Mid-Rep Volume PRs. Squat, ME Upper

sRPE @8

BW - 221

Squats - 

315X1 @7

290X9, 9 @~8

Leg Extensions - X12, 12 @~9

High Incline - 

175X1 @8.5

185X1 @9

3-Board Bench - 225X5, 5, 5 @~8

DB Tate Press - 

30sX15 @9.5

35sX12, 15, 15 @9/10

290 for 2 sets of 9 is a Volume PR on Squats.  That was my goal for the day.  "Made up" volume with Leg Extensions after that.

Then I worked in on Max-Effort Upper Day with one of my Konjugate Krew buddies.

185X1 on High Incline is a PR on that lift.

Never done 3-Board Bench before, so that's all technically PRs on that.  My best Reverse Camber Bench is 185X19, but I think that's more of a 4-board.

DB Tate Presses were fun.  I haven't done them much, but got a nice little triceps pump from them. 

Mid-Rep Volume PRs. Week 5. Session C.

sRPE @7.5

BW - 212

Deadlift - 

385X1 @7

315X9, 9, 9 @7/8

Cambered Bench - 135X6, 6, 6 @6

Reverse Cambered Bench - 205X15 @9

Pull-Downs (myo-reps) - X17, 5, 5, 3, 3 @~10

DB Incline - 50sX12, 10 @~8

315 for 2 and 3 sets of 9 are Volume PRs.

Erector and Quad achiness are starting to get pretty continual so probably about time to deload and start a new block.  Hoping a 3X10 PR will be there for me on Squats on Monday, and then will probably pull back.

Mid-Rep Volume PRs. Week 4. Session C.

sRPE @8

BW - 212

Deadlift - 

385X1 @8

305X9, 9, 9 @6.5/7.5

Cambered Bench - 135X6, 6, 6 @6

Reverse Cambered Bench - 185X19 @9

Pull-Downs (myo-reps) - X15, 5, 5, 4, 4 @10

DB Incline - 50sX11, 11 @7/8

305 for 3X9 is a Volume PR on DL.  My low back was TAHRED after this, and I had to carefully manage the rest of the session, and the rest of my day, as a result.

But the reduced volume on the supplemental lifts still kept sRPE a bit in check.

Mid-Rep Volume PRs. Week 3. Session C.

sRPE @9

BW - 209

Deadlift - 

375X1 @6.5

295X9, 9, 9 @6.5/8.5

Cambered Bar Bench - 

140X6 @6.5

135X6, 6, 6 @6/8

Reverse Camber Bench - 185X13 @8.5

Pull-Downs (myo-reps) -

X12, 3, 3, 3, 3 @~10

X11, 3, 3, 3, 3 (reduced weight) @~9.5

DB Incline - 50sX10, 8 @8

Had to train barbells on back-to-back days because of travel.

sRPE is consistently creeping up, I'm getting gassed out earlier and earlier in sessions, and I'm having to just will myself through workouts.  I may have exceeded my current volume tolerance, and will reduce by 1 set on most supplements and accessories next week. 

Mid-Rep Volume PRs. Week 2. Session C.

sRPE @7.5

BW - 211

Deadlift - 

365X1 @6.5

285X9, 9 @6/7

Cambered Bar Bench - 140X6, 6, 6, 6 @~6

Reverse Cambered Bar Bench - 140X22 @10

Pull-Downs (myo-reps) - X13, 4, 3, 3, 3 @~10

DB Incline - 50sX13, 13, 10 @7.5/8

Mid-Rep Volume PRs. Week 1. Session C.

sRPE @6.5

BW - 208

Deadlift - 

365X1 @7

275X9 @6

Cambered Bar Bench - 145X6 @7.5

Reverse Cambered Bar Bench - 135X19 @9.5

Pull-Downs (Myo-Reps) - X20, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5 @8/7

DB Incline - 50sX12 @8

Leg DOMS starting to clear up a bit, and DL wasn't as much of a hassle as I thought it would be.

The low-fatigue strength work on cambered bar followed by a rep out on reverse cambered bar is based on something I heard in the Data Driven Strength podcast: that while long-ROM may be best overall for hypertrophy, partial ROM may provide greater hypertrophy in specific regions of the target muscle.  I spit-balled this idea over IG DM with one of their coaches, and this seemed like a good time to try it out: in the wake of failing to lock out my bench in the mock-meet on NYE.  The podcast was one of these two:

https://open.spotify.com/episode/6jTJvUy94stznENZBJ41N9?si=827bbb37a8714c04

https://open.spotify.com/episode/31wELM8XdHOoONP5CcNRnx?si=683df7f60e624d07

I can't remember which.

Hybrid Training. Week 10. Heavy Upper

BW - 226

Warm-up -
Rope Pushdowns - X15
Rope Stiff-arm Pushdowns - X10

Bench -
up to 187.5X5, 5
then 147.5X12, 8

CG, Reverse Cambered Bar -
165X5
175X5
185X5
195X5
205X5
215X5

WG, Pulldowns -
Straight Weight X10, 8
Drop-Set X8, 6, 5, 6

DB Rows -
80sX10, 10
Drop-Set - 70sX10, 60sX5, 50sX5

Kind of a long session, but I just seemed to have the energy for it.

Sets of 5 on bench were a bit heavier than I expected.  I've got one more heavy session before I taper lifting a bit for my 5K.  We'll see how heavy triples feel next week.

Brought back the reverse cambered bar to see how they would feel for some extra triceps volume.  The trick here, with such a short stroke, seems to be making sure the elbows don't flare as you start to overload.  Keep it in the triceps.  I'll try 'em out again next week.

Shoulders felt too achy to want to do chin-ups, so I went with pulldowns so I could get more reps in.  Decided to go to DB rows even though they've been "light" day work.

Reps and Volume. Week 16. Bench

BW - 212

Incline -
BarX30
95X5, 5
115X4
135X3
155X2
175X7*, 3, 4 (*failed on 8)

DB Laterals - 20sX20, 20, 20
super-set with
Rolling DB Triceps - 30sX20, 20, 15

DB Hammer Curls - 40sX10, 10, 10
super-set with
DB Rear Delts - 30sX18, 18, 18

175X7 is a Rep PR, and, together with 14 total reps, meets my goal for this weight.  I'll reset next week with 185 as my over-warm-up single.

I was going to try machine benching today, but once I got there something said work through the delts so I did that instead.  I've been doing lots of OHP and rear delts, but I hadn't done anything for the lateral head for awhile.  Who knows, maybe it can help jump-start some improvement before I go see a professional about my shoulder issues.  Also, my shoulder is WAY less achy for having not done the heavy lock-outs.  I'm suspicious that as I work back up on Inclines and start looking to hit reps at 185+, I may run into the same issues, however.

Reps and Volume. Week 15. Bench

BW - 214 (PR)

Incline -
BarX30
95X5, 5
115X4
135X3
155X2
165X12, 5

Reverse Camber Bench - 205X5, 5, 5, 4

DB Bench - 55sX12, 10, 7
super-set with
DB Rear Delts - 30sX20, 20, 15

DB Hammer Curls - 40sX15, 10, 10

165X12 is an all-around PR for Incline, and matches a Rep PR for Flat Bench.  I had that as a back-of-mind goal for this session, and I'm happy to hit it.  The 5 reps on the 2nd set meets my goal 15+ total reps, so moving up next week.

However, the reverse camber bench was not good.  My shoulder started hurting after the 1st set, and I missed the 5th rep on set #4.  My shoulder was really achy by that point and is really achy today.  I'd settled on the hypothesis that whatever is wrong with my shoulder was only exacerbated by heavy movements that took the elbow behind the center line of my body, but that is CLEARLY not the case with this short ROM lift.  So until I get examined by a professional, I don't know what.  I'm just going to have to abandon this movement for now.  Next week, I will try some machine pressing and see what that's like.

DB Bench was okay, but felt like it could have been better if my shoulder wasn't bothering me so much.

Reps and Volume. Week 13. Bench

BW - 206 (fuck me)

Incline -
BarX30
95X5, 5
115X3
135X2
155X1
155X13, 5

Reverse Cambered Bench - 205X5, 5, 3, 5, 5

DB Bench - 55sX12, 10, 10
super-set with
DB Rear Delts - 30sX20, 17, 20

Hammer Curls - 40sX15, 14, 10, 8

Incline Treadmill - 20 minutes; walking

Good session.  155X13 is a Rep PR and only 2 off my best flat bench with that weight.

Pushed the weight up again on lock-outs with the reversed cambered bar.  That middle set of 3 is because I changed up my foot and shoulder positions simultaneously resulting in a greater ROM on the movement and also hitting the hooks at lock-out.  I corrected everything and got back to 5's.  Still, I should probably just repeat this weight next week.

Upped the reps on DB Bench and curls, and upped the weight on rear delts.

Reps and Volume. Week 12. Squat and Bench

BW - 210

Squat -
BarX10 (paused)
95X5 (paused)
135X5
185X4
225X3
275X2
305X1

Incline -
BarX30
95X5, 5
115X3
135X2
155X1
145X13, 6

Reverse Cambered Bench - 195X5, 5, 5, 5, 5

DB Bench - 55sX11, 10, 9
super-set with
DB Rear Delts - 25sX25, 25, 25

Hammer Curls - 40sX14, 13, 11, 13

Thought I would give Squats a try even with my tweaked back.  It was dicey working up, but with a ton of sit back and keeping my shins fairly vertical, I managed to work up to a new 1 Rep PR of 305.  I went for 2, but I felt my back strain tweak a little and dumped the bar.  I stipped it down to see if I could move on to High Bars, but even with the empty bar they hurt pretty bad at the bottom of the movement, so I moved on to a bench day.

145X13, 6 beats my single-set and total volume rep goals for this weight, so I can move up to 155 next week.

Managed to eke out 5X5 with 195 on the reverse cambered bench, but it was hard as hell.  I'm going to go ahead and move up next week since I got the full 5X5, but it's getting dicey.

Upped the weight on DB Bench and the reps on Rear Delts.  Also upped the weight on hammer curls.

Reps and Volume. Week 10. Bench

BW - 208

Incline -
BarX30
95X5, 5
115X3
135X2
155X1
135X15, 6

Reverse Cambered Bench - 185X5, 5, 5, 5, 5

DB Bench - 50sX16, 14, 10
super-set with
DB Rear Delts - 25sX20, 20, 20

DB Hammer Curls - 35sX20, 16, 12, 12

Seated Calves - 90X15, 15, 15

Incline Treadmill Walking - 20 minutes

Wasn't able to hit bench on my regular day, and will be traveling this week, so I got it in on Saturday instead.

135X15 and for >18 total reps meets that goal, so I move up to 145 next time.  Shoulder feels terrible for the first several reps with the empty bar, but by the time I get into the high-teens/low-20s with it everything feels okay and I can do the rest of the programmed day.

Bumped the lockout/triceps work up to 185 for 5X5.  I'll move up to 195 next time.  My thinking with these right now is:  We've got a pin-press bench at the gym.  If I can take this lockout work up to 225 for 5X5 with the cambered bar, then I will move that weight over to the pin-bench and try to stay at that weight while gradually increasing the ROM with ever-lower pins.  All other things being equal, the pin-presses should be easier than the reverse cambered bar.  With the bar, the pad on the camber sort of makes you pause the reps because of the way it sinks into you.  At the same time, you have to keep really tight to stabilize the bar so it doesn't roll forwards or backward on your chest.  With the pin-presses you can actually stop the bar on the pins without having to keep it stable.  Anyway, hopefully this will work out and I can take the pin presses with some good weight down at least to the point where my elbows come even with my center-line.  That seems to be the threshold beyond which ROM starts to aggravate the shoulder.

DB Bench was solid.  Bumped the reps up well past where they've been the last two sessions.  Need to get these to 60-65s for 15-20 to be back in the range of my best DB benching.  If I can do that after Inclines and volume lock-out work, I will feel pretty happy about it.

As my bodyweight is going up, I've been toying with the idea of some direct calf work to add some extra intensity work onto the volume I'm getting by walking around with an increased load.  Tried seated calves followed by incline treadmill on this day, but my calves didn't have any soreness or DOMS.  That's not the be-all-end-all, but I would expect some DOMS for a muscle group/movement pattern I haven't trained directly in a long time.  If I'm gonna do this, I may need to hit it harder and with more variety.

Reps and Volume. Week 9. Bench

BW - 206

Incline -
BarX30
95X5, 5
115X3
135X2
155X1
125X17, 8

Reverse Camber Bench - 175X5, 5, 5, 5, 5

DB Bench - 50sX13, 12, 11
super-set with
DB Rear Delts - 25sX20, 20, 20

Hammer Curls - 35sX20, 16, 12, 11

Bench Dips - BWX20, 25, 15

Dumb, dumb, dumb.  After I got done with Hammer Curls, I had 20+ minutes till the bus was swinging around so I thought "I wonder if Dips still hurt my shoulder since I haven't been BB Benching?"  And then I thought, "I'll try it out on bench dips since it reduces my bodyweight."  Great.  And look I got a lot of reps in.  However the bench dip forces the elbows to stay behind the body the entire time since you can't get any forward lean.  That meant my shoulder was in a more extreme position throughout the movement, and TA-DA!  My shoulder feels like shit today.

While I'm most mad that I'm dealing with this pain now, I'm intellectually pissed off that I muddied the data to see if this programming would have allowed me to progress on Inclines relatively pain-free. At best, I won't be able to look at that from a reset point for at least 2 weeks.

Whatever.

Incline was fine.  Shoulder was a bit wonky when I started the empty bar warm-ups, but I just kept pressing the empty bar until it felt better.  125X17 and 20 total reps was my goal for this weight.

Last week on the reverse cambered bar, I worked up to 175X5 for 3 sets.  Upped that to 5X5 this week.  Will look to push the 5X5 weight from here.  Last week doing these for the first time, the DOMS were located primarily right above my elbow which was a new experience for triceps work for me.

R/P'd the Hammer Curls to more reps.

Stupid, dumb bench dips.

Reps and Volume. Week 8. Bench

BW - 209

Incline -
BarX20
95X5, 5
115X3
135X2
155X1
115X21, 10

Reverse Cambered Bar Bench -
135X5
155X5
175X5, 5, 5

DB Bench - 50sX14, 11, 10
super-set with
Bent Over Flyes - 25sX20, 20, 14

Hammer Curls - 35sX15, 14, 11, 10

Trying to find a way to work some benching back in without aggravating my shoulder too badly, and this is my first shot at that.

115X20+ was my target for that weight, so I'll move up to 125 next session.

We've got a cambered bench bar at my gym that's meant for extreme range of motion benching.  I used it myself for that a lot last winter to try and build strength off the chest.  It's got a foam pad taped to the camber that sinks into your chest and naturally "suggests" a pause at the bottom when you use it.  I'm flipping it around and using it for partials to work triceps strength at lock-out.  That's some geared-style stuff that I've never considered doing before, but since I can't do full ROM barbell benching without aggravating my shoulder for a week+, I'm just trying to get something in.

And despite all the OHP I've been doing, this movement told me how weak I've gotten in the flat bench.  Last winter, I was doing full ROM bench with 175X10, 185X8, 195X6, and 205X4.  These 175X5 sets were all grinders to lock-out.  Anyway, my initial thought is to see if I can push the weight on these up closer to 200+.  Then we've got a pin-bench at the gym, and I can switch over to that and try to start hitting the same numbers on ever lower pins, and see how that works out.

Oh, and yes.  My shoulder does feel a little crappy a day later.