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Good Morning I actually woke up feeling pretty fresh today not sure how lol, sleep improved and felt better but I am still not quite where I need to be.

Plan
3 days off then 3 de volume sessions, i will run TD calories across these days this will take me right up to Sunday next week so will be a perfect de volume / Deload / diet break.

As far as the devolume, how are you gonna approach it this time from an effort perspective? I’ve seen a few different things. Aim to match reps? RIR 1-2? Try to beat the logbook?

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Thanks a lot guys:)

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In terms of elbow path if you cut down and out then that’s a flared elbow .
If you actually follow your natural path it’s be slightly tucked.
It’ll be safer and allow you to mimic a more converging motion.
And Meg describes that perfectly above by saying , let the elbows stay in line with the ribcage.
I should however insist you don’t force elbows to go where they don’t want to go . Keep everything natural..

Kuba I’ll check them out, I try to see everything but there are so many videos and i watch them slowly from the very start so I’ll catch up. Thank you though!
Meg thank you too!

Oscar so you would cue to go straight down ?

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1) When I do a flat smith press I tend to go for a little bit of a closer grip (not close grip though, just closer than most would consider a mid grip) because when I go mid to wide I don’t feel my chest at all. That has a result that when I’m at the bottom of the movement my wrist is a little bit closer to my body than my elbow when viewed from the back/front (joints not stacked). Do you think this is a problem – will cause injury or I’m losing force output? If yes, should I go a little bit wider with my grip so joints are stacked or should I move my elbows closer to my body so again joints are stacked but I think this will involve more tricep?

2) On a smith shoulder press how do you identify the ROM at the bottom? (How low to go)

3) Do you think at any press machine or free weights, joints should be stacked for maximum force output or start there and adjust depending on feel?

1 – biggest mistake most trainees make is training for sensation, it does nothing. Unless your goal is to bias tricep then adjust the grip appropriately so joints are stacked and focus on proper execution and maximum load exposure rather than sensation as feel doesn’t build muscle.

2- go as deep as you can with no pain or shoulder internally rotating, depending on your limb length this will vary slightly generally it’s much deeper than most think. Also depends on your external rotation / mobility, bigger guys can’t go over head safely it doesn’t serve any purpose smaller guys can go almost upright as there isn’t tissue in the way.

3- adjusting to feel more will likely mean less load, I would never sacrifice execution / loading for the sake of feeling something more.

If you struggle with “feeling” some activation work will solve this not adjusting from.[/quote]

Thank you very much Kuba very helpful! One last thing. As someone who recently switched from powerlifting (so moving weight from A to B mentality) to bodybuilding I’m a little bit confused with your answer on my first question. From my understanding the goal in bodybuilding training is to put as much tension on the muscle as possible. Shouldn’t feel play a role here? I mean how can I put maximum tension to my pec and not feel it that much? I’m not saying chasing feel alone, but take that into consideration also. Or should we just put ourselfs into the positions we know that anatomically will create the most tension on the muscle we want and have maximum force output and pay no attention to feel? Obviously talking about mostly compounds here.

[kbb]

1) When I do a flat smith press I tend to go for a little bit of a closer grip (not close grip though, just closer than most would consider a mid grip) because when I go mid to wide I don’t feel my chest at all. That has a result that when I’m at the bottom of the movement my wrist is a little bit closer to my body than my elbow when viewed from the back/front (joints not stacked). Do you think this is a problem – will cause injury or I’m losing force output? If yes, should I go a little bit wider with my grip so joints are stacked or should I move my elbows closer to my body so again joints are stacked but I think this will involve more tricep?

2) On a smith shoulder press how do you identify the ROM at the bottom? (How low to go)

3) Do you think at any press machine or free weights, joints should be stacked for maximum force output or start there and adjust depending on feel?

[kbb]

Hello kostas, this is me guessing you are probably initiating that movement with your bicep hence the irritation. The load is probably heavy for a unilateral variation & hence the bicep tends to pull first .

So ultimately an execution issue. My guess is if you drop the load and emphasise on initiating from the lat and driving your upper arm down (elbow to hip) the bicep won’t be irritated.

Unless you irritated your bicep somewhere else , please try this and let me know .

Also in the video section please watch one of my pull or back videos , as I always go through execution tips for a unilateral row.

Alternatively please video and send me your set next time you do the set . 🙂

Thanks a lot Oscar! Probably the weight was too heavy for me which caused an execution problem indeed. Second set I lowered the weight and the execution was a lot better but I will gauge next time since bicep was feeling weird from the 1st set. So if execution is on point, you don’t see any issue putting a singe arm row first, at least for my case?

[/quote]
Not at all, I prefer unilateral stuff to train the lat . At that point in the session you are fresh and should be able to then manage to load the movement a bit , execution scoundrel also be on point as you are fresh too . But if you pick the wrong load in terms of over shooting then it’s easy to get everything wrong and end up with irritations as you have.
So pick the right load & be patient. 🙂[/quote]

Thanks a lot Oscar, that was really helpful!

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Hello kostas, this is me guessing you are probably initiating that movement with your bicep hence the irritation. The load is probably heavy for a unilateral variation & hence the bicep tends to pull first .
So ultimately an execution issue. My guess is if you drop the load and emphasise on initiating from the lat and driving your upper arm down (elbow to hip) the bicep won’t be irritated.
Unless you irritated your bicep somewhere else , please try this and let me know .
Also in the video section please watch one of my pull or back videos , as I always go through execution tips for a unilateral row.
Alternatively please video and send me your set next time you do the set . 🙂

Thanks a lot Oscar! Probably the weight was too heavy for me which caused an execution problem indeed. Second set I lowered the weight and the execution was a lot better but I will gauge next time since bicep was feeling weird from the 1st set. So if execution is on point, you don’t see any issue putting a singe arm row first, at least for my case?

[kbb]

Thanks a lot guys!

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Yes yes I completely understand that the purpose is not to built muscle and the squat had nothing to do with that. I just thought that the barbell squat in general did not feel good for you, not only to build muscle, but for any purpose, like it was was an uncomfortable position or something, that’s why I asked, but makes sense now:)

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Cracking session today , really happy ! It was hard, but my fitness is really doing well. Today was only 4 sets of traditional leg work, just 2 sets of hams and 2 sets of barbell squat . I need to keep that hamstring curl strong , it brings a lot of benefits in bjj being able to curl the leg with force .

So todays session :

Lying prime leg curl x 6 x 6
Barbell squat x 8 x 5

Bike erg warm up to being my HR up , I was struggling going into my amraps with my HR a little low

6 min amrap : 20kb swing – 20 air squat – 10 db rdl – 10 lying leg raise . Felt great nearly got through 3 full rotations.

6 min amrap – 10 box step up into 40m plate carry , again nearly hit 5 full rotations ! Felt like I was moving fast , really pleased with how moving my body around felt

Bike intervals – 1000m – 800m – 600m – 400m -1000m – 800m – 600m – 400m / 1 min rest . Was very pleased with my times and my pacing , each interval my pacing increased and the second round I managed to increase my pacing on the first on the 1000 and 800 then just dropped off a little on the 6 and 4.

That’s week 3 done with Andy. Week 4 is very hard! My amraps go to 8 mins of continuous work and my 3rd piece of the workout are again considerably harder . Going to be a very productive week of training , I will do bjj privates with Chris mon/wed/Fri , and then Andy’s programming tue/Thurs / sat , then Sundays I’m reserving for a hike if weather is there , tmo we are going up Cleve Hill , so won’t be crazy , but it’s about a 90 min hike .

Next week sprints are back in my programme too! Now I’m lighter they should be fine

The exercises that will stay in my programming , leg curl, squat, chin, dip , deadlift , over head press, calf raise. And at ultra low volume , it also just wouldn’t surprise me if I have to go to just 1 set of curl, 1 set of squat in a session to keep muscle coming off but to just keep that exercise in to retain some strength.

I’m very very excited to be running

Hey Jordan, can you elaborate on the introduction of barbell squat? I thought it was an exercise you didn’t feel good doing

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Let’s say you have 2 main compound movements for chest. One is externally stabilized and overloads the shortened and the other is not externally stabilized and overloads the lengthened. Which one would you put first? So the question is does the stability factor matter to you more than the resistance profiles or vice versa?

Does your answer change for other muscle groups?

Depends what movement it is and how heavily overloads shortened range, if it’s a hammer Strenght piece I wouldn’t ever program it anywhere other than first then I wouldn’t program a movement that is not externally stabilised after. Do the answer is, I wouldn’t program this way.

Other body parts like legs I would do it to limit load exposure but again movements that require stability would not be placed after machines ever.

Resistance profiles matter

Stability matters more

The same would be with back, I see people do it at my gym all the time, their lats are fatigued and they are using machines that overload shortened range heavily in low rep range – very poor programming.[/quote]

I agree. Reason I asked is because of Jordan’s ig post with the dumbbells where he suggests if you have a hammer to start with that and the go to dumbbells. I asked him too but wanted your opinion also. So you wouldn’t do that I suppose

[/quote]
Jordan is an elite level
Lifter

He can do that as he has the skill to do so 99% of population can’t.[/quote]

Of course, no doubt about that. But the way he said it I don’t think he talked about himself only, but as a recommendation in general. Anyway I wanted your opinion and I got it so no reason for me to continue this, thanks Kuba:)

[kbb]

Let’s say you have 2 main compound movements for chest. One is externally stabilized and overloads the shortened and the other is not externally stabilized and overloads the lengthened. Which one would you put first? So the question is does the stability factor matter to you more than the resistance profiles or vice versa?

Does your answer change for other muscle groups?

Depends what movement it is and how heavily overloads shortened range, if it’s a hammer Strenght piece I wouldn’t ever program it anywhere other than first then I wouldn’t program a movement that is not externally stabilised after. Do the answer is, I wouldn’t program this way.

Other body parts like legs I would do it to limit load exposure but again movements that require stability would not be placed after machines ever.

Resistance profiles matter
Stability matters more

The same would be with back, I see people do it at my gym all the time, their lats are fatigued and they are using machines that overload shortened range heavily in low rep range – very poor programming.[/quote]

I agree. Reason I asked is because of Jordan’s ig post with the dumbbells where he suggests if you have a hammer piece to start with that and then go to dumbbells. I asked him too but wanted your opinion also. So you wouldn’t do that I suppose

[kbb]

Let’s say you have 2 main compound movements for chest. One is externally stabilized and overloads the shortened and the other is not externally stabilized and overloads the lengthened. Which one would you put first? So the question is does the stability factor matter to you more than the resistance profiles or vice versa?

Does your answer change for other muscle groups?

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I will be doing both mate , today’s legs will be less volume and then more CrossFit stuffs , so 3 gym a week and then reduced volume in those 3 . It’s just not going to come off me otherwise

Haha despite the fact that you have to do less of one thing that you love atm with your current goals, which sucks, I think that this is also the best proof that your whole training philosophy that you have built over the years works. And it woks a lot lol. It’s almost funny (in a good way) that it’s so hard to get rid of the muscularity you have. Of course there are a lot that go into this like you’re training age, drugs etc, but I think you get my point. I wish you’ll reach your current goals too. Basically I know you will it’s just a matter of time:)

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What if you just go super low volume/muscle group/session instead of reducing gym sessions overall? Like 1 set of leg extension and 2 sets of leg compound,hams,calves or something like that?