Looks like you got it covered. To be honest, I couldn’t tell you the perfect lat exercise. I know how the muscle functions and which direction the muscle fibers run, but that’s where I stop thinking. I can get myself plenty sore at the insertion point (the armpit), but is that really an indicator of success? It’s such a huge muscle; does soreness at one tiny spot mean I trained it effectively? I still don’t know.
I think my favorite exercise is the Hammer Strength Iso Lateral Pull Down. I think it’s Paul Carter’s favorite, too.
That’s alright J, not looking for the “perfect lat exercise.” I don’t really want to think about them too much either. I prefer to think of them as movements - horizontal push/pull accessories, and vertical push/pull accessories. What Wendler said stuck in my head that form and technique is definitely important for the main lifts. But for the assistance, you don’t need to get so hell bent on finding the perfect one and doing perfect form, just get the work in - it’s assistance. He also says however that if a set is worth doing, it’s worth doing correctly (or was it Dave Tate that said that, I forget). I’m just keeping training economy in mind…but part of the truth is that I’m just kinda lazy to do so much exercises too lol.
I don’t view it as laziness. I think most people get caught up doing junk volume. If you pick one exercise and do it right, then you shouldn’t need to do more. Like you said, do a horizontal pull and a vertical pull and you’ll be fine. If you want to drift into my world of training OCD then add in reverse fly’s for good measure.
Last training session was about a month ago. Will get to lift again tomorrow. I’ve got no clue how to jump back on to 5/3/1 after a month long break so I guess I’ll just pick up where I left off, which conveniently is 1st week of my latest cycle. Hoping I won’t die under the bar tomorrow lol
Hey man. Been studying anywhere from 12-14 hours a day for a really important exam for my career. Unfortunately, I had to move it so I can squeeze in a few sessions again for now
Training wise, if you’re not ready to be consistently back to the gym. I would just hit a whole body workout.
work up to 3x8 with a weight you can easily hit on the last set about 2 reps shy of failure.
The easy one would be
Squat 3x8 SS hanging leg raise
bench 3x8 SS BB row
DL no SS
Lat raises 3x12 SS pull up/pull down
Curls 3 x 12 SS triceps 3 x 12
do it every other day or twice a week and do variations of all lifts.
If you can start 531 consistently go back a cycle and start it over.
Checked my weigth after so long of not weighing myself. 71.2kg
Squat 80 x 5, 90 x 5, 102.5 x 5 (RPE 8.5), FSL 80 x 5 paused
Felt off at first. Wasn’t even sure if I was putting the bar in the right low bar position for the first few sets. 90kg felt good, topset felt heavy. Hips shot up faster than I’d like on the last rep of the top set so called it there. Anyway, quite pleased considering a 1 month gap.
Bench 42.5 x 5, 50 x 5, 57.5 x 7
Quite surprised considering my best rep max is 57.5 x 10
Pullups 3, 3, 3, 3, 1, 2
These felt harder than I’d like but goal was to hit 15 reps, so there’s that
Lat pull downs 40kg x 10, 45kg x 10 x 2
Dips 5, 5, 5
1 armed seated rows 4 plates x 10 x 3
Didn’t do so much FSL cause I wanted to make sure I had enough in the tank for assistance exercises. Not too worried since I do have a 1 month gap. Looking forward to the DOMS tomorrow!
Yep, the other is DL and OHP. Thinking of adding pull ups and dips to that day too to hit chest and and back with more frequency as you mentioned before. Thanks mort!
I didn’t see this before but I reckon be careful with pull up recovery. It’s big muscles shifting big weights so shouldn’t be underestimated in how taxing it is
I would throw in some rows of some kind on the second day as back work. BB, DB, cable rows. You have to hit the back both horizontal and vertical. You could throw in 1 set of pull ups as one amrap set.
Some not-so-random idea I was contemplating about while I space out from studying for my board exam…
I figured, since I don’t really have the luxury of time for training right now, I thought maybe I’d do sumo 5/3/1 for now to get the most out of the training session instead of fiddling around trying to figure out my technique for conventional with light weights. Will just go back to conventional when I can train 3 times a week again…
Or…practice technique on conventional with light weights (up to what would look like acceptable form) and treat it like warm up, and then do 3 x 5 of heavy sumos or something afterwards…
Admittedly though, part of it is just for the itch and impatience of wanting to pick up something “heavy” from the floor. I’m kinda leaning towards the latter, but care to talk some sense into me?
Deadlift 60, 70, 80 kg 5 reps x 3 Sumo 80, 90, 100kg 5 reps x 3
I think I did better with my conventional on this. Definitely coming in rusty since my last deadlift session was 7 weeks ago, but I think the lower back rounding has improved even just a bit with this wider(ish) stance and new set up. Hook grip on the sumo felt awful at first. Thumbs definitely got sensitized again. Since the conventional were light, I think this set up felt doable considering the fact that I’ve gotten no deadlift practice. Will slowly add weight to conventional from here and do a little sumo just to strengthen the hips
OHP 30, 35, 40kg x 5, FSL 3 x 5
Man, these felt heavy.
Side laterals 5kg ss Seated Face Pulls 20, 20, 17.5, 17.5 (4 sets)
Back Extensions 10 reps BW, with isometric holds on the last reps
Felt my glutes firing with these. Might make these slower next time specially on the eccentric. Definitely should keep doing these.
Wanted to add in some dips and pullups but ran out of time
I just realized, for squat, bench, and OHP, I’m just 1-3 reps shy of my strongest lifts in the past. So that means my strength didn’t decrease that much. I guess I should be happy with that.
but goal was to hit 15 reps, so there’s that
