Meditations, Musings & Muscular Contractions

Lower day completed today.

Single-side Leg Curl: 50kg for 6
Hip Abduction: 200lb+5kg for 8
Hip Adduction: 205lb+5kg for 14

Leg curl still in that sunken place. Maybe I should just skip them for one session. Anyway, heavier than ever on abduction, entire stack, plus those little extra places that are part of the machine that you can slide on, plus a 5kg plate I stuck the pin through, for 8. On adduction, added a rep here too, very nice.

Single-leg Leg Extension: 140lb for 8.8, 5 partials
Single-Leg Hip Thrust: 135kg for 10

Very good here - added the majority of a rep on leg extensions, & on hip thrusts, added 5kg & kept my reps at 10.

Incline Curl: 22kg for 7
Incline Hammer Curl: 20kg for 9
Leg Press Calf Raises: 180lb for 9, 5 partials
Single-leg Leg Press: 110lb for 9
Hyper-Extension: BW for 10

Great PR on the calf raises, hitting 9 reps with 180lb. On single-leg leg press on the same machine as other one was occupied & did more than I’d previously done on this machine, so I’ll take it.

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Upper session done 4 days ago, lower done yesterday.

Hammerstrength Incline: 105kg for 6.9
Hammerstrength Decline: 100kg for 8.5
Pullover: 70kg per side for 7

Upped the weight a lot on incline. Just couldn’t lock the last one.

Hammerstrength OHP: 60kg for 12
Tbar Row: 90kg for 7

Didn’t want the risk of chestpad collapsing on the machine row so I did Tbar, felt good as always, never fails me. OHP went well too.

Decline JM Press: 87.5kg for 7
Wide-grip Shrug: 145kg for 17
Incline DB Tricep Extension: 44kg for 10
Lateral: 10kg for 25
Laying Rev Fly: 12kg for 10


Lower day.

Hip Abduction: 200lb+5kg for 9
Hip Adduction: 205lb+10kg for 10

Didn’t do leg curls since they’re in that sunken place where you hit less than you’ve done before like 5 workouts in a row. But anyway, added a rep on abduction, & on adduction, used a 10kg extra plate for the first time & hit 10 reps. Nice.

Leg Press Calf Raises: 195lb for 7, 5 partials
Single-leg Leg Extension: 140lb for 9, 5 partials
Single-Leg Hip Thrust: 150kg for 10
Awesome wins. First time using 195lb on single-leg calf raises & decent rep count. Full PR on leg extensions, 140lb for 9 reps, & added 5kg on hip thrusts & kept my reps at 10 again.

Incline Curl: 22kg for 8
Incline Hammer Curl: 20kg for 9
Single-leg Leg Press: 125lb for 8
Hyper-Extension: BW for 12
Leg Curls: 90kg for 7

Just fooling around on leg curls at the end, getting some blood in there. But PR on single-leg leg press, which is nice.

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Upper session just done.

Hammerstrength Incline: 105kg for 7
Hammerstrength Decline: 100kg for 9
Pullover: 70kg per side for 7.5

Turned it into 7 reps on incline, & locked in 9 reps on decline.

Hammerstrength OHP: 60kg for 11
Machine Row: 90kg for 9

Machine OHP feels good but the issue is that like many hammerstrength presses, it’s hardest at the top due to the angles of the rungs. Meanwhile I’m doing bottom partials, which kinda cheats the form. Maybe I’ll actually try using a barbell, free weight on these.

Decline JM Press: 87.5kg for 8
Wide-grip Shrug: 145kg for 17
Incline DB Tricep Extension: Two 18kg dumbbells for 10
Lateral: 10kg for 25
Laying Rev Fly: 12kg for 11

Experimenting with two dumbbells on tricep extensions. Felt perfectly fine but I’d be shocked if they didn’t. Laterals I got 20 count-able reps before partialing the last 5. And PR on cross body rear delts.

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Lower day today. A couple of good things to report here.

Leg Curl: 50kg for 7
ip Abduction: 200lb+5kg for 10
Hip Adduction: 205lb+10kg for 10

Leg curls still in a rut. But I managed to once again add another rep on abduction, solid.

Leg Press Calf Raises: 195lb for 8, 5 partials
Single-leg Leg Extension: 140lb for 9.8, 5 partials
Single-Leg Hip Thrust: 155kg for 10

Several significant things here. Added a rep on calves, added 0.8 reps on leg extension, & again added 5kg onto my hip thrust & kept the reps at 10.

Incline Curl: 22kg for 8.2
Incline Hammer Curl: 20kg for 9
Single-leg Leg Press: 135lb for 6
Hyper-Extension: 5kg for 8
Ab Crunch: 55kg for 9

Added weight on the leg press, up by 15lb from 120 to 135. Big jump.

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Pullover: 70kg for 8
Hammerstrength Incline: 105kg for 7
Hammerstrength Decline: 105kg for 7

Good day on pullovers. Hit the 7 reps I hit on incline press & even tried for 8 but it wasn’t happening. Added weight on decline press too, 2.5kg a side, 5kg total added load, & hit 7 reps.

Standing Barbell BTN OHP: 40kg for 10, 42.5kg for 8
Machine Row: 95kg for 7

BTN OHP with the barbell felt good. Never did these standing before.

Decline JM Press: 87.5kg for 7.5
Wide-grip Shrug: 147.5kg for 17
Incline DB Tricep Extension: Two 18kg dumbbells for 8
Lateral: 10kg for 25
Laying Rev Fly: 12kg for 12

PR on rear delts. Also on laterals - 21 reps that I’d count as full reps before it drifted to partials. The key here is to attempt to be explosive. If you do the reps without any oomph, then you sorta can keep going & going, but if you go hard, your muscle gets to that point where it can’t produce that force any more & you get what you needed to get out of the set. Small PR on shrugs too.

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Leg Curl: 50kg for 6
Hip Abduction: 200lb+5kg for 10
Leg Press Calf Raises: 195lb for 9, 5 partials

Nothing on leg curls, (I’d switch to seated but all the seated ones I don’t really like), same on abduction. Added a rep on calves though which is awesome.

Single-leg Leg Extension: 140lb for 10, 5 partials
Single-Leg Hip Thrust: 160kg for 10

Time to go up on leg extensions, hell yeah. Added 5kg on hip thrusts, (single-leg), & am finally up to 4 plates per side. I will keep going.

Incline Curl: 22kg for 8.5
Incline Hammer Curl: 20kg for 8
Single-leg Leg Press: 100kg for 7
Hyper-Extension: 5kg for 8
Ab Crunch: 55kg for 12

Back to the leg press I haven’t used in a few weeks for a PR. Half the entire stack, (stack = 200kg), for single-leg for 7 reps. Added a couple of reps on abs too. Forgot adduction but that’s fine.

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Upper day done with some good results.

Hammerstrength Incline: 105kg for 8
Hammerstrength Decline: 105kg for 8
Pullover: 70kg for 8

This made the whole workout. Adding a rep on both presses, very good. Pullover kept my performance despite doing this after.

Standing Barbell BTN OHP: 42.5kg for 9
Machine Row: 95kg for 8

Kinda expected to add a rep here on Barbell BTN OHP due to less fatigue from not messing around with 40kg first, (I did it but just for 3, a true warmup), but it’s a good feeling. I can’t wait to go back & try 45kg next time.

Decline JM Press: 87.5kg for 7
Wide-grip Shrug: 147.5kg for 17
Incline DB Tricep Extension: Two 18kg dumbbells for 11
Lateral: 10kg for 26
Laying Rev Fly: 14kg for 8

Couple good things here. Incline tricep extension did 11 reps which is solid. And on laterals, I managed 22 real reps before the partials kicked in. I think I’ll actually go up to the 12kg dumbbells now. But maybe it’s good where it is. We’ll see. New weight on cross body rear delts, nice.

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Hip Abduction: 200lb+5kg for 12
Hip Adduction: 205lb+10kg for 9 (skipped these last time)
Leg Press Calf Raises: 195lb for 9, 5 partials

After no reps added last time on abduction, I add 2 reps on it today, tremendous. Same reps on calf raises but focused on ensuring great depth today.

Single-leg Leg Extension: 155lb for 7, 5 partials
Single-Leg Hip Thrust: 165kg for 10

Good first performance on leg extensions with this weight, up 15lb which is a big jump for single leg movement like this. Once again, added 5kg on hip thrusts, (single-leg), 4 plates & a 5kg plate too.

Incline Curl: 22kg for 8
Incline Hammer Curl: 20kg for 8
Single-leg Leg Press: 100kg for 7
Hyper-Extension: 5kg for 8
Ab Crunch: 55kg for 13

Up a rep on crunches. Hypers are interesting, so many ways to do them. Trying to take my hips out of it & make it really lower back oriented as I’m getting good glute volume from my other stuff.

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Lower & upper sessions done, logging both below.

Hip Abduction: 200lb+5kg for 13
Hip Adduction: 205lb+10kg for 5
Leg Press Calf Raises: 195lb for 9, 5 partials

Really good on abduction. Adduction was simply that the machine this particular day had strong friction, unlucky.

Single-leg Leg Extension: 155lb for 7.8, 5 partials
Single-Leg Hip Thrust: 170kg for 10

Nearly 8 reps on the leg extensions & successfully added 5kg again on hip thrusts. 175kg next time.

Incline Curl: 22kg for 7
Incline Hammer Curl: 20kg for 7
Single-leg Leg Press: 130lb for 7
Hyper-Extension: 5kg for 9
Ab Crunch: 60kg for 8

Added a rep on this particular leg press machine too, nice. Heavier on abs as well.


Upper day done this morning.

Hammerstrength Incline: 105kg for 8
Hammerstrength Decline: 105kg for 9
Pullover: 70kg for 8

Added a rep on decline press was nice. Pullover I was thinking about ribcage orientation, actually focusing on moving it around less, less arching at the top, actually felt quite targeted in my lats.

Standing Barbell BTN OHP: 45kg for 8.5
Machine Row: 100kg for 6.5

Not bad on rows. I’m hungry to go up on these presses, 47.5kg next time. 45kg is probably still the ‘best’ weight but I just really wanna try the next one.

Decline JM Press: 80kg for 10
Wide-grip Shrug: 150kg for 17
Single-arm Pushdown: 12.5kg for 15
Lateral: 12kg for 13, 7 partials
Laying Rev Fly: 14kg for 9

Good stuff on laterals. Single arm pushdowns feel really good. Ideally I’d have two stations two feet apart & use one for each arm. Having the attachment be situated in front of where my arm is rather than the middle of my body is great.

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Nice lower done today. I’ve gained only a very small amount of weight since finishing dieting formally but I think part of my progress is thanks to nutrition. While my calories don’t really get very high, the fact I’ve been consuming like 400 calories in pure fruit juice before training I think has been really helping. Well hydrated, pure sugar going into my muscle cells, no fat or protein to slow the digestion at all, fast acting. I think it’s not more popular advice because you’re basically telling people to consume like 100g of sugar, which the average person doesn’t need. But for a moderately muscular guy who tries not to have too much sugar outside of this, who needs to fuel his training without a big calorie surplus, it’s a real help.

Hip Abduction: 200lb+10kg for 9
Single-leg Leg Curl: 50kg for 7
Leg Press Calf Raises: 210lb for 6, 5 partials

Yes, a 10kg plate on abduction. The entire stack plus this. And 9 reps too, this was really good. Not only that but heavier than ever on calves, 210lb for single-leg. Solid. Remember this is one exercise I do on a 2/2 tempo - but it’s not a ‘slow’ concentric, rather explosively pushing it to like 60% contracted, then an extremely brief pause before contracting hard again to do the lockout, kinda Jay Cutler style. Very calf specific.

Single-leg Leg Extension: 155lb for 8, 5 partials
Single-Leg Hip Thrust: 175kg for 10

Confirmed 8 reps on the leg extension with 155lb & successfully added 5kg again on hip thrusts. 180kg next time.

Incline Curl: 22kg for 6
Rope Curl: 22.5kg for 15

I filmed my incline curl set last week & didn’t really like it. I’m kinda slightly swinging back at the bottom of the negative to force a stretch, which, if my theory on hypertrophy is well founded, won’t really achieve anything. Assuming you’re even building muscle from the weighted stretch, it’s kinda irrelevant here because my bicep isn’t under load. My upper arm is straight down at the bottom despite the bench being at the angle you’d do incline dumbbell press on. So today, I went one angle deeper, super deep, & avoided that swing back. I want my arm in it’s ‘relaxed’ position to be slightly forward facing so that there’s a little tension on my bicep at the bottom position, basically. I think I achieved that. Not surprised I got one fewer reps. Rope curl for variety, honestly.

Single-leg Leg Press: 130lb for 8
Hyper-Extension: 5kg for 10
Ab Crunch: 60kg for 9

Awesome, added a rep on leg press, really nice to see. Added one on hypers & abs too, really nice. Especially the leg press. Helps re-affirm to me I’m not completely bullshitting myself on hip thrust & involving my other leg in it, (I’m sure I am like 10% but I’m focused on horse-cocking big loads right now, & I’ll clean up once the quick progression drops off).

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