Natty on Pennies

Training Logs
1242

Daily log:

Weight:
86.3kgs/192lbs

Still just a tad of sickness, nothing major. Definitely felt it during my workout though. Recovering from sets was a lot harder than usually.

Training:
Legs:

1 Front squat (30)
4x6x97.5
RP (15 breaths) 6+3+2x97.5kgs
2 Good morning with pause on pins
20,15,12,10x127.5kgs (40)
3 Sumo leg press with pause
3x20x150kgs (50)
4a Adductor machine
3xFx65kgs
4b Standing crunch on lat pulldown
3xFx65kgs
Physio stuff and twists

Notes:

Squats were surprisingly heavy. Not doing heavy squatiing for 16 days /really like 5 weeks though) may have played a part, but having a bit of sickness left definitely didn’t help. However, I completed the reps and my from was arguably better than last time. I’m interested to see what happens as my back squats surpass my fronts in terms of weight.

This is the only leg session where I’m not solely thinking in terms of tension in my 16 day blocks, but rather doing movements as movements while maintaining good form.

The good mornings felt great. I could feel my glutes working to a much greater degree than last time, which is probably why I got 20 reps with more weight than two weeks ago. The physio stuff seems to be working. Now I suspect that my glutes have yet to achieve such high level of intra-training recovery the rest of my body has as they have received very little attention in the past due to not activating properly. In short; my reps dropped massively compared to usual.

On leg press I stayed at the same weight as I failed to reach the reap goal last time. Got there and a bit over so next time I’ll be adding load.

And that’s that.

1243

Daily log: Yesterday and today in a nutshell

Weight:
85.6kgs yesterday, 86kgs today

I’m going to tinker around just a bit with my nutrition and things I do outside the gym. (Gonna try adding some conditioning work and doing the physio stuff and twists after that to cut down on gym time)

Training:
Yesterday I had the worst session of the year. Really I only got in two quality sets of curls. I don’t know if it was the extreme heat (extreme meaning it was +30℃, I’d do just fine if we never went over +10℃) or what but could not get into it. I even tried using very light weights but I just had zero energy and could not flex the muscles.

Odd.
Still got some work in for every bodypart I was supposed to train, but it was pretty much just light weight isolation stuff with no intention.

Hopefully tomorrow goes better, I’m going to train as early as possible to avoid the heat (hope to make that into a habit as it would make my plans for nutrition actually manageable)

Yeah, that’s all folks.

1244

Being Aussie this made me laugh :joy: I’d call that a nice sunny day

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1245

I actually think that could work

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1246

Man I’m dying over here. Sauna I can manage, but this constant heat is awful

I think it has worked for me, of course to a small degree given that I’ve only been at it for a few years. Point being, I’ve always managed to have a leaner physique with a higher weight from mass season to mass season. Now I’m adding in short-term calorie cycling to see what will happen if in addition to mini-cuts and longer cuts we have single days where we are in a deficit during our gaining phase.

I love tinkering with stuff like this.

1247

Damn

It’s thinking outside of the box. Nothing bad can really happen from trying new things, you learn alot.

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1248

Yeah, I mean, the worst thing that could happen is that nothing happens, (given that you’re not doing something really stupid) but there is always a possibility of coming across something amazing.

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1249

Daily log: Yesterday edition (once again)

Weight:
86kgs/191lbs

Training:
AM:
Chest/Back/Delts/Small muscles

1a Low incline bench (40)
4x8x90kgs
RP: 9+4+4x90kgs
1b Pendlay row (40)
4x8x97.5kgs
8+3+3x97.5kgs
2a DB Bench w/feet up (40)
2x10,11,12x35kgs
2b BTN Pulldown (50)
2x15x80kgs
2x12x90kgs
Chest and back stretches
EDT: 10minutes
Head supported rear laterals
8x20x15kgs
Lying cable upright rows
8x12x70kgs
Shoulder stretch
3a Smith machine calf raise
4x12x90kgs
3b 3-Way wrist curl
4xFx70kgs
Calf and forearm stretches
4a Neck curl+extension
2x15x10kgs
4b External rotator pull
2x15x13.5kgs

PM:
Conditioning:
Sandbag sprints
30s Sprinting
30s Rest
10 Rounds

Notes:
All is going well, sickness has gone past.

Got this idea of doing a gym session, having a huge whey shake with some rice cakes and a banana straight after and then a bit over an hour from that doing a conditioning session after which I’ll eat an actual meal. Two days in and it feels pretty good.

On lat pulldowns I misloaded the weight, but I don’t care. A set taken to failure or close is almost always a productive set.

I’ll try to get today’s log out a bit later as well to catch up.

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1250

Daily log:

Weight:
86.5kgs/192lbs

Training:
AM:
Lower body

1a Quad squat
4x8x85kgs
RP 8+4+3x85kgs (40)
1b Leg curl
4x12xStack+10kgs
RP 12+5+5xStack+10kgs
2 Hip thrust
4x10x107.5kgs (40)
3 Heel elevated leg press
3x45x145kgs (75)
Quad and Ham stretches
4a Back extension
3xF
4b Crunch
3xF

PM:
Conditioning
Hill sprints;
As fast as possible up., walk down, repeat.
10 rounds

Notes:
I’ll probably hover around this weight for squats for one more session, I feel I used a bit too much lower back and glutes today

Also, I’m running out of ways to add weight to my leg curl stack.

And that’s that, I’m feeling good with my new nutritional approach, for me it’s a really easy and comfortable approach. I can lay it out at some point in time

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1251

Daily log:

Weight:
86.2kgs/191.5lbs

Training:
AM:
Arms/Delts/Small muscles
1a Feet up CGB (40)
4x8x87.5kgs
RP:9+4+4x87.5kgs
1b Hammer curl (50)
4x15x17.5kgs
RP 20+10+10x17.5kgs
2a Kneeling cable extension
2x15,13,12x55kgs
2b Incline DB Curl
14,3x13x15kgs
Bicep stretch
EDT (10minutes)
Arnold press
8x12x22.5kgs
Lateral raise
8x20x12.5kgs
End of EDT, Delt&Tricep stretches
3a Seated calf raise
4x15x80kgs
3b 3-way wrist curl
4xFx80kgs
Forearm and calf stretches
Sides of neck
3x15x5kgs/side

PM:
Conditioning:
Sandbag bag sprints
40s Sprint
20s Rest
8 rounds
Side twists and physio stuff

Notes:
Used mostly the same weights as last times because I was sick when I last worked arms (and I used lowered volume I’m that session)

I could feel some unwanted pain in my shoulder/rotator cuff so I’m laying off the external rotations for a while to see if it gets better

Also I got a nasty good pump today, always feels good.

1252

Daily log

Weight:
86.2/191.5lbs

Training:
Rest day:
Stretching, side twists, physio stuff

Today was also a testing day for my mother, in the past month she got eight sessions in and I was there for one session so it wasn’t the best month in terms of training.

Last time > This time:
DB OHP 11x10kgs > BB OHP 8x22.5kgs
Deadlift 6x75kgs > 6x80kgs
CGB 8x35kgs > 4x37.5kgs
Box squat 21x50kgs > 12x57.5kgs
20kg Kettlebell swing for time 1:44 > 3:04

In my eyes, there is some progress; on Deadlift it was great progress but on everything else as well. We have to remember that just because she squatted 21x50kgs last time does not mean she could’ve squatted 12x57.5. Don’t be fooled by the swings though, last time she tanked way early. The month before that she got like 2:34. But yeah, not the best month.

1253

Haven’t logged for a while, I could seem like an important and busy person and tell you I’ve been working even more than usually but the truth is that my girlfriend got me Destiny 2 and I’ve been playing it pretty much all the time when I’m not eating, sleeping, working or training

It’s a damn good game.

Training has been good, everything is progressing as expected.

I’ve been noticing trends in terms of exercises; there are some things I’m actually really excited to do such as incline bench, bent over rows and Arnold presses. I enjoy those movements and they feel good and productive to me. On the other hand there are exercises I don’t even want to do, like 1 1/3 front squats, pendlay rows and BTM presses. Not because they are hard but because I feel they are not really that productive to me and they don’t stimulate the intended muscle as well as some other exercises could.

I’m already planning my next training block, I’ll be tinkering with this stuff just a little bit. Main focus will be doing mainly exercises I feel are beneficial and cutting down on training time. I’ll be using some variation of chest+back - legs - arms+delts, it’s probably my favourite split along with upper/lower. You’ll see how it all lays out in a couple of weeks.

1254

I’m starting to feel the effects of overreaching, kinda odd it came in this early. I’ll continue for at least twelve days (finishing this cycle and doing half of the next, maybe the whole cycle even) with my current volume before drastically cutting it down for one to two weeks after which I’ll have a light week.

Tomorrow I’ll go to my flat for the last time to spend the night there. I have some cleaning up to do. Oh man, I guess everything has to end at some point.

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1255

I just got back from my last session before the two volume-reduced weeks, man am I ready for this deload.

At the moment I am in the state you would want to be before deloading - decently into the overreaching state. Tired all the time, strength is down, sleep is not good, pain in my limbs during nights. You know, on the doorstep of overtraining.

What will happen next is that I’ll have two weeks of low-volume training with a split routine. 1-2 muscle groups per day, 3-4 sets per muscle max (probably 2-3). The sets will be taken to failure, as this is merely a volume deload, not a full on deload. (Which will be following up right after this is done.)

The actual deload will probably just be a rest/upper/rest/lower/rest doing one semi-hard muscle round for each muscle group. Haven’t decided on that just yet.

After the deload I’ll be spending about two weeks in a calorie deficit before returning to gaining.

So in short, here’s what the next month or so will look like:

Weeks 1&2: Volume deload (“HIT” training with a split routine)
Week 3: Actual deload
Weeks 4&5: Mini-cut
After this, back to gaining

I’ll be altering my program a bit for the next training block. It’s not that my current programming didn’t work, but rather that I want to experiment with stuff.

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1256

I ordered some bf calibers alongside my usual 15 kilo whey order from myprotein, got them for two euros which was a steal really. They arrived today. They may not be the best ones out there but I feel they will still be useful as you can still see if there are differences in readings.

For my next block I’ve actually set out an exel spreadsheet to follow weight fluctuations, by% and calories alongside training. This is something I’ve never done before so I don’t really know wether or not I’ll like it and if I don’t I’ll just ditch it. Given how much I like to tinker and feel sciency I think I’ll enjoy it, but then again I’m not particularly good at writing stuff up day in and day out, as you may have noticed.

I’ve been enjoying this calorie cycling thing with deficit days in there and all that, it just feels right. I’ll continue with it and see where it’ll lead. For this deload though the calories will be in a surplus at all times and the differences between days will be smaller.

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1257

Training log;

Volume deload, day 1:

Chest/Biceps/Calves/Abs

  1. Low incline bench zigzagdropset (you may want to see notes)
    11x100kgs
    8x70kgs
    8x85kgs
    3x70kgs

  2. Very low incline DBPress drop set
    6x45kgs
    4x35kgs

  3. High to low cable fly
    RP (10 breaths) 13+6+6x25kgs

Chest stretch

  1. Unilateral BTN curl on lat pulldown
    RP(10 breaths)
    15+5x15kgs

  2. Standing DB Preacher curl
    RP(10 breaths)
    13+5+2forced repsx15kgs

  3. Unilateral reverse cable curls
    20x25kgs

Bicep and forearm stretches

  1. Seated calf raise
    2 sets to failure with 85kgs

  2. Cable crunch
    1 set to failure with the stack

Notes:
A great start to the volume deload.

On low incline bench I hit a huge PR with the 11x100kgs. My best single on any incline is the 112.5 on a slightly higher angle, but you can’t really compare the two exercises.

Now what is a zigzagdropset?

Simply put it’s a dropset where instead of just going down you come back up again. Usually it goes like this:
3x100
6x80
3x90
6x70
3x80 etc.
So the heavier sets are far shorter than the lighter ones

Now what happened with my set? Well, in addition to altering the weight I altered my technique greatly. The sets with 100 kilos and 85 kilos I was doing incline bench; controlled negative, some oomph in there and just blast it up. The sets with 70kgs, I was training my upper chest; contract against the negative make it slow, reverse the direction with zero momentum.

The pump was ridiculous after this.

With DBs what I did is that I put a metal plate under one side of the bench so it was a really slight incline. This is because I wanted to do a flat press with my feet down, but it doesn’t feel good to me. Being in a really stretched position from both my hips and shoulders is just something that does not work for me.

By having the slightest incline I was able to reduce the stretch on the hips without lifting them onto the bench. This movement was all about zero momentum and contractions, so I’m happy even with just 6x45 kilos (that’s per hand, by the way)

Finished chest with high to low cable flies. Set the pulleys at about shoulder height when standing, as that is the angle that makes the ist sense to me. During the movement just focused on bringing the upper arms in front of the body, as that is the main function of chest. During the rest pause rests I contracted my pecs as hard as I could. After this I stretched it out.

And that’s how I completely destroyed chest and got a skin tearing pump with just three sets (drop sets are singular sets, fight me)

With biceps, nothing spectacular. Just a great peak contraction movement followed by a mid range motion. Hit forearms and some extra biceps with Dante’s unilateral cable reverse curl with your wrist cocked back. Lovely.

Finished the session with calves and abs.

For anyone wondering, the split I’m using is a bastardization of the super advanced DC split, which comes out to be about the most generic bro split ever.

The DC split goes like this:
Biceps/Forearms/Calves
Chest/Abs
Hamstrings/Quads
Rest
Front/Side delts/Triceps
Back width/Thickness/Rear delts
Rest and repeat

All I’ve done is that I combined the first two days to get one more rest day and to not lose my mind with a bicep/calf day.

I’m not tying my rest days with anything either, I’m just going with how my work schedule goes; on a deload I prioritize sleep a lot more and if my options are to sleep 4 hours and get a session in or to sleep 6.5 hours and have an extra rest day, the latter will win.

But yeah, that’s that, I’ll try to post about these HIT sessions as they are interesting, at least to me.

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1258

What platform you game on? I’ve been looking to dive back into the world of gaming again now that we are apartment living and it seems I have a spare hour to kill every night…which I know will turn into 4 hours when I start gaming…but who needs sleep anyway

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1259

I play on PC, I really like it as you can do stuff apart from gaming as well. The initial investment is pretty big compared to consoles but then again, you probably need a pc anyways and the games are cheaper.

I play pretty seldomly and the amount of time I play at once alternates a lot, sometimes I may play for half am hour, other times half a day. Like, I played Destiny for 3-4 hours a day for five days straight, then had a couple of days off, played eight hours straight and now I haven’t played it in a couple of days. I’m like this with TV-Series as well. I’ve been watching GoT for three years now, and there have been a couple of five episodes in a row - nights, but I’m still at season five.

Gotta cut the rambling before it gets out of hand

But yeah, I recommend PC if you want to play a bit more seriously, for just leisure playing with mates I’d pick consoles as you can literally be more laid back with them

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1260

Right on, a few of my friends game on PC and built one for me a few years back (a budget gaming PC)…which is probably archaic at this point the way technology ages so damn quickly. They played lots of Diablo 3, League of Legends, Starcraft 2 etc. I played SC2 with them for awhile but didn’t really get into the others as much. Played a bit of Counter Strike as well.

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1261

It really does, a medium-budget PC may last 3-4 years before you need to replace some parts if you want to play the newest games without any problems.

I bought my PC years ago and I did put some coin into it (if I recall correctly it was about a grand). I’ve only had to replace one part and it was due to the part breaking. (It was put together wrong at the factory). Factoring that in the total cost of my PC is about 1300 euros. Not bad really as it still is pretty much top notch

I’ve tried to get into LoL and CS but somehow they don’t just cut it for me. Funnily enough I do like Smite (pretty much LoL but with gods from multiple religions) and Battlefield series + older CoDs

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