NorthStrong's Training Log

[NorthStrong]

531 C4W1 Bench

Made sure I ate some food and drank some water early on in the day, this made me feel loads better at the gym, so I will probably start eating breakfast at an earlier time that normally. I usually do some kind of pseudo intermittent fasting deal, where I break the fast at about 12 or 1, but when I do that I also work out at about 6pm. Now I'm lifting at about 1-4 ish range, so I need food in me earlier to function I think. Meal timing might not be relevant to body composition but it is to performance. Here's todays work.

Upper Body warm up / mobility
Plyo Pushups 3x3
Bench Press 135x5, 160x5, 180x8 PR
Incline 3x5 - 135
DB Floor Press 2x10, 1x15 - 50s
Pullups 75 total
Face Pulls 5x15 - 50
s/s
Tricep Pushdown 5x15 - 50

Boom another PR, things are still going well. The assistance was good. Inclines are a great bench builder I think, since you just have to use the muscles to up the weight without any real emphasis on technique or anything. DB Floor was easy, I will use more weight next time. I did these in June or so and they were hard, with 40-45lbs DBs. Interesting...Then the other stuff was good, hit my body parts I wanted to hit for balance in my physique / staying injury free as much as possible. Got a solid pump with the pushdowns like always.

Kinda sucked to get used to the different positions to put the pins and whatever in the rack, since I'm not used to benching out of a rack. Then the switch to incline was stupid too, but I'm writing down the positions so I'll remember for next time(s) anyway.

Anyway so that was today, pretty happy about it. I get a day off tomorrow, woohoo.

yeah, be careful with this. i wasn't always as whiny as i have been lately, lol. pr's are an addictive drug.

so are you just testing out assistance to see what works best for you, since you don't have significant weak points?

Sorta yeah, just doing them all to ensure that my strong points get stronger and no big weak points form. Just doing it because it's hard work and it makes sense to me to do. Plus Dan Green. PRs are addictive, but I recognize that the only ones that matter are on the platform. Somewhat odd to think in that way becaus my meet is like 10 months away LOL.

Those assistance exercises are solid bro! Keep doing what you're doing

Thanks man!

[baxtej44]

your upper back can never be strong enough. i'm considering adding in a row of some sort every time i work out, would be like 3 sets of 10 on non-DL days and then maybe heavier on DL day. or maybe rows twice a week and shrugs twice a week. i would also include face pulls once or twice a week. idk we'll see.. but the workout looks nice dude

[NorthStrong]

your upper back can never be strong enough. i'm considering adding in a row of some sort every time i work out, would be like 3 sets of 10 on non-DL days and then maybe heavier on DL day. or maybe rows twice a week and shrugs twice a week. i would also include face pulls once or twice a week. idk we'll see.. but the workout looks nice dude

Agreed. I always make sure to get more total pulling volume than pushing volume in a given week. When I'm not at home I do a bunch of chins everyday as well. I measure my volume in sets, not reps. Because 3x5 bench press is (i feel) more "volume" than 3x20 rear delt flyes. If you know what I mean? Idk. But yeah, back work is the ****.

[baxtej44]

Agreed. I always make sure to get more total pulling volume than pushing volume in a given week. When I'm not at home I do a bunch of chins everyday as well. I measure my volume in sets, not reps. Because 3x5 bench press is (i feel) more "volume" than 3x20 rear delt flyes. If you know what I mean? Idk. But yeah, back work is the ****.

yeah i get what you're saying. it's more effort basically.

[NorthStrong]

yeah i get what you're saying. it's more effort basically.

Pretty much yeah. Like regardless of intensities and volume, I think the muscles will respond to how much effort is put into them. Good word selection brah!

[izzygrant]

i wish i had been on the back work everyday train from the start. you guys are doing it right.

[budreiser2]

Awesome PR man. Looking at your log makes me think I need more back work

[baxtej44]

Awesome PR man. Looking at your log makes me think I need more back work

never a question. everyone needs a stronger back. that's going to be my philosophy from now on.

not to mention a hyooge back is just impressive.

[NorthStrong]

i wish i had been on the back work everyday train from the start. you guys are doing it right.

Dat izzy seal of approval.

Awesome PR man. Looking at your log makes me think I need more back work

That makes me happy haha! I love doing back stuff and it can't be overdone really.

never a question. everyone needs a stronger back. that's going to be my philosophy from now on.

not to mention a hyooge back is just impressive.

Strong backs generally indicate a strong person. And yeah a muscular back almost always looks cooler than the front of the body, IMO.

[baxtej44]

does the huge back > huge front apply here too? what if your back boobs are bigger than your front boobs?

wutsay?

[NorthStrong]

does the huge back > huge front apply here too? what if your back boobs are bigger than your front boobs?

wutsay?

Not showin up brah.

[baxtej44]

that's weird.. it's showing up for me. dunno. not funny anymore lol.

[NorthStrong]

531 C4W1 Deadlifts

Agile 8
Broad Jump 3x1
Deadlift 230x5, 265x5, 300x5
Rack Pull 3x5 - 225 (just below the knee)
Front Squat 3x5 - 155
GHR 3x6
s/s
Hanging Leg Raise 3x8 (pr lol)

WELL...I was working hard on my form today, pulling slack out of bar, not rounding back, etc..pretty much just trying to be Mike Tuscherer. The top set was unbelievably hard, was not expecting that. Disappointed. Oh well. I'll see how the rest of this cycle goes, and if it keeps being this awful I am going to reset it. I hope I don't have to, but honestly I'm very far away from my meet, lifting weights that are impressing no one, with a higher risk of getting injured than is necessary. Still getting used to the ****ty bars here too..

On a positive note. The rack pulls were retarded hard. MUCH harder than deadlifts are for me, so I think this is an indicator that I really need to work on them. I tried to not use any quad, and just treat it as a hip hinge, not giving myself the most mechanically advantaged (is that a word) position. Engaged a crapload of the lower and upper back, which is why my deadlifts suck I think.

After that I wanted to die so I went to front squats and committed suicide. Light weight but it was plenty at that point. The GHR / Leg raise (toes touch bar, or very close) was a good superset to work what I needed to. I HIGHLY recommend doing hanging leg raises on deadlift day, because it works in a similar fashion to the reverse hyper in the fact that it decompresses the spine.

Anyway that was today. Pressing tomorrow will go better.

that's weird.. it's showing up for me. dunno. not funny anymore lol.

... I am sure it was hilarious though.

[brs159]

I hate front squats. I need to start liking them more.

[NorthStrong]

I hate front squats. I need to start liking them more.

Thanks for stopping by man! Yeah front squats are pretty awful but very valuable at the same time. I found the rack pulls I did today were brutally hard, much harder than I had anticipated (never done them before). I'm pretty convinced since I am so awful at them that they should be effective in building my deadlift.

[izzygrant]

hammering better dl form, though short-term painful, will eventually pay off. i am proof.

[trancebreak]

hammering better dl form, though short-term painful, will eventually pay off. i am proof.

This. Although committing to every single rep will smash you mentally and physically now, in a few deadlift workouts you will feel completely different and get some crazy progress. It almost took me 3 months to transition to a deadlift form I feel comfortable with, it's well worth it

[NorthStrong]

531 C4W1 Press

Band warm up stuff
Press 95x5, 110x5, 125x7 PR
Pause Bench 3x5 @ 135 3 second pauses
DB Bench 2x10, 1x15 - 50lbs
DB Row 5x10 - 75lbs
DB Rear Delt Flyes 5x15 - 10lbs
E-Z Curls 3x12 - 50lbs
s/s
Tricep Pushdown 3x12 - 50lbs

Today was good. I was happy I hit a PR, as with all of my Press PRs, it was a 5 minute long grind on the last rep. I am absolutely beat up from the deadlifts and rack pulls currently. Lower back has never ever been this sore. The rack pulls were so hard for me I know they're the right thing to do lol.

Back on to today's workout though: The paused benching was unexpectedly hard. I do all of my benching touch n go, not paused. Since I suck at these, I know that these will be beneficial to me as well. My performance on DB benching and floor pressing has improved a lot, along with my bench press going up as well so I think there is a correlation there that if I push the DB work decently hard it should pay off for the barbell bench / press. Then the back work was good, got a solid pump. I had 0 energy left by the time I got to my arms stuff, so I just did 3 sets instead of 5, and I wasn't focusing on the exercises hard enough really to get a pump / feel them contracting hard. However, if there is one part of my training that I would like to be poor in comparison to the rest, it'd be arm stuff haha.

This. Although committing to every single rep will smash you mentally and physically now, in a few deadlift workouts you will feel completely different and get some crazy progress. It almost took me 3 months to transition to a deadlift form I feel comfortable with, it's well worth it

I put the effort into the technique and speed on each rep, I am either under-recovering, or just using too much weight. I think using the new ****tier bars is probably a small (10-15lbs) factor in it as well to be honest. Like I said I will see how the rest of this cycle goes, and it they start to feel good I'll keep at it, otherwise I am going to reset my training max back a few cycles, since I have such a long time to build up my pull anyway.

[psychodiver9]

Still not gonna Deload huh?

[NorthStrong]

Deloading after this cycle, after 2 more weeks of training.

[NorthStrong]

Did some lame ass **** today because I was bored and don't wanna get crazy fat during this "bulk".

Basically just some tempo based activity as per Chad Smith's recommendations. One set was on the running track, two were on the rower.

30 seconds on @ 60-75% of max output
Calisthenic Move (chins, pushups, situps) for 5-10 reps
10 second rest

Repeat that 6 times, and that's one set. After each set, you rest for like a minute or so.

The whole point of this aerobic alactic conditioning is to improve recovery instead of take away from it, keep the heart and body a bit healthy, burn some extra calories, etc. I worked on mobility before and after it as well. My hams / calves are way too tight. Need to fix that.

I also saw potentially the most beautiful ass I have ever seen today, at the gym. Was the highlight of the day so far. Words can't even do it justice.

Lastly, I found out that my gym has boxes to jump on, which is good. So I obviously did a few, but I will incorporate them in my routine as a pre squat or pre deadlift "plyometric" even though they are not true plyometrics, that's what I am calling them, so there.

[budreiser2]

I also saw potentially the most beautiful ass I have ever seen today, at the gym. Was the highlight of the day so far. Words can't even do it justice.

Lastly, I found out that my gym has boxes to jump on, which is good. So I obviously did a few, but I will incorporate them in my routine as a pre squat or pre deadlift "plyometric" even though they are not true plyometrics, that's what I am calling them, so there.

you should ask the misc for advice on talking to her llololololololololol
idk if you saw it but these videos from Hamburgertrain really help me with ham tightness and hip chit

and

[NorthStrong]

Hahha nah dawg I have a girl.

And that's odd that you posted those vids here, as I stumbled across them yesterday!

Thanks man. Just gonna ht up the mobility hard and improve it.

[DavoBC]

Just read through your log, great progress! Subscribed

[NorthStrong]

Just made this chart up, my first time ever using excel, for anything.

It's a pretty self explanatory chart. Just used the Weight x reps x 0.0333 + weight = E1RM to get the E1RMs.

The weeks do not include deloads for obvious reasons. Gonna be really cool to see this chart in a year or so's time, when there is a lot more data in there.

[NorthStrong]

531 C4W2 Squats

Agile 8 + other stuff
Seated Vertical Jumps 3x2 (my hops are getting decent)
Squat 210x3, 250x3, 285x7 PR
Pause Squat 3x4 - 225
Stiff Leg Deadlift 3x5 - 185
GHR 3x8 - PR
s/s
GHR Sit-ups 3x10 @ 10lbs behind head

Great session today. Ever since putting together my graph yesterday, I have gotten even more mathematical with my training lol. I now have a set goal for reps every day, which I calculate off of the formula REPS = (E1RM - WEIGHT) / (WEIGHT / 0.0333). Patent pending on that formula. Lol, if you notice, the formula is simply the very well known "WEIGHT X REPS X 0.0333 + WEIGHT= E1RM" just moved around a bit to calculate for a different variable.

The way I determine what I want to hit for reps each day is as follows. It should be above the E1RM of the previous session's top set, and ideally it should be a high enough E1RM that keeps the TM as 90% of the real max. I hope you understand. So the math for this last night was like this...

I want to hit something above 330, since that was the E1RM of last session. Plug in 335 as the E1RM. I know I am doing 285 for the top set. So the formula looks like this.

REPS = (335 - 285) / (285 / 0.0333). It comes out to 5.27. So I need 5 reps to show an improvement over last session, anything more is just bonus. So when I hit 7 reps today, it gave my the E1RM of 351. Which is a 20lbs improvement over last session, and it means that according to today, the training max I have (315) is at 90% of my real estimated max (351). You find that out by doing this: 315/351 = 0.9. Perfect. Nerd mode off. Hope that helps some of you though!

Now onto the actual work that I did today. Squats were great, I had previously hit this number for 3, back in July. So this was a pretty solid increase I feel. The pause squats and stiff legs made me wanna die, which is also good. Means it's hard work lol. Then I was very happy to hit a PR on the GHR. I have not been doing these very long, so I am quite happy with 3x8.

After the lifting, I did some stretching / mobility. I will be focusing on this much more in the near future. There are some bands at my gym which I will take advantage of, plus a few guys that work there are decent dudes who are really into KStarr's stuff, and helped me with a few of those things.

Anyway that's all for today, another PR on the squat for me, that's 9 weeks in a row I have hit a squat PR. Pretty cool I'd say. Hard work pays off. I really like how I have the math set up now so I can have a goal with a purpose to hit each day, and I hope that helps some of you along with your own training. Also, check out my graph posted above if you'd like, just showing a visual representation of my progress so far. First ever use of Excel so idk how it is, but whatever.

[Filmbuff81]

congrats on the PRs

and that was a convoluted way to say you have setup up your excel sheet to let you program in goal reps to match/stay close to your training max week to week lol.

[NorthStrong]

congrats on the PRs

and that was a convoluted way to say you have setup up your excel sheet to let you program in goal reps to match/stay close to your training max week to week lol.

Thanks, and yes indeed. I am too egotistical to say my piece in a small amount of words. Also included some math tho...

[Filmbuff81]

Thanks, and yes indeed. I am too egotistical to say my piece in a small amount of words. Also included some math tho...

haha yes true you did include math for the less informed so there is that

[trancebreak]

Damn bro, 285x7, I wouldn't be able to do that without getting full of lactic acid and passing out from being out of breathe hahaha. 5/3/1 rep out sets are definitely very humbling. I'm quite jealous actually, when I was at my last cycle of 5/3/1 before switching programs I was only at 308x4... you'll be smashing that in a few cycles