The Goal is to Keep the Goal, the Goal

Training Training Logs
81

Hey man - just checked in and read through. I’m also a Dan John acolyte (at least I assume you are per the log title) and love keeping it simple.

Anyways, good work in here. Always good to see how other people approach their training, and inspiring…reminds me that even “normal sized” people can get really strong with just discipline and consistent hard work (I’m currently working on a goal of deadlifting 500, ideally without gaining any bodyweight from my current 210-ish).

Enjoy your trip to Hawaii…which islands will you be on? I’ve been lucky enough to vacation there before (Oahu, Maui, Big Island) and I’ll be going back and getting married there this summer (six days on Big Island, five on Kuaui).

82

Thanks @ActivitiesGuy for the comment. I don’t ever see myself as strong or physically impressive, I just see the 6 ft., 130 lb beanpole who got the nickname “Bobblehead” playing High School Football (a size 2XL helmet to fit my flowing locks/afro and abnormally large head coupled with 11 inch arms and calves doesn’t exactly inspire fear in your opponents)

83

I have been gone for a while, and am going through some very large, life altering trials. These have derailed training quite a bit. I am now weighing in the 165-170 lb range, while not looking much leaner than while at 190. Have also started a very active job involving quite a bit of lifting and walking.

Strength is down a good bit. My training location has changed and I was also hit by a school bus. I currently am avoiding the deadlift (no more bumper plates, have to lower weight pretty slowly) as it causes me pain. Have recently began squatting again. Hit an RPE 8 365 lb low bar back squat. Bench also feels weird, so I have been avoiding it.
Have been doing a good amount of weighted pullups and dips, have recently hit +135 dips for sets of 5, and +90 pullups for sets of 6-8.

Training goal is to grow. In the few instances I have seen rapid weight gain in my life, I have needed to be very disciplined in my eating. I do not like to eat. However, I see a huge benefit in adding more routine to my life, and a goal of growing fits right in.

I plan to log my food and training, and would love some company of like-minded people to keep me accountable.

84

Update pictures were taken in relatively non flattering lighting and unflexed in order to inspire honesty from myself and others. Apologies for the interesting censor, one of the very few opaque edits my phone had on file.

772×1029 395 KB

1675×2855 2.16 MB
1944×2592 566 KB

85

Food for today:
Worked a long shift, and don’t have much time to eat. Had 4 breakfast burritos (maybe 1-1.5 eggs each, little bit of bacon, cheese) and a gallon of chocolate milk throughout the day. Assuming something between 3100 and 3300 calories consumed, going to eat more this evening.

Training 5/21
I know that I m very weak from a higher rep, higher volume perspective. I will illustrate this point with the fact that I easily benched 315 for a single last week (RPE 8ish), but struggled with the following:

barx20
barx20
135x15
185x10
185x10
185x10 close grip
185x8 close grip
185x4 close grip (was pretty sure that I would miss rep 5)
135x10 feet up, wide
135x10 feet up, medium
135x10 feet up, close
135x10 feet up, medium
135x10 feet up, wide
135x8, competition grip and set up, pressed as fast as possible to restore pride.

Did some pull aparts and pull ups, and called it a day

86

Food was poor today, not worth reporting. Did not eat nearly enough, nor anything of quality. Sitting down to steak, whole milk, and green beans in an attempt to remedy that.

Training:

Pull-ups:
bwx5
bwx5
+45x5
+90x6
+90x4
+90x4
+45x6
+45x6
+45x6

Underhand medium grip cable rows
Somewhere between 9-12 sets, 8 reps each

Straight arm pulldowns
2 sets of 12
3 sets of 20

DB Rows
80x8
80x8
80x8
80x20

Preacher Curls
Embarrassing weight and reps , not only am I weak in any non-hammer curl variation, but arms were already fatigued from the back work. Used an EZ bar and a 5 count eccentric
80x4
60x4
60x3
Decided curls are dumb anyway…

A bunch of band pull aparts and rows

Decent work and pump, need to focus on sleep and food pre-lifting.

87

Squat
barx5
barx5
135x1
185x1
225x1
275x1
315x1
add belt
365x1
405x1
remove belt
225x5x3

Deadlift
135x1
225x1
315x1
405x1

88

Lol, so much for being consistent.
Let’s try again.
Been training a bit less, work has been quite hectic. 70+ hour weeks (not including weekends) are good for the bank account, not as much for the body.
Kinks have been figured out at work, and things should be returning more to normal. Gotta get back into the swing of things. For some reason my pressing doesn’t seem to be affected much by time off, but everything else does. Need to step it up so I don’t out press my Squat. My ankles are small enough as is, my ego needs to know I can still handle at least some moderate weight. I have been struggling to Squat consistently since a bad car wreck in late April, but things felt very good earlier this week. I have been able to Squat bare knee-d (no sleeve, wrap, or ace bandage-y wrap thing) without discomfort, which I think is a huge step forward in balancing my quad to posterior chain contribution in squatting.

Tuesday June 28th Squat
Barx10
Barx10
135x5
185x5
225x3
275x1
315x1
365x1
405x1
Add belt
315x3x3

Front Squat, clean grip
Barx5
135x5
185x3
225x3
275x1 ugly, upper and lower back rounding, no idea how the weight stayed on my shoulders
225x5x5

High Bar, 5 count eccentric, paused
225x5
225x5
225x5
Normal tempo, paused
225x20

Seated leg curls
4 sets of 20

200 bodyweight lunges

June 30th Bench
Barbell bench, paused
Barx20
135x3
185x3
225x1
275x1
295x1
275x8x4

Approximately 3.5 minutes in between sets. Weight moved smooth. Very happy about this amount of volume and how things were moving, especially after not much food training early in the morning.

DB seated military press
25’sx3x30

Cable curls
3 sets of various reps and holds

Triceps extensions
2 sets supinated grip, 2 sets neutral grip, various reps and holds

Overhead plate raise
10lb.x100

89

7/2 OHP/bench accessory

OHP
Barx10
65x5
95x5
115x5
135x5
155x2
175x2
185x2
175x2
175x2
155 for 10 doubles

Weighted pull ups
+90lbs for 8 triples
+45 for 3 sets of 8

Weighted dips
+45x10
+90×8
+135x6
+45 for 3 sets of 12

Some laterals and curls

7/4 Squat and deadline accessory

Squat, beltless, high bar, medium stance, heeled shoe
Barx8
Barx8
135x8
185x1
225x1
275x1
315x1
Switch to low bar
315x1
365x1
Add belt
405x1
Back to high bar, remove belt
275x5x5
Wide as rack stance
135 for 3 sets of 10

Deadline, sumo
My mobility seems really poor. Trying to find a uncompromising position to pull from.
135x3
225x3
315x3
405x1 felt horrible
Add belt
495x1 heard the inception noise (WAAAAAHHHHH) and almost blacked out
Lol, I should probably try pulling consistently instead of randomly and too heavy.

Quadruple paused deadrifts
I made these up. They are miserable, but I’m hoping they will help me keep a good position. Pause 2 inches off the ground, below the knee, above the knee, lock out, pause again above the knee, then below the knee, than 2 inches off the ground, then begin the next rep.
225 for 4 sets of 8.

Abwheel rollouts and some cable rotation work