1/7 (Push)

Made a few changes to this Push programming to get around the forearm issue:

1. Replaced the Rear Delt T Bar Row w/ a Rear Delt Cable Row - The Cable Row is made up of two D Handles with a Cambered Bar, which allows my wrists to freely rotate and keep stress off the forearm.
2. Switched stations on the Seated Cable Fly - This other station allows me to get in a better, more stable position and feels better on my Bicep Tendon.

Part of getting over an injury is assessing the root cause, and part of it is removing exercises that aggravate it.

Full Session:

S/A Kneeling Pulldown 1x13

Seated Cable Fly 1x11 (short)

LifeFitness Incline Press 1x10, 1x14.5

Smith Floor Press 1x11

Lying Cuffed Lateral 1x14 (short), 1x13, 1x12 (length)

Rear Delt Cable Row 1x15 (short), 1x10.5

S/A Rope Extension 1x11 (short), 1x10

S/A Overhead Extension Machine 1x11 (length)

LifeFitness Pec Dec 1x11 (length)

1/9/22 (Rest)

Rest Day and Saturday today, woke up and went to breakfast and then ran some errands before coming home, prepping some food and playing video games and watching TV the rest of the day. I made some chicken sandwiches and fries for Carissa and I for dinner!

1/10/22 (Legs)

Mixed bag of a Leg session today: I had a few sets of failed progressions. Fortunately, nothing regressed, they were all maintained performances, but I was definitely not expecting to have a session filled with failed progressions after the great run of training I've been on lately.

There are a few things to consider here, the two major ones being that I have recently decreased my calories considerably AND I've also entered a cruise phase. Either way, It just wasn't there today

I'm programmed to do more Leg Extension work between the Leg Press and Hyper but I decided to scrap it. This is fatigue management 101: when your body is giving you feedback that it's under recovered, continuing to pound it with high workloads is a big mistake.

Realistcally, maintaining performance in a deficit is still a W but after the great run of training I've been on today feels like somewhat of an L. Going to watch football/play video games today and just chill and recover!

Full Session:

Seated Cuffed Lateral 1x13, 1x19

Standing Calf Raise 1x15 (short), 1x17

Seated Calf Raise 1x13 (length)

Adductor 1x12 (short), 1x20

Seated Leg Curl 1x11 (short), 1x13

Leg Extension 1x18

Icarian Leg Press 1x12

Leg Extension - SKIP

Glute/Ham focused Hyper Extension 1x12

1/10 (Pull)

Another mixed bag of a session today, this one featuring some regressions. Second set of Low Row stalled, and Inwards Facing Curl, set 1 of S/A Cable Curl and set 1 of Incline DB Row were all regressions.

It's been about 6 weeks since my last Deload which is the usual amount of time I can train at max volume before needing to Deload so I'm starting a Deload effective today. Time to take a step back and rest!

Full Session:

LifeFitness Pec Dec 1x9

Bilateral D Handle Cable Pulldown 1x13 (short), 1x12

S/A Low Machine Row 1x15, 1x10 (length)

Upper Back Pulldown 1x11 (short)

Incline DB Row 1x10, 1x6 (length)

Plate Loaded Shrug 1x11 (short), 1x14

Inwards Facing Cable Curl 1x11 (short)

S/A Cable Curl 1x10, Skip Set 2

S/A Cable Hammer Curl - SKIP

Long Rope Tricep Extension 1x14, 1x10

1/11 (Rest)

Rest Day today, worked the morning shift then stopped by at my buddy's house and talked for a bit before heading home and making some content and ending the night with some video games and stretching/foam rolling!

1/12 (Legs - Deload)

First Deload session done today, progressions on everything except the Lying Leg Curl. I've been running this Leg Curl since February 2021 so it may be coming to the end of it's progression lifespan. I'll give it another go next time around and then decide what to do with it. Rest Day tomorrow!

Full Session:

Bilateral Cable Bicep Curl 1x17

Seated Calf Raise 1x15 (short)

Standing Calf Raise 1x13 (length)

Adductor 1x17

Lying Leg Curl 1x11

Paused Leg Extension 1x14

Pivot Leg Press 1x11

1/13 (Rest)

Rest Day today, ran some errands before work and then went to work, had a decently busy day there and then came home and did some mobility work before going to bed. Very boring day!

1/14 (Push - Deload)

Another Deload session down, resting tomorrow then the third and final Deload session on Sunday. I am scheduled to do Legs again on Sunday but my right Adductor has been a little sore the past two days, if it's still sore on Sunday morning I will hit Pull instead to give the Adductor an extra 48 hours of rest before hitting Legs again on Monday/Tuesday (haven't decided yet).

Full Session:

S/A Low Cable Row 1x15

Hammer Strength Pec Dec 1x12 (short)

Hammer Strength Incline Press 1x9

Reverse Pec Dec Fly 1x12 (short)

Cybex Lateral 1x15 (short)

Standing Cuffed Lateral 1x13

S/A Cuffed Tricep Extension 1x14 (short)

Smith JM Press 1x13

1/15 (Rest)

Rest Day as well as Saturday today. Slept in and then prepped some food before running some quick errands. Played video games and watched football most of the afternoon before one of my local clients came over and hung out a bit! Finished the night with a movie and then bed time.

1/16 (Pull - Deload)

Third and final Deload session today. I was originally programmed to do Legs but my Adductor was still a little tender and it fits my schedule a little better to hit Pull today so I hit Pull instead. Resting tomorrow and then back to full volume on Tuesday with Legs.

I have a zoom call scheduled with a new client today and then plan on relaxing and watching more of the Wild Card games!

Full Session:

Low Cable Row 1x12+1 (short)

Bilateral D Handle Mag Pulldown 1x14

Hammer High Row 1x12 (short)

Upper Back Pulldown 1x14

Plate Loaded Shrug 1x10 (short)

DB Preacher Curl 1x14

EZ Bar Curl 1x15

Cross Body Cuffed Tricep Extension 1x14

1/17 (Rest)

Rest Day today, went to work in the morning then came home and made some content and cooked some food and cleaned the house before playing Xbox and watching football at night. Rest days have been pretty boring lately but that's part of it!

1/18 (Legs)

First session back at full volume today and of course it's Legs. I had a few session that were below my standard prior to the Deload so I really wanted to come in here today and start this new training block off with a bang and I did just that by taking progressions across the board.

I made an adjustment to the setup of the Icarian Leg Press in which I dropped the seat 1 notch. This allows me lean my torso back a little more which allows me to take a lower foot position, which allows the Knee to go into a greater degree of Flexion. In theory, this setup will bias the Quad more than the previous setup I was using.

I'm officially 2.5 weeks into my cruise now so it's safe to assume my Testosterone is back within normal levels so I'm having a slightly harder time taking progressions but they're still there as long as I dig deep and find it. Hopefully today's session is a sign of good things to come for this upcoming block!

Full Session:

S/A High Cable Curl 2x12

Standing Calf Raise 1x13 (short), 1x18

Seated Calf Raise 1x12 (length)

Adductor 1x13 (short), 1x21

Seated Ham Curl 1x12 (short), 1x13

Leg Extension 1x19

Icarian Leg Press 1x9

Leg Extension 1x14

Glute/Ham focused Hyper Extension 1x13

1/19 (Push)

Had a short turnaround time between Legs yesterday afternoon and Push this morning but we got it done anyways. When I train two days in a row I prefer both of them to be in the morning or in the afternoon, when I have to do one afternoon/one morning I really miss those extra couple hours outside of the gym. Tomorrow's rest day earned!

Full Session:

S/A Kneeling Pulldown 1x15

Seated Cable Fly 1x13 (short)

LifeFitness Incline Press 1x9, 1x15

Smith Floor Press 1x12

Lying Cuffed Lateral 1x16 (short), 1x13, 1x12 (length)

Rear Delt Cable Row 1x17 (short), 1x13.5

S/A Rope Extension 1x12 (short), 1x11

S/A Overhead Extension Machine 1x12

LifeFitness Pec Dec 1x13 (lengthened)

1/20 (Rest)

Rest Day today, slept in and then ran some errands before coming home and playing video games. Went to work and made some content, came home from work and played more video games before bed 😴

1/21 (Legs)

Had to improvise today's Leg session by skipping the Leg Press because my Adductor was acting up, I may have been able to work through it but I wanted to live to fight another day. I was still able to Hack pain free so not all hope is lost.

I had another regression on the LifeFitness Lying Leg Curl today so I'll be replacing that with a Cybex one going forward.

Full Session:

DB Lateral 1x20, 1x13

Seated Calf Raise 1x15 (short), 1x13

Standing Calf Raise 1x13 (length)

Adductor 1x16.5

Lying Leg Curl 1x9

Leg Extension 1x15 (short)

Pivot Leg Press - SKIP

Reverse Banded Hack 1x9

S/L Leg Extension 1x24/24

1/22 (Pull)

Took another regression on the Inwards Facing Cable Curl so I'll be replacing it with a machine Preacher Curl going forward. I've been running that exercise since February of last year and have made amazing progress with it so it's just time to move on and chalk it up as a W. Looking forward to using the Preacher Curl as I've been going to this gym for a while and have yet to use it!

Full Session:

LifeFitness Pec Dec 1x11

Bilateral D Handle'd Cable Pulldown 1x13 (short), 1x14

S/A Machine Low Row 1x16, 1x11 (length)

Upper Back Pulldown 1x12 (short)

Incline DB Row 1x11+2 partials, 1x7 (length)

Plate Loaded Shrug 1x12 (short), 1x15

Inwards Facing Cable Curl 1x11 (short) *Replacing next rotation*

S/A Cable Curl 1x15, 1x12

S/A Cable Hammer Curl 1x11 (length)

Long Rope Tricep Extension 1x16, 1x12

1/23 (Rest)

Rest Day today and Sunday. Woke up and relaxed most of the morning before going over to my girlfriend's grandparents house for her grandpa's birthday. Had a great time seeing family and watching some crazy football! Holy shit this was the craziest weekend of football I've ever seen! Finished the night off with a movie and hit the sheets!

1/24 (Legs)

What an awesome Leg session today! I could tell on the drive to the gym I was feeling good and it played out exactly that way. I've made extra effort to focus on Hip Internal Rotation and Ankle mobility in my pre training prep work and the changes were very noticeable today. I'm completely fucking smashed from this session and should sleep like a rock tonight 😴 

Full Session:

S/A High Cable Curl 1x13, 1x14

Standing Calf Raise 1x15 (short), 1x17

Seated Calf Raise 1x13 (length)

Adductor 1x14 (short), 1x22

Seated Ham Curl 1x13 (short), 1x13.5

Leg Extension 1x19.5

Icarian Leg Press 1x11

Leg Extension 1x14

Glute/Ham focused Hyper Extension 1x14

1/25 (Push)

Back to back kickass days of training! Push today was excellent, completely picture perfect session. I've been struggling to progress two sets of the Cuffed Lateral here so I decided to drop it to 1 set today and add another set to the Cybex Lateral. I should be able to string a few weeks of progression with this setup! I'm also considering dropping my S/A Extensions down to 1 set and then adding another set of the JM Press, I'll probably wait until food goes back up before I try and do that. Who knows 😲 

Full Session:

S/A Cable Row 1x16

Hammer Strength Pec Dec 1x13

Hammer Strength Incline Press 1x8.5, 1x13

Magnum Pec Dec 1x10

Reverse Pec Dec 1x12, 1x14.5

Cybex Lateral 1x15, 1x10

Standing Cuffed Lateral Raise 1x10

S/A Cuffed Tricep Extension 2x14

Smith JM Press 1x11

Bilateral Overhead Extension Machine 1x11

1/26 (Rest)

Rest Day today. Today was the first day of starting my cardio regimen: I made a goal to myself to start incorporating cardio again and am trying to stay consistent with doing it. There are a few reasons I'd like to get back into doing cardio:

1. Improved Health Outcomes - My bloodwork was pretty solid last go around but I want to keep a baseline of both LISS and HIIT cardio in to maintain proper cardiovascular conditioning. In theory this will also help keep BP and other health markers in better shape.
2. Improved Training Performance - By doing cardio I'm hoping to build an improved cardiovascular system that will help me in my weight training sessions. In theory a better cardiovascular system will allow me to rest less between sets and incorporate higher rep work without fatiguing cardiovascularly. I think there's some merit to working in super high rep ranges and I'd like to get back to doing stuff like that on as much as I can!

As of now I'm incoporating 20 minutes of LISS cardio and 4 rounds of HIIT cardio on rest days. The HIIT is probably going to be done on Battle Ropes exclusively at a 15 sec on, 45 sec rest pace. Only starting at 4 rounds in order to minimize CNS fatigue on rest days, may or may not increase it as time goes on but I want to get consistent with getting 4 good rounds in before I think about doing more.

After cardio I ran some errands and then took a nap before heading to work. Went to work and recorded some content and then came home and went to bed early!

1/27 (Legs)

Few things to note about Legs today:

1. Today was the first time using a different lying Leg Curl, I was previously using a FreeMotion variation and switched to a Cybex one after the FM one regressed a few times. This one has a slightly different setup and slightly different resistance profile which obviously stimulates the Hams different than the other one. Should see a good novel stimulus here!
2. My right Adductor is still bothering me and it forced me to skip the Pivot Leg Press again today. After two rotations in a row of skipping this movement I'm gong to be taking it out completely for the foreseeable future. It's clearly a movement that's aggravating my Adductor and therefore it isn't bringing me anything positive. This will also allow me to focus exclusively on the Hack during this rotation, which is something I haven't done in a while. The Hack should see a good bit of progress on it now that it's being prioritized!
3. As mentioned above my right Adductor is still bothering me so I'm going to be reducing my direct Adductor volume in order to give them a break. I've had a difficult time progressing the Adductor recently so this will not only help alleviate some pain (hopefully) but should also help maintain if not improve performance!

Full Session:

DB Lateral 1x21, 1x14 (partial reps to failure both sets)

Seated Calf Raise 2x15

Standing Calf Raise 1x11

Lying Ham Curl 1x9.5

Adductor 1x16.5

Paused Leg Extension 1x16

Reverse Banded Hack 1x9

S/L Leg Extension 1x26

1/28 (Pull)

Today was another instance of training in the morning the day after training in the afternoon and I was tired today. Couldn't be more thankful that tomorrow's a rest day.

I'm finishing up the 3rd week of this cut and am down 8 pounds from my starting weight. That, along with the fact that I am cruising, has made progressions harder to come by and rightfully so. In situations like this, micro managing your training volume is absolutely essential to maintaining performance and tissue.

The quickest way to say goodbye to all the muscle you built while bulking and while on cycle is to overtrain yourself to the point where you're no longer able to maintain the strength you built while you were on. And the quickest way to do that is to try and maintain the levels of volume you were using when food was plentiful and your hormone levels were superhuman. That's no longer the case, so you can no longer pull that off.

I believe many are afraid of reducing training volume because they've bought in to the ideology that volume is the end-all-be-all variable of a Hypertrophy program. Is volume an important variable? Sure. But it is one variable of many.

Full Session:

Seated Cable Fly 1x13

Low Cable Row 2x13

Bilateral D Handle'd Mag Grip Pulldown 1x13, 1x11

Hammer Strength High Row 1x12

Upper Back Pulldown 1x13, 1x10

Plate Loaded Shrug 1x10

DB Preacher Curl 1x14(L)/15(R)

EZ Bar Curl 1x15, 1x13

Incline Cable Curl 1x8

Cross Body Cuffed Tricep Extension 1x14, 1x9

1/29 (Rest)

Rest Day today, went to the gym in the morning and did my HIIT/LISS and stretching then back home for Meal 1. Went to Carissa's nephew's basketball game and then ran some errands before coming home and playing some video games. Went over to Carissa's mom's house for some pizza and a few rounds of cards. Great rest day spent with family and friends!

1/30 (Legs)

I was up quite a bit later last night than I usually am so I decided to train in the afternoon instead of the morning. I typically train as soon as I wake up but if I had done that today I would have been going into the gym at peak times and I wasn't feeling that today so I decided to wait and go in the afternoon. The gym was considerably less packed so that may be something I run with regularly going forward!

The session itself was okay - I am still nursing a tight Adductor and it was pretty sore today so I took a lotttt of extra time warming up and making sure things felt good. I had to skip the Leg Press today because it just wasn't feeling like a smart decision to roll with it today. Definitely not ideal but just trying to be smart and live to fight another day.

After the session I did a dry-run of some Single Leg Leg Press and DB Split Squats and both felt decent so I'll keep those in my back pocket going forward. If the Adductor still feels tight next rotation I will rotate the Leg Press out for one of these two movements. Leg Pressing is really aggravating my Adductor right now so it may be appropriate for me to take some time away from it for a bit.

Full Session:

S/A High Cable Curl 1x15, 1x13

Standing Calf Raise 1x12, 1x18

Seated Calf Raise 1x13

Adductor 1x14

Seated Leg Curl 1x13

Leg Extension 1x12

Icarian Leg Press - SKIP DUE TO GROIN

Leg Extension 1x14.5

Glute/Ham focused Hyper Extension 1x15

1/31 (Push)

Pretty stressful day at work today, we were unable to take all card payments and had no internet most of the morning and then had problems with our security camera technician appointment in the afternoon and had to reschedule. I was looking forward to getting out of there today and getting this session in.

Solid Push session today, was able to move at a solid pace despite the gym being a little busy. I will probably be making a small decrease to my direct Tricep work as my Tricep work has kind of plateau'd across both Push and Pull sessions. I made a lot of these volume increments while I was blasting and while food was high so they're just hard for me to maintain in this current environment.

Full Session:

S/A Kneeling Pulldown 1x15

Seated Cable Fly 1x14

LifeFitness Incline Press 1x9, 1x13

Smith Floor Press 1x11

Lying Cuffed Lateral 2x14, 1x10

Rear Delt Cable Row 1x10, 1x15

Rope Extension 1x11, 1x10

S/A Overhead Extension Machine 1x11(L)/12(R)

LifeFitness Pec Dec 1x7