Pivot Block. Session C.

BW - 221

5-3-0 Tempo DL - 225X5, 5, 5, 5 @~6

HB Split Squat - 65X7, 7, 7 @~6

Push-Ups on DBs - BWX11, 10, 7 @8/10
super-set with
BB Curls - 55X10, 10, 7 @8/10

Last session of the Pivot.  Felt bone tired walking into the session, and was afraid I was getting sick.  Started feeling better during the DLs, and was okay by the end.  Skipped conditioning.

Expected DB Push-Ups to have been easier.  Maybe just novelty.

Texas Method Team Training. Week 1. Recovery Day

BW - 224

Squat - 225X5, 5

Pushups - BWX22, 22

Chins - BWX5, 5, 5, 3

Got challenged to a 22 pushups for 22 days thing for vets.  Didn't see the need to do press recovery in that instance.

Vacation Prep. Week 1. Bench

BW - 210

Incline -
BarX30
95X5, 5
115X4
135X3
155X2
185X1
135X20

Incline DB Flyes - 20sX15, 15, 15

DB Rear Delts - 30sX20, 20, 20

BB Curls - BarX35

Treadmill - 30  minutes; high-incline walking

135X20 is a Rep PR for Incline and also would be for Flat Bench.  Moving up to 145 next week.

I went round and round on what kind of assistance I wanted to do for this Vacation Prep period when I'll be in a calorie and carb deficit.  For lower body days, it was fairly easy to just pick some BW stuff.  For upper days, chins are the only viable BW movement because push-ups and dips aggravate my shoulder.  I'll be doing chins on OHP day but I didn't necessarily want to put them right before deadlifting until I see what my recovery will be like on the diet.

I ended up deciding to go with all light shoulder work.  See if I can build up shoulder strength and stability as much as possible around whatever is wrong in there.  It was hard NOT to do triceps work, but fuck it, we'll just see what happens.

Conditioning. Week 3. Lower Body

BW - 203

Squat -
BarX10 (paused)
95X5 (paused)
135X5
185X5
215X5
235X5

Deadlift -
135X5
185X3
225X3
275X2
305X2
325X1, 1, 1

Cuff Work - Lots

Rope Extensions - X20, 20, 15, 13

Crunches - BWX80

So what I'm doing here is alternating each week between light volume and weight on one lift and super-light volume and slightly heavier weight on the other.  So today was the heavier Deadlift day.  This worked out well so that I could continue to test out the adductor.  I had no issues with it, and all the squats felt fairly strong.  Deadlift felt good too, however I can tell that both lifts are down from my winter bests.

This was supposed to be a day to work on push-up strength with push-up volume and weighted dips, but I'm continuing to rehab the shoulder strain.  It's feeling better, though.

Doing the rope extensions to keep some triceps work going on my off-bench day since the push-ups and dips are out.

Upped the total reps on crunches.  I could do more here either in the single set, or with more sets, but since the decline sit-ups are so hard, it's nice to have a lighter day on these as well.

Just for a reference diet-wise, this is what my bodyweight fluctuation has looked like over the past 2 1/2 years that I've been tracking it regularly:

I generally feel pretty good about this pattern, but I'm still working to tweak both diet and life-style so that each can meet the goals of the other.

Conditioning. Week 2. Lower Body

BW - 205

Squat -
BarX10 (paused)
95X5 (paused)
135X4
155X4
185X3
225X3
265X2, 2

Deadlift -
135X4
185X4
225X4
275X4
285X4

Push-Ups - BWX25, 15, 15, 10, 10, 11; 86 total reps

Rope Extensions - X25, 20, 20

Crunches - X75

Okay session.  I programmed for 3 sets of 2 with 265.  However, all reps but the very 1st were slow, and my left adductor started feeling really sore after the 2nd set, so I stopped.  I think the adductor is still feeling blitzed from 'The Sprints of Death' last week.  I remember being surprised at how sore they were for about 24 hours afterwards.

Deadlifts were all fast.

Push-ups were okay.  Next week I'll shoot for 90 in the same amount of sets or fewer.  Shoulder felt fairly stable throughout.

Speaking of the shoulder issues, I programmed to alternate weekly between weighted and BW dips here, but to be on the safe side, I'm just doing push-downs.

Got all the crunches in 1 set.  That's fine.  I'll just keep progressing them as a single set.  Think of it as a 'light' day, as opposed to the decline sit-ups on the other day.

Full Body. Week 3. Deadlift

BW - 206

Bulgarian Split Squat - BWX12, 12, 12

Deadlift -
135X5, 5
185X4
225X3
275X2
315X6

BW Ladder Circuit -
Push-Ups - 5, 10, 15, 20, 15, 10, 5
Chin-Ups - 2, 4, 6, 8, 6, 4, 2
Dips - 3, 6, 9, 12, 9, 6, 3
Sit-Ups - 5, 10, 15, 20, 15, 10, 5
Don't remember a ton of details about this session from Friday.

Got the split squats back up to 12 reps.  Feeling better.

315X6 is a Rep PR on Deadlift.

Ladder felt a little easier.

Full Body. Week 2. Deadlift

BW - 209

Bulgarian Split Squat (back leg on roller) - BWX10, 10, 10

Deadlift -
135X5, 5
185X4
225X3
275X2
315X1
305X7

BW Ladder Circuit -
Push-Ups - 5, 10, 15, 20, 15, 10, 5
Chin-Ups - 2, 4, 6, 8, 6, 4, 2
Dips - 3, 6, 9, 12, 9, 6, 3
Sit-Ups - 5, 10, 15, 20, 15, 10, 5

Decent session.  The split squats seemed a little harder this week.  Don't know if it was just the day, or accumulated fatigue from the first two weeks of this block.

305X7 is actually a Rep PR on Deadlift.  However, anything I attempt over 5 reps is likely to be a Rep PR since I haven't gone that high on Deads in a long time.  I had more reps in the tank.

Ladder circuit was possibly a little easier this week.  The push-ups were for sure, which is ironic because I'm still nursing a strain in some muscle down in my shoulder.

Full Body. Week 1. Deadlift

BW - 207

Bulgarian Split-Squat - BWX12, 12, 12 (each leg)

Deadlift -
135X5, 5
185X4
225X3
275X2
315X1
295X8

BW Ladder Circuit -
Push-Ups - 5, 10, 15, 20, 15, 10, 5
Chin-Ups - 2, 4, 6, 8, 6, 4, 2
Dips -         3, 6, 9, 12, 9, 6, 3
Sit-Ups -    5, 10, 15, 20, 15, 10, 5

I'd originally planned for the squat movement on this day to be High-Bars, but with the knee issue I was dealing with for a few weeks, I thought it would be smarter to go with single-leg work instead.  I wasn't sure what I would do, but I'd been thinking about the Bulgarian Split-Squat.  Similar to the barbell complexes I'm doing on other days, this is a something I did a lot of during my first year of training, but haven't done since then.  Then I saw this video of John Meadows the other day, and realized I could do them very similarly with a little sit-up bracer they have at my gym.  The genius (and hellishness) of doing them like this with the back foot on a roller is that it's easier to keep the load on the front foot and not 'cheat' with the back leg.  I like 'em.

Waving the top-weight and back-off weight down again on Deadlifts to make sure my low-back gets some recovery and is ready for the other full-body days.  On the other hand, I'm also going to let the back-off reps get above 5 for the first time in forever.  295X8 ties my previous 8 rep max, and I easily had a couple more reps in the tank.

This body-weight ladder is modeled almost exactly on a section from Paul Carter's LRB 365 program I ran last year.  By the end of July, I'm going to test myself on some military PFT standards, and that's part of the focus here.  In addition, I'm thinking about these and the complexes I'm doing on the other days as having a 'focus' on assistance movements for the big lift from the prior session.  So the session before this was Bench, and the push-ups and dips here are reflecting that.  My next session is Squats, and the complex at the end of that has RDLs, High-Pulls, and Rows as 'Deadlift focus' to follow on this session.  Bench day follows Squat day, and so the complex on Bench day has two squat movements in it.

tl;dr this was a good session.

LRB 365: Conditioning. Week 6. Incline

BW - 190

Incline -
BarX20
95X5, 5
115X3, 3
135X1, 1
155X1

BW Ladder Circuit -
Dips - 3 up to 15, back down to 3
Chins (neutral) - 2 up to 10, back down to 2
Push-ups - 3 up to 15, back down to 3
Leg-Raises - 3 up to 15, back down to 3

Forgot to do the back-off set on incline.  Don't know why.  Everything felt good.

Best run through on the upper body ladders of the whole program.  No rest/pause.  Just in time to be done with them!

LRB 365: Conditioning. Week 6. Deadlift

BW - 191

Front Squats -
BarX5
95X5

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

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

Warmed-up with some super-light front squats just to start getting the movement back in my body.

Deadlifts were all fast and strong.  Really hammered the 225X5, and my hamstrings were really sore the next day.

Ladders were great.  No rest/pause on anything.  Not even push-ups.

LRB 365: Conditioning. Week 5. Bench

BW - 190 (home-style scale at an "away' gym, so grains of salt)

Bench -
BarX12
95X7, 5
135X3, 3
155X1, 1
175X1
135X8

BW Ladder Circuit -
Dips - 3 up to 15, back down to 3
Chins (V-Grip) - 2 up to 10, back down to 2
Push-ups - 3 up to 15, back down to 3
Leg-Raises - 3 up to 15, back down to 3

Tried out another "away" gym.  Little bit more of a local place called Southport Fitness.  Small, but WAY less crowded than the XSport.  Right now it is in the lead for the gym I will use to get workouts in during the work week for the next couple of months.

Bench was feeling strong so I went up to 175.  Based on an article by Dan Green, I tried playing with the way my leg drive works, but I didn't get the hang of what he's talking about.  My leg drive is still sending my butt off the bench, and I never felt like it was sending the bar back towards my shoulders as he describes.  I'll keep playing with that, and also flaring my elbows out of the bottom instead of closer to lock-out.  I also tried some different foot placements.  At the end of the day though, the best thing will be to get stronger vs. worrying about technique.

Ladders all felt pretty good, though I had to R/P some stuff as usual on upper-body day.  Dips felt as strong as they have, though.

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.

LRB 365: Conditioning. Week 4b. Incline

BW - 190

Incline -
BarX20
95X5, 5
115X3, 3
135X1, 1, 1
115X5

BW Ladder Circuit -
Dips - 3 up to 15, back down to 3
Chins (neutral) - 2 up to 10, back down to 2
Push-ups - 3 up to 15, back down to 3
Hanging Leg-Raises - 3 up to 9
Sit-ups - 20 up to 25, back down to 5

Jesus.  Strange gym hell.  I'm doing some work at nights in another part of the city for a couple of months, and I'm trying out some gyms in that area so that I can get my sessions in during the week without having to cram everything into the weekend.  Today's adventure involved a big, vibrant chain-gym called XSport.  I don't want to go on a pointless flame out about big-box commercial gyms, so I'll just skip to the high-lights. 

I was trying to use a free-pass I printed from their website, but that shit always comes with a mandatory sit-down with a sales person masquerading as a PT or something.  I'm cordial with these folks, as I understand they're just doing their job, and frankly their job appears to suck-ass.  I don't want to be the asshole that comes in and makes it even worse.  I'm just going to sum up my man Tony's advice with a couple brief excerpts from our exchange:
TONY:  I see you've written down what your focused on (I wrote down Squats, Deadlift).  Why are you focused on that stuff?
ME:  I want to be stronger in general and create a better athletic base for the rest of my life.
TONY:  But why these things?
ME:  Strong legs and back.  Seems like a good idea.
TONY:  Do you do any kind of balance work?
ME:  Free Squatting and Deadlifts take care of a lot of that stability for me.  Since I started Deadlifting 2 years ago, I never throw my back out anymore unless I fuck up on a Squat or Deadlift.
TONY:  But Deadlifts are for the hamstrings.
ME:  Uh...no, I'm not talking about RDLs, but full deadlifts from the floor.
TONY:  That's what I'm talking about.
ME:  Well that kind of works everything along your posterior chain from the bottom of your skull down to your knees.
[skeptical look from Tony]
ME:  Um...well...all I can say is that the biggest improvement I ever got in my Deadlift was when I improved my T-Bar rows.
TONY:  Well whatever works for you I guess.

A little bit later, Tony was asking what kind of things I was looking for in a gym, and that included this exchange:
ME:  Round plates would be great.  Those angle-sided plates can be annoying when deadlifting.
TONY:  We have those.  What's annoying about them.
ME:  It's not a huge-deal, it's just that when the weights hit the floor, the bar has a tenendcy to shift out of position if it lands on the pointed part of the plate.
TONY:  What, are you letting go of the bar?
ME:  No, just in the dead stop between reps.
[skeptical look from Tony]
ME:  You know, when it's on the ground, those plates can cause it to shift a little bit and you have to reset your feet.
TONY:  The weight doesn't touch the ground when I do deadlifts.
ME:  ...Again, I'm not talking about RDLs, but full deadlifts.
TONY [a little exasperated]:  That's what I'm talking about.
ME:  So you come all the way down...
TONY:  And then go right back up.
ME:  So you do touch-and-go.
TONY:  No.  I don't.

Anyway, he pretty quickly came to the conclusion that I just wasn't looking for what he was tasked with selling, and I got to go workout.

Inclines were fine.

Body circuit was kind of a cluster fuck because this was the MOST CROWDED GYM I'VE EVER BEEN IN!  Moving between stations, I had to look both ways like I was crossing a busy street.  Crazy.  The chin-up station was no good for leg-raises for a variety of reasons, I tried a few sets, but it was so awkward that it was hard to even get the reps out.  I had to switch to sit-ups instead.

I'm hoping one of the other two nearby gyms is better suited to me than this one.

LRB 365: Conditioning. Week 4b. Deadlift

BW - 191

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

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

191 is a BW low going back to sometime in late 2011.

Drank too much and too late the night before.  Thinking about lifting just made me want to lay down, so I backed off the weight on the deadlifts a bit and focused on speed through lock-out.

Circuit all went pretty well actually.  Only had to Rest/Pause the push-ups.  This is the easier of the two bodyweight circuits, however.

LRB 365: Conditioning. Week 3b. Squat

BW - 198

Squat -
BarX10 (paused)
95X5 (paused)
135X4
155X3
185X2
225X1, 1
245X1
185X5

BW Ladder Circuit -
Squat - 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

Was out of town the last 10 days for vacation.  Glad bodyweight didn't jump too much.  Because of the vacation, and some other upcoming scheduling difficulties, I've decided to repeat weeks 3 and 4 of the conditioning phase.

Squats were alright.  245 was pretty slow, but 185X5 was as strong as last time.

The ladders were mostly fine.  I actually did this circuit every couple days while I was on vacation.  Still have to R/P push-ups on the 5th and 6th sets.

LRB 365: Conditioning. Week 4. Incline

BW - 197

Incline -
BarX20
95X5, 5
115X3, 3
135X1, 1, 1
115X5

BW Ladder Circuit -
Dips - 3 up to 15, back down to 3
Chins (neutral grip) - 2 up to 10, back down to 2
Push-ups - 3 up to 15, back down to 3
Hanging Leg-Raises - 3 up to 15, back down to 3

Slightly tweaked my right shoulder again, though not as bad as last incline session.  The strain clearly occurred on the incline benching this time, and now I suspect that was the culprit last time as well.  I'm generally doing inclines the same as flat bench, that is to say, with a close-grip and pausing the reps on my chest.  Next time I will try bringing the bar down only to about my chin and not pausing, and see what happens.

Bodyweight stuff was pretty solid, thought I still had to R/P the 5th and 6th sets.

LRB 365: Conditioning. Week 4. Deadlift

BW - 198

Deadlift -
135X5, 5
155X4
185X3
225X2, 2
275X1, 1
315X1
275X5

BW Ladder Circuit -
Squat - 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

Pretty solid session considering we had house guests for the weekend and had stayed up and partied the previous 2 nights.  That contributes to the weight bump as well.

That 315 is still a little slow, but the 275 felt strong like I could have gotten a few more reps.  As long as I'm hitting everything don't really see a reason to back off.

Bodyweight stuff felt pretty good as well.  Had to hit some rest/pause on a couple of the top sets on push-ups and chins, but that's all good.

LRB 365: Conditioning. Week 3. Bench

BW - 196

Bench -
BarX15
95X5, 5
135X3, 3
155X1, 1, 1
135X8

BW Ladder Circuit -
Dips - 2 up to 10, back down to 2
Chins (neutral grip) - 2 up to 10, back down to 2
Push-ups - 2 up to 10, back down to 2
Leg-Raises - 3 up to 15, back down to 3

Good Session.  Had to fight the urge to either up the weight on the top Bench single, or go for more reps on the back off set.  But instead I remembered to save it for all the dips and push-ups.

No problem with my shoulder tonight.  It was really achy when I was stretching my pec out before hand, but I took some time with band dislocates and that really loosened it up well.

All the bodyweight movements got some rest/pause on the top sets, but this was by far the best bodyweight circuit on an upper day of this cycle.

LRB 365: Conditioning. Week 3. Squat

BW - 195

Squat -
BarX10 (paused)
95X5 (paused)
135X5
155X4
185X3
205X2
225X1, 1
245X1
185X5

BW Ladder Circuit -
Squat - 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

Felt a little shaky today, and don't think I hit depth on the 245.  So I dropped back to 185 for the back-off set, and it was one of the strongest, smoothest rep sets I can remember on Squats in a while.

Upped the rep intervals on the BW circuit, and everything felt strong.  I had to rest-pause on the top set of push-ups and chins.

LRB 365: Conditioning. Week 2. Deadlift

BW - 195

Deadlift -
135X5, 5
155X4
185X2
225X2
275X1, 1
315X1
275X5

BW Ladder Circuit -
Squats - 3 up to 15, back down to 3
Sit-ups - 2 up to 10, back down to 2
Chins - 2 up to 10, back down to 2
Push-ups - 3 up to 15, back down to 3

My afternoon was a cluster-fuck of leaving work early for one appointment that got cancelled because of weather, and another that ended up being so delayed that I could have stayed at work.  Raining so hard, I needed to take the bus to get from home to the gym, but I just missed a bus and had to wait 20 minutes for the next one.  Ended up having to wait 15 minutes for a bus to get home afterwards.  Was supposed to walk with the weighted vest today, but torrential downpour delays that.

Despite all that frustration, this was a solid-to-nice session.

Deadlifts were all strong, BUT 315 was a touch slower than I would have liked, and 275 might have been a bit much for the back-off.  I'm trying to stick with 25s/45s as much as possible on this phase, but I may have to use some 10s to back this down from 315/275 to 295/245 next time.  Or not.

Best ladder session yet.  Pretty clear now that the Bench days with the dips and push-ups in the ladder are significantly harder for me than these.  My shoulder strain from last session wasn't hindering me UNTIL I stupidly tried to loosen it up even more with some dislocates half way through.  Then it was righteously pissed at me.  Anyway, on Lower day I'm upping the rep intervals for Squats and Sit-Ups all the way back up to the programmed 5, and Push-Ups up to 4.