Exactly! It’s funny, because I’m going through what you are but the opposite way I think (as you know from helping me out in my own log. Like I can get all my work in for the week, but I feel like I have to do all my chest stuff on “chest day” rather than do what’s convenient based on where I’m at.
Good luck with it! I go back and forth between wanting to do more and have fewer days, or have shorter days but more of them. I’m starting to feel like 4 weeks is my max before I don’t like what I’m doing whatever it is. Maybe 6 if I’m really pushing it. I think your mentality is similar, so I feel your pain.
Well, here’s the new plan. I’m keeping the SGSS stuff, but I split it up as I stated above. I also copied the three sets, then five sets protocol laid out by SGSS. We’ll see how that goes. As with most of my programs, this is subject to change any time I want.
The young guns did 2 min banded leg presses with a reach up and try to crush the guy under the sled on the last rep (hard ass isometric). It was brutal. I did it once…
I saw it in a Lee Boyce article about building up your legs. I think the challenge is to beat your reps each time. There won’t be any need to add weight.
I once went through a phase where I started every workout with 100 leg presses. I didn’t time it but I’m guessing it feels similar.
I’m hoping to do my leg workout tonight after work. I’d planned to move it to today before changing my split because I’m working a baseball game tomorrow night. It’s my last game of the regular season. I’m not sure if I’ll pick up any playoff games (if there are any).
CONDITIONING
60m sprints x 4 Well, my evening started off poorly. My legs are still sore from Monday and Tuesday. My hamstrings felt tight while I ran. The left one is especially angry and acted like it wanted to tear a bit so I shut it down.
RFESS
115 x 5 ea x 3 sets It turns out I was supposed to be doing 105 lbs but 115 felt fine so I’ll roll with it.
DEADLIFT
135 x 5
225 x 3
315 x 3
355 x 5 x 3 sets
RDLs
Skipped
BOX SQUAT 22"
135 x 5
285 x 5 x 3 sets
2 MINUTE LEG PRESS
90 x 114 unbroken reps I guess 1 plate per side was easier than I thought it’d be. I’d planned to take breaks when my legs locked up.
As you can see I did deadlifts! My hip didn’t feel great today and it didn’t feel any worse after deads. I’ll call that a win. 355 beltless was no problem.
I’m beginning to think something is off in my hip in terms of alignment. That’s pulling on my hamstring and causing the feeling of a strain. Now I just need to figure out how to get everything back into place.
See if one leg is “longer” then the other
Could be your SI joint
Have a similar problem
Whenever I went for runs my right calf would be very tense
It was because my left SI joint needed to be realigned (which I still havent done)
Yeah, that’s one adjustment I can’t seem to do myself. I’m not sure if that’s the problem but it feels worse this morning. I guess I have a good old fashioned hamstring strain.
INCLINE CABLE FLY
50 x 10 x 2 sets (supposed to be a warm up)
OHP
45 x 10
95 x 5
125 x 5 x 3 sets
INCLINE CABLE FLY
50 x 10
40 x 10 1.5 reps
SEATED DB OHP (no back support)
40 x 10
30 x 10
30 x 10 1.5 reps
DB INCLINE
35 x 10 x 3 easy sets
REV CABLE PRESS DOWN
90 x 10 1.5 reps x 3 sets My triceps almost camped afterwards. That’s never happened!
You can probably see that I’ve fallen in love with one and a half reps (aka double contraction reps). I did them on squats on CT’s Complete Power Look program and I can’t believe I haven’t tried them on other movements.
Didn’t weigh myself this morning but I’m sure I was over 244. I had a big dinner last night.
No training today. It’s nice to not have to stress about finding time to hit the gym between calls. Yesterday I got there, stripped my gear off, sat on the toilet, and then it got busy. I felt a little guilty but I stayed. If we check out for lunch then that becomes our free window. If there’s a report call on your beat then you can have them hold it but if anything active comes up it’s best to just let other people handle it.
On a training related note I think I’m going to stick with three sets on my hypertrophy sets. Three is plenty to get some good work done especially when I add intensification techniques such as double contraction reps, slow eccentrics, drop sets, etc. I’ll treat the extra volume with the Best Damn principles—two working sets and then a finishing set of some sort. The goal is fatigue/failure so the weight doesn’t matter and there’s no reason to hold back. There’s also no reason to do four sets of fluff before finishing the muscle.
Moving forward I will be embracing this new “program”. I like keeping the progression and lifts of SGSS while adding some volume to bring up my lagging parts (delts, pecs, back, ok my whole upper body). It’s nice having the combination of heavy progression with some hypertrophy work inspired by Best Damn. It also frees up my exercise selection a bit which is always a good thing at the commercial gym.
I broke down and ordered bigger pants for work yesterday. We have two brands from which we can choose and I’ve been wearing Flying Cross. My favorite pants are getting a bit snug so I tried a different style in the same brand. Bad decision. I was miserable all day. I was even uncomfortable sitting in the car. They squeezed my quads above the knee and there was no chance I could do a full squat to stretch out my hips.
I’m wearing our other brand, Spiewak, today and they fit much better. I still ordered a bigger pair though. There’s no reason my legs and junk have to be squeezed all day.
Last night I got out of the shower and was about to get dressed for bed when my wife finally noticed that my ass has grown. Apparently she hasn’t been paying attention (or we need to keep the lights on more). She said my buns (we have kids so that’s become the acceptable term in the house) look like a shelf; I no longer have flat buns.
She added that she just suddenly noticed that I look different and she’s never seen me this way before. The last time I was in the 240’s was during my internship in Lake Placid in 2007. I cut down to the low 230’s before I returned to visit her so she missed the largest version of me.
I didn’t get to the gym till after 3 today but I actually felt alright. My only problem was that I ate five stuffed jalapeños at lunch and they’re still burning my gut. My hamstring also still sucks.
SGSS W4 D4
2 LAP DYNAMIC WARM UP Couldn’t go over about 60% effort without my hamstring hurting on my build up run.
RFESS
Bar x 5
115 x 5 x 5 ea
DEADLIFT
225 x 5
315 x 3
355 x 5 x 3 sets Hamstring started hurting on the 2nd set so I shut it down at 3 sets.
22" BOX SQUAT
225 x 5
285 x 5 x 5 sets
SEATED LEG CURL
70 x 50 x 2 sets
2 MIN LEG PRESS
2 plates x 118 unbroken reps
I should’ve done some abs or hop work but I just didn’t have the willpower today. I’m not sure how I’m going to do my running workouts with my hammy acting up.
