[Kaustuv Bhattacharya]

Hi Kuba
Was watching your pull video where you do the single arm lat biased Pulldown seated reverse side on a high incline bench

Apart from your non working arm pushing on the bench in the opposite direction of the weight pulling you forward how else do you brace to get as strong a base of support as possible?

Any cues or guidelines on getting your body locked in there? I seem to have to fight not only the weight – IE drive the elbow down and back into shoulder extension but also have to keep myself from being yanked off the bench – which in and of itself is energy wasted

Thanks!

[Kaustuv Bhattacharya]

PUSH

Back at flex and tone this afternoon. Great session, every movement progressed .

We filmed for the site , so went through the when’s and why’s of the whole set up . Along with some extra ramblings too .. otherwise it would not be me. Lol 😂.

Drops at the beginning of next week at some point. 😊

Hi Oscar
Watched this video a couple of times – loved the insights you shared on mindset, goal focus, and target accomplishment

Maybe you covered this in the video or perhaps I missed it….

You did 2 sets in the nautilus chest press pyramiding up from set 1 to 2
One set on the seated shoulder press (love this old school machine – no cam to provide accommodating resistance, no cables nothing fancy just a plain old lever based movement)
Two sets on dips again pyramiding up in load from set 1 to 2

My questions to understand your approach that I may apply similar principles to my own

1) why pyramid up instead of reverse pyramid?

2) do you auto regulate the number of work sets per movement depending on (i) performance of the first work set or (ii) is there a reason for varying the number of sets per movement?

3) if mechano-transduction is the key stimulant for Hypertrophy – considering the loads you’re using, the execution precision, and standardization of reps – you’re in essence getting “effective reps” from rep 2 onwards which means your 5-8 rep range is pretty much delivering on the mechanical loading / tension required – what’s the thinking behind adding a second set – when it may only increase stimulus incrementally but increase systemic stress to a much greater magnitude?

If you do read this and get a chance to respond, thank you in advance for your time and patience

Regards
KB

[Kaustuv Bhattacharya]

Carditone by Ayush Herbs works well – I believe Dante Trudel has recommended it in several posts

[Kaustuv Bhattacharya]

Just to top up on what the OP has asked – why proceed to a second set – if you’ve taken a load and pushed to positive failure and let’s say wrapped up the set with a static hold, is there any benefit to be had with a second lighter set?

[Kaustuv Bhattacharya]

if you’re on a roll of back to back progressive workouts, try and stretch that out as long as possible by using the smallest increases possible and really pushing on getting to the upper end of your range. Alternatively what would happen, is the progressive workouts and log book add an unnecessary sense of bravado and liberalism on weight increments, you will eventually choose a weight that has (even if barely) outpaced your rate of progression. When that happens and you plateau or worse regress, getting the body back on the horse to keep pushing limits takes a while and in some cases major rethinking of movement selection and exercise order. Long story short ditch the 5% rule, use an increase in weight light enough that you can’t really feel it, but pushed for a rep range where it represents and meaningful increase in weight * reps

[Kaustuv Bhattacharya]

Push

Flat Db Press

99kg (49.5’s) x 6

109kg (54.5’s) x 4

45* Incline Smith

115kg x 5

130kg x 3

Seated Cable Chest Press

50kg x 6

60kg x 5

Cuff Lateral Raise

20kg x 12 (right arm)

20kg x 12 (left arm)

V Bar Cable Pressdown

70kg x 12

MY normally excellent FBG (77 to 85 range) spiked the last 2 days and registered at around 118 – 125. Gives me something to ponder. Only major change in diet was fruit at night and a huge cheat meal during the day. But nonetheless, wrote home the fact that diabetes is in the family and I need to be smart about macros. Keeping calories the same but upping my fat intake and dropping the carb intake a bit – will continue to monitor BG levels at intervals to see the impact over the next couple of weeks.

The session was good, the apartment gym is in the process of upgrading until then have to use daisy chains for any dumbell work over 42 kgs, so today was my figuring out the best way to load / unload the dumbells with the daisy chains and plates – over time as this becomes more efficient – the loads used and reps achieved should ideally reflect that.

When I revisit this session my targets will be something along the lines of

104kg as my first top set (52’s / side) and we’ll take it from there

45* Smith will stay at 115kg for the top set and the target will be 6 reps

Seated cable chest press will move up to 55kg for the top set

Cuff laterals will move up to 22.5 / 25 kg for the top set

M1: 3 scoops of whey, 3 tbsp of organic almond butter

M2: 100gm fat free bacon, 250gm chicken, 2 cups of mixed leaves, 100gm of low fat paneer + 2 tbsp of garlic olive oil

M3: 2 scoops of why, 2 tbsp of organic almond butter

M4: Home made chicken Thai curry (250gm of chicken, 1 cup of carrots, 1 cut of squash, 1 cup of peppers)

[Kaustuv Bhattacharya]

Pull 2

D Bar T Bar Rows

142.5kg x 7 (felt good, strong snappy execution)

155kg x 4 (this was tough, but worth having the loading)

100kg x 13 (back off felt hard, each rep was a grind)

Medium Width Neutral Grip Pulldowns

120kg x 8 (felt good, again snappy execution)

130kg x 2 (too heavy – strange)

100kg x 11 (this was a grind)

Weighted Neutral Grip Pullups

BW + 15 kg x 4

BW + 20 kg x 3

Comments:

Happy with the t-bar rows – is it the most ideal exercise for back training – in my view no, but does is allow for a lot of overall loading – yes – I’m looking forward to that carry over into other movements.

Had a plan to train biceps at the end but started getting this uncomfortable tweak on the inside of my elbow on my left arm – better not to test fate.

Little surprised about the back off sets – my top sets felt snappy – hard to describe – I supposed the closest I can come to describing the feeling was every time I gave my body the order to pull – boom! it pulled. When it came to the back off sets – the same thing felt like the message from my brain to my body was stuck in traffic ….. but I am enjoying this 4 to 7 rep range

Started reading “In Arthur’s Shadow” a collection of excerpts / articles by Arthur Jones with commentary from the author / compiler – very interesting read

Any advice on the workouts as time goes by from fellow members would be greatly appreciated!

[Kaustuv Bhattacharya]

Lower 1

Trap bar deadlifts 200kg x 5

Leg extension

110kg x 7, 120kg x 4

Leg Curls

65kg x 7

I think what I’ve been struggling with for a long time is autoregulation – JP was kind enough to answer a question of mine on this in another post in the forum – now my goal is a top set per movement – that’s it – if I feel I have more in me to give then the performance in the top set will determine if there will subsequent top sets or back off sets.

Deadlifts was a prime example – really pleased with this over 2.0x body weight for 5 – weighed in at 97 kilos this morning. The set was brutal, I mean absolutely brutal so I knew at the end of the set even a back off wasn’t going to happen without a major compromise in form – but what’s interesting to note – on a podcast JP discussed where he goes in his mind before unleashing the aggression within – tried the same exercise – lets just say it puts you in a bad place mentally but when you go to pick up that bar you don’t even feel it (not sure if that’s good or bad – but it seemed to work today at least)

Going forward am going to take a rest day between workouts to Push-rest-pull-rest-lower-rest-repeat or take an extra day off depending on how I feel

At 36 managing recovery and getting a feel for how I’m feeling has become ever so important – high stress job, young child, special needs pets, etc. tend to have a much larger impact on my training mindset and ability than I gave it credit for

Before coming back to PPL and JPs principles I was on Mentzer’s heavy duty – taking anywhere between 48 to 96 hrs between workouts and believe it or not the progress was quite remarkable (strength wise) – but when you’re digging a hole with forced reps, static holds, forced negatives, drop sets, rest pauses etc. all thrown into a single workout the CNS fatigue is crazy – right now I’m stopping exactly at MMF the moment the bar stops moving is when I terminate the set – all sets are still AMRAP with a target of 5 to 7 (to determine loading from session to session or even set to set) but they’re less draining on me overall – I’m hoping this will allow for the higher frequency as described above

Who knows? Only way to find out is to experiment, track everything, review data and see what ticks and what doesn’t – in my younger days I was too dependent on the writings of others and forum approvals – almost seeking permission before experimenting – older and perhaps wiser – these days I’m just going with what feels right

What I am super pleased about is the blood sugar – with diabetes in the family I was very concerned with my ongoing experiment of introducing more than ‘incidental carbs’ but since their reintroduction my mood, testosterone, everything is going well (touch wood) PP sugar is around 88 to 95, random blood sugar is around 95 to 98, fasted blood sugar is around 80 to 90. So, things seem to be working – the supplements I mentioned above – may seem like a kitchen sink approach but in my mind it’s worth it

For anyone with an unfavorable eGFR, I cannot recommend Astragalus enough – thanks to Dante Trudel for turning me onto this – 2gm in the morning and 2gm at night and within a month my GFR was up to 100 to 105 from the low point of 72

Anyway enough rambling – have a good one all of you!

[Kaustuv Bhattacharya]

Rest day today

On rest days I don’t push myself to eat – I let hunger dictate my total consumption although the macro breakup stays heavy on protein

So today’s plan

3 scoops BCAAs + 2 scoops creatine monohydrate + 2 liters of water – sip through the day

M1: 500gm grilled prawns + home-made mango salsa (sugar free) + whole wheat tortilla wraps – macros work out to ~P 130 C 100 F 17

M2: 500gm grilled chicken + 1.5 cups of basmati rice – macros work out to ~P 140 C 60 F 15

It would be more ideal to spread these over more meals – but it’s what I have to work with and I’d much rather get my macros in somehow than not at all

Supplements I’m currently taking (big thank you to Dante Trudel for the information to help come up with this list)

Co-enzyme Q10

Curcumin

Fish Oil

Vitamin K2

Vitamin D3

Calcium

Grape Seed Extract

Citrus Bioflavonoids

Red Yeast Rice

Digestive Enzymes

Green Tea Extract

Berberis

Alpha Lipoic Acid

Astragalus

Pine Bark Extract

Carditone

Caffeine (pre workout only)

Yohimbine HCL (first thing in the morning)

[Kaustuv Bhattacharya]

Push
Low incline smith press
120kg x 6, 130 x 2
Slight decline seated chest press
130kg x 4, 120kg x 7
Close grip barbell press
90kg x 7
Cable crossovers
35kg/side x 8
Cable press downs
35kg plus 70lb band x 6

That’s all she wrote. Not ecstatic about this session nor am I too disappointed. But it’s certainly something to build on and improve. Ok time to enjoy my weekly day off!

[Kaustuv Bhattacharya]

Progression could be any of the following (individually or combined)
– more reps
– more weight
– better form / execution
– repeat the same reps and weight but finishing stronger

[Kaustuv Bhattacharya]

Todays diet

Workout in the AM with 3 scoops of BCAA + 5 gm of Creatine Monohydrate + 30gm of Maltodextrin

M1: 2 Scoops of whey + 30gm of oats + 1 tbsp organic almond butter

M2: 350gm of chicken + 1 cup of rice

M3: 2 Scoops of whey + 40 gm of oats

M4: 500gm prawns + 2 cups of steamed veggies (squash, carrots, baby corn, bell peppers)

[Kaustuv Bhattacharya]

Back from a week on the road, re-booting my PPL – watched a lot of videos from here while I was travelling – picked up a lot on execution and biasing parts of a muscle / body part

Anyway today was pull

D Bar Pulldowns

114kg x 8, 100kg x 10

Single Arm Barbell Rows

75kg x 10, 90kg x 6 (right arm)

75kg x 10, 90kg x 6 (left arm)

Single Arm Lat Bias Machine Rows

100kg x 8, 90kg x 14 (right arm)

100kg x 8, 90kg x 10+2+2 (left arm)

EZ Bar Cable Preacher Curls

65kg x 6, 60kg x 5

Comments:

Good workout. Going to set a target of 6 reps per set before I can up the load. Every set is an AMRAP / to failure irrespective of how many actual reps I get. The second / third set may either go up or down in weight depending on how the first top set went. Once I exhaust the 6 rep range, I’ll move down to 4 – once that gets exhausted then its back up to 8.

[Kaustuv Bhattacharya]

what happens when you run out of exercise variations?

also time spent re warming up, re loading weights , also loose chance to increase pump on a grooved movement

there is no right or wrong here with it btw, and dont look at things with a load/back off mentality , i never do or have … i have total sets for a body part to hit and spread those sets based on what i like, kit i have , pumps …it just so happens that often a load and then back off situation occurs , its not a planned circumstance

1st – thank you for taking the time to reply / share your point of view

If I understand your POV it’s something like this

I want to do ‘x’ number of sets of pressing today

I want to do exercises 1, 2, 3

After doing a top set on exercise 1 – you may add a little more volume by backing off, or take another heavier set if it’s there (auto-regulate session to session)

What is locked in is the total volume planned (may vary at the actual session depending on performance and feel) and the movements planned are also locked in…..

I think I get it, today on my pull day – I did 1 arm barbell rows, top set felt good, increased weight and went for a second top set – on biceps after my first top set was completely destroyed so didn’t back off nor did I do another set – called it quits after the set – something like that make sense?

[Kaustuv Bhattacharya]

25.07.2021

Push 1

Neutral Grip Seated Chest Press (Slight Decline)

120kg x 9, 108kg x 10, 95kg x 8

Cable Crossover (Weight per side)

30kg x 12, 27.5kg x 11, 25kg x 12

DB Lateral Raises (Weight per side)

24kg x 9, 20kg x 8, 32kg x 9

Banded Cable Press Down (75 lb band)

Band + 30kg x 8, Band + 25kg x 7

Good workout this morning – definitely a very refreshing break from the single set to failure with drop sets, negatives, forced negatives, statics etc. I was doing – simply taking the set momentary muscular failure and a slow negative back down – rep ranges are staying tight – typically doing 10% drops and resting 2 to 3 minutes between sets – not sure if I should increase the % drops to work across a wider rep range or simply get stronger – maybe a bit of both? Nice to finally have a day off during the week (it’s a 6 day work week here). Travelling all of next week so tomorrow morning is the last chance I have before next weekend to hit the gym, we’ll see how I feel in the morning and go based off that – tomorrow would be Pull 1

Intra-workout

3 scoops of BCAAs + 30g of Maltodextrin + 5gm of Creatine Monohydrate in 2 liters of water

PWO

1 scoop of whey + 30gm of oats + 1 tbsp organic almond butter

Lunch

1 cup of rice + 250 gm (raw weight, boneless, trimmed, skinless) chicken + 3 cups of cooked carrots in a coconut milk gravy

Dinner

250 gm mutton (raw weight, boneless, trimmed) pan seared and put into whole wheat tortillas with home made yoghurt dressing and salad

Before Bed

2 scoops of whey + 1 tbsp organic almond butter

Nutritionally my daily target is P 250 / C 250 / F 50 for a total of 2,500 Cals. I might change a mix a tad based on what’s been made at home / surrounding circumstances but it’ll stay in that range. Got about 4,000 steps post workout – went for a nice walk in the rain with the dogs – now time to kick back and kill some zombies 😛