The Dirty One - sept 2015 post blast poncing Pg 225

Got asked today "what's happened to your gains?"

FFS sake, I'm 7kg heavier with a bit more BF


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With all the faffing about with hospital trips (wife's grandmother is still in and we're the most local family she has) I kind of forgot to really get ready for what this new block will entail. Cobbled together a good Lower day on the fly tho. Shoulder still tight and I reckon I'm feeling improvements which is a bonus

Back Squats: 8x40, 6x60, 6x80, 4x100, 120x10, 110x11, 11
BB GM: 60x15, 13, 13
Hack Squat (pause): 60x11, 10, 7
Calves (Leg Press): 165x15, 14, 12, 12, 10
Bicep Curl (Cable): #7x 12, 11, 10

All was going well but seemed to get some random right knee tweak, nothing major and nothing that stopped anything but still felt something. Anyway, got up to my expected start weight of 120 but TBH I wanted higher reps so after the 1st set I dropped down 10kg for a minuscule net volume gain of 10kg per set LOL. Feeling brave with my shoulder I opted for GMs with the BB. These went quite well, felt good nice control and decent reps. Hacks next, higher reps here and a pause for good measure. Did calves on the leg press, going with a higher set start point here and felt good. Finished with bicep curls on the cables where I think I'll spend most of my bicep work this block. All decent enough. Satisfactory start to the phase I think. Bit of mobility work and stretching PWO.

 
Right, today was a push day. Going with Legs, push, pull, lower, upper this split. Shoulder feeling almost good.

Flat BB Bench, Med Grip: 10x40, 8x60, 80 x15, 12, 9
Invert Cable Fly: #4 x14, 12, 11
Dips: BW+5kg x12, 10, 8
OH Cable w/bar: #10x20, #11 x17, 16
OH Lever Press: 40 x16, 13, 10
SLR (heavier tech): 12.5s x12, 10, 9

Went well today, little mobilising before hand then straight on. Bench was doe with a close grip, I've called it medium as it was a bit wider than a technical close grip in-between the rings and the end of the knurling. Only a poultry 80kg but with the long range and added depth of the grip variation this soon hit the mark. Next up was cable flyes, but inverted on an incline bench, these felt good. Feeling good about the shoulder I ventured in to dips next. Just an extra 5kg but controlled and focused form made things about right. Then went for OH cable work again but this time with a straight(ish) bar and worked it like an OHpress/ext, after a set that was too light I hit my stride. Decided to test the shoulder a bit more and got on the lever press, little uncomfy but not too bad, light weight with fatigued muscles and super focused tech did me fine. Then finished with some SLRs, little form change this time, stronger tech with an added trap retraction but all under control. Good session, pulling tomorrow, no idea what I'll do yet LOL. Mobility work to finish.

 
Pull day today, one or two ideas for this session to implement.


Deficit Rows (Pendlay): 8x20, 6x40, 6x60, 70x 12, 10, 8, 7
V Bar PDs: 8x#8, #12x 13, 11, 8
Cable Rear Delts (Stand): #1x 12, 10, 12
T Bar Shrugs: +50x 17, 16, 15
Inc DB Curl (45deg): 12.5x 15, 12, 10, 9
DB Spider Curl: 10x 12, 10, 12

Some mobility work to start with and felt loose enough from the get go. First little quirk was rows done with a deficit, pendlay style with a rest on the floor. Weight for rep and difficulty target was about spot on and felt good. UP next were PDs with a close grip (V handle), little tight on the shoulder when stretched but solid enough sets and reps here. Rear delts were a bit more off, definitely sent a pain over the front delt to begin with but subsided as I went on, no major weight to worry about here tho. Figured I may as well throw in some shrugs and had a whirl using the T bar set up we have as you can adjust the pivot height, was actually really good, set up works well for it. Bit of bis to finish with, dug out the seated incline curls again, good form here, then some spidey curls.

 
Tidy wee session that one. Was debating changing my bent rows to pendlay to at the next session. Do you find a lot more out of the deficit variation
 
I have such long arms I figured I'd give it a crack, felt decent enough altho the weight drop is significant (which should ease any potential elbow and forearm issues)
 
Lower day.... decisions, decisions.

FF Squat (Smith): 10x20, 7x40, 6x60, 80x9, 7, 6, 6
Single Leg Curl (Stand): #3x20, 15, 12, 11
Leg Extension: #9x15, 12, 11 breath rest
Calves (T bar): 50x12, 10, 10, 10, 10
Deadlift (Tempo): 7x120, 170x10, 8, 8

Nice little session considering I knocked it up on the fly. Started with my mobility bits and then other than this knee feeling a little achy after Monday I was moving OK for this Feet Forward Smith Squat variation, however, didn't need much weight. By the end I had found my groove and was moving OK and hopefully newbie adaptation will see me able to up this OK. Was a bit lost what to do for hams, then I remembered my single leg improv. Went very strict and nice and high reps and felt good. Then, altho I'm sure I'll regret it as I always do, I thought I'd try and find something workable on the extensions again, as expected not without the usual discomfort over the top/bottom part of my knee(cap), but higher reps, less rest and not dropping to low with the ROM wasn't too bad, just the 3 sets tho. Tried mucking about with the T bar as I did with shrugs for my calf work, had to turn around but otherwise these weren't bad. Now I had something of a dilemma as none of this had taken very long even with time figuring out what to do so seeing as it was a lower day and DLs are a lower exercise I thought why not... fatigued, with my shoes on and after a year of not doing them meant the results were not that impressive (very slight appearance of this sciatic nonsense too so shall monitor that) but some well controlled TnG tempo (almost) style reps did the job to wrap the session up. Finished with stretching and mobilising again and then off to run errands before eating.

 
The return of the Deadlift machine! Was literally thinking the other day how different your back work is now from the old days of refusing to not do deads. Your precise and perfect form always sickens me however as you make it look so smooth and easy where as I really have to think far to much to keep everything as it should be lol
 
That's cos my arms don't give me too far to move LOL Felt odd being fatigued and in my shoes but was kind of pleases I popped them in there. Not sure how driven I will be to start pushing max lifts tho
 
A time sensitive Upper Day today for what I needed to get done

A1) Supported DB Row: 10x20s, 8x30s, 35s x14, 10, 10, 9
A2) Incline BB Press (Med, 45deg): 10x40, 8x60, 70x14, 11, 11, 11
B1) Parallel PD: #11x14, 12, 11
B2) Pec Dec: #12x14, 12, 11
C1) EZ Curl: 37.5x10, 8, 7, 6
C2) X Cable Ext: #2x20, #3x10, 9, 9
D) Upright Row EZ: 27.5x11, 10, 10

Not sure I've put together an A, B style workout before but this worked quite well. Only slightly more time efficient as I wanted to rest between exercises a bit but was able to trim a bit off. Supported rows felt fairly good, PreWO mobility doing it's job there, the added bonus with jumping ti Inc Press after each set meant everything was moving well and nothing was fighting. Despite the increased ROM with the medium grip Inc press went well even with the 45deg inc. PDs and Pec Dec next, parallel grip on the PD was fine on the shoulder altho it was making some funky clunking there was no pain, bit tighter on the pec dec tho TBH. All went well enough tho and felt good. Whacked some Bicep and Tricep work in, standing EZ curls were good going a bit heavier than the last round of BB work was and worked those in with Tricep cable exts from Block 1, I do like these. Finished off with some uprights, used the EZ bar. Bit awkward 1) shoulder felt these and you could see the difference in mechanics 2) can't grip without the weights cutting up my wrist... then gripped outside the weights on the loading part and all was fixed. No time to do PWO mobility so will probably suffer now.

 
Shoulder and back had been feeling tight over the weekend but seemed to all free up in time for today.

Back Squats: 6x60, 6x80, 4x100, 115x11, 10, 10, 9
Hack Squats (pause): 65x11, 9, 8, 7
BB GM: 70x14, 12, 12, 12
Calves (Leg Press): 180x15, 12, 14, 14, 12, 13
Bicep Curl (Cable): #8x 14, 11, 10, 10

Once my mobility was done there was only some residual tightness lingering in the shoulder which soon freed up after a set or 2 of reaching behind me. Top sets all moved OK, no tweaking this week on the knee. Not easy but all had a couple of reps in the tank and felt smooth. Moved Hack squats up to #2, these felt decent, good stop at the bottom of each rep and 5kg up hitting decent reps still. Upped BB GMs by 10kg but still seemed to move OK and hit decent reps. Calve press upped by 15 just to save mucking about with the lad I was working in with, surprised myself with ow well the reps came here altho rest may have been a bit up. Grand finale on biceps, upped weight and still hit more reps.

Dietry tweaking saw me weigh in a bit over 101 today, still on 4k cals FFS

 
Whatever I do on a Monday seems to set my shoulder up OK for today, not perfect but feeling OK.

Flat BB Bench, Med Grip: 10x40, 8x60, 85 x15, 10, 8, 9
Invert Cable Fly: #5 x17, 13, 11, 11
Dips: BW+8kg x13, 11, 8, 7
OH Cable w/bar: #12x 18, 15, 13, 13
OH Lever Press: 45 x16, 11, 11, 10
SLR (heavier tech): 15s x12, 10, 9, 10

All feeling good from the start this morning. Popped an extra 5kg on the bar for my top sets and repped out nicely, with a quirky improvement on the last set. Inverted Flyes next, good pump and reps on these for a full pin up on each side. Added another 3kg to dipping weight, good control and reps in line with last week still so all good. OH cable felt half decent on the shoulder for once (only half tho), extra weight and hit reps no problem. Added 5kg to the shoulder work which moved better than expected and repped out pretty well too. Wrapped up with SLRs, bit heavier bit twingier but all good on the rep count.

 
Decent session today, all moved quite well for me.

Deficit Rows (Pendlay): 8x20, 6x40, 6x60, 75x 12, 10, 8, 7, 7
V Bar PDs: 8x#8, #13x 13, 10, 9, 8
Cable Rear Delts (Stand): #1x 12, 15, 12, 12
T Bar Shrugs: +60x 17, 15, 15, 14, 14
Inc DB Curl (45deg): 15x 14, 11, 9, 8, 8
DB Spider Curl: 10x 16, 14, 12, 11

Nice bit of volume increase this week. Deficit rows went well with the extra weight, banging out the same reps (I think I need to be more on my game on the easier week rather than not attacking the weights cos it's not too challenging). VPD reps seemed to be more shoulder friendly this morning and got good reps again with the extra weight. Rear cables stayed the same but extra reps and set did the job there. Good 10kg extra on shrugs and no problem repping that one out for more sets. Was going to be sensible on Inc Curls but ended out upping the weight, managed to keep form tight and still hit plenty of good volume then finished with Spider's keeping weight the same but hitting more reps and sets.

 
Having one of those days today... altho not without reason. Feel small and fat, mainly because I am smaller and fatter LOL and not just because of the illusion of condition compared to the summer, stats would seem to confirm it (arms are maybe an inch down on best). Not sure why. At the very least even if my training has sucked there is no way I've been doing so little that I can lose muscle, I should have maintained at the very least, I've certainly not done too much LOL.

Maybe the training impact of the the shoulder has started to reveal itself even tho the last week or 2 it has felt better and starting to function as it should more. There's certainly the case that I'm on week 14 or 15 of my cruise and in the past I have found once I've passed week 12 things start to feel more like a completed PCT and 'natural equilibrium' has set in. That all said, I honestly feel like my legs look improved, shoulders are fine (no surprise there), biceps are OK, seems to be the other push muscles that have packed up on me.

Arguably my first 3 blocks have not been ideal, first 2 definitely were off. And I also wonder if I'm not applying myself on the easier weeks hard enough, result in the work being harder than it should be ergo costing me work and volume thru lack of mental application and aggression.

Calories are currently down (still around 4k) but were probably closer to 5k during the start of the year when I was fvkcing up my blocks/mesos.

On the plus side, dodgy shoulder aside, the rest of my body is moving well

Moaning out of the way, today wasn't a bad session.

FF Squat (Smith): 10x20, 7x40, 6x60, 85x9, 7, 7, 7, 7
Leg Extension: #10x16, 15, 14, 13
Single Leg Curl (Stand): #4x18, 13, 11, 11
Deadlift: 7x120, 180x10, 8, 8, 8
Calves (T bar): 60x15, 12, 11, 10, 10, 10

All good this morning once the shoulder reach was playing ball. Upped the squat work by 5 and repped out better than last week. Last week may have been my first time squatting this was but that doesn't excuse the difference in improvement this week, but at least I put more effort in today. Moved ext in next, up a pin and these felt good, knee was much more accepting and as a result the reps came out well. Single ham curls also up a pin and apart from some calf cramping weren't a problem. Next up were DLs, upped the top set by 10 and went for resets not TnG. All of these were DOH and strapless which I wasn't expecting to get, I did succumb to a belt after the 1st coupe of sets tho. $ sets of reasonable effort, which is depressing as post maxing I was doing over 200 for more reps last year (or so) possibly not so natty. Finally some calf work, 10 up and repped out fine no cramping.

 
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