Seated ham curl: 115 x 43(18, 12, 13)
Hate this setup, always takes me forever to get it right, realized once I had it dialed in I probably should’ve gone heavier. Ham pump city though.
60s ham stretch holding kbs
Heel elevated belt squat: 225, 275 x 6, 185 x 20
90s quad stretch
Pretending the implement is 45lbs, hadn’t done these with one of those block elevating the heels before. Made it hard as hell, top weight was heavy. 185 was about right, took a while and hurt but legs were burning. Stretch was misery, last 20 seconds really got in there.
That ends my first 2 week run with DC, might get one more session in before taking a week off (recuperation/jazz fest) and starting a 6 week block.
Got back from 4 days in NOLA around 1am Monday, still not close to fully recovered, stomach a mess. Real degenerate shit but was a lot of fun and a good full release.
Could use another day or two but felt the need to get in today, starting DC in earnest now. This is the start of the logbook
W1A1
Slight incline db bench: 110 x 15 (8,4,3)
Stretch single arm
Seated machine press: 180 x 21 (11,7,3)
Ring shoulder stretch
Tri overhead: 100 x 24 (11,8,5)
Black pulley machine
Tri overhead stretch
Precor pulldown: 230 x 21 (13,5,4)
Chest supported row: 70 x 12,10
Owe the back stretch but I was fighting off vomit from about the middle of this workout, absolutely drenched in sweat. Was trying to push through quickly to get to a meeting and that didn’t help but I also just wasn’t recovering in 15 breaths. Lost a bit of weight in the parking lot but will be better going forward.
Diet needs to get dialed in, straight garbage and stimulants today, will buy some chicken and get to grilling tonight.
Diet has been better, stomach still a WIP but at least I’m getting protein down the hatch.
Wearing squat shoes for this to help quad activation.
DC W1B1
Preacher curl: 70 x 27 (14,7,6)
60s stretch
Standing hammer curl: 35, 40 x 8
60s stretch
Seated calf raises: 100 x 9 ( I lost count, took 3 min in any case, excruciating)
50s stretch
RDL: 275 x 11
45 second stretch.
Grip failed here, used a belt which helped. With a better bar I probably have a few more, with straps a lot more. Still in the wrong order but I’m keeping it, for simplicity’s sake.
Hack squat: 180 2 x 6, 140 x 20
Still learning this motion, hate it less but I think I’ll be able to progress quickly here and get some quad growth once I have it down.
Widowmaker was not fun.
Felt 20x better than Wednesday, still have some GI issues and drank an energy drink to start my workout, which was dumb because I didn’t need to caffeine or the gut disruption. See if I finally learn that lesson. Moves more slowly than last session but am still sweating my ass off, need to get some cardio in and drop a few lbs,
Went out last night and loaded up on Mexican food, had a couple of drinks but left it there and went to bed early. Stomach was real trash last night, woke me up but has slowly been getting better throughout the day.
W1A2
Incline db bench: 90 x 26 (16,6,4)
30s per arm stretch
Shoulder db press: 75 x 17 (10,4,3.4)
60s stretch
Seated dip precor: 250 x 37 (20,10,7)
30s stretch
ISO-lateral high row: 250 x 27 (13,8,6)
Cable CG row: 150 x 24 (11,7,6)
60s hang
This kicked my ass but in a way that made me feel like I got my ass kicked not like I was going to die. Legs are sore as hell but am going to do a short, easy peloton, weather is shit anyway.
Lying ham curl: 150 x 24 (10,8,6)
45s stretch (holding 2 different KBs [50,40] in bottom of stretch lol)
Leg press: 650 2 x 8, 470 x 20
75s quad stretch
Actually 9 on the 2nd set, flipped the catch but it bounced off so I got a surprise extra rep, glad I was still engaged. Widowmaker set sucked
Cybex machine actually got my calves sore last time, was surprised, not that I train them often enough to justify that surprise. Imagine I’ll feel them tomorrow too.
Super solid session, woke up around 7:40 thinking it was noon but managed to get my ass to the gym and finish before 9. Going to eat a bunch of breakfast tilapia, log on to work and go for a walk, so nice out
Forgot wrist wraps which help me a lot with pressing, unfortunate change but not the end of the world.
Felt like trash going into this, fatigue levels high, stomach way off, in laws coming into town tonight. Figured I’d better do it before the weekend came.
DC w2a3
Incline bench: 205 x 17 (10,4,3)
45s chest stretch
Swiss OHP: 135 x 15 (8,4,3)
30s stretch
Dips: bw x 26 (14,6,6)
30s stretch
NG chins (straps): 10,5,5
Iso-lateral row, single arm: 185 x 8
Really need to prioritize gut health. Nauseated after this. Will probably get the last session of this first block in on Sunday.
When I’m paying attention I take a probiotic and psyllium regularly and restrict quite a few foods.
Got diagnosed with IBS a while back (5 years maybe) and had some success with restriction via the FODMAP diet but have ignored my path to success. Been made worse by a prescription that stimulates everything about a year ago.
Reality is I have a decent idea how to fix it. Im just not doing it
I’m finding it’s less certain foods and more certain preservatives/additives. Home prepped food means all ok here, but occasional takeout/restaurant throws things for me the next day.
Tips and discussion most welcome on this, still here lurking @heretolog keep at it!
The additive stuff can get me too, a lot of the alcohol sugars absolutely wreck me. I sometimes make the mistake of grabbing an energy drink then always have a bad time. I usually don’t eat out more than once a week and symptoms don’t seem super closely tied to that, unfortunately. I’ll keep you updated on the journey assuming I have some success
Standing calf raises: 10 x holding 70lbs
75s stretch
Seated ham curl: 145 x 36 (15,11,10)
50s stretch
Face pulls (off script): 2 x 15
Belt squat: 235 x 5, 275 x 7, 195 x 20
90s stretch
Waited about 5 hours since my last significant food intake to lift, that helped quite a bit. Still pretty off though. Bought a bunch of chicken and vegetables that are low in FODMAPs, hopefully start seeing some progress early in the week.
May go back to fasted morning lifting to see if that helps.
Lifting was solid, I didn’t use the slant board for the belt squat but had my oly shoes on, felt the quads better. Feel like they grew 2 inches between the start of the lift and the end of the stretch.
Biceps, forearms and quads all feel like they’re getting bigger or more defined. Will finish out this 6 weeks with calves then drop them for something, they’re boring, take forever and I don’t care about them.
I know I’m a broken record on this, but if this ends up still not being the right way forward, it might be worth attempting a carnivore elimination approach going beef, water and salt and then going from there. For myself, pretty much every single veggie was setting off my guts at the end, and once I salted the earth and started over, I finally got a handle on my guts. Chicken itself isn’t bad, but so many chickens these days are raised on such awful feed and, since they’re monogastric, it gets passed directly onto us as the consumer. Cows, being ruminants, can better digest their food and save us from some of the damage.
I hear ya on the calves. I’m still doing them, because they’re a weak point for me, and I feel like they help with truck pulls, but they’re definitely a time sink.
I don’t mind the idea, it would be a tough pitch to the lady though who has a general preference to eat little red meat. Will keep it in the back pocket though.
I’m just not sure what to sub them with, I like the idea of doing traps, hips, or lower back work.
Traps don’t really make sense with the rest of the workout though, hips/groin and lower back might work but could generate too much fatigue for the hard leg work. Will have to ruminate (ha) on it.
Well, actually, it kinda does. The way I see how Dante built it is this: Your A days are full of medium movements, with the back thickness being the one potential “big” movement depending on how you structure it. Nothing in there is going to murder you, but nothing in there is really easy.
On the B day, there’s one BIG movement: the quads. Hamstrings CAN be big, but are most likely going to be medium. After that, it’s all pretty small stuff: biceps, forearms and calves. Traps definitely fit in that realm of small stuff: you’re not going to blow out an O-ring on traps, unless you get REALLY stupid with shrugs.
Low back might be a bit much on the same day you’re hitting hamstrings: I’d see more utility in just doing a movement that hits them both, like a good morning or SLDL.
Tri overhead: 60 x 22 (11,6,5)
60s
This was a different pulley, so not counting it against the last session
Precor pulldown: 230 x 26 (14,8,4) + 5
Chest supported row: 75 2 x 8
60s
Still not quite where I need to be but a lot better than this session 2 weeks ago. Need to do some more DC reading on progression
Been eating pretty low carb (for me) the last 2 days and trying to avoid irritants, i think it’s starting to show some signs of improvement but was pretty beat for this workout, might be due to some minor dehydration as part of the carb drop or just less fuel in the system.
Makes sense, I have an RDL in the rotation currently but my other ham movements are curls, which was in part to protect the lower back, might add one in when the progression fails on one of the curls though.
I like your Medium vs Big/small description, that does a good job explaining how I feel. Definitely feel like I accumulate more fatigue from A than B most times.
I was thinking of the workout composition more in terms of body parts and their relation to one another but I guess the calves aren’t really doing a ton for the ham/quad movements anyway, think i’ll plug traps in when the time is right.
Did stretches as prescribed, solid enough work. Don’t feel great but don’t feel awful.
On that note, I’ve been eating a pretty strict version of FODMAP over the past 3-4 days, I’m probably messing up enough not to be completely in the elimination realm but things are gradually starting to improve I think/hope. Did this fasted, after being up for 5ish hours and walking a couple of miles. Felt like I had less to give but also didn’t feel like I was going to vomit, balance…
Lower back/glute/hip have been shitty since my last A1, worried overhead pressing is messing things up. Going to try to keep off my feet and push more work into the PT exercises I have.
It’s great that things seem to be getting a bit better. Stay the course and if there’s anything I can help you with, just let me know. I’d be happy to help!
You the best! I’m trying to do it as simply as possible, at this point but it’s leading towards me just not eating very much during the day. Probably just need to spend more time prepping and less time consuming stimulants.
DC w3a2
Incline db bench: 90 x 25 (17,5,3) -1
Db shoulder press: 75 x 15 (8,4,3) -2
Seated dip: 250 x 41 (22,11,8) +4
ISO-lateral high row: 250 x 28 (12,9,7) +1
CG cable row: 150 x 24 (12,7,5) +0
Knocked this out in ~50 minutes after being awake for 10 hours with just a bag of popcorn in the stomach, that I ate around 8 hours earlier Felt like it was the safest/easiest thing to eat and then I just didn’t feel like eating much after that. Good news, stomach wasn’t mad. Bad news performance suffered. Oh well, not switching movements yet, going to let lifestyle normalize before making lifting changes.
