For those that are interested, here is the video of yesterday’s entire session
@isdatnutty This should give you an idea of how I use supersets for my training.
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Nice man! You flew through the workout! Since I’ll be working out in the AMs I might be able to get away with the 2 barbells at the rack setup.
Glad you are giving the monolith a go man. Interested to see your takeaways
@isdatnutty Hope it works out for you man. If not, always an opportunity to hit the pull aparts and chins at least.
@TX_iron Thanks dude. I plan to document my experience in the end as a write-up. Been a long time since I ran a full program like this.
What dedication!
The Jacob Marley thing is pretty clever
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You’ve got serious energy–and intense panting-- in that video.
@IronOne Less dedicaiton, more insanity, haha. It helps that pacing comes naturally in my family. Considered it a prison workout.
@Yogi1 Finally someone appreciates my genius! I’m just rife with trivial knowledge for just these sorts of situations, haha.
@biker Thanks dude. I’ve been told by many that listening to my videos can be vulgar.
BUILDING THE MONOLITH WORKOUT 2
AM WORKOUT
Texas Power Bar touch and go Deadlift
5x135
5x225
1x315
5x380 (straps from here out)
5x435
3x5x490
Notes: Pulled my left hamstring on the second warm-up set, so everything after that was hell and my starting position was all jacked up. Still sore from Monday, so something I had to work around. Might be more dilligent with recover, or see if I adapt.
Axle bench
5xAxle
5x66
5x136
5x186
5x211
5x251
10x281
16x211
Notes: This is a planned program deviation. Rather than doing the 5x5, I’m sticking with traditional 5/3/1 with a FSL AMRAP. This has been working incredibly well for my bench, and for the first time in about a decade it’s finally moving upward, so I’m not messing with success. I might compensate for the lacking volume with my conditioning work.
DB curls 40
5x10
Hammer curls 40
5x10
DB rows 105
1x12
1x11
3x10
Notes: The rows are really what got me in the end. Kept feeling like I was going to puke.
General notes: Woke up at 194.8. Got the workout done in just under 60 minutes. I took video again and will upload tomorrow, but the strategy was Deadlift-curl-bench repeat. It timed out that the deadlifts and bench both finished at the same time, so after that I knocked out 2 remaining sets of curls and the 5 sets of rows while cleaning up the bench and deadlift bars. Wasn’t moving qutie as fast today as I was on Monday, but with this being a day of much heavier weight moved on all lifts it was a necessary precaution.
Diet is remaining on point for now.
Worth noting that I realized I calculated my deadlift training max for this program using a PM PR and I’m training in the AM. Not a smart move, but we’ll see what happens. I am supposed to challenge myself here, and I think I’m doing that.
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Here is video of Workout 2
There is more downtime in this workout, so more of it is at 4x speed.
Woke up at 195.2 or 4 this morning (I forget which). I’ll be doing an EMOM workout tonight.
My stone of steel FINALLY shipped. Can’t wait to play with it.
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How the fuck does it ship? Like the packaging and stuff.
I imagine it’s going to be freight. Possibility a big box. I’ll have to let you know!
My UPS person is like a 120lb woman. I feel awful for her, haha.
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You hear the doorbell ring, go to open it and she’s just standing there shouldering it.
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Wouldn’t be the first time I’ve been thoroughly impressed by my package delivery folks, haha. I had a theory at one point that my copy of 5/3/1 Forever was so delayed because my postman was reading it himself to prep for all the ridiculous things I kept ordering.
AM WORKOUT
10 Minute EMOM circus dumbbell (95lbs) and stone trainer extensions (165lbs)
Notes: Started off 1 per arm on the DB and laddering up reps on the stone trainer. Once I got to minute 5, switched to 1 rep CDB alternating arms each minute and singles on the stone trainer. This really sucked even more than I expected; good to keep on the books.
Woke up at 195.4. this morning. Glad to see weight has been gradual, rather than big jumps.
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BUILDING THE MONOLITH WORKOUT 3
AM WORKOUT
Buffalo Bar Squats
5xBar
5x100
5x140
3x190
1x230
5x280
5x320
5x360
20x180
Axle Continental and Press Away
5xAxle
5x66
5x136
10x5x156
Weighted NG chins 85lbs
5x5
Band pull aparts
5x20
Farmers handle shrugs 115
25,20,15,15,10,15
Notes: Rather than do notes after everything, let me just explain how this all worked out.
Did a giant set to start of Squat-chin-press. No warm-ups for chins, so did the worksets in between the warm-ups for squats and presses. Once I ran out of chins, I transitioned to band pull aparts, so it went Squat-pull apart-press. Once I hit 5x360 on squats, I saved 20x180 for the end of the workout so transitioned to shrug-pull-apart-press. When I ran out of pull aparts, it just went shrug-press as a supersert. Once I was done with everything else, I did the 20x180.
The widowmaker definitely wasn’t the hardest thing I’ve ever done, but I made it as challenging as I could by ensuring I was lockout out every rep. Original gameplan was to only continental around 5 sets of the presses, but I had enough in me to do the whole thing. I think this was the right weight for 1s week rather than 3s, so I may repeat during week 3 or only go up 5lbs and adjust TM from there.
Got the whole thing done in just about 50 minutes. I’ll upload video later.
General notes: Woke up at 195.4. Fascinating how much food I can add and still not move up much. Think it’s a sign to how much I’m burning. Gonna keep slowly ramping up the intake.
Here is the video.
I’m going to need to get more cut off shirts soon.
Hey Boss,
I didnt want to hijack the whole confessions thread, but the deadlift talk got me interested. Particularly you said that deadlifts dont make you strong, but doing things that make your deadlift big make you strong. What do you consider those things to be? for me, personally anyway, ive only ever deadlifted to make my deadlift better, and its worked decent so far, but then again your far stronger and more experience than I am, so i am probably just not to the point where i need to start working smarter instead of harder.
Hey man, appreciate the question.
I’d say the biggest area of improvement would be the abs, as a LOT of people neglect training them. When I started hammering the abs hard and heavy, deadlift got a lot better. Reverse hyper also goes a long way. The best squat variation I found was the safety squat bar squat with chains, and then for assistance work it’s chins and rows. For prepping the body for heavy overload, I’m a fan of mat pulls. I used a ROM progression approach with the mat pulls to get used to a large variety of ROMs.
Hope that helps!
High handle Prowler w/200lbs
8x60’
Notes: 30 seconds rest between sets. Right quad was cramping something fierce. Still a solid ass kicker.
Woke up at 195.8 this morning. Had a father’s day breakfast buffet and ate my weight in bacon. Should put me in a good way weight wise.
Thanks!
What do ya recommend in terms of ab work? I do a lot of bodyweight stuff for my core, just crunches, Russian twists, flutter kicks, or whatever else we can think of during group pt, but I admit one one of the guys who has never really pounded abs in the weight room.
Of all the accessories you mentioned… I’ve got access to none. sigh. Still, I do tons of chins and rows, so I have that going for me anyway. At about a 450ish dead now, and still rising (slowly but surely) so I’m probably not going to worry over it too much now. No point in fixing what’s not broken.
Side note: appreciate your vids on building the monolith. I plan on running this next month after I finish up my current 531 cycle, giving some great ideas on how to fit the high volume into a reasonable time.
Current go tos for ab work are standing ab wheel and GHR sit-ups with a plate behind my head. They work well enough for me.
Regardnig the accessory; don’t mistake a lack of availability for a lack of access. I ALSO did not have all of those movements available at one point, so I went and bought that equipment to make it all work. There are lots of companies out there that will sell you those pieces, and you can make your own too if you’re handy. You’ve got access for sure. The mats are the absolute easiest; you can just go to home depot and either get some blocks of wood cut or buy some rubber patio pavers. I use the latter.
Glad those videos helped out. I’m hoping to make the program more accessible to a lot of folks.
BUILDING THE MONOLITH WORKOUT 4
AM WORKOUT
Buffalo bar Squats
5xBar
5x100
5x140
3x190
1x230
5x260
5x300
5x5x340
Axle strict press
5xAxle
5x66
5x136
5x146
5x166
5x191
12x146
Chins (various grips)
20x5
Band pull aparts
5x20
Dips
150 reps
Notes: Same approach as last week, except I cut the dips out of the circuit and just did them rest pause at the end for reps. Much more viable approach; far better recovery on the squats. Wasn’t huffing nearly as bad, but this was slightly lighter as well. Press was smooth, but defintely heavier than it needs to be. Workout took about an hour.
General notes: Woke up at 196.0. Elbows are pretty beat up; I imagine that’s the weighted chins.
I have never used a real reverse hyper in my life. I just take the tallest box at the gym, put a mat on it, wrap a band around it and my legs and let the bands pull my legs through it a squat they come down. Same with a GHR. I just recently got access to one, but before I was just using the lat pulldown and putting my feet in it.
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