LRB 365: Conditioning. Week 4. Hills

Hill-Sprints - 15 hills @ 80%

Good run.

LRB 365: Conditioning. Week 4. Deadlift

BW - 198

Deadlift -
135X5, 5
155X4
185X3
225X2, 2
275X1, 1
315X1
275X5

BW Ladder Circuit -
Squat - 5 up to 25, back down to 5
Sit-ups - 5 up to 25, back down to 5
Chins (supinated) - 2 up to 10, back down to 2
Push-ups - 4 up to 20, back down to 4

Pretty solid session considering we had house guests for the weekend and had stayed up and partied the previous 2 nights.  That contributes to the weight bump as well.

That 315 is still a little slow, but the 275 felt strong like I could have gotten a few more reps.  As long as I'm hitting everything don't really see a reason to back off.

Bodyweight stuff felt pretty good as well.  Had to hit some rest/pause on a couple of the top sets on push-ups and chins, but that's all good.

LRB 365: Conditioning. Week 3. Hills 2

Hill-Sprints - 12 hills @ 85%

Hill has dried out a bit, and was a little bit "faster."  Good session.

LRB 365: Conditioning. Week 3. Hills

Hill-Sprints - 12 sprints at 85%

Mud made the hill a little slow today, but I also had a bit of trouble pushing through to the end of each sprint.  Was about 50/50 on making my 85% time, or being about a 1/2 second over.

LRB 365: Conditioning. Week 3. Bench

BW - 196

Bench -
BarX15
95X5, 5
135X3, 3
155X1, 1, 1
135X8

BW Ladder Circuit -
Dips - 2 up to 10, back down to 2
Chins (neutral grip) - 2 up to 10, back down to 2
Push-ups - 2 up to 10, back down to 2
Leg-Raises - 3 up to 15, back down to 3

Good Session.  Had to fight the urge to either up the weight on the top Bench single, or go for more reps on the back off set.  But instead I remembered to save it for all the dips and push-ups.

No problem with my shoulder tonight.  It was really achy when I was stretching my pec out before hand, but I took some time with band dislocates and that really loosened it up well.

All the bodyweight movements got some rest/pause on the top sets, but this was by far the best bodyweight circuit on an upper day of this cycle.

LRB 365: Conditioning. Week 3. Squat

BW - 195

Squat -
BarX10 (paused)
95X5 (paused)
135X5
155X4
185X3
205X2
225X1, 1
245X1
185X5

BW Ladder Circuit -
Squat - 5 up to 25, back down to 5
Sit-ups - 5 up to 25, back down to 5
Chins (supinated) - 2 up to 10, back down to 2
Push-ups - 4 up to 20, back down to 4

Felt a little shaky today, and don't think I hit depth on the 245.  So I dropped back to 185 for the back-off set, and it was one of the strongest, smoothest rep sets I can remember on Squats in a while.

Upped the rep intervals on the BW circuit, and everything felt strong.  I had to rest-pause on the top set of push-ups and chins.

LRB 365: Conditioning. Week 2. Hills 2

Hill-Sprints - 10 hills at 85%

Spitting snow and cold.  Took me a while too get warmed up despite the long walk to the hill, but after a few sprints I got the pace dialed in.

LRB 365: Conditioning. Week 2. Deadlift

BW - 195

Deadlift -
135X5, 5
155X4
185X2
225X2
275X1, 1
315X1
275X5

BW Ladder Circuit -
Squats - 3 up to 15, back down to 3
Sit-ups - 2 up to 10, back down to 2
Chins - 2 up to 10, back down to 2
Push-ups - 3 up to 15, back down to 3

My afternoon was a cluster-fuck of leaving work early for one appointment that got cancelled because of weather, and another that ended up being so delayed that I could have stayed at work.  Raining so hard, I needed to take the bus to get from home to the gym, but I just missed a bus and had to wait 20 minutes for the next one.  Ended up having to wait 15 minutes for a bus to get home afterwards.  Was supposed to walk with the weighted vest today, but torrential downpour delays that.

Despite all that frustration, this was a solid-to-nice session.

Deadlifts were all strong, BUT 315 was a touch slower than I would have liked, and 275 might have been a bit much for the back-off.  I'm trying to stick with 25s/45s as much as possible on this phase, but I may have to use some 10s to back this down from 315/275 to 295/245 next time.  Or not.

Best ladder session yet.  Pretty clear now that the Bench days with the dips and push-ups in the ladder are significantly harder for me than these.  My shoulder strain from last session wasn't hindering me UNTIL I stupidly tried to loosen it up even more with some dislocates half way through.  Then it was righteously pissed at me.  Anyway, on Lower day I'm upping the rep intervals for Squats and Sit-Ups all the way back up to the programmed 5, and Push-Ups up to 4.

LRB 365: Conditioning. Week 2. Walking

Weighted Vest - 30 minutes; walking

LRB 365: Conditioning. Week 2. Hills

Hill Sprints - 10 sprints @ 85%

Little drizzly, but warm enough for shorts with a hoodie.  Hill wasn't too muddy, either.  85% took a little re-calibrating, but was not a problem.

LRB 365: Conditioning. Week 2. Incline

BW - 196

Incline -
BarX10
95X5, 5
115X3, 3
135X1, 1
155X1
135X5

Ladder Circuit -
Dips - 2 up to 10, back down to 2
Chins (neutral grip) - 2 up to 10, back down to 2
Push-ups - 2 up to 10, back down to 2
Leg Raises - 2 up to 10, back down to 2

Incline went really well.

On the very first dip of the ladder circuit, my elbow must have gotten out of alignment, because I pulled something in my shoulder and/or upper pec.  I was able to complete the session, but it made the dips dicey, and the push-ups really fucking hard to get through.  I had to shift the push-ups more onto my triceps by pulling my hands back towards my waist a bit, and tucking my elbows.  Sucks.

LRB 365: Conditioning. Week 1. Hills 2

Hill Sprints - 10 hills @ 75%

Rain let up long enough to get my run in.  Hill wasn't too muddy.

LRB 365: Conditioning. Week 1. Squat

BW - 198

Squat -
BarX10 (paused)
95X5 (paused)
135X4
155X3
185X2
225X1, 1
245X1
225X5

BW Ladder Circuit -
BW Squats - 2 up to 10, back down to 2
Chins (supinated) - 2 up to 10, back down to 2
Sit-ups - 2 up to 10, back down to 2
Push-ups - 2 up to 10, back down to 2

Good session.  I would say great, but since I ratcheted the rep intervals back on the ladder circuits, I'm docking myself.

Squats were great using the larger intervals/plates.  Also, it's been a while since I repped out any higher (for me) weights on full squats, and it felt nice to do that again.

The ladders were all pretty solid, with the sit-ups being the hardest.  Next lower body session, I'm going to bump the rep intervals up on squats, sit-ups, and push-ups to get them closer to where they are supposed to be.  I'll leave it at 2s for the next Upper body session, although I'm hopeful that last session represented a trial-by-fire acclimation session, and that they will be as easy as these were.  Nevertheless, the Bench/Dip/Push-up combo could still pose some problems.

LRB 365: Conditioning. Week 1. Walking

Weighted Vest - 25 minutes; walking

Fully loaded the vest to 40 lbs.  Reset the time back down for a tiny bit of progression.  Will probably just top out at 30 minutes for the cycle, unless I'm feeling froggy on a particular day.

LRB 365: Conditioning. Week 1. Hills

Hill-Sprints - 10 sprints at 75%

Rained all morning, but the sun came out in the afternoon, and the rain had left the hill nice and soft.  Still a bit on the chilly side for wearing shorts.  Sprints were fine.

LRB 365: Conditioning. Week 1. Bench

BW - 199

Bench -
BarX12
95X5, 5
135X3, 3
155X1, 1, 1
135X8

BW Circuit -
Dips - 3, 6, 9, 12, 15, 8, 6, 4, 2
Chins (neutral grip) - 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 8, 6, 4, 2
Push-ups - 5, 10, 15, 12, 10, 8, 6, 4, 2
Leg Raises - 3, 6, 9, 12, 15, 8, 6, 4, 2

Weighted Vest - 45 minutes; walking

First session of the new phase and a big wake-up call with the BW ladders, but I'll get to that in a sec.

The barbell movement on each of these days is optional on the weight used, so just go by feel using the Strong-15 template.  However, I prefer to make bigger jumps if possible, but as weak as I am that doesn't really pan out as well with the 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 1, 1 rep scheme.  So what I'm doing for this phase is using 25's, 45's, and only ONE 10lb. plate per side.  So the above is what my bench will likely look like through most of the phase, unless I'm feeling particularly strong and decide to hit 185 for a top single and/or back-off with 155.

Also, I got the last walking session of the previous phase in on this day.

So, the ladders.  In an effort to keep this brief, I haven't done push-ups since June of 2012, and lo and behold I suck at them.  This whole bodyweight session took A LOT of Rest/Pause to get through and was sheer hell, and I had to cut down the intervals for just about everything.  I'm going to drop everything down to intervals of 2.  If I make rapid progress on any movement, I will inch it back up to where it was supposed to be.

So, for instance, if dips start to come back strong (which I suspect they will), I will bump them back up to 3's.  If sit-ups or BW Squats come back, or are good to go when I do them later this week, I will bump them to 3's, and then again to 5's if that is going well.

The point here is to try and retain my motivation by not making every lifting day a hell that I dread, to keep the reps higher-quality (strict-ish, good ROM, etc.), and to keep the pace up.  Whew.  See how it goes.

LRB 365: 100 Reps. Week 6. Deadlift

BW - 197

Weighted Vest - 40 minutes; walking

Pause Squats -
BarX10
95X5
135X5
185X3
195X3

Deadlift -
135X5
185X5
205X4
225X3
265X2
295X1
305X1
315X1 (20 sec. hold at top)

Shrugs -
135X76, 24 (no straps)

Nice little session.  Pause Squats felt strong, and so did Deads.  As always, my forearms got nicely fried by the strap-less shrugs.

LRB 365: 100 Reps. Week 6. Accessory

DB Press -
15sX15
20sX15
25sX15
30sX15, 10

Face Pull - X75, 30

Rope Extensions - X75, 25

Rope Curls - X75, 40

Treadmill - 20 minutes walking; high-incline

Good little body-buildery session.  I did some rest-pause on the 100 rep movements, and my triceps and rear-delts are really feeling it today.

The treadmill was just some extra conditioning that I threw in because I'm in the middle of a 3-day crunch when I can't get outside for my scheduled conditioning.  I'll still get the rest of the regular programmed stuff in this weekend as I switch to the next phase.

LRB 365: 100 Reps. Week 6. Squat

BW - 200 (wow)

Squat -
BarX10 (paused)
95X5 (paused)
135X5
155X4
175X3
195X2
235X1, 1
245X1

Cable Rows - X80, 25

Lunges - BWX40, 40, 20

Ab Wheel - 5 sets of 10

Brutally tired.  I needed to walk to keep on schedule, but I was done.  Fell asleep on the couch at 7:45, and went to bed at 8:30.  I have a feeling the lack of sleep is somehow related to the weight gain as well.

Nevertheless, Squats all felt strong.

Rows felt strong as well, getting 10 more reps than last time.

Lunges were crap, though, I'm sure due in part to hill-sprints the day before.

Feel so much better today after getting over 8 hours of sleep.

LRB 365: 100 Reps. Week 6. Conditioning

Hill Sprints - 10 sprints @ 75%

Tired.  Not getting enough sleep.

LRB 365: 100 Reps. Week 6. Bench

BW - 198 (Ah, the weekend finally caught up with me here)

Bench -
BarX16
95X5
105X4
135X3
145X2
155X1
165X1
175X1

Pulldowns - X55, 25, 20

EZ Bar Extensions - 30X60, 40
super-set with
EZ Bar Curls - 30X45, 35, 25

A little bit tired and bloated feeling for this session.  Bench still moved fine, but I definitely didn't feel any stronger than my EDM of 185.

Completely out of gas on pulldowns.

Arms were fine.

Tired.

LRB 365: 100 Reps. Week 5. Deadlift

BW - 196

Pause Squats -
BarX10
95X5
135X5
185X3, 3

Deadlift -
135X5
185X5
205X4
235X3
265X2
285X1
295X1
305X1 (held for 10 seconds)

BB Shrugs - 135X80, 25 (no straps)

Weighted Vest - 40 minutes; walking

Awesome session.  I don't really know how it happened.  I indulged in a bunch of eating and drinking and assorted debauchery the day before and closed down a bar and everything.  Woke up hung-over, ate some eggs, had some coffee and OJ and ibuprofen.  I got down to the gym and warmed-up, and went through the Pause Squats, and they felt pretty good.  Smooth, and the 2nd set with 185 felt better than the first.

Then the bar hit the floor, and for some reason my pulse started racing and I felt aggressive as hell.  I had to calm myself down a little on my work sets because I was worried I was going to spaz out and lose my form.  I just can't describe how awesome these pulls felt.

I took that same aggression to the shrugs and got the PR at 80 reps.  It was my grip that gave out.

Went home and had some more food, and then the wife came along for my walk. And the weather was even pretty nice.  Just an awesome, awesome training day.