Maintenance / Rehab Block. Week 6. Day 1.5.

BW - 224

Squats - 75X25, 25, 25

DB Inclines - 60s, 65s, 70sX8@~9

Pull-Ups - BWX3, 3, 3

RDL -
225, 245X6
255X7@~8

Hammer Curls - 40sX10, 8

Weird day.  Had to train on back-to-back days because I wouldn't be able to make it during the gym's limited, 4th of July hours.  So this became of a mix of things that I hoped: a) wouldn't be negatively impacted by the previous days session, b) or I didn't care if it would be impacted, c) and would possibly disrupt homeostasis in most of the major muscle groups without d) having a potential negative impact on Friday's "regular" training session.

So, Starr Rehab squats continue.  These were fine, but I also realized I think these are supposed to be increasing in weight set-over-set, so I'm going to start with that next session.

Since I'd done hard Pressing the day before, I didn't want to go for PR territory Bench on this day.  I opted for DB Inclines for sets of 8.  I haven't done them in a long time so I knew that I wouldn't be able to go hard enough to unduly stress the system, but I should be able to get enough tonnage to disrupt homeostasis. Titrated up, and 70sX8 is technically a PR.  Probably about RPE 9.5.

Just threw in 3X3 on pull-ups.  Last set was the only limit set, and that probably because of all the vertical pulling volume the previous day.

Tried out a set of DL with 135 to see how the adductor felt, and it didn't like them very much.  Realized I might be able to do RDLs and that turned out to be the case.  Made sure to keep my stance close and my feet pointed straight forward.  Haven't done these in a long time, either, and they used to really give my low back trouble.  But I use a belt now, and these seemed okay.  Titrated up to an AMRAP set at ~RPE 8.  Low back was vulnerable feeling the next day, but that may have just been DOMS from lack of pulling.  1st and 3rd sets shown.

Maintenance / Rehab Block. Week 6. Day 1.

BW - 223

Squat - 265X25, 25, 25

Press -
125X5@7
130X5@8
137.5X5@9

Chin-Ups - BWX8, 5, 5, 5, 4 (27 total reps)

Pull-Downs - X6, 5, 5 (straight-weight; same weight as last time, but different machine)

BB Curls - ~55X12, 10

Starr Rehab Squats continue just fine.  Conditioning getting much more acclimated.  First set with no thought to stop for extra breaths.  No trouble from the adductor.

Press felt a little bit better today.  I pulled the warm-up weights down a bit.  I'd been going 45, 75, 95, 115, all X5, and I thought maybe I was getting a bit too much fatigue.  So this time I went 45, 85, 105, 115.  The 115 felt much fresher, and so did the first work set.  Enough that I felt confident finally bumping up the weight for the last set, and it still felt @9.  This is all very squishy.

Chin-ups started off feeling very strong for the first few sets, but I also hit a 15 month low in measured body weight.  Still got 1 more total rep than last time.

Pull-Downs were very hard, however I was having to use the "lesser" pull-down machine.  It's not as ideal of a bar path, and who knows how the actual resistance compares to my usual machine.

Curls were a bit stronger.

Maintenance / Rehab Block. Week 5. Day 2.

BW - 226

Starr Rehab Squats - 45X25, 25, 25

Press -
115X5 @ ~7
125X5 @ ~8
130X5 @ ~9
135X5 @ ~9

Chin-Ups - BWX8, 5, 5, 5, 3 (26 total reps)

Pull-Downs - X8, 8, 6 (straight-weight; same weight as previous)

BB Curls - ~55X11, 8

Adductor strain has settled into persistent guerrilla warfare with me. Hides out until I've forgotten about it, and then strikes out of nowhere.  Decided to start trying the Starr Rehab Protocol thingy.  Starting of with 3 sets of 25 on squats.  These were okay.  Haven't noticed any real difference the next day.

Still fucking around with BBM and RPE on Press since it had been stuck for a while anyway.  Because I thought the extra volume of doing my normal warm-up jumps but with all 5s might have been fatiguing last time, I tried taking some bigger jumps to start this time.  Was hoping 125 was going to be @7, but 115 felt like it might be that when I got there.  Still I made my planned jumps to 125, 130, and 135.  These were okay.  I think the 135 felt a bit better than last week which seemed about @10

Chin-ups were only okay as were pull-downs.

Added weight to curls and they still went pretty well.

Old Man Texas Method. Week 5. Volume Day

BW - 229

Squat - 340X5, 5, 5

Press - 130X5, 5, 5, 5, 5

Deadlift - 310X5, 5

Squats moved very well.  RPE 8 at the most.  Glad the weight is going up next week as these may be starting to feel to easy.  Final sets shown in all videos.

Press volume felt better today at heavier weight than last Press VD.  RPE 8.5 on the last set probably.  Technique felt much more dialed-in and controlled for one thing, and probably a bit more acclimated to 5X5 staring week 5.

Deadlifts starting to feel heavier, so probably (hopefully) closer to the correct weight/volume to trigger adaptation.  Probably RPE 8 on the last set.