Dr. Squat - Dr. Fred Hatfield

Welcome to the board! It does offer some sort of accountability when you post your workouts for the world to see. One piece of advice that I would like to offer is try not to rely on the belt so much. One of the best ways to actually strengthen and stabilize the core is to Squat/DL without a belt. I have had lower back problems in my past experiences because of reliance on the belt. Lately I have not been using the belt except when going 90+% and my back back pain has been eliminated. You may have to drop wight initially, but will progress faster and become stronger in the long run. Just a thought!

It's the universal day of all days, BENCH day!

Rest Periods were 6 minutes for 10x2. Next week I start back at 10x5 w/ 3 minute rest periods. I have to be fairly conservative with my poundages as I don't have a spotter.

Flat Bench, wups: rotations for shoulders with 5 lb plates. Bench: 135x10, 185x5

WORK SETS!
225x2
275/ 5x2
285/ 3x2
295x2

I think I could have handled 295 for 3 or 4x2, but again, I don't have a spot.

Leg Raises
2x15-- would have done more sets but ran out of time!

What is really sad is that my squat poundages for 10x2 will probably not be much more than my bench poundages for this week. Squats have never come easy for me.

Took today off. Though my sessions are only 45 to 60 minutes daily and I could theoretically train every day without overtraining, I still feel "stale" after too many days in a row. I believe it is best to feel mostly recovered before lifting again. The way I split my training I might take as many as 9 or 10 days between working a given movement (including all training and off days) but I think this allows for optimal nuerological recovery, which is just as important as the repair of the muscles involved in the lift being fully repaired. I try to base the majority of off days around my leg recovery.

So far I've had good success following something similar to this protocol:

Day 1 Deadlift/ gripper training
Day 2 Flat Bench
Day 3 Bent Rows
Day 4 off
Day 5 Close Grip Bench
Day 6 Standing Barbell Curls for the girls
Day 7 Push Press
Day 8 off
Day 9 Squats
Day 10 off
repeat

Abs trained every day. I would train them heavy with weight, i.e., standing cable crunches, but I don't have any cables.

I do 10 sets of 1-5 reps on everything except abs with 3 to 7 minutes of rest between sets.

I also took a tip from Jeffrey Vaughn on squats and deadlifts. I go through this cycle two times and the third time through, I do no deadlifting. The fourth time through, I do no squatting, but I also took it one step further and the fifth time through, I do no upper body work. The weeks where I do no training of a given movement, I just take that day off-- I don't bump up the next training session to do on that day.

So, TOMORROW I do Close Grip Benches!

10x2 w/ six minute rest periods on Standing Barbell Curls

wups 45x10

WORK SETS
95x2
105x2
115x2
125/ 5x2
135/ 2x2

I'm hoping that when I start doing 10x5 again I can use 95 lbs!

Leg Raises on bench

BWx20, add green mini around ankles x10, BWx20

SQUATS, 10x2, 6 min rest periods

wup/ 45x10, 135x5, 185x5

225x2
Add belt/ 275x2
295x2
315/ 4x2
335/ 3x2

Ran out of time and couldn't do leg raises. I don't do any deadlifts this week, so I'm off for two days, and then I begin 10x1 on Flat Bench.

BENT ROWS, 10x5, 3 minute rest periods

Notes: got a bit greedy and tried to add too much weight! On 12/15 I did 155 for 4x5 and 175 for 6x5 and was close to failure the last set or two. I tried adding 30 lbs. (jump to 205 lbs.) and should have been satisfied with a more realistic 20 lb. jump.

My bodyweight is hovering around 318. I started taking Xenadrine a few days ago; I would like to get down to 275 or so.

I also think I am getting lazy and taking too many days off that I don't really need. I need to drill it in my head that I don't need quite so many off days since my w/o's are so short.

wups: 135x10

work sets:
185x5
add belt/ 205/ 5x5
started running out of gas on the fifth set!
195x5
185/ 2x5
195x5

I decided that from now on I will do abs on a day all by themselves after squats and do them for ten sets once weekly like I do everything else.

I am determined to get my waist size down! Here is my plan from here on out until I reach a target weight of 275: (That way I can break all of BIG DADDY'S records. . . hmmm, might be just a little while, though )

I take xenadrine and work out on an empty stomach at 6 or 7 AM. The w/o takes about 45 min- 60 min. Immediately following the w/o, I have a heaping teaspoon of glutamine powder. (I no longer take the glutamine pre w/o as this would interfere with the tyrosine/ blood brain barrier in the xenadrine and be self defeating.) 45 minutes after taking the glutamine, I have a protein shake, consisting of whey, milk for carbs, and flax meal.

The way I will reduce my calories then is by eating every 3 hours instead of every 2 hours. This will only allow me to eat 4 times a day vs. 6 times a day. I will make sure to have 60 grams of protein in each meal. My last meal will be at 6 PM, and I go to bed like an 80 yr. old man at 9 PM, so I will have a heaping tablespoon of glutamine before bed. These will be my lower calorie days.

Leg days I will make higher calorie days and eat 6 times/ every two hours.

My current bodyweight is around 318, which is pretty close to what it was when I started, but my waist size is down to about 52 and 1/2" from 55", so I must be building muscle at about the same rate as my fat loss. Still, my progress has been slower than what I want. I am hoping that this further reduction in calories and the addition of the xenadrine will make a difference!

PUSHPRESS, 10x5, 3 min rest periods

wups: 45x10, 95x5

135/ 10x5

Got nauseaus around sets 7 and 8, but held it down. Not sure whether its the lower rest periods, my still relatively poor conditioning, the Xenadrine before the w/o or a combination of all three. I have acid reflux and have to take medication for it, so that makes me sensitive to caffeine, so I'm thinking a lot of it might be the addition of the xenadrine. Perhaps synephrine is acidic too-- not sure on that.

I have to do deadlifts for 10x5 w/ 3 min. rest periods next, and I am thinking I there is a good chance I will puke doing those. Nonetheless, my goal is to do at LEAST 315 for 10x5.

LEG RAISES, 10x10, 2 min. rest periods.
A note on my dieting thus far: Superbowl Sunday I broke down and ordered pizza and had some home cooked chilli, so I made that my high calorie day and did low calories yesterday on deadlift day. Under normal circumstances I make my high calorie days on leg/ lower back training days. I also started supplementing with fish oil.

Nothing too exciting today, an easy ab day.

Bodyweight, 10x10

Looking forward to tomorrow-- it's bench day/ 10x4.

I have found that I feel like puking when my sugar is diluted, either by not eating enough or drinking too much. I try not to drink during the workout, bc doc says it interrupts GH release.
God is willing to work with you, but not for you

BENT ROWS, 10x4, 4 min rest periods.

wups: 135x10, 185x3

No belt today-- didn't feel like I needed it. The heavier Deadlifting poundages done a few days ago made this weight feel pretty easy for my core to handle.

Work Sets:
205/ 4x4
215/ 6x4

Worked out in the afternoon instead of the morning today and it went fine. I think my energy was perhaps a bit better since I had some calories in me.

STANDING BARBELL CURLS, (Done in squat rack, but it's MY squat rack so I can get away with it ) 10x4, 4 min. rest periods

wups: 45x10

Work Sets:

95x4
105/ 7x4
110x4
115x4

Notes: I did decide to take all of my upper body days off next week. I will plan for an off week on upper body when doing 10x3 for lower body from now on and push myself a little harder/ go for new PR's on the ten day cycle prior to the off time. I think it is good to back off from training once a new PR has been set.

SQUATS, 10x4, 4 min. rest periods

wups: 135x10, 185x3, 225x3

Work Sets: (add belt)

275/ 7x4

Notes: Meant to do 10 sets but I felt too wiped out after set 7. I probably should have dropped some weight to do the last three sets, but as wiped out as I felt, I didn't. I think I tried to make too big of a jump in weight. I did the following for 4's on 01/02/09:

185x4
225/ 3x4
245/ 3x4
255/ 3x4

So I probably should have done something more like this today:

225/ 2x4
255/ 3x4
275/ 5x4

Some of my problem is ego, and some of it is the fact that I tend to think of weight jumps in terms of wheels and quarters. Five's and ten's don't satisfy me as much, but I have to let that go!

MADE A CHANGE OF PLANS

I was getting a bit bored with the German Volume Training, ie, doing ten sets of one exercise every day, and I had planned on taking upper body off this week, but I think I'll be fine to train it with this different exercise routine. It might well be a rationalization as I am a confessed weight training addict and hate taking time off, but so be it!

This workout is something Pavel would definitely approve of. Week one, I train each movement four times! Here is the template:

WEEK I, all exercises are 5x5 3 min. rest except curls, which are 3x10 w/ 3 min. rest.

Day 1/ Bench, squat, curls
Day 2/ Close Grip Bench, deadlift, pushpress, curls
Day 3/ Bent Rows, abs, close grip pushpress
Day 4/ Bench, squat, bent rows, curls
Day 5/ Close Grip Bench, deadlift, abs, curls
Day 6/ Bent rows, abs, Pushpress
Day 7/ Bent Rows, abs, close grip pushpress

WEEK II, all exercises are 6x4, 4 min rest, except curls which are 4x8 w/ 4 min rest. This week, I perform each movement three times instead of four times.

WEEK III, all exercises are 7x3, 5 min rest, but curls are 5x6 w/ 5 min rest. This week, I perform each movement two times.

WEEK IV, repeat cycle.

TODAY'S WORKOUT: NOTE: won't do any leg training this week as I just got done hitting legs and lower back on the German Volume Training cycle.

FLAT BENCH, 5x5, 3 min rest.

wups: rotations w/ 5 lb. plates, 135x10

Work sets:
225x5
235x5
255x5
265x5 Form got a bit sloppy here.
255x5

STANDING BARBELL CURLS, 3x10, 3 min. rest

Tried doing 3x10 w/ 95 lbs, but only got the following:
95x8
95x7
95x4

It will be interesting to track my progress using a higher frequency of training vs. the much lower frequency I've been doing, though I will have to give some amount of leeway over to the fact that I am coming off of a longterm layoff and made some huge gains right off the bat because of that, but I'm still a long ways behind my former strength levels, so I will probably keep making pretty rapid gains.