Maple Syrup Strength (littlesleeper)

Yep, sounds like a recipe for a bulletproof back!

Ok, glad to hear I’m not alone. But boy was it a struggle, damn you Jim Wendler, damn you…

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Just thought I’d chime in, been following your log for a while.
I think you just get used to them, when I first back extensions I had the craziest pump of my life just doing 10 reps but now I can do 15-20 and don’t really feel anything. You’re a lot lot stronger than me too so I think once you do it a few times they’ll be easy.

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@caesium32, glad to have you following along!

I remember doing these in high school holding a 45lb plate, I can’t recall the number of reps I was doing but I would have to assume 10 or more.

I’m sure it will take a few times for the body to start adapting, but I do like them.

My lower back getting too pumped up is definitely a current weakness of mine, as that is always the first thing to give on things like carries, or yoke walk etc. Improving high rep, lower back work I think will have some decent carryover for me, so I’ll plan on including these for assistance at least once a week!

Thanks for poking in with your comments!

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Just for you I did a set of 100 back raises today. I wish I would have recorded it. I threw up on rep 94 in the small pilates room where the back raise is located, and the girls within screamed in horror.

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This is amazing, you have just made my day…you sick individual.

Probably shouldn’t have had a quart of cookie dough ice cream on top of my regular breakfast before training. The added carbs made the day go great, but I might need to calm it down a bit.

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This came as a bit of a surprise,cause I always accuse myself of not doing enough reps

Most high rep squats I do though are light to medium weight.No way you can compare my 180 or 220 20 reps squats with your 315

Well it is all relative my man, I was more speaking to the back raises where you had a vid in the challenge thread with some high rep work maybe even with a resistance band?

A yeah I remember.I don’t know I mentally find all out sets way easier than straight sets,and thus end up with high number of reps
I can easily get on a hyper machine and do amraps thinking com’on 3 more,now 2,now 4 ect rather than knowing I have to do 3 x 15 for example

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I think it is really surprising and interesting that you can deadlift and squat this much weight but struggle with this movement. I can do 40+ for sets pretty easily and am no where even near your strength and am heavier than you (I guess this is a relatively small factor in regards to the difficulty of back raises but though). For example my girlfriend was also able to do 40 unbroken reps even though her max. deadlift is at 100 kg.

Please take no offense, I am not meaning to pick at you at all. I am just really curious as this doesn’t seem to add up.

Hey man, I’m not an easily offended guy so no worries there.

I’m going to blame the fact that I haven’t done this movement in a long time and previously in the same workout I did my widowmaker set with 315lbs, which was not fun at all. So I"m sure I wasn’t going into the back extensions with a ‘fresh’ back.

I’ll hopefully be adding weight before long!

On another note, today I’m getting a little set of atlas stones:
250lbs 18inch
215lbs 17inch
175lbs 16inch
145lbs 15inch

So I’ll likely be leaving 3 outside for the winter and tangle with them more in the spring, but bring one in to play with through the winter. I’m thinking either the 175lb or 215lb stone so I can just practice reps and technique before giving the bigger stone a good go come spring time. Since I have NEVER lifted an atlas stone before, I’m thinking the 175lb will likely provide plenty of a challenge for me.

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Congrats on the added equipment! I think with your strength level the 175 lbs stone will be no problem, mate!

Hey man. One thing I like to do with back extensions are extended sets, hold a 10-25lb plate and do max reps, really making sure to contract the glutes hard at the top on each rep. Once I get close to failure (I don;t like failing on low back stuff lol) I drop the plate and do a rest-pause set with bodyweight. Not sure how productive this is, but the pump is nuts.

Btw, liking how you’re adapting hardgainer to fit in carries & the like!

@Koestrizer - thanks man, pretty excited to give them a try, might play around with them a bit tonight.

@TX_iron - good suggestions, always looking for different tips and tricks that others have found out with their own training. I’ll work up to a point where bodyweight ones become a little easier, then definitely start doing some of these drop sets/extended sets with weight.

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11/30/2016
5/3/1 Hardgainer’s Template
Week 3 Day 2

Agile 8 and Box Jumps

Bench Press
225 x 5
255 x 5
280 x 5 x 5

70lb DB Incline Bench Press (45)*
10, 10, 10, 10

Axle Curls
75 x 10 x 5

12/01/2016
5/3/1 Hardgainer’s Template
Week 3 Day 3

Deadlift
335 x 5
385 x 5
430 x 10 ← Pretty sure this is a hefty rep PR for me
335 x 5 x 5

Upper Chest Pushups (BW)
10reps x 5sets

Neutral Grip Chins (BW)
15, 13, 12, 10 (getting a dip/chin belt for xmas so I can finally start adding some weight with these)

Ab Wheel Rollouts (BW)
10reps x 5 sets

Back Extensions (BW)
1 set of 20 ← basically, workout was over and tossed this on the end since it is a weakness of mine. Back was already pretty toast from deads, but this felt pretty good.

Glad that technique worked out for you. It is a real lifesaver, haha.

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Awesome log man, some very strong lifting in here! OHP 225 is no joke!

How do you like the hard gainers 531 template so far?

Thanks man, I appreciate it!

I have a love hate relationship with it. I mean, on one hand, I love it because you really challenge yourself on your main lifts and then can tailor your assistance to your weaknesses or what you feel like doing that day which makes for an enjoyable workout.
On the other hand, Jim makes you do 20rep squats with 75% of your TM…

I really enjoy this template, although I can’t say I’ve run a 5/3/1 variation yet that I didn’t like, so I may be a little bias. I would say it is a top 3 variation with Building the Monolith and BBB. All programs that I think being in a calorie surplus is necessary, unless you trim some volume or cut some assistance.

I’m looking into what variation to run in the new year when I am in a calorie deficit. Thinking of Triumvirate or Beach Body, but time will tell, and I haven’t looked into it too much yet…

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Beach Body is pretty badass due to all the yoke work. I liked Triumvirate but I just got bored and found it hard to stick to just two exercises for each. Adding to thay, I’m with you with Hardgainers and definitely Monolith. I love those full body days.

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