I’m just going to leave this right here.

Guess I should start playing the lottery.

Here are my last 3 sessions:

01-30-2010
Deadlift: warm up 8×135, 3×225, 3×245, 3×265, 3×265
Overhead press: warm up 8×45, 8×65, 8×85, 8×85
Close grip inside pull: 8×140, 8×140, 8×140
Hammer curl: 8×35, 8×40, 8×40

02-02-2010
Bench Press: warm up 8×135, 3×155, 3×165, 3×175, 2×185
Close grip bench press: 5×145, 5×155, 5×165
Rolling Dumbbell extension: 8×30, 8×30, 8×35
Dumbbell floor press: 8×35, 8×40, 8×45

02-05-2010
Goblet Squat: 10×45, 10×45, 10×45, 10×45
Leg ext: 10×80, 10×80, 10×80, 10×80
Leg curl: 12×80, 10×90, 10×90, 10×90
Back ext w 20lb: 10, 10, 10
Dumbbell rows: 8×50, 8×55, 8×55

That's not me btw

I don’t like squats. I know why I do them, because they are “one of the big 4″ in weight training. But I suck at them, I can’t push much weight. I don’t know if it’s my form, or my weird long legs, bad hip, or what. For days after squat day my thighs hurt so bad it’s hard to walk up and down the stairs. I think for the next few weeks I am going to skip the squats and just do leg press and dumb bell lunges.

Now dead lifts? I heart dead lifts. I can’t wait for my next training day on Saturday.

Workout 2 (01-26-10)

Squat: 3×135, 3×135, 3×155, 3×165
Alternating Dumbbell lunge (each side): 8×30, 8×30, 8×30
Back extension (holding a 25lb plate): 10,10,10

It was a short workout over lunch.

Bench Press

I am going to try again to keep a better public blog of my workouts. For the past 8 months I have been doing Jim Wendler’s 5/3/1 program. I think I did pretty well and was able to get some results, just not really what I was wanting. It did help me learn to really take my lifting back to the basics; bench press, squat, dead lift, and overhead (military) press. Starting this Saturday I started on an 8 week program that’s designed to basically just increase my bench press. My last max attempt was 2 x 200lbs. I don’t have a workout partner and there is rarely anyone at the gym for me to find a spotter so I didn’t want to press my luck. My goal at the end of this is to press 3-5x225lbs.

The training is a 3 day a week lifting schedule and I am going to try and add in a couple days of Yoga and / or cardio. The lower reps are so that I can use some fairly heavy weight. I’m not looking for hypertrophy at this point just some raw strength on the bench press.

Day 1
Bench Press 3×5
Close Grip Bench Press 5×3
Rolling Dumb Bell Extension 8×3
Dumb Bell Floor Press 8×3

Day 2
Sqaut 3×5
Alt Lunge 8×3
Romanian Deadlift 3×8

Day 3
Deadlift 3×5
Military Press 8×3
Pull Up 8×3
Hammer Curl 8×3

I began on Saturday and finished up with numbers:

Bench Press: 3×155, 3×175, 2×185, 1×185
Close grip bench press: 5×135, 5×145, 5×155
Rolling Dumbbell Extension: 8×35,8×30,8×30
Dumbbell Floor Press: 8×30,8×35,8×40
Hanging Leg Raises: 8,8,8
Swiss Ball Reverse Crunch: 10,10,10
Farmer’s Walk: 10×45, 5×45 (I walk back and forth across the gym carrying a 45lb plate in each hand)

I was going to try and get to the gym today, but the blizzard kept me home. I’ll do some dumbbell and body weight work and Yoga this evening.

What’s the saying the plumber’s toilet never works, or the cobbler’s kids have no shoes. I guess the Web designer’s website is never updated. I’ve just had a crap ton of stuff going on lately. I do have some ideas and a new layout that I want to try. Maybe in the next few weeks I might have some time to get to them.

10 minutes of jump rope to warm up

Descending bench press on the Smith machine. This one is kind of hard to explain, but basically I start out setting the pins rather high so that I’m only doing a few inches of push with the bar. Then for each set I add weight and lower the pins a little more.
160×12 high pins, 180×10 mid pins, 205×6 low pins, 205×1 lowest, 180x3x2 lowest pins

Chin ups 8,7,6,5

Dips 8,7,6,5

Bent over row
65x10wu, 95×10, 115×8, 125×5

Decline bench
barx10wu, 135×10, 155×8, 165x6x2

Hanging leg raise 20, 15, 12 superset with
Standing cable crunch 20, 15, 12

A blender, probably obvious but I have both a large one and the small single serving kind. Also the whisk ball shaker is a favorite of mine.

Frozen banana slices, slice up some bananas and keep then in a baggie in the freezer. Toss a few in the blender with the whey and some milk. Much better than ice in my opinion. Thickens and adds good flavor.

Apple Pie spice, this one is a great quick and cheap flavoring to add to vanilla whey, either blended or just in the shaker. Really takes away the bitterness of the Creatine, Carnitine, and BCAA.

Splenda and cinnamon, another good mix of to have on hand. Mix some of each in a small spice shaker for a quick dash of flavor.

Frozen berries, these are great to add when you are mixing up a breakfast smoothie. Depending on the berry mix it can get seedy though.

I’m sure I have some other protein smoothie ides on this blog somewhere too. Feel free to add any more ideas or recipes. I’m always looking for more.