16Jun23
Abs
Arms
Upper back
I super-setted all the stuff today. I’m conditioned enough to handle it now, but what a workout.
III
7 Likes
19Jun23
Squat
395x1
355x3
Incline Bench Press
135x8
155x8
165x8
SLDL
225x6
245x6
275x6
Landmine Hack Squat
90x20
90x15
90x12
90x12
Deload/Pivot/Low volume week.
III
7 Likes
20Jun23
Bench Press
225x1
205x3
Paused Front Squat (2 ct)
185x8
195x8
205x8
Strict Seated Press
100x11
90x12
90x10
DB Flyes
25x15
25x10
20x16
3-mile walk with 30 lb vest: (45:38)
Between work and my weighted vest walk, I ended up with more than 19,500 steps on Tuesday.
I think I found my new least favorite movement: Front squats with a 2-count pause at the bottom. It feels like all quad trying to push that weight back to the top. I can see them being pretty effective, though. We’ll find out.
Work has been super stressful for a few weeks now. It’s end of the quarter and everyone wants their projects done by the end of the month. That puts a lot of pressure on me and my guys. I like it when things are crazy and chaotic, but I will admit that it’s stressful.
I’ve also applied for a new job within my same company. It’s several levels higher than where I’m at currently, but I feel very confident that I’m the most qualified person for it, and I’m also confident that I will get it. I will most likely have a bunch of interviews to go through with some of the top muckety-mucks in the company. So that’s a bit stressful as well.
Luckily, I’m killing it in all aspects of work and training right now. I also thing I’m doing a pretty ok job at home, too, but you’d have to ask my wife…
III
8 Likes
Never do this. Lol
2 Likes
Haha I think she would give me a stellar review.
2 Likes
21Jun23
Abs
Arms
Upper back
20 minutes interval sprints on the Echo bike
Another great workout.
III
7 Likes
WTF are you insane !
The jury’s still out…
2 Likes
22Jun23
Deadlift
455x1
415x3
Paused Bench (2ct)
155x6
170x6
180x6
Lever Rows
55x10
65x10
70x10
III
6 Likes
Alright @wiseman83. Since you brought it up, let’s talk about bench/press programming. I’m certainly open to some advice, though I have recently changed things up to try and get my press movements moving so I want to try it out for a bit before I try anything else.
I’ve always used paid templates, and have had great success with them for everything except the presses. They’re full-body programs that were 3 strength days a week and 2 accessory days. I’ve recently switched to 4 strength days and 2 accessory days. The fourth day is a press-focused day. This new program increases both the weekly volume and frequency of the press and the bench. I’m also making an effort to stay a little further away from failure. It’s an RPE-based program and I tend to push a bit too hard on bench/press because desire to grow them.
I’ve also switched to only close-grip pin pushes and LTEs for my triceps accessory stuff, hoping that would carry over more to pressing.
When it comes to OHP, one of my big drawbacks is having to press seated in my weight room because of my height. That may work in my favor when it come to strongman-style pressing, though. After doing strict seated presses, once I can add in my lower body to the equation, I may really make a huge jump.
Anyway, what are your thoughts on my recent changes? Do they have merit? Anything else you suggest I might try? Thanks!
2 Likes
27Jun23
Seated Press
135x1
120x3
Bulgarian Split Squat
95x10
105x10
115x10
DB Incline Bench
55x18
45x12
45x12
Lateral raises
25x20
25x20
25x13
20x16
30 minutes LISS on the echo bike
I’m doing the BSS with a barbell; what a burn. What a great deload week; ready to get heavier again.
One more crazy week of work, then things should ease up a little bit. I may take off the entire week of the 4th. My wife has to work, but I’ve got days to use and I could really use some time off. I’ve only used 1 vacation day this year.
III
5 Likes
Hey man,
Can we see the program laid out?
One thing Ive found with me, is I wasn’t able to serve two mistresses. It was Bench focus OR press focus, while the opposite lift sat in maintenance. Though with a BIG caloric surplus this could still be achieved. But this is what I’ve found.
When you say seated, is it true seated with no back support? (Preferred, IMO has the most carry over to standing).
If you’re tall and lanky like me, I 100% understand the frustrations. My bench was STUCK at 137.5-140kg for I’d say a couple of years before I just got sick of it. My ROM is longer than most people’s squats. 
Benching 4-5 sessions per week made it FLY up to 150kg. I probably had 155kg in me, and to this day I regret not loading that instead of the 150 when I tested it. Ha.
I undulated the intensity almost every day. Trained completely by auto-regulation, and literally waiting for it to peak three times before I went for the big goal weight. Think it took about 12 weeks.
Most days were a top weight 1-3 reps, followed by either multiple sets of 2-6 reps with sub max weights or an no AMRAP set with something a little lighter that would give me 8-10.
But eh. Let’s see this program.
1 Like
Nice work!!
1 Like
Well in the context of talking to @simo74 about strongman, of course I meant the press. The bench press is much more of a struggle for me, though. I’ve only recently got back to trying to grow my press. My bench has been “stuck” for a long time.
Correct. I’m sitting on my flat bench pressing in my power rack.
I’m 6’4", 215-220. (1.93 m, 100 kg)
Like I said, it’s a paid program, so I don’t want to get too specific, but it’s laid out in two blocks. The first block is something like (with my actual exercise choices in parentheses. A lot of the actual supplemental/accessory stuff is up to my choosing) I’ll try to give some specifics about the actual benching/pressing protocols. they’re significantly different than the squat/DL protocols (I apologize if there’s not enough detail. If the writer of the program sees this, I apologize if I’ve given too much detail; I tried to conceal as much of the tricksy stuff as I could. Coming from someone with a lot of IP floating around, it’s not my intent to screw over someone else’s IP):
Day 1
Heavy Squat
Light Bench variation (Close grip incline 3x10 with 2 RIR)
RDL
Quad Isolation
Day 2
Heavy Bench (Top set of 4@RPE8, 4 backoff sets of 4 at 75% of e1RM)
Front Squat
DB OHP myoreps (1 fatigue set amrap, then sets of 5 reps every 20 sec. until can’t do at least 3 reps). 2 full cycles of this
DB Flyes (3x12-20)
Day 3
Heavy Deadlift
Medium bench (3x8 at 2 RIR)
Pendlay Row
Calves (though I hardly ever do this…)
Day 4
Heavy seated press (Top set of 4@RPE8, 4 backoff sets of 4 at 75% of e1RM)
Light squat variation (split squats)
DB Flat bench myoreps (1 fatigue set amrap, then sets of 5 reps every 20 sec. until can’t do at least 3 reps). 2 full cycles of this
Lateral raises (3-4 pump sets of 12-20 reps, 1-2 RIR)
2 accessory days where my triceps work focuses on close-grip pin bench presses and LTEs in the 12-15 rep range for 3-4 sets. It’s very low volume for arm work, but my triceps get plenty of additional work with all the pressing I do.
That block will last 5 weeks, then I’ll do a pivot week (which is this week, coincidentally). The second 5-week block will look very similar, except I’ll switch the exercise selection for most of the light/medium variations of the big lifts. The heavy day for each of the big lifts will also change to working up to a top single at RPE8, then a backoff triple at RPE and 3-4 lighter backoffs.
Then I’ll pivot back to the original block and start all over again. If you look back through my log, you’ll see I’ve made significant overall progress over the last couple of years. But my bench hasn’t seemed to move at all. My best actual lifts are 230x1 and 215x4, both at RPE8. I do have a tendency to push the intensity of my bench/presses too close to failure, but - as addressed in my previous post - I’m making an effort, to remedy that and just get a bunch of useful volume and adaptations for a while.
I’m not looking for miracles, just suggestions (too which my stubborn ass may - or may not - listen!)
Thanks for listening to my ramblings, at least @wiseman83 …
4 Likes
Thanks, man! We’re getting there.
24Jun23
Abs
Arms
Upper back
3-mile walk with 30 lb vest (44:13)
That’s the fastest I’ve done that walk yet. It is a pretty hilly walk, and I definitely feel it in my calves and my hamstrings. Maybe it will have the same effect as the bullshit hill sprints @simo74 tried to coerce me into. Anyway, that time puts me just a shade over 4 mph. Any faster than that and I’d have to be running. And I don’t run. (Unless a bear is chasing me, then I still might not).
I know I’ve been saying it a lot lately, but I really feel like my strength and conditioning is all in a superhero place right now. I’m ready if the Avengers need me.
III
6 Likes
Hill walking will deff build the calves but you will need to do a lot of it. LOL
26Jun23
Squat
405x0
355x3
320x3
320x3
Incline Bench
155x8
145x8
145x8
SLDL
275x6
275x6
Landmine Hack Squat
95x16
95x16
95x12
95x12
Well it was bound to happen. Every workout for the past month has been awesome. This one was awful. Everything felt heavy. I actually failed that squat. 395 went up easy last week, so I thought 405 was pretty safe. Alas, it stapled me; I had no chance. My fault. I need to pay better attention to my performance in the moment. No worries. We move on. Just a bad day, no need to panic.
III
7 Likes
Not even a bad day mate, just another day.
2 Likes
27Jun23
Bench Press
215x1
195x3
185x3
185x3
185x3
Paused Front Squat (2 ct pause)
210x8
200x8
Seated Strict Press
90x12
80x12
80x12
80x12
I had to cut this one just a little bit short for the sake of other life stuff.
Work is still crazy. It keeps ramping up, but since the quarter ends with this week, we should hit crescendo tomorrow. i haven’t used any vacation days yet this year, so I think I’m going to take next week off. I could use the break. My wife started a new job so she doesn’t have any vacation yet, so I’ll just be hanging out around home. Hopefully I can get the bike fixed so I can start riding it to work. Been dealing with electrical issues all summer. The joys of having an “older” bike…
III
7 Likes