I finally rejoined the ranks of the 200 club… those who can bench press more than 200 pounds. I first joined the club when I was in high school, so it’s been more than a little pathetic being out of the club these past few years. Now to get back in the 250 club.
Flat Bench:
135 x 12
155 x 10
185 x 8
225 x 2
Skull Crushers:
45 x 12, 12
45 x 10, 10
45 x 8, 8
Incline Dumbbell Fly:
35 x 12
40 x 10
40 x 8
Bar Dips:
5 (+1)
4 (+2)
1
Treadmill:
8:55 to first mile
It’s getting serious again. I haven’t been great at going to the gym every day, in fact, I’ve been pretty terrible. But I’m starting to believe that my strength can come back. I have somehow managed to be there for chest day most weeks. Today I was finally able to push a little harder. It felt really good.
Flat Bench:
12 x 135
10 x 185
4 x 205 (+1 with help)
Incline Bench:
12 x 135
8 x 155
4 x 165 (+1 with help)
Skull Crushers:
8 x 65
5 x 65 (couldn’t hold form on #5)
8 x 45
Incline Dumbbell Press:
12 x 35
10 x 45
5 x 55 (+1 with help)
Bar Dips:
8 x -100 (machine provided 100 pounds of lift)
8 x -100 (machine provided 100 pounds of lift)
Needless to say, my arms feel like Jello. Tomorrow will be an interesting day.
Yesterday we pushed the sled across the parking lot. There wasn’t a lot to say about it, so I didn’t blog it.
Today we were inside. I have a long way to go to get back into shape, but I feel like I may be starting to make some progress. We’re guessing my one-rep max on flat bench is about 225. We based the rest of my weights off that max. We had to cut out a little early today, because someone scheduled a meeting for 1:00.
Flat Bench:
12 x 135 (60% of max)
5 x 170 (75% of max)
5 x 190 (85% of max)
Incline Bench:
12 x 135
5 x 155
5 x 175
Skull Crushers:
6 x 65
6 x 75
6 x 75
Bar Dips:
0 (+6)
1 (+5)
1 (+5)
Upright Fly:
8 x 90
8 x 100
8 x 110
I had to meet an old friend and landscaper at lunch today, so I asked Sam, Tom, and Micah to go to the gym a little late. I barely made it back in time to jump in on the flat bench. Because we started late, we tried to hurry and didn´t end up doing as many different exercises as usual. At this point, I´m sort of glad that we didn´t, because, once again, I can barely lift my arms.
Flat Bench:
12 x 135
10 x 155
8 x 155
Bar Dips:
2, 3, 3
Incline Bench:
5 x 135
12 x 115
10 x 115
Skull Crushers:
6 x 65
6 x 65
5 x 65
Today was legs day at the gym. I really overdid my first chest workout last week, so I wanted to make sure I didn’t overdo it on legs today. I started off doing it right, keeping the weight light, but at some point I still pushed beyond the capacity of my legs. I think it’s been about 5 years since the last time I did any of these exercises. I guess I’m lucky I can still walk.
Squat:
45 x 12
135 x 12
155 x 10
155 x 8
Leg Press:
12 x 380
10 x 400
10 x 420
Standing Calf Raises:
12 x 240
12 x 300
12 x 300
Hamstring Curl:
12 x 80
12 x 100
12 x 120
Seated Leg Extension:
12 x 120
12 x 120
12 x 120
I am not a strong man. I used to think I was a strong man, but I am not nearly as strong as I was when I used to think that. You don’t realize how quickly your strength fades away when you stop working out. That all became crystal clear today. It was chest day.
I started off feeling really good, but after just a couple reps at 185 on the flat bench, I was done. After I finished making a fool of myself on the flat bench, we moved to bar dips. I was certain I wouldn’t be able to do any at all, since I had always had a hard time with dips, and my arms were clearly out of juice. To my surprise I was able to do a few without cheating, but soon I could barely extend my arms on their own power. It was pretty sad.
Flat Bench:
135 x 12
185 x 5
205 x 3
205 x 1
Bar Dips:
3, 3, 2
Pec Fly (machine):
80 x 12
80 x 10
80 x 8
Standing Tri Extension (machine):
160 x 12
150 x 10
150 x 8
French Curl (skull crushers):
65 x 6
65 x 5
55 x 6
Incline Dumbbell Fly:
30 x 12
30 x 10
30 x 8
We went to Carl’s Jr on our way back to work. The only way I could drink was to balance it on my leg and bend down to the cup. There was no way I could hold it up. It will be interesting to see what happens next week.
Barley more than a month since the last time I went to the gym and I made it back. OK, that’s not really a good track record, but at least I made it back… and increased the weight from last time.
Flat Bench:
20 x 135
10 x 155
5 x 185
Incline Bench:
20 x 95
10 x 135
5 x 155
Incline Fly:
20 x 35
10 x 45
5 x 55
Tri Pull-down:
16 x 90
8 x 110
4 x 130
Cable Cross-over:
16 x 40
8 x 60
4 x 80
It’s been an interesting couple of months. We had been swimming 2 or 3 times a week with the evening masters swim team at American Fork, but all that stopped in December when everyone made their way to town for Christmas. It seemed like we might start swimming again in January, but we only went once or twice before heading off on our big trip to Portugal, Spain, and Morocco.
Now it’s the end of February and it feels like I haven’t been in the water forever.
I did finally get on the trainer with Charmaine again the other day. I think that will become a regular thing again. I really want to ride outside, but it’s still too cold, so the trainer will have to do.
I’ve decided I’m not going to allow myself to walk the run at Spudman this year. Joey Ekstrom has agreed to run with me at lunch. So far we’ve only gone once, and only for about a mile, but it’s a good start.
Today I went to the gym for the first time in years. Joe is trying to rehabilitate his broken leg, so we’re stuck doing upper-body workouts, but it’s great. After a few low-weight, high-rep sets, we walked on the treadmill for a few minutes. I hope that means we didn’t over do it and the trend will continue. Of course, that all depends on how long the company holds together, and that doesn’t look especially promising right now.
Flat Bench:
20 x 115
16 x 135
12 x 155
Military Press:
16 x 115
12 x 135
Lat Pull-down:
20 x 80
16 x 100
12 x 120
Treadmill:
15 minutes @ 4.0 mph
I’m not sure if I ever wrote about this when it happened, but one day I left my lock at the gym. I checked several times with the lost and found, but it never turned up. I’m not sure I really expected it to turn up. I left the key in the lock. I was pretty upset about it, mostly because I kept forgetting to bring another lock with me for a few days.
I always figured that the guy that swiped my lock may have a similar workout schedule to mine. Today I was proven right. When I finished working out, I headed for my locker. As luck would have it, I noticed my old lock on the big locker closest to the big locker I was using (Gold’s Gym has a horrible locker arrangement, but that’s another story). I could barely believe what I was seeing. I foresaw this day when my lock never turned up. You see, I had two keys to that lock. The lock has returned to its rightful owner. And now I know who took it. He came out to his locker while I was getting dressed after my shower.
That was a great ending to a decent day of legs. I went extra low on squats. It’s probably the first time I have ever gone as deep as I should. I’m going to try to keep going that deep in the future. I also pushed hard through my first time back on leg press. I did overheat and almost puke, so right there you know it’s a good workout.
Weight: 260.4
Squat:
225/12 (all the way down) 275/8 315/2
Leg Press:
580/20 670/12 760/6
Standing Calf Raise:
395/20 395/12 395/12
Here we go again now. Last week my strength was pathetic. I started off a lot better this week, but quickly ran out of steam. I really like the 20-12-8 pyramid we’re doing. I think it’s moving me in the right direction.
Travis said he had to be back by 1:30, but it turned out that he needed to be back by 1:00. Luckily we ended up getting back at 1:09.
Weight: 258.4
Flat Bench:
185/20 205/12 225/8
Incline Bench:
135/20 185/12 205/8
All the adjustable benches were in use when we finished Incline Bench; they were still in use after our Bar Dip routines, so we wound up skipping Incline Bench today.
Bar Dip:
3 (pathetic)
Treadmill:
10 minutes – 0.95 miles