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.

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

The YMCA has an older but decent free weight room, they also have the usual cardio machines, bikes, treadmills, etc, and also a room of some Cybex brand single function exercise machines. But other than ride one of the bikes once a week, I spend my workouts in the weight room. For the past few months I have had good luck and enjoy doing a “Reg Park style” workout. I found the original workout on T-Nation in an article by Mike Mahler. At first I was pretty strict with the workout but I’ve added and modified a couple things. It’s basically a full body workout similar to what I was doing with my home workouts, but I can utilize some heavier weights and better equipment. At the core of the workout are the big basic, compound exercises, squat, dead lift, and bench press. I really don’t like to mess too much with isolation exercises.

There are 3 workouts to this and I try and get 1-2 days between for recovery, the first exercise is the back extension, a strong lower back is crucial to being able to do the big compound exercises properly. I really try to be strict with form and follow a 5×5 and 5×8 and gradually add weight over time. I don’t really use a lot of weight, yet anyway, I’m working on increasing slowly over time. The pattern I do is 5×5 one week, 5×8 next week, then back to 5×5 and adding 10lbs. So far I have noticed some good gains in size, strength, and endurance from this workout. Although after 6-8 weeks on this I will make some adjustments so as not to get into a rut and stagnate and many people do when the do the same workouts all the time.

Reg Park Workout Day 1

1. Back extension 3×10 +40lbs dumbell
2. Bench press 5×5 @ 155lbs
3. Barbell bent over row 5×5 @ 115lbs
4. Power clean and press 5×5 @ 105lbs
5. Squat 5×5 @ 95, 105, 115, 125, 135lbs (my squat form has been terrible – my hip flexors are weak – so I decided to go light and really try to stick the full range and get my legs parallel or below before I try to use much weight)
6. Barbell curls 5×5 @ 85lbs
7. Dips 5×8
8. Hammer curls 5×5 @ 40lbs dumbells
9. Calf raises 3×12 @ 200lbs
10. Hanging ab crunch 3×20

I will follow up in a couple days with the Day 2 workout.