Lo/Rez Training

Training Training Logs
281

I did some stuff today. No real plan since I’ve got vacation coming up.

Earlier today I did 2 groups of 4x6 wide-grip partial upright rows (with holds) with 125 lbs. I really like these.

Later, I was at work, needed a break, so I screwed around in the office gym.

Did some pullups.
Did some farmers walks with 60lb DBs.
Did some smith-machine incline ‘bench’ layers. Ramped to 1RM, clusters, Ramped to 2RM, Max reps - rest - max reps HDL.
Did some carries with a 45-lb plate. Then tried with a 60lb dumbbell. Then 45lb plate again.
Did some more pullups.
Did some overhead rope tricep extensions.
Attempted some cable laterals, but eh. Didn’t like them. And left shoulder was feeling finicky. As in, it hurt.
Did some more wide-grip partial upright rows. (They now have a real olympic bar, instead of… the smith machine)

Maybe something else in there. I don’t remember.

HOWEVER. I really like that shoulder exercise. Really really like it. It doesn’t hurt, and it pumps my shoulders up. And I’ve actually gotten stronger on it. Mostly just training intuitively with these, every other day or so, 4-8-10 sets, maybe a couple sessions. Just whatever.

But they’re working, and that’s awesome. Yes I’m American, and I’m allowed to use that word.

But I’m tired now and going home and to bed.

282

[quote]mutantcolors wrote:
TBH, that is my exact experience. Not giving a shit about chasing women is just my nature, but it always works out in the end. I guess the joke is on me though, because I still don’t care when they fall in my lap after I wasn’t even trying.[/quote]

That’s unfortunate. I actually do care, a bit, and I enjoy the results. Well, it depends, the quality girls I care about. The other ones, not so much. This one’s a friend from several years back; we lost touch for a bit.

At least the girls are cheap in Thailand. Ha.

283

Random office gym photo.

See, that shoulder exercise is making a difference. All sorts of weird lighting and stuff going on though.

But yeah, overall still incredibly skinny.

284

[quote]LoRez wrote:
Random office gym photo.

See, that shoulder exercise is making a difference. All sorts of weird lighting and stuff going on though.

But yeah, overall way less skinny.[/quote]
There you go. Making strides, man.

285

… not quite what I said. But yeah, progress. Just need a few more years.

286

[quote]LoRez wrote:
… not quite what I said. But yeah, progress. Just need a few more years.[/quote]
I changed it to make a point. Progress definitely.

287

Size is comming, shoulder’s traps’ and some chest size. Keep in mind your mostly training for strength, and size secondary, you and I have talked before about dips, and chins, but I feel for over all torso mass, these two togeather are hard to beat. I think with the layering it would be fairly easy twice a week, to squeeze in 100 dips, and 50 chins, after a workout, or on they’re own day. As long as your eating enough, your upper body has to grow from this. Thats my 2cents anyway. Goodstuff Latter

288

@spar4tee
Oh, I know it’s progress. The “still incredibly skinny” wasn’t actually self-deprecating, mostly just… good progress, but keep going. Don’t get smug. That kinda thing.

@Jake
Yeah, I think I can figure out how to get some dips and chins in there. I think I’ll start with the chins for now, and since I’m going to start shifting my focus a bit more toward benching, I’ll switch toward the dips later. Mostly though, it’s just a lot of work to set things up for dips right now.

Two things:

  1. apparently deltoids are “arms” according to the general populus. I mean, I guess technically most of their mass is on that moving appendage called your arm, but I still don’t think of them as arms. Anyway, that’s interesting to know.

It’s sort of like how upper traps are “shoulders”. If someone says “rub my shoulders” or “my shoulders are sore”, they usually mean their upper traps.

  1. I was debating whether to do SGHPs or snatch-grip deadlifts tonight in my head driving home. Then I noticed the license plate on the car in front of me. It started with “SGD7”. There was my answer. LOL.

Snatch grip deadlifts it was.

Ramp to 1RM: 135 → 260. Another PR, 255 last time.
1RM Clusters: 235 x 6, 5, 3

And I’m done. Not moving onto 2RM or 3RM or max reps. These take so much out of me, I still need to adapt to doing layers with them. After the 2nd cluster I told myself I was going to just stop there. And then I felt good enough to do another one… so yeah.

These are like my new 20 rep squats, the way I feel after them. Winded, heart racing, blacking out slightly, can barely walk. They’re neat. And I have that “I actually accomplished something” feeling.

But yes, another PR.

289

Another couple things.

I actually managed to get a belt sander, router and router table into the trunk of my coupe. The trunk even closes. It’ll be much nicer traveling with the back seat up this time. I’ve got a long drive ahead of me, from Indy to southwest Missouri. Then an even longer drive through windy mid-Missouri to see a friend I hadn’t seen in years, and then back here.

My Thanksgiving is going to be spent working on my parents lake house, installing electrical stuff and whatever else they need done.

Then, just before I closed the garage door, I looked at the barbell again and said “ha, fuck you, I won!”

See you all next week.

290

You’re going to be sore when you squat again.

291

[quote]spar4tee wrote:
You’re going to be sore when you squat again.[/quote]

Oh I know. Not sure when that will be though. My original “stick to this particular layer schedule for 6 months” plan is falling apart as I get into it. Mainly because some stuff is working really well, and other stuff I still miss (like squats). And erratic schedules. My schedule won’t be anywhere resembling “normal” until mid-January at this point.

Plus, I’m really tempted to focus mostly on delts, upper chest and arms for a bit. (Along with everything else of course… just, sort of specialize on them.) Kinda just want to take some time to “look” strong, then go back to actually working on being strong.

There’s something I read recently about the “diamond” that they focus on when training actors. Upper traps, chest and delts. That focusing on these is what creates the illusion of power on screen, more so than anything else.

292

[quote]LoRez wrote:

[quote]spar4tee wrote:
You’re going to be sore when you squat again.[/quote]

Oh I know. Not sure when that will be though. My original “stick to this particular layer schedule for 6 months” plan is falling apart as I get into it. Mainly because some stuff is working really well, and other stuff I still miss (like squats). And erratic schedules. My schedule won’t be anywhere resembling “normal” until mid-January at this point.

Plus, I’m really tempted to focus mostly on delts, upper chest and arms for a bit. (Along with everything else of course… just, sort of specialize on them.) Kinda just want to take some time to “look” strong, then go back to actually working on being strong.

There’s something I read recently about the “diamond” that they focus on when training actors. Upper traps, chest and delts. That focusing on these is what creates the illusion of power on screen, more so than anything else.[/quote]
For me personally, I’ve learned that not squatting unless injured isn’t worth it as relates to my goals and desires (health even). That, of course, could be different for you, but I doubt it is. No point in building less muscle.

Yeah they do that. Hugh Jackman, Christian Bale, Chris Hemsworth, Henry Cavill, etc. all had underdeveloped legs.

293

Oh, I see what you mean.

I’m not squatting because I’m trying to stick to one of CTs suggested splits, not because of any other reason. He doesn’t seem to use squatting much… sticking primarily with the SGHPs and Trap Bar Deadlifts for leg size. The SGDLs (with hips low) are as close as I’m going to get to a TBDL until I buy one.

One thing he has posted and suggested is front squats after TBDLs. But back squats rarely make it into his programs.

What I find really surprising though is how sore my glutes, hamstrings and calves are from the SGHP sessions, not just my upper back. My quads might be understimulated though, overall. The SGDLs do kill my legs though, unlike regular deads.

EDIT: I think I used too many "though"s though.

294

[quote]LoRez wrote:
Oh, I see what you mean.

I’m not squatting because I’m trying to stick to one of CTs suggested splits, not because of any other reason. He doesn’t seem to use squatting much… sticking primarily with the SGHPs and Trap Bar Deadlifts for leg size. The SGDLs (with hips low) are as close as I’m going to get to a TBDL until I buy one.

One thing he has posted and suggested is front squats after TBDLs. But back squats rarely make it into his programs.

What I find really surprising though is how sore my glutes, hamstrings and calves are from the SGHP sessions, not just my upper back. My quads might be understimulated though, overall. The SGDLs do kill my legs though, unlike regular deads.[/quote]
Yeah the added ROM allows for more hip extension, more stretch (good triple extension really). I just consistently see anecdotes and reference points for squats being irreplaceable in their function in both myself and others. You explained the reasoning and I didn’t forget. I just see too much value in the squat now to not do them. I’m definitely not telling you to stop what you’re doing and make the squat the cornerstone of your existence. Only to dissolve any illusion of opportunity cost.

295

Duly noted.

296

I look at it as Squats - deads - trap bar, are the 3 lynch pin exercises, you must have 1 of the 3 in any program you do. I personally can’t make big gains on the squat, and dead at the same time, so I push one really hard, while I rest the other, I then use front squats, and trap bar work for high reps whae I’m on a deadlifting cycle, and not squatting.

The other way when I’m squatting, I’ll do cleans, and RDLs to make up for not deadlifting. Anyway everyone has to find there own way, and as long as you include one lynch pin in every cycle, you’ll still be improving on the other two lynch pin exercises, they all tie togeather. Long winded answer, but my base of knowlage is from Stuart McRoberts - Beyond Brawn, This has been my bible for 20yrs, and it`s worth buying for you younger guys.

Not so much about getting huge, but how to lift weights for life, injury free, with enjoyment, and improvment for the long run. Goodstuff. Latter

297

It was kind of weird to find Alpha’s log immediately after mine when I was looking through the logs.

I’m back from vacation and such. Really, I was back Monday, but I wasn’t really coherent until today. Things with a girl from my past set me off on a weird spiral, combined with really really really bad sleep. I keep forgetting that sleeping in my car at a rest stop leaves me worse off than just not sleeping at all.

Anyway, while I was gone I was pretty busy, since I was helping my parents build their house. Plenty of manual labor. I also screwed around with the pile of rocks/boulders they had delivered. It really surprised me how awkward lifting a stone is over your head; it’s fine getting it to the chest, but that transition is weird.

I’m going snowshoeing near Portland with my girlfriend when I see her in January. Conditioning for that is going to be a focus of my training for the next 4 weeks.

My current overall plan right now is going to be something like:

  • 8 sets of 30-30 intervals on the rower 3x a week
  • layers: sghp, slight incline bench, sghp, slight incline, sgdl
    – I’m removing the slight decline for a bit; slight incline hits my whole chest, but emphasizes the upper chest. I seem to be getting more out of the slight incline as is and the incline really is very slight, like 10 percent.
  • add in squats 1-2x a week, probably 5x5 linear progression after the sghps
  • do those wide grip partial upright rows… somewhere. 2-3x a week, 4x6-8
  • bb curls in between bench sets

Today I just did intervals on the rower. That sucked.

Warmed up for 4 minutes or so at a moderate pace.
30 seconds at 100%, 30 seconds at 50%, for 8 rounds. I was rowing somewhere around 130-135 meters each 100% part of the interval.

I think HIIT on the rower is probably ok, because I can still maintain the explosiveness from all the layer training, unlike if I were doing steady-state work. I don’t think it will be counterproductive.

298

[quote]AnytimeJake wrote:
Long winded answer, but my base of knowlage is from Stuart McRoberts - Beyond Brawn, This has been my bible for 20yrs, and it`s worth buying for you younger guys.

Not so much about getting huge, but how to lift weights for life, injury free, with enjoyment, and improvment for the long run. Goodstuff. Latter[/quote]

I need to read that. I’ve heard a lot of mixed reviews, so I just never got around to it.

299

SGHP Layers

Ramp to 1RM: 95-175. This was 175 x 0, 0, 1, 0. 4 attempts, made it the third, hoped to replicate but failed. 5lb PR.
1RM Clusters: 156.5 x 7, 7, 7
Ramp to 2RM: 120-155
2RM Clusters: 140 x 7, 7
Ramp to 3RM: 125-135… hands were hurting too much at this point I called it
3RM Clusters: haha
Max Reps at 70%: right

I need a solution for my hands still. I’m probably going to get some wool glove liners to put inside my existing gloves, just to buffer the chafing from where the glove folds when doing a hook grip.

It was cold out. I’ve been working out cold weather gear for the upcoming trip, and just in general. It was 61 last night, and 28 tonight. No heat in my garage, but fortunately no wind in it either.

I wore the ECWCS Gen 3 silkweight base layer top and bottom, and the middleweight base layer on the bottom, with a pair of workout pants over that. That top layer was really only for decency (and pockets) but absolutely useless otherwise. Then wool socks and a wool watch cap. That was actually just right for this temperature, not too hot, not too cold. I used a lightweight softshell jacket walking to/from the garage and that was enough to cut the wind and hold some insulative air. I was surprisingly comfortable, as in, I was very very comfortable. Happy about that.

I’m still shopping for some softshell pants. I’ll take some suggestions.

Also, I’m still using my periworkout nutrition stuff. It’s become simplified as I’ve run out of ingredients, but it’s still quite helpful. 20g casein hydro, 30g hbcds, 5g electrolytes, all mixed in 20oz of water. Then flavored with mio. Half is drunk before the workout, the rest during. This is conceptually similar to MAG-10 + some more hbcds. Mainly it’s missing the betaine and citrulline malate to be comparable to Plazma. Once I run out of casein hydro, I’ll give MAG-10 a shot with extra hbcds like zraw mentioned in that one thread. There is a noticeable difference in lifting with this in my system versus not; I can maintain a higher intensity for longer, and I’m not nearly as sore the day after. I’d probably get more benefit doubling the dose, honestly. Just haven’t tried it yet.

What else.

I added a greens product to my diet as of yesterday. And while it could be placebo effect, I definitely started feeling better as of today… I wonder if I’ve actually been missing some nutrients to such a degree that it’s the reason I’ve not felt good for a very long time. I mean, I actually felt kind of “normal” today, and had a lot more energy than I’m used to. It’s weird. And probably placebo at this point.

In 3-4 weeks I’ll be able to say something more definitive.

No squats today. Well, I might go out and do some, but none as of yet.

300

Nothing special. Some Slight Incline Bench Press layers, then some Partial Wide-Grip Upright Rows (PWUR? does that acronym work?).

I didn’t even pay attention to numbers this time, I just did it.

–

It’s 26 degrees out. I’m continuing work on my cold weather gear. I think I have the headwear figured out now. I bought wool glove liners, but I need a goretex shell. I’ve been testing out the stuff I have, and it’s kept me comfortable even though the “real feel” temperature hit 1F yesterday. I’ve been driving around no heat with the windows down and sunroof open too. For the most part, even 80mph winds feel just fine.

But I still need gloves, pants, and waterproof boots.

I think I’m going to get some Micky Mouse boots. They’re ugly, but so are all the alternatives. They’re rated to -20F, and the cheapest option so far; they’re comfortable, and I know they work.

All this stuff is so expensive. The cheapest non-camo softshell pants I can find run about $100. (The GI softshells are around $70, in digicam.) I’m also having trouble finding men’s softshell pants in stores. Gloves seem to start around $60, with the recommended pairs as much as $250. Even the boots, the recommendations start around $150, and end at around $750.

On the other hand, this will make winter a time to spend outside. Maybe I’ll start doing that once I finish off these last pieces.