Stress is a challenge, not a threat

I very much look forward to applying this to my own life

Last cycle of 5-3-1 before some mass building

Life and Training Realizations

I am still very new to this, but I am thinking/realizing what takes a lifter from beginner/novice may possibly be the time they have been lifting, but I think it also involves mentality. Learning that your body reacts differently to things. What works for one person may not work for you. That is why some guys train like body builders, other do a bunch of heavy singles (being super general here). What slowly starts pushing you out of the beginner/novice realm, is learning to study your training and see what works and doesn't work for you. On top of that is realizing, some days you feel like SHIT and regardless of that fact, the weights still need to be moved. I am slowly learning I don't need to get hyped every time, I can just do what I need to do to get set up, and execute the lift. Sometimes I will miss stuff because I feel like garbage, such is life.
This past year not 1/2013-1/2014, but training year, really april 2013 - april 2014, has been about discovering a lot about myself, learning about my training, conquering new fears, and transformation. I still am a beginner/novice in life and lifting, but I am slowly feeling my body and mind change, and these next few years it will be nice to learn a lot more and transition into the intermediate level. So while this year really the numbers should have gone up a lot more than they did, what really increased and improved was my knowledge, my attitude, and more things I may not be able to pin point at the moment.
I am in a new state, with a new state of mind, and a sense of purpose, because I control my destiny, my strength and my outlook. Great realizations over the past couple weeks, and at the perfect time with the finishing of my first REAL semester of college, where I still gave minimal effort and was able to achieve great results. The semester is not over yet, but I will continue to do as I have been, and I will succeed.

Training week of Monday March 31st - Friday April 4th 2014. Week 2 of 7 week cycle 5-3-1

Military monday - body weight: 208.8
100 rep curls empty curl bar + warmups
work sets
126x3
145x3
160x2. ugly as hell. drop weight

CAT training
126x3  8 sets

Pull Ups
wide grip 5 sets of 10 trying to to all the way down.

Dips superset with 12 rep 60lb cable bicep curl
bw+50lbs x10 5 sets.

Notes: happy my dips went well, and pull ups too. Military press needs to go down. way too heavy to do it properly.
Dropping the 1RM to 165, so I can get stronger and get my form right

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Tuesday Squats - Body weight: 207.4 Dropping too fast, bumping up calories by 200 on off days.
Pre-hab: Make shift reverse hyper. 15 reps for 3 sets. hang from knee raise stand for 4 sets of 30 seconds. 2 trips walking with 25lbs on sled, high knees belt up high near sternum. see video
warmups
work sets
241x3
276x3
310x3

CAT
241x3 6 sets.

One leg extensions
50lbsx15  3 sets

Supersetted with

Pull down abs
135x10 4 sets.

Notes: so I decided to switch my squat and deadlifting days around. my deads have been progressing even through the back problems, but squats not so much. first time squatting early in the week and I think it went great, stuff still feels too heavy in my opinion, but footage says otherwise. just trying to take it slow and easy and not get too Crazy. marathon, not a sprint. Also my quads are weak, so I need to get them stronger so I can get my squats up.

NEED TO START DOING FRONT SQUATS
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Thursday Bench day - Body weight: 207.8
100 rep curls empty curl bar + warmups
work sets
186x3
215x3
240x3

CAT training
186x3 8 sets.

strict bb row
150x10  5 sets

pushups with feet elevated on bench
4 sets of 10  with orange band twisted over neck +chain around neck

walking with sled

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Tuesday Deadlifts - Body weight: 207.4
warmups
work sets
325x3
375x3
420x3

CAT training
315x3  6 sets

Snatch grip deads
225x8 2 sets. did them just to see what they were like with mediocre weight. I liked them

GHR
40lbx15  3 sets. not as tough this time. gunna bump weight up to 45 lbs

Pulldown abs
150x10 3 sets

Notes: Deads were fine, felt a little heavy, but still got them done and they do not seem very slow so we are going good, not to mention we are getting closer and closer to actual max. Back is feeling GREAT this time! thanks to my training partner. pissed him off today because I was being a dick. I feel like he over analyses stuff and I was getting short with him. shit happens though and next week is a new week.


Walked with the sled and did hanging in the roman chair every day before and after training.

been trying to lose fat and get leaner. I was losing weight too quickly. I can feel it in my strength and energy levels. But I am new to this and need to figure out what works for me. Still getting all of my work done, besides military press, but that was coming soon anyways, plus I am working on getting the form done, all together, I am pretty happy with this training week, my training partner has been helping alot with my over tucking on my bench, and my squat technique is looking a lot better.

Training week of Monday March 24th - Friday the 28th 2014. Week 1 of 7 week cycle 5-3-1

Military monday - Body Weight: 212.0
100 rep curls empty curl bar + warmups
work sets
117x5
135x5
153x5

CAT training
126x3  8 sets

Pull Ups
wide grip 5 sets of 10 trying to to all the way down.

Dips superset with 12 rep 60lb cable bicep curl
bw+45lbs x10 5 sets.

Notes: actually ended up doing last cycles numbers by accident but it was good, because it felt heavy with weight loss, and my form was garbage, luckily I am getting called on this, we will see if I can do this better next week without turning each press into a screwed up back breaking incline press. If that happens then I will drop weight.
    The 100 rep warm ups with the curl bar are to help my biceps, and it really helps them not hurt, I do them on any day they are feeling bad, but no matter what I do them on military and bench day.
    Pull ups - All though they are always miserable, they are slowly getting easier, I dont see why I should do a bunch of lat pulldowns if I cannot even lift myself up and down on a bar for a couple of sets. and they are way tougher.
    Dips - pretty freaking excited with these. I always sucked at them and they used to hurt, but through slow steady progression they are getting stronger. and now I am doing them with a decent amount of weight. Goal of 100lbs at the end of the year would be awesome, we will see! Since I have started getting massage therapy it has helped alot with the ability to do dips, as well as stretching every night before bed.


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Tuesday Deadlifts - Body weight: 210.6 - if drops any more I will increase caloric intake
warmups
work sets
302x5
350x5
395x7

CAT training
325x3  6 sets

GHR
40lbx15  3 sets. these were tough! But got them done. superset with really light back extensions

GHR situp
30lbx10 4 sets.

Notes: Deads were fine, felt a little heavy, but still got them done and they do not seem very slow so we are going good, not to mention we are getting closer and closer to actual max. Unfortunately after my deads my back was feeling pretty beat up. I have been dealing with alot of back problems and they keep going away and coming back. so I did the speed pulls with a belt. Also why I did the really light back extensions, and lower back feels pretty weak. Still need to figure out more about this because I need to find my weakness.

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Thursday Bench day - Body weight: 210.2
100 rep curls empty curl bar + warmups

work sets
175x5
200x5
226x8

Slanger
245x3
275x3 - felt good

CAT training- only did 2 sets but was feeling beat, and we were there forever. so cut

strict bb row
145x10  5 sets

pushups with feet elevated on bench
4 sets of 10  with orange band twisted over neck +chain around neck

walking with sled

Notes: the last 3 reps of my 225 bench were ugly has hell with all kinds of butt raising. not liking feeling weak with the bad back and experimenting form. the Slanger felt awesome, I want to start over loading with it on week 1, 3, 4 and 6. bringing back the barbell rows. doing them strict now.
Pushups were difficult but awesome. getting stronger.
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Friday Squats - Body weight: 209.4
Pre-hab: Make shift reverse hyper. 15 reps for 3 sets. hang from knee raise stand for 4 sets of 30 seconds. 2 trips walking with 25lbs on sled, high knees belt up high near sternum. see video
warmups
work sets
225x5
258x5
295x4+2 form broke down

One leg extensions
40lbsx15-20  3 sets

GHR situp
30lbx10 4 sets.

Pre-hab/rehab. same as beginning of training day.

Back is getting better through this pre-hab/re-hab work. going to start doing it every day I am at the gym. I also have an inversion table coming that will help a lot. Squats were not ideal, I was sitting down not back and still need to work on this form, it is very frustrating, but eventually I will get it down. Alot of struggle but resilience is key.

Rehab work

Weeks training video

Back at it, a deload week. and the New Goals going into these next few months

Back to doing this training log. I have been tracking all my training of coarse, but I have just been super lazy with writing it on here. oh well no excuses, going to start just once a week posting my training for the week and a compilation video of the weeks training instead of separate videos each day

deload week this week.
I pulled 432-ish for 7 on my last heavy week last week, which was the most i had pulled in a while, due to many different things. and I am feeling fine now, but for some reason my back was just not happy afterward, and did not feel that great on friday when I was supposed to squat. Normally, and a few months ago I probably would of said screw it, and squatted through it, but I have learned, taking it easy for a day and hitting it hard again in a week is alot better than hurting myself and not being able to go heavy for a month or maybe even two. Go for broke in a meet, but train to lift another day.
So squat I just did speed work.

this deload week I did everything as usual except on squat and bench day.
I recently received a Sling Shot in the mail, and have been anxious to use it, so I did my super light weight deload, then worked up to 225, and did 10 reps with the sling shot. only a couple were paused but I dont care, it was nice to just bang that out. it was not very hard at all, just the 10 reps made me tired haha.

     Squat day I just put 135 on the bar. I am doing some tweaking with my squat form trying to figure out what works for me still. but it seems promising.

NEW GOALS!!!!!

I came to the realization that I had some un-needed fat. Now I was not the fattest kid on the block, and I think I hid my fattiness pretty well. But especially after my friend did a body fat percentage test on me with those damn calipers that squeeze my tubby stomach I realized I had WAY too much fat.

24.9% body fat I guess. SO some changes are being made. First of all, I am not a body builder and do not plan on ever being one. However, I do not believe we have to be fat to be strong, and I sure as SHIT do not want to be. I am aiming to get down to anywhere between 10-16% body fat, I understand that is a large gap but shit, it'll be practically 10% less than what I am! The goal is slow and steady, I have read about, and it makes sense that you lose weight too fast in an attempt to lose fat and you can give up preciously earned muscle. I will be modeling my new food intake on the Zig Zag diet, not sure if Dr. Squat aka Dr. Fred Hatfield came up with it, or popularized it, I just know I came across it on his website. if you are more interested you can click the "Zig Zag" link. to Sum it up really simply, I will eat at a caloric deficit on days I am not training or just doing cardio, and on days I train I will eat excess calories, with the idea of losing fat on non training days, and gaining/maintaining muscle on training days. The goal is to lose between 1.5-2lbs a week. Honestly I am not aiming to lose weight, and do not really want to, I would rather stay the same weight and look alot leaner, because then that would mean im jacked, but if it were that easy, every person lazier than me (which is pretty damn easy to be) would do it. I am hoping I will not loose too much strength but we will see. It seems with diets, sorry "food intake changes" and "meal plans" you can only trust what works for someone else as a possible outline, but in the end you have to do it yourself and see what works.

SUM IT ALL UP

Ok so new goals I am working towards for lifting:

• Stay Strong and keep getting stronger
• Get leaner (not trying to be a body builder) but you dont have to be fat to be strong and powerful. Chuck V, Matt Kroc, and a TON of powerlifters back in the day were pretty damn jacked.
• Keep up with the Blog, once a week will be easy, that equates not going on facebook for 10 minutes.
• Keep up with mobility as I have been, stretching every night.
• Once I am down to a decent leanness and body fat percentage, I really want to eat some "not so perfect food" once a week. for mainly one meal. my goal is on my last day of each training week, so after squats on friday, just going home and either making some beastly burgers, bomb pizza, or something rewarding. Or seek out an amazing burger like Chris Duffin does. I love the fact that guy seeks out a bomb burger and fries combo each week.  

Bench week 1 Jan 9th 2014.

Bench
prehab - banded elbow deflection Donny T style. 2 sets of 20 rep bicep curl v.s. red band
warm up
165x5
190x5
220x7
EVERYTHING FELT HEAVY. but for some reason 220 felt lighter than 165

CAT bench  @70% of cycle 1RM
180x3   x 6sets.  switch grip each set.  narrowest, old grip, almost illegal wide

Kroc Rows
warmup
120x20 x 2 sets.
could do more weight, but DB's knurling stops early, so very hard to grip, use straps? find handle with all knurling.

band resisted pushups.
orange band strapped to DB's  x10. x5 sets.
these sucked, but I think I am going to use chains. I need work out of the bottom.

Rehab/preventative
Tricep punchdown v.s. red band   x100
bicep curl v.s. red band   x100
facepull v.s. red band x100 - THESE FELT AWESOME. I felt like I had a shelf to rest my head on when i was done.

 

deads week 1

Deads off 1 pad deficit
Warmup
290x5
335x5
380x9. Used waaay too much back

CAT @70% off 2 pad deficit 1 minute rest
315x3. 6 sets

Rack pull
365x5. 3 sets

Overhand hold
320x10seconds 2 sets

ab wheel
3 sets 15

Bad girls
4 sets 12

military mondays first week of first cycle of 2014. its a new year but I don't need a resolution.

Military Mondays

Military
Warm up
110x5
130x5
145x6

CAT @70%
120x3. 6 sets. 1 minute rest

Chins 5-6 sets 10 reps
10,10,10,9+1,5+5

Dips 5 sets 10-15 reps
15,15,15,10+4+1,10

Prehab/rehab
Band press down 100 rep red band over cable machine

Band bicep 100 rep red band under feet.

Felt good, but heavy. Need to be way more explosive