Novice LP. Session 21

BW - 227

Squat -
345X3
310X5, 5

Bench - 195X3X5

Chin-Ups - BWX5, 4

Negative Chins (0/0/3) - BWX4X4

After failing on Squats on Monday, I could have taken several approaches:  Repeat the attempts, reset to 90%, do 1 set of 5 followed by 2 back-off sets at 90%, switch programs.  My low back has been giving me low level achy-ness fairly continually for a couple of weeks, so I didn't want to try the sets again, and since I failed on the first set, I wasn't even stoked about the idea of a set of 5.  At the same time, the LP has generally been running so well, I didn't want to do a full reset, and certainly didn't want to jump to a different program.  So I settled on a slightly different approach.  I went UP in weight for the first set, but reduced reps to a triple.  Then followed with the two back-off sets of 5 @ 90%.  This felt really good.  This is the approach I plan to take as all the lifts stall out, and we'll see how it goes:

Bench felt fairly weak on the 1st and 2nd sets, but I get a lift-off for the 3rd set and it went well.

Chins also felt stronger.

5/3/1 Full-Body: Cycle 4. Week 1. Press/Dead

LRB Diet - Week 8

BW - 197

Pause Squats -
BarX8
95, 135X5
160, 185, 210X3

Klokovs -
BarX10
55, 65X5
75X15

Deadlift -
135X5, 5
190, 220X5
250X11

Shrugs -
225, 315X10
405X5
425X3, 3, 3, 3, 3
455X1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 5

Chiro Crunches - 5 sets of 40

Pretty satisfying session, and looking leaner than I've been in over a year.  That 210X3 still felt pretty heavy though.  Probably an 8 or 9 out of 10 on the ol' RPE scale.

Klokovs felt a bit back on track.  I approached them somewhat differently, in that on the first 3 sets I paused every rep on my back so that I would have to take them from a dead-stop.  Then on the top set, I paused every 5 reps for breath.  The hardest part of this lift is breaking it off the neck, and that's why I "trained" the pause/break on all the up-sets so that I would be prepared for the top-set.  As the weight increases on this lift, I'm going to try and incorporate more pausing.  The difference between attempting this lift from a pause vs. with the stretch reflex is pretty drastic.

250X11 is right in the strength range for my last session, is a Rep PR for the 9-11 rep range, and everything felt pretty good.  So that's a good session.

So with shrugs I really hemmed-and-hawed and decided to go up to 455 for singles, and then when I decided to do max reps on the last set, I got 5 which is hilarious.  So next time, I'll do 455 for my triples I guess, and do 475 for singles and see how many reps I get at the end with that.

Heavy, heavy back day so I did crunches for my core work.

5/3/1 Full-Body: Cycle 3. Week 3. Press/Dead

LRB Diet - Day 46

BW - 198

Pause Squats -
Bar, 95, 135X5
155, 180, 205X3

Klokovs -
BarX5
60X5 uh...heavy
70X3 heavy, da fug
80X6 WTF?!

Deadlift -
135X5, 5
215X5
240X3
270X8

BB Shrugs -
225, 315X10
405X3, 3, 3, 3, 3
425X2, 1
445X1, 1, 1, 3

Chiro Crunches - 5 sets of 40-45

Pause Squats felt a little heavy today, but not as heavy as...

...Klokovs.  As you can see from the notes above, I was completely baffled and caught off guard here.  I even "got up" for the top set because I was concerned by how heavy the other work sets felt.  3 weeks ago, I hit 75 for 15, and 2 weeks ago I hit 70 for 20.  It's inconceivable to me that a 5-10 lb. jump can cut my rep range down from the high-teens to the mid-single digits.  I'm gonna chalk this up to fucking astrology or fatigue from Bench Day or something, and I expect to rebound next time.

Deadlifts went really well however.  270X8 projects to a # 2 all time 1RM, and is a Rep PR.  What's more, the set was more about focus than straining, and I didn't walk away feeling gassed, nor do I feel wrecked today.  All good signs that my favorite lift is in pretty good shape at the moment.

Wanted to start flirting with increased weights on the shrugs so instead of hitting a back off set in the 300's after my triples, I started adding 10's and doing singles.  My form/ROM felt a little shitty, but I was able to get 3 on my last, all-out set.  Next time I may go with 425 for the triples, and bump up to 455 for the singles.

Skipped hypers at the top of the session to make sure my back was super fresh for Deadlifting, and so finally made myself get some ab work in the session.  I think that since I added in the additional shoulder work, the sessions just feel to damn long with both hypers AND crunches, so I'll have to start alternating.  I'll probably settle on crunches on Squat and Deadlift day since they've got heavier low-back movements, and do hypers on Bench day.