nice job
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Nice work on the squatting.
Good thing you did all those Kelso shrugs to practice scap-squeezing!
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@FlatsFarmer HA! Yeah I was enjoying those Kelso shrugs, why’d I forget about them!? I guess I do a lot of BPAs now so there are some similarities. Thanks!
@throwawayfitness thank you sir.
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ding ding. Loved readying this one
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9/2/22 Friday
The Morning Star Anchor W2 D3
Up very early, on baby duty. Ate, then:
1.1 mile walk with stroller
Usual warmup (fire hydrants and swings)
No jumps.
Five rounds, E2MOM:
-Power cleans, 5x135
-Pullups, 5
-Ab pike thingys, 5
Squats: 275, E3MOM, 3,3,3,1.
Press: Up to a top set of 4 reps at 130. Failed attempt at fifth rep.
5 rounds, E2MOM:
-10 pushups
-10 Kelso Shrugs, 130 (Thanks for the reminder @FlatsFarmer !)
-10 BSS per side
Thus I did all the required work and hit the required targets for push/pull/single-leg/core with very little downtime. A great way to end the last full week of the program. Next week I’m leaving for a brief getaway with my wife and just one baby, pretty sure I can get the first two workouts in. For the sake of completeness I’ll probably flex the program a bit to get most of the good stuff out of just 2 workouts.
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Dude, your press and squat are going places.
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Thanks man! The trend line is in the right direction.
These are pounds though ya know.
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I know it is pounds. I think you are strong enough for that 3 plate squat, you would just need to practice heavy singles for a bit.
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I did review TM in the Beyond book per your suggestion. When i come back from vacations ill be deloaded snd ready to start something new…
Would you suggest to squat per TM once weekly or use some other approach to hit multiple singles throughout the week?
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I think a good start is to only go heavy once a week. If you feel you are not getting enough leg work, you could probably add a day just for volume…but I find if you really push the back-off sets then you won’t really need more volume.
Starting out, I would pick you max to be a weight that you absolutely know you can lift successfully every time (maybe that is 295 for you?) and base all your percentages off that. Adding a joker (like 305 or whatever) is something can you do when you know that you can hit it on that particular day. If in successive weeks you can prove to yourself that you can hit that joker every time…well, then it becomes your new TM and you recalculate all your percentages.
Make sure you have enough food in your system.
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Saturday 9/3
Frint squat 135: 100 total reps,
1,2,3…10,9,8…1.
Every 90 seconds, though at the end i sped through the last 3 rounds.
2 miles walking pushing stroller.
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Monday, labor day, 9/5.
Zero recovery. 2 kids are sick, very little sleep up tending them all night last 2 nights. Not that i ever get a decent nights sleep as it is.
Regardless, morning star anchor w3d1.
Warmup, no jumps
Power clean, 7x185 rep pr
Squats 5x5x195 thank god these weren’t heavy
Press 5x2x130
65 push 80 pull 50 bss 15 ab wheel.
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9/7 Wednesday
The morning star anchor w3d2
Another night of awful sleep, really felt the fatigue once the lifting started.
Warmup, no jumps
Power Cleans 5x5x140 e2mom
Squat 6x275 rep PR
Press 3x130 was totally wiped from the squats. Not worried about it.
Hit the minimum required push pull, single leg and core work.
I’m done with The Morning Star! Won’t be doing day 3 this week because I’ll be travelling, but every day is the same exercises and I’ve done all the sets that matter for the week, so I’m happy calling it done now.
This has been an excellent 10 weeks.
There’s a high probability of work-related travel after this upcoming family trip, so the next few weeks may be a bit less linear than the previous 10. Regardless, I need to formulate a plan and stick to it. @Cyrrex has proposed Training Maximally, from Beyond. I think at least for squats it’s a great idea.
Also, I think it’s time to add regular deadlifts. As I get closer to reaching the squat goal (the first two goals are already exceeded) the deadlift goal becomes more important. Not sure how best to work the deadlifts in yet, though.
Boring and simple works for me. Few lifts. I wouldn’t mind shorter sessions though, these Morning Star sessions take a full hour and I’m tight about the rest periods.
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9/14/2022
Vacation for the past few days, it was amazing. Lots of walking with lots of elevation changes.
Had a phenomenal experience seeing a part of Europe I’d never seen before.
Today, tried a good ol’ fashioned Leg Day and roughly trying to follow @cyrrex 's recommendation.
Squats:
Worked up weight in sets of 5, then 3, then 1, then did 3x275.
Dropped to 195 (about 70% of that) and did 4x8 going E2MOM.
Then, SLDL 3x8
Leg Extensions to pain, about 50 total reps
Hack squats on a machine I’d never used. Hated it.
Calf raises to severe pain.
Still uncertain about programming going forward. May try to do one squat-focused day, one shoulder-focused day, and something on the 3rd day. Looking at some good T-nation articles. I found one by CT that looks really great - all his stuff does - and uses “cluster sets”, basically heavy singles like 30 seconds apart. Looks like a lot of fun, but then the program is complicated enough to fill several pages and I’m a simple man. TBD.
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9/16 friday
Fun shoulder-focused bodybuilding day today.
Seated backless barbell press, 3 heavier sets 3 lighter sets.
Barbell front raise, upright row; 3 sets of each.
Machine overhead press, 3 sets.
Cgbp
Tricep rope extensions to the pain
Some back stuff - chest supported rows, pullups, kelso shrugs, curls; but not too intense.
Different, fun, crazy pump, gonna be sore.
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I don’t think I’m quite familiar with that phrase.
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“Not too intense” or “to the pain”?
Lol im not really counting reps on those rope extensions, just going until the pain is so bad i cant keep going.
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9/17 Strongman Saturday
Didn’t see anything to copy from @simo74 yet so:
20 rounds EMOM with the 200lb bag. (I weigh 190 btw).
Odd minutes, pick and bear hug carry down driveway
Even minutes, pick up to full stand then drop.
Hit my limits on this, barely made it to the end. Had to lie down.
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Lol sorry mate no strongman Saturday this week. I am going into a doad next week and my body was all kinds of beat up. Had some family stuff that took all day so I decided my body could use the rest. Sounds like you came up with something horrible and pushed yourself hard. Nice job
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9/19/22 Monday
W1D1 of whatever this is.
Squats: Basically doing the Beyond programming here. Hit at least one rep at TM, which in this case is 275; but there’s a choice to make each day: more reps at TM are optional; any number of reps above TM are also optional; and backoff sets are 3-5 sets of 5-8 reps at 75% TM. I guess I can move my TM up to 285 next week because I’m confident I can get a single of 275 on my worst day.
Bar x 5
95 x 5
135 x 5
165 x 5
195 x 3
225 x 3
245 x 1
275 x 1
295 x 1 tie my lifetime PR
275 x 1 again
205 x 3x8 backoff sets
SLDL or RDL, 3x8 135, 185, 225. The 225 was holding on by fingertips at the end.
Leg extensions, one long rest-pause set that hurt a lot.
Did a few pullups, straight-arm pulldowns, delt raises in between.
Plan for now is to keep the Squat programming similar to this on Mondays, on Wednesdays do a more bodybuilding-style shoulder day, and Fridays do a bodybuilding-style back day. It may be helpful to do a couple light sets of squats on Fridays as well.
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