The Bro-ctober workout thread; SUPAHSET!
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i take it back. what i did was hip thrusters. 5x5@120.
ima add these to my workouts in 5x5 format at whatever my deadlift weight is, as either a way to wake up my glutes before squats, or an accessory or whatever. i just want to see what happens.0 -
Today:
Squat 5x5 105lbs
OHP 5x5 55lbs
DL 3x2 125lbs
Everything felt okay, but heavy. I've gotten to the point where I need a 90 second rest this past week, before I was counting the seconds and totally ready to keep churning the reps out. I'm still not totally sure if I'm doing high or low bar squats0 -
Today before work: (managed to get in the rack for the first time!!)
Squat 5x5 32.5kg - found this quite easy, so looking forward to increasing again next time.
OHP 5x5 22.5kg - last set was difficult, and I really had to dig deep to lift the last rep. Definitely going to be my achilles heel, so to speak.
DL 2x5 45kg I know I should only have done one set, but felt comfortable therefore wanted to do another.
Then did some lat pull downs and seated rows (3 x 6 x 16.5kg), and split squats (3 x 8each side 20kg BB), some pressups and planks and I was done.
Walking up the stairs in my office when I arrived, however, was somewhat of a challenge. I may still be a beginner, but I can definitely feel that I am working and improving!
Oh, and I have been upping my calories a bit, and thinking more about what I am eating and when. I nipped on the scales at the gym (yes, I know I know) and have lost 0.8kg this week. I was over the moon, as I was quite expecting to have gained due to the change in regimes, so to see a loss is very smiley. Mind you. I still have 4kg of my honeymoon weight to lose that I gained in June....damn you Italian food, damn you!!0 -
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I'm still not totally sure if I'm doing high or low bar squats
With high bar squats, the bar sits on top of your traps alone. It's actually a bit uncomfortable if you have no traps to speak of... lol, and your form will be a lot more upright. Low bar will sit more towards the top of your shoulder blades, which will lead you to lean forward a good bit more.
Everyone has a bit of wiggle room as to which is which (I spent almost a full year doing a sort of in-between after I hurt my knee, because I wanted to do high bar but was afraid to rest the bar against that bump behind my neck. It took a while to fix that).
Honestly doesn't matter much as long as you don't allow the bar to pull you forward on the way back up (stay over the middle of your foot). Unless you're like me and the wider stance on low bar puts too much shear on your damaged meniscus.
Oh hey guys! I'm having a rest day today *beaming smile*
@canadianlbs I think you might be overdoing this warming up thing just a tad. I'm tired just reading about your volume. Perhaps if you can't seem to get yourself moving quite right without that many reps, you should consider a bodyweight warm-up routine that at least won't tax you as much? Just a thought?0 -
Today:
Squats: 2x5x45, 1x3x75, 5x5x110
Bench: 2x5x45, 5x5x70
Rows: 5x5x70
I've been skipping my "organized" cardio this week, but I've been staying in motion with household things (so I figure that's good enough). We got new bedroom furniture so the bedroom had to be torn apart and put back together - that takes enough effort that I count it as a workout. I didn't skip the lifting though because you can't really fudge SL - you just have to do it. So yay to that
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@canadianlbs I think you might be overdoing this warming up thing just a tad. I'm tired just reading about your volume. i think it would look like a pretty ordinary warmup progression if i posted my rep-counts . . . and left out the front squats, i guess. but, meh. the front squats are accessories. so i'm just mixing them in with the regular stuff because i find them so helpful for getting me back on my heels and kicking my core into gear.
some days a lift goes all to hell and i just flail around looking for any weight i can actually do 5x5 at. and then i usually turn dumb and stubborn when i do find such a weight, and i do extra just to spank the lift for giving me so much grief. current case in point: the damn ohp.
but underneath all of that i'm just using the trainer's warmup template, which i like. i'm down with the volume because i'm still working to ingrain changes to my movement patterns. if everything's normal, it goes:
barx5
then 5, 3, 2 at jumps of ([work weight] - [bar])/3
i guess the nice thought is once i get the form all dialled in and locked and i can go to just a few warmup sets, i'll free up all kinds of energy to put into my working set. but i'm not in a hurry for that; i'm back in noob mode mentally and kind of enjoying all this.
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Good day, today! Not posting warm-up weights, but I do 'em.
10 min on the ergometer waiting for the squat rack.
Squat 140 lbs 5x5. Same as Tues, but I felt a little wobbly on it at first so stayed there instead of my scheduled 145.
OHP 65 lbs 5x5. Yay! No pain in my shoulder (don't know what I did to cause that last week) and really concentrated on full body effort and using those back muscles instead of concentrating on my arms...as in asking myself if I can lift the damn bar over my head?! They weren't all pretty, but they were better than the last time I was at that weight.
Dead lift 185 lbs 1x5. Easy, but I'm working my way back up to 205 - and my grip strength is improving. Switched to an overhand/underhand grip after 2 reps when I used to have to switch after warm-up.
I chatted with one of the newer trainers. He gave me some pointers that I'll try to use for squat (how I'm holding the bar). His comments about paying attention to my back muscles on OHP paid off, today. He asked about my goals and looked at me like I was crazy when I told him my calorie allotment for the day. Dude, I lift to maintain muscle until I reach my goal weight! Serious strength will come after that, when I can EAT. He referred to my weight loss goal as "leaning out". Made me laugh, nice way to phrase trying to lose fat
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So ...
Bench - 5x5 using 2 12kg dumbbells and an incline bench.
Squats - 5x5 at 61kg. My wee legs were trembling a bit...
Then bent over rows - 5x5 at 45kg - bit too easy
Oh, and I did two sets of four pull ups with no assistance and felt great - and impressed by the sight of my own biceps in the mirror :-) I couldn't do more than four, though!0 -
Rest day today. I went swimming for 45 minutes. Then sit in the hot tub almost as long! That felt so good! Kettle bell swings for 20 minutes still using a 10 pound one arm swing until I can get into a town that I can purchase one at. Is there anybody out there that has experience with swinging kettle bells? I'm just wondering what size I should go to next.0
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I've done a fair bit of kettlebell work in the past. I usually swing a 12kg but to be honest that's being a bit lazy and I should go for 16kg! As you're pretty strong then I'd say to look for at least the equivalent of that in lbs.
Having said that... maybe better to go up gradually - the kb swing is pretty different to any barbell work?0 -
fanncy0626 wrote: »Rest day today. I went swimming for 45 minutes. Then sit in the hot tub almost as long! That felt so good! Kettle bell swings for 20 minutes still using a 10 pound one arm swing until I can get into a town that I can purchase one at. Is there anybody out there that has experience with swinging kettle bells? I'm just wondering what size I should go to next.
If you can go for an adjustable one that's probably your best bet, as there is TONS of stuff you can do with a KB (or 2) but they don't all require the same weight. I can swing the 50lbs KB like it's just a big lump of iron as opposed to an 8-ton block. However, doing snatches with that much weight ain't happening any time soon, y'know?
Edit: altho, now that I think fo it, I'm not sure I would even want to try to snatch or clean the adjustable ones due to how their plates stack... So I guess going for 20lbs is the next logical step?0 -
Struggling at the moment - not with lifting or eating, just with life in general. Meh.
Lifted last night, no accessories, just the biggies
Squat 5x5x130lbs
OHP 5,5,4,4,4 x 85lbs
Deadlift 1x5x210lbs - was supposed to be 240lbs but it just felt so heavy that I couldn't even break it. so deloaded and did 210 to at least feel like I accomplished something!0 -
I've done a fair bit of kettlebell work in the past. I usually swing a 12kg but to be honest that's being a bit lazy and I should go for 16kg! As you're pretty strong then I'd say to look for at least the equivalent of that in lbs.
Having said that... maybe better to go up gradually - the kb swing is pretty different to any barbell work?
Do you swing that single arm or double?
Krokador- I didn't know that there were adjustable ones. There isn't a gym or sports store by me I'll have to go to the cities to look. I am just doing the basic swing and get ups for now on rest days. I have never seen one in person only on video. I am using a 10 lb plate single arm, to swing until I get to town.
Thanks!0 -
Deadlift day! Running today on bad sleep and feeling burnt out. My diet has been questionable too - so far okay on calories but it's mostly from ice cream and crackers.
Deadlift 3x8 155lbs - I'm doing very well with these finally and I'm seeing a lot of progress on my form. I banged these out easier than last week, seems like a trend this week! I was worried the weight jumps would be brutal but so far so good, though I'll know tomorrow for OHP day.
Front Squats 3x10 55lbs
Planks0 -
Thanks for the explanation! I must be doing high bar then, does the bar not rest on anything for low bar then? When I've tried lower I feel like I have to support the weight with my arms.With high bar squats, the bar sits on top of your traps alone. It's actually a bit uncomfortable if you have no traps to speak of... lol, and your form will be a lot more upright. Low bar will sit more towards the top of your shoulder blades, which will lead you to lean forward a good bit more.
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Squats #115 3x5
Seated OHP (our ceiling is low) 65# 3-4-3-3
DB row 45# 3x6
Chin-ups BW 5-4-3
Ham curls on TRX 3x10
Lots of warm up and activation stuff to start - glute bridges, donkey kicks, one legged DL at BW, banded hip abductions, lat pulls, rows with a band, wall Angels...0 -
Yesterday...
Squats - 55kg, 5x5
Bench- 27.5 kg, 5x5
Rows - 40kg, 5x5
Really good night. I don't know if it was the huge meal I had last night, the leftover rage I had from buddy telling me to slim down with cardio or what... but I was literally throwing the weights up like nothing.
Today...
Bikram Yoga!0 -
fanncy0626 wrote: »
Do you swing that single arm or double?
Usually double. I can do single comfortably with a 12kg, don't know about 16.
I need an 8kg for an OHP or snatch, though! And for a turkish get up, though it's been a while since I tried one of those. Hmmm, maybe I'll give it a shot at the weekend! I have an 8kg and 12kg at home.
(I'm especially fond of the 12, because that's how much weight I've lost in the past year - it's good to pick it up and think, wow!)
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Thanks for the explanation! I must be doing high bar then, does the bar not rest on anything for low bar then? When I've tried lower I feel like I have to support the weight with my arms.
I just started with low bar a few weeks ago, shown by a trainer, and it does seem at first like it's not resting on anything. It's sort of - I think of it as where my wings would be, if I had some
So your arms do hold it in place against your back but your back does somehow support it. I think it'll be easier as my back muscles grow, too.
My biggest problem with the low bar is that it hurts my left arm a bit - it's quite an extension to get to that position. But I can definitely lift more than with a high bar.
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Long day. Our freight was supposed to get there at a ridiculous early hour in the morning, very unusual, but instead it didn't get there until almost 3pm, so we didn't get as much of it done as usual. Add one coworker out sick, manager sick but came in as she was out the last two days, and it was just a struggle of a night. Still have so much to do before vacation too, so sleep will be less. Oh well. Tonight was day 2 of the max testing so I decided to go for squats.
Squat max test
After warm ups, I did 175, 185, 190 and 195 for 1 rep. The 195 was rough and slow but made it up so I tried 200 and all I did was go down. lol It was the first time I've not pushed up from a squat, which made it interesting. Happy with 195 and think I'll reach the 1.5 x bodyweight maybe in early 2016.
leg press 3x10 @ 200 - nothing unusual
rdl 3x5 @ 135 - might look up stiff legged deadlift as well cause I'm not sure on the difference to be honest
sumo deadlift 3x5 @ 155 - okay though still find it awkward, last set was a little better though
hip thrust 3x10 @ 70 - hadn't done them in a long while, don't like using the fixed bars but eh
Now to finish things up and get some sleep. Going back to gym in like 8 hours for upper body and to maybe get a body fat tested with calipers just to get an idea since I've been going to the gym for a year and want to check it out before vacation/break. Plus I need to maybe stop at a couple of store as I still need shoes and I work up close shifts all weekend.0
