Nick's Log

[pfhormula]

Current PRs

Squat 295x5
Deadlift 295x5
Bench 155x5
Weighted chin 90x5 (170 BW)
Captains of Crush #2.5 gripper close (video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CyouaMQf-k4)

My buddies have been telling me to make a log so they can see what my progress looks like (forum members elVarouza and Rascal).

Training Backround:

I started training by doing chins and a few BW things years ago, at which point my friend on the board (elVarouza) told me to do squats and deadlifts etc. to actually get strong. After I began strength training, I've been set back by a few injuries (torn ACL, inflamed facet joints in lower back, turf toe) but I am currently able to train again. The above PRs aren't my all time bests, but since I'm coming back from about 1.5 years of barely training due to injury, I figured listing the previous PRs is irrelevant. I should be able to get back to that level pretty fast though, since I only have to regain what I was able to do before.

Height: 6' with shoes on
Weight: 170lbs and going up
Age: 24 years

[pfhormula]

Last night:

305x1x5 squats

Had to switch squat racks because the saftey pins were stuck on the rack I was using, so that threw me off a bit.

160x5 bench (PR)

115x1 weighted chin

Ended up bruising my legs trying to pull the belt up to my waist and smashing the weights into my legs. Had to sit down inside of the belt and stand up with it in order to get it on.

[elVarouza]

I've found that standing the weight up around waist-height, on a plyo box or something, makes it easier to get the dip belt on. Stand em up, put the belt around your back, then thread the chain through the weights and back onto the belt. Worked for me with two 45s.

[pfhormula]

Wednesday:

Sumo deadlift 305x5

This was quite easy. I'm starting to use hook grip to toughen up my thumbs for when I actually need to use it.

Press 105x3x5

Not too hard. Haven't pressed in a long time. It was always one of my weakest lifts.

Light day for squats. I just did a few paused triples with 135.

[pfhormula]

I was gone from Friday through Monday, I just put in moderate work tonight. Had poor diet during the trip. I'll resume a regular training schedule now, as I don't have any long trips planned in the near future.

Tonight:

Squat 315x1

This was somewhat difficult. Since my training schedule off and I had a poor diet on those days, I wasn't gonna go for a PR, so I just decided to squat 315 for a single.

I did the rest easily:

Bench 155x2x5

Deadlift 255x5

BW chins 2x5

[elVarouza]

BW chins??? Were you touching your hips to the bar?

[pfhormula]

Yes actually. I did the deadlift and chins explosively. Was able to get decent bar speed on the bench too.

[pfhormula]

Last night:

Sumo deadlift 315x5

Still fairly easy.

Press 110x3x5

Moderately difficult.

Barbell curl 80x5

Meh.

[pfhormula]

Last night was not a good workout:

Squat:

300x2
245x5

I was going for 5 reps with 300. Rep 2 was a grinder, barely made it up, so I decided to go for a backoff set at 245. I've rarely been blown away that badly by a workset. I'll probably deload a bit and work back up to it. I think the lack of a belt was a contributing factor. I wanted to get to 315x5 with no belt, but I think I'm at the point where not using the belt is just going to hamper my progress.

Bench:

165x5

Unfortunately, I bounced the bar on reps 2 and 5 a bit.

Barbell curl:

90x5

Im trying to focus more on my bad pressing strength at the moment, so I'm not doing heavy weighted chins for a while. I think it's fine to add these in.

[pfhormula]

Last night:

Light day for squats:

135x5 back squat
135x5 front squat

Press:

115x3x5

This is starting to feel hard. Still probably my weakest movement.

BW chins x2x5

Just want to keep doing these explosively even though I'm laying off weighted chins while I concentrate more on my pressing strength.