Time to get serious...

[pjb923]

The time has come to take my training to the next level. I am 27 years old 6' tall, 230lbs somewhere around 18%bf. In high school I did some basic weight training in my basement. Nothing really heavy and I had never even heard of a deadlift. Legs? Who needs to train legs?

My wife has been struggling with her weight for most of her life and after we got married we both made the decision to get serious about health and fitness. A little over a year ago we joined a gym together. I worked with a trainer for a few months 2 days a week and learned the basics. Now I spend my free time reading these forums and t-nation in the eternal quest for the next routine. I completed the beginner phase of the Book of Muscle, a few Waterbury routines, and a few of Craig's TT routines. I am at the point where I am training 4 days a week and decided to give Ian King's Limping and SuperStrength a try.

Phase I consists of a slew of very painful exercises designed to strengthen any weak links you make have and to work on any left-right imbalances.

Last week I started Phase II and thougth it would be a perfect time to start my training log.
All weights are in lbs, listed by weight x reps.

[pjb923]

4/24/06
Lower Body Workout "A"

B.B. Back Squat
135 x 10
155 x 8
205 x 6
265 x 6
275 x 5

Jump Squats
95 x 13
95 x 7
This was my first time doing jump squats. I started out very conservative, but had to take a quick break in the middle of a set of 20.

Static Lunges
45 x 6 each leg
95 x 15 each leg

Single Leg Squats
10 each leg

I finished off the workout with 10 minutes of intervals on the rowing machine. 30 seconds all out, followed by 1 min of rest.


4/25/06
Upper Body workout "A"

1A Barbell Bench
115 x 10
185 x 8
235 x 5
235 x 3

1B Seated Row
60 x 10
90 x 8
140 x 6
140 x 6

2A Wide Grip Bench Press
135 x 6
185 x 9
185 x 7

2B Bent Over Rows
135 x 6
165 x 8
165 x 8

3A Bench Press (wide grip to high chest)
135 x 13

3B Seated row (overhand to chest)
20 x 60
15 x 70

4 Close Grip Bench Press
135 x 6
115 x 6

[pjb923]

4/27/06
Lower Body Workout "B"

Deadlift - Wide grip
Warmup
275 x 8
285 x 5
285 x 3
185 x 8
185 x 6

Russian Deadlift
45 x 6
95 x 10

Good Morning - Round back
45 x 6
65 x 10

King Deadlift
20 each leg

Back extension I threw these in at the end, but they are not part of the official routine.
single leg - 8 each leg
both legs - 8 holding 10 lbs plate

[Iamjennmedic]

sweet numbers. Now I'm curious what are russian deadlifts and king deadlifts??

[pjb923]

4/28/06
Upper Body Workout "B"

1A Chin-Ups - Neutral Grip
90 x 10 - on lat pulldown machine
150 x 8 - on lat pulldown machine
body weight x 6
body weight x 6

1B Seated Shoulder Press
65 x 10
95 x 8
135 x 6
145 x 3
135 x 4 I didn't have it in me to do 145lbs, so i dropped back to 135 to finish the set

2A Lat Pull-Downs
80 x 6
120 x 10
120 x 10

2B Shoulder Press - Behind Neck
65 x 6
95 x 8
95 x 7

3A Lat Pull-Downs - Wide, behind neck
60 x 20
Shoulder Press - Wide grip, behind neck
65 x 19

EZ-Bar Preacher Curls
bar+20 x 10
bar+40 x 10
bar+60 x 5

This first week turned out to be some of the best workouts I have ever had. Every inch of my body was sore and it felt great.
I'm looking forward to tomorrow's squat workout. My goal by the end of this program is to have a 300+ lb squat and deadlift.

[pjb923]

Originally Posted by Iamjennmedic

sweet numbers. Now I'm curious what are russian deadlifts and king deadlifts??

The russian deadlift is described as a "flat back" version of the stiff-legged deadlift. With the bar on your back.
To me it seems exactly the same as a good morning. But in this routine the good morning is performed with a rounded back.

A king deadlift is a movement was made up by Ian King.
Here is the paragraph where he explains how to perform it.

This is a single-leg, bent-knee deadlift?one of my very own creations! Stand on one leg (starting with the weak side) and bend the other leg up until the lower leg is parallel to the ground. Place your hands on the hips or by your side. The aim is to bend the knee of the supporting leg until the knee of the non-supporting leg is brushing the ground. In reality, you may have to settle for a shorter range (you'll understand why as soon as you do this workout). If the aforementioned is the case and I expect that it will be look to increase the range from workout to workout.

You're allowed to flex (bend) forward at the waist as much as you want, and doing so will increase the gluteal involvement. Keep the working knee aligned neutrally throughout the movement. Take three seconds to lower, a one-second pause at each end, and two seconds to lift. No warm-up set needed. When you can do more than 15-20 reps full range, look to hold dumbbells in the hands. This, I suspect, is a long way off!King deadlifts are one of my favorites and, after you see the benefits, you'll probably share my appreciation for this move.

Here are the links to the whole routine if anyone wants to see it in more detail. Lots of pictures are included.
Lower Body A
http://www.t-nation.com/readTopic.do?id=459755
Lower Body B
http://www.t-nation.com/readTopic.do?id=459758
Upper Body
http://www.t-nation.com/findArticle....e=body_93super

[Iamjennmedic]

Awesome pjb923 I may have to give those a try!! They look like they would be a great move for me to add in. Thanks

[pjb923]

I have been looking forward to this workout all weekend. My goal was to add 10 lbs to my work sets. I not only added the weight, but got in a few extra reps. I put up 285lbs for the first time ever for 5 full reps, all below parallel.

5/1/06
Lower Body Workout "A"

B.B. Back Squat
95 x 10
185 x 8
245 x 6
275 x 8
285 x 5
205 x 12

Jump Squats
105 x 15

Static Lunges
115 x 15 each leg

Single Leg Squats
8 each leg

Finished off with 10 minutes of intervals on the rowing machine again.
Total distance 2200 meters with an average 500m time of 2:17. 100m further and almost 8 seconds faster average.

Walking is going to be interesting over the next few days.

[pjb923]

5/2/06
Upper Body Workout "A"

I did not bring my log from last night with me this morning, so I can't give a completly accurate log of my workout.

I started out with Bench press, did a few warmup sets and was just not feeling very strong. I worked up to 235lbs and only got it up 3 times. I then dropped the weight down to 205 and got 6 more reps.

I was feeling much stronger doing rows. I got a few nice sets of seated cable rows at 140 and 150 lbs.

Then moved onto wide grip bench press supersetted with Bent-over barbell rows. Things were starting to look better, i had a great set of 10 reps at 175 lbs on the rows. I was feeling strong, this is the most weight I have ever done on a bent over row.

Then it happened, on my 4th rep of my next set I was getting tired and let my lower back round just slightly. I felt a shooting pain through the left side of my lower back that almost made me drop the weight. This was not a good feeling at all. I felt lightheaded for a minute, sat down and regained my composure. Needless to say, what started out as my best row workout to date turned out to be a nightmare. I have had some minor issues with my back before, but since training heavier on the deadlift things have improved. I have never experienced such an immediate pain, usually I don't feel anything until the next day.

Good news is my back is already feeling a little better this morning. I can sit, stand, bend side to side or backwards, it's just bending forward that hurts. Today is not a training day, but tomorrow is supposed to be my deadlifting day and i'm either going to go extremely light or skip it this week.

This gave me a bit of a scare, and I am considering switching from bent over rows to chest supported rows or one-arm rows. I love the exercise, but it just puts too much strain on my lower back. The last thing I need is to be out of commission from a bad back right when I am starting to make the best gains of my life.

[pjb923]

I didn't get a chance to post my last 2 workouts. But here they are.

My back was feeling much better today, but I decided to go a little lighter than usual on the deadlifts just to be safe. Next week I plan on returning to my normal weight.

5/4/06
Lower Body Workout "B"

Deadlift - Wide grip
135 x 10
185 x 8
205 x 6
225 x 6
225 x 8
225 x 7

Russian Deadlift
45 x 10
65 x 12

Good Morning - Round back
I decided to skip this movement today. I did not want to do anything that involved rounding my back.

King Deadlift
12 each leg

Back extension I threw these in at the end, but they are not part of the official routine.
single leg - 8 each leg
both legs - 8 holding 10 lbs plate

[pjb923]

5/5/06
Upper Body Workout "B"

1A Chin-Ups - Neutral Grip
90 x 10 - on lat pulldown machine
150 x 8 - on lat pulldown machine
body weight x 6
body weight x 6

1B Seated Shoulder Press These were done standing because the seated shoulder press station was being used.
65 x 10
95 x 8
115 x 6
125 x 6
I was very dissapointed with this set because as I was recording my numbers in my log i realized that I had been using 35's instead of 45's. What I was recording as 135lbs and 145lbs was really 115 and 125. I was pressing 20lbs less than I originally thought which made me feel really strong during the set, but not so great afterwards.

2A Lat Pull-Downs
80 x 6
130 x 10
130 x 10

2B Shoulder Press - Behind Neck
65 x 6
95 x 6
95 x 10 - I had to switch back to front presses due to some shoulder pain.

3A Lat Pull-Downs - Wide, behind neck
60 x 20
80 x 12

Shoulder Press - Wide grip, behind neck
65 x 10 - I had to cut this set short, again due to some shoulder pain.

EZ-Bar Preacher Curls
bar+20 x 10
bar+40 x 10
bar+60 x 6

As you can see I have been having some shoulder pain. I plan on removing the behind the neck movements and starting on some rotator cuff exercises. They seemed to work for me in the the past, but when the pain went away I got lazy and stopped doing them on a regular basis. Now seems to be the time to integrate them back into my routine.

[pjb923]

5/8/06
Lower Body Workout "A"

B.B. Back Squat
45 x 10
95 x 10
185 x 8
245 x 6
285 x 6
290 x 4 - This weight was a new PR for me. I felt like my back was starting to round during this set, so I stopped at 4. I felt like I could have gotten 1 or maybe 2 more.
225 x 12

Jump Squats
115 x 14

Static Lunges
135 x 15 each leg

Single Leg Squats
10 each leg

Leg Extensions - Single Leg
50 x 12
70 x 10

[Deserve]

How is the shoulder holding up? Don't over do it and cause more damage.

[pjb923]

Originally Posted by Deserve

How is the shoulder holding up? Don't over do it and cause more damage.

I don't have my next overhead pressing workout until this Friday. I'm benching today, but that doesn't seem to bother my shoulder.

I have been doing some rotator cuff work at home with light dumbbells, and I plan on avoiding any behind the neck movements on Friday and maybe going a little lighter than usual.

After this week I am taking a week off from heavy lifting before starting the next phase of the workout. I will continue my rotator cuff work and avoid any movements that cause pain, and just take it one week at a time.

[Deserve]

It sounds like you have a solid plan.

[pjb923]

I'm a little behind on my log. Here is tuesday's workout.

I went a little light on the bench press today. After reading Eric Cressey's Shoulder Saver article I tried changing my benching form. I think it's going to take a little while to get used to the new movement, but it should be worth it in the long run.

I also realized on the seated rows that I was really starting to put my whole body into the movement. I dropped the weight way down after my first work set and really focused on getting the form perfect.

5/09/06
Upper Body workout "A"

1A Barbell Bench
115 x 10
135 x 10
185 x 8
185 x 8
185 x 8

1B Seated Row
60 x 10
90 x 8
140 x 8
110 x 10

2A Wide Grip Bench Press
175 x 10
175 x 7
155 x 10

Chest Supported Rows
45 x 10
90 x 10
115 x 8
90 x 10

3A Bench Press (wide grip to high chest)
135 x 10

3B Seated row (overhand to chest)
70 x 15

Machine Incline Press
90 x 10
140 x 8
90 x 10

Machine Lat Row
90 x 10
140 x 8
90 x 10

[pjb923]

Here is Thursdays log. This was a great workout. My back was feeling much better than last week so I upped the weight again. I got up to 305lbs for the first time and it actually didn't feel that heavy. My back was starting to get a little tired at this point, so I didn't want to push too hard and compromise my form.

Here's the workout.

5/11/06
Lower Body Workout "B"

Deadlift
135 x 10
185 x 8
225 x 6
285 x 6
295 x 5
305 x 4
185 x 8

Russian Deadlift
45 x 6
95 x 10
115 x 9

Good Morning - Round back
45 x 6
65 x 8

King Deadlift
2 sets of 15 for each leg

Back extension
single leg - 8 each leg
both legs - 8 holding 25 lbs plate

My back was feeling really tight after this workout and I spent a little while using the foam roller before leaving the gym. It felt good enough to make me run home and place an order for one of my own. If 10 minutes with the beat up roller that my gym has can do this much for my back I can only image what a good long session at home can do for me.