Adarq.org

So I've been working consistently for just under 5 months now, so perhaps it's time to take stock of progress.

Starting Stats
BW - 76kg
Squat - 70kg x 4
Front Squat - 50kg x 5
Deadlift - 90kg x 2
Bench - 60kg x 1
OHP - 30kg x 8
Chins - BW x 5

Current Stats
BW - 84kg
Squat - 112.5kg x 3 [done 13-06-17]
Front Squat - 97.5kg x 3
Deadlift - 130kg x 4 [done at RPE~8 most recently]
Bench - 87.5kg x 4
OHP - 57.5kg x 3
Chins - +15kg x 4

So that's 8kg gained in 5 months. Some amount of that is likely due to creatine. I'll measure my waist in the morning, too, to see if that's changed much. https://www.strongerbyscience.com/realistic-training-goals/ suggests 3kg of lean mass in one's first three months as an average: "a “normal” range [for beginners] from .5kg/1lb per month to 2kg/4lbs per month." So I've probably hit the middle of that pretty well, which is pleasing.

Lifts are all near the best they've ever been. I checked back through old logs and my OHP PR is 60kgx1, which I should definitely be able to match or beat. I never repped 100kg on bench, so I reckon I'm at my peak there too. Squats less good, but lower body stuff has been impaired by occasional lower back pain. However, I'm happy with how I'm managing that and expect I will be at lifetime PR levels for that in the near future. I think my FS best was around 110x3, which I'll be at pretty soon.

According to symmetricstrength.com I'm at intermediate ("the lifter has been consistently training, likely for at least a year") on everything and all my lifts are fairly well in line with each other.

I would love to get to "proficient" by the end of the year.

Went through a lot of stress in this period with a horrendously intense final term of university where I had to take 24 hours of exams + job searching and whatnot, so all things considered I think this progress is pretty good going. Mental state-wise I'm having a really great time training and looking forward to sticking with it.

I'm going on a 10ish day holiday soon, retuning early August. I'll be training with a good buddy a few times during that span, maybe trying out maxes on some of the upper body lifts. After I return I think I'll commit to a cut. I'm not substantially fluffier than when I started working out again, but I'm now at a decent level muscularity and strength and think I could feel a lot better getting down to 75-78kg. I've never successfully got particularly lean in the past, but I've grown up rather a lot since previous training periods and the fact that I am a decent cook nowadays will make life a lot easier. I'm actually quite excited to try this out. If I cut at about .75kg/week then it should be about a 10 week cut. I think doing it now makes sense, because I'm probably still at the point where I can cut moderately aggressively and still make decent progress on gym lifts.

Anyway, glad to be back here and back in the gym. 

Quote from: Joe on July 13, 2017, 09:54:58 am

Quote from: acole14 on July 12, 2017, 10:28:07 pm

Devil's advocate: http://www.rdlfitness.com/avoid-face-pulls/

I also prefer heavy seated rows tbh.

This article seems like bunkum to me, to be honest.

"A standard cue for the face pull is to keep the elbows higher than the wrists" -- I have literally never heard this cue for a facepull, that seems to be literally the opposite idea? Also the premiss that all overhead movement is dangerous seems kinda whacko.

The nonsense claims about avoiding the movement since it doesn't use your lats is also way out there? What are they even trying to say? "Imagine that you had to pull something as hard as possible to save the life of a loved one. You would not perform a face pull." This logic rules out like 95% of what people do [safely...] in the gym (and, contrary to their earlier logic, probably brings back in the overhead press..).

There is perhaps more legitimacy to the claim about avoiding loading a muscle near it's end range, but I think in general PTs only are concerned about this when the load only begins when you're in the end rage, rather than moving through a full movement and ending there.

Yeah some of the points are a bit confusing. The 'life depending on it' is irrelevant for sure. But i don't think that negates the other arguments about shoulder impingement. I've had my PT say to avoid that exercise and to do seated row or TRX floor pullups, but my left shoulder gets impinged easily from sprints. I just seemed to recall you also having shoulder issues as well, that's why I mentioned it.

Unrelated, but were you doing the N-Suns 5/3/1 program at some point? I kind of like the look of 5/3/1.

Yeah, my left shoulder sometimes gets a bit funky, but it has actually been totally fine for a long while now.

I've been running N-Suns 5/3/1 since the 31st of March and love it, no intention of stopping any time soon. It's a lot of pressing volume and the workouts can be very tough, but the scope for doing what you like with accessories and the AMRAPs make it loads of fun.

Devil's advocate: http://www.rdlfitness.com/avoid-face-pulls/

I also prefer heavy seated rows tbh.

This article seems like bunkum to me, to be honest.

"A standard cue for the face pull is to keep the elbows higher than the wrists" -- I have literally never heard this cue for a facepull, that seems to be literally the opposite idea? Also the premiss that all overhead movement is dangerous seems kinda whacko.

The nonsense claims about avoiding the movement since it doesn't use your lats is also way out there? What are they even trying to say? "Imagine that you had to pull something as hard as possible to save the life of a loved one. You would not perform a face pull." This logic rules out like 95% of what people do [safely...] in the gym (and, contrary to their earlier logic, probably brings back in the overhead press..).

There is perhaps more legitimacy to the claim about avoiding loading a muscle near it's end range, but I think in general PTs only are concerned about this when the load only begins when you're in the end rage, rather than moving through a full movement and ending there.

12-07-17

Chins
BW x 5, 5

OHP
Bar x 6
35 x 3
45 x 5
50 x 3
57.5 x 3 [+2.5kg, -1 rep...FUCK YES!]
55 x 3
50 x 3
47.5 x 5
45 x 5
42.5 x 5
40 x 8

Incline Bench
40 x 6
50 x 5
57.5 x 3, 5, 7, 4, 6, 8

Dips
BW x 13, 11, 10, 9

Cable Lateral Raise
5.7 x 11
3.4 x 18, 15, 12

Facepulls
12.5 x 17, 16, 16, 16, 15

Hammer Curls
14 x 11, 10, 8

Machine Preacher Curls
27 x 10, 10
23 x 12

Notes

Fucking thrilled with OHP. Brought dips back since elbow has felt ace, and they're fun.

10-07-17

Bench
Bar x 10
40 x 6
60 x 8
70 x 6
77.5 x 4, 4, 4
75 x 5
70x 5
65 x 6
60 x 12

SS1A Chins
BW x 5
+15 x 4, 4, 4
+10 x 5, 4, 4
BW x 8, 6

SS1B OHP
30 x 6
40 x 3
45 x 3, 5, 7, 4, 6
40 x 6

DB Row
30 x 10, 10, 10
22 x 14

DB Incline Bench
22 x 16, 13, 10

SS2A Hammer Curls
14 x 13, 11, 10

SS2B PJR Pullover
22 x 15, 15, 15

DB Lateral Raise
9 x 14, 12, 12, 11

Pallof Press
12.5 x 10, 10, 10, 10

Notes

Solid workout. All the bench stuff was fairly easy, unsurprisingly. Had a heavy drinking night on Saturday, but otherwise ate well and plenty on the weekend, which isn't always the case.

Felt very, very breathless during this workout for some reason. Needed longer than usual to catch my breath between sets. Usually I'm ready to go on accessory stuff after like 45 seconds, but just not the case today. Probably just random off day in that regard rather than something to be concerned about.

06-07-17

Deadlift
60 x 8
80 x 6
100 x 6
110 x 6
120 x 5
130 x 4, 3
110 x 7

Front Squat
60 x 3
70 x 3, 5, 7, 4, 6, 8 [quads just dead, still]

Chins
BW x 10, 8, 7, 6

Narrow+Neutral Grip Lat Pulldowns
59 x 9, 8
45 x 14, 13

Wide Grip Lat Pulldown
39 x 15, 15, 15

Neutral Grip Cable Row
52 x 8
45 x 10, 10

DB Seal Row
16 x 10, 10, 10

Back Extensions
BW x some, some, some

Notes

Went into this workout still sore everywhere, upper and lower. Back fine except on the set of 3 at 130 on deadlifts, so shall just stick to higher reps + being very careful about form. Otherwise a decent if kinda low energy/weak workout.

Edit: didn't realise at the time how close 130 was to the heaviest weights I had previously attempted on deadlift, lol. It felt rather light. I guess it's good I got stronger generally even without practicing the movement, but also shows that I should have been more cognizant about what I was doing strength-back safety-wise with today's workout.

04-07-17

Front Squat
Bar x 10, 10
40 x 5
60 x 4
75 x 5
85 x 3
95 x 3 [+5kg, -1 rep]
85 x 3
80 x 3
75 x 5
80 x 5
65 x 8

Sumo Deadlift
60 x 5
80 x 3
90 x 6, 6, 6
These are just really not clicking, so may just try out conventional deads again and see how much back deals with it. Frustrating

Bulgarian Split Squat
BW x 8
12 x 10, 10, 10

Leg Press
150 x 18, 18, 18

Leg Curl
45 x 13, 12
41 x 14

SS1A Smith Machine Calf Raise
60 x 14
90 x 10
100 x 9
110 x 7
130 x 5
90 x 13

SS1B EZ Bar Curl
35 x 7, 7, 7, 6 [will stick to this weight next time, got a bit cheaty at points, though eccentric was always slow and controlled]

Then random hanging leg raises, cable crunches and hollow body holds.

Notes

Woke up strangely early but feel well rested. Quads dead from this, oof.

30-06-17

Bench
Bar x 10
40 x 7
55 x 4
67.5 x 5
77.5 x 3
85 x 3 [+2.5kg, = reps, spotter may have touched, they claim not but I'm unsure, though I think i'd've got it anyway]
80 x 3
77.5 x 4
72.5 x 3
67.5 x 5
62.5 x 5
57.5 x 10

CGBP
55 x 3, 5, 7, 4, 6, 8

Lo->Hi Cable Flye
14 x 13, 13, 13, 11 [mmc on point here, and the peak contraction was so good]

Seated DB OHP
18 x 12, 11, 10

1.5 Style Lateral Raise
7 x 7, 7, 7, 7 [a bit too much trap involvement, may go back to 6s next week]

Lateral Raise
5 x 16, 15, 14 [this, however, destroyed my side delts]

Machine Rear Delt Flye
73 x 10
66 x 13, 12
59 x 10 [lol, big drop off here. rear delts crushed from yesterday + probably acutely from the lat raises since they're involved there]

EZ Bar Curl
32.5 x 8, 8, 8 [slow eccentric, i love this movement, best bicep feeling of anything i do]

Vic Costa V-Bar Pushdown [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rtjmvc2N33A]
14 x 18, 18, 18 [absolutely loved this movement]

Incline Bench Spider Curl
6 x 14, 14, 14 [great feeling at the peak contraction here]

Incline DB Flye->Press->Hold
14 x 8, 8, 8 [no 12s available, so opted to go for 14s rather than 10s]

Hanging Leg Raises
BW x 8, 7, 7 [hard when quads are dead]

Pallof Press
7.9 x 15, 15, 15, 15 [I think this is probably better done in this sort of rep range]

Notes

Brilliant workout. Felt strong, had fun, and the mind-muscle connection was on point for basically every accessory movement. Getting 9 hours of sleep is handy. Looking forward to two days of rest, now, though.

Getting pretty close to the coveted 100kg bench, I think.