StretchMediatedHypertrophy

I'm decrepit enough to remember the 'KURTIE' subforum and I think we need one for Punk - let's face it, he's earnt it.

It was very much of its time, along with, one hopes, Scott Keith's hairstyle.

Only on DDTDigest.

Hope you get better soon Natural. I've been stepping on the training pretty hard last couple of weeks, and stumbling around like a geriatric afterwards. Bench continues to progress slowly, I did 90kg x 6 on Tuesday. That is still (I think) a PR of sorts as I have not been using wrist wraps at all. I think that's definitely a limitation, but a limitation I like as it stops me over-reaching. The wraps will go back on at some point, but not yet. Training around work colleagues is interesting, and whilst I don't really train with anyone per se, on Thursday I did show a young colleague (more of a cyclist than a lifter) how to use the SSB for squats on Thursday. Because we only put 2 x 10kg on the (21kg) bar, I was doing pause olympic style ATG squats for sets of 12 with short breaks. And lol, the third set crushed me. I stopped doing GMs unless on pins for a good while. I've gone back to doing them without pins..but only with 1 plate a side....and these are murdering me too. I think it's a case of doing them with better form than I did previously, but I am not entirely sure. Those squats, 5 sets of 8-10 on the GMs and I was shaking. I managed 3 sets of banded reverse hypers (and 12 minutes of medium-intensity cardio)..but I was done. Yesterday was upper day, and I don't really like benching twice a week at the moment - I will change that eventually, but probably not until Autumn at the earliest. Just to give you some idea of what a typical Friday Upper Volume Day looks like rn: 1. Seated (80 degree) DB Press: 20kg, 2 x 15-16 (I struggled to get them in place, need practice lol), superset with: 2. Seated (80 degree) DB Curl: 12kg, 2 x 12 (these were pretty close to tech failure, RPE 9.5) --- 3 Low-to-high Cable Fly: 7.5kg per arm, 4 x 12, with dropset at 5kg after 4th set (weight seems really low, but technique over weight is the rule here as I understand it), superset with: 4. Unilateral Lateral Raises: 5kg, 3x12, with 1 sets of 20, both arms, 2 x 5kg dumbells once these were complete --- 5. Cable Seated Leg Press Calf Raises: 60kg, 3 x 20 (ppl usually say not to train calves on leg day), supersetted with: 6. Plate-Loaded Machine Row: 2 x 30g, 3 x 15 --- 7. Close Neutral Grip Lat Pulldowns: 55kg, 2 x 15, and 8. Reverse 90deg Barbell Curls: 20kg, 2 x 20, superset with 9. Tricep Pushdowns: 25kg, 2 x 15, 20kg 1 x20 10. Leg Raises: bodyweight, 2 x 20 (tbh core work has been rare recently, didn't want ab cramps) Back in gym tomorrow probably, and then Tuesday - but likely no workout until Sunday and then next Thursday. Will need the recovery tbh. I'm tentatively planning to hit a 140kg SSB squat in 3 weeks, but I will see how things go.

Dark and Elevation finishing makes me very sad indeed.

Well they get their derby game vs Oldham Athletic back. You clearly underestimated just how Spursy you have to be to compete with Tottenham for Spursiness..

Uhaa Nation is All-Elite? I'm not sure whether it's better to be a 'free agent' or drafted to RAW, but I remember a time when randomly being drafted to RAW was a pretty good tell that you were being released (Smackdown got gutted annually, so anyone left generally had a chance). I see some names like that here.

Hey hey hey. Tl; dr - still training. It's been a bit start-stop, for a few reasons - it is what it is. Finally visited the local meathead gym and it's messy af, but the equipment is pretty amazing - they have a Wenning Belt Squat and also a rudimentary reverse hyper. They also have a, by UK standards, crazy amount of speciality barbells. Used a cambered bar for the first time, mad fun. Idiots fucked up the pads on the SSB at my home gym so didn't use it for a bit. Got under it and went to a squat training max of 120kg, which is ok as my sleep had been bad the previous few days. I actually did 3 singles at that weight. But I could tell I was detained - especially when I did GMs with the bar at 60kg for a 6x6. Tbh I have no real wish to get under a barbell for squats right now but I would like to hit a new SSB PR at some point. Bench I haven't gone past 80kg for 10 yet (my Rep PR is 100kg x 10). I did the Larsen Press yesterday as I forgot my gym shorts again lol. Bicep injury still a factor. Realistically the biceps are themselves detrained - I can do 20 reps with 13kg dumbells on hammer curls, but yesterday I did a 3 x 10 on barbell curls at 30kg and it was pretty hard. Need to work on that. The good news is that I am doing cardio! Bank holiday weekend here, so I am thinking of going to my work gym tomorrow - will be kind of weird to commute there!

Roman will still be the champ.

I remember when Omega has a timekilling programme with OC and PAC. But of course, they're two of the best workers in the world and Guerrera and Perry are not quite that. Nobody wants to see this 4 way. I'm not really a Phil guy, but tbh roll on Saturday Night Punk.

Jay White vs 'The Pillars'

In the case of the GHR device, there are literally bandpegs. But yes Revival Fitness (he likes wrestling, maybe he lurks lol) has it right:

Belt squat might be cooler tbh. I do like hip thrust machines, though I think they still lack a bit of ROM in comparison to actual ATG squats. I didn't sleep that great tbh, but I still hit a 167.5kg training max on conventional which felt challenging but not grindy - I'm pretty happy with that as I haven't been deadlifting that much, and I don't think the execution was that great. Definitely could use more trap on the lockout, and a bit more practice off the floor. Was able to walk the weight back onto the pins comfortably though. I think I'll try to hit a 175 in a few weeks, all things going well. Put my heavier band on the pegs for my ghetto reverse-hypers for the first time - did sets of 12, they were nasty at first but I got used to them and did 4 sets. I am definitely a big believer in this movement and I do intend to buy a proper reverse-hyper someday. More hack squats. Some ppl seem to be able to load these up to kingdom come. I can't, and definitely need the reverse band to stop my knees crumbling to dust. I guess I'm a pretty glute-dominant squatter. But I still think I'm getting a lot of these, and hey maybe my sumo deadlift will be deadly when I train it again. GHR is such an interesting exercise as there's a lot of nuance with things like foot movement. Today I really felt my tibialis anterior. It's one of those machines that I think we'll increasingly see in gyms (there's not actually meany moving parts, they shouldn't be too expensive), and a good thing too.

Good to see The Natural in the gym! Hope to see you chasing down Miles Taylor's deadlift records real soon. Update from me: went to physio for my shoulder, turns out it's actually inflammation of the long-head of my right bicep (it connects to the collar-bone). Have started throwing in a little super-light barbell bench into my workouts and will build it up. Meanwhile reverse-grip db press and floes for chest - think it will be fine. Haven't really tested my limits on much recently, though I hit a really fast painless 150kg deadlift 2 weeks ago after heavy RDLs that makes me think I could probably peak to a PR, though probably I wont risk it in the next 6 weeks. I might even go to a heavy single tomorrow, we'll see how well I sleep tonight. Have actually been doing a lot of shrugs recently which has rarely been a thing for me. Trap Bar, DB and also now Kelso Shrugs (on a low row). Also giving curls more priority. My gym is at work and I'm only in the office 3 days a week most of the time, so I have been experimenting with double workouts on Fridays. It's pretty brutal. I ate two fish suppers in between, and I was hungry again straight after the second workout.

Man U certainly were.

Ultimately if you're not recognising WHC reigns, you're cutting out a lot of the world titles of guys like Batista, Edge and Jericho - all of whom only had 1-2 short reigns with the WWE Title iirc. (Ok, that was wrong - Edge had another two 3 week WWE title runs on Smackdown when they pulled a title switcheroo for a few months)

Ultimately if you're not recognising WHC reigns, you're cutting out a lot of the world titles of guys like Batista, Edge and Jericho - all of whom only had 1-2 short reigns with the WWE Title iirc.

Don't care, putting it here (SF6 Zangief does the Jackhammer, proper one-handed and actually calls it a Jackhammer): https://twitter.com/darknessfell92/status/1628966546012766208

I also own a bottle of the Jerry Thomas. Very nice. I have the Cucumber Bitters too. And an unopened EXR which I'm not sure they make now. Generally you can't own too many bottles of cocktail bitters. Listening bar is as listening bar does, but generally it's a bar where fairly leftfield music is played on a very high-quality soundsystem.

With respect to any 12-steppers or edgers, GIN IS WIN. Tbh even a Gordons and Schweppes can be decent. Adding some cocktail bitters can make a difference when working with a lower-quality gin. I favour Bitter Truth's Tonic Bitters but a lot of things work. Personally I've got a bottle of Bulldog on the go - flying between UK and EU regularly gives you access to some cheap bots. (I tried Seattle's Big Gin a few years ago, it hit the spot) Tequila...yeah it's been a while. There's actually a 'Listening Bar' specialising in mezcal near where I stay when in Budapest and the prices are borderline sensible so yeah maybe I'll try that soon.

Lost an update to the DVDVR login gremlins. Shoulder is more like 64% I'd say, but I don't count my chickens. Seeing a physio next week. Got a PR on the SSB Pin GM - 110kg x 3. Reverse band machine hack squats tomorrow.

Random sighting of Brian Cage telling Mike Israetel to stop leaning on his leg press.

It's amusing but two years too late - Vapourwave has moved on to the 90s now.

I wrote an update a week ago and lost it. Right shoulder still not amazing, I can usually feel it in the morning. Benching pretty light once a week (8,8,8,8,10 on a pause cg bench a few days ago). An kind of front or lateral raise is pushing my luck. OHP seems to be mostly ok though, and I think it is recovering. New work gym has lots of nice stuff. Good plate-loaded back machines - getting a lot of upper back volume right now. I've used the sled a bit but the TRX they put on it for pulling I haven't really figured out. Attack bike is hard. Glute Ham Device is hard. The hack squat machine has a bit of a kooky strength curve and I think really needs to be used with bands. They have some 'Bulgarian bags' which I will play with soon. What's also nice is the work has been giving out free pots of stew/casserole and rice at lunchtime which are absolutely perfect for the pre-gym meal. Squatted 131kg ATG Narrow(ish) stance squat with their SSB - it wasn't super grindy but I suspect I would fail 141kg. Nonetheless I think this compares pretty favourably to the 155kg back squat I hit a few months ago. The SSB looks pretty much identical to the one I'd been using but has thicker padding which changes the positioning slightly. Erectors are definitely limiting factor rn, need to thicken them up. Need to be patient with the right shoulder, there are lots of other things I can focus on.

RIP to Jamin Pugh - a helluva pro wrestler, by all accounts a great father, and despite some big mistakes a man who went on to become the model of a traditional man, maturing in non-traditional times. Condolences to all of his family and everybody who loved him.