Maple Syrup Strength (littlesleeper)

Is that not what you powerlifters get all excited about? :stuck_out_tongue:

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I get excited by weight on the bar.

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@littlesleeper @MarkKO

So you still care about big weights?! Thought you two were just physique guys now? :joy:

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Well I decided to not waste any more time with my sub par workouts.

Last night I did the following:

Superset
DB Pullovers
70 x 12, 12, 12, 12

Weighted Chinups
BW x 10
+25lbs x 7
+50lbs x 5
+75lbs x 3

Superset
BB Curls - 8 Full Reps + 8 Top Half Reps with Elbows Forward
55 x 8+8
65 x 8+8
65 x 8+8
65 x 8+8

Db Cross Body Curls
30 x 12, 12, 10, 10

Decent pump, the work felt good.


05/18/2017

Woke up at 201.4lbs this morning. I’m happy that I’ve managed to stay at this weight despite doing less volume over the last 2 weeks (due to lack of squatting) and not being super strict on my nutrition.
This is definitely not an unsustainable weight. I think I’ll be using 205lbs as my ā€œoff seasonā€ or surplus weight. Once I reach this weight I’ll dial it back down a bit again.

This morning’s workout:

Seated DB OHP
35 x 12
50 x 12
50 x 12
50 x 12

Arnold Press
30 x 12, 12, 12

Front Plate Raise
25lb x 12, 12, 12

Rear Delt Flyes/Hang and Swings
20 x 10/10, 10/10 , 10/10

Boulder shoulders are on their way.

Weighted Dips
Bw x 20
+25lbs x 12
+50lbs x 10
+50lbs x 10

OH Triceps Extension
25 x 10
20 x 10
25 x 10

Hard to beat a triceps pump in the morning.

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Those are simply awesome numbers, I came in late enough this spring that I missed those I think! It really is funny how the first bit of advice you’d give folks is often the hardest to follow yourself (I am in the category for sure, ā€œWhat is this rest day you speak of and where must I take it to?!ā€)

Chasing that upper body development is gonna make you a scary big Canadian manchild!

You seem to have your mindset dialed back into the right place, I always try to remind myself that even when I’m injured (a knee, ankle, elbow) that if it still allows me to train in some capacity, then I need to remind myself to be grateful (not that you are not) and do what I can with what I can.

Cheers!

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Haha, thanks man. I had a really good week of lifting before I jumped into this cut. I was able to hit a 600lb conventional deadlift, 520lb high bar back squat, 375lb bench and 255lb OHP. I’m pretty sure there are videos in this log of most of those lifts. If I remember correctly it happened in the first and/or second week of 2017.

ā€˜Knowing what to do’ and ā€˜doing it’ are definitely two different beasts!

Lol, after some upper body manscaping last night I would say I’m not far off now.

After some help and words of encouragement from my pals on here, I’m feeling good approaching this new program. My head is in a better place, and I’m looking forward to tackling this next hurdle of training.

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05/20/2017

#Hamstrings, Back Thickness, Shoulders

Superset
Lying Banded Hamstring Curls
Blue Mini Band x 15, 15
Red Mini Band x 15, 15

RDL
135 x 10
225 x 10
225 x 10
225 x 10


One Arm DB Rows
105 x 20
105 x 15
105 x 15

Bent Over BB Rows
225 x 8 x 3


Seated DB Press
70 x 12
70 x 10
70 x 10

DB Lat Raises
20 x 12 x 3

DB Front Raises
20 x 10 x 3

Band Pullaparts/Facepulls/Dislocates
10/10/10 x 3

Decent Saturday morning workout.

Heading out to go golfing (for my first round in 2 years) for a buddy’s birthday shortly. This should be interesting…

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Now that you’re doing some bodybuilding work I can see how weak I am. Thanks.

We’re using some of the same weights but you’re doing 12 reps where I do 3-5.

I’m about to measure how far I move the weight and start calculating work to see what those numbers look like.

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05/22/2017

#Chest, Hamstrings

Flat BB Bench
135 x 5
185 x 5
205 x 5
225 x 5
245 x 5
275 x 5
315 x 2
335 x 1
350 x 1 RPE 10 ← Grind, but happy to see that I still have 350 in me.

Band Pullaparts/Dislocates/Facepulls between sets.

Incline DB Bench
70 x 12, 12, 10, 10, 8

DB Flyes
35 x 10 x 3


Lying Band Hamstring Curls
Red Mini Band x 15 x 3

SSB Good Morning
205 x 5
135 x 10
135 x 10

The 205 felt HEAVY. Damn you morning workouts. Hips felt pretty tight, so I dropped the weight down. Plus I was running short on time before having to leave for work, so I called it there.

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05/23/2017

#Back Width, Biceps, Calves

Straight Arm Band Pulldowns
Red + Blue Mini Bands x 20, 20, 15, 15

Massive lat pump here.

Weighted Chins
BW x 10
+25lbs x 7
+50lbs x 5
+50lbs x 5

These were tough. Lats were tired from the pulldowns.

Inverted Rows
BW x 10 x 4


BB Curls (8 standard reps/8 top half reps with elbows forward)
65lbs x 8+8 x 3

DB Cross Body Curls
30lbs x 10 x 3


Standing Calf Raises
135 x 20 x 3

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05/24/2017

#Shoulders and Triceps

Standing Strict BB OHP
45 x 5
95 x 5
115 x 5
185 x 5 (RPE 9.5)
205 x 1
225 x 1 ← Happy to know I still have this after my cut. I knew my 1RMs went down, but I’m happy with the minimal decrease (1RM was 255lbs).

Seated Arnold Press
30 x 15
35 x 12
35 x 12

Front plate Raise
25lb x 25, 20, 20

Rear Delt Flyes/Hang and Swings
20lbs x 10/10, 10/10, 10/10


Weighted Dips
BW x 20
25 x 10
50 x 8
50 x

Banded Triceps Pushdown
Red+Blue x 12, 12, 12

Seated OH Triceps Ext
25 x 12, 12, 12

Good pump morning workout. Felt good to hit some heavy(ish) OHP. Off to work!

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Solid! Ha, you’re post cut numbers are my goals (plus 25lbs on the bench) solid Canadian work ethic right there, eh?

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I love the fact that you took a OHP single in a ā€œpumpā€ workout

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Numbers and training looking good man! How do you like your adjusted plan so far?

@Despade - Haha thanks man. 375lb bench is my lifetime 1RM (beginning of my cut). I’m definitely planning on exceeding that at some point!
Now that summer has arrived, I can put all my log splitting energy into training and it can be fueled by this year’s maple syrup.

@danteism - Yeahh, this wasn’t necessarily the plan. I’m finding myself straying a bit more from ā€˜the plan’ these days and gasp kind of programming around how I feel for the day…does this means I have graduated to an intermediate lifter???
I’ve started noticing some patterns with my training that seem to just hit the mark with me.

  1. Warmups need to be short and specific for the upcoming workout. Agile 8 bores me and de-motivates me going into a workout. For me, Agile 8 is best used as a mobility session rather than a warmup/stretch. I like bar hangs, deep squats, band work, arm circles, brief foam rolling and some jumps or jump rope.
  2. I really enjoy light band work for the antagonistic muscle group prior to my pressing strength set. I do a lot of band dislocates/pullaparts/facepulls before bench and ohp. I have more recently started doing lying banded hamstring curls prior to my SLDL/Good Mornings and I have liked this as well. I’m currently not squatting or deadlifting due to a knee injury, but I will be trying something similar for squats as well and I expect similar results.
  3. Then I would perform my strength set of my main compound lift for the day. For the workout to feel like a workout, I need a compound lift to focus on for the day. I don’t necessarily need a max set, or to beat a PR, but I need to hit it hard, get some good weight in and move towards a 90% 1RM (Similar to CT’s Layers workout, or Training Maximally from Wendler’s Beyond Book). I prefer not to spend a TON of time on it or do too much volume. Just work up in weight and make sure I’m pushing my strength boundaries a bit. This is much easier and less stressful to do on bench and OHP than squatting or deadlifting.
  4. Accessory/hypertrophy training. As much as I’d like to pretend I want all my accessory movements to specifically transfer to strength, I’d be lying if I said that. I enjoy being the ā€˜big guy’ (even at 5’9", on a tall day), so I do enjoy the ā€˜pump’ and really focusing on the MMC and getting adequate TUT. I want bigger arms, bigger shoulders, a wider back and custom pants to fit my thighs, so I’m not afraid to venture into BB territory for rep and set schemes.

I’m sure there are more, but those just came to me now.

@robstein - I guess I kind of touched on this above, but I’m REALLY liking it. I mean, I always like my new programs for a week or 2 so we will see after a month if I’m sick of it yet.

But my knee is slowly getting better. Still very stiff in the mornings, but mobility is coming back to it. I really need to bite the bullet and go do some physio to expedite the healing process. The extra volume and different movements have been leaving me with some decent DOMS. I am excited to move into a calorie surplus and try to run this program for awhile. With my knee injury, I may put off my strongman debut and put more energy into putting on size. Nothing is set in stone, but I’m just over a month out of the strongman competition and things are looking grim right now with my knee.

I’ve been consuming around maintenance calories (inconsistently, surplus some days, deficit others) and have been hovering around the 200-203lb mark for the last few weeks now. A few weeks ago my physique was great, the past two weeks were a little soft, and this week has now looked a lot tighter again.


Some thoughts going forward:

My plan come June is to slowly increase calories into a surplus. I know danteism has logged about DC’s ā€œBlast and Cruiseā€ concept and robstein has gone from surplus into ā€˜mini-cuts’. So I was thinking of going into a surplus for 6-12 weeks (ā€˜blast phase’ Higher intensity, and pushing the muscles hard - length will depend on how strict I’m being, how run down I’m feeling and how much weight I’m adding - aiming for 0.5lb/week) followed by a mini-cut (ā€˜cruise phase’ 1-2 weeks - Lower intensity, add some metabolic circuits/cardio, calorie reduction/deficit).

Whew long post.

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Oh i meant mine was at 325, not 25 pounds over yours hahaha damn, son! I wish!

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Simple stuff usually works
I’d throw in some rotator cuff work as well

I like them too, they make your shoulders feel great

Who even goes to the gym to do isolation exercises only?
That would be just boring as hell

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How long do you workouts take? Meaning from the moment you walk into the gym to the moment you leave?

More than 45mins, less than 1hr 15mins.

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Cool man I was just curious since you have things split up now. You doing work over here!