Perp's Blog to End All Blogs

[PerpetualMotion]

Sup, newbs? This log is an infinite log. It will cover the rest of my training until I die or BB.com dies. Whatever comes first.

I want to lose some weight and my goal is 150lbs by May. I picked that date because that's when I'm being fitted for a tux for my sister's wedding. I'll probably lose more or less depending how I look as time goes on. It's just a number I chose but it's not set in stone.

I'm an English student and I hardly move, so my calories are low. It's unfortunate eating like a gerbil but I'm essentially the size of one. Honestly, by the end of week 2, I'll see how much I've lost. If it's too much then I'll add 100 and keep adding until I'm losing how much I want to lose (1-1.5lbs a week).

I'd like to fix my right shoulder (hurt it whitewater rafting), get rid of my newb gains on the squat, and fix my posture so I can hop on Madcow's 5x5.

This is what I ate today:


My training for today:
(A1) Broad Jumps - BW x 6 x 3
(A2) Scapular Wallsides - BW x 6 x 8
(B) Walking Lunges - 40lbs (2 x 20lbs) x 3 x 20 reps, 20 reps, 14 reps (legs were annihilated on the last set)
(C) Pull Throughs - 35lbs x 4 x 12
(D) Hanging Leg Raise - BW x 4 x 10

If you: (A) Don't like this log, or (B) Don't check it out on a regular basis then I have this to say:

[PerpetualMotion]

Off day and am I glad. Never been this sore, so I'm spending most of my day standing or my legs get too sore to move once I sit.

Probably the best thing I have ever made that I've enjoyed and that's Meatball Sliders (5 sliders = 1470 calories, 65g fat, 84.5g carbs, 130.5g protein). Each meatball is around 120g, so 5 sliders plus buns is around 748g worth of food. None of this includes the marinara since the cals from it are almost negligible:


I thought it was pretty filling. I also had a 500g salad, so that was nice.

[PerpetualMotion]

Workout - Repetition Day:
(A1) Inverted Rows - 3 x as many reps as possible (AMRAP) - 12, 12, 10
(A2) Push ups - 3 x AMRAP - 25, 25, 12
(B1) Lat Pulldown - 3 x 10 - 100lbs, 85lbs, 85lbs
(B2) Band pullapart - 3 x 10
(C1) Dips - 3 x 8 - BW - 8, 7, 7
(C2) Zottman Curls - 3 x 8 - 15lbs - 8, 8, 8
(D) Blackburns - 5lbs x 10 seconds, 4 positions, 2 sets

Calories and macros for the day:


Food - Spaghetti with scratch made marinara mixed with ground beef and topped with parmesan cheese and parsley:

[PerpetualMotion]

Workout was alright today. Used lighter weights to really get technique and mind-muscle connection down. I'll be making big jumps in weight weekly since I started out quite low. I think I'm going to change my unilateral exercise to something else since a lunge from a deficit wasn't all that great. My first week back and I'm probably going to change a lot of stuff next week.

(A1) Max Effort Squat - Bar x 8, 65lbs x 5, 95lbs x 3, 115lbs x 1, 135lbs x 5, 135lbs x 5, 135lbs x 5
Note: This was pretty damn easy even though I haven't squatted in a really long time. Legs tend to go in and I know for a fact that my adductors are mega weak. Usually after I squat the adductors are the only sore muscle. Will probably add goblet squats to help with technique and add more squatting into my routine.
(A2) Wall Ankle Mobs
(A3) Lat Stretch
(B) Lunge from a Deficit - 50lbs x 3 sets x 6 reps per side
(C) Romanian Deadlift - 115lbs x 3 sets x 8 reps
(D) Side Bends - 25lbs x 3 sets x 8 reps

Also did some food shopping today. A lot of people wonder what the "spicy" is when they hit up a sushi place and the reason the taste is so good is because of a Japanese mayo called Kewpie.



Had some pretty basic eats today but I attempted a chocolate pudding parfait (240 cals) but damn it's hard trying to drop the pudding in without touching the side. I think I should have left the pudding a little more in its liquid state:


Finally, my nutrition for the day (not including two pieces of sushi):

[PerpetualMotion]

Weighed myself and I came in at 172.5 (from 175). Will continue to keep track of weight but if I hit 170 next Sunday then I think I'm going to increase cals by 100. I still have some soreness from Thursday's workout, mostly in the lat and serratus anterior. Here's my eats from yesterday:

This is something I found at the first Asian supermarket in my city and it sells a ton of international stuff. It's called Banana sauce, which is basically ketchup for the Philippines but they substitute bananas in place of tomatoes. The redness comes from dying it. It's friggin' amazing:


I end up making burgers and this is the result. Note: I love banana peppers:

[PerpetualMotion]

Max-Effort Upper Body

Barbell Rows / Static Hip Flexor Stretch
Warm up
Barx8
65x5
75x3
95x3
115x1
Work sets
125x5
125x5
125x5

Dumbbell Bench Press / Dumbbell Row
50x6 / 30x10
50x6 / 35x8
50x6 / 35x8
50x6 / 35x8

Prone Trap Raise / Cross Body Hammer curl
5x6 / 25x6
10x6 / 25x6
10x6 / 25x4

Side Bend
30x8
30x8
30x8

Quadruped Extension-Rotation / Standing Shoulder W
BWx8 / Light Bandx10 - 3 sets

Food

Homemade California Rolls (I prefer traditional style and not uramaki) with spicy mayo:

[PerpetualMotion]

Dynamic-Effort Lower Body

Dynamic Squats / Lat Stretch
95x3x6 sets

Walking Lunges
50x20
50x20
50x18

Pull Throughs
42.5x12
42.5x12
42.5x12
42.5x12

Pallof Press
20x3 (10 second holds)
20x3

Goal will be to do 3 sets of Pallof Press next week and hit 20 reps throughout on Walking Lunges.

Food

No pictures today since my piece of crap tortillas crumbled even after heating, so it wasn't even worth taking a picture of.

LOL of the Day

I appreciate that this one guy came into the gym and was working out with a walking cast but from the time I started walking lunges until I left, this guy was doing abs straight without any breaks. No idea why he would do that for 30 minutes but I thought it was hilarious. Props to him for having the ultimate abdominal endurance.

[PerpetualMotion]

Dynamic-Effort Upper Body

Barbell Rows
95x3x6 sets

Wide-grip Lat Pulldown
85x10x4 sets

Incline Dumbbell Bench Press
45x10x3 sets

Dips / Dumbbell Curls
BWx6 / 25x8
BWx6 / 25x8
BWx6 / 25x8

Blackburns
5x4 positions, 10 secondsx2 sets

Ab Wheel Rollout From Knees
BWx10x2 sets

Quadruped Extension-Rotation / Standing Shoulder W
BWx8 / Light Bandx10 - 3 sets

Thoughts
I wanted to superset the lat pulldown with the incline DB press but this dude was too busy on his cellphone and hogging it, so I did it separate. I'll need more rest from the Incline DB press to the Dips because the former made the latter much more difficult. Also, if anyone is wondering, my ab exercises are structured a specific way. Each workout represents a type of ab category, which are four: anti-lateral flexion, anti-extension, anti-rotational, and hip flexion w/ a neutral spine.

Food

No pictures again. Was pretty damn busy so I just settled for some Hamburger Helper. Here's my Fitday:


LOL of the Day

This trainer came took his client (slightly overweight female) over the smith machine to squat. On her first set, she couldn't go all that deep, so he went to an open are and squatted with heels slightly wider than shoulder width, toes pointed out and knees coming out (pretty good form) to show her the proper depth. The bad part is that he wasn't aware of his form is vastly different than his client's, so he had his client with an ultra narrow stance, toes completely forward, and a massively rounded lumbar. Strong awareness, trainer. She's going to wonder why her lower back hurts in a few months.

[MITCHAPAL00ZA]

nice food man....ive been on an italian food kick myself...but im bulking so i can really get creative, must be a bit tougher on a cut...any before pics btw? also, are your lifts in kg? +(measly) reps

[PerpetualMotion]

nice food man....ive been on an italian food kick myself...but im bulking so i can really get creative, must be a bit tougher on a cut...any before pics btw? also, are your lifts in kg? +(measly) reps

Lifting in pounds. Some of my lifts are particularly low because I'm focusing on two things: (1) Mind-muscle connection, and (2) technique. So I've increased the eccentric phase of the lifts and have a slight pause to emphasize the contraction.

I do have a before pic from January and one I had for the NFSC competition but I can't find the NFSC one, which is what I currently look like (except 5lbs heavier). I'll see if I can dig both up and I'll post them up tomorrow.

Also, awesome work on your transformation. Reps for that.

[crono456]

Oh man you really know how to make a good spaghetti dish, Perp!

[MITCHAPAL00ZA]

Lifting in pounds. Some of my lifts are particularly low because I'm focusing on two things: (1) Mind-muscle connection, and (2) technique. So I've increased the eccentric phase of the lifts and have a slight pause to emphasize the contraction.

I do have a before pic from January and one I had for the NFSC competition but I can't find the NFSC one, which is what I currently look like (except 5lbs heavier). I'll see if I can dig both up and I'll post them up tomorrow.

Also, awesome work on your transformation. Reps for that.

thanks man, looking forward to following ure log. i may start one myself soon, ive been eating and lifting pretty well as of late...but yeah ive actually been going light recently too. had a bunch of minor injuries the last month or two, so i really wanted to really focus on form and stay healthy.

[PerpetualMotion]

Oh man you really know how to make a good spaghetti dish, Perp!

Thanks. I appreciate the compliment.

thanks man, looking forward to following ure log. i may start one myself soon, ive been eating and lifting pretty well as of late...but yeah ive actually been going light recently too. had a bunch of minor injuries the last month or two, so i really wanted to really focus on form and stay healthy.

You should. It's nice to have a log, look back at it a year from now and see how you progressed. My notebook was huge but unfortunately I ripped it to shreds by accident when I was lifting.

Also, I'm big on avoiding injuries, too. I hurt my right shoulder in a whitewater rafting trip, so that's why I have lower trap work, standing Ws, blackburns, etc, a lot of postural stuff.

[PerpetualMotion]

Max-Effort Lower Body

Squats
Warm up
Barx8
65x5
95x3
115x2
135x1
Work sets
155x5
155x5
155x5

Bulgarian Split Squats
40x6/sidex3 sets

Romanian Deadlifts
155x6x3 sets

Swiss Ball Jackknife
BWx10x3 sets

Thoughts
I need a new workout booklet, something that's sturdy and doesn't rip like a regular school notebook. Will probably look into investing a good $10+ for a nice one. Mine ripped to shreds from being clumsy.

Food

5 Chicken Quesadillas, each with something different in it. The chicken was oven roasted with paprika, oregano, salt, pepper, and chili powder. Starting from the bottom to the top: sautéed mushrooms, sautéed green peppers, caramelized onions, jalapeños and bananas peppers, and roasted garlic:


Also, I got this in the mail not too long. Two free samples! HOLLA!


Dessert - White Chocolate Pudding with Shaved Milk Chocolate:


My calories and macros for the day (I didn't include the shaved chocolate):


I came under today but I have no idea what to fill it up with, so I'm just letting it slide. I'm not too fussed especially since I'm full. I might slam back some amino pills, which I got for free.

[Cumulonimbus]

Lol I got 2 free samples as well, they were win.

As for your DE squats, try 2x10 rather than triples.

Also what is your ME and DE movement for the two upper days?

[PerpetualMotion]

Lol I got 2 free samples as well, they were win.

As for your DE squats, try 2x10 rather than triples.

Also what is your ME and DE movement for the two upper days?

2 sets of 10 reps? How come?

And my ME movement is the BB row and the DE is 70% of that at 3 reps for 6 sets.

[Cumulonimbus]

2 sets of 10 reps? How come?

And my ME movement is the BB row and the DE is 70% of that at 3 reps for 6 sets.

http://www.elitefitness.com/forum/we...er-485278.html

Bar speed won't be that great with 3 reps, especially since you are using 70% which you need to drop.

As for the other DE movements, drop the % down to around 50-60. I don't know why you are using a rowing movement as a DE/ME movement. Serves no purpose. For DE/ME work chose an exercise that mimics the squat, BB press or deadlift - such as box squats, board press and deficit deadlifts.

[lovingit]

Ooo the quesadillas look really good!

[PerpetualMotion]

http://www.elitefitness.com/forum/we...er-485278.html

Bar speed won't be that great with 3 reps, especially since you are using 70% which you need to drop.

As for the other DE movements, drop the % down to around 50-60. I don't know why you are using a rowing movement as a DE/ME movement. Serves no purpose. For DE/ME work chose an exercise that mimics the squat, BB press or deadlift - such as box squats, board press and deficit deadlifts.

Interesting. I was using the BB Row as my ME because I'm trying to bring up my back but I'm too fat to make the chin/pull up my ME exercise. Also, I was using Joe Defranco's WS4SB as my template, which is essentially his modification of the Westside method for athletes. I was merely under the assumption that the DE exercise is essentially the ME exercise but with faster bar acceleration and lighter weight.

From reading your link, it seems like that 70% is too high. I'll have to make the squat a box squat, too. But what do you think of this, which is from the Westside website:
"The Soviets’ and Westside training is very similar in that the squats and pulls are mostly in the 75% to 85% range on dynamic day."
http://www.westside-barbell.com/arti...effort-method/

Good article, though. I'll read through it more carefully and make some adjustments.

Ooo the quesadillas look really good!

Thanks. I kind of wanted to "gourmet" the quesadilla up. The roasted garlic was amazing but only if you love the taste of roasted garlic.

[PerpetualMotion]

Food

I've been trying new things lately and I'm really enjoying it. It's fun expanding your palette and getting hit with all these different flavours, so today was a huge step for my palette in terms of food.

I made a Blueberry BBQ Sauce, which is amazing. I really wish I had ground venison to go with it instead but oh well. This is what it looked like before I blended it and strained it:


I also decided to push the burger flavours also. A lot of shows put coffee with their beef, so I made a Coffee burger (I used french vanilla grounds). I topped it with Blueberry BBQ sauce, bacon, lettuce, tomato, and cheese. These are each 250g each:

[PerpetualMotion]

Max-Effort Upper Body

Barbell Rows
Warm ups
Barx8
65x5
95x3
105x3
115x1
Work Sets
135x5
135x5
135x5

DB Bench Press / DB Row
55x6 / 40x8
55x6 / 40x8
55x6 / 40x8
55x6 / 40x8

Prone Trap Raise / Cross Body Hammer Curl
10x6 / 25x8
10x6 / 25x6
10x6 / 25x6

Side Bends
35x8
35x8
35x8

Food

No pictures today. Made a no-pasta lasagna that wasn't too bad but I think it had too much ricotta. Tried Pop Chips for the first time today and they're not too bad. I'll have to try a flavoured version because the original isn't that good. I like the texture though and the entire bag is only 360 calories.

LOL of the Day

This dude, literally, spent his entire workout on his phone. In between sets, he was banging away on his Blackberry. Madness. In the end, I do me so I wasn't too concerned but I have no idea how he could think about texting when he's lifting. When I'm in the gym all I care about is me versus the weight.

Weigh-in

I weighed in yesterday and I came in 171lbs. So, it looks like I underestimated my calories burned, which makes me pretty happy. I thought I was pretty sedentary but I'm unconsciously active. Woot! Either way, I'm pretty chubby, so I'll stick to what I'm at.

[PerpetualMotion]

Dynamic-Effort Lower Body

Box Squat
95x2x10 sets

Walking Lunges
60x20
60x20
60x14

Pull-Throughs
50x12
50x12
50x12
50x12

Pallof Press
20x3
20x3
20x3

Food

Fried rice for today. Seriously, rice is the best thing on the face of the planet. Going out later to buy some Top Sirloin since it's 75% off (holla!), which means a lot of steak dishes for me to concoct, and I'll probably buy plenty of Jasmine and Basmati. Anyways, here's my fried rice:

[PerpetualMotion]

Dynamic-Effort Upper Body

Barbell Rows
95x3x6 sets

Wide-grip Lat Pulldown / Incline DB Press
85x10 / 50x10
90x10 / 50x10
90x10 / 50x9
90x10 / 50x7

Dips / Dumbbell Curls
BWx7 / 30x8
BWx7 / 30x7
BWx6 / 30x6

Ab Wheel Rollout From Knees
BWx10x3 sets

Thoughts
DB Incline Press is insane. I'm not too familiar with it and I don't remember it trashing my chest so badly. I've never felt an exercise (other than the Decline Hammer Strength Press) work my entire chest as hard as the incline DB. Probably my new favourite exercise and I think I'll have to have a DB or BB version in every program I do. I'm not particularly too fond of the volume I have now. I mean, 40 minutes isn't too bad for being in the gym but I just don't feel like the volume is enough. Will have to add some tricep exercise ME day especially since I'm only doing dips once a week. Will have to re-evaluate program and make some major changes. Might move to something really basic like StrongLifts or SS. Will have to see how my shoulder feels doing some OH and if I have enough thoracic extension.

Article of the Day

One of my hobbies is reading about posture and the correction of it, mostly because my posture blows. It's something I've come to really enjoy and I have even started reading some Physiology and Anatomy books trying to learn as much as I can.

One of the most common exercised muscles in the gym is the rotator cuff, mostly done through external rotations. The problem is that most people train the RC to failure. This led me to an awesome article by Mike Reinold, the current athletic trainer of the Boston Red Sox. Here is why NOT to train the RC to failure:

More evidence indeed to support the concept that the rotator cuff is so important in providing dynamic stability of the shoulder, even during simple tasks, that you can not work it to failure. So think of this next time you want to attempt to work the cuff to failure. Doing so will increase superior humeral head migration and increase subacromial impingement.

So consider this a call to action, stop working the cuff to failure or performing burn out sets for the rotator cuff (and the back too, but that is another post…). These muscles don’t work this way. I continue to stick to sets of 10 repetitions for shoulder exercises.

http://www.mikereinold.com/2011/04/r...migration.html

Take away note? Training RC to failure can increase impingement.

[PerpetualMotion]

Max-Effort Lower Body

Barbell Squats
Warm Up
Barx5
65x5
95x3
115x2
135x2
Work sets
165x5
165x5
165x5

Bulgarian Split Squat w/ Dumbbells
60x6
60x6
60x6

Romanian Deadlift
155x6
155x6
155x6

Ab Wheel Rollouts
BWxFailurex3 sets

Food

Today was a rainy day, so I thought it was time for some comfort food. I made Salisbury Steak with Poutine all topped off with gravy from the drippings off the Salisbury Steak:


Article of the Day

http://charlieweingroff.com/2010/11/...g-in-the-neck/

[PerpetualMotion]

Upper Body

I mentioned before that I'm considering changing up my program and I ended up doing so, especially after reading a lot of training theory. It's not perfect and I'm still quite unknowledgeable but I: (A) Need to bring my back up to snuff as to improve posture, and (B) Need more focused training to bring up my bench and squat. Here's my new program.

Bench press
155x5
155x5
155x5

Chest Supported Row
55x5
65x5
70x5
70x5
70x5
70x5

Assisted Pull Ups / Dips
-40x5 / BWx7
-40x5 / 10x5
-40x5 / 10x5
-40x5 / 10x5

Food

So, I'm not a big fan of ground chicken burgers but I'm a big fan of chicken breast burgers. Delicious. So, I made some today with mozzarella, smoked paprika, and bacon:


And I made vanilla fortune cookies. They're pretty damn tasty:




LOL of the Day

Dude spent 50 minutes on the bench press with 135lbs on the bar with feet in the air, mini reps, and talking for around 45 minutes then proceeded to give bench press advice to other people and telling them all to keep the feet in the air.

I have seen some people advocate "feet up" style for two reasons: (1) Reduce lower back pain, or (2) Target the pecs more. I simply cannot accept either answer. If you feet up bench, come @ me.

[Cumulonimbus]

BB rows shouldn't be used for your ME upper movement. It should be some type of a press variant. Also and your ME lower, try triples.

A normal ME upper for me looks like

Press variant (reverse band press, band press, pin press, floor press, etc)
Row (any sort of horizontal row) 4x8-10
RE press 3x12
Side laterals 3x12
Biceps 3x15
Triceps 2x12

[PerpetualMotion]

BB rows shouldn't be used for your ME upper movement. It should be some type of a press variant. Also and your ME lower, try triples.

A normal ME upper for me looks like

Press variant (reverse band press, band press, pin press, floor press, etc)
Row (any sort of horizontal row) 4x8-10
RE press 3x12
Side laterals 3x12
Biceps 3x15
Triceps 2x12

Yeah, I changed it now. I'm following more of Madcow's training theory (not his actual workout) to structure my workout now, which you can see in my last post. If I'm fudging it up, let me know. I still have a few hours of reading to do from his website.

So because I'm pretty nub in experience, I've moved away from the Westside method and lifting maximally more often (a la Bill Starr 5x5 or Ripptoe's SS). I bench at 3 sets x 5 reps twice a week now as my first lift and everything else after that is to improve it. As per Arioch's advice, all my pulling movements mimic the bench one way or another. So, pull ups (similar grip as bench) and chest supported row (similar grip as bench) while I use the dips as my supplemental pressing movement on my high intensity/low volume day.

I think I'm doing it right.

[PerpetualMotion]

Lower Body

Squat
175x5
175x5
175x5
175x5

Romanian Deadlifts
155x5
155x5
155x5

Thoughts
Still working out some kinks on my lower body day. Still making adjustments. Will probably add a 5th set for next week. I want to add Glute Ham Raises but we don't have the machine at our gym and there really anywhere I can pin my feet underneath. Will have to find some kind of solution.

Food

Sloppy Joes! I love sloppy food and there's something nice about eating sloppy joes. Good stuff.

[PerpetualMotion]

Upper Body

Bench Press
155x5
155x5
155x5
165x5

Incline Dumbbell Press
55x8
55x8
55x7

Barbell Rows
115x8
115x8
115x8
115x8
115x8

Lat Pulldown
100x8
105x8
105x8
105x8
100x8

[PBateman2]

Subbed!

Alright..let's see what ya got.

Will follow.

Nice eats but don't care about that I like the training though. Nice split.

Train hard, man!