Block 5. Cycle 7. Session B.

BW - 222

Bench -
252.5X2 @9.75
212.5X6, 6, 6 @~8.5

Cambered Bar Bench - 175X5, 5, 5 @8

Chin-Ups - BW Density Block; 7 minutes; 7 reps on 1st set; 32 total reps

Bench was a mixed bag here.  252.5X2 is a Rep PR, but with the @~10 it projects as a lower e1RM than last week's 250X2@~9

Frankly, the warm-ups suggested I should take 250 again, but I wanted to try for more weight.  At least it's nice to get some confirmation that I should believe my warm-up feedback. 

I decided to still go on the heavier side on the back-off sets.  The first couple of sets were okay, but the last set was definitely @8.5 and trending up. 

But I was able to add weight to the cambered bench without any trouble.  Some of that could still be acclimation to a relatively novel movement.

Also got one more rep squeezed in on the chin-up density block.

Yesterday, I was optimistic that I might be able to extend this training block another week, and today I kind of want it to be over.  It may come down to how the last session of this cycle goes.  This is definitely one of those places where a good quality coach that's familiar with both my lifting and my psychology would be helpful, but as is I gotta do for self.

All video is of top set and final back-offs.

Old Man Texas Method. Week 8. Intensity Day

BW - 228

Squat - 400X5

Bench - 232.5X4, 3

Deadlift - 385X3, 3

Squat depth was borderline here.  I filmed every set from 225 (when I put on my belt) up, trying to get better depth, but the ones that felt deep always looked borderline on video.  Need to reach out to my old coaches about tuning up my squat again.

4th rep on bench was sloooooow, so I cut it there, and did a 2nd set of 3 instead.  Will progress with 2 sets of 3.  Both sets shown.

Deadlifts felt pretty good.  Slow, but fairly strong.  2nd set shown.

Novice LP. Team Training. Session 6

BW - 222

Squats - 282.5X3X5

Press - 110X3X5

Pull-Ups and Ring Chins - BWX3, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2

Pull-downs - X8

My coach and I mis-communicated on today's weight, and so we mis-loaded the bar.  We just decided to stay at the weight and just balance the load back out.  These went well.

Press also went well.

I tried out some pull-ups.  First time in a while.  Hard.  There's no chin bar in the room where the team trains, but someone had hung some rings.  After a few sets of pull-ups, I went back into the team room and did some ring chins.  Also hard.

This is almost certainly the last team training session.  Kratos Strength, the coaches I've been working with, are opening their own facility.  It's in a less convenient location, and will be more expensive than the current set-up.  I'm going to check it out over the weekend, but it's hard to imagine I won't be back to training on my own-some starting next week.

Reps and Volume. Week 2. Deadlift

BW - 230

Squat -
BarX5
135X5
185X5
225X5, 5

Deadlift -
135X5
185X4
225X3
275X2
315X1
285X4, 4, 4, 2

Pull-downs - X50, 30, 20 (upped weight from last week)

My meet coach was pulling on the platform next to me.  I was having trouble last week keeping the bar against my legs.  He gave me the helpful cue to bring my knees further forward at the start and that seemed to do the trick.

Meet Report

BW - 229 (in jeans and shoes)

Squat -

324.5X1

346X1

363X1

Bench -

203.5X1

220X1

231X1

Deadlift -

324.5X1

352X1

374X1

Total - 968

Wow, what a long day!  Got to the gym for weigh-in at 8:00 AM, and final trophies were around 7:00 PM.  

Quite tired today, but happy to have hit most of my goals.  In order: Do the meet, don't get re-injured, go 9-for-9, lifetime PR(s) on the platform, 1000 lb. total.

I let my coach put in my attempts for me, and I didn't ask what they were.  With the kilo plates, I couldn't tell by looking.  I trusted that he'd pick well, and all I had to do was execute.  363 ties my lifetime training PR in the Squat.  231 Bench and 374 Deadlift are both lifetime PRs.

I maybe had a little room to go up on the Squat, however the USAPL judges (one in particular) were calling the squat extremely strict.  When I'd done the 363 in training with commands, the gym owner (who was also a judge at this meet) thought depth was borderline.  That's why my coach stayed there for my 3rd.  I got three whites, but I believe that was a good call.

My final Bench attempt was felt like the single hardest rep I've ever successfully completed.  Looks a lot faster in video than it felt.  The bar got half way up and seemed to come to a complete stop.  From there, it was pure willpower and execution.  Keeping the pressure on, and slightly angling the bar back got it moving just enough to lock-out.  Props to my coach for his cue-ing, and to the judges and spotters for letting me finish it.

I don't know what was going on with the Deadlift, but I was significantly stronger on the platform than I'd been at any point in training.  As a result, my coach and I were both in unknown territory.  After my 2nd, he asked me how it felt.  "Great," I said.  "Easy?," he asked.  And I wasn't sure what to say, it did feel easy, but I wasn't sure how easy to call it.  He'd asked me earlier what my lifetime PR on the lift was (365X2), and he ultimately played it safe by just calling for a PR.  The way it felt, I probably  left at least 10 lbs. on the platform with that one.  That's, oddly, a good feeling.

Depending on what goes on in the coming year, I'd be happy to do another meet if it's reasonably convenient.  I would probably go more directly after numbers for that one.  I plan to drop a lot of the fat I put on for this one, so I'd love to get the 1000 lb. total one weight class lower in the 205s.  But I'll have to get well under that, so I can train back up to it, and the timing would have to be right, so we'll see.

Overall, I had a great time.  Hung out with some interesting folks, and got to see some valiant lifts.  My wife came out, and several friends did as well.  I feel very thankful for that.

Texas Method - Week 6 - Volume Day

BW - 230

Squats -
BarX5
135X4
205X3
245X2
285X5, 5, 5, 5, 5

Bench -
BarX5
95X3
125X2
155X1
180X5, 5, 5, 5, 5

Deadlift -
135X3
225X2
315X1
350X1, 1

 Feeling kind of beat-up.  Starting to look forward more towards after the meet than the meet itself.  My right shoulder (my "good" shoulder) hurts, but I can't tell how much is the pain from chins, dropping the bar on my collar-bone in the clean, and general DOMS.  Knees and hips are achy.  Knees in particular make it hard to get comfortable trying to go to sleep.

Didn't have coaching today.  Pretty sure I was supposed to start singles this week, so I worked up to a single on Deadlift.  Then I wasn't sure if it was one single or multiple, so I did one more and called it.  They were both hard.

Hoping I bounce back a bit both mentally and physically for the meet.

Novice LP - Session 28

BW - 229

Squats -
BarX5
145X4
205X3
255X2
295X1
315X5, 5, 5

Bench -
BarX5
115X4
145X3
185X1
200X5, 5, 5

Chins -
BWX5, 4, 3, 2

Good stuff.

It was a year ago, on 12/22/14, that I hit 315X1 for the first time.  Went through a lot of ups and down with training in 2015 due to both injuries and conflicting priorities, but here I was on 12/23/15 hitting 315 for 3 sets of 5.  Needless to say every rep after the 1st one was a PR, and that feels great. And I owe a lot to my coach at Kratos and my P.T. at Chicago Spine and Sports. 

Followed that up with a Rep PRs on bench with 200X5 and got all 3 sets of those.  Both this and Squats are creeping into all-around PR territory now.

Even felt a little stronger on my now pitiful chin-ups.  Feel like those may be due for an upswing already.

Novice LP - Session 18 (coached)

BW - 223

Squats -
BarX5
125X4
175X3
225X2
260X1
295X5, 5, 5

Bench -
BarX5
95X4
125X3
155X2
180X1
197.5X5, 5, 5

Cleans -
Up to a Yellow and a White for 3X3 (133 lbs.?)

I accidentally jumped 10 lbs. on the Squat.  Oh, well.

197.5X5 is a Rep PR on the bench.

Cleans went way better under coaching than by myself last session.

Novice LP - Session 5 (coached)

BW - 222

Squat -
up to 265X5, 5, 5

Press -
up to 120X5, 5, 5

Deadlift -
up to 285X5

I don't record any of my warm-ups when I'm working with my coach.  I just put on whatever weights he says.

I tweaked my back the morning of this training day, and was pretty upset about it.  I worked so hard on rehabbing the last few months, and didn't know what it was going to mean for my training.  The one thing I knew I had going for me was that I'd have live coaching for this session.  I talked with him about it before the session, we just agree to see how it went, and everything went great!  I was so freaking happy about  that first set of 265X5 on the squat, I can't even tell you.  We did decided to drop the intervals down to a 5 lb./day increase on squats starting AFTER this session.

120X5 is a Rep PR on the Press!

Coach decided to only make a 5 lb. jump in Deadlifts starting with this session.  Everything went fine here as well.

Novice LP - Session 3

BW - 221

Squat -
BarX5
95X4
145X3
185X2
215X1
245X5, 5, 5

Press -
BarX5
70X3
85X2
100X1
115X5, 5, 5

Deadlift -
135X5
195X3
235X1
270X5

First un-coached session on this plan.  Although my coach was in the gym, and he did stop by between my 2nd and 3rd Squat work-sets to say "a bit deeper and keep your head down."  Everything went pretty well.

Squats were probably the hardest of the three lifts on this day.  We'll just have to see if I can adapt fast enough to keep up with the progression for a while longer.  If I do, I'll start hitting rep PRs on the Squat and Press in week 3, Deadlift PRs in week 4, and Bench PRs in week 5.  Five weeks to PR'ing in everything is hard for my to swallow after being on such "slow but steady" programs for several years, but there's only one way to find out.

Novice LP - Session 2 (coached)

BW - 222

Squat -
BarX5
95X4
135X3
175X2
205X1
235X5, 5, 5

Bench -
BarX5
85X5
125X5
155X5
170X5

Deadlift -
135X5
185X3
225X1
260X5

2nd session with my coach.  I was out of town all last week for work, and this weekend for a wedding, so we had a big gap between 1 and 2.  I'll be lifting 3 times a week, with 1 session being live coached each week (for now).

Squats and Deads were all good.

Looking at Bench for the 1st time, the set-up is quite different from anything I've done before.  My feet are straight under my knees, and there is no current emphasis on leg drive, or really anything happening below my ribcage.  My grip is all the way out to pinkies on the rings, and I'm tucking a bit less and touching a bit higher.  My coach said I'm tending to let the bar get out of alignment and drift towards my feet on the way up, which sounds awful.  Happy to start getting that fixed.

Coached Training

BW - 216

Squat - worked up to 230X5

Press - worked up to 120X5

Deadlift - worked up to 260X5

P.T. cleared me to do all three lifts.  To give myself a more fixed goal for my rehab, I've decided to do a full meet (my first) that is being held at my gym in March.

Because of the low back issues, I felt now was as good a time as any to get live coaching, particularly on the Squat and Deadlift.  This was a first, get-to-know-each-other session.  I'll be out of town next week, and then we'll start in earnest the Monday after that.

Programming seems that it's going to follow a pretty typical, Texas-style linear progression.  That's fine.  It's having an outside set of eyes on my technique under heavy load that's important to me so I don't reinjure myself.

UB: Strong Week 2. Bench

Defranco Shoulder Mobility

Machine Neck Extension - 20X20, 30X20X2

Bench -
BarX10
85X5
105X5
115X5
125X5
145X5

DB Incline Press - 55sX11, 5

Dips - Gym BW 200+10X10, 4

10 minute trot on the treadmill

Switched over to extensions on the neck machine.  I figure this will have more carry-over to the Deadlift and Squat than flexions were going to have to anything else.  However, before I decide to do them for both upper-body days I want to see how the muscles feel tomorrow.  If my neck is sore and achy, I may not want to do them on Press day, and then have them sore on Deadlift day.  OR maybe I should and make my body adapt.  Dunno.

Still hate benching.  I'm still monkeying with my set-up, and taking minimal breaks between sets while the weights are this "light."  I've done 145 for 10 reps before, but those 5 felt pretty heavy today.  Hope that's not a bad sign.