Love the Pain -- Make the Barbell Cry!

[ECGordyn]

That's ****ing work man, these are the sessions that set you up for big things later

That's mostly my own fault, as I added rows, curls, and ab wheel, but the day is otherwise pretty easy. Hoping it pays off later

[WolfRose7]

That's mostly my own fault, as I added rows, curls, and ab wheel, but the day is otherwise pretty easy. Hoping it pays off later

Nothing wrong with good accessory work, I need to do it more often

[ECGordyn]

Week 2 Day 2

DL
140 x 6, 6, 6, 6

Bench 3ct
80 x 6, 6, 6

Pause squat
125 x 6, 6, 6

Row
85 x 8, 8, 8

[ECGordyn]

Week 2 Day 3

Pin squat
125 x 5, 5, 5

Pin bench
105 x 5, 5, 5

OHP
60 x 7, 7, 7

Chins
bw 88 x 6, 7, 6

All felt a bit heavy. Definitely overshot pin bench.

[ECGordyn]

Week 2 Day 4

DL
130 x 5, 5, 5

Bench T&G
90 x 10, 10, 10, 10

MSSGDL
85 x 8, 8, 8

Floor row
85 x 8
87 x 8, 8

BB skullcrushers
35 x 10, 10, 10

BB curls
27 x 10, 10, 10

Birddogs
6, 6, 6 reps per side

Ab wheel
9, 9

Lots of volume but all very manageable. Just did DL again instead of pause DL as programmed. I like this combination of MSSGDL and floor row with the same starting position in both lifts.

[ECGordyn]

Week 3 Day 1

Squat
130 x 6, 6, 6, 6

Bench
100 x 6, 6, 6, 6

OHP
60 x 7, 7, 7

Chins
bw 86.9 x 8, 8, 7

Squat felt great, bench felt a bit heavy. Otherwise all fine.

[ECGordyn]

Week 3 Day 2

DL
145 x 6, 6, 6, 6

Bench 3ct
90 x 4, 4, 4

Pause squat
140 x 4, 4, 4

Floor row
87 x 8, 8, 8

Ab wheel
9, 9

All felt strong today, surprisingly. Bench was almost too easy today.

[ECGordyn]

Week 3 Day 3

Pin squat
120 x 6, 6, 6

Pin bench
107 x 4, 4, 4

OHP
65 x 5, 5
60 x 5

Chins
bw 87.7 x 9, 8, 7

[ECGordyn]

Week 3 Day 4

DL
140 x 6, 6, 6

Bench T&G
90 x 10, 10
92 x 10, 10

MSSGDL
90 x 6, 6, 6

Floor row
90 x 6, 6, 6

BB skullcrushers
37 x 10, 10, 10

BB curls
30 x 10, 10, 10

Birddogs
8, 8, 8 reps per side

Ab wheel
10, 10

[WolfRose7]

Lot's of consistent work, TNG looked like you had 10 more lol

[ECGordyn]

Lot's of consistent work, TNG looked like you had 10 more lol

Name of the game my man.

[ECGordyn]

Yesterday active recovery day:

Turkish get up
Kettlebell 8kg x 8 each side

KB swings
16kg x 12, 12, 12, 12

KB cleans
8kg x 8, 8, 8 each side


Today:

Week 4 Day 1

Squat
135 x 5, 5, 5, 5, 5

Bench
100 x 5, 5, 5, 5, 5

OHP
62 x 7, 7, 7

Chins
bw 87.6 x 9, 8, 8

[ECGordyn]

Week 4 Day 2

DL
150 x 5, 5, 5, 5, 5

Bench 3ct
95 x 3, 3, 3

Squat
130 x 5, 5, 5

Floor row
90 x 8, 8, 8

BB Skullcrushers
40 x 8, 8, 8

BB Curls
32 x 8, 8, 8

Turkish get up
KB 8kg x 2, 2, 2 each side

KB cleans
8kg x 10, 10 each hand

Felt a bit beat up today but got everything done, plus some pump and core work.

[ECGordyn]

Week 4 Day 3

Pin squat
130 x 5, 5, 5

Pin bench
105 x 5
100 x 6
95 x 6

OHP
65 x 1

Chins
bw 87.8 x 9, 8, 6

Turkish get up
KB 8kg x 2, 2 each side

KB cleans
8kg x 10, 10 each hand

Not feeling great today. Ditched OHP after 1 rep.

[ECGordyn]

Week 4 Day 4

DL
145 x 5, 5, 5

Bench T&G
95 x 8, 8, 8, 8

MSSGDL
95 x 6, 6, 6

Floor row
95 x 6, 6, 6

BB skulls
40 x 10, 10, 10

BB curls
32 x 10, 10, 10

Birddogs
8, 8, 8, 8 reps per side

Skipped ab wheel. Busy work since Wednesday, had to postpone 2 sessions. Today (Saturday) should have been Thursday but whatever. Still on track to peak last week of the year.

[ECGordyn]

Week 5 Day 1

Squat
150 x 3, 3, 3
125 x 5, 5

Bench
110 x 3, 3, 3, 3
90 x 5, 5

Chins
bw 87.3 x 9, 9, 6

Side planks
3 x 30 sec. per side

Started second block. Looking forward to going heavier. Hadn't squatted more than 135 in 4 or 5 weeks, 150 felt a bit sticky but I quickly got it back. Bench was tougher, might have been the tricep work 2 days ago on Sat. Dropping SLDL, it always seemed excessive and I gained well on DL the past 2 cycles I didn't use SLDL.

[ECGordyn]

Week 5 Day 2

DL
160 x 3, 3, 3
135 x 5, 5

Bench 2ct
95 x 4
97 x 4
100 x 4

Squat
120 x 5, 5

Floor row
95 x 8, 8, 8

Tough rows but hoping for some payoff in DL.

[ECGordyn]

Week 5 Day 3

Pause squat
140 x 4, 4, 4, 4

Bench
95 x 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5

Larsen
90 x 5, 5, 5, 5

DL
135 x 5, 5

Chins
bw 87.3 x 9, 7, 7

[ECGordyn]

Week 5 Day 4

Pause DL
147 x 4
150 x 4
155 x 4, 4

Bench T&G
100 x 6
102 x 6
105 x 6

Spoto
90 x 8
85 x 8, 8, 8

Floor row
95 x 8, 8, 8

BB curls
35 x 6
30 x 8

Birddogs
8, 8, 8 reps per side

[ECGordyn]

Summary and review of previous block

Disappointed with my results from the first block. Seems I didn't gain much strength at all from it, although I also didn't gain any body weight. 85.3 kg on the first day, and 85.3 on the last day, 4 weeks apart. Now, after the first week of the second block, some of the weights are very close to this week of the last cycle, a few below, and they all (but DL) feel heavy.

[ECGordyn]

Could be simply that I need adjusting to the increased intensities, so, let it be. And, the competition lifts are up, but some of the assistance lifts are lower (probably that's meaningless in the big picture).

Last cycle week 1

Bodyweight 84.7
squat 140 x 3 (27 July)
bench 105 x 3 (27 July)
DL 160 x 3 (28 July)

Finished 3rd cycle, 2nd block - 14 Sept.
Bodyweight - 86.7 kg
Squat - 180 x 1
Bench - 135 x 1
DL - 190 x 2


This cycle week 1

Bodyweight 86.2
squat 150 x 3 (ok) (2 Nov.)
bench 110 x 3 (tough) (2 Nov.)
DL 160 x 3 (easy, so I raised training max 10kg going forward) (3 Nov.)

[ECGordyn]

2 problems I see:

1: I didn't gain bodyweight during the last block, so I didn't gain muscle.
2: My expectations were too high for the first block. I'd never run it before, so going into it I didn't know how it would actually work out in practice. I enjoyed the variety of different lifts (pin squat, pin bench, OHP, BB row, MSSGDL, arm work), and most of the time the weight was quite easy (everything below 75%). But I had hoped to go into this block feeling much stronger, and that's not the case.

Going forward, what can I do except go forward?

Tentative targets for the end of this cycle, 31 Dec.:

Bodyweight 88.3
Squat 195
Bench 145
DL 215

[Camarija]

2 problems I see:

1: I didn't gain bodyweight during the last block, so I didn't gain muscle.
2: My expectations were too high for the first block. I'd never run it before, so going into it I didn't know how it would actually work out in practice. I enjoyed the variety of different lifts (pin squat, pin bench, OHP, BB row, MSSGDL, arm work), and most of the time the weight was quite easy (everything below 75%). But I had hoped to go into this block feeling much stronger, and that's not the case.

Going forward, what can I do except go forward?

Tentative targets for the end of this cycle, 31 Dec.:
Squat 195
Bench 145
DL 215

For your first point, there's ongoing contention about whether non-First-Year-Lifters benefit more from bulking or maintenance in terms of lean body mass gains. It's possible you recomped at maintenance (hopeful thinking!!)

For your second point, maybe it's a sign you could or should change the program up a bit to make it work better for you. Have you considered personal coaching? I'm admiring your current strength levels tbh, and your targets are monstrous to me

Personally, I'm hoping Calgary Barbell drops that off-season program before the new years. A 16 week power hypertrophy program would be perfect after peaking at the end of the year.

Looking forward to more of your progress brother!!

[ECGordyn]

For your first point, there's ongoing contention about whether non-First-Year-Lifters benefit more from bulking or maintenance in terms of lean body mass gains. It's possible you recomped at maintenance (hopeful thinking!!)

For your second point, maybe it's a sign you could or should change the program up a bit to make it work better for you. Have you considered personal coaching? I'm admiring your current strength levels tbh, and your targets are monstrous to me

Personally, I'm hoping Calgary Barbell drops that off-season program before the new years. A 16 week power hypertrophy program would be perfect after peaking at the end of the year.

Looking forward to more of your progress brother!!

1: I don't know much about nutrition besides total calories and protein intake. I eat fairly clean except for fried fish and fried chicken. Maybe I recomped, maybe last block was just a wash.

2: I have changed the program a bit: dropped SLDL, added chins and BB rows, do extra core work sometimes, and sometimes do active recovery with kettlebells. Not sure I'll pay for personal coaching at this point.

Appreciate the fan love man.

[ECGordyn]

Active recovery

Turkish get up
Kettebell 8kg x 2, 2, 2, 2 each side

Windmill
Kettlebell 8kg x 8, 8 each side

[WolfRose7]

2 problems I see:

1: I didn't gain bodyweight during the last block, so I didn't gain muscle.
2: My expectations were too high for the first block. I'd never run it before, so going into it I didn't know how it would actually work out in practice. I enjoyed the variety of different lifts (pin squat, pin bench, OHP, BB row, MSSGDL, arm work), and most of the time the weight was quite easy (everything below 75%). But I had hoped to go into this block feeling much stronger, and that's not the case.

Going forward, what can I do except go forward?

Tentative targets for the end of this cycle, 31 Dec.:

Bodyweight 88.3
Squat 195
Bench 145
DL 215

Correct me if I'm wrong but, you didn't do any singles compared to last block? If you are judging strength by ability to move low rep ranges then any drop off in single/doubles training is going to drop that neuromuscular peak condition. Hell I dropped 7.5-10kg off my bench alone decreasing frequency this week.

[ECGordyn]

Correct me if I'm wrong but, you didn't do any singles compared to last block? If you are judging strength by ability to move low rep ranges then any drop off in single/doubles training is going to drop that neuromuscular peak condition. Hell I dropped 7.5-10kg off my bench alone decreasing frequency this week.

I didn't do any singles last block. Only a couple of 3s and 4s, a few 5s, and the rest were 6 reps or above. Just sulking because I wanted to enter this block feeling strong, and didn't.

I know you're right. Strength will come back over the coming weeks.

[ECGordyn]

Week 6 Day 1

Squat
152 x 3, 3, 3, 3
130 x 5, 5

Bench
110 x 3, 3, 3, 3, 3
95 x 5, 5, 5

Chins
bw 87.3 x 9, 8, 7

Good squats. Bench a bit tough in the last 2 sets of 110.

[ECGordyn]

Week 6 Day 2

DL
170 x 3, 3, 3, 3
145 x 5, 5

Bench 2ct
105 x 3, 3, 3

Squat
125 x 5, 5, 5

Floor row
85 x 10, 10, 10

DL felt about right. Raised training max 7kg from initial entry. Bench is same as last cycle. Didn't push rows as I don't want too much fatigue.

[WolfRose7]

I really need to step up my deadlift game or these end of year numbers are going to be embarrassing lol.

Preparing my excuses already, I think your bar has more flex than mine xD