It's Not Over Until I Win - Matty's Battle Log

[Hazard]

No wonder I never see your activity.  You're not in the guild challenges, you're hiding over here in the battle logs!  Sub'd now. 

[matty_mcfly]

No wonder I never see your activity. You're not in the guild challenges, you're hiding over here in the battle logs! Sub'd now.

Haha awesome! I was pretty sure no one but Guzzi and I ever looked at this.

And yea no guild challenge cause I could never ever think of goals worth putting down. Happy to have ya on the journey though. Haha definitely not as detailed as yours.

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk

[matty_mcfly]

4/29 - Tuesday Morning

 

Bench - 3rd session with no stall.  This was by far my ugliest form in a long time.  My butt lifted off the bench a few times and the 2nd set was UGLY. But I got the weight up and was really forced to focus on my form in the last 3 sets.

 

1x5 @ 45#

1x5 @ 95#

1x3 @ 135#

1x3 @ 165#

5x5 @ 190#

 

Bent Over Row - Looking for a back exercise that I like.  Went back to these for one set.  Got to the gym 25 minutes late and took much longer rests between sets on bench so I only did one set of these.  Also tried Kroc Rows but wasn't a fan...will revisit

 

1x5 @ 95#

[Guzzi]

Haha! I love "snooping" (& cheering on!) on people's battle logs, it's really interesting to see what workouts other people do. I've learnt a lot!

[matty_mcfly]

Haha! I love "snooping" (& cheering on!) on people's battle logs, it's really interesting to see what workouts other people do. I've learnt a lot!

Haha then there is no way you enjoy my log. There's variety maybe once a week. Lol but I enjoy the company so keep snooping!

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk

[matty_mcfly]

4/30 - Wednesday Morning

 

Need to start waking up earlier and actually getting to the gym relatively on time.  I can fit in 2 lifts in if I actually get in before 6:15.  Its also possible that I'm not being efficient in the gym.  My warm up generally takes between 8-10 minutes.  Then 5 pretty quick warm up sets and about 3-4 minutes rest between sets.  Seems to take longer than I'd like.

 

Squat - I just don't know.  Majority of the reps were really good with a few bad ones here and there.  Made more of an effort to make sure my shoulders and hips rose at the same time.  Definitely getting to the edge of 5x5 I think, but we'll see.  Next time I squat, I'll be going after a 1RM.  Aiming for 265# and anything on top of that will be gravy.

 

1x5 @ 45#

1x5 @ 95#

1x3 @ 135#

1x3 @ 185#

1x1 @ 225#

1x5 @ 240#

4x5 @ 240# (belted)

[matty_mcfly]

5/1 - Thursday Morning

 

So a complete shit day at the gym.  Missed reps on bench and missed the reps on deadlift.  Which sucked.  But I think I've changed my mind again.  Switching to 5/3/1 - The Triumvirate in two weeks.  I think not pushing myself to failure every (other) week, focusing on one main lift a session, actually getting a chance to Press, and less sets/reps all are pushing me to this.  And the fact that I'm testing my 1RMs next week makes it perfect timing.  So we'll see what happens.

 

Bench - I need to learn to re-rack once I don't feel right when I unrack it and before I go for that first rep.  On my 3rd set I unracked it and it just didn't feel right, the setup was weird and every rep was off.  Not too angry about these missed reps.  I knew I should've went up 2.5 instead of 5 and I hadn't stalled/missed reps on bench for 3-4 sessions, so I was due.

 

1x5 @ 45#

1x5 @ 95#

1x3 @ 135#

1x3 @ 155#

1x1 @ 185#

5/5/4/4/1 195#

 

Deadlift - This was disappointing.  Definitely expected to pull this, but it didn't happen.  Kinda hurting my confidence for next week and 3 plates, but we'll see.

 

1x5 @ 95#

1x5 @ 135#

1x3 @ 225#

1x1 @ 285#

1x5 @ 135# RDLs

[matty_mcfly]

5/2 Friday Evening Missed the morning workout and the misses kindly let me hit the gym last night. After re-watching So You Think You Can squat/deadlift I decided to do high reps on both to try and iron out some form issues. And excited to work on the assistance work.

 

^ that was the workout from last night. Seems much easier to just take a screen shot as opposed to typing everything out. (Hopefully I won't take this shortcut all the time now lol). **EDIT** The Kroc rows are kicking my ass tonight. Couldn't really feel anything while I was doing them, but my upper back is so sore...lol it's awesome. Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk

[matty_mcfly]

5/5 - Monday Morning

First day of testing one rep maxes. And it went VERY well. Only worry is that the other lifts won't go so well being that squat has turned back into my best lift.

Squat - so I was rolling. Hitting all the 1RM PRs and filming them to review. Then I got distracted and didn't film 315lbs and started to get annoyed cause I couldn't watch the vid and check form so I went for it a 2nd time and failed. After review this attempt at 315 I realized I didn't hit the depth that I usually hit but I'm almost positive I hit parallel on the successful rep. So take from that what you will.

1x5 @ 45#
1x5 @ 95#
1x3 @ 135#
1x3 @ 185#
1x1 @ 225#
1x1 @ 245#
1x1 @ 265#
1x1 @ 275#
1x1 @ 295#
1x1 @ 315#
1x0 @ 315#

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk
 

[matty_mcfly]

5/6 - Tuesday Morning

 

2nd day of maxes and I came. I saw. I conquered. Then I got crushed under the bar.

 

Bench - 195 and 205 went up relatively easily.  225 went up UGLY.  My butt didn't come up off the bench, but the elbows started to flare and my left side was lagging.  BUT I kept pushing and got the weight up, so I was very, very proud of this.  Especially since bench was by far my weakest lift when I started.

 

1x10 @ 45#

1x8 @ 95#

1x5 @ 135#

1x3 @ 155#

1x1 @ 185#

1x1 @ 195#

1x1 @ 205#

1x1 @ 225#

1x0 @ 230#

 

Standing Band Crunch - 2x10

Ab Rollouts - 2x8

Planks High/Low - 2x40 seconds

[matty_mcfly]

5/7 - Wednesday Morning

 

Deadlift - Very happy with hitting 3 plates though I feel like my form and initial set up is off.

 

1x5 @ 95#

1x5 @ 135#

1x3 @ 185#

1x3 @ 225#

1x1 @ 285#

1x1 @ 305#

1x1 @ 315#

 

OHP - My back/shoulder blades felt funky, bt I had a lot more time than usual and I wont be in the gym the next few days, so I figured I'd try to test my press max.

 

1x5 @ 45#

1x5 @ 65#

1x3 @ 95#

1x0 @ 145#

[matty_mcfly]

Nice time when real life and gym life coincide.  Real life is making me take a couple day break from the gym which is perfect cause my body needs a rest after testing 1RMs.  But after looking at my first recorded trainings back in August, I have to say that I've made some tremendous gains.  In those 9 months, for various reason I have taken upwards of 2-3 months off.

 

Bench: 85lbs (5x5) -> 225lbs (1RM)

Squat: 125lbs (3x5) -> 315lbs (1RM)

Deadlift: 115lbs (5x5) -> 315lbs (1RM)

Push Press 85lbs (5x5) -> OHP 135lbs (1RM)

 

I'm very proud of these numbers!

[Guzzi]

Damn man! Those are some pretty impressive numbers! :o

Ps. That looks like a very cool app, what do you use?

[matty_mcfly]

Damn man! Those are some pretty impressive numbers! :o

Ps. That looks like a very cool app, what do you use?

JEFit. I was trying to use the stronglifts app and a few others but this seemed to work best. Just not the greatest for Wendler 5/3/1

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk

[matty_mcfly]

5/14 - Wednesday Morning

Cycle 1, Week 1

 

And I'm back again!  Felt great to get back in the gym again.  6 days off is rough.  On the personal/real life side of this thing.  My girlfriend is recovering from successful ovarian surgery.  She had a huge (doctor's words) tumor removed and some other bits removed.  Thankfully no signs of cancer and she can still pop out kids in the near future.  So that has been very good news to receive.

 

Now back to the gym!

 

This is the start of my cycles with 5/3/1 and I'm looking forward to it.  It was awesome to get in the gym, complete 3 exercises and get out in under an hour.  I cant remember the last time that happen.  We'll see how all four sessions go before I become overjoyed, but this is a great start.  I'm going to steal a little formatting from Hazard's Battle Log because yea.

 

Duration: 49 minutes

 

Press - My weights for this were all off due to setting my 1RM @ 145lbs, which made my training max 135lbs.  And there was no way I was getting 6 or 7 reps @ 115lbs unfortunately.  Still felt good to hit the prescribed reps.

 

training max: (supposed to be) 120lbs but due to some bad math today was at 135lbs

(65%x5, 75%x5, 85%x5+)

 

1x8 @ 45#

1x5 @ 55#

1x5 @ 70#

1x3 @ 85#

1x5 @ 95#

1x5 @ 105#

1x5 @ 115#

 

Close Grip Bench Press (CGBP) - I've never really done these.  Maybe years ago.  The weight was easy, but my body definitely isn't used to doing more than 5 reps in a set.  The last 10 reps had my triceps burning. I mixed in some pause reps in here, but overall felt great.

 

training max: 175lbs

(50%x10, 60%x10, 70%x10)

 

1x10 @ 90#

1x10 @ 105#

1x10 @ 125#

 

Turkish Get Ups (TGU) - It's been a few weeks since I've done these and I've missed them.  They were exhausting and after the first set, I picked up the 30# KB instead of the 35# and didn't realize until I was just about done all the reps.

 

1x5 @ 35#

1x5 @ 30#

 

Oh and I threw in 2 or 3 Power Snatch reps just cause.  They felt different than anything else I do, so I may think about incorporating some Oly lifts into my 5/3/1 work after the triathlon.

[matty_mcfly]

5/15 - Thursday Morning

Cycle 1, Week 1

 

Holy shit!  This is supposed to be my Tuesday workout and I think its safe to say that this is going to be the hardest day by far.  Workout kicked my ass.  I had to cut out the reverse hypers due to not getting to the gym until 630 :-/.

 

Duration: 58 minutes

 

Deadlift - Holy shit! (this may be the theme of this workout).  So with Stronglifts I was accustomed to doing approximately 18 total reps, 13 warm up reps + 5 working reps.  Today I did a total of 30.  And they kicked my ass.  Form was great, but my body was definitely feeling it by the last set.

 

training max: 285lbs

(65%x5, 75%x5, 85%x5+)

 

1x5 @ 115#

1x5 @ 145#

1x3 @ 175#

1x5 @ 190#

1x5 @ 215#

1x7 @ 245#

 

Front Squat - HOLY SHIT!!  This was rough.  I've never really done front squats before and they also kicked my ass.  The actual front squat wasn't the worst.  Obviously a lot different from low bar squat, but the real issue was the rack position.  I just couldn't get comfortable.  On my last set I MacGuyvered some straps to avoid being in the power clean catch position and that kinda helped.  Also the volume kicked my ass as well.

 

training max: 185lbs

(50%x10, 60%x10, 70%x10)

 

1x10 @ 95#

1x10 @ 115#

1x5 @ 130#

 

Neutral Grip Chin Ups - Did these between by working deadlift sets.

3x5 @ BW

 

Up/Down Planks

3 @ 1 minute

[Guzzi]

Jeez! That's a Hell of a workout! No wonder it kicked your ass. Glad to hear that your girlfriends op was a success, that sounds like some really scary shit. Good to know she's ok.

[matty_mcfly]

Yea, I feel like my body is gonna hate me tomorrow.  It had become use to doing a 5x5 set of bench and squat; 1x5 of deadlift and maybe some press every now and again and then leaving.  This is a lot more volume then its use to at least on deadlifts.  The number of reps on everything else is coming down which is really nice.

 

And thank you for the well wishes!  Yea we were kinda freaked out, but enjoyed blaming random things on her possibly having cancer.  Lol I deal with serious news with stupid humor.

[Guzzi]

Never be serious, life's waaaayyyyy too short for that.

[matty_mcfly]

Especially if you possibly have cancer!

[matty_mcfly]

5/16 - Friday Morning

Cycle 1, Week 1

 

5/3/1 is definitely humbling.  Going into this, I completely thought I would be hitting 8-10 reps on that last all out third set.  I mean, I did 5x5 @ 175# almost a month ago and that was relatively easy.  Not the case at all.  It's hard benching for reps, I'm sure this will get considerably better by the next cycle, but for now my mind and body are just not used to it.

 

Bench

training max: 205lbs

(65%x5, 75%x5, 85%x5+)

 

1x5 @ 85#

1x5 @ 105#

1x3 @ 125#

1x5 @ 135#

1x5 @ 155#

1x7 @ 175#

 

Chin Ups - These were done between working sets of bench.

3x5 @ BW

 

Incline Bench - These were not fun.  Again, new exercise/one that I haven't done since sophomore year of college.  I couldn't hit 10 reps on the last set, my triceps were burnt out.

 

training max: 175lbs

(50%x10, 60%x10, 70%x10)

 

1x10 @ 90#

1x10 @ 105#

1x6 @ 125#

 

Kroc Rows - My back is sore from yesterday.  I guess the additional deadlift reps, the front squat, and doing chin ups again is hitting my back in a way its not use to.  I expect to feel these even more tomorrow morning.

 

1x10 @ 50#

1x8 @ 55#

1x6 @ 65# 

 

Standing Band Crunches

5x10

[Hazard]

5/3/1 is definitely humbling.  Going into this, I completely thought I would be hitting 8-10 reps on that last all out third set.  I mean, I did 5x5 @ 175# almost a month ago and that was relatively easy.  Not the case at all.  It's hard benching for reps, I'm sure this will get considerably better by the next cycle, but for now my mind and body are just not used to it.

 

 

You've started with a pretty high training max for the numbers you've been putting up lately.  Getting 7 on the 5+ using the TM you've chosen seems really good to me.

[matty_mcfly]

You've started with a pretty high training max for the numbers you've been putting up lately. Getting 7 on the 5+ using the TM you've chosen seems really good to me.

Thanks. Yea I should've been a bit more conservative with the training max. I took 90% my true 1RMs. I think the fact that the last set is AMRAP and not a firm number is something I'm just not use to. I go into that last set generally looking to do 8 reps and should be happy with the prescribed reps and just be happy with ANYTHING over that.

It's been fun training my body AND mind in a different way.

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk

[matty_mcfly]

5/19 - Monday Morning

Cycle 1, Week 1

 

So if the theme of one my workouts last week was "Holy Shit", then the theme of today's workout is just shit (both literally & figuratively).  I'm gonna blame the 4-5 hours of sleep and the lack of a real dinner last night.  But (almost) everything from this workout felt shitty.

 

Duration: 62 minutes

 

Squat - All kinds of awful.  Out of the 30 reps I did, maybe 8 felt good and most of those were in the warmup sets.  I had poor form on a majority of these.  The bar felt uneven on every set.  On my first work set there was a reason for the uneven feeling, I forgot to add a 2.5lb weight to the left side of the bar.  And then twice between sets I ended up needing to hit the bathroom.  I tried 245lbs, first rep was great, second rep was UGLY and then I just gave it up.

 

training max: 285lbs

(65%x5, 75%x5, 85%x5+)

 

1x5 @ 115#

1x5 @ 145#

1x3 @ 170#

1x5 @ 187.5# (supposed to be 190#)

1x5 @ 215#

1x2 @ 245#

 

Pull Ups - Done between squat sets. These actually did feel good.  Bright spot! :-)

3x5

 

Good Mornings - Yea so these were considerably harder than I expected.  Tried first with a safety squat bar, it was way too high up on my back and made me feel really uncomfortable, so I switched to regular straight bar which felt much better, but these were a bitch.

 

1x10 @ 45#

1x10 @ 65#

1x10 @ 85#

 

Ab Rollouts - Feeling these now at my desk...

4x10

[matty_mcfly]

5/20 - Tuesday Morning

Cycle 1, Week 2

 

Woke up late.  Woke up sore.  Woke up with excuses.  Then I got my ass out of bed and got dressed.

 

Duration: 40 Minutes

 

Press - These were fine.  Good form and went fast.  Was hoping to hit 7 on the last set, but nonetheless it was good.

training max: 120lbs

 

(70%x3, 80%x3, 90%x3+)

 

1x5 @ 55#

1x5 @ 60#

1x3 @ 75#

1x3 @ 85#

1x3 @ 100#

1x6 @ 110#

 

Close Grip Bench Press (CGBP)  

training max: 175lbs

(60%x8, 70%x8, 80%x6)

 

1x8 @ 105#

1x8 @ 125#

1x6 @ 140#

 

Neutral Grip Chin Ups - banged my knee on the dip section as I came down and made me weary of doing them.  That shit hurt!

2x5

 

TGUs - knees still were bruised from the chin ups so I limited these to one set

1x5 @ 35#

 

DB Side Bends - Had a good amount of time leftover so figured I'd throw these in since I cut some core work.  Can definitely up the weight on these.

1x10 @ 40#