Spytech’s Intense Workout Log

Well I went to my natural health doc/chiro yesterday and he said my sacroiliac joint on my left side is just inflamed/strained a bit. He said it’s due to my left leg being a bit shorter than the right as well as the constant heavy usage I put my hips through in lifting. He gave me a wedge to put under my left heel, and I will say it makes quite a difference just walking around. My hips feel more ’square’ and level. That all being said, the joint is healing up quickly and I am not in much pain and more mobile today, but I still would not even think of benching with an arch, let alone squatting.

Today I just wanted to get in the gym and see if I could get some reps in on bench, despite the joint issue and tendonitis. I did all sets with a flat back, and most with my feet up. With my feet down I naturally cock my hips and my back doesn’t like that yet. I was pleased in that I was able to crank out the target goal of 5 doubles with 300 without my tendonitis flaring up all while using a flat-back, feet-up posture. After bench I did some back assistance, then some inclines. The inclines felt very solid and I did not have any shoulder irritation. Good salvaged workout overall despite not being able to squat.

Bench Press:
135x12x1
225x3x1
245x3x1
265x3x1
300x2x1
300x2x1
300x2x1
300x2x1
300x2x1

Hammer Chins:
bw x12x5

CG Lat Pulldown:
150x10x1
200x10x1
225x10x1
250x10x1
200x12x1

Flat DB Flyes:
50x10x1
50x10x1
50x10x1
50x10x1
50x10x1

Incline Bench Press:
135x12x1
185x5x1
205x5x1
225x5x1
245x5x1
265x5x1

+ stretching

Duration: 60 minutes

Craptastic workout. Volume decrease starts today and tapers off until max week in 2 weeks. Deads went fine. Target was 595 for 2 singles, I did a little bit extra. Tendonitis flared up while I was doing my pulls and got worse unloading the plates and getting ready to bench. Could barely hold onto the bar with my left hand and I had to call it quits after 2 triples with 225. Oh well. Did some quick abs and went home. Tendonitis pain really sucks the energy/willpower out of doing anything in the gym.

Deadlift:
355x5x1
425x3x1
495x3x1
560x2x1
560x2x1
595x2x1
605x2x1

Bench Press:
135x12x1
195x5x1
225x3x1
225x3x1

Hanging Leg Raises:
bw x12x1
bw x12x1
bw x12x1

+ stretching

Duration: 40 minutes

Real good squat and bench workout. Very achy in the elbows and wrists while squatting, but they were all fairly easy. Bench was a breeze as well, and I ended up finishing the big stuff (squat and bench) in a little over an hour. Cruised through some good accessory work and hit some high rep reverse curls to help aid in the elbow/forearm tendonitis recovery.

Squats:
175×12x1
320×5x1
380×4x1
440×2x1
440×2x1
500×1x1
500×1x1
500×1x1
500×2x1
470×2x1
470×2x1
470×2x1
410×3x1
350×4x1
320×5x1

Bench Press:
135×12x1
190×5x1
225×4x1
265×3x1
300×3x1
300×3x1
300×3x1
300×3x1
300×5x1

Seated Cable Row:
312×5x1
347×5x1
347×5x1
347×5x1
347×5x1

Rear Delt Machine Flyes:
60×12x1
80×12x1
100×12x1
100×12x1
110×12x1

Reverse BB Curls:
45×50x1
45×30x1

+ stretching

Duration: 90 minutes

Wow this workout was extremely exhausting. Each set on squats was pretty easy, but the cumulative exhaustive damage was high. While resting between those sets @ 380 I thought I was going to puke all over the place. The sets themselves weren’t hard, but they wiped me out. After squats I moved on to bench - 300 felt pretty solid so on my 6th set I decided to rep it out and see what I had. Hit 7 reps for a PR, and that has me very pleased. Had more there, but I just ran out of gas due to all the squatting and previous benching. Curls were devastating.

Squat:
135x12x1
295x3x1
350x3x1
410x3x1
410x3x1
470x3x1
470x3x1
470x3x1
500x2x1
500x2x1
500x2x1
470x3x1
470x3x1
470x3x1
380x6x1
380x6x1
380x6x1
380x6x1

Bench Press:
135x12x1
190x6x1
225x5x1
265x3x1
265x3x1
300x2x1
300x2x1
300x2x1
300x2x1
300x2x1
300x7x1 (PR)

Standing DB Curls:
70x5x1
65x5x1
65x5x1
65x5x1
65x5x1
50x5x1
45x5x1
40x5x1
35x5x1
30x5x1
25x5x1
20x10x1
15x15x1
10x20x1

+ stretching

Duration: 100 minutes

This was a pretty nice workout. Deads, bench, and rows (in place of ‘deads to the knees’). Deads were tough after last week’s heavy stuff, and the epic bench pyramid was achy, but all easy. I haven’t done bb rows in a long time, but these were all strong today - very pleased. Flyes were absolutely brutal!

Deadlift:
355x4x1
425x4x1
490x3x1
490x3x1
560x3x1
560x3x1
560x3x1
560x3x1
560x3x1
560x3x1

Bench Press:
135x12x1
190x6x1
225x6x1
265x4x1
265x4x1
280x3x1
280x3x1
300x3x1
300x3x1
300x3x1
280x4x1
280x4x1
265x5x1
265x5x1
245x6x1
225x10x1
205x10x1
190x10x1
190x10x1

BB Rows (shoulder-width overhand grip):
245x3x1
245x3x1
265x3x1
265x3x1
285x3x1
285x3x1
305x3x1
305x3x1
325x3x1
325x3x1
345x3x1
365x3x1
385x3x1
405x3x1
425x3x1

Flat DB Flyes:
55x10x1
55x10x1
55x10x1
55x10x1
55x10x1

+ stretching

Duration: 120 minutes

These workouts are getting hard to describe. Physically, they aren’t all that hard from set to set. Mentally, they kill you. Grinding through set after set after set, knowing you have a ton of more crap to do. This is the start of my 12th week of Sheiko and it’s starting to take a bit of a toll. Getting run down mentally, but my recovery rate is still pretty solid. 3 more weeks + a max week after this and then I will probably cruise for a bit to let my head reset.

Back to the workout…squats were a grind, but I had room to spare for each set. Bench went better than I thought it would. Accessory work was pretty fast and energized.

Squats:
135x12x1
295x5x1
350x4x1
410x3x1
410x3x1
470x3x1
470x3x1
470x3x1
470x3x1
470x3x1
440x4x1
440x4x1
440x4x1
440x4x1

Bench Press:
135x12x1
190x5x1
225x4x1
265x3x1
265x3x1
300x3x1
320x2x1
320x2x1
320x2x1
320x2x1
300x3x1
300x3x1

Chins/Pullups (various grips):
bw x12x1
bw x12x1
bw x12x1
bw x12x1
bw x12x1

OH DB Extensions:
100x10x1
120x10x1
140x10x1
150x12x1
110x20x1

Hanging Leg Raises:
bw x12x1
bw x12x1
bw x12x1
bw x12x1
bw x12x1

+ stretching

Duration: 120 minutes

Another great, and soul destroying workout. Bench was easy across the board. Took 60-90s rests between the top work sets. Squats were absolutely exhausting, but I finished each set with plenty left in the tank. I thought my back might struggle a bit being fatigued from Tuesday’s heavy squats and pulls on Thursday, but it felt stronger as I got into the heavier stuff. Lots of curls and some dips to finish.

Bench Press:
135×12x1
190×5x1
225×4x1
265×3x1
265×3x1
300×3x1
300×3x1
300×3x1
300×3x1
300×3x1
300×3x1

Squats:
135×12x1
295×5x1
350×4x1
410×3x1
470×3x1
470×3x1
470×3x1
500×2x1
500×2x1
500×4x1

More Bench Press:
190×6x1
225×6x1
265×6x1
265×6x1
265×6x1
265×10x1

Standing DB Curls (all sets done as a massive drop-set):
60×5x1
55×5x1
50×5x1
45×5x1
40×5x1
35×5x1
30×5x1
25×5x1
20×10x1
15×10x1
10×10x1

Standing DB Hammer Curls  (all sets done as a massive drop-set):
60×5x1
55×5x1
50×5x1
45×5x1
40×5x1
35×5x1
30×5x1
25×5x1
20×10x1
15×10x1
10×10x1

Dips:
bw x12
bw x12
bw x12
bw x12
bw x12

+ stretching

Duration: 120 minutes

Great workout! I thought I’d drag ass through today’s heavy deads and bench pyramid after Tuesday’s heavy squatting and benching, but things went great. My legs/back are fatigued from squatting, but I still blasted through all of the pulls off the floor. Was supposed to do 3 singles @ 630, but decided to double the first and third sets, just because. Instead of doing bench and going back to pulls from boxes, I just went straight to the elevated pulls with the plates raised around 5.5″. These were brutal. The volume was very rough, but I managed all the sets called for. Moved on to bench and absolutely killed everything. Crazy how last week I could barely press 300 for a few doubles and this week I’m annihilating everything. I probably could have hit 340 for singles again like I did Tuesday. Anyways, I was exhausted after the main stuff so I just did some light rear delt laterals for assistance and got out of there.

Deadlift:
355x4x1
425x3x1
490x3x1
490x3x1
560x2x1
630x2x1
630x1x1
630x2x1
560x2x1
560x2x1
560x2x1

Elevated Deadlift (plates raised ~5.5″):
525x5x1
595x4x1
595x4x1
595x4x1
595x4x1
525x5x1

Bench Press:
135x12x1
190x6x1
225x5x1
265x4x1
265x4x1
280x3x1
280x3x1
300x2x1
300x2x1
300x3x1
280x3x1
280x3x1
265x5x1
225x9x1
190x11x1

Rear Delt DB Laterals:
35x10x1
35x10x1
35x10x1
35x10x1
35x10x1

+ stretching

Duration: 120 minutes

Brutal, intense workout. Squats went great, with 530 being a wraps-only PR. The layoff from bench on Saturday helped a bit, as my tendonitis did not flare up while benching today. Pretty pleased with how bench felt after having a handful of crappy bench sessions. Second session of squats was easy, but exhausting.

Squats:
135x12x1
295x5x1
350x4x1
410x3x1
410x3x1
470x2x1
470x2x1
530x1x1
530x1x1
530x1x1

Bench Press:
135x12x1
190x5x1
225x4x1
265x3x1
265x3x1
300x3x1
300x3x1
340x1x1
340x1x1
340x2x1 (PR)

More Squats:
320x4x1
380x4x1
440x4x1
440x4x1
440x4x1
440x4x1

Strict Standing Good Mornings:
165x5x1
185x5x1
205x5x1
225x5x1
245x5x1 (PR)

Flat DB Flyes:
50x10x1
50x10x1
50x10x1
50x10x1
50x10x1

+ stretching

Duration: 120 minutes

I didn’t lift yesterday as I decided to aerate my lawn instead (hard work). Got into the gym today for “yesterday’s” workout. No energy today, very tired and sore from yesterday’s yard work. Cruised through the requisite squats and skipped bench, as I want my elbow/forearm tendonitis to heal up a bit. Last squat set was done ATG. After squats I did some light assistance work.

Squat:
135x12x1
295x5x1
350x5x1
410x5x1
410x5x1
440x4x1
440x4x1
440x4x1
440x4x1

Standing EZ Curls:
75x10x1
95x10x1
95x10x1
95x10x1

Rear Delt Flyes:
60x12x1
60x12x1
60x12x1
60x12x1

Chins:
bw x10x1
bw x10x1

+ stretching

Duration: 45 minutes