COLOSSUS' Iron Journal

[Colossus]

Squat, yesterday

First day squatting heavy in 2.5 weeks. Everything felt hard and my body did not like those weights.

Free Squat
135x12
225x12
315x12
365x5
405x5
455x3

Hack squat machine
400x10,10,10,10

Leg curls
150x20,15,15,10,6

Hammer strength dips
8 plates, 3x10

Cable overhead extensions
20,15



BW 242

 

[Colossus]

After dealing with burnout for a month, stagnant lifts, low back problems and a groin pull, I decided to check the ego and do several weeks of low weight, high-volume training. It has felt awesome. Here are a few of my recent workouts...


Bench

Stretching

DB bench, 40 lbs x 5 minutes straight
This is an old Westside recovery method. Basically you just pick a very light weight and press for time. I would do as many reps as possible, then as the lactic acid built up I would rest for 10 seconds and continue.

Flat bench
135 x 20,20,20,20,20,20=120 reps

Hammer Strength dips
4 plates x 30,30,30,30=120 reps

Stretching

Back

Bent rows
225 x 20,20,20,20,20=100 reps

Reverse pulls ups
BW x 10,10,10,10,10,10,10,10,10,10=100 reps

Shrugs
405 x 20
500 x 20,20,20,15

BW holding steady at 240.

 

[deNominator]

Bent rows
225 x 20,20,20,20,20=100 reps

Holy sh!t.

 

[AAAgent]

do you get paid to do this? after i get back from work im fukin exhausted.

Back junior year in college i was at my prime, benching 265 flat-single at 168 pounds. i'm also 5'11.

I barely have enough time to work out at home. i just pump out some pushups here and there and pull ups.

I really want to get back into decent shape but its hard working 12 hour days to find the energy and motivation.

I can't even rep 225 anywhere. i've been struggling back and forth at around 4-8 reps of 185 flat bench.

Any good suggestions of at home workouts?

 

[Colossus]

There's not much you can do at home to put on any substantial strength or size...without weights anyway. There are some pretty good bodyweight programs out there you can do for general fitness if you truly cant get to a gym.

I hear you about the long days; I'm in class typically 40 hours per week and I have to study another 15-20. I still make time to lift however. You can actually do a lot in an hour's time---the above workouts took no more than an hour and even my powerlifting sessions never exceeded 90 minutes.

I usually lift 1 weekend day, and during the summer when I was busier I lifted sat + sun. Just make it an essential part of your weekly routine somehow. You could do a "boring but big" type of plan---i.e. day one bench + chins, day two deadlift and abs, day three squat.

 

[Colossus]

Deadlift, wednesday

First day back deadlifting in about a month. Eased back into it with some reps and rows.

warm up-- stretching and back raises

Deadlift
135x10
225x10
315x10
405x10
500x1

Seated rows w/ fatgripz
200x12,12,12,12,12

Machine preacher curls
4 sets


BW 241

 

[Colossus]

Press/accessory, Sat

Standing OHP
barx20
95x20
135x10
185x5,5
225x5
250x5,3

Smith machine press
135x20,20,20

Face pulls/static lateral raise superset
100x20, 35 ea. hand x max time
4 sets

Hanging leg raise
3x20

DB curls
40xreps
50xreps
60xreps
70xreps,reps
35xlots of reps, more reps


Great lift today and it feels good to finally be getting back into a strength groove. I really think the super-high rep work I did for a couple weeks did wonders for letting my CNS recover and 'reset'. I'm going to continue doing work in the 5-10 rep range for all my major lifts, with the objective of adding a bit more weight each week while staying in the same rep range.

I'm also going to start cutting heavy carbs out of my evening meals. I've been dithering with the idea of cutting down for some time now and I always reach the mental roadblock of not wanting to lose strength and drop too much weight. Plus, I dont care what anyone says, super-clean dieting takes a lot of prep time. After talking with a friend at my gym I realized the best approach is to do it gradually, without making it an all-consuming effort or "phase". I will start with eliminating heavy carbs (breads, pasta, sugary food) out my evening meals, replacing them with protein, and progress from there. I'm also going to start doing morning walks on an empty stomach when time allows. This will allow me to maintain size and continue strength training while gradually converting my metabolism to lipid-centric rather than carb-centric.

 

[Colossus]

Squats, Sun.

Cycle for 10 mins
Stretching- lots

Squat
Barx10
Bar + monster mini bands x 10
145 +bands x 10 w/ 2 sec pause at bottom
235 +bands and pause x 5

^^Here is where I almost felt my quad tear. I strained it pretty good last week going fairly heavy on the power squat machine, and I had very little pain today up until the 5th rep where I felt a sharp stab in my right distal vastus lateralus, same place as last week. Apparently it was more than just a pull because this was warm-up weight for me. I tried another couple reps and it hurt just as bad so I shut the squats down.

Power squat
200x10
400x10
500x10
600x10
700x10,10

Leg press
400x20,20,25

Seated leg curls
5 sets of 10-20 reps

Neutral grip chins with fatgripz
4 sets

I've slowly been recovering from an adductor pull a month or so ago. As I'm not too keen on tearing a quad I'm going to have to check the ego and work around this one for a month or more to see how it heals. That basically means no squatting over 225 (if at all) and workouts centered around various leg presses with moderate weight. Part of lifting I guess, cant be injury-free forever.

 

[Colossus]

Last few workouts:

Back, sat

Deficit deads, 4"
135x10
225x5,5
315x5
405x5
500x1

Chins, pulldowns

-------------------------

Press, sun.

Hammer Strength press machine
115 ea. side
6x10-15

Machine laterals ("chicken wings")
25/side x max reps x 5 sets

Neutral grip chins
5 sets bw

---------------------

Squat, wed.

Olympic style squat
barx10,10
135x10
185x10
225x10
275x10
315x5

Leg press
400x20
600x15
800x12,12,12

Seated leg curls
worked up to 180x12,12,12

---------------

Still easing back into the squats after the quad strain. Felt good yesterday. Next week I might try 405.

All in all training has been on a maintenance level lately due to time constraints. I havent actually set any PRs in some time and this has really been bugging me. There are a number of factors---mainly time---but I have been treading water for too long and I dont want to fall back into this mode as I was there for a couple of years before. I am considering hiring a guy for a 16 week size/strength plan.

 

[Fuglydude]

Injuries suck. Are you starting clinical pretty soon? Maybe wanna change up training format just to help your rehabilitate from that injury. Bulking/getting stronger requires a lot of time/effort as I'm sure you know.

Ever thought about finishing up your program and then going all out? Its gotta be tough to do when you're in an intensive program, especially if you have a crappy clinical schedule.

 

[Colossus]

I dont start rotations till June. From what I hear the hours can range from pretty standard 8-5 to 6a-8p with surgery.

You may have a point about waiting though and I have thought of this. I also have my reservations about making 'dramatic' gains while in the program for obvious reasons. Last thing I need is some rumor floating around I do this or that.

I think what I will do is set a more modest goal that I know I can work with and not worry about being an elite pl'er right now. I think getting up to 250 by Christmas time is feasible and hopefully a few PRs will come with it.

 

[Colossus]

Accessory, fri

10 min cycle
Stretching 10 min

Machine calf raises
worked up to 600x10x5
then 200x20,20,20

Dumbell curls
40x10
55x10
70x10
80x8
85x6,6,4

Machine curl
50x lots of reps, 5 sets

Weighted crunches
3 sets

BW 241

 

[Colossus]

Wed, ME Upper

Floor press w/ 40 lbs chain
barx20
135x10
225x10
275x5
315x5
335x3,3,2

JM press
worked up to 225x10,10,10

Tate press
60x15
70x12,12,12

Pressdowns w/ monster miniband
5 sets

DB upright row
95x10,8,8,8

Lat pulls
4 sets medium grip

------------------------

Thurs, ME lower

Suspended high good mornings
135x10
225x5
315x5
365x5
405x3
455x3,2

Front squat
225x 3 sets ~10

Power squat good mornings
400x 4 sets 10

GH raises
BWx 4 sets

Leg curls
100x4 sets reps



My hamstrings are WEAK!!! The glute-hams humbled me as I havent done them in some time and the leg curls were laughable. Gotta get that up ASAP.


PM weight 239-241

 

[Colossus]

Sat, DE upper

Speed bench w/ monster mini bands
barx20
135x10
185x5
195x3,3,3,3,3,3,3,3

One arm DB OHP
70x10
95x5
110x5
130x1

Face pulls
3x15
1x20

Reverse grip pulldowns
worked up to 3 heavy sets of 8-10

Shrugs (hammer strength shrugs)
worked up to 6 plates/side for 3 sets 10. No straps.


Great lift today. Morning weight was 237.

 

[Fuglydude]

Damn man, that 130 for the dumbell OHP is nuts. Do you find getting heavier (I know you're aiming for 250 my xmas), affects your conditioning for strongman stuff? I think that new diet your buddy is doing up for you will really help to ramp up your training.

 

[Colossus]

Thanks man. Yeah I'm only a week into the diet so I havent seen any real weight changes yet. I am eating cleaner though in general so I feel this is giving me a bit more steam in my workouts. Once I get my daily macros dialed in then we can start to drop a bit of fat before coming up to 250.

 

[Colossus]

LOL you'll get there. Just dont neglect your weaknesses.

 

[Colossus]

Sun, DE lower

Box squats for speed
barx10
145x10
195x5
235x3,3,3,2,2,2,2,2,2

Leg press wide stance
400x10
600x10
70x10
800x10,10,10

Adductor machine
5 sets

Ab roller
5 sets

Standing abs
4 sets

Leg curls
150x4 sets

 

[Colossus]

DE lower, fri

Suspended GMs
135x10
225x5
275x5
315x5
365x3
405x3
455x3
475x3
495x1

Power squat GMs
Worked up to 490x10 x 4

Upper back raise
5 sets

GHR
5 sets 6-10 BW

Leg curls
150 x a set
100 x a set
60 x a few one legged sets


Morning weight is at 235-236 now. The worst part of the dieting thing is freaking measuring everything I eat. I realize it's the only way to quantify things but it sucks.

 

[Fuglydude]

It is a bit of a pain in the rectum... but you'll see, it definitely gets easier over time. You totally get used to it. I've been measuring stuff out for the past 6-7 weeks and now its almost second nature.

I see you're dropping a bit of weight too... Notice bodyfat/conditioning changes?