BW - 198
Deadlift -
135X5
155X5
175X4
195X3
225X2
255X1, 1
275X1
225X3, 3, 3, 3, 3
RDL - 225X12, 15 (straps on 2nd set)
BB Shrugs - 405X6, 315X16
Chins (neutral, shoulder-width grip) - BWX10, 6, 4
Curls - 65X14, 6
Deadlifts were strong. Cueing myself with 'Shins' and 'Speed,' especially on the back-off sets. I've been tearing up my shins by starting reps off with them slightly above the bar, and pulling the bar into them instead of up them. Held the 275 and the last back-off set for time.
Then my grip started giving out on my first set of RDLs. 12 was a Rep PR, but then I added straps for the 2nd set and set an all-around PR with 15.
Was getting pretty tired at this point, and my shrugging strength wasn't what it usually is.
At this point I was so tired I almost forgot about the chins and went straight to curls. But I remembered. A month or so back I did chins at an 'away' gym that didn't have a very good set-up, and I ended up doing neutral grip chins at shoulder width. The next couple of days my mid-back was really sore from that. I filed that away, and that's what I'm going to do for this cycle and see what the effect is. With my scapula retracted, it almost feels more like a high row.
Friday, August 2, 2013
Wednesday, July 31, 2013
LRB 365: Strong-15 Short. Week 2. Bench
BW - 197
Bench -
BarX15
85X5
95X4
115X3
125X2
145X1, 1
155X1
125X20, 6
Incline - 85X15, 10
Dips - BWX14, 8, 8, 8, 6
Was really tired today, and 155 felt stupidly heavy, but 125X20 is an all-around PR so go figure. That's 2 sessions is a row that the top single has felt slow. Here's hoping that starts to bounce-back next week.
Inclines felt a little more sturdy this week.
Dips were fine.
Bench -
BarX15
85X5
95X4
115X3
125X2
145X1, 1
155X1
125X20, 6
Incline - 85X15, 10
Dips - BWX14, 8, 8, 8, 6
Was really tired today, and 155 felt stupidly heavy, but 125X20 is an all-around PR so go figure. That's 2 sessions is a row that the top single has felt slow. Here's hoping that starts to bounce-back next week.
Inclines felt a little more sturdy this week.
Dips were fine.
Tuesday, July 30, 2013
LRB 365: Strong-15 Short. Week 2. Squat
BW - 191 (wtf?)
Squat -
BarX12 (paused)
95X5 (paused)
115X5
135X4
165X3
185X2
215X1, 1
235X1
Pause Squats - 175X3, 3, 3, 3, 3
Leg Press - 2ppsX24, 18
Leg Curls - 12, 16, 12
Seated Calves - 160X13, 11 (paused at top and bottom)
I'm gonna say that weigh-in is fluky either on the scale or the day. No reason to think that's a representative weight.
Was dragging ass into the gym on this day, and the 235 felt appropriately awful. The pause squats all felt good, and then leg presses felt awful.
All in all, good day to have programmed light.
Squat -
BarX12 (paused)
95X5 (paused)
115X5
135X4
165X3
185X2
215X1, 1
235X1
Pause Squats - 175X3, 3, 3, 3, 3
Leg Press - 2ppsX24, 18
Leg Curls - 12, 16, 12
Seated Calves - 160X13, 11 (paused at top and bottom)
I'm gonna say that weigh-in is fluky either on the scale or the day. No reason to think that's a representative weight.
Was dragging ass into the gym on this day, and the 235 felt appropriately awful. The pause squats all felt good, and then leg presses felt awful.
All in all, good day to have programmed light.
Saturday, July 27, 2013
LRB 365: Strong-15 Short. Week 1. Deadlift
BW - 195
Deadlift -
135X5
155X5
175X4
195X3
225X2
245X1
255X1
275X1
215X3, 3, 3, 3, 3
RDL - 215X12, 11 (straps on 2nd set)
DB Shrugs - 100sX26, 15
Chins - BWX8, 6, 4
DB Curls - 35sX17, 12
Exhausting session. Deadlifts were all pretty good. I was at my 'away' gym, so I had to use stop-sign plates, which makes the rep sets feel awful.
I felt like I could have done 215X3 for forever, but after the RDLs I was pretty tired. 215X12 is a Rep PR, and I didn't use straps on that set.
I couldn't find a good way to do barbell shrugs at this gym, and even the smith machine was occupied by someone benching, so I had to go with the heaviest DBs they had. Used straps on these as well, but even so my grip felt kind of fried afterwards.
At this point, I was so tired that I think these chin-up sets look pretty good, considering.
Deadlift -
135X5
155X5
175X4
195X3
225X2
245X1
255X1
275X1
215X3, 3, 3, 3, 3
RDL - 215X12, 11 (straps on 2nd set)
DB Shrugs - 100sX26, 15
Chins - BWX8, 6, 4
DB Curls - 35sX17, 12
Exhausting session. Deadlifts were all pretty good. I was at my 'away' gym, so I had to use stop-sign plates, which makes the rep sets feel awful.
I felt like I could have done 215X3 for forever, but after the RDLs I was pretty tired. 215X12 is a Rep PR, and I didn't use straps on that set.
I couldn't find a good way to do barbell shrugs at this gym, and even the smith machine was occupied by someone benching, so I had to go with the heaviest DBs they had. Used straps on these as well, but even so my grip felt kind of fried afterwards.
At this point, I was so tired that I think these chin-up sets look pretty good, considering.
Thursday, July 25, 2013
LRB 365: Strong-15 Short. Week 1. Bench
BW - 195
Bench -
BarX15
85X5
95X4
115X3
125X2
145X1, 1
155X1
115X22, 6
Incline - 85X15, 7
Dips - BWX12, 10, 9, 7, 6
Session was good/OK. The 155 on bench was curiously heavy, but 115X22 is a PR from 17 reps on up. Grain of salt there because I've only pushed reps at that weight once before, and that was at the beginning of the Strong-15 last December. But at that time, I only got 115 for 15, and noted at the time that the bar was moving slow. That was not the case with the 115X22 today. And this projects to be inside 10 lbs. of a perceived 1RM increase. Feels on target.
As I mentioned in my last squat post, I'm doing additional back-off sets per a suggestion in the manual. With Squats, the manual calls for 2 sets of 3 of Pause Squats, but I did 4 sets and when the last rep of that 4th set was slow coming up, I moved on to assistance work. Bench is different because the back-off sets are AMAP, so I'm using one of Paul Carter's favorite techniques: 50% sets. I would have liked to have gotten closer to 11 (half the reps from the first set) on my 2nd back-off set, but sometimes you're so gassed from the first 50% set, it's hard to imagine you'll get even 1 rep on the 2nd. It was like that here, and that's OK.
I've got the option as well to do more than 2 sets on Incline, but this turned out to be another 50% set, and so I let it be.
There's no prescribed number of sets/reps for the Dips. The manual just says "body x lots," and 5 sets felt about right. These were all AMAP sets where I barely got the last rep or failed when I attempted the next one.
Also, should note that as I've pulled some carbs back out of my diet again, my BW increase has dropped back off to where I was about 2 weeks ago. I'm going to try to up the protein/veggie intake and see if I can SLOWLY get it to start going up again that way. If it stalls out, I'll revisit some additional carbs, but I was starting to feel a little sloppy over the last couple weeks.
Bench -
BarX15
85X5
95X4
115X3
125X2
145X1, 1
155X1
115X22, 6
Incline - 85X15, 7
Dips - BWX12, 10, 9, 7, 6
Session was good/OK. The 155 on bench was curiously heavy, but 115X22 is a PR from 17 reps on up. Grain of salt there because I've only pushed reps at that weight once before, and that was at the beginning of the Strong-15 last December. But at that time, I only got 115 for 15, and noted at the time that the bar was moving slow. That was not the case with the 115X22 today. And this projects to be inside 10 lbs. of a perceived 1RM increase. Feels on target.
As I mentioned in my last squat post, I'm doing additional back-off sets per a suggestion in the manual. With Squats, the manual calls for 2 sets of 3 of Pause Squats, but I did 4 sets and when the last rep of that 4th set was slow coming up, I moved on to assistance work. Bench is different because the back-off sets are AMAP, so I'm using one of Paul Carter's favorite techniques: 50% sets. I would have liked to have gotten closer to 11 (half the reps from the first set) on my 2nd back-off set, but sometimes you're so gassed from the first 50% set, it's hard to imagine you'll get even 1 rep on the 2nd. It was like that here, and that's OK.
I've got the option as well to do more than 2 sets on Incline, but this turned out to be another 50% set, and so I let it be.
There's no prescribed number of sets/reps for the Dips. The manual just says "body x lots," and 5 sets felt about right. These were all AMAP sets where I barely got the last rep or failed when I attempted the next one.
Also, should note that as I've pulled some carbs back out of my diet again, my BW increase has dropped back off to where I was about 2 weeks ago. I'm going to try to up the protein/veggie intake and see if I can SLOWLY get it to start going up again that way. If it stalls out, I'll revisit some additional carbs, but I was starting to feel a little sloppy over the last couple weeks.
Tuesday, July 23, 2013
LRB 365: Strong-15 Short. Week 1. Squat
BW - 196
Squat -
BarX10 (paused)
95X5 (paused)
115X5
135X4
165X3
185X2
205X1
215X1
225X1
Pause Squats - 165X3, 3, 3, 3
Leg Press - 2ppsX24, 20, 18
Leg Curls - X20, 15, 12
Standing Calf Raises - 245X18, 16, 14
Solid session, as it should be at these weights. Playing with explosiveness again on the squat. Previously, I made the mistake of focusing on driving my hips through hard at the top, and this was causing low-back strains. This time I took the opportunity of these light weights to think about making the bar come up off my shoulders at the top. That did happen on every rep, including the pause squats, and no low-back trouble.
I doubled-down on the sets of Pause Squats initially recommended in the manual. However, what I'm taking to heart is this little nugget,
Leg press was all done narrow stance to hit the quads harder.
Curls and Raises were curly and raisin.
Squat -
BarX10 (paused)
95X5 (paused)
115X5
135X4
165X3
185X2
205X1
215X1
225X1
Pause Squats - 165X3, 3, 3, 3
Leg Press - 2ppsX24, 20, 18
Leg Curls - X20, 15, 12
Standing Calf Raises - 245X18, 16, 14
Solid session, as it should be at these weights. Playing with explosiveness again on the squat. Previously, I made the mistake of focusing on driving my hips through hard at the top, and this was causing low-back strains. This time I took the opportunity of these light weights to think about making the bar come up off my shoulders at the top. That did happen on every rep, including the pause squats, and no low-back trouble.
I doubled-down on the sets of Pause Squats initially recommended in the manual. However, what I'm taking to heart is this little nugget,
"The lower the intensity, the more volume you are going to need. So that would mean more back off sets to be added on. If you choose to play with that, don't go haywire. Add in 1-2 extra back offs in addition to what the program calls for and go from there."I'm actually programing lower for this cycle than I did for the Strong-15 cycle to begin the program, so I think it's a perfect opportunity to explore the extra back-offs. My form was extremely tight on all these. So much so, that my mid-back is really fatigued, and a bit sore today. I'm enthused.
Leg press was all done narrow stance to hit the quads harder.
Curls and Raises were curly and raisin.
LRB 365: LRB Split. In Review
This will be short, as I suspect the LRB Split and the Strong-15 Short cycle go hand-in-hand in a way that will result in a more complete picture emerging at the end of that 2nd cycle.
Generally speaking, the goals for this cycle were to maintain top-end strength on the main lifts relative to where they've been during the conditioning cycle, while allowing some more carbs back into the diet in order to stimulate muscle growth by going hard with the assistance lifts.
My bodyweight started out hovering in the 192 range at the end of the conditioning cycles, and by the end of the LRB Split was hovering around 195-196.
I set the following PRs on assistance work in chronological order:
RDL:
205X8
225X9
245X10 (with straps)
DB OHP:
20sX25
25sX35
30sX28
Front Squats:
135X10
145X8
155X9
T-Bar Rows:
95X8
110X7
Barbell Rows:
145X9
Good Mornings were a new movement to me with this cycle and I progressed them as well:
135X8
145X7
145X8
145X10
Regarding Front Squats, I was doing them every week. They were the first assistance exercise following back squats on Heavy Squat days, and they were the main movement on Light Squat days. All the PRs were set on Light days, however it's worth noting that while I PR'd with 135X10 on a Light Squat day at the beginning of the cycle, by the end I was doing 135X8-10 for four sets across as assistance on my Heavy Squat days. In addition to all that, I kept my stance narrow on all the Leg Pressing, and went hard to push reps on leg extensions. Increasing quad size/strength was my primary goal for this cycle, and I feel good about the results.
I also got some good hamstring volume in with all the RDLs and GMs in addition to the maintenance Deads. Had sore hamstrings every week.
Lots of shoulder volume on the cycle as well. In addition to the DB OHP, my regular Press was getting within 5 lbs. or so of PR territory by the end. Lots of high-rep Inclines, Upright Rows, and Rear Delt Flyes to round it out, all pun intended. Although I honestly haven't noticed very much growth in my delts. Hopefully, we'll see some of this work translate into Bench strength on the upcoming cycle.
All in all, I had a really good time through most of this cycle. Hitting PRs on Fronts and RDLs was really fun, and seeing my wheels growing as a result was really great as well. Near the end, I had a little bit of a crisis of confidence because I didn't instinctively know if my Every Day Max had improved, and was grumpy about what to set as my goals for the Strong-15 Short Cycle. In the end, re-reading the manual, and reading an inspiring post by Carter along the lines of the Patience and Belief mantra that he and Brandon Lilly have been going over helped me get my head on straight. I've decided to program lower for the Strong-15 Short than I did for the Strong-15 at the beginning of the program. My final singles for the next cycle will be right around weights I've hit a million times before. With the work I did on this cycle, and the extra back-offs I'm planning for the first few weeks of the next, I'm confident that I will be crushing the weights all the way up to the end. And isn't that what we're supposed to do?
Generally speaking, the goals for this cycle were to maintain top-end strength on the main lifts relative to where they've been during the conditioning cycle, while allowing some more carbs back into the diet in order to stimulate muscle growth by going hard with the assistance lifts.
My bodyweight started out hovering in the 192 range at the end of the conditioning cycles, and by the end of the LRB Split was hovering around 195-196.
I set the following PRs on assistance work in chronological order:
RDL:
205X8
225X9
245X10 (with straps)
DB OHP:
20sX25
25sX35
30sX28
Front Squats:
135X10
145X8
155X9
T-Bar Rows:
95X8
110X7
Barbell Rows:
145X9
Good Mornings were a new movement to me with this cycle and I progressed them as well:
135X8
145X7
145X8
145X10
Regarding Front Squats, I was doing them every week. They were the first assistance exercise following back squats on Heavy Squat days, and they were the main movement on Light Squat days. All the PRs were set on Light days, however it's worth noting that while I PR'd with 135X10 on a Light Squat day at the beginning of the cycle, by the end I was doing 135X8-10 for four sets across as assistance on my Heavy Squat days. In addition to all that, I kept my stance narrow on all the Leg Pressing, and went hard to push reps on leg extensions. Increasing quad size/strength was my primary goal for this cycle, and I feel good about the results.
I also got some good hamstring volume in with all the RDLs and GMs in addition to the maintenance Deads. Had sore hamstrings every week.
Lots of shoulder volume on the cycle as well. In addition to the DB OHP, my regular Press was getting within 5 lbs. or so of PR territory by the end. Lots of high-rep Inclines, Upright Rows, and Rear Delt Flyes to round it out, all pun intended. Although I honestly haven't noticed very much growth in my delts. Hopefully, we'll see some of this work translate into Bench strength on the upcoming cycle.
All in all, I had a really good time through most of this cycle. Hitting PRs on Fronts and RDLs was really fun, and seeing my wheels growing as a result was really great as well. Near the end, I had a little bit of a crisis of confidence because I didn't instinctively know if my Every Day Max had improved, and was grumpy about what to set as my goals for the Strong-15 Short Cycle. In the end, re-reading the manual, and reading an inspiring post by Carter along the lines of the Patience and Belief mantra that he and Brandon Lilly have been going over helped me get my head on straight. I've decided to program lower for the Strong-15 Short than I did for the Strong-15 at the beginning of the program. My final singles for the next cycle will be right around weights I've hit a million times before. With the work I did on this cycle, and the extra back-offs I'm planning for the first few weeks of the next, I'm confident that I will be crushing the weights all the way up to the end. And isn't that what we're supposed to do?
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