A New Animal: JDM135 for 1-2-3-4 plates

Training Logs
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221

10/16/2020, Friday, GMM cycle 5 lower 2.

front squats
Overwarmup to 165x1.
Amrap 135x13;
60 sec, then Amrap 135x5.

leg press
3/50 method, 315
20,15,15 total 50.
Rest periods limited to 90 sec.

RFESS
Bodyweight only
5x20 each leg. Rest periods were 90 sec for sets 2 and 3, 105 sec for sets 4 and 5.

Front squat progress was disappointing. But I didn’t die and I got more reps on the first set so whatever.
Leg press, though, was a lot of progress. Easier and less rest-pausey for same weight and reps, with less rest. Next time will use more weight.
RFESS also represents progress, because I didn’t feel like I was going to die despite using less rest.

222

10/19/2020
GMM Cycle 5, Upper 2
Press
Warmup;
Overwarmup to 105x1;
AMRAP 90x13;
60 sec rest;
AMRAP 90x4; got to forehead level on the fifth.
30 sec rest, 90x1 because failing that rep was unacceptable.
Dips
15#, 3/50 method, 90sec rest between sets:
21,15,11 = 47 reps total
DB Rows
70#, 3/50 method, 90sec rest between sets:
20,15,15 = 50 total reps.
Chins
5 sets of 7, 90 sec rest between sets.
Supinated and neutral grip, no pronated, because tendonitis.
A little kippy and a little rest-pausey on these.
DB curl
35#, 3/50 method, 90 sec rest between.
20, 10, 10 = 40 total reps.
Bonus work
Seated press, 45x12, 65x12, 65x12.

Tendonitis is terrible now. I didn’t do any digging this weekend, and while I did a lot of hard labor around the house (construction type work) I really tried to limit stressors on my left forearm. Regardless, it’s been hurting like hell, including at night. And then I picked up a DB to do DB rows it was freaking FIRE. I stuck it out and did the rows, but it wasn’t helping much.
It hurt less, but substantially, for the chins; and barely at all for the curls. Hmm.

Nutrution update.
I’ve been eating as hard as I can this whole time… and then the other day my wife said, paraphrased, “Your chest and shoulders look fuller, which is great, but your abdomen is holding a lot more fat. It’s not worth getting a fat belly to grow your muscles. You can get big and strong without eating so much, and not get fat”. Strong freaking words my lady!
So for this week I’m doing away with the bedtime cereal, the extra snax, and some of the beer. I hope it doesn’t terribly impact my performance on the final GMM cycle of squats and front squats, which is where I feel like tons of food really help.

223

10/20
Tendonitis continues to hurt, but I have scheduled a less-conventional treatment with a chiropractor. Never been to one before, but it was recommend by a very strong friend. They dont medicate for joint pain, instead they use very painful massage techniques, I’ve been told. No harm in trying, so I’m going Thursday.

I spent two hours last night doing brutal electrical work: pulling heavy gage cable through studs. If you’ve never done it, itd kinda like battle ropes in slow motion only much more frustrating. Naturally all that gripping and pulling inflamed my elbow, but surprisingly both forearms are sore closer to the wrist as well. No complaints there, as it means the work doubled as exercise. But I am less than half done with the job so we’ll see how tonight feels lol.

224

I have done the pretty much the same. I don’t typically drink beer on weekdays, but I’ve tried to cut way back on weekends. If you’re drinking semi-regularly, that may have something to do with inflammation in your elbow? I know after I go a little crazy on weekends my joints feel like they’re on fire, especially if I’m already under recovering (ie: skipping meals, lack of sleep, heavy lifting).

Good idea, hopefully you get some relief

225

I never thought of this. Wasn’t aware alcohol contributes to inflammation. If it was a factor I should notice improvement by Saturday.
And I didn’t drink a lot anyway, never more than 3 beers in an evening.
But still, if I averaged 14 beers per week that’s a ton of junk calories.

Which, by the way,

You obviously don’t have kids lol!

226

In my experience, once alcohol is cut out I feel ten times better. I used to be able to get away with it up until a couple years ago, now I get hangovers and feel like garbage for a day or two regardless of how much I consume. It definitely lights up my elbow really badly.

Haha and yes, no kids yet. I’ve never been one for moderation, so that’s typically why I don’t booze on weekdays.

227

10/21/2020, Wednesday
GMM Cycle 6 Lower 1

Squat
Overwarmup to 225x1;
AMRAP 185x14;
60 sec rest;
AMRAP 185x7.

SLDL
Overwarmup to 275x1;
AMRAP 225x12.

Split Squat
Both feet on floor. 50# ez bar in front rack position.
5x12.

This is my last round of GMM! 3 workouts to go. The squat sucked, but I’m not really disappointed. I couldn’t have done this 185x14 seven weeks ago so it’s a win. I mean, my first workout on this program was 135x13.
Was happy to finally get SLDL up to a decent weight, 20# jumps finally caught up with me.
For the first time, 50# split squats felt easy. Well, not easy, but like I could have done more weight without falling over. I think of these more as physical therapy for the knees rather than a strength-progression movement, though, especially after being wiped from squats.

Edit to add:
My elbow tendon was absolutely miserable. Loading and unloading the bar was bad. Doing the SLDL wasn’t doing it any favors either. My first alternative treatment is tomorrow, its possible I’ll put off the next upper body workout by a couple of days. Hopefully they don’t tell me to take time off from lifting to recover… plus my construction project is not complete, and that’s a big tendon-aggravator.

228

Chiropractic visit for tendonitis went well. I was very pleased with the approach, especially as compared to my experience with a regular orthopedic Dr. I’ll write more about this if I get the opportunity and definitely be logging the progress of treatment here.
Good news: the Dr says I should NOT stop lifting, NOT stop pulling or doing things that “hurt”, but DO reduce the pulling/hurting volume and listen to my body: if it hurts the next day, you did too much to the tendon. Sounds like common sense to me. On his recommendation, I am cutting out some sets of pulling movements for the remaining GMM upper-body workouts.

10/23/2020
GMM Cycle 6 Upper 1
Bench
Overwarmup to 185x1;
AMRAP 165x13;
60 sec rest, then
AMRAP 165x5
Tendon issues hurt this movement so bad, I had to cock my wrist into a weird position to hurt less. But was able to complete the set without being wrist-limited.

Incline Press
3/50 method, 90 sec rest between sets, 105#.
17, 10, 8 = 35 total. That’s one rep worse than last week overall but one rep better on the first set…

Barbell Row
165x8,8.
Cut out the next two sets which would have been 135x12,12.

Cable Pulldown
Supposed to be 3/50 method, 90 sec rest, close neutral grip. 140#
20,15. Cut out the third set.

BB Curls
70# on EZ bar. Supposed to be 3/50 method, instead just did one AMRAP set:
18 reps.

Bonus work
Press
Since I reduced the pulling volume I had more time left, so I decided to find my standing press 1RM.
45x3, 65x3, 85x2, 105x1, 115x1, 120x1.
105x3, 85x6.
LOL the 120x1… I got it just about level with the top of my head, and it just sat there… I just kept bracing… finally it ground up! What a shitty rep but I got it.

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229

Is the 120x1 a PR? If so, congrats man. You’ve been putting in work.

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230

Thank you. It’s not a lifetime pr, which would be 130, but its definitely a post-appendectomy PR. I will get 135!!! Not sure how yet, but I will.

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231

10/26/2020
GMM cycle 6 Lower 2
front squats
Overwarmup to 165x1
AMRAP 135x15
60 sec rest, then
AMRAP 135x7

leg press
365# 3/50 method
12, 10, 8

rfess
20,10,10,10,10. Rear foot higher than normal.

232

10/27/2020
An update: my left elbow is close to useless. Carrying in groceries with my left hand is enough to light the elbow on fire for a couple of hours. I’ll do my Upper 2 workout tomorrow, minus several pulling sets, and then I should probably find a program that lets my arms rest.
Post-workout commentary from yesterday:
During front squats I really felt like I was having a panic attack. I don’t think it was anxiety - I told myself the weight and reps don’t matter - but I think simply having weight on the front of your shoulders, restricting breathing, and exerting yourself to the point of being breathless, creates an exact analog of the physiological aspect of panic. So I was gasping like I was losing my freaking mind, but the actual concentric portion of the lift didn’t seem that bad. Oh, and my wrists were screaming at me too from being bent backwards and crushed, haha. Point is my legs seemed to have more in them than the rest of my body did!
This was a big jump in weight for leg press, I’m not disappointed in the numbers, and the rest-pausey-ness wasn’t insane. I can keep progressing reps at that weight.
RFESS: Couldn’t get a bench to elevate my foot, had to use a box; took 2 sets to find the right body position.

233

10/28/2020
GMM Cycle 6 Upper 2
Last Workout of GMM!
Press
Overwarmup to 105x1;
AMRAP 90x11;
60 sec rest then
AMRAP 90x4
Dips
15#, 3/50 method, 90sec rest periods
24, 16, 15 = 55 total
DB Rows
75#x18 reps
Supposed to do 3/50 but nixed the last two sets for tendonitis
Chins
NOPE! did five reps and stopped. Felt like it was going to rip my tendon.
DB curls
35#, 20 reps. Again supposed to do 3/50 but nixed the last two sets for tendonitis. I guess @boilerman is right, the ability to rotate the wrist during elbow flexion makes a world of difference to the tendon; but still I wasn’t about to do 3 sets and make things worse.

Disappointing press results - 2 reps fewer than last time, and one rep less on the 50% set. Don’t know what led to that.
GMM is over! I’d have considered continuing it if not for the tendonitis being so bad. I’m pleased with the progress I made. I’ll write up a summary soon.
Unsure what I’ll do program-wise next. Definitely limited (or no) pulling volume for the next few weeks.

1 Like
234

Good stuff man

All things considered with the injury and fatigue of being at the end of the program, PRs shouldn’t be expected.

Any clue what’s next?

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Not really. Deep down I know 5/3/1 BBB or BBS would be good for me…
Was also looking hard at Primer 4 since you mentioned it. It seems like really low volume…
100% certain that I must reduce or eliminate gripping/pulling volume. I’d like to start deadlifts but at this point it may do more harm than good. I’ll have to try a set with straps. But pullups and power cleans are out of the question.

I’ll mess around the next few workouts, maybe try some new movements and see if I can find something for back that doesn’t hurt my arm.

TBH if I did 5/3/1 bbb with no accessory work and did only the 5/3/1 sets for DL I would probably be ok. What do you think about that? Too imbalanced without pulling?

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I think you have to find out why exactly you want to deadlift. If you’re training for a better deadlift, then doing conventional deads are prob the way to do it. For getting bigger muscles, I’m not so sure.

You might want to try some figure 8 straps for all pulling, like BB rows or deadlifts as they pretty much take grip totally out of the equation.

IMO my most steady progress was going 5’s pro deadlift with 5x5 FSL. It’s boring, and sometimes really easy, but over time it adds up. Like you said though, I’d try a whole bunch of different things and try to find some stuff that avoids aggravating it, or just cut out pulling until you’re confident it’ll be better.

You may want to post in the injuries and rehab section? I bet there are lots of people with something similar that have tons of good work arounds or rehab exercises

237

8 weeks of GMM completed, I posted a thread about my results, but here are the numbers:
My AMRAP PR Progress:
Squat: 135x13–>185x14
Front Squat: 115x14–>135x15
Bench: 135x18–>165x13
Press:65x16–>90x13**
Incline press: 95x12–>105x17
**Last round of press was worse. The previous round is the PR listed.

And here is what I look like now:

562×750 175 KB

238

10/30/2020
Friday
Front Squats
EMOM.
Minutes 1-20: 135x2;
Minute 21: 155x1;
Minute 22: 175x1;
Minute 23: 185x1.

On that last single, I let my mind wander and I visualized, in fact narrated to myself, “And now the weight crushes his body like an accordion” as I was going down. BIG MISTAKE! visualize it and it happens. At the bottom I tried to erase the vision and I struggled back up. I made the rep, but it was awful. Good news, I am WAAY better at front squatting than before! Bad news, by about minute 10 my left elbow was SCREAMING at me. I guess the deep stretch aggravates it.

Messing around
Shrugs
I haven’t done shrugs in forever, so I did 3x10 at 135 to see how it would feel on my elbow. Not bad; but felt twingey in my traps/neck. I think there’s a lot of growth potential there, since it’s neglected; but i’ll need to ease into it or i’ll hurt myself.
Supported row
I checked out the chest-supported T-bar row at my gym. Nobody ever uses it. I like it! With 25# loaded (lol) it didn’t hurt my elbow to do a few reps.
lying leg curl
1x30 at 60lb, way too light.
Leg extensions
Dicked around trying to find a decent working weight. Around 140 is about right.

I still don’t know what’s next program-wise, but I’m going to do 10x10 incline press next time at my 3/50 weight - or try to anyway. After that I think it’ll be time to settle into a routine that builds my press and doesn’t hurt my elbow.

239

Thanks. The only reason is because I feel like I’m supposed to, and it seems pretty badass. But if it risks aggravating my elbow I should leave ego out of it and not do it I suppose.

Thank you. Why haven’t I done this? I have straps buried in my closet. I’ll dig 'em out.

240

Yeah, I mostly do them because I like it. Maybe start light using the straps and do what you can. If it starts to hurt then dial it way back or cut it out completely.