Waldo's Log

[Duality]

Awesome looking L-Sit. 

 

You mean awesome L-sit and Nintendo

[Donar]

Ugh.  Well this football season has gone down the toilet.  When Rodgers got hurt GB was starting to look like one of the superpowers, now I doubt they make the playoffs.

 

 

This destroyed my fantasy team too....

[Metalhead]

You mean awesome L-sit and Nintendo

 

Haha..Didn't even notice that. 

[Waldo]

Did not get enough sleep last night and I'm still getting over this cold. Definitely noticed in my workout tonight. Its odd the way the cold is affecting me. I don't feel overly fatigued or sore or anything of the sort, I feel fine. My early peak sets are fine, performance has been good in them. But then my performance just falls off a cliff and I fade uber quick. Tonight was no different, despite the short workout.

11.13.2013

Handstand Practice - 5 min

- Not a great day, only one longer hold. Wrists/forearms are sore (odd).

- I need to start putting more effort into these from time to time, and really go for some longer sessions.

Bar Muscle-Up - 2+, 3-, 1+ reps

Tuck Flag Inverted Hold (2 sec) - 3-/3-, 3-/3-, 2-/2- reps

- Failed on rep #2 of set 3 on the muscle-ups, tried to do another rep after the flag work, failed again.

- Last set of flag work I just completely petered out. Probably shouldn't even count the set.

- Rep #3 of set 2 of the muscle-ups was a rep that would have been a fail not too long ago (chances are I wouldn't have even attempted the transition). Had to power through the transition a lot more than usual. Could be what killed the rest of my workout. But it was a very valuable rep.

- That said, it was effin cold tonight, was outside with bare hands on below freezing bars. Fun.

- Lifetime total of 164 good bar muscle-ups.

Run 2.6 miles in 24:47:28

- A little better than last week, but still not where I expect to be running. About a minute off my usual pace.

[Waldo]

I think I'm getting my groove back. Went to bed way early last night.

11.14.2013

Leg Day B - Volume

Lunge Matrix x5
Kick Circuit x5
BW RDL - 10 reps
BW Squat - 10 reps
One Leg Standing L - 15/15 sec

Pistol Squat (BW) - 5e++/5e++ reps
Pistol Squat (+30) - 8y++/8x++ m{2,2,2,2,2}(5 br) reps
Pistol Squat (BW)(Side to Side) - 60 reps (30y+/30e+)
- Added a rep to the +30 activation set
- Limited the myo-rep sets to 5 so that I didn't have an epic butt cramp all night
- Been wanting to see how many pistol squats I could do in a continuous set switching back and forth between sides each rep.
- Cardio fitness limited me more in the marathon set than strength, though my legs were pretty much jello at the end.
- I think I'm gonna keep doing a side to side set during this workout, see if I can get up to 100 reps.

Shrimp Squat - 5y++/0, 9y++/0 reps
- 9 is a new PR.
- First set was a bit subpar, still dealing with the loooong recovery from the s2s pistol set.

Assisted Natural Ham Curl - 5e reps
Natural Ham Curl - 5y++, 5y++, 5y++ reps
- Mentally back with these. The week off from them definitely did me a lot of good.

All in all a solid volume workout. Well after the workout my legs still have the wobbles when I try to stand. I'm gonna be hella sore from this one.

[Donar]

Assisted Natural Ham Curl - 5e reps

Natural Ham Curl - 5y++, 5y++, 5y++ reps

- Mentally back with these. The week off from them definitely did me a lot of good.

 

 

Not sure what the notations mean.....but 3 sets of 5 on those bastards is awesome...

[Waldo]

Not sure what the notations mean.....but 3 sets of 5 on those bastards is awesome...

 

y = Subjective exertion grade, I was fairly close to failure, had no more reps in the tank.  Final rep was very much a grind.

 

++ = Subjective form grade, excellent form throughout set (on these that means no excessive waist kink and good depth).

[Waldo]

Well tonight I went to a beer tasting at a local brewery, before working out. Were it not raining out I probably would have swapped my Friday and Saturday workouts and went out running, since running drunk is no biggie. But it was raining, so I did my usual workout. And it actually went really good.
 

Before I left I was goofing around on my parallettes and figured out that I can do a (very) bent arm straddle planche.  Going to have to take a photo of it at some point as it is a really cool looking exercise.

11.15.2013

Upper Body Static

Standard Warmup/prehap/mobility

One Arm Wall Handstand (15 sec) - 3/3, 4/4 reps
- Probably where the beer affected me the most. Being upside down on one arm at the limit of your strength/endurance is not particularly pleasant while intoxicated.

Slow strength circuits (circuit number in parenthesis):

(1) Planche Lean - 15 sec
(2,3,4,5) Tuck Planche (Floor) - 7+4+4, 15, 15, 15 sec
- Balance sucked on the first set, but I found my groove after that.  The last 3 sets actually went really good, I felt really strong in the hold.

(1) Tuck Front Lever - 15 sec
(2) Advanced Tuck Front Lever - 15 sec
(3, 4, 5) One Leg Front Lever - 6/5, 5/5, 5/4 sec
- Slow and steady progress on these.  I'm so happy with how these have progressed.  It won't be long until I'm doing 10+ sec holds.

(1) Advanced Tuck Back Lever - 15 sec
(2) Half Layout Back Lever - 15 sec
(3,4,5) Back Lever - 8, 8, 8 sec
- Not much to report, same as always.

(1) Floor L-Sit - 15 sec
(2,3,4,5) Middle Split Hold - 10, 10, 10, 10 sec
- The quality of the work tonight was a step above anything I've ever done on these.  I was really able to push my hips forward a lot more than I have been, at the same time as really holding a good straddle.
 

[Waldo]

I'm starting to get to that "I feel fat" stage with bulking. People tend to hit it way before I do it seems, but after about 2.5 months...I feel fat. Did a little evaluation of my long term plans. At first I was gonna bulk 7 months straight, until the end of next march. Then I decided that I was going to do a small mini-cut before Christmas as I found out I was going to be spending some time in a pool. Now I've decided that I would rather avoid the I feel fat stage entirely, only bulking 2 months at a time, that way I only have mini-cuts afterwards as well, 2 months of bulking, 2 weeks of cutting, a week of maintenance, rinse repeat.

This weeks measurements went ok. It seems that my leg growth has slowed dramatically as of late, and my arm growth has increased dramatically.

Total change start (9/1) to today (11 weeks):

Weight: 187.0 -> 196.4 (+9.4 lbs)

Est BF%: 11.2 -> 11.6 (+0.4%)

Est LBM: 166.0 -> 173.7 (+7.7 lbs)

Est FM: 21.0 -> 22.7 (+1.7 lbs)

Neck: 16.6 -> 17.0 (+0.4")

Chest: 45.8 -> 47.4 (+1.6")

Flexed Abs: 28.6 -> 29.1 (+0.5")

R Bicep: 15.6 -> 16.0 (+0.4")

L Bicep: 15.0 -> 15.5 (+0.5")

R Forearm: 12.9 -> 13.0 (+0.1")

L Forearm: 12.6 -> 12.9 (+0.3")

Glutes: 39.8 -> 40.6 (+0.8")

R Quad: 23.4 -> 24.1 (+0.7")

L Quad: 22.1 -> 23.3 (+1.2")

R Calf: 15.6 -> 16.0 (+0.4")

L Calf: 15.1 -> 15.5 (+0.4")

Interestingly I've had and still have near perfect calf-bicep symmetry, despite it not being something I specifically aim to do. Using my data from when cutting, I need to lose about 2.5 lbs to get back to where I started waist-wise.

My current plan is for Thanksgiving to be sort of a end of bulk finale and jump right into cutting starting 11/30 going until 12/14, then maintaining on up until my xmas trip (with a couple days after 12/14 if needed to bring my waist back to 28.5"). Since its only 2 weeks or so, the plan is no refeeds, to cut as hard as I possibly can stand for those 2 weeks and be done with it.

This week's diet info (daily averages for the last 7 days):

Intake: 3773 calories

Exercise: 887 calories

Net Intake: 2886 calories

Protein: 202.9g

Carbs: 409.7g

Fat: 137.7g

**********************

Weekend workouts:

Sat:

Run 5 miles in 52:55

- Legs were quite sore from Thursday's workout, as I expected. I figured the time would be a bit worse that it was, I wasn't running hard at all.

Sun:

GTG 1 sec tuck planche throughout the day (at least 8 holds)

Tuck Planche Rotations - 6, 6 reps

Tuck Planche Pushups - 6, 5, 5 reps

Advanced Tuch Front Lever - 8, 7, 8 reps

1 hour yoga

- I decided to start doing periodic here and there tuck planche holds. Just a quick push up into it and that's it. Its a strategy for strengthening your planche that I saw on Strength Project's Youtube channel.

[Metalhead]

I'm starting to get to that "I feel fat" stage with bulking. People tend to hit it way before I do it seems, but after about 2.5 months...I feel fat. Did a little evaluation of my long term plans. At first I was gonna bulk 7 months straight, until the end of next march. Then I decided that I was going to do a small mini-cut before Christmas as I found out I was going to be spending some time in a pool. Now I've decided that I would rather avoid the I feel fat stage entirely, only bulking 2 months at a time, that way I only have mini-cuts afterwards as well, 2 months of bulking, 2 weeks of cutting, a week of maintenance, rinse repeat.

This weeks measurements went ok. It seems that my leg growth has slowed dramatically as of late, and my arm growth has increased dramatically.

Total change start (9/1) to today (11 weeks):

Weight: 187.0 -> 196.4 (+9.4 lbs)

Est BF%: 11.2 -> 11.6 (+0.4%)

Est LBM: 166.0 -> 173.7 (+7.7 lbs)

Est FM: 21.0 -> 22.7 (+1.7 lbs)

 

 

Looks like you're having a pretty successful bulk so far.

 

 

Last challenge you posted a google doc spreadsheet for measurements and such. I was using that as a basis for creation of one for myself. I noticed that in some of the BF% calcs, you included a (weight + 2) variable instead of just (weight). I was curious as to your reasoning behind this.

[Waldo]

Looks like you're having a pretty successful bulk so far.

 

 

Last challenge you posted a google doc spreadsheet for measurements and such. I was using that as a basis for creation of one for myself. I noticed that in some of the BF% calcs, you included a (weight + 2) variable instead of just (weight). I was curious as to your reasoning behind this.

 

Basically it is an effort to calibrate the formulas for me, the way I measure.

 

I flex my abs as hard as I can, exhale, and pull the tape as hard as I frickin can (within reason, I can pull pretty damn hard) over the thinnest part of my waist.  This has 2 consequences.  

 

1) I can recreate this data point always, without fail.  I don't have to question my measuring technique.  It isn't really subject to bloat and whatnot.  I can measure it damn near perfect any time I want.  This is without a doubt the most accuracte way to measure BF%, IF you can convert that measurement into BF% using an accurate formula.

 

2) This way of measuring gives you extremely optimistic results when using the usual BF% formulas.  It isn't even in the ballpark really.  The BF% formulas clearly require the tape around you with virtually no pull on it.  Even when you are very lean, the midsection is still pretty squishy, especially unflexed.  Unless you've got a tape with a strain gauge on it to precisely measure the pull, if you are trying to lightly pull it (some is required to pull all the slack out of the tape), there will be fairly huge variation due to the squshiness and inability to recreate the exact force on the tape time after time.  Using for example 1/8" variations is meaningless.  

 

So I measure the way I do in order to get the accuracy I want, then I add a constant to it to convert the way I measure into a measurement with virtually no pull on the tape, to make the BF% formulas at least somewhat useful.  

 

Though nowadays I have enough weight, photo, and tape measure data that I really don't need the BF% formulas much anymore.  About the only unknown is how much BF% changes as weight changes at a constant waist measurement.  While fairly insignificant, it is a real effect which will be put to the test in the future as I've switched to using waist measurements instead of the scale for cutting/bulking goalmaking; waist measurements convert to time very easily, much more easily than the scale (for example I know that back to my starting point in waist measurements is 2 weeks of hard cutting (3/8" per week) or 3 weeks of moderate cutting (1/4" per week) from where I am now; given the water fluctuations, I have no idea of how much weight loss would be required).

[Metalhead]

That makes sense. I tend to measure the same way after realizing that I was getting measurements that were all over the place from week to week. I'd like to use the body fat percentage number as a goal, but I'll probably end up using visuals to figure out where I'm at as I know that most calcs underestimate the actual numbers. I do like the fact that you use a 4 data point average to get a better idea. 

[Waldo]

So this new show on Fox, Almost Human, is pretty rad. I watch very little TV; Football, Ninja Warrrior, Jeopardy, Bill Maher, SNL, and Iron Chef, but I'm gonna start watching this show. This is the first fictional TV show I've watched in a long time; haven't really watched anything of the sort since Eureka ended a couple years ago. :sad:

11.18.2013

Handstand Practice - 5 minutes

- Best hold of 21 sec. So so otherwise.

Leg Day A - Intensity

Lunge Matrix x5

Kick Circuit x5

BW RDL - 10 reps

BW Squat - 10 reps

One Leg Standing L - 15/15 sec

Pistol Squat (BW) - 5e++/5e++ reps

Pistol Squat (+30) - 3e++/3e++ reps

Pistol Squat (+50) - 4y++/4e++, 5y++/5x++, 5y++/5y++ reps

- Finally some progress this week. Not a whole lot, but definite improvement.

- Was motivated to see progress though too. Might have been overly gung ho on the first set (balance was a bit sucky).

Step Up (+70) - 7y++/7x++ reps

Step Up (+50) - 13y++/13x++ reps

- Progress at +50

All in all a good workout, after having been stalled here for a bit, it seems things are moving again.  Was still a little sore too from Thursday's workout.

[Waldo]

I always look forward to todays workout, I wish every day were upper body dynamic day.

11.19.2013

Upper Body Dynamic - Volume

Standard warmup/mobility/prehab

Handstand Pushup - 2y++, 2y++, 2z++, 1z++ reps
Headstand Pushup - 8y++, 8y++ reps
- Might have had rep #3 on the first set if I would have really had the motivation and went for it.
- Went backwards a bit in a single set, however 7 reps is a new volume best.
- Added the extra set to get a volume best, still following a one more total rep progression.
- Headstand pushups went really well afterwards.

False Grip Wide Grip Chest to Bar Pullup - 8x+, 9x+, 9x+ reps
- Going to reserve ++ form for when all reps are from a good dead hang.
- Added a rep to the final 2 sets, been a while since I did that (haven't really been trying too hard, height and quality, not volume, has always been the goal with these).

Neutral Grip Chest to Bar Pullup Rest-Pause Pyramid - 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 - 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 reps
- 5 breaths between sets and 30 set break at the top.
- Completed all sets. Last week was the anomaly, not 2 weeks ago. Next week I add a step and go to a 9 rep pyramid.
- Pyramid training is insanely effective. For those that don't know, it is NOT endurance, the way up and right around the bend, the pauses have the effect of letting you catch your breath and clearing lactic acid. And then you hit true failure (muscles stop working), and rest pause your way back down, failing over and over and over. This bulk my lats have shown very strong growth, and I believe the pyramid work is the main driver of that.

Pseudo Planche Pushup - 6e++ reps
Tuck Planche Pushup - 6x+, 6x+, 5x+, 6x+, 4x+ reps
- About the same as I've been at these.

Concentration Curl (35 lb) - 12y++/12x++, 10x++/10e++ reps
- Ran out of gas there at the end, didn't want to grind a final rep.

GTG 1 sec tuck planche holds - ~5
- Been doing these here and there since my workout, and plan to do a few tomorrow. I don't want to go overboard and do these every day, just days when I've got a recovery break until my next upper body workout (Tue/Wed/Sun, possibly some on Fri/Sat).

[PaulG]

Hey Waldo, I'm curious about your thoughts on pyramid training -- particularly since the way you describe it makes it sound a lot like circuit training. When you say it's insanely effective, do you mean effective for strength gains or just hypertrophy?

I ask because I've been working on chest to bar pull-ups, and right now I can do 7-8 in a workout over 4 sets. The bar touches 1-2 inches under my clavicle and I typically stop my set when the bar stops touching. I'm doing tuck front lever pull-ups, L-sits, and warming up with some ring rows to help activate the muscles for the top of my pull-up. But I'm wondering if pyramid training might get the bar to the top of my abs faster.

[Waldo]

Hey Waldo, I'm curious about your thoughts on pyramid training -- particularly since the way you describe it makes it sound a lot like circuit training. When you say it's insanely effective, do you mean effective for strength gains or just hypertrophy?

I ask because I've been working on chest to bar pull-ups, and right now I can do 7-8 in a workout over 4 sets. The bar touches 1-2 inches under my clavicle and I typically stop my set when the bar stops touching. I'm doing tuck front lever pull-ups, L-sits, and warming up with some ring rows to help activate the muscles for the top of my pull-up. But I'm wondering if pyramid training might get the bar to the top of my abs faster.

Both.

To understand pyramiding you first have to understand rest-pause training, what it is and why it works.

The first step with rest-pause training is to bring your muscles to 100% activation, that is every muscle fiber is used and fatigued. If you know the way muscles work, there are 3 ways to do this:

- Lift some heavy ass weight. When working in the <5RM area, every muscle fiber is recruited by necessity.

- Lift explosively. As long as the neuro connections are in place (you need to train a bit to use your muscles explosively efficiently), by moving explosively you can recruit every muscle fiber.

- Take higher reps to failure/near failure. When doing higher reps as you go more and more fibers are recruited to replace the fibers that fail due to fatigue. Eventually you reach full recruitment of the muscle fibers, physiologically there is very little difference within the muscle between the last few reps before failure of a higher rep set and the reps in a low rep heavy set (there is a neurological difference).

When you bring a muscle to full activation, that activation doesn't go away the instant you remove the tension from the muscle. It takes some time to go away, 30 sec or more.

This is where rest-pause training comes in. The pauses allow for some recovery within the muscle without letting the muscle drop below full activation. All rest-pause reps are essentially "heavy" in the way they affect your muscle. Though not quite as strongly as regular heavy work, there is actually a neurological stimulus as well, due to the preexisting fatigue within the muscle and full activation, the reps "feel" heavier than they really are, neurological recruitment will be trained.

All in all the total fatiguing effect from rest-pause work is dramatic. You are able to much more fully fatigue the muscle than you would be able to otherwise. This has the effect of "faking" a massive volume of work.

You also are doing it with fuel and time efficiency. Fuel burn to move the load will always be a function of the load. So even though the load feels a lot heavier and the body gets wholloped as if you did a much larger volume, you aren't burning up all your energy to do so, which has a positive impact on the rest of your workout. Since the time is compressed, it is an extremely effective use of your time.

The downside of course is that since you are faking huge volumes of a heavy ass load, fatigue and recovery-wise, and doing it fast and without using a ton of gas, it more than kinda sucks to do when cutting; lots of recovery cost, low calorie burn for the fatigue.

With that in mind, pyramiding (specifically rest-pause pyramiding) is a particular variation of this.

Remember the three ways to bring a muscle to 100% activation; bringing the muscle to 100% activation by reaching failure or near failure is one technique. However that doesn't always work for high rep work. When doing high rep work rarely are you failing from fatigue after 100% activation. Instead cardio fitness and/or the ability to handle lactic acid (and the fatigue from it) become the main limiting factors. The pauses and the middle break when pyramiding have the effect of allowing your cardio system to keep up and allowing time for lactic acid to clear. You should not be overly out of breath or be feeling the burn on your way to failure. Once you reach failure (if you are not, you have to move up a rung or do harder exercises, failure is part of it), you should be at 100% activation in your muscles.

The rest of the way on down the pyramid will be like any other rest pause training, the reps will feel a lot heavier than they really are and will have the training effect as if they are a lot heavier than they really are and as if you did a lot more volume than you really did. Chances are on the way back down you will reach failure a few more times as well.

The thing with pyramid training, you really want it to be something you can do quite a few reps of. If you can't get to step 5 on the pyramid, you probably want to use a different strategy (to get to step 5 you need to at least be able to do 10 reps, if not 15, a step 5 pyramid is 30 reps in about 3 minutes). Its really a much more effective alternative to high rep work.

[Waldo]

Went to bed early last night, gonna do it again tonight. Very tired.

11.20.2013

GTG 1-2 sec Tuck Planche Holds throughout the day (~10 holds)

Handstand Practice - 15 min
- Best hold of 21 sec. Just can't break out of the low 20's.
- A lot of subpar holds. Was working on breathing during my holds, didn't always go so good.

Bar Muscle Up - 1+, 2+, 2- reps
Tuck Flag Inverted Hold (2 sec) - 3-/3-, 3-/3-, 3-/3- reps
- Not a great night of muscle ups. First set was with no swing, from a dead hang, with minimal kip.
- Just didn't have the reps in me tonight. Weight might be becoming a bit of a factor. Of course being the day after a volume workout doesn't help at all.
- Lifetime total of 169 good bar muscle ups.
- Had some really great reps on the tuck flag, but I'm not consistently hitting good reps yet, plenty of stinkers in there.

Run 2.6 miles in 22:52.03
- Very good time. As good as I've run in the last couple months. Not a PR, but definitely one of my better times. Odd, I didn't think I was that fast when running it.

 

Between fatigue from yesterday and today's workout, my wrists and forearms are absolutely toast.  Slowly but surely turning a weakness into a strength, though it would be nice if they'd grow a little faster.

[Waldo]

Sometimes I wish that I would get a little more sore in the upper body than I do, just to know I'm doing a good job hitting the muscles I want to hit. Lats are a little sore, shoulders are a little sore, forearms have major sore spots, but other than that, nada. My biceps and chest never get sore.

11.21.2013

Leg Day B - Volume

Lunge Matrix x5

Kick Circuit x5

BW RDL - 10 reps

BW Squat - 10 reps

Standing Leg Hold - 15/15 sec

Pistol Squat (BW) - 5e++/5e++ reps

Pistol Squat (+30) - 9y++/9x++ m{2,2,2,2,2}(5 br) reps

Pistol Squat (BW)(Side to Side) - 31y+/31x+ reps (62 total)

- Added another rep to the activation set. Max reps at +30 is climbing strongly.

- This workout really requires mental fortitude, I've seen both rest pause squats and high rep weighted squats referred to as widowmakers; this includes pretty much both (not to mention being single legged, even more sets). Good grief, not for the faint of heart. Shit works though.

- Added 1 rep per side to the marathon set. By 20 per side I'm just gutting through it, totally out of breath with burning legs and lower back. That set is pure torture.

Shrimp Squat - 10y+/0 reps

- I really need to check the side to side symmetry here eventually, I feel these in one particular part of the quad, make sure I'm not creating an imbalance by trying to eliminate one.

Assisted Natural Hamstring Curl - 5e reps

Natural Hamstring Curl - 5y+, 6y++ reps

- Did not see the wisdom in a 3rd set. These things always have given me strong DOMs, too much can be counterproductive. Strong DOMs in an exercise you do weekly and have for well over a year is a sign of overdoing it.

- Tried to go for rep #7, but got that epic cramp is coming feeling in the hams during the negative, caught myself with my arms and called it good.

[PaulG]

That is an awesome write-up on rest-pause training, which I had never even heard of before now. Thanks.

So clearly it's not going to be a great way to improve my high pull-ups at this stage. One thing that occurs to me is if my rep numbers don't improve over the next few weeks, one option might be to try pyramid training with ring rows. But I'll give it another 3-4 weeks, I'd rather actually train the movement I want to use.

Thanks again!

[Donar]

One thing that occurs to me is if my rep numbers don't improve over the next few weeks, one option might be to try pyramid training with ring rows. But I'll give it another 3-4 weeks, I'd rather actually train the movement I want to use.

 

 

If your rep numbers are stagnant, its time to attack the problem from a different angle.

- Do a different exercise that hits the same muscle groups in a different manner/priority

- weighted versions (less reps at heavier load)

- lighter versions (assisted) with higher intensity/less rest between sets....etc...

 

If you are dead set on continuing to train the same movement, you can try being more explosive at the start of the rep as well.

 

But generally you are going to need to hit your muscles in a different manner once you are hitting a plateau....

 

The athletes at the Olympic Training center will generally stop directly training an exercise (and just do light form stuff) for a period of time when they plateau and focus on a derivative exercise for a few weeks and then come back to it. Let's say a fella is hitting a plateau on his snatch and it is due to his explosiveness off the floor. He will crush deficit deadlifts for a few weeks and then come back to heavy snatches.

[Waldo]

Well I was still pretty darn sore from Tues/Wed workouts today, especially the forearms. Didn't seem to affect me too much tonight though.

11.22.2013

Upper Body Static

Standard Warmup/prehap/mobility

One Arm Wall Handstand (15 sec) - 4/4, 5/5 reps

- First time hitting 5 reps a set.  It certainly wasn't easy and sure wasn't necessary, but a little progress is nice here and there, even though I'm pretty content with very little progress.  These things fry the body, a little dab'll do ya.  It has to be a lot like starting your workout doing deadlifts.  Seems kinda idiotic, especially if you push too hard, but on the flipside, holding yourself upside down on one arm is not something one wants to do at the end of the workout when fatigued either; falling hurts, a lot.

Slow strength circuits (circuit number in parenthesis):

(1) Planche Lean - 15 sec

(2,3,4,5) Tuck Planche (PB's) - 15, 20, 20, 20 sec

- Set 4 of the tuck planche went particularly well.

- I do think that I am underusing my chest on the PB's, as opposed to the floor where I feel I underuse my shoulders.

(1) Tuck Front Lever - 15 sec

(2) Advanced Tuck Front Lever - 15 sec

(3, 4, 5) One Leg Front Lever - 6/6, 5/5, 6/5 sec

- Added a little time again this week.

- Pulled right into the advanced tuck, very strong hold on that.

- Not sure if I pulled something, if it is crampy, or just megasore, but my goodness does my lower right lat every hurt, a couple hours after doing these.

(1) Advanced Tuck Back Lever - 15 sec

(2) Half Layout Back Lever - 15 sec

(3,4,5) Back Lever - 8, 8, 10 sec

- I'm starting to work on pulling back out of these instead of just releasing into a german hang then dropping off the bar.  Getting over my fear of forward rotation on the doorway bar.  Been doing it now for a few weeks on the advanced tuck, today I managed for the first time on the half layout.  Definitely not strong enough to pull back out of a back lever yet.

- I'm also starting to slowly but surely ease away from the lat lock assistance.  Full BL still uses a ton, though I did the advanced tuck with very little, and tried not to overuse it in the half layout.

(1) Floor L-Sit - 15 sec

(2,3,4,5) Middle Split Hold - 10, 9, 10, 9 sec

- Was trying to get my legs extra high today, missed 10 sec twice.

[Waldo]

My heart has pretty much fallen out of this bulk. The fat gain is starting to bother me and I'm in the midst of the spike portion of the gaining wave, which isn't helping at all. I'm very much looking forward to starting to cut. Friday is D-day.

That said progress has been great. I feel a lot bigger. Legs are noticeably larger and I feel my torso is a lot thicker. I also feel like my arms are noticeably larger. I can't complain about the gains at all. Today's measurements were another day of almost across the board gains, legs are moving again after being stalled a few weeks.

Weekend Workouts:

Saturday - Run 5.0 miles in 46:57
- Close to a PR, the 2nd fastest I've run this course. Curious how I've been running pretty fast as of late, usually I'm really slow when bulking, especially late in the bulk.
- Cold was definitely a factor though in the time; I started out very strong, largely 'cause I was freezing my butt off, trying to warm up. That fast start fed into the rest of the run.

Sunday - The usual hour of yoga plus the mini-workout I do sun am (rep based planche and front lever work).
- I cut back on the reps a little bit during the mini-workout. I'm a bit sore and beat up at the moment. I'm going to treat this week as a "deload" week and cut back on the volume and ease up on the RPE's of sets.

[Stronkey Kong]

I like the detailed notes. Well done sir. Sub'd.

 

I'll be checking in and getting caught up shortly.

[Waldo]

Well starting a deload/recovery week, which for me means less volume on volume days and leaving a rep in the tank on intensity days; throttle back on the recovery load big time.

 

11.25.2013

 

Leg Day A - Intensity

 

Lunge Matrix x5

Kick Circuit x5

BW RDL - 10 reps

BW Squat - 10 reps

Standing Leg Raise Hold - 15/15 sec

 

Pistol Squat (BW) - 5e++/5e++ reps

Pistol Squat (+30) - 3e++/3e++ reps

Pistol Squat (+50) - 4x++/4x++, 4x++/4x++, 4y++/4x++ reps

 

Deep Step Ups (+70) - 7x++/7x++ reps

Deep Step Ups (+50) - 13x++/13x++ reps

 

- Not sure if it was progress or the easier pistol work (or both), but the step up were at the same reps as last week, this week I definitely left at least one rep in the tank per set.

[Waldo]

11.26.2013

Upper Body Dynamic

Standard Warmup/Prehab/Mobility

Handstand Pushup - 3y++, 2y++, 1y++, 1y++, 1y++ reps

- Mildly irritating that I couldn't hit 2 reps on set #3.  Got really close to rep #2 on set #4.

- Despite the deload week, this is the one exercise I'm keeping the pedal to the medal on.  1 more rep total than last week.

 

False Grip Chest to Bar Wide Grip Pullups - 8x+, 9x+, 9x+ reps

Wide Grip Pullups - 12x+, 15x+ reps

- No pyramid today, did some standard wide grip pullups instead.

- Once I finish the neutral grip chest to bar pyramid, I'm going to move to doing a standard wide grip pyramid.

 

Pseudo Planche Pushup - 5e++ reps

Tuck Planche Pushup - 6x+, 6x+, 6x+ reps

- One side effect of doing tuck planche pushups is that pseudo planche pushups feel really easy.  Like standard pushup easy.  It has a lot to do with the force generation for TPP's.  While not a purely explosive exercise, the reps are somewhat explosive.  As I get better at generating that pop, applying it to other easier exercises makes them feel very easy.