Medium Grip Feet Up Pause Bench:
8x82.5kg
8x82.5kg
8x82.5kg @ 6
2 minute rests
Lat Pulldown:
10x65kg
10x65kg
10x65kg @ 7
2 minute rests
Paused Single Leg Leg Extension:
12x45kg
12x40kg
12x40kg
--- Supersetted with ---
12x35lb / hand (PR for twelve; +5lb)
12x27.5lb / hand
12x27.5lb / hand @ 6
2 minute rests between supersets
Had a pretty solid rest day yesterday. Lots of naps and pretty solid sleep last night too after a restaurant meal. Still not super motivated today even for a light deloady session, and a headache didnt help either - maybe that was due to lack of caffeine, I'd only had two coffees and I'm moderating my intake a bit this week. Anyway I took some non-stim preworkout and made my way out eventually.
Training Notes:
Did some nice easy bench triples, if anything it felt like the last two sets were easier than the first two - I managed to get my feet flatter and maintain tightness a little better.
I'd actually programmed sets of six with 82.5kg but decided during the first set that that'd be too easy so I banged out some sets of eight. Seemed fine, only the last set got mildly challenging.
Nice light lat pulldowns too, I debated dropping the weight for the third set but it was fine in the end. Little harder than a true deload would be but eh, whatever.
Leg extensions and curls went OK. The first set of leg extensions was aggravating my sore right knee so I dropped the load a bit but the last two sets felt pretty good and easy. The first set of curls was a misload, it was supposed to be 25lb per hand, so I was kinda happy to bang out twelve without things getting super difficult - but I dropped the weight a fair bit with those too just to keep the second and third sets nice and easy where I wanted them.
Nice easy triceps extensions too, but these are still annoying my left elbow so I probably should find something else for this slot next block.
I thought maybe I'd bring back box squats at some stage, seems like it could be helpful while this tendon thing is healing. Went to KMart last night after our dinner (as we do) and bought a plyo box which was advertised at $42 and scanned at $14 - winning. So I tried it out for height with some body weight squats - turns out it's probably a bit high if I want to train box squats at comp depth. Right now though, doing them to this height might actually be a good way to stop me getting loose/going too low and overstretching it, so I still think it was well worth the fourteen bucks.
Finished in 64 minutes. Happy enough with that. Thanks for reading!
CoolColJ wrote: ↑Sat Jul 23, 2022 10:25 am
Hi
What brand is your Belt squat rack attachment? And where did you get it?
Also are you the guy selling the Megatech leg press on GumTree?
That belt squat attachment was custom made by @vanhekent on Instagram. It's a solid bit of kit. Not cheap but it won't be breaking in a hurry - he'll make them for any kind of rack.
Not me with the leg press - wrong part of the country. I did own one of those for a while though!
Thanks
I came across a video of an ATX belt squat rack attachment that looks similar, so I thought it might this, but yours has no ATX logo.
Must be a new thing, since Sam's Fitness doesn't have a listing
You're right, that looks like a very very similar design to mine, but slightly better. The horns for the plates sit above the lever arm for potentially a little more ROM, and there's some adjustability for where you bolt the horns themselves. Other than that, it's very similar. Has a convenient handle to unscrew it from the rack (I need to do that with mine, it attaches with a nyloc nut and I keep a shifter in the gym to take it on and off). It also clips upright to the rack when not in use. Mine doesn't have that ability, although I thought about jerry rigging something I decided it'd be in the way if I did that anyway.
Price wise, probably not much different. I paid $600 plus freight for mine about 18 months ago, if that Dutch site is anything to go by it would convert to almost $550AUD. I'm guessing if Sam's ever brought them in they'd be retailing for $650 plus.
Lying Leg Extension:
10x75kg
10x75kg
10x75kg
--- Supersetted with --- Seated Lateral Raise:
10x27.5lb / hand
10x27.5lb / hand
10x27.5lb / hand
2 minute rests between supersets
Footage:
Nutrition/Health/Life Stuff:
Thought I should've slept OK since I was a bit tired from a late F1 race Sunday night. Nope. Slept like shit. Two coffees and lots of cereal still didn't help me get very motivated even for a light session. But I got there eventually. At least I'm WFH today so no commute and a bit less stress/interruption.
Age PR today. I had aspirations of doing some sort of celebratory training session based around my age but it's supposed to be a deload week, I just couldn't be bothered, and I also figured it'd be a bad idea with my leg how it is anyway. First time in a few years I haven't done it but eh, maybe that's a good sign I'm learning to be flexible and make sensible decisions instead of sticking to habits no matter what.
Training Notes:
Some nice easy sets of five for deadlift.
Some even easier sets of five with the box squats.
Took the same weight as last week (which was pretty easy for twelves) and did tens with it on both leg extensions and lateral raises. It was, funnily enough, very easy.
Got done in 48 minutes. That'll do. My leg/hip was sore walking the dog afterwards and I was worried I'd aggravated it but it seems fairly ok this afternoon. Ciao!
Haha. Actually... there was no cake. I did get the wife to make chocolate brownies on Sunday and Miss Seven threw a candle in one of those. It was touching.
Birthdays are more about the kiddo/family than me these days... adulting blah.
Weighted Dip:
10xBW+20kg
10xBW+20kg
10xBW+20kg
--- Supersetted with --- Hammer Curl w/Twist:
12x27.5lb / hand
12x27.5lb / hand
12x27.5lb / hand
2 minute rests
Footage:
Nutrition/Health/Life Stuff:
I had a dirty burger with lots of chips and onion rings last night for dinner, not sure if it was the meal or fatigue kicking in but I slept MUCH better last night. Still took a couple of coffees to get going this morning though, I'm just not super motivated and seriously thinking about extending the deload another week.
Was also expecting a much bigger weight spike than what actually happened so that was weird, seems like I've been maintaining weight for the last few weeks and maybe even slightly losing lately. But the changes over the weekly average are pretty small so it's not really clear.
Training Notes:
I did some light bench with a long pause. First set or two felt way heavier than I would've expected considering I did fives with 15kg more last week. But by the third set it was feeling easier so I banged out a fourth which I hadn't actually programmed.
Just some light JM press with 2.5kg more than last week. Felt OK, no zaps, still some minor elbow soreness, but not terribly difficult.
The cable row was interesting, I honestly thought it might get a little challenging at the end of set three but even rep 36 was pretty fast and full ROM so this was good.
Triceps and biceps to finish, again nice and easy. None of this was a big deal. Not much else to say - except while I was walking the dog afterwards, I decided that I could probably just do two harder sets of these in 'proper' training sessions since I'm already doing a fair bit of triceps and biceps (the rows) earlier in the session.
This only took 47 minutes and I walked away feeling reasonably refreshed and not smashed for a change. Even thinking about lifting tomorrow instead of (or as well as) Friday, got a funeral that day so it might make sense, but I guess we'll see how early I get out of bed... Thanks for reading!
Final note: Maybe this album wasn't the best choice for lifting but I'm glad I listened to it again. So much nostalgia from a couple of these songs.
Dumbbell Pullover:
15x57.5lb
15x57.5lb
--- Supersetted with ---- Dumbbell Upright Row:
12x57.5lb / hand
12x57.5lb / hand
2 minutes rest
Footage:
Nutrition/Health/Life Stuff:
Well I had ONE good night of sleep at least... last night was back to trash again. Between my bladder, hips, and a seven year old kid... it just feels bloody futile. But I woke up at 4:20am and thought righto, may as well train early for a third day in a row because why the hell not, that's why! Still took two coffees, lots of cereal, and about an hour of procrastinating to actually get out to the gym and start lifting though.....
Training Notes:
Did some nice easy walking lunges, decided to add a little weight to the third set. It got a bit scrappy, not becuase it was heavy, just because I was tired and unfocussed - it's a good little warmup though. Hip/quad tendon thing seems slightly less sore which is a good sign.
Added 10kg to the squats and dropped back to fives - these also felt much better than last week. All nice and easy, and not terribly painful, will see how things recover but right now (almost 12 hours later) it feels pretty good.
Incline benching was fine too. Basically a 10% load drop from the sets of six I did last week (because it's still a deload, right?). In all honestly my right front delt didn't enjoy the first set that much, it was a bit tight and sore, but after that it was warm and the last few felt nice and easy.
Changed up the back and shoulder stuff this week for some easier stuff. And it was easy, I guess, but the upright rows did get a little challenging during set two. I kinda wanted to do a third set but my wrists were cramping and I figured that would do for today, especially since it's supposed to be a light week. And I'm taking the entire day off work tomorrow so might train again....
That was all she wrote today, just a lazy 52 minutes. And then a walk in the cold with the dog and a reasonably productive work day. Reasonably decent all round really... thanks for reading!
Got you. So that's not the sleep issue. If I ever fix mine I'll let you know how I did it.
I picked up more doxy at the pharmacy today, with the usual admonition to use it for no more than three days in a row. Sure. The longest I HAVEN'T used it in the last six months or so (at least) was this last week because I've been taking night time cold and flu tablets.
I don't think so. There are multiple factors. If I'm on my back I snore - wife gets shitty and wakes me up. On my side for too long, my hips hurt after a while. Plus last night the kid woke up calling across the hallway to us at 2am. Which she does too often and we're trying to teach her it's not appropriate. It also doesn't help that I'm usually lights out before 9pm (with a sleep mask on) but the wife stays up watching Netflix then comes to bed and reads till goodness knows when and usually wakes me up. Oh and the dog jumps on the bed with us. And cramps me for room.
I do think the doxys help. Are you saying you use them more nights than not? I try really hard to only take one when I think I'll have trouble getting down which is maybe once a week if that. I have an addictive personality....
BenM wrote: ↑Thu Jul 28, 2022 1:11 am
I don't think so. There are multiple factors. If I'm on my back I snore - wife gets shitty and wakes me up. On my side for too long, my hips hurt after a while. Plus last night the kid woke up calling across the hallway to us at 2am. Which she does too often and we're trying to teach her it's not appropriate. It also doesn't help that I'm usually lights out before 9pm (with a sleep mask on) but the wife stays up watching Netflix then comes to bed and reads till goodness knows when and usually wakes me up. Oh and the dog jumps on the bed with us. And cramps me for room.
I do think the doxys help. Are you saying you use them more nights than not? I try really hard to only take one when I think I'll have trouble getting down which is maybe once a week if that. I have an addictive personality....
Since I started using them - which now I think about it is almost a year ago unless my memory is playing tricks on me - the longest I haven't used them is this past week from Thursday night to Wednesday night. Other than that there have been a couple of nights where I didn't because I ran out and forgot to top up. So less than 10 nights over a year.
Whatever the long term risks may be, at this point using them every night means I can sleep properly every night. That's a good trade off from where I sit.
Incline Curl:
12x30lb / hand @ 6.5
11x30lb / hand @ 9
6x30lb / hand @ 7
2 minute rests
Dumbbell LTE:
10x40lb / hand
10x40lb / hand @ 6
10x40lb / hand @ 6.5
2 minute rests
Footage:
Nutrition/Health/Life Stuff:
Ended up taking a rest day yesterday, that was probably for the best really. With a funeral and some family stuff afterwards I just wasn't in the right frame of mind. Ended up having a very late night, and still managed to have the least restful sleep I've had all week, which was an impressive effort. That was my subjective opinion when I woke up and my Garmin (which I just checked) agrees so I wasn't imagining it.
Part of the reason for the late night was my car obsession, and I got up pretty early so I could go visit some dealers (that was a wash anyway) and get chores done before lunch. Training ended up being a mid afternoon session, and it was a bit experimental because I hadn't actually programmed it.
Training Notes:
The movement we all love to hate, Bulgarian split squats - although I decided to try them with the plyo box today. I think it worked better than the bench because it's a little lower and I was able to get my trailing knee consistently hitting the floor. My log says I have done 87kg for as many as 11 reps in the past so this was deliberately quite light but boy oh boy was I battling for breath by the end of the last two sets. The good news is that it didn't seem to irritate this tendon thing - once I warmed up it wasn't uncomfortable, but we'll see how I pull up tomorrow. I also had a pretty decent quad pump post session so I feel like these could be a really good way of actually stimulating some quad growth without needing to use too much absolute load.
Wanted to work hamstrings but after those squats I couldn't be bothered with RDLs so curls to the rescue. Second set got a bit too challenging for what is supposed to be a deload week so I dropped load a bit for the third, and that was pretty fast.
Haven't done the low incline bench for 5 weeks or so, decided to slot them in today. And apparently i did this weight for fives in that session (which was also a deload) so I did sixes today which weren't too difficult.
Some curls after that. These were a bit disappointing, but I may have had the bench reclined one notch too far. Set two got pretty difficult and I just didn't have the mental or physical energy to push set three, but it wasn't supposed to be hard at all. Whatever!
Felt out some dumbbell LTEs to finish, kept them nice and easy - my elbow wasn't feeling too bad at this weight, so I need to just be patient and not get overly aggressive with ramping them up every single session.
<li>Ultimately I was reasonably happy with this, although it certainly wasn't an 'easy' deload session - and it took exactly an hour. Thanks for reading!
BenM wrote: ↑Thu Jul 28, 2022 1:11 am
I don't think so. There are multiple factors. If I'm on my back I snore - wife gets shitty and wakes me up. On my side for too long, my hips hurt after a while. Plus last night the kid woke up calling across the hallway to us at 2am. Which she does too often and we're trying to teach her it's not appropriate. It also doesn't help that I'm usually lights out before 9pm (with a sleep mask on) but the wife stays up watching Netflix then comes to bed and reads till goodness knows when and usually wakes me up. Oh and the dog jumps on the bed with us. And cramps me for room.
I do think the doxys help. Are you saying you use them more nights than not? I try really hard to only take one when I think I'll have trouble getting down which is maybe once a week if that. I have an addictive personality....
Since I started using them - which now I think about it is almost a year ago unless my memory is playing tricks on me - the longest I haven't used them is this past week from Thursday night to Wednesday night. Other than that there have been a couple of nights where I didn't because I ran out and forgot to top up. So less than 10 nights over a year.
Whatever the long term risks may be, at this point using them every night means I can sleep properly every night. That's a good trade off from where I sit.
I see. That's fair enough then, I'm not entirely sure what the risks are other than dependence but I think you said you're only taking half a tab too so realistically it's a pretty low dose. Sleep is so darn important... it's probably worth it.
BenM wrote: ↑Thu Jul 28, 2022 1:11 am
I don't think so. There are multiple factors. If I'm on my back I snore - wife gets shitty and wakes me up. On my side for too long, my hips hurt after a while. Plus last night the kid woke up calling across the hallway to us at 2am. Which she does too often and we're trying to teach her it's not appropriate. It also doesn't help that I'm usually lights out before 9pm (with a sleep mask on) but the wife stays up watching Netflix then comes to bed and reads till goodness knows when and usually wakes me up. Oh and the dog jumps on the bed with us. And cramps me for room.
I do think the doxys help. Are you saying you use them more nights than not? I try really hard to only take one when I think I'll have trouble getting down which is maybe once a week if that. I have an addictive personality....
Since I started using them - which now I think about it is almost a year ago unless my memory is playing tricks on me - the longest I haven't used them is this past week from Thursday night to Wednesday night. Other than that there have been a couple of nights where I didn't because I ran out and forgot to top up. So less than 10 nights over a year.
Whatever the long term risks may be, at this point using them every night means I can sleep properly every night. That's a good trade off from where I sit.
I see. That's fair enough then, I'm not entirely sure what the risks are other than dependence but I think you said you're only taking half a tab too so realistically it's a pretty low dose. Sleep is so darn important... it's probably worth it.
Paused Single Leg Leg Extension:
12x42.5kg
12x42.5kg
--- Supersetted With --- Dumbbell LTE:
11x42.5lb / hand @ 6
12x42.5lb / hand @ 7
2 minutes rest between supersets
Hammer Curl w/Twist:
15x30lb / hand
15x30lb / hand @ 5.5 maybe?
2 minute rests
Footage:
Nutrition/Health/Life Stuff:
In a strange twist of fate, I slept MUCH better last night. Woke up feeling pretty rested and had a reasonably stress free morning too. I'm still off the Monster so only had two coffees total all morning before I went and lifted.
I've had some annoying digestion issues the last few days, and I'm wondering if that's partly why my weight is trending down so sharply - I haven't weighed in this light for a couple of months and I've not been eating any differently. Or maybe it's the universe telling me I should have takeaway for dinner tonight.
Training Notes:
Intro week. Still light(ish) but heavier than last week. Bench went fine today, the top single and first triple felt a bit heavier than I expected but after that I got a bit of a groove on and all the rest was pretty straightforward grunt work.
It's time to change the back movements up so I'm running with supinated lat pulldowns for a while. Haven't done these in forever (last time I tried it was annoying an injury) so I programmed a pretty light weight to feel them out - probably a little too light as it turned out but I stuck to the plan anyway. I did feel these in my back more than my biceps surprisingly and that drop set got a bit of a burn going.
Did some quads and triceps together, but kept them reasonably easy since they both had a going over yesterday, especially my legs.
And then it was curls, these were supposed to be sets of 8-12 @ 6 but I was a bit conservative with the weight, taking into account I struggled with curls yesterday and did lat pulldowns earlier in the session. After fifteen reps I just didn't want to do any more and I don't think the second set quite hit @ 6 but no issues with that. I need to be really tight with form and do quality reps anyway otherwise I'm gonna end up hurting stuff. Later in the block is the time to push hard, not today.
Not much more to say other than this took 56 minutes and I was happy with the effort, hopefully I can slowly build momentum over the coming weeks, and get 6 or 8 weeks out of it before I need to back off again. Thanks for dropping by!
