Hold Kettlebell Like Goblet Squat x 60 yards?
Put Kettlebell in Tire and Drag Backwards x same distance
18 Sledge Hammer Tire Hits
Pull Empty Tire Sideways x same distance
Bear Crawl x almost all the way back
about 3:30 of work, then rest till HR hits 120 x 4 rounds
I’m feeling Good during the work, only I’m not recovering any faster between rounds. It still feels like forever waiting for heart to come back down.
I’ve spent longer BS’ing and avoiding hamster wheel cardio than it would have taken to do the hamster wheel and get the Heart Gains I’m lacking.
I guess I’ll throw it back to the year 2000 and do twenty minutes of LISS post workout sometime. Ugh. I stopped that stuff more than 10 years ago when I got my dog, Blue. Rather than do cardio then walk the dog, I’d just go home and walk the dog for 40 minutes to an hour. Now old Blue is 13 and our walks aren’t so long anymore.
Deadlift to a max triple for the heavy stuff. Drop 10-15% and do a bunch of reps for the volume work.
The lighter AMRAP works as a “tester” to reveal what’s weak. Daru says his was losing leg drive and his upper back rounded as he fatigued. So for assistance he does a split stance lunge kinda move for leg drive and wide grip Pendlay rows for upper back.
I need a whiteboard in the shop…damn good idea to keep stuff like this on. You find a weakness here write it down and work on it until it isn’t a weakness. Then write the next thing up on the board.
Deadbug Type Situp x 8
Right Leg Step Down, band pulling Out on right knee for internal rotation x 6
Left Leg Step Down, band pulling in on left knee for external rotation x 6
45 Degree Back Raise
BW x 15, 15, 15
Belt Squat
55 + Big Chain x 5 reps x 5 sets
Deadlift,
125 x 2 singes
125 + Big Chain x 2 singles
125 + big chain, small deficit x 3 singles
125 + big chain, double deficit x 3 singles
Plank and Stir the Pot Stuff
1 Leg Reverse Hyper x 8
4 pairs
I thought poor Matt got sick and took the week off. I forgot that they had that big ass SWIS Conference going on in Columbus.
Juju visits. Accessory stuff. Go unilateral, use weight/reps based on weak side, use full-full ROM.
A Wenning style Conjugate session. I haven’t watched it all yet. One thing that jumps out is cable pressing, almost like a fly motion. I saw a Wenning Lower Body session that had Sissy squats in the warm up. That’s like permission to do fun bodybuilding moves, even though you’re strength training.
They also do Battling Ropes as part of the upper body warm up. True cardio stuff. I saw Sled Drags and Upper Body Sled Stuff in other workouts. Juju makes the point that the sets of 25 cable presses are like “Chest Cardio” and that he’s in the Cardio Heart Rate zone the whole time.
I remeber a video from years ago where Stan Efferding and Mike O Hearn visit Wenning and they do a boring ass warm up of pulldowns, pushdowns and DB presses. O Hearn was trying to be a good sport, but you could tell that those dudes weren’t into it. This looks more fun and Juju seem hype.
Serratus Roll, some with 1 arm x whatever
Side Lying DB Ext Rotation (7.5) x 15
Side Lying DB Rear Delt Raise (7.5) x 15
4 rounds
DB Bench Press
20 x 20
30 x 10
40 x 10
50 x 10
60 x 12
Chinese Row
95 x 11
125 x 11, 11, 11, 13
Bench Dip (17 chain) x 25
PJR Pullover (45) x 20
3 Rounds
Shitty Band Reverse Curl x 30
Shitty Band Wrist Curl x 30
Cable Pulldown 3-1-3 (100) x 13
3 rounds
I failed DB Bench because my chest was tired. No elbow pain or shoulder issues. Shoulders on the bench, lats tight. I just couldn’t push anymore. So now all I gotta do is bench more.
Tib Raise x 12
Standing Calf, 3 count eccentric x 12
Side Plank/Clamshell Combo x 6 with 3 count hold at top
3 rounds
Reverse Sled Drag x down
Sideways Sled Drag x back
Wood Chop x 24 chops
KB Swing x 24 swings
Bear Crawl x Until Time Expires
3:45 work time. Rest for 5 minutes x 4 rounds
I listened to this Pantera song and did stuff until time was up. I had a kettlebell in the time for backwards drags and took it out for sideways drags. Twice I had to change exercise order or run to the kettlebell. That just meant slightly less bear crawl.
I’m loving this workout and getting more forceful every week. Only the rest periods are taking so long that it’s becoming a drag. Today I just waited 5 minutes instead of waiting longer for my HR to get back to 120.
So, again, it’s time for some longer, slower stuff. That I didn’t start doing after talking about it last week.
To keep volume low-low and intensity high-high. Do 2 Max Effort lifts per workout. Each one on a different Angle. No high volume Back Off Sets or medium volume Secondary Exercises for a max 8, just another Max Effort Lift.
Hit all the angles somewhere in your monthly plan, Overhead (seated) Incline, flat, decline. And use 2 angles per workout.
Keep the angles consistent and vary the grip width (close/medium/wide) and bands/chains, so you can make small adjustments and keep progressing.
Once per month do high rep, all out sets with dumbbells. 2 angles for this too.
Hip Stuff
Dead Bug Style Abs x 8
Step Down x 8
4 rounds
45 Back Raise
+25 plate x 15, 15, 17
Belt Squat
Big Chain x 10
25 + Big Chain x 10
50 + Big Chains x 10
60 + Big Chain x 5 reps x 5 sets
Deadlift, 3 count slack pull at start
135 x 2 singles
135 + 2 small chains x 2 singles
135, chains, deficit x 3 singles
135, chains, twice that much deficit x 1,1,2
1 Leg Reverse Hyper x 10
Stir the Pot x many stirs
4 pairs
Last month I was BS’ing in a couple discussions and I kept typing stuff like I was waking up hungry in the middle of the night. Or that I was having to mix up special drinks to drink during workouts. Or that my bodyweight hadn’t really moved much in like a year.
After seeing myself type that stuff over and over it was clear I wasn’t eating enough. And that’s why gym progress was slow. Calories were hanging around right at the bottom of maintenance. If I missed a meal or 2 I would get faint. I wasn’t laying down any tissue to get muscley and I wasn’t in a deficit to get leaner. Just lingering in the douche zone.
Since then I’ve been trying to eat more. More food in general, some carbs before workouts and casein shakes before bed as a fail-safe, final meal option. Some pizza too.
It’s been working. I’m walking around about 5 pounds heavier. I pushed up reps/weight every workout this month and I’ve been sleeping well.
In my mind I’ve eaten enough to top off all my amino acid pools and glycogen stores and gotten nicely hydrated. And then gained 1.5 pounds of fat. Now I’m ready to gain. If I creep up another 3-5 pounds over the next 3 month it will be all muscle. Legit!
For the last 3 weeks I’ve been using a Conjugate style. Heavy/low volume pressing one day, lighter/higher volume pressing another day with some assistance stuff both days. For the main pressing (and chin ups) the volume creeps up suuuper slow. For the assistance I was trying to make progress every session.
It went pretty well. I beat the log book when I was supposed to. Light presses moved fast and I was a little stronger than I expected to be on the heavy stuff.
Now I just need to keep it up. I’ll chill out a little this week as a deload. Then I’ll make the main stuff Slightly tougher, pick some new assistance work and blast off again.
Wrist lever pinkie side and thumb side, DB wrist curl x 2 sets
Neutral Chin Ups
x 7, 10, 13
Bamboo Bar Bench
70 pounds hanging x 12 reps one way, then 12 reps another way x 3 sets
rotated through wide grip to neck, wide grip to mid chest and kinda close grip to low chest
Bar Bar Triceps
50 pounds hanging x 12 reps one way then 12 reps another way x 3 sets
-rotated through skullcrusher, Dicks Press and Closer Grip bench
Takin’ it sleazy. Forearm stuff felt nice. Chinups improved a little, from 24 in 3 sets to 30 in 3 sets. I think Arnold said to get to 35 in 3 sets then start adding weight.
I could tell I was getting worked up, and it was good timing for the deload because I was getting all nervous and excited for the chinups. Like they were a Big deadlift or something.
I love those combo sets or mechanical drop sets of whatever you want to call them with the Bamboo Bar. I started feeling good and plotting on a Upright Row/Bent Row/Shrug series and then some press/press behind the neck combo action. Then I remembered it was a deload and made myself get out of there.
Pull-Thru Drag x down
Chest Push Drag x back
Backwards Drag x down
Row Drag x back
Sideways Drag x down
Overhead Tricep Drag x back
Repeat for 20 minutes.
Set feet, pull tire, walk 3 steps until straps are tight, pull again. Go slow enough not to get heart rate too elevated. Switch styles before any muscles get tired or start burning. Rotate moves to hit all quadrants of body, “shunting” blood around and staying at about 120 heart beats per minute.
Not super fun, but it’s OK outside with some good music.
What’s up bros? My little computer died over the Thanksgiving weekend and with Christmas coming up I waited to replace it. I kept training. It looked like
Upper Day 1
Shoulder external rotations and rear delts face down on bench
Wrist Rotation Move
Max Effort Lift
Dumbbell Row
Half Kneeling Land Mine Press
Pushups down to 3 boards with slow eccentric, pause at the bottom, slow concentric
Rolling DB Tris
Lower Day 1
Sled Drags Outside, alternating styles to hit back, quads, hams, hips, glutes, hip flexors. Light weights, steady pace, no stopping for 20-25 minutes.
Upper Day 2
Shoulder External Rotations
Wrist Rotation
DE Dumbbell Incline Press
Chin Ups with same DE sets/reps
Dumbbell Row
1/2 Kneeling Landmine Press
Close Pushups to 3 board, slow execution
Rolling DB Tris
Lower Day 2
Hip Stuff
1 Leg 45 Degree Hyper
5 x 5 belts squats using band for resistance and chains on shoulders.
Snatch Grip Deadlift for 15 singles
Planks or Stir the Pot
Reverse hypers
Seated hamstring curl
Band resisted belt squats were good too. Instead of pulling straight down the band pulled slight forward and down so the resistance was at a nice angle to hit legs.
Snatch grip deads were a nice way to make less weight tough.
