Close Grip Bench Press/Rope 2-Arm Cross Bodies
135 x 15/15
185 x 15/15
225 x 12/15
275 x 9/15
275 (2 pause/3/4 lockout) x 4/15
EZ Bar Drag Curls/Cordova Extensions
40 + bar x 10/12 LR
60 + bar x 10/12 LR
80 + bar x 10/12 LR
100 + bar x 10/12 LR
120 + bar x 13/12 LR
Smith JM Press/Incline Dumbbell Curls
135 x 20/35 x 8
185 x 15/35 x 8
205 x 12/35 x 8
225 x 12/25 x 12
Giant Set: Done 2 times through, 30 second rest, repeat once
Straight Bar Pushdown x 8
Machine Preacher top half reps x failure
Rope OH Extension x 10
Facing-Away Single Arm Cable Bottom-Half Reps x failure
(4 total times through)
Triceps and Biceps stretches
Amazing arm session. Pump was as good as its ever been, and strength was pretty high too. 275 felt very solid on close grips despite rarely if ever doing them on the flat bench. I love drag curls, they quickly are becoming my favorite biceps movement.
I am definitely adding some good size so far this offseason and am very pleased with that so far, especially since it’s really only been 1.5 months since the show. Bodyweight is hovering close to 220 first thing in the mornings and I am by far the leanest I have ever been at this weight.
I had a final paper due today, one final paper due tomorrow (both which are done) and an Ethics final exam tomorrow afternoon then I’m DONE.
I’m a fan of drag curls and incline curls. They seem to provide a good contraction without the strange/bad bicep tendon feeling of heavy DBs or the wrist strain of heavy bb.
Nice looking arm session. I feel you on the off days thing… my current template has me down for 4 days (I’m used to 6-7) but I feel like my calves and abs would definitely respond to much more frequent training.
Sorry if I missed this somewhere, but do you do any isolation exercises to target your Zane-esque serratus muscles? I have trouble isolating that muscle, so I was wondering if you had any tips.
Back Squat/Leg Extension (not close to failure)
135 x 15/20
225 x 10/20
315 x 20/20
Stopped there, squats felt very awkward
Lying Hamstring Curl
Drop set
150 (stack) x 8, 100 x failure, 75 x failure, 35, 100 x partials to failure
Machine Leg Press (continuous/dead stop reps)
410 x 20 continuous
410 x 15 c/5 dead stop
410 x 10/10
410 x 5/15
Holy shit
Leg Extensions
1 set to failure
Very quick leg day, last final today and have to get some studying in.
While I absolutely hate skimping on any day, if I’m going to, it might as well be leg day since they’re my strongest point. While this workout was far from skimping, as everything was fast paced and intense, I would have liked to have done a bit more volume.
While 315 x 20 wasn’t to failure, it was tough, especially after all those other extensions/squats. Prob could have gone to 30 if pressed.
I STRONGLY recommend to anyone looking for one of the most intense quad pumps ever to try the leg press technique I used today. As with most of my super intense leg techniques, I got this one from JM, and it might be the most painful of his bunch. By the final set of 15 dead/stop reps, your quads literally are so tight that you feel that you’re going to hurt yourself. Give it a go.
[quote]deat wrote:
I’m a fan of drag curls and incline curls. They seem to provide a good contraction without the strange/bad bicep tendon feeling of heavy DBs or the wrist strain of heavy bb.
[quote]jake_j_m wrote:
Nice looking arm session. I feel you on the off days thing… my current template has me down for 4 days (I’m used to 6-7) but I feel like my calves and abs would definitely respond to much more frequent training. [/quote]
Ya, they definitely respond well to high frequency/high intensity IMO.
Sorry if I missed this somewhere, but do you do any isolation exercises to target your Zane-esque serratus muscles? I have trouble isolating that muscle, so I was wondering if you had any tips.[/quote]
Haha, appreciate the Zane comparison, although I’m not even close to that.
I don’t really do much serratus work…I actually have just started doing more abdominal/core work since I realized that abs were a weak bodypart for me at the show. So, serratus may be a strong point genetically for me as I don’t do much direct work for them.
If I were to though, I’d prob do serratus cable crunches, or single arm side-bends…something like that. I focus much more on my abdominals when I do ab work rather than serratus.
10 minutes incline treadmill
Circuit: Rope Crunch/Jump Rope/25 lb medicine ball explosive twists/jump rope
Ran through this 3 times with no rest, then a few more sets of 3
15 minutes incline treadmill
Just the usual off day work. Chest/delts power tomorrow. Pretty psyched to go for an incline bench PR.
Incline Bench Press
work sets:
275 x 4
295 x 4
(4 second eccentrics)
245 x 4
225 x 6
Barbell Power Front Rows
Work sets
185 x 6
205 x 6
225 x 5
135 (slow eccentric) x 6
HS Iso Wide-Chest (all sets done with 4 second eccentric, deep stretch)
works
4 pps x 6
5 pps x 4
4 pps + 25 x 5
Dumbbell Laterals (done like Wojo)
works
65 x 6
70 x 6
35 x 6, 6 (3-4 second eccentrics)
Low Incline Dumbbell Press (4 second eccentrics, flex at top)
works
105 x 6
120 x 5
105 x 6
Pec-Dec Rear Delt Flies (4 second eccentric)
180 x 6
200 x 6
Rope Pushdown
2 work sets (4 second eccentric)
Very solid chest/delt day. Really like the front rows with body English, I feel them in my delts a ton. Incline bench felt solid, but I was very pleased with low incline dumbbell presses, + 5 PR today with the very slow deliberate tempo.
Curl Grip Pulldown (4 second eccentric)
warmups (2 sets)
works
300 (stack) x 4
250 x 6
Hammer Strength Horizontal Row (4 second eccentric)
2 pps x 6
3 pps x 6
works
4 pps x 6
5 pps x 5
4 pps + 25 x 6
Deadlifts
warmups (135-495 x 2)
Top Set: 585 x 4 (PR, Video)
Hammer Strength High Row (4 second eccentric)
2 pps x 6
3 pps x 6
4 pps x 6
4 pps + 25 x 5
Single Arm Cable Rows to hip (4 second eccentric)
100 x 6 LR
110 x 6 LR
150 x 4 LR
Fat Gripz Fixed Barbell Curls (4 second eccentrics)
55 x 8, 8
Dead-Stop Smith Shrugs (5 second hold at top)
Top 1: 405 x 6
Behind The Back: 315 x 6
Behind The Back Hanley Style: 135 x 6
Amazing back power day. Everything felt as strong as its ever been and the pump I got was insane. Horizontal rows with the 4 second negative felt great, and they were super strong.
585 x 4 is an all-time PR on deadlifts, and these felt great. If you watch the video, they actually look smoother than 565 x 4 which was done 3 weeks ago. Very excited about that.
HS high rows and the single arm rows to hip both gave me an amazing pump. Threw in a couple sets of biceps just for kicks and then dead-stop shrugs finished off my upper back/trap area.
Going into today, I was only shooting for 575 x 4, which also would have been an all-time PR, but I decided to throw on 585 and see what I could do. Was very surprised at how easy it came up. 605 x 3-5 is not far off.
Great work. I knew you would get it… it seems like one of those perfect sessions where you PR in a big money exercise whilst also hitting everything else equally well- nothing is more satisfiying
