This is the fourth week of workouts after Christmas. I changed things about last week so it’s hard to tell whether I’m getting anywhere yet. A couple of surprises with the max effort work but nothing monumental.
My goals
For what it is worth, my current goals are:
- a double bodyweight pull up;
- a 2.5x bodyweight conventional deadlift; and
- bench 100kg (220lbs).
Progress so far and notes
Bench was really easy this week. I have no idea what happened but everything went up nice and easily and there was something left in the tank at the end. Two more weeks and I should have 90kg (200lbs) in the bag for 10 sets of 2 reps. Then I’ll shift over to max effort work for a while.
Weighted pull ups were better than expected, t0o, given how much I hate doing 5RM lifts. High reps! They get me every time! Anyway, I hit 42.5kg (95lbs) without killing myself so I’m fairly confident about 45kg (100lbs) this week. Ideally, I’ll push on up to 50kg (110lbs) and then drop down to a more comfortable 3RM, which I anticipate will be around 60kg (135lbs) and then 1RM, which should start at about 70kg (155lbs).
Deadlifts were also easy (it’s all good news this week!) at 160kg (350lbs) so I’m hoping 165kg (365lbs) will be straightforward this week. The heaviest weight I’ve ever pulled is 170kg (375lbs) and I want 185kg (405lbs) quite badly at the moment. 165kg is 97% of 170kg, so I should be making some headway.
It’s going to be interesting to see how much further I can go with linear progression on the military press, bent-over row and RDL but I’ve got quite a lot of mileage out of them so far…
Without further ado, here is the workout plan
Saturday – Upper focus (max)
| Exercise | Weight | Sets | Reps | Rest | Detail |
| Bench |
88kg |
10 |
2 |
1min30 |
- |
| Pull up |
45kg |
3 |
5 |
3mins |
Work up |
| RDL |
105kg |
10 |
5 |
1min30 |
- |
| Hanging leg raise |
5kg |
3 |
3 |
3mins |
Work up |
Sunday – Lower focus (repetition)
| Exercise | Weight | Sets | Reps | Rest | Detail |
| Deadlift on 2” plates |
165kg |
10 |
1 |
1min30 |
- |
| Glute bridges |
74kg |
10 |
4 |
1min |
- |
| Bent over row |
90kg |
10 |
5 |
1min30 |
- |
| Military press |
48kg |
10 |
4 |
1min30 |
- |
Tuesday – Upper focus (repetition)
| Exercise | Weight | Sets | Reps | Rest | Detail |
| Dip |
32.5kg |
10 |
5 |
1min30 |
- |
| Elbow flexor pull up |
16.25kg |
10 |
5 |
1min30 |
- |
| RDL |
110kg |
10 |
5 |
1min30 |
- |
| Hanging leg raise |
5kg |
3 |
3 |
3mins |
Work up |
Thursday – Lower focus (max)
| Exercise |
Weight |
Sets |
Reps |
Rest |
Detail |
| Pistol off 12” box |
32.5kg |
3 |
5 |
3mins |
Work up |
| Glute bridges |
76kg |
10 |
4 |
1min |
- |
| Bent over row |
92kg |
10 |
5 |
1min30 |
- |
| Military press |
50kg |
10 |
4 |
1min30 |
- |
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Tags: Workouts2 Comments
Hey man,
Great to see you making progress. I’m all about the low reps/high set training when it comes to strength. I have the hardest time getting through to people that there’s a divide between training the nervous system for strength and training the muscle for hypertrophy or conditioning, and that they can happen separately. Of course, if the load is heavy enough and the calories are high then a fair amount of hypertrophy can occur even at low rep ranges. My football boys can attest!
Keep up the good work, man.
Isaac
Isaac, thanks for stopping by. Great to hear from you again.
I completely agree. I’ve found low reps and high sets are a great way to “build a base” and, as you say, produce a fair amount of hypertrophy when you’re eating for it. I’ve put on over 15lbs in 3 months so far, which I feel is pretty good for an old man