Bench: 50kg/110lbs x5, 57.5kg/127lbs x5, 65kg/143lbs | 50kg/110lbs x20,14,12+4
Seal Row: 3x12 and 1x14 with 20kg/44lbs
Seated DB shoulder press: 15kg/33lbs x12,11,19 and 10kg/22lbs x18
Weighted Crunches: 50 total reps over 3 sets
NOTES
So this session was meh. The main work felt nice and light but during the Malcolm-X sets 2 lads asked to work in which meant that my rest between those sets was much lower than usual meaning the 2nd and 3rd sets were not great.
That’s awesome, I hope you get it. Ignore that inner monologue imposter syndrome because being more jacked doesn’t make people better trainers. Knowledge does. There are so many good examples of this that it’s not even worth listing any.
RDL: 1x20 with 60kg/132lbs
Goodmornings: 1x10 with 50kg/110lbs
Goblet squats: 1x20 with 30kg/66lbs
Weighted Dips: 5x10 with 10kg/22lbs
Weighted Pull ups: 50 reps done in 10 sets
NOTES
So today was a decent day considering my legs are still sore as hell from Saturday. Managed to get everything done but today did feel a bit tougher than I would have liked.
Got the 50 reps in 3 sets which is not too bad.
I’ve also had a rather wild thought while in the shower. “What if someone was to use a low TM and run Malcolm-X with the goal of getting the 50 reps in ONE set”…
Barbell bent over rows: 1x10 with 50kg/110lbs and 4x10 with 55kg/121lbs
Incline DB press: 3x10 with 17.5kg/39lbs and 1x20 with 12.5kg/28lbs
Weighted Ab crunch: 3x10
3x10 Tate press superset with barbell curls
NOTES
So again this press day feels like nothing. The weight is not much but hopefully this means long time of progress until this lift stalls.
Hip thrusts:3x10 with 110kg/242lbs
Walking lunges (30kg/66lbs Barbell): 2x24 steps (12 each leg)
Weighted Dips: 2x12 and 2x13 with 10kg/22lbs
Weighted Pull ups: 50 reps done in 9 sets with 10kg/22lbs (5x6 and 4x5)
NOTES
Well today was a blah day. On paper nothing looks bad, hit the main lift, got the 50 reps in 3 sets and accessory work was same as usual. BUT I today felt like absolute sh*t and I have the flu/ a cold again. It was so bad that my top was so wet during squats that I had to fight to stop the bar rolling down my back (low bar grip).
Except that not much to say. Weight is steadily inching towards 150lb which is nice. May try and speed things up and add more food to make the weight gain faster.
Honestly not sure but I am thinking this is the before last cycle. I feel like the main work will be what stalls first, considering I have yet to actually need 5 sets to get 50 reps, so would ideally like to get ahead of that by dropping TMs and trying something new.
But I have considered dropping TMs when the time comes and doing BBB with the second set instead of first.
Bench: 55kg/121lbs x5, 62.5kg/138lbs x5, 70kg/154lbs x5 | 5x10 with 55kg/121lbs
Seal Row: 3x12 and 1x14 with 20kg/44lbs
Seated DB shoulder press: 15kg/33lbs x13,11,9 and 10kg/22lbs x17
Weighted Crunches: 50 total reps over 3 sets
NOTES
So this session was pure torture. The top set of the main work felt GOOD. I mean smooth, fast and I knew there were more reps in the tank (for record the last TM test day with this weight I got 6 reps). But when it came to the BBB work… I hit a wall. The bar felt heavy, my lungs were about to explode an I had no energy,
In hindsight this is all related. I feel like I did not have DOMS but I actually had muscle aches due to the cold coming on. Needless to say everything got worse yesterday and I feel like absolute shit. Muscle aches, cough, sinus congestion which leaks like a tap when standing straight and which goes back when I try to sleep.
Will 99.9% skip today’s upper conditioning session and try and rest and get this cleared up for tomorrows deadlifts. Unfortunately work has no cover so I’m going to be stuck in a 10h shift feeling like death
Spoiler alert. I did not get things cleared up for today’s deadlift session and I still feel just as bad if not worse than yesterday.
The plan moving forward is no training and just focus on getting better with the goal of restarting Cycle 4 on Sunday.
I’ve gone through a lot of mental back and forth today before making this decision and ultimately I decided jumping in straight into week 3 would be stupid and so would jumping into a test week with increased TMs so the only choice left is to start the cycle at week 1.
I’ve realised that the last deload I’ve had was in October with the 18 weeks since comprising of either:
PR sets while in a deficit
7WP test weeks with a TM Max Rep
Malcolm-X work where every session had widowmaker sets (or MR sets with the first set)
And I have had on and off moments of being unwell. So I guess this is life throwing me a deload,
Seal Row: 20kg/44lbs x16,14,16+4
Seated DB shoulder press: 15kg/33lbs x14,10,8,8+5+5
Weighted Crunches: 50 total reps over 3 sets
3x Bicep curls
3x Tricep extensions
NOTES
Not much to say. Back into the gym (still feel like crap) and the was not too hard.
Managed 1 more rep on the 1st Malcolm-X set than a few weeks ago and also took the accessory work into rest-pause sets instead of having more sets with rest in between. Also decided to throw in some extra direct arm work.
