MarkKO's Training Log

Training Training Logs
1622

Leader, cycle 3, week 1

On night shift again. So, not tons of sleep and eating in smaller windows. Woke up at 194.5 lbs. I want to see how long I can push this downwards streak.

Today’s training

Lazy lifter plus shoulders

Bench press

30 pull aparts between first three warmup sets

5x170 lbs, under 6 RPE
5x198 lbs, under 6 RPE
5x225 lbs, 7-8 RPE
3x8x170 lbs, 6, 8-9, 10 RPE - triceps fried

BTN press 50 total reps at 88 lbs: 12, 10, 13 10, 7

https://www.instagram.com/p/BRAGyjPlStd/

Elbows put up with these so far. Shoulders too.

T-bar rows 100 total reps at 110 lbs: 16, 15, 15, 12, 13, 15, 14

Whichever way I cut it these are pure, unadulterated brutality.

Supersetted hammer curls/rear delt flyes
Curls 50 total reps at 30 lbs: 12, 12, 10, 11, 10
Flyes 100 total reps at 25 lbs: 20, 20, 20, 20, 20

Stationary bike sprints 10 x 40 sec off/20 sec on at level 13

6 Likes
1623

I’m not sure whether it’s the BTN presses or the rear delt flyes but my traps and rear delts are SORE. Did some self myofascial release on my triceps which had been complaining slightly and that seems to have helped. Elbows still feel OK - the triceps were iffy at the elbow but see above. I’m putting that down to the benching more than anything because it fried them today.

If neutral grip pull-ups don’t hurt tomorrow/later today and I can squat comfortably on Friday BTN will stick around for this cycle. Hopefully that’s how things will pan out.

2 Likes
1624

Slept better because tired AF but still tired because night shift. Three to go. Woke at 195.1 lbs - so far so good. Elbows feeling happy, upper pecs now sore. Fatigue brain fog hanging around so took longer between sets just to refocus.

Today’s training

Lazy lifter

Stiff bar DL

7 neutral grip pull-ups between first three warmup sets. Elbows felt fine, and so did the pull-ups. Pleased. Third set below.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BRComjzl74H/

5x346 lbs, under 6 RPE, hook grip - felt fast. New belt hole PR too.
1x396 lbs, hook grip, brain fogged and said no ouchies motherfucker so lost it for the second
5x396 lbs, under 6 RPE, straps - less than optimal setup but still moved quite fast and actually looked OK-ish (can’t be bothered to IG it, you’ll have to take my word)
5x451 lbs, 7-8 RPE, straps - felt grooved AF, which was an awesome surprise given how I’m feeling. Could actually feel my hamstrings and glutes doing their thing.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BRCuZaWFwv5/

FSL SGDL 3x5x275 lbs, all under 6 RPE

SSB squat 50 total reps at 302 lbs: 25, 10, 15

So I went into the squats tired and thinking I’d probably have to go for five sets of 10 and buck the 25 reps in week one tradition. Not sure what the hell is going on but until around rep 16 or 17 it was easy. Then suddenly my middle and upper back was on fire. Oh, and my calves started shaking too. Then I started set two and had to call it at 10…

Not sure why but today I’m about a million times more aware of individual muscles. Kind of cool.

I know I’m meant to drop these next phase in favour of paused front squats but I’m thinking of splitting the difference and doing paused SSB squats.

Supsersetted band tricep pushdowns/ab wheel rollouts
Triceps 100 total reps: 30, 25, 20, 25
Ab wheel 50 total reps: 5, 5 from feet, 20, 20 from knees

4 Likes
1625

Woke up at 194.5 lbs again. So far so good - admittedly there’s no downward trend BUT because of night shift I’ve been eating in short windows (around 9-10 hours) which doesn’t always help.

I’ll be interested to see if I can push down to 193 or so in the next week. Of course, it’s possible I’ll hang around 195ish for a while until the next drop. At this stage I’ll be very, very patient about it in terms of dropping calories because my gut tells me going below 2300 cal/day would be venturing into genuine cut territory. That is something I want to avoid for as long as possible.

As it stands, my maintenance minimum is 2700 cal by scale weight and 2200 cal by LBM (16 lbs). As I understand it that means the lowest I can really go right now is 2200. That’ll be my final bastion, which I’ll keep away from for as long as I can.

1 Like
1626

This also seems to be where I get my tricep/elbow pain. I’ve started rolling it out as well, and it seems to help.

These usually feel OK on my elbows. I have noticed that how I grip the handles makes a difference. Instead of really getting the handle into my palm and almost wrapping my hand around the handle I rotate them out a bit so the handle is more in my fingers. For whatever reason, this has seemingly put a little less strain on my elbows. I have nothing to support this other than experience.

Oh, and nice work on the deadlifts during the cut!

1 Like
1627

Anything involving my elbows freaks me out because of how much they hurt when I messed them up like an idiot. They feel fine now, I think a big part of it was being unaccustomed to the movement. Squatting on Friday will be another indicator.

With that rack, the handles rotate in any direction so they usually end up where my body wants them without me even having to think about it. I love that rack. If I ever get one, it’ll be that one I think.

Thanks. Week three will be the interesting one, but I’m keen for that 5x506 lbs. Nervous, but keen.

2 Likes
1628

For my elbow tendonitis (and quad) high rep warm up sets will keep them from hurting that workout and eventually it completely goes away.

Normally I would get elbow pain from Ticep Press downs and foregrip pullups. Now I always start tricep work with press downs but in the 15 rep range at like 1 plate on the stack and do 15 reps and keep adding 1 plate until I am failing at 15 or less reps. It did wonders. I also dropped the foregrip pullups for neutral but I still do muscle ups.

For quads I did a lot of quad extensions (mostly sitting on a box and mimicking the motion) and body weight squats almost daily.

I assume elbow strain from squatting would be slightly different (twisting) but building the connective tissue could hurt.

It should do wonders if it is from Benching.

1 Like
1629

It was from shitty squat grip and shitty pull-up technique. Hammer curls are a saviour, although the only thing that really fixed it was exclusively SSB squatting for a coupe of months, dropping pull-ups for a year and overhauling squat grip.

1 Like
1630

You mean it’s just a phase? Huh.

@markko: Have you tried ring pull ups? They allow for a lot of movement that bar pull ups don’t allow. Anything with rings requires a good bit of stability though.

1 Like
1631

@Destrength I sort of tried once. It wasn’t happening.

1 Like
1632

Went to bed with a budding migraine. It was still hanging around when I woke up so I went back to bed. Felt better on my second attempt getting up but sleeping longer means I ran out of time to train today. Annoying, but better than a migraine. Soft, I know. Also have a lovely knot in my right lat (it pops up periodically) that feels like there’s a spike lodged in it and it’s radiating pain down my arm up my neck. Probably has something to do with the migraine.

I’ll have to mash Thursday and Friday together. No big deal. Also means I’ll be up for a very short time (six hours tops) so I’ll probably keep calories at around 1900-2000 and get back to normal tomorrow.

1633

Don’t get too obsessed. You are making good progress so if you don’t feel good, auto regulate. I think you are better being fresh and hitting it hard than if you feel like crap and are going through the motions.

Remember, it’s a marathon and you are winning. It’s better to stay healthy and keep working out than to burnout and bail.

You got this bro - I think 189 is three weeks away!

3 Likes
1634

You’re right, of course. I feel fresh as a daisy today with is a bonus. The knot is still there but less so, courtesy of getting the hell pounded out of it by my other half and munchkin.

2 Likes
1635

Back on 194.5 lbs on waking. Feeling rested.

Today’s training

Lazy lifter plus shoulders

Squat

15 TRX fatman pull-ups between first three warmup sets

5x319 lbs, under 6 RPE
5x363 lbs, under 6 RPE
5x412 lbs, 6 RPE - got through the reps as fast as I could. Makes it heavier by the third.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BRJ4F-7l6TA/

Front squat FSL 3x8x214 lbs, under 6 RPE

Bench press

30 pull aparts between first three warmup sets

5x170 lbs, under 6 RPE
5x198 lbs, 6 RPE
5x225 lbs, 7 RPE

Instead of FSL decided to repeat all sets, but with my Reactive Slingshot to get a feel for it

5x170 lbs, under 6 RPE
5x198 lbs, under 6 RPE
9x225 lbs, 9-10 RPE

Felt good as long as I remember to aggressively flare my elbows at the bottom.

Decided to do something a little different for single leg

SSB RFESS 50 total reps/leg: 15xbar, 10x1 plate, 5x2 plate, 10x1 plate, 15xbar

https://www.instagram.com/p/BRKAIxOlKju/

I’m going to say my single leg strength is proportional to my bilateral leg strength.

Decided to do the same for dips

Dips 50 total reps: 15xbw, 10x22 lbs extra, 10x44 lbs extra, 10x22 lbs extra, 10xbw

Getting 10 with an extra 44 lbs was a nice surprise. The following sets were an unpleasant surprise and could probably be called a nine and a half each. They were hard AF past five.

Kroc rows were a no go at 120 lbs: I got seven and my mind just folded. Grip was good though.

Balance to 25 total reps at 90 lbs: 10, 10

Obviously doing a whole lot more than usual before Kroc rows makes them a fuckton harder. Got a good back pump though.

By this time I’d been training for almost three hours so I decided to do a single AMRAP of each third tier exercise and call it a day. Yes, I know. I’m a fucking snail. So sue me.

Hammer curls at 30 lbs: 20
GHR sit-ups plus 22 lbs on chest: 25
Band tricep pushdowns: 40
Rear delt flyes at 25 lbs: 25

6 Likes
1636

Man you’re a god damn beast how the heck do you train for three hours

1 Like
1637

Dude your waist is shrinking!!

3 Likes
1638

God damn! Great job.

2 Likes
1639

You use a lot of calves in squatting.

I get the shakes from basketball. Very interesting. Never for squats.

1 Like
1640

@duketheslaya slowly, that’s how.

@BOTSLAYER seems like it. Woke up at 195.6 lbs but looking leaner than yesterday somehow. I’m going with inflammation holding water.

@Koestrizer I read that article here about RFESS strength so obviously I had to have a crack.

@darkcop makes it interesting for sure, although shaking knees are worse.

1 Like
1641

I have a sore backside today. At a guess, it was the heavy RFESS. Further guess, light and higher rep RFESS hit my quads more; heavier and lower rep hit my glutes. Not sure how much sense that makes.

Squats felt good yesterday. Angle isn’t great but it looks like buttwink is virtually non-existent. That lazy lifter has made a massive difference in how I can squat without a bar - even in my Chucks. Another guess, but I think it’s carried over to my squat.

1 Like