Rob's strength journal - got 600kg now I'm hungry for more...

Just an indication of my progress since late semptember (4 months ago)

Deadlifts
Sept: 6 x 125kg
Janu: 6 x 167.5kg
Increase of: 42.5kg or 25.4%

Squats
Sept: 6 x 95kg
Janu: 6 x 127.5kg
Increase of 32.5kg or 25.5%

45 Deg leg press
Sept: 6 x 220kg
Janu:6 x 285kg
Increase of 65kg or 22.8%

Cannot compare flat bench as only started using barbell in october.
Incline Dumbell bench press(per arm)
Sept: 6 x 30kg
Janu: 6 x 35kg
Increase of 5kg or 14.3%

Dumbell overhead press
Sept: 6 x 27.5kg
Janu: 6 x 30kg
Increase of 2.5kg or 8.4%
Should hit 6 x 32.5 next week however..

Dumbell rows
Sept: 6 x 35kg
Janu: 6 x 45kg
Increase of 10kg or 22.2%

EZ curls
Sept: 6 x 35kg
Janu: 6 x 45
Increase of 10kg or 22.2%

My average strength increase percentage in the past 4 months is 20.1% Hopefully the trend will continue. I think a good run will see me somewhere between 10-15% increase over the following 4 months bearing in mind that I'm staying natural and will be cutting at some point in the period.

Flat barbell bench press
1 x 8 60kg
1 x 8 70kg
1 x 6 85kg
2 x 6 82.5kg
1 x 5 82.5kg

Incline dumbell bench press (per arm)
3 x 6 35kg
1 x 5 35kg -- not far now to the 37.5kg!

Flat flyes
2 x 8 22kg

Incline flyes
2 x 8 20kg

-- going to substitute flyes for pec dec as i feel that works my chest better and machines cant be that bad for isolation exercises surely??

Cable tricep pushdowns
3 x 8 80kg

some good dealifting mate

Looks like everythings going in the right direction mate. Good increase in strength in the last 3 Months.

Great session today, im REALLY happy with progress in my squats.

Squats
1 x 8 80kg
1 x 6 110kg
1 x 6 125kg
1 x 6 130kg - felt easy strangely enough!
1 x 4 140kg!! thought I'd get use to lifing heavy. last 2 reps didnt go all the way down to parallel though.. but im please nonetheless

45 deg leg press
1 x 6 240kg
1 x 6 290kg
1 x 6 300kg
1 x 6 305kg!!

Quad extensions
2 x 10 133kg

Hamstring curls
2 x 8 65kg

Seated dumbell overhead press
1 x 6 22.5kg
1 x 6 32.5kg! - equal PB
3 x 6 30kg

barbell shrugs
1 x 8 100kg
2 x 6 140kg
1 x 6 142.5kg
1 x 10 145kg!

Deadlifts
1 x 6 100kg
1 x 6 140kg
1 x 6 165kg
1 x 170kg
1 x 190kg
1 x 200kg! good clean lift. held for around 10 seconds to really test my grip strength. This should increase very soon

W-G chins
4 x 6 + 15kg - first time managing all sets on 15kg!!

Dumbell rows
2 x 6 45kg
2 x 6 42.5kg

EZ curls
4 x 6 45kg - struggled on last rep of final set. will attempt 47.5kg next week!

Flat barbell bench press
1 x 8 60kg
1 x 6 70kg
2 x 5 85kg
1 x 5 82.5kg - pretty frustrating. down on last week

Incline dumbell bench press (per arm)
4 x 6 35kg!! onto 37.5kg next week!

Machine flyes
1 x 6 91kg
1 x 6 105kg
1 x 5 105kg
1 x 6 98kg

Tricep pushdowns (cable)
1 x 6 80kg
1 x 6 85kg
1 x 6 90kg
1 x 6 95kg

Rushed session today

Squats
1 x 6 80kg
1 x 6 110kg
1 x 6 130kg
1 x 6 132.5kg
1 x 6 135kg new pb!!

45 degree leg press
1 x 6 260kg
1 x 6 300kg
1 x 6 302.5kg
1 x 6 305kg

Seated dumbell overhead press (per arm)
1 x 6 20kg
3 x 6 32.5kg
1 x 6 30kg

Barbell shrugs
1 x 6 100kg
1 x 6 140kg
1 x 8 140kg

Quad extensions
1 x 10 133kg

Hamstring curls
1 x 8 70kg

Well, this last week the diet hasn't been too great and this is reflected in todays workout

Deadlifts
1 x 6 100kg
1 x 6 140kg
1 x 6 160kg
1 x 4 170kg.. wanted 6!!
fail x 190 really annoyed with this. should be consitent now!

Weighted wide grip chins
2 x 6 +15kg
2 x 6 +10kg

Dumbell rows
4 x 6 45kg

EZ curls
1 x 6 47.5kg
1 x 5 47.5kg
2 x 6 45kg - form was ****e on last rep of final set. must improve on this.

Flat barbell bench press
1 x 8 60kg
1 x 6 70kg
1 x 5 85kg
3 x 6 80kg - going to drop down to this weight for a while and work on technique.

Incline dumbell bench press (per arm)
1 x 5 37.5kg
2 x 6 35kg
1 x 8 35kg!

Flye machine
3 x 6 105kg
1 x 6 98kg

Tricep pushdowns
1 x 8 85kg
1 x 6 90kg
1 x 7 95kg
1 x 4 95kg stack + 2.5kg plate

ello mate cheers 4 da comment
your average %%%'s look really good mate! cant help but notice your chest press's are quite low compared to your squats deads OH db presses etc is it due to injury?? or just lagging a bit???

I'm not too sure mate. I think its generally a weak area, been training chest for 2 years with DB (can currently db bench as much as bb bench), only started on sqats and deads in september and they have progressed loads in comparrision. although chest seems to have grown well, just not got much stronger! can be quite frustating!

Great session today, I thought I'd struggle because my calves had pretty bad doms from me restarting my taekwondo training on tuesday evenings (going to add in thursday evenings too when I begin to cut)
and I had rather a lot to drink last night.

Squats
1 x 6 80kg
1 x 6 110kg
1 x 6 132.5kg
1 x 6 135kg
1 x 6 137.5kg new pb!!

45 degree leg press
1 x 6 260kg
1 x 6 300kg
1 x 6 310kg
1 x 6 320kg!! new pb again

Quad extensions
2 x 10 138kg - held at top for 6 seconds on final set to really burn out quads.

Hamstring curls
1 x 8 70kg
1 x 8 65kg

Seated dumbell overhead press (per arm)
1 x 6 22.5kg
2 x 6 32.5kg
1 x 5 32.5kg
1 x 6 32.5kg! should be attempting 35kg pretty soon

Barbell shrugs - Weight had to be deadlifted from floor as squat rack was in use.
1 x 8 120kg
2 x 8 140kg
1 x 6 140kg

Much better session that last week! I was dreading it because I got drunk on friday night and had a grand total of 5 hours sleep, and due to unforseen circumstances I was late to bed last night which resulted in 6 hours sleep so I've been tired in work all day. I'm pretty surprised as I was yawning and feeling lethargig and was contemplating leaving it until tomorrow. however here's todays workout...

Deadlifts
1 x 10 100kg
1 x 6 140kg
1 x 6 160kg
1 x 6 170kg!! finally hit my 170kg target!
1 x 180kg
1 x 190kg

Weighted wide grip chins
4 x 6 +15kg - let's get this consistent now

1 arm dumbell rows
4 x 6 45kg

EZ curls
2 x 6 47.5kg
2 x 6 45kg
2 x 8 30kg - did this immediatley after the final set on 45kg. This really made my bi's burn!

Flat barbell bench press
1 x 10 60kg
1 x 6 70kg
2 x 6 80kg
1 x 5 80kg - I did all the reps on these super slow to nail the form

Incline dumbell bench press
1 x 6 37.5kg
1 x 5 37.5kg
1 x 6 35kg
1 x 8 35kg

Pec dec
4 x 6 84kg

Tricep pushdowns
1 x 6 95kg
1 x 6 97.5kg
1 x 6 95kg
1 x 6 90kg

rob, daft question but how do you work out strength gains in terms of a percentage? :)

This is how I worked them out: there may be an easier way as maths isn't my strongest subject!

If my previous PB for 6 reps was 120kg on deadlift
and my current PB for 6 reps is 170kg on deadlift
then the equation is as follows:

((170 - 120) / 120) X 100 which gives me a 41.6% strength increase on that particular lift

cheers rob, keep on trucking.

Good session today

Barbell squats
1 x 8 90kg
1 x 6 115kg
1 x 6 135kg
2 x 6 140kg - not going to count these as a PB because i wasn't fully paralell on all the lifts. Could do with a spotter really

45 degree leg press
1 x 6 280kg
1 x 6 310kg
1 x 6 320kg
1 x 6 325kg

Quad extensions
2 x 10 138kg

Hamstring curls
1 x 8 70kg
1 x 8 65kg

Seated dumbell Overhead press
1 x 6 20kg
4 x 6 32.5kg!! onto 35kg per arm next week!

Barbell shrugs
1 x 6 120kg
2 x 6 140kg
1 x 8 145kg

Dumbell side raises
1 x 8 10kg
1 x 8 7.5kg - arms are perfectly straight on these, looking to isolate outer delts.

I'm adding an extra session now on a friday. Basically involves 2 bicep and 2 tricep exercises, and some fat burning.
All exercises are performed with very strict form.
EZ curls
3 x 6 47.5kg
1 x 6 45kg

Alternate dumbell hammer curl
2 x 6 20kg
2 x 6 17.5kg
1 x 13 10kg - superset

Cable tricep pushdowns
1 x 8 95kg
1 x 8 96.25kg
1 x 8 97.5kg
1 x 8 100kg

Weighted dips
1 x 10 +15kg
1 x 8 + 15kg
2 x 6 +20kg

1.6km jog at a very brisk pace to keep HR low: 11:30 (8.6km/h)

30 mins of taekwondo practice

Abdominal crunch machine
1 x 10 25kg
2 x 8 30kg
1 x 8 40kg - really had to push the last 2 reps