Me gusta le hypertrophy

[BennyC]

Okay doky a brief update at the end of the first week of 5's.

Hip impingement is on the mend, squat form feels good but still not entirely happy, getting good depth but not a great deal of power getting out the hole. Subconsciously not loading my left hip so need to force myself to use it! Should be on to finish around 142.5/145 as I hoped.

Bench - I used the planned weight from next Fridays workout today (105KG) due to starting heavier. Relatively comfortably so fingers crossed might be able to finish at 110KG if I can accumulate strength as I hope, would be a nice boost as ideally a 140KG bench is my short term goal. I was using 115KG x 5 x 3 about 2/3 years back when I set my last PB at 135KG. Working on dat der stable base and also just gradually getting the strength to return.

DB Shoulder press, used the 30's today and felt moderately comfortable not easy by anymeans, after having pre-exhausted with side raises @ 9KG. Maybe even finish at 32.5KG hopefully.

Didn't do any hamstring work today as I'm going to do some deadlifts tomorrow morning at a different gym I have just joined followed by some conditioning. They have round plates rather than round with notches either side of the grip holds so don't roll around like kernts each rep.

Decided to use WG pull ups for the 5's.

Pretty much ditched calf isolation as tbh I cba at the moment and also am conscious of the time of each workout.

Not too much else to report. Pics at the end of 5's.

 

[BennyC]

Final week of 5's today, I have my headphones with to get me through :grrrrrr:

Should probably reel it back a bit on the strong man style training at the weekends. New gym has a tyre, farmers handles, prowler etc and have also been enjoying deadlifting with round plates/relearning form.

HIT style tyre flipping, farmers and deadlifts have left me feeling pretty tired! Had a late night Saturday too which probably hasn't helped. Have increased my calories slightly on a Saturday to account for this and also up slightly on off days in general to allow growth as I'm happy with my composition at the moment (previously being in a slight deficit).

Also addressing dem der duck feet for more medial glute recruitment on the squat and also to stop any knee buckling which was evident on my last squat PB.

 

[LiE]

Good man. Training more, eat more!

 

[BennyC]

I can feel it happening bro's, it's kicked in.

Smashed out pretty much everything today with the force of 1000 Scott Manifolds. Has put me in a rather good mood

Pain & Gain also finished converting \o/ extra gains.

 

[LiE]

I can feel your gains from here bro, too strong!

 

[BennyC]

I can feel your gains from here bro, too strong!

Limp Bizkit was screaming at me to keep rollin', pretty sure he meant keep reppin' which is exactly what I did.

 

[Chris1712]

You have dabbled in Carb Nite solution amirite? I'm thinking of changing to this from CBL to try and cut a bit and I'm just wondering what your timings/macros were for the refeed night?

On CBL I basically did 300g high GI carbs 12 hours pre-workout (8am training, fasted). This was 3 nights a week.
I'm thinking on CNS of aiming for 500g one night a week, but not sure whether to do it the night before a training session or not.

Any timing/macro information is appreciated!

 

[BennyC]

I wasn't able to find any literature to back up the protocol for CNS.

I basically just had one refeed day per week, and went mental with my first with around 7-800g on an off day which wasn't a wise move!

Personally unless you are the wrong side of 15-16% bodyfat I would stick with CBL if it is working. I was hoping to make quicker progress but ended up basically just plateauing.

I've only ever used Keto/low carb diets before and it's never been maintainable so will be using a balanced lower carb diet when the next time rolls around.

 

[Chris1712]

Cheers brah I'm just gonna give it a try and see what happens. CNS is just CKD so I can google that instead. I'm probably closer 20% than 10% but I have no way to measure, all I know is I have a very hard time cutting weight below 75kg or so and this looks like my next best option.

Plan is Sun-Fri carbs<30g, Friday night carb up a bit (250g-300g, so I get the last workout of the week with dat glycogen) then eat 'normally' Saturday (prob 200g carbs), back to <30g Sunday.

 

[BennyC]

Sounds like a good idea. Dieting down can be a bit of trial and error and is relatively subjective so see what works for you and use that

OT: well back OT feeling stronk. Forgot to do my weighted dips today as I was rushing slightly due to having let a **** work in with me for RDL's which killed intensity.

Ditched shrugs and have not bothered with calves for the 5's.

 

[BennyC]

So I finished 5's last Friday and am pretty pleased with my progress. Having gotten myself back up to a respectable level of strength although admittedly down slightly from my all time peak a few years ago.

5's
Back Squat: 145KG - 142.5KG
RDL : 110KG - 120KG
Flat Bench: 105KG - 112.5KG
Pull Up/Chin Up: +20KG - WG Pull Up 20KG
Lat Raise * Seated DB Press: 12.5KG * 30KG - 10KG - 32.5KG
BB Shrug: 120KG
BOR: 100KG - 95KG
Dips: BW + 40KG
BB Curl: 45KG
Seated Calf Raise: 100KG

Exercises in Green I dropped due to me feeling they were pointless/a waste of time. Volume without them felt right.
Weights in Yellow are increased/decreased finishing weights.
I was happy with my squat despite being a slight drop my form felt good and more importantly so did my hip impingement.

I was going to have a session with Dooovis during my deload (not that a session with Doovis is equivalent for a deload ) I was feeling pretty confident on Friday but began to fail the 2nd/3rd sets on a few of the exercises. I'd have liked to have done a 3rd week of 5's but my body is obviously at it's limit for now. Also it'll be good for my hip to fully recover and inflamation to subside as most weekends I had been Bouldering which often resulted in landing a jump in a deep squat so my hip was being loaded pretty frequently. I might do a few 5KM rows as I quite miss them and also just some flexibility/mobility work until my next cycle starts.

So there's 9-10 days of zero lifting planned followed by my second cycle of HST which has yet to be finalised in most aspects. Having joined a new gym there are some new peices of equipment I'll be taking advantage of which should keep things interesting too.

I'll be eating at around maintenance, maybe slightly less to recomp during the deload.

I've been deadlifting on a Saturday (removed RDL's from Fridays workouts) along with some strongman style conditioning (tyre flips, farmers walks). These will all cease and moving forward will be limited to just deadlifting while I bring that lift, which I have neglected for quite a while back up to speed. I'm a long way off my old PB of 205KG but have much tidier form and correct mechanics so in the long run once the explosive power & general strength returns should be quite promising.

I will try and get some progress shots up shortly. Sitting around 90KG atm after reeling back my dreamer bulk.

Deadlifts from Saturday (day after 5's) -

60KG

100KG

140KG

160KG

170KG Grip Fail

 

[icecold]

Those deads are looking really good. Hip hinge beruiful. If you can tweak your bottom position and activation for better speed then there is a lot more there.

 

[BennyC]

Those deads are looking really good. Hip hinge beruiful. If you can tweak your bottom position and activation for better speed then there is a lot more there.

*Glute spreads*

Which changes would you recommend to my bottom position?

I'm conscious to keep my shoulders over the bar and not infront as I seemed to be default in to this position which was killing hip drive.

With lighter weights my hip drive & holding on the bar was causing me to actually get a little air and my feet to jump/move (might be mildly visible in the 60KG vid). Das it maaaane

Edit: Recent food pr0n from my dreamer bulk.

Protein Pancake Hngggg



Triple Burger

 

[BennyC]

So I went for a little row yesterday, decided to try for a 5KM in sub 20 minutes, don't think I've gotten much below 21minutes before. My only rowing recently being a 500m warm up before each session.

Not particularly easy but neither unpleasant. No headphones didn't help, I was taking it relatively easy but by no means slacking.




Need to get the s/m down and use more power which would make things more bearable. Only 4-5minutes behind the WR

Subsequently went out for a works do and showed a load of phaggots how to eat properly, RIP recomp.

 

[Jasebta]

Nice time you have loads of strength to work with so should be able to hit properly decent times with a little practice. I'm currently following parts of the pete plan, quite a bit of useful info there so worth checking out, also find watching this once in a while helps not get into bad habits on the erg.

 

[BennyC]

Cheers Jasebta, will have a read of those.

So my 9 day Stategic deload is finished! Timed quite nicely as my professional studies started last week so was good to get my head in to those.

I've opted for 12,8,4 rep ranges. I wanted to keep some higher range rep work out of personal preference but decided to bring the rep range more in line with the tradition top end of hypertrophy. *'s and 4's present a logical progression and should provide a nice progression in weight.

I'm pretty certain I have a tear or did some other serious damage to my left hip capsule. It's miles better than it has been and the week off has helped it ease up so mobility and flexibility is improved but it's still not 100%. The fact the impingement cropped up overnight re-enforces it in my opinion (that it was sudden and not a gradually developed).

Anyway I've been eating at or slightly below maintenance and weighed in at 88.3KG this morning so down a couple of pounds from the end of the last cycles bulk which was far too strong. I'll carry on as I am but eat well enough on the next 3 training days to allow me to sufficiently calculate my weights for the exercises. Which will be:

Hack Squat/ Box Squat
SLDL
Inc DB Bench/ Flat Bench
WG Pull Up
T-Bar Row
Lat Raise * OHP/ Seated DB Press
Dips
EZ Curl/ Hammer Curl
Standing Calf Raise

* = pre exhaust
/ = alternation between workouts.

This was at the end of July, will try and get around to taking some proper progress shots:



Bit flat as this was during a morning fast. Would like to get back down to that level of bodyfat and then be a bit stricter with my bulk.

The fact I was eating 2-300 calories more that I knew I should have been combined with the fact I had actually underestimated by around another 3-400 calories gave me a very generous surplus!

 

[BennyC]

Dis gon be good.gif

12's
Box Squat - 100KG
RDL - 100KG
Inc DB Bench/ Flat Bench - 30KG's / 95KG
WG Pull Up - BW + 5KG
T-Bar Row (Machine - high) - 40KG
Lat Raise * OHP - 6KG * 45KG
Dips - BW + 25KG
EZ Curl Fat Bar - +22.5KG
Standing Calf Raise - 60KG

The hack squat machine doesn't agree with me here so to save injury it's ditched. That said box squatting seems to get masses more involvement from my quads that regular back squatting so could be win win. Hip felt 'okay' but am still conscious of it, no pain mind.

Decided to ditch seated DB Press in favor of OHP/PP. Managed 50KG x 10 which might be a PB, shoulders felt strong but didn't have another 2 in me after everything else this morning.

Using a proper T-bar station is surprisingly difficult! No ego tripping here so a modest 2 plates.

Quite pleased with my bench, seeing as I've just used my 10's finishing weight for 12 and actually could have ground out another 2 or 3 . Bench PB soon.jpg. I'm not sure if I will alternate DB's with BB so will play it by ear I think.

This was my first time training at the new gym and shouldn't have any problems there I don't think

8's incoming on Wednesday

Edit: Did 2 hours bouldering yesterday afternoon/evening too.

DOMS are strong today. RIP tomorrow.

 

[BennyC]

8's
Box Squat - 120KG
RDL - 120KG
Inc DB Bench/ Flat Bench - 38KG's / 110KG
WG Pull Up - BW + 15KG
T-Bar Row (Machine - high) - 50KG
Lat Raise * OHP - 8KG * 55KG
Dips - BW + 35KG
EZ Curl Fat Bar - +30KG
Standing Calf Raise - 80KG

Edit: RDL's, Bench, Pull Ups, Dips are all rep/weight PB's btw

I've booked in for a going over with warm bamboo with my sports masseuse which can't come soon enough. All the farmers walks/tyre flips have done a number on my traps and also have some lower Rhomb tightness which I can't seem to hit effectively with SMR/trigger point. So hurry up Friday for that release!

I think that my hip impingement may also involve a laberal tear at the head of the femur but I'm not sure. It's miles better than it was but is still niggling. Passive hip flexion with external rotation (knee inwards foot outwards) replicates instability/pain). Healing up well though and will be using cold compresses after training and some mild rehab work. It's not causing any pain when squating or discomfort but this isn't something you want to train through long term unless you fancy surgery so I have to respect it accordingly. I have an ISO leg press / leg extension to make use of if need be. Funnily enough strong glute activation keeps the femur head nicely seated in the socket so as long as WOD's are performed I hope not to have ongoing issues.

I have the most severe Lat DOMS I've ever experienced, OHP was twice the battle it should be!, so will be writhing around on my foam/rumble roller later. Trained quite hard today.

It's difficult box squatting off what is actually a rack pull block which has seen better days and provides minimal contact area.

Bench the 8th rep required a spot but is a good working weight I feel.

Should be an interesting second cycle. Stretch marks on the move so out comes the bio oil

 

[mrthingyx]

Respect and love.

Lat DOMS are - quite possibly - the worst.

 

[Delvis]

110kg for 8? HNNNNNNNNNNNNNNG?!!