GP’s Old Man With A Plan Log

[Dustin07]

Around us, everything is brand new fancy gyms, so all monthly fees are in that $120-150/mo from what I can tell. Which is insane to me. Glad I invested in a home gym!

dude we're all over the map here. using my insurance I got my gym down from $45 to $25 but I just remembered my buddy used to pay $750. I was like wtf dude you're way too fat and weak to be spending more than $9.99 at PF

 

[gphagan1]

8/11/2026
Tuesday
Stretches
Warmups
Rotator Cuff
McLeod Flys

Bench 5-3-1
175 x 5
205 x 5
235 x 8 (2 RIR)
Spoto Bench
235 x 5, 5

HS Iso Horizontal Bench Machine
208 x 10, 10, 10, 10

CG Bench
185 x 10, 10
205 x 10, 10

Arnold Press
45s x 10, 10, 10

Cybex Tri Extension Machine
3 x 10

Felt strong today, and can definitely tell a difference now that my Test levels are back up from starting back TRT. The program called for 230 on my last set of bench, but I had rounded up to 230 last month so I went for 235. I know I had 10 in me but left a couple in reserve, and I didn’t have a spot today. I really liked adding the HS Horizontal Flat bench after heavy bench. It said the starting weight for the handles is 18 lbs so that’s why the odd 208 number. So it was two 45s on each side and 5s, and I got a good chest pump with that 4 x 10. I really like that machine…it kind of feels like a hybrid barbell bench and dumbbell bench all in one with the path of the handles. After the CG bench I had a good tricep pump to go with the chest pump.
Saturday was great catching up with my old buddy and looking at all his equipment that he is selling. We all went to Ted’s Montana Grill to talk and catch up for lunch and then we went back to his gym for my guy our gym owner to figure out what he wanted.
He bought a Hammer Strength Lying Leg Curl, Hammer Strength Leg Extension, Paramount Low Back Machine, and a Quantum Assisted Pull-up/Dip machine. And over to the side marked with a hold tag was a Hammer Strength Low Row. We tried to talk him out of it but he was holding it for another guy to get next week. He did say if the guy didn’t get it we could come back and get it. I’m really hoping we can get it. But it was great catching up and when we were leaving he called me over, and said man I can’t let you leave without giving you something bro, and he gave me a Trap bar. He said him and his wife already have a huge RV, and of course he has some weights, dumbbells and a bench in it for when they are on the road. And man he is 65 and still in fantastic shape, so there’s still a few of us old timers out there still in the game.

 

[MrKleen73]

I told you that you were going to love that HS Horizontal Press! if i could only have one chest press that would be it. Very Slight incline, and the converging path of the handles really does force you to push in a little actually making it more chest dominant than most other presses.

 

[gphagan1]

I told you that you were going to love that HS Horizontal Press! if i could only have one chest press that would be it. Very Slight incline, and the converging path of the handles really does force you to push in a little actually making it more chest dominant than most other presses.

Yeah man, you were right….it is absolutely my favorite chest machine. And it was perfect to follow heavy bench with, because it hits the chest so good and is much easier on the shoulders than other chest exercises.

 

[Hyde]

Sounds like an awesome day and score!

 

[gphagan1]

Sounds like an awesome day and score!

Yeah we had a blast, and it was great catching up with my old buddy and seeing how good he’s doing.

 

[gphagan1]

8/12/2026
Wednesday
Stretches
Warmups

HS Iso Lateral High Row
270 x 8
330 x 8, 8, 8, 8

HS Iso Lateral Mid Row
180 x 8
230 x 8, 8, 8

Pull-Ups
12, 12

Machine Preacher Curl
4 x 10

Standing DB Curl
45s x 8, 8, 8, 8

DB Rear Laterals
40s x 10, 10, 10

Man following the high row, with the mid row and pull ups really hit my lats and upper back so good. And after biceps and rear delts I had such a good bicep and upper back pump. Ha, I had a little trouble getting out of my sweaty tank top to change into my good shirt, and I ripped the tank top a little under the arm pit taking it off.
You know it’s a good workout when your clothes don’t fit afterwards.

 

[Dustin07]

Ha, I had a little trouble getting out of my sweaty tank top to change into my good shirt, and I ripped the tank top a little under the arm pit taking it off.
You know it’s a good workout when your clothes don’t fit afterwards.

thats usually chest day for me its a mix of pride and embarrasement when I get trapped in my shirt lol

 

[gphagan1]

8/13/2026
Thursday
Stretches
Warmups
Stationary Bike 10 minutes

Leg Press
90 x 8
180 x 8
270 x 8
360 x 8, 8

York Power Front Squat
90 x 10
140 x 10, 10
180 x 5

HS Lying Leg Curl
3 x 10

Standing Calf Raises
3 x 10

Man I tell you what, you don’t want to go too heavy on that York Front Squat Machine. That machine really blasts the quads like no other. And even though I was good and warmed up from stretching and warmups followed by 10 minutes on the stationary bike, when I started doing leg press you could hear my bones popping in my back like the 4th of July, but hey I was good and lubed up by the time I threw 180 on and hit that second set. I’ll feel this tomorrow I’m sure.

 

[gphagan1]

8/14/2026
Friday
Stretches
Warmups

Overhead Press 5-3-1
115 x 5
135 x 5
155 x 6 (2-3 RIR) left shoulder started catching on this set.

Side Laterals
30s x 10, 10, 10

HS Incline Press
210 x 10, 10, 10

V Bar Push Downs
3 x 10

Low Cable Row
145 x 10
160 x 10, 10

Hammer Curls
45 x 12, 12, 12

Had an impingement again in my left shoulder on that last set. On reps 4,5, & 6 it just started catching. I’m sure I could have gotten 8 or 9, but decided to rack it and quit while I was ahead. The side laterals had a little pain on the left side but were pretty good. I felt strong the whole workout, except for that. Hopefully it’s just scar tissue acting up. I’m gonna see if I can get in to see my ART therapist next week and see if he can work it over and break it up. Otherwise a fun workout and there was a lot of hot booty yoga pants sweetening up the scenery.

 

[Dustin07]

On reps 4,5, & 6 it just started catching. I’m sure I could have gotten 8 or 9, but decided to rack it and quit while I was ahead.

probably smart, plus you got the prescribed heavy work done. how narrow is your grip? I was always taught a bit narrower like this one I circled but it can be a mind game going back and forth because for a jerk its noticeably wider and if I'm doing push press I struggle to decide, but I think I land just basically in the middle of a jerk grip vs OHP grip.

Otherwise a fun workout and there was a lot of hot booty yoga pants sweetening up the scenery.

I always appreciate it when management pumps in some intraworkout stimulants

 

[gphagan1]

No I don’t have a close grip…it’s a little wider than my shoulders, with forearms straight. It’s really been fine though 4 cycles of 5/3/1, and then I had that issue on the HS Shoulder Press, and it started giving me trouble here and there. I’m pretty sure it’s old scar tissue between the front delt and front upper pec and it’s affecting my shoulder joint as I press. I have an appointment with my ART guy tomorrow, so hopefully he can break up that scar tissue and free up the shoulder.

 

[Dustin07]

No I don’t have a close grip…it’s a little wider than my shoulders,

I kept going back and forth forever because I felt stronger wider, but the past couple cycles I've really kept it narrower. for me and my bodys width, that puts me really close the inside of the knurling. probably one finger width wider than the end of the knurling. with a lot of practice there, I feel like I'm getting a more aggressive "bend the bar" type grip with my hands now. I'm not sure if that's making me stronger, but mentally I think its helping me tighten everything up a lot..

for my bbb sets I do tend to go with a wider grip to make the delts cry lol

 

[gphagan1]

8/17/2026
Monday
Stretches
Warmups
Rotator Cuff
McLeod Flys

Bench 5-3-1
190 x 3
215 x 3
245 x 5(2 RIR)
Spoto Bench
235 x 5, 5

HS Iso Horizontal Bench Machine
208 x 10, 10, 10, 10

CG Bench
185 x 10, 10
205 x 10, 10

Arnold Press
45s x 10, 10, 10

Cybex Tri Extension Machine
3 x 10

So 245 x 5 is a 245 rep PR in my 60s, so this train is still moving in the right direction. Man it was hot today….98 with 85% humidity made it feel like 107. So yeah this was a 2 shirt workout. Another day of feeling strong. My shoulder ached during stretches and warmup, but by the time I hit my second set on bench it was good. I believe I could have got 6 with 245 and possibly 7, so I’m still beating the prescribed weight and this is my 5th cycle. With that said a big part of that is I know I started with a 1rm that was probably less than my actual, but I believe that it’s much better to start lighter and progress slowly for more cycles than to start too heavy and fizzle out sooner, especially if you are older or have dealt with a lot of injuries.

 

[Dustin07]

does it seem like the shoulder is more bothered by the overhead work than the bench work? really glad to see you throwing down spottos, I do think I need to either incorporate those or pause work somewhere. Maybe I substitute jokers for pauses and keep my bbb where it is... not sure.

 

[Hyde]

Awesome work, and yes people don’t understand that aspect of 5/3/1 (or training in general). They think if they run higher weights in training that will make them stronger faster, instead of realizing the weights you lift in training are purely dictated by how you are responding & adapting to the lifting process.

You don’t lift heavier to get stronger. You GET to lift heavier BECAUSE you are getting stronger. You need to lift the right weight for the intended work effort, and it should progress over time if you’re successfully adapting consistently.

So they use their best possible lift for their Training Max instead of understanding it’s just an arbitrary value that helps dictate the numbers across the training cycle. I actually think about the kinds of weights I feel comfortable lifting for sets when I start it, then reverse engineer the TM off that. If I know I want my top set of bench to be 275-305 weekly to get stronger, I will take 305/.95=320 for my TM. Which is a weight I should always be able to take if I had to, even though I wouldn’t generally.

 

[Hyde]

Jim has even said the lighter you can set your TM, the better, especially for more advanced or experienced lifters. He has seen tremendous success running TMs on squat as low as 75% of competition maxes for some guys. Because just acquiring good clean work consistently without getting hurt is so vital for longterm improvement.

 

[Dustin07]

I will take 305/.95=320 for my TM. Which is a weight I should always be able to take if I had to, even though I wouldn’t generally.

That makes a lot of sense. for fun, I just applied the same thing at 265/.95 = 278TM. so 278/.90 puts me at 309. I had went the default method. I think I started with a 295 true max (vs 305 PR) which gave me a 265.5lb TM and that x .95 gives me training reps of 251 (4 cycles ago). so this math all works out. Now that I'm entering cycle 5 it puts my bench work at 260 x 5, 275 x 3, and 290 x 1 for my top sets in cycle 5. Which if I can maintain that, to me makes a lot of sense. after 5 complete cycles it still does not actually program me to even touch my PR (although with any luck, a joker on that last week should take a new PR).

Comparatively, in cycle 1 my RX'd bench numbers were 225 x 5, 240 x 3, and 250 x 1. so thats still a pretty damn good climb in 5 months of work.

and if I maintain it, cycle 7 puts me at 275 x 5, 295 x 3, and 310 x 1 in my trainng, no jokers included. those numbers look daunting but 7 months of work leading to a 5lb all time PR in training, looks dope on paper.

especially for more advanced or experienced lifters. He has seen tremendous success running TMs on squat as low as 75% of competition maxes for some guys. Because just acquiring good clean work consistently without getting hurt is so vital for longterm improvement.

I imagine for a guy like you squatting 600lbs that while 225 might be pretty light work, regularly hitting 450+ is still pretty taxing? I mean at some level, heavy is heavy even if you are quite strong, right?

 

[Segansational]

Awesome work, and yes people don’t understand that aspect of 5/3/1 (or training in general). They think if they run higher weights in training that will make them stronger faster, instead of realizing the weights you lift in training are purely dictated by how you are responding & adapting to the lifting process.

You don’t lift heavier to get stronger. You GET to lift heavier BECAUSE you are getting stronger. You need to lift the right weight for the intended work effort, and it should progress over time if you’re successfully adapting consistently.

So they use their best possible lift for their Training Max instead of understanding it’s just an arbitrary value that helps dictate the numbers across the training cycle. I actually think about the kinds of weights I feel comfortable lifting for sets when I start it, then reverse engineer the TM off that. If I know I want my top set of bench to be 275-305 weekly to get stronger, I will take 305/.95=320 for my TM. Which is a weight I should always be able to take if I had to, even though I wouldn’t generally.

I actually think this is something I experience when I travel and find a gym I'm not used to. Particularly this time around, since everything was in kgs I probably went more conservative - but didn't really second guess it - because I just went based on the right feel.

So, might've been lifting a lot lighter than I usually would've, but that training stimulus was probably right.

 

[Hyde]

I imagine for a guy like you squatting 600lbs that while 225 might be pretty light work, regularly hitting 450+ is still pretty taxing? I mean at some level, heavy is heavy even if you are quite strong, right?

It is to me at least. I mean the triple with 452 this morning was fast & easy because I am all gassed up on gear & using the super-stiff knee sleeves, but aside from 6-8 weeks out of a contest it’s plenty heavy & intimidating to work with. Anything 400+ is enough to build & be good work, as well as get me hurt if I make mistakes.

 

[gphagan1]

Awesome work, and yes people don’t understand that aspect of 5/3/1 (or training in general). They think if they run higher weights in training that will make them stronger faster, instead of realizing the weights you lift in training are purely dictated by how you are responding & adapting to the lifting process.

You don’t lift heavier to get stronger. You GET to lift heavier BECAUSE you are getting stronger. You need to lift the right weight for the intended work effort, and it should progress over time if you’re successfully adapting consistently.

So they use their best possible lift for their Training Max instead of understanding it’s just an arbitrary value that helps dictate the numbers across the training cycle. I actually think about the kinds of weights I feel comfortable lifting for sets when I start it, then reverse engineer the TM off that. If I know I want my top set of bench to be 275-305 weekly to get stronger, I will take 305/.95=320 for my TM. Which is a weight I should always be able to take if I had to, even though I wouldn’t generally.

All good stuff…. I would much rather start lighter and slowly progress to hit my goals than to let ego push me into starting heavy, thinking it’s more impressive, but a much higher risk of injury. Man at my age I don’t have time for injuries and having to recover…. I still have goals to reach.

 

[gphagan1]

Well gentlemen I turned 62 today. Today was mine and my middle son’s birthday. My oldest son’s birthday is tomorrow, and we’re going to have a cookout and celebrate Saturday. So I turned 62 today August 18, my middle son turned 41 today, and my oldest son turns 42 tomorrow the 19th. And yes we have always thought that was so cool.
With that said I went to see my ART therapist today and as I thought I had a lot of scar tissue between my upper pec and front delt. He got me to raise my arm like I was doing an overhead press and he said it felt like gravel in there and it was putting my shoulder in a bind. He said as I slowly pushed my hand up like a press, he could feel the shoulder joint almost pop about halfway up and then it was like it went into place where it should be at the top. When he started breaking it up it really hurt, but as he worked it out you could feel the release and how much he freed up the shoulder. At first he was suggesting not doing OHP but since this was the first issue I’ve had he said to maybe back off the weight for a little while and see how it goes. So I was at 180 TM on OHP, and I’m going to reduce it to 170 and go back to those training numbers starting this week. So this actually proves the point of not starting too heavy on your TM for 5/3/1, because you are at greater risk of injury. I was talking about going lighter on purpose on my bench TM, but on OHP I think I was much closer to my max when I figured my TM. And even though the shoulder muscles have felt strong, the connective tissue, joints, and scar tissue are the weak links and my limiting factor. He did compliment me on my muscular development in my shoulders and arms said I should be proud of my physique at 62, which made me feel good. He does want me to come in every two weeks so he can check things out since I’ve been strength training and plan to keep going. I’m sore but the shoulder really does feel like it’s free now.

 

[akboom87]

Well gentlemen I turned 62 today. Today was mine and my middle son’s birthday. My oldest son’s birthday is tomorrow, and we’re going to have a cookout and celebrate Saturday. So I turned 62 today August 18, my middle son turned 41 today, and my oldest son turns 42 tomorrow the 19th. And yes we have always thought that was so cool.
With that said I went to see my ART therapist today and as I thought I had a lot of scar tissue between my upper pec and front delt. He got me to raise my arm like I was doing an overhead press and he said it felt like gravel in there and it was putting my shoulder in a bind. He said as I slowly pushed my hand up like a press, he could feel the shoulder joint almost pop about halfway up and then it was like it went into place where it should be at the top. When he started breaking it up it really hurt, but as he worked it out you could feel the release and how much he freed up the shoulder. At first he was suggesting not doing OHP but since this was the first issue I’ve had he said to maybe back off the weight for a little while and see how it goes. So I was at 180 TM on OHP, and I’m going to reduce it to 170 and go back to those training numbers starting this week. So this actually proves the point of not starting too heavy on your TM for 5/3/1, because you are at greater risk of injury. I was talking about going lighter on purpose on my bench TM, but on OHP I think I was much closer to my max when I figured my TM. And even though the shoulder muscles have felt strong, the connective tissue, joints, and scar tissue are the weak links and my limiting factor. He did compliment me on my muscular development in my shoulders and arms said I should be proud of my physique at 62, which made me feel good. He does want me to come in every two weeks so he can check things out since I’ve been strength training and plan to keep going. I’m sore but the shoulder really does feel like it’s free now.

Happy birthday man! And pretty cool to share a birthday and then the next day the other son!