Conwict Workout Log/Vlog

Training Bodybuilding
21

Here’s what I did today plus some ideas for my next workouts.

I went on a hike and did 20 Zerchers with logs. It’s really fun to go for a hike and do pullups from trees, lift and carry and squat logs and stones, and so on.

AM: Medium log 12 reps Zercher squat, large log 8 reps. Shortly after did an extended farmer’s hold and carry with two water jugs totaling 11 gallons, or 88 lbs of H2O, and very irregular/hard to hold grips.

PM MRT (all with 75lb DB): Frog-stance goblet squat, 12-8
10 one-arm Snatches…5x2
Supinated one-arm rows: 6-8-6
Floor presses, elbow tucked: 5-8-7

22

AM today:
3x5
One-DB French press 85lb
DB Anti-cheat curl 45+45lb
Short-stroke DB lunges 70+70lb

I love those anti-cheat curls - AKA Gironda curls. You just lean forward on the concentric portion, and back on the eccentric - the opposite of a cheat curl.

23

Here is my next planned workout (I’ll do it about 5 weeks from now, after 4 more weeks of this HFT/MRT and one deload week).

Goal is fat loss through exercise, with a “maintenance” level diet. I also wanna get really conditioned and have fun.

A/B Split 3x/week

Monday 4x5
Wednesday 3x10
Friday 2x20

Day A:
Power clean/front squat
One-hand snatch
One-arm clean and jerk
Explosive pushup

Day B:
Snatch/overhead squat
DB High pull/Jump Squat combo
RDL/Lunge combo
BB Floor pullover and press
Cheat BB row

Post-workout, both days, roll a die:
1: Hill sprints
2: Waterbury deadlift walks
3: Farmer’s walks
4: Cycle Tabata + 4 min x 2
5: Litvinov 3x8, my choice of exercise
6: 10 minutes of fat rope dumbbell swings

Off days: brisk 30 min walk

24

PM today:
20 reps MRT
A. Wide-stance front squat 185lb 4-3-3-3-4-3
B. Close-grip 1/2 Bench Press in Rack 215lb 3-3-3-3-3-2-3
C. Waterbury Walks 2-2-2-2-2 305lb (10 reps)
D. EZ Bar narrow-grip curls. Cluster-style 13 sets of 2. Bar + 70lb

25

AM Today:
MRT 20
Close grip pullups BW (203?) +35
Goblet jump squat +75
One-arm floor press 75

26

PM Today:

MRT 10
A1 Power Snatch (1 per set)+Overhead Squat 3-2-3-2 140lb (Personal record!)
A2 Close-grip BBBP 205lb 3-3-2-2
A3 Pushup rows AKA Renegade Rows 75+75 db 4-4-2 (Progress next session)

This training is making me brutally strong. This is the beginning of my third week, and my strength gains shine through in everything. I feel phenomenally stronger, there’s no doubting it.

I’ve got my next few training cycles figured out, for now anyway. Next I’m going to do a higher-volume higher-rep system to change it up. Looking back, it’s been way over a year since I’ve done more than 6 reps per set consistently. That should add some good size. Then I’m going to do Dan John’s Big 21 now that I am getting pretty decent at the O lifts. Then, most likely, I will do the fat loss plan I posted above.

27

Today:

MRT 40

Tucked-arm DB Bench Press 70+70lb 9-8-8-6-5-4

One-arm supinated low-pulley standing cable row 50lb 10-7-8-7-6-5

Nautilus leg extension (first time doing it in about 2 years!) 160lb 10-10-10-10

Jump shrug 100+100 dbs 2x5

28

Yesterday
Home workout, All MRT
1x2 75lb db clean and press both sides
Power snatch 145 10 reps
Clean grip whip snatch 95 10 reps
Overhead squat 95 20 reps
Clean and press 145 3 reps
Zercher squat 145 20 reps (hard as hell with 20 degree weather…high pain factor)

I think that was it, gotta check my log to be sure

Today
MRT 15
A Front squat 205 4-3-3-5 (The 5 is a PR, I will progress now to either 207.5 or 210)
B1 Uni DB Clean and press 65lb 4-4-4-3
B2 One-arm DL 155 4-3-3-3-1-1
C1 Tricep cable rope pushdown 1x15 50lb
C2 Rope cable curl same

29

Today

MRT 20

A. Very wide stance front squat 185 - Forget the rep breakdown, lost the record of today’s lifts.
B1. Floor press close grip 215 - 4-3-3-3-3-4
B2. Waterbury walks 305 - 3-2-3-2 (total of 10 reps, will progress to 310 or 315 next session)
C. Hammer curls 3-2-3-2

Anyone doing fat loss, sport conditioning, or just looking for a kickass deadlift variation, try the Waterbury Walks. They are really great. Probably better than the regular deadlift for back development, too.

30

PM 1-19-08

MRT 15
One-arm clean and squat 75lb 8-5-2
75lb db floor press 7-8
Irregular board pullups, 8" between hands 6-4-5
1x15 close-grip pushup with feet elevated

PM yesterday
MRT 25

A1 75lb bent-over supported supinated one-arm DB row 8-7-6-4
A2 Bulgarian split squat 75lb db goblet style 10-10-5
A3 Weird skullcrusher on floor, kinda half pullover 75lb db 10-10-5

31

What are you training for? I have no idea what these exercises are. Is this for some sport? Irregular board pull ups, Waterbury walks, renegade rows, bulgarian split squat goblet style WTF?? What ever happened to squats, bench and the other basics?

32

Hagar,

I’m doing high frequency training. I’m targeting my triceps, biceps, and quads with compounds. The idea is to progress on three main workouts per week as usual, and supplement with smaller but intense HFT workouts. It’s all pretty low rep and heavy.

My basic template is 3 total body workouts a week, and whatever I can fit in that targets the aforementioned muscle groups…the exercises I’m primarily using are:

Close-grip bench press and half close-grip bench press
Front squat and wide-stance front squat
Close-grip pullups, neutral grip pullups, and close-grip chin-ups
Curls

All those are pretty basic, IMO.

As far as irregular board pullups…I just meant it was a weird-shaped board that I was doing pullups on. That’s an exercise pretty widely acknowledged to provide nice forearm growth (fat grip pullups).

I mentioned somewhere earlier in the thread that my heaviest weight in the apartment is a 75lb DB, so if I want to work out at home I have to use that somehow. A “goblet” squat or whatever is just holding the DB in your hands as pictured below.

Scoff at bulgarian split squats if you want, but I urge you to give them a try. I like unilateral leg work.

Waterbury Walks, renegade rows, etc, offer a lot of the benefits of regular deadlifts, rows, etc, but with a twist, and they’re fun. As I mentioned I’m primarily focusing on quads, triceps, and biceps. And it’s working. I’ll post a pic today if I can find batteries for my camera.

EDIT, can’t get the pic to work for some reason. At any rate, Dan John says this about the BSS:[quote]
I know a lot of people who insist on one-legged work and this is the only lift I trust. Lunges, reverse lunges, leaping lunges and all the rest just don’t seem to be effective with my athletes.[/quote]

His description etc can be found at the bottom of this article:
http://www.T-Nation.com/readArticle.do?id=1300246&cr=

33

Today I did a little light recovery work

I did a hybrid described in Chad Waterbury’s “GPP ASAP” article, where you do a “burpee” type thing with a pushup and then jump and do a pullup. I did 3x10 of those, and 3x8 leaning away lateral raises with 15lb.

34


Here is a little collage I made.

The top two are just relaxed back shots, cold, absolutely no flexing.

The bottom two are just meant to show (hopefully) how well this program has been developing my biceps. Not too bad, IMO.

35

Posting those pics got me in the measuring mood, so if anyone cares, and for the record, here are a few msrmts:

Upper arm 16" (goal is about 17")
Upper thigh 27" (pretty happy with it, just want to work on the VMO, let’s say the goal is 28")
Neck 16" (used to be like 14.5, it sucked.)
Waist 34-35" (32" after a fat loss program!)
Calf 16 3/4" (calves that are 16 3/4" are supposed to be decent, I’ve heard calves and neck and arms should all be the same size…yet my arms are much more developed than my calves. I dunno what the goal is, I just want more definition)

36

[quote]conwict wrote:
I just finished an A-B split of MRT and EDT. Exercises were dips and chins for the EDT day, followed by a superset of high pulls and cable lateral raises. MRT day was JM presses, snatches(1)/overhead squats, and supinated narrow-grip rows for 25 reps apiece. I noticed I got pretty damn strong and added nice size from this combo, so anyone who wants any details just PM me or post here.
[/quote]

What are JM presses?

37

It’s a tough exercise to describe. I’ll post a link at the end of this post that is kinda long, but gives a great description.

I used about 65% of what I would have used if I’d been doing close grip bench press. IE, my close grip bench work sets are with 205, and I used 125-135 for the JM press.

You use a close grip, but not uncomfortably close. At 6’ with fairly long arms, I used about a 8-10" grip thumb-to-thumb.

Start lying on the bench with the bar locked out. Lower under control until it’s just over your clavicle or neck, while flaring your elbows and squeezing your biceps. Your forearm and biceps should touch at the bottom, but you should NOT lower your elbows, only flare them. Pause for 1/4-1/2 second, that’s vital to the exercise, while maintaining tension.

Unlike when normally bench pressing, it’s okay to bend your wrists. If you have really bad wrists, get some wrist wraps or skip the exercise. Personally, for this exercise, I utilize a thumbless or “suicide” grip…it’s only 130 pounds, after all.

On the concentric portion, you tense the entire body and fire those triceps to explode. If you didn’t lower your elbows, the elbows should not move from their position much at all.

In short, it’s a hybrid between the bench press and a skullcrusher that’s very hard to explain, but pretty easy to learn or teach. Check the following vid out, where JM Blakely explains how to do it. At 3:50 there is a good explanation, and a great demonstration around 9:00.

It helps me to think of it as a skullcrusher with elbows more flared and wrists bent, too. The plus of the exercise is that it is very bench-specific. I think doing it probably added a good 20 lb onto my close grip BP, no joke.

38

I’m glad I asked instead of just going on to youtube and searching. Nobody in the related links section is doing a JM press.

39

Nope, most of them are doing a close grip bench press with a lot of elbow flexion in the first part and a lot of wrist flexion.

To their credit, JM Blakely says that even if you do it pretty bad wrong, you’ll get results…but I got great results doing it right. Just check your ego at the door.

40

Had a great workout today, and absolutely nuked the core lifts. Broke my PR on the OHS and I’m going to have to up it to 145 next session! Pretty big improvements overall, if you compare this workout to the workout I began the cycle with.

MRT 10

Snatch(1)/Overhead squat 140 5-2-3
Close grip bench press 205 4-3-3 (Up to 207.5 or 210 next session)
Renegade row 80lbs 3-3-4 (sticking with this weight for a while)

Cable lateral raise 20lb 3-3-2-2
EZ bar reverse curl, maybe 20lbs?+70 3-3-3-1
Donkey calf raise 80lb 4-5-1
YTWLs (Cosgrove exercise) 10lb 2-2-2-2-2
95lb db snatch 1 per side (just screwing around)