GP’s Old Man With A Plan Log

[gphagan1]

your back days always look strong, I know that machine and I know how hard that 330lbs is in reality. it might be a machine but thats legit work.

Love having the boy cook too, thats an important skill for him! I started doing that with my boy when he was younger too "I'm hungry" well ok, here's a fry pan and some eggs. lol of course I'd show him what to do but, teach a man to fish....

All our boys are excellent cooks. Teaching your kids life skills is so important.
Yeah, those HS Row machines will put it on you, but man I love it. That’s why normally on back day I’ll only do 2 sets of pull-ups after those two row machines, because my upper back is usually cooked after those machines.

 

[Hyde]

Yeah over 3.5 plates on that high row definitely takes some work!

Also, I had pork chops yesterday and they were delicious

 

[akboom87]

9/10/2026
Thursday
Stretches
Warmups

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

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

Machine Preacher Curl
4 x 10

Stationary Bike 10 minutes

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

Had to take my wife Wednesday to her Neurologist for her MS appointment, and today she had a follow up with her Urologist, so I left work at lunch, hit the gym for this quick workout, and went and picked her up. When we got home our Grandson had made Pork Chops, garlic mashed potatoes, and steamed broccoli with carrots. She had told him how to cook it all before we left, but he prepared and cooked it all by himself. And it was really good….we told him our compliments to the chef. I told him you may have found your calling. He was so proud.

Great session! Hope the appointments were all good for your wife. Pretty awesome he cooked that up for you guys, sounds delicious!

 

[gphagan1]

9/11/2026
Friday
Stretches
Warmups

Overhead Press 5-3-1
115 x 5
130 x 5
150 x 8 (2 RIR)

Side Laterals
30s x 10, 10, 10

Incline DB Press with pause
70s x 10, 10, 10

V Bar Push Downs
3 x 10

Low Cable Row
145 x 10
160 x 10, 10

Cable Curls
3 x 10

HS Ab Crunch Machine
2 x 15

I almost went ahead and did 150 for 10 on OHP, but decided to leave a couple in the tank since my shoulder is doing good. That Hammer Strength Ab Machine is one of the new machines my guy had that he had bought for us a couple of months ago, and he found a good spot for it, so I had to try her out.

 

[akboom87]

9/11/2026
Friday
Stretches
Warmups

Overhead Press 5-3-1
115 x 5
130 x 5
150 x 8 (2 RIR)

Side Laterals
30s x 10, 10, 10

Incline DB Press with pause
70s x 10, 10, 10

V Bar Push Downs
3 x 10

Low Cable Row
145 x 10
160 x 10, 10

Cable Curls
3 x 10

HS Ab Crunch Machine
2 x 15

I almost went ahead and did 150 for 10 on OHP, but decided to leave a couple in the tank since my shoulder is doing good. That Hammer Strength Ab Machine is one of the new machines my guy had that he had bought for us a couple of months ago, and he found a good spot for it, so I had to try her out.

Another good session! Great work on the OHP and the incline db press. HS torture machine is what that is

 

[Dustin07]

150 x 8, especially with a couple reps in reserve is a big OHP. your shoulder must be doing much better! our OHP's are very close, I bet we finish the year around a similar 1RM there if we both stay healthy-

 

[gphagan1]

150 x 8, especially with a couple reps in reserve is a big OHP. your shoulder must be doing much better! our OHP's are very close, I bet we finish the year around a similar 1RM there if we both stay healthy-

Thanks, yeah the shoulder is doing pretty good now. I think I could probably do 195 right now, so you’re probably a good 10-15lbs ahead of me.

 

[dapack]

150 x 8, especially with a couple reps in reserve is a big OHP. your shoulder must be doing much better! our OHP's are very close, I bet we finish the year around a similar 1RM there if we both stay healthy-

Agreed. Huge lift

 

[Dustin07]

Thanks, yeah the shoulder is doing pretty good now. I think I could probably do 195 right now, so you’re probably a good 10-15lbs ahead of me.

well my best so far is still only 200 the past couple cycles, I know on the one hand in theory I hit that after working sets as a joker so I could blame fatigue for not going higher but on the other hand, we all know how I operate and typically I either have it or I don't regardless of warmup work lol. I feel very good about 200 being in my back pocket right now but as for more, I have no idea lol .

 

[gphagan1]

well my best so far is still only 200 the past couple cycles, I know on the one hand in theory I hit that after working sets as a joker so I could blame fatigue for not going higher but on the other hand, we all know how I operate and typically I either have it or I don't regardless of warmup work lol. I feel very good about 200 being in my back pocket right now but as for more, I have no idea lol .

 

[gphagan1]

9/16/2026
Wednesday
Stretches
Warmups
Rotator Cuff
McLeod Flys

Bench 5-3-1
195 x 3
220 x 3
250 x 5(1- 2RIR)
Spoto Bench
235 x 6, 6

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

Man I felt great today…. I had to take my wife to her Internal Medicine Doctor Monday for a checkup and bloodwork, and I went to my Doctor Tuesday for my yearly checkup and bloodwork, so today was my first chance back in the gym since Friday. Since I was a day later on my bench, I wondered how good the workout would be or would I be dragging. Well I felt good all day, so I couldn’t wait to get to the gym. And man it was a blast and such a fun workout. Did a lot of band work with my stretching and warmups, because I just wanted to make sure the shoulder was good on the bench. I had no aches or pain when I started benching, and felt really strong. 250 moved really smooth and I know I could have hit 6 and maybe 7. I made up my mind that I’m definitely doing a Joker set next week after the last set of the prescribed 260, but I’m really contemplating going for 280 or 285 instead of 275 on the Joker set if 260 feels really easy. I definitely don’t want to go too heavy, but I’m feeling strong so I guess I’ll figure it out that day…..just need to think about it.

Edit: Almost forgot…the 250x5 is a 60s PR.

 

[Hyde]

Glad it was an awesome workout! From a science angle, adding about 5% load to the bar from a recent heaviest exposure is all they can say is generally safe from a connective tissue adaptation perspective. That’s about 12lbs based on what you have been doing.

So going past 275 is sailing out into open waters a bit. Truthfully it will probably be fine, but just understand the more you attempt the more risk you add. You’re already on track to bench 300 by end of year if you do 275 now, so I am not sure there’s a ton of reason to rush it too much.

 

[gphagan1]

Glad it was an awesome workout! From a science angle, adding about 5% load to the bar from a recent heaviest exposure is all they can say is generally safe from a connective tissue adaptation perspective. That’s about 12lbs based on what you have been doing.

So going past 275 is sailing out into open waters a bit. Truthfully it will probably be fine, but just understand the more you attempt the more risk you add. You’re already on track to bench 300 by end of year if you do 275 now, so I am not sure there’s a ton of reason to rush it too much.

That’s a great point….there really isn’t any reason to go over 275, and I definitely don’t want to go too far with the shoulder, so 275 it is then.

 

[Segansational]

PR city up in here!

 

[Dustin07]

Glad it was an awesome workout! From a science angle, adding about 5% load to the bar from a recent heaviest exposure is all they can say is generally safe from a connective tissue adaptation perspective. That’s about 12lbs based on what you have been doing.

Over what period of time? Layne likes to have funny battles on X and this one cracked me up. at 10% I should be squatting more than you by new years

I popped that 5% rule into excel real quick to see what it would look like on a monthly basis for fun. Its kinda funny how big 5% really is, like its a lot.

Here's 2%. its HUGE imo

Edit: Almost forgot…the 250x5 is a 60s PR.

Gotta love it!! raising the bar for all of us!

 

[Hyde]

Over what period of time? Layne likes to have funny battles on X and this one cracked me up. at 10% I should be squatting more than you by new years

View attachment 263168

View attachment 263169

I popped that 5% rule into excel real quick to see what it would look like on a monthly basis for fun. Its kinda funny how big 5% really is, like its a lot.

View attachment 263170

Here's 2%. its HUGE imo

View attachment 263171



Gotta love it!! raising the bar for all of us!

I’m not sure what you’re asking.

Adding 2-5% load to the bar weekly seems to be pretty safe for connective tissue that hasn’t experienced that load in a long time (or ever). This isn’t to say you CAN handle that much more load from a muscular perspective, but rather this is how fast tendons seem to very safely adapt. This is going to be ~5-15lbs in a lot of cases. If the athlete has handled these poundages recently, it wouldn’t apply (like typical wave loading where you have already handled similar 3-4 weeks prior).

It’s mainly going to be relevant for lifters coming back off a layoff/injury where load was greatly reduced but muscles are still much stronger, and steroid users when they hit the gas again. Think comeback scenarios. This is why I always ramp up to the contest; I can get 10-15% stronger from the steroids but if I just slam that out the gate it’s way more dangerous.

That’s also why I was so nervous getting my squat ready for this meet. 7 weeks after my knee tear, I jumped up from around 445 to 507 for a single, then the next week did 578 just 8 weeks post (15% more load!) - that’s uncharted water for sure; there’s a real risk. But when I did that, I knew I could taper down over 3 weeks and do 4% more (600) safely then.

 

[Dustin07]

I’m not sure what you’re asking.

Adding 2-5% load to the bar weekly seems to be pretty safe for connective tissue that hasn’t experienced that load in a long time (or ever).

yes sir, that answers the question perfectly. I see people often throw out percentages of how much is safe to increase but they don't usually highlight specific time periods. Like Gary up there stating 10% per week is pretty absurd unless you're brand new to the sport and adding 4.5lbs to a 45lb empty barbell.

 

[MrKleen73]

Nice the boy is a good cook, and congrats on that new PR!!!!

 

[gphagan1]

Nice the boy is a good cook, and congrats on that new PR!!!!

Yeah he’s doing good…..he’s already been making breakfast like omlets, bacon, biscuits etc., and simple meals at dinner, but now he’s starting to get interested in how to cook and season meat properly, side dishes, and prep food properly. Just have to work on cleaning the kitchen afterwards and not leave it for Maw Maw.

 

[gphagan1]

9/17/2026
Thursday
Stretches
Warmups

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

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

Pull-Ups
12, 10

Machine Preacher Curl
4 x 10

Standing DB Curl
45s x 10, 10, 8, 8

DB Rear Laterals
40s x 10, 10, 10

Leg warmups and stretches
Stationary bike 10 minutes

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

Man I was drained and really dragging today. Had to work late, so I was pretty tired by the time I made it to the gym. Felt pretty good after stretching and warmups, but I realized how drained I was when I got to pull-ups after the heavy HS high and mid rows and could only hit 10 on my second set. I knew I needed to throw some leg press work in since I missed leg day, but man that’s all I had in me. Got home and my wife had made Cajun Rotisserie Chicken, and had the boy make roasted red potatoes with peppers and onions, and salads. That really hit the spot.