DYELB: The Gainz Train

[Apex]

Don’t forget the 2.5lb baby plate on each side too!! it was a true 500, none of that girly 495 shit

then what about the 0.5 the bar is light

2.5 + 2.5 = 5
5 + 495 = 500

[SAWCE]

Don’t forget the 2.5lb baby plate on each side too!! it was a true 500, none of that girly 495 shit

then what about the 0.5 the bar is light

Fuuuuuuuuu

I had clips on each side too! Makes up that .5lb

[goIftdibrad]

then what about the 0.5 the bar is light

Fuuuuuuuuu

I had clips on each side too! Makes up that .5lb

I'll allow it

[goIftdibrad]

then what about the 0.5 the bar is light

2.5 + 2.5 = 5
5 + 495 = 500

a 20kg bar is actually 44.5 lbs, but we all round it up

[Apex]

2.5 + 2.5 = 5
5 + 495 = 500

a 20kg bar is actually 44.5 lbs, but we all round it up

Damn commie bars.

[SAWCE]

2.5 + 2.5 = 5
5 + 495 = 500

a 20kg bar is actually 44.5 lbs, but we all round it up

[SAWCE]

First time really squatting in 17 weeks. 315 for 4 sets of 6. Not a bad place to come back to. I should get all four sets of 10 within a month if my coach doesn’t change my programming going into the new year.

[Apex]

First time really squatting in 17 weeks. 315 for 4 sets of 6. Not a bad place to come back to. I should get all four sets of 10 within a month if my coach doesn’t change my programming going into the new year.

[SAWCE]

Started the year off with a leg workout. Didn’t follow my coach’s plan, but let the owner of my gym put me and another dude through a workout:

Started with leg press. Warmed up until we got to 9 plates. That’s where I’d left off on the program I’d been doing and hit 25 reps last time I think. Dude went first and got 15 reps. I knew I had to beat my 25, and managed 27. He went for broke and beat me hitting 30 on his second set. That lit a fire under me so I pumped out 31 for my second set. Third working set we dropped down to 5 plates but did every rep with a 5 second eccentric. 10 reps with that, immediately dropped to 4 plates per side and got 10 more like that.

I spent the next 3 minutes puking.

Moved on to hack squats next. 2 plates for 10 reps to warm up. 3 plates for 10 as a working set. Tried that again, but got pinned down on my 6th rep. Dropped to 2 plates per side for a final set, goal was 20 slow eccentric reps, I bitched out at 12.

Last movement was partial ROM squats. All the way down, but only come up halfway to keep tension on the quads. 135lbs. Three sets of 15, last set I went up to 20.

I’m gonna go get in bed for a week now.

[goIftdibrad]

2nd day of 4 day split went ok. I got my deadlift reps and weight, but there was just no way I was going to squat 345 5x5. I was a total bitch and did 315 x5 and 225 for 5x5. I didn't eat hardly anything that day up to the workout, so that did me no favors...but:
I think I should probably reset my squat to about 70% of my 1rm and really focus on form while adding weight. this would also put my squat to deadlift ratio in a more reasonable place compared to each other.

first day of the split last Sunday went well. press intensity and bench volume. got all my reps for press, had to lower the weights to get my reps for volume on bench. I felt it the next day for sure.

[goIftdibrad]

Started the year off with a leg workout. Didn’t follow my coach’s plan, but let the owner of my gym put me and another dude through a workout:

Started with leg press. Warmed up until we got to 9 plates. That’s where I’d left off on the program I’d been doing and hit 25 reps last time I think. Dude went first and got 15 reps. I knew I had to beat my 25, and managed 27. He went for broke and beat me hitting 30 on his second set. That lit a fire under me so I pumped out 31 for my second set. Third working set we dropped down to 5 plates but did every rep with a 5 second eccentric. 10 reps with that, immediately dropped to 4 plates per side and got 10 more like that.

I spent the next 3 minutes puking.

Moved on to hack squats next. 2 plates for 10 reps to warm up. 3 plates for 10 as a working set. Tried that again, but got pinned down on my 6th rep. Dropped to 2 plates per side for a final set, goal was 20 slow eccentric reps, I bitched out at 12.

Last movement was partial ROM squats. All the way down, but only come up halfway to keep tension on the quads. 135lbs. Three sets of 15, last set I went up to 20.

I’m gonna go get in bed for a week now.

that sounds brutal. no thanks.

[SAWCE]

Started the year off with a leg workout. Didn’t follow my coach’s plan, but let the owner of my gym put me and another dude through a workout:

Started with leg press. Warmed up until we got to 9 plates. That’s where I’d left off on the program I’d been doing and hit 25 reps last time I think. Dude went first and got 15 reps. I knew I had to beat my 25, and managed 27. He went for broke and beat me hitting 30 on his second set. That lit a fire under me so I pumped out 31 for my second set. Third working set we dropped down to 5 plates but did every rep with a 5 second eccentric. 10 reps with that, immediately dropped to 4 plates per side and got 10 more like that.

I spent the next 3 minutes puking.

Moved on to hack squats next. 2 plates for 10 reps to warm up. 3 plates for 10 as a working set. Tried that again, but got pinned down on my 6th rep. Dropped to 2 plates per side for a final set, goal was 20 slow eccentric reps, I bitched out at 12.

Last movement was partial ROM squats. All the way down, but only come up halfway to keep tension on the quads. 135lbs. Three sets of 15, last set I went up to 20.

I’m gonna go get in bed for a week now.

that sounds brutal. no thanks.

It’s gonna suck, but training like this is gonna be what it takes for me to put the needed size on my legs to come back and be more competitive on stage next time.

[SAWCE]

Decent shoulder workout last night. Nothing crazy, but added weight or reps to all lifts. Did some neck training at the end. Thick necks always make a physique look way stronger to me, so I’m gonna try to build mine up this year.

Gonna take measurements of everything tomorrow morning and then try to remember to do quarterly measurements this year to see how I’m actually growing. I’ll post the numbers up in here.

Upper arms, forearms, neck, thighs, calves, stomach and waist I don’t care too much about but I’ll measure anyways as a way to track fat gainz while I get back to bulking. I’ll try to have Michelle measure my shoulders and chest/back/torso for me.

I’m mostly happy with the size of my chest and back. If I can add 2” to my upper arms and neck, and 3” to my thighs this year without putting in too much fat I’ll be pretty happy. Maybe an inch on forearms and calves.

[goIftdibrad]

nice, good goals sawce


this morning I did my day three and day four workout because I got off a day this week. brutal but not too bad.

intensity work:
hit my bench press numbers, 225 x5
missed on squats, only 365 for 2.

volume work:
no way I was hitting 5x5 for 132.5 on ohp. I did one set of 4, and 4 sets of 115.
deadlifts. 355 for 3x5 was goal. I got 355 for three, and 315 for 2x5. deads were last so I'm not too worried about Missing numbers, I also just did the intensity work 2 days ago.

[SAWCE]

Yeah man doing volume work for deads at the end of a workout is rough. Good shit.

[SAWCE]

Took my measurements this morning.

Broceps are the biggest and most symmetrical they’ve been, both clocking in at just about 17.25”
Forearms 13.5 and 14”
Thighs 26 and 26.75”
Calves 17 and 17.25”
Shoulders were 53” around (this was my one unflexed measurement)
Chest/lats 49.5”
Then to check body fat as I go back to bulking my stomach was 36.25” and waist was 35.25”
Hips were 41.75” so we’ll see if I can keep growing
Neck at 17”. I’ve dabbled in neck training before, but it’s largely untrained, so it should be able to grow relatively quickly.

Smaller measurement for each body part is the left side.

[goIftdibrad]

program needs work.

intensity deads followed by 85% 1rm 5x5 volume squats ain't gonna fly. I dropped to probably 75% and it was still super struggle bus.

I think 85% 1rm for volume work is too high for me? also, 4 days a week is not enough recovery. I might just do this 4 day split 3 days a week and roll through the workouts in order.

[SAWCE]

program needs work.

intensity deads followed by 85% 1rm 5x5 volume squats ain't gonna fly. I dropped to probably 75% and it was still super struggle bus.

I think 85% 1rm for volume work is too high for me? also, 4 days a week is not enough recovery. I might just do this 4 day split 3 days a week and roll through the workouts in order.

I’ve never liked deadlifting and squatting in the same session. Lots of compression on your spine and those are both such big lifts that your CNS takes a hit.

A push/pull/legs split might be good for you. Easy way to go down to 3 days a week and still hit your major lifts.

Bench and shoulder press on push day. Whatever accessory work you can do at home for chest, shoulders, and triceps. The bands you have should give you lots of options there.

Deadlifts and pull-ups on pull day. Back and bicep accessory work.

Squat on leg day. Squat and lunge variants for accessory work.

Quick and dirty.

[goIftdibrad]

program needs work.

intensity deads followed by 85% 1rm 5x5 volume squats ain't gonna fly. I dropped to probably 75% and it was still super struggle bus.

I think 85% 1rm for volume work is too high for me? also, 4 days a week is not enough recovery. I might just do this 4 day split 3 days a week and roll through the workouts in order.

I’ve never liked deadlifting and squatting in the same session. Lots of compression on your spine and those are both such big lifts that your CNS takes a hit.

A push/pull/legs split might be good for you. Easy way to go down to 3 days a week and still hit your major lifts.

Bench and shoulder press on push day. Whatever accessory work you can do at home for chest, shoulders, and triceps. The bands you have should give you lots of options there.

Deadlifts and pull-ups on pull day. Back and bicep accessory work.

Squat on leg day. Squat and lunge variants for accessory work.

Quick and dirty.

hmmm, sounds plausible. would I just do volume work after my heavy lifts in this scheme?

[SAWCE]

I’ve never liked deadlifting and squatting in the same session. Lots of compression on your spine and those are both such big lifts that your CNS takes a hit.

A push/pull/legs split might be good for you. Easy way to go down to 3 days a week and still hit your major lifts.

Bench and shoulder press on push day. Whatever accessory work you can do at home for chest, shoulders, and triceps. The bands you have should give you lots of options there.

Deadlifts and pull-ups on pull day. Back and bicep accessory work.

Squat on leg day. Squat and lunge variants for accessory work.

Quick and dirty.

hmmm, sounds plausible. would I just do volume work after my heavy lifts in this scheme?

Yeah that’s how I would do it. Hit your 3x5 or 5x5c whatever you’re doing now, and then pick a few accessory movements and do 3x12-15. You’ll get a good pump, and the lighter weight will be easier on your joints/tendons, especially if you can figure out a way to include those bands to change the resistance curve.

[goIftdibrad]

hmmm, sounds plausible. would I just do volume work after my heavy lifts in this scheme?

Yeah that’s how I would do it. Hit your 3x5 or 5x5c whatever you’re doing now, and then pick a few accessory movements and do 3x12-15. You’ll get a good pump, and the lighter weight will be easier on your joints/tendons, especially if you can figure out a way to include those bands to change the resistance curve.

thanks.

my only worry is that I might de train only hitting big lifts once a week...my current scheme has a heavy day and a light day. Also pressing and bench pressing heavy and then for volume for both on the same day might also be hard since they use many of the same muscles.

I used to do squats and bench pressing one day, deads and presses the other on 531.

what if I did heavy squats, volume bench one day,
heavy press, heavy deads, pull-ups day 2
volume press, volume squats a third day.


alternatively, I could try to stick with the 4 day plan and move around things so I don't have heavy dead lift day on volume squats day...

[SAWCE]

Yeah that’s how I would do it. Hit your 3x5 or 5x5c whatever you’re doing now, and then pick a few accessory movements and do 3x12-15. You’ll get a good pump, and the lighter weight will be easier on your joints/tendons, especially if you can figure out a way to include those bands to change the resistance curve.

thanks.

my only worry is that I might de train only hitting big lifts once a week...my current scheme has a heavy day and a light day. Also pressing and bench pressing heavy and then for volume for both on the same day might also be hard since they use many of the same muscles.

I used to do squats and bench pressing one day, deads and presses the other on 531.

what if I did heavy squats, volume bench one day,
heavy press, heavy deads, pull-ups day 2
volume press, volume squats a third day.


alternatively, I could try to stick with the 4 day plan and move around things so I don't have heavy dead lift day on volume squats day...

Detrain how? You won’t lose strength. As long as you’re pushing to failure this should give you better results than the four days a week since it sounds like you aren’t recovering all the way with that frequency.

Bench and OHP in the same day is tough for sure, but I’d just alternate which one you hit first each week to keep them balanced.

If you want to stick to your current four days a week, I’d do what you said and just not do volume deads after squatting or volume squats after deads. Training deads once a week is plenty. There are lots of other back accessory lifts you can do for volume after your squat day.

[goIftdibrad]

thanks.

my only worry is that I might de train only hitting big lifts once a week...my current scheme has a heavy day and a light day. Also pressing and bench pressing heavy and then for volume for both on the same day might also be hard since they use many of the same muscles.

I used to do squats and bench pressing one day, deads and presses the other on 531.

what if I did heavy squats, volume bench one day,
heavy press, heavy deads, pull-ups day 2
volume press, volume squats a third day.


alternatively, I could try to stick with the 4 day plan and move around things so I don't have heavy dead lift day on volume squats day...

Detrain how? You won’t lose strength. As long as you’re pushing to failure this should give you better results than the four days a week since it sounds like you aren’t recovering all the way with that frequency.

Bench and OHP in the same day is tough for sure, but I’d just alternate which one you hit first each week to keep them balanced.

If you want to stick to your current four days a week, I’d do what you said and just not do volume deads after squatting or volume squats after deads. Training deads once a week is plenty. There are lots of other back accessory lifts you can do for volume after your squat day.

heard that, thanks. I'll work on my new sheet. would you mind taking a look at it once I get done?

[SAWCE]

Detrain how? You won’t lose strength. As long as you’re pushing to failure this should give you better results than the four days a week since it sounds like you aren’t recovering all the way with that frequency.

Bench and OHP in the same day is tough for sure, but I’d just alternate which one you hit first each week to keep them balanced.

If you want to stick to your current four days a week, I’d do what you said and just not do volume deads after squatting or volume squats after deads. Training deads once a week is plenty. There are lots of other back accessory lifts you can do for volume after your squat day.

heard that, thanks. I'll work on my new sheet. would you mind taking a look at it once I get done?

Of course man! PM or email it over whenever.

[SAWCE]

Back to squats last night. Low back was feeling messed up, but still added four total reps over last week and did sets of seven.

The volume on this program is much higher than what I’d been doing so I scaled back and only did three sets on the rest of my exercises instead of four. I’ll do all four on everything next week.