MarkKO's training log

[MarkKO]

Average weight is still sitting between 218 and 219 lbs, although I realised this week I forgot to log about 250 calories worth of food per day since Monday - which apparently has had zero impact so my maintenance calories are going to be somewhere between 4200 and 4500 per day if I'm working. Doesn't mean I'll increase it in Carbon, it just means I'm not going to be worried in the slightest if I go over. I calorie cycle anyway, kind of. On days I don't work, or don't work a full day, I tend to keep calories around 3500 give or take. So my average daily intake does tend to sit around 4000 per day anyway over the week.

Friday upper
20x44 lbs, 2x10x44 lbs pushups
8, 2x6, 5 pullups and my grip was the ONLY limiter here. In my wisdom I opted for the pullup bar instead of my Angles90-alikes and that was that
2x15x36 lbs tricep pushdowns
15x132 lbs, 10x132 lbs T-bar rows
50, 40, 35 facepulls
2x40 steps x 264 lbs sandbag carry, the five extra steps being to make up for the five I missed on Wednesday



I'm definitely ready to get back to normal training.

[MarkKO]

Week four of block one starts. Also a knot in my lower right lat whose origins remain a mystery.

Monday bench
4x5x176 lbs with 10ish second rests. Easy, as it should be
10, 7, 6, 5 pullups
15x44 lbs, 15 pushups
2x15x132 lbs T-bar rows
2x10x66 lbs, 9x66 lbs DB flys with failure on the 10th rep of set three. Chest pump was excellent
3x35 facepulls
40 steps x 264 lbs, 30 steps x 264 lbs (grip slipped), 15 steps x 264 lbs sandbag carry



So I remembered earlier today the only reason I was doing pullovers was because I wanted a pec exercise that was quick to set up when I didn't have DBs.

I now will have access to DBs for a year at least. So I decided to replace pullovers with flys. I also figured I'd take a tip from @Hardartery that I could handle more than 44 lbs DB for flys. Glad I did. Sixty six pounds is about my limit though, but in a good way.

[Hardartery]

Week four of block one starts. Also a knot in my lower right lat whose origins remain a mystery.

Monday bench
4x5x176 lbs with 10ish second rests. Easy, as it should be
10, 7, 6, 5 pullups
15x44 lbs, 15 pushups
2x15x132 lbs T-bar rows
2x10x66 lbs, 9x66 lbs DB flys with failure on the 10th rep of set three. Chest pump was excellent
3x35 facepulls
40 steps x 264 lbs, 30 steps x 264 lbs (grip slipped), 15 steps x 264 lbs sandbag carry



So I remembered earlier today the only reason I was doing pullovers was because I wanted a pec exercise that was quick to set up when I didn't have DBs.

I now will have access to DBs for a year at least. So I decided to replace pullovers with flys. I also figured I'd take a tip from @Hardartery that I could handle more than 44 lbs DB for flys. Glad I did. Sixty six pounds is about my limit though, but in a good way.

Enjoy the DOMS, lol.

[MarkKO]

Week four of block one starts. Also a knot in my lower right lat whose origins remain a mystery.

Monday bench
4x5x176 lbs with 10ish second rests. Easy, as it should be
10, 7, 6, 5 pullups
15x44 lbs, 15 pushups
2x15x132 lbs T-bar rows
2x10x66 lbs, 9x66 lbs DB flys with failure on the 10th rep of set three. Chest pump was excellent
3x35 facepulls
40 steps x 264 lbs, 30 steps x 264 lbs (grip slipped), 15 steps x 264 lbs sandbag carry



So I remembered earlier today the only reason I was doing pullovers was because I wanted a pec exercise that was quick to set up when I didn't have DBs.

I now will have access to DBs for a year at least. So I decided to replace pullovers with flys. I also figured I'd take a tip from @Hardartery that I could handle more than 44 lbs DB for flys. Glad I did. Sixty six pounds is about my limit though, but in a good way.

Enjoy the DOMS, lol.

So far I've just got a profusion of knots in my traps

[MarkKO]

Ok, so no really significant DOMS from the flys, and the upper back knots have reduced significantly.

Wednesday squat and deadlift
3x5x275 lbs with what were 15 second rests, not the 10 seconds I thought five deep breaths were.
3x308 lbs deadlift on stiff bar
2x3x308 lbs deadlift on stiff bar against doubled minis which felt different, I guess. Not heavier, but harder. We'll see what a full cycle of these do in conjunction with sandbag carries, reverse hypers and safety bar squats. Probably too many variables to know which ones work.
3x25x308 lbs reverse hyper
3x20x44 lbs air squats done as Hatfield squats
2x15x44 lbs walking lunges which were obnoxious
5x5 pullups with shorter than usual rest between sets
3x25 facepulls

[MarkKO]

Yesterday's checkin has my weekly average at 218.9 lbs, so really still very steady. Which is what I'm going for.

Friday JM press
5x132 lbs
4x132 lbs, lost count
6x132 lbs
5x132 lbs
10, 3x5 pullups. First set was chinups and I failed around halfway on 11. It's funny, chinups 'feel' easier, but my numbers are identical to pullups.
2x10x44 lbs pushups, 30 Maddox pushups
3x12x132 lbs T-bar rows
12x60 lbs, 12x40 lbs, 26x20 lbs tricep pushdowns with complete failure on 27
3x40 facepulls
2x25 steps x 264 lbs sandbag carry.

Ok, so firstly it seems like I need to *drop* the steps for sandbag carries if I squat and deadlift during the week. No problem, and I sort of suspected that might happen. Fifty steps twice a week will do fine.

Also, I'm going to shoot for the last set to failure for flys and tricep pushdowns. I think it'll be a good way to push pec and tricep growth without messing with fatigue.

[MarkKO]

It's week five of block one, which is deload and also introducing training loads again. So not exactly a deload, but then I shouldn't need a deload at this stage.

Monday bench
1x292 lbs, which moved reasonably well. Maybe not a set of five, but a triple for sure.
3x3x193 lbs, wrapless. Felt fine, but wrapless took a couple of sets to get used to
10, 7, 6, 5 pullups
2x15x44 lbs pushups
2x15x132 lbs T-bar rows
2x10x66 lbs, 8x66 lbs DB flys with failure on the ninth rep of the third set. This time I was actually pushing for failure too.
3x35 facepulls
2x25 steps x 264 lbs sandbag carry. Managed to pick it and carry it lengthways for the first time on the second run. Nearly passed out after. I'll be carrying it like this from now on. The sandbag is without a doubt the hardest thing I have every lifted.

[Hardartery]

Week four of block one starts. Also a knot in my lower right lat whose origins remain a mystery.

Monday bench
4x5x176 lbs with 10ish second rests. Easy, as it should be
10, 7, 6, 5 pullups
15x44 lbs, 15 pushups
2x15x132 lbs T-bar rows
2x10x66 lbs, 9x66 lbs DB flys with failure on the 10th rep of set three. Chest pump was excellent
3x35 facepulls
40 steps x 264 lbs, 30 steps x 264 lbs (grip slipped), 15 steps x 264 lbs sandbag carry



So I remembered earlier today the only reason I was doing pullovers was because I wanted a pec exercise that was quick to set up when I didn't have DBs.

I now will have access to DBs for a year at least. So I decided to replace pullovers with flys. I also figured I'd take a tip from @Hardartery that I could handle more than 44 lbs DB for flys. Glad I did. Sixty six pounds is about my limit though, but in a good way.

Enjoy the DOMS, lol.

So far I've just got a profusion of knots in my traps

It sounds like you are just flexing everything on the concentric then, try focussing on just using the pecs. Use your Jedi mind skills. Varying the arm angle does interesting things too, instead of trying to maintain a straight line across the chest it fires a few unused fibres to have the hands veed up a little towards the top of the head or down towards the feet.

[MarkKO]

Week four of block one starts. Also a knot in my lower right lat whose origins remain a mystery.

Monday bench
4x5x176 lbs with 10ish second rests. Easy, as it should be
10, 7, 6, 5 pullups
15x44 lbs, 15 pushups
2x15x132 lbs T-bar rows
2x10x66 lbs, 9x66 lbs DB flys with failure on the 10th rep of set three. Chest pump was excellent
3x35 facepulls
40 steps x 264 lbs, 30 steps x 264 lbs (grip slipped), 15 steps x 264 lbs sandbag carry



So I remembered earlier today the only reason I was doing pullovers was because I wanted a pec exercise that was quick to set up when I didn't have DBs.

I now will have access to DBs for a year at least. So I decided to replace pullovers with flys. I also figured I'd take a tip from @Hardartery that I could handle more than 44 lbs DB for flys. Glad I did. Sixty six pounds is about my limit though, but in a good way.

Enjoy the DOMS, lol.

So far I've just got a profusion of knots in my traps

It sounds like you are just flexing everything on the concentric then, try focussing on just using the pecs. Use your Jedi mind skills. Varying the arm angle does interesting things too, instead of trying to maintain a straight line across the chest it fires a few unused fibres to have the hands veed up a little towards the top of the head or down towards the feet.

Probably not wrong. The second time was a bit different and no knots now.

[MarkKO]

Wednesday bow bar squat
1x490 lbs which moved OK, consider I guess. I'm going to bully it into a triple next week
3x3x341 lbs
2, 3, 2x330 lbs stiff bar DL because I can't count, with just about 10 seconds between sets
35, 2x25x308 lbs reverse hyper
5x10x44 lbs air squats done as Hatfield squats again, with five breaths between sets
5x5x44 lbs walking lunges, also with five breaths between sets which was a terrible, terrible idea
5x5 pullups
3x25 facepulls



I would have liked the 490 lbs to move faster but really, what can I expect for this being my second time squatting in a month? Position was good I think and my back felt great.

[slowmotion]

Why the bow bar on squats? Does it change the weight distribution?

[MarkKO]

Why the bow bar on squats? Does it change the weight distribution?

It's a lot easier on the shoulders and elbows. The weight distribution is very, very close a straight bar, which is good because you don't need to adjust going between the two.

[MarkKO]

Carbon has my weekly average at 219.6 lbs, so around 0.3 lbs up this week. I've been feeling somewhat run down (again) so it could just be that. I think I've also probably had a bit more salt this past week so there's that too.

Now I think about, which only just occurred to me as I write, is that last time I had a few weeks training without the barbell I saw an increase in average weight the first week I went back to regular training. So it could very possibly be that.

Also I need to get my hearing checked. Either I have an absolutely ridiculous amount of wax in the damn things or I'm going deaf.

Friday JM press
3x187 lbs, which felt a lot easier than I recall. I'm convinced I somehow cheated it, but the video doesn't show anything too obvious. Possibly I let my elbows drop too early.
2x8x143 lbs, which felt pretty spot on
10, 9, 6 pullups which is kind of a big deal for me. I did do chins first up, and probably rested a little longer before the second set because I was running the gate on the mono for someone. Still pleased though. Fucked up the filming, of course.
25x44 lbs, 15 pushups. I did the first set as Maddox pushups and the second set with my hands on one-boards
3x12x132 lbs T-bar rows
15, 12x40 lbs, 24x20 lbs tricep pushdowns with failure on rep 25. I also had to do that set as a rest/pause set
2x50 facepulls
2x20 steps x 264 lbs sandbag carry. Both pick and holding the damn thing was hard AF today so I left my total steps 10 short. I'm working on picking it up lengwise, which admittedly is getting easier but holy crap. It's just so much harder than any other thing I've ever lifted.

[BenM]

That's happened to me too (the weight increase). Just localised swelling is what I put it down to.

That lunge session sounds like hell.

[MarkKO]

That's happened to me too (the weight increase). Just localised swelling is what I put it down to.

That lunge session sounds like hell.

I think you might be right.

The lunges weren't easy, but training my legs once a week I think it's necessary to make sure the one day I do train them has some intensity.

[MarkKO]

Well, it's week one of block two. 'Proper' training if you will.

I caved and adjusted my belt. I'm not happy about it, but I'm also somewhat consoled by the fact that all I did was adjust it BACK to where it was when I first got it and when I weighed around 10 lbs less. It is what it is.

Monday bench
3x292 lbs, with a definite fourth there which I left where it was
5x5x193 lbs in four minutes and 32 seconds and also wrapless. I'm surprised and pleased with the time. During I was wondering why I was breathing so heavily. Biceps were a little tight and sore during the 5x5 which scared me initially until I remembered that my biceps have been generally a bit tight and sore because of the sandbag as well as doing more chin ups in my pull up slot.
8, 6, 5, 6 pullups
3x10x77 lbs DB bench. I decided to swap them in for pushups, which have served me well but I only did because in the garage, they were the best option. I'll run with these for the remainder of the cycle.
2x15x132 lbs T-bar rows
3x15x3 chains chain flys, chains replacing DBs because DB bench. Failure on rep 16 of set three. Much better ROM and stretch with these. Finding failure was interesting. Reps 13, 14 and 15 all felt like they might be it but to be sure I kept squeezing and they weren't.
3x40 facepulls
2x25 steps x 264 lbs sandbag carry, vertical today because there was no way I was getting it lengthwise.

[Hardartery]

Well, it's week one of block two. 'Proper' training if you will.

I caved and adjusted my belt. I'm not happy about it, but I'm also somewhat consoled by the fact that all I did was adjust it BACK to where it was when I first got it and when I weighed around 10 lbs less. It is what it is.

Maybe it's all that direct ab work you're doing. Ot the sandbag training is dooming you. Not a lot of skinny Strongmen, I don't think that's entirely down to diet and drugs.

[MarkKO]

Well, it's week one of block two. 'Proper' training if you will.

I caved and adjusted my belt. I'm not happy about it, but I'm also somewhat consoled by the fact that all I did was adjust it BACK to where it was when I first got it and when I weighed around 10 lbs less. It is what it is.

Maybe it's all that direct ab work you're doing. Ot the sandbag training is dooming you. Not a lot of skinny Strongmen, I don't think that's entirely down to diet and drugs.

I would really, really like to think so. I don't look any different that I can tell.

[MarkKO]

So I went and really helped myself this week by going to bed late on Monday and Tuesday night as well as not getting quite enough sleep on the weekend. Very smart.

Wednesday bow bar squat
3x490 lbs, and honestly if I hadn't decided it would be a triple no matter what last week this probably wouldn't have been more than a single. Except it was a triple with one really fucking hard rep in the tank
5x5x341 lbs in seven minutes and 27 seconds
5x2x330 lbs, 5x330 lbs stiff bar DL with 10ish second rests between sets
3x25x308 lbs reverse hyper
3x25 air squats done as Hatfield squats
2x15 walking lunges
5x5 pullups
3x25 facepulls



Considering everything today was actually really pretty good. I'm coming up on 500 lbs for a triple, and while I won't put a date on it I'm pretty confident it will be some time this cycle.

[MarkKO]

Today was not easy, largely due to self-induced stress at work. That said, I'd rather it be me breathing down my neck than my foreman. I'm also not sure if I'm coming down with a cold or it's just a reaction to being stressed. I'm unsure enough that I didn't munch down any raw garlic. I don't need the added stress of stopping myself from puking.

Today was a negotiated training session, which meant two exercises and no warmups

Friday
5x187 lbs JM press
4x10x143 lbs JM press with triceps failing at lockout on the 10th rep of set four. I got it, just, because without having any say in the matter my elbows flared to lock out
10, 9, 6 pullups with 11th on set one failed past halfway and 10th on set two failed at the same point although set two were chinups

Actually a good session in terms of effort, but slower too because I was helping out a bunch. This did me good though.