Pivot Cycle 2. Session C.

sRPE @4.5

BW - 215

530 Tempo Squats - 235X6 @6

1-leg horizontal leg press - X8 @6

X233 Tempo Chins - BWX8 @6.5

High Incline Bench - 85X12 @6

Last session of the pivot.  On to the new training block!

Pivot Cycle 2. Session B.

sRPE @5.5

BW - 216

530 Deadlift - 310X4, 4 @6

1-Leg Elevated Hip Thrusts - BWX13, 13 @8

Bench Dips (paused) - BWX20, 16, 13 @5.5/8

530 Bench - 155X2, 2 @6

DB Rolling Triceps - 45sX6 @6

Pivot Cycle 2. Session A.

sRPE @5.5

BW - 217

Leg Raise on Elbows - BWX7, 7, 7 @ ~6

Plate Full Raise - 45X9, 9 @~6

BB Curls - 60X14 @6.5

DB Hammer Curls -

40sX10, 10 @8

35sX10 @6.5

Pivot Cycle 1. Session C.

sRPE @6

BW - 218

530 Squats -

245X6 @8.5

225X6 @7.5

1-Leg Horizontal Leg Press - X12, 12 @~7

X233 Chins - BWX7, 7, 5 @7/8

High Incline Bench - 85X12 @6

Overshot the mark a bit on tempo squats and had to back up.

Eccentric-only tempo chins were a surprise.  I'm almost 15 lbs. lighter than the last time I did them, but still only got about the same amount of reps.

Pivot Cycle 1. Session B.

sRPE @6

BW - 216

530 Deadlift - 305X4, 4 @6

1-Leg Elevated Hip Thrusts - BWX12, 12 @8

Bench Dips - BWX20, 20 @5.5/8

530 Bench - 155X2 @7

DB Rolling Triceps - 45sX6 @8

Pivot Cycle 1. Session A.

sRPE @5

BW - 216

Leg Raise on Elbows - BWX5, 5 @~8

Plate OH Raise - 45X8, 8 @6.5

BB Curls - 60X14 @7

DB Hammer Curls - 37.5sX10, 10 @~8

Took a little over a week off to go on vacation immediately after the last training block, so I think I'll do a 2 week pivot back into regular training.

Leg Raises were really weak, but everything else went about as expected.

I'll probably bump volume up slightly the rest of this week and the beginning of next week, and then pull back before I head into the intro week for the next training block.

Block 18 (Exploratory). Recap

sRPE was right on target through the block starting at ~@5.5 in the intro week, peaking ~@7.5 in week 4

 

Avg. BW was fairly stable through the block ending slightly lower than it started but ending higher than at the end of last block (+2 lbs.).

The bad:

  Pivot:

  - Curls started off at 84% of the end of last block.  Not bottom-2-tier, but still poor.

  Progress:

  - TTB regressed, finishing just under where it started the block.  It was in a maintenance slot, so nbd.

The less bad:

  Pivot:

  -  Dips, DL, and Toes-to-Bar, all started off below their average block-over-block.

  Progress:

  - Chins, DL, and Press all progressed less than the average.  They averaged ~0.76% increase between the three of them.  All progress is good progress, but I can get better results than this.  Press was particularly disappointing as it started the block with an e1RM of 150, and finished with a peak e1RM of 157.5 which was lower than peak e1RM in the prior block.

The good:

  Pivot:

  - Chins and Squat both came in fairly strong averaging about 97% e1RM from the end of the prior block.

  Progress:

  - Squat and Bench.  They averaged an increase of 2.1% week-over-week between them.  Not quite top 2-tier, but very close.

The best:

  Pivot:

  - Bench came in at 102% e1RM over the end of the last block.  Coming out of a deload into week 1 stronger than the prior block is the goal.

  Progress:

  - I actually lifted weight on Curls I'd never used before (95 lbs.).  Dips had peak e1RM entering all-time territory.  Curls and Dips both had new top 2-tier performances averaging 3% increases week-over-week between them. 

  Maxi-Total:

  - 2432 lbs.  Best since I started tracking all 8 lifts.

All-in-all, a very good block.  I learned to be a bit more willing to take my foot of the gas mid-block, and then not to go for PRs at the end of the block that are WAY outside of what the training block looked like i.e. to go more for Rep and Volume PRs in the set / rep range I'd predominantly been working with.

Block 18 (Exploratory). Cycle 7. Session C.

sRPE @6.5

BW - 219

Squats -

300X8, 8 @~7/8

345X1 @~6

Dips - 

BW+60X4 @7

BW+20X14 @10

Low Pin Press - 135X2, 2, 2, 2 @~9

A couple of little PRs to end the block.

300 for 2X8 is a Volume PR on Squats.  Effort increase significantly between the first and second set, so even though I still felt fresh, I didn't want to do another hard set of 8.  Instead I decided to work up with some singles.  My target was 365@~7.  I hit the 345X1 @6 very comfortable, but when I squatted the 365 it ended up being high and wobbly, so I'm not counting it.  Just a little out of practice with heavier singles.

239 (BW+20)X14 is a Rep PR on Dips.

Skipped OH extensions and Gaspari Curls, but felt like trying out 135 on the pin presses.  I figured singles or doubles.  Doubles were do-able, and BOY are 2@9s a different experience from 3@8s on these.  Weird how "do-able" they were, but also how mentally taxing.  It was pretty fun.

Block 18 (Exploratory). Cycle 7. Session B.

sRPE @6.5

BW - 216

Press - 135X4, 3, 2, 2 @9/7.5

Chin-Ups - BWX8 @8.5

Machine Pullovers - X15, 15 @8/10

Toes-to-Bar - BWX6, 4 @~10

DB Curls (myo-reps) - 40sX12, 5, 5, 5, 4 @~10

On Press, those 4 sets with 135 constitute a 4X2 Volume PR.  I wasn't going to get a 4 Rep or 4X4 PR here at the end of the block, but I was pretty sure I could get a 4X1 or 2 Volume PR.  Instead of doing straight sets, I still tried pushing the first couple of sets just to see what would be there on the day.

No other PRs on the last B session of the block.  There was an outside chance I might hit a Rep PR on either Chins or TTB, but I could kind of tell after Press that they weren't going to be there. 

DB Curls Myo-Reps with the 40's were slightly better than when I tried them a couple of weeks ago.  Still only got 12 on the top set, but last time I only got 4's across with the myo-rep sets.

Block 18 (Exploratory). Cycle 7. Session A.

sRPE @6.5

BW - 218

Curls - 95X7 @10

Bench - 

215X1 @6

167.5X13 @8

Machine Flyes - X11@10

Deadlift -

405X1 @7

320X10 @8 (grip)

SSB Pause Squat -

210X9 @7

250X4 @6.5

300X1 @6.5

95 lbs. is a 1 Rep PR on Curls, and I did 7.  Sets of 95X10 across is a near term goal for me on this movement, so I decided to do a rep test here in the last week.  With this performance, this block seems to have out-performed the previous Tier 2, or "second best," block.  That previous Tier 2 is what my next block of Curl training is based on.  Will be interesting to see how they compare!

167.5X13 is a Rep PR on Bench.  I wish I hadn't skipped the back-off set last week, or I might have gotten two of these in a row.  I think this is my first Bench Rep PR (vs. Volume PR) on Bench in over a year.  Even though it was a secondary lift this block, it's worth nothing that the prior two blocks had Bench as a focus.

320X10 is a Rep PR on Deadlift.  Rated is @8 RPE because the bar was starting to come out of my left hand at the end.  Top single was a little harder than last week.

I wasn't sure what I wanted to do with the SSB Pause Squats here in the last week, so I ended up working up in "big" increments.  Bar+1.25pps, bar+2pps, bar+2.25pps.  Interesting that it kind of got easier as I went up, and projects as an almost 50# increase over last week's e1RM.  Maybe it's just easier to do low reps at the end of a session.

At a bit of a minor programming "crisis" as I realize that the e1RM on my back-off sets of Bench is drastically higher than the e1RM of the top single.  PL programming would say to track off the single, and that's what I've always done.  For PL, that makes sense because it "keeps the goal the goal," but my goals are progress in a much wider variety of rep ranges.  Only tracking off of the lowest rep sets is the more conservative approach for sure.  More likely to undershoot vs. overshoot block-over-block targets in all rep ranges.  But it might also mask the actual progress being made in a block.  

For Bench this block, the back-off set had the higher RPE, and more closely mirrored the rep range of the Flyes, the accessory chosen specifically for bench.  So would it be more accurate to say I was training the higher rep range on bench this block, and if so, shouldn't I track e1RM off of that?  I think I should.  The downside is that it will likely over-project my  low-rep strength to start the next block, and I'll have to auto-regulate the weight down.  Not really that big of a deal as long as I'm conscious of it, and don't think something is "wrong."

I wrote out some new guidelines around this for future programming: 

    What rep range is getting "more" trained on the secondary and tertiary movement (higher RPE, more sets, more similar to accessory)?  Track e1RM for that range, BUT LOOK BACK at end of block and see which progressed more and base off of that.  Be prepared to have to auto-regulate projected performance in less similar rep ranges up or down at the start of the next block.

Block 18 (Exploratory). Cycle 6. Session C.

sRPE @7.5

BW - 221

Squats -

295X8, 8 @8/8.5

280X8 @7.5

Dips - 

BW+52.5X4 @7

BW+15X14 @9

Low Pin Press - 130X3, 3, 3 @8.5/9

Gym was closing early and I got into a long conversation with a gym buddy I haven't seen in a while, so I had to cut out a couple of assistance movements.

295 for 2X8 is a Volume PR on Squats.  Resting 5 minutes between sets and performance felt like it was still dropping fast between sets, so I dropped back 5% for the 3rd set.  Definitely getting that "end of the block" vibe.

Added some weight to the back off set of dips because I realized I might be in Rep PR territory for 14 reps.  Will likely try for that next week after feeling it out this week.

Pin presses were heavy.