RTS Block 8. Week 1. Day 1.

sRPE @ 8

BW - 226

Pause Squat - 295X2 @7.5

Squats - 277.5X5, 5, 5 @~6

Larsen Bench - 

-    140X10 @6.5

-    145X10 @8

-    147.5X10 @10

-    140X10 @10

TnG DL - 325X6, 6, 6 @7/9

GHR - BWX12, 9, 9 @7/8

Leg Extensions - X13, 11 @5.5/6.5

Stationary Bike - SIT; 10 minutes

Training was pretty crap the last couple of weeks across illness, travel, and just general disruptions.  Also dealing with some tendinopathy in my right knee.  Hoping I'll get a solid 4 week run of training in this block.

Training: Squat

sRPE @6.5

BW - 225

Squats - ramping triples to 300X3 @7.5

Marrs Bar GM - 175X8, 8, 8 @8.5/9.5

Leg Press - 3ppsX9, 9, 8 @~9.5

Stationary Bike - HIIT; 0:20/1:40; 18 minutes

Just back from an out of town trip.  Dizziness seems to have mostly dissipated, although it came on a bit between Squat sets today, but then went away again.

I have a longer out of town trip coming up mid-October, so I'll probably keep doing these simple, old-school-ish workouts until I return:

Main Lift - ramping triples starting at 75% and going to RPE ~8

Low Fatigue Compound Antagonist - 3 sets close to failure

Low Fatigue Compound Supplement - 3 sets close to failure

Conditioning

I'm going to try DL again this week and see how the forearm is doing.  

Training: Squat

sRPE @6

BW - 222

Squats - ramping triples up to 295X3 @7.5

Marrs Bar Good Morning - 

-    beltless 155X8 @8

-    add belt 175X8, 7 @8

Leg Press - 3ppsX9, 9, 8 @~9.5

Stationary Bike - HIIT; 0:20/1:40; 18 minutes

Squatting with the regular barbell didn't seem to bother my forearm.

Marrs Bar felt weirdly easy?  Maybe because it takes the upper back out.  My hamstrings feel tight the next day, so it did something.

Training: Bench

sRPE @7

BW - 222

Bench - 

-    165X3 @6

-    170X3 @6

-    175X3 @7

-    185X3 @7.5

-    190X3 @8.5

Lever Incline - 70X11, 8, 6 @~10

Lat Pushdown - X10, 8, 5 @~9.5

super-set with

Machine Laterals - X10, 9, 7 @10

Stationary Bike - HIIT: 0:20/1:40; 18 minutes

Still dealing with some issues, but felt like I could bench today.

S/B/D/R+ Week 4. Day A.

BW - 225

Squats - 

-    up to 355X1 @9.5

-    290X3 @~7

BB Rows w/Straps -

-    200X5 @8

-    200X3, 3 @7

Leg Curls - X8, 8, 7, 6 @8

super-set with

Leg Extensions - X10, 9, 9. 9 @8

Rear Delt Flyes - X8, 8, 8, 7, 7 @7.5/9

Stationary Bike - HIIT; 0:20/1:40; 14 minutes

Only training session from last week.  Got hit by a combination of schedule crunch and a cold. 

Son of a Bench Week 5. Day C.

sRPE @7.5

BW - 225

Bench - 200X3, 3 @7.5/8

DB Bench - 70sX11(PR), 8, 6 @8

BB Rows -

-    190X8(PR) @9

-    165X7, 5 @8

super-set with

Seated Leg Curls - X12, 8 @10

Pushdowns - X13, 10, 8 X10

super-set with

Machine SL Calf Press - X13, 11 @10

Rower - HIIT; 5 rounds

Basically, fully recovered from the cold, and the concomitant down time and fatigue.

DB Bench and BB Row PRs to show for it.  Misloaded the first set of Rows with 10 kg plates instead of 10 lb. plates, so PR, lol!

Also resumed conditioning. 

Son of a Bench Week 5. Day B.

sRPE @7.5

BW - 224

Bench - 220X3, 3 @8

Squat - up to 315X1 @8.5

ATG Pause Squats - 225X5, 5 @7/8.5

Machine Flyes - X9, 8, 6 @10

super-set with

DB Curls - 35sX9, 5 @10

Rope Triceps Pullover Station - X10, 9, 9 @10

super-set with

Machine SL Calf Press - X10, 9 @10

Was at about 90% on this day coming back from the cold.

I've been noticing that the 80% work on the second session is a lot heavier than on the first or third session.  Likely because of fatigue carrying over from the heavier first session.  Think I'll try making these 80% singles instead of triples and save the triples for Day C.  

Rolling Floor Extensions have been bothering my elbow, so I tried that weird seated overhead triceps station across from the Jammer.  It was fine.

Son of a Bench Week 5. Day A.

sRPE @6.5

BW - 225

Bench - 

-    up to 245X1 @9

-    200X5 @8.5

Lever Dips - 205X8, 7, 6 @7/6

Seated Leg Curls - X6, 7 @6/8

super-set with

Rope Lat Pushdowns - X7, 6 @8

1-Arm DB OH Extensions -

-    30X6 @8.5

-    25X6, 6 @8

super-set with

Machine SL Calf Press - 180X17, 13 @~10

Getting on the other side of this gnarly cold and got to the gym again.

My two goals today were:

1)  See if I can work up to something heavy on Bench

2)  Get in volume on everything else regardless of proximity to failure

Was actually able to add weight on Bench over last week although the RPE was higher, too.  That meant my 80% back-off weight was actually a touch lower than last week.

Pulled back on RPE on most everything else and got the volume in.

Subbed leg curls for GHRs because I wasn't sure 180 degree upper body swings would be compatible with sinus pressure.

EX bar lat pushdowns have been bothering my elbow tendinopathy, so I subbed in rope handles and that felt MUCH better.

Similarly, 2-handed DB OH extensions have also been bothering my elbow, so I switched to single-arm and that felt great. 

Son of a Bench Week 4. Day B.

sRPE @7

BW - 224

Bench - 205X1, 1 @~8

Hypers - 35 behind head X7, 6, 5 @8/9

Machine Flyes - X7, 7 @8

super-set with

Rope Bayesian Curls - X6, 6 X8/10

Pushdowns - X18, 7, 7 @10

super-set with

Machine SL Calf Press - X15, 13 @10

Gnarly chest cold interfering with sleep and generally knocking my recovery in the dirt.

Wild how hard singles on Bench were with 80% of Monday's e1RM.

Was no way DL was gonna happen so replaced with weighted Hypers.

Skipped conditioning.

Delayed this session by a day in the hopes I'd feel better.  While I did feel a bit better, my schedule the rest of the week is pretty tight, and so I might not be able to make it in again.  But that's why I train Fully Body: so that schedule disruptions don't result in something getting skipped in a training week.

Pressin' Out Week 2. Day A.

sRPE @6.5

BW - 224

Press - 

-    145X1 @9.5
-    125X5, 5 @~9

DB Bench - 65sX10, 7 @~10

Roman Chair Squats - BWX12, 9 @~10

Pull-Downs - X10, 8 @10

EZ OH Extensions - 55X13, 8, 8 @~10

Gnarly head cold had me sidelined the last few days, and missed my 3rd training session last week.  Solid return.

Pressin' Out Week 1. Day B.

sRPE @6

BW - 228

Press - 115X3, 3, 3 @6/7

Incline DB Raise - 15sX10, 10 @9/10

ATG Pause Squat -

-    315X1 @9

-    225X5 @6

Rope Bayesian Curls - X11, 10 @10

Rope Pushdowns - X10, 10 @10

Nice little session.  ATG Squats felt surprisingly solid even though they weren't there in the previous session, and I'm currently under the weather.

Chins, Hamstrings, Pecs, Biceps

sRPE @7

BW - 224

Chin-Ups w/Straps - BWX4, 3, 2, 2 @10/8

Leg Curls - X13, 13, 10, 9 @10

Cable Flyes - X13, 12, 12, 10 @10

super-set with

Cable Curls - X11, 9, 8, 7 @10

Fighting a cold so that may have impacted Chin-Up performance.   Also have a cut on my finger, so I had to use straps to make sure the band-aid didn't come flying off and land on someone else's face.

3 Day FB Hypertrophy. Cycle 5. Session B.

sRPE @6.5

BW - 221

Bench - 

225X1 @9.5

185X3, 3 @6.5/7

Cable Laterals - X9, 9 @10

GHR - BWX12, 10, 8 @7.5/10

45-degree Hypers - BWX12, 12 @9/10

Chest cold that started last Thursday is still kicking my ass.  Just got in and did whatever I felt like, and left before I started feeling worn down.

3 Day FB Hypertrophy. Cycle 5. Session A.

sRPE @9

BW - 221

Squats - 270X3, 3, 3 @~6

031 Tempo Work:

-    Leg Extensions - X12, 11 @10

-    DB 1-Arm Rows - 90X11, 11, 11, 11, 10 @8/10

-    EZ OH Extensions - 40X11, 11, 11, 9 @7/10

Under the weather and dragging ass.  Got a good workout on what I could get through, but hit the wall hard and cut out conditioning and the last set of triceps.

Pivot. Week 1. Session A.

sRPE @6

BW - 221

Box Squat - up to 345X1 @9

Wide-Grip Press, paused on chest - up to 125X2 @10

Pull-Downs with end-ROM drop-set - X10/6; 10/5 @~10

Been a roller-coaster couple of weeks fighting through a lingering cold, traveling for 3 days, then coming back with the flu.  Decided to stop trying to eke out gains from the prior training block, and just pivot and start a new block (hopefully) next week.

The planned new block would be lower rep work, so my plan here was to work up on some relatively novel variations to try and stimulate the skill of low rep work ahead of starting the block.

It's possible box squats are no longer novel enough for this kind of thing, as I pretty quickly aggravated my right glute.  So now I have that on top of everything else, lol.

WG dead-stop presses were fun if a bit awkward to figure out the grip width and walk out.

REALLY liked the mechanical drop-set on the pull-downs.  This kind of thing is becoming more popular in the body-building world as the literature around end-range partials for hypertrophy continues to grow.  What I did here was take a long ROM pull-down to technical failure then keep going only brining my upper arms down to ~parallel.  The burn on the drop-set partials was real.  

Med.-Rep Volume PRs. Week 3. Session B.

sRPE @6.5

BW - 224

Chins - BWX3, 2, 2, 2 @9.5/8

BB Rows - 135X13, 13 @6.5/8

BB Curls - 60X15, 15, 15, 15 @8.5/10

EZ OH Tate Press - 75X13, 10 @8/10

60 for 4 sets of 15 is a Volume PR on Curls.  Barely got all of these.

Coming off several days of a bad cold.  Skipped 'A' session this week.

Med.-Rep Volume PRs. Week 2. Session D.

sRPE @5.5

BW - 224

Deadlift - 365X1 @7

Lying Leg Curls - X10, 10, 8, 7 @~10

Machine Dips - 180X14, 12 @~9

V-Bar Pushdowns - X22, 5 @6.5/10

Lat Pushdowns - X11, 10, 8, 9 @8.5/10

Caught a cold.  Went to the gym to see how it would go, but could tell from working up on DL that meaningful strength work wasn't going to happen today without a subpar performance that would also drive me into the ground.

Subbed in a bunch of low-stress hypertrophy work for the usual volume.

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

sRPE @8

BW - 216

Deadlift - 

385X1 @6

405X1 @9

285X9, 9, 9, 9 @6/7

Dips - BW+25X5, 5, 5, 5 @6/7

Pull-Downs - X8, 8, 8, 8 @6.5/10

285 for 4 sets of 6+ is a Volume PR on Deadlift.

241 (BW+25) for 4 sets of 5 is a Volume PR on Dips.

Fighting a cold.  DL was harder than last week, Dips were easier, everything in general was a bit of a slog.  As always, will use any excuse to skip conditioning. 

High-Rep Volume PRs. Week 1. Session A.

sRPE @7.5

BW - 217

Squat - 

315X1 @6.5

225X13, 13 @6.5/8

Press - 

125X1 @7

85X8, 13 @6/10

High Incline Bench - 120X5, 5 @~7

Intro week for the new block.  That means generally minus 1 or 2 work sets on the main lifts.  Gives me a bit of head-room on the volume to start.

Last block for the barbell movements was focused on Volume PRs of 2 sets in the mid-to-high teens.  This block the reps will come down a bit and up those worksets to 3.

Fighting a cold or similar that's keeping my fatigue pretty high.

Higher-Rep Volume PRs. Week 4. Session D.

sRPE @ 8.5

BW - 213

Squat - up to 315X1 @5.5

Deadlift - 

395X1 @7

255X17 @8.5

Dips - 

BW+60X4, 4 @8/8.5

BWX15, 15 @8.5/10

Inverted Rows - BWX14, 14, 14, 14 @6/9.5

Did Max Effort Squats with the crew on Saturday before attempting my regular scheduled workout.

Squatting went well, but I was getting over a cold that I think made itself evident in the DL work.  I was feeling strong coming off of Squats so tried to go up a little on the top DL single and overshot RPE target.  Then the first set of 17 was much more difficult despite being the same weight as last week.  Decided to call DL there and make sure I got the other work in.

213 (BW) for 2 sets of 15 is a Volume PR on Dips.