LRB 365: Strong-15. Week 3. Bench

*Session done at the local L@Fitness so scale and weights are a little suspect.

BW - 200*

Bench -
BarX10
85X5
95X4
115X3
125X2
145X1
155X1, 1
135X16

Incline -
95X10, 10, 10, 10, 10

DB Flyes - 2 sets of 20

Rope push-downs - 4 sets of 18-20

135X16 would be an all-around PR*.  Felt good to hit that target regardless.

My left triceps were sore and fatigued for some reason today and that back-off set took enough out to make the last couple Incline sets a bit of a bitch.  Barely got the final rep.

Same thing with the push-downs.  Triceps were shot.

LRB 365: Strong-15. Week 3. Squat/Dead

BW - 201

Pause Squats - BarX10, 95X5

Squats -
125X5
145X4
165X3
185X2
205X1
215X1
225X1

Pause Squats - 185X3, 3

Deadlift -
135X5
165X5
195X4
225X3
265X2
285X1
295X1
305X1
255X3, 3

Leg Curls - 4 sets of 20+

Everything moved smooth and easy today.  Deadlifting at these lower weights with max speed continue to leave my traps sore the next day or two. 

That's Phase 1 done for lower body day.  One interesting thing:  the additional volume leading up to the singles is more fatiguing than I would have thought.  On 5/3/1, 225 on Squats and 305 on deadlifts were noticeably faster and lighter than they are with this progression and were regularly done for reps of 5+.  Then with Deadlifts coming after all the squatting, I'm getting another slight hit from fatigue.  I'm not worried that I've over-programmed because I used my "everybday max" as dictated by the manual, but it's certainly enlightening.  Next week, the back-off Pause Squat and most of the Deadlift weight take a small step back, so I look forward to seeing what those feel like.

LRB 365: Strong-15. Week 2. Back

BW - 204

Chins -
BWX13, 7, 5, 5, 4

T-Bars -
45X10
70X10
70X12
80X10

Rickshaw Shrugs -
200X20
290X20, 20, 20

BB Curls -
BarX10
65X5
BarX42, 10

Pretty solid.  13 chins was a bit of a bounce-back from recent sessions.

Upped the weight on T-Bars, but still repping kind of slow and focusing on the contraction.

Forgot my straps, so I had to used the shrug machine.  This actually felt pretty "good."

Two sessions in a row of 40+ empty bar reps.  That's the trigger I was looking for to go to phase 2 in my little curl project.

LRB 365: Strong-15. Christmas Vacation

12/20
BW - 205

Chins -
BWX8, 6, 5, 5, 5

T-Bars -
45X10
70X10, 10, 10

Shrugs -
135X20
225X20
315X20, 20

BB Curls -
BarX10
65X5
BarX40,10

12/23
Squats -
BarX10
95X5
125X5
145X4
165X3
185X2
195X1
215X1
225X1

Pause Squats -
175X5, 5

Deadlift -
135X5
165X4
195X4
225X3
265X2
275X1
285X1
295X1
235X3, 3

Leg Curls - 4 sets of 20, 1 set of 26

12/24
Bench -
BarX10
85X5
95X4
115X3
125X2
135X1
145X1
155X1
125X16

Inclines -
105X10, 10
95X10, 10, 10

DB Flyes - 3 sets of 20

Rope Pushdowns - 4 sets of 20

Squats felt much better now that I'm not sick.  Faster, but also combined explosiveness with better control so that I didn't lose lower back tightness at lockout.  Good Session.

Deadlifts all felt pretty fast.  Traps are getting sore from these now when they weren't under higher weight/reps on 5/3/1.  Interesting.

Bench felt pretty good.  Trying to focus on initiating the concentric with my legs.  Really burned myself out on the AMAP back-off set, and had to drop my weight mid-way through my incline set as a result.  Chest and shoulders were sore as hell the next day.

LRB 365: Strong-15. Week 1. Bench

BW - 201

Bench -
BarX10
85X5
95X4
115X3
125X2
135X1
145X1
155X1
115X15

Incline -
105X10, 10, 10, 10, 10

DB Flyes - 2 sets of 20

Rope Pushdowns - 4 sets of 20

80+% session.  Now that I'm past all the limiting symptoms of last weekend's head-cold, I felt like this session was a more realistic introduction to the new program than Saturday's plague-ridden squat session.

As promised, the introductory weights all felt light as hell, and I was able to focus on applying maximum explosiveness while also keeping my form tight.  This has been one of the biggest difficulties for me of late:  keeping my upper back tight while driving lighter weight to lock-out.  I find that high bar speeds tend to pull my shoulders apart at the top resulting in a loss of tightness for the following reps, and I'm trying to correct this problem.  There was progress on this today.

I would like to have gotten more than 15 reps with 115, but the bar was moving way slow and I was just out of gas.

I think this was an over-all volume PR for inclines, however.  Don't think I've gotten 5 full sets of 10 with 105 before.  As maximizing assistance volume is one of the top-tier goals for the introductory phase of the Strong-15, I'm pleased with this, and will continue to push it in coming weeks.

I haven't done DB flyes in...I don't know.  And I kind of remembered why.  In order to keep stress on the muscle, the range of motion is severely limited.  I double-checked the manual, and it just says "Flat Flyes," so I think I will switch to pec-deck.

It's also over a year since I did any kind of cable push-down, and these 4 sets of 20 really fried me.  I kept the weight light, and tried to focus on feeling the triceps pull and relax.

All in all, felt like a pretty good body-building session.  My first in I don't know how long.  I'm certainly reminded how boring aspects of training this way can be however, but maybe I can focus on adjusting my perspective in that regards.

LRB 365: Strong-15. Week 1. Squat/Dead

BW - 199

Pause Squats -
BarX10
95X5

Squats -
125X5
145X4
165X3
185X2
195X1
205X1
215X1

Pause Squats -
165X5, 5

Deadlift -
135X5
165X4
195X3
225X2
265X1
275X1
285X1
225X3, 3, 3

Leg Curls - 4 sets of 20

80%?  Don't know.  Head cold is kicking my ass up and down the street, but didn't want to wait on starting the LRB 365 program, and anyway the first few weeks of the Strong-15 are mostly light.

I still want to use my light pause squats as a warm-up because they give such a great stretch, and help grease the groove as far as depth, however I was stepping out to wide and after the 2nd set, my hips were screaming at me.  Great way to start the session.

Then I further beat myself up by focusing to much on popping the weight up at the top, and I lost lower back tightness at full extension.  My low back was slightly strained by the 165 set.  Just getting better and better.

The set ended up fine, after I stopped popping my hips forward as much, and the pause squat sets were both solid.

Deadlift felt a bit heavy today, and I'm wondering if I've had a bit of drop-off here meaning that I'd done a long slow peak leading up the last week or two, and now it's falling back to earth a little.  Could also be illness combined with the rough squats.  One more reason I'm glad to be starting a new program so that everything is light.  225 sets all felt strong.

Leg curls.

5/3/1 BBB: In Review

I'm going to keep this short like my time with this program.

First off, all these headings should have BBB in quotes, or I should have called it 5/3/1 +5X10 or something, because with the exception of Cycle 2 of Squats, I didn't use the main movement for the 5X10 sets, but rather a variant except in the case of Cycle 2 of Deadlifts where I did hypers for 5 sets of 10-20.  Not really the program right?  So this is very much In Review of what I did as opposed to A Review of Boring But Big.

All I really have to say is that my pressing moved the needle a little bit more than my Squat, and that Squat in particular started to leave me feeling pretty beat up.  Deadlift continued it's usual steady increase for the most part.  I haven't done a Wendler style deload or layoff since I started 5/3/1 Full Body back in July.  I had some lower rep sessions while on vacation, but they were still real work sessions.  I imagine this has a lot to do with the beat up feeling.

All of this, combined with one other element made me decide to cut this a little short.  I was only going to do one more cycle of this program anyway, so it's not a complete bail out.  The other element is that Paul Carter finally release his LRB 365 manual this week, and I'd been planning on running that for the entirety of 2013.  With the way my training was starting to go, I looked at the calendar and saw no reason to wait.  I've jumped straight into that program with no layoff either, because I've set very conservative goals, and the first 3 weeks are very light.  See you over there.

5/3/1 BBB: Cycle 2. Week 3. Press

BW - 201

Press -
BarX10
65X5
85X5
95X3
105X8

PBN -
65X10, 10, 10, 10, 10

T-Bars -
30X15
60X8
90X5
115X3
90X13, 8

Reverse Curls -
BarX10
65X5
BarX27

80% session despite having a cold.  Probably could have gotten a few more reps on 105, but didn't feel the need.

PBN was a bit harder than last time, but I was also breaking each first rep off my neck.

Upped weight a bit across the board on rows.  This was fine.

Couple more reps with the empty bar on the reverse curls so...yay.

5/3/1 BBB: Cycle 2. Week 3. Dead

BW - 201

Deadlift -
135X5
185X5, 5
245X5
275X3
315X5

Double-Overhand Timed Barbell Hold -315X12 seconds

Hypers - 5 sets 15-20

Ab Wheel - 5 sets of 8-10

80% session.  315X5 is a Rep PR.  Could I have gotten a 6th?  Double-overhand grip would have been the first to give, but I'm not sure I could have locked it out either.

5/3/1 BBB: Cycle 2. Week 3. Bench

BW - 200

Bench -
BarX15
95X5
115X5
140X5
155X3
175X1
185X1
135X10, 6

Chin-ups - BWX10, 7

Wide-Grip Pulldowns - 3 sets of 10

BB Curls -
BarX10
65X5
BarX30

80% session.  I have a tight schedule early this week, and so had to do bench a day early.  Because that had me going Press, Squat, Bench on consecutive days, I made some slight tweaks so that there wasn't as much overlap with what I did on Press day.  That means taking the focus away from my shoulders a bit.

First, I chose not to go for a rep max on my top set, but rather to just get the required single, and then take my training max for the cycle for another single.  Wendler has written a lot about this lately, and it made sense for this day.  Both singles were heavy, but the rep was smooth on both.  Very satisfied with that result.

Second, rather than do BBB sets on Incline, I did more flat bench with a 50% set.  I kind of thought I would get more than 10 reps, but I'm fine with this.

Chins and Pulldowns and curls were all fine.

5/3/1 BBB: Cycle 2. Week 3. Squat

BW - 202

Pause Squat -
BarX10
95X5

Squat -
135X5
185X5
200X5
230X3
245X3
155X10, 10, 8, 8, 10

Single-Leg Curls - 5 sets of 12-15

-10%.  Felt weak, and my form was shit and all over the place.  On top of that, my top set was supposed to be 255.  I mis-loaded 245, and still only felt comfortable getting 3.

I am satisfied with upping the weight on the BBB sets though.

5/3/1 BBB: Cycle 2. Week 2. Press

BW - 203

Press-
BarX10
65X5
80X3
90X3
100X11

Standing PBN - 65X10, 10, 10, 10, 10

T-Bars-
25X15
55X8
85X5
110X3
85X20

BB Reverse Curls -
BarX10
65X5
BarX25

+10% session.  100X11 is a top 3 Press for me, and I probably could have gotten 1 or 2 more.  Hard set, but no grinding.  Good stuff.

Set up in the rack for the standing PBN this time, and it made it easier to set the hooks at a good spot.  Bottom of my skull basically.  Also got all 10 reps on each set this week.

85X20 is an all-time PR on T-Bars.  Had to pause for breath a couple of times, and it was a grind, but got the goal.  Will up the weight slightly next session and start working up to 20 again.

Added 25 reps to the work set on the reverse curls as well.  They felt a lot stronger this week.

5/3/1 BBB: Cycle 2. Week 2. Dead

BW - 204

Deadlift -
135X5
185X5, 5
225X3
260X3
295X8

Deadlift hold -
295X1X15sec.

Hypers -
BWX12
5X15, 15, 20
10X20

Ab Wheel- 1X2

Swiss Ball Crunches - 4 sets of 15-30

80%+ session.  295X8 is an all-around PR on Deadlift.  I really should try to enjoy these more, as they're bound to dry up again sooner or later, but it's become so routine for me to set PR's in this lift. I've only ever crapped out on Deadlift twice. Once was October of 2011 when I tried 315 for the first time and it wouldn't budge, and the second was in July of this year when I first started 531 Full-Body and ended up having to lower my training maxes across the board because I had lost a lot of strength in the lead up to opening a show.

Grip strength is starting to get dicey double-overhand, and that's why I added another 1 rep set just to time out my holds.  This was just an idea, and I might try to go with something more conventional, as my hands/forearms don't feel sore the day after.  I should probably also just start using chalk for my top sets to make sure it's less of an issue.

Added a bit more weight and reps on the hypers today, so that's cool.

Went to do the ab wheel, and my abs started screaming at me right away.   Guess they weren't fully recovered from last time.  Pretty weak.  I did some chiropractor crunches to get some work in on them anyway.

5/3/1 BBB: Cycle 2. Week 2. Bench

BW - 206 (whoa, wtf?)

Bench-
BarX15
95X5
130X3
145X3
165X6

Incline -
95X10
105X10, 10, 10, 10

Chins - BWX9,4

Ridiculously wide-grip Pulldowns - 4 sets of 10-12

BB Curls -
BarX10
65X5
BarX35

Felt like complete ass all day, but still had an 80% session, and actually felt a bit better afterwards.

165X6 on bench is right in line with my recent PR's, and ties my all-time 6 rep PR.

With inclines, I felt able to up the weight a bit this week which was nice.

Assy feeling and weirdly high BW were not a good combination on chins.

I'm switching to wide-grip pulldowns for this cycle.  My gym has a couple, and one is this crazy wide, like 45 degrees out from my shoulders, grip bar.  I decided to use that one.  Very short ROM with this bar, but I could still feel the muscles working so we'll see.

35 reps with the empty bar was a super-solid PR on curls.  I'm looking to hit 40 once or twice before I up the weight a bit.

5/3/1 BBB: Cycle 2. Week 2. Squat

BW - 200

Pause Squats -
BarX10
95X5

Squats -
135X5
155X3
190X3
215X3
240X6
135X10, 10, 10, 10, 10

Single-Leg Curls - 5 sets of 10-12

80% session, and 240X6 is an all-around PR since I reset my squat to be deeper.  HOWEVER, the last couple of reps were some of the hardest I've ever done, and my form went to absolute shit, and in fact had been kind of crappy all day.  So while I'm stoked for the PR, I would have liked a smoother lift.  Something to think about if the next session is rough as well.

On the BBB sets however, as I got further from that ugly fucking 240 set, these got smoother and more automatic feeling.  Still, I'm going to leave the weight here for next time.  I don't see any reason to push it at this point.

Also, standing single-leg curls.

5/3/1 BBB: Cycle 2. Week 1. Press

BW - 201

Press -
BarX10
65X5
75X5
85X5
95X12

PBN -
65X10, 10, 10, 8, 10

T-Bar Rows -
25X15
55X9
85X5
110X3
85X18, 9

Reverse Curls -
BarX10
65X5
BarX20

80% session.  95X12 is a Rep PR, but it was a bit of a grind.

This cycle I'm doing standing PBN for my BBB movement.  Never done them before, and it took some toying to figure out how to set up for the un-rack and re-rack because I'm only coming down to the back of my head on these.  Shoulders were fried after.

85X18 is an all-around PR on t-bar rows.  Nice.

Press day already feels like such a body-building day, AND has low overall poundage, so I decided I will throw in some reverse curls and try to increase them in the same way I'm doing regular curls on Bench day.  Reverse curls are obviously much harder, so I expect it will be 45/65/45 throughout the cycle(s).