Maybe if it were dead stop. I pressed 155x9/160x8 and I think 185x1 would be basically limited weight.

I would also like to echo the approval of your programming. This is approximately how i would handle 3x/wk full body training for somebody who cares about their physique and doesn't want to look like a rippetard fatty dyel.

+1 to all of this.

What's your reasoning for the physique statement? Just because less chest? I'd probably agree, just wondering.

Evo,

You're probably right, and I've never even tried maxing out press so who even knows. Regardless, hopefully I can get up to doing a 155 workset before I have to reset again. Throwing a plate and a half over my head eventually would be pretty cool, though.

I will say that I had your multiple past posts in mind about what your entry level program would look like when I threw this together, so I guess it's a good thing you like it. If I can stay in the 190-195 weight range and get my squat worksets in the 1.5x BW range and my DL (3 rep) worksets in the 2x BW range, that'll be a pretty big accomplishment given my past, shall we say, issues. Three days lifting as opposed to four is probably going to be easier for me in terms of recovery, in any case, and this still has plenty of upper body volume imo.

Yep, less chest. Less pump when you're finished with it=probably less good at building physique. Sorry, rippetoe.

I guess also it feels like a great deal more of energy is exerted stabilizing using lower body muscles than actually taxing upper body pretty beach muscles. On the other hand it's not uncommon for abs to be sore after this lift and with heavy weights and some layback it's definitely going to be a good chest workout. And also on the other hand, Klokov presses regularly but doesn't bench regularly and he has an ideal chest. And finally, there's nobody alive who can ohp a lot of weight who can't bench a lot as well, yet there are many who can bench a lot and can't do standing ohp with much weight.

I'm ambivalent on cosmetic effects of pressing vs benching, but pressing surely wins on coolness factor. Like HBBS or FS wins on coolness vs LBBS.

I've posted a lot about entry level programming for the brah looking to both linearly increase barbell compounds but also develop a good physique despite a lack of first hand experience, I'm glad to have somebody test out my hypothetical musings. The only thing I'm not sure about in retrospect is the high frequency pullups. You hear about gymnasts doing ungodly pullup/pushup/dip volume every day and think its a good idea, but these guys aren't also pressing, benching, snatching, or jerking regularly. You don't want to end up with permanent pec tendon like me or elbow problems like busto though. I mean you can still do it, just be careful and don't try to train past pain.

Way more impressive to me than fat guy with a wide grip moving the bar 6 inches laying down, even if it was raw.

Evo,

Sick video.

I've done fairly high rep vertical pulling 2-3 times a week for a non-trivial amount of time (on the order of months) before, and it never really bothered me all that much. These chin ladders feel relatively low impact, and I've never felt like I've had to push past anything yet (even when I had to get ART on my left shoulder/elbow, that affected me much more in pressing than pulling).

I also really like doing chinups, so hopefully I can keep it up for a while. It seems to have carried over into my horizontal pulling too, which is nice.

2-3 times a week is great. I was doing it 6-7 for a long period of time. This was a mistake.

Pullups def carry over to horizontal pulling and basically every lat movement really.

Right now I've got ~15 weighted reps on one day and ~450 unweighted reps per week, with the unweighted stuff spread out over 3 days. It's doable for sure, but 6-7 days a week (especially with your ridiculous volume) does sound pretty unreal.

3/3

Bench
10x45, 10x95, 5x135, 3x175, 2x205
2x5x225, 10x225

Squat
10x45, 5x95, 5x135, 3x175, 2x200
2x5x220, 10x220

Facepulls
4x15x35

Pendlays
3x9x135

EZ Curl
2x12x75

Cable Row (Narrow)
3x15x92.5

Skullcrushers
3x12x85

Barely got the 10th rep up in bench, and squats were tough but doable. I did my facepulls in between bench sets and curls in between squat sets, and then superset the pendlays and skullcrushers, and ended up finishing everything in about an hour.

Found out I'm going to be in Tokyo all next week, so I'm going to have to figure out a way to fit in some activity around my time there. Will probably try to get a normal workout in Monday and then do some light cardio and DB work at whatever kind of hotel gym is available and treat next week as a mini deload.

Big bench bro.


Meh squat bro.


Shiet rows bro.



Carry on.

I can do more on my rows, but I'm trying to rebuild my form slowly, so whatever. The squats are what they are, but if I can get up to 3x5x275 by the summer I'll be pretty happy. Bench is terrible but what are you going to do.

Good **** benching. No clue how many reps I can do at 225 cause I'm doing triples now. U prob can bench more than me or at least equal.

225x10 bench!!! Need to see you go for a 1RM in Tokyo. Likely they at least have a bench.

EV,

Maybe, I'll probably move to a TM type intensity/volume split for upper body stuff once I fail a few times, but beyond that I'm going to stick in this high-ish rep range for a while and try to keep mining these gains. I don't expect I'll be maxing out for another few months at least, but who knows. 315 at 190 BW would be pretty sweet, though.

fakebusto,

I'm not exactly optimistic that my hotel is going to allow for me to stay in the iron game when I'm over there, but we'll see. I'd imagine I can at least wrestle with octopi that periodically jump out of the vaginas and or buttholes of the hotel staff for some cardio, but I don't really know because I've never been over there. Maybe it'll be squid; I'm not an expert on their culture.

Monte,

It would be sick but sticking to high reps is never a bad idea for bench. I don't think I will ever max out again in my life. The lowest rep range I will do now is triples. I feel now I am quite anal about my form which is not likely to be a bad thing unless I hold myself back from moving up.

EV,

I never had the same issues maxing out as you did, but given that I'm not a young buck anymore, I think going for max weight singles any more often than once every few months is probably a mistake. I don't think I'd lose very much by sticking in the 3-5 rep range for intensity sets, and other than putting up 315 once more in my life, I don't really have any other powerlifting related goals, so whatever. Hopefully I'll hit 3 plates once and then move onto an eternal loco style bodybuilding split and try to attain dem Syndrom titties.

Well you should be at a 290x1 max rep. According to the calculator it's 300x1 but that's generally a load of chit. In any case pls don't be a puss after you hit 315, you aren't old yet. If you experience some type of problem or mild pains then yes tone it down. Just try not to emulate loco lol.

3/4

Chin Ladder (8 out of 11 reps in last set) = 63 in first ladder
LISS: 45 min at 4.2 = 3.13 miles
Chin Ladder (8 out of 10 reps in last set) = 53 in second ladder, 116 total (+2, PR)
6x30 pushups

Your chins are getting insane. Nice work

Yeah, chins are super legit. Until he let it slip that his dad had him training them since birth.

He just plays a good game of complaining about his shortcoming but, conveniently, he probably has like 500 chins in the tank and just is slow rolling us.

Weasel,

Thanks. Chinup ladders are legit and a nice mix of volume and rest imo. More people should do them.

Yugo,

Flattering, but no. I think I can get to 150 total chinups in the two ladders relatively soon, though, which would be cool.

Anytime I have tried to incorporate significant chin up or pull up volume, I would get bad pain in my right inner elbow. It still flares up from time to time and is the sole reason I don't do more pull ups/chin ups. Have you ever had any elbow issues doing that much volume?

POW,

Apart from a little bit of tightness in my left elbow every now and again, no issues. I just stretch it if it tightens up and make sure to stay loose in between sets.

Maybe you're too fat?

3/5

OHP
10x45, 7x75, 5x95, 3x115, 1x135
3x5x147.5

DL
10x135, 5x185, 5x225, 3x265
3x3x295
2x4x225 (double paused)

FS
10x45, 5x95, 3x125
3x5x145

Chins
3x5x+50

Feel like I've got a solid chance at 150 press worksets on Monday (assuming I can fit the workout in); DL was fine, I guess. 295 felt heavier than I would have liked, but everything was double overhand without straps (just liquid chalk) and my form looked good when I filmed it. Double pause reps flew up, but I think I had a little upper back rounding and was pulled a little forward, so I need to work some more on those.

Chins were heavy but fine; probably going to move up to +55 the next time I do these, which may not be for two weeks given next week's trip.