PHAT Legs....pain and agony

So glad to have tomorrow off for cardio/rest. My workout took about 1.5 hours, which lately has been taking a toll on me. I usually like to get in and out of the gym within an hour but because of the increase volume this has been difficult.

I think it comes out to about 7.5+ hours in the gym. That's not including cardio :/ Anyhow, I really want to be able to push my limits and see if my body can adopt. I can always go on a low volume/high intensity routine If I get completely burnt out. My objective right now is to eat as much as I can to recover and see where my strength/size goes. I promise I will do my best to get some photos up soon.

Leg workout

Speed Squats (light)- 280x3,x3x3x3x3x3
Front Squats close stance- 185x10,x10,x10
Leg extensions- 50x15,x14,x14,x14
Straight Leg deadlifts- 135x8, 225x15, 275x10
Leg curls- 95x15,x14,x12,x11

I think it might have been a mistake to do deadlifts because my lower back is so burnt out and I really want to hit a good PR next week on regular deadlifts. Anyhow, I wanted a good hamstring exercise and they truly are the best for that.

Chest/Triceps...shoulders not so much lol

So I wanted today to be a push day or a chest/shoulders/triceps day. My shoulder however were pretty weak and so I just did 2 sets of military press lol. Triceps however were pretty pumped and are slowly improving :D

Bench Press light- 210x3 for 6 sets
Pec Deck- 115x19,x13,x11
Incline DB Press- 60x15,x13,x11
Cable Cross over- 20x15, 25x15, 30x13
CG Bench Press- 135x15, 155x12, 175x7
Military Press FAIL- 135x8, 95x8
Reverse Curls- 42.5x20, 50x12, x10
Skull crushers 65x12,x10,x10
Rope push down- 20x15,x11

Back/Biceps/Rear Deltoids

So I had an okay workout. Unfortunately my deadlift regressed a bit. I'm guessing this is because of my 6 hours of sleep last night or possibly my lower back not being totally recovered from my lower body day. Anyhow, I got a good pump in my back. Even though my biceps get direct work towards the end of my workout, fatiguing them before hand is actually helping me feel them more (although I can't use as much weight). I'll stick with this for a while and see how it works out....got nothing to lose.

Deadlifts- 135x10, 185x5, 225x5. 275x3. 315x3, 365x3, 405x7, rest 30 seconds and x2 more
Close Grip pull downs- 140x15, x12, x10
Low row with a straight bar- 160x14, x14, x13
Pull ups- 9 wide and then 8 close grip
Machine curls- 20x12, 30x12, 40x8, 50x7
CG easy curls- 60x10,x10
reverse grip cable curls with straight bar (not a good movement lol...will not do again)- 42.5x15,x11
Upright cable rows- 72.5x13,x12,x11 (not really progressing on these so I will switch to a bb movement I think)
Rear deltoid machine- 70x30, x15


Next week I will go for deadlifts at 430 and then de-load the following week and see how many pull ups I can knock out. Hopefully it will be a lot :D

Heavy Legs

Man was I tired! So glad tomorrow is an off/cardio/abs day. It was a very tough workout that seemed like it would never end, but I pushed through. My knees were bugging me lately, but they felt solid during my workout and I could squat deep with no pain. My squat numbers may not be super high but I only squat olympic style. ATG=Ass to Grass all the way down. This style comes naturally to me and with no disrespect to power lifting squats...that shit is not as good for your quads and is more of a back/good morning hyperextension. Anyhow, enough ranting. Here is my workout

Squats- warm up, then 335x5, 345x5, 355x5-->goal
Leg Press- 8plates x10, 12 plates x10
Leg Extensions (both legs)- 130x12, 150x12
Glute curl- 125x10, 155x6
Lunges- 135x10, 155x9, 175x8 (all cleaned from ground and placed on back)
Some calf work


That was it. Did not keep track of time, but I think maybe only 1hour. I spent some time stretching afterwards.

Breakthrough thoughts!

So, I'm obviously addicted to training....I love it so much for so many reasons and really hope I can keep lifting for the rest of my life. Anyhow, back to my breakthrough. I am always thinking about ways to improve my methods of training. So I have been thinking about an idea of selecting a few exercises per body part and using those exercises until I plateau and then switching them out for others. Its a very simple idea but I think it could work extremely well on my hypertrophy days. Before even switching them out I will first change the order and if that doesn't work to improve my lifts, I will simply exchange it for another.

Here are my selection of exercises per body part  (note these are only for hypertrophy days/non power lifts)

Biceps- Preacher curls, Zottman curls, Reverse BB Curls, BB curls, Cable Curls, Seated DB Curls
Triceps- Reverse Cable Curls, Pushdowns (rope)/(bar), Kickbacks with a BB, CG Bench, Overhead DB/Rope Extension
Shoulders- Machine Press/DB Press/Arnold Press/Medium grip upright Row/Lateral raises/Machine Reverse
Chest- DB/BB Press Incline/Cable Press/Pec Deck/Dips/Machine Decline Machine/
Back- Chins (all variations)/Low Row/BB Rows/ CG Pulldowns/DB Rows
Legs-CG Front squats/Romanian Deadlifts/Leg Press/ Leg Ext/Leg Curls/Lunges


For my hypertrophy workouts this week this is what it will look like

Back/Biceps/Rear Deltoids-
Power work- deadlifts
Hypertrophy work:
Wide pull ups (3)
CG Pulldowns ((3)maybe 130+lbs)
Low Row ((3)160+lbs)
DB Rows (3)
Preacher Curls (2)
Seated DB Curls (2)
Cable Curls (2)
Rear Deltoid Machine (3)
Upright Cable Row ((3) 70+lbs)




Chest/Triceps/Front Deltoids
Power work- Bench Press (light)
Hypertrophy work:
DB Incline Low Press- ((3) 60lbs 15-20 hopefully)
Cable Flys ((3) 30+lbs )
Dips (3)
Pec Deck (2)
CG Bench Press (3)
Reverse Curls (2)
Overhead DB Extension (2)




Legs/Abs
Power work- Squats (light)
Hypertrophy work:
Close Stance Front Squats (3)
Leg Press Close Stance(3)
Leg Glute Curls (3)
Leg Extensions (3)
Lunges (3)

Heavy Upper Body!

Wow! It has been some time since I last lifted super heavy. My body definitely will have to do some adjusting. My workout lasted about 1.5 hours (a little on the long side for this type of workout). Rest periods were slightly longer and it looks like I lost a bit of strength but not too much.

Here it is:

Bench Press- 255x5, 265x5, 275x4 (This was actually 3.5 reps but I did not have a competent spotter and he literally took the weight away from me...I'm 100% I was going to get it since I was basically at lockout) -->Next week I might switch to straight sets at 260 or 265
Flat DB Press- 85x10, 95x9 (straight sets at 90 next week)
Shoulder DB Press- 70x7,x7,x6 (my shoulders were pretty tired by this point so really not that bad-->Might switch to progressive sets starting at 60 and going to 75)
BB Rows- 235x5, 245x5, 255x5 (Next week I'll do straight sets at 245)
V Bar chin- epic fail....I simply can't do these at the Stanford gym :/
Pull ups wide- bw+45x6,x5. (I'll drop the weight to 40 next week)
Shrugs- 235x10, 285x10 (I'll use 285+ next week)
JM Press- I'm still figuring these out but I'm sure once I do, my triceps will explode. I can already feel they work even though I still need to master the form- 135x10, x10, 95x10 (I'll start at 95 and work up next week)
BB EZ bar curls- 80x10, x9, x8 (arms were tired by this point) I'll stick with this weight next week.

I know! This is a shit ton of volume but I'm hoping I can adapt to it. In the meantime I might have to go a little lower volume on my hypertrophy days. I'll just be playing it by feel


I also really like this song

HIIT Cardio/Calves/Abs

So today was pretty simple. Just a 5min warm up and 12min of HIIT cardio on the stair stepper. I would like to keep adding 1min to my HIIT sessions until I hit 20min and then switch it up again. I'm excited for heavy upper body tomorrow :D

Short term goals

So I have been thinking about actually committing myself to a few short term goals and thought It would be a good idea to write them out. 

Short term (4-6 weeks)- I'm adding back in some heavy days so here are my goals for the next 6 weeks

Bench Press Flat (all for 3-5+ reps)

(1) 255,265,275

(2) 260, 270, 280 

(3) 265,275,285

(4) 270, 280, 290

(5) 275, 285, 295

(6) 280, 290, 300

Back Squats (3-6+ reps)

(1) 335, 345, 355

(2) 340, 350, 360 

(3) 345, 355, 365

(4) 350, 360, 370

(5) 355, 365, 375

(6) 360, 370, 380

Deadlifts- I'll still be going lighter on these

(1) 185, 225, 275, 295, 335, 385x10 (already completed this week

(2) 185, 225, 275, 315, 360, 405xAMAP (beat 8 reps)

(3) 185, 225, 275, 340, 385, 430xAMAP

(4) deload, 185, 225, 275

(5)Recalculate based on above

JM Press- This is a completely new exercise for me. It will be replacing skull crushers but I would like to get really strong on it. I hear its great for triceps development.  (I will probably suck and be really weak at it so I might start at 185 and work my way up, Maybe get to 205 for a good amount of rep in 6 weeks?)

Last exercise I want to track will be V bar Pull ups with weight. I unfortunately have never done these because our damn gym does not have them! But I will make an effort to attach the v bar thingy to one of the straight pull up bars by the squat rack- My goal is to hit 20 at bodyweight and bw+60 for 10 reps

I think that it is really difficult and unrealistic to try and get really strong on everything so these will be the main exercises I will emphasis. I did not include close grip bench presses but I'm trying to bring those up as well but I will be doing them for higher reps so I'm guessing it will be slow to progress. 

PHAT Legs workout

I was planning on doing legs/abs/calves but I didn't feel like I had enough time so I'll just do those tomorrow with cardio on my off day.

Anyhow, here was my workout.

Squats (light) - 275x3 for 6 sets
Front Squats- 185x12, 205x10, 225x8
Leg Extensions- 70x12,x11,x12
Leg Glut curls- 95x13,x12,x11
Lunges- 115x20 (10 each leg)
Cardio on the bike for 15min

PHAT Chest/Triceps workout (Saturday 04/21)

Here is my workout from yesterday. Just getting back into the flow of light weight speed reps.

Bench Press- 6 sets at 205x3
CG Bench Press- 185x10,x10,x10
Incline DB Press (low incline)- 60x12, x10,x9
Cable Flys (high)- 30x15,x15,x15
Press Downs- 50x20, 72.5x10,x10
Reverse Curls 42.5x10x3 (3 sets of 10 reps)

I'll post my leg workout later today.

PHAT workout (Back/Biceps/Delts) +Brutally Strong Shirts!

I took the past 2 days off from strength training to rest and recover and today I felt so good and pumped! Just shows you how much rest makes a difference.

Anyhow, I had a good workout. It took about 1.5 hours with a focus on back.

Deadlifts 135x10, 185x5, 225x5, 275x3, 295x5, 335x5, 385x10
Pull ups- BWx10,x10,x7 (back was pretty tired by this point)
CG Seated Row- 160x15,x13,12
CG pulldowns- 130x12,x12,x13
Seated DB curls- 25lbs lol x22,x22,x20,x20 (each hand....biceps were dead by this point)
Shoulder Machine Press- 90x15, x14,x12
Upright Cable Rows- 72.5x15,x12,x12


Oh, and the Brutally Strong shirts are here! Let me know if you want to buy one. I'll be selling them for just 10 dollars right now. So leave a comment or shoot me an email with your size (goodman.jeremy00@gmail.com)

(Design credits to my brother Michael :D)

Thoughts about training.

So I have been thinking lately about a few interesting ways to approach training to make the most progress. This is all theoretical but I would like to actually see how this works out.

My main goals right now are split between strength and size. I care slightly more about strength because I believe at my level of development, a higher baseline of strength will lead to better future gains. So I will split my training into 4 parts.

Part 1-Strength/Power
In this phase I will do a Layne norton inspired split which is composed of Power Days and hypertrophy days. The key emphasis is the frequency. Everything gets hit x2 a week with a good amount of volume too. I will do this routine until I plateau on strength.

Part 2- Strength/Size
In this phase I will do 5/3/1 type workouts where the key is mainly strength (putting 10lbs on a lift within 4 weeks). The frequency is reduced to once a week but with the extra accessory work the volume should be similar to the above. I would complete 2 cycles of this. So 8 weeks total.

Part 3-Size/frequency/volume
In this routine I will switch back to a higher frequency workout. Maybe something like a 4 day split 1-2 days off and then repeating. I will do this for 12 weeks! The focus will be 6-8reps and 8-12 reps.

Part 4-Size/Intensity/Frequency
In this part I will try a new training method that I have never tried before. It's called DC training or Dog Crapp training and its centered around using low volume/higher frequency. It looks interesting to me but is supposedly for more advanced trainees. Anyhow, I would like to try it out eventually and I think it would be a good shock after a longer period of higher volume.


I will be logging all my workouts as usual but would like to emphasis which phase I'm in as well

Chest/Back workout from Monday and Legs Tuesday

Hey guys!

Past 2 days I have been feeling pretty down in terms of training. No new PRs :/ Here are my workouts from Monday and today.


Chest/Back (Chest Emphasis)
Bench Press- 115x5, 145x5, 175x3, 190x5, 215x5, 245x8
Pull ups in between sets- 10, 10, 10,10
BB Rows- 135x10, 185x11,x11,11
DB flys in between- 60x10,11,10
Dips 60x9
Machine Flys 130x12,x11,x8
Decline MTS 60x15,x10

Legs- totally did this workout based on instinct lol
Squats- 135x5, 225x5, 315x1, 335x1, 355x1, 375x1, 395x1, 415x1, 315x7,225x8, 135x15 (last lighter sets had zero rest while singles had a lot of rest)
Leg Curls individual- 50x20,x20,x20
Leg Abducter exercises
Ab exercises (3 sets)
Calf work.

Tomorrow I will do some higher intensity cardio and then take the following day off/do light cardio

Arms/Delts/7min cardio

After taking 2 complete days off I decided to workout. I did a more hypertrophy oriented workout and had great pumps!

Preacher Curls 70x15,x13,x11,x9 (1min rest between sets)
Straight Pushdowns 70x15,x15,x11,x9 (1min rest between sets)
Seated Lateral raises- 20x15,x13,x12,x8 (1min rest between sets)
Rope Cable Hammer Curls- 42.5x15,x13,x11 (1min rest between sets)
Rope Extensions Overhead- 42.5x12,x9,x8 (1min rest between sets)
Rear Deltoid Raises- 20x20x17,x17 (1min rest between sets)
Overhead Db Extension- 60x12, 75x7 (1min rest between sets)
Clean/Military Press- 135x12, x6 (1min rest between sets)

Next arm/deltoids workout will be an 8-12 rep range with heavier weights. 

Crappy workout Legs

Def had one of my worst workouts in a long time. Everything felt heavy and I felt weak

135x5, 185x3. 225x5. 275x3, 315x3, 335x2, 355x2, 375x1
I just did singles because I could not muster the strength to do anymore...either its over training or possibly just lack of sleep. Really hoping its the latter.

Small workout #2 Arms

Very quick workout- felt a good pump by the end of it.

Seated Alternating curls with a focus on squeeze- 30x15,x15,13,x10,x10-->was aiming for 15 reps with 60seconds rest in between. I'll keep at this weight.
Overhead DB Extension- 60x15, x12,x12,x10,x9- 60seconds rest. Stay at this weight until I can get 15reps with 60sec rest.

Going for a small walk now for cardio

Pressing/Pulling workout

Press/Pull workout:

Bench Press- 115x5, 145x5, 175x3, 185x5, 215x5, 245x1, 265x1, 245x9, rest 60 sec, 245x4!
*Chin ups- bw+45x8,rest 60sec, x4
*Military Press- 135x16, rest 60sec, x7, WTF! had no idea I could do this :D
*Deadlifts- 315x17, very easy, 405x10, I'm coming for you
*Working sets only

A good workout. I felt dead by the time I got to deadlifts but a descent workout. I know its very low volume but those 60second max sets are brutal.

Small Workout (Deltoids/Traps/20min cardio)

Hey everyone!

Could not be more excited to be training and logging again. I did a small workout today, nothing too crazy. Light weight with high reps and low rest periods.

Upright Cable Rows- 72.5lbsx15, x13, x13, x14,x12
Bent laterals- 15lbsx15,15,15,15,15
Shrugs- 50lbsx15x15x15x15x15

Only 45sec-70sec rest between sets and 2min between exercises. My rear/lateral deltoids were pumped. Shrugs were way too light so I should def have upped the weight.

On a funny note...I really want to see this movie

High Rep Goals

So I think its fun to set challenges. For many people its usually something like, I want to bench 135, 225, 315, 405 etc. or I want to pull 600lb, squat 500, blah blah blah. So instead of doing that I'm going to set up a few high rep goals I would like to achieve (all with good form of course)

Here they are:

Bench Press: Current 225x12, goal 225x20+
Squats: 295x12, goal 315x20+
Deadlift- 405x8, for now 315x30 would suffice lol or 405x20
Front Squats (just added these back in recently) 175x22, goal 225x20+

Over the next 10 weeks lets see If I can hit these goals. I'll try to add 1-2 reps at every workout, going heavier sometimes and then backing back down to the above weights.


My number programming will look something like this, although I will definitely improvise and change weights based on how I feel that day
1st cycle
Bench Press- 115x5, 145x5, 175x3, 185x5, 215x5, 245xAMAP (as many as possible) rest 60 seconds, repeat
Back Squats- 150x5, 190x5, 225x3, 245x5, 280x5, 320xAMAP, rest 60 seconds repeat
Deadlifts- 185x5, 235x5, 280x3, 305x5, 350x5, 395x1, 365xAMAP rest 60 seconds repeat
Military Press- 75x5, 95x5, 110x3, 135x5, 155x1, 135xAMAP rest 60 seconds repeat

2nd/3d cycle (Same layout as above)
Bench Press (2)- 115x5, 145x5, 175x3, 200x3, 230x3, 260x1-3, 230 AMAP then 50% set
Bench Press (3)- 115x5, 145x5. 175x3, 215x5, 245x3, 270x1, 245 AMAP then 50% set
Back Squat (2)-150x5, 190x5, 225x3, 265x3, 300x3, 335x3, 295 AMAP then 50% set
Back Squat (3)- 150x5, 190x5, 225x3, 280x5, 320x3, 355x1, 315 AMAP then 50% set
Deadlifts (2)-185x5, 235x5, 280x3, 325x3, 370x3, 420x3, 370x AMAP then 50% set
Deadlifts (3)- 185x5, 235x5, 280x3, 350x5, 395x3, 440x1, 395x AMAP then 50% set
Military and Front squats will be decided later.
 

I'm freakin excited! 

I'm back! Training is on!

Hey guys!

I'm back with workouts. Last night was the second night of passover so this morning I was recovering from all the wine I drank (about 10-12 cups lol). Anyhow, I'm really excited to see where this new type of training will take me. Its high frequency with lots of volume for smaller body parts and low volume for bigger ones.

The template looks something like this:

Week 1
Day 1 - big 1 - upper #1
Day 2 - small 1 - bicep/triceps
Day 3 - big 2 - lower #1
Day 4 - small 2 - delts/traps
Day 5 - big 3 - upper #2
Day 6 - small 3 - biceps/triceps
Day 7 - off

Week 2
Day 1 - big 1 - lower #2
Day 2 - small 1 - delts/traps
Day 3 - big 2 - upper #1
Day 4 - small 2 - biceps/triceps
Day 5 - big 3 - lower #1 (from week 1)
Day 6 - small 3 - delt/traps


So I'm on week 2, lower#2

Here is the workout
Front squats narrow stance no lockout- barx15, 95x10, 135x5, 155x2, 205x5, 225x2, 245x2, 265x1, 175x22, rest 60sec, 175x10 (will move up weight next time)
Lunges- bwx10, 50x10, 70x10, 70x10 (straight bar)


Then I did abs. Now I think I figured out a way to destroy your abs in just 3 sets with 1.5 min rest in between sets. It hits your obliques, and upper and lower abs very hard.


Start with as many windshield wipers as you can do, then go straight into straight leg lifts for as many as you can do, and then bring your knees up as many times as you can do! You will be in lots of good pain :D
After Abs I threw in some calf work, just 3 sets

The ab workout would look something like this with no rest in between the exercises

First week of school

My training journal has suffered a bit because of the first week of school, but will resume next week with kick ass workouts!

Next 2 weeks higher frequency, followed by higher volume workouts and then back to higher frequency. Shit is going to be fun :)