Wednesday 21st December 2005
Upper Body Day
Start: 1:45
End: 2:45
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Bench Press(5*6)
3 @ 125kg
2 @ 120kg

Tricep Dip(4*8)
2 @ 20kg
2 @ 17.5kg

Seated Row(5*8)
5 @ 84kg

Bicep Curl(4*8)
4 @ 15kg

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Comments: Did my workout today rather than yesterday, was building my new PC then... too bad I'm still having problems getting it running seamlessly today... I just suck with Ubuntu, and it has no connection to the internet :/

Anyways, thanks for all the feedback guys, and I gotta say that I agree with Cord and Dereck here; it's not really for me. I'm not in the game of making big size increases and, besides, I'm not at a plateau yet - I'm just getting warmed up!

I'm much happier with doing the bench at 65kg now; I was having all kinds of problems with range of motion before. And, speaking of RoM, that's what I've been concentrating on today, and most likely will till the end of the cycle. I just feel that on the bench press, and occasionally on the squat, I've been guilty of not going quite as far as I could. It's time that changed.

Tuesday 27th December 2005
Upper Body Day
Start: 3:45
End: 4:45
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Bench Press(5*8)
2 @ 70kg
3 @ 60kg

Tricep Dip(4*8)
2 @ 20kg
2 @ 18kg

Seated Row (5*8)
5 @ 75kg

Bicep Curl(4*8)
4 @ 14kg

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Comments: wow, two days late with this log... but wasn't it worth it? hehe. Anyways, I'm proud to say that I managed 2 @ 70kg on the bench, so I'm feeling well chuffed about that. I think the time at the other gym may have broken the plateau on my benching. Anyways, I'm back at my old gym for the upper body days + cardio, but I'll go to the new one for lower body (it has a power rack). I may also swap my lower body days to saturday and wednesday, and have upper body on monday and friday. Why? Because the library closes early on wednesday, so I wouldn't be able to get my reading in anyway:)

Tim you are an insperation. Young and from the comments that you have provided I'd say you are farther a head in the game then I was when starting out. You have positive attitude and you are looking at yourself and seeing areas to improve on and doing something about it. Earlier I would ignore things and then later I would have to fix it when it was a habit already. Hard to break habits so best to fix early. And from what you've written you don't seem to be doing this with ego. You are showing what it really is and understanding that the only person that you need to compete with is yourself. Good stuff. A good head on your shoulders. Keep up the good work.

Friday 30th December 2005
Lower Body Day
Start: 6:45
End: 7:45
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Squat(5*6)
2 @ 135kg
3 @ 130kg

Calf Raise(4*8)
4 @ 27.5kg

Ab Crunchy(5*8)
5 @ 17.5kg

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Comments: Swapped back to the ab crunchy, I feel it's doing more for me right now. 135kg squat! YAY! So, yeah, a good session.

Cheers Dereck... And by God, I hurt today Those squats really did it!

Saturday 31st December 2005
Upper Body Day
Start Time: 3:45
End Time: 4:50
-----------------------------------------
Bench Press(5*6)
4 @ 65kg
1 @ 65kg

Tricep Dip(4*8)
3 @ 20kg
1 @ 17.5kg

Compound Row(5*8)
5 @ 84kg

Bicep Curl(4*8)
4 @ 15kg

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Comments: Tough session, can really feel those pecs today...

Tuesday 3rd January 2005
Upper Body Day
Start Time: 7:00
End Time: 8:00
-----------------------------------------
Bench Press(5*6)
1 @ 70kg
4 @ 60kg

Tricep Dip(4*8)
2 @ 20kg
2 @ 18kg

Seated Row(5*8)
5 @ 75kg

Bicep Curl(4*8)
4 @ 16kg

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Comments: Couldn't workout yesterday, it was a bank holiday. Today was pretty decent, I'm going to up the Seated Row to 80kg. I almost got a second set at 70kg on the bench, but I just couldn't get the triceps to engage...

Just a quick stupid question, that doesnt deserve a new post of course. How do you get such a big weight to your shoulders to squat with? Maybe I'm weak but I can not lift 135Kg that high...

Do you have a squat rack or smith machine access? Usually these are used to do squats.

Friday 6th January 2006
Lower Body Day
Start: 5:15
End: 6:20
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Squat(5*6)
2 @ 135kg
2 @ 130kg
1 @ 125kg

Calf Raise(4*8)
4 @ 30kg

Thera Crunch (see comments) (5*8)
5 @ 10kg

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Comments: I tried out an ab machine they had, called the 'Thera Crunch' or maybe with a 'K', I forget. Crap, to be honest, won't be doing that again. Had a proper 'crazy range of motion' session with the squats, got sooo low you just would not believe it... or something A day late, you know how it is.

Squat question - Yup I have a Squat Rack. It means you can put weight on either end before you've loaded it with weight, then load it from the right height. Not really possible to get a quality back squat without one (although I seem to remember Cownose mentioning something about commandeering a bunch of guys to lift the barbell onto his back for him ) If you're wondering about how much it hurts on the shoulders, well, you get used to it. When I started weight lifting I spent 3 months gradually conditioning my shoulders to doing squats on low weights, so I could get the technique right as well.