The I don't even workout frequently enough training log

[boingyman]

I use to always keep track of my training back in the day, but haven't done so for probably the past 6-7 years. Maybe this might help me be a little more consistent or at least realize how little I actually train now and try to make more time to lift. Recently been doing a little pullup/chin-ups. Have done so 2x per week consistently for 5 weeks or so. Lately I've been lifting just 1-2 days per week, but more real lifting once per week. Lets see if this log last.

I use to compete in powerlifting (single ply; USAPL, USPF) and I try to make that my base. Was never that strong at squats and deads. I was a pretty good bencher at my prime. Played around with oly lifts, but never seriously. My goals is to be consistent that is all. If I can lift free weights twice per week that is a realistic goal that I am happy with right now. I also plan to continue doing pullups/chin-ups twice per week.

Age: 36
Height: 5' 6"
Weight: 150#

Best Lifts (Competed in 75kg/165# class): Walk around ~170ish#
-Raw Squat: 425x2 (most I tried, never focused on it back then)
-Squat with single ply suit and short knee wraps: 535#/242.5kg

-Raw Bench: 390#
-Bench with single ply bench shirt: 452#/205kg
-High Rep Bench: 225x36 reps raw (touch-n-go to lockout at end of workout), 315x10 raw, BW x 50 raw

-Raw Sumo Deadlift: 495# (most I tried)
-Sumo Deadlift with single ply suit: 518#/235kg
-Raw Conventional Deadlift: 500x2 (deadstop pause)

Lets see how this goes. Yes I'm extremely weak now, thank you.

 

[boingyman]

10/12/2016 - Wednesday

Pull-Up workout today at the office. Usually done on Mon or Tue, but was on vacation. We are doing the Ron Recon program + a little more for now. I think this is our 5th week straight. Thurs/Fri we do chin-ups.

Pull-Ups (dead hang to chin above bar)
BW x11
BW x8
BW x7
BW x6
BW x6

Pull-Ups with 1 second pause at top (dead hang to chin above bar)
BW+25 x6
BW+25 x6
BW+25 x6

BW pull-ups feeling easy. I think I started too low, since the first test day I did it I was at 15 reps. Adding in a little weighted pullups for more volume. Not sure how much longer I'm going to continue this as I have more desire to do heavier weighted pullups rather than high reps. My coworker is significantly weaker so just wanted to try something that may work well for him.

 

[boingyman]

10/14/2016 - Friday

Did a very quick chin-up workout at the office.

Chin-Ups (dead hang to chin above bar)
BW x5
BW+25# x5
BW+50# x5
BW+50# x5
BW+50# x7

That's about it. Had a meeting so tried to do these fast. Need more weight we can keep up in our office. Might have to find some cheap used plates at a garage sale or something.

In terms of pull-up history in a nutshell I use to do them a lot, even before I use to compete in powerlifting. I could do one-arm chin-ups before and hope to do them again. My best is 3 reps with right arm and 1 rep (almost 2) with my left. I could do pretty heavy weighted pullup/chin-ups at the time but I forget how much. I know I use to strap 3 45 plates on for chins. Never really did too much high rep bw, but I'm sure I could easily do 20-25 reps back then, maybe even 30...not sure.

 

[boingyman]

Found the video of my first ever powerlifting meet back in 2005. It was actually a bench only meet. Weighed in at 163 pounds which was my walk around weight at the time. I still remember how nervous I was especially because I injured my clavicle bone several weeks prior to the meet. Once I stepped on that platform though I was in the zone. This was done with a single ply bench shirt. Ended up with 424 on my 3rd. I got to do a 4th attempt since I broke some worthless state record by my 2nd attempt. Missed 440 at lockout. I didn't get a long break as my previous attempts since there was no line this time. I felt like I could have gotten it if I had 5 more minutes of rest time, but who knows...

 

[Uncle Rico]

Dude you were strong, muscle has memory so you'll get a lot of it back quickly.

 

[boingyman]

10/16/2016 - Sunday

Nephew was able to watch our little guy so the wife and I hit up the HOA gym for a little under an hour. The gym is decent, but nothing spectacular. At least they have some free weights and dumbbells that go up to 100#.

1/2 mile jog to gym

Bench Press - About pinky on rings (there are no rings on the bar they have at this gym...wierd)
bar x reps
135 x 10
155 x 10
215 x 5
235 x 5
260 x 5

Flat DB Bench
40s x 8
80s x 8
90s x 8
90s x 8

superset with...

Sumo Deadlift -Modified Width + (Stiff Leg deadlift)
bar x reps
135 x 5 sumo + (135 x 3 sldl)
225 x 5 sumo + (225 x 3 sldl)
225 x 5 sumo + (225 x 3 sldl)
225 x 5 sumo + (225 x 3 sldl)
275 x 5 sumo (forgot to do the stiff legs after since my wife was rushing me!)

1/2 mile walk home

First day back at the weights in 2 weeks since we were on a mini vacation last week. Caught some weird stomach bug so wasn't feeling that great today. My wife wanted to lift with me so everything was thrown off. Lately I've been super setting bench with deadlift and another pressing movement with stiff legs on a deficit, but was in a rush so had to just do what I could. My lungs were dying today. Last set of bench felt heavy sadly. I'm not following any training programs since I'm not training much. Prior to this workout I think the whole Aug and Sep I only hit up the weights 1x a week. Briefly talked to my wife about us going to the gym 1 day out of every weekday. So I'm crossing my fingers I can get in every Wednesday and either Saturday/Sunday.

 

[boingyman]

Dude you were strong, muscle has memory so you'll get a lot of it back quickly.

Thanks. In the powerlifting world I was okay at best. My squat and deadlift were way too weak though. Back then in the single ply world I would need to squat and deadlift in the 600+ to place in USAPL Nationals, but even then guys like Wade Hooper would just crush me. I agree about the muscle memory thing, but kind of hard when I use to have the time to commit 10-15 hours of weight training per week where now I commit 1-2, maybe 3 hours at the most. Sad, but true. I never thought this would ever happen to me. The only realistic solution would be to build a gym in my garage (which I doubt I could convince my wife unless our next house is a 3-car garage) or we move closer to work (we commute ~2 hours per day).

 

[Uncle Rico]

Don't sweat it man. Don't spend your life feeling second best to those guys, just be as strong as you want to be. I'm a joke in that world, my goal nowadays is to bench 275 for 5 good reps and front squat say 175 for 5 reps. Back squats kill my back and give me sciatica. Also my goal for strict overhead press is say 185 for 5 reps. I've got my work cut out for me but I want to see where I land in a year or so. I see these buff guys in the gym all the time and now I'm like I don't care because it just takes my focus away from my next set, etc. Anyway, just do what you have time for but certainly don't do less than you have time for.

 

[boingyman]

Yeah I've come to terms with it for a long time now. My main priority in terms of working out is to stay healthy and fit. Lifting heavy stuff is just a hobby. I use to take it very seriously and was very competitive and hard on myself back then, but where I'm at in my life I don't have high expectations. If I can be consistent and put in the time, the rest will come together.

I must say though I do want to compete in powerlifting again. The beauty of powerlifting is that age is nothing but a number. Most of my training partners back then were in their 40s-50s. Heck there was even a guy in his low 80s in my gym that was competing. He actually benched over 200 pounds in several meets and I believe only weighed about 160-170 pounds. It was pretty amazing.

 

[boingyman]

10/17/16 - Monday

Did a quick random 1 mile run after taking my son for a nice stroll around the neighborhood

 

[Uncle Rico]

Yeah I've come to terms with it for a long time now. My main priority in terms of working out is to stay healthy and fit. Lifting heavy stuff is just a hobby. I use to take it very seriously and was very competitive and hard on myself back then, but where I'm at in my life I don't have high expectations. If I can be consistent and put in the time, the rest will come together.

I must say though I do want to compete in powerlifting again. The beauty of powerlifting is that age is nothing but a number. Most of my training partners back then were in their 40s-50s. Heck there was even a guy in his low 80s in my gym that was competing. He actually benched over 200 pounds in several meets and I believe only weighed about 160-170 pounds. It was pretty amazing.

Cool man. hope you get back into one day.

 

[boingyman]

10/18/2016 - Tuesday

Pull-Up workout today at the office.

Pull-Ups (dead hang to chin above bar)
BW x12
BW x8
BW x7
BW x7
BW x6

Pull-Ups with 1 second pause at top (dead hang to chin above bar)
BW+25 x7
BW+50 x5

We have a small gym in our work place that is luckily right below my office. Did 10 more minutes of activity

One-Hand DB Strict Overhead Press
25x10
30x10
50x10
50x20

Did some random air squats and DB swings inbetween sets, nothing notable. Just wanted to work the conditioning a little. We only have up to 50# dumbbells at work unfortunately.

Overall pull-ups didn't feel the best today. Nothing was difficult though except for the pull-ups + 50# with the pause. 5th rep was pretty difficult with maybe 1 left in the tank. Just getting anxious to start doing more weights as I'm not a high rep fan. I'll continue this route for at least another 3-4 weeks and reassess from there. Still need to buy some weights (for weighted pullups) to leave at the office though...Coworker also recorded the pull-ups. I tend to pull too high with pretty much my upperchest banging the bar. I'm not a pull-up expert so not sure if I should just continue this habit or stay more efficient and just go chin over bar....hmmm

 

[boingyman]

10/20/2016 - Thursday

Coworker is on leave and let me borrow his pull-up bar so I took it downstairs to the work gym to do heavier weighted chins.

Chin-Ups (dead hang to chin above bar)
BW x5
BW x5
BW+25# x3
BW+50# x3
BW+60# x3
BW+70# x3
BW+80# x3

bw+40# x5 with 2 second pause at top
bw+40# x5 with 2 second pause at top

Superset with bench cable machine with looped mini bands
120 pin x15
120 pin x10 -added bands
180 pin x10
200 pin x10
200 pin x10
200 pin x10

Time was up so had to go. Wanted to do one more bench machine near failure and maybe one more exercise, but had no time. 80# chin-ups felt pretty good, although 3rd rep was getting tough. Would probably do better with a little more rest time inbetween sets. Also using 2 40# dumbbells to do it so it was pretty uncomfortable between my legs (no homo).

 

[boingyman]

10/24/2016 - Monday

Missed my real weight training day this week. From wanting to get 2 days I didn't even get a day in unfortunately. Did a quick workout at the work gym

Bench Cable Machine - Close Grip
120 pin x 15
150 pin x 15
180 pin x 15
200 pin x 15
200 pin x 15
200 pin x 10 - wide grip, very slow negative, constant tension
200 pin x 10 - wide grip, very slow negative, constant tension

Inbetween eat set I was doing random movements to keep the heart rate up such as jump squats, jump lunges, jumping jacks, shadow boxing, agility drills, air squats. Then at the end did a little thursters with 30-50# dumbbells for sets of 10.

Co-worker got out of a meeting in time so we did a very quick pull-up workout with minimal rest following Ron Recon chart.

Pull-Ups (dead hang to chin above bar)
BW x12
BW x9
BW x7
BW x7
BW x7

I was fatigued with the minimal rest periods and from the workout prior. We are debating how to adjust our pull-up routine since I believe usually with the Ron Recon you're suppose to do it 6 days per week if I'm not mistaken. We initially did this just to get things going since my coworker struggled to get 5-6 pull-ups at week 1. It's going to be hard to coordinate pull-ups daily at work due to our schedule. If I had my own pull-up bar then problem solved. Of course we don't have to follow this program, but may increase to pull-ups 2-3x per week Mon-Thur and then Friday hit heavier chins with more volume. Not sure yet. If we do restart something I may ditch bodyweight pull-ups altogether as use bw+25 as my baseline. I think we'll keep going for now and then by another 6 weeks or so we can max out reps to see how much we improved.

 

[boingyman]

10/26/2016 - Tuesday

Pull-Ups (dead hang to chin above bar)
BW x12
BW x9
BW x7
BW x7
BW x7

Repeated the Ron Recon pull-ups again since I believe it's recommended 6 days per week. Felt much better than yesterday, but not 100%. I think going from sitting at a desk for most of the day to not warming up much before doing the pull-ups is not a good thing. Also taking much shorter rest periods as well. I don't even know what we plan to do so my pullup work might be random, but likely more volume throughout the week.

 

[boingyman]

10/28/2016 - Thursday

Pull-Ups (dead hang to chin above bar)
BW x12
BW x9
BW x7
BW x7
BW x7

Repeat x3 this week. Tommorow will be weighted chins. It's going to be a very busy weekend coming up so I need to make sure to get under the bar to do a little benching and either squat or deadlift.

 

[boingyman]

10/28/2016 - Friday

Chin-Ups (dead hang to chin above bar)
BW x5
BW+25# x3
BW+25# x3
BW+25# x3
BW+50# x3
BW+50# x3
BW+50# x6 - with 2 second pause at the top

superset with...

pushups
BW x25
BW x10 clapping
BW x10 clapping
BW x10 clapping
BW x10 clapping
BW x10 clapping
BW x10 clapping

Quick office workout again. Decided to do a little pushups inbetween. Also this week rest periods have been less in general.

 

[boingyman]

10/30/2016 - Sunday

1/2 mile jog to HOA gym

Yoga pants girls squatting the bar, so couldn't flat bench so started with dumbbells.

Flat DB Bench
30x x6
50s x 6
70s x6
90s x 6
90s x 6
90s x 6

girls left the rack....

Pause Bench Press - About middle on rings
155 x 10
225 x 5
225 x 5

superset with...

Sumo Deadlift -Modified Width
bar x reps
135 x 6
135 x 3
225 x 3
225 x 3
225 x 3

1/2 mile jog back home.

Damn had to cut my workout shorter than expected so couldn't really pull or finish up my benching. Should have started pulling from the start. I actually wanted to squat, so workout was thrown off...

 

[boingyman]

11/01/2016 - Tuesday

Pull-Ups (dead hang to chin above bar)
BW x13
BW x9
BW x8
BW x7
BW x7

Biceps have been fatiguing quickly for some reason. Not sure what's going on. It could be that me and high reps just don't play well, especially with this movement. Also low rest periods and inadequate warm-up could be hindering me.

 

[boingyman]

11/2/2016 - Wednesday

Coworker is on leave again and let me borrow his pull-up bar so I took it downstairs to the work gym. One of my techs worked out with me as well.

Pull-Ups (dead hang to chin above bar)
BW x4
BW+25# x4
BW+40# x4
BW+50# x4
BW+60# x4
BW+60# x4
BW x13

Superset with bench cable machine with looped mini bands x2
120 pin x20
120 pin x8 -added bands
150 pin x8
200 pin x8
200 pin x8
200 pin x8

Done. Last set of BW pull-ups felt easier today then yesterday without any bicep fatigue. I honestly have no idea what I'm doing now, but just trying to get in the volume. In a month or so I'll reassess and have a more solid plan. Really busy day at work tomorrow and Friday so we'll see what happens. Ideally cardio tommorrow and heavy chin-ups Friday.