re: The Greyskull Methods- A Primer

I can do about 15 body weight chinups. I'll try a couple of ladders tonight and see if I need to add weight. I guess I should do 2 ladders in the morning and the morning and 2 in the evening to hit the 60 I have been doing.

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Should I drop the Yates row from my workout and just continue to do chin ups in place of them at least until I am advanced in to weighted chins? Initially I thought doing the rows might help to increase my chins but am starting to think that might not be the case. I do try to be very strict on them and not get momentum by putting my body into it. But I would rather take them out if they are not beneficial to me at this stage of my training.

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Either/or. If more chins is the goal cut rows and do more chins. Don't over think it.

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If you can do 15 bodyweight, strict from a true deadhang, add weight.

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I am up to 40 pounds of weight for my chins on my weight lifting days. I just did 5, 5, 5 on Thursday. I'm thinking I should try a pyramid with 25 pounds tonight. Thanks again.

Sounds good I do have a tendency to do that about a lot of things in life lol..... I added the bring sally up challenge to the end of squat days because I struggle on the low end of my squat to keep good form (knees rolling in and feeling like I don't have a lot of power in the lower part of it) I used the bar and thought oh this wont be bad I will add weight next time...... made it about halfway through the song and thought I was gonna die lol but I definitely liked it and will be continuing to use it

To be completely honest I am not even sure what honest realistic goals are for me considering my age and body composition but my unrealistic goals would be this from one of your previous posts.

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Superhero Status for 5’8 Tall
Waist - 30-31”
Shoulders – 50-51”
Chest – 43-44”
Arms – 16”

Superhero Status for 5’10 Tall
Waist - 31-32” (45% of height)
Shoulders – 51-52” (73.5% of height)
Chest – 44-45” (63.5% of height)
Arms – 16.5” (23.5% of height)

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I would love to be able to bench 225 by the end of this year or be close to that and bust out 20 dead hang chins no problem, eventually squat 1.5 times my bodyweight for reps, deadlift 2x bodyweight for reps.

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Chest-
Bench- 1.75 x BW for 5 reps or BW for 15 reps
Incline- 1.5 x BW for 5 reps
Dips- weighted with BW for 5 reps
Pushups-100 in 2 min
Close grip pushups- 50 no BS reps in 1 set
Incline pushup- 60 no BS reps
Dips- bodyweight only for 60 reps in 1 set

Chins- 18 reps with 25lbs or .65xBW for 6 reps

Burpees-100 in 5 min

Squats- bodyweight on bar x 50 reps
Overhead squat- BW on bar x 15 reps

Deadlift- 2 x bodyweight x 7 reps

Shoulders-
Standing press- BW x 5 reps
Z press-200 reps in 10 min with bar

Abs-
L-Sit- 3 min and 100 situps in 2 min

Curls-135 for 8 reps or bar for 100 in a set

Close grip bench- BW x 10 reps

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If I could meet these goals in my lifetime I would be extremely proud of myself. I know in order to be successful you have to have a clear direction or goals and I do to some extent I just don't know what I am capable of. I want to feel good about myself, be strong as shite and healthy as possible for my later years. My body fat is high right now probably 22-25% and I would like to get sub 15% cause I have never been that since a child probably but honestly that is second seat right now to getting stronger. But I definitely don't want to get fatter in the process.

I have also started to add some conditioning in but nothing from the villain stuff. I have started doing what I call Navy Seals again which consists of some toe touches and body weight squats with high knees, pushups with mountain climber style kicks in a circuit 2 rounds EMOM. Not sure if you have heard of them. I have done lots of body weight stuff like lunges and squats. Use to alternate them every other day for a long time 500 a day and also did lots of the navy seals to keep my bodyweight down. I have been smaller than what I am now, I was down to 150 and a little below but very unhappy with my muscle composition. So I don't have a problem doing the work. I also already get up at 345 every morning to go to work so the fasted AM walks are kinda out of the question but I do have an elliptical and could start doing 10-15 minutes on it every morning before I left for work if you think that would be beneficial. And I could switch out my navy seals for the burpee challenge I just wasnt wanting to affect my press movements too much if I did them along with the FM pushups since I dont have a lot of upper body strength yet seeing as I am not even working out with my current body weight of 172.

Ok so I would keep doing what you are doing. I would keep doing the pushups and chins.

Add a hard conditioning session on the deadlift day and on Saturday. Doesn't haven't no to be a villain, but it must be a 12 min time cap,must be non technical, must be trackable, must be non stop work essentially.

Your goals are not crazy but they will take dedicating saved direction.

I have the same goals essentially but higher lifts, but same goals on aesthetics and the challenges and I will be 38 this year.

Hi LSU777

Thank you so so so much for this thread! Ive been reading it religiously for a few weeks now. I started greyskull lp about two-three months ago, and I'm absolutely loving it! I'm not new to exercise/fitness, but I am new to this type of strength training. I spent a year or two program hopping, and f*cking around, so it's awesome being dedicated to one specific program, and I feel like im reaping the benefits. I'm making great gains in size and strength, so I'm super happy. And this thread has been an absolute wealth of knowledge, so thank you so much!

I did have a question about squats (to LSU777, or anyone)- Right now, most of my AMRAP sets are falling in the 9-13 rep range (Ive been increasing 5 lbs/session whether I hit 10+ or not). I started fairly light, but not too light, so the gains have been good. However, I'm struggling a bit with squat form when I get to my 7th or so rep. Ive always prided myself on good lifting form, regardless of the exercise, but when I really push myself during squats, my knees can start to cave a bit, as well as I hinge forward. Its not terrible, but enough to where I can feel it. I can usually get the first 5 ok, but when I really start to go after it, my form starts to suffer. I never let it get to the point where its REALLY bad, though.

The dilemma is I'm not one to keep lifting with shitty form (duh), however, if I were to stop at 5, 6 or 7 reps, I would feel like I have a TON left in the tank. What should I do here? Is there a plug-in you could recommend that would help? Ive debated using Wendler's BBB style, and once I feel my form start to go (after I get my 5 reps, of course), take the weight down to 50-60 percent, and hammer out a few sets of 10, really focusing on strict form. I'm also a big believer in doing the thing that youre not good at until you are good at it, so I'm leaning more towards this method. At the same time though, I dont want to add a crazy amount of volume, to the point where it will affect my next session. I know my big problem is probably just overall strength/familiarity of the lift, however, I feel just stopping when I have much more in the tank will do a disservice to my volume and intensity.

Just a couple FYIs, I work out at home, so I dont have access to diff machines like leg press, ext., curls, etc., and im a definitely a beginner when it comes to strength programs/lifts.

Thanks again!! (sorry for writing a novel haha)