Press, DL, Back, Triceps

sRPE @8.5

BW - 222

Press Paused at Forehead -

-    up to 150X1 (PR) @10

-    115X3, 3, 3 @7/8

SLDL Touch-n-Go - 225X5, 5, 5, 5 @6.5/8

Band Chins - Band Under FootX7, 6, 5, 4 @9.5/10

super-set with

Standing BB OH Extensions - 45X12, 10, 9, 9 @~10

Press out on the Pause Press top single was sloooow.  Almost looks like I've got a second sticking point right before lockout.  Upped the weight on the back-offs, and that felt good because it forced me to a be a bit more disciplined with technique than last week.

I've been enjoying ATG Squats recently as my main Squat movement, so I thought I'd start messing around with SLDL.  These were done with a belt and mixed grip.  A good starting point for a movement I've rarely ever trained.

12 years since I did OH Extensions with a straight bar, lol.  It is challenging to keep good upper arm position with a regular barbell.

Chins, Deficit DL, Triceps

sRPE @7

BW - 227

Chin-Ups -

-    Avg. Band Under Knee- X6, 5, 5, 4, 3 @9/10

-    Long-ROM Partials - BWX6, 5, 4, 4 @8~10

Deficit DL - up to 345X4(PR) @8

Cable OH Extensions - X12, 10, 9 @10

When I started this "instinctual training block," I was doing Chins for sets of 2 @~8 at a BW of ~220.  

I switched to Avg. Band-Under-Foot Chins for 3 weeks and worked from 5@7 to 8@9 at a BW of ~222.

Now 3 weeks of Avg. Band-Under-Knee Chins fairly flat around 6@9 while BW has climbed to ~225.

Next week, I'll go back to regular chins for a few weeks.  Best guess is I may have added a rep on average at my current BW. 

Nice to get a PR on Deficit DLs.  This movement is usually around 95% of my DL from the floor.  Based on that, I would suspect my DL is stronger now than it was at the end of my last block when I was doing 380-385 singles @~8.  Geez, that block was trash.

Chins, High Pin Squat, Triceps

sRPE @7

BW - 225

Chin-Ups -

-    Avg. Band Under Knee- X5, 4, 4, 3, 3 @~8.5/10

-    Long-ROM Partials - BWX6, 5, 4, 4 @8.5/10

High Bar High Pin Squat (beltless) - 

245X3 @8

275X1 @8

295X1 @9

315X1 @9.5

Pushdowns - X21, 16, 12 @~10

Felt a little woozy coming into the gym today, but I felt better by the end of the chins.

I initially thought the pins were set around parallel, but video later showed they were high.  No big.  Video did show me that I wasn't keeping my elbows down, and was forgetting to lead with my chest up out of the "hole."  Good reminder for one I rotate regular squats back in soon.

Chins, WG DL, Triceps

sRPE @7

BW - 222

Chin-Ups -

-    Avg. Band Under Knee- X6, 5, 3, 3, 3 @~9

-    Long-ROM Partials - BWX6, 5, 4, 3 @~9

WG DL w/straps -

315X3 @6

365X1 @8.5

385X0 @11

335X4 (PR) @8.5

DB Tate Press - 30sX20, 18, 12 @7/9

Starting a wave of assisted chins with the band under my knee.  Interesting that the numbers look basically the same as the partials.

Went for a PR single on Wide Grip DL.  It got a little away from me off the floor.  I thought about retaking it, but opted for a PR set of 4 instead.

Chins, SSB, Triceps

sRPE @7

BW - 223

Chin-Ups - 

-    Avg. Band Under Foot - X8, 7, 5, 3, 3 @~9

-    Long-ROM Partials - BWX7, 5, 3, 3 @~9

Safety Bar Squat - 

-    245X3 @7.5

-    300X1 @9.5

Cable OH Extensions - X13, 10, (drop weight), 12 @10

Three weeks of Chins w/ Band Under Foot showed some progress.  Believe next week I'll move to Band Under Knee for a few weeks and then go back to full ROM un-assisted and see if these weeks can kickstart any progress on the main lift.

I thought there might be a multi-Rep PR available for SSB, but it didn't seem like was going to be there.  I've never really done singles on this lift, so I just went up and grabbed "PR" there instead.  Got a little lightheaded walking this back into the rack.

Chins, Rack Pull, Triceps

sRPE @6.5

BW - 222

Chin-Ups - 

-    Avg. Band Under Foot - X7, 5, 4, 4, 4 @~9

-    Long-ROM Partials - BWX5, 5, 4, 4 @~9.5

Rack Pull (high-shin) w/Straps - up to 365X3 @9

Machine OH JM Press - X14, 13, 13 @~9.5

Had a few too many days off, but Chins felt pretty good.

Surprised to find I've never done plain ol' Rack Pulls before.  I've done some with tempo as part of P.T., and I did Sumo Rack Pulls with the ME Krew one day.  But I guess I've neve done plain, Conventional Rack Pulls before.  So...PR.

Looking around the gym for something to do for Triceps, and I "invented" doing JM Press on an OH Press machine.  Felt like they hit my triceps quite hard.

Chins, Front Squats, Triceps

sRPE @6.5

BW - 223

Chin-Ups - 

-    Avg. Band Under Foot - X5, 5, 5, 3, 3 @7.5/8

-    Long-ROM Partials - BWX5, 4, 3, 3 @~9

Front Squat - up to 225X1 @9

BW JM Press - BWX12, 10, 10 @8.5/9.5

Since I'm doing the Long-ROM partials on chins, thought I'd try out a few weeks of band assisted.  See what happens when I come back to regular chins if I do "overload" variations for both the top and bottom of the ROM for a while.  Might do under foot for a few weeks and then switch to under knee.

According to my logs, this is the first time I've done Front Squats since September of '22.  Also, apparently this is a 1 Rep PR?  I had no idea at the time, but apparently my previous heaviest Front Squat was 205X2 in 2015.  I haven't done this movement regularly since then, and I usually did it for higher reps.  Still nice to get a PR while doing ~2X weekly training.

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

sRPE @7

BW - 224

Deadlift - 

365X1 @6

385X1 @7

285X6, 6, 6, 6 @~6

Dips - BWX9, 9, 9, 9 @7/10

Band-Assisted Chins (medium band under knee) - BWX4, 4, 4, 4 @~8 (w/straps)

On Dips, 4 sets of 9 at this BW is a Volume PR.

Med.-Rep Volume PRs. Week 1. Session D.

sRPE @6.5

BW - 222

Deadlift - 

365X1 @6

275X6, 6, 6, 6 @~5

Dips - BWX8, 8, 8, 8 @~7

Banded Chins (medium band under knee) w/straps - BWX3, 3, 3, 3 @~7

Had to skip conditioning to make it to an event.

Dragging ass coming into the gym yesterday AM.  Was worried DL was going to be a shit-show even with the planned low-RPEs.  But after I got warmed up everything was fine.  

Dips are so explosive lately that I'm starting to wonder if they're too explosive?  Like is this a different movement now from weighted dips?

My hands were feeling beat up from DL, so I used straps on the Band Chins.  It was actually nice as I was able to really focus on my back, and it has responded by feeling fairly sore today!  So maybe I'll keep the straps on these for a while?

Med.-Rep Volume PRs. Week 0.75. Session D.

sRPE @6.5

BW - 223

Deadlift - 

405X1 @7.5

275X6, 6, 6 @5/6.5

Dips - BWX8, 8, 8 @6.5/8.5

Band Chins (under knee) - BWX4 @9

DL strength popped today for some reason.  Still stuck with the plan and reduced intensity on the back-off sets and increase volume.

Dips were OK, and I thought I might do a full session of 4X6 but the 3rd set was more fatiguing than I wanted it to be and called it there.

Pulling Strength was a no-go for some reason.  I may have rushed the warm-up.  I had someplace I needed to be, so that gave me an excuse to end the session and skip conditioning.

Normal training should be able to start ramping up next week.

Med.-Rep Volume PRs. Week 0.5. Session D.

sRPE @7

BW - 225

Deadlift - 

365X1 @6

315X6, 6 @~7

Dips - BWX7, 7, 7, 7 @~6

Band-Assisted Chins (medium-band under knee) - BWX4, 4, 4, 4 @7.5/9

Stationary Bike - HIIT; 7 rounds / 12 minutes

Dips were very explosive for some reason on this day.

Traps are sore and crampy the next day.

Med.-Rep Volume PRs. Week 0. Session D.

sRPE @6.5

BW - 222

Deadlift - 

385X1 @9.5 (grip)

315X6 @8 (grip)

Dips - BWX7, 7 @6/7

Band-Assisted Chins - Medium-Band under kneeX4, 4 @7.5/8.5

Stationary Bike - HIIT; 9 rounds / 16 minutes

I often find that when I take a week or two off from DL, my grip is wonky coming back.  Not worried about it.

Mid-Rep Volume PRs. Pivot Session F.

sRPE @6.5

BW - 220

Chin-Ups - 

BWX4 @10

Medium Band under knee X6 @9

Light Band under foot X5 @9

Standing, Single-Arm, Cross-Body Pull-Downs - X14, 12, 11 @~8.5

Single-Arm Cable Curls (back to rack) - X12, 12, 12 @8/9

Last pivot session before travel.  Mostly messing around with some stuff for next block (band-assisted chins), and some stuff I've been thinking about and wanted to try out for some future block.

BBM LFT Block 2. Cycle 5. Session C.

sRPE @7

BW - 203

Deadlift - 

385X1 @~7

355X3 @6.5

335X3, 3, 3 @5/6

Cambered Bar Bench - 

185X1, 1, 1 @7

145X5, 5, 5, 5 @~5.5

Hack Squat - 

160X8 @7.5

145X6, 6, 6 @~6

Band Chins (under foot) - BWX7, 7, 5 @7/8

BBM LFT Block 2. Cycle 4. Session C.

sRPE @6.5

BW - 203

Deadlift - 

380X1 @7

355X3 @6.5

335X3, 3, 3 @~5

Cambered Bar Bench - 

180X1, 1, 1 @~7

140X5, 5, 5, 5@~5 

Hack Squat - 

150X8 @8

140X6, 6, 6 @6

Band Chins (under foot) - BWX9, 8, 6 @7/9

Squeezing all my heavy resistance training sessions in to try and finish the block before I'm out for a few days next week.  Hoping to fill in GPP/Conditioning as I can.

BBM LFT Block 2. Cycle 3. Session C.

sRPE @7

BW - 200

Deadlift - 

385X1 @7.5

345X3 @6

325X3, 3, 3, 3 @5/6

Cambered Bar Bench - 

175X1, 1, 1 @7

140X5, 5, 5, 5 @~5

Hack Squat -

135X8 @7.5

125X6, 6 @5

Band Chins (under foot) - BWX9, 7, 5 @7/8.5

Top set of DL was flat, but the back-offs were stronger than last week.

Cambered Bench and Hack Squats also felt stronger.  Forgot I was supposed to do a 3rd set of Hack back-offs.

Band chins were...interesting.

BBM LFT Block 2. Cycle 2. Session C.

sRPE @7

BW - 200

Deadlift - 

385X1 @7.5

345X3 @7

315X3, 3, 3, 3 @~6

Cambered Bench - 

170X1, 1, 1 @~7

140X5, 5, 5 @~6.5

Hack Squat -

130X8 @8

120X6, 6 @5.5

Band Chins (under foot) - BWX8, 8, 6 @6.5/7.5

sRPE crept up today as I let myself push some weights a smidge over target RPE and % targets.  Fairly predictable that things went so well on Squat and Bench day that I would try to force them to "go good" on Deadlift day instead of just following the plan. 

BBM LFT Block 2. Cycle 1. Session C.

sRPE @6.5

BW - 201

Deadlift - 

365X2 @7

335X3 @6.5

315X3, 3, 3, 3 @~5.5

Cambered Bar Bench - 

165X1, 1, 1 @7

135X5, 5 @5/6

Hack Squat - 

125X8 @7.5

120X6 @5

Band Chins (under foot) - BWX8, 8, 6 @7.5/8

Pivot Session A.

sRPE @5.5

BW - 211

Double-Crunch Machine -

+25lbs. 7, 7 @7/8

+50 lbs. 7 @10

Band Chins (under knee) -

Supinated - BWX9 @9

Supinated V-Grip; Paused at bottom - BWX6 @8

DB 1-Arm Rows - 95X7, 8 @8/9.5

Incline Bench - 

165X3, 3 @7.5

185X3, 3 @8.5/9

Pivot Session C.

sRPE @5

BW - 216

Hack Squat - 100X8 @5

NG Pause Band Chins (under Knee) - BWX7 @6

High Incline Bench - 85X12 @6

RG EZ Bar Curls - 50X10 @5

Dunno my performance was crapping out at such a low weight on the high inclines [shrugs].