Only got as far as last time out which was odd as this session was longer overall, and had more running. Felt like I maintained about the same pace over 90s as I was over 60s before, but I did get the feeling that I wouldn’t be able to keep it up for a full 5k so I’ll have to adjust it downwards at some point.
Weighed in on Sunday morning at 13st 5.2lbs (187.2lbs/84.9kgs) which seemed far too high compared to last week, so I redid it yesterday morning and got 13st 3.8lbs (185.8lbs/84.2kgs), which seems more reasonable.
Yeah mate those weekly weigh ins can be funny. If you don’t have issues seeing your weight I recommend weighing daily and dividing by 7 at the end of the week for an average. Much better to see trends and any funny readings won’t have much of an effect
Yeah in the past I did track daily and I think on balance I preferred that because I could easily see what the trend was and identify when there was an odd result. I switched to weekly partly down to laziness but also because I was doing a weight-loss competition against my partner and she was tracking progress weekly so it made more sense to do the same thing.
I did think it might help me to be less obsessive about my weight though - it’s so easy to see yourself gaining/losing weight ‘too’ fast/slow and making unnecessary adjustments. Not really sure that has been the case in the end, so I might switch back…
Ring rows - 15+5+3+3+2+2, 10+4+3+2.5+2+2+2+2.5+2+1, 8+4+2+2+2+2+2+2ish+1+2+2ish+1
Pushups - 22+7+1, 15+6+4+3+2, 12+5+3+3+3+2+1.5+1
KB swings - 30, 30, 30 @ 20kg KB
Total time of 38:10. Timings were approx. 9 mins for round 1, 11 mins for round 2, and 14 mins for round 3.
Rested more like 1 min between exercises this time (still 2 mins between rounds), which worked better - still dead by the end and an exertion headache was threatening, but I got over it much quicker than previous weeks, and no nausea.
Ring rows were by far the most time consuming element. Happy to have done the squats unbroken (though I was pausing for a second at the top of each rep). Really felt my lats on the second set if swings, which shows I was doing them right, but also shows the knock-on impact they have on the rows (I was thinking it would only really be grip that was an issue).
Think for the future weeks I’ll just log the reps achieved on the first ‘set’ for each round, rather than the full breakdown - hard enough to track total reps! Think I’ll also have to resort to a tally to make sure I actually got the right total reps as I nearly went wrong on one round of rows and pushups (think I ended up doing an extra couple of reps on the rows).
Same as last time out. Think I got a tad further on the way out, but then didn’t make it all the way back by the end of the second half. Partially just due to general fatigue on the second half, but I also started the 3rd run too early (the instructions come on a bit quietly so I sometimes struggle to hear when she says “Go” vs just giving some tips, and I misjudged this one by a good 20-30s.)
Pleased overall with how I did - legs were tired from the day before and knees were a tad cranky. I also had a stitch threatening on the first run but that cleared by the second and things felt pretty decent from there.
I do need to sort out a torch though (maybe a head one?) because I run out of the village into darkness and, although the road is dead straight and there’s just enough ambient light to not run off into a ditch, it’s pretty bumpy and I was completely mis-stepping on one section (second and fifth intervals) that’s particularly bad because I can’t make it out. Probably also a good idea just for safety reasons as well…
Ring rows - 16+4+3+3+2+2, 12+3+3+3+2.5+2ish+2+2+1+1
Pushups - 23+7, 16+7+4+3
KB swings - 30, 30 @ 20kg KB
Total time of 21:57 (8:45 for 1st round and circa 11:15 for 2nd round).
Pretty happy with how this went; managed to reduce the time for round 1 and overall compared to the first two rounds of the last session. Rows were still tough, and squats seemed more challenging than before somehow, but otherwise it feels like there is some improvement occurring.
Knees felt dodgy and but swollen the day before, so I was a little concerned coming into this, but they held up fine in the session and seem OK today.
Squats - 4 x 10, 1 x 15 @ 47.5
(s/s warmup sets with KB swings)
Superset:
Split squats (R) - 10, 10 @ 10 WV
Split Squats (L) - 10, 10 @ 10 WV
Ring Rows - 12, 10
Superset:
RDL - 12, 12, 13 @ 40
Hanging knee raises - 10, 10, 8+2
Had people over at the weekend so didn’t find time to workout, and we’re away this coming weekend so the schedule is all messed up, so I just decided to change what I was doing (again!).
Tweaked something in my shoulder on the first warmup set of squats, but otherwise really happy with how this went. Not much weight, but the heaviest I’ve squatted since hurting my knee and first time since then with a bar on my back (hence shoulder mobility issues I guess).
Right hip/glute felt a bit off on the last set which could be a compensatory thing because of the left knee, of otherwise I might just have been sitting funny at my desk in the day. Something to keep an eye on. Otherwise things felt super smooth and based on the earlier sets I was targeting 12 reps on the last set but breezed straight past that. Could probably have pushed on to nearer 20 but I wasn’t trying to go all out, so it seemed sensible to not push too far.
2 mins rest between squat working sets, and 1 min between all exercises in the supersets. Got suitable soreness in my legs and abs today which confirms I did in fact workout lol
Shoulder still a bit off from Monday, but didn’t seem to affect the bench presses much. Still doing these on a slight decline, and close-ish grip. Weight felt light and I basically stopped the last set at 20 because it seemed like a nice round number, but I think I could have gone up to 25 or so.
Other exercises were good, but I probably went a bit too conservative on the weights - can definitely bump up the lat and triceps pulldowns next time. Lateral raises did aggravate my shoulder a bit, so didn’t want to go much heavier and used pauses/slow eccentrics instead. Quite pleased with the shrugs - not done them in a while and I had to grit my teeth to get the final reps of each set.
The whole of my upper- and mid-back are feeling it this morning!
Deadlifts - 4 x 10, 1 x 14 @ 70
(TnG reps, 2m rest between sets)
Giant set:
BB split squats (L) - 10, 10 @ bar
DB row (R) - 20, 20 @ 13
BB split squats (R) - 10, 10 @ bar
DB row (L) - 20, 20 @ 13
(45s rest between exercises)
Superset:
KB swings - 20, 20 @ 20
Hanging knee raises - 8, 8
(45s rest between exercises)
Came into this workout with a headache which wasn’t great. Deadlifts felt OK, but it’s the first time in years I’ve done TnG so I need to work on getting the reps smoother - feel like the bar kept trying to float out in front of me. Probably could have done a few more reps on the final set, but I felt the bar speed just started to slow and I’m still being conservative for this first week.
Split squats and rows were OK and could use more weight next time. Split squats actually felt better on the second set than the first, so maybe I need to do more warmup sets to get into the groove?
Swings and hanging knee raises were fine - could probably have done more on the knee raises but abs were sore coming into this, and I was going to miss out this stuff altogether so it’s a win just to get something done.
*Incline pushups - 20, 17
(3 mins rest between sets)
Superset:
Ring rows (set to hip-height) - 12, 10, 10ish
Cable face pulls (low-to-high) - 17, 15, 13 @ 20
(1 min rest between exercises)
*BB curls - 12, 8, 6 @ bar
(45s rest between sets)
Was away at the weekend and slept pretty badly due to dog keeping me up, but actually felt OK coming into this. A little disappointed with the OHP performance, but still not pushing to the limit so we’ll see where it goes. I did go a tiny bit heavier than programmed because I didn’t want to mess with micro-plates, but it’s such a small increase I don’t think that’s really a factor.
By incline pushups I mean my hands were raised, using the safeties on the rack so I was maybe a couple of feet of the ground?
Schedule it a little messed up this week which is annoying, so there’ll be another couple of days gap before my next workout…
Single-arm DB curls (L/R) - ramped up to 9/9 @ 10.5
(30s rest between arms)
Rope hammer curls - ramped up to 12 @ 30
(1m rest between sets)
Single-leg calf raises (R/L) - ramped up to 12/12 @ 5
(30s rest between legs)
Lying leg curls - ramped up to 8* @ 15
Seated leg curls - ramped up to 6* @ 25
Squats - skipped (see below)
First off, weighed in this morning at 13st 7lbs (189lbs/85.7kgs). This is about 17-18lbs above where I was at my low point in the t-transformation challenge 6 months ago. It is however 7lbs under where I was 1 year ago, so I guess if I carry on this cycle I’ll be ripped eventually…? Also measured my waist, at 91cm/36".
Not done much calf work in the past before, so this will definitely take dome getting used to.
Spent a good half hour trying to work out how to setup my cable to do the leg curls, but both variations were kinda awkward and I cut the top set short. I’ll think on it and see if I can come up with some improvement, otherwise I’ll need to switch for something else.
Went to warm-up on squats and felt a slight pain right in the centre of my left knee. Was pretty off-putting, so I called I there and will revisit in a few days. It was only in the bottom portion of the ROM, so box squats might be fine.
No warm-up for this, just knocked out to get something done. I honestly thought I would take about twice as long to complete the 50, so pretty happy with this result, although I felt a bit cheesy afterwards which is a bit troubling…
I saw Jason Khalipa’s AMA where he talked about sweating every day which seemed like a sensible idea (and I’ve seen others in these forums use a similar approach), so thought it was something I could try out. Even a quick 5 minute thing like this would be a step up from what I’ve been doing.
Stepped on the scales again this morning and only weighed 13st 5lbs (2lbs down from yesterday)…
DB bench - ramped up 8 @ 23s, then failed 6th rep with 28s
Floor press - ramped up to 7 @ 50 (just)
Lateral raises - ramped up 12 @ 4.25s (just), then immediately did 15 unweighted
Seated rope pulldowns - ramped to 10ish @ 50
Hang power cleans - ramped up to 7ish @ 50
1m rest between all sets. Think the ‘bigger’ exercises could probably use longer next time when I hit more sets, especially the power cleans - maybe 1.5 or 2 mins?
Struggled a bit with MMC on the pulldowns - think the issue is I have to do these just seated in the floor and I’ve got nothing to anchor my legs with like you would on a lat pulldown machine in the gym.
Got to the end and realised I could have gone further up the pyramid (and/or used a heavier weight, though only the 12 was to hand), but I wanted to get this in quickly so I didn’t double it up or anything. I’ll remember to do more next time, although the KB was bashing up my forearm so I need to figure out the technique a bit better.
Edit: just to add that the 12kg KB is a new one that I picked up for an absolute steal - only £10 off FB marketplace! Actually felt a little bad when I took it away as the woman selling obviously didn’t know what she could’ve got for it (though then again maybe she didn’t care?)
Alt. Rev. D-handle cable curls - ramped up to 11/12 @ 12.5 (L/R)
(30s rest between arms)
Standing calf raises - ramped up to 11 @ 20 WV
Deadlifts (TnG) - ramped up to 7 @ 90 (just)
Sissy(ish) squats - 8, 10, 10 unweighted
Decent day all in all. Was a little concerned that doing the other exercises before deadlifts would be an issue, but didn’t seem to be a factor (didn’t have to use straps or anything).
Need to figure out the ‘sissy’ squats - saw a video (from elitefts?) where you put a band just below your knees (the other end attached to an upright) if you haven’t got a proper setup for it, and it kinda worked but balance was a bit of an issue. Couldn’t get the hang of the leaning back part, but I did find that by having tension on the band and really trying to straighten my legs at the top (essentially finishing the squat with a TKE) gave my quads a wicked pump. Will probably chuck on the weighted vest next time.
Descending ladder 20-18-16-14-12-10-8-6-4-2 of air squats and single-arm KB swings @ 12 (dividing the reps for the swings)
This wasn’t as bad as I thought it might be, but I may have missed a round at the 10 or 8 stage (I just really suck at counting when I get even a little tired). I did however accidentally do a few extra reps here and there on the swings so maybe it evens out?
Pullups/chinups - ramped up to 4 pullups (shoulder-width grip)
BB rows - ramped up to 9ish @ 55
Pullups were pretty terrible, which shouldn’t really be surprising as I’ve not done them with any real focus/volume over the last few months, but have put on a chunk of weight over that time. Forearms/biceps/elbow tendons were all feeling a bit sore still from the last workout, so that may have had some impact but probably not significant.
Other than that everything went pretty well, and I kept a decent pace throughout the workout. Particularly please with the BB rows which I’ve not tried in forever because they always feel awkward to get the right positioning, but I tried them wide-stance as suggested by RT_Nomad and that seems to suit me much better.
Alt. DB hammer curls - ramped up to 9/10 @ 10.5 (L/R)
Seated BB calf raises - ramped up to 12 @ 50
Box squats - ramped up to 7 @ 80
RDLs - ramped up to 7 @ 60
1m rest between most sets. 30s rest between arms on the hammer curls, and on the top sets of squats I was doing 90s rest.
Seated calf raises started off OK, but then got a bit awkward as the weight went up - felt like it was putting uncomfortable pressure where the bar was resting across the top of my legs, near the knees.
Box squats were pretty good - on the last set I was focussing in controlling the weight down and then trying to pop right back up as soon as I sat down (using a bench rather than an actual box), rather than pausing for a second. That definitely taxed me more so I’ll need to remember to do it again next time.
Went pretty well but I was definitely starting to run out of ‘pop’ in the 6 and 7 rounds, so I started coming back down again at that point. 49 reps per arm seems alright though. Didn’t time it, but reckon it was within 5 mins to complete.
I did misjudge one rep ever so slightly though, and didn’t turn the KB over quite as quickly as normal so it scuffed the ceiling a little. Now I’m not allowed to use the KB indoors anymore…
Ring rows - ramped up to 7ish, rings @ hip-height and feet 2" elevated
Pretty happy with how things went overall. Did better at DB OHP than expected. Probably could have got 6 on top set of bench, but I psyched myself out that the safeties were set too low so I bailed. I did hit 7 @ 60 on the set before.
Chin ups are still a disgrace and need some work doing to get those numbers up.