“Consider the following. What are the two most popular topics for articles in the muscle magazines? The first is how to gain massive amounts of muscular bodyweight as quickly as possible. The second is the even more popular article about building big arms in record time. Those are fine for the younger guys-the scrawny toothpicks who are desperate to pack on some serious muscle mass – but the don’t speak to those of us who have labored long years in the Iron Mines and who are plenty big already. Nor does it speak to those of us who work long hours at our job – support our families and who struggle with struggles with issues like how to pay the bills or how to put the kids through college-who have limited time and energy for training-and who are more interested in how to train for lifelong strength and health than in how to gain 30 pounds of muscle in six weeks.”

Except from Gray Hair and Black Iron by Brooks Kubik

I tried a new exercise today. Instead of full squats that I can do at home when the weather’s warm, I’ve decided to try to squat from the bottom position or “pins” (in my rack, it’s the rails). Definitely a change of pace, but felt much safer and overall but it’s going to take some adjustment as time goes on and the weight increases. We’ll see if it’s a keep or if I switch to front squats (I have poor wrist flexibility so that may be the last resort), the zercher squat or full-back squats.

Thu, Dec 12, 2013   0:40 (8:44 AM – 9:24 AM)

	Exercise		Weight (lb)	Reps	Rest	% 1RM	% Ttl Weight
	1 Squat – Barbell Bottoms Up 1RM: 331.9 Ttl Weight: 7,375 Ttl Reps: 35 Avg Weight: 210.7	1	85	× 5	120	26%	5.8%
		2	135	× 5	120	41%	9.2%
		3	185	× 5	120	56%	12.5%
		4	225	× 5	120	68%	15.3%
		5	275	× 5	120	83%	18.6%
		6	275	× 5	120	83%	18.6%
		7	295	× 5	120	89%	20.0%
	2 Chest Dips (Parallel Bars) Body Weight ⊕ 1RM: 222.5+129.1 12/7/13: 222.5+132.5 Ttl Weight: 6,512.5 Ttl Reps: 23 Avg Weight: 283.2	1		× 5	60	63%	17.1%
		2	+45	× 5	60	75%	20.5%
		3	+90	× 3	60	88%	14.4%
		4	+90	× 5	60	88%	24.0%
		5	+90	× 5	60	88%	24.0%
	3 Reverse Arm Curls (Barbell) Barely made 5 on the last set! 1RM: 95.6 9/19/13: 110.3 Ttl Weight: 2,040 Ttl Reps: 32 Avg Weight: 63.8	1	45	× 12	60	41%	26.5%
		2	65	× 10	60	59%	31.9%
		3	85	× 5	60	77%	20.8%
		4	85	× 5	60	77%	20.8%

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12/12/13 – All exercises (lb)

Total weight	15928 lb
Front Thighs	7375 lb
Glutes	7375 lb
Pecs	6512 lb
Forearms	2040 lb

Other exercised muscles: Hamstrings (Rear Thighs), Triceps, Anterior Deltoids (Front Delts), Biceps, Rectus abdominis (Abs), Trapezius (Traps)

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1) 1RM is not calculated for over 6 reps.

2) ‘% 1RM’ = Weight / 1RM. GymGoal uses ‘Actual 1RM’ if you record it, otherwise it uses the best calculated 1RM for the last 90 days.

3) ‘Raw Volume Index’ = ‘Total Weight Lifted’ divided by bodyweight. ‘Scaled Volume Index’ = ‘Total Weight Lifted’ / (Bodyweight ^ 0.67)

4) ‘Intensity Index’ = ‘Scaled Volume Index’ divided by total reps.