Veni, vidi, levavi, BenM Blathers

[Mahendra]

Late to the party, but thanks for the write up on the seminar.

Regarding Pressing - when I did press, I liked/preferred a narrower grip. Not sure if it made a difference, but it felt better on my shoulders.

Notes:
- Feeling tired, sore, grumpy and depressed. Heart really wasn't in this tonight, so while I'd normally throw some extra pump stuff into this lighter day, I just did what was in the RX and no more. Only took 31 minutes. Hopefully tomorrow will be better.

Hopefully it'll pass soon... I know the feelz...

[BenM]

Late to the party, but thanks for the write up on the seminar.

Regarding Pressing - when I did press, I liked/preferred a narrower grip. Not sure if it made a difference, but it felt better on my shoulders.

Notes:
- Feeling tired, sore, grumpy and depressed. Heart really wasn't in this tonight, so while I'd normally throw some extra pump stuff into this lighter day, I just did what was in the RX and no more. Only took 31 minutes. Hopefully tomorrow will be better.

Hopefully it'll pass soon... I know the feelz...

Any time, man! Yeah my left shoulder occasionally bothers me on overhead press especially, but I think you're right, the narrower grip is better for that. I have been doing so much benching and pressing lately and it's barely been giving me a hint of trouble (touch wood) so perhaps I've been getting into a better position in both.

We all go through bad patches I guess. I am a moody prick at the best of times but have had a couple of highs and lows in the last week, being injured just makes it worse. It doesn't help that I'm also an impatient bastard.

Thu 22/02/18: Bench specialisation, W3 D3

Food yesterday: 2260 kcal (WTF)

Activity yesterday: 12.9 steps

Sleep last night: 7 hrs 14 mins - 38 mins awake

AM BW: 71.9kg (-0.2kg from yesterday)

Morning Cahdio:
Assault Bike - 11km in 20 mins, 57 secs, ave HR 111BPM, 173kcal

Evening Lifting:
Overhead Press (3.0):
5x20kg
5x20kg
5x30kg
5x40kg @ 8.5
5x40kg @ 8.5
5x40kg @ 8.5
5x40kg @ 8.5
5x40kg @ 8(?!)
4 min rests

Push Press:
7x40kg on virtually no rest after the press sets

Spoto Bench Press:
10x20kg
10x40kg @ 6
10x52.5kg @ 9
10x52.5kg @ 9.5
10x52.5kg @ 9.5
4 min rests

Dumbbell Bench Press:
25x32.5lbs / side
24x32.5lbs / side
AMRAP sets, 3 min rests

*Chest Supported Rows (5 second pause at top):
3x15x25 lbs / side

*Tricep Pushdowns (bar):
1x25x15kgs too light meh
2x25x20kgs still pretty light, but enough

*Supersetted last two movements on 3 min rests

Notes:
- Finding it hard to stay motivated to eat more and gain weight when my training is suboptimal. But tonight's session was decent.
- Changed presses to the 3.0 style from a dead stop - I pressed this weight at the seminar for fahves and they felt like @9 - form must be improving I think. The RX was for @8 and for some reason the last set was the easiest.
- Not much else to say. Spoto pressing felt OK. Might have been able to get 2x25 on the dumbbell pressing, but pussed out. And those rows with the pause... my back was working hard but my forearms were gonna give out first. Had a mega back and arm pump by the end and was pleasantly surprised to get all this done in bang on 60 mins, I thought it'd be a much longer session. It's late though, so I'll do the video tomorrow if I can get to it.
- Feeling a little more positive, knowing I have a couple of days off training and a pretty short work week next week. No idea what my training is gonna look like yet, will see how I feel. Hope y'all reading have a great night

[slowmotion]

Hope you will feel better soon, Ben. And that your injuries heal up.

[BenM]

Thanks @slowmotion - I'm sure it'll be fine. Just feeling a bit burnt out. This is one reason why I feel like I need a coach for that objective feedback, otherwise I have a tendency to just go hard hard hard all the damn time.

The hamstring thing is such a minor niggle now, I'm sure it's close to done - maybe 90% - but I am scared of aggravating it and letting it become chronic. Didn't take any Naproxen yesterday (and dropped a heap of water weight overnight!). Hoping to maybe start doing a short aggressive squat LP in the next week or so, and start deadlifting again soon after that if it feels OK. Then I'll have to make some decisions about which way to go coaching and programming wise.

Video of last night's training is up, for anyone that cares:

[GrizzlyAdam]

Presses look good! That hip bounce seems pretty comfortable for you.

[BenM]

Presses look good! That hip bounce seems pretty comfortable for you.

Thanks. Baby weights. But the technique feels a lot better than last time I tried this way. Newsflash - coaching does work...!

[BenM]

Sun 25/02/18: Fuckaround week, day 1

Food yesterday: 2414kcal

Activity yesterday: 12.2 steps

Sleep last night: 7 hrs 28 mins - 58 mins awake

AM BW: 70.7kg (no change from yesterday)

Rear Foot Elevated Split Squats:
10x20kg
10x40kg
4x10x50kg
4 minute rests

Leg Extensions:
3x20x40kg
90 sec rests

Nordic Hamstring Curls (Decline Bench):
3x10
90 sec rests
Bench was a bit steep an angle for the first set

Bench Press (TnG):
5x20kg
5x45kg
5x60kg @ 8.5
2x72.5kg @ 9.5
2x72.5kg @ 10 - got way outta the groove
2x70kg @ 9
5 minute rests

Dumbbell Bench Press:
12x45lbs / side - bit easy
12x47.5lbs / side (PR)
12x47.5lbs / side @ 9
12x47.5lbs / side @ 9
3 minute rests

Decline Situps:
x25, x14, x10, x11, x10
2 min rests
Didn't cheat these and kept my hands on my stomach. Went slowly and actually hit failure on a few sets.

A small selection of lifts:

Notes:
- So I stopped taking the Naproxen Wednesday. Weight has gone Wed: 72.1 -> 71.9 -> 71.4 -> 70.7 -> 70.7kg. Here I thought I'd actually been gaining a little weight the last couple of weeks, but apparently not. Le sigh.
- This week is gonna be a bit of a deload slash wing it week. Planning on doing some bench variant most training sessions, also want to start re-incorporating some leg work regularly, but still don't feel confident actually doing a heavy barbell squat with the hamstring (yet), so mucked around a bit. Split squats felt good, loaded it but not overly so, did some quad work, and the nordic curls were something new that I read about rehabbing/strengthening the eccentric. Kinda liked them.
- Moved on to some benching, had planned fives but just ended up doing some heavy doubles and getting the volume with dumbbells. Close to a PR for doubles (I have lifted a little more, but at 4kg heavier body weight) and the dumbbell benching was a pleasant surprise too. I don't think I've gained much/any muscle in the last 3 weeks of benching 3 times a week but definitely got a little stronger, at least. And squeezed in some ab work afterwards, I need to do this more too.
- As usual I got a bit carried away and this ended up taking 100 minutes, but on a Sunday, that's OK. Chores are done so I can focus on recovery. Hope everyone has a great weekend!

[BenM]

Mon 26/02/18: Fuckaround week, day 2

Food yesterday: 2563kcal

Activity yesterday: 12.2 steps

Sleep last night: 6 hrs 38 mins - 46 mins awake

AM BW: 71.3kg (+0.6kg from yesterday)

Pull Ups:
6x5 @ BW on sub 2 minute rests

Chest Supported Rows (5 count pause at top):
12x27.5lbs / side
15 minutes break for kid stuff
12x27.5lbs / side
About 20 mins break for kid stuff
2x12x27.5lbs / side
2 min rests

EZ Bar Curls:
30kg x 12, 10, 9
Sub 60 second rests

*Dumbbell LTEs:
3x12x27.5lbs / side

*Seated Dumbbell Curls - MyoRep sets:
27.5lbs / side x 10, 5, 5
27.5lbs / side x 8, 4, 3
27.5lbs / side x 8, 5, 3

*Supersetted last two movements - bugger all rest.

Notes:
- Just wanted to get a little back / bis / tris session in before a rest day. Unfortunately the offspring was refusing to go to sleep without one of us in the room so it didn’t go entirely to plan. I think I managed to do all the actual lifting in about 35 minutes flat.
- I’m ooot. Have a great night.

[BenM]

Wed 28/02/18: Fuckaround week, day 3

Food yesterday: 2372kcal

Activity yesterday: 11.6k steps

Sleep last night: 7 hrs 13 mins - 29 mins awake

AM BW: 70.5kg (-0.6kg from yesterday)

Leg Lift Planks:
3x1min per side
2 min rests

Nordic Hamstring Curls (Decline Bench):
3x10
< 2 min rests

Bench Press (TnG):
5x20kg
5x20kg
5x45kg
3x60kg @ 7
1x75kg @ 9
4x8x55kg @ 8, 8.5 (groove), 8, 8
3x5x60kg @ 8, 8.5, 9
< 3 min rests

Incline Bench Press (Dumbbell):
1x12x27.5lbs / side way too easy
3x12x37.5lbs / side @ 7.5, 8, 8.5
< 3 min rests

Cable Crunches:
2x15x30kg
1x15x30kg, 1x5x30kg (rest pause)
2 min rests

Instagram of bench single:

Notes:
- Weight is actually trending down now. TRY HARDER TO EAT MORE!! I've spent a lot of time thinking about what to do for the next 3 week cycle, and decided to do mostly hypertrophy type stuff - plenty of sub maximal volume with the occasional heavy singles and doubles - mostly upper body, but whatever leg stuff I can do without aggravating the hammy. But if I want to get the most out of that then perhaps eating at a slight fucking surplus would be a good idea??
- The nordic curls left my hamstrings really DOMsey for the past couple of days. Only way to fix that is to do them more. I'm not sure if they are actually helping the tendinopathy, but they aren't hurting it. The planks were also an experiment (I read isometrics can help) and while tough, they were good. Really hit the spot right at the base of my glute where it gets sore after sitting for more than a couple of minutes. Need to make an effort to do these regularly.
- Really happy with this session overall. The bench top single went up pretty quick, and puts my E1RM into all time PR territory. Which is pleasing, especially considering my weight right now. Got a heap of volume in based on some percentages I stole from somewhere (sorry, not sorry :p) and managed to do all this in 75 minutes which is about the perfect length for a session in my world. Hope everyone has a wonderful day.

[BenM]

Fri 02/03/18: Fuckaround week, day 4

Food yesterday: 2206kcal

Activity yesterday: 12.6k steps

Sleep last night: 7 hrs 25 mins - 38 mins awake

AM BW: 70.3kg (-0.3kg from yesterday)

Single Leg Glute Bridges:
1x30secs / side, 3x45secs / side
No rest, pretty easy

Single Leg Dumbbell RDLs (eccentric only):
2x20x20lbs
No rest

Overhead Press (3.0):
5x20kg
5x20kg
5x32.5kg
3x2x45kg @ 9.5, 10, 10
1x5x40kg @ 9.5
2x7x37.5kg @ 9.5, 10
3 min rests

Close Grip Bench Press:
10x20kg
10x40kg
8x45kg @ 7.5 (not)
2x8x47.5kg - I rated these @ 7.5 and MAYBE @ 8, but then did this:
15x47.5kg AMRAP so yeah.. sandbagger
< 3 min rests

*Leg Extensions:
47.5kg x 20, 6, 6, 6
47.5kg x 20, 8, 6, 6, 10
Myoreps

*Hammer Curls:
27.5lbs / side x 15, 5, 4
27.5lbs / side x 12, 5, 4, 4, 4, 5
Myoreps

*Supersetted last two movements

Youtube of pressing:

Notes:
- OK, so let's not talk about how little I ate yesterday. The day before (a training day) was fine though - actually hit my target.
- Decided glute bridges are better than planks, as they don't bother my shoulders so much. Did some last night in front of the TV, did some more at the front end of this workout. Planning on trying to do these every day, and maybe the RDLs too, with steadily increasing times for the next week or two then I'll start adding other stuff. Felt pretty good after these. Also planning on slowing down the daily walks a little to try and avoid aggravating it. We did a big walk in the gorge, up some steep/rough steps and stuff on Wednesday and that wasn't a great idea, was very sore yesterday.
- Pressing was a disappointing shitshow, I was actually hoping for triples. Then clearly I massively sandbagged those sets of close grip bench and should have used a lot more weight. Oh well. Got some quad/bicep work in too, all up it was a decent ish session which took about 80 minutes, including the 15 mins or so of hamstring rehab. Happy days, and happy Friday internet lifters!

[BenM]

Sun 04/03/18: Week 1, day 1 of... something

Food yesterday: 2348 kcal

Activity yesterday: 13.5k steps

Sleep last night: 7 hrs 9 mins - 48 mins awake

AM BW: 69.9kg (-0.6kg from yesterday)

Bench Press (TnG):
5x20kg
5x20kg
10x45kg
5x60kg @ 9
1x76kg @ 9.5
4x8x56kg @ 8, 8, 8.5, 9 (bit loose)
3ish min rests

Seated Dumbbell Press:
10x27.5lbs / side @ bit easy
10x30lbs / side @ 7 maybe. Bench wasn't completely vertical - adjusted.
3x10x30lbs / side @ 8, 8.5, 9
2 min rests

LTEs (EZ Curl Bar):
11x35kg @ 10
10x35kg @ 10
2x12x30kg @ 8.5ish
2 min rests

Decline Situps:
26, 5, 3, 3, 4, 3, 3, 4, 4, 3, 2, 3, 3, 1
67 reps in 12 minute density block

Traditional Home Movie:
May want to turn the sound down. Wife and I watched Thor: Ragnarok last night so I had a hankering for the Immigrant Song

Notes:
- This is the lowest I've weighed in since... August. Wow. I'm not actually trying to lose weight.... don't know where it's coming from either. Not my stomach I don't think.
- I've still been doing the hamstring rehab (mostly single leg glute bridges, twice a day) but will try to avoid doing them as part of my workout since I can do them in front of the TV or wherever. Since doing them I've been noticing slightly less pain around the IT/lower glute when sitting for a while. Also cut my walks back to a much slower pace to avoid aggravating the middle part of the tendon. So far it seems to be improving but it's only been a few days. I sure hope so because from all the stuff I've been reading this is such a bitch of a thing to get over without proper rehab. If worst comes to worst I'll have to go see a physio.
- Bench top single moved pretty slow, but it's only 1.5kg off an all time PR and considering I seem to be in a deficit, it's not surprising. Overshot the RPE on the volume work, because I is silly. But this was a pretty good session, it took 72 minutes all up. Hope you all have a great rest of your weekend!

[BenM]

Mon 05/03/18: Week 1, Day 2 of something

Food yesterday: 2567 kcal

Activity yesterday: 12.2 steps

Sleep last night: 6 hrs 50 mins - 33 mins awake

AM BW: 70.4kg (+0.5kg from yesterday)

Chest Supported Rows (5 count pause at top):
4x12x30lbs / side
2 min rests

EZ Bar Curls:
30kg x 15, 12, 10
Sub 60 second rests

*Lat Pulldowns:
3x15x45kg
Last couple of reps were a bit shorter ROM.....

*Hammer Curls:
2x30lbs / side x 2 err biceps were already knackered
2x10x25lbs / side
2x5x25lbs / side - rest paused last set of 10

*Supersetted last two movements - no rest.

Notes:
- Another nice little Monday night back/bis session. Smashed this out in 32 minutes and had a massive bicep pump going. Have a great night all!

[BenM]

Wed 07/03/18: Week 1, day 3

Food yesterday: 2260 kcal or something silly

Activity yesterday: 13.4k steps

Sleep last night: 7 hrs 15 mins - 45 mins awake

AM BW: 70.6kg (+0.1kg from yesterday)

Leg Extensions:
55kgx15, 5, 5, 5
55kgx15, 5, 5, 5
55kgx15, 5, 5, 5
Myoreps - 2 min rests - 12 mins all up

Feet Up Bench Press:
2x8x20kg
8x40kg
3x8x55kg @ 7.5, 7.5, 8
2x8x52.5kg @ 7, 7
3min rests

CGBP:
1x6x57.5kg @ 9 bit ambitious
4x6x54.5kg @ 7, 7,7, 7
2min 30sec rests

Face Pulls:
4x15x25kg
1 min rests

Cable Crunches:
4x20x30kg
1 min rests, then a little longer

Happy Time Footage (just the benching):

Notes:
- Hamstring rehab still ongoing. Been adding more volume/time to the single leg glute bridges each day, current PR (from tonight) is 2 sets of 3mins 30sec holds each side. The discomfort really does seem to be reducing, which is positive. A few more days of this and I'm hoping to start adding some eccentric work back in, hopefully I can avoid aggravating it and it keeps improving.
- Got a decent leg pump to start with tonight, then some good bench volume. Was targeting @ 7 for all the benching and almost managed to stick to it. The face pulls and cable crunches were decent as well - did much better on the cable crunches than last time out, maybe the bridging is helping that too. I foresee ab doms in my future though.
- Pretty good session - bit of volume, but not too stressful so I might actually recover before the next one. 72 minutes. Have a great night all!

[BenM]

Fri 09/03/18: Week 1, day 4

Food yesterday: 2232 kcal

Activity yesterday: 13.3k steps

Sleep last night: 6 hrs 35 mins - 50 mins awake

AM BW: 69.9kg (-0.4kg from yesterday)

Incline Bench Press:
2x8x20kg
2x8x42.5kg @ 7.5, 8
2x8x41kg @ 7ish, 7
3min rests

Flat Dumbbell Bench Press:
10x25lbs / side warmup
4x10x50lbs / side @ 7, 7.5 (form got wonky), 7.5, 7.5
3min rests

Dumbbell Shrugs:
5x20x50lbs / side @ lol
90sec rests

Hammer Curls:
27.5lbs / side x 15, 5, 5, 4, 4, 4
27.5lbs / side x 12, 5, 4, 4, 4, 4
22.5lbs / side x 20, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8
Myorep sets - 3(ish) min rests between sets

Some highlights:

Notes:
- Today's new PR for single leg glute bridges: 5 mins 30 seconds. FMD. Getting tough to continue adding time though, and think I'm getting to the point of diminishing returns as I can't do multiple sets, they just take too long!
- For benching, hanging around @7 RPE feels laughably easy. But I did it anyway. To compensate, I hit my biceps fucking hard at the end and worked up a sweat. Got a massive pump. 77 minute session, pretty good afternoon's work. And it's the Friday night before a long weekend here, which is the best time of the week. Have a fantastic weekend and good luck with your training!

[BenM]

Sun 11/03/18: Week 2, day 1

Food yesterday: 2496 kcal

Activity yesterday: 15.9k steps - mowing lawns and such

Sleep last night: 6 hrs 51 mins - 33 mins awake

AM BW: 69.9kg (-0.3kg from yesterday)

Bench Press (TnG):
8x20kg
8x20kg
8x45kg
5x60kg @ 8.5
1x72.5kg @ 9
4x8x56.5kg @ 7.5, 8, 7.5, 8
3ish min rests

Seated Dumbbell Press:
5x10x27.5lbs / side @ 7, 7, 7, 7.5, 7
2 min rests

LTEs (EZ Curl Bar):
12x35kg @ 10
11x35kg @ 10
14x30kg @ 9
12x30kg @ 9.5
2 min rests

Decline Situps:
20, 5, 4, 4, 4, 3, 3, 4, 3, 2, 3, 3, 2, 3, 3, 2, 1
69 reps in 12 minute density block

Many pressing, much wow:

Notes:
- Pretty happy today. Bench top single moved slowly but I still added a tiny bit of weight to the volume work, and the bar moved faster than last week, so RPEs were down a touch.
- Went conservative on the dumbbell pressing, I probably needed to add a little weight but the smallest increment I can go is 2.5lbs. Will maybe look at it again next week.
- To cap it off managed to add a couple of reps to the LTEs, and managed 2 more situps than last week in the density block. It was hard yakka.
- Got this session done in 79 minutes. That doesn't include the hamstring work I did before the session - started doing slow eccentric-only curls (on top of the bridges) yesterday. Quietly hopeful.
- Thanks for reading, have a great day!

[slowmotion]

Nice work, Ben!

[BenM]

Nice work, Ben!

Thanks Jan. Sorry I missed this earlier. You are doing a great job too, you always seem pretty damn positive in your log! Reminds me to stop bitching and just enjoy the fact that lifting is possible, it isn't for many others.

Mon 12/03/18: Week 2, day 2 - back / biceps

Food yesterday: 2276 kcal - but possibly more. Who knows how much fat was in that delicious takeaway steak sandwich?

Activity yesterday: 11.4k steps

Sleep last night: 8 hrs 6 mins - 36 mins awake

AM BW: 70.0kg (+0.1kg from yesterday)

Pull Ups:
6x2xBW+10kg
5x3xBW+5kg
4x4xBW
90 sec rests

Dumbbell Rows:
5x10x45lbs / side
90 sec rests

Hammer Curls:
27.5lbs / side x 12, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5
27.5lbs / side x 10, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3
25lbs / side x 6, 3, 4, 5, 5, 5
Myoreps - 2 mins rest between sets

Notes:
- Not super motivated for today. Started getting a headache doing the pullups, but powered through.
- Probably should have stuck with chest supported rows. Doing the right hand side gave the hamstring a bit of a stretch. Think it's OK though.
- No idea what happened with the curls but my right arm kept giving out early. Like, that's highly unusual. Normally it's the left side that's weaker but it had a rep or two left every time when the right hand side failed. A couple of reps felt like 10 seconds, and the last couple were a bit cheaty. Considered doing more but called it at that, it was bang on 60 minutes, so enough's enough. Got some work done.

[slowmotion]

Sometimes when I've lost all motivation it helps to just do the main lifts and nothing else for a week or two.
And maybe just two lifts a day so the session doesn't take too much time.

[BenM]

Sometimes when I've lost all motivation it helps to just do the main lifts and nothing else for a week or two.
And maybe just two lifts a day so the session doesn't take too much time.

Yeah, that's sensible for sure. I seem to have an inhibition about doing that on the spur of the moment; I don't mind deloading when planned so much, but feel as if I'm letting myself down if I puss out spontaneously.

We have a weekend away in a couple of weeks so I'm hoping to keep pushing hard with this bench specialisation stuff til then, and then will have a bit of a rest and a deload week after that to try and get some energy back. Kinda hoping the hamstring will be improved enough to start LPing squats and deadlifts again then too, that'd be good timing.

[KyleSchuant]

Ben, may I ask where you're getting your programming from?