Training: March 25-29, 2013

Monday, March 25

1. Facepulls: throughout
2. Deadlift: worked up to 105 x 13
3. Lighter squat: 60 x 5 x 3, 70 x 5 x 2 supersetted with…
4. Bodyweight pull ups: 6, 6, 6, 5, 5
5. Machine row: 25 x 11, 11 ,11
6. Seated leg extension and lying leg curl 14 kg x 16, 15, 15 supersetted
7. Standing calf machine: 70, 80, 90, 100, 110 x 10
8. Abs: sit ups 12, 12, 11
9. Neck harness at home 10 kg x 26 flexion and extension
10. Wrist curls at home 6 kg x 7, 7, 7 each side

Tuesday, March 26

1. Facepulls: throughout
2. Bench: worked up to 75 x 5*, 5*, 17
3. Military press: 40 x 5 x 5
4. Incline dumbbell press, supersetted with incline dumbbell shrug: 17.5 x 11, 11, 11
5. Plate flys: 5 x 11, 11, 11
6. EZ curls, supersetted with lying triceps extensions: bar plus 10 kg x 11, 11, 11
7. Side bends 20 x 12, 12, 11

Wednesday, March 27

1. Neck harness at home 10 kg x 27 flexion and extension
2. Wrist curls at home 6 kg x 8, 7, 7 each side

Thursday, March 28

1. Facepulls: throughout
2. Squat: worked up to 80 x 5, 5, 18
3. Deficit, wide grip, Romanian deadlift: 40 x 6, 6, 6
4. T bar row: bar plus 30 x 11, 11, 11, 10, 10
5. Dumbbell row: 17.5 x 11, 11, 11
6. Dumbbell shrug: 15 x 11, 11, 11
7. Standing individual leg curl machine: 15 kg x 15, 10 x 15, 5 x 16†
8. Seated individual leg extension machine: 15 kg x 10, 20 x 10, 25 x 10†
9. Standing calf raise machine: 72.5, 82.5, 92.5, 102.5, 112.5 x 10
10. Sit ups 12, 12, 12

Friday, March 29

1. Facepulls
2. Press: worked up to 40 x 5*, 5*, 13
3. Light bench: 50 x 5 x 3, 55 x 5 x 2
4. Dips: bodyweight x 11, 11, 10
5. Front, side, rear dumbbell raises: 2.5 kg x 11, 11, 10 in a circuit, non stop.
6. Hammer curls: 7.5 x 11, 11, 10 supersetted with…
7. Lying triceps extensions: ez bar plus 15 kg x 9, 9, 8
8. Weighted side bends 20 kg x 12, 12, 12
9. Neck harness flexion and extension 10 kg x 28 at home
10. Reverse and regular dumbbell wrist curls 6 kg x 8, 8, 7 at home

*paused reps, with maximum bar speed/acceleration on concentric phase.

†usual machine was out-of-order, so I had to use the individual leg machines – which proved much better. Standing leg curls feel so much better, and the individual leg aspect allows extra focus on the quads/hams. Will be switching permanently now.

Training: March 20-22

Wednesday, March 20

1. Neck harness at home 10 kg x 24, flexion and extension
2. Reverse and regular wrist curls at home 6 kg x 7, 6, 6 each side

Thursday, March 21

1. Facepulls: throughout
2. Squat: worked up to 80 x 5, 5, 17
3. Deficit, wide grip, Romanian deadlift: 40 x 6, 5, 5
4. T bar row: bar plus 30 x 11, 11, 10, 10, 10
5. Dumbbell row: 17.5 x 11, 11, 10
6. Dumbbell shrug: 15 x 11, 11, 10
7. Leg extension and curl 14 kg x 15, 15, 15 supersetted
8. Standing calf raise machine: 67.5, 77.5, 87.5, 97.5, 107.5 x 10
9. Sit ups 12, 11, 11

Friday, March 22

1. Facepulls
2. Press: worked up to 40 x 5, 5, 12
3. Light bench: 50 x 5 x 4, 55 x 5
4. Dips: bodyweight x 11, 10, 10
5. Front, side, rear dumbbell raises: 2.5 kg x 11, 10, 10 in a circuit, non stop.
6. Hammer curls: 7.5 x 11, 10, 10 supersetted with…
7. Lying triceps extensions: ez bar plus 15 kg x 9, 8, 8
8. Weighted side bends 20 kg x 12, 11, 11
9. Neck harness flexion and extension 10 kg x 25 at home
10. Reverse and regular dumbbell wrist curls 6 kg x 7, 7, 6 at home

Press and Deadlift: Wednesday, August 8, 2012

Press work sets: 53 x 5, 53 x 5, 53 x 10

Weighted chins: 10 kg x 7, 6

Deadlift work set: 134 x 8*

Barbell shrug: 60 x 11, 10, 10

Dumbbell rear lateral raise: 32 total reps with 2.5 kg

Light facepulls and straight arm pulldowns throughout session

*No belt.

Bench and Squat: August 6, 2012

Bench press work sets: 97 x 5, 97 x 5, 97 x 10

Dumbbell row: 25 x 8, 35 x 5, 50 x 6, 6

Squat work sets: 101 x 5, 101 x 5, 101 x 12*

Plate loaded seated calf machine: 100 reps with 92 kg of plates added

Seated leg curl: 34 total reps with 17.5 kg

Facepulls and straight-arm pulldowns between sets

*No belt. Comfortable. Really enjoying squatting again for the first time in ages. I think the extra frequency has helped, plus I have recently tweaked my foot positioning – toes facing forward more. These two things have made my squat feel much tighter and generally better.

Deadlift: Monday, June 18, 2012

Like last Monday there was no time for light squats, due to slow traffic on the way to the gym.

I will be taking next week off, so I can’t start another cycle and I didn’t want to deload then take a week off. Instead I will be working up to a heavy single in the main lifts this week, with assistance work as normal.  

Beltless deadlift: 60 x 5, 90 x 3, 120 x 1, 150 x 1, 170 x 1, 190 x 1*

Dumbbell bench press: 20 x 8-10, 25 x 8, 30 x 12**

Leg curl: 15 kg x 55 total reps

Leg extension: 15 kg x 55 total reps

Light face pulls between sets.

*Beltless PR. This is also more weight that I’ve pulled wearing a belt – I did 180 x 2 with a belt a few months ago. Very pleased with this, as I didn’t really warm up and my lower back was achy from lifting and carrying my baby daughter at the weekend. Grip was not a problem either – this is probably due to the dumbbell rowing I’ve done. Also added leg curls and extensions to this session.

**Use 27.5 kg next time for more reps.

Bench: Wednesday, June 13, 2012

Light squat: 57.5 x 5, 70 x 5, 85 x 5

Straight arm pulldowns

Bench press: worked up to 105 x 6 or 7*

Dumbbell row: 25 x 8, 35 x 5, 50 x 14

Dumbbell fly: 2 sets 10-12 reps

Light face pulls between sets.

*Paused the first rep.