Today I went for sets. Benches were in use (that's usually the first thing I do). Here's what I did today in order:

Low Rows: 3 sets of 10 @ 140#

High Rows: 3 sets of 10 @ 200#

Bench: 115# x10/x7/x5

I also did a bunch of stuff I don't know the names of... I just watch people do things and try to mimic their movements for some stuff. all I know is that I'm spent. I think my next goal will be 3 sets of 10 at 115 on bench.

I took after Dan and rowed the AM away as well. Upped the weight from my last barbell row workout by 20lbs and did sets with decreasing rest periods between each. Then I upped the rest a bit and went heavy on T-bar rows. Ended the session with pullups, and let me tell you, I was lucky to get 9-10 reps a set.

Shoulders and legs tomorrow, just light legs as I have hockey games tonight, tomorrow, Thursday and Friday. I should be good and ready to herf and drink by Saturday. :-)

Just bench inside of a power rack, and set the safety catches to the proper point where you can safely dump the weight.

Heavy chest/arms for me today. Cranked out 195x5, 205x5 and 215x3 with failure on the fourth rep on flat bench. Realized I'd been lifting below where I should have to challenge myself on the bench, so recruited myself a spotter and upped my weight. Figure at 85% of 1RM for 5 reps, I should be pushing 210 or 215 and I've only been pushing 195.

Frank, should I follow the squat progression for bench, the deadlift or a different one?

What I'm looking at starting tomorrow based on the numbers you gave me:
Squat ( 1RM 365 )
-Week 1 265 x 1 295 x 1 320 x 1 265 x rep out (6-10)

-Week 2 285 x 1 310 x 1 335 x 1 285 x rep out (6-10)

-Week 3 300 x 1 330 x 1 355 x 1 300 x rep out (6-10)

-Week 4 320 x 1 345 x 1 375 x 1 whatever you want x 1 (105%-110% depending on gas in tank)

Deadlift ( 1RM 355 )
-Week 1 265 x 1 290 x 1 320 x 1 285 x rep out (6-10)

-Week 2 275 x 1 305 x 1 335 x 1 300 x rep out (6-10)

-Week 3 290 x 1 320 x 1 350 x 1 skip rep out set

-Week 4 (Max Out) 300 x 1 335 x 1 370 x 1 whatever you want x 1 (110% if you go for it)

Me posting in this thread is like the guy who comes to one of our herfs estoling the greatness of Gurkhas. :-)

Been almost 2 months and I have not missed a day of pushups. Do 105 now but modified from the try for 100 all at once. 85 - then 10 deep breaths - then 20 more. 20th is near the point of failure. The 20 I try to do "perfectly" with slow full extensions.

Been using the 12 lb hand weights 50 reps of varying type 2x a day now.

Feel better about things. Stonger, firmer and well it shows in the mirror. Did the maintenance on my Airdyne and tonight is the night to start cardio/legs/weight loss/ more sensible diet.

235 LBS this morning. The goal is going to be 205 in 3 months - we will see.

As long as you are working at it and committed to making improvements, that's all that matters. Strength comes with time and effort, just as a friendship does, and both take years to build.

You've made a good start, more than most ever attempt. Now we just need to get you working on more than just the beach muscles :-)

Everything looks good Pete. Yes you can follow the same percentages for the bench. It's what I would do, max out in 4 weeks on all 3 lifts...Remember this is just a 4 week ( mock meet style ) routine. Challenge is to get yourself ready to push out some serious weight. Only thing I would change would be skip the rep out on week #3 for squats.

After you finish this up, we'll have to get something set up for the next 3-4 months...

So started a diet and my my partner in my team for class brought in butterfingers for us. Butterfingers are one of my favorite candy. I will resist!

Did incline bench, regular bench and military press yesterday and my shoulder has no pain today :-) Hit legs hard today. Very happy minus the whole Butterfinger situation.

Try that shake recipe I sent ya. It's got a good "sweet" fighting taste to it lol...Try doing a scoop of chocolate whey if you're a big chocolate fan...

For everyone else. Here is the shake recipe that I told Christos about...It's low carb...

1 cup water
4-5 ice cubes ( can add more or less to your liking )
1 tbsp Sugar / Fat Free Butterscotch instant pudding mix
2 scoops vanilla whey ( feel free to do 1 choc 1 vanilla or 2 scoops choc )
2 tbsp peanut butter

Blend on high...

Went out and bought some pudding mix earlier. Looking forward to trying it tonight :-)

This chick is waving the Butterfingers in front of my face but I'm not caving in. Although the more she bothers me about taking one you guys might hear about a "enraged calorie deprived student" punching a middle aged woman in the face. With a youtube video to follow :-)

I would just take it from her, and smash it up and stomp on it. Then walk away like nothing happened.

Sounds like a good recipe Frank. I do something very similar but with frozen strawberries or frozen bananas instead of the ice, sugar and pudding mix. I'll sometimes throw a scoop or two of plain greek yogurt in as well, to give it a nice creamy texture.

So, started that progression this morning. Added a few warmup sets for each lift.

Deadlift - 135 x 5 225 x 3 265 x 1 290 x 1 320 x 1 285 x 6 (grip was giving me trouble - will bring chalk for the singles and straps for the reps next time. I'm not used to doing more than 5 reps of a heavy dead.)

Squat - 45 x 8 135 x 5 225 x 3 265 x 1 295 x 1 320 x 1 265 x 10

:-) Hey it's nice to feel like I have any muscles.

Finally hit the cardio last night. Half hour on the Airdyne. 15 minutes at 3.5 and some arm and leg only things for another 15. Lord I hate this thing but it makes the sweat pour like shots at the Freshman mixer. :-)

Avoided the nightime candy binge - had a apple and some pretzels. Maybe eliminate the icecream soon.... maybe.

Refined sugar is very addictive. If you cut it out completely, after a few days or a week, you will no longer crave it. And after a few months, you can have a little at a time without overindulging. At least that has been my experience. But if you do want to indulge occasionally, night-time is the worst time to do it. Your body is getting ready to sleep and consume calories much slower, so those extra calories go straight into storage.

Shoulders and back today. I need to get some sleep, exhausted today, not sure why.

Off day....well, sort of. Game tonight, 5 games in 7 nights actually. I'm with Pete. :-)

Tore yourself a new one with that 4 week program lol!!! Make sure you eat a little extra cals while pushing yourself hard Pete. Also, Squat before deadlift.

Did some benching last night, felt like crap. No soreness just felt rather gassed.

:-) Just did the first workout though, and it didn't seem that hard while I was doing it. Well, repping out at the end was hard, but the single rep stuff wasn't, really. I expect it will start to be tougher next week, and only get more so from there. I'm pretty good when it comes to getting enough calories. My problems stem more from getting too many... :-)

The weights should become more difficult as you go heavier. The key is to start hard-wiring yourself to perform that 1 rep with good form and firing every muscle. So that way when you go to perform a good max, all of that work will be ingrained in you.

Assistance work tomorrow.

Hey guys....

I need a suggestion for a good protein powder. I am doing combination of Insanity/P90X so I want to try to keep the Cals down. My goal is building very very lean mass, not just simply bulking up.
I hear Syntha6 is really good stuff, but the cals seem high (around 225 for just the powder) and for some reason, it has a lot of cholesterol (which could be problematic for me). Optimum Gold Standard has been suggested as well and come in at only 124 cals.