weight: 150
5’ elliptical
jav specific stretches
self-massage
stretch checks
yoga (10 positions)
15’ ice (r. shoulder)
weight: 149
notes:
-appetite post-workout not as large as typical. no surprise though, because I didn’t lift. would like to see a higher weight than morning before going to bed since that usually includes food in my stomach, which I will no retain all the mass from once its out of my systen
-sore by evening from push-ups and pull-ups, man I really get a lot of doms from higher reps
notes:
-rib muscles and lower lat doms
-noticing that it appears that most of my upperbody growth seems to have occurred along my upper back/back of shoulders. primarily notice lower body growth in glutes and middle/lower back, but I am curious about the fact that my larger muscles up top dont appear to have seen much growth. I suppose it has to do with the fact that I struggle to get a large enough stimulus to see hypertrophy in higher rep ranges because I simply cant get enough weight on the bar. didn’t really notice lower body growth until I started to break 250 in the squat, maybe once I get better fitness or end up in a lower rep range and can start getting about 185 on the bar for bench and 135 for lat pull-downs, I’ll see some growth.
-I will be very curious in the up coming weeks to see if I experience more hypertrophy with 8,6,4, for reps than a more typical bodybuilding 10,8,6 area. my small muscles seem to respond well to higher reps because the percent of my max is much closer for them even in higher reps, if I’m looking at a 200+ max bench and a near 400 lb squat, however, it makes a lot of sense to me that the muscles aren’t growing as much, even if I’m putting as much as I can on for the rep range. if I see consistent growth with more around 5 reps, I suppose that’s even better because more relevant to increasing my absolute strength and cns power for explosive events (javelin, maybe sprinting)
that’s interesting. for what reasons do you think that occurred? technique really should be nearly identical, so the main difference I can see how the positioning affects recruitment of stabilizing muscles. not sure how that would make a very large hypertrophy difference, however, if the weight moved is approx. the same
weight: 149
5 min bike
thrower’s warm-up
oly lifts checks
3x5 pc@135
3x5 squat@225
1x10:
-hamstrings curl (single-leg negatives, alt)
-calf raise
1x20:
-x-band, each
-ankle dorsi-flexion
self-massage
stretching (lower)
15 min ice (right shoulder)
weight: 151
notes:
-felt very tired going into the workout today, but to my surprise, watched the weights go up and down with total ease. perhaps I went in more relaxed even if I felt I couldn’t put forth as much total effort. power clean form is really starting o look solid, I hope it holds for heavier weight
Similarly, doing pull-downs took me forever to increase strength. Doing weighted neutral grip chin-ups (palms facing each other) in conjunction with less-weighted wide grip pull-ups made me MUCH stronger. As soon as I started adding significant weight to the chins, my strength went way up. Since I train for strength/power while trying to minimize mass/size gain, from my anecdotal evidence I’m not sure if using the same exercises but only changing the reps/rests to target mass would have the same positive impact.
though according to the progressive overload idea, one would probably see more weight gain from an exercise that hits nearly the same muscles but adds strength versus one that the stimulus cannot be increased nearly as fast/consistently. I think I will definitely consider swapping out the lat-pull downs for pull-ups/weighted pull-ups in my next cycle. not looking forward to wearing a weight belt with a platye hanging, but if I see better results, then obviously I’d do it
Fyi,
I do personal training for a living.
Iv’e never taught anybody to do a chin up via pull downs, only via a chin up bar.
If you watch somebodies back/shoulders/arms during both pull downs n chins, youll notice a huge difference.
Theyll need either a skimpy singlet or no shirt though…
I was competing for a short time with a mate, 1st to 50 chins non stop. He ended up pulling out… I got to 26 non stop, full chins.
My lats were rubbing on my arms!
I do agree as far as I see major muscle recruitment differences in people, but it tends to be because their form on lat pull-downs is crap! I work very hard to try and lift with good technique, I think the lightness of some of my numbers prove that (90 lbs for a lat pull-down is nothing if I was trying to show off. but with only settling for the best form possible, last few reps can be quite difficult)
I did lat pull-downs today, and I did realize that it does feel like I use far fewer stabilizing muscles than in a pull-up. perhaps the machine set-up is doing this, like the leg press versus squats and machine bench versus barbell bench differences. I definitely will be switching to (weighted) pull-ups for my next cycle
and I generally work out shirtless at school. and even at my gym back home (now) I tend to lift in either a pinny or a compression tanktop. Definitely gets me some snide looks, but I think it is definitely worth being able to see muscles contractions that much clearer to notice imbalances and to make sure form is good. my ego is definitely in check because the weights I put up are nothing compared to what some kids at my school put up (especially in the thrower’s group I’m now in!), but I guess people must think I’m trying to show off or something, which is funny considering my miniscule stature, often unimpressive weight sessions and constant battle to gain weight
good to know I can get advice from a personal trainer, too!
notes:
-feeling fresh after taking the week easy! hopefully the next couple easy days add to this and I can have a big week with 8 reps for my major lifts. light lifts felt very easy and explosive
notes:
-not great sleep the last few nights. feeling a little light-headed. probably will just do lower supplementary lifts in the pm and will move pc and squat to saturday
notes:
-exercise actually made me feel a lot better, so i think my session could’ve been much stronger, but it was still nice to fit it in today and to feel better
-pc form really getting there. 185 looked pretty smooth even at the fifth rep. first rep flew up
-nice to not have to use any of the smaller weights to warm-up now. i can throw on 45’s and just worry about the change now, haha
-not surprised at weight loss, actually happy with how little it was. had trouble eating most of the day, and definitely didnt eat much on sunday or saturday, really, either. probably a bit dehydrated, too
-tons of pop in my vert. it is noticibly higher than in the fall, when i measured 35" at sprinter testing. if I can break 40.5", i could be looking at a school record. with the concentration on half-squatting i have now, and with my treatment making a clear difference, i see no reason that i couldn’t challenge it (which would be especially funny if i never exit mediocrity yet end up on the weight room records wall, haha. then again, Seibald, a lax player, holds the 40 yard dash record, so weird stuff definitely gets up there). it’d be cool if i could dunk while exiting college, too. i know Trindon Holliday could throw down ad he was a bit shorter than me and had a 42" vert at the combine i believe. i’d love to step into one of my fraternity’s intramural basketball games just to try and throw down, a 5’7" kid dunking would be a sight
( -exercise actually made me feel a lot better, so i think my session could’ve been much stronger, )
Interesting comment TB2010,
I have told people that almost 100 percent of the time exercise makes me feel better not worse.
Could your session have been stronger?
Well, maybe the session was good enough for that day and sometimes letting things happen the way they will is better than having intentions to do more or different and then running into a problem.
Sounds to me that things are really going quite well for you and you are in the " flow " of things going your way?
hi angela! that’s cool to here that exercise almost always makes u feel better to. I remembering hearing that exercising while sick just delays one’s recovery from illness and one cant see gains anyways because the lack of an anabolism as one fights off the bug, but I seem to get better faster if I do exercise.
And as for “flow”, things have been going fantastic so far. I think I’ve learned a lot since starting to make my own workout plans when i was 16, so its awesome when it appears that training startegies I implement, that maybe in general wouldn’t be a usual recommendation, but are right for me) work (saw the mopst weight gain in my unload week, even though it seemed pretty early to already have one) and it’s even cooler when something totally unexpected goes good (or bad I suppose, still a learning experience).
I’ll be super excited to get back on the team, especially if things continue going well. I think my coach will be psyched, as the only reason I’m on the roster is that a couple attributes I had look like potential for high power output, so when I go back, it’s the season to show him that he was right! Still a lot of time until then though, so I just have to be patient and keep my eye on my goal.
Ironically, after doing barely anything speedwork related and concentrating on javelin, I am almost certain that I am running significantly faster than I was in the Fall. I wonder whether this has to do with work capacity, a need further general development, rebound results from past overtraining, flexibility increases or (probably) some combination of those
notes:
-seem to be catching a cold will take my zinc supplements and sleep a little extra. if I take care of it right when I notice it, I tend to recover quick from colds
-some minor lower doms, but right where I’d want it (upper hammy, lower glutes)
-felt pretty groggy in the morning still, but much better than yesterday. appetite still down, but I think this is directly related to my tiredness, so I know I have to get better rest if I want to be hungry
-too busy at work today to fit in the usual core. I’ll just do it at the end of my lift like I used to do
notes:
-feeling pretty crappy from my cold, but i usually feel like this right before its over, so that’s a good sign
-good to see weight back in the 150s
-will do core tomorrow morning, and depletion push ups before stretching in the afternoon
notes:
-really felt the increase in energy from exercise today. haven’t hit the 8+ hours of sleep I aim for the last couple nights, but I’ve realized if I get more around 7-7.5, I don’t feel more tired during the day and tend to have fewer nighttime awakenings, remember dreams less vivdily, etc. I’m just nervous to get less than the recommended amount of sleep as far as sickness and athletic recovery go, but i suppose sleep quality is probably more important than quantity for both cases. I’ll try to get near 9 for the next couple nights and then 8, and then i’ll try a week of looking more at 7.25 hours per night. If I feel more sore or tired, then I’ll boost back up to at least 8
-upperbody soreness not noticible, but lower doms still hanging around
will take my zinc supplements and sleep a little extra. if I take care of it right when I notice it, I tend to recover quick from colds