-3 days till my exam session and gyms opening again.
This next week is gonna be a big deal.
The bands are being used to help lift you up? For some reason I pictured them being used as resistance to pull you down.
They’re not anchored to the floor, they’re anchored to the pullup bar and assist you in getting a strong contraction at the top.
OK yeah when reading “band pull-ups” for some reason I imagined the opposite.
Makes sense from Meadow’s perspective.
That’s the same idea I got the first time I read it too.
Had to look up a video of him doing them.
RE the spider crawls, I assumed that they’d basically be a pre-hab movement, but I think John’s placement (in reactive hypertrophy at least) coupled with duration means they’re both painful and pump inducing, definitely worth keeping in. Be interested to see how you get on I’m 3 weeks in to my first Meadows program!
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I just passed my algorithms exam and got “30 cum laude” 
This was the exam I was the most excited about. I’m so happy right now!
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Congratulations!
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Today was my first proper leg workout after so many months…
Squts had me struggle with 92 kg. ;_;
means I lost like 40 kg on the lift, although some of those will be realistically gained back quickly enough.
Anyway, I’ve got one more “break in” week and then I’ll be jumping into Project Colossus.
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A little summary about this last period:
- Training
I’m so happy to have finally gotten back into the gym! Last week and this one, my training has been focused on getting me ready for project colossus. In short, I have been mimicking the program’s workouts (to try out some exercises I wasn’t familiar with like one arm barbell rows, and to work up to some intensity level that resembles that of before gyms’ closures).
A sample workout for each category:
Push
Decline db press - work up to 2 sets
Bench press - work up to 2 sets
Chest press machine - 1 cluster set
Db ohp - work up to 2 sets
Lateral raises - 1 double dropset or 2-3 sets
Rope pushdown - 3 sets
Pull
Cable row - work up to 2 sets
Chins - 2 sets
One arm bb row - 2 sets
Pulldowns with stretch at the end - 1 set
Db curl - 3 sets
Incline curl - 1 set
Legs (I had the worst doms of my life for 4 days, even with baby-baby-baby weights)
Leg curl - 2 sets
Squat - work up to 2 sets
Rdl - 2 sets
Leg pres - 2 sets
Eating has been at around 2.4k calories a day, which I estimated to be around maintenance (I was probably right since my weight has stayed the same over the past 10 days) since I was coming from a big deficit. Beginning next week, calories will be bumped up to 2.8k daily, possibly 3k if I feel it’s necessary.
- School
I have completed all six exams of the first year of CS undergrad!
Here are the grades I got (highest possible score being 30, with 30L meaning 30 cum laude):
I’m a little disappointed as per the last exam. I studied a lot and I thought I was good enough to get the maximum score. I didn’t reject the grade because, even though I wanted a 30, I didn’t think it was worth it to re-take the exam, since my skills were already as good as I thought they could get, so re-doing it would have been a matter of luck.
All in all, calculating the weighted average of my grades (some exams are worth more than others) puts me at 28.9. I’d say I can’t complain after all. Calculus was the rough spot, everything else went relatively smoothly.
I want to say that I’m not putting out my grades because I want to brag or anything. In fact, these took me lots of effort and all I’m saying is I’m very proud of my efforts because I learned a ton over the past 9 months, and I’m happy to be up to par with the exams and with a decent average.
This summer (in fact, I’m doing it right now), I’ll use some of the spare time I get to study some things covered in the second year and I’ll start working on a programming project so I can finally get in some real world practice and not just theoretical studying. Looking forward to the future!
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Great work on the grades, man. I didn’t put enough work in in undergrad and just took passing as good enough. The fact that you had to earn the grades is more important for future life than the grades themselves.
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First day on Project Colossus
Cable row WU, then 70 kg x 8 + dropset to 60 kg
Rack pulls 140 kg x 10 R/P reps
Banded chins 2 sets to failure
Meadows rows 30 kg on the bar x 12, 35 kg x 8
Neutral-Grip pulldown 70 kg x 12 + stretch at the end of the set
Rope crunch 2 sets
Barbell curl 30 kg x 12, 35 kg x 8
Db Hammer curl 2x20
Thoughts:
Setting up the rack pulls was awkward as hell and wasted me so much time. I had to elevate myself using two stacked plates, using a rack that was at the wrong height… everything felt unstable and possibly dangerous. I have to take everything into consideration yet, but I think I’ll revert to traditional deadlifts from next week on. It’s just not worth it to waste 5 minutes setting up something that ends up being unstable anyway. I can still pay attention to focusing on my lats during deadlifts, like Meadows suggested in the program.
Meadows rows feel wrong. I’m trying to get used to them. Two problems: first of all, gripping the bar. The diameter of the part of the barbell I grip is large enough to make it hard to hold it, and it rotates (as I think all barbells do) which makes it even harder to hold it as I rep out.
Second issue: stabilizing myself during the movement feels harder than I was predicting. My low back, glutes, and ham hurt the same way they do after a set of rdls, which I wasn’t expecting as the load of the exercise isn’t very high. Maybe I am doing something wrong?
Everything else was okay-ish. Let’s say that working the back isn’t my favorite thing, as I have some issues feeling it. I guess it’ll go better tomorrow with the first push day though!
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A potential idea instead of rack pulls could be RDLs and only go down to mid shin - I feel like I feel those in my lats more than regular deadlifts.
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Heard that dude. They start to make sense eventually though. The way I eventually got comfortable with them was putting a 25lb plate on the bar and just repositioning myself and my pulling motion until I got what I was looking for.
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Rack pulls definitely do whatever feels right for you. They’re still a strength move. Have you ever done the version where you band a deadlift but the band is pulling the bar out in front of you? That’sa good one for me.
For Meadows rows, play around with it. I have to “hook” my fingers, no thumb, take a very wide stance, and then I can pull into my hip. Once you get the feel, I think you’ll like them. On the other hand, I still don’t really like one-arm BB row
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Decline db press 30 kg x 12,11 + 26 kg x 6 dropset
Bench 72 kg x 10, 8
Chest Press 1 cluster set
Flye 2x10 + paused stretch at the end of the two sets
Db ohp 26 kg x 5, 24 kg x 5
Laterals 1 set with triple dropset (12,10,8,6 kg)
Rear delt raises 2x25
Rope pushdown 2x10-12
Skullcrushers 2x10-12
So, this first push day went pretty well all in all.
I underestimated my strength with the decline db presses, so I ended up getting in more reps than the target. I’ll increase the weight on these next week.
The bench was hrder than I expected. I feel like such a pussy lifting such light weights and struggling with them still. lol
I completely fucked up the weight selection on the ohp, being that target reps were 8-10 per set. At least I know to lower it next week (or keep it the same as the second set and see how many reps I can get this time).
I am not looking forward to tomorrow’s leg day.
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I’ll spend a couple of words on my nutrition too…
Right now, I’m at 2,800 kcal a day, with 190 g of protein, 345 g carbs, 75 g fats. I have no idea whether that’s too much protein, too little, enough. There have always been conflicting guidelines and you have sources saying that more protein equals better gains, some say it doesn’t matter past a certain point, and others say it’s detrimental to add more proteins after a threshold. I think 190 g at 170 lbs of bodyweight is a sensible number.
As for carbs, I’m more comfortable with having a higher intake compared to fats. There is evidence that, at the same calorie surplus, more dietary fats imply a bigger degree of fat gain. And carbs are useful for energy, recovery, whatever right?
One apparently small change I made to my nutrition which I am starting to think was actually the brightest ideas I had in a while, nutrition wise, is: I subbed out my cream of rice and whey pre workout meal for something else.
I have been having, instead of that, rice and tilapia (well, it’s actually not tilapia–it’s a pretty similar type of fish which I don’t know the English name for — EDIT: I looked it up: here it is), with a tbsp of olive oil, two hours before the session. Cream of rice and whey used to give me pretty severe nausea an hour after having them, which made it hard to train with focus, and it flat out sucked. With this new meal (which I love eating btw–I put the rice in a rice cooker with a touch more water than it needs to cook, so it comes out nice and sticky, and blends in perfectly with the fish) the nausea disappeared and I’m feeling much better.
This is what a sample day of eating currently looks like for me:
Meal 1
Cream of rice - 50 g (I use whole milk instead of water)
Low fat cottage cheese - 150 g + 1 tbsp low-sugar jelly
Meal 2
Pasta - 100 g uncooked
Smoked salmon - 200 g
Tomatoes
Meal 3
Rice - 80 g uncooked
Tilapia-like fish - 200 g
Olive oil - 1 tbsp
Meal 4
Sweet potato - 600 g uncooked
Ground beef - 200 g
Parmesan cheese - 30 g
Veggies (usually peppers or carrots)
Meal 5
No-fat greek yoghurt - 200 g
Grapes or blueberries - 200 g
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Looks like we are program brothers! Started this monday as well.
For rack pulls just use the Yates deadlift or the Upper back deadlift (CT has an article about these on his website and I think PC covers them as well). In shorts RDL when you stop 4/5 of the movement at the tope while flexing your lats as much as you can.
For Meadows rows find a position in which you really feel anchored. I usually put my free elbow on my knee. When it’s heavy I simply use straps. I believe he does as well.
Same for me, I was shocked by my weakness on the incline ahah.
How are you feeling sensation and pump wise? Me, insane
I think your nutrition is fine. 190 is more than enough especially as you’re bulking.
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My biceps, triceps, delts, and traps had okay pumps. My chest was pumped but not as much as I would have thought. My lats–no pump whatsoever. I have no doms either, wheres everything else was hurting to some degree.
Overall, nothing mind blowing though.
I’m wondering if I’m doing something wrong or I just need to get used to the type of training.
Probably yeah. Honestly I think that if I had not spent the bulk of last year focusing on muscle contraction and feeling, slow tempo, double contractions etc I wouldn’t have felt it as much.
But yeah the pump for me is just insane. Just after the DB decline my chest was two blobs of bloods.
And I have crippling DOMS in all my back. My erectors are fried and I never felt my biceps like this lol
For the back well you did his activation stuff? Then for rows, especially cables, try to pull only with your elbows, down and inward as you contract your lats. Made a lot of difference for me.
The pull-ups I had no bands, but with 6 kgs lost they were so easy like I was on a rail. Try to keep your arms in front of you, maybe use a thumbless grip. All in all try to focus on muscle contraction rather than the movement. We are fried anyway so we can’t use as much weight
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