Inter-Holiday Session

sRPE @5.5

BW - 227

Press (beltless) - up to 145X1(PR) @9.5

CS Rows - 135X10, 10 @8/9

Hanging Flexed Knee-to-Chest w/straps - BWX12(PR), 9, 7 @8.5/10

Pivot-y kind of session before I start a Press-focused block next week.  

I haven't done a ton of beltless Pressing, but I'm pretty sure that is a PR.  

Lockout on this an all of the singles working up to it felt different than they did recently when I was going after the Press.  I'd been hitting a pretty hard sticking point about 2/3 of the way up, and I'd tried attacking it with Pin Presses and Push Presses, with little success.  These sets hit that sticking point and slowed a little, but still smoothly pushed through to lockout.

If that feel holds through the beginning of the block, I'd be tempted to chalk it up to all of the triceps work I did on my Dips mini-block. 

I'm also pretty sure 12 reps at this BW is a Rep PR on Hanging Flexed-Knee-to-Chest, but I haven't done that variation too often.  Had to use straps on these because left forearm discomfort continues (and may become a confounder in my Pressing; fingers crossed).

Block 17. Cycle 4. Session C.

sRPE @7.5

BW - 217

Deadlift - 

425X1 @7.5

265X13, 13 @6

Dips - BW+52.5X7, 7 @7/8

Rope Extensions - X12 @10

Incline Bench - 105X12, 12 @6/8.5

EZ Cable Curls - X15, 15 @~9

425X1 is a Rep PR on Deadlift, and 265 for 2X13 is a Volume PR.  I reached a little more than I needed to do get a nice round number on the DL PR.  417.5 would have been a PR, too, lol.

269 (BW+52.5) for 2X7 is a Volume PR on Dips.

Triceps work really knocks the ceiling down for Inclines.  Weight is way heavier "in the triceps" than it is in the chest or shoulders at this point in the workout, and fatigue comes on fast.  Fun stuff. 

Novice LP. Session 65 (Greyskull Squats and Press)

BW - 227.2

Bench -
237.5X2
215X5, 5

Deadlift -
385X3
345X3

Chin-Ups-
BW+20X4, 4
BWX8, 5

Dips -
BW+25X12, 12
BWX15

237.5X2 is an all around PR on bench.  Mis-grooved the first rep, and failed on the 3rd.  A PR is a PR, though.  2nd back-off set in the video.  These are still moving okay.

385X3 is an all-around PR on Deadlift.  Finally pulling weight heavier than my meet PR.  These were definitely heavy.

247 (BW+20)X4 is rep PR on Chins.  Video is the 2nd weighted set .  BW back-off sets are starting to feel a little easier.

253 (BW+25)X12 is a Rep PR on Dips.  Finally remembered to take some video.  Upper arms are coming more or less parallel with the floor, and that's all I'm really looking for to make sure I'm getting the extra triceps work without aggravating old shoulder problems.

Hybrid Training. Week 5. Light Upper

BW - 229

Bench - up to 165X3, 3

DB Rolling Triceps (w/controlled eccentric) - up to 55sX6, 6

Face-Pulls - 3 sets
superset with
Machine Pullovers - 3 sets

DB X-Body Hammer Curls - 30sX14, 20 (long break before 2nd set)

Solid session.  165 moved pretty fast.

Continuing to hit triceps and lats following bench per Matt Wenning.  I didn't go in with a specific plan of what I would do for them.  Since the original programming for this day had more body-builder-ish accessory work suggested, I didn't go with any barbell work, and focused a tad more on isolation work.

Left tricep was feeling a bit sore during the extensions, and has a lingering soreness that's different from DOMS.  Something to feel out on the next upper body day.

Training with Matt Wenning at Ludus Magnus Gym. Day 2. Speed Bench

Bigger crew today.  Some of them showed up later, and we ended up working in two separate groups.  Matt trained alongside us this time.

Warm-up -
Earthquake Bar Bench for 4 sets of 20.  Maybe a 15lb. kb on each side.
super-set with
1-arm DB rows - worked up to 90X8

Speed Bench - doubled red mini-band
6 sets of 3 up to a quarter each side
then 1 set of 3, 10 sec. rest, 1 set of 3 with 5 sec. eccentric

Skull Crushers - on the ground, long pause between reps, super slow eccentric
3-4 sets of 6-8 with 90 lbs.

Hammer Pull-downs, pulled to forehead - 3 pps.XAMAP;
2 sets, super-set with
X-Body Hammer Curls - 35sXAMAP

Bamboo bar bench was pretty fun.  They had me in at the beginning of the rotation with much lighter weights, so it never got as challenging for me as it was for some of the guys at the end of the rotation who couldn't finish their last couple of sets.

I've never done band bench before, and the first rep was an eye-opener.  The band definitely makes the bar come off your chest differently.  I was getting a ton of cue-ing from Matt and his crew on this movement.  Matt had a lot of take-homes for me on this one: "You're way anterior dominant on bench, and you're finishing with all delts.  Your grip is out to far, and your lats are weak.  Move your grip in (moved from the rings to a fingers width inside the rings), and make sure to keep your elbows in throughout the movement.  You need to warm up your lats and triceps before you bench, and completely trash them afterwards.  You need to do that for 2 years."

To his point about weak triceps, he had me start out at 110 on the floor extensions, and I couldn't get 2 reps.  Had to strip a 10 from each side, and I could continue.

Overheads

BW - 210

Seated, CG Front Presses -
BarX15
65X5
95X3
115X1
85X16

DB Preacher Curls - 25sX20, 20, 15, 15

DB Hammer Curls - 40sX6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6

Shoulder Cuff work

McGill Curl-Ups - X25
Side Planks - 60sec. each side
Bird-Dogs - 25 each side

Never done seated front presses before.  Kept the grip close (index on the smooth) and elbows forward to try and put more pressure on the triceps.  All these weights were crisp.  The unrack was the "heaviest" part.  Will move the back-off weight up to 95 next time.  Should be able to work with that weight for awhile.

One-arm preacher curls were kind of awkward at first.  Never done them before.  Never really gone this heavy on hammer curls, either.  Lots of firsts today.

Phase 1. Week 8. Bench

BW - 208

Bench -
BarX20
95X5
115X4
135X3
155X2

185X7, 4

Cambered Bench - 135X5, 5, 5

Incline Bench - 135X8, 5, 5

Dips - BWX10, 8, 7

Ab Wheel - X10, 10, 10

Still couldn't get 8 reps with 185 which is my phase goal for this weight.  4 reps on the back-off set is more than I've gotten previously, so at least I increased the overall volume.

Cambered Bench still tapping out at 5 reps, dammit.

Pushed the first set of inclines, but the other two were slow.

My bench lockout felt a bit more stable today.  Don't know if that's to do with the triceps work I added on Saturday, but to be on the safe side I'm adding BW dips onto this day as well.  Probably should have from the beginning if I'm being honest, but I didn't want to over-fill the day.

Phase 1. Week 7. Bench

BW - 208

Bench -
BarX20
95X5
115X4
135X3
155X2
185X6, 2

Cambered Bench - 135X5, 5, 5

Incline Bench (steep) -
135X5
95X10, 10

Bench was horrible today.  Reps came off my chest okay, but I struggled to lockout at least half my 185 reps.  Elbows flaring, one butt-cheek coming off the bench, it was just a goddamn train wreck.  1 rep short of last sessions mark, and significantly harder in general.  Is it possible I actually need fucking lock-out work?  Gonna start throwing some direct triceps work back in, and see if I can remedy this bullshit.

Fuck even talking about assistance.

Phase 1. Week 4. Accessory

BW - 209

Machine Pullovers - X15, 15, 8

Chins (Close, V-Grip) - BWX5, 4, 3 (paused at bottom)

Close-Grip Pulldowns - X12, 11

BB Rows - 135X10, 5

Hammer Curls -
25sX12
30sX8
20sX12

Transitioning this day into a straight body-building style lats day.  My shoulders and elbows were starting to feel beat up, so I thought cutting out extra OHP and triceps work might be beneficial for now.  This routine is based mostly on Dorian Yates lat training.  By being almost total lats, there was no difficulty doing this the day after I deadlifted, however I may still prefer to have rows on the Deadlift day.

Pullovers, pulldowns and rows were all very strict with a strong concentric, squeeze at the contraction, and a controlled eccentric.  I stopped every set when I could no longer complete full ROM in this strict fashion.  An interesting note, my triceps were quite sore the next couple of days from the pullovers.

I'm hoping that doing pullovers to pre-exhaust my lats, and then pausing at the bottom of my chins will help the chins carryover to lat growth instead of just practicing the movement of chinning.

LRB 365: Big-15. Phase 1. Week 2. Shoulders and Bench

Friday
BW - 199 (this seems inappropriate)

Upright Rows - 60X15, 15, 15, 15, 12 (45 sec. rests)

DB Rear Laterals - 25sX15, 15, 15, 12, 12 (45 sec. rests)

Saturday 
BW - 201 (1/2 a large pizza, 2 bowls of jambalaya, 4 chicken legs, and a bowl of orange sherbet between sessions helped a little)

Bench -
BarX15
85X5
95X4
115X3
145X2
165X1
155X12, 4

Chins (shoulder-width, neutral grip) -
 BWX5
+15X5
+20X3, 3
+25X2
+30X1
+25X9, 3
BWX6

DB Incline -
50sX19, 10, 5
40sX9, 9

Weight has been holding steady at 200 for a week or so, and then dipped down, so I ate it back up.

Both myself and my spotter lost track of the # of reps on my back-off set.  I lost track around 10 or 11, and then got 1 or 2 more.  My spotter said "Not sure, I think like 14."  But I told him I was going for 13, and I think he was just being 'positive.'  I'll just assume I matched last week and move forward.

201 (BW)+25X9 is a Rep PR.  Interestingly, my right triceps was feeling aggravated by this movement.  I guess the triceps does cross  the shoulder (see: Rolling Triceps Extensions), and my triceps have had a lot of soreness so far on this program, plus the bench beforehand...it was just weird.

I upped the weight on the DB Inclines a bit.  The effect here was like 50% sets with the 50s though.  Instead of stopping after the 5 rep set, or gutting out a couple more sets of 5-or-less sets, I decided to drop the weight and get some better volume.

LRB 365: Strong-15 Short. Week 3. Bench

BW - 199

Bench -
BarX15
95X5
115X4
135X3
145X2
155X1, 1
165X1

135X17, 5

Incline - 95X15, 10

Dips - BWX12, 10, 8

Solid session.  I was trying to cue 'Speed' hard on the singles and the back-off sets.  It definitely helped some, although sometimes it causes me to forget the pause on the back-offs.  135X17 is an all-around PR even including the days when I bounced the bar off my chest.

I moved inclines over to the less steep bench so that I could load the lift a bit more for the rest of the cycle.  95X15 is a Rep PR in incline on either bench.  The combination of the flat bench and the shallower incline angle caused more stress on my triceps.  They were really burning on the 2nd set here.

Pretty tuckered out, and so I cut the dips short after 3 sets.  Getting to that point in the cycle.

LRB 365: LRB Split. Week 1. Press - Heavy

BW - 197

Press -
BarX10
65X5
85X5
95X5, 5
105X5

Bench -
95X5
105X4
125X3
135X2, 2
145X1
155X1

Upright Rows - 85X10, 10, 10, 10, 10

V-Bar Pushdowns - X35, 30, 18, 15, 12

Forgot shorts, and had to work out in jeans.  The confusion caused me to forget my mobility and stretching warm-ups until I was half-way through my Press sets.  Ha.

Press felt good.  My goal for this cycle is 125X5, or 10 more pounds a week.  That would be a PR.  Could be ambitious, but since Bench isn't getting pushed as hard, gotta shoot for assistance PRs.

Bench was fine.  155 is well below my Every Day Max, so I focused on getting tight and moving it fast.

Upright Rows were solid.  If I can hit either 105 for multiple sets of 10, or for more than 10 reps in one set by the end of the cycle, that will be a PR.  Again, that's adding 10 lbs. a week.

I want to do bench dips for my triceps assistance on this day, but there wasn't a good/free spot in the gym to set up for these, so I opted for push-downs.  However, I almost exclusively do rope push-downs, so I thought I would switch that up anyway.  Will the grip matter?  Will I be able to do bench dips next time?  Will I vacillate uncertainly between different movements every week?  Who cares.  It's triceps assistance.  Just get some work in.

LRB 365: Strong-15. Week 3. Bench

*Session done at the local L@Fitness so scale and weights are a little suspect.

BW - 200*

Bench -
BarX10
85X5
95X4
115X3
125X2
145X1
155X1, 1
135X16

Incline -
95X10, 10, 10, 10, 10

DB Flyes - 2 sets of 20

Rope push-downs - 4 sets of 18-20

135X16 would be an all-around PR*.  Felt good to hit that target regardless.

My left triceps were sore and fatigued for some reason today and that back-off set took enough out to make the last couple Incline sets a bit of a bitch.  Barely got the final rep.

Same thing with the push-downs.  Triceps were shot.