Exercise Log 1.30.14 (Dev Day, No Cardio)

Visited a new gym today which was a fun change of pace. Very laid back, very relaxed and a fun experience. The gym is good too but I’ll be sticking with the gym near my work for the time being. If I ever get a disposable income though, I could see myself making this place a secondary membership. It will also be the go-to place should I want to work out with a friend since the day rate is good and no questions asked.

Alright today was developmental day, and that means working on the parts of me that need the most work. Unless otherwise stated, assume every exercise listed has an appropriate warmup first.

Front Squats: After spending a few weeks revising my front squat form to improve it and feel more confident with myself, I finally caught up to my previous (dodgy form) one rep max and I put all my working sets above 135lbs so felt really good! Sets 1 & 2) 5 reps @ 135lbs. Set 3) 5 reps @ 145lbs. Set 4) 3 reps @ 155lbs, 1 rep @ 165lbs (finally with good form!). Sets 5 & 6) 5 reps @ 145lbs (slowed it down a bit, focused on the harder weight). Set 7) 5 reps @ 135lbs. I intended for that final set to be a drop set of like 8-10 reps, but that just wasn’t happening after this squat workout.

Seated Rows: Set 1) 10 reps @ 90lbs. Set 2) 10 reps @ 110lbs. Set 3) 8 reps @ 130lbs (poor form). Set 4) 8 reps @ 120lbs (better form but not great). Set 5) 12 reps @ 90lbs.

“Ab Solo” Machine: This is a goofy machine that you do ab crunches with a ball over your head and then toss it into a net that delivers it back to where you pick it up (at the peak of your ab crunch). It was cool and fun but I was goofing off by being on it, I don’t do a lot of crunch exercises for my core. I did 2 sets till I was sick of it, about 20 reps I’d imagine. It was fun, but it was goofing off more than anything. It did actually work the abs for what it’s worth.

Goofy looking, but fun.

Pull-ups: 3 sets of 8 reps of wide gripped pull ups. Took a lot of pauses to get the pulls right, I’m still a very weak pull up person a lot of the reps probably were not as high as the average person would probably do them.

Goblet Squats: To reinforce my squat patterns, figured I’d do some goblet squats. I think I was extra tired after those squats, so these were slow and not quite as much volume as I’d like. Set 1) 10 reps @ 70lbs. Set 2) 8 reps @ 80lbs. Sets 3 & 4) 6 reps @ 90lbs.

Chest-Focused Dips: Went to the dip machine and did some chest focused dips because I missed the opportunity to on my last chest day (the gym was stupid busy). When doing chest focused dips you want to lean your upper body forward and your bottom part of your body back so you’re leaning into your chest muscles, making it not all tricep work. These were hard, twice I almost tipped myself into a swing and fell at the final rep, which was good. Did 4 sets of 8 reps.

Today is a day off and I’m sorely in need of a night to just chill and relax, so I headed home after this and skipped cardio, but it was a fun time!