Rebirth of the Juggernaut: Brute Force and Ignorance (Part 1)

Training Training Logs
322

Beanything: I just realized I never replied to your comment, but glad to hear you’ve decided on a way forward. Thanks for reading the blog and the suggestion for a topic. If you ever want me to cover any more.

Sam: Times are certainly getting interesting. This is why I stick with reading the classics, haha.

dagill2: Glad you appreciated it. I like the phrase you use; I may end up stealing it. And no idea where I first heard it, but it’s still a great saying…and one that took me a long while to learn.

Woke up at 193.0 this morning after a great meal at Red Lobster the night before (steak and 2 lobster tails with all the fixings). No training to speak of.

Been wanting to throw up some music I’ve been training to. I pushed the first 10 laps on the prowler to “Dancing Mad” from the Final Fantasy 6 soundtrack

For some reason Kefka (the villian)'s quote about building a “monument to non-existence” has been resonating with me. Just what’s going through my head while trying to hit workouts that leave nothing left.

And I’ve been using this for all of my blast strap fallout holds

I understand how completely cliche’ most of this is, but if you allow yourself to get motivated by it, it hits the spot.

323

1 legged SSB Box Squats 265+chains
1x15+5 (rest pause)

(6) SSB box squats
1x100

Notes: First set is still building some strength, but focus is now on that set of 100. Felt a little tugging around the site of the surgery/knee cap, so I kept things very slow and smooth. Focus is more on building up quad muscle than trying to stretch the ROM; physical therapy takes care of that.

Blast strap fallout hold
2:40

Notes: Much more brutal now that I don’t allow any swaying.

Axle deadlifts 66lbs
1x100

Notes: The new axle feels lighter. I imagine this is because it’s better balanced. The center knurling mark allows me to line up better too.

Reverse hypers 45lbs
50+25+25

General notes: Woke up at 192.8. Will try to hit the neck harness later today.

324

This is technically my deload week, so while I have the downtime I’ll plan my next approach.

For this week in particular, I’m just going to go light and let my upper body heal. Lots of pump work.

As for the next cycle

-I have done 5 forward, so now it’s time for 3 back.

-Back to Vanilla 5/3/1 for now. Not running a specific template.

-Going to start to do the daily chins again, which means I can tone down the chin volume during the workouts. Thinking about 5 sets of weighted work, then 50 chins a day to start.

-Plan to use extra time not spent chinning for some heavier direct arm work. Might also do some dedicated upper back work too (kelso shrugs, more pull aparats, things like that).

-Really want to push up the overhead volume. Seems like my shoulders are adapting, so now it’s time to push until it breaks.

-Like dips, not sure if they’re going to stick around for this cycle in particular.

-Might chase the bench with some slingshot work too for more volume/practice

325

I read the Hydrant remark as in you were ‘commandeering the dinged up car’, not the actual hydrant. Haha.

John Rusin shared an interesting ACL & low bar squat article on facebook today. Might see if I can find it and share it up here.

Smashing the rehab as always. Astounded by your work rate volume as always mate.

326

Here 'tis:
ACL-Squat article linky

327

Raven78: Awesome man, thanks for the article. I’ll be sure to give it a read. I HAVE threatened my wife several times with the idea of buying a beater car explicitly for the purpose of car deadlifting, so it wasn’t the craziest thing in the world for you to think I was getting one, haha. The dude said the fire hydrants are anywhere from 200-250lbs, so probably won’t be pressing them for a while, but they’d be great for a carry medley. I’m keeping my fingers crossed.

DELOAD

DB bench 50lbs
55+15+10 (rest pause)

Notes: Just something to get the blood flowing. Hard to really care on deload weeks.

D-ring lat pulldowns 90lbs
5x20

Axle strict press
3x35

Band pull aparts
1x100

Band pushdowns
1x100

Neck harness side to side 45lbs

General notes: Woke up at 192.0. I’m already ready to jump back into some heavy and hard training, but I know these weeks are good for me in the long run.

328

Went to a monthly check-up with the physical therapist this morning. ROM is 100%, everything is great, but the biggest news is that they were able to completely cure the tendonitis in my knee using an acupuncture needle and some electrical stimulus. It was pretty intense; leg was spasming hard involuntarily, but when it was all said and done, I was pain free for the first time in months.

Later, hit a gripper workout

5x #2x.5

50 seconds x #2

10x #2

50 seconds x #1

30x #1

60 Seconds x Trainer

25xTrainer

Notes: Timed holds really paid off. Went from unable to close the 2.5 to a solid 4 reps with a slight assist on the 5th. Glad I can figure out how to trouble shoot the issue.

329

That’s fantastic news!

330

Furo: Thanks man! You know, it’s funny; with my background, I don’t know what it’s like to be “pain free”. I had gotten my knee pain down to a manageable level, and just assumed that it was how I was going to be for the rest of my life. It’s pretty mind blowing to have it just be gone now. I was at peace with it, and now I don’t have to be.

Seated chain suspended SSB good mornings
5xBar
5x115
5x155
5x205
5x245
3x295
1x335
1x385
1x385

Notes: This was the definition of max effort. The first time I hit 385, it was a battle, with my ears ringing and head spinning. When I hit it a second time, it was crazy. My MP3 started skipping again, vision blurred, and I basically was autopiloting. I “came to” in the middle of unloading plates off the bar. Though I’ve done more weight on this movement, it was with less ROM, so this is a huge PR. That said, I’m starting to straddle that line between training and testing.

Axle deadlifts 66lbs
1x150

Notes: Heavier axle/more weight, so restarting at 150.

Blast strap fallouts
1x110

(5) SSB Box squats
1x50

General notes: Woke up at 191.4 this morning. Doubled up on pop-tarts, weight has been dipping.

331

Prowler (high handles)
1800’

Notes: Conditions were decent. Lightly drizzling while I was outside. Legs just ran out of gas. With it being a deload week, I suppose taking it easy isn’t terrible. Really wanna hit that mile soon. Once I can manage that, I think I might start adding weight/variety.

Woke up at 192.0. Might try some reverse hypers, neck and rolling thunder later today.

332

Happy to hear about the progress with your knee. Also congratulations on your PR with the seated good mornings!

333

Thanks dude! Coming along slowly but surely.

Rolling thunder 185lbs
1x9
1x8

Notes: 195 wasn’t feeling too smart today, so went for some rep PRs at 185. Left hand is still the stronger hand on this movement, it’s pretty weird how that works. Really getting technique dialed in.

Reverse hyper 50lbs
1x100

Neck harness 65lbs
40+20+15 rest pause

Oh yes, and the cheat meal.

Taco Bell: 2 cheesey gordita crunches, 1 chicken quesadilla, 1 nachos supreme, 1 chicken loaded griller

An actual legit cheat meal for a change.

334

DELOAD

Axle strict press
10xAxle
5x66lbs
10x10x123

Notes: So yeah, this deload went stupid real quick. I’m just wanting to push up the volume on my strict pressing these days, since it seems to be working well. Foreshadowing of the next cycle.

Axle curls
1x100

Band pushdowns
1x50

T-bar rows
8x115
8x120
8x125
8x130
8x135
8x140
8x145
8x150
8x155
8x160
8x165
8x170
8x175
8x180
8x185

DROPSET
5x190
5x185
5x180
5x175
5x165
5x155
5x145
5x135
5x125
10x115
10x90
10x45

Notes: Sets in between sets of everything, then dropset at the end.

General notes: Woke up at 194.0. Steps in the right direction. Need to keep the weight moving up while keeping the calories clean.

335

With the knee/tendonitis;
What “hurt,” and what did they “zap?”

Was something tight and “locked up”? Did they force the opposing muscle to contract? Was some specific part of your leg not moving correctly, and they made it work with electric shock? Was the forced contraction like a way to get a great pump?

336

My surgeon told me the pain was apparently in my IT band. It was on outside of my knee . Basically a dull pain when I would bend the knee close to its maximal limit. I could still move it fine, but the ache was annoying.

The shock just made my knee extend/quad contract. Wouldn’t use it to get a pump, but it did the job. I have a little bit of pain again, but very tolerable.

337

Singled legged SSB box squat
5xBar+chains
5x115+chains
5x155+chains
1x205+chains
20x265+chains

(5) SSB box squats
1x100

Notes: The set of 20 was a real ass kicker. No racking; weight on bar the entire time. Funny, that used to be a good weight for 2 legs.

Blast strap fallout hold
2:40

Axle deadlifts 66lbs
1x100

Reverse hypers 55lbs
1x100

General notes: Woke up at 192.8. Being truthful, I’m getting stir crazy. I am meeting with my physical therapist on the 25th to get a more indepth evaluation on what I can and can’t do.

As part of my new program, here are the daily movements I accomplished as well.

NG chins: 55 (1 set of 30, 1 of 20, 1 of 5)
Band pull aparts: 100
Dips: 55 (1 set)

These are all full ROM work. No partials or emphasis or anything, just for volume. Really got the pull aparts feeling strong; actually focused on contracting the muscles rather than moving the band.

338

Yep, pretty sure I would be feeling this the next day using two legs.

I’m also going to start plucking things like this from your programming to use for myself. It seems my lower back is the only thing not keeping up with my new PR’s, so time to try and bulletproof it before advancing much further in weight.

Great job, and good luck on the evaluation, hope to see you back to 100% soon!

339

@littlesleeper: Thanks for the support! In regards to the sets of 100, you’ll have to keep in mind that I’m primarily doing this simply because I am not yet cleared for heavy work. In point of fact, I’m most likely still grossly violating my rehab protocol, but it’s still “playing it safe” for me. I honestly wouldn’t recommend it for someone who is not dealing with a healing injury. Those movements are still great, but for the reverse hypers I’d at least alternate between a heavy and light workout (so, keep one set of 100, but then do a workout of 4x8-15), and for the deads maybe something like RDLs or Dimel Deads in the 15-20 range. High rep, but not stupidly high, and still enough weight to get some growth going. Also, kettlebell swings really go a long way too, as they help reinforce the hip hinge pattern. In a lot of cases, I find lower back issues stem from trying to transition the weight to the back versus the hips.

The reverse hyper is an amazing movement. You’re sure to get a lot out of it.

Axle bench
10xAxle
5x75
5x115
5x165
5x190
5x220
18x250
20x190
7x190 w/Reactive Slingshot

Notes: Using the Rogue axle, since I don’t want to dork up the Ironmind one on the bench. Huge improvement. Going through my logs, the last time I hit 255 of the 5s week I managed it for 11 reps, and 195 for 17. The reactive slingshot just plain didn’t work, I never get anything out of it with barbell work. I think to get more volume in the bench workout I might just hit all the build up sets for AMRAPS (so AMRAP the top set, then hit the second set again for AMRAP and the FSL). I remember reading something like that in the 5/3/1 book.

NG Chins w/45lbs
5x10

DB hammer curls 35lbs
5x10

Notes: Hitting these between benching. It’s tough for me to do so little back work during the workout, but I think hitting the daily volume will even it out, and it’s nice to be able to focus on different areas this cycle.

Axle strict press 103
5x10

DB lateral raise 10lbs
5x10

Band pull aparts
5x10

Notes: Hit all 3 as one giant set. My shoulders were blown up afterwards. Really getting a lot of pressing volume in this way; going to see how my shoulder holds up. Elbows were a little pissed off, but I think they’ll adapt.

General notes: Woke up at 193.8. Only about 10 hours between my squat workout and this one, and then went straight to physical therapy. Feeling good. Also, I’m cutting down my caffeine consumption this week, switching from 240mg caffeine Rockstars to 140mg Monsters. It’s like using Methodone to get off Heroin, but it’s something.

Already got most of my daily training in.

Dips: 1x50
NG chins: 1x25 (will get in 25 more later)
Band pull aparts: 1x100

340

That’s the best way to come off heroin, by an extremely long way, so it should work for you. I share your addiction lol, I’ve actually made a big backwards step recently haha - I’ve been having two Rockstars per day for the last 5 days.

341

Haha, yup, that’s exactly what got me to start trying to ease off; I caught myself drinking them for pleasure rather than out of necessity. 2 a days when I wasn’t even all that tired. They’re so delicious though.

But you can at least say you need the energy for your long distance crutching!