Oh man, I've never had such an easy gym day. I barely broke a sweat and my heart rate stayed relatively low through the workout, though I did get some stimulation in the areas worked so that's good. I'm sure my muscles and CNS will appreciate this week of rest.

Flat bench press:
185 x 4 - 6

Flat dumbbell press:
50 x 4 - 8

Flat dumbbell flies:
30 x 4 - 8

Flat close grip bench press:
185 x 4 - 6

Skull crushers:
75 x 3 - 8
I usually do these seated with the ez-bar. Best way in my opinion.

Cable push downs:
100 x 3 - 10
Stayed at 10 reps with light weight because I usually use 40+ pounds more for 12-15 reps. Doing 8 on these wouldn't cut it.

Overall, very easy day, cut all the weight down by 20-40%. I focused a lot on my form because I've been getting loose with it, heavy weight tends to do that.

Oh, and as I said yesterday, I did fit in dips. At the end of the workout I did a set to get a feel for them. Nice slow reps and did them to failure, got 15 reps. At 250 pounds body weight, I think that's decent. Next week when I'm using heavier weight and stuff, if I'm able to get 10 at the end of the workout pretty easily, I'll put a decent sized dumbbell between my feet/legs.

This guy approached me and asked why I was using such light weight, I explained to him about the deload and he said he may start doing it as well every month or two. I showed him my notebook with my schedule and walked him through it.

And this other guy was complaining to his friend that he isn't getting any gains in his chest. Well, when you strictly use the smith machine for bench press and cables for everything else chest related, no **** you won't get gains. They may work a little, but it's not advised to strictly stick to cables. Your stabilizer muscles aren't being used and cables generally aren't as effective as free weights. Throwing them in here and there is fine when most of your workout is free weights.

Tomorrow is back/biceps and I'll do pullups in the beginning. May be 1 set to failure like dips, or 3-4 and staying between a range.

What Exercises Should I Do?

If you have gym access, I've found a set of articles that may be of great use to you.

First, I'd like to tout the greatness of ExRx.net. It's an amazing resource with .gifs and descriptions of so many exercises. Personally, if you're trying to construct your own regimen, I think it's almost essential.

Anyway, I've stumbled upon some articles on T-Nation--one for back and biceps, one for chest and triceps, and one for shoulders and traps--that analyze a multitude of exercises for their respective muscle groups, ultimately determining which exercises are best for targeting which parts of the muscles.

I have no idea what these two old ladies were doing. One of them was using an ab machine and the other the lat rows, both with the lightest weight possible. I proceeded to do my workout.
Took about 20 minutes to complete the first two exercises, my next two were supposed to be on the lat pull/row machine, but she was still on it, so I did the bicep portion.
About 45 minutes to an hour has passed, they're still doing the same things. I never saw them take a break or anything. So what was the point in all that? You can't possibly gain much of anything doing the lightest weight on a machine for an hour straight. It would be like me bench pressing only the bar for a workout...

Bent over rows:
135 x 3 - 8
Usually 185+, but the deload is all powerful. I also tightened up my form, as with the others.

T-bar rows:
Around 135-150 x 3 - 8
Not sure how much weight in total, I used three 45 pound plates, and less than half of the bar is being used.

Ez-bar curls:
65 x 4 - 8

Barbell curls:
75 x 4 - 8

Lat pulldowns:
130 x 3 - 8

Lat rows:
115 x 3 - 8

As stated, I did a set of pullups to failure when I was done, got in 10. I struggled with the last 2-3, so I think I should use the assisted pullup machine to gain more strength for it, instead of grinding. I think they would be most effective if I'm able to do 12-15 clean reps.

Did nothing yesterday, felt a bit guilty, but I just got done with shoulders/traps. I changed the seated barbell press with standing, didn't feel much different, besides the fact that balance is more important.

Standing shoulder press:
115 x 4 - 8

Seated dumbbell shoulder press:
40 x 4 - 8

Lateral raise:
25 x 4 - 8

Rear delts:
60 x 4 - 8
Machine.

Upright rows:
95 x 4 - 8

Shrugs:
205 x 6 - 10

I can't wait to go back to heavier weight next week. I realise the deload is important and the purpose is rest, but this week is really boring.

Took three days off instead of doing the deload workouts, but today I start back up. Chest and triceps with my new schedule, I'll be heading to the gym in about an hour. Not sure how well I'll do, kept waking up every two or so hours last night because I took a nap in the middle of the day. Though I don't feel tired, so it shouldn't affect me much.

Oh yeah, back in business.

Flat bench press:
250 - 4
275 - 4
295 - 2
315 - 1
315 - 1
275 - 4

Flat dumbbell press:
70 - 10
80 - 10
90 - 8
90 - 6
Should've jumped right to 90 after the 70 set, but I wasn't sure if I could get it for at least 8 reps. The dumbbells at my gym only go up to 100, I should be there within two-three weeks.

Flat dumbbell flies:
35 - 10
40 - 10 (meant to grab the 45's)
50 - 8
50 - 8

Flat close grip bench press:
205 - 6
205 - 6
205 - 5
205 - 4
Triceps were pretty exhausted here, but that's higher than I expected. I expected to only get 3 reps on 205.

Skull crushers (seated):
95 - 8
95 - 6
95 - 6
75 - 10

Cable push downs:
V-bar:
120 - 15
120 - 15
Single handed:
50 - 8
40 - 12

On most of the exercises I stopped one-two reps before failure. I wanted to conserve some energy for the other exercises/sets.

This is by far my favourite workout day of the week.

Took three days off instead of doing the deload workouts, but today I start back up. Chest and triceps with my new schedule, I'll be heading to the gym in about an hour. Not sure how well I'll do, kept waking up every two or so hours last night because I took a nap in the middle of the day. Though I don't feel tired, so it shouldn't affect me much.

wut da. Didn't you have skewl around this time?

Took three days off instead of doing the deload workouts

More like workout. Friday and Sunday were obligatory rest days, Saturday was supposed to be back/legs.

Didn't you have skewl around this time?

I have the option to go to the building or work from home.

Did my B routine for back/biceps because I woke up at 3am. I wasn't about to do bent over rows and t-bar rows with only 6 hours of rest, then being up that long.

Dumbbell rows:
70 - 10
80 - 10
90 - 8
100 - 6
Was mainly testing the weight since I haven't done these in a few weeks. Didn't use straps either.

Lat pulldowns (wide):
155 - 10
175 - 8
175 - 6
140 - 10
125 - 10
125 - 10
Odd weight scheme, I was testing to see where I stood on these.

Lat rows (close):
125 x 6 - 10
Could've went 20-30 pounds heavier here and done around 8 reps each set, but with these I like holding it for a few seconds at the end position and going slower than usual on the negatives.

Barbell curls:
85 x 3 - 8
75 - 10

Dumbbell curls (hammer):
35 - 10
40 - 8
40 - 10
40 - 8

Cable curls (wide):
85 x 4 - 10
Could've went around 20 pounds heavier and gotten the same amount of reps, but with these I focus a lot on the negatives. It'd be more difficult to do that with heavier weight, but I'll work my way up. Add 5-10 pounds every week, I try to do this with most exercises for progress.

I got a lot of rest yesterday. Slept 4pm-10pm, then again 3am-8am.

Did legs, and I feel light headed and my stomach hurts, thanks to my grandpa's driving. He shouldn't be allowed to drive anymore.
- Doesn't care for speed limit
- Accelerates then randomly hits the brake, repeat
- Accelerates, lets go, repeat
- Very sharp turns
I'm surprised I didn't puke.

Squats:
225 - 6
250 - 4
275 - 4
300 - 2
300 - 1
300 - 1

Leg press:
450 - 10
540 - 10
590 - 10
610 - 10
630 - 10
700 - 10

Leg extensions:
140 - 10
160 - 10
180 - 10
Drop set:
200 - 5
180 - 5
160 - 5
140 - 5

Hamstring curls:
85 - 10
95 - 10
105 - 8
85 - 12

Calves:
Standing:
200 - 15
200 - 12
200 - 10
Seated:
70 - 15
105 - 12
105 - 12