I used to do either a nightly ab wheel or rkc planks with shoulder pre-habs after the last time you mentioned this, but I got away from it; I was going to add it back in when I get back from vacation.

But beyond that, still a few pounds to lose.

I've begun to suspect direct ab work is a bit FPS. My abs are more sore from deadlifts and weighted chins than I've ever felt from direct ab work. Not saying to throw out the DAW, but I feel you will see better definition as the weight on the bar increases.

Yeah I think this as well. I do no ab work aside from really focusing on trying to keep a tight core throughout my lifts.

Just another way I'm genetically disadvantaged, I guess. Speaking of which, I just got back the test results from the biopsy and I'm cancer free (although the polyp was precancerous). So I'm scheduled for a 3 year follow-up, and I'm guessing I will never get below that frequency for the rest of my life, barring some kind of butthole cancer ablation therapy or something of that sort.

Bench
10x45, 10x95, 5x135, 3x175, 2x205, 2x225
3x5x240
10x185

Facepulls
8x15x55

DB Row
3x10x100

DB Shoulder Press
2x10x50

DB Hammer Curl
3x12x35

Cable Lateral Raise
3x12x12.5

Cable Row
3x15x105

Bench was hard, but got through it. Added weight on facepulls and cable rows, may up the reps on the DB rows next time since I can't up the weight. No lower back tenderness at all from yesterday, which is promising; definitely feeling it in my glutes and hams which is

grats on no butt aids!

And nice work feelin sore in your hammies/butt. I loved that the most after DL days. It's nice knowing you're doin' it right.

Monte getting strong! Congrats on the clean butt!

I think you DL more than me right now.

Keep it up, bro!

K so what about when the weight on the bar stops increasing?

Relying purely on strength gains to drive physique improvements is probably the most consistent knock on all low rep programs like SS/SL/TM/etc. Put another way, why would you willingly tie your abdominal definition to your squat/DL progress, which will probably never increase by more than 10% in a given year for the rest of your training life?

DFII,

My sense is that once you get to the point where you're only increasing a lift by 10% a year, you are more than strong enough to have well-developed abs. The problem instead is whether you're lean enough for the muscle to show through.

Probably b/c FakeB and BtM are already happy with their abs...ain't nobody got time for direct ab work when they've already got 6packs poppin' all over the place.

Thanks guys.

Since I'm not really at that point yet (obviously), I'll probably add in some ab wheel and planks nightly, except for the night before my lower body stuff and get back to the shoulder prehab stuff.

I'm not going to pretend to know what the answer to this debate is, but it can't really hurt to do it, and it's not like I couldn't use more core strength, so whatever.

Of course. And it's not like I'm going to stop doing direct ab work! Cmon son.

If nothing else, I think direct ab work is a great assistance exercise to develop your core.

HUGE Cancer Free





RE: Direct Ab Work
Strictly my opinion, if you lift heavy (squat, DL etc) no need. My abs are ripped and super strong. Wife: "wtf, is that your rib?" No, that is my abs of steel. Also, core strength is very strong. All from DL's and squats. Weightlifting coaches and athletes where I train, same story. Instead of doing direct ab work, do another set of squats or DLs. imo.

On the other hand,

BPA,

Thanks! Re: supplementary ab work, I'd just be doing ab wheels and planks at home, so it wouldn't cut into my gym time at all, so I don't really see the harm.

7/2
Cardio: 60 mins at 5.0 = 5.0 miles

The extra 15 minutes wasn't that big of a deal, so I'll probably just do this from now on. Feeling a little sore right above the outside of my glutes (so not really lower back I don't think) -- not sure what it is but I neglected rolling the last few days, so I should get back to it. I've got my last DL workout tomorrow, then I go on vacation for a week and a half, so that'll be good.

Two bonus workout buddy stories:

--He's moved over towards a more cardiocentric routine now, and does like 45 minutes of cardio first each workout then just does one compound lift at the end, which of course is almost always bench or press. I finally convince him maybe to enter the squat rack for once, and he does 3x5x135 while I'm finishing up my stuff. After one of his warm-up sets, he comments how he really wish he brought his (i.e. my old XL) belt with him and I offer him my (M) belt. He struggles to get the prong in the first notch and is like "did you get a smaller belt or something?" Many internal lels were had.

--Since I did cardio today, I was on the machine next to him, and he took a number of breaks because his "blood sugar was low". I mean, jesus ****ing christ.

Please confirm this DNEL does not have children.

Good work on your part Monte.

Agreed and you cant argue w/KK either

fakebusto,

He has joint custody of a 13 year old daughter and a 12 year old son. His daughter seems fairly typical, but the boy is on like 4 different ADD medications and generally does not seem to have taken the divorce all that well, though he and his ex are on generally good terms.

One thing that the situation taught me is how ****ed up the public school system in this country is; apparently for some of these ADD medications you're supposed to be dosed in the afternoon as well, and that medication has to be kept with the school nurse. If you forget to refill the medication, the school will literally call you and tell you to come pick up your kid because he's not doped up. The message that this sends to the kid (you have an excuse to act like an ******* because you didn't get your make behave pill today) is complete and utter bull****; I understand that some kids (and believe me, this kid is one of them) have real issues controlling themselves without some sort of medication, but to ensnare them in this policy that essentially validates to them that they have no real agency or responsibility for their own behavior seems patently ridiculous to me.

7/3

DL
10x135, 5x185, 3x225, 3x275, 2x305, 1x325
2x3x345 (PR)
3x5x225

Front Squat
10x45, 5x95, 5x115, 3x135
5x3x155

DL still kind of AIDS; I'm not really sure what I can do at this point but drop down and work on form. My left glute was tight today, so that may have influenced things, but realistically this was just terrible and approaching jdockian. I was thinking about doing M-O when I came back, but it might be time for some slow controlled reps at lower weight to rebuild things a la Snitch. Lame.

Not bad. 1st rep is good. Look at the bar path though on the 2nd and third rep. When you get tired the bar goes behind the mid foot and your knees lock pretty early which makes the part of the lift right above the knees more difficult then it should be. You can kind of see the bar slow down on the 2nd and third rep right at your knees.

^^^Agree with that. It looks like your form is actually getting much better. Judging by that set, you should stop tng and do sng every rep. The slight bounce in your tng helps you break the weight back off the floor, but it disrupts your setup. If you don't have the strength to sng each rep, drop the weight. I had a similar problem. Didn't take long at all to get my sng to previous tng levels and beyond.

As far as mag-ort, I think you could still see immense benefit from the high volume of mag-ort, so long as you lift at a lower percentage.

Here is some still shots from you and two great deadlifters at about the same position above the knee. Look how far you hips are back compared to yours and look at the angle of your foot and shin compared to theirs. See how much further your hips have to extend though the bar is about at the same relative place compared to lock out

Weasel,

I thought for sure one of those pics would be your avatar

Glad to hear it's not as bad as I thought. First set was much worse, but instructive, and I burned the video already to avoid it ever being uploaded.

I'll ditch the touch n' go when I get back and run M-O with a pretty low max and see how that goes.

LOL. I do the exact same thing as monte so I would only use my DL to show how not to do it.

So would running something like reverse juggernaut for my upper body stuff be reasonable while I'm doing M-O? I think I'll just stick with my once/week 3x5 squatting and try to keep ekeing out some LP style gains for a while longer; I think I have a bit more in me yet.

Pro tip would be for you to start videoing your deadlift from the front. Then we can just congratulate you on the PRs and move on