HLM. Week 9. Day 1.

BW - 221

Squat -
385X3
310X5, 5, 5, 5

High-Incline Bench - 150X5, 5, 5, 5

Chin-Ups - X3, 3, 3

BB Rows - 200X3, 3, 3

My quads are getting really achy.  Kind of a DOMS way, but kind of unusual as well.  They were distractingly achy during my first back-off set of squats.  And I woke up to them aching this morning.  For me, DOMS is usually a 24-48 hours later thing.  I would think it had to do with diet, but I don't see a reason why that would be effecting my quads and not anything else.  It may just be that back squat objective intensities are just the highest of any of my lifts.  I'm going to try using RPE to see if it raises the objective intensity of my Squat assistance movements so that my legs get more acclimated to heavier loads.  I started off this program with assistance at 80% of BACK-OFF sets on light day, and 90% on medium.  I've been saying they were too light, so I think that's biting me in the ass.

Anyway, top set of Squats felt @ 9.  Didn't get much sleep the night before.

Last back-off set felt @ 8.  Fatigue was tempting me to rush these AND get sloppy with them.  Really had to focus to be both patient and focused.

Last set of Inclines felt @ 8.  Looks fast though.  Again, poor sleep.

Had to use the shitty pull up station for neutral grips.  They were fine.  Was hoping my lighter bodyweight would make a noticeable difference, but I guess 3% isn't that big an off set, haha.

Rows were fine.  No straps.  Played around with hook grip a little, but finished with plain ol' DOH.  Gym was crowded so no video.

HLM. Week 8. Day 3.

BW - 222

Safety Bar Squats - 260X5, 5, 5, 5

Press -
150X3
120X5, 5, 5, 5

Deadlift - 345X3, 3

Tempting to credit the first week of diet work from BBM with the weight loss here, but it was also a weekend morning session as opposed to my usual weekday afternoon.  Still, that's my lowest bodyweight since April '17.

Top set of SSB felt @ 7.5, looks @ 6.5.  I'm a couple weeks into documenting this "feels" RPE and "speed" RPE data, so it's time to start thinking about how I want to use it.

Top set of Press felt @9.5, looks about like that.  It's so strange because the first two reps looks like I could do a set of 5, but just a little bit of bar path deviation ups the difficulty on the 3rd rep into max effort territory.

Last back-off set felt @ 7, and looks @ 6.  For me, there seems to be two kinds of "feels" RPEs right now: Strength and Fatigue.  This felt @ 7 because I was just getting gassed.  I guess the lesson here is that I should add some conditioning in, and get my work capacity up.

2nd set of DL felt @ 7 and looks @ 6.  Definitely not heavy enough, but I hope that's in part because the programming has been working.

HLM. Week 8. Day 2.

BW - 226

High Bar Pause Squat - 230X5, 5, 5

Bench -
230X5
185X5, 5, 5

Deadlift - Elevated 5" (4" block + 1" mat) -
275X5 @ 6
290X5 @ 6.5
305X5 @ 7
315X5 @ 7
345X5, 5 @ 8

Paused HBS were all very easy being at the beginning of a wave.  @6-7, but I forgot to take notes.  Last set shown.

Top set of Bench felt @ 8, looks @7.

Back-offs were very easy.  Again, the beginning of a wave, but probably still too easy.  I need to adjust either by % or by going off of top set RPE.  Felt @ 6, looks @ 6.

Benching across from me on this day was powerlifting legend, Beau Moore.  Just casually benching 455 with no lift off or spotter.  Said hello, and shook his meaty, meaty hand.  Friendly guy.

So I had a few back spasms this week.  I used to get them more frequently, and I've often associated them with RDLs.  RDLs seem to help my Deadlift, but they also seem to aggravate my spine.  I thought I was toeing the water with only 2 sets a week, but here we are again.  OK.  To be fair, when I say that RDLs have always helped my DL, I haven't tried that many DL variations.  Basically just RDL and deficit pulls off of a plate. 

So I decided to try block pulls from about the same height as my RDL depth.  I'm still using straps so I can focus on technique and not on grip, but I did work up to 275 double-overhand before I added the straps.  I had no idea what the weight would be so I decided to work up to a set of 5 with 275, and titrate up, rating RPE as I went, and adding 5% at a time.  I ended up making a double-sized jump to 345 from 315, but that ended up being about the right weight.  Now I was surprised that I was able to do 345X5 @ 8 for multiple sets here (I could have done more than 2 sets, but wanted to play it safe because of all the volume leading up to this weight).  In fact, this is the same weight I'm programmed to do for two sets of triples on Friday from the floor.  That either means that my DL strength is lapping my programming, or this block height is NOT disadvantageous for me.  Next week I will try lowering it to just the 4" block and see if that takes some weight off the bar.  Still want this to be a "medium" day.  The last set felt @ 8, looks @ 7.5.

HLM. Week 8. Day 1.

BW - 227*

Squat -
365X5
290X5, 5, 5

High Incline Bench - 145X5, 5, 5, 5

Chin-Ups (neutral grip) - BWX3, 3, 3

BB Rows - 190X5, 5, 5

*Day 1 of a new diet.  I'm working with a dietitian from Barbell Medicine.  BW should start to drop going forward, and training will have to be adjusted as necessary.  That could go a couple of ways.  The one thing I want to make sure is that I'm both keeping practice of high intensity weights in the program, but that I'm also keeping plenty of volume in.  So, will continue with top sets and back-off sets, but top sets may stop majority 5s and 3s, and become something more like 1-3 heavy-ish singles before back-off work.

Top set of squats was pretty good on this day.  Felt @ 9, looks @ 8.

Back-offs were all fast.  Last back-off felt @ 7.5, looks @ ~7.

As the Press has continue to feel harder than "it should," I've decided to switch from the lower incline bench for my Medium pressing movement to a higher incline.  To start, I just used last week's top-set weight of Press as my weight.  Maybe on the light end of the correct range.  Last set felt @ 8.5, looks @ 6.5.  It feeling so much harder is probably a fatigue issue plus a bit of "novelty" of the movement.  I may need to seek some guidance on "feels" RPE vs. "speed" RPE. 

Chins were fine.  They continue to not feel any stronger, but also not feel any weaker.  It will be interesting to see what happens with them as I drop weight.

Rows were very easy.  Likely far too easy.  Last set felt @ 6, looks @ 6.

HLM. Week 7. Day 3.

BW - 227

Safety Bar Squats - 290X5, 5, 5, 5

Press -
145X5
115X5, 5, 5

Deadlift - 340X5

290X5 is a Rep PR on SSB.  Last set "felt" @ 8.5, bar speed is @ ~7.

Press top set felt @ 10, looks @8.5.  Not sure what to think about that.  Doesn't seem like fatigue.  The warm-up sets were harder than I would have liked as well.

Last back-off felt @7, looks @7.

Deadlift top-set felt @ 7 for overall strength, but @ 8 for grip.  Bar speed looks @ ~7.  Gonna drop straps for all sets of rows, and see if that's enough of a kick in the butt for grip to keep pace.  I won't drap straps for heavy RDLs because they go to shit double-overhand for me.

HLM. Week 7. Day 2.

BW - 228

High Bar Pause Squats - 255X5, 5, 5

Bench -
255X1
205X5, 5, 5, 5, 5

RDL - 305X5, 5

Last set of paused HBS felt @ 7, looks @ 6.  Rep PR.

255X1 is a PR on Bench.  Felt @ 10.  Didn't get video of last warm-up single, but it was surely faster than this.  Will look to see if the top set of 3 in a couple of weeks feels @9 or less.  Otherwise, could be in trouble.  Last set of back-offs felt @ 8, looks @ 7.

RDL technique was a little all-over the place today, BUT the bar was solid against legs for all but 1 rep.  This last set felt @ 7, and looks max @ 6.

HLM. Week 7. Day 1.

BW - 226

Squat -
400X1, 1
320X5, 5, 5, 5, 5

Low Incline Bench - 205X3, 3, 3, 3

Chin-Ups - BWX2, 3, 3

BB Rows - 185X7, 7, 7

Top set of Squat was a shit show.  It looks like I let my chest drop when I hit the hole, sliding the bar forward of mid-foot, and making the concentric an RPE 10 gut punch.

I decided to take it again.  I'm showing the last warm-up single and this 2nd top single to compare speed on both.  The second single was a "feels" RPE @ 8, but while it was a touch higher than the last warm-up, the speed wasn't much slower, so would be a "bar speed" @ 7.

320X5X5 is a 5X5 PR.  All sets were strong.  I rated this last set @ 7.5, and video looks close to that.

Inclines were fairly tough at this weight.  205X3 is a Rep PR.  Last set was a "feels" @ 9.5, and video was "speed" @ 8.

Chins were fine.  No video.  Tried to stop @ ~9.

Rows were also fine.  I used straps on the last set just to make sure I could focus on the lift.  Last set was "feels" @ 7, and "speed" @ 6.