PowerBuilding Journal Part 1

[r_graz]

Learning a proper spotting technique is just a part of overall gym ettiquette which no one seems to know anymore. Trainers can sometimes be the worst spotters. It seems as if they feel that part of their job is in helping their trainees with a lift. That and loudly counting out reps.

And trying to get you to do assisted reps beyond the point where they needed to help you. Maybe they're trying to get part of their trap workout in on your dime

It's that dumb-ass stuff you see people doing all the time where they keep going beyond the point of obvious failure, with the spotter doing more and more of the work on every rep. I know that some techniques/approaches make some legitimate use of this, but I'm talking about the bozos who are getting help pretty much from the first rep, then when they're done (and the spotter is exhausted) they pop up off the bench, pump their first, and say "Yeah baby, 10 reps!"

[Sentinel]

Summer '07 Upper-Lower Split
LOWER 1 - WEEK 11


Workout:-

Speed Deadlifts = 8 sets x 2 reps x 135 lbs (60 kgs)

Deadlifts = 1 sets x 1 reps x 285 lbs (130 kgs)

Bulgarian Split Squats = n/a

Overhead Dumbell Side Bends = n/a

Grip Work using Barbell Curls = n/a

Hyperextensions = n/a

TOTAL POUNDAGE:-

W11 --->>> 2,445 lbs
W10 --->>> 3,905 lbs
W9 --->>> 6,005 lbs
W8 --->>> 6,195 lbs
W7 --->>> 5,900 lbs
W6 --->>> 5,000lbs
W5 --->>> 8,275 lbs
W4 --->>> 6,455 lbs
W3---->>> 6,900 lbs
W2 --->>> n/a
W1 --->>> 7,575 lbs

Overall Impression:-

horrible horrible workout. several things to discuss.

1.) my stomach is still a bit upset and i am pumped to my eyeballs with antibiotics. today is supposed to be the second last day of the dosage to day after tomorrow im gonna be fine. diet has remained very good however. nonethless inspite of me eating well over 300 grams of protein and over 5 litres of water, ive lost 2 kgs and i ate a good pre workout meal too today this really really sucks. but no doubt ill get this weight back in a week tops. it doesnt look like ive lost any weight though and my friend who i met after 3 days looked at me today and said "dude...ur looking a lot bigger today" so i dunno what to make of this.

2.) my lower back has NOT healed. after i injured it in week 8 of the texas method way back in february 2007 when i did rounded back ass to grass squats with 295 for a double, it healed after i did the ice/heat/ice/heat/ice/heat/ice/heat treatment in 1-2 weeks. however, 2 weeks ago when i did those shit heavy good mornings (that means a measly 135 lbs) with incorrect form ive got that left lower back pain again and i havent been doing the ice/heat/ice/heat/ice/heat treatment like how i was supposed to. in addition to that i have been doing dumbbell swings with bad form, barbell rows with a weight too heavy for me so their becoming yates rows which i am mostly deadlifting from the ground in addition to the fact that my sleeping posture last night was really really bad. i dunno what it is with my sleeping posture: first the neck problem now i wake up with a sore lower back...damn....this must be a passing phase...

3.) during the speed deads my lower back was fine. but when i pulled the 130 kgs off the floor my left lower back was literally screaming in agony so i immediately stopped. my legs werent even slightly pumped from the lift off. my grip was good too. everything other than my lower back was perfectly fine.

4.) so whats the plan? my lower back only hurts when i do deadlifts. it doesnt hurt when i bench. i have two options: (a) i go to the gym tomorrow for upper 1 and i handle it well. i also do tons of ice/heat treatment tonight which should make me 99% ready for tomorrow. i continue this treatment till thursday. or, (b) i take a week off. now, i dont want to take a week off because this problem isnt as much as im making it sound. yes, it is hurting, but its not excrutiating pain. so i can get away with this but i dont want this to become a pain in my ass later on in life. so if i have to take this week and the next off to let this heal then ill do that. but i doubt it will come to that. needless to say, im gonna be extra cautious with this. and this sucks even more because Eric JUST gave me an excellent plan to push my squats starting this thursday. i guess that plan will probably be postponed a bit. shit.

ill update y'all tomorrow iwht how im feeling.

have a good one everyone

[TheDeliverator]

Nice training!

[Sentinel]

this is an injury my friend

[Sentinel]

Summer '07 Upper-Lower Split
UPPER 1 - WEEK 11

Workout:-

Flat Bench Press = 4 sets x 2 reps x 185 lbs (85 kgs)

Regular Rows = n/a

Low Incline Dumbbell Bench Press = 3 sets x 7 reps x 65 lbs (30 kgs)

Chin-ups = 10 + 8 + 5 + 4 + 3 = 30

Facepulls = 2 sets x 10 reps x 70 lbs (35 kgs)

Bar Rollouts = 2 sets x 10 reps

TOTAL POUNDAGE:-

W11 --->>> 8,395 lbs
W10 --->>> 4,940 lbs
W9 --->>> 8,060 lbs
W8 --->>> 6,315 lbs
W7 --->>> 7,730 lbs
W6 --->>> 6,780 lbs
W5 --->>> 9,580 lbs
W4 --->>> 10,170 lbs
W3 --->>> 9,585 lbs
W2 --->>> n/a
W1 --->>> 7,150 lbs

Overall Impression:-

ive been doing the ice treatment thingy and my lower back is MUCH better. its still not at all 100% in any way but its much better than yesterday where getting off the chair was a challenge. but today i was pretty conservative on anything and everything both in the gym and out of it. yes, that means no sex today. which sucks.

Bench Press: this wasnt too tough on me. not too easy either but i could have gone a tad bit more for reps. well, 185 for 3x3 is my max and this was 1 rep short overall but i could have done 3x5 or something too. however, i was very very scared that i would fuck up my lower back with a single rep so i did this light and easy and on 2 sets i used zero leg drive (the last two sets) where i focussed solely on upper body strength. lower back was totally fine with this.

Regular Rows: skipped this because of the back problem. i wasnt gonna take a chance. made up for this by doing so many chin-ups sets (5x failure)

Low Incline Dumbbell Bench Press: kept the same weight as last time. my trainers carried the dumbbells across the gym for me hahahha....so all i had to do was lift them up. and put them down lol... this was too easy and i could have lifted more but i wasnt gonna take the chance.

Chin-ups: 5 sets to failure. made up for the lack of any other back work. this wasnt too difficult and ill be adding in weight next week (provided my lower back is ok).

Diet: tons of good food. im very happy.

Overall: ok so here is the plan for now. im icing my back. im gonna do it all through tomorrow and day after till the pain goes. its MUCH better than yesterday so i give it 2 days till it goes. however, since it has gone does not mean that the injury has disappeared (Eric's words and i agree from personal expereince with the shoulder injuries). infact, these injuries have a nasty way to showing their ugly heads from time to time. so...im gonna let this heal. no lower workout for me this week. ill do some very very light intensity cardio this week. friday will be upper 1 but ill see how that goes. if doing standing militaries is gonna screw my shoulder, ill do either DE bench or inclines instead. lets see. but there is no chance im gonna do any squatting this week for sure. by next week i will most probably "feel" 100% but im gonna take the lwoer body days off in terms of weighttraining and do some light intensity cardio. upper's will be relatively light and conservative too. if i feel up to it then the week after i will be back in full swing in terms of working out on my lower body. but that week will be conservative too. the week after will be when i come in with all the heavy iron lol...

saw scary movie 4 for the second time today. not as good as scary movie 3. also so the inside man. good movie. and the untouchables. fantastic movie. as u can all see ive been icing my back and wathcing a lot of movies today

anyways, have a good week y'all

[Sentinel]

Summer '07 Upper-Lower Split
LOWER 1 - WEEK 12


Workout:-

Speed Deadlifts = n/a

Deadlifts = 2 sets x 8 reps x 185 lbs (85 kgs)

Bulgarian Split Squats = 2 sets x 6 reps x 60 lbs (30 kgs - 14 kgs per hand)

Overhead Dumbbell Side Bends = n/a

Grip Work using Hammerl Curls = 2 sets x 8 reps x 40 lbs (18 kgs)

Hyperextensions = 1 set x 15 reps

TOTAL POUNDAGE:-

W12 --->>> 3,680 lbs
W11 --->>> 2,445 lbs
W10 --->>> 3,905 lbs
W9 --->>> 6,005 lbs
W8 --->>> 6,195 lbs
W7 --->>> 5,900 lbs
W6 --->>> 5,000lbs
W5 --->>> 8,275 lbs
W4 --->>> 6,455 lbs
W3---->>> 6,900 lbs
W2 --->>> n/a
W1 --->>> 7,575 lbs

Overall Impression:-

im back everyone!!! hahahahhaha

Deadlifts: i thought this would be shit easy but it wasnt at all. and i cant explain why either. my diet has been spot on. im back @ 85 kgs (185 lbs) cold early morning temperature so i cant understand why the heck this was so damn tough today. and it wasnt even my lower back which was hurting. my lower back is fine. its just that i wasnt very comfortable. im not too disappointed though. i want to run a theory by eric about this subject.

Bulgarian Squats: easy work here too. this was too easy actually. but i really need to work on my form.

Grip Work: haha...these hammer curls felt awesome. i want my forearms to become shit big and my grip strength is gonna improve a lot i believe.

Diet: this has been really good over the last week. im getting a LOT of meat in. i actually spent some time monitoring myself and my protein powder intake has gone down to zero grams (i dont take whey on my off days) but im eating well over 2 kgs of chicken alone per day. in addition to that i have been eating tons of fruits and a few vegetables. i need to work on getting in some veggies. i hardly eat any vegetables. but my diet has been this good for the last 6 days and i am very happy with this. im also glad my weight has gone back to what it used to be. whoo..what a relief hahaha

Overall: looking forward to tomorrow's training. i bet its gonna be fun ahaha.

have a good one everyone

[Sentinel]

Summer '07 Upper-Lower Split
UPPER 1 - WEEK 12

Workout:-

Flat Bench Press = 2 sets x 3 reps x 175 lbs (80 kgs)

JS Rows = 3 sets x 6 reps x 145 lbs (65 kgs)

Low Incline Dumbbell Bench Press = 3 sets x 5 reps x 70 lbs (32 kgs)

Weighted Chin-ups = 4 sets x 5 reps x +6 kgs (total = 190 lbs = 90 kgs)

Facepulls = 2 sets x 10 reps x 80 lbs (40 kgs)

Bar Rollouts = n/a

TOTAL POUNDAGE:-

W12 --->>> 8,510 lbs
W11 --->>> 8,395 lbs
W10 --->>> 4,940 lbs
W9 --->>> 8,060 lbs
W8 --->>> 6,315 lbs
W7 --->>> 7,730 lbs
W6 --->>> 6,780 lbs
W5 --->>> 9,580 lbs
W4 --->>> 10,170 lbs
W3 --->>> 9,585 lbs
W2 --->>> n/a
W1 --->>> 7,150 lbs

Overall Impression:-

lower back pain is zero. the funny thing is that the pain has shifted. before it was exactly to the left of my spine. now its on my left side of my body. key words are: of my body. its almost as if its migrated to the left. but its hardly anything. just a tiny strain. but thats very very wierd...

Bench Press: i bombed out. i wanted to do 3x5x175 but i got screwed at rep 3. i dunno how this happened. it should have been ok for 5. then i did the second set and it appreared as if i was pushing myself too hard. so i thought its better for me to just back off this for now. im glad i did.

JS Rows: i felt sooooooo good doing these again haha. regular barbell rows suck compared to this. ive taken the vids of set 1 and 2 which i will post as soon as youtube clears them.

Low Incline Dumbbell Bench Press: new PR for me. it was quite easy actually. i did the first 2 sets with great ease but then i took like a 5 minute break before the last set (my gf needed a spot and then i had to chitchat) and that kinda made me lose my groove a bit.

Chin-ups: these were amazing! i cant believe i knocked out 4x5. haha. this was tough but im so glad i managed to get this done! whoo hoo.

Diet: good food.

Overall: good workout. i hope everyone is having a good week

cheers

[Sentinel]

the 2 vids of today:

JS Rows 145 x 6

Click here for set 1

Click here for set 2

[Misanthrope]

Good job today, Sentinel. Nice work with the rows. I used to hate them, but now I enjoy doing them. I think an exercise becomes a lot more enjoyable once you get the technique down and can really feel it working.

Smart move on backing off with bench press. Are you going to reevaluate your approach here, or just try to add more reps next time?

[Sentinel]

Good job today, Sentinel. Nice work with the rows. I used to hate them, but now I enjoy doing them. I think an exercise becomes a lot more enjoyable once you get the technique down and can really feel it working.

yes. im actually waiting for my techinique to be 100% correct. my rows were very bad today. look at the rounding of my back. big no no.

Smart move on backing off with bench press. Are you going to reevaluate your approach here, or just try to add more reps next time?

im actually going to wait for Eric's word on this. if it were up to me id just do the whole thing again next week (in the sense stick with the plan of 3x5x175 which i did on the texas method) and if it doesnt happen again then ill reevaluate my approach.

thanks for checking in matt!