Vacation Prep. Week 3. Squat

BW - 205

Squat -
BarX10 (paused)
95X5 (paused)
135X5
185X4
225X3
275X2
315X1
275X5, 3

High Bars - 225X3, 3, 3
super-set with
Low Bar Paused - 225X3, 3, 3

Front Squat - 135X11

Crunched for time, so I did a bunch of squat variations with short rests instead of 30 minutes on the treadmill.  Lots more fun this way.

The 315X1 moved okay, but the rep sets of 275 felt like shit.  Getting out of gas and just feeling shaky on the way up.  One or both of those may be due to the diet.  Anyway, that's another reason I decided to go with squat variations for my volume instead of regular squat sets.

I've never super-set (giant set?) high-bars with paused low bars.  I really liked it.  It's neat to be able to leave the bar in one spot with the same weight on, and get this kind of work in.  Also, my quads and hamstrings are both fairly "tired" feeling the next day.  That almost certainly means they'll be really sore tomorrow.

After the last pair of triples on that, I felt like it was time to be done with those, but I wanted to do one more thing.  I decided to just strip it down to 1pps and rep out some front squats.  I'm sure that also contributes to my quads feeling exhausted today.  My tracker told me this was an all-around PR, which seemed crazy to me.  I checked this morning, and found a flaw in the app.  13 would have been a Rep PR, but I would have needed to get up closer to 20 for an all-around PR.  Still, coming within spitting distance of a Rep PR after all the other volume ain't nuthin'.

Vacation Prep. Week 3. Bench

BW - 205

Incline -
BarX30
95X5
115X4
135X3
155X2
185X1
145X19, 7

Hammer Bench - 50X20 (burn-out set)

Plate Full Front-Raise - 25X20, 15, 15
super-set with
Incline DB Flyes - 30sX15, 15, 15
and
DB Rear Delts - 30sX20, 20, 20

Treadmill - Incline Walking; 30 minutes

Because I didn't get to the gym yesterday, I threw in assistance work today in addition to the main lift.

145X19 is a Rep PR for Incline, and would also be a Rep PR for Flat Bench.  Together with 21+ total reps it meets my goal and I will move up to 155 next time.

I didn't really want to do the hammer bench because of time, but since I did it last week and my Incline was stronger this week, I thought I should at least get one set in.

But I really want the bench assistance focus to be on shoulders, and so I did this tri-set, and liked it.

Vacation Prep. Week 3. Leg Accessory

BW - 205

Bulgarian Split Squats -
35X20, 12
BWX18

Single-Leg Curls - X20, 12, 12

Treadmill - Intervals; 10 minutes

Got in and out at the office gym.  Split squats were much harder than I expected given that I usually squat prior to doing them.

Vacation Prep. Week 2. Press

BW - 203

PBN -
BarX20
65X5
85X4
95X3
115X2
135X1
95X14, 8

Chins - BWX12, 9, 5, 5, 4

DB Curls - 35sX12, 10, 8
super-set with
Overhead Extensions - 40ishX20, 18, 15

Walking - 30ish minutes; outdoors!

135X1 is a Rep PR.  It was a real 50/50 grinder, too.  I wish that hadn't been the case.  We'll just have to see how it goes in future weeks.

Vacation Prep. Week 2. Deadlift

BW - 209 (?)

Deadlift -
135X5
185X4
225X3
275X3, 3
315X2
365X1
315X5, 5, 5

Deficit Deads (1" plate) - 225X3, 3, 3, 3, 3

Treadmill - 30 minutes; incline walking

 Kind of played things by feel today, and was focused on tweaking my deadlift set-up.  I videoed a lot of the sets along the way and used those to make adjustments as I went.  I very quickly refined the set-up to get my shoulders directly over the bar.  From there I worked on finding a starting position for my hips.  My focus here was on: 1) Hips below shoulders (#MarkBell).  2)  Hamstrings feeling tight.  3)  Hamstrings being low enough to accomplish 1. and 2., but not so low that they shoot up before the bar leaves the floor.  And finally 4) Bottom Position on subsequent reps being the same as on the first rep.

Here's a video of a set with 275 where I felt like I got it dialed in (I forgot to video my sets at 365 and 315, dammit):

Then I decided to see if I could keep the same feeling with deficits.  I hit my biggest deadlift numbers using deficits for additional volume, but I also suspect that's where I started to develop bad habits on my set-up.  Here's a video of a deficit set where I'm dialing in the same 4 points above:

Vacation Prep. Week 2. Bench

BW - 207

Incline -
BarX30
95X5
115X4
135X3
155X2
185X1
145X17, 4

Hammer Bench - 50X20, 17, 15

Incline Flye - 20sX15, 15, 15
super-set with
DB Rear Delts - 30sX20, 20, 20

Plate Raise - 25X25

Treadmill - 30 minutes; incline walking

Alright session.  I was looking for 19 reps with 145 on Incline, so I will repeat this weight next week.

I had been hesitant to try the hammer bench, because I didn't want to try another movement that would aggravate my shoulder.  This actually was okay, although the weight was really light.  I'll try it again next week.

I probably went overboard on assistance a little bit here, time-wise.  Starting next week, I will be going more frequently, doing the main lifts on separate days from the assistance, and alternating steady-state with interval cardio.  I want those sessions to be shorter, so I'll just have to contain myself.

Vacation Prep. Week 2. Squat

BW - 207

Squat -
BarX10 (paused)
95X5 (paused)
135X5
185X4
225X3
275X2
315X1
275X6, 3, 3, 3, 2

Bulgarian Split Squats- 20X15, 15, 15

GHR - BWX10, 8, 7

Treadmill - 30 minutes; incline walking

Squat strength may be declining a bit with weight loss and lack of calories.  Some of this could be psychological.  I was also trying for more sit-back, and that may have fucked me up a bit as well.  When I stopped doing that, some of the later work-sets felt better than the 315X1 and 275X6 did.

Added a DB to the single-leg work.  Didn't make it that much harder, so I'll up that weight a tad next time and start getting after it.

Somebody moved the GHR up to a higher setting, locked the bolt down, and stripped it so nobody could move it.  So these were a lot harder today.