Lower Body

Squat
135x5
155x5
175x5
185x5
205x5
215x5

Romanian Deadlift
135x12
155x10
175x8
185x6

Bulgarian Split Squat
20x10 (This set was actually BSS Jumps, and I about died)
25x10
25x6 (I know, I'm a pansy)

Ab Leg Raises (on that Leg raise thing)
2x10

Chin-ups
BW 4x5

Back at the apartment I did a (very) short ab circuit.

Well I'm happy with a workout for a change. The first two sets of leg raises were actually superset with my first two sets of chins for no other reason then to save time. Actually set a personal record with squats, increasing by two reps. Any progress at all is good by me after not squatting for like 2 weeks. I'm still terribly weak in the squat. Bulgarian split squats aren't even remotely close to being as easy as they look. I'm going to have to start doing abs on off days or something, because I'm really lazy after a workout and neglect them severely...which is gonna change. Chins were just to get some extras in cause I suck at them.

I keep toying with the idea of doing Joe DeFranco's Westside for Skinny Bastards program. I either need to stick with what I was doing before, or go along with the program cause the past two workouts I've been doing some kinda in between thing and I'm not happy. WSFSB has a max-effor upper body day and a repetition upper body day, and I decided I'd (sort of) try the repetition thing for a work out, hence the lighter weight and high reps for my dumbell bench press...

Dumbell Bench Press
55x20
55x17
55x16

Seated Cable Row
65x12
77.5x12 The weights used for this are appox. I don't really remember exactly.
112.5x10
125x8

Dumbell Shrugs
65x10 or 12
65x15
65x10

Seated Dumbell Shoulder Press
30x12
40x10
50x8

Hammer Curls
25x12
30x10
35x7

I'm not happy with that workout, though I guess it's better than no workout at all. Going home for Thanksgiving threw me all out of whack. I've done way more isolation movements these past two workouts and I've been all about the more compound movements. Somethings gonna change. Still making progress every workout though, so I'm happy. Can't wait to squat on Friday. Where's the abs you say? Don't worry, I'll do some sort of ab circuit after while...maybe even tomorrow.

First time seriously working out since getting out for Thanksgiving break. I really wanted to squat yesterday, but I had a project due and I didn't have time. I don't feel right doing two chest dominant upper body workouts in a row so I'll have to try to find somewhere to get an extra lower body day in since that's what I'm trying to focus on.

Dumbell Bench Press
55x5
65x5
70x5
75x5
75x4

Dips
4x11

Bent-Over Barbell Rows
95x12
95x10
105x8
115x6

Cable Triceps Pushdown
50x15
70x10
70x7

Bent-Over Lateral Dumbell Raises
20x12
20x10
25x8

Standing Alternating Dumbell Curls
25x12
30x10
35x7

I don't know what the heck I was doing. I've never done that many arm isolation exercises like that before. Despite feeling really weak and being extremely lazy over Thanksgiving, I did set a personal record on the dumbell bench press and I increased each set of dips by 1 rep.

Short and sweet.

Dumbbell Bench Press
50x6
55x5
60x5
65x5
70x5 PR
75x4 PR

Dips
4x10 PR

Cable Ab Standing Crunches (I guess thats the best way to describe it)
80x15
90x12
100x9

Cable Triceps Extensions
60x10
70x8

Today was very short because I worked out yesterday and I will tomorrow before I go home for Thanksgiving break, so I didn't want to kill myself with too much volume. ...plus Monday Night Football had started. I would have done more and a better job on triceps extensions, but doing that ab work before was a mistake and hindered things a bit. Set personal records on the dumbbell bench press and dips. Last Monday, before I started this journal I could only do 70x3 and couldn't even get the 75 up for a single rep. Dips I could only do 4x8, so I increased my reps in each set by 2. Not bad I guess.

I went and lifted today, and it was pretty different than my usual workouts. Since it was my fourth of the week I decided to just use it to focus on some things that I consider weak points. The back is almost 100%. I just had a little stiffness waking up this morning. For it to hurt as bad as it did, it sure did recover quickly.

Squat
135x5
155x5
175x5
185x5
205x5
215x3

Seated Dumbell Shoulder Press
40x10

Military Press
90x6
110x6
110x5

Lateral Raises
20x12
20x10
22.5x8

Bent-Over Lateral Raises
20x10
22.5x8
22.5x?

Note: The rep numbers of the lateral and bent-over raises is the best I can remember.

Assisted Pull-ups
40 lbs of assistance
10
8
6

The lift I'm concerned with and focusing on the most is the squat. I consider my squat to be pretty pathetic. But I did set a personal record for squats today so that makes me happy. I actually think I could maybe do more, but I always hold back...even though I'm squatting in a squat rack I don't want to make a loud crashing noise if I have to abort. Also I'm squatting deeply for the most part I think (parallel to below parallel). Most people think they're going parallel when in reality they only going about half way down, and then they say they can squat that much. I alway use a full range of motion on all my exercises.
I've also been concerned with my lateral and posterior deltoids, hence the raises. And my pull-up needs work. To be a 'not as serious although serious work out' today I'm happy with it. Now time to cook up some eggs and hashbrowns.

The beginning.

The purpose of this blog is to track my gains in strength over time. I'm not trying to make it entertaining or funny, I just wanted to start keeping track of what I did every workout, including weights used so I can track my progress. I'm doing this for me, but figured making it public would maybe make me want to make even more progress.


I've been active all of my life and have lifted weights in the past, but haven't in a long time. I have started lifting again consistently about 6 weeks ago. I've been lifting at 2 weight rooms at my university. I have been going an average of 3 times per week and playing racquetball on days off. I play racquetball for fun so aerobic conditioning isn't really the priority, just a secondary benefit.

My primary goals are to gain strength and and if I get bigger then that is a plus. I'm 5'10" and weigh around 182 pounds. My weight fluctuates during the day, so I will try to weigh myself in the mornings after waking up to get consistent readings.

I've been planning on keeping up with my progress, but I guess I'm starting now because I'm bored and have the time. I was planning on just using pen and paper, but just got the idea to use a blog and went with it. If I described my strength level I would have to say I'm a weak little pansy or maybe little girl-esque. I have been lifting for 6 weeks now and have made progress though. I re-discovered how much I like lifting weights and immediately look forward to my next workout.

I did lift today, and everything was going well til they made me quit doing Romanian deadlifts because of their 'no deadlifting' policy, which is complete crap. They said it was so the floor didn't get messed up, and even though I wasn't doing true deadlifts and only doing RDLs (where the weights don't even touch the floor) they still made me stop. The weights are coated with rubber so how the hell are they really gonna mess up the floor? It wasn't the guy's fault, he said he usually looks the other way but his boss came and told him to tell me to stop. Well that puts a kink in things since the wellness center (where the football players lift) is now closed to students (so I heard) and thats the only place they have those deadlifting mats. I'm going to raise some hell and get them to either let me use the wellness center or get a mat for the rec center. To make matters worse I pulled or striained a muscle really badly. I came back to my apt and layed flat on the floor for awhile and couldn't get up. Anyways, so the workout started out good but got bad real quick. I hate to start this on such a bad workout since I've been doing so well lately, but you have to start somewhere and it might as well be the bottom.

Lower Body
It's been awhile so I'll try to remember my exact weights.

Back Squat
135x5
155x5
165x5
175x5
185x5
205x3

RDL
145x6
caught

Dumbell RDL (these are fine, but barbell RDLs are against policy...what a load of crap)
65x6
70x5 POP!!
The back strain wasn't because of the weight (it felt really light), its because I lost my form and rounded my back close to the top of the movement. I think it was because I wasn't used to using dumbells for this exercise. I was still disappointed in myself because I try to do every rep with as perfect form and weight control as possible.

Seated Leg Curl
90x10
100x?
This was just to try to not have my entire workout ruined, but I only halfway tried cause I'm not a huge fan of the exercise and my back hurt, so I just went home.

What a terrible first workout to post, but oh well, I couldn't do anything about it. I know one thing though...they will let me deadlift one way or the other. Sorry for the bad grammar and run ons.

I can't wait to redeem myself.