Reps and Volume. Week 4. Press

BW - 228

Press -
BarX5
65X5
85X4
105X3
125X2
135X1
115X12, 7

Face-Pulls - 5 sets of 20

Hammer Curls - 35sX10, 8, 6, 6

I wasn't in a good place to work out on this day.  I'd spent an hour and a half at the bank and then eaten a huge breakfast right before hand.  The breakfast in particular was dumb.  All I wanted to do was take a nap afterwards.

Couldn't get a PR on the first set of Presses, so I went for max reps on the 2nd.

The idea of doing 100 rep sets was loathsome to me on this day, so I upped the weight and did several sets.  This was going to be the last day of the 100 rep phase anyhow.

LRB Back & DL. Pressing

BW - 208

Incline -
BarX30
95X5
115X4
135X3
155X2
185X1
165X13

Press - 65X25, 15, 10

Pushdowns - X100

165X13 is a Rep PR!  And I even left a rep or two in the tank.  I was so happy, I forgot I was supposed to do a 2nd back-off set.

And that's why, even though I made the target 50 reps in 3 sets on the Press, I can't count it.  because in previous sessions I was further weakened by a 2nd back off set of inclines.  And the last reps on each of these Pressing sets were brutal.  My triceps and forearms were screaming.

This was the last pressing day that will be set up like this.  Glad I hit a Rep PR on Incline.  Would have liked to have gotten 65X50 total clean, but I didn't.

Higher Rep. Week 2. Squat

BW - 208

Squat -
BarX10 (paused)
95X5 (paused)
135X5
185X4
225X3
255X2

Pause Squats - 225X3, 3

High Bar Squats - 185X10, 5

Hack Squats - 120X10, 10, 10, 10

Leg Extensions -
Pyramid upX15, 15, 15, 15, 10 (top set heavier than last week)
Back-offX20 (same weight as last week)

Lunges - BWX20, 20
super-set with no rest
Hypers - BWX20, 20

Okay session.  I'll be waving the top double on squats while I'm focused on building some muscle.  It was planned to be a single, but these weights are too light.

I still want to stimulate some top-end strength here while being cautious of whatever's going on with my lower back.  I thought pause squats as the back-off sets fit the ticket pretty well.  They force me to take some weight off the bar, while at the same time I get feedback on what's happening in the hole where my low back needs to keep tight.  This was a "getting reacquainted" session for pausers, and I expect to be pushing this up to 3 sets of 5 (similar to what I've been doing with deficit deads).  225X3 already matches my old Rep PR for these.  I'm much stronger now.  I won't push past 3 sets of 5 because I need to make sure I'm still fresh enough for...

High bars.   These will be the 'main' movent, and are starting here with 185X2XAMAP, or what Paul Carter would call a 50% set.  This is kind of a 2nd back-off set.  But as things progress, I hope to be able to push past 2 sets at this weight, and maybe set some volume PRs.

Hack Squats are so stupid hard, I'm basically ignoring the value of the weight on here.  I don't understand why these are so much harder than leg presses.  Over 5 reps on every set was eye-bulging.

Pushed another plate onto the leg extensions.  Feels like it will be awhile before I get that one up to 15.

I mysteriously cut my lunges/hypers after two sets.  In the light of day, I don't know why that was.  Hypers are much easier now that they're not coming right after a free squat movement.

Phase 1. Week 8. Deadlift

BW - 212

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

335X4, FAIL

Deficit Deads - 275X5, 5, 5

RDL - 225X8, 8

BB Rows - 135X15, 10

Fought through a head-cold, and had a good session.  335X4 is an all-around PR, and my final phase goal for this weight; so I can move to 345 next week.  I tried to go for a 50% set, but the bar didn't leave the ground, hahahaha.

Deficits were solid, and RDLs even showed some signs of life.

All of a sudden my rows are taking off.  These are still strict, so I don't know why this is happening, but I'm happy about it.  135X15 is a Rep PR.

LRB 365: Big-15. Phase 1. Week 4. Shoulders and Bench

Friday-
BW - 200

Upright Rows - 60X15, 15, 15, 15, 15
super-set with
DB Rear Delts - 25sX15, 15, 15, 15, 15

Got a little more density in my volume here.

Sunday-
BW - 203

Bench -
BarX15
85X5
95X4
115X3
142X2
165X1

155X13, 4

Chins (shoulder-width, neutral grip) -
BWX5
+15X5
+20X3, 3
+25X2
+30X1

+25X8, 5
BWX7

DB Incline -
55sX16, 9
50sX8
45sX8, 8, 8

Spent 9 hours yesterday at a music festival standing around in the sun and drinking beer.  I did okay on getting some food and water in, but between that and having one-to-many cups of coffee before training, my bench day got off to a bit of a shaky start.

That being said, being off 2 reps total on my 50% sets on bench from last session isn't really worrisome.  I've got two more bench sessions on this cycle, and my goal is 15 reps.  Still confident I'll get there.

Matched my chins from last time, but it was a grind.

And I hit my DB Incline goal +1!  I'll probably just stay with the 55s and keep pushing the first set, while working to stay at that weight on subsequent sets and get 8+ reps per set.

LRB 365: Big-15. Phase 1. Week 2. Arms and Squats

Sunday
BW - 198 (bah)

Incline DB Curls - 35sX10, 10, 10, 10, 8

PJR Pullovers - 55sX10, 10, 6 (aborted)

Single-arm cable pull-overs with my right arm - minimal weightXlots

Ab Wheel - 5 sets of 10

Monday
BW - 200 

Calf Raises - 285X15, 305X15, 15

Squats -
BarX10 (paused)
95X5 (paused)
115X5
145X4
175X3
215X2
245X1

205X12, 5

Leg Curls - X20, 20, 14, 12

Lunges - BWX30, 30, 26, 20

Triceps strain in my right shoulder was really acting up at the bottom of each pullover rep.  I hoped it would start to get better from the work, but it didn't so I shut it down and tried to just get some blood through it with some high-rep isolation.  Feels much better today.

The 245X1 on squats was all fucked up.  I think my mind wandered, and I got way out over my toes out of the hole and had to Good Morning it up.  I almost took it again, but wanted to get on to the real work.  205X12 is a Rep PR and my 2nd highest projected 1RM since I reset to lower depth in the Summer of '12.  Still sucking wind toward the end of the 1st set, and sucking wind with shaky knees all through the 50% set.

LRB 365: Big-15. Phase 1. Week 2. Shoulders and Bench

Friday
BW - 199 (this seems inappropriate)

Upright Rows - 60X15, 15, 15, 15, 12 (45 sec. rests)

DB Rear Laterals - 25sX15, 15, 15, 12, 12 (45 sec. rests)

Saturday 
BW - 201 (1/2 a large pizza, 2 bowls of jambalaya, 4 chicken legs, and a bowl of orange sherbet between sessions helped a little)

Bench -
BarX15
85X5
95X4
115X3
145X2
165X1
155X12, 4

Chins (shoulder-width, neutral grip) -
 BWX5
+15X5
+20X3, 3
+25X2
+30X1
+25X9, 3
BWX6

DB Incline -
50sX19, 10, 5
40sX9, 9

Weight has been holding steady at 200 for a week or so, and then dipped down, so I ate it back up.

Both myself and my spotter lost track of the # of reps on my back-off set.  I lost track around 10 or 11, and then got 1 or 2 more.  My spotter said "Not sure, I think like 14."  But I told him I was going for 13, and I think he was just being 'positive.'  I'll just assume I matched last week and move forward.

201 (BW)+25X9 is a Rep PR.  Interestingly, my right triceps was feeling aggravated by this movement.  I guess the triceps does cross  the shoulder (see: Rolling Triceps Extensions), and my triceps have had a lot of soreness so far on this program, plus the bench beforehand...it was just weird.

I upped the weight on the DB Inclines a bit.  The effect here was like 50% sets with the 50s though.  Instead of stopping after the 5 rep set, or gutting out a couple more sets of 5-or-less sets, I decided to drop the weight and get some better volume.

LRB 365: Strong-15 Short. Week 1. Bench

BW - 195

Bench -
BarX15
85X5
95X4
115X3
125X2
145X1, 1
155X1

115X22, 6

Incline - 85X15, 7

Dips - BWX12, 10, 9, 7, 6

Session was good/OK.  The 155 on bench was curiously heavy, but 115X22 is a PR from 17 reps on up.  Grain of salt there because I've only pushed reps at that weight once before, and that was at the beginning of the Strong-15 last December.  But at that time, I only got 115 for 15, and noted at the time that the bar was moving slow.  That was not the case with the 115X22 today.  And this projects to be inside 10 lbs. of a perceived 1RM increase.  Feels on target.

As I mentioned in my last squat post, I'm doing additional back-off sets per a suggestion in the manual.  With Squats, the manual calls for 2 sets of 3 of Pause Squats, but I did 4 sets and when the last rep of that 4th set was slow coming up, I moved on to assistance work.  Bench is different because the back-off sets are AMAP, so I'm using one of Paul Carter's favorite techniques: 50% sets.  I would have liked to have gotten closer to 11 (half the reps from the first set) on my 2nd back-off set, but sometimes you're so gassed from the first 50% set, it's hard to imagine you'll get even 1 rep on the 2nd.  It was like that here, and that's OK.

I've got the option as well to do more than 2 sets on Incline, but this turned out to be another 50% set, and so I let it be.

There's no prescribed number of sets/reps for the Dips.  The manual just says "body x lots," and 5 sets felt about right.  These were all AMAP sets where I barely got the last rep or failed when I attempted the next one.

Also, should note that as I've pulled some carbs back out of my diet again, my BW increase has dropped back off to where I was about 2 weeks ago.  I'm going to try to up the protein/veggie intake and see if I can SLOWLY get it to start going up again that way.  If it stalls out, I'll revisit some additional carbs, but I was starting to feel a little sloppy over the last couple weeks.

5/3/1 BBB: Cycle 2. Week 3. Bench

BW - 200

Bench -
BarX15
95X5
115X5
140X5
155X3
175X1
185X1
135X10, 6

Chin-ups - BWX10, 7

Wide-Grip Pulldowns - 3 sets of 10

BB Curls -
BarX10
65X5
BarX30

80% session.  I have a tight schedule early this week, and so had to do bench a day early.  Because that had me going Press, Squat, Bench on consecutive days, I made some slight tweaks so that there wasn't as much overlap with what I did on Press day.  That means taking the focus away from my shoulders a bit.

First, I chose not to go for a rep max on my top set, but rather to just get the required single, and then take my training max for the cycle for another single.  Wendler has written a lot about this lately, and it made sense for this day.  Both singles were heavy, but the rep was smooth on both.  Very satisfied with that result.

Second, rather than do BBB sets on Incline, I did more flat bench with a 50% set.  I kind of thought I would get more than 10 reps, but I'm fine with this.

Chins and Pulldowns and curls were all fine.

5/3/1 BBB: Cycle 1. Week 1. Bench

BW - 200

Bench-
BarX15
95, 115, 135X5
150X7

Inclines -
95X10, 10, 10
105X10, 10

Chins - BWX10, 6

Pull-Downs - 5 sets of 10-15

Disrupted session.  I only took bench to a rep where the bar speed slowed dramatically.  I could have gotten 1 or 2 more, and possibly ground out a 3rd.  I decided to just take the two extra reps and focus on the BBB sets.

There were a bunch of guys in the main bench area talking NBA when I went to do Inclines and I let myself get sucked into the conversation.  The incline sets were all "fine," but they all had 3-4 minute rest between sets because of talking.  I've never really talked to anyone in the gym before, and it was kind of nice to socialize, but I feel like I diminished my workout.

Also, I used the really steep incline bench, but I think I'm gonna try the curved one next time.  The steep angle just makes it feel a lot more like an overloaded OHP rather than a deficit bench press somehow.

Since this phase is so much about volume, and since I can't do 5 strict sets of 10 on chins, I've decided to just do 50% sets of chins and follow that up with 5X10 pull-downs for lat volume.  A little bit of a call-back to the Defranco programs that started all this for me.

Birthday Squats

LRB Diet - Week 10

BW - 197

Squats -
BarX10 (long pause at the bottom to stretch)
95X5
125X4
145X3
185X2
205X1
125X35!!!

Chins - 5 sets
super-set with
Push-ups - 4 sets

Band Pull-Aparts; Medium Grip - 2 sets of 50

Fucking hell, this was the hardest damn set ever.

To recap, about a month back, inspired by Dave Tate's Halloween tradition of doing a "death-set" of 315, I decided I would aim to do a a 35 rep set for my 35th birthday.  I projected my 40RM, which is a hilarious idea especially in the middle of running 531.  I used 40 precisely because projecting a max for a rep range that's far away from the range you've been working in is a dicey proposition, so I knew I would need a margin of error.  That weight projected to be 125 lbs.

Then for the last 3 weeks I've been adding back-off sets on my heavy squat day with 135.  Again, I used a heavier weight to train for this to create "elbow room" for the 35 rep set itself.  Week 1 I did 135X10, Week 2 135X15, and Week 3 I did 135X20 and then a 50% set of 135X12.  This helped me get used to working in a higher rep range, and with a heavier weight than my "event" weight.

For the programming of the event itself, I used Paul Carter's Big-15 #'s which are designed to over warm-up to a moderately heavy single, and then back-off to some higher-rep work sets. This was perfect.  The 125 felt feather-light for the first 10 reps or so thanks to the over warm-up.  I got to 20 and everything was still OK, but around 25 reps I didn't know if I would make it.  My lower back started cramping pretty hard from holding my arch that long, and that meant that taking a rest at lock-out was really no rest at all.  It was a toss-up as to which was harder at the end, squatting or holding at lock-out.  The weight was so light that I even tried standing straight up and using my hands to hold the weight against my back, but the cramping continued.  By the time I got to 30 there was no option left but to finish, however.  Those last reps will go down as the ugliest squat reps of my life, but I got my 35.  I racked it, and collapsed onto the safety pins and just stared at the ceiling panting.

Diet-wise, I didn't eat any carbs the day before, and on the day I added some carbs back in to breakfast and lunch, and then added a 2nd lunch a couple hours before training along with a cup of coffee.  As a result, I was lean in the morning, but had plenty of energy for squatting. 

This all went pretty damn well.  If I had it all to do over again, the only thing I would change would be to add hypers at the beginning and/or end of every session leading up to this.  That low-back cramping was no joke.

After the squats, I just did some chins and push-ups to make sure I got some push-pull in before my vacation.  No point in recording the reps performed, because the numbers would be extreme outliers after that squat session.  I was just too wiped to be much good for anything.  I will say that I kept both movements strict, and with a tight pause at the bottom of each rep.

Lastly, I threw in some pull-aparts for balance because I got more push-ups than chins.

5/3/1 Full-Body: Cycle 4. Week 3. Squat

LRB Diet - Week 9

BW - 197

Squat -
BarX10, 10
95X5, 5
135X5, 5
180X5
205X3
225X7
135X20, 12

Pendlays -
BarX15
120X3
155X3
140X15

Dips (paused at bottom) -
BWX5, 5, 5, 5, 3

Hoo-boy.  I did not get very much sleep the night before, and this session was mentally and physically exhausting.

225X7 is in line with the top-sets of my last two sessions, but no weight PRs.  That's fine and good, but the real story is then in the back-off sets.  Jefit says this a volume PR for me, even over the 195X20 session I did back in May when I was cutting my squats much higher.  I'd thought about form in the days between my last session and this, and theorized that if I kept my butt pushed back a bit at lock-out, I would be able to take a breath or two between reps without losing my arch as much.  This worked out very well and holding the weight with locked knees felt much safer for my back.  Also, being able to keep my arch tighter resulted in an almost painful low-back pump.

My goal for the back-offs was to hit 20 reps with 135 (5 more reps than last session), and then do a 50% set.  I was nervous going into the 20 because I felt a bit wiped from the top-set, but the new lock-out positioning helped me get it very solidly.  I then rested ONLY 60 seconds (this is how 50% sets work after all), and went back for another set.  I thought I would be lucky to get 10 as tired as I felt, but I ended up getting 12!  I probably could have gotten 15 with an all-out-maybe-dump-the-last-rep set, but I'd beat my goal, and called it good.

So that's my last regular squat session of the cycle.  I have two more pause-squat sessions, and then it's on to the "Birthday Squats."  I'll be using my current, projected 40RM of 125, and working up and then backing-off to it using Paul Carter's "Big-15" progression.  That will look like this:
BarX45
95X5
120X4
145X3
180X2
205X1
125X35
Gotta make sure I get more sleep the night before, and eat up a bit.

As fried as I was, 140X15 is an all-around PR in Pendlays.

For Dips, I'd been saying I was going to work up to +45 by 5, and then re-set my form to full depth and with a pause at the bottom.  I got to thinking about this, and realized it's the same bullshit I used to tell myself with Squat and Bench.  "Yeah, I'm gonna reset my bench form to close-grip and pausing every rep at the bottom, but I just want to hit 225 with my hands past the rings and a lot of bounce of the chest first."  Why?  All that does is delay me hitting the target with the harder form.  So I said fuck it, 45X5+ will feel so much sweeter when I hit it deep and with a pause at the bottom than it will cutting high.  And how shitty would I have felt about myself if I'd done +45X5 today, and then discovered next session that I can't get much more than 5 BW reps with a deep pause?  Not lying to myself is a good thing.

Honestly, I almost skipped dips altogether because I was so tired, and that meant ab wheel was just not going to happen.

5/3/1 Log: Cycle 2. Week 1. Press

Defranco Shoulder Mobility

Press -
BarX5
65X5X2
80X5
95X5
110X8
95X5

Chin-ups, neutral grip - BW(204)X10, 6

Standing, single-leg curls - 5 sets of 10-12

Swiss-Ball Crunches - 5 sets of 20

110X8 is a Rep PR, and a minor increase to my projected 1RM.  I didn't expect to be setting any 1RM increases on Press or DL on this 2-day split program, but I felt good today so I went for it and got it.  Just one of the smart things about this program philosophy is that it teaches this.  I expect that this is something that becomes ingrained, and years from now when I am likely doing my own thing rather than someone else's program design, I will still work with this concept of having a minimum to meet in a given session, that I can then exceed based on feel.

5/3/1 Log: Cycle 1. Week 3. Incline

Defranco Shoulder Mobility
Incline -
BarX10
95X5
120X5
135X3
150X3
125X10

Klokov Press -
45X5
65X3
75X2
85XFail

Chin-ups - BW(206)X10, 4

Cable Rows - 3 sets of 10-12

Swiss Ball Crunches - 3 sets of 15

Not a bad session for having been out of the gym for over a week with a low back strain.  I used a different incline bench that's a little less vertical, and my pressing was predictably stronger.  I guess I'll just have to start tracking which bench I use in a session.  Still, because my incline was weaker than anticipated in my first week, for the next three weeks, I'm dialing back my training max in the hopes to get more reps on my top set.  Because I could only get 3 reps on my top set here, I decided to do the back-off set with 125.  Both the 150X3 and the 125X10 projected to increased maxes on this movement, but again, it was a shallower bench.

5/3/1 Log: Cycle 1. Week 1. Pause Squats

Defranco Hip Mobility

Pause Squats -
BarX5
105X5
135X5
160X5
185X5
210X5

Front Squats - 135X5X5

RDL -
135X5
155X5
175X5
195X5
215X5

Hammer Swings - 15 seconds AFAP, 45 second rest; 15 minutes

Wow Pause Squats.  Paul Carter once said not to go above 5 reps with these because they are so taxing, and I definitely see what he was talking about.  I used 80% of my regular squat max for my training max here, and I don't know if I could have gotten much more than 5 reps on my top set if I'd tried, but frankly all the work sets felt hard.  I dropped a line to Carter about this to see if he thinks that's normal, or if I should drop the training max even more.  He said I should leave it for this cycle, and drop it in the future if necessary.  After the top set of 5, my heart was pounding like it did after my set of 20 at the end of my last cycle.  Crazy.

UB: Reps Week 1. Bench

Sunday:

Timed Mile - 10:38

Monday:

Defranco Shoulder Mobility

Bench -
BarX15X2
65X10
105X6
135X3
160X1
135X12, 4, 4, 3, 2, 2, 3 (30 total reps)

Chin-ups - Gym BW 210X7, 3

Presses - 95X5, 85X5, 65X5, BarX7, BarX10

Decided to do a light one-mile run between lifting days.  Just went for something easy; I even walked a bit after the initial quarter mile.  Had to keep my focus to keep my pace down though.  When I run by myself, my instinct is too just take off.

So the numbers Paul Carter lays out in this plan call for the work-sets to be 63% of your 1RM*1.05.  For my bench, that comes out to about 130lbs.  This is one of the rare examples where I have consciously made an ego-driven change to my programming.   It just seems dumb to put a 25, 10, 5, and 2.5 lb. plate on each side for this instead of just throwing full plates on there on working on that weight for this cycle.  Also, 135 projects as my 15 rep max, same as what I'm doing on Squats.

The results were interesting.  It was easier than the Squats (have I mentioned I'm a poor squatter?), but not as easy after the first set as the rows.  Could be because I upped the weight slightly over the recommended %?  I also cut those later sets shorter than I may have needed to because, ya know, the weight is hovering over my chest with no partner to catch it.  Anyway, with the 30 second rests (it's 60 for Squats) this was a bit of a romp.  Pretty fun.

UB: Strong Week 3. Bench

Defranco Shoulder Mobility

Machine Neck Extension - 15X20, 20X20, 25X20

Bench -
BarX10
95X5
105X5
125X5
135X5
155X5

DB Incline - 55sX12, 7

Dips - Gym BW 204+5lb.X12, 4

Defranco-style Core Circuit X2

20 minute, brisk walk home

Back of my neck felt a little sore coming into the gym, so I backed off the weight on the extensions.  I'm pretty sure it was just my traps from heavy shrugging the day before, but no point in killing myself on neck extensions anyway.

Bench felt a little better today.  I've been focused so much on tinkering with my set-up, that everything had just felt hard.  Today I tried to just make sure and do the things I KNOW have been good, and not worry as much about other stuff.  That meant setting up high on the bench so that my shoulders end up just below the uprights, and getting into this position by setting my feet then sliding down the bench and then back up onto my upper-back.  The thing I had trouble with today was tucking-and-flaring my elbows through the movement, and pulling the bar apart.  Otherwise, I gave myself decent rests between the top sets, and things mostly felt good.  Next week the top set is my projected 5RM.

UB: Strong Week 2. Bench

Defranco Shoulder Mobility

Machine Neck Extension - 20X20, 30X20X2

Bench -
BarX10
85X5
105X5
115X5
125X5
145X5

DB Incline Press - 55sX11, 5

Dips - Gym BW 200+10X10, 4

10 minute trot on the treadmill

Switched over to extensions on the neck machine.  I figure this will have more carry-over to the Deadlift and Squat than flexions were going to have to anything else.  However, before I decide to do them for both upper-body days I want to see how the muscles feel tomorrow.  If my neck is sore and achy, I may not want to do them on Press day, and then have them sore on Deadlift day.  OR maybe I should and make my body adapt.  Dunno.

Still hate benching.  I'm still monkeying with my set-up, and taking minimal breaks between sets while the weights are this "light."  I've done 145 for 10 reps before, but those 5 felt pretty heavy today.  Hope that's not a bad sign.