Full-Body. Week 1. Low Bar Squats

BW - 228

Squats -
BarX5
135X5
185X4
225X3
275X2
315X1
285X12, 3

Incline - up to 155X3, 3, 3

BB Rows - up to 155X3, 5, 5

Done with the 100 reps accessory work I used to help my body recover from meet training.  Moving back into a full-body type program.

285X12 is a Rep PR.  Since I added a rep, I only hit the minimum volume goal with the 2nd set.

Haven't done Inclines in quite some time so it took a while to get back into the swing.  I'm starting by moving my grip in just a thumb's-width from my flat bench grip.  By the end I realized I was pressing a bit out of control and things felt better if I used a more deliberate eccentric and concentric with a pause at the top and bottom.

Also haven't done rows in a while.  I'm not sure if these will need higher reps or not, but my initial aim in this program is to limit worksets on compound accessories to 3-5 reps.

Reps and Volume. Week 4. Press

BW - 228

Press -
BarX5
65X5
85X4
105X3
125X2
135X1
115X12, 7

Face-Pulls - 5 sets of 20

Hammer Curls - 35sX10, 8, 6, 6

I wasn't in a good place to work out on this day.  I'd spent an hour and a half at the bank and then eaten a huge breakfast right before hand.  The breakfast in particular was dumb.  All I wanted to do was take a nap afterwards.

Couldn't get a PR on the first set of Presses, so I went for max reps on the 2nd.

The idea of doing 100 rep sets was loathsome to me on this day, so I upped the weight and did several sets.  This was going to be the last day of the 100 rep phase anyhow.

Reps and Volume. Week 4. Deadlift

BW - 227

Squat -
BarX5
135X5
185X5
225X5, 5

Deadlift -
135X5
185X4
225X3
275X2
315X1
305X4, 4, 3

Pull-downs - X40, 21 (same weight as last time)

Knees felt great on squats.

Deadlift felt stronger than the last few weeks.

Pull-downs felt like crap, and I just didn't want to do them anymore.  May have pushed the weight up faster than I needed to.

Reps and Volume. Week 4. Bench

BW - 230

Bench -
BarX5
95X5
115X4
135X3
155X2
185X1
155X17, 7

Cable Rows - X75, 25 (same weight as last time)

Straight-Bar Push-Downs - X65, 35 (same weight as last time)

Ran out of strength again after Rep 17.  This week I decided to push the reps on the 2nd set closer to failure instead of getting the prescribed amount for the volume goals.  This makes sense to me.  Stick with the volume goal as long as progress is being made, but push the volume sets past the goal to try and break a plateau.  We'll see if that works.

Kept the weight the same on accessories, but managed to get them both done in 2 sets where it took 3 sets last week.

I believe the 100 rep accessories may be coming to an end after this week.  It should be enough to have moved a lot of blood through  my joints to help recover from the meet, and also to have bumped up my overall work capacity a bit.

I'm a bit torn on what the next phase is going to be.  My original plans had revolved around some specific diet goals, but I have failed to consistently meet those.  If I'm going to abandon those goals, then I feel like the options are:  1) Continue with my main lift programming, but push the accessories into bigger movements with higher intensities; i.e. strength work; or 2) I've been looking at Alex Viada's manual for awhile and I've laid out his P.L.+5K program.

If I do the latter, I believe I will need to pick a 5K to run in order to stick to that 7-day-a-week program.  Because I enjoyed the P.L. meet so much, I'm leaning towards this even though it looks much more difficult than the other option.

Reps and Volume. Week 4. Squat

BW - 229

Squat -
BarX5
135X5
185X4
225X3
275X2
315X1
285X11, 3

Pull-downs - X60, 40 (upped weight from last time)

Lunges - BWX15, 15, 15, 15

285X11 is a Rep PR.  It's possible I could have gotten to my target of 14 here, but I got over my toes on rep #10 and felt shaky as hell on #11.  No reason to push for it on my first try, so I'll hit it again next week.

Upped weight on pull-downs and added a rep-per-set to lunges.  Right shoulder still feels an uncomfortable pinch on pull-downs even at these low weights.  Just gonna keep monitoring it.

Reps and Volume. Week 3. Press

BW - 227

Press -
BarX5
65X5
85X4
105X3
125X2
135X1
115X12, 5

Face-Pulls - 50, 35, 30 (increase weight from last week)

Cross-Body Hammer Curls - 12sX50 each arm

115X12 is a Rep PR for the Press.  Still 5 fucking reps away from my goal.  Seems like a million miles for as hard as the last couple of reps are.  Just gonna bust ass and try to get at least 13 next week.

Reps and Volume. Week 3. Deadlift

BW - 228

Squats -
BarX5
135X5
185X5
225X5, 5

Deadlift -
135X5
185X4
225X3
275X2
315X1
295X4, 4, 4

Pull-downs - X100

Deadlifts moved fairly well.  I felt like my hips might be a bit low, but we'll see.