Post: #26

1. I think so. It's about 8 feet long, looks like this:
http://manlycurls.com/blog_new/wp-conten...cleans.jpg

4. Measurements:
Waist - 30.5 inches
Chest - 35.5 inches
Legs - 19 inches around the quads/12.5 inches around the calves
Shoulders - 18.5 inches across the front
62kg bodyweight after morning crap.

Weekend meals were the same.
Today's breakfast and lunch were the same but for dinner I had 1 pork chop, 2 jacket potatoes and a side of mixed vegetables.

Homework report - 200 sit-ups, 100 press-ups, 20 pike press-ups, 50 necks raises.

Workout A report
Bench press - 1x5 @ 30kg, 1x5 @ 32.5kg, 1x10 @ 35kg, 2m rest, 1x13 @ 30kg, 1x6 @ 30kg, 1x4 @ 30kg (last rep was almost a failure)
DB incline - 3x12 @ 28kg
DB rows - 6x20 @ 16kg (3 for the left arm, 3 for the right)
Rear delt raises - 4x10 @ 16kg (8kg in each hand) 2x10 @ 12 kg (6kg in each hand)
30 burpees - 1:20

Let me know if I've missed anything or if you need clarification.

Post: #27

Just tracking back a bit to a question asked earlier about compound movements for biceps. .

Full range of motion rows and chinups are great for biceps. I have a couple friends who don't even do curls, but do lots of rows and chinups/pullups and have huge biceps. Granted your working the back too, but thats why you wanted a compound excercise, right?

Also, use different grips. Overhand grip rows and underhand grip rows will work out slightly different parts of your back and biceps. Good to mix things up.

Post: #28

(04-16-2015 08:23 AM)Hardy Daytona Wrote:  Wednesday/Workout B report
Meals - Breakfast - 1 mug of coffee, 1 mug of milk, 3 weetabix with a tablespoon of sugar. Lunch - 2 grilled bacon slices, 2 friend eggs, 1 small tin of spaghetti, 1 mug of milk, 1 small tin of sweetcorn. Dinner - 1 Fay Bentos steak pie, 1 portion of chips, 1 portion of mixed veg.
Free squats - 1x5 @ 30, 1m rest, 1x5 @ 35, 1:30 rest, 1x7 @ 40, 2m rest, 1x6 @ 30.
Stiff leg deadlift - 1x10 @ 20. That one felt too easy so I also did 1x10 @ 30.
Chinups - 3x11,8,7. 2m rest in between.
200 BW squats - 4x50. 2.4m, 1m rest, 2.4m, 1:30 rest, 2.4m, 2m rest, 3m, 3m rest.
Overall I'd give it a rating of about 8. I think I could have done more with the squats since I haven't done them for about 2 weeks and my trapezius muscles were still sore. Also the BW squats did something of a number on my hamstrings - on my way back home afterwards I crumbled. I must have looked like a combination of Nicolas Cage and the T-1000 being frozen.

I'll take some measurements and photos tomorrow afternoon.

Week 2 Workout B:

Squats: [email protected], [email protected], [email protected] - take longer rests, up to 3 minutes or so if needs be. This first movement is all about getting STRONG. This is the result of CNS adaption, not hypertrophy (HUGE OVERSIMPLIFICATION, but the point is, take longer rests with the first movement each day and focus on getting STRONGER at it, and trust that the subsequent work will help make you bigger)

Backoff set - Rest Pause. AMRAP, 15s rest, AMRAP, 15s, AMRAP

Stiff leg deads - stick with '30' here, shoot for 20 reps, you can do rest pause if you need to. Hit 20 reps.

Chinups - 3 x 9 - take as much rest as you need to hit these. Take the last set to failure.

250 BW squats - as fast as possible.


Homework for this week - 250 situps (any variation, try to work both upper and lower abs), 200 pressups, 100 neck raises.

Keep up the good work.

Post: #29

(04-21-2015 01:03 PM)H1N1 Wrote:  Week 2 Workout B:

Squats: [email protected], [email protected], [email protected] - take longer rests, up to 3 minutes or so if needs be. This first movement is all about getting STRONG. This is the result of CNS adaption, not hypertrophy (HUGE OVERSIMPLIFICATION, but the point is, take longer rests with the first movement each day and focus on getting STRONGER at it, and trust that the subsequent work will help make you bigger)

Backoff set - Rest Pause. AMRAP, 15s rest, AMRAP, 15s, AMRAP

Stiff leg deads - stick with '30' here, shoot for 20 reps, you can do rest pause if you need to. Hit 20 reps.

Chinups - 3 x 9 - take as much rest as you need to hit these. Take the last set to failure.

250 BW squats - as fast as possible.


Homework for this week - 250 situps (any variation, try to work both upper and lower abs), 200 pressups, 100 neck raises.

Keep up the good work.

How much weight do I want on the backoff set and how many sets of stiff leg deads?

Post: #30

(04-21-2015 01:51 PM)Hardy Daytona Wrote:  

(04-21-2015 01:03 PM)H1N1 Wrote:  Week 2 Workout B:

Squats: [email protected], [email protected], [email protected] - take longer rests, up to 3 minutes or so if needs be. This first movement is all about getting STRONG. This is the result of CNS adaption, not hypertrophy (HUGE OVERSIMPLIFICATION, but the point is, take longer rests with the first movement each day and focus on getting STRONGER at it, and trust that the subsequent work will help make you bigger)

Backoff set - Rest Pause. AMRAP, 15s rest, AMRAP, 15s, AMRAP

Stiff leg deads - stick with '30' here, shoot for 20 reps, you can do rest pause if you need to. Hit 20 reps.

Chinups - 3 x 9 - take as much rest as you need to hit these. Take the last set to failure.

250 BW squats - as fast as possible.


Homework for this week - 250 situps (any variation, try to work both upper and lower abs), 200 pressups, 100 neck raises.

Keep up the good work.

How much weight do I want on the backoff set and how many sets of stiff leg deads?

Back off set is the same weight as you used in the first set, so 35kg (55kg if you include the bar).

1 set of 20 odd reps. If you do more than 20, no big deal, if you do just under 20, that's also cool, just work hard and be in that ball park.

Post: #31

Tuesday's breakfast and lunch were the same with the pork chop dinner.
Yesterday was the same with a spaghetti bolognese dinner.

Workout B report
I was a little hesitant with this one. On my way to get gym I had that gnawing sensation in the pit of my stomach like when I'm about to approach a girl and then pussy out.
Squats - 1x5 @ 35, 2m rest, 1x5 @ 40, 3m rest, 1x6 @ 45, 3m rest
Backoff set - 1x6 @ 35, 15s, 1x3 @ 35, 15s, 1x2 @ 35
5m rest
Stiff leg deads - 1x20 @ 30. Not quite to failure, could have pushed 25 reps.
Chinups - 3x9
250 BW squats - 4x63. 2:30, 2:50, 3:20, 3:30. I was slacking a little here. Last week my thighs were in pain for a few days afterwards - it hurt to stand up, walk down stairs etc. so I took it easy to avoid that again.

Post: #32

(04-23-2015 06:38 AM)Hardy Daytona Wrote:  Tuesday's breakfast and lunch were the same with the pork chop dinner.
Yesterday was the same with a spaghetti bolognese dinner.

Workout B report
I was a little hesitant with this one. On my way to get gym I had that gnawing sensation in the pit of my stomach like when I'm about to approach a girl and then pussy out.
Squats - 1x5 @ 35, 2m rest, 1x5 @ 40, 3m rest, 1x6 @ 45, 3m rest
Backoff set - 1x6 @ 35, 15s, 1x3 @ 35, 15s, 1x2 @ 35
5m rest
Stiff leg deads - 1x20 @ 30. Not quite to failure, could have pushed 25 reps.
Chinups - 3x9
250 BW squats - 4x63. 2:30, 2:50, 3:20, 3:30. I was slacking a little here. Last week my thighs were in pain for a few days afterwards - it hurt to stand up, walk down stairs etc. so I took it easy to avoid that again.

Good work. How did the top set at 45 feel? How many reps did you leave in the tank?

Good work on the backoff set. How did that feel?

BW squats - no slacking. The soreness won't last. It's important to push yourself here. One of our markers for progress will be 500 BW squats under 15 minutes by the end of our three months. Next week I'll want you to try to push all out to hit 250 reps in under 10 minutes (that includes rest time!). What you'll do is do 25 reps at the top of each minute, then rest for the rest of the minute. That should give you around 30s on, 30s off each minute.

How are you feeling generally with the program, and with the diet? Do you feel that you are eating more? Do you have plenty of energy? Are you enjoying the training - if not, what specifically are you not enjoying? We'll do a more detailed review at the end of the month, but it'd be good to know how you're feeling now that we're nearly 2 weeks along.

Post: #33

(04-18-2015 10:12 AM)Hardy Daytona Wrote:  Thursday & Friday Workout C report
Meals - Breakfast - 1 mug of coffee, 1 mug of milk, 3 weetabix with a tablespoon of sugar. Lunch - 2 grilled bacon slices, 2 friend eggs, 1 small tin of spaghetti, 1 mug of milk, 1 small tin of sweetcorn. Dinner - 1 breaded chicken fillet, 1 portion of chips, 1 portion of mixed veg, 2 beefburgers.

Military press - this one I struggled with more than I expected to. Couldn't budge the 22.5 so I had to reduce. 1x5 @ empty, 2x5 @ 10, 1x5 @ 12.5, 1x15 @ empty.
Plate carries - very awkward - kept slipping out of my grip. Had to use a barbell weight. Tried a dumbbell but it dug into my arms too much. 2x300 paces @ 20. 1x350 @ 20.
Chinups - 4x10
Rear delt raises - 1x12 @ 20, 1x20 @ 16 (second set was much easier - able to hold at apex for ~3 seconds)
1.5km rum - 8m 7s. Could have been much better if my quads weren't in pain.

Meals - Breakfast - 1 mug of coffee, 1 mug of milk, 3 weetabix with a tablespoon of sugar. Lunch - 2 grilled bacon slices, 2 friend eggs, 1 clementine, 1 mug of milk, 1 small tin of spaghetti. Dinner - 1 Fray Bentos steak pie, 1 portion of chips, 1 portion of mixed veg.

Week 2 Workout C

So, because you didn't include the bar weight in your calculations (20kg), last week you tried to jump from 20kg (empty bar) to 42.5kg - no wonder you struggled. We'll continue with the original format (ie not including bar weight).

Military press - [email protected] bar, [email protected], [email protected] (push the volume as much as you can here, so shoot for as close to 10 reps as you can get, if you have to do a bit of a push press to get the last few reps, so be it, get the volume in)

Back off set- rest pause (set,15s,set,15s,set) @5kg - again, a little body English is ok here.

Pullups - 8 (sets) x 5 (reps) (as little rest as possible between sets, ideally no more than a minute)

Rear delts - 1 set, rest pause (as above), @16


Conditioning - 300 jumping jacks - Aim for under 10 minutes, you have two days off after this, so push yourself hard. Set your stop watch, at the top of each minute do 30 reps as quickly as possible, then rest until the next minute starts. The quicker you get these done, the more rest you get each minute.

Post: #34

Workout C Report
Military press - 1x5 @ empty, 1x5 @ 5kg, 1m rest, 1x10 @ 10kg, 2m rest
Backoff set - 1x7 @ 5kg, 15s, 1x6 @ 5kg, 15s, 1x6 @ 5kg
Pullups - 8x5 As instructed I didn't rest more than a minute here. Though I realized something the other day - I haven't noticed the difference between chin-ups and pull-ups so I've just been doing whichever the palms outward one is the entire time. Need to pay more attention to that.
Rear delts - 1x20 @ 16kg
300 jumping jacks - 9:40. I was quite proud of this finishing all of these on time.

All in all I'd rate this one about 7. Felt a bit of leg strain in my quads after I finished the military presses. Could you clarify what you mean by 'rest pause?' I think that's when you stop at the top/apex of the lift and hold just to breathe for a couple of seconds.

Meals have been the same except for dinner on Friday when I had to go back to thee pie one after running out of spag bol and yesterday when I was celebrating a friend's 21st and had to settle for a plate of finger food (sausage rolls, onion rings, wedges etc.)

Quote:Good work. How did the top set at 45 feel? How many reps did you leave in the tank?
Good work on the backoff set. How did that feel?

Felt pretty good. I realized it was a new personal best after I'd done it but I was panting heavily on the ground before the backoff set so my reaction was 'meh.'
I maybe had 1 more left in me but there was a good chance it would have gone to failure and I don't like failing on squats because of my back.
I was straining quite a bit with the backoff. But I think it'll become easier as we progress.

Quote:How are you feeling generally with the program, and with the diet? Do you feel that you are eating more? Do you have plenty of energy? Are you enjoying the training - if not, what specifically are you not enjoying?

I can't say I feel that much different - my energy levels are pretty consistent. But it is good to be learning new exercises and lifts.
I don't feel like I'm eating more, no. In fact I'm wondering about my breakfast because I don't know that coffee and weetabix is a good combination - I get the urge to puke quite early on. I get that quite a lot actually. Have to slow down my eating to keep pace.
The only part I didn't enjoy was the plate carries. Nobody in my gym does plate carries. I felt like....I dunno, a piece of meat on display or something.

I should point out that I'm expecting to undergo some minor surgery in the near future. Nothing serious but it'll take me out of the game for about a week or so. I'll give you an update as I get more information.

Post: #35

(04-20-2015 03:37 PM)Hardy Daytona Wrote:  1. I think so. It's about 8 feet long, looks like this:
http://manlycurls.com/blog_new/wp-conten...cleans.jpg

4. Measurements:
Waist - 30.5 inches
Chest - 35.5 inches
Legs - 19 inches around the quads/12.5 inches around the calves
Shoulders - 18.5 inches across the front
62kg bodyweight after morning crap.

Weekend meals were the same.
Today's breakfast and lunch were the same but for dinner I had 1 pork chop, 2 jacket potatoes and a side of mixed vegetables.

Homework report - 200 sit-ups, 100 press-ups, 20 pike press-ups, 50 necks raises.

Workout A report
Bench press - 1x5 @ 30kg, 1x5 @ 32.5kg, 1x10 @ 35kg, 2m rest, 1x13 @ 30kg, 1x6 @ 30kg, 1x4 @ 30kg (last rep was almost a failure)
DB incline - 3x12 @ 28kg
DB rows - 6x20 @ 16kg (3 for the left arm, 3 for the right)
Rear delt raises - 4x10 @ 16kg (8kg in each hand) 2x10 @ 12 kg (6kg in each hand)
30 burpees - 1:20

Let me know if I've missed anything or if you need clarification.

Week 3 Workout A

Bench press - [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]

Backoff set - As many reps as possible @32.5kg after your 1x5-10 @ 37.5kg. Rest 2 minutes or more here. You're not training to be some 'fitness hipster', as Wendler calls it. You asked above if I could explain rest pause training. I did actually do this last week. The quote is: "Here's how you're going to do it: do as many reps as you can without going to failure, then rack the weight, breathe, count to 15 (1 elephant) unrack the bar, and do as many reps again as you can then rerack the bar, count to 15 and do one more 'set'. This is rest pause training. We're treating this as one big set, but you get 2x very short breaks. The reason for doing this is threefold:

1. Stimulus - this shit will make you grow
2. Practise technique - more reps = get better at the skill of benching
3. Learn how to work really fucking hard - this is how you really make gains. Over time, you may well come to appreciate that there is almost no wrong way to train, and that as long as you train intensely and consistently, you will see results

It's important that you understand both what the method of training requires, and why you are doing it, so please do take the time to read the above and understand why you're going in there to do it. One of the most important elements of your training is understanding why you are doing any specific movement, set, rep scheme, whatever.

DB incline - [email protected] - shoot for more reps here, if you hit them, we'll up the weight next week. Make sure you feel the muscle stretching at the bottom.

[email protected] -we're going to jump the weight a bit here, because it doesn't look like you are being pushed enough with your back work.

[email protected] delt raises

50 burpees - sub 10 mins

Overall, you're doing better at bench (from your numbers, you've invested more time in it relatively than your other lifts). Because of this, there's a bit more scope for now to bump up the volume with the assistance work. It's still not the crucial bit of this day's workout, but we can afford to place more emphasis on it for a few weeks, I anticipate, without it detracting from your performance on the main lift.


Diet goal for this week - Find a way to cut the weetabix with sugar out of your diet. It's children's food and not doing anything to get you closer to your goals.

Options:

Eggs on brown toast
Porridge (oatmeal)
Bacon and eggs
Protein shake


Personally, given that you seem to struggle with eating in the morning, and are making a less than optimal dietary choice with weetabix + a load of sugar, I would opt for the protein shake. It will get you closer to your goals, it will not have a negative effect on your body composition (although nor will the others), and most importantly, it will let you drink your calories and not feel sick. Try to put in some peanut butter and a banana with it, or equivalent. Experiment to try to find a way of getting extra calories and veg/fruit into your diet using a hand blender (£10), and a protein shake. Like I say, personally, I like to throw in some whole milk, protein powder, peanut butter, a banana, even ice cream is ok in moderation.

The above is IN ADDITION to the rest of the big boy diet, so keep going with the spag bol, pork chop, chicken etc, and the one piece of fruit during the day.

Post: #36

I think there may have been a couple of typos in your last set of instructions.

Workout A report
Bench press - 1x5 @ 32.5, 1m rest, 1x5 @ 35, 1m rest, 1x10 @ 37.5 (nearly failed number 10)
2m rest
Backoff set - 1x8 @ 32.5, 15s, 1x4 @ 32.5, 15s, 1x3 @ 32.5
DB incline - 3x15 @ 28 Failed at rep 10 on set 3
4m rest
DB rows - 6x15 @ 22. Failed at rep 10 on sets 2&3 on the right side, failed at rep 13 on set 3 on the left side.
Rear delt raises - 5x10 @ 16
50 burpees - 3:30
I'll give this one a 9 because of the failures.

Question about the delt raises - When I start I'm bent slightly forward. When I raise the dumbbells, do I want to bring them up perpendicular to the floor or follow the angle of my body?

For breakfast this morning I had 2 friend eggs on 2 pieces of buttered brown toast along with a mug of milk and a mug of coffee.

I know it's important to understand why I'm doing things this way but I'm of 2 minds about that. 1 part of me just wants to do what you tell me and spout out an idiom like 'Obedience brings victory. And victory is life.'
But the other part of me does want to know the mechanics of it all. Its not the how you must master, it's also the why.

As for your protein shake suggestion, that is just a quagmire of information that I'm not qualified to navigate. Brands, composition, ratios etc. I could start with the best of intentions and find out down the line that I've been drinking liquified uselessness.
I'll consider it but only after the program's done. I want to keep up with dietary changes for the moment and see if that yields any tangible benefit.

Post: #37

(04-27-2015 08:19 AM)Hardy Daytona Wrote:  I think there may have been a couple of typos in your last set of instructions.

Workout A report
Bench press - 1x5 @ 32.5, 1m rest, 1x5 @ 35, 1m rest, 1x10 @ 37.5 (nearly failed number 10)
2m rest
Backoff set - 1x8 @ 32.5, 15s, 1x4 @ 32.5, 15s, 1x3 @ 32.5
DB incline - 3x15 @ 28 Failed at rep 10 on set 3
4m rest
DB rows - 6x15 @ 22. Failed at rep 10 on sets 2&3 on the right side, failed at rep 13 on set 3 on the left side.
Rear delt raises - 5x10 @ 16
50 burpees - 3:30
I'll give this one a 9 because of the failures.

Question about the delt raises - When I start I'm bent slightly forward. When I raise the dumbbells, do I want to bring them up perpendicular to the floor or follow the angle of my body?

For breakfast this morning I had 2 friend eggs on 2 pieces of buttered brown toast along with a mug of milk and a mug of coffee.

I know it's important to understand why I'm doing things this way but I'm of 2 minds about that. 1 part of me just wants to do what you tell me and spout out an idiom like 'Obedience brings victory. And victory is life.'
But the other part of me does want to know the mechanics of it all. Its not the how you must master, it's also the why.

As for your protein shake suggestion, that is just a quagmire of information that I'm not qualified to navigate. Brands, composition, ratios etc. I could start with the best of intentions and find out down the line that I've been drinking liquified uselessness.
I'll consider it but only after the program's done. I want to keep up with dietary changes for the moment and see if that yields any tangible benefit.

There were typos, what you did was fine, although I wanted you to use heavier weight for the rows.

Tough love coming up:


Part of your whole problem with this is that you are really over-thinking the whole thing far too much. You posted a perfectly ok video of a rear delt raise. Do it more or less as the video showed, and you'll be fine. If you find in 2 months that you still need bigger rear delts, or that the medial head or whatever has been worked more because you've been too upright, you can jut adjust. You can't seem to see the forest for all the trees. Just work hard, on sensible exercises, for a sustained period, eating enough calories, and you literally cannot fail to make progress at your current level of development.

You can do what I tell you to, or understand the mechanics, or ideally both. I've spent a good deal of time and effort explaining the rational behind each exercise, and the sets and reps we're using. The means to understand exactly why you are doing what I'm suggesting, and how that fits with your stated goal at the start, is all within this thread.

Going back to my first point about overthinking it - take your response to the protein shake suggestion. You're 25, a grown man, and can't get on with it because you've managed to find a whole bunch of problems with sticking some milk, powder and peanut butter in a glass together. Seriously, a lot of big, strong, effective people are thick as two short planks. If you can't figure it out, you are acknowledging that people who are demonstrably stupid are still smarter than you. You weigh 140lbs, at 6ft (if I remember right). It is almost impossible for you, at this point, to do the wrong things with regards to calories, especially in the space of the next few months. Don't make this harder than it needs to be for yourself, just make progress. We could swap out most of the stuff in your program and it would make limited difference, providing you were putting out the required intensity.

http://www.myprotein.com/home.dept No idea if this is the best site. I use it, I buy their cheapest protein powder, because it is cheap and tastes ok. That's as scientific as I have got with it. If I feel I need more calories to recover from a session, I will chuck some peanut butter in, and a banana, and maybe some cream or ice cream. If I want to add weight, I eat more. If I am happy with my weight, I eat enough to recover. If I want to look pretty and shit, I eat less for a month or so.



Final point - how are you doing your burpees? Something seems off here, as 3:30 for 50 burpees is pretty good - a sub-10 minute 100 burpee time being an excellent indicator of high level fitness. Your ability to do burpees seems out of line with your other bodyweight skills.

Post: #38

(04-23-2015 06:38 AM)Hardy Daytona Wrote:  Tuesday's breakfast and lunch were the same with the pork chop dinner.
Yesterday was the same with a spaghetti bolognese dinner.

Workout B report
I was a little hesitant with this one. On my way to get gym I had that gnawing sensation in the pit of my stomach like when I'm about to approach a girl and then pussy out.
Squats - 1x5 @ 35, 2m rest, 1x5 @ 40, 3m rest, 1x6 @ 45, 3m rest
Backoff set - 1x6 @ 35, 15s, 1x3 @ 35, 15s, 1x2 @ 35
5m rest
Stiff leg deads - 1x20 @ 30. Not quite to failure, could have pushed 25 reps.
Chinups - 3x9
250 BW squats - 4x63. 2:30, 2:50, 3:20, 3:30. I was slacking a little here. Last week my thighs were in pain for a few days afterwards - it hurt to stand up, walk down stairs etc. so I took it easy to avoid that again.

Week 3 workout B

Squat - [email protected], [email protected], [email protected] (keep the weight from last week. It should bother you when the weight of the bar isn't moving. Use that to drive you to smash last week's rep record. Hit 8-12 reps and we'll have earned more weight next week).

Back off set @35 - Again, more than 11 reps total. Try to get 15. Work hard!

Stiff leg deads - [email protected]

Chinups - 4x10 reps

Bw squats - 300 in under 10 minutes. Go hard, then go home and EAT.

Post: #39

Workout B report
Brought a towel along this time to wrap the bar in. Made things a little easier on my neck.
Squats - 1x5 @ 35, 2m rest, 1x5 @ 40, 2m rest, 1x10 @ 45 (had to take a pause at number 9)
3m rest
Backoff set - 1x8 @ 35, 1x4 @ 35, 1x3 @ 35
It's probably a good thing I couldn't hear myself because I'm sure I was making some unholy grunting noises
Stiff leg deads - 1x30 @32.5 Failed at 24 reps, took a minute and finished the set.
Chinups - 40 but the sets were erratic. The first 2 had 10 reps but there were a couple of failures afterwards.
6m rest
BW squats - 300 reps. I don't know how long this took. The plan was to take 10 sets of 30 like the jumping jacks with time left each minute for rest. But after the first set I barely had 10 seconds left. It was pretty downhill from there. I think I was at about 11 minutes when I finished the 6th set. I tried everything I could think of - pump music, visualization techniques, different methods but it wasn't working. My thighs just kept giving out every dozen or so reps. By the time I was done I crumbled. Tried getting up after a couple of minutes and I crumbled again.
Got home and I wasn't very hungry. Hell I didn't even want to eat. Still managed my lunch and fruit but I had to force it.

Honestly, I don't know I feel more - hatred or disappointment. Don't even know where to direct it. I should have expected it really, that I'd have to be broken to be remade again.

And you're right. It's always been my biggest problem, overthinking things. Can't remember where I first heard it but I think the most fitting description ever given of me was that I was very intelligent, just not too smart.

As for the burpees I do them plain with no jump or added press-up. Just down, back, forward, up. I used to do Judo a couple of years ago and the sensei would always work us like a motherfucker for the warm-up so maybe that's how I manage them.

Post: #40

(04-29-2015 10:57 AM)Hardy Daytona Wrote:  Workout B report
Brought a towel along this time to wrap the bar in. Made things a little easier on my neck.
Squats - 1x5 @ 35, 2m rest, 1x5 @ 40, 2m rest, 1x10 @ 45 (had to take a pause at number 9)
3m rest
Backoff set - 1x8 @ 35, 1x4 @ 35, 1x3 @ 35
It's probably a good thing I couldn't hear myself because I'm sure I was making some unholy grunting noises
Stiff leg deads - 1x30 @32.5 Failed at 24 reps, took a minute and finished the set.
Chinups - 40 but the sets were erratic. The first 2 had 10 reps but there were a couple of failures afterwards.
6m rest
BW squats - 300 reps. I don't know how long this took. The plan was to take 10 sets of 30 like the jumping jacks with time left each minute for rest. But after the first set I barely had 10 seconds left. It was pretty downhill from there. I think I was at about 11 minutes when I finished the 6th set. I tried everything I could think of - pump music, visualization techniques, different methods but it wasn't working. My thighs just kept giving out every dozen or so reps. By the time I was done I crumbled. Tried getting up after a couple of minutes and I crumbled again.
Got home and I wasn't very hungry. Hell I didn't even want to eat. Still managed my lunch and fruit but I had to force it.

Honestly, I don't know I feel more - hatred or disappointment. Don't even know where to direct it. I should have expected it really, that I'd have to be broken to be remade again.

And you're right. It's always been my biggest problem, overthinking things. Can't remember where I first heard it but I think the most fitting description ever given of me was that I was very intelligent, just not too smart.

As for the burpees I do them plain with no jump or added press-up. Just down, back, forward, up. I used to do Judo a couple of years ago and the sensei would always work us like a motherfucker for the warm-up so maybe that's how I manage them.

Good man, you've pushed yourself. No doubt that training session was a bit of a gut check, but you're making progress now. Tomorrow is probably going to suck. I want you to try to eat everything you can in the meantime.

I read your post in the game forum, and it's none of my business, but I don't think you should beat yourself up too much emotionally. You're in a rough place with the whole no job, no girl, new to weights thing, but you can spread yourself too thin getting worked up about them all. Easier said than done, I know, but in your shoes I wouldn't worry so much about the girls for the time being. If your self-esteem isn't great, you can't expect to come across at your best, regardless of who you are talking to.

When you get a job, whatever job, even if it's as a barman (get paid, talk to girls), you'll have more emotional energy available to worry about the smaller details, like the role girls play in your life. If at that point we can get you along the road with solid training, you'll also have some nice muscles to go with the confidence that comes from having a job. More importantly, these muscles, because of the style of training we're doing, will not just be for show - you will be fit and strong - an effective human being, more effective than most around you. There is a type of confidence that comes with knowing you look nice, and it's great. But there is a far greater confidence in knowing you can perform like a beast, and push yourself to keep improving.

Just as with training, it doesn't pay to chase many goals at once, it may also be the case that you are trying to address too many aspects of your life that you're unhappy with at once.I'd never knock anyone for trying to improve themselves, but what I would say is that sometimes the best way of improving multiple aspects of your life is to focus on one or two and excel at them, which tends to have a knock on effect.

Again, I know you haven't asked for a life guru or any of that new age shit, but the purpose of the kind of training you're doing here is to build your physical and mental resilience, and give you the deep rooted confidence that comes with being an objectively valuable human.

Post: #41

(04-29-2015 11:29 AM)H1N1 Wrote:  Good man, you've pushed yourself. No doubt that training session was a bit of a gut check, but you're making progress now. Tomorrow is probably going to suck. I want you to try to eat everything you can in the meantime.

I read your post in the game forum, and it's none of my business, but I don't think you should beat yourself up too much emotionally. You're in a rough place with the whole no job, no girl, new to weights thing, but you can spread yourself too thin getting worked up about them all. Easier said than done, I know, but in your shoes I wouldn't worry so much about the girls for the time being. If your self-esteem isn't great, you can't expect to come across at your best, regardless of who you are talking to.

When you get a job, whatever job, even if it's as a barman (get paid, talk to girls), you'll have more emotional energy available to worry about the smaller details, like the role girls play in your life. If at that point we can get you along the road with solid training, you'll also have some nice muscles to go with the confidence that comes from having a job. More importantly, these muscles, because of the style of training we're doing, will not just be for show - you will be fit and strong - an effective human being, more effective than most around you. There is a type of confidence that comes with knowing you look nice, and it's great. But there is a far greater confidence in knowing you can perform like a beast, and push yourself to keep improving.

Just as with training, it doesn't pay to chase many goals at once, it may also be the case that you are trying to address too many aspects of your life that you're unhappy with at once.I'd never knock anyone for trying to improve themselves, but what I would say is that sometimes the best way of improving multiple aspects of your life is to focus on one or two and excel at them, which tends to have a knock on effect.

Again, I know you haven't asked for a life guru or any of that new age shit, but the purpose of the kind of training you're doing here is to build your physical and mental resilience, and give you the deep rooted confidence that comes with being an objectively valuable human.

It's cool. I don't have any unrealistic expectations of privacy given the public domain.
When I'm not in quite such a stupor I'll give your words a more thorough once-over.
Also I just realized that every night I've been eating spag bol dinner there haven't been any vegetables with it. Need to remedy that.
Anyway, what's the marching orders for tomorrow?

Post: #42

(04-26-2015 09:44 AM)Hardy Daytona Wrote:  Workout C Report
Military press - 1x5 @ empty, 1x5 @ 5kg, 1m rest, 1x10 @ 10kg, 2m rest
Backoff set - 1x7 @ 5kg, 15s, 1x6 @ 5kg, 15s, 1x6 @ 5kg
Pullups - 8x5 As instructed I didn't rest more than a minute here. Though I realized something the other day - I haven't noticed the difference between chin-ups and pull-ups so I've just been doing whichever the palms outward one is the entire time. Need to pay more attention to that.
Rear delts - 1x20 @ 16kg
300 jumping jacks - 9:40. I was quite proud of this finishing all of these on time.

Week 3 Workout C

Military press: [email protected], [email protected], [email protected] - Push for 10 again. This lift is looking good so far, keep it up.

Backoff set - 1xAMRAP (rest pause) @ 5kg - I want you to try to get your volume up here if you can. In my experience, OHP responds very well to higher reps. Last session you did 19 reps total. Anything 20 and over is acceptable, but I want you to push as hard as you can to hit 25 reps.

Chinups - 3x10+ - here I want you to do 3 sets, take as long as you need for rest, but get more than 10 reps each set. If you fail to get 10 reps on any of the 3, you need to rest and do an additional set of 10+ reps. This is to push you to set a new rep/set pr, and consolidate it with your subsequent sets, and to encourage you to embrace the principle of resting adequately between sets to do QUALITY work with every set.

Rear delt raises - 1 set, rest pause, AMRAP.

500 jumping jacks in under 15 minutes - you have this, and you should see this as a significant milestone when you hit it. This will be the last day in our little 3 week mini cycle. I'll give you more info and explanation over the weekend, as well as summing up what we've been doing in these first three weeks.



Homework for the weekend:

1. Weigh yourself at your lightest again, and measure your waist at the same point.

2. Once you've done that, eat as much good food as you can, we want to make sure you're well rested and ready to hit next week hard. Good food will help with your general mood.

3. It is up to you to set your own calisthenics homework, but only do situps, pushups, and neck curls. Do as many as you want, and report back the exact numbers.

Post: #43

Workout C report
Military press - 1x5 @ 2.5, 1m rest, 1x5 @ 7.5, 2m rest, 1x10 @ 12.5, 3m rest
Backoff set - 1x12 @ 5, 15s, 1x6 @ 5 (tried for 7 but failed) 15s, 1x4 @ 5
4m rest
Chinups - 1x11, 2m rest, 1x11, 3m rest, 1x8 I started to get the forearm lock after this so I took 5m rest but could only manage another 8 on the 4th set
Rear delt raises - 1x20 @ 16, rest pause, 1x13 @ 16
Jumping jacks - 15x34 in 14:35 I could have felt a little more pride in this if my thighs weren't screaming at me afterwards

I think I might have pulled or strained something during the military press, I've got a pain in my right shoulder blade.

I weighed in at 63kg today. I should point out that the only scales I have access to are at the gym and they're not digital. I weigh myself at my lightest after my workout and after taking a leak.
Waist is still at 30.5in

Post: #44

(05-01-2015 07:55 AM)Hardy Daytona Wrote:  I think I might have pulled or strained something during the military press, I've got a pain in my right shoulder blade.

Oh man, I don't know what the hell happened but something has been wrong since then. It's like like my entire upper back and lower neck have seized up. Every time I try to bend or turn or anything it just screams 'No way!'
I've been walking everywhere like Michael Keaton having to do the Bat-turn.
Tried doing some alternating temperatures with a hot water bottle and a bag of frozen chips but it doesn't help for more than an hour.

Post: #45

I think that the best thing a lot of people can do to improve their lifting careers is turn off their computer and drive to a gym. There's my daily dose of internet misanthropy.

(04-08-2015 10:55 AM)Hardy Daytona Wrote:  One last question: can anyone suggest a good compound lift that focuses on the biceps?

Sure, the fast curl and press. Use a slower negative, be careful not to blow your biceps tendons (or every shirtsleeve in your wardrobe).

You could also do pullups.

Quote:I had considered curls but I gather that the investment to return ratio makes it an inefficient one to do.

Try out Paul Carter's 100 rep arm curls. Just grab an empty barbell and try to do 100 reps. It takes almost no time at all and you leave the gym with a wicked pump. I still have not broken 45 curls. Long way to go on that one.

Once you get the empty bar, you can add 2.5# per side.

Even then, what makes you think arm curls are inefficient? It's like the only lift that matters.

Post: #46

(05-03-2015 05:31 AM)Hardy Daytona Wrote:  

(05-01-2015 07:55 AM)Hardy Daytona Wrote:  I think I might have pulled or strained something during the military press, I've got a pain in my right shoulder blade.

Oh man, I don't know what the hell happened but something has been wrong since then. It's like like my entire upper back and lower neck have seized up. Every time I try to bend or turn or anything it just screams 'No way!'
I've been walking everywhere like Michael Keaton having to do the Bat-turn.
Tried doing some alternating temperatures with a hot water bottle and a bag of frozen chips but it doesn't help for more than an hour.

That's unfortunate. If you have a golf ball/some other hard ball, you can try rolling on it around the area that hurts, as it's most likely muscular. It is hard to tell whether you are describing an injury, or given your lack of competitive sporting experience, you're simply describing the soreness that comes from pushing yourself past a previous limit. Only you can really judge. How are you feeling this evening, do you plan on training tomorrow?

Post: #47

(04-27-2015 08:19 AM)Hardy Daytona Wrote:  I think there may have been a couple of typos in your last set of instructions.

Workout A report
Bench press - 1x5 @ 32.5, 1m rest, 1x5 @ 35, 1m rest, 1x10 @ 37.5 (nearly failed number 10)
2m rest
Backoff set - 1x8 @ 32.5, 15s, 1x4 @ 32.5, 15s, 1x3 @ 32.5
DB incline - 3x15 @ 28 Failed at rep 10 on set 3
4m rest
DB rows - 6x15 @ 22. Failed at rep 10 on sets 2&3 on the right side, failed at rep 13 on set 3 on the left side.
Rear delt raises - 5x10 @ 16
50 burpees - 3:30
I'll give this one a 9 because of the failures.

In case you feel able to train, here is tomorrow's workout:

Week 4 Workout A:

Bench: 5x35, 5x37.5, 5-10x40

Back off set @35 - rest pause as previously

DB rows @22 - shoot for 3x20 (each side)

Rear delt raises - rest pause

60 burpees


If you feel you can sort of train, just go in and do the bench (and rows if you are up to it). Only do the full workout if you feel able.

Post: #48

Sounds like you're making progress Hardy. Great thread.

Post: #49

I've regained most of my mobility but there's still a little soreness. Unfortunately that ball suggestion wouldn't fly since the pain was centered around the unreachable part of my upper back.
Anyway, Workout A report
Bench press - 1x5 @ 35, 1m rest, 1x5 @ 37.5, 2m rest, 1x9 @ 40, 2m rest
Backoff set - 1x8 @ 35, 15s, [email protected] 35, 15s, 1x3 @ 35
DB rows - 6x20 @ 22 Failed in the low teens on sets 2 and 3 for both sides
Rear delt raises - 1x20 @ 16, rest pause, 1x16 @ 16
60 burpees Somewhere between 4 and 5 minutes I didn't have a clock close to hand

As for meals I had to do with just a piece of fruit today for lunch since time was short and I had to get moving for a job trial.

Post: #50

(04-29-2015 10:57 AM)Hardy Daytona Wrote:  Workout B report
Brought a towel along this time to wrap the bar in. Made things a little easier on my neck.
Squats - 1x5 @ 35, 2m rest, 1x5 @ 40, 2m rest, 1x10 @ 45 (had to take a pause at number 9)
3m rest
Backoff set - 1x8 @ 35, 1x4 @ 35, 1x3 @ 35
It's probably a good thing I couldn't hear myself because I'm sure I was making some unholy grunting noises
Stiff leg deads - 1x30 @32.5 Failed at 24 reps, took a minute and finished the set.
Chinups - 40 but the sets were erratic. The first 2 had 10 reps but there were a couple of failures afterwards.
6m rest
BW squats - 300 reps.

Week 4 Workout B

Squats - [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]

Backoff set - @40kg - AMRAP (rest pause)

Stiff leg deads - [email protected]

Chinups - 50 total reps in as little time as possible

BW squats - 300 again, in as little time as possible.