Dips, Quads, Curls, Shoulders

sRPE @7.5

BW - 223

Bench Dips - BW+25# ChainX16, 12, 10, 10 @10

Roman Chair Squats - BWX10, 10, 10, 10 @9.5/10

DB Preacher Curls - 20sX14, 12, 10, 10 @10

super-set with

Seated DB Laterals - 20sX9, 9, 9, 7 @10

Adding weight to the Bench Dips to get the reps more in the range I expect to eventually be training full Dips in.  Much triceps burn.

Thought about doing something higher stress for legs, but it was pretty darn sweaty in the gym, and I wanted to make sure I had energy to drive through the full workout.

I think this may be the first time I've done DB Preacher Curls?

Low-Rep Volume PRs. Week 1. Session A.

sRPE @5.5

BW - 219

Squat - 

250X3

275X1

285X1

300X1 @6

280X3 @6

Press - 85X5, 5, 5 @4/5

DB Laterals - 25sX9, 9 @~10

Stationary Bike - HIIT; 10 minutes

Intro week.  Just hitting 1/3 - 1/2 of target volume, and being very conservative with RPE.

I'll be focused on low rep Volume PRs this block, and I'm reminding myself how I used to warm-up for this kind of work: Ramping rep sets to 90-95% of target back off weight, then ramping singles with 5% jumps to top single, then back-off sets.  This has worked very well in the past for dialing in both the top sets and the back-off sets.  I got away from this while I was working in higher rep ranges because doing ramping sets of 8-17 reps would fucking suck.

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 16. Cycle 7. Session A.

BW - 219

sRPE @6.5

Curls -

80X9, 9 @8/9.5

Slower Eccentric - 65X9 @10 

Press - 160X1 @10

DB Laterals - 30sX14@10

Squat - 385X2 @9

GHR - BWX15, 16 @8.5/9.5

As is common in the last week of a training block, I find myself dropping volume a bit and reaching for some stuff for fun.

80X9 is a Rep PR on Curls.  Did a couple of those and then did more of a "bodybuilding" backoff set with a slower eccentric to failure.  Dropped the 4th workset I'd been doing.

Decided to max Press.  This was nice because it both indicated a slight increase in 1RM over the prior week's estimate and was almost EXACTLY what I estimated e1RM to be at for this week.  I don't usually get in my head about the difference between RPE based E1RM and "actual," but it was nice to see this.  The rep was a real grind.  Been a while since I'd done one of those.

Dropped the high-rep back-off set, and just did one AMRAP on laterals instead of two sets.

Worked up to a heavier double on Squat than I've been doing in this block to see what that was like.  This is my heaviest sqaut since I did a 387.5X1 @8.25 in November of last year.  This seems like at least slight improvement over that.  Interestingly, that training block also had Session A's that went Curls, Press, Squat.

Also dropped the back-off sets of 10 on Squat.  I had it as a possibility to do a 3X10 Volume PR on this day, but that just sounded hard in a boring way, and not in a fun way.

Block 16. Cycle 6. Session A.

BW - 219

sRPE @7.5

BB Curls - 77.5X9, 9, 9, 9 @8/9

Press -

142.5X1 @7.25

75X17 @6

DB Laterals - 30sX15, 11 @8/10

Squat -

350X2 @7

245X10, 10 @~5

GHR (slightly higher setting than last week) - BWX12, 10 @~8

77.5X9 is a Rep PR for curls.  As always, nice to get single-set rep PRs for sets across.  As usual in the last couple of weeks of a training block, I'm letting rest times increase set-to-set to try and keep the same weight in target RPE range.  I think I took 3:15 between the 3rd and 4th sets here.

Press single was a bit flat from last week, but 75X17 is a Rep PR.

Block 16. Cycle 5. Session A.

BW - 220

sRPE @5

Press -

140X1 @7

70X17 @6

DB Laterals - 25sX19@10

GHR (low/close setting) - BWX14, 16 @~7/8

Super easy session as I got more than half the work done in group training the day befoe.

70X17 is a Rep PR on Press.

Block 16. Cycle 4. Session A.

BW - 223

sRPE @7

BB Curls - 75X9, 9, 9 @8/9.5

Press -

137.5X1 @7

67.5X17 @6

DB Laterals - 25sX18 @10

Squat -

340X2 @7

235X10 @5

GHR - BWX12, 12 @~8

Curls performance plateaued here.  Plan was already to add another set next week.  This likely means I won't be able to do all sets at the same weight, but that's probably fine.  I think I've probably got one more block of focusing on Biceps Curls and then will need to move away from them for a bit.

Everything else ticked up nicely.  67.5X17 is a Rep PR on Press.

Block 16. Cycle 3. Session A.

BW - 221

sRPE @ 7

BB Curls -75X9, 9, 9 @8/9

Press -

135X1 @7

75X15 @6

DB Laterals - 25sX17 @10

Squat -

335X2 @6.75

230X10 @5

GHR (medium-low setting) - BWX13 @8

Block 16. Cycle 2. Session A.

BW - 221

sRPE @5.5

Press -

132.5X1 @7

70X15 @5.5    

DB Side Laterals - 20'sX15 @7.5

Squat -

330X2 @7

227.5X10 @5

GHR (upped difficulty setting) - BWX9@7

 

Block 16. Cycle 1. Session A.

BW - 222

sRPE @6

BB Curls - 67.5X9, 9 @~7

Press - 130X1 @7

Side Laterals - 12sX20 @6.5

Squat -

325X2 @7

225X10 @5

GHR (moderate-low setting) - BWX12 @7

Hadn't done DB laterals in a while.  Guessed at weight and decided to take it to failure or 20 whichever came first.  Think I'll dial this to sets of 15@8 for the next few weeks, and then start adding a failure set towards the end of the block.

Hybrid Training. Week 3. Light Upper

BW - 227.4

Bench - up to 175X2, 2

TUT (5/0/4) CG Bench - 145X5, 5, 5

DB Laterals - 35sX6, 6, 6

BB Curls - up to 65X12, 5

Speed bench moved pretty well.

I increased the eccentric on the TUT bench by 1 second.  Last rep of the last set was dicey.

Upped weight on laterals.  Normally I don't care too much about weight on this sort of movement, however these are being done very strict: seated, with a full stop at the bottom of the rep, and no body english to get them started.  Progressing in that manner is satisfying.

Was totally out of gas on the 2nd set of curls.  5 reps looks bad, considering I got 2X10 last week, however another way to look at it is that I only came up 3 reps short.

Hybrid Training. Week 2. Light Upper

BW - 228

Bench - up to 165X3, 3

TUT (4/0/4) CG Bench - 145X5, 5, 5

DB Laterals - 30sX6, 6, 6

BB Curls - up to 65X10, 10

I'm trying out a little waving on the light day as well.  Gonna do 5s, 3s, and 2s and see how that goes on the speed bench.

For the TUT close-grips, I'm leaving the weight the same but waving the tempo inversely to the reps.  So last week was 6X3/0/3, this week was 5X4/0/4, and next week I'm going to try staying at 5 reps, but going 5/0/4 on the tempo.  This tempo work is really interesting.  So far, the first set feels like cake, and the last set feels like it's near-failure.

Hybrid Training. Week 1. Light Upper

BW - 228

Bench - up to 155X5, 5

TUT (3/0/3) CG Bench - 145X6, 6, 6

DB Laterals - 30sX6, 6, 6

BB Curls - up to 65X8, 10

Solid session.  Upped the weight by 5 lbs. on the TUT close-grips, and the last set was pretty tough.  The tempo work is interesting, and I'm curious to see how it pays off.

Hybrid Training. Week 0. Light Upper

BW - 228

Bench - up to 155X5, 5

TUT (3/0/3) CG Bench - 140X6, 6, 6

DB Laterals - 25sX6, 6, 6

BB Curls - up to 65X8, 8

Light and easy as expected.

I did learn on the CG Bench that it's more comfortable for me if I use more of a "medium" grip (one hand-width in from competition grip), and don't tuck my elbows as hard.  My right shoulder is still bothering me a bit from something that happened over vacation.  I went in and tried to do CG bench the way I used to do them, when that was the only way I benched.  And I found that having my hands at "press grip," that is, touching the smooth, and keeping my upper arm parallel to my torso through the movement made the shoulder hurt like hell.  It reminded me a lot of the feeling I got when I injured my shoulder benching in 2014.  Makes me wonder it that technique was really the underlying issue somehow.  Moving out the grip and letting the elbows angle out a bit completely eliminated any discomfort in the injured area.  And the movement just felt more "right" somehow.

Only thing that felt heavy today were the curls.

Small Session. Shoulders

BW - 230

Delt-Raise Giant Set with: 25s
Rear-Delts - 8, 8, 8
Sides - 6, 6, 6
Fronts - 6, 6, 6