Thanks, I truly appreciate it. It’s important for me to hear as I often think about some of the weights I’ve lifted in the past or dwell on where I could be without the wrist injury. I am way more well-rounded now though with a more varied exercise selection, and my relative strength is likely a lot higher than it’s been previously.
3 Likes
08-09-2023
Seated OHP
57.5kg x 8
55kg x 10
50kg x 12
DB Bench
36kg x 9
34kg x 11
Chin-ups
27.5kg x 6
22.5kg x 7
Machine Shoulder Press
62.5kg x 10
57.5kg x 11
Cable row straight bar
95kg x 13
95kg x 13
Cable flies
30kg x 12
30kg x 7
Hell yeah! I was stuck on 6 reps for the top set of Seated OHP for 3 weeks but today got a solid 8. The 8th rep was easier than last week’s grind for 6 as well! I regularly talk about trusting the process, a “plateau” is rarely an actual plateau. I believe this is where a lot of guys trip up. On many movements +1 every week just isn’t feasible, even just one +1 a month on OHP could add up to 40lbs on a max over the course of a year. And who wouldn’t take that?
I’m being a bit naughty with my chin-up progression. My plan is 5-7 then up the weight but I keep wanting to hit new milestones. It’s working so far which is super surprising now I’m bulking. Chuffed to bits with that. Might hit the BW + 30kg for 5 next week if I’m feeling it!
+1s everywhere else. Cable flies felt super heavy but maybe I wasn’t really for the progression.
5 Likes
SLDL
135kg x 7
130kg x 9
Leg Press (super narrow to avoid adductor involvement)
100kg x 17
100kg x 17
Leg curls
60kg x 10
60kg x 10
60kg x 8
Lunges
48kg x 10 each leg I think
15-20mins adductor rehab.
A shorter session today as I couldn’t get to the gym yesterday. Usually I do Limbs here, so some arm stuff as well, but as I can’t have a days rest inbetween I dropped it so I can still do Chest, Shoulders, and Back tomorrow.
SLDL felt good. I’ve always hated leg press as I never quite worked out how much I’ve got left in the tank. I often feel like I can take a second or two and still grind another rep out. For example a set of 10 could feel like close to failure but with real drive I can take it as far as I want (within reason) if I take a few seconds at the top. Anyway, really felt my quads after finishing these which usually I don’t which was nice. The weight was humbling, but no adductor pain!
Leg curls I’ve switched to 3 sets. With top set back off I find myself using momentum, cheating a bit much and forcing progress. Riding out 3 sets for a while and slowing down the movement, not forcing the last rep or two I feel would be the smart thing to do.
I felt like my tear got a pump after doing the adductor rehab stuff. Was weird.
6 Likes
11-09-2023
Bench
92.5kg x 6
85kg x 10
77.5kg x 12
One-Arm DB Rows
50kg x 17
50kg x 16
One-Arm Seated DB Press
30kg x 10/9
28kg x 13/10
28kg x 4 (a little untimed rest pause for weaker wrist)
V-Handle Pulldowns
95kg x 8
85kg x 12
Dips
30kg x 8
25kg x 8
Lat raises
10kg x 12
10kg x 12
10kg x 8
Still moving forward. Happy with my bench at the moment, linearly progressing each week keeping the same amount of reps whilst adding 5lb.
With last weeks 27.5kg x 8 on Dips, the 30kg milestone was looking at me. I had to go for it. I managed to get 8 but that last rep felt like time slowed down as I ground it out. I’m not sure what I expected with the back-off set because that first set was everything I had. I busted out 8 with the 25kg but for some reason went for a 9th, stayed with it for ages but there was no way it was happening.
5 Likes
That’s great work. You wait until you have two 20kg plates for reps!
1 Like
I expect it to slow down dramatically at some point. In one month I’ve added 10kg/22lb to my Dips 8 rep max whilst bulking.
Honestly, the progress I’ve had on them is insane. It’s not as if it’s a new exercise for me. I even feel I’ve gotten more comfortable and actually maybe even going into deeper ranges of motion over this time.
Elbows are irritated today though. I took that first set to the absolute limit, I don’t know why I put myself through a long grind and failure in the second set. Oh well. Will see how the elbows feel tomorrow because I’m hoping to hit some tricep pushdowns.
3 Likes
13-09-2023
Squats
125kg x 6
115kg x 11
RDL
150kg x 8
142.5kg x 8
Leg Extension
97.5kg x 10
90kg x 12
Ez bar curls
42.5kg x 12
42.5kg x 9
RP + 3 (holy grind shitballs)
Tricep pushdowns
32.5kg x 13
32.5kg x 10
RP + 5
Decent session. Not sure what to think about the top set of squats, for some reason I completely changed my form… it was NOT comfortable, my depth was questionable and my back felt a little irritated from it, I’ve never had back irritation from squats before. I went straight back to my usual form for the back-off set and got a +1 so i’ll take it.
RDL top set was a +2 which is awesome. I didn’t rest as long as I usually do for the second set but I should still be happy with it. Some tough +1s elsewhere in the workout. Finally got the 10th rep on leg extension after a little bit of paused progress. Finished up with some adductor rehab.
6 Likes
15-09-2023
Seated OHP
60kg x 6
57.5kg x 10
52.5kg x 11
DB Bench
38kg x 7
36kg x 10
Chin-ups
30kg x 5
25kg x 6
Machine Shoulder Press
65kg x 10
60kg x 11
Cable row straight bar
100kg x 10
100kg x 10
Cable flies
30kg x 12
30kg x 11
Another good session. I love how I was stuck on 57.5kg x 6 for 3 weeks on Seated OHP and now just two weeks later hit it for 10 on a backoff set.
Someone tried to tell me my first rep of chins doesn’t count because I do it standing on the platforms on the rack. It’s still full range of motion, piss off. 30kg x 5. Chuffed with that. Back-off set I expect 7 but I can’t be too disheartened. I do reckon this progress on chins will stop pretty abruptly now though. I’ll be happy to maintain or add a rep every couple of weeks during this bulk. I will still be fighting for progression though.
Had 3 people tell me I look younger the past few days. I don’t know what’s caused the coincidence, but I’m not gonna complain!
I’m also noticing a ton of people are doing 60degree inclines and calling them shoulder presses. What’s that all about?
6 Likes
I had an interview with Ultimate Performance in January (they are a big body transformation PT company) and during my case study I put OHP in and was told 60 degree incline is their shoulder pressing/ seated OHP because of people’s lack of shoulder mobility.
I guess the trend is based on that
2 Likes
Maybe that could be it.
If shoulder mobility is good and injuries aren’t holding someone back, I can’t see a reason to pick that movement other than to manufacture higher numbers that aren’t real for an actual shoulder press. There are already too many people pretending that overhead press doesn’t hit your side delts, and then people do stuff like this reducing the involvement even more. I’m sure there is a place for it in certain trainees, I believe that every exercise has a use and things can become very nuanced. Calling it a shoulder press when it’s a high incline seems silly to me though.
I could just be being overly critical. I’ve just seen people boasting about hitting certain weights with this “shoulder press” when their chest does so much of the work.
3 Likes
17-09-2023
SLDL
137.5kg x 7
132.5kg x 9
Leg Press (super narrow to avoid adductor involvement)
110kg x 15
110kg x 16
Leg curls
62.5kg x 9
62.5kg x 8
62.5kg x 8
Quick 5-10mins adductor rehab.
A relatively short session today. After crap sleep on Friday night I skipped Saturday and talked myself into actually having the weekend off - which I then went against! I had a spare hour so went in and got this done. I actually find these shorter “lower” sessions on the weekend quite motivating. As long as I can get a minimum of these 3 movements in I’m satisfied. If I go in Saturday I want it to be legs and arms, but going in on a Sunday and missing out on a bicep and tricep exercise because I have Upper the next day doesn’t seem to bother me. Optionally adding lunges if I feel like it without the pressure to do them feels good too.
When will I grow out of my insecurity of “I hope people realize these are SLDLs and I can actually lift more than this”?
Anyway. Looking forward to Upper tomorrow.
6 Likes
With my limited shoulder mobility 60 degrees would probably suit me just fine. I can fully understand that with a lot of peoples poor mobility these days.
2 Likes
18-09-2023
Bench
95kg x 5
87.5kg x 8
80kg x 10
One-Arm DB Rows
50kg x 18
50kg x 16
One-Arm Seated DB Press
32kg x 7/6
30kg x 11/9
RP + 2 for weaker wrist
V-Handle Pulldowns
95kg x 8 (really disappointed with this set, everything felt wrong)
87.5kg x 11 (kinda 12 but no)
Dips
32.5kg x 6
25kg x 9
Lat raises
10kg x 13
10kg x 14
RP + 7
I got some new wrist wraps to try out today. Believe it or not I’ve just been using the one on my bad wrist because I lost the other one and was too lazy to reorder. The bench felt weird and heavy in the warm-ups as maybe a bit of a breaking-in thing/getting used to wearing 2 wrist wraps again. I still somehow got the weight up and progressed though. Just waiting to hit the 100kg for 6 that I did before the injury and weight-loss - not far off whilst being 10kg lighter!
Pretty straight forward session otherwise, one or two bad sets I’m disappointed in but progress mostly. I did say my Dips are gonna get harder! There was no way I can linearly progress anymore. Take the PR and hopefully work it up to a set of 8 over the next few weeks.
6 Likes
20-08-2023
Squats
125kg x 5
117.5kg x 10
RDL
152.5kg x 8
142.5kg x 10
Leg Extension
97.5kg x 11
90kg x 10
RP + 2 + 2 maybe 90% partials
Ez bar curls
42.5kg x 12
42.5kg x 10
RP + 2
RP + 2
Tricep pushdowns
32.5kg x 12
32.5kg x 11
RP + 5
RP + 2
-1 on the Squat top set, but for context I’m fidgeting about a lot with my squats at the moment. Progress is a bit topsy-turvy because I’m figuring out how much I can push my adductor and I am not happy with my form at all, guilty of changing it with each warm-up set. I’m not too bothered. Back when I was just caring about the big 3 or 4 it would have pissed me right off doing this stuff, but putting the same effort into all my exercises I don’t feel down trodden about it. The back-off was still progress anyway.
Any slight feeling of “meh” was quickly wiped away with my RDL top set. I wanted a minimum of 6 and got 8. My pulls continue to just smash it. Chuffed with that.
The rest of the session wasn’t as straight forward, got a +1 on leg extensions but the back off set felt surprisingly heavy. So heavy that I ended up doing a RP just to match or beat last weeks efforts. Arm work was the opposite, top sets felts super difficult and missed reps, progressed on thre second sets. I added an extra RP to each of the exercises to manufacture a mental “still more than last week feeling”. With how I’ve skipped arms in my weekend sessions recently… I don’t think this will cause any harm.
6 Likes
22-09-2023
Seated OHP
60kg x 8
57.5kg x 9
55kg x 9
DB Bench
38kg x 8
36kg x 8
36kg x 8
Chin-ups
30kg x 5
25kg x 6
15secs rest +1
Machine Shoulder Press
67.5kg x 8
62.5kg 10 (80% of 11th rep)
Cable row straight bar
100kg x 12
100kg x 12
Cable flies
30kg x 13
30kg x 12
Top set of Seated OHP blowing up at the moment! Yeah, I lost a rep on the back-off, but a +2 on the top set is pretty unbelievable. Remember I was struggling to get past 57.5 x 6 just a few weeks ago.
Didn’t want to do 3 sets of DB Bench but some guy knocked my leg half way through my second set and really messed up my groove. I’m not sure if I would have got the 11 reps I wanted without him knocking me as it was feeling heavy, but I should just be happy with the top set progression.
I am talking way too much in the gym. I’m lucky in that right now 3x a week I have the entire morning to do what I want. So spending 3 hours in the gym is fine. People are starting to think I live there! Truth is I just don’t go out much any more an it’s my social life.
4 Likes
It’s a lot healthier and cheaper than going to the bar. Not to mention, very few people ever get arrested after just leaving the gym.
1 Like
It is but it’s still healthy to get some balance. I’d join a rugby club if I were you!
3 Likes
Took the weekend off and had a light day today. Just felt a bit spaced out at an event and my libidos been shot so was thinking some CNS fatigue. Been progressing well but thought a mini-deload can’t hurt…
…except it did. Somehow I’ve done something to my lower lat doing one-arm dumbell rows, or maybe just carrying the dumbells about. Half the reps, 10-20% of the weight taken off and this happens. Madness. Hopefully it’s not too bad. It’s crazy that I can go hard for so long and not experience any niggles at all and then as soon as I back off I do. It’s not the first time this kind of thing has happened.
And @rugby_lifting No can do. I’ll end up drinking too much again lol.
3 Likes