J4GGA2's Log: Becoming More Athletic

@kleinhound what do you reckon about using paused variations on ME Days? I was thinking mostly using:

In no order
Upper: (3 week rotation)

  • Comp Bench
  • CG Bench
  • Floor Press
  • Incline Press

Lower: (2 week rotation)

  • Conv. DL
  • Front Squat
  • Rack Pull
  • High-Bar Squat
  • Sumo DL
  • Zercher Squats

Dunno when/if I’d use pauses

EDIT: One more question: too many variations? Both ME Upper and ME Lower are on 12 week rotations

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I like paused variations for sure. I usually (when I’m being smart) will do a paused variation when I want a gauge on where I’m at with the true lift, or even the week before I’m thinking of retesting as it will keep you realistic and expose any holes

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I usually do 2 or 3 squat variations to each deadlift variation. Only because they are much more taxing to me these days

Oh that’s clever, I was just going to do them to work on my tightness in Bench and squat

Fair enough. I know Tate recommended something similar. How many DL variations are you using regularly? 2 or 3?

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Saturday 19th of January
Conditioning: Hill Sprints

Warm-Up:

  • 100 total skips
  • 2x25 single-leg skips per leg

Hill Sprints, 10-15% Incline:

  • 4x ~15m progressive
  • 1x ~40m
  • 7x ~80m

All up around 25 minutes

Hard, but I’m getting better. That being said, I feel like I’m lacking the intensity in my conditioning training I used to have.

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Hmm I don’t really plan them out too far in advance really. When I do that I favour ones I’m good at which isn’t so much the point. What I’ve been trying to do is variations that hit weak points, so recently front squats and zercher squats blaster my upper back. I’ll probably do a defecit pull for my next ME deadlift.
Pretty much rack, defecit, block and pause are my regular rotations

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Monday 21st of January
WSSB 3: Max-Effort Lower

Under-slept again. At least I’m still making progress.

Warm-Up:

  • 100 total skips
  • 2x25 total single-leg skips per leg
  • Agga’s 8

I nearly pulled my groin after doing the Frog Stretch. I’m definitely not doing those in this sequence again.

Conventional DL: ss 25 BPU’s

  • 60x3
  • 80x3 belt on
  • 100x3 fast
  • 110x3 fast enough
  • 115x3 slow, rounding off the floor

Weak Point for this session: Low back/Glutes

DB Reverse Lunges / Swiss Ball Reverse Hypers

  • 25x3x12 / 3x15

I got the Reverse Hypers from Dr. Rusin’s IG and they felt great, although the ROM is a bit short. The only thing I’ll have to do is figure out how to load these; probably with a band or ankle weights.

Core Circuit:

  • 2x16 Kneeling Ab Wheels
  • 2x3x10s per side Bird-Dog Planks
  • 2x5 per side McGill Curl-Ups
  • 2x50 Glute Bridges (bodyweight)

All up 55 minutes

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I was hoping my knee socks would help. They didn’t

It’s confirmed, I got a place.

2019-2022 Bachelor of Physiotherapy (Honours)
2023-2026 Doctor of Medicine

All at the University of Queensland, my first choice. Needless to say, I’m psyched but wary of the work that lies ahead.

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Tuesday 22nd of January
WSSB 3: Rep Upper

Warm-Up:

  • Forgot to skip
  • Agga’s 8

Still needs some tweaking. The deep squat at the end is actually leaving my groin too loose. I’m thinking I might try an Overhead Squat, Goblet Squat or a Turkish Get-Up instead

DB Floor Press: ss 15 band pull-aparts

  • 25x12
  • 35x10
  • 45x 8, 8, 8 PR

Tried for a 9th on the final set. Put up a hell of a grind but couldn’t lock my right elbow out.

Pull-Ups / Incline RDF’s:

  • 11 Supinated / 4x15
  • 9 Pronated / 4x15
  • 7 Neutral-Grip / 4x15

Again, proud of my grinding ability, even though I probably shouldn’t be grinding.

DB Side Laterals / SA DB Row to Low Chest

  • 6x2x15 / 20x10
  • 6x15 / 15x10
  • 6x12 / 10x10

Really struggling to get a decent MMC with the rows on my left side. I think I’ll go back to Meadows Rows on Rep day anyways

DB Shrugs (3s Pause at top) / Williams Extensions

  • 40x3x15 / 12x3x15

Hands and arms shaking after this. Ears were popping from the shrugs :grimacing:

The main session took about an hour, forgot to set the timer on before I warmed up

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3 weeks in. Photos on the left were late December. Photos on the right were taken tonight, after a couple of cheat meals.

Bigger all round imo. Tad chubbier, but the new muscle mass makes it worth it.

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Ever see a skinny dude Deadlift 900? Don’t say Calier Woolam.

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Cailer Woolam

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Congratulations Mate :slight_smile:
7 years of hard work lies ahead of you.
In every class do your best to ask a least one question or answer an asked question.
That way you keep yourself accountable for keeping up.

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Sounds like a good strategy, thank you!

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Dude you’re legs are hairy as fuck :joy:

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Pssshhh nah :grimacing::grimacing::grimacing:

Wednesday 23rd of January
Conditioning: Hill Sprints

Warm-Up:

  • 100 total skips
  • 2x25 total single leg skips per leg

I’ve definitely noticed that my skipping ability during the warm-up is a great indicator of my energy levels/fatigue that session. Makes sense, since there’s a decently high level of coordination required to do them.

Hill Sprints: ~10-15% Incline

  • 2x15m progressive
  • 1x35m
  • 10x ~70-80m

The energy definitely wasn’t there to run these intensely. After the first 2 runs, I decided to keep the intensity of each sprint down, but up my total number of sprints from 8 to 10. I think this was a good call. The workout ended up becoming a “punch the clock” session and I doubt I exceed 75% of a Max-Effort on any given run.

Phone was dead, so no timer

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Thursday 24th of January
WSSB 3: Dynamic Lower

Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuck.

Under-slept yet again. I knew from the start this workout wouldn’t be the best.

Warm-Up:

  • 100 total skips
  • 2x25 total single leg skips per leg
  • Agga’s 8

Since I’ve made loads of changes, I’ll explain what I’m actually doing in “Agga’s 8” in the next post. Im loving the sequence though.

Broad Jumps: ss random mobility stuff

  • 8x1

4-Inch Deficit BSS / Swiss Ball Glute Bridge + Ham Curl

  • 12x3x12 / 3x8

It’s amazing how fucked two exercises with minimal loading can feel

Hanging Leg Raises: ss 25 band pull-aparts

  • 4x10

I suck at these again

Trap-Bar Carry: drop-turn every 15m

  • +60x90m

This felt easy for about 10 seconds, then not so easy

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Agga’s 8
The mystery revealed

Disclaimer: I, in no way, think this is better than the Agile 8, nor do I think I know more about this than DeFranco. I simply believe this sequence is better for me, and thought I’d post in case anyone was interested.

So basically this exists to clear up some of the issues I have with the Agile 8, namely:

  • I never had any effect from the foam rolling at the start of the Agile 8
  • I feel the Agile 8 lacks T-Spine mobilisations
  • I never understood why DeFranco finishes with a static stretch. It always made me cool down, not warm-up.
  • Depending on how I’m feeling, groiners are sometimes too intense

So, my version:

  1. Glute SMR w lacrosse ball: ~2min per side
  2. Hip Flexor Stretch: 30-60s per side
  3. Bent-Knee Iron Cross: 10 per side
  4. “the clap” T-Spine Mobilisations: 10 per side (Rusin has a fancy name for these that I forgot)
  5. Rollovers into V-Sits: 10
  6. Rocking Quadruped Adductor Stretch: 10 per side
  7. Mountain Climbers with Thoracic Extension/Rotation: 10 per side
  8. Snatch-Grip RDL to Overhead Squat Complex: 2x5 each move

Yeah, lots of T-Spine and lots of groin, because, for me at least, opening up those areas makes me feel awesome.

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