The Flywheel Effect.

[CW47]

Nice training man.

Thanks! Trying to just stay consistent right now, and it's paying off.

[CW47]

Paused Low Bar Squat: 155 pounds x 8/8/7 reps
High Bar Squat: 155 pounds 2 sets x 8 reps

Quite happy with this. Added an extra set on both exercises. If I can continue to do that I'll be where I want in a couple more weeks, and then hopefully can start adding weight to the bar.

[Anthony21]

Nice squatting.

[CW47]

Nice squatting.

Thanks. It felt great!


May 17, 2022
Floor Press: 140 pounds - 3 sets x 8 reps
Larsen Press: 130 pound - 5 sets x 8 reps

Really interesting that the first week of this cycle was the hardest and this third week (and final week of this mini-cycle) was the easiest. The weight honestly felt pretty light today. I think I actually may have done 6 sets on Larsen Press. I was using a counter, but when I clicked it and it said I had completed 5 sets I could only remember doing 4, so I did 1 more.

[Anthony21]

I remember training a couple times with the guy they named the Larsen press after. It's crazy seeing as his legs are pretty much the size of kid legs and doesn't use them during his benching yet still is strong in the bench. He lived in Oregon at the time unsure on where he is now.

[CW47]

Bench Press: 145 pounds - 3 sets x 3 reps
Conventional Deadlift: 315 pounds - 3 sets x 3 reps
Low Bar Squat: 175 pounds - 2 sets x 3 reps / 195 pounds x 3 reps

First workout in a week, which is very unusual for me. We had family staying with us. I also came down with something that I'm still recovering from, so today was the first day I felt like I could do any lifting.
Worked up to some triples on the competition lifts to reacclimate. I left multiple reps in the tank on each set. It all felt relatively easy, but the work still made me sick to my stomach.
Mostly likely no workout tomorrow night since we have plans to go out. I should be back at it for a few days after that, before going out of town again for the holiday weekend.

[CW47]

Bench Press: 175 pounds x 1 rep

Easy day today. Just worked up to a single at 8 RPE. Was kind of planning to do the same on deads today, but ended up not having time.

[CW47]

Overhead Press: 115 pounds x 1 rep
Sumo Deadlift: 415 pounds x 1 rep

Pushed it a bit more today. Both of these were in the 9-9.5 RPE range. I think I should be able to hit both of these weights even on a bad day now.
Probably my last workout until either Monday or Tuesday. I have Kung Fu tomorrow evening, plus need to get packed up because I'm going out of town Saturday morning. Will be back home on Monday.

[Anthony21]

I'm glad you're getting back into training and good to see that consistent build again.

I hope you had a good trip and solid training as always.

[CW47]

I hope you had a good trip.

Sure did. Got back mid-day today and then went to a party with a bunch of people at a park nearby where we had some barbecue and the kids played on the playground and in the sand and did a bit of swimming. Got back home with enough time to get a workout in, and will definitely be going to bed early tonight, lol.


May 30, 2022
Floor Press: 150 pounds x 5/4/4
Larsen Press: 140 pounds - 3 sets x 5 reps
Lat Pulldown: 4 Chains x 15, 15, 20

Well rested and ready to get back to it. Pressing went great today.

[Anthony21]

What do you mean by 4 chains on your lat pull-down? I figured you'd be using your weight plates since you have your pull-down attachment on your Rep rack.

[CW47]

What do you mean by 4 chains on your lat pull-down? I figured you'd be using your weight plates since you have your pull-down attachment on your Rep rack.

The space my rack is in is a REALLY tight fit. I don't have enough space to fit standards weight plates on the lat pulldown because it's pretty much right up against the wall. I have some collars that are specifically made for holding chains, so I'm using those instead. I did find that Rogue sells DB bumper plates that should fit, but they're way too expensive for my taste right now. The chains are working pretty well anyway. In the second half of this video you can kind of see how I have the chains setup.

[CW47]

Snatch Grip Deadlift: 265 pounds x 5/4/4
Romanian Deadlift: 250 pounds - 3 sets x 5 reps

Weight is still feeling lightish. Think I need a bit more knee bend on the snatch grip deads because part of the reason I programmed them in was to get more quad use in my deadlift. Kind of got away from getting that extra knee bend when my knee started bothering me a while back.

RDL's felt great today. I'm finally starting to figure out how to put the focus more on hamstrings when doing this variant.

[Anthony21]

Yeah you have little clearance it looks like. Interesting seal row. It looks more upper back focused.

[CW47]

Interesting seal row. It looks more upper back focused.

Yes, that was the intent. I only did them a couple of times that way though because the setup process is too involved and it was just very awkward.

[Anthony21]

Yes, that was the intent. I only did them a couple of times that way though because the setup process is too involved and it was just very awkward.

Yeah, it looks like an awkward movement compared to a traditional seal row. Did you know you would have little clearance with that lat pull attachment when you bought it?

[CW47]

Yeah, it looks like an awkward movement compared to a traditional seal row. Did you know you would have little clearance with that lat pull attachment when you bought it?

Nope. From some of the measurements I found online I thought I'd have much more wiggle room. One of the things Rep doesn't do very well is share detailed info on a lot of their products. I may not have bought the lat pulldown if I had known. To be fair though, I'm completely happy with it, and it works very well for me despite the space limitations.


June 2, 2022
3 Count Paused Bench Press: 175 pounds x 1 rep
Close Grip Paused Bench Press: 135 pounds x 6 reps / 130 pounds x 6/6

3 Count bench was a 9.5 RPE. Watching the video back, it was only about a 2 second pause also. Definitely have maxed out on this, and will plan to swap it out next cycle.
On close grip I did the first set at 135 because I was lazy. Changed it to 130 for the 2nd and 3rd sets. All went well, and ended up around 8 RPE.

[Anthony21]

Nope. From some of the measurements I found online I thought I'd have much more wiggle room. One of the things Rep doesn't do very well is share detailed info on a lot of their products. I may not have bought the lat pulldown if I had known. To be fair though, I'm completely happy with it, and it works very well for me despite the space limitations.


June 2, 2022
3 Count Paused Bench Press: 175 pounds x 1 rep
Close Grip Paused Bench Press: 135 pounds x 6 reps / 130 pounds x 6/6

3 Count bench was a 9.5 RPE. Watching the video back, it was only about a 2 second pause also. Definitely have maxed out on this, and will plan to swap it out next cycle.
On close grip I did the first set at 135 because I was lazy. Changed it to 130 for the 2nd and 3rd sets. All went well, and ended up around 8 RPE.

Solid sh!t.

[CW47]

Low Bar Squat: 225 x 1
High Bar Squat: 225 x 1

Worked up to singles on both variants. Oddly, high bar feels better (and moved easier) than low bar for me right now.

I needed to do something different for squatting today though because what I've been doing isn't working for me. I'm dreading my squat workouts, partially because of how fatiguing they are, and partially because I'm still experiencing discomfort in my left knee (probably tendinitis). I've skipped lifting on multiple days recently because of it, which means that it's impacting all of my programming. I'll probably change to something low volume - top single and a back off set has worked well for me in the past. Even if I don't progress on squats, something like that should allow me to maintain for now while I work on improving my other lifts.

[CW47]

Floor Press: 150 pounds x 5/5/4
Larsen Press: 140 pounds - 4 sets x 5 reps

Feels like Larsen Press is getting somewhat close to maxing out - I had some slow reps today. I should be able to do the 5x5 next week, but not so sure I manage all the sets/reps with an increase in the next cycle. We'll see though...I've felt close to maxing out before on other exercises and then ended up doing another 2 or 3 cycles without any problem.

Ended up lifting pretty late today. Actually just got done because I had to take my son to urgent care. He should be fine, but definitely was not a happy boy today.

[Anthony21]

I hope your son is doing alright.

I notice you don't do much hypertrophy work in terms of assistance work. Is there a method behind that or is it just a less is more approach?

[CW47]

I hope your son is doing alright.

I notice you don't do much hypertrophy work in terms of assistance work. Is there a method behind that or is it just a less is more approach?

Thanks man, he'll be fine.

The strength focus is for a couple of reasons. First is because it's just what I'm motivated to do. I don't really care about what I look like, and just want to exercise consistently for health reasons. Building strength is what motivates me to do that. Hypertrophy training is something I would like to do more of because it obviously also impacts strength. Time is always the primary issue for me though. I can't count on much more than 30 minutes to get through my workouts because I'm nearly always getting these workouts in while I'm the only person monitoring the kids. I can put a video on and usually keep the baby occupied for around 30 minutes, but rarely more than that. I typically program in some hypertrophy work for every workout. I just VERY rarely actually get to it since it's a lower priority than the strength specific work. In a few years I'll hopefully be able to do it more regularly.

[Anthony21]

Thanks man, he'll be fine.

The strength focus is for a couple of reasons. First is because it's just what I'm motivated to do. I don't really care about what I look like, and just want to exercise consistently for health reasons. Building strength is what motivates me to do that. Hypertrophy training is something I would like to do more of because it obviously also impacts strength. Time is always the primary issue for me though. I can't count on much more than 30 minutes to get through my workouts because I'm nearly always getting these workouts in while I'm the only person monitoring the kids. I can put a video on and usually keep the baby occupied for around 30 minutes, but rarely more than that. I typically program in some hypertrophy work for every workout. I just VERY rarely actually get to it since it's a lower priority than the strength specific work. In a few years I'll hopefully be able to do it more regularly.

That's tough. Is there anyway to get in work while your significant other is around like maybe first thing in the morning when she's asleep still? I'd be frustrated if I had to rush through my training like that.

Strength is definitely important for me as well. I also think working in the "hypertrophy" range with accessory work is also just as important because it only benefits the strength work.

It's a good thing that you're doing what you can and hopefully you can maybe look at your schedule and see about making some more time for that work to be added in.

[CW47]

I could 100% get in a fuller workout. It's always a matter of priorities though.

I could probably run a marathon every day if I really wanted to, but I don't because there are other things that are more important to me. Same is true of my training.

Since the training I'm doing right now is sufficient to meet my goals I'm not willing to sacrifice more family time, sleep, or work time in favor of longer workouts.

It's a balancing act that I'm constantly reassessing though, so that could certainly change at some point.

[Anthony21]

I could 100% get in a fuller workout. It's always a matter of priorities though.

I could probably run a marathon every day if I really wanted to, but I don't because there are other things that are more important to me. Same is true of my training.

Since the training I'm doing right now is sufficient to meet my goals I'm not willing to sacrifice more family time, sleep, or work time in favor of longer workouts.

It's a balancing act that I'm constantly reassessing though, so that could certainly change at some point.

That's definitely understandable. My apologies if I came off as an as$hole in anyway.

[CW47]

That's definitely understandable. My apologies if I came off as an as$hole in anyway.

No, you didn't at all. No worries.

[CW47]

Conventional Deadlift: 335 pounds + 4 Chain x 1/1/1

Not been getting in workout consistently lately. Spending my time doing walk and bike rides, and playing around outside with the kids. Also been helping out with some gardening stuff. Carried around 40 bags of dirt to our back yard and emptied them into garden beds a few days ago.

So, I'm going to need to become more flexible with my workouts. I'll move towards lower volume and higher intensity work when I can't fit in a full workout. That's what I ended up doing today. Deadlift felt strong today. First single listed above was around an 8 RPE. Last one was closer to a 9.

[CW47]

June 11, 2022
30 Degree Incline Bench Press: 165 pounds x 1 rep
Close Grip Paused Bench Press: 135 pounds - 3 sets x 6 reps

Incline was around a 9 RPE. Close grip work was tough, with the hardest reps maybe around an 8.5 RPE.


June 12, 2022
Yoke Bar Squat: 225 pounds x 1 rep

Made some adjustments to my stance and this felt pretty darn good today. Think I managed to get all my joints aligned pretty good and I didn't feel like I was fighting to stay in position and could just focus on pushing. Probably would have done another rep or two at a higher weight, but my son was getting restless so I just called it here.

[CW47]

Floor Press: 150 pounds - 3 sets x 5 reps
Larsen Press: 140 pounds - 5 sets x 5 reps
Triceps Rope Pushdown: 2 Chains - 2 sets x 10 reps

Pressing went great - was easier than last week. Rope pushdowns were much harder than expected, with the last rep of the second set being a 10 RPE. I'm planning to start incorporating triceps work more regularly to help build up my bench press.

[CW47]

Conventional Deadlift: 405 pounds x 1 rep [PR]

Decided to take on Eli's challenge over on the Collaborative Training Log - https://forum.bodybuilding.com/showt...post1662859143

I've never done more than 385 on conventional, but hadn't maxed out in a while. I ended up not being able to do it strapless and beltless. Not even sure what exactly held me back, but I couldn't break it off the floor. I suppose the straps allow me to get just a hair more upright. Did it with straps and belt and it moved very slowly - was doubtful I'd lock it out after getting it about a 1/3 of the way up, but it kept moving slowly and steadily all the way. My son woke up from his nap and I didn't even get a chance to unload the bar until 2 hours later, so my workout ended here.