I am at week 4 of the shoulders overhael. I feel like my upper body leaves a lot of be desired.
With my knee out of action, most lower body stuff is off limits, squats, lunges, split squats, pretty much anything that isn’t rehab, so hitting rehab hard.
Military press
3 sets - 6 reps - 55lbs (up 5lb from last weeks 6 set week)
Side Cable raise
3 sets - 6 reps - 20lb - up 5 lbs from last week
leaning d/bell side lateral raise
3 sets 6 resps - 4kg, 5kg, 6kg. last week was only using 4kg.
Have chest and back/biceps tomorrow.
Current stats from Sundays weigh in to beat.
weight - 94.45kg
r bicep - 37.9
l bicep - 37.5
Chest - 103.6
Waist - 95
Abdomen - 99.6
Hip - 104.9
R thigh - 63.9
L thigh - 63.9
R calf - 36.9
L calf - 36.1
I allow for a bit of error here, as I am using a bluetooth tape measure, it is isn’t going to be exactly the same each time.
Let it be noted that for the last 6 months I have reduced measurements consistantly.
Main areas of note
Chest - 105 down to 103
waist - relatively steady
abdomen 103 down to 99.6
Hip 106 down to 104 (with some weird measurements inbetween
That’s pretty much it. I"ll post weekly measurements on Sunday and my daily workout.
How many bodyweight pull ups or chin ups can you do?
Any chance you have a doorway you could hang a doorway pull up bar over? I used to suck at pull ups, but then i hung a bar over the doorway into the restroom and made a rule that i had to do 5 pull ups every time i hit the head.
Then it was 6 pull ups.
Then 7.
It wasn’t long before I stopped sucking at pull ups.
Once you’re there, that’s when i would start tweaking hand placement for better ROM. Tbh even now i still don’t do wide grip because heavier>larger ROM, IMO.
so if we are talking not super wide, but regular pullups, pronated grip, I can do about 10, something that goes first is my grip strength
if we are talking chinups, which supinated grip, probably 10 -12, wrist mobility also is a factor here.
I do have the option for a pullup bar. I also suck at them, seen too many horror vids online about people eating shit to get one, but I did a quick look and found this one as recommended … thoughts? I also didnt’ expect it to be so cheap
This one looks like it is the most sturdy of ones I have seen, with a few grip options?
Yeah so I’ve seen those videos too. Most of them were caused by not paying attention to these areas.
The straight bar opposite of the handles needs to be hard mounted over a door jam OR using purpose built brackets mounted to the stud.
I installed brackets to the studs on the one I have in my home. It’s survived a few thousand pullups, many 7 year old gymnastics things, and maybe a sex swing on occasion - and hasn’t failed.
Just make sure the pads on the side are in contact with the wall on both sides.
If it doesn’t have either of those things, you’ll be the next victim.
Did work out this yesterday, but you will see in the nutrition log that it may have been for naught
standing kettlebell shoulder press - 4 sets 10kg 12 reps
Bent over db’ell flies - 4 sets 12 reps 8kg
Plate round the worlds (15kg plate around me head each way) 4 sets 12 total reps
Low to high cable pull
20 (don’t know what the plates are, i’d guess 20lbs)
1 - 12
2 - 12
3 -10
4 - 12 (15 plate)
Inc dbell bench chest fly
3 sets - 10 kg - 12 reps each
Bear hug ball carry - 30lbs
3 sets - 30 sec walking carry, using arms to hold ball and no hands.
I am just wondering if I am getting enough volume, my workouts are only 30-40 minutes, I superset a lot of stuff to make it feel like I am working harder, or quicker
Supersetting is always a good strategy however I wouldn’t necessarily use time taken to complete workouts as a barometer. Are your weights lifted going up? Are you recovering between workouts? Can you post your weekly routine, are you following a specific programme?
So I’m not really a fan of supersetting. I find that it reduces time to train at the cost of weight being lifted.
Given that your muscles need to get stronger to grow, i find this counterproductive. Of course, this is trainee dependent… i train to failure every set and my limiting factor for supersets would be my cardio, not my muscular strength.
I want to point out the bold part.
All of your sets should be (hard) but I’m inclined to say you should be working a program to get your weights and strength up as fast as possible. That should be a Linear Periodization program.
I like to organize this as:
Day 1: Vertical/Squats (OHP/Pull Ups/Squats)
Day 2: Horizontal/Deadlifts (Bench/Bent Row/Deadlifts)
Repeat
Consider this to be your Main Work; you do this before any other exercises and everything outside of your main work is “accessory” work. You can do as much accessory work as you want, so long as it does not negatively impact your main work.
All other movements/exercises you do will be based off these primary movement patterns, which is why I’d prefer you be strong in these planes of movement.
IMO, get your strength up first. I’d like to see you in the 1,000lb club for your big 3 before getting into more specific bodybuilding style programs.
I have been following some what of a program, but I just don’t wnat to deal with the constant reprograming options. I will implement this from tomorrow. I will however not be able to do any legs stuff, like no squats or lunges for quads/ extensor change.
I am able to do good mornings, seated good mornings. Deadlifts will see how I go, as I work to fix my knee (seeing a knee surgeon today)
But for the rest, I will get that sorted out.
My goal, is to increase to an ‘athletic’ look my puny upper body… So I think this is a great start.
