Arm day is always just fun.

But that said, I felt a little flat today. Not bad, just not as much go in my tank. On paper there’s progress, but it actually feels a bit more static compared to last week. Ah well, minor progress is still progress.

And I will keep on with this a bit longer. That thing will be happening that will allow me to just take a full week off completely, so I’m going to do that and will slog along another couple weeks in the meantime. If I do have to auto-regulate a bit to get there, I will.

• BB Curls (elbows in, wider grip)
  • 55 x 8
  • 65 x 7
  • 75 x 6
  • 85 x 5
  • 95 x 4
  • 105 x 3
  • 90 x 10 (AMRAP)
  • 90 x 5 (50%)
• Close-Grip Bench
  • bar x 10
  • 115 x 8
  • 135 x 7
  • 155 x 6
  • 195 x 5
  • 215 x 4
  • 235 x 3
  • 205 x 12 (AMRAP)
  • 205 x 6 (50%)
• Incline Hammer Curls (3 second eccentric, go to failure, then stand and do AMRAP alternating supinated curls)
  • 30e x 12
  • 30e x 9
  • 30e x 7
• Standing French Press
  • 85 x 15
  • 85 x 15
  • 85 x 15
• Cable Curl (hold/sqeeze at top)
  • 50 x 40
  • 50 x 26
  • 50 x 18
  • 40 x 5 (drop)
  • 30 x 7 (drop)
• Rope Pressdowns (First 20, twist out hands at bottom; remainder straight hands pushed to failure)
  • 65 x 40
  • 65 x 30
  • 65 x 24
  • 55 x 6 (drop)
  • 45 x 6 (drop)

I still feel like there’s more I could do. Question is: should I do that added work?

It’s not much. I mean, the rows are good and I think right, both the barbell and cable — especially pushing AMRAP on the last cable set. Then the pulldowns are fine too, including the drop set at the end. But look: it’s a LOT of lat work. Granted, rowing helps overall, but I guess I’m feeling a bit more on shrugs, a little more trap work. What I MIGHT do is after the last set, strip down and then do something like a set of Meadows Shrugs — just something to get a little more pump.

Anyways, all in all, it’s good. Just a proper day.

• Face Pulls
  • 65 x 25
  • 65 x 25
• Barbell Rows
  • 135 x 8
  • 155 x 7
  • 175 x 6
  • 195 x 5
  • 205 x 4
  • 215 x 3
  • 185 x 10 (AMRAP)
  • 185 x 5 (50%)
• BB Shrugs
  • 315 x 8
  • 315 x 8
  • 235 x 20
  • 235 x 16
• Cable Row (low, wide neutral grip)
  • 140 x 12
  • 140 x 12
  • 140 x 11
• Curl-Grip Pulldowns
  • 120 x 12
  • 120 x 12
  • 120 x 11
  • 120 x 9
  • 105 x 4 (drop)
  • 90 x 4 (drop)

I hope I didn’t strain or pull my hamstring.

Today felt pretty awesome. Squats felt strong. I actually felt like working up to a higher set (e.g. 335) but told myself no, stick with the plan — if anything, put that juice into the AMRAP set.

And sure enough I did. Last week went to 11, but today? 15 pretty easily. Yes, the last few reps took a couple breaths between reps, but 15 was quite do-able. I felt like I could have cranked out a couple more, but I won’t take squats to failure. 15 is the ceiling, and I hit it.

But boy, that was taxing.

So as I go into the stiff-legs, they were flying up, which was quite cool. But as they went along, I started feeling something bad in my left hamstring. On the third set I stopped it short because this was not a good pain. It’s not a horrible pain… maybe 1-2 on the scale, but it’s certainly not “good hurt” type of pain. It’s still a little achy even now, so I’m just going to keep stretching and rolling it to see how things go.

And bodyweight squats. I’m digging doing these instead of split squats or lunges. Main reason is I am using them as an opportunity to work form, and I think that’s helping me a bunch.

So, pretty good day. We’ll see how the hams go.

Odd thing tho? I debate what to do next week. I’d normally up the weights 10# across the work-up, but was today just exceptional, or was today a solid day? I’m not truly sure, compared to how crappy I felt yesterday — today’s so much better. So… I think I’m going to plan on increasing, but I’ll play it by ear.

• Squat
  • bar x 10
  • 135 x 5
  • 165 x 4
  • 195 x 3
  • 245 x 2
  • 275 x 1
  • 305 x 1
  • 325 x 1
  • 300 x 3
  • 255 x 15 (AMRAP)
• 1″ Deficit Stiff-Leg Deadlift
  • 275 x 8
  • 275 x 8
  • 275 x 6
• Bodyweight Squats
  • BW x 20
  • BW x 20
  • BW x 10

Feeling… tired?

I cut today a little short, think deload. As I worked up on inclines things weren’t feeling hot — and my AMRAP/50% sets were static vs. last week. But then DB benching was flat out forward progress (fist time taking 100’s for a ride, which was cool!). But as I wasn’t feeling it, I cut things short. So the flies didn’t go to failure and I dropped the drop sets. I pressed as normal, but then the triset just became some light lateral raises.

This starts my 8th week, so it’s not surprising to feel some wear. Thing is that there’s potentially something later this month that logistics make sense to just take the week off — so I’ve been proceeding with the intent of working up until then then taking that week off. But that event may not happen now (still waiting to hear). If it’s going to happen, I’m going to push through and if I have to vary my session loads until then then so be it. But if it’s not going to happen, I may do a proper deload here, maybe reset some weights, or even change the program slightly. We’ll see.

• Incline Press
  • bar x 10
  • 125 x 5
  • 145 x 4
  • 165 x 3
  • 185 x 2
  • 205 x 1
  • 225 x 1
  • 235 x 1
  • 195 x 9 (AMRAP)
  • 195 x 5 (50%)
• DB Bench Press (pause at bottom, get the stretch)
  • 40e x 10
  • 60e x 8
  • 100e x 6
  • 70e x 16
  • 45e x 18
• DB Flat Flies
  • 30e x 8
  • 30e x 8
  • 30e x 8
• Press
  • 125 x 10
  • 125 x 9
  • 125 x 7
• DB Lateral Raise
  • 15e x 12
  • 15e x 12
  • 15e x 12

Nothing much to say. Solid day. Steady progress.

• BB Curls (elbows in, wider grip)
  • 55 x 8
  • 65 x 7
  • 75 x 6
  • 85 x 5
  • 95 x 4
  • 105 x 3
  • 90 x 9 (AMRAP)
  • 90 x 5 (50%)
• Close-Grip Bench
  • bar x 10
  • 115 x 8
  • 135 x 7
  • 155 x 6
  • 195 x 5
  • 215 x 4
  • 235 x 3
  • 205 x 11 (AMRAP)
  • 205 x 6 (50%)
• Incline Hammer Curls (3 second eccentric, go to failure, then stand and do AMRAP alternating supinated curls)
  • 30e x 12
  • 30e x 9
  • 30e x 7
• Standing French Press
  • 85 x 15
  • 85 x 15
  • 85 x 11
• Cable Curl (hold/sqeeze at top)
  • 50 x 40
  • 50 x 23
  • 50 x 17
  • 40 x 4 (drop)
  • 30 x 5 (drop)
• Rope Pressdowns (First 20, twist out hands at bottom; remainder straight hands pushed to failure)
  • 65 x 40
  • 65 x 33
  • 65 x 27
  • 55 x 6 (drop)
  • 45 x 7 (drop)

The adjustments to the back workout are good.

Interesting thing is I didn’t realize, until I logged this in my spreadsheet, is that I really upped the weights this session over last. And I still cranked it. Hey, progress is good.

Fewer face pulls, gets the shoulders nice and warmed up.

The rows work well. I am happy to be doing BB rows again.

Shrugs. Hrm. I’ve never been good at evaluating if the really heavy stuff works well, or the lighter/higher stuff works better. I’ll stick with this for a bit, but I am thinking about other approaches. Either way, the one change NOW I’ve made is to take the first light set to 20, then the second an AMRAP (which just happened to hit 20 today).

The cable rows were… not sure. I am starting to use a bar with a neutral grip and about shoulder-width spacing. I’m not sure I’m sold on it (vs. a v-bar with a neutral, narrow grip). Not sure it works things as much as I would like, but I’ll stick with it for now.

And curl grips. Man, they remain a bit hard on the shoulders and wrists, but if I really focus well on moving just the upper arm with the lats (vs. trying to use “all the body and muscles” to just move weight through space), yeah… these kill me. That’s been one of the things in training over the past couple years I’ve been so happy about: improving the quality of my back work. Ignoring the hands — they’re just what attaches you to the bar. Moving from the elbow, or at least thinking about it that way. Less weight, better contractions, ensuring scapular movement. Good stuff.

• Face Pulls
  • 65 x 25
  • 65 x 25
• Barbell Rows
  • 135 x 8
  • 155 x 7
  • 175 x 6
  • 195 x 5
  • 205 x 4
  • 215 x 3
  • 175 x 12 (AMRAP)
  • 175 x 6 (50%)
• BB Shrugs
  • 305 x 8
  • 305 x 8
  • 225 x 20
  • 225 x 20 (AMRAP)
• Cable Row (low, wide neutral grip)
  • 135 x 12
  • 135 x 12
  • 135 x 14 (AMRAP)
• Curl-Grip Pulldowns
  • 120 x 12
  • 120 x 12
  • 120 x 11
  • 120 x 6
  • 105 x 4 (drop)
  • 90 x 4 (drop)

It’s so interesting to manipulate carbs and how they affect performance.

I’ve been trying to keep my caloric balance in check, and of the three macros that ultimately comes down to carb manipulation. Ideally, given I work out in the early morning, I’d have lots of carbs around the session then taper off throughout the day, maybe even having no carbs by evening. For numerous reasons that’s not working well for me, so what I’m trying is having carbs around the workout session, avoiding carbs during the day, then allowing myself carbs in the evening. So far it’s been working well. I can feel when I do skip the mid-day carbs I end up feeling less bloated, etc.; when I do have them, I feel more bloated, I can see it in the mirror and on the scale. So it’s interesting.

And so since I didn’t have much for carbs yesterday, I felt it today. It wasn’t bad, but for sure I wasn’t gassed up. That top set went up slow, not horribly slow, but slower than last week – when I wanted this week to be faster. So I may do a little more carb-up on Monday, then allow the rest of the week to taper off.

But still, progress is being made, so I cannot complain.

And dude — proper stiff-legs like that just kick you hard.

I opted to close out with bodyweight squats over split squats or lunges. I wanted to spend some time reinforcing the movement groove: spreading knees, pushing hips back, driving out with hips, chest up/out, and depth by feel not by looking in the mirror. I may stick with this for a while to continue breaking the novelty of visual cues and get back to kinesthetics.

• Squat
  • bar x 10
  • 135 x 5
  • 165 x 4
  • 195 x 3
  • 245 x 2
  • 275 x 1
  • 305 x 1
  • 325 x 1
  • 300 x 3
  • 255 x 11 (AMRAP)
• 1″ Deficit Stiff-Leg Deadlift
  • 265 x 8
  • 265 x 8
  • 265 x 8
• Bodyweight Squats
  • BW x 20
  • BW x 20
  • BW x 10

I’d say a solid 80% type of day.

It’s always nice when things get better as you go along. Inclines were “meh” but the DB presses felt so good — even cranked out more reps with the 95s than I thought I could. And on the DB presses I really sank them deep, good stretch, good effort out of the hole.

One thing I’m thinking strongly about is switching from inclines to flat benching. The main reason I did inclines was that flat were causing me all that arm pain, but overhead pressing was not. I figured to try inclines to see how bad it was, and it was not. So, I programmed inclines to give me some sort of pressing, and it does have a decent carry-over to flat. My arms are feeling really good, I’m sure aided by all the rolling and stretching work I’m doing. So I’m getting curious to try flat pressing again. Not going to switch JUST yet, but it’s on my brain. I wouldn’t change much else in my programming, just a swap and probably starting really light and maybe even more basebuilding-style-programming (e.g. model 1: working up to a single 85%, then 5×8 @ 75% using my incline weights to program from, since in theory one can flat press more than incline, so that should start me out extra light).

Anyways, a good day overall. Progress is being made.

• Incline Press
  • bar x 10
  • 125 x 5
  • 145 x 4
  • 165 x 3
  • 185 x 2
  • 205 x 1
  • 225 x 1
  • 235 x 1
  • 195 x 9 (AMRAP)
  • 195 x 5 (50%)
• DB Bench Press (pause at bottom, get the stretch)
  • 40e x 10 (warm)
  • 60e x 8 (warm)
  • 95e x 10
  • 70e x 13
  • 45e x 17
• DB Flat Flies
  • 30e x 10
  • 30e x 11
  • 30e x 11
  • 25e x 6 (drop)
  • 20e x 5 (drop)
• Press
  • 125 x 10
  • 125 x 8
  • 125 x 7
• Front Plate Raise (tri set)
  • 45 x 13
  • 45 x 9
  • 45 x 10
• DB Lateral Raise (tri set)
  • 15e x 10
  • 15e x 7
  • 15e x 8 + partial burns
• Rear Lateral Raise (tri set)
  • 12e x 12
  • 12e x 10
  • 12e x 8 + partial burns

Today went overall well.

Close-grips felt weird. I’m thinking about bringing a micrometer to the gym to check the diameter of a few bars, because even 1mm makes such a difference in feel. 🙂 But setting that aside, just something right-shoulder-wise felt a little unstable. Not bad, just not totally in the groove. I do think in part it’s equipment related, but life rolls on.

Anyways all in all I’m digging how arm day goes. Pump is real. Really focusing on quality of movement, muscular contraction. It’s good stuff.

• BB Curls (elbows in, wider grip)
  • 55 x 8
  • 65 x 7
  • 75 x 6
  • 85 x 5
  • 95 x 4
  • 105 x 3
  • 90 x 8 (AMRAP)
  • 90 x 4 (50%)
• Close-Grip Bench
  • bar x 10
  • 115 x 8
  • 135 x 7
  • 155 x 6
  • 195 x 5
  • 215 x 4
  • 235 x 3
  • 205 x 9 (AMRAP)
  • 205 x 5 (50%)
• Incline Hammer Curls (3 second eccentric, go to failure, then stand and do AMRAP alternating supinated curls)
  • 25e x 12 (and a bunch of standing)
  • 25e x 12 (more standing)
  • 25e x 10 (only a couple standing)
• Standing French Press
  • 85 x 15
  • 85 x 15
  • 85 x 10
• Cable Curl (hold/sqeeze at top)
  • 50 x 40
  • 50 x 26
  • 50 x 22
  • 40 x 5 (drop)
  • 30 x 6 (drop)
• Rope Pressdowns (First 20, twist out hands at bottom; remainder straight hands pushed to failure)
  • 65 x 40
  • 65 x 31
  • 65 x 27
  • 55 x 6 (drop)
  • 45 x 7 (drop)

I haven’t been feeling it with my back sessions, so I opted to change it up. Today marks the first outing with the minor changes. So far, I like it. I’ll need at least another session to settle things in but so far so good.

Face pulls are kept light and minimal, just to get things warmed up. Then into some heavier rows, which I’ve really been enjoying getting back to doing. Shrugs continue to be amusing to me as I try to find the right weights to work with. I’m thinking I may adjust this where I do the 2 heavy sets, then drop to the light sets and let the light sets just crank to failure instead of straight-sets.

Cable rows. This is a new addition, and I just love cable rows. No back movement gives me as much feel in my lats and such as cable rows do. I did want to do them with a wide, neutral grip, but couldn’t find the bar — until after I had finished my rows, of course. So I just used the same old narrow neutral grip handle, which was fine. I should be able to get the weight dialed in by next session. Then curl-grip pulldowns I opted for for a little more variety/angles on the back, but curl grips also give me a lot more feel in my lats for whatever reason. So them, with some drop set work, great.

All in all, not bad. I still feel like I need a bit more volume, but I think I can get there with some continued small adjustments. Plus, this is fine to be a bit on the lower side as it gives me somewhere to go and lets me stretch out the training cycle longer.

• Face Pulls
  • 65 x 25
  • 65 x 25
• Barbell Rows
  • 135 x 8
  • 155 x 7
  • 175 x 6
  • 195 x 5
  • 205 x 4
  • 215 x 3
  • 175 x 10 (AMRAP)
  • 175 x 5 (50%)
• BB Shrugs
  • 295 x 8
  • 295 x 8
  • 215 x 20
  • 210 x 20
• Cable Row (low, wide neutral grip)
  • 120 x 12
  • 135 x 12
  • 150 x 14
• Curl-Grip Pulldowns
  • 105 x 12
  • 120 x 12
  • 120 x 12
  • 120 x 12
  • 105 x 5 (drop)
  • 90 x 5 (drop)