Spytech’s Intense Workout Log

Great workout. Cut the volume slightly on bench so I don’t get overworked. I am starting to feel very comfortable with the full rom on bench and militaries, and that is a great feeling. Assistance work went great.

Warmups – 2 sets of 20 for each movement:
External Rotations
OH Press
OH Extensions
Pulldowns
Pec Flyes

Bench Press:
135x12x2
180x5x1
210x5x1
250x5x1
265x3x1
285x2x1
305x2x1
285x2x1
265x3x1
250x4x1
235x6x1
215x8x1
200x10x1
180x12x1

CG Pin Presses (middle fingers in the smooth, bar 7″ off chest):
245x5x1
295x5x1 (PR)
300x5x1 (PR)

Standing Military Press (shoulder width grip, full rom):
190x5x1
195x5x1
200x5x1 (PR)

Wide-grip Standing Cable Rows (using lat pulldown tower):
156x10x1 (PR)
168x10x1 (PR)
180x12x1 (PR)

+ stretching + abs (standing cable, heavy 3 sets of 6) + arc trainer (13 min)

Duration: 90 minutes

Killer workout. I finally devised a way to setup reverse band deadlifts at my gym. Utilizing the cable crossover station, I was able to get a pretty good setup working. I definitely like these more than pulls against bands. Pulling against bands you sort of hit a wall when the bands really resist hard, but with reverse bands its a smooth transition as the weight gets heavier and heavier - like chains I would assume. Form was good tonight, but my power off the floor still wasn’t the best. Overall, though, I was very pleased with the pulling. DB swings are an absolutely heinous movement and have vaulted to the top of my favorites list for deadlift assistance. These really hammer the glutes and hips hard - much more than pullthroughs do.

Warmups – 2 sets of 20 for each movement:
BB Curls
Lat Rows
Leg Extensions
Leg Curls

Reverse Band Deadlift (with green bands):
225×3x1
315×1x1
405×1x1
495×1x1
585×1x1
675×1x1
765×1x1
765×2x1 (PR)
675×2x1

DB Swings:
120×5x2 (PR)
60×10x1
70×10x1
80×10x1 (PR)

Standing Cable Abduction:
80×10x1
100×10x1
120×6x1 (PR)

Wide-grip Pullups:
+70×5x1
+80×5x1 (PR)
+70×5x1

Standing EZ Curls:
120×8x5

+ stretching + power yoga (20min)

Duration: 120 minutes

Very nice workout. My chest and shoulders will still sore through Saturday from benching with full ROM for the first time in 8 years on Thursday, but I felt pretty good tonight. Sinking each rep into my chest still freaks me out (bad visuals of my shoulders exploding in a cloud of gore) every time I lower the bar, but I am getting used to how it feels. Strength was better than I expected it would be, so that was great. Accessory work was all strong. I stayed light on rows and kept the reps super strict since my forearms were starting to complain.

Warmups – 2 sets of 20 for each movement:
External Rotations
OH Press
Pushdowns
Lat Rows
Chest Press

Bench Press:
135x12x1
175x12x1
205x10x1
245x5x1
280x1x1
315x1x2
320x1x3

Seated Rear Laterals:
40x15x3

Strict BB Rows (underhand grip):
225x12x3

Standing OH DB Extensions:
150x12x2
150x13x1 (PR)

Hammer Grip Flat DB Press (palms facing each other):
110x12x3 (PR)

+ stretching + power yoga (30min)

Duration: 100 minutes

Nice workout. I am trying to get back to doing ATG squats regularly. Since they tend to hurt my calves after doing them frequently I really concentrated on sinking into the hole really slow instead of dropping fast and exploding up. Time will tell. Good workout overall, and everything felt strong.

Warmups – 2 sets of 20 for each movement:
BB Curls
Lat Rows
Leg Extensions
Leg Curls

ATG Squats:
135x10x1
200x3x1
250x3x1
300x3x1
350x3x1
405x3x1

Olympic GMs:
225x10x3

Pendlay Rows:
275x5x1
295x5x1
315x8x1 (PR)

Ghetto GHRs (torso past // to floor):
bw x10x2
+20x10x1 (PR)

Single-arm Hammer Curls:
110x5x1
150x10x1 (PR)
130x5x1

+ stretching

Duration: 65 minutes

Finally, a great workout. First, some brief background - ever since my shoulder injuries I have always done limited ROM on my pressing movements. It’s taken a year and a half of benching to get comfortable halting the bar a 1/2″ off my chest every rep like I do now, and I haven’t done any real overhead pressing where I would take the bar lower than mouth/nose-level (upper arms // to floor). Today, feeling motivated from Monday’s less-than-stellar performance I decided to put my ego aside, and tackle both benching and standing military presses and go for full rom on both. I won’t lie and say it wasn’t scary as hell for me, but I managed to stick to my guns and sank every rep on bench into my chest, and took every military press rep nice and low. My shoulders are a little achy, and my chest is already sore, but I took a huge mental leap today, and I am pretty pumped about that. I am going to try to continue this trend, shoulders willing, so poundages are going to be lame for a while. One thing I noticed was my bench form feels quite a bit better going full rom, instead of having to use my chest/shoulders to halt the weight at the bottom a 1/2″ off my chest before pressing it again. All the weights felt pretty decent - fast bar speed on everything. The closer-than-normal close grip lockouts really killed my tris, which were already tired from benching.

Warmups – 2 sets of 20 for each movement:
External Rotations
OH Press
OH Extensions
Lat Row Machine

Bench Press:
135x10x2
175x5x1
210x5x1
245x4x2
260x3x2
280x2x2
300x1x2
280x2x2
260x3x2
245x4x1
230x6x1
210x8x1
195x12x1
175x12x1

Rack Lockouts (narrow grip):
315x5x1

Rack Lockouts (close grip, middle finger in smooth):
275x5x2 (PR)
285x5x1 (PR)

Standing Military Press (shoulder width grip, full rom):
155x5x1
165x5x1
175x5x1
185x5x1 (PR)

Hammer Chins:
bw x12x1
+45x12x1
+90x12x1 (PR)
bw x12x1

+ stretching

Duration: 75 minutes

What a “blah” workout. No motivation (too nice out), no focus, and it was way too hot in the gym. Combine that with all the water fountains pumping out HOT water and I just really did not want to be in the gym. Deadlift warmups felt like max effort pulls so I didn’t even bother going past my warmup weights. No power off the floor, but lockouts felt fine so I went after some heavy conventional banded SLDLs, which turned out great. Finally graduated from the normal cable stack I use for standing cable adduction so I had to finish my sets on a heavier, but slightly more awkward tower (bottom setting isn’t quite as low, and the attachment point is farther from the tower). Assistance movements all felt good though, despite paying more attention to the birds flying around outside than to what I was doing.

Warmups – 2 sets of 20 for each movement:
BB Curls
Lat Rows
Leg Extensions
Leg Curls

Deadlift:
135×12x1
315×3x1
405×2x1
495×1x1
545×1x3

Conventional SLDL (bands doubled):
225+blues x5×1
315+blues x5×1 (PR)
335+blues x5×1 (PR)

BB Rows (very strict, torso // to floor):
225×5x1
245×5x1
265×5x1

Standing Cable Adduction:
100×10x1
150×10x1
160×12x1 (PR)
96×12x1 (PR, different tower)
108×12x1 (PR, different tower)

Standing EZ Curls:
115×8x5

+ stretching + power yoga (30 min)

Duration: 110 minutes

I officially despise benching. It seems all the 3×5, 2×5, 1×5 PR’s I’ve set over the last 6 months have been for absolutely nothing. After resting everything last week I decided I would see if I could hit a meager 5lb PR over my 350 bench PR I set back last October. The effort with 355 was not even close, with the bar stalling halfway up. Utterly ridiculous. I can press 480×5 with the bar starting 7″ off my chest, but I cant lockout 355? What the hell. I am really debating just saying f’it and going back to overhead pressing and inclines only. The rest of the workout was great, which tells me I wasn’t just having an off day.

Warmups – 2 sets of 20 for each movement:
External Rotations
OH Press
OH Extensions
Pec Flye Machine
Lat Pulldowns

Bench Press:
135×12x2
225×1x1
315×1x1
335×1x1
355×0x1
315×1x2

Bench Press off Pins (bar at chest level):
225×1x1
315×1x1 (PR)
325×1x1 (PR)

Single-arm Incline Tricep Pushdowns (with rope):
80×12x1 (PR)
90×12x1 (PR)
100×10x1 (PR)

Wide-grip Pullups:
+45×12x3 (PR)

Side Laterals (elbows locked):
35×12x2
35×15x1

Upwards Crossovers:
80×15x3

+ stretching + power yoga (30min)

Duration: 80 minutes

Another deload workout. Chest, back, shoulders, arms. Roughly 25 sets.

+ stretching + yoga (10min)

Duration: 30 minutes