I keep thinking about starting a log and figured I’d finally get around to doing it. First, a bit of background. I’ve been lifting for 30+ years. 18 of those were competitive powerlifting, 40 meets both equipped and raw. That plus being too heavy plus various sports have left me with some beat up knees, a couple of bicep tears and some wear and tear on my shoulders. So, no more powerlifting for me – my goals are to keep the muscle I’ve got while continuing to slowly get a bit leaner and possibly drop some bodyweight along the way.
Second, current stats. 225#, 20.3% BF per my last DEXA. This was up 5.3# of lean tissue, down 3.8# of fat and down 1.8% BF since the prior years DEXA scan (I’m using the scans like a yearly physical – making sure I’m either maintaining or heading in the right direction). 43 years old.
My training the last eight weeks and the next eight weeks is inspired by this article: Total Body Training. I say inspired by as I’ve had to make enough modifications to this that it probably isn’t fair to say I’m following it.
Neutral Grip Overhead 3x8x135
D bell laterals 3x8x30
Angles 90 Pull-ups 8,8,6
T Bar Rows 2x8x120, 10x120
2x mini band ball leg curls 3x12
Zercher Squats 3x8x155
L sits 3x15 seconds
First try in a while with the Zerchers. Felt great on my knees, not so much on my left arm — got some solid numbness in my forearm that still hasn’t dissipated. The left is the arm I tore my bicep on twice and so I’ll be substituting something else for these next week.
Neutral Grip Bench: 2x15x195
Dbell Flies + Mini: 2x15x25
Dbell Rows: 2x15x80
Face pulls: 15x45, 15x55
GH Raises (hands at sides): 2x15
Sled (tank): two trips at setting 3
Backwards sled (tank): two trips at setting 2
Roman Chair Situps: 2x20
Weekly average bodyweight: 225.3
I realized I can rig something that will approximate a belt squat with just the equipment I have already, so I’m going to give that a whirl for my squat movement this coming week.
26.5 mile bike, ~1800 feet of climbing. Beautiful day for a ride; so grateful to live in an area where I can cycle in shorts and short sleeves in the middle of November.
First time in a long time I’ve been over 300 on the RDL. And I got to mess around with my new 100s, so a good session. I continue to be surprised how much I like the antagonist weeks.
12.5 mile bike, about 700 feet of climbing. Its getting harder to get these in before it gets dark. Might need to start sneaking away over the noon hour instead.
Neutral Grip Overhead 3x8x140
Angles 90 Pull-ups 4x8
D bell laterals 3x8x30
T Bar Rows 2x8x135, 10x135
GH Raises 3x8x10, 8x15
Belt Squat 2x8x180, 15x180
Squat up to 8x225
L sits 3x15 seconds
It was fun rigging the belt squat up and it felt like a good movement. Not a great choice for a day where I was supposed to do sets of 8. I’ll bring this back later in the cycle on a high rep day. Regular squats felt pretty good. I’m cautiously optimistic that when I become able to do the ATG split squat on the ground that I might be able to return to some light squatting. We’ll see.
Mini band pullaparts 2x30
HS Incline Bench 2x15x90
HS Iso Low Row 15x70, 15x80
Flies 15x115, 15x145 (had to switch machines)
Dbell Rows 2x15x85
Leg Curls 2x15x98
Leg Press 2x15x540
Med ball abs
Weekly average bodyweight: 224
It’s been a bit since I’ve been in a gym. I miss the machines but doing antagonist training in my garage is so much easier. It will be interesting to see what a week in flyover country does to my bodyweight.
Mini band pullaparts 2x30
Floor press 4x5x235
Pendlay Row 4x5x235
Barbell curls 4x5x95
Floor Tricep Ext. 4x5x45
Deadlifts 4x5x315
Goblet Bulgarian Split Squat 4x5x80
L Sits 3x15 seconds
60 seconds rest all sets. Good session back in the garage. I only trained once while in flyover country but got plenty of exercise unpacking and hauling boxes out of the inlaws’ basement – filled a two car garage with trash and donated just under 50 banker’s boxes of books. It’s been ages since I deadlifted from the floor. My knees seemed to tolerate it okay, but boy does 60 seconds rest on those suck even when the weight is not heavy.
Mini band pullaparts 2x30
Viking press 4x8x115 (plate weight only)
Neutral grip pullups 2x8, 2x6
Rear laterals 3x8x15, 10x15
Ring Rows 4x8
GH raises 4x8x10
Front squat 4x8x155, 5x185
Hanging leg raises 3x12
90 seconds rest. Slowly trying to re-introduce some lifts that have bothered my knees to see how they go. It seems good so far with nothing beyond my normal level of knee soreness following a leg workout. I’m also 90% of the way to not caring about the weight on the bar for these. It’s still a little bit of a challenge not to think about what I used to lift on these movements but I keep telling myself those numbers (and really any numbers) just aren’t relevant to my current goals.
Mini band pullaparts 2x30
Neutral grip bench. 2x15x200, 9x200
Incline Dbell + mini band flies 3x15x25
Dbell rows. 3x15x80
Face pulls. 3x15x55
Ball leg curls + mini band 2x15, 20
Sled 3x250ish feet at setting 3
Weekly average bodyweight: 223.7
120 seconds rest. I ran headfirst into a wall on the last set of neutral grip bench. Two flat pressing movements in the same week is probably a poor choice for me at this point. Will probably switch this day’s chest movement to incline dumbbells, maybe with a mini band, next week. Good session otherwise – I’m liking having one day where my leg workout is mostly heavy sled pushes.
60 seconds rest. When I started this program I hated the 60 second rest days. Now I kinda like them – helps get the session done quickly while still doing a good bit of work. And it is hardest obviously on my lower body movements!
Mini band pullaparts 2x30
Viking press 4x8x125 (plate weight only)
Neutral grip pullups 4x8
Rear laterals 4x10x15
Ring Rows 4x10
GH raises 4x8
Front squat 4x8x165
Hanging leg raises 3x12
90 seconds rest. Good session with progress on a number of fronts. It shouldn’t surprise me at this point that I can do more weight during the antagonist weeks – the extra rest seems to help – but for some reason it still does.
10ish mile bike ride. Cold and mostly flat. Supposed to rain all next week starting on Sunday, so I might have to break down and go to the gym for some cardio. Just can’t stand wearing a mask while doing anything that resembles hard cardio. Oh well.
Mini band pullaparts 2x30
Incline Dbell Bench 3x15x80
Dbell rows. 3x15x80
Incline Dbell + mini band flies 3x15x25
Face pulls. 2x15x60, 15x70
Ball leg curls + mini band 4x15
Sled 3x250ish feet at setting 3
Weekly average bodyweight: 223.8
120 seconds rest. Incline dumbbell bench was a better choice this week than the neutral grip bench last week. Two more weeks of training and then a week off for Christmas.