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Very high heart rate after every set. After the squat sets I had ~165 heart rate with dizziness. Even while moving around in the gym after a few minutes my heart rate was ~135 or so. I need some input on how you guys have your heart rate immediately after 5-rep sets and after a few minutes.

I don't have data from a watch, but this lines up with my experience after near-failure sets on heavy leg things like RDLs/Squats/Leg Press etc.

16-01-24

Assisted OAC
-10 x 1
-25 x 1, 1, 1

DB Pullover
25 x 12, 11

BB Row
90 x 10, 7

20mm Grip Lifts
50 x 1, 1
55 x 1, 1
40 x 15, 12

DB Preacher
15 x 4
12.5 x 7, 6
10 x 13

BB Finger Curl
60 x 16, 13, 9, 8, 6

Cable Crunch
45 x 12, 9
40 x 11, 8

Notes

Surprisingly back still kind of sore from Friday, and I think something from yesterday made my biceps sore, maybe the flyes? Surprising. Anyway, decent sesh.

Quote from: Joe on January 12, 2024, 07:07:26 am

My understanding is that the science atm suggest that, while near/to failure is best for hypertrophy, staying <7 rpe is best for strength. So will try to a bunch of solid 1-3 rep sets at low RPEs on assited OACs, plus one harder single now and then to mark progress, and basically everything else done at 8-10 RPE.

that's interesting. at some point in the past 6-7 years i stopped nerding out on training research the way i did in my 20s. all other things being equal, hypertrophy=strength gains, so this is news to me. you got a reference? i'm curious.

Yeah was pretty surprising to me too, but has ultimately come to make sense as I've thought about it.

I think the basic gist is that long term, you obviously want to maximise hypertophy b/c bigger muscle = stronger muscle in general and for low-skill movements. But if you want to maximise strength-specific adaptations on a single movement, then you want the practice to be as useful and specific as possible. So you want every training rep to at the sweet spot of fast + heavy, so you keep the RPE/velocity loss pretty moderate. Then, since each set is easier, you can do more total reps that are both (a) use a heavy load and (b) involve moving the bar/yourself fast. So, more, and better, specific practice.

So in running terms, you're conflating the the utility of the general prep of hypertrophy (i.e. base phase) with the specific practice of strength training (i.e. sharpening workouts like 5 x 1km for a 5k). Or like, we know that gaining muscle from moderate rep squats will help your vert, but at some point to maximise that you need to just practice jumping. 1 x 10 squats is more specific to 1rm squat than jumping, but still less so than practicing singles.

This is the latest big meta-analysis on RPE in general: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/370837310_Exploring_the_Dose-Response_Relationship_Between_Estimated_Resistance_Training_Proximity_to_Failure_Strength_Gain_and_Muscle_Hypertrophy_A_Series_of_Meta-Regressions

It's relatively clear in showing that higher RPE = better muscle gainz on a per set basis, and also shows that you don't need to go to balls-to-the-wall RPE to max out strength gains.

This is the latest meta-analysis specifically on RPE/velocity loss for strength: https://www.mdpi.com/2227-9032/11/3/337

This is the key chart from the strength meta:



And yeah since I am in a fat loss phase, I'm not expecting to make any meaningful gains in back muscle, so I am happy to reduce my overall volume and do a bunch of "heavy easy" OAC sets in place of that work.

11-01-24

BW 76.7

30 mins light-moderate effort on stationary bike

Notes

Weight will presumably stabilise a bit lower than this, but yeah I ate a lot on holiday so up about 1-1.2kg lol. Anyway, back home and back on my routine, with weight loss phase starting now. Aiming for like ~0.8% of total bodyweight lost per week. Aim is to finish somewhere around 70kg, but will see how I'm looking. Maybe I'll push this to get shredded for the first time in my life if I'm feeling good.

pretty strong! why'd you stop squatting?

Other than one arm chins, I have no particular strength goals and I just want to get jacked. So, my training is 90% hypertrophy stuff. I do frequent heavy chins stuff, and I'll do a heavy set of bench press or squat (now squat-like movement) before main sets just to get a sense of strength and for potentiation. Most bodybuilders do leg press/hack squat in order to get a bit more volume and more direct quad focus vs squats.

On top of that: I've done a lot of squats in my life and got a lil bored of them, whereas I can count on my fingers my lifetime leg press/hack squat sets.

Quick update: Weighing in ~75.5kg most days lately, and down a notch on my lifting belt.

Need a deload this week. Has been 7 weeks of hard training and dieting + some big life stress (mother-in-law has been diagnosed with lung cancer, which looks to be operable, so there's reason to be optimistic, but still very scary of course).

So, did some moderate effort singles just to see where I am. Biceps and back still sore from a workout on Saturday, and legs felt tired from a run yesterday (achilles has been kind to me lately, probably thanks to weight loss + lower running volume). So, pleased with these numbers:

Squat: 150kg x 1 [could have had two, close to ass-to-grass, so that's pretty much a 2xBW squat).
Chin: BW+60kg x 1 [probably not getting two here, but could wasn't an all out effort by any means).

Last week I also hit 100kg x 3 on bench.

since 2011?!

good to hear from you.

woops lol, 2021