Custom Search

Sunday, November 29, 2015

Holiday Week

23 November 2015

SlingShot bench press (Reactive) 315 lbs. x 7, 300 lbs. 2s x 7

Mid-shin pull 420 lbs. x 8 singles

Was supposed to do 10, but I have to squat and pull again on ether Wednesday or Saturday, so I decided to cut it short.

Pulldowns 30 total reps

Standing BTN press 135x5, 155x3, 165x3


24 November 2015

Bench press up to 310 lbs. x 3, then 295 lbs. 2s x 3

Chest-supported row 30 total reps

Second time in a row (hue) I wanted to do seated cable rows and could not get to the machine.

Standing BTN press 115x5, 145 lbs. 2s x 5

Barbell curl 30 total reps

Pushdowns 2 sets x AMAP


25 November 2015

Paused bench press 265 lbs. x 4, then 245 lbs. 2s x 4

Three consecutive bench press days - my shoulders are starting to get that familiar ground-glass feeling.

DB curl 4s x 10

Leg extension 3s x 8-10


29 November 2015

Squat 395 lbs. 2s x 3, 400 lbs. x 3

Couldn't resist bumping the weight up on the last set.

Mid-shin pulls 450 lbs. x 5

Standing BTN press 115x5, 135x3, 145x3, 165x3

Leg extensions 4s x AMAP

Leaving for another out-of-town assignment tomorrow. At least I didn't gain much weight over Thanksgiving.

6 comments:

:/ said...

How's the knee feeling with the decreased frequency and sabbatical?

Fatman said...

Not bad overall. I got a slight twinge in it squatting yesterday, but otherwise fine.

The decreased frequency might be a permanent thing. I progressed just fine squatting once a week for years, and from this perspective I don't really understand why I ever went to 2x per week.

:/ said...

Because

1) Studies
2) You're a pussy if you don't squat at least 5x/week

Anecdotally, I've made my best progress squatting 2-3x per week and tend to see a drop in performance with less frequency. I wonder if it would start going back up eventually, though if I kept hammering away with 1x/week squatting.

Fatman said...

I was/am aware of 2), but where does the 1) come from?

I did make progress squatting twice per week, but nothing spectacular (i.e. I'm pretty sure I could have gotten there in the same amount of time squatting once per week). The second session was usually so light that I doubt it made a difference.

:/ said...

I don't know how much of your time you waste reading bullshit lifting articles (hopefully none) but there was a study done on the Norwegian powerlifting team a few years ago where both arms did the same amount of work but one arm did it spread over more sessions (I.e same volume but different frequency). The higher frequency group made significantly better progress. Here's a write-up here if you're bored:
http://www.strengtheory.com/high-frequency-training-for-a-bigger-total-research-on-highly-trained-norwegian-powerlifters/

That's the one I probably see referenced the most recently, but there are similar studies done both on strength and hypertrophy (some on actually well trained individuals like the above) favoring higher frequency protocols. I think a big thing that a lot of these studies and write-ups fail to mention is that the higher frequency is almost always a novel stimulus for the participants (I.e. most people don't fucking squat 6x/week, so they'll make better progress doing something new and different for a while), and also the fact that higher frequency allows for more overall training volume.

But then you have guys like Lilliebridge that only squat heavy twice per month, so... who cares?

Fatman said...

I did read about that Norwegian study. Like you point out, the progress probably has more to do with the novelty of the stimulus than with some mysterious inherent properties of a higher training frequency. Also if the volume is the same, my preference is to get it all done in one day and leave the other six for rest and recovery.

If multiple world record holders on steroids did just fine squatting once per week (Karwoski, Coan, Lilliebridge), a Fatman has little to no business squatting twice.

As for overall training volume, I'm highly doubtful of any "moar volume = moar progress" claims. Volume works very well for new lifters (something something neural pathways), but diminishing returns set in quickly.

A good baseline is benching 2x, squatting 2x and deadlifting 1x per week, then see how you progress recovery-wise and modify it from there.