No shame in that at all. I got 2 Juggernaut action figures on my desk at work right now to keep me focused. A lot of times fiction can provide the ideas and motivation necessary to accomplish some real world stuff.
Good to hear about the farmers. It sounds like you’re learning how to master the momentum, which is pretty valuable in getting speed going.
12" ROM (32" Chain) PMT Axle Squats - 315 x 2 x 12
Everything feels nice and tight with these. I’m getting some swinging and I’m controlling it fine, so it’s starting to get too easy. (By no means is it actually easy, it’s just not hard enough anymore, if that makes any sense.)
Increasing the ROM tomorrow. I’ve hit 3 days with 2 x 12, even though they haven’t been consecutive.
Given that I’ve got physique goals concurrent with the strength goals, there’s a few things I need to work into my schedule.
If you take a photo of me and compare to those images of Kazuya – and then scale everything for proportions – my most significant lagging part is still my arms, followed by my delts.
Regarding my arms: I’m already doing curls 3x a week, and that’s helping. I’m also doing some form of pressing 3x a week and that, too, is helping. However, if I remember right from what I learned before, one or more of the tricep heads is relatively neglected while pressing. I’m not sure which one. It would make sense to get at least one triceps exercise to hit that and to do it after my pressing.
Regarding my delts: I’m not sure when the best place for this is. Possibly best to do it after the overhead pressing, although I’m not sure which lift to use. Lateral raises are out because of pain, but those wide partial upright rows might be a good choice.
Regarding my lats: I can use pullups/chins for this, and probably even the frequency chins would be a good start. My biggest concern is how to sequence this with the other bicep work, because I don’t want to take my biceps to failure and then do chins. On the other hand, I don’t want to fail at biceps work because of chins. I also don’t know whether my biceps actually need a full rest day to grow, or whether failure work 3x a week, and frequency chins 5-7x a week will be fine.
Mat pulls may get worked in 1x a week, once I finish this squat cycle. This is more a matter of space, number of plates, and squat/deadlift/farmers-walk interaction.
But I’m just spewing hot air here.
What will probably actually happen is:
I start working on frequency chins and maybe even frequency pushups (per Greyskull’s original concepts), and do a single delt lift 1-3x a week. And that’s it.
I’m not willing to spend enough time (and eating and sleeping) to do everything that I think is a good idea, which includes mat pulls, zerchers, z presses, yoke walking, and rucking, in addition to the above.
EDIT: from what I just researched, it seems tricep-wise what I need to do is some sort of overhead extension movement to hit the long head, since the pressing hits the other two fine.
My feeling with the chins/curls dilemma is that it shouldn’t matter if you do chins first and then have to use a lighter weight/lower volume on the curls, because the biceps are still being hit just as hard. Superficially it seems like you are lifting less, but if anything they are working harder. The reason they weaken your curls is because they are effective at hitting your biceps themselves. It would be a different story if your priority with the curls was strength or technique, but if you are training for biceps hypertrophy then chins will only help. If I were you I’d do high frequency chins as you suggest, and lower your expectations on your curl weight.
I personally find pull-ups to be the second most effective movement for building upper body strength and size, behind bench press but significantly above row variations and other presses. Although tha obviously varies between individuals.
@furo: Thanks for weighing in. I started doing some pullups again – just a few small sets here and there – but a bit more “bodybuilder-style”, cutting off the ends of the range and just keeping tension on the lats.
It’s interesting how you found pullups more effective than row variations. Were those all just bodyweight?
Random sidenote to anyone reading. An empty line followed by three dashes, makes a horizontal line like above. If you don’t have the blank line before it, it just makes the whole thing big and bold.
Today. 54 degrees. Sunny for once, and pretty warm.
3 Mat Decline Axle Press - 135 x 5, 5, 10
14" ROM (30" Chain) PMT Axle Squats - 315 x 0
13" ROM (31" Chain) PMT Axle Squats - 315 x 11
14" ROM (30" Chain) PMT Axle Squats - 315 x 0
13" ROM (31" Chain) PMT Axle Squats - 315 x 11
Decline Axle press continues to go up 5lbs a session. My arms feel really unstable holding it at arms length, but I can handle it fine so whatever.
Shortened the chains/increased the ROM on the squats. I originally added 2", but I couldn’t get that to budge. I gave it a shot at the beginning of the first set, and again at the beginning of the second set.
So I guess I’ll just be moving this down 1" at a time at this point. It’s not like there’s anything particularly wrong with progressing slowly. I’m just glad I can graduate at such fine intervals.
However, that one inch actually made it quite a bit harder. Maybe it had more to do with not eating enough than with the extra inch of ROM, but I was basically dazed with my vision closing in a bit after each of those sets. Then again, I hit 11 reps on each set, as I should have. This was the height where I couldn’t even budge it before.
It’s just weird how I can hit 11 reps here, but it won’t move when it’s an inch lower. It could all be in my head, or it could just be that I’m just not strong enough yet.
470 partial squats this month. Farmers walks this weekend.
It’s probably worth mentioning a few things.
My shoulders hurt here and there. Not enough to hinder me from anything, but putting on a jacket is painful with my left side, if I’m not careful. This hasn’t really gotten better or worse over the last several weeks. Just kind of is.
My chest, the sternum, is currently sore. For a few months (3? 4?) it would get sore, and I’d stretch, and it would pop and that pressure would be relieved. That would happen a few times a day.
As of yesterday, it seemed to have popped for the last time. It now feels permanently stretched, and chronically sore. I haven’t had any popping since then though. I’ve rubbed some Voltaren Gel into it (diclofenac) once a day, just to cut down on inflammation.
In theory, I may have succeeded at that whole “rib cage expansion” stuff. That all relied on being able to stretch the cartilage between the ribs and the sternum, but it ossifies as you get older and gets covered/replaced with bone. But maybe all those pops and cracks were the bony parts breaking.
I have no idea. It just hurts some now, and isn’t popping, and my rib cage seems to be bigger than in the past.
And my back has been continually sore in different places for like a week or two now. Maybe longer.
Yes just bodyweight pull-ups, but I weigh 215lbs so I’m reasonably heavy. Pull-ups definitely grow my forearms/biceps more than rows. It’s harder to tell about lat size, but I’ve done long periods of just rows and long periods of just pull-ups, and I’ve always found that pull-ups get me stronger on all pulling movements whereas rows just get me stronger at rows.
Whole lotta thoughts put down here, lot to sort through. Good that you have some identified goals and areas to work on.
Ever consider ending a workout with a burnout on whatever it is you need to bring up? Something where you can just give it your all and limp away back home. Training 3 days a week, you could end 1 workout will chins, 1 with curls, and 1 with lateral raises. It’s how I tend to structure my training these days.
Yeah, that’s kinda how I was approaching things with the curls with basically burnout sets after every day I pressed. Seems to be working. May start rotating between some stuff, just to hit everything at least once a week or whatever. Really pretty vague on it right now.
The chins I do at home, since I don’t have a great way to do it at the gym. That’s much easier to do stuff like frequency chins though, since I work from home.
Today. 47 or so.
Farmer’s Walks (heavy) - 170/side x 4 x 50’
These were pretty heavy and I’m pretty sore from them. I’m bordering on potentially cramping on the right side of my neck… I feel it’s close, but it hasn’t happened yet.
I’m glad I started cycling between light, medium and heavy, since they all kind of develop a different capacity. I don’t know if they’re really doing what I was hoping as far as “fixing” various imbalances, but they’re doing a whole bunch of other stuff for me from a cardio, willpower, coordination, balance, etc. standpoint. Basically doing a good job at just making be “better”.
Oh, I also figured out how to do a pullup/chin/something with a single ring, where it’s basically like a pullover. Hits my lats almost exclusively. I really can’t describe how it’s done, but it works for me.
Bad session. Barely slept last night, and I’m really delirious today.
Slight Incline Axle Bench Press - 125 x 5, 5, 5
13" ROM (31" Chain) PMT Axle Squats - 315 x 4
Left shoulder was unstable and such. Left side was really weak accordingly. Right side was perfectly fine.
Was not centered on rep 4 of the squats and that messed me up a lot as the weights swung forward or back (can’t remember which).
Low back is really pretty sore, so I gave it a tiny break. Tomorrow will be back at it.
3 Mat Decline Axle Bench Press - 140 x 5, 5, 7
13" ROM (31" Chain) PMT Axle Squats - 315 x 0, 0; 250 x 1; 290 x 1; 315 x 0
Finally (?) dropped below 10 on the final set of decline.
Felt like I couldn’t find good positioning with the squats.
Been at a deficit food-wise for the past couple days. Could be related.
Took a bit of time off.
Slight Incline Axle Bench Press - 127.5 x 5, 5, 4
13" ROM (31" Chain) PMT Axle Squats - 275 x 3; 295 x 3; 315 x 5, 5, 5, 5
Pullover Chins - a few sets
Pinned myself on the last rep. Left shoulder is still being a finicky, so messing with form to get that to stop hurting. If I stretch immediately before, I can get some relief. The same sequence of bent elbow above the head, straight arm across, and external rotator at 90 degrees.
Still sore in my low back during the days. Can’t really place it, or exactly what makes it worse. It’s actually in my back though, not my SI joints. Doesn’t hurt while squatting.
I seem to be capable of squatting 315 from this height again. Just had to experiment with some things to get it moving. Plus, I think the heavy farmers walks may have done me in last week. Either way, I recovered.
Life is pretty busy right now. Signing on the house tomorrow. Breaking ground on Monday. Wedding venue booked. Colors selected. Photographers narrowed down. Bunch of other TBDs.
Been learning about ships and stuff over the past week to just keep myself sane. Unlike land navigation and cold weather stuff, where there’s a ton of resources, it’s a lot harder to find information about ships and stuff. But you dig long enough, you find stuff. Slowly piecing a lot of this together.
I found a used 75m ship available that I toyed with the idea of buying. (Obviously?) not going to actually do that, but it was interesting researching it and then finding out how much I really don’t know about this stuff. I knew enough to pilot a small speedboat and pontoon boat on a lake, but a ship is completely different.
Anyway, I’ll probably be off and on this site for a bit until things calm down. Lifting may become erratic.
13" ROM (31" Chain) PMT Axle Squats - 315 x 11, 11
Went up fine; hard, but fine. Interesting how the body adapts.
If I don’t use my inhaler, I’m breathing hard and my pulse is high after a set. If I do use it, only my pulse is high.
3 Mat Decline Axle Bench Press - 142.5 x 5, 5, 7
Lockout Close Grip Bench - 70 x ?; 80 x ?; 90 x ?
13" ROM (31" Chain) PMT Axle Squats - 315 x 11, 11
Axle Curls - Bar (20) x 3 x near-failure
Still messing with form on the bench because of pain, not because of strength.
Squats went well again, so I’ll be dropping another inch soon.
Tried some tricep work with top-range close grip bench. Harder on my shoulders and right elbow than anything else. Seems good otherwise. Seems like a good thing to throw in on Friday at least, because of 2 recovery days.
Basically working on arm pump stuff since I’m going on a cruise in a couple weeks. See if I can make any change at all in that time period, lol.
Yesterday. 55 degrees.
4.5 mile hike over hilly rocky terrain; saw 3 good size waterfalls, and a number of smaller ones. This left me a bit sore today. It was good.
Today. 65 degrees.
Slight Incline Axle Bench Press - 115 x 5, 5, 12
Slight Incline Axle Reverse Bench Press - 20 x a few; 40 x a few
13" ROM (31" Chain) PMT Axle Squats - 315 x 6, 3, 11, 4, 0
Narrow Neutral Grip Hammer Curls - 65 x F, F, F
This was the first greyskull reset I’ve done since I started doing greyskull back in October or November. The switch from barbell to axle could have counted as a reset though.
Left shoulder still being difficult.
Played with some reverse bench, just to see what that was like. Definitely seems gentler on my shoulder since it puts it in external rotation. Weird and unnatural otherwise… Kind of played with this to hit my “inner upper chest” 
I tightened my loading pins and increased the ROM a bit by doing that. I think that’s why that first set went weird. Did some extra work to compensate.
Then, went and spent another $10 on lifting equipment, to actually fix the problem of my lifting pins getting loose. Switched out the long eyebolts with non-locking nuts to short eyebolts with locking nuts. Had to shorten the length so that I could get a socket to fit (and had to buy a deep socket anyway). Anyway, I shouldn’t have any problems with this in the future now.
Pandora introduced me to a couple new songs today. I classify this as “melodic dubstep”. Good lifting music for me at least.
The first one has a pretty amazing drop.
Going to the gym I was battling with feelings of depression again. Then, with the squats, everything was fixed.
I’m not entirely sure what happened, but something about pushing myself there brought on some sort of simplistic brute strength that just made everything work right again in my head. I used to pretend I understood this stuff, but I really don’t.
The picture of Kazuya in the gym seems to resonate with me even more at that point. I’m learning to tap into some sort of universal aggression. It doesn’t seem to be mine, but it’s something I can feed off of, somehow.
I really like that music, especially the first one. I’ve got myself into a really bad habit of listening to music like that, getting really pumped up, and not being able to do anything with it lol. Glad to see everything is going well. Have you noticed much in the way of physique improvements with your ROM squatting? Are your legs growing well?
I have, and I haven’t. Ostensibly, I’m training all of this so that I can fix my knees, and improve my overall body stability for overhead pressing. And for that, it really seems to be working. My posture has significantly improved [because I get punished for bad posture with the swinging weights], so that helps a lot, especially since better posture is noticeable in everyday scenarios.
But because I’m not really doing this for physique improvements, I haven’t been paying attention very well. I mean, my legs and hips and glutes are bigger, but I’m not sure how much of that is just muscle tone and maintaining a constant state of “inflammation” from the daily training. Much like how some (beginner) guys feel like they lose muscle if they don’t train every other day or so. I’m not sure how much of that will stick around.
I do know the scale weight is slowly creeping up again though, and they stuff I’m doing for my chest and lats is making a difference. Not so sure about my arms yet though.
Everything is feeling pretty good gym-wise though. If anything, the ROM squats are good for my head, and provide some concrete challenges of “I need to work up to X reps at this ROM for 3 days, before I can increase the ROM”. Taking on each day at a time, and just living in that moment, is really helpful. If I focus too much on the physique stuff, it feels a lot more negative since there’s always a way to spin things into “not good enough, not big enough”. But the challenges built in with the squatting, and with greyskull’s style of setting PRs on both weight AND reps, that seems to work a lot better.
And then the physique improvements are just kind of a side effect.
Haha that’s a neat way to play music while you train. Oh that’s really cool about the house/garage! What are your plans for that? What are going to be your first purchases for the new gym?
Haha could you ask your fiancee to drive behind you blasting music while you do your farmer’s walks? There’s always a way :P.
That’s really interesting about the ROM squats being good for your knees, maybe it’s something I should experiment with in my recovery? Apparently with the surgery I had the main long-term issue is with the knees rather than the broken bone itself. That’s because to access the top of the tibia, the surgeon has to split the patellar ligament vertically. As my knees have always been a little ropey I’m anticipating a slow recovery (certainly from the literature it looks like 6-12 months until I’m able to move completely normally).
I have been keeping up with your log, but could you please summarise exactly how you set up your ROM training? I haven’t quite got my head around it. Mainly how to you monitor ROM and how often/in what increments do you increase it? Are you going by your own judgement or is there a set formula?
Thank you for your time!
@furo: Hey, sorry I didn’t get back to you sooner.
With the ROM squats, I’m not sure how much of the benefit is from the limited ROM or how much is from the instability, or whether it’s really a combination of training instability through a gradually increasing ROM.
The original outline was to pick a weight above my max, with roughly a 4" from lockout, and then do 2 sets of 20 reps with that. Then do that for 3 days. Then, add 3" to the ROM, and decrease the reps by 3, so it becomes a 7" ROM with 2 sets of 17. 3 days of that, then another 3", and decrease by 3, to 10" ROM and 2x14. Basically keep doing that until you get down to 2 reps, and I’m not sure what that ROM ends up being, but you should be at least parallel by that time. You then rest for a couple days and test your max.
That is a Paul Anderson routine, from some article he wrote. Also, every rep starts from the bottom.
I started doing that, but at a point, I couldn’t drop 3 inches and actually move the bar. So I started moving in 1" increments, but still sticking with the “drop 1 inch, drop 1 rep” idea. So that’s where I am right now, and slowly plodding forward.
The other thing is that I have the weights on loading pins, sitting on the ground, with chains attaching the loading pins to the bar. The weights are pendulums swinging off the end of the bar when I stand up with it. This adds a lot of instability and actually makes every rep different since I’m having to stabilize against slightly different forces each time.
In order to increase the ROM, I just shorten the chain. Each link is about 1", if not exactly 1".
This should link directly to a post with a picture of that setup.
Also:
Yesterday. 55 degrees.
3 Mat Decline Axle Bench Press - 145 x 5, 5, 4
13" ROM (31" Chain) PMT Axle Squats - 315 x 5, 4
Didn’t lift for a few days, so possibly the reason why the squats got out of the groove. Or because when I changed out the loading pin design, the ROM increased. Or it was just a bad day. I was annoyed at the time, but I’ll just stay here until I hit 2x11 again.
Basically when I descended, the weights went forward on one side and back on another, and I tried to lift it from there and wore myself out. But things failed entirely because the weights swung around.
The decline bench just didn’t go well at all. A bit of left shoulder and right elbow pain, but that wasn’t why.
Overall a bad lifting day, but nothing to get worked up over.
EDIT: I’m still surprisingly far weaker with an axle than a barbell. I thought by now it would have evened out more.