Nice pump session. I’ve been eating quite a lot these times. Plus the fact that I started with the machine bench instead of doing it third. But last time 70-75 kgs were hard and now well 95 kgs would have been perfect I think. With 85 I could have done 2-3 more at least… So I’m getting stronger.
Same for the Hex press. Last time 20 kgs were melting my chest, here I increased the weight each time.
Really good stretch and burn with the pronated grip on flyes. Rear delts were easier as well. Not feeling like my shoulders were about to ripp off so… I’ll increase the weight next time.
I never tried the stairmaster so I wanted to give it a spin. Plus I haven’t done cardio in like 3 weeks. Did what around 70 flights at 160 watts, burned 160 cals (well I didn’t put in my weight so it has no relevance). My heart was beating quite fast honestly! Not bad! I could have gone much harder but just like the incline walks, my lower back started to burn. After 12 mins it was less intense but stil…
Got some catching up to do. But I was soooo tired!
Colossus - Pull heavy
Good session. Thought I would go a little bit easier considering this irresponsible weekend. Went slightly lighter on the first exercise but I had better form and more reps so yeah. Pull-ups weren’t great today though with only IIRC 15 and 13 reps. My forearms were toasted.
Heavy AF though on the Meadows, but I kept a good form.
Decided to go apeshit straight from 100 kgs to 140 on the shrugs. I remember last year I was doing power shrugs with 140 and it was okay so. Deadlifted the first reps. First one was heee, others good.
Anyway, two days later my traps are still really sore. really went bananas. I’ll film myself next week because I looked badass. I reminded something Coach Greg said: “if you’re not sore you don’t train hard enough, if you’re too sore you train too hard.” Thoughts?
The biceps 21s were fucking hell. My forearms were completely dead afterwards.
Bad session. I was beginning to feel the aftermath of saturday. Really tired, throat slightly achy. Plus I had to squeeze the session around 3pm between work. I don’t like it.
I think 1 x 14 with 80 on the bench is a PR. really satisfied. But then my triceps were dead. My right elbow was instantly strained. I had really gave it all on the first exercises. So I loaded up to 90, and nope 7 reps, and I failed during the 8ths and did the roll of shame. You’re supposed to do a set of 15, then a set of 12 while increasing the weight. Both RPE 10. No way. No way! Unless the first set is not to failure. Or maybe I went too hard and my form wasn’t as perfect towards the end? Well it was really slow but it felt really tight so… I’ll remember to go easier on the bench. I don’t care anyway.
Only the 14s for the pronated flyes. They really stretched my pecs. This was a RPE 11 lol arms were shaking.
During the cage press I noticed a pain in my shoulder/lat. Like the usual old pain. I must have slept like a jackass, or it was the previous crazy session. Or I had not recovered. Or all of it. So I did some machine press. And I skipped the overhead triceps rope extensions at the end. I didn’t want to strain on it, just did a light set. Today it feels a bit better. I’m guessing impigement from sleeping like an idiot… Anyway, not everything was bad in this session.
So, today. Exhausted as hell. Work was terrible, and I had to go after this loooong day straight to the gym, and not even a drop of coffeee.
The leg curls were really uncomfortable, i’ll change the settings.
The leg press was terribly hard. I was a walking corpse afterwards. Heart still racing, I did my trap-bar deadlifts.
Just tried to do the reps correctly. Honestly, really satisfied with my bracing. My back feels really good. But these were really tough. But my form changes as the set progresses. My hips start to get higher because my quads don’t want no more of this lol. So is this a clue? When I regular dead, for strength, I should probably put my hips higher because that’s where I’m the strongest.
After this I was completely rinsed. And I broke my phone’s jack port the other day. i can’t listen to music in the gym… This is super annoying. Today I wish I had it. Well at least some cutie came I asked me what the hell I was doing my tibias raises for.
Here the set of death for your viewing pleasure. More than 3 minutes of torture. I should have put the phone more to the left or in fricking theater mode.
Well it tells me that once again my left leg is really weaker and that I have to do more unilateral exercises. But this is no surprise…
My straining face is really horrible ahahah
So, today I ate like a literal pig. Well it’s been 3 days, really. I’m really exhausted. Achy and my throat is sore. I caught a cold or COVID lol. So, no more crazy nights like that because I really can’t recover. I felt smaller today. No more white nights ffs. Tomorrow I’m only napping and tanning. Eating clean and some light cardio.
I think the science says there’s no connection to soreness and hypertrophy. However, I think we all like to get at least a little bit sore so we know we hit the right muscles in the session. I really enjoy soreness in my delts because it’s so hard to achieve.
That bench is perfect. A slight incline makes it easier on your shoulders. I try not to do true flat bench any more. If you see DB bench in my log then it’s one notch up from parallel.
Now that I think of it it’s true that there are some parts like shoulders or tris which are very hard to get sore, unlike some others (my hammies are always sore after a session ahah)
I think you’re right about this bench. Probably even better for chest developpement. Slightly weaker on it though
Dude, there’s a few things I will never stop crediting Paul Carter for, and this is one of those things. Good lord, the long head of the triceps is just fucking SMOKED after them, and it’s the easiest thing on the elbows you can ask for. I used to superset sets of 12-15 PJR pullovers with diamond pushups to failure and the burn was unreal, haha.
Well this is similar in form to the barbell pullover I was doing.
Only right one is smoked. Probably because of my shoulder. I have some trotator cuff pain. I’ll finally receive bands soon and I’ll include some work with it, and I’ll be able to do the spidercrawls
Good session, feeling way much better. No heavier dumbbell for the shrugs lol. My friend who deadlifts way more than me was shocked by my traps strength, so at least I know this is not a problem.
Pullovers were too easy but I couldn’t go heavier unless going through a hassle I had no intention to and that’s okay, just a quick pump.
Could have gone harder with the hammer curls but that’s okay. Went a bit less hard but I guess I pushed my body too hard the last few days.
I wish though I could have used the 25 on the preacher curls. No EZ bar avalaible as well ugh…
Went talking to a girl I like at the gym. It went… let’s say it was mixed ahahah. That’s okay I don’t care! I try to act, to go out of my zone of comfort. If I fail well I can use this failure to teach me a lesson and act differently the next time. Better than staying on my ass and hoping things change! So no regrets
Well guys, as much as I’d like to keep bodybuilding after the program, I have to icnrease my conditioning.
In septembre are the physical tests. The strength tests are ridiculously easy so it won’t be a problem:
• 6 chin-ups
• 6 squats with 100% BW
• 6 bench press with 85% BW
Then there’s the cardio, which is more challenging. IUt’s the infamous “Luc Léger” test which involves running between two spots, and at each round (non-stop) you have elss time to reach the other side. So It becomes gradually more intense. It lasts around 15-20 mins. Shouldn’t be much trouble if you’re lean and you run but I want to have all the chances on my side.
Any reason you wouldn’t just keep bodybuilding but just add one or two short conditioning sessions to your week ? You can do a lot in 15 mins when it comes to conditioning.
Is that so? And would be 15 mins enough if I have to last at least that time at a great intensity?
I don’t know it’s just that is usually ill-advised to take a demanding program and add more stuff to it
If your short term goals have changed then adjust your training accordingly.
Interval sprint training will prepare you for that test. You have to run a fixed distance and the rest time decreases. You need to be able to recover quickly and interval stuff is good for that.
A good starting point would be fartlek runs. Get warmed up and do this:
Run hard 20 sec
Jog really slow or walk 20 sec
Run hard 20 sec
Jog/walk 20 sec
Run hard 20 sec
Rest 2-3 minutes and repeat two more times. Add time to the intervals or run faster to progress.
@kleinhound did pretty good on the beep test so he probably has some ideas.
I honestly think that If you have no conditioning in your program right now, then adding a couple of 15-20 min sessions a week is not going to negatively impact on your training. You may need to increase calories very slightly in those days and for the first two weeks your other sessions may seem harder. @Frank_C is sport on with recommending @kleinhound for tips on the beep test.
It has been a long time since i did one of these but found for me the best way to get better at the beep test was to practice it a couple of times a week.
I haven’t done a beep test in a while, but the first handful of rounds are usually pretty easy. There’s a ton of ways to train for something like that, but since you’ll likely be scored on how many beeps you pass pacing is important as well. What are you testing for?
I second (or third) the endorsement of @kleinhound on this one. And I don’t blame you - at least in principle - for wanting to take a break from bodybuilding to focus on conditioning for a short period.
I found that if you want to get better at running (and by better I mean faster) then you need to run. Frequent, shorter distances worked great for me
400s, 800s and 1miles
Smash your lactate threshold, because that’s what’s getting tested just as much as VO2 max
That and doing what I call the ‘straight line beep test’
Get a beep test app for your phone and start running on a treadmill at 8.5km (the starting speed of the beep test)
Every level you add .5km which is the speed increase of the test. Go to failure
Keep in mind this is much easier than the actual test because you don’t have to turn around, however you’ll get used to the speed and duration of the test
