Getting back to GVT- aka the soreness is real

Saturday's post workout flex shot.

Hullo all!

Today's blog post is going to be about embracing the suckiness of getting back on plan, specifically onto my German Volume Training,  how the first week back has really been.

in my favorite workout shirt- Barbell Barbie

AKA THE SORENESS IS REAL.

Omg yall. Real talk time- I am so sore right now I can not lift my arms higher than my head. My triceps are screaming at me, and no matter the amount of ibuprofen and stretching I have tried seems to be helping. My first week back on GVT was rough. Two arm days and one leg day, plus two days of steady cardio are contributing to my struggles. Arm day one was not bad- bench press was my main movement and I had a little soreness but it wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. My one leg day was the hardest to get through- My squats have suffered from lack of practice- I was stiff and my depth was not there. My stamina was also super sad and I couldn't finish all the squats I should have done- I was tired and out of breath, etc. AND IT WASN"T EVEN THAT MUCH WEIGHT. So sad.

checking out that butt.

I definitely was feeling it- but when I went in for the third lifting day of the week I was on fire. I had over head press as my main movement that day and I KILLED IT- I even had some jacked dude in the gym as me what I was doing and when I told him I was doing GVT he was all like "DAMNNNNN". Yeah- so I kinda over did it in my "feeling myself" gym time- and now my triceps feel like giant pieces of meat hanging off my arms. yikes.

Feeling trimmer already!

Sunday was a rest day and then today which is the start of week 2 was a leg day~ thank the gods. Today was a more glute focused and today's main movement was deadlifts. People often ask me about how many movements I do per workout and what I mean by "main" movement.

This morning's flex shot!

GVT works best with compound movements- bench press, squat, deadlift, overhead press, etc. Because you are only doing 5 to 7 different movements per workout session you need to maximize the work you are doing- and compound movements are best for this. You are using way more muscles for those movements that you would for isolation (the answer is in the name) moves. So a typical upper body day looks like:

10 x 10 bench press at 60% of your 1 rep max (rest 30 to 60 seconds between sets)
10 x 10 barbell rows at 30-40 % of your 1 rep max (rest 30 to 60 seconds between sets)
3 x 10 delt flys
3 x 10 lat raises
3 x 10 bicep curls


A typical lower body day for me looks like:

10 x 10 squats at 60 % of your 1 rep max ( 60 to 90 seconds between sets)
5 x 10 barbell lunges
5 x 10 goblet squats
5 x 10 leg raises (per side)
5 x 10 banded clam shells

This is just a sample or example of week one of my GVT routine. If you want to learn more about Volume Training check out these articles here:

https://www.bodybuilding.com/content/german-volume-training-programs.html

https://barbend.com/german-volume-training/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_volume_training

https://upfitness.com/en/article_posts/bodybuilding/training/guide-german-volume-training-gvt