Full-Body. Week 6. Press

BW - 227

Squats - up to 225X5, 5

Press -
BarX5
70X3
95X2
120X1
135X6, 4, 4

Deadlift - up to 265X3, 3, 3

135X6 is a Rep PR on overheads.  RPE 9.5, hahaha.  The two sets of 4 to get my volume goal felt good, though.

I got to aggressive on my first set of speed deads and aggravated my low back.  I calmed down and slowed down a bit on the next two sets with no additional problems, but my back is really achy today.  I'm about to go to visit family over the holiday weekend, and I've got a history of fucking up my back deadlifting before or during those trips.  I'll be fine by the time we leave, but I feel it's prudent not to do the heavy deadlift session programmed for the day before we take-off.  I'll hit two small sessions and call it good.

The weather is becoming steadily nice and even warm here, so I'll probably be looking to get outside for some conditioning soon.  Not 100% on how I'm going to change my programming.  Part of me wants to try and modify the current programming to accommodate the conditioning workout on the principle of not making huge changes and because I love full body strength training.  The other part of me wants to switch to a program designed specifically for mixing strength training with assertive conditioning.  I'll probably go with the latter, because it's something I just know less about.

Novice LP - Session 29

BW - 228

Squats -
BarX5
155X4
205X3
255X2
305X1
320X5, 5, 5

Press -
BarX5
90X3
105X2
125X1
135X3, 5, 4

Cleans -
up to around 133X3, 3, 3,

Felt very strong on Squats this day.  All 3 sets were smooth.  Rep PR, and right around my best project 1RM.

Press felt really uncontrolled on the first set.  Came back strong and got all 5 reps on set 2, but the 5th rep on set 3 stalled just above my head.  Will try this weight again next time.

Cleans were fine.

Vacation Prep. Week 4. Deadlift

BW - 208

Paused Front Squats -
BarX10
95X5
135X5
155X3
185X1
205X1
155X5, 5, 3, 3, 3

super-set with

Deficit Deadlifts (45lb. plate ) -
135X5
185X4
225X3
275X2
315X1
335X1
275X3, 3, 3, 3, 3

Deadlift -
275X3
315X2
335X0
315X1
275X3, 3, 3

Treadmill - 30 minutes; incline walking

Whew.  The thought here was to do some work that would benefit the start of my deadlift, to use movements that require less weight, and to use the super-sets to keep moving and help burn some calories.  Super-setting paused Fronts and deficit Deads looks a little nuts now that I'm seeing it written down, but it was quite do-able.  I did tend to get a little dizzy after the deficit sets, though.

205X1 is technically a Rep PR for all Front Squatting, hahaha.

I guess 315 and 335X1 were both also technically Rep PR's for deficit pulls as well.  I'd always done them after regular pulls, and so had only really used 275-295 before.  Yay!  Lots of PRs!

I wanted to at least touch on regular deadlift to keep locking in my form tweaks, so I decided to work up and down.  335 broke off the floor but stopped below the knees, so I cut it there and worked back down and finished up with some sets at 275.

Probably didn't even need to do the treadmill after all of that, sheesh.

Reps and Volume. Week 15. Squat

BW - 213

Squats -
BarX10 (paused)
95X5 (paused)
135X5
185X4
225X3
275X2
315X1
245X15, 5

High-Bars - 225X3, 3, 3, 3, 3

GMs - 135X10, 10

Single-Leg Extensions - X20, 16, 15

245X15 is a Rep PR, and together with 19+ total reps meets my goal for this weight.  Moving up to 275 next week.

Also, my 315 felt like it may have been a touch high this week, however it was ridiculously easy.  That should boost my confidence for the 315X1 going forward.

High-Bars are juuuuust starting to feel like I might need to do more reps with 225 for the volume supplement.  Since next week's jump on Low Bar from 245 to 275 is larger than normal, I'll still plan on sticking to 5X3.  That's actually the last week of this phase before I start shaping up for a beach vacation in early March.  No reason to expect to push assistance extra hard in that instance.

Back to Good-Mornings and my low back felt totally fine.  I really, really hate this movement, but it felt better today than it has in a while.  In effort to feel a good stretch in both my glutes and my hamstrings, I ended up bending my knees a bit and letting my hips move down at the "bottom" of the movement.  That seems technically incorrect, but my hips and spine felt perfectly stable/neutral, and I was able to really feel the stretch all through those two muscle groups before firing back up into the starting position.  Both areas are fairly sore today as well.

Full Body. Week 2. Press

BW - 199

High-Bars -
BarX10 (paused)
95X5 (paused)
135X5
155X5
185X15, 8

BB Rows -
135X8
155X8
175X8, 8, 8

PBN -
BarX20
65X5
85X5
95X3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3

Solid session.  185X15 ties a Rep PR, and I had a rep or two left in the tank.

Rows were a little bit harder today.  I had to use a little english at the top near the end, but not to get it started.

Shoulder felt fine on PBN.

Phase 1. Week 6. Deadlift

BW - 208

Deadlift -
135X5, 5
185X5
225X4
275X3
315X2
325X3, 5

Deficit Deads - 275X5, 5

RDL - 225X7, 7

BB Rows - 135X10

Great session.  325X5 is an all-around PR, and meets my ultimate cycle goal for this weight.  Will move up to the next tier next week.  Originally planned on doing 2 sets of 3, which was my initial goal step 1 goal for the cycle, but the first set felt so good, I went for it on the 2nd.  Feeling good.

275X5 is also an all-around PR on deficits off a plate, but this movement is still new enough to me that it doesn't really count.  Still felt smooth.  Basically, everything off the floor felt really good today.

Pushed reps on RDLs a bit.  Seemed ok, but it's still hard for me to judge by feel if I'm being strict enough with them.

Fucking rows.  Keeping them really strict I could still only barely, barely touch that 10th rep.  Grip was fried too after the RDLs.  Oh well.

Phase 1. Week 5. Bench

BW - 210

Bench -
BarX15
95X5
115X4
135X3
155X2
185X7, 2

Cambered Bench -
155X2
135X5, 5

Incline Bench -
155X4, 4
135X7

185X7 is barely at my goal for this weight.  I went for an 8th, and the bar got back over my face way before lock-out.  Both I and my spotter thought I would have had the rep if I hadn't mis-grooved.  Nevertheless, I think I'll stay at this weight for next session.

All the accessory lifts felt heavy as hell, and I ended up backing off weight on both of them.  Wondering if it would be a good idea to stay at lower weight and hit higher reps on these for the rest of the cycle.  I'd actually planned on the opposite: Higher Weight, Lower Reps More sets through the end of the cycle, and then trying to use the same weights for Higher Reps, Less Sets and the beginning of the next, but maybe that's backwards.

Phase 1. Week 4. Accessory

BW - 209

Machine Pullovers - X15, 15, 8

Chins (Close, V-Grip) - BWX5, 4, 3 (paused at bottom)

Close-Grip Pulldowns - X12, 11

BB Rows - 135X10, 5

Hammer Curls -
25sX12
30sX8
20sX12

Transitioning this day into a straight body-building style lats day.  My shoulders and elbows were starting to feel beat up, so I thought cutting out extra OHP and triceps work might be beneficial for now.  This routine is based mostly on Dorian Yates lat training.  By being almost total lats, there was no difficulty doing this the day after I deadlifted, however I may still prefer to have rows on the Deadlift day.

Pullovers, pulldowns and rows were all very strict with a strong concentric, squeeze at the contraction, and a controlled eccentric.  I stopped every set when I could no longer complete full ROM in this strict fashion.  An interesting note, my triceps were quite sore the next couple of days from the pullovers.

I'm hoping that doing pullovers to pre-exhaust my lats, and then pausing at the bottom of my chins will help the chins carryover to lat growth instead of just practicing the movement of chinning.

LRB 365: Big-15. Phase 2. Week 1. Bench and Squat

Saturday -
BW - 196

Bench -
BarX15
85X5
105X4
125X3
155X2
175X1

165X8, 5

Chins (V-Grip) -
BWX5
+15X5
+20X3, 3
+25X2
+30X1

+25X7, 3
BWX5

DB Bench -
60sX20, 8
55sX9, 7

Monday -
BW - 200

Calf Raises - 3 sets of 15

Squat -
BarX10 (paused)
95X5 (paused)
115X5
145X4
175X3
225X2
255X1

215X10, 5

Standing Leg Curls - X20, 20, 20, 12 (each leg; no rest between 1st and 2nd, and 3rd and 4th sets)

Single-Leg Press - 1ppsX15, 15, 15, 12 (per leg)

Back into it after a week off.  I went very low carb during my down week and dropped around 5 lbs.  What makes that interesting is that 165X8 on bench is a Rep PR.  My previous best was 165X7 at 203.  So a PR even at the leverage disadvantage.

I videoed my chins to see if I was cheating or cutting them high.  I have mixed feelings about what I see in the video.  On my phone it looked bad, but it looks okay on a larger screen.  Think I will first try keeping my heels back towards my butt and see how that feels/looks.

My goal for the cycle on DB Bench is 65sX15.  Should be close to that now, and will switch to them next session.

I'm still playing around a lot with squat form, and it was going pretty well on the first session back, but then I started having some pain at the top of my left quad.  It was particularly limiting on the back-off set with 215 where the weight felt fine, but the pain limited me.  Here's a vid of the 175X3 set that I took to check my form mid-way through:

Getting a bit more sit-back, and the depth is still good.

Standing single-leg curls were particularly brutal trying to go back and forth with no rest. 

Left quad pain was still there for the single-leg presses, but I think pushing through them may have helped.

LRB 365: Big-15. Phase 1. Week 5. Bench

BW - 201

Bench -
BarX10
85X5
95X4
115X3
142X2
165X1

155X13, 4

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

+25X10, 4
BWX7

DB Incline -
55sX15, 13, 6
45sX10, 10, 10

Two weeks now since I hit 155X14 on bench.  I've only managed 13 reps the last two sessions.  Only one more session to try and hit my cycle goal of 155X15.

My set up is close-grip, with a tight arch with my neck and traps on the bench (but not my scapulae at all) and that has my butt basically floating on the bench and not being supported by it, and my heels are barely touching the ground.  Almost all my reps are paused on the chest, although the pause sometimes gets lost as I push limit reps. The guy that spotted me was between bench sets where he was flat footed, flat back, elbows flared and stopping all reps a couple inches above his chest.  He was doing rep sets with 315.  This has had me all twisted for about 16 hours now, but I've about talked myself back from the ledge.  I swear to god though, if I don't lock out a full rep with 225 in the next 12 months...

+25X10 is an all-around PR for all chinning.  Not saying they were the prettiest reps.

I hit my cycle goal of 55sX15 on DB Incline last time, so now I'm capping the first set there, and working to bring the subsequent sets up.  Significantly more volume over last session.  Would like to get 15 reps on my 2nd set next session.  Something like 15, 15, 8, and I would be ecstatic about 15, 15, 10 and being able to stay with the 55s for the 4th and 5th sets.

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

BW - 200

PBN (seated) -
BarX10, 10
55X4
65X3
85X2
95X1

85X17, 8

DB Rows -
60sX12
70sX12, 9, 8, 8

DB Bench - 55sX18, 11, 8, 7

Deadlift -
135X5
185X4
225X3
245X2
275X1

Um...I think this is the first time I've ever done seated PBNs.  Is that weird?

The hardest part of these is unracking them by myself.  My shoulders felt...vulnerable in that position, so I started leaning back a little and that seemed to help.  85X17 is an all-around PR in BTN pressing.  Are you supposed to be stronger seated vs. standing? 

DB Rowing felt more stable than it ever has in the past.  No low back discomfort like I've had in the past with them, however my abs started cramping up at the top of the rep on the last couple of sets.  I redoubled my focus on keeping my shoulders steady, and that seemed to help.  My goal for the cycle is 75sX12+.  Should get there, and go past it, although this pressing day only happens 3 times in the 6 week cycle.

18 reps with the 55s is an all-around PR on DB Benching.  My goal for the cycle is 60sX15+.  Again, should get there even with only 3 sessions.

I am NOT supposed to be Deadlifting on the Big-15, however I don't feel confident that my technique is settled, much less ingrained enough to justify taking 3+ months off from pulling.  So I will do maintenance pulls during these sessions.  275 is only 87% of my EVERYDAY Max, and, once again, this programmed day only occurs every other week.

Today with the pull, I worked on something Paul Carter's been talking about which is finding the spot where your hips don't get so low that your shoulders and knees get away from the bar path.  This seems to involve a more vertical shin position for me, but with the shins still already touching the bar at the start.  Another big difference is that this has my chest starting off down a bit more, and so I have to cue chest up even harder after the pull starts to keep a neutral spine.  The 275 was fast, but it should be, and therefore it's hard to judge the form tweaks. 

LRB 365: Strong-15 Short. Week 4. Squat

BW - 203

Squat -
BarX10 (paused)
95X5 (paused)
135X5
155X3
185X3
205X2
235X1, 1
245X1

Pause Squats - 205X3, 3, 3, 3, 3

Leg Press - 3ppsX20, 16

Leg Curls - X20, 16 (heavier than last week)

Decent session.  My right knee has been feeling wonky this week.  At first it seemed like squats were making it feel worse, and then by the end of the pause squats, it seemed to feel better than when I started.  Just wait and see.  Hope it's not a side effect of the weight gain.

Cuing hard with 'chest up' and pushing through 'heels.'  245X1 was good.  The 3rd reps on the last couple of pause squat sets were a little wild card as my form tried to break down, but there was no doubt of hitting them all.

Keeping my stance close on leg press, and quads continue to burn.

Hoping the leg curls will help with the knee.

Skipped calves.

LRB 365: LRB Split. Week 6. Back - Heavy

BW - 198

Deadlift -
135X5, 5
155X5
185X4
225X3
245X2
275X1, 1
285X1

Barbell Rows -
95X8
135X8
145X8, 9, 7

Good Mornings -
95X8
135X8
145X10, 10, 8

DB Curls -
20sX20
25sX22, 13

Love deadlifting.  These were all fast.  Focused on form and visualization.

Was at the 'away' gym, so no T-Bars.  Did BB Rows instead.  Kept everything strict as hell, and with controlled reps.

145X10 is a PR on GMs.

No free barbells, and I hate curling EZ bars, so just did more DB curls.

This is was the last day of this split.  Taking a couple days off, and jumping right into the Strong-15 Short Cycle.  I'll probably try to review this cycle on Monday.

LRB 365: LRB Split. Week 4. Back - Heavy

BW - 196

Deadlift -
135X5
155X5
185X4
225X3
245X2
265X1
275X1, 1

T-Bar Rows -
45X12
70X8
80X8
90X8
100X8
110X7

GMs -
95X10
115X8
135X8
145X8, 8, 6

BB Curls -
BarX12
65X6
BarX30, 20

Was feeling aggravated, so this session was the perfect thing.

Deadlifts were all fast and strong.  Focused on speed and technique, in particular:  1) pushing through my heels, but not letting the balls of my feet come off the mat.  2) keeping my triceps and lats locked out, but keeping my shoulders a bit loose.  3) chest-up, back fixed (always working on this).

100X8 and 110X7 are Rep PRs on T-Bar Rows.  Kept fairly strict with my back close to parallel.

Good-Mornings starting to feel less awkward.  All around PR.

Curls were curlier.

LRB 365: Conditioning. Week 5. Squat

BW - 192

Squat -
BarX10 (paused)
95X5
135X5
155X4
185X2
225X1, 1, 1
185X5

BW ladder circuit -
Squats - 5 up to 25, back down to 5
Sit-ups - 5 up to 25, back down to 5
Chins (supinated) - 2 up to 10, back down to 2
Push-ups - 4 up to 20, back down to 4

Don't know if I screwed up somehow on my diet or if 192 is just a spike.  I'll see what's up at my next weigh-in.

Legs were sore from sprints the day before, but squats were still fine.  Although, I did pass on a top single of 245.  Really focused on not getting over my toes this session.  I got over on the last rep with 185, however.

Ladder was as strong as it's been.  I was able to get a bit aggressive with some of the reps.  Still had to R/P a couple of the push-ups sets, though.

5/3/1 BBB: Cycle 2. Week 2. Squat

BW - 200

Pause Squats -
BarX10
95X5

Squats -
135X5
155X3
190X3
215X3
240X6
135X10, 10, 10, 10, 10

Single-Leg Curls - 5 sets of 10-12

80% session, and 240X6 is an all-around PR since I reset my squat to be deeper.  HOWEVER, the last couple of reps were some of the hardest I've ever done, and my form went to absolute shit, and in fact had been kind of crappy all day.  So while I'm stoked for the PR, I would have liked a smoother lift.  Something to think about if the next session is rough as well.

On the BBB sets however, as I got further from that ugly fucking 240 set, these got smoother and more automatic feeling.  Still, I'm going to leave the weight here for next time.  I don't see any reason to push it at this point.

Also, standing single-leg curls.

5/3/1 BBB: Cycle 2. Week 1. Squat

BW - 204 (yay, thanksgiving!)

Pause Squats -
BarX10
95X5

Squats -
135X5
175X5
200X5
230X7
135X10, 10, 10, 10, 10

Standing Single-Leg Curl - 5 sets of 10

Almost 80%, but the last rep or two of the squats at 230 were a pretty good strain, however technique felt solid through all the effort and I got the number of reps I was looking for, and that's the goal.

Switching to back squats for the BBB sets for this cycle.  Much harder than front squats following the 531 sets, but also felt more awesome to just keep banging out back squats.  Happy with this choice.

Also switching to single-leg hamstring work for this cycle.

5/3/1 Full-Body: Cycle 5. Week 3. Bench/Dead

BW - 203

Pause Squats -
BarX5
95X5
135X5, 5
185X3
210X3
235X1

Lunges - BW 5 sets of 10

Bench-
BarX15
95X5, 5
130X5
150X3
165X6

Deadlift -
135X5
185X5, 5
225X5
260X3
290X8

Tough session, but with some good results.  This was the last week of 531 Full Body.  I have a tight schedule this week with 2 public readings and rehearsals for same.  Also, I'm going to try and squeeze 2+ full cycles of 531 BBB in before I start rehearsing my next show after the new year.  Therefore, I made the executive decision to combine my last 2 Full Body sessions into one, so that I can start BBB this weekend.  The big loss here is that I had to drop my final session of Kolkovs.  Everything else that got skipped (chins, leg curls) will be present in the next phase.

Pause Squats felt solid.

My quads felt mega-pumped after the 5X10 lunges.

165X6 is a tiny, tiny all-around PR on the bench close-grip and pausing every rep on the chest.  I was hoping to go for 8, but 6 was a grind.  The 150X3 was the best feeling set of the bench session as far as tightness of set-up.  Feeling positive about the adjustments I've made, and the results.

290X8 is also a small all-around PR on Deadlift.  I started making a small adjustment here, which is basically just keeping my hips a tad higher.  The bar still banged the fuck out of my knees, but didn't tear up my shins at all.  The last couple reps here were also really tough grip wise, and the final rep BARELY locked out.  I still managed to hold the weight at the top for a second or two, but I could be beginning to see the upper limit of my double-overhand grip.

5/3/1 Full-Body: Cycle 5. Week 2. Bench

BW - 201

Pause Squats -
BarX10
95X5
135X5, 5
185X3
210X3
235X1

BW Lunges - 3 sets of 10

Bench -
BarX15
95X5, 5
120X3
140X3
155X7
95X12

Chins - BWX10, 8, 5, 5, 5

Pause Squats felt good.  Something that occurred to me about starting every training session with squats:  it forces me to take everything seriously.  Obviously I should take everything seriously, but the thrill/danger of squatting just puts me in a different place from the very first set than anything else.  And I'm not just talking about starting off with calves or neck or something.  Even benching and deadlifting with an empty or light bar does not snap me to attention in the same way that back squats will.  And once I'm in that place, I'm pretty much there the rest of the session, and able to focus in on every rep and set even at the end of a session when I'm fatigued and the last thing I want to do is another set of paused-chins.

Getting that extra leg work in with lunges here.

Bench felt really, really solid today.  155X7 is my 2nd best lift since I reset my form.  I went back to thumb around here, since thumbless didn't seem to help at all last time.  I good cue that I found this session was squeezing my shoulder blades together throughout the lift.  I realized that at the top of reps, I was extending my shoulders all the way forward and was losing tightness in my back.  This worked very, very well, and was something I hadn't understood about the lift previously.

I believe 201X10 is an all-around PR since I started pausing my chins as the bottom.

5/3/1 Full-Body: Cycle 5. Week 2. Squat

BW - 200

Squat -
BarX10 (long pause at bottom)
95X5 (shorter pause)
95X5
135X5
175, 200X3
225X8

Front Squats -
BarX5
95X10, 10, 10

T-Bar Rows -
25X10, 10
50X10
60X10
70X12

Dips - BWX11, 6, 6, 5, 4

225X8 on Squats is an all-around PR since I reset my form.  Felt good.

Looking back, I realize that a lot of the times I've tweaked my back I was either front squatting, or I had front squats in my program.  This made me a little paranoid, so I did some research, and worked hard on my form in this session.  The two cues that I focused on were breaking with the knees, and allowing them to travel forward to make the descent, and leading out of the hole with my chest.  This seemed to work pretty well, and everything felt tight. 

I also changed my grip from cross-arm, back to hands under the bar.  I toyed around with this a few ways, gradually moving to thumbless, and then actually settling on pinkie around the bar for the last two sets.  This creates a sort of "neutral grip" that seems unlikely, but seemed to actually work out okay, and elbow pain I started to feel during thumbless sets dissipated by the last set.  Gonna keep the weight light on these, and use them as my BBB back-off sets beginning next cycle.

T-Bars are weak for some reason, but I think I need to go back to doing an over-warm up on these as that had worked well previously, and worked well for Pendlays as well.  If I do that, and they are still weaker than before I did all those Pendlays, then I may need to second guess either that movement or my approach to it.

11 reps at 200 is an all-around PR since I started pausing my dips at the bottom of each rep.