Med.-Rep Volume PRs. Week 1. Session D.

sRPE @6.5

BW - 222

Deadlift - 

365X1 @6

275X6, 6, 6, 6 @~5

Dips - BWX8, 8, 8, 8 @~7

Banded Chins (medium band under knee) w/straps - BWX3, 3, 3, 3 @~7

Had to skip conditioning to make it to an event.

Dragging ass coming into the gym yesterday AM.  Was worried DL was going to be a shit-show even with the planned low-RPEs.  But after I got warmed up everything was fine.  

Dips are so explosive lately that I'm starting to wonder if they're too explosive?  Like is this a different movement now from weighted dips?

My hands were feeling beat up from DL, so I used straps on the Band Chins.  It was actually nice as I was able to really focus on my back, and it has responded by feeling fairly sore today!  So maybe I'll keep the straps on these for a while?

Med.-Rep Volume PRs. Week 1. Session C.

sRPE @6

BW - 222

Bench - 

205X1 @7

155X6, 6, 6, 6 @4/5

Toes-to-Bar - BWX3, 3, 3, 3 @5/7.5

Reverse Safety Bar Box Squats - 160X4, 4, 4, 4 @4.5/5.5

Rower - HIIT; 6 rounds / 10 minutes

Med.-Rep Volume PRs. Week 1. Session B.

sRPE @6.5

BW - 221

Chins - BWX3, 2, 2, 2 @8/7.5

BB Rows - 135X11, 11 @6/7

BB Curls - 60X13, 13, 13, 13 @7.5/8.5

DB Tate Press - 40sX11, 11 @7.5/8

Stationary Bike - HIIT; 10 minutes / 6 rounds

60 for 4 sets of 13 is a Volume PR on Curls.

Med.-Rep Volume PRs. Week 1. Session A.

sRPE @6

BW - 224

Squats - 

275X1 @4

225X6, 6, 6, 6 @4/3

Press - 95X3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3 @4/5.5

JM Press - 70X14, 14 @~7.5

Schedule should somewhat stabilize from here through the winter holidays.  Decided to drop intensity way down and hit the full, programmed volume.  If I'm ready for, or acclimate quickly to, this volume at this low of intensity, then I can likely start to ramp intensity up to target fairly quickly.  From there, I'll just have to see if my normal time-to-peak for a given cycle "starts" here and gives me a 4-6 week runway, or if having done a version of this for several weeks already limits my TTP, and I hit the wall in 4 weeks or less.

Squat was interesting today because the back-off sets got easier set-to-set.  That happens sometimes in a regular Week 1, so I'm hopeful that's a sign.

JM Press was also way easier today despite adding reps over the previous session.  Maybe a combination of diminished general fatigue from my time off, lower weights on the preceding Press sets, and acclimation to the movement.

Med.-Rep Volume PRs. Week 0.75. Session D.

sRPE @6.5

BW - 223

Deadlift - 

405X1 @7.5

275X6, 6, 6 @5/6.5

Dips - BWX8, 8, 8 @6.5/8.5

Band Chins (under knee) - BWX4 @9

DL strength popped today for some reason.  Still stuck with the plan and reduced intensity on the back-off sets and increase volume.

Dips were OK, and I thought I might do a full session of 4X6 but the 3rd set was more fatiguing than I wanted it to be and called it there.

Pulling Strength was a no-go for some reason.  I may have rushed the warm-up.  I had someplace I needed to be, so that gave me an excuse to end the session and skip conditioning.

Normal training should be able to start ramping up next week.

Med.-Rep Volume PRs. Week 0.75. Session C.

sRPE @6

BW - 224

Bench - 

215X1 @7.5

185X6, 6 @6/8

Toes-to-Bar - BWX4, 4 @6.5/7

Reverse Safety Bar Box Squats ("Eliminators") - 210X4, 4 @7/8

Rower - HIIT; 8 rounds / 14 minutes

Bench strength dipped significantly this week.  I think I can begin to approximate normal training next week, or for sure the week after.

I think I'll drop the weights on the PLs back about 20 lbs. and try to add the volume back in quickly.  I should be able to hit some 4X6 PRs on Bench and DL pretty quickly once I'm acclimated to the Volume.  For Squat we'll just have to see how long I go before I start to plateau.

8 weeks is the longest I've pushed it since I started structuring my blocks Mike T-style.  Lately I've been hitting the wall around 5-6 weeks.  But I've been cruising at this lower volume/lower frequency for ~3 weeks already and I have no idea how my body will react when I increase both within the same cycle.

Med.-Rep Volume PRs. Week 0.75. Session B.

sRPE @7.5

BW - 222

Squats - 

315X1 @6.5

275X6, 6 @~6.5

Press - 105X3, 3, 3, 3, 3 @5.5/6.5

JM Press - 70X12, 13 @9/10

Stationary Bike - HIIT; 9 rounds / 16 minutes

Squatting continues to be the lift that I struggle with the most during times of schedule disruption.  Was hoping the top single would be bigger today, and also hoped that the RPE on the back-offs would have dropped a bit so that I'd feel comfortable adding more sets.  Oh well.  I'll keep treading water on the the Powerlifts, trying to add volume on the lower stress movements, and otherwise biding time till my schedule stabilizes a bit.