This week looks a little rough on paper. sRPE higher than I'd like for Week 1. e1RMs on mains the lowest they've been since earlier this year.
The perspective I'm trying to take is that I've had LOTS of disruptions to regular training. Muscle mass is unlikely to have atrophied much if at all, so I'm going to assume it's a loss of general fitness.
I'm not going to let myself try to force myself "back" to the highs of ~April, but rather just try to cruise a bit and see if fitness returns naturally with the more consistent schedule I should have over the next few weeks.
Also hoping the lingering knee pain recedes with the steps we're taking around that.
Training was pretty crap the last couple of weeks across illness, travel, and just general disruptions. Also dealing with some tendinopathy in my right knee. Hoping I'll get a solid 4 week run of training in this block.
Another solid session with heavier week-over-week top sets and e1RM increases on all movements. This block will only be 3 weeks because of travel, so it would be convenient if we keep making big jumps.
Solid session to end the training block. Weights and e1RM finishing up on comp lifts, and pushed weight up on Supps and Accessories as well.
Week-over-Week from the end of the last block to the end of this one was quite good at 3.2%. However, the peak e1RM Total (1107) is still the lowest since I added knee sleeves to squats. This is mostly due to the taper and peak for the mock meet at the end of last block having not gone well.
If we can get comparable week-over-week improvement next block, that should put peak e1RM right around my best since adding sleeves (1143). And then hopefully we can keep stacking mostly positive blocks from there.
Spotos were feeling great, but I stayed conservative rather than go for a PR. Don't want to sap my chance to make a bigger jump on Comp Bench on Friday.
Moved the grip out on LB PBN until I was able to return each rep to a low bar position. Thinking about trying to gradually move grip in vs. trying to gradually move reps lower with normal Squat grip.
Tough session as I pushed weight a little bit on everything here in the final week. Everything came in more or less on target except for the RDLs where coach called for a 25+ lb. jump that wasn't quite there for 6 reps @ RPE 8.
Technique feeling very dialed-in on Spotos, and may attempt a 3 rep PR next week if warm-ups feeling good.
Moved BSS to this day because I had a lot of quad discomfort on last Friday's Pause Squats after having 3 days off from any Squat movement.
Tried going as heavy as possible on the low bar PBN to see if that helped the bar return to the low bar position after the Press, but it didn't. Currently, I can start the movement in low bar position, but can't return any lower than the top of the traps. The point of this movement is to increase my shoulder mobility slightly to see if it lessens elbow pain with heavier weights on Squats. Probably we'll just roll with in the way it is and see if it improves over time, or possibly abandon in favor of something else. TBD.
Pause Squats were creaky today and took a step back. We're going to reduce RPE slightly, and also add some squat accessory to the previous day to see if that keeps fitness up a little better.
Did full meet conditions with a 2 hr AM weigh-in with no food or drink beforehand, 30-40 minutes before and between lifts, and 8-12 minutes between attempts.
Just barely missed weight on the back of a very casual 2 week cut (no booze for 2 weeks, low fiber the last week), but also didn't strip all the way down (underwear and singlet still on). Good info ahead of my fall meet.
Goals were:
- lifetime PR squat at 413. Great success.
- 237 Bench. Exactly the right call for the day.
- 424 DL. For sure wasn't there.
Happy with the ATPR and happy with the info we have on the other lifts. I've got some ideas on how to get things turned around on DL, and I'm looking forward to what my coach cooks up as well to start making the push for my meet in September.
Another PR on HBS, but Bench was slightly off compared to last week. It's tentatively starting to look like a trend for comp lifts to be a bit flat in Week 3, but we'll just have to see how things go with next week's mock meet.
Really focused in on the DLs Paused below the Knee. Used the same top weight as the last two weeks, and it felt much more in control. First back-off set of 5 is a Rep PR.
Really tough session, but I got PRs on High Bar Squats and Paused Deads, and matched a 14 Rep DB Bench PR. Pretty good for week 1, and hopefully I'll acclimate. It's basically the same volume of SBD for Day 3 as last block so I should.
Solid session to start the block. PRs on Pause Squats and Larsens. DL was a bigger stepback to start the block than I'd hoped, but hopefully it charges forward from here.