Striving For Strength (and conditioning)

[Forcetti]

Okay, so I've been training a while...with a lot of time off and just generally stuffing around with no direction. That's about to change.

Age: 19
Height: 180cm (5'11")
Weight: 78kg

I was just getting into the swing of things when I manage to injure my back, not one, but two bulging discs between my L3-L5. Unfortunately it still hasn't healed so my training is severely limited at the moment.

Current PR's
Squat 125kg (275)
Deadlift 150kg (330)
Chins 25kg (55) x 5
Max pullups 19reps
Strict OHP 55kg (121) x 5

Goals for 2008
Pullups 45kg x 5
Squat 150kg
Deadlift 180kg
SOHP 70kg

Full rollout
Dragon flag
Close the #2
Lever my sledge (8lbs)

Currently following WS4SBIII (28/7/08)


Appreciate any comments/tips/whatever. Cheers.

 

[Forcetti]

5/5/08

Bench
6 x 6 @ 75kg

Pullups
BW x 17
BW x 12 (wide)
BW x 8 (wide)
BW x 7 (wide)

Back extensions
3 x 20

Planks
1min30
1min
1min

6/5/08
"Cindy"

5pullups
10pushups
15squats

Total rounds in 20mins=12 bit crappy, managed 14 last week.

Rollouts (from knees)
2 x 15

 

[Forcetti]

7/5/08

Bench
7 x 5 @ 80kg

towel pullups
BW x 5
BW x 5
BW x 5
BW x 10
BW x 10

Actually had chalk on my hands from benching during the last two sets, never thought it would help this much.

 

[Forcetti]

9/5/08
Bench
8 x 4 @ 85kg

Chins
BW x 18
BW x 15

10/5/08
Bench
8 x 3 @ 90kg

Chins
BW x 10
BW x 10
BW+15kg x 7
BW+15kg x 7
BW+15kg x 5

Sposed to do 10 sets for bench..damn shoulder was causing me some trouble so I decided to stop early, musta slept on it bad.

 

[Forcetti]

The fail is great in this one, methinks. Well, I got owned by Smolov jr, my left shoulders is stuffed, can't even sleep on that side anymore. Good news is my back is feeling better, hopefully will be able to squat/deadlift soon.

23/5/08

Bulgarian split squats
x20
10kg x 15
10kg x 15
10kg x 15

Light, but feels good to do some legwork, back feels good with these too.

Towel chins
x 10
x 15
x 18

Sledgehammer levering

Reverse crunches
3 x 20

 

[Forcetti]

29/5/08
Bulgarian split squats
15kg 4 x 10

Pullups
BW+20kg 3 x 5

Towel chins
3 x 15

Sledge levering + CoC

31/5/08

Chins
BW+20kg 2 x 7
BW+25kg 3 x 4

Bulgarian split squats
20kg 3 x 5

 

[Forcetti]

9/6/08

Squats
60kg 3 x 5

Front squats
60kg 1 x 5

Backs feeling good lately, no problems doing normal stuff. Didn't feel any pain squatting, think I might be able to start progressing again?

Chins
20kg x 5
30kg x 4
30kg x 3
30kg x 3
20kg x 5
BW x 15

Reverse crunches
2 x 10

The idea was to extend my legs our further each time and eventually progress to a dragon flag...is there a better way of doing it?

Rollouts (from knees)
2 x 7

 

[Forcetti]

11/6/08


Squats
65kg 5x5

For some strange reason back squats seem easier on my back than front squats. I feel so rusty, going to have to record my lift to see how it is.

Close grip bench
65kg x 7, x 10

My left shoulder still aches, at least I should be able to ohp soon depending on my back.

Chins
BW x 16
BW x 12
BW x 5 (towel)

Pretty crap.

DB curls
16kg x 12, x 12

Sledge levering + CoC

 

[ghostwipe]

Yeah, front squats definitely tire out my lower back quicker.

 

[Forcetti]

Took some time off to study for finals, thats over so its time to go be a weakling again.

27/6/08

Back squat
60kg x 3
70kg x 3
80kg x 3
90kg x 3

SOHP
40kg x 5
40kg x 5
50kg x 3

Pullups
BW x 12
BW x 12

Happy with the squats...no pain really, although my ego was hurt pretty bad. At least it's quite an improvement over what I was doing last week or two.

 

[Forcetti]

19/7/08

Front squats
50kg x 5
60kg x 5
70kg x 3
70kg x 3
70kg x 3
70kg x 3
70kg x 3

Felt good, especially those last 2 sets, I feel I really hit the groove there.

Close grip bench
50kg x 5
60kg x 5
70kg x 3
80kg x 4

SOHP
50kg x 5
50kg x 4

Tuck front lever holds
2 x 10sec

 

[Forcetti]

Eh...I just realised that my last few posts havent been posted...

20/7/08

20min jog + couple of sprints

21/7/08

Front squats
50kg x 5
60kg x 5
70kg x 3
75kg x 3
75kg x 3
75kg x 3
75kg x 3

Chins
BW+10kg x 5
BW+20kg x 5
BW+20kg x 5
BW x 10
BW x 10

Tuck front lever holds
10sec x 2

 

[Forcetti]

22/7/08
20min jog

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

25/7/08

Front squats
Bunch of crappy sets, my back decided to suck today. Put me in such a shit mood for the rest of the workout.

Close Grip Bench
60kg x 5
70kg x 5
70kg x 5
80kg x 4
85kg x 4
85kg x 4
85kg x 2

Previous best was 80kg x 5, so I'm happy.
Now I felt a little better...And then I realised that my close grip bench is stronger than my squat....

Zercher squats
60kg x 2
70kg x 2
70kg x 2

Pullups
BW x 14
BW x 16
BW x 12
BW x 10

Curls
Few sets with 30kg

Decline situps
10kg x 15
10kg x 15

Think I'm going to go crazy with the foam rolling, stretching, glute activation exercises and all that in an attempt to correct my squat (and deadlifting, which I cannot do at all right now).

 

[Forcetti]

27/7/08

15min jog

-----

28/7/08

First day of WS4SBIII. WOOO!!

ME Upper Body

Close Grip Bench
50kg x 5
60kg x 5
70kg x 3
80kg x 3
85kg x 3

Pullups
BW x 15
BW x 12

Why is it always so hard to maintain the same amount of reps with pullups.

One Arm BB Rows
30kg x 8
30kg x 8
30kg x 8

Supersetted with...

Rear Delt Flyes
8.5kg x 8
8.5kg x 8
8.5kg x 8

BB Shrugs
60kg x 10
60kg x 10
60kg x 10

BB Curls
30kg x 12
30kg x 10
30kg x 10

I pwned my back doing BB rows for a set before I switched to the one armed variant. It's so strange...rows hurt more than anything, even squatting with double the weight doesn't hurt like this...what gives. Actually, any sort of pulling that involves the lower back causes more trouble than its worth.
I know that the pain I'm getting now doesn't have anything to do with the bulging disc from the beginning of the year, it feels very different. My physio has suggested that the problem could be my craptastic flexibility in my upper back, forcing the lower back to take more load than it needs...still I'm not sure lack of thoracic flexibility can cause this much of a problem. Hopefully he can shed some light on this next time I see him.

 

[Forcetti]

29/7/08

DE Lower Body

A few broad jumps...it was really cold and it seemed my joints didn't want to warm up properly

Bulgarian Split Squats (with BB)
30kg x 8
30kg x 8
30kg x 8

One legged RDLs
30kg x 8
30kg x 8

Decline Situps
3 x 15

Damn balance...especially on the RDLs, drive me nuts.

 

[Forcetti]

30/7/08

Supposed to be a rest day (which means some jogging) but I want to switch around my workout days so that I have 2 sessions on the weekend, since sometimes I finish work/uni late and its a pain to drag myself through the workout.

RE Upper Body

Bench
50kg x 15
60kg x 15
60kg x 15

One Arm DB Press
16kg x 12
16kg x 12
16kg x 12

Pullups
BW x 12
BW x 12
BW x 10

Supersetted with...

Rear Delt Flyes
8.5kg x 12
8.5kg x 12
8.5kg x 12

BB Shrugs
65kg x 12
65kg x 12
65kg x 12

BB Curls
30kg x 10
30kg x 10
30kg x 8

Levering

 

[Forcetti]

31/7/08

Front Squats
50kg x 3
60kg x 3
70kg x 3
80kg x 3

Yay, never felt better today. Glute activation, foam rolling and hip flexor stretches ftmfw.

BB Bulgarian Split Squats
35kg x 5
35kg x 7
35kg x 7

By working up to a max set, it does mean simply one max set right? I don't know shit but is that enough work? Doesn't seem to be much low rep work in this program.

will be finishing the rest of the ab/hammy work later tonight....