Block 2 (Accumulation). Cycle 3. Day 1.

BW - 214

Squat - 235X8, 8, 8 @~6.5

Tempo Incline 2-2-0 - 110X5, 5, 5 @~6.5

Tempo Row 0-2-0 - 105X8, 8, 8 @6/7.5

Everything felt pretty good.  Especially considering it was a weekend afternoon, which is the time I feel worst training.

Squats felt pretty good, but I had to really dial in my focus because I'd had a lot of coffee that AM.  Last set felt easier than the first two.

Tempo Inclines feel like I'm getting acclimated better.  Feels set for a real jump.

Rows start off feeling strong, but the bottom continues to fall out.  That static hold at the top is a real gasser.

Block 2 (Accumulation). Cycle 2. Day 2.

BW - 214

Squat - 210X10 @ 5.5

High Bar Squat -
217.5X3, 3 @5.5
220X3 @ 6

Bench - 142.5X8, 8, 8 @ ~6

Deadlift - 230X8, 8, 8 @ ~6

Everything went really well today.  Generally speaking, everything felt a bit stronger than last time, and the lifts felt generally more locked in.

A little bit of left quad discomfort on Squats.  Distracting between sets, but not really a problem during sets.

Bench was fine.

Deadlift was solid, and getting used to holding position at the bottom and taking my breath there.

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

BW- 214

Squat - 230X8, 8, 8 @~6.5

Tempo Incline Bench 2-2-0 - 107.5X5, 5, 5 @6/7

Tempo BB Row 0-2-0 - 97.5X8, 8, 8 @6/7

Everything felt pretty good on this day.  No pain issues with quads or low back.

Squats actually seemed to get easier as I went on.  If I was auto-regulating volume, I would have done another set.  I'm getting plenty of warm-up reps with: BWX10, 45X10, 135X8, 185X5, 205X3, but I may need to that if the work sets continue to feel easier as they progress.  Could try reducing reps on the last couple of sets, or conversely shifting some reps from the lighter sets to heavier sets.  Could also give longer breaks between the last couple of warm-up sets.

Tempo work all felt about right.  My ego would obviously like these weights to be heavier, and after the first sets I often think I should go up, but experience has told me that my strength falls off a cliff on upper-body movements, and by the time I get to the 2nd and 3rd sets, the weight turns out to be about right.

No video of the tempo work today.

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

BW - 211

Squat - 205X10 @5

High-Bar Squat - 205X3, 3, 3 @~6.5

Bench -
160X8 @ 7
152.5X8 @7
140X8 @6.5

Deadlift - 225X8, 8 @6/7

I've tried to go back through my old logs and look for places where the comp lifts seemed to make a lot of progress, and note down how I was training them at that time.  I'm going to try sprinkling them in here and there, a block at a time.  This Squat session is the result of one of those.  There was a point where I was doing LRB training, and the squat training was a low bar set of 10 followed by three triples of high bar at the same weight.

Because I haven't squatted much the last few weeks, I had pretty good DOMS going into this session, and it made stuff a bit more difficult.  The weights I landed on seem ok.  Hopefully, I'll get more acclimated over the next cycle or two and can dial this in a bit tighter.  All in all, felt fine.

Bench was all over the place.  It's been a bit like this recently where the expected weight ends up being way over on RPE, and nailing down the right intensity is a bit of a ride.  We'll see how this progresses.  Possibly BW drop has something to do with it?

Was really nervous about DL after 2.5 week back injury, but these felt good.  I did fatigue quickly and got to @7 on set 2, when I'd planned 3 sets, but we'll see how that goes next time.  I made some changes to my set-up and inter-rep patterns.  Used to, I would take my breath before I dropped my knees, and then I'd lock my knees to take a breath between reps.  I think that got me in trouble with these low intensity DLs last time, and caused the bar to be moving around a bit much, and that may have contributed to the back tweak.  This whole session and cycle have really been about recommitting to focus.  Taking time to do things right even when the intensity is relatively low.

And also not freaking out about how much lighter all these weights are than what I used to use.

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

BW - 212

Squat - 225X8, 8, 8 @6

Tempo Incline Bench 2-2-0 - 105X5, 5, 5 @6

Tempo BB Row 0-2-0 -
100X8, 8 @~7
95X8 @8

Low back pain seems all but gone, and gave me no issues on day 1 of this block.

While this is conceived as an accumulation block, I'm starting off with good 'ol 3 sets across.  As I've been struggling with injuries for so long, and had so many pivot blocks, I want to make sure I easy myself back into both volume and intensity on the big movements. 

Squat felt better than it has in a long time as neither my back, nor my quads gave me any issues here.  Focus was on very controlled reps.

Tempo incline topped out at a lower weight than I would have expected, but I've never done these before.  I took a moderate grip, but nevertheless triceps began fatiguing very quickly.  I originally conceived everything in this cycle to be 3X8, but it became clear on the warm-ups on these that the tempo was hitting me hard and fast, and so I called an audible to do these for 3X5 so that I could keep relative intensity a bit higher.

Rows paused at the top are also fairly new to me, and the weight was hilariously low.  I'm only doing a 2-day cycle this time around, and I'm a bit nervous this movement could be too light in relative intensity for a DL accessory.  However, coming of a 2.5 week low-back strain, I wanted to kick off with something that would put low intensity tension on the low back to "test" it.  Hmmmm.  We'll see.

Video is all of final sets.

Pivot Day 4

BW - 212 (2 year, 3 month low)

Seated Leg Curls - 4X8

DB Seated Press - 40sX4X8

DD Handle Pull-Downs - 4X8

Single-Leg Raises - 4X8

Happy about the diet progress.

Knock on wood, the low back feels about ready to start a new block on Monday.

Pivot Day 2 and 3

Day 2:
BW - 216

Seated Leg Curls - 4X8

DB Shoulder Press -
45sX8
40sX8, 8, 8

CG Pull-Downs - 4X8

Single-Leg Raises - 4X8

Conditioning - Treadmill; 20 minutes walking

Day 3:
BW - 213

Bulgarian Split Squats - 4X8

EZ Bar French Press - 50X4X8

Cable Rear Delt Rows - 4X8

BB Curls -
60X6
55X8, 8, 8

Conditioning - Stationary Bike; 7 rounds HIIT

Pivot Day 1

BW - 216

Bulgarian Split Squats - BWX8, 8, 8, 8

EZ-Bar Seated French Press - 50X8, 8, 8, 8

Cable Rear Delt Rows - X8, 8, 8, 8

BB Curls - 65X8, 8, 8, 8

Haven't done rear-foot elevated split squats since Jan '15.  So awkward.

A brief exchange with Mike Tuchsherer led me to decide to go into another brief pivot while my low back heals up.  2-day pivot cycle.  Hopefully just doing one and then jumping into another dev block on Monday.

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

BW - 218

Tempo Squat 2-2-0 - 185X5, 5, 5, 5 @5.5/6.5

Close-Grip Bench - 135X8, 8, 8, 8 @6/7

Chin-Ups Supinated w/Straps - BWX3, 4, 3, 3, 2 @~10

Conditioning - Treadmill; 20 minutes walking

Low back has been not great the last few days despite taking Friday through the weekend off from lifting.  Started popping NSAIDs on Sunday, and felt okay to go to the gym on this Monday.  Decided ahead of time not to Deadlift.  Perhaps won't deadlift again the rest of this block or at least a week after the low back feels good.

Went with the same weight as last time on tempo squats.  RPE came in lower which was good, but I didn't want to adjust the weight upwards as I started to "feel" the low back injury a bit.  I did throw in an extra set just looking to get @6+.  Decided to play it safe, but was enthused that these felt better.

Worked up to last week's Close-Grip working weight of 127.5 and it was @5 at the most, and so warranted a jump to 135.  Same number of sets to get to @7.  Low back gave me a little trouble getting set up, but not too bad.

Decided to continue last week's new adventures with pull-up variations with straps.  Early days with these, but...my forearms strangely feel like they're getting more work?  Like, burning after the set like you get with high rep isolation work.  It seems counter-intuitive to think the forearms (i.e. "grip muscles") would be getting more work with straps.  Not sure exactly how to test that. 

Still avoiding HIIT conditioning till the back feels better.  No video today.