Block 4 (Accumulation). Cycle 3. Session C.

BW - 220

Deadlift -
260X9 @6
275X9 @7
337.5X1 @6
355X1 @7
375X1 @8
290X9, 9 @~8

Front Squat -
145X7 @6
152.5X7 @6.5
157.5X7, 7, 7, 7 @~7

Dips -
BW+15X7 @6
BW+25X7 @6.5
BW+32.5X7 @7
BWX15 @8

Good session.  Since I adjusted my DL stance, it continues to proceed nicely.  Throws a wrench in data collection over the last several blocks, but who cares?

I have had some nagging right glute/high hamstring discomfort on-and-off this calendar year, and it's starting to rear it's head again, but it actually hasn't interfered with training yet, and hopefully that trend continues.

Hoped to get 160X7@7 on Fronts, but that was gonna be a touch too heavy.  All good.  157.5 was actually what the math expected, but I find that I like to walk in the gym expecting to add 10 lbs. week-over-week, and have the mathematical projection be more of my floor.

RPE on Dips continues to be a bit trickier to predict than other lifts, but this is still right around the weight I was shooting for. 

One thing I'm finding with all my supplemental and accessory lifts is that if the RPE prescription is different from the main/first lift, I have to keep that in mind otherwise I want to go to the main lift RPE.  On Dips in particular, since the back-off set is targeting RPE 8, and the Deadlifts had been RPE 8, I kept thinking my top set was supposed to be RPE 8, and I overshoot my warm-ups.

Video is of top sets and final work sets.

Block 4 (Accumulation). Cycle 2. Session C.

BW - 219

Deadlift -
245X9 @5.5
265X9 @6.5
330X1 @6
350X1 @7.25
365X1 @8
280X9, 9 @~8

Front Squat -
135X7 @5
142.5X7 @6
150X7, 7, 7, 7 @7

Dips -
BW+5X7 @5
BW+10X7 @5.5
BW+20X7 @6
BW+30X7 @7.25
BWX14 @8

Good session.  Nice to pull 365 off the floor again.  It's been over 6 months.  Because of that, the weight feels heavy in my hands, but objectively, I think it's good.  Deadlift is just flying since I made an adjustment to move my feet back a bit and get more knee extension off the floor.  At some point, I assume that adjustment will adapt out, and we'll see where it goes from there.

Front Squats felt good.

Miscalculated my jumps early on Dips and ended up doing an extra set or two.  This was nice in a way, because the first set or two of Dips always kind of feel like shit.  Here, after the +10 set everything was feeling really good.

Video is of top sets and final back-offs.

Block 3 (Transmutation). Cycle 5. Session A.

BW - 213

Squat -
265X7 @6
300X3 @6
310X3 @7
327.5X3 @8
280X7, 7, 7 @7.7.5

CG Bench -
155X6 @6
165X6, 6, 6 @7

Plate Deficit Deadlift -
225X7 @6
240X7, 7 @6.5, 7

Solid session.  Busy gym, and I ended up working in with someone on Squat, and having a lot of side conversations during close-grips, so not a lot of video of those.

Quick Notes:
Squat went very well overall.  Getting comfortable with the weights being far in excess of BW again.

I've been playing with bench rep execution.  For higher intensity sets, still "resetting" between reps (taking a new breath, etc.), but for more "rep out" sets just going straight through, or in chunks.  Seems to be working much better than resetting every rep like I had been, and like I do on Squats.

On deficit pulls, playing with foot placement to try to emphasize glutes and hamstrings rather than quads for the majority of the stroke.  If I had it to do over again, I think I would prefer wider grip DL instead of pulling from a deficit to remove this issue.

Block 2 (Accumulation). Cycle 5. Day 2 and Chicago Strength Symposium

5.2.
BW - 209

Squat - 240X10 @ 6

High Bar Squat - 240X3, 3, 3 @ ~6

Bench - 162.5X8, 8, 8 @6/7

Deadlift -
250X8, 8 @6.5/7
225X8 @6

C.S.S.
BW - 210

Deadlift - 315X2, 2, 2 @7/8

Squat - 260X8, 8, 8 @6

Squats and Bench on Day 5.2 both went really well.  Deadlift gassed me out pretty fast, and had to drop 10% for the third set.

Attended the Chicago Strength Symposium at my gym all day on Sunday.  A lot of great presenters providing a lot of good info.

Got some DL instruction from Hani Jazayrli and Megan Rori Alter.  Hani gave me some advice on mixed-grip placement to keep the bar from rotating away from me on the supinated side, and Rori noticed I had one bloodied shin, and spent some time working with me on set-up before the pull to get my hips and chest in a better starting position.  Ended up going much heavier than I have in months, but it was fine.  No adductor, quad, or back pain issues.

Then I decided to start my workout.  Ended up getting a squat check from Bryce Lewis ("Looks good.") and having a great conversation with him about when to worry about technique and when not to, the value of peaking, and a few other topics.  Friendly talk.  After squats, I felt a bit "done," and decided to do the rest of the workout on the following day (this evening).

Only get video on the 5.2 session.

Block 2 (Accumulation). Cycle 4. Day 2.

BW - 216

Squat - 235X10 @5.5

High-Bar Squat - 235X3, 3, 3 @~6.5

Bench - 160X8, 8, 8 @6/7.5

Deadlift - 245X8, 8, 8 @6.5/7

Felt good about this workout in general.  Not a lot to say.

Squats feeling much stronger.  Can't tell if the quad discomfort is getting less, or if I'm just getting used to it.  Had trouble getting the bar set comfortably for high-bar on the first two sets.

Bench fatigue jumped a lot on the 3rd set.  No idea why.

On Deadlift, the "master" cue right now is "patience."  Commit to the new set-up (breathing at the bottom with shins still against bar), and don't rush from one rep to the other.

Didn't get video of the 3rd set of high-bars.

Block 2 (Accumulation). Cycle 3. Day 2.

BW - 212

Squat - 225X10 @5.5

High Bar Squat - 225X3, 3, 3 @~6

Bench - 155X8, 8, 8 @~6

Deadlift - 235X8, 8, 8 @6.5

Conditioning - LISS; Treadmill; 20 minutes

Another solid session.

Quad still "tickles" a lot during warm-ups on squats, and a bit during the 10 rep set.  I get acclimated to it, and it doesn't really interfere with my work sets.  I am sometimes waking up in the night to find my quads really achy, and hard to get into a position where they calm back down.  I get something similar when I've been driving for a long time.

Mis-loaded the bench to 155 instead of 145 and it was til @6 so....interesting.

On DL, getting more acclimated to holding position and taking a breath at the bottom of the rep.  SUPER boring on warm-ups, but actually seems to help prevent cardio fatigue on the work sets.  In addition to keeping form tighter.

Block 2 (Accumulation). Cycle 2. Day 2.

BW - 214

Squat - 210X10 @ 5.5

High Bar Squat -
217.5X3, 3 @5.5
220X3 @ 6

Bench - 142.5X8, 8, 8 @ ~6

Deadlift - 230X8, 8, 8 @ ~6

Everything went really well today.  Generally speaking, everything felt a bit stronger than last time, and the lifts felt generally more locked in.

A little bit of left quad discomfort on Squats.  Distracting between sets, but not really a problem during sets.

Bench was fine.

Deadlift was solid, and getting used to holding position at the bottom and taking my breath there.

Vacation Prep. Week 2. Deadlift

BW - 209 (?)

Deadlift -
135X5
185X4
225X3
275X3, 3
315X2
365X1
315X5, 5, 5

Deficit Deads (1" plate) - 225X3, 3, 3, 3, 3

Treadmill - 30 minutes; incline walking

 Kind of played things by feel today, and was focused on tweaking my deadlift set-up.  I videoed a lot of the sets along the way and used those to make adjustments as I went.  I very quickly refined the set-up to get my shoulders directly over the bar.  From there I worked on finding a starting position for my hips.  My focus here was on: 1) Hips below shoulders (#MarkBell).  2)  Hamstrings feeling tight.  3)  Hamstrings being low enough to accomplish 1. and 2., but not so low that they shoot up before the bar leaves the floor.  And finally 4) Bottom Position on subsequent reps being the same as on the first rep.

Here's a video of a set with 275 where I felt like I got it dialed in (I forgot to video my sets at 365 and 315, dammit):

Then I decided to see if I could keep the same feeling with deficits.  I hit my biggest deadlift numbers using deficits for additional volume, but I also suspect that's where I started to develop bad habits on my set-up.  Here's a video of a deficit set where I'm dialing in the same 4 points above:

Vacation Prep. Week 1. Deadlift

BW - 209

Deadlift -
135X5
185X4
225X3
275X2
315X1
365X1
345X3, 3, 3, 3, 2

Bulgarian Split Squat - BWX20, 20, 15

GHR - BWX12, 10, 8

Treadmill - 30 minutes; incline walking

Odd session.  I misread my programming here, and I'd intended to do high-rep sets with a much lower weight.

I discovered last time that my deadlift form was set up with the shoulders well behind the bar and the hips fairly low.  I started playing around with adjust that here.  I didn't think to film it, which is dumb and a tool I need to use to fix this.  The good news is that my back felt strong and VERY stable in this position which helps reduce the yips I have from injuring myself a couple months back.  The bad news, is I still feel very slow off the floor.  The thing is that the first rep feels the slowest to break, and the subsequent reps feel better.  That screams bad set-up, so I'll just have to work it.

Got more reps total on the split squats which are still brutal as hell.

Really making the GHR a struggle for myself.  I'm dropping my upper body a little bit below parallel at the bottom of the movement and focusing on initiating the concentric with my glutes first before I start extending the knees.  Still pushing the glutes through hard right before the top as well.

Reps and Volume. Week 16. Deadlift

BW - 214

Deadlift -
135X5
185X4
225X3
275X3
315X2
345X4, 1
315X3

RDL - 185X15, 15, 12

Paused Front Squats - 135X5, 5, 5, 5, 5

Chest Supported Rows - 90X20, 15, 12, 11

I was on the fence about even doing Deadlifts today.  I gave it a shot and they felt strong all the way through the set of 345X4.  Then the next set of 345 had no umph at all.  Instead of trying to force the issue I dropped down for a quick set with 315.

Later in the session I went back to the platform and examined my set-up in a side mirror.  I hadn't realized this, but I was set up with my shoulders WAY behind the bar.  This is something to look at.  I haven't filmed myself from the side in a long time, so I'll start doing that.  Got to get my shoulders over the bar.

RDL's felt strong.  I forgot my straps today and just went with a mixed-grip.

Paused Fronts and T-Bars both felt strong.