Just trying to get big

[baxtej44]

Hey training journal forum... not going to be putting anything too special up.. maybe someday it will be impressive, but for the time being i'm just working hard to get there.




Today was a deadlift day:

stationary cycle for 5 min for a warmup.. was nice out today (70's) and the school kept the heat on since this is abnormal so it was really stinkin hot in the gym, hardly needed to warmup


sumo deadlift:
135x8
225x8
315x5
365x3 add chalk and belt
405x3
405x3
405x3

deficit deadlifts (done with black short bands) no chalk no belt (standing on a 45# plate)
135x8
135x8
225x5
225x5

pendlay rows (supersetted with seated rows below.. no reset between any of the sets)
135x15
135x10
135x5

seated rows (see above)
60x20
60x15
60x10
60x5

BB shrugs
225x10
225x10
225x10



was in and done in almost exactly an hour... and sweated my tail off in the process.. back is super pumped right now.. feeling great, now time for a butt ton of homework

[baxtej44]

Day 1 of the Ed Coan Bench program


Bench:
175 x 10 reps
175 x 10

Close-Grip Bench Press
155 x 10
x 10

Incline
145 x 10
x10


Then I added in:
Seated DB Press
35x10
x10
40x10

Pushdowns
70x10
80x10
90x10

DB Lateral Raise
15x10
20x10
x10


The shoulder presses were too light, but everything else was alright.

in after horrible bench

[baxtej44]

didn't have much time yesterday so i did a few light sets of bench squat and dead


tests out the ass this week. if my 1o'clock test gets done before 5 (when the class is over.. and yes the teacher actually said "well i have you guys for 4 hours" in reference to how long the test will be) i will get a solid workout in. bad week bad week bad week.


not to mention, day 3 of CNS ULC prep after the super bowl, hnngggg feeling poopy. AND on top of it, sore throat. it's one thing after another.

[baxtej44]

test got out early, in about an hour.. and it wasn't horrendous. but i was still dragging. almost didn't even want to lift. popped 200 of caffeine and walked up there. football team was still in there at 3:30... warmed up on tredmill for 10 min.. football team still in there (they only have it reserved until 3:30, and i'm even fairly certain at that point it's not REALLY reserved, they just hang signs up that say that)... they didn't get done until 4.. so that was rather annoying considering they kick people out during their times


anyway, went with heavy bench week 2 of ed coan routine


tredmill
3mph x 10 min (0.5miles)


bench
135x5
175x10
175x10
175x10

close grip
155x10
155x10
155x10

incline
145x10
145x10
145x10

pushdowns
80x20
90x15
100x9 (damn, almost had the 10th)

seated DB OHP
40x10
50x10
60x8 (triceps were really dead at this point lol)

lateral DB raise
10x15
15x15
20x8

anterior DB raise
10x15
10x15
10x15

more pushdowns to try and kill triceps more
70x20
70x15

DB shrug with a solid pause at the top
50x25
60x25
60x25

I liked going really high on those shrugs... got a lot of burn in my traps and a big pump in my grip


i feel great. big pump in my arms, and i feel much better than before i worked out. glad i ended up going
also, the bench sets were much easier this week.. i'm thinking a bit of time off of the gym was a good thing.


also, last prep phase i did for CNS i really didn't lose much water weight... not using creatine this prep phase to see if i drop some. i weighed in before my workout at 263, with water in my stomach and clothes and shoes on.. i'm guessing i'm about 260 morning weight. so i have definitely dropped a few pounds water weight in just a few days... i'm diggin it!

[baxtej44]

great PR day for me

sumo
135x5
225x5
315x3
405x3
455x1 (had never deadlifted more than 425 and just decided... screw it and threw this on.. got it surprisingly easy so....)
475x1 (had to grind it out, but knew i could get another so....)
475x1 (really had to grind it out.. but i was up on cloud 9 so...)
475x.....0 dangit, grip gave out. three red lights, no lift. oh well, i'll get it next week! huge PR for me, basically a 50+ PR

pendlay rows
135x15x4 sets

concentration curls
30x8x2 sets

seated cable rows
150x10x3 sets

hammer curls
20x20 finisher

[baxtej44]

was a relatively quick day in the gym today... squats


warmup, groin and adductor mobilitywods for about 10 minutes, head up to the gym, stationary bike for 5 minutes
45x5
135x5
225x5
315x5
365x5x5

DE conventional deadlifts with black shorts
225x3 x 6

DB shrugs
50x25
65x25x2

was pretty spent at this point, squats take way more out of me than deadlifts do. gotta get in a bit better shape. speed deadlifts felt good, first time really doing them. today is day 8 of my ULC prep, can't wait until wednesday

[baxtej44]

still goin on the ed coan, made a jump in weight, will move to 8 reps next week


bench:
135x5
185x10x2

CGBP:
175x10x2

incline:
155x10x2

pushdowns:
90x15x3

seated DB press:
35x10
45x10x2
50x10

seated DB curls:
35x10x3


then some squats and step ups to get rid of the DOMS hopefully from squatting
135x10x2

stepups 10 each leg

[baxtej44]

had to be a quick workout tonight, had to workout before dinner since the caf was opening later because of some presidential meeting


knew i was deadlifting, and knew i was doing conventional (trying to include both), but never knew i was gonna get up this high, and never knew i could conventional this much either!

135x5
225x5
315x5
405x3
405x3 (should have upped the weight here, but didn't think i was going to PR tonight)
455x1
495x1 (probably could have gotten 500, but didn't want to be too greedy.. i'll get it in 2 weeks when i conventional again)

didn't have time for any assistance, i have too much work... FEELING AWESOME!

[baxtej44]

friday night went bowling with my friends... dollar night (dollar each game and dollar shoe rental) was a lot of fun. then saturday my parents came to town and we went to my aunts house and just hung out and caught up. was good to see them since i won't be home until easter.


needed to do some work in the gym tonight.. squats

45x5
135x5
225x5
315x1
370x5x5

speed sumos against black minis
325x3x3 (these just felt weird to me, probably because i don't have a proper deadlift platform, so i switched to speed conventionals

speed conventional DL
235x3x3

widowmaker squat
225x20

standing leg curl for a bit more hammy work
25x25 each leg

DB shrugs
60x25
65x25x2

[baxtej44]

bench.. wasn't feeling super energetic today, should have upped the weights, but i wasn't feeling great


bench:
45x10
135x5
185x8x2

close grip:
175x8x2

incline:
165x8x2

face pulls:
45x15x3

pushdowns:
90x15x3

OHP:
95x10x3

dumbbell shrug:
60x25
75x15x2

lateral DB raise:
20x10x2

DB bench:
50x15x3

DB curl:
30x10x3

more pushdowns for finisher:
90x15x2

[baxtej44]

another great day... and classes might be cancelled tomorrow, we are supposed to get a butt ton of snow


sumo:
135x5
225x5
315x5
405x3
455x2x4

conventional
315x6x3 (touch n go)

bent over rows
185x5x5

SLDL
225x5x5

seated row
120x15x3

been loving it as much as i've been hitting the gym... i figure it will all pay off eventually when i'm hitting huge numbers and looking and feeling great

[baxtej44]

back was still sore from deadlifting and then tons of sledding yesterday, so squats weren't in the equation for tonight, i knew my form would suffer too much. and it was 9:00 on a friday night in college, so i knew there wouldn't be anybody to spot me on bench. so i just planned on going in for a bit of light accessory work.. and it ended up being a hell of a workout, i'm exhausted and shaking (no homo lol)


close grip.. around a 1-board:
135x5
185x5x5

tate press
25x25
35x22 (couldn't get 25)
35x20

seated DB OHP
45x15x2
45x14 (just could NOT get that last rep.. damn.. stalled halfway up. so my triceps were just too taxed. a little tap on my elbows and i would have had it)

hammer curls:
35x15x3

tricep pushdowns
80x20
80x15
80x13 (yeah this should be light weight... my triceps are dead ha)

yates row (upper back was sore from the heavy pendlay rows, so i wanted to target it a bit)
135x20x2
135x15 (grip was just giving out.. forearms felt like they were going to explode)

reverse grip pulldown (for a bit extra bicep work)
108x20 (this killed my grip even more ha)

dumbbell curl (finisher)
25x10


got a huge pump tonight... not sure if anything was different or not, but oh well. like i said, started off with going in thinking of just having a light quick workout, and it ended up being awesome... plus one of my friends ended up coming in and commented on how he can tell i'm getting bigger in just a couple of months.. i'm excited with how this dedication and training is changing me. i have stayed the same weight but look bigger, so i know i'm recomping a bit. i'm not complaining, i could care less about the scale really, i'm just looking to be happy with how i look and be strong in the mean time.

[showmestate08]

very interested to see how the coan cycle works for your bench. are there any recommendations for accessory work? All I found was a spreadsheet with bench, cgbp, and incline.

[baxtej44]

very interested to see how the coan cycle works for your bench. are there any recommendations for accessory work? All I found was a spreadsheet with bench, cgbp, and incline.

the accessory i found was pretty simple, on the light days he just does a bit of everything really... i generally try to hammer triceps a lot because weak triceps should never be an excuse for a failed lift. i need to start doing more paused stuff and reverse band eventually. my bench is obviously my weakest lift, because i've always used my separated shoulder as a crutch and never stuck to much. trying to get myself out of that. thanks for stopping in.



today was squats.. and they went great, had a great workout:
45x5 paused
135x5 paused
225x5 paused
315x3
375x5x5

just keep upping it by 5 pounds every week and tell myself that i very easily could have been lifting the same weight last week since none of the weights are calibrated. i think i picked a really good weight to start with, and i am happy with that. this is a sure fire way to see if i continue to make progress... linear progression just makes so much sense.

speed conv. deads
240x3x6

no bands this week... wanting to hit a good ME deadlift on thursday so i opted against them. been upping these by 5 pounds too, i would up them more than 5 pounds each week, but i still don't have a ton of speed, so i want to stay lighter for now.


standing leg curl
25x10 each leg (this was done with my warmup squats)
50x15x3 each leg

trying to start hammering my posterior chain, that way it is never a reason for a failed lift


pull ups - decided to see if i could do them... and i could!
2 reps x 3 sets

this is kind of exciting cuz i'm pretty sure i couldn't do these before i started deadlifting 2 months ago

cable pull throughs - just trying more with the whole posterior chain thing
100lbx10x3

i liked these a lot too... even though they look funny i felt the lockout a lot and it is similar to my sumo lockout so i could see there being carry over

face pull - tried to focus on scapular retraction with the humeral movement too
75lbx10x3


not much else to say. trying to hit it hard this week since i will be out of the country next week.. will be a good time for a deload/nothing week as i've been hitting it consistently for 2 months

[baxtej44]

this is week 5 of the ed coan routine.. can't believe it's been 5 weeks already, wow! the weights are still pretty light... i upped the close grip and incline weights this week

bench:
135x5 paused
185x3 paused
205x5x2 paused

close grip
185x5x2 paused

incline
175x5x2 paused
trying to pause everything as it will make it a bit harder and will also build speed and explosiveness off my chest



seated dumbbell shoulder press:
40x15
50x15
60x10

triceps pushdown
80x15
80x10 (dangit lol.. thought i switched this to 90)
90x10

kroc rows:
60x10x3
WOW... haven't done these since i started deadlifting, and they are SUCH a breeze now.. throwing the 60's around like they are no problem with a lot of speed.

OHP
95x10x3

seated row
150x10x3

standing leg curl:
25lbx25x2

so 50 reps each leg... trying to prehab and build that posterior chain. i like these a lot

[showmestate08]

trying to pause everything as it will make it a bit harder and will also build speed and explosiveness off my chest

Are you planning on doing this for the whole routine? I usually train touch and go but since the first few weeks of madcow's are fairly easy I'm considering doing pause sets when I have to reset the program.

[baxtej44]

Are you planning on doing this for the whole routine? I usually train touch and go but since the first few weeks of madcow's are fairly easy I'm considering doing pause sets when I have to reset the program.

just planning on doing it if the weights are fairly light, which i assume they will stay for a while. the volume just seems kind of low too... idk, i'm going to stick with it. i may have just started with the 1RM too low, but i wanted to be conservative since i didn't really know what my max was around.

[baxtej44]

feelsgoodbrah.jpg


conventional
135x5
225x5
315x3
405x2
455x1
475x1
500x1
500x1

sumo
315x3x3

pendlay
185x5x5

standing leg curl
50x15x3

face pulls
75x10x3

pullups
5
5



saturday starts spring break for me. going to el salvador for a mission trip for the week, so it'll be a good time to hit a deload. glad i got 500 before it. feels good great day in the gym, PR's are so motivating

[showmestate08]

Very nice work on the PR/500 lbs. Enjoy your deload/time in el salvador

[baxtej44]

wow guys, i can remember when a week off of the gym was no big deal, this past week off felt like an eternity.. i think i have the bug now!


anyway, trip was downright absolutely amazing... let me know if you want to see pics.


got in the gym last night for my usual sunday squats, and they didn't go as well as i wanted them to, but i was really tight and didn't do my usual mobility...


squats
45x10
135x8
225x5
315x1
385x5x3 (wanted to do my 5 sets of 5, but just didn't have the feelings right, couldn't get everything right and didn't want to get hurt)

speed sumo deads:
245x3x4
kept waiting for these to feel right also, and they never did, so i switched back to conventional for the last 2 sets. think it was just my hips being tight again



speed conv. deads
245x3x2

standing leg curl
50lbx15x3

pullups
3x3

SLDL:
225x10x2

cable pull through:
110x10x3

face pull:
65x10x2

DB curl:
20x20x3

wrist curls (just felt like it)
45lbx50x2



no gym for me tonight, got a few lab reports and homework to catch up on.

[showmestate08]

lets see some pics

[baxtej44]

a banana tree.. you know, just chilling in someone's front yard. no big deal



just a picture that i like. i took the picture through the coils of a mattress that was used as someone's fence, also intertwined with barbed wire. it kind of reminds me that sometimes something can look dangerous and unwelcoming from the outside, but can hold something really beautiful on the inside.



me with some of the kids that our school was able to give houses to last year


these people were more faithful than most of the people i know here in the united states, even though they make a dollar a day if they are lucky, and don't know if they will be able to feed their kids tonight.



the volcano we hiked up



What the late Archbishop Oscar Romero was wearing when he was assassinated celebrating mass in 1980.



all of the group at the base of the volcano



we were SO relieved when someone was able to let us use a cutting wheel for the day... cutting 7 foot by 4 foot sheets of metal with tin snips took forever!

[baxtej44]

been slacking due to a busy schedule, but then i realize that it's just as busy as it always is.. so no excuse


deadlifts tonight

conventional
135x10
225x5
315x3
405x1
475x2x4

pendlay row
185x5x5

hammer curl (supersetted with pendlay rows)
35x10x5

snatch grip deadlift (these hit my upper and mid back a lot)
225x5x5

standing leg curl
60x10
60x15x2

dumbbell curl
35x10x3

pretty easy day today. speed on the deads felt good, but the doubles were tough. but they are around 85-90% so i expect them to be a bit slower. the 405 went up fast, i liked that.

[baxtej44]

drove up 5 hours to kearney, NE with my vertebrate biology class to see the sandhill cranes migrating on the platte river yesterday. went to bed around 1 at the hotel and had a roommate who snored like crazy, so didn't get much sleep... not to mention we had to get up at 5 to be back at the river before sunrise to see them all leave the roost. so i was pretty exhausted today.. but i still got my workout in, just not as much as i would normally do


kind of decided i needed a reset on my squats to build a bit of confidence again.
135x8 paused
225x5 paused
315x3 paused
add belt
365x5x5 these felt pretty good and i had decent speed on a lot of them.

speed conventionals
250x3x6

dumbbell shrug (since i just like these anyway)
75x25x3

pullthroughs
110x10 wanted to do 2 more sets but i just was physically and mentally drained. called it a night.

[baxtej44]

6th week of ed coan. i haven't been as dedicated to it as i should/could have been. but it's okay. i'm still getting the work done, just need to be better about it. i haven't made more than a couple of the accessory days.


bench
45x10
135x5
225x5x3

CGBP
195x5x2

incline
185x5x2

pushdowns
70x15 (was a warmup for bench)
90x25
100x10
110x10

dumbbell seated shoulder press
55x10x2

anterior plate raise
35x10x2

face pull w/ fat gripz
30x25
45x20
60x15

lateral raise w/ fat gripz
10x10 (warmup for bench, no fat gripz)
15x10x2

anterior DB raise
10x10 (warmup for bench)

rear delt DB raise
10x10 (warmup for bench)

pushups (finisher)
20
10

[baxtej44]

it's thursday, that means deadlifts!!

i have been ignoring sumos for a while, so i decided to give them a shot since i don't want to neglect it.

sumo
135x8
225x5
315x3
405x1
455x2x2

these felt good until 455 doubles, they were just slow and didn't feel right. it's funny how until about a month ago, i felt like sumos were my preferred form.. but then idk if i just finally got conventional form down, or what but conventional feel way better to me. maybe i just like the speed off the ground more.. idk


conventional
405x3
455x2

just wanted a bit more volume and to end deadlifts on a good note


rack pulls
405x3x3

haven't done these in a long time

pendlay row
185x5x5

supersetted with:
dumbbell curl
30x10x3
x8x2


standing leg curl
50x20 each leg x 2 sets

dumbbell shrug
80x25x2

[baxtej44]

trying to increase the frequency of my benching


band pull aparts to warm up

bench
135x10
185x5
230x5x2

close grip
200x5x2

incline
190x5x2

pushdowns
80x10x3

standing DB shoulder press
45x10x3

incline neutral grip DB bench press
50x15x2

front plate raise
35x10x2

one-armed pushdowns for a finisher
30x25 each arm

[baxtej44]

very happy with the mock meet i put on for myself


squat
45x10
135x3
225x2
315x2
365x1
405x1
455 opener, smoked it
475 1st, barely harder
500 barely grinded above parallel on the way back up.. maybe could have got 510 or 515, but either way, super happy

bench
45x10
135x5
185x5
225x2
245x1 opener, smoked
275x1 1st, smoked
285x1 yeah my bench blows.. but this was paused and i'm positive i couldn't do this a month ago

deadlift
135x8
225x5
315x1
405x1
455x1 opener (probably opened a hair too low, but oh well)
500x1 1st, felt great.. did a weird thing on my lockout.. idk what that was
550x1 2nd, wasn't going to go for it, but friend convinced me, and i'm glad he did b/c i got it. did the weird thing on my lockout again... have to fix it


i'm stoked guys, i surpassed every goal... video to come, and you guys can tear it apart. i know i still have a lot to learn

[baxtej44]

vids from earlier... didn't get the bench on vid because my friend i was lifting with was spotting me, we had someone else during the squat but he left.






criticism is wanted and accepted

[baxtej44]

back at home for easter break, so that means i got to train with the team at omaha barbell again


squatturday
60x10
60x10
150x5
240x5
330x3
380x3x5
420x3x3

and then idk what the machine is, i can't find it anywhere. it's kind of like a gluteham raise i guess. there is a counter weight that you load up and then you lean against a pad and go down then curl yourself up
5 sets of 5'ish. they are tough