And I’m dancing around to all of it at 2am, doing 5 pushups, stand, repeat, repeat, repeat,
You Can Buy Dirt ft Luke Bryan
More of the pushups.
The good, the bad, all alone, pushups in the kitchen, out of breath, a tear in my eye, years in a minute – nightmares, flashback memories, the pain, the happiness, …
a few more pushups, then bed, then with God’s blessings another day
a job, the town, the region, the west coast, the world
8/24/21
Zero urge to drive to the gym, so I lifted in the yard, and it turned…meaningful.
Press :
1c+_p style, pressing off of a clean into the first press rep
1×135
That was rather easy, I decide that I’ll see what I can do at 205, knowing ←KNOWING I’ll be able to hit that, not wanting to cut myself short with 185, and not wanting to test 225 which felt possible.
2×205
Yep, I have video at this weight…still haven’t went heavier though.
My PR was accidentally doing bad math and hitting 3×205 (10/10/18 at the SoCal bodybuilding gym, I actually logged while there) with a pair of ancient red york kilo bumpers as the pair of “plates” (standardly a 45 but that day 55s).
I have video for the above paragraph.
Pressing 2×205 is not bad considering I don’t use a barbell anymore. This was simply carryover from everything I do, I figure the biggest piece being having added in ab wheel regularly and recently, to my months of weighted chins, actually squatting again, actually shrugging and high pulling/upright rowing (the three in the smith machine), my years of pushups which keep strength ever creaping up, plus I psyched up well.
To this ;
Despite not bringing headphones to the gym this month, the moment I’m lifting at home I headphone up.
I’ll probably bring them back to pf next month, see if I get more into my head that way.
I then did
Power Snatch (kinda, complex style, as one set) :
1×135
1×135 paused at knee
1×135 clean grip, ugly, “starfish” feet with press out
1 press
move feet to military attention, hold bar at shoulders for a five second count or so
1 press
Fun.
I like an occasional c&p as a metric to judge if your training is meaningful ie working.
Not yet motivated to lift at home consistently, nor to go back to a barbell gym in what has been thus far near to a three year hiatus.
Maybe I’ll pull a Jujimufu soon and c&p 225 in a parking lot somewhere.
I didn’t do that in the empty pf parking lot last year while gyms were shut down.
That would’ve been a great video.
Get to pressing bodyweight man!
A 275lb press (heavier than bodyweight) historically is nothing for my size.
I’ve done smith machine bottom position squats most every day for a few weeks now.
My quads have grown fast, maybe it’s muscle memory, maybe not.
Either way that’s added bodyweight, and that improves the effectiveness of chins.
Yesterday I hit my first REAL grinder rep on the movement (bottom position squats) at 3p25,10, locked it out, but was not going to be able to lower it to the starting position – I racked it at the top.
(Likely the hardest squat I’ve done at planet fitness. It was a true 1rm.)
After that I did upright rows/high pulls, btn press, and shrugging in the smith without straps.
Stronger than I expected on them shrugs, and a ways to go.
You redesign your physique with heavy squats, weighted chins, machine curls, forearm work, neck work, ab wheel, and bunches of pushups.
My appetite is silly high right now, being close to gomad, and in the last few days I may have drank more than a gallon on one of em.
A 16oz container of cream in about twenty four hours over corn cereal ended up an incredibly anabolic thing, and put my mind on Vince Gironda’s “hormone precursor diet”.
I feek good on that high a saturated fat intake.
Must be gaining weight.
You can see muscle being put on everywhere.
275 with abs ain’t far!
I was thinking on getting proper man’s strength looking at myself in the bathroom mirror.
•I could be 270 right now.
•That’s 3p on the btn press in the smith.
•HSPU is a shorter range of motion
•Work to 3p on btn, and hspu for the same reps is a lock.
When realizing you’re nearly at 270 on a shoulder press variation, 315, 365, they don’t sound so ridiculous anymore.
I eyeball this as 365 – not so ridiculous anymore
I’ll bottom position smith squat 6p at pf.
That’s past a 500lb squat, doing so at planet fitness.
Making the place work.
Making the place work.
Making the place work!
You want to be this jacked beast?
You’ll make it happen.
I know how to train, and it’s a superpower.
All those kids I give training and diet advice to?
They tend not to implement, and that’s fine.
There’s more ground beef on the shelves for me, more plates available for me to load up the smith machine with.
I want a house, home gym, and to train clients at the same.
And right now?
Right now I’m at planet fitness getting jacked!
I thought I’d end on that note, but there’s one more thing to write :
On the main movements :
10×1,3, or 5 on some, mostly the smith machine lifts, and weighted chins.
10×10 occasionally for volume.
Stuff like machine curls and pushups you just get the volume in on, not a set set and rep scheme.
8/5/21
“It’d be nice to have access to a prowler, and an oly setup…NO!vanquish the thought, I’m training at planet fitness – making it work.”
My training at pf is a personal challenge, I told a guy this on the gym floor today even.
I was rereading bookmarked tnation articles, I’ve been reading about lifting since…roughly the end of 7th grade, while I didn’t have access to weights until second semester freshman year.
Rereading thinking about equipment I don’t have got to thinking about different gyms, I got a laugh thinking about seeing that men’s physique competitor on the pf gym floor yesterday – the dude who also has been to the SoCal bodybuilding gym, we knew at least one of the same people there, and was laughing to myself about how common ped use can be…even at planet fitness.
I spoke with a short roided out tribal tatted dude last week, and noted his exact wording…”you have a massive amount of natural muscle” – he thanked me for the conversation, I’d told him a couple stories like gaining 20lbs in ten days after junior year wrestling season.
The natty comment made me think to my uncle pointing out to me that at the SoCal bodybuilding gym they all could tell that I’m not on shit, and that the gap is earily close, too close, and that worries them.
You know how cool it is to go to a planet fitness, and be more jacked training there than at a trendy “hardcore?/powerlifting?” gym?
That’s me.
I do that.
It’s a mental thing for me.
PF is a challenge.
Making it work!
Late PM :
25 Pullups – A PR
And bottom position squats are coming along nicely – in the smith machine the frequency is approaching bulgarian.
I’m loving the movement.
The smith machine isn’t so far from a barbell for the difference to matter.
Like you’ll ever be weak doing any variant of squats heavy, and volume on an oly variant (the upright row/high pull variant I do) all in the smith machine.
Plus the rack pulls that I need to do a bit more regularly, and the hip thrusts where I put on a show at 5p-6p.
They’re something if an easy movement for me.
Hip thrusts are an easy movement to load, however they have their place in making pf work.
Recovery work is the hammer strength row for sets of 20-100, and I do a lots of sets of 30 on seated leg curl.
I could do banded leg curls, it can be set up there, and that’s the laying angle which is missing on the machines.
I know from experience that lots of leg curling helps my squatting, and some 45° extensions and maybe some specifically done rom good mornings in the smith would be good assistant work.
At planet fitness I now care about my squat.
Dead serious.
Heavier legs while crushing calisthenics.
20 x bw+45 is close on some pullup variant or another.
I make pf work, at present it’s the best gym for me.
8/4/21
I estimate my bodyweight is at 250.
A week and a half back I estimated it at 240, but I’m either gaining weight or recomping.
Likely both.
Diet wise protein is higher than my norm, but it’s also full of saturated fat. Still mixed macro.
Calories generally are moderate, high some days, but I’m not at that most recent physical job, and I’m getting long hours of sleep.
This is how I started today’s session, and why I’m writing :
Pullups SuperSet W/ Dips :
4×6 at bw+20 ss w/4×15
x3 ugly 4 at bw+60 ss w/ 30
20 w/35
That may have been my first set of 20 in that grip, I had rested a minute or two between the last two supersets, the first four sets were at hurry up no resting pace, I was mostly fasted, and it’s by far the best I’ve superset from one bar to the other.
I felt a few levels up.
I am a few levels up!
In the changing room mirror I’m better looking.
Bodyfat % is obviously lower, and I’m putting on some size.
Killing a large pizza and grape juice as I type, today was actually only upper body – the aforementioned to start, btn press, band resisted pushups, and band presses (pressing the band against air for power) as a triset, wrestler’s bridge for reps not holds, then pushups to end.
I hadn’t done band resisted pushups in a long time, will be doing them regularly again as they’re a way to add weight while easy logistically, and the other band thing was for power – I’ll mix them in regularly too.
The only leg work incidental from the bridging. I realized my potential to get real strong on bridges, adding weight to them, while upside down doing them.
I didn’t bottom position squat today.
I’m looking forward to tomorrow’s session.
Strong today AND I’m eating up.
Full body tommorow!
It’s a positive feedback loop – the squats raise testosterone, the eating raises testosterone, I repeat.
It’s a positive feedback loop.
Solid session after solid session.
A buddy and training partner is mostly vegetarian.
(like he eats some chicken once every 4-6 weeks)
At 5’10” 200lbs +/- 5lbs he’s fairly lean, has a six pack, looks better/bigger shirtless, but he’s not as obviously big as I am.
He often says to me how he wants to gain a bit more weight but struggles to eat more.
I constantly tell him to add meat into his diet otherwise he’s going to really have to up his egg and dairy intake.
Plant food just isn’t going to supply a high enough calorie level for most with moderate to heavy physicality.
“Grains feed the masses not the jackedess.” – Me
You’d have to really up the egg and dairy intake.
Kushti is really the only sizeable group of jacked vegetarians, and their diet is comically heavy on dairy.
I’m pretty adamant that the only vegan thing I consider up there with animal products is chickpeas/garbanzo beans.
A vegan trying to be jacked?
Oh man how stupifyingly high chickpea and coconut oil intake would be.
Fruit juice is great energy, but it’s not saturated fat, nor protein.
That brings the vegan back to chickpeas and coconut oil, and I much prefer butter to coconut oil.
Heck, I don’t waste any animal fat either.
75/25 beef has all it’s fat poured into the noodles, or used to pan fry eggs.
Saturated fat is the #1 macro, and it’s sparse amongst plants, abundant from animals.
I’ve got a funny story :
You know how people eat egg whites alone?
You know about Jack Sprat and his wife?
I’ve eaten egg yolks alone…like Jack Sprat’s wife would.
My buddy was going through massive quantities of egg whites, “hey I’m hungry too, put the yolks aside not down the drain”, I fried up yokes after he was done with his cooking, I even went back home with a mason jar full of yoke for the next few breakfasts.
An egg is 6g protein – so the white is 3-4g, the yolk 2-3.
I realize up to this point I’d been spelling yolk yoke. Hmm, I’ll continue.
All the fat is in the yolk yoke, all the nutrients in the same.
The yoke tastes better.
I’d rather eat yolks only – I’m the only person I know who has, and that’s because I was hungry and my buddy was wasting massive amounts of nutrition in front of me.
It cracks me up to be hitting all these high rep sets at whatever I weigh + x.
Probably 290lbs total for 12.
I can remember the time where it was up to 7 half reps, maybe 3 reps full range.
I was 14 years old.
That year (freshman) I went from 212 to 178 in about a semester.
290 for 12 easier than 178 for 2 –
I’ve come far.
I ended my sophomore year at 174.
Interestingly enough I threw the shot put almost as far at under 175 as at 225 the next year, which was only a foot shorter than at 255 as a senior.
Says something about the quality of the weight gain – we all made mistakes starting out, the important thing being that I was training and learning.
The funny thing is after junior year wrestling season I went from 195 to 215 in ten days.
My body was primed to grow, having gone from 185 to 195 during the season despite what amounted to a starvation diet of white rice, chicken breast, and half a pb&j sandwich each day.
You gain weight while running a 5k 4x weekly, having 8-10 hours of wrestling practice, morning PT (calisthenics, mile runs, lifting), and lifting whenever it fit in – mostly at home.
I’ve talked with guys from all over – ones who wrestled on the east coast, west coast, and in the midwest – no one has ever heard of someone other than I growing during wrestling season.
Whatever was going on in my body that winter – it disagrees wholeheartedly with science.
One doesn’t get taller and gain weight on a massive calorie deficit…only I did.
I’m glad for the experience.
The body is more capable than any study says, only look to real world examples of high potential.
What you expect and accept as belief you get – I’d have wrestled at a higher level, thrown further, been much stronger, and much leaner – all much earlier having held better beliefs.
What can I do isn’t a problem, it isn’t said in desperation…it’s said looking up at the stars, thinking on the actions to take, doing them, and soaring.
Today I got a set of 20 weighted chin ups at bw+15 to start my session.
I was psyched to break into the 20 rep range weighted.
While I have to bring my dip belt in for weighted dips, I love the kettlebell(s) hooked to the foot/feet method for chin ups.
It lends itself to being done daily.
The logistics are simpler.
I do chins most every day, right now not doing them once every 5-10 days or so.
Basically I’ll hit an amrap set here and there throughout the session, one or two sets to start, and a set every so often for the rest of my gym floor time.
Noticably I end with the wrestler’s bridge the two out of three days I do them.
I’ve been sleeping lots and eating up, and there are regular questions about if I compete in powerlifting, bodybuilding, and strongman as of late.
Obviously what I’m doing is right.
Still eating dirty.
Still massacring volume.
I’ve been slowly adding in more and more leg work – to be more well rounded than “Captain UpperBody Man™”, still though I’m comically strong doing so at planet fitness – just jumping in with my buddy on seated row and leg press one limbed at whatever his work weight is.
The equipment goes a whole lot heavier that way, though I actually focus more on lighter feel the muscle type work doing sets of 15-35 to pump up and speed recovery from the heavy work, have been putting on traps via lots of sets of 10 on smith machine upright rows, and probably every third day stick mostly to my lazy sets of 7 across most exercises.
Lazy 7s.
For whatever reason sets of 7 are the easiest thing mentally for me.
Full body since I’m actually hitting legs again after months of facetiously saying “I don’t train legs”.
The pump from seated leg curl has felt particularly good.
I’m show stopper strong on hip thrusts, I expect to be maxing it out for sets of 50+.
6p
Planet fitness is what you make of it.
Weighted flexed arm hangs would do me good on hand strength.
50 rep wrist curls to put on forearm size.
I’m at a spot where I can start moving towards one arm chins, and become the largest person I’ve come across to do one.
So much is online against the place, against the smith machine, and hell – I’ll tell you my initial thoughts about joining when I joined :
I joined knowing the dues would pay for itself on water bill savings showering up after work daily, that there’d be a dip bar and pullup bar – I could get good at calisthenics as at the time I was under 20 pullups, and having been about 7 months without a gym membership at that point I’d at least be able to catch pumps on the machines in addition to all the aforementioned.
Now I approach it wholly as a challenge.
Such as :
How can I make the smith machine work for me without barbell access.
I know adding plates is stronger, get to 3p+ on the upright rows, get to a lot of plates on the bottom position squats – yeah the same strength will be there on a barbell, higher even, as the smith machine is so wonky.
I’ve been getting good at weighted chin ups.
I’ve been doing upright rows/high pulls, bottom position squats, and hip thrusts in the smith machine.
I’ve been wrestler’s bridging regularly.
I make planet fitness work for me.
It’s all a matter of what you can come up with :
One arm presses with the cables is a trick, one leg at a time doubles the resistance on every machine.
You’ve got to want it.
There’s plenty to work with with the right mindset.
400 pushups, and a set of 15 on the machine curl at 155lbs.
Chins improve hugely by doing them weighted regularly.
After the 26 rep PR I continued with pushups passing 650 total on the day (yesterday was 700+), and doing probably eight sets of face pulls.
Solid session, a little over two hours total, lots of volume.
I thrive on volume. It worked for all the 70s bodybuilders, and it works for me.
Do massive volume and you’ll be muscular with the fat burnt off.
I consciously am focused on bringing up my back.
7/29/21 :
Weighted Chins :
2×15 @ bw+30
w/5:00 rest
I walked into the gym with the idea to hit 12+ at bw+30, to beat the 10 reps from yesterday, did it, then matched it after a roughly 5:00 rest with the kettlebell hooked to the opposite foot on the second set.
Treating weighted chins as if they’re bodyweight, and doing them high frequency is a physical cheat code for awesomeness.
The rest of the session was :
•smith machine hip thrusts
5x2p
3x3p25
5x5p all done very explosively
•the majority of the ~150 total pushups,
•5×10 one arm seated row light •2×25 one arm hammer strength lat pulldown machine light
both done each side
•1×20 or 25 seated leg curl
•1×15 leg extension
both leg machines focusing on a good contraction, and feeling the muscle
•a small amount of the ~150 total pushups
I find the pump work effectively speeds recovery from heavy work, that why the extra back work, particularly the hammer strength lat pulldown machine – I love that machine for high reps, especially how it consolidates heavier back work into higher ability and more gains.
This was actually a light day in my eyes done about seven hours after a massive late lunch (about 230pm) of an entire large pizza with mexican soda on the side, dinner of a quart of coffee milk, and following a two hour muscle nap.
Post workout I ate again too, pasta and burger, drank milk and some more mexican soda – a high calorie day.
The last few days I’ve been catching up on sleep, and eating a good deal.
It’s funny all the chin PRs coming within a few days of rest, not that I take a day away from the gym lol
