It crossed the line yet. Still like to smash the beers but just get pissed much much quicker these days. The old days of 10 pints in a Friday and Saturday night a long behind me.
All a matter of training. Gotta introduce a hypertrophy phase this summer
That was like all day on a Holiday with a couple meals. I couldn’t do 8 in one sitting these days. We don’t have to impress anyone with our drinking any more, moderation is cool. I used to Love tying one on though.
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How’s your lady’s pregnancy going? Everything seem all right?
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So far everything is going smooth, my woman just gets tired out a little easier than before. She’s just past 13 weeks in, so first trimester down! We had a dating ultra sound a few weeks ago to get official conception/due dates. In 2-3 weeks we’re going again to find out boy or girl, that’s pretty exciting. Thanks for asking!
What about you man? How’s you girl coming along? Well, I hope!
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She is doing well! At 17 weeks, so almost halfway there. Feels weird to think about, haha. She had pretty bad morning (or all day) sickness during the first trimester but is feeling pretty good now. She’s starting to show earlier than either of us expected and the added size is making sleep uncomfortable but that was going to happen sooner or later, so oh well.
She’s not overweight or in bad shape but she did take the past few months off from training, and wants to pick it back up again. According to her doctor and my Google skills, as long as what she’s doing isn’t way more intense than what she’s used to doing, it’s cool, at least for now, so I’m imagining maybe just some yoga, sled work and bodyweight work would be good. She’s working quite a bit and pretty stressed about life so I figured heavy barbell work might just be an added stressor that she doesn’t need right now.
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Im glad to hear she made it through the morning sickness, my g.f. didn’t get too nauseated. She does have the same size/sleep issues. She ordered some kind of pregnancy pillow, hopefully that works.
I think you’ve got the right idea regarding the return to the gym, barbells can be tough and pushing numbers doesn’t sound like the best strategy right now. It’s awesome that your girl likes the sled stuff, it’s such an easy way to kinda go hard, if that makes sense.
I’m sorry to hear your girl is so stressed out. It’s no fun being worried about the future. Hopefully you can exude confidence and a positive, optimistic view about what’s coming and help her relax.
7-8 Quads, Medium Volume
A couple stretches, McGill 3 and hip airplanes to get going
Leg Extensions x 10 x 3 sets
Step Ups x 10 x 3
Goblet Squats x 10 x 2 sets
Lunges x 10 x 3 sets
Seated Calfs x 12+ x 4 sets
Standing Calfs x 10+ x 3 sets + 2 drops.
This was a decent workout even though I’m getting kinda bored with this routine.
7-10 Traps and Biceps
Some junk to get ready
Chinese Row x 8 x 4 sets
1 arm KB row, elbow out, torso at 45 degrees x 8 x 4 sets
DB Shrug, 1 arm holds, one arm works x 8 x 3 sets
Cable Curls, stand away from pulley so cable is like 45 degrees x 10, then get close to pulley so cable is vertical and get 4-5 more reps x 3 sets
Alternating DB Curls, Seated x 9 x 3 sets + 1 drop set
Barbell Curls x 10 x 3 sets
Great bicep pump! I used Meadow’s exercise sequence (cable peak contraction pump, dumbbell stretch, barbell overload) that worked nice without having to sling tons of weight around. I’m getting tired of biceps after back, my biceps have been dead the last few workouts. Another factor making me want to switch up the routine.
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Got your eye on anything exiting !?
Only exciting because of the differences from my current routine. It’s been like 7-8 months of the same schedule and some little things are getting on my nerves.
Here a hype video commercial for the program.
Long answer
Right now I’m using a 6 way split, so it takes like a week and a half to work through the rotation. At first that was great, everything got plenty of rest and my body/joints felt better and better. Now I’m feeling good and after a solid shoulder (or whatever) workout I’ve got wait 9-10 days to hit shoulders (or whatever body part) again. I feel like I’m Rollin’ and what once helped me is now slowing me down. So I’ll switch to a layout with only 4 different sessions, so everything will be hit once a week and I won’t have to wait so long.
I’ve been rotating through separate rep ranges/weights, so each workout is all heavy sets of 6, or all lighter sets of 12, or somewhere in between. The new plan uses all the rep ranges/weights during each workout so that will be a drastic change that should be good to stimulate some gains.
Working my tired biceps after back stuff is giving me anxiety and the new plan puts them after chest so they won’t be fatigued. That should ease my mind.
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7-12 Chest, Triceps, High Volume
Pec Deck, lean forward for upper chest x 15 x 3 sets
Smith Incline Bench x 12+ x 3 sets
Hammer Decline Press x 13 x 3 sets
Flat Bench Press Machine, Neutral Grip x 15 x 3 sets
Rope Pushdown x 20+ x 3 sets
Kettlebell Tricep Extensions x 12 x 3 sets
Close Grip Bench, 1.5 reps x 8 x 3 sets
Band Tomahawk x 25+ x 4 sets
Too tired for grip or calves or anything after that. Accumulation phase fatigue! Squeezing hands together vs pressing arms out on machines was blasting my pecs, pretty neat. Meadow’s sequencing for triceps was nice, I was moaning and groaning with 95 pounds on the close grip benches.
7-13 Hams, Intensity!
Get loose,hip airplanes
Single Leg RDL x 6 x 2 tough ones
Hyper-Dead x 6 x 2 tough ones with a few hip airplanes between sets
Standing Leg Curl x 6, slow eccentric on last one x 2
Seated Calf x 15
Plate Loaded Gripper, 2 hands x 15
4 pairs
I found myself suddenly using my lats on the hyper-deads. Instead of the weight dangling at the end of my arms, using lots of back I was pulling the bar towards my hips, under me, using lots of hamstrings.
I had some Greek yogurt before bed and still had to get up to eat cereal in the middle of the night to sleep. Bulking life!
Some stuff from Dr Mike, son of Gimli, son of Gloin. A long video on how phases of training should build off of each other, or support each other. And how quickly size, strength, power and speed will fall of if you stop training them, so you can decide how long each phase should be and how often you need to train different qualities.
This is formated just like a research paper from grad school with lots of definitions, organized topics and subheadings. If your nerdy it’s a great way to break down a complex idea into a nice structure you can think your way through. If you’re a PR or ER Bro looking for training motivation it will probably put you to sleep.
I think the best part is about 15 minutes when he shows a chart explaining how power is built off strength which is build off size. And how, for example if you train 100% for power for too long you’ll loose mass, which will cost you strength, which will make you less powerful. It reminded me a lot of Bondarchuk and his organization general, specific and special training.
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Did you mix WPC in it and then add peanut butter and honey ??
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I’d already had a few cookies that night so I skipped the extras.
Honey is a really nice addition.
7-15 Lats and Biceps, Medium Volume
Lever Pulldown Machine, sit behind seat, widish overhand grip x 10 x 4 sets
1 Arm Barbell Row x 10 x 3 sets
Cable Pulldowns, medium neutral grip x 10 x 3 sets
Cable Curls x 12+ x 3 sets
Arnold Curls x 10 x 3 sets
Barbell Curls, Triple Drop Set x 12 with 85/65/55/45
I saw Jedd Johnson do a barbell curl drop sets so I copied him.
Yates back tips:
Pre exhaust lats with Nautilus Pullovers or straight arm pulldowns or DB pullovers. The biceps are smaller than lats so when you row/pulldown it’s possible that your biceps fail before your lats. Take the biceps out with the pullover motion and get after lats.
Use closer grips instead of wider. This puts the greatest stretch on that lats. Yates demonstrates and with with arms straight overhead his arm bone really is farther away from his ribs than with a wide grip. Also the closer grip puts the bicep in a better/stronger position, so it won’t fatigue so fast and it can hang long enough to work your lat.
Don’t use momentum. Pull/row to your chest then arch your back and squeeze your back to feel the contraction. Then control the negative to keep stress on the muscle. “It’s not about how much weight, it’s about how much areas is going on the muscle.”
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7-16 Shoulders and Tricep, Moderate Intensity
3 sets of DB medial delt raises to get going
DB Upright Row x 8 x 3 sets
Cable Rear Delts x 8 x 2 sets
Front DB Raise, one dumbbell in supinated palms x 8 x 3 sets
Seated DB Press x 8 x 2 tough ones
Cross Body Tricep Pushdown x 20 x 3 sets
Overhead Band Extension x 35/30/25/20
Close Grip Incline Bench x 8 x 4 sets
Count It!
7-17 Quads, High Volume
A few stretches, hip airplanes
Leg Extensions, weight + bands x 15 x 4 sets
Courtesy Lunges x 12 x 4 sets
Goblet Squat x 12 x 4 sets
Peterson Step Ups x 20 x 3 sets
I also tried some leg press on this Precor machine where you lay on your back. I don’t know about it yet, we’ll see.