Saturday, September 30, 2023

Med.-Rep Volume PRs. Week 1. Session C.

sRPE @6
BW - 222

Bench - 
205X1 @7
155X6, 6, 6, 6 @4/5

Toes-to-Bar - BWX3, 3, 3, 3 @5/7.5

Reverse Safety Bar Box Squats - 160X4, 4, 4, 4 @4.5/5.5

Rower - HIIT; 6 rounds / 10 minutes

Thursday, September 28, 2023

Med.-Rep Volume PRs. Week 1. Session B.

sRPE @6.5
BW - 221

Chins - BWX3, 2, 2, 2 @8/7.5

BB Rows - 135X11, 11 @6/7

BB Curls - 60X13, 13, 13, 13 @7.5/8.5

DB Tate Press - 40sX11, 11 @7.5/8

Stationary Bike - HIIT; 10 minutes / 6 rounds

60 for 4 sets of 13 is a Volume PR on Curls.

Tuesday, September 26, 2023

Med.-Rep Volume PRs. Week 1. Session A.

sRPE @6
BW - 224

Squats - 
275X1 @4
225X6, 6, 6, 6 @4/3

Press - 95X3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3 @4/5.5

JM Press - 70X14, 14 @~7.5

Schedule should somewhat stabilize from here through the winter holidays.  Decided to drop intensity way down and hit the full, programmed volume.  If I'm ready for, or acclimate quickly to, this volume at this low of intensity, then I can likely start to ramp intensity up to target fairly quickly.  From there, I'll just have to see if my normal time-to-peak for a given cycle "starts" here and gives me a 4-6 week runway, or if having done a version of this for several weeks already limits my TTP, and I hit the wall in 4 weeks or less.

Squat was interesting today because the back-off sets got easier set-to-set.  That happens sometimes in a regular Week 1, so I'm hopeful that's a sign.

JM Press was also way easier today despite adding reps over the previous session.  Maybe a combination of diminished general fatigue from my time off, lower weights on the preceding Press sets, and acclimation to the movement.

Wednesday, September 20, 2023

Med.-Rep Volume PRs. Week 0.75. Session D.

sRPE @6.5
BW - 223

Deadlift - 
405X1 @7.5
275X6, 6, 6 @5/6.5

Dips - BWX8, 8, 8 @6.5/8.5

Band Chins (under knee) - BWX4 @9

DL strength popped today for some reason.  Still stuck with the plan and reduced intensity on the back-off sets and increase volume.

Dips were OK, and I thought I might do a full session of 4X6 but the 3rd set was more fatiguing than I wanted it to be and called it there.

Pulling Strength was a no-go for some reason.  I may have rushed the warm-up.  I had someplace I needed to be, so that gave me an excuse to end the session and skip conditioning.

Normal training should be able to start ramping up next week.

Tuesday, September 19, 2023

Med.-Rep Volume PRs. Week 0.75. Session C.

sRPE @6
BW - 224

Bench - 
215X1 @7.5
185X6, 6 @6/8

Toes-to-Bar - BWX4, 4 @6.5/7

Reverse Safety Bar Box Squats ("Eliminators") - 210X4, 4 @7/8

Rower - HIIT; 8 rounds / 14 minutes

Bench strength dipped significantly this week.  I think I can begin to approximate normal training next week, or for sure the week after.

I think I'll drop the weights on the PLs back about 20 lbs. and try to add the volume back in quickly.  I should be able to hit some 4X6 PRs on Bench and DL pretty quickly once I'm acclimated to the Volume.  For Squat we'll just have to see how long I go before I start to plateau.

8 weeks is the longest I've pushed it since I started structuring my blocks Mike T-style.  Lately I've been hitting the wall around 5-6 weeks.  But I've been cruising at this lower volume/lower frequency for ~3 weeks already and I have no idea how my body will react when I increase both within the same cycle.

Thursday, September 14, 2023

Med.-Rep Volume PRs. Week 0.75. Session B.

sRPE @7.5
BW - 222

Squats - 
315X1 @6.5
275X6, 6 @~6.5

Press - 105X3, 3, 3, 3, 3 @5.5/6.5

JM Press - 70X12, 13 @9/10

Stationary Bike - HIIT; 9 rounds / 16 minutes

Squatting continues to be the lift that I struggle with the most during times of schedule disruption.  Was hoping the top single would be bigger today, and also hoped that the RPE on the back-offs would have dropped a bit so that I'd feel comfortable adding more sets.  Oh well.  I'll keep treading water on the the Powerlifts, trying to add volume on the lower stress movements, and otherwise biding time till my schedule stabilizes a bit. 

Wednesday, September 13, 2023

Med.-Rep Volume PRs. Week 0.75. Session A.

sRPE @6.5
BW - 222

Chins - BWX2, 2, 2, 2 @7.5/8

BB Rows - 135X10, 10 @6.5/8.5

BB Curls - 60X12, 12, 12, 12 @7/8.5

DB Tate Press - 40sX10, 10 @7.5/9

Rower - HIIT; 8 rounds / 14 minutes

60 for 4 sets of 12 is a Volume PR on Curls.

Tuesday, September 12, 2023

Med.-Rep Volume PRs. Week 0.5. Session D.

sRPE @7
BW - 225

Deadlift - 
365X1 @6
315X6, 6 @~7

Dips - BWX7, 7, 7, 7 @~6

Band-Assisted Chins (medium-band under knee) - BWX4, 4, 4, 4 @7.5/9

Stationary Bike - HIIT; 7 rounds / 12 minutes

Dips were very explosive for some reason on this day.

Traps are sore and crampy the next day.

Friday, September 8, 2023

Med.-Rep Volume PRs. Week 0.5. Session C.

sRPE @6.5
BW - 220

Bench - 
225X1 @6.5
235X1 @7.5
185X6, 6 @6.5/7

Toes-to-Bar - BWX4, 4 @7/8.5

Reverse SSB Box Squat - 210X4, 4 @6.5/7

Rower - HIIT; 8 rounds / 14 minutes

Thursday, September 7, 2023

Med.-Rep Volume PRs. Week 0.5. Session B.

sRPE @6.5
BW - 221

Chin-Ups - BWX2, 2, 2, 2 @8/9

BB Rows - 135X9, 9 @6/7

BB Curls - 60X11, 11, 11, 11 @6.5/8.5

DB Tate Press - 40sX9, 9 @~8

Rower - HIIT; 12 minutes / 7 rounds

60 for 4 sets of 11 is a Volume PR on Curls.

Wednesday, September 6, 2023

Med.-Rep Volume PRs. Week 0.5. Session A.

sRPE @6
BW - 224

Squats - 
315X1 @6
330X1 @7
225X6, 6 @6.5/7.5

Press - 105X3, 3, 3, 3 @6/7.5

JM Press - 70X12, 12 @7/8

Rower - HIIT; 10 minutes / 6 rounds

Just slowly working to rebuild/maintain work capacity between schedule disruptions.

Friday, September 1, 2023

Med.-Rep Volume PRs. Week 0. Session D.

sRPE @6.5
BW - 222

Deadlift - 
385X1 @9.5 (grip)
315X6 @8 (grip)

Dips - BWX7, 7 @6/7

Band-Assisted Chins - Medium-Band under kneeX4, 4 @7.5/8.5

Stationary Bike - HIIT; 9 rounds / 16 minutes

I often find that when I take a week or two off from DL, my grip is wonky coming back.  Not worried about it.

Med.-Rep Volume PRs. Week 0. Session C.

sRPE @6
BW - 218

Bench - 
225X1 @7.5
185X6 @7

Toes-to-Bar - BWX4 @6

Reverse Safety Bar Box Squats - 220X4 @8

At the gym, we call the Reverse SSB Box Squats "Eliminators."  Just really hard for some reason; much harder than doing them as free squats.  The first time we did them in a max-effort team training session, two of us had to bow out because our upper backs started cramping so hard.