JackRyan's Workout Log

[HandyAndy]

Nice bench press, it looks to be raising pretty quickly

 

[JackRyanJuan]

UPDATE: Tuesday, June 17

SQUATS- 3x5 255 lbs.- I find that when I squat in one fluid motion, instead of stopping my momentum at the bottom, these are fairly easy to do. It also helps to keep my form if I keep my movement smooth. Anyways, I adjusted my hand grip on the bars and kept good form, I'm ready for 260 on thursday.

BENCH- 3x5 195 lbs.- Got these pretty good, bring on 200.

DEADLIFT- 1x5 205 lbs.- Cheated and went up 10 lbs. instead of 5, been working on my form trying to find a good fit. Now I look at the ceiling when I deadlift, helps keep my ass down. I feel pretty good about these, I'm not turning them into straight leg deadlift like other guys do.

DIPS- 3x10- Did weighted dips with 45 lb. plate. Only got 1 set of 10 in, then 8, then 7. Still pretty good.

ABS- I was worn out, just did a set of hanging leg raises since I will work abs on my off day tomorrow. All in all, great workout today. Eating ****loads

 

[JackRyanJuan]

Don't have starting strength. Why is it bad for deadlift? That's the only big lift I look up for. Otherwise my ass comes up and I end up doing stiff legged deadlift.

 

[JackRyanJuan]

UPDATE: Thursday, June 19th

Squats- 3x5 260 lbs.- These were tough as expected, but I did them. On the last rep my knees turned inward, which I'm trying very hard to avoid doing. Also, on some reps my butt will wiggle to the side so that I can get the weight up. All in all these were good.

Military Press- 3x5 125 lbs.- I think I'm stalling on these. Once again, I fell on the last repetition of my last set. My delts are pretty pumped up compared to my frame, I think the rest of my body needs to catch up before this will rise a significant amount.

Bent Over Rows- 3x5 115 lbs.- Been doing this dumbass exercise since May and I don't see the point. Either my form sucks or I'm not doing the proper weight, since I haven't really gone up, and I don't fell like I get much from it. Any advice appreciated.

Lat pull ups- Did 1 set of lat back pull ups and 2 sets of lat front pull ups. I would like to do more of these, but again, my strength/muscular endurance on my lats does not seem to be rising very quickly.

Abs- Did two slow, excruciating sets of 10 on hanging leg raises.

Bench- Maxed for the hell of it, put 245 on and put it up for 1 rep, was very pleased.

Rowing Machine- Did 20 minutes on the rowing machine just to keep the metabolism going.

 

[EFFORT]

UPDATE: Thursday, June 19th

Squats- 3x5 260 lbs.- These were tough as expected, but I did them. On the last rep my knees turned inward, which I'm trying very hard to avoid doing. Also, on some reps my butt will wiggle to the side so that I can get the weight up. All in all these were good.

Military Press- 3x5 125 lbs.- I think I'm stalling on these. Once again, I fell on the last repetition of my last set. My delts are pretty pumped up compared to my frame, I think the rest of my body needs to catch up before this will rise a significant amount.

Bent Over Rows- 3x5 115 lbs.- Been doing this dumbass exercise since May and I don't see the point. Either my form sucks or I'm not doing the proper weight, since I haven't really gone up, and I don't fell like I get much from it. Any advice appreciated.

Lat pull ups- Did 1 set of lat back pull ups and 2 sets of lat front pull ups. I would like to do more of these, but again, my strength/muscular endurance on my lats does not seem to be rising very quickly.

Abs- Did two slow, excruciating sets of 10 on hanging leg raises.

Bench- Maxed for the hell of it, put 245 on and put it up for 1 rep, was very pleased.

Rowing Machine- Did 20 minutes on the rowing machine just to keep the metabolism going.

You can switch over to a hammer or T-bar row.

 

[I-tallionStallion]

Congrats on the bench press man...awesome!!

Maybe you need to check your form???

For rows read this - http://stronglifts.com/how-to-perform-the-barbell-row-with-proper-technique/

And this video is good for form on a bbrow - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ss5SuopztW4&feature=related

Also for OH press...this is a great video on form by Rippetoe- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sebbhlKhs2E&NR=1

Maybe this will help your stalling. Also, how is the diet looking? That could be a factor as well.

 

[JackRyanJuan]

Thanks for the advice and encouragement guys! Turns out some dumbass that worked in the weight room gave me bad advice on bent over row form. I will try these again with the proper form.

UPDATE: Saturday, June 23

Squats- 3x5 260 lbs.- Man, weight's getting heavy for me now. I did these, but I struggled on the last reps. That's ok, I don't expect it to get easy from here on out. Anyways, a good set of squats today with good form.

Bench- 3x5 200 lbs.- Got this, felt good about it. My last rep it barely made its way up, but I did it. I'll keep this one more time before going to 205.

Deadlift- 1x5 205 lbs- Deadlift is still miles behind my squats, but I'm keeping good form, so I'm happy with that. I'll probably try 210 next time.

Dips- Did 3 sets of weighted dips with a 45 lb. plate, these were harder since I used a lot of energy on bench press.

Abs- Just 1 slow, burning set of hanging leg raises.

Rowing machine- starting to add a 20 minute rowing session at the end of my weekend workout just to keep the metabolism going.

 

[JackRyanJuan]

UPDATE: Tuesday, June 24th

Squats- 3x5 260 lbs.: I got these a little easier than last time, my knees went inwards a little bit on the last rep, but not enough to be concerned about. Time for 265.

Military Press- 3x5 125 lbs.- Watched Stallion's link on form, adjusted mine by getting under the bar and going chest level with the bar instead of chin level. I like the new form, but unfortunately I'm still stuck at 125.

Bent Over Rows- 3x5 115 lbs.- I finally did these with correct form, and the difference was unbelievable! I actually worked out my upper back this time; before I was basically doing weird looking upright rows. This will go up fast now I'm sure, based on how it felt today.

Pull Ups- 1x5 lat back pull ups, 2x5 lat front pull ups.

 

[JackRyanJuan]

UPDATE: Thursday, June 26th

Squats- 3x5 265lbs.- This was a heroic effort on my part. My form was the best it's been yet, and on the last rep my legs started to squeeze inwards on the way up, but I squeezed with my ass and kept pretty good form. I was proud of these today.

Bench- 3x5 200lbs.- I also performed well here, my last rep with this one was also a struggle, but I manged to just barely lock it out. The spotter asked if I needed help, I grunted no and pushed it up.

Deadlift- 1x5 225 lbs.- I raised my ass higher today and tried to do the form I saw on T-nation. Definitelly better than before, and I managed to get the reps, but I can feel my back rounding out on the last two. All in all deadlift is still pretty confusing to me.

Dips- Today I used a 45 lb. plate and added a 5 lb. plate. I tried to do 3x8, but ended up doing 8, 7, 6 cause I wore out my triceps. All in all a nice improvement.

Abs- I did two slow sets of hanging leg raises and they went well.

Best workout day I've had in a while!

 

[JackRyanJuan]

UPDATE: Tuesday, July 1st

NOTE: I missed my workout this weekend, I went out of town to watch the WEC.

Squats- 3x5 265 lbs.- Well, I find on my last set I'm using more back than on the first two sets, but I'm still going low as hell and I'm still keeping good form, so I'm pleased overall with my performance on squats.

Military Press- 3x5 125 lbs.- I need you guys help on this one. I'm doing the form shown in the you tube Rippetoe video, and it works great, but for the last two weeks I have not been able to get my last rep of my third set in. Any advice would be appreciated, the only thing I can think of is the rest of my body needs to catch up before my shoulders can grow any more?

Bent Over Rows- 3x5 115 lbs.- I'm now using correct form, and these are working my back better now, so no complaints. I will move up when I'm comfortable.

lat pull ups- Nothing new, just a set of 1x5 lat back pull ups and 2 x5 lat front pull ups.

 

[Quagmire911]

Is it possible for you to get a deadlift video?

You should be looking at a spot on the ground 5-6 feet infront of you when the deadlift. Doing this will not be the cause of "stiff legging it" like you say. More likely your starting position is wrong.

 

[JackRyanJuan]

UPDATE: Tuesday, July 8th

Setback city last week. I was puking all day wednesday with some kind of virus, haven't worked out since last Tuesday and I lost 5 lbs. because I was sick. Anyways, I'm setback on strength a little bit, today was essentially a garbage workout. I just felt really crappy, but there also wasn't much I could do about it. Getting sick sucks!

Squats- 3x5 265 lbs.- I tried to do what I had been doing, but I fell on my second set. I racked the weight and did one more set with 225 lbs.

Bench- 3x5 205 lbs.- Falling on squats should have been my cue to lower the weight on bench as well, but I tried. Fell on my second set, had the spotter help me on the third set.

Deadlift- I just skipped deadlift today, wasn't worth it.

Dips- Did a set of 8 with 45 lb. plate, then another 6 until my arms were fatiqued.

Abs- Two sets of hanging leg raises.

Like I said, today was a garbage workout. Just trying to get my groove back after a setback.

 

[JackRyanJuan]

UPDATE: Thursday, July 10th

Squats: 3x5 265 lbs.- My legs felt better today, I'm pretty much recovered from being sick last week, but I fell in the middle of my last set. This is ok though, as I lost 5 lbs. last week because I couldn't eat for two days, and a lot of this weight was leg muscle. I will keep this weight for saturday and work my squats up.

Military Press- 3x5 125 lbs.- This suffered too because of my sick days, I did 1 set, failed on the fourth rep of the second set, and used 115 for my last set. It still wore out my muscles, so I am not worried.

Bent Over Rows- 3x5 115 lbs.- I think I finally got the form down, as I did three very good sets and I felt it in my back muscles for all of them. I am finally ready to bump this up 5 lbs.

Pull ups- I killed pull ups today, did 2 sets of lat back pull ups followed by a set of lat front pull ups, all for 5 reps. I will probably start adding weight soon.

Abs- I did a set of 10 hanging leg raises, and then I did a gymnast style hold on the ground for 10 seconds.

 

[JackRyanJuan]

UPDATE: Saturday, July 12th

Squats- 3x5 265 lbs.- Still recovering from last week, but I did my first set fine, second set my knees turned inwards the last two reps, the last set i stopped at 4 reps because I could feel my form giving out. This is fine though, I pushed hard on Thursday and I think my legs are not fully recharged. I will keep this one more time and see if I can't get it done right.

Bench- 3x5 205 lbs.- I got the first two sets, got three reps into the last set and had the spotter help me with the last two. Again, this is fine, I did lose 5 lbs. last week!

Deadlift- 1x5 225 lbs.- I'm still experimenting with the form on this, using the articles posted a few pages up with Rippetoe's form and some T-nation videos. I did this ok I think.

Dips- 3x8- Used a 45 lb. plate, did first two sets fine, got to 6 on the last set and my tris gave out. Good effort and intensity though.

Abs- I did 2 sets of hanging leg raises, the first set I always point my toes to the ceiling, which means my abs are worn out the second set. Trying to get my muscular endurance built up here, I need to start adding more abs on off days.

ADVICE WANTED!

Been a while since I posted my diet, I think it could definitely use some tweaking; here we go.

breakfast: 4 eggs, two pieces of bread

lunch: ground beef with whole wheat noodles

dinner: chicken breast

miscellaneous/throughout the day: cans of tuna, peanut butter sandwiches, more servings of ground beef/noodles, whey shakes, yogurt, whey and fish pills at night.

I have 5 different protein sources, what else can I do? Also, I weigh about 160 right now, not a lot of fat, I would estimate between 10-12%, how many grams of protein should I be putting down each day? How many grams from my whey shakes?

Also, I'm looking for some cardio and ab stuff to do on my off days, nothing that would kill me, but I don't need to be sitting on my ass on off days.

All comments welcome!

 

[Quagmire911]

I think it may be better for you to run the Texas Method or something else rather than squatting heavy 3x a week. At those numbers your CNS will be getting fryed with all that work.

As for the diet it is a start, but check out "Simple Starting Diet" in the vault for more of a structure. Protein should be at 240-320g per day.

As for cardio, there are many options. Walking/sleddragging/sled pulling/tyre flipping/bodyweight exercises/rowing machines or whatever...A good idea would be to do 20 minutes on the day after the first two days in your routine, at a decent pace that makes you work. Don't do anymore ab work, that would be included on you strength training days. If you switch to the Texas method or something else, you can fit this in.

Keep it up!

 

[JackRyanJuan]

Thanks for the advice Quagmire. Link to Texas Method?

 

[Quagmire911]

http://stronglifts.com/the-texas-method-strength-training-for-intermediate-lifters/

 

[JackRyanJuan]

Ok, I'm going to start doing Texas Method, but how do you fit in all your workouts? If you're going volume/recovery/intensity, then it would be hard to fit in all your workouts, right? For example, I want to do the following exercises:

1.Bench Press
2.Squats
3.Deadlift
4.Military Press
5.Dips
6.Pull-ups
7.Bent Over Rows

Basically, all the beginning Rippetoe stuff. But surely 5x5 for all of these on the volume day is overkill? How are you supposed to space this stuff out?

 

[Quagmire911]

Here is a similar method which should give you an idea of how to structure it:

http://www.geocities.com/elitemadcow1/5x5_Program/Linear_5x5.htm

You could of course just try the above instead of the texas method, both will work.

 

[JackRyanJuan]

Here's a tentative Texas Method workout, ya'll tell me what you think. I'm alternating two different weeks of workouts.

Option A

Tuesday: Squats 5x5
Bench 5x5
Rows 5x5

Thursday: Squats 3x3
Bench 3x3
Rows 3x3

Saturday: Squats 1x1
Bench 1x1
Rows 1x1

Option B

Tuesday: Deadlift 5x5
Overhead Press 5x5
Pull ups 5x5

Thursday: Deadlift 3x3
Overhead Press 3x3
Pull ups 3x3

Saturday: Deadlift 1x1
Overhead Press 1x1
Pull Ups 1x1
Overall, pretty simple, I just wanted to keep most of my Rippetoe exercises, especially the big three. Any comments appreciated.