Another few days in a deficit & still holding strong. One of my chain gyms is very close to my office so I can train during lunch at work, (1 hour lunch). I think it’s quite a testament to my not screwing around in the gym from a time standpoint. Only difference is the oldschool OHP machine I like isn’t there, & the seated leg curl fucking sucks so I’m on lying leg curl.
Pec Deck: 120kg for 9
Crossbody Pec Deck: 85kg for 8, 95kg for 9
Reverse Pec Deck: 60kg for 10, 85kg for 10
Startrak OHP: 50kg for 7, 60kg for 7, 45kg for 8 (super slow)
Dumbbell Incline Skullcrushers (SS):14kg for 8, 18kg for 9, 14kg for 9
Cable Lateral Raises (SS): 5kg for 6, 7.5kg for 5, 5kg for 10
V-bar Pushdowns (SS): 30kg for 9, 37.5kg for 9, 30kg for 9
Machine Preacher Curls (SS): 50kg for 6, 55kg for 9, 50kg for 8
Hammer-grip Machine Preacher Curls (SS): 50kg for 7, 45kg for 7
Notice my preacher curl (now done super slow) I’m hitting 55kg for 9 on the top set, feeling good about this. Even added a rep to my backoff set on dumbbell skullcrushers.
Widish Grip Pulldowns: 100kg for 8, 110kg for 8, 90kg for 8
Lying Leg Curls (SS): 65kg for 10, 55kg 10
Seated Chest Supported Row (SS): 80kg for 8, 85kg for 9, 70kg for 10
Finally taken the plunge & doing all my chest supported row sets with two seconds up & two seconds down. 85kg for 9 on the top set as you can see. Also glad to still be hitting 110kg for 8 on overhand pulldowns considering it’s gone from 123.6% of my bodyweight to 132.5% of my bodyweight. This is still done explosively for now.
Hack Squat: 80kg for 7, 95kg for 8, 80kg for 9
Weighted Decline Crunch (SS): 20kg for 6
Calf raises (SS): 95kg 8 (different machine)
RANT: I need to talk about rest-pause. It’s one of the advanced techniques, along with partials, assisted reps, dropsets, etc. But I think ultimately it’s the most different to all the others, because of all of these techniques, rest-pause is the closest one of these options to simply doing another set. That’s kind of what it is, just with very short rest to hit those struggle reps straight away. HIT advocates who are like religious fundamentalists with their single set training are very cheeky to utilize this when they do because you just want to lean towards them and say, ‘You know you’re basically doing a second set, right?’
Anyway, I’ve got a theory that they’re very under-utilized among most people, (maybe myself too, I’ll think about it). Bodybuilding success is all about discovering the ‘goldilocks’ training zone for your stimulus/recovery needs, running with it, & adjusting as needed. Adding or removing a whole set can be a big step towards finding your ‘zone’ but when you’re working somewhat relatively close to the ballpark of what you should be doing, but you need marginally more, or marginally less stimulus, rest-pause is right there.
Ultimately a rest-pause set is LESS STIMULATIVE than a set taken to failure after a standard rest period. The first reps of a set might not be as stimulating as the last but there is still a stimulative effect that exists within them. Resting two minutes & doing 10 reps is a greater stimulus than resting 25 seconds & doing 3. Here’s what we do with this truth: Use rest-pause as a way to micro adjust our workouts. If you’re doing 3 sets & realize you need quite a bit more, or quite a bit less, then do 4 sets, or 2 sets. But if you’re doing 3 sets & you feel you’re very close to your ideal stimulus, but say you need slightly more, or slightly less, than rest-pause is right there. Add a rest-pause set after your final set. Or, remove one of your regular sets & add a rest-pause set. It’s a lilypad you can leap to in-between the adjustments of adding or removing an entire set. For this reason it is really really useful.