Tommy D's Max-OT Journal

[TommyD]

Well I told myself that when I hit 1000 posts I start a workout journal. Unfortunately, here we are Ah what the hell am I talking about, I have enough time to do this. Start off with a few basic facts:

• I'm in week 5 of Max-OT
• I've been lifting on and off for about 4 years... but as of now I've been lifting 4 months straight
• I'm trying to get up to 180 lbs with under 10% BF
• Right now I'm 6'1, 163 lbs, unsure about BF %, I'm pretty ripped though, only a little bit of fat on lower abs and some small love handles (so cute)
• I can only lift 3 times a week so my Max-OT workout is scrunched into 3 workouts
• My diet is currently about 20/50/30
• I do very little cardio, when I do run I can get about 3 km in 22 minutes
• Bulleted lists are neat

I'll start with yesterday which was chest/back/abs

Chest/Back/Abs 12/21/03 Tom's a Stud

Chest

*Dumbbell Bench*
Warm-Up: 45's 2x12
Working Sets: 70's 3x6
... I think I can irk out about 2x4 at 75 lbs with dumbbells.

*Dumbbell Incline Bench*
Working Sets: 60's 2x6
... I can probably get 2x4 @ 65's

*Decline Bench*
Working Sets: 135 1x3, 115 1x5
... I still can't figure this lift out, I can do 2 reps EASILY at 135 then I go down to the wrong place on my chest and can't get the weight back up... grrr... anyways, only got 3 reps at 135 so I went down to 115 and finished the lift off.

Back

*Deadlifts (Trap Bar weighing 30 lbs not added to weight)*
Working Sets: 240lbs 2x6
... I feel like I'm going to explode when I do deadlifts

*Lat Pull Downs*
Working Sets: 2x6 185 lbs
... Slightly leaning back with a slightly wider than shoulder width grip... in front of chest.

*Pull-Ups*
Working Sets: 2x6
...It called for 2x6 so I did 2x6 with no weight. Eh, I'm lazy!

*Bent Over Rows*
Working Sets: 2x6 115lbs
... I still haven't figured this exercise out yet, my biceps are limiting how much weight I can do here.

*Low Seated Pulley Rows*
Working Sets: 1x6 at 120 lbs
... Easy sh*t!

Abs

It called for Weighted Cable Crunches and Weighted Incline Crunches... I don't have a cable machine in my gym for abs so here's what I did:

*Weighted Crunches (Sandbag on feet holding 25 lbs weight over head)*
Working Sets: 2x15
... oooo feel the burn!

*Weighted Incline Crunch*
Working Sets: 2x10
... I used a 6 kg medicine ball... held it over my head and sat up and threw it against the wall, caught it and went back down (didn't let the weight of the ball coming back to me bring me down, used a very controlled motion). I think this is actually a plyometric. The medicine ball is getting easy so I'll be moving to a 25 lbs plate soon... yuck!

Things to increase/work on:

Next week is barbell bench, I want to be benching 165 for 4-6 reps.
*DB Incline Bench to 65's
*Stay at 135 for Decline Bench and figure out how it works (ROM)
*Deadlifts up by 5 lbs
*Add 10lbs to Lat Pulldowns (next week really works the lats so the more weight the better)
*Pull-Ups... sigh... add weight
*Low Seated Pulley Rows up to 130
*Weighted Crunches up to 35 lbs
*Weighted Incline Crunches up to 25 lbs

Let me know if it looks like everything is going alright... I better see some posts from Kit, Gohan, and Sparky in here!! :thumbup:

[RichUK]

Hey Tommy, looks good - look forward to seeing the results!

Going by your stats and lifts and the amount of on-and-off time you've been doing this for you and I seem to be in similar situations! Will be interesting to hear how much luck you have with MAX-OT as I'm thinking about starting it in the New Year.

Rich :thumbup:

[gdawg0987]

Be careful doing those incline crunches next week. Those 25 lb plates can be tricky to catch off the wall :thumbup:

[TommyD]

Originally Posted by RichUK

Hey Tommy, looks good - look forward to seeing the results!

Going by your stats and lifts and the amount of on-and-off time you've been doing this for you and I seem to be in similar situations! Will be interesting to hear how much luck you have with MAX-OT as I'm thinking about starting it in the New Year.

Rich

Hey Rich, I looked at your pics in the before and after forum and it appears that we have a similar body build... it's nice to be in the same boat with someone! So far Max-OT has increased quite a few of my lifts and I'm amazed because I'm an extremely skeptical person

gdawg-- Haha, I think I may skip the plyometric portion and just go without the bouncing off the wall part But then again I always like to learn the hard way so I'll let you know how it goes... I'll post from the hospital

Okay I woke up at like 12:45 PM this afternoon (ah sweet Christmas break) got a call at 1 PM to go wrestling/lifting. I started off with wrestling as my cardio for the day... I went up against a 185 pound friend of mine who has good technique but I can overpower him.

We did take-down drills and he out-techniqued me for a while but then I just used raw power to do a sidewalk slam for a take down (I had him lifted completely off the ground) and I used a belly to back suplex for a takedown. I like catching people off guard with pure strength!

Then I went in the weightlifting room and did half my workout for the day (I'll do my other half around 5 PM today).

Triceps/Forearms/Abs 12/23/03 Tom's a Pimpdaddy

Triceps

Skull Crushers
80 lbs 2x6

Finally went up in weight! I love you Max-OT!

Tricep Pushdowns
First Set: 45lbs 1x6, Second Set (got some balls) 50lbs 1x5

Finally went up in tricep pushdowns too, triceps must be getting stronger!

Overhead Sitting DB Press (The triceps exercise, not shoulder)
60 lbs 1x5

Personally I think this exercise is a joke, oh well, next week it's out of the routine!

Forearms

BB Wrist Curls
65lbs 1x6, 75lbs 1x5

These f*ckers hurt!

DB Wrist Curls
30lbs 1x6

I really don't know how to do these right

Abs

The routine called for two exercises but I mix the days up in the routine so I didn't want to do weighted crunches two days in a row so I switched them to another day and did leg raises instead.

Decline Leg Raises (Legs lower the head on decline bench)
1x12

Hip flexors take a beating here

Hanging Leg Raises (On dips throne)
1x15

Man I love these!

Today is a good day so far... got 2 takedowns on an 185 pounder, increased all the weights on my triceps exercises, still confused about the forearms exercises :confused:, and my abs/hip flexors got a hell of a workout! Good times.

[TommyD]

Continuation of 12/23/03's routine:

Workout went from 5:30 pm to 6:20.

Legs 12/23/03 Tom's the Man

Squats
Warm-Up: 135 2x12
Working Sets: 315 1x6, 1x5, 1x6

Back hurts after doing squats, most weight I've ever done. The second set was tough, I cheated on one rep so I didn't count it. Oh well, making some good improvements! Up from 255 2x5 from 11 weeks ago

45 Degree Leg Press
Working Sets: 295 1x6

Maybe someone could advise me on these, I can do around 300 lbs when I go about 110 degrees but when I go lower (around the 90 degree mark) I can't do nearly that amount of weight. Should I be doing some higher weight around the 110 degree mark or take off a lot of the weight and go for 90 degrees? (btw I'm not very flexible and that's one of the main reasons I don't go down that far). As a side note, the Max-OT routine only called for 1 set of these.

Stiff-Leg Deadlifts
Working Sets: 205 2x6

The main reason I don't do much weight on these is because I lose my grip around the 6th rep. I use wrist straps but I don't know if I trust them enough to let them carry 250+ pounds above my feet

Hamstring Curls
Working Sets: 115 1x6

Not sure why they had these in there, I just threw on some weight and easily did 6 reps... if they ever put them in there again I'll be putting something like 130-140 on it.

Standing Calf Raises
Working Sets: 360 2x7

I can do more than 360 but it hurts my back. Next time I think I'll put a belt on and go with 450 for around 5-6 reps.

45 Degree Calf Raises
Working Sets: 290 1x8

It was getting towards the end of my allotted weightlifting time and I needed to get going so I just used the weight I already had on the machine from leg presses and did 8 really slow reps to get a good finishing stretch in.

All in all a good workout, my legs are getting a lot stronger, very happy with my results... I'm going to try 325 for squats next week, 315 for leg presses (unless someone recommends going down farther then I'll be switching the weight up a lot). For stiff leg deadlifts I'll probably add weight, ugh, and rely on wrist straps. Calf workouts will have weight added to them too. It's always nice getting a few more pounds on the machines isn't it?

[TommyD]

Just thought I'd add a little more info to my journal...

Supplements

Creatine: 5 g a day

On lifting days I mix it with water and drink it while I'm working, on nonlifting days I drink it right before I go to bed.

Protein: 40 g a day in supplement form. (GNC Whey Protein)

I usually get about 150-180 g a day, milk adds a lot of it. I drink my protein right before I go to bed... not sure how wise that is, but until I hear otherwise I'll continue to do it.

Glutamine: 5 g a day

Not sure how much I should be taking a day but I mix it with my protein and drink it before I go to bed.

Z-Force: 4 Capsules a day

Not sure what the g/mg's a day that is, it recommends 8 capsules a day on your lifting days but I just don't have the money to fork over for using that much. Z-Force contains ZMA and Tribulus terrestris. Gives me a good nights sleep and though I'm not sure if it's the Z-Force, my lifts have been going up steadily since I've been taking it.

[TommyD]

12/27/03 Chest

Chest

Flat Bench
Warm Up: 95 2x12
Working Sets: 165 1x4, 155 1x4, 145 1x4

Although that looks like pyramid training, it's not. I'm have A LOT of trouble getting my bench press up. Everything else is sky rocketting but bench press still lags behind everything else. IT REALLY PISSES ME OFF!

Incline Bench
Working Sets: 65's 1x5, 60's 1x5

Funny story here, some jackass put the dumbbells in the wrong order so I grabbed a 65 lbs DB and what I thought was its twin and went and did a set of incline bench. I set the DB's down and under close inspection I had used 70 lbs for my right hand and 65 for my left... then when I tried to do 65's for my second set I couldn't get them up... what an ODD chest day.

Dips
Working Sets: (30 lbs + BW = 195 lbs) 1x4

Good ol dips, at least I didn't screw them up like I did my two other exercises.

Chest Flyes
Working Sets: 30's 2x6

Ok these aren't part of Max-OT but I need something to stimulate my chest so I thought I'd throw these in. I need help with my chest!!!

Abs

Weighted Incline Crunches
Working Sets: 35lbs 2x12

Went from 6kg medicine ball to a 35 lbs plate... wow, what a difference!

Plyometrics:

Depth Push-Ups: 2x5
Vertical Leaps: 10, 6, 10 (fell over on second set and didn't want to get back up )
Medicine Ball Twists: 2x25
Medicine Ball Push Presses (lying down throw the ball up and when you catch it immediately throw it again): 2x10

Cardio:
Dancing! Went to a cowboy bar and did a lot of line dancing and solo dancing. Wow, what a rush! I was exhausted afterwards. I'm no cowboy but it was a good time!

[mustang GT]

Your Max-OT program looks great Tom. Best of luck with your training endeavors. :thumbup:

[TommyD]

12/28/03 Shoulders/Traps/Back/Biceps Tom's Quite the Studdly Man

Shoulders

BB Military Press
115 1x4, 105, 1x5

I have a big problem with dropping the weight in my exercises. I start heavy and end light... grrr...

DB Shoulder Press
50's 2x6

I usually do 55's for DB Press but I was tired after military press

Shoulder Flyes
30's 2x10

Shoulder flyes are an exercise that you hold the DB's out in front of you bring the weight so the "bells" of the DB's are vertically at your right and left side, then you bring the weight up about 6"-12" and bring it back in front of your chest about 6"-12" higher than where you started. You then bring it down to the starting position and do another rep. You go in "circles" in front of you the entire time. I was SUCKING IT UP with side raises so I switched to shoulder flyes today.

Traps

Power Cleans
135 2x6

I didn't want to do deadlifts for traps today like Max-OT said so I replaced it with power cleans. I looooove power cleans and figured I'd get just as good of a trap workout from them.

Shoulder Shrugs
225 1x10, 275 1x5

I don't know if I'm getting a full ROM with these. How high do you have to go? Anyone?

Back

Wide Grip Lat Pull Downs
190 1x4, 180 1x6

Got 4 reps off with 25lbs more than I weigh

V Bar Lat Pull Downs
135 1x6, 160 1x6

These hurt my hands, the ends of the V Bar dig into them

Bent Over DB Rows
60's 2x6

Siiiiiimple... made my biceps tired though

Biceps

Straight Bar Bicep Curls
95 1x3, 85 1x5

I did 95 easy last week

Alternate DB Curls
35's 1x3, 30's 1x5

Geeeez, I went down in weight again during my exercises... my biggest problem!

Pretty good workout, nothing special though. The only thing that went up were Bent Over Rows (115 to 120), hadn't done power cleans in a while so they went up to 135 from God knows what, and shoulder shrugs went up but IDK about the ROM for those (somebody help me here!). Biceps were tired after back workout (All 6 sets of my back workout used the biceps extensively). Ah well, no big problems so I'm happy!

[TommyD]

Originally Posted by mustang GT

Your Max-OT program looks great Tom. Best of luck with your training endeavors. :thumbup:

Thanks Mustang

I'm not following Max-OT perfectly because I switch an exercise here and there but not very often. I follow the reps and sets and get muscle overload so I follow the program to a T in that respect. It seems to be a good program to go by and the encouragement helps a ton :thumbup:

[mustang GT]

Originally Posted by Tom_Drahos

Thanks Mustang

I'm not following Max-OT perfectly because I switch an exercise here and there but not very often. I follow the reps and sets and get muscle overload so I follow the program to a T in that respect. It seems to be a good program to go by and the encouragement helps a ton :thumbup:

Anytime man. :thumbup: That's good that you are following the muscle overload part of the program, which is one of the most important aspects of that program. :thumbup:

Ever since Todd explained about Max-OT, I've been interested in that program as well. I signed up for the site, and there is a high probability that I will start Max-OT soon.

[DaRkAnGel]

Program looks pretty decent, i was doing max-ot myself until i switched to west-side training just like 2 days ago. Max-ot training is fine but you will eventually get stuck because training to failure, especially for a working man as yourself will lead to a dead end eventually(cns will get tired). This has not yet happened to Todd, but then again he has been dedicated for a long time. As long as the results are there keep training, but if they start to wear off i would suggest to just dedicate a week to letting your system rocover - higher reps, none to failure.

The ROM to shoulder shrugs is simple, go up as far as possible then down, do not rotate. It is unnecesary and can cause injury.


One question, why did you decide to do power cleans? Just cause or is there a reason to this. Also, does a power clean put more emphasis on the traps than a normal clean?

[KetoManiac]

Hey Tom,

the workouts are looking great. You say you usually end up using less weights towards the end, what are the lengths of your rest periods between sets like?

just curious, do you have a particular reason for doing plyos? I really like them and I usually do them for boxing conditioning.

[tweeter]

[quote=Tom_Drahos]
Forearms

BB Wrist Curls
65lbs 1x6, 75lbs 1x5

These f*ckers hurt!

DB Wrist Curls
30lbs 1x6

I really don't know how to do these right

QUOTE]

For Wrist Curls a trainer showed me in the gym with the BB or DB with ur fingers cuffed hold the weight and "Curl" it up with ur wrist. I hope that dont confuse you,lol. so the weight would be on ur fingers then curl it up into ur hand

hope that helps :thumbup:

[NateDogg]

Are wrist curls in the MAX-OT program?