Thanks mortdk- I decided to add some weight to squat day today to see if I could tough it out. A lot of these movements are brand new to me so without experimenting I have no idea how much I can handle. I’ll definitely add some weight to the rows, especially the lower rep ones. I’ve always loved barbell rows since I started and it’d be crazy to get to isdatnuttys level of rowing. Also- I can’t believe I haven’t asked this yet but do you have a log on here? I’d definitely like to follow along with you and give some emotional support since you’ve been so kind giving me all of this free advice to some random dude haha.
Squat day
BB back squat 5x8 @ 185lb
SS hanging leg raise 5x10
Paused BB back squat 4x12 @ 150lb
SS pullups 6,5,5,4 @bw
RDL 4x12 @150lb
SS walking BW lunges 4x25
12 minute sprints on the bike.
Week one in the books and I’m definitely digging this program. Feel outstanding, and I don’t feel like I have overexerted myself, but am still feeling like I worked myself hard as hell. Could have something to do with all of the food I’ve been eating this past week and I’m planning on stuffing face tonight at a great Spanish restaurant tonight with the (almost) wife. Paella, calamari and fried crickets here I come.
It’s become quite long. I’ve tried to put a bit of a run down of what I’ve been doing in the first post.
Take a look in some of the other great lifters log.
This community is so nice and pleasant, BUT if you have program ADD then you’ll see so many new things you’d like to try out.
Haha so true, I read all of the articles and stuff and I just want to try everything, but everyone who seems so be good/great at this says put on the blinders and your head down and just do it. I’ll listen to the people who know what to do
Week 2 bench day
Bench 5x6 @ 165 lb (felt easy today)
SS Bent over row 5x6 @ 145lb (felt easy)
Dips 18,14,11,11
SS read delt fly 10,10,9,9 @ 15lb per hand
Got 5x6 on bench and bent over row, will add 5lb next week to each. Pendlay rows are finally making sense, but I’m going to keep the 12 rep sets at 110lb for another week unless I’m feeling outstanding.
I have to find a better way to do dips. As of right now my feet touch the ground and I’m not pressing my full bodyweight.
@isdatnutty is there another movement you’d recommend other than landmine press? This is another one that due to my equipment I don’t feel as though I’m doing correctly/to its full potential. Right now I have the bar shoved up against the back of my squat rack, and I alternate arms every set. So it’s R-50lbx12, next set is L-50lbx12 etc. Also, I have to be kneeling or else I’ll destroy the ceiling haha. I don’t mind doing it this way, and I can def feel it working my shoulders I just don’t think it’s really the “correct” way.
Yeah I do them seated, which again I’m not sure if that’s a good thing or not. It takes the “push” press out of the equation so they’re strict ohp. I might try doing the kneeling landmines for a few more weeks and see how it goes. I have pretty weak shoulders so anything that hits them hard, I like. Would it be a stupid idea to do 12 reps right arm, 12 reps left arm, then head to the rows? Alternating whichever arm starts the set each round?
Cool, I checked out a video on z press. Looks like a good replacement. I’ll stick with the kneeling landmine for a few more weeks and see if I start progressing well on it. If not I’ll switch it up. Thanks man.
Good morning 4x15 @ 95lb
Lunges w 25lb each hand 4x15
Did well today, going to keep bumping up deadlift weight as I got them all fairly easily. Might bump up hanging leg raises to 12 rep. Zercher squat going up to 130 or 135 next week too. Good morning will go up to 105 as the 95lb is crazy easy. Skipped bike sprints today, got out really late from work. Will hit it Thursday for sure.
Incline press 12,12,7,6 @ 120lb
Bent over BB row 4x12 @ 115
Pushups 20,16,12,14 (went for broke on the last set)
BB curl 12,12,10,10 @ 55lb
11 min bike sprints
Almost everything went up today and I’m feeling really good about where I’m at right now. Curls don’t matter too much to me so I’m cool with getting the same reps as last week. They’ll go up eventually. Pumped about the ohp numbers and getting more reps/weight on the bar on both styles of row and incline press. Haven’t weighed myself in a few weeks but I can just about guarantee I’m floating around 200 right now. I without a doubt feel bigger right now but in a good way. I have a feeling that deload a couple weeks back did some.magic for me.
Landmine press 4x12 @ 55lb each arm
Pendlay row 4x12 @ 125lb
Dips 20,13,12,11
Rear delt fly 4x12 @ 15lb each hand
Bench will get bumped up to 170 next week, as will bent over BB row. Forgot to update Fridays squat workout, I will do that later tonight. Workout days this week will be a little out of whack due to being out of town last weekend. Have some side jobs coming up too so hopefully it won’t impact my lifting too much.
Days are all screwed up this week, had to take yesterday off due to buying a new car… old one is a rust bucket and I can’t afford to keep sinking money into it.
Deadlift week 3
Dead 5x5 @ 295lb
Hanging leg raise 5x12
Zercher squat 4x8 @ 130lb
Pull up 7,4,3,3
Good morning 4x12 @ 105lb
Walking lunges w 50lb 4x15
Everything moved pretty well today, might stick at 295 on deads, might move up to 305 depending on eating and sleep. I feel like I go through ebbs and flows of eating and sleeping great, and then out of nowhere it just nosedives for a week or two. Gotta figure that shit out. Still Loving the program tho!
Incline press @ 120lb 12,12,8,7
Bent over BB row 4x12 @ 115lb
Pushups 22,17,15,15
BB curl 12,12,12,11 (got it up but with a ton of body English)
11 min bike sprints. Forgot to add in bike sprints to my past two posts- did 10 mins each.
OHP will stay at 100 next week, as will pendlay rows. BOBBR will go up to 120 on the high rep sets. Incline press will stay at 120lb. Might try to find a way to get some weight on my back during pushups. Only like 10-15 lb for now.
Slept like shit this past week. Don’t know if it’s stress related or what but it’s annoying as hell. Get in bed at 10 completely exhausted and I don’t fall asleep for at least 2 hours, and wake up multiple times a night. Thank God it’s friday.
Or make the harder try doing them like tempo set 5050.
5 sec eccentric, directly to 5 sec concentric, that would be quite challenging as well.
But weight is a nice option as well. Maybe a backpack would do the trick.
Romanian deadlift 4x12 @ 170
Walking BW lunges 4x25
10 min bike sprints
I don’t know if my conditioning is getting better or I’m just getting used to how shitty it feels while doing bike sprints. Either way I think bike sprints on squat day are one of the worst things ever, which means it’s probably good for me.
@isdatnutty I have a question. How hard should I be pushing these sets? I’ve found on the last two sets of squats I have to hang out up top and take a few deep breaths before continuing on and finishing the last rep or two. Does that mean I should stay at this weight until I can just bang them out? Or is it just an issue of my conditioning not being up to par?
Thanks mortdk- I’ll start doing some slower rep pushups from now on. It’d probably be difficult to load weight by myself. I have done the backpack trick before I just find that no matter how tight I make the straps the plates hang out on my mid to lower back which really doesn’t seem like a very good idea for a chest exercise, but I will give it another try after I’ve exhausted the tempo pushups.
Dips 21,13,13,12
Rear delt fly 4x15 @ 15lb each hand
No bike.sprints today, will do them tomorrow Thursday and Friday. Need to give me legs some rest after yesterday.
Bench, BB row and pendlay will stay where they are. Last rep or two of the last two sets we’re getting pretty difficult and grindy so I’ll do the weight again next week and reassess. Might keep landmine press at 55lb as well, but as always I’ll see how I’m feeling next week.
That’s a matter of preference. You are never going to just whizz through a workout without breathing hard or having to stop haha. That’s a hard question to answer though. I would say all lifts should be explosive. You should not be grinding any reps at all. I mean if you are doing like 4x8 and you are on the reps 6-8 on sets 3&4 of course you going to tire. But I would this type of lifting you are lifting in 70%-90% of your 1RM for most lifts. So it should be heavy, but not grindy at all.
Ok sounds good. I only ask because I think sometimes I push a little bit too hard for the reps/weight and I end up screwing myself. Did it on 5/3/1 too. As of now I haven’t attempted a lift that I have any doubt I won’t make. Sets 4+5 on bench day are what I find are the most unknown for me. I think I’ll stick with the weight for at least two weeks as per your original post in your thread. Seems like a much better chance of not getting burnt out. Also, I have to seriously focus on eating more. I haven’t gained much weight in close to two months.
DL week 4
DL 5x5 @ 295lb
Hanging leg raise 5x12
Zercher 4x8 @ 130lb
Pull up 7,4,3,3
Good morning 4x12 @ 110lb
Lunges 4x15 @ 50lb
10 min bike sprints
Definitely felt sore and beat up today. Rest day tomorrow, then back at it.
On squat I would say that’s fine. It’s hard to brace down for 8 reps. Standing up with the bar, take 2 breaths, brace and do 1 rep, breath, brace 1 rep.
As long as the reps are not grinding as @isdatnutty says.
EDIT: btw there are quite a few articles about doing pushups harder on the TN site.
Tempo pushups 5010 7,6,5,5
BB curl 12,12,12,10 @ 55lb
13 mins bike sprints
OHP flew up today. Felt really solid. Accidentally switched pendlay and bent over BB rows… Woops. The pushups/curl combo seems to seriously irritate my left shoulder and elbow. I think it may have something to do with hand positioning on bb curls. I might switch them to supinated pull ups as those don’t seem to bother me.
Ate a shitload of rice noodles yesterday for dinner and for lunch today and the pump was insane. I should weigh myself tonight before dinner as it feels like my stomach is totally empty to get an idea of what my weight is.