Friday 10th May
Upper body
Bench
85kg x1
77.5kg x AMAP - 15 reps, +1 rep PR
50% set - 5 reps, matched PR. Total rep PR +1
70kg x6
60kg x10 - ewwww pump
Chins
14, 9, 10, 10, 8, 8, 6, 8, 12, 7, 8 - 100 reps. Split in half through the workout.
DB Incline press - focus on MMC again
22kg, 5xF
Front squat holds
150kg, 5x death. Noticeably stronger on these already
1-arm preacher curls, MD style
10kg, 4xF
Big session today but went very well. Got a lot done.
Bodyweight was hanging at a shade over 83kg today, but with food and water in me, and a nice creatine bloat. Definitely the leanest I’ve ever been at this weight, my abs are clearly visible and popping.
Sunday 12th May
Extra stuff day
Shrugs
100kg x20
120kg x20
140kg x20
150kg x10
160kg x10 - dropset from here
140kg x10
120kg x30
100kg x30
DB Hammer curls supersetted with MD style tricep pushdowns
12kg 3x10 / 16 plates, 3xF
MD style 1-arm preacher curls supersetted with EZ bar tricep extensions
10kg 3xF / 25kg 3x10 - absolutely hideous pump, holy christ
Front squat holds
160kg 5x death
Trap bar carries
100kg 2 x some distance
120kg 6 x some distance
Solid day today, especially the arm supersets
Monday 13th May
Leg day
Calves on leg press, emphasis on stretch
7 plates, 3xF
Squat
120kg x1
125kg x1
105kg x AMAP - 20 reps - 3 rep PR. Aimed for 18 but thought fuck it, might as well hit 20
50% set - 8 reps, matched PR. Total rep PR +3
Romanian DLs, focus on ham stretch and glutes
90kg 5x10 - getting stronger on these still.
Lateral lunges
5x20
Ham + quad stretches
IT Band foam rolling
High rep banded ham curls w/ partials
Another great day today. Huge squat PR, can’t ask for more.
Wed 15th May
Upper body
Calves - focus on stretch, 1.5 reps with good contraction
5 plates, 4xF - I really felt my calves working for once doing these.
OHP
60kg x1
55kg x AMAP - 13 reps, +1 rep PR. Finally broke the 12-rep plateau
50% set - 5 reps, matched PR. Total rep PR +1
50kg x8
40kg x10
Cable rows
7 plates, 5xF - for some reason these particularly hammered my rear delts, IDK why
DB Incline press, focus on muscle
22kg, 5xF
Front squat holds
140kg + doubled mini bands, 3x fuck - with the bands this became absolute hell
EZ bar curls
3x some
Fairly good today, though feeling kinda faint and shit now. It’s the first time I’ve taken a caffeine tablet pre-workout for a long time now and it seems to just make me feel shitty the whole time. So no more caffeine pre-workout now, just stick to the small amount in Craze.
Friday 17th May
Pulled an all nighter last night from 10pm to 7:30am revising and only slept about an hour before hitting the gym today. Wasn’t expecting much but…
Calves, 1.5 reps
7 plates, 4xF - good stretch and contraction as usual
Olympic squat
110kg x1 - dangerously light
95kg x AMAP - 20 reps, +2 rep PR, had more in me.
50% set - 10 reps, +1 rep PR. Total rep PR + 3 reps, had plenty in the tank. lol
RDLs - even more focus on stretch and muscle
80kg 2x10
90kg 3x10
Lateral lunges
5x loads
Foam rolling, ham stretches to finish.
Another great day running on practically no sleep. Surprised I managed to kill it this good. I will sleep like a log tonight.
Sat 18th May
Extra stuff session
Calves, deep stretch + 1.5 reps
5 plates x F
7 plates 2 x F
5 plates x F
Experimented with trap bar shrugs but I couldn’t feel my traps working and it was just generally awkward. So stuck with straight bar shrugs.
100kg x20
120kg x20
130kg x20
140kg x20
150kg x20
160kg x20 - dropset starts here
140kg x20
120kg x20
100kg x20. Had great trap contractions every rep of every set
DB Curls, supersetted with Rope tricep pushdowns MD style
12kg 3x12 / 16 plates, 3xF
EZ bar preacher curls MD style, supersetted with EZ bar tricep extensions
20kg 3xF / 20kg 3xF. This pump should be illegal
Front squat holds
140kg + doubled mini bands, 5 x rape
Trap bar carries
120kg 2 x some distance
Sled drags
30kg, 2x50m. Jesus these were harder than I thought.
Monday 20th May
Calves, deep stretch and good contraction
5 plates, 2xF
7 plates, 2xF
Bench
85kg x1
77.5kg x AMAP - 13 reps, no PR
50% set - 6 reps, +1 rep PR. No total rep PR.
70kg x8
60kg x10
Chins
10x10 spread throughout session
DB Incline press, focus on muscle
22kg DBs, 5xF
Front squat holds
140kg + doubled mini bands, 2xF.
Felt pretty shitty today. Haven’t slept much the past few days.
Wed 22nd May
Leg Day
Calves
7 plates, 4x8
Squats
100kg x3
120kg x1
125kg x1
105kg x AMAP - 22 reps, +2 rep PR. Probably had one or two more. Almost at my target of 25 reps.
50% set - 8 reps, matched PR. Had 3-4 more. Total rep PR +2. Target on this set is 10 reps, which I have in me already.
RDLs
90kg, 6x10 - I’m noticing I can get a deeper stretch on these as the weeks go on and I get stronger. These reps were noticeably deeper than the first week’s reps, without losing position. Also feeling stronger out of the bottom.
Lateral lunges
5x20
Banded leg curls
2x pump
Quad foam rolling, 3-4 sets
Strong day today. On track to hit 25 reps, then into my speed block which will be programmed by the head coach at my gym, who is a genius. So my programming will be in his hands until the competition on Aug 17th, which is about 12 weeks away now.
Friday 24th May
I unintentionally got a little over-stimulated before this workout and I was shaking a little before I headed off for the gym. This buzz lasted until just after my OHPing.
Calves, deep stretch
7 plates, 4x9 (failure) - getting better and feeling my calves squeeze. Good sign
Lots of band pull aparts
OHP
40kg 3 x some
50kg x5
55kg x1
60kg x1 - so damn fast
55kg x13 - matched PR
50% set - 6 reps, +1 rep PR. Total rep PR +1.
50kg x7
40kg x10. My shoulders felt great and I had a ridiculous and pain-free pump. Sometimes they can feel just a little dodgy when pressing.
Cable rows, hook grip, focus on muscle
5 plates x some
6 plates x some
7 plates, 6xF - 10-12 rep range. This exercise totally clicked for me today. I had great positioning, solid feet, tension in the lats throughout, a great grip and awesome trap and lat contraction. Huge huge HUGE back pump, awesome. Have to remember how to do this again.
DB Incline press - I used a higher incline than normal and felt my pecs much more. I will stay with this angle.
22kg, 5xF with partials on final set.
Front squat holds
150kg + double banded - 3x time. It felt like my abs weren’t the weak spot on this, more my lower-mid back. Interesting.
Solid session.
Sun 26th May
Extra stuff session
Calves - trying to make the sets even more intense, my calves have stopped getting sore already.
5 plates, 5 sets to failure. One set consisted of going to failure, resting 7-8 seconds, and going again to failure. Deep long stretches at the bottom of each rep. This should get them sore again.
Shrugs
100kg x10
120kg x10
140kg x10
160kg x10
170kg x10
180kg x10
190kg x10
200kg x10 - felt strong. Dropset started here
190kg x10
180kg x10
170kg x10
160kg x10
140kg x10 - dat trap pump. I’m really starting to nail the technique on shrugs and minimise excess body movement, and get a better MMC with my traps.
Standing DB curls, supersetted with MD-style tricep pushdowns, no rest between sets
12kg 3x10 / 16 plates 3xF
EZ bar preacher curls, supersetted with EZ bar lying tricep extensions, no rest between sets
25kg 3xF / 25kg 3x10 - my arms were about ready to pop off and quit life after this. With this pump, it’s the biggest I’ve ever seen my arms.
Roman chair situps
3x15 - holy shit these were hard
Forward sled dragging
20kg, 3x100m.
Good day.
Monday 27th May
Commercial gym training (lol)
Leg Day
Calves on leg press
6 plates, 4x giant sets - to failure, rest 7-8 secs, to failure again. Short rests
Olympic squat
100kg x1
105kg x1
110kg x1
95kg x AMAP - 21 reps, +1 rep PR. Had one or two more.
50% set - 10 reps. Matched PR, had 2-3 in me.
RDLs
90kg 6x10 - getting stronger and deeper. I realised I slightly round my back at the bottom, a bad habit that I was focusing on eliminating here.
Ham curls
3x15-20 + partials, fairly light
Lateral lunges
5x20
Foam rolling
Good day, got plenty of stares lol
Wed 29th May
Calves, 6 plates
5 giant sets to failure
Bench
80kg x1
85kg x1
77.5kg x AMAP - 12 reps, no PR. Fucking terrible, wobbly, shit.
50% set - 4 reps. Kill me
77.5kg 3x3 - technique
Weighted chins
+10kg x8
+20kg x5
+30kg 2x5
+20kg x6
Called it a day here. I’m burnt out from exams, less sleep and less food. What an absolutely shit day.
After looking over my log, this marks 7 weeks of balls-out training 4 times a week. I get a few days off next week as this is the last week of my mass-building cycle. Thank god.
Friday 31st May
Leg day
Calves
7 plates, 4x10
Squat
100kg x3
110kg x2
120kg x1
125kg x1 - felt great and fast. Glutes firing and strong out of the hole
105kg x AMAP - 23 reps, +1 rep PR. Again, glutes firing out of the hole better
50% set - 10 reps, +2 rep PR. 50% set goal achieved. +3 total rep PR.
Sumo deadlifts - wanted to put my accessory work to use today, and wanted to try sumo again.
60kg x loads
80kg x loads
100kg x loads
110kg x loads
120kg x loads
130kg x loads
140kg x loads. All these sets, even when fiddling around to find the best technique, were fast and strong. Much faster than the same weights with conventional stance. I’m gonna stick to sumo for the competition in August. I had to concentrate on pulling the slack out of the bottom, but this was much easier with sumo than conventional. Back tightness was also much easier to achieve.
Welcome back to the dark side.
[quote]xjusticex2013x wrote:
Welcome back to the dark side.[/quote]
Good to be back.
Sunday 2nd June
Extra stuff
Calves
6 plates, 5x10
Shrugs
100kg x20
120kg x20
140kg x20
150kg x20
160kg x20
Curls
3x20
Triceps
3x20
Quick one today. Got loads of work for an exam tomorrow.
Friday June 7th
Post-deload, start of new training block. Today was a technique day as my coach was teaching me how to do good mornings, jump squats and box squats. Focusing on speed with one max day a week. Excited for this cycle.
GMs
some x some
Jump squats
lots x 3
Box squats
lots x 3
Mon 10th June
Speed squat day
Foam rolling + general warmup
Wide stance box squat, 1 inch above parallel
80kg, 10x3, 60-90 secs rest period. Tougher than I thought, but felt pretty fast. I am working on feeling more explosive, hence the focus on speed work for this block.
Wide grip BTN press
45kg, 3x6
Bent over row
70kg 4x6
Floor press
80kg, 3x6
Solid day. Looking forward to getting stuck into the speed stuff.
Thursday 13th June
Foam rolling
Squat - focusing heavily on technique at high percentages. My coach was filming each set and breaking it down to me.
60kg 2x5
80kg x3
100kg x2
110kg x1
120kg x1
130kg x1
140kg x1
145kg x1
150kg 2x1 - 2.5kg gym PR
152.5kg x1 - 5kg gym PR, matched all-time competition PR. wooooooooooo
Good Mornings, focus on hard arch and thoracic tightness
40kg x6
45kg x6
50kg 3x6
Wide-grip pullups
+10kg x6
+7.5kg 2x6
+5kg x6 - concentrating on lat and scap contraction on these. Pretty good.
EZ bar tricep extensions
30kg, 3x12
Rear delt flyes
10kg 3xF
My squat is really coming along well, though I need to improve my tightness in the hole. I tend to ‘flop’ a bit to get bounce and my knees come forward. I lose tightness and strength because of this. However all things considered, I’m really pleased about the PRs today. I was feeling pretty strong and the squat reps over the last couple months have improved my muscular conditioning, but perhaps at the expense of tight technique.
Sat 15th June
Sumo deadlifts, loads and loads of technique tinkering here. Trying out many different tweaks, found one that works nicely.
100kg x loads
120kg x loads
140kg x loads
150kg 2x1
160kg 2x1 - moved pretty nicely. Main issue as predicted is speed off the floor.
140kg x loads
120kg x loads
100kg x loads
During my experimenting I managed to create two new exercises that I feel will really help me. They both focus heavily on hips and glutes.
My hips and glutes are going to be really fucking sore tomorrow.
Mon 17th June
Jump squats
40kg 3x3
60kg 2x3
70kg 2x3
80kg 3x3 - these were great. My speed is already improving and the glute activation was unreal. Sitting back felt much more natural. I did plenty of walking earlier in the day so maybe that woke my glutes up.
BTN Press
50kg, 3x6
Good Mornings
50kg, 4x6
Bent over row
80kg, 4 or 5 x 6
DB flat bench
30kg DBs, 3x some
Great day. I’ve learnt what activating the hips properly feels like.