M11 W2 Extra Workout

Summer 2009 Training
Mesocycle 11 - Week 2
Extra Workout

Beginning Thoughts:

Good day in the Indian Markets today. I wasn't going to workout today but my training partner Kartik dragged me to the gym...

Workout:

Mobility Drills:
Warrior Lunge Stretch
Seated 90/90 Stretch
Bird Dog
X-Band Walk
Rocking Ankle Mobilization
Scapular Push-up
Upper Trap Stretch
High Knee Walk
Reverse Lunges with a Posterolateral Reach
Walking Spiderman

Hanging Air Kicks:
8 + 6 + 8 + 8 + 7 + 11 + 12 reps
I have never been able to do these in the past. I'm finally able to do them with wishy-washy form. I'll improve with time. This is the first time I'm doing them. My unhealthy and weak shoulders were hurting a bit after my final set. Damn..this is a hard exercise!

Braced Dumbbell Squats:
6 kgs x 8 reps x 2 sets
The most useless exercise known to mankind...

Decline Torso Rotations:
5 kgs x 12 reps x 3 sets

Straight Arm Pulldowns:
20 kgs x 12 reps x 3 sets

Banded Shrugs:
Blue x 10 reps x 5 sets

Videos:

My training partner Kartik hit a 165 lbs Military Press weighing in at 150 lbs. Plus, I got 3 sets of my Hanging Air Kicks...and one crazy ab exercise done by Kartik.

Overall Impression:

Diet has been awesome this whole week. I'm very proud of myself. I was hesitant to go to the gym today because it's not my workout day but I think it was very productive.

M11 W2 Upper Body Day

Summer 2009 Training
Mesocycle 11 - Week 2
Upper Body Day

Beginning Thoughts:

I finished Harlan Coben's "No Second Chance". Pretty good. I liked it.

Workout:

Close Grip Bench Press:
185 lbs x 2 reps
205 lbs x 2 reps
205 lbs x 2 reps
215 lbs x 1 rep
225 lbs x FAIL
205 lbs x 2 reps
225 lbs x FAIL
215 lbs x 1 rep
My body is strange. So are my tiny wrists. Tiny wrists make it hard to do this ****.

Chest Supported Rows:
135 lbs x 5 reps
135 lbs x 5 reps
180 lbs x 4 reps
180 lbs x 2 reps
135 lbs x 6 reps
135 lbs x 6 reps
I love this exercise. At the same time though: it is hard to do because I need to flex my core and do everything in one breath.

Unilateral Standing Shoulder Press:
26 kgs x 5 reps
30 kgs x 2 reps
30 kgs x 3 reps
30 kgs x 3 reps
Something strange happened here. On the first set with 30 kgs, I almost blacked out. I have never experienced this before. I saw stars everywhere and I had to put the dumbbell down after my two reps and close my eyes and try not to fall over. Sudden weakness. ****ing weird. I had some water and then everything was normal. I wonder if it could have been my pre workout meal.

High Cable Rows with Wide Bar:
70 kgs x 8 reps
90 kgs x 5 reps
80 kgs x 6 reps
80 kgs x 6 reps
80 kgs x 6 reps

Dumbbell Front Raises:
8 kgs x 10 reps x 4 sets
These were alternated with High Cable Rows.

Banded Shrugs:
Blue x 12 reps x 4 sets

Decline Dumbbell Punches:
10 kgs x 12 reps x 4 sets

Videos:

Too much rush today. Next week I am gonna try to get some bench clips.

Overall Impression:

My diet has been very low calorie for the last week or so. It took it's effect on me today. I was damn tired and worn out before I even hit the gym.

M11 W2 Deadlift Day

Summer 2009 Training
Mesocycle 11 - Week 2
Deadlift Day

Beginning Thoughts:

Feeling very lethargic today. Good news is that my diet has been awesome for the last 3 days.

Workout:

Deadlift Doubles:
385 lbs x 2 reps
415 lbs x 1 rep
385 lbs x 2 rep x 7 sets
Total # of doubles with 385 = 8
This was really hard. The final set with 385 destroyed me.

Rope Pull-ups:
BW x 5 reps x 3 sets

Wrist Roller:
20 lbs x 2 trips x 3 sets

Cable Wood Chops:
15 kgs x 12 reps x 3 sets

Standing Cable Crunches:
40 kgs x 10 reps x 3 sets

Videos:

Deadlifts:

Overall Impression:

I've been reading some amazing thrillers. I got done with John Connolly's "Every Dead Thing" and "The Killing Kind". I also got done with Harlan Coben's "Darkest Fear" and "The Final Detail". I am currently reading another novel by Harlan Coben called "No Second Chance". Overall this summer I've managed to read 13 such types of novels. Pretty decent. I have no idea what this has to do with the overall impression of my workout though. Sorry to derail.

Overall Impression: Decent workout. Next week is going to be the hardest hurdle to cross though.

I hope everyone's having a good week. Thanks for stopping by and reading!

M11 W1 Conditioning Day

Summer 2009 Training
Mesocycle 11 - Week 1
Conditioning Day

Beginning Thoughts:

I was excited to do this workout. I decided to do 2 different Circuits today. One for Upper body and one for Lower body.

Workout:

Lower Body Circuit done for 3 rounds:
Pistol Squats = 3 reps
Swiss Ball Jackknife Pikes = 10 reps
Supine Glute Ham Raises = 10 reps
Ab Roller = 10 reps
Banded Pullthroughs = 12 reps
This beat me to death. Those Pistol Squats were hard as hell.

Upper Body Circuit done for 3 rounds:
Parallel Bar Dips = 8 reps
Pull-ups = 7 reps
Push-ups = 10 reps
Inverted Rows = 10 reps
Banded Shrugs = 12 reps

Videos:

One round from each circuit plus yesterday's 7 rep Pistol Squat set plus Kanishk's OH Squat workout:

Overall Impression:

I did Pistol Squats and Deadlifts just yesterday. Thats why they felt a little hard today.

Kanishk was having a hard time doing OH Squats. He is not able to lock out his elbows and retract his shoulder blades properly. I should've asked him to reduce the weight but I thought perhaps reducing the number of reps to singles would serve him better. He was fine during all of his warm-ups. But as soon as his working sets came in, things began to crumble.

I hope everyone's having a good weekend. Tomorrow is Monday. I can't believe it!!!

Cheers and thanks for reading as always!

M11 W1 Pistol Squat Day

Summer 2009 Training
Mesocycle 11 - Week 1
Pistol Squat Day

Beginning Thoughts:

Two days of peace and quiet. I was so not in the mood to hit the gym today.

Workout:

Pistol Squats:
7 + 5 + 5 + 3 = 20 reps
I got vids of the 7 and 3 rep sets. But the gym was so damn crowded I couldn't get anything else. So if anyone wants to particularly see these two, I'll upload them. Otherwise they'll be deleted/overwritten tomorrow. The 7 reps is a PR for me. I'm very proud of that set.

Pull-ups:
BW x 5 reps
BW + 10 lbs x 3 reps
BW + 20 lbs x 3 reps
BW + 40 lbs x 3 reps
BW + 40 lbs x 2 reps
BW + 40 lbs x 2 reps
BW + 40 lbs x 2 reps
BW + 30 lbs x 3 reps
BW + 20 lbs x 4 reps
BW + 10 lbs x 3 reps
Total Reps = 30
Those sets with 40 lbs were killer. I actually did 3 reps on all the sets in which i've reported 2 but I did not count the 3rd rep because of all the kicking. But because I kicked so much, I made sure to do a looooooong negative on those.

Dumbbell Front Raises:
6 kgs x 10 reps x 3 sets

Head Supported Rows:
20 kgs x 10 reps x 3 sets

Tricep Dumbbell Pullovers:
22 kgs x 10 reps x 3 sets

Pallof Press:
15 kgs x 12 reps x 3 sets

Videos:

Like I said above. The gym was super crowded today. I got the first and last set of Pistol Squats. If anyone wants to see the vid, I'll upload it. Otherwise, it will get deleted/overwritten with tomorrow's workout.

Overall Impression:

Diet has been kinda decent for the last 3-4 days. Let's hope it stays that way....

M11 W1 Upper Body Day

Summer 2009 Training
Mesocycle 11 - Week 1
Upper Body Day

Beginning Thoughts:

My sleep schedule has been badly messed up...

Workout:

Close Grip Bench Press:
185 lbs x 1 rep
205 lbs x 1 rep
225 lbs x 1 rep
205 lbs x 1 rep
215 lbs x 1 rep
215 lbs x 1 rep
Decent. For GUS: I am really proud of myself for this. I used pure technique. The only time I had to use brute strength was for 225 and that was because the weight shifted in my hand. Otherwise, I was able to pinch my shoulder blades together and do these with real ease. 215 felt awesome. I was thinking about this the other day and I realized that I have been investing myself too heavily into just Deadlifting. It's like the end all and be all of heavy weights that I throw around. Looking at it like a stock portfolio, I am not diversifying my risk at all. So, I have made it my goal to get good at pressing exercises as well. I am going to try and take pleasure and anxiety and nervousness and every other emotion that comes with Deadlifting and try to take my pressing and pulling work just as seriously.

Chest Supported Rows:
135 lbs x 5 reps
160 lbs x 5 reps
180 lbs x 4 reps
135 lbs x 8 reps

Unilateral Standing Shoulder Press:
26 kgs x 5 reps x 4 sets
I super-setted these with Chest Supported Rows. I don't know if "super-set" is the right term because I didn't do these with zero rest between exercises. So I think the correct "technical" term is "alternating".

High Cable Rows:
70 kgs x 8 reps
80 kgs x 6 reps
90 kgs x 4 reps
80 kgs x 8 reps

Dumbbell Front Raises:
6 kgs x 10 reps x 4 sets
These were alternated with High Cable Rows with the V-Bar.

Zottman Curls:
12 kgs x 6 reps x 3 sets

Front Planks:
BW x 30 seconds x 3 sets

Videos:

I was very keen on taking my press videos but there were WAYY too many people there.

Overall Impression:

Good stuff. For GUS: I am happy with today's training.

M11 W1 Deadlift Day

Summer 2009 Training
Mesocycle 11 - Week 1
Deadlift Day

Beginning Thoughts:

The beginning of a new Mesocycle. I should be doing this workout tomorrow but due to expected rainfall and potential downpour, I was forced to go in today to get this done.

Workout:

Deadlift Singles:
385 lbs x 1 rep
415 lbs x 1 rep
385 lbs x 1 rep x 9 sets
Total # of singles with 385 = 10
Decent stuff. I am happy I was able to use my over/under with left over and right under on several sets with 385. I have never been able to do that. Just for the GUS crowd: this was relatively hard but I could've done a couple more singles I think. I just didn't want to push it and I figured workouts like this come once in a while only (lol) so I thought it would be wise to quit while ahead (sort of). Next week I'm gonna be doing some heavy doubles.

Plate Pinches:
25 lbs x 30 seconds x 4 sets

Wrist Roller:
10 lbs x 2 trips
25 lbs x 1 trip x 3 sets

Rope Pull-ups:
BW x 4 reps
BW x 4 reps
BW x 2 reps
Nothing to failure: just did this for the sake of it.

Dumbbell Windmills:
14 kgs x 10 reps x 4 sets

Overhead Plate Side Bends:
25 lbs x 10 reps x 4 sets

Videos:

Deadlifts:

Overall Impression:

I saw The Proposal yesterday....I liked it.

Today's workout is decent. For the GUS crowd: I am damn happy :-D

Cheers and thanks for reading!

M10 W4 Conditioning Day

Summer 2009 Training
Mesocycle 10 - Week 4
Conditioning Day

Beginning Thoughts:

I totally forgot to post this....

Workout:

Overhead Squats:
25 lbs x 3 reps
75 lbs x 3 reps
115 lbs x 2 reps
135lbs x 3 reps
I took it real easy. I was in no mood to work back up to 165+...Call me lazy lol...

Conditioning Circuit done 3 times:
Spiderman Walks = BW x 10 reps
Swiss Ball Jackknife Pikes = BW x 6 reps
Supine Glute Ham Raises = BW x 10 reps
Ab Roller = BW x 10 reps
Band Pull Throughs = 2 Whites x 10 reps
For some reason this was super hard.

Videos:

I was so lazy and out of it I didn't bother to record anything..

Overall Impression:

I needed an easy workout like this.