2016 Log

Max effort lower

105.8 belt is feeling a tad more forgiving but I’m wrecked from non-stop house unpacking all weekend. Should be fine by next week but today’s ME will be light for sure.

Warm ups;
5min walk


DL for max singles; 1 x1-70, 120, 170. 3 x1-220. Took a number of attempts at 240, but it just wasn’t there today with the fatigue build up. Heels touching for the 3rd single and it was by far the best one.


Buffalo LBBS/wide stance, heavy triples; 1 x3-72, 122,


BB hypers, #6 45deg; 3 x10-80. These were a bit too easy. Maybe back to 50deg, and/or add 10kg next session.
Sit-ups, plate behind head, straight legs; 3 x10-bw+15kg.
Supersetted.


Banded abs, standing; 3 x20-green band per hand.
Belt squats, oly shoes; 3 x10-125.
Supersetted.


FPDL, heels touching, cluster set, beltless; 1 x10-170.


Daily walks
1 x30min
 
Last edited:
Max effort upper

105.4


WG neutral weighted pull-ups, full ROM; 1 x10-bw. 8 x3-bw+15kg@RIR1-2. These felt really good, very happy about it.

Max bench singles, middle finger on rings; 1 x10-70. 8 x1-110. The right shoulder was a bit grumbly, and my peak strength has dropped significantly compared to rep work. A solid starting point on the road back.


Kneeling banded abs; 4 x20-green band per hand. 4 sets was enough.
Giant set.


Seal rows; 3 x10-80.
Larsen press, hand halfway between smooth and rings; 3 x10-80.
Supersetted.

I should probably move these into the 6-8 rep range next week. It’s not a massive load increment, but I’m trying to have a strength-leaning day and a volume-leaning day, as it seemed to work effectively for me last year before I overdid things. Neither shoulder loved that movement though. Possibly need to go wider, or go to a more locked in position.


Neck extensions; 2 x20-25kg.
Hanging leg raises; 2 x15-bw. Keeping the end-ROM sensible. The new sleeve positioning in the rack that I figured out last year keeps me quite stable. Nice to have 4 different ab exercises.
Supersetted.


Less total rep volume than previously but also keeping it free from loading the spine. Hoping for a recovery transfer to Thursday’s volume-lower. Happy with today.

This was also a time-tester day. Two things to note, the first being that I can improve on the primary work and shave off a bit of time overall, ballpark 10mins. The second being that between that, and taking my foot off the gas at the end when it was clear I wasn’t going to get cut short, I can add in arms and leave tomorrow/Wednesday’s strictly free from weights.


Daily walks
1 x60min
 
Last edited:
Arms day

105.7


BB curls; 1 x20-20kg. 2 x10-40kg.
Overhead extensions; 1 x20-red band per hand. 2 x20-green band.
Supersetted.

More to come next time.


Daily walks
1 x30min
 
Last edited:
Volume lower

106.3 carbs and creatine

CB squats; 1 x10-20.
CB GMs; 1 x10-20.
Sit-ups; 1 x10-bw.


DL cluster singles, heels touching; 1 x1-70, 120, 170. 15 x1-200. These went well. I forgot to change lever position on my belt the night before, so went beltless for the second half as it was just too tight with me still carrying vacation-belly fat. Micro-loading up as my max increases on Monday’s.


CB squats, oly shoes, beltless; 1 x10-70. 2 x10-100. Aiming to take these to depth with a wider stance and build the hips up a bit. The second set met the brief.


CB GMs, wide; 2 x10-100. Again aiming for hip and adductor development more so than hamstrings and lumbar, using the stance width to support the squat more than the deadlift with this exercise.
Sit-ups, plate behind head; 2 x10-bw+15kg.
Supersetted.


Belt squats, oly shoes; 2 x10-125.
Banded abs, oly shoes; 2 x20-green band per hand.
Supersetted.
Both of these are much ‘tougher’ from an effort perspective when going into them appropriately pre-fatigued. Love it. Very time efficient superset.


SG BB hypers, #6, 50deg; 3 x8-90kg. Load bump next week.
Banded abs, flats; 3 x20-green band per hand.
Supersetted.


A really great workout and I can definitely trim it by 15minutes with improved capacity and better pre-setup of equipment.



Daily activities
WG neutral pull-ups; 3 x10-bw.

Didn’t get the walks done today, very hectic schedule.
 
Last edited:
Volume upper

106.6 creatine is back in the building. I’ll need to keep my walking and activity volume up from here


BB rows, DL stance; 1 x10-70. 4 x8-125. Felt good and hit the erectors hard. Probably need to go to 130 next week.

WG bench, index on rings; 1 x10-70. 1 x8, 7 , 6-lost positioning, 4-100. Failing on the third set really stuffed me up. I may move this to a 3ct pause or buffalo variant, and make sure I’m in the 10 reps range. Not a particularly good day for bench.

Kneeling abs; 5 x20-green band per hand.
Giant set.


Seated deadlifts, box+8mats; 3 x10-180. My work capacity has some way to go yet, but the strength is starting to show signs of return.


Seal rows, gorilla grip; 3 x10-80.
Seated OHP, no support; 3 x10-40. Hopefully a 2nd hand FID bench in the future.
Supersetted.


Neck extensions; 2 x40-20kg.
Hanging leg raises; opted against due to fatigue and shoulders deserving a break.
Supersetted.


Not a great session, I was week and slow to get it done. Lots of room to improve. A noteworthy positive is that yesterday’s vertical pulling has not had an apparent impact.


Daily walks
Med-high NEAT day
 
Last edited:
GPP, arms&delts

106.3 more sleep as a priority over the next week


CG chin-ups; 4 x16-bw.
Push-ups; 4 x16-bw.
Step ups, oly shoes, box+mats, quad&knee emphasis; 4 x10-bw per side.
Giant set, circuit style.

This took 25-30min this week. A vast improvement and noticeably more work capacity/less infra-workout fatigue, despite being significantly underslept this week.


Overhead band extensions; 2 x20-red band per hand. I was intending to move up to blacks, but the tension was noticeably different each side and that felt too ‘off. Just held them tighter.

BB curls; 2 x10-42.5

Lu raises; 2x15-5kg plates. These feel a bit lighter compared to last time.
Giant set.


JM press; 2 x10-40. Triceps are my bench weakness right now. I realised late yesterday that I haven’t been bending the arms at the elbow enough. JMs or Skullcrushers, lying bb extensions - some version of this will come in.


Daily walks
1 x15min
High NEAT
 
Last edited:
Max effort lower


107.2 seems a bit high given activity level, food weight in gut maybe?


1 x10min walk
SSB squats; 1 x10-32
SSB GM; 1 x10-32


DL max singles; 1 x1-70, 120, 170, 220, 240, 240, 240. Had a semi-reasonable slack pull on the third one, so pretty happy compared to last week. Strength should continue to restore for a while yet.


SSB squat, max triple; 1 x3-82, 132. Did these in flats with a medium sort of stance. I focused on keeping my torso stable and my balance, letting my hips open up and get involved. They felt really good, hit depth without having to go YOLO bounce. Probably had either another set on the way up to a higher top set in me, or just a 5-10kg extra set but didn’t want to push things.


BB hypers, #6 50deg, full reset and top hold, heavy; 1 x5-100, 110, 120. At the start of the 3rd set I had thoughts of a 4th, but hit RIR0. Will do 120 across next week.
Sit-ups, plate behind heavy; 3 x5–bw+20kg. Add a rep or two as strength recovers and then load up some more.
Supersetted.


Belt squats, oly shoes; 3 x10-130. Staying upright, quad focus.
Banded abs; 3 x25-green band per hand. Hips up and back, really trying to get my hip flexors as engaged as possible here.
Supersetted.



Daily walks
1 x30min
 
Last edited:
Max effort upper


105.7


Weighted WG neutral pull-ups; 1 x10-bw. 1 x3-bw+10kg. 5 x3-bw+15kg. These felt great once I remembered my ‘chest up’ cue. Right shoulder impingement is a bit tweaked today but manageable.

Bench, ring finger on rings; 1 x10-70. 1 x1-100, 110, 115, 120. It was a fraction of an inch high, and didn’t pause but still happy with this after last week’s debacle on Friday. Focused on breaking at the elbows as much as the shoulders and it felt much better.
Back offs; 2 x2-110.

Kneeling banded abs; 4 x20-bw. 4 sets felt enough before junk volume territory.
Giant set.


Seal rows; 1 x5-90. 3 x5-100. Not quite clean, full ROM reps but it was simpler to distribute plates this way. Next week I’ll know to spread it differently for 95kg’s.
CG Larsen press, 2ct pause; 3 x5-90. The fifth rep of set 3 was a 5s grinder, so I left it there.
Supersetted.


DB curls; 2 x15-DB+10kgs.
JM press; 1 x12-40. Didn’t love how these felt on the shoulders, will lower the load for. More legit skullcrusher next time.
Overhead band extensions; 1 x20-red band per hand, just to balance out the elbow work.
Neck extensions; 1 x30-25kg.
Giant set.





Daily walks
1 x30min
 
Last edited:
Volume lower

105.7

5min walk


DL cluster singles; 1 x1-70, 120, 170. 15 x1-200. All hook with chalk. Grip had plenty left in the tank too. Mostly very good reps, a few slightly out of position. Load bump next week as my upper back/ slack pull breaks the weight and can throw me off.


SSB widowmaker squats, oly shoes, beltless; 1 x20-82. This wasn’t as bad as I thought. Smashed the erectors and middle traps of course. Load bump every session I hit 20 until 142.


SG BB hypers; 3 x8-100kg.
Sit-ups, plate behind head; 3 x10-bw+15kg.
Supersetted. I should have completed these at a faster clip.


Belt squats; 3 x10-130. Didn’t really nail the positioning I wanted on these today but the reps still felt challenging. I’m going to increase to sets of 12-15 across before loading further. Possibly look to doing more free weight sets on Monday’s and leave these at once per week as they can be trouble for the left knee at times.

Banded abs; 3 x20-green band per hand.
Supersetted.


Nordic negatives; 3 x10-bw. Nothing fancy, just ankles against the bar with a towel.


Daily activities
WG pull-ups; 3 x11-bw
1 x15min walk
 
Last edited:
Volume upper


106.3 beyond underslept the last two nights and struggling to tap into ny zone from the outset


BB rows; 1 x10-70. 4 x8-140. Maybe a smidge too much of a jump but I’m confident I’ll get better on form inside the next few weeks. Had the belt on for the first two work sets but it felt constricting so I took it off.
2ct pause bench, index finger on rings; 1 x10-70. 4 x8-80.
Supersetted.


Seated deadlifts; 2 x10-200.
CG Larsen bench; 2 x12-70.
Supersetted.


Seal rows, gorilla grip; 3 x11-80.
Seated OHP; 3 x7-50. Balance component is real until I get my FID bench.
Supersetted.

Cut short.


Neck extensions;
Kneeling banded abs;
Supersetted.


I dragged my feet a bit today being so exhausted. Just one of those things. Realistically I should be able to get an extra set of everything plus the final accessories within the same time window.

I probably need to check my ego and go back to a lighter BB row for higher rep count, as I didn’t get the isometric work on the spine that I wanted.

Bench felt good, CG still meh though.


Daily walks
1 x30min
 
Last edited:
GPP


106.8 ate up yesterday a bit so not too bothered, though it’s upper range for the moment as I’ve still plenty of fat to shed around the mid-section. Right shoulder/clavicle feels shit from poor sleeping position.


Push-ups; 4 x16-bw. Work capacity is definitely building here

Pull-ups —> CG chin-ups; 4 x16-bw. 2 sets of each. I liked the pull-ups more today, had trouble properly feeling my lats with the clavicle discomfort.

Step-ups, oly shoes, quad emphasis, box+full mats; 4 x10-bw. Controlling the eccentric tempo. I’m going to try these using the rack struts for balance supper so I can go full depth with knees over toes on one leg while maintaining balance.
Giant set.


Skullcrushers, buffalo bar; 1 x10-22kg. 1 x15-27kg.
Axle bar reverse curls; 2 x15-30kg.
Lu raises; 2 x10-DBs+5kg on one end.
Giant set.


I’m tempted to ditch the seated deadlifts on Friday’s for more rows, and generally deee up some time. I’m not sure I’m getting what I want from them right now, form isn’t quite there. I’m fairly confident that I can get the same stimulus from T-Bar, and/or do one-arm landmine to hit the middle back the same.


Daily walks
2 x15min
 
Last edited:
Max effort lower


107.0 feeling generally fairly tired from a busy fatigue and also heavy in the gut. I really have to get back into better habits of walking more every day and bringing the waist down an inch. Otherwise doing well.


10min walk


DL to max; 1 x5-70. 1 x1-120, 170, 220, 250. Took a LOT of attempts at this and eventually hit it with a toes out, leverages slack pull, probably 5kg more if it was life or death. That stance has historically aggravated by worn’n’torn right hip, so I will need to figure out how to strengthen that area up. Rounded FTW.
Back offs@75%; 2 x4-180. Thursday’s as slack pull practice days once again, it seems.


Buffalo squat to max; 1 x5-72. 1 x1-122, 152. This was @9.5, but I was very happy with it considering how little squatting I’ve done the past 5-6months after hitting 180 way back last year. Time to build upon it.
Back offs@80%; 2 x3-122.


BB hypers, 50 deg. #6, heavy; 3 x4-120kg.
Sit-ups, plate behind head; 3 x6-bw+20kg.
Supersetted.


Barbell rows; 2 x5-140.


Heaps of efficiency savings to be had, probably the ballpark of 20-25minutes, mainly from trying to 250kg pull for so long.

Nonetheless, I really enjoyed this setup and will keep it, with the goal of +1 back off set for DL and SQ, and potentially an extra set on the hyper-sit-up combo.

I’m going back to 4 days of workouts a week to improve recovery and just getting more done per session. I want my sleep back, basically. Will improve cardio/walking from there, and do upper back work every session.


Daily walks
2 x15min
 
Last edited:
Max effort upper


106.0


Max bench, index finger on rings; 1 x10-60. 1 x3-100. 1 x1-120. A better and cleaner rep than last week. Happy with that. Left it there, bump my attempt next week to 125.
Back offs; 3 x3-110. +2.5kg load bump next week, happy with these.

WG neutral weighted pull-ups; 1 x10-bw. 5 x4-bw+15kg. Back up to 20kg next week.

Banded abs; 3 x20-green band per hand. Couldn’t quite find my groove on these and stopped after three sets rather than risk jerking my hips and lower back about for no purpose.
Giant set.


Seal rows; 3 x5-100. Better than last week but I still may need to drop back to 95.
CG bench press, hands to smooth; 3 x3-100. Technique was ‘ok’, but my strength is sorely missing with the arms so close together. Still, I need to get better and it feels more valuable to push strength on the variations for this session than to aim for RIR2 style volume. Open shoulder blades rather than locked felt fantastic.
Supersetted.


Upright rows, index finger on knurl; 2 x12-60.
Neck extensions; 1 x40, 30-25kg.
CG neutral weighted chin-ups; 2 x10-bw+10kg.
Overhead band extensions; 2 x25-tight red band per hand.
Giant set. I’ll try and get three of these in next week. Everything felt good at the time.


Found out my plates aren’t well suited for heavier DB curls, for now at least, so it’ll be heavy with BB and light with DB next time.

Daily walks
1 x30min
 
Last edited:
Volume lower


106.9 gut feeling too full overnight

5min walk


DL, clustered volume singles; 1 x5-70, 120. 2 x3-170. 20 x1-200. Widened the stance up to give the hips a break. Trying to find where I am most explosive. Tried a lot of different things. || stance and pulling my knees over the bar felt like it has something special to it if I can just nail the consistency in my technique. My hip feels a LOT better doing these than my cheater-V stance.


Widowmaker SSB SQ, only shoes beltless; 1 x20-84.5. The cramping started later in the set this week, which is encouraging. These aren’t fun but they will become very effective. Lots of repetitions for maintaining balance as well.


SSB GM, beltless; 2 x10-102.
Sit-ups, plate behind head; 2 x15-bw+15kg.
Supersetted.


Belt squats, oly shoes; 2 x15-125. Working on making these hands free and fully balanced. It hits the abductors differently for sure that way.


SG Bent over rows; 3 x8-100. Fairly parallel (for me), using this for torso strength as much as upper back. Aim to hit 12 reps on these and then 2.5kg increments.


Nordic curl negatives; 3 x10-bw. Feeling better after the first week, hopefully that’s a positive sign.



Absolutely crushed this session. I’ll give || a go on Monday too. When I nail it, the bar basically floats. It’s just that much gentler on hip musculature and even my shit left knee.

Ideally three sets of GMs, sit-ups and belt squats next time. My work capacity is almost back to pre-vacation.


Daily walks
1 x10min stair walk

Heat wave at present is restricting outdoor access times
 
Last edited:
Volume upper


106.1


2ct paused bench, index on rings; 1 x10-70. 4 x10-80.

WG neutral pull-ups, full ROM; 5 x12-bw.

Standing cable abs; 1 x20-20kg. 2 x20-30kg. Couldn’t get these to work quite right. It was too much like falling forward without actual muscular engagement.
Giant set.


Seal rows; 3 x12-80.
CG Larsen, no arch; 3 x12-70.
Supersetted.


Shrugs; 3 x12-170. Didn’t love the axial loading, so I will add seated deadlifts back in but on lower days. The weight is already setup for them as it is.

CG chin-ups; 2 x15-bw.
Skullcrushers; 2 x12-32.
Lu raises; 2 x12-DB+5kg per hand.
Giant set.


Neck extensions; 2 x40-25kg.


Daily walks
Nil due to heat


End of day
WG pull-ups; 6x5-bw, 10s rests.
 
Last edited:
Back
Top