Hyde’s Strength Odyssey

Rodja said:
One thing I’d add is to think a plank position with the upper body. Tight grip on the handles, elbows driven into the pad, and double chin position. It’s far more tiring, but helps to decompress the spine and hit the appropriate areas more effectively.
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Thanks for joining!

Catch up: I got married, have a 9-month old son, and in the process of rehabbing my back.

Did some strongman for a couple years, had some injuries, came back to powerlifting & totaled 1,500 & 1,600 in sleeves raw at 242 & 275 in 2019 & 2020, respectively . Tried to take a run at 1,600 at 242 in June, but had COVID at the start of prep & then my back gave up during the prep (didn’t really account for all the bending over a new father must do).

Trying to take my time with my back and really stay ahead of it for a better lifting future. Not trying to rush into weights I’m not ready for yet.
 
10/20/21

10 min walk
Bird Dogs
Side Planks
Band Pullaparts & Tri Ext

Bench
45x10
95,135,185x5
225,255,285,290,295x3

2-Board Press
265 4x6

SSB JM Press
160 3x10

Didn’t get the fluff done; I was hauling just to finish the JMs by 8am. Things felt heavier than I wanted and I definitely went to RPE8.5 instead of the prescribed RPE7, but sometimes you just have to tell the universe where you belong and not let it tell you any different 🤷‍♂️
 
Hyde said:
10/20/21

10 min walk
Bird Dogs
Side Planks
Band Pullaparts & Tri Ext

Bench
45x10
95,135,185x5
225,255,285,290,295x3

2-Board Press
265 4x6

SSB JM Press
160 3x10

Didn’t get the fluff done; I was hauling just to finish the JMs by 8am. Things felt heavier than I wanted and I definitely went to RPE8.5 instead of the prescribed RPE7, but sometimes you just have to tell the universe where you belong and not let it tell you any different 🤷‍♂️
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Some of my best days have happened when everything felt heavy.
 
10/21/21

10 min walk
Jigsaw on every last damn thing
Bird Dogs
Side Planks
Hanging Leg Raises
Lax ball feet bottoms
BW Squats

SSB Squat
60x10
150,200,250,290,330,360x3

SSB Sumo Boxsquat
310 4x6

SSB Goodmorning
170 3x10

Leg Extension on Reverse Hyper
90x10
140 2x10

Wife is going to be training Friday mornings now, which means we had to make a sudden last minute decision to move my squat session up to Thursday night, 12 hours earlier. Fortunately I also had to travel for work today, so my hamstrings were still sore and now exceptionally tight Took extra preparations to get my body prepared and wore my Rehband warm shorts as well.

And I hit exactly what I wanted today
 
Yesterday was muscle fluff day: cable raises, flyes, extensions followed by dips, EZbar & hammer curls. No OHP.

Then today I combined my squat & deadlift accessories and plan on focusing on those big lifts Thursday evening in the garage.

10/25/21

5 min walk
Bird Dogs
Side Planks

BB Rows from Floor
45,135,185x8
235 2x12
245x12

Pull-ups
Widegrip
8,8,6
Neutral
2x8

GHR
4x12

Legpress
+180,360 x12
+540 2x12
+630x12
+680x12

DB Farmers Walk
120/hand x3 trips to failure

Stir the Pot
2x16

Seated Band Hamstring Curls
Monster Miniband x100 straight
 
Hyde said:
Yesterday was muscle fluff day: cable raises, flyes, extensions followed by dips, EZbar & hammer curls. No OHP.

Then today I combined my squat & deadlift accessories and plan on focusing on those big lifts Thursday evening in the garage.

10/25/21

5 min walk
Bird Dogs
Side Planks

BB Rows from Floor
45,135,185x8
235 2x12
245x12

Pull-ups
Widegrip
8,8,6
Neutral
2x8

GHR
4x12

Legpress
+180,360 x12
+540 2x12
+630x12
+680x12

DB Farmers Walk
120/hand x3 trips to failure

Stir the Pot
2x16

Seated Band Hamstring Curls
Monster Miniband x100 straight
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ive switched to wide grip pull ups lately, only managing sets of 5 at the start of a session, hate the grip but I’d stuck with a neutral grip for the last 6 months as I find it easier.

by bb rows from floor are you talking pendlay style?
 
Whisky said:
ive switched to wide grip pull ups lately, only managing sets of 5 at the start of a session, hate the grip but I’d stuck with a neutral grip for the last 6 months as I find it easier.

by bb rows from floor are you talking pendlay style?
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Yep Pendlay; I just wrote that so folks who are less initiated might understand better.

I actually hate widegrips; the science I’ve seen shows no marked improvement in results but a decided decrease in leverage. I feel like they are a bad investment for a strength athlete, especially because I have managed to build rather wide lats relative to the rest of my musculature without them. I literally only did them because that trash pull-up/ab tower was right next to the GHR at the commercial gym, and, well, I figure what doesn’t kill you, and all that…
 
Hyde said:
Yep Pendlay; I just wrote that so folks who are less initiated might understand better.

I actually hate widegrips; the science I’ve seen shows no marked improvement in results but a decided decrease in leverage. I feel like they are a bad investment for a strength athlete, especially because I have managed to build rather wide lats relative to the rest of my musculature without them. I literally only did them because that trash pull-up/ab tower was right next to the GHR at the commercial gym, and, well, I figure what doesn’t kill you, and all that…
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haha, well that makes me feel better.

i have long arms and terrible levers for them, but I definitely feel like they hit my back in a different way and aesthetically I feel like my back thickness is significantly more advanced than my width (probably through heavy deads)

I massively prefer a wide grip lat pull down but don’t have that at home, I’ve tried to replicate it with a wide grip inverted row but just don’t feel I get the same stimulus.
 
Whisky said:
haha, well that makes me feel better.

i have long arms and terrible levers for them, but I definitely feel like they hit my back in a different way and aesthetically I feel like my back thickness is significantly more advanced than my width (probably through heavy deads)

I massively prefer a wide grip lat pull down but don’t have that at home, I’ve tried to replicate it with a wide grip inverted row but just don’t feel I get the same stimulus.
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It was something I listened to with either probably Dave Tate or Louie Simmons talking about how Chuck Vogelpohl would do endless amounts of lat pulldowns before and sometimes after training. They asked him why he did so many, what he felt it helped: he responded that he didn’t really think it helped his comp lifts much at all - he just loved doing them
 
10/27/21

10 min walk
Bird Dogs
Side Planks
Pullaparts
Band Tri Extensions

Bench
45x10
95,145,195,245,255,265,275x5

2-Board Press
275 4x4

SSB JM Press
60x10
160 2x10
170 2x10

Incline Logpress
130 4x10 short rests

Push-ups
3x20

Band Pressdown
Light x100 straight

Getting better, one week at a time! Feeling a stronger neurological connection with my muscles today and I’m assuming it’s due to the addition of Gear cream. Time to eat up for squats and pulls tomorrow night.
 
10/28/21

10 min walk
Bird Dogs
Side Planks
BW Jumpsquats

SSB Squat
BW,60,150,240,290,320,340x5

Sumo, deadlift bar
135 2x5
hookgrip
225,295,335,365x5
straps
395x5

Hi handle Trapbar Deadlift
315 4x10

A few GMs and boxsquats with empty SSB

Felt very strong on squat this session, which is good because I really pushed food & preparation to do so. Very glad I took some noopept prior (along with 2 cups of coffee & half a Bronkaid), because I really felt I did a great job with my squat and sumo positioning - big focus on not rushing things and moving in the optimal positions. I also historically suck setting up with straps, but again I really focused on my position cues and it was just as clean as the reps with 365. One of those sessions where you know you truly got better.

Morning after, I am weighing 229.2 after bathroom. So I’ve gained several lbs the last couple weeks.
 
Last night I ate 16 Taco Bell crunchy tacos in 14 min and 54 seconds. Wife’s best is 15 tacos in an hour or so, so it was time to establish dominance. I think I would have tapped around 20 if I had to really go all out, but I try to always keep a few reps in reserve when possible.
 
Hyde said:
Last night I ate 16 Taco Bell crunchy tacos in 14 min and 54 seconds. Wife’s best is 15 tacos in an hour or so, so it was time to establish dominance. I think I would have tapped around 20 if I had to really go all out, but I try to always keep a few reps in reserve when possible.
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I just crapped in my pants reading this.
 
10/31/21

10 min walk
Bird Dogs
Hip stretches
Side Planks
Ankle & wrist mobility

Band Tri Pressdown / Ovhd Extensions
Light 2x25 each

alt w DB Hammercurls
20,25,30x25

DB Laterals
25x20
30 2x15

BB Strictpress
45,45,95,115,135,155x5

CG Bench
45,95,145x8
195 3x8

alt w/ Seated DB Rear Delt Flyes
25 2x15, 1x21

Just getting everything loosened up. Felt a lot better afterwards.
 
11/1/21

6 min walk
Bird Dogs
Side Planks

BB Rows from floor
45,95,145x8
195x6
245 3x12

Pull-ups
10,8
-did legpress here-
11,9,9

Cable Legpress
40,100,160,220,300,360x12
400x30

GHR
4x15

Didn’t get a few smaller things done I wanted due to lack of time, but hoping to sprinkle those in through the week. It’s a deload week, so instead of the plate-loaded legpress I gave my knees a break and just maxed out the cable horizontal legpress. I felt I could have did more than 30 reps, but my heart would have exploded
 
11/3/21

6 min walk
Bird Dogs
Side Planks

Bench
45,95,135x10
205 5x1

2-Board Press
205,215x15

JM Press
95x15
115 2x15

Dips
3x15

Cable Flyes
33 3x15

Pressdown
80x100 total

Laying Leg Curl
50x100 straight

Speedy session today - everything is a lot easier when you don’t really bench first! Left with a massive pump.
 
As usual, great stuff going on in here. Training is looking solid and 15 tacos???? I wonder if you could have done that 5 years ago when they actually had a little filling in them. I used to love me some taco bell but they got rid of all the best stuff when covid hit. Bring back the Mexican Pizza!!!!!!
 
MrKleen73 said:
As usual, great stuff going on in here. Training is looking solid and 15 tacos???? I wonder if you could have done that 5 years ago when they actually had a little filling in them. I used to love me some taco bell but they got rid of all the best stuff when covid hit. Bring back the Mexican Pizza!!!!!!
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That would be 16 tacos actually - and these are definitely as big as they used to be. This particular Taco Bell is “the good one” around here: they roll ‘em fat. Most other ones are kinda depressing. But seeing as I had more in the tank, I would say yes

They recently killed the 7-layer burrito and it took a part of my childhood with it
 
Hyde said:
That would be 16 tacos actually - and these are definitely as big as they used to be. This particular Taco Bell is “the good one” around here: they roll ‘em fat. Most other ones are kinda depressing. But seeing as I had more in the tank, I would say yes

They recently killed the 7-layer burrito and it took a part of my childhood with it
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WOW, I am so jealous you have a TB that still puts stuff in the tacos. Only thing I get from there now is a powerbowl with extra meat, or maybe the all time fav bean burrito. Last time we got tacos about a month ago even the lettuce was lower than an inch of the taco shell and it was mostly lettuce. I had to write them off... Now it is only Taco Cabana for fast food Mexican, but hey they have REAL BEEF!

I agree on the 7 layer too!!!! It was that and the Mexican Pizza's I loved the most!
 
11/4/21

10 min
Bird Dogs
Side Planks

Squat, straight bar
45 3x5
135,205x3
255 4x1
305x1

Sumo, stiff bar
135 2x3
225x3
275 5x1

Hi Handle Trapbar Deadlift
345 3x15

KB Suitcase Carries
2 trips per side, ~100 yards

GHR
2x12, 1x16

Stir the Pot
2x20

A great deload session. Getting better, brick by brick.
 
Nice looking deload session. Actually looks like a fun, feel good lifting session.
 
11/7/21

10 min walk
Bird Dogs
Side Planks

Strictpress
45x10
95,125,145,165x5

CGBP
45,95,145x10
195 3x10

Seated DB Rear Delt Flyes
25 3x18

Band Tri Pressdown
Light x50,30,20

DB Laterals
30 3x15

Hammercurls
20x50

Sunday funday; beautiful sunny day in garage. Wrapped up deload week and moving into 4’s week! Back & legs in the morning.
 
11/8/21

6 min walk
Bird Dogs
Side Planks

BB Rows from Floor
45x10
135x8
185,225x6
255 3x10

Pulldowns
143,187x12

Pull-ups
30 total, short rests between clusters

GHR
5x12 (3 sets pre-lepgress, 2 post)

Legpress
+180x12
360,540x8
720,770x12

Good Girls
20,50,80,100,120x12

Laying Leg Curl
50x100 straight

Super happy with the progress I’ve been making lately. Sticking to the plan: conservative progression of food, drugs, loading as well as paying attention to my recovery efforts & preparation for training. I mean I have had a cold with yellow snot the last week basically and I am still making obvious steady gains (and very little snot). Onward!
 
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Hyde said:
That would be 16 tacos actually - and these are definitely as big as they used to be. This particular Taco Bell is “the good one” around here: they roll ‘em fat. Most other ones are kinda depressing. But seeing as I had more in the tank, I would say yes

They recently killed the 7-layer burrito and it took a part of my childhood with it
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Wow, taco bell brings back college memories. We had a meal plan and did TB once a week, fire sauce baby!
 
11/10/21

10 min walk
Bird Dogs
Side Planks
Band Pullaparts & Pressdowns

Bench
45x10
95,145,195,245,265,285,295x4

2-Board
245 3x10

JM Press
180 3x10

V-bar Tri Pressdown
2 Average Bands 3x12

Seated DB Shoulder Press
35 x25,20,20 (short rests)

If you haven’t benched with 25s, you’re missing out!

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Just need to get strong enough to make those 45s and we’ll be in business, boys
 
Good stuff going on in here. How many clusters did it take to get 30 on those pull ups?
 
MrKleen73 said:
Good stuff going on in here. How many clusters did it take to get 30 on those pull ups?
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Whisky said:
hydes pull up game is strong AF. It wasn’t weighted so I’m gonna guess it went close to 10/8/6//4/2 with no rest over 10-20s 🤷
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It actually went terribly! I don’t know if it’s because I put the energy into the rows prior or incorporating a couple Pulldown sets first, or just the short rests, but I actually did 1,2,3,4,4 reps with 10 sec rests initially (hit a wall there) and then took a bit longer rests to do some sets of 6,6,4. Honestly probably just the pace, but they’re not a priority at all at the moment compared to the heavier rowing and the Legpress work.

Definitely surprised me.
 
Hyde said:
11/10/21

10 min walk
Bird Dogs
Side Planks
Band Pullaparts & Pressdowns

Bench
45x10
95,145,195,245,265,285,295x4

2-Board
245 3x10

JM Press
180 3x10

V-bar Tri Pressdown
2 Average Bands 3x12

Seated DB Shoulder Press
35 x25,20,20 (short rests)

If you haven’t benched with 25s, you’re missing out!

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Just need to get strong enough to make those 45s and we’ll be in business, boys
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The way that bar is loaded, upsets me.
 
wfreiling said:
The way that bar is loaded, upsets me.
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Me too, thought it looked so goofy, but my laziness won out: the iron 25s are stored high on a weight tree just out of sight here, so I grabbed those first before bending over for the bumpers stored on the back of the yoke atop the hundos.

I promise they’re all 25s!
 
Hyde said:
It actually went terribly! I don’t know if it’s because I put the energy into the rows prior or incorporating a couple Pulldown sets first, or just the short rests, but I actually did 1,2,3,4,4 reps with 10 sec rests initially (hit a wall there) and then took a bit longer rests to do some sets of 6,6,4. Honestly probably just the pace, but they’re not a priority at all at the moment compared to the heavier rowing and the Legpress work.

Definitely surprised me.
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Oh yeah the heavy rowing would have done the trick. I have to choose one or the other to be my main lift for the day. Whatever gets done first is going to massively drop performance for the 2nd. I normally do Vertical Heavy / Horizontal pump, and then visa versa on the following workout for that reason.
Hyde said:


Me too, thought it looked so goofy, but my laziness won out: the iron 25s are stored high on a weight tree just out of sight here, so I grabbed those first before bending over for the bumpers stored on the back of the yoke atop the hundos.

I promise they’re all 25s!
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Well my weights lately would probably drive you all nuts then. I tend to have smaller plates on the inside while training with my son. Just easier to change weight in between sets. Although his strength has improved enough that after his warm up he is in the big wheels. I had to laugh the other day while working up and he had 115 on the bar and then I threw the 45's on top of that. Looked so WRONG!
 
11/11/21
BW 235.4

10 min walk
Bird Dogs
Side Planks

SSB Squat
60,150,240,290,330,360x4

Sumo, deadlift bar
135x10
225,315,355,395x4 hookgrip
+straps
435x4

Hi-handle Trapbar
365 3x10

SSB 9” Stepups
BW,60x10
110 3x10

“Sometimes you just feel tired
You feel weak
And when you feel weak
You feel like you wanna just give up
But you gotta search within you
You gotta find that inner strength
And just pull that **** out of you
And get that motivation to not give up
And not be a quitter
No matter how bad you wanna just fall flat on your face and collapse.”

-Til I Collapse, Eminem
 
Yesterday was several rounds of fluffy pump things; no training just active recovery before lots of driving.

11/15/21

6 min Assault Bike
Bird Dogs
Side Planks

BB Rows from Floor
45,135x10
185,235x5
255 3x12

Pull-ups
12,10, then 4,4,5 with shorter rests

GHR
BWx14
+25x10,8
BWx14

Axle DOH Holds
235 x3 holds to failure

Rogue Beltsquat
+45,90,135,180,235x10
270x20

Short on time by the end and wanted to save my knees for squat Thursday, so I kept beltsquat light - still happy to push through a 20-rep set. Thighs were really pumped by the end!
 
11/17/21
BW 238.8

10 min walk
Bird Dogs
Side Planks
Band Pullaparts & Pressdowns

Bench
45x13
95,145,195,245,275,295,305x3

2-Board
250 3x10

JM Press
185 3x10

Band Pullthrus
Average 3x15

This session whipped me! I was blasted by the end & had neither time nor energy to get my pressdowns & light db pressing in. Happy to have seen some progress in all my numbers this last month; I have certainly put the calories and work in. Finished my final dose of Gear cream today, which was very enjoyable overall, so testosterone will be going up to 480mg/wk as of this Friday.
 
11/18/21
BW 237.0

7 min bike
Bird Dogs
Side Planks
BW Squats

SSB Squat
60,60,150,240,290x3
+belt
340,375x3

Sumo, deadlift bar
135x10
+hookgrip
225,225,315,365x3
+belt
415,455x3

Hi-handle Trapbar
375 3x10

SSB 9” Stepups
60x8
130 3x10

First time putting the power belt on in about 5 months. Had to bring it in a notch, which is always a positive. 455 is the heaviest pull I’ve had since I painfully opened 501 to finish the last meet.

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Also, decided on only 420mg of testosterone for this week. I can always creep it up later, but I want to be training on blast for another 12-20 weeks probably so I would rather give myself more runway than lean on the gas too soon.
 
SkRaw85 said:
Oooooooo SSB step ups. Those seem like something I hate. Adding in. Thanks homie!
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Bill Kazmaier said in a recent interview with Laurence Shahlaei he used to do them in training to build his truck pull. I hate unilateral stuff and they don’t hurt my knees so figured I’d try them out. I dig them.

SkRaw85 said:
Devil driver is dope. One of my fave shows back in my prime was them with soilwork and kill switch.
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Yeah they’re great live; saw them with Clutch. One of those bands that hits really hard for training, and Ruthless is a song that always gets me pumped. An old coworker got me on them, and I remember then seeing videos of Eric Lilliebridge squatting like 1,000lbs to them, which made me enjoy them even more.
 
11/21/21

Hours of yard work
6 min walk
Bird Dogs
Side Planks

Strictpress
45x a bunch
95,115,135,155,175x5

CGBP
135x10
205 3x10

Cable Overhead Tri Extensions
5x12-20

Rear Delt Flyes
3x20

Lots of shoulder mobility

I noticed on shoulder press my right delt was way higher & closer to the barbell with it in the rack position, no matter what I did. Not sure what has caused such radical protraction in the shoulder posture on that side, but it definitely caused some pain after the overhead pressing & must be addressed ASAP. Spent a lot of effort on loaded stretches and will continue mobility for it until things hammer out.
 
11/22/21

6 min walk
Bird Dogs
Side Planks

GHR
2x20

Legpress
+180x12
360x10
540x8
+heavy sleeves
720x6
810x20 PR

GHR
3x15

Good Girls
20,50,80,100,120x12

Cable Standing Pulldown Abs
50,70,85,85x10

Shoulder Mobility

In almost typical Monday fashion, I was shorter on time, so decided to skip upper back and focus on legs: better to whole-ass one thing than half-ass a couple. Small 20-rep PR on Legpress, and the blown out blood vessels on my delts let me know I did enough to force some growth.
 
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New (old) men’s log and women’s circus DB - scored both from our friend/local gym owner for $100 TOTAL!!!

Log is 130lbs empty and DB is ~70 as I recall. This is a great log too, easy to use & light enough to move around unloaded. Super pumped we were able to acquire these.

I had to sell off my 210lb steel log when we moved our stuff out of the last gym we had stuff at, so I haven’t had one besides our Titan 10.5” woman’s log. This is a proper 12” to train for a men’s competition. There’s even a push to make that the standard for women as well, since we all want to see bigger numbers, so some shows like OSG use 12 for women too.
 
Hyde said:
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New (old) men’s log and women’s circus DB - scored both from our friend/local gym owner for $100 TOTAL!!!

Log is 130lbs empty and DB is ~70 as I recall. This is a great log too, easy to use & light enough to move around unloaded. Super pumped we were able to acquire these.

I had to sell off my 210lb steel log when we moved our stuff out of the last gym we had stuff at, so I haven’t had one besides our Titan 10.5” woman’s log. This is a proper 12” to train for a men’s competition. There’s even a push to make that the standard for women as well, since we all want to see bigger numbers, so some shows like OSG use 12 for women too.
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I really wish I had the overhead clearance. I’ve always been interested in the log press.
 
wfreiling said:
I really wish I had the overhead clearance. I’ve always been interested in the log press.
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It’s generally done outside in driveways, patios or such. Honestly, the red foam drop pads from Titan Fitness have been one of the very best home gym purchases we’ve ever made. Way better than used tires and serious silencing!
 
Great score!
 
11/23/21
BW 240.8

10 min walk
Bird Dogs
Rolling Side Planks

Stir the Pot
2x25

Chin-ups
BWx14,12,11 hell yeah

Tbar Rows
90x15
180x12
225x10
250x8

Pulldowns
121x15
143 2x15

Got an extra session in Tuesday night since I focused on legs Monday morning. Haven’t done chin-ups in about 6 weeks; added a rep despite gaining 5% bodyweight & not training them
 
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