1000 rep arm workout, 5x20, bicep/tricep suspersetted
barbell curl/band pressdown
band curl/band overhead extension
plate hammer curls/skull crushers
seated barbell curl/triceps kickbacks
barbell reverse curl/BW bench dips
Notes:
In hindsight, this workout was not a good idea today. We had some rain come in and my hands/wrists always ache like crazy. Never took care of them when I trained martial arts, and after getting them mangled so often now I’m paying for it.
I need to get an EZ curl bar I think. Doing straight bar curls, even with a wide grip, were wrecking my wrists.
3 minutes is officially the point at which this program sucks. It’s not Deep Water suck, I imagine, but fuck me, 3 minutes of squatting even with light weight is just awful.
It seems that the first 30ish reps or so aren’t that bad. This usually equates to about 1 minute or so into the time. By the end of the second minute, things really start to slow down. Anything after that just becomes a blur and I try to shut my brain off.
I’m really liking the isometric stretches. They’re really uncomfortable during the set, but afterwards the rush of blood into the area feels really good… I’m fully aware of the joke there but there isn’t another way to say it.
I was absolutely gassed today for some reason. Body felt good but the lungs just couldn’t keep up.
Update
I’ve had some interesting realizations in the last few days, that go along with what I talked about before regarding wanting to feel like a modern day “warrior”: I crave, above all else, performance-based goals. The prospect of training to increase lift specific poundage, or simply to look good, don’t really appeal to me as much as training to be an all around more dangerous human.
I recognize that ultimately training combative arts increases the above, but in lieu of that, I want my workouts to mimic the demands of life, especially regarding my work. In my mind, this means a combination of very low rep strength/power training (think of those “one shot, one kill” moments), and very high rep endurance training (think chasing someone down, or having to restrain and manipulate someone for a long time).
I’ll still sprinkle some “bodybuilding” work in here and there because I believe it helps keep the muscles healthy, but I won’t be chasing size nearly as much. I’ll start this new avenue once I wrap my current training regimen.
As an aside, @flipcollar, I believe I’ve seen you mention in the past that you’ve been able to add on size and strength through the years without the additional of an appreciable amount of fat. What’re some tips that have helped you with that?
Someone always, without fail, brings up Brian’s programs and I go, “Huh, I really should do some of his stuff. I’m sure it would benefit me” and then I instantly forget about it.
Does he have specific programs aside from the personalized ones offered in his store and the daily workouts? You and @T3hPwnisher have convinced me to tackle Brian’s stuff.
Bit of DC style training today. I like swapping between this and Kroc’s arm workout week to week.
Managed to break rep records on everything from last time except the Kroc rows, which saw a 3 rep decrease. The fuck? I’ll chalk it up to being in a slight deficit now.
Clearly, all the running I’ve been doing has been paying off. Normally the 1.5km runs I was doing were gassing me. I got into a good pace and rhythm this time and just kept going.
Not sure if it’s my imagination, or if the combination of the Hungarian Oak Leg Blast and running intervals are paying off, but I saw my legs in the mirror this morning and was surprised; they seem to have put on a noticeable amount of size.
While it still sucked, much like running yesterday I got a good rhythm and breathing pattern going and was, except towards the end, able to just keep squatting. Just shut my brain off and focused on continuous movement.
Figured I needed to have at least one day with direct calf work. Stole another page from DC training and used that. I’ll probably need to add weight because even though the set was long and had a lot of tension, I could‘ve done a lot more reps; I made sure to time the eccentric and bottom pause so that I wasn’t cheating.
Yes, I started the next week in this program already, even though I just did this workout yesterday. My work schedule changed so that I’ll be doing four 11 hour shifts, followed by three days off. Between wanting sleep, needing to eat, and taking care of my wife and kid, I know the only way I’ll be able to get weight sessions in is if I do them on my three off days. The work days will be alternating running and yoga, because I know I can easily do those immediately upon waking up, so time isn’t a factor. It’s not ideal, but to pull a page from @flappinit’s book, if you wanna get shit done, find a way to make it happen.
Unless noted, this was all done with a barbell. I don’t have squat stands anymore, but I still have a banged up old bench, crappy standard bar, and shitty iron plates, but that’s really all you need to get the job done. Wanted to go back to the barbell for this whole workout.
It was pretty quick too; minus distractions from my wife and son, this would’ve been done in probably 35-40 minutes. And I was done by the end of it.
