Dodgin’ Dadbods: Fortitude Training

Thanks for trying! Lol

Do you go non-stop or are you forced to take some breaks during those 8 minutes?

Oh hell no. I’d say I make about 3-4 minutes in and then I have to stop every 30 seconds for a few seconds, and by the last minute I’m just trying to get a few more.

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I feel better now! Occasionally I’ll do 100 total reps and I’ve never made it past 60 in one bout. It’s a good leg pump!

If high rep squats trigger growth then I think high rep lunges can have the same effect while being a bit easier on your back and hips.

I think next time I do it I’m gonna come home from the gym before my leg workout is done and film it in my living room. I guarantee my depth is shitty by the end, plus maybe we can make it a little challenge for the t nation folks.

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Cornish Hens with roasted potatoes and cream spinach in a white wine sauce. There are 24 whole cloves of garlic in this recipe, and I fucking love it. Just beware, I ripped ass for like 8 straight hours afterwards.

That was yesterday anyway. Today’s conditioning workout started with blasting my side delts since they’re lagging.

Lateral Raises
15s x 20
20s x 20
30s x 15
35s x 10

Incline Lateral Raises
10s x 10
x3

Cable Lateral Raises
15 lbs x 12
x3

Tabata
20sec work, 10sec rest

Ab Wheel Rollouts and Planks for 8 rounds

Battle Ropes and Flutter Kicks for 8 rounds

Push-up and Knees to Elbows pyramid (1, 1, 2, 2 etc. to 10)

Finished by picking up the 30lb kettlebells and 50 reps where 1 rep is a curl with a slow negative followed by a clean and press. Had to stop a few times. The fucking battle ropes, man…I honestly almost vomit from doing them every time. Makes it hard to eat when I get home.

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Here’s a picture from before I started dieting and exercising again. Wife is pregnant, I look like I am too, the others are pictures from the past couple days. I always end up taking them after I eat…not great for showing my waist progress but a couple months from
now I can take a fasted morning picture and feel amazing, so there.

image

Routine today, since we’re vacationing back to my hometown of NY, a bit shorter but volume galore.

Pull-ups
Warmup 2x10 BW
BW plus 25 x 10
BW plus 45 5x5 - this sucked

135 Bench superset with BW Pull-ups Pyramid
1, 1, 2, 2, etc. up to 10, that’s a total of 55 pull-ups and 55 reps of 135 Bench. Great pump, gassed the fuck out of me.

Cable Crossovers
5 max sets at 70 lbs

One arm DB Row 70lbs 5x10
Superset with
Incline Knuckle Push-ups (legs elevated) 5x10

Giant Set:
PJR Pullovers 75 lbs x8
Superset with
JM Presses 65x8
Superset with
DB Lateral Raise 20x15
X3

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Been on vacation back in my hometown of NY. Did a leg workout with a friend today and finished with my 8 minutes of lunges, determined to count them all, except my friend ran away with the timer to go throw up in the middle of them and left me there for an extra two minutes, and I topped out at 250 lunges before going to find him in the locker room and ripping on him. So probably 10-11 minutes of lunges. Really didn’t rest much. Ouch. Anyway, 250 is the number. Guess I’ll just up it to the full 10 minutes now.

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Still on vacation. Worked out with the wife’s sister today. I hit a total of 180 pull-ups today. Unreal how easy they’re getting with this volume, and my shoulder feels outrageously strong.

1 Squat, 1 Push-up, 1 Pull-ups, 2 Squats, 2 Push-ups, 2 Pull-ups…and so on, up to 10 and back down to 1. Equals 100 squats, 100 push-ups, and 100 Pull-ups. Went back inside and did 50 more super close stance heel elevated squats.

Went to the park afterwards with my son and did 80 more pull-ups on the monkey bars, honestly couldn’t do another one.

Came home and did various forms of pushups with kids ranging from 30-50 pounds on my back.

Unconventional workout day and in 3 separate workouts but turned out great.

Had a huge late lunch/early dinner with teriyaki salmon, a balsamic fruit salad and brown rice.

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Back from New York! My six pack disappeared in a week. I love my home state but the carb struggle is real there. Bagels, egg sandwiches, pizza, and pasta. I do feel like I still got stronger and a bit bigger from my workouts but definitely don’t look as lean.

Hit the gym after my first day at my new job.

Upper Body

Pull-ups Wide Neutral Grip
Warmup BWx10x2
BW+25x5
BW+45x3
BW+70x2
BW+80x2
Wide Overhand Grip
BWx10
Close Overhand Grip
BWx10
Close Neutral Grip
BWx15

Cable Crossovers
70x20
90x12
110x12
140x8x3, dropset 110x6, 80x7, 50x18

Incline DB Press
DBs touching x5 followed by regular wide press x5
40, 50, 60, 65
Max set 40x16

Cable Row
Don’t remember the numbers but worked up to almost the whole stack for 6 slow reps

Rear Fly Machine finishers (high Grip, medium high, medium, low all for 5 reps) x2

Lateral Raises
15, 20, 25x15

PJR Pullovers
50, 60, 65x12 all superset with legs elevated close stance knuckle pushups

Hammer Curls
40, 50, 50, 40, 30 x 12 (6 each alternating)

Cross body single arm HS chest press
1 plate x 10x3

Kind of an unconventional workout. Just chased pump and sweat balls. Felt really strong, want to hit my PR on weighted pull-ups soon, if I can get 90 (2 plates) for 3 reps that’ll be it, I think.

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I’m so sick of not being able to squat. After foam rolling and a dynamic warmup I tried squatting with just the bar and it just didn’t feel right. Smith squats, front squats, heels elevated squats, back squats, all of them just give me that “about to aggravate your disc” feeling. I know I said I was ready to give up certain exercises to avoid injury but I really, really love squatting, and I get nostalgic about the good ol days. Oh well. After my failed squat attempts, I did some RDLs, some leg extensions, a ton of weighted lunges superset with bear crawls, and a nice calf circuit. The day feels lost due to my stupid attempt to turn back time but I did leave the gym barely able to walk (fatigue, not injury), and that’s usually my goal during leg day (besides not vomiting), so it’s an overall “meh”.

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That sucks about not being able to squat mate.
I have recently discovered hip belt squats for assistance, they don’t load the back at all, have you given them a crack before?

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I know of them, but come to think of it, I have never tried them! You’ve got me all excited now. I’m going to try them next leg day, which is Sunday. Thanks for the suggestion man, I really appreciate it.

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I can’t believe you can’t load your spine but you can do RDLs. Is it a compression thing?

Trap bar deads can be very similar to squats if you position yourself correctly.

My views on what is “bad” for my spine have changed over the years. The spine is meant to handle compression, plus I do decompression exercises regularly so I don’t think the compression is a problem. My lower back feels strong most days and my hamstrings are fairly flexible. I don’t even know how bad my herniated discs are these days, or if they’re the major contributing factor to my inability to squat. It’s when I hit parallel that things go wrong, and the pain sometimes feels more like my SI joint and hips than the pure lumbar pain and sciatica I used to deal with. Overcompensation from those body parts due to years of lumbar weakness and general inactivity could certainly cause this. Overall- I just don’t know, and I would so much rather be able to squat but not RDL. RDLs and hypers were a real staple in my rehab though.

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For some stupid reason I want to squat 4 plates. I’ve never done it. I’ve gone back and forth chasing that goal over my lifting career. I pursue it for a bit and then decide I don’t have to squat and change my focus. Squats can be miserable so it’s easy to talk myself out of them. I wouldn’t have been upset is my ortho told me to drop the squats after my hip surgery.

I understand the need vs want issue in training. There’s no reason to mess with squats if you’re worried. Lack of confidence could turn in to a self fulfilling prophecy.

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You want to do it because it’s bad ass. Having near double body weight on your back squatting that shit that most people can’t dead lift is manhood! It’s beast mode.

When I unracked 315 on my back the other day I was thinking this is what 315 feels like. It was the first time my body other than my hands have supported that weight. I was thinking damn I want to bench this shit…

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I think I’ll squat again some day. I need an updated evaluation of where my injuries are at, and I know plenty of people who have come back from worse and went heavy. Just isn’t working right now. But I’m gonna try the hip belt squats for now.

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On Wednesday while I was struggling to get through my 5 x 8 with 215 lbs the guy next to me was repping 315…

In September of 2014 I hurt my back pretty good. I was rushing through a warm up to max on deadlifts and tweaked it with 315. So I threw on 50 more pounds and pulled 365 and really finished it off. The tweak/injury occurred during the lowering phase of both reps.

I managed to sprain the ligaments of my SI joint and shift the right side of my pelvis up and forward. I bulged the disc at L3/L4 (or aggravated an unknown injury). After two weeks I felt pretty good and was able to squat with minimal tightness. At six weeks my shin went numb and I started to lose function of my medial quad. It progressed to the point where I couldn’t flex my entire quad. I couldn’t lead with my right leg to go up the stairs. 30 lbs (the lowest setting) on the leg extension machine was tough and I’d fail after three or four reps. The failure wasn’t due to fatigue, the nerve was pinched and nothing was firing. I just couldn’t do it.

After seeing specialist and neurologist I was told the disc was swelling and would go down on its own over time. It did. I quit deadlifting. I was actually just getting started when I hurt myself. I got back to my normal training and recovered. I focused on power cleans and clean pulls. I didn’t deadlift again until late 2016.

I pulled 5 plates last June while dealing with my hip pain. I was doing clean pulls (pull from the floor, jump and shrug portion of the clean) with 350+ lbs. I could even get off the ground a few inches on the jump portion.

My point is that I’m one of those guys who’s come back and been stronger than before the injury. I think the injury makes us more aware of our limitations but it doesn’t have to shut us down. We’re probably smarter now just for going through the injury experience.

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That’s good to hear, gives me confidence. Come to think of it, my shoulder was ruined and the doctor recommended arthroscopic surgery for the labrum and I rehabbed it and do heavy ass pull ups, so there’s that.

My new job is so much better too, I was working night shift, 7 pm to 7 am, and now I’m training from 6am-230 and eventually moving to a 230-11 shift…8 hours during the evening vs 12 at night makes a huge difference with regard to my back pain.

Conditioning Day

3 set superset
25 knees to chest / 25 crunches

3 set superset
12 ab wheel / 30 second plank

2 push-ups, 1 pull-up, 4 push-ups, 2 pull-ups, etc…up to 20 push-ups, 10 pull-ups.

10 minutes stairmaster

Pretty much no rest on anything.

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