Walking up the down escalator.

[Tillday]

I've decided to keep a journal to help me keep track of my somewhat erratic routine and overall health in my day-to-day.

For anyone who visits this page, I suffer from both Crohns Disease and Celiac's leaving me feeling ill frequently, and struggling to maintain a 2k calorie diet.
Working out is a pleasure for me when I'm feeling well to do it, and I can be happy with the small gains I get by doing it. That said however the title is aptly named as my hopes of getting beyond 120 lb.s are small until I can find a way to recover my gastro-intestinal health and get back on a 2k+ cal diet which can be hard since even a small amount of gluten ingested, or food which disagree with me due to my Crohns (which are plentiful) can leave me sick from 24 hours to two weeks.

Nevertheless I'll continue to work out, because I've got nothing to lose by doing it.

Started out maybe 3 years ago but I'd had to take a prolonged break when my Celiac was undiagnosed and I was very ill. Came back to it this year and went from 110 to 120 in a couple months or so. I was doing very well until a few weeks back I made some bad diet choices and I'm now in the up-swing of recovery.

Because of my condition I follow a routine with 1 week recovery between muscle groups, and I pour as much effort into each group as I can on its given day. My energy pool is fairly limited and I get exhausted easily, so my days are split much in a way to allow me to give each exercise its full attention without feeling drained by the last sets of the day.

Monday:
Deadlifts 12 x 3
Current working weight is 65, I can go heavier but for now I want to focus on form as I feel at 70 I get sloppy.

Rows 12x3
Current working weight is 55. I can do 70 but my form is completely ****, despite still feeling the contraction I don't think it would be a good idea. I'm one of those schmucks that does them very upright to begin with because I feel it well, and my lower back / hams are too weak to do them at parallel.

Bench press & Incline bench press, 12 x2 of each.
Only 2 sets each, like I said my energy levels are not what most peoples' are, even with long rest periods, I feel like my battery is going empty, so I focus on getting the most out of my sets.
Using 65 BB

Pull-overs 12x3
Usually I'm toast by this point and this becomes more of a stretch, I use about 15 on BB for these.

Tueday is rest.

Wednesday:
Arm /ab day, zomg arm day? What are you some curl ***? No I want an arm iso day where I can focus on them and gauge my progress based on that.

Bicep curls: 8x2
20 lb DB
Hammer curls 8x2
20 lb DB
Skullcrushers 12x2
20 BB (super light on these due to elbow problems)
CGBP 12 x2
30 / hand

Weighted crunches:
8x3 30lb BB
Side bends:
15x3
30 DB

Friday:
Legs/shoulderes day

Back Squats 15x3
65 lb.s

Glute bridges 15x3
55 lb.s

Reverse Fly, Lat Raise, Front raise, 12x2 each
10 lb.s

_____

Supplements:
Taking a weigh protein, as recommended by my nutritionist to supplement for my trouble digesting large amounts of solid food.
Multi vitamin and fruit-replacement vitamin since most fruits make me sick.

[Tillday]

Mon 28 - Bad cold no exercise

Wed 30 - Crohns related abscess formed during the weekend, grew to painful size. Crohns symptoms flare up at same time, maybe no exercise for a while.

Fri 2 - Post surgery & still crohns symptoms, bad cramps can't eat, ugh

Monday 5 - On Ciprofloxacin for abscess, apparently I'm advised not to do heavy workouts while on this drug due to increased tension on tendons caused by it.

Sweet. I guess I'll just y'know update this next time I'm capable of working out, that's life.

[Tillday]

Finally some good news, been improving a lot in the past few weeks.
Whenever I get ill from eating a food that doesn't agree with me, I induce vomiting then quickly replace the calories with something that does agree with me.
I went to the doctor to get an MRI and hopefully will have the results soon.
Recently I've been very hypersensitive, on top of the obvious Gluten intolerance, almost all fruits and vegetables bother my stomach, except asparagus apparently. Weird...
Beef is off limits, too hard to digest, and I have to limit heavy meats like bacon, over-fried chicken, etc. to a minimum.
Turkey, fish, chicken breast all good.

When I went to the doctors at the end of Dec they weighed me in at 113, I'm back up to over 117 and working out again, hopefully I can start pushing for the 120+ area.

Last week I did some sets to see how I was, this week I started a sort of "go by feel" routine to get back into it.
Monday I hit my legs with some deadlifts at my old working weight of 65 so I didn't lose strength luckily.
Tuesday I hit arms and shoulders. Loaded barbell with 30 and did BB curl, CGBP, overhead press and some reverse flies and OHP with 10 on the DBs.
Wed I did chest and back, decided to try dumbbells again since I wasn't getting much burn with barbell. Did 35 lb. each hand, 8x3, finished with some flies 10 lb. x 15 and 15 lb. x10. Haven't done flys for a while and was getting used to the weight and using them as more of a burn out. My pecs are killing the next day so I'd say it worked well.
Did DB rows with 35, a bit heavy and I can't get my form down with dumbbells I think I'll stick with barbell for those.

I'll use this as a starting point and hopefully get back into routine next week.

[Tillday]

Going back two weeks I spent all week with terrible stomach cramps starting Tuesday, I only got to do chest and bi's.

It carried over to this Monday and I'm still not 100%, in fact I was just at the doctors and they think they have an idea of what's going on - Crohns inflammation in the small bowel at the end of the stomach. Very much not good and explains my loss of appetite and inability to consume / pass reasonable amounts of food. I have an endoscopy today and if it confirms it may be put on Prednizone, have to look into if I can lift on this drug.

For workouts I was able to do Tuesday and Wednesday:

Tuesday was Chest & Bis.
Flat bench 2 warmup sets of 30 lb bar x 15
1 working set 35 lb w/ dumbells x8
Probably not the best idea to go bar > DB but spinlocks are so time inefficient. Need to warm up with heavier weight next time, this was something new I wanted to try though so I'm feeling out what works for me.

DB Flies
2 warmup 10lb x 12
1 working 15 x 8

Concentration curls:
W/u: 10lb 12 x 2
Working 15lb 12 + some negatives

BB straight bar curl
30lb 1 x 12

Thoughts: Chest didn't feel as 'used' as normal, heavier warmups or an extra working set might help.
Bi's were good, might consider moving straight bar weight up to 35 next week, concentration to 20 on working set, 15 warmup.

Wednesay
Back day
One-arm rows:
Warmups:
10lb x12
15lb x 12
Working
35lb x 10

Wide grip rows after short rest
30lb 12x2

Romanian Deadlift
50lb x 12 two working sets

Thoughts:
I don't like one armed rows they put a lot of strain and torque on my shoulders. It was recommended in the routine I'm trying however that's due to being harder to cheat the weight, but I don't cheat BB rows anyway so I'll probably stick with them. RDL did a good number on my lower back and posterior chain. Consider adding 5 lb.s next workout.

[Tillday]

I've jumped around a lot recently with my 'routine' if you can even call it that but with my health it's not like I plan on making a LOT of progress, it's more about keeping fit and seeing what I can get out of it at this rate.

Anyway I've decided to cast out the rhetoric myths superstitions and sciences and simply go back to the building blocks of routine and make one tailored just for me - not what any of the experts say is best because they're trying to sell their book, just what I feel gives me the best use of my time with the iron, the best rest time, and the best burn the next day, using exercises I feel comfortable with and have the equipment to do.

Here's what I came up with:

Day 1:
Chest:
RC warmup
1 x 12
Flat bench:
8x2
Flies:
12 x 2
5 minute rest
Bi's:
Concentration curl:
10x2
Straight bar curl:
8-10x2

Day 2:
Back & traps:
Barbell Row:
10-12 x 2
Pendlay Row:
10-12 x2
Romanian Deadlift
10-12 x2
Front shrug
10-12 x 2
Rear shrug
10-12 x2

Day 3 :
Rest

Day 4:
Delts and Tris
RC warmup
1 x 12
OH press
12 x 2
Reverse Fly
12 x 2
Lateral Raise
12 x 1
5 minute rest.
Close-grip bench
12 x2
Overhead extensions
12 x2

Day 5:
Legs, bis
Bulgarian Split-squats
12 x 2
Front Squat
12x2
Calf raises
12 x 2
5 minute break
Dumbell hammer curl
12 x 2
Straight bar curl
12 x 2

Day 6 & 7 rest.

Elaboration:
I feel that I get the most out of two sets bringing each to failure. My 'reps' is more of a general guideline for maxing out. If I say 12 reps I'm really doing more for 8+ and rolling over to a new weight at 12. I may use negative or cheat reps to bring myself to failure. The thing is I find on my 3rd set of most exercises I've no longer got the juices to give it what I did on the first two, even after prolonged rest periods. You can throw your math, science and anecdotes at me, I feel 2 sets IS WORKING for me.

My biceps have always been a weak point and I always under-trained them. I felt like I could try stepping them up to twice a week. I don't feel they get hit adequately by rows on back day. I started doing concentration + straight bar as my two bicep workouts after seeing it on Dorian Yates's Blood N Guts video, I'd never considered that the concentration curl gives a longer time-under-tension with less release at the top of the rep, and I have a free hand to act as my own spotter during the last reps. The straight-bar lets me more safely cheat with my back on the last reps. I added 5 lb.s to my single handed curl after two weeks switching over to this, I haven't seen a solid 5 lb. gain in a while so I'm sticking to it.

Back & traps pretty self explanatory. I'm only doing RDL because I want to focus my back and glutes and leave my quads well rested for leg day. I've highly neglected shrugs lately and need to get those back in my routine so there they are.

Day off to make sure my tris are all good from chest day and ready for some iso.

Hit the front and back delts, throw in a set of lateral raises to failure to polish them off, maybe more in the future, but right now my mechanics on that lift are bad, like really bad, I'm gonna be doing them super light as a burn off for now.
CGBP + overhead I feel are my safest in that they don't kill my elbows like skull crushers and I don't get a good contraction on kickbacks.

I don't have a rack so leg day is about hitting my quads how I can, glutes will see some activation of course but not my focus on this day.

________________________________


This will be my first week running this new routine, last week it was interrupted by my suddenly scheduled endoscopy on Friday which would have been day 4 so I just took Fri-Sun off for recovery (plus I still have crazy diarrhea I have no idea what from).

Because of this I lost out on hitting my legs so I'm switching up leg day and chest/bi day this week and I hit my legs today.

First time doing Bulgarian Split Squats, I started on my left leg, a little shaky, pounded out 12 of them, switch legs. Nothing. My right legs is significantly weaker than my left somehow and my glute can't propel me out of the bottom and I get massive strain on my knee. This is with NO weight. I might need to take these out of my routine for a little while and work on making sure my right leg is doing its part adequately on barbell lifts.

To compensate I threw in 2 sets of hack squats and 2 sets of front squats. My glute development over the past month or two since I discovered how lagging they were has helped a lot and my form felt really good today, great drive through the heels. Despite my deteriorating health I think my functional strength is doing well.

I moved my concentration curl from 15 to 20 lb.s for 8 reps, had to cheat on the last rep but I don't think I'm pushing ego on this it felt okay.

[Tillday]

First Day 4 of new routine:
I decided right off to start it a little different than what I had going on. I warmed up with lateral raises, first with some 5 lb. plates, two sets with 10 then one set each arm with 10 lb.s at an incline.
After that I hit OH press, 15 lb.s 12 reps 2 sets, then 3 sets of reverse flies with 10 lbs. Though I seem able to handle the 10s alright moving the weight up seems currently out of the question, my RCs seem to take a lot of stress during these - ESPECIALLY lateral raise. If I don't come up to parallel the stress is much less, maybe something to consider sacrificing ROM for safety.

Started tri's with OH extensions, warmup with 1 set of 15. lb, 1 set 20 lb. then two working sets of 25 lb.s I think next week I'll skip the 15 lb. warmup and see how it feels. I still struggle with form on this exercise so I like having one warmup to loosen things up.

CGBP did two sets at 50 lb.s, first was 20 reps second was 15 reps. My elbow is a limiting factor still, my right one likes to lock up on me so I like the high rep approach for a safety reason.

I threw some trap work in at the end with some upright rows, first a set with 10lb then 15lb and behind-back shrugs at 50 lb. since trap day this week will be Friday, I'll have adequate rest before then. Since my traps have been neglected I want to hit them twice a week until they are up to speed since I can't seem to overload them well in one working session with my current comfort level in the exercises.

[Tillday]

Day 1 of routine, now on thursday instead of monday for this week:

I would like to note for myself for future reference I woke up feeling really good today. I've been doing a multi-vitamin and fruit supplement, taking turmeric and apple cider vinegar with baking soda twice a day to help with symptoms and I'm on prednizone, my health appears to be benefiting from at least one of if not all these treatments combined.

Chest & Bi day:
I'm feeling that the use of the aerobic step as a 'bench' is getting a bit unsafe, it's really hard to get into and out of position with it so I decided to ditch it and do floor-presses. In order to make sure I emphasize my chest I've moved flies to the front of my workout for a pre-exhaust.
I warmed up with 10s, 15s, then 2x working set with 20 lb. dumbbell flies which is a new PR.
Since I've been using 35lb dumbells on flat press I loaded 70 on the bar for floor press, it was challenging but doable, I did a set of 12 and one of 10 then I felt spent so decided to leave it there.

Did two working sets with 20 lb. concentration curls. The new weight is still pretty hard but I haven't seen progress on 15 I want to push the envelope a bit to see if I can move it along.

Overall I liked doing the floor presses as opposed to the unsafe-feeling aerobic step as a pseudo-bench because it allowed me to focus on my form and the weight rather than balance. I'm working on arching my back more power-lifter style to bring my numbers up. Previously I was only using 65 to floor press with bad form (not sure why I could handle better weight on dumbbells) but I feel this has been an improvement even though it doesn't look like it from the numbers. I'll have to judge based on my soreness tomorrow.

[Tillday]

Reflecting on yesterday's results: Some soreness in chest and bi's, workout was likely adequate.

Back Day:


Warmed up with 20 lb. dumbbell rows before moving on to 50 barbell. I really wanted to focus on my contraction, holding at the top and the negative, so despite knowing I can do 65 or 70 I kept it in check, felt a good contraction and was failing right on the 12 rep mark, though going a bit sloppy around 10. I still kind of feel I do fine going heavy and standing more upright however going lighter I felt the muscle contracting a bit deeper in some spots I didn't notice in the past though.

Next RDLs with 50. Knowing my glutes need work I really focused on putting all the work on them and gave them a hell of a burn. I know I could have had an easier time if I brought my back into it more but I think my glutes are holding me back most. I already know they're going to literally be a pain in the ass tomorrow, felt good.

Did 2 sets each of front and back shrugs with 50. Front I am going high at about 15+ reps I'll have to up the weight. Back was about 10 reps failure or so, whatever different area of the traps back hits, it's definitely weaker than my front.

Did some stretching of hams and glutes post workout. I tried to through in some Jefferson squats at the end because I wanted to try them but my glutes cramped all up on me, they might still be too weak for the form that lift requires.

[Tillday]

Monday
Day 1, back to proper order. Chest & Bis:

I was going to skip today because I have an upper GI series tomorrow, I'll have to fast and possibly be sick all day, but whatever I can just take tomorrow off as a recovery day.

Warmed up with DB flies, 10lb x 15 12 lb x 12 then two working sets of 20 x 10. My shoulders are still shakey on this I'll probably have to increase sets and reps until I'm hitting 12x3 or 12x4 since my weight jump will be 5 lb.s per hand and despite having a good feel on the 20s, going up is not safe or realistic to me just yet.

Floor presses, warmup with 50lb 15x2. I definitely feel my body adapting better to this lift and having more security with the motor function. I found today that if I stop trying to fight my tricep involvement to recruit more chest that my elbows feel much safer and I don't have issues with one side of the weight coming up before the other. When I moved up to my working weight of 70lb I did 10 then a set of 8 before I failed, it was more in-control than last week and I felt a far better pump in my chest post-workout.

I expanded my grip just a bit further outwards and felt I had much better balance and strength over the lift. I'm a bit wide of shoulder-width now.

Bi's were bi's, not much to say, I felt a little bit more confident with the 20's this week. Still not close to moving up to 25s.

Dietary note: Avoiding corn-based grain products like tortilla chips and corn-breaded meats, they seem to give me bad cramps. Scratch one more thing off the list of foods I can eat.

[Tillday]

Day 2
My GI test wasn't as invasive as I had thought it might be and I was good to go this morning, even had a big breakfast afterward.

I see that looking back at this thread is going to get messy so I'm going to put my lifts in a clean little table for myself going forward so I can track my progress and methods easier.

Back:
Rows
Warmup:
20lb dumbells x 15
50lb BB x 15 x 2
Working
70lb BB x 8 x 2

Deadlift
Warmup
50lb x 15 x 2
Working
70lb x 8

Thoughts:
Glutes seem to be catching up progressively, hopefully they will soon and my DL will over-come my row as it should be.
I felt way stronger on the rows today, the reps and weight I did were both up from last week. Definitely getting work done on my lats it would seem.

[Tillday]

Shoulders & Tris:
This day is hella weird because my shoulders have issues on some lifts, my elbows have issues on tri workouts, the entire thing is dabbling in semi-reps as I fiddle with my form and weights trying to find an optimal pathway on the lift and minimize injury chance, the whole time usually working with light weights in the 15-20 rep range. Here's how today went:

RC warmup 5lb x 15 x 1

Lateral Raise
WU 5lb x 20 x 1
Working 10lb x 15 x 2

Rev Flies
Working 10lb x 12 x 2

Front Raise
WU 5lb x 15 x 1
Working 10lb x 12 x 2

Upright Row
20lb x 12 x 1

Lying tri extension:
2 hand
WU 10lb x 20 x 1
Working 20lb x 15 x 1
1 hand
10lb x 12 x 2

Sitting OH extension
2 hands
20lb x 15 x 1
1 hand
10lb x 12 x 2

Front Shrugs
70lb x 12 x 2
Rear shrug
70lb x 12 x 1

Thoughts:
Shoulders still popping some during lat raises, going thumbs-up seems to help but still feeling it's something to do with my shoulder position, how I rotate them and how I engage the muscles. It doesn't currently feel like it's a high injury risk and I feel it may potentially get better as the muscles strengthen and sort of pull me into the correct shape.

My tris on the other hand are worrying me with the elbow tension. I think I'm finally getting an MMC that allows me to contract them in such a way that the elbow tension is much less, toward the end of my sets I was doing much much better, but it took something like 6+ sets to get there, when I'd really like to bang out 2 warm ups and be in the groove. Hopefully with strength and better MMC this will resolves itself as well.

My elbows feel safer on the two-handed variants but I feel like it's becoming a huge crutch and not working the weak spots I need to resolve the issue with the weak spots of the muscle causing the pain in my elbow.

[Tillday]

Leg Day:
After seeing a video on YouTube of someone performing zerchers by deadlifting the weight onto their thighs, hooking their arms under it and starting their reps I decided it might be safer and easier to try this than to continue to clean the weight up into a front-squat position.
My initial verdict is 'maybe.' My first attempt was very shaky, and my back may have been in a compromised position while I figured it out. What I can say about it is that it hit my glutes in a way that no prior leg exercise has in the past and literally fried my CNS is three sets. It may be worth learning to do these as it will become easier as I accommodate myself to the lift. Coming out of the whole after set up is basically lifting out of an ATG squat and burns up so much energy, I didn't expect it.

Here's how my day went:
Dumbbell Squat Warmup
40lb (20lb x2) x 15 x 1
Zerchers
50lb x 12
50lb x 8
50lb x 5
(yeah I could do less each time even with longer rests, they wiped me out fast)

Calf Raise
50lb x 15
70lb x 12 x 2

Weighted Crunches
20lb x 15
40lb x 8 x 2

Serratus Arm Raises
20lb DB x 12 x 3

Thoughts:
Try Zerchers again next week see if my body starts to accommodate them better, if not go back to front squats. Injured shoulder around RC doing dumbbell crunches somehow? In future will do them with weight perched on shoulder rather than held outwards, perhaps RC warm up before hand.

[Tillday]

Day Chest / Bis

Decided to try light cardio warmup, 3 minutes on the exercise bike. My legs started to really burn and I didn't want that to distract me during my lifts so I stopped there, was going to go for 5 but I think I'll progress gradually with my health and all.

I then did two sets of 12 pushups with 1 minute rest between before starting my warmup sets.

Floor Press:
Warm up:
50lb x 15
55lb x 15
60lb x 12
Working
70lb x 8
70lb x 6 x 2

DB flies:
Working
20lb x 12 x 3

Bicep Concentration Curl
20lb x 12
x 8
x 6

Thoughts:
Adding extra warm up sets has very much seemed to help my floor press form and safety, I'm no longer feeling unsafe strain in my elbows throughout the lift. I think 70 will continue to be my working weight for a while longer as I'm very much struggling on the 2nd and 3rd working set to match the reps I can make on the 1st.

I found that by using 'improper form' during flies and rotating / moving my arm slightly at the elbow I can get a much better chest contraction, it also cut down the number of reps I could accomplish, but it's about the contraction not the reps or weight so whatever works.

Biceps not progressing, perhaps more rest time between would have been better however I'm trying to do 1 minute rests between sets. I might be better to go back to 15 lb. DBs. Not sure yet

[Tillday]

Day 2
Back:
3:30 min on exercise bike warmup + RC warmup
Rows
20lb DB x 15
50lb BB x 15
70lb BB x 12 x 2
70lb BB x 8

Deadlift
70lb x 12 x 2
70lb x8

Calf Raise
70lb x 20 x 2

Weighted situps
20lb x 12
x10
x8

Scalp / serratus presses
40lb x 20
50lb x 20

Quad stretches 50s per side

Thoughts:
After my rows I've already dead lifted the weight up for each set, so I didn't think warming up for DL was necessary, and it didn't seem to be tbqh. Still cheating out the last few reps on my rows but I think it's fine I'm getting a decent feeling contraction. Had a lot of lower back pain at end of deads having trouble deciding if it's just muscle soreness, I think it is though. Was having knee pain too, I think it's from not coming down far enough in the negative since I'm doing RDL's, stopping too high like with squats seems to put undue stress on the knees, I'll have to just pay more attention to coming down right. My glutes weren't nearly as stressed out this week I think they're finally no longer the weakest link in the lift.
Been doing some quad stretches at the end twice a week to help my APT. Seems to be working out not too shabby, but the more flexible I get the harder I find it is to get a good stretch on my quads since it's such an awkward muscle to stretch.

[FatEars]

damn sucks about the Crohns and celiac disease but you look really good in your avi for 120
keep up the good work bro

[Tillday]

damn sucks about the Crohns and celiac disease but you look really good in your avi for 120
keep up the good work bro

Thanks, low bodyfat and ******** angles work their magic =p

Day 3 & Day 4 consolidated since I forgot:

Day 3 Tris and Delts:
Still struggling to perform lateral raises without popping shoulders. Did a lot of low weight, high reps, unfortunately I should have recorded it on the spot but I was busy watching Pawn Stars between sets then just completely forgot.
It was something like:

Lateral Raise:
WU 5lb x 15 x 2
Working 10lb x 10 x 3
OH Press:
WU: 10lb x 15 x 1
Working: 20lb x 12 x 3
Rear Flies:
WU 5lb x 15 x 1
Working 10lb x 12 x 3
Tri OH Extension:
I don't remember I did these messy with some 2 hand and some unilateral ending with 10lb per hand x 15ish.

Thoughts:
Still fighting to get lateral raise right but doing much better on it, I usually only get the click a few reps out of all my sets.
I finally had a bit of an epiphany with my elbow on overhead extensions, I've been so consumed trying to find a 'perfect' form but I found if I just let my elbow find its own spot and don't support it with my other arm, the strain is gone and I get better use of my tricep, no elbow strain, and can knock out more reps. I just need to grow accustomed to this sweet spot so I can do it every week and start moving to heavier weight.

Day 4 Legs:
Was a really bad day for leg day, had terrible cramps from carrots the night before, was painful the whole way through.

3:30 warmup on exercise bike
20lb x 2 dumbell squat warmup
Zerchers:
50lb x 8 x 3

Calf raise superset shrugs:
Warmup: 50lb x 12 x 1
Working: 70lb x 12 x 2

Thoughts:
Getting better at zerchers but I think I am compromising the safety of my back during them, had some back pain the next day, have to be more careful / attentive next leg day.

[Tillday]

Day 1
Chest and Bis

Warmup
4 min exercise bike + RC warmup, 15 pushups

Floor press:
50lb x 15 x 2
70lb x 8 x 3

Flys:
20lb x 20, x 15, x 12

Supine DB curls
15lb x 15
20lb x 8 x 3

Thoughts:
Chest is definitely progressing. I felt very confident banging out my sets of 8 floor presses at working weight. Next week I'll be pushing for extra reps for sure.
Flys were in descending reps due more to tightening of form each set than due to loss of strength each one. I started off with my elbows too high causing my shoulders to pop, and was doing little tweaks each set.
I can curl more weight with a supinated grip than pronated, is that normal? Either way, great way to hit the bis and forearms in one lift.

T'was a good day.

[Tillday]

Day 2
Back

4 min exercise bike warmup + quad stretches @ 30 sec holds.
Rows:
WU:
20lb DB x 15 x 1
50lb BB x 12 x 1
Working
70lb BB x 10 x 3

Deadlift
70lb x 10 x 3

Shrug Superset Calf Raise:
70lb x 15 x 2
(grip quit on me!)

Thoughts:
My ****ing grip gave out on me during my shrugs / calf raises. My hands started cramping up and I just couldn't hold the bar anymore. It could be the result of my supinated BB curls on day 1 wearing out my grip. I guess it's no big deal really as I consider the shrug + calf raise at the end an accessory lift but still.

My main lifts were all much improved, I had 10 solid reps each set and a few cheat reps I didn't count on my rows. I increased my rest time this week deciding to do what feels right rather than follow some ideology I had heard from the pros that didn't seem to be doing it for me. Was about 1:30 between rows and 2:30 between deadlift sets. Enough to get my breathing under control by the next set.

[Tillday]

Finally picked up a chin-up bar.
Issue is I'll have to re evaluate my routine to fit them in. Before I had bis monday back tuesday, there wasn't an issue because I don't feel much bicep strain during rows.
Chins, however, are similar to rows in that they hit the lats, and that's what I want them for, but they hit the bis very hard too.

I may just take bi's out of chest day and use that day for my utility work (shrugs, calves, crunches) then put bi's on back day doing my chinups first, then rows, and throwing supine DB curl in at the end. I worry about my grip though as my last Day 2 it was failing already from the heavy rows and deadlifts - however I believe that was due to donig the supine DB curls the previous day.

I suppose the only way to know for sure is to do it ***et and find out.

I'm going to throw some chins on Friday this week and see where I'm at, then next week it'll be the new tweaked routine. Hopefully I can see some nice development in the width of my lats and not look so darn thin anymore!

[Tillday]

Day 3
Tris & Delts

WU:
RC warmup
Lat raise:
5lb x 15 x 1
10lb x 15 x 2
15lb x 8 x 2

OH press
20lb x 12 x 4

Reverse Fly
15lb x 5 x 3

OH Extension:
10lb x 12 x 1
15lb x 10 x 3

Kickbacks
20lb x 5 x 3

Thoughts:
Add 5 to OH Press next week.

Loss of leverage during lat raises and various shoulder workouts seems to be a result of poor leverage in the upper part of the lift, crooking my elbow more might be necessary in order to make sure the weight I can lift is sufficient, otherwise I can lift a lot at the bottom and not enough to be an effective workout at the top.

[Tillday]

Day 4
4 min exercise bike
10 x 4 negative chin ups. Normally I can do a few but I think I was burned out from trying a few when I got the bar earlier this week, so I did negative sets instead.

Front Squat
50lb x 8 x 2
Zercher Squat
50lb x 8 x 2

Weighted Situp
50lb x 8 x 3

Calf Raise Superset Shrug:
80lb x 12 x 3
80lb x 8 x 3

Thoughts:
Zerchers seemed to be killing my back these past two weeks so I decided to go back to front squats, then two sets in remembered I quit those because they were killing my wrists. Went back to zerchers focusing on form and lower reps. I think my back came out okay today.
First day doing legit chin up sets. I couldn't seem to do more than 2 or 3 before having to resort to negatives, but it's a start and my lats were killing shortly after.
Decided to up the weight on my calf raise and shrug, first time I've loaded and moved 80lb.s on the bar. Deadlifting it up gave me confidence I can probably do more weight on my deadlift for reps as well. Maybe I'll try doing 5x3 of 80 next week.

[Tillday]

Wow lats are still sore from chinups friday, and for some reason triceps? Must be the stretch from full ROM.

Day 1: chest & accessories

Warmup:
5 minutes on exercise bike + RC warmup

Floor Press:
50lb x 12 x 2 warmup
75lb x 8 x 3 working

Flys:
25lb x 8 x 3

Calf Raise SS Shrugs
80lb x 12 x 3

Thoughts:
I was surprised when I decided to take a leap and add 5 to my press, thought I'd be down to 5 reps but still got a solid 8. I think confidence may be holding back some of my lifts more than bodily limitations.
Shrugs were better than last week, this may be due to not having been pre-exhausted because they were done on tuesday after back day last week, but either way, 12 is more than 8.

[Tillday]

Day 2 Back & Bis

Warmup: 5 min exercise bike + stretching

10 x 4 chinup negative reps

Full Deadlift:
WU
70lb x 12 x 1
80lb x 5 x 2
90 lb x 5 x 1

Working:
100lb x 5 x 3

Supine Bicep Curl:
20lb x 8 x3

Regular Bi Curl:
20lb x 6 x 2

Thoughts:
Still can't do solid chinup reps but it's only been a week since I started.
I decided to cut the RDLs and try full DLs and brought my PR from 80 to 100, that's all my plates. I may need to buy more soon. Quite happy with that.
Bis are still stubborn but improving.

[Tillday]

Delts & Tris:
RC warmup
OH press: 25lb x 8 x 4

Bent-arm lat raise:
WU: 15lb x 12 x 1
Working:
25lb x 5 x 3

Reverse Flies
10lb x 12 x1
15lb x 8 x 3

Kickbacks:
25lb x 5 x 3

Overhead Raise
15lb x 8 x 3

[Tillday]

Day 4
Legs & Accessories

5 min cardio warmup

Front Squat:
50lb x 12
55 x 10
60lb x 10 x 3

Calf Raise SS Shrug
85lb x 12 x 3

Quad Stretches.

Thoughts:
Wrist hurts less on front squat if I let my delts take the weight more, I think my delts are finally developing to the point where they can do this and not just have the weight sitting on my collar bone.
Could probably front squat more but couldn't clean up heavier weight.

[Tillday]

Day 1 Chest and Accessories
5:30 exercise bike + RC warmup

Floor Press:
Warmup
65 x 12
70 x 12
Working
80 x 8 x 3

Calf Raise SS Shrug
90 x 12 x 3

[Tillday]

Was very sick feeling tuesday, took the day off and moved back day to today. Took today semi-light due to low energy levels

Day 2 Back & Bis.
Chinups 5x4 + 1 burnout set cheat reps.

Rows
70lb x 8 x 3

Deadlift
100 x 5 x 3

Bi curl
15 x 12 x 3

Wrist curl
15 x 12 x 3

Reverse Wrist Curl
10 x 12 x 3

Did some ab **** at the end but ended up cutting it short due to stomach bubbling too much.

[Tillday]

Day 3
Delts and Tris:
OHP
25lb x 8 x 3
Lateral raise:
****ed around with controlled 10lb reps ~20 reps or failure, 3 sets, and some 15lb negative reps swinging them up and controlled neg.
OH extension:
15lb x 12 x 3

Kickback
15lb x 12 x 3

Did some bodyweight dips can't recall numbers

Day 4
Legs:
Bulgarian Split Squat
Bodyweight x 12 x 3

Front Squat
50lb x 8 x 2

Jefferson Squat
50lb x 12 x 2

[Tillday]

Unfortunately after stopping Prednizone my symptoms have largely returned, I'm unable to eat at even caloric maintenance let alone surplus and don't expect to be able to maintain energy levels to exercise regularly or to have any hope of further progress until a better treatment can be found so in all likeliness I will no longer maintain this journal until my condition improves. Life sucks what can you do.

[Tillday]

Scratch previous post, it seems right as I came off my prednizone I slipped some gluten somewhere in my diet, I had really bad symptoms for days I associated with stomach inflammation but it's passed and I'm doing very well, however I've decided to go with a sporadic workout regimen following a 'listen to your body and do what feels right' mindset focusing on strength and low reps, and frequent workouts, I have a feeling it would draw criticisms but I prefer to try things and see how they work sometimes rather than follow the creeds of the community which so often are broken down and changed on almost a monthly basis.

The core of it is still my MT/TF routine working full body each day + greasing the groove on chin ups instead of sets as part of my routine.
I change exercises frequently to hit what I feel was neglected the previous one, for things like deadlifts which I consider a leg workout, I will instead do a squat variant the next workout to bring more quads into it. All work is done is 5-6 x 3 rep/set format. My goal is to build strength moreso than muscle.