Quik's Workout Log

[Quiksilver]

The Weights:
Monday - Chest, Biceps

Wednesday - Legs, Shoulders

Friday - Back, Triceps

The Track:
Monday - 3x8 sprints
Tuesday - 3x8 sprints
Wednesday - 3x8 sprints
Thursday - 3x8 sprints
Friday - 3x8 sprints
Saturday - 4x8 sprints
Sunday - 4x8 sprints
(100% effort)
Current 10rep max weight:
Incline Bench Press: 120lbs
Barbell Curl: 110lbs
Squats: Unknown
Shoulder raises: 25lbs
Deadlift: Unknown
Lat pulldown: Unknown
Tricep pulldowns: Unknown due to injury

I'll be updating this each week. It's essentially to keep me on track and for motivational purposes. Feel free to comment.

 

[Quiksilver]

Monday

1. Incline Bench Press
- 4x10
set1: 10x80lbs
set2: 10x90lbs
set3: 10x100lbs
set4: 8x110lbs(failed on 9)

2. Barbell Curl(biceps)
- 4x10
set1: 10x90lbs
set2: 10x100lbs
set3: 10x110lbs
set4: 6x120lbs(couldn't get the 7th up )

3. Sprints - sprint forward 12 metres, then sprint backwards; 8 times in the same motion. 1 minute rest between sets.
- 3x8 , therefore its 96m of sprinting per set.
set1: 1minute 04seconds
set2: 58seconds (best time)(ill try to beat it tomorrow!!)
set3: 1minute 06seconds

 

[simon]

You curl more than you bench? Are you swinging with your back?

 

[Quiksilver]

yeah i do curl more than i bench i had/still have a reoccuring chest injury...and ive just started working the pecs hard again, so we'll see where that goes.

Tuesday:

1. Sprints
- 3x8
set1: 1.04.51
set2: 1.03.91
set3: 1.04.58

I slowed down! grrr mabye tomorrow

 

[Quiksilver]

Wednesday

1. Squats
- 4x10
set1: 10x260
set2: 10x280
set3: 10x300
set4: 10x310
(my machine only has 310lbs of resistance )

2. Shoulder raises
- 4x10
set1: 10x20
set2: 10x30
set3: 10x30
set4: 10x30
(what are other good isolated shoulder exercises?)

3. Sprints
- 3x8
set1: 1.12.06 (i slipped on the wet ground, lol cut my palm open)
set2: rained out
set3: rained out

I don't think its a good idea to try to do make-up sprints because I'm already doing them 7 days a week, crazy i know, and any more would just be absurd. I don't mind the break either

 

[Quiksilver]

Thursday

1. Sprints
- 3x8
set1: 1.07.18
set2: 1.02.39
set3: 1.07.68

consistently my second set has been better, perhaps cause im 'pumped' after the first set? also i think I'm slowing down in general, because of the consistency of how often I do them(every day). Today I ran a mile in 5:25 for Phys. Ed. class, which was pretty sweet. All the exercise is taking its toll i believe and I don't think ill be able to consistently break 1:00 without taking rest days.

Also, there is a conflict in my scheduling now. With gym class, I'm expected to work out 4 times a week, all weekdays. This in itself I think is too much, but coinciding with my 3 day a week workout...its downright foolish. Any ideas for how I should break it up to try to maintain a consistent schedule? perhaps focus on lifting at school, and cardio at home...your thoughts? thanks

 

[Quiksilver]

Friday

1. Deadlift (first time, still finding the right weights)
- 4x10
set1: 10x100
set2: 10x160
set3: 10x180
set4: 10x210
This went well, although I feel I can do more.

2. Lateral pulldowns
- 4x10
set1: 10x40
set2: 10x50
set3: 10x60
set4: 10x70

3. Tricep pulldown (this one is difficult because i have an elbow injury)
- 4x10
set1: 10x20
set2: 10x30
set3: 10x40
set4: 10x50

4. Sprints
- 3x8
set1: 1.06.01
set2: 1.04.17
set3: 1.06.80

* Did a 12 minute medium-high paced run in Phys. Ed. today

I'm pretty happy with today, everything went well considering I killed myself in Phys.Ed. class during the day, came home and still had the dicipline and motivation to pull off this workout.

I'm having second thoughts about my weekend sprints though, at the rate I'm going, my legs will never be able to recover. Perhaps big 4x8 sprints on Saturday and then take Sunday off? I dunno, ill see how this weekend goes and then have my second thoughts.

Till tomorrow, peace!

 

[Throttle]

2. Shoulder raises
- 4x10
set1: 10x20
set2: 10x30
set3: 10x30
set4: 10x30
(what are other good isolated shoulder exercises?)

Why isolated? Compound lifts are almost always preferable to isolation lifts (decent summary here: http://searchwarp.com/swa31794.htm).

Try a shoulder or military press instead:

http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/DeltoidAnterior/BBShoulderPress.html

http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/DeltoidAnterior/BBMilitaryPress.html

Shoulder raises (whether front or lateral) are too easy to swing, and too hard to move up weights.

Your barbell curls are way out of whack compared to your chest & tris -- I suggest dropping them for a while (don't worry your biceps won't shrink!) and try more compound moves that exercise your biceps indirectly (dips, pull-ups, etc.)

You're almost certainly going to wear yourself out (overtrain) with so much sprinting plus lifting. At least take one day off a week! (Sunday would be a good time, as you suggest.) But what are your goals, etc.?

 

[Quiksilver]

My goals are to get as fit as possible by the New Year. Get my bf% down around 10%, and get the full gear(nice chest, arms, abs, legs). I know I need to emphasize HIIT right now because my bf% is around 15 or 16. An aesthetically pleasing body, to be honest.

I'm also a competitive tennis player and am trying to pick up some speed and general fitness for that. It's essentially a cutting cycle for me. I'm doing the whole eating/sleeping thing properly but am trying to max out the amount of exercise I do.

Here's a new, more reasonable program. comment if you see something i could improve.

The Weights:
Monday - Chest, Shoulders

Wednesday - Legs, Triceps

Friday - Back, Shoulders/Biceps

The Track:
Monday - 3x8 sprints
Tuesday - 3x8 sprints
Wednesday - 3x8 sprints
Thursday - 3x8 sprints
Friday - 3x8 sprints
Saturday - Full body stretching
Sunday - Full body stretching
I think the stretching on the weekend is a better idea. It will give the muscles a rest but still keep them loose.

Exercises:
1. Chest
-Incline bench press
-Chest fly
-Lying crossovers(db)
2. Shoulders
-Military press
-Shoulder press
3. Legs
-Squats
-Leg extension
-Leg curl
4. Triceps
-Tricep pulldowns
-Dips *can't do these at home, only at school, we'll see..
5. Back
-Deadlift
-Lateral pulldowns
6. Biceps
-Pullups
-Bicep curl(db)
7. Shoulders
-lat.Shoulder raises

Whew

I'm going to ease off the bicep curls for now and work on pull-ups, I want to keep the shoulder raises though, I can see some gains with them.
I can't do Dips at home, so ill use the school gym for that in Phys. Ed.

I'll start on Monday, so there's still time for tweaking...Comments?

 

[Throttle]

Looks good to me. Your goals & program seem to match for now -- you'll know pretty quickly whether you're getting there or not. If you stick with a true cutting cycle, it'll probably get hard to measure your progress on the weights after the first month or two (right now you get a honeymoon). That's why you'll see guys around here (esp. Alex) arguing against cycling in favor of slow steady progress that you can measure by watching the weights go up. But it's certainly your prerogative to try a cutting cycle.

The reason I pull for dips is that a couple friends of mine were in about your position at your age, started doing dips regularly and their upper bodies just exploded -- they all swore by 'em. Mostly I swear at them, but I do them now, too. Dips are often cited as one of the great bodyweight exercises you can do w/o a gym, but I suppose you have to pick your two support surfaces carefully.

Keep reporting your progress! And don't ever be afraid to ignore advice found here and do what works for you.

 

[Quiksilver]

Saturday

1. Stretching
- 30 minutes

Stretched out upper and lower body, gave the legs a good stretch in the morning and did some light tennis practice. The aching stopped

 

[Quiksilver]

Sunday

1. Stretching
- 30 minutes

Did this one in the afternoon, almost forgot to do it! I know I don't really need to post a reply about something like this, but I'm trying to make this a habit of reporting every day.

Just as an update: I looked in the mirror today and I look noticably better, in other words more definition over my entire body(face, arms, legs, abs). Not by much of course, but I didn't expect to see any changes for 3 weeks, so it was fukin awesome to see some gains so soon. See, it pays to kick the **** out of yourself! **** yeah!!

 

[Quiksilver]

Monday

1. Incline Bench Press
- 4x10
set1: 10x80
set2: 10x100
set3: 10x120
set4: 10x140

2. Chest Fly
- 4x10
set1: 10x80
set2: 10x90
set3: 10x100
set4: 10x110

3. Lying Crossovers
- 4x10
set1: 10x80
set2: 10x100
set3: 10x120
set4: 7x130

4. Military Press
- 4x10
set1: 10x60
set2: 10x100
set3: 10x110
set4: i dont have a proper weight set so i couldnt keep proper form at 120lbs

5. Shoulder press

same story, my machine doesnt accomodate SPs, ill have to wait for the lifting in Gym class at school to start, to do this one.

6. Lateral Raises
- 4x10
set1: 10x30
set2: 10x40
set3: 5x50
set4: 10x40 --- was it a mistake to go back to 40lbs if i failed at 5reps on 50?

7. Sprints
- 3x8
set1: 1.04.45 hmmm...slightly disappointed
set2: 1.02.94 heere we go, as usual 2nd set has logged my best times
set3: 1.03.61 nice, im keeping that 3rd set down now

These sprints were performed in a high wind and I even had to change the direction i did them in, so I would be sprinting forward INTO the wind instead of cheating and sprinting forward with the wind. I got abit dizzy after these sprints, not enough food/water beforehand perhaps?

Start of week 2, so far so good! Peace out dawgs

 

[mrRuckus]

Dude dude dude.. you're doing too many sets for the same muscle.

Lose the lat raises and crossovers and flies. And only do 2 or 3 sets for a lift. If you must do multiple chest exercises do flat (or decline) and incline bench press.

I don't know what a shoulder raise is (is that where you raise it in front of you?) but if that's not pushing it straight over your head then you need to drop it and do BB or DB Presses instead.

Oh and do free weight squats. Especially if you can't even use enough on your machine (smith?). Don't do leg extensions.

 

[Throttle]

Before you take mrRuckus' advice on sets, let me ask if you're warming up at all? If not, that first set is a short warmup--probably not enough warming up if you ask me--but you can skip it on the 2nd exercise with each muscle group. That is, warm up your chest once, carefully, but then go to three solid sets with each chest exercise.

12 true work sets is certainly too much for the chest or shoulders. Crank up the weights, and start working towards lower reps (4-8 reps per set, when you can do 8, kick up the weight by 2.5, 5 or 10 lbs.) More than 10 sets is adding up to way too many reps at 10 per.

 

[manuva]

The guys are right. Drop the worksets by half.

Two sets per exercise is more than enough - if you've still got juice in the tank after two sets then you weren't lifting hard enough.

 

[Quiksilver]

Thanks for the response,

I'll cut the sets down and increase the weight. I used to be one of those guys cranking out 20 reps/set until I started learning how to do it properly...

And yes I do stretch the muscle groups I'm working for about 5 minutes beforehand. The first light set is to get into the rhythm of it, but I suppose ill skip it, add some weight and cut down the # of sets.

I would drop some shoulder raises, but I can't get into the school gym yet, still 2 weeks, so im gonna keep those for now.

Cool

 

[white belt]

What are you going for here? Are you looking to add poundage, increase cardio or all round. The reason why I ask is that you are only doing 1 chest and back routine per week, that ain't enough to maximise adding muscle.

 

[simon]

Don't cut out the light sets. That IS what a lifting warmup should be, starting light then moving up closer to your work set weight, but not so close that you fatigue yourself.

 

[Throttle]

I second that.... don't cut out warm-up sets, if anything, warm up even lighter, slower, longer, and then dig into 2-3 sets that really pound you.

Everyone has different advice, but looking at your incline bench as an example try something like

10 x 70
5 x 90
3 x 110
2 x 130

for warm-ups then

8 x 140
8 x 150
4-8 x 160

As for white belt's advice...eh, whatever. You can add lots of muscle with the split you're doing right now. Since you're just starting, let this play out for 8-12 weeks, and then you can decide if you need to "maximize" by working out each muscle group more than once a week. Lots of us are getting big on a push/pull/leg split.

All this advice must be dizzying.....