Jujimufu flexibility routine :
Front kicks x 25
Rear kicks x 25
Side kicks x 25
Cossak stretch
Pullups x 10/10/6 (got interrupted so thats all i did here)
Arnold press x 3 x 12 superset with lat pull down 3 x 20
Chest press x 3 x 12 superset with seated row x 3 x 12
Tricep kickback x 3 x 8 superset with straight arm pull down x 3 x 8
Side raise x 50 reps
Dragon flag - 1st attempt : pretty much had it and held for 10 sec. Dont have a picture, but form could be tightened up.
2nd attempt : didnt get a full one but controlled the negative
Notes on d.f. : intended to do another set of negatives but got interrupted again. I do feel weak on this exercise still, despite my improvement. Will keep working.
We are getting a tax return this year, and in discussing how to use it, we decided that part of it can be put towards a barbell and a couple plates. I wont be able to get much more than a set of 25’s, but its certainly better than nothing, and will open many more doors in training. I am very excited.
I do have a plan in place when it comes to getting more plates, so it wont take long to have that part of my gym set up.
Even though i havent picked up yet, i got a utility bench for free. This too adds to what i can do…so once i have that, plus my bar and 25’s, all thats left for major stuff is more plates and some sort of squat stand.
This is all coming in good time. Its been a couple months past a year since i trained with a barbell. I really miss having one. Barbell training is my favorite. I find myself thinking at the end of most sessions these days that im basically living off of assistance exercises. Thats why im chasing stuff like ab wheel and dragon flag performance and doing what i can with strongman stuff too. Once i have more plates and a stand i would like to get into a program and get my basic strength back…but unsure of what to do. Have 3 thoughts in mind.
And super squats is the only one of those 3 i have any experience with haha. Never ran the actual program, but i have done lots of high rep squatting in a similar style to super squats. Right now im leaning towards 5/3/1 but we will see when the time comes
I personally did 531 hardgainers when I first started lifting and 531 with FSL for a while after that. Both were great and I made great strength gains on them. PR sets were awesome at first, but when I started getting close to my max/TM was too high I have issues hitting the + sets hard. I’ve run a couple templates from the forever book and loved both. I’d definitely recommend reading up a bit on it and check out a few different styles and see what speaks to you. Jim has a ton of free ones out there if you don’t have the books and anyone here can help with the lingo if it’s hard to understand.
If it’s something you really like after you run a few cycles I’d definitely suggest getting one or two of the books. I have the first book and forever and there are hundreds of templates and options to choose from.
I’ve never been in your position coming back into training with a barbell, but I’m sure any program you choose will allow you to add strength and get back to barbell fluency.
I know @T3hPwnisher refers to SVRII as his default/fallback program, @garagerocker13 has run tons of different templates and I’m pretty sure @dagill2 and @Bagsy have run a bunch as well. I’ll let the people much more knowledgeable speak to which may be best/if there is a best in your position!!
I’m not a fan of the PR sets. It causes me unnecessary stress. I’m running OG now and I’m capping the PR sets at 10, 8, and 5 and it’s much better in my head.
I like the Advanced 5/3/1 template. Week 1 is 5x5 with your top set weight (85%). Week 2 is 5x3 with 90% and Week 3 is 5x1 with 95%.
I ran two or three cycles of that and then tried 5s PRO. I liked that, too.
I think Advanced or 5s PRO would be good ways to get back into it. It’s a little more volume and no PR sets. Those could make the lower half quite tender in the following days if the barbell is going to be a shock.
Ok thanks for the input. Where would i find those particular templates? That advanced stuff you mentioned doesnt sound too far off of what i used to do about 2.5 years ago.
I like 531 as a set of principles and outline to base your training around long term. If I was restarting barbell training, it would be my go to. Its not a 6 weeks and done kind of program though, its definitely something you base your training around long term.
This is something I forgot to mention in the original post. @bigdaddi if you set your training maxes correctly it’ll seem almost too easy at the start and get more and more difficult as time goes on, which is the nature of the whole program. Long term, lasting progress.
@Frank_C thank you for providing that. Im definitely gonna look into whatever info i can find so im not going into it blind if thats what i choose to do.
@dagill2@boilerman something more long term would not be a bad thing i dont think. It would be nice to get onto a program i can stay with for a while and rebuild that barbell strength again. I know that jim has said some things about having conditioning in there too, and i am good with that.
So back to current stuff, as opposed to the near future :
I picked up my bench today and it was much better than i realized. Its a fairly heavy duty incline bench and has a preacher curl attachment as well. Gonna clean it up and start using it for a few things at least. Once a barbell and squat stands are acquired, having the ability to do a variety of inclines is gonna be awesome. And i am probably gonna be doing a lot of preacher curl too.
I am back to stuccoing tomorrow. The first little bit we probably wont be going super hard, but the pace will be getting up there soon enough, and with that will come wheel barrows loaded with 3-400lbs of stucco cement, heavy toweling, and flipping heavy barrels (feel free to ask what that means) among other things like doing a few roofs and so on. It will be fun.
Taking today as a rest day. Had a good workout yesterday so theres no guilt that way, but also i had a hypoglycemic issue today that took a lot out of me, and i worked late too. Not making excuses, just telling it like it is.