Spidey: Eudaimonia

Training Training Logs
401

[quote]pjlife wrote:

Anyway, I’m planning to train on Sun/Tue/Wed/Fri, with the first and last days of the week as my strength days and the middle two days as my hypertrophy days.

My hypertrophy days will be:

Tues
Dumbbell shoulder/incline/flat bench press (kind of following Christian Thibaudeau’s High Performance Mass’ idea)
Biceps curl/triceps pushdown (superset)
Lower back exercise

Wed
Bulgarian split squat
Lat pull down/shrugs (superset)
Leg extension/hamstring curl/calf raise (how important are these? If the gym doesn’t have leg extension/hamstring curl machines what exercise can I substitute with for the same results?)
Abs work (I suppose I’ll throw in some circuit here)

What are your thoughts? Would you recommend the “shoulder/incline/flat bench” progression? What exercise will you recommend for lower back? What should be the tempo be? Anything else I missed out?

Ok I know that’s a lot of questions, I’m sorry for taking up too much of your time. :confused:

Thanks![/quote]

No problem on all the questions dude!

I really do like the OHP/Squat and Bench/Front Squat idea for the strength days.

I know you mentioned you enjoyed powerlifting too, but I don’t see any Deadlifts, why is that? That’s personally what I’d do for ‘lower back’. Even if you wanna go lighter, some SLDL’s to start Wednesday would be good IMO.

The Dumbbell OH/Inc/Flat progression seems fine, though PERSONALLY I’d like you to do some kind of Barbell pressing that day. And depending on your strengths and priorities, I think you may get more out some volume with lateral raises and rear delt flies. I’d personally do:

Incline DB Press
Close Grip BB Flat Bench
lateral/rear delt raise work
tricep/bicep work

Though I’d personally not wanna do biceps the day before back, but that’s up to you lol

Then the other day I’d do:

DL variation
Split Squats
Pulldowns
Cable Rows
Leg Curls
Calves + Abs

I don’t know if leg extensions would be all that important for someone Front/Back/Split Squatting like you’d be.

402

[quote]lift206 wrote:
You’re making great progress on the mat pulls. For your squat it looks like your hips still go back a bit when coming up but you’re doing a good job trying to fight it. It’ll be easier once your lower quads and glutes are stronger which you’re strengthening with the sumo mat pulls. Mat pulls helped me learn how to use my hips at the start of the lift too. Keep it up.[/quote]

Thanks man, you’ve helped a lot in that you’ve told me exactly what I NEED to do, so it’s just a matter of slowly getting strong enough in the right places to actually do it haha

403

Early workout

Beltless Front Squats: Meh sucked
235x4x3

Back Squats: Just tried to do these fast
215x5x6

And I just called it there. My form was all shit, I could tell. I think I’ve overreached a bit in the recovery department, stupid on my part not to think about it. Calories lower, and the Mat Pulls are obviously getting harder with more ROM = more stress per session. So my hips, quads, and glutes are not recovered in 48 hrs I don’t think, even after lengthy warm-ups.

Not sure if I should maybe just tough this out, lower my Front Squat max just a tad? Or maybe go ahead and switch to Push/Pull/Legs to give myself more recovery to finish up these next 2 weeks? Was going to switch to P/P/L anyways to get in some more volume while cals go up, but not sure if I should just go ahead. Thoughts?

404

[quote]Spidey22 wrote:

[quote]pjlife wrote:

Anyway, I’m planning to train on Sun/Tue/Wed/Fri, with the first and last days of the week as my strength days and the middle two days as my hypertrophy days.

My hypertrophy days will be:

Tues
Dumbbell shoulder/incline/flat bench press (kind of following Christian Thibaudeau’s High Performance Mass’ idea)
Biceps curl/triceps pushdown (superset)
Lower back exercise

Wed
Bulgarian split squat
Lat pull down/shrugs (superset)
Leg extension/hamstring curl/calf raise (how important are these? If the gym doesn’t have leg extension/hamstring curl machines what exercise can I substitute with for the same results?)
Abs work (I suppose I’ll throw in some circuit here)

What are your thoughts? Would you recommend the “shoulder/incline/flat bench” progression? What exercise will you recommend for lower back? What should be the tempo be? Anything else I missed out?

Ok I know that’s a lot of questions, I’m sorry for taking up too much of your time. :confused:

Thanks![/quote]

No problem on all the questions dude!

I really do like the OHP/Squat and Bench/Front Squat idea for the strength days.

I know you mentioned you enjoyed powerlifting too, but I don’t see any Deadlifts, why is that? That’s personally what I’d do for ‘lower back’. Even if you wanna go lighter, some SLDL’s to start Wednesday would be good IMO.

The Dumbbell OH/Inc/Flat progression seems fine, though PERSONALLY I’d like you to do some kind of Barbell pressing that day. And depending on your strengths and priorities, I think you may get more out some volume with lateral raises and rear delt flies. I’d personally do:

Incline DB Press
Close Grip BB Flat Bench
lateral/rear delt raise work
tricep/bicep work

Though I’d personally not wanna do biceps the day before back, but that’s up to you lol

Then the other day I’d do:

DL variation
Split Squats
Pulldowns
Cable Rows
Leg Curls
Calves + Abs

I don’t know if leg extensions would be all that important for someone Front/Back/Split Squatting like you’d be. [/quote]

Hey Spidey,

Thanks for your reply. I’m hesitant to add in barbell work for pressing because I’ve been doing pure barbell for at least half a year and I don’t really work my pecs well when I use the barbell. I’m hoping that I can get much better activation in my pecs with dumbbell. Will test it out to see how it works first.

As for sets and reps, I’m thinking of 3 sets of 8-10 reps for compound movements and 3 sets of 12-15 reps for isolation work. In other words, first two exercises for the first day and first four exercises for second day to be 8-10 reps while the rest of the exercises to be 12-15 reps. How does that sound?

Thanks dude!

PJ

405

[quote]pjlife wrote:

Hey Spidey,

Thanks for your reply. I’m hesitant to add in barbell work for pressing because I’ve been doing pure barbell for at least half a year and I don’t really work my pecs well when I use the barbell. I’m hoping that I can get much better activation in my pecs with dumbbell. Will test it out to see how it works first.

As for sets and reps, I’m thinking of 3 sets of 8-10 reps for compound movements and 3 sets of 12-15 reps for isolation work. In other words, first two exercises for the first day and first four exercises for second day to be 8-10 reps while the rest of the exercises to be 12-15 reps. How does that sound?

Thanks dude!

PJ[/quote]

Yeah just keep the DB Incline work, so you get that pec focus, then do CG Bench, because I think it’s a tough to always progress with DB’s, where with BB benching after will allow some easier progression. I think doing some kind of flat benching 2x a week will be great for you if you ever have PL’ing aspirations.

Rep ranges look good as well, bud.

406

Damn guys, I’m wrecked.

Incline Bench: These were just really rough lololol
185x5x2

Paused Flat Bench: Not bad, long pauses IMO
185x4x5

Fat Grip Chins:
+25x5
+35x4
+45x3

DB Rows:
75’sx40 LR

Arms + Face Pulls

Damn guys and gals, I’m really tapping into my recovery I think lol. These later sessions in the week are just hard AF, my lats, hips, quads, and upper back are just eternally wrecked lol. I think instead of forcing a progression scheme on the Front Squats and Incline, I may play those a bit more by feel for the next 2 weeks.

407

[quote]Spidey22 wrote:

[quote]pjlife wrote:

Hey Spidey,

Thanks for your reply. I’m hesitant to add in barbell work for pressing because I’ve been doing pure barbell for at least half a year and I don’t really work my pecs well when I use the barbell. I’m hoping that I can get much better activation in my pecs with dumbbell. Will test it out to see how it works first.

As for sets and reps, I’m thinking of 3 sets of 8-10 reps for compound movements and 3 sets of 12-15 reps for isolation work. In other words, first two exercises for the first day and first four exercises for second day to be 8-10 reps while the rest of the exercises to be 12-15 reps. How does that sound?

Thanks dude!

PJ[/quote]

Yeah just keep the DB Incline work, so you get that pec focus, then do CG Bench, because I think it’s a tough to always progress with DB’s, where with BB benching after will allow some easier progression. I think doing some kind of flat benching 2x a week will be great for you if you ever have PL’ing aspirations.

Rep ranges look good as well, bud. [/quote]

Hey Spidey,

Ok thanks for clarifying my points man, just did 1 of those workout the other day and it felt great (not during it though lol). Definitely enjoying this scheme, and I hope you can find whatever works for your body right now.

See ya around here.

Thanks again.

PJ

408

SO good news and bad news. Good news is, after talking to Pwolves, I think my dieting is over. Woke up yesterday 188, so that’s a drop from I think 213 to 188 over 17 weeks. Lowest macros were 220C/250P/55F with a weekly refeed. I’ll now start slowly building up back my cals with Pwolves, over the next 6 weeks or so, hopefully able to maintain the leanness with more reasonable macros again. Avatar is current level of leanness, so I guess close to 10% maybe? Idk don’t care.

Bad news is, my Squat still sucks lol. Don’t know if it’s just the weight loss catching up, the low calories, or whatever, but honestly my beltless squats still look like shit and I’m not really any stronger on them after really trying to nail them. Lower body always feel wrecked now. Today’s workout was disappointed, tried to do something heavy and shit the bed lol I’m not even hitting depth, which used to be the one thing I always did great with.

Squats: Beltless. Videoed both top sets
265x3
280x2x2
300x2x1

Front Squats: Beltless
200x4x5

SG RDL’s:
225x2x8

Idk guys, kind of frustrated lol

409

[quote]Spidey22 wrote:
SO good news and bad news. Good news is, after talking to Pwolves, I think my dieting is over. Woke up yesterday 188, so that’s a drop from I think 213 to 188 over 17 weeks. Lowest macros were 220C/250P/55F with a weekly refeed. I’ll now start slowly building up back my cals with Pwolves, over the next 6 weeks or so, hopefully able to maintain the leanness with more reasonable macros again. Avatar is current level of leanness, so I guess close to 10% maybe? Idk don’t care.

Bad news is, my Squat still sucks lol. Don’t know if it’s just the weight loss catching up, the low calories, or whatever, but honestly my beltless squats still look like shit and I’m not really any stronger on them after really trying to nail them. Lower body always feel wrecked now. Today’s workout was disappointed, tried to do something heavy and shit the bed lol I’m not even hitting depth, which used to be the one thing I always did great with.

Squats: Beltless. Videoed both top sets
265x3
280x2x2
300x2x1

Front Squats: Beltless
200x4x5

SG RDL’s:
225x2x8

Idk guys, kind of frustrated lol[/quote]
Ew, GZCL? I thought you were cool, but now I am not so sure about that. (jk)

I think my other post a few days ago got deleted, or was just never sent. What’s up with you, Spides?

410

[quote]Destrength wrote:

Ew, GZCL? I thought you were cool, but now I am not so sure about that. (jk)

I think my other post a few days ago got deleted, or was just never sent. What’s up with you, Spides? [/quote]

You don’t like GZCL? I think Cody’s a cool kid, and so far the style of lifting feels great for Bench.

Life’s good, just deciding where I’m going to law school still. Physique wise training’s been good, strength wise DL is going up steady, Bench inching up, Squats are meh lol

411

Going to lower my volume a bit for this week and next, think I pushed myself a bittt too much.

Flat Bench:
210x4x3

Paused Incline:
145x3x6

Then 2 sets of DB Presses, OH Extensions, and laterals.

That was it. Cut volume by 1/3-1/2, because I realized I just kept adding more and more each week and as always, it got a little out of hand. I always do that lol, run myself into the ground a bit. Good thing is I didn’t crash and burn or anything, I at least now can kind of tell what’s happening and ease up before it’s an issue.

412

[quote]Spidey22 wrote:

[quote]Destrength wrote:

Ew, GZCL? I thought you were cool, but now I am not so sure about that. (jk)

I think my other post a few days ago got deleted, or was just never sent. What’s up with you, Spides? [/quote]

You don’t like GZCL? I think Cody’s a cool kid, and so far the style of lifting feels great for Bench.

Life’s good, just deciding where I’m going to law school still. Physique wise training’s been good, strength wise DL is going up steady, Bench inching up, Squats are meh lol[/quote]
It’s not that I hate the program, it’s more that I dislike the hate boner Cody/people that use GZCL seem to have against westside even though it uses a lot of the same principles.

Also, that’s cool about the law school. I think the last I checked, you were getting a BS/BA in political science, does that help for going into law school? Also congrats if you’ve already gotten your thesis written and you passed, not many make it that far in a lot of majors.

By the way, nice on your lifts/physique (no homo :p), I definitely noticed good progress in all of your lifts to be honest. You just have to find out what works for you for awhile, and do that until it doesn’t work, then change it slightly and repeat. Also squatting with long femurs suck in general, any progress is good progress. haha

413

[quote]Destrength wrote:

It’s not that I hate the program, it’s more that I dislike the hate boner Cody/people that use GZCL seem to have against westside even though it uses a lot of the same principles.

Also, that’s cool about the law school. I think the last I checked, you were getting a BS/BA in political science, does that help for going into law school? Also congrats if you’ve already gotten your thesis written and you passed, not many make it that far in a lot of majors.

By the way, nice on your lifts/physique (no homo :p), I definitely noticed good progress in all of your lifts to be honest. You just have to find out what works for you for awhile, and do that until it doesn’t work, then change it slightly and repeat. Also squatting with long femurs suck in general, any progress is good progress. haha[/quote]

Ohh really? Cody attributes a LOT of his style to the conjugate method and cites Louie as a source often man. Have you read his blog? I think he’s not a fan of bands/chains, but otherwise is a proponent of a lot of Westside stuff

Degree I finished up last year, Philosophy/Political Science double major. Philosophy helps a ton with law, teaches you to be able to read a shitload of text, find the one or two lines that are actually substantial, then simply apply principles from said reading to other situations.

Yeah I need to be realistic also, dropping ~20 lbs and having all 3 lifts progress upward is asking for a lot. I think the long femur things, I’m just going to have to just pick a style, and run it into the ground. Either just do a pretty narrow moderate bar position style, or commit to using my Sumo as a base to build a wide Squat. But doing a little bit of all of them seems to not be helping all that much lol

414

Did a pretty easy, low volume Push workout today.

Mat Pulls: Sorry my phone fell over midset, so really not worth posting, only saw like 2 reps
(3)455x8

Fat Grip Chest Ups: Idk, basically chins trying to slam my chest into the bar, not stopping at the chin. Hard
BWx3x6

Pendlay Rows:
135x3x8

2 sets of curls

Yeah, that’s it. Mat Pulls weren’t a walk in the park, but I definitely could have grinded like 2-3 more reps honestly. I just still feel a bit beat up, so didn’t want to push it

Really going to try and practice contracting my mid back on a lot of pull exercises, need to get that area stronger I think for my Squats.

415

[quote]Spidey22 wrote:

[quote]Destrength wrote:

It’s not that I hate the program, it’s more that I dislike the hate boner Cody/people that use GZCL seem to have against westside even though it uses a lot of the same principles.

Also, that’s cool about the law school. I think the last I checked, you were getting a BS/BA in political science, does that help for going into law school? Also congrats if you’ve already gotten your thesis written and you passed, not many make it that far in a lot of majors.

By the way, nice on your lifts/physique (no homo :p), I definitely noticed good progress in all of your lifts to be honest. You just have to find out what works for you for awhile, and do that until it doesn’t work, then change it slightly and repeat. Also squatting with long femurs suck in general, any progress is good progress. haha[/quote]

Ohh really? Cody attributes a LOT of his style to the conjugate method and cites Louie as a source often man. Have you read his blog? I think he’s not a fan of bands/chains, but otherwise is a proponent of a lot of Westside stuff
[/quote]
I’ve read his blog post on his program, and a maybe a few others (they get posted on r/weightroom ocassionally), but yeah, he hates accomodated resistance and box squats.

I think it is more the people at r/weightroom that are like “Hur dur, westside bad, low bar squats are bad, Rippetoe/Louie Simmons/anyone who doesn’t tell you to do anything but high bar squats is satan.”, and I associated Cody with that type of stuff since that’s where I’ve seen him from.

Good luck with law school.

416

[quote]Destrength wrote:
[
I’ve read his blog post on his program, and a maybe a few others (they get posted on r/weightroom ocassionally), but yeah, he hates accomodated resistance and box squats.

I think it is more the people at r/weightroom that are like “Hur dur, westside bad, low bar squats are bad, Rippetoe/Louie Simmons/anyone who doesn’t tell you to do anything but high bar squats is satan.”, and I associated Cody with that type of stuff since that’s where I’ve seen him from.

Good luck with law school. [/quote]

Well he does do a lot of ‘high’ box squats to help with overloading the movement, I’m planning on doing something similar with pins.

Yeah reddit is kind of weird where there’s a TON of strong people but then a lot of folks who are like ‘stuck’ on a 155 Bench press for 3x3 lol

Thanks dude, much appreciated

417

Did a pretty easy workout

Standing OHP: I hate this movement. Never locked out, just constant tension
95x3x8-10

Paused Flat Bench:
175x4x6

Then some iso stuff. Was pretty easy, starting to not feel as beat up

418

Thinking of moving to Push/Legs/Pull, set-up would be kind of like the GZCL method.

First 2 days was considering modeling after something like this An Explosive Squat Is a Bigger Squat

Push 1:
Flat Bench: Tier 1
Speed Bench
Paused Wide Grip Bench
Delt + Tri Iso stuff

Legs 1:
Back Squat: Tier 1
Speed Squats
HB Paused Squats
Abs

Pull 1:
Snatch Grip RDL OR Deficit DL’s (not sure here yet)
Chins
Rows
Curls

Push 2:
Flat Bench: Tier 2
Bench Accessory (rotate between a few)
OHP variation
Tri + Delt Iso

Legs 2:
Back Squat: Tier 2
Squat Accessory (rotate these probably)
Lunges/Split Squats
Abs

Pull 2:
Mat Pulls (T3hPwnishers ROM Progression)
Deficit DLs (if not done on Pull Day 1)
SLDL’s
Curls

So that’s the idea. Could maybe knock out the first Pull day, distribute that rows/chins through out the week, go to 5-day split. It’s inspired a lot by Dan Green’s stuff too. Any thoughs or ideas would be helpful. Thanks

419

I would toss in some seated good mornings to reinforce upper back tightness. If you don’t want to go heavy then do light work for developing the motor pattern. At least keep them in until your upper back no longer collapses.

420

[quote]lift206 wrote:
I would toss in some seated good mornings to reinforce upper back tightness. If you don’t want to go heavy then do light work for developing the motor pattern. At least keep them in until your upper back no longer collapses.[/quote]

Do you have a video of that? I’ve googled it but just found traditional good monrings. I could alternate them as my first movement on my first pull day of the week