10 Miles Back Again

Training Training Logs
621

I’ll stick with it, for sure. I can’t emphasise enough how much tiredness played a part in hating last night.

I am trying to learn for next block though, and a little more planned variety in assistance is definitely in order. More basics, less bells and whistles, more focussed sessions and more planned variety in assistance.

1 Like
622

Work for today:
Box jumps: some
Squats: worked up to 85kg x 5
Paused squats: 5 x 5 @ 70kg ss. 10 hanging knee raises
RDLs: 2 x 15 @ 70kg ss. 20 decline sit ups
Bench: 8 x 3 (ish) @ 87.5kg
Pull downs: 5 x 10
Seated press: 8 x 3 (ish) @ 57.5kg ss. 3 pull ups
BtN press: 2 x 10
Bradford press: 2 x 10

Notes:

  • Squats where all really easy. I really tried to drag the pauses out, go almost ass to grass and explode up. Still pretty easy, but I could feel a slight pump in the quads.
  • I use knee raises instead of leg raises because the bar get in the way. Also, aiming to hit the bar isn’t a bad way to stay consistent.
  • Bench and press both felt heavy today. Stable, but heavy, some of the later sets were only doubles. I have just increased the weight again so I shouldn’t be too surprised. When I first started this program I was doing these sets with 50kg and 80kg respectively, so I’ve added 10kg in that time. Not too shabby progress.
  • pressing is getting dull, a bit more focussed back work will be fun
  • in direct contrast to the above statement, tried Bradford presses and behind the neck presses today for the first time in a long time. Bradford felt far more comfortable than BtN, it may find a place in my programming later.
6 Likes
623

Work for today:
Rain stopped play. And by rain, I mean vomit. I’m counting it as my core work for the week.

624

Call it vacuum training.

1 Like
625

Reluctant work for the day:

Powerclean and press 2-3-3-3-3 @ 60kg
Deadlift 5 x 3 @ 127.5kg ss decline sit ups
Seated press: worked up to 50kg x 10 followed by 2 x drop sets
Wendler rows: 3 x 20 ss lateral raises
Walking lunges: 5 x 10 @ 20kg
High cable crossover: some

Notes:

  • Definitely dawdled a lot here, first day back after food poisoning and on poor sleep. Really wasn’t feeling it.
  • equalled rep PR on press. Counting it as a slight PR as I did a lot more clean and press first this time.
  • Other stuff was pretty meh. Pushed myself more than expected, but still a long way from the intensity I’d normally expect.
5 Likes
626

Work for today:
Bench: worked up to 80kg x 10
Then 60kg x 20 (rest pause)
Incline db press 4 x 10
Cable rows 5 x 10 ss. Push ups to failure.
Bradford press 3 x 12
Y-raises 3 x 12
Squat: 8 x 3 @ 100kg.

Notes:

  • All the warm up sets felt awful on bench (forgetting my bands to do BPAs didn’t help) but the actual PR set felt pretty stable and clean, 2 rep PR. Thought bench might suffer today from the 5lbs of weight loss over the weekend.
  • Smith machine was taken so I experimented with db presses today. Remembered why I don’t like db presses, the stability is more of a challenge than the weight.
  • Experimented a little with Bradford presses again. Not 100% sold, I still feel like the front delts are doing most of the work there. Still finding it tricky to feel middle and rear delts.
  • Squats felt ok. Nothing too dramatic.
2 Likes
627

The heavier the weight, the less this is a problem. It’s like there body is forced to cut out the nonsense and find the best path.

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628

Hahaha… that’s exactly why I like them lol

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629

Nice work on the rep PR mate. Keep working away and soon it will be 100+

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630

I’ll probably try that at some point. Looking for some more “basic” bench assistance in January.

631

That’s the plan. Hard to see the strength improvements over the short term, but looking back it wasn’t even a year ago I first put up 80kg for a single. Now I’m gutted to hit it for 10 after a weekend of food poisoning.

Also got to remember that on squat and bench, I’m not a million miles away from all time bests now, about 20kg on each. So I fully expect progress to slow noticeably. I’m no longer recovering old strength so much as building new ones.

4 Likes
632

Nice work in the PR!

I really like Bradford Presses as part of a larger mechanical drop set, similar to the first one in this article: Growth Factor Shoulder Training - Bigger Stronger Leaner - COMMUNITY - T NATION

633

That was the exact article that inspired me to try them, yes. Haven’t tried the full giant set yet though.

1 Like
634

I still feel it most in the front delta, but the BTN presses and snatch get the other heads firing

635

Me too. I used to love BtN presses, but I don’t seem to be able to do them comfortably anymore. Maybe it’s all my bulging muscles getting in the way.

1 Like
636

18 mins uphill treadmill walking. Not very intense. Still working on morning routine to get to gym and work on time. Not far off. More milk in the coffee and I think I’m there.

2 Likes
637

Work for today:
Jumps x 10
Squat: worked up to 90kg x 5
Paused/tempo squats: 5 x 5 @ 70kg ss hanging knee raises.
Hamstring curls: 2 x 20
Bench: 8 x 3 @ 87.5kg
Pulldown: 5 x 10
Seated press: 6 x 3

Notes:

  • bit of a weird session: squats and press felt pretty easy, bench felt very difficult, didn’t make all the reps on most of the sets (I think i only made the reps on 3 sets)
  • forgot to do RDLs again, and was too lazy to go back and reload the bar so I just jumped on hamstring curl instead. Wasn’t terrible.
  • Started to get pain in my neck again on set 6 of presses. Shut it down there, I don’t think those extra 2 sets are valuable enough to hurt myself for, I’d rather be sure of lifting Tuesday

Sessions are really starting to drag and some of the weights are really getting obnoxious. I think the problem being that I’ve tried to do everything in a 2 day a week program and it just doesn’t work. I think for next year I’m going to try a more sensible approach and use something like block periodisation to plan my training better. Now to learn how to do that.

3 Likes
638

Sounds easy but gets more complicated as you look into it!!

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639

Any tips for where to look into it?

640

@MarkKO can probably answer this better than me. You could try reading ‘Practical Programming for Strength Training’ but for me it wasn’t an easy book to read.
I am lucky enough to have someone set out my plans for me so don’t have to think about it too much.

2 Likes