Fitness Log - Shoulders- Week 6

Standing Shoulder Press - previous: 40kg . now: 40kg
6 6 5 (prog)
Woo! Only failed on the 45kg set. So will start from 42.5 next time.

Standing side lateral raise - previous8kg. Now: 8kg
6 6 6
Did 7.5 today actually. Will stay at 8kg. This exercise is really good for squeezing the shoulders.

Seated DB shoulder press - previous 16. now 17.5kg
666
Surprisingly easy! Maybe because I've been doing 8 reps on the lower weight, so 6 reps on higher weight is easy. Shall try 20 next time.

Front DB raise - previous 8kg. now 10kg
6 6 6 
I completed all sets, but didn't feel like this exercise was really good. It seems to overexert other parts of my body, like my neck and back as I inadvertently have to pull with those parts when my arm has no strength to lift. I may want to find a better shoulder exercise...

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I think I will do a new way of the side lateral raise, and do 2 DBs at once, while slightly leaning forward. I think that will work my delts more.

Fitness Log - Back - Week 6

Deadlift - previous: 72.5kg . now: FAIL
Reps: 5 5 5 
Wow this was SO bad today. The bar I was using was very loose, so the centre portion would rotate inwards when I lifted the weight, meaning I would be hanging on to 75kg with my fingers. It was very bad. Only lifted about 3-4, then dropped to 70, then decided to close off with 60 which was fairly light so I could grip them without letting the bar roll.

Afterward I went to test the rest of the barbells in the gym... and realised my bar was the worst D: damn it. You can literally spin the ends and it spins a few rounds before stopping. Have to try 75 straight again next time... with a tight bar.

Crunches 
Reps : 70
Woo. 70 again. I think I may add another ab exercise to up my game.

Lat pull downs - previous 50kg, now 50kg
Reps: 6 6 6
Did this fairly comfortably, but could be because I'm slightly cheating on Rep 1 of each set by using my body weight. Time to up the weight! Been staying at this weight for too long.

One-handed bent DB rows - 15kg 
Reps: 6 6 6
Ok, think I managed to target my back a bit more, though my arms/shoulders on my left hand felt the most burnt in the last set. The key is to pull my elbow straight up as far back as I can, and hold it there for a sec. Really burns heh.

Fitness Log - Arms - Week 6

Underhand grip pullups
Reps: 4
My pullups are so bad! I need to train pullups more. Think they are a great exercise but I'm just bad at them.


Narrow Grip Bench Press . now: 50kg 
6 6 6 prog, last 2 reps with spot
I kinda like this exercise, because despite being a compound lift, it really targets and engages the triceps well. They were burnt in the last set, and I could barely lift it past 4 reps lol. Shall try this weight again.

EZ bar bicep curls . now: 20, 17.5 17.5kg (excluding bar)
6 6 6 
It felt too heavy on the first set, and i was swinging a bit. I want to try to keep my torso stationary and lift only with my arms. Thus I dropped it a tad, and went for maximum squeeze and lift. Will try 2 sets of 20 next time.

Lying skullcrushers. now: 17.5, 15 15 (excluding bar)
6 6 6
I made a mistake on this weight big time - I thought my previous weight of 20kg was excluding the bar, so I did 17.5 on first set. It was so heavy but I did it! 
Think I will try 15 prog next time

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Overall wasn't a good workout cos I had a minor muscle pull in my back from yesterday.. hope it heals before thursday's deadlifts/lats workout. No idea how to stretch it. I'm still toying with the idea of removing arms day or at least making it arms/legs day. Not sure how the workout will look though.

Fitness Log - Chest - Week 6

Two more weeks until I evaluate the overall effectiveness of this programme! :D

Squats - previous: 60kg. Now: 62.5
6 6 6 (prog)
This felt good today. The heaviest weight, 67.5 is slightly more than my bodyweight... woo! Milestone achieved!!! 1.0x body weight squats :)Didn't have much problem... it required hard effort, but it was ok. so should be hitting 70 next workout :)

Bench Press - previous 62.5, 60 60, now: 60, 62.5, 65
666
Got a spotter for the last 2 reps of the last set, otherwise was pretty clean sets overall. Hitting somewhat of a plateau here, but believe I can bust it soon, just need to get a good day...

Inclined Bench Press - previous: 47.5 , now: 50kg
5 6 6 (non prog)
Last 3 reps with spot. I stayed at 50kg after failing the first set, but surprisingly did 6 clean reps in the second (had a spotter, but he didn't touch the weight). Last set was tough. My chest was beat up.

Inclined Dumbbell Press - previous: 20kg (7 6 5), now 20kg
7 7 8
Was such an easy 3 sets that I did an extra rep on the last for fun. Next time I'll go up a weight (if there is such a dumbbell), or do 8 8 8.

Bonus: Calf raises - 40kg
8 8 8 (prog)
Decided I needed to train more of my legs as squats alone don't quite cut it. Need to tone my fat legs! I've always had fat legs since secondary school, because I played soccer during my puberty so my legs developed really fast. 
This exercise feels fairly easy, not sure what my limit is. Probably at least my body weight right? Since i can tiptoe. 
I'm trying to really feel the contraction here, holding the raise at the top for 2 seconds.

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Went all out all the bench exercises, and now the day after have a slight pain in my back, think over strained or slightly pulled a back muscle. Damn , when you're squeezing everything and going 100% everything gets engaged. 

Fitness Log - Shoulders - Week 5

Standing Shoulder Press - previous: 40kg . now: 40kg
6 5 4 (40kg, 42.5kg, 40kg) 
The 42.5 felt really heavy, and I think tired me out, so I could only do like 4 and a half on my last set despite lowering the weight. Will just try at 40kg again... BELIEVE!

Standing side lateral raise - previous8kg. Now: 8kg
6 6 6
This felt good, but I want to stay at the weight and squeeze more on the extend to really work the shoulder heads. I feel virtually no DOMS on my shoulders heads so not sure if I"m doing my exercises right

Seated DB shoulder press - previous 16. now 16kg 
887
Again failed on the last set! Keep getting stuck on this weight ugh. Could be because I'm really slowing down my motion and focusing on the mind-muscle connection to try to encourage muscle growth. I want to up the weight to 18kg or something on the 2nd set, but have to workout at a gym with 18kgs -_- stupid gombak gym.

Front DB raise - previous 8kg. now 10kg
6 6 6 (last set 8kg)
Dropped the weight the last set so that I won't be swinging the weight. Got a good squeeze on the last set. Will try all 10kg next time.

Fitness Log - Back - Week 5

Deadlift - previous: 70kg. now: 72.5kg
Reps: 5 5 5 (next time do 75 straight)
Think my grip strength is failing me a bit, for each rep from 2nd set onwards I had to lower the weight very quickly as I felt like I was going to drop the weight. On the 3rd set I was dropping the weight a little too hard and the bastard gym staff came to scold me in a rude way. What a bitch. Anyway, have to work on controlling my downwards motion more which will work my back more anyway. Thus will try to stay at 75 next time! Or drop to 72.5 for the last set when I'm tired. 

Crunches 
Reps : 70
I hit 70 fairly easily today, think I can do more, or maybe add a different abs exercise with some resistance.

Lat pull downs - previous 50kg, now 50kg
Reps: 6 6 5
Struggled a bit with this exercise, but I was focusing hard on really pulling my elbows down and back and working the lats fully. I have to remind myself that I'm working out more for a body than to pull heavy weights, thus I have to execute with strict form, rather than keep pushing progression in weight. Will stay at 50kg for this exercise.

One-handed bent DB rows - 15kg 
Reps: 6 6 6
I'm not sure how effective this exercise is in working my back... feels like the strain is on my shoulders. Think I need to work on the form, so will stay at 15kg and mastering the form before increasing weight (does feel like I can go up more weight)

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I kinda dropped chinups because i am unable to do them after the deadlift. Quite bad, I want to be able to do more chinups as I find they work the back really well. I may throw them in with my shoulder routine tomorrow, we'll see how. Maybe once I can do 10 chinups I can work it back into my back routine.

Fitness Log - Chest - Week 5

Had a 4 day break when I went for a holiday in Taiwan, meaning I missed my 2 workouts in the previous week 4 cycle. Came back feeling a bit weak and tired, but hey, no skipping workouts !

Squats - previous: 60kg. Now: 60kg
6 6 6 (prog)
Felt a pain in my ankle for my first  2 warmup sets, so decided to start at 60 instead of going up to 62.5 as I was supposed to. Still managed to finish all 3 sets (ending at 65kg) fairly alright as the pain went away, so all's good :)

Bench Press - previous 60, 62.5 62.5; now 62.5, 60 60
5 6 6 
This didn't feel right today.. my wrists seemed to hurt a bit as I did each rep, so I decided to drop the weight after only managing 5 in my first set, and finish up with good form for the 2 other sets. Will increase to 60, 62.5, 65 next time.

Inclined Bench Press - previous: 45; now: 47.5 (up)
6 6 6 (prog)
This exercise felt really good today, did the last set with a spotter but with zero help, was able to push out cleanly all reps. Woot! Time to go up up

Inclined Dumbbell Press - previous: 20kg, now 20kg
7 6 5
Was really struggling on the last set, but it's alright. Will try for 7 reps throughout next time.

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