Meditations, Musings & Muscular Contractions

Training Logs
163

Upper day this Saturday morning at about 10AM.

Pullover: 75kg for 7.5
Hammerstrength Incline: 110kg for 8
Hammerstrength Decline: 110kg for 7

Pullovers first due to availability again. Heavier weight, not a bad rep count. Repeated incline performance.

T-bar Row: 95kg for 6, 2 partials
Standing Barbell BTN OHP: 50kg for 6

Actually tried for 7 on OHP & got it to top of my head height, which is actually great.

Behind the back Shrugs: 90kg for 11 then 4 partials
Lateral: 12kg for 18, 3 partials

Very solid here too. Added a rep on the BTB shrugs & laterals both.

Single-arm Pushdown: 17.5kg for 13
JM Press: 75kg for 10
Laying Rev Fly: 14kg for 8

Fatigue setting in here.

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164

Lower day at about 1:30PM today.

Single-leg Leg Extension: 170lb for 8, 5 partials
Hip Adduction: 205lb+10kg for 8
Single-Leg Hip Thrust: 200kg for 10/9
Single-arm DB Preacher Curl: 18kg for 6, 6

Awesome leg extension PR, securing 170lb on each leg for 8. The tension curve on this machine really isn’t the worst of the worst. It’s still hardest at the top & you can’t grind for long, but I can grind fractionally more than I thought I could. If the weight ever stops moving, I can’t get it moving again but I’m just thinking ‘keep moving keep moving keep moving’ on each rep & getting what I get.

DB preacher curls went well. According to strengthlevel I’ve gone from stronger than 38 to 39% of males my weight from last session to this one. Definitely could not do 18kg for 7 but also 6 didn’t wreck me enough to make doing it again impossible - signs of an exercise I’m not fully acclimated to, because if I were, going over RPE 9 would definitely mean I’m not hitting it again.

Slightly better on hip thrusts today. I may experiment with removing my supporting foot on these because I’m moving so much weight that I’m sure it must be helping like 20% & I don’t need that when it causes me to need 5 plates a side for supposedly single leg work.

Leg Curl: Stack, 90kg, for 8
Leg Press Calf Raises: 225lb for 6, 5 partials
Single-leg Leg Press: 165lb for 4

Yep, went stupid heavy on these. Leg press slightly too heavy but I’m going to try the same weight again next time & try to get 5, & I think I will. Calves stupid heavy but it came up.

Hyper-Extension: 10kg for 9
Ab Crunch: 60kg for 12
Hip Abduction: Stack for 14

Abduction on the worse machine, (lighter, switch-pin loaded one), just because I don’t care. Can’t add weight properly on these in my current situation.

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165

Upper day two days ago, & legs today. Let’s start with upper.

Pullover: 75kg for 7.5
Hammerstrength Incline: 110kg for 8
Different Chest Press: 90kg for 10

Incline press not going anywhere. The different press I did after felt way way better than the hammerstrength decline, which I find brings out extremely high tricep contraction on the hard reps, but of course it’s when the arm is almost extended, so not the most useful, especially when you’re trying to hit CHEST. I’ll stick with this one.

T-bar Row: 95kg for 6
Standing Barbell BTN OHP: 50kg for 7

Secured 7 reps on BTN OHP, awesome stuff. I’m dropping partials on rows, seems to be overly fatiguing.

Behind the back Shrugs: 95kg for 10 then 4 partials
Lateral: 14kg for 10, 4 partials
Single-arm Pushdown: 15kg for 9, 10
Rev Pec Deck: 65kg for 12

Started doing pushdowns one arm at a time with the cuff, elbow back & pushing down to my side. Really love it. Rev pec deck as I just feel too fried at the end of these sessions to revert to a lengthened biased lift to finish it.

Single-leg Leg Extension: 170lb for 9, 5 partials
Single-Leg Hip Thrust: 140kg for 7 pretty bad reps
Single-arm DB Preacher Curl: 18kg for 6, 5

Awesome leg extension PR, securing 170lb on each leg for 9. This has been incredible progress on this recently. Hip thrust, I took my supporting leg & lifted it, so it’s elevated, while my other leg hip thrusts. Made a HUGE difference to my loads lifted, because it’s not helping me, & also because it’s now a weight I have to lift. I’ll try this again next time. Intentionally got 5 on second set of curls because this lift is not going anywhere & I didn’t want to cause additional fatigue from getting a non-PR.

Leg Curl: Stack, 90kg, for 8
Leg Press Calf Raises: 225lb for 8, 5 partials
Single-leg Leg Press: 150lb for 5

Not good on leg press, but great result on calves, 225lb for 8, amazing.

Hyper-Extension: 10kg for 10
Hip Abduction: Stack for 13

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166

Nautilus Hoist Chest Press: 100kg for 10, 90kg for 12
Pullover: 75kg for 7.9

Switchup today. Instead of hammerstrength incline & decline, I did two sets on this better resistance arc flat chest press. I’ll go heavier next time. I used to be on the hunt for the ‘best’ exercise for each muscle, but now I think that it’s more contextual. For chest, I think lengthened or mid-range stuff is good, but short-biased hammer-strength stuff is something you can switch to for variety, if only for a time, when your theoretical ‘superior’ lift isn’t going up. Of course, if your mid/lengthened range chest lift is progressing, change nothing, but if it’s not, then hammerstrength could be good to throw in. But if the hammerstrength stuff isn’t moving up, take it out immediately, IMO.

T-bar Row: 95kg for 6
Standing Barbell BTN OHP: 50kg for 7

I had to hit 6 on rows again. It was cleaner than last time. Next time I’ll try for 7, but I just had to do 6 with great form today. 8 reps on OHP here seems like a world away, 7 is already a grind.

Behind the back Shrugs: 95kg for 11 then 4 partials
Lateral: 14kg for 11, 4 partials
Single-arm Pushdown: 15kg for 11, 12
Rev Pec Deck: 70kg for 10

Good little progress on the shrugs. Laterals too. And the pushdowns going swimmingly. Rev pec deck since it’s more short-biased for the end of my workout.

Last part of my post is me ranting about my current pushdown setup. In my head, this seems like an ‘optimal’ pushdown. That’s not saying it IS, but rather that it makes sense that it would be, to me, which isn’t the same thing, but it IS a damn good reason to try find out.

Fact: When you’re doing shoulder flexion, (a front raise motion), the tricep long head isn’t doing much. It can’t do much. It’s involved with shoulder extension, (pullover motion), which is the opposite motion to this.

Fact 2: A typical tricep pushdown will have your arm in front of your body. It has to be, because if you really bring your arms back slightly behind your body, the attachment will collide with your hips before you’ve straightened your elbows.

This is why the single-arm pushdowns done in a particular way seem to me to be very powerful. Upper arm back, so at the top, your wrist is close to your shoulder, good stretch, good ROM, & good tension in this position because of the direction the cable is pulling from in relation to your forearm. Then, because you’re single arm, you keep that upper arm back, & simply extend at the elbow. You get that upper arm behind the body tricep longhead contraction, but at the same time, it’s not limiting the lift like a tricep kickback, due to the joint angles, & it remains more mid-range biased.

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167

Single-leg Leg Extension: 170lb for 9.5, 5 partials
Hip Adduction: 205lb+10kg for 7
Single-Leg Hip Thrust: 110kg for 7 slightly poor quality ROM reps
Single-arm DB Preacher Curl: 18kg for 7, 5

Excellent stuff on leg extensions, beating 9 reps with 170lb. Hip thrust with elevated non-lifting leg, & frankly I should have gone even lighter. On the positive, it’s easier. Less systemic fatigue, I’m not needing to rest between legs.PR on curls too, very nice.

Leg Curl: Stack, 90kg, for 8
Leg Press Calf Raises: 225lb for 9, 5 partials
Single-leg Leg Press: 165lb for 5

Really good wins on calves & leg press. Very risky trying 165. First tme I did these I got 4, & next time I got 2, unproductively heavy, but today went great.

Hyper-Extension: 10kg for 11
Hip Abduction: Stack for 13

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168

Busy with musical theatre stuff in April. The show is done now so I thought I’d post an update log. I was in a deficit for the second half of April, down a couple kg. I was already holding good shape before the short diet, so it got hard after only like 4 days. Nothing at all like those cuts which start from a very fluffy state & the first few weeks are easy as hell.

Nautilus Hoist Chest Press: 115kg for 10, 110kg for 10
Pulldown: 120kg for 7

As you can see, the chest press has progressed a bit. First time getting 10 on this today. I will attempt 120kg next time - 3 plates a side. No pullover in this gym, (different branch, same chain).

Standing Barbell BTN OHP: 50kg for 6
Behind the back Shrugs: 105kg for 12 then 3 partials

My bodyweight drops & it seems standing press goes RIGHT down. Only got 5 last time so I’m not even mad here. BTB shrugs going really well. Lights my rear delts a bit so I’ve removed the cross-body dumbbell rear delt raise - too fatiguing, back on the rev pec deck, nice & simple.

T-bar Row: 95kg for 6
Lateral: 14kg for 11.5, 2 partials
Single-arm Pushdown: 17.5kg for 10, 7
Rev Pec Deck: 70kg for 16

Great row performance considering already fatigued from BTB shrugs. Laterals not bad. Single arm pushdown is a big win. Only hitting 6 reps not long ago on these. I think it’s the one lift aside from BTB shrugs that progressed in the deficit. Awesome.

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169

Lower body day today.

Seated Leg Curls: 100kg for 9
Single-leg Leg Extension: 170lb for 7, 5 partials
Hip Adduction: 205lb+15kg for 9

Yes I’ve switched to seated leg curls. 85kg first time, increased by 5kg each session. Today is the ‘no PR’ day, since I did 95kg for 11 last time. Leg extensions still stuck, went down with the calorie deficit & hasn’t quite come back. But awesome PR on adduction, stack plus 15kg for 9, a PR.

Single-Leg Hip Thrust: 100kg for 8
Single-arm DB Preacher Curl: 18kg for 7
Single-arm DB Preacher Hammer Curl: 16kg for 9

Small PR on hip thrust as well as the curls - pausing at the bottom on the supinated ones, it makes a difference.

Leg Press Calf Raises: 240lb for 8, 5 partials
Single-leg Leg Press: 165lb for 7

Continued progress on these lifts, very nice.

Hyper-Extension: 15kg for 10
Hip Abduction: On the easy machine, stack for 28
Leg Raises: BW for 11, then 5 more without flexing at the spine

And on these.

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170

Still training. I injured my neck a couple weeks ago. Decided impromptu to do my hammer curl on a seated preacher curl machine. The seat was too high & instead of stopping the set & adjusting the seat, I decided to just curl my body down by rounding my back & neck, but ended up tweaking my neck. Gf massaged it like 3 days later, but that turned out to be a terrible idea & made it way worse. Anyway, the neck pain, on the left side of my neck, radiated through my left collarbone to my left shoulder, & elbow, even wrist a little. Nerve damage. Skipped gym for a few days & when I returned, I did an abbreviated routine, (legs is normal, upper is a bit different). Shoulder press felt a bit funny & I didn’t wanna fuck with shrugs at this time, (also, depressing my scapula hurts a little on the left side). So, I ended up doing some chest stuff, pulldowns, rows & tricep isolation. After the session, my left side felt noticably better, & each day since then it’s improved by a tiny margin. Right now, I’d say I’m at 90%. I stopped taking pain pills like 4-5 days ago as I’m in no real pain now. Here is my most recent leg session, & then my upper session today, (second time doing the abbreviated version).

Single-Leg Leg Extension: 170lb for 6
Seated Leg Curl: 105kg for 9.3

Leg extensions suck right now lol. Though my quads are maybe my best body part, I’ve gotta consider that there’s not much juice left to squeeze out of this particular lemon. I can’t see my quads getting way better. But seated leg curls, since my last post it’s gone from 100 to 105kg for the same reps, awesome stuff. Even tried a 10th rep but it didn’t get far.

Single-Leg Hip Thrust: 110kg for 8
Single-arm DB Preacher Curl: 18kg for 6
Single-arm DB Preacher Hammer Curl: 16kg for 7

Yes, really good hip thrust PR. Curls just dragging along.

Leg Press Calf Raises: 240lb for 10
Single-leg Leg Press: 150lb for 7

Down a bit on leg press as I felt my injury would interfere with force production on this particular lift for whatever reason. Calves going awesome though.

Hyper-Extension: 12
Hip Abduction: On the easy machine, stack for 36
Leg Raises: BW for 14, 5 more swingy

Bit of progress here too.

Today’s upper.

Switch-pin Chest Press: 60kg 12, 8
Nautilus Pulldown: Stack+1 add-on for 8.5

This chest press, it’s full bodybuilder form, extremely deep, elbows quite flared, but also a closish grip & not locking out. It’s just really ‘pumpy’ but with a great deal of effort. Something I’ll be trying out for a bit. Nautilus pulldown as I wanted variety here.

Life Fitness Row: 165lb for 10, 8, 7

Yeah no rear delt stuff right now, (as in, rear delt flys), & instead I’m just doing more rows, (since I’m 1 set on nearly everything this is quite high volume). It feels ‘pure’, when developing my physique is left up to fewer exercises. Not saying it’s better but we’ll see.

Diagonal Pushdowns: 10kg 11, 11
OH Extensions: 12.5kg for 14

Also for variety. Those diagonal ones, (one arm at a time), will have you using not much weight. Epitome of mid-range biased. Pause in the bottom to give it slightly more there but it’s still mid-range biased. OH extension just in case zero overhead work is too minimal for long head stimulus. I did one set of laterals after this with 10kg dumbbells, not going all the way down just to be chill to my left shoulder & get more out of less weight.

Incline Chest Press: 50kg for 20, 16

Definitive pumping style, bottom half basically - so triceps before this isn’t a big problem. Reps are quick. It’s enjoyable. I’m having fun at the moment.

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171

Rant Post: I don’t do these often because a lot of training stuff is in the ‘there’s not much to be said’ category. But I’ve recently been thinking that a really big unturned-over stone, so to speak, (relatively speaking - as there are, no doubt, some people who already know this) - it’s quite high reps, done quickly.

I think the ‘effective reps’ model is roughly accurate, but to be more precise it’s more-so the last certain number of seconds flexing under load - it could be the last 5 reps, or the last 3 if you do them twice as slow, or the last 8 if you do them much much quicker. If you do a set that’s 50 seconds long, it’s basically like 35 seconds of cardiovascular somewhat intensive stuff followed by maybe 15 seconds of the last few reps which actually do things from a hypertrophy standpoint, (or maybe it’s more accurate to say it’s 10 seconds, or 9, or 12, but the principle is the same).

But here’s the thing. On some exercises, if you go fast on the reps, pumping, it screws it all up. Like squats, trying to make a 10 rep set take 12 seconds (just ignoring how that doesn’t allow for any grinding for a moment) - the ROM is big enough that trying to move through that in such a short time would cause issues to the point you may struggle to even balance. Or if I tried to perform rows quickly, I know a fair bit of tension is coming OFF my back onto my forearms & outer bicep. Or it would just make the machine make a loud clanging noise that might make a gym staff member tell you off. But some other exercises, it’s completely possible to do the reps, (with a light enough weight to allow for it), really quickly without screwing up the stimulus to the target muscle or significantly increasing injury chances.

Why would you do this, say a 20 rep set in 30 seconds, instead of just doing it more slowly, 10 reps over 30 seconds? Basically, because my idea is that the concentric is more relevant to causing growth than the eccentric, (you need more force to lift the weight than lower it), so a set with MORE concentrics over the same length of time, is going to do a little bit more than a set with less. Continuing with the 30 second set thing, you could do sets of 4 reps using 8 second eccentrics to make the set last about that long, but for the same reason I said above, I don’t think it’ll be massively effective.

So, highish reps with not much of a negative except the minimum to control the load, on exercises that you can do it on, (chest movements seem to be good), done so that the set doesn’t take so long that it’s a bunch of fluff before the last few seconds.

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