Showing posts with label Brandon Lilly. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Brandon Lilly. Show all posts

Tuesday, September 2, 2014

Reps and Volume. Week 1. Accessories

BW - 195 (!?!?!)

Machine Pullovers -
Warm-up - X13
Work-sets - X15, 10, 8 (straight-weight)

Chin-Ups (V-Handle) - BWX8, 5, 6, 5, 4, 4 (32 total reps)

Pull-Downs (Double-D Handle) - X18, 15, 10 (straight-weight)

EZ Bar, Reverse Grip, Preacher Curls - 40ishX20, 15
super-set with
DB OHP - 35sX20, 15

DB Curls - 25sX15, 13
super-set with
Rope Push-Downs - X20, 18

BB Curls - 45X20, 15

So I opened a new show last week.  I took the week leading up to opening off from training, and I took most of this last week off from tracking my diet.  Somehow over that time, basically 8/15 - 9/1, I lost a solid 5 lbs. of BW.  The first couple times I weighed myself last week and I was at 198 and 197, I thought it might be just a fluke, but now I've gotten consistently lighter over the last week of resuming training and NOT being strict with my diet.  I'm going to assume I've just been casually under-eating.  I'm upping my target daily intake by 250 calories for this phase, so I'll have to buckle down and make sure I'm getting enough food going forward.

Still...my abs are showing pretty well...

Anyway, adding back in a 4th day of body-building style training basically the same as what I did in my Strength and Hypertrophy phases from earlier in the year.  The genesis for this comes from Brandon Lilly's CUBE method.

I'm about 3 plates down from where I was at on Pullovers in early spring.  I expect that strength to rebound quickly once my body gets used to the movement again.

With chins, I'm still just targeting 30+ reps in the fewest sets possible.  On the last phase, I got that down to 4 sets.  After the pullovers, it took me 6 sets here.  I'll be working to try and get it back down to 4 sets.

Supersetting biceps work with Bench accessory.  I think 35sX20 is actually a Rep PR for DB OHP.  I don't really track Rep PRs for movements like that, just Proj.1RM PRs.  Pretty sure about this one though.  Seems like all that PBN volume may have helped out.

Only 2 sets of push-downs, but my triceps were really fucking sore after about 36 hours.  Good stuff.

The idea with finishing with empty bar curls was to just do one burn-out set, but when I only got to 20 reps, I thought I should add another.

Tuesday, July 23, 2013

LRB 365: LRB Split. In Review

This will be short, as I suspect the LRB Split and the Strong-15 Short cycle go hand-in-hand in a way that will result in a more complete picture emerging at the end of that 2nd cycle.

Generally speaking, the goals for this cycle were to maintain top-end strength on the main lifts relative to where they've been during the conditioning cycle, while allowing some more carbs back into the diet in order to stimulate muscle growth by going hard with the assistance lifts.

My bodyweight started out hovering in the 192 range at the end of the conditioning cycles, and by the end of the LRB Split was hovering around 195-196.

I set the following PRs on assistance work in chronological order:
RDL: 
205X8
225X9
245X10 (with straps)

DB OHP:
20sX25
25sX35
30sX28

Front Squats:
135X10
145X8
155X9

T-Bar Rows:
95X8
110X7

Barbell Rows:
145X9

Good Mornings were a new movement to me with this cycle and I progressed them as well:
135X8
145X7
145X8
145X10

Regarding Front Squats, I was doing them every week.  They were the first assistance exercise following back squats on Heavy Squat days, and they were the main movement on Light Squat days.  All the PRs were set on Light days, however it's worth noting that while I PR'd with 135X10 on a Light Squat day at the beginning of the cycle, by the end I was doing 135X8-10 for four sets across as assistance on my Heavy Squat days.  In addition to all that, I kept my stance narrow on all the Leg Pressing, and went hard to push reps on leg extensions.  Increasing quad size/strength was my primary goal for this cycle, and I feel good about the results.

I also got some good hamstring volume in with all the RDLs and GMs in addition to the maintenance Deads.  Had sore hamstrings every week.

Lots of shoulder volume on the cycle as well.  In addition to the DB OHP, my regular Press was getting within 5 lbs. or so of PR territory by the end.  Lots of high-rep Inclines, Upright Rows, and Rear Delt Flyes to round it out, all pun intended.  Although I honestly haven't noticed very much growth in my delts.  Hopefully, we'll see some of this work translate into Bench strength on the upcoming cycle.

All in all, I had a really good time through most of this cycle.  Hitting PRs on Fronts and RDLs was really fun, and seeing my wheels growing as a result was really great as well.  Near the end, I had a little bit of a crisis of confidence because I didn't instinctively know if my Every Day Max had improved, and was grumpy about what to set as my goals for the Strong-15 Short Cycle.  In the end, re-reading the manual, and reading an inspiring post by Carter along the lines of the Patience and Belief mantra that he and Brandon Lilly have been going over helped me get my head on straight.  I've decided to program lower for the Strong-15 Short than I did for the Strong-15 at the beginning of the program.  My final singles for the next cycle will be right around weights I've hit a million times before.  With the work I did on this cycle, and the extra back-offs I'm planning for the first few weeks of the next, I'm confident that I will be crushing the weights all the way up to the end.  And isn't that what we're supposed to do?