Novice LP - Session 31

BW - 230

Squats -
BarX5
155X4
205X3
255X2
305X1
325X5, 5, 4

Press -
BarX5
85X3
105X2
120X1
135X5, 5, 5

Chins - BWX5, 5, 5, 3

Good session.  I knew I would bounce back from the (literal) shit-show on Monday.  325X5 is an all-around PR.  I should have gotten all 3 sets of 5, but I didn't hit the bottom right on the very last rep and ended up just sitting in the hole with it.  A technique error, and not a strength failure.  Will go at it again this weekend.

Press was awesome.  I felt like a found...I don't know.  Maybe it's most simply described by saying, "I found the groove."  Even as reps got hard, it seemed like I knew how to stay under the bar in a way that allowed me to push through.  On to 137.5, hahaha!

Got a few more reps on chins, but also attacked them with a bit more abandon, i.e. not coming to full extension.

Novice LP - Session 30 (coached)

BW - 228

Squats -
BarX5
135X4
185X3
235X2
285X1
325X4, 1
275X5

Bench -
BarX5
95X3
135X2
175X1
202.5X3, 5, 5

Deadlift -
135X3
225X2
285X1
327.5X1

Awful session.  I had some kind of stomach churn that had me running to the restroom between my last 3-4 sets of Squats.  Left me a sweaty mess.  The weight didn't feel that heavy, but there was no oomph out of the bottom.  325X4 is still a Rep PR.

Still felt a little rough heading into bench, but felt fine by the last two sets.  202.5X5 is a Rep PR.

Don't know about the Deadlift. Maybe just out of gas by the time I got here.  Don't know.

Coach is talking about moving out of the novice program.

Novice LP - Session 29

BW - 228

Squats -
BarX5
155X4
205X3
255X2
305X1
320X5, 5, 5

Press -
BarX5
90X3
105X2
125X1
135X3, 5, 4

Cleans -
up to around 133X3, 3, 3,

Felt very strong on Squats this day.  All 3 sets were smooth.  Rep PR, and right around my best project 1RM.

Press felt really uncontrolled on the first set.  Came back strong and got all 5 reps on set 2, but the 5th rep on set 3 stalled just above my head.  Will try this weight again next time.

Cleans were fine.

Novice LP - Session 28

BW - 229

Squats -
BarX5
145X4
205X3
255X2
295X1
315X5, 5, 5

Bench -
BarX5
115X4
145X3
185X1
200X5, 5, 5

Chins -
BWX5, 4, 3, 2

Good stuff.

It was a year ago, on 12/22/14, that I hit 315X1 for the first time.  Went through a lot of ups and down with training in 2015 due to both injuries and conflicting priorities, but here I was on 12/23/15 hitting 315 for 3 sets of 5.  Needless to say every rep after the 1st one was a PR, and that feels great. And I owe a lot to my coach at Kratos and my P.T. at Chicago Spine and Sports. 

Followed that up with a Rep PRs on bench with 200X5 and got all 3 sets of those.  Both this and Squats are creeping into all-around PR territory now.

Even felt a little stronger on my now pitiful chin-ups.  Feel like those may be due for an upswing already.

Novice LP - Session 27

BW - 227

Squat -
BarX5
135X4
205X3
245X2
295X1
310X5, 5, 5

Press -
BarX5
85X3
105X2
125X1
132.5X5, 5, 5

Deadlift -
135X5
225X3
295X1
325X5

Great session.

Got all three sets with 310, breaking through my previous plateau.

132.5X5 is a Rep PR on Press and I got all three sets here as well.

Failed to get 5 reps with 325 on Deadlift last week, but got them here.

Novice LP - Session 26

BW - 227

Squat -
BarX5
145X4
195X3
235X2
275X1
305X5, 5, 5

Bench -
BarX5
105X3
135X2
175X1
197.5X5, 5, 5

Cleans -
Up to 1 yellow and 1 white per side

Good session.  Felt pretty strong throughout. Got waaaaay far forward on the 3rd rep on my last squat set, but managed to push through and gut out the last two reps to complete the sets.  Felt really pumped about getting through that.

Got all the reps on bench with no spotter to unrack for me.  Felt good about that too.

Cleans aren't pretty but I didn't have any trouble getting these to land mostly on my shoulders.

Still had energy to spare walking out of the gym.  Nice day.

Novice LP - Session 25

BW - 228

Squat -
BarX5
145X4
195X3
235X2
275X1
302.5X5, 5, 5

Press -
BarX5
85X3
100X2
120X1
130X5, 5, 5

Chins -
BWX5, 3, 3, 3

Was feeling beat up and also had a bad head cold.  So I only went up 2.5 lbs. on the squat sets.  Got them all though, and feel fine about the decision.

Broke through the last plateau on Press.  Failed to get all the 3 sets of 5 previously.

Very humbling to come back to chins after having not done them for 2 months (and not having done them very often in 2015 at all).  At this new, heavier BW, these were quite difficult.  Also, laboring to get good extension but stay under tension.  At this BW, 9 reps would be a PR.  So we'll see what happens as I start to get back into the flow with these.

Novice LP - Session 24 (coached)

BW - 227

Squats -
BarX5
135X4
185X3
225X2
265X1
300X5, 5, 5

Bench -
BarX5
95X3
135X2
165X1
195X5, 5, 5

Deadlift -
135X3
225X2
285X1
325X3, 0

Life got in the way at the end of last week, and so I missed my third workout.  We persevere.

Squats moved really well.

Bench was heavy, but all the reps were fairly smooth.

Deadlift got out in front of me on the 3rd rep, and I had to fight for it.  Took a few beats, reset, and tried to pull a 4th, but gas was gone.  Coach is going to start mixing in Chins with Deads and Cleans.  Seems a bit weird, because my squat is starting to catch up, but we'll see!

Novice LP - Session 23

BW - 225

Squats -
BarX5
130X4
170X3
210X2
250X1
285X5
295X5, 5

Press -
BarX5
80X3
95X2
115X1
127.5X5, 5, 5

Cleans -
Up to 133X3, 3, 3

Screwed up and used the wrong weight on my first squat set.  Whatever.  Everything went okay, but my low back felt beat up by the end.

Novice LP - Session 22 (coached)

BW - 226

Squats -
BarX5
125X4
165X3
205X2
245X1
290X5, 5, 5

Bench -
BarX5
85X4
115X3
145X2
165X1
185X5, 5, 5

Deadlift -
135X3
225X2
285X1
320X5

Good session.  Felt strong all the way through, and all the lifts moved well.

Still coach decided to err on the side of slow progress, and we're going to go with 5s on S/B/D and 2.5s on Press going forward, plus Deadlift will start alternating with Cleans again now that I've worked back up to around pre-Holiday numbers.

Novice LP - Session 21

BW - 224

Squat -
BarX5
135X4
175X3
225X2
255X1
285X5, 5, 5

Press -
BarX5
75X3
90X2
110X1
125X5, 5, 5

Deadlift -
135X5
195X3
245X2
285X1
315X5

Solid session.  Attended a bench press seminar being held at the gym beforehand with an IPF record holder.  Guy named Vadym Dovhanyuk.  Here he is with 440X10.  Strong guy.

All the lifts went well.

Novice LP - Session 20

BW - 225

Squats -
BarX5
125X4
165X3
215X2
245X1
275X5, 5, 5

Bench -
BarX5
85X4
115X3
135X2
160X1
175X5, 5, 5

Deadlift -
135X4
185X3
235X2
275X1
305X5

Solid session.  Everything seemed a little awkward, but that's probably just 1st un-coached session after the holiday break.

Novice LP - Session 19 (coached)

BW - 224

Squat -
BarX5
115X4
155X3
205X2
235X1
265X5, 5, 5

Press -
BarX5
70X3
85X2
100X1
115X5, 5, 5

Deadlift -
135X3
225X2
265X1
295X5

Had a little over a week off with Thanksgiving travel and holiday, so coach backed everything up 10% and we'll make 5-10 lb. jumps on everything until we get back up to where we were.  Basically end of next week.

Everything felt good for the most part.

Novice LP - Session 18 (coached)

BW - 223

Squats -
BarX5
125X4
175X3
225X2
260X1
295X5, 5, 5

Bench -
BarX5
95X4
125X3
155X2
180X1
197.5X5, 5, 5

Cleans -
Up to a Yellow and a White for 3X3 (133 lbs.?)

I accidentally jumped 10 lbs. on the Squat.  Oh, well.

197.5X5 is a Rep PR on the bench.

Cleans went way better under coaching than by myself last session.

Novice LP - Session 17

BW - 222

Squats -
BarX5
115X4
165X3
205X2
250X1
285X5, 5, 5

Press -
BarX5
85X3
95X2
105X1
125X5, 5, 5

Deadlift -
135X5
200X3
240X2
290X1
330X5

Solid session.  Squats and Press both moved okay.  Deadlifts just feel heavy as shit, but I got all the reps.

We're starting to get into what I'll call "moments of truth" with all the lifts.  While I've hit some awesome 5 Rep PRs in the Press and Squat, in none of the lifts have I hit a set of 5 that projects to a new, lifetime 1RM PR.  So the #'s I'm looking for coming up in order to get those new, projected maxes are:

Squat - 320X5 (35 lbs. away now; 10 lbs. away before last reset)
Bench - 210X5 (15 lbs. away)
Deadlift - 340X5 (10 lbs. away)
Press - 135X5 (10 lbs. away now; 5 lbs. away before last reset)

Squat and Press got closest, but I had to reset them.  I haven't had to reset Bench or Deadlift yet, but they're also further away from new lifetime numbers.  AND I've gone to alternating Deadlift with Cleans because they're getting so heavy.  The other kicker is that my previous lifetime, projected 1RM PRs happened at the following BW:

Squat PR - 275X11 @ 215
Bench PR - 155X17 @ 215
Deadlift PR - 245X4 multiple times @  209, 211, and 214
Press PR - 105X14 @ 213

So I'm looking forward to the extra 8-12 lbs. BW paying off with some new projected bests.

Novice LP - Session 16

BW - 224

Squat -
BarX5
115X4
165X3
205X2
245X1
280X5, 5, 5

Bench -
BarX5
100X4
130X3
160X2
180X1
195X5, 5, 5

Cleans -
up to 128X3, 3, 3, 3, 3

Squat reset.  Took 10% off, and will work my way back up again.  These went fine.

Bench went really well.  Optimistic about setting a PR next time.

Cleans were a shit show.  I just wasn't catching the bar on my shoulders.  The weight kept landing in my hands, and it was killing my forearms.  Luckily, we moved my next coached session to Wednesday, so I will get some coaching on the lift again next session.

Novice LP - Session 15

BW - 225

Squats -
BarX5
135X4
185X3
235X2
280X1
310X4, 5, 1

Press -
BarX5
80X3
90X2
100X1
120X5, 5, 5

Deadlift -
135X5
195X3
235X2
285X1
325X5

Stalled on Squats.  Coach says we reset to 280 and try again.

Pressing was fine.  I was inside the power rack from the squats, and left the hooks there.  Plates hit the top of the rack on a few reps here and there.  I'll just move the hooks next time.

Deadlift went really well!  Felt pretty strong.

Novice LP - Session 14 (coached)

BW - 223

Squats -
BarX5
135X4
185X3
235X2
280X1
310X5, 5, 3

Bench -
BarX5
95X4
125X3
155X2
175X1
192.5X5, 5, 5

Cleans -
worked up to 128X3, 3, 3

310X5 is a Rep PR, but I couldn't finish the last set, so I have to tackle it again on Wednesday.  [sigh] 3 plates for 5 gets pushed out a little further.

Got all my reps on Bench.  Only progressing in 2.5 lb. increments now.  Have to go over 195 to be in PR territory.

Starting today, I'll be alternating Cleans with Deadlift.  Never really done this movement before, so a LOT of instruction leading up to the work set.  Mixing kilo bumper plates in here, and hopefully I progress quickly both on these and on multiplying/dividing by 2.2 in my head.  Used a hook grip for the first time.

Novice LP - Session 13

BW - 225

Squats -
BarX5
125X4
175X3
225X2
275X1
305X5, 5, 5

Press -
BarX5
70X3
85X2
100X1
115X5, 5, 5

Deadlift -
135X5
185X3
225X2
275X1
320X5

Good session.  305X5 is a Rep PR.  Feeling heavy.

Reset the Press down to 115 after stalling twice at 130.  These weren't hard.

Wussed out on my set with 320 last time.  Got it this time.  Heavy.

Novice LP - Session 12

BW - 224

Squat -
BarX5
120X4
170X3
220X2
270X1
300X5, 5, 5

Bench -
BarX5
105X4
130X3
155X2
175X1
190X5, 5, 5

Deadlift -
135X5
185X3
225X2
280X1
320X2

300X5 is a Rep PR.  Felt good.

I missed my final rep with 190 last time, but I got all 3 sets of 5 this time.  Believe I'm only adding 2.5 lbs. next time.

1st rep on Deadlift felt pretty good.  2nd one was pretty hard.  And I straight gave up on the 3rd.  Just lost my care long enough to set it back down.  I'll go for it again on Friday.

Novice LP - Session 11 (coached)

BW - 222

Squat -
BarX5
115X4
165X3
215X2
265X1
295X5, 5, 5

Press -
BarX5
75X3
95X2
115X1
130X4, 3, 4

Deadlift -
135X5
185X3
225X2
275X1
315X5

Squats went pretty well.  Definitely heavy now, and some reps feeling slow on every set.  295X5 is a Rep PR.

Missed my work-sets again.  Resetting to 115 and climbing back up.

Deadlifts were slooooooooow.  Coach says we're gonna start alternating Cleans shortly.

Novice LP - Session 10

BW - 220

Squats -
BarX5
120X4
175X3
215X2
255X1
290X5, 5, 5

Bench -
BarX5
100X4
125X3
150X2
170X1
190X5, 5, 4

Deadlift -
135X5
195X3
235X2
275X1
310X5

290X5 is a Rep PR on squats.  Happy about that.  Not so happy about the knee maybe-tendonitis I'm getting on off-days.

Missed my last rep on bench.  No big deal.

Final work set of Deadlift actually felt better than my last couple of sessions.

Novice LP - Session 9

BW - 224

Squat -
BarX5
115X4
170X3
210X2
250X1
285X5, 5, 5

Press-
BarX5
85X3
100X2
115X1
130X4, 5, 3

Deadlift -
135X5
190X3
230X2
270X1
305X5

285X5 matches a Rep PR.  Getting it for 3 sets is pretty great.  Definitely getting heavy, though.

Only  manage 5 reps on Press on the 2nd set, weirdly.  Form issue mostly.  Will take another shot at it on my next coached session.  Still, the first two worksets were both Rep PRs.

Deadlift is also really fucking heavy, but I got all these reps so I don't know.  The  lift feels slow all the time.

Novice LP - Session 8 (coached)

BW - 223

Squat -
BarX5
115X4
165X3
205X2
245X1
280X5, 5, 5

Bench -
BarX5
95X4
120X3
145X2
165X1
185X5, 5, 5

Deadlift -
135X5
185X3
225X2
265X1
300X5


Good session.  Squats went well.  Feels like there's still headroom.

Bench was a bit more dicey.  I really dialed in and got that 3rd set, but it'll be interesting to see how it goes from here.

Deadlift sucks, but is totally  liftable.  The form my coach is teaching is demanding as hell.

Novice LP - Session 7

BW - 223

Squat -
BarX5
95X5
125X4
175X3
215X2
245X1
275X5, 5, 5

Press -
BarX5
90X3
95X2
110X1
125X5, 5, 5

Deadlift -
135X5
230X3
265X2
295X5

Good session.  125X5 is a Rep PR on the Press.

Novice LP - Session 6

BW - 221

Squat -
BarX5
120X4
170X3
210X2
240X1
270X5, 5, 5

Bench -
BarX5
95X4
120X3
130X2
160X1
180X5, 5, 5

Deadlift -
135X5
225X3
260X2
270X1
290X5

Solid session.  Bench is getting heavy.  No issues with my low-back tweak, although there is still general pain there throughout the day.

Novice LP - Session 5 (coached)

BW - 222

Squat -
up to 265X5, 5, 5

Press -
up to 120X5, 5, 5

Deadlift -
up to 285X5

I don't record any of my warm-ups when I'm working with my coach.  I just put on whatever weights he says.

I tweaked my back the morning of this training day, and was pretty upset about it.  I worked so hard on rehabbing the last few months, and didn't know what it was going to mean for my training.  The one thing I knew I had going for me was that I'd have live coaching for this session.  I talked with him about it before the session, we just agree to see how it went, and everything went great!  I was so freaking happy about  that first set of 265X5 on the squat, I can't even tell you.  We did decided to drop the intervals down to a 5 lb./day increase on squats starting AFTER this session.

120X5 is a Rep PR on the Press!

Coach decided to only make a 5 lb. jump in Deadlifts starting with this session.  Everything went fine here as well.

Novice LP - Session 4

BW - 221

Squat -
BarX5
115X4
155X3
195X2
225X1
255X5, 5, 5

Bench -
BarX5
90X5
115X3
125X2
155X1
175X5, 5, 5

Deadlift -
135X5
205X3
245X1
280X5

Pretty solid session.  The Deadlifts felt awkward on the last two sets, and I'm looking forward to getting coached up again on them in the next session.

Novice LP - Session 3

BW - 221

Squat -
BarX5
95X4
145X3
185X2
215X1
245X5, 5, 5

Press -
BarX5
70X3
85X2
100X1
115X5, 5, 5

Deadlift -
135X5
195X3
235X1
270X5

First un-coached session on this plan.  Although my coach was in the gym, and he did stop by between my 2nd and 3rd Squat work-sets to say "a bit deeper and keep your head down."  Everything went pretty well.

Squats were probably the hardest of the three lifts on this day.  We'll just have to see if I can adapt fast enough to keep up with the progression for a while longer.  If I do, I'll start hitting rep PRs on the Squat and Press in week 3, Deadlift PRs in week 4, and Bench PRs in week 5.  Five weeks to PR'ing in everything is hard for my to swallow after being on such "slow but steady" programs for several years, but there's only one way to find out.

Novice LP - Session 2 (coached)

BW - 222

Squat -
BarX5
95X4
135X3
175X2
205X1
235X5, 5, 5

Bench -
BarX5
85X5
125X5
155X5
170X5

Deadlift -
135X5
185X3
225X1
260X5

2nd session with my coach.  I was out of town all last week for work, and this weekend for a wedding, so we had a big gap between 1 and 2.  I'll be lifting 3 times a week, with 1 session being live coached each week (for now).

Squats and Deads were all good.

Looking at Bench for the 1st time, the set-up is quite different from anything I've done before.  My feet are straight under my knees, and there is no current emphasis on leg drive, or really anything happening below my ribcage.  My grip is all the way out to pinkies on the rings, and I'm tucking a bit less and touching a bit higher.  My coach said I'm tending to let the bar get out of alignment and drift towards my feet on the way up, which sounds awful.  Happy to start getting that fixed.

Coached Training

BW - 216

Squat - worked up to 230X5

Press - worked up to 120X5

Deadlift - worked up to 260X5

P.T. cleared me to do all three lifts.  To give myself a more fixed goal for my rehab, I've decided to do a full meet (my first) that is being held at my gym in March.

Because of the low back issues, I felt now was as good a time as any to get live coaching, particularly on the Squat and Deadlift.  This was a first, get-to-know-each-other session.  I'll be out of town next week, and then we'll start in earnest the Monday after that.

Programming seems that it's going to follow a pretty typical, Texas-style linear progression.  That's fine.  It's having an outside set of eyes on my technique under heavy load that's important to me so I don't reinjure myself.

Inclines

BW - 215

Inclines -
BarX20
95X5
115X5
135X5
155X5, 5, 5, 5, 5

Lever Shrugs - 380X10, 10, 10, 10

Rear Delt Machine - X12, 12, 12, 12

P.T. asked me to start working in some workouts in the 3-5 rep range.

Bench

BW  - 214

Bench -
BarX20
95X5
115X3
135X3
155X2
175X1
185X1
155X17, 5

Face-Pulls - X12, 12, 12, 10, 10 (straight-weight)
super-set with
DB Overhead Extensions - 50X12, 12, 12, 12, 12

155X17 is an all-around PR.  Two reps better than my previous best with this weight set early last year; right around the time I injured my shoulder.  My target for this weight is 20 reps, and I'll stick with it until I get there.

Got all sets of 12 on the DB extensions, so I'll up that weight next week.

Overheads

BW - 213

Press -
BarX15
65X5
85X4
95X3
115X1
105X14, 5

DB Bench -
50sX15
55sX14

DB Curls - 30sX12, 12, 10, 10, 8
super-set with
Bench Dips - BWX20, 20, 20, 20, 20

105X14 is a good sized, all-around PR.  My previous best standing with this weight was 105X10.  Last month I did this seated, but I find seated pressing to be slightly easier because the first rep starts at the top instead of the bottom, and I'll often hit a weight/reps PR seated before I hit it standing.  On to 115 for reps next week.

This all also seems to show that the standing front press isn't particularly magical for me.  Before this session, I'd done this lift exactly six times since December '13, and hadn't used more than 85 lbs. any of those times.  But with lots of Inclines and a fair amount of PBN, I can come in and set a big PR on the Press, and even have my Bench be in good shape after a year away because of the shoulder injury.

Anyway, my shoulders were on fire after the Press PR.  I went to do a 3rd set of DB Bench, and my shoulders said, 'Nope.'  No pain, just no oomph.

Had enough oomph for Bench Dips, though, and 5X20 gave me zero pain.  I'll talk to my P.T. this week about what's next.  Hoping I get cleared to start doing full dips again, but maybe he'll want to wait and see how the shoulder handles some heavier weight on flat bench or something first.

Legs and Back

BW - 215

Deadlift (Rehab; slow up and down) - 135X5X5

Leg Extesnions - X20

Hack Squats -
50X5
100X5
150X5
170X5
190X5
200X3
220X3
150X10

Chins - BWX5, 5, 5, 5

T-Bars -
45X5
70X5
95X8
80X5, 70X5, 45X10 (strip set)

P.T. cleared me to start pulling from the floor again.  Super slow all the way through, and taking video to make sure my back stays flat.  Progress.  Also, done double-overhand, these were surprisingly taxing on grip.

Knees continue to be weird, so I warmed up with a set of extensions.

In the hopes that squatting may be around the corner, I move my stance out on hacks, lowered the reps, and increased the weight.  Had been doing close stance, toes forward.  These were around shoulder length with the toes out a bit.

Went to the unsupported t-bar contraption and tried to focus on a bit of arch throughout.  No pain.

Inclines

BW - 214

Incline Bench -
BarX20
95X5
115X4, 3
135X2
155X1
140X8, 8, 8, 8, 8

Lever Shrugs (held at top) -
290X5
380X10, 10, 10
super-set with
Rear Delt Machine - X10, 10, 8, 8

Volume day for bench.  Kept rests at 30-45 seconds between work sets.  Last reps were kind of challenging on the last set.

Shrugs and rear delts were really hard today for some reason.

Bench

BW - 214

Bench -
BarX20
95X5
115X4
135X3
155X2
175X1
185X1
155X14, 6

Face-Pulls - X12, 12, 12, 10, 10
super-set with
DB Overhead Extensions - 50X12, 12, 12, 10, 10

155X14 is one off matching my best with this weight.  Goal is 20.  All sets/reps done with grip about a thumb off the smooth.

Shoulders and [bench] DIPS!!!

BW - 212

Bench Dips - BWX12, 12, 12, 12, 12

Side Lateral Giant Set - X2
10sX25
15sX15
20sX10
rest
20sX10
15sX15
10sX25

P.T. cleared me on this very day to start doing un-weighted bench dips.  BWX12 is nothing effort wise, but I wanted to take it easy because it used to be these would cause me pain.  Happy to say that the next day, I am still pain free!  So excited to be able to start adding dipping movements back into my programming.  One of my favorite lifts, and one I've really  missed doing.

This is the last week of the shoulder focus programming so this is the last time I will have to do this brutal giant-set of laterals (for a while anyway).

Bench

BW - 213

Bench -
BarX30
95X5
115X4
135X3
155X2
175X1
185X1
135X22, 9

Preacher Curls -
40ishX8
50ishX8, 8, 8, 8

Seated French Press - 70ishX12, 12, 12, 10, 10

135X22 is a Rep PR.  This is right at my target reps for this weight as I get back into the flat bench.  I'm going to go ahead and move up to 145 next week.  Shoulder is still feeling pretty good.  Some mild crunchiness today, and I think I'm going to talk to my P.T. about how to amp up some of the rehab movements I'm doing.

Overheads

BW - 214

Seated PBN -
BarX21
65X5
75X5
85X12, 12, 12, 12, 12, 12
super-set with
Machine Reverse Flyes - X12, 12, 12, 12, 12, 12, 12, 12

Slow Rack Pulls at the knee - 135X5, 5, 5, 5

Upped the weight on both PBN and Flyes this week, and still got 12 reps on all sets.  Two weeks ago, I fell 3 sets short of that with 75.  Progress.

I'm really surprised, but these really light and slow rack pulls leave my hamstrings really sore the next days.  I know, I know, DOMS does not equal Hypertrophy, yada-yada.  Just surprising.

Legs and Back, and low-back rehab

BW - 213

Slow Rack-Pulls at the knee - 135X5 for a few sets

GHR - BWX5, 5, 5 (using a stick to maintain spinal alignment)

Hack Squats -
100X8
knees felt weird and tight, so I jumped over and did
Leg Extensions - lightweightX35
jumped back over to Hacks and the knees felt fine and so I continued with
100X5
120X10
140X10
150X8
170X8
190X8

Chin-Ups -
BWX5
+25X3, 3
+45X1
BWX10

Chest-Supported Rows -
45X8
70X5
95X5

Started off with the rehab rack pulls.  Need to talk to my P.T. about these.  There's no pain, so that's good, but I'm also supposed to be re-drilling form to make sure I don't round my lower back.  I'll get one or two more session in before I meet with him again, and we'll see what's up.  Wondering if I need to be filming these or something.

GHRs using a broomstick to maintain a neutral spine were much harder today for some reason.  Could barely get 5 reps on the 3rd set.

Knees felt NOT GOOD on first set of Hacks, but after a bunch of light leg extensions, they were totally fine, and I set my 6th consecutive PR on them.

Felt like going for intensity instead of volume on chins, and so threw some weight on.  Nothing special about the results in-session.

Shoulders, and low-back rehab

BW - 214

Slow Rack-Pulls at the knee - 135X5 for a few sets

Side Lateral Giant Set - X2
10sX25
15sX15
20sX10
rest
20sX10
15sX15
10sX25

P.T. has me doing really slow and light  rack-pulls to start redrilling a neutral spine.  The idea is to gradually lower the rack height, until I'm pulling from the floor again.

Giant set of laterals is still brutal.

BENCH!!!

BW - 211

CG Bench -
BarX20
95X5
115X4
135X3
155X2
175X1
185X1
195X1
135X20, 8

Preacher Curls -
40ishX12
50ishX10, 8, 10, 8

French Press -
50ishX15
60ishX12, 12, 12, 12

2nd day back on bench, and I hit a PR!  135X20 is a Rep PR.  My previous best was 135X17 on 8/5/13.  195X1 is also my heaviest bench since I did a bunch of doubles with 205 on 4/22/14.  I just decided to work up to the heaviest single I could without getting into grinding territory.  No pain on the day or afterwards.

Those dates are a bit rough for me to look at.  I put off getting professional help on my shoulder for so long, and after working with  my P.T. for just over a month, I hit a high-rep PR, and my top-end strength feels like it's at least 80% what it was before the injury.  Why the fuck did I put this off for so long?

I'll stay at 135 for my work-sets until I can beat 22 reps.  Back to my old 25/45/Volume programming which forces me to keep reps high for a long time.

Overheads, and Bench test

BW - 212

Standing PBN -
BarX15
65X5
85X4
95X3
115X2
95X15, 6

CG Bench -
BarX25
95X5
115X4
135X15, 7, 7
super-set with
Face-Pulls - X15, 15, 12, 12, 12, 12

Physical Therapist cleared me to start testing my shoulder on flat bench.  For safety's sake, I'm going to move forward with Close-Grip only, and may stop making the distinction in the log.

Still, the day was originally programmed for PBN, so I went ahead and started with that.  About the same as last week, but a couple fewer reps on the back-off set.  No big deal.

Bench was fine with no pain.  First time doing BB Flat Bench in a full year, and strength is good here.  My previous best was 135X17, so being only 2 reps off of that with all the fatigue from PBN shows that a lot of the work I've been doing, Inclines, overheads, etc., has maintained a good base.  Won't be surprised if my bench is actually stronger than before once I get technique locked back in.

Speaking of which, I forgot what a fucking chore setting up for flat bench is, hahahaah!  Because of all the Incline work, I seem to have naturally drifted from a feet under set-up to a feet wide-and-away set-up.  Feels pretty good, and I seem to be able to keep more tension in my legs throughout AND my butt doesn't seem to want to shoot off the bench nearly as much.  All in all, a promising start.

Legs and Back, and Shoulder Testing.

BW - 215

Leg Curls -
Warm-up - X10, 10, 10, 10
Work Sets - X10, 10, 10-10-10-15 (drop-set at end)

Hack Squat -
100X10
120X10
140X10
160X10
180X10

GHR (to parallel, and using a broomstick to maintain alignment) - BWX5, 5, 5, 4

DB Bench -
45sX10
55sX8
65sX12, 10, 10
super-set with
Chin-Ups - BWX5, 5, 5, 5, 5

Chest-Supported Rows -
45X5
90X10

Trying to make sure I get good hamstring work in while I can't Squat or DL.  Cut out leg extensions today in favor of more leg curl volume.  Also tried adding this GHR approach.  My P.T. has me doing bodyweight goodmornings like this: holding a broomstick against my tailbone, upper back and skull to maintain alignment.  That's not challenging and is for drilling the pattern.  Thought I'd try it with some BW GHR's to parallel to try and get some good, hip dominant hamstring work in.  They were hard as hell, but no back-pain.

Wanted to get a 2nd flat, DB bench work in before my next P.T. session so that I'd have some more feedback to provide.  Last time I worked up to 65sX5; basically just until it felt like real weight.  I checked my logs and saw that my best with the 65s was 15 reps, so I thought I'd push a little harder this time and see what was up.  Got within 3 reps of that, but I also MATCHED the total volume of my best session with the 65s.  That's not surprising because with my Incline having gone up, there's no reason that the strength shouldn't generally be there.

Kind of burying the lead because the main point is that my shoulder felt fairly okay throughout, and the next day.  I expect the P.T. to recommend moving on to light BB bench now.

Shoulders and Shoulder Test

BW - 212

DB Bench -
45sX15
50sX12
55sX9
60sX6
65sX5

Side Lateral Giant Set - X2
10sX25
15sX15
20sX10
rest
20sX10
15sX15
10sX25

Physical Therapist asked me to start testing my shoulder in the planes of motion that have given me trouble.  Starting with DB Bench because it's given me the least trouble, and if that's cool after a couple sessions, I'll move over to BB Bench.  Ultimate goal here is being able to do weighted dips again.  Flat bench vs. Incline isn't a real priority unless I decide to do a meet.

Anyway, worked up to something heavy-ish.  Shoulder felt a little bad during the last couple sets, but the lingering pain is barely there right now compared to what I've had in the past.  I'll try to get one more session in before the next meeting with the P.T. and see what he thinks.  A year and a half ago, I was doing 65sX15....

Side Lateral giant-set was awful after the DB bench, hahahaha.

Inclines

BW - 212

Inclines -
BarX25
95X5, 5
135X3
155X2
185X1
135X21

BB Preacher Curls -
40X10
60X8, 8, 5
40X12

super-set with

French Press - 50X15, 15, 15, 15, 15

Well shit.  My target here is to beat 135X22.  Really thought that was going to happen today.  Oh well.  Slow and steady.

Overheads

BW - 210

Standing PBN -
BarX15
65X5
85X4
95X3
115X2
95X15, 8

Face-Pulls - X15, 15, 15, 12, 12, 12

Good session.  Only one day removed from doing some PBN and rear delt volume, I was able to come in and lift right at previous PR levels.  95X15 is only one rep off matching previous bests for both regular Press and PBN.

Conditioning

Hill-Sprints: 10 sprints

Overheads

BW - 213

Seated PBN -
BarX20
65X12
75X12, 11, 12, 12, 10, 10

super-set with

Reverse Pec Deck -
Warm-up - X20, 12
Work-Sets - X12, 12, 12, 12, 12, 10 (straight-weight)

Rear delts were screaming by half way through this, and obviously I wasn't able to handle much weight on the sets of 12 on PBN, but it was a pretty good session anyway.

Conditioning

Hill-Sprints: 10 sprints

Legs and Back

BW - 212

Leg Extensions -  X20, 20, 20, 13 (top set)

Leg Curls - X20, 20, 20, 20 (top set)

Hack Squats -
100X10
120X10
140X10
160X10

Chins - BWX10, 8, 5, 4

Chest-Supported Rows -
45X5
70X5
95X8
45X20

Solid session.  Hack Squat PR.

Shoulders

BW - 211

Side Lateral Giant Set - X2
10sX25
15sX15
20sX10
20sX10
15sX15
10sX25

Hard to stay very strict on round 2.  Didn't let much body-english get in, but I know was letting my traps get more involved.

Inclines

BW - 208

Inclines -
BarX30
95X5
115X4
135X3
155X2
185X1
135X18, 10

Preacher Curls - 40ishX12, 12, 12, 8, 9
super-set with
Seated French Press -
40ishX20
50ishX15, 15, 12, 12

Didn't meet my goal of 135X23 on the first set, so I'll stick at this weight next week.  135X20 is my best.  Hit my volume goal on the follow-up set.  No shoulder issues during or to this point the next day.

Conditioning

Hill-Sprints - 10 sprints

P.T. cleared me to run, so now just getting on the horse and staying there.  No issues from the injuries present.

Overheads

BW - 210

Standing PBN -
BarX12
65X5
85X4
95X3
115X1
95X12, 7

Face-Pulls - X20, 15, 12, 12, 13, 12

First time doing "standing" anything since my back injury.  All the seated OHP benches were taken, and I felt good enough, and the weight is light enough, that I decided to give it a tray.  No low-back problems, but my abs were fried after the 95X12 set.

Legs and Back

BW - 210

Leg Extensions - 4X20 (to a top-set)

Leg Curls - 4X20 (to a top-set)

Hack Squat -
90X10
110X10
130X10
150X10

Chins -
BWX3, 3 (warm-up)
BWX12, 5, 5, 5

Chest-Supported Rows -
70X11
95X7

Upped weight or reps here and there.  Solid Session.

Arms

BW - 209

Rope Pushdowns - X20, 20 (warm-up)

Seated French Press - 40ishX20, 20, 20, 20, 20, 20

BB Curls -
50X10
55X10
60X10
62.5X10
65X10
67.5X10

Solid session.  Got max reps on all sets.

Overheads

BW - 208

CG Seated Press -
BarX12
65X5
85X4
95X3
115X2
135X1
115X8

DB Preacher Curls - 25sX20, 20, 20, 20

Hammer Curls - 45sX6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6

115X8 is a Rep PR for all overhead work.

Upped the reps on preacher curls and the weight on hammer curls.

Inclines

BW - 212

CG Incline -
BarX20
95X5
115X4
135X3
155X2
175X1
155X11

Incline DB Curls - 25sX20, 20, 20, 20

PJR Pullovers - 60X20

Okay session.  Shoulder was bothering me a little bit the next day, but I'm alreayd rehabbing with my P.T. so nothing else to really do about it.

Added reps to the curls, and weight to the pullovers.

Legs and Back

BW - 209

Single-Leg Extension Eccentrics - 4X12 (straight-weight)

Single-Leg Curls - 3X20 (straight-weight)

Hack Squats -
70X10
100X10
120X10
140X10

Chins -
Warm-up - BWX3, 3
BWX12, 5, 5, 5

Chest-Supported Row -
70X10
95X8

Still just cobbling together leg and back work that doesn't involve a lot of low back.

Upped the weight and reps slightly on the final set of hacks.

Decided to do chins instead of pullovers.  So much more bang-for-the-buck, it seemed dumb not to do them when there's so much I can't do.

Upped the reps a tad on the final set of Rows.

Arms

BW - 212

Rope Pushdowns - X40, 40

Seated French Press - 40ishX20, 20, 20, 20, 18, 18

BB Curls -
40X10
45X10
50X10
52.5X10
55X10
60X10

Bird-Dogs and Side Planks - 2 rounds

Saw a new physical therapist yesterday, and have some new protocols for dealing with my low back AND my shoulder issues.  Until he clears me for barbell squat and deadlift variations, I will continue doing upperbody bodypart specialization programs such as this one, and cobbling together body-building style work for legs and back that are low-impact on my low back.

Overheads

BW - 216

Seated CG Press -
BarX15
65X5
85X4
95X3
115X2
125X1
105X14

DB One-Arm Preacher Curls - 25X20, 20, 20, 18

DB Hammer Curls - 40sX6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6

105X14 is an all-around PR across all overhead pressing!

Inclines

BW - 211

Inclines -
BarX30
95X5
115X4
135X3
155X2
175X1
145X16

Incline DB Curls - 25sX20, 20, 20, 17

PJR Pullovers - 55X20

Good session.  Upped weight and/or total reps on everything.

Low back still giving me trouble.

Legs and Back

BW - 208

Single-Leg Extension Eccentrics - 4X12 (straight-weight)

Single-Leg Curls - 3X20 (straight-weight)

Hack Squats -
50X15
70X12
100X10
110X10
120X8

Machine Pullovers - X15, 13 (top-set)

Chest-Supported Rows -
45X10
70X10
95X6
45X15

Still dealing with low back issues.  I have an appointment with a different PT next week.  I wanted to try and do something for legs and back, and this is what I came up with.  Pre-fatiguing with iso-movements before moving on to compound movements where the lower back is supported.

Bench

BW - 210 (office gym)

Machine Bench -
worked up to the stack for 1
back-off set X 20

Incline Curls - 25sX20, 18, 15, 10

PJR Pullovers - 50X20

Cramped schedule this week, so had to fit something in at the office gym.

Arms

BW - 208

Overhead DB Extensions -
30X20
40X20, 20, 17, 15

Cable Curls - X20, 10, 10, 10, 9 (to a top-set)

Office gym.  Getting a workout in when I can.

Overheads

BW - 210

Seated, CG Front Presses -
BarX15
65X5
95X3
115X1
85X16

DB Preacher Curls - 25sX20, 20, 15, 15

DB Hammer Curls - 40sX6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6

Shoulder Cuff work

McGill Curl-Ups - X25
Side Planks - 60sec. each side
Bird-Dogs - 25 each side

Never done seated front presses before.  Kept the grip close (index on the smooth) and elbows forward to try and put more pressure on the triceps.  All these weights were crisp.  The unrack was the "heaviest" part.  Will move the back-off weight up to 95 next time.  Should be able to work with that weight for awhile.

One-arm preacher curls were kind of awkward at first.  Never done them before.  Never really gone this heavy on hammer curls, either.  Lots of firsts today.

Inclines

BW - 210

CG Incline -
BarX20
85X5
95X4
115X3
135X2
155X1
135X16

Incline Curls - 25sX20, 20, 15, 15

PJR Pullovers - 50X20

Core Work:
Curl-Ups - X20
Side-Planks - 60 sec. each side
Bird-Dog - 60 sec. each "side"

I've got some kind of low back issue going on.  There was no precipitating event, it just started getting twingey and got worse over the course of a week.  So I didn't lift for a week, and went to the chiro.  I'll give it a couple more weeks, and then I've got an appointment with a PT to see about my shoulder, and I will discuss the back with him as well.

Decided to take 4 or so weeks and do the LRB Arms specialization program.  Something to do while I'm figuring out what's up with my back.

Started conservative on the close-grip inclines, but I can bump up the weight for next week.

Incline curls were done both arms at the same time with a supinated grip throughout.  Tough.

I was worried about the PJR pullovers with my back, but I was just extra cautious getting in and out of the movement, and it's only one set, and it was fine.

Added some of the Stuart McGill recommended core exercises.  I need to do some more reading on these to understand sets/reps/time to hold, etc.

LRB Back & DL. Pressing

BW - 208

Incline -
BarX30
95X5
115X4
135X3
155X2
185X1
165X13

Press - 65X25, 15, 10

Pushdowns - X100

165X13 is a Rep PR!  And I even left a rep or two in the tank.  I was so happy, I forgot I was supposed to do a 2nd back-off set.

And that's why, even though I made the target 50 reps in 3 sets on the Press, I can't count it.  because in previous sessions I was further weakened by a 2nd back off set of inclines.  And the last reps on each of these Pressing sets were brutal.  My triceps and forearms were screaming.

This was the last pressing day that will be set up like this.  Glad I hit a Rep PR on Incline.  Would have liked to have gotten 65X50 total clean, but I didn't.

Conditioning

Walking - 45 minutes

For a variety of reasons, I've put off ramping conditioning several months later into the year than I usually do.  The next couple of weeks, I want to just add in these frequent, "off-day" long walks to start building the habit of doing this work.  Once it's reingrained into my life, I will start worrying about types, and progressions, etc.

LRB Back & DL. Vertical Pulling

BW - 208

Chins -
BWX5
+10X5
+20X4
+25X3
+35X1
+45X1, 1, 1
BWX16

WG Pulldown - X10, 9
RG Pulldown - X8, 8

DB Shrugs - 100sX20, 15

Bumped up the weighted sets a bit on chins, and also hit an all-around PR of 208(BW)X16.

Pulldowns were also feeling stronger.

Grip was the limiter on shrugs, I just didn't feel like chalking up on top of my straps for these.  Probably either need to just do that, or get regular straps.

LRB Back & DL. Squats

BW - 210

Front Squats -
BarX10 (paused)
95X5 (paused)
135X3
155X2
175X1
135X5, 5, 5, 5, 5 (00:30 rests)

RDL -
135X5
175X30, 15, 10

Paused Leg Presses -
3ppsX8
4ppsX8
5ppsX8, 8, 8, 10

My hands were still sore from pulling double-overhand on most of my worksets on DL on Monday.  Threw on straps and used chalk and got WAY more reps on the RDLs than I have been. Why not?  Doing the movement to build hams and glutes, not palms and fingers.  175X12 was my previous best with that weight.  Clearly blew it away with straps.

LRB Back & DL. Deadlift

BW - 211

Deadlift -
135X5
185X4
225X3
275X2
295X3, 3, 3, 3, 3

T-Bar Rows - 2 platesX18

Lever Shrugs (3 sec. hold at top) -
380X3
470X3
560X3
610X3
430X20

Hypers - BW+10X16, 16, 16 (plate behind head)

Rope Hammer Curls - X100

Speed feels okay on Deadlifts.

Upped the weight on shrugs and still got 20, but it was a hard 20, so I'll stay there.

Added one 1 rep per set to Hypers to start working up to multiple, weighted sets of 20.

LRB Back & DL. Pressing

BW - 209

Incline Bench -
BarX30
95X5
115X4
135X3
155X2
185X1
165X11, 6

Press - 65X17, 12, 11

Pushdowns - X100

+1 rep on both back off sets from last week on Inclines.  That's +4 total reps over where I was a month and a half ago, and only 2 reps off from a PR.

Similarly, while I got fewer reps on the first 350 set of OHP, I got 40 total reps.  That's +5 total reps over the last month.

I thought about doing different stuff for triceps, but since I showed improvement in both of the pressing movements, I though better to just keep doing the 100 reps of tri's.

LRB Back & DL. Vertical Pulling

BW - 207

Chins -
BWX5
+10X5
+20X4, 3
+25X2
+35X1, 1
+45X1
BWX16

WG Pulldowns - X10, 8
RG Pulldowns - X8, 10

DB Shrugs - 100sX20, 15


207X16 is an all-around Chin PR!

Used the super-wide grip pulldown bar.  Much harder.  Usually I'm all right with that, but I didn't love the way this felt.

Grip gave out on shrugs.  May be the Oly straps I'm using, or maybe grip was just fried from high-rep RDLs the day before.

LRB Back & DL. Legs

BW - 208

High Bars -
BarX10 (paused)
95X5 (paused)
135X5
155X3
175X2
185X1
155X5, 5, 5, 5, 5 (30' rests)

RDL -
135X8
155X23, 12, 15 (50 total reps)

Single-Leg Press - 2ppsX12, 13, 12

Almost 3 weeks since my last leg training session, and this one took a lot out of me as a result.  Nevertheless, the 155X5X5 were all focused and I was pushing for maximum acceleration despite the short rests.

Also upped the weight on RDLs with the 350 method.  I did these strapless, and grip was the limiting factor.  I feel like I should commit to straps for these until such time as grip proves to be an issue on deadlifts.

Also upped the weight on single-leg press, but wasn't going to get close to 20 today.  I will stay at this weight and try to push them up.

LRB Back & DL. Pressing

BW - 209

Inclines -
BarX30
95X5
115X4
135X3
155X2
185X1
165X10, 5

Press - 65X20, 12, 6

Pushdowns - X100

For the first time in a long time, I had an unplanned week off of training that didn't involve injury.  My schedule just unexpectedly started to collapse under it's own weight, and I couldn't justify cutting anything but training.

Picked up where I left off, and hit pressing on this day.  165X10 is 1 rep more than last time, but the last rep was 100% effort and is still 2 reps off my best with this weight.

On OHP, I did push the reps way up on the 1st and 2nd set before the bottom fell out on the last set.  I think 65X20 is acutally a Rep PR.

Needed to get home, so just did a 100 rep set for triceps.

LRB Back & DL. Week 4. Vertical Pulling

BW - 205

Chins -
BWX5
+10X4
+20X4, 3
+25X2
+35X1, 1, 1
BWX15

WG Pull-downs - X8, 9 (straight-weight; same weight as previous)

RG Pull-downs - X8, 9 (straight-weight; same weight as previous)

DB Shrugs - 100sX20, 18

Upped the weight a little bit on the singles.  Got an extra rep on the last set of both pull-down movements.

LRB Back & DL. Week 3. Deadlift

BW - 208

Deadlift -
135X5
185X5
225X3
275X2
295X3, 3, 3
315X1
335X1, 1

T-Bars - 90X18

Lever Shrugs (with 3 sec. hold) -
380X3
470X3
560X3
605X3
380X21

Hypers - BW+10X15, 15, 15 (plate held behind head)

RG Curls - 50ishX17, 15, 10

Decided to try the Fatigue Singles option on the Deadlifts today when the 295X3 were moving so well.  I thought 335 moved pretty well for being fatigued.

On hypers, I'd been doing BW+X20 but then my low back would feel to fatigued to use added weight on the next set.  On this day, I tried stopping the first set at 15, and found I felt able to use added weight on the 2nd set, and then felt good enough to do a 3rd set also with weight.  Neat.

LRB Back & DL. Week 3. Squat

BW - 208

Front Squat -
BarX8 (paused)
95X3 (paused)
135X3
155X2
165X1
135X5, 5, 5, 5, 5 (30 sec. rests)

Paused Leg Press -
1ppsX8
2ppsX8
3ppsX8
4ppsX8, 8, 8, 9

RDL - 135X30, 21

Single-Leg Press - 1.5ppsX20, 20, 20

Incline DB Curls - 25sX18, 15, 10

Good session.  Squat day geared towards building floor speed for Deadlift.

135X5X5 on Fronts was about as easy as I expected.  Focusing on maximum acceleration and shortening the rests made it a lot of work, but it doesn't seem like it would be a big deal to bump the weight a tad.

First time doing paused leg press.  Since I almost never do leg presses, I had no idea where the weight should be so I worked up.  4pps was moderately heavy on the worksets, but I was still able to focus on accelerating after the pause AND on keeping my back flat against the pad from my shoulders to my glutes.  That seemed important.  This was also done with a narrow stance a'la my deadlift stance.

Forgot to up the weights for RDLs and blasted through the 50 reps in only two sets.  Still, my glutes are way sore today.

Upped the weight a tad on single-leg press.  I might be able to go up to 2pps here.  Not sure.

LRB Back & DL. Week 3. Pressing

DB Inclines -
35sX8
45sX8
55sX8
65sX8
55sX8
45sX8
35sX12

Cable overhead raise - X15, 15, 15 (straight-weight)

Cable Face-Pulls - X20, 20, 20 (straight-weight)

Rope Pushdowns - X100 (R/P 50, 25, 25)

Another session at the hotel gym.

Pyramiding up and down on the DB Inclines worked really well.

The combo of overhead raises and face-pulls worked the hell out of my rear delts.

My triceps are still tender from the 100 rep set 2 days ago.

All in all, this was a really great session despite using a hotel gym.

LRB Back & DL. Week 3. Vertical Pulling

BW - 203

Chins - BWX11, 8, 5

WG Pulldowns - X10, 10 (straight-weight)

RG Pulldowns - X10, 10 (straight-weight)

DB Hammer Curls - 35sX10, 10, 10

I was in California for work, so I only head the hotel gym to work from.  Thus, no weight for the chins, and no DBs heavy enough for shrugs (didn't bring my straps anyway).

Still, my lats were fairly sore for the next day or two.

LRB Back & DL. Week 2. Deadlift

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

T-Bars - 2 platesX17

Lever Shrugs -
290X3
380X3
470X3
560X3
605X3
380X20

Hypers -
BW+10X20
BWX25

Reverse Curls - 50ishX18, 15, 18, 12

This was a week ago, and I don't remember too much about the session.  Guess everything went fine.

Of note, all shrugs are down with a 3 second hold at the top, and hypers are done with weight or hands held behind the head.

LRB Back & DL. Week 2. Pressing

Inclines -
BarX30
85X5
115X4
135X3
155X2
185X1
165X9, 5

Press -  65X15, 10, 10 (35 total)

BB Curls - BarX25, 25, 25
super-set with
Rope Extensions - X25, 25, 25 (straight-weight; heavier than last week)

Got one more rep on the back off set than last week.  Progress.

Reduced the weight on OHP to try and get closer to the 50 reps.  After all the inclines, I frankly feel like I could just use the empty bar.  35 total reps isn't terrible though.  I'll just stick with this weight.

LRB Back & DL. Week 2. Vertical Pulling

BW - 207

Chins -
BWX5
+10X5
+20X4, 3
+25X2
+30X1, 1, 1
BWX15

Wide-Grip Pulldowns - X8, 9 (straight-weight)

Underhand Pulldowns - X8, 9 (straight-weight)

DB Shrugs - 100sX20, 15

Reverse-Grip Curls - 40ishX25, 25, 20

15 chins at a BW of 207 is an all-around PR!  Since I just started this programming, the routine can't get the credit.  I suspect it's having Chins be the first lift of the session, after years of having them fall after something else.  Fatigue isn't masking strength in this case.

LRB Back & DL. Week 1. Squat

BW - 207

High Bar Squats -
BarX10
95X5
135X5
155X3
175X2
185X1
155X5, 5, 5, 5, 5 (135 - 155 sets done in 10:50)

RDL - 135X25, 18, 13 (56 total)

Single-Leg Press - 1ppsX20, 20, 20, 20

Incline DB Curls - 25sX12, 13, 10

I was very skeptical of this 5X5@60% from the LRB Basebuilding manual but the pace made it a lot of work.  I based this on an EDM of 255, although my best High-Bar Squat is 255X5 and I've done 155X20.  However, getting all the work-sets and the bulk of the warm-ups done in just over 10 minutes, all while moving the bar as fast as possible while keeping good form...well, I was sweating my ass off, anyway.  We'll see how it plays out.  It doesn't "feel" like strength work because all the reps were fast, and my conditioning seemed to be the only limiting factor.  May need to bump the weights; I'm not sure.

The RDLs are "350 sets," that is trying to get 50 reps in 3 sets.  Grip was the limiting factor here.  Next time I'll bring the straps out, and maybe up the weight slightly.

Haven't done single-leg pressing in almost a year.  Thought I'd go back to that here as the purpose of this day is actually to try and finally start building some more strength of the floor on DL.  Last April, I was up to 1.5ppsX18, so I'll start shooting to beat that immediately.

I'm throwing a smattering of biceps in on all my days to see if frequency can help make up for my lack of motivation to have a lot of biceps volume on any one day.

LRB Back & DL. Week 1. Horizontal Pulling

BW - 205

T-Bar Rows -
1 plateX8
1.5 platesX8
2 platesX16

Lever Shrugs -
200X5
290X5
380X3
470X3
560X3
380X20

Hypers -
BW+10X20
BWX20

Got in all my accessory work that I didn't get in the day before.  I thought about adding extra sets since it was on it's own day, but then I decided to leave sets/reps as is.  I did decide to try out the lever shrug machine for a while instead of doing BB shrugs.  Just to see what it's like.

LRB Back & DL. Week 1. Deadlift

BW - 204

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

Got to the gym 20 minutes before closing.  Managed to bang out all my DL sets/reps, but had to put off the accessories.

LRB Back & DL. Week 1. Pressing

BW - 207

Inclines -
BarX30
85X5
115X4
135X3
155X2
185X1
165X8, 5

Pressing -
BarX10
65X5
85X8, 7, 7

BB Curls - BarX25, 25, 20, 16
super-set with
Rope Extensions - X25, 25, 25, 15 (straight-weight)

My best with 165 is 12 reps.  Focusing on building muscle and strength in my back, etc. for a while so this is fine for now.

Need to back-off more on the front pressing.  The reps are supposed to be much higher than this.  I hadn't done any front pressing in a long time, so I wasn't sure where I would be with that; plus the fatigue from the Inclines.

LRB Back & DL. Week 1. Vertical Pulling

BW - 205

Chins -
BWX5
+10X5
+20X4, 3
+25X2
+30X1, 1, 1
BWX15

Wide-Grip Pull-Downs - X8, 8 (to a top set)

Underhand Pull-Downs - X8, 8 (to a top set)

Incline Curls - 25sX15, 15, 12

15 chins at a BW of 205 is an all-around PR.  Kind of surprising after a two week lay-off, but I'm not a super-strict chinner either.  Still, all the weighted chins were quite do-able as well, and that feels nice on it's own.

Pull-downs were all fine.

I wasn't sure what I was going to do at the gym today when I left the house, so I didn't grab straps.  The final movement here was supposed to be DB Shrugs, but, strapless, I did curls instead.

LRB Short-15. Week 3. Incline and Rows

Incline -
BarX30
105X5
115X4
135X3
155X2
165X1
175X1, 1
165X5, 5, 5
145X10

BB Rows -
BarX25
135X8
165X8, 8, 8

Underhand Pulldowns - X15 (same weight as last week)

LRB Short-15. Week 3. Squat and Deadlift

BW - 210

Squat -
BarX10 (paused)
135X5
155X5
185X4
215X3
235X2
255X1
265X1
285X1
245X5, 5

Deadlift -
185X5
205X4
255X3
275X2
305X1
315X3
285X3

LRB Short-15. Week 2. Incline and Rows

Inclines -
BarX30
95X5
105X4
125X3
135X2
155X1
165X1
175X1
155X8, 8, 8
135X12

Rows-
BarX20
135X8
155X8
165X8, 8

Underhand Pulldowns - X12

LRB Short-15. Week 2. Squat and Deadlift

BW - 212

Squat -
BarX10 (paused)
95X5 (paused)
135X5
155X4
185X3
205X2
245X1, 1
265X1
235X5, 5

Deadlift -
135X5
185X4, 4
225X3
255X2
285X1
305X1
305X3
275X3, 3

Solid session.  I dropped the goal weight back on squats after last week, and that meant my 2X5 weight was the same as last week's 2X8.  Everything was smooth

Deadlift is still feeling tough off the floor, but all the reps still moved fast and smooth.

LRB Short-15. Week 1. Incline and Rows

BW - ??? (worked out in street clothes, including boots)

Incline -
BarX30
95X5
105X4
125X3
135X2
155X1, 1
165X1
145X8, 8, 8
125X17

Rows -
BarX18
135X8
145X8
155X8, 8

Underhand pull-downs - X15, 9

Good session.  Everything was fairly fast on Incline.

On rows, I worked up until 8 reps felt heavy and did one more set there.

LRB Short-15. Week 1. Squat and Deadlift

BW - 208

Squat -
BarX10 (paused)
95X5 (paused)
145X5
165X4
205X3
225X2
245X1
255X1
265X1
235X8, 8

Deadlift -
135X5
185X4
225X3
255X2
275X1
285X1
295X3
275X3, 3

Running the LRB Short-15 as a 2x/wk. routine while I'm rehearsing my new show.  For Squatting and Incline benching, it's set up so that by the end I'm hitting the same weight for the top single that I was using prior to my vacation; 315 and 185 respectively.  For deadlift, I put in the old top single #, 365, as the goal for the cycle.  That will take me to 330X3 as my final lift of the cycle.

This may have been wrong thinking on the squat, as the 265X1 was heavy-ish, and the 235 for 2X8 was gruelling.  But I'm also running on 5 hours of sleep a night with rehearsals and work, and that doesn't help with the higher reps stuff at all.  So I'm going to back that back down and use 315 as my goal weight, which will only have me hitting a single at 295 by the end.

The sets of 295 and 275 on deadlift were all fast.

Training: Deadlift

BW - 213

Deficit Stiff-Legs:
135X5, 5
185X5, 5
225X5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5

Chest-Supported T-Bars -
45X5
70X5
90X9, 7, 7
70X9
45X11

Hypers - BWX20, 20, 20, 25, 25

Chins (dead-hang, close-grip) - BWX3, 2, 2

Just pounding out some volume today.  Feeling more comfortable with the Straight-Leg/High-Hip Deadlifts.

I realized it had been almost a year to the day since I'd done hypers.  Oh, and in that time my deadlift has gone South.  So...

Been awhile since I've done true dead-hangs.  Talking straight-arms, torso facing directly forward at the bottom and with a controlled start to the concentric.  Humbling.

Training: Pressing

BW - 212

High-Incline Bench -
BarX25
95X5
115X4
135X2
155X2
135X15, 8

Incline DB Flyes - 30sX15, 15, 15

RG Curls - 40ishX23
DB Hammer Curls - 35sX20
DB Curls - 30sX18
WG Curls - 50ishX18
Preacher Curls - 40ishX11

Pushed the weight up a bit this week, and probably still left 1-2 reps in the tank on both sets with 135.

Worth noting: one of the strongest guys in the gym mentioned to me this day that he didn't really like the High-Incline bench for strength development very much.  He said he gets better  carry-over to both his flat bench AND his front press from the "regular" incline bench.  In the case of our gym, that's actually an unusual, arched incline bench.  You can see both benches in this picture:


The High Incline is in the foreground and you can kind of see the Arched Incline behind it and to the right (also reflected in the mirror on the back-wall).

The guy said he thought the High Incline was better for body-building.  The guy is strong as hell and has been working out of that gym for a long time, so I'll take it on faith that he's spent some time with both and that his opinion is based on experience.

No skin off mine either way, as I was only hitting this for a couple of high-rep weeks as a break before I got back to pushing the other incline anyway.  Interesting feedback, though!

Training: High Bars

BW - 212

High Bar Squats -
BarX10 (paused)
95X5 (paused)
135X5
185X3
225X2
255X1
205X11, 9, 8

Hack Squats -
1ppsX10, 10, 11

Good session.  I went up to 255 for my last over-warm-up on High Bars just to see how it was moving.  My best ever High Bar Squat is 255X5, I believe.  This single moved pretty well, but the bar was positioned a little bit too high on my neck and so it was fairly painful resting on bone.  I also got 1-2 more reps per work set here for 4 more total work reps than last week.

Hack Squats felt a bit better this week as I got more in the groove.  I thought about adding more weight but said screw it, it's just extra quad volume.

I start rehearsing a new show next week so my schedule's going to go in the toilet.  I'm going to run Paul Carter's Strong-15 Short cyle as a twice-a-week program with a Squat/Dead day and an Incline/Chin day, and then get in some extras at the office gym or what-not as time permits.  Just stuff like biceps and leg curls, maybe some machine rows and that kind of thing.  Nothing crazy.

Training: Deadlift

BW - 208

Deficit SLDL (on a plate) -
135X5
185X4, 4
225X3, 3
245X3, 3
265X2, 3
245X4
225X4
185X10, 10

Chest-Supported T-Bar Row -
45X5
90X9, 7, 6
70X9

Why not.  I originally planned to hammer RDLs for a couple weeks.  However, I kept thinking about this weird (to me) concept of the Stiff-Leg Deadlift that's been floating around.  Since I was a teenager, I always thought an stiff-leg DL was done by keeping the legs locked and perpendicular to the ground, and bending only at the waist so that the bar descends in an angle AWAY from the legs as it moves to the floor.  Basically a movement for the erectors.  And if you search for it on the 'net, that's still a pretty common definition.

For a few years now though, I've been seeing Paul Carter do what he calls a deficit stiff-leg.  To me it looked like an RDL that just started off the floor.  That is, the knees locked but slightly bent, and the butt moving backwards and forwards as the bar goes up and down basically staying in contact with the legs through the movement.

I did find an piece by Bret Contreras where he describes the SLDL this way, but it still just seemed like an RDL with a different starting position.

I decided on this day to just break down and try it.  I was very cautious however about making sure my low back didn't round at the bottom.  Keeping the back flat and NOT bending the knees in order to drop the bar those last few inches is really tough, and so these reps were slow and not at all explosive.  I don't know.  My hamstrings are sore today, so I'll try it again next week.  Still feels a lot like an RDL, though.

Training: Pressing

BW - 208

High-Incline Bench -
BarX25
85X5
95X4
115X2
135X1
155X1
115X20, 10

Incline DB Flyes - 30sX15, 15, 15

RG, EZ Bar Curls - 40ishX20
DB Hammer Curls - 40sX15
DB Curls - 30sX15
WG BB Curls - 45X20
Preacher, EZ Bar Curls - 40ishX15

For the couple weeks after my vacation, I just wanted to get some high rep work in on movements that I haven't pushed very hard, and so I decided to just move over to this bench temporarily.

This thing's probably around 60 degrees, so it's almost more of an overloaded front press.  In the past I've only really used this thing when the "regular" incline wasn't available.  I always hated it because I couldn't handle anything near the same weight, and didn't see the point if I was already doing 45 degree inclines AND overhead work.  I sometimes struggled to get 95X10 at this angle when I used this movement for a supplemental lift.

I expected to only work up to 135 and then do medium-to-high reps with 95.  What a nice surprise that 135 was so easy, that taking another single at 155 was a no-brainer.  After that, I knew 95 was going to be way to light for a work-set.  115 was just right.  I probably left 2-3 reps in the tank on the first set, and 1-2 on the 2nd.  This is good feedback to get as my regular incline has been moving faster than my OHP.  I'm instantly planning on using this to supplement regular incline and/or OHP in the future.

Biceps circuit inspired by some more recent Paul Carter stuff.  My brachialis were screaming for 2 days after this.

Training: High Bars

BW - 208

High Bar Squats -
BarX10 (paused)
95X5 (paused)
135X5
185X3
225X2
205X10, 8, 6

Hack Squats - 1ppsX10, 10, 10

First day back in the gym after a two week vacation.  Just gonna ease myself back into things with a couple movements a day.  My schedule is about to get fraught, which will limit my training opportunities, however I didn't want to kill myself coming out of the vacation gate just because of that.  I'll probably just cruise for a couple of weeks, and maybe try out Paul Carter's short peaking cycle as a twice a week program when my schedule gets tight.  As a way of coming out the other side with my strength at my recent baseline.

Anyway, High Bars were solid.  205X10 is a Rep PR, and it's possible I could have gone for an all-around PR of 13 reps on the 1st set, but, again, not trying to kill myself out of the gate.

On the Hacks, I kept my feet close together and as far back as I could, and had my knees going straight forward to try and get maximum quad activation.  My heel was coming off the plate slightly at the very bottom.  This is such a strange movement.  It doesn't feel heavy, but I still have to push hard coming out of the hole, and it's still slow to get back to the top.  Interesting.

Vacation Prep. Week 7. Full Body (Deload)

BW - 211

Squat -
BarX10 (paused)
95X5 (paused)
135X5
185X4
225X3, 3

Incline Bench -
BarX30
95X5
115X4
135X3
155X5, 5

Upright Rows - 95X8, 8

BB Rows - 135X10, 10

That's it.  One last quick workout for the hip and shoulder joints, and now I'm off to Vietnam for two weeks.

Vacation Prep. Week 7. Deadlift (Deload)

BW - 210

Paused Front Squats -
BarX10
95X5
135X5, 5

Deadlift -
135X5
185X4
225X3
275X3, 3

RDL - 185X10

Cutting back across the board on weight, reps, and volume before I go on vacation next week.  Want to give my body a chance to recover from all the volume I've been throwing at it, and also minimize my chances of getting a lifting injury right before I leave.

Vacation Prep. Week 6. Bench

BW - 210

Incline -
BarX20
95X5
115X4
135X3
155X2
185X1
155X16, 6
115X11

Plate Full-Frontal Raise - 25X30, 15, 12
super-set with
DB Incline Flyes - 30sX15, 15, 15
and
DB Rear Dealts - 30sX20, 20, 20

155X16 is an all-around PR for ALL Benching.  Feels good.

Vacation Prep. Week 6. Squat

BW - 209

Squat -
BarX10 (paused)
95X5 (paused)
135X5
185X4
225X3
275X2
315X1
275X3, 3, 2, 3, 3

High-Bar Squats - 225X3, 3, 3, 3, 3
super-set with
Low-Bar, Pause Squats - 225X3, 3, 3, 3, 3

Front Squats -
165X5
135X10, 8, 6, 5
155X5
165X3


Just can't keep myself from pouring on the volume with squatting, I guess.  Cold as hell outside and the bus was a long ways off, so I just kept doing Front Squats till it got closer.  165X5 is a Rep PR.

Vacation Prep. Week 6. Back

BW - 209

BB Rows -
95X10
135X8
155X5
175X5
195X5
215X4
175X12, 6
135X12

One-Arm Pull-Downs - X12, 12, 10, 10, 8

CG Pull-Downs - X18

Vacation Prep. Week 6. Press

BW - 210

PBN -
BarX16
65X5
85X4
95X3
115X2
95X16, 7

Upright Rows - 95X10, 10, 10, 10, 10

Hmmmm.  Well, 95X16 matches exactly the all-around PR I set in early December.  I also felt generally strong today, as I was able to up the volume on Upright Rows as well.  I really want to push the PBN up to 95X20+, but I have to keep telling myself that vacation is just a couple weeks away, and that driving towards bigger goals can wait for March.

Vacation Prep. Week 5. Deadlift

BW - 209

Paused Front Squats -
BarX10
95X5
135X5
155X4
175X3
185X2
205X1
155X3, 3, 3, 3

super-set with

Deficit Deadlifts -
135X5
185X4
225X3
275X2
315X1
275X3, 3, 3, 3, 3

Deadlift - 275X3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3

Whole lotta volume.  Everything felt pretty good.

Vacation Prep. Week 5. Back

BW - 204

Chin-Ups - BWX14, 8, 8, 6, 5 (41 total reps)

Standing, One-Arm Cable Rows - X18, 15, 12, 10

Solid little back work-out at the office gym.  I didn't get double-digit reps on my 2nd set of chins like last time, but 14 reps @ 204 is my 3rd best set of chins ever.

Vacation Prep. Week 5. Bench

BW - 207

Incline -
BarX30
95X5
115X4
135X2, 2
155X2
185X1
155X14, 5
135X6

Plate Raises - 25X25, 18, 15
super-set with
DB Incline Flyes - 30sX15, 15, 15
and
DB Rear Delts - 30sX20, 20, 20

Bench felt a little shaky tonight, the 185 moved slower than I would have liked, and my shoulder was bothering me after Inclines and is bothering me a bit the next day.  Nevertheless, 155X14 is a Rep PR for Incline Bench.  It doesn' meet my rep goal for this weight of 16+ so I stay at this weight next week.  I met my volume goal with that 2nd set of 155X5, but I decided to drop down and get one more set in instead of doing hammer bench.  Not a terrible idea, but I may have been better served dropping down to 95 and doing higher reps.  I got lazy and didn't want to unload and reload the bar.

The giant-sets for the shoulder joint were fine.  I added some reps to the full-front(al) raises, but couldn't really add any to the other movements.  I'm pausing the flyes at the bottom, only coming 2/3 of the way up to keep tension on the muscle, and then doing a controlled eccentric back down.  By the time I get over 10 reps with just the 30s, I'm starting to really struggle.

Vacation Prep. Week 5. Back

BW - 204

Chin-Ups - BWX12, 10, 8, 6, 5 (41 total reps)

One-Arm, Standing Cable Rows - X18, 15, 10, 10 (straight-weight; same as last session)

Pull-downs - X15 (burn-out set)

Good little session at the office gym.  Not sure if I've ever gotten double-digit reps on the 2nd set of chins before.

Between the last two back training sessions, I'm getting achy as hell all around my shoulder blades.

Vacation Prep. Week 5. Squat

BW - 208

Squat -
BarX10 (paused)
95X5 (paused)
135X5
185X4
225X3
275X2
315X1
275X5


High Bar Squats - 225X3, 3, 3, 3
super-set with
Low Bar Pause Squats - 225X3, 3, 3, 3

Front Squats -
155X8
185X4
205X2

Just decided to squat today, and go with what moved me.  I just hate indoor cardio so much.

The 315X1 and 275X5 didn't feel any stronger this week on Low Bars.

I did the super-setting of High Bars with Paused Squats again and added a fourth set of 3 this week.

Went to Front Squats again, but instead of doing a lower weight "burn-out" set, I decided to go a little heavier.  155X8 is just a rep or two off my best, 185X4 ties my best, and 205X2 is an all around PR.  Doing all that after everything else feels pretty good.   Approaching it this way was probably inspired a bit by John Phung.

Vacation Prep. Week 4. Back

BW - 206

BB Rows -
95X10
135X10
155X8
175X8, 8, 8, 7, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5
135X12

Single-, Straight-Arm Push-Downs - X20, 20, 20, 13

Treadmill - 10 minutes; sprint intervals

Just felt like doing rows until the wheels started to fall off.

The one-arm/stright-arm push-downs were just to see what that was like.  I thought about doing one-arm machine pull-overs, but this was just to see.  Seemed to be lighting up my lats right behind the arm-pit, but it's also a new movement.

Vacation Prep. Week 4. Press

BW - 206

PBN -
BarX20
65X5
85X4
95X3
115X2
95X14, 7

Upright Rows - 95X10, 10, 8, 8, 8

Treadmill - 25 minutes; incline walking

Been a long time since I've done upright rows.  I liked this session.  Short and to the point.  I hit the shoulders hard, but was able to balance out elbow extension and flexion this way.

Vacation Prep. Week 4. Deadlift

BW - 208

Paused Front Squats -
BarX10
95X5
135X5
155X3
185X1
205X1
155X5, 5, 3, 3, 3

super-set with

Deficit Deadlifts (45lb. plate ) -
135X5
185X4
225X3
275X2
315X1
335X1
275X3, 3, 3, 3, 3

Deadlift -
275X3
315X2
335X0
315X1
275X3, 3, 3

Treadmill - 30 minutes; incline walking

Whew.  The thought here was to do some work that would benefit the start of my deadlift, to use movements that require less weight, and to use the super-sets to keep moving and help burn some calories.  Super-setting paused Fronts and deficit Deads looks a little nuts now that I'm seeing it written down, but it was quite do-able.  I did tend to get a little dizzy after the deficit sets, though.

205X1 is technically a Rep PR for all Front Squatting, hahaha.

I guess 315 and 335X1 were both also technically Rep PR's for deficit pulls as well.  I'd always done them after regular pulls, and so had only really used 275-295 before.  Yay!  Lots of PRs!

I wanted to at least touch on regular deadlift to keep locking in my form tweaks, so I decided to work up and down.  335 broke off the floor but stopped below the knees, so I cut it there and worked back down and finished up with some sets at 275.

Probably didn't even need to do the treadmill after all of that, sheesh.

Vacation Prep. Week 4. Back

BW - 206

Chin-ups - BWX10, 9, 6, 5, 5 (35 total reps)

Standing, One-Arm Cable Rows - X15, 13, 10, 10

Treadmill - 10 minutes; intervals

Had a few days away from the gym because a buddy came to visit and we went out of town on a trip.  Couldn't make it to the gym to do any barbell movements, so I just repeated the same back workout from 3 days ago.

Vacation Prep. Week 3. Back

BW - 203

Chin-Ups - BWX12, 7, 6, 5, 5 (35 total reps)

Standing, One-Arm Cable Rows - X15, 12, 10, 10

Treadmill - Sprint Intervals; 10 minutes

Just a quick upper body accessory day at the office gym.

Chin-ups felt average.  The slightly higher reps on the initial sets are chalked up to a lower BW.

The cable rows were done standing over a low pulley to mimic a DB row position.  The DBs at my office gym don't go up high enough to have used them here.  There may be a new-ness effect, but I like the way these felt.  I kept my arm a bit away from my body and concentrated on pulling with my elbow until my shoulder blade felt fully retracted.

Sprint intervals were fine.

Vacation Prep. Week 3. Squat

BW - 205

Squat -
BarX10 (paused)
95X5 (paused)
135X5
185X4
225X3
275X2
315X1
275X5, 3

High Bars - 225X3, 3, 3
super-set with
Low Bar Paused - 225X3, 3, 3

Front Squat - 135X11

Crunched for time, so I did a bunch of squat variations with short rests instead of 30 minutes on the treadmill.  Lots more fun this way.

The 315X1 moved okay, but the rep sets of 275 felt like shit.  Getting out of gas and just feeling shaky on the way up.  One or both of those may be due to the diet.  Anyway, that's another reason I decided to go with squat variations for my volume instead of regular squat sets.

I've never super-set (giant set?) high-bars with paused low bars.  I really liked it.  It's neat to be able to leave the bar in one spot with the same weight on, and get this kind of work in.  Also, my quads and hamstrings are both fairly "tired" feeling the next day.  That almost certainly means they'll be really sore tomorrow.

After the last pair of triples on that, I felt like it was time to be done with those, but I wanted to do one more thing.  I decided to just strip it down to 1pps and rep out some front squats.  I'm sure that also contributes to my quads feeling exhausted today.  My tracker told me this was an all-around PR, which seemed crazy to me.  I checked this morning, and found a flaw in the app.  13 would have been a Rep PR, but I would have needed to get up closer to 20 for an all-around PR.  Still, coming within spitting distance of a Rep PR after all the other volume ain't nuthin'.

Vacation Prep. Week 3. Bench

BW - 205

Incline -
BarX30
95X5
115X4
135X3
155X2
185X1
145X19, 7

Hammer Bench - 50X20 (burn-out set)

Plate Full Front-Raise - 25X20, 15, 15
super-set with
Incline DB Flyes - 30sX15, 15, 15
and
DB Rear Delts - 30sX20, 20, 20

Treadmill - Incline Walking; 30 minutes

Because I didn't get to the gym yesterday, I threw in assistance work today in addition to the main lift.

145X19 is a Rep PR for Incline, and would also be a Rep PR for Flat Bench.  Together with 21+ total reps it meets my goal and I will move up to 155 next time.

I didn't really want to do the hammer bench because of time, but since I did it last week and my Incline was stronger this week, I thought I should at least get one set in.

But I really want the bench assistance focus to be on shoulders, and so I did this tri-set, and liked it.

Vacation Prep. Week 3. Leg Accessory

BW - 205

Bulgarian Split Squats -
35X20, 12
BWX18

Single-Leg Curls - X20, 12, 12

Treadmill - Intervals; 10 minutes

Got in and out at the office gym.  Split squats were much harder than I expected given that I usually squat prior to doing them.

Vacation Prep. Week 2. Press

BW - 203

PBN -
BarX20
65X5
85X4
95X3
115X2
135X1
95X14, 8

Chins - BWX12, 9, 5, 5, 4

DB Curls - 35sX12, 10, 8
super-set with
Overhead Extensions - 40ishX20, 18, 15

Walking - 30ish minutes; outdoors!

135X1 is a Rep PR.  It was a real 50/50 grinder, too.  I wish that hadn't been the case.  We'll just have to see how it goes in future weeks.

Vacation Prep. Week 2. Deadlift

BW - 209 (?)

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

Deficit Deads (1" plate) - 225X3, 3, 3, 3, 3

Treadmill - 30 minutes; incline walking

 Kind of played things by feel today, and was focused on tweaking my deadlift set-up.  I videoed a lot of the sets along the way and used those to make adjustments as I went.  I very quickly refined the set-up to get my shoulders directly over the bar.  From there I worked on finding a starting position for my hips.  My focus here was on: 1) Hips below shoulders (#MarkBell).  2)  Hamstrings feeling tight.  3)  Hamstrings being low enough to accomplish 1. and 2., but not so low that they shoot up before the bar leaves the floor.  And finally 4) Bottom Position on subsequent reps being the same as on the first rep.

Here's a video of a set with 275 where I felt like I got it dialed in (I forgot to video my sets at 365 and 315, dammit):

Then I decided to see if I could keep the same feeling with deficits.  I hit my biggest deadlift numbers using deficits for additional volume, but I also suspect that's where I started to develop bad habits on my set-up.  Here's a video of a deficit set where I'm dialing in the same 4 points above:

Vacation Prep. Week 2. Bench

BW - 207

Incline -
BarX30
95X5
115X4
135X3
155X2
185X1
145X17, 4

Hammer Bench - 50X20, 17, 15

Incline Flye - 20sX15, 15, 15
super-set with
DB Rear Delts - 30sX20, 20, 20

Plate Raise - 25X25

Treadmill - 30 minutes; incline walking

Alright session.  I was looking for 19 reps with 145 on Incline, so I will repeat this weight next week.

I had been hesitant to try the hammer bench, because I didn't want to try another movement that would aggravate my shoulder.  This actually was okay, although the weight was really light.  I'll try it again next week.

I probably went overboard on assistance a little bit here, time-wise.  Starting next week, I will be going more frequently, doing the main lifts on separate days from the assistance, and alternating steady-state with interval cardio.  I want those sessions to be shorter, so I'll just have to contain myself.

Vacation Prep. Week 2. Squat

BW - 207

Squat -
BarX10 (paused)
95X5 (paused)
135X5
185X4
225X3
275X2
315X1
275X6, 3, 3, 3, 2

Bulgarian Split Squats- 20X15, 15, 15

GHR - BWX10, 8, 7

Treadmill - 30 minutes; incline walking

Squat strength may be declining a bit with weight loss and lack of calories.  Some of this could be psychological.  I was also trying for more sit-back, and that may have fucked me up a bit as well.  When I stopped doing that, some of the later work-sets felt better than the 315X1 and 275X6 did.

Added a DB to the single-leg work.  Didn't make it that much harder, so I'll up that weight a tad next time and start getting after it.

Somebody moved the GHR up to a higher setting, locked the bolt down, and stripped it so nobody could move it.  So these were a lot harder today.

Vacation Prep. Week 1. Press

BW - 209

PBN -
BarX20
65X5
85X4
95X3
115X2
125X4, 3, 2, 2, 2, 1

Chin-ups - BWX10, 6, 5, 5, 4, 4, 4 (38 total reps)

DB Curls - 30sX18, 12, 11
super-set with
Overhead Extensions - 50ishX25, 15, 12

Treadmill - 30 minutes; incline walking

125X4 is a Rep PR.  Together with 14 total reps, that takes me to the end of a full cycle of PBN.  I'll start over next week working up to 135 as my over warm-up and then repping out lower weights again.

Everything else was fine.

Vacation Prep. Week 1. Deadlift

BW - 209

Deadlift -
135X5
185X4
225X3
275X2
315X1
365X1
345X3, 3, 3, 3, 2

Bulgarian Split Squat - BWX20, 20, 15

GHR - BWX12, 10, 8

Treadmill - 30 minutes; incline walking

Odd session.  I misread my programming here, and I'd intended to do high-rep sets with a much lower weight.

I discovered last time that my deadlift form was set up with the shoulders well behind the bar and the hips fairly low.  I started playing around with adjust that here.  I didn't think to film it, which is dumb and a tool I need to use to fix this.  The good news is that my back felt strong and VERY stable in this position which helps reduce the yips I have from injuring myself a couple months back.  The bad news, is I still feel very slow off the floor.  The thing is that the first rep feels the slowest to break, and the subsequent reps feel better.  That screams bad set-up, so I'll just have to work it.

Got more reps total on the split squats which are still brutal as hell.

Really making the GHR a struggle for myself.  I'm dropping my upper body a little bit below parallel at the bottom of the movement and focusing on initiating the concentric with my glutes first before I start extending the knees.  Still pushing the glutes through hard right before the top as well.

Vacation Prep. Week 1. Bench

BW - 210

Incline -
BarX30
95X5, 5
115X4
135X3
155X2
185X1
135X20

Incline DB Flyes - 20sX15, 15, 15

DB Rear Delts - 30sX20, 20, 20

BB Curls - BarX35

Treadmill - 30  minutes; high-incline walking

135X20 is a Rep PR for Incline and also would be for Flat Bench.  Moving up to 145 next week.

I went round and round on what kind of assistance I wanted to do for this Vacation Prep period when I'll be in a calorie and carb deficit.  For lower body days, it was fairly easy to just pick some BW stuff.  For upper days, chins are the only viable BW movement because push-ups and dips aggravate my shoulder.  I'll be doing chins on OHP day but I didn't necessarily want to put them right before deadlifting until I see what my recovery will be like on the diet.

I ended up deciding to go with all light shoulder work.  See if I can build up shoulder strength and stability as much as possible around whatever is wrong in there.  It was hard NOT to do triceps work, but fuck it, we'll just see what happens.

Vacation Prep. Week 1. Squat

BW - 213

Squat -
BarX10 (paused)
95X5 (paused)
135X5
185X4
225X3
275X2
315X1
275X8, 3, 3, 3

Bulgarian Split-Squats - BWX20, 16, 15

GHR - BWX10, 10, 10

Treadmill - 30 minutes walking; slight incline

My target with 275 is 12 reps.  I got 11 last week, but I was strangely intimidated by the weights today.  Maybe that's must my subconscious saying, "you're in a caloric and carb deficit, you won't be able to lift this."  Whatever.  Before this last month, 275X8 would have been a Rep PR, so it's not terrible.

Oh my fucking God, I forgot how much those split squats can hurt.  Good stuff.

Still tweaking my GHR set-up and execution.  I feel plenty of 'H,' but not so much 'G.'  I started pushing my hips through hard close to the top of the rep and that seemed to help.

Reps and Volume. Week 16. Deadlift

BW - 214

Deadlift -
135X5
185X4
225X3
275X3
315X2
345X4, 1
315X3

RDL - 185X15, 15, 12

Paused Front Squats - 135X5, 5, 5, 5, 5

Chest Supported Rows - 90X20, 15, 12, 11

I was on the fence about even doing Deadlifts today.  I gave it a shot and they felt strong all the way through the set of 345X4.  Then the next set of 345 had no umph at all.  Instead of trying to force the issue I dropped down for a quick set with 315.

Later in the session I went back to the platform and examined my set-up in a side mirror.  I hadn't realized this, but I was set up with my shoulders WAY behind the bar.  This is something to look at.  I haven't filmed myself from the side in a long time, so I'll start doing that.  Got to get my shoulders over the bar.

RDL's felt strong.  I forgot my straps today and just went with a mixed-grip.

Paused Fronts and T-Bars both felt strong.

Reps and Volume. Week 16. Bench

BW - 212

Incline -
BarX30
95X5, 5
115X4
135X3
155X2
175X7*, 3, 4 (*failed on 8)

DB Laterals - 20sX20, 20, 20
super-set with
Rolling DB Triceps - 30sX20, 20, 15

DB Hammer Curls - 40sX10, 10, 10
super-set with
DB Rear Delts - 30sX18, 18, 18

175X7 is a Rep PR, and, together with 14 total reps, meets my goal for this weight.  I'll reset next week with 185 as my over-warm-up single.

I was going to try machine benching today, but once I got there something said work through the delts so I did that instead.  I've been doing lots of OHP and rear delts, but I hadn't done anything for the lateral head for awhile.  Who knows, maybe it can help jump-start some improvement before I go see a professional about my shoulder issues.  Also, my shoulder is WAY less achy for having not done the heavy lock-outs.  I'm suspicious that as I work back up on Inclines and start looking to hit reps at 185+, I may run into the same issues, however.

Reps and Volume. Week 16. Squat

BW - 215

Squat -
BarX10 (paused)
95X5 (paused)
135X5
185X4
225X3
275X2
315X1
275X11, 4, 2

High Bars - 225X3, 3, 3, 3, 3

GMs - 135X10, 10

Single-Leg Extensions - X20, 17, 15

275X11 is an all-around PR.  However, 11 is my number to beat, so I'll be repeating this day next week.

This really re-fatigued my low back after having just recovered from Deadlifts on Friday.  I may do accessories only on Deadlift day this week, and think about alternating like that.  I'll also be making big changes to my programming starting next week as I start looking to get in shape for a vacation in early March.

Everything else went well.

Reps and Volume. Week 15. Deadlift

BW - 214

Deadlift -
135X5
185X4
225X3
275X2
315X1
365X1*
345X3, 2, 2, 2

RDL - 185X15, 12, 12

Paused Front Squats -
BarX5
95X5
135X5, 5, 5

Single-Leg Curls -
X12, 10 (straight-weight)
X15 (dropped weight)

Haven't done deadlifts in a while and things were a little out of whack.  *I did double-overhand all the way up to 365, but that top weight started to come out of my fingers right before lock-out.

I was going to try using straps for my work sets, but I couldn't get in position starting at the bottom.  I didn't realize so much of my set-up started while standing upright, getting tight and then pulling myself down to the bar.

Worksets felt weaker than I'd hoped after the time off.  I missed at the bottom on both an attempted 4th rep on the first set, and an attempted single at the end.  My weakness continues to be from the floor.

RDLs felt good though.

Thinking about strength off the floor, I decided to try out paused front squats here instead of the planned T-Bar rows.  Might play with this again next week.