Novice LP. Session 35 (Greyskull Squats)

BW - 226

Bench -
212.5X5
192.5X5, 5

Squat - 320X5, 5, 7

Band Assisted Chins - X7, 5, 5, 5

212.5X5 is a Rep PR on the bench.  Heavy, but moving well.

Day 2 of using a belt for squats.  While the long lingering back pain is still there, the belt is allowing me to lift through it.  320X7 is a Rep PR.

Failed again to get prescribed reps on sets 2-4 of assisted chins.  Will have to tweak the approach slightly.

Conditioning

Tempo Run - 3/4 mile @ 00:09:00

Slow and steady.  Just getting back into it.

Novice LP. Session 34 (Greyskull Squats)

Squat - 315X5, 5, 7

Press - 140X2, 1

SLDL - 185X5, 5, 5

Went and got a tune up yesterday with my old coaches at Kratos.  I wanted them to review my programming to date, talk about next steps, take a look at my squat form, and help get me acclimated to using a belt.

I've decided to start using a belt to see if it will help this lingering back pain.  I've used one a couple of times in the past, and it no doubt helps lift heavier weight in the squat.  But will it help with the pain?  I've found conventional DL to be really fucking uncomfortable in them, but I'll just have to work that out.

315X7 is a Rep PR in the Squat.  The low-back discomfort was there even with the belt, but no where near as painful or all-around limiting as it has been.

Crapped out on Press though.  I suspect some of this is reversing the order I've been lifting in.  I'll try it again next go-round with pressing first and see if I get it.  If not, I will give it a shot on the GSLP and see if I can break some walls down that way.

These guys would like to see me move to an HLM program sooner than later.  Part of that would be SLDLs.  I'm not ready to switch over whole sale just yet.  Current plan, per lift, is as follows:
 - Squats: Continue to run the GSLP.  If it stalls, reset ONCE and run up again, or switch to HLM.  Depending on how I'm feeling with the belt.
 - Bench: Continue to run the Advanced Novice LP.  That includes pushing into triples like I did with Squats.  If it stalls, try resetting to GSLP and go from there.  Eventually moving into HLM.
 - DL: Adding the belt.  I got all my reps this last time with the current programming of top-triple/back-off-triple, so I'm going to progress that with the addition of the belt.  We'll just have to see how the belt changes things.  If it's better, I continue on this path.  If it stalls, I will go ahead and reset to HLM, which is just the same old 1X5 per week.
 - Press: Try 140 again, but as the first movement of the day.  If I get it, continue.  If I fail, I will try resetting to the GSLP and see how that goes.  Eventually moving into HLM.

Now the question is whether I should try to incorporate the prescribed SLDLs sooner rather than later, and what would that look like.  One way may be to pull chins back to 1-2X/week, and alternate DL and SLDL every other week.

Conditioning

Intervals - 1/4 mileX3 @ ~2:00 per

super-set with

Chin-Ups - BWX1, 2, 3, 4
and
Dips - BWX2, 4, 6, 8

Looking to get back on the conditioning train.  These 3 intervals kicked my ass some.  Part of that was no pace control.  I ran the first interval in 1:40 when I just wanted 2:30.

There's a bodyweight training station at the local park, so I threw some work in between intervals.

Novice LP. Session 33 (Greyskull Squats)

BW - 227

Bench -
210X5
190X5, 5

Deadlift -
340X3
305X3

Dips - BWX8, 8, 8

Bench went well.  210X5 ties my lifetime PR.  After the slight pec strain last week, I decided to switch to a top set with back-offs.

Deadlift felt a little rougher.  Back was kind of bothering me on all the warm-ups.  Top set felt about as expected, but the back-off set was surprisingly hard compared to last session.  I don't really see any form issues here so I'm not sure what.

Stretched out my shoulders really well before dips, and tried to keep them more locked in and focus on loading the triceps.  Felt good at the time, shoulders aren't giving me too much trouble the next day.

Novice LP. Session 32 (Greyskull Squats)

BW - 226

Press - 137.5X3, 3, 3

Squats - 305X5, 5, 6

Chin-Ups - BWX7, 4

Negative Chins (0/0/3) - BWX4X4

Press went pretty well.  Some of the reps REALLY slowed down over my head, though.

Squats were really hard.  Low back was giving me a lot of trouble.  I almost shut it down after the 2nd set.  Got over 5 reps on the "greyskull" set, but still:

Also, stalled out here on chins.  Really wanted a 5th rep on the 2nd set to beat the last session, but could only get about half way up.

Novice LP. Session 31 (Greyskull Squats)

BW - 227

Bench - 207.5X5, 5, 5

Squats - 295X5, 5, 9

Band-Assisted Chins - BW+RedLightBandX7, 6, 6, 6

207.5 for 3X5 on Bench is an LP PR.  Strained my left pec a bit squeezing out the final rep.  May be time to switch over to top-set plus back-offs.  I'll Press next session, and plan on doing back-offs on Bench the following session.

295X9 is a Rep PR for Squats!  Conditioning felt a little bit better.  I could have gone for 10 here, but I knew 9 was a PR and my low back had been bothering me on warm-ups, so I didn't push.  Probably not the end of the world, but as my conditioning improves I should try to push on days when my body feels okay.  Here's the final set:

Got the 6th rep on the last set of chins that I missed last time.  Found the band I'd been using, but these actually felt harder across the board.  I think the pec strain was just fucking with me.  I'll go for sets of 7 across next time.

Novice LP. Session 30 (Greyskull Squats)

BW - 224

Press - 135X3, 3, 3

Deadlift -
335X3
300X3

Dips - BWX5, 8, 10

(I know I didn't Squat today.  Title is just so I can scan back through phases easily.)

135 moved better on Press than 132.5.

Deadlifts also felt pretty good.  Forgot to take video.  Back-off sets also felt good.  I focused in hard on every rep on big air, contracting against it, and pulling my chest up before and during the lift.  My low back had been bothering me all day, but didn't give me any trouble on these lifts, and felt pretty good afterwards.

Still a ways off from 3 rep PRs in either lift.

Because I'm not squatting or chinning on Deadlift days, the day felt a little short.  I've always enjoyed doing dips, and want to be good at them.  I tried throwing in a few exploratory sets here to see how they felt.  Started at 5 reps, and laddered up.  Thought I might go for 12 on the 3rd set, but 10 felt about RPE 8, so felt like a good first day out.

Before doing these going forward, I need to be sure to do some of the shoulder warm-ups my PT gave me to help me un-fuck my shoulder back in the day.  No pain, but there's an uncomfortable stretch at the bottom in the old problem area.

For now, I'll keep throwing them in on DL days.  I'll be very conservative, try not to go above RPE 8, and progress 3 sets of BW until all three sets are in the mid-to-high teens. If everything is going well at that point, I'll start mixing in weighted days.

"Going well" will need to be looked at across all upper body exercises.  If Bench or Press stall out, and I move to any higher volume programming, I may need to make an adjustment.  I'm just very mindful that I'm adding in more "fluff" and more pressing volume here.

Novice LP. Session 29 (Greyskull Squats)

BW - 228

Press - 132.5X3, 3, 3

Squats - 285X5, 5, 10

Chin-Ups - BWX7, 4

Negative Chins (0/0/3) - BWX4X4

Starting to mix in the Greyskull LP starting on this day.  One of the two pillars of that set-up is Pressing movements come first.

These triples on press were all heavy, but only the last rep of the SECOND set was in doubt.  All the others were there.

This is my first time going over 5 reps on Squat since August '16, and my first time hitting double-digits since April '16.  Really fucking hard, hahahaha, but looked okay.  Conditioning was clearly the limiting factor:

Added a rep to the first set of chins.  Progress!

Novice LP. Session 28

BW - 224

Bench - 205X5, 5, 5

Band-Assisted Chins - OrangeLightBandX7, 6, 6, 5

Took a week off from Squats after hitting 365X3.  Was stoked for that PR, but my low back was feeling hammered all the time, and unracking/reracking the weight was getting painful on every work set.  I'm going to reset starting this week with the Greyskull LP on Squats (2X5, 1XAMAP).

But the regular LP is still working on Bench.  205 for 3 sets of 5 is another LP PR.  The last rep on the last set was really, really tough.  My spotter complimented me on pushing through for it.  I chalk it up to keeping focused, and executing each part of the lift correctly.  A technical error would have definitely caused a miss.

Couldn't find my usual band for chins, so I used an orange one.  Orange isn't on any of the band charts I've found on line, so I don't know how it might compare to my usual, red band.  It looked a little bit wider.

Whatever the case, everything went as programmed, except I missed the last rep on the last set.  So I'll repeat this one next time.