Longshanks' workout log

I'm bloody aching like hell this week from testing all my max's. Even the usual trusty tennis ball can't massage out this much aching. Active rest is the way forward this week me thinks.

Well the aching has finally worn off thanks to my trusty tennis ball and a couple of light climbs this week to flush out the lactic acid. Decided to do a video today because I think I've stumbled onto a great idea. I'm started doing my pistols with a little bit of weight now as a counterbalance this cycle and realised if I keep my arms locked straight it sort of resembles a planche. As far as pushing strength I'm still working push-ups in the hope to get my work capacity up a bit and I realise I've also got ring push-ups and bulgarian push-ups to work through before I even start planche push-ups on rings. This may even be a year or so in the future for me with the modest progress I am making, yet I'm hoping by then my weighted pistols will be much more progressed and therefore start slowly preparing my elbows for the top of the planche hold. Here's the video with my idea. Only did 1 each leg because it's my 'rest' week and didn't want to push my luck. Couldn't get it uploaded onto this site and the embed didn't seem to want to work so just put it on youtube:

Well after a week of active rest I had my first session of my new cycle yesterday. Here's what it looks like now:

4 Rounds of-

Back Bridge 20s

HLL 3*5sec neg's

Pistol squat (+5kg) 3*10sec neg's

Lateral raises 10*5sec neg's

Pull ups 6*5sec neg's

NLC 2*10sec neg's

Calf raises (10kg) 10*5sec neg's

Push ups 8*5sec neg's

By god do I hurt today after a week off. Made me realise how much the SSC really promotes under-loading towards the end of the cycle because I had to push myself a lot harder than I have in a while. My core and calfs in particular are bloody killing today. The missus made me laugh this morning and it hurt like hell! lol.

The NLC's felt like the biggest jump, was only able to control the decent for the first 45 degrees, then I had to pike the hips a little and guide the rest on fingertips. Guess I'll have to just try and improve that a little each cycle. Was also hoping to do 5 sets of the FBE's but 4 felt like everything I had in me, might just add on an extra set next cycle. Overall I'm really chuffed with the improvements. Although my weight has stayed at exactly 222 for the last cycle but I've lost an inch off the gut and my thighs and lats are looking more evenly sized nowerdays (used to be left dominant).

Really struggled tonight with my new SSC so only did 3 sets instead of 4. Was still really aching and feeling a bit run down from my first session couple of days ago. Will have a few days rest from FBE's and try again Sunday. Think this is the first week in over 2 years that my joints have been able to withstand actually pushing myself a bit, so I'm just chuffed I can push myself again really.

Did much better today and completed all my sets despite having a few Guinness's last night. :oops:

As a side note I tried NLC's with my knees close together tonight rather than a few inches apart and noticed a massive difference. Was able to control my decent for an extra second without having to pike my hips tonight, and made it to the push-up assistance ROM under control for once.

I also started weighted Pike stretches again straight after my NLC's and my lumber spine seems a lot healthier and able to take it now. Think all the headstand bridging has helped my back strength and flexibility a lot.

Felt really drained and run down for a few days again after competing the full 4 sets. Think I've been over-training a bit with this new workout. I'll have to drop it to 3 sets for whole SSC and think about adding the extra set next SCC just to add a bit of volume once my work capacity is a bit better. Doesn't seem like much to only be doing twice a week, but suppose I am rock-climbing for couple of hours twice a week as well.

Well I've just had the last week off work and training sadly and just got back into it today. I've been reading Pavels Naked Warrior and Power to the people books again and noticed his tip to grab your horizontal foot in pistols if you have balance problems falling back due to long limbs. I tried it today as supposed to a small counterweight and noticed a massive difference! Didn't have to grab anything at the last bit in the ROM at all. Think I'll stick to this for the rest of the cycle now and try getting a few reps out of each leg in the next cycle as supposed to the left-right-left-right-left-right negatives I've been doing so far.

Well had to dig my car out of 2 foot of snow week before last twice in one week with all this mad weather in the UK. Unfortunately it seems to have set my shoulder back a lot and its started aching again. Wish I'd just bloody skived off like nearly everyone else. Was actually pain free with all my previous injuries for over a month then that bloody happens. Any childhood fondness I had for snow is officially dead and gone now! GRRRRRR.

Had a couple of workouts back into it now and I've re-jigged the layout by cutting the reps from 50% to 25/33% of max reps and doubled the sets to 6 in the hope to give my injury more rest between sets and not inflame the joint. I've found it to be a much better workout I think. I don't need nearly as much rest between and don't feel nearly as knackered on the last set which I get to in a much quicker time. The quality of the sets seems a lot better throughout as well and in some exercises I've actually upped the volume without it compromising quality.

Think I must have a low recovery capacity because 50% of max still feels like a lot to do for a few sets, even later in the cycle. Maybe I just push myself too hard in my max tests or something. I'll see how I fare at the end of the cycle but think I'll stick to this format from now on.

Well just started a new cycle but didn't feel up to testing my maxes due to my recent shoulder injury flare up and I've got a good idea the rate of lower body increases in strength now. I've started moving away from negatives a little this cycle on some exercises and dropped down my intensity of my push/pull exercises. Partly because I didn't want to flare up my shoulder and partly because I just fancied a change from months on end of negatives. Although I spend quite lot of time researching correct tempo's for each exercise on the forum, for the sake of ease I've set it at a standard 3second eccentric and 2 second concentric with no pause yet (i.e. 3-2-0).

Back Bridge 15s*5sets

(Heals off floor and balancing on head, no hands)

HLL (V to L ROM) 10s negative*5sets

Pistol squat 13s negative*2*5sets

Lateral raises 3*5sets (5-1-0)

(Reduced to hands touching shoulders for half intensity)

Ring Rows 5*5 sets (3-2-0)

(Feet a bit lower then shoulders at bottom ROM until shoulder flare up eases off)

NLC 10sec negative*1*sets

(Have moved assistance from 5 to 6 seconds into the negative and just use fingertips in PPP position)

Weighted Pike stretch 12.5kg*10s*5sets

Calf raises 5*5sets (3-2-0)

Push ups 5*5sets (3-2-0)

(Have reduced this to knees on the ground until shoulder flare up eases off).

Pike stretch 10s iso then 10s stretch*5sets

I've noticed that I had to reduce the percentage of rep max to about 25-33% to increase the work capacity from 3-5sets. I actually managed 6 sets the second time I tried this workout but felt very drained and my shoulder was sore all day so have cut back down to 5sets.

On another note the flexibility is showing small improvements now. I've increased the weighted pike stretch from 10kg to 12.5kg and I think that one has increased an inch or so. Could touch my head to my knees before but can just get my chest to thighs now. Am aiming to get my belly flat to my thighs. I've found doing this immediately after the NLC helps a lot. Pike stretch has shown about the same improvement. Although I changed the way I do the pike stretch last cycle to being standing rather than seated and slowly get closer to the ground with help of isometric holds before a stretch. I just do the pike stretch for 10s iso followed by 10s relaxing into the stretch at the end of each circuit. Think my BW has helped the stretch, either by increasing the intensity of the isomeric hold or forcing the stretch a little further I don't know. I've gone from about 9.5 to 8 inches off the ground now.

Well just started a new cycle and have changed quite a bit now looking back on my last post. I've recently found better and more consistent gains in strength gains where my TUT is in the 15-30sec range per set which funnily enough is 3-6 reps. After doing negative singles in pull-ups and pistols for about 6 months they've shown no noticeable improvements and any attempts to push it resulted in flare ups of injuries I thought long since healed. To tackle the pistols problem I've invested in a squat stand, barbell & weights and read Rippetoe's starting strength. I'm just gonna add 5kg every workout until I hit 50kg (half bodyweight) then cut it down to 2.5kg per workout. When I hit a plateau I'm not sure whether to drop back to 80% and build up like Pavels cycles or do SSC with it yet. Has anyone tried SSC with weights on here?

I've been under the advice of a shoulder specializing physio for a couple of months now and been refereed to a specialist consultant as well which I'm waiting on. I've noticed some small improvements in shoulder health but am trying not to get my hopes up because my shoulder health has oscillated a lot over the years now. I'm having to balance on a knifes edge with the cuban rotations. They work brilliantly but a fraction to much and its sore again for a few days. I'm going to add 1rep to every set once a fortnight until the gross poundage amounts to 5*5 of the next band up. I'm measured the distance of rotation and the weight used to move the bands that far. Result....they're not as even jumps as you'd think and they vary from supplier to supplier. I got some online and some free from the physio and there's an enormous variation! Here's what I'm doing now

Warm up:

Stretching 10mins

Headstand bridge * 25s (60s max)

Hanging-L (tuck) * 15s (40s max)

Ring Rows * 5 at 45degrees

Cuban rotation (yellow band) *5

Knees Pushups * 5

Two leg calf raises * 5

ATG squat * 5

Workout:

Back Bridge 4*25s

Hangin L 4*15s

Squats 4*5reps (increasing 5kg each workout)

Ring Rows 4*4reps (horizontal at bottom)

NLC 4*14s neg (assisted after 6s)

15k Pike stretch 4*15s

Calf raises 2.5kg 4*5reps

Cuban rotations 4*6reps

Pushups 4*5reps

Straddle stretch 40s (All at 5sec tempo per rep)

Cutting my hanging L back to the tuck version in the book was definitely a humbling experience but I wont be doing any statics <15secs per set from now on. I've also picked a set time just over a third for my work sets now as it seems to work better for me. My bridging has improved the most of all and that's the one I've held back on and not took as seriously so I'll take that lesson on board. Am starting to have a lot more respect for Pavel's ideas of not pushing as hard. Haven't progressed with pushing at all because I was told to stop them for a month by my physio. Am just starting again this cycle now the inflammation has calmed down and I'm playing it by ear. In light of my problems with negatives I'm debating whether to bother with NLC's now since I'm doing full weighted squats and I can feel how much more they are working my posterior chain.

Any thoughts?

What a bloody long post, guess I just hope people learn from my mistakes. I understand everyone's different but anything less than 3reps or 15secs per set is not productive for strength gains for me.

I've just got rid of the extra weight for calf raises and just do a set of 5 second negatives on the last set now as I was starting to feel over-trained in my calfs. They were aching non stop for a few weeks and started to feel occasional tendon pain again so cut that back straight away and they feel fine now. Must have caught it just in time.

The scapular pushups were also starting to cause a little pain in my collar bone despite my rear external rotators starting to feel much less painful recently so I think this is a separate issue. I've found that just doing these scapular push-ups isometrically is better for me so I'm just doing them against the wall for 10s at a time 3-5 times a day GTG style.

I've also just decided to stretch my SSC's to 12weeks from now on, rather than 8. I've started noticing that my recovery capacity isn't brilliant, especially since I work nights every now and then and don't always get brilliant sleeping patterns. I think it's highly likely that I'm not getting the underloading phase of the cycle because my body hasn't progressed enough to find it easy yet. I do find it a little easier at the end of the cycle but not really by much, it certainly isn't a breeze.

Hey Longshanks,

It's interesting you say you don't feel a difference in the last few weeks of an 8 week SSC. Just a thought from me is that perhaps you are doing too much in your SSC from a volume and intensity perspective. I did two SSC's when I started that were too much for me. Once I really cut back and found the appropriate level of stimulation I noticed a very defininte underload phase in my SSC from about week 6 on where everything was actually very easy.

Gavin S said:

Hey Longshanks,

It's interesting you say you don't feel a difference in the last few weeks of an 8 week SSC. Just a thought from me is that perhaps you are doing too much in your SSC from a volume and intensity perspective. I did two SSC's when I started that were too much for me. Once I really cut back and found the appropriate level of stimulation I noticed a very defininte underload phase in my SSC from about week 6 on where everything was actually very easy.

Thanks for the input Gavin. I've cut back my static holds to about 2/5 my max hold time as supposed to half and found it to be a bit better. I'm not quite sure how to gauge the sets/reps for my dynamic movements though. At the moment I just build up a rep each workout and/or decrease leverage until I reach a point where I feel myself start to struggle to keep slow tempo on the last set. In future I might even drop back from that point slightly and maintain that for the SSC. Squats should be easy to underload now since I do weighted squats so once I reach a max weight gradually I can just drop it to 80% of that and spend two months building back up to it again. If only BW exercises were so easy to regulate. Shame weights are so boring though and require so much equipment in comparison.

I know what you mean. I found that just experimenting with reps/sets works and that people in general can't do as much as they think they can. I really cut back and then built from that base and it's worked nicely.

I read somewhere today that the ATG barbell squats can work the calfs a bit and since I've been gradually upping the weights on these each workout I think it likely that's what's causing the calf over-training with all the calf raises as well. With this in mind I'll keep a close eye on any effects of over-training, and as my squats increase maybe think about substituting more of my calf raise sets to 5s negatives if necessary.

Well I finally noticed what was doing my calfs in. I was doing my NLC negatives and calf raises one after the other. Didn't realise NLC's are a calf exercise as well as hamstrings. I've kept my calf work lower now with more negative sets and only occasional positive sets mixed in. I also put calf raises further apart from my NLC's in my circuit to give them some more rest between exercises.

My squat just hit 40kg which is 40% BW for me. I slowed down my progress to 2.5kg per workout a week ago and I'm going to do that again to 2.5kg per week now in the hope to keep it slowly increasing. It's by no means an all out effort yet but it's getting harder now and I'm surprisingly feeling it a lot more in my hips than my thighs, so i guess that was a weak area. I'm expecting to max out around 50-60kg at this rate, then I'll drop to 80% and build back up in step cycle over a couple of months. This weakness definitely shows why negative pistols where doing me no good. Even they were just too much of a jump in strength from where I am at.

I'm starting to realize part of my shoulder issues may be a subclavius injury as well as rotator cuff so I'm avoiding scapluar push-ups now as these aggravate it and just doing negative push-ups on knees but raised about 6 inches to try and get the upper pecs more.

I've also started doing a half volume workout once a week again. I don't even remember when or why I fell out of that practice but it's a good one that fights off over-training so just got back to that today and it felt great. God knows why I stopped.

Recently read Stuart McRoberts book Beyond brawn and thought it was really good. Talks a lot about about how people with average genetics and low recovery capacity can't really tolerate high volume/frequency training. Its says 20-30 work sets a week is the max though I've included the warm up sets in this count. I think Coach Sommer touched on this in BtGB at the end saying that some young kids can only take 1set of 5 few times a week but doesn't really elaborate on it. I'm doing the same full body workout but have cut it from 4sets on all exercises 3 times a week to 1 warm up set and 1 work set twice a week on all exercises with 10-15reps for focus on tendon recovery. So far all niggling injuries have stopped dead within a fortnight of starting this. I make small improvements every workout and my shoulder hasn't felt this good in years. If I feel a slight burning or aching at my joints I stop at that rep and do the same reps next workout, then push it a tad more the second workout following. This hasn't caused any flare-ups so far with this approach, quite the contrary. I'm trying to reserve judgment so far as I haven't been at it long but I'm truly hopeful for the first time in years. Will give it 3 months or so and review the results in my workout log.

Well I've been at this very abbreviated McRobert training for a solid 7 months now and can definitively say it's the best move I've ever made. Although it’s a big book to read I'd advise everyone who's serious about training and averse to steroids to read it. If you don't want to fork out for it there's a brilliant article summarising it here:

http://www.ironaddicts.com/forums/showthread.php?t=9704

It took me a good 3months of experimenting with different rep ranges, volume, frequency and intensity but I think I've got cracked now. I just do a whole body workout once every 6-7days depending on how much sleep I get due to my shift pattern. I do all exercises at 3 seconds down, 2 up and never go to failure. This is all I do now:

Squats

3*50%

3*75%

3*100%

Calf Raises

5*50%

5*75%

5*100%

(Straddle stretch)

30s, 30s

Prone Row

3*50%

3*75%

3*100%

(Pike stretch)

30s, 30s

Bench Press

3*50%

3*75%

3*100%

L-Fly

5*50%

5*100%

By switching to this much lower volume of only 5 work sets a week I've consistently made modest gains every workout without fail so far. I simply add 1-5kg to the squat & calf raises every week and 0.5-2.5kg to push/pulls depending where in the cycle I am, making the smaller gains towards the end of each cycle. I realize this isn't really BW work any more but the this is the only I've found will work for me from years of fruitless training. Sadly when I looked back at my GB workout logs I actually found a steady decrease in strength over the 18months that I stuck to it due to the chronic over-training. This isn't surprising now when i compare the 75work sets a week (3 full body workouts a week) to the 5 work sets a week that now work for me. This isn't to say that I've given up on GB, I just intend to build up slowly as I am doing to certain safe movements such as handstand push-ups and weighted pull-ups, dips etc. Anything of the Bulgarian variations where the elbows flare out I've found to play havoc on my rotators and have completely omitted from my goals. Cuban press for one. Within days of stopping this exercise and simply doing L-flys I noticed a massive difference in my shoulders. Another point of note I found from this is that I found the idea of higher reps for joint health to be a complete at utter myth. Although low impact cardio seems to help recovery immensely this does not apply to doing compound exercises with slow tempo for higher reps (15-30) just exacerbated my over-training issues and tendon pain. I started out at these numbers and as I gradually dropped the reps and frequency over months he jumps in strength seemed to be inversely proportional to the reps used, with the best results coming at the 3*3 format I'm now using for most exercises. This ties in very well with this article that I would advise anyone interested to read on low volume AND low reps:

http://www.dragondoor.com/articles/the- ... fault.aspx

The idea if only higher reps working for calf raises I also found to be utter rubbish for me and was only able to start progressing when I dropped to below 10reps, the gains increased dramatically when I dropped the reps to 5. And surprisingly my calfs have actually started growing for the first time ever for me as well despite all the lit' proclaiming higher reps being the only thing that causes calf hypertrophy.

Although I've now converted to a completely weights based routine now, I've written this I hope some people will learn from my experience and years of fruitless training & injuries. If you've been doing a routine for months on end and had little of no improvements or started getting tendon pain, just give lower volume a try with your BW exercises. What have you got to loose? A couple of months of exercise out of lifetime? Even if it's just dropping your work sets to 1 and only doing a 2-3workouts a week. This may help many people with restricted recovery capacity. I realise I'm at the extreme end of the spectrum to have to drop to a volume this low but many may not have to go this far. There are undoubtedly genetically gifted individuals who respond much better to a higher volume regimen. However if you are one of these people I doubt you'd be reading this as you're already training every day for the Olympics and have been a very gifted athlete for many years already. Also notice that I said strength and not skill, I realise that skill work simply requires more practice than the volume I train at and I accept that. Although my hope is that once I'm strong enough that certain skill work such as handstands could be considered 'medium' or 'light' intensity and therefore within my recovery capacity. If this bloody long article even helps a select few on this forum reach a little further in their pursuit of strength then I'll happily accept the inevitable abuse that's sure to come from the volume fanatics for even suggesting this format of training.