No conditioning today because I was in a time crunch. I've already got a brisk, 25 minute walk each way to and from the gym so there is still some conditioning work in every training day.
Missed two weeks of training due to a variety of health issues. Doctor's orders not to go to heavy pending my next specialist consultation. So a two week pivot to prepare for what will hopefully be my next dev block.
This was all fine, although (and I've noticed this before) it seems like after a complete layoff, RPE increase much more drastically between work sets.
Switched to two 24# chains for the split squats. Much easier than trying to keep using handheld weights. Also gives me the chance to start weighing out chains for use in an upcoming block.
Subbed Cable overhead extensions for the rolling triceps. MUCH better on my elbow/triceps tendon even though I lost focus and went @8 instead of @6. Now that I'm using a lower impact movement, I don't mind going a little harder.
Next block will be using single session cycles because of time constraints. I'll be using this pivot to kind of feel that out a little.
Tempo lifts were all fine and were max @6. Probably a little lower, but I'm not really worried about the first session of the pivot block. I like to still see the weight progress in these blocks, so I don't mind starting "too" light.
I did the BSS with a 25 lb. bumper. I looked around for a 15 kg, but couldn't find one, so I just stayed @5. I think holding the grippy plate is a bit easier on getting into position and on balance than using a DB, so I'll find a 15 kg next time.
My right triceps near the elbow were not super happy about the heavy eccentric on the rolling triceps. Gonna be real careful about that next session and be prepared to swap out a different movement. It would suck to get an injury in a pivot block.
Another solid session this week. Nice to get a little string of them going.
Week 5 hasn't been great for Bench to this point, so it was nice to get a bigger than usual jump this week. I was shooting for 245, but warm-ups indicated something slightly lighter. The top set was rock solid, and has been this cycle. I think some of that is down to only getting a lift-off on the top set allowing me to have a tad more energy for the actual reps.
Cambered Bench was also solid.
I only got 1 more rep in the Chin-Up density block this week, but I was 2 lbs. heavier than last week so that's alllllllright.
What an adventure. I ended up looking at last week's programmed DL numbers instead of my squat numbers. Didn't realize it until have my last warm-up set of 9. But that set felt @7 so....I went with it. Top set ended up being a touch heavier than I wanted, so probably should have been closer to my original target of 345. Still I decided to push the back-off sets up by 5 lbs., and that worked out okay...although it might have negatively impacted my sumos later in the session.
Interestingly, this is the third block in a row of having a big jump on squats in cycle 3 and/or 4. Interested to see what happens next week.
Rack chins took a little step back with the increase in BW. Need to get that increase under better control.
Sumo were actually a little weaker than last week. 285 was supposed to be my last warm-up, but was clearly @7+ so I stayed there. As I mentioned above, I suspect going a little harder on Squats earlier in the session may have contributed.
Start of the pivot block. Goal here is to drop stress enough to allow fatigue to dissipate, but not so much that I detrain to a point that complicates the start of my next block (excessive DOMS, etc.). Also, to get some volume in with movement types that are in the next dev block, but weren't in the previous block.
Volume here is much higher than my previous two pivot blocks, but only about as high as the lowest volume of the last three dev blocks, and much lower than the volume in the previous or upcoming dev blocks.
Notes:
Intended to do front rack reverse lunges for a single-leg movement, but my left quad said "fuck you" to that. Still didn't totally love these step-ups either. Surprising, because it gave me no trouble in the tempo squat. Will monitor closely as I'm planning Front Squats for the next block.
Inverted rows were MUCH weaker than expected. That's good, because I can grease the groove a bit and hopefully the BB Rows in the next block will benefit.
Video is of 2nd sets of the first three movements. Wasn't particularly motivated to film any of this.
Quad still "tickles" a lot during warm-ups on squats, and a bit during the 10 rep set. I get acclimated to it, and it doesn't really interfere with my work sets. I am sometimes waking up in the night to find my quads really achy, and hard to get into a position where they calm back down. I get something similar when I've been driving for a long time.
Mis-loaded the bench to 155 instead of 145 and it was til @6 so....interesting.
On DL, getting more acclimated to holding position and taking a breath at the bottom of the rep. SUPER boring on warm-ups, but actually seems to help prevent cardio fatigue on the work sets. In addition to keeping form tighter.
Low back has been not great the last few days despite taking Friday through the weekend off from lifting. Started popping NSAIDs on Sunday, and felt okay to go to the gym on this Monday. Decided ahead of time not to Deadlift. Perhaps won't deadlift again the rest of this block or at least a week after the low back feels good.
Went with the same weight as last time on tempo squats. RPE came in lower which was good, but I didn't want to adjust the weight upwards as I started to "feel" the low back injury a bit. I did throw in an extra set just looking to get @6+. Decided to play it safe, but was enthused that these felt better.
Worked up to last week's Close-Grip working weight of 127.5 and it was @5 at the most, and so warranted a jump to 135. Same number of sets to get to @7. Low back gave me a little trouble getting set up, but not too bad.
Decided to continue last week's new adventures with pull-up variations with straps. Early days with these, but...my forearms strangely feel like they're getting more work? Like, burning after the set like you get with high rep isolation work. It seems counter-intuitive to think the forearms (i.e. "grip muscles") would be getting more work with straps. Not sure exactly how to test that.
Still avoiding HIIT conditioning till the back feels better. No video today.
Sunday is my #1 least favorite day to train. Fatigue kicked in pretty quickly across the board at this mid-day session.
Grip was by far the limiting factor on Deadlift.
Box Squats felt very solid. Shank is nice and vertical; really pushing the lift into the posterior-chain. No quad pain during set at all. No increase in quad discomfort outside of the gym within 24 hours following session.
Ran out of gas quick on the DB Inclines.
Looking forward to switching back to full training.
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.
Back felt like shit beginning with 135 on my 2nd warm-up set. By the time I got to 255X5, I had to call over a spotter just in case. I re-set to the empty bar and tried to work back up. I got to 255X1, and shut it down. Super frustrating. All I can think right now is the weird pulsing I felt during the heavy RDLs on Friday were a sign of something that then got aggravated. I keep swearing off RDLs for this very reason, but they were in the program so fuck it. If things feel okay by my next heavy lower day, I will try subbing in light deadlifts.
Day 6 on the program is supposed to be an LSR (long-slow run) starting off very sub-pace and at race distance and increasing to 60-90 minutes. Because my Tempo Run was the slowest I could possibly run, I just did a 60 minute brisk walk. My back felt great afterwards.
