JH's Strength/Mass Training (August - January)

Just come back from a crazy month in Thailand and have sadly made some losses in strength :-( the experience was well worth the money and the month away as it was the best month of my life, but now there is some hard work to be done in rehab and then back to big gains!
Previous PB's from my last log were;
SQ - 120kg
BP - 90kg
DL - 180kg
@ 86kg BW
 
Feel a lot weaker than when I left but that was to be expected. No more cutting until January now, on a 6 day plan, split between 3 days strength training and 3 days mass training. Not shifting heavy amounts of weight yet so I feel my body will be able to cope... anyway on with the training. :-)

First session back so today was sort of a tester session to see where I'm at strength wise and how much work needs to be done to get back to where I left off!
Thursday 25th August
Bench Press - 60kg x5, 75kg x3, 80kg x3, 85kg x1, xF
Military Press - 20kg x5, 40kg x3, 50kg x3, 60kg x3
Tricep Dips - x10, x10, x8
Incline DB Press - 20kg 3x8
 
Was ok, only lost 5kg off my previous 1 RM and I felt as though I could have managed x2 with 85kg if my grip hadn't slipped on the 2nd press. Still 85kg x1 is the new benchmark.
Military Press felt fine, I could have managed 5 reps each time, but didn't want to burn myself out. 60kg x5 is do-able, might need some work to complete a full 5x5 again though.
Dips felt very easy strangely enough! 10 is a lot of reps for me. Not much to say about Incline DB.
Moving forwards.... 

Friday 26th August
Deadlift - 100kg x3, 130kg x3, 150kg x1, 170kg x F (ANNOYING!), 160kg x1, 140kg x3, x1 (Knackered by this point and grip was failing).
Lateral Pull-Downs - 80kg x8, 90kg x8, 100kg x8
Bent Over DB Rows - 30kg 2x8
Pull-Ups - 2x4
 
Felt pretty weak in this session, but still went for it as best I could. Seems I have lost 20kg off my DL :-S but maybe I'll cope with 170kg on a good day. The rest was pretty sh*t to be honest so not much else to say other than lots of work to be done!

New plan starting today, a brief summary of the plan below;
Day 1 - Back & Biceps A 
Day 2 - Chest & Triceps A + Shoulders B
Day 3 - Legs A
Day 4 - Back & Biceps B
Day 5 - Shoulders A + Chest & Triceps B
Day 6 - Legs B
Day 7 - REST
Workout A = Strength Training
Workout B = Mass Training 
 
Week 1
Monday 29th August
Deadlift - 60kg 2x5 (Pulled my left hamstring on the 1st F@*king warm up set here! not happy!)
             - 100kg x3, 120kg 3x5, 130kg x5
Pull-Ups - x2 (Pulled left forearm muscle... what the hell?!?)
Bent Over BB Row - 60kg x5, 70kg 3x5
Hammer Curls - 17.5kg x6, 20kg 3x6
Lateral Pull-Down - 100kg 3x6
 
Was pretty irritated with this seeing as it was my first proper session back, two injuries in a row preventing me from going for the 140kg 5x5 DL and only 2 reps on PU's... pretty annoyed and wanted to stop straight away but stuck at it. Tomorrow is a new day. :-)

Tuesday 30th August
Bench Press - 60kg 2x5, 75kg x5, x4, x3, x4, x4 (ugh, feel so weak!)
Close Grip Bench Press - 40kg x3, 60kg 3x3
Incline Bench Press - 60kg 2x5, 65kg x3
Tricep Dips - 3x6
Skullcrushes - 30kg 4x5
 
Not too bad a session really, absolutely caned my triceps. Was frustrated with BP but again I'm expecting too much of myself. I can only get stronger from here so just need to be patient! Brought some CGBP work in now too which was quite fun, haven't done Incline BP for a very long time so was an interesting switch from dumbbells. Skulls felt a lot easier than expected, good considering the amount of work done on triceps beforehand. :-)

Wednesday 31st August
Back Squat - 20kg 2x5, 50kg x5, 60kg x5, 70kg 4x5 (comfortable, really nice form on these so pretty happy!)
Front Squat - 50kg x3, 60kg 2x3 (again, felt good!)
BB Lunges - 40kg 4x6 (still very explosive after all those squats)
Straight Leg Deadlifts - 70kg 4x4
Leg Raises - 3x15
Squat Jumps - 3x10
 
Really enjoyed today's session even though I was dreading it, since it was the first leg session. Learnt my lesson from the past few days to not be greedy and just take it easy getting back into the lifts again, so stuck at 70kg BS and focused on keeping form good and going very deep. Loving the FS again, feels like I haven't lost any strength in these! :-) Going to keep the weight light still and just gradually increase and keep my form near perfect as best I can. Brought in some SLDL's  which are also a new exercise for me... felt alien to me at first but after hammies loosened up a bit these felt good! Nice few sets of 10 jumps squats to kill myself and get the testosterone pumping massively at the end! Good session! :-)

Thursday 1st September
Deadlift - 60kg 2x5, 100kg 3x8
Bent Over DB Row - 35kg 3x8
Seated Row - 50kg x10, 60kg 2x10
Preacher Curls Negative - 28kg 3x10
Zottman Curls - 12.5kg 3x8
 
Good mass training session today, :-) really focused on the negative part of each lift. Nearly died! The DOMS all over my legs meant I had to spend about 20 minutes warming up for the DL's but legs coped fine once I got going. Felt like I could have gone heavier for my DB Row's but was being conservative! Could barely move my biceps after the beasting I gave them on the preachers and zottman's. Enjoyable session!

Watch your elbows with preacher negatives, easy to giev yourselt some jip there.

cheers for the advice, will keep an eye on that! :) I did notice a lot of pressure around the elbow joints. Any ideas for a suitable replacement for Seated Rows? In my gym the whole stack of weights isn't heavy enough even for 10 reps :/
I'm thinking maybe some bench pulls will do the trick?

Bit of a mixed session today, some heavy shoulder work followed by mass for chest and triceps.
Friday 2nd September
Military Press - 20kg 2x10, 40kg x5, 55kg 5x5
Wide Grip Pull-Ups - 3x4
Lateral Pull-Down - 100kg 3x6
Bench Press (Partial/No lock out) - 20kg x10, 40kg x8, 50kg x8, 55kg 2x8
Incline DB Press - 22.5kg 3x8
DB Pec Flye's - 12.5kg 3x10
Triangle Push-Ups - 3x8
Tricep Cable Pull-Down - 20kg 3x10
 
Lots of exercises done today! Enjoyed the session though. MP felt relatively easy so that will hopefully be back up to 60kg in the next few weeks. Wide Grip pull-ups were really tough! Struggling with those but can only improve from now on! Got a nice pump going from the partial BP and flye's as well. Finished off the triceps with some pulldowns and triangle push ups. Definitely going to feel the DOMS tomorrow. Rest day as it's a friends 21st birthday. Back to work on monday with some heavy pulls!

Week 2
Monday 5th September
Deadlift - 60kg x5, 100kg x3, 120kg x2, 140kg 5x5 (happy with this!)
Bent Over BB Row - 70kg 3x5
Close Grip Pull-Ups - 3x6
Lateral Pull-Downs - 100kg 3x6
 
Pleased with today's session! Managed to complete 5x5 with 140kg again, if everything stays on track I should be near enough to 5x5 with 150kg again in 2-3 weeks. :-) Then pushing forwards with the pb's from then on! :-D Back was exhausted after these however, felt a slight arch coming in during the last 2 sets but nothing major. Didn't want to push the weight up for the BB Row's after this as my back was so fatigued I didn't want to risk injury. Pull-Ups felt really quick and easy though! Finished off with Lat Pull-Downs to knacker myself out completely. Enjoyed today's session, big improvements on last weeks heavy Deadlift session! Resisted going out drinking tonight in the hope that my Bench tomorrow will have dramatically improved from last weeks shocking display! 

Liking the new program. Lots of monster session. Benched rows are good to I love them and nice to see some wide grip pull ups!

JEHowson


cheers for the advice, will keep an eye on that! :) I did notice a lot of pressure around the elbow joints. Any ideas for a suitable replacement for Seated Rows? In my gym the whole stack of weights isn't heavy enough even for 10 reps :/
I'm thinking maybe some bench pulls will do the trick?

Just a small adjustment and using a dumbell one arm at a time can help as you can position better and angle the elbow into a more comfy position then with a preacher curl bar if that is what you have used before now - might be enough.

Tuesday 6th September
Bench Press - 20kg 2x10, 50kg x4, 77.5kg 5x5 (MUCH better than last week!!)
Decline Bench Press - 60kg x8, 62.5kg x8, 65kg x8
Close Grip Bench Press - 65kg x3, 67.5kg x3, 70kg x3 (pb)
Tricep Dips - 3x7
*Superset*
Skullcrushes - 20kg 3x10
Hammer Curls - 22.5kg 2x6, 20kg x6 (Assistance left over from yesterday that I didn't finish).
 
Very happy with today's session, massive improvement on BP compared to last week! Up by 2.5kg and a full 5x5. Up to 80kg next week! Almost there again... Massively improved on CGBP by 10kg. Feeling my triceps are strong and maybe chest is my sticking point in terms of progression on bench? Tricep dips felt easy and supersetted it with skulls to wear them out completely. On with Squats tomorrow! :-)

Wednesday 7th September
Back Squat - 20kg 2x5, 40kg x5, 60kg x3, 75kg x5, 77.5kg 4x5
Front Squat - 40kg x3, 60kg x3, 65kg 2x3
BB Lunges - 45kg 3x6
Arnold Press - 12.5kg x8, 15kg x8, 17.5kg x8
Lateral Raises - 10kg 3x8
Front Raises - 8kg 3x8
Leg Raises - 3x15
 
Pushed the BS weight up by 7.5kg and it still felt pretty comfortable/easy! Main focus right now is still making sure form is good and I stay tight. May switch to box squats next week to make sure I'm properly sitting back into the squat and not letting quads dominate my positioning when ATG. Still good effort! FS felt easy again, nice explosiveness in BB Lunges and enjoyed a good pump in the shoulders when doing a bit of mass training. :-) sweet session!
Awesome new pb to Jingwei today too, Back Squatting a nice 127.5kg triple! :-) 

Thursday 8th September
Deadlift - 20kg 2x8, 60kg 2x5, 105kg 3x8
Straight Leg Deadlift - 70kg 4x4
Bent Over DB Row - 37.5kg 3x8
Benched Rows - 50kg bag 3x8
DB Preacher Curls Negative - 15kg 3x8
Zottman Curls - 12.5kg 3x8
 
Got a good muscle pump from this session! Felt like my lower back muscles were going to explode after the DL's. Powered through the DB Row's relatively easily! :-) Tried some benched rows instead of seated, was quite tough! Biceps inflated to about double the size from the pump I got from the preachers and zottmans too. Enjoyable hypertrophy session! :-P

Friday 9th September
Military Press - 20kg 2x10, 40kg x2, 50kg x1, 60kg x1, 65kg x F, 62.5kg x1, 65kg x1 (pb)
Wide Grip Pull-Ups - 3x4 (felt easier than last time)
Bench Press (Partial/No lock out) - 20kg x12, 40kg x6, 60kg 3x8
Incline DB Press - 25kg 3x8 (pb)
DB Pec Flye's - 12.5kg 3x10
Triangle Push-Ups - 3x8
Tricep Cable Pull-Down - 22.5kg 3x10
 
Mixed it up a bit today and decided to do some 1RM work for my MP. Really struggled to hit 65kg which is strange as I can hit 60kg for 5 reps. :-S I'm thinking maybe it's down to my central nervous system not being used to this type of training as I do it very rarely, a similar situation to my Squats. A pb nonetheless! Rest of the workout felt easier than last week's too! :-) Pushed the weight up in a couple of exercises and got a good pump going! 

Week 3
Monday 12th September
Deadlift - 20kg 2x8, 60kg x5, 100kg x3, 120kg x1, 145kg 5x5
Bent Over BB Row - 65kg 2x5, 75kg x5
Close Grip Pull-Ups - x7, x6, x6
Lateral Pull-Down - 100kg x6, 110kg 2x6 (pb)
Hammer Curls - 20kg 3x7 (pb-reps)
 
Absolutely beasted my lower back today. Was exhausted after the 5x5 DL, but luckily now I'm only 5kg off my 5x5 pb before Thailand! 1-2 weeks more should do it. :-) Got a couple of cheeky little pb's in there at the end too for the assistance work. Happy with today's session!

1st working set for my 5x5 with 145kg DL. Back could be straighter/tighter.

Tuesday 13th September
Back Squat - 20kg x10, 60kg x4, 70kg x1, 80kg x1, 90kg x1, 100kg x1, 110kg x1, 122.5kg x1 (pb)
16" Box Squat - 60kg x5, 70kg 2x5
Front Squat - 60kg x3, 70kg x3, 75kg x3 (pb)
Straight Leg Deadlifts - 80kg 4x4 (pb)
 
A bit of a hungover training session today, plus only had 3 hours sleep... so wasn't expecting much, but still pulled out a new pb for a BS single! :-) Improved over my 120kg BS from before Thailand (+2.5kg). Depth could have been an inch or two lower... but still hit parallel each time. Hoping to see this shoot up in the coming months! Also got a nice new pb for FS (+5kg) and a +10kg pb for SLDL. Session went better than I thought it would!