I completed Mass Made Simple a good few years ago.
That program takes you to a dark place. Solid hard work. The 50 reppers are sadistic.
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I still have unfinished business with that last 50 repper
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Thereās your WOM
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But does it move me closer to my 80kg press?
Only one way to find out!
I think that can be saved for next year quite happily. Iāve got a press to build first.
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Just finished āMass Made Simpleā. Was honestly pretty surprised at how complicated a āsimpleā program could be. Definitely not quite what I was expecting, but that made it enjoyable in turn. Itās nice to see something DIFFERENT out there. Dan is such an enjoyable author as well. Really appreciate you summing it up for me: $10 well spent. I might steal the squat workouts and barbell complexes.
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@T3hPwnisher it feels like Dan Johns thrown all his tricks into one program. Definitely a different take on bulking.
Work for today:
Press:
5 x 40kg
5 x 50kg
1 x 60kg
Push press:
1 x 70kg
0 x 80kg
0 x 80kg
0 x 80kg
Incline Bench (EMOM):
2 x 4 @ 65kg
4 x 3 @ 65kg
Machine press:
3 x 8 @ SW
T-bar row:
3 x 12 @ SW
Giant set (5 rounds):
Trap bar press to failure
5 pull ups
Decline bench sit up to failure.
Notes:
- A bit disappointed with push press. Wasnāt at my best today because blah blah, excuses excuses. Will try again at 80kg next week and consider my options if itās still a no go.
- Went at an unusual time today and the gym was heaving, had to park on the roof. Meant a few planned things had to be subbed, like pin presses.
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Do you not normally get much out of the push? Also any chance youāre working the press too much or not allowing for adequate recovery?
Iāll defer to the experts for that as itās outside of my expertise (I donāt have any!) just seems like a lot of pressing, which I know is absolutely necessary to press a lot, but you failed 2 heavy over head lifts in a row now, is more sub max needed?
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Fair bit to unpack here
I used to think 20kg, but Iām not convinced on that. I āprobablyā have a 70kg strict press in me, and Iām equally confident I have an 80kg push press in me, so probably closer to 10kg on a normal day.
I donāt know. My thoughts are that many successful programs use a bench day and a press day, mine simply has 2 press days instead. The difference being that my shoulders are getting hit more, but Iām lead to believe theyāre a very difficult muscle to overtrain.
My training is usually pretty submaximal, I donāt have any strict pressing over 60kg scheduled until Christmas (85% if I believe my 1RM to be 70kg), Monday was definitely off schedule. Push pressing is meant to be about 90%, I did 75kg for 8 singles pretty comfortably last week, so if it turns out that that 5kg jump means I canāt get a single relatively fresh, Iāll have to come up with another plan of attack for push pressing.
I am probably missing something, but I am not following the logic of your plan. You still aim for 80kg by the end of the year? And yet you are not planning to go over 60 before Christmas? I donāt get it.
I am also tempted to say your overall volume is a bit low, but I might not be seeing the whole picture (frequency, unlogged warmups, etc.).
If we just talking intensity as a variable in isolationā¦ anywhere from 50-100% 1RM could make sense depending on wassup. Low weight for reps/volume and pushing high weights for low-moderate volumes. 60kg ~ 75% so relatively light strength work. A week post christmas isnāt much time to peak to a max tho lol.
Yeah, sub-max can definitely work in general, but personally I think you need a shitload of volume that way. Also, OHP is a bit of a different animal when it comes to maxing. I would personally mix both. Tons of sub max, but also probably doing at least some reps between 80 and 90% pretty much every week, maybe every session.
My plan (for press) is:
Day 1:
531 (plus sets)
BBS supplemental (10 x 5 @ ~ 85% TM)
Accessories (usually a giant set, with some form of āeasyā pressing for about 50 reps)
Day 2:
Push press (Hepburn method which is between 5 and 8 singles at about 90%)
Supplemental press work (currently incline press using Hepburn pump method)
Accessories (mostly isolation stuff to target shoulders)
There are push up sessions done nearly daily but not logged, theyāre extremely submaximal.
This was why I originally implemented the clusters after every 531 cycle. These probably will start going over 60kg because 60kg was pretty easy last time. Stick with these? Or switch 531 templates nearer Christmas to get more practise at heavier weights?
Canāt help thinking that some specific tricep work might be worthwhile.
Probably agreed. Not quite sure where to fit that in the week, but I can think of stuff. What would be your top 3?
Dips, OHP and Push Press, haha.
Your above posted workout did not appear to mirror your plan, so have you just not started it formally?
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Iām not familiar with 531 and related things. My advice would be to monitor ur training and use that data to inform training decisions.
Estimated 1RM is something worth getting familiar with. When u do ur heavy days u can kinda gauge where u are at without going for a true max. Can do similar with volume days.
Trend should be progression not necessarily sesh to sesh, week to week and so on but overall upwards. If isnāt then program isnāt working very well and needs tweaking
Might be doing too much. Might be doing not enough. Recovery might be the issue.
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Todayās session was session B so:
Push press (aimed for 5 singles at 80kg, failed)
Incline press supplemental
Accessories (back work, and the giant set after)
I added in some machine pressing due to the complete failure to do any worthwhile work on the push presses. Not a great sub, but I was hamstrung by a massively overcrowded gym and had to make it work.
Edit:
While Iām at it, Iāve not been getting my log practise in because the logs been moved and I generally donāt have the time to get the log and tire out just for 3 singles.