TCam's Log - The Road to Elite

Training Logs
1902

Back from traveling to NYC for a vacation. Got 20k-25k steps in 3 days in a row. Otherwise no training done. Below is the last workout before to leaving.

CHIMERA

CYCLE TRANSITION MICROCYCLE
SUNDAY AFTERNOON - UPPER // SECONDARY

PREP FLOW
P1 | Impulse Reps: Shoulder ADD/IR
2x30/30
P2 | Impulse Reps: Shoulder ABD/ER
2x30/30

Box Press w/ Bands
3x8x225+80 (Dbl Monster Minis)

Close Grip Box Press
15x225
12x225

Weighted Pull Up
3x5xBW+25 - Dead stop on the floor

Cable Hammer Curl w/ FatGripz
3x12/12x20

Cable Rear Delt Fly - High-to-Low
15/15x20
13/13x20

Decent work. This was supposed to be a vertical power press day, but Iā€™m staying away from OHP for a bit for the elbow issue. Also, I didnā€™t want to do power work, so reps it is. Banded bench for reps is something Iā€™ve only done a handful of times, not sure why Iā€™ve avoided it. It felt good.

I want to get strong at pull ups, Iā€™ve just mostly avoided really trying on them since I seriously strained my lat a few years ago. So, I went very conservative on loading them for the first time in a long time.

Tried some triceps isolation, but the elbow wasnā€™t having it. Just gonna keep working around it.

Also had a heavy squat workout slotted prior to traveling. I warmed up and got under the bar and felt like shit with 135 and 225. Felt heavy, unable to get tight, right knee was hurting, no motivation, etc. I just cut it there, not worrying about it. The right knee also hurt a lot during the NYC trip. Going to continue with the transition microcycle with a rehab/prehab focus for the next couple of weeks to get back into feeling good hopefully.

Edit: Totally forgot I went to the gym on Wednesday before leaving and did paused leg press 2x10x540, leg extension to something like 2x10x210, kickstand DB RDL 2x8/8x120s, and some machine preacher curls.

1903

CHIMERA

CYCLE TRANSITION MICROCYCLE
THURSDAY & FRIDAY - REINTRODUCING TRAINING

A1 | Cable Seated Leg Curl - Lengthened Bias
3x20/20x25
A2 | Spanish Squat Yielding Isometric
3x1:00xBW

B1 | Deficit Split Squat
2x12/12xBW+62
B2 | Split Stance Cable Rotation - Power Focus
2x8/8x35

Single-Leg Adductor Side Bend
2x15/15x44 - Stand on one straight leg, holding weight in same hand, hinge laterally at hip, dropping the weight toward the floor, floating leg straight or bent goes to the side to counter balance

Plus messing around with a few other movements for a few minutes. Thatā€™s it for Thursday.

A1 | Cable Seated Mid-Row
2x12x140
2x10x140
A2 | Single Arm Low Incline DB Press
20/20x55
20/20x75

Cable Overhead Triceps Extension
2x20x42.5

Cable Incline Curl
18x42.5
16x42.5

Plus messing around with a couple of other movements. And thatā€™s it for Friday.

On reintroducing training after a week off (when feeling old, achy, and kind of sick): There are plenty of ways to skin this cat, including being proactive and just doing some bodyweight movements during the layoff (I didnā€™t). Or just getting back into normal barbell movements, just lighter. Or just doing these sort of low pressure workouts where you just do accessories and mess around a bit. Just move around in a way that feels good and gets you feeling confident in moving under load again, itā€™s not that serious. I had zero interest in training, even after being away from it for a week. So, the accessory version was right for me. Both days felt great to me and now Iā€™m feeling more motivated to get back into it.

1904

CHIMERA

CYCLE TRANSITION MICROCYCLE
SATURDAY AFTERNOON - SQUAT // QUAD KILLER

PREP FLOW
P1 | Air Bike Sprint
3x0:10+0:10 - 10 sec build, 10 sec max output, got up to 1378 watts from what I saw
P2 | Plyometrics - Deep Tier Yielding - Squat
3x15
P3 | Seated Vertical Double Jump
3x3 - Normal max effort seated vertical jump and a second jump upon landing, like a self-induced depth jump

A1 | Front Squat - Beltless
3x5x275 - RPE 8-9
A2 | Air Bike Sprint
3x0:45 - Able to stay over 675, 650, and 575 watts respectively

Deficit RDL - Beltless/Straps
3x8x315

Hip Flexor Sit-Up
3x5/5xBW - This sort of set up, except I still focused on getting a stretch on the abs too, allowing spine extension/flexion

This one was inspired by Will Ratelle doing the Litvinov workout here. Originally something like 3-4 sets of an 8-rep squat + 400m run. My constraints: I didnā€™t want to do a high absolute load squat variation (so no straight bar back squats) and I didnā€™t want to have to change out of my Oly shoes for a run. So front squats and air bike it is. Wanted to use 275 for the squats and just let the weight decide my reps, assuming I wouldnā€™t get 8s. Air bike time was just decided at the first set when I tried to go for a hard minute and died around 45 seconds lol. Had about 80% recovery between sets. Performance fatigue showed a bit on front squats, but way more on the air bike.

I knew this was going to be rough on the quads, and obviously running is a better choice for this, but it totally killed them. Not that itā€™s a sign of hypertrophy effectiveness, but theyā€™re as sore as most high volume leg days Iā€™ve ever done, but in only 3 sets (confounding variable being 10 days off from real training).

I might try to do this some more and progress it. Undecided. Would probably do 30-sec air bike instead.

My wife later asked if I wanted to run tomorrow. I knew the quads werenā€™t going to be happy about it lol

SUNDAY MORNING - CONDITIONING // MODERATE

Outdoor Running - Aerobic x Aerobic Capacity Intervals
Warm-Up: 0.64 mi in 5:42 + 6:16 stretch/walk
Work: 3 x 1-Mile @ RPE 7 w/ 2:00 Rests
Run 1: 8:22 + 2:04 rest
Run 2: 8:04 + 2:03 rest
Run 3: 8:16 + 2:01 rest
Cool Down: 0.5 mi in 4:16
Metrics
Total: 4.14 mi in 34:42 total running (8:26/mi avg) with 12:24 total rest
Primary: 3 mi in 24:43 total (8:15/mi avg) with 4:07 rest
Bio: 47:06 at 154 avg HR, 178 max HR, 780 cal

Realized during the warm-up how shitty my lower legs had been feeling prior to traveling. It felt like I was floating today. Who knows if my 1-mile time would have been better with some actual recovery, but thatā€™s a good lesson for the next time I want to plan for a PR. I think if not for the workout yesterday, I would have been able to run a sub-25:00 5K PR on a whim today.

But I knew the quads were going to be a problem. I started off, after the warm-up, thinking Iā€™d just do a slower long (for me) run, but I had to speed up about half a mile in to keep some of the load off the quads. Still got to the point of cramping when I stopped at the end of each mile.

1905

CHIMERA

CYCLE TRANSITION MICROCYCLE
MONDAY EVENING - UPPER // CONTROL

PREP FLOW
P1 | Banded Deficit Push Up
2x10xBW+Light Band
P2 | Cable W Row
3x10x35

A1 | Paused Bench Press
3x3x315
A2 | Single-Arm Landmine Row
2x8/8xBar+135
6/6xBar+135

Incline Cable Chest Press
15x45s
2x12x55s

B1 | Hammer Ulnar Deviation
2x12/12xBar+5
B2 | Hammer Radial Deviation
2x10/10xBar+5
B3 | Hammer Pronation/Supination
2x8/8xBar+5
Using my steel pipe homemade DB with a 5 lb plate on the end, accommodated hand placement / lever length to get within rep range per movement

Cable Lateral Raise
2x10/10x25

All good here. Things are feeling mostly decent and ready to get into the next cycle. Set up the landmine rows like a standing Kroc row, so hips positioned about 45 deg relative to the bar and hand support on a box. This will be one of my primary heavy horizontal rows going forward.

Still some minor elbow feelings going on, but the time off seemed to help with that issue (surprisedpikachu.jpeg). But Iā€™m going to incorporate more forearm work like I did here for some resilience in that area (and hypertrophy). Wrist curls plus the exercises I did today are basically all Iā€™ll do. Not going to complicate it.