BBM PB I Block 1. Cycle 3. Session B.

sRPE @7

BW - 206

Bench - 

202.5X5 @7.75

190X5, 5, 5, 5 @7/8.25

SSB Squats -

210X10 @7

200X10 @7.5

1-Arm DB Rows (myo-reps) -

85X13, 5, 5, 4, 3, 3 @9

80X12, 5, 5, 4, 3, 3 @9

DB Rear Delts - 15sX14, 13, 11 @9/10

Bench felt very good today on the technique side.  Initial set-up was good for facilitating leg drive through-out (I'm pushing hard into my heels on the set up and kind of "keeping tension in my heels" from there); Eccentric was well under control, but not too slow; Concentric had an excellent bar path as I was really finding that "slidey" spot part way up where the bar travels back for a moment instead of up.  I first heard Matt Reynolds talk about that back when I used to listen to the Barbell Logic podcast.  His theory was that it allowed the elbows to open a bit more without having to work as hard against gravity.  I don't know about all that, but it also lines up with that classic bar path graphic from Thomas McLaughlin  that shows the difference between novice and elite benchers:

Two things I still need to work on: 

Un-racking to over my shoulders.  Unrack felt good until the weight got heavier, and I realized that "over my shoulders" was further back than where I was starting on my warm-ups.  The result was that my shoulder blades weren't all the way down when I reached the correct starting position, and I had to spend some effort getting them into better position.

Foot placement.  This is a weird issue because the actual issue is my foot sliding out from under me a little under load.  This is probably more of a foot-wear/gym-floor situation, but there's only so much I'm willing and/or able to do about that.  So the other option may be to try and pull my feet back a bit.

Safety Bar Squats were a bit better this week.  I had to do some extra warm-ups because of lingering DOMS from squatting after vacation.  They didn't feel great because of the DOMS, but I was able to lift more weight and at a lower RPE than my target.  This top set is supposed to be @9, and I keep undershooting it, but I also don't want to push it if everything doesn't feel great.

Two sets of myo-reps on 1-arm DB rows really, really sucks.

BBM PB I Block 1. Cycle 2. Session B.

sRPE @6.5

BW - 201

Bench - 

200X5 @8

190X5, 5, 5 @7/8

SSB Squat - 190X10, 10 @~8

DB Rows (Myo-Reps) - 75X15, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5 @7/9

Curls - 55X18, 12, 11 @9/10

DB Rear Delts - 15sX15, 14, 13 @9/10

Again throwing the "main" lift from a GPP day in here (curls) because of compressed schedule due to vacation.

BBM PB I Block 1. Cycle 1. Session B.

sRPE @6.5

BW - 202

Bench - up to 195X5 @8

Safety Bar Squat - up to 160X10 @8 

DB 1-Arm Rows (myo-reps; each arm) - 60X17, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5 @~7

DB Rear Delt Flyes - 15sX12, 13, 12 @7.5/10

Gnarly adductor DOMS coming back from extra days off.  Really limited my SSB Squats.

Transmutation to Accumulation Pivot Day 1.

BW - 219

SSB Squats -
235X4 @7
250X4, 4 @8, 8.5

1-Leg Extensions - X10, 12 @ 8, 9 (straight-weight)

Bench -
210X2 @6
230X2 @8
190X7 @8

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.

HLM. Week 12. Day 3. (full-auto day 2)

BW - 217

Safety Squat -
225X5 @ 6
250X6 @ 7
262.5X5, 5, 5, 5, 5 @ 8, 8, 8, 8.5, 9

Press -
125X2 @ 6.5
135X1 @ 7.5
140X1 @ 8
122.5X5, 5, 5, 5 @ 8, 8.5, 8.5, 9.5

Deadlift -
315X2 @ 6
350X2 @ 7.5
322.5X6, 6, 6 @ 8, 8, 9

Conditioning (next day) - brisk 20 minute walk

Solid session, thought it did run a bit long.  That's a combination of this fully auto-regulated approach (initially) yielding a higher volume of work sets than I've been doing, and a bit more socializing with some of the die hards in an otherwise empty Friday gym.

SSB had 250 as the estimated weight for the day.  Took 225 for my test set, and that suggested 250+, and when I took 250 it ended for being X6@7, so I made another jump.  I meant to shoot for X6 on the work-sets, but I'm so conditioned to do 5s that I cut the first set a rep short.  Whatever.  Just happy to have been over the target intensity for decent volume.

As always with Press, I hope today will be the day it feels strong, but it never is.  Nevertheless, 140X1@8 was the target, and was squarely hit.  Volume sets got heavy kind of fast, and I overshot a touch with a 4th.  No big, I don't think.

Deadlift was very solid.  I might have done a 3rd rep with 350  to try and hit @8, but I'm more concerned with the back-off sets at this time.  The weight felt just right on those, and rewarded me with sets of 6.  It did get to @9 somewhat faster than I would have liked, but it was the end of the session, and already more volume than I've done pulling from the floor in...over 2 years according to my logs.

All video is of top sets, and final volume sets.

HLM. Week 11. Day 3. and Week 12. Day 1.

W11.D3.
BW - 222

Safety Squat - 250X5, 5, 5, 5 @ 8

Press -
132.5X3 @ 9
122.5X5 @ 7.5
125X5, 5, @ ~9
120X5 @ 8.5

Deadlift -
345X3, 3 @ ~8.5

W12.D1.
BW - 218

Squat -
335X1 @8
315X3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3 @~8 (last set @9)

45 degree Incline Bench  - 165X5, 5, 5, 5 @8

Chin-Ups - BWX4, 3, 3, 2 @~9

BB Rows - 215X3, 3, 3 @8

Conditioning - Treadmill Sprints - 20 second sprint / 120 second walk; 7 rounds

Nagging quad pain is playing hell with my squats.  W11.D3. also just seemed to be an "off" or "down" day in general.  Press top-strength was underwhelming, although back-off strength was higher avg. intensity that previous.  Deadlift was definitely down.

Then I went out-of-town for 3 days.

I hoped that the extra day off would help with the quads, but not really.  Squat strength on W12.D1. was definitely limited by pain.  Was hoping to work up to a triple @ 8, but ended up doing a single @ 8 (no video) and doing triples for the back-off.  These intensities are disappointing, but at least I hit another 2-year BW low coming off a wedding trip.  Anyway.  I knew I wasn't going to be able to handle much volume at a decent intensity for back-off sets of 5, so I decided to use the "fatigue drop" / "RPE Stop" technique of doing volume sets until the RPE rises a certain amount.  In this case, I dropped to 3's @ 8, and did them until I hit a 3 @ 9 with that weight.

The high-incline bench was taken on this day, and I hate the gym's other incline bench because it's got a curve at the top that makes it much closer to a flat bench.  I was at the gym earlier in the afternoon than normal because I'd take an extra day off after our trip, so I dragged a particularly sturdy DB incline bench over to a power rack and used that instead.  Actually may be my favorite incline set up I've used at this gym.

Chin-Ups and rows were fine.  Rows felt a little weaker than last week, but no big.

Top-Sets and or final volume/back-off sets shown.

HLM. Week 9. Day 2 and 3.

Day 2 BW - 221

High Bar Pause Squat - 257.5X5, 5, 5 @8

Bench -
245X1 @10
212.5X3 @8
197.5X5, 5, 5, 5 @8

Block Pulls (3" mats) - 305X5, 5, 5 @8

Day 3 BW - 221

Safety-Bar Squat -
262.5X5, 5 @~7
275X5, 5 @~9

Press -
155X1 @9.5
122.5X5, 5, 5 @~8
115X5, 5 @8

Deadlift -
365X1, 1, 1 @8
342.5X5 @8

Few weird situations going on with these two sessions.  Day 2 was at an away gym with no belt.  Day 3 was back at my regular gym, but I forgot my shoes and had to lift barefoot. 

I went full over to RPE this last week for a few reasons:
1)  Not sure how the diet is going to impact programming, and auto-regulating intensity seems like a good move.
2)  Since I started the diet, I've had pretty intense DOMS going on in my quads.  I'm actually concerned I wasn't getting ENOUGH intensity on my squat supplements to keep up adaptation, so I'm hoping auto-regulating intensity will help with that.
3)  The beltless thing, the shoeless thing, and mysteriously crapping the bed on bench as the away gym, meant I wanted a solid framework for "guessing" what weight I needed to use.

Videos are all top sets, final top sets, or final back-off sets.

HLM. Week 8. Day 3.

BW - 222

Safety Bar Squats - 260X5, 5, 5, 5

Press -
150X3
120X5, 5, 5, 5

Deadlift - 345X3, 3

Tempting to credit the first week of diet work from BBM with the weight loss here, but it was also a weekend morning session as opposed to my usual weekday afternoon.  Still, that's my lowest bodyweight since April '17.

Top set of SSB felt @ 7.5, looks @ 6.5.  I'm a couple weeks into documenting this "feels" RPE and "speed" RPE data, so it's time to start thinking about how I want to use it.

Top set of Press felt @9.5, looks about like that.  It's so strange because the first two reps looks like I could do a set of 5, but just a little bit of bar path deviation ups the difficulty on the 3rd rep into max effort territory.

Last back-off set felt @ 7, and looks @ 6.  For me, there seems to be two kinds of "feels" RPEs right now: Strength and Fatigue.  This felt @ 7 because I was just getting gassed.  I guess the lesson here is that I should add some conditioning in, and get my work capacity up.

2nd set of DL felt @ 7 and looks @ 6.  Definitely not heavy enough, but I hope that's in part because the programming has been working.

HLM. Week 7. Day 3.

BW - 227

Safety Bar Squats - 290X5, 5, 5, 5

Press -
145X5
115X5, 5, 5

Deadlift - 340X5

290X5 is a Rep PR on SSB.  Last set "felt" @ 8.5, bar speed is @ ~7.

Press top set felt @ 10, looks @8.5.  Not sure what to think about that.  Doesn't seem like fatigue.  The warm-up sets were harder than I would have liked as well.

Last back-off felt @7, looks @7.

Deadlift top-set felt @ 7 for overall strength, but @ 8 for grip.  Bar speed looks @ ~7.  Gonna drop straps for all sets of rows, and see if that's enough of a kick in the butt for grip to keep pace.  I won't drap straps for heavy RDLs because they go to shit double-overhand for me.

HLM. Week 6. Day 3.

BW - 227

Safety Squat - 270X5, 5, 5, 5

Press -
150X1
120X5, 5, 5, 5, 5

Deadlift -
350X1, 1, 1
320X5

Going to try tracking RPE "feels" after sets, so that I can compare them to "bar speed" RPE from the video.

Last set of SSB felt @8.  Video says @ 6.  Started dialing-in a new cue to "keep my triceps in my lats" on these.  Felt like upper back looseness was making it difficult to keep my chest "up" coming out of the hole. I believe the lower arm position caused by this bar makes it less natural to keep the upper back muscles tight.  Trying to push my triceps into my lats to open my chest up, and that seemed to help.

Top set of Press felt @9.  Video says about the same.  Was hoping this weight wouldn't feel so tough.

Last back-off set of Press felt @ 8.5.  Video says about 7.5.  These were all fairly easy, so my rating was probably due to keeping rests between back-off sets at 2 minutes or less. 

For the DL, I rated both the first and third top-sets @ 7.5.  Video definitely says they're at about the same speed.  Not sure about RPE.  May need to film my last warm-up set in order to get accurate bar speed RPE for singles.  These all felt smooth, and relatively easy.

For the back-off set, it felt @ 7.  Video says about 6.5.

HLM. Week 5. Day 3.

BW - 229

Safety Bar Squats - 260X5, 5, 5, 5

Press -
142.5X3
145X3
115X5, 5, 5

Deadlift - 340X3, 3

SSB squats were fairly easy with the Wave 1 weight reduction.  Last set shown.

Mis-loaded the top set of Press with a 5 on one side, and a 2.5 on the other.  Decided to reset with the correct weight, do the set, and then just drop one set off the back-off work so that the total volume "slots" were the same.  Correct top-set and last back-off shown.

Deadlifts felt great.  This is 50 lbs. off my best 2X3, so it SHOULD, but is HASN'T, so I'm HAPPY.  Last set shown.

HLM. Week 4. Day 3.

BW - 228

SSB Squat - 280X5, 5, 5, 5

Press -
140X5
110X5, 5, 5

Deadlift - 335X5

Safety Squats went well.  Starting a new squat wave after this so intensity on everything will come down a bit.  Last set shown.

Press went okay.  Had to "get up" for this set.  Dealing with a little bit of a form issue where pushing through to get under the bar is getting me over my toes a little.  Back-offs were very easy, as usual so far.  Didn't get video of the last back-off, so only the top set is shown.

Deadlifts also moved pretty well.

HLM. Week 3. Day 3.

BW - 229

SSB Squat - 270X5, 5, 5, 5

Press -
145X1
115X5, 5, 5, 5, 5

Deadlift -
350X1, 1, 1
315X5

SSB Squats still feeling pretty good.  They're challenging, but not grind-y.  Last set shown.

Press still feels heavy through the last warm-ups, but then I "get up" for the work-set and it feels pretty good.  Back-off sets were all fast.  Top set and last back-off shown.

DL felt okay.  Working hard to get back to a strong "chest-up" position to start the lift.  I feel like I was better at this pre-adductor lay-off, and am working to get it back.  Currently "squeezing" my chest up to "take the slack out of the bar" as the final set-up cue before I pull.  Not quite there yet, but getting a bit better.  Last single and back-off set shown.

HLM. Week 2. Day 3.

BW - 225

Safety Bar Squat - 260X5, 5, 5, 5

Press -
140X3
110X5, 5, 5, 5

Deadlift - 335X3, 3

Solid session.

SSB Squats feeling more natural.  Last set shown.

Press also felt very solid, as it should at these intensities.  Top set and last back-off shown.

Deadlift felt better this week than last.  Really trying to hone in on getting my chest-up and tight to start the lift.  A little bit better on this day.  Last set shown.

HLM. Week 1. Day 2.

BW - 225

Safety Bar Squat - 250X5, 5, 5

Press -
135X5
110X5, 5, 5

Deadlift - 325X5

First time using a SSB so...Rep PR!  I was told the bar is 70 lbs. so 2 plates should be 250.  Had to fiddle around with pad placement.  Putting it right on tom of my shoulders, I felt it pushing down into my neck rather than my upper back, and it also made it fairly vertical feeling coming up.  On sets 2 and 3, I worked to find a "natural" way to set it a bit lower on my back, and was able to use a bit more hip drive with that placement.  Ideally, I'd like the mechanics to fall half way between a high bar and low bar, give the benefit of the upper back work from the camber, but also allow for a narrow-to-medium stance to lessen strain on my adductor.  1st and 3rd sets shown for comparison.

This was still the ramp up week for the new program so I just left the press top-set at the same weight as my 3X5 last week.  Top-set and last back-off set shown.

Last week, 315X5 on DL felt very easy (as I would hope), so I did add weight to this movement.  These were harder than I would have expected, but my set up is pretty weak.  My upper back is definitely not extended or "proud" the way it should be prior to the pull.  This needs work.

Training with Matt Wenning at Ludus Magnus Gym. Day 1. Speed Lower

I was in Columbus this week for work, and I took the opportunity to arrange to go train with Matt Wenning at his gym, Ludus Magnus.  I would describe the gym as contemporary-hardcore.  A converted garage with no climate control, a ton of specialty bars, a couple of racks, a platform, a quality bench, all the dumbells, and a smattering of machines.  Only what you need, or might find useful.  Matt just had me work in with the group he was training that day, I'll detail basically what we did, but I don't remember specific weights.

Warm-up:
Sled-pull - 1/2 way down the block, and then back up (maybe 3 plates on the sled)
Lying Leg Curls - 1 set of 20
Decline Sit-Ups - 1 set of 20

Speed Squats - Safety-Bar Box Squats w/ one chain per side
I believe we did 4 sets of 2; all reps paused. Maybe a quarter and a dime on each side.

Speed Deads - different conventional stance/grip every set (1st lifter decides); all reps held at knee on eccentric for a 2 count.
We did a bunch of singles here.  Maybe worked up to 245.

Finishing Circuit - 2 rounds, AMAP
Fat Bar Shrugs w/ 1 pps.
GHR Sit-Ups
Hypers w/ 45 lb. plate

Warm-ups were all good.  Pulling a heavy-ish sled over a busted sidewalk in the the July sun was hilarious.

The speed squats with safety bar, chains, paused on a box are the kind of classic "Westside" style movement I never thought I'd actually do.  I shit ton of sit-back.  More than I think would be possible with a regular squat.  Matt's take-home for me on this was basically, "you've got to keep your knees out hard.  Looks like you've been squatting a lot into your quads, and when those are taken away, you don't have any power.  Get those knees out, and keep them out."

The speed deads paused on the way down were kind of fun.  I really started to feel the pause in my lats.

On the finishing circuit, I got around 20 reps on each movement the first circuit, and around 15 on the second.  Matt's only real send-home for me on Deads was that I should do more of the weighted hypers.

I was working in with a crew of 3 other folks.  2 guys and 1 woman.  The team training environment of stripping, loading, spotting, cheering, and coaching was pretty fucking awesome.  Matt was super-nice, he ended up giving me a ride back to my hotel, and asking me to come train bench the next day.