Meh. It’s something I should do, but I dislike it. Lifting is what I enjoy. My goal for my current training is to do two sessions a week.
The part that irritates me is that they’re the same store. We have two gigantic ones that even have clothing. The rest are more traditional. The one I used today wasn’t even a mirror image. It was all sorts of mixed up.
EMOM for 15 Min
This was so much better than just running!!! I convered 1.3 miles in 15 minutes which is an 11:32 min/mile pace. I was only running 40-45 sec of that minute so that puts my actual running pace between 7:42 and 8:39 min/mile. I only looked at my watch twice and I was at 8:16 on one and 8:40 pace on the other. This wasn’t easy but it was easier for me mentally. I highly recommend something like this for those of you who loathe running like I do. 
I want to go on record and say that these HR Zones are whack. I couldn’t hold a conversation for 85% of that run but my HR says otherwise.
Breaking things up into a little circuit can be amazing. For a while I was hitting the airdyne for 5 min., then 20 pushups and 20 rows lather rinse repeat, and would end up packing miles of riding, a hundred pushups and 100 rows into like 30 some minutes.
Crazy how we can trick ourselves.
CARDIO
Run 80m, jog halfway back, walk the rest x 10
11:31 and 1.13 miles
OHP
80 x 5
100 x 5
110 x 5
125 x 5
SMITH CRUNCH
85 x 10 x 4
SL SQUAT
BW x 10 ea x 4 (stood on 1st step, lowered slowly, tapped heel, then up. Just like PT)
OHP
95 x 10 x 4
95 x 8+2
UNDERHAND ROW
185 x 10 x 4
OHP continues to frustrate me. The weights are as light as they’re going to get and I still can’t get all of the BBB reps. Rest was 1:30 on set one and 2:00 on the last.
PUSH UPS
3 x 15
BAND FACE PULL
3 x 20
SKULL CRUSHER
70 x 16, 14, 11
CURL
70 x 17, 10, 9
I’m spent.
That was my experience with OHP and BBB. For me, some exercises almost immediately plateau with a 5 x 10 set/rep method. I’ve found the most strength gains at OHP from pushing a heavy top set or two then doing a couple higher rep, slow negative backoff sets. For the backoff sets, I use dumbbells for their more natural hand positioning.
OHP gives a surprisingly good pump. Have you noticed if lateral raises or other supplemental lifts help your OHP? Incline dumbbell bench presses seem to help mine.
Looking strong and conditioned @Frank_C my man
Those delts mate. Load up the cannons and fire on my word!
Sadly, the last time I saw any real improvement to my OHP was by gaining 20 lbs. And even then my 1RM wasn’t great. I think I hit 165 or 170 for 1 when I first ran SGSS back in 2018. Lateral raises help my delts, but I haven’t seen any direct carry over to the actual press. My e1RM was around 170 when I did my PR sets on my last cycle of 5/3/1 so I guess I’m close to my PR and I’m lighter. Guess I should call that progress. It’s just that I’m not able to complete these stupid BBB sets and I have the impression that I’m supposed to be able to do that.
Delts have been and will continue to be my top physique priority. Glad that it’s finally paying off a little. I want them to be as big as possible without turning to the needle for help (even though that’s a game changer for delts).
I have an eight year old daughter and my wife and I are 85% confident that this next kiddo is going to be a girl, too. I have plans to get a tattoo sleeve on my right arm in the near-ish future. Tattoos, guns, and metaphorical guns are my best defense against boys.
My son’s effect on that has yet to be determined. He’s a few years behind his sister. He’s super sweet so that could mean he is going to be really protective or it could mean he’s going to be a big softy.
Are you using FSL weights? I think this might be a person to person thing. I can rep things out for days, but I’m terrible at lower reps. It doesn’t seem to vary much from lift to lift either.
And yes, I’m a long way behind on your log I’m afraid because:
Looking solid dude. Lats are peaking out from behind those arms too, nice.
Looking meaty and really full there, great physique!
Ahah I’ve been thinking about getting more tats lately
Keep the beard and the short/shaved hair too. Definitely adds to the look, haha.
Yes.
Thanks! My current look is easier to maintain than the sub 210 lb lean physique I created a couple years ago. I look bigger in a shirt this way, too.
I have several ideas for my right arm. I think I’ll go see my artist and make him plan the whole arm. With my left arm, there was no real plan. It turned out pretty good but I think if there’s a big picture plan from the start then everything can flow together better.
I’m digging the beard now that I’m used to it. Going back to the mohawk and keeping the beard for summer has crossed my mind.
On a training related note, it’s a rest day and I’m doing the “fast” where I get 400 calories for breakfast and dinner, 12 hours apart. I feel kind of good on one fasting day a week. If I do a second one then I get pretty sluggish midway through the day.
Fasting is life my man
The hungry wolf catches his prey
I have found that there is a fine line between having bounce in your step and having a clear mind vs being hangry and sluggish.
SQUAT
5 x 135, 185, 210, 235
HANG POWER CLEAN
185 x3
205 x 3
220 x 3 x 5 sets
PULL UPS
8
PUSH UPS
15
SL LEG PRESS
316 x 10 ea
366 x 10 ea x 2
LYING LEG CURL
100 x 10
55 Rep Complex (95 lbs)
2:26, Rest 3 min, 2:32
Squats haven’t changed. I tried going with a wider stance and wearing my Chucks but it still sucked. Leg press didn’t do it for me either. It’s a super short range of motion. I was going to try box squats but the boxes here are too short and I didn’t want to mess with it for one set. The barbell complex was unbroken both times. I deliberately rested early so I didn’t get to that point of hyperventilating. My best time remains 2:09 from my first run at it last week.
The @Frank_C rep clock keeps ticking
Random thought:
Back in 2012 (I think that was the year), I stopped training legs all summer and replaced lifting with running. I had my wife put together running workouts for me geared towards getting better at the 200m sprint. I trained three days a week.
The results? My muscle mass stayed the exact same, but my vertical tanked. I started playing basketball in the fall and could barely dunk. I did plyo training for six weeks and no progress. The light bulb finally came on and I threw in some leg training (mostly single leg leg press). Fast forward a couple weeks and my vertical exploded. I went from barely being able to dunk fresh to being buried under the rim with guys on my back and being able to jump straight up and dunk.
Why do I write this? I’m tempted to go back to running only. The trick will be finding the time and a track. In those days, I worked 7a - 3p or 3p - 11p so I could train in the morning or after work which was still before my wife got home. If I can figure out how to do this then I’ll still have some sort of leg training in the week; just not much…
