I don't know what I'm doing but I know what I've done

Alf Veedersane

gvn wrote: »

Sounds a little ridiculous, but I have one of these in my gym bag:

It doesn't sound ridiculous!

Probably looks ridiculous though...like you're a trolley dolly

ninamc

A bit smaller than an abacus though?

Alf Veedersane

ninamc wrote: »

A bit smaller than an abacus though?

My Setacus (TM) will be just the right size to slot into a gym bag. That's it's USP.

That and the cool name.

dylbert

We have a whiteboard at every platform, I'm obviously spoiled .

Alf Veedersane

dylbert wrote: »

We have a whiteboard at every platform, I'm obviously spoiled .

I'm doing well not to fall asleep when I lie down on a bench. Getting up to write it in a whiteboard isn't gonna happen

Alf Veedersane

Friday 31/10/2014

Glute Bridge with leg extension:3 x 50 e/s
Hip Abductions: 3 x 40 e/s
Planks: 3 x 75s


Seated Leg Press
(90s rest)
120kg x 4 x 15
120kg x 20


Leg Curls
(90s rest)
80kg x 5 x 15


Glute Kickback
(90s rest)
65kg x 5 x 15 e/s


Leg Extension
(60-90s rest)
70kg x 2 x 15 - more? Not at that weight. Thanks.
65kg x 3 x 15


Back Extensions
(45s rest)
BW x 5 x 15


Think I ploughed too hard into the squats the last day and while there wasn't flexion of the lumbar spine, I want to keep on strengthening everything I need to so back to physio exercises and machines for legs to keep them ticking over.

The Glute kickback...what a horrible piece of kit. World of hurt halfway through.

And then some more for leg extensions.

Legs will know all about this tomorrow.

WHIP IT!

The clicker is a genius idea! I've contemplated bringing matchsticks into the gym to keep track of sets... but I already have enough sh*t to carry with foamrollers, bands, belts, sliothars, straps n whatnot - I look weird enough as it is!

Alf Veedersane

Saturday 1/11/2014

Bench
65kg x 8 x 4


Pull Ups
(90s rest)
BW x 8, 8, 8, 7, 5


YLTWI
(60-90s res)
3 rounds; 10 reps each exercise; 5kg DBs


Wide-Grip Plate-loaded Rows
(90s rest)
105kg x 4 x 10
105kg x 11



Paused all the benching. Kept rests a the lower end of the 90-120s range mostly. Felt fine.

Faded quickly on the pull ups. First 3 sets fine then struggled.

Cobbled together a set counting device...

WHIP IT!

Alf Veedersane wrote: »

Cobbled together a set counting device...

Batteries included, or... ?

Alf Veedersane

WHIP IT! wrote: »

Batteries included, or... ?

It's powered by GAINZ.

ninamc

Love how shaky the "straight" lines get as the sets progress

Alf Veedersane

ninamc wrote: »

Love how shaky the "straight" lines get as the sets progress

To be fair, it's largely down to the roughness of the footplate the paper is on.

Alf Veedersane

Sunday 2/11/2014

Bench
67.5kg x 10 x 3


Close-Grip Seated Rows
(90s rest)
107.5kg x 4 x 10
107.5kg x 13


Seated DB OHPs
(90s rest)
15kg x 4 x 10
15kg x 12


BTN Wide-Grip Lat Pulldowns
(60s rest)
Pin 5 x 5 x 15


Lateral Raises
(60s res)
10kg x 4 x 10
10kg x 12



Kept rests on bench to 60s. All paused. Week One done. Saul Goodman.

Alf Veedersane

Tuesday 4/11/2014

Bench
60kg x 6 x 6


Pull Ups
(90s rest)
BW x 8, 8, 8, 6, 5


Back Extensions
(60s res)
+5kg x 5 x 15


Wide-Grip Seated Rows
(90s rest)
102.5kg x 4 x 10
102.5kg x 11


Rear Delt Flyes
(60s rest)
Pin 4 x 5 x 12


Wide-Grip Machine Pulldowns
(60s rest)
50kg x 5 x 15



Kept rests on bench to 60s. All paused. Last rep was a grinder. Might allow myself a bit more rest between sets the next day.

Knew on 2nd set of pull ups I was goosed.

3s eccentric on back extensions. Worked on feeling and maintaining the curve in my lower back. Me likey.

Felt about as strong as a crippled newborn kitten for those last 2 exercises. Jesus, the burn.

Alf Veedersane

Thursday 6/11/2014

Bench
65kg x 7 x 5


Close-Grip Seated Rows
(90s rest)
110kg x 4 x 10
110kg x 11


Back Extensions
(60s res)
+5kg x 5 x 15


BB OHPs
(90s)
40kg x 4 x 5
40kg x 8


Wide-Grip Plate-loaded Pulldowns
(60s rest)
70kg x 5 x 15



All bench reps paused. Kept rests on bench to 90s. No grinders. Won't be dropping it below 90s again for this. It's just a way of making sure I don't faff about. Next 5 benching sessions will be tougher than so far.

Hadn't really done BB OHPs in a long time but kept it list to see where I was at and so didn't f**k up my shoulders for benching.

Wrapped it up by giving myself some lat burn.

Edit: I think I get my shoulders in a sh*tty position on the BB OHPs so I think I'll stick to DBs and work on the BB version after I get my squat back into shape.

Alf Veedersane

Friday 7/11/2014

Squats
20kg x 10
40kg x 3 x 8
60kg x 2 x 8
80kg x 5


Seated Leg Press
(120s rest)
125kg x 4 x 15
125kg x 20


Glute Kickback
(90s rest)
67.5kg x 5 x 15 e/s


Preacher Curls
(60s rest)
30kg x 5 x 15


Leg Extension
(90s rest)
67.5kg x 5 x 15


Leg Curls
(90s rest)
80kg x 5 x 15



Didn't want to get carried away like I did the day I went back squatting. One session topping out at 40 since October 1st. So not so many reps, eased the weight up and worked on form - improving it on pre-injury form. Worked on not slowing down the descent so much. Last rep on 80 was the best. Felt good to squat. No issue in my lower back.

Doesn't take long to remember why I hate the glute kickbacks. It would be very easy to talk myself out of doing them.

The tealeaves are predicting DOMS...

Alf Veedersane

Saturday 8/11/2014

Bench
70kg x 8 x 4


Neutral Grip Pull Ups
(120s rest)
BW x 8, 8, 8, 8, 7


Rear Felt Flyes
(60s rest)
5kg x 5 x 15


BTN Wide-Grip Lat Pulldowns
(60s rest)
Pin 5 x 4 x 15
Pin 5 x 18


Lateral Raises
(60s rest)
10kg x 4 x 10
10kg x 11


Underhand Wide Grip Rows
(90s rest)
102.5kg x 5 x 10



Kept rests at 120s for benching. 90s was just too short. All paused. Warm ups felt heavier than they should so I knew it was going to be more of a battle than expected.

Last rep of 2nd set was a grinder but I found my rhythm and cranked out the sets relatively trouble-free.

Frosty McSnowballs

Are you following a programme or are you doing your own thing?

Alf Veedersane

Senor Fancy Pants wrote: »

Are you following a programme or are you doing your own thing?

Decided to do Smolov Jr for the bench since I can only ease back into lower stuff. Wasn't sure it'd work with not really knowing if/when I'd get to gym over the next while but I've been lucky lately. Next week is last week. When I'm happy my back is 100% and squats and deadlifts are getting back up to even 85% of what they were, I'll hook myself up with a proper programme.

Alf Veedersane

Sunday 9/11/2014

Bench
72.5kg x 10 x 3


Close-Grip Seated Rows
(90s rest)
112.5kg x 4 x 10
112.5kg x 11


Seated DB OHPs
(90s rest)
15kg x 4 x 10
15kg x 14


BB Front Raises
(60s rests)
15kg x 5 x 10


Cable Tricep Extensions
(60s rest)
Pin 7 x 3 x 15 - with rope
Pin 7 x 3 x 15 - with straight handle



Kept rests at 120s for benching. All paused too, which is a bit of a surprise. Thought half the sets might end up being T&G. Not as tough as I'd expected. Not easy, mind. But that's week 2 in the bag.

Rows feeling solid and strong these days.

Thought I'd struggle with 5 sets of the OHPs with 17.5s after benching so stayed at 15s.

Alf Veedersane

Tuesday 11/11/2014

Bench
65kg x 6 x 6


Propah Pull Ups
(120s rests)
BW x 8, 8, 8, 6, 5


Back Exensions
(60s rests)
+10kg x 5 x 15


Close-Grip Seated Rows
(90s rest)
115kg x 5 x 10


Cardio
Treadmill: 15 mins walking at 8km/h and 10% incline.



Kept rests at lower end of 90-120s for most of the benching. All paused. 3 sets in I copped I wasn't keeping my upper back as tight as I should so made sure to address that in last 3 sets. No grinders though. Next day might be the last paused workout - we'll see. Have never really paused on benching before so this has been good.

Won't be much upper work for rest of the week.

Frosty McSnowballs

Alf Veedersane wrote: »

Decided to do Smolov Jr for the bench since I can only ease back into lower stuff. Wasn't sure it'd work with not really knowing if/when I'd get to gym over the next while but I've been lucky lately. Next week is last week. When I'm happy my back is 100% and squats and deadlifts are getting back up to even 85% of what they were, I'll hook myself up with a proper programme.

Smolov? Must Gagoogle it! It's fun to say but maybe not to do

How's the body recovering?

Alf Veedersane

Senor Fancy Pants wrote: »

Smolov? Must Gagoogle it! It's fun to say but maybe not to do

How's the body recovering?

You plug in your 1RM to start and it's 4 workouts per week for 3 weeks then ~ a week off before testing.

Week 1 is a long the lines of:

6 sets of 6 reps at 70%
7 sets of 5 reps at 75%
8 sets of 4 reps at 80%
10 sets of 3 reps at 85%.

Week 2 is the same but each workout is 5kg heavier and then another 5kg heavier in week 3.

Recovery has been fine but gonna dial back the other upper work for the rest of this last week. Test then somewhere towards the end of next week.

ninamc

Alf Veedersane wrote: »

Tuesday 11/11/2014

Propah Pull-Ups

Swear to God I was 5 minutes trying to figure what a propah pull-up is. Scarleh.

Alf Veedersane

Palms facing away...and a bit nawwwty.


But not really

WHIP IT!

Hmmmm, Smolov Jnr for the Bench Press... WHIP IT is so intrigued he's began talking about himself in the third person like so many WWE wrastlers...

Alf Veedersane

I lost the guts of 6 months this year and maybe the last month or so of last year of any meaningful benching with shoulder problems. Since they have largely cleared up in the last couple of months and since I haven't been able to do much lower body work the last while, It fits the bill to get me back into a structure and allows me to get something done as training time can and has been squeezed a little at times.

Plus I've worked on improving my form a lot.

Alf Veedersane

Thursday 13/11/2014

Bench
70kg x 7 x 5


Squats
40kg x 2 x 8
60kg x 8
80kg x 5
90kg x 5


Rack Pulls
60kg x 2 x 10
80kg x 2 x 8
100kg x 3 x 5



Kept rests to 120-135s. First 4 sets paused then T&G for last 3. Last set felt a log stronger than I expected it to with 3 sets left. Have never done anything like this volume for bench. I reckon the rests will be longer on Saturday for 8x4 at 75kg...

Squats felt solid enough. Still working on form...getting my hips back properly and descending with purpose rather than trepidation. Last set was sloppy but nothing that mess me up. Just not bracing properly.

Bar was ~ 3 inches below my knee at the bottom of the rack pulls. They felt food enough but didn't want to start pushing my luck at this early stage and didn't go heavier. Kept reps low enough for same reason.

Felt good to be back in the rack.

Alf Veedersane

Saturday 15/11/2014

Bench (11/12)
75kg x 8 x 4


Front Squats
60kg x 5 x 5


Back Extensions
(60s rests)
+12.5kg x 5 x 15


Planks
3 x 75s with 60s rests



Today's benching was going to be less than easy if I felt good. After FA sleep and a coffee for sustenance, it was going to be harder. Took a lot of work to get myself in the right mindset

Plan was to rest at least 150s between each set if I was to stand a chance of seeing it out. Rep max at 75kg not so long ago on the COH program was 6 so this was gonna be A Big Ask.

Went T&G from the start. 6th set was awful - clipped rack on 1st rep and tried to move myself down the bench mid-set. Ugh. Last rep was a battle and took a lot out of me. But I fought back with 2 solid sets at the end. Those last 2 sets restored my confidence in hitting all tomorrow's reps. Locking out the last rep felt as good as a PR.

Just wanted to get back into a front squat groove so didn't overdo weight or reps (not that I found it easy, mind). Again just working on form and descent.

Alf Veedersane

Sunday 16/11/2014

Pro tip: Pre-workout of coffee and chocolate buttons is good for sleep deprivation.

Bench (12/12)
77.5kg x 10 x 3


Squats
40kg x 8
60kg x 2 x 8
80kg x 3 x 5


Rack Pulls
60kg x 10
80kg x 2 x 10
100kg x 5
110kg x 5
120kg x 3


Got through some side planks and hip abductions at home.


Left pec was starting to feel it at 5th set. Decided to see how it would fare in next set or two - would be more sensible to bail than risk injuring it properly at this stage. But it was ok and, rightly or wrongly, I kept going. A year ago I missed last rep on each of last 3 sets at 65kg so that was partly behind it. 30/30. Pretty buzzed after that.

Still keeping it sensible on squats and rack pulls. Which goes against my natural instinct...