Building the Foundation

Training Training Logs
41

Sunday:

block pulls: pulled singles only. 150kg was heavy, 165kg didn’t even moved from the blocks. pulls were sluggish, not a good idea for a sunday evening.

good mornings: from 60 to 90 kg for 1-5reps. from 90 to 60. from 60 to 90 again.
to wear a belt or not in the gm ?? this is the question.

natural ghrs. for the ass.

Monday:

incline bench: worked to a 80kgx6reps - last 2 with help of a spotter. went down to 60-75kg for some sets. alternated with face pulls. incline improves a bit

dips: two sets 9-6bw reps. didn’t feel good.

triceps mix: feet elevated medicine ball push up, bw triceps extension, bw jm press on the bench. gotta Grow!

lats: some rows, pulldowns

arms: close grip neutral chins in upper half range of motion

Tuesday:

front squats: 60/70/80/90kg for 8-10reps with aprox. 1-2reps it the tank so no gut wrenching. 60/60/60/70/70/80/80kg singles: slow descent, and staying in the deep bottom for a count of 5 than explode up as fast as possible. was so fast that the bar hit my chin

leg extensions: for some quad pump: two styles - hit the weights heavy & fast; slow motion & squeeze.

natural ghrs

Tomorrow: upper body.

Notes:

have to work around the sq/dl more and sq/dl less: good mornings, abs, natural ghrs, upper back etc. make body stronger to get the sq/dl stronger.

deload the stress on lower body to shift recovery and building resources to upper body.

increase work/do conditioning/clean up the diet to lose fat.

42

Wednesday:

started with the incline bb bench press alternated with rope face pulls.
didn’t count reps or sets, just lift hard
good combination for bringing blood to the majority of the upper body.

finished with bb curls alternated with triceps isolation (bw and rope extension)

43

Thursday:

lats blast:

v-bar pulldowns, rope rows, db pullovers, rope straight arm pulldowns

many sets for many reps at little rest.

44

Friday:

front squats: 60/70/80/90/100kgx5reps, 110kgx4reps, 120kgx1rep, 130kg fail

natural nghrs

Saturday:

flat bench: many sets int he 70-80kg range

ez bb curl

triceps rope extensions

Sunday:

lats: pulldowns, rows, pullovers, straight arm pulldowns

rope upright rows

45

Monday was off.

Tuesday:
i can squeeze a pressing and lat/upper back and arms in one workout.
the template looks like this:

pressing alternated with face pulls. incline bench: 80kgx3reps, 85kgx2reps, other sets were 70kg amrap

back thickness or back width. rows for thickness

bi alternated with tri. ez standing curls, strict, rope overhead vertical tri extension

this is done every other day.

the most important figure are the pressing performance numbers.
the rest is feeling the working muscles and getting an awesome pump.

Wednesday:

quads: leg press. 6 sets amrap. if i can’t do more bang-bang-bang reps i do rest pause reps and then reps with hands on knees, so the time under tension is great.

post. chain: stiff legged pulls. 100kg top weight for four sets.

Thursday:

incline bench 80kgx4reps, 85kgx2reps / face pulls

back width: pulldowns, rope straight arm pulldowns to conventional pulldowns

rope curls alternated with rope upright rows.

46

Friday evening training:

leg press: 5 sets going to the limit. pain, pain, pain.
(these are done on a technogym leg press - you push against a fixed vertical platform and move a seat in a small incline lane)

stiffs: 100kg 3 sets, going deep down and up. stretch the hams and glutes, keep the lower back arched and contract hard the lats and upper back.

clean/snatch grip high pulls from the floor: 60kg many singles and doubles.
haven’t pulled from the floor for speed and hight for a long time. technique is crucial here.

47

Latest update:

Saturday:
upper body:

incline bench alternated with seated rows

seated rope face pulls

Sunday:
arms:

straight bar/ez bar/rope curls alternated with rope pushdowns/dips/rope extensions

Monday:
lower body:

leg press: 100/120/140/140/120/100kg amrap. couldn’t bring the intensity like last time. maybe too frequent or lack of recovery/ overcompensation.

stiffs: 60/60kg warm; up 3 working sets at 100kg.

clean high pull from the floor: singles from 60 to 100kg and from 100 to 60kg. begin to get the groove.

48

Tuesday:
upper body:

incline bench alternated with pulldowns: 80kgx4, 90kgx1 (PR), 80/80/80kgx4 on the bench. the 4th rep on those 4 sets were rough and tough.

dips alternated with rope rows: 3sets 10-7-5 reps on the dips. the 5reps were done with a slow tempo.

bis: db curls to wide grip bb curls. rope curls.

what helped my incline: a longer warm up. twice with the bar only, twice with a 40kg, twice with a 60kg. the 60kg wasn’t done as a working set. i started my working set (80kg) in a very good neural and muscular condition.

the PR on the bench made me smile. i am glad that i did it although i should have done it like 2-3 months ago.
i can say that (for now) my incline is better than my flat bench.

49

Wednesday:
lower body:

back squats: 60/60/80/80/100/100/80/80/60/60 kg x 5 reps. back to the back squat. light weight, focusing on every rep, getting very tight in the lower back/abs zone, pushing the core against the belt, deep and controlled squat and an explosive ascent. beginning a squat dominant lower body training regimen.

high pulls from the floor. clean or snatch grip. from 60 to 100 kg - singles. short rest. straps.

lower body training - no gut wrenching intensity today, the main focus is on upper body now.

50

Thursday:
upper body:

incline bench altern. with seated rows. presses a 80kgx5reps, 90kgx1rep, 80kgx5reps, 80kgx5reps.

dips altern. with neutral grip chins (upper half rom).

finished with db hammer curls, alternated/double/single arm/20kg plate squeeze curls.

51

Friday was gym off day

Saturday:
lower body:

back squats:
60/60/80/80/100/100/120/120/100/100/80/80/60/60kg all done for 5reps besides the 120 (2setsx2reps).
broadening the ramp, 6sets of 100 and more kg. goal is to do a better 100kgx5reps (very explosive) and more reps at 120kg.

snatch grip high pulls ramped to deadlifts. from 60kg to 130kg to 90kg

52

Sunday:
upper body:

incline bench alt. with neutral grip chins. 6 sets in the 80 kg zone. 2-5reps, lacked the explosive drive and intensity.

db bench presses alt. with rope pulldowns. from a high incline to flat bench. 20,25,30,30kg db. amrap.

ez curls/seated db curls. medium weight, lot of sets, lots of reps.

i end my gym session with breaking a sweat in the sauna for 5 minutes now.

53

Monday:
lower body:

back squats:
60/70/80/90/100/110/120/110/100/90/80/70/60kg. 120kgx2reps, second 110kg set for 4 reps. the rest for 5 reps.

leg press:
3 sets medium weight amprap - great quad pump.

54

Tuesday:
upper body:

flat bench:
60x?/80x6/90x2/95x1/95x1/90x2/80x5/80x5/80x5/80kgx5
alternated with pulldowns

db bench:
30/30/30 amrap (6-8reps)

seated row/pulldowns

rope curls

55

Wednesday:
lower body:

front squats: 60/70/80/90/100/80/60kgx5reps

leg press: 3 sets of 100 amrap.

56

Thursday:
gym off

Friday:
upper body:

flat bench: 80kgx8reps, 90kgx2 3withspotter, 80kgx4, 80x4, 80kgx5. nothing special

db bench: 30/35/35kg 4-8reps. the 35’s are the heaviest dbs on the rack. so the goal is to make them feel light weight baby and do 15-20 reps for set.

flat close grip bench: from 60 to 80 to 60kg. 80kg is too heavy. triceps needs to get stronger.

pulldowns

rope curls: from the low and upper pulley. great forearm and bicep cramp and pump.

Saturday:
lower body:

back squat: 65/75/85/95/105kgx5reps, 115kgx3reps. 60/60/60 speed squats for about 10 reps (didn’t count, too busy). at first i wanted to do very high reps. but then i felt the speed in the descent and very fast turnaround. so i focused on speed not on rep endurance.

that’s it.

57

Sunday:
upper body:

flat bench: 80kgx5, 90kgx2, 80/80/80kgx4-5reps

close grip bp: 60-70kgx6-10reps

pulldowns

rope curls

Monday:
upper body:

incline bench. 60-70kg sets sets sets. reps reps reps. big pump

pulldowns

low pulley face pulls: between a upright row and a face pull. fried delts.

two similar sessions. upper body is a priority.

58

Tuesday:
something different:

speed squats: 60/60/80/60/80/60/80/60/80/60kgx5-10reps. fast and furious. ok, i admit it is a lil bit of a deload…

standing overhead bb press “the press”: 40kgx5reps military style, short rest, 40kgx5reps wide grip behind neck press. 3 rounds. despite the light weight used, this sequence resulted in a great shoulder pump. the reps were explosive, no grinding.

the squat and press combination reintroduces the press into training after a focus on incline and flat benching. it is increasing the pressing frequency, thus improving the pressing motion pattern and eliciting a upper body pump that solely squatting doesn’t give.

59

Wednesday:
upper body:

bench: 80kgx6reps, 90kgx1rep, 100kgx0, 90kgx1rep, 95kx0, 90kgx1, 90kgx1. i feel that to blast the 100kg i to get to a point were i do like: 80kgx10-12 or 90kgx5-6 or 95kgx2-3.

close grip bench: 60kgx10reps, 70kgx5reps, 75kgx3reps, 80kgx1, 80kgx1, 80kgx1, 80kgx1.

seated rope facepulls

rope curls

standing low pulley face pulls

60

Thursday was gym off day.

Friday:
squat and press:

back squats: 60/70/80/90/60/70/80/90kg x 6-9 reps (didn’t count, was too busy with being explosive). these are kind of bomb diving squats with no pause at the bottom or between reps, i do the set on one breath to keep my abs and lower back tight and pushing the belt. the goal is to train a fast transition between the descent and ascent, train a hard, fast and controlled descent, train to reach deep depth, train to take no rest between reps.

press: standing military: 40/50/60/60kgx5reps. standing wide grip behind neck: 40kgx10/5/5/5reps. very short rest.