11/06/2020
Running
Notes:
You could always just use the original 5/3/1; hit your top set, then do some assistance. Remember that the supplemental work is a way to help increase your skill and get more work in for the main lift, to increase that specific lift. It’s not necessary if your goal is to use the lifts as a driver for muscle growth.
Also, should you choose to use supplemental work, it doesn’t have to be the same as the main lift; using OHP as supplemental work for incline bench is completely acceptable, and is nice if you’re the kind of person who hates doing a million sets of the same thing.
You can also use rest/pause for your top set in 5/3/1. Jim has talked about that being okay for the bench and press.
Thanks for the reminder. I always think I’ve got 5/3/1 figured out then someone on here will just drop a sentence that totally opens up a new way of viewing it for me.
I’ve been doing FSL 5x5 after my presses, as I’d actually like to be able to press more weight and I don’t want the volume of BBB/BBS (may not be the best route but I’ll stick with it until I’m not satisfied), and FSL 1x20 with my squats and deadlifts since I feel like blowing a lung out really builds my mental toughness on those lifts, but it’s my bench that’s been giving me trouble. I just plain don’t want to do it, haha. I just feel like I need to do some version (incline DB?) in order to build any upper body muscle. I’m working on losing weight and getting stronger, but once I can do an appreciable amount of reps on chinups and dips, I’m definitely gonna just do a ton of those. Makes things simple and I like high rep bodyweight work
Why? There’s plenty of ways to build a big upper body without benching. Go hard on your OHP, do push-ups or dips, throw in some isolated shoulder and triceps work and you’re pretty much set for pressing muscles. Then you just need some back and biceps work.
@flappinit and I briefly discussed this concept for legs: you could get a solid leg day out of deadlift, leg press/extensions, and hamstring curls. Squats, honestly, don’t need to be in the picture.
I think the issue is that the Big 3 get so shoved down our throats we think you can’t advance without them. I don’t believe it’s true.
Ah but that’s that stuff I don’t like, haha.
On my press day, I superset my warmups with pull aparts, my main sets with chin-ups, and my supplemental sets with laterals and rear delt rows. I’m gonna call that good for shoulders.
I would gladly just do tons of dips and pushups but currently I’m weak/fat enough that I can’t do enough in a single workout to have much affect, hence the incline work.
Working on that body weight work though - I’ll get there!
That’s where rest/pause work comes in. Go heavy enough that there’s enough intensity to keep you interested. I don’t like isolation work either but I know it’s a necessary evil. The rest/pause format keeps me interested for the 5 minutes it takes to get it done.
I’m of the opinion that failure is failure — by which I mean if you’re going to momentary muscular failure, whether that takes 5 reps or 50, your body will be forced to adapt. So if you can “only” do, say, 10 reps, but you’re unable to do an 11th rep without taking a break, and you repeat that a handful of times, your body will need to adapt and increase muscle.
This efficiency alone is worth it, let alone the boredom prevention factor.
Also, you must have an affinity for deadlifting. I could drop deadlifts and make great gains, but if I stop squatting I tend to shrink and flatten out. haha
I love deadlifts. They just don’t fit my program right now. I find if I’m focusing on size, I’ll deadlift more and drop squats or do them minimally. If I’m doing more athletic work (like now) then I squat more and swap deadlifting for Olympic lift variations.
I can also, bizarrely, deadlift heavy and frequently without much issue, but heavy squatting obliterates me.
I’m the polar opposite. I made progress this cycle by dropping my DL training max by 40 pounds and leaving 2-3 solid reps in the tank. Anything more will take away from the other lifts, especially my squat.
Squats, as long as I don’t fail reps I can just keep doing them.
3 sets of 12 cable flys, crossing your hands past each other for max contraction
Incline dumbbell presses, working up to two top sets to failure, second set dropsetting the weight to failure
3 sets bodyweight dips to failure
That’s a solid enough chest day for someone who’s not too psyched on it but wants to build some size. If you do OHP/lateral Raises on another day, shrugs/upperback lat pulldowns/rows another day, you’re golden.
And yeah @kdjohn I thought about those leg days often during my 10x10 squats, lol.
2 sets of 6-8 deadlifts.
2 sets of 8-12 leg presses
3 sets of 15 leg extensions
3 sets of 15 leg curls
So beautiful. So simple.
So shallow.
I missed this the other day, but thank you.
14/06/2020
Power clean
Squats
Pullovers
Superset
Isometric stretching, 1x60 sec
Notes:
You know you can do single leg work, right? You have plenty of weight to do RFESS and kickstand RDLs.
Man, I despise single leg work, unless it’s a heavy prowler. I don’t know what it is, but it immediately makes me want to throw a tantrum like a child.
Yeah, it sucks. But I bet it sucks less than 6+ minutes of squats.
Fair point, haha.
I probably won’t return to the Hungarian Oak Leg Blast once I finish it — at least not without a shift in gears first. Getting to 5+ minutes wasn’t that bad, but the 6+ minutes have been awful. It definitely added some size to my legs (and my upper back, conveniently), but the thought of going through the last week and the upcoming one again is no bueno.
I’m pretty good at making things work (usually around an injury). I don’t always like my options, but I can always do something to train close to normal.
If you don’t have enough weight to do your preferred leg training then your choices are higher reps or training one leg at a time.
I suppose you could do 30/20/10. Imagine getting psyched for your plus sets. “Alright, time for the 10+ set. I need to hit 32 to set a new rep PR. Let’s do this!”
Good golly, that would be crazy. Not even I’m that sadistic, haha.