★ Tom's BTK Training Journal and Entertainment Center ★

[snrygo]

DL is a main movememetn, RDL is an accesory.


most people aren't Manu

[viennafat]

DL is a main movememetn, RDL is an accesory.

most people aren't Manu

lol
No one is Manu! He cray.

Yeah I wont be doing this kind of session for real.

[Sinaku5]

Lol that image made me lol.

Great stuff on your lower day. Heavy SLDLs and RDLs and good to see you again employing form over weight.

Keep rehabbing that shoulder/pec area so you can get back to training even harder!

you musta had terrible doms after that day lol.

[viennafat]

Lol that image made me lol.

Great stuff on your lower day. Heavy SLDLs and RDLs and good to see you again employing form over weight.

Keep rehabbing that shoulder/pec area so you can get back to training even harder!

you musta had terrible doms after that day lol.

Thanks, man.

I was actually surprised that the DOMS were very mild.

[viennafat]

December 10

Time to bro it up.

Arms


EZ Bar Curls
70x13
70x12
70x11
50x13

The drop set was done with almost no rest. Was a bit painful. But in a good way.


BW Dips
13 reps
12 reps
11 reps

Focusing on the triceps.


Concentration Curls
35x13/11
35x11/10
35x9/8
32.5x9/9

Pump in full effect.


Seated French Press
75x12
75x10
75x9
60x10

Tris pumped now, too.


Reverse BB Curl / BB Curl - SS
70x8 / 70x8
70x6 / 70x6
70x6 / 70x6

Bis starting to fail.


OH DB Tri Extension (each arm)
25x13
25x13
25x12

Tris burning.


Didn't want to push the volume too much. I can increase it as time goes on and I get used to it.
I'm pleased to report that my bicep feels better. Finally. It's still not perfect, but it's good enough for me to put in a good session.

[NaturalPursuit]

Glad to hear the bicep is feeling better! INSANE pump from reading that arm workout!

[viennafat]

Glad to hear the bicep is feeling better! INSANE pump from reading that arm workout!

Thanks, Alex.
Arms were feeling very juicy. Too bad they cant look like that all the time.

PS: I foam rolled my bicep a couple of times and holy crap, I almost died from the pain.

[Sinaku5]

Thanks, Alex.
Arms were feeling very juicy. Too bad they cant look like that all the time.

PS: I foam rolled my bicep a couple of times and holy crap, I almost died from the pain.

Great arm session man. You really had some great volume in there.

I hear ya on the pump - I love the way I look at the gym but when I get home I look like a completely different person.

Glad to hear your biceps feeling better

[juicydanglers]

do you even bro, bro?

wassup my greek canadian love charm, whats new?

[viennafat]

Great arm session man. You really had some great volume in there.

I hear ya on the pump - I love the way I look at the gym but when I get home I look like a completely different person.

Glad to hear your biceps feeling better

Thanks, brah. Exactly my thoughts on the pump.
I hope my bicep holds up cuz it got worked pretty good yesterday.

do you even bro, bro?

wassup my greek canadian love charm, whats new?

lol!

It's the juiciest dangler to ever come out of Blackpool.

I'm broing it up indeed. Looking to make srs gainz and get jacked, m8.


Nothing too exciting. Had the flu last week which really sucked and now I'm back at it.
Looking forward to Christmas.

What's new and exciting with yourself?

[moshvr]

Dat pump! Nice bro session

[fittofattofit]

Nice workout there Tom --- you've been upping the volume and I really like the mix of exercises
Curls, dips and french presses are all strong and those are heavy reverse curls so the pump pain would have been fierce --- you should have good biceps, tri and forearm DOMS tomorrow

[viennafat]

Dat pump! Nice bro session

Thanks, brah!

Nice workout there Tom --- you've been upping the volume and I really like the mix of exercises
Curls, dips and french presses are all strong and those are heavy reverse curls so the pump pain would have been fierce --- you should have good biceps, tri and forearm DOMS tomorrow

Thanks, Andrew.
I may try to increase the volume a bit more. But I want to ease into it.
I'm gonna try this approach (of having an arm day) for a while and see what happens.

Yup, DOMS were in full effect.

[NaturalPursuit]

Thanks, Alex.
Arms were feeling very juicy. Too bad they cant look like that all the time.

PS: I foam rolled my bicep a couple of times and holy crap, I almost died from the pain.

yeah foam rolling HURTS! Did it help the recovery time though? lol

[juicydanglers]

Thanks, brah. Exactly my thoughts on the pump.
I hope my bicep holds up cuz it got worked pretty good yesterday.



lol!

It's the juiciest dangler to ever come out of Blackpool.

I'm broing it up indeed. Looking to make srs gainz and get jacked, m8.


Nothing too exciting. Had the flu last week which really sucked and now I'm back at it.
Looking forward to Christmas.

What's new and exciting with yourself?

props for mentioning blackpool and 'm8' two classically English words

its goin good with me, settlig into my job, trying not to kill anyone in my car (finally passed!)
en
enjoying dem slow gains on 5 3 1, its all good bb

[viennafat]

yeah foam rolling HURTS! Did it help the recovery time though? lol

I'm not totally sure.
I only did my bicep twice and it still took a few more days after that to feel better.

props for mentioning blackpool and 'm8' two classically English words

its goin good with me, settlig into my job, trying not to kill anyone in my car (finally passed!)
enjoying dem slow gains on 5 3 1, its all good bb

Good stuff, Dave. On the job, driving, and the gains.

Just remember, in your neck of the woods you drive on the left side of the road.

[viennafat]

Dec 12

Had an absolute shyt night's sleep. Probably like 3-4 hours. Then followed a long shehtty day at work...
I felt ok, but realized that my strength was a little low and towards the end of the session I started fading quick.
Whatever, better next time.

Legs


BB Squats - squat deconstruction in progress
Warm-up
195x6
195x5
195x5
145x10
145x10

Damn, that 195 felt really heavy for some reason. Wasn't feeling the squats today.
Anyway, form felt pretty good though.

Is it normal/ok for knees to crack? For the first few reps when I go low my knees crack like hell. No pain and it usually stops, but it's pretty loud and excessive.


Calf Raises - using a step
+60x16/16
+60x15/15
+60x13/13

Held on to a 60lb(27kg) DB while doing these.


Front Squats - clean grip
95x10
105x10
105x10

Inching my way up in the weight. These feel very comfortable.
Today I was able to work the grip in a way were it didn't bother my wrists as much.
Still puts some pressure on them, but it was manageable.


Decline Situps
+10x15
+10x12
+10x10


Step Ups
70x8 (each leg, holding 2 35lb DB's)
50x8
BWx10

I noticed something interesting when doing the first set.
It was so hard to do these without some "push" coming from the grounded leg.
I wanted to focus the action solely on the leg that's on the step.
So either the weight was too much or I have to work more on the mechanics. I suspect both.


Ok session.

[moshvr]

Good one Tom. I notice the same thing with step ups when I'm adding weight. Good chance you just had a touch too much!

[snrygo]

i step down but just before the very bottom, i initiate an isometric hold with my bottom foot just above the ground then reinitiate the concentric after a short pause at the bottom.

[viennafat]

Good one Tom. I notice the same thing with step ups when I'm adding weight. Good chance you just had a touch too much!

Thanks, Mike.
Yeah I'll go a bit lighter.

i step down but just before the very bottom, i initiate an isometric hold with my bottom foot just above the ground then reinitiate the concentric after a short pause at the bottom.

Had to read that a few times but I think I got what you mean.
I think.

[snrygo]

dont let your foot touch the ground and instead hover. this stops you from being able to push off since you never actually have a foot touching the ground but the ROM is very very close to actually doing so.

[viennafat]

Ok, got it.
Will definitely try that as it will do the trick.

[Sinaku5]

Great leg session Tom.

I haven't heard of anything bad with legs cracking, sounds like a mobility thing but take my words with a grain of salt lol.

Front squats are great. I'm not 100 percent sure how much I like them yet tho. I liked them the first day I did it...the other day not so much...we'll see as time goes on.

[fittofattofit]

That was a good session Tom. Nothing wrong with feeling tired at the end of it -- squats, fronts and the step-ups are all pretty taxing
'Clicking' in the knee and other joints is normal enough --- it's like cracking knuckles --- there is often a 'sucking' type sound as the joint opens and the synovium slides. Usually it will stop once the muscles/tendons start tightening under load. If there's pain then that's a different story

With the 'Step-ups' the idea is to do all the lifting from the leg on the step --- that way you have to activate the hip stabilisers and core --- you will have to keep tension on in the core, post chain and hips/glutes throughout the exercise . Drop the weight until you feel comfortable --- do a few BW only and you'll probably find that challenging initially

[juicydanglers]

I'm not totally sure.
I only did my bicep twice and it still took a few more days after that to feel better.



Good stuff, Dave. On the job, driving, and the gains.

Just remember, in your neck of the woods you drive on the left side of the road.

Roads?


where were going we don't need, roads

[viennafat]

Great leg session Tom.

I haven't heard of anything bad with legs cracking, sounds like a mobility thing but take my words with a grain of salt lol.

Front squats are great. I'm not 100 percent sure how much I like them yet tho. I liked them the first day I did it...the other day not so much...we'll see as time goes on.

Thanks, bro.
I agree on the cracking thing. As long as there's no pain, it should be ok. Should be.

Aside from getting used to the grip, I really like how front squats feel on my back and lower body. They feel "smoother" than back squats.

That was a good session Tom. Nothing wrong with feeling tired at the end of it -- squats, fronts and the step-ups are all pretty taxing
'Clicking' in the knee and other joints is normal enough --- it's like cracking knuckles --- there is often a 'sucking' type sound as the joint opens and the synovium slides. Usually it will stop once the muscles/tendons start tightening under load. If there's pain then that's a different story

With the 'Step-ups' the idea is to do all the lifting from the leg on the step --- that way you have to activate the hip stabilisers and core --- you will have to keep tension on in the core, post chain and hips/glutes throughout the exercise . Drop the weight until you feel comfortable --- do a few BW only and you'll probably find that challenging initially

That's encouraging. Thanks, Andrew. Makes total sense.

Definitely going lighter next time I do step ups.
You're right. With proper form even BW can be a good challenge.

Roads?

where were going we don't need, roads

[NaturalPursuit]

Tired post workout = great session

[viennafat]

^ Very true.



December 14


Back


BW Pull ups
7 reps
7 reps
7 reps
6 reps
Resistance band x 9 reps

Still using very strict form and slow tempo to focus on the lats and reduce the arm involvement. Makes them very hard for me but I need to increase these numbers. Pretty damn weak.
For the last set I used a resistance band (I think it's 25lbs) to make myself lighter and add some higher reps.
Nice way to finish it off.


BB Rows - Yates style
145x10
155x10, 9, 8
145x10

Tight form, really squeezing the back.


DB Rows
65x8
85x3x10
65x12 <- held each rep at the top of the movement

Slower tempo so I went light.
The drop set really did the trick. Pausing at the top of each rep was neat.


BB Shrugs
205x15
215x12, 12
195x10 <- 2 second hold at the top for each rep

Traps were screaming.


Cool session.
Nothing spectacular but it felt good.
I think once in a while for rows (both BB and DB) I'll go with a looser form and jack up the weights. Just to change things up.

[fittofattofit]

Good work on the pull-ups Tom. Going slow and trying to make the back pay will make it seem harder but you'll feel it in the lats tomorrow. 7 reps in a set is good going. I like that you used the R bands as well --- may as well keep the form strict and use the bands to get those extra reps in

Cool session.
Nothing spectacular but it felt good.
I think once in a while for rows (both BB and DB) I'll go with a looser form and jack up the weights. Just to change things up.

^^^^ this is what matters --- how the session felt
I'm trying to go strict with all the rows now and then throw in a heavy set with looser form before dropping the weight and doing a few tight sets again.

[juicydanglers]

come on sir, lets bring out the REALLY heavy db's next time

om nom sayin?