Thanks for the feedback man. This definitely helps. I have a good beat on my 10rm for overhead press, squat, and deadlift. However, I haven’t done push Press before and I haven’t power cleaned since high school so I guess I should get up to speed on those REAL quick or this will be extra Deep Water lol
Basically felt like I was in zombie mode going into the gym today, but from my first warm up, it was a rude wake up call, everything felt extra hard today. That is until I got to the high rep leg Press set and I saw what Jon Andersen refers to as “a portal”. I had done the first 5 reps continuously without stopping to breathe and I thought “screw it, I’ll do all 20 reps before I take a break”. So I did, and the pain in my legs and the heaviness of my breath afterwards was insane, but it didn’t matter because I completed the work of the day. I feel like moments like this are cultivating the proper mindset for Deep Water. I highly recommend people check out Jon’s YouTube channel if they are lacking for motivation!
Legs +Biceps and Forearms
Dumbbell Curls 45x10,5,3
Single Arm reverse cable Curls 40x20
Seated Calf Raise (5 down, 10 hold at bottom) 230x8
Sumo Leg Press 365x25
Leg Press 625x10, 515x20
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Woke up late for today’s workout, but I really needed the sleep after creating a real sleep debt the last several nights, staying up way too late. It was sure nice to get my sleep schedule back on track. Today’s workout resulted in the best Pump I’ve gotten in a while! My muscles are extra full and my numbers were WAY up, especially in decline Press and rack Chins. I also had a big win today on seated Dumbbell overhead Press by actually getting to do full range reps on the last two sets after having to settle for partials and pulses the last two weeks.
Upper
Decline Bench 265x8,4,2
Seated Dumbbell Press 60x10,3,2
Reverse Grip Bench 175x9,5,3
Rack Chin 70x21,8,6
T-Bar Row 155x13
Tibialis Raises with Dumbbell 10x100(2x)
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Dave! You are indeed becoming a strong man! As Mentzer said: Strength precedes gains. How are your plans for your future development? DC forever? I hear talk about “Deep water”?
Me, I’m still making progress in strength through my bastardized version of Fortitude Training, 2-3 times a week. Sure love the muscle rounds! Probably the best program I have followed, and plan to continue as long as I’m progressing.
Really enjoy your input here in your log, and on the forum in general. Keep it up! I wish you the best of gains! Have a good weekend!
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Good to hear from you @petterson! I’m glad You’re loving Fortitude so much! I know I sure do, and I agree about how awesome the muscle Rounds are! I hope you keep making great progress!
As for my training future, DC and Fortitude will definitely be two programs I cycle between forever I think. They are just so effective and I really enjoy doing them. Deep Water by Jon Andersen is my next program I’m going to tackle. I’ve never done anything like it and by all accounts it is very difficult. So I very much look forward to the 12 weeks of Brutality! This will be a personal challenge, especially because I get busiest with work around the Thanksgiving and Christmas season. It’s all about pushing myself and achieving things I didn’t think possible.
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First update in a while but that’s because today was day 1 of Deep Water. You would not believe how excited I was. Today was 10x10 on squats. It was really interesting because I’m so used to lower volume high Intensity routines, it was crazy accumulating the intensity and fatigue by doing all these sets. The first 5 or 6 sets didn’t feel all that bad, but the last couple I barely got through. I was sweating like a stuck hog and breathing like I had been sprinting hills. The final set I felt like I was about to hit failure on rep 7, reps 8,9,10 I barely remember. My eyes were stinging from all the sweat, I really wasn’t sure how I was going to possibly get those last 3 reps. That 9th rep really felt like the last one I could possibly do, but I grinded through and got that 10th. I couldn’t quit so close to the finish line.
The squat session reminded me of live wrestling iron man drills. You nervously wait for that time to run out before you go back in and have to either sink or swim, dominate or be dominated. I refuse to lose and I LOVE challenges. I ate this right up. I tried going right into the lunges with almost no rest, which was a bit of a mistake because I could barely lunge the barbell. So I took a 2 minute breather before finishing the last 2 sets with 25s on the bar. The sit up/back extensions at the end were fun, I tried to basically sprint between machines. This part of the workout made me feel like Rocky.
I absolutely loved this workout. I felt like an uncaged animal. I can’t wait to see where the next squat workout in 2 weeks takes me.
Deep Water Day 1
Light Deadlift (technique) 135x10,185x10, 225x10
Squat 195x10(10x)
Barbell Lunges 45x10,95x10, 95x10
Sit Up/Back Extension 20 each, no rest between
Carrying my groceries up the stairs and getting off the couch have been a complete struggle since then. I think this is about the most fatigued my legs have been after a workout in a while.
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Awesome to see day 1 of deep water! Don’t forget the most important part - fueling that recovery. Eat your way back out of the hole you dug in the ground today.
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Thanks man, I really loved it! And I Definitely did! I’ve had 12 chicken Wings, celery, 1.5 lb taco steak and cheese, 4 pickles, 12 oz garlic and herb chicken breasts, can of green beans, fairlife elite protein shake, and a gallon and a half of water since my workout. I had a huge grocery haul today after my workout to prepare for all the eating involved.
A ton of meat, nuts, eggs, cheese, peanut butter, and green veggies. I’m trying to follow the guidelines of 2 grams of protein and 1 gram of fat per pound of body weight. And I’m continuing my intra workout Plazma as my one “real” carb source.
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My passion for logging really hasn’t been there lately, but I just want to put out there, I’m LOVING Deep Water!! I love the diet, I love the training. I feel like a beast, I eat like a beast, and I feel it’s making me look more like a beast so I really can’t ask for more than that. Check it out fellas. It’s a free ebook. Just Google “Jon Andersen Deep Water” and you’ll find his site where he’ll email you a copy for free.
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Hell yeah dude! So awesome to see another swimmer forming. The whole program is so transformative.
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Thanks for the update Dave!
Great to hear you’re progressing!
Coming from you, I better check out “Deep water”!
I am concerned whether you can bastardize it into a two day a week family man version? No biggie though, as I’m still enjoying “Fortitude Training” immensely.
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Wouldn’t work. The premise of the program is to always be in a constant state of recovery. It’s effectively intentional overtraining that is corrected via diet.
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Thanks @T3hPwnisher!
Good to know. I will keep this in mind when opportunity (time and priority) appears. It’s a wonderful concept. Have signed up for the free e-book. That’s a start.
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It really is. It’s really bringing out intensity and ferocity in my workouts beyond what I even knew I had inside. This really changes the game for every program and really everything I do in life itself from here onward, and I’m sure I’m only going discover that “Inner Great White” even more as the program goes on!
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Oh yes sir I highly recommend it! And I’m really happy to hear you’re still loving Fortitude! That will always be a go-to program for me!
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Dave!
Long time since an update, and I think you have explained why in another thread - meaning you are still at it!
I was just wondering where you have headed training wise, following Darden, Fortitude Training and Dogcrapp? I heard you were interested in Deep Water?
In short, please tell me/us how you train these days?
Me, I have returned to a period of Darden splits. Currently recovering from a two week break due to a kindergarten cold. Back today, realizing I lost about 10% strength (surprised it’s not more), but will surely return to progress. After all, you only compete with yourself.
Thanks for the interest @petterson ! I actually just finished Deep Water beginner a few weeks ago and since then I’ve written out my own program based on my experience with everything I’ve liked and haven’t liked. I’m currently doing and upper/lower split with an arm day on Saturdays for 5 total training days a week. Each workout will open with strength work on a big exercise (bench or Overhead Press for upper, squat or deadlift for lower). Those sets are done with about one rep in the tank, then I do a few back off sets on those exercises and those are taken to failure. Then I go into my isolation and accessory type movements, which I superset our giant set together to reduce time and increase intensity. I take all of these sets to failure and do 3-4 sets. Every exercise uses an evolving rep range where I try to add a rep every week and then will add a set until I get to the top of rep range and then I increase the weight and strip off the additional set. Despite the fact that I label these days Upper and lower, I work several small Muscles every session like abs, forearms, and calves. I also throw in pull ups every session, cycling between weighted and unweighted each session.
I learned a lot from my time doing Deep Water, both good and bad. My body really seemed to respond well to the volume, however I did not like the method of progression very much. I really felt like I should be adding weight to the bar, because as the weeks progressed the exercises started feeling very easy, even with the decreasing rest periods, so I started shortening the rest periods even further because it was boring to wait around to begin a set that didn’t fatigue me very badly. Also the chest and back days don’t seem quite as clear, because those exercises don’t cycle so you’re doing the same exercises for the same amount of reps with same weight for the whole program from what I can tell and only reduce rest time every two weeks. By the very nature of a 10x10 you end up sand bagging the sets quite a bit until you get to about 6 sets, which is essentially junk volume in an irrelevant Intensity window, and without increasing weight, you find yourself outgrowing the weight you had at the beginning pretty quickly. It does show you’re progressing, but I prefer trackable progression I can see in my training logs every week. It might be a good means for breaking through a plateau though! Overall I did get good physique results on the program and it made me a better deadlifter and squatter by getting so many reps in.
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Thanks for the update, Dave! Also cheers for the constructive criticism on Deep Water. I agree on the necessity of measurable improvements, as well as a need for an intensifying element.
It seems the thinking trainee makes personal tweaks/adaptations along the learning curve as he/she progresses - which makes it even more interesting (and hopefully rewarding). Btw, that’s what I liked most about FT which I intend to cycle in 3 month blocks with other programs (bastardizations as I call them).
Please keep me/us posted how you progress!
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Yes sir. I’ve been lifting long enough at this point and run enough different programs to see what means of progression work best enough that I just decided to write out my own and it’s one that I will continue to adapt as time passes, but overall I certainly feel that it covers my needs and allows progression over time.
I’m excited to hear about how your progress is with Fortitude and your “bastardizations” lol although I look at it as necessary adaptations that advanced trainees should be making to optimize their progress!
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Just adding in a quick entry here, got the Mountain Dog Band Pack from EliteFTS from my fiancé for Christmas, who I’m staying with for the holidays. Gotta say, I really love these bands! Did the John Meadows “Push” workout with them today and really pushed myself with it. It’s nice finding creative ways to get your workouts in when you’re traveling and not by your gym! I find bands to be a pretty good way to do that. Workout took about 35 minutes, I did the workout exactly as demonstrated in the video, except I added 3 sets with a heavy band for the chest Press shown for the warm up after the banded push ups. I also added in 3 sets of Overhead Tricep extensions to finish the workout for some work for the long head of the Tricep, as well as some sit ups to end it.
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