Awesome stuff man, great lifts. I look forward to following your progress in 2017.
Thanks man, I aspire to be worth following.
Yesterday
I went for a really quick run but it was literally just to nip into town to grab grandma some gin and running worked out faster than driving. Around a kilometre and a half.
Today
Swings
30,29,28…13,12,11 - descending sets, 20 total, odd numbered sets single handed alternating, even double handed.
100 - alternating.
This is a rep scheme I’ve used before to hit a fair volume quite quickly - wasn’t too taxing. I’ve worked up to the 40kg before on this. It comes to 410 reps total to go from 30 down to 11 and then I usually just add multiple sets of 10 to hit 500 total - went for a big 100 to round off the session instead.
Hope everyone has a great Christmas! I got to open a few presents early today and have my first serious pair of wrist wraps (Strength Shop Apollos) so itching to get benching and squatting again.
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Boxing day
Morning BW 98.1kg - yeeeeeaaaahhh…
Ring dips
6 x 5
Ring chins
6 x 6
Swings
24kg x 3 x 30
Ss/ KB hammer curls
24kg x 3 x 10
Ss/ KB overhead triceps
24kg x 3 x 20
500 swing workout
Swings
10,15,25,50 x 5
Ss/ Ring chins
1,2,3 x 5
6,4 - after all the swings were done
22:25
Also went on several fairly long walks with the family over the past 3 days but no opportunity to get runs or weights in.
Headed to a local strongman gym (Loz Shalaei’s place). Got new wrist wraps and elbow sleeves for xmas, and bought my self a Gunsmith bench blaster (knock off slingshot) so wanted to try them all out.
Yesterday’s BW was 98.4, todays was 98.3
Bench
Bar x some
40kg x 10
60kg x 5
80kg x 3
90kg x 3
100kg x 1
100kg x 1 - slingshot
110kg x 1
110kg x 2 - slingshot
110kg x 1
110kg x 2 - slingshot
Wrist wraps will take some adapting to, they’re currently so stiff that it’s almost painful and they’ve changed my bar path slightly. Slingshot was fun to use but I wasn’t shifting much weight today since everything felt a bit off. Will use it a load for joker sets on my 5 and 1 weeks, and go raw for heavy triples. Will probably also use it on Sundays when my shoulders are beat up from rugby.
Safety squat bar - assuming bar is 20kg - I remember it’s something higher but not sure what.
60kg x 5
100kg x 3
120kg x 3
130kg x 3
140kg x 1, second needed a spot
Pullups
5 x 5
Dips
5 x 10
Hammer strength pullover
20kg x 20
40kg x 20
60kg x 20
DB incline
15s x 20
22.5s x 20
30s x 15
Laterals machine
3 x 20
Ss/ Hammer strength neutral ohp
40kg x 3 x 12
Single leg standing curl
3 x 10
Variety of curls
5 x 10-20
Ss/ Rope pushdowns
5 x 10-20
Rear delt machine
Some x 10
Dropset
Some x 20
My hands are beaten up at the moment, and my elbows are still nagging me so I took every opportunity to use machines which don’t require you to grip the handles.
Bit disappointed in weights handled today, but I’m a bit detrained and I always suffer a bit on morning workouts. Bit. Bit bit.
Morning BW 97.8kg
Run
4.3km - 19:20 - 4:29/km
I thought I had gone a little further (closer to 5k) so I was happy/surprised to see my time so far sub 20 minutes. Was a bit disappointing when I remeasured the distance but for a run in the pouring rain with little running done recently I’m not gonna complain.
Morning BW 98.4kg
Swings
24kg x 25 x 20
Ss/ Ring chins
25 x 2
Another way of hitting the 500 total reps and getting a few extra sets in on the chins.
Yesterday BW 98.4kg
Today BW 98.4kg
Consistent at least.
Bench
Bar x some
40kg x 10
60kg x 5
80kg x 3
90kg x 3
100kg x 3
110kg x 3 - very light spot
Slingshot tng
100kg x 10
Bench felt a lot better today - adjusting to the new wrist position. Rep out set at 100 felt good.
SSB
60kg x 3
80kg x 3
100kg x 3
120kg x 3
140kg x 2
Chins
3 x 8
Ss/ SSB good mornings
60kg x 8
80kg x 2 x 8
DB seated ohp
12.5s x 10
22.5s x 10
27.5s x 10
Hammer strength pullover
60kg x 3 x 20
Ss/ Dips
10,8,6
Morning BW 97.4kg
Pullups
6 x 3
Yesterday morning BW 99kg. Drove down to uni again so pretty stiff in the evening after sitting in the car all day.
Today afternoon BW 97.3kg (different set of scales - will be consistently using these ones now I’m back at uni)
Deads (stiff bar)
80kg x 3
100kg x 3
120kg x 3
140kg x 3
160kg x 3
Belt on
180kg x 3
200kg x 3
210kg x 3.5 - comeback PR and on the stiff bar - really happy with this, although I would’ve liked to get the 4th the 3rd was already a pretty good grind. I’m getting better at grinding on pulls again instead of relying on fast drive off the floor.
Bench
Bar x some
40kg x 10
60kg x 5
Slingshot on
80kg x 3
95kg x 3
105kg x 3
115kg x 4
Slingshot off
100kg x 6 - this is ok after heavy deads and slingshot work but hopefully over the next month or two when I’m moving this weight for AMRAPs I’ll get closer to double digits again.
Squats
Bar x some
60kg x 5
80kg x 3
100kg x 3
120kg x 3
Add belt
140kg x 3
160kg x 3
180kg x 5 - just wanted to get my body used to the concept of low bar squatting again before Wednesday since I only did two squat sessions over the last 4 weeks and I used the SSB for both of them. Form felt solid and depth was great. Wrist wraps make the setup feel really tight, but they do practically make my forearm slightly longer because my wrist doesn’t bend as much, and it niggled my shoulder a bit to force my arms down that much further - will experiment with grip widths.
Pullups
5 x 5
Ss/ Back extensions
5 x 20
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Great session man, congratulations on the deadlift PR! Also benching 100kg for 6 after your slingshot stuff is very good. What’s the slingshot like? Do you feel it has much carryover? Obviously difficult to tell.
What’s your game plan for 2017?
Thanks man.
The slingshot/bench blaster is really fun to use. I feel like it forces me to think about getting my elbows out slightly wider which is useful since I tend to over tuck. It’s nice to get used to both unracking and holding the full weight at lockout.
In terms of carryover to raw bench - no idea yet. I think as a confidence building tool and way of getting more volume in it’ll be really useful. No idea if it’s specifically targeting a weak point for me, but if it triggers a bit of tricep growth or whatever and saves my shoulders some wear I’m happy with that.
In terms of extra weight added - my raw bench max at the moment is probably just shy of 120kg, and I hit a fairly easy paused 4 with 115 today. For reps, on a good day I’d probably hit 7 or 8 at 2 plates, I’ve done 10 touch and go very easily in the slingshot (2 - 3 i n the tank kinda easily).
Only £25 quid off that website named after a rainforest (sorry mods) - I’d say it’s worth it.
Or it might be really poor quality and fall apart in two months - will get back to you.
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Yesterday morning BW 97.2kg
Didn’t manage to get a run in.
Today
Morning BW 96.4kg
Back on 531. Running 6 week cycles but instead of adding 5kg/10kg to my maxes after the first 3 weeks or whatever it is you’re meant to do I’m just adding 2.5% to the percentages. Will then Delgado and reset with a max increase.
Training maxes of Bench: 106kg
Squat: 191kg
Dead: 203kg
Incline: 90kg
Goals over this cycle are to get 8 or more reps on every amrap, get heavier shoulder work back into the toolbox, and keep improving my dips and chins.
531 bench c2w1
Bench
Bar x some
40kg x 10
60kg x 5
70kg x 5
80kg x 5
90kg x 13 - e1rm 129kg
Slingshot + tng
100kg x 5
110kg x 5
Dips
BW x 10
10kg x 8
20kg x 6
BW x 10
DB seated ohp - these felt a bit painful in my left shoulder to start with but it warmed up to them and I started externally rotating a bit at the bottom which helped
17.5s x 12
25s x 10
30s x 8
32.5s x 5
25s x 12
Incline cgbp
40kg x 15
60kg x 8,7,8
Tricep machine
2 minutes tut
Ss/ Pec deck
2 minutes tut
Oh triceps
20kg x 3 x 20 - big stretch last rep of every set
Really good session.
531 squat/dead c2w1
Morning BW 97.2kg
Squat
Bar x some
60kg x 5
80kg x 3
100kg x 3
125kg x 5
Add belt
142.5kg x 5
162.5kg x 12 - e1rm 227kg
Deads
70kg x 5
100kg x 3
120kg x 2
132.5kg x 5
Add belt
152.5kg x 5
Add straps
172.5kg x 14 - e1rm 253kg - PR, but only cos noone does 14 rep sets. I’ve done 12 or 13 at 200 before so not back to 100% yet. Still really good rapping on both squats and deads.
Pullups
8,7,6,5,4
Toes to bar attempts (knees to chest and extend the shoulder a bit)
3 x 5
Machine row
Straps
Ascending weight x 3 x 12
Ss/ 45° back extensions
3 x 25
Alternating DB curls
16s x 3 x 12
Hammer curls
22.5s x 10
Drop
17.5s x 10
Drop
14s x 10
Drop
12s x 10
Conditioning
KB offset farmers walks (up/downhill) - alternate hands every set of up/down
24/40kg x 4 x 50m up, 50m down
24kg/empty hand x 4 x 50m up, 50m down
Ss/ Hill sprints
8 x 50m up, jog back down.
Holy crap.
531 incline c2w1
No morning BW
Incline
Bar x some
40kg x 10
60kg x 5
67.5kg x 5
77.5kg x 13 - PR
BTN push press
40kg x 5
60kg x 5
70kg x 5
80kg x 5
90kg x 6 - 1 rep PR
DB seated ohp
17.5s x 10
25s x 10
30s x 6
35s x 1 - lol. Bit of a fail here. Only jumped on these cos the Smith was taken. Gonna try and fit strict press in again soon.
25s x 2 x 12
Seated Smith machine ohp
Bar isn’t 20kg, total guess on weights
50kg x 10
60kg x 10
65kg x 3 x 10
Last set drop to
50kg x 15
Seated laterals
15s x 3 x 10
10s x 15
Ss/ Seated DB ohp
15s x 3 x 10
10s x 15
Rear delt machine
64 x 20
73 x 3 x 15 - last set had to rest pause briefly twice to get 15
Ss/ DB pullovers
20kg x 4 x 20
Facepulls
Ascending weight x 4 x 20
Ss/ Rope pushdowns
Ascending weight x 4 x 20
Saturday
Game day. We lost 8-16 but had to call the game off with 15 minutes to go because one of our boys got a neck injury and had to be immobilised in the middle of the pitch. No fracture in the end, just soft tissue stuff. They were a bunch of big boys and the ball was constantly held up in the forwards so our backs couldn’t get any work in and our smaller pack just consistently got pounded.
I was battered yesterday so no deadlift club.
Weighed in at 97.2kg consistently over the past couple of days.
Today - did squats cos I skipped a session yesterday. Don’t wanna knacker myself for Wednesday’s pulls and rugby so I didn’t do any assistance exercises.
531 c2w2
Squat
Bar x some
70kg x 2 x 4
100kg x 3
120kg x 2
135kg x 3
Add belt
152.5kg x 3
172.5kg x 10 - e1rm 230kg. These felt shite from about rep 2, glad I pushed through and hit the rep goal.
Joker
185kg x 3
Had a bit of difficulty staying tight today, wrist wraps might be playing into it but I think it’s mainly cos I’m bruised all over the place. Wanted a heavier joker but it wasn’t happening.
Bit of stretching - I’m definitely beat up the amount this hurt.
EDIT
Went back in later to bench cos I’m giving blood tomorrow evening.
531 bench c2w2
Bench
Bar x some
40kg x 10
60kg x 5
75kg x 3
85kg x 3
95kg x 11 - 1rm 130kg - failed number 12 without having a spotter so just managed to get it half on the pins - stupid of me. Pauses weren’t completely on point. Disappointed with the set. I was using a different bench cos the gym was rammed, let’s blame that. Put me off jokers.
Dips - belt was awol so I did some reps
BW x 10,15,20(PR),15,10
DB seated ohp
15s x 12
25s x 8
30s x 9
25s x 12 - unsurprisingly triceps were limiting these
Not the best upper body session - actually felt better this morning which is odd. Not gonna beat myself up for missing my rep goal by 1 but I shouldn’t be failing reps.
531 dead c2w2
Deads
70kg x 5
100kg x 3
120kg x 2
142.5kg x 3
Add belt
162.5kg x 3
Add straps
182.5kg x 15 - e1rm 274kg - was only expecting 12. Ridiculous estimated 1rm lol. I guess that’s what happens when you don’t amrap squats first.
Jokers
200kg x 3
212.5kg x 4
Really really good deads. Getting close to PR territory, even on the lower rep sets. Form feels tight, bar close to the body and weight moving fast. Can still grind too when I need to. My lats totally fave up the ghost after this though haha.
RDLs
Belt
140kg x 3 x 10 - 1st set doh no hook, then straps. Crap bars and no chalk.
Ss/ Pullups
8,5,5
Snatch grip RDLs
Belt off, straps
120kg x 3 x 10
Ss/ Chins
3 x 6
Toes to bar attempts
4 x 8
Ss/ Machine row
Straps
Ascending weight x 4 x 12
Ss/ 45° back extensions
4 x 25
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Followed with rugby training which was a lot of scrummage technique.
531 incline c2w2
Incline
Bar x some
40kg x 10
62.5kg x 3
72.5kg x 3
80kg x 11 - e1rm 109kg
72.5kg x 3 - paused
62.5kg x 3 - paused
OHP - gonna get back to using this along with dips as a focused accessory exercise. I feel like I can hit a PR at the end of the cycle. Power rack was taken so was cleaning each set.
Bar x 10
40kg x 5
50kg x 5
Belt on
60kg x 5 - easy set of 5, will build volume at this weight
Push press
70kg x 5
80kg x 5
Belt off
OHP
50kg x 3 x 8
DB seated ohp
15s x 10
25s x 12,12,12,11,
Rear delt machine
64 x 20
73 x 15,15,20
64 x 25
Drop to
36 x 25, rest pause, 25
Seated laterals
15s x 3 x 12
10s x 20
Ss/ DB seated ohp
15s x 3 x 12
10s x 20
Everything OK chief?