PumaKrieg's Journal

Started Westside for skinny bastards so i thought i should post this to keep track.
 
Goal: To get back to the records i set on two madcows ago at 180 lbs 
 
Squat: 225x5
Deadlift: 240x5
Bench: 215x5
OH Press 125x5
 
Current Weight of 165 and dropping daily.

Monday: July 20th, 2009

Week 1:

Barbell Bench Press 3x190x5 pretty easy going up by 2.5-5 pounds next week wasnt used to not ramping
Incline Dumbbell Press 65x10, 70x6, 70x5 was supposed to go for 6-10 reps so will use 70s for next 3 sets
Bent-over Barbell Row 95x12, 100x11, 95x12, 95x11 going up to 100 for next week
Bent-over dumbbell rear delt flyes 2x20x12 don't know what to think of these
Standing Barbell Russian twists 3x80x12 new exercise, loved it going up

Wednesday: July 22th, 2009

Week 1:

Front Squats 1x160x5 really easy, might go up 10 pounds
Walking Lunges 3x65x15 per leg hated these with a passion
Romanian Deadlift 3x185x6 first time doing, unsure of form asked for help trainer didn't know will drop ten pounds
Plate Pinching 3x 2 10lb plates x failure fun, made it into a competition

Friday: July 24th, 2009

Week 1:

Barbell Bench (High Rep) 135x20, 135x19, 135x16 am i doing this right it was this, 95 lb or 185 according to chart
Barbell Skull Crushers 70x10, 70x9, 70x7 will keep same weight and go for 10 all three sets as i normally do more
Pullups 4xwhatever didn't count as im not very good at them, stopped doing armstrong program and dropped a lot
Seated Dumbbell Shoulder Press 50x5, 2x45x7 supposed to do ten didnt go for a while so didnt know i would do so bad, will keep 45s and try going for 3x10
Barbell Curls 75x6, 70x8, 70x6 wow... last friday i did 80x8 what happened? Guess im staying with 70s very disappointing
Abdominal Circuit: I did weighted planks and some other things like decline situps but i really didnt know what to do with this, any suggestions plz?

Monday: July 27th, 2009

Week 2:

Barbell Bench 195x5, 195x3, 195x2 wow really sucked; body not reacting well to cut. Same weight next week
Incline Dumbbell Press 3x70x7 getting that balance back will go for 3x70x9
Bent-Over Barbell Rows 2x95x12, 2x95x11 going to do same weight guess i suck at these
Bent-Over dumbbell rear delt flyes 2x20lb dumbbellsx12 easy but tried doing 25s and was way too hard, will just increase reps until i get to about 15 then increase weight
Standing Barbell Russian Twists 3x82.5x12 will go up to 3x85x12 for next week

Any advice or comments is appreciated; I do have a question for anyone out there who might be following this. I'm only supposed to do my first exercise each day to "failure". How close am i supposed to be on the others, because i basically just do as many reps as i can of each exercise because i know when i wont be able to get the next rep. Isn't that pretty much as close to failure without actually achieving it?

Wednesday: July 29th, 2009

Week 2:

Front Squats 1x170x5 somewhat easy, will go up 5 pounds for next week
Walking Lunges 1x65x15 per leg, 2x70x15 per leg will go up to 3x80x15
Romanian Deadlift 175x6, 180x6, 175x6 need chalk, had problems with overhand grip with the 180; normally dont have that problem with regular deads until the mid 200s
Plate Pinching 3x 2 10lb plates x failure fun, made it into a competition; the 10s are too easy the 25 pound plates are too hard

Hope to weigh in at 160 by saturday. Will finish the cut once at 155. I'd really like some tips or comments kind of disappointing nobody cares  

PK,
   Nice journal!  I like your comments (in blue).  Nice to have a short summary of how the set went and thoughts for next time.  You're ahead of me on pretty much all of your lifts, but at a level I may hope to achieve someday, unlike many of the beasts on this site!  ;)  What are plate pinches?  For grip strength?  For abs I prefer some form of weighted crunches (cable, or decline bench w/weight plate), hip thrusts, and bicycles for the obliques.  If you have access to a good tough Pilates class, I'd recommend that.  Refresh my memory a little:  I see you're cutting at 165 from 180.  Only 10 more to go!  Looking shredded yet?  Good workin' out!  :)  Any recent pics?

eh my camera sucks and doesn't do me justice. I see one thing in the mirror and the picture comes out completely different.

The one thing that drives me crazy is my squats, both front and back. I know my back squat sucks ( i have no clue about good front squat numbers but i just went on bodybuilding.com and guys my weight are reporting doing my backsquat numbers for front squat so i guess it sucks). I know i was born with some problem with my knees; ligaments not completely straight or something i don't remember exactly but its not noticable (as in i wouldn't know if i haven't been told) but my numbers just suck despite squatting for just under 3 years. My deadlifts aren't really good either but i think thats a lack of chalk and that i always do overhand; as soon as i get chalk and get comfortable with mixed grip i bet i might be pulling 50 pounds more for the same amount of reps. 

I'll go take some pics and see but i might have to just borrow someones camera or something 

Thanks for the comment JMBS i appreciate it 

oh and yea plate pinches are for grip and thus they get that forearm burn quite a bit too

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_uzt1brByPk&feature=related

Friday: July 31st 2009

Week Two:

Barbell Bench Press (High Rep) 135x23, 135x13, 135x12 wow burned out fast, don't know if thats good or bad but chances are bad since i did less reps total
Barbell Skull Crushers 3x70x10 the routine says to do ten of these and i was able to do it; means i should go up to 75 even if i cant get 10 right?
Pullups 4xWhatever most i got on a set was 5; however when i go home and do them at night i can get 8-10 guess its just because im tired
Seated Dumbbell Shoulder Press 2x45sx10, 1x45x8 got so close to getting 3 sets of ten will get it next week for sure
Barbell Curls 70x8, 70x6, 70x8 well im hoping its the program thats making me weak on these just because im already tired and not me getting weaker. I think it might be because i had a friend come along and do the program and he did a lot less on these than normally when we did madcows however he hasn't worked out for a week and a half so that could of came into play as well.
 
For abs I did bicycle kicks and leg lifts for something like that. Also did something similar to captains chairs but instead of bringing knees in i kept legs out and tried to basically kick them as high as i can without using momentum/swinging.

advice and tips ARE appreciated.

Thanks!

Okay I have a question. I am using the westside for skinny bastards template from http://www.defrancotraining.com/articles/38-articles/60-westside-for-skinny-bastards-part1.html

On Friday there isnt the option of standing overhead barbell press. Why is that? I would prefer that so much more to the dumbbell presses im doing now.

Monday: August 3rd, 2009

Week Three:

Barbell Bench Press 195x5, 195x4, 195x3 disappointing to say the least; i wasn't planning on adding weight until i got 3 sets of 5 but I don't like using the same weight for so long. Opinions please on whether i should do same weight or microload to 197-198.
Incline Dumbbell Bench Press 70sx9, 70sx7, 70sx8 same weight next week hopefully i will get 3x10
Bent-over Barbell Rows 4x95x12 going to go up to 100 finally
Bent-over dumbbell rear delt flyes 2x20x14 will do 2x20x15 next week
Standing Barbell Russian Twists 3x85x12 hard going to keep same weight

Plate pinches are really tough, I saw a guy do 6 10's for like 15 seconds pretty crazy.

IMO do the same weight until you get it.

Goals by end of 2009:
Bench 205
Squat 255 ATG
Squat Clean 185

"There is no elevator to success, you must take the stairs."

connelly


Plate pinches are really tough, I saw a guy do 6 10's for like 15 seconds pretty crazy.

IMO do the same weight until you get it.

I've gone w/o straps for a week and this weekend my hands felt like they had arthritis or something.  Pretty painful.  Common or am I just getting old?

Both?

Just messing.

Im holding the two tens i have probably for 2-3 minutes lol. When i try moving up to 25s though i can only hold it for about 30 seconds and it doesn't feel like it does anything. I might just add an extra set with the 25s to practice them.

JMBS

connelly


Plate pinches are really tough, I saw a guy do 6 10's for like 15 seconds pretty crazy.

IMO do the same weight until you get it.

I've gone w/o straps for a week and this weekend my hands felt like they had arthritis or something.  Pretty painful.  Common or am I just getting old?

I wouldn't say getting arthritis is common doing that, you might wanna check that out though if you legitimately think you have arthritis, but your definitly gonna feel it after your used to having straps support you if you go without them. I can't really speak about getting older, since I am younger than most of the people on here, but I wouldn't think it has to do with your age. Was it pain or soreness? I wouldn't really expect pain as much as I would expect you to be really sore.

Goals by end of 2009:
Bench 205
Squat 255 ATG
Squat Clean 185

"There is no elevator to success, you must take the stairs."

I would describe it as tendon stiffness, and knucke tenderness.  I don't feel it at the moment, however.  I think I felt it when I woke up, when I hadn't moved my fingers all night I guess.

Yeah, I wouldn't worry about it, but definitly keep an eye on it.

PK, wow 2-3 minutes, I think I would get bored doing that tbh. If you can do 2 25's 30 seconds then I would probably try to add a last set in there doing that, I mean it can't really hurt. Always a good idea to up the weight when possible, the grip strength will really carry over to deadlifts.

Goals by end of 2009:
Bench 205
Squat 255 ATG
Squat Clean 185

"There is no elevator to success, you must take the stairs."

Heh i have friends that workout with me so we make it a competition. Part of the reason i don't do 25s is b/c they really cant hold it for more than 10 seconds. I definently think i will add in a set of 25s then slowly convert over week by week.
 
nice to actually have people commenting

Thought i'd post some images of what i look like. The camera sucks badly and doesn't do me any justice so i will try to get a better camera soon. Found out that im actually 5'8 and my scale was low which im actually happy about because that means i have more muscle mass than i thought. Took these pictures after breakfast; weighed in properly at 168 in the morning.

Attached Image(s)

what body fat % am i at now?

Attached Image(s)

Also just to note; the first image in each attachment is relaxed.

Wednesday: August 5th, 2009
 
Week Three:
 
Front Squats 1x175x4 with belt first time using belt; uncomfortable really
Wakling Lunges 3x70x15 per leg tough stuff
Romanian Deadlift 1x180x6, 2x185x6 my grip slipping is starting to piss me off
Plate Pinching 1x25s, 3x10s

Didn't feel like a good workout really and my grip really sucked for some reason. I've never deloaded so i'm considering doing that soon; perhaps next week or the week after. I'm thinking one week where i massively reduce the weight and slightly less volume and another week where i take off completely. Not sure which to do first though. Also as far as Friday goes, i'm thinking of working with 185 for 3 sets rather than 135 for the twenty something reps i get. Not sure though.

Hey, your chest is looking good. Seems you have the "No definition in arms" problem like me!

Heh. My delts and tris look pretty good actually but my biceps have always been my weakness by far. They have taken the heaviest toll on this cut too; with my arms going from nearly 16 inches to 14.5 and my bicep curl numbers have gone down by about 20 pounds. I also have really long arms for my height, it helped me when boxing and wrestling but doesn't really help me in weightlifting.

Got back into the weight game this week and im starting low then building back up.

Monday August 24th 2009

Bench 5x5 Ramped Final Set: 160
Chin 3xAs Many as Possible
Tricep PD: 3x70x8 (that 70 varies from one place/machine to another though)
Lat Raises: 5x15x12 I actually used 20s for the most part but my form started to break down

Wednesday August 26th 2009

Back Squat 5x5 Ramped Final Set: 170
Deadlift 3x5 Ramped Final Set: 185
Ab Work

Friday August 28th 2009

Bench Press Static Weight 5x5x160
Dips 3x12-15 these are really easy but they hurt my shoulders ALOT no matter how far down i go.
Row Static Weight 5x5x95

Monday August 31st 2009

Bench 5x5 Ramped Final Set: 180 odd my wrists gave in and actually bent back while i was benching and it hurt a lot. Don't know why that happened, weak wrists or something i guess. I wasn't even using heavy weights.
Chin 3xFailure
Tricep PD 3x120x8 120 is a little too easy 130 is too hard. Don't have anything in between.
Lat Raises 5x15x12-15

This is basically my little 2-3 month trial to see how i respond to low volume. On a side note, i've tried getting in about half a gallon to a gallon of milk a day but it just ruins me. I'm lactose intolerant and i take enzymes but i'm wondering if i should be upping it with increased consumption as there is more substrate being added to be broken down? Extra enzymes shouldn't cause any harm i would think. Please don't go off and suggest me to drop milk and eat fish like tuna though because i am allergic to pretty much all kinds of seafoods including a really bad reaction with tuna. I've started getting shots recently for my allergies as I was also allergic to 80% and about 65ish% of the common grasses and trees of florida respectively.

Wednesday September 2nd 2009

Squat 5x5 Ramped to 185x5 i suck at squats i need bands big time
Deadlift 3x5 Ramped to 205x5 i had some lady who worked at the Y come up to me and complain about me damaging the floor on the negative. Felt EXTREMELY strong on these today though so there is no doubt that my deadlift is going through the roof with the usage of chalk.
Ab Work

Nice and easy, next week and the week after it gets hard. I'm really disappointed in my squats though; i have a huge amount of knee drift no matter how much i try to throw my knees out. My hips tend to shift one way too. Squats just aren't for me I really think.