Definitely shallow. And I guess if you’re going to be shallow, you should at least be a good looking trophy wife! I mean, it has the word trophy right in the title.
The types I think about trained at a gym franchise location that cost more to be a member than the other three branches. They claimed it was because of their indoor tennis facility, but it clearly became a status symbol.
I view it as “look at me!” lifestlye.
They go to yoga or pilates at 9, and then meet with their trainer, Chip, at 10:30. And then they go to lunch with their friends to share all about their awesome morning. They shop at the more expensive grocery store because they can. They sit by the pool in the afternoon and wrap up their tough day just in time for their husband to get home for dinner.
At least that’s the way I’ve created it in my head.
So, yeah, I feel resentment towards people like that. I guess it’s because I’ve spent most of my adult life serving my community and I’m barely scraping by. I know we don’t do it for the money, but it would be nice to live in a world where the servants weren’t also stressed by financial issues.
To be fair to the women, I’m hoping that’s pretty much what my retirement eventually looks like, except sub out the pool for outdoor stuff with the husband.
Lots of great stuff in here I’ll catch back up with. I think @EmilyQ may have won the thread, though.
In the meantime, horrible (in the good way) leg day:
Seated Leg Curls
3-4 warmups
1 x 12
1 x 10
1 x 8
1 x 10, drop, 10, drop, 10 + 25 partials
RDL
45/8
135/6
225/10 x 3
Leg Press @Frank_C this was the test. Felt pretty good. I was able to get a really deep ROM and not feel crippled after; just a little tightness.
True 3s eccentric on every rep - caught up quick!
2pps/10
3pps/10
4pps/10
5pps/10
6pps/3 - death
Pendulum Squat
1.5 reps for every rep on this - pretty miserable!
1p/10 x 2
I knew/confirmed I had a mobility issue when I felt my lower back getting tugged on while doing leg press. Hopefully a few Jefferson Curls a day will help us out. I noticed this week that if I stop before my end range of motion and try to focus on my lumbar spine, I can focus the stretch on that exact area. I can still lower the weight further down but the stretch moves down to my hamstrings more than my lower back.
That’s where I’m locked up so that’s my focus. I can get a similar effect on the 45 degree back extension. It’s like that point of decompression is hiding and I have to get creative to find it.
Did back today. I’m going to work my split back around so the day after legs is either off or just arms - I’m thinking that might be the proverbial ounce of recovery debt prevention.
C/S Row
I’m doing this instead of Meadows rows for the most part lately. It’s less cranky on my knee and I don’t have to mess with setup.
1p/10
2p/10
2.25p/10
2.25p/7
MAG Cable Row
Pretty wide neutral grip on this one. I pull below my belly button.
3 x 12
DB Pullover
55/10 x 2
55/8
Assisted NG Pull-ups
-70/12 x 2
DB Shrugs
3s hold at top
100/15
Hypers
Did these really uncoiling my spine and all that, rather than hinging. My back popped like crazy on the first rep!
25/12 + BW/10
I will say, in my defense, I’m really happy with how this phase is going. I’m just doing the steps, trusting the process, and the results are coming. I typically try to outwit myself or gut through something to speed it all up.
That’s so huge, and I’m embarrassed for myself that it took me so long to figure out. Make the method the goal and the results will come. You make the results the goal and you’ll just keep tweaking crap and never get there. So glad you’re in a good spot there.
I barely train arms compared to the rest of me. I keep telling myself that chins, rows, and all the pressing is enough. We’ll see… I also need to go back to Coach Wendler’s list of push and pull exercises for assistance. I always think “pressing and pulling” but he includes arms which may be worth adding. I did five sets of pull-ups yesterday which I think covered my minimum “pull” reps for the day, but my pre-planned workout had reverse fly’s in it. I skipped them because I’m still sore from the pulling work I did a couple days ago. I think adding some curls might help me in two aspects - more arm training and less skipping things.
I think it’s all goal-dependent. We all like to say “this is what you need” as an absolute, based on our own preferences, with no context. If you’re training for a triathlon or 400m, do you need a bunch of arm work? Probably not. If you want them to look disproportionally large, chin-ups simply won’t do it.
This is a solid point! Arm work is nice and easy, so it’s both a training stimulus and something approaching active recovery - there’s not a ton of “cost” to throwing in a couple sets of curls. It’s just the boredom that gets most of us.
For me, it’s workout design. I put the most important stuff at the beginning. By the time I reach the end, I’m usually facing one of three scenarios:
I’m worn out and don’t want to do anymore. I can afford to skip abs or arms and I’ll be okay.
I’m out of time and it’s time to go.
I have time and feel good, so let’s finish.
The last one is rare. I also tend to pick compound movements over isolation so I get the biggest bang for my buck. For example, the workout calls for 25-50 reps of pulling so I usually program a pull-up/down and a row instead of thinking of curls, face pulls, reverse fly’s, etc.
Totally fair. I like staggering biceps in with chest and triceps in with delts in those situations (I don’t like 3 days of pushing, so I don’t put triceps with back).
If you’re already putting rows in on your bench days, which I’d guess you probably are, it’s still pretty easy to do something like:
Bench
Row
Curl
and back around.
Or set yourself a clock and see how much pump you can get in 6-8 minutes. A couple easy ones here:
Biceps:
Preacher Curl
Seated DB Curl (sitting on preacher machine with the pad for your back)
Standing DB Hammer Curl
Triceps:
Rope Pushdown
Overhead Rope Extension
Close-grip Pushups
Knock out 3-4 sets of one of those in under 5 minutes, and you’ll be good to go! I don’t think you need to “stress” arms like you would a squat or something - just get some volume in.
I mean, it has the word trophy right in the title.
