Helton's Log

[cole]

its hard to think of you as weighing 100kg like you did back in '20

[JohnHelton]

its hard to think of you as weighing 100kg like you did back in '20

I was a bit beefy. My body can easily put on weight, and I would love to eat all the food. But I need to stay leaner for heart health.

[JohnHelton]

Reminder of my beefier self.

https://exodus-strength.com/forum/viewt ... 42#p269142

[alek]

Tuesday, October 11, 2022
BW: 86.9 kg

Squat - 2
135 kg x 4 x 8
Every 2:45 to get done in 20 minutes. I think I am going to bump this out to 25 minutes. This kind of sucked.

What about doing 135 x 8 x 4?

[JohnHelton]

Tuesday, October 11, 2022
BW: 86.9 kg

Squat - 2
135 kg x 4 x 8
Every 2:45 to get done in 20 minutes. I think I am going to bump this out to 25 minutes. This kind of sucked.

What about doing 135 x 8 x 4?

I am running with Hanley's HVLF philosophy, keeping the intraset fatigue lower. I think coupling the same volume with more intraset fatigue would make this suck even worse, especially since I dislike squat reps greater than 3. The suck today was more related to just not having enough recovery time between sets. I think another 45 seconds rest per set will help a lot. I'm only limiting the rest so that I can get the workout done as fast as possible. However, another 5-10 minutes isn't a big deal.

[alek]

I am running with Hanley's HVLF philosophy, keeping the intraset fatigue lower. I think coupling the same volume with more intraset fatigue would make this suck even worse, especially since I dislike squat reps greater than 3. The suck today was more related to just not having enough recovery time between sets. I think another 45 seconds rest per set will help a lot. I'm only limiting the rest so that I can get the workout done as fast as possible. However, another 5-10 minutes isn't a big deal.

Given how strong you are, I bet you could quickly adapt to the 8's, but I definitely understand disliking sets with more than a few reps.

What are you rpe's looking like for these workouts?

[JohnHelton]

I am running with Hanley's HVLF philosophy, keeping the intraset fatigue lower. I think coupling the same volume with more intraset fatigue would make this suck even worse, especially since I dislike squat reps greater than 3. The suck today was more related to just not having enough recovery time between sets. I think another 45 seconds rest per set will help a lot. I'm only limiting the rest so that I can get the workout done as fast as possible. However, another 5-10 minutes isn't a big deal.

Given how strong you are, I bet you could quickly adapt to the 8's, but I definitely understand disliking sets with more than a few reps.

What are you rpe's looking like for these workouts?

RPEs aren't measurable at this point. I plan to push the weight such that they become measurable. I would like to be hitting @8 on the last set. I don't think I could ask more of myself than that in terms of stress. It is clear from messing with Hanley's advanced bench program that it is more demanding than anything I have ever done. Having sampled that, I took a step back in terms of the weight/intensity and have decided to walk the weight up, until it is pushing the max I can do while still hitting all the sets and reps. I have been wanting to do something like this for a long time. Now seems like as good a time as any.

[alek]

Now seems like as good a time as any.

Hell yeah. I think you'll do well.

[JohnHelton]

I am sore from yesterday's squats. 4320 kg / 9524 lbs total volume. It seems that my soreness is more related to total volume vs RPE/intensity. I'm hoping that my legs will adapt. I don't seem to have the same issues with bench. On Sept. 23 I squatted 120 kg x 4 x 10 and had crippling DOMS. Hopefully this soreness won't be as bad.

[slowmotion]

You're jumping right into it, so it's only natural that you will be a little sore in the beginning, right?

Re 8 sets of 4 vs 4 sets of 8, I've read somewhere ( probably DDS ) that it is easier to recover from 8 sets of 4. That also agrees with my own experience.

[JohnHelton]

You're jumping right into it, so it's only natural that you will be a little sore in the beginning, right?

Re 8 sets of 4 vs 4 sets of 8, I've read somewhere ( probably DDS ) that it is easier to recover from 8 sets of 4. That also agrees with my own experience.

Yeah. I think this is normal soreness. I agree intuitively that 8s x 4r should be easier to recover from than 4s x 8r.

[JohnHelton]

Thursday, October 13, 2022
BW: 86.9 kg

Bench Press - 1
in kg
120 x 1
127.5 x 1
135 x 1 @ 8.5
115 x 2 x 10
Last couple of set around @7. 2:10 interval for worksets. This was a decent workout considering I slept terribly last night.

[JohnHelton]

Squat 531 - W1
Friday 14 Oct 2022, 07:14
BW: 86.9 kg

Squat (Barbell)
Set 1: 72.5 kg × 5 [Warm-up]
Set 2: 90 kg × 5 [Warm-up]
Set 3: 107.5 kg × 3 [Warm-up]
Set 4: 117.5 kg × 5
Set 5: 135 kg × 5
Set 6: 152.5 kg × 8 @ 9.0 (.31 m/s last rep)

Romanian Deadlift (Barbell)
Set 1: 80 kg × 10
Set 2: 80 kg × 10
Set 3: 80 kg × 10

Workout notes: TM - 180 kg. Decided to run 5/3/1 for squat and deadlift. Still focusing on HVLF for bench. I thought I was conservatively setting my e1RM for squat at 200 kg. Turns out that was exactly right. Pretty huge decrease in squat strength since this summer. That AMRAP set was hard.

[JohnHelton]

Bench - 2
Saturday, Oct 15, 2022
BW: 86.9 kg

Bench Press (Barbell)
100 kg x 4 x 12
Notes: Every 2:10 to finish in 25 minutes. Need to bump weight to 72% next time from 70%.

Pull-ups
BW x 5,5,5,3,2
Notes: Pathetic.

[JohnHelton]

Deload week. I realized that I haven't had one since the beginning of August. Plus, we are starting a remodel of the kitchen this week and adopted a new puppy yesterday.

[slowmotion]

Nice little puppy!

[MarkKO]

Those are some big paws...

[JohnHelton]

@slowmotion @MarkKO She is a nice mixed breed dog. Probably shepherd/lab mix. I'm guessing she will be 70+ lbs. Definitely has big paws.

[JohnHelton]

Deload
Tuesday 18 Oct 2022, 06:06

Squat (Barbell)
Set 1: 70 kg × 5
Set 2: 87.5 kg × 5
Set 3: 105 kg × 5

Bench Press (Barbell)
Set 1: 52.5 kg × 5
Set 2: 65 kg × 5
Set 3: 77.5 kg × 5

[alek]

She is a nice mixed breed dog. Probably shepherd/lab mix. I'm guessing she will be 70+ lbs. Definitely has big paws.

We had a shepherd/rottweiler mix; he was a gentle giant. She's a cutie.