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).