Doing well right now. Thank you for asking.
Making slooooowww progress, but that’s better than no progress!
Good to see you are still at it.
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Hey TnT here’s a little something I’ve been doing lately for several minutes a day.
I started sitting in the 3’rd world squat, trying to have my feet straight ahead at a bit less than shoulder width. But I sit a bit wider with feets pointing out working on it. Doing it for at least 5 minutes a day, started with several 1 minutes sits and can now sit for 5 minutes. But usually just doing it for 2 - 3 minutes at a time.
Now I’ve started this one after I’ve gotten used to sitting down there. My hips, ankles, lower back, knees everything is feeling damn good.
Ido Portal is his name and here’s the video:
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Back to posting more regularly!
2/11/19, Monday
LISS
- 2.2 mile road ruck, 23 lb. pack, 34:27
A quick, short stomp around the hillier parts of my neighborhood before my nephew’s birthday dinner.
2/14/19, Thursday
Deadlifts ‘n’ stuff
Warm-up - pull-aparts / ab wheel
2x red band x 3 x 20 / knees x bx x 5
Deficit deadlifts / jump rope
145 x 10 (sg) / single jump x 25
185 x 6 (sg) / sgl x 25
225 x 5 (sg) / sgl x 25
255 x 3 (sg) / sgl x 25
285 x 3 (doh) / sgl x 25
305 x 5 (doh) / sgl x 25
305 x 5 (doh) / sgl x 25
305 x 5 (doh) / sgl x 25
Weighted pushups on handles
bw x 15
25 x 10
25 x 10
25 x 10
25 x 10
bw x 20
Towel pullups / step-ups
bw x 5 / bw x 20
bw x 5 / bw x 20
bw x 5 / bw x 20
bw x 4 / bw x 20
Lateral raises / DB triceps extensions
13 x 20 / 55 x 20
13 x 20 / 55 x 20
13 x 20 / 55 x 15
This workout smoked me. I missed the squats workout eqrlier in the week from a combo of a strained back and dinner for my birthday (41- yay?!) 
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2/16/19, Saturday
Walk-run + 100-meter test jog
- 0.5 mile warm-up, stretching, mobility
- Around a 400-meter track, 2 miles alternating fast jog on 100-meter straights and walking the 100-meter curves
- 24-ish seconds 100 meter test jog
- Total timed distance: 2.5 miles, 35:09
Cold weather, wind, wearing a 5-pound hydration pack and 2-3 layers… Those are my reasons for a super slow jog! It’ll get better, of that I’m confident.
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Happy birthday from earlier in the week. Good to see you back loggin
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Happy birthday!
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Thank you @simo74 @ChickenLittle! Having birthdays beats the alternative, eh?
Thanks for the mobility link @mortdk, I’m looking forward to giving it a proper go.
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2/20/19, Wednesday
Upper body 2
Warm-up: BPA / ab wheel rollouts
2x red x 22 / knees x 6
2x red x 22 / knees x 6
2x red x 22 / knees x 7
My shoulders were on fire from the BPAs, and last week’s three ab wheel sets left me sore for days! I’ve found a good warm-up for the upper body days.
Push-ups on handles / towel pullups
bw x 15 / bw x 5
15 x 10 / bw x 6
25 x 12 / bw x 6
25 x 12 / bw x 5
25 x 12 / bw x 4
bw x 21 / 55 x 15 (db rows)
I added one more set of towel pullups and one burnout of db rows - my bicpes, forearms, and lats were pumped. I did a total of 26 pullups, 7 more than last week, and push-ups increased a little in total weight lifted.
1-arm lateral raises
15 x 15
15 x 15
15 x 16
15 x 15
I’d like more delt mass and strength. OHP still bugs my shoulder, so I’m doing higher-rep lateral raises instead.
Standing DB triceps extensions
55 lbs x 3 sets x 52 reps (increase next week)
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I can use some help with my current lifting program. Any feedback or insight you have is appreciated!
The full-body sessions have left me drained for days. When doing the deadlift workout last week, after finishing DLs and push-ups, I felt like I’d completed a good day’s exercises… then I did four more lifts.
I only improve if I work each muscle group twice per week. I recently read a Paul Carter article about doing an upper/lower split four times a week using two lifts each session which really resonated. As long as I don’t go overboard with assistance exercises, the upper-lower split is a very feasible program for the foreseeable future.
My primary goal is improved performance at a few lifts/movements:
Front squat 225 x 5
Deficit deadlift 305 x 3 x 10
Weighted push-ups 50 x 3 x 10
Towel pullups at least 10 good reps, then add weight
Slowly improve run times at the 4 distances Mort suggested (100 meters, 400 meters, 1 kilometer, 1 mile.)
I won’t cry if I add a little muscle mass to my pecs and delts and burn some fat off my stomach, hence the accessories I’ve chosen. While these physique goals are secondary, I think they complement the performance goals.
My proposed program is:
Upper body 1
- Warm up - 3 supersets BPAs and ab wheel
- DB press 5 x 6-8, 1 push-ups max reps
- Rows 5 x 10, 1 towel pullups max reps
- Optional accessories - any or none of 3 sets of curls, rear delt flyes, pec flyes
Lower body 1
- Warm-up - 2 sets single leg curls w/ plates looped to an ankle cuff, 2 light sets of paused single-leg glute bridges.
- Front squats 5 x 3 or 6 x 2 (very low, ramping reps), 1 back squats burnout 15-20 reps
- RDLs 4 x 8
- Optional accessories - 4 flutter kicks supersetted w/ RDLs, 3 sets single leg DB calf raises
UB 2
- Warm-up same as day 1
- Weighted push-ups 4 x 10-15, 1 bw max reps burnout
- Towel pullups 5 x bodyweight til I’m at 5 x 8, then add light weight, 1 DB row 15-20
LB 2
- Warm-up same as LB 1
- Deficit deadlifts 5 warm-ups, 305 x 3 sets x work up to 10 reps/set
- Step-ups 4 x 25+ with bodyweight or 4 x 12-15 with a barbell
- Optional accessories - jump rope, possibly supersetted with deadlifts or step-ups, flutter kicks supersetted with step-ups
Run - one day per week, continuing the method @mortdk gave me.
Don’t completely give up on whole-body sessions. You might want to cut the volume per exercise down a little though. I’m doing a modified 5/3/1 whole body program where I do a main lift giant set and then an accessory giant set 3 days per week, and I’m getting through it in 45-55 minutes, plus conditioning. 1 day off is plenty of time to recover, and you get a 2 day rest once a week.
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Thanks for the reply, @OTHSteve. Do you have a log here? If so, I’ll check it out and see what type of volume per lift you do. I run into programming and energy problems trying to cover all the bases my inner bodybuilder demands while simultaneously focusing on lift improvement. My equipment is very limited right now too, hence the higher volume and alternative lifts.
Sure, give it a read. I just started the second cycle of the program I described, and I’m pretty happy with it right now. I’ve almost always followed some form of 5/3/1, but I came up with this variation to hit conditioning more, as well as train less frequently and give myself more recovery, while I’m trying to lose weight for the t-ransformation2019 challenge. Be warned, you have to dig a little to find my training logs since the first of the year, because I’m also logging food and weight, so every post isn’t a workout like it used to be.
It’s no secret that I’m a huge fanboy of CT’s Simple Guaranteed Size & Strength Program. I think it would benefit you, but I wouldn’t use the cookie cutter approach.
Upper Body Day 1
Primary Lift: 3 x 8
Primary Antagonist: 3 x 8
Secondary/Assistance Lift: 3 x 8
Secondary/Assistance Antagonist: 3 x 8
Assistance Exercise-Your Choice: 3 x 12
Lower Body Day 1
Primary Lift: 3 x 8
Secondary Lift: 3 x 8
Assistance Lift: 3 x 8
Assistance Lift: 3 x 8
Loaded Carry: 3 x 60 m
Okay, so that’s the SGSS template. Upper and Lower Day 2 is the same as Day 1 but you do 5 sets of everything instead of 3 sets. Based on what you’ve listed as your goals and your layout, this is what I’d do.
Upper Day 1
Weighted Push Ups 3 x 8
Pull Up Variation 3 x 8
DB Press 3 x 8
DB Row 3 x 8
Optional Accessory Lift 3 x 12
Lower Day 1
Front Squat 3 x 8
Deficit Deadlift 3 x 8
RDL’s 3 x 8
Step Ups or Lunges 3 x 8 ea
Optional Accessories
Upper Day 2
Weighted Push Ups 5 x 8
Pull Up Variation 5 x 8
DB Press 5 x 8
DB Row 5 x 8
Optional Accessory Lift 5 x 12
Lower Day 2
Front Squat 5 x 8
Deficit Deadlift 5 x 8
RDL’s 5 x 8
Step Ups or Lunges 5 x 8 ea
Optional Accessories
There are four phases to the program but you could stop at any time and repeat or change programs. Each phase is three weeks long.
Phase One: sets of 8
Phase Two: sets of 5
Phase Three: sets of 3
Phase Four: 5/4/3/2/1 each day (probably skip this phase for your goals)
The progression is simple. Add 5 to 10 lbs each week. Add 10-20 lbs when you change phases (from week 3 to 4, week 6 to 7, etc).
For front squat, the estimated 1RM of 225 x 5 is 262. I say you shoot for a 1RM of 265. I use that to determine your weights by working backwards. If you were to do the entire program then 255-265 would be your week 12 weight. By simple subtraction from week to week you’d be using 125 lbs for week 1.
For your deadlift goal the estimated 1RM for 305 x 10 is a little over 405. You want to do multiple sets of that so it would wouldn’t be a true 10RM so you’d need to do more than 405 (theoretically) to do 305 x 10 multiple times. I looked back and saw that you pulled 305 x 5 for 3 sets a week ago. I think you could start week 1 at 255-275 lbs and progress from there.
For the other lifts, I’ll let you figure out where to start. The way I ran the program was by starting absurdly light. I had goal numbers in mind at week 12 and I simply did the math backwards from there to figure out where to start. I jumped 10 lbs each week and 20 lbs between phases since the reps drop.
I never grinded a rep and definitely never failed a rep. If I were to pursue a strength goal right now then this is the program I’d run. Your goals are higher reps than a 1RM so you could run phase one and two and then reset back to week one at higher weights and progress again.
You don’t have to run this for all lifts either. You could use this progression for front squats and deadlifts and do something different on everything else. I had such great success with this that I have no reason to use any other type of progression to improve one of my lifts. I’m all kinds of beat up but I could still use this progression on one particular lift.
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I can vouch for SGSS that @Frank_C mentions, did it last autumn.
@OTHSteve and his giantsetted 531 looks very intriguing to me.
However I think your plan looks pretty good and I would give it a couple of month to see how it goes.
I would do some delt work on day 1 and again on day 3 finishing with 2 - 3 sets of a high rep delt exercise.
On day 3 I would do some extra for pec’s.
Then I would add some ab work, as a superset to the main lift. Obliques on UB days and sixpack on LB days.
Whatever you decide I’ll be cheering.
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How long do you want to spend in the gym? As you know I basically full body twice a week. One session focused on squats and bench with accessories and one on deadlift and bench again or oh press (I switch them out depending on goals). I basically bench and squat twice a week and deadlift once. Then just add other accessories like rows, pull ups,
Push ups etc. I find if i moderate the volume across the week then it’s not too hard on the body. If the volume gets too high the workouts get a little long and this can be hard.
cough Conjugate cough
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Looks like there’s a fresh batch of Koolaid going around…
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I’m sure it’s delicious Kool-aid, but I like the brand I drink. It’s good for mixing with other things.
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Don’t think of it like drinking the Kool Aid.
It’s more like the scales falling from your eyes.
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