We threw a dinner party the night before, so I was coming in pretty rough to train in the AM. However, we're leaving town this weekend for a camping trip, so I had to train if I want to get 3 sessions in this week. Top-end performance was quite muted.
When it came time for the Hack Squats / Pull-Downs super set, I just could not. Did an iso circuit instead.
Top strength on Bench was completely flat for the 2nd week in a row, but this time back-off set strength nose-dived after the first set.
I then backed way off to see how Close Grips were going to go, and the back-off weight ended up being the work weight.
Sleep hasn't been great this week, so maybe there's a recovery issue. Looking back at the last year+ of training with Emerging Strategies, I've never had two lifts plateau in week 4. This is really throwing a wrench into the experiment of doing back-to-back, 4-5 week "greatest hits" blocks. When I started this experiment, I told myself I would switch to Phase 2 if two lifts plateaued or regressed in Week 4, but I didn't really expect it to happen. On the other hand, it might be fun to have different stuff to do next week....
GPP Day -
- DB Circuit: Curls, Upright Rows, COne-Arm Rows - 7 minutes; 3 rounds; sets of 10
- Stationary Bike - LISS; 20 minutes
Up-and-down session.
e1RM on the top Squat set is fairly flat with last week despite being more weight. However, 300 is a 3X7 PR fwiw.
I haven't slept well the last couple of nights, and was kind of ready to just go home after Squats. Tried to just hit Front Squats at the same weight as last week, but it wasn't there. Ended up having to drop to the lower weight than I've used this block just to his target RPE. A little bummed about that, but also happy that I didn't just throw in the towel on the 4X9 or the session as a whole.
Hoped I would rally a bit on Sumos, but adding weight wasn't there. Ended up using the same weight as last week, which is fine.
Going back and looking at the block from March/April '19 that had Front Squats and Sumos in it, I realize that they weren't all on the same day with back squats. I probably should have paid more attention to that when I was laying out this program, but this part of the block is almost over. I may have this session again next week, or I may move on to Phase 2, depending on how the rest of this week goes. I need to find a way to get some better sleep the next few days, and put myself in the best position to succeed.
On GPP day, I decided to flop the first and last movements for a couple of weeks just to give them a slightly different stimulus. Also did LISS on a bike. May do HIIT on the bike for the next few sessions just to mix it up.
Had a couple of extra days off due to schedule and that may have contributed to a very nice session.
385X2 @9 projects to an e1RM PR over the baseline I set when I started using Emerging Strategies, and is certainly an absolute intensity PR in that time frame. The baseline from late September '18 was 345X3 @7. This double at 385 was a very strong @9 as well. The 330X6 @8 actually projects even a little higher, but I prefer to go off the top set. Anyway, very solid DL today.
Pause Squats also came in right on target.
Axle Bench felt as good as it has yet. Felt very solidly balanced over the forearm in a way that I'm not sure I've ever felt with a regular barbell. Interesting.
Rough couple of week of training ended with a mixed bag session. Illness and poor recovery made these last couple of cycles a bit of a roller-coaster. This week looks to be a bit chaotic as well, so I'm going to stay buckled in.
Deadlift went very well this session and was clearly the best main lift of the week. DL is now pushing up against my e1RM from when injuries side-tracked me to the point that I switched over to RPE based programming back in the fall of '18. It's been a long slog back up the hill. I hope I've learned some things.
Pause Squats ended up being the same weight as last week. Not great, but not terrible. Comp Squats have been very rough the last couple of cycles, so maintaining on the supplement is probably a new win.
Comp bench was really rough this week, and getting RPE dialed-in on Axle Bench was very difficult in this session. Overall, it ended up being about the same as last week. Probably fine.
Block cut short by upcoming travel. Honestly, ready for the break. Had a lot of late nights this week, and recovery was definitely way off. Made lifting more of a chore than usual.
Deadlift top single in particular was harder than I wanted it to be. A reduction in e1RM from last cycle. Back-off sets felt fine, though.
Front Squats and dips felt pretty good as well. Dips in particular felt very smooth.
Video is of top sets and final work sets. Didn't get video of the top set of dips.
DB Rolling Triceps 3-3-0: 35sX8, 8 @8, 9
finish with tucked elbow DB Bench X10@8
3" Mat Pulls -
285X6 @6
315X6, 6 @8, 9
DB Rear Delt Flyes - 30sX10, 14, 12 @8, 9, 10
finish with DB Rear Delt Rows X10@9
I was so mentally and physically ready to move on to something different, I just decided to call an audible and start the pivot block early. Everything here was improved, and with out much of a plan. I decided to do a couple of work sets of each of the compound barbell movements that were originally slated, and then move on to single-limb movements
Safety Squats were hard and weak due to the continuing quad pain. Interestingly, the quad pain was still very present in the single leg extensions, but in general feels much better today.
For Bench, the 230X2 felt very solid. I decided to do a higher rep back-off of 7-9 @8.
The way I've always done DB rolling triceps is as an overloaded eccentric movement. That is, the eccentric keeps the humerus perpendicular to the ground through flexion, but then drops down to the ribs so that the concentric is a full press movement. I decided for no reason to turn that up to 11 by adding a tempo protocol of a 3 second eccentric, and a 3 second flexed hold at the bottom. Then finished the last set with a bro-tastic burnout set of tucked elbow DB bench. I'm sure by this evening, the triceps DOMS will be real.
Mat pulls actually progressed to 9 very quickly. Not sure if that was fatigue due to the shorter rest periods used prior in the session, or more general fatigue from feeling beat up by prior sessions. Had intended to just do 2 sets @~8.
Similar to the rolling triceps, I finished rear delt raises with a rear delt row burnout set.
Pull-Downs (supinated) - X10, 10, 10 (straight-weight; +5 "lbs." from last time)
Hammer Curls - 35sX10, 8
Had an MRI on my hips today and dropped the file off with my P.T. Will see him on Friday to get the scoop.
Press felt really good today. Even though this is 8 lbs. off my best 3X5, this still surprised me. This lift had felt like shit for a while. We'll see how it goes. My current theory is a combination of factors went into this: 1) Not Squatting and Deadlifting for the last week has reduced overall fatigue, 2a) Pulling back on Bench and Press weights AND volume has also reduced overall fatigue, and 2b) has allowed for a little bit of "peaking." Basically, I'm doing a little less and so am not as sore and tired, and so my lifts may be temporarily spiking. Again, just a theory for now.
Also, Pull-Ups blasted off today. Last session (which was my first time doing pronated pull-ups in 6 YEARS), they were really rough out of the gate, and getting 3 was a grind. I grabbed the bar today expecting only 3-4. 3 was smooth, then 4 went up pretty well, and then I did a slow but certain 5th. Felt so good, I was tempted to get some extra sets/reps, but I stuck to the plan and just increased by 1 rep over last session. I expect this quick improvement is mostly neurological as I re-familiarize myself with the movement.
Pull-Downs and Hammer Curls were fine. Discomfort in my left hand is still present even in the pronated pull-down. Also hoping this will benefit from the break from DL.
Squats were fairly easy both today and on Volume Day. 6 weeks in (4 weeks since I tweaked it based on the Barbell Logic podcast, and some SS forum posts), I'm starting to suspect that I need to increase the weight at least on the light day. There is a quote on the podcast about, "light day should feel as hard if not harder than volume day" and "if you do two sets on light day and it's easy, you better add a set, and you might need to go up in weight." I'm already at 3 sets. I've been going at 87.5% of VD weight. That's because the suggestion was 85-90% and I decided to just go in the middle so I had room to adjust up or down in that range. Believe I will adjust up now, but just 1% and go from there. I.D. weights are in PR territory from here on out. My warm-ups on I.D have felt pretty crappy until the last single or so, therefore I want to make sure I'm not dipping to far into my recovery to fast. Final set of this day shown.
Pressing movements on light day have been at a much higher relative intensity, and continue to feel like it. 2nd set was a bit of a struggle as bar path got off at lockout on the final rep. Pulled it back together for a decently hard 3rd set (shown).
Big jump in chins today. Went from 37 reps in 10 sets last week, to 38 reps in 8 sets this week. That's my first time averaging 5 reps per set since I started this volume experiment! I did get into a lengthy chat with the gym owner before the last two sets and so was well recovered, but I got 5 reps on both sets, which is pretty big for me. Still telling myself I will take this experiment to 50 total reps before making any changes.
As promised, upping the intensity on the middle day results in lower weight squats that feel as hard or harder than the volume day squats. Weight moved fine, just kind of felt like crap relative to Mondays work sets. 3rd set shown.
Had two options presented for off-week Bench/Press. One was to go slightly heavier than the last volume day, but the one I went with was 90% of last Intensity Day weight. Similar to squat, these felt as hard or harder than last volume day despite being lighter and moving relatively well. With these, it was always the first rep that seemed to feel awful. Again, 3rd set shown.
Chin-ups actually felt a bit on the strong side. Got an extra rep in the same number of sets. Probably due to more recovery with the reduced frequency in favor of more DL. We'll see if they start to back-slide only happening once a week.
Press and Deadlift were both pretty hard on this day. On both the tops sets and back-off sets. Both top sets definitely felt like RPE 9-10, as I think you can see in the videos below. We'll see what happens with these lifts over the next couple of weeks. I may need to find a way to introduce a bit more direct volume.
Also, I listened to a podcast with Matt Reynolds, Starting Strength coach, about the "Old Man" TM, which is what I'm doing a version of. They talked about the "light" day squats needing to feel as hard or maybe harder than the volume day squats. The idea being that you shouldn't be recovered enough from Monday for these to be easy, but they're light enough that you will be mostly recovered for Friday's Intensity set. These were pretty easy, and I likely will need to add weight or sets. However, since the switchover from what I had been doing to TM is already an overall increase in volume, I don't want to rush to make more changes, before I see what happens with the initial programming.
147.5X3 and 132.5X8 are both rep PRs on Press. Both were fairly difficult.
I'd been traveling all week and also had a lot of social activities, so I wasn't even sure if I was going to Squat on this day. Once I decided to Squat, I though I might just do a few reps at a medium weight. I then decided to maybe work up to a single around the original programmed weight. I then hit two PRs. 380X3 and 340X8, haha. But I am taking this opportunity to downshift to triples on the top set, and possibly eliminate the 1st back-off set of 5 reps. I like having that extra volume in there, so we'll see how I feel on a "fresher" day.
238 (BW+10)X5 is a Rep PR on Chins. Forgot to video the weighted set again, but did get the back-off set. Not fully extending the arms, but elbow above the shoulders and up around the ears is okay for me right now.
Chin-Ups - BWX25 total reps (lost track of individual sets)
Phone died so no video of this session.
My sleep and general recovery were a mess heading into this session, so I was kind of dreading it. Things went pretty well, though.
227.5X5 is a Rep PR on Bench. 5th rep was absolutely RPE 10. Really wasn't sure if it was going to lock-out. Hopefully my recovery can be in better shape next week when I take a run at 230.
370X5 is a Rep PR on Squats. Squats just felt really good today. I felt like the bar was staying "over my heels" on every rep, and I had a lot of pop coming out of the hole.
This was my first time experimenting with AMRAP on the 2nd back-off set. I decided to move back into back-off sets after the last squat workout where I ended up cutting the 2nd set across at 4 reps. But I didn't want to abandon the AMRAP set, so I'm doing a sort of mash-up of Advanced Novice/Greyskull LP here. I'm well aware that there's risk of bastardizing tested programs, and that mash-ups often result in worse results than choosing one method or another. However, the AMRAP sets seemed to be yielding results. I will keep a close eye on this as I move forward. I'm not sure if the 1st set of 5 is necessary, or if it would be better to do a single, AMRAP back off-set. My suspicion is that this will yield more ultimate volume, even if it possibly costs me a rep or two on the AMRAP.
Anyway, despite feeling like crap all day, this was a good session.
No PR on Press today. It was a tough session, but I also only took one day off since missing on the 5th rep of a Bench PR. Also, my midsection felt "soft" during this set. Felt my hips shifting side to side during a couple of reps.
365X3 is a Rep PR on Deadlift. Felt solid, but heavy-ish. Again, my midsection didn't feel tight enough.
BW/228X16 is a Rep PR on Dips as well. These all felt really good even though I haven't done them i a couple of weeks.
Chin-ups are feeling shit, but they're also at the tail end of a lot of other work. Just threw a lot of volume at them and called it a day.
80% Squats and Press all went pretty well. Squats were harder than the Press.
Similar to the adjustment I made to the last heavy Squat session, I needed to do something with DL to account for failure on the last session, and to give me low back some recovery. I reduced the top set by 10lbs., reduced the reps to 3, and added a back-off set of 3 at 90%. My back was already feeling better coming off of the changes I made to squats, and I'm feeling positive about these changes. I still feel like there's a lot of room to work on tightness all along the spine, however.
My intention for this program is to put Tempo Runs the day after Intensity and Volume days. That didn't work out this week, so I tried doing it after my Recovery work-out. Proved to be no trouble at all. I didn't go in with a target pace. Just wanted to hit a comfortable jog, 15 minutes out and 15 minutes back. The cool thing is this pace ended up being a little bit faster than my last, sub-race pace runs leading up to the 5K. And felt easy.
