Return of the King

BossArky

Saturday July 30th: Bench

Bench (all paused)
20kg – 1x5
60kg – 1x5
80kg – 1x3
92kg – 6x4

Barbell Row
60kg - 3x5 (fat gripz)
80kg - 3x5 (no fat gripz)
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Nothing spectacular to report. Almost skipped this workout due to Deadlift DOMS. Stuck to the plan and got through the main work. Dropped the fluffy assistance for the sake or recovery.

BossArky

Monday August 1st: Squat Deload

Squat
20kg – 1x5
60kg – 1x5
80kg – 1x3
100kg – 3x5 ... nice easy deload
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Front Squat
40kg – 3x8
---
Abs (plank)
5 mins of 15 secs on / 15 secs off
---
Calf Raise (on incline plate)
bodyweight - 3x15
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Week 4 of 8 - usual easy dead load after first 3 weeks of 6x6 with chains. The next 4 weeks will see final build up to peak with 3x6s. Wanna hit 140kg for 3x6 on final session.

Front Squats felt nice super light. Haven't done them for a few months.

BossArky

Wednesday August 3rd: Bench

Bench (all paused)
20kg – 1x5
60kg – 1x5
80kg – 1x3
90kg – 1x1
97kg – 6x3 ... "..." (see what I did there?)
45kg – 3x10 ... close grip feet up

Face Pull
band - 6x15
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In the midst of a head cold at the moment. This particular workout saw me battle through a migraine - possibly due to blocked sinus. 97kg 6x3 worksets felt very heavy and head was thumping through-out. Worst bench session for a long time. Was happy just to get through it and aim for full recovery before next training.

Dropped the close grip weight a lot as zero energy to go heavier.

Face Pull assistance. Used to do Barbell Rows here, but saving lowerback for Fridays heavy Deadlits.
.

BossArky

Friday August 5th: Deadlift

Deadlift (conventional)
70kg – 1x5
100kg - 1x3
**add belt**
130kg - 1x2 ... double overhand to here
150kg - 16 reps EMOM ... mixed grip alternating each rep
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Hack Squat
70kg - 3x8
---
Abs (plank)
5 mins of 15 secs on / 15 secs off
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There is the first mini peak of the Deadlift cycle: 150kg conventional for a rep each minute for 16 minutes. The last few reps were tough. Never felt close to failure but need to watch that I keep back nice and straight and don't give in to rounding.

That is the heaviest Deadlifting I've done in my home gym. It is also the heaviest conventional Deadlifting I've done in very close to 5 years (it was Sept 2011 when I injured my back Deadlifting 160kg 3x5 conventional on last rep of third set).

Hack Squats with 70kg still set my quads on fire.

Abs were easy - watched some super mario / stan efferding on my phone during those 5 mins.

BossArky

Saturday August 6th: Bench

Bench (all paused)
20kg – 1x5
60kg – 1x5
80kg – 1x3
87kg – 6x6

Barbell Row
40kg - 6x8 (fat gripz) ... first 3 sets double overhand, second 3 sets double underhand
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Military Press
20kg – 1x6
50kg – 3x5
---
Barbell Curl
30kg – 3x10
---

Feeling better today. Head cold gone. Benching good.

Left forearm muscle is sore somewhere over the part where it connects into elbow on top. Perhaps strained grip over the past weeks with fat grips. Have felt it building up. Kept the rows lighter because of it.

Military Press was going to be for 3x6 but first set heavy enough so cut to 3x5 at 50kg.

Curls to finish it off.

Good.

BossArky

Monday August 8th: Squat Deload

Squat
20kg – 1x5
60kg – 1x5
90kg – 1x3
110kg – 3x6 ... felt very heavy for the 1st of 4 week mini peak
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Front Squat
40kg – 1x8
45kg – 1x8
50kg – 1x8
---
Abs (plank)
5 mins of 15 secs on / 15 secs off
---
Calf Raise (on incline plate)
bodyweight - 3x15
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Squats felt terrible. 110kg is nothing but felt like a max effort. Deadlift peak a few days ago has me battered. Fat grip rowing has my forearms and gripping muscles in ribbons. Everything felt uncomfy when Squatting. Head was pounding again with recurring cold. Hopefully will feel better in the coming days where everything ramps down for a couple of weaks and I cut the assistance.

BossArky

Wednesday August 10th: Bench

Bench (all paused)
20kg – 1x5
60kg – 1x5
80kg – 1x5
92kg - 6x5 ... alright but accidently had 97kg on the bar for second set which was an all time PR for a set of 5 (by 1kg)

Face Pull
band - 6x15
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Accidental Bench PR on the 2nd set by misloading with 97kg (instead of 92kg) for a set of 5 paused. Nice. Was wondering why it felt heavier but thought it was just the dark and coldness playing tricks on me. Wifey pointed it out afterwards.

BossArky

Friday August 12th: Deadlift

Deadlift (conventional, beltless)
70kg – 1x5
100kg - 3x6
---
Hack Squat
70kg - 3x8
---
Abs (plank)
8:45 mins of 15 secs on / 15 secs off
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Deadlifts were week 1 of 4 of this mini peak. Realized afterwards that they felt different as I did them totally beltless and could feel them more in mid back.

Set the wrong duration timer on the abs and didn't realize until 8 mins and 45 seconds into it when abs started to heat up. Had only planned 5 mins.

BossArky

Saturday August 13th: Bench

Bench (all paused)
20kg – 1x5
60kg – 1x5
80kg – 1x3
90kg – 1x1
97kg – 6x4 ... alright.

Barbell Row
40kg - 6x8
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Bench was alrght. Did the last rep of one of the 5th set TNG as seemed to get into a sub optimal groove on the way down and had to slightly bale on the pause. The rest were moderately heavy. Left elbow is slightly sore/strained from either the additional tricep work in recent weeks or the heavy deadlift volume with mixing alternate grip.

BossArky

Thursday August 18th: Squat

Squat
20kg – 1x5
60kg – 1x5
80kg – 1x3
100kg – 1x2
120kg – 1x1 .... was supposed to be 3x6 ... felt terrible after 1st rep so racked it
---
Front Squat
40kg – 3x5
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Couldn't train between last Saturday and today (Thursday). Was working long hours with sub par rest and nutrition which basically screwed up this training cycle. Back to the drawing board. Will have to reset and start again.

BossArky

Saturday August 20th: Deadlift & Bench

Deadlift (conventional, beltless)
70kg – 1x5
90kg – 1x5
110kg - 3x6 ... double overhand
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Bench
20kg - 1x5
60kg - 3x8
---
Barbell Curl
20kg - 1x10
30kg - 3x10
---
Calf Raise
bodyweight + 20kg with the spud belt - 3x10
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Some handy beltless double overhand Deadlifts followed by deload Bench with bicep & calf gravy.

BossArky

Monday August 22nd: Squat Deload

Squat (high bar, beltless)
20kg – 1x6
30kg – 1x6
40kg – 1x6
50kg – 1x6
60kg – 1x6
70kg – 1x6
80kg – 1x6
---
Front Squat
50kg – 3x8
---
Abs (plank)
5 mins of 15 secs on / 15 secs off
---

Logs of legs swings for warm ups had these light deload Squat ROM feeling very nice & deep. Typically I would need heavier weight (60kg ish) to get down into the hole. With the above I was ass to grass for each set.

Front Squats bust up my abs as usual. Good.

BossArky

Wednesday August 24th: Bench deload

Bench (paused)
20kg - 1x8
30kg - 1x8
50kg - 1x8
68kg - 3x8
---
Barbell Row
20kg - 1x10
40kg - 6x8 (first 3 sets narrow grip, second 3 sets wide grip)
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Some light stuff.

BossArky

Friday August 26th: Deadlift & Bench

Deadlift (conventional, beltless)
70kg – 1x5
100kg – 1x5
120kg - 3x6 ... double overhand
---
Anti Rotation Abs (band)
- Front Raise - 1x8 per side
- Press - 1x8 per side
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Possibly the heaviest beltless conventional Deadlifts I've ever done.

Getting a nice tight setup with lats engaged.

Enjoying Deadlifting at the moment.

BossArky

Monday August 29th: Squat

Squat (no belt, no wrist wraps)
20kg – 1x5
60kg – 1x5
80kg – 1x5
90kg – 3x6 ... handy

Front Squat
60kg – 3x8
---
Abs (plank)
5 mins of 15 secs on / 15 secs off
---

Abs on fire from the front squats.

BossArky

Wednesday August 31st: Bench

Bench
20kg – 1x5
60kg – 1x5
80kg – 3x8 … possibly a PR
40kg – 3x12 … close grip

Barbell Row
40kg – 6x10
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Some nice easy benching for high(er) reps

BossArky

Friday Sept 2nd: Deadlift

Deadlift (conventional)
70kg – 1x5
100kg – 1x3
120kg – 1x2
130kg – 3x6 …. Double overhand for first set & half of the second before switching to mixed grip. Handy enough otherwise

Hack Squat
70kg – 3x8
---
Abs (plank)
3 sets of 20 slow count on / 10 slow count off with 10kg plate on back
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Enjoyed Deads.

BossArky

Saturday Sept 3rd: Bench

Bench
20kg – 1x5
60kg – 1x5
82kg – 6x6

Barbell Row
50kg – 3x10

T-Bar Row
Bar + 40kg – 3x10
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Start of a new bench program.

BossArky

Monday Sept 5th: Squat

Squat (no belt, no wrist wraps)
20kg – 1x5
60kg – 1x5
80kg – 1x5
100kg – 3x6 ... handy

Front Squat
65kg – 3x6
---
Abs (plank)
3 sets of 20 slow count on / 10 slow count off with 10kg plate on back
---

More enjoyable Squats (back & front).

BossArky

Wednesday Sept 7th: Bench

Bench
20kg – 1x5
60kg – 1x5
80kg – 1x3
87kg – 6x5

Barbell Row
60kg – 6x8
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Some benching.

BossArky

Friday Sept 9th: Deadlift

Deadlift (conventional)
70kg – 1x5
100kg – 1x3
120kg – 1x2
140kg – 2x3
150kg – 1x2
160kg – 1x1 ... heaviest conventional Deadlift in 5 years
170kg – fail #1
170kg – fail #2
170kg – fail #3 sumo
110kg – 1x6 ... beltless backoff set
110kg – 1x1 ... dropped it after a rep or two when planning 6 due to a pain in lower right back/obliques

Abs (plank)
3 sets of 30 count on / 10 count off
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Training has been all over the place recently so I decided to just max out and see where my conventional stands. 160kg for a single was alright. In my head it was alright enough that I was thinking about going for an all time PR of 180kg+... however failing 170kg 3 times (twice conventional and third time sumo) put a stop to that enthusiasm.

Slightly tweaked something on 2nd backoff set with 110kg beltless so left if at that. Back ok 2 days later as I type so wasn't anything terminal.

BossArky

Saturday Sept 10th: Dexa

Got a total slap in the face with a ~3kg loss of muscle and a ~1kg fat gain in the past 10 weeks.

Work has been all over the place. Long days & a fair bit of stress - even though I like to think it dosen't get to me. Proof is in the pudding. All this work pressure playing havoc with hormones, lack of sleep, nutrition, etc... even though I was largely following the same 4 day per week program which gave me great gains 10 weeks ago.

Will update this post at some time in the future with the full details of the scan. Wrecked right now and don't have the will/motivation/time.

Need a more relaxed lifestyle and time to ponder the finer things in life instead of this constant rat race and corporate ladder chicanery.

BossArky

Thursday Sept 15th: Squat

Squat (no belt, no wrist wraps)
20kg – 1x5
40kg – 1x5
60kg – 3x8

SLDL
20kg – 1x5
40kg – 1x5
60kg – 3x8
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Day 1 back.

BossArky

Friday Sept 16th: Bench

Bench
20kg – 1x5
40kg – 1x5
60kg – 3x8

Barbell Row
20kg – 1x5
40kg – 1x5
60kg – 3x8
---
Military Press
40kg – 3x8

Barbell Curl
30kg – 3x8
---

Some upperbody.

BossArky

Sunday Sept 18th: Squat

Deadlift (conventional)
60kg – 1x5
80kg – 3x8

Squat
20kg – 1x5
50kg – 1x5
70kg – 1x8, 1x2... stopped with lower right back/hip pop
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Some more light lowerbody stuff.

Was planning 3x8 on Squats but cut it short after something went pop on 2nd workset. Slightly tender but nothing major. Just haven't recovered fully from 1.5 weeks ago I guess.

Bought a new pair of running shoes on Friday last. My old ones were dumped recently as falling apart. The modern day construction of these running shoes nowadays surprised me. Don't worry - I'm not gonna turn into a runner. Just want some comfy shoes for hill sprints or short to medium distance fat burning around the park.

BossArky

Sunday Sept 18th: Hill Sprints

2x5 up a nice grassy knoll with 5yo egging me on

Had a great sleep that night. Felt good to be doing something outside the gym and getting the heart pumping in the fresh air.

BossArky

Monday Sept 19th: Bench

Bench
20kg – 1x5
50kg – 1x5
70kg – 3x8

Face Pull
3x10
---
DB Shoulder Press
10kg per arm – 3x10

Chin Up
3x3
---

Some easy upper body. Getting back into chin ups. Pretty easy & nice ROM. Kept the reps and sets low to get used to them again before ramping up. Left elbow slightly sore still so generally keeping things low key.

BossArky

Tuesday Sept 21st: Hill Sprints

2x5 up a nice grassy hill

BossArky

Wednesday Sept 21st: Squat

Squat (no belt, no wrist wraps)
20kg – 1x5
20kg – 1x5
60kg – 1x5
80kg – 3x8

SLDL
20kg – 1x5
50kg – 1x5
70kg – 3x8
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Got through the above nicely in 25-30 mins. Fine.

BossArky

Thursday 22nd: Shoulders & Gunz.

Military Press
20kg – 1x5
41kg – 3x8

Barbell Curl
30kg – 3x8
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Good quick one.