2016 Log

103.2 probably overdid the food yesterday but no regrets for lil miss’ birthday fun. Disrupted sleep thanks to external noise but feeling ok.

Standing jumps; 1x10
Sit-ups; 1x10

DL, medium stance with toes slightly out, counterbalanced slack pull; 10-70. 5-120, 170, 200. 3 x1 - 220. 1 - 240. Couldn’t budge heavier than this. Close V stance; 1-250, 260. Frustrating because I felt like 270 should be here today. Next week perhaps. 7 x1-240. A much better pace on these. I tried the higher belt position below pecs for singles 6&7. Interesting, may pursue further if I don’t bruise the ribs with it. It also works better for leveraged slack pull which I did on #7, letting them lower torso and hip move freely.

Buffalo squats, ATG low bar; 5-70. 3-120, 130, 140,

BB hypers, 50 deg #6 height, heavy; 2 x6-100.
Sit-ups; 2 x10-bw+5kg plate behind head.
Supersetted. Slightly cut short by early wake ups.

GUT discomfort progressed through the workout, 99% sure it was due to FODMAP laziness.

I also need to be more honest with myself and cut out the Saturday GPP, move step-ups onto Thursday’s somewhere and sleep more.


Daily walks
2hrs modest pace site walk around
 
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102.8. My elbows don’t feel amazing after a long drive yesterday for work and low bar. I will smash out some grip extensors later on which seem to assist and see how it goes.

Seal rows, heavy; 10-70. 8 x3-110. Explosive this week so I can get used to the load bump, will work to improve the hold at the top next session.

Bench doubles, pinkies on rings, heavy; 10-70. 8 x2-110. Paused. Tried a few widths and settled on pinkies on rings. Good mix of ROM and shoulder accommodation, maximising triceps potential etc.

Sit-ups, plate behind head; 1x10-bw. 8 x10-bw+5kgs. My hips and core just feel so good since adding these in a few weeks back.
Giant set.

Weighted neutral pull-ups; 1x10-bw. 4 x5-bw+20kg.
4-2-0 tempo bench; 1 x6-70. Low RPE to start this off.
Neck extensions, heavy; 1 x20-25kg.
Giant set.

Workout cut short by Soph getting up a bit early but it’s a great formula moving forward, and will throw some hanging leg raises and dead hangs in at the end.

Daily walks
2 x20min

End of day
Hanging leg raises 2x10-bw
 
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102.3

Standing jumps; 1x10
SG BB hypers; 1x10-60kg.
CB wide squat; 5-70kg.
Sit-ups; 1x10-bw.

DL volume, leveraged slack pull, high belt, close V; 10-70, 120, 170. 6-225. Didn’t feel amazing and I was probably trying to counterbalance too much early on but better reps towards the end. Total resets continue for the top set.
3 x10-177.5. I did the last set with an anchored, shins forward stance and it felt just as good but obviously fatigued.

High belt placement felt really good and I probably felt my erectors doing shit for the first time in years on the deadlift, but without sacrificing the belt-brace-boost.

CB squats, wide stance, volume; 5-70. 3 x10-90kg.

SG BB hypers, volume; 3 x12-80kg.
Sit-ups, plate behind head; 3 x10-bw+5kg.
Supersetted.



Daily activities
SG BB hypers; 5 x12-80kg 10mins. Ideally could get these done in the morning session for 6-8 sets. Should be able to make it happen soon enough.

1 x2laps 12min walk

Belt squats, narrow stance, volume; 2 x10-115.
Step-ups; 2 x15-bw.
 
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102.6

Seal rows 5x10; 10-70. 4 x10-90.
Bench, paused 5x10; 10-70. 4 x10-77.5.
Sit-ups, plate behind head; 1x10-bw. 4 x10-bw+5kg.
Neck extensions, eyes up full ROM, volume; 4 x40, 1 x25-20kg.
Giant set.
Next week I think I can skip the ramp up sets and just warm up the shoulders and elbows for a few minutes first.

WG neutral pull-ups, versa grippz, volume; bw - 20, 12, 12, 12+5x4 myo reps.
Diamond push-ups, volume; bw - 20, 16, 16.
Giant set.


Lunch GPP
Inverted rows, underhand wide grip; 4 x16- bw. No versa’s now, will use this to build grip and continue helping the left shoulder get sorted. 10mins
Hanging leg raises; 3 x12


Daily walks
2 x25mins 4laps
 
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102.6 feels like a swoosh might be coming on the scale next week, judging on the mirrors. Abs, dead hangs and weighted walks today.

Daily walks
2 x30min 4laps 20kg weighted vest
1 x25min 4laps

Sit-ups with plate behind head; 1x10-bw. 3 x5-bw+10kg.

Hanging leg raises; 3 x12-bw.

Deads hangs; 3 x bw+50kg. Magic as always.

Barbell curls; 2 x10-40kg. I’ll try to get these done twice a week. Biceps are the weak link for me on bench positioning and vertical pulling.
 
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102.3

Standing jumps; 1x10
Sit-ups; 1x15

DL, V stance, clustered singles; 10-70. 5-120, 170. 3x1-200. 1-220, 240, 250.

I positioned the dip belt poorly during the second dead hang on Saturday and it pressed up against left lower back/hip in a way that’s made it annoyed - possibly a physical bruising from the pressure etc. DL’s really felt that today, which is frustrating because 270 was the plan.

|| stance, tensioned rack pull cue; 3 x1-240. Did the last one with toes slightly out and left it there. Better rest and a happier lower back next week, hopefully. I’m pretty pissed off about it, truth be told.

CB wide stances squat clustered triples; 5-70. 3-120, 130, 130.

BB hypers, 50deg #6, heavy; 1x5-100. 2 x5-130.
Sit-ups, plate behind head; 1x9-bw+10kg. 1x5-bw+10kg. 1x10-bw+5kg. Felt that left side lower back/hip frustration a little on these. I’m also not strong enough for 10kg behind the head.
Supersetted.


DL, close heels, big V, starting strength cues; 5 x1-220. A more open toe angle and more glutes at the start felt better. I might stick with this setup for a bit and see if I can leverage the hamstring work I’m doing into 270 range again. Filmed the last one and it looked spot on.

I had some modest extra time to work with today but don’t feel like I necessarily made the best use of it. Shitty sleep probably didn’t help but it is what it is.


Daily walks
3 x15mins

End of day;
SG BB hypers, 45deg #5; 2 x10-90kg.
 
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102.3

Seal rows, heavy; 10-70. 8 x3-110. Better reps than last week, May increase to sets of 4 next time.

WG bench doubles, index on rings; 10-70. 8 x2-112.5. Much easier to get tight with the wider grip, felt ok on the shoulder too (at last).

Sit-ups, plate behind head; 1 x10-bw. 8 x11-bw+5kg. Tried both resetting reps and continuous. Reset had more abs, continuous more flexor. Not sure yet which is preferred.
Giant set.

Struggled to find ‘it’ this morning. Down to life factors with the family being away for two weeks and generally a bit of fatigue from pushing to get down under 100kg. Started a bit late and ran a bit slow. Have 15mins to trim off, readily doable though.


Weighted neutral pull-ups; 1 x10-bw. 4 x6-bw+20kg belt. Aim for 7 reps next week, then 8 the next, then load bump.
Hanging leg raises; 4 x12-bw.
Neck extensions; 2 x20-25kg.
CG bench; 2 x6-90kg.
Giant set.

Dead hang; 1 xbw+40kg.


I’m going to move to 6 sets, with 4 reps into 5 on rows and then triples with load progression for bench in order to maintain volume but work better within the time I have. Increasing reps on sit-up sets will be fine too.


Daily walks
1 x15min
2 x20min


End of day
BB curls; 3x10-42.5kg.
 
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102.1

Standing jumps; 1x10-bw.
Sit-ups; 1x10-bw.

DL, close-medium extreme V stance, starting strength cues, heavy then back off cluster volume; 10-70. 5-120, 170, 200. 1-220 hook, 240, 250. Probably had another 5kg in the tank but no need to max out fully. New form went well and once I get more confidence in the lower back being set, I expect it will pay some reasonably quick dividends.

5 x4-190kg. Five rep clusters next week then minor load bumps thereafter probably. Felt good.

CB squat, shoulder stance, clustered volume; 5-70. 4 x5-100.

Belt squats, wide; 5-50. 2 x15-75.

SG BB hypers, 45deg #7; 4 x12-80kg. I saw Pete Rubish doing these for the first time in a while, only this time from a side angle and noticed he has the bar way out in front. Tried it Monday and that was the difference I needed for the right groove.

Sit-ups, plate behind head; 4 x12-bw+5kg.
Supersetted.


Went up to 400mg caffeine today. Seemed fine, I’m fairly tolerant by now I think. 4 days a week only seems to keep me relatively responsive too.

There’s 15mins to be found here now that I’ve settled on the exercises and programming and getting them set up in advance. Really happy with today’s session.


Daily walks
3 x20min
 
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101.7


Barbell rows, DL stance: 5 x10-100kg. I’ll see how the fatigue stacks up over the weekend into Monday’s DL ME day. These are to assist with the starting technique and using back extension to pull the slack out and initiate the break from the floor. Seal rows with full extension are the comparison and definitely hit the upper back harder but the lower back is mostly left out of course.

Bench, index on rings: 5 x10-80kg. Load bump next week.

Sit-ups, plate behind head, continuous-hip flexor focus; 5 x12-bw+5kg. Prefer constant tension to the crunch style, much friendlier on the lower back.

Giant set. 6-7mins to be recovered in slack time here. Happy with the setup.

WG pull-ups; bw - 20 (neutral), 16 (pronated), 12 (pronated), 12 (neutral), 10+3x4 myo reps (neutral).
Neck extensions volume; 3 x40-20kg.
Hanging leg raises; 3 x12-bw.
Diamond push-ups; 3 x20-bw.
Giant set.

I took my foot off the gas a little for the second giant set, mainly due to some caffeine jitters and just needing to pace myself. The general setup doesn’t really cost anytime though.

Dumped the versa’s on pull-ups, they seem to be hindering me and randomly contributing to minor elbow discomfort. Finger extensor work should resolve it and then I’ll avoid it without them next week.


Daily walks
3 x20min


Early 10min GPP session
Seal rows; 4 x20-70kg.

End of day 10min GPP session
Super WG pull-ups; 13, 10, 10, 10

Mental note to find a slot for CG neutral as they seem to hit the lats more, albeit less upper back


100% sticking with the seal rows and maybe as a GPP exercise too.
 
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Reflection - definitely seal rows over standing. It just smashed the second half of the session. I should recover fine for Monday all the same I think.
 
101.4

Hanging leg raises; 4 x12-bw.

Dead hang; 1 xbw+30kg vest.


Daily walks
1 x60min
1 x15min shopping
1 x50min sled drags, 25kg, 100m forward, 100m reverse then repeat

BB curls; 3 x6-50kg.
 
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102.0

SG BB hypers, fat bar; 1x10-50kg.
Sit-ups, crunch reset; 1 x10

DL singles, close extreme V stance, Starting Strength cues; 10-70. 5-120, 170. 3 x1-200. 1-220, 240 hook. 1 -250, 260. I tried about 8 attempts at 270 but it just wasn’t there. I filmed them just in case but also to learn and I’m not really doing a very good job of a proud chest/upper back extension, judging from how my sternum moves - or rather doesn’t, during the setup. I’ll take next weekend easier and try again on the Monday.

4 x1-240. Adjusting where I look as I pull the slack out, to a position about a metre ahead, seems to help set the back rather than elevate the torso too early. I’ll play around further with it on volume day. Set the. Set my belt slightly lower too.

BB hypers, fat bar; 3 x5-100.

CB GM, narrow stance, bar forward; 3 x8-120. Very low RPE/plenty of RIR. Finding my groove again. I think they will assist me in maintaining back extension at higher loads, as the torso moves through space, at a relatively lower fatigue cost than say pause deadlifting.

Weighted step-ups; 3 x15-bw+10kg vest. My hips and knees have both missed these and heavy squatting twice a week just isn’t favourable right now. I’d rather have a volume day with clusters and belt squats than a heavy/performance day, at least for now. Once I have the setup ready to go, I expect there’s a time saving too. Probably load bump next week.

Sit-ups, continuous hip flexor focus, plate behind head; 3 x10-bw+10kg.


Reflections:
If I’m not wasting 20-25mins on trying to hit 270, the workout would’ve been a lot shorter and more productive.

Goes back to 10 reps at 120 and 170 then cut out the 200 set and do the 3x singles at 220. That worked well.

Look further a front to set the upper back better.

Do the CB GMs last, simply as a setup and fatigue consideration. 2 long sets may be better than 3 if I get a time crunch. It’s not really suited to clusters after all.

Next week setup;

DL singles
BB hypers fat bar supersetted sit-ups
Step-ups supersetted CB GM



Daily walks
3 x30min
3 x15 Bulgarian split squats - bw, 10min

2nd session because sadist;

DL, extreme close V, SS cues; 1-170, 3x1-220, 250, 270. And we’re back.
 
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101.2 lots of DOMS after yesterday’s YOLO hijinx. Right hip did not love the extreme V stance. I may keep gorilla stance up my sleeve and leave the extreme toes out in the background for max only. It feels weird lifting in full extension anyway.

Clearly fatigued AF today.

Seals rows, heavy; 10-70. 6 x4-110.
Bench triples, index on ring; 10-70. 6 x3-110.
Sit-ups, continuous hip flexor, plate behind head; 1 x10-bw. 6 x8-bw+10kg.
Giant set.

Vertical pulling; 1 x10-bw (chin). 1 x6-bw+20kg (chin). 1 x6-bw+20kg (WG neutral), 1 x6-bw+20kg (pronated), 1 x7-bw+20kg (WG neutral). Short dead hang after the last rep. Looking at a fixed point around eye level at the start of the rep, seems to put me into a better technique. Something to remember for me. WG neutral wins out again.
Hanging leg raises; 3 x12-bw.
Neck extensions, thoracic focus; 3 x20-25kg.
Giant set.



I’ve decided to rearrange the upper workouts to pair vertical pulling with the bench and then move rows to a higher rep slot, 8-12 and 15-20 for performance and volume days respectively. I’ll also be removing CG bench from Tuesday’s and going to either dips or a larger triceps accessory, and insert more curls volume. Diamond pushups to stay on Friday’s. This should allow me to save a few extra minutes of setup time between exercises too. Aiming to be more diligent with staying at RIR1-2 rather than sneaky/pseudo failure, particularly vertical pulling where it just kills you.

And lastly, I think it’s time to bring back seated deadlifts for Friday’s. Higher rep ranges and rebuild that thoracic strength in a rounded position.

Daily walks
1 x10min
1 x30min
 
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101.8 I am pretty fucking exhausted from the additional walks everyday at this point. Probably time to scale back the pace of them. Not too long to go now before I’m sun-100 in a trained state. Monday has fucked by posterior chain pretty hard too.

Standing jumps; 1x10
Sit-ups, flexor focus; 1 x10

DL, scoop technique, || stance, clusters; 10-70, 120, 170. 8 x3-190. These took a bit longer than intended sue to fatigue but not by much. This technique feels as pure as can be and hits everything the way it used to when I was 30kg heavier and deadlifting everyday. Onwards.

CB ATG squats, clusters; 5-70. 8 x3-110. These felt great, solid technique and efficiently done. Load bump next week by 2.5kg’s.

SG BB hypers, 50 deg, #5, fat bar; 3 x10-80.
Sit-ups, plate behind head, hip flexor focus; 3 x10-bw+10kg.
Supersetted.


Great session but I’m destroyed with accumulated fatigue. Will do the belt squats tonight after work due to an earlier than usual start.


Belt squats, wide; 2 x20-75kg. Pump work for the stuff that gets less attention during my normal, narrower squats.

Daily walks
3 x20min
 
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101.1 can’t wait for the recovery of the weekend

WG neutral pull-ups@RIR1-2, versa’s; 3 x15, 2 x13 +3x5 myo reps -bw.
Bench, index on rings; 5 x10-82.5kg.
Sit-ups with plate behind head, hip flexor focus; 5 x10-bw+10kg.
Giant set. Had to take a breather between 4th and 5th giant set, just sue to accumulated fatigue but otherwise really happy with the setup efficiency. Keeping things the same next week, aim for extra pull-up reps per set.

Seated deadlifts, bench +9 mats; 2 x10-150.
Used versa’s because I have nothing left this week but will use DOH or hook most of the time. Probably easier to use the box than the bench in the future. Positioning on the 3rd set was perfect and the 4th was shit. Oh well, I’m fairly confident no damage was done. Something to work on generally as I’m feeling all lower back but not enough thoracic. A few practice singles indicated it’s all coming down to where I look and head angle.

Diamond pushups; 3 x20-bw.
Hanging leg raises; 3 x12-bw.
Giant set.

BB curls, fat bar; 2 x6-50kg. Add reps next week.

Neck extensions, volume; 2 x50-20kg. Maybe add a set next week. Love the traction effect on the whole spine, erectors and S.I. region.
Supersetted.


Started 10mins behind, easily 15mins to recoup from lazy-fuck resting, so I’ll stick with this. Diamond pushups are feeling a bit iffy on left shoulder so I may look into alternatives or perhaps just shorten the ROM more strictly.

One of the best training weeks I’ve ever had. Looking forward to recovering now.


Daily walks
1 x20min
2 x40min
 
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