Exerbabble for 11-10-6

Got sleep for the second night in a row. I feel SO much better now, especially after lifting. Today’s workout:

HGM Phase IV “Gimme a V!”, Workout I, Upper Day

Superset A (rep range 4 – 6)
Wide-Grip Lat Pull-down: 3 @ 60 lbs; 6, 4 @ 120 lbs; 6 @ 108 lbs
BB Incline Press: 6, 6, 5 @ 95 lbs

Superset B (rep range 6 – 10)
T-Bar Row: 5 @ 30 lbs; 4 @ 120 lbs; 8, 7, 6 @ 100 lbs
Neutral-Grip DB Press: 8, 7, 6 @ 40 lbs

Superset C (rep range 10 – 15)
DB Fly: 14, 13, 12 @ 10 lbs
DB Reverse Fly: 14, 13, 12 @ 8 lbs
Poor Man’s Shoulderhorn: 15, 15, 15 @ 5 lbs

Superset D (rep range 10 – 15)
Reverse Crunch: 15, 15, 15 @ 5 lbs
High-to-Low Woodchopper: 15 @ 30 lbs; 15, 15 @ 40 lbs

Pull-ups: 5 @ BW

current bodyweight: 154.2 lbs (- 1.4 lbs, weekly average of 154.8)

I haven’t touched a lat pull-down since High School. I completely guessed at a starting weight of 120. My god, I remember how much I used to struggle at that goddamn exercise. But now I can wide-grip what I would have then considered a decent amount of weight. I struggled on the second set, so I lowered the weight. I’m trying to keep myself relatively upright, and have the bar touch my chest.

I figured I should be able to wide-grip what I can close-grip. I struggled with the fifth rep, so I stopped there. I can get it next workout in leiu of increasing the weight.

I forgot about the rep range when I started T-Bar rows. So I went for a sip of water and did it again. No biggie. I see now why some have claimed t-bar rows are bad because you tend to use leg-drive. I’ll work on holding strict form.

Also initially forgot to use a neutral grip. Felt a little weird, my arms weren’t sure where they were. I just checked my logs from Phase I, and I should be doing a bit more reps than I am. Oh well. I’ll just go for ten next time. Though, could be incline press fatigue.

I’ve never done flies before, so I kept the weight conservative. It felt too conservative, until I hit around 10 reps. It felt really weird? My arms weren’t used to stabilizing like that. I’ll knock out all 15’s next time, and increase the weight. Reverse flies started to make my shoulders burn. (In a nice way.) I was conservative with Poor Man’s Shouldhorn weight, as I wanted to make sure I was doing it right. By the time I finished doing them, I felt pretty refreshed, so I cut my rest periods a little.

I forgot how much reverse crunches burn. In a nice way. I happened to check the videos for form, and the guy happened to lower his legs a little. So I did that. Not all the way down, don’t want to lose the dumbbell at my knees. But wow, that hit my abs hard. I was conservative with high-to-low woodchoppers, thinking I’d need a lower weight than low-to-high woodchoppers. Huh. Felt a little easy. Well. I went conservative because that’s fifteen woodchoppers each side, thirty total. I gotta work up to it!

Overall, I liked this workout. My shoulders felt pretty tired afterwards.

And, I KNOW about my weight. I’ve been freaking starving these past couple weeks, in part because I’ve been so stressed. I just haven’t had time to eat. Well, and because there’s little to eat around campus. I’m thinking of reinstituting pre-sleep cottage cheese. A few hundred calories per day could do me some good. Plus, if you buy into Berardi, P+F is good towards the end of the day. ..I think. Whatever. Starfing down some cottage cheese right before I GOTO bed will help. This is a size phase, and I.. I think it’s time for some goddamn size!

Adjustments: I could lower the pull-downs to 108, but I think I’ll just start at 120 and see whether I can maintain it. I should easily hit 3×6 for incline presses. I’ll try harder for t-bar rows and neutral-grip presses, get it up towards the 10 rep mark. Increase Poor Man’s Shoulderhorn to 10 lbs. It’s double, but I’ll be fine. Pop a 10 lb dumbbell between my legs for reverse crunches. Increase the woodchoppers to 50 lbs.

Anyone want to say a prayer for me before tomorrow’s leg day? : D Sixty second rest periods, bulgarian split squats, traveling lunges, back squats, and I’m dumb enough to add one-legged romanian deadlifts. Let’s hope I know what I’m getting myself into.