Me upper
100 pull aparts
Squat
Warm up then 2x130, 145, 160, PR! That felt much easier than I thought and definitely had another rep.
My 1RM is 165, pretty curious to see where I’m at next month.
Deficit DL standing on 10kg plate
3x3x150kg, first set overhand grip then mixed, no belt
3x10x30kg Db sldl
3x15 hanging knee raises
Weight 86,6 kg
De upper
100 pull aparts, 6x2 explosive push ups
Bench
6x3x70
Db half half full shoulder press 2x6x20kg
50 total pull ups
3x6 dips with just bodyweight, no elbow pain!
Db flies 2x12x10 kg
Db 90/90 2x15x6kg
BB curls 2x12x20kg
DB shrugs 2x12x34kg
I went cycling and hiking this week end and was busy on friday so I didn’t do my DE lower. I’ll do the speed work tomorrow and take it easy with the assistance as this is supposed to be deload.
I hurt my calf hiking but it went away during the ride which is good.
I’ve completed two cycles using the conjugate method, I think it’s good. Separating the heavy work is great, I know I can go run/hike/cycle without impairing the max effort.
The DE work at the end of the week is good to nail technique, and really quite different from what I used to do.
After this cycle I will go back into a hypertrophy phase, but still using the conjugate system. The DE days are simply replaced by repetition work, but nothing crazy, usually tempo work.
De lower
100 pull aparts
Squat
6x3x110 felt good, 30s rest
DL
6x1x140 10s rest, cut shin again
Rear elevated lunges
2x12x14kg in each hand
20 pull ups
Deload
100 pull aparts, 3x2 explosive push ups
Bench
3x3x75kg
Db Chest supported rows
3x10x16kg
Hammer curls
2x10x12kg
Lateral raises
2x15x4kg
Weight 86kg
Deload lower, yesterday’s training
100
Pull aparts
Squat
3x3x120
Pull ups
5xbw, 5, 10, 5, bw
Back raises
3x10x15kg
10 Hanging leg raises
15 hanging knee raises
Weight 86,00g this morning
Me upper
4x2 explosive push ups 100 pull aparts
Pin press
Warm up then
2x80
1x90
1x100 felt amazing
My 1RM is 105. I felt great so I decide to go for 110. Mistake.
Failed 110, then 107,5.
Rookie mistake, I should have taken 107,5 and called it a day whether I made it or not.
Here is the 110
It came off well off the bottom but then that mid-range kills my speed.
3x90
Db incline
2x8x28kg
Db chest supported rows
5x15x14kg
Db Front raises
3x20x4kg
Rolling Db extensions
3x20x8kg
Db hammer curls
3x20x8kg
Weight 86,55kg
Me lower
100 pull aparts
18" depth jump 3x5 onto 36" box
Interesting jump but I can tell it’s not the best for my knees
Front squat, no belt
Warm up then
2x95
1x110, 120, 130
Missed 140, hips shot up
1x135 I knew I could get it
That’s a 10kg PR and just 5kg off my 1RM back squat from about 12 months ago.
Deficit pull
5x120
3x140
1x160 no belt felt fast
DL holds
2x140x10 count
3x10x20kg back raises
10 hanging leg raises
40 hanging knee raises
Your squat is going to have gone up for sure
Definitely! Especially as I tend to squat with a pretty upright position I feel that it transfers well.
I was also pleased to not get dizzy as I picked up the heavy weights as I remember it was the case last year in te front squat. I think I’m more used to bracing properly.
I’m curious to see where my squat is, I just need to be smart and not miss anymore. It’s ok on variations but I’ll be more conservative on the main lifts.
De upper
100 pull aparts
4x2 explosive push ups
Bench
6x3x60
Db half half press
8, 6x16kg
Pull ups
5xbw, 5, 10, 10kg
10xbw
Dips
3x6xbw
Db flies
2x12x8kg with 3 count eccentric
Db 90/90 swings
2x20x4kg
Bb curls
2x20x15kg
Db shrugs
2x20x22kg
Weight 86,05kg
edit:
I’ve been reading a few articles on the conjugate system. “A calloused hand guide to the conjugate system” on elite fts is pretty interesting.
When listening to the westside podcast, Louie talks about taking big jumps for a PR on ME days. This makes sense when he’s explaining it, you want to push your body where it’s never been and strain.
However I feel that I need time to build my lifts before I can do this. The article talks about having more working sets before going for a 5-2RM. This resonnates better with me.
If you look at this training cycle, I mainly get my volume on DE days in the 60-70% and then 90+ on ME days, but by taking relatively big jumps (10 kg on upper, 15kg on lower) and low reps, I don’t get a lot of work in. I am missing a lot of volume in the 65-85% range. Yes you are doing assistance work but I think barbell work should be more important.
I knew this would be the case when starting this but it is good to experiment. Implementing more working sets as you go up on ME days seems to be a nice solution to this. The top set will be lighter because of fatigue but there is no reason to care as you are building and not testing. Taking big jumps and going for 1-2RM should probably left for peaking time.
The 3-month cycle I am doing just now finishes with 1RM for ME days and is more of a peaking type so it made sense for me to do this for this cycle. I am more thinking in terms of implementation of the conjugate system long-term.
For exercice selection for ME days, front and back squat and DL have been spot on. I guess I could implement pause front/back squat and deficit pulls.
For the upper body I have found myself waiting for the equipment (rack space, not just a bench) for board press and floor press, sometimes being more annoying than others (maybe I should jsut not bench on mondays!!). I think going to wide grips/paused variations could be a good idea for me.
I’ve managed to pick up running/cycling/hiking again without much impact on my strength which is great! My volume is still pretty low and I’ll try to increase this next cycle.
De lower
4x4 box jumps
100 pull aparts
Squat
8x3x90 30s sec
DL
8x1x120 10s rest speed felt great
Db Rear elevated split squats
3x12x14kg per hand
45 degree back raises
3x15x10, 10kg, bw
Hanging knee raises
3x15
Weight 86,65kg this morning
Me upper
100 pull aparts
5x2 explosive push ups
Floor press
Warm up then
3x75
2x85
1x95, 100, 105, 107,5kg which is a 5kg PR! Pretty happy with this
3x90
Db bench
2x8x32kg heaviest Dumbbells I’ve touched on this
Chest supported rows
5x12x18kg
Front raises
3x15x6kg
Hammer curls
3x15x8kg
Db rolling triceps extensions
3x15x8kg
Excited for DL 1RM tomorrow. Got some chalk as usually my grip limiting, we’ll see what happens.
Me lower
100 pull aparts
3x3 box jump onto a low box that was there
Deadlift
Started at 60kg, 20 kg jumps
1x140
1x160, belt on and mixed grip from there, chalk also
1x180, felt good
1x200, and I held it !! I forgot to film cause I was so focused aha
From there, I knew I had more given bar speed but 20kg would be too much of a jump
1x210, pulled it an held it too ! The start felt hard but the speed was OK for the rest. But this starts to feel heavy as hell so I wasn’t not sure whether to go up more. I leave the bar loaded and given the video I decide to take another 10kg jump
1x220 pulled it and held it too !! I let it go cause I don’t want to lower that bar. The start felt hard and was definitely slow off the floor but then speed picked up.
Very happy with this, chalk is amazing!
Dead squats
3x1x125
Hanging knee raises
3x20
Weight 86,7kg this morning
Great stuff mate, looked very easy. Don’t know if you’ve realised but at the start of this log only back in December 2016 you were pulling low hundreds for joker sets and now this.
Hell Yeah
Well done Mate
Just FYI you’ve got around 240 in there. That 220 didn’t look ‘hard’. Squeeze your lats harder, also.
Great work.
Thanks Caesium and mortdk! I was very lucky to be taught a lot on here !
Mark, I do think I have more too, I might need more time to learn how to grind deadlifts and be patient off the floor. I’ll work on squeezing the lats, thanks!
No, just back yourself. Next time you test, go further.
Will do, thanks again !
I think having 3 cycles of hypertrophy and 3 of strength has been working well so I’ll keep doing that. I’ll lay out my next cycle on here soon