Schedule should somewhat stabilize from here through the winter holidays. Decided to drop intensity way down and hit the full, programmed volume. If I'm ready for, or acclimate quickly to, this volume at this low of intensity, then I can likely start to ramp intensity up to target fairly quickly. From there, I'll just have to see if my normal time-to-peak for a given cycle "starts" here and gives me a 4-6 week runway, or if having done a version of this for several weeks already limits my TTP, and I hit the wall in 4 weeks or less.
Squat was interesting today because the back-off sets got easier set-to-set. That happens sometimes in a regular Week 1, so I'm hopeful that's a sign.
JM Press was also way easier today despite adding reps over the previous session. Maybe a combination of diminished general fatigue from my time off, lower weights on the preceding Press sets, and acclimation to the movement.
Gym was closing early and I got into a long conversation with a gym buddy I haven't seen in a while, so I had to cut out a couple of assistance movements.
295 for 2X8 is a Volume PR on Squats. Resting 5 minutes between sets and performance felt like it was still dropping fast between sets, so I dropped back 5% for the 3rd set. Definitely getting that "end of the block" vibe.
Added some weight to the back off set of dips because I realized I might be in Rep PR territory for 14 reps. Will likely try for that next week after feeling it out this week.
345X6 ties my previous 6 Rep PR on Deadlift, but grip was failing hard and the bar was down in my fingertips by the end of that set so I backed off to get all the volume in. Thought, "need to work on grip."
But then Press also went backwards pretty hard, and I had to back off the weight there too. It occurs to me that I also had to back-off weight for my last set of Squats on Monday. Now I'm thinking it's time to wrap up this block, Pivot, and move to the next block.
GPP Day -
- DB Circuit: One-Arm Rows, Upright Rows, Curls - 7 minutes; 2 rounds; sets of 7-10
- Rower - LISS; 10 minutes
First session getting back to it after a rough few weeks of derailed training and a week of travel.
Testing some stuff I've observed with Emerging Strategies in this block. Based on the last year of using that framework, my best results occur in the first 5 cycles of a training block, and then taper off for a couple of cycles before I pass my peak. This will be a 10 cycle block where the first 4-5 cycles are my "2nd best" rep ranges and assistance movements transitioning into a 2nd round of 4-5 cycles with my "greatest hits" rep ranges and assistance movements. With no pivot block in between, I'll see if I can extend my Time to Peak and if the cycle-to-cycle gains stay high, or if it still tapers off after the first 4-5 weeks and/or peaks around 7-8 weeks.
Something else I'm trying is cutting a set from each movement in the initial session/week to see if that helps with DOMS after little to no training the last couple of weeks.
Squats and Front Squats both went well.
Sumos w/ straps we're way off where I expected them to be on paper, but I was just a little gassed at this point, and didn't want to push the sRPE up.
Also taking advantage of the office gym to get some conditioning and some isolation/hypertrophy work that I always find it difficult to wedge into regular training sessions.
Press definitely didn't feel any stronger, but also didn't seem to backslide.
Bench high reps felt terrible on the warm-ups, but then the singles just seemed to lock in somehow, and I had a big, 10 lb. jump over last week, even with self lift-off. Hit the first back-off set, but it felt like it wasn't there (forgot to get video), so I skipped the second set, similar to Squats the day before, since this is the last week of this block. Just didn't feel like backing off more in the last week.
Likewise, chin-ups and pull-downs were all comparable to last week. Plateaued at the end of the block.
Leg Press (Myo-Reps; 30 sec. rest) -
4.5ppsX18, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5 @9/8.5
Hard downturn in Squats this session as I try to push my block length pass my estimated time-to-peak. Top single was hard kind of out of nowhere based on warm-ups. First back-off set was so much more difficult than expected, the option was to drop weight, or just stop. Because this is the last squat session of the block, I just cut it and went to accessory. Didn't get video of the set of 12.
Leg Press did add some reps to the activation set, but with having skipped the 2nd set of 12 on Squats, who knows about that.
Tried to push the DL a bit. Was hoping to get in striking range to try 405X1 and 315X12 next week. That may be a bit of a stretch, especially if my Time-to-Peak is truly 7 weeks and I see a plateau-and-or-regression next week. Still wanted to make the push, and it went okay. Pushed the top single an extra five lbs., but it was a touch heavier than I'd hoped it would be. Pushed the weight for 12's by just 2.5 lb.s, and it worked out well.
Added a couple of reps to the activation set of GHR myo-reps.
I've been flagging Week 7 as my peak week since I've been using Emerging Strategies, and I will say that motivated me to dial-in a little tighter today.
Solid jumps on OHP.
Nice 5 lb. jump on Bench top set. 177.5X12 is a 12 Rep PR. Second set was much tougher for some reason.
Reps on Chins were comparable to last week, but BW was up 3 lbs. so it feels like progress.
Pull-Downs felt/have been feeling kind of plateau-y so instead of repeating the weight on the 2nd set, I dropped back to the work weight from week 1. That was 90X12 @8 on the first set in week 1, so 90X14 @9.5 on the second set feels progress-ish.
Leg Press (Myo-Reps; 30 sec. rests) -
4.5ppsX15, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5 @9/8.5
Nice bounce back session on Squats.
Top end strength on Squat dipped last week. I went 370@8.25 two weeks ago, but last week was a solid 360X8. I was ready to only shoot for 365 today, but I still warmed up for 370, and the warm-ups all felt strong, and led to a very nice single at 370.
287.5X12 is an all-time 12 rep PR, and considering I did it for 2 sets with a little room to spare on both, I'm very happy about it.
5pps was clearly an overreach last week on Leg Press. I backed it off to 4-on-1-side, 5-on-the-other, and it was definitely back on track.
With Thanksgiving just a few weeks away, I'm going to try and push into an 8th week. I haven't pushed that far since I started using the Emerging Strategies framework, but this is a good chance to see if I can sustain or increase my peak for an 8th week.
Squat top set went very well. A touch heavier than the days target. However, I probably should have pulled back on the volume sets.
High-Bars and Wide Grip Deads were fine, but I was completely mentally wiped by the time I finished my low bar sets. I didn't want to do any more squats, and after squats, I didn't want to do anything at all.
I traveled out of town this last weekend, and I think travel and vacation activities may have contributed.
To this point, available evidence had pointed to a 7 week time-to-peak. However, the squat top set looks like my second best increase of the block, and my best Week 7 Squat. Unless Bench and Deadlift convincingly crash and burn this week, I will plan on extending this block another week.
Because this training block is getting cut short by travel, I had my eye on coming in and shooting for a big Bench PR of 275. However, it wasn't going to be there. I pushed the warm-ups and the top single trying to make it happen; telling myself, "maybe you've been sandbagging your RPE," but the 252.5 was @9 at best. And the back-off sets quickly escalated in difficulty. Of course, I'd only gotten 5-6 hours of sleep the night before, so I wasn't in the best recovery space. This was by far my worst week 4 bench results over the last 3 training blocks. I really think it would have bounced back next week with good recovery.
Oh, well. Something to look forward to next block. My bench has been starting new blocks around 92% of the previous block e1RM, and my lifts have been increasing by an average of about 2% per cycle over the last 3 blocks. That would put me right around 273 at the end of the next block. However, it's a higher intensity Transmutation block, and last transmutation block my results were a bit better than these averages.
I hit 50 total reps with the 55s last week on DB Bench, so I upped it to the 60s this week per the 350 Method. Felt a little harder than I expected, and I think that's a little bit of extra fatigue from pushing the bench a bit harder. Doesn't really matter as this block is over anyway.
Inverted rows actually felt really good. I think I'm more acclimated to this version of the movement, plus I came in at a slightly lower BW than the last couple of cycles.
Expected this to be the final session of this block, hoped it wouldn't be, but it was. Recent trends continued.
Squat strength continued to regress slightly. Went in looking for an increase that wasn't there. Even after backing off in weight, RPE ramped quickly.
Bench continued to drive upwards on the top set, and it's possible I could have eked out some more intensity over another cycle, but RPE ramped quickly on the back-off sets so I'm comfortable with moving on.
Deadlift strength continued to stagnate on the top set. Back-off set felt very solid.
One possible take-away from the disparity in the lifts is that while all my supplemental lifts were fairly specific to the main lift, the bench supplement (close-grips) had the most similar absolute intensity. Here are how the three supplemental lift average e1RMs compare to the comp lifts during this block:
2 ct. Pause Squat - 81.5%
CG Bench Press - 95.1%
Plate Deficit DL - 92.3%
DL supplement % wasn't that different, so why not more progress on that? Possibly because less overall volume. Because I've had a couple of low back tweaks set me back in recent blocks, I've been very conservative about ramping overall DL volume block-to-block. In comparison of work slots and work reps between comp lift and supplemental lift this block:
Squat - 7 slots - 39 reps
Bench - 7 slots - 42 reps
Deadlift - 4 slots - 24 reps
Overall, Bench e1RM also showed the biggest increase. Here are the peak e1RM comparisons to the prior block:
Squat - 383.4 -> 382.4
Bench - 239 -> 255.9
Deadlift - 365 -> 365
So the only lift that really showed tangible progress happens to be the one with the most volume and where the supplement had the least overall variation from the main lift.
I will be looking to bring DL volume gradually more in line with the other two lifts. Next block will be another volume, or "accumulation," block. This is an exploratory block, and so there will be a bias towards accessory over supplemental lifts, and "DL" volume will be made up largely of upper back work (rows and chins).
In the following "transmutation" block, I will look to hold squat and bench volume relatively constant and translate all the DL accessory volume into DL and DL supplement volume that looks more like squat volume. In addition, that block will be slightly less exploratory and look to test the suppositions above about volume and specificity.
Much better session than last time. Training at my normal time just makes such a difference. I wish it didn't, but there you go.
Pause Squats were a bit scattered. Previous Squat session indicated I might get a regression, and 215 moved slower than I would have liked. But I still felt that my strength shouldn't have regressed that much, so I jumped to 245, and it ended up being slightly light. Went up to 252.5, and it ended up being slightly heavy, so I called it good. Dropping back down to 245 and doing a second set there just to try and get a third set @7 seemed silly.
Bench went really well. By far the biggest jump of the cycle with a 5.4% increase in e1RM over last session on both the top set and the back-offs.
Deadlift was much milder, but still positive. I repeated last cycles weights, and got a slightly better RPE on the top set, but a much better RPE on the back-off set.
Looking for peaking patterns in the cycle so far:
Squat made it's biggest jump in Cycle 4, and 2nd biggest in Cycle 5.
Bench made increasingly bigger jumps culminating in Cycle 4, but then here made it's biggest jump in Cycle 6.
Deadlift made it's biggest jumps in the first three cycles with the biggest in Cycle 3.
Pretty clear that I need to run minimum one more cycle here and see what happens. I need to see if Squat bounces back at all from last session training in unusual conditions. See what happens with Bench after this sessions sparkling performance, and see if anything moves one way or the other with Deadlift.
Last block,my lifts all peaked between cycle 4 (Squat), 5 (Bench), and 6 (Deadlift), so I'll be watching this next cycle with interest,
2 ct. Pause Squats have consistently been at or just North of 80% of comp squat, and that trend continued here despite Squats making a 5% jump last week. Weight was probably just a touch higher than it needed to be, and I would expect a smaller jump this next cycle if I haven't peaked.
Bench jumped a slight bit more than the trend, but I will still expect a jump next cycle.
Deadlift increased, but at a much lower % than the trend, and a lower % than any other lift this cycle.
