Meditations, Musings & Muscular Contractions

Training 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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172

Still consistent. The lingering pain from the neck injury, a slight soreness on my left scapula when I depress, has gone down in the last couple weeks from a moderate/minor discomfort to a subtle sensation, which is great. Upper from today, (lower body, I’m up to 120kg on single leg hip thrusts for 8, & 2kg dumbbell between my feet for leg raises for 13 reps).

Switch-pin Chest Press: 65kg 13, 10
Lat Pulldown: 110kg for 7
Nautilus OHP: 77kg for 8

Chest press going strong. Last two reps full ROM instead of 80% of the way up to confirm what the RPE is. Lat pulldowns I’ve found that sitting in the seat less, so the bar is less directly above me & more slightly in front of me, requires less weight, which is handy. First time OHPing in a month & hit really good weight here.

Life Fitness Row: 180lb for 12, 8, 8

Having fun on these. Getting more of my workout done on one machine is cool too.

Diagonal Pushdowns: 12.5kg for 9, 7
OH Extensions: 15kg for 6 right arm, 7 left arm

Yes quick gains on the diagonal pushdowns. OH extensions left arm seems stronger than right, interesting. Today was first time doing right arm first, so I’ll keep doing that.

Laterals: 12kg for 12

Still keeping these slightly light. Going 95% of the way down to just make it a bit harder & use less load as I get back to top form.

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173

Leg day quick post. Done 24hrs ago. Seated leg curls, 110kg for 8, PR finally hitting 8. Leg extensions single-leg, different machine, 55kg for 11, then adduction with the stack+10kg for 9. PR on hip thrust 120kg for 8. Single-leg calf raise, 255lb for 7, then single leg leg-press 150lb for 5. Hypers for 12, all lower-back & leg raises with 2kg dumbbell for 14, PR.

Also, for biceps, I actually did standing barbell curl, (yeah). 50kg for 6 & two cheat reps. I’ve got no idea at this point about optimality regarding biceps & tension curves. Adding tension when the arm is straight/almost straight just… it can be nice, but I think for me, it fucks with force production because there’s that sensation that I’m going to tear something. Whereas on a curl with almost no tension at the bottom, I can just exert really really high forces. Applying lots of tension at the bottom despite it not being lengthened biased, just because I can. 18kg dumbbells for 12 standing hammer curls after, (like ten minutes later as I did hip thrusts, calf raise & leg press after barbell curls).

That was yesterday. Today:

Switch-pin Chest Press: 70kg 11, 9
Lat Pulldown: 110kg for 7.5
Nautilus OHP: 84kg for 6

Good no# of reps to be hitting on chest press with the new weight, still full ROM on the last 2 to keep it objective but not get too much tris, (I’m bringing the weight really high, but also using a rather close grip as my shoulders feel good there). Lat pulldowns with the new form, (positioning, weight slightly more in front of me rather than above). Lifetime PR on this shoulder press. Most I got in this in like 2023 was 71kg for 8, so it’s great to be hitting 84kg for 6, shows I really have added mass throughout my upper body in this time.

Life Fitness Row: 190lb for 10, 7.5, 7

Slightly fewer exercises for slightly more sets is still good mentally. Particularly here as I’m passionate about the outcome - thicker back & rear delts both. Very productive movement. If I could only do one lift it’d probably be this. End up with a runner’s build BUT with a big enough back to not look frail & possibly a nice shape to my shoulders particularly the middle & back. Swimmer’s build, essentially.

Diagonal Pushdowns: 12.5kg for 10, 9
OH Extensions: 15kg for 6 right arm, 7 left arm

More progress on the pushdowns, love it. Nothing on OH extensions but I think that’s due to the fatigue from pushdowns.

Laterals: 12kg for 12

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174

Leg day yesterday. Seated leg curls, 110kg for 8.5, very nice. Leg extensions single-leg, 55kg for 12, adding a rep here, nice. No adduction as machine was down. PR on hip thrust 120kg for 9. Single-leg calf raise, 255lb for 7.5, then single leg leg-press 150lb for 5. Hypers for 12, all lower-back & leg raises with 3kg dumbbell for 13, PR.

Standing barbell curl with 50kg for 7 & two cheat reps. 18kg dumbbells for hammer curls for 12 later on.

Today:

Switch-pin Chest Press: 70kg 12, 9
Nautilus Pulldown: Stack + little extra piece for 9.5
Nautilus OHP: 84kg for 8

Nice to add another rep on chest press & very nice to hit a PR on the OHP machine too, real major jump from my 2023 stint on this machine which shows real progress.

Life Fitness Row: 190lb for 11, 8, 7.5
Diagonal Pushdowns: 12.5kg for 11, 9
OH Extensions: 15kg for 6 right arm, 7 left arm

Gains on the rows. More progress on the pushdowns too, fantastic.

Laterals: 12kg for 12

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175

Lower day yesterday, won’t log. Upper today, with a couple of things to note.

Switch-pin Chest Press: 75kg 9, 70kg for 9
Lat Pulldown: 110kg for 8.9
Nautilus OHP: 90kg for 5

So, up 5kg on chest press, & just down a couple of reps. But I’ll definitely stay at 75kg for a while for load. Good little increase in reps on pulldowns with the new ‘pad by my knees, not by my hips’ form too.

But the big win is Nautilus OHP 90kg for 5. I re-checked & I did achieve 77kg for 6 back in 2023. I used strengthlevel to compare my number then to this performance today, using the lift Seated OHP. The actual stat is bullshit since I move more weight on the machine but the point here is to compare my old performance to this one. 77kg for 6 puts me with a max of 89.4kg & stronger than 69%. 90kg for 5 puts me at a max of 101.3kg, stronger than 80%. 13.3% higher max. That’s bigger front delt, bigger upper chest, bigger triceps, really great stuff.

Life Fitness Row: 205lb for 8, 190lb for 8, 7

Heavier on these. Keeping it upper back/rear delt. Thinking purely about rear delts in the very very top of the ROM to get as much upper arm movement as I can, & otherwise it’s traps traps traps.

Diagonal Pushdowns: 12.5kg for 6, 6
OH Extensions: 15kg for 7 right arm, 7 left arm

Extremely weird, lost 4 reps on the diagonal pushdowns but gained one on my weaker arm on OH extension. Absolutely bizarre.

Laterals: 12kg for 12

I’m kinda coasting on these. Really it’s my pressing that I’m focused on, this is icing on the cake stuff here.

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176

Switch-pin Chest Press: 75kg 10, 70kg for 9
Lat Pulldown: 115kg for 6.5
Nautilus OHP: 90kg for 5

Added a rep on my chest press, which is awesome. Heavy on lat pulldowns with the pad on my thighs near my knees. No PR on OHP but that’s typical, but rep 5 was less of a grind than last time slightly.

Life Fitness Row: 205lb for 9, 8, 7.
Diagonal Pushdowns: 12.5kg for 12, 9.
OH Extensions: 15kg for 8 right arm, 8 left arm
Lateral Raises: 12kg for 12

Adding reps on the rows & also hitting 12 on diagonal pushdowns for the first time too, awesome. And a rep added on OH extensions too, hitting the same reps on weaker & stronger arms both.

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Logging a couple sessions. Training going well.

Single-Leg Leg Extension: 65kg for 12
Seated Leg Curl: 110kg for 8

Leg extensions I’ve seen some gains. Switched machine & started at 55kg but up to 65kg which is real nice. Quicker reps for slightly higher reps was really smart here. No progress on leg curls though.

Single-Leg Hip Thrust: 135kg for 8
Leg Press Calf Raises: 255lb for 7
Single-leg Leg Press: 150lb for 8
Hyper-Extension: 7kg for 10.5
Hip Abduction: On the easy machine, stack for 52
Leg Raises: BW + 5kg for 14, 5 more swingy

Sick gains on hip thrust & leg raises.

Switch-pin Chest Press: 75kg 11, 70kg for 9
Lat Pulldown: 115kg for 8.9
Nautilus OHP: 90kg for 6

Chest press going good. Lat pulldowns too, almost 9 reps with my knees less in the pad with 115kg, awesome. Awesome to have secured 6 reps.

Life Fitness Row: 205lb for 10, 7, 7.
Diagonal Pushdowns: 15kg for 6, 12.5kg for 7.
OH Extensions: 15kg for 9 right arm, 9 left arm
Lateral Raises: 12kg for 12

First time ever trying 15kg on diagonal pushdowns. I’ll stick to it for one set at least.

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Little update.

Switch-pin Chest Press: 75kg 10, 70kg for 9
Lat Pulldown: 115kg for 9
DB OHP: 30kg for 6

Nothing new on chest press but finally hit 9 reps on lat pulldowns with the new form. Nautilus OHP was busy so I tried the dumbbells & it felt great. That was the session before, 28kg for 6, & today I manage 30kgX6 which is great.

Life Fitness Row: 205lb for 11, 8, 8.
Diagonal Pushdowns: 15kg for 7, 12.5kg for 7.
OH Extensions: 15kg for 6 right arm, 6 left arm
Lateral Raises: 12kg for 12

Good on diagonal pushdowns. OH extensions weaker as I’ve lowered the height of the pulley.

Leg day.

Single-Leg Leg Extension: 65kg for 13
Seated Leg Curl: 110kg for 8
Single-Leg Hip Thrust: 140kg for 9

Nice gains on hip thrusts.

Single-leg Leg Press: 150lb for 8
Hyper-Extension: 10kg for 12
Hip Abduction: Hard machine, stack for 16
Leg Raises: BW + 7kg for 16, 5 more swingy

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Upper day at a friend’s gym. Different machines, so almost nothing counted as difficult to assess progressive overload. I did Dumbbell OHP with 32.5kg dumbbells for 3 reps, which is the heaviest I’ve ever gone. I just wanted to try them, I don’t plan on sticking to them unless I get strong enough to handle them for at least a couple more reps. Today was legs (& biceps) in my usual gym.

Seated Leg Curl: 110kg for 8.9
Single-Leg Leg Extension: 65kg for 10
Single-Leg Hip Thrust: 145kg for 8

Good day on hams, weaker on extensions, but new PR on hip thrusts single-leg which is cool.

Bench Supported Curls: 18kg for 9, 6

Doing these one arm at a time with the upper arm (& one side of my upper back) against a bench on a highish incline. Dumbbell hits the bench before my arm gets totally straight which is by design. Enjoying this.

Leg Press Calf Raise: 255lb for 6
Single-leg Leg Press: 150lb for 5
Hyper-Extension: 10kg for 12
Hip Abduction: Hard machine, stack for 15
Leg Raises: BW + 7kg for 17, 5

Gotta go up on leg raises again.

Good news - I used a bodyscan device at the new gym I did upper body at & my lean mass has gone up 2.5kg from the last one I did in December-2024, 8 months prior. Very happy to see this.

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180

Got sick. Initially lower appetite, then 4 days later tonsillitis symptoms for a couple days. That goes but appetite doesn’t return. Next week I’m vomiting meals trying to just be on like 1800 cals. After that it’s 3X vomiting for half a week & only consuming a couple glasses of juice daily. Ended up in hospital for 7 days after that. Back home now. Went from mid 88kg to mid 79kg from 18 August to 5 September. Now I’m about 80.5kg. Out of hospital for 4 days now.

Leg Extension: 100kg for 11

Time before this when I lifted at my last day in hospital was only 75kg for 8 so if I can repeat this jump twice more I’ll be back where I was.

Single-leg Leg Press: 40kg for 8, 7

Single-leg Calf Raise: 65kg for 10

This is all new. PLATE loaded leg press AKA normal leg press. The one I liked using before, pin loaded, the friction element fucks with stuff too much for it to be viable for progress I believe. So I’m looking forward to progressing on this.

Adduction: 100kg 22

Abduction: 75kg 10

Almost back to form on adduction. Abduction I’m sitting upright now which makes it loads harder, so I won’t need to do 50 reps with the stack hopefully.

Leg Curl: 95kg 6.5

Leg Raise: 6kg 16

Hyper: 10kg 10.5

Leg curls hopefully a couple workouts adding 5kg each time & keeping my reps. Leg Raise went great, 99% back to form. Hypers almost there too.

Preacher Machine Curl: 55kg 9

Hammer Curl: 18kg 7

Preacher Machine because it’s easy & I’m still a little tired from illness and hospital. Hammer Curl for fun.

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Switch-pin Chest Press: 70kg for 6, 6
Lat Pulldown: 110kg for 5.5
OHP Machine: 84kg for 4

On my way to building back my strength on all these lifts. Down 8kg so the lower strength isn’t too depressing. I’d like to be back to where I was at a lighter bodyweight though.

Life Fitness Row: 195lb for 8, 8, 7.
Single-Arm Cuff Pushdown: 15kg for 7, 7

Building back up. Hopefully back to 210lb on these soon for 10-11 reps.

OH Extension: 10kg for 8
Lateral Raise Machine: 110lb for 11

OH Extension form amended, attachment height is moved so I just stand up & do it instead of staggered stance, which does lower the weight, but that’s ok. Machine lateral raise just for a change.

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Switch-pin Chest Press: 70kg for 7, 6
Lat Pulldown: 110kg for 5.5
OHP Machine: 84kg for 5
Life Fitness Row: 195lb for 10, 8, 7.
Single-Arm Cuff Pushdown: 15kg for 9, 7
OH Extension: 10kg for 9
Lateral Raise Machine: 120lb for 9

Adding a rep on just about everything. I’ll increase the weight on rows next time.

Above was a couple of days ago. Just trained legs today & it went well.

Leg Extension: 125kg for 10.5

Time before this 4 days ago was 115kg for 10.5, so still coming up on these at a good pace.

Single-leg Leg Press: 50kg for 8, 6
Single-leg Calf Raise: 72.5kg for 10

Plate loaded leg press making gains, love to see it. Calves, it’s kinda sloppy so I might need to drop back on these.

Adduction: 100kg for 32
Abduction: 85kg 13.5

Adduction as strong as ever. Abduction sitting upright with 10kg more than before adding reps too, nice.

Leg Curl: 105kg 5 & a bit.
Leg Raise: 8kg for 13
Hyper: 10kg for 12

Leg raises I’m officially back, if not surpassing. Hypers too. Leg curl just needs to get back.

Preacher Machine Curl: 60kg for 8
Hammer Curl: 20kg for 6.5

Added a rep here. Very heavy on hammer curls, feels good, just for the time being. I’ll eventually transition back to those curls with a dumbbell with my elbow on the bench.

Bodyweight is only just over 80kg.

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