a_welch503 WORKOUT JOURNAL

[.V.]

10-29-2004

Arms/Abs

BB Curls................110x3x5
Skull Crushers......95x1x5, 2x4
DB Curls.................45x3x5
Tate Press...............50x3x5
Leg Raises...............20x3x8
Tricep Pressdown.........90x3x5
Crunches.................85x3x8

Arms were weak today - I had to reduce the weight on the DB curls - doing them standing without the isolation takes away the ability to brace the elbow against the thigh. This makes it more difficult. I had extra weakness in the left arm so even though my weight was reduced, I still pushed as hard as possible and got the best workout that was possible they still got maximum overload even though this was less than last time. I did not do as well as I thought I would on skull crushers - but this gives me a goal for next time - same as this time to get 3x5. I will work on getting 10 reps on the ab work next time. Holding weight between my feet on the leg raises - this is tough - I also feel it in my lower back - I wonder if I am doing it wrong?

[SurfinAmy]

Originally Posted by a_welch503

10-27-2004

Legs/Back


Pull ups..............30x3x4
Squats...............200x3x4
Deadlifts............200x3x4
Calf Raises..........200x3x4
Bent Over Row........155x3x4

Holy $hit Andy! You're taking off like a rocket!!! RIGHT ON!! Weren't your squats & Deads a lot lower last time I checked? (I'm too lazy right now to go back and check... )
Oh, and oatmeal rules!!! I eat it every morning before work. It's pretty much part of my religion....

-Amy

[.V.]

Amy - where you been? Good to see you back on the board. Things are slowly progressing - someday I will get where I need to be. You been OK? Taking time off or just not posting?

[.V.]

10-31-2004

Legs/Back

Pull Ups...........30x3x5
Squats............200x3x5
SLDL..............200x3x5
CDL...............230x3x5
Calf Raises.......240x3x5
Bent Over Row.....155x3x5

I have never done Conventional Deadlifts before - Since I can't squat very deep, I didn't know how they would turn out - Not too bad - got all the way down and with the weight in front of me, I didn't tip over backwards. Doing the Calf raises by themselves let me get more weight too. I think the calves could have done more, but this is the absolute maximum I could hold without dropping the weight. Not a bad workout - but a very busy day - got called back in to work an extra 16 hours today - almost made it home a couple of times, but then got called back in...No rest today or enough time to eat enough today - I hope to get to sleep tonight and see if I can get another good workout tomorrow.

[Firehawk]

How come you don't put the weight on your back for calf raises like you do for squats? Or don't you put the weight on your back for squats?

[.V.]

Originally Posted by Firehawk

How come you don't put the weight on your back for calf raises like you do for squats? Or don't you put the weight on your back for squats?

I do. I just tried something different yesterday. I cannot come close to squatting 240 right now - that is going to be my calf raise. Yes, I put the bar on my tiny little traps when I squat - go as deep as my body will allow - and lift all the weight that I can - which isn't much. When I get back from my cardio I will post today's workout - I have to do some computer things while I am gone - time to let windows update - I just had to do a reformat and reinstall all my software last night and today. This was between running to work and back home frequently and checking on progress of installs during my rest periods of my workout this am.
I'm a little behind, I will be getting my mileage in the dark tonight.

[.V.]

11-01-2001

Chest/Shoulders

Military Press....95x1x6, 2x5
Upright Row......115x2x6, 1x5
Bench Press...........145x3x6
DB Press...............50x3x6
Back Shrugs...........205x3x6
Front Shrugs..........205x3x6

I did improve everything some today - just not as much as I would like to have...I fully expected to get3x6 on military press and upright row. I just didn't have it in me yet. I will have to get it next time. I hope today did not work against me. Yesterday I was far too busy to rest or eat properly - so this morning (I finally made it home and into bed at 05:30) I slept until almost noon. I was still too busy to eat enough today and after my workout, I only got a 6 hour break before I went to put in my miles - Hate these short days. I'm off work tonight so I plan to turn the radio off and get a really good night's sleep. Tomorrow I will have to eat better - NO SKIPPED MEALS.

[SurfinAmy]

Ya, the poor eating probably took it out of you on those military presses. I'm heading to the gym this morning myself and I'm really going to try and do well, but w/ the cruddy eating (Halloween) I don't know - we'll see.

Sleep too. You don't get enough lately...I feel for ya...that'll really do it. Those night hours are the worst! I would be a zombie and completely useless by then.

-Amy

[.V.]

11-02-2004

I'm a little late posting this one. I was just too whomped on the 2nd to post anything. I was asleep by 7:30 pm. Then yesterday at work I did not have my log with me. So I will put it up now. Then I am going to go get today's workout and post it later.

BB curls................110x4x6
Skull Crushers......95x2x5, 1x4
DB curls.................45x3x6
Tate Press...............50x3x6
Crunches.................90x3x4
Leg Raises.................3x40
Tricep Pressdown.........90x3x6

I tried the weighted leg raises, it causes too much low back pain - and I was using my hip flexors instead of my abs. Doing high volume without weight - I can control which muscles are doing the work. I hate the high volume but that is the only way I am going to be able to do this one - besides with my numb feet, I have a hard time holding the weight. I would love to be able to do a pure MAX OT workout - it looks awesome. But I have to do mine in the order I do it in because of my MS. Example Legs/back - it has to be done the day after I work, so I have enough time to recover before I go back to work. After doing legs, sometimes they are totally useless for a couple of days. So even though AST said not to try to adapt MAX OT, I am doing my workout that works for me - done MAX OT style. It is making me stronger already - too early to tell if it will help the way I look. The ab work, I cannot adapt to do that way. I will probably have to do the low volume high weight crunches because this seems to be working for me. Maybe the combination of weighted crunches and the non weighted leg raises will balance each other out. I have also considered doing high volume no weight crunches too, but I will have to think about it a while.

I did manage to improve a little on almost everything, but the skull crushers was only a one rep improvement. I had hoped to get 3x6. There is always next time.

[Firehawk]

I'm still amazed you are curling that for 4x6 lol. I asked you before how you were doing them and you said it was taking a long time to complete one rep didnt you? Meaning, time under tension was long rather than quick reps...wouldn't that be even rougher?

Do you pause for a long time between reps? Man that's just nuts lol. I only say that because my arms are 2 inches bigger than yours and I can't do it. Maybe I'm just jealous LOL.

[.V.]

No, I try to do them as fast as possible, but it just moves V E R Y slowly. I don't try to do super slow reps anymore - just move normally like the AST web site reccomended. I have stepped away from the wall too. I had learned that backing up to a wall made it harder because it helped isolate the biceps, but by stepping away from the wall, it is harder because now I have nothing to brace against. That is probably why I CAN'T get 115 - I had hoped to be there by now. I also think my left arm is holding me back. When I do standing alternating DB curls, I was doing 50 lb each and was going to go up. Then instead of increasing, I had to drop down to 45 lb. each because of the weakness in my left arm. I think the lenght of the muscle has something to do with it too. Think of the 8' tall basket ball players who can curl 100 lb in each hand easier than a BIG bodybuilder. The length of the muscle is also muscle size, not just how big around it is. I do have long ape arms. This may have something to do with it. The fact that every day at work, I have to deadlift and curl my end of the stretcher with a patient on it (most of them are pretty heavy) to get it into the ambulance may have something to do with it too. I'm late getting my workout today - I hope my food has not worn off, I spent 3 hours on the phone with microsoft fixing a computer problem. The kids are making websites and one of them downloaded and ran an application that corrupted windows update, Had to get it fixed. That meant a lot of codes in DOS to run. Finally got it all fixed.

Now to go torture my legs and back.

[.V.]

11-04-2004

Legs/Back

Pull Ups.........................30x3x6
Squats..........................200x3x6
SL Deadlifts....................200x3x6
Conventional Deadlifts..........230x3x6
Calf Raises.....................240x3x6
Bent Over Row...................155x3x6

I will be increasing the weight on all of these next leg/back day. This 3 sets of 4-6 reps thing is awesome. Now that I don't have to worry about saving myself for the last set since I'm not doing 4 sets anymore, the strength has really gone up. I'm still doing weenie weights, but big improvements for me. I remember a time that I could only squat 90 lb. And 40 lb. was the best I could do on bent over row. I am really looking forward to getting the bent over row up to 160 next time. That little 2.5 lb. weight is embarrassing to look at. The heavier exercises, I'm not certain if I will be going up 5 lb or 10 lb. On the calf raise, I expect to go up 20 or 30 lb. But first, I have to get some new pins for my rack, the ones I used are poor quality and 240 bends them. BTW, I have never done conventional deadlifts before - this is one killer lift. I wish I had tried it before. Now I know what everyone is talking about on the shin scraping though. With the SL deadlifts, I can hold the bar out a little and let my knuckles protect my lets, with conventional, it just don't work that way.

[Firehawk]

you have the perfect balance there in your squat to SLDL ratio. You want it to be 1:1 ratio. That's excellent. My SLDL is much stronger than my deep squat lol...which is pretty odd. Maybe my hamstrings are my genetically gifted muscle. They have definitely been developing quick.

[.V.]

11-05-2004

Chest/Shoulders

Military Press........95x3x6
Upright Row..........115x3x6
Bench Press..........150x3x4
Back Shrugs..........210x3x4
Front Shrugs.........210x3x4
DB Press..............55x3x4

Well, met all my goals today and then some. I increased the reps I wanted to increase and increased the weight. The upright rows, I lost count and wasnt sure If I actually did 6 so I did an extra one - this happened on each set - how in the world do you lose count counting to 6. Anyway - I'm pretty sure I did 7, but I KNOW I did at least 6.

I got 3x6 on the military press easily today - I was looking forward to hitting that magical 100 pound mark next workout. I can't believe I'm almost there. I never thought I would see it.

Shrugs went well - Got my weight up another 5 lb. Wanted to go for 10, but was afraid of injuring myself on the behind the back shrugs.

Then I screwed up on the DB press. I could have handled 60 lb today, but could not balance it to get it into position so I only did 55. On the last set, I felt that 4 was not enough and even did an extra one. I am ready to DB press more weight than I can get into position to lift - that will hold me back for a while - but not as bad as my screw up will. When I was finished with the exercise and was going to put the weight down, I got careless and forgot about the left arm problems that I have - and I dropped the Dumbell right onto my chest. The 1" diameter end drove straight into the 9th rib at the mid-clavicular line. I use dumbells that are really little short barbells that I put the plates on and screw the collar on to hold the plates in place. I can hardly breathe. I'm pretty sure nothing is broken or I would not be able to move freely - the only restriction on movement is if I am sitting, I can not bend far enough to tie my shoes. But it hurts like heck to try to breathe. I hope this is over with by workout time tomorrow. I don't want to get off schedule now of all possible times.

[.V.]

11-06-2004

No lifting for me today. I thought I was going to be OK. When I woke up this morning - the rib felt pretty good - turned out to be rib #5 that was cracked.

Then my 300+ lb. brother in law got into a wreck and when we were loading him into the helicopter this morning, I had the head end of the backboard and as soon as the feet went into the chopper, everyone else stepped back out of the way - I felt it POP and that was it for my lifting anything for a few days. Maybe in 2 or 3 days I will be able to tape it up and lift anyway.