Beast Slayer, Week 5 - Now What?
On how the lifting program is going and so on
It’s been a solid month of lifting with an interpretation of Bald Omni Man’s “Beast Slayer”, a hypertrophy-based program that prioritizes dynamic progression styles and high volume on a 4-day schedule.
Day 1: Lower (Squats, RDL, GHR)
Day 2: Upper (Bench, Pullover, Biceps/Triceps)
Day 3: Rest
Day 4: Full Body (Pause squats, OHP, GHR, Biceps/Triceps)
Day 5: Rest
Day 6: Arms (Bench, Ring Rows, Biceps/Triceps, Wrist)
Day 7: Rest
Making it Work
This scheme fits mostly neatly into my revised work schedule and lifestyle, and gives me a reasonable progression scheme. I’ve been using a spreadsheet to track my progress and a physical notebook to write down what look to be rather scattered, unfinished, and unordered notes while actually lifting.
While it’s taken some time to adapt to the volume overall I’ve been observing physical changes in the upper body and plenty of soreness without over-fatigue in the lower body. Generally, I am able to go about my day and work in the exercises somewhere in there even if it takes awhile or I have to do an A session and a B session while working. It’s taken some time to sort out the appropriate workflow as well in order to make sure the things I need like bands and bench are in the right spot for doing GHRs. Further adjustments to come as well as I experiment with sequencing and different exercise variations that make sense.
The original programming calls for some additional accessory work focused around core, neck, and some accessory leg stability as well. I’m trying to figure out still what to do with these and part of what I’m likely going to do is get an Iron Neck harness to do neck curls and extensions. For core, I’m trying to find the right exercises to work the stabilizer muscles but also promote muscle mass gain - so, rather than just plank and other static hold variations, dynamic movements like ab curls with my pulley machine might be what works out best.
Peppering in the exercises throughout the day rather than trying to get everything done all at once seems to work the best for me. Because of the volume I’m doing and the rest times between sets being around 2 minutes or less per set, I spend roughly half of my sessions resting - my longest single set is doing pause squats and that takes around two and a half minutes. The rest periods work out fine, but if I’m doing four sets across of pause squats that adds up quickly. Interruptions are common at home, but at least I can get one exercise done before another interruption pops up, be it work or domestic life.
Gear that helps
One of the newest purchases that has helped out the triceps a lot was the long ab strap from Spud Inc. I’ve been using the majority of their products since I started lifting, and the long ab strap is great for long tricep pushdowns. I should see about using it for its original namesake purpose to do those ab curls, but I haven’t gotten around to them yet. The shorter version of them is great for face pulls.
In order to do GHRs I have been using the Glute Ham Raise Strap from Spud, which belts onto my bench and allows for doing the GHR movement, which for me is somewhere between a GHR and a Nordic Curl. I can feel it working the hamstrings and glutes, in any case. I use that with two Rogue Fitness assistive bands to catch me on the eccentric motion downwards.
For cable work I have been using, again, Spud Inc’s pulley system combined with the Buffalo Bully Glyder rack-mounted plate loading trolley. This allows for a stable and easy to use system that I’ve been using for facepulls and the previously mentioned tricep pushdowns (short and long handled variation). Before I got the long ab strap I used some extra towels looped through another implement in order to get the extra travel distance when doing pushdowns.
The Mental Game
Writing and unpacking my thoughts in this semi-public journal has proven to be a cornerstone in making sure I capture the insights about where my headspace is as I think about what has and has not worked in the past and exploring in greater detail the why of the objectives I am establishing for myself.
Previously, I was a morning lifter so I could get up early and do my lifting and be relaxed and settle into work. However, with the way reality has asserted itself, I take the extra time in the mornings to wake up gently and slowly, or handle errands that need doing. I no longer have a ‘sacred lifting block’ that I’m using to execute on my weightlifting, and that’s very much okay by me.
I find that there’s an interesting tradeoff here where if I have “missed my window” to lift because of one reason or another, then that meant I wouldn’t be able to lift for the day because of how I set up my schedule, thought about lifting in the past, and so on. I may have ascribed that ‘sacred’ time with too much emotional weight, and so releasing that block has, in its way, freed me to find every scrap of time at home to get my lifting done.
This is certainly not for everybody and this is a benefit of working a desk job remotely. I work most often in or next to my power rack, so it is easy to transition from a work activity to lifting.
Sometimes I need to give myself a pep talk by saying “okay, don’t think about the lifting you have to do, just put the bar onto the J-hooks, get under the bar, start warming up” - usually after I have talked myself into warming up, I’m off to the races for whatever the exercise is that I’m doing.
Other times, I have gotten a pick me up from the comedy weightlifting t-shirt chat community, which overall is quite supportive of one another and offers encouragement without being overbearing most of the time. It’s also easy for me to engage briefly then disengage to go focus on the lifting itself.
Digital and Analog
Tracking only digitally or only analog has proven to be more of an obstacle than anything else, so I have done a combination of the two. Reducing the overall dependency on the phone and being able to update the spreadsheet at a computer, iPad etc. while having the actual working notes in a physical notebook has worked out great.
Rather than using my phone as a timer (and connecting to use a fancy bluetooth gym timer with a very crappy phone app) I have resorted to using an old digital kitchen timer. It makes a lot of noise and counts down to zero, or counts up. Really great piece of kit that I use at home and it helps snap me back into focus.
Additions for the Future
As this program has no set endpoint and really is more of a framework to follow for progression, I intend to go through one or two full cycles with it. 13 weeks from the starting point will put me at the end of January 2024, and another 13 weeks on that will put me at around June. Travel may happen, but only one or two weeks during that timeframe and it will be volunteering and busy travel.
I would like to start implementing more strength sport movements into the program as part of increasing recovery and work capacity. I would like to do this in a way that doesn’t completely overload my system, so it likely will be creating a set of farmer’s carry handles with some extra weight lying around and then doing pick and carry medleys with that and some sandbags I can fill back up.
In addition to the above, I want to also work on increasing grip strength. Adding loading medleys as well as other grip lifts such as using a rolling fat grip, static barbell holds, double barbell holds (javelin hold), and so on will be things to explore. As long as I’m intentionally training grip and documenting it, I think it will be fine and also help with the wrist exercises as well.
Two of the exercises to call out that are missing from this program are conventional deadlifts and barbell overhead press. Currently, the OHP that I’m doing is dumbbell only, but I miss doing overhead presses with a barbell. It will also be the gateway to doing clean and push-press and somewhere down the line axle press and log press.
Deadlifts I’m kind of on the fence about. On one hand, I love deadlifting. It’s a cool movement that makes me feel strong. On the other hand, it absolutely fries my nervous system with it when I’m lifting heavy, and I suspect I am able to lift closer to max effort with deadlifting compared to squats. The end result is on a deadlift day I am very much roasted.
On Emotions
In general I feel good about the progress that I’m making and the methods that I’m using to get to my objectives. Rather than setting a goal target, the objectives are easier to audit and I have a way of following my progression to see when there are things that continue to give me more motivation and move it into habit and passion. The physical changes help to reinforce that what I’m doing is working, and that I’m being gentle with myself instead of beating myself up emotionally over not progressing fast enough or what not. I think the writing has helped out a lot with this as well to help temper the emotions before getting to lifting.
I have previously written about emotional attachment and over-investment into various aspects of the training mentality, but also to work and life. Emotional fixation on some details as well as the need to ascribe a certain kind of value to that emotion and/or the outcome can be healthy, but it can also quickly do an about-face and turn into an unhealthy pursuit.
So far with the amount of writing I have done alongside the physical training I have done, I have been able to temper my emotions and explore them in greater detail by using my already established systems of emotional processing. As James Clear wrote in “Atomic Habits”, you don’t rise to the challenge of your goals, but fall back onto the systems that you rely on.
The video linked at the start of this section from Dr. Mike Israetel about the longer term motivation psychology is a good one to pair with the lessons that are summarized well in “Atomic Habits”. Understanding that there is a nuanced approach to motivation, discipline, and passion (though it being a linear progression may be simplified) is a useful piece of perspective to add to my own emotional processing toolbox. Riding past the initial wave of excitement and settling into the systems of progression that help to temper the emotional aspect of training may have been the missing piece from my earlier training history.
I plan to write further on dealing with intrusive negative thoughts since I have been told from therapists and others that for them, it’s a useful piece of perspective. I’ve written about it before but using the tools in order to process these kinds of thoughts is a topic that while I have no formal training and expertise in it, this is a personal blog and we live in society. I’ll write what I want and in that act come to understand myself better while providing something that others might find useful.
The Next Step
Charting out the progress for the rest of 2023 and through October 2024, I think it’s likely that I will continue iterating on what works and adapt it further to suit my wants and needs. Having specific objectives that I can set up systems around rather than goals to attempt to achieve means that this is a more sustainable progression than trying to follow a program designed to peak and deload. Overall, I’m pretty satisfied with the development.
As I continue the journey I’ll likely provide more specific updates as they come up, but it’s also important to call out that one of the things not explicitly stated in the lifting program is the writing that I’m doing here. I view the writing as much a part of the training regimen as much as getting under a barbell and moving the weight. The writing may not be complete or make sense all the time, but with it I will continue making steps forward in my way.
Unga bunga!