Not so much taboo as just too big a topic to litigate here. I’m good with the wire talk, tho!

****ed my log up on this one. Here are the reals. My quads are barking behind this ****.

plate loaded hack squat-double drop(2min)
90x10
180x6
270x6
305x6
305x8,4,3

Another day, another sheit bench variation workout for jelly dicks that is not working.

Weight-155.5
Booze- no
Sardines-no

A1 Pull/Hammies
TB Deadlift-double RP(2min)
140x10
230x6
280x6
280x7,4,3

Weighted PUs-double rest pause(2min)
+10x10
+20x6
+30x6,2 drop to bwx4

chest supported rear lateral set 6-8-10 drop (2min)
30x6
30x6
30x6,20x8,15x10

Standing hammer curl--run the rack (2min)
40x6
40x6
40x6--run the rack for ?x?

Just popped in to say hello

Had a **** day at work yesterday that bled into the late evening. I got dressed for the gym and the fam was ready to hop in the car and I had to abort and practice for a presentation instead. I'm glad I did, it went well and the kinks I worked out would have been ****ty to deal with today, but that's two days off in a row. Today was good in the gym. Added reps to my bench. The dumbbell rack was obliterated because packed. I talked to one of the workers there who I'm friendly with and he said the phenom of dumbbells ending up upstairs is sometimes because the personal trainers take them up to use them with clients and then someone up there asks them to use them when they are done and they don't know to put them back. That explanation sounds too reasonable and only serves to reduce my capacity to ***** about it. Do not like. They need to use some of this newb money they are stacking and get another rack of bells upstairs already.

B1 Push/Quads
Flat Dumbell Bench-double rest pause (2min)
WU
100sx6
100x6
100x9,drop to 75x5,4

Dumbbell lateral raise-work set 6-8-10 drop (2min)
40x6 (too heavy)
30x6 (too light went slow)
30x6,20x8,15x10--(not bad)

Body Master PS300 squat thingy-double rest pause
150x10
240x6
330x6
380x7,4,3


reverse grip tricep pull down-6-8-10 drop
on the dumb stack that doesn't correspond to anything, but I went hard

My 12 year old girl legs before I went to the gym today. They grew from the squat machine thing since then though.



PS Hi Rexx!

Down another pound tho likely dehydrated. I am missing both the gym and my monthly poker league tourney tomorrow because of the family dance at my daughter's school. It's a Hollywood theme and I don't really have any idea how to dress for that, but I'm for sure going to **** that dance floor up with Mrs T and the kids.


Weight-154
Booze- one beer tonight
Sardines-No

A2 Pull/Hammies
Lying Leg Curl-6-8-10 drop set (60-90s)
WU
120x8
125x6
125x6,105x8,75x10

Straight-Arm Pulldown mTor activation(60-90s)
WU
90x8
110x6
120x5,90x6 mTor

Chest-Supported high row Hammer Strength-double rest pause (2m)
85sx10
100x6
125x6
115x8,3,3

DB Hammer Curl last set on an incline mTor(60-90s)
WU
40x6
40x6
30x8 drop to 20 standing

For some reason I have a hankerin' for Cornish hen tonight.

That’s the best I can do. I’m an aged natty, bro.

It's the lack of sardines Johnny.

Incorrect...it is bad programming. However, better programming would not work because I am old. Really the only thing that would work is juice. Then I could just look at the bar and bad programming would be irrelevant ...which it also is now because I am too old...except I should feel bad for it I think?

****. Thank god for the #loveyourself movement. And board shorts.

Is the mtor broscience supreme or is there somethign behind it? In practice are you just doing drop sets?

For some reason I missed the pic before. I just thought Monte was insulting your program I don't really see what the issues are? You clearly have muscles in your legs. What part don't you like or would prefer to be different? Somebody might be able to make suggestions for you.

I mean it's basically 5-second negatives with prolonged stretch.

The concepts behind this are not all that new. Drop sets, rest pause and the extended negative and stretch (this last one is what he calls mTor activation sets) are just intensity techniques added to a single hard workset for each movement. In his second version, he includes myo-rep sets as well--going to failure then doing rest pause with micro sets of 3 reps until you can no longer get 3.

The main difference between this and my old training for me (besides the push-pull split) is I am doing less volume, not taking all/most sets to failure, and only doing the intensity techniques on the last set.

I think you would like the strength version better. (I think I might as well, TBH). It is a bit more complex and allows for some heavy work, but uses the same basic concepts of reducing volume overall while doing one real work set--either a heavy RPE 9 based off of a wave load of your 1rep max for the strength work, and then some accessory work with one work set that uses intensity techniques like above. His theory is this lower volume benefits natties due to reduced cortisol, which is not an issue for juicers, and higher frequency for each muscle group triggers protein synthesis which is also not an issue for juicers.

https://www.t-nation.com/workouts/th...atural-lifters

I'm going to run it next.

I mean quads are okay, but most push monkeys have okay quads.

But posterior chain is a combination of 12 year old school girl hams with 70 year old man glutes. That's the story of EV. You only really change that by learning to hip hinge.

Dude at this point I have to assume you are just trolling me to post a booty pic. I had ass when I DEL.

What loco said

I am good with my legs. They are adequate. If I could squat they’d be better, but they are good for what I use them for which is carrying my overdeveloped torso around. It’s a spill over from monte’s log and I was joking.

As far as my ass goes, Mrs. T would literally bust up laughing if I claimed my ass was underdeveloped. I’m practically a Kardashian.

Got back to the steam room yesterday and it was so nice and relaxing. It is kinda a pain in the ass to shower at the gym and all, but worth it I think. Will really try to fit it in when I can.

Hit Sat and Sun after missing Mon/Tues cuz of work and Friday because of the family dance at my daughter's school. Been drinking a little bit again now that I am off the mj. Was mildly weaker on top set pressing, but still got my bw up for three reps. Subsequent drop sets were okay.

I'm feeling more even now and it seems to be sticking. I really do need to get back on the sardine train as I stopped taking fish oil a long time ago.

Oh, I did tell Mrs. T that I have the glutes of a 70-year-old man and she did literally laugh out loud as predicted, even harder than expected. I got my ass grabbed more than usual throughout the weekend as well after that, so cheers, loco.

Weight-155
Booze- lil bit
Sardines-No

Sat
B3 Push/Quads
BB OHP-drops/rest pause(2m)
WU
115x8
135x6
155x3+f, 115x6,4 45 behind the headx20


Leg ext-6-8-10 dropset(60-90s)
WU
125x6
125x6
125x6,100x8,75x10

reverse grip cable press--6/8/10
WU
55x10
75x6
80x6, 60x8, 40x10

Dips with band-double drop(2min)
black bandx10
green bandx6
green+blackx6
green +blackx6,3,3

Sun

A3 Pull/Hammies
GHR-mTor(60)
WU with band assistx10 level 1
bwx10 level 2
bwx10 level 2
bwx8 mTor, drop to band assist on positive only

Supinated lat pulldown-6/8/10 drop set(60-90s)
WU
165x6
165x6
165x6, 125x8, 95x10

neutral grip seated row-drops (90-120s)
WU
220x6
220x6
220x6, 180x6, 150x6

low incline db curl-mtor(60)
25x6
30x6
25x5, drop 20x5
Standing 20x8

Steam room 10 minutes or so

Pouring rain in the valley. Flood warnings and all. A 125 lb mountain lion was spotted less than a mile from my suburban house on one of those ring cams. Thing was huge. They tranqed it and released it in the wild. The got damn popocolypse is coming or something.

Gym was pa-a-a-a-a-acked again. I had to switch up a lot, but whatever. I misclicked on the hack squat thing and went to 420 instead of 400lbs for my top set. I got 5 reps then had to bail on the 6th. I am not liking the front delt raises so much. I had stopped doing those years ago because I am kind of overdeveloped in the front delts comparatively from bad benching dynamics my whole life and I don't really need it--same with traps in general. It makes me look imbalanced. I decided to do this routine as prescribed tho so I'll stick with it for now.

The benches were all being hogged so I did front raises standing which is what reminded me I am not a fan. This one mother****er was doing his entire dip**** routine including all kinds of plate raises, halos and standing dumbbell work while keeping one of the few incline benches "reserved" with his **** on top of it for whenever that fit into his circuit-I did not see him use it for a single set. The weight area was so crowded there was almost not even standing room in front of the mirror. Man, I wish people had some ****ing shame sometimes. In many cases, I would just go aggressively ask to work in with him even though it would mean him moving his entire campground off the bench in between on general principle, but I couldn't be arsed to be the ****ing etiquette police yesterday. I'm tired of conflict at the moment.

Even with the switches it was still a good session. We hit the steam room again and it was heavenly.

Weight-156
Booze- couple o pops
Sardines-N

B3 Push/Quads
Incline hammer strength press-drop n pause
WU
70sx10
85sx6
100x5,90x4,70x6

rope tricep extension-6/8/10 drop (2min)
wu
90x6
90x6
90x6,55x8,40x10

Standing Dumbbell front raise-pause, drop(2min)
30x6
30x6
22.5x10,6,5, 15x8

Body Master PS300 squat-double drop(2min)
150x10
240x6
330x6
420x5+f, 330x5,240x7

So I finally caught up with my powerlifting friends at the gym on a synchronized deadlift day. She is a local level competitor who pulled over 300 in comp at a 115lb bodyweight last fall. He is just strong af, probably weighs in the 200lb range and benches 415 or so, just started squatting and dling a few months back and is already squatting 315 for reps and pulled 420. I figured I'd get in there with them and get some tips on getting my back right with her helps, specifically, because she has had some pretty high-level coaching and training. Did not expect to pull heavy at all, and was prepared to just be embarrassed that I couldn't do the lift right.

I started with 135 and really tried to keep my back flat af, which I am assuming I achieved. She told me, though, that I was doing more of an RDL move because I was not dropping my hips enough. I have been working hard to not drop my hips too much for the last year or so, so this surprised me. So I went ahead and dropped them more. And she said it was perfect. I was pretty happy tp hear that, because that would mean that my main issue was that my back was rounded was really because I was cueing my hips wrong. I continued to go up in weight, along with them and each set she said my back was perfect! I still didn't want to push it too hard, but I felt strong at 295 for 3 easy reps so I went for 315 for my top set for an easy double. Pretty ecstatic. She also hit her top attempt for this training cycle at 295 and he just missed lockout at 435 I think which was fun.

Later she texted me the video of my 315 double and...womp womp....my back looked worse than usual. I really wasn't being super careful with my set up because I kept getting good feedback from them both that it was perfect so I just went with the hip drop and tried not to overthink it, but sadly I think the feedback was off. Very disappointed. He does have some rounding, she pulls sumo but her form is ****ing perfect, but I still am surprised they said mine looked okay. I am sure I could have done better than I had been because I was just going for it instead of even worrying about chest up.

I went back an looked at some of my deadlifts from before I switched to trap bar and it was getting better. I just don't want to risk snap city for no good ****ing reason. My last trap bar dl sets looked pretty good really. I don't know why there is this siren song to the conventional dl. I'm literally having this same ****ing argument with myself for years now. So dumb.

Rest of the workout was okay, but I forgot my belt for weighted pull-ups and just went with bodyweight sets.

Weight-155.5
Booze- no
Sardines-no

A1 Pull/Hammies

PUs-double rest pause/drop to band assist(2min)
bwx12
bwx12x
bwx10,4 red bandx6

kneeling reverse cable fly 6-8-10 drop (2min)
35x8
35x6
35x6,25x8,15x10

Standing barbell curl-double rest pause/drop(2min)
70x6
70x6
70x8,2 50x6,4

Deadlift
135x8
225x5
275x3
295x3
315x2

I'm not sure I agree with the notion that deadlifting with a rounded lower back per se is highly injurious to the lower back. In fact, I'd opine that it's less injurious to the lower back than squatting with "good" form is. Yeah, I said it. If you want to deadlift then deadlift. It seems like you got a lot of enjoyment out of lifting heavy ass weight or from the validation you got.

Some people are stronger deadlifting with some rounding to start. I think this can be a permanent feature of your anthro or a temporary phase while mobility/strength is developed. From what I've read about spinal mechanics, the discs are likely more sensitive to axial loading than shear loading, which may explain why most people over age 30 have something wrong with their backs, and also provides some support for my hypothesis that squatting is worse for the spine than deadlifting.

I think if you train your lower body hard, you'll be at (some) risk for spinal snappage no matter what, so just do stuff you enjoy IMO. Most of all, I'd stop going into squat/dl training with a negative anticipation mentality that you'll be hurt if your form isn't perfect. It just doesn't matter that much. Injuries happen because of an accumulation of stress, not because you zigged once when you should have zagged, or because you deadlifted with slightly higher or lower hips than would be optimal.

I do like it a lot. The max effort deadlift where it’s just transferring everything in your body through the floor and not knowing if it will break, then it does, then you hold it at the top and feel like you’ve got another one in you is just unmatched by any other lift for me. Trap bar is not completely different but it is a little because it is easier. The validation isn’t the main point, but it’s not nothing, either.

I think it falls between my hand-wringing over imperfect form and where I am at my worst. You are probably right about everything in this post, including the rounding being less of an issue for injury than I/many make it out to be—at least upper rounding. I’ve never had a back injury and I’m scared of it, tbh.

Pretty sure I posted as much here already, but you can try my approach.

Step 1: ran LP with conventional deadlift, couldn't flatten back even with light weights, got from untrained to just weak over the course of 6 months or so

Step 2: switched to conventional block pulls, could flatten my back more, went from just weak to merely kinda weak over the next 6 months or so

Step 3: switched to sumo from floor, could flatten my back well, went from kinda weak to 2x bw for 8 reps

Step 4: 4 month lapse in training, came back running LP with conventional from floor, had somewhat better mobility

Step 5: ???

Step 6: could suddenly conventional pull max weights with no rounding, stiff leg dl with no rounding, snatch grip deadlift with no rounding, even deficit deadlift with probably no rounding

This is a good post.

People form nit way too much imo/ime.

Thanks for the reality check, fellas. Here is the set I am talking about so you can see it really was bad beyond nitting it up, though like I said I went too far against "over-thinking" and was not being mindful at all. Not super worried about it. My lower back got a little sore and that is rare for me after dls.


Yesterday was good. Rep PR on DB bench though I purposefully toned down my ramp-up sets this week instead of going heavy out the gate so I could go HAM on the top set. I went back to goblet squats and they felt good. No gains on lateral raises really--35 felt heavy. Steam room ftw.

B1 Push/Quads
Flat Dumbell Bench-double rest pause (2min)
WU
80sx6
100x6
100x11,2 drop to 80x4, 55x4

Dumbbell lateral raise- 6-8-10 drop (2min)
35x6
35x6
30x6,22.5x8,15x10

BGoblet Squat-double rest pause
75x10
100x6
100x9,4,3

prone dumbbell extension-mTor
30x8
30x6
30x6-mTor

DL is serviceable. IMO train it heavy like that and on another day train block pulls with a flatter back, using lighter weight if necessary.