Low decline db: 80 4 x 8
Duffalo bench: 235 4 x 5
Rear delt flies: 15 3 x 20
Face pulls: 60 3 x 12
The left side of my back from the base of my neck to the SI joint is one giant knot, goal for this weekend is to find a PT and maybe a massage. I did the Duffalo bar because @tlgains wanted to know the differences. I realized by set 2 that I was going to be a terrible piece of data. I haven’t benched much in the past month+, what benching i’ve done has been with chains, and in the past year I’ve almost exclusively benched at my house with an axle, on a bench that didn’t inspire the creation of the slip n’ slide.
That being said, still got a few takeaways.
Stability. I don’t have perfect bar path and my wrists flex a bit during the motion, so the bar wobbles a bit, it took me until the end to get this sorted out. I don’t think it would take long for this to normalize but it struck me as a bit odd.
Setup. The bench i was using was a piece of garbage and had rods that the bar sat on, as opposed to j-hooks, it made getting the bar directly upright very hard. I also leverage the bar heavily during setup, this lack of stability in the setup was annoying. Not a huge deal with 235 but at heavier weights might be problematic.
ROM. It’s notably different from an axle. It’s not that huge of a deal though, I paused all my reps except the last set and while I noticed a bit more chest activation than normal and maybe a bit more slowness off the chest I’m not sure I can attribute that directly to the bar, with all of the other interfering factors.
TL;DR it’s worth trying, maybe works the chest a bit more, kind of weird.
I kid you not, I thought you and @T3hPwnisher used a duffalo when benching. Now I’m realizing I got it confused with the axle. I appreciate the write up dude, I’ll give it a go.
He’s been squatting with it for a long time and the last 6 months or so of back squatting i’ve done have been with the Duffalo. Absolutely love it for squatting, shoulders feel better and it’s easier to get tight, for me.
Is there a meaningful difference between the two (besides branding) that you’re aware of?
I looked at Kabukis website to try to find the angle of the bend today, unsuccessfully, but saw that they say front squats work well with the duffalo bar, have you ever given that a shot?
I guess I understand the logic but it seems awkward, in my head.
Went out for pizza and drinks with the dog last night, she did really well, becoming a goodish dog!
Actually did a fairly hard workout today! My mental game is improving, my physical game not so much.
Leg curls: 110 2 x 6, 110 x 6, 90 x 8, 70 x 12 (drop set)
Duffalo squat: warmed up to 285 x 3, 285 + chains x 3, 305 + chains x 3 then did a “challenge set” which repeated those 3 sets with as little rest as possible followed by 195 x 10 (which I ended up doing low bar)
Leg Press drop set: 560 x 8, 470 x 8, 380 x 8, 290 x 8 (ooof)
Leg extension: 110 2 x 20 (misread instructions here)
DB RDL: 75 3 x 8
Calf raises/dorsiflexion
Squats felt weird high bar, my left hip/lower back is still a problem and bracing is still hard. Weight moved fine but I don’t have any desire to go much higher or harder than that, for the time being. My whole legs were burning through the leg press work, really effective. I was supposed to do chain lunges for my leg extension work but i didn’t see the description and had already walked to the leg extension machine and put the chains away, so just did that.
Drank a bit too much last night but had fun and got to bed early and slept til 8, dragged through a bunch of housework then made it to the gym at 2:30 on almost no carbs.
Treadmill: 1 min walk, 19 min jog 2.02 miles, not quite sure but last mile was probably ~9 min
Reactive Pump arm day
4 rounds
Rope push down 70 x 12/DB pronated curl 30 x 8
4 rounds
Ez curl 80 x 8/Rope overhead 50 x 15 (10 full/5 partials)
4 rounds
Narrow pushups x 15/reverse grip ez curl 50 x 15
80 was too much on the curls, dropped the last round to 70 but everything else was solid. My recovery between sets was miserable, combo of underfed and slightly hungover was rough. Resting Hr skyrockets when I drink, need to watch that. Happy with the running overall.
No lifting today, legs (groin/glutes/hams) are all smoked. Went and shot a basketball around for a bit, with the rate I was hitting side rim it was a decent amount of movement rebounding lol.
Hit a 3 then shockingly dunked and decided it was time to go home, rims are almost certainly low but I like the idea of still being able to dunk
15 min Pilates/yoga/idk focused on hip flexors
Not sure hip flexors are exactly my problem but I figure I’ll do exercises trying to fix them for a week and see how I feel, also did some research into physical therapists, will reach out to one this week.
Hit a little bit of back on Monday but when I went to do trap bar deadlifts something in my groin/hamstring felt awful and my hip was still hurting, did one set of 245 after that but called it on anything involving hip hinge and did a bit more lat stuff.
Kind of decided i’m foregoing squats/deads/hip-centric movements until I get my shit sorted out. In pretty regular pain/discomfort and i’d rather be healthy than deadlift a lot. Hopefully I’ll find my way back but for the next few weeks (at least) i won’t be hitting that. My left lat is also in an enormous knot which makes even simple movements pretty uncomfortable, I think I’ll try to bench tomorrow to see if I can brace effectively. If not, I’ll probably just transition to bodyweight/kb stuff for the time being.
20 min peloton 139 watts.
Pretty rough re-introduction but not as bad as expected. Hip didn’t like getting out of the saddle though.
Lol jeez, getting right after it! I’ve been some combination of physically hurt/traveling/depressed/tired over the last 4 weeks and have barely lifted but have been decently active otherwise. I also haven’t listened to the new album yet but I’ve heard it’s just okay from my one friend who is a huge fan of them.
Currently in your neck of the woods (Midwest), to watch a Notre Dame game I couldn’t care less about then spend the rest of the weekend in Chicago!
Really? That’s the first lukewarm opinion I’ve read. Almost everyone I have encountered who has listened to it thinks that it is their best work of the past decade. Many say they haven’t connected with any of their albums since Plans until now. I think they have at least one gem on each album – nothing will top We Have the Facts for me – but Asphalt Meadows is quite Good.
Doing alright, hip/lower back are still a bit off (which isn’t surprising since I’m relying exclusively on passive healing) and I’ve been busier than normal. Real story is just that I have zero desire to lift/exercise at the moment, been staying pretty active (10k steps a day and shooting the basketball a few times a week) but I can’t convince myself to lift.
I’m going to try to get back on the peloton this week and go from there.
Shoulder warmup
Prowler 100’ x 180lbs
OHP: 135 5 x 5
KB swings: 45 3x25
Pull-ups: 2x5
Lateral kb raises: 13 2x13, 20 2x8
Facepulls: 90 2 x 15
The giant knot on my left side that has everything right as hell is a bit better but not much, going to schedule PT and a massage soon.
Conditioning felt shit, didn’t feel weak, probably got a bit softer in the past 2 months but still in the mid-upper 270s so not a ton of weight/body composition changes.
Now I’m realizing I got it confused with the axle. I appreciate the write up dude, I’ll give it a go.