Rock and Roll- Spence's Training Log

It’s solid, I enjoyed it, but it’s a lot of volume, and I made the mistake of not adjusting my assistance work accordingly, while also trying to maintain a caloric deficit (which sounds exactly like what you’re gonna do, ha)

Pros:
-Lots of practice with the movements, lots of time under the bar to get technique
-Definitely upped the volume of the movements (duh) and put me into a solid caloric deficit
-Got stronger in different rep ranges

Cons:
-Struggled to push Rep PRs (I basically stalled out on the majority of my lifts)
-Easy to overestimate your TM (due to the higher amount of volume) and underperform
-Requires more self awareness to regulate your volume/calories/recovery

These were just some of the things that jumped out to me while I did it, and I’m still doing it (in principle) with some different variations and movements that seem to work for me.

Disclaimer: There are many, many more intelligent folks that can probably give you some sort of real critique, but that’s my two cents with an n=1.

Hmm ok, thats great stuff to know! Thanks man!

Friday lift
Hang cleans 2 x 5 @ 185, 190, 2 x 3 @ 205, 215
Squats 5’s. Up to 290 for 8 beltless which felt only ok
Standing leg press hack squat dealio, 4 x 10 with 3 plates a side
Single leg eccentric squats from a box 2 x 5 each leg, slow and controlled as possible
Cable rows // wide cable pulldowns 3 x 10 each

Had a match yesterday against James Madison and we unfortunately lost, but I played alright. It’s been forever since I’ve been in a scrum, neck and upper back very sore today, and shoulders feeling a little beat up. Today was supposed to be deadlift day, but I switched it with my bench day so I would have something a little less taxing.
Bench 5’s up to 225 x 10, each set superset with band pull aparts because pull up bars aren’t real accessible where the benches in my gym are.

Dips 4 x 8. 3 sets + 25, last set +15. These did not bother my shoulders
Incline DB bench. 3 x 10 with 50’s, with a real slow negative. Incline DB’s do bother my shoulders sometimes, and today with my shoulders already bugging me I kept it light.
Hammer strength pull downs 4 x 10. I like the stretch on this one a lot
DB skull crushers // hammer curls. 3 x 8 with 30s, although on my last set I had to drop the weight on the skullcrushers
Tricep pushdowns to reverse grip push downs to rope push downs. 2 x 10 each, big pump.
Decline sit ups 3 x 10 without weight. Need to make sure my low back will tolerate these if I’m going to work these in

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Hang cleans 205 x 4, 210 x 4, 225 x 2
Deadlifts 5’s up to 355 for 10 beltless as usual
Snatch grip rack pulls 3 x 8 @ 275. Did these with straps, from just under my knees
Cable rows on straight bar. 3 x 8

OHP 3’s week, up to 140 for 8. Pull ups in between, 4 x 8s and 7s

After this I launched into a shoulder workout I pulled from online. Wanted to do today as a shoulder hypertrophy day. It looked something like this

6 x 8-12 OHP
4 x 8-12 seated DB OHP, with a drop set at the end
3 x 10 upright rows
4 x 8-12 lateral raises, triple drop set at the end
4 x 15 cable X’s (rear delt flys)

Happy with the day, way more volume than I’m used to so I’ll adjust my eating for the day and go from there. Major snow coming here this weekend, so hopefully the gyms stay open.

Squat day today. Didn’t get a ton of sleep over the weekend, but I did last night so I was feeling pretty good today. Wanted to hit cleans, but after waiting 20 min for a platform to open up I cut my losses and skipped them today. Hit squats up to 305 for 7. Followed it up with 4 x 8 paused front squats, with 165, and 5 x 5 paused Zerchers with 185.

Almost forgot to log yesterdays training.
Bench 3’s up to 240 for 7
Incline bench 4 x 8, with a slow negative. 135. Felt alright on shoulders, no pain.
Hammer strength rows, 5 x 10 with 2 plates/side
Partial range DB OHP // arnold press 3 x 12-10-8. 40 lb // 30-20 lb
Tricep rope extensions 5 x 10 with 10 seconds rest in between
Overhead DB extensions 2 x 12. Hurt my wrist a bit, I think i’ll stick to doing with cables
2 min max push ups.

3rd day lifting in a row because my lifting days got a little messed up this week. Cleans and deadlifts, emphasis on bar speed because my body wasn’t up to pushing an amrap. 4 x 4 hang cleans at 185, which moved real well. Happy with that. Deadlifts after, up to 385 for my 3’s. Just hit 3, beltless with a full reset, emphasis again on the bar speed. First 2 moved fast and the last one was a bit slow. Need to work some on my mobility in my upper back and ankles, and my hamstring flexibility. Followed main lifts with 4 x 6 RDLs with 205, banded back extensions 3 x 12, pull ups for sets of 5,5,4,4,3,3, and finally some abs, in the form of decline bench leg raises, 3 x 10,10,8.

My intensity the past few workouts had been lacking. Fired into todays workout and kept the intensity high. Felt really good.
OHP 3’s up to 140 x 7. I had 8 in my head but just had 7 today. Happy enough with it, it moved pretty clean. Sets of 7 pull ups in between.
Followed that up with a OHP pin press, from about nose/eye level, for 5 x 5. Kept the weight a little lighter on it, because I wanted to work on my tightness and explosiveness. Did 105 for all my sets, and it moved real clean. Pullaparts in between.
After that, hit a partial range DB OHP superset with arnold press, both standing. 40 lb dbs to 30 lb dbs, sets of 8 all around.
Weighted dips, 4 x 10, 10, 8, 8 with +15, 25, 35, 45. I’ll start heavier next time.
Hammer strength rows, close neutral grip, 4 x 10. 2 plates + 25 each side
Finished with some curls. Straight bar, 3 x 10 with a drop set on the last. Huge pump, it was awesome.

Cleans and Squats today. Cleans felt great, squats felt garbage.
5 x 3 hang cleans, 205 x 1 and 215 x 4. Felt fast, real happy with it.
Squat 531, 325 for only 3. I might throw in non-max but heavy singles in once in a while so I can handle heavier weights when I get to them.
Paused Front squats 4 x 6 @ 185
Single leg step ups, 2 x 8 each leg, 40 lb DBs
Paused Zerchers 5 x 5, 185 x 2, 205 x 3. Will do 205 for all sets next time, I like these.

Haven’t been eating enough or drinking enough water, I need to get it together.

Not sure if you’ve addressed it, but playing rugby (prop especially) absolutely destroys shoulders, you doing anything specific for shoulder girdle health? It is something that I didn’t pay attention to at the time and payed dearly for.

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Thats a good point, I haven’t been paying much attention to it. I make sure to warm them up but not much besides that. What kind of stuff do you have in mind?

Bench today, up to 250 for 6. Happy with this, I liked the way it moved. Followed it with incline DB press with a pyramid scheme, 65’s for 12, 75’s for 10, 80’s for 8, and stopped there because my shoulders felt a bit tweaky. Hit high rows on the hammer strength machine, 1 arm at a time, for 3 sets of 10 with a big stretch on every rep. This had my shoulders feeling better. Seated DB OHP after, for 3 x 10-10-8 with 50s. Suitcase carries, 55 lb DB down the hallway in my gym (not sure how long, but it’ll be standard every time I do them). Finally, a superset of JM press and EZ bar curls. Big pump from these

Band pull aparts, band/broom stick dislocates, shoulder mobility stuff, I’m keen on the bottoms up KB press right now… pretty much anything to work that shoulder girdle, scrums just eat 'em up.

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Deadlifts today, no olympic lifting
Top set was 400 for 5 beltless, which moved pretty clean. It was pointed out to me I need to do a better job pulling the bar into me and get the weight spread through my foot better, back into my heels as opposed to my toes. Worked on that during my accessories.
Slow eccentric deadlifts, about 4 seconds, with a real light touch on the ground and explosion up. 3 x 5 of them, with 275.
Was going to do some snatch grip rack pulls, but was strapped for time and equipment so hit some hammer strength rows instead. 3 plates a side for 4 x 8, with a double drop set on my last set.
Finally, some abs. Toes to bar for 2 sets, until it devolved into hanging leg raises because my grip was fried.

Tournament up in DC this weekend, so I need to make sure my recovery is on point these next few days. Looking forward to playing some good rugby.

Tournament this weekend went well. Played at Flanker for all of our games and felt good doing it. Hadn’t practiced it at all beforehand though, so there was a learning curve. I’m attaching pics of me at prop (in October) vs flanker (yesterday) for comparison; weight loss went real well for sure. Got back in the gym today just for some bench and accessories. Shoulder was bugging me a bit, but not nearly as much as if I had propped this weekend. Start of my next 531 cycle, so bench 5’s week up to 230, for 9. I wanted 10, but realistically after getting beat up and exhausted this weekend 9 is fine. Afterwards I did 4 sets of 8 on a close-grip/JM press deal on the decline bench to get a little more ROM and spare my shoulders a bit. Was working at 155 for these, and got a lot of elbow tuck and a little extension like a JM press. After, I superset dual pulley cable rows with close hammer grip pull downs. 4 sets, between 8 and 12 on each, it varied a bit. I wanted to do push press, but my shoulder was not feeling that, a couple reps in and it hurt a lot so I scrapped it. Did some more rows instead, bent rows with a supinated grip for sets of 12. Finally, finished with DB floor press, close elbows and a pause for 4 x 12. Did it with 60s, because that was about all I could manage to half-curl up onto my legs to get it started. Will have to figure out a better way. Foam rolled and did a bit of mobility at the end.


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Deadlifts and cleans today. Hit 215 for 3 sets of 3 from a hang, the second 2 sets felt good but the first one was dragging a bit. Then deadlifted, 5’s week up to 365 for 10 beltless. Still need to work on mobility/flexibility through my ankle and calf, hamstring, and t-spine. I’m coming forward and putting too much onto my toes. Hit 3 x 8 bent rows after, with 145 x 2 and 165 x 1, then 3 x 6 GHR. Finished up with 3 sets of 12 on chest supported shrugs, to get more of my traps involved.

Squats up to 295 x 10 today. Video attached; felt ok, the bar at my house is a bit slippery, and doesn’t have great knurling but I chalked it up and it didnt seem to slide around too much. Followed it up with 5 x 5 pause squats, 2 count pause and a fast concentric. Tried to work on my positioning, and keeping my hips from shooting up. Did these with just 225. After that I hit 4 sets of wide grip tempo pull ups; fast up, pause at the top, 4 seconds down, pause at the bottom. Finished with 2 sets of 8 clean grip reverse lunges (first set was 95, second set was 115. Could do heavier)

Here is a video of 295 x 10 today.

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Bench 3’s, to 245 x 7. Happy with this. Legs very sore, didn’t get great drive from them today but it wasn’t a big deal. Followed it with 4 x 6 DB bench, with 95’s x 1 and 100’s x 3 (the 100’s were taken for my first set). After this I did 4 x 10 cable chest flys, 4 x 8 hammer strength incline (with 185, 205, 225 x 2), Cable rows with a wide pronated grip for 3 x 10 (70 on the weight stack). Finished with a few sets of overhead tricep extensions with a rope and cable, and some rope hammer curls on the cable with the same thing. 2 Min max push ups at the end, I was gassed and got 48.