These past 10 days ended up being half maintenance or a slight surplus and half -500 deficit. Just circumstances like - birthday, recovery from birthday, work party, father's day and a couple of other times I overshot on cals from miscalculating.

These next two weeks gonna be 2000kcal every ****ing day!

22 June

Quad stretch, Hip Airplane, SLDL & Thoracic extension on foam roller for warming up. Some air squats as well

Front Squats
20kg x 10
40kg x 10
50kg x 8
55kg x 5 x 3

I was well fed pre workout and was hoping for some more weight but FS sucked balls today.

Bench Press
20kg x 15
40kg x 12
50kg x 10
60kg x 8
65kg x 5
70kg x 5
74kg x 5 x 3
50kg x 8 x 2

OHP
20kg x 10
30kg x 6
35kg x 8 x 3
30kg x 5, 2

Standing One Arm Cable Rows & Overhead One Arm Cable Pulls
A lot

Bulgarian Split Squat
10 x 6

Form on rows is really good now.


Feeling really good about my back. Post workout endurance during work is improving.

23 June

LISS Cardio x 45 mins

Weight: 88kg

Target is 80-82kg by Oct 5th. I think there will be decent difference between 82kg last year vs this year.

came back from work and back was not fatigued at all. no pain.

did the following:

CGBP
20kg x 10
30kg x 15 x 3
35kg x 10 x 3

Standing one Arm Cable Rows
3 x 10

BB Curls
25kg x 10 x 3

Tri Pushdowns
15 x 3

Farmer's walk w/ empty 40kg Trap Bar

Do you really mean the empty trap/hex bar is 40kg?

Yea mate, it's heavy as ****. I always guessed the weight but recently when moving it back into my gym I weighed it and was just shy of 40kg. It's hard work moving it around. I made it at work with solid ~51mm cylindrical rod for sleeves and the rest of the bar is also 32mm solid steel rods (plan was 25mm)

Cha's trap bar is just a tad thinner than mine and weighs around 80lb if i remember correctly. My sleeves are also bigger in length.

25 June

Curl Ups
10s x 6 reps x 1 set
10s x 4 reps x 1 set
10s x 3 reps x 1 set
10s x 2 reps x 1 set

Dead Bugs w/ 3kg weight
10 x 5

Side Planks
4 rolls x 3 sets
10s x 4 reps on each side

Planks
10s x AMRAP

Bird Dogs
10s x 4 reps x 1 set
10s x 3 reps x 3 sets
10s x 2 reps x 1 set
10s x 1 rep x 1 set

Stir the Pot
5s x 4 reps x 2 sets

Walk Outs x 5

Torsional Testers
5s x 4 reps x 3 sets


I felt the challenge while breathing normally is sufficient that now I should probably hold my breath to create harder core stiffness. It worked. Core felt quite a bit more smashed after this basic circuit.

Will be holding my breath from now on. Will probably give me more carry over for Squats and Bench in terms of tightening everything.

Did some Cardio yesterday including moar farmer's walks.

Cals are at 2100 average and getting in plenty of exercises but weight stuck at 88kg these past two weeks.

Will give it one more week. Maybe some water retention because I was on some NSAIDS and eating salted jaamuns (jambonee?) a lot.

28 June

Warm up with Quads, Hams, Hip Airplanes, SLDL, Thoracic extentions & Lat PNF

Front Squats
20kg x 10
40kg x 10 x 3
50kg x 8 x 2
60kg x 5, 3
40kg x 10

Bulgarian Split Squat
15 x 5

Bench Press
30kg x 15
40kg x 12
50kg x 10
60kg x 8 x 3
65kg x 8
70kg x 5 x 3
75kg x 2, 3, 3
77kg x 2, 1
60kg x 8 x 2

Another post injury PR. Had more reps in the tank but scurrred I would drop the weight on myself.

OHP
20kg x 10
30kg x 8
35kg x 8 x 3
37kg x 5 x 2

Nothing to be proud of but that's still the most weight I have pressed since coming back.

Standing one arm Cable Rows
35kg x 10 x 5

One arm Overhead Cable Pulls
40kg x 10 x 3

Inverted Rows
10 x 3

nice work

+1

Thanks guys.

The carryover from core training into Bench Press has been immense so far. I sometimes think wtf was I doing before!

03 July

Curl Ups
10s x 6 reps x 1 set
10s x 4 reps x 2 set
10s x 3 reps x 1 set
10s x 2 reps x 1 set

Dead Bugs
20 x 5

Side Planks
6 rolls x 3 sets
10s x 4 reps on each side

Planks
10s x AMRAP

Bird Dogs
10s x 4 reps x 1 set
10s x 3 reps x 3 sets
10s x 2 reps x 1 set

Stir the Pot
5s x 4 reps x 2 sets


Front Squats
30kg x 10
40kg x 10
50kg x 8
60kg x 8
65kg x 5 x 3
70kg x 2

Bulgarian Split Squat
20 x 5

Single Leg Glute Bridge
3s x 8 x 3

Bench Press
40kg x 15
50kg x 12
60kg x 8 x 2
65kg x 6
70kg x 5
75kg x 5 x 3
77kg x f
75kg x 1,1

Couldn't pull the trigger on the 77kg today after I unracked the bar. Probably a good idea since 75kg singles felt pretty hard after the 5x3.

75kg:

Damn my arms look long and skinny as fak




OHP
20kg x 10
30kg x 8
35kg x 8 x 3
37kg x 5

Standing One Arm Cable Row
40kg x 10 x 5

Overhead One Arm Cable Pull
50kg x 10 x 5

Bicep Curls
10kg dbs x 10 x 5

Tricep Pushdowns
25kg x 10 x 5



Weight: 87.2kg! Finally broke through the 88kg mark I got stuck on for 2 or so weeks. I weigh myself after morning piss but before poop. I think emptying the bowels before weighing yourself is cheating.

Going to a weekend trip to Jaipur, Rajasthan with a friend who is visiting from Barcelona. Good time for some relaxation and cheat meals!

Thanks for the core work help. I think it is definitely making a difference, even with my limited compliance.

06 July

Curl Ups
10s x 6 reps x 1 set
10s x 4 reps x 2 set
10s x 3 reps x 1 set
10s x 2 reps x 1 set

Dead Bugs
20 x 5

Side Planks
6 rolls x 1 set

Planks
10s x AMRAP

Bird Dogs
10s x 4 reps x 1 set
10s x 3 reps x 3 sets
10s x 2 reps x 1 set

Stir the Pot
5s x 4 reps x 2 sets

Walk Outs x 6

I swam this past weekend and I think it might be the best cardio for me right now. Will get a pool membership asap.

08 July

(kg)

Front Squats
20 x 10
40 x 10
50 x 8
60 x 8 x 2
65 x 5 x 3
70 x 5, 3

Bench Press
40 x 15
50 x 10
60 x 8
65 x 6
70 x 5
75 x 5 x 3
77 x 3, 3

Standing One Arm Cable Row
40kg x 10 x 5

Overhead One Arm Cable Pull
50kg x 10 x 5

Inverted Rows
8 x 3

Bulgarian Split Sqyat
20 x 4

If it wasn't for this stiffness in lumbar extension issue i'd be tearing these weights apart.

Hoping this final issue with my back will resolve soon.

Why are you doing so many (seemingly random) reps for bench press and then finish off with some triples and singles? What's your thought behind this? If it's ment to be as a warmup I think you're causing way too much fatigue.

Also I would try to control the speed a bit more on that descent.

Yea I have been advised to control the speed on the descent before as well. Will try to remember to do that.

I am doing a lot of reps for bench because it's basically the only (other than OHP) upper body compound exercise that I can do atm due to my back. Hauling around DBs to do more chest work is a bit problematic since I need to hold something when attempting to lie down on a bench since I can't flex my back even 1º.

I basically work up to a 5x3 weight and then add extra weight for AMRAP (not necessarily triples). I guess I should lower the warm up volume and add it after the max weight AMRAP set. I could also haul the incline/decline bench into the rack and do some benching that way but right now it seems like too much work since it is nicely stationed by the cable cross machine for my back work.

I am still treating the next 2-3 months as - Just do whatever you can. I am meeting McGill in October. Need to figure out this one problem of lumbar extension pain I can't sort out myself.

I'd do most of the warmup reps with just the bar and something that is under 50% of your 1RM. Once you go above that weight, do as few reps as possible before getting to your work set weight. Anything between 50% of your 1RM and your work set weight should only be to get you used to holding the weight in your hands. I usually dont do more than a triple, and usually only singles and doubles, with anything more than half my 1RM if its not a work set. The reason is so that you dont fatigue yourself while warming up so you'll be stronger when you get to your work set weight.

Does that make sense?

For an example, look at my log on my heavy bench days and assume my 1RM is ~400 raw.

Ahh that does make sense. I was going to say I do the heavier stuff to get used to the work set weight but less reps would be adequate for that.

I have gone down to 86kg now. My forearms are skinny and makes me look fatter than I am. I don't really care what I look like atm and can just wear looser clothes.

I am going to start eating +100kcal surplus now. Front Squat and Bench Press are getting better and hopefully I can build a core and back strong enough to start Pull Ups before October.

This is great.

Say hi to Stu for me.

Are you traveling to Canada or where are you supposed to meet?

I was supposed to travel to Norway for my 30th birthday celebrations in June actually but those plans never materialized partly due to my back not healing as quick as I had predicted. I still had the vacation days and a friend's wedding in Detroit (3.5hrs from Toronto) in October so when I decided I will use up my holidays for that, it was a no brainer to see if McGill would be around.

Turns out our schedules match up and he can see me just before Moose hunting season begins! My sister lives in Toronto so logistics wise it will be cheap and I think there is a chance this visit will still be 'as a friend' sort of deal. I am still in e-mail conversation with McGill. It's just so +EV for me even if I have to pay esp. since I have a singular symptom that is not resolving.

Plans were in motion to visit the great Cha59 as part of this trip, but not sure if that is possible this time around.

A beer in Cha and Yugo territory is definitely something I need to cross off the list before 2020 imo.

In. For the Cha/Yugo hangout, not hanging with Stu, .

10 July

(kg)

Front Squat
20 x 10
40 x 10
60 x 8 x 2
65 x 3
70 x 5 x 3
74 x 5

I am really able to keep my torso straight through the move. Very different from FSing a year ago.

OHP
20 x 10
30 x 8
35 x 8 x 3
39 x 5, 4, 1

Single Arm Cable Rows
40kg x 10 x 5

Single Arm Overhead Cable Pulls
45kg x 10 x 5

Bulgarian Split Squat
5kg x 15 x 3