Block 1 (Accumulation). Cycle 2. Day 2 (Bench focus).

BW - 217.9

Bench - 165X8, 8, 8 @6/7

High-Bar Box Squat - 185X6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6 @6/6.5

Pull-Ups w/ Straps - BWX3, 3, 3, 3 @~10

Back was feeling better today*, and so I was optimistic about the training session.

Bench felt fine, but still got to @7 after only 3 sets again this week.  Interesting.

HBS to a low box were super solid.  Still trying to keep rest times to ~2 minutes, but I ran into one of the strongest guys in the gym who I don't see that often anymore, and we inevitably got to talking training between sets.  With the longer rests, the RPE just wasn't going up very much on these, so I cut it off after 6 sets.  Will still probably expect a higher intensity next week.

*Tried doing mat pulls, but felt my low-back twinge just a bit after 2 reps with 225, so I shut that down.  We'll try again with pulls from the floor on Friday.

I'd done chin-ups instead of DL on Monday, so today I decided to do pull-ups.  I already had my straps out for mat pulls, and I was stuck using my least favorite pull-up station, so I decided to try them with straps for the first time.  Wow.  I really didn't expect them to make as much of a difference as they did.  These were only sets of 3, but for pronated pull-ups which I haven't done in some time, these felt much stronger than I would have expected.  These were very strict with a swinging, straight-arm hang at the bottom and chest to the bar at the top.  It never occurred to me that grip strength might be limiting my chin strength this much.

Block 1 (Accumulation). Cycle 2. Day 1 (Squat focus).

BW - 219

Squat - 225X7, 7, 7 @6/7

DB Bench -
50X8, 8 @~6
55X8 @6.5

Neutral-Grip Chins - BWX3, 2, 2

Pull-Downs - X10 @8

Conditioning - Treadmill; 20 minutes walking

Low-back pain from Friday interfered with most everything. 

Squatted until it seemed the low back pain was starting to intensify during sets, and stopped.

Getting on and off the bench with the DBs was tough because of the low back.  Meant starting each set half-out-of-gas.

Low back was still feeling pretty worked up after DB bench, so I skipped Trap Bar deads and dis some upper-back only work.

Did walking instead of HIIT on treadmill.

No video.

Block 1 (Accumulation). Cycle 1. Day 2 and 3 (Bench and Deadlift focus).

Day 2

BW - 217

Bench - 165X8, 8, 8 @6/7

High-Bar Box Squat - 185X6, 6, 6, 6, 6 @6/7

2" Mat Pulls w/ Straps - 257.5X7, 7, 7, 7 @6/7

Day 3

BW - 218

Deadlift - 242.5X8, 8, 8, 2* @6/*10 (tweaked low back)

Tempo Squat 2-2-0 - 185X5, 5, 5 @6/7

Close-Grip Bench - 127.5X8, 8, 8, 8 @6/7

Bench went from 6 to 7 pretty fast.  Not sure what that was about.

High-Bar Box Squats and Elevated Deads both went fine.

Day 2 felt solid overall.

Not so much Day 3.  Tweaked my back on the 2nd rep of the 4th set of Deads.  Video of 3rd and 4th sets below.  Probably just getting in too much of a hurry because the low intensity is kind of boring, and makes the higher rep sets seem to take forever.  Feels about 80% back to normal 3 days later, and didn't prevent me completely from finishing the training session.

I have to take the tempo squat weights with a grain of salt because of the back injury.  If the low back is fine this week we'll see how they do.  Generally would expect these to have been heavier.

CG Bench was a shit show getting to my work weight.  It took me 4 sets to find this weight, at which point I was already fairly fatigued.  Theoretically that should mean this will be a conservative number come the next session.

Hope the low back continues to heal quickly.  Was very happy to be starting a new cycle, and would hate to get derailed in the first week.

Block 1 (Accumulation). Cycle 1. Day 1 (Squat focus).

BW - 215

Squat - 247.5X7, 7, 7, 7 @6/7

DB Bench - 55sX8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8 @6/7

Trap Bar DL (High Handles) - 245X8, 8, 8 @6/7

Conditioning - Treadmill HIIT; 7 rounds

First day of the new cycle!  Very happy to be revving things up.

Quads felt fine during Squats.  I have "normal" DOMS less than 24 hours later, and we'll see how that trends over the next 24.  Otherwise, these felt great.  Estimated target weight for the day was 252.5, and happy to have ended up in that ballpark.  Mostly happy to just be squatting for volume (and reps) pain free, but am hopeful that I can see a robust increase in intensity through this block since this weight is about 100 lbs. under my best set of 7.

Over 3 years since I did DB flat bench, so I had no target.  First set with the 55s was really awkward, and I thought I might have overshot, but the 2nd set was @6 tops, and then I sailed through until I hit a conservative @7 on the sixth set.  Depending on fatigue and recovery for the first week, I would expect these weights to be higher next week.  Didn't grab any video of these.

I've never used a trap bar.  Ever.  It was fun!  If a little strange feeling.  I decided to use the high handles for this cycle as they seem to involve less legs, and therefore more back?  The range of motion feels very strange, but it was all good.

Enthusiasm about training is high.

Transmutation to Accumulation Pivot Day 9.

BW - 216

Bench - 190X5, 5 @7

Close-Grip Bench - 155X11, 8 @8

Tempo Squat 3-2-0 - 210X3, 3, 3 @7

GHR - BWX6, 6 @7

DB Rows - 80sX6, 6, @7

Last session of the pivot block.  Mind is definitely ready for more, and I think my body is healed up a bit.

Close-Grips are the only "big" movement I've done higher-rep RPE work on.  Not sure if it's normal to have a drop off in rep strength @RPE like that at higher reps.

Squats were again supposed to be 3-3-0.  I just suck at counting seconds under load, I guess.

Transmutation to Accumulation Pivot Day 9.

BW - 217

Squat -
285X4 @6.5
290X4, 4 @7, 7.5

Bench-Grip Press -
95X4 @5.5
102.5X4, 4 @7

Dips - BWX10 @7.5

Pull-Downs - X10, 10 @~8 (straight-weight)

DB Curls - 25sX14, 10 @8

Conditioning - Treadmill HIIT; 7 rounds

Squats felt pretty solid.  Quad discomfort maybe has flared up a bit over the past 12 hours since the session, but nothing crazy.

Moved grip in a smidge on wide-grip press and it started to feel more natural.  Some shoulder discomfort, so I'm glad I've decided not to use this in my next training block.

Despite the shoulder discomfort on the press movement, full depth dips felt solid.

Transmutation to Accumulation Pivot Day 8.

BW - 216

Bench-Grip Deadlift (DOH) - 270X4, 4 @7, 8.5

Pause Squat to Low Box - 225X4, 4 @7

Standing, Single-Leg Curls - X13 @8

DB Incline - 60sX8, 8 @~8

Plate Full Raise - 25X15, 12 @~6.5

Conditioning - Treadmill LISS; 20 minutes

Sunday is my #1 least favorite day to train.  Fatigue kicked in pretty quickly across the board at this mid-day session.

Grip was by far the limiting factor on Deadlift.

Box Squats felt very solid.  Shank is nice and vertical; really pushing the lift into the posterior-chain.  No quad pain during set at all.  No increase in quad discomfort outside of the gym within 24 hours following session. 

Ran out of gas quick on the DB Inclines.

Looking forward to switching back to full training.

Transmutation to Accumulation Pivot Day 7.

BW - 218

Bench -
195X6, 6 @8

Close-Grip Bench - 155X11 @8

3-3-0 Tempo Squat - 215X3, 3 @7

GHR - BWX6, 6 @~7

DB Rows - 80sX10, 10 @~8.5

Pushed Bench and Rows a bit harder than I was supposed to on this day.  Meathead mentality, I guess.  Trying to do more than last time, instead of sticking to the plan 100%.

Bench set-up felt off the whole time.  I couldn't seem to "naturally" get settled into the movement.  Start position and leg drive were both inconsistent, etc.  Could be the relatively light intensity making it easier for my mind to wander.  I thought moving competition movements to first in the session order would generally improve them, but that was not the case this session.  Still, it's a wash-out block, so nbd.

First time doing tempo squats, I think.  These were fine.  They were supposed to be 3-3-0, but they were probably closer to 2-2-0.

GHR felt a little better grooved today.

Pushing the DB rows into @8+ is probably not that big of a deal, it's just old "body-building" habits kicking in when DBs are involved.

Transmutation to Accumulation Pivot Day 6.

BW - 220

Squat - 285X4, 4 @6.5

Bench-Grip Press - 100X4, 4 @6.5

Single-Leg Press - 180X5 @7

Dips - BWX11 @7.5

Pull-Downs - X8, 10 (dropped weight)

DB Curls - 25sX13, 10

Conditioning - Treadmill HIIT; 7 rounds

Everything felt pretty good on this day.

Quad pain was barely a tickle during squats, even if it's still causing me distraction outside of the gym, and Squats generally felt the best they have in a while.  I had an e-mail consult with one of the rehab specialists from BBM, and they recommended staying this course for another week or so, but dropping leg press and belt squat.  My plan for an accumulation block following this with sets of 6-8 and RPE 6/7 was agreed with. Caution was to just keep an eye on tonnage, to make sure there's not a huge jump in the next 4 weeks or so.

Bench-Grip Press didn't feel quite as natural on this day for some reason.  Had more trouble finding the best grip so that the bar path felt smooth.

Per BBM, I'm going to discontinue the leg press in this block.  Frankly, my left medial hip/adductor area that was hurt for so long earlier this year hasn't been loving the single-leg press, and I'd been considering dropping it for that reason anyway.

Dips felt good with more reps while depth stays good.

Pull-downs and curls were done.

Transmutation to Accumulation Pivot Day 5.

BW - 217

DOH Bench-Grip Deadlift - 270X4, 4 @7

Low Bar Box Squat (beltless) - 215X4, 4 @7

Standing, Single-leg Curls - X13, 9 @8

DB Incline - 60sX8, 8 @7

Plate Full Raise - 25X15, 15 @8

DOH BG DL (lol) went pretty well got up to @7.5 on grip strength, which is fine.  Doing DOH for a reason.

I think the only other time I've done box squats was when I worked out with Matt Wenning a couple of years back.  These felt very solid.  I kind of thought the weight would be higher, but novelty, plus the lingering quad strain plus [waves hands].

Did DB Inclines for the 4th time in 4 years, haha.  These also felt fine

3 years since I did plate raises. 

Transmutation to Accumulation Pivot Day 4.

BW - 218

Bench - 195X5, 5 @~7

CG Bench - 155X12 @8

Belt Squat - 130X7, 7 @7

GHR - BWX5, 5 @7

DB Rows - 80sX8, 7 @7

Moving "comp" lift to first in the session order.  Bench ended up coming in about 7 lb.s under target weight, but I'm also being conservative.

When I used to do close-grip bench, my offset was about 80%.  I dropped 80% off my bench work weight, but upped RPE to 8.  I didn't do the math ahead of time, but 12 reps is right on target for that 155/(195/78.6%)=62.5%=12@8. 

Ended up getting more reps at my target weight than expected.  I believe that's wholly a function of a still-very-novel movement.  However I need to watch this on squat movements through this block as I'm trying to let my quad strain heal up and higher-rep sets are probably not the best idea, as it pushes the total volume back up.  Need to really hone in on that 2X4-5 @7.  I should have stopped the first set of 130 and upped the weight.

Haven't done GHR in forever.  Medial hamstrings at the knee weren't loving this, but hopefully a little SRA will help with that.

Belted up for the DB Rows as I've had issues here and there with these in the past, and it's also been forever since I did them.

Only took video of the bench sets today.