11-January Back/Shoulder Hypertrophy
Although I should not be, I am always surprised that though my hypertrophy days are with light weights I am always sore afterward. And on my strength circuit days I am not. Except for the high-pulls; I have NEVER not been sore after high pulls.
Bench Press 115x12 4 sets
Incline Press 95x10 3 sets 95x12 1 set
Incline Flys 25x15 4 sets
Dips BW: 8,6,6,5
CGBP 75x15 4 sets
Skull Crushers 40x15 4 sets (up weight next time)
12-January Strength Circuits
Cycle 2, Day 4/4 ‘B’ with Squats
I am at the tail end of a cold and my energy level and aerobic capacity is not what I would like. I felt stronger on bench and squats today but weaker on press and high pulls. Total time was a full 40 minutes.
Starting with the next strength circuit I will be on cycle 3 so it is time to up weights again. I think that for press and pull ups I will either only add 2.5 lbs to the top-end or up the weight for the 2,3 or 4 rep sets. The rest I will go up the full 5 lbs per set.
I mentioned in the last post that high pulls always make me sore. Which they do. EVERY time. My wife absolutely hates the high pulls because they do the same thing to her. She sometimes tries to get out of doing them. She has soft-tissue injury/neck issues from a car accident we were in 15 years ago. So I am careful with them for her and only have her pulling light weight (her 35 lb bar only). But I am convinced that despite the soreness that they will really help her neck and upper back in the long run. Plus the lift can be a bit technical; I try to always remind her (and myself) that it is a hip/leg drive and trap movement and not an arm movement.
Very interesting workouts you have. Curious to see the progress you make on them. The training density will probably improve body comp a lot, curious how it will effect strength though.
What does a day of eating look like for you? Just curious.
13-January
Took the day off. Monday and all. I really hate taking days off training but I know that they are important. At 39 years, with three kids, an exchange student, wonderful wife, busy career, etc I really look forward to gym time as ‘my time’. But the body needs recovery.
14-January
Strength Circuit ‘A’. Cycle 3, Day 1/4
Starting cycle 3 of my circuits. I am leaving my press weight unchanged. I upped weight on the ‘interior’ sets on pull ups. I am adding the prescribed 5lbs to all the rest of the sets. The last set of my bench press is now at the max that I set a few weeks back. The good news is that I had no trouble with it today, even after doing sets 1-4.
Here are the new ‘A’ day weights:
A Day C1 5R C2 4R C3 3R C4 2R C5 1R Notes
Deadlift 305 315 325 340 360 up 5lbs
Bench 165 170 175 180 190 up 5 lbs
SGHP 165 170 175 180 190 up 5 lbs
Press 90 95 100 105 110 Unchanged due to prev.
Pull-Up +35 +45 +55 +70 +75 up 5lb on middle sets
[quote]Spidey22 wrote:
Very interesting workouts you have. Curious to see the progress you make on them. The training density will probably improve body comp a lot, curious how it will effect strength though.
What does a day of eating look like for you? Just curious. [/quote]
So my main goal is strength gains with this routine. The program looks to me on paper like a linear progression similar to 5/3/1. As you say, based upon my coming off a calorie deficit and still not being at maintenance (I think), this may end up more of a re-comp.
My current macros are 250P, 275C, 100F (3000 kcals). My diet is quite unvaried. Here is my typical day:
BCAA/coffee pre workout (just started this today)
Breakfast: 3 eggs, 1.5 cups chex corn cereal, 1 cup milk, 1 banana, 1 20g protein bar
Lunch: 3.7oz brown rice, 3.5 oz chicken breast, 1 string cheese stick, 1 apple, 2 scoops whey,
Afternoon: 1 20g protein bar
Dinner: 3.yoz brown rice, chicken/tuna/beef, 28g cheese
Evening: 8 cups popcorn (oil popped), 1 scoop casein + 5g creatine, 3 chocolate covered peanut butter balls (life is just not the same without these) 1 glass red wine
+fish oil, multivitamins, glucosamine (old man) supplements.
[quote]Captain Needa wrote:
[quote]Spidey22 wrote:
Very interesting workouts you have. Curious to see the progress you make on them. The training density will probably improve body comp a lot, curious how it will effect strength though.
What does a day of eating look like for you? Just curious. [/quote]
So my main goal is strength gains with this routine. The program looks to me on paper like a linear progression similar to 5/3/1. As you say, based upon my coming off a calorie deficit and still not being at maintenance (I think), this may end up more of a re-comp.
My current macros are 250P, 275C, 100F (3000 kcals). My diet is quite unvaried. Here is my typical day:
BCAA/coffee pre workout (just started this today)
Breakfast: 3 eggs, 1.5 cups chex corn cereal, 1 cup milk, 1 banana, 1 20g protein bar
Lunch: 3.7oz brown rice, 3.5 oz chicken breast, 1 string cheese stick, 1 apple, 2 scoops whey,
Afternoon: 1 20g protein bar
Dinner: 3.yoz brown rice, chicken/tuna/beef, 28g cheese
Evening: 8 cups popcorn (oil popped), 1 scoop casein + 5g creatine, 3 chocolate covered peanut butter balls (life is just not the same without these) 1 glass red wine
+fish oil, multivitamins, glucosamine (old man) supplements. [/quote]
Yeah the Density of the program looks interesting, and it seems like your adding weight to the bar. Really cool IMO.
Diet is solid, though I’d up the meat in exchange for the protein bars. I’ve always heard the protein from them are incomplete and have shitty AA profiles. Don’t know if that’s just bro-science though.
15-January Leg Hypertrophy
SLDL 135x15 4 sets
Leg Ext 70x15 4 sets
Ham Curls 35x15 4 sets
superset with
Front Squats 105x12 4 sets
Good Mornings 85x15 4 sets
Nice easy session. I love doing these light sets between the Strength circuits. They make me feel like I get a small amount of hypertrophy in while preserving mobility and CNS/mental exhaustion.
[quote]Spidey22 wrote:
[quote]Captain Needa wrote:
[quote]Spidey22 wrote:
Very interesting workouts you have. Curious to see the progress you make on them. The training density will probably improve body comp a lot, curious how it will effect strength though.
What does a day of eating look like for you? Just curious. [/quote]
So my main goal is strength gains with this routine. The program looks to me on paper like a linear progression similar to 5/3/1. As you say, based upon my coming off a calorie deficit and still not being at maintenance (I think), this may end up more of a re-comp.
My current macros are 250P, 275C, 100F (3000 kcals). My diet is quite unvaried. Here is my typical day:
BCAA/coffee pre workout (just started this today)
Breakfast: 3 eggs, 1.5 cups chex corn cereal, 1 cup milk, 1 banana, 1 20g protein bar
Lunch: 3.7oz brown rice, 3.5 oz chicken breast, 1 string cheese stick, 1 apple, 2 scoops whey,
Afternoon: 1 20g protein bar
Dinner: 3.yoz brown rice, chicken/tuna/beef, 28g cheese
Evening: 8 cups popcorn (oil popped), 1 scoop casein + 5g creatine, 3 chocolate covered peanut butter balls (life is just not the same without these) 1 glass red wine
+fish oil, multivitamins, glucosamine (old man) supplements. [/quote]
Yeah the Density of the program looks interesting, and it seems like your adding weight to the bar. Really cool IMO.
Diet is solid, though I’d up the meat in exchange for the protein bars. I’ve always heard the protein from them are incomplete and have shitty AA profiles. Don’t know if that’s just bro-science though.
[/quote]
Yeah, I agree. While I do pick decent protein bar (Pure protein brand: 20g whey protein, 17g carbs, 2g sugar) I acknowledge that a meat source would be better. But they feel like I am eating a candy bar! So why would you take that away from me! Stinking lousy trying to make me improve or something… sheesh.
16-January Strength Circuit B
Cycle 3, Day 2/4
So stinking frustrated: pulled my right lower lat doing high pulls on the third set of the day. Had to cut short the routine. I limped through a few more presses’ and pull-ups but did not want to risk the back more than that. I am on the lacrosse ball on the floor under my desk at work (fortunate that I can close the door). I REALLY hope that I can get this rehabbed by the 18th as I would like to keep on my circuit schedule. I will scratch todays session and my next circuit day will remain cycle 3, day 2 of 4.
On a separate note: I had a thought today to do weighted dips instead of bench press on my ‘B’ day (squats). The main reason being that I can avoid the down-time from changing weights between squats, bench and high pulls. I can setup an extra bar specifically for high pulls and I have a dip bar that attaches to the outside of my rack. I am not decided though: I really would like to continue developing bench and 4x per week seems better than 2x. On the other hand weighted dips might have great assistance/carry-over benefits… So I will continue to cogitate on this. Input is always welcome.
Weight is still unchanged after another week of 3k calories/day. I will complete Cycle 3 fully and then plan to up another 200 kcal/day.
17-January: I took the day off due to my back pull. I was feeling better this day but decided that caution was warranted.
18 - January Chest/Tri Hypertrophy
Back continued to be a bit sore… but after extensive foam rolling I felt good enough to resume training.
Days like yesterday are another reason I don’t like to program very many days off. They tend to happen due to work/life events anyway. I recognize that insufficient time off can create injuries but this back pull feels more like a fluke event than due to too much work.
Bench Press 115x12 4 sets
Incline Press 95x12 4 sets - upped reps and sets
Incline Flys 25x15 4 sets
Dips BW: 5,4,3,2 - kept these easy
CGBP 75x15 4 sets
Skull Crushers 44x15 4 sets - new weight (for these light days)
19-January - Strength Circuit
B day - Cycle 3, Day 2/4
Today was my repeat of day 2 of the 3rd cycle of strength circuits. In my previous post I mentioned that I was thinking about substituting dips instead of bench on the B day. The more that I thought about it the more I liked the idea. And after trying it I definitely plan on keeping the change. Today’s circuit was finished in 33 minutes and 30 seconds. This is a full 5-7 minutes faster than what it took me with Bench. Now I can avoid all the time it required to change plates between Squat, bench and SGHP. I started with a conservative training 1RM on dips of 45.
Therefore, to recap the revised plan:
Day 1 - A Day 1
Day 2 - Legs
Day 3 - B Day 1
Day 4 - Chest/Tri
Day 5 - A Day 2
Day 6 - Back/Shoulders
Day 7 - B Day 2
A day is Deadlift, Bench, SGHP, Strict Press, Pull-ups
B day is Back Squats, Dips, SGHP, Strict Press, Pull-ups
In this scheme I can take a day off anywhere and then I just resume the program afterward.
Weights on Cycle 3, B day are:
Squat 245 255 260 275 290
Dips 10 15 20 30 45
SGHP 155 155 155 155 155 - Did 5 reps for all sets to get back into SGHP
Press 90 95 100 105 110
Pull-Up 35 45 55 70 75
20-January Back/Shoulder Hypertrophy
T-bar rows 70lb x 15 4 sets
super set with
Lateral db raise 10lb x 15 4 sets
Rack Chins BW x 12 4 sets
super set with
Reverse Fly DB 10lb x 15 4 sets
Barbell Row 90lb x 15 4 sets
super set with
Face Pulls Band x 15 4 sets
21-January Strength Circuit A
Cycle 3, Day 3/4
Reps 5 4 3 2 1
Deadlift 305 315 325 340 360
Bench 165 170 175 180 190
SGHP 165 170 175 180 190
Press 90 95 100 105 110
Pull-Up 35 45 55 70 75
So I did it again - I tweaked/pulled my lower lat/mid-back. This time doing my last deadlift of the day. I think my form was decent with good leg drive. However on the previous set I did not use my legs enough and I suspect this set me up for the re-injury. The pull was not as bad this time as last. I was able to complete my last set (though I did lighten up my SGHP back to 155 and did 5 reps instead of one rep at 190). So I am counting this day as completed. I will probably keep my deadlift weights unchanged for cycle 4 to give me more rehab and ensure I am getting my form perfect for each rep.
22-24th of January
I really tweaked my back hard. I should not have continued to try to train. The pain is clearly muscular. I feel it most just below the mid point on my right side. However, when I get on the roller or lacrosse ball to work on it there are tender spots all up and down the right side.
I blame the BULKING competition on my trying to push through when I should be resting. Seriously, my guess is that the same motivation that drives people on this board to improve themselves can have the tendency to cause us to push too far when we should be cautious.
I did some light leg work on the 23rd and took some walks with my new weight vest to try it out but otherwise I have been and will be for the next few days in rehab mode. I hate it.
Cheers,
Needa
25th of January
Still suffering from back strain… slowly recovering. Lots of foam rolling.
Saturday the 25th: Chest/Tri hypertrophy
Bench Press 115 x 15 for 4 sets
Incline Bench 95 x 15 for 4 sets
Incline Fly 25 x 15 for 4 sets
CGBP 75 x 15 for 4 sets
Skull crusher 45 x 15 for 4 sets
26th of January
Back / shoulder hypertrophy
Pulls Ups BW x 5 for 5 sets
superset with
Lateral DB raise 10 x 15 for 4 sets
T-bar row 60 x 15 for 4 sets
superset with
Band face-pulls 15 for 4 sets
Barbell Row 95 x 15 for 4 sets
superset with
Reverse Fly 10 x 15 for 4 sets
27th of January
Super light leg day.
RDL 135 x 15 for 4 sets
Leg curls 35 x 15 for 4 sets
Good Morning 35 x 15 for 4 sets
Front Squats 45 x 15 for 4 sets
In the evening took a weighted vest walk. About 3 miles with 44lbs.
28th of January
After days and days of copious foam rolling my back felt good enough for an experimental strength circuit day. I modified and the weights and some sets as such:
Deadlifts 225 for all 5 sets. Did 5 reps each time.
Bench press 155 160 165 170 180 normal rep scheme (54321)
SGHP 135 for all 5 sets. Did 5 reps each time.
Press 85 90 95 100 105 normal rep scheme
Pull up 25 34 45 55 65 normal rep scheme
I felt good afterward. Thankful that I had no re-injury. Plan to take Wednesday off and then do a modified ‘B’ day of circuits. Then hopefully I can resume my routine (might reset weights back a bit).