Football bar hammer curls: (empty bar - 25lb)
x34 - wide grip
x33 - mid grip
x33 - close grip
Band pull aparts:
x34
x33
x33
Do you know how to simultaneously deload and set a new PR? Miss both attempts you take at it! A little bummed I didn’t get that one, especially with how well the presses moved last week, but the 1RM press continues to be an enemy. The first rep was a pretty solid attempt, the second not so much. Went ahead and messed around with stuff for the rest of the workout since deload weeks can be made fun.
Took another stab at 30-10-30 and I must say, the pump you get from it is pretty real. I did have to take a second and have a chuckle, as I was able to complete the full ordeal on chins with effort but no real drama. I saw something along the lines of it being an extremely impressive and rare feat to do so posted over on that forum, and while I’m pretty decent at chins, I wouldn’t consider myself anything more than pretty decent there. Hardest part was holding the damn bar due to the humidity. I’d wager that having a climbing background helps with the slow eccentrics quite a bit and that may give me an advantage, but I’m sure other folks with strong chinning numbers could do this too.
The dips went well too, I just ran out of ROM during the second slow eccentric. I went pretty deep initially but once I had the pump going I couldn’t get as far down haha.
Speaking of pumps, that shoulder dropset was mind bending. I paused all the reps at the top for a good count and by the end of the 10s I wanted to quit, never mind do 60 more reps.
No rest on the final superset of curls and pull aparts, just jumped back and forth to finish the pump and get out. Took my time between press sets but everything after went quick.
Could have done a legit photo dump for this one, this place is just so beautiful. Easily one of the best hikes I’ve ever done. The forecast fooled us again, instead of a cloudy mid 50s we got a sunny 60* with a nice cool breeze all day. Perfect conditions.
The day started with a hiccup. We got to the trailhead and my S/O realized at that moment her boots were still at home. The footwear available was puddle boots and slides, neither of which would have cut it for this journey. I was pretty aggravated since it’s close to a 3 hour drive, and it was nicer than expected, but no way we could proceed given the circumstances (I also wasn’t about to try and run this solo while leaving them behind). I figured I lost a pretty valuable day. So we drove back until we found a place to buy shoes and headlamps, and decided to hit the trails anyway. Two hours later we were underway.
It was worth going back. Trails were magnificent, weather was unreal, and the breeze kept the bugs at bay. The bugs can be quite problematic this time of year in Maine but they were a non-factor.
The trail we took up was pretty stiff, but it had some of the best stonework I’ve ever seen on a hiking trail. The ridge was typical Appalachian Trail, treacherous but fun, and the views were top notch. Heading down was a bit of a slog, as we were forced to summit another smaller peak on the way and it shared the theme of a straight sprint to the top after a nice rolling trail leading to it. Lots of elevation gain and loss in short amounts of time over and over again really beat us up.
I could definitely see myself back here for a camping trip, as we left a lot of view points and trail features “untouched” for next time. My goal was to not have to use the headlamps on our way out, which we just barely accomplished. I wasn’t so much concerned with hiking at night as much as contending with the mosquitos, who made their presence well known at the car as we boogied out of there.
Minor changes to this workout this cycle, but the bones are mostly the same. Going to just stick with the DBs for shrugs throughout, but after the last giant set of supplemental I’m including one set of Hise shrugs to failure before putting the SSB away. All the shrugs include a 2 count hold at the top, I just don’t feel like noting it every workout.
I added some lower leg work to the end too. My calves and shins get pretty beat up when I hike and jog, more than I think they should, and I believe it’s due to them being relatively untrained compared to the rest of my body. The calf raises include a 5 count stretch at the bottom and a 2 count hold at the top. For the shin things I just looped a band around the rack and my feet, and pulled my toes toward my face as hard as I could for a 3 count each rep. Not sure if it’s the best way to do them but it seemed to work. No rest on those giant sets as the lower leg stuff took long enough it seemed unnecessary.
Changed things up pretty dramatically for my press day. There’s a lot about this workout that sucks, which I’ll get into as a quick rundown for anyone reading this.
Using CT’s Beast Building protocol for the main lift on this day, which is something very different than anything I’ve done before, and about the only part of the workout that didn’t suck. It’s pretty crossfit-esque, as the goal is to try and get as many good sets in during a 20 minute window. I didn’t go balls to the wall today since I’m feeling this out and didn’t want to burn out too quickly and start grinding too many sets. Felt pretty powerful throughout until the last couple sets when I started cramming.
The giant set was just hard. Probably went a touch too heavy there, but I’ve got room to grow into it. I plan on waving the weights on the giant set so as the main lift gets heavier this gets lighter. Might be overkill but hey, that’s self programming! Can always change after a cycle if it’s not working out. The side planks were pretty rough. Weight vest makes a big difference, and my lower abs/hip flexors seem to be all jacked up giving me that hernia feeling again.
The assistance work is where the suck really dialed up. I need to bring up my triceps and the Tate press is pretty elbow friendly for me so I’ll run with that for a bit. I went with the Gironda 8x8 for the lateral raises. They were uncomfortable. I’ve actually got plenty of room to progress with those without having to change weights or reps so that’s why I went that way, but the pain was real. Speaking of pain, back to the Poundstones this week and they hurt me. I hung the band back up after the BPA’s and just stared at the axle dreading the next few minutes of my life.
This took a touch longer than I want, but that’s always the case when I start something new. Should be able to shave some time off it next week. I’ll roll with this for 6 weeks and see how it goes. I think the basic layout is solid enough though.
Close neutral grip inverted rows: (15)
x15
x13
x11
Band upper back good mornings:
x100
Just chasing that back pump. High reps for this cycle, noticed it right away when I started doing the pullups. Biceps were the limiting factor in the inverted rows, pretty smoked from the Poundstone curls still.
Those banded upper back good mornings make my abs burn something fierce. Makes sense, since I’m basically doing a standing crunch and resisting the band on the way down. Double whammy exercise maybe.
Hoo boy that was a doozy of a workout. For some reason I decided that taking care of myself was a bad idea last night and today. Stayed up until like 4am and then have mostly subsisted off of coffee today. This is not the me that I know haha.
I don’t know why I ever get away from doing AMRAP sets on bench, they just feel like the right way to approach the lift.
I beat the snot out of my triceps with this workout. The dip-band-hang giant set is going to be a mainstay during this programming cycle but it’ll vary between second and third part of the workout. I’m going to do one of the assistance/conditioning workouts from all of @alpha’s programs for the other one. Which is what the third part of the workout was today. No rest between any of those sets, just kept moving until it was over.
@ChongLordUno No sweat my man, I don’t post a ton in other folks logs myself so I don’t expect a ton of traffic coming my way either. I appreciate you dropping in and keeping the hype up though.
Sweet day out on the trails. A great bonding day for the pup and I being our first hike together without her “mom”. It’s pretty unreal how well behaved she is on the trails already.
I had planned to take this one kind of slow since it’s a quicker hike and I wanted to just take it easy for my trip later this week. A new rainy afternoon forecast and a slightly late start meant that I’d probably move a little quicker. The puppy energy meant we’d move quicker yet. I don’t mind getting rained on, but she does and must’ve known something was up. It started sprinkling as we got back to the car.
This was like the tale of two hikes. Really enjoyable and fantastic hike on the way up. Total opposite on the way down. Lots of great bridges, trail features like waterfalls, easy stream crossings, etc. that kept things fresh and fun (these were all good on the way down too). The rough parts of the trail were typical Maine AT type stuff. Fine going up it, but coming down can be hit or miss with them. Just bad footing for a descent in a lot of places.
My right leg has been acting up and that might have been a factor today with that descent. Feels like there’s something going on with the hamstring a couple inches above the knee. I’m thinking a form of tendonitis as I’m prone to that. Got a big day planned Thursday so I’ll need to try and invoke some healing.
So my big plans for Thursday fell through and as a result I wound up just doing my prescribed workout (boo-hoo). Planned on altering this to keep the legs fresh but alas.
Everything was just as it should be, not a very exciting session.
Plan for each squat day is to pump the calves, shins, and now hamstrings with blood. Seem to be getting some tendonitis in that area and since rest really isn’t an option rehab work seems like the next best option. I noticed an odd clicking in my calf during the hamstring curls, right in the spot that’s tender to the touch so probably related. I was able to avoid it by keeping my calves relaxed during the curls which made them a good bit harder. All good data points.
Pretty solid workout. I think I’ll start to dig the self-regulating aspect of this type of main lift training. I had one set where I misgrooved the first rep badly and it felt 5x heavier.
Giant set at this weight made much more sense, should have gone heavier on those Russian twists though. Next time.
Assistance work all sucked for all the obvious reasons.
Mowed the lawn for about an hour before doing this. Worked up quite an extreme sweat multiple times now today. Feel absolutely disgusting but going to wait a little longer to shower so I don’t have to exit my A/C bedroom and undo all that.
I thought I was going to be crushed today by 135 while I was benching. Not a great start. Managed a fair amount of reps, but those bench sets just didn’t want to cooperate with me today.
Another Brian Alsruhe butt kicker for assistance there with the row/press ladder. Left a puddle of sweat on the floor where my head was resting. That was the first time I’ve done any kind of bench variation with a barbell in ages and it felt so strange. The rotation really messed with me and I thought I was going to drop the bar haha.
This is a really fantastic hike. I had plans to do this one as part of a larger loop, but my S/O learned about it from a friend and put in a request so we knocked it out solo. Absolutely worth the compromise as this turned out to be one of my favorites.
Super pleasant trail the entire way except the last quarter mile, where you merge with the AT, so naturally that part is rugged as hell. But, unlike many hikes, you’re totally fresh still going into that slog so it feels much easier still. There’s just a very gradual constant change in elevation from start to finish. The few steep portions are very short and you’re rewarded with relatively smooth trails throughout compared to what you normally find in the whites.
Then you get to the top where the views are stunning. We spent about 45 minutes up there and multiple people who came over the crest said some form of “holy shit” as they took it in. I may have been one of those people.
I felt so extremely good during this workout. I have a pretty solid sunburn right now, so having the bars rub on that sucked, but everything else was money. Always good to have your best workouts on 1s week!
Normally I’m slogging through my workouts but today I was pumping myself up. Not getting psyched up or anything, but after each giant set was over I’d wipe the sweat away and just be happy to have knocked another round off the list. Probably means my weights are too light haha.
@kdjohn You and me both my man, I’m enjoying having that aspect of my life back in regularity. I feel so much more like myself these days now that I’m constantly covered in bug bites and dirt haha.
Work ran way late so I decided to cut this in half and do all the assistance work tomorrow.
Wasn’t super pumped about the workout today. Failed two reps during the main work which is very much not what you’re supposed to be doing here. The first I definitely got in my own head thinking about technique and just squibbed the rep. The next was the very last one and it was most likely due to being interrupted just before setting up to have to answer a question about Italian seasoning and then rushing into that rep. The timer expired during the questioning and I decided to try and get that one anyway without any focus, probably should’ve just called it. Annoying but had to make myself to be upset because it’s a pointless thing to be bothered by.
Pullups are the strongest they’ve ever been by a long shot, so that’s pretty sweet. Dips felt like crap. It’s weird, there was a point I could bust out sets of 20 on them and right now a single set of 20 would be a struggle.
I’m almost certainly going to go back to 5/3/1 after this. Probably will do another three weeks of what I’m doing to give it an honest shake, but no way I can convince myself to stick with this.
Finishing up the work from yesterday. Solid shoulder pump from those laterals, really figuring out how to use the side delts to move the weight. Getting real sick of how long these sets of curls are, and how my arms feel after haha.
