Espen's Training Adventures

[Espen Lund]

Figured I'd give this a go, if only for my own musings and record.

About me: Male, 29 yo, ~105 kg, 1.88m, mechanical engineer from norway

I've been training for a bit over two years, but I'm pretty new to intermediate programming. I really did everything wrong on NLP, and had to learn the hard way. I was completely new to training at the time.

I have been running HLM for perhaps 2 months, which was going well. Nevertheless, workouts are taking too long, so I will try 4xweek from now on, with flexibility in my program to reduce to 3 or 2 x week if I have little time. It's also flexible in that, if I have more time some days, I can add accessory work, but it's not really necessary for my progress atm.

Layout looks like this:

Mon:
Heavy Bench
Light Press
Biceps/bench/abs accessory work if time permits

Tues:
Heavy squat
Deadlift variant
Chins
Back accessory if time permits

Thurs:
Heavy Press
Dips
triceps/shoulder/abs accessory work if time permits

Fri:
Heavy deadlift
Squat variant
chins
Conditioning (air bike, prowler, etc.)


Atm, my current best lifts are :

Squat: 5 x 167.5kg
Deadlift: 5 x 167.5kg
Press: 3 x 5 x 75kg
Bench: 5 x 112kg

Monday's workout (11.06.18) - sets x reps x weight

Bench:
1 x 5 x 112kg
4 x 5 x 107kg

Press:
3 x 5 x 65kg

Dips:
3 x 12

DB curls:
2 x 11 x 17.5kg
1 x 8 x 17.5kg

Weighted situps:
2 x 10 x 15kg

[Espen Lund]

Tuesday

Squat:
1 x 5 x 157.5kg YouTube
1 x 5 x 147.5kg
2 x 5 x 157.5kg
1 x 5 x 147.5kg

I managed to misload two of my back-off sets after having to change squat rack due to a crossfit session.

RDL:
3 x 5 x 105kg

I really like this exercise. Think I will keep it for a while as sub for light deadlift.

Chins:
3x6

[Espen Lund]

Thursday

Press:
1 x 3 x 76kg
4 x 5 x 69kg

Weighted Dips:
3 x 10 x 15kg

Seated Overhead DB Press:
3 x 8 x 17.5kg

Triceps extensions w/bar:
3 x 12 x 70lbs

[Espen Lund]

Friday

Paused Squat:
3 x 5 x 142.5kg YouTube

Deadlift:
2 x 3 x 172.5kg YouTube YouTube

Deadlifts felt OK, but still not completely satisfied with my setup. Feel my back is not tight enough. But it's getting better.

Chins:
2 x 7
1 x 5

Chins are still not impressive.

Lat Pulldown:
1 x 5 x 80lbs
1 x 5 x 75lbs
1 x 8 x 65lbs

Got a little greedy on the weight, meant to do more repetitions on each set.

[Ken_L]

It looks like you are off to a good start. I am in a similar situation in that I did a lot of things wrong in LP until I started reading the books. I still do plenty wrong but am learning everyday. I'm also pretty new to intermediate programming. Good luck on the 4 day HLM program it looks like a good one.

[Eric Schexnayder]

You and I are pretty much exactly the same stats, except I’m a chemical engineer, so I have you beat there 😁

I messed up my NLP before too. This time I actually read the book and decided to keep a log for accountability. Going better that’s for sure.

Good luck with your HLM adventures!

P.s. - I’ve been to Norway a few times and loved it. Specifically Tonsberg, Oslo, and Dagali. I would live in Dagali if I could.

Jeg snakker ikke norsk, unfortunately.

[Espen Lund]

It looks like you are off to a good start. I am in a similar situation in that I did a lot of things wrong in LP until I started reading the books. I still do plenty wrong but am learning everyday. I'm also pretty new to intermediate programming. Good luck on the 4 day HLM program it looks like a good one.

You and I are pretty much exactly the same stats, except I’m a chemical engineer, so I have you beat there 😁

I messed up my NLP before too. This time I actually read the book and decided to keep a log for accountability. Going better that’s for sure.

Good luck with your HLM adventures!

Thank you. I actually read the books pretty early on, then did all the mistakes you can possibly do + some more. I got to easily distracted by other fitness gurus on the internet. But on the other hand, now I know better what works and what doesn't based on my own experience. Experiencing with programming in some of the fun, I guess.

P.s. - I’ve been to Norway a few times and loved it. Specifically Tonsberg, Oslo, and Dagali. I would live in Dagali if I could.

Jeg snakker ikke norske, unfortunately.

That's some pretty solid norske right there.

[Eric Schexnayder]

That's some pretty solid norske right there.

Ha! Edited, but probably still wrong.

[Espen Lund]

Ha! Edited, but probably still wrong.

Heh, no, that's quite correct. Were you in norway for business or pleasure? I agree Dagali is a nice spot. I would have travelled there next week myself for a arrangement if I hadn't been occupied with stuff at home, unfortunately.

Monday
Woke up early today, and went to training 5 in the morning. Needed more warmup than what I normally do, took time to wake the body up. Listening to Meshuggah helped.

Bench:
1 x 5 x 113kg - 5 min pause
4 x 5 x 108kg - 3 min pause

Press:
3 x 5 x 66kg - 3 min pause

Seated DB press:
3 x 12 x 15kg - 2 min pause

Sit ups
3 x 10 - 1 min pause

Started to rigorously time the pause between sets to keep training time down. I try 3 min on upper body lifts and 5 on lower body. Feels ok for now.

Over to something completely else, I have listened alot to this album lately: YouTube

I think it has some real well written proggy & melodic parts.

[Espen Lund]

Tuesday 19.06.18
@ bodyweight of 107kg

Squat:
1 x 5 x 160kg YouTube
4 x 5 x 150kg

RDL:
3 x 5 x 110kg YouTube

Probably going too light on these.

Supersetted with weighted chins:
5 x 2 x 15 kg

Did not sleep one single hour the night before training, and went to the gym 5 in the morning. That of course affected my concentration, and squats felt more heavy and soulbreaking than they normally do. But I got the job done. I've also evidently been training with streptococci the last 2 months, and will finally begin a pencilin cure today.