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Solmanson Training Log...

Solmanson
Solmanson
Posts: 14
Joined: 2010/04/09
United States
2010/06/01, 01:08 PM
Been Working out since 2/15 and have been doing pretty well. I have my training broken up a little different than most people, but it works for me. Post questions if you have them and I'll answer. Anyway just thought this would give me a log and a place for people to bounce new ideas off me a little.

Things to keep in mind:
1.) I have a lower back sprain that I'm currently working around. Hurt it doing deadlift.
2.) I have a partial tear in the middle of my Trapezius, so you my see me alter my exercises.
3.) I'm an instinctual trainer, so when I feel overtrained I throw in an extra day of rest.
4.) This is a return to weight-training after a 9 year hiatus. Before that I had lifted for 8-9 years.
5.) My workouts are broken up by muscle movements.

Thanks,
Sol
Solmanson
Solmanson
Posts: 14
Joined: 2010/04/09
United States
2010/06/01, 03:14 PM
June 1st, 2010
5:30am

Upper Body
Flat Bench Press: 12x185lb, 10x225lb, 5x255lb
Row(Iso-Machine): 10x140lb, 2x5x160lb
Dips(Assisted): 15x85lb, 15x70lb, 10x55lb, 9x40lb{F}
Pull-Ups(Assisted): 10x85lb, 6x70lb, 4x55lb{F}

Lower Body
Lunges: 3x12ESxBW
Seated Leg Press: 15x210lb,12x250lb, 12x290lb, 10x310lb
Leg Curls: 15x95lb, 10x110lb, 7x125lb}
Back Extensions: 3x15xBW

Miscellaneous
Rotator Cuff: 6x15ESx10lbs
Lateral Raises: 15x15lb, 10x20lb, 10x25lb
Calves: 15x310lb, 2x15x350lb

14 Upper Body, 13 Lower Body, 27 Total Sets
{F}= Failed
ES= Each Side
BW= Body Weight
Solmanson
Solmanson
Posts: 14
Joined: 2010/04/09
United States
2010/06/03, 10:54 AM
June 3rd, 2010
6:00am

15 min. Treadmill Warm-up(HR; Max.-123, Avg.-114)

Upper Body
Incline Bench Press: 10x175lb, 6x215lb, 4x225lb, 20x135(wide grip)
Row(Low Row Iso-Machine): 10x90lb, 10x140lb, 10x160lb, 10x180lb
Dumbbell Shoulder Press: 15x50DBs, 12x60DBs, 8x70DBs
Barbell Shrugs: 10ESx135lb, 8ESx185lb, 5x225lb{F}

Lower Body
Lunges: 10ESxBW, 3x10ESx(BW+20lb)
Leg Extensions: 10x160lb, 10x175lb, 10x190lb, 6x205lb(Static Holds)
Leg Curls: 15x95lb, 10x95lb, 10x110lb, 8x125lb
Back Extensions: 20xBW, 2x15xBW

Miscellaneous
Rotator Cuff: 5x10ESx10lbs
Tricep Pushdowns SuperSet: 15x160lb, 10x175lb, 10x190lb 10x190lb
Cable Curls: 10ESx30lb, 10ESx30lb, 10ESx35lb, 8ESx35lb{F}
Calves: 3x15x350lb
Abdominal Work

14 Upper Body, 15 Lower Body, 29 Total Sets
{F}= Failed
ES= Each Side
BW= Body Weight (currently 275lb)
Solmanson
Solmanson
Posts: 14
Joined: 2010/04/09
United States
2010/06/03, 11:24 AM
If anybody was wondering this is how I build my workouts. They my look random, but there is some order to it. For each workout, I choose one exercise from each of the following lists. Whatever exercise I choose, I tend to use for the remainder of the week, primarely because I get bored easily and I like variety.

EXERCISE GROUPINGS
1. Upper Body Horizontal Push Exercises: Upper-body exercises in which you move the weight away from your torso horizontally. (Imagine you?re upright.)
? *Any bench press (flat, incline, decline, barbell, dumbbell, varied grip, etc?)
? Any dips (various grips)
? Any chest flys
2. Upper Body Horizontal Pull Exercises: Upper-body exercises that require you to move the weight toward your torso horizontally. (Imagine you?re upright.)
? *Any rows (bent-over, seated, barbell, dumbbell, machine, varied grips, etc?)
? Reverse chest flys
3. Upper Body Vertical Push Exercises: Upper-body exercises in which you move the weight vertical/parallel in relation to your torso.
? *Any type of shoulder press (Military, Push, Barbell, Dumbbell, various hand positions)
? Lateral or front raise
? Upright row
? *Dips (various grips)
? Triceps Pushdown
4. Upper Body Vertical Pull Exercises: Upper-body exercises that require you to move the weight in a downward/parallel direction in relation to your upright torso.
? *Any pull-ups,
? Any pull-downs (Various machines, handles, and grips)
? Shrugs (barbell, dumbbell, machine, etc?)
5. Lower Body Quad-dominant Exercises: Exercises in which your quadriceps are the primary mover and controller
? *Any squats (Back, front, hack, barbell, machines, etc?)
? Any lunges
? Leg extension
? Leg Press
6. Lower Body Hip-dominant Exercises: Exercises in which your hamstrings and gluteus are the primary mover and controller
? *Any dead-lift (Conventional, sumo, Romanian,etc?)
? Leg curl
? Good Mornings
? Single-leg back extensions
7. Arm Exercises: Arm work is done only on an as needed basis. Arm work is separated into two categories based on elbow flexion toward or away from the body. My opinion is if you are doing good core work, your arms don't need much.
? Biceps, any Curls (Barbell, dumbbell, E-Z bar, isolation, machine, etc?)
? Triceps, any triceps extensions (Barbell, dumbbell, machines, etc?)
8. Abdominal Work
? Upper: Crunches, machines,
? Lower: Hanging leg-raises, Isolation
9. Interval Training (for weight loss)
5-min warm up
10 Intervals (30 seconds at 6.5, 60-90 seconds at 3.5)
5-min cool down

For all Upper Body work I usually target 4 sets per movement and Lower Body work at approximately 6 sets. Any of the stuff I place under miscellaneous, are not counted in my set totals.

I perform interval work about once a week currently and will stick to that as long as my weightloss continues steadily.
2010/06/04, 07:13 AM
I would work to implement squat and deadlift variations as you recover from your injuries. You may also want to reconsider leg extensions as they put a lot of shearing forces on the joints(knees).

You seem to do a ton of volume which I am not sure is productive long term.

What are your goals? What are your numbers in the squat, deadlift, bench, standing press? What's your age, height, weight, approx bodyweight? Do you do any conditioning work?

Good luck with your training.

Heads up in that this forum is all but dead. If you want to get some feedback on a consistent basis, I would venture to one of multiple other popular forums(if you're more of a bodybuilder I'd go to bodybuilding.com or other similar forums like wannabebig.com, if you're training more for strength/performance then pick appropriate forum...I usually spend time at sherdog's strength and conditioning forum)
Solmanson
Solmanson
Posts: 14
Joined: 2010/04/09
United States
2010/06/04, 10:19 AM
Hey Menace,

I'm itching to do squats and deadlifts again, but the sprain ties into my hip. That has forced me to be cautious with it. Early on I blew it off, and was surprised by some of the exercises that hit that area of my back.(Deep squats, cable rows, to name a few...)

I'm 38 and hadn't lifted a weight since I was 29. I was pretty developed when I started to lay off going to the gym. I'm approximately 6'3 and 274 now.(That's down from 301 in mid-February) My goal is weight loss(target of 225 to 240) and moderate strength gains. The muscle comes back very easily which is surprising to me. I was a bit of a beast before, but that is definitely NOT my goal now.

Before the injury I was just starting to up my numbers for squats and deadlift. I was just starting to squat 315 for regular sets and deadlift 225 and 275 regularly. My bench max is at 315 just now. I've never done the standing press before. I don't care for leg extension either with the exception of supersets, but I've been unwilling to not work the area.

Interesting to hear your volume comment. Do you feel it's a lot? I've been higher lately, because of using multiple exercises to work around the injury area, where I could have used ONE core exercise before. I don't disagree with you. That's just the one thing I have progressively decreased, but if I could be finished within an hour, I didn't sweat it. Once, I can get back to my ideal weight range, I will probably reduce to a more "Heavy Duty"ish style.

Conditioning wise, I perform treadmill intervals usually once or twice a week. It's usually about a half hour and 10 to 12 total intervals. A lot of my weightloss has been through just changing eating habits and tracking. I've seen my heartrate and blood pressure reduce significantly in just 3 months.

And yeah, I noticed this forum is pretty dead. We'll see if I hang around or not. Thanks for any feedback you have.
Solmanson
Solmanson
Posts: 14
Joined: 2010/04/09
United States
2010/06/07, 11:52 AM
June 5th, 2010
2:00pm

15 min. Treadmill Warm-up(HR; Max.-128, Avg.-110)

Upper Body
Bench Press: 10x205lb, 10x235lb, 4x255lb, 4x285
Row(Hi Row Iso-Machine): 12x120lb, 8x140lb, 4x160lb{F}, 4x160lb{F}
Dumbbell Shoulder Press: 10x60DBs, 10x70DBs, 6x75DBs(Static Holds)


Lower Body
Lunges: 4x10ESx(BW+20lb)
Leg Extensions: 10x160lb, 2x10x190lb
Leg Curls: 15x95lb, 12x110lb, 10x110lb, 6x125lb

Miscellaneous
Calves: 3x15x350lb

11 Upper Body, 10 Lower Body, 21 Total Sets
{F}= Failed
ES= Each Side
BW= Body Weight (currently 275lb)
Solmanson
Solmanson
Posts: 14
Joined: 2010/04/09
United States
2010/06/08, 08:47 AM
June 8th, 2010
5:30am

15 min. Treadmill Warm-up(HR; Max.-127, Avg.-113)

Upper Body
Bench Press: 15x185lb, 10x235lb, 5x285lb
Flys: 10ESx130, 10ESx160, 6ESx190
Row(Low Row Iso-Machine): 15x140lb, 10x180lb, 8x200lb{F}
Dips(Assisted): 15x85lb, 15x70lb, 10x55lb
Pull-Ups(Assisted): 10x85lb, 7x70lb{F}, 4x55lb{F}

Lower Body
Lunges: 10ESx(BW+20lb), 3x12ESx(BW+20lb)
Back Extensions: 20xBW, 15x(BW+25lb), 10x(BW+25lb)

Miscellaneous
Lateral Raises: 15x15DBs, 12x20DBs, 10x25DBs
Front Pulley Raises: 10ESx20lb, 10ESx25lb
Pulley Curls: 10ESx20lb, 8ESx25lb

15 Upper Body, 7 Lower Body, 22 Total Sets
{F}= Failed
ES= Each Side
BW= Body Weight (currently 274lb)