx]

Originally Posted by tatdawg

chest-flat bench-
3 sets of 135-10 reps for warmup.
3 sets of 185-10 reps
3 sets of 225-4 reps
3 sets 60pd dbs-12 reps
i welcome any comments pro or con.

Welcome to the forum, tatdawg, my fellow Georgian. Yep, nothing like being clean and sober .

I have a suggestion for your warm-up/acclimation sets. This method can be used with any major compound exercise, but is especially helpful for BP. In the sets that I quoted above, you used a very inefficient method to get to your working weight of 225. Or even if you had no particular working weight in mind, it could be argued that 2 sets of 135 and 2 sets 185 were a complete waste of time and did not help advance any muscle building. Next time, try this:

(Based on Working sets of 225)

50% (110lbs) - 12 reps (rest 2mins)
50% (110lbs) - 10 reps (rest 2 mins)
67% (150lbs) - 6 reps (rest 2.5-3 mins)
82% (185lbs) - 3 reps (rest 2 mins)
93% (210lbs) - 1 rep (rest 2 mins)

Now...your working sets of 225! I will bet that you'll end up being able to do 6-7 reps for 3 sets (2 min rest between sets). These are the sets where muscle building begins. *The rest time between the acclimation sets is important*

In essence, you will be doing one less set than your previous routine, but you'll do more reps of a weight that challenges you more.

Give it a shot and see what happens. Again, welcome to the O-35 forum and journaling.

[tatdawg]

thanks for the input dbx. when i was lifting regular i used a close variation of that. limited reps on the climb to my working weight. the reason i am doing so much on the bottom end now is i am trying to get back used to pushing the weight smooth and getting the muscles used to pushing the iron again. also it was 40 degrees in my garage so i made sure i climbed up slow to warm up. in the next few weeks i hope to use something close to what you suggested. you are correct that i wasted a lot of energy on the lower weights. i do appreciate any suggestions as there is a lot of knowledge on this board.

[FatherOfThree]

Nice to see ya starting up a journal man, look fwd to checking out your progress!

[tatdawg]

Originally Posted by FatherOfThree

Nice to see ya starting up a journal man, look fwd to checking out your progress!

thanks my man. i figured i'd give this a shot. this forum thing is new to me but i have read stuff on here for years. a lot of good info on this site.

[tatdawg]

ok, just finished back and bi's using what i have to work with including bowflex and weights.

back
pulldowns on bowflex
wide grip
3 sets of 15 reps-maxed rods

close grip palms in
3 sets of 12-maxed rods

bench supported db rows
3 sets of 8 reps- 60 pd dbs

biceps
alt. db curls
3 sets of 8 reps-40 pd dbs

hammer curls
3 sets of 6 reps-40 pd dbs

i have to work around limited equipment and lower back issues. but it felt like a good workout. add 10 hour workdays in a powder coating plant to the mix and i figure lifting my self out of the chair was good in itself.

[dbx]

Originally Posted by tatdawg

i have to work around limited equipment and lower back issues. but it felt like a good workout. add 10 hour workdays in a powder coating plant to the mix and i figure lifting my self out of the chair was good in itself.

Yep, nicely done!

[tatdawg]

right now i am doing a rotating 4 day workout. chest and tris, back and bis, shoulders and traps, legs. start over again. any opinions if i should spread this out over a week where i hit each bodypart once a week. i work in a powder coating plant 10 hours a day and it is hard work on the body. also i am 49 and i stay sore all the time. i am thinking either the same 4 way split or maybe even the classic push-pull -legs 3 day split. maybe sun-chest, shoulder, tris. tues-back, bis, traps. thur-legs. that way no workouts back to back.also i don't work to failure.
thoughts and opinions?

[wedgey]

Welcome to journalling ... The words of encouragement people give in here makes it all the more worth it. Good luck

[tatdawg]

appreciate it wedgey.
after thinking my plan over today i have decided to switch up and go with a 3 day split. sun. before church i have the most time and fresh and the week is tough after 10 hour days so i am going to sun. chest- shoulders-tri's, tues. back-bi's-traps, thur. legs. that will give me no back to back workout days and free up off days for some mild cardio.
my little dog is insisting i take her around the neighborhood a couple of days in the week and would like me to take her to the park on sat. how can i tell her no? sat.morning i try to go to my brothers dojo and practice gutterfighting which is good cardio in itself.

[Lucky K]

I agree with your idea of 3 weight days. When you have so many other physical activities in your everyday life, it's easy to overtrain. Which then leads to injury, or a weakened immune system. My husband just came home with a cold tonight. I'm gonna kick his @$$ if I get it! I'm in the middle of a heavy duty 6-week self imposed torture circuit training thingy & I'm gonna be po'd if he screws with my training plans! ...Sorry... I think I was ranting... My point is he worked out hard last week then played too hard this weekend & I'm sure his weakened little body was primed for this cold!

[pastorgbc]

Good to see you have turned things around and are back in the gym.

It looks like you have gotten some good advice from some good people so far. We'll all be excited to watch your progress.

Hang in there, brother.

Ray

[tatdawg]

Originally Posted by Lucky K

I agree with your idea of 3 weight days. When you have so many other physical activities in your everyday life, it's easy to overtrain. Which then leads to injury, or a weakened immune system. My husband just came home with a cold tonight. I'm gonna kick his @$$ if I get it! I'm in the middle of a heavy duty 6-week self imposed torture circuit training thingy & I'm gonna be po'd if he screws with my training plans! ...Sorry... I think I was ranting... My point is he worked out hard last week then played too hard this weekend & I'm sure his weakened little body was primed for this cold!

thanks for the response.i think your right as my job is pretty physical. yep that will be my plan for now. oh i enjoyed your ranting. now you be nice to your husband just apply mask and hug and all will be fine.lol
good luck on your torture thingy

[tatdawg]

Originally Posted by pastorgbc

Good to see you have turned things around and are back in the gym.

It looks like you have gotten some good advice from some good people so far. We'll all be excited to watch your progress.

Hang in there, brother.

Ray

thanks my man. life is pretty good these days.

[tatdawg]

ok. i am finishing up my last 2 workouts on my current cycle before starting my new 3 day cycle sun. tonight was shoulders and traps.
shoulders.
side raises
4 sets of 12-10#plates
military db press
6 sets of 12-40#
traps
db shrugs
6 sets of 15-60#
tomorrow will be legs then change up sun.
i have got to take advantage of my off days to do some cardio like it or not.
callisthenics and running in place in front of the tv while watching country music videos maybe. on sat. i can work on my gutterfighting at my brothers dojo and last but not least take my little dog kali walking. thats my plan so all that is left is to git-r-done.

[dbx]

Originally Posted by tatdawg

i have got to take advantage of my off days to do some cardio like it or not.
callisthenics and running in place in front of the tv while watching country music videos maybe. on sat. i can work on my gutterfighting at my brothers dojo and last but not least take my little dog kali walking. thats my plan so all that is left is to git-r-done.

Hey, that's a good attitude, bro. Whatever it takes....is whatever it takes. I don't anyone here who loves doing cardio. I got all excited last year because I found out I could actually run without having a heart attack. Got faster and faster at it. I hate it this year, and feel like I'm starting from scratch

[pastorgbc]

By the way, Tatdawg, my brother has lived in Lawrenceville for the last three years. We visited him a couple of years ago and loved the area.

Ray

[IR45N]

Like Dbx says, my goal too is to run without getting a heart attack; just don't know why it was easier 27 years ago?!!

[tatdawg]

Originally Posted by dbx

Hey, that's a good attitude, bro. Whatever it takes....is whatever it takes. I don't anyone here who loves doing cardio. I got all excited last year because I found out I could actually run without having a heart attack. Got faster and faster at it. I hate it this year, and feel like I'm starting from scratch

i have tried to run off and own myself. it takes a long time to adapt for sure. every time you stop you do have to start from scratch.

[tatdawg]

Originally Posted by pastorgbc

By the way, Tatdawg, my brother has lived in Lawrenceville for the last three years. We visited him a couple of years ago and loved the area.

Ray

years ago this was a county with lots of farmland and dirt roads. a really great place but everything bad about atlanta has spread here. now there is more crime and congestion and traffic is a nightmare. i am looking for mayberry to move to one day if it exsist somewhere.

[tatdawg]

Originally Posted by IR45N

Like Dbx says, my goal too is to run without getting a heart attack; just don't know why it was easier 27 years ago?!!

i know what you mean my man. but 27 years ago i was to lazy to run anywhere or to drunk maybe.

[wedgey]

Originally Posted by tatdawg

i know what you mean my man. but 27 years ago i was to lasy to run anywhere or to drunk maybe.

If someone had of told me 12 months ago that I could run for 1/2 an hour or sit on a row machine and row for 1/2 - 1 hour I would have asked what the hell they were on

[tatdawg]

Originally Posted by wedgey

If someone had of told me 12 months ago that I could run for 1/2 an hour or sit on a row machine and row for 1/2 - 1 hour I would have asked what the hell they were on

thank god our bodies can take so much abuse and still recover and rebuild.

[tatdawg]

ok tonight was legs.let me say this to the 3 maybe 4 people that actually read this that my legs lag way behind the rest of me. i have longterm lower back problems and knee and ankle issues to boot that i just accept the fact that i can only do so much for my legs. i like to go trail and park walks and a little jogging when i can to make up. that said here it is

leg extensions on bowflex
6 sets of 15- 100# rods
barbell squats, no rack so i have to clean and press to position
6 sets of 10-65#s
calf raises
6 sets of 15

the squats felt good, no issues so i could have done more but i am going to go up slow. i am going to go up a little each workout and stay with good form and see what my back and legs can handle. i think a realistic goal for me will be able to do 6 sets of 25 with 135#s. i can safely clean and press that into position. if i can accomplish that i will be satisfied.it sucks but it is what it is. i am one of those people that can bench twice as much as i can squat but i can lay flat and push the weight with my lower body not involved. oh well that is why god created levi's. i am a country boy so levi's are the attire for all ocasions.

[FatherOfThree]

No excuses needed, that is a darn good leg workout amigo.

[dbx]

Originally Posted by FatherOfThree

No excuses needed, that is a darn good leg workout amigo.

Agreed ^. The best workout you can get, is the best workout you can manage. That aside, even though I'm not familiar with Bowflex compared to free weights, those numbers look good to me!

[tatdawg]

thanks guys i was just being honest about my limitations. but i will keep doing the best i can with what i got to work with and see how far i can go. i am content with lower weight if need be and focus real hard on form and work on high reps.