Rebirth of the Juggernaut: Brute Force and Ignorance (Part 1)

My bench/ press is the same way. I can get it then bam it’s done. No pump. Very little in the way of soreness ever from a press day

It’s weird. I can feel a pump on bench, press, and dips, but this just doesn’t happen. I’m really hoping this means I’ve found a weakness I can address.

AM WORKOUT

(4) Texas deadlift bar touch and go mat pulls
5x135+chains
5x225+chains
3x315+chains
1x405+chains

STRIPSET
12+4+4x495+chains
5x405+chains
5x315+chains
5x225+chains
1x135+chains

Standing ab wheel
4x8

Notes: Schedule is a little jacked up. Wife is running a race tomorromorning and I’ll be doing a 1 miler with the kid afterwards, so didn’t have Saturday morning available to train. Doing the deads today, and squats tomorrow or Sunday. My plan of increasing the ROM and the reps at the same time continues to work, but on the second round of the topset, I stained something in my right lat. Honestly felt like I hurt something in my lung, which makes sense given it was breathing and rebracing at the top of the rep that did it, rather than any actual lifting. Second time I’ve done that recently; I need to breathe more carefully. As a result, lost the ability to brace really well, so instead of my normal higher rep dropset, I kept it at 5s and worked all the way down.

Woke up at 194.4.

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AM WORKOUT

1 mile run at a child’s pace

Notes: Wife ran a half marathon, and then there was a kids race for a mile afterwards. Ran with the little one, and running slow hurts if you’ve never done it before.

PM WORKOUT

SSB Squats (No rest between sets)
10xBar
10x115
10x155
10x205
10x245
5x295
10x245
10x205
10x155
10x115
10xBar

Notes: Got this idea from a Jon Andersen video, so of course I had to try it. You know things are getting real if I’m listening to “The Downward Spiral.” This was a special kind of suck. I may have had 10 in me for that 295 set, but with it being my first time out in the Deep Water I left myself an opportunity to swim back. Gives me something to shoot for next time.

SSB is the right implement for this, because form can absolutely fall apart and you can still just keep grinding it out.

No weigh in this morning.

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PM WORKOUT

45 minutes of lawn work wearing 45lb vest

Woke up 195.4

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You could always hatsfield Squat the last few sets

@losthog I really like that idea! My SSB prohibits it, because the angle of the handles vis a vis the camber makes it such that, if you let go of the handles, the bar falls backwards, but with something like what elitefts or rogue sells it’s very possible. Great way to get some overload at the end there.


AM WORKOUT

GIANT SETS

Axle strict press
5xAxle
5x103
5x146
5x171
7x196
12x146

Lat pulldowns 140
6x12

Band pull aparts
6x20

GIANT SETS

Weighted dips w/115lbs
5x8

Axle rows 206
5x8

Chain curls
5x10

Notes: Last press day before my cruise, so kept it a little heavier and saw what I could do. All in all a fan of how it went. The chain curls were great for breaking up monotony and hitting weird parts of the biceps. Satisfied hitting a bodyweight press for 7 reps first thing in the morning.

Woke up at 196.0. Fairly certain I tore a muscle in my calf back in May and it STILL isn’t healing well. Some days it’s fine, some days I limp, some days I’m in agony. I’m going to try to get a little more aggressive in getting it to heal, as ignoring it doesn’t seem to be working. Thinking lots of small calf raises to get blood flowing to it.

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I need to start doing this. I don’t have a vest, but I do have a sturdy backpack & it would be easy to throw in my 5’s and 2.5’s to add a little extra spice to mowing the lawn.

Backpack may create an interesting effect with where the load sits. Tax the lower back something fierce I imagine.

Yeah - I have actually done 1 “hike” using this backpack where I tossed in 20 or 25 pounds of assorted 2.5’s and 5’s. Not the most comfortable thing. I probably won’t make the load very heavy, just enough to add a little extra oomph.

Dude, 50lbs in a backpack is awful. Feels fine at first, until about 3 miles in and your traps and neck feel like they’re being stretched and you face the fear of potentially turning into a brontasaurus from prolonged weighted back pack walking.

I’ve been using a 50lb loaded back pack for about 3 weeks now, accomplishing 3 miles for each walk, daily. The fucking bag exploded and I’m out of action until my weighted vest comes in.

Definitely invest in a vest!

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I’ll say, in place of a vest, I found success draping chains across the shoulders. They dig in eventually and it feels bad, but the load is never particularly pulling on any weird angles. And then you also have chains for your weight room.

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I wish we could convince your neighbors to start a thread where they shared their thoughts about you when you’re doing shit like mowing in a weighted vest. :joy:

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Thankfully it’s just the backyard. The HOA takes care of the front. Although I’ve shoveled snow in the vest before.

At this point, my neighbors all “get” me. It helps that I help people move in/out whenever they get here, haha.

3 Likes

AM WORKOUT

Buffalo Bar Squats 282lbs
10x10

Notes: Finally made it through this, and rewarded myself by counting the extra 2lbs on the bar. Exertion headache managed to set in at around set 9 rather than 7, which gave me enough leeway to make it all the way through. Unfortunate lesson learned is that, I did not do front squats last week, and my knee felt great for the workout today. Might just have to stick with the SSB. That having been said, my calf felt like it was going to explode on the first warm-up set, so I’ll most likely never be always good.

3 minutes rest between the first 5 sets, 4 minutes for the last 5. Started laying down after set 5.

Woke up at 195.2.

6 Likes

AM WORKOUT

GIANT SETS

Axle bench press
5xAxle
5x136
5x186
5x226
5x256
13x286
17x226

DB Rows 105
7x11

Band pull aparts
7x20

GIANT SETS

Axle incline bench 173
5x8

DB rows 105
5x11

Lateral raises 20
5x12

Notes: Good day for benching. Goal was 12 on 286, so 13 was icing. First time in a long while I really had my feet set prior to the set, and it made quite a difference. Incline bench continues to move at a good rate. I can make weird weight increase because the axle is 15kg, so up 8lbs from last week.

Woke up at 195.8.

6 Likes

AM WORKOUT

(3) Texas Deadlift Bar touch and go deadlifts
5x135+chains
5x225+chains
3x315+chains
1x405+chains

DROPSET
12+4+4x495+chains
10+5x405+chains

Standing ab wheel
4x8

SSB squats EMOM 245lbs
Triples for 10 minutes

Notes: Something of a mixed bag on this one. Warm ups felt awesome. The 405 set before the topset flew up with zero lockout issues, whereas normally it’s a soft lockout since I pull it double overhand. Goal was 13 reps for the first part of the topset, got that familiar pain in my right hip/glute and decided not to push it at the 12 mark. DID manage 9 reps in one breath, which was pretty cool. However, once I set up for the back off set of 405, it suddenly dawned on me that I’d rather be anywhere else in the world than right there at that instant, and every rep was a struggle. Weird how the energy just fell out of me so quickly.

After the final part of the deadlift workout, I was just beat to hell, so I figured I’d try something I had been meaning to do with the EMOM squats. I think this might be what I settle on for the foreseeable future. Seemed to answer the mail pretty well. Weight was a tough too light, but I definitely started feeling it on the last 3 sets.

Woke up at 197.6. May try to get in a last minute conditioning workout before I leave for the cruise. Trying my hardest not to be limping for my whole week off.

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Enjoy the cruise my friend :slight_smile:
As always your workouts are outstanding tough.

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@mortdk Thanks dude! Happy to be back.


Still traveling, but waiting at the airport and wanted to log 3 of the workouts I managed using the limited equipment. It was honestly pretty awesome.

Day 1:

Mechanical advantage incline bench dropset benching (no rest between sets) Going to go reps x weight and movement used

10 reps of 65lb dumbbell shoulder press
10x65 high incline press
10x65 low incline press
10x65 flat bench
6x45 shoulder press
6x45 high incline
6x45 low incline
6x45 flat
10x25 shoulder
10x25 high
10x25 low
10x25 flat
10x10 shoulder
10x10 high incline
10x10 low incline
101x10 (no typo, 101 reps) flat bench

DB rows 65lbs
100 reps

Lateral raises
10x5lbs
10x10
10x15
10x20
3x25
10x20
10x15
10x10
10x5

Cable face pulls
100 reps (dropset)

DB curls
10x5lbs curls
10x10lbs hammer
10x15 curls
10x20 hammer
10x25 curls
10x20 hammer
10x15 curl
10x10 hammer
10x5 curl

DAY 2

Blackjack workout (20 chins, then 1 push up. Then 19 chins and 2 push ups. Etc. Always totaling 21 reps per set, finish when numbers are reversed)

Took about 35 minutes

Day 3

Machine leg press (no rest between sets)
Did 10 reps per set, then moved up 2 spaces on the plate rack and repeated. Did this until I couldn’t, then worked my way back down. Topped out at 220ish pounds, started at 10, couldn’t tell you what the divisions were for the machine.

After this was done, I took a 3-5 minute break, put the max weight on the stack, and did a 25 rep set. I was done at 10 reps, completely ready to stop at 20, told myself I wanted at least 21, decided if I could get 21 I could get a few more, and finished at 25. I’ve been re-reading Jon Andersen’s “Deep Water” training stuff, and felt like this got to the root of it.

Seated DB shoulder press (no rest between sets)
10x5lbs
10x10
10x15
10x20
10x25
10x30
10x35
10x40
6x45
10x40
10x35
10x20
10x15
10x10
10x5

Chest supported machine rows
10x10lbs
10x20
10x30
10x40
10x50
10x60
10x70
10x80
10x90
10x100
10x90
10x80
10x70
10x60
10x50
10x40
10x30
10x20
10x10

Notes: So you get the picture. I had limited weight and learned how to make the most of it. I honestly enjoy being put behind the 8 ball like this and seeing what I come up with, because it’s usually something pretty evil. My whole body was lit up pretty fierce after those first 2 days. I saved lower body training for the end, since I was hiking and exploring a lot on the trip and didn’t want to be limping around for it.

I ate well. I’ll give my body a few days to stabilize and see where it wants to go weightwise.

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Did you have the added joy of the boat moving in the water during your DB pressing? I remember that when I was doing DB OHP on our cruise back in 2008. It just adds a tiny bit of stabilization to the movements.