gpp 8: adding some leg stuff

Started gpp with leg press. It wasnt bad, and i got a nice pump, but it felt like the set took forever when i did each leg individually.

Workout

One leg press

- go up in weight until you cant hit 10reps

- strip sets amap, use negatives

Gpp one arm walk, 50lb kb, 20min

leans 227: cheating for thanksgiving

I wanted to create a lot of metabolic damage so i tried cheating forms of vertical movements. Great great idea.

Workout

Db push press 70x8, 60x11, 50x12

Chin negative 60x11, 40x12, 20x6

Cable curl 30x10, 20x6

Tri bw ext drop set

gpp 7: meh overhead carry

Glad i got a sweat in, but i should have done something unfamiliar today. Neck is feeling a bit squirrely so im off lifting until thanksgiving.

20min

Waiters walk

60lb fat grip

Rear delts

a benefit to general strength

Summary:

General strength training rocks because you are not married to a schedule or progression.

I go to a tiny gym. Most of the time in the morning this isnt a big deal. Some days - like today - all of the shit i want to use is covered, spoken for, or otherwise promise ringed.

In years past, i would have said well fuck. I guess im waiting until it's free. General strength training throws a big fat dump on that notion. Today i knew i wanted to do a horizontal press and horizontal pull. The fact that i couldnt do dips or inverted rows didnt really matter. Finding an alternative - inc db bench and seated cable rows - was as easy as breathing.

The reason general strength training won today is that i was still able to train the muscles i wanted in the plan i wanted in a way that still has a net positive effect over strength and size. I didnt do dips today. Who fucking cares? When i eventually come back to dips ill be fresh and ready to crush them.

leangains 226: punch the clock, horizontal

Lower volume overall today. Not sure if horizontal weights or my conditioning took the piss out of me, but i just didnt have the GRAHHHH today. Not a bad day at all.

Best discovery! I can do handstand pushups again without back pain!!!!

Workout

Warmup

- overhead carry to farmers walk 45lbs

- shoulder presses

(Fg) Inc db bench 70x9, 55x13, 45x26

Cable row 190x9, 170x11, 150x19

Hspux4 > band pux6 > pux8

Band row 1xamap

Hang 35x1min fail

So on my non gym time ive been doing extremely high volume band pullthroughs at home. Very grease the groove per set. No failure. Long intervals in between sets. Pay the toll. Ana is very nonchalant about her SO doing butt stuff while having conversations. Bless her.

leangains 225

Db press 60x5, 50x15,12, 40x21,32

Chin 40x5, 20x12,11, 5x15,9

Pjr 55x8, 40x11

H curl 45x10, 35x11

gpp 6: trap bar carry

Wanted to try trap bar carry post a dan john podcast. Started light but god damn it was still hard. Im so happy. I have a long way to go but this didnt hurt.

My grip and biceps felt this most. We shall see where this impacts tomorrow.

Workout

Trap bar carry 225x12 repsx20min

Chest supported row 40x15, 30x13

Bicep cable curls 3xamap

Hang 25x1min, bwx1min

Comments

Added straps back to hangs. Im getting plenty of grip work from the carry and chins. I need this for the back relief.

gpp session 5: feeling greeeaatttttt

Great session! Came to the gym ready to lift when the chinup doms from yesterday came in. Gpp is fuckin awesome because it's going to aid recovery instead of pushing me deeper in the hole. So gpp it is.

On the programming front, i really enjoyed kb swings in place of squats. As long as ive got a lot of rest in between training (i.e. train, gpp, rest, train) i dont see why i cant be an upper body specialist. Something akin to...

V press 1 6x8

V pull 1 6x8

Kb swings 150 in 3, bis and tris 2x10

H press 1 6x8

H pull 1 6x10

Kb swings 150 in 3, bis and tris 2x10

V press 2 6x8

V pull 2 6x8

Kb swings 150 in 3, bis and tris 2x10

H press 2 6x8

H pull 2 6x10

Kb swings 150 in 3, bis and tris 2x10

6x8 is double reverse pyramid

Top set 2x8

Second tier 2x8+

Third tier 2x8+

Increase weight when the top set meets rep goal

Super set push and pull

Workout

Waiters walk 65x20minx32reps

One arm inv row 2x10

Rear delts 3xamap

leangains 224: unfamiliar movements

Knee is not cleared for squats yet, but it is feeling pretty great. Therapy includes daily extension and protraction band work on each knee (link below on extension, like a band leg extension kinda) and extra glute work like today. No one ever suffered by more glutes, abs, and ass.

Knee band thing

https://www.t-nation.com/training/straightforward-knee-rehab

Warmup

Double overhead carry 30s x 6reps

Farmers walk 30sx6 reps

-- nice compromise between one or the other. Like a mechanical drop set

Workout 

Ring chinup 35x8, 15x9, bwx10 and 1 awful negative

Kb swing 45 x 150 in 3 (goal)

42

41

35

24

22

Hang 2min

Testing out form i read about in 4hr body. Realized i previously had wayyyyy too much hinge. You wouls think that this would provide more power but it does the exact opposite. In this format (shoulders dont go over knees) i felt less in my hams, way more in my glutes, and had a much bigger SNAP via triple extension. Money.

GPP Session 4: Cross walks on the cardio end

I tried to make this more of a cardio session and less of a 'how much weight can i move' session. Turns out this shit is just as hard, but I'm not worried about whether I can get the DB above my head.

Warmup
6min on recumbent bike
Single leg RDL's

Workout
20min cross walk
- 50lb DB fat grip overhead
- 35lbs kettlebell in the walking hand
Very light lat work
Hang

Really could have done without the lat work to be honest. Still sore as fuck from the last RPT session. I ate the house down when I got home. Poor Ana had made a killer breakfast I inhaled. Then went immediately for a second meal.

Reverse Pyramid and Conditioning

Fuckarounditus is my middle name.

This is how things go:
- Use a straightforward routine. Make gains.
- Miss a movement or experiment with a new methodology.
- Continue to tweak until the training system that worked is unrecognizable.
- Try multiple routines. None of them feel right. Or worse. Some of them feel slightly right.
- Revert to old system that was working. Count the months I lost to bullshit.

Remember this asshole. What works for you is reverse pyramid and cardio in the form of GPP. You actually really like it. It's insane that you would ever deviate, but here we are.

REMEMBER STAN. RE-MEM-BER.

Reverse Pyramid Training (right outta leangains)
Trap Bar Dead 2x6
Fat grip dumbbell press 3x8
Tri/Bi 2x10

Fat grip inc DB Bench 3x8
Inv row 3x8
Tri/Bi 2x10

Zercher Squat 3x10
Chinup 3x8
Tri/Bi 2x10

Plateau 1:
- Condition: Reps have not moved up for a week in all tiers (it's ok if set 1 and 2 do not)

- Action: Increase sets on all weights


Plateau 2:
- Condition: Reps have not moved up for 2 weeks
- Action: Change movements


Conditioning
20min of waiters walks, cross walks, or suitcase carries
Minor assistance for back, rear delts, and hamstrings

Don't worry about increasing weight often. Worry about getting more and more reps with the same weight until it becomes easy. This is your cardio motherfucker.

leangains 223: punch the clock

Eating window 330p-8p

Workout

Inc db bench 60x13, 50x21, 40x30

One arm inverted row 35x10, 15x12, bwx15

Pjr pullover 50x12, 40x15

H curl 45x8, 35x9

gpp workout 3: hardest waiters walk

Started trying to 'measure' what im doing here. This was hard. Really really hard.

Warmup

100 yards farmers walk 35lbs

Big 3 abs

Banded leg curls

Workout

20min fat grip waiters walk 

70lbs

20min

26 reps*

Rope j curls

A few sets, no failure

Great actually but i cant feel right lat

Cable rows 

Ditto

Rear delts

2 sets amap

Hang 2min

Comments

Waiters walk was easyish for the first 10min. After that every push press was brutal.

ladder work 222

Need less fatigue. Ladder match. Engage.

Warmup

Farmers walk 100 yards 40lbs

The big 3 abs

Leg curls banded 

Workout 

Fg db ohp 50x3roundsx2,3,5reps

Rdl 135x3roundsx1,2,3 

Chinup 40x3roundsx1,2,3

Db back ext 40x3roundsx2,3,5

Hcurl 40x3roundsx1,2,3

Pullthrough bandedx3roundsx2,3,5

Hang x3 x40lbs

Rdl didnt feel good. May use db rdl next time.

gpp workout 2: one arm farmers walk

Started with a crosswalk, moved to a fat grip farmers, then a one handed fat grip farmers, ended up with one handed farmers.  Im beat the fuck up lol.

Warmup

Band leg curls

Band ohp

Gpp

23min one handed farmers

55lbs

May want to try fat grips here again. Just 55 with a 2in grip fucked me up.

Cooldown

Rear delt raises

Band pullthrough

Stretch shoulders

lift 221: no sleepkmeg workout

Got up at 230 to help a client go live. Couldnt go to sleep after so i went to the gym. Results were expected. I didn't progress but i also didnt regress. 

Ill add in lower body work next week if the knee keeps feeling great. Regardless, i want to switch my upper days so im not doing the same movement over and over.

Workout

Dips 60x6, 40x11, 20x12

Inv row 50x8, 30x11, 10x12

Cable row 57.5x23,23,16

Chest press 25x11,5,3

I like doing chest stuff as assistance on h push day, but i honestly have no idea what to do. Research needed.

band pull throughs

Im born again. How the fuck have i gone through a million different rehab exercises without trying this?? Ive done a billion romanian deads woth barbells dumbbells and bands. Meh. Ive done bodyweight rdls as well with an Ooooooooo that's nice feeling. Ive tried cable band pullthroughs and they always end up being too heavy or too light.

But this. Ohhhhhh baby this.

It's light down below but strong up top where it matters. I get a hammy stretch without a back pump.

It. Is. Perfection.

Im gonna grow such a butt.

GPP Workout 1: Crosswalk

Warmup
Light band overhead press 50-100 reps per arm
Band leg curls 20-50 reps per leg
Band pull through 10-30 reps
Side and front ab bridges

GPP Implements
- 1 fat grip
- 1 dumbbell (waiters walk)
- 1 (Whatever, I used a sandbag. A dumbbell works fine as well)

GPP Workout
20-30min crosswalk
- HAND1: fat grip dumbbell overhead
- HAND2: second implement in farmers position

Increase weight when you walk 1 mile.
Focus on speed.
Do not go to failure (the waiters walk dumbbell will fail first). Switch arms and keep going. Rest when needed but try to keep moving.

Cooldown
Band pull throughs 10-30 reps
Hang from a pullup bar 2-3 sets of 60-120 seconds

condition 220 experimentation and success

Edit: just read what i did (waiters walk + farmers walk) is called a cross walk. Noted.

Edit2: adding a new tag for conditioning

Great god damn workout. Couple of things to note:

- starting with glute work is money

- band pull throughs are legit amazing

- using an unfamiliar playlist for conditioning is a great way to zone in while zoning out

- adding even 1 new element to conditioning makes it dramatically harder

On this last note. I added a few things today. Instead of just doing my nornal waiters walk, i...

- added a fat grip (not net new, did this sat)

- increased the weight. Not really that bad

- added a sandbag carry. BINGO

The sandbag i carried could not have been more than 40lbs and had an easy handle to grasp. And yet (preggo pause) this made me gas faster and way more unstable.

For comparison, i said fuck it and dropped the sandbag a few rounds in. All of a sudden i started moving way faster (less weight no surprise) and became more stable on the waiters walk (...ok surprise).

Food for thought. All in all this was a great workout. 

Workout

Waiters walk combo sandbag carry

20min, about .7 miles (unclear)

- Waiters db 55lbs, fat grip 

- sandbag ??? Lbs

Band curls for back, hams, glutes, shoulders

Hang

Band pullthrough!!!!!

Again, do band pullthroughs

No waiting for the cable machine. It deloads at the bottom of the movement where shear force is at its max but still stretches hams. The contraction up top is wayyyyy more than a cable would be.

condition 219

Pretty punch the clock kind of workout. Nothing spectacular or bad. Back feels a bit squirrely post hang but thats about it.

In other news, eating mostly vegetarian has been pretty sweet. Meals are cheap, delicious, and arent lacking in protein. In still cooking them in animal fat to the max. This vegetarian thing isn't an ethical decision. Rather i would prefer the meat i eat to be as high quality as possible. That's just not feasible economically if i eat it every meal.

Double aside...

Dried prunes. Poop. It's been great.

Sex drive is doing well.

Workout 

Main triset, 3min rest

Dips 60x6, 40x10, 20x12, 1xneg

Inv row 45x10, 25x15, 5x15

Banded leg curls

Assistance, 3min rest

Cable row 110x22,27,15

Rear delt raise 40x22, 20x50, 10x32

Hangx2 sets bodyweight

condition 218 fat grippppsssss

I added fat grips to waiters walks today 

Insert tim and eric bwahhhhhhhhhh gif. Holy fuck that was a good idea. Grip and shoulders are on fire. My heart is pumping. Next session ill start tracking distance so i can measure when to increase weight.

23min

50lb waiter walk

Fat grips

condition 217

Great session! Kinda liking the upper body day while my knee heals (1 more week before we restart squats).

Banded leg curls are a hidden fucking gem. They kick the ever living fuck out of machine leg curls, and hit the glutes too.

Workout 

--Triset, 3min rest between trisets

Dips 50x9, 35x11, 15x11

Inverted row 40x13, 20x11, bwx11

Banded leg curl amap each set

--350 method (50 reps in 3 sets), 3min rest between super sets 

Rear delt raise 35x22,22,10

Cable row 95x23,22,14

--recover

Bw hangx2 sets

Shoulder stretchx2 sets

Fuck if injury doesnt spark creativity man. I dont feel like im lacking by not doing full body. Things like the leg curls and conditioning outside of lower body days feels awesome