Back Focused Pull Workout & Weekly Meal Prep

[8-24-2020]

[Daily Training Log]

[Weight: 190.4lbs]

Exercise 1: Pull Ups (Multi-Grip)

• 5 Working Sets of 5-10 Reps
  • Set 1: 8 Reps
  • Set 2: 8 Reps
  • Set 3: 8 Reps
  • Set 4: 8 Reps
  • Set 5: 8 Reps
    • Treat this movement as a warm-up. Don’t go to failure!
    • Use assistance if needed (bands, spotter, assisted pull up machine, etc.).
    • Do not substitute with lat pulldowns!

Exercise 2: Single Arm Dumbbell Rows

• 5 Working Sets of 15-12-12-10-10 Reps
  • Set 1: 15 Reps @ 50lbs
  • Set 2: 12 Reps @ 60lbs
  • Set 3: 12 Reps @ 70lbs
  • Set 4: 10 Reps @ 75lbs
  • Set 5: 10 Reps @ 75lbs
    •  This is our main movement for today’s workout. Pyramid up in weight as the reps decrease and don’t be afraid to use a bit of momentum and “Body English” for the last couple reps of each set as the weight gets heavier.
    • Focus on driving the dumbbell forward and down, stretching out your lats.
    • Pull back and up towards your hips/waist.
    • The dumbbell should move in an arcing pattern, not straight up and down!

Exercise 3: Neutral Grip Lat Pulldown

• 3 Working Sets of 12-15 Reps
  • Set 1: 15 Reps @ 40KG
  • Set 2: 15 Reps @ 40KG
  • Set 3: 15 Reps @ 40KG
    • Using the medium neutral grip MAG attachment here. By far one of my favorite lat pulldown attachments!
    • Focus on stretching the lats out at the top of the movement without disengaging your lats.
      • Keep shoulder blades retracted while letting the weight stretch the lats out.
    • I like to squeeze a little harder at the bottom of the movement to further emphasize the peak contraction.

Exercise 4: Cable Pullover/Straight Arm Press Down

• 3 Working Sets of 12-15 Reps
  • Set 1: 15 Reps @ 15KG
  • Set 2: 12 Reps @ 15KG
  • Set 3: 15 Reps @ 15KG
    • Either use a straight bar, lat pulldown bar or a rope to perform this movement.
    • Same as the previous movement, let the lats stretch at the top of the movement without disengaging the lats.
    • Lean into the stretch and drive your chest up and into the contraction to increase the intensity.

Exercise 5: Banded Shrug

• 5 Working Sets of 8-12 Reps
  • Set 1: 12 Reps /w White Mini Bands
  • Set 2: 12 Reps /w White Mini Bands
  • Set 3: 10 Reps /w White Mini Bands
  • Set 4: 10 Reps /w White Mini Bands
  • Set 5: 8 Reps /w White Mini Bands
    • Hold the peak contraction for a count of 2.
    • If you don’t have access to heavy bands, you can substitute them for dumbbells or a barbell.

Exercise 6: Dumbbell Alternate Curl

• 3 Working Sets of 6-8 Reps
  • Set 1: 8 Reps @ 25lbs
  • Set 2: 8 Reps @ 25lbs
  • Set 3: 8 Reps @ 25lbs
    •  Use Fat Gripz if you have them. They will help to target the forearms more and work your grip strength.
    • Turn your pinky up and out (supinate) to increase the peak contraction.
    • Lock out at the bottom and squeeze your triceps to increase the stretch and ensure a full range of motion.
    • Control the negatives. Don’t just let the weight fall!
    • Avoid swinging your arms as much as possible to prevent cheating!

Exercise 7: Dumbbell Hammer Curl

• 3 Working Sets of 6-8 Reps
  • Set 1: 8 Reps @ 30lbs
  • Set 2: 8 Reps @ 30lbs
  • Set 3: 8 reps @ 35lbs
    • Go heavy on this movement.
    • Start by curling the dumbbells together for 4-6 reps until you start to fatigue, then switch to alternates for an additional 2-4 reps.
    • Lock out and squeeze the triceps at the bottom of the movement to increase the stretch and ensure a full range of motion.
    • Avoid swinging and using momentum. No cheat reps!

            Fairly solid workout today. Emphasis was on the back with a couple sets of biceps added at the end of the workout. I am currently debating changing up my workout scheme from a PPL split and adding in a dedicated arm day. If I do my split will look something like Push, Pull, Legs, Arms, Rest (if needed), repeat with a different emphasis each day. Currently my programming is base around a Push, Pull, Legs, Push, Pull, Legs, Rest split.

            In today’s video I also talk about my current meal plan and macros. Currently I am consuming 170g or protein, 360g Carbs and 14g fat. Total calories are roughly 2,250. I’m possibly going to add a post workout protein shake which will bump my calories up to around 2,350 and increase my protein to around 195g. I am running about a 300-400 calorie deficit from my maintenance as I continue to try and lose weight.

            The following is my meal breakdown for this week:

• Meal 1 (preworkout): Spinach/Orange Juice “Smoothie”
  • 4-6oz spinach
  • 8oz orange juice
• Meal 2 (post workout): Rice and Eggs
  • 60g White Rice (dry weight)
  • 2 Large Eggs
  • ½ tbsp Soy Sauce
  • 1 tbsp Ketchup
• Meal 3-5: Chicken & Rice
  • 60g White Rice (dry weight)
  • 6oz chicken (raw weight)
  • ½-1 cup Green Beans
  • 1 tbsp Yoshidas Teriyaki Sauce
  • ½ tbsp Soy Sauce
• Meal 6: Strawberry Mango Smoothie
  • 250g 0% Greek Yogurt
  • 30g Honey
  • 100g Frozen Strawberries
  • 250g Frozen Mango

Chest Focused Push Workout

[8-23-2020]

[Daily Training Log]

[Weight: 191.6lbs]

Exercise 1: Incline Barbell Bench Press

• 4 Working Sets of 8-12 Reps
  • Set 1: 15 Reps @ 45KG (Warm-Up)
  • Set 2: 12 Reps @ 65KG
  • Set 3: 10 Reps @ 75KG
  • Set 4: 8 Reps @ 75KG
  • Set 5: 8 Reps @ 75KG
    • Decided to use the RhinoFlex HD bar here today as I find it to be the most comfortable bar I have for volume/rep work on bench movements. You’ll notice I stopped touching my chest once the weight got a bit heavier. Main reason for this is because my right shoulder was feeling a bit off, so I reduced the range of motion to prevent injuring it.

Exercise 2: Earthquake Bar Bench Press

• 3 Working Sets of 15-20 Reps
  • Set 1: 20 Reps @ 24KG (Warm-Up)
  • Set 2: 20 Reps @ 40KG
  • Set 3: 20 Reps @ 44KG
  • Set 4: 18 Reps @ 44KG
    • Using the RhinoFlex HD bar again here in place of my DIY Earthquake Bar. Still playing around with this bar as I’ve only had it for a couple weeks and I’m trying to determine how well it would work as an earthquake bar. Eventually I do plan to get an actual earthquake bar, but for now if this bar can work nearly as well it will help to save me some money for other specialty bars/equipment.
      • Initial thoughts are that it is definitely stiffer than a genuine earthquake bar or my DIY Earthquake Bar. This is to be expected as the weight capacity is double that of an earthquake bar (600lbs vs 300lbs). Need to do some more testing, but it seems to work well enough for the tie being!

Exercise 3: Low Incline Dumbbell Fly (*Pump Reps)

• 4 Working Sets of 10 Reps
  • Set 1: 10 Reps @ 30lbs
  • Set 2: 10 Reps @ 35lbs
  • Set 3: 10 Reps @ 35lbs
  • Set 4: 10 Reps @ 35lbs
    • *Pump Reps
      • 1 “Pump Rep” consists of 2 partial reps followed by 1 full range of motion rep. Perform 10 “Pump Reps” per set.
    • Goal of this exercise is to focus on pushing blood. Don’t go too heavy as the we are trying to focus on the contraction and not just moving the weight.

Exercise 4: Low Cable Fly

• 4 Working Sets of 12-15 Reps
  • Set 1: 10 Reps @ 5KG
  • Set 2: 12 Reps @ 2.5KG
  • Set 3: 15 Reps @ 2.5KG
  • Set 4: 12 Reps @ 2.5KG
    • Again, our focus is pushing blood. Set the cables to a position close to the bottom of the machine and pull from low-to-high. We are targeting the upper chest here.
    • Avoid letting the hands/arms/elbows stretching too far past the torso as this will put a lot of excess stress on the shoulders.
    • Hold the peak contraction of each rep for a fraction of a second and squeeze the chest as hard as possible.

Exercise 5: Seated Dumbbell Upright Row

• 3 Working Sets of 12-15 Reps
  • Set 1: 15 Reps @ 20lbs
  • Set 2: 15 Reps @ 20lbs
  • Set 3: 15 Reps @ 20lbs
    • Lean forward slightly to recruit more of the lateral and rear heads of the delts.
    • Avoid using too much momentum here and try to pause for a fraction of a second at the peak of the movement. Control the descent; don’t just let the weight fall.

Exercise 6: Chest Supported Reverse Fly

• 3 Working Sets of 12-15 Reps + 5-10 Partials/Meadows Swings
  • Set 1: 15+5 Reps @ 15lbs
  • Set 2: 12+8 Reps @ 20lbs
  • Set 3: 10+10 Reps @ 20lbs
    • After finishing 12-15 controlled reps incorporate an addition 5-10 partial reps or Meadows swings.
      • These are intended to increase the intensity and help you push past failure.
    • This will start to burn, but DON’T STOP! Keep pushing through until you finish each set.

Exercise 7: Chain Skullcrushers

• 3 Working Sets of 10-12 Reps
  • Set 1: 15 Reps @ 9KG (Warm-Up)
  • Set 2: 10 Reps @ 18KG
  • Set 3: 10 Reps @ 18KG
  • Set 4: 10 Reps @ 18KG
    • If you don’t have access to chains, you can substitute them for dumbbells.
    • As you extend to lockout more chains will leave the floor, thus increasing the weight of the movement. On top of that the chains will cause some instability.
    • Go heavy on this movement and try to control the instability of the chains.

Exercise 8: V-Bar Push Downs

• 4 Working Sets of 8-12 Reps
  • Set 1: 10 Reps @25KG
  • Set 2: 10 Reps @25KG
  • Set 3: 10 Reps @25KG
  • Set 4: 8 Reps @ 25KG
    • I like to use my Fat Gripz for this movement. I find that it feels better on my wrists and I can connect with the movement more.
    • Focus on a full stretch at the top and pause at lockout. Squeeze your triceps as hard as possible and try to force as much blood into them as possible.

Core Circuit: 3-4 Rounds, 8-12 Reps Per Exercise

Exercise 1: Ab-Wheel Rollout

• Round 1: 12 Reps
• Round 2: 12 Reps

Exercise 2: Hanging Leg Raise

• Round 1: 10 Reps
• Round 2: 10 Reps

Exercise 3: Cable Crunch

• Round 1: 10 Reps @ 25KG
• Round 2: 10 Reps @ 25KG
  • I haven’t been doing a lot of core recently, so I didn’t want to push myself. Ended up doing only 2 rounds of the circuit so I don’t get too sore over the next couple days.
  • I’ll be incorporating core every other workout moving forward.

Overall, today’s workout was solid. Started things off with 30 minutes of fasted cardio on the stair stepper. Followed that up with a preworkout meal consisting of 4-6oz of spinach and 8oz of orange juice. Blend and drink. Let sit for 10 minutes before taking my preworkout and starting my warmup routine.

Once I started the workout, I kept rest times low as much as possible to try and keep the intensity high. Emphasis was on chest, with the secondary muscle groups being shoulders, triceps and core. Next push workout the emphasis will shift to shoulders and triceps, with chest being the secondary muscle group.

DIY Earthquake Bar