Posting some pics for posterity’s sake so I have them somewhere to compare. Two old ones from around Christmas and three new ones.
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Power Gut looking loyal.
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7/11 ME Upper Body
Log press
1x10 35
1x8 135
1x3 185
1x3 195
1x3 205
1x2 225
1x1 255
2x1 275 (miss- new PR attempt)
Made 2 attempts and missed both. The second was very close, but I couldn’t get my head through the window.
Log press overload for lockout
3x3 315 w/ 100# reverse band tension at bottom. Band assistance cut out about a foot from lockout.
Military press drop sets
5 reps dropping 20 lbs starting at 155 working to 95.
Incline close grip
3x10 135
tricep pull down drop sets
8 reps dropping 10 lbs working from 150 to 90.
Tried full 2 litre dose of Plazma today. I’ll have to go back and review the volume. Jury’s still out on whether it’s worth it.
Weight after workout (and two litres of Plazma drank) 358.
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7/12 GPP day
Read the Westside for Fat Bastards article yesterday. Wasn’t sure if I qualified but thought I would give it a whirl (that’s sarcasm for anybody too slow to pick up on it). Highlights from today include 1000 m row, 80 kg tire flips and drags, and two runs through a full body circuit with 20 reps at each station. The good news is my cardio is in better shape than I thought. The bad news is there’s still a good ways to go, but every journey begins with a single step.
Nothing outstanding to report from Thursday or Friday’s workouts. Volume was good. I had to go back to the fountain though and get a drink of water from Westside’s posted workouts as there were a bunch of things in my head clouding how I was thinking. Going back to a much more Westside-ish workout (with the addition of OH pressing worked in every other week for ME instead of just bench). I want to close a 4 plate bench by the end of the year (even with a slingshot if necessary).
My gym just got a SSB in on Friday so I’ll be christening that beauty tomorrow with a 485 attempt to an 18" box. I’ll also be cutting back to one scoop of Plazma in the mornings.
May all my gains be dirty and right.
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7/17 ME Lower Body
5 min warmup on exercise bike
Main movement SSB squats to 18” box
200x3
240x3
290x3
330x3
380x2
420x1
470x1
500 (miss)
The gym just got a SSB in last Friday and I was dying to try it out. Everything went well and 470 seemed to go fairly easy which was surprising because it’s not much less than my low bar squat PR (5 or 10 lbs) and I had to grind that one a bit. Since the power rack at my gym is only rated to 500-lbs, I wanted to hit the limit, but I got too greedy. Tweaked my knee a little, but it’s all good.
Volume on main lift 4,830 lbs. Minimum of 19,320 lbs accessory work.
Good mornings
2x10 240 (4,800 volume)
Leg extensions
5x20 100 (10,000 volume)
Leg curls
5x20 120 (12,000 volume)
RLC’s
3x10
Back extensions
4x20
Body weight at end of session 358-lbs.
Didn’t get to do ab work today. Need to prioritize it.
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7/18 ME Upper body
Bench press (~2 board- gym has a foam block that goes on the bar. I’m guessing how I had it on there was about 4-inches) Index fingers on the rings.
Warm up
2x10x45
5x135
Working sets
3x185
3x225
3x275
2x315
1x365
1x385
Backoff sets (no block)
8x225
2x10x185
(supersetting band pull aparts for 25 reps after 385)
Dumbbell bench
20x25
20x30
20x35
20x40
20x45
Supersetting Kroc Rows for last 2 sets
20x100 each
Triceps rope pull downs
3x20x100
Resistance band tricep extensions supersetted with resistance band bicep curls
2x50
Ab work and out.
385 was a lot harder than I thought it was going to be from that height board press. Plan is right now to alternate OH pressing movements for ME work. Week after next, I’ll try 385 from the lower setting on the block. If all goes well, 2 weeks after that I should have a new 385 PR on bench. That will be an all time PR so I’m pretty stoked about that. I’m digging the high rep counts for assistance work. Apparently it’s better for your tendons and ligaments (according to Louie S. and I sure wouldn’t argue with him on anything strength related). Shoulder is starting to feel a lot better and I’m getting more movement in there. My right tricep isn’t feeling as activated as my left though so I may have to do some single arm work next session to change that. Body weight still holding steady at 358. I dropped a scoop of gainer from my breakfast and switched to skim milk for a 300 calorie drop.
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7/20 DE Lower Body
Today was a bit of a rough day. I tweaked my knee Monday on my squat attempt, so I didn’t know what to expect. I could feel it bothering me through the warmups.
SSB squat to low box
2x3 330
Knee was feeling rough so I decided to swap out for a high box.
1x3 330
Called it a day on squats. The pain wasn’t terrible, but I’m going to give it a bit of time to heal before squatting heavy again. Opted to go with good morning for 2 sets to finish out in the rack and move on to DL movement.
SSB good mornings
2x3 240
Rack pulls from ~18"
8x3 365 with a 45 hanging on a band from either side. At lockout, was feeling 455.
These went well. I’d have liked the reps to be a bit faster, but they were clean and probably not that much slower than desired speed.
Leg extensions
5x20 120
These didn’t bother my knee.
Leg curls
5x20 150
Running out of time so I opted to do ab work instead of any more accessory work.
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07/21
DE Upper Body
Slingshot Bench Press- pinkies on the rings
Warm up
2x10 45
1x6 135
1x5 185 (wrist wraps from here up)
1x4 225
8x3 275
Reps were feeling really good this morning. They’re still a bit on the slow side overall, but they’re faster than what they’ve been. Right arm is still overpowering left arm. Doesn’t really feel like I’m using my right tricep though.
Reverse band military press
5x3 225 w/ 60-lb band assistance at bottom.
These were weird today. Speed was all over the place. One set my neck was hurting. I need to focus more during these lifts.
Flat dumbbell bench
3x20 45’s
Good burn here, but still not feeling it in my right tricep. Patterns of motion in my two arms are different too. Lingering from my shoulder injury.
JM Press
2x10 95
At this point, my left tricep was burning up, but my right one still wasn’t feeling anything. My form on the JM press sucks too. Decided to try skull crushers and focus on the muscle a little more since I know my JM form is janky.
Skull crushers
2x20 60
Still wasn’t feeling it in my right tricep. Decided to switch it up to single arm work to see what was going on.
Single arm tricep pushdown
3x15 90
Felt it now. My right arm must be just a lot stronger than my left arm. Probably due to me benching wrong and injured to where my left side was using more chest and shoulder and my right side more tri. Just a hypothesis.
Resistance band and ab circuit – 1” resistance band
20 reps OH tricep extension (both arms)
20 reps hammer curls
20 reps standing crunches 100 lb on lat pulldown machine
Ran this with another guy with no rest in between. Got through 3 cycles on the circuit before I had to hit the shower and get ready for work.
Body weight 360 after workout.
7/24 ME Lower Body
Block pulls (~5” blocks)
Warm up w/ 5 minutes on bike and Romanians
Working sets
315x3
365x3
405x2 (added straps)
455x1
495x1
545x1 (PR) (belted)
4345-lb volume for ME
17380-lb target minimum volume for accessory work
Lost balance while pulling 545 and had to move my right leg with the weight above my knees. Once I got my footing back, I locked out easy. This tells me that I need someone to actually coach me. I should have probably ditched the weight, but that’s neither here nor there at the moment.
Backoff sets
2x8 315 (5040-lb volume)
Leg Press machine
3x20 300 (18000-lb volume)
Leg Curls
3x20 150 (9000-lb volume)
Leg Extensions
3x20 130 (7800-lb volume)
Accessory work total 39,840-lb volume
Did some ab work after this and 3x20 back extensions and called it a day.
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7/26
So I didn’t post yesterday’s workout because I was mad pissed. Main lift was block presses (~3-inches) and I had planned to get a 385, but I missed a 365. Shoulder fell out of place and I was madder than a bear with his nuts caught in a trap. I did do 3x20 with 45’s for dumbbell bench afterward which felt also like garbage. I’ll probably spend some time Friday doing some work on my shoulder stabilizers.
Today’s workout was GPP and recovery. I didn’t push it, but I stayed moving for half an hour working a 180 lb tire. Alternate carries with pulls for ~30-yards each. I could get up to a pretty good clip on the carries, but with my history of popping calfs on weighted pulls I just stayed moving focusing on long steps. Kept my heart rate around 120 for most of the workout. Also doing intermittent fasting today… aka the fat man’s hell.
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Hour 14 of fat man hell. I devoured my 400 calorie dinner (which is normally a snack). I feel oddly full, but I doubt it will last until bed time.
I see the tiger balm didn’t work as planned.
For some reason it was the only metaphor that came to mind. Haven’t tried it on an ME day yet, but I’m gonna combo with smelling salts tomorrow and see if I can turn my DE deadlifts into snatches.
Had a couple of lackluster days. ME on Monday led to a stalled 545 deadlift. ME yesterday led to a stalled 235 military. Coming up quick on a year of consistent training and I have to say I’m happy with progress, but there’s still a lot of work to be done. Found a PL gym about half an hour away. Given my current situation with not having room for implements and lack of access to them, I might be inclined to do PL meets until I can get better access.
Any recommendations on federations welcome. I’d be looking at either single or multi ply in TX and drug testing is not an issue.
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8/3
Had a hard time getting out of bed until I realized I could eat. Hopped up out of bed then.
DE Lower Body
Reverse banded deadlifts- 405 on bar with ~90-lbs assistance at bottom.
25x1 (~30 sec rest in between)
First 18 pulled conventional
Last 7 pulled sumo
Practiced hook grip 10x’s. Not terrible, but will take getting used to.
Good mornings
5x3 385
These were still light for triples, but still learning the movement and feels. Left knee is still boogered up and can’t squat heavy.
1x10 squats just bar to work my knee a bit
Machines were full so I decided to alternate loaded carries with dragging.
176-lb tire carry ~40-yds and pull same. Alternate pulling walking forward and backward. 10x’s.
Body weight 351.
Intermittent fasting still sucks. With moving over the next month, will only be able to do once a week.
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08/07- And now for something different…
I would say completely different, but that’s not exactly true. I’ve decided to run at least 1 cycle of The Cube. Truth is that I’ve been missing too many lifts lately and need to push myself out of my comfort zone. I did.
Deadlift Rep day
1x8 1” deficit deadlifts 385 (really more like 1x6 and 1x2)
So I warmed up doing deficit deadlifts which was arguably a mistake. I also didn’t take the advice in the book to use a training max instead of an absolute max… at least for this one I didn’t. I did for every exercise afterwards though. There’s probably a good argument to be made for more mobility work for me.
2x3 4” block pulls 415
No problem here. 1 set strapped and 1 set hook grip.
3x8 SSB Squats narrow stance 205
4x10 reverse banded Russian Leg Curls (tough as nails) thick band and I needed it
2x25 Back extensions
Spent about 10 minutes tractioning out my back afterwards. The deficit deadlifts really were pushing the limits of my mobility so I likely had some rounding issues.
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08\08
Cube Day 2
Bench Press Heavy day
Floor Presses 5x2 295
Bench Press 2x15 225
Lat pull down 3x12 100
Band Pressdown
4x25
DB Shrugs 3x15 120
Military Press 3x12 115
Thought I’d be able to bang out the military presses easy and sandbagged a little with 115. I was wrong. 12 reps that far into the workout wasn’t a struggle per se, but it was solid work.
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08/10
Cube day 3 Squats for Speed
Woke up with a pretty bad case of DOMS still from Monday in my quads. I was slow moving to say the least.
Squats 8x3 275
Started out with an 18” box for warmups. I know the book says not to box squat, but I was afraid once I got down I wouldn’t get back up if I didn’t get warmed up good. Dropped the box after warmups.
Reverse Band Squat 1x2 365
Not bad
Oly Squats 5x5 225
Still not bad. Taxing, but manageable.
Leg Press 1x15 250, 3x15 290
First set I knew I needed more weight. Glad I stopped at 290. Not ridiculous, but enough to slow the tempo just a bit and work for
the last 1-2.
Russian Leg Curls 3x12 w/ Reverse band for assistance
Cut from a 2” band to a 1” band and a half inch band for assistance. Will probably be here a few weeks as the last few reps I needed the band more to get back up. Who know? I might try just the 1” band to see how it feels. With being able to work the band a bit for added assistance, could be worth it to get the heavier reps at first.
KB Swings 3x15 55
Hadn’t done these in a while. Don’t like these. Haven’t really ever liked these, but I’m going to follow the book as best as I can.
08/14 ME DL Day
So I decided over the weekend to go back to a normal conjugate pattern. The long and short of it is that I didn’t prioritize right to get my fourth workout in over the weekend and I know I would never have done that with a conjugate layout. I also really need to have DE days twice a week. It is one area that I am severely lacking. I’m not going to say anything bad about the Cube and I will be looking at changing out ME days for rep days, but I need DE days. This may all seem like a big cop out, and maybe it is, but I haven’t really stalled on conjugate. I’m still getting stronger and still gaining in excess of 5-lbs a month on lifts when averaged out. Basically, conjugate meets the two biggest requirements for a training philosophy- I’m making progress and I will do it. I do need more discipline about calling weights though.
Block pulls
5 135
5 185
3 225
3 275
3 315
3 365
2 405
1 455
1 495- didn’t have it in the tank to go up another quarter, so called it here
Rack pulls
3x8 405
Barbell Rows
3x8 365
RLC’s
3x12 1" band and 1/2" band for assistance
Lat pulldowns
3x12 150
Back extensions
2x25
Felt good afterwards. I was thinking about doing some front squats after deadlifts, but time was not on my side. Maybe on DE day. Today was also the last day of using Plazma. I won’t be reordering anytime soon. If I was in better shape and my body used carbs better, it might be making a big difference, but I haven’t noticed anything performance wise for where I’m at now.
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