No! You can’t say that until you run the program. Trust me, the enjoyment comes in phase three! If you have the same success that I had the first time I ran it (and hope to have this time) then you’ll learn to love it. It’s amazing to increase your PR’s by never training to failure. No more beating yourself into submission; just good, hard, smart training.
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Maybe maybe not, I really like going for a rep pr, and the feeling when beating a previous rep pr is awesome.
But let’s see how it goes, then I’ll decide.
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I may have already said this but SGSS is the plan for me after my cut. If I can get half the results that you got from it I’d be really happy. I may do a hypertrophic phase first, but no more 6x2s for me for a long time. I think that’s more of a peaking program than anything else
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16 September 2018 -Supersets/Active Recovery Bodyweight: 215.3lbs
45 degree angle GHR 3x10 bodyweight + sideways band walks, 10 steps L&R (no rest)
Sumo Pallof Press 1x10 17.5, 1x10 22.5, 1x10 27.5 + Sumo Pallof Twist same weight & reps (no rest)
Reverse Cable Flys 3x10 17.5lbs + KB Swings 3x10 45lbs (no rest)
Good Mornings 1x10, 1x15, 1x20 95lbs + Seated Calf Raises 3x10 2 plates (1sec contraction + stretch at bottom) (no rest)
Lat Pulldowns 5x8 130lbs (30sec rest)
notes
215lbs today after waking up at noon and sleeping for 9 hours. Didn’t eat much yesterday, but drank a decent amount of carbs at work (cranberry juice, orange juice, lemonade, water, root beer). Pretty much whatever reserves we had in the back for the bar is what I ate from 1pm til 10:30pm. Not ideal for a diet, but it gave me energy to carry 80lb racks of plates around and load the truck at the end of the shift.
All I had today before my workout was water–a lot of it. I’m not sure how that affected my weight this morning, though. I’m assuming I’m holding onto a healthy amount of glycogen and water because I went so carb-heavy yesterday.
I got home from work last night and had 6 beers and a large Moscow Mule with my dad by the bonfire in the backyard. It was a relaxing way to end a long day. I woke up around noon, like I said. Felt the hard liquor headache in the back of my skull when I woke up. No worries; an ibuprofen and caffeine pill and about 6 cups of water had me feeling great.
Today was Day 19 of my lat pulldown experiment. Looks like I’m only at 523 reps while about 63.5% of the way through my 30 days. Time to pick up the pace a little bit. I need to average 48 reps/day every day from here on out to meet my deadline.
I really enjoyed this quick workout today. I walked into the gym at 1:24 and the gym closed at 2:00, so I was out of there at 1:55. My hamstrings are going to be very sore tomorrow because I haven’t done good mornings in over a month, but it’s worth it. I love good mornings with all my heart.
Right now, the plan for tomorrow is cloudy. It wholly depends on how my hamstrings feel. If they’re feeling good, then I’ll be doing 10x3 front squats, maybe 5x8 single leg squats, and 10x3 OHP. If my hamstrings are tight and sore, I’ll probably just go for a jog. Maybe I’ll do some lat pulldowns.
I’ll be very strict with my diet this week and then take some measurements and do an official weigh-in next Monday morning. One of my best friends is getting married on Saturday, so my usual Friday+Saturday schedule will be replaced with some celebration. I turn 21 on Wednesday, but instead of getting pizza or something, my dad is grilling steaks and my mom is making some broccoli salad and some pesto pasta. It’s going to be a semi healthy cheat dinner. It’s shaping up to be an odd week. I’m going to hang out with a cute girl I haven’t talked to in 4 or 5 years until 3 days ago, I’m going to legally be allowed to purchase alcohol and tobacco (again), and one of my most longtime friends is getting hitched. AND I have an exam on my birthday in anatomy&physiology which is a make-or-break sort of thing for me. It’s going to be interesting, but y’all know I’m still going to get my training in.
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Just did a set of plate drags and I can already tell I’m going to be sore tomorrow. They’re definitely more effective than the adductor and abductor machines in the gym. I’m hoping that these can round out my hip and leg strength and help me get over my stupid hip flexor business.
I use the abduction/adduction machine! I don’t care what people think. The one I use has an adjustable back rest and I can almost lie down flat. I find that my hip flexors do a lot of work when my hip is flexed so mimicking the standing version works best.
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17 September 2018 - Legs Bodyweight: 211.4lbs with shoes on…
Warmup: Soft tissue stuff, band walks, knee band clams, and sumo pallof twists
Front Squat 9x3 225lbs (60sec)
Single Leg BB Split Squat 3x8 each leg 95lbs (60sec)
Lat Pulldown 7x8 130lbs (30sec)
Notes
very quick workout. Not very easy, though. Whole thing took me about 45min after sitting in the library at school studying for 4 hours straight. I’m fuckin’ exhausted now.
Lat Pulldowns Day 20, 579 reps.
rest day tomorrow. Probably will just do some jump rope in the driveway when I get tired of studying for my make-or-break anatomy exam…
I got some things to gripe about when it comes to anatomy. I’ll save it for another night when I have a single shred of energy… Good night fellas
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Nice, these lat pulldowns are adding up.
Im gonna add in this 8x8 after my meet prep is over.
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i tried doing the pulldowns every session but i ended up hating lat pulldowns because of doing them so often
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Damn man. Lat pull downs have always been kinda brainless to me, so I didn’t mind. You prolly shoulda mixed it up with other back movements in an 8x8.
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My back gets hit quite alot and seems to keep growing so for now its probably Just jumk volume. I do like the 8×8 With short rest periods tho for a sick back pump
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Yeah man. Mixing it up is a good idea
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I’m kinda in between you two on this one. I don’t mind lat pulldowns, because monotony is part of training. But I’ve considered switching to 8x8 barbell rows or something.
I wanted to do DB rows since those never fail to give me a lat pump, but it would be very difficult to get 30sec of rest between each set. It’d basically be rowing 8 reps each side with 5-10sec of rest which would add up quickly. Plus, since it’s a unilateral movement, I’d end up feeling like I just did 16x8 instead of 8x8…maybe that’s worth a shot though
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You could always do DB seal rows.
I remember that article didn’t recommend unilateral training.
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I’ve seen CT say horizontal pulling is more important than vertical pulling for back development. I also just read something the other day by him where he said he’s caused shoulder pain by having athletes do too much vertical pulling.
I’ve made sure to increase my horizontal pulling. Sometimes I’m equal with one horizontal pull and one vertical but if I add any work it’s always horizontal.
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@lava2007 I got my electric stim thingamajig now. Tried it yesterday, a bit sorer in the shoulder today than normal. Might be unrelated though. Worked wonders on my glute. Thanks for the tip!
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No problem brother 
I used it on my lateral left gastroc a few days ago (one of the spots where I was feeling weak and numb from the nerve BS) and it’s been sore for days. There’s gotta be something to it, because it helps my glute a ton, too. I’m assuming it has something to do with how dense and thick the muscle is, relative to it’s superficiality or deepness. I can use maximum output on my erectors and glutes with no issue, but my calves, shoulders, arms, and quads (all the superficial muscles) can’t tolerate very much intensity.
I actually read that, too, and it crossed my mind yesterday while I was doing pulldowns. I think sitting completely perpendicular to the floor and pulling directly down is not a good position for shoulders to be in. When I started leaning back with a little lumbar and thoracic extension, the movement (and my shoulders) felt a lot better.
It’s hard to tell how much progress I’ve made with the pulldowns. I think I might use @SOUL_FIGHTER’s suggestion and do some seal rows or maybe some old-fashioned barbell rows. I think pendlay rows would be an option but I don’t feel like traumatizing my lower back like that right now.
I like seal rows because bent over rows and pendlay rows MURK my lower back.
I also like putting the incline up a little higher and doing seal shrugs too
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19 September 2018 - Birthday Bench!! Bodyweight: 214.2lbs
Warmup: Soft tissue glute & hips, band clams x25, lateral band walks x25 each side, forward and backward band walks x25 each way, sumo pallof twists 2x10 each side
Barbell Bench 10x3 235lbs (60sec)
Seated DB OHP 30x10, 50x6, 65x20 (PR)
Lat Pulldowns 8x8 130lbs (30sec and EASY)
1 mile, 9 minutes (walked first 1:15) – peak heart rate 189bpm
Notes
A nice, quick, easy, and fun workout for my 21st birthday yesterday. I felt stronger on the bench with a grip that was narrower than I’m used to; only thing I need to focus on there is making sure my elbows stay below the bar. It’s easy to let your elbows track up towards your shoulders with a narrower grip. I think part of that is because people in general like to bring their elbows back, then swing them forward to get a little momentum going into the next rep. That’s just my theory, I haven’t watched any slow-motion videos of people benching.
Lat Pulldown day 22 I think. 643 reps. I won’t be able to make 1,000 reps in 30 days, unfortunately, because I’ve got a lot of stuff going on this weekend with my buddy’s wedding and the boys being back in town for the weekend. So there will be plenty of alcohol consumed and food eaten, but probably 0 lat pulldowns on Saturday or Sunday. Monday will be day 26 and I’ll be at 707 if I do 8x8 tomorrow. That’s fine. Like @Frank_C said, vertical pulling (especially on a machine; I think pull-ups are more viable) isn’t the greatest for back development. Lats are meant to retract the elbows across the frontal plane, not the coronal plane.
I wasn’t feeling particularly strong so I decided to chase a DB OHP PR with lighter weight. I think I got 75x14 or 16 last time, so I dropped it down to 65s. I’m just having fun with it, not on any set progression. The AMRAPs are fun.
I had two exams in anatomy & physiology yesterday. I thought I aced both of them, but I ended up getting 70/90 (77%) on my lecture exam and a 59/70 (84%) on my lab exam. Thankfully, my professor admitted to including some things on the lab exam that she didn’t tell us to study, so she graded us /60. So I got a 59/60 for a 98% which feels pretty awesome. I had a high D in that class prior to these exams, and now I think I have a mid to high C which is a good spot to be in. In every math or science class I’ve taken, I’ve ended up with a B, and I’ve had a C for a vast majority of the semester. I get better at studying as the semester wears on, and as I’m more and more inclined to grind for 4-6 hours at a time in the library. I’ve figured out how to truly study, at least for myself. I never considered myself to be much of a textbook guy, but reading the textbook and highlighting it and then making flash cards is definitely the way to go. My prof makes power points and uploads them to the class site, but she leaves out a good amount of things that she puts on the exams, which is why I failed my first two. I knew everything on the power points, and nothing else. So she puts about 70% of the textbook into the powerpoints (which is why each presentation is 120+ slides), but knowing that extra 30% is beneficial to say the least. 77% isn’t great, but it’s 11% better than I did on my first one.
For my birthday, I got a 24 pack of Coors Light (in bottles), a fifth of Fireball, a gift certificate to my favorite burrito place, a beer holster (holds 6 cans at once), a Cohiba from my dad, and my buddy who is getting married got me a pair of AND1s as a joke, and wrote me a card that made me want to cry. My dad got me a 2.05lb porterhouse and grilled it up; my mom made my favorite dish, broccoli salad, and some pesto pasta with cherry tomatoes. She also made cake, and my older sister picked up ice cream. It was a meal fit for a king, and the company to correspond with such a meal. It was my best birthday ever. Low key with good food and people that I love dearly.
It feels so fucking good to know that people love me and care about me, and my birthday was exactly what I needed. Not the gifts themselves, but to have that reassurance and to have people tell me they love me and care about me and put in that extra effort for the day–that’s what I love, and that’s what I needed. I’ve been having a rough go over the last few months with injuries, a girl, school, and my financial situation, but yesterday was an oasis in all of that. I feel like I have a new life, in a way. It’s a great time to be me, regardless of what I’m going through.
Time for a quick nap, then off to squat. I squatted down in the AND1s and I had no hip flexor pain. I might try squatting in them at some point. Today is front squats, with a belt this time, and then some hamstring stuff. I might do some RDLs as well. That’s all… will check back in about 5 hours.
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There’s always been a funky dichotomy there in terms of rows. In order for me to overload my lats, my lower back has to be capable of stabilizing my entire body (210-225lbs) plus however much I’m trying to row (185-245lbs). At that point I’m lucky if I can get any clean reps, it’s just too much weight. I think seal rows are a great option.