Time Crunch + Forearm Pain Week 1. Day A.

 sRPE @6.5

BW  - 227   

SSB -

-    up to 300X1 @9

-    250X3 @8

Reverse SSB Box Squats - 210X3, 3, 3 @~7.5

Circuit -

-    Leg Curls - X9, 8, 8 @8

-    Hypers - BW+25 behind head X8, 8, 7 @8

-    Leg Extensions - X12, 10, 10 @8/9

Stationary Bike - HIIT; 0:20/1:40; 14 minutes    

Schedule is all over the place this month and next, plus I think I need to just back off anything that puts much stress on grip for a while.

Not letting perfect be the enemy of good, I'll just go in when I can and try to hit some stuff, and maybe a plan will emerge.

Son of a Bench Week 12. Day "C".

sRPE @7.5

BW - 224

Bench - up to 225X1 @8

Lever Incline - 100X9, 8, 7 @~9

Reverse SSB Box Squats - 210X3, 3 @7.5/9

FFE BSS - BWX10, 9 @8.5/9.5

Chins - BWX1, 1 @~8*

super-set with

Seated Leg Curls - X11, 10 @8.5/9.5

Pushdowns - X17, 14 @~9

super-set with

Machine SL Calf Press - X13, 10 @~10

Coming back from a long camping weekend.  Kind of went in and did whatever I felt like doing, but ended up with mostly a "Day C" vibe.

Bench actually felt pretty good.  Maybe a slight peak from the time off.

Got a wild hair to do "Eliminators" (Reverse SSB Box Squats).  Kind of cheated them, though, because I forgot you need to keep the pad high on your neck and a loose grip on the handles to really get the upper back stress you want from these. 

Also threw in some Front Foot Elevated Bulgarian Split Squats (Both Feet Elevated Split Squats?  not sure which is clearest).  I'm thinking these are a likely component of a future Squat specialization block, so wanted to start re-familiarizing myself with them.

My left elbow is generally slightly aggravated all the time now, and starting to having some lingering discomfort in the right.  I've been in some kind of pressing specialization going back to December, and I'm thinking having all this travel interfering with training in June may be an opportunity to just kind of mess around in the gym the rest of the month, and then pivot to something else when I get a clear runway. 

Med.-Rep Volume PRs. Week 3. Session C.

sRPE @7

BW - 223

Bench - 

205X1 @5.5

225X1 @7

175X6, 6, 6, 6 @~6

Toes-to-Bar - BWX5, 4, 4, 4 @8.5/7.5

Reverse Safety Bar Box Squats - 200X4, 4, 4, 4 @~7

Felt much better in this session that I have for the last couple.

On TTB, at this BW, that's a 5 Rep PR and a 4X4 Volume PR.  

Upped the intensity a bit more on the Eliminators than what I'd programmed for, but I'm still exploring the movement.  It's amazing how challenging the upper back so much make my legs feel so SLOW at this low of an absolute weight.

Med.-Rep Volume PRs. Week 2. Session C.

sRPE @6.5

BW - 223

Bench - 

205X1 @6

165X6, 6, 6, 6 @~5

Toes-to-Bar - BWX4, 3, 3, 3 @7.5/6.5

Reverse Safety Bar Box Squats - 190X4, 4, 4, 4 @~6.5

Stationary Bike - HIIT; 7 rounds / 12 minutes

4 reps at this BW is actually a Rep PR on TTB.

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

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.

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

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.