My workouts have been going really great lately. I don't know if I just needed a break from low reps or what...but I'm liking it! I think it's good to change things up every now and then-I had been doing 3-5 reps on my main lifts for years because I hated doing more than 5 reps! But now I'm stronger at higher reps than I've ever been, and I know that's because of getting stronger with lower reps for so long. Now that's not to say I'm doing 15 reps of everything-by higher reps I mean 6-10! I love being strong and training for strength, but sometimes it's good to take a mental break from constantly chasing bigger numbers on the main lifts, especially when you've been training for as long as I have.
I don't think you have to go super heavy ALL the time if you're not a competitive powerlifter, which I'm not. Either make sure to take deload weeks periodically, or go through phases during the year where you focus more on hypertrophy with slightly higher reps for 2-3 months(and like I said, "high" reps for me is anything over 5!). That's what I'm doing right now because I know for my legs to grow I needed a change. I do still keep my reps on deadlifts low since most things I read advise not to go above 5 reps...but mostly just because heavy deadlifts are fun. ;)
In a few weeks I'll probably switch my workouts up to having a heavy upper and lower day each week and then a hypertrophy upper and lower day, similar to the Uncaged program I followed. But right now I'm loving what I'm doing, so I don't want to change anything until I start stalling on my lifts or just feel burnt out or bored with my workouts.
MONDAY -UPPER
This week's bench workout was great! I supersetted bench with heavy pullups and got a rep PR-110 for 8 reps on bench for my last set! Heavy pullups felt good, too-I love them! I also went up in weight on seated overhead press and was able to do 40s for 6 reps! I was "against" seated presses for so long...but now I've changed my stance on that. Yeah, you can push off the bench and you take some of the core work out of it, but if your goal is on working the shoulders, I think they're fine. With overhead press I supersetted lat pulldowns and then just did some pullaparts and L-sits, followed by calf raises and farmer's walks.
1a)Bench press: 105x5/110x5/110x5/110x8
1b)Weighted pullups: (neutral grip) 20x6/25x5/25x5/25x5/0x8(wide grip, fat bar)
2a)DB seated overhead press: 40x6/35x8/30x10/27.5x9(last set standing)
2b)Lat pulldown: (wide)2x10/( narrow) x14
3a)Lsit hold: 3x15 seconds
3b)Pullaparts: 2x25
4)Calf raises: 4x12-15
+Farmer's walks w/dumbbells: 65x4x25-30 seconds
WEDNESDAY LOWER
Great leg workout again this week! Got an amrap of 7 with 175! I know my form isn't perfect, but who's is? I'm liking squatting more narrow but I should probably go a little wider to work on my weakness, so maybe next week I'll try a wider stance again. Hip thrusts felt pretty good, went a little heavier than I have the past few weeks. Good mornings were a little harder since I did hip thrusts first. Also decided to change it up and do my glute ham raises on Wednesday, and instead of the leg press 2 minute challenge, I did 2 sets of 30 steps of walking lunges...which felt like cardio for me!
1)Squat jumps: 3x6
2)Squats: 155x5/175x2x5/175x7/160x8
3)Hip thrusts: 135x10/155x10/185x3x8
4)Good mornings: 75x10/95x10/8/8
5a)Glute ham raise: 2x15
5b)Hanging leg raises: 3x10
6)Walking lunges: 2x15/leg w/20lb dumbbells
7)Abductions: 3x20
FRIDAY UPPER
Switched it up this week and did some push presses. Haven't done them in forever, and they were really hard! Definitely gotta get back to doing those. Everything else was just higher rep stuff. Afterwards, I played around with muscle ups, front levers, and handstands. Actually got a good full 20 second handstand hold!
1)Push press: 95x3x5
2)Strict press: 75x2x5 w/fat grips
3a)Ring pullups: 3x8
3b)DB chest press: 45x9/8/8 /Pushups x12
4a)Inverted row: 3x12(overhand grip)
4b)Lsit: 4x15 seconds
5a)Bicep curls: Ez bar curl 40x15/cable curl 1x15
5b)Lateral raises: x10+10(drop set x2)
SATURDAY LOWER
I've been having a little knee pain on and off the last few days, so I decided to skip the front squats this week. I focused mostly just on posterior chain stuff that I knew wouldn't irritate it. I did a few sets of sumo deadlifts, then some block pulls...which I realize that I do not like. It's actually harder for me to pull from blocks than from the ground, and I felt it all in my back!
1)Sumo deadliftL: 155x5/175x5/185x5
2)Block pull: Sumo 205x3/ Conventional: 205x5/185x5
3)Reverse hypers:70x12/90x2x12
4)Single leg hip thrusts: (w/weight)15x12/10/10
5)Sled drags: 320x1/370x7/320x1 x 20 seconds
6a)Ab wheel rollouts: 2x10(from toes/ 1x20(from knees)
6b)Lateral band walks: 3x15/leg
I don't think you have to go super heavy ALL the time if you're not a competitive powerlifter, which I'm not. Either make sure to take deload weeks periodically, or go through phases during the year where you focus more on hypertrophy with slightly higher reps for 2-3 months(and like I said, "high" reps for me is anything over 5!). That's what I'm doing right now because I know for my legs to grow I needed a change. I do still keep my reps on deadlifts low since most things I read advise not to go above 5 reps...but mostly just because heavy deadlifts are fun. ;)
In a few weeks I'll probably switch my workouts up to having a heavy upper and lower day each week and then a hypertrophy upper and lower day, similar to the Uncaged program I followed. But right now I'm loving what I'm doing, so I don't want to change anything until I start stalling on my lifts or just feel burnt out or bored with my workouts.
MONDAY -UPPER
This week's bench workout was great! I supersetted bench with heavy pullups and got a rep PR-110 for 8 reps on bench for my last set! Heavy pullups felt good, too-I love them! I also went up in weight on seated overhead press and was able to do 40s for 6 reps! I was "against" seated presses for so long...but now I've changed my stance on that. Yeah, you can push off the bench and you take some of the core work out of it, but if your goal is on working the shoulders, I think they're fine. With overhead press I supersetted lat pulldowns and then just did some pullaparts and L-sits, followed by calf raises and farmer's walks.
1a)Bench press: 105x5/110x5/110x5/110x8
1b)Weighted pullups: (neutral grip) 20x6/25x5/25x5/25x5/0x8(wide grip, fat bar)
2a)DB seated overhead press: 40x6/35x8/30x10/27.5x9(last set standing)
2b)Lat pulldown: (wide)2x10/( narrow) x14
3a)Lsit hold: 3x15 seconds
3b)Pullaparts: 2x25
4)Calf raises: 4x12-15
+Farmer's walks w/dumbbells: 65x4x25-30 seconds
WEDNESDAY LOWER
Great leg workout again this week! Got an amrap of 7 with 175! I know my form isn't perfect, but who's is? I'm liking squatting more narrow but I should probably go a little wider to work on my weakness, so maybe next week I'll try a wider stance again. Hip thrusts felt pretty good, went a little heavier than I have the past few weeks. Good mornings were a little harder since I did hip thrusts first. Also decided to change it up and do my glute ham raises on Wednesday, and instead of the leg press 2 minute challenge, I did 2 sets of 30 steps of walking lunges...which felt like cardio for me!
1)Squat jumps: 3x6
2)Squats: 155x5/175x2x5/175x7/160x8
3)Hip thrusts: 135x10/155x10/185x3x8
4)Good mornings: 75x10/95x10/8/8
5a)Glute ham raise: 2x15
5b)Hanging leg raises: 3x10
6)Walking lunges: 2x15/leg w/20lb dumbbells
7)Abductions: 3x20
Switched it up this week and did some push presses. Haven't done them in forever, and they were really hard! Definitely gotta get back to doing those. Everything else was just higher rep stuff. Afterwards, I played around with muscle ups, front levers, and handstands. Actually got a good full 20 second handstand hold!
1)Push press: 95x3x5
2)Strict press: 75x2x5 w/fat grips
3a)Ring pullups: 3x8
3b)DB chest press: 45x9/8/8 /Pushups x12
4a)Inverted row: 3x12(overhand grip)
4b)Lsit: 4x15 seconds
5a)Bicep curls: Ez bar curl 40x15/cable curl 1x15
5b)Lateral raises: x10+10(drop set x2)
SATURDAY LOWER
I've been having a little knee pain on and off the last few days, so I decided to skip the front squats this week. I focused mostly just on posterior chain stuff that I knew wouldn't irritate it. I did a few sets of sumo deadlifts, then some block pulls...which I realize that I do not like. It's actually harder for me to pull from blocks than from the ground, and I felt it all in my back!
1)Sumo deadliftL: 155x5/175x5/185x5
2)Block pull: Sumo 205x3/ Conventional: 205x5/185x5
3)Reverse hypers:70x12/90x2x12
4)Single leg hip thrusts: (w/weight)15x12/10/10
5)Sled drags: 320x1/370x7/320x1 x 20 seconds
6a)Ab wheel rollouts: 2x10(from toes/ 1x20(from knees)
6b)Lateral band walks: 3x15/leg
ohhhhh it has been so long for me doing push presses too!!!!!!!!!!
ReplyDeletexoxo
They felt so heavy!
DeleteI am so in the same mind set as you right now. I spent so much time with low reps heavy that I need the mental break of worrying about hitting PR's all the time. It's good to switch things up. I am looking at the 2 day power, 2 day hyper splits as well. P.S. thanks to your posts I enjoy my cereal PWO now :-) I love your blog!
ReplyDeleteAs much as I love low reps, I do think it's good to change it up and take a mental break from it for sure. And I'm kind of liking the higher reps now! Learning how to not be such a baby when I feel any sort of burn! haha. Enjoy your cereal and thank you!
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