Reps and Volume. Week 3. Bench

BW - 227

Bench -
BarX5
95X5
115X4
135X3
155X2
185X1
155X17, 3

Cable Rows - X60, 25, 15 (upped weight)

Straight-Bar Pushdowns - X50, 30, 20 (same weight as last week)

155X17 ties a Rep PR.  18th rep failed off the chest.

Was able to get total reps on Pushdowns in fewer sets with same weight as last week.

Reps and Volume. Week 3. Squat

BW - 227

Squat -
BarX5
135X5
185X4
225X3
275X2
315X1
275X16

Pull-downs - X60, 40 (upped weight)

Lunges - 4X14 (56 total)

275X16 is an all-around PR and my goal for this weight.  Start going for 285X14 next week.  The last 2 reps were awful, but there was no way I could see myself pulling up short this week.

I upped the weight on pulldowns from my last time.  Was feeling a hangover from the squats pretty hard, but I managed to get this in two sets.

After all the squatting and the ultra-high-rep lat work, I was gassed and a had to sit down for a long time until my head cleared a bit.  I seriously considered just going home, but I didn't do the lunges last week and didn't want to skip them again.  I made myself a deal that I would just go for around 50 reps and keep the reps-per-set low.  This was the right move, and gives me a better mark to build out from.  Or not.  As long as I'm getting in some single leg work, I'm fine with it.

Reps and Volume. Week 2. Press

BW - 227

Press -
BarX5
65X4
85X3
105X2
125X2
135X1
115X11, 6

Face-Pulls - X100 (upped weight from last week)

Cross-Body Hammer Curls - 12sX2X25, each arm

115X11 is a Rep PR and a 2 rep improvement over last week.  These reps are non-stop unless I need to take a breath.  Last week, stopping to breath felt like it took a lot out of me in regards to tightness and energy.  This week, I took a breath between every warm-up rep to drill in staying tight and focused.  It seemed to rally help on the worksets.  17 reps still seems a long way off, but we'll see.

Reps and Volume. Week 2. Deadlift

BW - 230

Squat -
BarX5
135X5
185X5
225X5, 5

Deadlift -
135X5
185X4
225X3
275X2
315X1
285X4, 4, 4, 2

Pull-downs - X50, 30, 20 (upped weight from last week)

My meet coach was pulling on the platform next to me.  I was having trouble last week keeping the bar against my legs.  He gave me the helpful cue to bring my knees further forward at the start and that seemed to do the trick.

Reps and Volume. Week 2. Bench

BW - 229

Bench -
BarX5
95X4
115X4
135X3
155X2
185X1
155X15, 5

Cable Rows - X100

Triceps Pushdowns - X35, 25, 25, 20

Dialed in technique a little harder on bench.  It felt much better for the first 10-12 reps, but then the bottom fell out.  Still got a couple more reps than last week.  Still a ways off from a Rep PR.

Upped the weight on rows and got all 100.  Upped the weight on pushdowns and did not.

Reps and Volume. Week 2. Squat

BW - Away Gym; Didn't see a scale

Squat -
BarX5
135X5
185X4
225X3
275X2
315X1
275X13, 3

Wide-Grip Pull-downs - X100

275X13 is a Rep PR.  Similar to last week, the strength is there for more, but the athleticism isn't.  My knees are shaking and I have no wind, but the actual squat is fine

Got all the way to 100 this time on pull-downs.  Immediately after, I had intense, burning pain in all the involved muscles.  Never had soreness that intense come on that quickly after a movement.  It lasted for about 3 minutes before dissipating.

I was pressed for time so I had to drop the lunges today.

Reps and Volume. Week 1. Press

BW - 228

Press -
BarX5
65X4
85X3
105X2
125X1
135X1
115X9, 6, 3

Face-Pulls - X100

Cross-Body Hammer Curls - 5X10, each arm

115X9 is a Rep PR on the Press.  I didn't even realize that at the time.  My goal here is 17, hahahahha!  We'll just have to see what happens with that or if it's not helpful.  Going for such high reps, I was really unsure about pausing, and if so, at the top or bottom.  My technique got overhauled during meet training, and now I'm figuring out how the new technique gets applied to higher reps.

Reps and Volume. Week 1. Deadlift

BW - 228

Squat -
BarX5
135X4
185X3
225X5, 5

Deadlift -
135X5
225X3
275X2
315X1
275X4, 4, 4, 4

Pulldowns - X75, 25

Deadlifts were a little awkward.  Not sure if it was the warped platform, but on the 3rd and 4th reps of each workset the bar kept getting away from my legs.  Gonna go up to 285 next week and try a different platform, but if I have the same issues I'll have to stay there until I can get clean reps all the way through on most of the work-sets.

Reps and Volume. Week 1. Bench

BW - 227

Bench -
BarX5
95X5
135X3
155X2
185X1
155X13, 7

Cable Rows - X100

Straight-Bar Pushdowns - X100

My goal is 155X20.  My best with this weight is 17; set on 9/15 last year, after coming back from injury.  I'm pausing the first and last reps on all sets.  Don't know when or if I was pausing previously.  It will be interesting to see if these shoot up as conditioning/work-capacity increase, or if I've really 'lost' something during the meet training.

The important thing is that there's no shoulder pain associated with this workout.

Light weights on the 100 rep sets, and I got all the way through.

Reps and Volume. Week 1. Squat

BW - 227 (lowest since 12/8/15)

Squat -
BarX5
135X5
185X4
225X3
275X2
315X1
275X12, 4

Pull-downs - X82, 17

Lunges - BWX30, 24, 20, 26

275X12 is a Rep PR.  I thought it tied a PR and that's why I stopped there.  I didn't want to push too hard my first week back.  My goal is 16.

Using the Phase-II protocol from LRB 365 for a little meet recovery.  Basically just means single sets of 100 reps on one or two movements following the main lift.  Didn't quite get there on pull-downs, and knew I wouldn't get there on lunges.  100 reps of lunges have always been a some'bitch.

BW down to a 3 month low after one week.  Shooting for a very slow, but steady decrease to try and shed fat while maintaining as much muscle as possible.  I've always done high-fat/low-carb in the past.  Reversing that this time to see if it's more manageable (meaning I can still drink beer).

Good start to the post-meet work.

Full Body. Week 1. Deadlift

BW - 207

Bulgarian Split-Squat - BWX12, 12, 12 (each leg)

Deadlift -
135X5, 5
185X4
225X3
275X2
315X1
295X8

BW Ladder Circuit -
Push-Ups - 5, 10, 15, 20, 15, 10, 5
Chin-Ups - 2, 4, 6, 8, 6, 4, 2
Dips -         3, 6, 9, 12, 9, 6, 3
Sit-Ups -    5, 10, 15, 20, 15, 10, 5

I'd originally planned for the squat movement on this day to be High-Bars, but with the knee issue I was dealing with for a few weeks, I thought it would be smarter to go with single-leg work instead.  I wasn't sure what I would do, but I'd been thinking about the Bulgarian Split-Squat.  Similar to the barbell complexes I'm doing on other days, this is a something I did a lot of during my first year of training, but haven't done since then.  Then I saw this video of John Meadows the other day, and realized I could do them very similarly with a little sit-up bracer they have at my gym.  The genius (and hellishness) of doing them like this with the back foot on a roller is that it's easier to keep the load on the front foot and not 'cheat' with the back leg.  I like 'em.

Waving the top-weight and back-off weight down again on Deadlifts to make sure my low-back gets some recovery and is ready for the other full-body days.  On the other hand, I'm also going to let the back-off reps get above 5 for the first time in forever.  295X8 ties my previous 8 rep max, and I easily had a couple more reps in the tank.

This body-weight ladder is modeled almost exactly on a section from Paul Carter's LRB 365 program I ran last year.  By the end of July, I'm going to test myself on some military PFT standards, and that's part of the focus here.  In addition, I'm thinking about these and the complexes I'm doing on the other days as having a 'focus' on assistance movements for the big lift from the prior session.  So the session before this was Bench, and the push-ups and dips here are reflecting that.  My next session is Squats, and the complex at the end of that has RDLs, High-Pulls, and Rows as 'Deadlift focus' to follow on this session.  Bench day follows Squat day, and so the complex on Bench day has two squat movements in it.

tl;dr this was a good session.

Phase 1. Week 1. Deadlift

BW - 205

Deadlift -
135X5
185X4
225X3
275X2
315X1
275X4
super-set with
BW Hypers - X lots

Before I even touched a weight today, I bent over to grab a weight and pulled something in my back/hips.  I did a lot of hypers to keep it warm and get fluid in there, and tried to do my workout.  Everything was just super slow with the strain, though, even the 135 and 185 sets probably had 3 second concentrics.  The 315 was probably the slowest 315 I've ever pulled.  Hit one back-off set and some more hypers and shut it down to go recover.  Happy Thanksgiving to me.

LRB 365: Big-15. Phase 2. Week 6. Arms

BW - 206

BB Curls - 50ishX10, 10, 10, 10, 12
super-set with
BB French Press - 50ishX10, 10, 10, 10, 11

Ab Wheel - X10, 10

Couldn't find a free fucking pad anywhere in the gym, and doing the ab wheel on my bare knees was brutal. 

LRB 365: Big-15. Phase 2. Week 6. Bench

BW - 206

Bench -
BarX10
95X5
115X4
135X3
155X2
185X1

165X10, 5

Chins (Close, V-Grip) -
BWX5
+15X5
+20X3, 3
+25X2
+30X1

+25X6, 4
BWX7, 3

DB Bench - 65sX15, 6, 6, 5

Solid session.  I benched without a spotter, so cut the back-off set of bench at 10.  Feel confident I would have gotten at least 1 more with a spot, so I don't think this is really a step back from last week.  Also, I had trouble with my set-up.  The bench I was using had less 'grip' to it, and I had hard time getting set so that I could use leg-drive without sliding backwards on the bench.

Chins and DB Bench were all fine.  Similar to last week, with maybe a bit more volume thrown in.

LRB 365: Big-15. Phase 2. Week 6. Shoulders

BW - 203

DB Laterals - 15sX15, 15, 15, 15, 15
super-set with
Face-Pulls - X15, 15, 15, 15, 15

LRB 365: Big-15. Phase 2. Week 6. High Bar

BW - 207

High Bar Squat -
BarX10 (paused)
95X5
125X4
145X3
185X2
215X1

185X15

RDL -
135X12
155X10, 10, 8

Lunges - BWX20, 20, 100 (last set R/P)

Solid all around session.  Still skipping calf raises because of right food soreness.

185X15 is my cycle goal for High Bars.  This was by far the most comfortable I've felt with this movement.  Finally finding a good spot on my traps for the bar, and also moved my grip in and am using a thumbs-around.  Felt good and tight throughout the movements.  I think I've set a nice baseline for incorporating this movement into programming going forward.

On the other hand, RDLs are feeling uncomfortable without straps.  I actually did my last couple of sets mixed grip.  I'm working hard to keep my knees tight and stretch the hamstrings way out.  It was kind of exhausting, and I need to replace my lost straps.

Decided to just rest/pause my way up to 100 on the last set of lunges.  Why not.

LRB 365: Big-15. Phase 2. Week 5. Arms

BW - 204 (work gym)

DB Hammer Curls - 30s, 25s, 20s, 15sX20 each

Rope Extensions - X20, 20, 20, 12, 13 (straight weight)

Ab Wheel - X15, 15, 10

LRB 365: Big-15. Phase 2. Week 5. Incline

BW - 206

Incline -
BarX20
75X5
95X4
115X3
145X2
155X1

145X16, 8

DB Press - 40sX15, 8, 6

Machine Pullovers - X15, 11, 10 (straight-weight)

BB Rows - 135X12, 9, 8, 6, 6

145X16 is an all-around PR on Inclines and beats my cycle goal of 145X15.  Good stuff.

Met my cycle goal of 40sX15 on DB OHP.  Cut it short after 3 sets because my shoulders were screaming.

Very, very strict on the pullovers and rows.  Sharp concentric, squeeze at the top, controlled eccentric.  My upper lats were burning at the end of the pullovers, and everything back there was on fire after the rows.

Good session.

LRB 365: Big-15. Phase 2. Week 5. Shoulders

BW - 204

DB Laterals - 15sX20, 20, 20, 15, 13
super-set with
Face-Pulls - X20, 20, 20, 20, 22

LRB 365: Big-15. Phase 2. Week 5. Squats

BW - 204

Squats -
BarX10 (paused)
95X5 (paused)
115X5
145X4
175X3
225X2
255X1

215X12, 5

Single-Leg Curls - X15, 20, 18, 15

Single-Leg Press - 1ppsX23, 20, 20, 20

Three days off of hectic working, drinking, and staying up late lead to a sub-par Squat session.  Big surprise.  Moving along.

I'm gonna lay off the calf work for the rest of the cycle, because I've got a lingering pain in my right foot.  I'm a little nervous it's plantar fasciitis.

Pushed the single-leg work as hard as I could.