Return of the King

BossArky

Tuesday March 8th:

Bench
20kg – 1x5
60kg – 1x5
80kg – 1x3
90kg – 6x4

Barbell Row
60kg – 3x8

Deadlift (conventional, double overhand, beltless)
60kg – 1x5
80kg – 1x3
100kg – 3x5
---

Bench felt a bit heavy thanks to high rep Military Press frying my triceps the day before.

Deadlifting Conventional felt fine, apart from when I hit my right knee cap on the way up on the first rep. Hate that moveable kneecap feeling.

Didn’t have time to do my run which I’ll have to do later.

BossArky

Thursday March 10th: Squat

Squat
20kg – 1x5
40kg – 1x5
50kg – 3x5

Military Press (grip narrow than usual just on edge of smooth)
40kg – 3x5
---

Bit of a nothing session done in 10 mins flat. Will Deadlift heavier tomorrow, hence wanted to have a light one tonight. Feeling a bit ill/listless since Monday.

Got Dexa scan #3 coming up on Saturday which is exciting. Hoping to have dropped another couple of body fat %. Unfortunately training this week has been a bit lack-luster due to work and other activities outside the gym.

BossArky

Saturday March 12th: Dexa scan #3

Had my third Dexa bodyfat scan today and the results were shocking compared to 8 weeks ago.

In 8 weeks I managed to put on 0.829kg of fat and lose 1.48kg of muscle. Read that again and try to comprehend those figures. Ludicrous! Long distance running / steady state cardio of ~30 mins or so can f**k off!

You may recall that between Dexa scan #1 (in Nov) and #2 (in Jan) I managed to put on 0.777kg of muscle in the same time period (8 weeks) whilst loosing 2kg of fat. This time around (Jan - March) I've lost ~double the amount of muscle than I put on between Nov-Jan due to the increased running. My diet was even cleaner between Jan-March that it was between Nov-Jan (xmas time). I'm truely gobsmacked at the damage the running has done to my physique as shown by these results.

I've booked in the 4th Dexa scan for 8 weeks time on May 7th. I'm going to hit 60kg of lean muscle mass if it kills me. Worrying about bodyfat is on the back burner for the next 8 weeks. I need to put on some muscle. The past weeks I had mentioned to wifey that I felt I was wasting away (not realizing how badly I truely was wasting away as show by the scan).

On the morning of the scan I was 80.1kg on home scales. The Dexa centre scales below gave a slightly lower bodyweight as I had pee'd out a lot of fluid by the time the test came around a couple of hours later.

Dexa Scan #3 (compared to Dexa Scan #2 8 weights ago)
- Bodyweight 79.9kg
- Skeleton: 3.185kg (Up 83g in total, 54g in trunk, 16g in legs ... whilst down 2g in arms)
- Bodyfat: 19.458kg @ 24.2% (up from 18.629kg @ 23%)
- Lean Mass (muscle & organs): 57.776kg (down from 59.256kg)

Trunk muscle: 26.657kg to 24.800kg for 1.857kg muscle loss :eek:
Trunk fat: 9.247kg to 9.556kg for 0.309kg fat gain

Leg muscle: 20.435kg to 20.406kg for 0.029kg muscle loss
Leg fat: 7.597kg to 7.869kg for 0.272kg fat gain

Arm muscle: 7.688kg to 7.853kg for 0.165kg muscle gain
Arm fat: 1.154kg to 1.299kg for 0.145kg fat gain

What does all this mean?

- I lost a heap of muscle on my trunk (abz, back, chest, shoulders).

- I put on bodyfat everywhere - in particular on my trunk

- Cardio has eaten away my muscle mass. Checking back through my log I was just entering week 7 of the couch to 5km run plan around the time this 8 week perod begain. This was where I was up to running around 5km twice a week.... and getting into significantly more running volume than the preceeding 8 weeks from Nov-Jan.

- The only place I put muscle on was on my arms. I don't attribute this in particular to doing curls, although I did try to remember to curl at least once a week. I do however think this increased arm muscle mass may be down to starting to Deadlift again and thus building up the forearms. This however doesn't match up with the fact that I lost so much muscle mass on my trunk. I would have expected my trunk muscle to have increased with Deadlifting... combined with the fact that I did a heap of Shoulder Press (heavy, twice a week) during this 8 week period. Also, it is not as if I stopped Benching or Rowing. Both of those, plus Shoulder Press, were done twice per week. The only thing I dropped in the past 8 weeks was Slingshot bench assistance.

- My broscientific explanation for the drastic trunk muscle loss is that I was running 30mins after weights on each upperbody day twice a week. Perhaps the fact that the upper body muscles were starved of nutrients/glyocgen at the end of heavy pressing / rowing... meant that the running ate into those muscle more so that the legs? (e.g. check the results of my leg muscle mass which only decreased a tiny fraction vs the trunk muscle mass: 0.029kg muscle loss on legs VS. 1.857kg muscle loss on trunk)

I may have been too complacent this time around given that it got excellent results between scans 1 and 2. This time the results are the exact opposite. I'm going to ditch the cardio and focus on building muscle in the next 8 weeks. Target is to hit 60kg of lean muscle mass (which was actually my target this time around also). NOw I'm starting a bit further away from that target.

Slightly infuriated, but lesson learnt regarding cardio.

One other point - I was obviously eating more than enough calories given that I actually gained fat. This time around I'm going to concentrate on diet and meal prep for the weeks. I don't have a particularly dirty diet - just too much bread/cheese/ham at times where I need a quick fix. In two minds as to whether I'll stick with the usual full fat milk or switch to skim. I'd prefer the calories in full fat for the sake of recovery since I'm going to be upping the weight intensity in the next 8 weeks.

Closing comment - the little old lady who was running the Dexa scan was scolding me for my crappy results. She told me to stop lifting "wussy" weights and to go heavier. Lol.

BossArky

Saturday March 12th: Bench

Bench (all paused, stop watch timer giving me two minutes between each bench/row superset e.g. 00:00 Bench set1, 02:00 Row set1, 04:00 Bench set2, 06:00 Row set2, etc...)
20kg - 1x5
60kg - 1x5
80kg - 1x3
95kg - 6x3 ... heavy enough but got through it. About a 9RPE by the end

Barbell Row
70kg - 6x5
---
Military Press (a rep every 15 seconds for 10 minutes = 40 reps total)
50kg - 10 reps
*stopped the timer for about a minute to deload*
45kg - 10 reps
*stopped the timer for about a minute to deload*
40kg - 20 reps
---
Pull Ups (a rep every 15 seconds for 10 minutes = 40 reps total)
bodyweight - 40 reps
---
Barbell Curl (a rep every 15 seconds for 10 minutes = 40 reps total)
40kg - 40 reps
---

So, given the shambolic Dexa results in scan #3 I'm mixing things up.

Installed a proper timer app on my iphone (app store title = "self timer"), which beats the crap out of the standard iphone one. You can set it up for multiple rounds, intervals, sounds, etc and it plays in the background whilst you are listening to podcasts... just beeping in your ear so you can operate it hands free.

Set the timing interval to 2 minutes for each of the sets of Bench/Row. That seemed slightly long... but I wanted to keep it on the safe side given that I knew I'd lost a lot of upper body muscle and wasn't sure how hard this session would be. Was probably standing around ready about 15 seconds in advance of the beep going off in my ear to signal the next set.

For the Military Press / Pull Ups / Curls I decided to drastically up the volume and pummel my body into growing some new muscle. Usually I'd doing some stock standard 3x10 or something for Military Press or Curls which equates to 30 reps total volume. I thought I'd increase that my 33% by aiming for 40 reps... but only doing 1 rep every 15 seconds to trick body into thinking this was easy.

Jesus - the Military Press and Pull Ups were intense with a rep every 15 seconds! Bit off more than I could chew with 50kg Military Press. Had to stop the clock after 10 reps and deload by 5kg. Managed another 10 reps before deloading 5kg again. Managed to bust out the last 20 reps at 40kg. Was almost seeing stars. The timing is so short that you really have little to no time to rack the bar and take hands off. Towards the end of the set I was keeping hands on bar in the rack and just horsing it up when the beep went off in my ear. Good fun.

Pull Ups - same as above. I lost count after about 10 reps and wasn't sure if I was at 15 or 38. Just clinging on and trying to keep knocking out each rep as the beep went off. That's only the second time I've done Pull Ups in home gym. Going to bring them back as a staple. Had to jack the rack up to slot 32 (from usual slot 13 when Squatting) to make it high enough to hang from.

Curls - similar. Lost count and disappeared into a world of sweaty hard work/pain.

40 reps on all the above should give me some decent growth when combined with a heap of calories. Enjoyed it. Sore all over the upper body as I type this the next day.

BossArky

Monday March 14th: Squat

Squat (with chains: straight weight at bottom, +16kg at top)
20kg – 1x5
60kg – 1x5
60kg + 16kg chains – 1x5
80kg + 16kg chains – 1x3
100kg + 16kg chains – 6x6

Calf Raise
bodyweight - 6x12
---
Plank
10 minutes of 15 seconds on, 15 seconds off
---

Went to the local hardware store and acquired four 2m chains. Each of these 2m chains weights 4kg. When hooked onto the bar (and set up correctly) this means the chain totally deloads at the bottom but then weights 16kg extra at the top. Also got two mini 2m chains which each weight 0.5kg to hook the heavier 4 chains properly onto the Squat bar. Took about 10 mins of fiddling around with the chains and clamps to set the chain length correctly before getting into Squatting. Note to self - 17 mini chain links = correct setting.

Did the 100kg 6x6 Squats superset with Calf Raise against the clock. 2 minutes per set back and forth for 24 mins. Got very close to failure on the 6th set of Squats. Adductors in bits. Used a thumbs around bar grip which may have equated to slightly higher bar position on back, hence the adductor destruction. The pain kicked in on set 3 and it was about survival from there onwards. Interesting sensation to feel the weight increase as you get by the usual sticking point as the chains start to lift off the floor.

Calf Raise didn't even register - was in some much pain for Squats that I didn't feel them at all... which is odd given how much DOMS I had in the calfs for days after the last time I trained them.

Had planned to RDL and Front Squat after the Squats... but knew there was no way I'd manage anything else strenous given the state my adductors were in.

Finished off with planks for 10 mins (15 secs on/15 secs off)... as little old Dexa lady had recommended I take up Pilates for my core strength. Figure I may as well do some direct core work for once. Abs on fire by the end.

Walked about 6km on each of the past 2 days. Did some swimming too yesterday (200m alternating bs/fc every 50 metres). This kind of low intensity cardio shouldn't destroy the muscle as much as the longer runs I've mentioned in previous posts.

Paid more attention to diet in past days also. Grilled a heap of chicken breasts in the oven, steamed a fair bit of broccoli and carrots which tasted awesome with a few drops of lemon. Full fat milk with a scoop of protein each day after the gym.

Final edit - I've been wallowing in some extreme upper body DOMS since Saturday. Reintroducing Pull Ups in particular has set my back on fire. Nice!

BossArky

Tuesday March 15th:

Bench (paused, stop watch timer giving me two minutes between each bench/row superset e.g. 00:00 Bench set1, 02:00 Row set1, 04:00 Bench set2, 06:00 Row set2, etc...)
20kg – 1x5
60kg – 1x5
85kg – 6x6 ... first five sets fine & all paused. Sixth set a bit wobbly and had to do it touch and go as timer was rushing me too much. Nearly failed last rep. Would have been fine if not rushing on the clock
**add slingshot**
90kg – 1x3
100kg – 1x3
105kg – 1x3 ... fairly easy

Barbell Row
20kg – 1x5
70kg – 6x5
---
Chin Ups (a rep every 15 seconds for 5 minutes = 20 reps total)
bodyweight - 20 reps
---
Defranco Shoulder Shocker
3 rounds of 12, 10, 8 reps with following giant superset:
- plate front raise increasing weight each set: 5kg, 10kg, 15kg
- cuban press (I think) with 2kg db handle
- negative lateral raise... plus a couple of other movements in there with 2kg db handle
---
Isometric Y & T holds (for shoulders, facedown on ground)
15 seconds on / 15 seconds off for 5 minutes. Alternating between Y & T each "on" time.
---

Quads absolutely destroyed with DOMS today. Almost fell asleep on the sofa before gym and had decided to put off Bench until Wednesday morning... instead managed to peel myself up after a cup of tea and get the job done.

Bench was fine up until 5th set. The 2 minute time limit between supersets caught up with me there and the 6th set was a total lactic struggle. Had to touch and go it and barely made it through the set. Arms shaking and wobbling all over the place. I'll revise the time limit upwards to perhaps 3 mins between sets as I'm now heading towards the final 3 heavy bench worksets of this peak.

Barbell rows felt like nothing and just done for the sake of ~equalization between Bench sets.

Felt good to throw on the slingshot for later Bench amusement sets. Haven't used it for a while.

Decided to only do 20 reps on Chin Ups (vs. planned 40) as back was still in bits after the 40 reps of Pull Ups a few days ago. Will stick with 20 Chins one Bench day (a rep every 15 seconds for 5 mins), then 20 Pull Ups on the other Bench day (also a rep every 15 seconds for 5 mins). That's a nice way of getting some volume in quickly without totally killing yourself. Want to avoid annihilating myself on any one particular day and then making the rest of the training week a struggle.

Finished up with the Defranco Shoulder Shocker which was a true eye opener. Decided to use just the adjustable 2kg DB handle to get into the swing of it. Just the handle set all the tiny shoulder muscles on fire with the cuban press (I think that's what it's called) and the rev lateral raise. Will definitely be including this on one of the bench days in future for shoulder health/growth.

Also did some Y and T isometric holds towards the end with 15 seconds on/off. These should have been YTWL... but I'm too illiterate to remember how you make a W or L.

Good training session and enjoyed trying some of that new stuff.

Alf Veedersane

Don't think it's the cuban press in the 'shouder shocker'. I think it's like a seated clean and press but not to lockout. Killer though.

BossArky

Yes - that's the one!

BossArky

Thursday March 17th: Deadlift

Plyo Jumps
- Built up to hopping onto 4 bumper plates (2x red 25kg, 2x blue 20kg) in that order.
- Focused on getting arms involved in the jump
---
Deadlift (conventional)
70kg – 1x5
110kg – 30 reps EMOM
---
Back Raise
3x10
---
Squat
60kg – 3x5 (flat shoes on first set, heels on 2nd/3rd)
---
Abz (plank)
5 mins of 15 mins on/15 mins off
---

Decided to factor in some explosive plyos as my last warm ups before the main exercise each training day going forwards. The theory (not mine, just in general) is that explosive plyos will prime the CNS for more explosive lifting. Felt totally uncoordinated. Didn’t face-plant so probably a good start. Next stop NBA.

Deadlifts (conventional) 30 mins EMOM were fine. Grip got a bit tired towards the end but didn’t drop it. Bar seems to drag up left shin a lot more than right. Also got a spot of wear on the middle of my left quad, but not on right.

For the back raise I took my ingenuity to the next level. Jacked bench up on one end with 4 bumpers, then strapped legs to lower part with bands/wraps. Took a bit of getting used to but could be workable.

Squats felt sluggish after Mondays Squat volume and todays Deadlifts. Purposely keeping the Deadlift day Squats nice and light to focus on recovery.

Plank ab workhad me shaking towards the end.

BossArky

Saturday March 19th: Bench

Clapping Press-Up
1x5 after a few sets of normal press ups
---
Bench (all paused, stop watch timer giving me 2:30 mins between each bench/row superset e.g. 00:00 Bench set1, 02:30 Row set1, 05:00 Bench set2, 07:30 Row set2, etc...)
20kg - 1x5
60kg - 1x5
80kg - 1x3
90kg - 6x5 ... felt alright sets 1-5 but got tired towards the end and barely made it through 6th set. Last rep was a struggle - almost lost it

Barbell Row
70kg - 6x5
---
Pull Up (a rep every 15 seconds for 5 minutes = 20 reps total)
bodyweight - 20 reps
---
Military Press (a rep every 15 seconds for 5 minutes = 20 reps total)
40kg - 20 reps
---
Barbell Curl (2 reps every 15 seconds for 5 minutes = 40 reps total)
30kg - 40 reps
---
Abs
- banded anti rotation - 1x10 per side
- pavlov press - 1x10 per side
---
Rev Fly (superset with a couple of mins pec stretch / waving arms around on bench)
0.5kg per arm - 1x10
1kg per arm - 1x10
2kg per arm - 1x10
---

Included some explosive clapping push ups prior to benching - as per my prime the CNS theory from preceding log entry. Felt harder than expected and was wondering if I was over-exerting myself with a measly 1x5!

Nearly lost the last bench rep. Bar may actually have been coming down but consulted with the Power Of Greyskull to prevail. That was close. Today I had purposely increased the set timing upwards from 2mins to 2:30. Probably needs to go up to 3:00mins if not slightly more so that I'm fully rested as I head into the final 2 days of this bench peak in the coming week. The speed I was rattling through the earlier sets was ok - but not optimal for full strength recovery as I started to fatigue towards the end.

I was originally thinking this must mean my bench is in the toilet strength wise... but 90kg 6x5 is only 5kg under my best of 95kg 6x5 (when I was heading towards 105kg 6x3 around 6 months ago). That isn't bad when I factor in the amount of bodyweight (& lean muscle) I've lost in the past months with my crazy running experimentation.

Will probably sub One Arm DB Rows in for Barbell Rows on this particular day going forwards. Don't want to have to do Rowing the session after heavy Deadlfifting if I can help it... as that would made it 3 of 4 days with lower back taxing activity.

Cut the Military Press volume in half versus last week and stuck with just 40kg. This is an assistance exercise and won't be pushing it heavy whilst I finish off the Bench peak. Same with Curls - although I did 2 reps every 15 seconds for variety, but a bit lighter than last week.

I can nearly feel the gains filtering back into my body - crawling out of the shadows from under the boxes of nappies in the corner, wafting in from the street below, travelling up my forearms into the fillings in my teeth - putting myself back together one g of lean muscle at a time.

Just had three scrambled eggs prior to writing this about 30 mins after gym (along with 4 slices of toast, 500ml of full fat milk, couple of slices of cheese). Planning to fuel up asap after each training session for full recovery... and then have been managing to keep it a bit leaner in the intervening meals. More concerned with putting muscle back on at the moment than a "clean" bulk... fully expecting to gain some fat doing this but trying to avoid it being excessive.

Need to sort out my sleep though. It is 10:49pm as I write this. Keep training too late and going to bed too late. Combined with the fact that I eat/drink late then that makes for a restless night getting up to use the bathroom, etc. Typically get up around 7am for the past couple of weeks and have started training around 8pm in evenings. In a state of flux with home routine - long story short - it's not ideal for recovery.

Note - This workout was two days after the 30 rep EMOM Conventional Deadlifts on Thursday night. Not feeling anything in the back/glutes/hamstrings. However my forearms (the under arm bit) are in ribbons. Shows how undertrained they become when not Deadlifting much. Also feeling slightly tender in the soles of my feet which is interesting.

BossArky

Monday March 21st: Squat

Squat (with chains: straight weight at bottom, +16kg at top)
20kg – 1x5
60kg – 1x5
85kg – 1x3
105kg - 1x2
105kg + 16kg chains – 6x6

Calf Raise
bodyweight - 6x10-12
---
Plank
5 minutes of 15 seconds on, 15 seconds off
---

Woke at 5am and in the Squat rack shortly after 5:30am. Didn't feel as bad as expected training that earlier for the first time in a while. This will free up my evenings for sleeping earlier.

Squats this week were much easier than last week. Took approx 9 mins between the first 4 sets and slightly longer between the fifth and sixth (I had planned to force myself to 3 mins per set - but started the Squats before the stop watch and couldn't be bothered stopping to reset. Worked out well).

Calf Raise and Plank were handy enough. Getting the work in on the forgotten muscles.

Alf Veedersane

BossArky wrote: »

Yes - that's the one!

Cuban press with ~4s eccentric is a great shoulder exercise as well. Another Joe DeFranco special!

BossArky

Tuesday March 22nd: Bench

Bench (paused, no stop watch)
20kg – 1x5
60kg – 1x5
80kg - 1x3
95kg – 6x4 ... fine. 3rd set was the worst but fourth onwards fine. Felt heavy though
**add slingshot**
100kg – 1x3
105kg – 1x3
110kg – 1x3 ... gone it done

One Arm DB Row
14kg per arm – 6x12 ... as heavy as I can adjust these dumbbells with the loose change available
---
Defranco Shoulder Shocker
3 rounds of ~10 reps with following giant superset:
- plate front raise: 10kg
- DB clean with 2kg handle
- negative lateral raise
---
Barbell Curl
20kg - 3x10
---

Was planning to train this morning again around 5:30am but couldn't get out of bed. Ended up training from 8pm-10pm in the evening.

Knew bench would feel heavy today. It was getting heavier and heavier as I went from set 1 to 3... but then from set 4 onwards it seemed to get a bit better. Still close to the edge though on the last reps in each set. All with decent pause though.

After finishing the bench main worksets I went to load up the bar to 100kg for the slingshot sets and realized why everything felt slightly heavier than usual - no elbow sleeves on the elbows for the 6 main worksets. That's a win anyway. Mental gainz when I throw them on for 100kg 6x3 on the next bench session, which is the last of the cycle.

Subbed One Arm DB row for Barbell Row today as mid back feeling a bit knackered from Squats yesterday. The chains kicking in on the way up seems to put a bit more stress on the mid back. Interestingly my quads feel fine today.. versus last week when they were in bits after the Squats with chains.

Skipped Chins Ups too to give back a bit of a rest ahead of Deadlifts on Thursday. I'm more conscious these days of trying to recover properly and rest well (as I type this late in the evening at 10:52pm again...). Plus - I just felt tired.

Shoulder Shocker felt good again.

Threw in some barbell curls for a bit of a pump to finish things off with a *bang* (see what I did there?).

BossArky

Thursday March 24th: Deadlift

Deadlift (conventional, double overhand)
70kg – 1x5
120kg – 30 reps EMOM
---
Front Squat
40kg - 1x5
60kg – 3x5
---
Abz (plank)
5 mins of 15 mins on/15 mins off
---

Deadlifts fine today. Didn't feel them anywhere. Even grip didn't get taxed with all of them double-overhand.

Forgot to include plyo jumps in the warm ups.

Threw in some Front Squats for variety instead of Back Squats.

Finished off with some abz... and now it's 4 days off work for the Easter break - yeah!

BossArky

Saturday March 26th: Bench

Clapping Press-Up
1x5 after a few sets of normal press ups
---
Bench (all paused, no stop watch)
20kg - 1x5
60kg - 1x5
80kg - 1x3
90kg - 1x1
100kg - 6x3 ... heavy enough but got through it alright

Barbell Row
50kg - 6x8 ... light supersets as saving energy for bench
---
Pull Up (2 reps every 15 seconds for 2.5 minutes = 20 reps total)
bodyweight - 20 reps ... the 2nd rep on the penultimate and ultimate set were slightly dodgy ROM-wise
---
Military Press (2 reps every 15 seconds for 2.5 minutes = 20 reps total)
30kg - 20 reps
---
DB Concentration Curl
8kg DB per arm - 3x12 ... crazy pump
---
Rev Fly (superset with a couple of mins pec stretch / waving arms around on bench)
2kg per arm - 3x12
---

Bench worksets at 100kg 6x3 are a nice re-milestone on the road to strength. Heavy enough but reps didn't get too messy. Body will be stacking on the muscle to cope in next few days.

Changed the format slightly on Pull Ups and Military Press. Did a double each time the clock hit 15 seconds for the sake of muscle confusion, but cut the entire time in half. Same volume in half the time.

Got a crazy pump with the light 8kg DB on concentration curls. Never do this particular bicep movement. Will include it more often going forwards (probably about 2 mins before hopping into car on the way to work when wearing short sleeved tees on casual Fridays).

Measured my bumper plates to figure out what sort of vertical jump height I'm getting. Stacking them as follows gives the following heights:
- 4 red 25kg bumpers = ~10.5 inches
- 4 blue 20kg bumpers = ~8.5 inches
.... so altogether those 8 plates give a 19 inch stack.

For reference NFL vertical jumps are in the 40+ inch range. I haven't attempted the 19 inch jump yet. Will build up slowly as the weeks go by to get used to the movement.

BossArky

Monday March 28th: Squat

Jumps
4 red bumpers - 1x5
+blue - 1x5
+blue - 1x5
+blue - 1x5 ... peaking at about 17 inches
---
Squat (with chains: straight weight at bottom, +16kg at top)
20kg – 1x5
60kg – 1x5
90kg – 1x3
110kg - 1x1
110kg + 16kg chains – 6x6 ... alright. Video of set 6 to follow

Calf Raise
bodyweight - 6x12
---
Plank
5 minutes of 17 seconds on, 13 seconds off
---

Did some jumps to start off. Worked up to about 17 inches off 4 blue + 3 bumpers. Nothing spectacular. Video'd it to see what I look like. Will add a plate or so each week as I progress.

Took decent rest periods between the Squats which stretched them out for about an hour. Video'd last set. First time I've video'd Squats for a good while and definitely first time video-ing Squatting with Chains. Could do with a slightly wider stance and staying a bit more upright. Looks like the chains don't totally deload at the bottom so it is probably more like 115kg (vs. 110kg) at the bottom and 126kg at the top.

Calf Raises felt like nothing. Just easy recovery supersets with Squats.

Increased the work portion of the plank by 2 secs (to 17) and reduced the rest by 2 secs (to 13) as I gradually ramp up the ab work. Will increase in this way every couple of weeks until I grow some abs.

BossArky

BossArky wrote: »

Monday March 28th: Squat

Jumps
4 red bumpers - 1x5
+blue - 1x5
+blue - 1x5
+blue - 1x5 ... peaking at about 17 inches

Did some jumps to start off. Worked up to about 17 inches off 4 blue + 3 bumpers. Nothing spectacular. Video'd it to see what I look like. Will add a plate or so each week as I progress.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_NswelK5EiQ

BossArky wrote:

Squat (with chains: straight weight at bottom, +16kg at top)
110kg + 16kg chains – 6x6 ... alright. Video of set 6 to follow
---
Took decent rest periods between the Squats which stretched them out for about an hour. Video'd last set. First time I've video'd Squats for a good while and definitely first time video-ing Squatting with Chains. Could do with a slightly wider stance and staying a bit more upright. Looks like the chains don't totally deload at the bottom so it is probably more like 115kg (vs. 110kg) at the bottom and 126kg at the top.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_GxdsJz_p3c

BossArky

Tuesday March 29th: Bench

Bench (paused, 3 mins between supersets)
20kg – 1x5
60kg – 1x5
78kg - 6x6 ... light
**add slingshot, elbow sleeves & wrist wraps**
100kg – 1x3
110kg – 1x3
115kg – 1x1 ... heavy enough but no big deal

Barbell Row
70kg - 6x5 ... may have done a few extra reps here and there
---
Shoulder Shocker
3 rounds of ~10 reps with following giant superset:
- plate front raise: 10kg
- clean / shrug drag up sides with 4kg DB
- negative lateral raise with 4kg DB
---

Dawn of a new 6 week Bench cycle. Added 3kg to last cycle which will see the whole thing peak at 103kg 6x3. 3 minutes between each superset was a bit of a luxury. Probably should have kept it to 2:30 or thereabouts. Was just aiming to start this cycle off nice and gradually after the 100kg 6x3 peak of the last cycle a few days ago.

Liking the feeling of all those small shoulder bits get a working over in the shoulder shocker. Increased the weight from 2kg DB to 4kg.

May have done something else. Cannot remember as writing this 2.5 days later.

BossArky

Thursday March 31st: Deadlift

Jumps
4 red bumpers + 1 blue - 1x5
+blue - 1x5
+blue - 1x5
+blue - 1x5 ... peaking at about 19.5 inches
---
Deadlift (conventional, double overhand)
60kg – 1x5
100kg – 1x3
130kg – 30 reps EMOM ... double overhand grip went around 12th rep and switched to alternating mixed grip from there onwards
---
Front Squat
45kg - 1x5
65kg – 3x5
---
Abz
anti rotation band - 3x10 per side
pavlov press band - 3x10 per side
---

Jumps were fun again today. Up to about 19.5 inches (4 red + 4 blue stacked bumpers). That is a blue plate higher than last time. No particular problems hopping onto them. Enjoying doing something different as a warm up (amongst the usual hip circle, shoulder dislocates, couch stretch, banded monster walks & band pull aparts).

Deadlifts 130kg Conventional 30 EMOM was alright. Double overhand grip started to go around the 12th rep. As I was losing it I went into one of those hilarious strongman hitch postures and fought if for a couple of secs. Copped on, dropped it, reset with mixed grip and got the rep done. Alternated mixed grip from there onwards. Left hand got a bit ripped in 2 places as callouses pulled off.

Front Squats felt alright after a set or two. Felt heavy without doing back Squats first but nice chance of stimulus.

Finished off with some anti rotation ab work.

Got my fat gripz in the post last night. Will try them out on next Bench day for some rowing fun. Also ordered an arm blaster on ebay over the weekend so looking forward to curling more than my max Deadlift in the months ahead :cool:

BossArky

Saturday April 2nd: Bench

Press-Up (blue bumper under each palm for extra ROM)
1x6
1x6 with explosive clap between reps
---
Bench (all paused, with FAT GRIPZ)
20kg - 1x5
60kg - 1x5
83kg - 6x5

Barbell Row (with FAT GRIPZ)
60kg - 1x1 could barely hold onto the bar with FAT GRIPZ
50kg - 6x5 dodgy ROM as grip on the verge of going each rep
---
Military Press (with FAT GRIPZ)
40kg - 20 reps ... plus about another 5 reps where I was messing about beforehand with stopwatch app which seems to have stopped working
---
Bent Over DB Row (free standing, two arms at a time, with FAT GRIPZ)
10kg per arm - 3x20

DB Curl (with FAT GRIPZ)
10kg DB per arm - 3x10 ... forearms on fire
---
DB Bench (feet up, with FAT GRIPZ)
10kg DB per arm - 3x20 ... light pumping

Barbell Curl (with FAT GRIPZ)
30kg - 3x6 ... barely made these reps. Forearms and biceps on fire
20kg - 1x12
---

As you can see from the above I had a FAT GRIPZ Saturday upperbody day.

The original plan was to utilize the fat gripz on rows and curls for the sake of extra grip training. However I had to use them on everything as left hand middle finger skin is ripped off a few layers deep after Deadlift callous tear from Thursday. Didn't want to aggravate the cuts any further by sticking Eleiko knurling in there... so the fat gripz were a smoother solution.

Holy sh*t the fat gripz really highlight how grip can effect your max lifts. Typically I would easily Barbell Row 70kg 6x5 as supersets amongst Bench worksets. Today I struggled to get 1 rep with 60kg off the ground with fat gripz. They add about 1 inch to the diametre of the bar. It opened my eyes to the idea that if I bring up by grip a fair way then I may be able to hold on to more weight and thus have a bigger Deadlift. Obviously I've more than capable of Deadlifting / Rowing 60kg... but if you cannot hold onto it your body says no. I can barely get my hand around the fat gripz handle so find myself in a semi open grip position the whole time when using them.

Writing this the day after the above training session and forearms/biceps are feeling trashed. The weight on all the exercises was less than I'd typically curl / row but is concentrated more on the gripping musculature.

The adjustable DBs I have only go up to 10kg, but adding the FAT Gripz makes them feel like double the weight!

Otherwise the Bench Pressing and Military Press were ok. Bit harder than they should have been due to getting used to the slightly different feel of the fat gripz... but they didn't come into play as much on the pushing movements (vs. the pulling ones).

Interesting.

BossArky

Monday April 4th: Squat

Jumps
4 red bumpers +2 blue - 1x5
+blue - 1x5
+blue - 1x5
+yellow - 1x5 ... peaking at about 21.5 inches
---
Squat
20kg – 1x5
60kg – 1x5
80kg – 1x3
100kg - 1x1
115kg - 1x1
100kg - 3x6 ... felt run down / ill so sets were slow & heavy

Calf Raise
bodyweight - 3x12
---
Plank
5 minutes of 15 seconds on, 15 seconds off
---

Up at 5am. In gym by 5:30am. Squats felt crap so did 1 rep on 115kg and then backed off to 3x6 at 100kg. May have been coming down with some cold/flu.

BossArky

Tuesday April 5th: Bench

Bench (paused & fat gripz)
20kg – 1x5
60kg – 1x5
80kg - 1x3
88kg - 6x4 ... alrighty
**add slingshot & wrist wraps - take off fat gripz** (i.e. total wardrobe change )
103kg – 1x3
113kg – 1x3
118kg – 1x1 ... felt the best of all the slingshot sets

Barbell Row (fat gripz)
40kg - 6, 8, 10, 10, 10, 10 ... building up the reps as I got used to the fat gripz
---
Shoulder Shocker (fat gripz)
3 rounds with 10kg plate & 4kg DBs:
- plate front raise: 10kg
- clean / shrug drag up sides / DB clean
- negative lateral raise
---
DB Curl (fat gripz)
10kg per arm - 3x12

DB Tri Ext (fat gripz)
10kg per arm - 3x6 ... nice new tricep burn for a change - heavier than expected
---
Barbell Curl (fat gripz)
30kg - 3x6
---
DB Fly (fat gripz)
4kg per arm - 3x12

Rev Fly (fat gripz)
4kg per arm - 3x12
---

Got through the bench worksets fine with the fat gripz.

Took fat gripz off for the slingshot sets and the bar felt needle thin. Weird contrasting sensation! Went on to slingshot 118kg for a single which felt good for the brotivation gainz.

Did a lot of pumping crap then with DBs and fat gripz. Forearms took a good beating as I type this two days later. Nice.

BossArky

Thursday April 7th: Deadlift

Jumps
4 red bumpers +2 blue - 1x5
+blue - 1x5
+blue - 1x5
+yellow - 1x5
+yellow - 1x5 ... peaking at about 23.5 inches
---
Deadlift (conventional, double overhand)
70kg – 1x5
110kg – 16 reps EMOM ... easy peasy
---
Front Squat
50kg – 3x5
---
Arm Blaster
20kg - 1x10
30kg - 2x5
40kg - 2x5
20kg - 1x26
---
Abz (plank)
5 minutes of 20 seconds on, 10 seconds off
---

Jumps good. Getting higher. Gonna run out of plates soon once I add on the 4 greens and 2 blues. Some of those plates may be even too light to safely jump high onto without slipping. We'll see.

Deadlifts fine. Wanted to do just 15 EMOM but timer device only allows multipes of 2 (one high / one low interval) so I YOLO'd and went for 16 reps.

Overall taking todays Deadlifts and last Mondays Squats as a bit of a mini deload with half the usual volume... as was feeling a bit run down the past few days.

The plank time is increasing and liking the feeling of burning pain as I hold each contraction longer. Definetly using muscle I haven't had to for a long while.

Arm blaster arrived in the post a few days ago. Bust it out of the packaging today and carried it proudly into the gym like a total stud muffin. It makes the reps a lot stricter and thus light weight feels heavier. Got the hang of it after a couple of sets and increased the reps. I'm thinking I got more of a concentrated pump out of curling DBs with fat gripz. Will see how the biceps feel DOMS wise in the next few days.

By the way - I totally moved the gun show to Thursday nights after Deadlift sets (instead of Friday night after Bench) just so my biceps will be totally inflamed and hanging off me when I go to present in short sleeved t-shirt tomorrow morning (Friday) at work. Such is life.

BossArky

Saturday April 9th: Bench

Bench (all paused, with FAT GRIPZ)
20kg - 1x5
60kg - 1x5
80kg - 1x3
93kg - 6x3 ... alrighty

Barbell Row (with FAT GRIPZ)
45kg - 6x10 ... getting used to hanging onto the bar
---
Chin Up
bodyweight - a rep every 15 seconds for 5 minutes = 20 reps total
---
DB Curl (with FAT GRIPZ & armblaster)
10kg DB per arm - 3x10

Barbell Curl (with armblaster, middle finger on knurling - i.e. close-ish grip)
20kg - 3x8
---

Bench at 93kg 6x3 was good. Still managing with fat gripz as weight is increasing. That is the end of the first 2 weeks of this 6 week bench block which will peak with 103kg 6x3.

Added back in Chin Ups as haven't done any in 2 weeks.

Was 78.7kg bodyweight on the scales first thing in the morning 2 days ago (Thursday April 7th). Haven't been that light since perhaps late 2008/early 2009 (i.e. ~7 years ago).

Reweighed myself on Friday and was something like 79kg after breakfast/lunch.

Did a gun bicep superset with the armblaster on for fat gripz DB curls straight into barbell curls. Biceps hanging off me at the end. Finding that the armblaster keeps elbows slightly further forward than a standard barbell curl, so a tiny bit of forward lean seems to help find the strictest position. You can really feel the weight on your lower back when curling out of the bottom with the armblaster... so have to keep nice and tight. Very strict ROM.

BossArky

Monday April 11th: Squat

Squat
20kg – 1x5
60kg – 1x5
80kg – 1x3
100kg – 1x2
115kg – 3x6

Calf Raise
Bodyweight – 6x12
---
Abz (plank)
5 mins of 17 secs on / 13 secs off
---

BossArky

Wednesday April 13th: Bench

Bench (all paused)
20kg – 1x5
60kg – 1x5
83kg – 6x6

Barbell Row (fat gripz)
20kg – 1x5
50kg – 6x10
---
Shoulder Shocker
3 rounds with 4kg fat gripz DB & 10kg plate
---

BossArky

Friday April 15th: Deadlift

Deadlift (conventional, double overhand)
70kg – 1x5
100kg – 1x3
120kg – 3x6 ... grip going on 3 rep of last set so went mixed on reps 4 and 5 and then double overhand to finish
---
Front Squat
30kg – 1x5
60kg – 3x5
---
Abz (plank)
5 minutes of 17 seconds on / 13 seconds off
---

Back to 3x6s on Deadlifts after the past 4 weeks of EMOM. Let's see what kind of DOMS I'll have from this in the next couple of days.

BossArky

Saturday April 16th: Bench

Bench (all paused)
20kg - 1x5
60kg - 1x5
80kg - 1x3 (or 1? - cannot remember)
88kg - 6x5 ... fine

Barbell Row (with FAT GRIPZ)
50kg - 6x6 ... to equalize bench
---
Chin Up
bodyweight +10kg - a rep every 15 seconds for 5 minutes = 20 reps total
---
Barbell Curl
40kg x6, x3
30kg - 2x6

DB Curl (with FAT GRIPZ)
10kg DB per arm - 3x12
*remove fat grip*
10kg DB per arm - 1x~6-8 ... cannot remember exactly as bicep fire had ignited brain
---
Pec Stretch
1kg - about 20-30 secs
2kg - twice for about 20-30 secs

Rev Fly
1kg - 1x12
2kg - 2x12
---

That was good. Parents visiting from Ireland so father sat in on the above. Weights always feel lighter when someone is watching.

Bench was fine. Weight is getting up there now considering I'm ~5kg lighter than last time I was pushing these weights about 6-9 months ago.

Pleased with how easy the weighted chins felt. Biceps and forearms in bit as I type this the next day. Fat gripz doing their job.

Feeling pretty happy with the weight things are going. Put on some muscle in the past 5 weeks and it is starting to show.

BossArky

Monday April 18th

Squat
20kg – 1x5
60kg – 1x5
80kg – 1x3
*add belt & wrist wraps*
100kg – 1x2
120kg – 3x6

Calf Raise
Bodyweight – 3x12
---
Abz (plank)
5 mins of 20 secs on / 10 secs off
---

Up at 5:10am (hit snooze at 5am for 10 mins), had a slow breakfast and was in gym around 5:40am. It was 10 degrees initially, then got down to 9 degrees. Didn’t feel that cold though – just fresh.

Squat good today in a “heavy enough to feel like you’re doing some proper work, but not heavy enough to feel smashed” way. Still using my new thumbs around bar grip and things feeling ok.

Calf Raise was just easy blood pumping.

Ab Plank had me shaking. Getting some good ab work in recently. 20 seconds on / 10 seconds off for 5 mins is hard enough at the moment. Looking forward to seeing how much core muscle I’ve put on at next Dexa.

Biceps DOMS is epic from the gun show on Saturday. Predicting about 0.5kg of muscle growth per arm at next Dexa over the intervening 8 weeks.

BossArky

Wednesday April 20th

Bench (all paused)
20kg – 1x5
60kg – 1x5
80kg - 1x1
93kg – 6x4 ... fine

Barbell Row (fat gripz)
20kg – 1x5
54kg – 6x6
---
Shoulder Shocker
3 rounds with 4kg fat gripz DB & 10kg plate
---

Training with wifey again. Fun.

Got through the 6 bench worksets superset with the 6 rows sets in 30 mins flat. That included loading / unloading the bench weights for the two of us. Pretty quick.