Witty Title No.69

Training Training Logs
141

Bench day, 3’s week:

Conditioning:
21-15-9 of 40kg back squat, 40kg bent over row, push ups on handles

This was a really bad idea, totally fried my chest and tri’s before I even started benching.

Bench:

worked up to 6 x 87.5kg

then:
4 sets of 3 at 85kg
4 sets of 3 at 87.5kg

1 rest pause set of paused push-ups on handles, trying to stretch out as much as possible at the bottom.

In between sets:
pull-ups, band pull aparts, hanging leg raises etc.

Back still not 100% but getting better.
Lesson from today: I suck at push ups. I should do more. Just not before I bench.

Later workout:
ab/jump rope circuit: 100 jump ropes, 10 ab pavelisers, 20 russian twists, 10 hanging leg raises. 5 circuits.

142

Do you think there are pros/cons in doing a ab circuit instead of just doing a few heavy sets for abs?

I’ve been thinking once I can do 5x20 of any ab work (situps, leg raises) I should progress into weighted ab work. But I know a lot of athletes do circuits for the core.

143

[quote]isdatnutty wrote:
Do you think there are pros/cons in doing a ab circuit instead of just doing a few heavy sets for abs?

I’ve been thinking once I can do 5x20 of any ab work (situps, leg raises) I should progress into weighted ab work. But I know a lot of athletes do circuits for the core.[/quote]

I honestly don’t know the answer to that. I could give you an answer but it would mean as much as my opinion on fairies and unicorns. My abs are incredibly weak and my training for them up to this point has been non-existent. My best advice would be to look at the training of successful lifters, or ask them for their opinions.

Sorry I couldn’t be more help.

144

Deadlift day, 3’s week:

Worked up to 120kg x 3 (which would be my second to last 5/3/1 set)

2 x 2-2-1 clusters at 150kg, 15 deep breaths rest

135kg x 10 (final + set, called it short at 10)

In between sets: face pulls, push ups.

Conditioning:
5-4-3-2-1 trap bar/loaded carry medley. 135kg

5 deadlifts followed by farmers walk the length of the garden, then 4 deadlifts, etc.

So much harder than I thought this would be, was feeling pretty pumped by then, deadlifts where more “squatty” than normal.

Back is still pissing me off royally. Broke out the foam roller a fair bit today for the first time in ages. Still not helping much. Face pulls seem to get a pump in the right place though, so might up the volume on these massively.

145

Shoulder day, one day early, and at home.

Push Press:
4 x 2 @ 72.5kg
4 x 3 @ 60kg
5 x 5 @ 45kg strict press

Band pull aparts and rows in between sets

5 x 5 dips/30kg dB rows.

100-rep bicep curl set, 5kg E-Z curl bar.

Running out of time. And yes, my back is still really pissing me off.

EDIT: Forgot conditioning:
1000 jump ropes, every snag/100 jumps:
5 powerclean/press and bar-facing burpees.

This started as every snag, because I suck at jump rope, but I changed to every 100 because I’m so much better than I used to be, especially with shoes on.

146

Back seems pretty much healed suddenly, which is awesome. Think all the pump work has paid off.

Squat day, 5/3/1 week:
Conditioning:
5 rounds of:
5 viking salutes (20kg), 5 pull ups, 300m “sprint” at 15 “somethings” (forgot to look at what units the treadmills work at. Because I don’t really care)

Squat:
Worked up to 105kg x 6

Then:
1 powerclean, 3 paused front squats EMOM for 10mins.

Also did a few sets of 10 rack pulls at ~140kg because the guy in the rack had them set up and I’ve never tried them. Pretty sure they’re not useful in my training right yet.

147

Bench day, 5/3/1 week:

Conditioning:
21-15-9
Back squats (40kg), sit-ups. Followed by 5 x sprint starts because it was way too easy otherwise. In a rare moment, I set the bar way too low on this one.

Bench:
Worked up to 92.5kg x 2. Technically a rep PR, but only because I haven’t lifted this weight since February when I’d started lifting again. Simply lost tightness on the second rep.

8 x 3 @ 87.5kg. Last set I pushed for 5 reps, because I could. After the disappointment of my top set, these felt really solid and clean.

dips: 5 x 5
ab wheel: 5 x 5
lateral raises: 1 x 100 @ 1.25kg (bit too easy)
band pull aparts: 1 x 100

In between work sets:
Band pull aparts
Hanging leg raises
36kg kB swings
Sit-ups
Bicep curls with an empty bar.

Biceps are still massively sore today, feels considerably worse than DOMs at the minute, will keep flushing blood into them to see if that helps. Starting to get slightly concerned about the lack of pulling in my training at the minute. If it’s not solved by next week, I will have to start getting creative about back training. Maybe front lever rows and bat wings.

148

[quote]dagill2 wrote:
Starting to get slightly concerned about the lack of pulling in my training at the minute. If it’s not solved by next week, I will have to start getting creative about back training. Maybe front lever rows and bat wings.[/quote]

Could always do some daily chins, grease the groove style. Up until I was training for my current contest I was getting 100 reps a day of chins this way, and it didn’t tax my recovery any.

I contemplated doing something similar with dumbbell rows, but didn’t want to bring dumbbells into the office, haha.

149

[quote]T3hPwnisher wrote:

[quote]dagill2 wrote:
Starting to get slightly concerned about the lack of pulling in my training at the minute. If it’s not solved by next week, I will have to start getting creative about back training. Maybe front lever rows and bat wings.[/quote]

Could always do some daily chins, grease the groove style. Up until I was training for my current contest I was getting 100 reps a day of chins this way, and it didn’t tax my recovery any.

I contemplated doing something similar with dumbbell rows, but didn’t want to bring dumbbells into the office, haha.[/quote]

This was my approach until recently but first I had a back “injury” that made rows and chins more painful than helpful, now my biceps are so fried I’d need to figure out a way to take them out of the equation to hit my back.

150

[quote]dagill2 wrote:

[quote]T3hPwnisher wrote:

[quote]dagill2 wrote:
Starting to get slightly concerned about the lack of pulling in my training at the minute. If it’s not solved by next week, I will have to start getting creative about back training. Maybe front lever rows and bat wings.[/quote]

Could always do some daily chins, grease the groove style. Up until I was training for my current contest I was getting 100 reps a day of chins this way, and it didn’t tax my recovery any.

I contemplated doing something similar with dumbbell rows, but didn’t want to bring dumbbells into the office, haha.[/quote]

This was my approach until recently but first I had a back “injury” that made rows and chins more painful than helpful, now my biceps are so fried I’d need to figure out a way to take them out of the equation to hit my back.[/quote]

If you have a resistance band, wrap it around something vertical (stair rail, sturdy table leg, etc), and then loop either end around your elbow. Pull your elbows back. This takes the load out of your hands and places it square on the lats. I guess you could do the same thing with a vertical pull too if you have a structure overhead.

I realize that description sucks, but you can see me doing something similar in this video

Ahh, back when I was young, haha.

151

[quote]T3hPwnisher wrote:

[quote]dagill2 wrote:

[quote]T3hPwnisher wrote:

[quote]dagill2 wrote:
Starting to get slightly concerned about the lack of pulling in my training at the minute. If it’s not solved by next week, I will have to start getting creative about back training. Maybe front lever rows and bat wings.[/quote]

Could always do some daily chins, grease the groove style. Up until I was training for my current contest I was getting 100 reps a day of chins this way, and it didn’t tax my recovery any.

I contemplated doing something similar with dumbbell rows, but didn’t want to bring dumbbells into the office, haha.[/quote]

This was my approach until recently but first I had a back “injury” that made rows and chins more painful than helpful, now my biceps are so fried I’d need to figure out a way to take them out of the equation to hit my back.[/quote]

If you have a resistance band, wrap it around something vertical (stair rail, sturdy table leg, etc), and then loop either end around your elbow. Pull your elbows back. This takes the load out of your hands and places it square on the lats. I guess you could do the same thing with a vertical pull too if you have a structure overhead.

I realize that description sucks, but you can see me doing something similar in this video

Ahh, back when I was young, haha.
[/quote]

I was thinking about something similar, but thanks for filling in the specifics. I’ll probably try these later in between kB swings.

Is such crippling soreness usual for 100 rep curl sets by the way? Or are my arms just plain weak?

152

Mine got a little tender after the axle curls, but not as bad as I anticipated. At the same time though, I’ve been doing high rep/low weight curls for a while. With this being your first go, it’s probably going to suck, but you’ll adapt I’m sure.

And all of our arms are just plain weak, haha.

153

[quote]T3hPwnisher wrote:
Mine got a little tender after the axle curls, but not as bad as I anticipated. At the same time though, I’ve been doing high rep/low weight curls for a while. With this being your first go, it’s probably going to suck, but you’ll adapt I’m sure.

And all of our arms are just plain weak, haha.[/quote]

I’ve not really done many curls full stop, so this was a definite shock to the system. It’s still painful to straighten my arms out properly.

In other news, tried the bands idea and just couldn’t make it practical, they kept sliding about everywhere so resorted to front lever rows, which did an awesome job.

154

Deadlift Day, 5/3/1 week:

Conditioning:
Every 2 minutes, on the minute (was meant to be 1 minute but I literally didn’t have time to finish it, never mind rest):

5 x pull ups, 5 x trap bar deadlifts (130kg), 5 x pushup broad jump burpees (5 push-ups, 1 broad jump = 1 rep)

Deadlifts:
Worked up to 142.5kg x 1

then:

3 2-2-1 clusters at 150kg.

15 reps at ~90% is too much volume, I should know better. Will need a smarter approach for next cycle.

Front racked loaded carries:
Just played around with these. Not convinced on these yet, but it’s such a good idea in my head, I’ll have to give them another try.

21-15-9
36kg kB swings, push-ups

Also did some push-ups, band pull-aparts, pull-ups and swings in between work sets. but not many because the clusters fucked me up pretty badly.

155

Shoulder day:

Push Press:
5 x 2 @72.5kg

5 x 3 @60kg

5 x 5 @45kg

dB rows and pull ups inbetween.

Weighted pull-ups:
5 x 5 @9kg

Incline Smith machine press:
3 x 10 @60kg
1 R-P set, about 25 total reps

dB lateral raises:
1 x 100 @2kg.

Forgot conditioning again. Might knock out a quick workout later.

Finished this progression, so might move to a more traditional method for a cycle or two with more strict pressing.

156

Conditioning:

10 x 10 kB swings, 36kg
5 x 5 kB snatches, 24kg
5 x 5 kB C&P, 24kg

First time I’ve ever used my new 24kg bell, so a lot of these where ugly, ugly reps.

157

I agree about the strict pressing. I’m getting loose, and all the presses are degrading into push presses. What used to be muscle-cleans before the press are turning into real power cleans with triple extension. I’m finding ways to cheat, or use technique, depending on how you look at it.

I’m going to rotate back to high incline seated dumbbell presses and some delt raises. Then T-Bar rows and some kind of pulldowns leaning back. Then maybe cable upright rows. The presses, cleans and chins I/we have been doing were pretty much straight up and down, in the vertical plane. I’m going to “work the angles” with some more strict moves for awhile.

I’ll probably do some straight body-builder ramped sets for awhile. My shoulders and traps are “thicker” but not really capped or super jacked. I feel pretty strong though. I didn’t really get any growth on my front delts. I’m going to try some more direct moves for awhile. And put box jumps and clapping pushups into my warm ups to maintain the full-body explosiveness the cleans and push presses have started to develop.

How do you feel about your results?

158

[quote]T3hPwnisher wrote:

[quote]dagill2 wrote:

[quote]T3hPwnisher wrote:

[quote]dagill2 wrote:
Starting to get slightly concerned about the lack of pulling in my training at the minute. If it’s not solved by next week, I will have to start getting creative about back training. Maybe front lever rows and bat wings.[/quote]

Could always do some daily chins, grease the groove style. Up until I was training for my current contest I was getting 100 reps a day of chins this way, and it didn’t tax my recovery any.

I contemplated doing something similar with dumbbell rows, but didn’t want to bring dumbbells into the office, haha.[/quote]

This was my approach until recently but first I had a back “injury” that made rows and chins more painful than helpful, now my biceps are so fried I’d need to figure out a way to take them out of the equation to hit my back.[/quote]

If you have a resistance band, wrap it around something vertical (stair rail, sturdy table leg, etc), and then loop either end around your elbow. Pull your elbows back. This takes the load out of your hands and places it square on the lats. I guess you could do the same thing with a vertical pull too if you have a structure overhead.

I realize that description sucks, but you can see me doing something similar in this video

Ahh, back when I was young, haha.
[/quote]

Great tip :slight_smile:

159

[quote]FlatsFarmer wrote:
I agree about the strict pressing. I’m getting loose, and all the presses are degrading into push presses. What used to be muscle-cleans before the press are turning into real power cleans with triple extension. I’m finding ways to cheat, or use technique, depending on how you look at it.

I’m going to rotate back to high incline seated dumbbell presses and some delt raises. Then T-Bar rows and some kind of pulldowns leaning back. Then maybe cable upright rows. The presses, cleans and chins I/we have been doing were pretty much straight up and down, in the vertical plane. I’m going to “work the angles” with some more strict moves for awhile.

I’ll probably do some straight body-builder ramped sets for awhile. My shoulders and traps are “thicker” but not really capped or super jacked. I feel pretty strong though. I didn’t really get any growth on my front delts. I’m going to try some more direct moves for awhile. And put box jumps and clapping pushups into my warm ups to maintain the full-body explosiveness the cleans and push presses have started to develop.

How do you feel about your results? [/quote]

I think I’ve got noticeably stronger on strict pressing as a result. I did some 60kg C&P as part of a conditioning workout not too long ago and 60kg, my previous strict max, went up strictly and pretty easily. I may well try find my max next workout, just for squirts and giggles. In terms of size, it’s hard to tell really. I feel like they look slightly bigger, but it’s hard to tell.

Not too sure what my next approach will be. Maybe back to 5/3/1 with some assistance. Just spitballing here but:

5/3/1 strict press
3 x 8 arnold presses, paused at eye height
Lateral raises/rear delt sets as needed.

160

Squat day: 5’s week:

Worked up to 5 x 100kg. Felt like a massive pussy for not pushing myself harder on these so did it again with no breathe.

2 x 110kg.
3 x 5 double paused squats, 75kg.

Feeling really lightheaded and weak before starting today. Muscles and technique weren’t the problem today, felt really lightheaded and short of breathe. Seem to have a bad day every squat day, at a certain point I’m just going to have to nut up and push harder.