Maintenance / Rehab Block. Week 9. Day 3.

BW - 224

Squat -
315X6
325, 335X5

Bench - 250X1, 1, 1, 1, 1

Chin-Ups - BWX4, 3, 3, 3, 3 (16 total reps)

RDL - 285X5, 5

Pull-Downs - X11, 8, 7 (straight-weight; same weight as previous)

BB Curls - ~60X11, 10

Starr Rehab Squats were expected to be sets of 8 today, but the Squat had other plans.  6th rep with 315 was challenging technically, so I called it there and went ahead and dropped to sets of 5.  These all "felt" like real work sets and my legs were nice and achy for about 24 hours following.  I'm just going to switch over to standard LP progression with 10 lb. jumps (hopefully) between sessions.  Adductor still feels a bit sharp on the initial warm-up sets, and feels a bit spasm-y at times outside of the gym, but nothing nearly as debilitating as it was.  Current plan is to run the LP up to the mid-to-high 300's and then switch back into regular programming with an HLM, top-set followed by back-off sets approach. I'm hopeful that lower intensity back-off volume will help continue the healing process while also driving adaptation for the top sets.  All 3 work sets shown.

250X1 is a Rep PR on bench.  Nice to get it for 5 sets, too!  The first set was really close as the descent was a bit slow, and touched a bit high.  Those were the two cues I took into the other sets, and they were all much better.  I may try to push this up one more time.  Would be nice to notch 255 before I switch over to HLM, but we'll just have to see.  Last set shown.

Chins were fine.  Still strict and double-paused.

RDLs still feeling good with the straps.  So good, I'm probably sand-bagging on switching back to pulls from the floor. "I'm talkin' to the man in the mirror."

Pull-downs were the same total reps as last time, with a slightly different distribution.  All these chin-up accessories are probably going out the door once the adductor feels good enough to switch back to regular programming.  Looking back at my log, I have added about ~15 lbs. over the course of about 2.5 months.  Went from getting ~105X8 to getting ~115X11-12.

Likewise, I've taken barbell curls from getting ~50X9 on the 2nd set to getting ~60X10 on the 2nd set here.  If I start to miss these movements because my chin-up strength starts going backwards, this is stuff I could potentially mix in on off days at the gym in my office building, but I don't want to get ahead of myself.  The main thing is to get back to regular, progressive work on the multi-joint barbell movements.

Small Session. Arms

Chin-ups - BW*X5, 5, 5

Machine Curls -
3 sets of 8 (straight-weight)
drop sets X2, 2, 4 (one plate/set)

Hammer Curls -
30sX8, 8, 6
drop set 25sX3, 15sX5

Did chins on back to back days with no pain even though I upped the reps on day 2.  *Don't trust the scale at the office gym, so don't know what BW was on this day.

Last workout of the week, so I through in some more drop sets.  Just biceps anyway.

Bench

BW - 210 (office gym)

Machine Bench -
worked up to the stack for 1
back-off set X 20

Incline Curls - 25sX20, 18, 15, 10

PJR Pullovers - 50X20

Cramped schedule this week, so had to fit something in at the office gym.

Arms

BW - 208

Overhead DB Extensions -
30X20
40X20, 20, 17, 15

Cable Curls - X20, 10, 10, 10, 9 (to a top-set)

Office gym.  Getting a workout in when I can.

LRB Back & DL. Week 3. Pressing

DB Inclines -
35sX8
45sX8
55sX8
65sX8
55sX8
45sX8
35sX12

Cable overhead raise - X15, 15, 15 (straight-weight)

Cable Face-Pulls - X20, 20, 20 (straight-weight)

Rope Pushdowns - X100 (R/P 50, 25, 25)

Another session at the hotel gym.

Pyramiding up and down on the DB Inclines worked really well.

The combo of overhead raises and face-pulls worked the hell out of my rear delts.

My triceps are still tender from the 100 rep set 2 days ago.

All in all, this was a really great session despite using a hotel gym.

LRB Back & DL. Week 3. Vertical Pulling

BW - 203

Chins - BWX11, 8, 5

WG Pulldowns - X10, 10 (straight-weight)

RG Pulldowns - X10, 10 (straight-weight)

DB Hammer Curls - 35sX10, 10, 10

I was in California for work, so I only head the hotel gym to work from.  Thus, no weight for the chins, and no DBs heavy enough for shrugs (didn't bring my straps anyway).

Still, my lats were fairly sore for the next day or two.

Training: High Bars

BW - 212

High Bar Squats -
BarX10 (paused)
95X5 (paused)
135X5
185X3
225X2
255X1
205X11, 9, 8

Hack Squats -
1ppsX10, 10, 11

Good session.  I went up to 255 for my last over-warm-up on High Bars just to see how it was moving.  My best ever High Bar Squat is 255X5, I believe.  This single moved pretty well, but the bar was positioned a little bit too high on my neck and so it was fairly painful resting on bone.  I also got 1-2 more reps per work set here for 4 more total work reps than last week.

Hack Squats felt a bit better this week as I got more in the groove.  I thought about adding more weight but said screw it, it's just extra quad volume.

I start rehearsing a new show next week so my schedule's going to go in the toilet.  I'm going to run Paul Carter's Strong-15 Short cyle as a twice-a-week program with a Squat/Dead day and an Incline/Chin day, and then get in some extras at the office gym or what-not as time permits.  Just stuff like biceps and leg curls, maybe some machine rows and that kind of thing.  Nothing crazy.

Vacation Prep. Week 3. Leg Accessory

BW - 205

Bulgarian Split Squats -
35X20, 12
BWX18

Single-Leg Curls - X20, 12, 12

Treadmill - Intervals; 10 minutes

Got in and out at the office gym.  Split squats were much harder than I expected given that I usually squat prior to doing them.

Reps and Volume. Week 7. More Accessories

BW - 202

Horizontal Leg Press -
Warm-Up - X12, 15
Work-Sets - X15, 15, 15, 15, 20 (straight-weight)

super-set with

Leg Curls - X20, 20, 20, 20, 20, 20, 20 (straight-weight)

super-set with

Machine Rows -
Warm-Ups - X15, 15
Work-Sets - X15, 15, 15, 15, 13 (straight-weight)

Tech rehearsals started this week, so no way to make it to the regular gym until the weekend.  Since I didn't get my regular accessory day in until Sunday, I didn't want to do the usual office gym pressing work-out becuase there's a lot of redundency with Acessory day.  Instead I did some Deadlift-specific accessory work.  These were non-stop giant-sets.  Good BB workout.

Reps and Volume. Week 7. Press (Office Gym)

BW - 202

Machine Press -
Warm-Ups - X10, 8, 6
Work-Sets - X15, 12, 10, 8 (straight-weight; same as last week)

DB Incline - 45sX13, 10, 10
super-set with
Reverse Machine Flyes - X20, 20, 18 (straight-weight; same as last week)

Rope Curls - X25, 20, 20 (straight-weight; increased from last week0
super-set with
DB Incline Flyes (pronated) - 15sX20, 20, 20

Rope OH Extensions - X20

Good session, I managed to push up either reps or weight on every single movement.  Unlike last week, my shoulders and upper pec area feel a bit sore the next day.

Made good time, so added one AMAP set of overhead extensions.

Reps and Volume. Week 6. Accessories

BW - 201

Seated PBN -
BarX20
65X8
85X5
95X3
115X2
125X1
95X12, 5
super-set with
Chins - BWX10, 7, 5, 6, 4
and
CG Pull-downs - X19, 13, 10 (straight-weight)

Machine Pullovers - X15 (burn-out set)

RG Preacher Curls - 40ishX22, 15
super-set with
DB Press - 35sX20, 18

DB Curls - 25sX20, 15
super-set with
Rope Extensions - X16, 15

BB Curl - 40ishX13, 12

Lots of time and energy today.  The machine-only press workouts I've been getting in at the office gym have stopped giving me any DOMS in my shoulders even though I'm going after it hard.  So I decided to add in some barbell PBN in addition to the DB OHP on accessory day and see what happens.

By the time I got done with chins and pulldowns, my lats were already on fire.  So instead of doing 3-4 sets of pullovers, I decided to drop the weight a tad and do one set to failure.  As I was only able to get 15 reps with a relatively light weight, I think that was a fine choice.

Everything else went fine.

Reps and Volume. Week 4. Press (Office Gym)

BW - 197 (sketchy office gym scale)

Machine Press -
Warm-Ups - X10, 8
Work-Sets - X15, 12, 12, 10 (straight-weight)

DB Incline -
50sX10
35sX15, 13
super-set with
Machine Reverse Flyes - X15, 15, 22 (straight-weight)

Rope Overhead Extensions - X15, 16, 12, 10 (straight-weight)
super-set with
Rope Hammer Curls - X30, 25, 20, 20 (straight-weight)

Still feeling the schedule crunch this week, so I got in a session of Overhead BB style work at the office gym.

Solid session.

Only thing to really note is that I've never done OH Rope Extensions and they seemed much harder at the same weight than Rope Pushdowns.  Interesting.

Off Week. Full Body, Machine Day

BW - 198

Leg Press Machine -
Warm-Up - X15, 10, 15
Work-Sets - X15, 15, 15, 15 (straight-weight)
super-set with
Leg Curls - X20, 20, 20, 20 (straight-weight)

Machine Shoulder Press -
Warm-Up - X10, 10
Work-Sets - X12, 12, 10, 10 (straight-weight)
super-set with
Reverse Machine Flyes - X20, 20, 20, 20 (straight-weight)

Machine Chest-Supported Rows -
Work-Sets - X15, 12, 12, 10 (increased weight between sets 2 and 3)
super-set with
Rope Extensions - X20, 20, 20, 20 (increase weight between sets 1 and 2)

Rope Hammer Curls - X20, 20, 20, 20 (straight-weight)

My schedule was all fucked up this week as I'm closing one show while I started rehearsals for another.  I need some time between work and rehearsals to work on my script, so I took most of the week off.

At the last minute, I decided to hop down to the office gym and get a full-body, body-building workout on the machines down there.  Worked up a good sweat with all the super-setting, and I expect to be fairly sore in places over the next few days.  Decent session.

Reps and Volume. Week 4. Accessories

BW - 197 (suspicious office gym scale)

Chins - BWX13, 6, 6, 5 (30 total reps)

Pulldowns - X20, 15, 12 (straight weight)

Straight-Arm Pulldowns - X20, 15, 12 (straight weight)

Reverse Grip Preacher Machine - X15, 12 (straight weight)
super-set with
DB Press - 35sX18, 10

DB Curls - 25sX15, 12
super-set with
Rope Extensions - X25, 20 (ascending weight)

Cable Curls - X21 (burn-out set)

Real good BB session at the office gym.  First set of chins felt really strong.

I may have had an interesting breakthrough on pulldowns.  The machine at this gym is one of the fake iso-laterals where the one cable attached to the weight splits into two and goes to some rope-ish handles.  While trying to find the right groove with this awkward thing, I started allowing my elbows to travel more forward throughout the movement as opposed to out to the sides.  Kind of like a combo pull-down/pull-over.  This really seemed to start making my lats burn.  Something I'll definitely keep in mind and see if I can replicate it with more traditional pulldown machines.

LRB 365: 100 Reps. Week 6. Accessory

DB Press -
15sX15
20sX15
25sX15
30sX15, 10

Face Pull - X75, 30

Rope Extensions - X75, 25

Rope Curls - X75, 40

Treadmill - 20 minutes walking; high-incline

Good little body-buildery session.  I did some rest-pause on the 100 rep movements, and my triceps and rear-delts are really feeling it today.

The treadmill was just some extra conditioning that I threw in because I'm in the middle of a 3-day crunch when I can't get outside for my scheduled conditioning.  I'll still get the rest of the regular programmed stuff in this weekend as I switch to the next phase.

LRB 365: 100 Reps. Week 1. Accessory

BW -??? (office gym)

DB Press -
25sX12
35sX15
35sX10

Face Pulls, Rope Pushdowns, Rope Hammer Curls - 1 set of 100 each

Treadmill - 20 minutes walking

Nice little workout with DBs and the Cable stand.  Pushdowns were easier than the curls, but I think the biceps were a little pre-fatigued from the face pulls.

I was feeling froggy and had some time to kill, so I hopped on the treadmill for 20 minutes.

LRB 365: Strong-15. Week 8. Bench

BW - 200

Bench -
BarX10
105X5
115X4
135X3
155X2
165X1
175X1
185X1
155X10 (Rep PR)

Incline - 105X10

DB Flyes - 1 set of 20

Hex-Head Holds - 20'sX30, 30, 20 seconds

Plate Pinch - 25'sX20, 15, 7 seconds

Another PR on the 2nd to last bench session.  Can't ask for much more than that.  I should note that the 185 went up smoothly as well.  I'll be at that same weight for the last week.

Forgot to stop at 8 on Inclines, ha.

Had trouble with my grip on the last session of deads, so I through some grip stuff in at the end here.  Also gonna try to get some additional work in during the week on that ahead of the final lower body session this coming Friday.  Probably some more DB holds at the office gym, and also just pinching binder clips with one finger at a time.  Something I read that Ed Coan used to recommend.

LRB 365: Strong-15. Week 7. Back

BW - Dunno

Chins - BWX12, 6

Machine Rows - 2 sets of 10+

Cable Shrugs - 1 set of 25

DB Curls - 2 sets of 10-20

Almost forgot to post this.

Felt weaker on chins and rows than I have the last 2 weeks.  Dunno what that was about.

Program calls for sets of 10 the last 3 weeks on shrugs, but the weights at the office gym aren't heavy enough for that.  This was the heaviest I could put together.

LRB 365: Strong-15. Week 6. Back

BW - Dunno; office gym

Chins - BWX15, 7, 6, 5

Machine Rows - 2 sets of 10+

Cable Shrugs - 2 sets of 20+

DB Curls - worked up and backed off to 30'sX16

Chins still feeling strong for the 2nd week in a row.  That's pretty nice.

LRB 365: Strong-15. Week 4. Back

BW - ?200? (office gym said 195, and now I know it's a liar)

Chins - BWX10, 5, 5, 5 (paused at the bottom)

Machine Rows - 2 sets of 10+

Cable Shrugs - 2 stacks X25, 25

DB Curls -
20'sX10
30'sX5
40'sX2
30'sX15

This was all fine.

I found a bar in the corner of the office gym that you can use to connect the two stacks on the cable contraption, so I was able to use twice as much weight as last week, lol.