Heisman's log

[Heisman2]

Had a long somewhat irritating day at work. Then I went to the gym.

Weighted pullups with mobile handles:
warmup
BW+135x1

I did this to mimic my grip with the one-armed pullups more and it strained my elbows a lot. Won't be doing this again.

One armed pullup negatives:
4x2

I felt these in my lats and biceps a lot.

That's it. Hopefully I can sleep well tonight. I may lift tomorrow or I may take the day off.

[Heisman2]

Quick workout today:

Back squats:
warmup
245x5x5

That's it. No pain. Reps felt good. Did 30 minutes elliptical after.

If I get up early enough tomorrow I'll do a pressing workout; I'm working the next couple of nights so it'll be a few days before I'm back in the gym beyond that.

[Heisman2]

Made it to the gym this morning:

Incline dumbbell bench press:
warmup
85x2/1 (both sets with 3 second pauses)
75x6/4
70x5
65x7/5

Weighted dips:
warmup
BW+90x3
BW+70x4
BW+45x6
BW+25x7

Called it there. Happy with it overall. The bench I was using was not the one I normally use and the incline was slightly steeper. I'll measure the actual angle the next time I'm there (the one I normally use is 29.3 degrees). I did 30 minutes elliptical after this.

I'm busy the next few days so won't be posting as much.

[Payton1221]

(the one I normally use is 29.3 degrees).

Not sure if serious Of course, the steeper incline makes it harder. Not sure what your incline to flat numbers are, but mine are lower than the average lifter. When my brother and law and I lifted in a public gym years ago, we'd go head-to-head on flat, but his incline was MUCH higher than mine.

[Heisman2]

Not sure if serious Of course, the steeper incline makes it harder. Not sure what your incline to flat numbers are, but mine are lower than the average lifter. When my brother and law and I lifted in a public gym years ago, we'd go head-to-head on flat, but his incline was MUCH higher than mine.

Actually was serious. I have a s****ometer (s c o l i o m e t e r) app on my phone (to help determine if I should get an x-ray on someone where I notice they may have s****osis) that functions as a lever. There are free s****ometer apps available for android and iphone.

I haven't done any flat benching in awhile but dips serve as decline in a sense. Way back in the day my flat bench was a lot higher than incline, but I'm not sure if it was abnormally so or not.

[Heisman2]

So my second night was quite rough but we got through it. Had 9 admissions in a one hour time span, which was utterly ridiculous.

Anyways, my body is still recovering but I deadlifted today:

Deadlifts:
warmup
425x8

That's it! I didn't feel very strong when warming up either. My form felt good. Ripped a callous doing this. This is a 1 rep PR for me. Next time I'll do 425 again and see if I can get 9 or 10 reps.

I may take tomorrow off to recover more; we'll see how I feel.

[Payton1221]

Had 9 admissions in a one hour time span, which was utterly ridiculous.

My wife is a charge nurse, and for a short season, they tried letting the charge nurses take just one patient BUT to do all admits/discharges AND to help the other nurses with their work. They discontinued it due to a combination (I think) of jealousy from the other nurses and some of the charge nurses not "helping" sufficiently considering their diminished workload.

Anyways, my body is still recovering but I deadlifted today

my body is still recovering and I deadlifted today does not compute

[Heisman2]

My wife is a charge nurse, and for a short season, they tried letting the charge nurses take just one patient BUT to do all admits/discharges AND to help the other nurses with their work. They discontinued it due to a combination (I think) of jealousy from the other nurses and some of the charge nurses not "helping" sufficiently considering their diminished workload.


my body is still recovering and I deadlifted today does not compute

Where I work the charge nurse rotates each night. Is that the case where she works?

Anyways, I've been busy and am about to get busier. I'll be working Sunday night and then I'll start a 6 night stretch on Wednesday. Got in a quick session today:

Incline dumbbell bench press:
warmup
85x1.5 with 3 second pauses - I misgrooved the 2nd one but the first rep actually went up pretty smoothly
70x11 - first time I've gotten 11 reps with the 70s in years
70x6

Dumbbell rows:
warmup
100x3x5 - first time doing these in awhile, I wanted to ease into it today before really pushing myself

Hammer grip machine shoulder press:
warmup
150x1
100x8
100x6

One-armed pullup negatives:
2
1
1

The very first rep I was a lot stronger than the rest. I think I may do a timed hold for my first rep moving forward.

Dips:
15
10

One-armed pulldowns:
warmup
130x3
100x5

Nice quick session overall. Done with all of it in ~40 minutes.

[Payton1221]

Where I work the charge nurse rotates each night. Is that the case where she works?

No. It's somewhat random. They have divided their staff into thirds (A, B, and C), and they rotate priorities for scheduling:

A gets to pick first for the new schedule then B schedules then C fills in what's left for a about a month's worth of work

The next month it's B then C then A, then the third month it's C first then A then B

Incline dumbbell bench press:
85x1.5 with 3 second pauses - I misgrooved the 2nd one but the first rep actually went up pretty smoothly

I just bought some rubber coated Cap 90# DBs for my home gym, and with the rubber coating, they look freaky huge. I waited for them on Craigslist (and I would have weighed them with my home scale) but after a while, I rolled the dice and bought a pair off eBay. I was pleased when each weighed 90.8 lbs . . . and the error might have been my scale

I think I may do a timed hold for my first rep moving forward.

I'm no expert but this looks like a solid approach.

How's the mini-cut going? I can't say this has helped me significantly or even at all, but I've replaced my first breakfast (typically ~5 oz of chicken) with 2 oz of chicken + leucine.

[Heisman2]

Mini cut is not going well, lol. Pretty stressed with work things and the next 2 months are brutal from a lifestyle perspective (ED and ICU rotations), so this will have to realistically wait a little bit.

Did squat today:

Backsquats:
warmup
255x5/5/5/2

These felt really good. The last rep on each of the first 3 sets was my limit (while maintaining good form). Had a slight twinge along my left leg after the 2nd rep of the 4th set and decided to stop as I was happy with the 3 sets I got.

Assisted glute ham raises:
12

That's it for the session. Happy with it. I might get to the gym tomorrow during the day if I don't get called in. My biceps are still really sore right now form the negatives I did. I think this may be the biggest difference between weighted pullups and 1 armed pullups, with 1 arm I have to use a lot more bicep at the top of the rep.

[Payton1221]

Mini cut is not going well, lol. Pretty stressed with work things and the next 2 months are brutal from a lifestyle perspective (ED and ICU rotations), so this will have to realistically wait a little bit.

No worries. Nothing wrong with going sideways for a while And summer is still a ways off. I suspect you could accomplish what you wanted to with your mini-cut in less than 6 weeks.

Have you ever tried EC (or ECA)? It has shown to provide a little extra burn daily. I've used it in the past, but now I use it just once per week and that's as a pre-workout before my one and only "heavy" day each week.

Is ED "Emergency Department?" As you know, the abbreviation ED has several meanings and one ******** friend of mine from high school posted about HER ED problems for several weeks before I realized she was talking about an eating disorder and not the "dysfunction" that first came to my mind

[Heisman2]

Yeah, I agree, 6 weeks should be good. I have not tried EC or ECA. I tend to stay away from supplements simply because I rather see what I can do without them.

ED is emergency department, lol. I'm starting on a week of nights which include several critical care/trauma shifts and I don't like high acuity situations so after the next 10 days or so I will feel a lot better about things.

[Payton1221]

I tend to stay away from supplements simply because I rather see what I can do without them.

Note even creatine? Just curious

I don't know if medical careers run in your family or not, but my wife is a nurse (as I said before) and our daughter wanted to become an OT. There are only two universities in the state with an OT program and the one near us (close enough to commute to) costs ~$22K/year. Her grades got her a 50% scholarship but after one year she switched to their RN program. So after paying ~$50K for the four years, books, fees, etc ., she later told me "you know dad, my grades were good enough to have earned me a full scholarship at ______ if I had known that wanted to be an RN"

I'm a cheap son-of-a-gun by nature, but for some reason, it doesn't bother me. I guess just knowing that she has a good degree (she graduated in June AND works on the same floor as my wife) makes it worthwhile.

[Heisman2]

Never tried creatine. I take vitamin D every now and then (I get enough in my regular diet that I shouldn't need it) and I have used whey protein.

I have an uncle who is an internist and my dad is a veterinarian.

All's well that ends well. Pretty cool they work on the same floor.

Lifted today:

Incline dumbbell bench press:
warmup
80x7.5/5/4/3
70x6

80x7 is my prior all time PR so this matched that. I was quite close on the 8th rep. Next time I think I can get 80x8. The paused work has definitely paid off.

Hammer grip machine shoulder press:
warmup
130x7/4

130x7 is a PR for this. Really nice.

Dumbbell rows:
warmup
110x5/5/5

Pulled my left lower lat on that 3rd set so I called the workout here. It actually hurt more standing up while holding the dumbbell in my right arm after doing this. I do not believe this is a serious injury. The weight itself otherwise felt good and I felt stronger than with the 100 pound dumbbell last session.

[Adude60]

I decided to make a log to hold myself more accountable in all aspects of my life, but particularly with diet/exercise for the purpose of this forum. Right now I'm a first year resident and thus I at times work multiple weeks in a row (including weekends) without a day off. On typical work days depending on the rotation I'm on I may work anywhere from 6 hours to a more standard 11 hours or at times 14-16 hours. A big problematic factor is I cannot necessarily eat when I want to. There are days where I eat breakfast at 4:30am and do not get a chance to eat again until 3-4pm. I also can at times suffer a lot of stress that is work-related; being busy is not stressful to me but anytime I worry I have made a decision that negatively hurts a patient in some way that can hit me fairly hard. Also, I don't sleep nearly as much as I would like to some nights which also impacts me negatively.

Current stats:
5'7", 155 pounds, estimate ~14% bodyfat
Front squat: 265x5 and 275x3, 305 x 1 with a 3 second pause with poor form
High bar back squat: 345x1 a couple months back. I have a torn lateral meniscus in my right knee (for years) that holds me back
Deadlift: Maxed at 550 in May, have not deadlifted regularly or heavy since.
Pullup: Recently did bodyweight + 155 pounds.
Dips: Sadly no great dip station in my gym with my proportions. Recently did bodyweight + 135 pounds but I'd be stronger if there was a better set up.
Resting heart rate: 53 bpm

Goals:
- Cut down to 10% bodyfat to prove to myself I can do it (always been chubby if anything), then go on a long bulk.
- Do a 1 armed pullup and eventually a pullup with 4 plates
- Front squat 315 pounds with a 3 second pause
- Do a dip with my bodyweight (currently ~155 pounds)
- Back squat 405 pounds*
- Deadlift 600 pounds**
- Get my resting heart rate <50 bpm
- Elliptical: make progress over time regarding intensity and duration

*The torn meniscus may prevent me from ever doing this as I do not wish to risk injury and thus when I feel any uneasiness in the knee I hold back.

**I deadlift beltless and 550 was quite difficult. I don't think anyone my size has ever done 700 beltless and I don't really think I have the capacity to get within 100 pounds of an all time best lift so this may not be possible but who knows.

Diet: Typically consists of (in no order): yogurt, blueberries, banana, nuts, cottage cheese, salmon, chicken, lots of veggies, beans, oatmeal, eggs, milk, peanut butter sandwich, whey protein. I typically eat the same things most days. I'll log calories/macros as I go along. I will try to eat as little as I can while meeting fat/protein minimums but will bump up calories when necessary either because I'm too hungry to sleep or because I feel my workouts are suffering.

Exercise program: I'm squatting every 3-4 days and am trying for the first time to have separate days for pushing and pulling movements. I'll log what I do as I do them and make adjustments as necessary. I like to do at least some cardio with an elliptical daily if I can, but I am more likely to skip it on a day I squat than anything else.

I'll start logging tomorrow. Happy to answer any questions.

Hi! I'm new to the forum and read your story and I think I may have something that could helpI it is called the Ketogenic diet and intermittent fasting plan. You don't have to eat as much, just in a small window. Eat a lot of nutrient dense foods (vegetables), medium dietary fat, and low protein. This habit of eating will provide you with massive results in terms of overall health and wellness it also sounds like it would benefit your scenario very well! Hope this helps, and I'm happy to answer any questions you may have!

[Heisman2]

Finally back in the gym today. My six night stretch was fine. Nothing too bad happened. Turns out it's a great way for me to cut as I'm too busy to eat and then I sleep most of the day and I manged to lose 5-6 pounds over the last week and am down to 150. Not sure how much was fat as I look really flat right now. Also during the week I had a cold and left back pain as well as left knee pain. Those pains were pretty bad (hard to bend over) but are now gone. I'm convince they were due to the cold.

Incline dumbbell bench press:
warmup
90x2
80x6
70x6
60x8
50x11
40x15

Nice to get the 90s up again. Considering I'm flat I'm very encouraged that I got these up.

One-armed pulldowns:
warmup
160x1
150x2
140x3
130x4
120x5

These felt good.

During this session while holding a dumbbell with my right hand my left let hurt some implying my prior injury is not fully healed. I really, really want to deadlift but I think it will be wise to wait for that pain to go away fully. That said, I might be able to get away with it if the pain comes from an asymmetric load (holding the weight in one hand) as that won't be an issue with deadlifts.

Regardless, I was tired at the end of this. I got home this morning at 04:30 and slept from ~05:30-11:30. Tonight I will go to sleep at a hopefully reasonable time and get my sleep schedule back on track. I have two noon-8pm shifts the next 2 days but I hope to do legs tomorrow morning.

[Plateauplower]

Wow I didn't realize you were that light! How tall are you? That’s incredible pulling 3X BW for reps on deads, I’ve fallen just short of a single at 3x BW several times now when I diet down.

That would thoroughly suck taking on that swing shift stuff. I dated a girl for awhile when I was finishing up school who was finishing her cardiovascular surgery program, long hours sometimes, but at least those are usually during the day (barring being on call for emergency)

[Payton1221]

Incline dumbbell bench press:
warmup
90x2
80x6
70x6
60x8
50x11
40x15

Nice to get the 90s up again. Considering I'm flat I'm very encouraged that I got these up.

The largest dumbbells in my homegym are a pair of 90's that I can lift, but what impresses me with you (and Tim aka PP lifts some heavy db's too) is how you're able to get them in to position. That would kill me because I need power hooks supporting them on a bar in a rack to lift mine.

[Heisman2]

Wow I didn't realize you were that light! How tall are you? That’s incredible pulling 3X BW for reps on deads, I’ve fallen just short of a single at 3x BW several times now when I diet down.

That would thoroughly suck taking on that swing shift stuff. I dated a girl for awhile when I was finishing up school who was finishing her cardiovascular surgery program, long hours sometimes, but at least those are usually during the day (barring being on call for emergency)

Yeah, I'm 5'7". I went to Applebees last night and tried their quesadilla burger (honestly wasn't as good as it looked) and ate some other food for a nice high fat, high carb, high protein, high sodium meal and then drank a bunch of water and woke up today feeling 154. When I deadlifted 550x1 I weighed ~166, I think.

As a pediatric resident my hours are not nearly as bad as anyone who is in cardiovascular surgery, haha. Just in rough 8 week stretch now; technically I've completed week 1.

The largest dumbbells in my homegym are a pair of 90's that I can lift, but what impresses me with you (and Tim aka PP lifts some heavy db's too) is how you're able to get them in to position. That would kill me because I need power hooks supporting them on a bar in a rack to lift mine.

I can get them to the starting position without trouble but the first rep is hard; thankfully all the paused work I've done recently has paid off. Dumbbell shoulder presses are a different story. I cannot kick those up at all, so I end up having to powerclean the dumbbells and sitting down with them, and overall this is an awkward process.

Session today:

Front squats:
warmup
185x5
205x5
225x5
235x2

These felt great. Very happy with my form and lack of pain.

Dumbbell step ups onto a ~20 inch box:
BWx5
40 (total pounds) x 5
60x5
80x5

These also felt really good. Managed to find something I could put the 18" box on to make it ~20"; 18" is right at parallel for me so I'm happy I can break parallel a bit.

Stopped here; will definitely be building on this well next session. Just getting back into it today.

[Payton1221]

Dumbbell step ups onto a ~20 inch box:
BWx5
40 (total pounds) x 5
60x5
80x5

These also felt really good. Managed to find something I could put the 18" box on to make it ~20"; 18" is right at parallel for me so I'm happy I can break parallel a bit.

I added these in when my knees were giving me trouble on the other movements, but fortunately, my knees tolerated these just fine. I used them as a "work around," but honestly, they're a keeper and will be a movement that I regularly use from now on.

[Heisman2]

Two days ago I had a short session where I incline dumbbell benched the 90s for 2 reps and did one armed pulldowns of 140x5, plus a couple other sets. Not a great workout; didn't have good energy.

Yesterday I did squats:

Front squats:
warmup
245x3
235x5
225x5
205x5

Stopped here. I was leaning forward too much on the reps. I think the issue is that when I don't pause I come out of the hole too quickly with my hips; I think if I aim to squat the weight backwards more I can fix this and will attempt to do so next session.

Dumbbell step ups:
warmup
120x10 (total weight)
140x5

These felt great.

One-legged leg extensions:
warmup
150x7

Today my lower body, especially my glutes, are sore. Lifted again today:

Incline dumbbell bench press:
warmup
75x9/6/5
70x7/5
60x10/7
50x11

I was still feeling it from two days ago so I did not go heavy.

One-armed pulldowns:
warmup
140x6 (PR)
140x3
120x6/5
110x6/5
100x7

This workout was very nice. I will feel this tomorrow. Finally ramping back up the volume. My back is still bothering me a bit but it is steadily improving... maybe I will do deadlifts in 2 days.

[Payton1221]

Dumbbell step ups:
warmup
120x10 (total weight)
140x5

These felt great.

Do you do these R/L/R/L/repeat or R/R/R/repeat then L/L/L/repeat?

I've done them both ways but have alternating lately.

[Heisman2]

Do you do these R/L/R/L/repeat or R/R/R/repeat then L/L/L/repeat?

I've done them both ways but have alternating lately.

I do one leg at a time. I prefer to not have to shift my feet around.

Yesterday while simply standing I was getting a lot of pain in my left glute. However, today I didn't have any pain when I woke up so I did legs today:

Front squats:
warmup
185x6x7

These all felt good. No form issues today.

Step-ups:
BWx15
50x15
60x15

15 reps is considerably more tiring than 10.

One-legged leg extensions:
warmup
150x10

Assisted glute ham raises:
12

Quite happy with this workout. Nice to start doing more volume.

[Payton1221]

Step-ups:
BWx15
50x15
60x15

15 reps is considerably more tiring than 10.

I know you're not an ultra high-rep guy, but BWx40/leg wipes me out. But then again, so do the weighted version with dumbbells done 15 reps/leg.

[Heisman2]

I know you're not an ultra high-rep guy, but BWx40/leg wipes me out. But then again, so do the weighted version with dumbbells done 15 reps/leg.

I don't really want to go too heavy on these so I may bump it up to 20 reps. :eek

Had a 6am-4pm shift today but didn't get out until 6pm. However, I still had a great workout.

Incline dumbbell bench press:
warmup
80x8/5
65x10/8/7/6

80x8 is an all time PR. These all felt great.

One-armed pulldowns:
warmup
150x4
140x3
130x4
120x5/4
110x5

150x4 is also an all time PR. I am using a very full range of motion on these (full stretch at the top and I bring the handle down to just below my armpit).

Legs are quite sore from yesterday. Things are going very well right now.

[alvintanasta]

I do one leg at a time. I prefer to not have to shift my feet around.

Yesterday while simply standing I was getting a lot of pain in my left glute. However, today I didn't have any pain when I woke up so I did legs today:

Front squats:
warmup
185x6x7

These all felt good. No form issues today.

Step-ups:
BWx15
50x15
60x15

15 reps is considerably more tiring than 10.

One-legged leg extensions:
warmup
150x10

Assisted glute ham raises:
12

Quite happy with this workout. Nice to start doing more volume.

Hardly ever seen a guy that is doing glutes isolation work. Nice. I am thinking of starting doing some glutes isolation work too. I feel my quads overpower my glutes and it kinda holds me back.

[Payton1221]

I do one leg at a time. I prefer to not have to shift my feet around.

Surely you must take a break between legs. Right? I did these again last night with almost 1/2BW in DBs (collectively, ~1/4BW/hand), and 15 reps on my right leg immediately followed by 15 reps on my left had my heartrate up to nearly 80% of my max

[Heisman2]

Hardly ever seen a guy that is doing glutes isolation work. Nice. I am thinking of starting doing some glutes isolation work too. I feel my quads overpower my glutes and it kinda holds me back.

Thanks for stopping by. To be clear, glute ham raises target the hamstrings far more than the glutes. In what way do you think quads overpowering glutes holds you back?

Surely you must take a break between legs. Right? I did these again last night with almost 1/2BW in DBs (collectively, ~1/4BW/hand), and 15 reps on my right leg immediately followed by 15 reps on my left had my heartrate up to nearly 80% of my max

Yes, I do take a break between legs. It would be hell otherwise.

I was going to lift today but ended up staying late at work with a really sick patient. I won't get much sleep tonight but will likely do squats tomorrow (if not tomorrow, definitely Sunday).

[Heisman2]

Managed to get another cold. Started having symptoms yesterday, worse today. Managed to do squats today (was going to do them yesterday but my gym was unexpectedly closed).

Front squats:
warmup
205x3x7

Out of energy at this point. Those sets were solid though. I'll do this weight again next time when hopefully healthy.

Step-ups:
warmup
80x15

One set here and I was done. These felt good.

[Payton1221]

Step-ups:
warmup
80x15

One set here and I was done. These felt good.

LOL. That's exactly the weight/rep scheme I use. On more than one occasion, my intent was to do three sets, but journal records the third set as BWx40 because I just couldn't bring myself to do a third set (srs).