I’m not too far away, we definitely should try to meet up and get a training session in!
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I’ll investigate how jam-packed our schedule will be and get back to you, it’d be super-cool to toss some weights around together!
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Sounds good man, it would definitely be a blast!
Training update:
Haven’t been too active here, as I’ve been quite busy. (That’s probably not going to change anytime soon, but I like writing so I may post every now and again)
So, what am I up to? Pretty much going back to what I was doing when I started this log. Bodybuilding. Or as I like to call it “powerbuilding”. Just sounds like more fun.
A lot of people have the idea that powerbuilding is just flailing around with big weights and thinking you’re getting something done. People also think that bodybuilding is just isolation and squeezing stuff. This is just a generalization, a lot of folks are pretty aware of more suitable ways of doing stuff.
I like a middle of the road approach. Using big movements, trying to drive the weights up while still keeping tension on the muscle. I like going hard, but it has to be smart as well. As I’ve said for years, “Intensity with intention”.
When we go hard, the amount of volume in a session will come down - you can’t go really hard and do a ton of sets. Or at least I can’t. That means our frequency has to be higher to accumulate enough volume over the week.
Basically my program is a 1+2+2 way split. So I do a full body day and upper/lower twice over the week - everything gets hit three times a week. My per session volume will be quite low - either 2 movements for 2 sets each for muscles I feel need that, or 1 movement for total of three work sets for muscles that are rather simple (think calves and so on)
But really, as long as you’re not doing something really dumb, your program will probably work. What I see as a more valuable thing is that first off, I went out of my way and bought a physical log book. I’ll log my work sets there and beat them every session. Sure, I’ve been doing that by logging stuff on my phone, which I’ll also continue, but there is just something about a physical log book. And it only costs like 95 cents.
Even more than that, I built a team. I’ll be training with three different training partners. I’ve got a powerlifter friend of mine for the full body day (which’ll be pretty much big 3). He’s really into it and probably has some insight to give. On upper body days I’ll be training with my girlfriend, who is a really hard worker and knows how to push me. And lastly, the squat dude is making a comeback. I’ll be training legs with him. He has insane work ethic and He’s obviously gifted when it comes to training, so trying to hang with him will make sure I work hard.
Believing in what you do and surrounding yourself with great people is the key to success. Or at least that is what I believe.
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Do you still do any loaded isometric holds? DC style stuff.
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Kind of. I don’t do them as a thing of their own, but on my bodybuilding days of the week I do a isometric hold/slow eccentric (think that’s called EQI - eccentric-quasu-isometric or something cool like that. I just say “fucking hell”) on the last rep of the last set of each rep range (so if I have two backoff sets I only do it on the latter one). After that torture I do try to go for another rep, and if I somehow get it I’ll curse myself and do it again.
If I happened to be training alone I would not do it on stuff I can get pinned under on. So if there are no safety pins on the incline bench, and I can’t figure out a way to do it safely I’d just go until I know that the next rep won’t go up. I dislike using random spotters, because it interferes with their training and if they are not experienced it can ruin my set.
quasi*
I approve! Stay alive until (at least) we’ve trained together.
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It’s hard to type after a leg session, but yeah, that exactly
I’ll try. I’ve now been on the program for a week, so from now on it’s all about beating the logbook. Can’t promise I’ll make it out alive 
Any idea how packed your days will be?
We travel there on the 16th, back on the 18th. I’m guessing 17th will be the best day - and that the best hours will be maybe after 16:00 hours. I’m meeting our administrator tomorrow afternoon so I’ll ask, but last I heard our flight(s) hadn’t been booked yet although it will be soon.
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Sounds good, I’ll have to keep it in mind as I schedule my work for that time period. We should get back to it as we get wiser regarding the schedule and the day draws closer.
Yeah, definitely. And if you end up having to work, then that is just the way of things.
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Sure, given that I’m still working for my current employer at that time. Day after day I feel stronger about going back to being an enterpreneur. Not going to go too far into detail but my values and my employers values do not go together too well.
But on the plus side, if I quit there I’ll be sure to make that a free night.
How’s training fam?
I wanted to pick your brain on something, I wrote a first stab at it here:
the inline embed of the post seems to disregard the formatting though.
Anyway, context, I want to reach those goals (300/400/500) but am primarily interested in size. I do, however, have training partners that I have to adapt my programming around somewhat. By some coincidence, programming is more or less entirely up to me, but I have to keep it to 4x weekly and keep squats early in the week as one of my training partners dance a lot during the weekend.
What we are doing now though works, so ordinarily I wouldn’t change a thing, but the others are craving some novelty. Since I “have” to change things up, rather than just changing exercises, I was thinking about doing a more radical change and those are outlined in the linked post.
Today we essentially do,
Main lift 5x4-6 (ss: abs for LB / vertical pull for UB-session)*
Variation of main lift 4x8-12 (ss: unilateral for LB / horizontal pull for UB-session 4x12-15/10-12)**
Triset of supporting musculature, BW exercises mostly. Some curls and bandwork.
*4-6 on UB, 3-5 on deadlifts, 6-8 on squat
**Squat variation on deadlift day, deadlift variation on squat day
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It’s going good - pretty much an usual first run of a program. Works pretty well, but you do notice some things that could work better or could be altered. Those things will be addressed in a couple of weeks when I start my next cycle of this program. I don’t like changing things up in the middle of a run if it’s not a must just so I can see how different things affect my progress and other things such as how enjoyable the program is and for how long I can use it for.
That’s especially true with rather big changes that I plan on trying; altering the exercise order a bit (mainly just dropping one exercise from two days and switching other one’s place), maybe dropping the volume to two sets from three on the isolation stuff, and trying rotating two exercises for my compounds on hypertrophy days.
But yeah, it’s going good. Having training partners takes training up a couple of notches, and, as usual, bodybuilding sessions are hard as fuck.
How are you doing?
Okay, so, let’s start here. This is actually really close to what I used to program for people that wanted to build both strength and size. Really the biggest differences would be that the volume you are using is a lot higher than what I programmed on average (this is a highly individualistic thing, so if it works for you, no problem. It also depends on how hard those sets are - 5x4-6@RPE 7 vs @RPE10 differ a whole lot in terms of recovery).
Usually I would go for 3 or 4 sets of 4-6 or so on the main movement and then 3 or 4 sets of 6-10 on the variation lift.
On main lifts I would do alternating sets on upper body stuff (usually just chin ups/ pull ups between bench or OHP) if that suited the individual. On squats I have programmed a leg curl variation to be alternated with for some people. Deadlifts, I rarely do or program other stuff with. But again, depends on the person.
On assistance lifts, it’s pretty much the same story. Only real difference would be that the upper body pulling exercise would be changed to some kind of rowing variation. Squats could still be alternated with leg curls and deadlifts I would keep to their own.
The supporting triset is something I’ve used a lot as a time saving technique (I actually use it myself right now, but it’s getting eliminated in my next run). Usually when training upper body I would just program curls, tricep extensions and lateral raises as a triset so those muscles get a bit more stimulation. On lower body days I could throw in an ab movement, leg extensions and calves, for example.
But I rarely program that way anymore, as I enjoy trying new things all the time. Nowadays, for people with split goals (who want to train 4 times a week) I like to use either a 1+1+2 day split (so 2 full-body sessions and then upper/lower, works best when you are training on, say, mon,wed,fri,sat -schedule) or a upper/lower split with the following layout:
- Main movement (Alternates between Bench/OHP and Squat/Deads)
- Variation of the main lift (OHP variation on bench day, squat variation on deadlift day etc.)
2b (on upper body days) chinup/pullup or some kind of row
3 (on lower body days) Assistance movement for main lift. (This could be split squat on squat days or hip thrust on deadlift days, for example)
3 (on upper body days) arms and delts as either a triset (bicep-tricep-delt) or two superset (arms as on and side/rear delts as the other. Abs could be included in here as well)
4 (on lower body days) Either a ab/lower back exercise, an isolation exercise such as leg curl, or both supersetted.
Now that may be hard to read. Essentially it would look like this (one example of upper and lower body days)
UB:
1 OHP
2a CGBench
2b Seal row
3a Hammer curl
3b Skullcrusher
3c Lateral raise
LB:
1 Back squat
2 2ct deadlift
3 BSS
4a Lying leg curl
4b Plank pull-in
So, as you see. The sessions are rather simple and short in nature. When it comes to volume, that depends. I played around with alternating accumulation and intensification cycles (both using non-spesific exercises in acc. such as front squat as opposed to back squat, and using spesific exercises in both phases). That works when you get the volume and duration right, but you’ll have to play around with it quite a bit. So instead of that I’ve now been trying using very little variation (think pause-no pause, close grip/stance-normal) with some variation in volume, still keeping it pretty consistent overall, and that has worked. (So instead of fuckload of volume in accumulation and a lot less in intensification I vary it a bit, but not that much.)
Back to volume. Usually, the main movement is done rather heavy. I like going for a top set, say 5@RPE9 and then coming down for 2-3 back off sets of the same length (all of this depends on the individual and where we are in the program). Or going for an easy single (so @RPE7.5-8.5 or so) and coming down to do more sets. Usually these sets would be rather short.
On our variation movement I usually use the top set - back off sets approach if the person is competitive and wants to use heavier weights, or I use slightly higher volume and just plain straights sets.
After that, the assistance stuff is done for 2-4 hard sets to failure.
So this way you get both, size and strength.
Other option would include just getting strong in the 5-9 rep range (personal favourite) and/or using a powerlifting day/days - hypertrophy days program (like a 1+1+2 way split)
a 1+1+2 way split could be set up like this:
D1
Deadlift
Bench variation (like CGB)
Squat variation (pause/front squat)
Pull ups and abs
D2
Back squat
Bench
Deadlift variation (like SLDL or 2ct)
Arms and delts
D3 Lower body
D4 Upper body
Now here the exercise order on days 1&2 would depend on what your weaknesses are. Hit those earlier in the workout. I would use the main movement once and a close variation once in those two days. After the strength work you can do some accessory stuff for anything you want really, as long as it’s not too much for you. Regarding volume, you could use the same top set - back off sets, or easy single - back off here as well.
On your bodybuilding days, the goal is not to do fluff work. I’d still work in the 6-10 rep range and use a couple of big compound lifts that you like and can push some heavy weight on. Here you could use the 2 day split template I showed you earlier, and do, say OHP as a main lift on upper body days and front squat/SSB squat (anything you don’t hit on strength days) on lower body. Then maybe hit low incline bench/DB bench and some rows on upper body, and RDL and whatnot on lower body days. If your leg sessions drain the life out of you, I’d suggest doing upper body before legs.
If you decide to go into this type of programming, be mindful of the volume and the intensity. You could dig yourself a deep hole if you go in full throttle. Start easy and adjust from there.
Jesus, that turned into a ramble. Now onto your ideas.
Okay, so option A looks pretty much like what I described for UB/LB split. It’s pretty solid and time-tested. Depends a lot on how many exercises you pickm how hard you push your sets and how much volume you A) need, B) can recover from.
Option B is something I can see working for myself. For most people I’ve found that works for a month or two, and then it progress withers away as they either can’t get their head right (scared of the logbook), can’t eat enough to recover, or that is just plain too little volume for them. It’s a gamble, and that’s why I don’t really use it too often.
Option C is interesting, I believe I’ve written about something like that a couple of years ago. Now here, a lot depends on two things: 1. The angle of your incline bench. If it’s a really low incline, the transfer to flat bench would probably be pretty good, but to OHP it would not be so great. With a really high bench it would be the other way around. 2. Your current strength level on the incline bench. If you go from 135 to 300 your bench and OHP will rise, no doubt. But If you go from 275 to 300, or on the way from 135 to 300 your realize, at 175 that this isn’t going to happen you won’t get that much out of it, if any. So this isn’t a strategy I’d primarily go for. Of course, if you used stuff like close grip bench, seated OHP and all that as assistance, it could work out well. You just have to have enough of the spesific stuff as well. (So not just incline bench and side laterals)
Option D works pretty well if you use a pure strength block - strength oriented hypertrophy block layout. By saying this I would like to ensure that you don’t go off the deep end with bodybuilding stuff. In a layout like this the hypertrophy block can be a bit less spesific to the strength goal (so CG bench and low incline instead of 1ct and TnG bench) the volume can be a bit higher, and you can throw in a bit more isolation stuff but you should still try to push heavy weights on big compound movements.
So, really what it comes down to is always progressing, moving some heavy slag iron and having intensity with intention. Now I’ve got to eat. That was one hell of a post, I’d like to hear your thoughts of my thoughts and if you got any questions/stuff that need to be clarified just ask away!
Smart, give it time to establish a genuine point of measurement for later reference.
Let me know how that works. I find that, unlike some, if I have too many sets to go through I’ll either go too hard on my first sets or leave too much in reserve for my last set. At least for a while, I’ll eventually regulate to a decent place. But, if I have two work sets I usually just always get it right.
It does indeed, the cheering each other one equates to more reps or weight.
Are all of your training partners at about the same training maturity as you? As I reply to the remained of what you’ve written it’ll be apparent that the group that I train with is not super-homogeneous but everyone is making progress so we’re even enough.
Doing fantastic!
Yeah, achieving adequate recovery leaves little room for error with the volume we are running. I have to be meticolous about eating enough, sleeping enough, and generally have to pay a lot of attention to active recovery and anti-inflammatories as well. So, this is the one variable that really stands out to me as something that can stand to be changed for us (me).
This seems pretty good, even on front squats? I find getting air on those can be really challenging.
Do you keep all bandwork such as BPAs and face-pulls as something to do outside of gym sessions?
This is a pairing I love, but not feasible in our gym. But something I’d program if I could.
Ever any trap work?
Floor press an acceptable substitue?
Is this a pause under the knee?
I’ve thought about working up to a crisp single, and then three sets of ten on the main lift. The thing I like about double progression that we’ve been doing is the autoregulatory nature. No need to think about percentages, or RPE. Once you get the top rep range twice, you add weight to the bar.
I’m assuming this is to regular failure, no dropsets or other intensification techniques? Otherwise I wouldn’t see 4 being feasible.
Now this I like, I never really considered 5-9. Maybe a bit lower on the deadlift. And I like the split too. For us it’d be,
Monday:
Back Squat (dance boy does high bar)
Bench variation (CGB (I don’t like these for my shoulders though) / Incline / Floor Press - only feasible two, given the gym layout)
Deadlift variation (Deficit / 2ct / Snatch-grip / Reeves, would you consider trap-bar an okay variation too?)
Arms & delts, maybe dips?
Wednesday:
Deadlift
Bench
Front Squat
Pull ups and abs
D3 Lower Body, we’ve had front squats successfully here in the past, I’m not sure I can get three days of compound lower body lifts out of my comrade. Maybe trap-bar here as the main compound of the day and then bodybuilding 6-10 as you say
D4 Upper Body
Option A might happen, but I liked your volume parameters better, and may run 5-9 as the rep range with the exception of for the deadlift where 3-5 feels like money.
Option B is something I’m kind of keen on, it feels more geared towards hypertrophy, and allows for more exercise variety. Only caveat there is the 80%, but that’s about 6-8 reps I guess if 85% is 4-6.
What’s 1ct? 
Thanks for an elaborate reply! Enjoy your food!
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Sure thing.
I usually get it just right on week one and after that I begin to gradually lose interest and be more fatigued to the point that my first set is good, second set I start to regress and anything after that is horrible. Two sets has proven to work time and time again.
Tell me about it. For us it’s more of a safe way to slip into delirium on bodybuilding days as you know someone has your back and is counting reps for you. On powerlifting days knowing that you’re being judged at all times leads into far better rep quality.
Pretty much, only exception is the squat dude, he has had over a two year break from gym now, so his total training time is about a year. (But he does make up for it with sheer willpower. I’ll report back on his progress as well. He started off with 3x8x60kgs on back squat last week, so we definitely have a way to go, but he’ll be a monster if he can stick to the plan)
As long as everyone is happy and making progress, I don’t see a problem. Of course having people who have a keen eye for technique and programming is nice, but those things can be taught.
Volume should always be decided on your personal capabilities (some people have a better volume tolerance or a worse output in terms of intensity - if you can’t push yourself, you’ve got to do more) as well as outside factors - how well are you eating and sleeping, how stressful is your life etc. So if you’re dancing on the knife’s edge, be careful.
I’ve actually got to front squat in like two hours. For me it’s one set of 5-9 and another one of 10-15. Generally though I like to keep front squats in the lower rep ranges, so as an assistance exercise I rarely program them for over 6 reps/set, 8 is the maximum I go with for most folk. Apart from breathing, most people find it hard to keep the positioning right and they have to strip the weight a whole lot. I just hate myself and thus, I programmed longer sets for fronts in this block.
Those could be done in a arm/delt triset or a delt superset
Have you tried leg curls with an exercise ball or hanging from a bar?
this could be done with a stationary bar as well, like a smith machine.
Very, very rarely. For most people I find that doing deadlifts and rows takes care of traps.
That could work, yes.
Either under the knee or just after the bar comes off the ground. Think 1-2 inches above ground level. I like to pause during the concentric portion of the lift. Eccentric pauses can be done, but on deads it feels odd.
For some people RPE is pretty hard to grasp, others, it works really well. Usually using terms like “an easy single” and then “some hard sets” works just as well if not better than “single at RPE8 and then sets at RPE9”. Personally I like my current setup the best: two sets with different rep ranges. Are you within the range? Beat the last time’s weight. Easy and fun.
Point being, RPE is not magic, percentages are not magic, the main thing is that you like it and it works. I do suggest trying out different things though, it’s the only way to rule stuff out or add stuff in.
Oh yeah, good point. A regular failure is what we are talking about here. With 4 sets I would go as far as to say technical failure: when you notice that your form is breaking down, shut the set off. With 4 sets you could go to a “regular” failure on the last one.
This of course depends on what is defined as regular failure, for me it’s when I absolutely can’t do another rep (with acceptable technique, I’m not talking about half squats here), whereas for someone else it may be when their form has the slightest deviation from their regular form.
I really like 5-9. It’s just somehow so unorthodox, yet so good. If you feel like lower reps work better for you on deads, by all means, go for it!
Looks good. If you don’t like CGBench, I’d go for either a low incline or floor press. Trap bar is okay in my opinion, especially if you feel like your lower back needs a rest. (As you are in a more upright position, could also work well for you as you have long legs and thus squatting is probably more troublesome than regular deads, no?). You could do dips and curls as accessories, for example.
Yeah, that looks good as well.
Seems like a good idea. Hack squat machine could also work if he’s totally shot. If you plan on doing the same exercise twice in a week I’d vary the rep scheme, because otherwise you’d have to pile on the weight pretty damn fast. You could use a slight variation here, like paused front squat, or 1 and a half front squats to work around that. This would also bring the total amount of stress down a bit.
Personally I’d keep option B as a kind of backup plan for times when you feel either unmotivated by the higher volume stuff or simply don’t have time to be at the gym for that long. And when the time comes that you need to dig this program out you’ll see how well you respond to it - if it works for you, great, just keep doing it until it doesn’t.
1 count, so you lower the bar to your chest, count to one and press it up. Could also be called a “competition bench”.
With deads, 2ct is the same thing: lift the bar, stop at whatever point you chose (keep it constant though) and count to two before continuing.
No problem man! I really do enjoy discussing training ideas and concepts, so if you’ve got any more stuff (regarding this or anything really), throw it my way!
Next up; legs. Mentally this is the easier leg day, but that does not mean it’s easy. Gotta beat that damn logbook.
Leg curls on an exercise ball yes, but I need more resistance. I have long legs, and my posterior has definitely become my strength. I even went with a single-leg variety on the ball, but for me a leg curl machine is almost a must if I want to keep sets around 10-12.
When you have two sessions for sets of 9, do you add 10 kilos then on the lower body lifts and 5 kilos on upper body to force the trainee back to sets of 5? Otherwise, I feel like doing 5 kilos on LB and 2.5 on UB would have me running sets of mostly 7+ reps (not a de facto bad thing but still)
Yeah, my lower back is really a bit too taxed from what we do now. I suffer more from squats than deadlifts.
I’ll keep it as an ace in the books!
Cheers!
Same here, this was a lot of fun.
I’m expecting you to come back with the book beat!
On an unrelated note, our trip is rescheduled for 30th of March to 1st of April.
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Do you save all of your rowing for D4?
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That’s a positive problem. But yeah, those movements become a bit stale after a while
I wouldn’t be adamant about the top range - I’d rather see you do 12 reps to failure than 9 with three in the tank because that’s your range. That being said, you could (and should) try to bring the reps down by increasing your weights maybe a tad faster, otherwise there would be no point on having a rep range.
But I’d rather do it over a couple of session with a bit bigger jumps than usual compared to one massive jump - You get more productive weeks before stalling that way. Personally, my Last week’s heavy Hack squat set was 17 reps, so I jumped a bit more this week (10kg as opposed to 5kgs) and did 21 reps (whoops). So now I’m going to jump another 10kgs and see how that goes. If the reps keep on climbing I’ll make the jumps a bit bigger. As a rule of thumb, I’d usually try to jump a max of 10% of the weight used, usually 5% or so. (note that these numbers are arbitary and the actual increasement would depend on how advanced you are and how good of a day you’ re having: if you can add 15 kilos and stay within the rep range (preferably without your reps absolutely crashing from like 13 to 5) go for it. If it’s 2.5 kilos, that’s good as well, and at some point that will be the rate you’re progressing at.
In that Case you could use trap bar as one deadlift, and as you have your main squat and two assistance ones (D2 and D3) make those assistance squats something that aren’t that hard on your back - say front squats and SSB/Hack squat machine instead of pause squat and pin squat. (I could be totally off with the movement picks but you get the idea). You can also use less lower back taxing hip hinge exercises on D3, such as hip thrust instead of RDL. Good mornings are great too, with a bit more back stress.
I did it. Matched my reps on front squat with +2.5kgs from Last week, and beat my reps by 2 on hip thrust with +5kgs from last week. With isolation stuff I went up in weight and either maintained or dropped slightly on reps, still keeping within the boundaries.
Good to know, keep me posted if stuff comes up
Yeah. Your upper back works quite hard on deadlifts (isometrically, but still, it’s not like your back is without any stimulation) and some on pullups as well. If rowing oncea week isn’t enough you could include a rear delt row/Face pull as a delt movement on day 1 or 2 and get some extra stimulation that way.
Right, that usually does not end up being a problem. But I don’t know, I surprised myself with overshooting my rep range by 4 reps on the back squat out of sheer will. It was a lot of fun!
Gotcha!
I don’t think that you are. Front squats are great for working my torso, so doing them more is not a bad thing.
Good on ya!
Of course! We just found out today
My upper back seems ambivalent as fuck to all stimulus. It’s like it’s asking me to do more still and I row twice weekly, deadlift twice, vertical pull twice, and climb for two sessions. And I still beat rep PRs.
I’m thinking as a first stab, trying to take into account how the gym is in it’s layout and not wanting to have us wait on one another too much
Monday:
Back squat 3 x 5-9 (lower set count to really make the most out of these sets), 1-2 reps in tank
Incline bench 3 x 5-9 (can arguably be supersetted with the above), 1 rep in tank
Snatch-grip Deadlift 4 x 6-10 (I love this lift, if the training stress turns out to be too high this could be replaced by a muscle snatch but I doubt that),
Dips / Curls / Lateral raise tri-set 2-3 x 6-10 to failure
Wednesday
Deadlift 3x3-5
Bench 3x5-9 (can arguably be supersetted with the deadlift)
Front squat 4x6-8
Pull-ups 4x5-9 (ss: loaded carry?)
Friday:
A1. Hack squat 3x5-9 or front squat with a pause if machine is busy. Hoping to target quads more than what front squat would afford
A2. Smith Machine Hip Thrust 3x6-10 (pairing these so that we aren’t all waiting on one another too much)
B. Split Squat 2-3 x 6-10 or pistol squat (ss: side-walks with band)
C. Lying Leg Curl 2 x 8-12, 1 x 6-8-10 dropset (because… fun)
Saturday:
Military Press 3 x 5-9
Chin-up 4 x 5-9
Tricep extension (i.e. skullcrusher) → JM Press → Close grip 8-10 + max + max for 3 sets
Seal row or chest-supported row 3 x 10-12
And then saving the trap-bar deadlift as an alternative to the Friday hack squat if my performance mentality takes over.
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