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.