Weight: 211.1lb
Recovery: 40% (5h 18m slept)
3am max effort therapy
Stepping away from the forums a bit. Going to keep logging and checking in on logs of others, im just spending too much time trying to help folks who probably wont listen anyways.
Progress Update
4/11/23
Damn, dude. Just saw your before pic. Great work and transformation!
Much appreciated. I’m very proud of what I’ve done so far, and I’m excited to see what’s around the corner.
I am looking to make my hypertrophy work as short as possible since im doing conjugate for strength and all the maxing and speed work takes like 40mins as it is, so im looking into all the low volume ideas for assistance work.
I found this article and i think ill go by the progression it suggests : Pump Down the Volume
Anyways, what i was wondering if u have some insight about this since you are doing some lower volume stuff also.
What about the reps? I know that doing 12+, especially like 16+ gets you closer to failure and gives the burn and pump, but for me, it seems that i rather quit the set than reach actual failure not because of failure but of the discomfort. Because, for example, on smth like Leg Press i feel like if im doing more than 10 reps, the weight is light enough that i get the feeling like doing abs - you can always do ONE MORE. And it ends up with just mental toughness like doing 300 burpees, not actual muscle failure.
So what i found is that 6-8 reps is where i can really make sure i reached failure…well, because…the weight just isnt moving and it comes down on me at some point.
What i wanted to ask is if you have came across some info about “optimal” reps and what is your experience and do you think it even matters?
I know research says that as long as the intensity is the same, reps dont matter as in - failure is failure, no matter how many reps. But whats your opinion and what have you read?
A lot to tackle here.
I’m not very familiar with conjugate, but I recall it has a lot of maxing throughout the week. This is already a lot of work, which is going to take a significant toll on your ability to train with intensity for assistance work. “Intensity” meaning “how close you are to failure”.
Looking over this at a cursory level - it looks fine… but if I’m being honest, the rest of your post concerns me RE failure training. I’ll get to that in a minute.
I like the way Jordan Peters has it laid out. Heavy exercises are 6-12 reps, Light exercises are 15-20 reps. 2 exercises per muscle. 2 sets to failure each exercise.
There’s a Schoenfield study out there somewhere that says “the last 5 reps to failure are the most important” and I agree 100%, except with the caveat where those last 5 reps would be better performed at lower reps (6-12 or 15-20, exercise dependent). In reality, the total number of reps doesn’t really matter that much, but less reps at heavier weights has a pretty solid stimulus:fatigue ratio, and I think there’s a reason why every single BBer program out there never goes outside of the 6-25 rep range.
IDK how else to say it other than this mentality is the antithesis of failure training. Not trying to be rude, just honest. If you think you can hit a weight for 10 reps only on leg press, I’ll challenge you to keep going until you drop it. That’s failure. If you end up hitting 25-30 reps? Cool… increase weight and do it next week. I promise that you will reach failure lol.
RE Mental Toughness… my workouts are intimidating. I look at my notes and see what weight and how many reps I did last time, and usually say “fuck” without a hint of subtleness. Failure training and mental toughness are inseparable, so no half-assing sets. I’m sure you’ll do fine here.
Sure. Pick a weight you think you will fail at within 6-8 reps and push it until you cannot complete the rep. Next week, same weight - but one more rep. Again the week after that. 6-8 isn’t enough room to let yourself adjust to the new weight when progressing like that IMO. I know you’re saying you want to progress differently, and that’s fine - I’m just very well convinced that Jordan Peters, Dante Trudel, Scott Stevenson, etc. have done it best regarding failure. Thibbs approach looks fine, I think it’s just skinning the cat a different way though.
Optimal is a loaded term lol. I like:
Personally, my legs get fucked hitting high reps. The pump is so bad in my quads I struggle to recover. Typically, a rest pause set will have reps looking like:
15 reps
8 reps
4 reps
My quad extension rest pause sets tend to look like:
15 reps
4 reps
1-2 reps
I pointed to this earlier, but I stick with the typicall 6-25 rep range for pretty much everything. Rest-Pause gets a pass for 20-30 because I have a Dante Trudel poster hanging over my bed.
I don’t know if you’ve run it yet, but I would give DoggCrapp an honest run for a month or two if the whole ‘failure’ thing isn’t sitting right. I like JPs stuff more than DC, but I think DC is the better teacher of true failure (not saying you don’t know what that is).
4/11/23 - Food
Cal: 2261
P: 245g
C: 190g
F: 53g
Weight: 211.2lb
Recovery: 63% (5h 41m slept)
Bis
Tris
Forearms
Shoulders
^not logging sets/reps for pump work. Need to workshop this into it’s own Gap day. PPL > PPLA coming soon.
15 mins Treadmill AHR 135bpm
Window shopping for a new gym membership. Need a bigger leg press.
I’ve been dealing with this as well. The gym i’ve been going to for years moved a location and now my location is so overcrowded I can barely get anything done. Think I’ve found another good one but it’s so challenging finding one you fit in. Good luck!
Makeup session for this morning.
Stairmaster primer
lv10, 2 mins
Treadmill
3%, 15 mins, AHR 132bpm
Stationary Bike
Lv10, 15mins, AHR 127bpm
+12mins Hyperbed Tanning
Holy shit, i was about to pull the trigger on PSMF because i didn’t think i was seeing progress.
Weight: 208.7lb
Recovery: 53% (4h 40m slept)
I’m getting a new fucking gym membership. Half-repping fuck knuckle was supersetting between the only two ham curls in the gym. I genuinely don’t have time for this shit.
4/13/23 Food
Cal: 2121
P: 265g
C: 114g
F: 64g
I loathe gyms. They’re so crowded to the point where I fantasize Thanos wiping out half of the population.
No traffic and no crowded gyms.
(Perhaps I said too much)
4/14/23 - Rest
Weight: 207.8lb
Cardio: 30mins
Food
Cal: 1490
P: 273g
C: 22g
F: 28g
In the morning through the afternoon (9-2) isn’t so bad where i’m at. But in the evening it’s absolutely packed like a zoo with the afterwork and afterschool crowd.
I stopped going because 1) someone tried to use my lever belt without asking and then claimed it was their own and it happened again in a separate incident in the evening. 2) getting told off for resting too long in the squat rack (a couple minutes), the guy was a dingdong and was really combative. 3) I just don’t like people standing ass cheek to ass cheek at the cables, benches and platforms with me lol
Could be one offs but it’s interesting to note this all happened during evening rush hours uff
Weight: 206.5lb
Recovery: 81% (7h 37m slept)
Will not be a reoccurring session. Experimenting with forearm stuff, I have forearm equipment on the way for better training.
All sets performed with strict, controlled reps and 3s negatives. No english today.
2" Forearm Curls
12x25
10x25
10x25
2" Reverse Forearm Curls
12x25
10x25
8x25
Pinwheel Curls (plate)
12x25
10x25
9x25
Sledge Rotation External
12x3lb sledge
10x3lb sledge
Sledge Rotation Internal
10x3lb sledge
8x3lb sledge
+30mins LISS cardio
Food
Cal: 1488
P: 274g
C: 6g
F: 28g
Sugar free Jell-O to the rescueee.
Immaculate
Weight: 207.6lb
Recovery: 92% (7h 22m slept)
Modified the PPL into PPLA (PPAL is more accurate) to address the issue of my arms not being 20" yet. 1 set Occlusion Bis and Tris on respective Push/Pull day, 2 exercises to failure for each on Gap day.
Food (diet break today, for sanity and routine-setting)
Cal: 2208
P: 291g
C: 175g
F: 30g
We should all have a pee pal - well done
You know, sometimes i see you give well calibrated advice to folks who need it. Other times, i wonder how you made the cut onto the ‘Member Coach’ team 
Same, man
