Weights, cardio and stuff log
- Thread starter Jester
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Cheers, mate.
Still a while to go yet though. 250 dead would be nice. 140 bench, maybe 170 given a year or two? I should probably do squatting at some stage but frankly, I hate squats. Really happy w/the leg press machine I'm using atm.
I'm tempted to add in some bi's and tri's work lately. I'm about 95% sure it's quite useless for direct impact upon hypertrophy, considering the other stuff I do, but maybe it might be of assistance indirectly from a strength perspective. I'm thinking CG BP and maybe one set machine/cable curls.
Still a while to go yet though. 250 dead would be nice. 140 bench, maybe 170 given a year or two? I should probably do squatting at some stage but frankly, I hate squats. Really happy w/the leg press machine I'm using atm.
I'm tempted to add in some bi's and tri's work lately. I'm about 95% sure it's quite useless for direct impact upon hypertrophy, considering the other stuff I do, but maybe it might be of assistance indirectly from a strength perspective. I'm thinking CG BP and maybe one set machine/cable curls.
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Sci
Well-Known Member
Personally, my biceps seem to be getting plenty of stimulus from rows and pullups and upper back compounds. Yesterday, I threw in a set of barbell curls and skullcrushers at the end of my workout. Biceps were already pretty fried from rowing and pulling, by the time I got to the barbell curls. However, today I have noticed the large, long head of my triceps are SIGNIFICANTLY MORE SORE than usual from the skullcrushers. When I was doing weighted dips, I didn't seem to need any isolations for triceps, but now that I have switched to benching (more pectoral strain), my triceps may need a little more. I will likely stick with the skullcrushers, or maybe do dips again. I don't think close-grip bench is a great choice for triceps, it seems more of a front deltoid, upper pec exercise, and triceps still end up secondary. I read an emg study somewhere that confirmed this.
gbglifter
Member
Re CG BP: I think it all depends how you perform the action. My triceps get hammered when doing them. Ill be switching skullcrushers for CG BP once I get down to the 5´s. The dips(favvo exercise ever) are still getting done on the alternate session. Dips should be done, always and forever!
I too feel that direct bicep work isnt that important. The biceps get lots of work during rows and chins. I do like to do one set at the end of each mini-cycle. When Im going to failure on everything else I like to go with heavy cable curls the last thing I do and just go to failure there too. I think that helps them along a bit.
250 deads would be nice. I think I can improve my 200 dead. I may give 210/220 a go at the end of the cycle. I used to hate squats. I was basically weak and couldnt do them properly. Ive recently got my technique down to a tee so I really enjoy them now. I look forward to squat-day.
I too feel that direct bicep work isnt that important. The biceps get lots of work during rows and chins. I do like to do one set at the end of each mini-cycle. When Im going to failure on everything else I like to go with heavy cable curls the last thing I do and just go to failure there too. I think that helps them along a bit.
250 deads would be nice. I think I can improve my 200 dead. I may give 210/220 a go at the end of the cycle. I used to hate squats. I was basically weak and couldnt do them properly. Ive recently got my technique down to a tee so I really enjoy them now. I look forward to squat-day.
Sci
Well-Known Member
Yeah, I suppose if you use a really close-grip and keep your hands up towards your head the whole time, then CGBP is a great triceps exercise. Most guys do them with as much weight as possible and keep the bar low, below the chest, so bit becomes a great anterior deltoid exercise, but doesn't allow the triceps to be the prime mover.
I have similar experiences to gbglifter regarding CGBP, being that technique has a particular input into the effectiveness of the exercise re: triceps. I don't find it hits the anterior delts much at all, there's minimal contraction/extension for me.
Dips are too exhausting for me to include right now. If I had a bit more time available, I'd probably just go to 90-100mins workout instead of the 70-80mins I currently do and would get it done, but that extra 20 mins really adds up when it's 3-4x a week and you're already factoring in some travel time etc.
I'm also tempted to bump up volume a little for upper body. I'm about to try and cut properly (yes, been intending/meaning to do that for 3 months now), so volume mightn't be necessary but I'm also wanting to factor in strength retention and in general, I feel like I have another 3 reps or so in me for my compounds most days.
Tryingtologin
Member
I love the landmine row. Feels awesome. Maybe alternate the landmine with the pendlay?
10 clustered deads; 3 - 100kg, 2 - 140kg, 1 - 180kg (warm ups), 4 - 200kg, 2,2,2, - 210kg. Feeling pretty good, exhausted but good.
12 clustered flat bench; 3 - 80kg, 3 - 100kg (warm ups), 2 - 120kg, 2 - 125kg, 2,2 - 127.5kg, 2,2 - 130kg.
8 clustered BB rows; 4 - 140kg, 4 - 145kg.
12 clustered flat bench; 3 - 80kg, 3 - 100kg (warm ups), 2 - 120kg, 2 - 125kg, 2,2 - 127.5kg, 2,2 - 130kg.
8 clustered BB rows; 4 - 140kg, 4 - 145kg.
I think I'm going to try for a 250kg rack pull tomorrow, all things feeling good. I'll be bumping the lower clusters too.
Had to drop SLDL as there's too much lower back involvement. The leg press gives it a mild stretch/extension as the glutes extend (basic posterior chain stuff), but the leg curls definitely don't involve it beyond stabilising.
Had to drop SLDL as there's too much lower back involvement. The leg press gives it a mild stretch/extension as the glutes extend (basic posterior chain stuff), but the leg curls definitely don't involve it beyond stabilising.
13 clustered rack pulls; 3 - 100kg, 3 - 140kg, 1 - 180kg (warm ups), 4 - 210kg, 4 - 220kg, 4 - 230kg, 1 - 240kg. 240kg. Flew up and off the rack. 250kg not quite, will give it another shot on Saturday. Really solid form on all of these, feeling great.
13 clustered flat bench; 2 - 100kg, (warm ups), 1 - 120kg, 2 - 127.5kg, 2,2,2,2,2 - 130kg.
15 max-stim pulls, I-beam using finger grip - BW + 20kg.
2x15 external cable rotations - 15kg.
13 clustered flat bench; 2 - 100kg, (warm ups), 1 - 120kg, 2 - 127.5kg, 2,2,2,2,2 - 130kg.
15 max-stim pulls, I-beam using finger grip - BW + 20kg.
2x15 external cable rotations - 15kg.
Sci
Well-Known Member
Your strength seems to be sky-rocketing. Which makes sense, since you are basically training in the "strength & power" range. I might try your style of clustering, it certainly looks to be very effective at strength gains.
Whats your advice regarding how to program the volume for these cluster sets, and when to increase the loads?
Whats your advice regarding how to program the volume for these cluster sets, and when to increase the loads?
Well first off, not only am I the strongest I've ever been, I'm also the biggest I've ever been. My upper arms are now sitting pretty at 17.5, which I'm pretty happy with, although I'm also (paradoxically) disappointed because I know the majority of that is biceps increase and I need to find more work for triceps. Forearms are the biggest they've been, legs are back up to where they were when I was training them more regularly but I'm most happy with the back development (all over) and upper traps.
Regarding how the clusters and max-stim work:
-If I can do 5 reps with it the upper load, it's generally time to bump.
-Somewhere in the 8-15 rep range per exercise, depending on the load (closer to 2-3RM, vs closer to 5RM) and whether it's the first exercise hitting that body part.
-I bump the upper load during a workout if I can do the 4th rep of the cluster comfortably.
-Obviously there's a bit of intuition involved for loads.
-Rest periods are 3 minutes as a minimum, realistically. You know, 3-4mins. Frankly, I'd be surprised if anyone could do 3RM clusters a minute or two apart.
-Failure is not a part of my training philosophy; all going back to the CNS.
-Form is important. You don't dick around with near-max compounds. And when you forget/get ahead of yourself, you break a rib ... oh no, wait, that was me
-Max-stim: hard to say exactly what load to use. You'll find you can probably do 15 or so max-stim reps with an M-time of around 30s or so at your 3-5RM (probably varies a bit depending on the exercise, technique and relative strength). If you start spacing that M-time out longer, the workout takes a bit longer but you're going to get stronger and bigger as well. I don't think 1RM is what you want to be using for max-stim. But up to 3RM ish-range is fine. 5RM is also fine, and there's no reason it would work 'less well', except you'll probably need a few more reps to achieve the same results. If we were to graph progression over an extended period of time, you'll progress faster if you expose yourself to higher loads sooner rather than later.
-EAT. But, having said that, if you're cutting, I still find this style of lifting to work well. You aren't inducing intense energy needs during the work-out and you can stretch rest times a little if you're tired. Caffeine is also awesome, obviously. I've had to go off it for a while for medical reasons, which sucks, but I'm doing fine w/creatine all the same.
-Courtesy of Totez, I dropped deads to once in every three upper sessions. They're CNS heavy and I need/prefer extra time to recover.
I use load as the mechanism for inducing stimulus for hypertrophy. Obviously any successful program factors this in, but many trainees will use extra volume as a mechanism for inducing hypertrophy before/rather than progressing the load. My decision to do this is partially based on preserving the CNS. I find volume to be a greater inhibitor of recovery than load is. Additionally, and just as importantly, it's well established that progressive load (an increase in threshold load, if you like) is required to continue inducing the stimulus needed for hypertrophy.
What we're aiming for is microdamage, and load progresses past adaptations (of which I'm fairly sure are significantly connective tissue adaptations more so than muscular) rather than volume. That isn't to say there isn't a place for volume. But I promise I'm gaining more doing 12-15 reps and 3-5RM range than the guy doing 5x5 and 85% of 5RM. And as we know, strength and size go hand-in-hand. It's not a linear correlation, but it IS a correlation. Hell, I think we can say is causal effect at this stage, we just don't understand it as well as we'd like (yet).
Happy to share, mate. Make no mistake about it, it can be intense way to train and you'll certainly know if you're trying to get somewhere too quickly.
11 clustered rack pulls; 3 - 100kg, 3 - 140kg, 1 - 180kf (warm ups), 4, 220kg, 4,3 - 230kg. Tried 240kg - was planning on doing some single after the first 230kg cluster but I guess I'm a bit 'under slept' (as an adjective baby!) and over-trained today.
12 clustered flat bench; 3 - 60kg, 2 - 100kg (warm ups), 1 - 120kg, 1 - 125kg, 2,2,2 - 130kg, 2,2 - 132.5kg. The last two clusters are PRs.
8 max-stim BB row; 3 - 150kg, 5 - 140kg.
Lower back is fried. Will have to rest up tomorrow and warm up thoroughly for deads on Monday. I think I need to include an extra warm up on the jump from 180kg for the rack pulls. Realistically, it's still recovering from the last deads day, which had an intense lower back stretch (within proper form).
Really stoked with the bench, spotter was present but unnecessary, 140kg here I come ...
11 clustered rack pulls; 3 - 100kg, 3 - 140kg, 1 - 180kf (warm ups), 4, 220kg, 4,3 - 230kg. Tried 240kg - was planning on doing some single after the first 230kg cluster but I guess I'm a bit 'under slept' (as an adjective baby!) and over-trained today.
12 clustered flat bench; 3 - 60kg, 2 - 100kg (warm ups), 1 - 120kg, 1 - 125kg, 2,2,2 - 130kg, 2,2 - 132.5kg. The last two clusters are PRs.
8 max-stim BB row; 3 - 150kg, 5 - 140kg.
Lower back is fried. Will have to rest up tomorrow and warm up thoroughly for deads on Monday. I think I need to include an extra warm up on the jump from 180kg for the rack pulls. Realistically, it's still recovering from the last deads day, which had an intense lower back stretch (within proper form).
Really stoked with the bench, spotter was present but unnecessary, 140kg here I come ...
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