Absolutely terrible day. Had planned to take it easy and get some R&R with three days off, but today really feels as if it undid everything. Just a totally pissed collection of hours.
Did get to the gym. Far and away the best part of the day.
BW: 147
waist: 33"
Stronger & Leaner for Longer
[warmup reps and sets not shown; 60 seconds rest btw sets]
Warm up
Tempo intervals on rower - 60 sec >3:00 min/500m pace; 15 sec <1:50 min /500m pace
2 km / 10:20 minutes / 108 calories
Back squat
185 x 3 x 10
Chest supported row
150 x 3 x 10
These felt a little easy. May boost the weight significantly next week.
RDLs
135 x 3 x 10
OHP
85 x 3 x 10
Hanging leg raise
BW x 12 x 3
Post-train cardio
Incline treadmill walk
2 miles / 32:31 minutes / 314 calories
The squat and OHP weights are 67% and 68% of my peak squat and OHP TMs from this February. The deadlift is 67% as well. These seem like good places to start my assault on old strength PRs. I picked up some half kilo plates via Amazon today, so I plan to add 2.5 lbs/week to the upper body work and 5 lbs/week to the lower body work for progression and see how far that takes me.
BW around 149. Cardio only today. 45 minutes incline walking, about 400 calories burned. This is all after BJJ tonight. Still not training due to MCL injury. Helping the white belts during class (and they need it), but three months in to this non-training lifestyle is making me more than a little unhappy these days. Looking forward to January, when I’ll give it another go.
Deadlifts, weighted chins and dips, plus leg presses tomorrow. Heavy triples all day.
Stronger & Leaner for Longer (Waterbury’s 10 x 3 for Fat Loss)
[warmup reps and sets not shown; 60 seconds rest btw sets]
Warm up
Tempo intervals on rower
60 sec >3:00 min/500m pace; 15 sec <1:50 min /500m pace
2 km / 10:44 minutes / 106 calories
Training
Deadlift / Weighted chins compound superset
205 x 3 x 10 / +20 x 3 x 10
Weighted dips
+30 x 3 x 10
Ab cable crunch
150 x 15 x 3
Leg press
280 x 3 x 10
Post-train cardio
Incline treadmill walk
2 miles / 32:58 minutes / 316 calories
A long session - since I had the day off, I went ahead and added in a good cardio finisher. Doing the “double tap” progression method of hitting each weight twice before adding lbs.
Bodyweight is also moving nicely in the right direction. At some point, I’ll do a test cut to 140. For now, I’d be happy to stabilize under 145 for a couple of weeks.
Stronger & Leaner for Longer (Waterbury’s 10 x 3 for Fat Loss)
[warmup reps and sets not shown]
No warmup - I had a feeling the usually empty gym might attract more dedicated lifters on Christmas Eve, so I jumped in the squat rack as soon as I arrived and didn’t leave until I was done!
Also I usually do compound supersets (i.e., Exercise A - rest 60 seconds - Exercise B - rest 60 seconds - Exercise A …) a la Gironda. Today, I felt like I needed a little firing up, so I did regular supersets instead (i.e., Exercise A - Exercise B - rest 60 seconds - Exercise A - Exercise B - rest 60 seconds). I think I prefer a higher work pace - though I hope that doesn’t interfere with strength gains …
Training
Back squat / Chest-supported row superset
185 x 3 x 10 / 170 x 3 x 10
Rows still not heavy enough for triples. Will probably go to 200 next time and see how that works.
RDL / OHP superset (and Hanging Leg Raises)
155 x 3 x 10 / 85 x 3 x 10 (and 3 of 15)
I really have to focus to maintain form on the RDLs as the weight goes up. I want to keep them since they’re a great hamstring/posterior chain exercise, so I’ll have to keep working on them.
Post-train cardio
Incline treadmill walk
2.01 miles / 33:00 minutes / 315 calories
Nice session today. 75 minutes not including the cardio, which is perfectly fine duration-wise. Really liked the quicker pace of the supersets; I’ll give them a go with Duck Season on Friday.
Thinking about running this during the 2020 Transformation since my focus next year is on upper body strength. But six days a week would be … interesting … I think the best I could realistically do would be 4x/week, hitting the upper and lower workouts twice a week instead of three times.
(Mostly impressed at how he uses triples, not too dissimilar from what I’m doing with the 10x3 Dirty Thirties … That and all the snatch grip pulling.)
I like this program and I did it twice for fat loss. But yeah maybe just 4 days seems not enough. So you could add some stuff (personally I started every workout by pull ups or fat man pull ups)
I like CT’s programs. But often they are difficult for me to do because the frequency is so high (typically 5-6x/week). I did his Superhero/Hollywood Muscle program last year which at 4x/week was about my max while still training jiu-jitsu 2x/week.
Not a question of frequency per se. I haven’t done these two programs so I can’t comment but I’ve read they are touch. This one however is one of the easiest to recover. IRC easier than the Best Damns which are for me so easy to recover.
Stronger & Leaner for Longer (Waterbury’s 10 x 3 Fat Loss)
[warmup reps and sets not shown]
No warmup. Just wanted to get after it today.
Training
Deadlift / Weighted chins superset
205 x 3 x 10 / +20 x 3 x 10
Did the deadlifts with a snatch grip. That, along with sticking with a double overhand grip, may be what I go with for the foreseeable future.
Leg press
280 x 3 x 10
Weighted dips
+30 x 3 x 10
Abs cable crunch
150 x 3 x 10
Tweaked my back a bit on the eccentric part of my eighth deadlift rep during a fleeting loss of focus. Probably not a bad time to be heading out to visit with the in-laws. Will probably get in a workout during the week I’m out of pocket, but nothing special.
Still debating which program to choose when January rolls around. Really enjoying these 75 minute sessions. And as tempted as I am to go back to High Volume 3x/week training, I know I need to stick with my Monday/Friday weight training schedule for now.
I’ll likely either stick with this through early Feb or go ahead and start HUBL DOGG early.
BW: somewhere just south of 150
Waist: “third belt notch”
Jeff Nippard Arm Specialization
Visiting the in-laws. Usually manage to swing by the YMCA gym with my father-in-law at least once during these stays, and today was that day. Not taking in too many calories right now, so decided to have a little intra-holiday fun with an arm only workout.
Warm-up
Tempo intervals on rower
10:46 min / 2017m / 106 calories
Close-grip bench press
3 of 5 @ 155
Standing EZ bar curl
4 of 6-8 @ 45
Incline DB curl (with pause midway up and midway down)
3 of 20 @ 15
Bayesian curl
3 sets to failure @10 (reps 10/10/10)
Triceps press down
3 of 6-8 @ 70 (?)
Overhead triceps extension
3 of 12-15 @ 20 (reps 15/15/15)
A fun change of pace workout. I was interrupted a couple of times by my father-in-law’s friends at the gym who I always see each year on these visits, but given the blissful solitude of my typical weightlifting sessions back home, it was more charming than anything else.
Probably the last training of my stay here, last training of the week, the month, the year, the decade … Really starting to appreciate my time in the gym, as “me” time as much as anything else. I’ll be looking forward to more of it in 2020.
Just read the first training log post of one of the forum’s more popular posters. Four years ago he was about one inch taller and 15 pounds lighter doing a routine comparable to mine this year in terms of weight. Now, he’s about 20 pounds heavier and his tonnage is damn near scandalous.
Heading into the New Year, that was a pretty inspiring thing to see.
Back in a Seattle tomorrow evening. Did a John Meadows-inspired shoulder workout today plus a little cardio (which got cut a bit short due to time). Served as a reminder of how small and weak my upper body is relative to lower body - a theme of the season.
Warm up
Tempo intervals on rower
2k / 11 minutes / 106 calories
Rear delt flyes
10s x 12 x 4
Side laterals
10s x 10 x 4
Side laterals (heavy, bottom partials)
20s x 18 / 15 / 12 / 10
Egyptian one-arm cable laterals
5s x 10 x 4
Machine OHP
70 x 10 / 8 / 8 / 9
Post-train cardio
Incline treadmill walk
2.0 miles / 33ish minutes / 250ish calories
Spent the past week on a Josh Bryant read-a-thon: Jailhouse Strong, Grapple Strong, and Jailhouse Strong 8 x 8 Off-Season Powerlifting program + a re-read of Built to the Hilt (thank you Kindle Unlimited!)
I think I’ve FINALLY figured out how I’m going to program 2020 in general and my T-ransformation2020 campaign in specific. Pictures in the morning in the T-ransformation2020 thread.
Stronger & Leaner for Longer 2.0
Week 1 / Day 1
[no “rest” between sets; add weight each week]
Ten rounds of:
Snatch-grip deadlift
205 x 3
Weighted chins
+25 x 3
Leg press
300 x 3
Weighted dips
+35 x 3
Liked the work pace with no down-time between sets. I think this is one major insight into my training preferences - I like a faster pace, up tempo session. It doesn’t have to be “brutal”, but I like to stay busy.
Skipped abs. May add them to my Tue/Thu post-BJJ cardio session to keep my Monday and Friday workouts <75 minutes, which is wonderful. May add arm specialization to Tue/Thu nights, too. So ultimately something like:
Tue: rear delts/upper abs/biceps
Thu: side delts/lower abs/triceps
Noon Cardio
Incline treadmill walk
2.5 miles 42:16 minutes 345 calories
BJJ Training
Tutored first class
14 minutes Live Training second class
Post-training S&C
Face pull / Rear delt lateral compound superset
Ab cable crunch
Overhead triceps cable extension
Incline treadmill walk
2.01 miles 33:00 minutes 315 calories
A good session of strength, conditioning, and jiu-jitsu. I’ll probably add more arm work so as to do a compound triceps superset Tuesday evenings (prob add pressdowns), and a compound biceps superset Thursday evenings (maybe EZ bar Gironda curls + pinwheel curls).
Fueling on point also: <1500 gross calories and <750 net calories
Off tomorrow. Maybe a light afternoon stroll around the neighborhood with Mrs. BurienTopTeam.
BJJ Training
Tutored first class
21 minutes Live Training second class
Post-training S&C
Upright rows w/rope + Side laterals
Hanging leg raises
Incline DB curls
Incline treadmill walk
2.0 miles 32:09 minutes 325 calories
Good training on the mat - the first time in months that I’ve rolled for three sessions in a row (approx. 21 minutes total) with competitive partners (i.e., all purple belts or higher; one a weight class lower, one the same weight class, and one a weight class above; all younger of course). That’s about perfect for me right now as I get my game back on track - and add some new things.
S&C afterwards was nice - found myself looking forward to it all day. Still planning to superset the arm work next week. Everything else is solid. As my weight drops below 145, I’ll swap out the 30+ minute, 300+ calorie, incline treadmill walk for a 10-minute, 100+ calorie, tempo interval session on the rower.
“Rabbit Season” tomorrow with ten triples of back squats & H-rows, RDLs & OHPs.
