Thankyou for sharing this, was great to read.
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I sincerely appreciate that. The sharing thing is still weird for me. As you did, I grew up in a different era. Sharing seems to help folks, and I like reading others’ stories, but it’s still kind of awkward to actually go with.
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now that is true.
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Ok, cool kids, here’s where we’re at.
We had a super fun day yesterday. We went and played some ball at the gym again, ate some leftovers and all that, then we went down to a tree lighting thing with little stuff to do at a nearby outdoor mall and had dinner down there. My son is doing better about temper, but I did snap at him about something and really hurt his feelings. He said everything he does makes me mad, and I can understand why he felt that way in the moment. We chatted a minute and I absolutely took the blame on that one. We made plans and went to breakfast and hung out just the two of us this morning. Some of it is because my daughter is in super daddy’s girl phase right now and I think he feels like he has to compete for attention when she’s around. When he’s competing, he sometimes goes a bit too far (hence I got onto him in public). I forget that even though he looks huge, he’s still pretty young emotionally (especially after the last couple years); the one-on-one time helps and it’s something I have to make sure is scheduled.
Today I stuck with the “deload” and just did arms. Tomorrow will be cardio, catch up on work and get the house ready for the week, and get on with a new program come Monday. For new programs, I really want to accomplish a few things:
- Mix in some athletic movement
- Keep some bodybuilding
- Have a scheduled progression/ deloads/ etc. → take my own tendencies out of it
- Not do 5/3/1 because I’m a special snowflake and it won’t work for my unique physiology
So here are kind of the three thoughts in my head:
- Do 3 PPL days ala the Meadows stuff I’m used to doing, plus an upper and lower French contrast day
Pros:
- I am definitely familiar with it, so it’s easy to implement
- I can hit every movement I want
Cons:
- I’m too familiar with it
- I’ll likely overdo it
- Thibs’ OCTS for bodybuilding stuff he did at the Georgia seminar
Pros:
- It’s new, and that’s a scheme I want to try
- All the progressions and days are built for me with an eye on recovery
Cons:
- I don’t know where to stick the jumps and stuff. @j4gga2 I’d actually appreciate your thoughts here: would you put jumps and/ or hard conditioning (sprints/ sled/ etc.) on days you’re already lifting or on “off” days - in this context, I certainly have no athletic season to worry about.
- I get bored when I’m locked into movements for planned progressions, although this is exactly what I need and also a pro.
- 6 Weeks to Superhero
Pros:
- Everything is taken care of in terms of movements, etc., and I get a lat/ bi day to satisfy my ADHD
- My current gym can handle the relatively annoying set up required
Cons:
- It’s still annoying to set up, no matter what
- There’s not a lot of room to do anything else - your legs are usually too dead to throw in random ballgames or whatever
So I’ll probably throw those into the random choice generator (a winner of an idea from @T3hPwnisher ) and see what comes out. I’m definitely ready to just do whatever is next, as I often am, so I don’t care much what shakes out.
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It sort of depends on the type and volume of jumps/training, but in general it’s best to keep the hard days hard and the easy days easy. This is usually the best option for recovery.
If you’re lifting three times per week and wanted three jump exposures and three conditioning workouts, that would meaning doing all of them on the same session.This layout works best if you’re using short, very intense conditioning methods (Tabatas, WODs etc.).
If not possible to do everything on the same day, I would keep the neurological work (jumps and lifts) on the same day, and metabolic (conditioning) work on off-days. In this case, it’s probably best for your conditioning to be mostly low to moderate-intensity aerobic work.
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Thanks @j4gga2!
It appears, faithful readers (points for Stephen King reference while experiencing Insomnia; double points for being insecure enough to explain it immediately), my not sleeping is divorced of my training or not training. That doesn’t take away from any of the great discussion/ lessons learned around recovery and deloads - that stuff is a keeper, because I also do dig a hole there. I sleep when I take Unisom, but that doesn’t seem like a great chronic solution and I wake up feeling useless anyway. In a way, this is actually really good news - I don’t need to outwit myself with variables. I had things to do this morning anyway so it’s fine. I we’ll get a blood draw this week and we’ll see what’s what.
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And there he is, good to have you back mate
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I can’t deny my true self for very long
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It appears the random choice generator also can’t deny my true self: it chose PPL! I could override it, but I’ve got to say I love the mechanism of just letting fate decide.
Today I did Pull
-
Cable Rows
Dual pulley - it was hard to keep the handles down to really pull lats without letting more of my upper back play.
I did some band and flexing stuff to get my last cramping in between warmups.
Bunch of warms ups, then:
100/8 + 70/8 -
Rack Pull
135/3
225/3
315/3
405/2
405/10 with 3-7 seconds between reps
I did a solid job here of making this a lot of lat - go me -
Pull-ups
2 x 8
Hang after the last set -
Meadows Rows
Chains! Chains on rows are really awesome
25/4
50/12
75/8 -
Pulldowns
Couple warmups
80/6ish + 15s stretch
70/8 + 15s stretch -
Leg Raise
2 x 12-15 -
BB Curls
45/6
65/12
85/6 -
Hammer Curls
20/16
20/14
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I’m in a class and I just had meatballs and a piece of cake for lunch.
Before picture is up three vs. discipline here in the fourth quarter.
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I love this.
I also love that you chose to to Pull first, because biceps wait for no man.
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I like to separate it from my abysmal squats, but your rationale is even better.
If I call my hamstrings biceps femoris, every day is arm day on this split.
I mostly love that I am training by biceps vicariously through your log. My arms are the best they have been in years and I owe it all the to the extra curls you do.
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I’m just glad somebody is getting something out of them
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Pushed it real good today!
Then, when I was done in the bathroom, I went to the gym for a push workout.
-
Slight Decline DB Press
Did 3 rounds of the chest activations in between the warmups too
35/15
55/10
75/6
90/4
100/8
100/7 + 70/8
Good DadPool -
Low Incline Press
This gym has tons of racks (go forth with your jokes), so now I press and curl in the squat rack… fulfilling my destiny as the worst person ever
45/6
135/6
165/11
185/6
Bad DadPool -
HS Bench Press
1pps/4
1.25pps/7 + 5 + 3 + 1 -
Machine Flye
70/6
115/8 + 10s stretch x 2 -
Seated DB OHP
So Andy will think I’m big
45/10
55/10
55/15
These actually don’t feel very good. My left shoulder is getting bound up. I think the symptom may also be the treatment, though, so we’ll see how these go over the next couple weeks. -
DB Side Raise
20/10
35/10 + 30/9 + 25/7 + 20/6 -
Machine Rear Delt
70/25
70/20 -
Rope Pressdown
25/8
42.5/17
62.5/10 -
Machine Extension
70/6
100/8 x 2
BBs/ DBs tend to hurt my elbows, but these feel great
Then I couldn’t get the treadmill to log into Netflix, and it’s easy to deter me from doing cardio, so I’ll have to get my heart rate up later today.
My elbow sleeves were a little loose today, which is absolutely unacceptable. The volume over the next 12 weeks (in two 6-week blasts, staying on track) should address that nonsense.
Sleep is amazing - I didn’t know what I was missing! Right now I’m only able to pull it off with OTC medicines, so I’m going to have to figure that out. I do like sleeping, though.
I’m currently sitting at breakfast (alone, because I’m delightful company) and a guy has his daughters with him a table over. They’re picking on him about the gray in his beard, etc., and it’s making my day because it’s just like my daughter.
My scheme lately has been eating breakfast and dinner, with 1 scoop of Surge Workout Fuel during my morning workout, but not eating outside of that. I’m sure I’m angering the gifs of optimal, but it fits my day. I don’t really like eating lunch anyway, because it’s kind of a nuisance, and I do like breakfast (no fasting for this dude). It’s just justifying a call back to farm roots, but it seems as if I can say:
- Dinner serves as both a sleep aid and a pre-workout
- Intra is obviously there
- Breakfast is post-workout
- I fast twice as frequently as the IFers, so I’m twice the man
I’m not actually losing any significant weight the last week or two, but that’s just because I’m a fearsome and disciplined competitor who is doing what it takes for a great “before” picture.
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Dude! Same!! I hate lunch lol. Big breaky and din din is where it’s at!
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Great minds! When geniuses such as us independently arrive at the same answer, the rest of the world ought to take heed.
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As an alternative solution, you can just eat so many meal through the day that you give up on trying to name them.
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Different strokes - I’m going intensity over volume this nutrition cycle
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