SP's on/off-season log

[snowpatrol123]

Weight ?

Wasn't super motivated to train because my partner was out for the night but I went alone and had a decent back attack


Thu - back/abs/calves

unsupported hanging leg raise - three sets of 15 reps
+++
superset rope crunch - 15 reps after each set of leg raises

wide grip pulldown - two warmup then four working sets, 10-12 reps each time slightly increasing the weight

one-arm DB row - four sets as well, 15/12/10/8 reps respectively

narrow-grip pulldown - five sets, moderate to heavy weight approximately 20/16/12/10/5-6 reps on the last one

HSPL chest-supported row - did these one arm at a time, three sets of 8 reps per arm

rack pull - from low shin height, lower than I'm used to...went pretty heavy doing sets of 8 such that my back was pretty sore the next day



cardio - about 15 mins on a fairly steep inclined treadmill

 

[snowpatrol123]

I've been dealing with some of that same life stuff I mentioned earlier, but my one constant has been the gym and my diet has improved somewhat

I'm hovering in the high 230/low 240s now, on fairly minimal gear (400mg test/200mg tren) and a low dose of omnitrope (2iu) with a clean bill of health

I have about two months to decide if I'll take a run at nationals, my main training partner's knee hasn't improved so that's a bit disheartening as I'd be going it alone again


My training has been fairly "boring" but not ineffective, my lifts are up but so is my weight so I'm not terribly surprised there

I won't run through everything again since I'm not doing much differently than before but typically it's looking like this


Monday - chest/delts/abs
1. rear delt movement
2. incline movement (press or press-fly 90% of the time)
3. flat or decline press (DB or HSPL)
4. triset of press-flye machine + pec dec + pushups to failure
5. superset of side laterals and front raises
6. seated shoulder press (white cybex machine about 90% of the time)
7. abs (typically my hanging leg raise + rope crunch superset)


Tuesday - back + abs and/or calves
1. wide/neutral grip pulldown
2. row (different varieties here, but one-arm DB row about 50% of the time for example)
3. different-angle row machine, sometimes superset with a second machine
4. seated row
5. shrugs and/or rack pull
6. abs or calves (or sometimes neither, depending on time + energy levels)


Weds - legs (and sometimes calves)
1. seated or prone hamstring curl
2. squat (highbar backsquat 90% of the time)
3. leg press (alternate between one-legged and two-legged versions about 50/50)
4. SLDL or another hamstring machine
5. SOMETIMES seated leg extensions, sometimes superset with sissy squat
6. SOMETIMES calf raises, multiple varieties


Thu - arms/abs/calves (this day varies the most...but a general idea)
1. rope tricep pushdown
2. CGBP
3. hammer or supinated DB curl
4. cross-body hammer curl superset with reverse-grip EZ bar curl
5. HSPL preacher machine (one arm at a time) superset with HSPL tricep pushdown machine
6. abs
7. calves


Fri - chest/delts/tris
similar to Monday, but I'll skip the chest triset and shoulder press in favour of 1-2 tricep movements


Sat + Sun - back/bis and legs
usually I train legs with my sister on sunday, but sometimes we switch things up


This was from Sunday...it only shows two reps out of a 9x405 set unfortunately:

I'm honestly not sure why this picture turned out so horribly...I'm no expert but typically you can at least tell my gender =\ I'm around 240-242 here (jan14th):

 

[snowpatrol123]

Weight 240

Back on Sunday after squats, I got the worst charlie horse in history after leg pressing so I ended up doing some hamstrings with arms and abs

Monday was a shitshow at work so I just had an hour to train and decided to do two exercises each for chest, shoulders and back


Tue - hams/arms/abs

prone hamstring curl - one legged as usual, about 5 sets

BB SLDL - four sets, pyramiding weight up

calf machine "nordics" - two sets of 12

rope tricep pushdown - five sets, pyramiding weight and 20/16/12/10/8 reps respectively

unsupported hanging leg raise - four sets of 15
+++
superset rope crunch - 15 reps after each set of hanging leg raises

CGBP - went heavy on this but failed earlier than usual (4 reps) on my heavy/3 plate set

supinated DB curl - four sets, pyramiding weight up

HSPL preacher curl machine - three sets, pyramiding weight as well


Wed - back

wide/neutral grip pulldown - four sets, one moderate and three heavy

one-arm DB row - four sets all working, 10/10/10/8 reps

HSPL chest-supported horizontal row - three sets, went super heavy on these

narrow grip pulldown - three sets, pyramiding weight up
+++
superset rope straight-arm pulldown - 8-10 reps after each set of pulldowns


Covered up my legs because they suck but managed to take a slightly better (?) selfie:

 

[Milton]

Looking great there! thanks for keeping us posted!

 

[snowpatrol123]

Weight 242

Second day in a row that I've forgotten my intraWO drink, it's fine for the first 45, even 60 mins but to the 75 or 90 I need for a longer workout is tough without those intra carbs

I suppose if I organized my nutrition around not having them it'd be alright but when you're banking on them and they aren't there it's tough

So I ended up skipping shoulders (other than rear delts) and will do them with arms on the weekend


Thu - chest/abs/calves

rear delt/reverse pec dec - four sets of 20/16/12/8 reps, increasing weight
+++
superset over-and-backs with band - my shoulders have been bothering me, I try not to complain but it's chronic at this point so I'm instituting some of the things that helped me in the past

incline DB press-flye - four sets, pyramiding weight

HSPL decline press - four sets also, all the way up to five plates per side for a clean six and dirty additional two reps
+++
superset seated 'donkey' calf/toe-raise machine - three sets of 16 reps, full stack with more weight pinned on

chest tri-set - three sets of 12/10/8 reps per exercise
1. HSPL wide-press/flye machine
2. regular (chest) pec dec
3. wide grip pushup

unsupported hanging leg raise - three sets of 15
+++
superset rope crunch - 15 reps after each set of leg raises


cardio - it's been nice so we've re-instituted the afternoon tim hortons walks, fresh air and about 20-25mins of pretty light steady state

 

[snowpatrol123]

Weight 244

Weight fluctuated a bit between friday and sunday but I'm still shooting for at least 250 before the end of the offseason, in some kind of decent shape

Friday afternoon I finished work relatively early but couldn't find anyone to train with so I hit legs by myself

Had dinner with Mrs.SP then went home and struggled to sleep as usual


Fri - legs/calves

prone hamstring curl - probably about three warmup-ish sets, then four heavy working sets in the 6-8 rep range for the last two

cybex (steep-incline) hack squat - didn't really want to BB squat so I did these and promptly wished I'd just BB squatted...this machine will make you feel weak af due to the incline
15 x 1 plate per side (warmup)
8 x 2 plates per side (still easy, didn't want to waste energy though)
8 x 3 plates (already getting heavy)
8 x 4 plates (felt like almost my max at those reps)
5+1 x 5 plates (yep that was my max ^...got a spot for the last set and he helped on my sixth and final rep)

one-legged leg press - three sets per leg, 12/10/8 reps adding plates each time

two-legged leg press - three sets of 8, adding plates until I maxed out the machine

BB SLDL - three sets of 8/10/12 reps with the same weight but trying to get a few more reps on each set

seated/donkey-calf raise machine - four sets of 16 with extra weight pinned onto the machine


//////////////////////////


Weight 242

Mid-afternoon training session with my usual training partner, then had coffee and played video games with a friend until too late


Sat - arms/abs/calves

seated/donkey-calf raise machine - four sets of 16 with extra weight pinned onto the machine

rope tricep pushdown - four sets of 20/15/12/10 reps approximately

standing DB curl - supinated, both DBs at the same time...similar rep scheme to get warmed up

CGBP - three sets, pyramiding weight up
+++
superset EZ-bar 21's - used increasingly heavy BBs which had my arms burning by the second, let alone third set

rope tricep pushdown + overhead rope extension - back to the rope, this time 8 reps of pushdowns followed by 8 reps of overhead extensions where you stop 3/4 through the movement (not locking elbows)
+++
superset rope hammer curl - 8-10 reps of these, four sets of the above as well as these

HSPL preacher curl machine - did these two armed for the first time in memory, about 8-10 reps each set for three sets
+++
HSPL tricep pushdown machine - same reps/sets as the preacher curls

plate-loaded V-sit machine - four sets for abs


//////////////////////////


Weight 243

Sunday was a dual-gym session, morning shoulder+abs workout with my usual training partner then afternoon back workout with the friend I normally train legs with


Sun pt.1 - delts/abs

unsupported hanging leg raise - three (or four?) sets of 15 reps
+++
superset rope crunch - 15 reps after each set of leg raises

cybex(?) side-lateral machine - did 20-25 reps per set with light weight to warm up my shoulders as they've been really bothering me, three sets I believe
+++
superset over-and-backs - did 10 reps with a medium band after each set of machine side laterals

seated/donkey-calf raise machine - four sets of 16 with extra weight pinned onto the machine

side lateral DB raise - four sets with increasing weight but I kept the reps at 10 per set...really conscientious of form

rear delt/reverse pec dec - four sets, pyramiding weight up doing 20/16/12/8 reps per set

cybex shoulder press machine - three sets but I completely failed trying to get four plates up (which I've definitely done before) so I bailed and did a fourth (really third) set with 3 again for 10-12 reps

front DB raise - three sets with higher reps, 20/15/12 per arm approximately


Did some posing then went home to eat and nap before training back at good life with my other friend


Sun pt.2 - back

super-wide grip pulldown - I don't usually grip this wide but decided to do it for a change, four sets with increasing weight/decreasing reps
+++
superset straight-arm rope pulldown - 8 reps after each set of lat pulldowns

bent-over BB row - went moderately heavy on these (up to 3 plates) but kept form strict and only 8 reps per set

chest-supported underhand row - this thing is a little odd because the handles are on a long arm cantilevered off a pivot so the motion doesn't track straight but it's still alright...four or five sets, pyramiding weight

supinated grip one-handed pulldown - this is a meadows exercise, where you leave your unused hand extended to stretch the lat then turn and supinate the working arm/hand and really squeeze the lats


That was it for back...showered and went to my parents' house for a family/birthday dinner


//////////////////////////


Let me take a selfie:

Also thought this was pretty cool (hint...bottom right):

 

[snowpatrol123]

Weight 247

Weight kind of shot up a few pounds there which is good but I don't know why so I'm not sure it'll stick around

Hit chest with a friend, him and his girlfriend are training to do physique and figure at the provincial level this summer so he's pretty serious which is nice


Mon - international chest day

pec dec - three easy high-rep warmup sets

incline DB press - five sets, pyramiding weight up...10lbs short of my old heaviest for the same number of reps (8 x 130) but my shoulders were still sore...my excuse at least

HSPL flat chest press - four sets, adding weight then a triple dropset on the fourth set of 8+8+8 reps

tri-set - 3 rounds, adding weight and dropping reps on each approximately 12 reps for each exercise on the first set, then 10 and finally 7
1. HSPL flye-press machine
2. (chest-oriented) pec dec
3. wide-grip pushup


That was it, I went pretty heavy...mr.Physique still wanted to do more so he did some one-armed pec dec thing while I did a bit of posing then we hit the road

 

[snowpatrol123]

Weight 249

Started a few orals so I guess they must be responsible for the rapid weight gain, food has been pretty stable

My leg training partner bailed on our midday leg session so I ended up finishing work, going home for a nap then eventually hitting another gym for a later-evening leg session


Tue - legs/calves

prone hamstring curl - two warmup sets with two legs then four heavy working sets, one leg at a time

highbar ATG squat - frustrated that I'm not back to where I was, but they were easy until I hit four plates

15 x 135
12 x 225
10 x 315
7 x 405 (failed on the eighth rep)

reverse V-squat machine - four sets here too, 3 -> 4 -> 5 -> 6 plate per side, each set was 8 reps with hamstring focus

half-hack machine - this is the one that sits on your pelvis/hips rather than shoulders...did three heavy sets of 10
+++
superset calf raise - did these right on the hack machine, 12 reps each set

DB SLDL - two sets with moderately heavy DBs to finish off the hamstrings


That was it! The calf machine supported me (and my phone) by taking a video of my failed 4-plate squat set:

 

[Milton]

Weight 249

Started a few orals so I guess they must be responsible for the rapid weight gain, food has been pretty stable

My leg training partner bailed on our midday leg session so I ended up finishing work, going home for a nap then eventually hitting another gym for a later-evening leg session


Tue - legs/calves

prone hamstring curl - two warmup sets with two legs then four heavy working sets, one leg at a time

highbar ATG squat - frustrated that I'm not back to where I was, but they were easy until I hit four plates

15 x 135
12 x 225
10 x 315
7 x 405 (failed on the eighth rep)

reverse V-squat machine - four sets here too, 3 -> 4 -> 5 -> 6 plate per side, each set was 8 reps with hamstring focus

half-hack machine - this is the one that sits on your pelvis/hips rather than shoulders...did three heavy sets of 10
+++
superset calf raise - did these right on the hack machine, 12 reps each set

DB SLDL - two sets with moderately heavy DBs to finish off the hamstrings


That was it! The calf machine supported me (and my phone) by taking a video of my failed 4-plate squat set:

Still a great set though, looking great!

 

[snowpatrol123]

Weight 251

Because of the life stuff that's going on I really wasn't interested in celebrating my birthday, but some coworkers insisted that we go out for lunch

I picked sushi and that was good, but honestly I would've liked to just skip the day if I could have

After work my youngest brother and one of my younger sisters joined me for a relatively quick back workout at powerhouse


Wed - back

ultra-widegrip pulldown - four sets, pyramiding weight
+++
superset straight-arm rope pulldown - 8 reps after each set of pulldowns

HSPL chest-supported horizontal row - three heavy sets of 8-12 reps per arm (3/4/4.5 plates)

HSPL high row - gripping on the supports, did three sets of 10 reps with 2/2.5/3 plates
+++
superset cybex chest-supported row - used a similarly wide-neutral grip and did 8-10 reps with a hard flex/squeeze at full contraction after each set on the hammer machine

narrow-grip pulldown - three heavy sets of 10/8/6 reps, respectively

 

[Milton]

Weight 251

Because of the life stuff that's going on I really wasn't interested in celebrating my birthday, but some coworkers insisted that we go out for lunch

I picked sushi and that was good, but honestly I would've liked to just skip the day if I could have

After work my youngest brother and one of my younger sisters joined me for a relatively quick back workout at powerhouse


Wed - back

ultra-widegrip pulldown - four sets, pyramiding weight
+++
superset straight-arm rope pulldown - 8 reps after each set of pulldowns

HSPL chest-supported horizontal row - three heavy sets of 8-12 reps per arm (3/4/4.5 plates)

HSPL high row - gripping on the supports, did three sets of 10 reps with 2/2.5/3 plates
+++
superset cybex chest-supported row - used a similarly wide-neutral grip and did 8-10 reps with a hard flex/squeeze at full contraction after each set on the hammer machine

narrow-grip pulldown - three heavy sets of 10/8/6 reps, respectively

Happy Birthday bro!

 

[snowpatrol123]

Happy Birthday bro!

Thanks


Weight 251

Slow day at work, took a nap and went for a walk

Met my usual training partner at the gym, had coffee with a friend and saw a movie ("Split")

Was up wayyy too late then couldn't sleep anyways...really frustrating lately


Thu - arms/abs/calves

unsupported hanging leg raise - four sets of 15 reps
+++
superset rope crunch - 15 after each set of leg raises

hack squat toe press/calf raise - used this per dr. scott stevenson's recommendation, the machine is so much smoother than a standing calf raise...did four sets of 15 also

rope tricep pushdown - five sets, pyramiding weight up

supinated DB curl - four sets, also pyramiding weight

CGBP - four sets again, this time I went up on each of the first three sets (top set was 8x295) then finished with a higher rep set with only two plates a side

HSPL bicep curl - four sets, first set with one arm at a time then threw on more weight and did two arms at a time for 12/10/8 reps on the 2nd-4th sets
+++
superset HSPL tricep pushdown machine - four sets also, pyramiding weight up to three plates/side

rope hammer curl - two sets of 8, heavy
+++
superset rope pushdown + overhead tricep extension - 8 reps of each in quick succession


cardio - weather's been nice so the tim horton's walks are back, nothing crazy but it's a decent little "LISS" cardio session midday

 

[appleton111]

Thanks


Weight 251

Slow day at work, took a nap and went for a walk

Met my usual training partner at the gym, had coffee with a friend and saw a movie ("Split")

Was up wayyy too late then couldn't sleep anyways...really frustrating lately


Thu - arms/abs/calves

unsupported hanging leg raise - four sets of 15 reps
+++
superset rope crunch - 15 after each set of leg raises

hack squat toe press/calf raise - used this per dr. scott stevenson's recommendation, the machine is so much smoother than a standing calf raise...did four sets of 15 also

rope tricep pushdown - five sets, pyramiding weight up

supinated DB curl - four sets, also pyramiding weight

CGBP - four sets again, this time I went up on each of the first three sets (top set was 8x295) then finished with a higher rep set with only two plates a side

HSPL bicep curl - four sets, first set with one arm at a time then threw on more weight and did two arms at a time for 12/10/8 reps on the 2nd-4th sets
+++
superset HSPL tricep pushdown machine - four sets also, pyramiding weight up to three plates/side

rope hammer curl - two sets of 8, heavy
+++
superset rope pushdown + overhead tricep extension - 8 reps of each in quick succession


cardio - weather's been nice so the tim horton's walks are back, nothing crazy but it's a decent little "LISS" cardio session midday

Belated Happy bday to you too mate hope you had a few pints

 

[Gainjin260]

Met my usual training partner at the gym, had coffee with a friend and saw a movie ("Split")
y

Saw that last night. Pretty sure that "the beast" was just Dennis after 300mg of tren base.

 

[Primoballin]

Breaking the 250 barrier I see... nice

 

[snowpatrol123]

Weight 250

Longer-than-anticipated day at work so I ended up missing my training session with my leg workout partner and hit legs alone later instead

Met some friends for very-late sushi, we didn't get our bill until after midnight


Fri - legs/calves

prone hamstring curl - six sets, did both legs at the same time rather than one-legged...pyramided up til I failed at 7.5/8 reps on the final set with 70 extra pounds pinned onto the machine
+++
superset adductor machine - about four working sets after one warmup set, all 15 reps

cybex ("heavy") incline leg press - went really heavy here, again where 8 reps was pretty much failure on the final set...took quite a few sets to get there (probably 8 total, five or so "working")
+++
seated calf raise - I do these both for calves and to help release my lower back (erector spinae & quadratus lumbratum) as it gets really tight when I'm on orals...about five heavy sets of ~15 reps each

seated quad extension - three sets of 10
+++
superset sissy squat - bodyweight to failure after each set of extensions, about 8 reps per set

BB SLDL - three sets, 8 reps each time with 2, 2.5 and 3 plates a side respectively


Took a (kind-of-useless) video of the leg press loaded up before my last set in case I died:

 

[snowpatrol123]

Weight 253

Super busy and kind of emotional day but I did make it to the gym with my regular training partner for a concise chest workout

Went to bed without eating or showering because I was exhausted and super sick with this damn cold


Sat - chest/abs

incline DB press - one warmup and four working sets, managed to put the 130lbs DBs for a clean 12 reps, far from a weight PR but I've never hit that many reps with relatively heavy weight

HSPL press-flye machine - three sets of 8-12 reps
+++
superset pec dec - 8-12 reps after each set on the hammer machine

chest dips - four sets, slow and controlled with just bodyweight to failure on each set

high cable-flye - three sets of 12

HSPL v-sit ab machine - four sets of 25

 

[snowpatrol123]

Weight 252

Met one of my sisters at goodlife for a leg workout before family dinner


Sun - legs (workout #1)

prone hamstring curl - five sets, pyramiding weight up
+++
superset adductor machine - four sets of 15

BB front squat - four sets of 8-10 reps, didn't go particularly heavy since it'd only been less than 48 hours since I trained legs

smith split-squat - three sets of 12 reps per leg

seated leg extension - four sets, pyramiding weight up
+++
seated hamstring curl - four sets also

walking lunges - two sets of bodyweight to failure


Sister took a video of one my 2.5plates/side front squat:

 

[snowpatrol123]

Weight Approximately 252 (didn't re-weigh..)

I'd forgotten that I told another friend of mine, a fellow competitor who's beat me by one placing two shows in a row that I'd train with him Sunday as well

So AFTER family dinner I headed to powerhouse and met him for a pretty heavy back workout...he's a heavy/borderline-super heavyweight, big boy for sure


Sun - back (workout#2)

wide-grip pulldown - using a super-wide MAG bar, pyramided weight up for about 6 working sets

medium-width neutral-grip pulldown - same idea, about 4-5 sets here though

narrow/neutral-grip pulldown - 4-5 sets here, also

HSPL chest-supported row - three heavy sets, one arm at a time...heaviest set was 5 plates for 8 reps per arm

seated/low-cable row - did these one arm at a time, 8 reps per arm with a hard flex/squeeze on each rep
+++
superset nautilus pullover machine - 3 sets, pyramiding up to four plates for 8 reps


Did a bit of posing and took some progress pics for my friend but was feeling pretty bloatey from the homemade birthday pizza and banana loaf so I forewent my own

 

[snowpatrol123]

Weight 254

Met a friend at powerhouse after work for a shoulder workout, was going to do arms too but we got carried away with shoulders and ran out of time


Mon - delts/abs

side lateral DB raise - four sets, pyramiding weight....20/15/12/10 reps respectively
+++
superset front DB raise - same number of reps with half the weight after each set of side laterals

rear delt/reverse pec dec - four sets, same rep scheme

cybex shoulder press - three sets, 3/3.5/4 plates per side for 12/8/6 reps, respectively

upright row - using a cambered bar on a low cable, three sets of 12-15 reps
+++
superset rope facepull - same reps after each set of upright rows

unsupported hanging leg raise - three sets of 15
+++
rope crunch - 15 reps after each set of leg raises