I have no idea what's going on anymore.

[ThePman]

I could probably still rock a sloppy single with 40, maybe 45.

Weighted chins are another thing that has gone to crap the last few years, though. Moving countries plus a string of injuries and a lot of rehab work doesn't make for good lifting on anything.

Right now I'm just easing back into them like everything else.

[ThePman]

I may actually be better. I haven't coughed up anything nasty-looking today and the sinuses seem to be cooperating. Workout was much better as well.

Power cleans, 60x3, 70x3, 80x2, 90x2 @7-8, 95 2x2 @8

DL, 140x3 (hook), 150x3 (hook), 175x3 (hook), 197x5 @8 (not hooked)

Chin-fagging, +10 3x5, 3x3

25' light tempo ride on the bike since my lungs are functioning again

Everything felt much better this week.

[rose]

.

[ThePman]

No thank you.

Pushed Wednesday's workout to today because...well, no real reason. At least I did it.

Front Squats, 60x5, 70x5, 80x5 @8ish

Box SQ, 95x5 @7, 105x5 @8, 115x5 @8

Incline BP, 60x6, 70x5, 85 2x5 @8ish

1A. DB row, 50 2x8

1B. side raises, 10 2x10

2A. Hammer curl, 15 2x10

2B. DB extension, 15 2x10

HIIT on the bike, 5x 15:45, 20' total

Quad is feeling a ton better. Was getting a nice kinda-painful stretch feeling on the front squats, but not an "about to tear" hurt. More like a "scar tissue breaking up and ROM being restored" kinda hurt.

[rose]

Hey ummm, Bro, I was wondering if you knew whether barbell curlz are better than dumbbell curlz for turning on mTORs? I was thinking dumbbell curlz would be better? One side at a time stylez, to get like, more of a momentum swing happening? :think:

[ThePman]

Oh my. ur mT0Rz need moar cables

Surprisingly good session today despite a little boozin' with Diana's family yesterday. But it's the holidays, so what's it hurt?

Concentric GMs (bar about navel-high), 100x5, 110x5 @8, 115x5 @8, 120x5 @8ish

alternated with a few sets of seated calf raises just because

Chin-fagging, +10x5, +20x3, +30x2, +40 2x1

Close-grip BP w/ 2" fatbar, 80 2x6 @8ish

BB curlz w/ 2" fatbar, 30x6, 35x6, 40x5

Tempo ride on the bike, 7x60:60 rounds, 20' total

Concentric GMs are nice, with that killer first rep and all the rest of them easier. Hard to rate these on the RPE scale because of that.

Chin-fagging was a little sloppy on the 40kg reps, but sloppy back work is strong back work so who cares.

The 2" fatbar is actually a set of fat gripz that my folks sent me down for Chrimmus. Not a bad little gimmick for a cheap-o piece of rubber, and it's a nice change of pace as far as the grip goes. Will definitely keep this stuff in the rotation.

[ThePman]

Lifting today:

DL, warmups, 165x5 (hook grip), 185x3 (hook), 207.5x3 @9ish

Chins, +10kg 4x5, 2x3

Conditioning:

KB 16kg Clean & Press 2x8 + 45* Back Raise x12 (3 rounds)

Interval build-up ride on the bike, 15' total

KB 20kg RDL x10 + Swing x10 (3 rounds)

[steak]

Just finished your book - thanks for a great read and some thought provoking material :clap:Probably the wrong place to ask a dumb question but im good a sticking my hoof in my gob n stuff and dont want to make a public debate over it

One thing...Time under Tension...did I get the impression that a long slow controlled rep is nowhere near as effective in a muscle/strength building perspective than an explosive controlled press for example. I am more of a explosive lifter myself 8)

[ThePman]

NYE workout:

Front Squats, 65x5, 75x5, 85x5 @7

BoxSQ, 100x5, 110x5, 120x5 @8

Incline BP, 85 2x5, 1x3

some arms crap

20' interval build-up ride

[ThePman]

Just finished your book - thanks for a great read and some thought provoking material :clap:Probably the wrong place to ask a dumb question but im good a sticking my hoof in my gob n stuff and dont want to make a public debate over it

One thing...Time under Tension...did I get the impression that a long slow controlled rep is nowhere near as effective in a muscle/strength building perspective than an explosive controlled press for example. I am more of a explosive lifter myself 8)

meh I don't mind questions

RE: the TUT thing - the issue as I see it is that both "methods" are effective and if you're looking to grow, you probably need some of both. Heavy, explosive-style training is what I see as a foundation - pretty much everbody will benefit from doing the basic lifts and doing them "for strength".

Common knowledge personal-trainer-school wisdom has it that training for size and strength are different things - but they aren't. The biggest guys you'll ever find are also the strongest (that doesn't always mean 1RM strength, like a PLer, but there's certainly a ton of overlap). That's not a coincidence.

There's also nothing that says you can't or shouldn't use lighter "bodybuilding" methods to add extra volume after heavy lifting, and I think that the stronger/bigger you get, the more this makes sense and the greater % of your workout this should become. Which is one reason I think it's hilarious to see people here suggest that 60kg beginners follow body-part splits and supersetting exercises and all that crap. Lift to get strong, and you're lifting to get big. Worry about the superficial crap once you've added some size.

The only thing that really matters is that you're progressing in strength (even if that means adding reps/sets vs. just piling on more weight), and that you're working "heavy enough" from the get-go.

[steak]

Happy New Year

Thanks Matt...sums it about as how I figured it 8)

[ThePman]

Happy 2010! Still no flying cars.

Lifted today (the 2nd)

GMs, 100x6, 110 2x6, 100x6

Chins, +10x3, +20x3, +30 2x3, +20 2x5

did some CG BP and curlz with the fat gripz, for a few sets of 8 on each

Long tempo ride on the bike, 20' total

[runveerun]

Happy 2010! Still no flying cars.

There are flying machines though! Happy New Year Pman! :grin:

[ThePman]

Liftin' for Monday:

Front SQ, 65x5, 75x5, 85x8 @8

Incline BP, 85 2x5, 4x3

DB tricep extensions, 3x10

Incline treadmill, 13' steep

Bike, 12' easy tempo ride

Front squats made the quad tingle a bit, but it passed. DB extensions made the R elbow tendinitis flare up pretty badly so I had to cut those a little short.

[ThePman]

Weds the 6th

DL, 100x5, 140x5 (first three hooked), 160x5 (first three hooked), 187.5x8 @8

Chins, +10kg 2x5, 2x3

BB curlz w/ fat gripz, 2x6

Warmup was feeling a bit dodgy all over on the DLs, even though the main set at 187.5 flew up. I'd have gotten 12+ reps with that set had I pushed it out. Big improvement from 185 last cycle.

After that I was pretty well tanked. Chins felt far too heavy, so I cut them back. They were probably due a deload anyway, what with this being the start of a new cycle. Did a few sets of fatbar curlz just to round it out, and I was done.

Had planned an interval bike ride, but I wasn't about to add that on with a sub-par workout performance. No biggie.

[ThePman]

Friday the 8th

Box SQ, 105x5, 115x5, 125x5 @8

BP, 72.5x5, 82.5x5, 95x8 @8-9

Close-grips w/ fat bar, 60x8, 65x8, 70x8

Bike intervals, 8x20:40

Inclined as hell treadmill for 10 minutes

Energy much better today. Box Squats are still pain free, though I was getting some IT band twitches on my left side (not the hurt side fortunately). Gonna have to watch that, cause that's when the right quad tore.

This is the first time I've full-ROM flat-benched in a few years. I'm using Wendler's 531 numbers to program this and being very conservative with the 1RM value. I'm hoping that the higher reps and keeping the form very very tight will let me improve on this a little without wrecking up my shoulders. This may end up being a very bad idea but I want to see what happens.

[ThePman]

Monday the 11th

Power Cleans, 60x3, 70x3, 80x3, 90x3, 95x3

GMs, 60x8, 70x8, 80x8, 90x8

Chins, +10x3, +20x3, +30x3, +35x2, +20 2x5

Pullups, 1x10

Back raises/hypers, 1x25

Weight's still hanging on at 89kg.

I had to ghetto up the cleans since the actual platform was being used. We've got bumper plates but I had to do the controlled drop on all these reps. They felt strong regardless.

[Old Bull]

Nice name for the Journal :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap:

[ThePman]

I gotta keep myself motivated. It's too easy to get distracted

[steak]

solid work going on :clap:

[ThePman]

Gracias.

Just for the sake of having it on paper, I wrote down my tentative plan to pull 275/605 lbs before the end of the year.

Chasing 605

[steak]

Looks like a nice simple stratergy. Look'n forward to the progress 8)

[ohjoshua]

I read your plan. Sounds quite through.

Good luck with it... I reckon if you can better SS then you will be doing alright.

[ThePman]

Day 2 - 1/13/10

Front Squat - 1RM: 127

70 x 3 reps @ 7 RPE - 55% of 1RM

80 x 3 reps @ 7 RPE - 63% of 1RM

90 x 6 reps @ 8 RPE - 71% of 1RM

Incline Bench - 1RM: 115

85 x 5 reps x 4 sets @ 8 RPE - 74% of 1RM

85 x 4 reps x 2 sets @ 8 RPE - 74% of 1RM

Finished up with 5 sets of pushdowns. Too damn tired and stale-feeling for any cardio.

[ThePman]

Day 3 - 1/15/10

Deadlift - 1RM: 250 kg

155 kg x 3 reps @ 7 RPE - 62% of 1RM

177.5 kg x 3 reps @ 7 RPE - 71% of 1RM

200 kg x 6 reps @ 8 RPE - 80% of 1RM

Chinups - 1RM: 135 kg

100 kg x 5 reps @ 8 RPE - 74% of 1RM

100 kg x 5 reps @ 9 RPE - 74% of 1RM

100 kg x 5 reps @ 10 RPE - 74% of 1RM

Finished out with fat bar curls for lots of triples and one rest-pause set at the top.

200x6 was an 8, but definitely a hard 8 pushing the border of a 9. I would have gotten at least one more rep without question and 2-3 more would have been very likely. I'm pleased, given these are b being done completely raw, without even a belt on. I'm not sure I was putting up these kinds of unbelted numbers a few years ago at my strongest, so this is definitely a good sign.

Tried to play with some hook gripping on the way up, but there's some kind of weird puffiness or sprain or something in my right ring finger and it's been making grip on that side tricky for the last several weeks. It doesn't mix well with hooking.

Something about this workout is really wiping me out. The top sets of deadlifts are fine; they're tough, but nothing that feels like it should be knocking me out. I just have no gas in the tank after, so my chin-fagging suffers and I definitely don't feel like any cardio. Oh well.