Re: Pumping Iron with Zemekone and Icehog3 II
 

Nice Huy!

Charlie, nice work! On your question, I'll probably keep this up until I start stalling excessively and or not progressing linearly anymore. What started your HT lifting lately?

Tom, glad you've got a way of working around it. Sounds painful none the less.

Tonight was decent
Squats 5x5
Bench 3-5x5
Row 5x5
Tricep pull down 1x10 at 140 lbs

Re: Pumping Iron with Zemekone and Icehog3 II
 

Don't blame you for not switching until you stall, Chris. Especially if it's a routine that you really enjoy.

I switched to this 3 week hypertrophy routine because Id done power lifting style (5x5s) and various versions of more typical lifting (3/12, 3/8, 4/10) and while I've gained a lot of muscle and strength my weight loss has fizzled. I had to eat so much to fuel the heavy lifting and I was putting on muscle so I wanted to switch things up for a bit so that my lifting was more cardiovascular and more focused on growing the muscle that's already there.

The results have actually been really good and I am feeling sore like I haven't felt in a long time but I understand why people say that you can't really do hypertrophy for more than 3-4 weeks at a shot.

I lifted heavily when I was in high school and college but never really switched up my routines to any great extent and since I've started lifting again I've done a lot of reading and video watching and decided that I'd adopt the Arnold approach this time around. He said he never did the same workout twice. I'm not going that crazy but I'm only doing 4-6 weeks of the same routine before switching it up.

Prob more than you wanted lol

Re: Pumping Iron with Zemekone and Icehog3 II
 

Some good stuff there, Charlie, I switch up my workout every time, and my general program every couple months.

Could feel the back/kidney was still going to an issue with chest today, so I decided to go pretty light and with minimal rest....25 sets in about 35 minutes.

Inciline Bench 5 sets
Decline Bench 5 sets
Wide grip Bench 5 sets
Vertical Bench (plate loaded) 5 sets
Dips 5 sets

Probably not going to do much for size, but I am still super pumped/tight an hour later.

Re: Pumping Iron with Zemekone and Icehog3 II
 

Nice, Tom! Sorry you're back/kidney are still hurting but maybe you're peddled back lifts will actually help you in the long run. You know, you're lifting which is good but you're not going 100% so when your back feels better that first few workouts back will probably be killer! A month or two back I read about The Rock and his workouts in the run up to shooting Hercules and he had a really serious hip injury just 6 weeks before shooting Hercules. So he took 4 weeks off completely and was really worried about not being in good enough shape to start shooting, but he said that it ended up making him even better. He said that the layoff was the rest his body needed and when he started lifting again 2 weeks before shooting he managed to get bigger and more cut than he thought he could if he'd worked out all 6 weeks. I've read a number of stories like that so maybe your "lighter" lifts during recovery will actually be a blessing i disguise. Just trying to be positive :)

Hypertrophic Shoulders today ... my shoulders are soooooooo weak. :( lol

Shoulder Press (Hammer Strength) - warmup 1/10 @ 70 - 8/10 @ 90 with drop sets to 70 & 50lbs @ sets 4 & 6
Plate Front Raise - 8/10 @ 25 (plate angled outward, extension at top of raise)
Low Mount Cable Close Grip Raise Flatbar (to chin, elbows out) - 8/10 @ 80 superset with High Mount Cable Rope Pull (to nose, elbows out) @ 80
Bent Over Cable Raise (single arm) - 8/10 @ 20 )performed as alternating circuit)

In the name of always switching things up, i finished off with a heavy (for me) bi/tri superset ...

Cable Curl EZ Bar - 4/8 @ 140 (failure @ 6 on 4th set) superset with Cable Angled Close Grip Pulldown - 4/8 @ 170 (complete)

Gonna be some really heavy cardio tomorrow; off day on weights.

Sunday will be my last hypertrophic chest/back superset day. I'm actually kind of excited to get back to some heavy lifting. :)

Re: Pumping Iron with Zemekone and Icehog3 II
 

I absolutely agree with some of your thoughts, Charlie, sometimes change (even perceived "negative" change is a benefit).

Good luck getting back on the heavy stuff!

Re: Pumping Iron with Zemekone and Icehog3 II
 

Anyone using a phone app to log their workout?

I find if I am working out by myself, I forget 20+ years of exercises I use to do regularly... At my age, I really need to keep track better or I never move up in weight or do enough variety of exercises per muscle group. Weight lifting has a new low of dullness and I'd like something to keep the pace up before I wander off to stretching area...

Everything is all X-fit and gobbling up floor space at every gym! Seems like a great routine if you have a trainer and I would love to go that route, but that's big bucks. I am thinking maybe a month of it would be cool to build a routine.

Anyone else into X-fit?

Re: Pumping Iron with Zemekone and Icehog3 II
 

Felt strong on back today, back/kidney didn't bother me a bit until the last couple sets.

T-bar rows 225, 250, 270, 295, 315
Cable rows 260, 270, 280, 290
Barbell rows 245, 275, 305, drop set 305/245
Wide cable pulldowns 220, 240, 260 drop set 240/180

Re: Pumping Iron with Zemekone and Icehog3 II
 

Did something out of the norm today. A friend of ours is a fitness class instructor at a local YMCA and she's starting a new class next month and wanted is t be her guinea pigs so she could fine tune her presentation before the class actually begins. It's basically an aerobic weight lifting class, so lots of bar work for bis/tris/back/shoulders and a LOT of squatting and deadlifting (lower weight, higher intensity).

Class was 1.25hr and was actually a lot of fun. I'm glad to have done it since I missed my morning cardio thanks to a work emergency. :)

Chest and Back tomorrow! :)

Re: Pumping Iron with Zemekone and Icehog3 II
 

Glad to hear it's feeling better Tom! Nice sets!

Charlie, appreciate the follow up! Nice workout!

Moses, I use fitocracy on iPhone. Doesn't track progress but their database is decent and the included workouts are okay for mixing stuff up.

Off day today due to knee pain again, too much crawling on concrete playing with trains with the kiddos :) worth it.

Re: Pumping Iron with Zemekone and Icehog3 II
 

Hope the knee feels better tomorrow, Chris. :)

Re: Pumping Iron with Zemekone and Icehog3 II
 

Knee was good today, Thanks Tom!

Squats 5x5
Ohp 5x5
Deadlifts 135,185,245x5

My grip strength on deads is not so good, ended up resetting my grip each rep. I suppose this is normalish?

Re: Pumping Iron with Zemekone and Icehog3 II
 

Glad your knee felt better, Chris.

Do any of you guys use straps? I see people use them all the time at the gym, and, like you Chris, i'm to the point where my weight capability is exceeding my grip strength.

Re: Pumping Iron with Zemekone and Icehog3 II
 

I do use wrist straps sometimes, but rarely do I use them. I just always carry them in my bag. Versa Grips.

However, I do use chalk when I deadlift.

Re: Pumping Iron with Zemekone and Icehog3 II
 

Glad the knee was better, Chris! :tu

I have straps in my bag, but haven't used them for a couple years now. My grip strength is good, I do fail sometimes on my heaviest sets, but find that my grip strength continues to improve without them.

Shoulder day today....it's "push" movements that have really been bothering my back/kidney, so I lifted short, somewhat light with perfect form, and got through a short shoulder workout without aggravating it at all.

Military press 135, 145, 155, 165, 175, 185, 195
Barbell shrugs 275, 275, 275, 335, 335

That's it, short and sweet. Back feels the best it has in over a week. :tu Hope that lasts through the night.

Re: Pumping Iron with Zemekone and Icehog3 II
 

Week 9 of my pl program and everything seems to be coming along well. Next week will be my last week and that's all pr stuff. Will update with all my final numbers and how much it jumped. Pretty stoked on the numbers.

Pause bench 3x3
wide grip touch n go bench 4x3
supported chest t-bar row 4x5 w/drop set 1x5
neutral grip db press 4x4

facepulls 3x15
finished it off with a super set of arms

Re: Pumping Iron with Zemekone and Icehog3 II
 

Nice going, Huy, looking forward to hearing what the gains were.

Arms yesterday:

Cambered bar curls 115, 125, 135, 145, 155, 165
Preacher curls 170, 145, 145
Skullcrushers 145 @ 3 sets
Cable pushdowns 145, 125, 105, 95

Off day today.

Re: Pumping Iron with Zemekone and Icehog3 II
 

Volume press day.

OHP 4x4
Wide grip pause bench 4x6
Wide grip lat pull down 3x8
DB unilateral press 3x6
DB row 3x8

Didn't have time for arms but it's all good. Deadlift party tomorrow.

Re: Pumping Iron with Zemekone and Icehog3 II
 

Party!?!? :wo

Legs yesterday.....back toiday.....hospital tomorrow? ;) :lr

Re: Pumping Iron with Zemekone and Icehog3 II
 

Haha, looking forward to it Huy!

Thanks for the kind words Tom! Glad the backs feeling better, anything now 24hrs later?

Squats 5x5
Bench 3-5x5
Rows 5x5

Cable pull downs 2 sets to failure

Re: Pumping Iron with Zemekone and Icehog3 II
 

Still better than it was a couple weeks ago, Chris, but still nagging. Maybe it's permanent like my shoulder? ;) :hn

Re: Pumping Iron with Zemekone and Icehog3 II
 

Back day, did heavy cable/pre-fatigue. Good pump.

Wide cable pulldowns 200, 230, 260, 270, 280, 290, 300
Cable rows 240, 270, 290, 310, 260
Barbell rows 225, 255, 275, 295
Close grip barbell rows 3 sets @ 215

Re: Pumping Iron with Zemekone and Icehog3 II
 

Volume legs today. Decent day of training so I rewarded myself with pizza, ice cream and cookies.

low bar squat 4x6
front squats 4x4
close stance hack squats 3x10
bulgarian split squats 3x10

and finished off with some core work.

Re: Pumping Iron with Zemekone and Icehog3 II
 

I slept in today as I didn't sleep well until early morning. So no pizza, ice cream or cookies for me today. OK, maybe 1 cookie before bed. ;)

Going to try to do a double before hockey tomorrow as I am off work. Getting the duct tape ready now. :)

Re: Pumping Iron with Zemekone and Icehog3 II
 

Off this weekend. Eat, eat, watch some football and eat some more for me.

Re: Pumping Iron with Zemekone and Icehog3 II
 

How's the eating going, Huy? :D

Got in a short "double today". now I can take tomorrow off before my second hockey game in 2 days.

Cambered bar curls 125, 135, 145, 155, 165, 175
Preacher curls 110 @ 4 sets
Seated Military Press 135, 165, 185, 200, 220, 175
French Curls 105, 115, 125, 140
Pushdowns 125, 115, 105, 95

Re: Pumping Iron with Zemekone and Icehog3 II
 

bishes

Re: Pumping Iron with Zemekone and Icehog3 II
 

hopefully ill be posting here everyday, i figured how to unblock it in my work computer :D

Re: Pumping Iron with Zemekone and Icehog3 II
 

geRRy! :D

Re: Pumping Iron with Zemekone and Icehog3 II
 

GeRRy!

I found a place that had some awesome southern comfort food. Ordered red snapper, catfish and cornbread. I ate a few cookies today as well. Cookies are like vitamins to me.

Re: Pumping Iron with Zemekone and Icehog3 II
 

I take a lot of vitamins, Huy, I wish vtamins were like cookies. :)

The fish sounds good, love me some good catfish.

Re: Pumping Iron with Zemekone and Icehog3 II
 

Yesterday was hypertrophy shoulders and today was some hard cardio.

I'm a bit torn about how to mix up my routine this coming week. I've been on hypertrophy for 3 weeks now so i'm considering doing HT Mon-Wed, Thurs off and doing 5x5 on Friday.

Re: Pumping Iron with Zemekone and Icehog3 II
 

:tu

Re: Pumping Iron with Zemekone and Icehog3 II
 

GeRRy long time brother!

Squats 5x5
OHP 5x5
Deadlifts 135,205,255x5
Lat pull downs 3 sets to failure

Felt good tonight, almost BW deadlifts, although since focusing on this lifting routine I've been watching the scale less and less

Huy, where's your PR's? This is it for your routine yeah?

Re: Pumping Iron with Zemekone and Icehog3 II
 

No PRing this week. My coach wants to wait another couple weeks before I PR, he wants some numbers to go up. Current bw is 178 so with my numbers so far, its pretty decent.

Pause bench 3x3 @235 weight was a tad too heavy so I had a spotter, my wife.
wide grip bench (touch n go) 4x4 @225
chest supported t-bar row 4x4
neutral grip db press 4x4 @90
facepulls 4x8-10

fst-7 some arms to get a good pump.

Re: Pumping Iron with Zemekone and Icehog3 II
 

I somehow tweeked my good shoulder yesterday afternoon, so with two bum shoulders I decided to try something new today.

I did a 5x5 powerlifting routine today followed up by a small arm workout.

Since this was my first 5x5 in a while I started off at weight that I knew I could complete the workout lifting.
Squats - 5/5 @ 180
Deads - 5/5 @ 180
Bench (hammerstrength) - 5/5 @ 180

Cable Curls - 5/20 @ 80 (final set being a dropset until technical failure) superset with Close Grip Tricep Cable Pulldowns @ 120 (final set being a dropset until technical failure)

I'm gonna repeat this routine on Wed & Fri, with the exception being that on Wed i'm going to lift secondary chest/back superset(s) and on Fri i'm going to lift shoulders secondary (assuming my shoulders feel ok by then).

Re: Pumping Iron with Zemekone and Icehog3 II
 

Sorry to hear about your shoulder, Charlie. As the "owner" of a permanently trashed left shoulder, I feel your pain...literally.

After a decent chest workout yesterday, got in a good back workout today

Bent over rows 185, 215, 245, 265, 285, 305, 225
T-bar rows 225, 250, 270, 295
Superwide pulldowns 180, 200, 220, 240, 260
One arm rows 115, 135, 160
Pullups (bodyweight) 2 sets

Legs tomorrow, should have been today but after 3 hockey games in 3 nights ...No way, Jose. :r

Re: Pumping Iron with Zemekone and Icehog3 II
 

Hang tough Charlie!
Nice sets Tom, you and your crazy doubles...

Tonight:
Squats 5x5
Bench 5x5
Row 5x5
Tricep rope pushdowns 3 sets to failure

Re: Pumping Iron with Zemekone and Icehog3 II
 

Thanks Tom & Chris ... the left shoulder (good one) is actually feeling a tiny bit better, so with any luck it'll be in good shape come Friday.

Tomorrow will be another 5x5 day ... i'll update on weight tomorrow.

Tom - how do your sets work? Do you do a certain number of reps at the weights you specify? Sorry if i'm missing the obvious.

Re: Pumping Iron with Zemekone and Icehog3 II
 

Fun day of training, my favorite training day.

OHP 3x4
Wide grip pause bench 4x4
Wide grip lat pull downs 4x6
DB unilateral military press 4x5
DB row 3x8

Finished off with some quick bicep. Didn't have time to hit tris so I'll just superset it tomorrow.

Re: Pumping Iron with Zemekone and Icehog3 II
 

Hi Huy, Charlie, Chris!

Charlie, I go higher reps than I used to when I was younger. For instance, on the Barbell rows yesterday is was:

185 -25
215 -18
245 -14
265 -13
285 -10
305 -8
225 -15

Pretty much as close to failure as possible, and rarely below 6-8 reps in any given set. The days of "maxing" for single reps are long gone for this old guy. ;)

Re: Pumping Iron with Zemekone and Icehog3 II
 

Dang ... you're moving some weight, Tom! Nice job!

5x5 again today ... Squat @ 220 / Deadlift @ 220 / Bench @ 200 ... finished up with Cable Curls (ezbar) 5/20 @ 80 supersetted with Close Grip Angled Cable Extensions 5/20 @ 120

On a positive note, the good shoulder is feeling a bit better today. I'm hopeful that it'll be fine here in another day or two!

Re: Pumping Iron with Zemekone and Icehog3 II
 

Good news on the shoulder, Charlie! :tu

Re: Pumping Iron with Zemekone and Icehog3 II
 

Deadlift party with myself last night.

Deads 4x4
Halted deads 4x5
Shrugs 4x10
Seated v-grip rows 4x6

finished it off with some tricep movements bc I miss doing it.

cable extensions 5x12-15, 15 sec rest
dips 4x10
seated db overhead extensions 4x8-10

Re: Pumping Iron with Zemekone and Icehog3 II
 

Nice, Huy!

Off today, International Chest Day tomorrow before work.

Re: Pumping Iron with Zemekone and Icehog3 II
 

Did a little bit of back work today before my cardio.

Close Grip Row (HammerStrength) - 4/8 @ 230
Wide Grip Cable Row - 4/8 @ 160
Straight Arm Lat Pulldowns - 4/8 @ 120
Long Bar Shrugs - 5/10 @ 150

Just wanted to get a little back lift in ... i've got a rly busy weekend coming up and wanted to be able to do arms & shoulders (and cardio) tomorrow before things get busy so that i'll be on track next Monday to start again with 5x5s.

You guys have any pre-workout or fat burner recommendations?

Currently all I take is the GNC Men's Health Energy Vitamin Pak ... but i'm looking for a little bit of a boost and pre-workout should give me a boost before i hit the weights and a good (GOOD being a very key word) fat burner to help me shed some of this belly/love handle fat.

Re: Pumping Iron with Zemekone and Icehog3 II
 

Good news Charlie!

Huy, gotta love deadlift parties did some myself today :)

I'm not using anything pre workout, stuff all gave me the jitters. I'm using Optimum Nutrition Gold, on Tom/Huy's recommendation. Like it a lot better than any GNC product which was akin to swallowing drywall cement.

Squats 5x5
OHP 5x5
Deads 135,185,265,185x5
Close grip cable pull downs 3 sets to failure

Re: Pumping Iron with Zemekone and Icehog3 II
 

Squats yesterday, off today and tomorrow.

squats 4x6
front squats 4x3
close stance hack 4x8
bulgarian split squats 3x10

some core work +calves. Donuts and pancakes to recover today :)

Re: Pumping Iron with Zemekone and Icehog3 II
 

Chest today, strength super low, so I prefatigued with some machine work and then did rep sets of inclines: 185, 205, 225, 245, 265. Then some flyes and machine inclines to finish. Decent workout for such a low energy day.

Re: Pumping Iron with Zemekone and Icehog3 II
 

Second low energy day in a row, and knew I had two hockey games, so I prefatgiued again with cables for back. The pullups I finished with really ended the workout on a good note...and pump.

Cable Rows 200, 230, 250, 270, 290, 310
Cable pulldowns (neutral grip) 200, 220, 240, 260, 280
Barbell rows 205, 225, 245, 265, 285, 225
Pullups 4 sets to failure

Re: Pumping Iron with Zemekone and Icehog3 II
 

Good work, Tom!!!

Today was 5x5 (Squat @ 230 / Deads @ 200 / Bench @ 180 / OHP @ 160) ...

Followed by a hypertrophic shoulder workout:
Low Cable Pulls (5/20 @ 80)
High Rope Cable Pulls (5/20 @ 80)
Bent Over Cable Side Extensions (5/20 @ 20)
Shrugs (3/20 @ 110)

Finished with a superset of Cable Curls (5/20 @ 80) and Close Grip Cable Pull Down (5/20 @ 120)

My goal for the next month and a half or two is to do the following:
Monday - 5x5 + shoulders / Cardio
Tuesday - Cardio
Wednesday - 5x5 + chest & back / Cardio
Thursday - Cardio
Friday - 5x5 + legs
Saturday - Bis/Tris & Cardio

I'm really looking forward to this routine. :)