Did a couple mile walk, then before dinner I did a bunch of high knees, butt kickers and crossovers to get my legs moving followed by 20 minutes of yoga with Adriene. Solid off day recovery and made like 4.5 lbs of grilled chicken
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Shoulders/leg accessory
Axle OHP: 80 x 10, 120 x 5, 170 2x5, 175 2x5, 180 x 5, 130 x 16
SL RDL, BSS, Pull throughs: 2x10
Lateral raise: 2x15
Front raise: 2x10
Upright row: 45 2x15
Face pulls: 3x25
Hang cleans: 95 2x10
Pull-ups: green band 1x12
Standing calf raises: 95 1x60
Light headed and drowsy today, took me a while to get going and find my OHP groove but the last 3 sets were solid. Decent amount of total work here, I think I need to get my heart going before my major lifts though. Once the blood started flowing halfway through I felt better, going to start doing jumping jacks again to see if that helps at all. Also been considering doing some light FS sets for the quads on my main shoulder day but think I’ll just push the cleans a bit more before deciding to do that.
Weight has been stagnant the whole year, down like 2 lbs from the start but feeling decent enough to try and knock a few more pounds off. Hopefully get to the upper 270s by transformation day but if not, I’ll be fine, I’m making progress and slowly getting leaner so I’m happy.
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Back/bis
Trap DL: 4x5 330, 1x16 (straps)
Axle Poundstones: 30 x 110
DB row: 52.5 3x10
Meadows Row: 45 2x10
Rope row: 90 3x15
Pullups: Purple band (~2/3rds of the resistance of the green) supinated 1x8, pronated 1x6
Hammer curl: 22.5 1x10
Good back workout, pullups are getting easier for sure, I used straps on the pronated set as my grip was dying. The Poundstone curls were hellacious but notably less so than the last few times, the pump is seriously amazing. I realized I didn’t need anymore work after my 1 set of hammer curls lol. One of my buddies who hasn’t really lifted over the last few years but is just getting back into it decided to do a set of 75, the cult is growing.
I can’t imagine going back to straight bar DLs right now, i’m sure it would be fine but I hate the much easier, trap deadlifts, at the moment. The first 4 sets were hell, they actually feel better when I push myself hard, which doesn’t make a lot of sense intuitively.
Off day tomorrow, think the active recovery and yoga helped me significantly so I think I’ll do that again.
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Damn!
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These should be happening more frequently and at higher weights, I mail in deadlifts wayyyy more frequently than any other lift. I like benching 70% of the time, like OHP 70% of the time, squatting 20% of the time, and deadlifting 2% of the time.
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Well you’re damn good at deadlifting for hating it haha.
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Ha, thanks man. I’ve previously described myself as a decent but unwilling deadlifter. My proportions are definitely not built to be a great deadlifter but I can get to 5 plates with a few months of concerted effort. Have pulled 570 with the trap bar off a few mats. Just need to convince myself to go back to the straight bar and put in a solid year of effort or so.
Any particular reason why you’d want to go back to straight bar? I’ve personally never tried a trap bar but it seems like some people swear by them
Mostly just stubbornness. I’ve had a goal to get a 1500lb total for years, figure I have to do the actual PL lifts for it to count.
Unless there is some magic moment I’ve been failing to find I’ll likely use the trap bar almost exclusively when not training to get there. I feel stronger and safer plus fatigue accumulation is way lower with it vs straight.
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Friends were supposed to come over, all 3 bailed, took all their gains instead.
Bench/Tri
60 jumping jacks
Shoulder warmup
Bench: 135 2 x 10, 185 x5, 225 x 5, 275 x 2, 295 5x5 (these were all hard, PR for this rep/set scheme though)
CGBP: 205 2x10, 1x8
Band chest flies: 3x10
Tri kickback: 3x10
Facepulls: 3x15
Tricep pulldown set of death: 20lbs x 30 top half partials, 20 x 30 bottom half partials, 20 x 30 full pulldowns.
Completely forgot about pullups until now, will try and squeeze a few more out after I finish work for the day.
Bench felt much stronger than last week, probably has something to do with my massive eating yesterday. I had dropped ~1lb for 4 consecutive days leading up to today but ate a shit ton last night to gain 3 of those back and had quite a few carbs for lunch so I was ready to lift. Wasn’t really close to missing a rep but the last 2 on every set were tough, I decided to do a short pause on the very last rep, which was dumb but it worked out. CGBP didn’t include any failures but form was falling apart on the third set, was bouncing off my chest and having my butt leave the bench so I called it at 8. Got the 3x30 set from some juiced up youtuber, I had to put the weight down a few times given how much it tends to swing but it definitely got a good pump going. Best bench workout in a bit, feeling strong. Need to get some walking in before the day is over.
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These must be the secret
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Out here thieving gains! In retrospect I think the jumping jacks helped the shoulders a ton. Things that didn’t help a ton was an energy drink right beforehand and sore forearms from the pound stone curls.
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Super tired (actually napped for a few min today) and super bloated from shit eating the last few days. Gfs family is staying right next to us, so a lot of eating and together time. Got in a 4 mile walk this morning, ended April averaging ~8100 steps a day, best month this year
Shoulder warmup, 50 jumping jacks
SL RDL: 2 x 10
Banded back thing (don’t think this is a real exercise): 3x10
Squats: 135 x 5, 185 x 5, 225 x 3, 275 x 3, 315 x 3, 335 x 5, 345 x 5, 355 x 5, 245 x 21
RDL: 135 x 10, 185 1 x 15, 1 x 20
Pull-ups: assisted 1x6
Bb calf raises: 185 x 60
Oof, this was rough. Was completely out of it mentally, head was foggy and really never made it into this workout. Honestly probably helped me get the 21 reps at 245 but I started the set with 0 brace, just forgot to not be a noodle. Happy with the squatting in the end but am hating the intensity already. Will probably do a bit less next session 4 x 6 at 315 or so then the session after push into the 400 range for some doubles and triples if I can manage.
May is going to be shit for training, I’m getting a bunch of trips done to see friends and family on the west coast before heading to ny. Current schedule has May: Oregon for 4 days, Vegas for 5, Bay Area for 5. Just going to try and eat decently and stay active.
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Had about a 4 hour meeting before my scheduled lift, shoveled down a bit of food and got my stiff ass to it.
Shoulder warmup
Back stretches, hip stretches
OHP: 120 x 10, 130 3x12
Lateral/front raises: 3x10
Face pulls: 3x20
Hang cleans: 95 x 10, 165 3x6
Shrugs: 165 1x10, 1x20
Assisted pull-ups: 4x5, 1x10
SL RDL: 2x10
BSS: 3x10
Fine workout, lower back and hips were stiff to start but felt fine once I got moving, keeping intensity lower on press which is keeping the shoulders happy. Need to get in a long walk tonight, have barely moved today
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I swear my brain is a fucking trainwreck (i’m happy and motivated for 3 straight days and in the dumps the next week, without obvious reason). Keeping on keeping on though.
Shoulder warmup
Trap Deadlift: 310 x 5, 360 x 5, 400 x 5, 460 x 5, 310 x 20 (straps)
Axle Curl: 40 3x10, 80 3 x 8
Hammer db curl: 25 2x10
25lb plate curl: 1x10 (more of a wrist/forearm exercise)
Rope row: 95 3x10
DB Row: 52.5 3x10 (good late pump, moving the weight towards the hip helps)
Meadows (side) rows: 45 1x10
Felt pretty good lifting today despite feeling like shit beforehand, love when that happens, keeps me motivated to come back through days where i’m physically off. Pushed the deadlift a bit here, the 450 x 5 was pretty rough but mostly limited by grip (only complaint about the Titan trap is the knurling is trash). Could probably bang that out for 10 if needed. The set of 20 was absolutely miserable, I leaned against my car dripping sweat for multiple minutes immediately after. It probably took some effort out of the rest of my session but it was easily my most productive set so I’m fine with that tradeoff.
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Had a very relaxing weekend on the Oregon coast, ate way too much but at least moved a decent amount. Got a quick shoulder/leg accessory workout in 30 min after coming back
Shoulder warmup
OHP (clean first rep): 140 4x8
Lateral/front db raises: 12.5 3x12
Landmine SA press: 70 4x10
SL RDL: 3x10
Axle hang cleans: 120 3x10
Axle rdl: 120 3 x 10
Upright row: 50 1x10
Forearms are smoked, going to make something healthy for dinner, spend Tuesday in Seattle then head to the bay on Wednesday.
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Feel like i’ve lost everything from the time off, sure it will come back though. Bodyweight didn’t move too dramatically in either direction which is a good thing.
50 jumping jacks, shoulder warmup
Bench: 135 x 10, 185 x 5, 225 x 5, 245 3x5
Row: 135 3x10, 225 2x8
Pullups assisted: 3x5
tri pulldowns/chest flies/rope curls/tri extensions/db curls x some
Could not get into the workout today everything was hard/miserable, tomorrow will be better, just gotta get some momentum again. Think I’ll do a light but volume centric leg workout tomorrow.
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Stomach was super off yesterday so I didn’t lift but got in a session today.
Trap DL:
150 x 10, 220 x 5, 310 x 5, 280 2x5, 370 x 10 (straps + belt)
Axle Row: 170 3x10
Landmine press: 70 3x10 ss w/Meadows row 3x10
Rope Tbar row: 115 2x10
Pullups Assisted: 1x8
Side raises: 17.5 x 30
Still a bit off but felt better today, will try to get legs in tomorrow, going to a friend’s birthday in the park so will likely be active if I don’t lift.
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Was at the park most of the day yesterday and got sushi for dinner, was great to go out, was definitely properly fueled for the lifting today. Job I applied for gave me an offer that would’ve been a small bump in total compensation, informed my CTO of the offer and ended up getting an offer for just under a 20% raise at my current company, nothing final yet but I’ll probably stay put for a year, get a different title then re-assess.
Got down to the garage 20 min before friends, decided to test my axle OHP max which I’ve never done before, PRs were 205x4 for axle and 225 x2 for bb.
Axle OHP:
Bar x 25, 80 x 10, 120 x 5, 140 x 3, 170 x 3, 200 x 1, 220 x 1, 230 x 1, 240 x 1, 245 x 1 (grindy but a big PR), 170 x 10
Band lateral raises: 2x20
Front squats: 225 3x6
BSS: 3x10
RDL: 315 2x5, 1x10
Upright rope row: 70 3x10
Pull-ups: 4x5 from most assistance to 0 assistance
Best workout in a while, took some videos of my OHP, everything felt reasonably heavy until 245 which just stopped moving halfway up, real grindy but I’m counting it. Felt good to FS again, my body/hip/low back just likes them a lot better, not a ton of volume or intensity but I might try and push to see if I can get some weight on there before I leave to Ny. Old PR is 365. RDL felt real solid, think it’s the most weight I’ve moved on those.
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