The Flywheel Effect.

[JohnButz]

Very impressive work CW! I was thinking about adding some bands to the weighted dips. Do you have a recommendation?

[400Lb Gorilla]

Solid work on the 365 deadlift workout and the bench max workout! If your orange bands are as new as they look, they are probably still putting out some pretty heavy tension! I always want to order more whenever I come in here lol.

Also, thanks for the seated hammie curl idea. I never thought of doing it like that. Might give that a shot tomorrow!

[WolfRose7]

Nice max, I can't imagine using my light band for bench lol. Double Mini is the most I've added

[CW47]

Very impressive work CW! I was thinking about adding some bands to the weighted dips. Do you have a recommendation?

That sounds very interesting. I've never done them with bands before, but these seem like good options:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aAbKGIKEZDI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QLytf2Sh6Sw

Solid work on the 365 deadlift workout and the bench max workout! If your orange bands are as new as they look, they are probably still putting out some pretty heavy tension! I always want to order more whenever I come in here lol.

Also, thanks for the seated hammie curl idea. I never thought of doing it like that. Might give that a shot tomorrow!

I had seen that hamstring curl idea a couple of times (I think on Matt Wenning's channel, but kept forgetting to try it out. I really like it. There are several hamstring exercises I'd prefer if money and space were no issue, but it's a great option for someone with limited resources.

Nice max, I can't imagine using my light band for bench lol. Double Mini is the most I've added

Yeah, I wasn't sure what to expect. It went better than I thought it would. It definitely adds a fair amount of tension, but I didn't feel like it was too much. I'll definitely do it again at some point in the future.

[Anthony21]

Really nice banded bench work.

I've tried those banded hamstring curls but could never really feel them much in my hamstrings.

Maybe I need to try them again and see if I can get them feeling better .

[CW47]

Really nice banded bench work.

I've tried those banded hamstring curls but could never really feel them much in my hamstrings.

Maybe I need to try them again and see if I can get them feeling better .

Thanks man. The bench felt great. The Ham Curls ARE a little awkward, and certainly not as good at isolating the hams as a Hamstring Curl machine, but they worked well enough. I had sore hammy's for a couple of days afterward.


January 26, 2021 - Dynamic Lower

16 inch Box Squat
140 pounds - 12 sets x 2 reps

Paused Sumo Deadlift
215 pounds - 10 sets x 2 reps
These felt super weird. I guess that's what I get for not doing any sumo deads for several weeks. My pause height was inconsistent. Pause length was inconsistent. Everything about this lift was off. I expect it'll be much better next time around.

Pull Through
2 Mini Bands - 3 sets x 10 reps

Deficit Stiff Legged Deadlift
185 pounds - 3 sets x 10 reps
These are pretty brutal at this rep range. They do such a good job of targeting the hamstrings and lower back though, it's totally worth it.


I recorded some stuff, but haven't had time to upload it yet. I may get the video added tomorrow.

[CW47]

January 27, 2021 - Dynamic Upper

Bench Press w/Bamboo Bar
106 pounds (bar is only 6 pounds)- 9 sets x 3 reps
I getting much better control over the bar finally. It really fatigues my shoulders more than a normal bar.

Seated Shoulder Pin Press w/Band
Mini Band + 65 pounds - 5 sets x 5 reps
Pin Press with the bar at about eye level. The goad was to target the triceps, and it worked well. I recorded video to show how I setup the mini band. I will try to get the video uploaded tomorrow.

Floor Press w/Chains
65 pounds + 4 chains (15 pounds each) - 3 sets x 12 reps
These were killer. Really hammered my chest and triceps.

Helms Row
80 pounds (45 pound DB's) - 3 sets x 12 reps

Plate Raise
25 pounds - 3 sets x 12 reps

Weighted Situp
Bodyweight + 50 pounds - 3 sets x 12 reps


The workouts the last 2 days really kicked my arse. Gonna enjoy my rest day tomorrow. My son and I start up Kung Fu classes again on Friday, so hopefully I won't be too sore, lol.
As I mentioned already, I'm planning to try to upload videos from the last two workouts tomorrow.

[Filmbuff81]

Have fun trying to move the remainder of the week lol.

[Raigs]

Solid workouts the kung fu will be great active recovery. Glad your starting that back up. Enjoy trying to get started though :P

[JohnButz]

Thanks for the links Bro, and awesome job on that wobble bar!

[CW47]

Have fun trying to move the remainder of the week lol.

Turned out not to be too bad actually. Just some really minor soreness.

Solid workouts the kung fu will be great active recovery. Glad your starting that back up. Enjoy trying to get started though :P

Kung Fu class was great! Because of the C-Flu, there are fewer people than normal signed up. So they combined everyone into two different classes. There are 5 different belt levels in our class. It was very cool to see what we will be doing in the future.

Thanks for the links Bro, and awesome job on that wobble bar!

Thank you brother.

[CW47]

January 31, 2021 - Max Lower
Kind of a crazy week. Working 10-12 hour days (which I used to do all the time, but am not used to at all now), along with the ever-important family time. This left just barely enough time to get in workouts (and actually missed one yesterday). At the moment it's to the point that I really don't even have time to upload videos. I will resume this when I can.


12 inch Box Squat
225 pounds x 1 rep
Even the rep at 185 was a grind. Almost didn't go up from there. My 1 rep at 205 was better than the 185. 225 moved pretty slow, so I stopped there. I'm thinking I need to do the 12 inch box squats more regularly. I feel so weak out of the bottom of my squat right now, and it should help with that.

Paused Squat
120 pounds - 5 sets x 5 reps
As I just said above, I'm feeling very weak out of the bottom of my squat, which makes these a struggle even with the super light weight. It felt notably better than last week though. I will just keep at it.

Seated Hamstring Curl w/band
Mini Band - 3 sets x 12 reps
Liking these a lot. I'm doing them almost like a seated knee raise, so it's working both hamstrings and abs pretty good.

Yates Row
120 pounds - 2 sets x 8 reps
Not really feeling these, to be honest. They're supposed to target the lats, but I'm feeling it mostly in my rear delts and forearms. Nothing wrong with hitting those muscles obviously, but these are in here specifically to hit lats.

Lever Row
37.7 pounds - 2 sets x 8 reps
Instead of doing 4 sets of the Yates Rows, I decided to give this a try. They felt good. I definitely prefer Kroc Rows and single are DB rows, but these are a good twist I can add in from time to time. I honestly don't feel like I'm getting much out of the Yates Row or standard Bent Row, so I'm leaning heavily towards just dropping them for now and focusing on single arm row variants.

[JohnButz]

A tip of the hat getting that god work in, despite the long work hours!

[Anthony21]

January 31, 2021 - Max Lower
Kind of a crazy week. Working 10-12 hour days (which I used to do all the time, but am not used to at all now), along with the ever-important family time. This left just barely enough time to get in workouts (and actually missed one yesterday). At the moment it's to the point that I really don't even have time to upload videos. I will resume this when I can.


12 inch Box Squat
225 pounds x 1 rep
Even the rep at 185 was a grind. Almost didn't go up from there. My 1 rep at 205 was better than the 185. 225 moved pretty slow, so I stopped there. I'm thinking I need to do the 12 inch box squats more regularly. I feel so weak out of the bottom of my squat right now, and it should help with that.

Paused Squat
120 pounds - 5 sets x 5 reps
As I just said above, I'm feeling very weak out of the bottom of my squat, which makes these a struggle even with the super light weight. It felt notably better than last week though. I will just keep at it.

Seated Hamstring Curl w/band
Mini Band - 3 sets x 12 reps
Liking these a lot. I'm doing them almost like a seated knee raise, so it's working both hamstrings and abs pretty good.

Yates Row
120 pounds - 2 sets x 8 reps
Not really feeling these, to be honest. They're supposed to target the lats, but I'm feeling it mostly in my rear delts and forearms. Nothing wrong with hitting those muscles obviously, but these are in here specifically to hit lats.

Lever Row
37.7 pounds - 2 sets x 8 reps
Instead of doing 4 sets of the Yates Rows, I decided to give this a try. They felt good. I definitely prefer Kroc Rows and single are DB rows, but these are a good twist I can add in from time to time. I honestly don't feel like I'm getting much out of the Yates Row or standard Bent Row, so I'm leaning heavily towards just dropping them for now and focusing on single arm row variants.

The best tip that has helped my barbell row in terms of being able to feel it a lot better in my lats is this one by Andy Baker. I believe it starts at the 4:15 mark.

[CW47]

The best tip that has helped my barbell row in terms of being able to feel it a lot better in my lats is this one by Andy Baker. I believe it starts at the 4:15 mark.

Thanks Anthony! I will for sure give it a watch this week.



February 1, 2021 - Max Upper
Left out a couple of lifts today because I'm going to be eliminating one of my rest days later in the week, and I wanted to be able to go all out on the exercises I did.

Bench Press w/Trap Bar
165 pounds x 1 rep
Well this was unexpectedly excellent. While the trap bar handles were a bit too far apart to be ideal for overhead pressing, they're just right for bench press. I will be doing these much more in the future. It's amazing how much I rely upon the bar touching my chest to get a consistent depth, and some rebound effect. Not having that felt super weird. But it allows a longer range of motion, which is nice, and the neutral grip is great too.

Dumbbell Bench Press
130 pounds (65's) - 5 sets x 4 reps
Too much of a jump up, and I wasn't able to do the full 5 reps per set. I will repeat the same weight again next week.

Landmine Press
75 pounds - 3 sets x 10 reps
Used my T-Bar row bar for these this time, and it work great. It's really a full body movement.

[Filmbuff81]

Nice work.

Seal rows with a barbell of dumbbells is also a solid alternative.

Also not sure how you’re doing your lever rows, but John meadows version was the most effective version of a one arm bb row IMHO.

[400Lb Gorilla]

Please please please tell me you got a video of using the trap bar for bench! lol solid work on the 225 box squat and the 165 TB benchpress. Does the trap bar give you a neutral grip? Or is it still pronated?

I wish I had a trap bar

Thank you for posting this! I have never thought to load the hamstrings up to help stabilize the lift. I do the "fighting" thing he is talking about. Constantly moving around because I am too far forward and using lower back to try and hold up the the entire ROM.

[Anthony21]

Please please please tell me you got a video of using the trap bar for bench! lol solid work on the 225 box squat and the 165 TB benchpress. Does the trap bar give you a neutral grip? Or is it still pronated?

I wish I had a trap bar





Thank you for posting this! I have never thought to load the hamstrings up to help stabilize the lift. I do the "fighting" thing he is talking about. Constantly moving around because I am too far forward and using lower back to try and hold up the the entire ROM.

It's been the biggest thing to improve my barbell row. I'm glad you found it helpful.

[CW47]

Please please please tell me you got a video of using the trap bar for bench! lol solid work on the 225 box squat and the 165 TB benchpress. Does the trap bar give you a neutral grip? Or is it still pronated?

I recorded a couple of the warmup sets, but deleted them right away. It's a neutral grip. Looks like this:



_________________________________

By the way, a word to the unwise (like myself) - DO NOT try flipping the trap bar over and using the 'high' grips. I lost control of the bar really quickly and easily, and it was just dumb luck that it tilted back toward the rack and I was able to land it on the j-cups instead of having it come down on top of me. Probably the dumbest thing I've done in a long time.

_________________________________

Thanks again for the video Anthony. I will definitely give the rows another try with these tips in mind.

[CW47]

February 3, 2021 - Dynamic Lower
Didn't have time to get through the full workout. Was a really busy week overall, so I just fit in what I was able to.

16 inch Box Squat
155 pounds - 10 sets x 2 reps

Paused Sumo Deadlift
235 pounds - 8 sets x 2 reps
Sumo still felt awkward, but better than last week. I guess I've learned that I need to do this lift really consistently to keep it in the groove.

[CW47]

February 5, 2021 - Dynamic Upper

Bench Press w/Bamboo Bar
126 pounds (bar is only 6 pounds)- 9 sets x 3 reps
Definitely have pretty good control now. Never felt like it was getting away from me at all. This was probably too much weight for speed work though.

Seated Shoulder Pin Press w/Band
Mini Band + 70 pounds - 5 sets x 5 reps
This felt noticeably easier than last week.

Floor Press w/Chains
70 pounds + 4 chains (15 pounds each) - 3 sets x 12 reps

Single Arm Row
65 pounds - 3 sets x 12 reps

[Filmbuff81]

Workouts looking good and I have to admit I laughed at your trap bar story because first thing I thought was “how would this work with high handles”

Of course if would go poorly lol, so thanks for the PSA.

[CW47]

February 7, 2021 - Max Lower

12 inch Block Pull (3 rep max)
425 pounds x 3 rep
Tweaked a muscle in my back while doing this, so I didn't try adding any more weight. Could probably have loaded all the weight I had (brining it to 485), but there was no reason to push it. I should also note that the range of motion is super small with the 12 inch blocks. I figured it was only about a 6 inch ROM. That's as low as I can put the plyo boxes I'm using for this though.

Paused Squat
125 pounds - 5 sets x 5 reps
Man, huge difference this week. Not sure exactly what the difference was, but everything came together today and these felt much easier. One of the keys was just remembering to root my feet into the flooring. It's one of the cue's I tend to forget sometimes, even though it makes a huge difference for me.

Seated Hamstring Curl w/band
Mini Band - 4 sets x 10 reps
Took video of this, which you can see at the end of the post. Really liking this movement, as it hits both hams and abs simultaneously.

Bent Row
115 pounds - 3 sets x 10 reps
The video Anthony shared a few posts up definitely helped! I still prefer the single arm rows at the moment, but I for sure feel better about doing the barbell variants now.


Video of the Ham Curls:

[400Lb Gorilla]

I keep forgetting to try them hamstring curls lol.

Solid work on the block pulls. I wouldn't worry too much about the ROM on them. If you are using them to overload your lift, the important part is making sure to lock them out with authority.
If you are using block pulls to help strengthen your weak area of deadlifts, that is when the ROM matters. Can you deadlift 425x3? Also, good call using blocks instead of your rack. Block pulls, imo, are better.

[Anthony21]

Nice training man. I'm glad that adjustment to your barbell row worked out for you.

[CW47]

I keep forgetting to try them hamstring curls lol.

Solid work on the block pulls. I wouldn't worry too much about the ROM on them. If you are using them to overload your lift, the important part is making sure to lock them out with authority.
If you are using block pulls to help strengthen your weak area of deadlifts, that is when the ROM matters. Can you deadlift 425x3?

Not even close. Point taken, lol.

Nice training man. I'm glad that adjustment to your barbell row worked out for you.

Yeah, thanks for sharing that. I found that it even helped when I did T-Bar Rows today.

[CW47]

February 8, 2021 - Max Upper
After missing a few workouts last week, my energy level was high even after lifting both of the last two days, so I lifted again today. Will probably take a day off tomorrow, but this session went very well.

Floor Press (3 rep max)
165 pounds x 3 reps

Dumbbell Bench Press
130 pounds (65's) - 5 sets x 5 reps
Feeling much better on these today, and was able to hit all the reps.

Swede Crushers
45 pounds - 3 sets x 12 reps

T-Bar Row
45 pounds - 3 sets x 25 reps

Landmine Press
45 pounds - 3 sets x 15 reps

Situp
Bodyweight - 3 sets x 25 reps

I've had a tendency to leave out accessory work as it gets more difficult and fatiguing. I'm going to take a different approach on accessories for a while and see how that works out. Going to not worry about progressing from a weight standpoint, and just focus on getting the work in. It will be primarily high rep ranges.

[JohnButz]

Nice Work! Those high-reppers. especially the landmines are a testament of will.

[Anthony21]

February 8, 2021 - Max Upper
After missing a few workouts last week, my energy level was high even after lifting both of the last two days, so I lifted again today. Will probably take a day off tomorrow, but this session went very well.

Floor Press (3 rep max)
165 pounds x 3 reps

Dumbbell Bench Press
130 pounds (65's) - 5 sets x 5 reps
Feeling much better on these today, and was able to hit all the reps.

Swede Crushers
45 pounds - 3 sets x 12 reps

T-Bar Row
45 pounds - 3 sets x 25 reps

Landmine Press
45 pounds - 3 sets x 15 reps

Situp
Bodyweight - 3 sets x 25 reps

I've had a tendency to leave out accessory work as it gets more difficult and fatiguing. I'm going to take a different approach on accessories for a while and see how that works out. Going to not worry about progressing from a weight standpoint, and just focus on getting the work in. It will be primarily high rep ranges.

Good work.

[CW47]

Nice Work! Those high-reppers. especially the landmines are a testament of will.

Good work.

Thanks Gentlemen!


February 11, 2021 - Dynamic Lower

Warmup/GPP:
Pull Through
Mini Band - 3 sets x 20 reps

12 inch Step Up
Bodyweight - 3 sets x 20 reps (each leg)
Alternated these first 2 exercises with little or no rest. I was light headed by the time I was done. I'm definitely out of shape from a cardiovascular standpoint. Will continue to work on improving this.


Main Work:
16 inch Box Squat
165 pounds - 8 sets x 2 reps

Paused Sumo Deadlift
250 pounds - 6 sets x 2 reps

Deficit Stiff Legged Deadlift
195 pounds - 3 sets x 10 reps
Brutal as usual, but they feel so good.