Full Body-ish. Week 5. Squat

BW - 204

Squat -
BarX10 (paused)
95X5 (paused)
135X5
155X4
185X3
225X2
265X3, 2

 Cuff Work - external rotation with 5 lb. plates and Face Pulls; 2X20 each

BB Complex - 95X5, 105X5, 5, 95X5
1-Arm RDL, Hang High-Pulls, Cheat Curls, Yates Rows

My shoulder pain came back with a vengeance last week, so I'm dropping pressing this week and just doing legs and back.  It's the last week of the Full Body block anyway.

Absolutely no pop out of the bottom on squats.

Complex was still tough even without the overheads.

Full Body. Week 4. Bench

BW - 207

Pause Squats -
BarX10
95X5
135X4
155X4
185X3
225X2
255X5

Bench -
BarX20
95X5
115X4
135X3
155X2
185X1
175X10

BB Complex - 95X5; 3 sets
Clean, Front Squat, Push-Press, Front Squat

Solid session.  255X5 is an all-around PR on Pause Squats, and 175X10 matches my previous 10 rep PR, and on reduced carbs and calories.  I went for an 11th, but couldn't get it.

Full Body. Week 4. Squat

BW - 206

Squat -
BarX10 (paused)
95X5 (paused)
135X5
185X4
225X3
255X7, 3

DB Bench -
60sX16, 12, 6
45sX12

BB Complex - 95X5; 3 sets
1-Arm RDL, High-Pull, Push-Press, Cheat Curl, Yates Row

Gym closing early for Memorial Day, so I had to train in the AM.  I never feel as "strong" training in the morning.  Regardless of sleep and whatever.  I was hoping to approach 10 reps with 255 on the Squat, but I was having trouble even keeping my form tight and consistent.

Tried to push reps on the DB Bench, and I eked out a few on the first set, but then the bottom dropped out.  Finished off with the 45s to just try and up the overall volume.

Complex moved up to 5 reps this week, and was: Hard.  As.  Hell.  Gasping for air after 3 sets, and my forearms were screaming after 2.  Crazy.

Full Body. Week 3. Bench

BW - 206

Pause Squats -
BarX10
95X5
135X5
155X4
185X3
225X2
255X4, 2

Bench -
BarX20
95X5
115X4
135X3
155X2
185X1
175X7

BB Complex - 95X4; 4 sets
Clean, Front Squat, Push-Press, Front Squat

Everything seemed hard today.  However, 255X4 is an all-around PR in Pause Squats, but I'd hoped to do 2X4.  After the first set, I knew that wasn't going to happen.

Still being cautious with my left shoulder strain.  The strain didn't get aggravated in this workout, but it was really "tired" feeling afterwards.  I'll stay at 175 on Bench and try to hit 10 reps with it.  That would match me previous 10 rep PR.  Doing that with fewer carbs and calories in my diet than previously would be solid, I feel.

Complex was hard as hell today.  I did 10 sets of 3 last week, and that seemed super-human to me during this session.  I did come up with a wrist-saving compromise on the Front/Press/Front issue, and that is to use a rack position on the first Fronts, but use cross-arm on the second and let it drop to the floor from there.

Full Body. Week 3. Squat

BW - 207

Squat -
BarX10 (paused)
95X5 (paused)
135X4
155X4
185X3
225X2
245X10, 8

DB Bench -
40sX18
55sX18, 10, 12, 10

BB Complex - 95X4; 6 sets
1-Arm RDL (both arms), High-Pull, OHP, Cheat Curl, Yates Row

Felt good coming in today.  Got a good nights sleep, plenty of food, etc.  As a result, 5 more total reps on the Squat work sets than last week, and with 10 more pounds.  Had a guy I'm friendly with at the gym cuing me on.  Have to admit, I think that helped.

60s were occupied, so I went down to the 55s and added an extra set.

Added rows into this complex.  Want to maintain the Deadlift assistance focus (that's also why I went back to High-Pulls from the floor instead of cheat Upright Row).  Between the extra movement and adding extra reps to the sets, I ran out of gas much faster than the last two weeks.

Full Body. Week 2. Bench

BW - 207

Pause Squat -
BarX10
95X5
135X3
185X3
225X2
255X3, 3, 3

Bench -
BarX20
95X5
115X4
135X3
155X2
185X1
165X12

BB Complex - 95X3; 10 sets
Clean, Front Squat, Push-Press, Front Squat

Okay session.  The 3 sets of 3 with 255 matches my best for Pausers which was done just a few weeks back.  These were still a little grind-y though.  I was going to progress up to sets of 4 and 5, but I'm questioning the wisdom of that.  At the very least I may want to look at doing fewer top sets.

Bench was going okay, but then the bar drifted left on the set of 155 and I strained something in my left shoulder.  I was able to complete the bench workout, and also do the push-presses in the complex, but it's definitely needed icing and anti-inflammatories since.  165X12 matches my previous Rep PR.

I pushed up both the reps per set and the total sets on this complex.  But it's still a killer.

Full Body. Week 2. Squat

BW - 208

Squat -
BarX10 (paused)
95X5 (paused)
135X5
185X3
225X2
235X8, 5

DB Bench -
40sX15
60sX15, 10, 9

BB Complexes (Deadlift focus) - 95X2X15
1-Arm RDL, *Upright Row, OHP, Cheat Curl

BB Rows - 145X10

Good session.  Squats felt great, an no issues with my knee.

Pushed the reps on DB Bench a bit.  As soon as I get a 10th rep on the 3rd set, I'll add another set.

This Complex is rounding out.  Once again, my hamstrings are quite sore the next day from these, although my lats aren't as sore as they were last week.  *These started to turn into High-Pulls by the last few sets, and I'm not sure if I should just do those the whole time.

Thought to do one burn-out set of rows at the end, so I threw a 25 on each side.  Ended up being a bit more weight than I needed for my purpose because I was so gassed from the complexes.  Next week I'll just leave it at 95 and also may switch to underhand, Yates row.

Full Body. Week 1. Bench

BW - 207

Pause Squat -
BarX10
95X5
135X3
185X3
225X2
255X2, 2, 2

Bench -
BarX20
95X5
115X4
135X3
155X2
185X1
155X15

BB Complex - Clean, Front Squat, Push-Press, *Front-Squat
95X2; 7 sets

Super low energy today.  I managed to hit all the Pause Squats, but really had to psych myself up for Bench and grind out the 15th rep.  The bad knee didn't display anything like pain during the squats, but I could literally feel it pumping up with blood.  Maybe that means there's already a good deal of inflammation in there?

Even though I was so low energy today, this complex seems significantly hard than the other despite having "bigger" movements in it.  Could be the accumulated fatigue from this first full week of full body and conditioning training, though.

*Getting from the push-press to the front squat and then returning the bar to the floor continues to be awkward.  On the last couple of sets, I tried switching to back squat, but that was just okay.  I contemplated Overhead-Squats, but when I was at the press lockout, it just seemed like a bad idea, so I skipped it.

Full Body. Week 1. Hill Sprints

Hill-Sprints - 15 sprints; just over 15 minutes

First day back out on the hill felt good.  Not trying for any particular speed, just wanted to go for 15 sprints or 15 minutes, whichever came last.  Will go to 20 and 20 next time if everything feels good.

Also, my lats and hamstrings are sore as hell from before the sprinting.  Can that be from the complexes on Monday?

Full Body. Week 1. Squat

BW - 207

Squat -
BarX10 (paused)
95X5 (paused)
115X5
135X5
155X4
185X3
225X10, 5

DB Bench - 60sX15, 12, 8, 8

BB Complex - RDL*, High-Pull, OHP, Row*
95X2; 14 sets

Knee is still bothering me.  Mostly it's achy when I wake up.  I can feel it when I'm exercising as well, but it's hard to tell if that's because of discomfort or because I'm hyper-aware of it.  Anyway, it's time to get back to work, so we'll just have to see.

225X10 is solid I believe while being scared of the knee.  14 reps is my all-time best with this weight.

I was only supposed to do 3 sets of DB Bench.  Oh, well.

Playing around with the complexes to see what feels right.  I'd originally programmed for 5 sets; increasing the reps per set every week.  But 5 sets of 2 here was just nothing, so I kept going until I felt worked and that was 14 sets.

* Strict OHP is the weak link in this chain, and I have to keep the weight down to be able to do it.  But the RDLs and Rows just felt ridiculous, and the High-Pulls weren't much harder.  After about 10 sets, I started pulling the RDL's with one-arm and switched from Rows to Cheat Curls.  I'll try this from the top next week.

Full-Body. Trial Week.

BW - 208

Pause Squats -
BarX10
95X5
135X3
185X3
225X2
255X2, 2, 2

Bench -
BarX20
95X5
135X3
155X2
185X1
155X15

Complex - 95X2, 2, 2, 2, 2
(Clean, Front Squat, Push-Press, Front Squat)

Next Day:
One-Mile Run - under 11:00

My knee was bothering me the last few days so I took time off from training.  It was still feeling wonky, but I felt like it was time to get back in the gym and see what was what.

My plan for May has been to do three days of full body training in the gym with complexes as finishers, and two-three days of starting to ramp up conditioning now that the weather's better.  I haven't done complexes in two or three years, so I wanted to take a week to try some stuff out.

My bench day programming seemed like a good place to start.  With pause squats not having a bounce at the bottom, I knew I'd feel safer on them.  Everything went well here.

On bench, I'm backing down to a lower section of my tiered programming for hitting 225, but with no back-off sets.  15 reps with 155 is actually my calculated target for 225, so that's kind of nice to have there even though I didn't quite make is to 225 in my last strength phase.

This complex had mixed results.  I have zero Oly training, so I knew the cleans would be more like reverse-grip cheat curls and I'm fine with that.  Going from front squat rack position into the press position was awkward, and getting the bar back to the floor after the 2nd front squat was REALLY awkward.  Both were kind of rough on my wrists.  I may ask one of the Oly guys at the gym for advice, or I may switch out one or both front squats for overhead squats.

The next day I did a mile run; my second of the season.  Last week, I came in about 10:45.  I was under 11:00 this time as well, but my time-keeping was off so I don't know exactly.  My knee was a bit tender at first, but after about a 1/3 mile or so, it got warm and felt good.  I'm still WAY over my best ever, sub-8:00 mile times, but this is just an acclimation period.

BLAB Log: Week 11.Day 1

Simple-6

BB Bench Warm-up - 45X5, 95X5

BB Bench - 125X4, 135X2, 155X1, 165X1, 180X1

DB Floor-Press, neutral grip - 45sX23, 20

Inverted Row - BWX11X2

BB Overhead Shrug - 45X15, 95X15, 145X15

Incline DB Curls, Rest-Pause - 35sX10, 4, 2

Defranco's "BeZercher" Complex - 45X10, 9
   without lunges - 45X8, 7

180 is 25lbs. more than I've ever loaded for bench.  I had to get a spotter to come help me with unrack, and I descended pretty hard, but I think I aced the weight.  Jefit thinks I max out around 195.  Between that and this 180, I feel confident that I can get more than one rep on next week's 185 rep test.  I'm wondering if I should tinker with my set-up so that I don't need help with the unrack at this weight.  Moving my shoulders closer to the uprights is obviously the answer, but my set-up has seemed pretty dialed-in.  Probably shouldn't mess with that.  I can tinker when I start 531, possibly.

Sweat Angel!

The sweat spots on the floor where I did the DB floor-presses cracked me up.

VERY hard to get my chest to the bar on the inverted rows.  I tried elevating my feet for the 2nd set, but no help.  Possibly I should set-up with the bar closer to my diaphragm.  I'll tinker with it next week.

I had to mess around with the overhead shrugs to figure out where I should be on them.  After doing a set with just the bar, I new I would be able to shrug more than I could press, so I had to put the pins at the highest setting in the power rack and stick the bar up there and load it. This kind of turned it into dead-stop shrugs because the bar hit the pins at the bottom almost every time. 145 was probably close to where I should be for these.  It was interesting having that much weight locked-out overhead.  The most I've ever pressed was about 105, so balance was a bit wonky. 

I had to drop the full lunges out of the "BeZercher" complex.  The weight of the empty bar is just too close to where my work-set weight would be for lunges.  I'm sure Defranco put these sort of "weak-link" movements in the complexes for a reason, but it was either drop the lunges or stop doing the complexes.

BLAB Log: Week 10.Day 1

Simple-6

De-Load Week

BB Bench - BarX5, 75X5, 95X5

Push-ups - BWX20X2
super-set with
Neutral-grip Cable Rows - 60X20X2

Bicep "21s" (7 reps each: Zottman Curls, Curls, Hammer Curls) - 25sX1 set

Defranco's "BeZercher" complex - 45X8

De-Load week so not a lot to talk about.  While I haven't studied up on Dynamic/Speed work, I did try to execute the Bench as quickly as possible.  Meaning I set-up like I would for a normal work-set, and attempted to execute the movement with correct form (tucking hard near the bottom, attempting a clean bar-path,etc.), but otherwise I was focused on moving the bar as quickly as possible.  I believe this volume is actually quite low for speed work, but nonetheless it gave me something to focus on.  Also, my impression of speed-work is that the impulse to move the bar quickly is intended to carry-over to maximal work, so the practice can't hurt.

The first round of 20 push-ups was easy, the 2nd round had 2 or 3 pauses in it.  Can't tell if that's progress or not. 

For the Zercher complex, and without thinking about it, I did split squats instead of lunges.  Significantly easier, but still a challenge.  I'll tuck that away for the future in case I feel the need to do some "lighter" single leg work.

BLAB Log: Week 9.Day 1

Simple-6

BB Bench Warm-up - 45X5, 65X5, 95X5

BB Bench - 125X5, 135X3, 145X10

DB Alternating Bench - 50sX12, 10

"J" Rope Push-downs - 45X12, 55X10, 10, 9

Defranco's "Shoulder Shocker" - 25/20s/20sX10/10/10, 10/7/4

30 sec. DB Shrugs - 160X24, 150X24, 140X24
super-set with
Alternating Hammer curls - 35sX8X3

"BeZercher" Complex - 65X10, 45X9,8

145 is a 10 rep PR.  I would be in danger of taking this for granted, but there will always be push-ups around the corner to humble me.  Also the REALLY STRONG guys working out across the room.  635 lb. elevated deads below the knee anyone?


Uh, DB Bench and J pulldowns were fine.  Didn't get the last reps, but that's because I tried to push the weight so I'm okay with missing a rep or two.

These damn shoulder super-sets are tough, Joe.  I kind of wish I'd used the 15 lb. DB's so that I could have finished out the 2nd super-sets.

I tried to go up to 80s for the timed DB shrugs, but I couldn't finish out the 30 seconds.  I tried dropping the weight, but my grip was fried.  I could only make about 15-20 seconds on these sets.

Tried to start off with weight on the bar for the complexes, but the lunges became a sticking point, and I had to pull the weight off.  Single-leg work!  This is why I'm going to keep it for my 531 program.

BLAB Log: Week 4.Day 1

Simple-6

BB Bench Warm-up - BarX10, 65X10, 95X8, 115X5, 135X3

BB Bench - 125X5, 130X3, 145X6

Incline DB Bench - 45'sX25, 45'sX16

One-Arm DB Row - 70X8, 70X8, 75X8, 75X8
super-set with
Rope Push-downs - 40X8X4

BB Shrug - 155X8, 160X8, 165X8
super-set with
Incline DB Rear-Delt Raise - 50X8X3

Barbell Complex (DL, Bent Row, Hang Clean, Push Press, Back Squat) - 65X10, 45X10X3

Ha, I wasn't paying attention to my programmed work-set weights for the bench and over-shot that weight with my warm-ups.  Just shows I'm getting stronger in the bench, hopefully.  The 145X6 projects as a PR according to Jefit.  My previous best when I was at B@lly and working with suspect weights was 155X2, so I think it's true.  However, I really think my form is getting more locked in, and that is likely playing a large part as well. 

Speaking of that, the heavy lifters were working in the gym today, and I got to watch them bench at the same time as me and compare our set-ups.  These guys are doing the full PL form where they set-up with their heads way behind the bar, plant the balls of their feet there, and then pull everything else in front of the bar.  Extreme arch so that only the traps and head are on the bench, and their heels are way off the ground.  For myself, I put my eyes right behind the bar, pull my feet back as far as I can without my heel rising off the ground, then I pull myself forward so that my eyes are just in front of the bar.  My heels come off the ground a little, but I manage to keep my butt on the bench.  I then push on the up-rights to make sure my shoulders are tight together and making a nice solid surface with my traps for me to press against.  I grab the bar with my middle-finger on the rings, squeeze and "pull the bar apart," take a lot of air into my belly, and take the bar out.  If it's a work-set, I will pause at the top and take new air into my belly before taking the press.  I let the bar come down in a natural path (about to my diaphragm), then I focus on pressing it back up in the same groove.  I also focus on keeping my elbows tucked coming in and out of the bottom of the press, but letting them flare at lock-out.  This is feeling pretty good for now, and I'm hitting PR's.  I don't know if it is going to be stable enough as the weight keeps increasing though.  Looseness was one of my big problems at B@lly.  The bar swaying side-to-side as it came out of the rack, etc. 

Figuring out this form has been a bit nerve-racking.  The fact seems to be that there are many ways to interpret what constitutes strong in the bench.  So much of the stuff I read is geared towards power-lifting, which emphasizes that big arch that helps hit big numbers at meets.  But I'm not going to do PL meets.  Then when I read Rippetoe, he has you starting with the head and shoulders in final position in front of the bar, feet flat and shins at 90 degrees, and with just enough arch that a flat hand can slide between the back and the bench.  He also has trainees keep the elbows out at about 60 degrees during the press.  So PL form de-emphasizes the chest, and puts more of the weight on the triceps and the lats, which helps to move more weight.  Rippetoe's method uses more chest and shoulders.  I asked Paul Carter about form, and he said I'd have to figure it out for myself, and I guess that's what I'm doing.  To clarify, my goal is this:  Use the Bench Press to Get Stronger.  This doesn't mean I'm trying to build up my chest, but it I'm not sure it means that I need to build the biggest bench possible which would involve the PL-style extreme arch.  So for now, I'm settling on this hybrid with maximum arch while keeping the butt on the bench and feet almost flat.  As the weight goes up I'll just have to make adjustments as necessary.

Back to the session, all the assistance stuff went great.  If the one-armed DB rows, continue to have higher numbers than cable rows and/or pull-downs, I'm gonna want to know what that's about.  Am I being a wimp on the cable stuff, or just cheating more with the DB?  Probably the latter, as I don't think I've ever heard of anybody being more tentative on machines.  Whatever.  Right now it's just fun to be increasingly rowing weights from the fat end of the rack.

I should mention that I was totally out of gas for the BB complexes.  I think it was probably a combination of only having a shake that day prior to training, and having house-guests/staying up late the night before.  I started with the same weight as last time, but almost couldn't finish the set.  The cleans are always a momentum killer for me on these, but this time I just didn't have any reserves.  I was facing a mirror and my eyes literally went wide with surprise and concern on the first clean.  Pretty funny.  I pulled all the weight off after the first set, and barely managed to get through the rest of the sets/reps.  Hey, dummy, eat and sleep!  Tip o' the hat to you , Joe Defranco.  These finishers are definitely exposing all kinds of holes in my training.

BLAB Log: Week 3.Day 1

BB Bench, warm-up sets - 45X10, 65X10, 95X5, 115X3
BB Bench - 120X6, 130X4, 140X7

DB Incline Bench - 80X26, 80X16

One-arm DB Row - 50X10, 60X10, 65, X10, 65X10
superset with
Rope Pushdowns - 25X10, 30X10, 35X10, 35X10

BB Shrugs - 95X10, 115X10, 135X10
superset with
DB Incline Delt Flyes - 25X12, 25X12, 25X12

BB Complex (pulls, bent rows, hang cleans, push press, squats) - 65X10, 55X10, 50X10, 45X10

I mentioned I was going to add more increments to my ME warm-up sets for squats, and I've decided to do that for all my "heavy" lifts.  You can see that here where I added the 65 lb. set.  Bench went well.  The last set called for 2+ reps and I got 7.  According to Jefit, that is a perceived max PR.  Since that includes the innacurate, and allegedly lighter-than-advertised weight I was lifting at B@lly, I feel pretty good about that.
I haven't done one-arm rows in over a decade, so I wasn't sure where to start.  I see a lot of talk about Kroc rows, which are vaguely described as one-arm rows for reps with "a ridiculous amount of weight."  I'm a little confused about that because I don't understand why you would do this lift with less weight than you think you can handle for the target reps.  I thought maybe brief rests were involved, but I just saw video of Wendler doing these, and he went non-stop from the first to last rep.  Whatever, I worked up to the most I could get for the 10 reps.

Speaking of B@lly, I was doing the rope extensions, and I was using around the same weight as I had used at the cable station in the free-weight section of that gym.  But they had another cable station in the machines area where I would have to more than double the "weight."  What is that?  I understand that having more pulleys etc. in-line with the transfer of force reduces the amount of work required to move a given amount of weight, but shouldn't they relabel the plates so that we have an accurate idea of how much force we're generating?  Just sayin'.

Well the bar-bell complexes have been getting harder with the sets going up every week per the program, but I've decided to increase the difficulty by adding weight every week.  Defranco is vague on this point.  The program as written seems to imply an empty bar, but the example YouTubes show a trainee with a weighted bar.  Last week, I added a 5er to each side for the first two sets, and this week I decided to work down from a 10 on each side to just the bar.  I don't know how hard this "finisher" is supposed to be, but this was brutal and I'm keeping it.  However, on the middle two sets I had to set the bar down between reps 5 and 6 of the cleans because my forearms felt like they were going to rip open.  I have  zero practicle knowledge of proper clean technique, but I must be doing something wrong because I did straight-up curls on the last set and it didn't burn at all.  I'll take a look at some Rippetoe stuff and see if I can figure out what I'm doing wrong.