Thanks I’ll give it a try next time.
12/8/17
C1W3D4
Med ball slams: 2x5
Overhead press (TM-40):
2x5x20, 5x30, 5x35, 5x37.5, 5x10x20
Superset with pull aparts: 10x15
Dumbell rows:
2x10x15, 10x20
Superset with split squats: 3x5xBW
Sled push: 8x20
Difficult workout today. I went early and after a big breakfast so I felt pretty sluggish. Overhead press wasn’t too bad but the rest was hard. Cut the rows and split squats a couple sets short to save some energy for the conditioning. Usually I take about a 30s break after the third or fourth run but today I took four or five breaks. It basically just sucked the life out of me.
That’s the end of the first cycle though and next week is a deload while I’m on holiday. I don’t know if I’ll go in the gym but I’m not fussed. I will be doing a lot of swimming and eating though. Can’t wait.
3 Likes
@T3hPwnisher I was wondering if I could ask you a few more questions about WS4SB and thought I’d do it here rather than clutter up your log.
I’m still unsure about the max effort work. I’d like to do the same amount of deadlift and squat variations so either two or four different lifts. Then I’m not sure how long to do each variation for. Do you have any suggestions on what would be the best combination of these two variables? The options I’ve been considering so far are two lifts for three weeks each, four for two weeks each or four for one week each.
As always I appreciate any advice you have.
2-3 weeks is how long I’d stick with an ME movement. Have 3-5 variations you run through. Remember; all the ME work does it teach you how to strain. It’s not practice, nor is it making you stronger. You get stronger from all the OTHER stuff you do on the program; the ME work is where you learn to put it all together. If you keep that in mind, you won’t need to worry too much about it being specific squat or deadlift variations; you just find what works for you. Westside at one point did 80% of their ME work as a good morning of some type, and it worked then.
3 Likes
Thank you. That’s something I’ll keep in consideration when I think things through in future.
1 Like
22/08/17
C2W1D1
Low box jumps: 2x5
Squat (TM-95):
2x5x20, 5x40, 5x60, 5x70, 5x80, 5x10x47.5
Superset with ab wheel roll outs: 5x5
Dumbell bench: 25x10
Lat pull down: 30 reps
Back from an amazing holiday. I didn’t go to the gym while I was away but I did swim a fair bit and eat plenty. Had three big meals a day, mostly meat with some fries and veg. Also had a few scoops of ice cream, a few pancakes with chocolate and a slice of cake most days, as well as lots of full fat coke, so I’m not going to be surprised if my weight’s up. It was really nice though and I knew before I went I was just going to enjoy the week and eat whatever I wanted.
Anyway, onto the training; it was fairly difficult as I expected after a week off, especially the BBB section which felt more like sets of 20 than 10. I’m not looking forward to how sore my quads and abs will be tomorrow. The other racks were in use so I couldn’t do chins and did lat pull downs instead. I did get through this workout pretty quick which may partially explain why it was hard.
2 Likes
23/8/17
C2W1D2
Bench (TM-75):
2x10x20, 5x40, 5x50, 5x57.5, 5x65, 3x10x52.5, 2x8x52.5
Superset with pull aparts: 11x18
Barbell rows:
5x20, 5x5x40
Superset with:
Kettlebell swings- 5x5x10
Waiter walks- 5x10
Sled push: 4x20
Bench was pretty hard today and I ended up missing a few reps rather than grinding out slow ugly ones. Fairly sure it was just a bad day so I’m not worried at all, the BBB sets actually felt better than I expected other than the last few reps. I was struggling for time a bit after that so I made a deal with myself that if I did the row giant set as a pretty much continuous circuit I only had to do four sled pushes which is what I did.
BW: 88.1kg
Wow this is pretty high for me. I don’t think I’ve gained that much fat though so hopefully it’ll drop a bit.
1 Like
Where did you go on Holiday I must’ve missed it?
Also do you like the look of Alpha’s New Program?
Lanzarote. I’ve only watched half the video so far but I like the look of it. As usual with his programs it can just be difficult setting up the giant sets but if I can do it in the gym I use next year I probably will.
The upper giant sets can be hard when busy but if you just hog a power rack like a prick you’re good to go.
1 Like
25/8/17
C2W1D3
Hang cleans superset with long jumps:
3x5x20/ 3x3
Deadlift (TM-110):
8x20, 5x60, 5x70, 5x80, 5x95, 5x5x70
Superset with:
16 chins
20s BW hang
Wrist roller: 4x2.5
Lying leg raises superset with press ups:
15, 10/ 10, 15
Hammer curls: 25x5
Deadlift top set was a little hard, I think because grip was fatigued from chins. Everything else felt OK though. Saw someone had made a wrist roller out of some PVC pipe so I decided to give it a go and I added in some curls at the end just for the sake of it. For the last couple of days I’ve had some of the worst DOMS I’ve ever had in my quads which are thankfully easing up a bit today and my chest is pretty sore too which wasn’t fun with the push ups. I’m expecting my hamstrings will feel similar tomorrow.
2 Likes
27/8/17
C2W1D4
Med ball slams: 3x5x5
Overhead press (TM-40):
2x5x20, 5x25, 5x30, 5x35, 5x10x22.5
Superset with:
Side bends- 5x5x20
Band pull aparts- 10x18
Dumbell rows:
2x10x17.5, 3x10x22.5
Superset with split squats: 5x5xBW
Sled push: 10x20 (11 minutes)
Overhead press felt surprisingly good today for probably the first time since I started BBB. I’ve lowered the BBB percentages a bit for it so I’m using 22.5kg this cycle instead of 25kg and 25kg instead of 30kg next cycle. Split squats seemed to click today too- normally I’m wobbling everywhere but today I was straight up and down so I may be ready to add weight soon.
The sled push was dreadful mostly because I really pushed myself. I went 2 runs, 10s, 2, 30s, 2, 30s, 2, 60s, then the final two which all together took about 11 minutes. I think I’ll use this as a baseline test for my conditioning and redo it everytime I’m home from university to make sure it’s improving. Next week I’ll go to 5x30 instead.
5 Likes
31/8/17
C2W2D1
Low box jumps: 3x5
Squat (TM-95):
3x5x20, 5x60, 5x67.5, 5x75, 5x85, 5x10x47.5
Superset with:
16 chins
Ab wheel rollouts- 5x5
Incline dumbell bench: 15x9, 8, 8
Lat pull down: 20x30
I went away from Monday until Wednesday morning and was planning to workout when I got back. I got asked to work though and couldn’t get to the gym until Thursday so I’m a bit behind and will have to cram in the rest of this week’s workouts. The top set was a bit slow and even grindy which I wasn’t happy about but the BBB sets were the best they’ve ever been. Chins also felt quite good and sets of two were fairly easy.
4 Likes
1/8/17
C2W2D2
Med ball chest throws: 2x5x5
Bench press (TM-75):
2x10x20, 5x40, 3x50, 5x52.5, 5x60, 5x67.5, 5x10x22.5
Superset with pull aparts: 12x20
Barbell rows:
2x5x40, 3x5x50
Superset with:
Kettlebell swings- 5x5x12
Waiter walks- 5x2x12
Sled push: 5x30
Good session, bench felt better than last week and I really felt my back with the pull aparts. The row giant sets were done with minimal rest between them and felt good.
I think I’m only going to do the sled pushes once a week and do bike sprints or something on my overhead press day instead. They’re always very difficult and it’s becoming a chore pushing my conditioning to it’s limit twice a week. At the minute my training isn’t focused on conditioning and while I feel completely recovered physically I find them draining mentally so I think it’s a good idea to swap them out.
3 Likes
Forgot to mention earlier. I was planning on deadlifting tomorrow and overhead pressing on Sunday to get all the week’s workouts in. However I realised last night I’m working all the time the gym is open this weekend so I can’t do that.
Instead I’ll deadlift on Monday and maybe combine it with my overhead press workout to give me an extra day off then squat Wednesday, Bench Thursday, deadlift Saturday and overhead press Sunday to catch up fully. My thinking is combining this week’s deadlift and overhead press workout will be easier than working out six days in the week especially if I take assistance easy.
1 Like
4/9/17
C2W2D3+4
Giant set 1
Deadlift (TM-110):
8x20, 5x60, 5x75, 5x90, 5x100, 5x5x75
Overhead press (TM-40):
2x8x20, 5x27.5, 5x32.5, 5x35, 5x10x22.5
Chins: 10x1xBW
Lying leg raises: 5x5
Band pull aparts: 5x10
Giant set 2
Dumbell row: 3x10x15
Side bends: 3x8x15
Split squat: 3x5xBW
Press ups: 3x5
As I said before I’m behind on workouts so I combined two from last week. For the first giant set I did deadlift, chin, press, leg raise/pull aparts then 2-3 minutes rest. I felt pretty rubbish going into the gym so I wasn’t expecting much. Deadlifts felt fairly hard and I had to do the last four reps of the top set mixed grip- I think due to a combination of a thicker bar than usual, sweaty hands with no chalk and just being weak. Overhead press felt good.
I had planned to do five rounds of the second giant set but I didn’t feel like it and the class going on upstairs had their music so loud I couldn’t hear my own through my headphones which was annoying. Other than doing a little less volume all I missed by doing both workouts together was three sets of hang cleans and the conditioning. The former is more a technique thing and the latter I figured was covered by doing everything in giant sets anyway. I’m happy with how this workout went.
1 Like
07/9/17
C2W3D1
Squat (TM-95):
2x10x20, 5x40, 3x60, 5x70, 5x80, 3x90, 5x10x47.5
Superset with:
10 chins
Ab wheel rollouts- 5x5
Squats didn’t go too well again today for the second week in a row. 80kg felt heavy but not too bad however the reps with 90kg felt very slow and grindy so I stopped after three. I don’t know whether this is down to another bad day, maybe not being fully recovered from Monday or something else. 5x90 shouldn’t be too difficult for me though considering I did 5x100 without too much grinding months ago. I’m unsure now what to do with my TM next cycle, I think I might not increase it and try the weights again in hope they’ll be fine. I got a video of the top set which doesn’t look as bad as it felt which further adds to the confusion.
If anyone has any insight or ideas I’m all ears.
2 Likes
Couldn’t see anything that jumped out at me. What have you changed recently? That’s the first place to look.
Nothing I can think of, that’s what makes it frustrating.
It might be nothing: two sessions is a drop in the ocean really. However, if all your other lifts are feeling OK and your squat continues to feel off, then you’ll need to look closely at what has changed. In that case there is very probably something you’re doing differently that you aren’t aware of. Could be as small as moving your feet in or out slightly, bar position, anything you do between sets, hand position, etc.