18/01 (Early AM)
Run:
30m total w/ 20m running. 3.08 miles/4.93km covered in total.
Slept a little better last night, but woke up a bit sore/achey all over. We’re in another cold snap here too, and it was something like -2 when I set out for my run this morning. Put on some extra layers though and it was fine - the paths/roads were a bit frosty but I was slipping at all.
19/01
Skipped this workout, and slept in a little (an extra 45 mins) - as noted before I’ve been feeling generally rubbish just recently, whether because of life stress or poor recovery or whatever, but I figured rather than keep digging it made sense to give my body a chance to catch up instead.
Making a note of this for tracking/accountability
20/01 (Early AM)
Warmup
Ring rows - 9, 9, 7 @ BW
(90s rest)
Lat pulldown (D-handles) - 13, 10, 9 @ 35
(60s rest)
DB hammer curls w/ twist - 15, 12?, 11 @ 6.75s
(60s rest)
Another day, another new program… got looking into RP stuff and it looks pretty interesting, so I thought I’d give it a crack. I’m expecting it to take some playing around to get the hang of, so I’m treating this like an experimental phase as trying to see how my body/individual muscles respond to fine-tune things going forwards.
First week is based on minimal sets, and aiming for 3 reps in reserve (RIR). I don’t have any experience with this concept so this was best-guess really. I think on the rows I probably stopped a rep too early on the first set, but the last set might have been a rep too many.
I may choose something different for the lat pulldown, because I don’t have a proper machine (to hook your legs under etc.) so it always feel a little awkward to work properly - I feel I’m hitting my core and arms (to control the weight) as much as my lats.
Curls were fine - meant to start with 4 sets but after the other 2 exercises I thought 3 was probably a better starting point, and I can increase from there if needed.
Surprised at how long it took to get through everything (similar to DC), but I think part of that is just figuring out the weights etc. I’m doing this on a PPL setup, 2 workouts for each, with 5 days in the gym (so 8 days per microcycle) and 1 day running.
21/01 (Early AM)
Warmup
Lying leg curls (rings) - 14, 9
(60s rest)
Front squats (heels elevated) - 7, 5, 5 @ 50
(90s rest)
This looks like a laughably small amount of work, but the sets will pick up over the next few weeks and I can’t be bothered to do any calf work at this point. Still aiming for 3 RIR which I think was fine on the leg curls.
The front squats were harder than I was expecting (I thought I might get up to 60ish), but I was controlling the weight down and going full ROM, so it was a harder version to what I’ve been doing more recently.
23/01 (Early AM)
Warmup
Superset:
.
DB OHP - 11, 8, 7 @ 9.25s
(60s rest)
O/H cable triceps exts - 17, 10, 9 @ 15
(60s rest)
Trickiest thing here was remembering to cut it at 3 RIR - I’m so used to digging in when things start to get a bit tough and make sure I push it as far as I can, that I may have pushed a couple of sets a tad far before remembering I should be stopping earlier.
Pushups were fine; trying to keep nice and controlled and not fully lock-out at the top, to keep tension on the pecs. For the reverse flyes I was trying to focus on not shrugging the weight up, and added a twist of the hands at the top of each rep. I do think I could control the weight back down a bit more though.
OHP were OK but I did feel like my right shoulder was a little grouchy. It’s not terrible, but something I’ll need to keep an eye on going forwards.
Triceps exts are always a killer, which is why include them. I think the last set of these I may have a dug a little too deep, but I’ll see how I recover from it over the next couple of days. Pushups and OHP obviously hits the triceps pretty effectively as well so I probably won’t need to up the sets much on these (if at all).
24/01 (Early AM)
Warmup
Inc. DB rows - 12, 11, 10 @ 18s
(60s rest)
WG banded pullups - 6, 5, 5 @ purple band
(90s rest)
BB curls - 7, 5, 5 @ 22.5
(60s rest)
It’s a nice change of pace to be leaving something in the tank, and I’m definitely feeling better recovered since starting this new program. On the flip side, it feels like a bit of a waste to go to the bother of getting up early and warming up to workout etc. to then only do a few sets and stopping short of what I can do… It’s just a mental/ego thing though, and I know things will get progressively tougher as I move on.
DB rows were fine, possibly flirting with 2 RIR rather than 3? I was surprised there wasn’t a greater drop off between sets. WG pullups were OK, but I was struggling to really feel it in my lats, rather than my arms, plus it was aggravating my right shoulder a little - it wasn’t being painful as such, but just like it was being put into an uncomfortable position.
Still trying to make sure everything is nice and controlled, to help with focussing on the target muscles.
25/01 (Early AM)
Warmup
FFE split squats (L/R) - 7/7, 6/6, 5/5 @ 30
(3" FFE + 1" RFE)
(45s rest between legs)
RDL - 8, 7, 7 @ 50
(90s rest)
Not much to say here; OK session overall.
I feel like my right leg might be a tad stronger than the left, but I just matched the reps on the split squats from one to the other. I chose FFE to try and target the quads more but I think I need to actively try and stay more upright to make that work properly - thinking about keeping my head and chest up should help there.
I only realised as I was about to start the 3rd set of RDLs that I was meant to only be doing 2 sets, but as I was mentally prepared for it (and knew recovery would still be fine at this stage), I just went ahead and did it anyway. Low back didn’t kick up a fuss which is good news.
26/01 (Early AM)
Warmup
Run:
33m total w/ 20m running. 3.21 mi/5.14km covered in total.
Went back and forth in my mind about what sort of run to do here, being the day after a leg workout. Quads felt absolutely fine from yesterday, but glutes were sore as hell and hamstrings were feeling it a bit as well. In the end I settled on this because it’s not a super long distance to run, and the walk in the middle breaks it up a bit.
Not much to say about the run other than there was one patch where I run past a hedge, and the sun obviously doesn’t get to that little bit because for 50-100m or so the road was icy and super slippery whereas elsewhere it was only wet. I had a couple of moments, and found sticking to the verge where I could get traction from the frozen mud worked best.
27/01 (Early AM)
Warmup
Inc. DB bench - 16, 9, 8 @ 18s
(60s rest)
JM press - 9, 7, 6 @ 30
(90s rest)
Superset:
Was suffering with trap/neck ache at the end of the day yesterday (maybe a trapped nerve?), but thankfully it seems better this morning and didn’t impact the workout (still a tad sore though).
Odd drop-off in reps on the DB bench - I might need to up the rest time here to 90s. I’ve spent some time watching YT videos on how to do these because I’ve had issues in recent years whenever I try to do inclines (bothers the shoulders), and happy to report that these went much better.
On the JM press I felt like I was out of the groove a bit on the first set, but then managed to dial it in for sets 2 and 3. Need to focus on controlling the weight down a bit slower I think, and keeping the elbows up.
Face pulls and lateral raises were fine.
That session marks the end of the first microcycle - now the real work starts, pushing up the sets/reps/weight as we move forwards. The only recovery issue I’ve had so far (this session notwithstanding) has been with the triceps after doing the overhead exts on the first push session, so I might keep that at 3 sets for now, but everything else I’m happy to bump up.
This is me! I tend to go too fast on the eccentric motion with these.
Nice work in here, BTW. Keep it up!
28/01 (Early AM)
Warmup
Ring rows - 10, 8, 7, 6
(90s rest)
Lat pulldown (underhand grip) - 15, 12, 10, 8 @ 35
(60s rest)
DB hammer curls w/ twist - 16, 13, 10 @ 6.75s
(60s rest)
Ring rows were interesting today - got more reps than last week on the first set, but then less on the second set and the same on the third set… I do wonder if I made a mistake in my log for last time as I said I got 9 on the first two sets which seems odd, but the point of a log is of course to save having to remember all this stuff…
Lat pulldown was OK but still struggled a little with the mid-muscle connection. Went with a different grip to last time which I think helped a bit, but I still seem to get burning in my forearms before my lats which isn’t ideal.
Curls were OK - I didn’t increase reps here as I was bumping up the other two exercises so I figured they’d already be getting more work from those. Left bicep was still pretty sore the next day from these.
Weighed in 29/01 @ 13st 7.4lbs, waist measuring 88cm/34.5" - this is tad more than previous weeks but we had people over Saturday and I probably ate more than normal (and more rich/salty foods), so hopefully that’s partially just down to bloat.
30/01 (Early AM)
Warmup
Lying leg curls (rings) - 15, 10, 8
(60s rest)
Front squats (heels elevated) - 8, 6, 5 @ 50, 6 @ 45
(90s rest)
Leg curls went fine - bumped up reps a bit and got the extra set in. Also managed to improve the first couple of sets of front squats, but only managed same reps on the 3rd set, and I’m not supposed to go below 5 reps so I figured it would be best to drop the weight for the extra set at the end.
I’m already coming up with ways to tweak things to improve this program (for the next cycle), and I think doing something like supersets with isolation movements first, and then moving onto compounds might be a better way to focus on the target muscles. For front squats for example I can certainly feel my quads working, and I think they are the limiting factor, but there’s a lot else going on at the same time which just makes it difficult to gauge (for me).
31/01 (Early AM)
Warmup
Superset:
.
DB OHP - 12, 9, 8, 7 @ 9.25s
(60s rest)
O/H cable triceps exts - 18, 11, 9 @ 15
(60s rest)
Not the best session - struggled to bump up reps, and in most cases it involved going closer to failure than last time so not necessarily an improvement in performance at all.
Pushups were tougher than expected; I think I’m getting more triceps work from the pushups than chest work, so it probably wasn’t the best choice of exercise. I could switch to using handles, so I can get increased ROM + chest stretch by dropping lower between them, and maybe not come all the way up either. Barely improved on last time anyway.
Reverse flyes were the saving grace of the workout - these felt like they were moving OK and there was more in the bag. so that’s nice.
Managed to do more on the DB OHP, and I do feel like I managed to focus the effort on the shoulders, but I probably only had 1 more good rep in me on most of those sets.
Triceps exts were killer as always, and left me with a crazy pump. I didn’t bump up the sets on here, as with the curls on the last pull day, as I figured they were already getting more work from the other exercises, and certainly by the time I was done I didn’t feel like they needed much more.
Edit to add: I’ve had a couple of nights of not-so-great sleep, so hopefully that’s the cause of the reduced/not increased performance, but we’ll see in a week or so I guess.
01/02 (Early AM)
Warmup
Inc. DB rows - 13, 12, 11, 10 @ 18s
(60s rest)
WG banded pullups - 7, 6, 5, 5 @ purple band
(90s rest)
BB curls - 8, 6, 6 @ 22.5
(60s rest)
This session was a mixed bag - the rows felt tougher than expected on the warmup sets, but then the main sets actually moved pretty well. I added a rep to the first 3 sets compared to last week, and got the extra set done as well, and all of them felt fairly comfortable (2/3 RIR).
The pullups however were much harder - I did add a rep to the first 2 sets compared to last week, but these were near enough max efforts. The last 2 sets probably had 1 RIR, but even that is digging deeper than I should be at this point (2nd microcycle).
BB curls were OK, with a rep added to every set, but again probably digging a tad deeper than I should be at this stage. I didn’t add any extra sets here, as with other arm work so far this microcycle, simply because of all the added compound work being done.
I guess it makes sense that it’s harder to push up the lower rep exercises, because a 1 rep increase is significantly more as a % of extra work done, compared to a 25-30 rep set (for example). It might be a case of picking and choosing which sets to push the reps up on, and maintain the other sets (compared to the previous session), rather than pushing all of them. Or maybe I’m just not eating enough to grow sufficiently?
It’s a learning curve either way…
02/02 (Early AM)
Warmup
Run:
30m total w/ 20m running. 3.17 mi/5.07 km covered in total
This was OK - started out a bit quickly, but realised on the way back that’s because I’d had the wind behind me. Ended up a tad short of the starting point as a result. Generally felt like I was flagging a bit on the way back, and as though it was taking a conscious effort to keep it going and not slow right down, but again that could have been due to fighting the wind (not super strong, but enough to be felt).
03/02 (Early AM)
Lying leg curls (rings) - 14
(60s rest)
FFE split squats (R/L) - 8/8, 7/7, 6/6, 5/5 @ 30
(Front rack, 3" FFE + 1" RFE)
(45s rest between legs)
RDL - 9, 8, 7 @ 50
(90s rest)
This was a pretty decent session - I’ve been generally tired the past couple of days, and after the run yesterday I wasn’t sure how my legs would fare in this session, but they actually held up fine.
Decided to add a set of leg curls to the front-end, and keep the same number of RDL sets at the end. I thought this might keep the knees happier on the split squats, although I’m mindful this may impact on the other leg day where I’m doing the leg curls too.
Split squats went pretty well - I tried using the front rack position this time, rather than having it on my back last like time, as I thought this would help keep me more upright and ensure the focus is kept on the quads rather than the hips, and this seemed to work fairly well.
RDLs were OK as well; on the whole this session still hits the hips/glutes a tad hard, but I think the tweaks I’ve made helps a lot to keep the focus where it needs to be.
04/02 (Early AM)
Warmup
Inc DB bench press - 17, 10, 8, 7 @ 18s
(60s rest)
JM press - 10, 8, 8 @ 30
(90s rest)
Superset:
Mixed session… Incline bench press started off OK, but by the last set I was digging deep to get the target reps (and possible a tad too deep).
JM press was OK, but as with last time around I feel like the first set was particularly difficult to do in terms of just execution of the movement. 2nd and 3rd sets went much better, and kept the focus nicely on my triceps for those. Kept this at 3 sets again as per the other arms movements so far.
Face pulls were more challenging than expected, and lateral raises were super tough - virtually every set of the latter was up to the limit even though I should still be 2-3 RIR at this point. Maybe they were more fatigued coming into this than I realised (felt absolutely fine beforehand), or maybe I just pushed too hard last time out and I’ve now got no room to grow…
Out and about over the weekend so no weigh-in or waist measurement.
Didn’t get enough sleep Saturday night, and then felt like I was on the brink of getting a cold by Sunday evening, but it seems to have passed this morning (Monday), so maybe just linked to tiredness.
06/02 (Early AM)
Warmup
Ring rows - 10, 8, 7, 6 @ 1.1 WV
(90s rest)
Cable rows (double D-handle) - 30 @ 20
Cable straight-arm pulldown - 18, 15 @ 15
(60s rest)
Lat pulldown (underhand) - 16, 13, 11 @ 35
(60s rest)
DB hammer curls w/ twist - 17, 14, 11, 10 @ 6.75s
(60s rest)
Things are starting to get interesting now; decided to start adding weight via the weighted vest for the ring rows, and just keep reps the same. This went OK, but I did feel like I was nudging max reps on a couple of sets. I then went for cable rows, rather than do another set of the ring rows, which was fine except I went a bit too light - 30 reps was tough but I probably had quite a few reps left in me if I had to push it.
I also mixed up the lat-work by doing a couple of sets of straight-arm pulldowns first (taking one set off the lat pulldowns, and adding another set overall), to try and pre-exhaust them. I think this worked OK although my cable setup doesn’t really allow for the right positioning on these and I could feel my triceps doing some work (right at the top where they connect to the shoulder). I did still manage to up the reps on the lat pulldowns too, but I do feel like these actually hit the lats than before.
DB curls were fine - I have now added a set here as I have been recovering fine before the next session each time so far.