Bigmac73nh's Log

Training Training Logs
161

[quote]The3Commandments wrote:
Lol, it seems like there are a f-ton of T-Nationers jumping onto the sinking ship that is the legal job market! We law students on this board need to start smacking some sense into you guys!

Besides that, though–solid progress on this log. I’ve been reading it, so I just thought I’d stop by and say keep up the good work.[/quote]

Haha don’t get me wrong I’m pretty disillusioned with the whole legal job market thing. I have to yell at my mom every time she says it’s a good idea to go to law school because there will be a better job market when I get out. I’m pretty deeply-invested in that career path at this point, so I figure it’s at least worth taking a shot at getting into a good school before I reevaluate my life/resign my self to a career of homelessness with my B.A. lol.

Thanks for stopping by, I appreciate the compliment.

162

Dude … you ain’t fat; you’re thick. Thick = awesome.

163

Just kick that first semester’s ass. No matter what. If it means toning down your training, skipping out on that cute girl at the bar, blahblahblah, whatever. The first semester (and to a lesser extent the first year) are basically the whole ballgame for employment purposes. And when it comes down to it, employment is the name of the game. Best of luck!

164

@spar4tee Haha no man I’m down with thick, but yesterday I was just plain bloated/fat from the weekend. Only time when I’m good with being that bloated is when I’m pressing heavy and that was unfortunately not happening due to this damn shoulder.

@The3Commandments Thanks man. That’s the idea- I’m planning to go into hermit mode and just study/get prison jacked from having no social life for the first year or so of law school lol. If I stick to power training/HFSW-type stuff, I should have no problem at least fitting in an hour or so per day in the gym, even if I have to get up at 4-5AM to do it.

165

Today’s Workout: Power Work

A1. Overhead Med Ball Throws

4x6lbx5

A2. Band Rear Delts/Traps

4xBandx5

A3. Box Jumps (highest box)

4x5

A4. DB Swings

4x45x5

B1. STC

5xBWx3

B2. Heels-elevated Front Squat

Warm-up
5x185x3

B3. Ring Dips

5xBWx5

C1. CG Pin Press

Warm-up
5x185x3

C2. DB High Pulls

Warm-up
5x50sx3

D1. SG Speed Pulls

5x235x3

D2. Band Straight Arm Pulldowns

5xBandx5

E1. Cordova Extensions

5x40x6 LR

E2. BB Curls

5x80x6

Notes:

Great workout. Was substantially more explosive the yesterday. I also fucked around with how I circuited things, and I loved this arrangement. The ring work/FS circuit was disgustingly brutal and I was in full-on gorilla mode/sweating bombs by the end of that. The speed pull/band straight arm pulldown was also fucking awesome- lat pump was unreal. I also tried to make sure the first circuit covered full-body activation, so I added a couple of new exercises and just reduced the set volume slightly.

Shoulder is starting to feel better. I was able to lift chairs overhead at work without any pain yesterday, so I decided to try some light med ball throws just to feel it out. THese didn’t irritate the shoulder at all, so I’ll just gradually work up in med ball weight until it feels good and explosive. I’m pretty pleased with this, since it means that the problem is most likely some inflammation rather than a full-on tear that would require medical attention. Still going to baby it and avoid flaring my elbows on any movements for now.

166

This log needs some vagine.

167

[quote]Hallowed wrote:
This log needs some vagine.[/quote]

Haha welcome to da party, Ms. Hallowed.

168

Going to try something a bit different with the carbs vs. fats this week. Just for the hell of it, I’m going to alternate days of mostly fat cals and days of mostly carb cals. I ate a deece amount of carbs last night (shaded to the low side due to the carbicide that went down on Sunday), so tonight I’m going to eat a fairly inappropriate amount of fats and keep the carbs to incidentals/veggies. Then tomorrow it will be back to high carb, and so on.

I’m mainly doing this because I have started to hate eating and want to try it out as a way to add a little variation to the menu without getting dirty. Any improvements in water management/leanness will be an added bonus.

169

Today’s Workout: Power Work

A1. Overhead Med Ball Throws

4x8lbx5

A2. Box Jumps (highest box)

4x5

A3. Band Rear Delts/Traps

4xBandx5

A4. DB Swings

4x45x5

B1. Heels-elevated Front Squat

Warm-up
5x185x3

B2. Band Pull Aparts

5xBandx5 (nice and slow)

C1. SG Speed Pulls (doing these semi-stiff legged BTW)

5x235x3

C2. Band Straight Arm Pulldowns

5xBandx5

D1. CG Pin Press

Warm-up
5x185x3

D2. DB High Pulls

Warm-up
5x50sx3

E1. Cordova Extensions

5x35x6 LR

E2. BB Curls

5x80x6

Notes:

Great workout today. Explosiveness is really getting good. Like, I might be able to dunk before I bench 405 good. lol. Shoulder is feeling significantly better- not a whole lot tweaks it anymore. Easily made the jump to the next size up on the med ball throws. If it continues to progressively feel better like this, I should be on track to add 20-40lbs to the pin press and widen out my grip from asininely-CG to reasonably CG next week.

I did end up cutting the ring work today just to give the CNS a boost. I ran out of Neurostim today (waiting for a new order to get here) and my reasoning is that the decrease in DMAE intake plus the cumulative neural fatigue from three days in a row of ring work might be too much.

On another note, I was an idiot earlier and I accidentally just popped my Indigo dose preworkout rather than throwing it into a container to bring to campus as intended. So I’m actually eating now, directly postworkout. Haven’t done that in awhile, so it should be interesting. I’m 36 hours carb-depleted (won’t say ‘carb fasted’ because I technically had SOME carbs in veggie form yesterday). Carbing up tough right now- just ordered a couple pieces of chicken breast and two full plates of rice on campus (got dat “SRSLY? Two plates?” from the lady working here lolz). I was down to 198 today (4lb loss since Monday) but still looking pretty full, so I’m not sure what this will do as far as appearance goes. Gotta love them accidental experiments that I walk into sometimes. I expect to get into ‘net leanness/hyoogeness’ territory tomorrow, seeing as I was looking pretty damned lean today, but who knows.

170

[quote]bigmac73nh wrote:
Going to try something a bit different with the carbs vs. fats this week. Just for the hell of it, I’m going to alternate days of mostly fat cals and days of mostly carb cals. I ate a deece amount of carbs last night (shaded to the low side due to the carbicide that went down on Sunday), so tonight I’m going to eat a fairly inappropriate amount of fats and keep the carbs to incidentals/veggies. Then tomorrow it will be back to high carb, and so on.

I’m mainly doing this because I have started to hate eating and want to try it out as a way to add a little variation to the menu without getting dirty. Any improvements in water management/leanness will be an added bonus.[/quote]

Your back looks sikk. like riddic.

Okay back to business: from where came you this idea? High fat low carb will throw you into ketosis if you do it for enough days in a row. Just wondering where you got the inspiration for this. What are you expecting/hoping for results wise?

171

[quote]Hallowed wrote:

[quote]bigmac73nh wrote:
Going to try something a bit different with the carbs vs. fats this week. Just for the hell of it, I’m going to alternate days of mostly fat cals and days of mostly carb cals. I ate a deece amount of carbs last night (shaded to the low side due to the carbicide that went down on Sunday), so tonight I’m going to eat a fairly inappropriate amount of fats and keep the carbs to incidentals/veggies. Then tomorrow it will be back to high carb, and so on.

I’m mainly doing this because I have started to hate eating and want to try it out as a way to add a little variation to the menu without getting dirty. Any improvements in water management/leanness will be an added bonus.[/quote]

Your back looks sikk. like riddic.

Okay back to business: from where came you this idea? High fat low carb will throw you into ketosis if you do it for enough days in a row. Just wondering where you got the inspiration for this. What are you expecting/hoping for results wise?[/quote]

Thanks!

I’m definitely not going to push it to the point of keto- I still had about 75g of carbs yesterday (probs half was fiber), so it’s more like low carb than no carb.

I’ve been playing around with carb backloading and IF a lot lately, and it’s been helping me maintain a pretty deece level of leanness while still eating a lot. This is just more playing. IF seems to be a bit better for leanness, and CBL seems to help me keep the fullness a bit better. I guess I’m just trying to see how backloading carbs over a 36-48 hour period rather than a 24 hour one works.

I’m HOPING it will be a happy medium between IF and CBL and help me lean out slowly while maintaining teh fullness/even gaining a little muscle. Not SRS committed or anything- I’ll make the call at the end of the week whether I want to keep playing or go back to a straight IF approach.

172

Really, really not a good week for sleep. Fucking hate. Body temp is way too high at night (usually means dat fat loss at work) and I can’t seem to get my brain to shut down at all. I tried taking some melatonin (3mg) around 9PM (~15 min after my ZMA). I passed out around 10PM and slept great until 12:30 or so, but then woke up all kinds of alert. After laying around with my eyes closed for 45 min, I just took another 3mg of melatonin. Hopefully that will be good for another 3 hours of sleep or so. At least I apparently don’t have the fogginess upon wake-up that some have mentioned as a negative aspect of melatonin.

DAFUQ is wrong with me, am broken. If this shit doesn’t work itself out by the end of the week Ima have to get a night job. Or start drinking more. /venting

173

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[quote]bigmac73nh wrote:

[quote]Hallowed wrote:

[quote]bigmac73nh wrote:
Going to try something a bit different with the carbs vs. fats this week. Just for the hell of it, I’m going to alternate days of mostly fat cals and days of mostly carb cals. I ate a deece amount of carbs last night (shaded to the low side due to the carbicide that went down on Sunday), so tonight I’m going to eat a fairly inappropriate amount of fats and keep the carbs to incidentals/veggies. Then tomorrow it will be back to high carb, and so on.

I’m mainly doing this because I have started to hate eating and want to try it out as a way to add a little variation to the menu without getting dirty. Any improvements in water management/leanness will be an added bonus.[/quote]

Your back looks sikk. like riddic.

Okay back to business: from where came you this idea? High fat low carb will throw you into ketosis if you do it for enough days in a row. Just wondering where you got the inspiration for this. What are you expecting/hoping for results wise?[/quote]

Thanks!

I’m definitely not going to push it to the point of keto- I still had about 75g of carbs yesterday (probs half was fiber), so it’s more like low carb than no carb.

I’ve been playing around with carb backloading and IF a lot lately, and it’s been helping me maintain a pretty deece level of leanness while still eating a lot. This is just more playing. IF seems to be a bit better for leanness, and CBL seems to help me keep the fullness a bit better. I guess I’m just trying to see how backloading carbs over a 36-48 hour period rather than a 24 hour one works.

I’m HOPING it will be a happy medium between IF and CBL and help me lean out slowly while maintaining teh fullness/even gaining a little muscle. Not SRS committed or anything- I’ll make the call at the end of the week whether I want to keep playing or go back to a straight IF approach. [/quote]

Carbs backloading? Fancy!

[quote]bigmac73nh wrote:
Really, really not a good week for sleep. Fucking hate. Body temp is way too high at night (usually means dat fat loss at work) and I can’t seem to get my brain to shut down at all. I tried taking some melatonin (3mg) around 9PM (~15 min after my ZMA). I passed out around 10PM and slept great until 12:30 or so, but then woke up all kinds of alert. After laying around with my eyes closed for 45 min, I just took another 3mg of melatonin. Hopefully that will be good for another 3 hours of sleep or so. At least I apparently don’t have the fogginess upon wake-up that some have mentioned as a negative aspect of melatonin.

DAFUQ is wrong with me, am broken. If this shit doesn’t work itself out by the end of the week Ima have to get a night job. Or start drinking more. /venting[/quote]

I think waking up wide awake after a few yours has to do with elevated cortisol… But I could totally be remembering that wrong. My insomnia when it happens is the can’t fall asleep variety and almost always self induced by taking my stack WAY too late in the day.

174

[quote]Hallowed wrote:
Carbs backloading? Fancy![/quote]

Haha more trying not to be a fat boy than fancy loll

[quote]Hallowed wrote:
I think waking up wide awake after a few yours has to do with elevated cortisol… But I could totally be remembering that wrong. My insomnia when it happens is the can’t fall asleep variety and almost always self induced by taking my stack WAY too late in the day.[/quote]

I’ve heard the same thing about the elevated cortisol, so it sounds right. My stack isn’t too crazy right now… just a couple Spike tabs in the AM and a cup of coffee before my workout, so that shouldn’t be a huge problem. I really think it’s the crazy ass weather that’s killing me. I was formerly a SRS asthmatic, and while asthma doesn’t really do much to me anymore since I’m not that fat these days, it makes a mess of me when the weather switches back and forth between hot and cold like this :confused:

P.S. U win, first meme in teh log!

175

Today’s Workout: Lower Body Power Work-Heavy Day

Second Wave of SG Deads:

Not terrible… definitely the heaviest I’ve tried on these.

Second Wave of Heels-elevated Front Squats

Second rep of 275 slipped a bit due to dat sweat. Managed to keep it in line for the most part, but gave up some of the arch in my back toward the top. I was hoping that settling the bar in well would help with the sweaty on the top single. No such luck. Started to slip in the middle of the rep and fucked up my balance. Ended up slipping into the groove between my anterior delt bicep on the left side. Ended up locking it out without dumping the bar, but no bueno. Need to wear sleeves next time I go heavy, sweaty fuck that I am lol.

Activation:

A1. Overhead Med Ball Throws

4x10lbx5

A2. Box Jumps

4x5

A3. Band Read Delts/Traps

4xBandx5

A4. DB Swings

4x45x5

SG Deadlift Wave Loading:

B1. SG Deadlift

135x3
185x3
Wave 1-225x3 275x2 315x1
Wave 2-275x3 315x2 365x1 (straps for this wave, vid)

B2. Band Pull Aparts

8xBandx5

Heels-Elevated Front Squat Wave Loading:

C1. Heels-Elevated Front Squat

135x3
185x3
W1: 225x3 245x2 275x1
W2. 245x3 275x2 295x1 (vid, last rep shiesty as hell :/)

C2. Band Straight Arm Pulldowns

8xBandx5

Notes:

My shoulder didn’t feel any better today, so I decided to just let it rest a little and keep the upper body work to activation only. I took the opportunity to go heavier on legs and work up to some where in the ballpark of 85% of my maxes on the two main leg lifts. Not a bad session, though I was disappointed the the bar slipped on the FS. The weight didn’t feel too heavy at all out of the hole- probably would have been a lovely rep if not for that. I won’t step outside of the 50-60% zone for a couple of weeks now.

Going to eat a good amount today because I want to put in a full workout tomorrow. I had a couple plates of rice and some chicken for lunch after my workout, and I’ll be eating on them fats and pounding a ton of protein when I get home. SO excessive backloading is officially aborted lol. Back to a more balanced intake with IF. I can always ratchet the nutrient intake down tomorrow if I’m a bit sloppy in the morning- my primary concerns are getting a good night’s sleep and killing it tomorrow. After that I can worry about lookin sessi 4 da ladeez lolz.

176

Well, finally seem to be coming through the minor annoyance that has been the past week. Finally got the sleep I needed last night- hit about 9 hours (4 continuous, half hour or so wakeup to hit the bathroom/listen to some music, 5 more continuous hours). I put down 9mg of melatonin last night, and that seemed to be good. Not going to make that an every night deal, but I will take a pretty heavy dose the day after a shitty night of sleep to play catch-up.

Stupid ass heat rash thing seems to be clearing up. I’m 99% sure it’s just due to a combination of sweating bombs in the gym again (body heat CRANKS with rings + explosive work) and dry ass skin from the bipolar weather. Been throwing a bit of some hydrocortisone spray on it when it pops up (if I hit it quick it doesn’t get weird). Mainly happens in the morning, because I get a hyooge temp spike when I wake up. Will continue to monitor it, and I’ll hit the health center next Wed or so if it’s still sticking around. It comes and goes with heat change though, so doesn’t strike me as serious.

Shoulda mobility is good. Pain is more or less nonexistent at this point and has subsided to some occasional cracking. Looks like it was just a bit of dat “bench press shoulder.” I’m still going to play it safe for the next week or so. I’ll continue to press from low pins and try to keep the eccentric as minimal as possible. I will widen my grip out a bit, but it will still be several fingers closer then my standard benching grip. I MAY start to throw down a bit of LIGHT high incline pin press (high pins) next week because the overhead throws are feeling great. I’m definitely comfortable moving back to trap bar DL (with the heels-elevated FS warm-up to help with quad feel) + power snatch for leg HFSW moves.

Nutrition yesterday was pretty solid. I went back to a more balanced distribution of carbs and fats, and I seem to be at a pretty good balance of fullness/leanness. I did score some dumplings/cheese/crackers at work last night from a catered dinner… not particularly ugly and I really needed to eat something because I felt like I was going to keel over lol.

Will update later on today’s workout/nutrition. Probably going to do a little experiment :). I’m just glad that I’ve mostly worked out the minor annoyances. Just in time for the major annoyance that is midterm week lol.

177

Today’s Workout: Power Work

A1. Overhead Med Ball Throws

4x10lb ballx5

A2. Box Jumps (Highest Box)

4x5

A3. Band Rear Delts/Traps

4xBandx5

A4. DB Swings

4x45x5

B0. Heels-Elevated Front Squat Warm-up

B1. STC (Knees Tucked)

5xBWx3

B2. Heels-Elevated Front Squat

5x185x3

B3. Ring Dips

5xBWx5

C1. CG Pin Press (Low Pins)

Warm-up
3x185x3
2x205x3 (Wanted to see how a bit more weight felt since 185 is stupid light… still cake lol)

C2. DB Upright Rows

Warm-up
5x50sx3

D1. SG Speed Pulls

Warm-up
5x235x3

D2. Band Straight Arm Pulldowns

7xBandx3

D3. Alternating One-Arm DB Snatch From Floor

Warm-up
5x50x2 LR

E1. Cordova Extensions

5x35x6 LR

E2. BB Curls

5x80x6

Notes:

Was overstimmed as fuck going into this. Had to take a Spanish language proficiency test beforehand, and I got pretty cracked out for that. Once I started working out, my body was able to deal with the stims and I didn’t feel like my head was going to explode anymore, so that was a plus.

Pretty standard full activation and HFS setup here. I did make one addition- Synergy mentioned the One Arm DB Snatches and I couldn’t help but try them because the big man just spits programming wisdom. Really fun stuff with those. First time doing one-arm snatches, and 50 felt like there was nothing in my hand. These will be sticking around, just a great power move.

Pump was unreal. Went full gorilla, and vascularity was on another level since it’s pretty hot in the gym these days due to the unseasonable weather. Looking forward to seeing what I’ll look like in a couple weeks once I’ve been on the power work + rings for a month.

This was technically the ‘heavy’ week for me, even though I was limited to lower body exercises due to the shoulder. It felt ready to go when I tested the heavier weight on the pressing, so I’m pleased. Next week will be deload week, and I’ll work in sets of 2ish reps (as many as I feel explosive for with lighter weight) on the main HFS moves. I’ve learned quite a bit about how different rep schemes hit me in recent history, so I’m excited to try and optimize the programming for a good balance of hypertrophy and power in the near future. More on that as I go. Don’t want to get too far ahead of myself in case I need to make adjustments next week.

Also, went to preworkout carbs (about 100g) today. Will update on how fullness vs. leanness in the morning. If I like what I see in the morning, I’ll start doing that on the reg after next week. Other than that, standard to high protein intake and moderate fats (100-120g).

178

Haven’t been updating recently because I’ve been sick and in the midst of midterm week. Here’s a not-particularly-quick update on what I have been doing and thinking over the past few days:

I guess that rash that popped up last week and seemed like heat irritation was a symptom of some ear/nose/throat infection. I went from feeling great on Friday to feeling absolutely miserable on Saturday (probably didn’t help that I ‘sacked up’ and went out pretty hard on Friday night- one of those “last X of undergrad” events). The irritation went from a minor thing on my forearms to something that blew up and covered my lats/arms pretty extensively, and it was starting to spread to spread pretty much everywhere and itch like fuck.

I hit the health center on Monday (couldn’t even hear out of my left ear by then) and the doctor gave me some antibiotics, antihistamine, and a stronger hydrocortisone cream to deal with the irritation. I turned the corner over the past day or so as far as symptoms are concerned, and I can now hear out of both ears and walk around without wanting to itch everywhere all day. The skin stuff has subsided in a big way and I can look into the mirror without feeling crushingly self conscious, so that’s good too. I’ve had a lot of experience with ear infections (very prone to them when I was little), and I can’t ever remember being hit this hard by one. I’m guessing the power work just had me so amped up last week that I wrote it off as a minor cold and continued to stress my body with workouts/stims until it got really ugly. It’s bizarre and shitty as hell, but I always seem to get sick at the beginning of midterm week.

Luckily this bullshit hit while I had a deload planned, so it hasn’t really fucked with my training at all. I’ve gotten in five explosiveness-oriented workouts since Sunday using DB’s and BW at home. Got another one planned for this afternoon. Right shoulder is feeling great, probably at 90-100%. I’ve been able to do some OHP/rows/other direct work.

Nutrition has been directed toward muscle maintenance above all else. I picked up some Humapro at Vitamin Shoppe because I realized I had a credit there and could get a tub of the tabs for like $15. I’ve been getting 3 hits of that in every day during classes after a couple of John Meadows’ cocktails in the morning. After classes/life commitments I’ve just gone home each night and crushed a bag of double cheeseburgers, along with a Wawa salad or fruit smoothie. I cut all heavy stims to be easy on my liver and have been surviving midterms with coffee and Neurostim only.

If all symptoms are gone by tomorrow morning, I’ll return to the gym and get in a couple of my regularly-scheduled deload workouts before the week’s end. I finish up with my antibiotic a week from Friday, so at that point I’ll probably fast extensively for a couple of days to clean up (I was considering a quick RFL, but I’d rather take 3 days- one workout day and two off days- to fast for extended periods of time so I can get back to gaining).

As of next week I’ll be pushing it to a greater extent than I have been lately. I’ve been complacent on the nutrition front recently because what I’ve seen in the mirror has been good enough to not bring shame upon me and because I’ve been getting a shitload more interest from ladies while making very minimal effort lol. I spent a lot of time on Sunday catching up with some new and old logs/threads on here and I was blown away by how strong and/or thick a lot of guys within one year of my age are or have been. And I realized that I can do way fucking better than I have been of late. I’m going to make some changes to nutrition next week: I’ll be eating more and working to time nutrient intake more effectively around workouts. Food choices will likely be a bit ‘dirtier’ at times, but I see no reason not to try and push the gains a bit more. I’ve put a lot of work on refining my training recently, and it’s high time I did the same on the nutrition front so I can (hopefully) show some seriously impressive gains.

So now that I’ve got half a week of updating/ranting out of the way, I’ll be on studying lockdown for the next 48 hours or so. I’ll resume regular logging once I get back to normal workouts.

179

OMFG VILLANOVA WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO MY SENIOR YEAR

4 midterms in 36 hours… complete horseshit. Was feeling good enough to return to the gym today, but I just didn’t have time. Had to settle for DB’s and BW again. Going to knock out this last take home exam so I can get back to the gym and kill it tomorrow.

Also… first round of exams with Neurostim. Me likey. I feel like I retain twice as much information while studying for half the time. Can’t wait to get down on that brain candy next week though.

180

Great day today. Knocked out the remainder of midterms, got back into the gym, and got my first law school acceptance.

Here’s the workout:

Activation:

A1. Overhead Med Ball Throws

4x10lbx3

A2. Box Jumps (Second Highest Box)

4xBWx3

A3. Ring Dip Catches

4xBWx3

A4. One-Arm DB Snatch From Floor

4x45x3 LR

HFSW:

B1. Power Snatch From Hang

3x135x3

B2. Ring Dips

3xBWx5

B3. Band Straight Arm Pulldowns

3xBandx5

C1. Low Incline Bench

Warm-up
3x185x3

C2. DB High Pulls

Warm-up
3x55sx3

C3. Band Pull Aparts

3xBandx5

D1. Iron Cross Partials

3xBWx3

D2. Trap Bar DL

Warm-up (heels-elevated for warm-up)
3x275x3

D3. Skin The Cat (Advanced Tuck)

3xBWx3

D4. Band Pull Aparts

3xBandx5

Isolation Work (2 sec peak holds unless otherwise specified)

E1. Rope Upright Row

3x8

E2. One-Arm Cable Laterals

3x8 LR

E3. Band Pull Aparts

3x8

E4. Cordova Extensions

3x8 LR

E5. BB Curls

3x8

F1. Cable Crossovers (decided to pull out an exercise from last summers Thibs workouts)

3x6 (rep 1=15 sec hold, rep 2=12 sec hold, rep 3-9 sec hold, rep 4=7 sec hold, rep 5=5 sec hold, rep 6= 3 sec hold, rep 7= 1 sec hold)

F2. Band Pull Aparts

3x8

Notes:

Pressing felt alright today. Not 100%, but I managed. A bit weird getting back into the groove on exercises after 6 days out of the gym, but explosiveness was alright.

Next week marks the beginning of my first full month of new programming. In general:

Activation will include throws and jumps, along with heels-elevated front squats and a power snatch variation.

HFSW will be Low Incline Bench, DB High Pull, Snatch Grip DL, and Trap Bar DL. Reps in at 3x8 for week 1. Next Friday will be a shock workout and I’ll ramp to a top set at about 85% on all HFS moves then hit one 15 rep volume set to end.

Rings will be performed at least 4x per week, circuited with the HFSW. Ring moves will be: dips, STC, and Iron Cross Partials.

Band Pull Aparts and Band Straight Arm Pulldowns will be thrown into the circuits as well.

If I still have energy at the end of that, I’ll get up to three rounds of an isolation circuit of my choice. Lat width, medial/posterior delts, and pecs will be prioritized.

Emphasis for next week will be on armor-building as far as my shoulder is concerned and working at MMC by accumulating a lot of volume over the course of the week. I’ll give more specifics as I go, but after that I’ll gradually taper volume down while keeping weight similar/maybe a bit heavier to build explosiveness and work up to a low-rep heavy day at the end of week 3. Week 4 will be a deload. Wash, rinse, repeat, modifying as needed based on what I see.