Got the job, didn’t do the cardio, ate takeaway instead, so full - I feel sick.
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Congrats!
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Well done man.
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Thanks for the congrats, happy to have it, but in a great place work wise where I didn’t need it - it’s a fair step up so should keep me interested (I get bored of jobs inside 2 years and usually change between 2-3 years, this was just before the two year mark, but it’s at the same employer, which is great because I genuinely like my company).
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Today’s work:
Family hike around the nearby moorlands. Haven’t done much in the way of cardio for a while so this will have to do for today, will probably run tomorrow.
Block pull (6.25 inch elevation)
60, 100, 120kg X 5, 140, 160, 180kg X 2, 200kg X 10 - noticeably harder, but lost the bar path and reset so weren’t all touch and go, which had a big impact.
Ohp: 40, 45, 52.5kg X 5, 57.5kg X 3, 65kg X 7
Happy with that considering my tris are still feeling tricep hell from the other day.
BtN press: 50kg X 8 X 3 sets
Bicep hell (wendlers tricep protocol, but for bis)
Ez curl: 36kg X 10 X 5 sets
Cable spider curl: 20kg X 10 X 5 sets
Had to remind myself to make sweet love and not jackhammer here, then I had to tell my mind to stop lying to me, I was sure by set 2 I had to change the weight on the ez curls, I did not, dirty stinking liar trying to keep me in small arms club. Set timer for breaks as well, realised i was slacking, 1.15 for set 2, 1.45 for 3 -5.
Good session, slow moving but enjoyed everything.
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What do you actually do for a living, if you don’t mind me asking?
Moving into a project management role office based (well home based but I was pre Covid anyway). My work is always office based but had a variety of roles over the years, contract, commercial, ops management.
Projects is relatively new thing for me as a standalone role (had large elements of it in previous roles), just done Prince2 so timing it great.
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I don’t know what this is, but I take it it’s good. Been a long time since I’ve had any passing familiarity with property management.
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No cardio over the weekend and none today (this is why I need to do it daily, will try and get morning stuff going again).
Training:
Squats: 60, 100, 120, 135, 150kg X 5
Blasted through this and felt good up until 150, then 5 felt like a max, not sure what’s going on with my squat, but it’s seriously out of whack, doesn’t feel good and I feel weak. Can’t blame running this week haven’t done any, can’t blame weight/diet ate 2 take aways over the weekend so plenty fueled up, bit tired but not to this extent, any ideas? I can only think it’s the impact of the block pulls, but even that seems a little far fetched for this magnitude of drop off, quite possibly just because I’m not focusing on it that it’s entirely mental? Sleeps normal, which is to say completely inadequate but it was a few weeks back when I hit 160 for 
.
Chins: 10, 1, 9, 2, 8, 3, 7, 4, 6, 5, 5
S/s Dips: 10, 1, 9, 2, 8, 3, 7, 4, 6, 5, 5
Liking this rep scheme I know @T3hPwnisher mentioned for something else but works really well here too. Went for the full 10-1 run rather than weighted with less reps, took a little longer on the breaks because I gas hard on chins.
Hammer curls: 10kg X 20 X 5
S/s Tri oh ext; 20kg X 20 X 5
At this point I’m just making every day arms days.
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“Juarez Valley” from Josh Bryant’s “Jailhouse Strong”. It’s probably the best thing I got from that book. Very solid approach.
Block pulls can absolutely be a contributing factor to your squat weirdness. You seem to employ something of a low bar style, and that while keeping the depth where you keep it tends to make one a “low back” squatter. The block pulls, in turn, heavily tax the low back, and so you’re having fatigue in a series of muscles that typically are fresh. I ended up swapping out my previously effective squat protocol to SVR II because, once I started doing SVR II for deads, I was putting too much work on my lower back that my squats could no longer endure the absurd sessions I was throwing at it.
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There’s evidence to support the benefits of higher frequency for hypertrophy
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Thanks for the reply, I guess I kind of thought that but in my mind my back feels fine but the weight just feels heavier than before so assumed it was something else, I’m also not at all in tune with my body.
Maybe I’ll drop the TM back on squats whilst I do the block pull protocol.
Juarez valley definitely a solid recommendation easy to get in a fair chunk of work quickly.
Absolutely what I’m going for at this point, higher volume, higher frequency, throw the kitchen sink at it and see if I can illicit some growth!
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Got a shout, didn’t get out the door but got ordered to stay on station, used the station treadmill and did a 1 mile run at 7.5 mph, was going to do longer but realised at 5 mins that I had not long eaten an massive portion of pasta and both felt sick and got a stitch well before the mile, my legs were also complaining about running after squats. Fun times.
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At least you’re doing this right (says the guy who barely trains arms…).
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Stuff done wrong but with gusto and enthusiasm has always served me well!
You and me both, I find it tedious and painful and would much rather bury myself with deads, squats, bench etc, but I’ve done that for years and my arms are awful, so let’s try the opposite - better look like Arnie by the time summer roles around!
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I can’t say my arms are my genetic strength, but they responded well to training in my young years. I’ve only recently started slacking and my arms are being nice hanging on to their size.
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Hoping mine do something similar and respond and hold on! Be nice to not have to do years of curls!
@T3hPwnisher something I’ve noticed from the Juarez protocol, despite not doing a massively high amount of volume (only 60 reps from yesterday) the doms is higher than than the reps would otherwise suggest, I think the magic is in the lower rep section where you can always be ready to go again for 1/2/3/4 reps before you’re fully recovered, really liking it, lats are feeling it today.
Honestly haven’t noticed much in the way of DOMS, but it’s definitely a great way to get in more volume at higher intensities compares to straight sets. Those short rep sets absolutely work as a mini-rest. Originally, one paced the length of their cell (8-12 feet) between sets as well as something of a rest, which is why I use burpees as a time disrupter.
Hmm so I’ve not been following it exactly then, still having breaks between sets, not sure Burpees would work for me, think it’d affect the main work too much. Banded jumping jacks might answer the call there.