All for the Pump - Creeping Death 2

Week 30/52 23rd March

Focus on mechanical tension, triple progression.

Chest, Back & Shoulders

  1. Incline BB press (2m rest) SS with cable row
    62.5kg
    x 8
    x 8
    x 8

  2. Cable Row
    77kg
    x 8
    x8
    x 8

  3. DB Bench (2m rest) SS with HS lat pull down machine
    32kg DBs
    x 9
    x 10
    x 10

  4. HS lat pull down machine
    42.5kg Each side
    x 10
    x 10
    x 10

  5. DB shrugs SS with Hypers (1.3m rest)
    30kg DBs
    x 10
    x 10
    x 7

  6. Hypers
    x 10
    x 10
    x 10
    x 10

  7. Lat raises SS with laying leg raises (1.3m rest)
    9kg DBs
    x 10
    x 10
    x 10

  8. Laying leg raises
    x 10
    x 9
    x 8
    x 8

Another session done. I’ve got one more week of hitting it hard before another rugby game, then want to do another 6 week block of smashing my body again while eating to gain!

3 Likes

Week 30/52 24th March

Focus on mechanical tension, triple progression.

Legs and arms

  1. Smith RDL - these just didn’t feel right at all
    90kg x 8
    90kg x 5
    Then went to 28kg DBs x 8

Just felt too tight in the hips to get them back properly.

  1. Hack Squats (1.3m rest)
    40kg x 8
    60kg x 8
    80kg x 8
    100kg x 5
    40kg x 10

  2. Hip Thrust machine
    55kg
    x 12
    x 12
    x 12

Bicep & Tricep giant sets, alternatiing between them, 3 sets in total
@TrainForPain (inspired by your arm giant sets, can’t remember yours exactly though).

  1. Bicep one
    BB Curl 25kg x 10/10/8
    Hammer curl 10kg DBs x 10/8/8
    DB curl (palms up) 6kg DBs x 12/12/10

  2. Tricep one
    Metal bar pushdown x 15/15/15
    Incline French press 10kg DBs x 10/10/10
    incline close grip push up x 10/10/10

Another week done, feeling a little less stress as work has quieted a little which is good. Still got a fair bit going on at home but hopeful have a good weekend and eat to recover.

Everyone at my new work now also take the mick out of me for eating 6 boiled eggs at 10 every morning (as my mid morning snack).

That is everyone apart from the lad with massive arms!!!

6 Likes

As long as it hurts, it’s good!

1 Like

Its all good for training to take a back seat when you feel like this. Just get something in as and when you feel like it.

Without getting too hippy on you but have you ever tried meditation and breathing techniques? I am not that kinda guy but this stuff saved me.

A combination of 3 things transformed me when i was in a deep hole. Wim hoff breathing method, cold showers and a book called The Power of Now.

2 Likes

Cheers for the response. I’ve tried meditation before and it massively helps me but its just time at the moment.I need to get in to some better habits again. I think as well i normally talk to the mrs but as she is also worried about a few things i didn’t want to burden her even more and my normal group of lads mates haven’t caught up in quite some time now. in fact i’ll text them now thinking about it.

I’m brilliant at looking after work, my kids and life but not myself!

Cheers dude

2 Likes

Week 31/52 27th March

Focus on mechanical tension, triple progression.

Chest, shoulders and back

  1. BB Bench SS with 1 arm row (2m rest)
    92.5kg
    x 8
    x 6
    x 6

  2. 1 arm Row
    36kg DB
    x 8
    x 8
    x 8

  3. HS chest press SS with lat pull down (2m rest)
    HS chest
    35kg each side
    x 10
    x 10
    x 10

  4. lat Pull down
    70kg
    x 10
    x 9
    x 8

  5. Cable Lateral raise SS with laying leg raises
    cable lat raise
    20( no idea if this is pounds or KG but it wasn’t that heavy on the machine)
    x 10
    x 10
    x 10

  6. Laying leg raises
    x 10
    x 9
    x 9
    x 8

  7. Plate raises all the way over head
    10kg plate
    x 10
    x 10

I’ve got a strange week with work this week (away in York) and then playing rugby at the weekend so will definately not be pushing too hard this week. After that i think its rugby season over so i can really start pushing things again.

Also really need to re-think my split. I’ve been going through a phase of constantly changing which doesn’t really help.

I get in my head that i need more frequency but then i do it and i think i need more volume. I guess it all comes down to, can i stimulate muscle growth with 4 exercises (12 sets) per week when they arn’t all to failure. Need to re-think what i’m trying to achieve again.

6 Likes

Week 31/52 30th March

Focus on mechanical tension, triple progression.

Legs and arms - light session in theory today as i’m playing rugby on saturday.

  1. Seated Hamstring curl (1.3m rest)
    Ramp up sets
    54kg
    x 6
    x 6
    x 6

  2. Hack Squat (2m rest)
    90kg
    x 8
    x 8
    x 7

  3. Tricep pushdown SS with BB curl (1.15m rest)
    x 20
    x 20
    x 15

  4. BB Curl
    25kg
    x 12
    x 11
    x 10

  5. Incline French Press SS with hammer curls (1.15m rest)
    12kg DBs
    x 12
    x 12
    x 12

  6. Hammer curls
    10kg DBs
    x 12
    x 12
    x 12

7.Cable tricep cross body extensions (1.15m rest)
x 15
x 15
x 15

8.Cable Curls
x 15
x 15
x 15

Been an odd week this week. Was away with work in York for 2 days and although the hotel had a good gym i just slept and had a bit of a drink with the team.

Really need a bit of a reset but i’m hoping after saturday and my rugby is over for the year i can focus on finishing a 4 week gaining phase and then go back to a 2 week strict cut. Will see how i feel though.

Feeling chubbier than i’d like but also think i’ve gained some size (probably all in my head though).

6 Likes

I’ve been doing this way too much myself lately. I think the best thing for it is just picking a program (I’m gravitating way more toward 4-6 weeks than the traditional 12) and knock it out. Thinking is a stressor, so I don’t need to throw it into my gym life. Best case - the program is fun. Worst case - I hate it. Either way, I don’t think we get a cheat code to hypertrophy so we’re still headed toward the goal. It’s more a cardinal direction than a narrow path, I think, so we’re still taking steps on course.

1 Like

Week 32/52 3rd April

Focus on mechanical tension, triple progression.

Chest, shoulders and back

  1. BB bench (2m rest) SS with 1 arm DB row
    90kg
    x 8
    x 8
    x 7

  2. 1 arm DB Row
    36kg
    x 8
    x 8
    x 8

  3. Chest Press SS with lat pull down (2m rest)
    35kg each side
    x 12
    x 11
    x 10

  4. Lat Pull Down
    70kg
    x 10
    x 10
    x 8

  5. Cable lat Raises SS with abs (1.3m rest)
    Cable late raises
    20lbs i think
    x 12
    x 12
    x 12

  6. Laying leg raises
    x 10
    x 10
    x 10
    x 10

  7. Plate Raises all the way above head
    10kg
    x 10
    x 10

Not too achy from rugby but sore on shoulders and neck!!!

Still need to confirm my programme, might write up what i’m doing and get some thoughts although its hard work (maybe harder than it needs to be).

4 Likes

So looking for some thoughts on the following programme. If you feel like telling me to just go back and do a proper programme or a bro split type programme again please feel free to do so.

So programme aims, its based on triple progression, mechanical tension and progressive overload. The idea is to increase some key compound lifts while eating a surplus over the next 4-6 weeks which i think is the correct amount of time for me to add a little bit of mass without getting too fat.

Monday

  1. Chest - BB Bench 3 sets 6-8 reps SS with
  2. Lats - 1 arm DB row,3 sets 6-8 reps
  3. Upper Chest - Incline Chest Press 3 sets 10-12 reps SS with
  4. Upper back - Lat Pull down 3 sets 10-12 reps
  5. Abs 4 sets of an ab exercise
  6. Shoulders - Cable lat raises 3 sets 10-12 reps
  7. Trap exercise - OH plate raises 2 sets 10-20 reps

Tuesday

  1. Quad exercise - Hack squat 3 sets 6-8 reps
  2. Hamstring exercise - DB RDL 3 sets 10-12 reps
  3. Glute exercise - Hip thrust machine 3 sets 10-12 reps
  4. Tricep giant set or 3 exercises 3 sets
  5. Bicep giant set or 3 exercises 3 sets

Wednesday

Thursday

  1. Upper Chest - BB Incline bench 3 sets 6-8 reps SS with
  2. Lats - Cable Row,3 sets 6-8 reps
  3. Chest - DB Flat bench 3 sets 10-12 reps SS with
  4. Upper back - HS Lat Pull down machine 3 sets 10-12 reps
  5. Abs 4 sets of an ab exercise
  6. Shoulders - DB lat raises 3 sets 10-12 reps
  7. Trap exercise - DB Shrugs 2 sets 10-20 reps
  8. Lower back - Hypers 4 sets 10-20 reps

Friday

  1. Quad exercise - Hack squat 3 sets 6-8 reps
  2. Hamstring exercise - HS hamstring machine 3 sets 10-12 reps
  3. Glute exercise - Hip thrust machine 3 sets 10-12 reps
  4. Tricep giant set or 3 exercises 3 sets
  5. Bicep giant set or 3 exercises 3 sets
4 Likes

I don’t really agree with the whole triple progression thing. At least, not every part of it… but the whole “target reps” thing. Data, both anecdotal and scientific goes to support that the last 5 reps to failure are the most important. So how close to failure can you really be if your rep range is only 2 reps apart? Maybe a good cure for this is to widen the rep-ranges from 6-8 to 6-12, and 12-12 to 10-20 (it looks like you’ve done this for some items already).

-If the goal is size, BB Bench isn’t really that great IMO. DB Bench, flat and incline, are far superior. Maybe one heavy chest exercise and one light one? I’m feeling a pairing of Mon: Incline DB Bench/Flat Flye | Thurs: Flat DB Bench/Incline Flye.
-Consider a heavier shoulder exercise, either in conjunction or in addition to lat raises. Both Monday and Thursday.

-Maybe swap one day of Hack Squats out for Leg Press. This is my chosen non-powerlift heavy Quad combo.
-Swap one Hip Thrust out for Cable Pullthroughs.

I sincerely recommend looking into Jordan Peters stuff. I’ve said it a dozen times, but every guy I know whose bigger than me (and by a lot) has glowing reviews of this program, and so do I.
^You’re obviously welcome to ignore this. I bastardize nearly every program I touch and have made more custom routines for myself than anyone I know… I still find the programs written out by others to be superior. Maybe it’s because I stop looking at it as if it were an experiment needing to be tweaked.

3 Likes

Week 32/52 3rd April

Focus on mechanical tension, triple progression.

Legs and arms

  1. Seated Hamstring Curls 1.3m rest
    23kg x 8
    33kg x 8
    40kg x 8
    47kg x 8
    54kg x 8
    56.5kg x 8
    56.5kg x 8

  2. Hack Squat (2m rest)
    90kg
    x 8
    x 8
    x 8

  3. Hip thrust - waited and waited but there were 4 people on the machine for 30 minutes ffs!!!

  4. Bicep Giant sets 1.3m rest between sets
    BB curls 25kg x 12/11/10
    Hammer curls 10kg DBs x 10/8/8
    DB Curls (palms up) 8kg DBs x 8/7/8

  5. Tricep giant set 1.3m rest between sets
    Tricep pushdowns x 15/15/15
    DB french press 12kg DBs x 8/8/8
    incline close push ups x 10/10/10

Had one of those workouts where i had to wait for everything. Every single thing i wanted had some useless slow (and smaller than me) person on it…i was trying hard to be patient and not judge but some most people were wasting their time with the shit they were doing or not!!!

Moan over!!!

4 Likes

I understand what you’re saying as traditionally it’s unlikely you’d be able to get within that rep range for all 3 sets when it’s just a 2 range if you’re really going close to failure. Although triple progression as outlined by articles here pretty much ensures you are close to failure in at least a couple of your sets. The first set is a what you think is close to a rep max right out of the gate and the sets get progressively harder as you fail to hit the top end. Over the weeks the first set or two may get easier until you eventually grind out that top of the range rep on the last set before upping the weight. I don’t think there can be a question of intensity even if the rep range is small. It’s biggest issue from the flaw you pointed out is that you can progress well for a few weeks but as you become acclimated and the novelty starts to wear off, eventually you end up going so deep into sets that you inevitably end up getting below the rep range on the latter sets, This is of course why switches to different rep ranges are pushed quite regularly. It’s simple programming at its best but it does require some intelligent autoregulating to really get the best out of it. You can end up getting into that hole you implied pretty quickly otherwise.

@rugby_lifting You need to find something you believe in, you trust, and you enjoy. What’s to say in a few weeks or months from now you’ll decide this new program isn’t for you? @Andrewgen_Receptors or any number of people can say a certain method is great for these reasons and he wouldn’t be wrong. The same number of people can come in and say something else is better for other reasons. As long as you have a sensible exercise selection with a sensible progression model, and have intensity/volume/frequency balanced you WILL make progress. You give a vibe to me that you get sick of routines or question whether it’s the best thing you should be doing. Picking a program that you know 1000s of people have made progress on may be the solution to that, or if you like 80% of what you’ve been doing and making progress, you can evolve that based on feedback your body has given you. Changing an entire program that’s working because of a few variables you don’t like or believe in anymore is rarely the right thing to do. Don’t like doing a certain exercise? Swap it for another variation. Don’t like a certain rep range for that exercise? Do a different rep range. Not sure if you enjoy triple progression? Try a different progression method. The important thing is that you give each of the answers to these questions a long enough time to get the desired training effect.

Then there are the pendulum-type questions you have to ask yourself, am I recovering, is this too much volume, is this too little volume, am I going to hard, am I not going hard enough, is this balanced, maybe I shouldn’t do abs work the day before hinge work, am I neglecting my weak points etc etc.

If wanting to do this in the constructs of your own program you have to be constantly asking these questions and willing to make mistakes. Hopping on a pre-made is the done thing because 95% of these things are answered for you. Most importantly you have every reason to trust the expert as opposed to the doubt we’re always going to manifest in ourselves.

I think there are some benefits in evolving your own program over time just as there are many benefits to following a premade…but if you’re a flip-flopping around this much in your head, maybe you should let the guy who’s trained countless amounts of people with a backlog of years of success on their routines be your guide. This is coming from someone who likes to do things himself, but I’m aware of the potential drawbacks.

2 Likes

Thank you both @cdep89 & @Andrewgen_Receptors i definitely have spent too much in my head at the moment and reading too many different things and worrying/ wondering about stuff.

I need to just get a programme and stick to it while the rest of my life feels in turmoil.

2 Likes

Week 32/52 6th April

@Andrewgen_Receptors

JP PPL Push 1 - just figuring this out
2m rest of most exercises.

  1. HS Incline Press
    40kg Each side x 9 (5-9 target)
    35kg each side x 12 (10-12 target)

  2. DB Bench press
    42kg DBs x 7 (5-9 target)
    38kg DBs x 8 (10-12 target)

  3. BB OH Press (standing)
    40kg x 6 (5-9 target)
    35kg x 8 (10-12 target)

  4. Close Grip Smith Bench Press
    50kg x 9 (5-9 target)
    50kg x 12 (10-12 target) - Same weight as the first set was too easy.

  5. Pec Dec
    54kg x 20 (15-20 target)
    54kg x 15 (15-20 target)

  6. seated Lat raises
    6kg DBs x 16 (15-20 target)
    6kg DBs x 15 (15-20 target)

  7. DB Skull Crushers
    12kg DBs x 17 (10-12 target) - Got the weight too light
    12kg DBs x 12 (10-12 target)

  8. Rope push down
    8 weight x 15 (15-20 target)

  9. Abs (laying leg raises)
    x 10
    x 10
    x 8
    x 8

Didn’t take as long as i assumed it would with 9 exercises. I SS the seated Lat raises and pec dec also abs and the tricep work. I need to re-read the JP training booklet though as i need to understand what level of failure he wants. I was taking the sets to form failure (so probably had another messy rep in the tank) but that’s a hard session especially when i should have another push session in the next 4 days or so. I’ll see how i feel when i’m in the flow of it though.

5 Likes

I do believe JP says 1 minute rest, FYI.

I don’t think he says to superset, but his video content may say otherwise… haven’t gotten trough it all yet.

You did it right then. Yes the sessions are HARD. He also only recommends 3-4 training days per week, depending on the split. @throwawayfitness modified it a bit so he could train more days during the week. I’ve been sticking to the 3-4x per week but adding in lightweight pump work with cardio on ‘off days’. Whichever works for you, this training is just as intense as DC, which also only says 3-4x per week.

I’m really excited to see you running this program, especially during a bulk. I like his PPL split more than full body or upper/lower.

2 Likes

Minor update. I’ve got the week off and am just relaxing spending time with the family and having a week off the gym. Just getting my batteries recharged.

4 Likes

I find myself in agreement with everything here… even the stuff that that contradicts the other stuff!

I need to just suck it up and do the JPP deal; this site is like driving by the same billboard on my daily commute.

2 Likes

Week 33/52 13th April

A quick session I managed to get in while the kids were busy and I’d done enough to appease the wife.

Kind of a JP upper session but didn’t plan it so was off the cuff.

  1. DB bench
    42kg DBs x 8 (5-9 target)
    38kg DBs x 9 (10-12 target)

  2. HS row upper back focus
    40kg each side x 12 (5-9 target) too light
    40kg each side x 10 (10-12 target)

  3. HS incline press
    42kg each side x 9 (5-9 target)
    37kg each side x 12 (10-12 target)

  4. Lat pull over HS machine
    40kg each side x 12 (5-9 target)
    50kg each side x 10 (10-12 target)

  5. Lat raises seated
    6kg DBs
    X 17 (15-20)
    X 17 (15-20)

  6. Preacher curls
    10kg dbs x 12
    10kg dbs x 12

  7. Cable curl
    Drop set, 3 drops

  8. Incline skull crushers
    14kg each side x 15 (10-12 target)
    16kg each side x 12 (10-12 target)

  9. Tricep Pushdowns rope
    Drop set - moving in after each rep

  10. Laying leg raises
    X 12
    X 10
    X 8
    X 6

Probably won’t get another session in this week so I’ll start afresh with JP PPL on Monday.

3 Likes

Puhlease let me know when you do this.

I dropped some videos of his (only the best ones) in an article/video dump i made, if either of you are into casually/not-casually listening to this stuff.

3 Likes