Justifying My Name

I apperantly got a bit sick and today I feel like crap.Still though

DYNAMIC EFFORT LOWER (Cycle 10 Week 1)

2 cycles of:
Bridges x bw x 35 seconds
Reverse hyper x bw x 25

Low bar squat
20 kg x 10
20 kg + 1 band per side x 5
40 kg + 1 band per side x 2
60 kg + 1 band per side x 2 x 10 I’ll give band cycle a try,which means I’ll add a band each week and decrease the number of sets by 2

Front squat
20 kg x 8 or so
40 kg x ?
60 kg x 20 Keeping the bar in possition was the most challenging part.I actually almost dropped it on the last one.Not saying that I didn’t got some good leg work from this,but I could probably push for more reps

Hypers parallel to the floor
Bw x 20 x 3 At this point this was actually challenging

Wide grip shrugs
20 kg x 10
60 kg x 10 or something
100 kg x 5
110 kg x 20 x 2

Band ab standing curls(some variations are so hard to properly name)
50 reps changing body possition every here and there

Small update
I’ve been sick for the past few days.It started around Friday or Saturday and training didn’t help.So instead of going in and training,setting myself up for more days to recover,I took some days off

And believe me,taking days off when you have been breaking pr week after week and when it’s a max effort workout is not easy

It feels so good to be back.I haven’t logged for 6 days and it feels like it has been ages.So

REPETITION EFFORT LOWER (Cycle 10 Week 2)

3 cycles of:
Machine row with the seat low x 35 kg x 25
Reverse grip pushdowns x 15 kg x 25
Band pull aparts x 25

Ohp
Small barbell x 10
20 kg x 8
30 kg x 20,18,16 I was just too pumped to do 3 sets of 20.My shoulders get easily fatigued.The warm up probably has it’s part to it but I’m willing to give up 2-3 reps on re;petition effort day in exchange for being warm and less injury prone

Z behind the neck press
20 kg x 10,9.5 I was too pumped to do anything sagnificant here

Tate press
8 kg x 12
12 kg x 12
16 kg x 12
20 kg x 20 Happy af about this one

T bar row
Barbell x 20
20 kg x 20
40 kg x 20
60 kg x 20
80 kg x 10 I decided to put straps for this set and I putted them loose,which screwed me over

Weird 1 arm pulldown arm wrestling style
Some sets of 20

Neck curls
Bw x 20
5 kg x 10
8.75 kg x 100,50,30

On a side note,I found a collection of 4 books for 2 and a half bucks but they informed me that I will probably have it in 20 days.Is there anything without a catch in this life?Lol

DYNAMIC EFFORT LOWER (Cycle 10 Week 2)

2 cycles of:
Cable ab pulldowns x 10 kg x 25
Reverse hypers x bw x 25

I’d do some more warm up but I went on a busy hour and I had to grap the squat rack as soon as I had the chance

Low bar squats
20 kg x 10
20 kg + 2 bands per side x 5
40 kg + 2 bands per side x 2
60 kg + 2 bands per side x 2 x 8 Super excited for the next week where I’ll be using 3 bands

High bar close stance squats
20 kg x 10
60 kg x 1 or 2
100 kg x 18 I rounded over on the last one.Could I stand up a bit,breath and take 1-2 more proper reps?Maybe.But I wasn’t squatting inside a squat rack and having to throw the bar on a crowded gym was the last thing I wanted

Hypers parallel to the floor
Bw x 25 x 3 This was harder than it looks like

Dumbbell shrugs
10 kg x 20
20 kg x 33 x 3 First set was standing,last 2 sets were seated.Also I kinda thank a guy that left a 10 kg dumbbell where I’d rack mines and made me angry enough to push through the 13 last reps of the final set

Band ab pulldowns
2 random bands x 25 x 4 It’s amazing how great these make your lower back feel after 10 minutes of doing them

I’ll start adding some extra volume on my squats on dynamic effort lower days.I love amraps,so I don’t see myself going back to straight sets,so I’ll either do a rest pause,or,if I’m too gassed out,I’ll do 1-3 easier sets just to get some extra work in

Also,I eat around 3000 calories per day and have been maintaining weight at 94-95 kg,getting a bit leaner,so basically recomping(or at least I think so) so I’m debating whether I should up my calories to 3300 or keep them there.I’ll probably keep them there though

MAX EFFORT UPPER (Cycle 10 Week 3)

3 cycles of:
High hammer row x 10 kg per side on the first 2 sets,15 on the last x 25
Cable pushdowns x 15 kg x 25
Band pull aparts x 25

Ohp
20 kg x 10
20 kg + 1 band per side x 5
30 kg + 1 band per side x 3
40 kg + 1 band per side x 1
50 kg + 1 band per side x 1
62.5 kg + 1 band per side x 0 x 2
60 kg + 1 band per side x 0

Jumping 12.5 kg was a stupid move,especially since 50 kg didn’t flew up.It was easy but not super easy
The bands could be tied a bit lower than the last time,which could add a good amount of tension at that rom.Also I think I had the bands in front of me and not aline with my body.But at the end of the day I should make smarter jumps

Close grip Z press (8)
20 kg x 3
40 kg x 3
50 kg x 3 x 3

Tate press
10 kg x 6
20 kg x 6
25 kg x 6
30 kg x 6 That was hard but they felt sooo good

Dead stop meadow row with 20 kg plates
Bar x 10
20 kg x 5
40 kg x 3
60 kg x 3
70 kg x 3
80 kg x 3 Wooooohooooooo 4 plates.Also back looks amazing

Seated forearm curls
6 kg x 15
12 kg x 5
18 kg x 5
25 kg x 5

Reverse barbell curls with pussy pad
20 kg x 15 x 3 This was actually hard

Neck curls
Bw x 20
5 kg x 10
10 kg x 100,70

I followed that with a huge bowl of rice,tuna and caesar sos which ended up being SOOOOOOOOO GOOOOOD.What have I been missing all these years not buying this thing

MAX EFFORT LOWER (Cycle 10 Week 3)

2 cycles of:
Bridges x bw x 30 seconds
Reverse hypers x bw x 25

Low bar paused squats
20 kg x 10
60 kg x 5
80 kg x 1
100 kg x 1
120 kg x 1
140 kg x 1
145 kg x 1
147.5 kg x 1 Nice 5 kg pr here

High bar paused squats
100 kg x 5 x 2

Barbell shrugs
20 kg x 20
60 kg x 6 or 10 or something
100 kg x 6
140 kg x 6
180 kg x 5 or 6 the bar hitted on the safety pins(which I had set too high) and I had to stop.Did one more set of 3 or something and same thing happened.That felt so good though

Small workout cause I was in a hurry but some great work was done here

REPETITION EFFORT UPPER (Cycle 10 Week 3)

3 cycles of:
Behind the neck pulldowns x 20 kg on the first set,25 on the other 2 x 25
Rope pushdowns x 15 kg x 25
Band pull aparts x 25

Ohp
20 kg x 10
30 kg x 5
35 kg x 20,10,7 I must stop the bad habit of comming on my toes when pressing

Ohp rack lockouts (top pin)
I raised the rack by putting 15 kg plates beneath it for these
20 kg x 8 or so
40 kg x ?
60 kg x 10,6
40 kg x 10
I was too fried when I started these.Still they are great for teaching you to handle weights overhead.I’ll start putting these on every rep day after my ohp,from different heights each time

Overhead dumbbell extensions
8 kg x 12,10,10 Right arm was fried

Wide grip barbell rows
20 kg x 20
40 kg x 10
60 kg x 30,20 Dang,when did these become so easy?Back is getting there mane

Half hammer curls
6 kg x 10 or so
10 kg x 15 x 2

Barbell wrist curls
20 kg x 100

Neck curls
Bw x 20
5 kg x 10
11.25 kg x 80 I could push for 20 more reps,but I had come too far back on the bench
20 kg x 10 x 2 Decided to push these a bit heavier today.Pretty happy with the outcome

So,here’s some training thoughts for the upcoming training cycles

My strength goals are an 80 kg ohp and a 180 kg squat
Also physique wise I’m focusing on traps,upper back,neck,forearms,shoulders and glutes

For the ohp
On my heavy days I’ll focus on Z presses and presses of off the knees as a max effort movement and push presses,maybe wider grip standing presses and more Z presses and presses off of the knees

On lighter days I’ll keep ohp for high reps as a main movement,chasing a 45-50 kg x 20 reps
As a secondary movement I’ll do pin presses for reps.I’ll not do many top end pressing though.Instead I’ll find 1-2 pins near my forehead.Maybe I’ll add some seated unsupported pin presses if I stall on these,but for the time I’ll stick with the standing version

Also I’ll keep pushing my extensions,although my triceps are not the weak link

For the squat
Here I’ve made some great progress over the past few months,so changing stuff would be dumb.So it’ll be more of a recap than anything

For my heavy days I’ll keep maxing on low bar pause squats,squats with bands and front squats.As a secondary squat I’ll do a high bar or front squat either as it is,with a pause or off of pins.Then I’ll start doing some heavy good mornings

For my dynamic effort days,I’ll keep band cycles for at least one more cycle and that go back to rotating weights probably
After my main movement I’ll keep doing high bar and front squats for high reps (15+) going for a rep record and then maybe doing 1-3 easier sets shooting for a total number of reps just to get some extra volume in.Then 1-2 posterior chain movements

One thing I don’t do and I think it will help is heavy or heavy-ish ab work.So I’ll add 2-3 ab movements per week and see how that goes

For traps
My traps are growing,so basically I’ll keep doing what I do,which is going for rep pr’s for the most part on barbell shrugs,wide grip barbell shrugs and dumbbell shrugs with various weights

For upper back
Same goes here.I’ll keep pushing barbell rows with a variety of grips,meadow rows,1 and 2 arm t bar rows(I HATE HEAVY 2 ARMS T BAR ROW BTW) and probably some krocs too on my heavy days for sets of 3-6 reps and on volume days for 50-100 total reps

For neck
Neck is growing as well,so not many things to change.I’ll keep neck curls as my go to movement,but instead of doing 3 sets adding 1.25 kg per week I’ll pick a random weight each time and go for a single set and total rep rp.For the most part I’ll stay above 100 total reps per workout,although that may change

For forearms
My forearms are P-A-T-H-E-T-I-C.I mean look

So,here’s the plan.I’ll do 1-2 movements per workout,1 for the extensors and one for the flexors for sets of 10+ reps

Extensors:Reverse barbell curls with and without fat grip,hammer curls,Ez bar uneven curls

Flexors:barbell and dumbbell wrist curls standing and seated,cable wrist curls and holds with 1 and 2 arms,table curls,half curls

For shoulders
Basically the pressing work I do for my ohp

For glutes
Same as above

Also I’ll start adding some band work on my off days,but that can be thrown away at any time

That’s basically everything I have in mind for my future training sessions

MAX EFFORT UPPER (Cycle 10 Deload)

3 cycles of:
Wide grip pulldowns to neck x 20 kg on first set,25 on the other 2 x 25
Rope pushdowns x 15 kg x 25
Band pull aparts x 25

Close grip Z pin press (10)
Small barbell x 10
20 kg x 5
30 kg x 2
40 kg x 1
50 kg x 1
55 kg x 1
60 kg x 1 I think it came a bit back on my wrist,which made it slower than it should have been,but whatever,it’s a deload so I stopped there anyway

Ez barbell 1 arm rows
Cause the gym goes up just to 40 kg dumbbells
10 kg x 5 or whatever,I really do not remember Actually I weighted the barbell and it weights 8.3 kg,but I’ll keep assuming it’s 10 kg for ease purposes
30 kg x 5
50 kg x 5
60 kg x 5 Dead stop cause the barbell was dancing around

2 arm V grip cable wrist curls and holds
15 kg x 50
50 kg (the whole stack) x ? x 3 sets

Neck curls
Bw x 20
5 kg x 150 reps It felt so light

I was watching this q&a and when at 32:34’s question he said he wants to do a 700 pounds shrug my competitiveness woke up,so I decided to go after him

Nothing will change at my planning,I’ll just add a bit more volume on shrugs,probably lighter sets that won’t affect my recovery much

So,the goal for the moment is a 600 pound shrug for 5 reps

To get there,I’ll start by working in the 350-440 range on regular shrugs going for high reps with back off sets,with 330-400 pounds on snatch grip shrugs and with dumbbells going after the 88 pounders (the biggest dumbbells my gey has) for 100 reps
Chasing 400 x 20 is a good start imo

MAX EFFORT LOWER (Cycle 10 Deload)

2 cycles of:
Standing cable ab pulldowns x 15 kg x 25
Reverse hypers x bw x 25

Low bar squats
20 kg x 10
60 kg x 3
100 kg x 1
120 kg x 1
140 kg x 5 Today I felt weak.Even with 60 kg I felt slow out of the bottom.Still I got 5 reps.EXTREMELY HAPPY.180 kg squat is SOOO SOOOOOOO close

Hypers parallel to the floor
Bw x 50

Dumbbell shrugs
10 kg x 120 reps
I stayed at such a light weight cause I already pushed it a bit despite being a deload

REPETITION EFFORT UPPER (Cycle 10 Deload)

2 cycles of:
Behind the neck pulldowns x 25 kg x 25
V grip pushdowns x 10 kg x 25
Band pull aparts x 25

Ohp
Small barbell x 10
20 kg x 5
30 kg x 2-3
32.5 kg x 20,18,7 I think shoulders have grown a bit

Stright bar skulls
20 kg x 20 x 2

V grip cable rows
20 kg x 15
40 kg x 30 x 2

1 arm barbell holds
20 kg x ?
40 kg x ? x ?

Neck curls
Bw x 20
10 kg x 110 reps

Or, you could deadlift :smiley:

And great progress btw!!

Now that you putted all the dots together…

Seriously though,deadlifting for these goals makes sense,but they are not my primal goals.My main goal is to reach a 405 squat.It’s this fear I had of squatting,I always felt like I would never be strong enough to squat 3,4,5… plates.At 17 I pulled 400 pounds while squatting less than 275 pounds.Then,after 2 months I pulled 420,with kinds terrible though

You can see why I go after squatting so much

Also my glutes are decent at 41.5-42 inches,so if I were to do some kind of pull I’d do rack pulls to focus more on my upper back,neck and traps

But in one sentense,you are right

As for the progress thanks,I really appriciate it.It was nice to see you stopping by

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Not to keep on this, just a different view point is all.

The squat and deadlift use all of the same muscles, just slightly differently. Obviously both use the back as a rack and the squat is more quads while the deadlift is more posterior chain.

When you good morninged that Pause Squat that is a sign that your hammies and glutes are weak.

That Squat assistance lift you are looking for is probably Deads.

Personally the only time I back off of deads is if I am peaking for a dead or squat PR.

I am a firm believer in Squat to make your Squat better and also do what works for you.

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I actually thought it to be a core weakness

But I totally see your point.Although on heavy days I’ll focus on heavy good mornings after my squats,I’ve got nothing to lose to do some deadlift variations for reps on dynamic effort/volume day and occasionally on heavy days

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It could also be that, which Deads would also probably have the best core carryover.

Any who, keep going strong!!

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DYNAMIC EFFORT LOWER (Cycle 10 Deload)

2 cycles of:
Cable ab pulldowns x 15 kg x 25
Reverse hypers x bw x 25

Low bar squats
20 kg x 10
60 kg x 5
80 kg x 2-5
100 kg x 22 My core gave out first.If I strengthen it I think I’ll instantly be at 25-30 reps on these

Dumbbell shrugs
12 kg x 50

Then I treated myself with some sausages with cheese on top baked on the oven

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MAX EFFORT UPPER (Cycle 11 Week 1)

Back to my home town for this week

3 cycles of:
Facepulls x 15 kg x 25
Pushdowns x 15 kg x 25

I did these with a chain.How bad ass is that?

Seated ohp
20 kg x 10
20 kg x 5
40 kg x 2
60 kg x 3
Ohping in this place is hard,cause I can only do 10 kg jumps,and there are no 5 kg plates.I bring 2.5s but today I couldn’t.So I just jumped up to 60 kg hoping that I’d get them(cause 15 kgs where been used),and seeing that they were easy I went for a second one,and same thing happened,so I went for a third one
Also these were done off of the elevated platform that incline has for spotting,cause the only bench in the gym was been used

Close grip standing ohp
40 kg x 5 x 2

Barbell row
20 kg x 20
60 kg x ?
80 kg x 3 or 5
100 kg x 3
110 kg x 5 I’d go for 3 but said fk it.I don’t think I’ll go heavier that this for a while

Fat handle cable holds
? x ?

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