My Quest for 800 lb total by years end

[Steve1124]

Hey All,

Currently I am working out with a good friend (about 2 days per week)at the local Y and in my basement, as well as by myself. I try to get 4-5 days of lifting in. In the past year Ive been interested with Powerlifting and my goal is to compete in the upcoming year. In April of 2012 I got seriously involved in weight training. With a few bumps along the way I'm still hitting it pretty good 15 months later.
A little background on workout in the past.
Ive done some 5x5s, Bodybuilding following Arnold's program from the encyclopedia of bodybuilding. And some misc. programs from bb.com
My goal by the end of the year is to, as title says, 3 main lifts to equal or pass 800 lb. 2 months ago, I tested my 1rm.

Bench was 195
squat was 205
DL was 265 for a total of 665 lbs

my goals 240 bench. 260 squat, 300 DL. by years end.

It may be far fetched, unreal, unreachable ..oh well, Im sure going to try..

I'll log a couple of my last workouts soon.

[robosphere]

Go get'em, Steve! You have 4 months - I bet you do it.

[Steve1124]

Sunday July 14 at gym by self

Won't bore ya with warmups plus extra typing ..HAHA!

Bench press 135 5x5
BB Rows 115 5x5
Skull crushers 50x10 4 reps
Lat pull downs to front 70x8 100x10,10,6

Wed July 17 at gym with Bud

Squats on smith machine due to over crowding at gym 135x8 145 x7,6,5,5
Leg press 180 5x5
Leg press with counter wgt, 197 x5x5
clean and press 95 5x5
OHP on smith machine, same reason as Squats, 95 5x5
shoulder press machine 160 5x5
Deadlifts 135x5, 185x5,205x5,225x5x4

Sat July 20 in basement by self

DL 108x5, 148x5, 188x5
OHP seated 40x5,5 60x5,5 80x5,5
BB Rows 80x7, 108x5,5

Tired and weak this day, arghh!!!

Sun July 21 in basement self

Squats 110x5, 140x5 3 sets
Zercher Squats, 80x5 3 sets
side lifts 2 sets 10 reps
front lifts 2 sets of 10 rep
Trap lifts 60x5,80x5, 100x 3, form was horrendous.

Tuesday July 23 at gym with Bud

Overhead cable tri ext 4 sets of 8 50#
Tri pushdowns 4 sets of 8 80#
Flat bench Press, 135 3sets of 5
Rev crunches with 121# bar held overhead, 2 stes of 12
twisted incline situps w/ 5# 2 sets of 12
burpees 2x10
pushups 2 sets of 12
Dumbell flat press 3 sets of 8 rep 35#
DB Fly 3 sets of 8 25#
Cable crossovers 3 sets of 8 40# ea. side
BB curl 2x10

I take no supplements except for a protein powder 1x a day
diet consist of gal of h20 a day, chicken, turkey, eggs, pasta, pizza, fish 1x wk
I do not eat red meat nor do I consume milk(lactose intolerant)

Advice and positive comments are welcomed greatly!

About to Hit gym by self.....

Happy lifting to you all.

[Steve1124]

Thank you Robo, appreciate it Brother!

[Steve1124]

Friday July 26 basement by self

Planned on going to gym , however, that didnt work out. FYI, I dont have power rack or squat rack, Just bench and some weights. Its difficult squatting this way with no support or safety bars but it gets the job done. You can go to youtube and search for garage squats, I posted a video there when I had a garage, I moved 2 months ago so no garage.

Well lets get to todays lifts

Squats, warm ups.. 150x5, 3 sets
Zercher squats 90 x 5 3 sets

If you noticed from previous posts, I added 10# to both squats, awesome, felt great!

Db shoulder press 3x10
Trap lifts 60x8, 80x 8, 100x 4
BB shrugs, 108x8, 148x8, 188x6, 208x4
The shrugs are pulled from floor first then into position for shrugs, Definetly need to figure some other way out.

It was a good session, Music was, Godsmack and Linkin Park.. good stuff..now time to enjoy protein shake..

[robosphere]

Man, you better be careful with those squats without a rack. Could you at least set up some sawhorses in place of safety bars in case you lose your balance or fail?

Between your deads and your shrugs, you certainly won't have any grip strength issues!

[Steve1124]

RObo, thats a great idea about the sawhorses, definitely will grab some...

The gripping is good...thanks

[Steve1124]

Good news, I ve been searching for a Powerlifting gym for awhile now and a few weeks ago I found one, close to home too, bonus! The place is a persons residence, the man has more Powerlifting equipment than most gyms as what I've been told. So anyways, I was invited over tomorrow to check it out and do some deadlifting with his team. Yes, he is putting together a PL team. How awesome is that? I can't wait and will update my log tomorrow night, until then enjoy your work outside.

[robosphere]

Holy crap, dude that's awesome. That's going to be so good and motivating for you

[Steve1124]

Holy crap, dude that's awesome. That's going to be so good and motivating for you

Yeah! I'm so excited! And this place is private, so that's pretty cool. Shouldn't have to worry about safety racks here. II'm stoked.

[Steve1124]

I just got back from the new Gym, The place is awesome, everything you can think of for weightlifting. It had every type of bar you can think of, soooo many weights, more that Ive seen in the the gyms Ive been at. Whatever you can think of, its there. The owner was super cool and helpful. He has competed in PL and deadlifted 600. Today he was deadlifting in the 400s. I did not, haha...If I walked away with anything, It was the knowledge He shared with me, My form when lifting was corrected, different types of lifts, etc..I call these "gold Nuggets" What a day!

Now on to the workout... Tomorrow I bet I will need to ice my back all day..HAHA!!!

Deadlifts, 135x10 185x8 225x5, 245x3 255x2 275 x fail..

No clue what this is called.. It is like a hyperextension exercise, except its on a 45degree angle. a couple sets of those then the grueling 15# medicine ball throw on way up, When I was not on"45 degreee" I was catching med ball and rolling it back so he could throw it back at me, 3 sets to failure...argghh, Ughhh! fun tho...

up next was
Blast strap exercise? opposite of benching , similar to bb bent over rows , although I laid on floor and pulled upper body up as far as possible as many as possible, 4 sets...aaaaahhh!!!

Lat pulldown with fat gripz, What! yup, 4 sets of 120#

Then...

supersetted overhead cable tri extension with ezcurl BB curl with "fat gripz" thats rough, 4 sets to failure,

Overall it was great I learned ALOT and had one hell of a back session..

Monday Im going out of town for business and will be back friday sometime.. for my workouts while gone, Ill probaly be recovering from this workout...

Happy lifting

[robosphere]

Man, that sounds awesome!

That's one thing I really wish I had, was a trainer or mentor to show me how to do things right. I'm pretty sure through youtube vids and recording my own lifts and comparing them, I'm where I need to be, but it would have been nice to have an instructor from the get-go.

You going back there?

[Steve1124]

The videos posted will help if you post them on here, I did it a few months ago and had some things corrected from another lifter. I have used the video's on YouTubeto llearn as well.

Going back yes! Not for a few weeks though. I'll be outta town for a week and next week end, the guy is a judge in a local PL meet. Then I go to afternoon shift the following week, although he said to get a hold of him and we'll figure something out.

[Steve1124]

Ive decided to do Wendlers 5/3/1, Found it very intriguing plus another member on here has done it for a while that I follow ( shout out to Anthony21) You inspire me brother!

I had 35 minutes this morning before my flight leaves so I though I would throw in a quick workout...

I started with Seated overhead BB press...max was 110#

warm ups 40% 50% 60% of max

Then onto the work...

65# x5
75# x5
85# x7 AMRAP

Then I went onto chest dipps

5,5,5,5,8


Wasn't much but I got my feet wet...Off to Denver ... Happy lifting

[robosphere]

5/3/1 is pretty popular! My friend Auriga, who posts on my log is doing it too.

Have a safe trip. I always liked Denver's airport. Very unique.

[Steve1124]

5/3/1 is pretty popular! My friend Auriga, who posts on my log is doing it too.

Have a safe trip. I always liked Denver's airport. Very unique.

I'll have to check out Auriga log.

thank you, it was a good safe trip, Airport is a bit different. I love the surrounding area on a discent in.

They have no weights here at the hotel it looks like it will be a lot of pushups that I will be doing the next few days

[Steve1124]

Tuesday night

I had/have to get some lifting in. This is my version of hotel lifting with a hotel that has no weights.

I have a luggage bag with rollers with side handle that I filled with all heavy things that I could think of
I figured it was around 30/35#
I call these 7s

7 reps 1 set... Repeat 4x
Hammer Curls
Incline Pushups
1 Arm shoulder press
1 Arm trap lifts

10 reps 2 sets
Decline Pushups
Seated dipps
Concentration Pushups (super slow)
1 Arm Side lifts
2 arm front lifts

More decline and incline Pushups

It was about 30-40 minutes. Heck it wasn't bad at all, got a really good pump

Tonight I will work on my back, I know I'll be able to do some 1 ArmrRow, Ottoman lifts, kinda likestrongman stone lifts combined with a deficit Deadlift, and some sort of stiff leg Deadlift

Any idea for hotel li fting with no weights please advise.

Happy lifting!

[robosphere]

It actually sounds pretty good! Very inventive in making due with what you have. How many days are you there?

[Steve1124]

It actually sounds pretty good! Very inventive in making due with what you have. How many days are you there?

Thanks Robo, I fly back home tomorrow night, then work Friday days and spend time with kids Friday night, so I may not get to hit real weights until Saturday, might as well get as much done here in weight-less hotel

[Steve1124]

Day 2 of hotel lifting

Luggage bag 1 Arm Row 2 sets 10 rep
Clean and press. 2 sets 10 rep
Squats, 0# x10, executive chair over head 3 sets 10 rep
Upright (chest) dipps 3 sets 20 rep
Ottoman Deadlifts 2 sets 10 rep
Hammer Curls, luggage bag 3 sets 10 rep
Biceps curls, luggage bag 3 sets 10 rep
Decline Pushups 2 sets 10 rep

Not a bad work out, got the heart rate up pretty good.

Happy lifting

[robosphere]

Man, Steve. That actually looks pretty good. You did more in a hotel room than most of the shlubs do in a morning at my gym.

[Steve1124]

Man, Steve. That actually looks pretty good. You did more in a hotel room than most of the shlubs do in a morning at my gym.

Thanks Robo, I am on a quest, I want to reach my goal by years end, other than my kids lifting is my hobby, which has turned into a lifestyle, whatever I can think of I'm definitely going to use to accomplish this.. I'mjust a man on a mission!

[Steve1124]

Back home, 2 days off, time to hit the weights hard.

Saturday slaughter here I come..

[Steve1124]

Basement lifting

Warm ups 40,50, and 60% of max 10 reps each.
Work sets 65,75, and 85%
115# x 5, 130# x 5, 150# x7 as many as possible, thought it would be easier, although the last 2 sets the weights started to get heavier.

1 arm dumbbell triceps extension
20# x 7, 3 sets

Chest and tris getting tight about this point.

Arnold press
30# x 10, 7, 7

Conclusion ; would of liked to do more, however, I was limited on time. Was a good workout, no slaughter, nor was it simple.

Happy Lifting

[Steve1124]

I started my workout with this warmup by a guy who shows a lower and upper body warm up from John Defranco. It really loosens ya up.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x1ja...e_gdata_player

5 3 1 starts out with 3 warmup sets, I prefer to start off with lower than 40% then work my way up, mainly with DL and Squats.

Deadlifts

Warmups
20# x 5
70# x 5
95# x 5
118# x 5
145# x 5,

Work sets

155# x 5
180# x 5
205# x 4

BB Rows

56# x 5
96# x 5, x 5, x 5

Lying Hamstrings curl

40# x 10
70# x 7, 7

70# is all the weight I can get on my leg device at end of bench, boo!

2 sets of 5 Good Morning
I just used my 20# bar, I've never done these before and want to get use to them and correct form.

I wanted to do hanging leg raises, however, I have nowhere to hang from, so I made up my own leg raises, I did it on my dip bar. I got up on dip handles, lifted knees to chest and extended legs out as I was sitting. Then reversed the movement, I did not rest in between reps. It was nice to see stomach muscles in action, via mirror. I feel this is great for upper body strength and stability plus it works abs. I did 3 sets of 5, slow as possible...

Until next workout, happy Lifting

[robosphere]

Are you going to update the 1RM's in your sig as you hit them? Or just wait till the end of the year?

[Steve1124]

Are you going to update the 1RM's in your sig as you hit them? Or just wait till the end of the year?

Yes, as I hit them.

[Steve1124]

Squat day in 8 hr 15 min and counting....hoping to hit a PR ...

[robosphere]

Do it!

[Steve1124]

Do it!

I will, Thanks bro!