Andy
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A superb leg session yesterday in the books.
I’ve been doing heavy abductor for about 4 weeks, but as always with any direct glute work, my SI join just get wrecked, and I think get an almost sciatic pain down the left glute and into the hamstring. It’s so strange. The same thing happened last year when I was SM hip thrusting every week. I still do some abductor work as a warm up, but not working sets.
Cybex seated leg curls – 1 sets, 8-12, 2 back-off sets, 12-15
– Both BO sets are paused in the lengthened
Prime PL leg ex – 2 sets, 12-15 + triple drop
Arsenal Hack squat – 1 set, 8-12, 1 back-off set, 8-12
– BO set is paused at the bottom
Pendulum squat – 1 set, 8-12
Seated calve raises – 3 sets, 15-20
This looks like a piece of piss, but it’s a superb session. My legs go through wild growth spurts all throughout the push phase. They’re definitely the biggest and leanest they’ve ever been.
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I think it depends on the exercise, and what I’m trying to do, for example;
Incline DB press
Set 1: The change of direction is controlled, but there’s no pause.
Set 2: Rather than doing a slightly heavier back-off, I’ll pause for a 2 count with every single rep in the stretch/lengthened portion, as the shortened position is wrecked from the previous working set.
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I had to train today as my training days have shifted forward due to shows the next 2 weekends. I may have said on this blog before, but I hate training on Sundays. Always have! It feels like a Monday now too because I’ve followed my TD schedule which is my work day schedule.
Sundays to me are sacred – not literally – but I love to just get my steps in, do some cardio, and become a cabbage on the couch.
Anyway, here’s the work out. . .
Seated d-handle cable flys – 1 working set, 8-12, 2 back-off sets, 12-15
– Both back-off sets paused
Incline DB press – 1 working set, 8-12, 1 back-off sets, 12-15
– Back-off set paused
Prime incline PL press – 1 working set, 8-12, 1 cluster set
Prime peck deck – 1 working sets, 12-15
– Torque set to 3
Prime rear peck deck – 3 working sets, 15-20
– Torques set to 2
SA d-handle cable side raises – 3 working sets, 12-15
Standing EZ-bar curls – 3 working sets, 12-15 + double drop
SA DB concentration curls – 3 sets, 12-15
Standing EZ-bar cable curls – 2 sets, 12-15
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If you’ve taken the reigns yourself, and you’re able to scale things back and not have it spur on binging or overeating then that amount of pull back is fine. Allow the weight to drop back down to baseline, but you’re not going to get it back to pre-show/show weight if this is a tidy up prior to a 2nd take at a rebound. Like Clare said, it’s colder outside, it could be that. It’s not a huge deal though.
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I checked in today with Nick at 286.2lbs. I’ve been floating around the 286-288 region for 6+ weeks now. I’m not going to lie, I love the look I have just now, every other offseason I’ve done I’ve ended up at the point where I don’t look at the photos I send Nick. A very different experience for sure, and one I’ve been able to do off the back of my reversing efforts last year post-prep.
Appetite is excellent just now, I’m actually very hungry for most meals. So, off the back of that, we’ve decided to add some more carbs into the mix;
TD: P: 368 C: 1027 F: 83
NTD: P: 363 C: 958 F: 100
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If you’re seeing the set plateau/breakdown due to breathing/fitness then definitely pull the range down so you can then reach failure without gassing. I love a 20 rep set, but as BW climbs in an offseason, my CV can’t cope
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On top of finding at quieter gym, if the option was there to find a very kitted out gym where there are a few options of the same exercise like 2 different brands of hack squat. My gym is rammed 5-7pm, but there’s more than 1 bit of kit for the same movement. Or, write up a plan where you account for 2-3 options of lift (incline BB press > incline DB press > incline SM press)
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Yesterday’s NTD was a doddle, just filled with PT and massage. I cancelled my last PT session to get a new client setup online, so that gave me a bit more time to relax. By relax I mean an extra 15 minutes where I lie on the couch, get bored and then go back to my laptop.
Everything feels amazing, I’m looking forward to the next 2 sessions this week, as well as seeing where my physique lands on Saturday.
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I’m pretty similar to the guys above, I’ll start at 1g and taper that up if required. Everyone has different fluid needs for numerous reasons. 4-5L is usually a good starting point fluid wise.
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As great as they are (10g -20g intra), they’re the icing on the cake supplement wise, especially if diet has been nailed. As above from the team, look to exhaust your health support stack first.
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First leg session in 2 weeks dusted off yesterday afternoon. The volume we’ve set in the plan is relatively high, however, we decided to scale it back to 1 working set for the hack and pendulum. The session still ended up destroying the 2 of us.
Abductor – 2 sets, 15-20
– I’d like a little more in the way of glute development, so this has been added. I have a torn hip, so hip thrusts aggravate my injury.
Cybex seated leg curls – 1 sets, 8-12, 2 back-off sets, 12-15
– Both BO sets are paused in the lengthened
Prime PL leg ex – 2 sets, 12-15 + triple drop
Arsenal Hack squat – 1 set, 8-12
Pendulum squat – 1 set, 8-12
– I think I’ve mentioned this before, but the pendulum doesn’t feel like a squat to me, and I get zero lower back, so I’m happy to do it post-hack (happy is a strong word)
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Agreed on all of the above – I also haven’t had my organs screened, but a decent knowledge of family history of diseases and underlying health issues would help.
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A very chilled out Sunday yesterday, made all the better by one of my clients winning the overall at the Fit X Manchester.
My training partner is back from his holiday today, so that will add another dimension to my training.
Looking at my timeline, I’ve only got 3 weeks left of this offseason, and as much as I’m delighted with the results, I still want to make the very most of the rest of this phase.
I’m looking to start prep the 4th of January, which gives me a 8 week health phase prior to the prep.
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If you’ve hit a bit of wall, then I’m going to assume you’ve been pushing hard with this phase, and the total food has eventually caught up you. So on that, I like to literally half my carb portions of each meal for a week, by the time the week is over my appetite has reset slightly, and then I’m usually good to push for a good bit of time before I have to do it again.
As for getting 3500cals in without eating shit, I’d say eating shit shouldn’t even be a consideration. You can get that amount in with 5-6 meals/shakes across a 16-18 hour window using all clean sources. Source selection, meal timing and discipline is what is going to prevail here.
Not knowing much about you, if you were trying to bolster calories, then additional healthy fats will make that a lot easier.
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The last session of the week ticked off, and what a session it was;
Rope pullovers – 3 sets, 12-15 reps
HS SA PL pulldowns – 1 set, 8-12, 1 back-off, 12-15
– The back-off is performed with a 2s pause in the stretch
Chest supported t-bar rows – 1 set, 8-12 followed by a triple drop set
SA DB rows – 2 sets, 5-8
– Using a 4s negative with every rep
Prime PL row – 1 set, 8-12 + forced reps, and 1 negative
Prime pin-loaded low row – 1 set, 8-12
– Torque set to 5 to overload the lengthened
RDLs – 1 set, 5-9
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