Aaron_37's Journal

[Aaron_37]

Hey guys - I figure it's about time I put together a log on here. I've been tracking weights and such for a long time, so I'll try and summarize myself and my progress thus far quickly. I'll get some current pictures up later.

I'm a 6'11" 255lb 20 year old weightlifter in Ottawa. I've been lifting weights since I was 15-16, but only consistently and effectively over the past year. I was very endomorphic for the majority of my childhood, and was set back particularly by lactose intolerance, asthma, growing pains, and vegetarianism to name a few. I've cured or tackled each one of these. I've been playing around with supplements for the past three years.

Throughout this, my weight has swung all over the map from 225 to 265, and continues to do so as I experiment and refine my methods.

I had body image problems, and the idea of a bulk scared the shit out of me initially. As of August 2009, my lifts were poor for someone my size (185x8S,105x8B, 185x8D) but I was determined to change this. I started up a serious bulk (with gainer) and a five-day split. Since then, I've done dirty bulking, the Velocity Diet, and everything in between.

The goal for this log is to continue putting on strength and size until May, at which point I'll re-orient myself and switch up the program/supplements again. I really enjoyed the modified Starting Strength program that is popular out there, so it may be something like that. I'm on a four-day split at the moment, but I occasionally do the arms day twice a week if I eat and rest lots.

March 8th, 2010
A2G Squats - 135x5, 165x5, 185x5, 205x5, 225x3, 135x8
Barbell Step-Ups - 135x8, 135x8, 90x8
Seated Calf Raises - 90x16, 135x15, 180x8+10s, 180x10+15s (the seconds are holding the weight up after the set is over)
Linear Leg Press - 300x30, 480x8, 660x6, 750x5, 840x1
Lying Leg Curls - 80x20, 100x10, 80x12
Standing Calf Raises - 600x20, 600x19, 600x18
Frog Squats - BWx12, BWx12, BWx12
Jumping Squats - 45x8, 45x8, 45x8

March 12th, 2010
Deadlift - 135x5, 225x5, 275x2, 315x5, 335x3, 365x1
Nailed the 365 no problem this week! Really happy about that considering last week. Broke out the straps:
Deadlift - 365x1, 385x1, 405x1, 405x1, 405x1
That makes my 405 record 6/7. I pulled it thrice today. I figure a few more successes and I'll bump to 415 or 425.

This isn't a normal back day... but I felt bored. Regular day has deads, pulldowns, chins, cable rows, pendlay, and shrugs.

March 13th, 2010
Angled Dumbbell Hammer Curls - 20x12, 25x10, 25x10, 25x10
Close-Grip Bench Press - 95x12, 115x9, 125x8
Preacher Curls - 45x10, 55x8, 60x8, 60x8
Endurope Pulls - 70x14, 100-20x8, 120-10x8, 120-10x8, 140x8
Double Drop Bicep Curls - 50/40/30x8, 50/40/30x10, 50/40/30x8
Bench Triceps Dips - 25x12, 35x10+0x4, 35x6+0x3

March 17th, 2010
Barbell Bench - 95x16, 115x12, 135x10, 155x5, 135x9, 115x8, 95x15
Flys - 20x8, 25x8, 25x8, 25x8
Incline Bench - 65x10, 85x10, 105x8, 115x5, 125x5, 85x10
Military Press - 45x8, 65x8, 85x5, 75x5, 55x8
Front Raises - 15x8, 15x8, 15x8
Side Raises - 15x12, 15x12, 15x10

Supplement List:
Multivitamin
Whey Protein Isolate
BCAAs
Creatine Monohydrate
L-Glutamine
L-Arginine
Beta-Alanine
Acetyl L-Carnitine
Caffeine
ZMA
Micellar Casein
Gatorade
Dextrose

[l6873]

Damn, and I though I was tall at 6'6".

[Aaron_37]

Deadlifts - 135x12, 225x10, 275x8*, 315x6*, 335x5*
Rows - 95x12, 115x8, 115x12, 135x10*, 135x10*
Wide-Grip Pulldowns - 75x15, 105x8, 135x6, 180x1*
Narrow-Grip Pulldowns - 75x15, 105x8, 135x6, 210x1*, 225x0.9*
Narrow-Grip Cable Rows - 85x12, 120x8, 120x8, 120x8
Hyperextensions - BWx8, 25x6+BWx6, 25x6+BWx6, BWx12
Assisted Chin-Ups - -150x6, -90x2, -50x4 Negatives
Jump Squats - 55x12, 65x10, 75x8

* = Straps

I'm determined to do a single pull-up or chin-up by the end of the year. I'm not going to let my ridiculously long arms keep me back from doing what I consider to be one of the most effective exercises. Hopefully I can get there! I figure that if I can just about pulldown 225, that I'm not all that far off. I wish my lats were as strong as my erector spinae. Ah well... I'll put up some pictures later.

[Aaron_37]

Angled Dumbbell Hammer Curls - 20x12, 25x10, 25x10, 25x10, 20x12
Close-Grip Bench Press - 95x10, 105x10, 115x8, 125x8, 95x8
Preacher Curls - 45x10, 60x8, 65x7, 60x8, 60x5
Rope Pulldowns - 100x20, 130x9.5, 120x10
Double Drop Bicep Curls - 55/45/35x6, 55/45/35x8, 55/45/35x6
Bench Triceps Dips - BWx12, 25x10+BWx4, 25x9+BWx2, BWx15, BWx12
Pushups - BWx10, BWx10, BWx10

[Aaron_37]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v203/aaronbrook/vd.jpg
These are the results from my January experiment on my modified Velocity Diet. I went from 260 to 235 in 30 days. I gained back some of this after the diet, but I'm still almost as lean as I was at the end of the diet.

[Aaron_37]

Barbell Bench Press - 45x3, 95x12, 115x12, 135x8, 155x3, 165x1, 175x1, 175x1, 175x1, 135x5
Incline Bench Press - 95x8, 115x5, 135x5
Decline Bench Press - 95x8, 115x8, 135x5
Standing Military Press - 45x6, 65x5, 85x5, 95x5
Barbell Shrugs - 90x10, 120x12, 165x10, 225x8, 210x8
Lateral DB Raises - 15x10, 15x10, 20x6

[Aaron_37]

Deadlifts - 135x10, 225x6, 315x5, 345x5*, 385x2*, 415x1*, 425x1*, 425x1*
Hyperextensions - BWx10, 25x8+BWx4, 25x8+BWx4
Cable Rows - 100x10, 140x8, 160x6, 120x10
Wide-Grip Pulldowns - 105x8, 150x4, 195x1
Narrow-Grip Pulldowns - 105x8, 150x3, 195x1

* = Straps
No belt at all. I was feeling really tired after the max effort on the deadlifts, so I cut the workout short to avoid risk of injury. My pulse has been elevated since and my whole body burns in a good way. Really happy with my lifts today... that's +20 on my deadlift. I was 7/8 attempts on 405 over the past month or two, and now I'm 1/1 on 415 and 2/2 on 425!

[Aaron_37]

Angled Dumbbell Hammer Curls - 25x10, 27x10, 30x8, 27x10, 25x9
Rope Pull-downs - 90x12, 120x10, 135x10, 120x9, 90x10
Drop-set Bicep Curls - 55/45/35x8, 55/45/35x10, 55/45/35x8
Bench Tricep Dips - BWx11, 25x10+BWx2, 35x8+BWx2, BWx12
Close-Grip Bench Press - 95x12, 115x8, 125x5, 95x10
Preacher Curls - 45x15, 65x5, 65x6, 55x7
A2G Jump Squats - 65x10, 65x10, 65x8 (Just for fun :D)

[Aaron_37]

I tried skipping caffeine at this morning's workout to see how it would affect my performance. I ended up sweating a whole lot more, but I didn't notice a whole lot else. I'm now obviously really tired as well.

A2G Back Squats - 45x5, 135x10, 185x5, 205x5, 225x3, 245x1, 265x1
Straight-Leg DLs - 135x12, 155x8, 185x5
Seated Calf Raises - 90x17, 135x17, 180x10, 180x10
Linear Leg Press - 300x10, 480x8, 660x6, 660x6
Standing Calf Raises - 600x40, 600x40 (I did these bouncing with small ROM)
A2G Jump Squats - 70x8, 70x9, 70x10
Frog Squats - BWx12, BWx15, 25x14+BWx6, BWx20

[Aaron_37]

Nobody really seems to care about my log, but I'm not going to let that stop me... My grip training is going really well. I got 405 up 90% of the way and was just short of lockout, so I'm really happy about that considering that I could only grip 365x1 in early March. My max in September was 235, so things are really coming along for me. For strapped lifts, I'm now 4/4 on 425! I'll move up to 435/445 by early May hopefully.

My grip is growing faster than my erector spinae now, so hopefully I'll be able to be strapless by the time in the mid-high 400s. Next week will be high-rep deads, so we'll see if I can nail 335x8/365x5/385x3 then.

Deadlifts - 135x6, 225x6, 315x4, 365x1, 385x1, 405x0.9, 425x1*, 425x1*, 365x5*, 315x2*
Hyperextensions - BWx8, 25x8+BWx4, 25x12
T-Bar Rows - 45x10, 90x9, 80x8
Wide-Grip Pulldowns - 120x8, 135x6, 120x6
Narrow-Grip Pulldowns - 120x8, 135x6, 120x6
Barbell Shrugs - 135x8, 185x8, 185x10
Squat Jumps - 75x10, 80x10

Half hour on the exercise bike and some stretching. *=Straps+Belt

[LondonMuscle]

Hi Aaron, great progress so far!

I think your log would be more interesting if you shared your current diet, instead of or perhaps in addition to your training... just a suggestion

Regardless, whether ppl post or not should have absolutely no effect on how u continue on with your diet... keep going brother

[Aaron_37]

Wow... I forgot I even made this! It's been quite a while, but I've made some serious strength developments. My diet's still fairly unpredictable, but once I have it solidified, I'll definitely post up a sample day for analysis. Thanks for the feedback, LM, it means a lot to me.

I switched over from my unusual program to a StrongLifts 5x5 one, because I was tired of making excuses for why I was so weak on my grip, squats, and bench. To date, here are my updated big 3 lifts from February/March:

Deadlifts: I was maxing out at around 400LBS unstrapped on the deadlift (425 strapped), and 315x5 because of severely pathetic grip. To date, I've pulled 445 unstrapped no gloves with belt successfully a few times, and have built my grip up to 365x5 chalk no straps no belt no gloves last session. Hoping to get to 405x5x1 unstrapped by the end of the summer. From there, I'm shooting for 2xBW max.

Squats: Before, I was struggling to bang out 205x5x1or2 with an UGLY max of 265. With the 5x5 three times a week, I've got that built up to 235x5x5 all the way down, which is saying something for someone my height. Hoping to get to 275x5x5 or more by the end of the summer. Will retest my max at some point as well...

Bench: Definitely the biggest improvement of the three! Really much happier with it now. My old max was 135x8 and a 175. I got my 5x5 up to 175 already, and my current tested max is 205, but there's probably a little more in the tank by now. Hoping to eventually get to 225x5x5, but I'll settle for 205 if I can't make it just yet.

Still hovering around 260LBS most days... what I really like about being so tall is that it's impossible to tell what I weigh. Most people guess 230 in my gym. The lightest I've been (at 6'11") was 229, and the heaviest was 274... and although it's obvious to all of us on the board, most people can barely notice.

I'll get some updated pictures as well... hopefully I stay on track with my log updating this time haha. Special thanks go to all of the people at TrueSupplements, who do a great job of supplementing (hahaha) my performance, as well as all of the people who choose to read my thread and provide infinitely valuable information in other topics!

[Aaron_37]

A2G Squats - 240x5x5
Sumo Pendlay Rows - 165x5x5 (Basically Wide-stance for more stability)
Overhead Press - 100x5x5
WG Pulldowns - 120x8x3
NG Seated Cable Rows - 120x8x3
Barbell Shrugs - 185x5x3
Upright Row - 65x5x5
Reverse Crunches - 15x3

My forearms were totally murdered by the end of this workout, but fortunately I restocked my chalk supply BEFORE today, otherwise I'd be really suffering. Was in a bit of a rush, and wanted to play around with some accessory work on top of the SL 5x5 base. Squats were a 4/5, a couple shaky reps, but everything still went really well. I love how my calves, quads, glutes, and hamstrings get so much stimulation from the frequency of squatting. Obviously the deadlifting helps with a little of that as well. But but not having to suffer through set after set after set of frustratingly boring leg iso-work is going to be nice for a few more weeks. I was tired of having my shoulders/traps going numb on standing calf raises. I did super-sets to save time and really burn out my back on almost everything today: Rows/Press, PD/SCR, and SH/UR.

Monday is attempting 245x5x5SQ, 180x5x5BP, and 375x5x1DL with a little core work and perhaps assistance work if I have time/energy. I pulled the 365x5x1 on Wednesday without chalk, so this should hopefully be much easier...

[Aaron_37]

A2G Squats - 245x5x5
Bench Press - 180x5x5
Deadlifts - 370x5x1
Reverse Crunches - 20x1
SS1: Cable Crossovers - 130x8x3 / Pushups - 8x3
SS2: Pulldowns - 130x8x3 / Seated Cable Rows - 130x8x3

[Aaron_37]

Wednesday:
A2G Squats - 250x5x5
Sumo Pendlay Rows - 175x5x5
Overhead Press - 105x5x5
Decline Weighted Situps - 45x10x3
SS1: Pulldowns - 140x8x3 / Seated Cable Rows - 140x8x3
SS2: Shrugs - 195x8x3 / Upright Rows - 75x8x3

Friday:
A2G Squats - 255x5x5
Bench Press - 185x5x5
Deadlifts - 375x5x1
SS1 - Cable Crossovers - 140x8x3 / Pushups - 8x3
SS2 - Shrugs - 205x8x3 / Upright Rows - 80x8x3