Thank you man! They’ve been absolutely insane! I’m usually a Pullup machine, but supersetted with T-Bar rows, they’ve been insanely hard!
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Haven’t given an update in a bit but I’ll get everybody up to date here! The garage Hercules sessions have been awesome and appropriately difficult. I’ve hit one of each of those sessions since I last updated and will do chest, Back, thighs tonight. On Monday, I tried out a new local 24 hour gym that just opened up in town with some really nice equipment! I think I will cancel my YMCA membership and sign up there! Same price too! I did a Fullbody session that day so I could try out as much equipment as possible. I was so extremely dead by the end of that one!
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And today’s session! It was very cold as usual, and I didn’t have the most energy but I got it done. I rearranged some stuff to try some antagonist supersets this time. Pretty fun little variation. Excited about getting started at the new gym! I’ll be back to my usual Split when I get That going.
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It’s awesome when you find a new spot that “fits”!
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Really darn good Arm day yesterday and chest and quads went insane today. 8 sets on the pendulum had me on another planet. My quads were so cooked by the time I got to hacks and leg extensions. Chest was feeling really good. Went with dumbbells for my presses instead of barbells just to mix things up a bit. Felt incredible. Loving the new gym!
(Forgot to press “reply” last night when I typed this up)
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Worked out with a couple of buddies today and when they picked me up they said “we’re going to have You deadlift Heavy today!” I was pretty excited about the proposition because I really haven’t hit conventional deadlift since February 2023. I was thinking I would cap out around 405, but that felt pretty easy, so we kept throwing plates on. I ended up hitting 500, which was crazy to me, matches my all time Best from Feb 2023. Big difference being that I was 232 Back then and now I’m only 198. So definitely feel good about that. Then I had them do what I do for Back and hamstrings. They were seemingly Mind blown by the pump!
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Fabulous work, man!
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Thank you! It’s good to know that I still have that as a baseline!
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Smashing deadlift and Machine like back workout!
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Haha you recognize the Mark Kerr sweatshirt?
Yeah, I just saw the movie a few days ago so it jumped right out. I can see how the shirt would help channel some training energy!
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That’s awesome! I loved the movie (as well as the original doc), my wife got me the sweatshirt for our anniversary last year and then got me the red connect-the-dots Kerr t-shirt for Christmas. Maybe I should wear that the next time I post Training footage!
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Good idea,show off the cool gear/thoughtful gifts.
Hopefully it will be T Shirt weather again soon!
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Oh yeah it’s been snowing almost daily for the last three weeks up here. I’m very Much over it haha
That sounds rough! We’ve had snow and ice down south, but we’ve been fortunate to have breaks in the weather with temps above freezing to break it up. I should stop complaining.
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Basically went kind of easy Mode in this workout. I didn’t have that intention when I came in, but I picked up the 70 pound dumbbells for Overhead Press and just gripping the dumbbells, I had excruciating soreness in my brachialis and brachioradialis. After I finished my set and put the dumbbells down, I could barely straighten my arms out, my muscles were so tight. I ended up cutting out all bicep work except for some light incline curls since that loads the stretch harder than the contraction, I thought it may help loosen me up. Triceps were the only thing I really went hard on. I did leave with an awesome arm pump, so I like left the gym a winner. Definitely ready for a rest day tomorrow!
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2021(25 years old, 174 pounds, 12 years lifting experience) vs 2026(30 years old, 198 pounds, 17 years of lifting experience) and why I’m such a believer in high volume.
The first photo, I had been following variations of Mike Mentzer’s Heavy Duty for just about a year. I was very much convinced that I had the one true method of muscle growth and everything else was inefficient and illogical. Time and experience has taught me that such a wide array of volume and intensity can produce results. I have personally found that my body just responds to the volume like a sponge and I don’t get feelings of being rundown or overtrained. I WOULD feel overtrained often with Heavy Duty, using maximal training loads, hitting failure every exercise every time. And I’m even experiencing that a bit right now after hitting those heavy deadlifts. With goals of getting on and winning on the Bodybuilding stage, the volume has just worked so much better for me. You have to find your own individual recipe. This whole log is basically one long case study and the quest for my own recipe.
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Quads and Chest last night got completely smoked. Enjoying the pendulum squat. I don’t want to just one trick point my legs forever on this, but I am enjoying them. They’re excruciating. The hack sled is cool too, but you start with your hips flexed on both machines, so I need to mix things up probably every other session to take my quads through more total active ranges of motion. Also, got to use a football bar for the first time on Bench and incline. It felt fantastic, especially because the grips are really fat so it didn’t flare up my brachialis, which is why I didn’t use any dumbbells. Chest pump was bonkers. Did some reciprocating work on the machine press. I like that about the independent arms.
Today was back and hams. I knew Back would be tricky with my brachialis still compromised. Really didn’t want to hit anything pronated. Went with underhand chins, and otherwise pretty much the same exercises from Saturday. It was money for a crazy back pump. I was hitting isometric Holds in the contracted position of every rep, which was killer. I want to start emphasizing that more and probably slow down that eccentric tempo a bit. Hamstrings were money. RDLs felt fantastic for the first time in a while and the Strive Seated Hamstring Curl is probably the best feeling thing I’ve ever done for hammies. This might just be a game changer.
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Shoulders And arms! Always one of the greatest days of the week! Really had a fantastic session. I’ve been enjoying the standing barbell Overhead Press a ton the last few weeks. I think it’s just been feeling a little better than seated. It’s been feeling way more delts than I have on the seated. I think seated just had never been as good, aside from the dumbbell variation. Arm pump was absolutely nuts. I was happy to be able to hit biceps and brachialis again. I think adding amino acids back into my pre and intra shake is helping a ton with recovery. I definitely need to keep that Protocol going through prep as calories come down.
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you good mate ?
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