NorthStrong's Training Log

[NorthStrong]

BW 223.9

Leg Stuff

Back Rehab

Donnie LBP
Psoas Twist
KB Twist DL
Buttwalks

goblet/sldl

Safety Squat Bar Squat

175x5x3

Block Pull

175x5x3

Assistance

circuit

Goblet SQ - 50 x8x3
KB Swing - 50 x8x3
AB Wheel - bw x8x3

Commentary

Good last day of training. Off to France now.

[NorthStrong]

Back From France

BW 226.9 fat ass

Full body stuff

Squat

high bars

45x5
95x5
135x5

135x6

heels

135x10
135x3

SLDL

135x10

DB Bench

50s x20

Curls

30s x10/10 hammer

Commentary

Quick workout, first morning back from France. Happy to be home, and to workout again. No meet for me this summer for sure, so it will be a while til I can compete again, as I don't think I'll be able to during ATC Training.

Due to this, I am mentally shifting my goals away from strength for a while. The good news is that my body feels pretty solid overall, health wise. Nothing's hurting really right now. So I should be able to get on somewhat of a program now, and try to commit harder to dieting down.

[NorthStrong]

BW 226.4

Upper Body

Close Grips

135x10x3

Assistance

Inv Row - bw x10x3

db flyes - 15s x10x3
db tricep exts - 15s x10x3
side raise - 15s x10x3
face pull - micro mini x10x3

DB curls - 20s x12x4
Band pushdown - mini x12x4

Commentary

WEight down a bit, which is good. just kinda yoloing my training this week, and starting on some sort of a plan next week. Not even sure if I should keep my journal here for the next while since I'll basically just be trying to get leaner and healthy until ATC training is done. And because of IG no one even reads these anymore.

[NorthStrong]

Lower Body stuff

High Bar

185x3x2
135x5x2

SLDL

185x3x2
135x5x2

Ab Wheel

BW x10

video



Commentary

Happy to be back feeling ok. Starting program next week as I said, getting it planned out a bit better day by day now. Starting to try to shred harder now.

[NorthStrong]

BW 222.5 - PR

Upper stuff

Warmup

ohp - 45x10x3
bradford - 45 x8

Close Grip Bench / Chins

45x2x2 / 2x2
135x2 / 2
155x2 / 2
175x2 / 2
195x2 / 2
215x2 / 2
235x2 / 2

Assistance

DB Hammer Curl - 30s x15x2
Pushdowns - mini x12x2

Creeper - 6/6/6/6/6

Commentary

Best weigh in so far, very happy to hit a low before the real training and dieting starts next week.

[NorthStrong]

BW 222.2

program starting monday, excited for it.

[NorthStrong]

I am going to be mostly posting in a different log for a while. I'll probably just paste those posts in here for the sake of continuity in this log, but it's definitely not a powerlifting log for now. However, this is still my training log which I've kept for 5 years now, so I want to keep posting in it.

Trying to cut from 225 to 185 now. No strength goals in immediate future.

BW - 225.4

Cut Week 1 Day 1 - Push Day

Close Grip Bench

225x3x5

Press

135x3x5

Assistance

DB Flyes - 15s x15x3
ss
Side Raise - 15s x12x3
ss
Pushdowns - miniband x12x3

Video



Commentary

Decent start to the day today. Lifting is a bit rusty, as I was on vacation from June 22 - July 2, so I just hit a few light workouts last week to knock a bit of the rust off. I'm sure it'll come around soon. Haven't done OHP in forever, so that was quite rusty/weak. CG was ok. Did the first couple sets closer, but if I grip too close it bugs my shoulder. So my close grip is not super close, but it's about a fist closer than my regular bench grip (pinky just inside of the rings).

My training videos week to week will not really be too exciting, but I'll still upload them hopefully fairly regularly.

Here's the jist of my program.

It's Hepburn inspired work for the main lifts of the day, main lifts done twice a week, on a push legs pull push legs pull off split. Pull day is essentially just a bunch of back and bicep work, not hard on the lower back, as that's hit with block pulls on the leg day. And some hill sprints on pull day instead of main work, sprints done after the pull work.

[NorthStrong]

BW 222.9

Cut Week 1 Day 2 - Lower Body

Warmup

Donnie's LBP
Buttwalks
KB twist DL
KB SQ/SLDL

SSB Squat

205x3x5

Block Pulls

Alternating conv/sumo

225x3x5

Assistance

KB Goblet SQ - 30 x10x3
KB SLDL - 30 x10x3
Plank - bw x10 breaths (RKC style)

Video



Commentary

Solid day, took a lot longer than I figured it would, going to need to try to speed things up. Anyway I'm pretty happy with how the lifting went, I ended up going heavier than I was planning on, but it felt all good. Happy with the squatting and pulling being pain free. Was originally going to go with high bar sq and sldls, but I decided to go with SSB / Block Pulls. SSB is a great move for me, as it hits everything that I do wrong in my squat. Hopefully after a bit of this my squat pattern will get a bit better, especially the thoracic extensors and trunk strength.

Block pulls I'm going to alternate conventional and sumo, just to try and build up a bit of groin and hip strength. Block pulls are always weak for me (conventional anyway). And they hit my low back really hard, which is good because that's the regular weak spot in my maximal pulls.

Good day overall though. Happy with the weigh in today too.

[NorthStrong]

BW 222.1

Cut Week 1 Day 3 - GPP/Pull

Seal Row

50s x8x6

FatGripz Shrugs

135x8x6

DB Curls

20s x10x7

Conditioning

Hill Sprints - 7

Mobility

Groin and hip flexor work. Not as much as I was hoping to do. Need to get an X-Wife soon. Gonna call to get a quote from a machining shop or something soon.

Commentary

Lowest weigh in so far, which is pretty nice. Always good for motivation to have lower weigh ins, to keep things going.

Doing these days as a Pull day / GPP day. The FatGripz shrugs were interesting, very hard on the grip. Good though. And some kind of conditioning at the end of the workout. All of these movements, will be like the assistance lifts for the other days, pretty much will be changing every single workout.

[NorthStrong]

BW 221.8 PR

Cut Week 1 Day 4 - Push

Closer Grip Bench

225x5
225x3x4

Press

135x5
135x3x4

Assistance

Incline Flyes - 15s x10x3
ss
Incline DB Exts - 15s x10x3
ss
Face Pull - micro mini x15x3

Video



Commentary

Solid day of lifting, ****ty morning so far otherwise. Not going to post videos probably too often because each workouts main work will be painfully similar, as you can already see a bit probably.

[NorthStrong]

BW 220.1 PR

Week 1 Day 5 - Lower

Warmup/Rehab

Donnie LBP
KB Twist DL
KB Buttwalks
Goblet SQ + SLDL

SSB Squat

205x5
205x3x4

Block Pulls

Alternating conv/sumo

225x5
225x3x4

Assistance

superset

Barbell Step Ups - 45 x10/leg x2
KB Swings - 50 x10x2
KB Side Hold - 50 x10x2

Video




First and last set of squats, and pulls. With 2nd sumo set.

Commentary

Really happy and surprised with how the weigh ins have been going this week, I'm sure that I'll have a few ups after all the downs.

SSB Squats were pretty good today, felt stronger than last time for sure. Block pulls (the conventional ones) were slightly uncomfortable, in a very specific spot in my low back. Not exactly sure what to make of it. I'll see how things go and adjust accordingly, maybe I'm just not ready for deadlifts yet, or even block pulls, we'll see.

[NorthStrong]

BW 220.1

Cut Week 1 Day 6 - Pull/GPP

KB Anti-Rotation Row - 50lb x8x8
KB Crying Shrug - 50lb x10x7
KB Hammer Curl - 30lb x6x12
(all per arm, of course)

6 rounds of

Goblet Stairs - 50lb x stairsx2
ss
KB Swings - 50lb x10

Commentary

Great day, was at the cottage so I just brought 2 KBs and improvised a workout. I did like it though, the stairs were tough with the KB in the goblet position.

On to week 2 of the cut tomorrow, will post some pictures, as I likely will every Monday, after my push day.

[NorthStrong]

BW 223.6

Cut Week 2 Day 1 - Push

CGBP

225x5x2
225x3x3

OHP

135x5
Uncomfortable, stopped

Assistance

DB Inclines - 50s x10x3
Behind Head Tri Ext - Micro x10x3
Scarecrows - micro x10x3

Commentary

Solid day, BW a bit up, but should really be quite down again by tomorrow. Bloated a bit from the weekend.

I decided I'll likely post monthly pictures, rather than weekly.

In all likelyhood, I'll drop OHP, and change my assistance layout, and GPP days, etc, and probably lower body assistance too.

[NorthStrong]

BW 220.8

Cut Week 2 - Day 2 Lower

Back Rehab

Donnie LBP
Buttwalk
KB Twist DL
Mcgill big 3

SSB Squat

205x5
205x1 with belt (twinge in back)
155x5

Block Pull

135x8x2

Commentary

Bad news today...tried a set of SSB with a belt on, to see if it felt better. Made things a lot worse. Back is not feeling great right now. I don't think it'll be as bad as it was a few months ago, hopefully I'll have it feeling decent enough soon again.

I think I was going a bit too heavy anyway. If it's good to train again soon, I will just start light and add weight, instead of heavier, and adding volume as I was doing.

Anyway, feeling (probably foolishly) optimistic.

[NorthStrong]

BW 218.5 PR

Cut Week 2 Day 3 - Pull/GPP

Barbell Rows

95 x10x6

Face Pulls

Micro mini x20x7

FatGripz Curls

45 x12x5

Hill Sprints

7 of em

Mobility Stuff - 10 mins

Decompression SQ
Donnie LBP
Squat hold

Commentary

Good day, decided to do some BB rows to see how my back was doing, after the minor little strain thing yesterday.

Other lifts were fun, and happy I got to doing the hill again. ANd stretching. This is essentially a patch up day, which I need.

And very happy with the weigh in today, PR so far by a lot. 1.5lb more, and I'll be down a total of 20lb.

[NorthStrong]

BW 220.5

Cut Week 2 Day 4 - Upper

FG Incline CG Bench

185x5
205x5

135x12

Supplemental Work

Bottoms up KB Press - 30 x10x3
ss
DB Row - 50 x15x3

Assistance

Diamond(ish) Pushup - 2x20

Carries

3 Rounds of

Farmers - 50s - down/back/down/back
ss
Sandbag - 66lb - down/back/down/back

Commentary

Good session today. Weigh in was up, which is obviously gonna happen. It's low enough now that it's not too bad when I get a little bump up. Gonna be moving to close grip inclines (and maybe fat gripz on there too) instead of close grip flat bench. Bit easier on my shoulders. The work after the main lift was fun too, and I enjoyed having the carries back in there. Need some heavier DBs though...

Lower body tomorrow, hopefully my back will let me just squat and pull really light, for some reps.

[NorthStrong]

BW 220.7 (Done Friday)

Cut Week 2 Day 5 - lower

Warmup

Donnie LBP
Buttwalk
mckenzie pressup
glute med stuff
kb sq / sldl

HB Squat

95x5x3
135x10x3

Block Pull

135x10x3

Assistance Stuff

Bulgarian Split Squat - bw x10/leg x2
ss
Leg Curl - mini x10x2
ss
Ab Wheel - bw x10x2

Commentary

Back was being kinda lame, got a bit of work in, hopefully it will keep getting better again. Gonna just slowly build up these lifts.

[NorthStrong]

(Done Saturday)

Cut Week 2 Day 6 - GPP/Pull

DB Rows

50 x12x1
50 x10x5

Face Pulls

micro mini x25x7

DB Curls

25x10x8

Conditioning

5 rounds of

(stairs = 10)

DB Farmers up Stairs x2
ss
Stair Sprint x2

Commentary

Pretty good little GPP type day, again done at the cottage. Still got in the work though. Didn't have scale to weigh myself. Had quite a lot of junk and crap last night, was hard to resist lol. Hopefully the weigh in tomorrow won't be too bad..

[NorthStrong]

BW 222.9 (fat af lol, weekend did me dirty)

Cut Week 3 Day 1 - Upper

Fat Gripz CG Incline

205x3x5

Supplemental

DB OHP - 30s x15x3
ss
Inverted Row - bw x10x3

Assistance

Pushup - 2x15
ss
Face Pulls - 2x20

Carries

3 rounds of
DB Farmers - 50s xdbdb x2
ss
Sandbag -66 xdbdb x2

Commentary

Solid enough day, not too happy with the weigh in, but I was expecting it. Training plan is somewhat up in the air right now, might be some changes soon.

[NorthStrong]

BW 220.3

Cut Week 3 Day 2 - Lower

Back Rehab

Donnie LBP
KB Twist DL
mckenzie pressup
etc

High Bar Squat

135x10x3

RDL

95x8x2

Commentary

Brutal day today. Back bugging me farily badly again. Time for at least another month (probably more, off from barbell squatting and deads. Going to have to change the plan (again) to accommodate for this. Really sucks.

Going to try to get it back in control, without making it any worse. Really not very happy about this, obviously. Probably will go back to what I was doing before I started this log, PPLPPLO split. Gotta figure out what I'm gonna do for my conditioning structure though. At least strength isn't a goal right now, because it really would not be going very well.

[NorthStrong]

BW 219.7

Cut Week 3 Day 3 - Stuff

Back Rehab Work

Bunch of stuff here...
Sumo KB Block DL
Buttwalks
back crawls
planks
side plank
mckenzie pressups
blah blah blah

Hill Sprints

10 mins.

11 sprints

Back rehab

Donnies LBP
kB twist dl, few more things like that yadayada.

Commentary

Back feels a bit better than yesterday. Not all hope is lost for sure, I'm going to avoid barbell work, and things that hurt it for 1-2 months. I have a few strategies I picked up from Andrew Lock yesterday, I'd recommend you guys read some of his writing if your back's bugging you as well.

Kinda a weirdly structured day here today, but I'll probably fix up some sorta programming, properly, to start next week off with. More than likely back to PPLPPLO like I said above, with the lower body days being a lot of back rehab work, and some conditioning, probably with a high volume of lunges and leg curls etc.

[NorthStrong]

BW 219.4

Cut Week 3 Day 4 - Push

Incline Bench

225x5

135x5x3 (3 sec down, 1 pause, 3 sec up)

Assistance

DB Side Raise - 5x10x15
ss
Band Pushdown - 5x10xmini

Pushup - 20

Commentary

Lowest energy workout day in a long time, felt like a zombie.

[NorthStrong]

BW 218.5

Cut Week 3 Day 5 - "Legs"

Back rehab

Donnie LBP
KB Twist DL
Back Crawls
Buttwalks
Mckenzie Pressup
KB Sumo Block Pulls - 50 x10x2

Main Work

Suitcase Step Up - 15lb x10/side x2
ss
Band leg curl - mini x20x2
ss
Plank - 2 x10-15sec

Conditioning

2 Hill Sprints + 10 min walk

Commentary

Low energy day again today, probably because the workout was hardly anything to look forward to. Sucks that it's only been a few days since things got crappy again, feels like a long time already. Oh well. Need to just take my time and not be an idiot for about 2 months, shouldn't be all that hard.

Was running low on time for the sprints so I just did what I had time for, rather than totally skipping out on it like I easily could have.

Happy with the weigh in today, at least.

[NorthStrong]

BW 217.5 PR

Cut Week 3 Day 6 - Pull/back

Pullups

5x3

Chins

5x3

Other Stuff

Seal Rows - 50s x10x4
Wide Grip Shrugs - 135x15x3
Power-ish Shrug - 225x8

Side Raise - 15s x12x2, 10x2
ss
Rear Raise - 15s x12x, 10x2
ss
Neck - 30 x25x4

Hammer Curls - 30s x10x3
ss
Face Pull - micro mini x20x3

10 minutes on the clock, 5 rounds (about 1:15 on, 0:45 rest)

DB Farmers - 50s xdbdb
ss
Sandbag Carry - 66 xdbdb

FG Barbell Curl - 20
strip FGs
Barbell Curl - 10

Commentary

Really fun day today, happy with how it all went. Got a good pump, gonna start working harder on my chins/pullups. Rows and stuff all good, carries were fun etc.

[NorthStrong]

BW 219.9 (pizza last night lol, still good start to week tho)

Cut Week 4 Day 1 - Push

Incline Bench

225x5 again lol

Assistance

DB Bench - 50s x15x2
DB Flyes - 15s x10x3

KB Bottom Up Press - 30 x10x2
ss
DB Side Raise - 15s x10x2

Band Pushdown - mini x10x3
Creepers - micromini x 10/8/6/8/10

Commentary

Weird day. My back was so sore yesterday I could hardly move, just felt like my QL or whatever was so tight that my pelvis was being pulled towards my spine the whole day, was really pretty miserable. It was quite a bit better today, which is good. Not gonna do much at all lower body/back stuff, even rehab stuff, just going to try to let the muscles relax and chill out a bit. If it continues to be rough I'll probably try to arrange an appointment to get some dry needling done, that helped my shoulder out a ton when that was recovering, years ago.

IDK why i just did 225 for incline again, my PR is 8, and I'd be happy if I can get that to 10, but I'll probably have to start training for it instead of just yolo-ing, which is happening again because of the injury.

[NorthStrong]

BW 217.6 (hitting consistently in the 217s, good news for me)

Cut Week 4 Day 2 - Legs (lol)

Leg Curls - mini x10x3
ss
Lunge - Bw x10/legx3

Conditioning

Hill Sprint - 8

Bit of hip stretching

Commentary

Not a bad day considering how crappy the back is being, got a bit of work done at least. Hopefully things will get better, and if not I'll see if i can get some treatment soon.

[NorthStrong]

BW 216.9 PR

Cut Week 4 Day 3 - Pull

Pullups/Chins

1x4, 4x3 pullups
5x3 chins

Assistance

Seal Rows - 50s x10x4

Shrugs - 135x20x3

Side Raise - 15s x12x3
ss
Rear Raise - 15s x12x3

Hammer Curls - 30s x15x2

Neck stuff

Front - 5lb hat x25x2
ss
Sides - 5lb hat x25x2 (both side obviously)
ss
Extensions - 30lb x50x2

Commentary

Great day here today. Trying to progress the chins/pullups a bit. Seal rows were good as always, then did some yoke and arms.

Started trying to do the Bill Starr rehab protocol for the lower back, goign to see if that will help.

[NorthStrong]

BW 216.6 PR

Cut Week 4 Day 4 Push(ish)

Incline Bench

185x8x4

Assistance

Close grip incline - 135x10x2
DB Flyes - 15s x15x3

DB Side Raise - 15s x10x2
ss
Face Pull - micromini x20x2

DB Kickback - 10s x20x2
Pushdown - mini x10x2
Overhead Band Ext - mini x12x2
Behind to Front ext - micro mini x10x2

DB Curls - 25s x15x2

Commentary

Solid day, happy with the weigh in, but was low energy and flat as **** today. After all that tricep work I had like a 2/10 pump lol. Going to probably eat a bit more on this weekend (long weekend for me) and gonna probably weigh in heavier on monday, but hopefully be a lot more carbed up as well. Gonna post some pictures on Monday, since it's going to be 1 month mark since the last ones.

[NorthStrong]

BW 215.7 PR

Wheelbarrowing

went in to work early and wheelbarrowed a bunch of concrete, instead of doing my lower body day which was kinda lame but not like my lower body days have been super productive lately anyway.

Commentary

Going to the cottage tonight, bringing my DBs so I will do some back work, and probably a full body type circuit on the other day. Long weekend for me, so I will probably post again in here on Monday, and I assume I will weigh like 400lb by then.

[NorthStrong]

Cut Week 4 Day 6 - Pull

DB Rows

50s x12x6

Carries

5 rounds of

Farmers Stairs - 50s xstairs (x2)
ss
Goblet Stairs - 50 xstairs (x2)

Assistance

Face Pulls - micro mini x25x7
ss
Hammer Curls - 30s x10x7
ss
Pushup - bw x10x7

Commentary

Decent day. No scale, so no BW recorded here. Done Saturday. Off to hit my push day now.

Back seized up hard on Friday and was quite painful, but it has chilled out a bit today.