Grunt11's Training Log

Did my A routine today which would be the equivalent of the last week of the 10s.

Core Exercises:

Dead Lift 215 lbs x 20 M-Time

Incline Bench 135 lbs x 20 M-Time
Superset with:
Wide Grip Pull Ups BW(154 lbs)+10 x 20 M-Time

Cardio:

1 mile jog

I’m getting to that point like last cycle were I wake up feeling like I’ve been in a car accident. However, once I start working out I feel great again, at least until later at night. For comparison I looked back at the log of my first cycle to see what I was doing at this point and found the following:

Dead Lift 180lbs x 10 x 10 = (35 lbs improvement)

Incline Bench 105lbs x 10 x 10 = (30 lbs improvement)

Wide Grip Pull Up 90lbs x 10 x 10 (74 lbs improvement)

I was still able to start the pressing movement from the bottom doing concentric first. I will keep that up for as long as I can.

I did some reading here yesterday and realized I have my cardio backwards and should be doing jogging on my heavy leg day so as not to compromise recovery on the light days. So I dropped doing the 15-20 rep metabolic sets at the end and will see how jogging does for now. Also didn’t attempt any assistance work as I’m really starting to feel each workout now.

I have a feeling that as the weighs get heavier I might have to start tapering of the number of reps even using M-Time. Alternating between 20 Dead Lifts and 20 Full Squats every 2 days is starting to take it’s toll.

Shoulders feel much better having changed out Standing Shoulder Presses for Upright Rows.
 
grunt11 said:
I have a feeling that as the weighs get heavier I might have to start tapering of the number of reps even using M-Time. Alternating between 20 Dead Lifts and 20 Full Squats every 2 days is starting to take it’s toll.
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You may yet be surprised at what you are able to accomplish using M-time. It has a way of absorbing the fatigue more than one could reasonably suspect. That said, squats and deads in the same week is asking a lot of your body.
 
TunnelRat said:
You may yet be surprised at what you are able to accomplish using M-time. It has a way of absorbing the fatigue more than one could reasonably suspect. That said, squats and deads in the same week is asking a lot of your body.
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Last night I would have disagreed with you about the fatigue management. By the time I got off work it was all I could do to eat some cottage cheese and blueberries and crawl in bed. However, I woke up this morning feeling more energetic and less in pain that I have in a week. Guess starting the jogging kicked my butt.
 
Did my “B” workout today:

Core Exercises:

Flat Bench 150 lbs x 20 M-Time
Superset with:
Parallel Grip Chin Ups BW(154 lbs)+10 x 20 M-Time

Calf Raises 235 lbs x 20 straight set

Barbell Shrugs 235 lbs x 20 straight set

Cardio:

5 minutes shadow boxing alternating 30 seconds very fast with 30 seconds easy.

The Calf Raises felt surprisingly light today. Just started doing them and next thing I knew I was saying 20 under my breath . . . weird.

I know that 5 minutes of cardio isn’t much but upper body cardio has always kicked my butt.

I took my measurements again today before working out and got the following:

Cycle Start / Now

Chest 36.5 / 38
Upper Arms 11.25 both / 11.75 both
Fore Arms 10.25 both / 10.5 both
Neck 14.5 / 15
Thighs 21 both / 21.75 both
Calves 13.25 (L) 14 (R) / same
Hips 36 / same
Shoulders 44.5 / 45

I didn’t bother to take any measurements after the first two weeks, what would have been the equivalent of the 15s, because my diet was so haphazard during the holidays my sodium intake would have bloated me up, but I’ve been eating consistently again for the last 4 days so I figured I’d get good results. Though I will continue to measure at weekly intervals if my diet is good so I can get a running set of number which should be more accurate than one off measurements.

I found various methods recommended for doing the measurement so I went with the most conservative to measure un-pumped and un-flexed.
 
Today was my “C” workout:

Core Exercises:

Full Squats 185 lbs x 20 M-Time
Superset with:
Upright Rows 75 lbs x 20 M-Time

Supported Dumbbell Rows 55 lbs x 20 M-Time (alternated L/R)

M-Time is turning out to be very interesting. After doing the Superset of Squats and Upright Rows I took my pulse and despite being completely knackered it was only 88 bpm. In the past had I done a HIT routine with 20 Squats my heart rate would have gotten up to about 150 bpm. It’s also nice to complete 20 reps w/o feeling like I’m breaking form or getting wobbly. Plus doing full squats is somewhat new to me since I use to only go down to parallel.
 
I think that supersetting your squats helps mentally. If you just do squats straight through, the unracking and re-racking can become mind racking. However, if you're raciking the bar to go do something else, it doesn't seem to bother as much.
 
TunnelRat said:
I think that supersetting your squats helps mentally. If you just do squats straight through, the unracking and re-racking can become mind racking. However, if you're raciking the bar to go do something else, it doesn't seem to bother as much.
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I totally agree. I think I would be biting at the bit if I just stood there and watched the clock.
 
I did my “D” workout today.

Core Exercises:

Dips BW(155 lbs)+10 x 20 M-Time
Superset with
Close Grip Chin Ups BW(155 lbs)+10 x 20 M-Time

Barbell Calf Raises 245 lbs x 20 Straight Set
Barbell Shrugs 245 lbs x 20 Straight Set

If I were doing a standard HST cycle this would have been the last workout of the 10s. I checked back to see what I was doing last cycle.

Dips - N/A not even attempted until next increment so about 25 lbs ahead of last time
Same for big boy Close Grip Chin Ups.

Barbell Calf Raises and Shrugs are 35 lbs ahead of last cycle.

My weekly average weight is up one pound so I’m back at the body weight I was before getting sick about 4 months ago. That’s a 15 lb weight gain 12 of it since I started HST.

Got an ego boost yesterday when I picked up my car from the dealer after getting some servicing. Rather than sit in the waiting room I go for a run while I’m waiting. I always wear a mesh muscle shirt to stay cool and I caught the two receptionists at the service desk checking me out when I got back.
 
Started the equivalent of the fifth week of this cycle or the first week of 5s if I was doing a 15, 10, 5 rep progression instead of 20 M-Time reps.

Core Exercise:

Dead Lifts 225 lbs x 20 M-Time

Yup that all for today. Based on how my arms are feeling I think hitting them every day, especially with 3 of the 4 being similar push/pull exercises I needed to start giving them a day off. It was that or decrease the number of reps. I figured the day off would work better. Doesn’t really change my routine much since I built it with this and the other changes (swapping Upright Rows for Standing Shoulder Press and Supported Dumbbell Rows for Cable Rows) in mind. So now things look like this:

A. Dead Lifts
B. Calf Raises, Shrug, Flat Bench, Parallel Grip Chin Ups
C. Squat, Upright Rows, Supported Dumbbell Rows
D. Calf Raises, Shrug, Dips, Close Grip Pull Ups

The Dead Lift seemed easier today than last week. I think my lower back is thanking me for switching out the Supported Dumbbell Rows for the Cable Rows.
 
Did my “B” workout today:

Flat Bench Press 155 lbs x 20 M-Time
Superset with
Parallel Grip Chin Ups BW(155 lbs)+15 x 20 M-Time

Calf Raises 255 x 20 straight set
Barbell Shrugs 255 x 20 straight set

Cardio:

5 minutes of shadow boxing alternating 30 sec very fast 30 sec slow.
 
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Did my “C” workout today:

Full Squats 195 lbs x 20 M-Time
Partially superset with:
Barbell Upright Rows 80 lbs x 20 M-Time

Supported Dumbbell Rows 60 lbs x 20 M-Time superset L/R

Cardio:
Lying cycling 30 sec fast / 30 sec rest x 2

I only partially superset the Barbell Upright Rows with the Squats today. At the 11th rep I thought I was going to puke so I stopped doing the Upright Rows and finished out the Squats, with the puking feeling quickly going away.

On the 16th rep of the Squats I hit the left hook coming up, but recovered easily. I realized it happened because I had broken form and was leaning to far forward as I only take about a 2” step back. I figured since I recovered so easily it was just lack of concentration and not fatigue so I went ahead and finished the last 4 reps w/o any problems.

I then went back and did the last 9 reps of Upright Rows. Good thing I had stopped super setting anyway because finishing them separately made me realized I wasn’t really getting the most out of them because I was holding back to save energy for the next squat. So no more super setting either Dead Lift, which I stopped a while ago, or Squats with anything else this cycle. So far no problem super setting push/pull exercises so I’ll keep doing that for now.

I decided to try lying on my back and doing some cycling with my legs instead of jogging. My left knee and lower back are not liking the jogging so I figured this would be a no impact way of getting some lower body cardio in. I was so beat to crap after the Squats I could only manage 2 cycles and then just lay there.
 
I did my “D” workout today:

Core Exercises:

Dips BW(155 lbs) + 15 x 20 M-Time
Superset with
Close Grip Chin Ups BW(155 lbs) +15 x 20 M-Time

Calf Raises 265 lbs x 20 straight set

Barbell Shrugs 265 lbs x 10 x10 straight sets

Cardio:

Shadow Boxing 30sec fast/30 sec slow x 5


I didn’t feel like I could maintain the quality of the reps for Shrugs for a full 20 so I divided them into 2 sets of 10. The reason I’m not using M-Time for the Calf Raises or Shrugs is they also double as my forearm grip training so I want to keep holding up the weight and not unloading after every rep.

I think this is my last 20 rep workout for most of my exercises. Although my weights are all about 20% heavier than they were at the same time last cycle I feel like I’m not recovering as much strength between working each muscle group as I could. So I’m going to start dropping the reps and pushing for more strength gains. If I stall I will probably reset up to 3 times before starting my next SD or de-load doing an active recovery and push for more strength again depending on how far I get before completely stalling out.

My goal was to reach 160 lbs body weight by the end of this cycle which at 1 lb/week means stretching this cycle out about 5 more weeks.

At least I get to Dead Lift tomorrow. Although I do enjoy the other workouts it they often just seem like filler waiting for the next Dead Lift session.
 
Did my “A” workout today:

Core Exercise:

Dead Lifts 235 lbs x 10 M-Time

Assistance Exercises:

Decline Bench Press 75 lbs x 20 Metabolic set

Wide Grip Lat Pulls 75 lbs x 20 Metabolic set

Cardio:

Lying Bicycling 30 sec fast / 30 sec rest x 4

I dropped the number of reps for the working set down to 10 from 20. I considered 15 but decided on 10 to play it safe since I want to get at least 5 more weeks out of this cycle and I can always add more back in if I think it’s to easy. Though I’ll actually likely end up cutting down to 5 as thing go on.

I also threw in a metabolic set for both chest and back. In one of the tweaking threads or PDFs, I think “Pimp my HST,” it mentioned throwing in a metabolic set once a week during the 5s and up. Since I already dropped the core chest and back lifts for my “A” workout this was always were I planed to put them if I did add them back in.

Even the light cardio I started doing has improved my stamina. I was starting to get winded from doing even simple things since I hadn’t done any cardio for about 3 months and put on 15 lbs.
 
Over the weekend I finished another increment:

Friday “B” workout:

Flat Bench Press 160 lb x 10 M-Time (still starting with the concentric pushing off the safety bars)
Superset with:
Parallel Grip Chin Ups BW(155 lbs) +20 x 10 M-Time

Barbell Calf Raises 265 lbs x 20 straight set
Barbell Shrugs 265 lbs x 10/10 straight sets

Saturday “C” Workout:

Full Squat 205 lbs x 10 M-Time
Barbell Upright Row 85 lbs x 20 M-Time
Supported Dumbbell Row 65 lbs x 10 M-Time superset L/R

Sunday “D” Workout:

Dips BW(155 lbs) +20 x 10 M-Time
Superset with:
Close Grip Chin Ups BW(155 lbs) +20 x 10 M-Time
Barbell Calf Raises 275 lbs x 20 straight set
Barbell Shrugs 275 lbs x 10/10 straight sets

Monday(today) “A” Workout:

Dead Lift 245 lbs x 10 M-Time

Flat Bench Press 75 lbs x 20 metabolic set
Close Grip Lat Pulls 70 lbs x 20 metabolic set
 
grunt11 said:
Over the weekend I finished another increment:
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Yo Grunt, when you do m-time for a set, what sort of rest times do you shoot for? I always try to keep it under 5 seconds, but it gets hot hot hot real quick - I wonder if I'm not resting long enough. It feels more like HCT-12 (cluster training) and I get smoked quicker, it seems, than if I had just hit 4 sets of 5 with normal rest between sets.
 
Dan Moore recommends (but does not insist) that M-time be kept under 30 seconds.

I usually start with about a 3-second M-time, then add a second every rep or so. On heavy squats and deads my M-time often starts to approach 30 seconds on the last few reps.
 
whistledixie said:
Yo Grunt, when you do m-time for a set, what sort of rest times do you shoot for? I always try to keep it under 5 seconds, but it gets hot hot hot real quick - I wonder if I'm not resting long enough. It feels more like HCT-12 (cluster training) and I get smoked quicker, it seems, than if I had just hit 4 sets of 5 with normal rest between sets.
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For the single sets, not supersets, I do something like TR were I start out with as little rest as possible and add more as I go along. However, I don’t use any specific pattern like adding a sec per rep I just go by feel since I can usually feel a flush in my muscles as the fresh blood is flowing in.

For the supersets I try to switch exercises as fast as I can so it usually works out to 15 seconds or more with the time it takes to do a rep and then switch to the other exercise for a rep and then back again.

In general I’m trying to err on the side of taking more time than less so that the quality of each rep feels the same and I’m not experiencing any “burn” but I also try to keep it under 30 seconds.
 
Did my “B” workout today:

Flat Bench Press 165 lbs x 10 M-Time
Superset with
Parallel Grip Chin Ups BW(155 lbs) +25 x 10 M-Time

Barbell Calf Raises 285 lbs x 20 straight set
Barbell Shrugs 285 lbs x 10/10 straight sets

This workout felt no harder than the last “B“ workout. I think changing things up and dropping the number of reps is letting me recover better between workouts.
 
I know exactly what you mean about each workout feeling like filler between the next deadlift workout. Like Russ' quote in his sig always said... There is no point in being alive if you cannot do the deadlift.
 
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