01/06 (Early AM)
Warmup
Superset:
- Lying ring leg curls - 17, 12, 10
(60s rest)
- Goblet cossack squats (alternating) - 2 x 8 @ 10 ea way
(60s rest)
Superset:
- Single-leg KB RDL - 3 x 10ish @ 20 ea leg
(30s between legs)
- Pistol box squats (0.5 holes) - 3 x 7 right leg only
(30s rest)
- Banded TKEs - 3 x 20 @ green + yellows bands, left leg only
(30s rest)
Felt much better getting up this morning and coming into this than I did yesterday, so looks like it was the right call switching those sessions around.
Little bit of a change-up to the exercises above compared to normal, because on the very last rep of the second set of cossack squats something crunched pretty significantly in my right hip - I think after sinking down onto the right side I probably shifted too much weight over to the outstretched left leg and put some strain through it.
I thought that might be the end of the session, but after messing around with some other exercises to see what else I might be able to do I found that the single-leg RDLs still felt OK, and pistols on the right-side were no problem, so it was only left-leg pistols that were actually off the cards (too much strain on the left hip). So I subbed in banded TKEs to get some knee/quad work in on that side and got the rest done as normal.
The RDLs were a bit wobbly again, with a few reps needing to touch the floor or something nearby for support, but for the most part they were OK. Pistols were OK too, although my right knee was grumbling a tad.
3 Likes
02/06 (Early AM)
Warmup
Superset 1:
- Ring support holds - 50s, 50s, 34 + 16s
(60s rest)
- Chinups - 5, 5, 5ish
(60s rest)
Superset 2:
- Pseudo-planche pushups (one toe-step forwards) - 4+2, 6
(60s rest)
- Bar inverted rows (6.5 holes, feet up) - 8, 8, 8ish
(60s rest)
Giant set:
- Hanging knee raises - 2 x 11
(30s rest)
- Banded pallof press (L/R) - 2 x 11 @ doubled green + yellow bands ea side
(30s rest)
- Bent-knee-to-straddle reverse hypers - 2 x 10
(30s rest)
This was an OK session. Managed more than expected on the ring support holds (50s on both of the first two sets), but but strength petered out on the last set and I had to break it up. Doing ‘regular’ chinups now (strict) and the first two sets were fine but the last rep on the 3rd set was a bit iffy at the top.
Bar inverted rows went much better than last week, only struggling with the very last rep - I think this is due to less chinup volume done compared to the negatives I was doing previously. I had to cut the pushups short though because I’m dealing with a stye right now, and this movement creates a ton of pressure which I was feeling pretty acutely around the eye.
Core work was pretty solid, bumping up the reps all round.
Left hip socket is still feeling the effects of whatever I did yesterday - it’s a tad sore generally, and I feel it more when walking in certain ways, but beyond that it doesn’t feel terrible (not that painful), and there’s no visible bruising or anything like that, so I’m sure it’ll recover with time.
3 Likes
03/06 (Early AM)
7th intro to pilates session (repeat) - c.30m
Opted for a pilates session rather than a run to avoid doing anymore damage to the hip, plus we planned to go to the seaside later on in the day so I was expecting plenty of walking there - that ended up being probably at least 2 hours of walking, maybe more, with a good chunk being slow-going on sand and also against a strong headwind for a good portion too.
3 Likes
Weighed in on Sunday morning @ 13st 1.8lbs, waist measuring 86cm/34" - pretty surprised with this as the dirt wasn’t perfect during the week, and we had fish & chips at the beach on the Saturday so I thought that would show through negatively here…
3 Likes
05/06 (Early AM)
Warmup
-
Ring rows (top thigh, paused) - 11ish, 8ish
(2m rest)
-
Slight dec. bench press (FBB) - 4 @ 70, 9 @ 55
(2m rest)
-
OHP (FBB) - 3 @ 40, 9 @ 30
(2m rest)
-
Standing lateral raises - 11.5 @ 4.25s
-
Inc. DB rows (paused) - 10.5 @ 21.75s, 13 @ 16.75s
(90s rest)
I’ve got a week’s break between jobs, so I thought I’d try something a little different here. I’m also experimenting with a different workout timing, as up until now I’ve been doing these early AM workouts as soon as I get up (i.e. fasted) but I often feel a bit tired and sluggish, and like my head’s not in it properly, so for this week I’m still getting up at the same time but having something to eat first, and so only getting into the gym about 40ish minutes after waking up.
The above only shows the top sets (heaviest + back-off sets) for each exercise. For the back movements I tried to focus on pausing at the top of each movement, and in general trying to control the reps and not rush through.
Using the new football bar for both the bench press and the OHP - I haven’t done any benching in quite a while so this all felt a bit weird, and I definitely need to have some practice and get a feel for the positioning with this bar. I wasn’t sure about doing OHP with it because I knew it would be further out in front of me (similar to a log, I figured,) - in the end it was much harder, as expected, and generally a bit awkward. I could feel the strain afterwards in my lower back from trying to stay under it properly, so I think going forwards I might just use the regular barbell for overhead work, or otherwise maybe put the back of the bench up as a high incline (so it’s not straight up and down).
3 Likes
06/06 (Early AM)
Posture-focused pilates - c.25m
This was from a different place than the previous series I was following, and was way more intense. Definitely a challenge, and I ended with a slight crick in my neck which I’m sure I didn’t wake up with, so that’s not ideal…
2 Likes
07/06 (Early AM)
Superset:
- OHP - 2 x 10 @ bar, 5 @ 30, 35, 40, 3 @ 45
- Face pulls - 20 @ 5, 15 @ 7.5, 12 @ 10, 12, 10 @ 12.5
Superset:
- Chinups - 10 scap pullups, 5 negatives, 6 regular
- Dips - 2 x 8
Superset:
- Deadlift - 10 @ bar, 5 @ 40, 60, 80, 4 @ 100
- Hanging knee raises - 12, 10
Something different from what I had planned at the start of the week - this is based on GSLP (which I had a lot of success with the first time I got into a ‘real’ gym and started doing barbell lifts). Just testing out the lifts here and finding where my starting points are.
Came into this after eating as with the last workout, and it seems to work OK. I also didn’t do any separate warmup/mobility work prior to this, and just did an extra set of OHP with just the bar, plus the lighter warmup sets of facepulls, and that seemed to go just fine, so I think I’ll keep trying that and see where it goes, and it would certainly give me more lifting time (which is already restricted).
My shoulders were still sore from Monday so I wasn’t expecting too much on the OHP, so this was actually surprisingly decent. This was done with the straight bar this time, and it’s definitely much easier to stay in position and keep the right bar path compared to the FBB.
Deadlifts didn’t go so well, but it has been quite a while now since I last did them, or really lifted anything with that sort of weight, so hopefully as I get accustomed to it that will push up. I have also had a couple of issues recently, with the left hip the other week, and since the weekend my right knee has been a bit cranky too, so that may well have been playing on my mind a bit.
3 Likes
08/06 (Early AM)
NNM postural exercises
Think this might go better than pilates as it’s actually more targeted to the areas I want to improve (specifically posture)
3 Likes
09/06 (Early AM)
Superset:
- FBB Bench - 2 x 10 @ bar, 5 @ 30, 40, 50, 60, 3 @ 70
- BPAs/No money’s (alt sets) - 20/20 @ yellow, 15/15 @ green, blue, 15 @ black (BPA only)
Giant set:
- DB rows (L/R) - 15 @ 13, 18, 23 ea arm
- Overhead rope triceps exts - 15 @ 10, 15, 11 @ 17.5
- Banded leg curls - 15 @ black, 15, 17 @ red
Superset:
- Front squat - 7ish @ bar, 5 @ 30, 40, 50, 60
- FBB curls - 10, 13, 10 @ bar
Tried doing flat bench for the first time inna long while, and it didn’t go too badly (although I am weaker than hoped…). Not sure if I’ll stick with this or go back to the slight decline.
The middle giant set was fine - banded leg curls were a bit tricky to setup but I worked it out.
Front squats felt a bit dodgy, with the left hip flaring up again. I decided to push on and see how it went, and it did actually improve a bit as the weights went up. I didn’t want to go overboard though, so I called it at 60.
3 Likes
10/06 (Early AM)
Warmup
Run:
35m total w/ 25m running. 3.68mi/5.89km covered in total.
Wasn’t sure how great this would be, with gip issues persisting, plus I had some random toe pain the afternoon prior. In the end this went alright though - didn’t push super hard, but I was still only 100m short of the 5k mark in total I reckon.
3 Likes
Weighed in on Sunday morning @ 13st 2lb, waist measuring 86cm/34".
No change from last week, which isn’t surpirsing as I know diet was off towards the end of the week (enjoying time off work and the sunny weather here)
2 Likes
12/06 (Early AM)
Superset:
- Inc. FBB bench - 12 @ bar, 5 @ 30, 40, 50, 60
- BPAs - some @ yellow, 10 @ green, 3 x 12 @ red
Giant set:
- BB rows - 10 @ bar, 40, 8 @ 50
- Banded leg curls - 15 @ black, red
- Pushups (handles) - 10, 12
Superset:
- Squats - 2 x 10 @ bar, 5 @ 40, 50, 60, 70
- alt calf raises - 3 x 15
- alt tib raises - 20 @ 2.5, 5
First time incline benching in forever, and it went OK. Middle giant set was OK too - didn’t push too hard on the rows and pushups, so there’s definitely room to grow there.
Squats were a tad iffy again, but I got through them OK without breaking anything. Almost never trained calves routinely previously, so I’ve added them in here to fill a gap - I wasn’t sure if it would negatively affect the squatting, but it seemed fine.
That marks the end of the testing/weight-setting for GSLP, so I’ll go easy for the rest of this week and then start going for it properly next week.
3 Likes
14/06 (Early AM)
Superset:
- OHP - 2 x 5, 1 x 8 @ 36.25
(2m rest)
- Rope cable face pulls - 2 x 15 @ 11.25
Superset:
- Chinups - 7, 5ish
(30s rest)
- Dips - 10, 6ish
(1m rest)
Superset:
- Deadlifts - 9 @ 85
(2m rest before top set)
- Hanging knee raises - 12, 7
So I went off plan - I was feeling pretty good coming into this so I thought I might as well start properly right away, rather than going wasy for a few days just to start off on a Monday.
Only listed the top sets above for brevity. OHP felt heavier than expected, and the top set was a bit of a struggle which is a shame.
Chinups and dips went fairly smoothly - I’ll probably add weight bit by bit to the dips from here, but stick to adding reps on the chinups for now.
Deadlifts went OK (albeit at a relatively light weight) - I felt I had more in me but didnt want to overdo it as my left leg is still giving me bother. I think it’s actually the hamstring (or a tendon attached to it) that’s the issue, but it’s near the hip and more on the inside so it’s only a bother some of the time…
3 Likes
15/06 (Early AM, fasted)
NNM postural exercises - c.25m
3 Likes
It stands for ‘Neanderthal No More’, which was a series of articles here on t-nation some years back about how to asses poor posture and then what you can do to try and fix it.
There was a workout program to follow (which I’m not) plus some “postural GPP” recommended, which is what I am now doing on these off days - stuff like band pull-aparts, glute bridges, planks etc.
Neanderthal No More Part 4
2 Likes
16/06 (Early AM, after breakfast)
Superset:
- FBB bench - 2 x 5, 1 x 14 @ 55
(2m between top sets)
- BPAs - 5 x 15 @ red band
Giant set:
- DB rows (L/R) - 15, 12 @ 23 ea arm
- O/H rope triceps exts - 13, 8 @ 17.5
- Banded leg curls - 15, 15ish @ red band
(1m rest)
Superset:
- Front squats - 10 @ bar, X
- FBB curls - 15, 10 @ bar
(1m between top sets)
Mixed bag; went back to using a slight decline on the bench press but it feels more awkward somehow with the FBB - I think because it’s a wider bar it hits the chest at a weird angle, so I may go back to flat bench next time. Either way I smashed the top set, so happy to bump up the weight next time.
The work in the middle was fine, but took more time than is ideal, effectively because I’m doing 4 movements by doing single-arm rows. I may remove the triceps work as they felt pretty fried anyway so I’m not sure I’m getting much out of that.
Front squats were a bust - pain in the left hip and the right knee meant I could tell it was a no-go right away.
3 Likes
As it happens, Brian Alsruhe just released a video on tips for the swiss bar which is fortuitous timing for me - I’ll try to keep these in mind next time and see if that changes anything.
Fix your Swiss bar grip
1 Like
17/06 (Early AM, fasted)
Warmup
Run:
40m total w/ 30m running. Covered 4.26 miles/6.82 km in total.
Decided to push a bit further than previous weeks, and it went fairly well - I can tell I’m slower than I was at the end of the full C25K program but not by a ton, and I got through it without dying so the fitness is there.
3 Likes