Workout summary and explanation

Here's my weak bitch records:

All weights are in American Standard lbs.

7/9/2016 10:27 PM 
Bench Press 195-.1, 195-.1, 215-0
Standing shoulder press 145-.1
Conventional deadlift 395-.1, 345-.1, 415-0, 395-.1, 425-0, 395-.1, 325-1
Precor Seated row machine 245-.1
Precor Seated leg press 290-.1, 310-.1
Precor Seated row cable machine 250-.1


7/15/2016 12:32 PM 
Smith machine one arm bench press 
Left 70-1, 80-.1, 90-0
Right 70-1, 80-.1, 90-0
Stiff legged deadlift 375-.1, 385-0
High bar back Squat wearing strongman inzer knee sleeves 265-1, 280-1
Rack pull 515-0, 505-.1
Precor cable machine triceps pushdown rope attachment 100-.1, 120-0
Precor Cable machine standing hammer  bicep curl rope attachment 200-.2, 


7/22/2016 01:22 PM 
Bench Press 195-.1, 235-0, 245-0, 195-.1
Standing shoulder press 145-.2, 185-.1, 205-.1, 145-.2
Conventional deadlift 365-.1, 415-0,
 345-.2, 415-.1
Precor Seated row cable machine 250-.1
Precor Seated leg press 310-.2, 360-0, 330-0

I use a rating system to document my lifts.   A full on with good enough form repetition counts as “1”. Two quality reps with decent form count as “2”.  

Any number  with a decimal point in front of it represents a partial rep or a miss.

A “.9” represents a rep with not very good form but I still completed it.  A  “.4” means I got the weight almost half way up.  A “.3” represents the  bar traveled far less than half way.  And “.1” means I barely cleared the  weight from whatever it was resting on or I barely came out of the hole with it or I slightly budged it off my chest. A “0” means no movement of the weight just force being applied to it but it stays stationary -- essentially turning it into an isometric movement. Any number I failed to mention just remember a “1” is a complete rep and a “0” is isometric.


Workout Commentary

A lot of my lifts didn't go up. A lot of it had to with I had a terrible bout of protein poisoning.  That's where your body has been over-saturated with protein.  I wrote an article about it here.  For three straight days after I worked out I was crapping my guts out.

My first meal after I worked out was a chinese buffet and I was gorging on steak.  An hour later, I expelled it into the toilet.  Accordingly, I reckoned my next meal should be considerably less dense protein than steak, so I ate a Subway footlong sandwich with salami, ham, and bologna.  An hour later I was back on the toilet watching my sandwich flush down the drain.  Now I'm thinking okay I guess I better stay away from protein from meats at least.  My next meal was hummus with pita chips but even with that I experienced indigestion and flatulence.  The protein in bean products is so minuscule I was surprised even that gave me digestive complications.

The next day I had more bowel irritability up until a full 48 hours after my training session.  I never had protein absorption problems like this before.  I recall vaguely from something I read on the internet that the body eventually adapts by increasing protein enzyme uptake which breaks down the food protein into more easily digestible amino acids, so I guess I got  to wait it out until my digestive system is able to handle the excessive protein intake which is so essential to muscle building and strength.  My point is that's what caused me to have zero strength gains on the 7/22 workout I listed above.

Another reason I'm guessing I didn't make strength gains on 7/22 was I only had two or three hours of sleep before training.  I had worked from 6 pm 7/21 to 6am 7/22 on my training day and I only got three hours approximately of sleep.  During my workout, I was lethargic and was slightly dozing off while resting in between my training sets.  It's not impossible to make strength gains when you're mentally fatigued but it's not conducive to making personal records for your lifts either.   Whatever.  I know -- excuses, excuses.


With such mental tiredness, I was surprised I even got through the training session and the only reason I survived it was I started my workout midday.  My theory is that the body's energy levels and alertness and general overall mental sharpness to make strength gains is best accomplished mid afternoon starting at around 12pm until maybe 2pm.  There's something about having the Sun out radiating light and heat on top of your body that triggers a physiological response for the body to take action whether it be a strength training session or mowing your lawn.


I've mentioned this before but it bears repeating.   My workout numbers just represent a small portion of what I accomplish during a training session.  Behind each of those lifts with a "1" or a "0", lies a multitude of reps.  Take my bench press on 7/9 for example. I put a 195 lb lift which I marked with a ".1"  After that lift I broke down the bar and repped until failure with 95 lbs of bar weight.  I did that for three sets.  Then I removed more weight off the bar leaving 65 lbs.  Again I banged out more reps until failure which means I kept pushing the bar off my chest until my pectorals and triceps were on fire with lactic acid burning sensation and welled up to capacity with blood until it felt like my muscles were going to burst from the pressure.

My reasoning is that there are variety of casings and sheaths that surround the muscle and its individual muscle fibers.  You can see for yourself here.  In my opinion that crap limits muscle growth and consequently inhibits strength gains.  To counter-effect that phenomena, you rep with submaximal weight in the range of 5-10% of your 1 rep max until your muscles start turning purple from the lactic acid and blood build up and keep repping the weight until you can no longer perform the movement with an absolute breakdown in form.  This should stretch all those muscle sheaths and casings which should make room for muscle growth.  But how should I know, I don't take biopsies of my muscle and put them underneath a microscope so this paragraph could be complete conjecture.