*Session done at the local L@Fitness so scale and weights are a little suspect.
BW - 200*
Bench -
BarX10
85X5
95X4
115X3
125X2
145X1
155X1, 1
135X16
Incline -
95X10, 10, 10, 10, 10
DB Flyes - 2 sets of 20
Rope push-downs - 4 sets of 18-20
135X16 would be an all-around PR*. Felt good to hit that target regardless.
My left triceps were sore and fatigued for some reason today and that back-off set took enough out to make the last couple Incline sets a bit of a bitch. Barely got the final rep.
Same thing with the push-downs. Triceps were shot.
Monday, December 31, 2012
LRB 365: Strong-15. Week 3. Squat/Dead
BW - 201
Pause Squats - BarX10, 95X5
Squats -
125X5
145X4
165X3
185X2
205X1
215X1
225X1
Pause Squats - 185X3, 3
Deadlift -
135X5
165X5
195X4
225X3
265X2
285X1
295X1
305X1
255X3, 3
Leg Curls - 4 sets of 20+
Everything moved smooth and easy today. Deadlifting at these lower weights with max speed continue to leave my traps sore the next day or two.
That's Phase 1 done for lower body day. One interesting thing: the additional volume leading up to the singles is more fatiguing than I would have thought. On 5/3/1, 225 on Squats and 305 on deadlifts were noticeably faster and lighter than they are with this progression and were regularly done for reps of 5+. Then with Deadlifts coming after all the squatting, I'm getting another slight hit from fatigue. I'm not worried that I've over-programmed because I used my "everybday max" as dictated by the manual, but it's certainly enlightening. Next week, the back-off Pause Squat and most of the Deadlift weight take a small step back, so I look forward to seeing what those feel like.
Pause Squats - BarX10, 95X5
Squats -
125X5
145X4
165X3
185X2
205X1
215X1
225X1
Pause Squats - 185X3, 3
Deadlift -
135X5
165X5
195X4
225X3
265X2
285X1
295X1
305X1
255X3, 3
Leg Curls - 4 sets of 20+
Everything moved smooth and easy today. Deadlifting at these lower weights with max speed continue to leave my traps sore the next day or two.
That's Phase 1 done for lower body day. One interesting thing: the additional volume leading up to the singles is more fatiguing than I would have thought. On 5/3/1, 225 on Squats and 305 on deadlifts were noticeably faster and lighter than they are with this progression and were regularly done for reps of 5+. Then with Deadlifts coming after all the squatting, I'm getting another slight hit from fatigue. I'm not worried that I've over-programmed because I used my "everybday max" as dictated by the manual, but it's certainly enlightening. Next week, the back-off Pause Squat and most of the Deadlift weight take a small step back, so I look forward to seeing what those feel like.
Friday, December 28, 2012
LRB 365: Strong-15. Week 2. Back
BW - 204
Chins -
BWX13, 7, 5, 5, 4
T-Bars -
45X10
70X10
70X12
80X10
Rickshaw Shrugs -
200X20
290X20, 20, 20
BB Curls -
BarX10
65X5
BarX42, 10
Pretty solid. 13 chins was a bit of a bounce-back from recent sessions.
Upped the weight on T-Bars, but still repping kind of slow and focusing on the contraction.
Forgot my straps, so I had to used the shrug machine. This actually felt pretty "good."
Two sessions in a row of 40+ empty bar reps. That's the trigger I was looking for to go to phase 2 in my little curl project.
Chins -
BWX13, 7, 5, 5, 4
T-Bars -
45X10
70X10
70X12
80X10
Rickshaw Shrugs -
200X20
290X20, 20, 20
BB Curls -
BarX10
65X5
BarX42, 10
Pretty solid. 13 chins was a bit of a bounce-back from recent sessions.
Upped the weight on T-Bars, but still repping kind of slow and focusing on the contraction.
Forgot my straps, so I had to used the shrug machine. This actually felt pretty "good."
Two sessions in a row of 40+ empty bar reps. That's the trigger I was looking for to go to phase 2 in my little curl project.
Thursday, December 27, 2012
LRB 365: Strong-15. Christmas Vacation
12/20
BW - 205
Chins -
BWX8, 6, 5, 5, 5
T-Bars -
45X10
70X10, 10, 10
Shrugs -
135X20
225X20
315X20, 20
BB Curls -
BarX10
65X5
BarX40,10
12/23
Squats -
BarX10
95X5
125X5
145X4
165X3
185X2
195X1
215X1
225X1
Pause Squats -
175X5, 5
Deadlift -
135X5
165X4
195X4
225X3
265X2
275X1
285X1
295X1
235X3, 3
Leg Curls - 4 sets of 20, 1 set of 26
12/24
Bench -
BarX10
85X5
95X4
115X3
125X2
135X1
145X1
155X1
125X16
Inclines -
105X10, 10
95X10, 10, 10
DB Flyes - 3 sets of 20
Rope Pushdowns - 4 sets of 20
Squats felt much better now that I'm not sick. Faster, but also combined explosiveness with better control so that I didn't lose lower back tightness at lockout. Good Session.
Deadlifts all felt pretty fast. Traps are getting sore from these now when they weren't under higher weight/reps on 5/3/1. Interesting.
Bench felt pretty good. Trying to focus on initiating the concentric with my legs. Really burned myself out on the AMAP back-off set, and had to drop my weight mid-way through my incline set as a result. Chest and shoulders were sore as hell the next day.
BW - 205
Chins -
BWX8, 6, 5, 5, 5
T-Bars -
45X10
70X10, 10, 10
Shrugs -
135X20
225X20
315X20, 20
BB Curls -
BarX10
65X5
BarX40,10
12/23
Squats -
BarX10
95X5
125X5
145X4
165X3
185X2
195X1
215X1
225X1
Pause Squats -
175X5, 5
Deadlift -
135X5
165X4
195X4
225X3
265X2
275X1
285X1
295X1
235X3, 3
Leg Curls - 4 sets of 20, 1 set of 26
12/24
Bench -
BarX10
85X5
95X4
115X3
125X2
135X1
145X1
155X1
125X16
Inclines -
105X10, 10
95X10, 10, 10
DB Flyes - 3 sets of 20
Rope Pushdowns - 4 sets of 20
Squats felt much better now that I'm not sick. Faster, but also combined explosiveness with better control so that I didn't lose lower back tightness at lockout. Good Session.
Deadlifts all felt pretty fast. Traps are getting sore from these now when they weren't under higher weight/reps on 5/3/1. Interesting.
Bench felt pretty good. Trying to focus on initiating the concentric with my legs. Really burned myself out on the AMAP back-off set, and had to drop my weight mid-way through my incline set as a result. Chest and shoulders were sore as hell the next day.
Wednesday, December 19, 2012
LRB 365: Strong-15. Week 1. Bench
BW - 201
Bench -
BarX10
85X5
95X4
115X3
125X2
135X1
145X1
155X1
115X15
Incline -
105X10, 10, 10, 10, 10
DB Flyes - 2 sets of 20
Rope Pushdowns - 4 sets of 20
80+% session. Now that I'm past all the limiting symptoms of last weekend's head-cold, I felt like this session was a more realistic introduction to the new program than Saturday's plague-ridden squat session.
As promised, the introductory weights all felt light as hell, and I was able to focus on applying maximum explosiveness while also keeping my form tight. This has been one of the biggest difficulties for me of late: keeping my upper back tight while driving lighter weight to lock-out. I find that high bar speeds tend to pull my shoulders apart at the top resulting in a loss of tightness for the following reps, and I'm trying to correct this problem. There was progress on this today.
I would like to have gotten more than 15 reps with 115, but the bar was moving way slow and I was just out of gas.
I think this was an over-all volume PR for inclines, however. Don't think I've gotten 5 full sets of 10 with 105 before. As maximizing assistance volume is one of the top-tier goals for the introductory phase of the Strong-15, I'm pleased with this, and will continue to push it in coming weeks.
I haven't done DB flyes in...I don't know. And I kind of remembered why. In order to keep stress on the muscle, the range of motion is severely limited. I double-checked the manual, and it just says "Flat Flyes," so I think I will switch to pec-deck.
It's also over a year since I did any kind of cable push-down, and these 4 sets of 20 really fried me. I kept the weight light, and tried to focus on feeling the triceps pull and relax.
All in all, felt like a pretty good body-building session. My first in I don't know how long. I'm certainly reminded how boring aspects of training this way can be however, but maybe I can focus on adjusting my perspective in that regards.
Bench -
BarX10
85X5
95X4
115X3
125X2
135X1
145X1
155X1
115X15
Incline -
105X10, 10, 10, 10, 10
DB Flyes - 2 sets of 20
Rope Pushdowns - 4 sets of 20
80+% session. Now that I'm past all the limiting symptoms of last weekend's head-cold, I felt like this session was a more realistic introduction to the new program than Saturday's plague-ridden squat session.
As promised, the introductory weights all felt light as hell, and I was able to focus on applying maximum explosiveness while also keeping my form tight. This has been one of the biggest difficulties for me of late: keeping my upper back tight while driving lighter weight to lock-out. I find that high bar speeds tend to pull my shoulders apart at the top resulting in a loss of tightness for the following reps, and I'm trying to correct this problem. There was progress on this today.
I would like to have gotten more than 15 reps with 115, but the bar was moving way slow and I was just out of gas.
I think this was an over-all volume PR for inclines, however. Don't think I've gotten 5 full sets of 10 with 105 before. As maximizing assistance volume is one of the top-tier goals for the introductory phase of the Strong-15, I'm pleased with this, and will continue to push it in coming weeks.
I haven't done DB flyes in...I don't know. And I kind of remembered why. In order to keep stress on the muscle, the range of motion is severely limited. I double-checked the manual, and it just says "Flat Flyes," so I think I will switch to pec-deck.
It's also over a year since I did any kind of cable push-down, and these 4 sets of 20 really fried me. I kept the weight light, and tried to focus on feeling the triceps pull and relax.
All in all, felt like a pretty good body-building session. My first in I don't know how long. I'm certainly reminded how boring aspects of training this way can be however, but maybe I can focus on adjusting my perspective in that regards.
Saturday, December 15, 2012
LRB 365: Strong-15. Week 1. Squat/Dead
BW - 199
Pause Squats -
BarX10
95X5
Squats -
125X5
145X4
165X3
185X2
195X1
205X1
215X1
Pause Squats -
165X5, 5
Deadlift -
135X5
165X4
195X3
225X2
265X1
275X1
285X1
225X3, 3, 3
Leg Curls - 4 sets of 20
80%? Don't know. Head cold is kicking my ass up and down the street, but didn't want to wait on starting the LRB 365 program, and anyway the first few weeks of the Strong-15 are mostly light.
I still want to use my light pause squats as a warm-up because they give such a great stretch, and help grease the groove as far as depth, however I was stepping out to wide and after the 2nd set, my hips were screaming at me. Great way to start the session.
Then I further beat myself up by focusing to much on popping the weight up at the top, and I lost lower back tightness at full extension. My low back was slightly strained by the 165 set. Just getting better and better.
The set ended up fine, after I stopped popping my hips forward as much, and the pause squat sets were both solid.
Deadlift felt a bit heavy today, and I'm wondering if I've had a bit of drop-off here meaning that I'd done a long slow peak leading up the last week or two, and now it's falling back to earth a little. Could also be illness combined with the rough squats. One more reason I'm glad to be starting a new program so that everything is light. 225 sets all felt strong.
Leg curls.
Pause Squats -
BarX10
95X5
Squats -
125X5
145X4
165X3
185X2
195X1
205X1
215X1
Pause Squats -
165X5, 5
Deadlift -
135X5
165X4
195X3
225X2
265X1
275X1
285X1
225X3, 3, 3
Leg Curls - 4 sets of 20
80%? Don't know. Head cold is kicking my ass up and down the street, but didn't want to wait on starting the LRB 365 program, and anyway the first few weeks of the Strong-15 are mostly light.
I still want to use my light pause squats as a warm-up because they give such a great stretch, and help grease the groove as far as depth, however I was stepping out to wide and after the 2nd set, my hips were screaming at me. Great way to start the session.
Then I further beat myself up by focusing to much on popping the weight up at the top, and I lost lower back tightness at full extension. My low back was slightly strained by the 165 set. Just getting better and better.
The set ended up fine, after I stopped popping my hips forward as much, and the pause squat sets were both solid.
Deadlift felt a bit heavy today, and I'm wondering if I've had a bit of drop-off here meaning that I'd done a long slow peak leading up the last week or two, and now it's falling back to earth a little. Could also be illness combined with the rough squats. One more reason I'm glad to be starting a new program so that everything is light. 225 sets all felt strong.
Leg curls.
5/3/1 BBB: In Review
I'm going to keep this short like my time with this program.
First off, all these headings should have BBB in quotes, or I should have called it 5/3/1 +5X10 or something, because with the exception of Cycle 2 of Squats, I didn't use the main movement for the 5X10 sets, but rather a variant except in the case of Cycle 2 of Deadlifts where I did hypers for 5 sets of 10-20. Not really the program right? So this is very much In Review of what I did as opposed to A Review of Boring But Big.
All I really have to say is that my pressing moved the needle a little bit more than my Squat, and that Squat in particular started to leave me feeling pretty beat up. Deadlift continued it's usual steady increase for the most part. I haven't done a Wendler style deload or layoff since I started 5/3/1 Full Body back in July. I had some lower rep sessions while on vacation, but they were still real work sessions. I imagine this has a lot to do with the beat up feeling.
All of this, combined with one other element made me decide to cut this a little short. I was only going to do one more cycle of this program anyway, so it's not a complete bail out. The other element is that Paul Carter finally release his LRB 365 manual this week, and I'd been planning on running that for the entirety of 2013. With the way my training was starting to go, I looked at the calendar and saw no reason to wait. I've jumped straight into that program with no layoff either, because I've set very conservative goals, and the first 3 weeks are very light. See you over there.
First off, all these headings should have BBB in quotes, or I should have called it 5/3/1 +5X10 or something, because with the exception of Cycle 2 of Squats, I didn't use the main movement for the 5X10 sets, but rather a variant except in the case of Cycle 2 of Deadlifts where I did hypers for 5 sets of 10-20. Not really the program right? So this is very much In Review of what I did as opposed to A Review of Boring But Big.
All I really have to say is that my pressing moved the needle a little bit more than my Squat, and that Squat in particular started to leave me feeling pretty beat up. Deadlift continued it's usual steady increase for the most part. I haven't done a Wendler style deload or layoff since I started 5/3/1 Full Body back in July. I had some lower rep sessions while on vacation, but they were still real work sessions. I imagine this has a lot to do with the beat up feeling.
All of this, combined with one other element made me decide to cut this a little short. I was only going to do one more cycle of this program anyway, so it's not a complete bail out. The other element is that Paul Carter finally release his LRB 365 manual this week, and I'd been planning on running that for the entirety of 2013. With the way my training was starting to go, I looked at the calendar and saw no reason to wait. I've jumped straight into that program with no layoff either, because I've set very conservative goals, and the first 3 weeks are very light. See you over there.
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