Saturday, February 26, 2011

Training - Back/Biceps

Weight - 236 pounds

T-bar Rows -
1 plate x 30
2p x 10
3p x 10
4p x 10
5p x 10
6p x 16

Pulldowns -
3 sets of 8 with the whole stack+15.  2 sets of 6 with stack+15

Ez Curl - 115 x 12

Notes - Just an ok session.  Falling into that 80% of "just getting the work in".

6 comments:

  1. hey paul can you be specific about why you do these things on their own day? i am in the middle of about a month off of lifting due to the delivery of our 4th child (2 girls/2boys now YAY) and in the meantime i am meatballing some ideas about my training. what you're doing here is something i have been considering. what i have experienced in the last year or so of my training has led me to this point: squats/pulls on the same day, and a bench day every week. i'm not going to have a lot of time on the days that i do train, so on the back day, i could get some training in in about 30-40 minutes. my squat/pull days would take less time, and my bench days would take less time if i had a day just for back and such. make any sense? if this were my case what order would you put the days in? you're a smart and direct guy. i figured yours was a good brain to pick. thanks.

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  2. Paul

    Great great great blog. I just started reading it a few weeks ago and am hooked. I like your down to earth style. I am new at this whole lifting thing. I have seen you make a couple comments about various injuries you've had and was wanting your opinion (I know you aren't a doc, but you do have experience with lifting injuries). I have a strained rotator cuff that I seem to keep injuring. Its really discouraging because just when I seem to be making progress I have to shut it down for a few weeks. Heres my questions: is it ok to continue to work upper body with a shoulder that's barking at me or should I completely stop for a few weeks (had an MRI in december and it's not torn, just strained)? Whats the best resource for learning good form so that my shoulder issues wont resurface (I've tried hiring a trainer at my gym and he had me doing f-ing jumping jacks while standing on a beach ball and didn't seem willing or able to help me gain mass)? I'm 6'3" 195 lbs and skinny. What would you suggest I concentrate on first?

    I really appreciate your feedback and hope I'm not wasting your time. Thanks.

    Randy

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  3. Randy - Sorry about the trainer bullshit.

    Obviously if it's really bad, you need to get an MRI. But what I have always done with injuries is train around them until they healed. So you might want to experiment with overpressing and chest pressing. See which ones give you the least amount of pain. Don't do any of the exercises that cause ANY pain. At all.

    So your list to try for both barbell and dumbbell -

    incline
    bench
    barbell reverse grip bench
    decline
    standing press
    seated press
    barbell pbn

    Also try some machines. Just getting the work in while the injured area heals will help.

    Good luck.

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  4. Adam - Congrats on the new bun from the oven. :)

    My current setup is like this -

    Tuesday - Squat/Pull

    Thursday - Bench or Incline + assistance

    Saturday - Row, Chin, Curl

    Sunday - Traps, Abs

    The Sunday session has never existed before the last couple of months. But the reason I do it this way is because I don't like doing more than 2 or 3 movements per workout. That way I can pour all of my energy into them. With the squat/dead, push, pull split I don't have any overlap in terms of movements. So I'm not overhead pressing on Saturday after pressing on Thursday. So I get a lot of recovery time.

    None of my workouts go more than 50 minutes. Usually more like 35. Give it a shot, I think you'll like it.

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  5. Hey big guy. I was wondering why you only do one set of curls. I guess you're just one of those guy's who can profit from a low number of sets. I don't have any luck with HIT type workouts.
    Also I was wondering how much this site costs you to run?

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  6. Paul - I hate curling but the truth is, it's more important than a lot of powerlifters like to acknowledge. Your biceps help stabilize the elbow and shoulder in benching.

    I do 1 set of curls simply because I hate curling, so I apply the
    HIT method to it, which does work, like it or not. I would rather die than do a bunch of bicep curls. Yack.

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