Solid thinking. And the Hypertrophy is like putting money away for a rainy day. Can’t wait to see the improved lift totals. Keep grinding!
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Thanks hog!!
4 April 2018 - Clean & Jerk
Hang Cleans 60kg x 5, 70kg x 3, 80kg x 3, 90kg x 3
Full Clean & Jerk 90kg x 2, 100kg x 2, 110kg x 2
Full Clean 115kg x 1
Biceps Superset: DB Curls 4x12 30lbs + Cable Curls 4x15 30lbs
Barbell Rows 3x15 115lbs
Notes
Disregard the barbell rows. One of the track girls left her 35lb plates on a bar so I did it so I could go home knowing that my back day wasn’t a complete wash, lol. But my cleans were fantastic today. I taught myself FINALLY how to go down and catch a clean which made them (not surprisingly) much easier. I squatted and deadlifted yesterday and I was still able to clean 115kg (253lbs) which was super cool. I know for a fact that I’ll be able to clean and jerk 275lbs within the month. There will be a video of it, of course. Once I get that, I’ll focus on snatch. I want to snatch 100kg (220lbs). I’ll have to put a lot of work into my shoulder mobility, but dropping down to catch a snatch will be easy now that I can do it with a clean.
I have 6x2 bench tomorrow with some light assistance work. I’m pretty sore today, but I’m hoping that 8 hours of sleep and hydrating like a madman tomorrow will fix me. Plus, it’s only 12 heavy reps. I’ll be okay. I might take it down a notch and do 4x2 instead depending on how I feel. As long as I warm up properly, I should be fine, but I’ll end up making a game time decision for how many sets I do.
As long as I keep doing 2 sessions for SBD each week, I will be testing my new one rep maxes in about 4 weeks. It lines up well, because I get to finish with my new maxes and then take some time off for finals week. I’ll max my front squat first since that cycle is about a week and a half ahead of my bench and deadlift. I’ll max bench second, then deadlift last. I’ll take a few days off and eat big the whole time, then max back squat. Low bar, flat soles, with a belt. After one of my first deadlift days during this cycle, I worked up to a high intensity single and got 405 which is a good sign. My legs and back have both definitely gotten stronger since then, so I’d like to squat 425 or 435. Then I’ll take a few more days off and start my hypertrophy cycle. That should last for the rest of May and most of June, and it could possibly continue into July. I’ll do it for as long as I can, but even the thought of not lifting heavy makes me a little sad. I’ll probably program in some 85-92% singles periodically to keep my strength levels and mental sanity somewhat intact. I have faith in 531 BBB, but still, I love me some heavy singles.
That’s all for tonight. Time to catch some Zs
3 Likes
5 April 2018 - Bench & Snatch
Barbell Bench 6x2 255lbs (Paused)
DB Bench 3x15 45lbs
Power Snatch 60kg x 3, 70kg x 3, 80kg x 2
Full Snatch 90kg x 1, 95kg x 2 fails
Notes
I paused all my bench reps today for two reasons: first, it’s fun. Second, I wanted to test and make sure that I’m not bouncing the bar off my chest. Good news is that I’m not. Bad news is that it was only two reps, and I’m pretty sure in higher rep sets, I do bounce a little bit. No big deal.
DB Bench was kind of a joke like I planned. Light weight, not a ton of reps, with about 30 seconds of rest between sets. The whole thing took like 3 minutes. No tricep work today just because I don’t see the point in creating more muscle damage that would subtract from the recovery that other muscles need. I did my 6x2 and a little extra chest volume which was plenty for today. I was still sore but I took a solid 15 minutes to warm up my shoulders and chest, so the benching wasn’t bad, but as soon as I was done with my bench, I knew that my body was done benching if that makes any sense. I had enough energy to get through what I needed to do, but nothing to spare.
Snatch was kinda shitty. We ran out of chalk while the athletes were lifting before me, so I had to use my straps instead. 90kg felt pretty easy, but 95kg just wouldn’t go into the slot for me. I pulled it above my head and was standing up with it, but since it wasn’t in the slot, I failed the lift. Twice. I was kinda pissed honestly. I know that if I give my legs and back 2-3 days of rest before I hit the platform, I can clean & jerk 125kg and snatch 95-100kg, but being so close is aggravating. I want to hit those numbers before this semester is over, and I KNOW that I can. I can’t explain why I’m so heated about it right now.
So no workout tomorrow. Work from 2:30-12, and to make it worse, I have to drive an hour there and an hour back. I need the money, but I don’t like the venue that I’m working at. The lighting is awful and the room is cramped, so clearing tables and being able to see clearly are both immense struggles. Also, this venue’s kitchen and dining room are on the second floor. That means no breaks outside to hang out and shoot the shit with the boys outside. At most venues, there’s a door that goes straight outside from the kitchen. Not the case here.
4x4 front squats at 300lbs on Saturday morning though. I also plan on working to about a 385-405lb low bar single afterwards. We will see how it all goes. Possibly gonna do some back work and hamstring work as well. Sunday is a rest day for homework and food, Monday is my 5x5 bench at 270 (which may kill me, idk, I’ll use a spotter for every set), and Tuesday is my 6x6 deadlift day. I can’t wait to work up in weight for deads. 5x5 385, 4x4 410, 3x3 435, 2x2 455, and hopefully 475-485x1!!!
Big day tomorrow so I’m out. I’ll check back in on Saturday afternoon after my lift. Keeping grinding boys, the weekend is here 
4 Likes
Nice work man. Lifts look like they are progressing well…
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7 April 2018 - Squats
Front Squats 2x4, 2x3, 1x2 300lbs
Overhead Squats 3x5 70kg (155lbs)
Back Squats 225x5, 275x5, 315x3, 365x1, 385x1, 315x5
Superset: Hamstring Curls on a bench 3x10 + GHR 3x10
Notes
It took me 5 sets to get my four sets of four. Am I surprised? Nope. Am I happy with it though? Yeah. The first rep of every set was easy. Second reps were slow. Third and fourth reps were grinders. I got all 16 though so I won the battle against the front squats today!
Overhead squats were to work on my shoulder mobility and overhead slot position for my snatches. I wanna progressively overload my OHS until I can do 100kg for a couple sets of 3-5. I’ll do 80kg on Tuesday after my deadlifts. They aren’t too taxing on my legs because the weight is submaximal in comparison to back squats, so I’m not too concerned with where I put it in. I’m viewing it more of a mobility exercise than anything else; I’m able to hit full depth, and it puts my shoulders in a healthy, strong position for snatching.
Back squats were low bar and I chased a heavy single. 385 ain’t bad for having done some heavy front squats first!! I’m pumped for my new quad strength. If I can hit 385, I cannot WAIT to see what I can do after another few cycles of focusing on back squat with some front squat assistance work.
Work yesterday wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. There’s always a few beautiful women at weddings, so it was good to experience that again lol. Being on my feet for 9 hours was the hardest part. When I got in bed after that shift, oh my goodness… My legs were extremely grateful. I also have literally about 10lbs of chicken in the fridge right now, so there’s no excuse for me being hungry. Speaking of, I should probably go eat again soon.
Monday is 5x5 bench, Tuesday is 6x6 deadlifts. A lot of high volume intensity to start the week, so Wednesday will probably be an active rest-ish day. Some random back work, maybe some triceps, and definitely some platform stuff. Rest day tomorrow for homework and food. Hope everyone’s weekend is going smoothly
3 Likes
Nice job hitting those goal numbers young gun! Getting close to realize the gains man. Nice work
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Intense workout Lava. I’m looking forward to be doing it.
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Thank you boss 
I can’t wait for you to start it! Do you have a log I can follow?
You’re welcome to join “Rise of the Viking Danish Dynamite”
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9 April 2018 - Bench Morning weight - 215.3lbs
Barbell Bench 1x5, 3x4, 2x3, 1x2 270lbs
DB Bench 3x15 75lbs
Cable Tricep Extensions 3x25 35lbs resistance
Pushups: 50 in 75 seconds (pecs cramped immediately after, ouch, never doing that again)
Notes
HAHAHA. Nope. Wasn’t happening today. One of the hardest bench days I’ve ever had. I took a video of my first set and the bar speed was much, much better than I had anticipated, so at least I have that. But the numbers don’t lie, and today destroyed me. It took me 7 total sets to get 25 reps at 85%. I think my recovery will be quick though. I’ve eaten about 3lbs of chicken in 3 days, been hydrating, eating eggs, and having my protein shakes. Sleep has been spotty, though, because Saturday night I got about 7 hours (not much for me), Sunday night I got 9.5 hours but I woke up 4-5 times throughout the night. It was a lot of sleep, but it wasn’t restful sleep, so it cancels out. I usually feel better in the morning (not in the afternoon) after a long night of sleep, but waking up 4-5 times kinda ruined it for me.
The DB bench went surprisingly well. I’m not sure how I managed to get 75lb DBs for that many reps after the horrors of my barbell bench. I’ll take it. Solid extra volume, and since my shoulders and triceps were tired, I felt it in my pecs pretty quickly. Tricep extensions are still one of my favorite exercises. I’m not usually an overly-vascular guy, but when I do my tricep extensions, I can see veins in my triceps. It’s incredible. If I cut my bf% a few points, I would probably have an orgasm looking at my own tricep pump.
So, now I’ll do my weekly talk about plans for the future. I’ve definitely decided that I’ll do BBB for a few months to add some mass over the summer. I’m not concerned about how much I weigh at this point, I don’t give a shit if I have a beach body or not. I had a decent one last summer, but I was also the weakest one of my athletic friends by a long shot. I’ve said it before, but I’d rather be intimidating than pretty. I’d rather be strong than have abs. I don’t give a shit if girls think I’m physically attractive. I lift for me, I dictate what I train for, and I do what I want to do with my only hobby. Fuck a female opinion (more on that later). Maybe (MAYBE) once I get to the point where I can squat 405x10, deadlift 405x15, and bench 315x10, I’ll try to go for aesthetics. Maybe. I digress. BBB to add some mass, and probably 5-10 pounds in a few months. I’m hoping that increasing my volume will do that for me, because that’d put me in a good position to train heavy again for another 4-6 months. A month or two to get used to heavy weights again, and then a few more months to take the new strength potential and transfer it to real strength.
Right now, estimating my maxes (425/325/485), a typical 5 rep BBB session would look like this:
370/285/425 - Training Maxes @ 90%, BBB sets @ 60% of TM
Bench 190x5, 220x5, 250x5, 5x10 175
Squat 250x5, 285x5, 325x5, 5x10 235
Deadlift 285x5, 325x5, 370x5, 5x10 265
Looking at this right now, it looks like it’d be a challenging session. For BBB, there are no + sets, so I wouldn’t do 325/250/370 for AMRAPs. It’s nice because I still get to feel relatively heavy weight, but the meat of the workout is at a low percentage. I plan on gradually working up to a higher percentage for my 5x10. I’ll probably go up 3-5% each training cycle, so the first cycle would all be at 60% of my TM, like the numbers above. Hopefully, I can work up to about 70-75% of my TM for the 5x10s. That’d be 5x10 220lbs for bench, 5x10 285lbs for squat, and 325lbs for deadlift. Wow. If I could get anywhere close to that, that’d set me up VERY well to transition into a strength phase. I’ll probably go BBB for a few months, then transition to 5/3/1 Triumvirate, then another 6x2 Russian Cycle. The possibilities are endless for what I could do, but I like this plan.
Upon some reflection, I realized that when I thought I was running 5/3/1, I was actually doing the Triumvirate. 3 exercises, including the main lift, doing the other 2 for 4x10 or 5x10. It worked very well.
The reason why I said “fuck a female opinion” earlier is because there has been an interesting turn of events. I’ve been talking to the girl who broke my heart (sounds gay but bear with me), and things were going well. We hung out about 10 days ago on Saturday night with my friends. Played some drinking games, listened to music, had some laughs. It was awesome. The only bad thing about that night is that Kansas lost to Villanova. Anyways, things were cool. A few days later, I asked her if she wanted to hang out the next Saturday (this past Saturday), to which she replied that she was going to a bar with her friend (she’s 19 and goes to community college like me…nobody here goes to bars), but she would let me know if she didn’t go to the bar. She didn’t go to the bar, and she also didn’t hit me up. I wasn’t upset per se, but it was a heavy eye roll moment. Like “you’re an idiot, but whatever, do what you want.” She’s awful at answering texts, and claims to be very busy all the time. Today at school, she messaged my friend (who is only friends with her because I like her) and asked him to come to where she was in the school. Intrigued, he obliged. She said she needed a study break and they walked around together for 25 minutes just talking. Now, let me put this in perspective. Two weeks ago, she told me she thought about me almost every day for a year and a half, she told me she loved me, and she said she still had feelings for me. Okay. Today, she told my friend that she doesn’t like me, that she doesn’t know what she wants, and she doesn’t have enough time for me. Sheesh. That’s a complete 180 if I’ve ever seen one. My problem with this is that she 100% volunteered the whole “I love you, I still have feelings for you” thing. In no way, shape, or form did I set it up or expect it, yet here she is taking 12 hours to respond to a simple text and then saying she doesn’t have time for me. I have two final thoughts, because I know this post is insanely long. First: You make time for people you care about. Do not lie to me and tell me you love me and then tell my best friend that you don’t have enough time for me. I ask you to hang out once per weekend. Second: I’m moving on. Another one of my friends has begun to set me up with one of his girlfriend’s friends without me asking, so I’ll roll with it. Just because one person “doesn’t know what they want” doesn’t mean the other person can’t have what they want. I’m “they.” I want what I want as a 20 year old guy. Is it unfortunate that it isn’t working out with this particular girl, yes. Is it my fault? No. She’s the one who’s messing up, and if she realizes it in time, then great, but if not, that’s okay too. Life goes on for all of us.
Good night guys. Thank you for reading my rant if you did. And if you didn’t, that’s okay too. I just had to put it down somewhere.
5 Likes
10 April 2018 - Deadlift Morning weight - 215.6lbs
Deadlift 6x6 365lbs
Back Squats 225x5, 275x5, 315x5
Notes
Super short workout today. I spent about an hour and a half coaching outside today in the cold wind right before my workout, so that kinda threw off my pre-workout routine, which is taking a 20-45 minute nap, listening to music, and eating a couple pieces of fruit. Thankfully I was still able to get all my reps for 6x6 without having to pause between any of my reps. For squats, I definitely paused between my 4th, 5th, and 6th reps, but I got them all for 6x6. I missed my very last rep of my last set for bench, probably because it’s impossible to pause between reps without tiring yourself out.
Back squats were solid. 315 moved pretty well. My quads are chronically sore, so even when I’m feeling “fresh,” I’m not truly 100%. After a few days of rest and stretching with good eating and sleep, I can probably get to 100%. Today is the first day that I felt like my quad strength limited my ability to deadlift…it was weird. During warmups for deads, my legs just felt too weak to do my 6x6, but luckily for me it worked out. I’m actually looking forward to taking a week off from training because of how tired I always am and how unprepared I’ve been feeling physically regardless of how well I eat, stretch, or sleep. I’ll be itching to get under a bar after 2 days off, so the 5 days after that will be rough as hell, but sometimes you just gotta do what you gotta do to keep yourself in for the long haul.
Still excited for BBB. I’d like to modify it slightly to make it fit my wants, though. Instead of doing my 3x5 (or whatever week it is) and following it with ONLY 5x10 at X% with the main lift, I’m going to make a Triumvirate/BBB hybrid. Triumvirate employs 2 additional exercises, each 5x10. The purpose is to make you think carefully about which 2 exercises are the best assistance for your main lift, and it’s different for everybody. For me, I gotta really pay attention to find out what my best options are for squat. I think for bench, it’s tricep extensions and DB bench. For deadlifts, it’d be front squats and RDLs, but I don’t know about back squats… Maybe hip thrusts and some sort of a squat variation? Pause squats or box squats? I guess I’ll have to experiment. I don’t know what kind of weights or volume I’ll be able to do my other exercises with. Another thing I’ll have to experiment with I suppose, although I’m assuming it will depend largely on my split and recovery. If I squat 4x/week (2x back squat, 2x front squats as DL assistance), I’ll be limited with how much time I have to rest between those sessions. Oh well. I’ve had worse problems lol, this is something I love thinking about in my free time, so I know I’ll figure something out.
Now for the real life stuff: work is heating up again. Track has been outdoors for a few weeks now, and now we have 2-3 meets each week, which means I can’t lift on those days unless they’re at home. Not a problem. At this point, since all my lifts are officially past 6x6 and on to the 5x5s and below, I can use the extra days off. As for work, it’s generally only once per week (Friday or Saturday night) for 7-10 hours. Again, not an issue. I need the money. This week, we have a meet tomorrow (Wednesday), Thursday, and a weightlifting meet for 3 of our seniors on Saturday. 6:45am weigh-ins with the lifting to begin at approx. 7:45am. Should be cool, but the downside is that apparently I am not competing in it. It’s unfortunate, but I guess my coach changed his mind about entering me into it. I still enjoy Olympic lifts and I’ll continue to do them. During my week off, I may dabble in some Oly stuff. I came very close to snatching 95kg and cleaning 125kg last week. Snatch goal is 100kg (220lbs) and Clean & Jerk goal is 125kg (275lbs). I think those are respectable numbers for any amateur Olympic lifter, regardless of age or weight. Also, I’m finna ask out this cute girl in my chemistry class. Our lab hoods are right next to each other and she sits directly behind me in lecture, so I could talk to her whenever I want. I’m going to test the waters by asking her if she wants to study for our upcoming exam next Thursday. If she says yes, then good. I’ll continue to feel out the situation, and if things are going well for a few nights, I’ll ask her if she wants to go get something to eat. If she says she can’t/doesn’t want to study, that’s okay. I have a few friends in that class that I can study with instead, but three of them are guys, and the other one is one of my best friends as well as my best friend’s girlfriends. I digress. I’m looking forward to all aspects of life. I want money. I want a cute girl who’s smarter than me (you don’t realize how attractive intelligence is until you’ve been with several girls who are borderline retarded). I want to earn my good grades. I want to get strong as fuck. All these things are possible if I put in the work. Let’s get it my dudes.
@losthog play this song next time you lift with your boys. If you normally play good classic rock, this is going to confuse the hell out of them. It’s also a great song to lift to, so you can leave it on for the entire duration to maximize their confusion.
4 Likes
SSB squats!!
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None of the 3 gyms I can go to has one of those sadly… someday though
Damn… okie i have another suggestion.
Have you ever done smith machine squats variations? They’re actually more useful than most people claim.
Allows you to really hit the quads without worrying about all the stabiliser muscles getting in the way and you can stack up the weight for high reps. Burns like crazy!
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Hey man that was some long posts, got through them though.
Well that girl thing you’ll never know what to expect. Very well handled Lava.
About some assistance if you want quad try Bulgarian split squats, they’re insane. And single leg work is great.
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Thanks for linking the article Duke, I’ll check it out right now
Thank you, I try my best to be mature about things like that. God knows nobody’s perfect, but I try. Lol. And I’ll look up some Bulgarian split squats… anything created in Eastern Europe is allowed to have a place in my training
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great
12 April 2018 - Almost Everything
Barbell Bench 6x2 255lbs (ez)
Low Bar Back Squat 275x5, 315x5, 365x5, 385x2, 405x1
Full Clean & Jerk 100kg x 2, 110kg x 1, 115kg x 1
Tons of random bicep stuff
Notes
The barbell bench was easy money today. I tried a set with my feet up, a set with suicide grip, a set with a close grip, and 3 sets that were paused. It kept things interesting for me today.
I moved on to the platform. While I was doing my barbell complex I did a couple back squats to warm up and I realized that I really wanted to back squat, so I did. My belt feels very comfortable now when I squat. I can’t wait to get back into back squatting 2-3x/week. 405 moved better than it ever has before, so I’m super happy about that.
Clean & Jerks were a lot harder than I anticipated! I power cleaned 110kg out of habit, but full clean and jerked 115kg. It was a good number to hit after my squats and bench. Overall just a solid ass day in the weight room. I think taking yesterday off was a good idea (as if it was my choice… we had a track meet). It’s been a few weeks since I’ve taken a day off in the middle of the week, so it felt kinda weird, but it helped. I have Friday off (tomorrow) because I’m working 3-8 in the big city. Takin the train down and back because it would be a 50 minute drive and parking would cost at least $50. The train takes about 50 minutes to get me there, and then it’s a half hour walk to my job. But I save $50 and get to walk a few thousand extra steps, so that’s fantastic for an active rest day.
Saturday will be 3x3 front squats at 315 and my deadlift deload. I might throw in some RDLs and high bar squats, but I’ll for sure be doing some sort of hamstring circuit. Hamstrings and back are my two biggest focuses (glutes too) for my hypertrophy phase, so we might as well get started early. Hope everyone has a good Friday tomorrow, let’s start the weekend right with some good food and great training sessions. let’s goooo
4 Likes
Dude I love the enthusiasm…
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