05/09 (Early AM, fasted)
NNM postural exercises - c.30m
These went fine, but I then tweaked something in my neck/trap drying off after a shower -.-
3 Likes
07/09 (Early AM, after breakfast)
-
SLDL - 10, 9 @ 80
(90s rest) -
Single-arm lat pulldown (L/R) - 13, 11 @ 20 ea arm
(30s between arms) -
Rope cable face pulls - 14, 12, 11 @ 15
(1m rest) -
Single-arm tricep pushdows (L/R) - 13, 10 @ 10 ea arm
(30s between arms)
Eagle-eyed readers will spot that this isn’t 5/3/1… as I’m in a weird place right now I’d figured I’d experiment a bit, so this is high(er) frequency bodybuilding-type stuff.
Top sets only listed above, and I wasn’t pushing to the max on any of these (trying to keep at least 1-2 reps in the tank).
3 Likes
08/09 (Early AM, after breakfast)
-
Reverse BB lunges - 10, 8, 6 @ 30 ea leg
(1m rest) -
BB rows - 10.5, 7 @ 55
(1m rest) -
Dips - 8, 7 @ BW
(1m rest) -
Lateral raises - 11, 8 @ 4.25s, 10 @ 3s
(1m rest) -
Rope cable curls - 20, 16, 15 @ 15
(1m rest)
Upper/mid back super sore from yesterday coming into this, but everything else wasn’t too bad - hamstrings a little tight.
Lunges were OK, but left leg is definitely still the limiting factor.
Accidentally went too hard on the first set of rows - might need to drop that weight a tad for next time.
Dips were fine - triceps were a little tired from yesterday so I wasn’t locking these out.
Lateral raises were surprisingly difficult so I had to drop the weight on the last set. It’s worth noting on all these exercises that I’m trying to pause at peak contraction, and keep a controlled eccentric, so in general my form is more strict than I’ve been doing in recent months.
Cable curls were fine - I probably could’ve pushed quite a bit further on the first set, so I’ll bump that weight up next time.
3 Likes
No training over the weekend because qe had company. Most of the lasting soreness from those last 2 sessions came from hamstrings, glutes, and upper back.
Weighed in on Sunday morning @ 13st 2.6lbs, waist measuring 85.5cm/33.75".
3 Likes
11/09 (Early AM, after breakfast)
-
RFE split squats (L/R) - 13, 9, 8 @ bar
(30s between legs) -
Inc FBB bench - 6 @ 60, 6 @ 55
(1m rest) -
Rope cable upright rows - 12, 11, 11 @ 15
(1m rest) -
D-handle cable rows - 15, 12 @ 30
(1m rest) -
DB curls (alt) - 14?, 10, 8 @ 8s
(1m rest)
Decent session - the split squats are supposed to be a quad-focused exercise so I might have to switch to FFE because this felt more posterior chain.
Overestimated a little on the benching, possibly due to some lasting triceps fatigue from last week? (Although they felt fine going into this workout)
First time doing upright rows in forever because I was scared of hurting my shoulders doing them, but these actually felt alright.
Rows were fine, but I could probably go a little heavier. Curls were fine too.
3 Likes
12/09 (Early AM, after breakfast)
-
RDL - 14, 12 @ 50
(1m rest) -
Rack chins - 10, 7 @ BW
(1m rest) -
Bent-over BPAs - 17, 10, 8 @ blue/green band
(1m rest) -
O/H rope triceps exts - 15, 11 @ 15
(1m rest)
RDLs felt pretty decent here - could probably go a tad heavier. I also need to adjust my setup because I was stood on blocks but I was still tapping the safeties on a few reps, so I’d be better going underneath them instead.
Rack chins were fine - biceps were the only thing feeling tired coming into this, so might have had a slight negative impact on these, but it didn’t feel too limiting.
I had intended to do DB reverse flyes, but they just didn’t seem to be hitting right, so I switched to BPAs instead. I stuck with doing them bent-over to see if that made much difference to doing them standing, and I think it probably does help remove the upper traps a bit.
Overhead triceps exts are always a killer! I had planned on 3 sets, but 2 felt like enough while I’m getting used to this setup.
3 Likes
13/09 (Early AM, after breakfast)
-
Front squats - 8, 7, 6 @ 57.5
(90s rest) -
DB rows (L/R) - 20, 15 @ 18
(30s between arms) -
DB bench - 12, 6x @ 23s
(1m rest) -
Lean-aways (L/R) - 14, 12, 11 @ 3s
(30s between arms) -
BB curls - 12, 11, 8 @ bar
(1m rest)
This session book-ended fine, but there was major drop-off for the DB rows and bench. I really didnt recover for the latter, and failed going for a 7th rep which was totally unexpected - triceps were pretty sore still from the day before so maybe that was a factor? It didn’t feel like they were failing but maybe just no energy to give…
Don’t think I’ve ever done lean-aways before but they were pretty decent - a tad awkward finding a good spot on the rack to grab and hold onto, and I had to go much lighter than anticipated.
Not much to report on the rest, but soreness all over has gradually ramped over these sessions (as expected). Will have to see if this is sustainable or not.
3 Likes
13/09 (Mid-PM, after work)
Slow C25K:
- 5m walk
- 3 x 5m jog w/ 3m walks
- 5m walk
31m total w/ 15m jogging. 2.21mi/3.54km covered in total.
3 Likes
15/09 (Early AM, after breakfast)
-
SLDL - 10, 9 @ 81.25
(90s rest) -
SA lat pulldown - 14, 12 @ 20 ea arm
(30s between arms) -
Rope cable face pulls - 15, 13, 12 @ 15
(1m rest) -
SA cable triceps pushdowns - 13, 9 @ 10
(30s between arms)
Decent session, with improvement compared to last week on all lifts apart from the triceps pushdowns - triceps were the most sore coming into this though (whereas last weel they were completely fresh as I was only just kicking this off), so that’s not a surprise.
4 Likes
16/09 (Early AM, after breakfast)
-
Reverse BB lunges - 10, 9, 8 @ 30 ea leg
(1m) -
BB rows - 11, 9 @ 55
(1m) -
Dips - 11, 9 @ BW
(1m) -
Lateral raises - 12, 9, 8 @ 4.25s
(1m) -
Rope cable curls - 20, 17, 15 @ 17.5
(1m)
Decent session - added reps to the lunges, rows and dips, and added weight on the lateral raises (last set) and cable curls.
The tricky thing now is balancing actual improvements on each exercise vs just digging deeper and getting closer to failure than before.
3 Likes
Weighed in on Sunday morning @ 13st 3.4lbs. No waist measurement
3 Likes
19/09 (Early AM, after breakfast)
-
FFE split squats (L/R) - 13, 10, 8 @ bar ea leg
(30s ea leg) -
Inc FBB bench - 9, 6 @ 55
(1m) -
Cable rows - 15, 15 @ 31.25
(1m) -
Rope cable upright rows - 15, 11, 11 @ 15
(1m) -
DB curls (alt) - 15, 10, 9
(1m)
Pushed this session from Monday due to things being messed up at the weekend, so I woke up yesterday morning a bit shattered.
As a result though I felt extra recovered for this one, and managed to push reps and weight on quite a few exercises.
Tried FFE split squats this time rather than RFE, and I think that does work better for this (quads focus).
Reduced weight on bench from last week which kept in the target rep range better.
3 Likes
20/09 (Early AM, after breakfast)
-
RDL - 15, 12 @ 50
(1m rest) -
Rack chins - 11, 7 @ BW
(1m rest) -
SA reverse flyes (L/R) - 20, 18, 15 @ 3 ea arm
(30s between arms) -
O/H triceps exts - 15, 12 @ 15.625
(1m rest)
Pretty tired this morning, but a decent session all the same with improvements on the RDLs, chins and exts.
Tried out single-arm reverse flyes and they seem to work pretty well, but it’s a bit awkward being bent over for that long (trying to keep torso level) so I might switch to a cable setup instead.
3 Likes