I 100% get what you are saying here and was going to respond earlier but wanted to fully digest it. You are bang on with the upper/ lower issue. After the first couple of exercises i’m done and then arms always lag behind (which doesn’t help when my arms actually are a lagging body part).
Trying to figure out when the central drive is depleted is kind of hard but today (for example) i did Seated cable rows, then rack chins and after that i did feel smoked, but my programme had two more back exercises afterwards (so ended up doing seated HS rows and lat pull downs). The intensity wasn’t there on them but i guess they are all part of that volume equation.
I love upper/lower, and used it for years as a strength obsessed Westside junkie. Then when I was like 37 I tweaked a disc and started messing around trying to get some muscle mass. I messed for a couple months, just trying upper/lower with more reps and didn’t get any more muscular.
Then my woman had a busy year in grad school, and we went to the gym together, so I switched to Push/Pull/Legs because there was less time for lifting. I was even alternating shoulder push one week and chest push the next week. And even with the low frequency, the Focused workouts worked. Now, years later looking at photos/training log from that time, I’m obviously more muscular than I was when using upper/lower.
Then I switched triceps from pull day to push day, and biceps to push day from pull day. Like opposite schedule, so the arm muscles were still 2nd, could be fresher. And it worked great. Mostly the same volume and effort, just split different and my arms got over 18 inches.
Fast forward a few years, and C.T. has been talking a lot about about drive and central fatigue. And how you only have some much Drive before Fatigue makes your sets less effective. It totally lines up with my experience.
And looking back, we’ve seen the advice to train stuff you want to grow first in the workout since Forever. Personally, I heard it so much I dismissed as too obvious to be important. Like turd general advice for beginners. But now, older and wiser, it looks like one of the Fundamental Truths of hypertrophy.
Sorry to write a chapter about myself in your log.
RDL - struggled with my grip on these but I expected that
80kg
X 10 x 9 x 8 x 7
Leg extensions
40kg each side
X 12 x 11 x 10 x 10
Seated calf raises
20kg
X 12 x 12 x 12 x 12
Kneeling hamstring curls
40kg each side
X 10 x 9 x 8
Enjoyed this session but really feeling my defect now.
I’m 2.5kg down since January. Not had a drink, not had a cheat meal.
Still sticking to my diet of shakes and shakes and then an evening meal. A few days I’ve swapped out a shake for some skimmed milk or some chicken breast.
Cutting has come at the right time though as my builders have taken out half my kitchen. Losing the bathroom next week I think! House in chaos!
John Meadows Thanos Arm day from youtube, inspired by @davemccright doing this the other day.
BB Bicep 21s
25kg x 21
25kg x 773
20kg x 21
15kg x 21
Pushdowns
16 which was the whole rack, felt like a real man lifting the whole rack!
x 8 x 8 x 8 x 8
preacher Curls
10kg DB
x 10 x 10 x 8 x 8
Cable kick backs
7 on weight rack
x 10 x 10 x 10 x 10
Cable close higher up curls
7 on weight rack
x 10 x 10 x 10 x 10
Laying Skull Crushers
8kg DBs (these were too light)
x 15 x 15 x 15 x 15
Bicep curls on lat pull down
29kg x 10
29kg x 9
22kg x 10
22kg x 10
Scapula pull ups - really happy with these, my scaps and pull ups are staying to move way better. Shoulder not all jammed up.
Liked the workout but some of the bicep movements didn’t feel as good as some others i’ve used.
Also i had cramp in my right hamstring for the entire session. Every non lifting moment was spent stretching it. Guess that’s from the RDLs yesterday.
This was a fun workout for me especially because it involves a lot of novelty compared to what I’m used to. I was also very sore the next day! What are some of your favorite bicep movements?
I really like wall curls, incline curls and facing away cable curls. Those movements always make me feel every rep on my biceps. It might be because those stretch more and I have longer arms.
I wanted to change my ab exercise and didn’t really know what to do. I tried cable crunches but couldn’t get my form right. I’ll persevere with these but might have to watch a few videos before attempting these next time.
I’m working out first thing (about 20m after waking) and eating my carbs in my evening meal which is the best I could do to 1. Still eat with the family and 2. Basically have shakes the rest of the day.
Only thing is I usually eat around 5-6 in the evening so that’s still around 12 hours before my session.
This isn’t long term though. Just until the end of Jan then back on the bulk train!
Toes to bar is impossible right now, i’m too weak! I was doing leg raises but read that they mainly work hip flexors. Not sure if thats correct but thats what i read.
I can personally get my abs cramping with cable crunches and BOSU crunches. I also like the leg raises on a decline bench - I can really control those and get pretty miserable pretty fast!