Fri 10/09/09  9:30 AM 
Bill Starr 5x5  Week 3 Day 3  
 
Warmup:  3 min. Concept 2 Rower
 
Squat:
5x90
5x115
5x135
5x160
3x185 easy!
8x135 okay!  
 
Bench:
5x85
5x105
5x125
5x145
3x170 okay!
8x125 okay!      
 
Row:
5x85
5x105
5x125
5x150
3x175 okay!
8x125 good 
 
Assistance: 
Weighted dips (3 sets, 5-8 reps):  10#x8x3sets (last reps of last set hard, but very nice overall!) 
Pullups (20 reps total):  (sets to failure) bw x 5, 3, 3, 2, 4, 3 = 20 (I am still so weak at these.  I'm grateful I'm noticing some lat growth however!)
Tricep extensions (3 sets, 8 reps):  85x8x3sets (tough but good! very impressive pump!!)
EZ Barbell curls (3 sets, 8 reps):  85x8x3sets (nice!  me likey these too!  okay pump but tricep pump was better for whatever reason) 
 
Stretch:  In whirlpool! 
 
Workout time:  1 hr. 10 min.   
 
Comments:  Awesome workout!  Now I just need to get back to eating a lot.  The last few days have been very stressful and eating has not been as intense as I would have liked.  This weekend I'm going to try to go to bed at 212 lb and by next weekend I'd like to be at 213 lb.

Tue 10/13/09

Yoga (60 min.)
Nice!

Fri 10/16/09  11:10 AM 
Bill Starr 5x5  Week 4 Day 3  
 
Warmup:  3 min. Concept 2 Rower
 
Squat:
5x95
5x115
5x140
5x160
3x190 easy!
8x140 whoa!  good!   
 
Bench:
5x85
5x105
5x130
5x150
3x175 (2+1) had spot on rep #3 but didn't need! 
8x130 good!      
 
Row:
5x85
5x110
5x130
5x150
3x175 okay!
8x130 good 
 
Assistance: 
Weighted dips (3 sets, 5-8 reps):  15#x8, 15#x7, 15#x4 whoa! 
Pullups (20 reps total):  (sets to failure, medium grip) bw x 4, 4, 3, 3, 3, 3 = 20 
Tricep extensions (3 sets, 8 reps):  90x8x3sets (tough but good! very impressive pump!!)
EZ Barbell curls (3 sets, 8 reps):  90x8x3sets easy! 
 
Stretch:  In whirlpool! 
 
Workout time:  1 hr. 15 min.   
 
Comments:  Good workout!

Wed 10/21/09  12:10 PM 
Bill Starr 5x5  Week 5 Day 2 
 
Warmup:  3 min. Crosstrainer
 
Squat:
5x95
5x120 
5x140
5x140 good!   
 
SOH Press:
5x75
5x90
5x110
5x125 (3+2)  okay!  Press stall soon?  Hope not!  
 
Deadlift:
5x155 oops!  supposed to have been 165 lb.  oh well! 
5x195 good 
5x230 okay! 
5x260 w/straps. good! whoa!  awesome!!!  
 
Assistance: 

Pullups :  wide grip bw x 5 x 4sets.  hop, hold, and neg as slow and long as possible!  really felt great lat activation especailly when knees bent and legs thrust back so trunk could lean forward to allow pull to be down and back and not just down.  wasn't wearing gloves and tore open a callous.  :(  I am wearing gloves from now on for pullups, and I don't care what anyone thinks! 
Weighted decline crunches (2 sets):  20 lb x 50 reps x 2 sets.  very nice burn! 
Crisscrosses (bicycles for obliques):  bw x 50r x 2 sets.  Very very nice!
Captain's chair leg raises (w/bent knees):  bw x 20.  okay. 

Stretch:  In whirlpool.   
 
Workout time:  65 min.  
 
Comments:  Good!  :) 

MVP

I see those pullups are coming up.

I'm assuming MVP's five seconds of pain has brought positive benefit to your lat strength?

MVP,
    Always awesome to hear from you!!!  While the pullups are still pathetically weak compared to most of the guys on DBB, I am indeed noticing progress!  I'm at the point where all of my work is wide out on the bend of the bar.  I'm not getting the elevation I'd like (basically first few reps my eyes are a couple inches above the bar, my chin isn't).  But I can hold for quite a long time now, and make the negatives very slow.  And just yesterday I really dialed in the right feeling I think with contracting the lats:  I bend my knees and extend my hips so that I can lean the trunk back a little (don't know whether this is cheating like in pulldowns).  I try to pinch my shoulderblades together and the whole back from armpits to traps to middle back tighten up.
   Your "five seconds of pain" is mainly in the grip for me.  I'm going to use gloves for a while on the pullups:  I tore open a callous (sp?) and am upset about that.  I guess I'll be shopping for a matching purse!  ;)
 
   Good workin' out!  :)

Nm0ney34

I'm going to use gloves for a while on the pullups:  I tore open a callous (sp?) and am upset about that.  I guess I'll be shopping for a matching purse!  ;)

Oh lord

Holy crap, Quad God, those hamhocks in your new avi are indeed godly!  And you're not purple anymore.  The pullup bar has that really wicked knurling on it that just rips to shreds.  And I'm doing the isometric hold and slow negatives, all the while having my skin raked off.  I don't see the downside to wearing the gloves if I don't wear them for anything else.  They should still toughen up, no?  I really need to get some chalk!  Good workin' out!

snatchula

Where was the callous?  I know knurling can be a pain, but a ripped callous should be entirely avoidable on pullups.

Okay, if you slightly bend your fingers, you see how there's that pad between palm and fingers.  The callous was on that part of my hand below my right ring finger.  Any help greatly appreaciated!!  :)

Lets keep in mind when that grip gets stronger so does those deadlifts, when the deadlifts get stronger so do squats, when the squats get stronger so does the core, then what happens when the core gets stronger? Everything else does. Funny how a little grip strength can bring so much positive potential carryover into your other lifts.

Thanks guys!  Would chalk help me w/pullups?

Also on the subject of pullups:  I can't even do one body weight rep with a wide grip out past the bend of the bar.  My eyes may get a couple inches above the bar but not my chin.  So I'm not getting full ROM.  Even when I hop up I collapse down to the eyes level w/the bar.  Question is shouldn't be sure I'm doing full ROM to work all of the fibers.  Should I just hop high and come down as slowly as possible even if the top of the rep is a quick drop down to eye/bar level?  Or should I do wide pulldowns or assisted pullups with full ROM until the strength improves.  For the life of me, I wish I knew why I am so very weak at pullups and why progress is so so slow.  It's aggravating! 

Nm0ney34

no dont waste chalk on pull ups, baby jesus will make fun of you.

as for wide grip, it really hits the lats hard. My guess is its your lats that are really lagging when it comes to that.

I thought you had been doing wide grip. IMO unless your doing chins, pull ups should always be wide. I would recommend you do a lot of negatives, just start as high as you can eye level is fine, you can work your way up.

probably 2-3 sets of 5-8 negatives every day, or at the very least after every workout. I think once you start doing widegrip all the time, you will notice a big change in your strength and lats physically.

When your doing rows, if you do them. Keep the grip fairly wide as well. this will also help with your lat development.

Thanks N$!  Pullups do seem the type of exercise I could do very frequently, just with adequate rest between sets.  I'll stick with wide grip pullups only from now on.  I'll do at home too although bar is crappy and I can only go so wide.  For BO rows, my grip is a little wider than hip/shoulder width.  I can widen that out.  Any benefit to reverse grip?  Thx!