Adarq.org

Awesome read!

My takeaway is that perhaps I've been overrating neural work for myself (3 rep work) and underrating higher rep work for mass (8+) and VOLUME

However, I got to this part:

Keep volume for your main lifts low to moderate, and stay at least 1-2 reps shy of failure at all times (avoiding technical failure).  You don’t need a ton of high quality, heavy work to maintain and improve neural factors, but getting the bulk of your training volume from your main lifts will generally beat you up a bit more, and limit how much total training volume you can handle per session and per week.

This goes against what I remember learning in a verkoshansky book, i believe it was. Basically you dont stimulate all of your muscles until you are basically just about at failure. I remember after learning this, i saw some pretty quick strength gains when i put an end to stopping 2-3 reps short. These days, I stop when I think my next rep will be a fail.



Also:

I recommend accessory lifts over lighter sets of squat, bench, and deadlift to cut down on risk of overuse injuries, and to keep training specificity high for the main lifts (since lifting heavy stuff for low reps and lighter stuff for higher reps are different skills, you don’t want to “water down” the motor learning you’re doing your main lifts, unless you’re splitting your training into more distinct phases, as we’ll discuss later).

I've always been a fan of "just squat more if I want to get better at my squat." But I never thought of 1) avoiding injuries by mixing it up, and 2) this would lower training specificity by watering down my big lifts with fatigued sets of higher reps

Friday - 10/18/19
Weight:

-= Workout Log =-

30° Incline DB Press
40's x 12
60's x 8
60's x 5
90's x 1
100's x 4 >> 3min rests.
100's x 0
60's x 15 (paused)>> 90sec rests.
60's x 8 (paused)
60's x 6 (paused)

DB Rear Delt Flyes on Incline
20's x 12 >> 90sec rests.
20's x 10
20's x 8

DB Rear Delt W Flyes on Incline
20's x 15 >> 90sec rests.
20's x 12
20's x 10

55° Incline Seated Lateral Raises
20's x 12 >> 90sec rests.
20's x 8
20's x 8

Standing DB Shoulder Press
40's x 12 >> 90sec rest.
40's x 10

T-Bar Rows
105 x 15 >> 90sec rest.
105 x 5

Chin Ups
+50 x 5 >> 90sec rest.
+50 x 3
    BW x 3 (drop set)

Hoping to get back to db benching 7 reps with 100's. The 100lb dumbells here are clunky so it's a little tougher.
The backup sets of high reps are done paused now so that I can more easily get the 100's off my chest for the first rep of every set. Thinking of also attaching some ankle weights to my elbows so that there's more resistance on my chest without adding resistance to my triceps. Should help with those first rep blast-offs. It's also a nice way to target my chest more without my tris taking over like usual!

Low on time, didnt do my pendlay rows or as many chin ups as I wanted

that was a pretty quick return to 315s!

Oh yeah, re-gains are a real thing! neural efficiency comes back quicker if you had it before, i guess.
getting to a 405 single might take quite a while though... i can do it fast if i get fat and squat 3x/week, but i dont want to get fat and don't want to spend too much time in the gym. or maybe i should smolov jr my way back up there quick and maintain? hmmm

Saturday - 10/10/19
Weight:

-= Workout Log =-

Squat
135 x 8 >> 3min rests.
135 x 5
185 x 5
225 x 2
275 x 1
315 x 1
335 x 1
315 x 5
315 x 1
315 x 1

RDL
135 x 7 >> 3min rests.
225 x 3
315 x 10
315 x 5
315 x 5

Leg Press Machine Calf Raises Superset A
+480 x 18
+480 x 15
+480 x 13
+480 x 15
+480 x 12

Barbell Shrugs Superset A
315 x 13
315 x 8
315 x 8
315 x 8

Cable Ab Pull Downs
+105 x 3 >> 2min rests.
+105 x 15
+105 x 6
+105 x 8

Happy to be squatting 3 plates for 5 reps again! From prior experience I believe this puts me at a 365 1RM

Monday - 10/07/19
Weight:

-= Workout Log =-

Bench Press
45 x 20
95 x 12
135 x 5
185 x 2
225 x 1
205 x 5
205 x 3

Leg Press Machine Calf Raises
+360 x 8 >> 60sec rests.
450 x 20
450 x 12
450 x 12
450 x 12
450 x 12

Wanted to switch back to 7x5 mondays and 8x4 thursday for the bench. but alas, my right shoulder is bothering me so i cut it short today. last time this happened to me i was lifting 6x a week (like now) so my shoulder girdle is getting worked 4x a week (two push and two pull days), plus high intensity and volume on the bb bench. No good. pain went away last time with some rest.

so I think it's time i switch to body recomp and throw in a lot of fasting while lowering the volume on bench work. really want to just switch 100% to dumbells, but my gym is missing so many of them. don't have 80's, 95's, etc.

thinking of maybe doing an upper/rest/lower/rest split, with a ton of fasting on rest days.

Here is the gym I am lifting at. I hated it at first but had to make do, especially since a ton of the dumbells are missing. And the A/C doesn't work most days I'm there, so it's pretty hot in there.

But every day I love it more and more:



Squat/RDL rack and chin up bar:

Friday - 10/04/19
Weight:

-= Workout Log =-

DB Rear Delt Flyes on Incline
20's x 12 >> 60sec rests.
20's x 8
20's x 6

DB Rear Delt W Flyes on Incline
20's x 15 >> 60sec rests.
20's x 8
20's x 8

Seated Strict Lateral Raises
20's x 12 >> 60sec rests.
20's x 8
20's x 6
20's x 4
20's x 3

Chin Ups
BW x 5
+40 x 8 >> 3min rests.
+40 x 4
+40 x 4

Pendlay Rows
135 x 5 >> 3min rests.
185 x 3
225 x 6
225 x 6
225 x 5

Chin Ups
BW x 11 >> 60sec rest.
BW x 5

T-Bar Rows
+115 x 10 >>60sec rest.
+115 x 5

Lost a tiny bit of strength in the shoulder workouts, probably because i missed my last back/shoulder workout.