400 is a weight PR on Deadlift, and obviously a Rep PR. Nice. Felt easier than I expected, but not as easy as it looks on the video. There was some "meet day" mental focus that contributed to this lift, as there always is for a milestone. Target for next week will be 4 plates (maybe more). So we'll do it all over again, then.
Back-off sets also all felt very good, although this is a new-ish bar and the heavy knurling on TnG deadlift is brutal on the hands. I add a ton of extra chalk just to try and mitigate it.
Pause Squats felt very good. I probably could have added a touch more weight, but 275 is just nice.
Axle bench was a little tough because I still have some DOMS in my pec from the previous session. Made the first couple of works sets a little tough, but was solid by the end.
392.5X2 is a Rep PR on Deadlift. My first Rep PR since using Emerging Strategies. Back felt a little "something" at the top of rep 1, but I was able to finish the session with no pain, and no apparent drop-off in performance. The feeling of "something" in my low back has been present every since, so we'll see how Comp Squat session goes today. My assumption is that everything will be fine.
Pause Squats were rock solid.
The ~70lb. axle I've been using all block was occupied, so I had to use the lighter axle. I don't actually know how much it weighs. I compared it subjectively to how heavy it felt in my hands compared to a standard barbell, and guess-timated 40lbs. for this session. All good.
Had a couple of extra days off due to schedule and that may have contributed to a very nice session.
385X2 @9 projects to an e1RM PR over the baseline I set when I started using Emerging Strategies, and is certainly an absolute intensity PR in that time frame. The baseline from late September '18 was 345X3 @7. This double at 385 was a very strong @9 as well. The 330X6 @8 actually projects even a little higher, but I prefer to go off the top set. Anyway, very solid DL today.
Pause Squats also came in right on target.
Axle Bench felt as good as it has yet. Felt very solidly balanced over the forearm in a way that I'm not sure I've ever felt with a regular barbell. Interesting.
Rough couple of week of training ended with a mixed bag session. Illness and poor recovery made these last couple of cycles a bit of a roller-coaster. This week looks to be a bit chaotic as well, so I'm going to stay buckled in.
Deadlift went very well this session and was clearly the best main lift of the week. DL is now pushing up against my e1RM from when injuries side-tracked me to the point that I switched over to RPE based programming back in the fall of '18. It's been a long slog back up the hill. I hope I've learned some things.
Pause Squats ended up being the same weight as last week. Not great, but not terrible. Comp Squats have been very rough the last couple of cycles, so maintaining on the supplement is probably a new win.
Comp bench was really rough this week, and getting RPE dialed-in on Axle Bench was very difficult in this session. Overall, it ended up being about the same as last week. Probably fine.
Solid session in general. DL is getting in that range where it feels heavy regardless, and I have to prepare for that when I step up for the first rep. "It Will Feel Slow; Pull Hard."
My formula said 260 for pause squat on this day which I though was a pretty big jump considering the previous session topped out at 240 @7.5, but 260 ended up being the right number. I think I was uncertain because my comp squat performance dropped off really quickly last week, and I wasn't sure where my overall squat strength was going to be; especially following DL. Glad it worked out.
Axle bench "felt" a lot heavier in my hands this week even though the RPE was on target. Interesting.
Was a little all over the place hitting RPE targets on the lower body lifts today, but still a fairly solid session. I'm writing this a few days after the fact and having been sick all weekend, so my impressions of the lower body lifts are also fairly fuzzy.
I guess the top double on DL could have gone up like 5 lbs. to hit the @9 target, but knowing I was going to be squatting right after, I didn't want to push it. Likewise the back-off sets could have gone up 5-7 lbs to try and hit @8, but I'm always conservative on DL day.
By the end of the Pause Squat sets, I did try to push the weight up a little bit closer to the RPE target.
First time doing Axle Bench. Decided to add it in after talking to a guy at the gym that was using it quite a bit. He suggested a 10% offset and that ended up being right on the money. Potentially a very useful supplement in that regard, as it seem highly specific to the comp bench with the set-up being entirely identical (grip-width, ROM, etc.), but the thicker grip seeming to necessitate a drop in absolute intensity. Looking forward to seeing how it progresses.
