My weak point has always been from the floor so this is easier than regular deads for me I’d wager
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Conjugate Bodybuilding - Day 16 - 13/08
Deload continues. Used a different rack so I tried doubling the bands, and they were super tight and waaay hard. Got the groove of low bar better I think. Since the anchor point of the bands was not directly under me but a bit in front, I had to drive extra with my back to keep the good form, and I think that’s a good thing because I had a tendancy to tilt a bit frontwards in the low bar. Never in the high bar though…
RDLs were as hellish as I remembered… A true mental test.
I left the audio so you can enjoy a complete suffering experience
My hammies and glutes were burning like cray during the leg curls. I just wanted to go home after 2 sets… Leg extensions were a nice change after 7 times leg pressing. 15 reps was RPE 10 ahah but yeah I had more juice in me than I thought.
Ate a giant protein pancake, now I’m gonna go to the speed upper day, which I’ve been skipping for the last two weeks (oops…) but now I’m finally dialed in. Yesterday I only drank 3 glasses so…
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Do you have a desire to scrape your shins and eat sh**?
I would never think of combining box jumps with something that torches my quads.
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No scraping at all during the RDLs, unlike today’s clean deadlifts ahah.
I have an immense desire to eat shit all the time ughhh went from something like 4000 cal to 3000 at best. But this whole meal had only 600 cals (pancake is just whey, egg whites and baking powder). Usually my second meal is lighter than this but I wanted a treat.
Well I didn’t came up with this idea, it’s CT’s template. Athletes often use plyometrics with strength exercises (like the French contrast) and it works…
Well you understand why I wait 2 mins here after the leg extensions ahah. The jumps are just about producing max force, and 5 (or 3 for the broad jumps the previous weeks) is not enough to really tap in the muscle
Oh God I’m tired, you mean that I would have nlt enough power, hit the box and fall? Well I’m using just a regular 60 cms box. The purpose of this kind of training is about generating power so no I never failed a jump or feared it. Not like the first time I did Athlete lean… If I were to, then I’d just use a lower box
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It is because of sentences like this that I have no idea how high I can box jump.
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Box jumps were so common in high school. I don’t know if it was because it was an easy way to compete with each other, or because our coaches knew nothing, or because CrossFit made them cool, but I just remember doing lots and lots of box jumps at practice, at the gym, etc. They were just always there.
Now I kinda wanna see how high I can go.
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I think I did 1,40m at the most. But I think that jumping for height is not interesting if not in competition. It becomes just a test of hip flexibility, and has no training value. You jump at the same height when landing on a 60 cm or a 120 cm box
Conjugate Bidybuilding - Day 17 - 14/08
A. Split jerk 3 x 3 with 70 kgs
B. Speed bench 6 x 3 with 70 kgs and bands
C. Seated shoulder press with 4 secs eccentric from pins at nose level 3 x 8 with 60 kgs
D. Smith-machine guillotine press with 4 secs eccentric 3 x 10
E1. Power clean 3 x 3 with 80 kgs
E2. Cable rows with 2 secs contraction 3 x 8 with 70 kgs
This is the session I skipped the last 2 times. But jerks were really feeling better this time. Lots of focus.
Less focus on the bench, but perhaps it’s because I had less upper-body training, or the bands or that I had not benched in a while (almost nothing in Colossus) but I could really feel my chest a lot, which I usually don’t with this exercise. Here is the last set, which I did too fast. If I try to go too fast either on squat or bench I lose control. That’s okay, I’ll just keep it in mind.
The presses were really tough, my delts were on fire.
Not as a big of a fan of the guillotine press, even after when I didn’t go as deep. I mean, my left shoulder wasn’t the biggest fan, but it was okay.
Cleans felt good as well! And the back work was tough, I have terrible lats shoulder right now ahahah
The session was hard, but it’s probably because I was rusty.
Yesterday I ran, and I love how much calories this is burning, but God the heat…
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Conjugate Bodybuilding - Day 18 - 17/08 The Yoke Day
Supposed to do a 3RM on the front squats, but there was no way I was doing a third rep. That’s okay, I’ll see how I feel next week. I was certainly too tired today… After the set at 110 I had a little headache so. I should have know better. It was my upper back posture that fwas failing first. I should try to stand even straighter and taller next time. I’m tall and slightly kiphotic (you can see in the zercher good morning video that my back is not completely straight) so front squats were always tough to me. And there was also the time 2 years ago where I almost passed out because of blood restriction ahah
Good morning were tough but I like this exercise.
Here are the clean pulls (as described in the program). This is the first set, with the worst technique, and which I really muscled through like an animal.
These completely crushed my lower back. With the baxk estensions just after good… My hammies were burning as well.
I never really like DB cleans. They are almost like muscle snatch, they have to be further away from the body, and you cannot use as much hip, but way more traps, shoulders and arms. A more “muscly” move.
Anyway I feel there is so much posterior chain work… (only the front squat for the anterior chain) but I’m a tall, long-limbed lifter with a posterior chain dominance… Well at least my lower back and traps are… So maybe I should sub one out for a quad exercise?
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Those zercher GMs look rough as a badgers arse. Kudos for pulling them off mate.
You’ve probably got some idiots looking on thinking to themselves ‘that guy is going to end up on some youtube gym fails compilation’
If only they knew😂
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They are okay actually. Switched this week from the hand clenched together grip to this one, and indeed it puts elss pressure on the elbows and forearms. Easy compared to anything with 4 secs eccentric really, which is like half the program ahahah
Well they already thought I was weird because I did split jerks ahahah
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I actually thought they looked better than normal GMs, in my mind they look like they’d be easier on the lower back than standard GMs. How’d they feel?
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Well this is 100 kgs so it was “easy” but I did my work sets with 120 and they were way harder. They looked the same but I had to force a fucking lot with my lower back. Like really use the muscle. But yeah I think they are a bit safer than regular GMs, never a feeling of pinch or whatever, and you can use more weight as well (I use 60-90 kgs for my SBB GMs).
Today my whole back is sore as hell. Like, really everything. Christmas tree, lower traps, mid traps, upper traps and lats. And they say deadlifts don’t do shit for the lats. Nope! My lats are sore!
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U reckon I could hit em for hi Reps/volume alright? Wanna build up my posterior chain
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Of course. During Colossus I think I did once a set of 40 with 50 kgs it was brutal AF.
During CT’s olift program I was doing them 3x a week for 3 x 8-12 and sometimes with slow tempo and this is when I got my best squat ever so yeah
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Do you hate yourself?
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I was supposed to do band Good mornings but I had no bands so… And apparently I do, i’m planning on subbing in some BSS next week… ahah
Conjugate Bodybuilding - Day 19 - 19/08
This is the kind of session i don’t really like. So much voluuuuuume that’s like 30 working set ughhh I know I want to lean down but next week I’m getting some intra.
Super stoked about the close-grip PR. Wasn’t sure, after the 105 because I had already failed the front squat monday, but the 105 felt just so much better so why not. Slapped on a belt, wrist wrap, a spotter and there it is! Not that hard even! I’m so going to smoke my 115 kgs regular bench old PR. Like destroy it. I was already feeling it with the floor press.
The rest is just… a thousand sets of upper body work… My triceps were completely destroyed after the incline. Hard point really was at lockout.
Not much to say about the rest. Lats were tough on my grip, which was already super sore from monday, and I had not done them pronated in a loooong time. but good lats feeling! I was quite pumped after these supersets, almost like in Colossus!
With the pump, i was looking quite big, but not as hard looking muscle as usual. Almost, inflated muscles like guys on roids, when they are not diced. Probably just some water, or the fact that I’m not elan enough right now. Probably a bit flat as I’ve been quite tired, and didn’t eat much carbs this day.
Anyway, vascularity is coming back like crazy, as attested during the hammer curls, and shoulders looking super wide.
But after all this I just said fuck it to abs work and went home lol.
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Also I was thinking about getting some fancier gym clothes than my 10 years old crusty, hole-riddled tanks and shorts. I have a Nike short but honestly I don’t think it was that great, so probably going towards some fitness gear
• Gymshark meh and everyone wears them
• Aesthetix era is just fugly and douchy
• Vanquish not bad but really minimalist
• Darcsport expensive but I really like the design and identity
Probably gonna go with some Darcsport but heck it’s already hard to find/sold out so there’s no way I’m getting some during a sale. I’ll break the piggy bank…
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Virus tights because sexi and performance boost
Iron Rebel because just good stuff
A7 because bar grip
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Old hole ridden stuff because battle tested
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