Thanks man. Tan is coming along. I’ve found the most effective tanning protocol is to build a BBQ grill for an hour during the hottest part of the day. I think the sun reflecting off all the shiny metal magnified the effect. I was pretty toasty.
However, since I don’t tend to walk around without a shirt on unless I’m at the beach, I always get a tank top tan in the summer, haha.
I usually get that too and because I wear shorts all year round I end up with brown feet and calves and white quads!!
Do you wear flip-flops too? That’s always a fun tan, haha.
Absolutely mate except we call them ‘thongs’ down in Oz.
My goodness this is pretty. Will be using it tomorrow. Just wanted a photo of it before it got covered in chalk.
PM WORKOUT
MAX EFFORT LOWER: Trap bar lifts (high handle)
5x155
5x245
3x335
1x425
1x515
1x605
1x655
1x675
5x605
GIANT SET (dead-hyper-squat)
(4) Deficit axle dead stop deadlift 296
3x10
Reverse hyper 310
3x10
SSB front squat (flat soled shoes) 115
3x10
General notes: 3:45 between heavy sets, 2:00 between giant sets. Trap bar lifts were a total success. This is a fantastic implement for max effort work, because you can really go full out with it, strain hard, and give it your all. To make it somewhat carry over to my pulls, I focused on keeping my deadlift stance, rather than using the stance best suited for trap bar pulls. Feet closer together, toes flared out. I know you can’t see any of that in the Zapruder film of a training video I’ve uploaded, but trust me.
The video shows exactly the feeling I felt: I got for the pull, my body searches for the ideal position, finds it, and then starts pulling. Results in a delay between when I commit and when the bar starts moving, but I feel like there’s going to be some value added in learning how to overcome that initial inertia. Once I can break it, it starts moving.
I wanted that 700, but the prudent move was to call it on a victory and go for the reps. Those 5 were hard fought, and I may have had some more for the day, but I’m still learning the movement.
The giant sets were amazingly terrible. Many times spent wanting to quit, feeling like I was going to vomit, wondering if I was going to pass out, thinking about how awful it would be to notify my next of kin that I died in a garage from heat stroke during a workout, etc. Thankfully, I had one ace up my sleeve: I am the Juggernaut. So that helped.
The deficit is almost as high as it can possibly get without the bar being on my feet. I think I’m going to start the cycle over and up the weight. It’s been effective so far.
Great effort Pwn and nice new shiny bar.
are those… dead-stop reps 
Yup. Been using them since the start of the training cycle. Goal is to re-develop/re-groove getting my hips under my shoulders at the start of the pull, as I analyzed my best deadlifts and noticed I did that at the start, whereas my recent ones were ALL hips. Good for high reps, not great for high weight.
I COULD, in theory, do all that with touch and gos, but it would require more mindfullness than I’m willing to invest in the middle of pulling heavy. I don’t like using cues, so instead I use movements that require the intended mechanic in order to succeed. With dead stop reps, getting my hips under the bar is part of the execution. Similar reason I picked deficit pulls with the axle: zero bar flex AND low starting position.
Guess he finally got sick of /r/fitness telling him that his deadlifts didn’t count.
That’s what coffee is for
@mortdk Always appreciated dude. It’s shiny in it’s blackness, haha.
@mattjp It would be just like me to listen to the naysayers and then go pull deadstop on a trap bar just to still upset them, however the crowd turned on me significantly when I said a trap bar lift isn’t a deadlift. Because of science you see…
@dagill2 Never got into coffee, but my blood is primarily energy drink.
675 is a massive, massive pull - but 605x5 is ridiculously impressive. Always enjoy dropping into your log for some motivation. Great work.
That must make giving blood profitable.
I never donate. I barely have enough for me!
Much appreciated man. Pulling the 605 set less than 4 minutes after the 675 set was something else, haha. It’s weird: I don’t FEEL any stronger, I just AM. I pulled 605 during the work up and thought “f**k: that felt heavy. Let’s see if 655 is possible.” Grinded like HELL on that rep and thought “Well that felt even worse…let’s see if 675 is possible.” Somehow grinded even MORE on that rep and gave 700 a serious thought but figured I may have used up all my luck. And then I turn around and 605 feels as heavy as 675, haha.
Haha, for most normal people lifting, when you lift a lot of weight and then drop 70 lbs and lift again, the weight feels light and flies up. This is apparently not the case for 600+ lb lifts.
Just caught your epic on home gyms over at the blog. I’ve moved mine into 3 new houses, and had it in 3 spots in the middle house. I can empathize with the pain to a degree, my stuff has never been covered in excrement.
Congrats on the pregnancy, completing the move, and seeing some paint on the gym walls.
@flappinit Why make light weights heavier when I can just make heavy weights heavier, haha.
@mr.v3lv3t Thanks for reading it man. It’s definitely an experience. And oh man, that sewage flooding was intense. The home gym was so sparse back then, but seeing it get destroyed like that was like a warzone.
@biker Appreciate it man. To clarify, the pregnancy was many years ago, and unless someone snuck in my garage and painted it there’s still no pain, haha.
