Conjugate Strength and Size Log

[GqArtguy]

Day 5: Pull Dominant

Booty Prep ala Cressey +plus some extra stretches

1) Speed Pulls off 4in box: 225 for a lot of singles + a few singles of 245 off the floor

2) Lunges: 45*3/10

3) Reverse Hyper: 250*2/12, 300*2/12

5) GHR: 10, 8

6) Calf Raises: 180*3/10


Ok I went to the chiro to check out the glute imbalance. Apparently some joint was locking up in the cat dog position and my hip was kinda turning outward and thus my other leg muscles were taking care of the drive instead of the right glute. He told me to stretch the psoas since my right one is SLIGHTLY tight and has me doing an exercise where I lay on the floor on my belly and focus on flexing the glutes and abs while raising the leg up. Kinda like a hip extension, but my abs have to be flexed in and not touch the floor.


I did some pulls off the floor today so that I could see how ive progressed. I felt very braced and the bar was really high since Im used to the box, I think Im going to stop doing these and do something else like speed squats. Next week Im going to work up to a heavy single and see what Ive got.

The rest of the day was good. Lunges just suck royally, they kick my butt and always leave me panting for air because it feels so energy heavy. I had no desire to do 50lbs in each hand today but I suppose I could do it on another day. Im thinking of dropping the reps down to 8 and working up to higher weights.

GHR is seeing some wicked improvement I started just doing negatives because my hams sucked but for the past few weeks its been all full reps baby. The RH was great because I got some clamps and was able to throw on the weight. It feels a lot different and better when you can throw on some heavy weight and and not worry about it coming off. I had to have my partner hold the machine on the other end though because the momentum was making it wobble. Did calves with the 180 that was on there and just went till I didnt want to do anymore. Decent day today.

[GqArtguy]

Day 7 “DE/Low Bench Day”

1. Decline BP: 205, 215, 225, 235/5, 245, 255/3, 265/1

2. 3 Board Press: 225, 225/3, 215/3

3. T-bar rows: 150*3/12

4. BB Holds: 365/30s, 25s, 20s

5. DB Hammer Curls: 35/12, 12

6. Pulldown abs: 120/12, 130/10, 8

I was supposed to workout yesterday but I took a rest day because I had a test and usually feel emotionally drained to throw around any serious weight. My eating is also a little thrown off so I just skip it.

Today was a really good day. Im eating more today, so I did more work on the ME movement and still got a 10lb PR on it. Got more work on the 3 board, but man it is so hard after the decline. 225 never felt so heavy, esp with a pause. I kicked butt on the t-bar rows. There were 2 45's and a 25 on it with a 35 next to the machine. I just threw the 35 on it and went at it. Felt good, got a good pump

Same thing with the BB holds, there was some change on it because someone was doing upright rows with straps so I just threw 315 on it. I supersetted the curls and abs to save time. 130 for abs is such a beeotch. 120 is cake but 130 just takes it out of me. Im not sure why that is other than weak abs

Excellent day regardless.

[GqArtguy]

HIIT

5-6 interval rowing 6min

5 intervals on Xtrainer


OK today I wasnt able to go at my usual time which sucked because when I actually did go it was packed. There were no rowers available so I tried walking a few laps to see if one of them would get off. After 5 min I got bored as hell so I decided to go where all the girls were and do one of those ski machines, I didnt want to cycle because that would fatigue my legs too much. . I felt like I was starting a plane when I got on that thing. After 5 min of intervals (which left me panting like a fat kid and was tearing my legs up) I went to go see if there was an open rower. There was but the I was already off my groove so my intervals werent as good as usual and I needed to leave after 6 intervals. Sucky.

[GqArtguy]

Day 1 – Leg Day: Squat Dominant

Booty prep

1. Front Squats : 135, 155, 175, 195/5, 205, 215/3, 225/1, 235/miss

2. GHR: 5*5

3. Reverse Hyper: 300, 350, 400/8

4. PullDown Abs 125/10, 10, 8

Man 225 shot up very quickly today so I tried 235 and my form broke midway up.

My partner is still working on flexibility so I just did higher volume GHR while he did a few negatives. I also did the RH today to compensate. Is there any way to keep this thing from moving? The momentum of the weight bumps the bar and ends up moving the bench.

[GqArtguy]

Upper End Bench


1) 3Board: 185, 205, 215, 225, 235, 245, 255/3, 265/1 (10lb PR)

2) 5 Board: 265/3

3) Rack lockouts: 315, 315/3,325/2

4) Chinups: 40*8/3

5) Face Pulls: 130/12, 12, 120/12,10


Not a bad day considering I almost didnt make into the gym and wasnt extremely motivated either, but I went because I needed to take my mind off things. Got a 10lb PR on the 3 board and its good because Im starting to mess around with weights that are within a few % of my max. Rack lockouts were good but that 325 was slow. This stuff is draining because you have to contract maximally and the bar doesnt move (for me) until after a 2 sec of applying force. One thing I was thinking about as I did the 325 was "man I would absolutely love to be able to jerk this"

The chins are nothing to sneeze at. I was grinding out that last set trying to get my chin over the bar. The face pull was the only movement where I didnt meet my goal. I was hoping to hit 130 for 12, 12, 10, but I ended up not doing that. Oh well, my bi's were dead after these two movements, and my roommate just caught me flexing my bis

[GqArtguy]

Day 5: Pull Dominant

Booty Prep ala Cressey

1) Speed Pulls: 225 for a few doubles

2) Lunges: 50/8, 55/8.8

3) Reverse Hyper: 370/8, 8

4) GHR: 4*5

5) Calf Raises: 180*3/7

Ok today I did all of my pulls off the floor and man did they feel great. It was all booty in those pulls. Im planning on testing my max dead in about 2 wks. I cut my finger today which made me not comfortable with diving into heavy realms, plus I wanted to hit my lower back more before I attempt heavier weights.

Everything else was money, it all had a short rest period (bascially my partner went and then I went which sucked more on my end because I would do more reps on certain exercises like the GHR). I decided to lower the volume on the lunges because Im bored with sets of 10-12 and feeling like a pansy afterwards.

I did my GHR with my hands out to the side so I was making "T" to make it more challenging than keeping my arms to the side. THe last set was crazy. I figure once I am able to hold a 45lb straight out in front of me for reps my hams will be up to par

I didnt do cardio yesterday because I had a test and no time to do it. I have 2 more tests coming up so cardio is very optional this week.

[GqArtguy]

Day 7 “DE/Low Bench Day”

1. Decline BP: 205, 215, 225, 235/5, 245, 255/3, 270/1

2. 3 Board Press: 225*3/3

3. T-bar rows: 165/12, 170/12, 12, 165/12

4. DB Hammer Curls: 40/12, 45/10, 40/10

5. Pulldown abs: 130/8, 8, 6


Nice day, I had a 5lb PR on the decline. I went about it stupidly, I should have started at 210 and then worked from there but I made up on the last set. Met my goal on the board press. For the last few weeks 225 was hard as hell but I was really easy today.

Busted out on the rows, my back was jacked after this. I didnt do barbell holds today because something was off with the rack. Some idiots slide the pins in a fashion where the rails get uneven and stuck. Its very hard to get them out and I didnt feel like messing with it since Ive fixed it on two occasions already. I did hold 400 once for 10 sec but it wasnt due to the weight but rather the uneven pull at the beginnig so whatever.

[GqArtguy]

Figured Id put up some progress pics of the wheels. Ill put some more up later but this is mid progress and is not an "after" because I havent reached my goals yet.

This was in about late April



This is yesterday

[cappuccino]

Great work GQ! That's one tight tush! Legs look great too!

[Ian Kay]

Hmmm... I don't see anything... no pics, no links... ???

[GqArtguy]

Here Ill try it again, sometimes uploadimages.net drops pics for some reasons, and dont mind the shiny thing, thats just me, ya know cuz Im made of steel [img]tongue.gif[/img] :

[Ian Kay]

Hey Superman, I still don't see anything... I don't even have an indication that something is supposed to be there (other than you saying it is!) Very strange!

[GqArtguy]

Haha your computer sucks: go here Im on the 2nd page:

http://www.ruggedmag.com/forums/inde...pic=6764&st=20

[Ian Kay]

Nice calf development! (See how I included "development"? That sounds so much better than "Nice calves!" )

I'm glad we haven't had a butt contest over here yet... although becka and mesha might be interesting entries...

[GqArtguy]

Originally posted by RockHard:
Nice calf development! (See how I included "development"? That sounds so much better than "Nice calves!" )

I'm glad we haven't had a butt contest over here yet... although becka and mesha might be interesting entries...

Id like to see those entries

[GqArtguy]

HIIT Rowing

20 min 8 sprints


Havent dont this in a while, didnt miss it

Thanks for the kind words Cap!

[GqArtguy]

Week 8

Day 1 – Leg Day: Squat Dominant

Booty prep

1. Front Squats: 135, 155, 175, 195/5. 215/3, 225, 230, 235, 245/1!!!!!, 255/miss

2. GHR (arms extended): 5*5

3. Reverse Hyper: 410/12, 12, 8

4. PullDown Abs 120/12, 12, 12

Holy crap I was able to do my all time high on the front squat! 255 was definately doable but my form was off. My glutes were heavily involved and my form was good, it was great. I went for 230 because I had missed 235 the week before and it flew, so I did 235 and it was also good, so I figured Id reach for the all time PR and I got it. Yesssssssss

The GHR saw improvement. Instead of a T position, my arms were positioned in the middle b/t a T and having straight out. I got my partner to do heavier RH (270) and he didnt have any shin issues today. My back was pumped after the RH. I did some light ab work and called it a great day.

[GqArtguy]

Day 3 Upper Body

1) Incline DB BP: 80/9, 75/10,10, 50/20

2) Weighted Chins: 40*8/3, 2

3) Face Pulls: 140*4/8, 130/8


There were a few reasons why today looks the way it does. 1) My partner couldnt make it, 2) My brain is fried so I really just wanted to get some blood in my muscles and not go intense, 3) had a time constraint.

I did inclines because its my weakest press so I figured the delts should get some direct work. The last set was a back off set.

Everything is pretty self explanatory, I wanted to get some more work out of the face pulls so I decreased the reps and increased the weight and sets.