Airdyne workout
16 rounds at tabata intervals (20 seconds heavy, 10 seconds light)
Notes: Breaking it in for the first time. I definitely see some potential in this. Left knee is still achy, but nothing awful.
Woke up at 195.0.
2 Likes
SVR II WORKOUT 6
AM WORKOUT
NG chins
1x30
1x20
Axle continental and strict press away
5xAxle
5x66
5x146
5x166
5x186
5x10x146
Axle rows
5x10x146
Band pull aparts
5x20
DB curls 35
4x10
DB lateral dropset
12x20
12x15
12x10
12x5
Loadable kettlebell swings 55
1x50
Notes: Really liked how this workout went. Hit the chins before anything else as a warm-up/get more pulling volume in, then supersetted the press warm-ups/heavy work sets with the curls, then giant setted the 5x10s on press and rows with the pull aparts. Did the lateral raise stripset and finished with the swings and still had some time leftover. Mrs. is wanting to wake up 5 min earlier to get in more running volume, which bodes well for me. Iām wanting to get in some more training and get some more growth in.
Had to push press the last rep of the last 2 sets of the presses. Most likely woulda had more energy without the continentals.
Woke up at 194.4.
3 Likes
Hey man, not sure if you saw yet or not, but Jamie Lewis is out of jail and blogging again. His most recent articles made me think of you and just figured Iād let you know as a fellow chaos and paināer.
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Thanks man. I saw he let out a few articles recently. Always a great read. Jamie and I are on very similar wavelengths.
PM WORKOUT
EMOM workout Stone of Steel over bar (w/45lbs loaded)
10 minutes
Notes: Started out with doubles. Made it through 2 rounds before switching to singles. Stone was misloaded, as I was going to use a 45lb bumper but found out my Pendlay bumpers didnāt fit. Ended up going with a 35lb strength shop bumper and a 10lb iron plate. Made it super challenging. Great workout.
Woke up at 193.6.
2 Likes
SVR II WORKOUT 7
AM WORKOUT
Buffalo bar Squat
5xBar
5x100
5x140
3x190
5x260
5x300
5x340
5x10x260
GHR sit ups w/10lb plate behind head
3x8
1x6
DB bench 105s
5x10
Band pull aparts
2x20
Band pushdown
2x20
Notes: Ok, this week is awful. BBB w/FSL percentages is the Devilās work. Made it through, but I was hurting. Got a bit of a warm snap going through this week too, so garage is a little warmer than Iām used to and made recovery suck. Happy to get that DB benching in, and I hit all the reps on squats, but volume was low on assistance stuff. I might actually come back later today to hit a set of kroc rows and some plate raises. Left knee is still bugging me; need to get another lax ball.
Woke up at 192.8. No idea what is going on there. Birthday is coming up and Iām going to engage in some hardcore nutritional debauchery, and hopefully that can reset my baseline a little, but if that doesnāt help, it might be time to go full on BtM diet again.
2 Likes
SVR II WORKOUT 8 (holy cow those last 2 were way off)
AM WORKOUT
Axle bench
5xAxle
5x136
5x186
5x226
5x251
5x286
5x10x226
GB lat pulldown 140
5x10
Standing ab wheel
4x8
DB rows 105
4x8
1x18
Full ROM plate raise 7.5kg
1x50
DB curl stripset
10x40
10x35
10x25
10x15
10x10
Notes: Solid training day. Supersets of bench with pulldowns, ab wheel and rows, and then finished off with the raises and curls. Nothing too significant otherwise.
Woke up at 194.6.
4 Likes
SVR II WORKOUT 9
AM WORKOUT
Texas deadlift bar touch and go deadlifts
5x135
5x255
1x345
5x405
5x460
5x515
5x5x460
Dips
10x20
NG Chins (various grips)
6x15
Reverse hyper 180lbs
1x50
Airdyne tabata intervals
8 rounds
Notes: Another solid workout. Nothing earth shattering, but felt strong. The 50 set reverse hyper work was something awful, and the airdyne to finish was a solid choice. Think that might become a staple. Easy way to get some fatigue and conditioning in.
Woke up at 197.6. Tons of sodium yesterday, and today will be the same. Might see 2 bill again this weekend.
3 Likes
Airdyne
Tabata intervals for 10 rounds
5 minutes light cycling
Tabata intervals 8 rounds
Notes: Rainy out, great excuse to hit the Airdyne. Really loving how quickly this can suck.
Woke up at 197.4. Gonna be a compressed training week as I go on vacation on Thursday.
2 Likes
SVR II WORKOUT 10
AM WORKOUT
Axle Strict Press
5xAxle
5x66
5x136
5x166
5x186
5x206
5x5x186
GB lat pulldown 140
4x11
1x8
Band pull aparts
5x20
DB curls 35
5x10
DB lateral dropset
10x25lbs
10x20
10x15
10x10
10x5
KB swings 65lbs
1x50
Notes: Pleased with that 5x5. Was feeling a little fatigued but it went through. Supersets of presses with pulldowns, then giant sets of curls and pull aparts.
Woke up at 197.6.
4 Likes
SVR II WORKOUT 11
AM WORKOUT
Buffalo bar Squat
5xBar
5x100
5x140
3x190
1x230
5x300
5x340
5x380
5x5x340
(1) DB Incline bench 105s
3x10
1x8
1x7
Band pull aparts
3x20
Standing ab wheel
4x8
Notes: Another solid workout. Rolled out my IT band with an LAX ball last night, and it helped a little with the persistent pain Iāve been experiencing. Hamstrings were a little tight, and felt some pulling around the surgical site. Was in a bit of a rush this morning, so eased off the assistance work. Enjoying my time back with the heavy DB presses; always felt like I got a good amount out of them.
Woke up at 196.6.
I managed to read through this entire log last weekend on the night before and morning of my girlfriendās sisterās wedding. It was a fine escape from the mania of being in a bridal household!
Awesome return to form; Iāve been a fan of your blog and your Reddit posting for a while (you, BenchPolkov and a couple of others are a few people I have tagged as āpay attention to themā on the various fitness subs) but I had no idea that your injury was so recent. Makes the numbers youāre putting up now much more impressive.
Oh man, thatās quite an undertaking. Glad I was able to provide you some escape, haha. Appreciate you following along dude. I was hoping this training log could serve as a bit of an inspiration to others. When I blew out me knee, so many people (both on and offline) told me that I was done and it was time to hang it up, and it just pissed me off so much. I wanted to have an example for others to point to and say āSee!ā
Thanks for the comment.
SVR II WORKOUT 12 (FINAL WORKOUT OF LEADER 1)
AM WORKOUT
NG chins
1x40
1x10
Axle bench press
5xAxle
5x136
5x186
5x226
5x251
5x286
5x321
5x5x286
GHR sit-ups w/10lb plate behind head
4x8
GB loading pin curls 30lbs
5 sets
Band pull aparts
3x20
Kroc rows 105
1x23
Full ROM plate raise 7.5kg
1x60
Notes: Sprained my pec tendon on the second set of 5x5x285. Hit the j-hook on the eccentric of the 3rd or 4th rep on the right side and shifted all the weight to the left. Itās achy, but I was able to finish the workout, and with a deload coming up I imagine itāll heal well. Might just do a lot of push-ups to get blood flowing. Otherwise, this was a great workout, and another day where I just felt strong. The first cycle is done, and Iām a big fan of this program. Excited to run it some more with a higher TM.
Woke up at 194.8. Think Iāve lost the sodium from the weekend.
2 Likes
You can bust out 40 chins at 200lbs in a single set? Surely notā¦
1 Like
This was technically 35 and 5 with a rest pause, but I doubt they would pass an internet form check, haha. Not chest to bar; just enough ROM to fire up my lats.
3 Likes
Howdy man. reading a bit of your blog & I found something I think we may disagree on a bit, specifically regarding people whom enjoy training, & what they really enjoy is the effects of training. I agree with that, but I think a lot of people view training like they view a sport. I hated playing football as a kid. I did it because being in football got me access to the weight room, & more attention from girls, & if you didnāt play you were the outcast (I could care less about that now, but being a teen is a bit different that being a 30-year-old man lol). But some people really enjoyed playing it - they just loved playing the game of football, & the weights & the running were a means to that end. So being in the weight room to me is akin to being a person on the football field who genuinely enjoys playing football even though they are tired and hurting; I enjoy the actual act of lifting weights even if it is uncomfortable.
EDIT: but I also think that mentality is a double-edged sword. If you dislike training but do it anyway for the results, then I think you may be less susceptible to good and bad days, because they are all bad days, lol. If Iām just having a shit day I sometimes donāt enjoy being in the gym, and itās hard to muster up the drive to get anything productive done.
Hey man, always willing to broach this topic.
The question I have in this situation is this; if lifting had no benefit, would you still enjoy it? And what if it was purely detrimental; do you believe you would still enjoy it?
I find joy in hedonistic pleasures, even with detriment. I enjoy eating a big plate of nachos, even though they make me fat. I enjoy 12 hour video game binges, even though they produce nothing positive. I voluntarily engage in these activities to my detriment. I would not do that with lifting.
If you feel you would, that is awesome; just not something I understand.
2 Likes
Thatās a really good question man. I havenāt made a ton of progress as of late, so the benefits vs the risks at the moment are a bit suspect. & really lifting heavy things isnāt the best thing for a person health-wise, so there are some inherent detrimental components in that regard. However, lifting does move me toward my goal of being bigger, stronger, leaner, & faster, and I imagine that fact makes the ādetrimentā from a health perspective moot.
I think the easy answer would be no, but that doesnāt really tell the whole story. I feel there is a lot of grey area & the dichotomy isnāt necessarily rigid. Speaking to the plate of nachos & video game day (sounds like a fun afternoon lol), it would be a detriment to a particular goal of yours, being lean & strong, but would have some nice stress reliving properties that could certainly be of a mental benefit - I imagine an executive working 80-90 hours a week would benefit greatly from a day of zero stress. Other hedonistic indulgences also produce some benefit, such as sex, red wine (I know you know this already, Iām just stating it to make my point). I also like fish, avocados, and veggies, & they both give me immediate joy & long term-benefit.
But heading back to your original question, Iām honestly not sure. If it truly had ZERO benefit, then Iād say likely not - itās a difficult question to answer since Iām approaching it with a degree of bias that I canāt shake. But most things fall somewhere on the spectrum of benefit, and the immediate gratification I get from lifting may eventually be offset by injuries & decrease in quality of life I may have over the long run.
I know I didnāt answer your question spot-on, but I hope my brain spill addressed it a bit haha.
2 Likes
This exchange makes me think of the 5 types of fun (there are several different breakdowns if you Google it, but my friends and I use the following:)
Type 1: Pure fun
Type 2a: Fun now, not fun later
Type 2b: Not fun now, fun later
Type 3: Not fun
Type 4: Fun for you, not for others
Type 5: Fun for others, not for you
I think training can reside anywhere between 1-3 at a given time.
1 Like
Being someone who hates lifting as well, I personally still have good and bad days. The good ones are the days I donāt drag ass and can move very well. I never really have āfunā there. I think the fun comes from being strong in my day to day where I donāt have to work nearly as hard to do things I either enjoy or have to do. Also, looking bigger or whatever is a nice side effect. If lifting did neither of these, I wouldnāt ever train or anything. Like Pwn said, Iād rather just smash nachos and play video games. We just bought a switch two weeks ago and everyday we have played Mario Kart on it. On saturdays and sundays especially we SLAM time on that thing, but I always stop in the middle of it to go train, come back, and play. I would much rather just play all day and not stop at all, but I like being stronger and bigger.
Sorry for the long post
1 Like