Reps and Volume. Week 1. Deadlift

BW - 197

Deadlift -
135X5, 5
185X4
225X3
275X2
315X1
285X5, 5, 5

RDL - 185X10, 10, 10

Chest-Supported T-Bar Row - Bar+50X10, 9, 7

Single-Leg Curls - X20, 20, 12 (ascending weight)

Solid session.  285X5 isn't really close to a PR (I've hit 295X8 before), however the 2nd and 3rd sets were harder than I expected!  I took last week off from training and tracking my diet, and my BW had a big dip as a result.  I tried to eat up for this session though [shrug].

RDLs felt good considering I haven't done them after Deads in a while.

Decided to try some chest-supported T-Bars for a bit.  I've always hated these because I have trouble getting set-up so that breathing isn't a chore.  I played around with it a bit and got to a place that was a little better.  The one at Quads (my 'away' gym right now) is a little more aggressive looking than most, but I have no idea if the bar and handles weigh any more than an average one.  Whatever the case, I definitely didn't need to be work with anything heavier than two 25s.

Quads also has plate-loaded leg machines, which are cool.  So I did single-legs on a plate-loaded, seated machine.  Went 25, 35, 45.  Haven't done hamstring iso's in a while, and I forgot how much I hate that crampy-tickly feeling of starting to do leg-curls again.

Reps and Volume. Week 1. Bench

BW - 198

Bench -
BarX15
95X5
115X4
135X3
155X2
135X12, 8, 5

CG Bench - 135X3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 5

Incline (steep) - 95X10, 8, 7

Reverse Pec Deck - X20, 20, 20, 15

Hammer Curls - 25sX20, 18, 15

First time benching in 3 months.  Went well during the session, but my shoulder wasn't happy about it later.  I may just push through and see what happens after a few weeks.

I wasn't totally sure how I wanted to approach this as I came in.  I went mostly by instinct, and I'm pretty happy with what I ended up doing.  I'll probably make this the bench template for the coming weeks.

Started off with regular bench.  Did a very light over warm-up, and then repped out 135.  My goal is 20.  PRs will start at 18.  I also want a total of 23+reps on the work sets with 135.  Everyone's talking about volume these days, and it's something I'm going to start tracking closely.

After regular bench, I decided to do endless triples of close-grip with my regular grip working weight.  This is some Paul Carter inspired stuff.  It started off ridiculously easy, but get a bit tougher towards the end.  Still, I was able to hit 5 reps on my 8th set.  Will probably move down to 6X4 next week and just start pushing these up.  When I can do 8X5 with confidence, I will up the weight.

Moved over to the gym's steeper Incline bench next and did 3 sets of AMAP with 95.  It is what it is, and this is what it is right now.

Finished off with some rear delts (which is when my shoulder started feeling bad again weirdly) and then some light biceps.  I'll be doing more thorough biceps work on a different training day.

Deadlift and Chins

BW - 200

Deadlift -
135X5, 5
185X4
225X3
275X2
315X1
365X1
285X3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3
315X1
335X1
345X0

Chins - BWX12, 8, 6, 4 (30 total)

Needed to get in and get out, so I pared Full Body down to Deads and Chins.

Added an extra set of 285X3 and then took a shot at Paul Carter's Fatigue Singles again.  Big difference after the volume work.  To be clear, he does not recommend what I did here, which is the over-warm-up, then volume sets, then singles again.  I just wanted to see what it was like.

Got to 30 reps on Chins in only 4 sets.  That may be a personal best.  Definitely the best I've done in the last few months.

Full Body. Week 5. Press

BW - 200

High Bars -
BarX10 (paused)
95X5 (paused)
135X5
155X5
185X15

Fronts - 135X12, 10

BB Rows -
135X8
175X12, 6, 8

PBN -
BarX20
65X5
85X5
95X3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 5

Solid session.

I thought it might be good to start adding Front Squats in again.  I've gotten relatively good at High Bar (hit 250X5 last week, while my Low Bar EDM is around 285), but I know Fronts still suck for me.  Still, I decided to start off with High Bar and then use Fronts for back-off sets.  Just what I felt like doing.

Oh, and I guess 135X12 is technically a Rep PR on Front Squats.  It's one of those dumb-ish ones where you just haven't gone that high on reps in a long time.

Rowing strength was a weaker over-all than last week.  If that happens again next week, it might be time to shake it up and move to T-Bars for a while.

Think it's time to push the PBN volume sets to 5's, and start working # of sets back up.

Full Body. Week 5. Squat

BW - 201

Squat -
BarX10 (paused)
95X5 (paused)
135X5
185X4
225X3
275X2
225X12, 6

RDL -
135X10
185X10, 10, 15

EZ Bar French Press - 40ishX50, 15, 12, 12, 11 (100 total)

Machine Flyes -
X20, 15, 15 (ascending weight)
X20 (back-off set)

Good session.

My PR with 225 is 14, I believe, so I got close and will meet or beat that in the next week or two.  I got over amped before the first set, and the first 4 reps or so were wild and out of control.  I think that expended a lot of unnecessary energy on those.

Pushed the last set of RDLs.  Glad for that.

Triceps extensions were MUCH harder this week than last.  [shrugs]

Flyes were flown.

Full Body. Week 4. Deadlift

BW - 204

Bulgarian Split Squats -
BWX15
20X15
BWX15

DB Incline-
40sX15
50sX23, 15, 12

Deadlift -
135X5
185X4
225X3
275X2
315X1
365X1
285X3, 3, 3, 3, 3

Chins - BWX10, 6, 6, 4, 5 (31 total)

Solid session.

Grabbed a DB for my 2nd set of single-leg work, but these just felt crappy this week.   I'll try with weight again next week.

With Paul Carter's 350 method in mind, I got up to 50 reps in 3 sets with the 50's on DB Incline.  Next week I'll go up to the 55's and start over.

Deadlift felt solid.  Upped the weight and dropped the reps a bit on the work-sets.  These felt good, and when 6X3 feels easy, I'll push it up to 5X5, etc.

Chins were okay.  One more total rep than last time.

Felt rushed, so I skipped biceps.

Full Body. Week 4. Press

BW - 201

High Bar -
BarX10 (paused)
95X5 (paused)
135X5
155X5
185X5
225X5
250X5

BB Rows -
135X8
175X12, 10, 6

PBN -
BarX20
65X5
85X5
95X3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3

Good session.

I didn't feel like going for 20 reps with 185 on High Bars today, so instead I worked up to an all-around PR of 250X5!  Feels good.

175X12 is a Rep PR on Rows.

Upped the overall volume on PBN to 10 sets with 95 lbs.

Full Body. Week 4. Squat

BW - 200

Squat -
BarX10 (paused)
95X5 (paused)
135X5
185X4
225X3
275X2
195X20, 10

RDL -
135X10
185X10, 10, 10

EZ Bar French Press - 40ishX50, 25, 15, 15

Machine Flyes -
X20, 20, 15 (ascending weight)
X20 (back-off set)

Good session.  195X20 was my main target for this block.  Starting next week, I'll get a bit more serious and start pushing up reps with 225.

Everything else was good.  Moved machine flyes to this day to see if it allows for better recovery prior to DB Inclining on Fridays.

Full Body. Week 3. Deadlift

BW - 201

Bulgarian Splits - BWX15, 20, 20

DB Incline -
40sX15
50sX20, 15, 10

Deadlift -
135X5, 5
185X4
225X3
275X2
315X1
365X1
275X5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5

Chins - BWX12, 6, 5, 4, 3 (30 total reps)

Reverse-Grip Preacher Curls - 40ishX20, 15, 10

Solid session, though a little low energy.

Pushed the reps up on split squats and DB Inclines.  Pec Dec-ing on Wednesday may have gotten in the way of me doing more on my last set or two.  Maybe I'll try moving those to Monday, or maybe it doesn't really matter that much either way.

365 was a bit slow on the Deadlift, but the volume sets were all solid.

Pushed chins and reverse curls up a bit.