old guy still trying to kick ass...

I thought I'd start a log on here, and hopefully it'll help push me even harder.  I'm turning 42 this year, weigh around 240lbs (108 kg) and currently my maxes total 1215lbs (552kg).  I am not competing at this time, except with myself.

I lift raw (exception being that I have slowly started to use knee wraps) and am a clean lifter (although I have no problem with anyone using).

I'm on Prep 2 Week 4 of the 4 day universal program.  I appreciate any advise, criticism etc..

Day 1 (all weight in pounds)
1)Squat  324x5x2

2)Bench 276x5x3

3)Pec Deck 60x5x6
4)Dips 5x5 (w/ 100 added)
5)GM 275x5x5

Day 2 (weights in pounds)

1)Deadlift w/p 5-7 cm above knees  375X4X2

2)Bench (1 Board) 315x2x2
                             330x3x1

3)Deadlift up to knees 350x4x2

4)Tris 5x6
5)Lats 5x6
6) Abs 4x

Deadlifts and bench felt real fast today.  I'm feeling real good and stronger right now.

Good luck mate!

Good luck mate!

Thanks.

Day 3 (weights in pounds)

1)Bench Press 295x4x2

2)Squat 325x4x2

3)Bench Press 275x3x2

4)Pec Deck 5x6
5)Pull Thru 4x8

Day 4 (weights in pounds)

1)Defecit Deadlift  325x4x2

2)Incline Bench  275x5x3

3)Deadlift Off Boxes (5cm below knee)  395x3x2

4)Lats 5x6
5)Leg Press 5x5

Everything nice and easy.

WEEK 5

Day 1 (weights in pounds)

1) Bench Press 276x4x3 (paused)

2) Squat (repetition @285)

3) Bench Press 245x4x4

4)Pec Deck 5x6
5)GM 5x5

A good long pause on the bench press, felt real fast.  The squats were done with 45 s rest, and felt nice and fast as well.  I certainly feel like I'm going to break my maxes.

Day 2 (weight in pounds)

1)Deadlift to knees  325x4x4

2)Bench Press  275x5x2

3)Deadlift off boxes, 5cm below knee  395x4x3

4)Tris 5x6
5)Pull Thru 4x8

I had to work out in the evening (usually do so in the morning) and I just destroyed these lifts.  All real easy and fast - I only gave myself 45 - 55 second breaks, as I felt really strong.  By far, this is the best program I've ever done.

Still kicking ass in here it seems.  ;)

Still kicking ass in here it seems.  ;)

Trying, thanks.

Day 3 (weights in pounds)

1)Squat 305x4x3

2)Bench (pyramid up to 295x2x1)

3)Squat 285x4x4

4)Flyes 5x6
5)Abs 3x10

Knees were sore coming in the gym, and were no better while squatting ( I should have wrapped them, but didn't) - a quick pause at the bottom on them.   The benching was done really quickly, no break except when changing the weights.  Besides my knees, I felt good.

Day 4 (weights in pounds)

1)Deadlift (pause 5cm above knee)  350x4x2

2)Dmb bench press 5x6

3)Deadlift (w/chains off boxes 10-12 cm below knee) 350x4x4

4)CG Row 5x6
5)Pullthru 4x8

Super early morning workout, nice and fast. Deadlifts felt good.  Haven't used dumbells in a while, managed a few sets of 135x6, with a few reps left in the tank.  Overall good stuff.

Prep 2 Week 6 Day 1 (weights in pounds)

1)Squat 325x5x2

2)Bench 275x5x2

3)Flyes 5x6
4)GM 4x8

Nice easy workout.  Not to much volume, which is a nice little break. I'm getting very anxious to see where I'm at with my lifts.

Nice bench, mate!

Nice bench, mate!

Thanks.

Day 2 (weights in pounds)

1)Deficit DL  305x2x3

2)Bench Press (rep @ 245)

3) Deadlift  375x5x2

4)MP 5x6
5)CG Row 4x8

Felt a bit tired. My knees are really hurting, even to walk up the stairs.  It plays on my mind a bit when I deadlift & squat, worried about pushing hard.

Day 3 (weight in pounds)

1)Squat  325x4x2

2)Bench  260x5x3

3)Squat  285x4x5

4)Pec Deck 5x8
5)Abs 4x8

Knees are really sore.  I need to start icing them again.

Week 6 Day 4 Prep 2 (weight in pounds)

1) Deadlift to knees  350x4x3

2) Bench Press 245x4x4 (paused)

3) Deadlift w/chains  350x4x3

4)Dips 5x4
5)HS Low Row 5x6
6)Pull Thru 4x8

Knees still sore.  Otherwise all seems quite good.

Prep 3 Week 1 Day 1 (weight in pounds)

1)Squat  345x3x2

2)Bench  275x4x2

3)Squat  325x4x2

4)Chest Flyes 4x6
5)GM 5x5

Took a nice hot bath yesterday, walked out of the tub, and hurt my knee (and they were already sore as is).  Iced the shit out of it yesterday.  Felt o.k. squatting.  Will keep icing it.  I'm getting real itchy to test my maxes.

Prep 3 Week 1 Day 2 (weights in pounds)

1) Bench Press 1x5x173
                         1x4x210
                         1x3x245
                         2x2x275
                         2x1x295
                         2x2x275

2) Deadlift off boxes, bar 5cm below knee  1x3x305
                                                                    1x3x350
                                                                    2x3x395
                                                                    3x2x420

3)Tri Pushdowns 5x6
4)HS High Row 5x6
5)Abs 4x15

Bench felt real nice and smooth.  Deadlifts felt good.  I'm keeping the breaks in between sets real fast.  I'm ready for next week.

Prep 3 Week 1 Day 3 (weights in pounds)

1)Squat 305x4x2

2)Bench 260x4x2

3)Pec Dec 5x6
4)Dips 5x5
5)GM 5x5

Knees really sore today.  I hope over the weekend with loads of icing, they'll be nice and ready for Monday.

The knee situation doesn't sound good.

The knee situation doesn't sound good.

At times when I'm on the ground playing with my little one, I need to crawl to something to help lift myself up - other times, I need to walk sideways down the stairs because it's less pressure on the knees etc etc etc..   

As bad as it gets, it'll take a lot more to stop me from lifting. :)

Prep 3 Week 1 Day 4 (weight in pounds)

1)Incline Bench 5x3x275/295

2)Deadlift w/pause 5cm above knee 350x4x2

3)Seated Row 4x6
4)Pull thru 4x8

Nice quick day.  Ready for next weeks max test run through.

So today was the Squat max test day.  I was hoping for a 10 - 20 lb improvement.  Ended up with a 40 lb improvement - and truth be told, I did not go full out, so I think I may have gotten another 10 lb's or so.

Prep 3 Week 2 Day 1 (weights in pounds)

1) Squat 405x1
               425x1
               445x1

2) Bench Press 260x3x2

3) Dmb Flyes 3x5
4) Pull Thru 4x8

Wrapped my knees very well on the heavier lifts, and felt decent.  I will say that they are quite sore now, but it was worth it.

Today was day 2 of max testing.  Again I was hoping for a 20 lb improvement, and managed both.  But it was not without being a fool.

Prep 3 Day 2 Week 2 (weight in pounds)

1) Bench Press 345x1
                         365x1
                         385xfart

The 365 went up very quickly, and instead of going for 375, I decided to go with 385.  I couldn't lock it out.  I fought with it for a few seconds - at the bottom it went up nicely, but I just couldn't finish it.  Maybe an inch or so from locking it out.  I blew my load here.  Very very disappointing.

2) Deadlift 465x1
                  485x1

I was bushed here.  The 385 on the bench destroyed me, and I suffered because of it.  After the 485, I shut it down, I knew if I went to 505, I would have killed myself.  I will say though, that I know I have it in me.  That is for sure.

Overall, I am still happy that I moved my pr's up, and that was the whole point.

Wow, 40lb squat improvement?! That's awesome! Also, congrats on the other max lifts, you're slinging some heavy weight around. Bummer about the bench, but you definitely improved on them so that's what its all about.

Good work!

Couldn't lock it out at the top? At least you have an unambiguous target to work on going forward.

Many thanks Spatz.

Unbelievable eh, Robert.  I would have thought if I failed on the bench, it would have been at the bottom.  I fought long and hard to lock it out - felt like a minute.  Really shocked me, I thought as it was going up, I was for sure going to get it.

Today was real hard.  Still feeling the affected from earlier in the week.

Prep 3 Week 2 Day 3

1) Squat 335x4x2

2) Bench Press 270x5x3

3) Squat 295x4x5

4) Pec Dec 5x8
5) Abs 4x

Same for me. No less than a week to recover from maximum effort.

Prep 3 Week 2 Day 4

1) Deadlift to knees 360x4x3

2) Bench Press 250x4x5

3) Deadlift off boxes, bar 5cm below knee 380x4x4

4) Dips 5x5
5) Rows 5x6
6) Back Ext 4x8

Hips were super sore.  Really tough workout.  Feeling better today though.

Very busy this week, still did all my training, but will resume posting it next training session.  When adding in my new maxes, it definitely has become harder - actually exciting, if that's the word I can use.

Prep 3 Week 4 Day 1

1)Bench Press (2 board) 2x3x310, 3x2x330

2)Squat 2x3x350, 2x2x370, 2x3x350

3)Decline Bench 260x5x4

4)Chest Flyes 4x6
5)Abs 3x10

Love the increase in weight now.  This may be the best program I have ever done.