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.