Weak and broken, but back in the gym... (Rugger's Journal)

[Rugger]

Well, it's about that time again. The season's been over for awhile now and I think I might actually be healed enough to start a real lifting program. My body took a serious beating during the fall season, but then I took quite a bit of time off. Just about everything feels better except my knee - still having some trouble there, but I can at least squat without pain.

Goals this time around?

Legs -- Still shooting for a 500 pound squat some day, but because of the knee and a bad ankle injury, I'm back to struggling with 315 for reps. As always, I need more size and speed. Calves are always a struggle. Too small, need to make them grow.
Back -- Not really concerned here, just need to strenghten my erectors. Having quite a bit of lower back problems and I believe it's because these are too weak.
Chest -- No worries here either. Trying to add mass to the upper portion while keeping the rest relatively the same size. Too many years of just benching and ignoring the incline.
Shoulders -- Same old story. Injuries have really hampered me here. Delts are embarrassingly weak and I still have no trap mass. Will be working extremely hard to fix both these problems.
Arms -- Must make my triceps grow. Too many years of neglect. Biceps and forearms are small and weak. Need to work on that as well.

Don't feel like measuring myself with a tape right now so all I can say is that I'm 23 years old, 5'10" and roughly 200 pounds. Body fat is never a concern since I do so much **** cardio 8-9 months a year but because of the ankle and now the knee, I haven't done any for about 5-6 weeks. Would guess my bf % is still in the low teens.

Have some pics, but these are fom May - I basically look the same now as I did then. Kinda sad that I've had no progress in 6 months, but it's to be expected. At least I only dropped 5 pounds during the fall season.

Legs, Upper Front, and a special bonus pic of me with a compeltely shaved head and a huge mouthguard in: on the far right...


A note before this thing gets started. My diet is still the weakest point, but since I'm bulking and seem to have a freakish metabolism, I can get away without eating clean. Moved into a new place and now live alone. Not a big fan of cooking so I started eating way too much fast food. Trying to reduce this. Other then that, my diet isn't too bad except I still have trouble eating enough healthy calories and end up devouring the chips, ice cream and king size snicker bars a little too often. Just gotta stop buying the crap I suppose.

Here's the current split.

Sunday -- Traps, Front/Side Delts
Monday -- Arms
Tuesday -- Quads, Hams
Wednesday -- Off
Thursday -- Chest, Calves
Friday Back, Rear Delts
Saturday -- Off

Right now it's 5 days a week. May change this to 4 days a week, twice a day just because I don't come home at all on Saturday - don't have a memebership in the town I stay at. I work a second job during the weekend in a different town then I currently live. Get home at 4 or 5 Sunday morning, but the gym closes at 3 pm here so it's hard to drag my *** outta bed to go. I may also stay Saturday night as well, go to church with my family on Sunday then drive home and hit the gym. Sleep will be a huge issue in this case. On my off days and possibly on lifting days, I will eventually be doing sprint work and calisthenics. Right now, it's just not possible.

With that being said, all that's left to do is lift the **** weights...

[ThePunisher]

Nice to see ya back. I couldn't get your first two pictures to work, but I could see you in the rugby one. You're in the black right? You look pretty huge!

[Rugger]

Sunday, November 30
Traps, Front/Side Delts

Some biking and light lifts to warm up.

Trap Bar Shrugs (assuming trap bar is 45 lbs)
20 x 135, 15 x 225, 15 x225, 15 x 225
Behind the Back Smith Machine Shrugs (bar assumed to be 0)
20 x 90, 15 x 180, 15 x 180, 15 x 180
BB Upright Rows / Static Cable Shrugs (stack - 150 lbs)
12 x 95 / 150 x 30 seconds
12 x 95 / 150 x 30 seconds
12 x 95 / 150 x 30 seconds

DB Shoulder Press
12 x 50, 6 x 70, 6 x 70, 12 x 50
Hammer Strength Shoulder Press (weight per side)
12 x 25, 10 x 45, 6 x 55
Barbell Front Raises
10 x 45, 8 x 45
L-Laterals
12 x 25, 10 x 30, 10 x 30
DB Side Raises
10 x 20, 10 x 20, 7 x 20

[Brad140]

Great to see you back bro and good shoulder workout btw.

[Rugger]

Sorry, forgot to set the album back to public...

[juice]

good to see you back brother!!!! looking forward to reading up on your progress!

[Venom]

[ QUOTE ]
good to see you back brother!!!! looking forward to reading up on your progress!

[/ QUOTE ]

Yeah, it's nice to see you around Rugger. I was just wondering where you had been. [img]/forum/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[Rugger]

Irondall16 and Brad - thanks for the welcome.

Juice, nice to hear from you again. I'll be stopping by your journal soon to see how your holding up. I remember your body is usually more beat up then mine. If you've recovered then there's some hope for me... [img]/forum/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

Hey Venom, it good to be back and actually tracking workouts. I'm just hoping there will be some noticeable progress again. Haven't read much from here lately so I'm looking forward to seeing what you and the rest of the mods have written up over the last few months.

Thank you all for stopping by. Soon there may actually be something to read in here...

[junfan68]

Rugger,
I think you look great in those pics.

Looks like we are doing the same split, so I will be keeping an eye on your workouts...and I did my front/side delts & traps today too. How convenient [img]/forum/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]

[goldmill]

Glad your back man. I thought you were permanenetly gone.