Return of the King

BossArky

Friday Nov 17th: Bench Day 6 of 12 - Dubai (@home)

Bench (paused)
100kg - 6x5

Barbell Row
60kg - 3x8

Chin Up (parallel grip)
bodyweight x13, x6, x5
---
Arnold Press (DB, standing)
6kg per arm - 3x6

DB Curl
6kg per arm - 3x6
---

Bench felt good today. Did the Bench as the 2nd exercise in the superset with either Barbell Rows or Chins. Warming up the back this way makes the bench feel lighter.

Kept the Barbell Rows light today, but higher reps to pump up the lats. Doing them slightly differently. Instead of having a second barbell waiting for me in front of the Bench I now just use the one bar on the bench and then stand on the spotter platform to row the weight. Saves a bit of time and space.

Kinda maxed out on the chins ups first set for no particular reason. Back was feeling warmed up and early reps felt good so kept going and got 13. Finished off sets 2 & 3 with 6 & 5 reps respectively to make the total reps on chins equal to the barbell rows (i.e. 24).

Trying out a new podcast app (Overcast) because the recent Apple IOS has screwed up the iphone native podcast app into a horrendous shambles. Going well so far.

BossArky

Saturday Nov 18th: Deadlift day 5 of 7 - Dubai (@home)

Deadlift (conventional)
70kg - 1x5 ... double overhand
120kg - 1x3
150kg - 1x1 ... mixed grip
165kg - 1x6 ... PR for a set of 6 (by 5kg over last cycle)
90kg - x3, x3f, x2f ... fat gripz

Barbell Press (behind the neck)
40kg - 3x8
---
Ab Wheel (knees)
3x6
---

Weather is lovely here in the Middle East. The unbearable summer is over and we are nearing Winter which is a nice 30 degrees or so. Thus I trained without aircon and with the window open. Was sweating like a pig at the end of it. Looked like I'd just hopped out of the shower. Caused the bar to slip a bit more on the fat grip Deadlifts. May have gotten a couple more reps if the water was literarlly streaming down my arms across palms.

Deadlifts were fine. 165kg x6 for an alright PR by 5kg over last cycle.

Heading to Kuwait in the next hour or so - so gotta rush to pack up and get to airport.

BossArky

Monday November 20th: Squat Day 7 of 12 - Dubai (@home)

Squat (flats)
135kg - 3x5

Ab Roll Out (Ab Wheel, knees)
3x6
---

Another gymception

BossArky

Tuesday Nov 21st: Bench Day 7 of 12 - Dubai (@home)

Bench (paused)
105kg - 6x4

Chin Ups (parallel grip)
bodyweight - 6x4

Band Pull Aparts & Face Pulls
6x on each~10
---
DB Curl
6kg per arm - 3x8

Arnold Press (DBs, standing)
6kg per arm - 3x8
---

The 6 bench worksets plus chins & band stuff complete in 29 mins.

BossArky

Friday Dec 1st: messing about @home (Dubai)

Close Grip Bench
20kg - 2x (10 feet up, 10 standing Military Press, 10 feet up)

Flat Back Feet Up Bench
60kg - 5x10

DB Curls
6kg per arm - 3x15
---
T-Bar Row
20kg - 1x10
40kg - 1x10
50kg - 1x10
60kg - 2x10
---
Barbell Row
40kg - 3x10

Chin Up
3x3
---
Rev Fly & Pec Stretch
1kg per arm - 3x10
---

Took a drop of the hat flight back to Ireland over a week ago. Spent the week doing zero exercise as didn't bring any gym or swimming stuff. Instead finished off the 14th and final book in the Wheel of Time series. Was awesome. Incredible ending - having spend 14 months on and off amongst other non fiction reading getting through the series. Heart thumping reading the final few hundred pages. The time and energy invested in reading the series paid off. Never got that kinda buy-in to a book/series before where was so emotionally into it. Tears in the eyes and heart racing!

Today was just getting moving again as I'm home in Dubai.

BossArky

Saturday Dec 2nd: messing about @ home (Dubai)

Squat
80kg - 3x10 ... flats
60kg - 2x10 ... heels

Ab Wheel (knees)
3x8

RDL
40kg - 2x10
---

Getting back into Squats. First 3 sets in flats as normal and then the final 2 in heels for variety.

Abs and RDLs as assistance whilst listening to various podcasts via the new Overcast podcast app on double speed to power through my backlog.

Everything done in ~35 mins.

BossArky

Monday Dec 4th: messing about @home (Dubai)

Close Grip Bench
20kg - 2x (10 feet up, 10 standing Military Press, 10 feet up)

Flat Back Feet Up Bench
65kg - 5x10

Barbell Row
65kg - 3x10

Chin Up
bodyweight +5kg - 3x3
---
Barbell Curl
30kg - 3x10
---
Rev Fly & Pec Stretch
2.5kg per arm - 3x12
---

Added 5kg to the feet up flat back Bench.

2.5kg per arm on the lying pec stretch is probably the correct weight to stretch through the tightness (vs 1 or 2kg I was using previously).

The rest was some good pump.

Still swimming once or twice a day since back in Dubai to work off the bit of fat from a week of over eating/under exercising in Ireland.

BossArky

Tuesday Dec 5th: messing about @ home (Dubai)

Squat
90kg - 3x10 ... flats
60kg - 2x10 ... heels

Ab Wheel (knees)
5x8 ... actually 10 on last set but hey
---

Quads and abs were destroyed from Saturday. So, why not repeat something similar just 10kg heavier on the 3x10 Squats in flats?

The 2x10 drop sets in heels feel nice to hit the legs from different stance/angles. Went a bit wider with the heels too. Hips are really tight so just trying to mobilize/stretch them out a bit with some weight ... without ripping them outta their sockets.

BossArky

Wednesday Dec 6th: Deadlift messing - Dubai (@home)

Deadlift (conventional)
60kg - 1x5 ... double overhand
100kg - 3x10

Military Press
30kg - 3x10
---

Just a quick pump and first Deadlifts in a few weeks.

Legs and abs in bits from Squats the day beforehand. Fun to mix up the order of the days to keep things fresh. Usually I'd always structure the sequence of days as: Squat, Bench, off, Squat, Bench, Dead, off.... so I'd be slightly recovered for Deads.

This time I'm doing Bench first in the sequence and then following the Squat day with Deads for the laugh.

BossArky

Friday Dec 8th: messing about @home (Dubai)

Flat Back Feet Up Bench
70kg - 5x10

Barbell Row
70kg - 3x10 ... medium grip

Chin Up
bodyweight +10kg - 3x3
---
Lat Raise & Pec Stretch
0.5kg per arm - 3x15
---

Just a heap of reps.

BossArky

Saturday Dec 9th: messing about @ home (Dubai)

Squat
100kg - 3x10 ... flats & belt
60kg - 2x10 ... heels

Ab Wheel (knees)
5x8 ... with 12 on the last set
---

Added belt.

Reps reps reps.

BossArky

Monday Dec 11th: messing about @home (Dubai)

Flat Back Feet Up Bench
75kg - 5x10

Barbell Row
75kg - 3x10 ... ring finger on ring (i.e. bench width grip)

Chin Up
bodyweight +15kg - 3x3
---
One Arm Overhead DB Tricep Ext
8kg per arm - 3x10

Barbell Curl
20kg - 3x10
---

Also went swimming in morning and again evening.

BossArky

Tuesday Dec 12th: messing about @ home (Dubai)

Squat
110kg - 3x10 ... flats & belt
60kg - 2x10 ... heels

Ab Wheel (knees)
5x8 ... with 12 on the last set
--

Added 10kg to Squat worksets. Done and dusted in about 39 mins.

BossArky

Wednesday Dec 13th: Deadlift messing - Dubai (@home)

Deadlift (conventional, beltless)
60kg - 1x5 ... double overhand
120kg - 3x10 ... double overhand for first 5 reps of each set then finished mixed

Standing Arnold DB Press
10kg per arm - 3x10
---

Bought 40kg of DB weight plates (8 plates x5kg) with the thought of making heavier adjustable DBs utilising my existing handles. Even took one of my old plates to the shop to make sure the hole was the correct diameter. Got the weights home and discovered the hole in the new plates are too small to fit onto the handles (in the shop I tried old plate on one of the bars there that the new weights were on). So, now have to go off and get two slightly smaller diameter handles. Incorrectly assumed that all non-oly micky mouse smaller plates are the same hole diameter.

BossArky

Friday Dec 15th: messing about @home (Dubai)

Flat Back Feet Up Bench
80kg - 4x10

Barbell Row
80kg - 4x10
---
DB Curl
6kg per arm - 3x10

Standing Arnold Press
6kg per arm - 3x10
---
Lat Raise, RevFly & Pec Stretch
2.5kg per arm - 3x~10 (first 5 rev fly, second 5 lat raise)
---

Bench & assistance.

BossArky

Saturday Dec 16th: messing about @ home (Dubai)

Squat
120kg - 2x10 ... flats & belt
60kg - 2x10 ... heels

Ab Wheel (knees)
4x8
---

Reduced worksets from 3 to 2 as weight is increasing. Good quad pump from these.

BossArky

Monday Dec 18th: messing about @home (Dubai)

Barbell Row
85kg - 4x10 ... ring finger on ring (i.e. bench width grip)

Flat Back Feet Up Bench
85kg - 4x10
---
Standing Arnold Press
12kg per arm - 3x10

DB Curl
12kg - 3x10
---
RevFly & Pec Stretch
2.5kg per arm - 3x10
---

Added 5kg to bench worksets.

Managed to find some dumbbell handles that fit my new plates too so used those on the DB Curl and Arnold Press assistance.

BossArky

Wednesday Dec 20th: messing about @ home (Dubai)

Squat
130kg - 1x10 ... PR... flats & belt
60kg - 2x10 ... heels

Ab Wheel (knees)
3x8 ... with 15 on the last set
---
DB Swings (as don't have kettle bell)
12kg - 3x10
---

Took belt in to notch 5 (from 6). Have burnt off much of the excess from the bulk a couple of months ago. Strength was good and hit a 10 rep Squat PR on 130kg. Finished off with some dropsets, abs and swings.

BossArky

Friday Dec 22nd: messing about @home (Dubai)

Barbell Row
90kg - 3x5 ... ring finger on ring (i.e. bench width grip)

Flat Back Feet Up Bench
90kg - 3x5
---
DB Bench
12kg per arm - 1x10
22kg per arm - 1x10
26kg per arm - 1x10
---
Chin Ups
bodyweight - 3x8
---
RevFly & Pec Stretch
2.5kg per arm - 3x10
---

Was planning to attempt 3x10 on the 90kg feet up/flat back bench but felt heavy so cut it to 3x5. Must have peaked with 85kg 3x10 the other day.

Utilized my new DB handles to do some flat DB Bench pressing for sets of 10 on increasing weight. Good.

BossArky

Sunday Dec 24th: messing about @ home (Dubai)

Squat
60kg - 2x5 ... flats

Front Squat
40kg - 2x5

Ab Wheel (knees)
4x5
---

Some deload Squat.

BossArky

Tuesday Dec 26th: messing about @home (Dubai)

Barbell Row
60kg - 2x5 ... ring finger on ring (i.e. bench width grip)
60kg - 2x10

Flat Back Feet Up Bench
60kg - 2x5
60kg - 2x10
---
DB Press (standing)
22 or 26kg per arm - 3x8
---
RevFly & Pec Stretch
2.5kg per arm - 3x10
---

Just moving some weights on a deload.

BossArky

Wednesday Dec 27th: messing about @ home (Dubai)

Squat
85kg - 3x6 ... flats

Ab Wheel (knees)
3x6
---

... xmas light weight

BossArky

Thursday Dec 28th: Deadlift messing - Dubai (@home)

Big Block Deadlift (conventional, beltless, off a red bumper)
100kg - 3x6 ... double overhand

SLDL (beltless, off a red bumper)
60kg - 2x10
---
Lat Raise
1 or 2.5kg per arm - 3x10-12
---

First time doing "big block Deadlift" (lol) in years. Like a deficit (standing on red bumper) but don't let it touch ground at the bottom. Taxes grip and is supposed to aid lock-out. A bit of variety.

Have been pfaffing around with a lot of light weight, high rep, unstructured training for the past few weeks. Will start a structured new program in the coming days to coinciden with the new year. Doing a bit of research on Sheiko and probably gonna give that a whirl.

Went to a tailor earlier in the week to get fitted out for the coming year with 2 new suits and 5 new shirts. Need to make sure I eat up in the coming days because I have the first fitting on Tuesday where they see what it looks like on me. Don't wanna have lost too much bulk, because then the suits/shirts will be too tight when training ramps up and the gains are raining down. Need to avoid the scenario where they tweak the suit to my svelte frame only to have huge ass bust the pants out of the suit in the coming weeks. This happened last year as I came out of a stressful period of work and then had a great run of training immediately after getting measured.

Have been doing a good bit of low intensity cardio in the past month: walking and swimming twice a day.

Had a nice relaxing holiday period and now looking forward to some hard training and progress in the coming new year.

BossArky

Saturday Dec 30th: Sheiko - template 37 - Week 1 Day 1 @home (Dubai)

Bench - part 1 (paused)
20kg - 1x5
63kg - 1x5
75kg - 1x4
88kg - 1x3 ... every set up to here was superset with Barbell Row same weight
94kg - 5x3 ... Bench worksets part 1

Face Pull (band)
5x10
---
Squat
20kg - 1x5
60kg - 1x5
85kg - 1x5
102kg - 1x5
119kg - 5x5 ... Squat worksets
---
Bench - part 2 (paused)
63kg - 1x6
75kg - 1x6
81kg - 4x6 ... Bench worksets part 2

Band Pull Apart
4x10
---
DB Pec Fly
4kg per arm - 4x6 ... aim = stretch pecs

Good Morning
40kg - 5x5 ... aim = stretch hamstrings
---

Kicked off Sheiko today. Utilizing the over 80kg universal template based off maxes of Squat 170kg, Bench 125kg and Deadlift 200kg. The universal template is made up of three 4 week blocks: templates 37, 31 & 32. These equate to prep1, prep2 and comp prep respectively. According to Sheiko those over 80kg cannot tolerate as much volume as those under 80kg and thus there is a difference in the templates.

Have done some research on the various templates combinations in the past couple of days and this (37, 31 & 32) is one of a number of different options (the others being: 29, 30, 31, 32.... or 37, 30, 32).

Apparently 29 is more of a Deadlift specialization template itself going harder on that lift whilst Bench and Squat take a backseat. The one that I kicked off with today (37) is more of an all around volume template before getting onto more intensity in 31 and then peaking for a skills test in 32.

Weighed in at ~83.5kg this morning after breakfast. Was just over 84kg last night going to bed.

The training itself was quite fun. First time I've ever done a lift twice in one session (e.g. Bench, Squat, then Bench again). From what I've read the secret with Sheiko is that you are never killing yourself with super heavy weight - instead there is just a lot of volume. About half way through todays session I felt like I was running out of glycogen. Did a lot of walking and swimming the past few days and wasn't totally fueled enough for what turned into about 1 hr 45 mins session. Noted for next time. Eat more before.

Looking forward to this journey. From what I've read this should take 10 weeks (2x4 weeks with templates 37 and 31... and then do the first two weeks of the peaking template 32 before resetting with new max). If you had an actual comp you would continue the full 4 weeks of template 32 which gives you two deload weeks of low vol/high intensity on the way into comp.

Let's see.

Alf Veedersane

Does it stray beyond ~80%?

BossArky

Alf Veedersane wrote: »

Does it stray beyond ~80%?

Breakdown of lifts over 80% of initial 1RM per template is as follows:
#37 = 20.9%
#31 = 32.4%
#32 = 27.9%

BossArky

Monday Jan 1st: Sheiko - template 37 - Week 1 Day 2 @home (Dubai)

Deadlift - part 1
60kg - 1x5
100kg - 1x3
120kg - 1x3
140kg - 1x3
150kg - 4x3 ... Deadlift worksets part 1
---
Incline Bench (25 degree angle)
20kg - 1x5
50kg - 1x3
60kg - 1x3
70kg - 4x3 ... Bench worksets
---
Deadlift - part 2, off blocks (1 red bumper)
70kg - 1x5
120kg - 1x3
140kg - 1x3
160kg - 4x3 ... Deadlift worksets part 2
---
Barbell Lunges
20kg - 5x8 alternating legs each rep

Ab Wheel Rollout (knees)
3x8
---

First part of Deadlifts fine. A bit sore from the last day but wasn't too bad.

Based the incline bench % off an assumed incline1RM of 100kg (vs flat 125kg) so the calculations of 50%, 60% and 70% were nice and easy. Template requested an incline angle of 30 degrees.... however my stack of bumpers (4 reds, 4 blues & 2 yellows) under the head of the ER bench only brought it to 25 degrees as measured on the iphone spirit level app so had to make do with that angle. Haven't done incline for ages (at least a year?) so felt good for variety.

Second part of Deadlifts was where things slowed down a bit. Getting used to block deadlifts. Feel them more in my hamstrings that the usual ones.

Did the Barbell Lunges stepping out each rep vs my usual stance of being feet planted for the full set. These plus the Abs were done in about 5 mins so nice bit of cardio conditioning to end the session.

Total training took ~2 hours.

Ate an orange and then walked a couple of km & went to do some light swimming afterwards before dinner. Was pretty knackered but very calm from the training. So sore as I type this the next day.

BossArky

Wednesday Jan 3rd: Sheiko - template 37 - Week 1 Day 3 @home (Dubai)

Bench (paused)
20kg - 1x5
63kg - 1x7
69kg - 1x6
75kg - 1x5 ... every set up to here was superset with Barbell Row same weight
81kg - 1x4
88kg - 2x3
94kg - 2x2 ... Bench worksets part 1
88kg - 2x3
81kg - 1x4
75kg - 1x6
69kg - 1x8
63kg - 1x10

Face Pull (band)
3x10

Pull Apart (band)
3x10
---
Squat
20kg - 1x5
60kg - 1x5
85kg - 1x5
102kg - 1x4
119kg - 1x3
128kg - 5x3 ... Squat worksets
---
French Press (standing, barbell)
20kg - 5x8

Barbell Row
60kg - 5x8
---
Seated Good Morning
5x5 with ascending weights from 20kg to 40kg to get used to the movement
---

Bench was pretty handy.

Note to self: Need to warm up & mobilize for Squats rather than jumping straight into them after Bench. Should do these warm ups during the bench worksets.

French Press - getting used to this movement. Cannot say I felt it too much in my triceps which is the goal of this in the program. Held the bar on the smooth. Will add more weight once the movement pattern is more ingrained.

The program recommends "Lats" assistance so did some light barbell rows on 60kg 5x8. Had already supsetted a few heavier sets earlier in the session with Bench.

Seated Good Morning is another new exercise to be. Did some googling beforehand and found that it is recommended to this this with feet slightly ahead of knees (so you have some leverage if about to faceplant). Worked up from 20kg to 40kg through the 5x5. Found that a narrow foot position feels kinda unnatural. Opening out the knees whilst bending forward gave more of a stretch in the hamstrings. Cannot say I felt it too much in the glutes/erectors/rhomboids.

Took 2 hours for all of the above, the bulk of which was the Bench and Squat. The last 3 (French Press, Barbell Rows, Seated Good Mornings) were done in about 15 mins.

Week 1 down. Enjoying it so far. Went walking and swimming again after. Clocked up 9,000+ steps through the course of the day. Getting leaner which is a nice side effect. This time I'm not gonna over do the full fat milk - just limiting myself to one glass per training day (instead of the 3 litres per training session a couple of months ago).

edit - for Sheiko I'm not looking too far ahead in the program - just taking one day at a time by looking at the next days session the day before so I can google any exercises I'm not familiar with. Last night I had a dream that I checked the program for next day and it had be doing Deadlifts tomorrow for 2x2 at 2.5kg over my 1RM. Woke up anxious as the DOMS was probably telling my sleepy self that this could be a problem in a fatigued state.

BossArky

Saturday Jan 6th: Sheiko - template 37 - Week 2 Day 1 @home (Dubai)

Squat (part 1)
20kg - 1x5
60kg - 1x5
85kg - 1x5
102kg - 1x4
119kg - 1x3
136kg - 4x2 ... Squat worksets part 1
---
Bench (paused)
20kg - 1x5
63kg - 1x5
75kg - 1x4 ... up to here superset with Barbell rows same weight
88kg - 1x3
100kg - 2x2 ... Bench worksets

Band Pull Apart
for last 5 sets x10
---
Squat (part 2)
94kg - 1x3
111kg - 1x3
128kg - 1x3 ... Squat worksets part 2
---
Good Morning
40kg - 5x5 ... aim = stretch hamstrings

Weighted Push Up (feet on bench, 5kg on back)
4x8

DB Pec Fly
6kg per arm - 5x8 ... aim = stretch pecs
---

Took about 2 hours. Squat felt strong and refreshed. Kept tweaking lower left rib on belt.

BossArky

Tuesday Jan 9th: Sheiko - template 37 - Week 2 Day 2 @home (Dubai)

Deadlift - part 1 (paused at knees for 1 sec before locking out)
60kg - 1x5
100kg - 1x3
120kg - 1x3
140kg - 4x3 ... Deadlift worksets part 1
---
Bench (paused)
20kg - 1x5
60kg - 1x5
69kg - 1x5
81kg - 1x4
94kg - 4x3 ... Bench worksets

Face Pulls (band)
~5x10

Pull Apart (band)
~5x10
---
Deadlift - part 2 (conventional)
100kg - 1x3
120kg - 1x3
140kg - 1x3
150kg - 4x3 ... Deadlift worksets part 2
---
Barbell Lunges
20kg - 4x6 alternating legs each rep

Ab Wheel Rollout (knees)
4x6
---

Getting it done. Calorific intake has been down recently and I've lost some weight. That is why my rib was probably getting some additional pressure in Squats the other day. Hence drank 3 litres of milk during the above to avoid wasting away.

That may be the first time I've done paused Deadlifts. Didn't feel as bad as expected. I can see how they could potentially help - having to get the bar going from a weird position half way through the rep.