Heisman's log

[Heisman2]

Was exhausted after my shift and felt like crap but went to the gym anyway. Elbows were feeling it too so I did a row based workout:

Lat pulldown leaning back rows:
200x5/180x5/160x5
200x5/180x5/160x5
200x5/180x5/160x5
180x5/160x5/140x5
160x5/140x5/120x5
120x10/80x5
100x10/60x5

Used momentum on some reps, did not get full range of motion on some reps, and for the lighter two last sets held the full contraction for a full second. Overall this felt really good.

One-armed undearm machine rows:
120x5/100x3/80x3
100x7/80x4
80x7/60x5

Pulley rows:
200x5/150x5
150x10
120x15

Straight armed lat pulldowns:
60x13
50x23

Pullups:
7

Then went home to my apartment complex and did several different bicep movements in a circuit.

[Heisman2]

Not sore at all from my workout yesterday. I thought I might be because it was rather new but nope.

Slept a good amount on my last night shift thankfully.

Paused high bar backsquats:
275x5x5

Form was pretty good with these. Leaned forward slightly on the last 1-2 reps of the last couple of sets, but not too much.

[Heisman2]

Went to sleep at ~10:00pm last night, got up at ~05:00, thought about going to the gym but decided to sleep more after watching various things, and got up at 11:00am, lol. Should be caught up on sleep now.

Weighted dips:
BW+115x3 - still felt this a bit in the elbows and not super stable. Just may not be strong enough yet to do this weight comfortably.
BW+90x7x4 - this felt great. Will get up to BW+90x8x5 and then progress in weight.

Hammer grip machine shoulder press:
150x2.5/120x3/100x2/80x2
100x8/70x4

Military press:
95x5 - I promise I am a lot stronger fresh, lol.

Flies:
60x7/40x4
60x5/40x5

Machine flies:
worked up to 120x2

Cross arm front raises (adducting across my body) with a low pulley:
35x5
30x5

Lateral raises:
25x7/20x4
25x6/20x4

One armed tricep overhead extensions/pushdowns:
50x6/40x4
50x5/40x3
30x8/4

Then did paused incline dumbbell bench press supersetted with dips and did 50x8/5 dips/40x5/5 dips and called it a day.

[Heisman2]

One-armed pulldowns:
180x0
130x5x6

That's it, not trying 180 again for awhile. The other sets felt great; will do 5 sets with 140 and see how many reps I can get (stopping at 6) next time.

Chest-supported rows holding the contraction for 1 second:
135x5
95x2x6

Actually a bit more as I don't know what the handles weigh. This felt ok but not great.

One-armed pulley rows:
80x6
80x6/60x6

These felt really good.

Leaning back lat pulldown rows while holding the contraction:
150x5
150x5/100x5

These felt really good.

Did a couple other things but not worth recording. I'll stick to the lat pulldown and one-armed row variations as those felt like they were hitting my back in a way I want them too.

[Heisman2]

Yesterday's workout:

Weighted dips:
BW+95x8x4

I was sore going into these but managed all the reps, so quite happy.

Cable flies:
60x9/40x5
50x7/40x5

Hammer grip machine shoulder press:
120x4/100x2/80x2/60x3
100x3/80x2/60x3

Lateral raises:
30x3/25x3/20x3/15x4
25x5/20x3/15x4

One-armed tricep extensions/pushdowns:
40x8/4
40x6/3

Will hopefully get in a leg workout tonight.

[Heisman2]

High bar paused back squats:
285x5

Stopped there as I strained my left thigh a bit.

One-legged leg extensions:
180x6/140x4/100x4

Adductors:
200x7/160x4/120x4 - paused all contractions

Abductors:
200x7/160x4/120x4 - paused all contractions

Assisted glute ham raises:
15
15

Hack squats:
135x10
185x10
225x6
225x5


About to start a 4 week ICU rotation tomorrow. The goals for me from a lifting/physique standpoint during these next 4 weeks are:
- do full body workouts twice weekly (or in some way hit each major muscle group twice weekly)
- work a lot on lower body/squatting/deadlifting mobility/flexibility - I won't have time to be in the gym a lot but I should have time to fit in 30 minutes of stretching on days I don't lift if I stay dedicated
- cut a few pounds as I should be able to preserve muscle with less volume even if I am not making progress

So, I'd like to try to lose 1 pound a week and see if I can end up at 150. This bulk is going fine but there is no way I will be able to lift productively these next 4 weeks to gain strength; hopefully I can maintain. May give up squats during this time (or at least heavier squats) to work on the mobility as I think that will help me long term. I will try hack squats fresh as I can get deep with them without obvious pain; if I can push them hard then those, leg press, and the accessory lifts should serve me well. May do front squats as well as those don't seem to bother me typically. Just need to survive these 4 weeks.

[Heisman2]

Nice workout today:

Weighted dips:
BW+100x8x4

The last 3 sets were quite hard. Definitely getting stronger with these.

One-armed pulldowns:
140x5

I did not realize how much the dips would fatigue me with this movement.

Leaning back lat pulldown rows:
150x6/100x6
150x6/100x6
150x5/100x4

Cable flies:
70x5/40x5

Hammer grip machine shoulder press:
150x3/120x3/90x3/60x3
150x1/140x1/130x1/120x1/110x1/100x1/60x4

One armed seated pulley rows:
100x4/80x3/60x5

Hammer grip chins:
10
9

Dumbbell curls:
40x3

Then I got my lipids tested for biometric screening for my job. I ate greek yogurt, strawberrie, protein powder, and cinnamon as well as a peanut butter sandwich at ~06:00 and got tested at ~09:30.

Fasting glucose: 81
Total cholesterol: 156
HDL: 67
Triglycerides: <50
Total/HDL ratio: 2.3
Blood pressure: 106/74

Prior measurements for me looking through my journal:

February, 2016:
Total = 183
HDL = 66
Triglycerides = 27
LDL = 112
Total/HDL ratio = 2.8
BP was around 124/84

January, 2017:
Total = 139
HDL = 69
Triglycerides <50
LDL could not be calculated because triglycerides were too low, but it is between 60 and 70 (60 if triglycerides = 50 and 70 if triglycerides = 0).
Total/HDL ratio =2.0
BP = 116/80

February, 2018:
Total = 157
HDL = 47
Triglycerides <50
Total/HDL ratio: 3.3
BP = 110/77
blood glucose = 82

So pretty steady overall with BP slowly trending down overtime.

Next workout for me will be Saturday 12/22, then Wednesday 12/26, then probably Saturday 12/29, and then I think I will take a full week off to let my joints heal and get back at it Saturday 1/5.

[Payton1221]

February, 2018:
HDL = 47

Any idea why your HDL dropped so much in February?

Also, are you saying that you ate 3.5 hours before screening? Aren't you supposed to do that fasted?

[Heisman2]

Any idea why your HDL dropped so much in February?

Also, are you saying that you ate 3.5 hours before screening? Aren't you supposed to do that fasted?

I think the HDL thing was probably a misread as all my other values have been mid/high 60s. Not sure why that would have been the case.

In theory they should be done fasting but non-fasting does not change much; if you eat a lot of fat before the test your triglycerides will go up some (not a ton), and sugar can go up as well (not a lot if you have no insulin resistance issues). Cholesterol numbers may go down slightly as they get diluted from the addition volume entering the bloodstream from food/drink. If you eat a ton of cholesterol that will have an effect but not a huge one either. For example, if you have multiple eggs and consume 1 gram of cholesterol and all of it goes directly into the bloodstream then with a normal blood volume of say 5 liters that will increase your total cholesterol by 1000 mg / 50 dL = 20 mg/dL, which is not that impactful.

[Heisman2]

Yesterday I did:

Front squats:
worked up to 285x1 with a 3 second pause, then 245x3 paused, then 255x3 paused.

Then did hack squats up to 315x2, then 225x10

Weighted dips: BW+90x6, BW+70x6

One-armed pulldowns: 150x6/5 (R/L), 130x6

That's it. I'd only been averaging 4 hours of sleep over the prior 3 days. Working a 24 hour shift starting tomorrow morning after a long shift today. Back to the gym Tuesday if I feel up to it.

[Payton1221]

Front squats:
worked up to 285x1 with a 3 second pause

Without the pause at the bottom, you could probably get a 2XBW front squat which is iNsAnE!!!!

Merry Christmas.

[Heisman2]

Without the pause at the bottom, you could probably get a 2XBW front squat which is iNsAnE!!!!

Merry Christmas.

On my birthday I did 315x1 with a 3 second pause when I weighed ~146 pounds. That was my best.

I worked out a few days ago and did a few sets of a few exercises (hack squats 275x3x5, dips BW+90x6 and then 2 more sets, one-armed pulldowns 140x7 and then 2 more sets). Worked out again yesterday (12/29):

Hack squats:
275x8
275x7

Assisted glute ham raises:
11

Weighted dips:
BW+70x11
BW+70x7

One-armed pulldowns:
130x9
130x5

Incline dumbbell bench press:
70x7

Leaning back rows:
150x6/100x6

Hammer grip machine shoulder pres:
100x11

One-armed low pulley rows:
100x5/80x4/60x5

This was all good.

[Payton1221]

On my birthday I did 315x1 with a 3 second pause when I weighed ~146 pounds.

You are one humble dude (srs). If I could get a 3pps front squat (truth be told, I can't get a 2pps front squat), it would be my avi photographed at the bottom with a link to the whole video in my sig so that people knew that I didn't get buried with the rep

Happy new year!!!

[inoxaus]

Best of Lucky, you will achieve your goal

[Heisman2]

You are one humble dude (srs). If I could get a 3pps front squat (truth be told, I can't get a 2pps front squat), it would be my avi photographed at the bottom with a link to the whole video in my sig so that people knew that I didn't get buried with the rep
Happy new year!!!

Thank you! Happy new year to you too!
Currently taking several days off from the gym as I rest and recover. My hours at work last week:
12/23: 6a-6p
12/24: 6a-midnight
12/25: midnight-6a
12/26: 6a-6p
12/27: 6a-midnight
12/28: midnight-6a
12/29: 6p-midnight
12/30: midnight-6a, 6p-midnight
12/31: midnight-6a

When I get back at it and am done with PICU, I'm thinking of doing something like the following:
Monday: upper 1
Tuesday: lower 1
Wednesday: abs/cardio, facepulls, external rotations
Thursday: upper 2
Friday: lower 2
Saturday : abs/cardio/arms/facepulls/external rotations
Sunday: rest

Upper 1:
- Weighted dips (X weight for 3 sets of AMRAP, if I get 25 reps total I will go up in weight next session)
- Circuit x 2:
-----Hammer grip machine shoulder press (drop set)
-----Lateral raise (drop set)
-----Tricep overhead extension/pushdown (drop set)
-----Cable flies (drop set)
- Deadlift rows (start as a deadlift and finish as a row) (3 sets of AMRAP, if I get 25 reps total I will go up in weight next session, I will be holding the peak contraction for 1 second as I have not done these previously and need to work on form so weight will be relatively light)
- Circuit x 2:
-----One-armed pulldown (drop set)
-----One-armed seated pulley row (drop set)
-----Leaning back lat pulldown row (drop set)
-----Straight armed lat pulldown (drop set)
-----Dumbbell curl (drop set)

Lower 1:
- Hack squats (5 sets AMRAP, if I get 40 reps I will go up in weight next session)
- Circuit x 2:
-----One-legged leg extensions (drop set)
-----Assisted glute ham raises
-----Abductors (drop set)
-----Adductors (drop set)

Upper 2:
Incline dumbbell bench press (3 sets AMRAP, if I get 25 reps I will go up in weight the next session)
- Circuit x 2:
-----Lateral raise (drop set)
-----Tricep overhead extension/pushdown (drop set)
-----Cable flies (drop set)
Weighted pullups (X weight for 3 sets of AMRAP, if I get 25 reps total I will go up in weight next session)
- Circuit x 2:
-----One-armed seated pulley row (drop set)
-----Leaning back lat pulldown row (drop set)
-----Straight armed lat pulldown (drop set)
-----Dumbbell curl (drop set)

Lower 2:
- Deadlifts (3 sets of AMRAP, if I get 15 reps I will go up in weight next session) - if this proves too taxing to do weekly will alternate these with paused front squats
- Dumbbell step ups (3 sets of AMRAP, if I get 25 reps I will go up in weight next session)
- Circuit x 1:
-----One-legged leg extensions (drop set)
-----Assisted glute ham raises
-----Abductors (drop set)
-----Adductors (drop set)


Abs: 3 sets each of weighted cable crunches, dragonflags, cable twists, side bends
Arms: will do a variety of exercises on this day
Cardio: will warm up to an intense setting on the elliptical (level 40) and do this for as long as I can


This is quite high volume and I may not have time (or access to the needed equipment to get all of this done). However, I will give it a shot as I do want to spend more time with a bodybuilding approach as I bulk and my arms are a weak point so I would like to give them a specific day. If this proves too much on the upper days I will keep the dips, presses, rows, and pullups as is and cut down on the accessory exercises (except tricep and bicep specific work). The lower days I should be ok with this.

[Heisman2]

Back at it today:

Deadlifts:
405x3x5

Last set felt good.

Hack squats:
315x3x5

Weighted dips:
BW+90x7/4/4

Weighted pullups:
BW+90x4/3/3

Hammer grip machine shoulder press:
150x4/120x3/90x3

One-armed seated pulley rows:
100x6/80x4/60x4

Assisted glute ham raises:
15

Tricep pushdowns:
80x2/60x6

Dumbbell curls:
50x2/40x2

That's it. Everything felt good. Will take a couple days off and then do another full body workout.

[Heisman2]

Nice workout today:

Hacksquats:
315x10
315x4x5 with all paused reps

Assisted glute ham raises:
15

Weighted dips:
BW+90x6
BW+70x6
BW+45x9 with all paused reps

Leaning back lat pulldown rows (holding the peak contraction):
150x5/100x5
150x5/100x5

One-armed pulley rows:
100x4/80x3/60x3

Hammer grip machine shoulder press:
160x2/130x3/100x3

Straight armed lat pulldowns:
80x10

Dumbell curls:
40x8

Tricep pushdowns/overhead extensions:
1 dropset

[Heisman2]

Been too busy to post recently but did lift yesterday:

Leg press:
335x5x4 all paused

This felt great.

Weighted dips:
BW+90x6
BW+90x5
BW+90x5
BW+70x4 all paused

Leaning back lat pulldown rows:
150x6/100x6 - holding peak contraction x 1 seconds
150x6/100x6 - holding peak contraction x 1 second

One-armed low pulley rows:
100x6/80x4

One-armed pulldowns:
100x4/80x4

All felt good. Leg press feels amazing. Definitely feel it in my legs more than I feel squats in my legs. Let's see where this goes.

[Heisman2]

Weighted dips:
BW+70x10/7/5

One-armed pulldowns:
120x12/7/6

Leaning back lat pulldown rows with pauses: 150x7/100x7
One-armed pulley rows: 100x4/60x4, followed later by another set 100x4/80x4/60x4
Straight-armed lat pulldowns: 70x5/60x5
Dumbbell curls: 2 dropsets

Hammer grip machine shoulder press: set 1: 160x2/100x6, set 2: 140x2/100x4
Machine flies: 60x5/50x5 (2 sets)
Lateral raises: 2 drop sets
Tricep overhead extensions/pushdowns: 2 drop sets

1st workout like that. Breathing heavy which limited me a bit. We'll see if I get used to it. Excited to keep at this and to finally be able to train hard again.

[nachex]

hi heisman , before all perdon my english ,i would express myself as better as i can , I feel very represented by your post , also a doctor who just finished my residency and want to get fit again , always been a sport guy but i can also tell how hard its to follow a proper training doing a residency or after , thats my case anesthesiologist with caotic working hours that need a lot of you and organized work to train and achieve goals, i ve not read your post entirely (starting it) but i think its good to post when someone is maybe helping you (in this case you ), a lot of working hours in the hospital , with stress and ****ty food around makes it difficult , but not impossible, started crossfit 2 months ago 3-4 times a week , also doing some cardio 2-3 times a week, finding the better way to improve my diet at work , i did not measure my bodyfat yet , i weight 73 kg and height 1,78 mts , beer belly and a mesomorf kind of body , hope to improve it , and thank you for your post!!!!

[Heisman2]

hi heisman , before all perdon my english ,i would express myself as better as i can , I feel very represented by your post , also a doctor who just finished my residency and want to get fit again , always been a sport guy but i can also tell how hard its to follow a proper training doing a residency or after , thats my case anesthesiologist with caotic working hours that need a lot of you and organized work to train and achieve goals, i ve not read your post entirely (starting it) but i think its good to post when someone is maybe helping you (in this case you ), a lot of working hours in the hospital , with stress and ****ty food around makes it difficult , but not impossible, started crossfit 2 months ago 3-4 times a week , also doing some cardio 2-3 times a week, finding the better way to improve my diet at work , i did not measure my bodyfat yet , i weight 73 kg and height 1,78 mts , beer belly and a mesomorf kind of body , hope to improve it , and thank you for your post!!!!

Thanks for chiming in! If you just finished residence then I hope it is easier for you, although as an anesthesiologist I imagine it can still be difficult. If you're just starting then two full body workouts a week will be good enough to make very good progress. So if you are actually able to make it to crossfit 3-4x/week you should get great results. Regarding the dieting, it can be difficult when you are stuck in the hospital, but try to figure out your total calorie goal and try to bring snacks to work that help you reach that. I find it easiest to try to just ignore the other food around you completely but it can definitely be difficult. Good luck!

Today I did:

Leg press:
355x5/5/5/4/3

Assisted glute ham raises:
15/15/15

That's it. Leg press felt very good. Great working weight for me. Really excited to see how I progress with these. I don't feel they hit my hamstrings well so the GHRs are great for that. I did try to do the abductors/adductors but that caused a bit of pain in my left hip flexor area so I will stay away from those for awhile.

[Heisman2]

Yesterday I did:

Incline dumbbell bench press:
70x12/8/7

Dips:
BW+45x6 followed by BWx4
BW+45x6 followed by BWx4

Cable flies:
1 dropset

Lateral raises:
1 drop set

Tricep overhead extensions/pushdowns:
2 drop sets

Weighted Pullups:
BW+70x8
BW+45x10
BW+45x7

Leaning back lat pulldowns (holding peak contraction):
150x7/100x7

One-armed pulley rows:
100x4/80x3/60x3
80x4/60x4

Straight-armed lat pulldowns:
60x10

Dumbbell curls:
2 drop sets


Today I did:

Deadlifts:
425x5
425x2
365x1

Leg press with paused reps:
315x7
275x8
225x10

Assisted glute ham raises:
15
15

One-legged leg curls:
60x4/50x10


Everything is going well. Tomorrow morning I can sleep in for the first time in 2 weeks and desperately need to, lol. Will do arms/abs/facepulls/cardio tomorrow.

[Heisman2]

Did the following in a large circuit:

Standing cable crunches:
2 drop sets

Standing side twists:
2 drop sets

Standing cable side bends:
2 drop sets

Face pulls:
3 drop sets

Low pulley curl/high pulley curl (one-armed):
2 drop sets

Tricep overhead extensions/pushdowns:
3 drop sets

Dumbbell curl/machine curl medley:
2 dropsets

Tricep machine/dumbell overhead extension/pushdown medley:
1 dropset

[Payton1221]

Did the following in a large circuit:

Standing cable crunches:
2 drop sets

Standing side twists:
2 drop sets

Standing cable side bends:
2 drop sets

Face pulls:
3 drop sets

Low pulley curl/high pulley curl (one-armed):
2 drop sets

Tricep overhead extensions/pushdowns:
3 drop sets

Dumbbell curl/machine curl medley:
2 dropsets

Tricep machine/dumbell overhead extension/pushdown medley:
1 dropset

No weighted pull-ups or dips? No heavy one-arm pulldowns?

Heisman, YOUR ACCOUNT HAS BEEN HACKED

[Heisman2]

No weighted pull-ups or dips? No heavy one-arm pulldowns?

Heisman, YOUR ACCOUNT HAS BEEN HACKED

Haha, just giving this new program a chance!

Today:

One-armed pulldowns:
130x5
130x3
130x5

So I used the same pulldown machine I have been using but there is definitely extra friction making it harder; the last set I used a different one and obviously as I got more reps the first couple of sets were harder than they should have been. Will use the more correct setup next time.

Weighted dips:
BW+70x11
BW+70x8
BW+70x7

First set was a 1 rep PR, so quite pleased with that.

Then I did the following 16 sets in a circuit as shown:

Hammer grip machine shoulder press: 160x2/100x5, 150x2/100x5
Leaning back lat pulldowns (holding peak contraction): 150x8/100x8, 150x8/100x8
One-armed machine flies: 60x10, 70x8
One-armed pulley rows (holding peak contraction): 100x6/80x3, 100x3/60x6
Lateral raises: 25x5/20x3 (both leaning), 30x5/25x3/20x3/15x4
Pullover machine: 125x10, 140x10
One-armed tricep extensions/pushdowns: two drop sets
Dumbbell curls: two drop sets

[Heisman2]

Leg press:
355x5x5

Took all I had on the last set but got it. Importantly, no pain. We'll see how I progress with this.

Assisted glute ham raises:
15
15

One-legged leg extensions:
70x4/60x6/50x10

Adductors (slow reps):
40x12
50x12
50x12

Abductors (slow reps):
40x12
50x12
50x12

Face pulls:
40x12
50x12
50x12

Rear shoulder flyes:
1 set

Happy with this.

[Heisman2]

Quick ab workout today:

Weighted cable crunches:
3 drop sets

Standing cable side twists:
3 sets

Dragon flags:
3x3

Cable side bends:
3 sets

[Heisman2]

Did this quickly and was breathing heavily the entire time:

Incline dumbbell bench press: 75x10/7/6 supersetted with weighted pullups: BW+55x12/8/6

Leaning back lat pulldowns holding the contraction: 150x10
One-armed machine flies: 80x6
Lat pullover machine: 155x10
Hammer grip machine shoulder press: 100x10
One-armed pulley rows holding the contraction: 80x8
Lateral raises: 30x3/25x3/20x3/15x5
Dumbbell curls: 35x4/30x4/25x4
Tricep overhead extensions/pushdowns: 100x4/90x4/80x3/70x3

Will go up in weight weigh the pullups next time and keep the presses the same weight.

[Heisman2]

Yesterday I did some deadlifts, not heavy. Was still feeling fatigued from prior workouts. I only worked up to 405x1. I think I am going to start doing essentially romanian deadlifts (where I place the weight more on my heels and try to really hinge backwards as far as possible without losing balance) to focus more on hamstring as the leg presses are hitting my quads hard. Will start at 225 pounds and go up 10 pounds per session while I focus on form, going for 8-12 rep sets.

Leg press:
375x2
315x3

Hamstring curls: one dropset

Today I did some biceps, triceps, abs, facepulls.

Also I ate way too much food today but it was free so no regrets, haha.

[Heisman2]

Extremely quick workout today:

Leg press (paused reps):
375x3/3/3/2/2 - actually release the weight at the bottom so essentially bottom-up reps

Assisted glute ham raise:
10/10/10

Adductors:
85x15 (slow reps)

Abductors:
85x10 (slow reps)