Workout: What did you do today?

[jadis]

All good man

I'm surprised how protective I got of my trainer, maybe he's becoming something of a father surrogate to me, who knows

In general, this summer working out has become more important to me than ever, for a few reasons (like having a couple of stressors). But it's still all about making myself feel better and getting out of my head, not any goals or gains.

Very excited to get to train in a new gym starting next week cause I'll be in Nice for the month.

[grindy]

All good man

I'm surprised how protective I got of my trainer, maybe he's becoming something of a father surrogate to me, who knows

In general, this summer working out has become more important to me than ever, for a few reasons (like having a couple of stressors). But it's still all about making myself feel better and getting out of my head, not any goals or gains.

Very excited to get to train in a new gym starting next week cause I'll be in Nice for the month.

*insert obligatory "nice" pun*
I love training from home and don't think I'll ever change that but it's super exciting to train in a new environment for some time. I love training in hotel gyms when on holiday. They are usually pretty shitty and I love the challenge of jury rigging whatever's there to still suit my needs and program. I was staying in a hotel in August with a gym that didn't have any kind of vertical pull possibilities but I managed to use a (terrible) machine cable press for one armed pulls by bending over 90 degrees and it was the best lat activation I've felt in a long time.

[DJChameleon]

What's your program like? Would be interested to see everyone's program actually.

Mine's pretty basic.
I usually switch the order of the big movements on each of the two days and make the first movement of the day heavier than when I do it second.
Pull day: Barbell Rows and (weighted) pull ups, after that a superset of either cable curls and face pulls or band pull aparts and incline curls. I also superset calves with one of the big movements.
Push day: Bench press (barbell or dumbbell on an incline bench), overhead press and a superset of either french press and lateral raises or cable pushdown and cable upright row. Also supersetting some neck training in there.
Legs: Squats (normal ones and Tom Platz style narrow stance squats on a slant board to really target the quads), deadlifts (conventional or Romanian) and back extensions on both days for that sweet-ass sweet ass.

I let my trainer remember the exact exercises that I do so I can't like go into detail because we switch it up pretty often but I have chest days on Monday, Tuesday is usually cardio I switch between 20 mins on elliptical and 18 mins jumping rope with a weighted jump rope. 3 mins jumping then 30 second break and back to it. I take off Wednesdays and on Thursdays back to working with my trainer. I switch between Arms day, Shoulder/legs day and back day. He asks me what I want to do and I usually base it off of what I haven't done in awhile. So this past Thursday I ended up doing Shoulder/Leg day.  Fridays is my second cardio day for the week then I'm done. I take the weekends off and only do my 20 minute morning walk. I do that almost everyday regardless of if I'm at the gym or not.

Yeah having a day for just shoulders seems weird to me when I heard Jadis mention that.  If I'm doing shoulders I tie it in with leg day.

I didn't know the name of it until Jimmy mentioned it but on Chest days I do the pyramid sets with dumbbells, I do this machine that's like for chests where you open your arms and close them. No idea what it's called. I also do cable pull downs while standing in like a T shape for the starting position.

[jimmy jazz]

I do this machine that's like for chests where you open your arms and close them. No idea what it's called.

Machine fly? @DJChameleon

[Guybrush]

I posted my own weekly program a while back, but the basics are squats, bench presses and pendlay row, something that I do 3 days a week. Then I have a mobility day where I do yoga and stretches and also a cardio day where I'm not too concerned with the specifics. I've been riding my bike, but last time I did a km just swimming in the local pool hall.

I've added chin-ups, abs and back workouts and various experiments that I toss in there.

I just started and am only 3-4 weeks in. The physical changes are already very noticeable, at least to me.

The weights I'm at are still puny compared to what you guys are doing and I also haven't figured them quite out. I've been doing moderate amounts of reps, so mostly in the 8-12 range. If I feel like I can do more than 3 x 12, I up the weight and aim for something like 3 x 8. If I end up at 3 x 7, that's fine.

Currently, squats are at 50 kg. I just increased, so did a careful 6/6/10 yesterday, which is currently how I calibrate. If I feel like it was a bit easy, I go until failure on the last set, so 6/6/10 means maybe I should aim for 8/8/8 next time.

Bench presses are a lot less, like I think I was at 30 or 35kgs for 7 or 8 reps.

Pendlay rows I think I did at the same weight as bench and can't quite remember the reps. I think I should increase, but I feel like form suffers long before failure on pendlay rows in particular (at least for me) so that one's a little tricky. My general goal is to ofc to only use the muscles for the exercise and lift the bar up to where it touches my chest in the boob area.

Anyways, this is turning into a rant 🙂

As I'm nearing a month on my program, I'm thinking of changing it up a bit. Maybe get some 3-5 rep sets in there? I'm already doing some burn sets where I just go until failure with lighter weights, so I got some high reps in there too, but haven't done any low reps.

[jimmy jazz]

Yes you could definitely try that.

I'd say you're probably past the point of getting DOMS to the point where you legitimately can't move for days (unless you're doing absolutely ridiculous volume) so if you feel comfortable increasing volume or weight go for it.

Just my advice:

Don't go below 10 reps for squats. By this I mean use a weight that you can comfortably do 10 clean reps. In my opinion if you're lower than that it's dangerous especially for a home lifter. You say you're at 50kg for squats so you could also increase your reps to 15 and add more sets. Say five sets. Always leave one rep in the tank for safety reasons.

Also, if you're going to do low reps and heavy weight for bench then don't use the clips/collars so if you fail you aren't going to kill yourself.

And make sure to do a warm up set or two with light weight before going into the heavy weight.

Be safe!

BTW, you're not imagining things, you can definitely notice changes in your body after a month. Other people might not though so you'll need to keep going if you want random women (and men) to approach you in the street and demand that you enter them.

[Guybrush]

Thanks again, @jimmy jazz ! I'll keep your advice in mind, especially about squats. I've already figured I should try to do them at work instead as it seems much safer there on the rack where the bar only moves straight up and can be locked at any height with a flick of the wrist. It seems so much safer, plus I can't harm my wooden floor

[grindy]

I let my trainer remember the exact exercises that I do so I can't like go into detail because we switch it up pretty often but I have chest days on Monday, Tuesday is usually cardio I switch between 20 mins on elliptical and 18 mins jumping rope with a weighted jump rope. 3 mins jumping then 30 second break and back to it. I take off Wednesdays and on Thursdays back to working with my trainer. I switch between Arms day, Shoulder/legs day and back day. He asks me what I want to do and I usually base it off of what I haven't done in awhile. So this past Thursday I ended up doing Shoulder/Leg day.  Fridays is my second cardio day for the week then I'm done. I take the weekends off and only do my 20 minute morning walk. I do that almost everyday regardless of if I'm at the gym or not.

Yeah having a day for just shoulders seems weird to me when I heard Jadis mention that.  If I'm doing shoulders I tie it in with leg day.

I didn't know the name of it until Jimmy mentioned it but on Chest days I do the pyramid sets with dumbbells, I do this machine that's like for chests where you open your arms and close them. No idea what it's called. I also do cable pull downs while standing in like a T shape for the starting position.

Isn't it difficult to ensure progressive overload and keep track of progress when constantly switching up exercises? Or do you have some basic compounds and just switch up some isolations or do small variations like changing grip etc.?

[DJChameleon]

Machine fly? @DJChameleon

Yes Machine fly is probably the name. I use that as my warm up on chest days.

[grindy]

I posted my own weekly program a while back, but the basics are squats, bench presses and pendlay row, something that I do 3 days a week. Then I have a mobility day where I do yoga and stretches and also a cardio day where I'm not too concerned with the specifics. I've been riding my bike, but last time I did a km just swimming in the local pool hall.

I've added chin-ups, abs and back workouts and various experiments that I toss in there.

I just started and am only 3-4 weeks in. The physical changes are already very noticeable, at least to me.

The weights I'm at are still puny compared to what you guys are doing and I also haven't figured them quite out. I've been doing moderate amounts of reps, so mostly in the 8-12 range. If I feel like I can do more than 3 x 12, I up the weight and aim for something like 3 x 8. If I end up at 3 x 7, that's fine.

Currently, squats are at 50 kg. I just increased, so did a careful 6/6/10 yesterday, which is currently how I calibrate. If I feel like it was a bit easy, I go until failure on the last set, so 6/6/10 means maybe I should aim for 8/8/8 next time.

Bench presses are a lot less, like I think I was at 30 or 35kgs for 7 or 8 reps.

Pendlay rows I think I did at the same weight as bench and can't quite remember the reps. I think I should increase, but I feel like form suffers long before failure on pendlay rows in particular (at least for me) so that one's a little tricky. My general goal is to ofc to only use the muscles for the exercise and lift the bar up to where it touches my chest in the boob area.

Anyways, this is turning into a rant 🙂

As I'm nearing a month on my program, I'm thinking of changing it up a bit. Maybe get some 3-5 rep sets in there? I'm already doing some burn sets where I just go until failure with lighter weights, so I got some high reps in there too, but haven't done any low reps.

Sounds like an overall sensible approach!
Some thoughts:
-Definitely try going a bit closer to failure. You don't need to go all out but generally you should be able to do less on the second and third set not more. The fact that you can do so much more on the last set shows that you are very far away from failure on the first ones and there is quite little growth stimulus from that. Generally I'd go to failure or one rep shy of it on isolations and maybe 2-3 reps shy of failure on compounds especially if you don't have safeties. But figuring out where failure is for oneself takes some time anyway.
-If you're doing abs I'd recommend doing one or maybe two exercises and not doing too many reps, use some weights if you need. There is so much X minute ab workout bullshit floating around that is completely unnecessary with too many variations and too many reps. It's mostly a waste of time.

[DJChameleon]

Isn't it difficult to ensure progressive overload and keep track of progress when constantly switching up exercises? Or do you have some basic compounds and just switch up some isolations or do small variations like changing grip etc.?

No clue really my trainer keeps track of the numbers that I do and how much weight I should do at each machine. All I know is that I'm always pushing myself til fatigue and he makes sure to up the weight consistently. Especially after the first two sets on any machine.

[Guybrush]

Just came back from a quick compound set and I'm at:

• 10 x 3 squats with 50 kg (okay, briefly a little light headed after, but was fine)
• 10 x 3 pendlay rows with 40 kg (okay, but I don't touch boobs with bar on all reps in last set)
• 7 x 3 bench presses with 40 kg (last two are rough)

Trying to do these at work has confused me some, but looking at the numbers, I think the bar without weights is about 10 kgs more at work? Even though that sounds a lot.

It's a little heavier as it's 50 vs my 25 diameter. It's locked in a rail with a chain on either side, so you have to push and pull this chain mechanism as well. Lastly, it only moves perfectly straight up and down ad I suspect that can also make it feel heavier.

So I felt kinda weak down there 😅 here at home, it's fine again.

[Guybrush]

By the way, I didn't see your reply earlier, @grindy , but thanks a lot for your tips I'll take them to heart, especially the one about abs (and today iscardio & abs-day).

About abs, something that annoys me is that every ab exercise turns to pain in my lower back before I really feel an ab-burn. This goes for incline situps, but also for stuff like leg ups (where I just lie on my back and lift my legs straight up). I'd love to find something heavy that is more comfortable, but failing that I guess I may try incline situps with a heavy manual in my arms.

[grindy]

By the way, I didn't see your reply earlier, @grindy , but thanks a lot for your tips I'll take them to heart, especially the one about abs (and today iscardio & abs-day).

About abs, something that annoys me is that every ab exercise turns to pain in my lower back before I really feel an ab-burn. This goes for incline situps, but also for stuff like leg ups (where I just lie on my back and lift my legs straight up). I'd love to find something heavy that is more comfortable, but failing that I guess I may try incline situps with a heavy manual in my arms.

I used to have the same issue and the reason was that my abs were to weak and therefore I used to compensate with my hip flexors which are attached to the lower back on one end. Try really focusing on contracting your abs and nothing else, not just moving your torso/legs/etc. from point A to B. This did it for me once I got familiar with feeling the muscle and got a bit stronger.

[jimmy jazz]

For my fellow meatheads:

If you haven't seen it, I recommend this:

https://watchdocumentaries.com/pumping-iron/

Pumping Iron.

A classic and you have to see it if you lift, imo. It will inspire you and motivate you and educate you. It's a great docufilm.

I love the 70s era bodybuilders. They are not like that any more. Just look at these incredible physiques: