Chest day.

Incline db bench

35x17
35x12
100x5
80x9
80x7
65x7x4

Flat db bench

100x6
85x8
85x6x3

Decline hammerstrength

Each side
80x10
105x8
105x7
80x8

Pec deck

85x10
100x10
115x9
100x10

Yesterday joined the Lapka/Rexx international yoga across the globe event! 20 minutes of beginner yoga. Very cool.

Later I hit legs at the gym. My wife started doing squats this week. She is fun to coach and improves her form faster than anyone I have met.

Dynamic warmup.

Squats
Empty bar x20, x20
95x20
155x15
155x12
155x20

Leg press-full stack
X10, x8, x10

45degree extension
BwX10, plus 25lb platex10

Walking lunges
Holding 2x35lb platesx18 steps, drop one platex8 steps, body weightx12
2platesx 12, 1 platex8, bwx16

Straight leg seated calf
100x50 (cluster)

Leg extensions
50x20
40 alternating x20

I’m going to be pretty disappointed if I don’t get some old fashion leg DOMS from this one. I feel it coming on but last week was surprisingly easy to get over so I went much harder this week. I plan to add 20lbs to squats again next week if my hip doesn’t complain this week, and really try to get that final set to 20 reps for as long as I can, but I will likely top out soon.

It's great your wife is into working out, plus her improving so quickly must be motivating to the both of you.

It’s fun. I met her on a job, and she shadowed me and was better than me day one. Then she worked with me when I was doing cabinet refacing and installation and was the best assistant I ever had. We work really well together and she takes instruction and coaching so much better than most people and certainly better than me. From games, including poker, to lifting weights to you name it, she always surpasses me quickly. I don’t exactly get surprised by it anymore but It never stops impressing me.

Of course I give my coaching at least 80% of the credit ldo.

Of course. It's like when my bf suggests an ingredient swap or addition to a recipe I create and cook, it's a definite that 80% of the credit should go to him. It's only fair.

Right. Your boyfriend sounds like a great cook!

How long have you been doing yoga, btw?

My DOMS from leg day never materialized like I expected. I am going to hold the line and resist jumping up in weight and going lower reps on squats too soon, but it is hard to be patient.

Yoga yesterday on my day off from the weights. Back and biceps today. Workout was a 7.5 out of 10 due to several pivots from my preferred equipment and order. This pre-summer crowd is ridic this year. I’m fine with anyone wanting to workout in the gym, but the people who camp the **** out and hoard popular equipment during the rush can get ****ed.

Seated row
85x20
85x15
250x5 (maybe 4.5 by rom)
220x6
220x5-180x6
220x4-190x4-170x5

Wide grip Pull-ups
10
10
10
6 -8 band assisted

Straight arm pull downs
55x10
50x10
50x9
40x9

Hammerstrength rows high
90 each side x8
90x8

Hammerstrength rows low
70x10
70x10

Straight standing bicep curls with fat grips and band. Double drop—standing on band attached to bar amrap then step off the band amrap then rep out just the band with the bar on the floor.
60lbsx10-3-no count
60x5-4-no count
60x4-3-no count

Decline dumbbell hammer curl with fat grips
17.5x14
17.5x11
17.5x7
17.5x7x5x5
15x7

Then 20 minutes in the steam room.

We also ran into one of the dads from the mothers group my wife is in. He has a degree in exercise physiology or something, and was a college track and field coach. Anyway he is going to meet me tomorrow to do deadlifts and will form check me and give me some coaching which is awesome.

On and off for years. I'm not hugely advanced though as I do it at home and am a wuss and don't want to risk injury. I should probably take classes just so I feel confident to try some of the harder stuff.

Good stuff running into that guy who can check on your form.

Did deadlifts and my friend was a huge help. One simple issue and an easy cue improved my posture immensely. I was not dropping my hips enough. Leaning back took care of it. Now I just need to practice it and get the movement ingrained.

If I add a second leg day into the mix I will be going 5 days a week, which is fine for now but may be difficult to maintain consistently. I'll play it by ear but I'm long overdue for an entire program overhaul in reality.

Yoga: 20 minutes

45-degree hyperextensions
bwx10

single leg hip thrusts
bwx10 on each side

Deadlifts:
65x12
135x12
135x12
135x12
135x12

single leg box squats (each side)
x12
x10
x10

Well, I guess I am still as stupid as ever. After all the time away from squatting and the commitment to ease back into it, I done ****ed up my hip flexor again. Not sure how bad but I feel like an idiot and there is no denying I was being one.

On the day I was getting coached on deadlifts, my friend was showing me some pretty aggressive deep stretches. One of them was sitting in a deep squat holding a kettlebell as a counterbalance and it was for sure forcing my ROM, I knew it, but I was too...shy? proud? probably shy.....to refuse to push it hard and say I had reached my limit. I don't know how bad it is but I certainly at least set myself back a bit here because at minimum I am not putting a load on it for a while.

So frustrated with myself.

Annoying. But if you have torn something, don't you want to put a (light) load on it as soon as it starts healing?

I am not too informed on the best thing to do. What have you heard about that?

At this point, it feels more like I have only aggravated it. The last time when I really ****ed myself up this is how it felt, I laid off it for a little bit, then it got a bit better, then I pushed it hard and it took forever to heal.

Bummer Johnny. I wish I knew what the correct advice was. Definitely not go hard I'd say. Hopefully Monte or someone pops in.

Thanks, Rexx. My hip flexor is already starting to pipe down, which is great. I am going to push leg day off to later in the week instead of tomorrow. If it doesn't clear up I'll ask in the lc or something.

Yoga 20 minutes. Wife and both kids joined which was awesome.

Chest day

Incline dumbbell bench press 60-90 seconds between sets (20 seconds pause stop)

30x20
30x12
100x5
80x10
80x5
65x7x3

flat dumbbell 60-second rest (20 seconds for stop-pause)

90x10
90x5
70x10x6

Hammer strength decline 60s rest

each side 90x8
90x8
90x8 drop 45x12

my gym nemesis (one of them) was camped out on the cable cross doing his full body circuit **** so I had to use the pec deck again. I tried two different machines.

various weights. 6 sets 10-14 slow reps.

20 minutes in the steam room.

You have more than one gym nemesis lol? Impressive!

Yes, Monte posted a useful link in N1H's thread, IIRC. Googling turned up this, which may or may not be relevant to Hero:

https://www.artofmanliness.com/2016/...strains-tears/

Thanks! Super interesting. I am pretty sure I don't have a muscle tear--it is right in the crease between my thigh and pelvis on the inside of my hip.

The good news is I think I overestimated the extent of the issue this time because I am so nervous from the last time I hurt it. It felt way better today again...so good I warmed up to do legs today before I talked myself out of testing it and going back to plan A of pushing legs until later in the week. I'd like to be proud of myself for it, but really I am ashamed of how difficult it seems to be for me to stop being a meathead.

Did not join yoga today because I didn't work from home today. Will be on tomorrow, though.

Back and biceps

On seated row I did the first two sets with this modified drop style where you hold more than your max weight in an eccentric isometric for 20 seconds before dropping weight. I have done it for a few weeks, and I like it a lot and got stronger without question.

Here is a demo



Seated row
100x20
100x12
250 hold 20s 190x7
270 hold 20s 170x9
220x7
220x6 drop 180x4
220x4 drop 180x4 drop 140x6

wide grip pull ups
x9
x9
x6x3
x6 drop to band assist x8

Straight arm lat pulldowns
60x9
65x8
50x8
50x8

Low hammer strength row
70 each sidex11
70x10
70x10

Straight barbell curls with fat grips and power band. I do the first reps standing on the band attached to the bar to get more tension at the top of the movement where there is a mechanical advantage, then step off the band as a drop, then put the bar on the floor and rep out just holding the band.

50x8x4xamrap
50x6x3xamrap
40x6x4xamrap
40x5x3xamrap

Incline/spider curl supersets alternating starting position. w/fatgrips
17.5x9x4
17.5x8x4
17.5x6x4

standing hammer curls
17.5x10
20x9
20x9
20x8

I have a rotation of three or four. =)

You have to give me a bit of brief history on them and how they came to be on the rotation!

Well, it's probably not all that exciting for most of them. The one I just mentioned, for example, is just selfish with equipment. He likes to do circuit style training moving between exercises and he works out in the busiest part of the day. He will take three or four of the most popular weights of dumbells and one of the limited adjustable benches and put it in one of the limited power racks and monopolize all of it for his entire workout, plenty of which is him doing bodyweight movements while it all sits dormant.

Yesterday he was in the freemotion cable crossover machine which is incredibly popular doing all kinds of single arm **** and even cable crunches when there are probably a dozen other places he could have done that but very few places you can do crossover movements. He also is very stand-offish when anyone asks him how many more sets he has and never offers to let people work in. If I ever see him in the gym I can bet I will likely be completely modifying something in my workout because he is camping and hoarding. For perspective, I go to a pretty large gym with more than 300 people in the busy after-work time, but this guy stands out.

Oh I clearly have an over active imagination. I had images of ninjas and roided up bodybuilders doing the gym equivalent of glove slaps.

Ha. Well, maybe one day I will tell you about how I became the nemesis of some of the personal trainers at my gym and the climax of that. It's a bit more interesting but not particularly flattering on my part. BTW real bodybuilders don't wear gloves, Rexx. smh.

I started the 30 days of yoga today. It is starting to take.

Did day two of 30 days of yoga, which was more a bit more challenging than the others so far, and I liked it. I feel like my posture is improving. I also feel zero pain in my hip crease today, but still refrained from working lower body.

On the yoga topic, the honeymoon of having the kids join me and the wife is over already. They get bored too quickly, and between them and the dog, there is a three-minute cadence of interrupting us. We will probably have to set them up with snacks and a tv show while we do it in the office instead if we want to get into it.

Shoulders and triceps. I was curious about my overhead press max so I went a little heavier today on my second working set and hit a PR for two reps.

OHP
45x20
45x12
95x8
145x2
105x8
105x8
95x8 drop 45 amrap

Close grip dumbbell incline bench
60x12
60x10
switch to flat
60x13
60x10x4

Dumbbell skull crusher
25x6
25x6
switch to incline
20x6
20x6x4

Reverse cable fly
4 sets various weights

cable lateral raises, two sets in front and two behind the back
various weights

Dips
12
12
13

tricep pulldown supinated grip standing back, then step forward to palm down pushdown

50x8x4
50x8x4
40x8x4
40x7x3x3

Standing dumbbell tricep extension
35x16
45x12
45x10
45x10

Prison push-ups with a 16lb medicine ball to front raise
pyramid from 1 to 10 reps

I weighed in at 161 today which is the most I have weighed in a long time. This bulking thing is nerve-wracking.

Yoga for about 30 minutes.

Leg day. My hip feels completely better, and I think the yoga is helping. While warming up with some trx supported body weight squats I was dropping deeper without really trying to and no strain in the hip crease. That made me feel confident to get under the bar and I was fine.

HBS
45x20
45x20
95x14
115x12
135x10
155x8
175x5
155x110x2

Plate loaded Leg press
140x11
230x11
300x10
300x10 drop 70x18

Seated donkey calf raise
100x6xamrap

leg extension
40x15 each leg
40x20 both legs

prone Hamstring curl
60x12
40x12
20x10 each leg

Good job Johnny. I'm really pleased the yoga is being beneficial for you.