Sets of faahve

January 3

Only a mild bit of soreness from yesterday. But awake since 3:30am so had a bad feeling about this morning.

Deadlift:
20kg x 5 (RDL)
70kg x 5 (conv)
100kg x 5 (conv)
120kg x 3 (conv)
120kg x 3 (sumo)
120kg x 3 (sumo)
140kg x 1 (sumo)
145kg x 3 (sumo)
145kg x 3 (sumo)
145kg x 3 (sumo)
145kg x 3 (sumo)
145kg x 3 (conv)

Calibrated plates. Giving sumo another try today as I was just messing about. Used a more moderate stance which meant getting into position was easier. Was able to brace and lock in lats to get bar moving at same time as hips, so technique was probably good. But weight was probably too light for any technique problems to show.

CG bench:
20kg x 10
40kg x 10
60kg x 10
60kg x 10
60kg x 10

Grand.

EZ skullcrusher:
10kg x 12
20kg x 12
20kg x 12
20kg x 12

Grand.

WG NG pullup/tricep pushdown:
x 1/ 35kg x 15
x 5/47kg x 15
x 5/47kg x 15
x 5/47kg x 15

Grand.

Just having some fun today. Mad arm pump though.

January 8

Squat:
20kg x something
60kg x 5
80kg x 3
* belt *
100kg x 3
120kg x 3

Nothing mad. Minimal amount of reps just so I can keep practising form.

Sumo deadlift:
70kg x 5
* belt *
120kg x 5
135kg x 6
135kg x 6
135kg x 6
135kg x 6

Calibrated plates. Keeping the weight low so I can practise both form and setup over reps. I have always been bad for repping deadlifts as I spend so much time setting up, I go out of breath really easily. Just trying to streamline everything. But I don't think it worked out well as although I was bracing core and lats, I wasn't bracing them as hard as I could have. Need more practise.

Bench:
20kg x 10
50kg x 8
70kg x 5
80kg x 6
80kg x 6
80kg x 6

Calibrated plates. Reckon bench isn't too far off where it was before Christmas.

OHP/goblet squat:
20kg x 10/
30kg x 8/30kg x 8
40kg x 8/40kg x 8
40kg x 8/40kg x 8
40kg x 8/40kg x 8

Nothing mad.

Grand day.

January 16

Was going to deadlift today, but Tuesday's squats were so bad that I wanted to instill some good form, purely for my head.

Squat:
20kg x something
60kg x 5
80kg x 3
* belt *
100kg x 3
120kg x 3
130kg x 5
130kg x 5

Form felt solid throughout (aside from a crap rep 4 in set 1) and looked perfect in video. However, my left elbow started to throb like a mofo so I cut these short.

SSB squat:
100kg x 5
100kg x 5
100kg x 5

Because I couldn't straight bar squat. Haven't used SSB in ages but these felt pretty damned easy. Probably should have challenged myself with more weight.

WG bench:
20kg x 10
50kg x 8
70kg x 5
75kg x 5
75kg x 5
75kg x 5

Thought maybe comp bench might hurt, so did wide grip in the hopes the shorter ROM would mean less elbow flexing. In retrospect, I should have cracked on with normal bench as squat elbow rarely affects bench anyway. Easy weight, but felt my titties burn anyway.

Facepull:
35kg x 12
35kg x 12
35kg x 12

Grand.

Hammer curls:
5kg x 20 (standing)
5kg x 20 (incline)
5kg x 20 (standing)
5kg x 20 (incline)
5kg x 20 (standing)
5kg x 20 (incline)

120 reps from two different angles. Figured they might help a bit with the elbow. Dunno. 5kg was so light I didn't even get a pump.

Argh, weird day.

January 29

Squat:
20kg x 8
70kg x 5
* belt *
100kg x 3
110kg x 5
110kg x 5
110kg x 5
110kg x 5

Calibrated plates. Form was solid. Can't complain.

WG bench:
20kg x 10
50kg x 8
70kg x 5
75kg x 5
75kg x 5
75kg x 5
75kg x 5

Calibrated plates. Form was a little shakey. Bar chest location was inconsistent and leg drive was a bit light. I'd put it down to not being used to the WG variation.

WG pullups/facepulls:
x 3/29kg x 12
x 5/35kg x 12
x 5/35kg x 12
x 5/35kg x 12

Grand.

Considering it's only the 2nd session in almost two weeks, everything felt better than expected. Can't complain.

February 4

Squat:
20kg x something
70kg x 5
* belt *
90kg x 3
110kg x 3
115kg x 4
115kg x 4
115kg x 4
115kg x 4
115kg x 4
115kg x 4

Calibrated plates. Form perfect. Just drilling technique and trying not to take too long between sets.

WG bench:
20kg x 10
50kg x 8
70kg x 8
70kg x 8
70kg x 8
70kg x 8

Calibrated plates. A bit too easy. Should have gone for sets of 10 or up to 75kg.

Barbell rows:
60kg x 10
70kg x 10
70kg x 10
70kg x 10

These were grand.

Grand session. Had some single leg stuff planned but ran out of time because I ended up chatting too much :rolleyes:

February 12

Squat:
20kg x something
60kg x 5
80kg x 5
* belt *
100kg x 3
100kg x 1
120kg x 4
120kg x 4
120kg x 4
120kg x 4

Recorded 100kg warmups and my bracing and depth was trash. Was able to fix it before hitting top sets. Strength was grand.

WG bench:
20kg x 10
50kg x 8
70kg x 5
80kg x 5
80kg x 5
80kg x 5
80kg x 5

Calibrated plates. Never really pushed heavy with wide grip before as it is always sluggish off the chest. Went up today and it was actually fine.

Bulgarian goblet split squat:
x 5s
10kg x 5s
15kg x 8s
15kg x 8s
15kg x 8s

Have seen this horrible looking variation before and wanted to give it a try. Good few resets as I almost fell over because my single leg stuff is crap. Weight was fine. Just need to practise this movement more.

Another day of just getting to the gym and lifting whatever. Grand.

February 20

Training twice two days in a row this week, which is less than ideal.

Squat:
20kg x something
60kg x 5
* belt *
100kg x 3
120kg x 3
130kg x 3
140kg x 3
120kg x 5

Form felt good today so decided to push the weight to see how I'd get on. 140kg felt fine on my back. 3rd rep was a grind but form was spot on for all three reps. Bar path good and no good morninging.

For comparison purposes, the last time I pushed a LB rep max was March last year and it was 145x5. Bit of a difference in weight and reps, but that's when I was training more frequently. I compared the videos and form is a world apart from last year. More patient with bracing and the bar isn't bullying me around. Looks like being conservative with weight and trying everything to perfect form has paid off. Elementary stuff, but better late than never.

WG bench:
20kg x 10
50kg x 8
70kg x 5
80kg x 5
80kg x 5
80kg x 5
80kg x 5
80kg x 5

Same weight as last week but more sets. Grand. Perhaps too easy.

OHP/pullup:
20kg x 10
30kg x 10
40kg x 8/x 6
40kg x 8/x 6
40kg x 8/x 6

Grand.

DB lateral raises:
5kgs x 12
5kgs x 12
5kgs x 12

Grand.

Good day.

February 26

Another week of training twice only and two days in a row. Decided to suss out how a day of a Hepburn template program would go.

Squat:
20kg x something
60kg x 5
* belt *
100kg x 3
120kg x 1
130kg x 2
130kg x 2
130kg x 2
130kg x 2
130kg x 2
130kg x 2
130kg x 2
130kg x 2

90s rest. Bar felt heavy. Had one rep where things got fairly shakey at the bottom and I forgot how to use my legs. Aside from that, form felt solid throughout.

OHP:
20kg x 10
30kg x 8
40kg x 3
45kg x 2
45kg x 2
45kg x 2
45kg x 2
45kg x 2
45kg x 2
45kg x 2
45kg x 2

60s rest. Grand.

Single leg hamstring curl/goblet squat:
17kg x 6/40kg x 6
17kg x 6/40kg x 6
17kg x 6/40kg x 6

Grand.

Pullup/lateral raise:
x 6/5kgs x 10
x 6/5kgs x 10
x 6/5kgs x 10

Grand.

To save some googling, Hepburn routines generally have two phases per session; a power phase (main lifts) and a pump phase (variations/accessories) and each use a slow form of progressive overload by adding a single rep per session.

There are about 100 different implementations of Hepburn routines. I'm doing the 8 x 2-3 for power and supersetting a main lift accessory with something going in the opposite direction. But looking at the above, I made a balls of the rep scheme so need to address that.

Hepburn routines work, but work slowly. As in, need to do it constantly for at least 6 months before any progress is shown. It would suit me as a) I'm not planning on competing any time soon and b) each session is supposed to take less than an hour (above took about 1h5m).

Will see how tomorrow goes.

March 4

Started new job which means getting to my gym is a nightmare. Work has a crappy commercial gym across the road which I joined. Has two squat racks and a bunch of machines so not holding much hope for being able to train like a powerlifter.

Plan is to train like a bodybuilder for ~40 minutes of my lunch break and get to my regular gym for a cheeky SBD session when I can. For now, I'll do a legs/push/pull split as that seems like the best use of my time.

Goblet squat:
17.5kg x 10
27.5kg x 10
40kg x 10
40kg x 10
40kg x 10
40kg x 10
40kg x 10

One squat rack was taken by someone doing RDLs and the other by someone doing ring rows??? There's an entire multifunctional rig elsewhere he could have used but apparently he does this all the time. Sigh. Anyway, I did no warmups and jumped into the above because it's a new gym and I'm outta my comfort zone so was out of breath in no time.

Walking DB lunges:
15kgs x 12
15kgs x 12
15kgs x 12

12 = 6 per side. These were bad because I was still out of breath from the goblet squats.

Leg press:
40kg x 10
60kg x 10
60kg x 10
60kg x 10

First time ever using a leg press. Just went deep as possible like Mike Israetel. Each rep was challenging but sets of 10 weren't. Hard to know what weight to put on so need to experiment.

I don't like the gym but it's better than no gym at all. Going forward, might go 5 days a week and do legs/push/pull/lower/upper. With 5 short sessions, I might just be able to make something resembling progress eventually.

March 5

Push day

WG bench:
20kg x 10
50kg x 8
70kg x 5
80kg x 5
80kg x 5
80kg x 5

Rack free today. Benches are all adjustable ones and narrow, slippy ones at that. Had to modify my leg drive to avoid stapling myself.

Incline bench:
60kg x 4
50kg x 6
50kg x 6
50kg x 6

My incline has always been a good bit weaker than flat but 60kg was far too much to start with today, so had to wind it down.

Seated DB press:
12.5kg x 8
17.5kg x 8
17.5kg x 8
17.5kg x 8

Not sure if I was doing these right.

Lateral raises:
7.5kg x 8
7.5kg x 8
7.5kg x 8

The 5kgs were used and I'm not strong enough to do more than what I did.

DB skullcrushers:
7.5kg x 15
7.5kg x 15
7.5kg x 15

Thought this could have been too light but triceps were burnt out by the end.

Tricep rope pushdown:
x 10
x 10
x 10

Just went with whatever the pin was on. It was too heavy and these felt awful. Mad tricep pump though.

Today was surprisingly enjoyable. Assumed rack was going to be taken and had planned on DB benching so this was nice.

Barbells have no center knurling so I imagine squats will be tough. Immediately went online to buy A7 grip shirts but everything my size is sold out. Except the union jack ones, but 800 years and all that.

March 9

Leg day

Paused goblet squat:
20kg x 10
30kg x 5
40kg x 10
40kg x 10
40kg x 10

Squat racks in use so here we go again. Was smarter with my warmups so didn't kill myself and feel sick, unlike last week. Paused them for extra quads. Meant to do 5 sets. Oops.

Walking DB lunges:
12.5kgs x 8
12.5kgs x 8
12.5kgs x 24

8 = 4 per leg. Gym was crowded so not much room for these, so made up for it when I got some space.

Leg press:
40kg x 10
80kg x 10
80kg x 10
80kg x 10

These were hard. Last week I wasn't sure if I went heavy enough. I know I did today.

When I started at the leg press, I noticed the squat racks were actually being used for squatting. Faith in humanity restored, until I saw the squats. About 2-3" away from depth with both of them. Sigh. One rack freed up while I was on leg press and I was tempted to grab it but was practically out of time.

March 11

Pull day

RDL:
60kg x 5
100kg x 5
110kg x 6
110kg x 6
110kg x 6

Rack was free so took advantage. Yeah, I felt weak. I expect my hamstrings to be in bits tomorrow.

One arm DB row:
22.5kg x 10
22.5kg x 10
22.5kg x 10

Grand. Bit easy.

Chest supported DB row:
12.5kg x 10
12.5kg x 10
12.5kg x 10

Better form than last week. Got a good squeeze at the top.

Pull up:
x 6
x 6
x 6

Felt weak.

Face pull:
45kg x 20
45kg x 20
45kg x 20

Felt too easy.

Grand day.