@TriednTrue that was hilarious - I’m going with it.
Sorry I haven’t been updating, all. I kinda fell behind and then didn’t want to catch up. I’ve had my best week of training in a really long time and we’re in the midst of enjoying a long July 4 weekend. Speaking of long, we’re about to go to a drive in movie which will see me out and about closer to when I tend to wake up! Although we all know I’ll fall asleep in the movie anyway…
Best arm day in forever! I’m rolling right now, and not just because I’m too fat to walk
Another back day today - not a grind at all, which is rare for back for me. I’ll write this one out:
Step-forward DB Row
40/6
65/6
90/10 + 65/7 + 50/5
Superset:
1-arm Machine Row
15, 12, 9 + 9 + iso hold
Giant set (2 rounds)
Took a rest day yesterday because I legit earned it - things are absolutely clicking right now.
Weights weren’t real heavy this morning, just struggled to get firing, but I felt everything in the muscle and was certainly finding failure.
Chest and Shoulders
Decline Leg Raise
1 double rest pause set
HS Bench
-/10
.25/10
1pps/10
1.25pps/8
2pps/8ish
1pps/12 or so?
Superset
High Incline Smith
135/15
155/12
185/7 + 135/8
Superset:
Rear Delt Destroyer
40 + 20 + 10
I got like half the reps I was supposed to on swings!
Superset
Wiped!
Now I’m watching my daughter and her friend ride roller coasters. They don’t really need me on the rides anymore, the one growing up thing I won’t complain too much about because they still let me come and I can only handle like 2 of these a day without throwing up.
Another brutally hard squat less leg day that has my quads feeling devastated but my knees and back feeling nothing - who would have thought such a thing was possible?
This is all Cris Edmonds’ new “Scorpion” program, which has been fantastic so far. I’ll probably write a review of this one when done. I feel weird writing some of the workouts out, because I don’t want to give away his work, but I’m hoping just giving a few peeks here and there encourages folks to consider it. Plus, I’m not as detailed as the program and I’m not documenting everything/ every day, so that’s my justification.
Seated Leg Curl
I did quite a few warmup sets after not feeling like I got into my lift enough yesterday.
Then I did a set where I did 13 or so reps, 2 drops and an iso hold - ouch
Adductor
Cris loves these and don’t laugh - it can hurt
Few warmups then 2 sets of somewhere around 15 - 18
Leg Press
1pps/10
3pps/10
5pps/10
Ok this next bit was awful - we occlude our legs and do one long drop set with 30s between “sets”
7pps/8 + 6pps/10 + 5pps/12 + 4pps/15 + 3pps/20 + 2pps/30
I had to lock out once on the set of 20 and several times on the set of 30
Hack Squat
Reverse Band (orange band)
1pps/6
2pps//4
All the next reps were purposefully really slow both up and down
3pps/6 + 2pps/2 - died on the bottom stop
FFES
Put my heel on a plate for this
-/8
30/10 + BW/10 + 10s iso hold
The end. Absolutely destroyed. Roller coasters with my daughter after work and then Superman drive in with my son tonight. Those are fun, but so late!
Getting home at 12 or later is not for this guy - I was wrecked this morning.
Anyway, spent the day assembling a giant trampoline for the kids (again… just when you think they’re too old), and then knocked out a workout.
I won’t write this one all the way out, but it was pulldown death. I thought it was meant to be a lighter pump workout, but no - I seriously considered vomiting all the food I didn’t eat today… on a back workout! Back has been a grind for me lately, but these have all been both fun and hard - just like school, prison, or the army.
@T3hPwnisher as always, I enjoyed the recent blog post.
First. I always really like using nerd stuff to demonstrate brute forcing a meathead pursuit. There’s something delicious in that poetic justice.
Second, I really liked the tie of training sessions/ meals to Christmas morning (whether you intended that as a point or not). What a fantastic mindset: I get to go play this today!
Finally, I’m always a big fan of how you illustrate something is better than nothing. I often think of it as compounded interest. I’d much rather be invested in a low-growth product than not invested at all; long researchers on the sidelines don’t make money.
I’ve been wanting to try this Scorpion program! Super excited to see your review of it!
Which makes me think of dollar-cost averaging. As long as I’m putting money in at set intervals, I’m riding highs and lows and can (try to) just trust that over time it all works out.
It’s seriously fantastic. I recognize all their programming is relatively expensive, but this first couple weeks has completely reignited training for me. To be fair, timing was great for something like this. I just did arms and feel nauseated. My quads are still sore from the other day, with 0 knee or back pain. I would never not do squats, etc on my own, so it’s worth the payment to have someone else do this for me.
Exactly! Love taking that analogy to the next logical step, and I think it’s spot on. None of us beats the market (physiology) over a long enough time horizon; your best bet is to be in.
Today was a quick arm day, but a fun one.
Standing Calf
I just did sets of 12 or so working up until I couldn’t get 10.
Tibia raises in between
Tricep Rope Superset
I went back to back doing pushdowns and overhead extensions working down the stack.
DB Incline Skullcrusher
30/11 + 6 + 5 + 30s stretch
These felt great
DB Alternate Curls
I worked up the rack from 5s to 30s doing 12 each set
DB Hammer Curls
Same deal, but started at 10s here
DB Preacher
Did this off the back of the incline bench
20/12 + 9 + 6 + 2 forced
20 minutes of incline treadmill and out
Really appreciate that feedback dude! I definitely get a kick out of speaking fluent nerd on a meathead subject. Crossing the streams does a great job in showing just how fundamental these principles are. I love how you took that Christmas morning story: I’m definitely going to take that further in my own life. I have a post in my head that boils down to “I don’t have to: I GET to”, because that’s the mentality we need.
And you and I are both kindred spirits on the “just do SOMETHING” philosophy. Patton said it best “A good plan violently executed now is better than a perfect plan next week,”
I have always appreciated that mentality across most walks of life. For nearly all of us in the US, our circumstances are generally our choice - so it might not be ideal to have to wake up to catch an early flight, or a miss a night out with your friends, or go run early, or spend time on film, doing the extra research before submitting for publication, or whatever… but how many folks would switch places in a heartbeat?
I’m obviously a fan of the “simple plan, violently executed” doctrine as well!
Anyway, today was glutes and hams. I was pretty tired, and would otherwise have stuck a rest day here, but travel would have made that not work in the week. It’s not a brutal workout, mostly because it’s not something I’ve ever really done, so I was feeling my way through it. Tomorrow will be off (taking the kids to the All-Star game), so Wednesday should be a stronger day (since I’ll also be full of sodium after hot dogs and popcorn).
Had a fantastic time at the game with my kids and with, sincerely, one of the best dudes on earth. He doesn’t read this, so I don’t know why I included the adverb, but there you go.
Back last night and on a plane this morning, but had time to squeeze in a baller back workout this morning. I’m really enjoying these, and back had become a dreaded grinder of a day for me previously.
C/S Cable PD
This is on Cris’s channel, but you set an incline bench in front of a single high cable and do a really concentrated pulldown. It lets you hit a straight angle for your elbow to your pocket and feels pretty solid.
A ton of sets working up, then a top and a back off
Superset (3 rounds):
Step Forward DB Row
I’m starting to feel these. Only issue is my right knee never handles hanging out in this angle that well. Hopefully I’ll find the right spot to set it so it isn’t a distraction as these go.
60/8
80/8
100/8 + maybe 1/2
Incline DB Row
45/6
75/8
55/10ish
Superset (3 rounds):
Hit a new high score on the scale this morning (maybe I’m a stress eater?), so I have farmed the dieting job out to Jeff Nippard’s MacroFactor App. I’ll update you all on whether it’s awesome in a couple months. I took a picture of my eggs in the airport this morning and let its AI calculate it and it seemed to be pretty accurate (even estimated likely cooking oil), so that should be fun.
Back and in the gym. Cases and flights didn’t go the way I intended yesterday, so I didn’t get into the gym as I’d hoped.
I’m not much of a ranter, probably because I don’t generally care what people do, but this does kind of bring up a little irritation I see in the online “universe”: someone will ask advice from whatever fitness personality about adjusting a workout/ diet/ whatever to their circumstance. Inevitably, the influencer will say some variation of “if you want it bad enough, you’ll make it happen,” and then launch into a monologue about “one time I had to go out of town for a wedding, so I arrived early, booked time at a friend’s private gym, and had my chef deliver my meals.” That’s not advice at all.
Let’s break that down: of course if you want it bad enough, you’ll make it happen. This is simply the concept of prioritization. Here’s the kicker, though: you can only have a single (count: one) priority, because something has to win when there’s conflict. Everything else becomes secondary (or tertiary or whatever four is) goals. So, in our example, if my singular priority is to be a professional bodybuilder and my secondary goal is to make that wedding, the above “advice” fits.
If, however, I’m a human being and my priority is my family, my secondary goal is buying a house, and my tertiary goal is my bodybuilding, now I can start using my big boy brain and identify constraints. So, I’m definitely going to the wedding (the wedding isn’t a perfect example, because it’s not hard scheduled like working an oil rig or something, but I started with that analogy), because my family is #1, but I’m not staying extra time, booking private sessions, or ordering $50 meals because I’m saving for a house. I now have constraints in place around which I pursue my bodybuilding goals.
In this case, realistic advice will be things like: change your bench day to high volume chest and bring bands, so you can do it in the hotel gym, bring rice cakes and jerky to hit your daily macros, bring a hot plate, and treat the reception as your weekly cheat meal. Now we’ve given the asker something practical and supplied them a framework to address similar quandaries in the future.
Now, on the flip side, if you say you want to be a SEAL or a D1 ball player or whatever, that is the priority, and you make your actions match that goal. Similarly, using the prioritization mapping above, we never have to say “I just can’t do X because of my circumstances;” we get to decide what’s important to us and assign our resources accordingly.
Anyway, that was a bit of a novel. Pretty fun chest/ shoulder day today. My right delt, right on the front, is really starting to get cranky every time I press lately; I think it’s probably biceps tendon since that’s long been touchy for me.
Machine Flye
A bunch of sets pyramiding up, probably 5 or 6. Did a drop on the last one.
HS Flat Press
-/12
1pps/12
1.25pps/8
2pps/6
2.25pps/11
2pps/11
1.25pps/10 (1 count contraction)
1pps/12 (3 count stretch and contraction)
Slight Incline DB Flye
35/12
40/8-10ish x 2
Superset
Then I risked walking the dog even though it’s 80. It was mostly shade and we didn’t go too far. She’s worn out but I think she’s ok; she enjoyed it.
I love your rant because it touches in something I’ve always valued - priorities. More so, priorities that are bigger and more important than lifting.
If anyone in their teens it 20s reads this, prioritize your training now while life responsibilities are minimal (hopefully they’re minimal. I know some people have to grow up fast). Even when I was dating, my training was my top priority. My schedule was built around it. Fast forward 20 years and I have an awesome wife, three kids, two dogs and lots of expenses. I’m fortunate that I gave training effort when I could because maintenance is much easier than building. I can train minimally now and hang on to what I have.
I skip workouts all the time now. That’s one nice thing about having three sessions per week. I get an extra day to make it work. I see no reason to make training a stressor. I also see no reason to criticize anyone who is struggling to make things work. They need grace, not guilt.
Your example of what an influencer should say is spot on. Help people by giving examples of how they can make it work with what they have instead of adding a bunch of junk to the scenario. 
Yea, like that’s my reality. It would be cool to live in fantasy land. Drive around in a Bugatti, have bikini models waving at me. Oh, wait…
Thanks @Frank_C @Friedrich! I guess the mood just struck to find people silly.
I got a couple days behind due to life and getting to spend more time with the kids than usual, which I’ll take any day, so today was back in there with legs. It’s crazy to destroy my quads so completely with no knee or back pain. The lack of barbell work on this program kinda throws me off on paper, but the work sets are brutal and my joints feel terrific, so it’s a big go.
Lying Leg Curls
Sets of 12 working up until I missed. I was really slow and controlled on these. I think it was 6 sets.
Adductor
Sets of 12 working up again. This time, when it got hard, I tacked on a couple forced reps. Then I dropped the weight about a third and did the same for a back off. I’m not doing the stack on this, but I’m getting there.
Belt Squat
1pps/6
2pps/6
3pps/10
Starting to get smoked
Hack Squat
I did these really slow down and up. It didn’t hurt my knees at all, which is always the risk. I did end up getting stuck at the bottom at the end with not exactly intimidating weight.
-/6
1pps/6
2pps/6 + 1pps/2
Leg Press
2pps/8
4pps/12ish + 3pps/10 or so + 2pps/ maybe 6? I was using my hands to get out of the last couple reps.
I would go against this advice and say party hard, you can always get big and strong in your 30’s and 40’s
Option 3 - party and get big, if your in teens/20s it’ll happen if you hit the gym hard and eat reasonably despite the partying (unless you take the partying to a 24/7/365 extreme).
I think I go with @alex_uk here: play a sport and drink beer with your friends. You can never really do that stuff again (without irritating physician conversations).
Hmm..
Yeah, at least go for option 3. If you party hard without any training, then you’ll have 30-50 lbs of fat to lose by the time you’re 30. That would suck.
I was on a division 1 college baseball team my first two years of college. The lifting bug to me when I was 17 and I grew from 204 to 222ish. And then I hit 240 the fall of my freshman year of college. If you’re familiar with American movies about fraternities, then you might understand the amount of beer that can be consumed on a given night or weekend. That was my life for a bit. Luckily it didn’t last too terribly long…or at least I toned it down. I lived for Thursday/Friday/Saturday night that first year. By the second year, I had a girlfriend and our schedules worked out so that Fridays were my night out with the boys. It was a much healthier balance.