Rehab - The Hillbilly Barber's Training Log

Training Logs
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Until a couple weeks ago it had been about five years since I put my hands on a bar. Due to some circumstances partially in and out of my control, I went from competing in strongman at 165 to now weighing in just north of 200, fat and weak. I’ve been back under the bar pretty consistently for a couple weeks now, so decided it’s time to start logging this shit again. I’ve had enough false starts in the past that I needed some consistency before I could take myself seriously again. I used to be all about 5/3/1 and Cube for periodization but I’m too old for contests anymore. I decided on an old reliable chest/back, arms/shoulders, legs split, focusing on getting some meat back on my bones and building back some work capacity. I’m building up my endurance for cardio too. I hate it but I hear it’s good for me.

Today was arms and shoulders
Close grip bench, 6s at 95,105,110,115 - I’m still figuring out where I need to be on these. They started feeling fun at 115. I’ll start there next time.

SS - Machine overhead press 3x8 @ 74 and EZ-bar curls, 6s at 45,50,55 - My cable machine overhead has always felt especially rough. I’m going to be hanging at 74 for a while. The next jump is 97 lbs. 55 With the EZ-bar is feeling nice and I can keep them strict. I might play with 60 next time around for one set.

Circuit - overhead extension, 3x12 @ 25 + a red band, incline DB curls 3x10 @ 15, ring face pulls 3x10 - A 25 pound plate is too light but a 35 is a little rough right now. I tied a red EFS band off to one of the plate hand holes and hooked it to my power rack safety set down to the floor. These felt really fucking gnarly. I finally got happy with the setup on my last set. I’m looking forward to a sick pump from these next time around. Bumping up to a green should keep me in these for a good long time. Ring face pulls are feeling really nice in my rear delts and pretty absent in my upper back, which is the plan.

15 minutes on the eliptical… Ugh

There it is… My first training log on T-Nation in the books.

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Congrats on getting back into it. I have been back for three weeks after several years getting skinny fat.

Mind sharing your age and height? It might help some of the folks here to provide help, commentary, if you are open to it.

Cheers.

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@The_Myth I’m 38 and 5’8" tall.

Leg day:
Parallel SSB box squat: 6s at 45, 95, 2 @ 135, 145
SSB good morning: 3x6 @ 115
Rear foot elevated split squat: 3x8 @ bodyweight
Ring planks: 3x 20 seconds

13 minutes on the elliptical, sweating like a whore in church.

Squats are finally feeling pretty natural again. It’s taken a bit to regroove the movement.

I tried out my ab roller last week and my abs felt like I strained something pretty rough. Ring planks feel like a decent middle ground until I can get back to real ab work.

I was doing leg presses and extensions until today. Leg presses just didn’t really feel like much and extensions make my knees a little angry. My GHR is out of commission for the foreseeable future too. Maybe I’ll play with some higher rep RDLs next time for ham volume. Any thoughts or suggestions?

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Chest/Back
Bench: 3x6 @ 135
Chins: 3x3
SS: Incline DB bench 3x8 @ 45, Meadows row 3x10 @ 35
SS: Chin grip lat pulldown 3x10 @ 120, Machine decline bench 3x8 @ 132
SS: Machine flyes 3x10 @ who cares, Shrugs 3x14 with 25lb plates
SS: Roman chair sit-ups 2x10, Back extension 3x10

15 minutes on the hamster wheel

This was my first time benching a plate since getting back to it and they felt great. I’ve been deadlfiting after benching but wanted to see where I’m at with chins. I got three real rough triples in. With the rest of my back work and hopefully peeling a few pounds off, I’ll see where I am again in a few weeks. Because of my dismal chin-up performance I’ve changed my lat pulldown grip from the usual wide pronated to close supinated. They felt real nice. Hopefully I see some carry over. I’m getting settled into nice strict form with my Meadows rows. They always do terrible things to my lats but it takes me a while to get my feet and setup figured out and consistent after not doing them for a while. I don’t think they’re going anywhere… So good.

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Last night was martial arts training. A friend and I trained together at the local dojo and took it to my basement when the rona swept in. I don’t love a class environment but our training turned into the highlight of my week so we’ve kept it going pretty consistently since then.

Warm-up - kata, one time each through blocks, strikes, taikyoku shodan, heian shodan, 2x heian sandan
Sparring drills, timed dodges and kick targeting
Sparring, three 1:30 rounds, first working on leg kicks, two and three working on head movement and parry/counter
Kali stick work, played with a new warmup and stretches for wrists and shoulders, Kali 12 series, finished the night with a couple rounds of sinawali

Sparring is always the highlight and this was no different. I’m connecting with a lot of my leg kicks. Head movement still needs more conscious work. Breathing, as always, is a constant struggle not to forget. My training partner loves him some Filipino martial arts and they’ve been a big part of our training for about a year. I love the knife and self defense stuff; sinawali, less so.

Shoulders/Arms
Close-grip bench: 6s @ 45, 95, 115, 120, 125
SS: Machine press 3x8 @ 74, EZ-bar curls 3x10 @ 55
Circuit: Overhead extension, 25lb plate + red band 3x12, incline curl 3x10 @ 15, ring face pulls 3x10

15 minutes on the hamster wheel, sweating more and earlier than usual

It was hard feeling motivated in the gym this morning until my last couple sets of CGB. I put another ten pounds on over last arms day and they seemed to move even faster. I’m interested to see when the quick gains slow down on me. Everything else felt like I’m right where I want to be except maybe the overhead extensions. They still grab me a real nasty pump so I can’t be too far off. Cardio is boring but it’s not sucking nearly as much. I’m not sure what all the sweating is about with a house that’s only about 62 degrees in the morning. Maybe my metabolism is picking up a little? Time will tell, I guess.

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Legs
SSB Squat to a box: 6s @ 45, 95, 135, 3x6 @ 155
SSB Good morning: 3x6 @ 135
RFE split squat: 3x8 @ bodyweight
RDL: 3x10 @ 115
Ring plank: 30, 30, 26 seconds

Fifteen minutes on the eliptical

Squatting a plate felt light so I threw on a couple dimes. They felt good but still lighter than I thought they would. I have historically done dumb shit like adding a quarter when they feel like this but it never ends up going well. Good mornings are feeling real nice and split squats feel brutal as always. I think I’ll grab a 10lb dumbbell next time. RDLs were the right pick for ham volume.

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Chest/Back
Bench press: 6s @ 45, 95, 135, 140, 2x6 @ 145
SS: Incline DB bench 3x8 @ 50, T-bar row 3x8 @ 50
Meadows row: 8 @ 35, 2x8 @ 45
SS: Chin-up grip pulldown 3x10 @ 120, Machine decline 3x8 @ 132
SS: Roman chair sit-ups 2x10, Hypers 2x10

15 minutes on the elliptical

I bought some cable machine attachments and had my eye on the double-d for t-bar rows. Back in the day I did them by just grabbing the bar and alternating hands each set but a coach at the time didn’t like the idea. I always enjoyed how they felt and they feel just as good as I remember, even with a better grip. Bench is starting to slow down a little off my chest. I dropped flyes and shrugs. I just don’t care enough about them.

I’m feeling some gnarly DOMS in my glutes and legs from yesterday’s leg day. I assume the RDLs pushed me over the line. I like it.

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Shoulders/Arms
CGBP: 6s @ 45, 95, 3x6 @ 135
SS: EZ-bar curl 3x10 @ 55, Machine press 3x8 @ 74
Circuit: Overhead extension, 25lb plate + red band 3x12, incline curl 3x10 @ 15, ring face pulls 3x10
SS: Fat DB hammer curl 3x10 @ 20, Rope pushdown 10,10,12 @ 54

15 minutes on the elliptical

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Legs
SSB squat to a box: 6s @ 45, 95, 135, 3x6 @ 165
SSB good morning: 3x6 @ 135
RFE split squat: 3x8 +15lb fat DB
Snatch-grip RDL with shrug: 3x8 @ 115
Ring plank: 3 @ 30 seconds

15 minutes on the elliptical

Squats are feeling heavier but still moving fast. I added a dumbbell to my split squats. It changed how they felt a little but not really increased the difficulty. I widened my grip on my RDLs to get some more range and added a shrug at the end to add a little upper back volume. Ring planks are feeling better. I think I’ll try out the roller next leg day.

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Chest/back
Bench press: 6s @ 45, 95, 135, 145, 145, 150
SS: Incline DB press 8s @ 55, 45, 50 / T-bar row:8s @ 65, 70, 75
Meadows row: 8s @ 45, 50, 55
SS: Wide lat pulldown 3x10 @ 120 / Machine decline 2x10 @ 132, 10 @ 152

15 minutes on the hamster wheel

I’m having a harder time being happy about going down to the basement first thing in the morning. I hope this passes. My last rep of bench was a little grindy at the top. I might be hitting the end of my real easy gains. I’m using some plate loaded fat DB handles and was looking forward to jumping up to quarters instead of loading every nickel and dime I own onto them for incline. 55 was too grindy for a first set, then I fucked up and underloaded them on the next set, then got it right on the last. I’m steady adding weight to my back work. I’m back on wide pulldowns to hit my upper back. I’ll start working chins when my weight is closer to where I want it.

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Shoulders/Arms
CGBP: 6s @ 45, 95, 135, 3x6 @ 140
SS: EZ-bar curl: 2x10 @ 55, 10 @ 57.5 / Machine press: 3x8 @ 74 +2.5lb plate
Circuit: Overhead extension, 3x12@25+red band / Incline fat DB curl: 3x10@15 / Face pull: 3x12@36
SS: Fat DB hammer curl: 3x10@20 / Rope pushdown: 3x12@54

15 minutes on the hamster wheel
Weigh-in: 204 (-3)

It wasn’t so hard getting into the gym today so it seems like that morning malaise is waning. Everything felt solid but it’s obvious that my easy bench gains are coming to an end. This seems to be coinciding with the scale finally moving. I’ve been seeing mirror changes but weight has been remaining pretty constant. I’m chalking it up to recomping as water filled up my formerly deflated muscles. I added a 2.5lb plate to the stack on my cable machine for shoulder press. I have no idea what it actually works out to but each plate weighs 12.5lb. Hopefully I can work up to the next plate incrementally like this. I’ve switched to rope face pulls and they feel much better than using my rings. Cardio is still miserable but the time seems to pass faster than it used to.

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Legs:
SSB squat to a box: 6s @ 45, 95, 135, 3x6 @ 170
SSB good morning: 3x6 @ 140
RFE split squats: 3x8 + 20lb fat DB
Snatch-grip RDL + shrug: 3x8 @ 120
Ab-wheel roll-outs from the knees: 2x10

15 minutes on the elliptical

Squats are still moving nice and fast but I’m backing off my LP to five pounds every workout instead of ten. I needed it to get well ahead of my bench before I slowed down and here we are. I felt that extra five pounds on my split squats so I’ll hang at that for a while. It’s solid pump work, no need to make everything heavy. The RDLs are digging into my cardio more than strength so I’ll keep throwing chips on the bar until they feel right. I was properly reintroduced to the ab-wheel this morning and it felt good.

13

Martial arts night:
Kata warmup
Bag work: front leg roundhouse, rear leg roundhouse, front thrust, sidekicks, spinning hooks
Leg kick drills, working on my partner’s technique
Kali strikes and sinawali

My partner is working on some new cues in heian nidan and yodan, two kata that I’m not great with or crazy about. I worked on basics, taikyoku and hein shodan then heian sandan. Next up was a ton of bag work. My kicks are feeling great. I assume the leg and back work are paying off already. Neither of us ever learned spinning hook kicks but I’ve wanted to fuck around with them for a while. My right side was great while my left side is retarded as usual with anything new. We’re both shocked at just how hard these hit even with no previous practice. We threw on shinguards to play with the finer points of low kicks. My training partner has a bad habit of muscling his roundhouses and he was doing it again with his low kicks. We worked on him letting it unroll and put a bunch of reps. Kali practice was short but fun.

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Chest/Back
Bench: 6s @ 45, 95, 135, 3x6 @ 155
SS: DB incline 3x8 @ 50 / T-bar row 3x8 @ 75
Meadows row: 3x8 @ 50
SS: Lat pulldown 3x10 @ 120 / Machine decline 8 @ 152, 2x12 @ 132

15 minutes on the elliptical

Getting down to the gym this morning was easy but staying there was a struggle for some reason. It seemed like I wanted to call it after every set. I passed on the hypers and sit-ups. Cardio went by in a blink. Bench is slowing down so I lightened up on machine decline to add some more quick and easy volume. Everything felt like gravity got turned up a little today.

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Shoulders/Arms
CGBP: 6s @ 45, 95, 135, 3x6 @ 145
SS: Ez-bar curl 3x10 @ 57.5 / Machine press 3x8 @ 74 +5lb plate
Circuit: OH extension 3x12 @ 25+green band/Incline curl 3x10 @ 15/Face pull: 3x10 @ 54
SS: Fat DB hammer curl: 3x10 @ 20 / Rope pushdown 3x12 @ 54

Family still sleeping so I skipped cardio. I’ll pick it up tonight.
Weigh-in: 203 (-1) a day early

Excitement about training again has pretty well waned and I’ve settled into begrudgingly descending to the basement and moving some weight around. I am however starting to get a zen while I’m training where the volume on the world gets turned down. It’s not exciting but it’s peaceful. I’m seeing some holes in how I used to approach training but I also get how I fell into the trap of always chasing a new gym PR. Today’s session was uneventful, save for a few more pounds added to my CGBP and my machine press. I switched to a green band on my extension and they feel pretty nasty.

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Legs
SSB squat to a box: 6s @ 45, 95, 135, 3x6 @ 175
SSB good morning: 3x6 @ 150
Step up to 11.25": 5 @ 45, 2x10 @ 95
Snatch grip RDL with shrug: 3x10 @ 135

15 minutes of rowing

Squats are still moving along without slowing down, just feeling heavier. My knees were cranky this morning so I swapped out split squats for step-ups. Step ups feel great and hit a place in my quads that I don’t feel getting worked with anything else. Since I have always hated split squats, I’m going to keep step-ups for a while. I have a little instability that they’ll benefit as well. I started with cardio on the rower about a month ago but my low back wasn’t ready for it. Now I’m all put back together and gave it a whirl again. I was sweating sooner. My abs were pretty wrecked so I skipped roll-outs. I’ll get back to them once I’m accustomed to rowing.

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Chest/back
Bench: 6s @ 45, 95, 135, 3x6 @ 155
SS: DB incline 3x8 @ 50, T-bar row: 3x8 @ 75
Meadows row: 3x8 @ 50
SS: Lat pulldown 3x10 @ 120 / Machine decline 3x12 @ 132
SS: Roman chair sit-ups 2x15, hypers 2x10

15 minutes on the elliptical

My pressing progress has officially ground to a halt. I’m going to switch around to incline bench and DB flat bench for a bit until that stalls and then come back. My back work is feeling better and better every day.

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Last night, martial arts
Kata warmup: taikyoku shodan, heian shodan, heian sandan, blocking set, striking set
Sparring drills: head movement then leg kicks
Self defense: overhand hook, lapel grab overhand hook

We didn’t get a lot done last night. My training partner is having a bit of an existential crisis in his current job and needed to talk some things out. That led to a review on the new Spiderman flick, a dive pack into past Kevin Smith movies, and finally discussion on the state of cannabis enforcement here in the Empire state. The work we did get done was solid though. Coming from a karate background, the idea of getting out of the way just isn’t practiced. Incorporating some boxing movement feels beneficial.

Today, arms/shoulders
CGBP: 10s @ 45, 95, 115, 125
SS: EZ-bar curl 3x10 @ 57.5, Machine press 74 +5lb plate
C: OH extension, 3x12@25 + green band, incline curl 3x10@15, face pull 3x12@54
SS: Fat DB hammer curl: 3x10 @ 20 / Rope pushdown 14, 12, 15f @ 54

15 minutes on the rower

Since bench is grinding to a halt I dropped my close-grip weight to add some reps. It made for a pretty great arm pump for the rest of the workout. I went to almost failure on my first two pushdown sets and failure on my last. Rowing is a nice change of pace from the hamster wheel.

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Legs:
SSB squat to a box: 6s @ 45, 95, 135, 3x6@ 180
SSB good morning: 3x6 @ 155
SSB step-up: 10s @ 95, 105
Snatch-grip RDL + shrug: 10 @ 135, 2x10 @ 140
Ab wheel from the knees: 2x10

Back to it after taking a few days off from training to tend to the rest of my world. Squats are feeling heavy and slowing down a little on my last reps of my last set and I’m sweating like crazy. My basement isn’t so brutally cold, probably that. Other than that, it was a pretty unremarkable session.

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Chest/back
Incline bench: 6s @ 45, 95, 115, 2x6 @ 125
SS: DB bench 3x8 @ 55 / T-bar row 3x8 @ 80
Meadows row: 3x8 @ 55
SS: Lat pulldown 3x10 @ 120 + DS 8@98, Machine decline 3x12 @ 132

15 minutes on the rower

I forgot just how much harder incline bench is than flat. DB flat bench was a little awkward with 55s but I imagine they’ll get smoother. I did a drop set on my last set of pulldowns to failure and it really lit up my back. I passed on abs. They’re still fried from ab-wheels yesterday and the rower woke them back up.