NOTES
Today’s main work was easy (I know it is a 5s week) and supplemental work also felt rather easy until my right forearm got an insane pump.
The accessory work at the moment is weird because after writing it down it looks like nothing but in reality, it has me working damn hard. The goblet squats at 40kg/88lbs were a killer and couldn’t grind out more than 5 without the weight pulling me forward on set 2 and the bodyweight pullups + dips is really kicking my ass.
I think I may have actually found the right set up to allow to me to grow. Lower body days are basically moderate intensity strength work + multiple widowmaker attempts + bodyweight movements for the upper body. Sounds like a nice combo to maximize efficiency for growth without over taxing the body
Seal rows: 5x10 with 20kg/44lbs
Incline DB press: 2x10 with 15kg/33lbs
Flat DB press: 3x10 with 20kg/44lbs
NOTES
So today I was more short on time than usual Wednesdays so had to do this session as fast as possible. Happy I managed to get the supplemental work done in 4 sets and not 5x10. If I manage to do this all through the program on this program I will be happy.
DB shoulder press: 2x10 with 10kg/22lbs supperseted with 2x10 dumbbell front raises with 6kg/13lbs
Dumbbell curls: 1x10 with 10kg/22lbs and 1x10 with 12.5kg/28lbs
Hammer curls: 1x10 with 10kg/22lbs and 1x10 with 12.5kg/28lbs
Dumbbell skull crushers: 2x8 with 10kg/22lbs
Dumbbell roll press: 2x10 with 10kg/22lbs
Close grip Larson press: 2x10 with 40kg/88lbs
Cable curls: 2x10
NOTES
Well I thought I would make the most out of eating in a surplus and have a little ‘vanity’ work out focusing on arm work so I could use my push/pull rep allocation on bigger movements instead of bicep/tricep work.
Not much to say really just got in and did light fluff work focusing on getting clean reps. The close grip Larson press is something I think I should rotate in more often and I can really see this a great bench builder
BBB (Malcolm-X) cycle1 week 1 day 5 (light conditioning)
2 Rounds of:
1 power clean and 5 rows with 30kg/66lbs
2 power clean and 10 rows with 30kg/66lbs
3 power clean and 15 rows with 30kg/66lbs
4 power clean and 20 rows with 30kg/66lbs
Power cleans: 30kg/66lbs x5, 35kg/77lbs x5, 40kg/88lbs x2, 2x45kg/99lbs x1 and 40kg/88lbs x1
Weighted rope crunches 2x15
NOTES
So not much done today and probably not enough to call ‘conditioning’. The row + clean circuit was brutal on the forearms but I feel like they did the job of getting blood flowing into the back and heart rate slightly up.
Hip thrusts:1x10 with 100kg/220lbs and 1x20 with 60kg/132lbs
Walking lunges (30kg/66lbs Barbell): 2x20 steps (10 each leg)
Bodyweight Dips: 12,12,13,13
Bodyweight pull ups: 50 done in 8 sets
NOTES
So today was a meh day, I couldn’t get in the zone both physically and mentally with the main work + supplemental work. The weight for the main work was light and I feel like mentally I just couldn’t get out of a ‘this is warm up work’ mentally. Things somewhat snapped into gear on the last set of supplemental work when I needed 22 reps to get the 50 reps in 3 sets. Realistically with the weight for the supplemental I should have either pushed for 2x25 reps or 1x30+ reps and the second set to finish off.
The accessory work though was hard and challenging. I guess I just need to keep myself in check and remember this is just the first week of a very long time running BBB in order to put on size
Bench: 45kg/99lbs x5, 52.5kg/116lbs x5, 57.5kg/127lbs x5 | 45kg/99lbs x20,14 and 10+6 (pause set to end the 50)
Bent over DB Row: 25kg/55lbs x 15 and 10, 1x20 with 20kg/44lbs and 1x5 with 35kg/77lbs
Seated DB shoulder press: 12.5kg/27lbs x 15,12,12,11
Weighted Crunches: 50 total reps over 3 sets
NOTES
So today was again a decent. The main work was relatively easy and the supplemental work was challenging. I am slightly disappointed I had to rest pause the 3rd set of the supplemental work and could not just get all the reps done in 3 solid sets but it’s nothing major, I got the 50 reps ‘by any means possible’ and did it well under 10 minutes time.
Goodmornings: 40kg/88lbs x20
Goblet squats: 40kg/88lbs x10,7 and 30kg/66lbs x13
Dips: 10,13,11 with 2.5kg/5lbs and 1x16 bodyweight only
Bodyweight pull ups: 4x5+ 1x3 with 2.5kg/5lbs and finished off the reaming 27 reps bodyweight only
NOTES
Decent day today. Once again main work felt good and the Malcolm-X supplemental was hard and fried my forearms.
Decided to progress the pull ups and dips by adding very light weight slowly just to force my body into getting stronger. I know that if I don’t add extra stimulus on these I will forever be spinning my wheels doing them.
BBB (Malcolm-X) cycle1 week 2 day 3 (Incline press)
Incline bench press: 37.5kg/83lbs x5,42.5kg/94lbs x5, 47.5kg/105lbs x5 | 37.5kg/83lb x14,11,12,13 (rest pause on last set)
Seal rows: 5x10 with 20kg/44lbs
Incline DB press: 3x10 with 15kg/33lbs
Flat DB press: 2x10 with 20kg/44lbs
NOTES
Nothing much to report. I kind of shot myself in the foot with the supplemental work and ended up having to rest-pause the last so in essence doing 5 sets.
On other non session topics:
Weight is slowly creeping up which is great
I have yet to get back into MMA since the last time I went a few weeks back (when I ended up messing up my shoulder… AGAIN) and hopefully that changes soon.
Sleep schedule is getting messed up due to work at the moment and there’s all of a sudden added work stress so I feel like recovery may be slightly sub par at the moment
BBB (Malcolm-X) cycle1 week 2 day 4 (No ide what the hell to call this)
Let me start this with the ‘notes’.
This morning my inner bitch won. I woke up this morning at 4am, saw it was raining and windy, saw my cat looking warm and cuddl-cious so I gave in to weakness and went back to bed for 90 minutes.
Fortunately I work in a gym and I managed to do the below (all through the day spread out when I had a moment):
Overhead press: 3x5 with 20kg/44lbs (the bar) + 2x3 with 25kg/55lbs
DB shoulder press: 2x10 with 10kg/22lbs supperseted with 2x10 dumbbell front raises with 6kg/13lbs
Close grip Larson press: 1x10 with 40kg/88lbs. 1x6 with 50kg/110lbs and 1x2 with 60kg/132lbs
Dumbbell skull crushers: 2x8 with 10kg/22lbs
Dumbbell roll press: 2x10 with 10kg/22lbs
I also did a bunch of curls with the players I was training but did not pay attention to how much was done
NOTES
So overall work got done but no workout was done. This was practically a day full of ‘a set here and a set there’. You would probably notice I did overhead pressing today… They were however not great (back arch and end position not being directly overhead) but I felt them in the right place.
The rest is standard. Hopefully enough to provide a stimulus for growth
BBB (Malcolm-X) cycle1 week 2 day 5 (light conditioning)
2 Rounds of:
1 power clean and 5 rows with 30kg/66lbs
2 power clean and 10 rows with 30kg/66lbs
3 power clean and 15 rows with 30kg/66lbs
4 power clean and 20 rows with 30kg/66lbs
Power cleans: 30kg/66lbs x5, 35kg/77lbs x3, 2x40kg/88lbs x2, 3x45kg/99lbs x1
NOTES
Again not much of a ‘conditioning session’ and once again… I slept in and did this at the work gym (I know the work got done but still feel like I didn’t have discipline)
Hip thrusts: 3x10 with 100kg/220lbs
Walking lunges (30kg/66lbs Barbell): 2x20 steps (10 each leg)
Weighted Dips: 5x10 with 5kg/11lbs
Weighted Pull ups: 50 reps done in 9 sets with 2.5kg/5lbs (5x5reps, 3x6 reps and 1x7 reps)
NOTES
So today was not the best or worst of days. Had a little ‘accident’ yesterday and landed weirdly with all my weight falling onto my leg bent at a weird angle so mentally I was concerned about the knee and too in my head. With that said though nothing was hard weight wise and the 3 sets of supplemental were just mentally hard.
Dips are WEIRDLY fun at the moment and progressing nicely. Despite having shoulder pains (near the AC joint), I can do dips with a deep range of motion and not have any issues.
Now time to eat my way through a pound of red meat I got on discount.
Quick question: are you doing the light conditioning and squats on the same day? Maybe I’m misreading it, but both sessions are marked “cycle 1 week 2 day 5” …
No idea what is happening to my body or why but my recovery appears to be going to shit.
I am in a surplus (steady increase on the scales)
I’m not moving heavy weight and in fact TM is lower than it has recently
Performance does not seem to be down (again lower TM means easier weight so hard to judge)
I’m sleeping slightly more than I usually do
I am less active and doing less overall volume than I’ve recently done (10K swings on top of workouts)
Yet somehow I feel more sore than I have in a very long while. The only possible explanation is that despite being exactly same volume and same overall poundage doing the supplemental work Malcolm-X style instead of normal BBB is really wrecking me.
Anyone with experience doing Malcom-X find it more taxing on recovery than old school 5x10?
The percentage weights I used for my first time out with BBB were too low—5x10 was just plain easy—so at Pwn’s suggestion I moved to Malcom-X style sets precisely to, “make easy weights hard.”
So your observations jive with my experience, at least: same volume, same (or even lighter) weights, but harder work.
Bent over DB Row: 25kg/55lbs x 15 and 13, 1x22 with 20kg/44lbs
Seated DB shoulder press: 12.5kg/27lbs x 15,12,12,11
Weighted Crunches: 50 total reps over 4 sets
NOTES
So today’s supplemental work was rough and except for the 19 repper the other 2 sets were rest-paused. But “any means necessary” includes rest-pause and all the work was done way under 10 minutes so still true to the program.
With how I’ve been feeling recovery wise, with SvenG’s confirmation that Malcom-X is more draining and with it being Sunday (start of the training week for me) I’ve decided to add in more food.
Next week is 7WP test week and the goal will be TM for 10 reps. That worries me and to steal a line from Pwn I decided ‘to be that which does’ and the man who hits his TM for 10 is a man who eats
BBB (Malcolm-X) cycle 1 week 3 day 2 (light conditioning)
Overhead press: 20kg/44lbs (the bar) x5, 25kg/55lbs x3 and 30kg/66lbs x1
2 Rounds of:
1 power clean and 5 rows with 30kg/66lbs
2 power clean and 10 rows with 30kg/66lbs
3 power clean and 15 rows with 30kg/66lbs
4 power clean and 20 rows with 30kg/66lbs
Power cleans: 30kg/66lbs x5, 35kg/77lbs x5, 40kg/88lbs x3 and 45kg/99lbs x2,1
Overhead press: 30kg/66lbs x1, 25kg/55lbs x3 and 20kg/44lbs (the bar) x7
NOTES
Once again not much in regard to conditioning taxing the cardio but felt like today was a good amount of non-recovery hindering work.
The pressing overhead is still not perfect form but I’m glad to be able to get some pressing down while working on perfecting the movement. Cleans and rows circuit is really frying my grip which should not bother me tomorrow on deadlifts, but I think may pay dividends in the long term.
When I get press 40kg/88lbs I may start using press as a 5/3/1 lift and actually give it some much neglected love
Goodmornings: 40kg/88lbs x20
Goblet squats: 40kg/88lbs x10,7 and 30kg/66lbs x13
Weighted Dips: 5x10 with 5kg/11lbs
Weighted Pull ups: 50 reps done in 9 sets with 2.5kg/5lbs (5x6reps, 4x5reps)
NOTES
So today everything felt rough and I mean ROUGH. I woke up and the hamstrings already felt right, calf felt tight and once I started warming up and looked down saw my right foot turned out a bit too much. Think this got in my head because it was on my mind with every rep. Nonetheless hit the main work and managed the supplemental in 4 sets this week.
Upper body work today felt good and strong, which is always nice.
On a non-lifting note the cat appears to be unwell (flu like symptoms) and the vet suggested waiting until tomorrow to see how he is before bringing him in so slightly stressed at leaving the cat alone for a few hours while I go to work and no one is in.
Seal rows: 5x10 with 20kg/44lbs
Incline DB press: 3x12 with 15kg/33lbs
Flat DB press: 1x14 with 20kg/44lbs
NOTES
Not much to report. Got in before work, did the work and left.
Incline press is feeling ‘meh’ when it comes to the supplemental. The main work feels easy but once I start hitting 10 reps or more even light weight becomes difficult
