Viking Strength....Let's hope

[MattimusMaximus]

**Midnight sesh/bad sesh!

BW: 239.4 lbs (PM Weigh-in)




Volume Bench: 5 min rests

240*5 (@7) beltless
250*5 (@8) Beltless
260*5 (@9)
250*5 (@8.5) beltless
250*5 (@9) beltless

Intensity Press: 5 min rests

185*1 (@8) felt easy
195*F (Failed)
195*F (Failed)
185*F (Failed) WTF!?
185*1 (@9)
190*1 (@9.5)
195*F Fail (FML)

Light LTE:

95*12 (@7)
95*12 (@8)

Light BB Curls:

95*10x2




**Well I hated tonight. Presses went awful and even benching felt heavier than it should have. I'm going to wager a guess that I pushed myself too hard in the gym last 2 sessions where I ended a training cycle.... got too greedy and it obviously negatively impacted my ability to recovery in time!

[MattimusMaximus]

**Nothing like an after midnight on Christmas Eve/early Christmas morning while the family is nestled in bed.


BW: 238.4 lbs (PM Weigh-in)



Volume Squat: 5 min rests

320*5 (@6) beltless
335*5 (@7)
350*5 (@8.5)
350*5 (@9)
335*5 (@9)

SLDL: 4 min rests/beltless

295*5 (@7.5)
310*5 (@8)
310*5 (@8)

Light BB Pendlay Rows: 2 min rests

165*10 (@7)
165*10 (@8)

Light Chins: EMOM

238.4*5 (@7)
238.4*5 (@8)
238.4*5 (@9)



** Have to address the ass kicking that has been happening since I increased my volume days to RPE 9's instead of 7-8's. My body doesn't seem to like the RPE 9-10 for volume especially. I suppose that's the whole point of using an RPE scale to gauge where the "sweet spot" for training is for the individual lifter. I seem to do better with volume days capped between 7 and 8 RPE and intensity days somewhere between 8 and 9 RPE.

**I also noticed massive fatigue plagues me around set 4 and 5 to the point of form breakdown even if I reduce the weight like tonight. I think I'm going to reduce the volume... at least on volume days anyways to something along the lines of 4 work sets instead of 5 or maybe even 3... we'll see. I suppose that varies with RPE and auto-regulation as well.

Anywho, I posted this message because it brings a festive smile to my face!




T’was the night before Christmas
And all through the VAN!
Your ol’ buddy Matt
Fell asleep on the can!

His children were nestled
Two time zones away
With his first wife and her husband
In sunny L.A.

Matt woke up and realized
With a chill and a quiver
That he was living in a VAN
Down by the river!

Merry Christmas! Shitter was full btw! ��

[MattimusMaximus]

**So... my body is pretty beat up from maxing out and also using TM style volume days. Also, since I've switched from 3 days per week, to training 1 of every 3rd day on a 9 day rotation instead of a 7 day week rotation, I've realized my TM style volume AND upper/lower split doesn't spread the stress enough so I'm altering things to spread the stress more appropriately... or at least I hope that's what I'm doing.


BW: 242 lbs (PM Weigh-in)



Squat Intensity: 5 min rests

360*1 (@7)
380*1 (@8)
355*3 (@8)
355*3 (@8.5)

Comp Bench Intensity: 5 min rests/paused reps

265*1 (@7.5)
280*1 (@8.5)
255*3 (@8)
255*3 (@8)

Slingshot Bench: 5 min rest/paused reps

280*5 (@7.5)
295*5 (@8.5)

Pendlay Rows: 2 min rests/strict reps

195*5 (@6.5)
195*5 (@7.5)
195*5 (@8)

Heavy BB Curls: 2 min rests/strict reps

125*5 (@8.5)
125*5 (@8.5)
125*5 (@9)




**Due to a slight change in programming, intensity squats were done 3 days earlier than normal so they didn't have much time to recover from vol day! All-in-all a decent workout but it took longer than I had anticipated. I'm not particularly fond of longer sessions but I suppose that's the price I pay for training less frequently.

Here's my boring long-ish training session from tonight.

[MattimusMaximus]

**Early mornings this set of shifts (getting up 5:30am )


BW: 240.7 lbs (PM weigh-in)



Intensity Press: under 5 min rests

165*1 (@6)
175*1 (@7)
180*1 (@8)
165*3 (@7.5)
165*3 (@8)

Intensity Deadlift: under 5 min rests

375*1 (@7)
395*1 (@8)
365*3 (@8)
365*3 (@8)

Weighted Chins: BW+35 lbs/ 2 min rests

275.7*3 (@7.5)
275.7*3 (@8)
275.7*3 (@8.5)

LTE: 2 min rests

120*5 (@7)
120*5 (@8)
120*5 (@9)



**Everything felt pretty easy compared to what I would normally do so it's very refreshing! Presses were actually 5 lbs heavier than I anticipated due to the originally planned top set of 175 lbs feeling lighter than anticipated... that's why the 180 single.

**I'm enjoying things much more keeping my intensity between RPE 8-9 so I'm hoping volume will be good again between RPE 7-8!

[MattimusMaximus]

Well... it's been an interesting year! (2017)

Training started out strong with tested maxes at:

Squat: 435
Bench: 300
Deadlift: 455
Press: 200

Then it all went south after getting gastroenteritis 2x this year (stomach flu-not really a flu) and then the actual flu with a secondary infection that beat the stuffing out of me, plus one more really nasty cold in November. Ever since my 3 year old started dance class, the number of times she's been sick and the rest of our family gets sick from it has increased dramatically.

Mixing in some nasty shift work and OT, plus my wife went back to work from Mat Leave (Nurse; shift work also), our home life has gotten quite a bit busier for the latter half of 2017. Poor programming on my part and going at sets with RPE 9.5-10 every session burnt me out. But I'm still here and still training!

2018 will be a tough year but lots of things to look forward to. As for training my goals aren't over the top but I would like to accomplish:

Squat: 455
Bench: 315
Deadlift: 500
Press: 205

These aren't much higher than what I already accomplished at the beginning of 2017 but I'm hoping to reach these numbers at a lower body weight, or I should say lower body fat levels by the end of 2018. I don't want to be too specific in my body weight goals because I want to focus more on fat loss vs what the scale is saying. My training will be more enjoyable with these lower RPE's I'm intending and then to keep things fresh I'll push a top set to @9-9.5 occasionally on an intensity day to test the waters so-to-speak.

As for this log... I'm going to take a hiatus. Not sure if I'll be back eventually or not. We will see but right now I log on 2 other sites and I just don't have the time to keep all of them updated. This one seems to get the least love... and, not all, but most of the fellas I followed or who followed me have left this forum either by choice or by ban. Thanks for still following along BigA! Buh bye for now!

[MattimusMaximus]

Oh man I need to get my numbers up sheesh! Since my last post over 2 years ago I’ve accomplished a 10 lbs reduction in BW and...

Squat: 470
Bench: 335
Deadlift: 500
Press: 210

These are all mock meet gym lifts as my first competition was cancelled in March due to Covid. BW was 231 lbs.

Lack of progress is probably to do with having a 3rd kid since then and also dealing with thyroid and severely low testosterone issues. Thyroid is being treated but testosterone isn’t...stupid docs.

[Cole Gorton]

What up Matt, just skimming hrough your old log to see how you got dat 500 squat

[MattimusMaximus]

Best Tested Maxes to date:

Squat: 500 (low bar)
Bench: 340 (comp paused)
Deadlift: 525 (conventional)
Press: 210

-I was around 218 lbs BW when I did these. Dr had me on lower dose trt during this time. 70 mg/wk. Blood work was still showing up low test levels though so idk. Dr has since taken me off trt.