This is the last day i train in 2018. Im breaking down mentally (physically...totally ok) and need a short break.
January 3rd ill be back at it with a vengence.
Since we are already here, i may try some shit i read about in a tight slacks of dezso ban article. We shall see.
All i know is im depressed, tired, and angry. Not sustainable. To be fair, i did not feel this way on the wisconsin method (possibly because the volume was too low to fail to recover from).
Workout
Chinup 55x5, 30x6, 5x8
Lets review morning activities
- up at 830
- anime
- sleepybutnotangryhungover.jpeg
- grab peanut butter, honey, a spoon, and soda water. Breakfast
- 12p, so slow
- gym
Workout
Dips 90x5, 60x6, 30x12
-- i like these for slightly higher reps than singles. The first set was hard af
Cable rows
-- need to find more back friendly options for push day pull accessory
Kb swing 6 rounds 20/10
Feel much better overall. Not sure where this doom and gloom is coming from. Dropping most carbs until i level out.
Sex drive: instant then gonezo
Mood/confidence: b+
A note about the sex drive. This is not to say it's absent 99% of the time, its more a boolean factor. When it's on, holy fuck it's on. Most of the time, it's just not.
Rewinding a few years, i slept with someone i shouldnt have out of the blue. The moment we started making out, i was so turned on it hurt.
I still think the porn free life is healthy and worth continuing, but i do not expect my dormant sex drive to suddenly be 18 again unless im actively sleeping with someone.
Workout
Chinup
52.5x5
27.5x7
2.5x8
--Still easy
Hammer curls
Kb swings
Shoulders
Neck
Im dragging copious amounts of ass (although less than the past few days). Gonna back off on the squats at home to see if that helps.
A large factor here could be that my diet for the past 2 weeks was very carb heavy. Slowly shifting back towards keto-ish (high fat, medium protein, vegetables except around workouts or the odd carb dose).
Sex drive: nada
Mood and confidence: fine
Workout
Btnpp 225x1, felt a little heavy but moved quickly
205x3,2
185x8
Conditioning was hardddddd
We are dropping carbs (except veges) until this fog leaves. I was describing what i feel to my buddy yesterday. Funny that he feels it in the same places.
With porn, carbs, whatever. I feel:
- my voice gets higher
- less confident
- more introverted
- a tight jaw
- more easily bothered or angered
- tension like someone is lightly choking me on the V coming around my neck
Porn free: 2 days. Woof. That's all?
Sex drive: 0. It will come back with a vengence, but the reliance on porn needs to fade
Mood/confidence: shit
Not sure if im doing too much in the gym or if im just generally burnt out (or column 3, are my weekend activities burning into my week).
Workout
Chin from rings
50x5
25x6
Bwx8
--turning hands to get some extra bicep action
Hspu, only 8 reps
Went to a new gym today because the old one is under construction. Something great that happened was i was surrounded by people stronger than me. Holy crap that was nice.
I attempted to do snatch rack pulls, but that is still not on the menu. Overall weak day today.
We are back off porn. Read something on r/pornfree i really liked. It's worth mentioning again...saying i do not look at porn is an attribute. My name is Aaron, i am 5ft 11, and i do not look at porn. State it like a fact, repeat often. As stated in a previous thread, this is not a rail against masturbation. This is a fight against constant dopamine release. Every time im able to abstain, life just gets better. Im in better moods, my outlook is more positive, i treat my friends better, and i kill it harder at work. This is who i need to become.
Workout
Ohp 165x1, daily min was rough today
Ohp isometric 10 sets x 6 seconds
Two things happened right after an overhead 255 this week.
1. Porn
2. Failed attempts past my daily mins
Today in particular was disappointing. I hit my daily min easily. It was heavy without really slowing down. My instinct was to stop. My actions were to put another 10lbs on. Annnnd i failed. Im pushing for more dopamine release via sex and prs, and it's not healthy. Back to basics tomorrow.
Workout
Ohp 165x1, 175xfail
Ohp 135x4,2
Ohp 115x14
Bw rows
Tricep pushdowns
Kb swing, 53lbs, 4 rounds
Rear delts
Maybe it's been a long week, maybe it's because i hit a grindish pr yesterday, maybe it's Maybeline (Got'em). I am dragging ass mentally and physically. I even look worse. Wowwwwwweewowwwwww.
All good. Annoying but temporary. I may take a day off if i still feel shitty tomorrow.
Sex drive/mood/confidence: poop
Workout: poop
Wide grip ring pullup
75x1, 45x3, 10x8
Hspu mech dropset
Curls
Depth jumps 4 rounds
Rear delts
Got amazing sleep, woke up ready for love.
Sex drive/confidence/mood: a+
Workout
Btnpp 255x1 PR!!!!!
--225 is my daily min, 245 felt easy af, 255 got a little scary
Btnpp 205x3, 195x3
Ring bw pullups
Tricep pushdowns
Box jumps 5 rounds
Stretch
Thoughts for today
Although increased shoulder/tricep strength and size fed into today, im guessing plyometrics played a good deal more. Jump power ftw!
I feel 85% more human than yesterday, but i damn near puked near my last set of chinups. Some developments:
- heavier backoff sets (and more of them) may be worth exploring as opposed to 1 heavy and 1 light backoff
- when feeling shitty or more tired than the G man on day 7, some conditioning is better than no conditioning. Meaning, drop the rounds from 5 to 2 or 3
Workout
Chinup 110x1, not bad
Chinup 55x3x3, felt great
Hspu drop set, 15 reps on hspu
Ez bar curls 85x13, 55x21
Depth jumps, 2 rounds
-- love these. They felt awkward though
Rear delts
No time to stretch today.
Reread matthew perrymans book, squat every day, last week to see if i could gain additional tidbits about what im trying to accomplish.
The piece that rang true to me this time is 'individual workouts mean nothing.' My largest derailment on programs ive written (or naturally enhanced) is my interest dries up the moment the gains train does. This may happen for several reasons unrelated to the gym. Poor sleep, work stress, and (lets be honest) an occasional rock and roll lifestyle.
It usually goes like this
- The gains in reps or weight stop for 2 weeks
- small grief, acceptance, change movements
- new movement is weaker than it ever has been. Continues to get worse. Wtf.jpeg
- switch to another movement or reset weight entirely. Same shit happens
- get tired during work hours. Cant sleep. Classic. Start emotional eating, get fatter than when i started. Question my judgement
- change program. Ooooo i like this!
- repeat
High frequency means that stalled progress on a workout means absolute dick. There is no end goal of tapering (i.e. periodization, the answer to fatigue management), just work. The prs will come, and they will come without breaking the bank.
Fun little bonus.
No words. Can express. How bad i feel right now. Great weekend. Greeeeaaatttt weekend. But omfg kill me.
Party in your 20s:
My i think i need some water and a nap
Party in your 30s:
What do i have to do with minimal effort to hari kari? Im gonna shove vitamin c and tumeric down my throat cause i think thatll help oh god the goggles they do nothinggggggggg.
Workout
Ohp 165x1
Ohp 135x6
Ohp 105x16
Ring bw pullups
Tri extensions bw drop set
Kb swing 3 rounds lol
Stretch
Hit my daily min easily and called it quits. My backoff sets were interesting, as i gained easy reps on both (great sign, especially since im dying).
Noticed my arms are looking sexy af this weekend. Also noticed that im not really getting leaner atm. Dial in the junk time. I have further to go than i think.
Still greatly enjoying no discipline mode. No reason at all to change this up. The ability to choose an exercise based on equipment availability in my tiny gym is money.
Very much a punch the clock workout. Felt good, enjoyed it, but nothing spectacular. Best things to note:
- reengaged neck training now that my cyst is donezo. Last week, inverting myself was way too painful
- box jumps for conditioning are moneyyyyyy. I may try depth jumps in the next few days as well
Workout
Chin 105x1
Chin 50x4
Chin 25x7
Zercher shrugs 135x3x10
--fun, but bothered my neck until i did my headstands
H curls 40x12, cable curls 95x???
Hspu drop set
Box jumps 4 rounds
Stretch
Im loving this to be honest. Im definitely more sore due to the increased volume, but that's not really holding me back. It's so weird that this exact same methodology is something i railed against 8 years ago. Something along the lines of you cant confuse muscles yadda yadda. I mean, yes, you can't. But there is something to be said for switching to similar movements and overuse. I feel like im less likely to get bent up because ive been doing the same movement for 2 weeks straight.
How are we doing this?
- main movement
Decide before or at the gym. I know im going to do a push or pull day when i arrive, but the actual movement may change based on equipment availability. This is money because im not dependent on anything being free to start.
Top set is a daily min. Sometimes push it further, sometimes not
Backoff sets are 1-3x3-8 and 1-3x6-20. Dont overthink this, just get in some work with solid form
- alternate movement
On pull days, do hspu > clap pu > pu > decline pu
On pull days, do some sort of curl
On push days, do some sort of triceps
- conditioning
!!!Change what you do daily as well! Movement, methodology, etc. The goal is to sweat and be gasping for breath.
- rear delts
2 sets, one heavy partial, one light af
- stretch
I do quads, hips, hamstrings and glutes, chest
I feel amazing today. Everything is turned on full. Im gonna kill it today. Im so glad i got that cyst drained yesterday. The ability to not be in pain is so so nice.
Sex drive: super high
Mood/confidence: likewise
Workout
Inc dumbbell bench (30deg)
100x1
70x14,16
Ring bw pullups
Triceps bw ext
Kb swings 5 rounds
Resr delts 35x20, 5x72
Stretch
Only got my top set for 1. The rep was solid, but a second would have been a grinder. Next week ill retry for 2 reps. Its not much now, but ive never been able to incline that much. Given that this is my gyms top dumbbell, ill work on reps here.
Going to a dermatologist today to look at the cyst in my ear. Fuck this thing. Whenever i do handstand pushups, pressure runs to the infected area and it hurtsssssss.
Sex drive: annoyingly high. Woke up with a boner at 5a that i refused to take care of.
Boner: fine bitch, youre not sleeping. WAHHHHHHH sex dreams sex dreams sex deams WAHHHHHHH
Still feel fine, but wtf.
Mood/confidence: a+
Workout
Chinup on rings
1x1 100, easy, set as daily min
1x1 110, wtf barely
2x3 50
1x8 25
1x5 25
Hspu mech dropset (14 reps on hspu)
Ez bar curls, 3 sets to failure
Hiit 4 rounds, dumbbell rdl
I really wanted to do hack deadlifts or pendlay rows today, but decided against it (happy about this decision). Anything that puts a lot of shear force on my back is out of bounds. Im still feeling great with rdl, ring pullups (weighted and unweighted), and cable rows as my main non press options. Eventually, i want to migrate in oly pulls again so my traps and back really pop. Long term, i would like to get back to front squats as well, but thats not a close target.
Couldnt sleep last night, so gym occurred tonight instead of this morning. It definitely felt weird to break my cycle. Also my roommage got so used to me leaving in the morning that she the same sang full volume from the moment she got up until the moment she left (lots of alexa, can you play that again).
Felt pretty good to lift at night again, but the gym was a fucking zoo.
I really enjoy the lack of discipline this week. Im still focussed every session (after all, ive got 1 movement), but i feel strong on everything.
Sex drive: back to nothing, but this is fine
Mood/confidence: a+
Workout
Dips 115x1, 55x11,5, 25x22,11
Bw tricep extensions
Kb swings 40lbs, 5rounds
Rear delts
-- i like one set of partials (30 to 50 lbsx30) followed by one light (5 lbs x 70)
Stretch
I was most of the way into doing rdls, then decided to do sdls instead. Brilliant! Dont do that again. Rdls are there for a reason...they are a recovery agent. Sdls are not. Also, you hate them. You hate them!!!! Wtf is wrong with you? If we go back to pulls, they will be heavy rows and oly lifts. End of story.
Sex drive/mood/whatever: fuck you
Workout
Sdl 335x3, why??? Easy but why?
Rdl 245x6
Rdl 185x21
Ring pullups bw only
Hspu > clap pu > pu > knee pu
-- got 20 hspu!
Rear delt work
Today felt friggin great! It def helped that i didnt eat a large dominoes poison flat the night before.
I may be a little more careful with how often i do neck work. Not sure if im doing more harm than good.
Workout
Btnpp 225x1
--this is a safe daily min. I could have kept pushing for a higher single
Btnpp 185x4,9
Btnpp 145x10
Ring chinups 70x3, 25x10, 10x8
Tricep pushdowns (cables)
Kb swings (5 rounds of 40/20, 40lbs)
Rear delts
Stretches
Ohhh this feels great! No rules! This is as formatted as we get.
- hit a daily min 1rm-3rm
- heavy backoff sets 1-3x3-6
- light backoff sets 1-3x8-20
- super set everything with ring pullups
- on non press days: hspu > clap pu > pu > knee pu
- arm pump everyday (mix up movements)
- conditioning or cardio depending on time
- neck work
- rear delts and stretches
This takes about 40min unless cardio is in the mix. Usually i finish my main movement and pullups in 20min.
That being said, i feel wretched today. Yesterday was filled to the brim with shit i had given up. Post going out (which, i was sober when i left):
- large pizza
- porn
The silver lining here is i feel awful. Straight up terrible. Nervous, slow, inflammed, tired, shy, introverted, you fucking name it. Within a day, the inflammation i caused will be gone and done with. Then we can get back to progress.
Workout
Rdl 345x2, too heavy for a daily min
Rdl 275x3,3, still too heavy for backoff
Rdl 185x18,10, perfect
I felt like mixing things up a bit. I can tell ive been jonesing to explore other rep ranges, methodologies, etc, but i get bored af 2 days in when i see the rigged progression i need to follow.
Ok...week 1 we do 8x3. Week 2 we try to add one more reppppppp. Gross. You mean i dont get to try this again for a week? What happens if i fail? That week is gonezo. How many weeks do i stick to this until i reach 3x8? Do i want to kill myself before or after reaching that goal?
The straw that broke rhe camels back was a top set of 140x2 banded ohp yesterday. Ya, that was fucking hard. Ya, i enjoy the bands (although i have no idea how heavy the top range of motion is). But the idea of that being it feels wrong.
Today we went more the route of matthew perryman (see: squat every day) than the wisconsin method. Instead of hitting a max all out single, i hit a difficult single with about 5 to 10 lbs left in the tank. Follow this by some backoff sets. Ez. Auto regulated, easy to follow, and i canswap out movements daily as needed.
The only things that arent changing are ring pullups. Those are great, and my back is looking sexy af despite the absence of heavy pulls.
Workout
Ohp daily min 165x1
Ohp 135x4,4
Ohp 105x12,10
No surprises today. Banded overhead press is fucking hard! Lost a rep from yesterday as the weight increased, but i barely got 135x3 yesterday.
Only other comment is i want to avoid weighted chinups everyday. It feels better to do 1 weighted day, 2 bw days. My shoulders will thank me.
Sex drive/mood/confidence: meh
Workout
Pink banded ohp 140x2
I want to elaborate on my post from this morning. Every time i get injured, i return stronger. This is not because the injured area reinforces itself (quite the opposite), it's because injuries force you to address what you have been successfully ignoring.
This may be soft tissue work, major muscle imbalances, tight muscles, a bad god damn diet.
Every injury has forced me to find a new way of working out the same muscles. While i may not get stronger in the recovery phase, im priming the pump to explode once the injury is healed.
This being said, i would not wish any of these injuries on my worst enemy. If i could return to age 26 before a herniated disc when i was able to throw 270 around like it owed me money, you bet your ass i would.
Be careful, lift with aggression, but know that injury opens as many doors as it closes.
Every god damn time i take a detour from wisconsin, i bail 2 days in. Why? Usually cause the progression scheme is fucking boring as fuck.
This time is was for 2 reasons:
- boring as fuck
- i feel tirrred and beaten up holy shit man
This makes me feel like when i was lifting 5 times a week with similarish volume. I was getting strong, but jesus i was tired all the time. I guess you can just call that under recovered? Ive got better sleep and diet habits now...but its the same result.
The idea of daily exercise cycles whole adding reps sounds great, until you look at a 5 week mesocycle. Holy fuck that is boring. I like wisconsin because it is scary, and useful, and strangely easy to recover from. If i cant strength, condition, and stretch in the same week without dying then wtf am i doing?
Sex drive/mood/confidence: booooooo
Workout
Pendlay row 185x8x3
Go suck an egg
Mixing things up again. Getting a little too close to injury on a daily basis, so working on adding reps instead of weight for the next few weeks. Worst case scenario, gains. Oh noes!
Sex drive: non existent. Tried to force it last night. stopped myself and damn glad i did.
Mood/confidence: about 3.50
Workout
ohp 135x8x3
Ring pullups
Hspu > clap pu > pu > knee pu
Bw tricep mech dropset
Conditioning box jumps
- 4 rounds
- 40s on/20s off
Rear delts
Stretches
I like what Jamie Lewis said back in 2009: i could not love a newborn baby more than i love shrugs.
I havent been able to do shrugs pain free since my injury, and today is no different. I did a few sets then quit the more my back screamed. Its not even pain!!! I can feel the muscles around my back locking up to protect the original injury.
Post workout i did a ton of stretching and conditioning. I feel fine. But the damage has been done.
Workout
Shrugs 405x5x3
-- rack pull with an explosive shrug and hold. Easy as hell, but not great rigjt moew.
