M4tticus' Workout Log

[M4tticus]

Brief Background:
Been lifting on and off for a couple years (2014-2016), built some decent muscle using only isolation movements (No BB bench, squat or deadlift) as adjustable dumbbells and plates is all i had access to. My workouts use to consist of 20 - 30 sets, lots of them being super sets and using the same weight most workouts, only variation was in rest times and tempo of the exercise. For most of 2016 and up until late January of 2017, i fell into the trap of trying to diet for those abs, very low calories and training very inconsistently, of which the work would usually be ruined by a binge at the end of the day. This cycle went on for the last 4 months of my losing weight phase, of which i should have ended at the time.. But nonetheless, time to get those lifts up again. Started consuming more foods and lifting from mid February 2017.

Best Lifts Before Weight loss:
*Weights are in KG
Bench: 80x3
Squat: 90x2
Deadlift: 120x3

Lifts after Weight Loss:
Bench: 70x1 (19/2/17)
Squat: 75x1 (18/2/17)
Deadlift: 112.5x1 (18/2/17)

I have been lifting & tracking consistently since mid February, and plan to track my workouts from here on in this thread.

[M4tticus]

15/4/17

Backsquat - 87.5kg 5x5
Backsquat - 67.5kg 1x20 (kill me)
Glute Bridge - 82.5kg 3x18
Sitting Smith Calf Raises - 95kg All out

Workout went well, didn't fail any reps which is great. Those 20 rep squats are evil. Day before Easter as well, gym closed tomorrow. Back to it on Monday.

[M4tticus]

17/4/17

Flat Bench Press - 77.5kg 5x5
Incline DB Press - 32.5kg DB's for 5,4,6
Decline DB Fly - 17.5kg DB's 3x10
Lat Pulldown - 60kg 3x6
Cable Row - 77kg 3x8

Nice workout, variation in reps on the DB press may be due to different rest times. Flat bench was pretty good, no real grinder reps. Last day of school holidays, daylight savings done, gonna be working out in the night now

[M4tticus]

18/4/17

Backsquat - 88.5kg 5x5
Backsquat - 68.5kg 1x20
Glute Bridge - 85kg 3x18
Sitting Smith Calf Raise - 97.5kg All ouut

Nice workout, squat may have been harder as my workouts have moved from the morning to around 5:30pm after school. Depth looking good. Accidentally did a ATG pause on the 3rd set, wasn't thinking, just sat back lol. Hopefully a new marker of 90kg 5x5 and 70kg 3x20 will be set on Friday.

[M4tticus]

20/4/17

Flat Bench Press - 78.5kg for 5,5,4 (failed) *Prepare for angry volume 76kg for 5, 75kg for 4, 70kg 2x5
Incline DB Press - 22.5kg DB's for 10,10,10
Decline DB Fly - 17.5kg DB's 3x8
Lat Pulldown - 60kg 3x6
Cable Row - 77kg 3x10

Well wasn't this workout all around the place. Chest was still slightly sore, also got sub 8hrs sleep on the day. Time to eat more, sleep more, and hopefully hit that 5x5 with 78.5kg next time.

[M4tticus]

21/4/17

Backsquat - 90kg 5x5
Backsquat - 70kg 1x20
Glute Bridge - 87.5kg 3x18
Sitting Smith Calf Raise - 100kg All out

Those squats were pretty hard, got it though. Will do 91kg next time. 20 rep squats be generating some under the breath noises coming from myself lol. Let's eat and watch some creepypastas .

[M4tticus]

22/4/17

Deadlift - 125kg 3x4
OHP - 45kg 3x5

*Saturday's begin with dead's, and i usually work whatever i feel like working after that. Today consisted of a lot of arm and shoulder isolation movements (the fun workout). Not going to list them as there was heaps lol.

Good session, squatting will probably be hell tomorrow lol.

[M4tticus]

23/4/17

Backsquat - 91kg 5x5
Backsquat - 71kg 1x20
Glute Bridge - 90kg 3x18
Sitting Smith Calf Raise - 102.5kg All out

Good session again, hamstrings real sore from dead's yesterday, still got through. Next squat session on Wednesday, as the gym is closed on Tuesday.

[M4tticus]

24/4/17

Flat Bench Press - 78.5kg for 5,5,5,4,4
Incline DB Press - 32.5kg for 5,5,5
Decline DB Fly - 17.5kg DB's 3x10
Lat Pulldown - 64kg 3x6
Cable Row - 81kg 3x10

Alrighty, may almost be due for a deload on the bench, if i cannot get 78.5kg for 5x5 on the next session, will deload the weight. May apply the 20 rep set to my bench as well. Still an improvement though.

[M4tticus]

26/4/17

Backsquat - 92.5kg 5x5
Backsquat - 72.5kg 1x20
Glute Bridge - 92.5kg 3x18
Sitting Smith Calf Raise - 105kg All out

Progress going really solid on the squats i think, hopefully the linear progress will stay for awhile . Benching tomorrow, if i still cannot get 78.5kg for 5x5 for a 3rd session, i will deload the weight. Most likely to 70kg~ and work my way up again, surpassing 78.5kg.

[M4tticus]

27/4/17

Flat Bench Press - 78.5kg for 5,5,4,4,4
Incline DB Press - 27.5kg for 3x8
Decline DB Fly - 17.5kg DB's 3x8
Lat Pulldown - 64kg 3x6
Cable Row - 81kg 3x10

Alright, only hit 2 sets of 5 on bench, time to deload. Chosen deload weight is 70kg, gonna give pausing a go while i'm at it aswell now that i'm going lighter and working back up, will probably stay with it. Decided to go lighter on the incline db press aswell, couldn't feel the 32.5s would work too well. Take note that chest was also still slightly sore today from last workout, most likely hindered performance slightly. Let's work back up, and destroy that 78.5kg 5x5 in some weeks .

[M4tticus]

28/4/17

Backsquat - 93.5kg 5x5
Backsquat - 73.5kg 1x20
Glute Bridge - 95kg 3x18
Sitting Smith Calf Raise - 107.5kg All out

Nice session again, still a bit sore from last time. Fun day tomorrow, starting with deads then ohp, then most likely some arms and shoulder isolation. Will only be squatting 2x this week, sunday is took up unfortunately but i probably need the recovery lol, next squat session is Tuesday, gonna go for 95kg 5x5.

[M4tticus]

29/4/17

Deadlift - 127.5kg 3x5
OHP - 46kg 3x5
Pendlay Row - 60kg 3x5
Hammer Curls - 30kg DB's 3x8
Ez Bar Skull Crushers - 25kg(in plates) 3x7
Tricep Pulldown - 8th setting 3x7

Good session, starting to get a structure for this day. Deads, OHP and Pendlay rows followed by shoulder or arm isolation. Next session is on Monday, gonna be benching 70kg 5x5, working my way back up to break the plateau.

[M4tticus]

30/4/17

Backsquat - 95kg 5x5
Backsquat - 75kg 1x20
Glute Bridge - 97.5kg 3x18

Never mind, i did have enough time to get a workout in today. Unfortunately couldn't do calf raises in time, but tis all good. Really happy with 95kg 5x5, getting closer to that 100kg 5x5 ). Also next workout is 100kg on glute bridges, something noteworthy i guess . Progress going great on squat, benching 70kg 5x5 tomorrow, gonna smash that 78.5kg 5x5 in time, and further than that aswell.

[M4tticus]

1/5/17

Flat Bench Press Pause - 70kg 5x5
Incline DB Press - 27.5kg for 3x8
Decline DB Fly - 17.5kg DB's 3x8
Pendlay Row - 62.5kg 3x5

Good session, start of deload, feels easy with this weight. Squat tomorrow.

[M4tticus]

2/5/17

Backsquat - 96kg 5x5
Backsquat - 76kg 1x20
Glute Bridge - 100kg 3x18
Sitting Smith Calf Raise - 110kg All out

That was pretty good, gonna try for 97.5kg next time. The Wednesday rest day tomorrow. Probably should use the time to catch up on homework lol. Also had the idea of adding a 5x5 bench session on my Saturday workouts, so it would go 3x5 Deadlift, 5x5 Bench, 3x5 OHP, 3x5 Pendlay row. Then whatever i feel like working. This would be 3 bench sessions a week, equal to my squat, so benching would be Thursday, Saturday, Monday. Gonna try it out, see how it goes.

[M4tticus]

4/5/17

Flat Bench Press Pause - 71kg 5x5
Incline DB Press - 27.5kg for 3x10
Decline DB Fly - 20kg DB's 3x8
Pendlay Row - 65kg 3x5

Bit late on the post, was a good session. Writing this 1hr before squats today . Benching went well, moved Flys from 17.5 to 20, feeliing good. See ya with a report in a few hours of how squats went .

[M4tticus]

5/5/17

Backsquat - 97.5kg 5,5,5,4,3
Backsquat - 77.5kg 1x17 (ded)
Glute Bridge - 102.5kg 3x18
Sitting Smith Calf Raise - 112.5kg All out

Ahhh damn, saw it coming eventually. Last few squat sessions have been pretty tough, not gonna wait to fail another 2 sessions with this weight, just gonna do dat deload. Lowering squat weight by 10%, so will start at 87.5kg and work way back up.

[M4tticus]

6/5/17

Deadlift - 130kg 3x5
Flat Bench Press Pause - 72.5kg 5x5
OHP - 47.5kg 3x5

Good session, deads going well.

[M4tticus]

7/5/17

Backsquat - 87.5kg 5x5
Backsquat - 67.5kg 1x20
Glute Bridge - 105kg 3x18


Couldn't get through entire workout due to time unfortunately. The family 'lunch' turned into more like everyone talking for 5 hours. Gym closed at 6 cuz sunday, got there by 5. Managed to snag 10 mins more for last couple sets of glute bridges though. Squats felt good, rest time was like 2 mins shorter than usual per set so that probably hindered performance a bit but anyways, lucky it's the start of the deload lol. Gonna go for 88.5kg 5x5 on Tuesday, slowly work up again and surpass 97.5kg 5x5. Also probs gonna take it a bit slower on bench now that i'm doing 3x per week and still trying to up weight every session, so for example; 70kg, 71kg, 72kg, 72.5kg, 73.5kg, 74.5kg, 75kg, etc. This is a long description. Night night.

[MrDanielRamos]

Keep up the hard work brother!😎 You're doing awesome.

[M4tticus]

Keep up the hard work brother!😎 You're doing awesome.

Thank you so much!

[M4tticus]

4/5/17

Flat Bench Press Pause - 73.5kg 5x5
Incline DB Press - 27.5kg for 3x12
Decline DB Fly - 20kg DB's 3x8
Pendlay Row - 67.5kg 3x5

Another nice session. Those reps are increasing on the 27.5s, nice way to gauge that i'm getting stronger . May do 1 more session with the 27.5s, next weight up will be the 30s. Tomorrow with 88.5kg 5x5 squats .

[M4tticus]

9/5/17

Backsquat - 88.5kg 5x5
Backsquat - 68.5kg 1x20
Glute Bridge - 107.5kg 3x18

Was another decent session, next session will be the 90kg mark again which is nice. Rest day today, back at it tomorrow with benching

[M4tticus]

11/5/17

Flat Bench Press Pause - 74.5kg 5x5
Incline DB Press - 27.5kg for 13,12,11
Decline DB Fly - 20kg DB's 3x8
Pendlay Row - 70kg 3x5

Nice session, went pretty well. Bench coming a little harder now with the pausing, no rep PR on the incline DB's but that's all good. Still gonna stick with pause benching i think for a while. Squats tomorrow, 90kg 5x5 for round 2, should move pretty well, see ya tomorrow .

[M4tticus]

9/5/17

Backsquat - 90kg 5x5
Backsquat - 70kg 1x20
Glute Bridge - 110kg 3x18
Sitting Smith Calf Raises - 117.5kg all out

Squats went well, 20 rep squats are hard again . Just made the last rep of glute bridges on last 2 sets, weights catching up on me now lol. Calf raises were nice. 91kg 5x5 on Sunday. Tomorrow is Deads, benching, ohp and whatever else i feel like doing after that, haven't hit arms or shoulders in a while, kinda missing them burn. See ya in with a report tomorrow .

[M4tticus]

13/5/17

Deadlift - 132.5kg 3x5
Flat Bench Press Pause - 75kg 5,5,4,4,4
OHP - 48.5kg 3x5 then drop-sets all the way till it was just the bar
Some tricep superset work

Deadlifts went well i think, benching suffered a bit though, will do 75kg 5x5 on Monday even though i probably could have gotten it if i didn't do deadlifts before. Ohp stuff was fun, so was tricep work. For the past few school nights i haven't been getting 8hrs of sleep a night, and today i think that showed. It's Saturday today and a couple hours after working out (this session was legit 2 1/2 hours) i went to bed, so around 2:30pm, and i'm writing this at 6:00pm. So i slept for like 3 hours during the day lol (this hasn't happened in like a year). I really gotta pay more attention to my sleep on school nights, iv'e been a bit slack lately, and it's starting to show. Really have to prioritise sleep now more than ever because i'm working out so much. Anyways, mothers day tomorrow, so going out for lunch again lol, but will def have time for full squat session. So, focus on sleeping is a priority now. Happy mothers day .

[M4tticus]

14/5/17

Backsquat - 91kg 5x5
Glute Bridge - 112.5kg 3x18
Sitting Smith Calf Raises - 90kg all out

Yah so, today i i feel pretty beaten up lol. I think the amount of training iv'e been doing, combined with the sleep has kinda caught up to me. 91kg felt kinda heavy honestly. I'm going to take out the 20 rep squats, as i cant see myself later on doing 120kg 5x5 for example and then 100kg 1x20 3 times per week, week after week. It's going to start to become a bit too much to recover from. I feel very achy today, especially my entire back, it's real beaten. So as i stated yesterday, gonna get enough sleep, and drop the 20 reps squats, see if that helps. Let's hope next couple workouts go a bit better than this one did. See ya tomorrow with pause benching 75kg 5x5.

[M4tticus]

15/5/17

Flat Bench Press Pause - 75kg 5x5
Incline DB Press - 30kg 3x8
Decline DB Fly - 20kg DB's 3x8
Pendlay Row - 72.5kg 3x5

Nice session. I got good sleep last couple nights, and mein gawsh did i feel good today. Weight went pretty well, on the last rep of the last set i didn't pause though, but all other reps were paused. Will do 76kg 5x5 next time, I do feel as though the time is almost already coming to move to 3x5, maybe... Still following the progression plan of StrongLifts. So yah, with the discovery of what good sleep does to me , i will hopefully wreck 92.5kg 5x5 squats tomorrow, also taking out the 20 rep squats. Another week and a bit and i will be back at 97.5kg 5x5, hope to pass that. See ya tomorrow .

[M4tticus]

16/5/17

Backsquat - 120kg 1 rep
Backsquat - 92.5kg 5x5
Glute Bridge - 115kg 3x18

Went for a 1 rep max today !! . First time squatting 100kg +. Went for 130kg but didn't get it, no worries though. 92.5kg 5x5 actually felt easy after the 1 rep max's. It's definitely the good sleep iv'e been getting and possibly taking out the 20 rep squat's. Those are the only things changed and squats felt a hella lot better. Rest day tomorrow, next squat will be 93.5kg on Friday, should be good. See ya in a couple days .