What is your resting heartbeat and VO2 max? I wonder if my VO2 max is any good since I've been inadvertently running with too high of a heartbeat for some time now, at least for endurance.

I'm at 53 and 36 on heartbeat and VO2 Max. Apparently VO2 Max declines a lot with age, so google "VO2 Max by age" to get a better comparison point.

It's almost impossible for me to not run at too high a heartbeat. If I'm making any time at all, I'll be over 150.

Protein Protein Protein...

I'm the same... at 57 I'm still hovering around the 165lbs I was in college. I've always been skinny at 5'11" but recently I have been loading up on protein and the fat has gone down and the muscle mass is increasing... wish I knew this earlier.

FYI, weight gainer shakes are a waste of $. Almost all the extra nutrients just get shit out.

Three big keys to gaining healthy muscle mass.

1. Get your macros optimized.
2. Lift weights, with a plan not just showing up and doing whatever you feel like that day.
3. Sleep! Sleep is by far one of the most important PEDs.


I was 120lbs when graduating HS. 30+ years later I am just over 190lbs with a much lower bf% than HS.

Want to get to 200-210.

If you want to gain mass the only way is to eat to the level to support your goal weight. Force feeding when not hungry is one of the worst feelings.

One way to prevent this is to get 10-15 minutes of aerobic exercise after eating. No crazy effort. Enough to get heart rate up but also be able to have conversation without being out of breath.

This will help you digest so that you can be hungry at next meal plus it also helps control blood sugar spikes. If you had more sugar than you shuld have during the meal your body will use the excess blood sugar for energy vs converting and storing as fat.

Yea that's what I meant.

I feel like muscle size/mass/physique is a poor goal for most people. Of course, it's most men's goal earlier in life when we're dumb and also want immediate results. This video is a great example... says he's gained 30 pounds of muscle, but just sitting there you can't really tell.



It wasn't that long ago I started noticing filling out shirt sleeves and generally feeling like I've made really good progress from a physical standpoint... and that's 4.5 years in. Granted, there are obvious reasons it's taken a while... I've taken breaks and slowed down at times for mid-40s reasons, and besides protein intake I don't go out of my way to track intake, and I don't eat way above baseline. It hasn't been the perfect plan, but I don't think there's a timeline out there where I'm mass gaining either.

I think people online who say you can gain pounds of muscle for months on end as a n00b, and specifically someone like Jeff Nippard nonchalantly saying he gained 30 pounds of muscle in his first few years (not the same guy in the video above.. dude looked like Michelin Man from the waste up in his younger pics), are just setting people up for disappointment.

Building strength is a far better goal, IMO... you'll generally know workout to workout, or at worse for a while you'll know week to week whether you're progressing by adding a rep or adding a little weight, etc. As long as that's happening, you aren't failing.... and you aren't waiting months or years to see it in the mirror.

Nobody is going to spend 8 years with a goal of building strength before realizing they're doing something wrong or giving up all together... if you plateau for x number of workouts or weeks, you'll know to change things up.

Interesting post, I agree and I don't.

I do agree with you that strength is a better goal for most than mass/physique, but then I actually really respect Jeff Nippard, he is a bodybuilder but he also values strength etc infinitely more than the average youtube fitness bodybuilder type, he has strength specific programs and has been a powerlifter.

I also don't find the 30lbs of muscle claim that crazy, and he probably did most of that with strength training rather than bodybuilding. It may also be worth noting that both of Jeff's parents were competitive bodybuilders so its actually more his access to knowledge that gave him a headstart over the average gym newbie.

I got into the gym initially via discovering Starting Strength and 5x5, and people add a ridiculous amount of muscle in the first year or so with those programs all the time. Those that don't, assuming they actually follow the workout plan, either they start overweight and have no idea the ratio of fat loss to muscle gain when they succeed, or those who start out skinny generally don't eat enough to max out their potential gains and hit the kind of gains Jeff did.

Bit confused about how you said you struggled to put on weight and then go on to list all the weight you managed to put on. Why do you think you failed if you got from 125 to 185?

His channel was one of the first I followed and I still watch pretty much every video he releases... he has a ton of great information and he really tries to keep it real in terms of knowing not everyone is a powerlifter and results vary drastically, etc. He also does a really good job of detailing what to do with information... he doesn't just say "studies say lengthened partials are amazing, just do those!"... but he'll say how he mixes them into his routine or how you can mix them in.

This is the picture I'm referring to...

https://i.imgur.com/kl72mFl.png


...that's the same video when he mentions his parents were body builders, so there's all kind of advantages with that in terms of a workout plan, nutrition, recovery, etc.... and then he's obviously genetically gifted on top of all that.

Could I have ever looked like that? Yeah, kind of doubt it.

Pretty much all of those guys are very quick to pose throughout their video and tell you how much they lift, etc; so it can be a weird mix of information. He had a great video about where you should be at certain stages of lifting for bench, deadlift, and squat... and then it's oddly mixed with "by the way, I bench 800 pounds".

I don't think there's necessarily anything wrong with his approach or most others... they're first and foremost genetically gifted bodybuilders who figured it all out at a young age. Most of them are also personal trainers, so I think they gain a lot of perspective about the rest of us, plus through all of their studies and so forth.

Renaissance Periodization/Mike Israetel is someone I've followed more recently and I think he does a really great job or breaking a lot of it down even further to the everyday lifter... most of those guys do a great job of telling you what is optimal, what's the best exercise for a muscle group, etc; and Dr. Mike often takes it several steps further with all the variables that play a factor in results. He had a good one recently (that I may have posted here) where he details genetics from like 10 different angles and not just the "hard gainer" at 30k feet, and what 'average' really is, etc.

I actually discovered Dr Mike recently too and have been enjoying his videos a lot too, helped by the fact he is ****ing hilarious.

Mass comes from hypertrophy training (bodybuilding) not from strength training. This is why the first block in a powerlifting or strongman program is a lot of hypertrohpy.

Yes I did 5x5 training back when I weight trained. Would highly recommend for a hard gainer. It was the absolute best for me at putting on mass. Hypertrophy training did not work for me. But I acknowledge I must be a special case because most of the guys I knew trained like that were able to get quite big but when I did it I saw no mass gains. Lifting heavy with 5x5 with core work was everything for me to progress.

So just found out about zone 2 training recently. Really did not understand how easy I had to run. Started running End of May and until the end of August was only running 2 to 5 mpw but at all zone 4 and 5 intensity...like an idiot. Now running 10 mpw in zone 2 since Sept 1 and shaved my 5k time down to 28 minutes. Still bad but seem to be progressing at that distance now that I understand how to train.

Been tracking my heart rate only for 5 weeks now and weird thing is my max HR has increased from 180 to 191 and I haven't even been pushing myself in the hard runs near as much as I used to. Then my avg HR in easy long runs has also been increasing and my easy run pace hasn't improved....yet my 5k time very much improved.

What kinda max HRs do you guys have?

My max when running is mid-upper 150's.

I would guess much higher on a max effort lift.

I'm talking about untrained novices. You can put on insane mass the first ~year of training no matter what you do in the gym and generally strength training is more efficient than body building for beginners.

Unfortunately you really can't use novice lifters to define these things. Noob gains are real. A person new to lifting can go to the gym do every lift wrong and inefficiently and they will still gain mass and strength just because the bar is already so low for them.

When you train for strength you are training your CNS not the muscles.

Sounds like you're doing a great job in your training, especially with taking advantage of the many aerobic-capacity building advantages of Zone 2 training.

I've not tried to max out my heart rate lately, but I think my maximum is somewhere close to 167, or close to what someone my age (58.8) would have predicted by the formula 208 - (0.7*age). The highest my heart rate has gotten during a recent workout was 171, after running 8 cruise intervals (of 1 km each, with 200 m recoveries) in August.
My resting heart rate this past week has averaged 39. I'm looking forward to the KC Marathon in 10 days, which I'm hoping to finish not too much slower than 5:15, close to my time last year, when I was about 10 pounds lighter. I'll be one of the heavy and slow runners, but my training has gone well these last couple of months and I was able to get my estimated VO2 max back to what Garmin says is excellent for my age group...but it's just barely there, a 44. ;)

What the **** are you talking about "you really can't use novice lifters" you literally quoted me talking about someones gains during their first 2 years in a gym.

Train some reading comprehension.

Oh nice! I'm running in the KC Marathon (just the 5k) as well. I ran my first 5k last week in the Martin City area. It was really fun. I think I have the running bug now. I just love to compete. That is an incredible resting heart beat. I don't even really know what mine is because it's so easy for it to fluctuate anytime you move. If I wear my watch when I sleep it will say it's in the 40's for sure but most of the time when I'm just sitting around I am 49-59.

This zone 2 training stuff appears to be very helpful and I bet I'm still running in zone 3 too much. I need to go to some place that will do my lactate threshold stuff and calculate my heart zones for me so I don't overtrain. That was my biggest issue when I started. Just need to run a ton of miles easy mainly so you don't get injured.

How many miles a week do you run? I'm going to work up to 20 and then get to 40 during the winter and really see how well I can do. The thing I like about running is I can absolutely suck at it but if I just put in the miles I will just beat people that don't run as often that are more talented lol

Well put, I'd even mention you can continue to build muscle doing exercises wrong.

However, you are only cheating yourself. Doing workouts correctly isolates the muscle leading to max gains and a portioned body so it should not be taken lightly if you are serious about reaching your bodies full potential.

You didn't mention novice until the last time I quoted you. If you did then I completely missed it.

My argument still stands... Strength training is not an efficient way to build mass. Yes, a noob will get some size but thats only because they are starting at 0.

Few in this thread are novice lifters so I don't know why its even being discussed?

Any idea if there are longer term studies on training for strength vs hypertrophy and muscle size?

I feel like they'd almost have to do something like the recent stuff I saw where one person did full ROM for half their body and lengthened partials for the other half... but given the overlap in methods, have always been curious if the difference would be like 2% or 20% over time.

Hypertrophy builds mass. You get strength along with it but not full potential.

Strength training builds strength. You are training your CNS when strength training. When strength training you are in the low 1-5 rep range so there isn't the volume to cause the muscle tissue breakdown that is needed for muscle building.

I guess that's a no, lol.

Strength also sometimes simply comes from within and can't be teached (in the sense i am talking about at least).

The lifters I know who have the most strength to bodyweight often lift with a lot of intensity and are in general very passionate ppl.

Lots of stuff on Google Scholar. I watched a YouTube video or two about this not too long ago. If I can find the one it was I'll pass it on.

100% Strength training is a skill.

Can you also expand on the second paragraph? First mention strength vs hypertrophy for muscle size. Second paragraph is about ROM.

Are these two separate questions?

Oh, probably should have elaborated, but there were videos going around recently where someone YouTube guys did a study on full ROM vs lengthened partials. Each person in the study lifted using full ROM with one arm and lengthened partials with the other, then they measured the difference in muscle size after like 8 weeks.

So, no specific question on that, was just thinking a strength training vs hypertrophy training study would almost need something like that where the same person is trying both (but then of course you get into systemic fatigue and of course compound movements where you can't exactly split your body in half).

Mostly just curious if any long term studies have been done where the outcome is "they gained 5% more mass training for hypertrophy" or whatever.

Hmm I'll take a look and see if I can find anything.

There is evidence that a person's emotional state (anger) can allow them to lift heavier weights.

It's obviously something that you have to be careful of because you don't want it to affect your mental state too much. But if you can harness that anger in a positive way w weight lifting it can help.

There's a top level strongman that's like that. Evan Singleton. He gets so amped up he'll miss a lift that is well within his capability.

That's not what I am talking about. Like I said using it the right way is key.

This past year, I have averaged about 33 miles a week, down from the 40+ I averaged each of the previous three years. I think my resting heart rate is so low because I had been so heavy before, so now my heart thinks it has an easy job.😂

I was using it as an example of the intensity being a negative.

Good example for your comment would be Eddie Hall when he pulled the 500kg deadlift.

He has himself hypnotized to be able to go to a head space where his wife and kids were trapped under a car and the only way to save them was for him to lift the car off.

He almost died from the lift.

I'm not disagreeing but how come all the big strength/strongman athletes have so much mass and mostly train for strength? Are they working in more hypertrophy work somewhere or is it that anyone benching 400lbs is gonna be big because they are strong?

Strength training puts a massive load on your CNS. Especially spine loading movements such as deadlift and squats. Because of this the reps are much fewer (1-5), rest times much longer between sets (3-6 minutes) and more days rest needed to recover.

Because the volume is so low for these there isn't enough muscle breakdown and rebuilding to reach hypertrophy and build mass.

Because of the recovery limitations on the CNS most will have either full days of hypertrophy training with no strength training or they wil have their one or two main strength builders and the rest will be accessories that are run hypertrophic.

Just an example. This was my push day...

Axel Overhead Press: 4 working sets of 3 reps. 205lbs 5 minutes rest between sets (this was my strength training movement for the day)
The rest is all hypertrophy. 60-90 seconds rest:
Incline Dumbbell Press: 3x12 95lbs dumbbells
Cable Chest Flies: 4x15 100lbs each stack
Rope Tricep pushdowns: 3x12 200lbs each stack
Reverse grip straight bar pushdowns 3x12 200lbs each stack
Standing overhead skull crushers 4x10 95lb dumbbell

Each day is this same basic principle. One or two strength ecercises and then finish with hypertrophic accessories.

Then add in a day of event specific lifts... Atlas stones, sandbags, yoke, etc...

Short answer... They are big from genetics plus they still do a considerable amout of hypertrophy training.

Volume, its all about volume. You can strength train exclusively but if you do a huge volume of training which those guys do, you will add size with strength.

I'm sure diet is a huge role as well considering what those guys eat which is needed for the volume of training they do.

Most people don't spend 4-5 hours a day training so you have to decide which way you want to focus.

The volume is actually considerably less for strength training. All the extra time in gym is resting 5+ minutes between sets vs bodybuilding where you are only resting 60-90s.

You also never go to failure during strength training if you are doing it corectly. You always want a couple reps left in the tank so you don't fry your CNS.

I think all my joints would collapse like a dying star if I did 1-3 rep max work, if all the tendons in my body didn't snap first. LMAO

You don't go max. You want an effort level of 8-9 so you always want to have at least a rep or two left in the tank.

If you are constantly hitting max weight then you will fry your CNS.

If you look at the top level powerlifters and strongman they rarely train anywhere near their potential max lift.

it's also why most strongman carry 20%+ bf. It helps stabilize and lubricate the joints.

FYI, if you need to get bloods done you can get discouted labs through PrivateMD Labs

Get a spotter and take it easy until you feel comfortable

Good look bro

Has nothing to do with his comment.

Nothing wrong with knowing how your body is functioning. If you think your doctor is running all the necessary tests to make sure you are fully healthy you are wrong.

Just got back from the gym.

5 sets of 2 reps at 235 lbs on Bench.

Beat that, old men.

In all seriousness, who is the most yoked planeteer?

Anyone moving serious weight on here?

I did 295/455/575 in 1933

<div class="tenor-gif-embed" data-postid="16850506" data-share-method="host" data-aspect-ratio="1" data-width="30%"><a href="https://tenor.com/view/its-been84years-its-been-a-long-time-rose-dewitt-bukater-titanic-gloria-stuart-gif-16850506">Its Been84years Its Been A Long Time GIF</a>from <a href="https://tenor.com/search/its+been84years-gifs">Its Been84years GIFs</a></div> <script type="text/javascript" async src="https://tenor.com/embed.js"></script>

Loochy is basically a Greek God, and that's not an exaggeration.

What are these comments?

1. Heavier loads and lower reps cause LESS fatigue
2. Heavier loads change the collagen makeup of the tendons so they become STIFFER leading to LESS injury and injury potential

My bests in competition raw was 660 squat no belt no wraps, 485 close grip bench and a 725 deadlift

I walk around at about 240 now close to single digits and have been off all the sauce for about 10 years

Relax mr know it all. I'm just telling him to build his confidence up.

I know from experience and I'm sure you do too - the body is pretty amazing if you take care of it the right way and work hard. I know his post wasn't that serious but I know he can accomplish his goals im sure.

not every post on here has to be so scientific.

Yeah, I've never even tried to figure out 1RM, much less train in such low rep ranges, but have trained hard enough before to at least have a fair idea of my own systemic fatigue over time.

To un**** my squat, I was doing ~15 sets in the ~6-10 rep range across 3 workouts/week for several weeks... I was already pissing off my tennis elbow from arm stuff and then added hip and back pain to it. By the time I finished that little project and went on vacation for a couple weeks, the struggle was real, lol.

So, that's the baseline of my comment that I'd destroy myself at low rep ranges. And if I was in my 20s, I'd probably do it again and again... but, being mid-40s, I doubt there's as high of a ceiling for joint and body abuse.

Yeah, I've learned a ton from a handful of people on YouTube, but at the same time know a lot of what they're talking about might mean a difference of like 2% over time... and I'm all for better/more efficient ways to do things (so I keep watching them), but any of them will tell you none of their nuance matters if you aren't showing up to the gym with a purpose and working hard, then eating right, and getting enough sleep/rest.

Almost 50 and put up 420lb squat, 275lb bench and 440lb deadlift with a torn brachioradialis at the time. Missed third lift on deadlift and both 2nd and 3rd lifts on bench because of it.

I competed at 187lbs.

There may be a better thread but just ran my first half marathon yesterday…I am not fast but did okay. Problem is I have a lot of issues with chafing on my thighs.

Should I use Vaseline in the future? Some other tricks for not having these issues?

Run bow legged.



Seriously, wear synthetic clothing, seamless if possible. Been a couple decades since I ran for long distances but I used petroleum jelly. I think gold bond makes something called Runners defense? Moleskin might also work.

Congratulations! That's a commitment, I distinctly remember my first half.

You can get this on Amazon. Way less messy than vasoline.

Chafing depends a lot on things like how much you sweat and your body type.

Wearing non cotton clothes will help too but when its skin on skin something like body glide will help a lot.

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/...70_FMwebp_.jpg

I'm old and never again will I do low rep strength work....too many injuries. Now it's all about hypertrophy and cosmetics. I'm all show/no go at this point.

Tonight my last set was 285 x 4

Congrats! Did you have a target time you were shooting for? How'd you do relative to your expectations?

I don't usually have trouble with chafing other than once when it was really cold and I ran a race in sweats. That was not fun afterwards. This was before I bought running tights and it's the reason I bought running tights. So I can't help you on that issue.

I've been really out of shape the past few years, but I'm working my way back. I ran a 10K yesterday. I'm slowing down with age so my time wasn't thrilling (1:06:56), but it was better than I expected and I came in 2nd in my age/gender division. Granted, there were only five guys in my division, but I still came in 2nd. Being in the 60-69 age category now has really winnowed down the competition.

Thanks, I'll look into these. I had synthetic underwear on but I think it wasn't tight enough and pulled up a bit. The chafing was a straight line and then below so maybe just something longer would help out the most.

Definitely skin on skin. I sweat more than the average. Partially being fat, partially I've always sweated even back when I was skinny. This is probably a good answer.

I was right at my target time of 2:40 which is what I figured was about my best case scenario based on my training. I've been extremely out of shape and was challenged to do this by a couple other dads in my daughter's day care. My other goal was to beat the other dads (which I did) so I feel pretty good about the overall results despite coming in 275th in my division. This was my first race longer than a 5k and that was probably around 12 years ago.

I may need to look into running tights as well. No chafing anywhere but where i had bare skin on bare skin and it seemed to either happen as I was walking around after the race or I didn't notice when I was running.

You just didn't notice during the race.

I've ran a few longer events including a couple 50 milers. After the first one I did I got in the shower to only then realize I had worn a raw spot into the side of my ball sack. Had no idea until the water hit it. :cuss:

Pretty sure you're younger than me....

My body actually feels better since switching to strength training vs hypertrophy.

I'm up 5 lbs in body weight. 17lbs to go to hit target weight.

My muscles have a tendency to explode. Lifting injuries: Pec torn off the bone. Lat torn off the bone. Second smaller tear in the previously repaired pec. Soccer inuries: Torn groin that left the muscle deformed. Torn quad that left the muscle deformed. Torn hamstring that left the muscle deformed.

Holy shit dude.

I've torn a hamstring muscle and a hamstring tendon and it was discouraging AF.

Cant imagine that many tears.

Just got on here. 80 with arthritis in all joints. Still golf 4/5 days a week with help from Tramadol. Rather well I might add. I was told several years ago to forgo weight lifting. One problem is doing exercise that involve using my hands. That is out . Anyone have successful experience with other options to , at the least, keep the muscle tone I now have.
JC

I get it. Tons of soccer and lifting injuries as well.

Recently torn biceps. Competed in a powerlifting meet not too long ago and missed my second and third bench and third deadlift because of it.

Fortunately nothing off bone. But my left lateral triceps looks like two muscles now they way it tore.

By who? If by a doctor you need to find a new doctor. Strength training has been proven to be the best thing you can do for longevity and a healthy life.

What's everyones workout look like these days. I am between programs until next week when I start a new one.

Yesterday I did push/pull.

5x10 150lb strict viking press
5x8 185lb incline bench
3x10 150lb cable pullovers
3x8 185lbs lat pulldown
3x10 40lb lateral dumbbell raises
3x5 225lb bent over dumbell rows.
3x10 160lb low to high face pulls

Squats and accessorie today. Probably looking at:

3x6 315lb squats.
5x8 275lb RDLs
Some sort of splt squat
Leg extension and curls.
Maybe a bit more of something depending on energy left.

Not sure I understand not using your hands for weights if you're also golfing, but overall I'd guess higher rep/lower weight stuff, and probably on machines to help with stability... find yourself a Planet Fitness and overall you can get a pretty comprehensive workout with their machines.

Light googling suggests weightlifting is especially beneficial for arthritis, so it seems like maybe there's some nuance or missing context for someone to say not to... or yeah maybe find a new doc.

Nice result Rainmakerman. It appears you have quite a bit of running experience as Marcellus and some others. I have a question for you runners about HOW to run slow.

I'm attempting to run 20 mpw and doing almost all of it an easy pace. Yes I HAVE to monitor it with my heartrate or I will simply run too fast and I wont be able to run as often due to lactic acid soreness. Ive tried it. I have to be super cognizant of it on my easy runs. Anyway...the issue I have is when I run easy at 135 bpm to 150 bpm I have to run so slowly that it annihilates my knees. If I run with correct form with a higher leg kick my heart rate gets too high and I have to walk but my knees feel great.

So I don't know what to do. If I run slowly my knees are ****ed. If I run too fast my legs/ankle/shins are ****ed from lactic acid. Wondering if I can just go to the gym and do stationary bike or rows or something and get the same aerobic benefit as jogging. My only goal is to run 5k as fast as possible and I have only been working on my aerobic base for a month. Ive seen huge gains to my 5k time by this zone 2 or lower heartbeat training but the pain in my knees while running slow wears on me.

I do a (chest, font delt, side delts) / (back, traps, rear delts) / arms / legs


Lately I tend to do pre-exhaust. So for legs I'll do extensions, 4-5 sets all to failure with the last set being a drop set. Then I'll do leg curls the same way, THEN I'll go to some combo of squats, lunges, split squats, or leg press. I feel like I get a lot more muscle workout of the compound movements that way. Before, I'd mainly feel it in my joints for the first 6 sets or so. Now I feel squats entirely in the muscle.

My split is:

Push/Pull
Squat
Rest (sometimes still go to gym and do arms and mobility work)
Push/pull
Hinge (deadlifts)
Strongman Comp prep (any specialized events not covered via regular training)
Rest

Crazy how you can not notice something like that. I've definitely noticed it the last couple days!

"Hi-my name is Marcellus and I am an excerciseaholic."

I'm in a pretty solid spot right now just maintaining on my lifts for now and have been training for a very hilly 25K trail race in a couple weeks so legs haven't been in the program for about 6 weeks. After this race I'll get back to squats and deadlifts.

My week has generally looked something like this for a long time. I run in the morning and lift at noon during lunch.

Monday - Chest. I do chest relatively heavy, finished up last set Monday with 3 reps at 305 on flat bench then some incline dumbells at 75, 80, and 85lbs.

Tuesday - Morning run 4-5 miles and then Biceps and Triceps. I do more reps on biceps, usually in the 6-8 range on working sets and do 5-8 on triceps. I try to mix up my bicep workout every week swapping out different base exercises.

Wednesday- 7 mile hilly or tempo run no lift

Thursday - short run in the morning 3-4 miles then Back and Shoulders in the 6-8 rep range for working sets.

Friday - Morning run, usually 5 miles and then core work. I had to start adding regular core work to combat a lower back issue and its worked so far so I try to stay religious on this.

Saturday - Long run, distance depends on what I am training for and where in my plan I am. Did 14 hilly miles last Saturday at 8:25 avg per mile.

Sunday - 30-40 minute easy recovery run.

I've got an app I use that tracks all my workouts at the gym and my running stuff.

Today is day 303 of this year and I have logged 333 workouts combined so far this year and that's with 2 vacation weeks that I did very little. Its good to take a break every now and then.

So for strongman specific, what are you doing? Hercules hold? Axle deadlifts? Farmer walks? Sled pushes or rope pulls? Atlas stones? Circus dumbbell? Husafell stone? There are so many random ass strongman events that I don't know how you can train for all of them. What stuff do you have (or what does your gym have)?

I've thought about the sequencing from time to time as I've heard people mention placing the most important exercises first/early as you'll get the most bang for your buck.... but then I've absolutely felt the benefits of earlier sets as I go through multiple sets or a workout.

And I don't think it would matter a ton in the long run for me personally, but have experimented both ways a bit. When I was un****ing my squat, I put it first in my workout and would warm up with some lighter squats... interesting you mentioned joints though, because I wrecked mine in that process, but think it had just as much or more to do with volume than anything else.

Maybe I'll play around with it a bit.

...and I love drop sets for leg extensions and seated leg curls (and calf raises just as a time saver), plus started slowing down reps a decent amount on both. I'll do a couple sets and then 3-4-5 without a break, before wobbling to the next machine.