Building The Beast

[BeastBuilder]

Nice writeup Jackson. You still natty?

Thanks. Bit of a personal question considering I don't know you don't you think mate ?

Great write up. Thats some impressive strength there mate. Unreal.

Thanks man, hoping to keep improving as the year goes on !

Strong yourself bro, I have been lurking even though not posting over last year or so, you've made some good progress !

[maccaz]

In.

[BeastBuilder]

19/06

Friday - Deadlift Day

Beltless Deadlift > 3 sets of 15 - 150kg

Beltless Front Squat > 80x10, 100x8, 120x6, 100x15

Smith Machine Romanians > 1ppsx12, 3 sets of 12 - 1.5pps

Hammer Strength Seated Leg Curl > 2plx15, 3 sets of 12 - 3pl

Straight Arm Pulldowns > 3 sets of 25 - 14pl

Kneeling Cable Ab Pulldowns/Reverse Crunch > 4 sets of 25/25 - 16pl/Bodyweight

Good session today, the high volume is feeling good as. Prior to Nats the highest reps I was going on main movements was like 6s so these high reps are awesome, I'm a sucker for punishment ! Obviously it's light as but just working on building up that condition and growing some muscle to build up weak points, and look jacked as fuark lol.

Dat Glute pump feel was legit today. It sick.

[BeastBuilder]

21/06

Bench Day

Close Grip Bench Press > 2 sets of 15 - 92.5kg

Wide Grip Incline Bench Press > 80x12, 100x10, 110x8, 90x12, 90x12

Meadows Rows > 2plx20, 4 sets of 12 - 3pl

Low Incline DB Flys > 15x20, 22.5x15, 30x12, 35x10/17.5x6

Close Neutral Grip Pulldowns > 90x15, 4 sets of 12 - 110kg

End of the first week of programme (Pre Conditioning Week). Feel good overall, enjoying the faster paced sessions with more reps, just focusing on the muscles and ingraining perfect reps than trying to shift maximal weight. Targetting a few weak points so will see how we go over the next few weeks in the Conditioning Phase.

[BeastBuilder]

22/06

Squat Day

Squat > 3 sets of 15 - 120kg

Speed Deficit Deadlifts > 4 sets of 5 - 127.5kg

Walking DB Lunges/Leg Extension > 4 sets of 2 Lengths(28-30 steps)/25 - 30kg/70kg

Smith Machine Squats > Emptyx20, 0.5ppsx20, 1ppsx20/0.5ppsx10/Emptyx10

Cable Ab Pulldowns/Hanging Knee Raise > 4 sets of 25/25 - 90kg/Bodyweight

Good session yesterday, Legs are definitely feeling it today, am fucked walking around at work, people are used to it by now haha.

Good volume on couple compounds, rests were short as hell, basically buddy buddy the entire time. Lunges, Extensions and SM Squats were all done with max time under tension style, really dragging out the tension, stretching and squeezing hard as. Had to lie down for a bit after the dropset to be fair lol.

Rest day today, will jump on the bike for 25 minutes or so at home, easy as and I feel like a bit of cardio couple times a week is definitely beneficial for strength athletes for a few reasons but that's a whole nother topic, might start a discussion on it at a later date, don't have time or mental capacity atm after bugger all sleep last night haha

[maccaz]

Rest day today, will jump on the bike for 25 minutes or so at home, easy as and I feel like a bit of cardio couple times a week is definitely beneficial for strength athletes for a few reasons but that's a whole nother topic, might start a discussion on it at a later date, don't have time or mental capacity atm after bugger all sleep last night haha

 

 

in on this, any evidence that will encourage me to do cardio is appreciated lol.

 

how come you are doing high rep squats at the moment? Im sure its for good reason and beneficial, just curious. definitely good for mental toughness i reckon!

[BeastBuilder]

in on this, any evidence that will encourage me to do cardio is appreciated lol.

how come you are doing high rep squats at the moment? Im sure its for good reason and beneficial, just curious. definitely good for mental toughness i reckon!

I wouldn't call my opinion evidence bro, I base it all off of anecdotal evidence/trial and error by me and a bit of common sense lol. Won't see me quoting any studies/articles or the like as personally I would rather see stuff work in real scenarios for myself and others before I believe in it.

I definitely wouldn't treat it as gospel anyway.

In saying that I will post about it at some stage as I think it's a really interesting subject that majority of people have the wrong ideas about (I used to be one of them)

The high rep squats are cos what my coach puts on paper I do haha.

Nah but srs he programmed in a conditioning phase for last week and the next three weeks then a strength/repeak for six weeks before starting an eleven week build up to ProRaw. So just trusting his methodology as he hasn't failed me yet !

From what we've discussed it's basically to give the mind/body/cns a break from the heavy lifting day in day out and to help work on mobility/weak points.

I enjoy hitting heavy PBs etc but I also love training for disgusting pumps and pushing myself past breaking point on higher volume sessions so I just see it as variation. Still helps towards progressing forwards.

Also, with Quads for example, over the last couple weeks doing more volume/time under tension style stuff I swear my legs look fuller/more sweep/couple deeper lines while my joints are feeling awesome so winning in both respects.

[Realtalk]

Maccas...

Cardio - basically the fitter you are the better your body works. More blood flow equals more growth and better recovery. Too much cardio though will be detrimental to what you are trying to achieve in powerlifting. So it's about finding that equilibrium or right amount so to speak. It's abit old school and unhealthy to believe that cardio is evil and will make you small and weak. But call it conditioning and people will get excited and do it lol. I think the term cardio is unspecific and conditioning would be specific to what you are doing. But essentially it's the same thing getting the heart rate up. Personally I just go for walk up a big hill once or twice a week depending how I feel.

BB - good log mate, I enjoy reading this. I like the journals with abit of blog and opinion entry rather than just a bunch of sets and reps. Keep it up mate it's interesting.

[maccaz]

Maccas...

Cardio - basically the fitter you are the better your body works. More blood flow equals more growth and better recovery. Too much cardio though will be detrimental to what you are trying to achieve in powerlifting. So it's about finding that equilibrium or right amount so to speak. It's abit old school and unhealthy to believe that cardio is evil and will make you small and weak. But call it conditioning and people will get excited and do it lol. I think the term cardio is unspecific and conditioning would be specific to what you are doing. But essentially it's the same thing getting the heart rate up. Personally I just go for walk up a big hill once or twice a week depending how I feel.

 

 

chur just common sense really. main improvement iv noticed since adding it in is big reduction in next day soreness, added bonus 

[BeastBuilder]

That's pretty much the basics of my views on Cardio too. Just common sense as you say.

Doesn't need to be rocket science.

Thanks for the feedback btw lads, I can't hold myself to just posting numbers and sets etc, way too boring and I'm always thinking too much to not write/say it.

What's the point in a forum if that was all anyone did ? Can't have much of a discussion that way lol

[BeastBuilder]

24/06

Bench Day

Bench Press > 4 sets of 15 - 90kg

Strict Standing Press > 40x20, 60x12, 80x5, 95x5, 80x10+5 Push Press

Yates Barbell Row > 60x20, 100x15, 3 sets of 12 - 120kg

Incline DB Press/DB Pullovers > 35x20/20x20, 45x20/20x20, 2 sets of 10/20 - 55kg/20kg

Plate Loaded Hoist Pulldown > 2ppsx20, 3ppsx20, 2 sets of 15 - 3pps

Still on dat high rep feel, chest was burning not even benching two plates lol. All reps are my comp style and paused so tight as and ends up being an awesome chest work out within just the first 10 minutes !

Did the Overhead Press challenge today, got 95kg, which for me is awesome, last time I tried to do standing pressing I hardly got 80kg for reps haha. For pressing for Delts I usually do variations like Seated DBs, Smith Behind The Neck, Bradford, Klokov etc since plain pressing I was always shit at and I never got much growth response from. Probably because I trained it wrong/wasn't that into it but still other stuff worked better for whatever reason so stick with what works I guess.

All other accessories were done with a big focus on tension, pretty much how I train most accessories hence no really amazing weights being moved but I'd rather get more out of less weight than stroke my ego chucking around an extra couple plates and not growing any more than I can using less weight safer.

Mint session overall, solid pump, felt jacked. Winning.

[BeastBuilder]

25/06

Delts & Arms

Delt/Arm Circuit

4 rounds - 30 reps each

DB Tate Press-15kg ~ Standing DB Curls-15kg ~ Standing Side Raise-10kg ~ Blue Band Pull Aparts

Delts Circuit

3 rounds - 20 reps each

Chest Support Rear Raise-10kg ~ Incline Side Raise-12.5kg ~ Smith Behind The Head Press-5kg/side ~ Close Grip Upright Row-30kg

Tris Circuit

4 rounds - 30 reps each

Pressdowns-40kg ~ Close Bench Press Ups-BW ~ Cable Bar Extensions-40kg ~ Blue Band Pressdowns

Bis Circuit

4 rounds - 25 reps each

Hoist Machine Curls-10pl ~ DB Hammer Curls-20kg ~ Bar Cable Curls-25kg

Holy f*ck... The pump is real...

Reading that Maccaz tried out my old high rep routines made me wanna get back into it haha. Second week back at it, feels so good !

So yea just put together a couple of circuits as I find these the easiest and best way to build up good numbers of reps plus get disgusting pumps.

My arms when I last measured with Shane before Nationals were 19" cold, I swear they must be dam close to breaking 20" pumped during these sessions cos it literally hurts, feels like my skin is ripping lolol.

Had some veins across my Triceps today for the first time ever so I was pretty excited about that, inb4 stfu phaggot.

Anyway good flow in the session today, had couple lads to train with again so the circuits ran together real well and we just got in and put in the work.

[maccaz]

mean, those are good circuits

 

il try arms thing again on sunday, will post review lol

[BeastBuilder]

mean, those are good circuits

il try arms thing again on sunday, will post review lol

Use these as a guide if you want bro but I guarantee I'll be doing different exercises next week. More the overall volume/feel/pumo I find is important rather than specific exercises on days like this.

I just look around, see what's free and make it up on the spot usually.

Everyone has their go-to exercises for certain muscle groups though so if you find something you really enjoy, feel really well in the target muscle etc then you always end up throwing it in somewhere.

1,500 total reps today so happy with the workload atm.

[maccaz]

Use these as a guide if you want bro but I guarantee I'll be doing different exercises next week. More the overall volume/feel/pumo I find is important rather than specific exercises on days like this.

I just look around, see what's free and make it up on the spot usually.

Everyone has their go-to exercises for certain muscle groups though so if you find something you really enjoy, feel really well in the target muscle etc then you always end up throwing it in somewhere.

1,500 total reps today so happy with the workload atm.

yeah nah agree i usually will bounce between whats free as well. you try alternate set to set bicep/tricep normally or do them seperately? eg 5 sets bi, 5 sets tri? 

[BeastBuilder]

yeah nah agree i usually will bounce between whats free as well. you try alternate set to set bicep/tricep normally or do them seperately? eg 5 sets bi, 5 sets tri?

Either way works bro. Mix it up and see what you prefer.

Before Nationals I was doing Bi/Tri supersets or Tri/Bi. Have just started these last week so will jam them for a bit as am liking them. But will probably change it up sometime.

[BeastBuilder]

26/06

Deadlift Day

Deadlift > 4 sets of 8 - 145kg

Squat > 3 sets of 12 - 112.5kg

Front Squat > 60x10, 100x5, 130x6, 100x20

Romanians > 60x15, 4 sets of 12 - 100kg

Straight Arm Pulldowns > 3 sets of 25 - 55kg

DB Decline Sit Ups > BWx30, 4 sets of 20 - 25kg

Primo sessions today, smashed it all out with bugger all rest, body feeling sick.

All my compound movements are beltless at this stage, all light as. Ceebs writing beltless etc every workout, will add belt back in during my Strength Phase when the weights get reasonable again.

Front Squat has always been a weakness for me so am guna work it pretty hard over the next while and aim to get strong as on it, should carry over to my main lifts. A heavy set and a "widowmaker" set to separate the men from the boys haha. Guna make these legs into tree trunks to hit a big Squat at ProRaw. Always been my weakest lift comparatively so keen to hit something massive.

Definitely feeling bigger atm, muscles are loving the higher volume.

Am starting a new diet plan on Sunday to try add some quality size so can't wait for that, more food is always a plus !

Cheat night tonight, already balls deep and still hungus as fuark so guna be a heavy as motherfucker in the morning lolol

[BeastBuilder]

28/06

Bench Day

Close Grip Bench > 4 sets of 15 - 85kg

Strict Overhead Press > 60x12, 85x6, 102.5x4....

Wide Grip Incline Bench > 60x15, 100x10, 125x8, 100x12, 100x12

One Arm Seated Cable Row > 40x20, 4 sets of 12 - 55kg

Bent Over High Cable Flys > 4plx30, 6plx30, 8plx25, 10plx20

Wide Neutral Pulldowns > 100x15, 115x15, 130x12, 130x12

Dam Overhead Press got the better of me today lol.

Everything else felt mint but yea decided to try for another last minute entry in the challenge, got 102.5kg for 4 and a bit reps, some choice words were said on the missed rep so will leave the video out of it haha.

The Wide Incline is feeling sick, definitely going to help hitting some heavier weights when I go back to Flat Bench.

Upper body is looking thicker from the extra volume so no complaints here, can't wait to see how it all translates strength wise later in the year (aiming to join the 200 bench club, fingers crossed)

[BeastBuilder]

29/06

Squat Day

Squat > 3 sets of 20 - 127.5kg

Deficit Deads > 3 sets of 5 - 142.5kg

Walking KB Lunges/KB Squats > 2 sets of 36/15 - 20kg each hand

Leg Press > 4ppsx40, 6ppsx40, 8ppsx40, 5ppsx52/x28 (10 sec Rest Pause Final Set)

Leg Extension > 6 sets of 25 - Stack+20kg (20 secs rest each set)

Ab Rollouts/Swiss Ball Sit Ups > 4 sets of 20/20 - BW

Holy pump batman... Ggwp walking tomorrow, she's guna be a rough morning !

The Squats first up were legit, royally fucked me up. Haven't done 20 rep squats in a looooongg time. One of those things you have to love though ! And after that it was all downhill from there.

Deads felt quick as, even with a disgusting lower back pump from the squats.

The accessories were stupidly high paced, nearly had to make a trip to the bathroom but kept it down lol. This is what happens when I'm left to train Legs by myself.

Was planning on doing some Hacks after the Deads but some Betasaurus Rex was busy half repping two plates so made do with the Lunges/Squat combo, worked out better than expected !

First session at Hastings Fitness Centre, definitely rate it as a gym, love the warehouse feel and no fucks given as long as you there to put in the work. Reminded me of the old Eastside back home.

[Skeletor]

Lol the pump would have been real after 3 x 20 squats.

[BeastBuilder]

Lol the pump would have been real after 3 x 20 squats.

Oh hell yeah brooo !! It was nasty. Took a bit of mental toughness to get under the bar again for the last sets. Funny how my vids of the sets got longer (1st Set was only a minute, third was best part of two). Way too fucked lol

30/06 AM Session

Rear Delts/Calves/Cardio

Face Pulls > 5 sets of 40 - 30kg

Chest Support Rear Raise/Rear Row > 5 sets of 20/20 - 10kg

Seated Calf Raise > 10 sets of 20 - 2plates

Standing Calf Raise > 5 sets of 30 - 1pps

Spin Bike > 15 minutes - Reasonable Pace

So decided to chuck in a little extra work this morning with my cardio, body is feeling good and might as well work on weak points as much as possible while I can focus on them.

Going to be doing double sessions each day while I'm up in Hawkes Bay cos got bugger all else to do when lil sis is at kindy in the morning and let's me add a bit more volume for a few days, given that it's a conditioning phase got no reason not to.

Will head back tonight to hit some Lats then will figure out what I'm doing over the next couple days around what Tom has programmed in.

Edit:Forgot to mention walked around quite a bit this morning as dropped the car off for some new tyres etc so walked to and from gym (about 15 minutes each way) hence why I did a bit less cardio than usual, already done a couple kms just walking.

[BeastBuilder]

30/06 PM Session

Upper Back

Medium Underhand Grip Pulldowns > 55x30, 82x20, 100x12, Stackx10, Stackx10, 90x18 (Wide Grip)

Bent Arm Barbell Pullover > 70x15, 80x15, 90x15, 100x15 (Fixed bars weighted in lbs)

Seated Row > 82x20, 100x15, Stackx12, Stackx12/90x8

Straight Arm Rope Pulldowns > 77x25, 105x20, 130x20, 150x15 (Must have had like four pulleys inside the cable stand, no way I usually do anywhere near this weight)

Hammer Strength Low Row > 3 sets of 25 - 2pps

So went and trained at Flex Fitness tonight as I had gotten a couple free three day passes so thought I might as well try it out while I'm here.

Way too shiny/commercial for me lol. After the supplement store chick raved about it I had high expectations, but it was basically just a Snap/Anytime Fitness rebranded and different colours..

Equipment was okay, had Hammer Strength gear which was a plus but that was basically all it had going for it. Atmosphere was nil. Bright disco lights all over the show, top 40 playing loud as (Thank god for headphones) and everyone looker at me like I was a monstrosity and they were disgusted haha. I mean sure they probably don't see someone with triple digit bodyweight and single digit bodyfat often but dam people I'm just here for the same reasons as you !

Equipment was nice and new though so the cables etc were smooth as, stacks were a bit small but probably more than enough for their target audience.

Good session overall though, pump was sick, Lats feel awesome right now ! Haven't done a big back session like that in awhile and loved it.

[BeastBuilder]

1/07 AM Session

Bench Day

Incline Fly Press/DB Press > 20x12/x12, 25x12/x12, 30x12/x12, 35x12/x12, 42x10/x10

Low-High Cable Flys > 15x15, 20x15, 3 sets of 15 - 25kg

Huh Style Low Incline Smith Press > 1ppsx15, 2ppsx12, 2.5ppsx10/1ppsx12

Bench Press > 3 sets of 15 - 92.5kg

Bit of a backwards session today but worked out really well in the end !

Had the Bench numbers programmed and I would usually start with this then go onto the Accessories but both benches were taken up by a group of people, who later introduced themselves to me as PLers so that was cool, but I didn't want to interrupt so I hit my Chest work first then did Bench. Chest was wrecked by the time I got on the Bench but still got all the reps in easy and was a nice change.

The Jason Huh inspired Smith Press was awesome, I'd never done it like that before, barely done any Smith Pressing tbh but it raped the chesticles. It was basically constant tension, stopping just shy of my chest at the bottom and about 3/4 of the way up. Bar path was a lot higher up than I usually do as well which stretched the Chest like nothing else. Would definitely recommend adequate shoulder mobility before trying this though otherwise it'll destroy them.

Good to meet a couple of the lads up here who seem pretty strong and keen on training.

Back in tonight to do some Bis/Tris. Can't wait haha

[BeastBuilder]

1/07 PM Session

Guns Demolition

Standing Overhead DB Extension/DB Curl > 3 sets of 30/20 - 15kg DBs

Rope Pressdowns/Cable Curls > 10 sets of 35/25 - 40kg/30kg

Smith Skull Crushers/Drag Curls > 10 sets of 35/20 - 32.5kg/30kg

The gains gods are on my side atm, it sick. Arms were fucking dickskin central tonight, could almost pass off as a bodybuilder (almost, just need to look at myself in the mirror a bit more often lol) Sick workout. Pretty basic exercise wise but some killer volume and was bugger all rest in between sets.

Loving being able to hit training hard as this week, nice wee shock to the body, probably perfect time to do it too with the conditioning phase, will really up my recover ability etc for when it comes time to go heavy again.

High Rep Deads, Squats and some decent Front Squats in the morning, really looking forward to this session tbh, keen to thrash the high rep Fronts and make myself into a man haha.

Mt Bicepius checking out.

[BeastBuilder]

2/07 AM Session

Deadlift

Deadlift > 3 sets of 10 - 157.5kg

Squat > 3 sets of 10 - 140kg

Front Squat > 60x12, 100x6, 140x6, 110x12

Reverse Hacks > 4 sets of 12 - 2pps

GHR > 4 sets of 10 - BW

Lower back officially hates me.. We have a love hate relationship, I love it cos it lets me pick up heavy shit but it hates me cos I never give it a break haha.

Good session today though, still no belt/wraps etc on my big movements, just sleeves with the high reps. Still feeling strong.

Deads and Squats felt good, am using a high bar position and a bit closer stance on squats to give my shoulders and hips a bit of a break, working well so far and still hitting the reps smooth as.

Front Squat I'm pretty sure is a PB, without a belt it is anyway. Felt like I probly had 8-10 in me but am keeping it to 6s at this stage as I work up.

Had a blast from the past today, made me miss Eastside. Old school Hack Squat that I could do Reverse Hacks on and a GHR that was put together well. I was loving it. Almost brought a tear to my eye hahaha.

Posterior Chain feels indestructible. Can't wait to pull something stoopid heavy later in the year !

Delts tonight, come at me boulders !