Exercise Log 2.14.14 (Dev Day, No Cardio)

If you want ladies to show you some lovin’, you gotta show your body some lovin’, at least that’s how I look at it. I finally felt closer to 100% after a few days of feeling a bit sick, so I needed to have a nice long workout day to make up. Leg day and arm day were seriously compromised, and that’s why I have Developmental day exists in my routine, to make up shortcomings. So I hit legs and arms hard.

First up, my makeup day for legs.

Goblet Squats: Set 1) 10 reps @ 60lbs. Set 2) 10 reps @ 70lbs. Set 3) 10 reps @ 80lbs. Set 4) 10 reps @ 90lbs. Set 5) 16 reps @ 60lbs.

Front Squats: The goblet squats warmed me up for the front squats, so instead I just wanted to work up for a heavy rep. Set 1) 5 reps @ 135lbs. Set 2) 5 reps @ 145lbs. Set 3) 3 reps @ 155lbs (good form), failed twice to hit 165lbs. Wasn’t sure what was wrong, perhaps I lost a little energy doing so many goblet squats. I was trying to focus on depth and form, so perhaps I was pushing those angles too hard.

Overhead Squats: I wanted to learn a new kind of squat, the overhead squat, with a bare barbell. For some reason though my body just didn’t know what to do. Perhaps with a few repeated viewings of the below video I’ll figure it out, but I couldn’t acquire the necessary depth to fully squat while holding the barbell so high above my head. I also had issues locking my shoulders. Mainly just a newbie at this form of squat. I tried 6-8 reps, but the end result was too poor for me to truly count any of them. It’s a difficult exercise but like the front squat, it’s form corrective. Whatever is going on in my neuromuscular system that is making this movement confusing or bad will improve with time if I learn the pattern. I might be better off finding a pvc pipe though and doing it that way, rather than even the bare barbell, as silly as it sounds.

Strength Camp e-Coach Chris makes the overhead squat seem easy, but it’s pretty damn hard.

Hamstring Isolation Curl Machine (slow eccentric): I didn’t do much hamstrings on my short leg day, so I’m doing some makeup. I decided to slow down the tempo to make it feel more effective, and it worked really well. Set 1) 10 reps @ 65lbs. Set 2) 10 reps @ 80lbs. Set 3) 10 reps @ 95lbs. Set 4) 10 reps @ 110lbs. Set 5) 8 reps @ 125lbs. Had a good burn by the end, my last two reps were kind of dodgy so I paced it just right.

Romanian Deadlifts: I like this exercise, great for glutes and hamstrings. 3 sets of 10 reps @ 110lbs. This video by Scott Herman helps illustrate this effective exercise… although I admit I had it confused with the “stiff legged deadlift” for some time. He also has a good explanation on the difference between the two in case you are curious to know.

Be sure not to go too low in this movement, as soon as you feel the hamstrings lengthen, that’s when you want to come back up.

This video illustrates the difference between the Romanian and Stiff-Legged Deadlift, they’re easy to confuse.

Bulgarian Split Squats: These are great for the glutes I find. 4 sets of 10 reps each leg @ 60lbs.

Standing Lunges: A great exercise to pair with the split squat. 4 sets of 10 reps each leg @ 60lbs.

Okay that was all for legs, went on to arms next.

Seated Concentration Curl Cable Machine: I usually use this machine for warmups, but decided to do heavy curls with it today instead. After standard warmups (this was my first bicep movement today) I went to it. Set 1) 6 reps each arm @ 90lbs. Sets 2 & 3) 6 reps each arm @ 80lbs, slower eccentric movement. Set 4) 8 reps ea. @ 70lbs. Set 5) 10 reps ea. @ 60lbs (extremely slow eccentric movement on the final set and even slower on the final reps, 5-10 second down).

Tricep Extension Machine: Again after standard warmups, I did another machine isolation exercise I usually use only for warming up, and focused on the slower tempo and heavier weights. Set 1) 6 reps @ 90lbs. Sets 2 & 3) 8 reps @ 80lbs. Set 4) 10 reps @ 70lbs. Set 5) 12 reps slow tempo @ 60lbs.

French Press w/ Underhand Gripped Bicep Curls: Decided to do a superset to speed things up and make it a little more intense. 3 sets of 12 reps presses / 10 reps curls. Started at a 1-1-3 tempo and descended to a 1-1-6 tempo, and greater on the last few reps.

Chin-ups w/ Dips: A nice way to finish any bicep/tricep workout. 3 sets of 8 reps each.

That was definitely a 3 hour exercise, felt real good after. The weather is really a bummer though, missing the Saturday morning 10K I had planned. Am going to have to take any opportunity that comes up to catch up on my training for spring’s half marathon. Anyways, hope you all enjoy your weekends!