Novice LP. Session 22

BW - 225

Squat - 275X3X5

Press - 102.5X3X5

Deadlift -
325X3
290X3

80% Squats and Press all went pretty well.  Squats were harder than the Press.

Similar to the adjustment I made to the last heavy Squat session, I needed to do something with DL to account for failure on the last session, and to give me low back some recovery.  I reduced the top set by 10lbs., reduced the reps to 3, and added a back-off set of 3 at 90%.  My back was already feeling better coming off of the changes I made to squats, and I'm feeling positive about these changes.  I still feel like there's a lot of room to work on tightness all along the spine, however.

Novice LP. Session 19

BW - 225

Squat - 267.5X3X5

Bench - 152.5X3X5

Deadlift -
335X2
300X5

Squats and Bench all felt good on the light day.

Heavy day for Deadlift.  Failed on 3rd Rep.

So then I did a back-off set at 90%

I'll try this weight again next week.

Novice LP. Session 18

BW - 227

Squat - 335X3X5

Press - 125X3X5

Chin-Ups - BWX5, 3

Negative Chins (0/0/3) - BWX4X4

Whew.  Squats were hard and exhausting again on this day.  I'm in brand new LP territory here having set an LP PR last session, and never having had the 80% days before.  I'm gonna try and push this as far as I can: fail2X, reset, fail2X, top-set+back-offX2, 3X3, etc.
3rd set shown below.

1st set of press was really hard as well.  They got more do-able the further I got from the squats.

Little bit of progress on the chins.

Novice LP. Session 16

BW - 227

Squat - 260X3X5

Press - 97.5X3X5

Deadlift - 325X5

Light day for Squat and Press.  2nd weekend in a row of having folks visit from out of town, so no conditioning this weekend.

Half way through my deadlift set, I tried taking as big a breath as possible because my back wasn't feeling awesome, and I discovered that I hadn't been taking nearly big enough breaths.  Last reps felt much better than first reps.

LRB 365: Strong-15 Short. Week 3. Deadlift

BW - 201

Deadlift -
135X5
165X5
185X4
225X3
245X2
275X1, 1
285X1

245X3, 3, 3, 3, 3

RDL - 245X12 (with straps)

Shrugs -
405X7
315X18

Chins (neutral, shoulder-width) - BWX8, 6, 5

Curls -
65X16, 8
45X15, 12

Good deadlifting today.  Everything felt strong and smooth.  Held the 285X1, and the last back-off set for time at the top.

Was pretty tired after all this.  I was pretty sure I could get an all-around PR on RDLs if I did one all-out set with straps, and I did.  Up till now, I've been using my back-off DL weight as my RDL weight.  Possibly, I should stay at this weight and stop using straps for the extra grip work...

Loading and un-loading the bar for shrugs felt like it took years, I was so tired.

Chins felt okay despite the low energy.

Even though I was tired, I had a while to wait for the bus, so I did 2 extra sets of curls just with an empty bar.  Yeah, yeah, I know.  "If you've got energy for extra curls, you could have done extra RDLs or chins." 

LRB 365: LRB Split. Week 5. Squat - Heavy

BW - 197

Squat -
BarX10 (paused)
95X5 (paused)
135X5
155X4
185X3
195X2
225X1
235X1
245X1

Front Squats -
135X8, 8, 10, 8

Leg Press -
2ppsX10
3ppsX10, 10, 16, 10

Lunges - BWX26, 24, 24, 20

Good session.  The 245 moved pretty smooth from way below parallel, but I had some knee-cave just out of the hole.  That hasn't happened in a while, so I'll need to start cuing myself against it.

For Fronts, I decided to see if I could just drop straight down to my work weight, rather than warming back up to it.  Went really well, and got way more volume as a result.  Just an issue of confidence in a movement I've hurt myself on a couple of times before.  I credit using a clean-grip for helping keep myself in proper position.

Last two sets of Leg Presses were max reps.

Lunges were brutality at this point after all the other quad stress.

LRB 365: LRB Split. Week 5. Press - Heavy

BW - 195

Press -
BarX15
65X5
95X5
115X5, 4, 3

Bench -
95X5
105X4
125X3
135X2
145X1
155X1
165X1

Upright Rows -
80X10
90X10
100X10, 10, 8

V-Bar Pushdowns - X20, 24, 18, 15, 12

OK session.  Weight didn't move on OHP as well as I'd hoped, these were grinders to tell the truth. 

And I'd wanted the 165 on bench to be a touch easier, but there's not drop-off here, especially considering I ground out three heavy sets of OHP right before.  Just not as much gain as I'd hoped for.

Upright rows felt strong.  I'm a little suspicious of this exercise for me, however.  I've done it a lot, even going back to high-school.  I'm not convinced it really gets me bigger, nor stronger except at upright rows.

LRB 365: LRB Split. Week 3. Squat - Heavy

BW - 196

Squat -
BarX10 (paused)
95X5 (paused)
135X5
155X4
185X3
195X2
205X1
225X1
235X1

Fronts -
95X10, 10
115X10
125X10

Leg Press -
2ppsX12
3ppsX10, 10, 14

Lunges - BWX24, 22, 20, 18

Good session.  Squats felt the strongest they have in a long time.  Everything felt so easy, I was worried about depth.  I dropped the top set way down, thighs-to-calves.  That slowed it down a bit, but still felt strong.

Fronts felt solid as well.

On the last set of leg press, I moved my feet closer together to try and shift some more to my quads.  Maybe?

My glutes are sore again today, but I was still doing the short step out on Lunges.  Dunno.

LRB 365: LRB Split. Week 3. Press - Heavy

BW - 196

Press -
BarX15
65X5
85X5
95X5
115X5, 4, 3

Bench -
95X5
105X4
125X3
135X2
145X1, 1
155X1

Upright Rows -
85X10
95X10, 10, 9, 7

Bench Dips - BWX35, 22, 16, 17, 17

Solid session.  I really got after the Press, and 115X5 is 1 off my best 115 press.  That would have been on 531, so there is way more volume at the top here.  The last set was sloooooow.

Bench was all fine.  155 hasn't been a challenge in forever, and is about 20 lbs. under my EDM.

Got after the upright rows as well.  A little body english on the last reps of the last couple sets.

35 is a PR on bench dips for whatever that's worth.  I think I got more reps on all the sets than last time.

LRB 365: Conditioning. Week 4. Deadlift

BW - 198

Deadlift -
135X5, 5
155X4
185X3
225X2, 2
275X1, 1
315X1
275X5

BW Ladder Circuit -
Squat - 5 up to 25, back down to 5
Sit-ups - 5 up to 25, back down to 5
Chins (supinated) - 2 up to 10, back down to 2
Push-ups - 4 up to 20, back down to 4

Pretty solid session considering we had house guests for the weekend and had stayed up and partied the previous 2 nights.  That contributes to the weight bump as well.

That 315 is still a little slow, but the 275 felt strong like I could have gotten a few more reps.  As long as I'm hitting everything don't really see a reason to back off.

Bodyweight stuff felt pretty good as well.  Had to hit some rest/pause on a couple of the top sets on push-ups and chins, but that's all good.

LRB 365: Conditioning. Week 3. Bench

BW - 196

Bench -
BarX15
95X5, 5
135X3, 3
155X1, 1, 1
135X8

BW Ladder Circuit -
Dips - 2 up to 10, back down to 2
Chins (neutral grip) - 2 up to 10, back down to 2
Push-ups - 2 up to 10, back down to 2
Leg-Raises - 3 up to 15, back down to 3

Good Session.  Had to fight the urge to either up the weight on the top Bench single, or go for more reps on the back off set.  But instead I remembered to save it for all the dips and push-ups.

No problem with my shoulder tonight.  It was really achy when I was stretching my pec out before hand, but I took some time with band dislocates and that really loosened it up well.

All the bodyweight movements got some rest/pause on the top sets, but this was by far the best bodyweight circuit on an upper day of this cycle.

LRB 365: Conditioning. Week 2. Deadlift

BW - 195

Deadlift -
135X5, 5
155X4
185X2
225X2
275X1, 1
315X1
275X5

BW Ladder Circuit -
Squats - 3 up to 15, back down to 3
Sit-ups - 2 up to 10, back down to 2
Chins - 2 up to 10, back down to 2
Push-ups - 3 up to 15, back down to 3

My afternoon was a cluster-fuck of leaving work early for one appointment that got cancelled because of weather, and another that ended up being so delayed that I could have stayed at work.  Raining so hard, I needed to take the bus to get from home to the gym, but I just missed a bus and had to wait 20 minutes for the next one.  Ended up having to wait 15 minutes for a bus to get home afterwards.  Was supposed to walk with the weighted vest today, but torrential downpour delays that.

Despite all that frustration, this was a solid-to-nice session.

Deadlifts were all strong, BUT 315 was a touch slower than I would have liked, and 275 might have been a bit much for the back-off.  I'm trying to stick with 25s/45s as much as possible on this phase, but I may have to use some 10s to back this down from 315/275 to 295/245 next time.  Or not.

Best ladder session yet.  Pretty clear now that the Bench days with the dips and push-ups in the ladder are significantly harder for me than these.  My shoulder strain from last session wasn't hindering me UNTIL I stupidly tried to loosen it up even more with some dislocates half way through.  Then it was righteously pissed at me.  Anyway, on Lower day I'm upping the rep intervals for Squats and Sit-Ups all the way back up to the programmed 5, and Push-Ups up to 4.

LRB 365: Conditioning. Week 1. Squat

BW - 198

Squat -
BarX10 (paused)
95X5 (paused)
135X4
155X3
185X2
225X1, 1
245X1
225X5

BW Ladder Circuit -
BW Squats - 2 up to 10, back down to 2
Chins (supinated) - 2 up to 10, back down to 2
Sit-ups - 2 up to 10, back down to 2
Push-ups - 2 up to 10, back down to 2

Good session.  I would say great, but since I ratcheted the rep intervals back on the ladder circuits, I'm docking myself.

Squats were great using the larger intervals/plates.  Also, it's been a while since I repped out any higher (for me) weights on full squats, and it felt nice to do that again.

The ladders were all pretty solid, with the sit-ups being the hardest.  Next lower body session, I'm going to bump the rep intervals up on squats, sit-ups, and push-ups to get them closer to where they are supposed to be.  I'll leave it at 2s for the next Upper body session, although I'm hopeful that last session represented a trial-by-fire acclimation session, and that they will be as easy as these were.  Nevertheless, the Bench/Dip/Push-up combo could still pose some problems.

LRB 365: 100 Reps. Week 6. Deadlift

BW - 197

Weighted Vest - 40 minutes; walking

Pause Squats -
BarX10
95X5
135X5
185X3
195X3

Deadlift -
135X5
185X5
205X4
225X3
265X2
295X1
305X1
315X1 (20 sec. hold at top)

Shrugs -
135X76, 24 (no straps)

Nice little session.  Pause Squats felt strong, and so did Deads.  As always, my forearms got nicely fried by the strap-less shrugs.

LRB 365: 100 Reps. Week 6. Bench

BW - 198 (Ah, the weekend finally caught up with me here)

Bench -
BarX16
95X5
105X4
135X3
145X2
155X1
165X1
175X1

Pulldowns - X55, 25, 20

EZ Bar Extensions - 30X60, 40
super-set with
EZ Bar Curls - 30X45, 35, 25

A little bit tired and bloated feeling for this session.  Bench still moved fine, but I definitely didn't feel any stronger than my EDM of 185.

Completely out of gas on pulldowns.

Arms were fine.

Tired.

LRB 365: 100 Reps. Week 5. Squat

BW - 196

Squat -
BarX10 (paused)
95X5 (paused)
135X5
155X4
175X3
195X2
205X1
235X1, 1

Cable Rows - X70, 30

Lunges - BWX50, 20, 20, 10

Ab Wheel - 4 sets of 10

Weighted Vest - 35 minutes; walking

Nice session.  Squats still strong and moving with confidence.  So much so that I started toying with my form a little.  I haven't worried about my elbow/arm alignment in a while, but this session I started trying to get in the groove of keeping them pointed down to help keep my chest out.  The mental cue that seemed to help here was thinking aobut trying to bring them down alongside my hip-joints.

Cable rows felt really good today. 

Lunges, however, were a real asshole after the first hill-sprints of the year the day before.  Really brutal.

Had some time before the bus would be along, so I threw in some ab wheel.  I expect a real unwelcome surprise on the next phase when there are lots of sit-ups in the BW ladders.  Gonna try and at least get some wheel in every week to mitigate the coming disaster.

Walking felt great.  Really kind of digging it for the zone-out aspect right now.

LRB 365: 100 Reps. Week 4. Bench

BW - 199

Bench -
BarX15
95X5
105X4
135X3
145X2, 2
155X1
165X1

Pulldowns - 1 set of 100

EZ Bar OH Extensions - Bar (18lb.)X100

EZ Bar Curls - Bar (18lb.)X100

Weighted Vest - 30 minutes; walking

Good session.  Bench still smooth.

Might be time to bump up the weight on the pulldowns.

Inexplicably got 100 non-stop reps on both extensions, and curls.  Need to switch to add weight one way or another, I guess.

Getting to where I can just zone out on the vest walking.

LRB 365: 100 Reps. Week 2. Accessory

BW - ???

DB Press -
20sX15
30sX15
35sX13

Face Pull, Rope Extensions, Rope Curls - 1 set of 100 each

Treadmill Intervals - 8 intervals, 20 minutes

Solid little session.  Next week, I should probably just stick with the 30s and rep those out.  Got to remember the point of all this.

LRB 365: Strong-15. Week 9. Bench

BW - 203

Bench -
BarX10
95X5
135X3, 3
155X2
165X1
175X1
185X1
165X7 (Rep PR)

Incline - 105X8

Kind of out of it and lost track of programmed weight/reps early on.  Then I lost track of how many reps I did on the back-off set.  It was either 7 or 8.  I'll say 7 to keep it conservative.  I almost locked out another rep, but couldn't quite get it.  Got pinned under the fucking bar and had to roll it off.  Abs are not happy with me about that.

Bus was due so I skipped the flyes.

LRB 365: Strong-15. Week 8. Squat/Dead

BW - 200

Squat -
BarX10 (paused)
95X5 (paused)
145X5
165X4
195X3
215X2
225X1
245X1
255X1

Pause Squat - 195X5

Deadlift -
185X5
225X4
255X3
285X2
305X1
315X1
325X1
275X3

Squats were solid.  Haven't squatted 255 since April '12, and those were high.  So a rep PR at full depth.  Nice long pause on the pause squats to really make the set hard.

Double-overhand grip started to go on the 325 set of pulls.  Barely got it locked out as a result.  I held the last rep of 275 for about 15 seconds to get some grip work in.  I have foolishly neglected to do that for this cycle which sucks.  I may throw some plate pinches or some shit in on Bench day in the hopes of shoring it up, but I definitely think I will need to do mixed-grip for the last week and that blows.