I caught up in there (skimming) for the first time in a bit while home sick this week, and saw that you’d resurfaced, but I did notice that it was less. I think as long as you (we) keep it in its proper place, it’s good exercise for the mind. Another kind of resistance training. Too much of it will eventually cause problems (e.g. not enough time to do more important things).
1 Like
Excactly.
Building the Momentum Week 10
Monday
Squat
1x175kg
1x190kg, RPE 7
3x180kg, 6,5
2x3x170kg
Left my sleeves at home. Had to say squatting without them made the squats feel a bit wonky. Did okay anyway.
Deficit deadlift 3x3x200kg RPE 6
Surprisingly easy.
Leg extensions 3x12x115kg
Single leg curls 2x12x35kg
Weighted plank 3x45 sek 25-30kg
Tuesday
Comp. Bench
1x110kg
1x120kg RPE 7. Very good!
3x3x107,5kg RPE 7
Tricep extensions 3x12x80kg Went to a RPE 10
Lateral raises 3x12x10-12,5kg
Cable rows 3x12x90kg
Notes
- Rest of the week I’m having a work trip to France. No training besides walking.
- Pushed the assistance this week. What’s insane that even when weights go up in main lifts/variations, my RPEs don’t. I might estimate them incorrectly, but analysing the videos the sets don’t seem to slow at all. A really good sign.
The Fallacy of Naturality
You often hear people claiming that we should live in certain way since it’s natural, and while it does have merit at times, we need to approach the consept with wider perspective.
Think about modern life. 8-16 work schedule? Living in urban areas with huge human populations instead in small groups? Raising children as nuclear families instead of communities? Goal oriented strength training? Using PEDs, or modern medicine? Having kalories all the time everywhere at hand? Looking screens for hours and hours? And the list goes on…
Most things in our lives aren’t even close to being “natural”. Sometimes it does cause problems. Like we clearly eat too much, sleep too little and work too much.
But, there’s also argument against being as primitive or natural as we can. Data suggests that communities might have been more violent and ruthless when we were hunter-gatherers. Life probably sucked anyway. Modern (post 19th century) societies have been less violent, more just and more stable than societies before. But we haven’t went towards naturality. Rather away from it. As we have moved away from natural human lifestyle for thousands of years, we have also discovered things like philosophy, arts or science. With our current progress we are already like gods compared to our ancestors.
I’ve often said that I’m not sure if I believe in higher powers, but I do like many Christian theologists and core values Christianity resembles. One Christian thinker, G.K Chesterton, wrote: “We talk of wild animals but man is the only wild animal. It is man that has broken out. All other animals are tame animals; following the rugged respectability of the tribe or type.”
We are the only species in earth that has completely broken our natural ways and chackles. And we’ve built something spectacular. Let’s embrace that. Maybe living as naturally as we can is not the solution, but keep going beyond, and seek what awaits us. Let’s be the wild animals.
PS. I wanted to make much longer and much more coherent text about this. But I’m exhausted.
4 Likes
Building the Momentum Week 11
Sunday
Pause squat (light)
3x3x130kg
Deadlift
3x4x210kg RPE 7
Nice! Easiest 210 repping ever, and for multiple sets.
Single leg press
3x10x100kg (pause at bottom)
Single leg hip thrust
2x12x30kg
Weighted plank
30kg@60 sec
Monday
Comp. bench
1x110kg
1x122,5kg RPE 8
2x3x110kg RPE 7-8
2x4x95kg
It was alright. Last week bench was faster.
Tricep extensions
3x12x75kg
Lateral raises
3x10x12,5kg
Cable rows
3x10x90kg
Tuesday
Massage (legs)
Thursday
Squats
3x6x100kg (just getting blood to the sore legs)
CGBP (paused)
4x6x97,5kg RPE 7-7,5
Seated DB OHP
3x10x22,5-25kg
Tricep pushdowns with band
2x25 (burn!)
Face pulls
3x12x40kg
Friday
Squat
1x165kg
1x185kg Under RPE 6
4x3x165kg Under RPE 6
Easy. Slightly lighter work today.
Deadlift (light)
3x3x172,5kg
GHR (assisted)
3x8
Sissy squats on Smith
2x12x10-20kg
Weighted ab wheel
3x10x10kg
Changed assistance a bit. Took it relatively easy.
Weeks conditioning
No cycling, but total 7000m of ergs, 2 long walks and one light jog.
Notes:
-
A long walk means over 70 mins brisk walk or a longer hike. Light jog is a mix of walking and light running for 20-30 mins.
-
Weights are feeling really good. I’m being really confident about this training. The coach focuses much more to rep quality and recovery between sessions compared to what I’ve used to, but it’s clearly working.
-
I have been relatively sore for the rest of the week, I’m having a some flu symptoms. So that and the new assistance movements are the main culprits.
-
Weight is around 114-115, but I need ti clean up my diet again. I do find it harder to eat properly when gaining weight compared to cutting.
No deep thoughts today. It’s getting below zero here now, so I need to change winter tyres to the bikes and to the car.
4 Likes
Building the Momentum Week 12
Monday:
Comp. Bench 1x105kg
6x3x90kg
Tricep extensions 3x10x65kg
Lateral raises 3x10x8kg
3x10x80kg
Light bench workout.
Tuesday
Pause squat 3x3x135kg
Practically speed squats.
Deadlift
3x220kg RPE 7.
3x212kg
3x200kg
3x180kg
Easiest 220 I’ve ever pulled. The ”600lbs” pull might be soon broken.
Single leg press 3x10x100kg
Weak man dragonflags 3x12
Single lef hip thrusts 1x12
Thursday
CGBP (paused) 5x3x100kg RPE 7
Seated OHP 3x10x52,5kg
Seated ohp is slowly getting better also, but I’m not really pushing it.
Tricep pushdowns with band 2x25
Rear delts 3x12x15kg
Friday
Squat
1x175kg
1x192,5kg RPE 6,5
3x182,5kg RPE 7
2x3x172,5kg
Deadlift (light)
3x3x170kg
GHR (assisted) 3x10
I suck at these. Good reason to work on them.
Weighted ab wheel 3x10x15kg
Sissy squats on Smith 3x10x20kg
Weeks conditioning
Only 16km of cycling and one light jog.
I developed cough/flu on Wednesday. It was not paralyzing, I coukd worj and lift weights. But conditioning did not really work out. Maybe I’ll go for a walk today.
Notes:
- Bench and dead have improved clearly. With squat I’m unsure. But I asked specifically to break my bench and DL plateau and we’re doing just that.
And if 2 lifts out of 3 progress while the 3rd one is not going terribly I should be very pleased. I pushed squat hard last spring and got some PRs in. I haven’t PR my dead in over a year. It’s important to keep that in mind.
-
I’m having some nagging pains here and there. I’ll try to treat them as best as I can. Might be due to the flu also.
-
I’m around 114-115kg. After I’ll get to the 116 range I’ll drop the kcals to maintenance and try to get some bloat off. Since I’m clearly getting soft. I don’t really care about visible abs so much currently that I would chase very low BF, but there’s no point getting myself actually fat.
Not much else to say now. I hate this time of year here. The combination of wetness, coldness and darkness is pretty unique.
It’s no surprise so many BM bands come from the north.
PS. Finally added some vids. Played a little with the editor too. But this shows how easy the 220kg was in the DL.
3 Likes
Building the Momentum Week 13
Monday:
Comp. Bench
1x112,5kg
1x125kg RPE 9. Old PR. Could have maybe done double, but it would have been hard.
2x3x112,5kg RPE 7-8
4x95kg
Tricep extensions 3x10x70kg
Lateral raises 3x12x10kg
Cable rows 3x10x90kg
Wednesday
Pause squat 3x3x130kg (light)
Practically speed squats again.
Deadlift
3x170kg
2x190kg
2x210kg
2x230kg RPE 7
Easiest 230 I’ve ever pulled. The DL is peaking really well.
Single leg press 3x10x105kg
Weak man dragonflags 3x12
Single leg hip thrusts 1x12
Friday
CGBP (paused) 5x3x102,5kg RPE 7
CGBP is getting stronger too.
Seated OHP 3x10x53,5kg
Pushed this now. Kinda PR.
Tricep pushdowns with band 3x25 PUMP!
Rear delts 3x12x15kg
Sunday
Squat
1x180kg
1x195kg RPE 6,5-7
3x3x170kg easy.
Deadlift (light)
2x3x160kg
GHR (assisted) 3x10
Getting better. They really work my hams.
Weighted ab wheel 3x10x15kg
Sissy squats on Smith 3x10x25kg
Weeks conditioning
Total 32km of cycling, 2 long walks.
Notes:
- Bench was peaked this week. We back of from it now. DL will be peaked in 2 weeks and squat maybe in 3. Interesting to see lift progressions going separately this way, more about it below.
- My shoulders and knees have reminded about themselves, but that’s normal when you go towards heavier weights.
- Flu was over, so got back to normal conditioning routines. I’m soaked after every cycling “session”, since it’s mostly raining every day now. Hope it will turn to snow soon, I already did put winter tyres to my bike.
Analysing the programming
So, I’m 3 months in training with the coach and at the end of first “block”. So I decided shortly analyze few things about this programming. I’ve said many of these things before, but this is kinda summary of these notes.
Progression has been straightforward and classical. From high reps lower weights gradually to lower reps and higher weights. I like simplicity so this fits for me. What has been interesting was the differences between every lift. The progression with bench, squat and DL have been separate, and all lifts have progressed at their own pace.
For example, next week will be new start for bench, light week for DL (before testing it), and moderately heavy squat week. This kinda makes sense, but I’ve never trained this way. Good thing is that I rarely have completely “off/light” weeks, since they’re boring. Hahah.
One thing which has surprised me is the light intensity on the main lifts/variations. We’ve worked mostly in RPE 5-7 range in squat and DL, maybe in 6-8 range in BP. This is something I’ve not done for a while. But again, it’s very logical. Build efficient rep with good form and force projection in big lifts = gains with less fatigue.
Then push the assistance a bit more, to build muscle that way. Not to say some of the main lift workouts would not have hypertrophy element in them, but the smaller movements clearly have the main role in fatiguing the muscles. Again very logical approach.
I did Wendler’s programs when I started lifting and he often had similar approach how he programmed. Main lifts are mostly done submaximally and hypertrophy is pushed via assistance.
Third surprise has been the conservatism and patience. Two things I’ve clearly lacked. It seems pretty clear I’ve gotten stronger during these 13 weeks, but we haven’t done a single PR (and will not do PRs yet). But the old PRs are moving easy and my working weights have gone up, at least in BP and DL.
I personally haven’t had the patience not to PR if I’m feeling stronger. I’ve wanted the reaffirmation that I’m progressing. The coach sees that I’m progressing and he does not want to do the unnecessary “grinding of PRs” too often. That’s kinda smart.
Also if you add the fact that volume and frequency are pretty moderate, it’s clear he’s playing the long game. And that’s exactly what I need. Probably one reason my bench and DL have been stuck for a while now is that I was thinking in 3 month cycles. I wanted rewards too often. So we keep going with the coach and after some months I expect great things, if we keep our current pace and direction. Patience and consistency always wins.
Some vids from this week:
5 Likes
Well, I just spent an exorbitant amount of time reading your entire log. I very much enjoy it. I look forward to continuing on.
I’m almost done with this book. I have very much enjoyed it so far. Hopefully I will enjoy it to the end.
1 Like
Thank you! I do appreciate when somebody happens to read my ramblings.
I kinda quessed the ending in CoT. But I liked the idea, the world building and writing style so much that it did not bother me much.
3 Likes
Building the Momentum Week 14
Monday:
Comp. Bench (light)
1x105kg
4x6x85kg
Tricep extensions 3x12x60kg
Lateral raises 3x12x10kg
Cable rows 3x12x85kg
Tuesday
Massage (upper back, delts and arms).
Wednesday
Pause squat 3x3x140kg (light)
Practically speed squats again.
Deadlift (light)
1x200kg
2x3x175kg
Single leg press 3x12x90kg
Weak man dragonflags 3x12
Single leg hip thrusts 1x12
Friday
Larsen press (paused) 3x8x55-60kg (light)
Seated DB OHP 3x12x17,5kg
Tricep pushdowns with band 3x25
Rear delts 3x12x12,5kg
Sunday
Squat
1x180kg
1x200kg RPE 6,5
2x190kg RPE 7
2x2x170kg
Week’s only heavy workout. My back felt pretty bad, but squats moved decently.
Deadlift (light)
2x3x150kg
GHR (assisted) 3x10. Most reps were unassisted. Getting better
Weighted ab wheel 3x10x15kg
Sissy squats on Smith 2x10x30kg, 1x12x20kg Pump!
Weeks conditioning
Total 32km of cycling, 1 long walk.
Notes:
-
Kind of a deload. 3 light workouts, one heavy. New block starts for the bench.
-
I’ve had some problems with my pelvis/low back, but warming it up properly and doing a bunch of band work seems to help a bit. It’s again the piriformis + SI, whic seems to be a recurring problem.
-
Feeling strong and good otherwise. I’m around 116kg currently, but a bit soft. I’m considering eating slightly more disciplinary and drop kcals slightly for the next 2 months or so (or at least to the christmas). I’m not going to cut or something silly. Just clean up the diet a bit, since I’ve hit my weight goal for this fall and I don’t want to get too fat. Like mentioned before, I’m aiming for maintenance, which should still be enough for some muscle gain. If the progress slows down/stops, I’ll increase the kcals.
Weekly vid: Heaviest squat this week. Was not the fastest 200kg I’ve done, and I my hips tried to escape more than they usually do, but it did not feel hard at all. Which was a win, since my lower back was not a 100% today.
No text today, It’s the father’s day here, and I’m spending time with kids, while they still are interested about my company. Hahah!
5 Likes
Happy Father’s Day!
1 Like
Thanks!
Project Powerlifter Week 15
Monday:
Comp. Bench
1x100kg
1x105kg. Easy
3x10x90kg, long sets. RPE 7-8
Lat pulldowns 4x10x70kg
Tricep extensions 2x10x70kg
Pushdowns 2x10x75kg
Lateral raises 3x12x10kg
Good workout. Long sets are difficult when pausing, as usual.
Wednesday
Pause squat 3x3x110kg (light)
Deadlift
1x200kg
1x220kg
1x245kg Easy as hell
1x250kg Very good, RPE 7. This is my old meet max, but now it was really easy.
Single leg press 3x10x102,5kg
Weak man dragonflags 3x12
Friday
Larsen press (paused) 4x8x70kg
Seated DB OHP 3x12x22,5kg
Curls 3x10x30kg
Tricep pushdowns with band 3x25
Rear delts 3x12x12,5kg
Proper pump here.
Sunday
Squat
1x185kg
1x205kg RPE 6. Fastest +200 squat I’ve ever done. Could have repped a fahve most likely. Nice,
3x3x175kg RPE 6
Deadlift (light)
2x2x140kg
GHR (assisted) 3x10. Most reps were unassisted. Getting better
Weighted ab wheel 3x10x15kg
Sissy squats on Smith 2x10x30kg, 1x12x20kg Pump!
Weeks conditioning
Only 17km of cycling, 2 long walks, total 5500m of ergs.
Notes:
-
A really good week for squat and dead. Both, 250kg and 205kg flew. I’ve done both before, actually several times, but they were easy, as you can see from the vids.
-
No back, knee or shoulder pains this week. Pain is a weird thing. I feel it’s often tied more to the common inflammation or something, than actually hurting my self.
-
I had a chat with the coach and understood something obvious. Of course we’re peaking different lifts on different times, since we’re going until the singles get hard. Why stop before? Bench hit the wall first, so we backed off, increased volume and changed assistance. Squat and dead seem to roll for a while now. We’re going to hit 260kg next week in the pull, which should still be solid while being a PR.
-
This is why I changed the name of this training. It’s more fitting name currently. When a meet comes closer, we try to syncronize the peaking. Now He’s just studying how I progress on different lifts.
-
On a side note, I often superset smaller assistance stuff. Saves time.
Weekly vids:
3 Likes
Project Powerlifter Week 15
Monday:
Comp. Bench
1x100kg
1x110kg. RPE 6. Solid.
3x10x92,5kg. RPE 8-9. These long bench sets…
Tricep extensions 2x10x70kg
Pushdowns 2x10x75kg
Lateral raises 3x12x10kg
Wednesday
Pause squat 3x3x110kg (light)
Deadlift
1x200kg
1x220kg
1x235kg
0x260kg. Nope. I lost my peak last week.
Some leg extensions.
I was pretty upset for not getting the 260, I would bet that I would have done it last week (it’s only 10kg increase to that fast 250 I did). Coach was not too concerned, he noticed that this was a learning experience. We’re backing off with DL now and start building it again.
Friday
Larsen press (paused) 4x8x80kg
These are going up fast. Learning the new movement.
Seated DB OHP 3x12x22,5kg
Curls 3x10x30kg
Tricep pushdowns with band 3x25
Rear delts 3x12x12,5kg
Proper pump again.
Sunday
Squat (light)
1x190kg
4x3x160kg
Easy. Back was fried from the DL.
Deadlift (light)
2x2x140kg
GHR (assisted) 3x10. Most reps were unassisted.
Weighted ab wheel 3x12x5kg
Sissy squats on Smith 3x10x20kg
Lighter assistance now. Easy workout in general.
Weeks conditioning
Only 16km of cycling. 2 long walks.
Notes:
- So the DL peaked last week. I looked my logs and saw a trend. Usually after really good heavy week my performance drops, even if I don’t push the weights.
- I’m a bit busy now, so I’ll end it here, but I have one announcement: There’s a gym meet in my gym at february abd I’m going. It’s about 14ish weeks, so we start building now. We may do heavy squat next week, but generally we go towards more higher volume stuff again. I’m prepared to up my kcals when the training increases.
5 Likes
I’m excited for this!
1 Like
Me too! I’m fairly sure I’ll do some PRs in there, or at least I should have the potential for it.
2 Likes
Project Powerlifter Week 16
Monday:
Comp. Bench
1x100kg
1x107,5kg. RPE 5. Easy.
3x9x95kg. RPE 7-8. I was happy how these went.
Lat pulldowns 4x10x75kg
Tricep extensions 2x10x75kg
Pushdowns 2x10x80kg
SS
Lateral raises 3x12x10,5kg
Wednesday
Pause squat 3x3x110kg (light)
Deadlift 3x5x150kg (light)
Weak man dragonflags 3x12
Thursday
Larsen press (paused) 4x8x85kg RPE 7-9
Starting to get harder as the sets go on.
Seated DB OHP 3x12x22,5-25kg
ss
Curls 3x10x32,5kg
Tricep pushdowns with band 3x28 (More reps, Yay! Still insane pump from these)
ss
Rear delts 3x12x12,5kg
Sunday
Squat
1x180kg
1x200kg
1x220kg RPE 8 Insanely fast. Maybe even under RPE 8. It felt heavier than it looked. Stoked about this.
3x3x195-200kg. Some heavy triples for me, but they moved fast as well.
Hack squat 3x10x100kg.
Felt hard after the squats.
Weighted ab wheel 3x12x5kg
ss
Weighted back raises 3x10x32kg
Hard workout, but it went really well. We’re not redoing the mistake we did with the DL, and will back of now. Knowing that there are at least 5-10kg more in me is sufficient.
Weeks conditioning
Only 16km of cycling, 1 long walk.
Total 10 000m of ergs.
Notes:
-
Insanely good peak for squat. The training has been most mediocre for it, so seeing this kind of progress was encouraging. Now it’s finally time to prep for the February’s meet.
-
I need to up my cycling. The ergs are fine replacement though. I usually cycle them in this order: jog in a mat 500m, rower 500-100m, bike 1000-2000m, ski -erg 500m, repeat. Usually for 4000-5000m total per workout.
-
Weight has been steadier now. I might need to up my kcals again soon. I’ve gotten slightly soft during the fall, but my old clothes also are getting small from the right places (glutes, quads, shoulders and back). Also my triceps are noticeably bigger. Good signs.
Vid. from the squat:
From Maths to Philosophy, from Materialism to Religion.
I’ve been reading Stephen Hawkings books now and pondering about the relation of Science, philosophy and religion once again. I like this topic, but I’ve probably made myself clear about it several times.
Hawking was an atheist, but several scientist are religious. Why is that? Because science and religion aren’t competitive, they answer to different questions. Apples and oranges and so on… What do I mean? Here’s a rough idea.
We can build information only with three ways. By philosophical/rational thinking, by mathematical thinking and the applications of that, or by experience/empirical evidence. Latter two are what makes science a science. Religion is a purely philosophical endeavour. I’ll expand further.
There are questions that can be answered by mathematics and empiricism. They are purely scientific. Questions like,
- How universe has been formed?
- How hurricanes are formed?
- How to optimize protein synthesis?
- How Homo Sapiens has evolved?
You can answer these questions pretty thoroughly with maths and empiricism. Then there are questions which need philosophical thinking, but also rely in empiricism, such as:
- How slavery worked in ancient Rome?
- Why and how USA got its independence?
- How taxation affects societies?
- What causes low birth rates?
These usually concern human actions, and are more unclear to answer. Therefore these are often highly political questions too. Then we have questions which are completely theoretical or value based. These rely only to philosophy, such as:
- What is a good life?
- Do we have a universal moral?
- Do all humans have same basic value? No matter of sex, colour or culture?
- How much society should emphasis individual freedom over equality and vice versa?
More we move down, more dominant role religion has answering these questions. I tend to see religion as a part of moral philosophy. Some people have gone full materialism, where they see that scientific thinking is only way to approach most of these questions, some see that religion is affecting to all these questions too. Why? It’s an interesting question of it’s own, but I’m not going there now.
Surely, I simplified, and if some philosopher happens to read this, I’m sorry! Since there are overlaps in everything. You can use science to justify moral standouts, and you’ll need theoretical/philosophical approach in pretty much everything that’s not “common sense” -level of thinking (or maybe specifically then you should need it!). We could say that science has made God smaller, since many things that were explained with religion are replaced with scientific (and more grounded) explanations, or that there are still questions in science that could be explained by intelligent design/creator.
But this is how I generally see it, and this division makes the life much more tolerable, specially for an agnostic like me. Hahah!
4 Likes
Project Powerlifter Week 17
Monday:
Comp. Bench
1x100kg
1x110kg. RPE 6. Easy.
1x8x100kg. RPE 8,5. Good set.
2x8x97,5kg. Hard eights these. RPE 8,5-9,5.
Lat pulldowns (v-handle) 4x10x70-75kg
Tricep extensions 2x10x75kg
Pushdowns 2x10x80kg
SS
Seated lateral raises 3x12x10kg
Tuesday
Squat 3x5x145kg (semi-light)
Bench: 3x5x85kg (semi-light)
Deadlift 3x6x170kg RPE 5
1x6x160kg
Leg extensions 3x10x100kg
ss
Single leg curls 2x10x25kg
Thursday:
Larsen press (paused) 4x6x90kg RPE 7-8
Seated DB OHP 3x12x22,5kg
ss
Curls 3x10x35kg
Tricep pushdowns with band 3x28
ss
Rear delts 3x12x12,5kg
Friday
Squat
4x6x150kg. RPE 5 or under.
Deadlift, pause mid chin 3x3x150kg. RPE 5 or under.
Barbell rows 3x6x100kg
GHR 3x10
ss
BW ab wheel 3x12
Easy.
Weeks conditioning
24km of cycling, 1 long walk.
Notes:
-
Officially the start for the meet prep. You can see there’s some changes in assistance and variations. Also, we’re upping the frequency now. There will be more squatting and benching every week. Althought most workouts will be very light.
-
My knees and left calve did not feel amazing after the heavy workout, but this was light/semi deload for the squat/DL, so it was not too bad.
-
We’re pushing the bench now hard it seems.
No long text today. We’re having an independence day and we’re celebrating it with some guests. I love to cook so I’ll make a dinner tonight. Planned menu below:
Starter: Wild caught crayfish with toast, topped with dill oil and aioli.
Wine: Dagobert Cremant D’Alsace 2023.
Main course: Deer roast with creamy boletus sauce and crisp rosemary potatoes.
Wine: Angelo Negro Basarin Barbaresco 2021.
Dessert: Cheese assortment with some port.
So I’m definitely feeling bloated tomorrow.
5 Likes
That entire menu looks delectable.
1 Like
Thanks! I hope I can pull it off as well as I aim to.
1 Like
WORTH IT.
I hope it all came out beautifully, but even if not I’m guessing you had a great time.
1 Like