Summer training logbook

[thepissening]

Hello everyone

Long time lurker here, not a big poster, not even on the misc. I started training consistently in february 2018 and have not stopped since. I originally cut from 101kg back to 78kg, bulked way too fast to 87kg, cut again to 80kg, and now I am sitting at a not fat, but certainly not lean 88-89kg @6'3

My training has sucked for the last half a year, despite having access to gym equipment. I program hopped constantly, overtrained, undertrained, overate, underate, bulk, cut, bulk, cut, swapping exercises... I felt this cycle had to stop. The majority of the last half year I trained with PPL, sometimes 7 days a week and a week ago my joints were just telling me to stop. I had pain all over my forearm, elbows, sometimes shoulders... due to the high volume high frequency training. I want to go back to the basics, to what has worked the best for me before, which is lower volume, with a moderate frequency and training balls to the wall.

To end the cycle of program hopping I thought I'd open a log on here, to keep myself accountable. I am going to run a doggcrapp/jordan peters style inspired program, day on day off. I want to stick to the structure until at least the end of summer, I don't think I was ever able to adhere to the same program/structure for this long (illustrates my programming ADHD, ****arounditis and lack of progress over the years). Enough of this.

I will alternate between an A workout and a B workout.

A: chest, triceps, back width, back thickness
bench
incline
skullcrushers (into close grip press)
weighted chins
pendlay row/deadlifts/rackpulls

B: quads, hams, delts, biceps
back squat
rdl
military press/seated overhead press (rotating every workout)
db curl

For my heavy compounds I will either use just a top set , or a top set and a back-off set, which will be roughly between 5-8 reps for the top set and 9-12 for the backoff, sometimes a bit higher, sometimes a bit lower. For the lighter lifts I will probably just do 3-4 straight sets to failure, in the 8-15 rep range. Everything will be taken to absolute failure. Focus will be on recovery and beating the logbook. Except for the back thickness exercises, everything will stay more or likely the same as described in the above. I just need to find out if I would be able to recover from training a hip hinge variation 2-3 times a week. If this seems like too much, I will probably only focus on the romanian deadlifts and use rows instead of the rackpulls and regular deads. I however don't think it will be too much, because i'm weak as fuuaaark and the volume will be so low. We'll see.

So the above was to get out of the ****arounditis for the training part. To get out of the ****arounditis for the eating part, I will use the maingaining/recomp strategy. Ideally I will be a leaner and stronger 88-90kg by the end of august. These big fluctuations in BW do nothing for me, cuts make me way too weak, bulks make me way too fat. I guess this is a reality everyone has to face, but it's just nog for me. I am not saying I won't ever implement small bulks and cuts again, but I need this phase to get out of the loop.

If everyone would want to follow my journey from now until september using this training style, feel free to follow!

[thepissening]

I did my first workout yesterday (B day, because I trained my push muscles the day before)

backsquat: topset 6x102.5kg, 11x90kg
rdl: (did backoff first) 12x85kg, i had more in me but grip gave out, and 6x95kg after for the top set. These were very good reps and my hams are very sore today.
seated db curl (slight incline): 12kgx12, 10, 8

next B workout shoulder presses will ofcourse be added. I am hyped for A day tomorrow, in which I will be deadlifting off the floor for the first time in 2.5months. Curious to find out if I can do them pain free and if the rdl's didn't eat into my recovery too much.

[thepissening]

A day

flat bench 95kgx6, 85kgx10
incline 75kgx9, 65kgx12
chinup 11,25kgx10, rest pause 3, 1
deadlift 5x125kg (once gyms open here, which is very soon, I will throw these out and switch to rackpulls, feels way to risky)
skullcrusher 30kgx14, 3, 3 rest paused (actually it's 27.5kg but i count the EZ bar as 10, strong cope). Went into close grip press at the last rest pause set for another 5 reps.

very, very good workout. All weights will be kept the same for the next time, except for my top set on incline, on which I will add 2.5kg

[thepissening]

B day

sooo this was a bad one. Lower back was still sore from the deadlifts, and shoulders were still sore from the presses. I'm gonna be a good boy and follow the two-way DC split as outlied, which is shoulders on day A and only one exercise for chest, not two. Secondly, my back thickness exercise on day A will be rows. The only hip hinge will be the RDL on leg day.

backsquat: 4x105, 8x92.5 was alreasdy clear during warmups i wasn't recovered.
rdl: 11x85 felt even worse, did not even bother with a 2nd set
incline db curl: 12kgx13 rest pause 4, 3
hammer curl: 12kgx10 (I think, got too caught up in the set), rest pause 4, 4

biceps/forearm work felt really good though

onto the next one... see you guys in two days

[thepissening]

A day

incline: 5x82.5kg (i think this is a PR), 11x70kg
military press: 5x60kg, 50kgx11
close grips (first time doing this in a year, felt reaaally good on the triceps) rest paused: 70kgx11, 3, 3
chins RP: BW+12.5kgx9, 2, 2
pendlay row: 50kgx16, 55kgx9

very good workout. lower body/bi's tomorrow

[Filmbuff81]

Nice job.

Intrigued to see how this goes for you. I’ll be following along.

[thepissening]

Nice job.

Intrigued to see how this goes for you. I’ll be following along.

glad to have you here.

[thepissening]

B day

squat 105kgx4, 92.5x7 wtf? can't explain this. top set the same and backoff one rep down. 2 more sessions like this and i'm adding sets for squats. Other option is to switch the exercise with something else, like frontsquats or legpress, as per DC. Thought i'd just use back squats as i'm at novice numbers on them. Don't get it though, I progressed fine this summer with a top/backoff setup for backsquats, albeit I did it 3 times a week.

rdl: 87.5kgx11 , 97.5kgx6 happy with this, last rep of second set could have been better form though
incline db curl: 12kgx14, rest pause 4, 4 i think this is a PR
hammer curl: 12kgx10, rest pause 5, 3

rest pause sets are awesome though for biceps, holy cramps

was the last leg session in the home gym I have access to, gyms re-open this week. Looking forward to squat in a rack again, **** is so scary atm lol

[Filmbuff81]

Could be off day or you’ll need more volume now to progress so the plan to add sets is a smart backup.

Everyone’s novice numbers are so wildly different I wouldn’t concern myself with them too much.

[thepissening]

Could be off day or you’ll need more volume now to progress so the plan to add sets is a smart backup.

Everyone’s novice numbers are so wildly different I wouldn’t concern myself with them too much.

Read up a lot on the DC training board (intensemuscle). First thing i'm going to try is to not re-invent the wheel and stick to the programs recommendations. Wasn't planned to go full DC but as i'm inclined to do so (or to include as much as possible). The recommendation for legs is as follows:

1 top set 6-10 reps
1 widowmaker, which is the hardest 20 repper you have done in your life

for romanians/stiff legged deadlift they seem to recommend only 1 straight set of around 12 reps

It's okay to use another lift for the widowmaker then you did for the heavy set. With gyms re-opening this week, this opens a lot of possibilities. I am thinking of trying the following: rotating for my heavy set in between front-and backsquat and for my widowmaker in between smith squats and legpresses.

Will look something like this probaly:

B1:
frontsquat heavy set
smith squat widowmaker
romanian deadlift 1x12 reps give or take

B2:
backsquat heavy set
legpress widow maker
hamstring curl 1x rest paused 15-20 reps

training upper body tonight, i'll keep you guys updated

[thepissening]

A day yesterday

bench: 95kgx6, 85kgx10 -matched reps with last time, i'm also going to rest pause chest from now on
seated military press 65kgx10, 3, 2
skullcrushers 30kgx15, 4, 3 - one rep up
chins 13.75kgx8, 3, 2 - this is 1.25kg up and one rep down on first set, but overall reps matched
pendlay row 50kgx17, 55kgx10 - both 1 rep up

will have to keep in mind that on a recomp i cannot expect my presses to go up all that much

[thepissening]

B day for the first time in the gym again

legcurl rp: 41kgx14, 4, 4 felt really good

squats: went terrible. Got to 3x100kg with back discomfort so capped it there. Tried frontsquats and that was also a disaster. Back starts cramping from the moment i'm descending.

legpress widowmaker: 20x80kg (without legpress itself counted) felt very very good. Felt quads finally working hard again, holy ****. Good pump and also properly sore today, for the first time in months actually.

incline db curl rp: 14kgx12, 3, 3 (2kg up, 2 reps down)
hammer curl rp: 12kgx11, 6, 4 (1 rep up on first set)

biceps have grown. was actually surprised when i looked in the mirror. Legs on the other i'm struggling with a lot. I think i'll just focus on the legpress and legcurls for the moment without switching movements around too much that might aggrevate the lower back.

[thepissening]

update

did not log for about a week it seems. I trained my A day on sunday, which looked like this:

A:
incline 75x11 rp 3, 2
military press 60x8, rp 2, 1 (I actually thought i got 9 but wasn't entirly sure. At least 3 reps up though)
close grips 72.5x13, rp 2, 1 (2.5kg and 2 reps up, nice)
chins 13.75x9, rp 3, 2
pendlay row 52.5x15kg, 57.5x9

good workout. but then life came along. had some bad news last week involving a girl i'm seeing and went on a semi-bender. Had already a camping trip planned on monday, with way too less food available, way too much alcohol and ritalin and way too much activity. Felt really small when i came back on thursday, but the binge did not end until yesterday, averaging one bottle of wine and a ****load of ritalin. Trained friday regardless, before getting drunk. Because I felt so small, I decided to do my A workout again, to cope:

A day:
flat bench 85x10, rp 4, 4 not good but expected worse on an average of 1500 kcals per day with a **** ton of walking and almost no protein
seated mp 67.5x9, rp 2, 3 - a good set actually
skulls (on the floor) 25kgx10, rp 2, 4 not bad
chins 13.75x9 rp 2, 2 no change
pendlay row 55kgx14, 60x10 not bad

managed to get out of the hole today and did not drink/touch ritalin. Also started eating very good again and went training, for my B day

B day:
incline db curl 14kgx13, rp 4, 4 (1 rep up)
hammer curl 12kgx13 rp 5, 4 (2 reps up)
hamstring curl 41kgx16, rp 4, 3 (2 reps up)
leg press 120kgx9, 90x16 (felt really good, will go for 125x10 and 90x20 next time

we back boyos, enough with these beta coping mechanisms

[thepissening]

i'm also going to add some back exercises, all for one set each, either rp or straight. Back is the only muscle group that's almost not getting sore since hopping on the DC program. I think my back part of the workout of tomorrow will look something like this:

weighted chins rp
pendlay row 1 set straight 12-15
latpulldown rp
cable row 1 set straight 12-20
rackpull 1 set straight 9-12

excited... will feel soon if it's too much

[Filmbuff81]

Good for you to pull yourself out of a dark place.

That can be a tough thing to do.

Adding the extra back work will be good I’m sure.

My back responds well to a lot of volume and with so many muscles to hit, I find more to be beneficial.

[thepissening]

Good for you to pull yourself out of a dark place.

That can be a tough thing to do.

Adding the extra back work will be good I’m sure.

My back responds well to a lot of volume and with so many muscles to hit, I find more to be beneficial.

yeah same for me actually, got to 30kgx4 weighted chins albeit at a much lighter BW a year ago, while i was doing tons and tons of them every week, hitting the movement at least 3 times and averageing 15-20 sets of chins a week, along with some rows. Back grew pretty good from that. Stalled pretty hard then though, probablt because of the volume. Can't wait to hit the gym tomorrow, incline will probably be weaker because it's a higher angle then i'm used to in the home gym i can go to, but we don't complain.

[thepissening]

A day with added back work

incline (higher than homegym) 70kgx9 rp 3, 2
military press 60kgx7, rp 2,1 (1 rep down, maybe because more shoulder work from the higher incline...)
close grips 75kgx12 rp 3, 3 (2.5kg up and 1 rep down, very nice)
chinup 15kgx7, 2, 2 (2.5kg up and 2 reps down, did not feel lats very good tbh...)
pendlay row 55kgx14 (same as last time, but plates seem a bit smaller in the gym than at home, so larger ROM)
pulldown 59x12, rp 5, 3 (very good)
cable row 59x9, rp 3, 2 (very good)
rackpull 110kgx12

holy **** those rackpulls, my back is pumped like never before, or at least a long long time ago. Also little to no back discomfort. Was pulling just below the kneecap. These are IN, especially since I only do curls for hamstrings now. Might switch out those weighted chins because i don't believe they do that much for my back anymore, i don't get the same pumps/contractions i used to... pulldowns and cable rows on the other hand felt very good and seem to have more potential to grow my back for now. Lets see how i recover from the added volume.

[tommy4life]

Good to see more back work being added. Initial layout seemed a tad push heavy.

I'm not familiar with the program you're running but this might help if you're making adjustments
https://forum.bodybuilding.com/showt...6216941&page=1

[thepissening]

Good to see more back work being added. Initial layout seemed a tad push heavy.

I'm not familiar with the program you're running but this might help if you're making adjustments
https://forum.bodybuilding.com/showt...6216941&page=1

thanks man, i have always trained with those principles outlined. Wanted to stick to the program as much as possible but sometimes it's better to hold on to the universal principles of programming i guess.

[thepissening]

B day yesterday

db curl (high incline as always) 14kgx 14, rp 4, 4 and a static hold at the end (1 rep up)
hammer curl 12kgx14, rp 7, 4 (1 rep up, and a couple more in the rp sets)
hamstring curl 45kgx10, rp 3, 3 (4kg up and 6 reps down)
legpress 125kgx10, 90x18 (1 rep and 5kg up on the topset, 2 reps up on the widowmaker)
backsquat 80kgx7 (just to try again, i used to do them in the past after legpress because i have to used less load and i feel my legs better)

update on the extra back work, i still wasn't sore. My back has always had the ability to be abused and recover pretty well, and as much as i'd like to stick to the program, i will change the back approach. Plan is to do:

pulldown 3xfailure (8-15 range)
cable row 3xfailure (8-15 range)
rackpull 1 top 6-9, 1 backoff 10-15

reason for the focus on machines is as i've stated above i have been having troubles activating my back with chins and pendlay rows lately. I'll try to gain some strength in these 3 moves before i move back fully to them. For hamstrings i'm also having second thoughts, they just don't feel fatigued enough from the single RP set, where my push muscles and biceps do. Will also resort to 3-4xfailure 8-15 reps on them, especially since i plan on adding some back squat work after legpresses.

I'll keep the general A/B of the program intact though, because I enjoy it, and i need to curb my program hopping.

[thepissening]

A day

flat bench 85kgx10 fail on 11, rp 4, 2. I train alone in the gym and what a pain in the ass to ask someone to spot a restpause. Resorting back to top and backoffsets boyos, it's just not feasable to rp in the gym for me, at least for big compounds.

seated military press: 70kgx7, 60kgx11 nice
skulls on floor 27.5kgx8, rp 4, 3 (2 reps down but the clippers hit the floor a little bit before the weights, so i had to slow my set down, which felt pretty good actually)
bw dips 12, rp 4, 4 (to see if i can do them pain free, felt good)
pulldown 59kgx15, 9, 8
cable row 52kgx13, 9, 8
rackpull 125kgx7

good day

[thepissening]

B day

db curl 16kgx10, rp 4, 3 (2kg up, 4 reps down, but i've never curled 16kg before so this is a PR)
hammer curl 14kgx11, 4, 3
legcurl 45kgx13, 8, 8 (3 reps up, i regret not rest pausing it, because it clearly worked as i only managed to get 10 reps a couple of days ago)
legpress 130kgx8 PR, 90kgx20 (5kg up and 2 reps down on my topset, 2 reps up on my widowmaker and finally got to 20. Next time: 132.5kg and 95kg)

Added back volume 2 days ago was a good choice, for the first time a sore upper back in weeks. Back started cramping on the legpress and was still sore from the rackpulls, so i did not do the squats.

good session, PR's on everything

[thepissening]

A day 2 days ago

incline 11x70 (2 reps up), 5x75
military press 6x60 (1 rep down, to be expected after extra work on incline), 9x50
dips bw+10kgx10, rp 3, 2 (felt good adding weight to these, but i also am going to top/backoff here)
underhand pulldowns pulling straight down 66x10, 8, 59x8 holy **** these are awesome, i do them in more of a dorian fashion without leaning back much and i feel my lats so much better
pendlay row 55x14, 60x7
rackpull standing on bumper plate 6x120

good session, B tonight

[thepissening]

B yesterday (a couple of PR's)

db curl 16kgx11, rp 4, 3 (one rep up)
hammer curl 14kgx11, rp 6, 3 (matched reps, forgot after the first set to rest pause so instead of 30 seconds it was more like one minute)
hamstring curl 45kgx13, rp 3, 3 (felt heavier than last time, thinking of changing this for rdl's, if i can recover enough for my rackpulls on A)
legpress 132.5kgx10 (one rep+2.5kg up), widowmaker 95kgx20 (5kg up)

very hyped for A tomorrowmorning

[thepissening]

A

bench 85kgx11 (one rep up), 92.5x5 (top set added, progress from here)
seated ohp 70x7 (matched), 60kgx12, fail on 13 (one rep up)
skulls 27.5kgx11, rp 4, 2 and 22.5kgx12
latpulldown overhand 66x12, 9, 59x11
rackpull 130kgx8 (5kg and one rep up), 120kgx9 squeeeezing back at the top

we rollin'

[thepissening]

new job and a lot of partying, little sleep and bad food, but high calories and brotein. ah well.

B

db curl 16kgx12, rp 4, 3 (one rep up), backoff 10kgx18
hammer curl 14kgx10, rp 4, 3 (one rep down, but this is thanks to the backoff set i added on db curls), backoff 10kgx16
legpress 135kgx7 (2.5kg up and 3 reps down, felt heavy) and widowmaker 100kgx17 (5kg up and 3 reps down)
legcurl 45x14, rp 5, 4 (one rep up)

and out

[thepissening]

update for you boyos

rested 2 days after the last one and trained A then on a hangover:

incline 11x70, 5x75 (matched reps)
military press 5x60, 9x50 (one rep down on topset, matched on backoff... pissed off)
dips (forgot dip belt, tried to put dumbell between legs but fell down after rep 6 with 12kg, proceeded with BW dips as a dropset...) not good man
underhand pulldown 66x11, 7, 59x19 (a couple of reps up here)
cable row 66kgx10, 59x??? (supposed to do rackpulls but the only squatrack was occupied by a powerlifter and i had to leave for work in half an hour..)

bad workout overall, my own fault as i was hungover and not enough time

B day today

db curl 18kgx8, 12kgx15 (both PR's, especially the 18kg, never have i ever curled these before, very happy)
hammer curl 16kgx9, 12kgx13 (both PR's)
legcurl 50kgx12, 41kgx14 (i think pr on the topset)
legpress 135kgx9, widowmaker 100kgx20 (both PR's)

very good session. I seem to progress a lot more on my B day then my A day. Maybe because my numbers on legs/biceps are even noober then they are on upperbody. Or it may be that i keep doing the same exercises over and over again. I'm debating on doing the same for my A day, to just take the 5 most effective/most progressable exercises for my upperbody right now, and just repeat them instead of switching every other workout. Would look like this for me:

chest: incline
delts: seated mp
triceps: dips (maybe add 1 rest pause set of skulls after)
back width: underhand pulldowns
back thickness: rackpull standing on bumper plate

very inclined (pun intended) to move towards this direction. Top/backoff on everything except the skulls and maybe rackpulls, where i'll probably be doing only one set.

New job is great, but my calorie expendature is becoming problematic. I'm averaging 15-20k+ steps a day and we can't eat at work most of the time, which leaves me with a 8 hour eating 'gap'. I'm downing toast with peanutbutter every night, eating burgers, pizzas and other calorie dense ****, but keeping my weight up/gaining is hard atm. Might order a weightgainer shake to sip on during work.

[thepissening]

another good day in the books

A

incline 77.5kgx6 (PR, did 82.5x5 a couple of weeks ago in the homegym but gym incline is much much steeper), 70x10
underhand pulldown 66kgx13, 73kgx7 both PR
seated military press 72.5kgx4 disaster, it's too similar to inclines, so i did the backoff standing 50kgx10 (one rep up from last time)
cable row 73kgx8, 52kgx18
dips 12.5kgx7, 5kgx8 (too little rest)
rackpull standing on bumperplate 120x10 (4 reps up from last time and i feel a lot of room to improve on these)

out

[thepissening]

B

db curl 18kgx9 (one rep up), 14kgx12 (2kg up 3 reps down)
hammer curl 16kgx10 (one rep up, but kinda cheaty..), 12kgx15 (2 reps up)
legcurl 54kgx10, 45x12
legpress 160kgx7 (5kg up, i was apparantly miscounting the plates all the time, so 4 plates a side = 160kg without machine weight) and widowmaker 19x105kg (5kg up one rep down)
:
very pleased, i weighed myself after the workout: 87.9kg, which i'm not too happy about. Want to get to 100kg ripped lol. I am noticeably harder and leaner than before starting the DC inspired split though.

[thepissening]

A

underhand pulldown 73kgx10 PR, 59x15
incline 5x80 (PR), 10x70 and a fail on 11 matched reps
cable row 73kgx11 (3 reps up), 52kgx21 (3 reps up)
military press 60kgx6, 50kgx10 meh. mp doesn't seem to move much. maybe i should do seated and go for higher reps after all. we'll see
rackpull standing on bumperplate: 130kgx7 PR had to fight for this one
dips BW (forgot belt) 17x rp 3, 0

out