Brendbro's 'almost too weak to lift' Log

[AlwaysTryin]

I ran a half about three years ago. I felt it killed my gym progress

Pfft lol

I do a half like 3 times a week, not to mention the full

[Webber91]

You'll easy be able to do a half marathon bro, I remember you used to be one of the only ones at Southern Cross who could keep up with my cardio haha.

100km/week crew checking in

[psychodiver9]

Pfft lol

I do a half like 3 times a week, not to mention the full

You also have a crazy ass metabolism. I'm a fatty.

I added a bro day on sheiko as well

[PerpetualMotion]

Re DLs in Sheiko, one of his programs has DLs only off the floor and some paused ones, too, and a lot of people sub that in so they don't have to fiddle around with pin/rack/box pulls. Keeps it Sheiko without necessarily fudging everything else.

[AlwaysTryin]

You also have a crazy ass metabolism. I'm a fatty.

I added a bro day on sheiko as well

No I don't

[brendbro]

figured i should update on what's been happening...


sheiko #29 week 2 day 1
squats
70x5
85x4
100x2x3
112.5x5x2
- squats felt fcking great. finally found a very decent stance; i am strongest with a close stance, however that barely allows me to open my hips up at all, and with a wider stance i can open my hips up but i am a bit slower / weaker that way. so i just compromised with a pretty much standard type stance... lol, i know it isn't ground breaking, but the fact is i am much more mentally aware of what i'm doing now, which will help in the long run.

bench
55x5
70x4
80x --
so, i got to bench, and as i unracked my first set of 80kg for 3, i felt a pop in my right trap, and then lots of pain. i immediately reracked, got up and sat there nulling over it for a couple of minutes. i set back up, and tried unracking to see how it felt, and it was no good. it literally felt like i had broken something, so i cut the session short there and left.

unfortunately i had already made plans and had to drive to the coast as soon as i got back, so it wasn't until i got back today that i went to the hospital to see someone about it (when i had the chance though i iced it etc). ANYWAY

i saw a physio there and she said my right trap had a big spasm which essentially made all the muscles around my right shoulder (delts, pec, lats, trap, SCM) get pulled and impinged some nerves, causing a fck load of pain and limited ROM. honestly i was sooo happy to hear that, i thought it was a broken bone or a full on tear. i just have to ice it, take lots of pain medication, stretch, and unfortunately it means i will need to take it easy for a week or so. in the meantime i start my honours degree this thursday.

hopefully though i'll play this right and rest & recover properly, and not exacerbate it any further.

You'll easy be able to do a half marathon bro, I remember you used to be one of the only ones at Southern Cross who could keep up with my cardio haha.

100km/week crew checking in

ha cheers man. yeah i think i've built up enough endurance strength over the past couple of years to get through it pretty easily. still, it's a fun goal to set. and depending on how it goes & if i actually enjoy it i reckon ill probably look into doing a full marathon some time later in the year.

Re DLs in Sheiko, one of his programs has DLs only off the floor and some paused ones, too, and a lot of people sub that in so they don't have to fiddle around with pin/rack/box pulls. Keeps it Sheiko without necessarily fudging everything else.

that's a good idea. i'll look into that more, hopefully after my shoulder heals up i'll be able to swap them.

[AlwaysTryin]

^^ hardest thing I've ever done lol

[brendbro]

the past few days have been spent recovering; loooots of foam rolling, tennis balling, static stretching etc. i've done a couple of runs also. Good news is my shoulder has been feeling better daily, today i felt confident enough to jump in the gym and try some squatting. it'll still take a while for it to be 100%, i can't do any pressing, and have to be really careful in just about any exercise.

sheiko #29 week 2 day 3
squats
70x5
85x5
100x2x3
112.5x5x2
70x5
85x2x5
100x4x4
- since i can't do any bench i just did all the squatting in one block. 112.5kg flew up, felt incredibly good. maybe it was the few days break, or maybe it was the extra mental focus due to the shoulder.
- shoulder was feeling a bit achey throughout, but i massaged it between sets using the barbell which helped a lot.
- since i didn't exactly finish my last workout, i'll count today as a redo of it, subbing in the front squats for the squats. what that means is that next session will be identical to today. i can either go tomorrow or monday, as ill be away on the weekend.

planks - 1:20, 1:10
db curls - n/a
resistance bands
*i did a bunch of other accessory stuff, db rows etc, but nothing worth noting. had to stop halfway through a couple of things because they felt a bit too close for comfort on my shoulder. other then that though i'm really happy with how today went. if i can only do 1 main compound lift for the time being im fukking happy it's squats.

[brendbro]

sheiko #29 week 2 day 3
squats
70x5
85x5
100x2x3
112.5x5x2
- same squatting session 2 days in a row. felt harder / slower today but still pretty happy with it considering the shoulder.
- did some other stuff but not worth logging.
- thinking i may run smolov jr maybe

[PerpetualMotion]

DO ITTTTT. Smolov Jr. for bench? I wanna see yer results.

[brendbro]

Smolov Jr.
Squats
warmup
95kgx6x6
- so begins smolov jr. reason being for now i am limited with exercise choice due to nerve impingement in my shoulder (which is healing well thankfully, but still has some time before fully recovered), and fortunately squatting is one exercise i can still do fairly comfortably.
- today was not too difficult but i was limited by my mental focus being way down. my semester commences in full swing this week, so this weekend was partying with a total of about 4 - 5 hrs sleep. on the upside it was so much fun and I saw one of my favourite artists live (Seven Lions). He mixes dubstep and trance and is seriously so fcking innovative. He's very metal influenced with his favourite band being Opeth.

SLDL - 60x2x5, 40x3x5
db shrugs - 20lbx5x10
+ resistance band pull aparts & cardio/study - 490 cals
*Accessory stuff is going to revolve around active recovery for my trap, with some hamstring work thrown in. once i have the ROM capacity I am going to try and incorporate some overhead shrugs. shrugs today were very light focusing on MMC & TUT.

DO ITTTTT. Smolov Jr. for bench? I wanna see yer results.

lol. no dude can't bench atm.

[brendbro]

Smolov Jr. week 1 Day 2
Squats
102.5x7x5
*excluding warmups
- today was not too difficult and i was done within 20 minutes. i guess that is a good thing considering i will be doing this WO next week with 5kg more.
- could have used some more warming up as the first couple of sets were probably the hardest. unfortunately now that my honours year has begun i'm going to be much more strapped for time, so will just have to play it by ear for now.
- as mentioned, didn't have enough time to get much accessory stuff in at all today. so just did some light face pulls & stretching and then it was back to study.
- next session is 110kg for 8x4

[brendbro]

Smolov Jr. Week 1 Day 3
Squats
110x8x4
*excluding warm ups
- well i just proceeded to do more than i've ever done on this weight, without a day's break between squatting sessions. feelsgoodman.
- today was fairly standard. was difficult, but nothing i couldn't grind through. once i got through the first set, i knew i had the rest.
- took a tennis ball with me today and did some glute and shoulder rolling between sets. gotta be extra careful as i'm still in recovery phase.
- i can keep my upper back way tighter throughout the lift if i use a close grip / high bar style, but it has been giving my right elbow some tendinitis so i have been working on trying to maintain a very tight upper back while loosening my grip a little.

accessory stuff
GM's - 30kgx3x10
*actually felt somewhat decent. maybe the reason good morning's almost always feel crummy is because i use too much weight and lose mmc in my hamstrings. only had 5kg on either side of the barbell, so it was heaps light, but i held each rep and got a decent hammy stretch which is what counts.

db curls - n/a
planks - BWx1:15,1:10
*im reluctant to use a weight for now due to the shoulder. i also can't do HLR's atm because of it.

+ fck loads of resistance band stuff
+ cardio / study

saturday is 115 for 10 sets of 3. then it's 1 day's rest and onto week 2.

[brendbro]

Smolov Jr. Week 1 Day 4
Squats
115x10x3
*excluding warmups
- today was fairly difficult. still got it done. sweet. onto next week

accessory
GM's - 30x10
bb rows - 40x3x15
*haven't done typical bb rows in 3+ years, and need to be careful with the shoulder, but otherwise these felt good and i really should / would like to start incorporating them.
- also tried a couple of reps on the bench with just the bar, trap is still feeling whacky but it's getting better.

+ resistance band stuff
*basically just been doing a mix of stuff here; http://www.t-nation.com/training/5-e...-back-strength

i weighed myself using the gym scale at the end of my WO today, i was 76kg. considering that was wearing clothes + after a WO + having drank a couple of litres of water, coffee & a meal, am likely under 75 (165). i think i need to start eating more to be able to get through the next two weeks.

next week
M - 100x6x6
T - 107.5x7x5
T - 115x8x4
S - 120x10x3

final week
M - 102.5x6x6
T - 110x7x5
T - 117.5x8x4
S - 122.5x10x3
^ all being optimal

[brendbro]

Smolov Jr. Week 2 day 1
Squats
100x6x6
*excluding warm ups
- today was physically not all that difficult, but mentally was a challenge as i couldn't quite get focused so technique felt a bit off / clumsy
- regardless got through it fairly quickly, the next few WO's will definitely be challenging so i'm not complaining.
- having some slight pain in my right knee. i literally never roll my quads, and i have heard this can contribute to knee issues so ima get on that asap. otherwise it is very much likely the volume, just gotta push through for a week and half more.

accessory
bb rows - 60x5,5,8,8
*supinated & thumbless grip
- didn't have any exact plan on reps, just working on scapular retraction.

cardio / study - 740 cals
- tomorrow (or wed) is 107.5x7x5. confident i got it

[brendbro]

Smolov Jr. Week 2 Day 2
Squats
107.5x7x5
*excluding warm ups
- first 5 sets were low bar (first time ive tried). felt different but good. definitely more PC work, not sure if i will stick with it, i think i will assess and make the choice after smolov

accessory stuff
deadlift - 60x3x5
*just seeing how they feel with my shoulder. and wanted to test out a new mental cue
bench - barx5, 50x1
*erg, just the bar felt pretty decent, but as soon as i put on any weight my shoulder felt iffy. gonna be awhile till its 100% i think

db shrugs - 17.5x3x10
overhead tri - 7.5kgx20,17.5kgx4x8
+ lots of resistance band stuff

cardio - 450 cals

happy to get the first two sessions of this week done back to back so that i can get the next two workouts in with a day rest in between.

[brendbro]

Smolov Jr. Week 2 Day 3
Squats
115x8x4
*excluding warm ups
- woot. today felt awesome. strong, mentally focused, & technically proficient.
- considering this is an epic volume & weight pr, id say smolov is working its magic
- didn't get time to do any accessory stuff today as a slight emergency came up.
- just realised if i can hit a 150kg squat that puts my total above 1000(lb) for bodyweight of 163ish. absolutely not anything special, but its progress & getting to 1000 at a (relatively) lower ish BW was a goal this year.

been checking out the PL section & found a front squat routine that put 100lb on a guys total in around 5 weeks. the idea is that if you got weak legs (as by if you have a large discrepancy between DL's and squats, which i do) than a large amount of front squats can relatively quickly fix it. definitely going to seriously consider the programme once i'm done with smolov jr.

[AlwaysTryin]

^^ link?

Btw - welcome to the 1000 club! (Preemptive)

[brendbro]

Smolov Jr. Week 2 Day 4
bench
barx5
40x5
50x3
- just did this coz i had to wait for a free rack. man it's going to be awhile before im benching 100% again

Squats
120x10x3
*excluding warm ups
- not gonna lie and say i didn't have some nerves today (when i was on 5/3/1 approx 122.5 was my 1rm).
- after the first set nerves were quietened a bit, but it was difficult enough that i kept concentrated the entire session. didn't take rest periods lightly and stayed focused.
- i think it was my 6th or 7th set which felt the best. funny how that happens.

one more week of smolov. i'll only be adding 2.5kg more for the last week as i haven't been gaining any weight so i'd like to be conservative and not blow a gasket. today was tough enough and i'm definitely confident i can get through the last week.

deadlifts - 60x3
*just testing how shoulder feels

+ resistance bands / stretching / sldl / cardio - 460 cals

^^ link?

Btw - welcome to the 1000 club! (Preemptive)

http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showth...hp?t=156987343

lol thanks dude

[brendbro]

Smolov Jr. Week 3 Day 1
squats
102.5x6x6
*excluding warm ups
- well, final week of smolov jr started out exceptionally well. today was a piece of cake. got these done quickly & i contemplated moving the weight up but i figured id save it considering the rest of the week should prove to be tougher.
- form is feeling better than ever. sheiko really helped my proprioception when squatting, whereas smolov jr has really helped me nail down my strongest positioning.

deadlifts
60x3x3
100x3
140x1
*also threw in some supinated thumbless grip rows & OHP
- woot. very minimal shoulder / trap aching during these which is awesome. should be good to reincorporate DL's after finishing smolov, although not so sure about bench just yet.
- also incorporating a few new mental cues in order to get my legs involved a bit more. 100+lb discrepancy between my squatting & deadlifiting = my back does most the work.

db SLDL - can't remember #'s
+ resistance band stuff / stretching / cardio - 800 cals

[brendbro]

Smolov Jr. Week 3 Day 2
Squats
110x7x5
*excluding warm ups
- another exceptional squat session in. focus was there & technique felt solid.
- although i was getting epic stomach cramps, probly from eating some old chicken yesterday. didn't deter me though but it made keeping my core tight extra painful.

bench- 60x3x4
*awesome! first time ive done single plates since the injury. felt decent! definitely still some iffyness there but it's improving

farmers hold - 50lbx3x45 sec
*been meaning to incorporate these for ages but only just got around to it. felt good and i will try and get some of these in every session from now on

pulldowns - 13ppsx2x5
*first time doing pulldowns since the injury. these didn't feel too bad but cut them short because they didn't feel the best on my trap so wanted to play it safe

+ resistance band stuff / stretching / cardio - 700 cals

next session will either be thursday or friday, and then ill be in sydney over the weekend so i likely won't get to finish smolov until monday (maybe sunday).

[PerpetualMotion]

Really? Only 2.5 kilos? Shoulda went big and put on 5.

Numbers are looking good, man! ADD WEIGHT!

[brendbro]

Really? Only 2.5 kilos? Shoulda went big and put on 5.

Numbers are looking good, man! ADD WEIGHT!

took your advice today mang



Smolov Jr. Week 3 Day 3
Squats
117.5x1x4
120x7x4
*excluding warm ups
- as above i had planned on only adding a further 2.5kg this week. i got 1 set in and thought fck it lets go for 5kg more.
- first 4 sets felt so good. man smolov jr is working its magic well.
- latter half of sets started to get pretty difficult though but i knew i had them

walkout - 140x1
ohp - 40x5,50x3,60x1
*just testing the old shoulders. i miss pressing overhead so i would like to reincorporate it somehow soon

bb rows - 60x6x3
*supinated thumbless grip

farmers hold - 50lbx1:00x2

+ resistance bands / cardio - 360 cals


so 1rm from dec (start of sheiko) was 125kg / 275lb
now at end of smolov jr. should be approximately 147.5kg / 325lb
increase of 50lb in 3ish months with no change in bodyweight. definitely not strong by any means but im happy with that progress. and man my technique has improved a ton

[brendbro]

Left for sydney on friday for Future music festival. I saw Adventure Club (awesome), I see Monstas (pretty awesome), Netsky (fukking off the wall), Arty (<3 <3 <3), Eric Prydz (so chill & nice), a little bit of Porter Robinson (awesome), Knife Party (so disappoint ), and a bit of Deadmau5 (pretty fcked by then tbh).

I got home late sunday and couldn't get a session in, and skipped on monday because public holidays = crummy hours and a packed gym. SO today I had my final smolov jr. session, oh I had a session on friday as well, nothing major, did some OHP again for the first time in ages, 135x5 and then 143x1. Used to beable to do that weight for 5, hopefully I can work my way back up. After that I tried some deadlifts, worked my way up to 4pps [180kg], got it for a very easy single. Oh man am I happy about smolov jr., off the floor is so much easier now. I actually feel my legs working a ton more, I reckon I easily got a 200 in me as of right now. Anyway, onto today's session.

Smolov Jr. Week 4 Day 3
Squats
125x10x3
*excluding warm ups
- given the above (added ohp/dl session in between, and weekend of festivalling) I think today went great. definitely lost a little bit of that concentration that I was gathering up, but still felt reasonably strong and all over I can't complain. I successfully finished smolov jr without missing any reps and without injuring myself, and happen to hit my old 1rm (back in late nov 2013) for 10 sets of 3 on my last day too... so a successful finish

bb rows
60x10
65x3x5
*supinated thumbless grip

farmers hold - 50lbx3x50 sec superset w/ resistance band exercises
DB sldl - n/a aka can't remember
cardio - 200 cals

Going to take a few days off and look at my options of what to do next. Right now my thoughts are lots of front squatting, smolov again, or something else, not sure going to take a look and report back.

[brendbro]

so i was thinking id do some sort of sheiko RTS hybrid. Went in the gym yesterday and began benching and it just knocked me out too much. I did happen to get an 85kg bench for 4 reps, which is the most ive done since the trap injury, so that's great. But I am not going to be 100% for benching for some time yet. My two options then would be to hop on any programme I want and just sub bench out, or hop on a programme without benching. If i was to use a programme that already had benching in it, I wouldn't be optimising progress on other lfits, while another programme specified toward squatting (smolov) would be optimal. SO with all that being said, I am doing smolov jr again!


This gym session was slightly all over the place.

Bench
barx5
50x5
60x4
70x4
80x4
85x4

squat
barx5
60x5
80x5
100x4
110x4
105x4

deadlift
60x3
100x3
140x3

squats
100x6x6

face pulls - 30x3x7
+ band pull aparts

Here is my calculated progression over the next three weeks;
Week 1
D1: 100x6x6
D2: 107.5x7x5
D3: 115x8x4
D4: 120x10x3

Week 2
D1: 105x6x6
D2: 112.5x7x5
D3: 120x8x4
D4: 125x10x3

Week 3
D1: 107.5x6x6
D2: 115x7x5
D3: 122.5x8x4
D4: 127.5x10x3

as last time, I may move up 5kg instead of 2.5kg in week 3 depending how it is feeling, which would be 110 / 117.5 / 125 / 130

[brendbro]

Smolov Jr. week 1 day 2
squats
107.5x7x5
*excluding warm ups
- unfortunately i've caught a cold. still got session in today and it felt relatively good considering. just couldn't quite brace my core as well as i wanted & was out of breath fairly quickly, but otherwise no problems

farmers hold
20kgx1:00
22.5kgx0:45
25lgx0:45

hyperextension - bwx2x15
*new to these but felt really good so likely will incorporate them in more often

+ resistance bands / stretching / cardio - 340 cals

[brendbro]

Smolov Jr. Week 1 Day 3
Squats
115x8x4
*excluding warm ups
- mostly felt pretty good today. got these done in 35 ish minutes. first 4 sets flew by, then slowed down considerably. 7th and 8th sets were pretty difficult but that's to be expected.
- still feeling the brunt of my cold come through slightly. hopefully will be 100% next session.

+ resistance bands / stretching

Tried out some benching, including 80kg for a few reps afterward, but otherwise didn't have time for accessory stuff today. got waaaaaaay to much to get done over the next coming weeks

[brendbro]

Smolov Week 1 Day 4
Squats
120x10x3
*excluding warm ups
- a pretty darn good day overall. it was difficult but nothing i couldn't get done. week 1 finished
- accessory stuff is going to have to be pretty darn limited for the time being as i mentioned on thursday im busy as fukk.
- in other lifting related news.. i am contemplating incorporating more bodybuilding training... more on that later though.
- accessory stuff was just SLDL's, resistance bands, stretching... the usual

[brendbro]

Things are getting pretty heated with uni atm. trying not to let stress get to me too much but unfortunately all my time has been taken up with reading and getting through assessment pieces. Should see a bit of a break come next weekend as next thursday we are presenting our theses projects to the psych board. even after that I'll have quite a bit more assessment due but should be a bit more manageable. right now i feel like i literally have more to get done than i have time to finish it all..

meh 1st world problems lol


Smolov Jr.
Week 2 Day 1
Squats
105x6x6
*excluding warm ups

planks - 25kgx0:40x3

Week 2 Day 2
squats
112.5x7x5
*excluding warm ups

cardio / study - 550 cals


- Day 1 this week felt sht. not too much concentration & just overall weak.
- Today though felt easy. very happy with it.
- I have noticed recovery has been slower than usual, I think it might actually be because I haven't been doing as much slow cardio on the treadmill after my workouts. have always read that it helps with blood flow etc and therefore recovery, but considering I have always done cardio I never really have had an opportunity to test out recovery without it. Needless to say have felt a significant amount more DOMs than I expected the past couple of days, so am reincorporating some light cardio. we'll see if recovery improves or not.
- horry shtt if i make it through til next saturday that'll have me squatting 130kg for 10 sets of 3... when i finished sheiko in january 137.5kg was my 1rm!! excitedddd

[brendbro]

Smolov jr. week 2 day 3
squats
120x8x4
*excluding warm ups
- not going to lie, today was difficult
- took me until the 7th set to really find my groove
- once i finished last set it felt like i pulled my lower left lat or trap. still pretty sore now, not insanely so but lots of rolling & recovery to get done now

- honestly not sure about finishing off this run of smolov. on top of everything else it's not exactly feeling like it's helping any more. i'm dreaded to say i am overtraining because i know how that word can get thrown around but it feels like that right now - recovery is lowered, pulling sht / injuries, getting general soreness more, and feeling pretty much mentally fcked. although it could be due to back to back sessions, ill see how i feel on saturday and re-assess.

Regardless, with uni as busy as it is right now it's becoming more difficult keeping up with a programme as intense as smolov jr. so i may move onto something like bill starr's intermediate or one of the advanced 5/3/1 methods depending on what i feel i could handle on top of other life sht. i got the beyond 5/3/1 ebook and a lot of the new layouts actually look great and like something that i could handle well right now, but at the same time i could probably make a faster rate of progress on something like bill starr's. i will assess over the weekend.

i also need to get better at planning macro/meso cycles. as it is i haven't got much of a long term plan training wise which is what i need. i guess i feel a bit lost after sheiko and with my nerve impingement.

/rambling bleh