Pulkit — Workout Log · Pull Day · 21 June 2026

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Solid Pull Day — the D-bar switch on lat pulldown is already paying off. A D-bar (vs the wide bar) lets the elbows travel further back and closer to the torso, which increases lat recruitment and reduces bicep dominance on the pull — exactly why this was suggested last week. Genuine failure was reached on every exercise by the final set, which is what this phase of training is built around.

Today's Target Muscles — Back & Biceps

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Latissimus Dorsi

Primary — Lat Pulldown + Seated Row

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Mid Trapezius / Rhomboids

Primary — Seated Row

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Biceps Brachii

Primary — Cable Curl + Incline DB Curl

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Rear Deltoid

Secondary — Pulldown + Row

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Forearm Flexors / Brachialis

Secondary — Both Curl Variations

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Core (isometric)

Secondary — Seated Row + Incline Curl

Session Log · 21 June

Lat Pulldown — D-Bar Attachment

4 sets · 45 kg throughout · Failure reached by Set 3 · Form confirmed correct

Lats ▾

Primary: Latissimus Dorsi Teres Major Secondary: Biceps Brachii Rear Deltoid Rhomboids

Sets logged

Set	Weight	Reps	Time	Status
1	45 kg	~12–13	~59s	✓ Near failure — strong opener at 45 kg straight off.
2	45 kg	9	~53s	Rep drop from 12–13 to 9 — expected fatigue, still near failure.
3	45 kg	5 full + 2 half	~56s	✓ True failure — partials at the end show genuine effort.
4	45 kg	5 full + 3 half	~55s	✓ True failure again — partial count even improved (3 vs 2).

⚠ "Either 35 or 45 kg" suggests the machine's increment jumped straight from 35 to 45 — a 10 kg jump is large for a warm-up choice. Starting at 45 kg worked today, but for future sessions a true warm-up set at a lighter pin (even bodyweight-assisted reps or the empty cable) before the first working set would reduce injury risk on a cold back.

Form Analysis — Lat Pulldown D-Bar (Images 1–5)

Overall Form — Correct ✓

Coach review confirms form was correct throughout the set. The D-bar switch from a wide bar is the right call for someone training lat width and depth — it allows the elbows to travel past the torso line at the bottom, which a wide bar physically can't do.

Why D-Bar Over Wide Bar

A D-bar (single handle) allows a more vertical pulling path and a longer range of motion at the bottom of the rep, where the lats get their deepest stretch. The trade-off is slightly less total load capacity than a wide-grip bar — which is consistent with today's numbers feeling appropriately challenging at 45 kg.

Next Time: True Warm-Up Weight

"Either 35 or 45, so I went with 45" — going forward, request a lighter warm-up pin first (or do 10–12 bodyweight-row reps as activation) before committing to the working weight. This protects the shoulder and lower back on the very first pull of the session.

Progression Plan

All 4 sets at the same 45 kg with genuine failure on sets 3 and 4 is a sign this weight still has room. Next session: keep 45 kg for sets 1–2, but if sets 3–4 again reach 5+ full reps before failure, the working weight can move to 50 kg the session after.

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Coach Manmeet: "Form was clean on this one — the D-bar switch is already showing up in how deep you're pulling. Going straight to 45 kg worked out today, but I'd rather you spend 30 seconds on a true warm-up weight before the working sets, especially on a back exercise first thing in the session. Everything else here is exactly right — keep the same weight for now and let the rep count tell us when it's time to add load."

Seated Cable Row

4 sets · 35→45 kg · Progressive loading · Form: perfect throughout

Lats + Mid-Back ▾

Primary: Latissimus Dorsi Rhomboids Mid Trapezius Secondary: Biceps Brachii Rear Deltoid Core (isometric)

Sets logged

Set	Weight	Reps	Time	Status
1	35 kg	16	~60s	Deliberate light start — "increase progressively" as planned.
2	45 kg	10	~51s	✓ Near failure — clean jump in weight, rep count drops as expected.
3	45 kg	7 full + 2 partial	~52s	✓ True failure — partials confirm maximal effort.
4	45 kg	6 full + 1 partial	~46s	✓ Failure, fastest set of the four — consistent with cumulative fatigue.

Form Analysis — Seated Cable Row

Overall Form — Perfect ✓

No corrections needed on this exercise — coach review confirms perfect execution throughout all 4 sets, including the increase from 35 kg to 45 kg.

Weight Progression — Textbook

Starting at 35 kg as a deliberate ramp-up set, then jumping to 45 kg for the three working sets, is exactly the right way to progress a compound row. Set 1's higher rep count (16) at the lighter weight served as both warm-up and volume without compromising the working sets.

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Coach Manmeet: "Perfect execution — nothing to change here. The way you ramped from 35 to 45 kg and then pushed sets 3 and 4 to genuine failure with partial reps is exactly the pattern I want to see repeated on every pulling movement. Keep this exact structure next week and we can look at adding a small jump to 47.5–50 kg if 45 kg starts feeling too easy on set 2."

Cable Bicep Curl

4 sets · 15–25 kg tension · Failure on sets 3–4 · Jerking at the top — technique fix needed

Biceps ▾

Primary: Biceps Brachii Secondary: Brachialis Forearm Flexors

Sets logged

Set	Weight	Reps	Time	Status
1	15 kg	22	~60s	Not failure — warm-up/activation set.
2	20 kg	17	~60s	Harder, but still not failure — correct progression step.
3	25 kg	7 full + 2 partial	~51s	✓ True failure — clean weight jump found the limit.
4	25 kg	9	~57s	✓ Failure, 2 more reps than set 3 at the same weight — possible cumulative-fatigue inconsistency worth watching.

Form Analysis — Cable Bicep Curl

Jerking at the Top — Fix This

Coach review flagged jerking when bringing the weight to the top of the curl. This usually means momentum from the shoulders or a slight body lean is being used to finish the last few degrees of the rep, rather than the bicep completing the contraction under control. It's most common in the last 2–3 reps of a set as fatigue sets in — exactly where it likely showed up here given the failure-point training on sets 3 and 4.

Cue: Pause, Don't Swing, at the Top

A simple fix: add a brief 1-second pause at the top of each rep before lowering. This forces the bicep — not momentum — to be what gets the weight there, and makes any jerking immediately obvious so it can be self-corrected mid-set. If the last 2 reps of a set genuinely can't be done without jerking, that's the true failure point — stop the set there rather than grinding out jerked reps.

Elbow Position

Standard cable curl cue applies here regardless of the jerking issue: keep the elbows pinned at the sides throughout the rep. If the elbows drift forward as the weight gets heavier, that's often what creates the need to jerk in the first place — fixing elbow position may resolve the jerking automatically.

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Coach Manmeet: "Good progression through the weights — 15 to 20 to 25 kg, and you found genuine failure at 25. The one thing to clean up is the jerking at the top, especially visible on the later reps of sets 3 and 4. Try adding a 1-second pause at the top of every rep starting next session — if you can't pause cleanly without swinging, that's your real failure point, even if it feels like you could squeeze out one more jerked rep."

Incline Dumbbell Curl

4 sets · 7.5 kg dumbbells · ROM feedback incorporated · Bench angle and hand/wrist stability flagged

Biceps (long head) ▾

Primary: Biceps Brachii (long head) Secondary: Brachialis Forearm Flexors Anterior Deltoid (stabiliser)

Sets logged — Bilateral, occasional left/right asymmetry noted

Set	Weight	Reps	Time	Status
1	7.5 kg	10	~46s	Near failure, not failure — correct call to push harder next set.
2	7.5 kg	~8	~52s	✓ Failure — left arm may have had more left, right arm done.
3	7.5 kg	R:4 / L:6	~55s	Asymmetry — right arm fails noticeably earlier than left.
4	7.5 kg	R:5 / L:7	~60s	Same right/left gap repeats — consistent pattern, not a one-off.

⚠ Right arm reaching failure 1–2 reps before the left arm on both sets 3 and 4 is a repeating, not random, pattern. This is worth tracking over the next 2–3 sessions — if it persists, it may point to a genuine left/right strength imbalance rather than incidental fatigue order.

Form Analysis — Incline Dumbbell Curl (Images 6–7)

Range of Motion — Improved ✓

"Incorporated the feedback of ROM from last time" — the images show the arms hanging fully extended behind the torso line at the bottom of the bench, which is the whole point of using an incline bench for curls: it places the bicep under stretch at the bottom that a flat standing curl can't replicate. This improvement is confirmed visually.

Bench Angle — Worth Rechecking

Coach review flagged the bench angle as "pretty off." For incline curls, the target is typically a 45–60° incline — steep enough to keep the elbow behind the torso (maintaining the stretch) but not so flat that it turns into a standing curl, and not so steep that it becomes a seated curl with no incline benefit at all. Worth confirming the actual angle used and adjusting toward the 45–60° band next session.

Hand/Wrist Stability — Watch This

The question of whether the hand is stable while curling matters because a wobbling or rotating wrist mid-curl shifts load away from the bicep and onto the forearm stabilisers, and can also be an early sign of using a weight that's slightly too heavy for full control. From the images, grip looks generally controlled, but this is the right thing to keep an eye on — a stable, neutral-to-slightly-supinated wrist throughout the curl keeps tension where it belongs.

Right vs Left Gap

The right bicep finishing 1–2 reps before the left on both working sets lines up with the hand-stability question above — if the right wrist is less stable than the left, the right arm may be losing efficiency before it's actually out of bicep strength. Worth specifically watching the right hand on the next session.

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Coach Manmeet: "Good job incorporating the ROM feedback — that's a noticeably deeper stretch at the bottom now. Two things to dial in next time: first, let's get the bench angle into the 45–60° range specifically, rather than eyeballing it — too flat or too steep changes what the exercise is actually training. Second, keep an eye on your hand position through the curl, especially on the right side, since that's the arm consistently finishing first. A small wrist wobble there could be the reason, more than an actual strength gap between your arms."

Protocol — This Session

Compound pulls (lat pulldown, seated row): Ramp to a working weight, push the last 2 sets to genuine failure including partial reps. Both hit this standard today.

Curl isolation (cable curl, incline DB curl): Same failure protocol, but isolation movements are far more sensitive to small form errors (jerking, wrist stability) — these are the two flagged this session.

Areas of Improvement

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WinLat pulldown form confirmed correct with the new D-bar attachment. The variation switch suggested last week is already in use and executed properly.

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WinSeated cable row form was perfect across all 4 sets, including the 35→45 kg jump. Nothing to correct here.

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WinGenuine failure (including partial reps) reached on lat pulldown, row, and cable curl. This is exactly the training-to-failure standard the programme is built around.

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WinIncline dumbbell curl ROM visibly improved from last week's feedback. Full stretch at the bottom is now confirmed in the images.

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FixCable bicep curl: stop jerking the weight to the top. Add a 1-second pause at the top of every rep — if you can't pause without swinging, the set is over.

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FixIncline dumbbell curl: dial the bench to a specific 45–60° angle rather than an approximate position, and watch right-hand wrist stability through the curl.

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NextLat pulldown: use a true warm-up weight before the working sets rather than jumping straight to 45 kg from the available pins.

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NextTrack the right/left gap on incline curls over the next 2–3 sessions to see if it's a real imbalance or incidental.

Next Pull Day — Exact Plan

1Lat pulldown (D-bar): warm-up at a lighter pin, then 45 kg × 4 working sets. If sets 3–4 again reach 5+ full reps before failure, move to 50 kg the session after.

2Seated cable row: 35 kg ramp set, then 45 kg × 3 working sets. Same structure as today — it's working perfectly.

3Cable bicep curl: 15 kg → 20 kg → 25 kg × 2 working sets, with a mandatory 1-second pause at the top of every rep. No jerking — if the pause breaks down, that's the true failure point.

4Incline dumbbell curl: 7.5 kg, set the bench to 45–60°, and keep wrists neutral and stable throughout — especially the right hand. Note whether the right/left rep gap narrows.

Session Volume Summary

Lat Pulldown

4 sets

Seated Row

4 sets

Cable Curl

4 sets

Incline DB Curl

4 sets

Total: 16 working sets across 2 compound pulls and 2 curl isolations. A well-balanced Pull Day — back volume (8 sets) matched with bicep volume (8 sets), appropriate for an intermediate-stage lifter.

Nutrition · 21 June (Training Day)

Pull Day places heavy demand on the lats, mid-back, and both biceps heads — recovery here depends on adequate protein intake in the hours following the session. Stay within the 120–150g protein range today and prioritise getting a protein source in within 1–2 hours post-training to support repair of the muscle groups worked hardest: lats and biceps.