Great work keep it going
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14/10/19
Giant set
Top half laterals: 4x12x4s
Bottom half laterals: 2x10x6s, 15x6s, dropset: 15x6s-15x4s
Rear delt swings: 3x6x4s, 8x4s
Smith behind neck press:
10x20
10x30
16x40 (PR) (previous: 14x40)
Dropset: 6x50-8x30
Hammer strength incline press: 15x20, 10x20 (5s eccentric)
Bench press: 2x10x57.5, 11+1x57.5 (spotter assisted 12th rep, previous: 2x10x55, 9x57.5)
Assisted dips: 15, 12, 10x45
Overhead Tricep extensions: 20x10, 20x12.5
Good workout - weight went up on most things. Right shoulder and bicep are a bit achy, I think maybe from carrying lots of stuff at the weekend.
That last set of lateral raises was one of the most painful I’ve had in the gym. Just super intense burning and great pump after. Today and last week I’ve failed bench at lockout but usually fail my max attempts of my chest. I’m debating not locking out next time to keep more tension on the chest and have that be the limiting factor.
15/10/19
Kickboxing Class: 2 hours
Started with some jogging, sidesteps, stuff like that to warm up. Then, mostly pad work and finished with stretches.
I had planned to do athletics when I came back to university but had been getting second thoughts and leaning towards kick boxing again. I think I made the right decision. I did it and/or Muay Thai once or twice a week for about six months in my first year of university (three years ago) but sort of fell out of it. Tonight was enjoyable though so maybe the bug has come back.
I forgot to add to this:
Once again, my conditioning surprised me by how good it’s gotten compared to the past. The jogging and stuff hardly had me breathing any harder than usual yet a lot of regular looking people were having to stop or slow to basically walking pace.
And another thing I forgot - it wasn’t just jogging actually. We were running around a large square mat about 20-30m in length and after a few minutes of jogging and stuff we moved onto sprinting every other length. Again, I surprised myself by constantly overtaking people. At first just from sprinting faster than them then because they started jogging.
TLDR: my conditioning has gotten a lot better than it was and I’m surprised I can now maintain around an average level.
16/10/19
Leg curl: 20, 15, 10x35
RDL:
10x20
8x60
6x100
10x110 (PR) (old PR was 8 reps)
Leg extension: 20x20, 15, 10x25
Smith machine squats: 10x20, 2x10x40
Crunch machine: 3x8x20
Solid effort on the top RDL set.
17/10/19
Superset
Dumbbell chest supported incline rows: 10x4s, 10, 15x8s, dropset: 24x8s-18x4s
Upper back flyes: 4x10x3s
Dumbbell rows:
10x15
10x20
Right arm 2xRP: 22-10x25 (PR) (last week: 24x22.5)
Left arm 2xRP: 25-8x25
Assisted NG chins: 10, 9, 8x40
Dumbbell curls: 20x4s, 2x8x8s
Good workout again but my back was already pretty tired coming into it. Between kickboxing on Tuesday, that RDL PR yesterday and carrying around a fairly heavy bag on my back every day I’ve built up a fair bit of fatigue. My plan is to throw everything at it anyway and hopefully I’ll adapt. Dumbbell rows went up again so can’t be that bad.
One thing I did remove was the hammer curls. With dumbbell rows and NG chins my forearms and that other muscle (brachi something) are already pretty roast. After last workout they were achy for a few days and it kind of interfered with everyday stuff.
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Giant set
Top half laterals: 20, 12, 15, 15x2.5s
Bottom half laterals: 3x10x6s, dropset: 20x6s-15x4s-10x2.5s
Rear delt swings: 3x8x2.5s
Smith behind neck press:
10x20
10x30
8x40
Dropset: 8x50-10x40 (PR) (previous: 6x50)
Hammer strength incline press: 3x15x20
Bench press:
10x60
7x60
8x60 + 1 slow negative only rep
Assisted dips: 12, 12, 15x45
Tricep rope pull-down: 20x10, 15x7.5
Tricep extensions: 2x10x12.5
Did one extra set of the hammer incline and pushed closer to failure than usual which I think effected me on bench. Regardless, I think I’ve a lot of fatigue building up which won’t help.
Either the hammer press or the overhead press is causing an ache in my right pec insertion area which is both kind of painful and stopping me feeling my chest properly. The last set of hammer press I slid down the seat a lot more and decreased the pressing angle which seemed to help so next week I will try that. If it still doesn’t work I’ll swap it for something else.
Last thing is I’m debating taking a deload a week early. I had planned to take one every 5th week (this is week 2) but I think taking one in week 4 instead might be better. Putting me off is less time spent training hard and I’m unsure if it’s being too easy on myself.
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21/10/19
Smith machine RDL:
10x40
10x60
3x10x80
Smith machine squat:
10x20
10x40
Dropset: 10x60-10x40-10x20
Crunch machine: 3x10x20
Air bike:
2 mins easy
8x10s on/20s off - 36.6 calories
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22/10/19
Superset
Dumbbell chest supported incline rows: 2x12x8s, 20x8s
Upper back flyes: 3x12x3s
Dumbbell rows:
10x15
10x20
3xRP: 21-6-6x27.5 (PR) (last week: 22x25)
Assisted NG chins: 10, 10, 9x40
Dumbbell curls: 10, 8, 7x8s, 20x3s
First workout in a while that I’ve not been ‘there‘ mentally. Still went ok but could have been better - I think I will deload after this week.
24/10/19
Giant set
Top half laterals: 15, 3x12x4s
Bottom half laterals: 3x10x6s, dropset: 15x6s-10x4s
Rear delt swings: 3x6x4s
Smith behind neck press:
10x20
10x30
10x40
2xRP: 11-5x50 (PR) (previous: 8x50)
Hammer strength incline press: 2x15x20
Bench press: 3x8x60
Assisted dips: 20x50, 15x45, 10x40
Tricep rope pull-down: 20, 15, 11+loads of partials x10
Two weeks in a row I’ve struggled with bench. I think the problem is I’m spending myself on overhead press before. This week was the most I’ve grinded on it and I could definitely feel my upper chest afterwards. It’s not a problem, the effort is still there with the benching, just something to bare in mind.
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28/10/19
Superset
Lateral raises: 5x10x4s
Smith overhead press:
10x20
10x30
10x40
10x45
8.5x50
Partial laterals: 25x5s, 30x5s
Chest press machine: 20x20, 15x30, 35
Bench press:
10x20
6x40
2x6x65
8x65
Hammer incline press: 12x30, 35, 8x40
Tricep rope pull-downs: 20x10, 15x10
Lying Tricep extensions: 10x15, 10x20
The way I’m structuring my workouts at the moment is a PPL split with four workouts a week so every three weeks I’ll do a workout twice in one week. Each workout I’ll increase the intensity on the big exercises.
Rather than deload every 4th week like I originally planned I’ll reset the intensity after each ‘block’ of three weeks and deload every seventh week. I might skip the last leg workout too - I did last week (end or first three weeks) because I couldn’t make it to the gym but it left me feeling great by today.
So using as an example of what I’m doing:
- Workout 1: top set to failure
- Workout 2: top set to failure, drop set to fail
- Workout 3: top set to failure, drop set to heavier weight than workout 2. So if 2 was 10x50-10x30, 3 might be 11x50-6x40
- Workout 4: top set to failure, then 10s rest and same weight to failure, ie 2xRP
- Workout 5: top set to failure and repeat cycle
I also might change the exercise and/or sets and reps every 5th workout too depending how I feel. Before I was doing 3x10 on bench but today I did 2x6 then a plus set.
Seems to be workout well and hopefully I’ll get bigger and stronger.
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29/10/19
Superset
Dumbbell chest supported incline rows: 2x10x10s, 20x10s
Upper back flyes: 3x10x3s
Dumbbell rows:
10x15
10x20
10x25
20x30 (PR) (previous: 21x27.5)
Assisted NG chins: 10, 8, 8x40
Concentration curls: 20x4s, 12, 8x8s
Hammer curls: 15x8s
31/10/19
Leg curl: 2x20x35
RDL:
10x40
8x60
6x100
11x110 (PR) (previous: 10 reps)
Leg extension: 3x15x25
Smith machine squats: 10x20, 2x10x50
Crunch machine: 3x12x20
Felt pretty rubbish today so glad to have squeezed out a PR. Once again I feel like my back is the limiting factor in the RDLs.
All this cardio is amazing. Keep up the grind
I like the intensity techniques. Reminds me of the best Damn workout, with this split you’ll recover well too
Rest pausing is always fun
@bigpappafrance thanks, I’m trying!
@hypem74 I kind of do it to make up for less volume which I just find boring. I also watch lots of John Meadows videos and it’s similar to what he does, working up to a hard top set per exercise.
In terms of recovery it’s pretty crazy how quick the fatigue stuck up on me before at the end of the first three weeks but also crazy how quick it went when I backed off a bit. Like you say I think I’ll be able to manage my recovery quite well like this. Plus I’m eating in a surplus and sleeping at least 8 hours a night.
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01/11/19
Superset
Lateral raises: 5x8x5s
Smith overhead press:
10x20
10x30
10x40
Dropset: 11x50-7x40 (PR) (previous: 8x50)
Superset
Rear delt swings: 15, 25x2.5s
Partial laterals: 15, 20x8s
Chest press machine: 20x25,15x30, 35
Bench press:
6x40
2x6x67.5
7x67.5 (failed 8th)
Hammer incline press: 12x30, 10, 6x40
Tricep rope pull-downs: 20, 15x12.5
Lying Tricep pull overs: 8x20
04/11/19
Superset
Dumbbell rear delt rows: 3x12x8s, 15x10s
Upper back flyes: 4x10x3s
Dumbbell rows:
10x15
10x20
6x25
Drop set: 24x30-10/6x20 (PR) (previous: 20x30, left arm/right arm)
Assisted NG chins: 11, 8, 6x40
Concentration curls: 10, 8, 8+2 partials x8s
Hammer curls: 15x8s
I think the top set of dumbbell rows with my left arm was affected by the set with my right. Usually my left is stronger and the last four reps of the 24 reps today were more like partials. Either way, the effort was very high for both arms - 20kg felt almost unmovable.
05/11/19
5 rounds:
KB swing: 10x24
Burpees: x8
Air bike: 10/8/6/4/2 calories
90s rest