Exercise Bike: 300 Cal/6.2 Miles in 18:36 (12)
Ab Machine: 3x12@100
Sorta calling bullshit on this thing telling me I burned that much in under 20 minutes, but it doesn’t really matter so much as it’s consistent session to session as a way to track output. I’m probably gonna use this pairing a fair bit for my cardio days going forward. Reliability vs validity and all that good stuff. Also got offered a continued tutoring position for next year today.
Showed a friend around the gym here today, and maxed out the seated machine shoulder press for a few reps at 205
Still killing it dude, it’s wild how consistently you’re able to move up in weight on the bar. It’s seriously impressive!! Congrats on the well earned PRs.
Also, the food you’re packing away is legit! Love it!
@boilerman The last couple months have been going really well for me training-wise, I’m just hoping to ride the wave as long as I can. You’ve been getting some awesome stuff done on your end too.
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I want to start deadlifting again. I’m just going to keep trying different approaches to technique and programming until I find something that doesn’t fuck with my back, and then ride that out to 500+ pounds. I’ll probably strike DE squats in favor of this day.
The first new thing I think I’ll try is training it like I am training my press right now. Singles - even maxes - have never bothered by back nearly as much as rep work. So training it with waved triples/doubles/singles and continuing to spam hamstring curls/squats/power shrugs/chins to build the actual musculature doesn’t seem like a bad idea to me.
The other thing that might be worth doing is leaning into (no pun intended) a much more upright sumo technique. What I feel most comfortable doing basically ends up looking like conventional mechanics in a sumo stance, but if I actually learn to open up my hips and wedge in, I could get away with hardly any moment arm on the back.
I’m open to ideas if anyone has any. This has been an annoyance for quite a while now, and maybe I’m missing something obvious.
1: Good mornings instead of deads. This can train the hip hinge mechanic but will be limiting on total load due to the movement. Might be a way to break back into pulls.
2: ROM Progression. This was how I fixed my back and got back into conventional pulls.
Those both sound good to me, thanks. I think I’ll try what I mentioned in my post first, but if that doesn’t work, ROM progression’s probably the next thing I’ll look at. Just to refresh my memory - you bought your patio pavers from some hardware store rather than a specialized strength training company, right?
I’ve never actually done a GM before, so they didn’t occur to me as an option here, but that’d definitely be another thing to try if the others fail. Do you have any resources you’d recommend for learning to do one?
I’m just hoping I can get back to some capacity of normalcy sooner rather than later. I’m still optimistic about pulling five plates in the near future.
Chin: 5x5@55
Power Shrug Drop Set: 405x10/315x16/225x20, Hold 135xF, BW Hang xF
Cable Rows: 3x12@165 (Last Set Ugly)
Hammer Curls: 5x20@20
Fantastic day all around. Lifetime PR on chins, at the highest body weight I’ve ever been at, and a good showing on accessory work. The holds after the shrugs seem like a pretty low opportunity cost way to train grip in a way that’s specific to what I need it for (chins and holding the barbell). Going to repeat this weight for rows before I jump up, since the last set got a little less strict than I’d like.
Biceps too pumped to touch my shoulders is always a good feeling
Squat: 320x6/3/2/1 (PR), 275x6, 15 deep breath rests
Leg Extensions: 200x11/10/10/9
Seated Leg Curls: 130x16/12/10/10
Hit a safety with one side of the bar on the last rep, and still finished it + probably had at least one more on the tank. Watch the video and take a look at how stupidly deep I’m sinking these - they legit feel much stronger like that than reversing at parallel. No photo, but the quad pump from this all was absolutely fucking insane and I could barely walk back to my dorm without my knees buckling.
As far as deadlifts go, I’m fully aware that I’m being extremely back-and-forth here, but I think I’m leaning towards No for now again. The only reason I can come up with for bringing them back is that I want to pull 500+, but I’m convinced that all the other stuff I’m doing gets me at least as much general strength/growth as I’d get from pulling, plus more energy to put towards squatting. So I’m going to stick with what’s working now until either my squat stalls out or the deadlift ennui gets really bad.
Do you have a particular product that you’d recommend to suspend the bar for good mornings? Bonus points if it’s something relatively portable.
Still not sure what route I’m going to go down programming-wise, but if either of those movements get featured, this should be really helpful, so thanks.
You showed up a young dude with a good athletic background, but pretty new to lifting and getting big. In the span of maybe a year, we’ve just seen nothing but consistent hard freaking work, coupled with disciplined consistency and the maturity to eat for muscle growth. And holy hell, have you exploded. It’s awesome to see an example of just how much success can be had when a young dude all full of testosterone and motivation goes all in with the right moves, and your results speak for themselves.
Just outstanding quality all throughout. I’m sure you’ve heard that before, but I had to say my piece. You’re doing great, keep it up!
I actually checked a couple days back when the one-year anniversary of the log is going to be - we’re rapidly coming up on it. Looking back at the numbers I had then as 1RM’s
It’s crazy to think how far I’ve come in what feels like a pretty short length of time. And honestly, I can attribute a bunch of it to stuff that I’ve gathered from these forums and all you guys, so thanks.
DE Press: 15x2@115
Pull-Ups: 16/14/12/11/10/9 (72)
Push-Up Drop Set: 34/10
Pull-Aparts: Rest-Pause to 100
Not injured or anything, just felt like taking a walk yesterday and the gym was close to closing so I killed two birds with one stone. Solid day today too.
Life-wise:
Uncurved 100% on my second Public Administration test
Elected Director of Community Partnership for the 2023-2024 term of UA’s QSA (my incessant bitching in PWI paid off! /s)
Selected to be an Honors Year One Mentor for a section of honors college freshmen next year
Exercise Bike: 450 Cal in 29:44
Ab Machine: 3x12@115
Solid day. Chose my classes for next semester, and got into pretty much everything I wanted before it filled up. Made sure to save space for the mentoring and tutoring blocks so that I’ll be able to do those again. 6 classes, 16 credit hours, 9 at a 200 level and 7 at a 300 level.
@tlgains I’ll be acting as our main communicator/coordinator with other clubs and cultural/affinity groups on campus, and off-campus advocacy groups. The nuts and bolts of what that actually looks like are going to be explained to me by the current director in some sort of transitional meeting.
It occurs to me that now that I have the title of director, the pun in my title has a solid four or five layers to it.
