Taddea Zhaan goes JUGGERNAUT

[Jord]

 

I'm pretty psyched to start an intermediate program, as you probably guessed, the Juggernaut Method by Chad Wesley Smith. Link to his website I definitely need the volume work and not to be wrecking my body every workout. It's not a peaking plan, but I'm not competing. 

 

Goals: 

1. Do the Juggernat 3x per week

2. Track all the food all the times

 

LUYL Goal:

1. Stop eating lunch over my keyboard.... the 'u' key is starting to stick. 

 

 

I'm going to run it as is the first time through for 4 months. Based on how it goes I will either run it again but increase all the percentages by 2.5% or I will find a new program. I have a feeling my body needs something like this at the moment. You recalculate your maxes at the end of each month during week 3 based on your working weight x reps, so I'll be able to monitor my progress as I go along. 

 

The writers also recommend the inverse Juggernaut where you for example would do 10 sets of 5 instead of 5 sets of 10, but I'm not interested in having 3 hour sessions.... I'll maybe consider that in future runs of the program. 

 

I bought 1.25# plates from Rogue Fitness, so for my upper body lifts I can calculate increases by 2.5#. 

 

Instead of each main lift 1x per week I'm running the program as follows: 

3x per week lifting sessions

Day 1: Bench, Deadlift ( + Row, Leg Curl, Curls, Leg Ext)

Day 2: Bench, OHP, Squat (+ Pull Ups, Hypers, Leg Press)

Day 3: OHP, Squat, Deadlift (+Rows, Hypers, Dips)

 

So all main lifts plus rows get hit 2x per week, despite being a 3x per week plan. My squats need more work than my deadlifts, so they get to come before deadlifts on day 3. 

 

Other shtuff on other days: hiking, cardio, archery, yoga, glute band work

[Br0din]

 

I can see you're breaking through barriers right now!

[BarbarianBassBro]

48 minutes ago, Br0din said:

 

I can see you're breaking through barriers right now!

Nothing more to say on that one

[freck]

[Volki]

Sweet Im following

 

[Jord]

1 hour ago, Br0din said:

 

I can see you're breaking through barriers right now!

 

1 hour ago, BarbarianBassBro said:

Nothing more to say on that one

 

37 minutes ago, ixaera said:

 

4 minutes ago, Volki said:

Sweet Im following

 

 

Looks like I have some work to do! First on maybe considering reading some marvel issues featuring Juggernaut and second on developing some juggernaut like attributes.  Namely I'm supposed to weigh 1,900# and be an unstoppable force of strength. BEAST MODE. 

 

I should get a little juggernaut action figure to mount on my car dashboard. 

[Urgan]

Following to see this Juggernaut in action...oh, and that's an interesting program.

 

17 minutes ago, Taddea Zhaan said:

I should get a little juggernaut action figure to mount on my car dashboard. 

 

Clearly yes. #fitspo #nerdfitness

[Br0din]

26 minutes ago, Taddea Zhaan said:

Looks like I have some work to do! First on maybe considering reading some marvel issues featuring Juggernaut and second on developing some juggernaut like attributes.  Namely I'm supposed to weigh 1,900# and be an unstoppable force of strength. BEAST MODE. 

 

 

So...  you're saying your going to bulk?

[Jord]

1 minute ago, Br0din said:

 

So...  you're saying your going to bulk?

 

Only in that I've been basically slow bulking since January. Weight 178# > 183#. Been adding and minusing the same 5# for the last 6 months, with the lowest getting to about 180. I'd like to just stay at this weight and put on muscle. A girl can dream can't she? 

[Jord]

13 minutes ago, Urgan said:

Following to see this Juggernaut in action...oh, and that's an interesting program.

 

 

Clearly yes. #fitspo #nerdfitness

 

After I complete month 1 successfully I'll let myself buy this one. This one because the flat base will make putting it on the dash easier: https://www.amazon.com/Marvel-Titanium-Juggernaut-Figure-Inches/dp/B000VZ2RQ4/ref=sr_1_48?ie=UTF8&qid=1468256017&sr=8-48&keywords=juggernaut+figure 

[Urgan]

Just now, Taddea Zhaan said:

 

After I complete month 1 successfully I'll let myself buy this one. This one because the flat base will make putting it on the dash easier: https://www.amazon.com/Marvel-Titanium-Juggernaut-Figure-Inches/dp/B000VZ2RQ4/ref=sr_1_48?ie=UTF8&qid=1468256017&sr=8-48&keywords=juggernaut+figure 

 

Best spirit animal totem ever. I approve.

[miss_marissa]

Hi there. 

[Grizzy]

I've been considering intermediate programs, but I don't know if I'm ready and for many of them, I don't know if I'm capable of setting aside the time. I need to get my brain to an intermediate level before I can get my body there, I guess.

[Jord]

7 minutes ago, Grizzy said:

I've been considering intermediate programs, but I don't know if I'm ready and for many of them, I don't know if I'm capable of setting aside the time. I need to get my brain to an intermediate level before I can get my body there, I guess.

 

This one is definitely more math than others. I found an excel template but I still had to modify some of the formulas to fit my needs. I changed it to have smaller weight jumps be possible and some of the cells didn't autopopulate the way I thought they should. Also, it was only for the main 4 lifts so I created two more tabs, one for upper body accessories and one for lower body accessories. 

 

I'd say consider the complexity of the math when considering the program. I LOVE LOVE LOVE tinkering with excel files. Not everyone does...

[Grizzy]

Just now, Taddea Zhaan said:

 

This one is definitely more math than others. I found an excel template but I still had to modify some of the formulas to fit my needs. I changed it to have smaller weight jumps be possible and some of the cells didn't autopopulate the way I thought they should. Also, it was only for the main 4 lifts so I created two more tabs, one for upper body accessories and one for lower body accessories. 

 

I'd say consider the complexity of the math when considering the program. I LOVE LOVE LOVE tinkering with excel files. Not everyone does...

I'm good at math, but I have to do it outside of the weight room. Many of my bigger jump PRs have been due to screwing up the math when loading plates while fatigued. A few weeks ago I almost quit my lifting session because trying to lift '135' and it felt ridiculously heavy for a warm-up, but then I looked at it an went wait.. nope... that's 165. That's why.

 

And I'm an excel spreadsheet nerd. I'm more concerned with programs that go 'yeah, if you do this, you might spend up to 3 hours in the gym on at least one of the days.' I think that Texas Method volume day has something like this.

[Jord]

5 minutes ago, Grizzy said:

I'm good at math, but I have to do it outside of the weight room. Many of my bigger jump PRs have been due to screwing up the math when loading plates while fatigued. A few weeks ago I almost quit my lifting session because trying to lift '135' and it felt ridiculously heavy for a warm-up, but then I looked at it an went wait.. nope... that's 165. That's why.

 

And I'm an excel spreadsheet nerd. I'm more concerned with programs that go 'yeah, if you do this, you might spend up to 3 hours in the gym on at least one of the days.' I think that Texas Method volume day has something like this.

 

Luckily the file does the math for me.  I'm going to write it down in my training book the weights/reps goals before I go to the gym. And I've always taken notes before I've gone anyway, so that's not that big of a deal. I've also considered printing out the excel file, since it doesn't change until the end of each month, I can print a month out and keep it with me. 

 

I think it's the accessories that will make some sessions long. I did a sort of run through of one of the days yesterday and it did take me 2 hours. But I'm a bit out of shape for vacation and needed some longer rests than usual between sets. But that would only be 1 month out of 4, the month with the sets of 10. 

 

I guess it really depends on how long you rest between sets? 

[Urgan]

26 minutes ago, Grizzy said:

And I'm an excel spreadsheet nerd. I'm more concerned with programs that go 'yeah, if you do this, you might spend up to 3 hours in the gym on at least one of the days.' I think that Texas Method volume day has something like this.

 

It's more like 2 hours, depending on the day, from warm-up to martial arts-specific training. 

 

12 minutes ago, Taddea Zhaan said:

I guess it really depends on how long you rest between sets? 

 

This.

[Emerald_Dragonfly]

TZ, will this be you at the end of 4 months?

[Rookiebeotch]

Juggernaut looks effective, but if it were me, and I wasn't trying to peak, I would stagger the progression and put the big lifts on different months. It seems like a waste to go 10's on everything for a month. Doing 5's on DLs while doing 10s on squats seems more efficient and doable. 

 

But I guess if you can do 10s on everything for a month, you would really become Juggernaut.

[Jord]

11 hours ago, Emerald_Dragonfly said:

TZ, will this be you at the end of 4 months?

 

  Reveal hidden contents

 

 

 

Crossing my fingers!!! 

 

10 hours ago, Rookiebeotch said:

Juggernaut looks effective, but if it were me, and I wasn't trying to peak, I would stagger the progression and put the big lifts on different months. It seems like a waste to go 10's on everything for a month. Doing 5's on DLs while doing 10s on squats seems more efficient and doable. 

 

But I guess if you can do 10s on everything for a month, you would really become Juggernaut.

 

I'll let you know how I feel in a month. My first month numbers per excel look like this, so it's not as crazy as it seems. It's more like two weeks of sets of 10 rather than 4 weeks.

 

NOTES: However, for bench and squats I'm just going to do 45# wherever it says less because bar weight, duh. I have a 30# bar for OHP that I can set on the preacher rack, so not doing anything less than 30# for OHP. I could do dumbbell OHP, but if I use the 30# bar, I can go up in 2.5# weights. 

 

Accumulation Phase			Intensification Phase			Realization Phase			Deload Phase
Dates: July 18 - July 24			Dates: July 25 - July 31			Dates: Aug 1 - Aug 7			Dates: Aug 8 - Aug 14
	Weight	Reps		Weight	Reps		Weight	Reps		Weight	Reps
Bench	45.0	10	Bench	40.0	5	Bench	37.5	5	Bench	30.0	5
	45.0	10		47.5	5		45.0	3		37.5	5
	45.0	10		50.0	10		52.5	1		45.0	5
	45.0	10		50.0	10	Failure	55.0	AMRAP		-	-
2-3 reps shy of failure	45.0	10+	1-2 reps shy of failure	50.0	10+			-		-	-
Squat	45.0	10	Squat	42.5	5	Squat	37.5	5	Squat	30.0	5
	45.0	10		47.5	5		45.0	3		37.5	5
	45.0	10		52.5	10		52.5	1		45.0	5
	45.0	10		52.5	10	Failure	57.5	AMRAP		-	-
2-3 reps shy of failure	45.0	10+	1-2 reps shy of failure	52.5	10+			-		-	-
OH Press	30.0	10	OH Press	27.5	5	OH Press	25.0	5	OH Press	20.0	5
	30.0	10		32.5	5		30.0	3		25.0	5
	30.0	10		35.0	10		35.0	1		30.0	5
	30.0	10		35.0	10	Failure	37.5	AMRAP		-	-
2-3 reps shy of failure	30.0	10+	1-2 reps shy of failure	35.0	10+			-		-	-
Deadlift	95.0	10	Deadlift	87.5	5	Deadlift	80.0	5	Deadlift	65.0	5
	95.0	10		100.0	5		95.0	3		80.0	5
	95.0	10		107.5	10		112.5	1		95.0	5
	95.0	10		107.5	10	Failure	120.0	AMRAP		-	-
2-3 reps shy of failure	95.0	10+	1-2 reps shy of failure	107.5	10+			-		-	-

 

My starting weights are a little low because I'm just getting off two weeks of camping vacation, but I reassess my maxes in week 3 during the AMRAP. It then recalculates weights for Month 2 based on your AMRAP. This is how it got my starting weights:

 

			One Rep Max Calculator
Training Maxes (90% 1RM)		1RM Input	Estimated 1RM		Weight Used	Reps Achieved
Bench	72.5	77.987	Bench	78.0	65	6
Squat	75	81.7	Squat	81.7	70	5
OH Press	50	54.0	OH Press	54.0	45	6
Deadlift	157.5	174.0	Deadlift	174.0	145	6

 

Squats are starting to take off now that my mobility and form are better. I'm looking forward to watching that progress. Plus adding in all the lower body assistance work (leg press, leg ext, leg curl, hyperextensions). 

[Jord]

The Juggernaut officially starts next week, but I'm working through the planned lift sessions this week. I did half a workout this morning before work at 5:00 a.m. (I have to leave for work by 6:30 a.m.) I'm going to do the other half tomorrow morning. Part 2 is rows, leg extension, leg curls and mobility. 

• If I'm feeling crazy I'll do it tonight before book club when the gym is packed. My legs are still sore from Sunday's squats, hypers, and leg press.
• If I'm feeling focused and like I'm working on goals, then I'll do my yoga DVD tonight instead of Part 2, you know, the one that I haven't done in like 6 months.... this may show up in a future challenge. 

Tuesday Workout (Part 1), July 12

 

Bench 

8x50#

8x55#

8x55#

5x60#

5x60#

 

Deadlift

6x115#

5x125#

5x135#

5x140#

5x145# 

 

Curlzzzz

7x30#

7x35#

6x40#

7x35#

8x30#

[Jord]

On 7/11/2016 at 10:16 AM, Taddea Zhaan said:

 

So all main lifts plus rows get hit 2x per week, despite being a 3x per week plan. My squats need more work than my deadlifts, so they get to come before deadlifts on day 3. 

 

Other shtuff on other days: hiking, cardio, archery, yoga, glute band work

 

I know I posted on my thread a lot today, but I'm putting out into the universe that I found a place near me that offers beginner yoga in the evening and doesn't charge a fortune. I'm going to give a try next week and attend one session. I need mobility and balance in my form like woah. 

[CourtnieMarie]

when i actually keep up with yoga i find it's super helpful to my lifts! good luck!

[Jord]

3 minutes ago, CourtnieMarie said:

when i actually keep up with yoga i find it's super helpful to my lifts! good luck!

 

Plus as a bonus I find it mentally recharges me. Except for that last 60 seconds when the world rushes back into my brain. But then I'm good again after I leave.

 

[miss_marissa]

1 hour ago, Taddea Zhaan said:

 

I know I posted on my thread a lot today, but I'm putting out into the universe that I found a place near me that offers beginner yoga in the evening and doesn't charge a fortune. I'm going to give a try next week and attend one session. I need mobility and balance in my form like woah. 

DOOO IT!!!!!