I got in another TABEARTA around 1330, and then I brought back 5 minutes of ABCs w/24kg bells at 1800. Got in 22. I am SUPER happy about that. I haven’t done ABCs since my bicep started bugging me, and I took these at what I’d call a “leisurely” pace, and managed 22, which was a reach goal when I started. TABEARTA has been keeping me sharp, and it’s awesome to see the carryover. I’d like to rotate between the two from here out. My left forearm was pensive coming in, but I got confidence going on.
Last 5/3/1 for Hardgainers squat workout tomorrow.
As my wife has said about me “You’re never NOT eating”. And that’s kind of the feast and famine part of it. When food is up, so is activity, ala “g-flux”. Food drops, so does activity.
In that regard, my intake is going to drop in the very near future. It starts with a well coinciding trip to visit the in-laws…although my birthday will happen at some point during it, haha.
AM WORKOUT (0326 natural wake up) SEMI-FASTED: Half serving of Surge before, half during during
5/3/1 FOR HARDGAINERS Week 6, Workout 1
MAIN WORK
Box Jumps
2x4
1x2
Buffalo Bar Squats
5xBar
5x195
5x285
5x345
5x390
8x435 (that’s just awesome)
50 pull aparts
25 pushdowns
SUPPLEMENTAL/ASSISTANCE WORK
Buffalo Bar Squat
24x345
STRAIGHT INTO
Belt squat stripset (no rest/lockout)
20x200
Reps of 175,150,125,100,75,50,25,axle
40x360 reverse hyper
30 GHR
20 GHR sit ups
POST WORKOUT SHAKE
ASSISTANCE/CONDITIONING
100 DKB clean each rep and press w/24kbg bells
17:58
Notes:
I am so over the moon with that topset of squats. Went in with a goal of 5, and just kept digging and finding more reps as I went. Once again, Jim is some sort of programming sorcerer, I have no idea how it happened and I don’t really care: that was an awesome topset.
Similar experience with the supplemental work there. Just a good day for squatting in general. I DID switch things up orderwise here. That thing in my serratus has taken away most of my pulling, and rounds of rows wasn’t on the table, so I figured I’d blow out the widowmaker and then just grind away on clean and press after that.
In that regard, the clean and press was a solid confidence booster for the forearm/bicep. I backed off once I felt technique degrading too far, but still got in a solid set of work.
Most likely TABEARTA later. Last week of Hardgainers and this was the most significant workout, so now it’s just getting to the finish.
BTW, with your pull-aparts is it just one big set, or doing them throughout your workout just getting them in? And do you progress them in any way? I’ve been slacking with them recently just getting in and out of the gym as quickly as possible after previously being consistent for ages.
@simo74 Much appreciated dude! Really brightened my morning.
@cdep89 Thanks man. “Chaos is the plan”: all I care about is rep total. Sometimes, it’s 1 big set, sometimes it’s sets through out the workout. There’s no programming or progression: they’re just pull aparts. Accumulation over time is the variable that matters.
AM WORKOUT (0330 natural wake up)
5/3/1 FOR HARDGAINERS Week 6, Workout 2
MAIN WORK
Log clean and strict press away
5x100
5x145
5x165
5x185
5x10 pull aparts between sets
SUPPLEMENTAL
Log Viper press (each rep from the floor)
10x5x145
Time: 11:53, accomplished using an EMOM approach
25 pushdowns
PROWLER
1 trip down w/low handles, back w/high handles w/50lbs loaded
1 trip down w/low handles, back w/high handles w/90lbs loaded
1 trip down w/harness, back w/backward drag w/140lbs loaded
1 trip down w/low handles, back w/high handles unloaded
Time: 20:00
POST WORKOUT SHAKE
Poundstone curls
229xAxle
100 reps of incline DB bench w/20lb bells
100 reps of bent over DB rows w/20lb bells
Notes:
Celebrating the victories again: another press day without my bicep popping. My left serratus thing is still an issue. I think I may have a rib out of alignment, because the pain is awful in the morning, goes away after a few hours, and moves toward my back in the evening. If nothing else, it’s annoying, as it’s taken away dips/chins and associated movements, at least if I want to be smart and let it heal.
The EMOM audible there was outstanding. I got killed by the clock on round 7 and 9, which is why I ended up at 11:53 vs 10:00. It was very taxing, and definitely had the metabolic effect I was going for.
Fantastic showing on the prowler today. Definitely the praise I’ll sing of this program: it’s gotten me into amazing shape.
Doing my best to mash that bicep with the Poundstones, and then found SOMETHING I could do assistance-wise to hit the reps. Dumbbell benching is viable, so I might be doing a bit of that for the future while I sort things out.
Got the bar loaded for TABEARTA. Really want to get those burpee chins tomorrow, but we’ll see how the body holds.
Couple of lunatic ideas I had that I want to jot down regarding my training approach for the month between Hardgainers and Super Squats
Squat programming will be Zenos, because why mess with success? Same with deadlift mat pulls, although I may go with an axle vs a deadlift bar on that. It’s been good pulling on a stiff bar: less worried about whip turning into a tear. For press and bench training, I’m thinking of getting nutty…
For bench: I’m considering just plain not having a bench day and, instead, having a “1000 dip day”. I’ve done 800 in a workout before, and that was while doing sets of 5 high handle trap bar pulls EMOM. 1000 should be manageable within a workout window, with possibly some room for some assistance stuff too. I wouldn’t be hurting for volume, and it’d be a very “Bruce Randall” approved approach to training around fat loss. May have to also work in 1000 band pull aparts somewhere along the way to keep my arms from falling off. All this, of course, assuming I can get my ribs to work again.
For press, I’m considering something like “A Kalsu a week” or the “30 minute overhead challenge” from Jamie Lewis vs anything more structured. The only real limiting factor here is how much damn noise training like that creates. The Mrs has taken to sleeping in, which means I don’t care to drop weights overhead all that frequently. But ultimately I’m just not married to any one way to train the press is the long and short of this one.
While not venturing into the 1000-rep category (yet), I’ve been subbing out BP day for weighted dip day. My shoulders feel much better, and I believe dips to be at least as effective for chest and arms, if not more so. Also, I just like doing them more than bench pressing.
@antiquity Definitely don’t need to sell me, haha. I think, once I’m really ready to be “done”, the bench will go away and it will just be all dips.
AM WORKOUT (0327 Natural Wake up)
5/3/1 FOR HARDGAINERS Week 6, Workout 3
MAIN WORK
Axle bench press
5xAxle
5x156
5x211
5x241
5x5x271
Sets of 10 band pull aparts between sets of benching. First 3 sets no rest, last 2 sets 1 minute rest
ASSISTANCE/CONDITIONING
100 burpee chins w/60lb vest in under 35 minutes
POST WORKOUT SHAKE
TABEARTA w/3 complexes per round/95lbs into 50kg swings w/40kg bell
Notes:
That rib thing is getting manageable. Most pain is first thing in the morning, and then it fades through the day. I took the gamble today. Unracking the bench was the hardest part. And caring about benching: that part was hard too.
I tried out one unloaded burpee chin and found the pain manageable, so I decided to just full send it. Glad I did. 60lb burpee chins was a great lesson in overcoming. Definitely some garbage rep chins in there, but it was failure in the pursuit of excellence, which I’ll gladly take. I’m doing my write-up on the program concurrently, but it’s been cool how, as I’ve added weight, the scale slid on this from conditioning toward assistance work.
“Rewarded” myself by skipping the prowler workout to make room for those chins. They ate up a lot of time, but it was the right call. Compensated by getting in my TABEARTA early, and then closing with the swings, to make it like some sort of terrible inside out PBJ. “Fools Gold Loaf” might be appropriate there.
May be doing Tang Soo Do tonight: will see what the schedule supports.
Maybe I’m the odd one out here, but benching has never hurt my shoulder. Maybe a bit uncomfortable if I do very wide grip, but with my normal medium grip bench, it’s never been an issue.
Dips on the other hand? Absolute murder. Feels like my shoulder is about to be ripped out of the socket. Even when I do them for a minute, get up to some decent ability on weighted dips, it still just kills the shoulder during and after I lift.
That’s wild, it’s total opposite for me. Also a fragile shoulder, shattered the shoulder capsule in a high school wrestling injury. Barbell incline feels amazing, one of my favorite movements actually (and one I’m super pumped to get back to with my recent adjustable bench purpose), but dips definitely don’t.
Which now that I think of it, it’s a different plane of pressing. Straight or up, I’m good to go. Pushing in a downward angle? Bad day
How’d you do it? I have a crackpot theory. I shot in on a double leg, got sprawled on and it popped out of the socket, so I popped it out horizontally. For YEARS, it sat lopsided on my shoulder girdle, and then, one day in college, while pressing overhead, it slipped out of the socket again, and when I put it back in, I was properly aligned. So I wonder if the angle it got wrecked at plays a role.
Well see nows it just embarrassing, because I broke it in the lamest way possible. I was warming up. Legit, just some easy rolling around the mats getting loose for a tournament with my normal wrestling partner, landed funny on the back of my shoulder and it popped right out of socket. So I’d say it popped out kinda forward.
….but I was a dumb red blooded 17 year old, I god forbid i let the team down by having their starting 182 out of the tournament, so I went into the Locker room and pounded my shoulder into a wall until it popped back into place. Docs pretty sure that was actually where I broke it.
@atlas13 That’s quite a story! Haha. I was about tempted to do the same thing when I popped mine out. If I wasn’t in full view of my parents while I was in the ER, I would have…waited 3 hours to get it set again. But I also got to experience morphine for the first time…and that was magical for a 16 year old, haha.
AM WORKOUT (0335 wake up via alarm) FASTED
“KINDERGARTEN”
1 PBJ (95lb TABEARTA, 31 burpee chins, 40kg bell)
Into
18 ABCs w/24kg bells in 5 minutes (3 ABCs per minute)
Working an early shift today, so wanted something quick and packed with brutality. This absolutely did it.
The name fits. Get your PBJ, do your ABCs, have a snack, and then, ideally, a nap.
The most brutal part was TABEARTA after the ABCs. Round 3, in particular, I feel felt like I was going to die.
You can see on that second round of burpee chins how I had nothing left in me. I was floored.
Tang Soo Do last night wasn’t bad. Got in some roll-falling, for something different. My rib pain is getting better and migrates more often.
Last day of Hardgainers tomorrow, and it’s a travel day as well. Going to see the in-laws. Can get the lifting in the morning, and may do some insane conditioning later that day so I can chill out over the weekend and roll into the diet pivot.
5/3/1 FOR HARDGAINERS Week 6, Workout 4 (final workout)
MAINWORK
Low handle trap bar pull
5x175
5x265
2x375
2x425
6x475
50 band pull aparts
SUPPLEMENTAL
5x5x375 low handle trap bar pulls, performed EMOM
ASSISTANCE/CONDITIONING
100 burpee KB swings into a chin, w/40kg bell
LUNCHTIME WORKOUT
20 thrusters into 25 front squats into 30 squats into 35 deadlifts w/135lbs
Notes:
Been a whole week of protocol breaking, between it simply being the last week of the program and having to deal with weird injuries. I actually wanted to do 100 stone to shoulders today, but between the bicep and the rib it was a no go. If I had just ONE of those, I’d make it work, but working around two tends to be when things go south.
That said, I think this was really the way to go from the start. EMOM 5x5 FSL is a very solid challenge, and then I got all the assistance work knocked out at once. If I were to redo THAT part, I’d make it a circuit rather than one movement. I used to do a burpee/dip/chin circuit that was pretty solid. While doing this one, I realize that, the other day, I did 100 burpee chins with a 60lb vest, and this was basically an easier version of that with just a swing in the middle. Snatches might have been the right call instead. Thinking out loud some more, I think the most obvious solution would have been devil press into chins. But this is why we experiment.
Lunchtime workout was a product of the travel day: just wanted to get something quick and brutal done before I flew. Gonna be bodyweight/running only for the weekend. I most likely need the downtime to heal.
“Diet starts Monday”, as cliché as it is. More like Tuesday with travel, but still, entering what should, ideally, be the “pre-Super Squats” phase.
