Project Swole

Wednesday 5/16

Current Weight: 186 lbs
Current Bodyfat: N/A

Diet: 3 pieces of loaded pizza was the highlight of my day. I also enjoyed a coffee Coolatta, ham/egg/cheese muffin, protein bar, trail mix, chicken and rice, and a PB&J sandwich.

Supplements: NO-Xplode, and X-Tend pre-workout, 1 serving of Gatorade during the workout, 1 serving of Biotest Surge post-workout. Also, I do take a multi-vitamin like every single day.

5 minutes of warming up with dumbbells, barbells, and light power cleans.

1a – Bench Press – 135 x 20, 185 x 7, 225 x 5, 245 x 1, 245 x 1
1b – Standing Calf Raise – 240 x 12, 260 x 10, 280 x 10, 300 x 8
2a – Barbell Lunge – 135 x 10, 185 x 7, 205 x 4, 205 x 4
2b – Chest Press Machine – 210 x 3
3a – Pre-Made Bar EZ Skulls – 90 x 8, 110 x 4 Close Grip Press x 8, 110 x 4 Close Grip Press x 8
3b – Dumbell Curls – 50 x 8, 50 x 7
4 – Side Raises – 20 x 16

Conclusion: My bench press is pathetic. I have repped 275 before, like 3 years ago. I feel like 275 is far, far from my grasp. Lunges were pretty good, but I need to work on my stability. 110 seems very light for skulls, but I’m sure it will increase pretty quick. Overall this was a good lift, but I haven’t been sleeping well so I was exhausted by the end of the workout. Better luck on Friday.

My weight is up to 186! Now I must draw the line between bulking and just eating enough to keep getting bigger and stronger without getting fat. I no longer wish to bulk up anymore, so I will stay off that side of the line, although I won’t stress too much if I get just a little soft for a while.

Monday 5/14

Current Weight: N/A
Current Bodyfat: N/A

Diet: Ideally I would start a diet log and start keeping track of the number of calories I eat everyday. I think perhaps I have conditioned myself to not get too fat over the last couple months and now I don’t eat enough. Why else would I weigh like a buck eighty?

Supplements: NO-Xplode, X-Tend, and one Balance Gold bar pre-workout, 1 serving of Gatorade during the workout, 1 serving of Biotest Surge post-workout. This will be my normal supplement regimen until I decide to go ultra-hardcore balls-to-the-wall for a month or so.

5 minutes of warming up with dumbbells, barbells, and light power cleans.

1a – Pronated Bent Over Row – 135 x 10, 185 x 5, 225 x 5, 245 x 2 + 205 x 6
1b – Fly Machine – (120 x 10) x 3
2 – Squat – 135 x 10, 225 x 7, 315 x 3, 315 x 3
3 – Pause Squat – 225 x 4
4 – Deadlift/Hang Clean/Push Press Olympic Complex – 135 x 5, 155 x 5, 175 x 4, 185 x 1
5a – Standing Overhead Press – 135 x 5, 135 x 3
5b – Dumbbell Curls – 50 x 10, 50 x 7

Conclusion: My bent over rows continue to improve even though my grip strength leaves something to be desired. The tragedy of the day was squatting. 315 x 5 used to be a warm-up set for me and I really struggled to complete the THIRD rep. Something must be done. I believe I have identified the weakness as powering out of the hole. Basically I am coming up WAY too slow and I think I need to work on my lower back strength and my hip drive. The olympic complex continues to improve as I managed to get a single rep with a push press at 185. The goal is 200 x 1. Once I got to standing shoulder presses though, I was completely spent.

Wednesday 5/09

Current Weight: N/A
Current Bodyfat: N/A

Diet: Eating a little more these days. An extra protein bar or ham/egg/cheese sandwhich gets thrown in where appropriate.

Supplements: NO-Xplode, X-Tend, and one Balance Gold bar pre-workout, 1 serving of Gatorade during the workout, 1 serving of Biotest Surge post-workout.

5 minutes of warming up with dumbbells, barbells.

1a – Sumo Deadlifts – 135 x 10, 225 x 7, 315 x 5, 405 x 5, 435 x 1
1b – Reverse Fly Machine – (100 x 7) x 3
2a – Incline Bench – 135 x 7, 185 x 5, 195 x 3, 195 x 2
2b – Standing Calf Raise Machine – 160 x 15, 240 x 12, 260 x 10, 280 x 6
3a – Close Grip Floor Rack Lockout – 135 x 7, 225 x 5, 245 x 1, 225 x 4
3b – Alternating Dumbbell (DB) Curls – 45 x 7, 50 x 7, 50 x 9
4a – DB Side Raise – 25 x 10, 25 x 8
4b – DB Side Bends – 60 x 10, 70 x 10

Conclusion: I am OK with sumo deadlifts, although I have identified the lockout as a weak point. In order to combat this I will do some of the following: rack pulls from the knees, rack-pull shrugs, heavier hang cleans, good mornings. My chest is both really weak and really small. I need to start hitting a heavy ass chest exercise every workout, 3 times per week. A 225 incline press should not be too hard to achieve as long as my triceps and shoulders continue to get stronger. Now, don’t get me wrong I’m not trying to be a chest and biceps guy, but in my efforts to attain a 315 bench, I feel that I need to accelerate my chest and triceps training for a month or so.

Monday 5/07

Current Weight: 184.4 lbs
Current Bodyfat: I need to find a way to measure this.

Diet: Protein bars, ham/egg/cheese on english muffin, lots of coffee, tuna, beef jerky, and grilled chicken wraps at McDs. Not a weight loss diet by any means, right now I am just eating to grow, but not to get fat.

Supplements: Diet Monster energy drink and one balance bar pre-workout, 1 serving of Gatorade during the workout, 1 serving of Biotest Surge post-workout.

5 minutes of warming up with dumbbells, barbells.

1a – Pronated Bent Over Barbell Rows – 135 x 10, 185 x 7, 215 x 5, (235 x 3 + 185 x 7)
1b – Standing Calf Raises – 160 x 15, 260 x 12, 320 x 10
2 – Deadlift/Hang Clean/Push Press olympic complex – 135 x 5, 155 x 5, 175 x 3, 185 x 1
3a – Weighted Pull-Ups with weight hanging from a belt- 0 x 7, 25 x 5, 45 x 4, (45 x 3 + 0 x 5)
3b – Weighted Decline Abs with dumbbell on chest – 40 x 12, 60 x 1
4 – Barbell Lunges – 135 x 7, 185 x 6

Conclusion: Bent over rows were OK, although 235 x 5 would have been ideal. The Olympic complexes are coming up to speed again, although I would like to be able to feel comfortable with 185 x 2. Pull-ups are WAY off especially considering I used to use 55 x 5 at a bodyweight of 195. Finally, there was some discomfort in my right knee while lunging, but I don’t know why. This happens on occasion with both lunges and squats, but never on deads. I think it might be a bit of quadricep weakness and while I don’t want to admit it, there might be some wear and tear around my kneecap. Now I will go knock on wood.

Thursday 5/03

Diet: High protein, moderate carb, low fat, plenty of liquids.
Supplements: coffee pre-workout, 1 serving of Gatorade during the workout, 1 serving of Biotest Surge post-workout.

5 minutes of warming up with dumbbells, barbells.

1 – Legal Wide-Grip Flat Barbell Bench Press – 135 x 20, 185 x 7, 215 x 5, 225 x 3, (235 x 1 + 185 x 5)
2 – Standard Deadlifts – 135 x 7, 225 x 7, 315 x 7, 405 x 4, 425 x 2
3 – EZ Skull Crushers (per side) – 25 x 7, 40 x 3, (40 x 3 + Close Grip x 12)
4 – Standing Military Press – 135 x 3, 135 x 2

Conclusion: I was tired today and I didn’t accomplish much in the way of giant sets. I think some abs, calves, and biceps were touched upon in this workout, but I didn’t write anything down, nor do I recall the weights used. Literally every exercise in this workout felt like torture. Besides the 425 x 2 on deads, I have nothing to be happy about right now. There was nearly a week between this workout and the previous workout, so I evaluated my motivation level and my environment, and will be making changes to insure that I actually get to the gym when I am supposed to from now on.

Friday 4/27

Diet: eating a bit more protein, but not all that strict. I am probably eating about 1800-2000 calories per day. In all reality, I should keep a food log for about a week so I can get back into the swing of intuitive calorie consumption. More on this topic later…

Supplements: a bit of NO-Xplode pre-workout, Gatorade during the workout, Biotest Surge post-workout.

5 minutes of warming up with dumbbells, barbells.

1a – Pronated Bench Over Barbell Row – 135 x 10, 185 x 7, 205 x 6, 225 x 3
1b – Fly Machine – 3 sets, weight not recorded
2 – Barbell Squats – 135 x 15, 225 x 7, 275 x 5, 295 x 5
3 – Deadlift/Hang Clean/Push Press complex – 135 x 7, 155 x 5, 165 x 3
4a – 1 Leg Seated Calf Raise – 45 x 15, 55 x 10, 60 x 8
4b – Lying Crunches – 10 x 15, 25 x 8, 25 x 10
4c – Dumbbell Curls – 45 x 10, 50 x 10

Conclusion: Still feeling weak and slow, although I think the Olympic complexes will bring my power and speed back around. By bench press is atrocious now. For some reason I’ve never been a big bencher, but 225 x 3? Squats felt pretty good, but I wasn’t comfortable getting under 315 this workout. Next squat workout I will hit a mandatory 315 x 5.

So, I’m really close to getting back to my standard first work set for the big exercises. I usually use these sets to gauge my strength, soreness, recovery, and injury status for the day. These standards are a 225 bent over row x 5, a 225 bench press x 5, a 315 squat x 5, a 405 deadlift x 5, and a 135 standing military x 5. Within the next month, this will all fall into place.