Up to 214.6 today but that’s a bit of weekend bloat from my girlfriend’s sister and her husband visiting. Couple of meals out, few beers, not a lot of water etc. Still, it was nice to have a couple of pure rest days.
The weekend is potentially why my deadlift was so disappointing today, though I didn’t really drink a lot (and some of it was Icelandic Pale Ale which should be pretty anabolic) and it could well have just been an off day.
I did manage to hit heavier weights on good mornings and my other assistance though so not a total bust of a session training-wise.
Workout
Warmup
Flexible Five
200 pullaparts
100 dislocates
Glute drills
Main Giant Set
8x good mornings @ 50kg
6x deadlifts @ 105kg
15x V sit-ups
8x good mornings @ 55kg
4x deadlifts @ 120kg
15x V sit-ups
8x good mornings @ 60kg
5x* deadlifts @ 135kg
15x V sit-ups
*Almost don’t want to count these because it was a double, then a struggling third, then a majorly rest-paused double. The heaviest sub-3-plate deadlift I’ve ever pulled for sure. Really annoying but happy to have moved to 1-plate good mornings at least…
Strongman
100ft loaded carry: 45kg run This is the maximum I can practically do given that it’s the two heaviest bags on top of one another.
Assistance Giant Set
Three rounds:
8x Romanian deadlifts @ 85/90/95kg
30s hyperextension hold w/10kg plate
8x good mornings from pins @ 50kg
Conditioning
The prescribed was Tabata stuff but given the pending 10k I switched it out for sprinting intervals.
6x inverted rows
10x kneeling press @ 40kg
45s plank w/20kg plate
10x med ball throws I was aiming for 12. It started getting tough around 8, and on the tenth I lowered it wrong and wound up in a shit position. I tried to push press it to reset but you can’t do that very well from your knees, as it turns out.
Assistance Giant Set
Four rounds:
60s crucifix hold
10x bottom-up KB presses
15x rotator cuff thingies
Conditioning
Just a whole fucking mess of burpees.
Up to 213.6 today but accidentally ate about 4,500kcal yesterday so that might explain it.
Workout
Warmup
Flexible Five
200 pullaparts
100 dislocates
Glute drills
Main Giant Set
8x squats @ 70kg
10x med ball squat jumps
30s side plank each side
6x squats @ 85kg
10x med ball squat jumps
30s side plank each side
6x squats @ 95kg
10x med ball squat jumps
30s side plank each side Disappointing. Wanted 8 for an all-time rep PR; would have settled for 7 for a joint rep PR. Instead got a “this program rep PR” which is fine but not ideal.
Assistance Giant Set
Four rounds:
5x front squats
8x step-ups
8x crunches
Metcon
Bring Sally Up goblet squats. That’s a super-long song, you know. Still, first time I tried this I died about 60s in and this time I made it through the song (until like the last fade-out bit where I fell over lol)
Disappointing top set today, was hoping for 2-3 more reps. Think it could be down to inconsistency in setup and technique. Did manage to go a bit heavier on the assistance, at least.
214.1 today. Think the current focus on strength/size/mass requires a new log title.
Workout
Warmup
Flexible Five
200 pullaparts
100 dislocates
Main Giant Set
6x Yates rows @ 52.5kg
6x bench @ 52.5kg
30s flutter kicks
Weighed in at 215.0 on the dot today. Bit of bloat from the weekend since I had a few pints and an 11pm McDonalds on Saturday.
Workout
Warmup
200 pullaparts
100 dislocates
Flexible Five
Strongman Conditioning
EMOM (10m):
3x burpees
100ft loaded carry (40kg) Grabbed a couple of belts and tied together the 20kg and 15kg bag like a maverick genius. Got a bit awkwardly-shaped at the end and my footspeed was definitely a lot slower on the tenth round, but fairly pleased with this overall - especially compared to how exhausting this was with a 25kg bag the first time I did this.
Main Giant Set
6x deadlifts @ 105kg
10x hanging leg raises
8x KB snatches @ 12kg Tried 16kg here; wasn’t going to get 8 reps.
5x deadlifts @ 140kg
10x hanging leg raises
8x KB snatches @ 12kg Pretty sure this is a rep PR at 3 plates, and it’s definitely a giant sets/post-conditioning PR. This was meant to be 135kg but the plates were all over the place and it was easier to just whack another 20kg on each side.
Assistance Giant Set
Three rounds:
16x rack pulls @ 125kg
14x DB rows @ 35kg
10x situps w/10kg plate
Still around the same weight of 215.2 this morning. I’d actually be pretty happy with this being somewhat static since I obviously don’t need any extra fat. Obviously it’s difficult to say how much I’ve gained in terms of LBM over the last few weeks given I’ll be holding more water and food weight and whatnot. I’ll calm it down if I’m going too fast come Novemberish.
If by the end of the year I was hovering around 220 I think that would be a pretty ideal rate of gains.
Today I felt pretty tired and sluggish, but I hit some nice PRs nevertheless.
Workout
Warmup
200 pullaparts
100 dislocates
Flexible Five
Lat activation
Main Giant Set
5x chinups w/2.5kg plate
5x kneeling press @ 37.5kg
8x wipers
2x chinups w/10kg plate (big PR)
6x kneeling press @ 47.5kg (PR)
8x wipers Chins only called for one rep but it felt decent so why not two? Not too shabby for a fat lump. Press is a rep PR at this weight, a kneeling press PR and in terms of projected 1RM I think an all-time press PR, or at least second-place. Definitely a giant sets PR.
Widowmaker: 20x kneeling press @ 30kg
Strongman Conditioning: Funfair Dumbbell
AMRAP in 60s w/25kg
8 reps right, 8 reps left, 7 reps right, 6 reps left
Assistance Giant Set
Four rounds AMRAP in 30s each:
Z Press
Lat raises
Facepull
Conditioning
400m row as fast as possible
20 lat pulldowns
400m row as fast as possible
20 machine fly
200m row as fast as possible
15 lat pulldowns
And so on…
Down to 213.8 today, so probably no cause to panic about getting too fat too fast (yet).
Workout
Warmup
Flexible Five
Quick walk
10k training
5k in 33:58 (flat terrain)
What kind of horrible life do I lead where a 5k is a bit of a morning treat because there aren’t any hills? Still slow as fuck but simply trying to get it done.
Weighed in at 214.2 today. Been very consistent with calories and generally feeling well-recovered, but my knee has been playing up a bit for the past week or two. The additional running is likely to blame but the Bring Sally Up goblet squats last week weren’t exactly ideal either…
Workout
Warmup
200 pullaparts
100 dislocates
Flexible Five
Glute drills
Main Giant Set
8x squats @ 70kg
12x standing crunches
6x burpees
6x squats @ 85kg
12x standing crunches
6x burpees
8x squats @ 95kg (PR)
12x standing crunches
6x burpees Previous best-ever at 95kg was 7 reps; 6 was the best giant set.
Assistance Giant Set
Three rounds:
12x good mornings
12x leg curls
10x DB lunges
Conditioning
Deck of cards workout. Weirdly, I do not own a deck of cards - I was a semi-professional poker player for a couple of years and have worked in the gambling industry for over a decade and yet I had to find a random card generator online to do this.
Posted this in about four weeks ago, bit the bullet today.
I’ll be doing entering the SMB Bolton 2019 in the Prospect category* and that’ll be the following:
Press Medley: 50kg DB, 80kg BB, 90kg axle, then back down (5 lifts total) Deadlift for Reps: 180kg in 70s Carry Medley: Sandbags, 15m, 60kg/75kg/75kg Farmers Walk: 100kg, 40m drop and turn Truck Push/Pull: 3.2T Land Rover
*I guess this is like a novice-ier novice category. It doesn’t seem much lighter but it looks like it’s for first-timers rather than weak people? I actually might switch to Novice when they get back to me because both will require a ton of training anyway so fuck it.
It’s not for almost nine months, so despite the fact that I’d zero every event if I entered tomorrow I feel OK with it. If a woman can grow a baby in that time I can grow some muscle. I’d say I’m about 2/3 as strong as I need to be to actually do this.
I’ll have to start doing event-specific training as well which will necessitate buying an axle, some sandbags and some farmers handles. I’ve already warned the girlfriend of pending expenses on stupid man stuff.
Fortunately I have a solid alley/lane behind my house which will work for sandbag/farmers/truck pull practice. Unfortunately I’ll need to join a second gym to practice standing press, but that’s a problem for Future Matt.
@T3hPwnisher@flipcollar and others expect some training questions to come your way early next year!
Did you buy a customized plan from Brian that has incorporated your running, or is this 10K training in addition to the program? Do you have a 10K race coming up that you’re training for?
Congrats on taking the plunge, it’s fun to train with a bit more purpose. A nice way to relight the fire.
This and yes. I’m not really taking it super seriously; I’m just doing some easy runs twice a week on the off days from the lifting. My friends roped me in to the 10K and I’m not training for it with the goal of completing it in X time or anything it’s just something that kinda happened.
It’s actually going reasonably well. I think the easy-paced runs are helping with recovery and conditioning.
I think on a good day I’d muster a rep on the deadlift and probably do the slowest bag carry ever.
Honestly with nine months to lift and prepare and eat I’m not overly worried about anything. I’ll see where I stand in six months and then I can start getting worried, haha.