Log Week 16
Accumulation Block - Week 4
----- Monday – Full Body -----
GHR (13, 13, 13)
RDL (3 x 7 reps @ 82.5kg)
Paused Overhead Press (3 reps @ 55kg) RPE 9
Chin-ups (2 reps @ +20kg) RPE 8.5/9
Paused Overhead Press (6 x 4 reps @ 51kg)
Chin-ups (6 x 4 reps @ +10kg)
This was a tough workout, but I liked it. Seven RPE 8+ heavy sets of pressing really takes it out of you, but it was really satisfying. Definitely did feel a little more tired and hungry through the rest of the day.
It’s interesting how much better much set-to-set endurance is when the reps are low. Every set pressing set today made me think “yep, that’s a hard set” and yet I could do more sets, but in a higher rep set, once I get to that point, there’s no way the next set is going to have the same performance
----- Tuesday -----
Off
----- Wednesday – Upper -----
DB Bench (8, 8, 6 reps @ 35kg)
One Arm Barbell Row (10, 8, 7+ reps @ 40kg)
Paused 45° Incline Bench (8, 7, 5 reps @ 62.5kg)
Lat Pulldown (3 x 9 reps @ 68kg)
Cable Lateral Raise (3 x 11 reps @ 3.75//kg)
Physio Cable Lunge
I thinking that if bench press isn’t my main goal, why let myself be disappointed by it? Let’s go back to the good old Dumbbell Bench. It’s what built most of my chest anyway.
Speaking of building my chest, holy moly, felt the DBs hitting my pecs way more. I have a very poor mind-muscle connection with my front delts, so I think this is showing me that the bench press does actually involve more delts for me.
Happy with the way my cable lateral raise is chugging along.
----- Thursday – Lower -----
Single Leg Lying Hamstring Curl (3 x 9 reps @ 20//kg)
Back Extension (12, 6+, 5+ reps @ 22.5kg)
Smith Machine Calf Raise (3 x 10 reps @ +70kg)
Dragon Flag Eccentrics (3 x 6 reps)
Progress with the Hamstring Curl
Not sure why my Back Extension tanked so much this week, I only added 2.5kg
Very difficult sets for calf raises, but I’m proud of how I ground through and made myself get those reps
Dragon Flags felt solid
----- Friday – Upper -----
Paused Overhead Press (3 reps @ 55kg) RPE 9
Paused Overhead Press (8, 8, 8, 7+ reps @ 45kg)
Chin-ups (8, 8, 8, 7 reps)
Ran out of time for the rest of the workout.
The heavy triple felt noticeably easier than Monday, or last Friday. It might have been more accurate to put RPE 8.5, but given it’s a higher rep day, I made the right choice.
Added a rep to my 8 rep overhead press since last week
but was disappointingly close to adding a rep and a set
Thoughts:
I’m happy with the way this program is panning out so far, it seems to be working for me. I did make a counting mistake when I was explaining this plan. This week had 18 total sets of pressing, not the 20 I said it would get to.
I feel like this amount of pressing volume works for me. I feel recovered and ready to do more. Next time around, I’m thinking of doing a longer accumulation block of 5 or 6 weeks, instead of the 4 I’ve done this time. If I end up doing that, I’ll add more weeks like this to the end, so I end up having 2 or 3 weeks at 18-20 sets per week. We’ll have to see how more weeks like this in a row feel.
When I thought about switching back to dumbbells for benching, I had a problem that I needed to fix. The increment in dumbbell weight is 2.5kg, which means that a jump to the next weight is 5kg in one go. If I’m doing double progression, going from 8 reps to 6 isn’t enough of a reduction to make that weight jump happen.
I think I’ve thought of a solution.
It’s paused/un-paused double progression. So basically, get to 8 reps, drop to 6 reps with the same weight, but now do a pause at the bottom. Once you get back to 8 reps again, drop to 6 reps, up the weight, and don’t pause. So basically:
35kg – 8 reps – Not Paused
35kg – 6 reps – Paused
35kg – 7 reps – Paused
35kg – 8 reps – Paused
37.5kg – 6 reps – Not PausedAccumulation block is done, now on to lower reps and more weight. I’ve realised that all that time I spent doing bodybuilding-style workouts have warped my view of what is high and low volume for strength, so I’ve basically been doing nothing but accumulation blocks. Now it’s time to see if an actual intensification block will give me what I want