MalleusMaleficarum's Strength & Conditioning

[MalleusMaleficarum]

I'm frankly getting tired of this. It's monotonous, but it's what I've got. I may decrease frequency of exercise because of it.

 

I'm looking forward to strength training again in July. I tried an experiment based on an Elliot Hulse video with keeping my hips down when deadlifting. I'm one of those guys who turns the deadlift into mostly a back move. I hope to remedy that and ingrain the movement pattern into myself before I even touch a weight again. 

 

Here's the video, for anyone interested. The deadlift part is at 12:00.

 

 

Maybe people with 6 plate deadlifts got there partially by removing their back from the equation and making it rely mostly on their legs. Only time will tell.

[MalleusMaleficarum]

Today I just dicked around with some compounds. Energy lagging.

 

Discovered the world's simplest and most effective beginner routine.

 

Push:
-Oly squat
-Decline situp or ab wheel
-Two push moves in different directions (i.e. incline/decline bench, shoulder press/weighted dip)
-Advanced: when upper body push moves are above bodyweight, add skullcrushers brought down to the chin (instead of forehead)

 

Pull:
-deadlift
-two pull moves in different directions (i.e. hang high pull, pulldown/weighted chin)

-Advanced: when upper body pull moves are above bodyweight, add hammer curls

 

Alternate workouts, 3 workouts per week, shoot for 2-3 heavy sets of 10 on each exercise.

 

I won't have the equipment to do anything like this for many months, however. I would be interested to try it for two workouts when I regain real gym access again this fall, so I can see how well my plan to build strength at a machine gym has actually succeeded.

[MalleusMaleficarum]

Begun gymming again.

 

Today:

Leg press - 4 plates, 13 reps. Goal 15-20.
One arm hang - 20 reps, bodyweight. Next time +10.
Conditioning: pushups, calf raises, inverted rows. Several sets AMRAP.

 

 

When I regain access to school gym next semester, I will probably make a few simple substitutions to transition to a more freeweight compound oriented training program. They are as follows:

Leg press->high bar oly squat
T-bar swing->barbell rows with specific form
Pulldown->weighted chin
DB fly->bench
Full ROM handstand pushup->shoulder press

 

I think that was it, if not I'll edit the post.

 

It will be interesting to see what the carryover from the less intensive lifts I'm doing now ends up being to things like deep squatting. No matter what I'll be gaining strength, so I'll cross that bridge when I get there.

 

It feels good though, it feels like I finally have my fitness exactly where it needs to be. I can get strength and conditioning very efficiently, simultaneously and in a way that works with my body. Now to get that pesky diet in check...

[MalleusMaleficarum]

Post-food weight: 198

 

Workout:
-smith machine oly squat: 185x10. Goal: 15, then 225.
-weighted one arm hang: 10 lbs x 12 reps. Goal: 15, then 15 lbs.
-smith machine seated press: 95x10. Goal: 15, then 115.
-pulldown: 130x10. Goal: 15, then 145.
-smith shrug: 275x10. Goal: 15, then 295.

Conditioning: 5 rounds.
 

All this crap will be converted to free weight when I get back to my school's gym. Need to pack on some weight to these lifts though.

 

Next time:
-smith rack pull
-ab wheel
-DB windmill
-DB fly
-DB hammer curl
-smith hindu squat
-conditioning

[MalleusMaleficarum]

Feels good to be back to liftan.

 

I've got my 10 rep maxes for everything now.

 

Today:

-(smith) rack pull: 275x10. goal 15.
-ab wheel: 15 reps from knees. goal 20, then work on standing rollouts
-DB windmill: 55x12, goal 15.
-DB fly: 50x15. Next time 55.
-DB hammer curl: 40x13, goal 15.
-smith hindu squat: 95x11, goal 15.

 

I'm doing my calf and grip work in conditioning so that isn't listed. For convenience' sake I may start doing conditioning on whole separate days though to facilitate recovery. I'm thinking to take a break from the circuit style and just start doing a lot of burpees, jumps or squat kicks or something. I want to focus my conditioning more on moving, jumping, getting on the ground and back up again.

 

So in total, all of my current positions for my program are:

Workout A:
-smith oly squat: 185x10
-weighted one arm hang: 10x12
-(smith) seated press, shoulder width & full ROM: 95x10
-pulldown: 130x10
-smith shrug: 275x10

Workout B:
-smith rack pull: 275x10
-ab wheel: 15 from knees
-DB windmill: 55x11
-DB fly: 50x15
-DB hammer curl: 40x13
-smith hindu squat: 95x10

 

I plan on adding increments of 10 lbs for most things, 20 lbs for squats, rack pulls and shrugs. I want progress to be aggressive.

 

Still doing post workout fasts. Feels glorious, light and healthy. Postworkout weight: 195. Goal: 185.

[MalleusMaleficarum]

Today:

 

Smith oly squat, 185x16. Next time: 225, goal 10.

Weighted one arm hang: 15x10, goal 15+.
Smith seated shoulder press, shoulder width grip: 95x20. Next time: 115, goal 10.
Pulldown, wide grip, strict: 130x16. Next time: 145, goal 10.
Smith shrug: 275x18, next time: 295, goal 10.

 

3 rounds conditioning with the following circuit:
-10 pushups
-10 inverted rows
-10 jump squats

 

Various hand/grip conditioning

Bodyweight calf raises from a third world squat
Standing one legged calf raises

 

Everything's moving forward again. I was worn down from monotonous conditioning previously so I hadn't felt like doing much of it. I'll try to shoot for about 5 rounds each workout though. One thing that occurred to me that could make conditioning much more challenging is to break it into triples for everything so much more of my time is spent getting up and laying down on the ground again. I could standardize the transition so I make sure to do them evenly on each side. I may play with that next workout, which should be Thursday.

[MalleusMaleficarum]

Today:

 

Rack pull: 275x18. Next time 295, goal 10+.
Ab wheel from knees: 20 reps. Next time starting on standing rollouts.
DB windmill: 55x18, next time 60.
DB fly: 55x10, goal 15.
DB hammer curl: 40x15. Next time: 45.
Weighted hindu squat: 95x18, next time 115.

 

[MalleusMaleficarum]

Gotta condition moar often. Today's conditioning kicked my butt a bit more than it should've.

 

I did something like 6 rounds, pushups, inverted rows and either squats or lunges.

 

Worked up a good sweat, got two cramps: one in one of my pecs (still tired from chest the other day) and then later another in my abs.

 

Again, need to do it more often. Can't forget what I'm training for.

[MalleusMaleficarum]

Today was good.

 

Squat: 225x11. Goal: 15+ and I want them to be a little deeper and prettier too.
One arm hang: 15x10, 15x5. Goal: 15+ in one go.
Seated press: 115x16. Next time: 135, goal 10+.
Pulldown: 145x16. Next time: 160, goal 10+.
Shrug: 295x17. Next time: 315, goal 10+.

Conditioning: 4 rounds of 10 pushups, 10 inverted rows, 10 jump squats. Last round was burpees. Almost no rest time. I give the lung burn an A+.

 

Calf training: calf raises from a third world squat to burnout, followed by standing calf raises to burnout.

 

Grip training was a mix of things I would have a hard time describing, but the volume was there. My hands were pumped as hell and my forearms were exploding.

 

Only thing that went wrong today was that I feel my squat suffered a bit today because I did a few rounds of "extracurricular" conditioning just a day or so ago that involved jump squats. I feel like I could've squatted 225x16 with good form today if I hadn't done that last time, but I don't care too much - I understand that weight training progress will be a tad slower with all this conditioning work. My goal is to end up with B+/A- progress in both, so that my overall bodily prowess is greater than if I had restricted myself to one alone.

[MalleusMaleficarum]

Rack pull from below knees: 295x11. Goal: 15

Standing ab wheel rollouts: did 5 partials. This is harder on the lower abs, will ease into it.
DB windmill: 60x13. Goal: 15
DB fly: 55x13. Goal: 15 
DB hammer curl: 45x12. Goal: 15
Weighted hindu squat: 115x13. Goal: 15

 

Unfortunately I'll be on the road for two weeks, but between good protein and limiting cardio to a few times per week, I shouldn't lose much if any strength. 

 

What I like to do after I take a layoff is to just do a few sets of 10 on every exercise to find my 10RM. It's useful in that it gives a starting point for the protocol and also itself constitutes a pretty good workout so long as volume is kept extreme. Usually I end up doing just 2 sets of 10 because I'm pretty experienced at finding my 10RMs.

 

I'll see you all in 2 weeks.

[MalleusMaleficarum]

On Saturday I did a workout of the following:

 

-Squats
-Shoulder press
-Pulldowns
-Flat bench
-Seated rows

 

Today: hand/grip conditioning in the sand. You grab a fistful of it and squeeze all the sand out of your fist, repeating on each side. Then when your burn gets too intense, punch your fist into the sand and open your fingers all the way out against resistance and then pull them out. Repeat, switching off each exercise as you get a hard burn.

 

Tomorrow or the day after I plan to return to the gym and do:

-rack pull

-ab wheel

-DB curl & press

-pulldown

-decline bench

-seated row

[MalleusMaleficarum]

Okay, today went a little better than last time.

 

Workout (only listing top sets):

 

Rack pull - 275x10
Ab wheel - 10 partial reps from standing
DB hammer curl & press - 45x10
Pulldown - 145x10 according to their numbers. This machine is harder than most I've used.
Decline bench - 185x10. Felt janky on shoulders, don't like doing these in smith.
Seated row - 145x10. 

 

Still definitely not up to par, but I'm getting over my illness.

 

Postworkout breakfast:

 

-big glass of fancy organic free range whole milk with ovaltine in it
-4 eggs (fancy cage free brown) with a lot of olive oil and spices, maybe vegetables
-1 tbsp cod liver oil

 

Plan for next workout:

-oly squat
-seated press, shoulder width grip
-shrug
-flat bench, wide grip
-ab wheel
-windmill

 

No numerical goals, just trying to hit the highest 10 rep max for all of these I can until I am back to pre-illness numbers. I honestly feel like I may as well just keep doing this semi-unplanned lifting approach until I get as strong as I've ever gotten, banking on muscle memory to help me get there.

 

I have been pretty respectably strong in every lift at one point in my life, to the tune of about 450 deadlifts, 400 squats and all upper body movements in the 200-300 range. I figure reaching and maintaining that again should be goal #1 for me right now, because I've suffered so many stupid setbacks between illness and travel that it's been a long time since I've been my strongest. I've got to get back to where I was before I can get better than I've ever been.

 

I did some mental math on that, by the way, and came to a conclusion that will likely be its own thread. In real life it will also likely be a "try it and find out" proposition, but I still intend to make a thread about it.

 

The idea is this:

 

Let's say you're already pretty strong, to the tune of 300b/400s/500d or thereabouts. At that point, you will probably not be able to aggressively gain strength anymore for a long list of physiological reasons. In my mind, the most pressing is the development of your tendons and connective tissues - lacking their own blood supply, their development would take a while relative to what your muscles can do. 

 

This is part of the reason one can initially gain strength in major lifts so quickly - you can already walk around, sit down and stand up again, maybe do some pushups and pullups, therefore your tendons can already handle much larger loads than your normal daily activities provide. Past a certain point of initial strength gain, muscular hypertrophy and tendon adaptation are necessary, and those take more time and food than simple neuromuscular adaptation.

 

 

What if, once a high-ish level of strength had been gained, and you just really gradually added weight to all of your lifts, to the tune of 5 lbs per month for lower body lifts and 5 pounds every other month for upper body lifts?

 

 

To put that in perspective, let's say I was up to full speed where I was earlier in my life before setbacks: I could squat 315x10 all the way down and bench 225x10. I would then have a month to get my squats up to 320x10, or at my pace of lifting probably 8 workouts to add just 5 pounds. For my bench press, I'd have two full months to add just 5 pounds, or probably 16 workouts just to go from 225x10 to 230x10.

 

That slow, gradual rate of progression seems foolproof, but do the math on 5 years of that.

 

That'd put 150 pounds onto the bench, for 375x10, and 300 pounds onto the squat for a total of 615x10.

 

It would be slow enough that my tendons could easily handle it and grow in tandem, which ultimately for a weight lifter is the limiting factor. I'm not sure about the rate of bone development, but so long as I'm not critically malnourished my bones should also strengthen as well.

 

I'll be curious to see what peoples' thoughts are on that idea. I'm shelving it until I get back to the level I was at before anyway.

 

 

[MalleusMaleficarum]

Stewing with rage over how much strength I've lost this year.

 

Fucking useless bodybuilding training.

 

Fucking vegans.

 

Thank heaven for muscle memory or I'd be hopeless.

 

Tomorrow's workout:

 

Squat, 185 lbs. 

One arm hang, 10 lbs.

Seated press, 115 lbs. 
Pulldown, 145 lbs. 

Shrug, 295 lbs.

Hammer curl, 40 lbs.

 

Goal of 15 reps for all of those.

[MalleusMaleficarum]

Today I got a lot of 13's.

 

Squat: 185x13, goal 15
One arm hang: 10x15, next time 15.
Seated press: 115x13, goal 15
Pulldown: 145x15, next time 160 or whatever the next increment up is.
Shrug: 275x15, next time 295.

Hammer curl: 40x13, goal 15

 

Better than last time, so that's something. I just need to be consistent enough to get my body motorset again. I still can't believe how much this last month ruined my progress, truly unreal.

 

The squats at least felt much better than they did last time. Very natural to go all the way down, no awkwardness in the knees or anything else.

[MalleusMaleficarum]

Today went well. I'm recovering. Veganism belongs in Hell.

 

Rack pull: 275x18. Next time 295, goal of 10+.

Ab wheel: starting to get closer to full standing reps. It's hard to describe the changes geometrically but it would be obvious on video.
Windmill: 55x15 easy, next time 60x10+.

Dumbbell fly: tried to find 10RM. Feels like I'll be working on 55's.
Seated row: 145x13. I've really neglected horizontal pulling. Goal 15.
"Jawbreaker," aka modified skullcrusher: 65x15. Next time 75x10. These are ridiculously hard, especially on the bottom of the rep, but they are comfortable and feel great on my triceps.

 

Did a little babby cardio finisher with air jump squats. 

 

Next workout I hope to squat 185x15+, press 115x15+ and get 160x10+ on pulldowns. The rest is less important to me.

[MalleusMaleficarum]

I'm still lifting, and now I'm really back in the swing of post workout fasting. Today got up at about 8, screwed around for a while and now it's 10:50 after my workout. Goal is to make it until 2:00pm. 

 

Today's workout:

 

High bar squat: 185x16. Next time: 205, goal 10+

One arm hang: 15x10. Goal 15.

Seated press: 115x15. Next time: 135, goal 10+

Pulldown: 160x12. Goal 15.

Shrug: 295x17 easy. Next time: 315, goal 10+.
Hammer curl: 40x15. Next time: 45, goal 10+.

 

I also finally figured out why my left bicep is stronger than the right. When I do pulldowns (and presumably chins too), I never release all the way down on the left side. It never gets a break. From now on I'm doing that on both sides, intentionally not fully releasing the weight between reps. You know, like how bodybuilders sometimes do their chest presses without locking it out to keep the load on their pecs.

 

But, I'm adding weight to everything and I'm gaining back to where I was before the Great Vegan Event. I'm really neglecting conditioning right now but I don't really care; gaining conditioning is like a week long process while strength training is hard won over months and years. I'll probably not even bother conditioning regularly until school starts unless for some reason I really start feeling the itch.

[MalleusMaleficarum]

Today:

 

Rack pull: 295x15 easy, next time 315x10+.
Ab wheel: 10 reps standing, quality of reps improving. Getting close to full ROM reps.

Windmill: 60x15 easy, next time 65.

Fly: 55x15, next time 60.
Seated row: 145x15, next time 160.

Modified skullcrusher: 75x15 easy, next time 85.

 

Little bit of cardio.

 

Getting better.

[MalleusMaleficarum]

Today:

 

Squat: 205x12. Goal 15, then 225.

One arm hang: see notes below

Seated press: 135x11. Goal 15, then 155.

Pulldown: 160x17. Next time 175.
Shrug: 315x15. Next time 335.

Hammer curl: 45x15, next time 50.

 

Notes on one arm hang: it's getting awkward to hold a dumbbell between my knees. From now on I'm going to shoot for a certain goal number of natural "swings" as I hang from one hand, holding the weight in the other, and then repeat for the other side. Next squat workout I do, I'll do this with 15 lbs.

[MalleusMaleficarum]

Today was excellent. I am totally fried after.

 

Rack pull below the knees: 315x13. *SoClose* I am really excited to hit 15+ on this, which I surely will next workout, because then I can start 335 and then 355. I really want to be high repping in the mid 300's again.

 

Ab wheel: now I'm able to do full standing negatives. Before it was just a belly flop with a wheel in my hands. I'll just do those for a bit, pretty soon I'll get the real deal. Did 20 total reps.

 

Windmill: 65x15. Next time 70. Core is getting the stronk.

 

Fly: 60x10. 

 

Seated row: 160x13. 

 

Skullcrusher with my personal form: 85x15, too easy. 95 next time.

 

Cardio: did 3 rounds of bodyweight circuit, hard and fast with no rest. Felt like full body sprinting. Couldn't get 5, that's okay. There will be other days. Frankly considering how sickly I was earlier this year I'm glad to be able to do this at ALL.

 

Whole workout done fasted, now sipping on bitter ass cocoa drink for the caffeine. I still have at least 2 if not 3 more hours before I can eat anyway. 

 

On the note of food, I've been feeling progressively less of a desire to stuff myself to the gills with anything that has calories. I'm gradually starting to dislike how certain food makes me feel again, and want to limit it to things that are actually beneficial to me. My plan for my first meal is a meatball & vegetable sandwich, or more accurately like 10 meatballs with a bunch of vegetables and two pieces of toast.

[MalleusMaleficarum]

Squat: 205x15, clean and deep. Next time 225 AMRAP.

Seated press: 135x14. *SoClose*

Pulldown: 175x13

Shrug: 335x15. Next time 355 AMRAP.

Hammer curl: 50x11. Goal 15.

 

Conditioning:

10 pushups, 10 wide grip inverted rows, 10 jump squats.

 

Completed 4 rounds at the speed of hate, then tapped out.

 

At least I'm gaining some cardio capacity back. I feel great afterwards, every single time. I'm starting to think that what I need to do is when I reach 5 rounds without rest, go ahead and start doing 0-5 more rounds with some rest between rounds. That way it isn't just an exercise in anaerobic muscle fatigue, but a little bit of cardio proper. It will tack a little time onto my workouts but considering I'm only spending half an hour in the gym twice a week I'm not much worried about that.

 

[MalleusMaleficarum]

Rack pull: 315x16, next time 335 goal 10+.

Ab wheel: still standing rollout negatives, but I do a lot of them.
Windmill: 70x15. Repeat at tighter form, then 75.
Fly: 60x15. Repeat at tighter form, then 65.
Seated row: 160x16, next time 175 goal 10+.
Modified skullcrusher: 95x15, next time 115 goal 10+.

 

Two rounds conditioning.

[MalleusMaleficarum]

Squat: 225x11. Goal 15.
Press: 135x15. Next time 155.

Pulldown: 175x13. Goal 15.

Shrug: 355x15. Next time 375. Starting to have grip issues. Going to resume grip training soon.

Hammer curl: 50x15. Next time 55.

 

Next time I do this workout, it will be with free barbells so I will have to reestablish 10RMs for everything. Since all of this has been on a smith I'm expecting to leave a few pounds behind. The upside is that all of my rack pulling and shrugging should do a pretty good job working my grip for me.

[MalleusMaleficarum]

Rack pull: 335x11. Goal 15. 
Ab wheel: lots of standing negatives. Stabilizing my arms is becoming the hard part.

Windmill: 70x15. Next time 75.

Bench: 135x10, 185x10, 225x10. 10RM testing. Replacing DB fly with bench.

Seated row: 175x15. Next time 190.

Skullcrusher: 115x15. Next time 125.

 

Against all odds I'm doing pretty good as far as my challenge weights go for everything except squats. Was shooting for 285x10+ squat, got 225. Wanted 355x10+ rack pull, got 335. Wanted 155x10 shoulder press, actually got it.

 

Gloriously, school is starting again soon and I'll have access to free barbells. Much of this will be getting 10RM tested again. I'm sure I'll lose at least 20 lbs off of everything because it took place on a smith machine, but that's not a big deal.

 

That's the thing about smith machines - everybody whines about how they're no good for strength, barbells only, yadda yadda, but if you build up to doing anything with 500 lbs on a smith machine and then you suddenly switch to barbells, you're obviously not going to be able to still lift 500 lbs but you'll still be able to lift a hell of a lot more than if you hadn't put in that time on the smith.

 

I now view any gym that at least has a smith machine as an acceptable facility for me to gain strength in as long as they have enough plates for my needs (and something to stand on for rack pulls).

[MalleusMaleficarum]

Okay, I've gotten back to a real gym.

 

My gimpy 10RMs (next progression)

 

Deadlift: 245 (255)
Ab wheel: same (increasingly cleaner standing negatives)
Windmill: 75 (80)
Bench press: 185 (195)
Barbell row: 155 (165)

Modified skullcrusher: 65 (75)

 

Squat: 185 (205)
Shoulder press: 95 (105)

Pulldown: 7th pin on the stack (8th pin)

Deadlifted shrug: 275 (285)

Hammer curl: 55x10 (60)

 

Most of those are pretty sad, but I will make progress quickly. Just have to add weight to the bar, just like I did when I was stuck on the smith. I'll still be using 20 lb increments on the squat because that is the gimpiest by far. I just look forward to where I'll be in one progression.

 

The way my math adds up, if I progress at about the same rate on everything, I'll be at 305 on both squats and deadlifts at the same time. I'll drop back to 10 lb increments in the squat at that point.