Natty on Pennies

Training Training Logs
682

I’ll be writing here as much as I can while in there as well (don’t get your hopes up though)

It’s pretty much the same stuff as now, but everything will be done with a faster pace and it must be much closer to perfect than now - basically we’ll just be doing three days worth of work in one day. That and leadership stuff is pretty much it.

Hopefully so - it’s much safer to be a bouncer when nobody dares to attack you

I’m sure you’ll manage, just keep your head up

That it really was.
Got 13 reps on my PR set with 75% front squats, 17 reps on my PR set with 70% deadlift, only managed to get 8 with my plus set on 65% pause front squat though (that’s the hardest set of them all, and that’s why it’s at such low %)

It’s been about half an hour since I got done and I still feel like passing out

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Seriously an even bigger workload? Thats tough man.

Definitely. If all else fails just start overhead pressing people and that should do the trick.

How long do you pause for?

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The point with leadership training is to beat you to the ground mentally and physically so the army will have stronger squad leaders (that’s what you become with leadership training)

That’s a great idea - never seen a guy being aggressive after they were overhead pressed

Until I remember that I’m supposed to get back up

But really, I pause for about a 2 count (so I go one - two - up in my head at the bottom) it’s about 1.5 seconds I’d say

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General life update - on a “client”, my gf and what I need to do myself

Today is going to be an interesting day

I’m going to train with a guy who wanted to try out my current training regimen a bit over two weeks ago when he saw me training (it was about halfway through December)

A bit hesitantly I told him how the program is laid out (as I was on probably week two at the moment myself) and I made sure he got it. I’ve been helping him with it since.

That day we tested his starting maxes - straps, wrist wraps and belts allowed. (He wanted to use the same movements that I used which is completely fine for me)

He got
85kg/185lbs front squat
90kg/200lbs close-grip bench
160kg/365lbs deadlift
8 chins

@duketheslaya - before you start this program do the same - dedicate one day to testing your current maxes (with clean, safe and comfortable form, no grinding just yet, it’ll look better when we test again a few months down the road)

So, he has been on the program for about two weeks now and today is a CGB-Chin-CGB day for him.

And guess what?
He’s going to do 75% work with 85kgs on the close grip bench.

Four triples and a PR set with 85kgs two weeks after doing 90kgs for a single. If that’s not progress I don’t know what is. After that he’ll be doing chins with 6.25kgs added for two sets of five and an amrap (linear progression - started with 5kg for 75%, 2.5kgs for 70% and added a bit every time chins rolled around. 65% work is done with bodyweight only - 2 sets of 5 and a plus set, trying to beat last times rep count)

He’ll finish off the main lifts with 2 sets of 5 and a plus set on paused close grip bench with 75kg.

I’m proud of the guy. (If he doesn’t get crushed beneath the 85kg)

Updating on my girlfriend - her diet has begun. At the moment she’s eating around 2.5K calories per day (+peri-workout supplements), it’s too early to say anything about wether or not it’s working but it should be.

A tip for those of you who don’t want to go through the struggle writing out calories for rest days and training days individually (on a diet): you see how my gf’s intra-workout calories are not counted in? That’s because they are the only thing that changes between rest and training days. (That would be about 60g of protein and 75g of carbs) on rest days she eats 2500 Calories, on training days, the same but she also ingests 540 calories worth of supplement in the peri-workout zone.

I have no idea of what her accurate macros are, I just told her to hit at least 200 grams of protein and 50grams of fat (15 of which would be fish oil) per day. The rest she can use any way she wants - more fat, protein or carbs.

She’s been in this game for about four years, she knows what she’s doing.

And an update on myself: (more like a note to myself)

I need to stretch more, lately I’ve had this “lazy” feeling before workouts. For me that’s an indicator of not enough stretching, and it always goes away after a couple of stretches. So I’m going to include a bit of weighted stretches into my routine.

Another thing - tomorrow after my workout I’ll hammer the hell out of my lower back and abs, I just feel like they need some blood in there. Today I’ll just get a slight pump in there so I don’t accidentally affect tomorrow’s session negatively.

And the last thing - today I’m gonna do some hanging wrist curls. (I just wrote that here so I don’t forget)

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686

He got a smooth set of seven with 85kgs - honestly less than I thought he’d get. (Although he told me that he didn’t get any sleep last night)

But here’s the thing about this program; you’ll always progress, even when your estimated max regresses. That’s because you’re always doing AMRAPS - you get strong in every rep range.

Three days ago he did 15 with 77.5kgs - that’s an estimated max of 113kgs, that’s crazy. But if the program calls for 75% of estimated max, we do it. And was it a bad idea?

Definitely not. Now he knows how to handle bigger weights. 7 reps with 85 puts his estimated max to 105kgs (so a bit of regression) and next time he’ll do 70% work based off of that - and he’ll get a ton of reps with that so his estimated max will rise again.

And the cycle continues.

How would you like to rep 95% of your max for seven in two weeks?

I’d love it.

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I forgot to mention;

For my entrance exams I need to get proficient with some awkward-ish movements, such as hands-up side bend walking lunges (I’m sorry for that name, for a non-native speaker this is hard) and straight-arm side planks where you raise your top arm and -leg simultaneously and i
with control.

So I’ll need to be good with unilateral movements and I’ll need a lot of static core strength. Unfortunately I’m not exactly great with either of those. During my lifting career I’ve done far too little unilateral leg work, so I’ve got a lot of catching up to do. That’s why my assistance exercises (those six sets) are going to focus on single-leg work. (Starting with reverse lunges as you may have noticed, nothing is changing from what I laid out)

I’ll be doing different variations of planks and such after my training but I won’t count those as a part of my sessions. (So they are kind of extra work)

Last year I practiced too little for the entrance exams, but I still did pretty good - not good enough though, obviously. This year I’ll be ready. I’ve got half a year before the exams and I’m going to train my ass off.

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Looks like hes doing well so far. How is his eating like?

Is she doing your program as well?/ or how does she train?

Those are some weird movements, also for a non native speaker you have exceptional English. As in better punctuation and vocabulary then heaps of people on this site lol.

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689

He’s not eating quite as much as I’d like him to eat - he’s eating like a regular guy in the military. So it’s a bowl of porridge for breakfast, couple of potatoes/some rice or pasta, some sauce or eat and a bit of vegetables for lunch and dinner and then a light snack in the evening.

He’s trying to build up to drinking a gallon of milk and eating a lot more though. When that happens I’m expecting to see some really fast progress - the dude is a hard worker.

Not the one I’m doing, but a “program” of mine (wouldn’t really call it a program)

I’ve laid it out in a post some time ago, here you go:

So basically she’s doing

Upper A:
CGB 3x3-5
Lower A:
Front squat
3x3-6
Deadlift
1x3-6
Upper B
Incline DB 3x6-10
Lower B
Squat 3x3-6
Behind-the-Back deadlift 1x3-6

And optional assistance work afterwards. That’s so she can control her training pretty much completely by herself so she doesn’t get bored and I don’t need to be writing out different phases for her all the time. (Not that I don’t like doing that, I was just low on inspiration when she changed programs last time so I didn’t feel like doing that)

The program may seem like it’s too simple, but the fact that she’s repping weights that are over her old 1RMs tells me otherwise.

Yeah, those are what we Finns call “spring festival movements” (sounds a lot better in Finnish)

They do test your body control and stability but I’d much rather have a Deadlift competition instead

Thanks man!

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Im not surprised he’s a hard worker lol. Army+ strenous army activity + Willingness to lift = hard worker.

Oh thats right , sorry man i forgot.

Id imagine you’d be the strongest deadlifter there? I recall you crushing people on the bench press test lol. Are there many serious lifters in the army?

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Yeah, if you lift seriously in the army you are most likely a pretty hard worker

No problem man

I certainly hope so, I’ve seen maybe five guys pull three plates or over here so I’m in a safe place

Yeah, I didn’t participate in the test but did an easy 30 reps with the testing weight afterwards (the record was 19)

Not really, one of my friends here is apparently one of the best wrestlers in the country (in his weight class) but apart from him barely anyone even goes to the gym regularly. I’ve been able to get a couple of guys to pick up lifting but that’s about it.

Most of the serious guys only serve for 6 months because they don’t want to lose their sweet gains so I don’t really see them that much.

692

Why join the army in the first place just to quit? They are just silly.

Lol…

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693

If you are a guy in Finland you get three choices:

  1. Go to the army and serve 6,9 or 12 months
  2. Go into “civilian service” and work in a school, kindergarten etc. for a year or so
  3. Go to jail (if I understood correctly, nowadays they’ll just give you an ankle tracker and you’ll need to tell them your plans two weeks in advance) I can’t remember if this was for 6 months or a year.

Certain people don’t need to do any of these, such as diabetics, Jehovah witnesses and those who come up with a good enough excuse to bail

So they are not really quitting, they just pick the easiest way out (not counting cheating)

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694

Thats a really good system. Shame australia doesnt have something like that. I think being made to go to the army/ the other options is a great way for people to learn alot of skills and disciplines people. Does finland have a low homeless people population?, Im guessing it does.

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It’s a really good way to discipline people andget them used to doing stuff they don’t necessarily want to do. That way you’ll be more likely to apply even for the lower end jobs later in life instead of just living with what the government gives you.

According to statistics, Finland’s population is 5.51 million people, and there are 6 800 homeless people in the whole country, which means that about 0.1% of Finns are homeless.

That’s pretty low, I’d say

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696

You know when you go to the gym, your lower back is feeling stiff and compressed because you’re required to sit for 12 hours a day at the moment, you’re tired because you haven’t been able to sleep for more than 2.5 hours for the last three nights and you managed to overcaffeinate yourself without getting even the slightest amount of extra energy?

That’s when it’s time to punch the clock. Yes, it sucks. Yes, you may not be able to get more than two reps on Deadlift without straps because your grip doesn’t hold and you’ll need to strap up for all of your sets. Yes, you feel like stopping and coming back the next day after two triples on deads. On front squats your warm-ups feel like 90% work.

But you know what you’ll do? You’ll do exactly what you were supposed to do. You made it to the gym so you’re not terminally ill, why the hell would you pussy out and leave? Do the work you’re supposed to do - given that you don’t injure yourself in the progress. If your back is stiff, get some blood flowing, get it open.

But don’t be stupid. There’s nothing hardcore about slipping a disk. Today I stopped my Deadlift AMRAP after rep six, even though I could’ve done 10-12 reps with it if I pushed it.

Why? Because my lower back was not in the shape to be pushed. It was compressed and weakened from all of the sitting I have to do at the moment. Yes, my estimated max probably dropped more than I’d like to admit, but I still think that’s better than seeing it drop to 135 after I fuck up my back.

Alright - enough ranting

If your lower back is feeling under the weather, doing back extensions paired with hanging leg raises and long ROM hip thrusts should help (long ROM because when you have the bar in your hips and go to the bottom position it decompresses your spine quite well - I held it for a couple of seconds at the top and really let it sink in the bottom) if you have access to a reverse hyper that’s even better. (And it should be used very frequently if possible)

Apart from that, I was dissapointed in my grip strength today so I did a little bit of a grip circuit after unwashed done. It went as follows:

I set the timer for 15 minutes and performed the exercises back to back with as little rest as possible.

With every exercise I first went to failure, then I took 5-10 deep breaths and went to failure again (so a rest-pause, if you will) after the last exercise I just started over again and kept repeating until the timer went off. If nothing else, the forearm pump was totally worth it.

The exercises were

  1. Dead-hang ring pull ups
  2. Dead hang on rings
  3. Bumper plate pinches (both arms at the same time)
  4. Kettlebell farmer’s walk

So you see, sometimes things don’t go your way, no matter how tough you are. When that happens you do what you need to do. You address the thing you need to take care of. Yeah, I didn’t like doing a sissy workout like that but risking injury is not just worth it for me.

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idk,if you get that low amount of sleep… then going to the gym, i think that might be a suboptimal choice even without the dead lifting. but you are one strong willed dude it seems.

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Yeah, there are a lot of better options for a situation like that, I just don’t really like them

Not getting injured and getting the work in was a victory in my book

I’d probably use the word “stubborn” :smiley:

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699

Donnie Thompson (SuperD) is a genius

Today I did his lower back protocol-thingy during my workout and in just a few minutes it got my lower back feeling great again, really opened it up. (I just shouldn’t have done it in the middle of my workout as you start to feel a bit dizzy when all of the blood gets out of your head as you stand back up

Got those who don’t know what I’m talking about:

https://www.instagram.com/p/BZzVg0HnqlL/

For the record, I did this in the middle of the gym with bands that I hanged onto the Smith machine, yes it must’ve looked very clever

But hey, it worked, I’m feeling great again. The only thing with this is that if you’re using resistance bands you need some big ones. I used two bands that both give 132lbs of resistance when stretched to the limit, worked well.

I also went bowling today, for the first time in like ten years, Jesus I really suck at that (as it seems you’re not supposed to throw the bowling ball at like you were trying to get a new PR)

Really I’m not all that good in sports apart from wrestling/jumping or lifting related stuff

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700

You still got one, though, right?

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701

Definitely, I would’ve gone even further but those sneaky bastards had hidden the hundred pound balls, obviously they couldn’t watch as I destroyed their records

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