My HIT Training Journal

[RobArson]

Haven't posted here yet but I've been looking around and getting motivated to get bigger and stronger.

Anyways, I used to do HIT but I started to higher volume recently and I absolutely HATE IT! So today I did my first HIT workout in awhile and hopefully I'll start improving my strength soon.

Tuesday- CHEST/Triceps/Shoulders

Flat Bench DBs - 85s - 9 reps
90s - 7 reps <---(awesome last rep, took me 5 seconds to get it up but it went )

Incline Press DBs - 60s - 8 reps
60s - 6 reps

Skullcrushers w/80 lb ez curl bar - 9 reps
same weight - 7 reps

overhead press DBs - 42.5s - 9 reps
- 47.5s- 6 reps

Chest Cable machine thingy - 80lbs (I forgot what weight I used, i'll check next time)- 8 SWEET reps
80lbs (?) again - 5 reps

Tricep pulldown with horizontal bar - 90 lbs - 7 reps

I also did 1 set of dips in there with body weight but I'm not sure if I'm doing them right (lol). I go as far down as I can possible go but I saw a personal trainer not go down as much which might give the triceps more work(?) next time I'll try not going down ALL the way and concentrating on my Triceps.



I Really wanna work on my incline press and overhead press as I've got weak shoulders. Also would love to start benching the 100lb dumbbells.

As far as my stats go, I'm 6'1", 205 lbs with approximately 15% bodyfat.

Maybe I'll post a pic later since I appreciate it when others do.

[Heisman]

Starting a journal was the right thing to do. Welcome.

I would only go to where my arms form a 90 degree angle on dips- not all the way down. I have heard of people injuring themselves going too low, so if I were you I would stop at 90 degrees.

[RobArson]

cool, I'll do that.

Thanks for the help.

[RobArson]

Here's my bicep/back workout

Lat pulldown

200- 9 reps
210 - 5 reps
200 - 7 reps

T- BAR LYING BACK ROW
90 - 5 really bad reps
65 - 8 reps
65 - 6 reps

SLDL
205 - 7 reps
205 - 7 reps
215 - 5 reps

Shrugs
95lbs DB - 12 reps?
95lbs DB - 15 reps
95lbs DB - 15 reps <---- F'IN grip gave out before my traps on every f'in set of shrugs!!!!!! DAMN that SUCKED!!!!

Wrist curls (did em cause I was pissed about my grip giving out on Shrugs)
30 lbs barbell - 20 reps ?
40 lbs barbell - 10-15 reps
40 lbs barbell - 10-15 reps


Anyways, it was an alright workout. Shrugs sucked ass! Maybe I'll use straps next time. Also I'll try to keep reps inbetween 4 to 7 as much as possible.

[Heisman]

You should do regular deadifts on back day and sldl on leg day.

Pull ups are better than pull downs if you can do them.

Do you ever do static holds for your grip?

[RobArson]

Alright, I didnt do legs on saturday cause I was waaaaaaaay too f'in busy. But I did em today.

Legs/Abs (I'm gonna start doing abs with chest/triceps)

Abs - I did those cable crunch things with 150lbs which was the heaviest weight you could select but I did more than 10 reps relatively easily and wasn't sure if I was doing em right so I'm gonna check it out and do em better next time.

Hamstring curls - 155lbs - 13 reps
170lbs - 7 reps
170 lbs - 5 reps

Standing Calf Raises - 220 - 15 + reps
320 - 10 - 15 reps
380 - 10 reps

I went with waay to many reps but standing calf raises usually leave me limping for a few days afterwards so I'm gonna wait till next time to REALLY hit em.

Since I had to wait for the power rack, I did some seated calf raises with 115 lbs for 3 sets with about 10-15 reps each.

Squat - I SUCK at em cause this is only the second time I've done them. But I've been paying attention to my form and all

205lbs - 7 reps
205-lbs - 9 reps (<---fired myself up a little more. I guess I'm still intimidated my squats. argh)
205lbs - 6 reps

I weighed in at about 207.9 and I'm stoked about that. I will definitely try to improve the weight on the Squat.

Heisman: Thanks for the advice, you definitely seem knowledgeable so I'll follow the advice about deadlifts.

As far as pullups, I can do a lot more than 4-7 reps and I don't have a belt to add weights to and I havent seen one at the 24hr fitness I go to. So I might have to stick with the Lat pull downs (although I will increase my grip outwards more to better hit my lats).

And I don't do static holds for my grip. Maybe I'll try that out sometime at the end of a workout. Thanks.

[Heisman]

Good idea about using less weight on squats to concentrate on form.

If you want to, you could buy a good lifting belt from bodybuilding.com for under twenty five bucks. If you type in "free straps please" in the comments box then you will get free lifting straps with your order.

[RobArson]

Chest/Triceps/Shoulders

DB Bench Press -
95lbs - 6 reps
90lbs - 6 reps
90 lbs - 5 reps

DB Incline Press (should this be a 45 degree angle or less?)
60lbs - 8 reps
60 lbs - 6 reps
60 lbs- 4 reps <-----------damn, I suck at these!


DB Shoulder Press
47.5 lbs - 7 reps
47.5 lbs - 5 reps
40 lbs - 4 reps <----hmmm, dropped the weight 7.5 lbs but still only could do 4 reps

Skullcrushers
90lbs - 4 or 5 reps <---less than spectacular form
80lbs - 7? reps
80lbs - 6 reps <----------- The guy who was working in with me did some close grip presses after his skullcrushers so I did about 8 - 10 of those after this. He also advised that I should take a more narrow grip on the skullcrushers and to keep my elbows in more. It was good advice that I'll use next time.

Chest Press Cable thing
80 lbs - 5 reps <-------not so good reps
70 lbs - 6 or 7 reps
70 lbs - 4 or 5 reps

Tricep pulldown with horizontal bar
90 lbs - 3 reps ?!? <---tris were dead
80 lbs - 6 or 7 reps
70 lbs - 5-7 reps

I then went to do some dips but I could even do ONE! Actually, I'm pretty stoked since it means my tris got f'in worked today!

I was gonna try to do some abs but I forgot....very conventiently. Next time FOR SURE.

weighed in at 208.?

took the rest or my weight gainer (bout 600 calories) with two scoops of whey afterwards. I'll probably start making a homemade weight gainer since I've heard so many bad things about the store bought stuff.

[Heisman]

I believe you should do incline presses with a 30 degree incline, but I'm not sure.

[weightshead]

Originally posted by Heisman
I believe you should do inline presses with a 30 degree incline, but I'm not sure.

i'd say anywhere between 30-45 degrees is fine, any more than 45 though and you start hitting your anterior delts too hard. Its good to vary the incline every once in awhile, just to mix it up a little.

[RobArson]

Back/Bicep/Trap day


lat pulldown
220 - 4 reps
210 - 5 reps
200 - 7 reps

t bar
65 - 10 reps
75 - 10 reps
85 - 8 reps <----------- got the hang of these. I was trying to do em real slow and steady last time but this time I did them controlled but more explosive.

shrugs
DB - 90 15 + <---------f'in grip

shrugs
225 barbell
9 reps
10 reps <------------ tried these. Grip held up okay with overhand/underhand grip. But the bar kept crushing my diznick.

SLDL
215 - 7 reps
215 - 6 reps
215 - 4 reps <------- overhand/underhand grip helped again

Wrist curls -
im not doing these anymore <-------- I need to find something else to work grip...maybe the static holds that Heisman recommended.

Abs with 25lb plate behind head (about 1037X harder than on chest)
7 reps
7 reps <------------stoked about these. I really want to do an ab work where I reach failure at 4- 7 reps and this is it! I'm posting this the day after I did the workout and my abs still feel it which is a good sign.


Heisman (or anyone for that matter) if you read this, can you explain why I would do regular deadlifts on back day and SLDL on leg day? I'm not sure why I should work quads on back day and lower back on leg day.

[wildman536]

Bump (to Subscribe to Thread!!)

Great Thread!!

[Heisman]

Originally posted by RobArson
Heisman (or anyone for that matter) if you read this, can you explain why I would do regular deadlifts on back day and SLDL on leg day? I'm not sure why I should work quads on back day and lower back on leg day.

If sldl is done correctly then the hamstrings will do most of the work. The lower back will become a factor, but as long as you keep your back completely straight and work on your form with lighter weights at first, you will get to the point where you feel your hamstrings far more than anything else.

Regular deadlifts work the back far more than they work the quads, when done correctly. Perhaps you bend your legs to much when you do them. Regular deadlifts should hit your back much more than they hit your legs.

Good workout by the way. Static holds should help your grip a lot.

[RobArson]

Thanks for the input Heisman.

However, I checked on this website's awesome description of exercises and they say the SLDL mainly works back and deadlift mainly works quads. As far as I'm concerned, the SLDL only works my lower back. I guess I could be doing it wrong...but I kinda doubt it. As far as regular deadlifts, I guess I'll have to start doin em..

My last workout which was yesterday......how should I say it..............f'in sucked a fat donkey turd covered in Vegemite.


Leg curls
170lbs - 10 reps
175lbs - 5 reps
165lbs - 5 reps

Standing Calf raises
500 lbs - 8 reps
500 lbs - 7 reps
500 lbs - 5 reps

Seated calf raises
200lbs - 12-16 reps <----------I did a set of seated calf raises while waiting for the power rack. You see, some people need to use the power rack for bicep curls...yup, they really do.

Squats <----this is the part that sucked fat turds covered in vegemite

did a warmup with the bar and then 135, then...

205 - 8 reps <-----------hated my form. My thighs did not go past parallel with the ground. Plus, I'm 6'1 ~ 6'2 and for some stupid ass reason, I'm frightened of going to failure, falling down, and dropping the weight on the power rack. SHUT THE **** UP AND SQUAT, RIGHT? Next time I go to the gym, I'm gonna intentionally drop the weight.....or I'll just pull down my pants and see if I actually have a set of nutz...either way.
135lbs 13 reps
135lbs ~13 reps <---- the only good thing about these were that they were perfect as far as form. Other than that... I could've done more, I have a vagina, and I could've done a whole lot f'in more.

Or maybe I'll just go back to repping 700 lbs on the leg press............ HELL NO

I'm thinking of doing squats with my bicep workout just so I can purge the thought of being a complete p*ssy as soon as possible...i'll see.

[Heisman]

Make a thread in the exercise section asking what sldl works and asking what the deadlifts work.

[RobArson]

Heisman, I'll do a Search

Chest/Tricep Workout + abs <---------- awesome f'in workout!

DB Bench Press -
100lbs - 4 reps <---happy to do 100, wish I couldve done a couple more reps
95lbs - 6 reps
95 lbs - 5 reps

DB Incline Press
65lbs - 6 reps <--------another improvement
65 lbs - 7 reps
60 lbs- 6 reps


DB Shoulder Press
50 lbs - 6 reps <-------lil improvement
47.5 lbs - 6 reps
47.5 lbs - 5 reps

Skullcrushers w/CB bench
70lbs - ~ 8 reps CGB - 10
70lbs ~7 reps CBG - 10
70lbs - ~ 6 reps CBG - 10 <------ these went down since last time because i used a very narrow grip, about 2 or 3 inches between my thumbs.


Chest Press Cable flyes - some guy was using these and i was kinda taking longer than I wanted so i skipped these.

Tricep pulldown with horizontal bar
80 lbs - 11
80 lbs - 8
80 lbs - 6 <---------only thing about these is that I'm not consistent with my form from workout to workout. Definitely need to work that out.

Decline situp things with 25lbs plate behind my head
25lb - 9 reps
25- 6 reps
25- 5 reps <------i'm in love with these! On the way home, I clenched my abs and it felt like I had steel in there. For those who read this, I would say trash the 30 situp routine or any other high rep stuff you do and try something with 10 or less reps. I can't wait to see my abs in a few weeks


C ya.

[Heisman]

Good workout. You'll get more reps with the 100's next time.

Some people prefer high reps over low reps for abs, while some prefer low reps over high reps. Obviously, low reps work better for you, and it takes less time, so good job on discovering what works.

[RobArson]

RANDOM THOUGHTS

yeah, i think i'll just try to do more reps on the bench next week instead of increasing weight.....but Im not sure yet.

As far as abs go- if 10 or less reps is pretty much considered to be best for pretty much every muscle on your body, i wonder why people would think abs would benefit more from hundreds of situps. As far as I know, there's nothing unique about abs as far as how they grow and whatnot.

Anyways, I'm still pretty ignorant about lifting so I could be wrong.


By the way, FYI for whoever is reading this, I've gained 45 lbs in a year a half (30lbs in the first 5.5 months) and it was mostly lean muscle mass. My strength hasn't kept up with my size so I'm still improving my strenth to match my size.

I think I'll do leg press to supplement squats on my next leg day since I still haven't gotten the hang of doing squats correctly.

[wildman536]

Do Squats!! Practice!!

[Heisman]

Keep doing the squats. You'll get it down.

Exellent job on gaining weight.

Train abs whatever way you want to. You're right, they are just another muscle.

[Darracq]

Good idea on the more reps on the db bench i would use the 100s till you can get about 7-8 and then go to the 105`s. Your getting up there where its going to be hard to go up 5 pounds on db`s.

[RobArson]

Originally posted by wildman536
Do Squats!! Practice!!

Okay, okay!!

[RobArson]

Originally posted by Heisman
Keep doing the squats. You'll get it down.

Exellent job on gaining weight.

Train abs whatever way you want to. You're right, they are just another muscle.

Thanks. I'd like to gain another 10 or 15 lbs. before I start cutting. Its fun being big

[RobArson]

Originally posted by Darracq
Good idea on the more reps on the db bench i would use the 100s till you can get about 7-8 and then go to the 105`s. Your getting up there where its going to be hard to go up 5 pounds on db`s.

Yeah, I think I'll do that. Hopefully I'll be able to do 3 sets with 100 lbs next time. However, I think I can keep some of these gains going because they've been coming along well recently. The workout after the next one I will definitely go with 105lb dumbells.

[RobArson]

Biceps/Back <----trying to be optimistic so....I have a lot of room for improvement.

T-Bar Lying Row
90lbs - 10 reps
100lbs - 6 reps
100lbs - 4 reps

DB Bicep Curls
50lbs - 6 reps
47.5lbs - 5 reps
47.5lbs - 5 reps <-----------first time doing biceps in a couple of weeks, not to happy with this.

Shrugs on Standing Calf Raise Machine
did some warmups to get used to the machine, then
500lbs ~ 11 reps
500lbs ~ 8 reps
500lbs ~ 7 reps

These were interesting but I didn't feel them afterward like I would have liked. I did some DB shrugs next in hopes of pushing my traps a little harder.

95 lb DBs - 15 reps <---no problem.
95 lb DBS- 15 reps <---again, no problem. At least my grip is getting better

Deadlifts - okay, I tried these on advice from Heisman to work my lower back. It worked my back like hell but my form S*CKED. It was really tough to bend down and get the bar over my knees without bending my back into a very unfavorable position. I'm gonna try working on form at home with a ez curl bar I've had for awhile.

Wide Grip Lat pulldowns
0 sets - 0 reps cause some damn jabronis were using them.


All in all, not a fulfilling workout but it could have been worse.

[Heisman]

Keep working on the deadlifts. Use very light weight at first, and go here irongame.com to watch the masters do it. Make sure you keep your back straight. Trust me, when you get the deadlifts down you will love them.

[RobArson]

thanks heisman but the link doesn't work.

It would be nice to see a .gif or a movie with somone doing them; I'll see if I can find any on google or something.

[Heisman]

Why the hell does it not work? It doesn't work for me either. Does anybody know why it isn't working?

[RobArson]

Legs Day

okay, so I've been doing sh*tty with the squats so far so I did them first today and FINALLY felt good about them.

Squats
135 - 10 reps
145 - 10 reps
155 - 10 reps
165 - 10 reps
175 - 10 reps --> after 7 reps, I had to stop for about 5 seconds but the next 3 reps felt great
185 - 5 reps

Did a lot of reps just to get the form down. My form was perfect unlike times where I've squatted more weight.

Seated Calf Raises.
90 -15 reps <--wtf. I think I've been putting 200lbs on my journal when it was actually only 2 45s. lol
115 - 9 reps
90 - 10 reps
90lbs - 10 Reps <------the rep numbers arent totally accurate, I dont remember the exact numbers. Plus, I was experimenting with the foot placement to find what worked best. I definitely hit my calves well though.

Hamstring Curls
170 - 9 reps
175 - 6 reps
170 - 5 reps <---- pretty happy with these.


Got on the scale and only weighed in at like 207.9. I haven't been eating as much lately cause its just gotten hot as a mofo down in North Cal and I've had no appetite whatsoever. I might consider cutting but....I dunno. Big vs. shredded, Gaining strength vs. trying to just maintain strength....

[Heisman]

Good idea doing lots of squats and getting the form down. If you aren't going to eat, then you might as well cut. It's up to you.