Saturdays workout. I’d like to have a video of that top set, first 4 reps felt pretty solid. Upper back starts to go round a little but no trouble with locking the reps out. Last one I had a bit of lower back rounding but nothing too dramatic. Had to re-breath and brace after the 4th rep and I just wasn’t as tight.
Also ordered a Pioneer belt last night, hope it arrives sooner than the lead time listed on their site!
MAIN GIANT SETS
NG pullups: +15x5, +15x5, +25x5, +25x5, +35x5
Press: 75x5, 85x5, 95x5, 105x5, 115x4
Ab wheel: x6
SECOND GIANT SETS
NG L-sit pullups: x10
Push press: 125x6, 145x3, 165x1
Saxon side bend: 15x10
ASSISTANCE
Football bar clean: 115x5
Dips: x25
Football bar clean: 165x3
Inverted row: x20
Football bar clean: 185x0, 185x1
Cut back on the volume a little this week for a pseudo deload. No way I had that last rep on my top set, nice effort grinding out the 4th though.
Wanted 4 reps at 145 and 2 at 165 on the push press but it wasn’t happening.
Didn’t get my initial try cleaning 185 and the second time around it came up almost too fast. Nearly knocked myself over, so that’s good that the power is there. Ran the assistance as one humungous giant set.
Hope so! I’d like to hit a 500lb pull this year. I think I’d be good for around 400 right now.
365x5 is the target number for my workout this Saturday, then I’m switching to sets of 3. I’d be pretty jazzed if I end up around 385x3 at the end of the program.
Now, if only my damn press would get moving at a similar rate haha.
I’m happy to have made some progress on it lately, but I still feel like I’m about 20lbs short of where I should be. All good though, gives me an excuse to have some bro days and work on bringing up the shoulders, triceps, and abs. We all want to get bigger but I definitely suffer from skinny guy syndrome still, adding a couple pounds of upper body should help.
I’ve been in the weight room for over 15 years and I still think I look skinny. I haven’t been taking a lot of progress pics lately and a recent look at myself now compared to a year ago revealed something - my upper body is the same! Dammit!
I gained a lot of weight and had great progress before my hip injury returned. But it appears that two days a week of big time leg work (deads, squats, lunges, and cleans) dominated the two days a week of upper body training. My legs and ass grew - none of my damn pants fit!
This year I’m focusing on upper body and decreasing my lower body training volume. I don’t think I’ll improve my bench because I’m not doing it. I don’t have any expectations for my press either. I just want to add some mass to my delts and chest.
Big legs are cool and all but really don’t do much for achieving the physique I want. I think my wife is the only one who’s noticed that my lower body has grown.
My legs and ass have definitely gotten most of my weight gain since I started lifting haha. Upper body is coming along slowly but surely. Just going to keep riding the wave.
I’m glad I don’t really have any real physique goals. I figure if I can reach my strength goals, I’ll look pretty good.
That should work as long as you have some good upper body goals. I can’t say that every power lifter has the physique I’d want. Heck, by gym standards a lot of them have “weak” bench numbers.
There are tons of gym bros who can bench 3-4 plates but have never deadlifted. But on the other hand, there are guys with 500 lb squats and 600 lb deads who “only” bench 315. I say “only” because they’re so much stronger all around than the gym bros but their bench is equal-ish.
I’ve always emphasized my legs and back. I’ve never run a program that only hit legs once a week…NEVER. But here I am, 34 years old, with a chest and delts that are smaller than I’d like.
I’ve always told myself that the gym bros do what’s easy. It’s easy to focus on chest, delts, and arms. Those workouts are fun compared to a heavy leg session. The recovery is easier too. But the gym bros look good lol! It’s time to stop hating.
My point was about training focus and some of the big, strong, power lifters don’t have the physique I’d want. But there are also some that don’t and can bench what I deadlift.
Comically bad workout tonight. Totally punked out on the top set of squats after the third rep. A fourth rep was probably there, but I didn’t have the fortitude to attempt it, weak. Proceeded to get completely folded over on the SSB squats too, all around a poor showing. Shit happens.
MAIN GIANT SETS
BB row: 145x5, 155x5, 165x5, 175x5, 190x5
Bench: 145x5, 155x5, 165x5, 175x5, 190x5
Leg lifts: x10
SECOND GIANT SETS
1 arm BB row: 50x3x10
Incline axle bench: 140x6, 150x4, 160x2
Hollow rocks: x20s
ASSISTANCE SUPERSETS
Football bar clean and jerk: 145x3, 155x2, 165x1
Deadstop axle row: 150x3x5
This went much better than the last workout. I’m thinking I was more beat up from basketball than I expected, lower legs are still completely shot. Made for a funky push press/jerk/slop experience, but the weight went up.
