Mid-Rep Volume PRs. Pivot Session E.

sRPE @7.5

BW - 225

Box Squat - up to 380X1 @9

Roman Chair Squat - BWX10, 10, 10 @7/9

Dips - up to BW+65X1 @8

Decline Bench - up to 225X3 @7.5

Cambered Bench - 135X6, 6, 6, 6 @7/8

Messing around the couple of sessions before I go on a trip.  Decided to work up on Box Squat. Everything felt really good, especially once I called spotters in.  Heaviest I've squatted to a box is 335X5, so this is certainly a PR on this lift.

Worked up on Dips just because I haven't hit them in a couple of weeks.

Then a buddy from the Konjugate Krew came in and I worked in with him on Max Effort Bench stuff.  I'm sure I've done Decline Bench in my life, but I have no record of having done it going back 13 years.  So...PR?

High-Rep Volume PRs. Week 5. Session A.

sRPE @8

BW - 216

Squats - 

325X1, 1 @~7

225X14, 14 @~6.5

Press - 85X11, 11, 11, 11 @7.5/10

Decline CG Cambered Swiss Bar - 115X16, 16 @~8.5

225 for 2 sets of 13+ is a Volume PR on Squats.

85 for 3+ sets of 11 is a Volume PR on Press.

High-Rep Volume PRs. Week 4. Session A.

sRPE @7.5

BW - 215

Squats - 

325X1, 1 @~7

215X14, 14 @6.5/8

Press - 85X10, 10, 10, 10 @6.5/8.5

CG Decline Cambered Swiss Bar - 115X15, 15 @8/9

215 for 2 sets of 14 is a Volume PR on Squats

85 for 4 sets of 10 is a Volume PR on Press. 

High-Rep Volume PRs. Week 3. Session A.

sRPE @7

BW - 214

Squats - 

315X1, 1 @~7

205X14, 14 @~6

Press - 85X9, 9, 9, 9 @6.5/8

Decline CG Cambered Swiss Bar Bench - 115X14, 14 @7.5/9

205 for 2 sets of 14 is a Volume PR on Squats.

85 for 4 sets of 9 is a Volume PR on Press.

Dealing with some nagging Achilles discomfort in my right ankle, so laying off the conditioning for a couple of sessions to see if it clears up.

High-Rep Volume PRs. Week 2. Session A.

sRPE @7

BW - 216

Squats - 

315X1, 1 @~7

195X14, 14 @~6

Press - 85X8, 8, 8, 8 @6/8

CG Decline Cambered Swiss Bar - up to 115X13 @8

Stationary Bike - HIIT; 9 rounds / 16 minutes

2X14 on Squats and 4X8 on Press are both Volume PRs because I've never done that setxrep scheme before.

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

sRPE @6

BW - 214

Squats - 

315X1 @7

185X14 @6

Press - 85X8 @6

Decline CG Cambered Swiss Bar - 115X12 @7.5

Rower - HIIT; 9 rounds / 16 minutes

Intro week and just hitting 1 of each work set.

In addition to working for fairly novel Volume PRs, I'm also scaling everything down.  Looking for a simpler format that I can build back onto. 

Starting off with 4 sessions per week, 2 of my main movements per session with 1-2 Supplement/Accessory slots, and conditioning. 

5-6 sessions per week was no longer proving sustainable.  So I'm tearing my program down to the studs and building back up based on some stuff the Data Driven Strength crew put out there:

- Strength focused work is specific to the test (likely similar movements/rep ranges), may only require single digit sets per week, can likely be done further from failure, and will still contribute to hypertrophy.

- Hypertrophy focused work is generalizable to the muscles being worked, likely needs 10-20 sets per week, and should be biased closer to failure.

An example of how that is playing out in this block:

Bench - 4 sets @7

Press- 4 sets @6-8

Dips - 4 sets @6-8

CG Decline Cambered Bar (Dips supplement) - 2 sets @~8

OH Extension (Triceps accessory) - 2 sets @8-10

In this layout, each of my 3 main pressing movements get 4 sets, and overall hypertrophy gets 16 sets.  That's actually only 3 fewer sets than last training block when I was training 5 days a week, and 5 fewer sets than BBM Powerbuilding 1.1 where I was training 6 days a week, and which was one of the most successful training blocks I had in 2022.

The shakier set up is on lower body where I'm assuming that Squat, Deadlift, and Toes-to-Bar share enough musculature to provide a hypertrophy stimulus for each other.  But those are also generally my best lifts and have more room to plateau or regress while I figure out a more sustainable way to train.

Block 14. Cycle 6. Session C.

BW - 220

sRPE @ 7.5

Press - 

135X1, 1 @8

115X3, 3, @7

105X8 @7.5

Squat -

295X6 @6.5

255X10 @6

Decline Cambered Swiss Bar - 105X10, 10, 10 @~6

Rope Cable Rows - 90X10, 10 @7/8 

Block 14. Cycle 5. Session C.

 BW - 222

sRPE @ 7

Press -

135X1, 1 @8

122.5X3 @8

115X3 @7

105X8 @7.5

Squat - 

305X6 @7

250X10 @6

Decline Cambered Swiss Bar - 105X10, 10, 10 @6/7.5

Rope Low Cable Rows - 90X10 @7.5

Press is just flaaaaaaat this training block.  I partly suspect it's because of all the pressing in the prior training session, yet you'd think I'd adapt to that and start progressing again at some point.  Oh well.

Squat making small improvements despite the low volume.  Adductor DOMS still present but not debilitating as previous.

I've been getting really sick of doing BB Rows here at the end of the last session of each week.  It might be part overall accumulated stress from the week, and partly just not wanting to go through the whole thing of setting up a barbell, swapping out the weights working up to the work sets, etc.  I'd been thinking about doing cable rows with a long rope attachment, so I did those today instead and it was SO MUCH MORE FUN TO END THE WEEK.  Doing these with straight legs so that I can lean forward a little bit at the start to extend the lats more, and then pulling my elbows behind mid-line at the top of the contraction.

Block 14. Cycle 4. Session C. and Cycle 5 Session A

4C:

BW - 222

sRPE @8

Press -

135X1, 1 @8/8.75

120X3, 3 @~7.5

110X9 @8.5

Squat -

300X6 @7

245X10 @6

Decline Cambered Swiss Bar - 100X10, 10, 10 @~6

BB Rows - 150X10, 10 @7.5/8.5

5A:

BW - 220

sRPE @7

Chin-Ups - BWX3, 3, 3, 2, 2, @8-9

Curls - 60X11, 11, 11 @7.75/8.5

Deadlift -

275X4

225X10

Upright Rows - 55X10, 10 @~7

Low back pain crept on over the weekend, so I only did token Deadlift sets/reps.

Block 14. Cycle 3. Session C.

BW - 221

sRPE - @8

Press -

135X1,1 @8/8.5

120X3 @7

110X7 @8

Squat -

295X6 @7

250X10 @6.5

240X10, 10 @6, 6

Decline Cambered Swiss Bar - 95X10, 10, 10 @5

BB Rows - 145X10, 10 @7/8

Pulled back on weight a lot on this day to try and keep the sRPE down.  Feeling gassed after the first movement is not conducive to the plan even if RPE is coming in on target.  Something is off somewhere, and I need to keep the total stress down so that I can get through training session feeling more-or-less "normal."

Block 14. Cycle 2. Session C.

 BW - 223

sRPE - @10

Press -

135X1 @8

117.5X3 @7

110X6 @9

Squat -

290X6 @7

250X10, 10 @~7

Decline Cambered Swiss Bar - 120X10, 10 @7/8.5

BB Rows - 145X10, 10 @7.5/8

Left brachioradialis has been giving me trouble this week and it was uncomfortable stabilizing on the Press.  Still got my targets on everything except the AMRAP set.

This week has been tough in general with training, so I was very conservative on the Squat and was rewarded by being right on target.

Similarly, I didn't try to increase the weight on this Decline movement as I was adding a work set.  Still got pretty hard by the 2nd set, and I was ready to be out of the gym.

I made myself to do the Rows even though I didn't want to.  Same weight as last week +1 set, and on target.

Need to start tracking sRPE again.  I define sRPE thusly: after the last work set of the last compound movement of the session, how many more sets could I have gotten at around the same weight/reps/RPE?  Definitely had two @10 sessions this week.

Block 14. Cycle 1. Session C.

 BW - 221

Press -

130X1 @8

105X8@8

Squat -

285X6 @7

240X10 @6.5

Decline Cambered Swiss Bar Bench (lol) - 120X10 @8.5

BB Hanging Rows - 145X10 @8

I had slotted Cambered Bar Declines as my Dips accessory movement for this slot just to experiment, but the gym got a cambered swiss bar, so I figured close-grip, elbows in was a bit more specific.  These were much harder than I expected.