Phase 1. Week 6. Squat

BW - 208

Squat -
BarX10 (paused)
95X5 (paused)
115X5
135X4
155X3
185X2
225X2
265X4, 1

High Bars - 185X8, 5

Fronts - 155X5, 5, 5

265X4 is a Rep PR, and beats my goal of 265X2 for the cycle.  Moving on to the next Phase for Squats.

Phase 2 will involve higher reps on the accessories, so I tested the High-Bars a bit on the first set.  Will be shooting for 2 sets of 8-10 with 185 going forward.

Out of gas for the Fronts.  Have to see if I have the energy to push these reps next phase.

Phase 1. Week 5. Accessory

BW - 208

Machine Pullovers - X15, 7 (straight-weight)

Chin-Ups (close, v-grip) - BWX5, 4, 4 (all paused at bottom)

Close-Grip Pulldowns - X12, 12, 8 (straight-weight)

DB Hammer Curls - 25sX12, 12, 12

EZ Bar Preacher Curls - 40ishX12, 12, 10

Head cold still fucking with me, but felt better after my workout.

Phase 1. Week 5. Deadlift

BW - 212

Deadlift -
135X5
185X4
225X3
275X2
315X2
325X2, 1

Deficit Deadlift (45 lb. Plate) - 275X3, 3

RDL - 225X3, 3

BB Row - 135X10

Under the weather today, and everything felt heavy as shit and broke slow off the floor.  Goal for 325 is 2X3 and then 1X5.

The deficits still felt okay, so considering I'm sick, I'll take that as a good sign.

Out of gas for RDLs and Rows.

Phase 1. Week 5. Bench

BW - 210

Bench -
BarX15
95X5
115X4
135X3
155X2
185X7, 2

Cambered Bench -
155X2
135X5, 5

Incline Bench -
155X4, 4
135X7

185X7 is barely at my goal for this weight.  I went for an 8th, and the bar got back over my face way before lock-out.  Both I and my spotter thought I would have had the rep if I hadn't mis-grooved.  Nevertheless, I think I'll stay at this weight for next session.

All the accessory lifts felt heavy as hell, and I ended up backing off weight on both of them.  Wondering if it would be a good idea to stay at lower weight and hit higher reps on these for the rest of the cycle.  I'd actually planned on the opposite: Higher Weight, Lower Reps More sets through the end of the cycle, and then trying to use the same weights for Higher Reps, Less Sets and the beginning of the next, but maybe that's backwards.

Phase 1. Week 5. Squat

BW - 212

Squat -
BarX10 (paused)
95X5 (paused)
115X5
135X4
155X3
185X2
225X2
255X6, 3

High Bar - 185X5, 5, 5

Fronts - 155X5, 5, 3

255X6 is a Rep PR, and beats my program goal of 255X4.  Moving up next week.

Felt a little gassed after the low bar sets.  Managed to get 3X5 on High-Bars, but by the last set of Fronts I was done, and could only get 3 reps.

Oh, and my bodyweight ties a lifetime high.  I feel a lot healthier and a tad leaner than last time I hit that weight; about 2 years ago.

Phase 1. Week 4. Accessory

BW - 209

Machine Pullovers - X15, 15, 8

Chins (Close, V-Grip) - BWX5, 4, 3 (paused at bottom)

Close-Grip Pulldowns - X12, 11

BB Rows - 135X10, 5

Hammer Curls -
25sX12
30sX8
20sX12

Transitioning this day into a straight body-building style lats day.  My shoulders and elbows were starting to feel beat up, so I thought cutting out extra OHP and triceps work might be beneficial for now.  This routine is based mostly on Dorian Yates lat training.  By being almost total lats, there was no difficulty doing this the day after I deadlifted, however I may still prefer to have rows on the Deadlift day.

Pullovers, pulldowns and rows were all very strict with a strong concentric, squeeze at the contraction, and a controlled eccentric.  I stopped every set when I could no longer complete full ROM in this strict fashion.  An interesting note, my triceps were quite sore the next couple of days from the pullovers.

I'm hoping that doing pullovers to pre-exhaust my lats, and then pausing at the bottom of my chins will help the chins carryover to lat growth instead of just practicing the movement of chinning.

Phase 1. Week 4. Deadlift

BW - 209

Deadlift -
135X5
185X4
225X3
275X2
315X4, 4

Deficit Deads - 275X3, 3, 3

RDL - 225X5, 5

Good session.  2 sets of 4 with 315 was my goal, so I will move up next week.

Deficit deads felt faster than ever.

Phase 1. Week 4. Bench

BW - 207

Bench -
BarX10
95X5
115X4
135X3
155X2
185X6, 3

Cambered Bench - 155X3, 3, 3

Incline - 155X5, 5, 5

Decent session.  Added a rep to each set of 185 over last week, and still without a spotter.  185X6 is a Rep PR.

Cambered bar bench is still very slow.  If this continues, I may look at backing down to 135 and busting out sets of 5.

Upped the weight on Incline back to 155, and that was fine.

Phase 1. Week 4. Squat

BW - 207

Squat -
BarX10 (paused)
95X5 (paused)
115X5
135X4
155X3
185X2
225X2
245X6, 3

High-Bar Squat - 185X5, 5, 5

Front Squat - 155X5, 5, 5

245X6 is a Rep PR.  Last rep was pretty slow, but I may have been able to get one more.  Beat my goal for this weight, so moving up next week.

First set with high-bars felt faster than they have.  Next week, I may be able to add a set or 2.

Phase 1. Week 3. Accessory

BW - 206

Press -
BarX10
65X5
95X3
115X6, 4

Chin-ups (close, v-grip) - BWX5, 3, 3, 3 (all paused at bottom)

Close-Grip Pulldowns - 2 sets of 10

Hammer Curls - 35sX14, 10, 8

Decent session.

115X6 ties a Rep PR, and was my goal for this weight.  Moving up next week.

The chins were all paused at the bottom, but weren't "dead-hang."  I kept my my scapula retracted and my elbows slightly bent at the bottom.

Tried some strict CG pulldowns to see how my lats would feel the next day.  Results are indeterminate.  I'm contemplating changing this day up a little bit to be a bit more of a body-building style lat day after the OHPs.  Meaning I might cut out chins for a while, or minimize their place in my lat training.

Phase 1. Week 3. Deadlift

BW - 208

Deadlift -
135X5
185X4
225X3
275X2
315X1 (mixed-grip)
305X4, 4 (mixed-grip)

Deficit Deads (45 lb. plate) - 275X3, 3, 3 (mixed-grip)

RDL - 225X3, 5

BB Rows - 135X10

Awesome session.

For the 305 I was either going to do 3X3 (like I did last week), or 2X4.  I would know which when I hit the 3rd rep of the 1st set at 305.  That rep felt very good, so I hit a 4th.  It was a little slower than I would have liked, but the 2nd set of 4 was even better.  So good, I thought about doing a 3rd, but I'd already planned to add a set to my next movement, so I moved on to make sure I had gas for that.

Speaking of which, the deficit deads felt very good.  Smooth and pretty fast.  Next session, if regular deads go well, I might try to bump these up to sets of 5.

RDLs are feeling better.  Still trying to be super strict with my knee angle.  Managed to get 5 when I went for it on the 2nd set.  Will try for 5 on both sets next week.

Only managed to get 10 again on Rows keeping everything strict and squeezing the rep at the top.

Phase 1. Week 3. Bench Press

BW - 208

Bench -
BarX10
95X5
115X4
135X3
155X2
185X5, 2

Cambered Bar Bench - 155X3, 3, 2

Incline - 135X5, 5, 5, 5, 5

Felt under-slept and over-stressed coming into the gym today, and it may have contributed to a feeling of struggle throughout the session.

Nevertheless, 185X5 is a Rep PR.  This was without a spotter.  My goal for this weight is 8 reps.  My left elbow started bothering me a lot during the top sets.  Not the golfer's elbow that I've had, but more of an undefined, comprehensive ache.

The cambered sets were very difficult, and the elbow continued to ache.  Less reps per set than last session.

I dropped the incline down to 135, and did sets of 5 until they started to slow down.  Everything felt a little better after these.

Phase 1. Week 3. Squat

BW - 209

Squat -
BarX8 (paused)
95X5 (paused)
115X5
135X4
155X3
185X2
225X2
235X7, 3

High Bar - 185X5, 5, 5

Fronts - 155X5, 5, 5

Good session, especially for a Sunday morning.

235X7 hits my goal of beating 235X6 square on the head, and is also a Rep PR.  The last two reps were some of the slowest I've done, HOWEVER I've been avoiding weights where I slow down at the mid-point for a long time now, and I think it's time I get used to pushing through those.

Upped the volume slightly on the accessory squats.  As 3X5 gets easier at these weights, I'll look to add sets rather than increase weights.

Phase 1. Week 2. Accessory

BW - 209

Press -
BarX10
65X5
95X3
115X1
105X10, 3

Chins - BWX6, 7, 6, 5, 4

Dips - BWX10, 8, 8, 10

Hammer Curls -
25sX15
35sX12, 10, 8

105X10 is an all-around PR on the Press.

Phase 1. Week 2. Deadlift

BW - 209

Deadlift -
135X5
185X4
225X3
275X2
315X1
305X3, 3, 3

Deficit Deads - 275X3, 3

RDL - 225X3, 3

BB Row - 135X10

All strap-less.  I can't remember for sure, but I think I only used mixed grip on the 275X2 set of Deads, and on both the deficit sets.

The 315 and 305 sets were way slower off the floor than I expected.  For now, I'm going to assume I need to re-acclimate to the movement after barely touching it through 12 weeks of the Big-15.  I will stay at 305 for my back-off sets until I'm satisfied with the speed on both those and the top single at 315.

Regarding my speed off the floor, it's convenient that I already had deficit deads programmed in here.  When I sat this up to have 3 heavy assistance movements on Deadlift day, I wasn't sure how many sets of each, so I limited it for this session to see what I had left in the tank by the end.  Based on this session, and my need for bottom-end work, I will add at least one more set to the deficits moving forward, and possibly more.

My hamstrings feel decently tight/sore today, so I'm going to leave the RDLs at 2 sets for now.  However, I may end up moving the rows to another day so I can do more quality volume, in which case I will add another set of RDLs here.

Phase 1. Week 2. Bench

BW - 210 (and a great Thanksgiving it was, too)

Bench -
BarX10
95X5
115X4
135X3
155X2
185X1

175X10, 4

Cambered Bar Bench - 155X4, 3, 3

Incline - 155X3, 3, 3, 5

175X10 is an all-around PR and right at my goal for this weight.  Generally, I would like to beat the goal before moving up, but I hit this without a spotter, and with my low-back strain from last week still making itself known.  So I'm certain I could have gotten at least 1 more.

Upped the weight on the cambered bar bench now that I've tried it out once.  Reps had to come down a notch, but I'm going to leave it here and try to push them back up to sets of 5.

Incline felt a little bit stronger this week.  Really got into a groove on my 3rd set, so I added an extra set and was able to push that to 5.  155X5 is a Rep PR.