Maple Syrup Strength (littlesleeper)

Training Training Logs
524

Phase 1: Week 1

Workout 3: Shoulders, Traps (supposed to also be calves)

A friend of mine from out of town was staying over on his way through, so I had a workout partner today. I didn’t mind too much because it was just shoulders, so we basically just did the same weight. Me in the 12-15rep range and him in the 5-8rep range. He has been doing Crossfit for about a year and I used to workout with him in University (he was also on the University’s football team for a year), so he is a strong dude.

Euchre until about 5hrs ago, up $7 on the night. WINNER, WINNER, CHICKEN DINNER!

Seated DB Shoulder Press
55lbs x 15
55lbs x 15
55lbs x 15
55lbs x 12 R/P 5

These felt good. I haven’t done much for DB pressing work (since I JUST picked up a pair of loadable DB handles).

Standing Military Barbell OHP
135 x 12
135 x 12
135 x 12 R/P 3

Superset
DB Lateral Raise
25lbs x 12
25lbs x 12
25lbs x 10 R/P 4

Front Plate Raise
25lb x 15
25lb x 15
25lb x 10 R/P 5

Rear Delt Flyes/Hang and Swings
25lbs:
5/10
7/10
6/10 R/P 4/4

Shoulders were pretty blown up at this point.

SGHP
135 x 8
135 x 8
135 x 12 R/P 5

Skipped calf raises because I was limping around today still feeling my calf workout from Monday! Plus, SGHP includes SOME calf work on the extension to initiate the pull.

Not bad workout, still feels weird to go into the gym and train ‘shoulders’.

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525

03/03/2017

Phase 1: Week 1

Workout 4: Legs and Abs

The in-laws were making their appearance shortly, so I had to jam this in quick. Ate some pre-workout PRO and CHO and got to it. (BCAA’s/Creatine - Intra)

Back Squat
225 x 15
245 x 12
245 x 12
275 x 15 R/P 5

This wasn’t terrible. In hindsight I could have gone heavier. Since I have been experiencing some extreme DOMS from every workout I kept the weight a little light just to get acclimatized to this massive increase in volume and to keep my ability to walk this weekend.

Rear Elevated Split Squat
SSB Empty x 12 x 3 R/P 5

The last couple weeks I have been doing these with just bodyweight and really feeling it the following day. Added the SSB for weight, not a noticeable increase in difficulty from just BW. Again, decided to err on the side of caution for this first week of the BB template. Legs were starting to pump up pretty good.

I was getting a little light headed/nauseous at the end of these sets. I attributed it to a few things:

  1. Not much sleep the previous night.
  2. Ate my pre-workout meal a few minutes before working out (usually +45mins)
  3. Body is still getting used to doing sets over 5 reps!

Leg Extensions
75 x 12
75 x 12
100 x 12 R/P 10

Quads were blown up.

RDL
135 x 12
185 x 12
185 x 12
185 x 12 R/P 8

I had planned to do my sets at 225 for these. But after working up in weight, I noticed my legs were pretty shaky from the previous work. I was able to really feel a good stretch with the 185lbs and focus on activating the hams/glutes to get through the movement. So I decided to stay at that weight and not sacrifice form. To be honest, I really think hamstrings are one of my weak points and I have never consistently programmed RDL’s.. Looking forward to performing these on my ‘heavy’ weeks.

This BB template consists of 4 ‘micro cycles’ (1 microcycle per week, 4 weeks per 1 phase).
1 Phase (4 microcycles): Microcycle 1 = 12-15reps, M2 = 9-11, M3 = 6-8, M4 = 3-5.
Basically the same lifts, just with progressively heavier weight and decreased reps. Phase 2 you increase the weight, and start microcycle 1 again. Can keep the same lifts, or swap out substitutes.

Lying Leg Curls
75 x 15
100 x 12
100 x 9 R/P 3

GIANT SET

Reverse Crunches
20, 20, 20 R/P 8
I find these to be one of my best ab exercises. Reverse crunch legs towards chest then thrust hips/toes skyward. Good hard contraction of the abs.

Standing Banded Crunch
Blue Mini Band x 20, 20, 20 R/P 20

Plank
1min x 3
Wow, haven’t done a plank in awhile. 1min proved to be a good test, was shaking like a tree at the end of set 3.

Good workout considering I wasn’t feeling amazing for the most part. Week 1 in the books. I’m going to do a little tweaking going into week 2, knowing what I know now. I need to reduce my time in the gym by about 1/2hr each workout. Some of this time will be made up by simply supersetting more exercises.

I’m glad that I started this bodybuilding template because I am doing something I am bad at, and I expect to be rewarded for it! Most workouts this week I ended up feeling like shit during it. I think this is just my body asking WTF I’m doing so many reps for. When a 5 rep set was previously considered a volume set, these 12-15 reps sets are taking their toll. I’m hoping this will leave me better conditioned come strongman competition time.

Since my competition is July 1st (Canada Day eh), I am trying to plan out my training:

OPTION 1:
See this program through (12-Weeks):
Feb 27, 2017 - May 19, 2017
Run 5/3/1 5’s Pro, 5x5 FSL (Jokers if I’m feeling HOT) until the show (6-Weeks):
May 22, 2017 - June 28, 2017
This will put me through one full cycle of 5/3/1 and then into week 2 of cycle 2. I would probably avoid deadlifting the week leading up to the show, because that typically kicks my ass.

OPTION 2:
Cut this current program a little short (Run for 8-10 weeks instead).
Have a little more time the get the heavy weight moving again with 5/3/1 (8-10 weeks).

I haven’t really taken an extended break from pure strength training so I have ZERO idea of the rate of return of strength (if any is lost along the way).

Any thoughts comments from my posse would be appreciated! @MarkKO @robstein @BOTSLAYER or whoever else might be skimming this post!

526

So thrilled to see you expanding into this split man! (Obviously I’m a little biased) :laughing:

Smart move, gotta think long term. Your body will get used to this kind of volume and strength/numbers will go up in these rep ranges over time.

Regarding hamstrings, I’d recommend possibly trying lying leg curls first, then RDL’s. Just my thoughts, I like to think of RDL’s as a good stretch after torching the hamtstrings on lying leg curls with some partials afterwards, then the ham tractor. Also, with the RDL’s, make sure to focus more on the contraction of the hamstring on the way up, rather than doing lots of weight. Not saying you aren’t doing that, but really put your mind in the hamstrings for this one. Before you start a set, even just standing there with no weight in your hands, try flexing your hamstrings. I like to imagine like I’m trying to wipe something off the bottom of my shoe, squeezing hams and glutes tight on the way up. Personally I don’t do much weight for these because it’s rough on my lower back, and I feel after a certain point while I can go heavier, it becomes more of a back exercise than a hamstring exercise.

You’re a VERY strong dude, so if you can really focus on the MMC with everything you’re doing, you should have some beastly results over time. Keep it up bro!

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527

Thanks so much for the tips Rob!

I appreciate it. I am doing my best to push my ego aside and really focus on the MMC and eccentric movement for most exercises.

528

I think just try to get some Strongman work in periodically to stay trained in it. I doubt you will lose strength but you might lose coordination…which I guess would cost strength…you know what I mean haha.

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529

You’re right, maybe I’ll try to hit some strongman movements on the weekend (nothing too intense) to stay greased.
Good tip, thanks.

530

I’d suggest playing it by ear. If you feel like you haven’t lost strength by week eight go with option one. If by week eight you feel like your strength is waning, go with option two.

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531

Ya good call. There is nothing forcing me to make this decision now, so that probably makes the most sense.

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532

03/06/2017

Woke up at 205.0lbs this morning. Weight PR. 9-weeks in, 7.6lbs down.

I am coming off of a low day yesterday, and also slipped in 45mins of LISS while watching ‘Sons of Anarchy’ on my cell phone. For any other ‘Sons’ fans out there, apparently they are going to be coming out with the ‘Mayans’ series shortly. I figured a re-watch was an order. Plus, this really makes the LISS fly by.

I hit the treadmill for 20mins with my BCAA’s this morning for some LISS.

Chest/Tris/Calves tonight! Last week I stayed in the 12-15 rep range for most exercises, this week I move down to the 9-11 rep range with some additional weight. Now that I have kinda-sorta figured out the weights for these higher rep ranges, this week should be slightly more efficient.

Embrace the suck.

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533

I’m a huge fan! Didn’t really like any of the characters though haha - could never work out why I was always so heavily invested, when everyone was a dickhead lol. But regardless I was! A new series would be awesome.

EDIT: It’s also really cool seeing you transition to this bodybuilding approach, very interesting!

534

You can say that again! I guess that is part of the appeal. The only character that they kind of make you like (Opie), they killed off. Just one of those badass shows that keeps you coming back.

Thanks man. I’m excited to see this training style through for at least 8 weeks and see what kinds of physique and strength changes happen.

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535

03/06/2017

Phase 1: Week 2

Workout 4: Chest, Triceps, Calves

Bench Press
45 x 10
135 x 10
185 x 3
205 x 3
225 x 11 x 4 ← Last set of these was pretty darn close to failure. R/P 3reps

Chest was very pumped up from these. I know some people don’t get the best pec workout from regular flat bench (delt or tricep dominant), but there are few things that really fire my chest up more than just regular bench.

Decline DB Bench
75 x 8
65 x 9
65 x 9 R/P 4

Chest was fading fast during these sets.

Superset
Low Incline Flyes
35lb plates x 11, 11, 9 R/P 3

Dips
25lbs x 11
25lbs x 10
25lbs x 9 R/P 3

Nice finisher for chest while getting the triceps primed.

Superset
Triceps Band Pushdown
Red + Blue Mini Bands x 11 x 3 R/P5

Lying Triceps Extension
105 x 10
105 x 10
105 x 9 R/P 3

Superset
Overhead Triceps Extension
70 x 10 x 3 R/P 3

Standing Calf Raise
185 x 15 x 3 R/P 10

I did these standing on a 35lb bumper plate. I often feel standing calf raises in the back of my legs in the hamstring area. DOMS are always in the calves but mid-set a lot of the lactic acid build up is in the upper back of the legs.

Definitely trimmed the time a bit for this workout. Still was close to 1hr 15mins, but that is more manageable. I did some supersetting and moved some exercises around a bit.

EDIT: I’m just going to put this here so I don’t lose the link, but just quickly glancing over it, this could be a good transition out of this back into strength training.
http://asp.elitefts.com/qa/training-logs.asp?qid=209480&tid=

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536

03/07/2017

Phase 1: Week 2

Workout 2: Back, Biceps, Abs

Kroc Row
55 x 10
70 x 10
125 x 11 x 4 R/P 5 (No straps)

Superset
BB Bent Over Row
205 x 11, 9, 9 R/P 3 (Straps on for these sets, grip was taxed from Kroc Rows)

Chinups
9, 6, 7 R/P 3
BB rows SS with these made these pretty difficult.

Superset
Straight Arm Pulldown
Red+Blue Mini Band x 11 x 4 R/P 8

Good pump with these. I like the pullover/straight arm pulldown as I’m able to get a really solid MMC.

BB Curl
95 x 11, 10, 10 R/P 3

Superset
DB Incline Curls
25lbs x 9 x 3 R/P 3

One-arm High Band Curl
Blue Mini Band x 9 x 3 R/P 5

Giant Set
Reverse Crunch
20, 15, 15 R/P 5

Crunch
20, 20, 20 R/P 20

Ab Wheel Rollout
10, 10, 10 R/P 6

Good workout. ~1hr 20mins

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537

Well yesterday was a rest/low calorie day. The wife and I took the dog for a decent 30-45min walk around the village even though it was drizzling out and ~ 60+km/h winds. I did my civil duties and picked up a ton of fallen branches off of the walking trails while we were out there.

Woke up this morning at 204.8lbs. First time I’ve been into the 204’s in a loooong time. Last time I dieted down I reached 205lbs, then started my slow bulk on some good ol’ 5/3/1.

Hoping to squeak myself down to the 195lb mark by June 1, but we shall see. Hit some LISS this morning for 25mins while sipping my BCAA’s. I always have a BCAA drink while I’m doing fasted LISS, in an attempt to retain all dat muscle (please correct me if I’m butchering the intended use of this product). We are going to start moving into some new lean territory for me (which isn’t yet overly impressive), but I’m looking forward to feeling like I’m getting shredded. Right now, it’s more like “well, I guess I’m not as fat anymore…”.
There was definitely no reason for me to be sitting at 217lbs at 5’9" with my current LBM (only 212 at start of competition, but was 217 before my first cut several months ago).

I’m starting to think that 195lbs will still be a very maintainable weight once I get there. 10 more pounds of fat should start making some very noticeable physique improvements, but I don’t see myself really having to ‘dig’ for those pounds.

Anyway, just some morning ramblings while I drink my coffee before heading to work.

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538

03/09/2017

Well figured I’d post an update on what I’ve been eating the last week or two:
TYPICAL DAY - I’d say one meal a day gets a little botched, but this is my usual plan going into the day.

Breakfast:
OPTION 1
A good couple spoonfuls of sauerkraut and/or a gulp of kefir (currently have coconut-mango flavour, yum)
I small mug of coffee, black
1 piece of Raisin Cinnamon Toast with Butter (best part of my day right here)
4 eggs fried in coconut oil with a large handful of spinach (wilted in oil prior to cracking eggs on 'em) I also grate fresh turmeric root on the eggs (ran out of curcumin supplement recently, and watching Evan Centopani videos I saw him recommend this - I’m loving it. This shit stains your life though: WARNING: Fingers, grater, cutting board, counterop, you name it will turn yellow/orange.)
I season the eggs with salt/iodine + fresh ground pepper and sometimes cinnamon

OPTION 2
Big Ol Bowl of Proatmeal 2scoops protein, 1.5cups of oatmeal

OPTION 3
4 eggs and a heaping table spoon of pancake mix with some frozen berries tossed in. Another recipe from Evan’s World. These are amazing. If I feel like spoiling myself I’ll use some of our homemade maple syrup (yep have already boiled down a batch this year, so gooood) otherwise I’ll make a protein icing (protein powder and little bit of almond milk)

  • heading out the door leaving for work I drink a disgusting concoction of a greens supplement, sodium bicarbonate (baking soda), and a scoop of orange flavoured Metamucil. The Metamucil is the one thing making this tolerable, and I don’t overly enjoy it by itself. This drink usually washes down a fish oil pill, green tea extract (had some left over from a stack I bought, so I figured it couldn’t hurt), and vitamin d3 (I previously took my 2 capsules of curcumin here as well)

  • Between breakfast and lunch I drink a travel mug of coffee (2nd coffee of the day) and have a 1L bottle of water that has a generous splash of apple cider vinegar in it.

  • often in here somewhere is a coffee break, which was a large coffee, and has recently been a large green tea. I haven’t been on a coffee break in like a week in a half, and have barely had the opportunity to stand up from my desk for lunch I’ve been so busy. So VERY SEDENTARY days recently. Eating my lunch over my keyboard…

Lunch
A regular sandwich Tupperware container filled with food.
Protein: Fish, chicken (mostly, to be honest), burgers (twice this week I had turkey burgers for lunch), ground beef. More often than not I season the protein with some variation of mustard (love them all).
Carbs: Rice, potatoes, beans/lentils/chic peas.
Veggies: 75% of the time just steamed frozen veggies. 15% spinach. 5% of the time it is cut up sweet peppers, 5% misc veggies.

I don’t weigh my food. I take up half the container with my protein, a third of the container with my veggies then I pack the carbs into the remaining sixth but also just fill all the voids and pack it to the top.

Snack (Preworkout)
Proatmeal. I’ve been doing 0.75cup of quick oats and 0.25cup of steel cut with ~1.5scoops of protein powder. I love these meals. Not a big fan of steel cut oats because I am lazy and don’t cook them. I just boil water and pour it over, mix and eat. I also keep it pretty dry, I could probably eat it with a fork.

Intra-workout
Creatine/BCAA’s (sip throughout)

Post Workout/Dinner
If dinner is running late, or I know I wont be eating soon after the workout I’ll have a little protein shake and a granola bar or something. Small amount of high GI carbs with some protein.

Typically I’m getting dinner started between sets. Running upstairs and pre-heating the oven. Run back down do a superset. Run up and put the chicken in the oven and start boiling the potatoes. etcetc.

Dinner is basically the same as lunch, because lunch is usually leftovers! Protein, carb, veggies.
I season a lot with the salt/iodine as well as soy sauce (frozen veggies and rice).

Also, at some point during this day I will have eaten a banana with natural peanut butter. Another one of my favourite snacks on this planet.
Before bed I’ll down another fish oil pill, zinc/magnesium and a Vit C. I was taking my nasty baking soda drink twice a day, but recently have only been having one in the morning.

Here are my last two days macros on very similar plans to the above:

Cals Carbs Fat Protein
2,392 264 50 235
2,513 215 69 274

Phase 1: Week 2

Workout 3: Shoulders, Traps, Calves

Seated DB Shoulder Press
75 x 10
75 x 10
75 x 9
75 x 6 R/P 2

Superset
Standing OHP
155 x 9
145 x 9
135 x 9 R/P 3

Felt weak pushing this kind of weight around, but I guess the DB’s took their share of work from my shoulders.

DB Lat Raise
25 x 11
25 x 11
25 x 11 R/P 5

Superset
25lb Plate Front Raise (to fully overhead)
15, 15, 15 R/P 5

I could feel these more in the back of the shoulders than the front…

Rear Delt Fly/Hang and Swings (25lb DBs)
9/9, 8/8, 8/8 R/P 3/6

Superset
SGHP
135 x 11, 11, 11 R/P 5

Seated Calf Raise
Barbell on knees, toes on bumper plate
135 x 20, 20, 20 R/P 15

Decent workout, yes, while cooking dinner btwn sets. Pro/con to working out at home I guess.

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539

03/10/2017

Phase 1: Week 2

Workout 4: Legs, Abs

Squats
45 x 10
135 x 5
225 x 5
275 x 5
315 x 10
365 x 10
365 x 10
225 x 22

Legs were feeling it, but surprisingly wasn’t in my usual “I want to puke/pass out” state with high reps. Could my work capacity be improving after only 2 weeks on a high(er) volume program? Not sure. I made sure I nailed my peri-workout nutrition for this one as I knew I’d be pushing myself further than usual.

Superset
Leg Extensions
100lbs x 12 x 3 R/P 10

Goblet Squats
70lb DB x 11 x 3 R/P 8

Tough going up those stairs to pre-heat the oven after this supaset.

Superset
Lying Leg Curls
100lbs x 10
100lbs x 10
100lbs x 7, R/P 75 x 7

RDL
205lbs x 11 x 3 R/P 8

Hello hamstrings.

Giant Set
Hanging Leg Raise
10 x 3

Kneeling Banded Crunch
Red + Blue Mini Bands x 15 x 3

Plank
1min x 3

Planks are not easy for me. Shaking like crazy for the last 15seconds of each set.

Overall good workout. Chicken on the BBQ, potatoes in the oven, kale salad made. Now food time.

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540

03/03/2017

Nutrition
Horrible from Friday night to Sunday morning. We had friends stay over from out of town this weekend which involved two nights of drinking and I’m sure I consumed a minimum of two entire bags of chips. Rest of the nutrition was OK, but the nights were full of empty calorie adult beverages and shitty fats/carbs from mass chip consumption.

I hit the treadmill this morning for 40mins of LISS with my BCAA’s, I’m going to try to do this every day this week to make up for me eating/drinking my face off.

I woke up at 206.0lbs (1.2+ lbs from last week). HOWEVER, this morning was 100% a PHYSIQUE PR. I was looking much tighter than before and muscles were looking VERY full. Abs were pushing through, serratus was much more pronounced than usual and shoulders were not nearly as flat as they previously were. Maybe my body put these nasty cals/carbs to good use this weekend?

Anywho, I really need to try and stop these episodes from happening. I’m just making the cutting process longer than it needs to be.

Plan for this week:

  1. 40mins of LISS each morning this week
  2. Wednesday a low cal day (~800cals non-lifting day - from the 5/2 diet for lifters)
  3. Eliminating my raisin bread from breakfast and replacing with a banana
  4. Only consumption after dinner this week will be BCAA’s or protein shake.

I’m forcing the fat loss this week. I WILL SEE 204.Xlbs on the scale next Monday.

This weekend I made the banana bread from this article:

Very easy to make and pretty frickin good. Little butter on it warmed in the microwave…mmmm. I made a double batch and used extra bananas for additional deliciousness.

I’m all over the place with this post, but also wanted to mention that my legs are SORE from my leg workout on Friday. Thanks for the push @robstein, definitely went harder than I would have if you didn’t put up such ridiculous numbers a week before a BB show!

Phase 1: Week 3

This week changes from using rest-pause on the last set, to doing a drop set using approximately the weight used in week 1.

Workout 1: Chest, Triceps, Calves

Bench
45 x 10
135 x 6
185 x 6
205 x 6
255 x 8 x 4 Drop Set 205 x 8

Db Decline Bench
75lbs x 7
75lbs x 8
75lbs x 7 Drop Set 55lbs x 8

Superset

Dips
+45lbs x 6, 7, 6, Drop Set BW x 5

Slight Incline Flyes
45lb plates (holding handles) x 8, 7, 8 Drop Set 25lb plate x 8

Superset
Tricep Band Pressdown
Red + Blue Mini Bands x 8 x 3 Drop Set x a bunch

Just burnt the triceps out moving hands further down the bands, then just the blue, then just the red.

BB Skull Crushers
115lbs x 7 x 3 Drop Set 95lbs x 8

Superset
Seated OH Triceps Extension
70lbs x 11, 10, 9 Rest Pause 6

Standing Calf Raise
225 x 15, 14, 14, 14 Drop Set 135lbs x 14

Total workout time: 1hr 25mins

6 Likes
541

This happens to me periodically. Now it’s just more noticeable what with not being as fat. I think a lot if it is down to when you eat the crap in relation to training and how long your body stays in super efficient nutrient processing mode after training. I suspect that the better your body comp and the more accustomed your body is to that body comp the longer that super efficient mode lasts.

That’s all a guess though, because what do I know?

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542

Well, the theory makes sense. Definitely leaner than I was previously, and with the additional volume/TUT I’m giving my muscles they probably were a little more depleted than typically with my strength training. So I’m sure that could play a role as well.

2 Likes
543

LOL always happy to help man. Good work dude, keep killing it!

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