Pivot. Week 1. Session A.

sRPE @6

BW - 221

Box Squat - up to 345X1 @9

Wide-Grip Press, paused on chest - up to 125X2 @10

Pull-Downs with end-ROM drop-set - X10/6; 10/5 @~10

Been a roller-coaster couple of weeks fighting through a lingering cold, traveling for 3 days, then coming back with the flu.  Decided to stop trying to eke out gains from the prior training block, and just pivot and start a new block (hopefully) next week.

The planned new block would be lower rep work, so my plan here was to work up on some relatively novel variations to try and stimulate the skill of low rep work ahead of starting the block.

It's possible box squats are no longer novel enough for this kind of thing, as I pretty quickly aggravated my right glute.  So now I have that on top of everything else, lol.

WG dead-stop presses were fun if a bit awkward to figure out the grip width and walk out.

REALLY liked the mechanical drop-set on the pull-downs.  This kind of thing is becoming more popular in the body-building world as the literature around end-range partials for hypertrophy continues to grow.  What I did here was take a long ROM pull-down to technical failure then keep going only brining my upper arms down to ~parallel.  The burn on the drop-set partials was real.  

Mid-Rep Volume PRs. Pivot Session E.

sRPE @7.5

BW - 225

Box Squat - up to 380X1 @9

Roman Chair Squat - BWX10, 10, 10 @7/9

Dips - up to BW+65X1 @8

Decline Bench - up to 225X3 @7.5

Cambered Bench - 135X6, 6, 6, 6 @7/8

Messing around the couple of sessions before I go on a trip.  Decided to work up on Box Squat. Everything felt really good, especially once I called spotters in.  Heaviest I've squatted to a box is 335X5, so this is certainly a PR on this lift.

Worked up on Dips just because I haven't hit them in a couple of weeks.

Then a buddy from the Konjugate Krew came in and I worked in with him on Max Effort Bench stuff.  I'm sure I've done Decline Bench in my life, but I have no record of having done it going back 13 years.  So...PR?

ME Lower Team Training

sRPE @6

BW - 221

Box Squat - up to 335X5 @9

SSB Good Morning - 

185X5 @10 (technical breakdown)

135X8 @7.5

Worked in with my Conjugate friends in a quick session because the gym was closing early.

335X5 is a Box Squat PR.  My previous best was 275X1.  335X1 is the heaviest I've gone on comp Squat this calendar year.

My previous best straight-bar GM was 135X13 so....PR?

ME Lower Team Training

sRPE @8.5

Reverse Safety Bar Box Squats - up to 290@8.5

Sumo Rack Pulls w/Straps - up to 405X1 @8.5

Inverted Rows - BWX14, 14, 12 @8.5/9

GHR Sit-Ups - BWX14, 10, 10 @~8

Standing Cable Abs - some

Belt Squat March - 1:20@9.5

Belt Squat Static Holds - 

Full Dept X0:30 @9.5

Half Depth X0:30 @9.5

Awful.  Awfully fun!  Training with the conjugate crew.

Mid-Rep Volume PRs. Week 6. Session B.

sRPE @6

BW - 210

Bench - 225X3 @9.5

Dips - BWX16 @10

Box Squat - 275X1, 1 @~7.5

Leg Extensions - X11, 10 @10/9

DB Full ROM Laterals - 15sX14, 11 @8/10

Last week of the training block, and I was in a hurry, so I just pushed AMRAP sets on the main lifts, and then got some quick work in on supplemental and accessory lifts. 

Mid-Rep Volume PRs. Week 5. Session B.

sRPE @7

BW - 211

Bench - 

210X1 @7

155X11, 11, 11 @6.5/8

Box Squat - 

275X1 @7

235X6, 6 @6/7

Dips - BW+15X8, 8, 8, 8 @8/10

DB Full ROM Laterals - 15sX13, 10 @~9

155 for 3 sets of 11 is a Volume PR on Bench

226 (BW+15) for 4 sets of 8 is a Volume PR on Dips.

Mid-Rep Volume PRs. Week 4. Session B.

sRPE @7.5

BW - 208

Bench - 

205X1 @7

150X11, 11, 11 @6.5/8.5

Box Squat - 

275X1 @6.5

225X6, 6 @~6

Dips - BW+15X7, 7, 7, 7 @7/9

DB Full ROM Laterals - 10sX19 @10

150 for 3 sets of 11 is a Volume PR on Bench.

223(BW+15) for 4 sets of 7 is a Volume PR on Dips.

I needed to reduce stress on this day, and just reducing volume on laterals wasn't going to do it.  However, if I take any volume away from Bench or Dips, the Volume PRs will stop on this day.  So instead I swapped out the 8@8 on Box Squats for 1@7.  Worked well for now.

Mid-Rep Volume PRs. Week 3. Session B.

sRPE @8.5

BW - 210

Bench - 

205X1 @7

145X11, 11, 11 @6/9

Box Squats -

225X8 @8

225X6, 6 @~6

Dips - BW+15X6, 6, 6, 6 @6/8

DB Full ROM Laterals - 10sX15, 13, 10 @~8.5

145 for 3 sets of 11 is a Volume PR on Bench (I've never done 3 sets of 11+ plus).

225 (BW+15) for 4 sets of 6 is a Volume PR on Dips. 

Mid-Rep Volume PRs. Week 2. Session B.

sRPE @8

BW - 210

Bench - 

205X1 @6.5

145X11, 11 @~6/7

Pause Box Squat - 

225X8 @7.5

225X6, 6 @~6

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

DB Full ROM Laterals -

20sX11, 6 @7.5/10

10sX12 @10

At this BW, 4 sets of 9 is a Volume PR on Dips. 

Mid-Rep Volume PRs. Week 1. Session B.

sRPE @8 (adductor DOMS)

BW - 211

Bench - 

205X1 @7.5

135X11 @6

Box Squat - 225X8 @8

Dips - BWX9 @7

DB Full ROM Laterals - 25sX10, 6 @8.5/10

Gnarly quad and adductor DOMS from returning to squatting after a week off.  Made the first half of the session a real slog.

This will be my first time regularly box squatting.  This is with a very light touch on the box, and the briefest of pauses.  No unloading or rocking on the box.

Block 1 (Accumulation). Cycle 2. Day 2 (Bench focus).

BW - 217.9

Bench - 165X8, 8, 8 @6/7

High-Bar Box Squat - 185X6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6 @6/6.5

Pull-Ups w/ Straps - BWX3, 3, 3, 3 @~10

Back was feeling better today*, and so I was optimistic about the training session.

Bench felt fine, but still got to @7 after only 3 sets again this week.  Interesting.

HBS to a low box were super solid.  Still trying to keep rest times to ~2 minutes, but I ran into one of the strongest guys in the gym who I don't see that often anymore, and we inevitably got to talking training between sets.  With the longer rests, the RPE just wasn't going up very much on these, so I cut it off after 6 sets.  Will still probably expect a higher intensity next week.

*Tried doing mat pulls, but felt my low-back twinge just a bit after 2 reps with 225, so I shut that down.  We'll try again with pulls from the floor on Friday.

I'd done chin-ups instead of DL on Monday, so today I decided to do pull-ups.  I already had my straps out for mat pulls, and I was stuck using my least favorite pull-up station, so I decided to try them with straps for the first time.  Wow.  I really didn't expect them to make as much of a difference as they did.  These were only sets of 3, but for pronated pull-ups which I haven't done in some time, these felt much stronger than I would have expected.  These were very strict with a swinging, straight-arm hang at the bottom and chest to the bar at the top.  It never occurred to me that grip strength might be limiting my chin strength this much.

Block 1 (Accumulation). Cycle 1. Day 2 and 3 (Bench and Deadlift focus).

Day 2

BW - 217

Bench - 165X8, 8, 8 @6/7

High-Bar Box Squat - 185X6, 6, 6, 6, 6 @6/7

2" Mat Pulls w/ Straps - 257.5X7, 7, 7, 7 @6/7

Day 3

BW - 218

Deadlift - 242.5X8, 8, 8, 2* @6/*10 (tweaked low back)

Tempo Squat 2-2-0 - 185X5, 5, 5 @6/7

Close-Grip Bench - 127.5X8, 8, 8, 8 @6/7

Bench went from 6 to 7 pretty fast.  Not sure what that was about.

High-Bar Box Squats and Elevated Deads both went fine.

Day 2 felt solid overall.

Not so much Day 3.  Tweaked my back on the 2nd rep of the 4th set of Deads.  Video of 3rd and 4th sets below.  Probably just getting in too much of a hurry because the low intensity is kind of boring, and makes the higher rep sets seem to take forever.  Feels about 80% back to normal 3 days later, and didn't prevent me completely from finishing the training session.

I have to take the tempo squat weights with a grain of salt because of the back injury.  If the low back is fine this week we'll see how they do.  Generally would expect these to have been heavier.

CG Bench was a shit show getting to my work weight.  It took me 4 sets to find this weight, at which point I was already fairly fatigued.  Theoretically that should mean this will be a conservative number come the next session.

Hope the low back continues to heal quickly.  Was very happy to be starting a new cycle, and would hate to get derailed in the first week.

Transmutation to Accumulation Pivot Day 8.

BW - 216

Bench-Grip Deadlift (DOH) - 270X4, 4 @7, 8.5

Pause Squat to Low Box - 225X4, 4 @7

Standing, Single-Leg Curls - X13 @8

DB Incline - 60sX8, 8 @~8

Plate Full Raise - 25X15, 12 @~6.5

Conditioning - Treadmill LISS; 20 minutes

Sunday is my #1 least favorite day to train.  Fatigue kicked in pretty quickly across the board at this mid-day session.

Grip was by far the limiting factor on Deadlift.

Box Squats felt very solid.  Shank is nice and vertical; really pushing the lift into the posterior-chain.  No quad pain during set at all.  No increase in quad discomfort outside of the gym within 24 hours following session. 

Ran out of gas quick on the DB Inclines.

Looking forward to switching back to full training.

Transmutation to Accumulation Pivot Day 5.

BW - 217

DOH Bench-Grip Deadlift - 270X4, 4 @7

Low Bar Box Squat (beltless) - 215X4, 4 @7

Standing, Single-leg Curls - X13, 9 @8

DB Incline - 60sX8, 8 @7

Plate Full Raise - 25X15, 15 @8

DOH BG DL (lol) went pretty well got up to @7.5 on grip strength, which is fine.  Doing DOH for a reason.

I think the only other time I've done box squats was when I worked out with Matt Wenning a couple of years back.  These felt very solid.  I kind of thought the weight would be higher, but novelty, plus the lingering quad strain plus [waves hands].

Did DB Inclines for the 4th time in 4 years, haha.  These also felt fine

3 years since I did plate raises. 

Training with Matt Wenning at Ludus Magnus Gym. Day 1. Speed Lower

I was in Columbus this week for work, and I took the opportunity to arrange to go train with Matt Wenning at his gym, Ludus Magnus.  I would describe the gym as contemporary-hardcore.  A converted garage with no climate control, a ton of specialty bars, a couple of racks, a platform, a quality bench, all the dumbells, and a smattering of machines.  Only what you need, or might find useful.  Matt just had me work in with the group he was training that day, I'll detail basically what we did, but I don't remember specific weights.

Warm-up:
Sled-pull - 1/2 way down the block, and then back up (maybe 3 plates on the sled)
Lying Leg Curls - 1 set of 20
Decline Sit-Ups - 1 set of 20

Speed Squats - Safety-Bar Box Squats w/ one chain per side
I believe we did 4 sets of 2; all reps paused. Maybe a quarter and a dime on each side.

Speed Deads - different conventional stance/grip every set (1st lifter decides); all reps held at knee on eccentric for a 2 count.
We did a bunch of singles here.  Maybe worked up to 245.

Finishing Circuit - 2 rounds, AMAP
Fat Bar Shrugs w/ 1 pps.
GHR Sit-Ups
Hypers w/ 45 lb. plate

Warm-ups were all good.  Pulling a heavy-ish sled over a busted sidewalk in the the July sun was hilarious.

The speed squats with safety bar, chains, paused on a box are the kind of classic "Westside" style movement I never thought I'd actually do.  I shit ton of sit-back.  More than I think would be possible with a regular squat.  Matt's take-home for me on this was basically, "you've got to keep your knees out hard.  Looks like you've been squatting a lot into your quads, and when those are taken away, you don't have any power.  Get those knees out, and keep them out."

The speed deads paused on the way down were kind of fun.  I really started to feel the pause in my lats.

On the finishing circuit, I got around 20 reps on each movement the first circuit, and around 15 on the second.  Matt's only real send-home for me on Deads was that I should do more of the weighted hypers.

I was working in with a crew of 3 other folks.  2 guys and 1 woman.  The team training environment of stripping, loading, spotting, cheering, and coaching was pretty fucking awesome.  Matt was super-nice, he ended up giving me a ride back to my hotel, and asking me to come train bench the next day.