08/07 (Early AM, fasted)
Warmup
Run:
40m total w/ 30m running. 4.01mi/6.42km covered in total.
Same run as last time, but a little less distance covered. It’s really muggy at the moment which probably didn’t help, but I also had various small aches and pains in different places - nothing major at all, but enough going on to stop me pushing.
Weighed in on Sunday morning @ 13st 1lb, waist measuring 84cm/33".
10/07 (Early AM, after breakfast)
Superset:
Superset:
Alternating superset:
Incline bench went OK, although if I’m honest with myself the 10th rep was slow and I should have cut it there… Still plenty of room for improvement though.
Rows were pretty solid, and can keep being progressed. Pushups were tough after the benching, but I’m going to start loading these with the vest (as with dips).
Squats went great - felt a little iffy on the earlier sets and the top weight felt pretty heavy. Maybe I need to throw in an extra ramping set here? Smashed it on the final set though, beating previous weeks reps at a higher weight.
Calf and tib raises are still a bit meh, but they’re not exactly hard so I figure I might as well keep doing them.
11/07 (Early AM, fasted)
NNM postural exercises - c.30m
Got a few workouts to catchup with:
12/07 (Early AM, after breakfast)
Superset:
Superset:
Superset:
Decent enough session - turns out I forgot to log my top set of OHP, but I’m pretty confident I matched the previous week’s reps.
Got an extra rep on the first set of chinups, which was nice, but suffered on the second set as a result… lost count on the second set of dips so not sure on the reps there, but started to add weight via the vest now.
Got last 10 reps in deadlifts which was good, especially with the weight still going up. Not sure if I’ve mentioned it, but I’ve been doing all movements beltless through this program so far - might throw on the belt at some point, but I don’t feel like it’s holding me back so far.
13/07 (Early AM, fasted)
NNM postural exercises - c.30m
14/07 (Early AM, after breakfast)
Supserset:
Supserset:
Superset:
Bit of a mixed bag here - still dropping reps on the bench compared to the previous week which is a shame.
Middle part of the workout was OK, but the rows are definitely feeling heavier now. The triceps exts are still a struggle right after benching too.
Front squats went well - added a rep there compared to last week, and found I feel more comfortable if I try and keep my torso ‘tall’ rather than crunching it down which is what I’ve done in the past when trying to brace. Felt a lot stronger like that.
Away over the weekend so no training or weigh-in. I did walk a fair bit on Saturday, but food was pretty variable so I’m not sure what would win out there
17/07 (Early AM, after breakfast)
Superset:
Superset:
Alternating superset:
All pressing movements are starting to slide now, which is a shame. To be fair though I’ve been at least maintaining weight, if not losing it, through this cycle so that’s probably not terribly surprising. I did wake up this morning super hungry too, so perhaps I didn’t over-indulge over the weekend?
Rows and pushups were tough, but managing a little progress there still.
Squats were disappointing - felt heavy on the way up, and this week it didn’t feel much better by the top set. 8th rep lagged in the middle so I called it there.
18/07 (Early AM, fasted)
NNM postural exercises - c.30m
19/07 (Early AM, after breakfast)
Superset:
Superset:
Superset:
This session went mostly OK - bumped up reps and/or weight across all the assidtance work, but things are definitely slowing down on the main lifts.
Only got 5 reps on my last set of OHP which was pretty disappointing - it did only slow right down at lockout, but still the right point to call it.
9 reps on the final set if deadlifts was OK, but a couple down on last week and the weights were generally feeling heavier.
Overall I’m getting that slightly tired/run-down feeling, and with weights dropping I think it’s time for a deload, so I’ll see out the Friday session as usual and then back-off next week and see if that helps.
OHP has been the hardest/lowest rep exercise throughout so I may go for a reset after next week. There’s still runway on all the other lifts though so I think I’ll keep pushing on those.
Thinking about the longer-term, this program was only meant to get me back up to speed and lifting decent weights again, so I’m pondering what to move on to afterwards - 5/3/1 is a good shout, and I can easily plug the top set weights from this program to give me starting TMs. I do like the idea of another conjugate run otherwise, but without a fixed goal behind it (e.g. improve S/B/D as a powerlifter would be aiming for) I’m not sure it’s the right option.
20/07 (Early AM, fasted)
NNM postural exercises - c.30m
21/07 (Early AM, after breakfast)
Supserset:
Supserset:
Superset:
Tough session, but fairly decent results all round given how the rest of the weel has been.
Squeezed out 10 reps on the bench (though last rep was pretty slow), so that was a good result.
Also managed 1 extra rep on each row (heavier than last week) and triceps exts (same weight), albeit barely in each case.
Front squats also went better than expected, with same reps as last week - I actually feel like the strength is there for another 2-3 reps at least (maybe more with enough of a break between reps to grind them out), but I just run out of air and have to call it…
Dropped reps on the curls, but that’s not the end of the world.
Run tomorrow, and then into a much needed deload week!
22/07 (Early AM, fasted)
Warmup
Run:
40m total w/ 30m running. 4.30mi/6.88km covered in total.
Pretty decent effort here - longest run I’ve done on this newer route. I was actually a little behind though with 5 mins to go, and had to push a bit to make sure I got back to the start (which I ended up beating, but only by 20m or something).
Weighed in on Sunday morning at 13st 1.6lbs, waist measuring 83.5cm/33".
Weight up a smidgen from 2 weeks ago, and waist size basically the same, so that’s fine.
24/07 (Early AM, after breakfast)
Superset:
Superset:
Alternating superset:
As above, going into deload now so I ran the normal Monday session here but only did 1 top set for everything, and backed off reps and/or weight for the assistance work.
Everything was ramping, and I actually hit 1 extra set for most exercises compared to what I normally do, but with descending reps instead of 5s throughout, so ignoring the top sets the volume was similar to normal (and then just less volume at the top end).
Took a surprisingly long time to get through - not much shorter than my usual sessions. I wasn’t timing my sets, as I usually only do that between top sets anyway, and I wasn’t trying to rush it but I didn’t feel like I was going particularly slowly or anything.
I may chage up the next two sessions for this week, just to try out some different movements. Annoyingly I go away in only a couple of weeks (I had it in my head that there was more of a gap), so this deload is poorly timed really as I’ll have 1 week of ‘regular’ training, next week, and then nothing for a week after that.
You can easily run a version of the 10K swing challenge in a week—I’ve found it’s great way to fill in gaps between regular programming and travel.
Edit: I’ve probably even said that in here before, haven’t I? (At least I’m predictable, haha!)
It’s an interesting idea, but I’ve never managed to run the full 10K using the standard programming so I think it’s a non-starter! The big issue is I haven’t swung a kettlebell in ages so I’m totally deconditioned to it.
All the more reason it’d be effective!
And you wouldn’t need to get 10K in a week—scaling is definitely an option.
I started by multiplying the number of days by the number of swings per day in the standard setup to see what my target should be and just went for it.
Anyway, just a thought.
Edit to add missed day:
25/07 (Early AM, fasted)
NNM postural exercises - c.30m
26/07 (Early AM, after breakfast)
Superset:
Superset:
Superset:
BB hack squats - 5 @ 70
Volume low again due to deload; OHP was still tough which is a shame, but I did think I might have to reset the weight anyway.
Thinking about doing Paul Carter’s 350 workout which involves SLDL, hence giving them a go - felt OK although my low back is a little unsure now, but then it did feel a little aggravated already during the OHPs, so I may just have slept funny or something.
Also tried hack squats with the barbell while I was unloading it, as I’ve seen that can be used as a leg press replacement, and I’ve never given it a proper go before - a little awkward, but I was surpirsed at how well it went, and the immediate impact on my quads so that does certainly seem like a viable option.