I agree with both those points. You spend a lot of time just kind of setting up and running around circuit-style. I don’t know what I’m going to do when I’m done with this.
Curls
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I’ve never stopped; I could never quit you, curls.
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531 for curls?
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Ha! Or even conjugate. I look forward to a max effort curl variation and dynamic curl work with chains
This was my exact next reply.
Reverse band box curls for the win.
Look how easily this wrote itself. Put it into PDF format and sell it for $19.99 a pop.
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You’ve got to have a name - “conjugate for arms: gain 3 inches in 6 weeks” now it’ll sell.
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I think I would buy the pdf ahahah
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You’d have to follow it up with a “How to get rid of elbow pain” article.
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Nah. I just insult you and say “do you think bodybuilders back in the day worried about bullshit like their elbows hurting?”
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Ok, so here’s where I’m at.
I’m about ~6 weeks through the Dark Horse stuff, but I screwed up a week or two because my back was hurting so I really did maybe 4 “scripted” weeks. I think I’m hanging it there. I’m fragile, which is annoying, but I can deal with that. It’s prohibitive because the giant sets are tough to pull off any time my schedule is disrupted and I’m not in the gym at 5am on the dot.
Likes:
- It’s freaking hard, so every day feels something like a sports practice.
- Similar to the above, I like being soaked when I’m done.
- I like the focus on treating lifts as a skill.
- I like having conditioning specified as part of the program, rather than an afterthought I blow off.
- I like not rolling right into the main lift without already being sweaty.
Dislikes:
- The giant sets are pretty prohibitive: they’re hard to set up and it bothers people in the post-Covid world (whether I think that aligns with the infection data or not, there’s no reason to stress people out).
- It’s hard to really focus on everything in the giant set - some of it is just going to be crap stuck in there to get through.
- I don’t know if I get anything at all our of dynamic work. I’m not ready to say it has no utility ever, maybe it’s great if I’m not already 50 minutes into the workout, but it was just a “get through it” thing for me here.
I’ve mentioned my goals above, and PWN advised me to check out WS4SB. I might do that, but I’m not going to roll right into a new program yet. I’ve proven time and again I fail them…
Anyway, I want to:
- Look jacked
- Show up ROTC cadets
- Lower my blood pressure (it has not been great the last couple readings)
So, for now, I’ll just have some rules:
- Lift 3-5 days a week, with at least 3 of those being “hard” days. So I don’t earn an arms day unless I’ve done 3 main days, basically.
- Practice all of the new ACFT (which is a fantastic evolution for the army) events each week. Doesn’t have to be crazy practice, but I have to do something toward each.
- Minimum of 3 conditioning sessions per week. At least two of them have to be longer, steady-state type sessions. This should help with the blood pressure. I’m also going to try to do some of these while on conference calls during the day. This should help keep my back from getting so crappy from just sitting and maybe pick my daily mood/ energy up as well.
- Hit daily protein goals and weekly calorie targets. I’ve been pretty on track with this the last few weeks. I’m not targeting a bodyweight goal, but, if I do this right, I should be able to see both my ACFT and lifts improve.
I’m likely to kick back off with Meadows-style workouts because they are so familiar and joint-friendly for me. Since I’ve already been eating right, that makes the ACFT and conditioning the only variables. Once I start dialing that stuff in, we’ll see if I want to tackle PWN’s suggestion or whatever Thib’s flavor of the month is (or just stay the course).
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.
.
Enter super sets. You are slowly but surely putting yourself in the same training “ring” as me. Look intimidating. Improve conditioning. Perform well. And a dislike for giant sets.
You might like the 5/3/1 template I’m running. It hits the necessary work for improvement on the big four. It has endless options for assistance so you can scratch the bodybuilder itch. And extra work on the “off” day is optional.
OHP on chest day? Yes, please! Squats on deadlift day? Ehhh… maybe.
You like doing programs with people so here’s your invite. Join me.
- Advanced 5/3/1.
- Extra shoulder stuff for bigger delts and a stronger OHP.
- Minimum of three conditioning sessions per week.
- All upper body sessions are super sets (pulls to balance the pushes).
- Legs are whatever you want to reach your goals. For me, increased conditioning means less leg work.
By the way, you might find that super sets are a good way to put in a good amount of work in a short time. It keeps your HR up so it’s sneaky conditioning. It leads to a good pump on occasion (can’t say every day is pump city). And they are a good compromise from the DH giant sets. They’re all productive work without the fluff.
What do you think?
I’m two days into week two so you have time to play around and then join me in week one in a couple weeks.
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It doesn’t work the other way, clown dick!
I do!
Thank you! I just might.
So four-week blocks? I’ll do this. I’ll play around for the next couple weeks and we’ll see where I land when you’re coming back around to week one.
Thanks for the thought! I really do like being on the same train as someone else on here, program-wise. Team Internet!
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They’re three week cycles unless you deload on week four. I start my training week with squats on Fridays. I will start week one of my next cycle on Friday September 11th or Saturday the 12th.
In an ideal week, I lift Friday and Sunday. That gives me flexibility for the rest of the week. I don’t like to lift more than two days in a row and I don’t like to take two days in a row off. That leaves my third session (deadlift) of the week for Monday or Tuesday and my fourth session (OHP) for Wednesday or Thursday.
That little bit of flexibility helps keep the stress out of my training. I used to hate it if I missed a day because it would throw off my training week.
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Same here. I dropped giant sets when I realized that, while they created lots of sweat, they impeded my strength improvement.
My main law school study partner, a seriously jacked dude, warned me about box jumps when fatigued. “Nonsense!” I scoffed. I know how to jump. Several months later, after a tiring squat session, I decided to prove him wrong. Thankfully my shin, not my chin and teeth, was the only thing that slammed into the box’s edge when I just couldn’t quite jump high enough (#whiteguyproblems).
TL;DR at least for me, dynamic work in small doses early on. Power production suffers from fatigue.
Solid plan. Since doing a Meadows-style buildup of leg curls and pullups before Smith rack pulls, I’m convinced it’s a superior method for longevity-minded lifters.
I concur, the ACFT is sweet. When lifting with my nephew last winter, he asked me to write him a training program for it. I came up with something I’m still pleased with, even though I don’t remember it.
Which event (if any) is most challenging for you? For me, the 2-mile run for sure. Frankenleg can’t move right.
Can confirm all the above, hence quoting the whole darn thing. When I’m less weak and am supersetting DB OHP and pullups, I suck wind between sets while my whole upper body feels huge. And massive. Which, in Internet Land, is objective proof-of-concept.
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I actually see that as a feature, rather than a bug. When it comes to a back-press-abs giant set, for example, back and ab work is just something I do for volume. Both of those things aren’t terribly important to me: I just need to do them. The press is what I care about. And then I benefit that I get to approach the press a little fatigued, so weight moved is down, which beats up my connective tissue less vs coming in totally fresh.
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I like this for upper body lifts, I dislike it for lower body. That’s probably a personal thing of being crap at bracing and needing the time to focus and get it right though.
@TrainForPain @Frank_C I really like the idea (at a home or empty gym) of doing main lifts as normal, then trying all your assistance and sometimes supplemental work in one big giant set. You can get a lot of productive work done in very little time, get some conditioning benefit and it doesn’t matter too much if you lose focus on some of your assistance work at the end, you’re just aiming to get a pump.
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Another reason I like it, haha. For strongman, being able to rapidly transition to a heavy lower body lift, grip and rip it is huge. The guys that can’t do it give up time. I’m honestly really big on “no cues” when it comes to the big lifts. Pretty much doing everything backwards: I want to go on pure instinct on the heavy stuff, and focus on MMC on the light stuff.
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Lots of awesome discussion here - thank you!
Likely true. I think I just like jumps and throws better, too.
Probably the two-mile, because of injury and just I haven’t taken running seriously for a long time. It could be something else, though (maybe their version of toes to the bar?) - I haven’t done any of it before, so we’re in diagnostic mode.
That’s why we do this anyway!
I absolutely see where you’re coming from. I think this is more of a “me” problem than the program problem. Like @dagill2 mentions, I’m probably just not that good at the lifts: I find myself opposite of you and I’m getting more tweaks and problems doing it this way. I think my mindset is a little off for this in three ways:
- I don’t really care about driving the weight on the bar enough to focus on it appropriately
- I lose focus on the big lifts getting through the stuff I don’t care about
- I’m a lot wussier than I once was - I am not that willing to really risk anything anymore; that’s a hindrance and I recognize it, but it’s where I am
Anyway, between my wussiness and Covid stressing people out when I move about the gym, now just isn’t the time I want to keep tackling them. It’s not a forever thing, just right now I’m a little deterred.
I also think this is pretty slick, with the same “availability” constraint you mentioned.
Anyway, enough excuses for me; right now I just have to lift, eat, and do some medium-length conditioning each week. There’s a billion vehicles to do that.
In other news, my sleeping issues are worse than normal. I can’t sleep more than 4 hours a night and that’s been going on for a couple weeks with the exception of last Saturday. I don’t know what my deal is, but hopefully it sorts itself soon.
Anyway, this morning was Old Reliable Mountain Dog Leg Day
-
Lying Leg Curl
Did the speed warm-up where you just move up a plate at a time without breaks - I like this for machines
40/15
60/10
80/6
90/4
100/4
110/4
120/4
130/4
120/9 + 90/8 + 10 partials + 10-second isohold -
SSB Squats
Real focus on holding my back in place (it’s been cranky lately). Used chains too to help unload at the bottom
65/10
65 + chains/ 8
155 + chains/ 6
205 + chains/ 10
245 + chains/ 10 -
Leg Press
3pps/ 6
4pps/ 6
5pps/ 6
6pps/ 12 + 8 + 5 -
RDL
135/10
Didn’t feel good, so no more -
KB BSS
Used the cool roller today!
25/8 + 8-second isohold + 10/8 + 8-second isohold + BW/8 + 8-second isohold -
Standing Calf Raise
120/10 + 10 partials + 10-second stretch x 2 sets
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