AcftW’s Progress Thread

Hey all, I’ve been on this forum for a couple years, and been lifting regularly for about 2.5.

Was mostly on here to lurk the politics section back in 2016, but started paying attention to the weightlifting section at the same time. Been following General Stalin and Steelex pretty regularly ever since. You guys have served as solid motivation/inspiration. I participate in another forum’s fitness thread, but being the most serious person among them is getting old. Thankfully I’ve got a couple pretty big dudes I work with (defense contractor) so while we’re overseas they keep me hungry. I figure this community is better suited for my goals.

Stats- 6’1, 220 lbs, mid 20s. 17.25” arms flexed no pump.

I’ve got two injuries from the past that seem to rear their heads from time. Number one is my lower back, which seems to be easily aggravated when I pull off the floor. As a result I’ve cut deadlifts out and only do rack pulls (knee height) anymore. The second is my sternum. Costochondritis seems to be the verdict, and I managed to flare it up for the first time in a while last fall while doing my weighted dips with +90 lbs x 5 reps. It’s since gone away, and I’m slowly adding weight to my dips again and watching form very closely.

I’m more interested in physique than powerlifting, but do apply powerlifting program set/rep schemes to the lifts I do focus on. No bench/squat/deadlift, but weighted chins/dips/rack pull/OHP (seated) are my main compounds. (Leg Press is my main quad exercise, and do other accessories for legs along with my other movements)

I’ll cut the introduction post short here, and probably have another post by the end of the night about my latest lift #s/accomplishments.

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A couple days ago I hit 505x4 on rack pulls (only chalk, no straps), which felt great. I might start pulling from the floor again later on, but sticking to rack pulls for the foreseeable future. I’ve been doing hyperextensions with a barbell as a lower back accessory for a couple weeks, as it was getting too difficult to hold more than 2x 45 lb plates at the same time. Hits the low back, glutes, and hamstrings really good.

Something else I do that’s uncommon is a lot of direct neck work. I work my neck 3x per week as an accessory on my nSuns 5/3/1 routine, and am up to 80 lbs x 15 on my neck curls. I get some looks, but if anyone said anything I’d tell them to show me how much they can do.

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If you like neck work try doing wrestlers bridges. They're cool and fun because once you get good you can do some cool movements from the neck bridge. I think its a better way to build strength in the neck because then you're learning how to move the muscles,and forcing them to stabilize instead of just doing reps of the same repeated motion. You're gonna work the whole area better.Kinda like the bicep curl vs the barbell row. both hit your biceps but one has more overall benefits. You're hamstrings and back might cramp up from doing them.

Wrestlers usually stick to bridges,and are notorious for having huge necks.

One thing you have to watch out for with neck work is posture. If you're not careful you can start to get that protruding neck look that looks ugly.

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Appreciate the advice, a coworker actually suggested that a few months back but I had somewhat forgot about it.

My neck circumference has gone up from 17” to 18.5” in the last year, and it’s definitely noticeable now. More of a physique enhancer than I initially expected. It helps that my traps are on of the better features of my body as well, so the whole upper section looks good even in a shirt.

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Sucks that you got a few injuries hindering your compound lifts, but good news is since you are more focused on physique training then you don't need to worry as much about barbell movements. Leg press, glute ham raise, hip thrusters, leg curls, good mornings, hypers and reverse hypers will more than compensate for lack of deadlift ability, and there are tons of other chest excercises that shouldn't iritate your sternum (DB flys, DB press, BB press, cable flys, etc)

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@General Stalin, yeah, I figure if I’m not planning on ever competing there’s no problem with leaving out certain exercises.

Hit a long term goal of mine today, weighted chin ups +45x5. Feels good to have finally gotten there.

Pretty light workout today, at my gf’s request was showing her some upper body exercises she can do at the 24 generic gym she goes to. Mostly cables and light barbell work. Next week I’ll be back to my usual routine and able to post some more numbers.

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My routine has been a severely butchered nSuns 5/3/1 6 day program for the last several months, but the high volume has been working well for me. I generally do 3 on, 1 off, with 6 workouts per “cycle”

1 - Chins/Dips/OHP (High reps, no maxes)
2 - Hypers/Leg Press (HYPER MAX)
3 - Chins/OHP/T Bar Rows (OHP, TBAR MAX)
4 - Leg Press/Rack Pull (LP MAX, RP MAX)
5 - Chins/Dips/T Bar Rows (DIP MAX)
6 - Hypers/Leg Press (High reps, no maxes)

Chin up maxes aren’t really set up on the schedule, I do them as I’m able. After I’m done with my compounds for the day I finish off with 2-3 accessory exercises.

Everything has been going up steadily except my dips (which peaked at +90 lbs added), due to inflamed cartilage.

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Today: Workout #1

Weighted Chin Ups:
45x2
45x3
45x3

****OHP:
45x10
95x3
105x8
105x8
105x8

Dips: Did mostly body weight, with a single set of 25 lbs for 5 reps.

I always finish my arm days (1,3,5) with EZ bar curls, tricep cable pushdowns, and tricep cable extensions drop sets, usually 4-5 sets each, more if I’m able. Back/leg days (2,4,6) are finished up with neck curls, neck extensions, weighted incline sit ups, and face pulls.

****Another injury I forgot to mention is a shoulder dislocation that happened back in 2012, and ever since my left shoulder has felt “loose” or unstable. Out of fear I neglected overhead pressing movements from the beginning of my training until about a month ago. Since then I’ve been slowly adding weight to the bar, and am at 125x3 for OHP currently. I have no doubt 135 will be completed when I attempt it in a few days. I’ve got 2+ years worth of catching up to do on it, but since I’ve got a pretty good foundation built it’s coming along quickly.

It all seems jumbled to me as I’m typing what I did, but it’ll become more clear as I do more write ups.

Tomorrow is day 2, Hyperextensions/Leg Press, with me going for a new max on hyperextensions.

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Workout #2 Hyperextension New PR Day

Hyperextensions (Barbell)

115x5
185x5
185x5
185x5
115x5

Leg Press

90x5
180x5
270x3
360x3
360x3
360x3

Neck Curls

45x20
80x19
80x15
45x20

Weighted Incline Sit-ups

45x10
45x10
45x10

Did four sets of high rep (15-20) face pulls as well. I go steady with them, not using momentum like I see a lot of people do.

All in all a good workout, the hyperextensions are coming along nicely, after watching some Pete Rubish videos and seeing him use a barbell it made sense with it being hard to hold more than 2x 45 lb plates.

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Workout #3 Seated OHP New PR and T Bar Row New PR

Weighted Chin Ups

45x3
45x3
45x3

Seated OHP

45x5
95x3
115x3
135x3

T Bar Row (Barbell in the corner. Body nearly parallel to floor for lats, I don’t turn it into a shrug with an upright posture)

90x3
135x3
180x3
190x5

Rep Work:
3x10-15 EZ bar curls
3x10 Cable Rows
5x20 Tricep Pushdowns
5x20 Tricep OH Extensions

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Day 4 Leg Press and Rack Pull (Wasn’t feeling too hot with the rack pulls, just did 455 a few times instead of going for a 510x3-5 rep max)

Rack Pull @Knee

225x3
315x3
405x3
455x4
455x4

Leg Press

90x5
180x3
270x3
380x8

Neck Extensions

45x10
50x10
50x10

Neck Curls

45x15
90x10
90x10

Weighted Incline Sit-ups

50x10
50x10
50x10

A few sets of high rep face pulls as a finisher. Hit my goal of 2 plates for neck curls, I’m going to stay there for a while and try to add reps. Neck extensions are behind because I lost my head harness when I got back from my last trip overseas and just kept making progress with the front of the neck, so I’m gonna get those caught up.

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(02-22-2018 05:27 PM)AcftW Wrote:  Day 4 Leg Press and Rack Pull (Wasn’t feeling too hot with the rack pulls, just did 455 a few times instead of going for a 510x3-5 rep max)

Rack Pull @Knee

225x3
315x3
405x3
455x4
455x4

Leg Press

90x5
180x3
270x3
380x8

Neck Extensions

45x10
50x10
50x10

Neck Curls

45x15
90x10
90x10

Weighted Incline Sit-ups

50x10
50x10
50x10

A few sets of high rep face pulls as a finisher. Hit my goal of 2 plates for neck curls, I’m going to stay there for a while and try to add reps. Neck extensions are behind because I lost my head harness when I got back from my last trip overseas and just kept making progress with the front of the neck, so I’m gonna get those caught up.

So glad that you do rack pulls at the knee. What a severely underrated exercise for your traps, upper back, and forearms. Since I've added them, my traps have exploded. Great choice.

What made you choose them?

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@Investment Bro

Thanks man, and I agree wholeheartedly. I always go for a static hold on the last rep to get a nice stretch. My traps are probably my best feature and I’m pretty sure rack pulls are the reason considering I don’t do shrugs.





I started doing them maybe a year and a half ago after tweaking something during deadlifts and spending a month doing light weight. After a month of still being off I decided I was going to keep making progress and just take out the bottom part of the lift (where I had the pain). Never looked back lol. Today felt a bit off regarding energy, so I stayed away from my max. Hopefully next week I’ll push ahead.

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    before
    after

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Both of you guys are monsters. Props.

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Thanks man. Your physique is riiipppppeddd.

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(02-22-2018 08:29 PM)Investment Bro Wrote:  Both of you guys are monsters. Props.

Haha, thanks man. Got a ways to go. I’d really like to hit 240 and then cut back down to 220 or so, but that’s at least a couple years out.

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Day 5 Dips and T Bar Row

Weighted Chin Ups

45x3
45x3
45x2
45x2
45x2

Dips

BWx5
BWx5
BWx5

T Bar Row

90x5
135x6
135x6
135x6

Accessories:
3x10 EZ bar curls
3x10 cable rows
5x15 tricep pushdowns
5x20 overhead cable extensions

Going to start completely fresh with dips. With a little luck I won’t aggravate anything and will be back to +90 lbs by the end of the year (hopefully sooner).

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I just realised I posted in this thread instead of the fitness success stories thread. My bad man, I didn't mean to bomb your thread.

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Day 6 Leg Press/Hyperextensions

Leg Press

90x5
180x8
290x15
180x10

Hyperextensions

115x5
125x10
125x10
125x10

Neck Curls

45x10
90x10
90x10
90x12

Neck Extensions

45x10
50x10
50x10
50x10

Weighted Sit-ups

50x10
50x10
50x10

4 sets of 15-20 face pulls at the end. Easy day.

And no worries Steelex, I figured that was the case. Sounds like something I would do

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Day 1

Weighted Chin Ups

45x2
45x2
45x4
45x2
45x2

Seated OHP

45x5
95x3
115x3
115x3
115x3
115x3
115x3
115x3
115x3
115x3

Dips

BWx5
BWx5
BWx5
BWx5
BWx5

Accessories:

4x10 EZ bar curls
5x20 Tricep pushdowns
5x20 Overhead cable extensions

Light day, great pump. I’ve had some great results since incorporating high rep/pump work at the end of a workout ~3x per week. Hard to say if it’s just that or not, as I’ve been bulking as well. Always have relatively fresh stretch marks along the biceps though.

Knocked the weight down on OHP and am going to be doing volume work for it.

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Day 2

Leg Press

90x5
180x3
270x3
370x3
370x3
370x3

Hyperextensions

115x5
195x5
195x5
195x5

Neck Curls

45x10
90x15
90x10
90x10

Neck Extensions

45x10
55x6
55x5
45x10

Weighted Incline Sit-ups

55x10
55x10
55x10

3x15 Face Pulls at the end. Had to work for the hypers, probably have to start going up by 5 each week instead of 10.

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(02-27-2018 05:37 PM)AcftW Wrote:  Hyperextensions

115x5
195x5
195x5
195x5

Thats a lot of weight on those hypers. Are you doing these with a barbell like this?





I may start incorporating these as a DL accessory. Looks awesome.

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That’s exactly how I’ve been doing it. Once I got to holding two 45s my hand size became the limiting factor, as well as holding the weight up to my chest for a whole set. Doing them with straight arms changes the leverage, but enables so much more loading potential.

Loving them so far, I’d highly recommend incorporating them.

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Day 3

Weighted Chin Ups

45x3
45x4
45x3
45x2
45x2

Seated OHP

45x5
95x3
120x3
120x3
120x3
120x3
120x3
120x3
120x3
120x3

T Bar Row

90x3
135x3
180x3
190x5

Accessories:

4x10 EZ Bar Curls
5x20 Tricep Pushdowns
5x20 Overhead Cable Extensions

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Went to the gf’s gym over the weekend and did some high rep work full body, nothing crazy so not going to bother posting the workout.

Day 4

Rack Pull

225x3
315x3
405x3
510x4
405x6

Leg Press

90x6
180x3
270x3
390x5

Neck Curls

45x10
90x10
90x10
90x10
45x20

Neck Extensions

55x10
55x7
55x5

Weighted Incline Sit-ups

55x10
55x10

3x20 face pulls at the end. Nice burn in the rear delts/traps.

The rack pulls went great, grip was slipping a bit or I could have knocked out 1-2 more reps. Chalk has been enough so far, but I may have to use straps in the near future. I probably need to start doing them twice a week like I used to, one low rep and one high rep day. High reps with heavy weight has always been helpful for my grip. Just have to program it in.

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