4:30pm
3mi trail run
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Off today. About 6 miles of walking throughout the work day bouncing between client offices, so that was good. Legs tomorrow!
Edit: Wanted to get down to the 9/11 memorial today but WTC had the president/VP and former presidents there so it was a madhouse. Going to try to make it down this weekend. I was only 4 when 9/11 happened but now working in banking in NYC, it really hits me hard. So many people lost their lives on a normal day at work. It’s hard to comprehend. I like to get down to the memorial every year and pay my respects to those who were lost that day. Very sobering and in a way motivates me to work even harder both physically and career wise. I’m sure many feel like this but wanted to write out how I feel on a somber day in the area I’m from.
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Awesome leg workout today. Just a grinder of a workout and I walked out of there on wobbly legs! Thinking of my plans for my next program and will post later today on that.
Thursday 9/12/2024
12:00pm
Incinerator W5 - Legs
Leg Curls 110x12 120x12 125x11 drop 90x10 drop 50x10
Leg Press 1plx10 2plx10 3plx10 4plx10 5plx10 6xplx7
Hack Squats (program called for 1.5s but I really hate those) 1plx6 2plx6 3plx6 3pl+25x6. Definitely the heaviest I’ve gone, video below. Set felt like a grinder but the last rep wasn’t that slow on video.
Walking Lunges 2 sets of approx. 50yds no weight
DB RDL 110x12 110x12 110x12
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Apologies for another long post incoming…
Finishing up week 5 this week and week 6 next week of The Incinerator program.
A bit early since there is another week left but it’s a slow day at work so want to get my thoughts and plans on paper while fresh. Rather than repeating the 6 weeks again, I’ll be switching up from the program that I ran alongside @TrainForPain and @davemccright. This is an awesome program and I honestly had the most fun training I’ve had in years, I’m so glad we did this! Thanks to @simo74 too for connecting us! I really learned to dig deeper than I ever had in this program and I made some GREAT progress, even strength wise.
This also, for the first time, helped me to eat and realize I won’t get fat if I’m working hard. I’ve been diligent in tracking calories and I’m putting down 3000-3200 calories daily without any fat gain, might even be a bit leaner. Leg days I legitimately cannot get enough food. I’ve always been paranoid about that and it held me back for years. I’ll post a final weigh-in and progress pics after week 6 next week.
I loved this style of training and programming and will definitely be coming back to it, likely after the New Year. For now, I have my wedding coming up in November and work is usually crazy for Q4, so while my life is more chaotic I am looking for simple in the gym. First time in awhile I will run my own programming; I put together two days I’ll alternate between which basically boils down to a Torso/Limbs split, which is a bit unique for me but I like how the days look. Higher frequency on bigger lifts, arms, and abs, should do me well in getting me both bigger and stronger. Pick the exercises, go do them, no more thought than that until my wedding is over.
I’m not going to make myself a slave to the calendar week. Some weeks may only get 3 workouts in, some weeks I may get 5 or even 6 depending on recovery. Just keep alternating A/B days. Too many unknowns coming up with scheduling to be worried about getting exactly X days per week in.
Below is a sample of the two days. I’ll likely stick to these same exercises for a few weeks and then cycle in some different variations and stick to those, but keep the same general volume for each body part. Body part volume per session is lower than a traditional bodybuilding split but overall will be similar or higher due to the frequency.
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All good just happy that you got something out of it. There are so many great people still kicking around on TN and most people miss out on the opportunity to leverage the knowledge and motivation of training alongside someone else.
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Friday 9/13/2024
11:45am
Incinerator W5 - Arms
Cable Crunches 42x20 62x15 72x12 drop 52x10 drop 32x10
Rope Pushdowns 6x15 @ 62lbs - 45s rest. Just brutal.
BB Curl 1.5s 70x8 70x8 70x8 70x8
OH Rope Extension 4x20 @ 52lbs
DB Curl 3s Negative 30x8 30x8 30x8 30x8
Close Grip Pushups BWxFailx3 / Reverse Curls 50xFailx3. Supposed to be reverse preachers but no preacher available.
GHD Sit-ups BWx18 BWx17 BWx17
Long trail run tomorrow morning and then chest pump session on Sunday.
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I honestly think this is completely underrated. I don’t know why so many folks HAVE to follow a certain weekly pattern. Your body doesn’t follow a 7 day cycle. Heck, think about how many programs are either 3 or 4 days a week. Now imagine you just lift every other day? Boom, 3-4 lifts a week, and your going to be pretty fresh going into each one
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@atlas13 Yeah - I’ve always oriented everything around the week. I’m looking forward to just going at my own schedule. If I’m not recovered, wait another day because there’s no pressure of getting it in. If I am recovered, go get it in the gym.
Was going to run today and lift tomorrow but I’m flipping that. My legs are still destroyed from the session the other day. Will get a weighted vest walk in later, then going to dinner with my parents. Hit some singles today on the bench and felt good. Solid pump after too.
Saturday 9/14/2024
11:00am
Incinerator W5 - Chest/Shoulders Pump Session
Bench Barx20 95x15 135x10 155x2 185x1 205x1 225x1 245x1 245x1 245x1. I haven’t done much heavy benching ever really, and it shows when you compare my numbers to squat/deadlift. These felt good. Based on the speed of the first set I’d say 1RM is around 275. Want to get this up coming up.
Dips BWx15 BWx15 BWx12 BWx12. Super deep on these.
Hammer Strength Incline 3xFailure (9-13 reps) @ 2pl each side
Side Delts DB 25x15 25x15 25x14 25x13 / BB Front Raises 40x10 40x10 40x10 40x10
Face Pulls 4 sets didn’t mark down weight
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Not a good lift. Gym was crowded and I never really got focused up. Still got the stimulus in. Trail run was such a blast. Locking in for football for the rest of the day and will get a walk in when the 1:00 games are over!
Sunday 9/15/2024
8:00am
Incinerator W6 - Back
Meadows Row 75x8 100x8 100x8
Pull Ups BWx9 BWx8 BWx8. Going really high up on these. Trying to touch my sternum to the bar.
Hammer Strength Rows 225x8 275x8 315x7 315x7
Shrugs 6s hold 225x6 225x6 225x6. The hold was very hard on these.
DB Pullovers 60x10 60x10 60x10
Back Extensions 3x20
12:00pm
5 mile trail run. Did some solid time here. 52 minutes with 500ft of elevation gain and some tough terrain. This was so fun.
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I’ve been taking some progress pictures as I finish up this program. Will post later this week. I’m noticing my right arm is much more developed and bigger than my left (insert joke here). Anyone have any ideas on how to bring up the left?
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I’ve seen people do something like an AMRAP on with the left arm and then make the AMRAP the cap for the right arm
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I feel like I’ve tried that with perceived imbalances. I have no idea if it actually works, but the logic seems sound, haha!
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I’ve always thought if someone noticed an imbalance, they have been looking at me for a while so they must like what they see!
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That’s a great idea. I’ll probably switch some barbell movements for dumbbells in that case. Like Sven said, makes total sense.
Ha probably true too. I wonder if others would even notice.
I think it’s less of a result of lifting for me and more of a result from years of throwing in baseball and football. That said, it’s basically a 0% chance anyone else but me even notices on a day to day basis. Good point!
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I have the same issue! I tore my right shoulder labrum so all the musculature on the right is bigger to compensate for not having it. Believe me if people noticed, I would never hear the end of it lol
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Solid arm workout today. Made some adjustments based on the crowd at the gym. A lot of college kids in the gym now that school is back in session. I am ready to buy a house and join the garage gym crew. Soon enough.
Heading out for a weighted vest walk shortly as cardio.
Monday 9/16/2024
12:30pm
Incinerator W6 - Arms
GHD Sit-ups BWx18 x16 x16
Rope Pushdowns 72x10 72x10 77x9 77x8
BB 1.5s 70x8 70x8 70x8 70x8
Cable Kickbacks 4x6 - forgot to mark weight down
DB Curls 3s negative 40x6 40x6 40x6 40x6 40x6. These were really hard.
Incline DB Extensions 25x20 25x18 25x15
EZ Bar Reverse Curls 40x15 40x15 40x15 40x15
Close Grip Pushups 1xMax
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Tuesday 9/17/2024
6:00pm
2mi run in 17mins. 20 minute walk after. Lots of steps at work today.
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Wednesday 9/18/2024
3:00pm
Incinerator W6 - Legs
Didn’t track this in my notebook and not going to rack my brain trying to remember the weights. Had a solid workout despite not feeling totally into it when I got there.
I had a sleep study done recently and got the results today. No sleep apnea, which is good. But they do want me to do an in-house sleep study because they think I have narcolepsy. A lot of my symptoms (constantly tired, napping during the day often, dreaming while napping) do fit it. I’ll have to think on it because the solution seems to be to take meds similar to Adderall for it. Have never really taken medication of any kind, let alone stimulants like that. Going to do some research but I’m heavily leaning towards just trying to improve my sleep in other ways.
Will be posting a full review of the Incinerator Program by John Meadows in a bit.
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PROGRAM REVIEW: The Incinerator by John Meadows
Still have the final chest day on Friday but am heading to a wedding after then going to a charity softball tournament all-day Saturday, so I won’t post that workout or be on the forum until Sunday. Wanted to get this up before starting the new programming Sunday.
Program Overview
- This is a 6-week traditional bodybuilding split program that I ran alongside @trainforpain and @davemccright. The program is found in the Programs That Work 4.1 eBook on EliteFTS. The book says it is 12 weeks, but then only has 6 weeks. Maybe the intention is to repeat the 6. But my attention span is right for 6-week programs so it worked out.
- The four main days (Chest/Shoulders, Back, Arms, Legs) were included as well as optional pump days for up to 7 lifts per week. I generally stuck to 5 lifts per week, doing the chest pump day most weeks.
- First two weeks were lower volume, final four weeks were higher volume.
- I have decent strength but still consider myself a beginner lifter. There are so many things I haven’t done or learned yet. Looking back, I feel like I developed so much of my strength through sports and kind of dogged it in the weight room. So keep that in mind reading through this. I didn’t really work hard until this year in the gym, although I thought I was.
Adjustments
I didn’t make any big adjustments that I stuck to week to week. There were a lot of exercises each day so depending on the crowd at the gym I would have to change up the exercise order or the actual exercise as to not sit around and wait on equipment.
Conditioning
- No set conditioning plan. But I try to get in 2-3 jogs or trail runs per week and haven’t strayed from 10k+ steps per day over the past 6 weeks.
- On days where I WFH, I treated walks like a smoke break. Some people smoke and leave the office every hour. I’d go for a few 5-10 minute walks outside my apartment every day. Found them beneficial physically and mentally.
- I work in NYC so days in the office are easy steps. Get 10k without trying often due to the walks to and from the train.
Diet
- The diet plan probably won’t be common on T-Nation but I feel like it worked for me. This forum definitely skews lower carbs. I basically ate like back when I was playing college rugby. High protein and high carbs. Around 200g of protein per day and 300g+ of carbs per day, fill in the blanks with fat. Average caloric intake over the past 6 weeks was 2950 calories, but usually was above 3000 with a few outlier low days. Especially leg days. Could not eat enough food to stop the hunger after a leg day. PB&Js, bagels with PB, oatmeal, rice, beans. All staples in my diet lately. I understand there is a lack of nutrients in these carbs but I felt great eating them and have high energy levels daily. I think coming out of years of failed cutting because of blowout weekends my body is just loving the consistent fuel and lack of alcohol.
- Focused heavily on peri-workout nutrition. Pre-workout meal was the John Meadows concoction bowl. This was awesome. I was always an oatmeal guy but the cream of rice was so much more easily digestible during the workout and I don’t see myself straying from this anytime soon as a pre-workout meal. Intra-workout was EAAs, creatine, and Gatorade powder. Post-workout was usually whey protein and a Dave’s Killer Bagel with peanut butter.
- I haven’t ever eaten with the intention to gain mass. I’m excited to continue on this path. The way I was eating seems to be working so I am going to keep the wheels turning on it.
What I liked
- I loved the exercise ordering Meadows uses. Going into squats after leg curls always felt amazing. Hitting some harder exercises as the last exercise of the day was also a great feature. Going into big exercises fatigued was a great physical and mental battle.
- High volume days. These days were extremely fatiguing and built up my work capacity. Although, I feel like from a hypertrophy perspective this wasn’t best for me (see dislikes).
- There was still a good amount of heavy lifting for a bodybuilding program. Consistently programmed were 6 rep explosive squats and incline bench. Didn’t feel like a fluffed up bodybuilding program with volume for the sake of volume.
- The use of intensity techniques felt perfect. Not too many drop sets, cluster sets, etc., but whenever they popped up it was always the right time. Not overdone but not underdone either.
- The biggest thing I liked was learning to dig deep on everything. I didn’t treat anything as an accessory lift. I went in full effort on everything, going close to failure where it made sense. This really was a high-effort program and I plan on continuing this effort in whatever program I am on. I needed to learn this effort.
What I disliked
- On the other hand, high volume had some negatives too. I think it is a personal issue since I haven’t trained this way much in the past, but my lifts later on in the session would suffer. I felt like hitting 10-15 sets each day on a body part had me missing out on the last few sets. They would still be hard but I feel I would have been better of splitting the volume between days and hitting them a few times a week.
- Too much exercise variation for me. Probably a personal issue too, I know people love this. I like to see progress week to week and seeing a rep get added to an exercise compared to the prior session. It’s tough in this program and I found myself going back 4 weeks in my log to find the last time I touched an exercise.
- Low weekly frequency, muscle group hit 1x per week. Goes hand in hand with the first negative. The final sets didn’t feel as productive, so I’m not sure they were super beneficial in terms of overall volume. I felt recovered (besides legs) after a couple days and was ready to hit the sessions again, but waited it out due to the split. I think this split is best for some people, I just don’t think I am dialed in enough on hypertrophy training enough yet to see the best results from it.
- A lot of band work and partner work was included in the program which I essentially ignored due to lack of access.
RESULTS
- I started the program after a cut at a low of 191.5 which was when I started the program. Ending weight today was 195.8 but I’m usually high 194s low 195s, had a late dinner last night.
- I think overall I put on a bit of muscle and possibly lost a bit of fat. Nothing crazy but for someone who has never trained like this, it’s extremely exciting. I think if I keep training hard and eating right, I’m in a solid position.
- A few PRs lifting wise even in a bodybuilding program: 305x10 squats, 315x20 deadlifts, 95x7 incline DB bench, 205x6 incline bench.
- Photos at the bottom of this thread with comparisons from 6 weeks ago. Fair warning, the side chest after picture has insanely aesthetic lighting and I’m not sure it is a fair comparison picture.
- More definition in the midsection.
- Can’t flex my back in a picture for shit so having trouble noticing progress there.
- Definitely some arm size gained: see side chest and back picture.
- Looks like a little bit less tit fat.
Closing thoughts and where to next?
- This style of training gave me adequate results. But as I said: I consider myself a beginner. I can’t know what makes me grow the best until I try some more methods. I’m excited to run a few different programs in a row and really get to know my body better!
- I’ll be running my own A/B program for the next 6 weeks until my wedding. After that my current plan is to run Mass Protocol from Tactical Barbell, but that could change. I’ll be following along @t3hpwnisher log to see how things go over there with that program.
- My focus in this programming will be a lot of arm work and chest work. My back and legs are pretty strong and developed in comparison, so I want to bring up those weak points in my physique and strength.
- I would run another John Meadows in the future. But even if I don’t, there were so many great things I learned and would continue to implement in my training. Mainly the exercise ordering, which I’ll take advantage of in the program I am about to run.
- I plan on gaining weight slowly through maybe February. I’ll up the calories more after the wedding but have to stay within a reasonable range to fit in my tuxedo. I had a successful cut this year and that was coming from a state of constantly yo-yo cutting for years and seeing no progress. After a solid mass gaining phase, I think cutting will be a piece of cake come spring.
- If anyone has any input or advice on anything please let me know, always trying to learn from all you guys!!
6 weeks ago on the left.
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Shoulders, arms and chest all looking noticeably bigger! Nice work man! This has been so fun!
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