Thankyou merry Christmas to you to.
#Happy holigains
My parents have got me a really nice blender for Christmas so that’s one more reason I have to get enough calories. I can’t wait to make all sorts of drinks with it.
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Circuit of:
Deadlift 60ish x 5
Overhead press 30ish x5
Band pull aparts x10
10 rounds of above
Just drilling technique really and there’s not much else I can do in my garage. I paused all of my presses, this is something I wasn’t doing before but I want to in my next cycle. Also doubled up as somewhat of a conditioning exercise. I tried to take minimal rest between sets, didn’t time but whole thing took 20-30 minutes.
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I forgot to note yesterday that I was setting up my deadlift with the bar a lot closer to my shins than usual. I’ve been moving it further and further away the last few months in an effort to involve my quads more for some reason but after reading about setting up some more I think I need it closer.
As a result I have terrible DOMS in my hamstrings today which I don’t usually get so I think I must be using them a lot more.
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I’m going abroad for a week with my family tomorrow so I’m not going to be in the gym at all.
I’m back from a great holiday and raring to go back into the gym. All this time off seems to have ignited some sort of flame and I feel like I’m going to come back extremely focussed. Training, nutrition and recovery are all going to be improved.
I’ve one more week before I go back to university so I’m going to try and get in the gym 3-4 times to get ready for the training to come.
Today I’ve been doing a few random body weight exercises mainly just to loosen up and get moving. I tried body weight rear elevated split squats and I’m finding them difficult, I didn’t realise how bad my balance was. I’m also finding they hurt what I suppose is my big toe knuckle (don’t know what to call it) on my elevated foot as it rubs on the surface. Doesn’t exactly feel like pain from just straight pressure so I dont know if this is normal.
@MarkKO I got the idea to do them from you, any tips?
They suck but you get better at them quickly. That’s about the measure of any advice I can give.
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07/01/17
Rack pulls from just below the knee (straps): 60x5x2, 100x5, 120x3, 140x0, 100x10 (stopped to redo straps) +5
I had 140kg in mind coming into this but I’d incorrectly remembered the rack height and thought it was above the knee. All my other sets felt pretty fast. It’s worth noting I lowered the weights fairly slowly because the rack is very small and light and I didn’t want to damage it or anything like that, probably being over cautious, but going down was probably harder than coming up for that reason. I held the last rep of 100kg for a 10 count, my upper back felt pretty tired after and I was a bit light headed.
Squat:
60x10x3
This was really difficult, after sets two and three I was sat with my head between my legs trying not to be sick. I’m not sure why it was so hard; could be time off, lack of conditioning or previous work. I nearly called it a day here I didn’t feel like I’d anything left.
Bench press superset with dumbbell rows: 60x5x3/14x10x3
This wasn’t too difficult but I felt very weak by this point. My bench press technique feels brilliant. Leg drive feels really powerful and definitely helps and by the third set I felt like my upper back was really locked in and strong.
Feels great to be back in the gym and start with a really good tough workout. I’m getting some scales today so I’m going to start weighing myself daily. They also claim to measure bodyfat, I doubt it’ll be accurate but I can use it to measure progress.
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10/01/17
Seated OHP superset with swiss bar rows:
20x10x5/40x10x5 (weight on bar)
The presses got a bit hard towards the end, last two sets I had to take a few seconds break around the 5th rep with the weight overhead. I like being able to row with a neutral grip.
Press ups superset with lat pull-downs:
BWx15, 12, 10, 8, 5/40x12x5
Aimed for 50 reps with the press ups and it was pretty easy so I’m happy with that, next time I’ll do it in 4 sets.
Single arm dumbbell carries: 16x50m each arm
Bodyweight squats: x5
Punch bag: 30s
All of above x3 with no rest.
This was a nice little finisher, it wasn’t too hard but it got my heart rate up and got some blood into my legs after my last workout. Whole workout took about 45 minutes.
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12/01/17
BW today and yesterday morning was 84.9kg.
I missed the bus to the gym and was meeting my girlfriend after so I couldn’t wait for another and just walked instead. It’s about 3 miles and took me around 40 minutes. Unfortunately it only left me with about 30 minutes in the actual gym though. This meant my rest periods were all basically non existent.
Deadlift superset with broad jumps:
60x3, 80x3, 100x3/5x3
Deadlifts felt okay but a bit slow; I don’t feel like I have lost much, if any, strength though. Jumps were fun and it’s the first time I’ve done them. I’m going to be doing them regularly when I start my next cycle of 5/3/1.
Squats superset with bench and row warm ups:
20x5, 60x5x3
Initially I wanted to do three sets of ten but I was pretty tired at this point so I cut it to sets of five. They all felt fast and easy.
Bench press superset with dumbbell rows:
50x10, x8, x6/16x10x3
Had ten minutes left for this so I did each set back to back with no rest hence the drop off in strength.
It was fun to train like this and surprising what I could get done in so little time. My heart rate was high the whole time and I was sweating a lot. I can definitely see how doing this regularly would really build up my conditioning and work capacity. The only problem is it requires more space and equipment which wouldn’t really be practical in the busy university gym. It’s definitely something I will go back to though if I do have the space.
This will probably be my last workout before I go back to university on Sunday then I’ll start 5/3/1 for hardgainers on the Monday.
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Fixed it for you.
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I dont get what you mean haha.
I’m going to set myself some nutrition goals to go alongside my training ones. These are short term and something I can work on daily which will combine to help get the big goals I’ve set for March.
1) Eat the same amount of calories each day (starting at 3000 then see where weight goes).
2) Eat at least 5 pieces of fruit or veg a day.
3) Take my vitamin and fish oil tablets each day.
4) Eat a gram of protein per pound of bodyweight daily.
Including these there’s quite a few things extra I’m going to be doing weekly so to keep myself accountable I’ll do a summary post at the end of each week. It will include my average daily calories, how often I did conditioning, recovery work etc and if I failed to meet any of my daily goals.
I’ve found in the past the best way for me to pick up new habits and stick to things is to be strict in tracking them hence why I’ve set so many small goals. I’m leaving no stone unturned.
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17/01/17 5/3/1 for hardgainers W1D1
Bench press (TM-65):
20x10, 30x5, 42.5x5, 47.5x5, 55x5x5
I really like this rep scheme, it was nice to do a lot of benching. Sets felt average but the last couple were nice and fast.
Cable row (50 reps):
30x12, 10, 10, 10, 8
Squeezed really hard at the top and tried slowing the eccentric. Will increase weight to 35kg when I can do it in 4 sets.
Incline dumbbell press (100 reps):
10sx 24, 20, 17, 17, 14, 8
Would have liked to do this in 5 sets but it’s not a big deal. Next heaviest dumbbell free was 22kg so I decided to go for 100 reps instead of 50 but would rather try 50 next time.
Pallof press: 10x3
Boxing pad work: 10 mins
Enjoyed my first day of hardgainers and looking forward to squats tomorrow. I’m missing the jumps from the beginning of the workout but I’ll try and add some in after some days, I also do quite a few in kickboxing.
BW: 85.2kg
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18/01/17 5/3/1 for hardgainers W1D2
Squat (TM-80) superset with neutral grip chins::
20x8, 40x5, 50x5, 60x5, 70x5, 50x20
Two chins between each set for a total of 12.
The gym was really busy so I had my friend and another guy working in with me and I forgot to do my plus set. I’m a bit annoyed because 70 felt good and fast but at least I had more energy for the 20 rep set. The 20 reps were good and bad; my quads and breathing actually felt okay which usually hold me back but my right calf and the right side of my back were aching like crazy which could be some kind of imbalance.
I think I need to get some squat shoes or at least something more sturdy because I feel really unstable at the bottom. I currently do everything in new balance trainers, they don’t have much of a sole to compress but there’s very little support.
Dumbell overhead press (50 reps):
10s x10, 10, 10, 10, 10
Very hard, basically rest pause for the last two sets.
Crunch machine (100 reps):
10 x20, 20, 20, 20, 20
Lat pull down (50 reps with chins):
50x 10, 10, 9, 6
Only got 47 total because I failed on the last two sets. I was working in with someone again so there was only like 30s rest and I was just spent by this point.
I think I went a bit hard on the assistance today but at least I know I aren’t slacking off. It feels nice to have done a lot of hard work. I had a great pump in my legs, shoulders, back and forearms. I did a lot of my work last night so I’ve got the rest of the day off now to relax and drink milk.
I can feel a little bit of forearm pain now and again which is probably from the increased frequency pushing and pulling so I’ll keep and eye on that. Diet is going good so far too.
BW: 85.7kg
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Hard to go past Chucks as an all round lifting shoe.
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I think it’s either going to be them or some adidas powerlifts but I’m a bit short on money at the minute.
i agree with markko and especially if you´re short on money should definitely go with the chucks they are great and cheap i personally use them for all my lifts
i see we started our logs roughly at the same time and you asked for my 5-3-1 excel, i hope it helped you
great progress so far keep it up!
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UK 9 why?