[Stefano]

Morning guys, Legs (A) today was achieved (training is very early for me to fit my routine with job)

Tue-20
86.6kg
Legs B
Leg curl 20×7,6 15×7,7
Hack 105×6 90×10+1
Press 190×7+1 (band) 190×11
Rfess single 25×10, 9(dx) 10(sx) +10 free
Calf standing 25×10,8,6 + free
High cable crunch 25×10,10,10,10,10

A drop of 1kg of weight vs yesterday. The + means rep is achieved with light assistance (training with no partner I help myself with a little push on last rep). Good progress on hack (+5kg -2reps on 1st set; same kg +2 reps for backoff set), leg press (+5kg -2reps 1st and -1rep 2nd set). Rfess felt good but completely buried me. Single leg training is quite taxing. Still experimenting some adjustments to set up on these. Left quite beat up. No cardio today

[Stefano]

Hi everyone and thanks for reading this. Being missing some time from posting. Considering this an opportunity to give back to this community and keep accountable with my training as I currently do not have a coach.
Nice weekend with pull and push session. Uptick on body weight, feeling way better with a couple more kgs on. Rest could improve but seems fine if I get min of 6.30hr of uninterrupted sleep.
Macro steady at
TD 590c (550 net) 200p 60f (45gr added + traces)
NTD 490c (450 net) 210p 87f
Cardio
TD: 15-20’ at 100-110 bpm (c. 120kcal)
NTD: 22’ at 130bpm (c. 200kcal)
Steps: avg weekly at 5000 daily

Sat-17
87.7kg
Seal row 65×6,6 60×8,8
SA pulldown 10×8+2 7.5×8+2
SA low row 10×8 7.5×8
Pulldown prone 50×8,7 +2 1’ +40×5 1’
Hammer curl 10×6 7.5×8,5
Cable curl 7.5×8,6 5×7 +0x7
Post delt 3s +drop

Sunday-18
87.7kg
Incline bbl 55×5 52.5×6 50×6
Flat db 25×7 22.5×8
Peck deck 5×9 3.5×8 +3,3,2 45”
Press from pin (75 degree) 42.5×6 40×7 +4,3 1’
Pushdown 15×10,8 12.5×9 +5,5 30”
SA side delt lying 5×8 4×8 3×10
Skull ez 16×7 14×8,8+2

Today is rest day (early cardio session). Tomorrow is legs

[Stefano]

I like programming them on 1 exercise per session, towards the end of session and always on bilateral exercises, never single leg/arm exercises. Also, I like measurable consistency when training and usually train with a top/ back off set for main compounds. After the first two set I might add an intensifier to juice some extra effective reps for 1-2 sets (max reps) as they are quite taxing. Also I find them good to overcome stalled lifts: i might use the same load for top and back off set and add a rest pause at end of back off set to get extra reps after shorter pause

[Stefano]

Start with strong leg imo , and force the weaker to catch up , rest pausing to make the reps is great

Thank you Jordan and all you guys, didn’t expect so many replies, for someone who trains alone and self managing with regard to training/ coach this community is truly a gem

[Stefano]

Stefano

All my reps are paused, I spend some time on stretch across all, hack and leg press I count to 1 or 2 in hole every rep, all reps are continuous also that’s how standardised execution should be always, I don’t reverse band ever, I top band to make shit heavier not easier and worse which reverse banding does. Then I progress my load & reps

Vini

2 sets of each,

The all tick off chest delt tricep volume to a degree it just isn’t direct, they are compound work. This is where you take this into consideration as a whole with volume also depends how you bias certain lifts and your programming in general.

Update

Excellent week of fat loss ticked off, slept like shit and still dropped weight, progress across all movements today too and had a busy busy day so very pleased with that!

Thanks Kuba, very informative. Keep up the good work!

[Stefano]

Tobias, I wouldn’t use it

If you are going to use it I would fast for it to be effective for a period of time, any food will raise BG not just carbs so whatever you eat does the same thing as carbs will for yohimbine use / effects.

Zach

Thank you for, very much looking forward to it and I will keep this as transparent as possible!

Legs today and they are wrecked, no adductor as my left one has been feeling off and I noticed not doing it at the start I am also a lot stronger on leg press and hack personally some people aren’t and it works opposite.

Seated ham x2

Lying ham x3

Leg ext x2

Leg press x2

Hack x2

Hip thrust x2

All she wrote, huge session but felt great. Settling into this first week of prep nicely.

Hi Kuba, thanks for posting every detail of your prep, very interesting and informative! With your 2 legs rotation when you repeat an exercise (eg hack, leg press) do you aim for different progression or technique to differentiate the workout (rest pause vs continuous reps, paused at bottom, reverse banded vs raw, other) or just straight progressive overload for reps and/or weight in both the sessions?

[Stefano]

Hi mate

It’s not isolated to you, most people find it easier to give advice to others, and end up overthinking when they apply decision making to their own programming.

The important bit is that you can recognise that, and then look at things more objectively.

That’s an important skill mate, so great job taking some time to develop that.

Let us know how you get on!

Thanks for the kind words Rich! I agree, it’s a skill and will work towards developing it

[Stefano]

Hi mate

I think you can really simply answer some of this yourself

Are you “spinning your wheels” on SLDL? There’s no reason you need to be, but are you?

Are you recovering between leg days?

Are you progressing lifts?

Don’t worry too much about potential theoretical issues if they aren’t manifesting themselves for you!

Rich, you are always so kind to answer and really appreciate your rational no nonsense approach when it comes to training. Already implementing your previous suggestion on starting my leg day with a hamstring curl movement which has worked great. I’m a rational person too but seems I’m loosing it a bit when it comes to programming for myself, getting out of comfort zone: too much information nowadays, I find it quite counterproductive as I tend to overthink (probably a consequence of tapering off 3yrs of coach training and I’m now figuring it out by myself). Regarding the specific, with your encouragement I took some time to look at the problem objectively and figured out I very probably am spinning my wheels here: recovery not so good as thought and after the two compound, a third would not be a very smart choice as I am not ensuring enough intensity as it deserves. Will keep the RDL every other rotation and strive for better progression on this

[Stefano]

Training is restarting after Covid flu. Finally experienced pretty constant intensity throughout the session.

Diet

TD 550c 200p 60f

NTD 450c 200p 75f

Average weight last 8 days was 84.6kg, +1.1kg vs previous week (83.5kg), but probably just a rebound from a previous low during Covid rehab (no training, just cardio)

Legs: I changed the order of the exercises: placing the hip hinge movement at the end of the session as I was doing resulted in lower intensity and few chance to grow. RDL prior to quads compound felt great. Leg curl will remain the first exercise in rotation :I haven’t noticed any negative effects on the deadlift, on the contrary. In the leg curl the erectors and lumbar muscles still work in isometry and this works great to prep for the following hip hinge work. I train early in the morning (<1 hr after waking up) and I don’t find ideal to start immediately with an hinge exercise. In the second legs session the SLDL is placed after quads compound (hack and leg press) but before the RFESS. Here too I expect some benefits in terms of output and greater intensity as the lunges always finish me off. Going forward, I think I will keep both the RDL and SLDL to 2 working sets (top and back off). So far I was ramping 3 sets (1s 8RM no failure, 2 and 3s 1-0 RIR), I think I am ready to work with more intensity on just two sets.

After the 1st set on the press I inserted a 2nd set during the session, not scheduled in advance. Went with the same weight but lost 4reps as the first set was quite intense. In the next sessions I the first set will be banded to differentiate the work and the stimulus. A second set in this phase is ok because I chose the leg extension as a finisher for this session which I find less taxing than lunges and is bilateral. Here I could experiment with some intensity techniques, I usually do 2s with same load drop ca. 10% complete a few more reps (dropset)

Complete workout

Lying leg curls (banded) 20×8.6 15×11

RDL 110×8 120×8 125×6

Hack 90×12 80×12 (continuous)

Press 190×12.8

Leg ext 25×15,10 +20×5

Crunch high cable 30×8,8,8

Side plank 30” 12kg 3s

Pull very good session, excellent intensity despite some back aches. Due to this I prefer exercises where my chest is not supported. With my pull exercises I’m experimenting with 6-8 RM keeping good technique as long as I can maintain a good mind muscle connection with the target district

Complete workout

T-bar row 55×7,6 50×6+2

Pulley (lat biased) 30×6 25×7

Unilateral cable row 10×12.10

Unilateral pulldown 15×6 11×7 10×8

Cable hammer curl 10×8.5 7.5×6

Straight bar cable curl 7.5×7 5×8.7 +2.5×5 (dropset)

Lying db posterior delt 4x3s@8 + dropset

[Stefano]

Hey bud

Run one variation with it at the end and one at the start 🙂

hello Kuba, took a chance at your suggestion and run the RDL prior to my quads compound. Felt great. Still kept leg curl as the first exercise as a primer. I haven’t noticed any negative effects on the deadlift, on the contrary: the erectors and lumbar muscles still work in isometry and this works great to prep for the following hip hinge work. In my other rotation the SLDL will come after hack and leg press but prior to RFEES which always finishes me off so I still expect some benefits in anticipating the SLDL.

Sometimes you only need some little external push to going beyond your comfort zone and I’m grateful to be able to get feedback from world elite athletes 🙂 I have started a logbook to keep accountable as I’m now self managing during this off-season. Hope is to contribute to grow this community

P.S.: some months ago you were kind enough to DM me on IG on my enquiry regarding lifting straps. I’ve bought two Hardbody leather lifting straps, gray and black, and could not be happier with it, really a premium quality tool 🙂

[Stefano]

Thank you all for the feedback! Really appreciated. Will progressively moving higher in the session starting placing it after hack as at that point I’m pretty ready to a hip hinge pattern. I’ll stick to decision and see how it gets before other variation. It could already be a game changer to bring up my deadlift archetype. (@Clare I’ve considered moving to a pull day but my training week is quite erratic and sometimes pull is coming right next to legs or the inverse and find recovery for hams is quite long compare to quads)

[Stefano]

Hi Stefano. Welcome to the site. Initially my thoughts are that you really need to just focus on building muscle all over. A Push, Pull, Off, Legs, Off, repeat split might be more suitable or Upper, Lower, Off, Upper, Off, Lower, Off, repeat. You need to make sure your execution and intensity is spot on though.

I would drop the post workout cardio and keep some low intensity cardio in on rest days instead for recovery and heart health.

I would increase your food intake and possibly spread your food over 5 meals plus an intra as opposed to 3.

Clare,
Many thanks for your time and support. Will start a new program tomorrow after a full rest week due to Covid. Will implement all the useful tips collected so far. Will probably start a logbook to keep accountability, share my journey and hopefully get feedback to continue to grow as an athlete. Have a great day, cheers

[Stefano]

Hi Stefano. Welcome to the site. Initially my thoughts are that you really need to just focus on building muscle all over. A Push, Pull, Off, Legs, Off, repeat split might be more suitable or Upper, Lower, Off, Upper, Off, Lower, Off, repeat. You need to make sure your execution and intensity is spot on though.

I would drop the post workout cardio and keep some low intensity cardio in on rest days instead for recovery and heart health.

I would increase your food intake and possibly spread your food over 5 meals plus an intra as opposed to 3.

Hi Stefano. Welcome to the site. Initially my thoughts are that you really need to just focus on building muscle all over. A Push, Pull, Off, Legs, Off, repeat split might be more suitable or Upper, Lower, Off, Upper, Off, Lower, Off, repeat. You need to make sure your execution and intensity is spot on though.

I would drop the post workout cardio and keep some low intensity cardio in on rest days instead for recovery and heart health.

I would increase your food intake and possibly spread your food over 5 meals plus an intra as opposed to 3.

[Stefano]

Allison, I’m responding with an unusual delay. Since we are here, I wish you happy new year and good luck for your 2024 plans. I find your answer very thoughtful and detailed and I thank you for your time in putting these thoughts together, I really appreciate it. As suggested I will scale back cardio intensity. Will keep posting some news soon. Many thanks

[Stefano]

Actually it seems I can’t post any photos from mobile. If you get any chance to read from desktop that would be great. In any case thanks again for your interest and kind welcome. Will keep continuing posting helping this community grow