Hybrid Training. Week 3. Light Lower

BW - 229.4

Speed Squats - up to 255X5, 5, 5

Pause Squats -
225X4
245X4
235X4

"Bench" Grip DL - 225X5, 5, 5

Hang-Cleans - 133X3, 3, 3, 3

Hanging Leg Raises - X8, 8, 8

Finally.  Four weeks I've been on this program, and this is the first time I've been able to run this day the way I'm supposed to.  Low back trouble feels 95% recovered now, and isn't bothering my lifting at all.

It was humid as hell in the gym today, so the Speed Squats weren't as "speedy" as I'd have liked.  Also, I try to avoid max acceleration for the last 1/4 of the lift.  I sometimes find that "popping" up at the top bothers my back.

Haven't done Pause Squats in quite a long time, so I wasn't sure where the weight should be.  I Goldilocks'd that shit, and 235 was juuuuust right.

The program suggest Snatch Grip DL, but I've had trouble with deficit DLs aggravating my low back, so I didn't want to go that wide.  I went with my bench grip which is out to the rings.  I've wondered for some time about getting similar effects to deficit deads by just moving the grip out wider.  I started off a little too low on the first couple of reps (I could tell because I was scraping my shins suddenly).  I think I found the sweet spot, and these went pretty well.  My hamstrings and traps are fairly sore today, and the hamstring soreness at least is from these.

The program also calls for jump squats, but I've never felt comfortable with those.  I thought about doing DB or KB jump squats, but I thought I'd try hang-cleans instead.  I've never done these, and it took awhile to find how low to come down so that I could accelerate into the jump.  My left shoulder wasn't loving these, so we'll see.

LRB 365: Big-15. Phase 1. Week 1. Bench

BW - 200

Bench -
BarX15
85X5
95X4
115X3
145X2
165X1

155X12, 5

Chins (shoulder-width/neutral grip) -
BWX5
+15X5
+20X3, 3
+25X2
+30X1

+25X6, 4
BWX8

DB Incline - 45sX21, 12, 11, 10

1st session on the Big-15 cycles.  This will run for two 6-week cycles.  Looking forward to it.

155X12 is an all-around PR.  My goal on bench this cycle is to hit 155 for 15 or more.  I should hit that, and possibly fairly quickly.  If I hit 15 before the 6 weeks are up, I think I will continue to rep 155 for the rest of cycle 1, but possibly bump up the warm-up weights to a top single at 175, or my previous Everyday Max.  I would like to hit 225X1 sooner rather than later in the next year, and while 155X15 technically projects to that, I figure I can milk 155 for a few reps above that to help cement the musculature I will need when I finally attempt it.

This was my first time doing weighted chins, so these are all PRs to some degree, but really more like baselines.  My goal for the 6 weeks will be to hit BW+25X10.  Again, if I hit that before the 6 weeks are up, I will just keep pushing the reps.  Jesus, anything over 10 is usually a decent chinning-day for me anyhow.  Maybe this will help change that.

Another thing I will be doing for the 1st phase will be focusing on DB movements for a lot of the assistance/accessory work.  I've largely stayed away from that stuff for compound movements the last couple of years, and I think at least this 1st body-building phase is a good opportunity to explore them, and with gusto.  My initial goal is set at 55sX15 for Incline, but because it's such an under-used movement for me, it could ramp up really quickly, so if I hit 55X15+ next week and the week after, I will bump the weight up.