Decided i am doing a 2.5/3 week aggressive cut, i had success when i did it a few years back and after listening to this Eugene Teo vid it convinced me it was fine to do it again just before my holiday. Vane i know but is what it is! Its a quick way to tighten up a little without spending too long in a deficit. Im happy to suffer for 3 weeks, i havnt switch back to GMM just yet so will just do upper lower split for a couple of weeks.
First day on low cals today and done some morning āfastedā walking.
All good thank you, cut started well and tightened up pretty noticably in the first couple of weeks but then felt like i regressed a bit in 3rd week and now hitting the holiday food hard! I was around 8lb down over the 3 weeks, so not a massive loss but enough to look a bit sharper.
Hotel has a gym but due to covid restriction still in spain the spaces are limited and not managed to get a training session in but really not too bothered.
First session back tonight and fancied some giant sets and a fast paced session. Did a quick google for a Brian Alsruhe session and found this, didnt have sets and reps in the article so did 4 sets of every exercise.
Main Giant Set
A1: Barbell row, 10 seconds rest
A2: Bench press, 10 seconds rest
A3: Oblique exercise, 90 seconds rest
Secondary Giant Set
B1: DB row, 10 seconds rest
B2: Close grip bench press, 10 seconds rest
B3: Oblique exercise, 90 seconds rest
Accessory Giant Set
C1: Dips, 10 seconds rest
C2: Triceps extensions, 10 seconds rest
C3: Explosive push ups, 90 seconds rest
Thinking of running a full programme of his as a change of pace for a while. Any recommendation welcomed. Want to get some sandbag work and jumps in somewhere.
Im looking at getting a few more āfunctional trainingā bits for the home gym but struggling on what weights to get. So any advice is welcomed on the following itemsā¦
Sand bags
I currently have my pillow case monstrosity which weighs 60kg. I think im going to get an 85kg bag for carries and lifting from the floor, squating ect.
weighted vest
Seen a weight adjustable 30kg one i fancy.
slam ball
Thinking 20 or 25kg, to use for throws and slams, would really like a heavy one for atlas style stuff but they are Ā£Ā£Ā£
heavier kettle bell
For swings. Have no idea what kind of weight i would benifit most from. Never done swings before. Was thinking 30kg maybe.
battle ropes
Does lenght and weight particularly matter???
Picked this up from facebook marketplace, not sure what weight would be good to start at for swings but for Ā£20 new and unused i couldnt turn it down even if i only use it for rows and walking lunges ect.
Weather looked good for the bank holiday weekend so loaded up the camper and had a couple of days away. Far too many rest days at the minute but this is what lifes all about!
giant set 1
Kettle bell swing
Deadlift
Hanging leg raises
giant set 2
Broad jumps
Stiff leg deadlifts
Ab wheel roll outs
giant set 3
Single arm row
Back extention
Striaght arm pull down
More sets of deadlift than ive been doing, first time doing swings with a decent weight (im sure atrocious form) and ab wheel roll outs. Im going to feel this session tommorow.
@T3hPwnisher im looking at running a Brian Alsruhe program and i beleive you have a fair amount of experience with his stuff. Ive watched the free mass building video and im going to draw up what its going to look like. Would it be okay if i ask you for some advice along the way? A few things i just want to clarify.
@kd13 I ran through a few of his free templates from the YouTube videos, but I never touched the Mass Builder program specifically. I also purchased some of the $20 pre-written ones, but never took a real crack at them due to the home-gym limitations I have. They look legit though.
@kleinhound Has had some success with his programs more recently than me too.
Same boat which is why i liked the look of the free mass template, i know if get an actual written out routine i will have to butcher it to make it fit anyway.
I have strenght giant sets worked out, explosive or antagonist first, main exercise done light medium or heavy, ab movement then something to get heart rate going. The technique giant sets im unsure on a little, will watch vid again and search for a bit of info.
I ran the press portion of Dark Horse for a few weeks a while back, but even cutting out the DE work the workouts were running too long for me. I bought the MassBuilder e-book a few months back and liked the look of it, but havenāt run it. But Brian does good work: canāt go wrong.
@T3hPwnisher the length is certainly a concern of mine, cant remember the last time i took more than 45 min to finish a session. The strength giant is 3 sets and says to keep rest short so 15 or so minutes. The technique is 10 emom or 5x5 or 4x8. So 10-15. Assistance is another 10-15 and then conditioning for 10 min. So may just get it in under 1h but will have to be moving arse.
Just got done with my second run through of mass builder and am on the max out week. Also have done PB Strongman and 4Horseman from as well Alsruhe as well recently. I train in my garden so have a bit more space for the giant set set ups so makes it a bit easier.
The technique giant sets are the best part of mass builder if you do them properly, I just got done with doing 90% of my strict overhead max for a 5x5 from following the % increase progression roughly and adding 1.25s each time I felt I could. So rather than doing 60kg for 10 sets emom, I would do triples at 60kg, 65kg x 7 sets, then 62.5kg for the last two sets maintaining good technique and just adjusting the weight up or down based on feel of the last set.
I did the same thing on the squat and bench technique sets just changing the weight up or down based on feel so I was always pushing myself the appropriate amount, didnāt adjust the deadlift just followed the % strict since deads are most taxing especially a 10 x 3 emom.
I got a kensui weight vest which is insanely easy to adjust for weighted pullups or chins as mass builder makes you do. Definitely worthwhile pretty comfy and can use it for loads of stuff and have loaded it up to 50+kg as well
For battle ropes I just got 12 metres from Amazon for 36 quid was ridiculously cheap compared to what I expected. Just make sure you have at least 7 metres of free space to use them I just have them wrapped around a tree and leave them outside year round
For a slam ball I got a 40kg one from strength shop for just over 100 which isnāt too bad, postman wasnāt happy but quite useful to have
