Ross.. getting stronger!

[vegan_rossco]

Hey everyone!! I usually post on the vegan bodybuilding forum, thought I would post my workouts over here too and meet some new people! Particularly since I notice a lot of people post in Kg here woohoo

Monday 22/10/12 Bodyweight 77 Kg

Squat (safety bar)
Empty bar (25Kg) x 5
55 Kg x 5
75 Kg x 5
85 Kg x 5
90 Kg x 5
Need to get a bit lower next time, was gonna push for another set but trying to be a bit patient with my progression

Bench (had to use hammer strength machine which I personally find a lot harder :/)
empty x 10
20 Kg x 5
40 Kg x 5
50 Kg x 5
60 Kg x 5
65 Kg x 5

dips x10 x8 x8
knuckle pushups x20


Wednesday 24/10/12 Bodyweight 78(ish)Kg

Gym was totally dead today which was great had a good laugh to!

Started with barbell shoulder press
20 Kg (empty bar) x 5
25 Kg x 5
30 Kg x 5
40 Kg x 5
40 Kg x 4 Had to use the power rack (cage) so was a bit awkward where I was seated, I've definitely lifted heavier for more reps before so felt a little disappointed..

Deadlifts, This is what I was looking forward to!
50 Kg x 5
60 Kg x 5
65 Kg x 5
70 Kg x 5
80 Kg x 3 Physically couldn't lift any heavier :/ but the guy who I had a run in with last week came over told me my form was good and that it was pretty heavy considering it's practically my first attempt. He then asked me about my training and how college was going so things are good at the gym now

so yeah feel free to chat with me about anything

[Linnéa76]

Hi vegan_rossco, welcome to the forum!

There's also a thread for new members if you'd like to write a little more about yourself!

[bara_tomas]

Hello and welcome!

Looking good! Are you doing any particular program?

[vegan_rossco]

Will do my friend

@bar_tomas hey I was following stronglifts 5x5 but squatting 3 times a week didn't fit with me :/ so I keep it simple low reps and as many sets as I feel I need ahha
I workout mon wed and fri and split big lifts up so dead lifts/pullups/ohp one workout. Then squats/bench on the next workout depending on how I feel

[vegan_rossco]

Friday 26/10/12 Bodyweight 78.5Kg (ish)

Had a day off and spent the day doing fuck all so come training time I Felt crap and lazy, but the show must go on..

Bench press
20 Kg (empty bar) x 5 reps
40 Kg x 5 reps
50 Kg x 5 reps
60 Kg x 5 reps
65 Kg x 3 reps
60 Kg x 5 reps

A few sets on the hammer strength (bench machine)
65 Kg x 5 reps
70 Kg x 3 reps
72.5 Kg x 1 rep

25 press ups on knuckles
Dips
x10
x8
x8

Squats with safety bar
25 Kg (empty bar) x 5
65 Kg x 5
75 Kg x 5
85 Kg x 5
100 Kg x 5
felt fine, got a bit lower this time too

there was a deadlifting lesson going on next to me during the squats and I had a craving to do some, resisted thankfully ahha, waiting until monday night

[vegan_rossco]

Okay I've got a bit of trouble my lower back is in a bit of pain(not the muslce,my spine) , looked it up and I think it's due to me squatting really low with not a lot of flexibility :/ any pointers/solutions? I would be very grateful.
To make things worse I have work all day today and tomorrow, may have to call off mondays deadlifts if my backs still playing up.

[vegan_rossco]

Stressful and shit day at work so was good to get home to some grip work.
backs actually feeling alright now I was probably exagerating

[vegan_rossco]

Monday 29/10/12 Bodyweight 79 Kg

So it's half term which meant the gym was pretty dead, just a couple of instructors cleaning and a few guys using the machines, got soaked on the way to the gym as it was pissing down so needed a good session to cheer me up!

Dead lifts
60 Kg x 5
70 Kg x 5
80 Kg x 3
90 Kg x 3 PB < these were fucking ugly.. barely counted them but hey a Pb is a Pb so I'm happy regardless, my back is feeling a little funny now though :/ I guess I just suck at deadlifting, going to try and progress slowly from now on, 5 Kg at a time

Pull ups, at this point nicki minaj came on in the gym.. so I grabbed my headphones whacked out some A day to remember and hit some pull ups!
x8 PB!
x5
x4 Had enough at this point

Did a few sets on the lat pull down machine and seated row machine, don't know the weights as they go up in numbers instead of weight :/

Overall today was a good'en

[bara_tomas]

@bar_tomas hey I was following stronglifts 5x5 but squatting 3 times a week didn't fit with me :/ so I keep it simple low reps and as many sets as I feel I need ahha
I workout mon wed and fri and split big lifts up so dead lifts/pullups/ohp one workout. Then squats/bench on the next workout depending on how I feel

Well, as long as you're seeing progress you're probably doing it right! Definitely know what you mean about SL5x5 and squatting 3 times/week. I switched to a variant of Starting Strength after a while, it still has squats every workout, but "only" 3 work sets. Of course that also gets to be too much eventually, but for me it worked well for a few months.

Okay I've got a bit of trouble my lower back is in a bit of pain(not the muslce,my spine) , looked it up and I think it's due to me squatting really low with not a lot of flexibility :/ any pointers/solutions? I would be very grateful.

Good to hear this got better. If it returns, you might want to look into some hip mobility stuff, has helped both me and my training buddy a lot. I also find shoulder dislocations great for being able to get whole upper body in proper position.

Keep up the good work!

[vegan_rossco]

It started to totally kill my back and legs ahha and also on stronglifts 5x5 I don't feel that there's enough dead lifting which is my favourite despite being my weakest lift :/
yeah my backs okay now, may have to look in to hip mobility, it's odd that after 2 years of taekwondo my flexibility has gotten so bad :s
May be squatting tomorrow depending on if my training partner can make it to spot me (:

[Talyn]

hey welcome to the dark side

do you have any lifting goals?

[vegan_rossco]

Hey talyn! Well for now steady strength gains are what I'm after, especially in my crappy dead lift, I do eventually want to get proper into powerlifting too

[vegan_rossco]

Wednesday 31/10/12 Bodyweight 79 Kg

Didn't have a spotter today as it's halloween there's a bunch of wildlife talks and stuff going on at the steam railway and my training partner is there all day whereas I finished at 5, so.. no squats or bench despite it being squat and bench day. fuck! I thought I would improvise and have fun with tonights session

Hammer strength machine (bench press machine)
30 Kg x 5
50 Kg x 5
65 Kg x 5
72.5 Kg x 3
75 Kg x 1 don't know where this came from but at this point I was stoked and thought I would push some more..
77.5 Kg x 0
fucked it up :/ good job it was on a machine otherwise I wouldn't have a face right about now ahha, if only I could apply this bench strength to free weight bench press :/ next Monday I'm going for 65 Kg x 5 for bench and then a one rep max of 75Kg, we'll see!

Wide Dips x10 x10 x10
Knuckle Press ups x 20
4 sets on the fly machine

Front raises
5 Kg plate x 8
10 Kg plate x 10
15 Kg plate x 10

[Adena]

Welcome! Nice training! Do you have anyone at your gym with more experience who can watch your deadlift form and make sure you're not rounding too much or something? Also, deadlift 1RMs are always ugly, but if you lock it out, it still counts!

[vegan_rossco]

Hey adena yeah my forms alright according to the guy who runs the place plus I do it infront of a giant mirror which is more for vanity than anything else ahha.
forgot to mention the strange noises I made.. I'm deadlifting in about an hour or so, hopefully there'll be some new PBs up