More Questions than Answers

Sometimes you got to beat yourself up a bit

The shit I’m doing right now has the hardest session I have ever done, but only every other week so I recover plenty.

I have the Unity, I’m doing it this autumn along the last bulk I try. It just looks amazing and lots of fun. Less intensity, more volume. The dynamic and back days are quick and efficient, the max effort are a lot of work though. For instance week 6 you work up to 26 sets of triceps in the week :joy:
To end the max effort day you have 8 sets of seated rope extension and 6 sets of skullcrushers ROFL

But most days really aren’t that dense

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Has the Dave Tate stamp on it for sure. I’m sure there has to be rolling tricep extensions in there someplace.

Definitely beating myself up this past week. Weight is down to 214 this AM…which is good but again is probably part of my tired problem I’m sure.

I just threw some money in the GoFund me for John Meadows. Man this one really hit me and I didn’t even know the guy personally. Got to stop watching the tribute videos. There are a bunch of good ones though.

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All right hottest day of the year so let’s workout at the peak of the heat! 102 outside. So I tried working out without the doors open in the shop just to see and the dumb convection oven fans going along with the dehumidifier. No bueno. As soon as I step outside it feels 20 degrees cooler. So that’s not working. Anyway:

WEEK 3
Workout A1
Exercise Sets Reps Weight Reps Done
Barbell incline bench press 1 11-15 RP 245 16 18hold
Dumbbell seated military press 1 15-30 RP 40s 26
Dip 1 15-20 RP 21 20s hold
Wide-grip lat pulldown 1 15-20 RP 160 30
Deadlift 2 5-8 or 9-12 SS 315 8…
Meadows Rows RIP 1 50 per side however you get there! 65 65 for 28, 60 for 10, 50 for 12

Man everything felt great today. I hit some Granite Intra mixed with some EAAs because I’m not sleeping well and just generally run down. It seemed to power me through. Turned the dip handles in to get more triceps and that worked perfectly. Bummed about one thing though. Deadlifts are struggling and when I was running all the different 531 templates that’s one lift that took off. Can’t win them all but kind of bummed there.

And that brings me to Meadows Rows. I had to use drop sets but I still rest paused them DC style. I even did the wide grip lat pulldowns kind of like John does his stretcher pulldowns. I mean this is DC so you got to extreme stretch those lats. The man had a trick for about everything. Doing the BSS of Death and Meadows Rows for at least the rest of the month. RIP Mountain Dog.

Side note, do you count the bar on the Meadows Rows with a landmine? I didn’t.

Got 'em started man, @TrainForPain

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Outstanding stuff man! Thanks for the tag. Looks awesome.
RIP MD

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|Workout B1|||||
|Exercise|Sets|Reps|||
|Barbell curl|1|20-30 RP|65|32|
|Hammer curl|1|11-20 SS|40s|15|
|Standing calf raise|1|10-12 SS *|135 2 Grey Bands|15 15s stretch|
|Toe Elevated SLDL|1|11-15 SS|250|12|
|Belt Squat|2|4-8 SS +WM|100 145?.|22|
|BSSoD|||40,30,20,bw|8s with holds|

Whew. I haven’t had solid sleep in a long long time. So last night I was hoping to take a couple z-12 and sleep for a solid 6-8. My little girl came in just before the wife and I go to bed and says her tummy hurts. I have permanent barf duty in my household. So I knew immediately whelp not tonight either. Stayed up with her while the wife went upstairs and slept. Poor girl had a rough night. She slept in bed with me once she was so tired she couldn’t get sick any more. She got 7 hrs sleep but was all over the place. I maybe got 3-4 total between waves of kicks and knees.

Anyway I say all that to say I felt a little out of it today. Light headed so I did Belt Squats WM to be on the safe side. Which I actually liked IF I didn’t have the Bulgarian Split Squats of Death immediately afterward. Belt squats pumped the quads up big time before I did those… :face_with_head_bandage:. I nearly fell over twice walking back to the house.

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I haven’t had quad DOMs like this for a minute. On my second walk today just hoping it will work itself out.

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Week 3

Workout A2
Exercise Sets Reps
Dumbbell flat bench press 1 20-30 RP 60s 22
Barbell seated military press 1 11-15 RP 95 14
Close-grip bench press 1 11-15 RP 155 16
chin ups 1 10-12 RP Negatives BW 15 2 10 iso holds
BOR 1 12-15 SS 185 8…155 13
Meadows Rows 1 24 DS 75,65,50 :+1:

Chins I did with bodyweight. The added weight made the RP more like multiple sets instead of true Rest Pause. So I did BW china with 2 holds at the top for 10 seconds. Bent over rows need work. I thought I had 12 at 185 and it wasn’t there. Dropped it and hit 155. Meadows rows were brutal after all that. I should have went lighter on that drop set but my back is more than sufficiently blasted. Weight is 215.

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I’m curious how you feel about seated ohps… I did them seated with no back support for a long time and never felt them in my shoulders, and never made progress on them.

I’m with ya man.

I like seated cage presses or z presses but plain old seated ohp not a fan. That says seated ohp but this last time I cleaned the weight up and just did them standing. I had the rack setup for bench press already and didn’t feel like moving everything around. Seemed to work out better anyway.

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WEEK 4
Workout B2
Exercise Sets Reps
seated incline db curl 1 20-30 RP 30s 25
rope curl 1 20-30 RP 50 26
Leg-press calf raise 1 10-12 SS Negatives 135 grey bands 14
Lying leg curl 1 15-20 RP 95 18
Back squat 2 4-8 SS + WM 245 15

So hitting those squats I had a little pain in my hip flexor. Nothing new ignored it and continued. Then around rep 11 I think the outside of my left knee started getting slight sharp pains which I remembered getting a couple years back squatting…so I continued on. Rep 15 I got in the hole and as soon as I hit it coming out the pain went to 8 quick. I racked it and cut it there. Probably too late though. I went inside sat and iced it but when I stood up pain was still there just like before and it was giving every now and then. I’ve had problems with my knees forever but seemed to be getting better.

More Knees over Toes guy stuff will be done when I can tolerate it. Weight still 215.

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I’m thinking this is the problem.

After last week’s BSSoD my quads were pumped and my IT band was as tight as it’s ever been. Just need to work on some mobility and soft tissue work on it.

Workout A3
Exercise Sets Reps
Hammer Strength flat bench press 1 11-15 RP 315 17 w 15s neg
Smith machine seated military press 1 11-15 RP 195-185 7 10
EZ-bar skull crusher 1 15-30 RP 70 39
Close-grip chin-up 1 15-20 RP Orange Band…? 15
BOR 1 10-12 SS 175 11
Meadows Rows 1 24 DS 65,50,35 8,8,15

Stupid shoulders. Did a drop set with Chins using an orange Band. Also the pump of the tricep near my elbow was insane. Used some of Dave Tates tips about skull crushers about bring the bar down lower down your head. So I was pressing from my nose instead of over my head or forehead. That helped the load from being on my shoulders to mostly tricep.

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Finishing up Week 4 yesterday DC.

Workout B3
Exercise Sets Reps
barbell drag curl 1 20-30 RP 65 52
Pinwheel curl 1 11-20 SS 40 30
calf raise 1 10-12 SS 245 15 15 hold
leg extensions 1 20-30 RP 125 26 6 partials
Barbell Romanian deadlift * 1 10-15 SS 275 13
ab wheel 3 8-10 27

Tried some bodyweight split squats, and I still had some sharp pain in the lateral part of my left knee. So I tried to do DC stuff while working around that. No widowmaker set though. I’m not quite as sore as I normally am after a leg session, but I still feel I hit it fairly well.

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WEEK 5
Workout A1
Exercise Sets Reps Weight Reps Done
Barbell incline bench press 1 11-15 RP 255 14
Dumbbell seated military press 1 15-30 RP 40s 30
Dip 1 15-20 RP 26
Wide-grip lat pulldown 1 15-20 RP 180 17
Deadlift 2 5-8 or 9-12 SS 315 10
Meadows Rows RIP 1 50 ps however you get there! 65,55,50 R 8,9,10 L10,8,9
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Workout B1
Exercise Sets Reps
Barbell curl 1 20-30 RP 70 27
Hammer curl 1 11-20 SS 40s 17
Standing calf raise 2 10-12 SS * 275 15, 12 30 stretch
Toe Elevated SLDL 1 11-15 SS 250 14
Belt Squat 2 4-8 SS +WM 100 145?. 40

Knee felt fine today. Wife rubbed down the IT band the other night which is always fun, well for her it is. The knee was sore all the next day but today it felt fine. Didn’t up the weight on the belt squats but definitely will next time. I may not do Widowmakers on back squat day but maybe do a few sets of ten with a good weight. It’s not DC I get it but I don’t want to do something stupid with my knee…yet.

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End of Week 5 DC
Yesterday

Workout A2
Exercise Sets Reps
Dumbbell decline bench press 1 20-30 RP 60s 25
Barbell military press 1 11-15 RP 100 15 10hold
Close-grip bench press 1 11-15 RP 165 13
chin ups 1 10-12 RP Iso Top 1/3 Reps BW 17
SA TBR 1 20-30 DS 70 - 50 28

Today I tried a full body cardio complex. Just used 95lbs.
3 Chins
4 Cleans
5 Front Squats
6 Push Presses
7 RDLs
8 BOR
9 Ab Wheel
I laddered it up a rep each time through up to 5 chins and then back down. I wish it was 100 degrees again. I can handle that with some wind and low humidity. When it’s 90-95, no wind and crazy humid, I hate it. The shop gets big time hot with no breeze.

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WEEK 6
Workout B2
Exercise
seated incline db curl 1 20-30 RP 30s 26
rope curl 1 20-30 RP 50 29
Leg-press calf raise 1 10-12 SS Negatives 225 18
Lying leg curl 1 15-20 RP 105 16
Back squat 2 4-8 SS + WM 275 2x5, 185 WM 18…

Squats felt good. Bummed about the weight a bit but knee felt strong today.

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I’ll be finishing up this week but may have some adjustments I’d like to make going forward. I like DC’s setup but not quite as well as BtM or Super Squats. I still like the full body EOD stuff the best. I’m not that big of a fan of my Powertec squat machine either so the leg press stuff is probably going to get tossed. I figured I can do Back Squats, Zercher/Front Squats and Bulgarian Split squats. The deal with that knee pain happened right after I did the BSSoD and then did the WM Back Squats a couple days after. I probably need some unilateral work thrown in there more frequently so that should help. Thinking that I may mesh some Super Squats with DC’s RP work. I’m still working this bit out. Just need to push some more gpp/conditioning work when doing this. Spitballing some ideas here.

Still at 215. The kids bday week was a mess but survived fairly unscathed, but definitely have stalled at this weight. More conditioning and cardio required.

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seems to be the theme around here lately

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I blame this guy:

Screen Shot 2021-09-02 at 11.11.54 AM

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