It’s pretty adorable.

Solo. Took a bit longer yesterday, partly because I was dicking around tryna get my phone to record my trap bar deadlifts and did extra warm-ups and stuff.

Weight: unknown-scale on the fritz at the gym again and our Costco weight watchers bathroom scale got re-commandeered to the inlaws.
Booze: one tall G&T
Sardines:(y)

T&G Trap bar DLs from the high handles so more like a block pull or RDLs (2-3 m rest)
135X10
135x7
135x10
225X12
225x13

Goblet squats (2m rest)
20kgx15
36kgx12
40kgx10

Seated Row (2m)
205x8
205x8
205x6,170x4

Wide pullups (2m)
bwx10
bwx10
bwx8,2

Kneeling reverse cable fly (60s)
40x5,35x3
35x8
35x7

Lateral cable raise (60s)
35x9
30x12
30x10

Spoon Press (formally referred to as CG DB BP) (60s)
65x10
65x10

Spider curl-30 degree(60s)
25x10
25x10
20x10

Standing calf raise on the downstairs stack (60s)
115x15
115x12,3

Hanging toes 2 bar (60s)
X12
X11,1

Weight-157
Booze-zero
Sardines-1 can

Decided to make the last set a rest pause on more moves cuz impatient.

Incline DB BP (2m rest)
40sx20
50x10
100x4 (stronger than last time but a WIM final rep)
85x8
85x6,2

Dumbbell OHP (2m)
55sx5
40x10
40x10,4,4

Straight bar curl (2m)
60x10
60x10
60x5,3,2

Reverse tri pulldown (60s) Downstairs
85x15
85x7 switch to push down x5
85x5 switch x4

leg extension (60s)
60x20
60x14,3,3

Seated donkey calf raise (60s)
130x15
130x12
130x9

45-degree hyper (60s)
arms at chestx20
Prisoner stylex15
PSx12

Straight arm pulldown (60s)
60x16
60x12
60x10

Gravity ab machine (60s)
Full StackX10
FSx10

Day B. I managed to hit progressive overload on almost every move, though it was certainly tougher as the workout went on probably both as a function of tiring out and that I have been easing into the lower body moves again so I have a lot of room there. I am using the heaviest kettlebell on goblet squats at 40kg so I'll have to switch to dumbbells which will max out at 100lbs. Once that gets too light I think I am going to graduate myself to box squats with the BB.

It took 90 minutes also and I think I may switch the order up to antagonistic pairings which I kinda liked when I started. I realized I forgot to include pec deck on last day B in my log. Also thinking about flipping the trap bar next workout to use the lower grip and see how it looks on video. I'm pretty pleased with the higher grip medium weight form so far and I think all the RDL rehab work is paying off. I am not going to be impatient with the progression back to traditional DL at heavy weight. Gonna earn it. Something about this new program makes me feel better about being a newb with movements that I tried to rush previously.

Weight: 158.5
Booze: one tall G&T yesterday, none today
Sardines:yes and yes

T&G Trap bar DLs from the high handles so more like a block pull or RDLs (2-3 m rest)
65x15
155X11
155x8
245X7,1
225x13

Goblet squats (2m rest)
20kgx15
36kgx14
40kgx11

Seated Row (2m)
205x9
205x9
205x6,3

Wide pullups (2m)
bwx11
bwx11
bwx8,3

Spoon Press (formally referred to as CG DB BP) (60s)
70x10
70x10

Kneeling reverse cable fly (60s)
35x9
35x8
35x7,1

Lateral cable raise (60s)
35x9
35x8
35x7

Pec Deck
130x16
130x14
130x12

Hammer curl(60s)
30x14
30x10
30x5,4

Seated calf raise(60s)
115x15
115x15
115x14

Well, one thing is for sure, this plan is working better for my wife than my bro split was. She is looking better than ever and she already looked really good. A full day dedicated to horizontal pressing and squeeze was overkill for her, to say the least.

Today confirmed that I need to break up the heavy. whichever pull move I do second suffers and whichever press move I do second suffers. I am thinking of switching OHP and horizontal pull so they are both with antagonistic moves--pullups with OHP and seated row/Kroc row or whatever other row I work in with BP.

I also realized that I do not have to move on from goblet squats when I max out the dumbbells, I can switch to a rack grip with a pair.

Attempted progression on any exercises that I was able to do in the same location as last time. Pretty clear I have been a little punk on calves for the last couple of years as I have added 40% in weight in just a few weeks training them every day. Whodathunk?

Weight-155.5 (?)
Booze-zero
Sardines-1 can

OHP (2m)
45sx20
115x12
135x5
115x10

Incline DB BP (2m rest)
90x7
85x5 (booo)
70x9,3

Straight bar curl (2m)
70x10
70x8
70x5,3

Reverse tri pulldown (60s) Downstairs
85x12
85x7 switch to push down x4
70x9 switch x2

leg extension (60s)
70x20
70x16,2,2

Seated donkey calf raise (60s)
140x15
140x12
140x10

Straight arm pulldown on the freemotion(60s)
10x16
12x8
12x8

45-degree hyper (60s)
+25x15
+25x12
+25x10

Gravity ab machine (60s)
Full StackX11
FSx11

Pictures of your wife would have probably gotten you a mention in the Roast!

Probably. I draft behind my wife and kids constantly. They are the picture, I am the frame.

Day B. I swapped horizontal row with ohp. It really made a difference for my pull-ups but good lord this is a tough day when I stay relatively focused. My phone is a ****ing piece of **** at this point and this is the third workout I have spent way too much time ****ing around with it during deadlifts and when trying to pull up my numbers from the previous workout. The battery is going from 70 to 10 percent in 10 minutes when I am running the vid so I think I may print out a spreadsheet to track reps instead until I upgrade this phone.

I worked out with my buddy and he is pretty decent at watching my form, but not any good at real-time coaching yet meaning he waits till the set is over to tell me I lost retraction on a few reps. Still, with him saying it looked really good for the most part and the limited recording I got done between crashes, I feel like I am making real progress. I jumped weight this week by a mistake but it felt great.

Deadlifts are the most fun to me. You get all the thrill of full effort without the terror and paranoia of the decent from squats.

I am still struggling with this split. I feel like I am robbing the later moves in the workout since I am pretty tired about 70% of the way through. Still, I can't really imagine rotating deads and squats to the end when I am already fatigued.

Patience...I still have not even dialed it in.

Weight: 158
Booze: one beer and an overloaded margarita (likely 4 ounces of tequila). None Saturday or Sunday.
Sardines:yes, yes, no

T&G Trap bar DLs from the high handles so more like a block pull or RDLs (2-3 m rest)
95x15
185X10
185x10
275X9
275x9

Goblet squats (2m rest)
20kgx16
36kgx15
40kgx12

DB OHP (2m)
55sx7
55x7
55x6,3

Wide pullups (2m)
bwx12
bwx11
bwx9,1

Spoon Press (formally referred to as CG DB BP) (2m) I went for the 75lb DBs but they felt heavy af off the rack so I dropped too much to 60. all FUBAR with the weight selection.
65x14
75x6
65x10,3

Pec Deck
130x16
130x14
130x12

Hammer curl(60s) Weaker here after PUs
30x10
30x10

Seated donkey calf raise(60s)I got this weight okay but I think I'm losing mind-muscle connection and it is too heavy. Might drop the last set.
150x15
150x12
150x9

Good workout today with wifey. There is just no escaping the volume in these things though. Unless I do less volume, I suppose. So no escape. Definitely like the switch I made with OHP and seated row. I hope to get a chance at barbell OHP next workout to see how the strength drops off after legs but I am thinking it will be better than after BP. I hit progressive overload on most moves and stalled/lost a little on reverse flies, tricep pulldown lateral raises and straight arm pulldowns which may be a function of the new order.

I backed off the weight on calves and went for a higher rep count and got it. Felt better than last time.

Tried cable pull through for the first time because the hyper ext station was in use and really liked the stretch in the hammies. Will work it in for sure. Wifey dug it too.

Weight-157.5
Booze-Yesterday 3-4 ounces of scotch none today
Sardines-1 can each day


Incline DB BP (2m rest)
40sx20
60x8
95x7 (5 more lbs per side than last time)
85x8 (3 more reps than last time)
75x9,2 (5 more lbs and one more rep one in front of pause)

Straight bar curl (2m)
80x7 (weight pr--fewer reps than last time)
80x5 drop to 60x4
60x6,4

Reverse tri pulldown (60s) Downstairs
90x7 mech drop to push 3
80x9 mech drop to push 4
80x7mech drop to push 2

Straight arm pulldown on the freemotion(60s)
11x10
10x10
10x10

Kneeling reverse cable fly (60s)
35x10
35x8
35x7,1

Lateral cable raise (60s)
40x8
35x8
35x7,1

Seated donkey calf raise (60s)
140x16
140x13
140x11

leg extension (60s)
80x20
70x14,3,3

Cable Pull Through (60s)
70x15
90x15
110x15

Toes to bar(60s)
X14
x10

Day B. Patience? Nah, how about too big a jump to 315, instead. No injury or anything remotely close but I am going to drop back down in weight. It is frustrating to be able to move the weight easy enough, but then see the vid and be like, how the **** is my thoracic not flat when it felt flat, and less but still frustrating, why is Mrs. T telling me it is flat when it clearly is not?

Anyway, dropped to low weight and it improved for the last set. Back to sub 300 next time. The rest of the workout was mostly okay plus. I was tired AF but stronger than last time mostly. I hit more reps on most movements to start but fizzled a little on the last set for some.

No booze but I had a carrot cake cupcake for the little dude's birthday. Yeah, he asked for carrot cake. And he eats sardines, and all veggies, and was so excited that he is old enough to go on the big kids' side of the gym daycare he asked to go first thing in the morning.

Weight: 157
Booze: No
Sardines:no, yes

T&G Trap bar DLs from the high handles so more like a block pull or RDLs (2-3 m rest)
65x15
115X12
205x10
315X5
225x10

Goblet squats (2m rest)
20kgx17
36kgx16
40kgx13

DB OHP (2m)
55sx8
55x8
55x6,2

Wide pullups (2m)
bwx13
bwx12
bwx5,3,2

Spoon Press (2m) cluster**** with weight selection again. I started on a 45-degree incline, then dropped to 30, then flat.
75x4 (****ty)
65x8
65x10,5

Hammer curl(60s)
35x10
35x7,3

Pec Deck
145x15
145x13
145x12

Seatedcalf raise(60s) Both sides threatened to cramp on both sets
125x10
90x10
[/QUOTE]

Happy birthday to little dude I have disturbing images of Johnny preparing sardine treats for little dudes party Unless little dude is actually a carrot cake loving cat, that's going to warrant an infraction!

Lol. Fair question. I guess I am weird enough to own a cat that I get birthday cupcakes for and take to the daycare in the gym when I go lift.

I forgot to log seated row on this workout last time, and because I went off that today I almost breezed past doing it this time, so I did it after biceps. Did not seem to hurt it too bad.

Man, I am wondering if there is going to be some kind of breakthrough on this plan. I am getting stronger each workout so far and using more weight and reps than ever in many movements, but it's not really seeming to make the hypertrophy/body comp gainz I would expect. Looking at my deadlift vids I seemed bigger in the upper body a few months ago compared to now, even when I weighed in a few lbs lighter. I am starting to question if the workout is too long at a jam-packed 90 minutes and maybe I'm hurting myself with cortisol release or something. I also am not getting all that cut which I would expect from the increased output each workout. Maybe age is catching up finally. I have never been tested for T, but I kinda assume that I was in the higher natural range based on my relatively high response to stimulus. Guess that **** can't last forever.

Anyway, on the plus side I matched my PR for incline dumbbell press again for the first time since that joke of a cut I did before my trip. I am expecting to beat it next time.

Also a minor struggle with the cable stacks all being way off each other so depending on the station it can be hard to monitor for progression.

Weight-158.5
Booze-Yesterday one ****ing delicious poolside IPA, got to find out what it was.
Sardines-1 can yesterday, none today


Incline DB BP (2m rest)
35sx15
35x15
100x5 (+5 lbs, less reps)
85x9 (+1 rep)
75x10,3 (+1, before pause, +1 after)

Straight bar curl (2m)
80x8 (+1)
60x11
60x6,4

Seated Row, downstairs(2min)
210x8
210x8
210x7,3

tricep pushdown rope, upstairs(60sec)
65x9
65x7
50x8,2

Straight arm pulldown, rope on the same rack(60s)
65x9
60x10
60x8,2

Kneeling reverse cable fly (60s)
35x11
35x8 (no progress)
35x7,1 (no progress)

Lateral cable raise (60s)
40x7 (-1 rep)
35x8 (no progress)
35x7,1 (no progress)

leg extension (60s)
90x20 (+10lbs)
80x14,3,3 (+10lbs)

Seated donkey calf raise (60s)
140x17 (+1)
140x13 (+1)
140x11 (+1)

Cable Pull Through (60s)
100x15 (+20lbs)
110x15 (+20lbs)
110x15 (+20lbs)

Toes to bar(60s)
X15 (+1 rep)
x9,1 (had to pause rest to get the same)

Thank goodness I'm banned from M's log because 100% I'd give you crap in there. Now I'm feeling restricted in my Johnny crap giving availability

Lol! Give me crap here. Though I can imagine a world where I also ban you and you have to watch mly and I converse in BOTH of our logs without comment!

Also, sardines are a good source of protein. =P

Looks we really are on an on topic course here.

No way you ban me! I refuse to allow it. Omg the cheek If this bizarre world where you ban me ever comes into existence, I still have my log or the poor posting thread. So nah!

I think training purely for body comp can be really frustrating and demotivating for natties because of how slow this all is. Even if everything is dialed in perfect, you're just not gonna notice results in short time spans.

That at least goes for muscle hypertrophy. Leanness we have a bit more control over. If you want to get lean you're probably going to need to log your calories and macros a bit more extensively than binary values for beer and sardines.

Yeah, I know this is all true. I just like to lament. The sardine tracking is a semi-troll for Rexx, and the booze is more just to keep me honest about how much I am drinking and put it top of mind a little.

I think what is really happening here is my old program was just unbalanced and balancing it out means both positive and negative comparative results. I was hitting upper body so much harder, and even though it was a body part split still getting more than once per week frequency there with the overlap. The new, higher frequency is less overall volume and maybe nearly equal frequency for some groups. Meanwhile, others are getting more--especially legs. My calves are responding, my hamstrings and glutes as well, and my quads are probably about the same. The rest of the eyeball/frustration is mostly a function of how much water I am retaining day to day I think, but I do think my triceps, lower traps and biceps are smaller, lats might be bigger.

I'm going to stick with it for another month or so and then if I don't like it try a push/pull/legs or something else.

Day B. Loooong one. It was mostly a case of the gym being zooish, but holy moly the 2 minute rest periods stack up. I might have to either reduce them on some of the compound moves or superset the accessory moves. I don't know. From start of warm-up to picking the kids up out of the daycare area was 110 minutes. There was some wandering around to find a station for sure. Seems like all the pec deck machines installed massage options or something because they were covered in millennials looking at their phones. I ended up bumping it several times and then when I did find a machine it was not a good one for little me and littler wife, so we skipped it. Who wants boobs anyway, tho.

I recorded the trap bar DLs. Like others around here, my first rep is the worst for rounding. Still is better than last week by far tho. Dropped 10 lbs off the working sets.

Switched to dumbbells for goblet squats because the kbs were scattered. No significant difference, really, except I have to do them in the weight area. I'll probably stick with it.

Added reps to TBDLs, dumbell OHP, first sets of PUs, calf raises and added weight to goblet squats and hammer curls.

Weight: 158
Booze: No, no
Sardines:yep, yep

T&G Trap bar DLs from the high handles (2-3 m rest)
65x15
115X12
205x11
305X7

305x5


Goblet squats (2m rest)
50lbx20
80lbx15
90lbx10

DB OHP (2m)
55sx9
55x9
55x7,2 +f

Wide pullups (2m)
bwx15
bwx10,3
bwx5,3,2

Spoon Press (2m) 2 set @30 degree, then 1@ flat.
70x10
70x8
70x10

Hammer curl(60s)
40x10
40x6 drop to 25x4
27.5x8

Pec Deck
Did not do

Seated Donkey calf (60s)
140x17
140x14
140x10

Meh. Decided to go to the gym rather than take the rest day cuz I felt like it. I'll take two rest days in a row now tho.

Weight-157
Booze-No
Sardines-No


Incline DB BP (2m rest)
35sx20
35x15
100x5
85x9
75x11,2

Seated Row, upstairs(2min)
220x8
220x8
205x8

Straight arm pulldown on the freemotion (60s)
11x12
11x10
11x8

freemotion reverse cable fly (60s)
8x4, 7x3
7x6
6x6,3

Lateral cable raise (60s)
40x8
35x8
35x7,1

Straight bar curl (2m)
80x7
60x10
60x6,4


reverse pushdown to mech drop, downstairs(60sec)
90x7 mech drop to push 3
80x7 mech drop to push 4
70x8mech drop to push 4

leg extension (60s)
100x15,5
100x10,4,3,3

Seated calf raise (60s)
140x12
140x10
115x10,4

Cable Pull Through (60s)
110x12
120x10
120x10

Toes to bar(60s)
Did not do

I had a bad start yesterday. I drank some coffee late on Friday (5pm) so I could stay alert for my poker game, and it kept me up until well past 3 am. So ridic. So old. The lack of sleep ****ed me up worse than I thought it would. I was debating putting off the workout yesterday, back and forth and finally just went for it. I had been determined to progress to a better ROM, so I went for the low handles on trap bar DLs with the intention of working up to a new, lower work weight, but I could not get my back flat on even 65lbs. So ****ing frustrating and demoralizing to realize that the progress I have been making is only a function of the high handles on the trap bar with a shortened pull. After several long, drawn-out attempts to fix it with low weight, I finally decided to give up for this week and flip it to the high handles to get the work done and move on to the rest of the long workout ahead of me.

Now at this point, I tried a semi warm-up set of only 185 and it felt heavy af, so I turned it into a work set for 10 reps and got in a spiral of considering calling it a day and coming back fresh another time. Mrs. Truant was also feeling tired and weak, but....somehow....we decided to push through and reduce to 2 hard sets on everything instead of 3. I, of course, got my mojo back on the upper body stuff and then kinda wished I went all out, but now I am considering trying two hard sets instead of three anyway. one heavy set, and one moderate/heavy with a few extensions. I need to feel like I am doing adequate work, but this is taking too long, in general, to get through.

Also, lowest weigh-in for a while.

Weight: 156
Booze: Large 9.5% beer, no
Sardines:no, yep

T&G Trap bar DLs from the low and handles (2-3 m rest)
Not worth recording, just lightweight form practice though I did sweat a bit.

Goblet squats (2m rest)
60lbx20
100lbx10

DB OHP (2m)
60sx7
60x7

Wide pullups (2m)
bwx16
bwx11

Spoon Press (2m) 2 set @30 degree/flat.
75x5@30degree flatx5
75x7,4

Hammer curl(60s)
45sx10
45x6,3 drop to 25x6

Pec Deck
145x13
145x11

Seated Donkey calf (60s)
140x18
140x15
140x12

Gravity ab machine
full stackx15
fsx12

Grunching but your ROM on deadlifts with high handles looks fine to me. Standard bar height just doesn't make sense for some people.

Trying to do stuff on really low sleep days is the nut low.

Johnny did you just straight up start eating sardines alone or did you sort of transition? I'm contemplating eating some by themselves today but idk if it sounds all that enticing to be truthful. Maybe hot sauce will do the trick.