LRB Short-15. Week 3. Incline and Rows

Incline -
BarX30
105X5
115X4
135X3
155X2
165X1
175X1, 1
165X5, 5, 5
145X10

BB Rows -
BarX25
135X8
165X8, 8, 8

Underhand Pulldowns - X15 (same weight as last week)

LRB Short-15. Week 3. Squat and Deadlift

BW - 210

Squat -
BarX10 (paused)
135X5
155X5
185X4
215X3
235X2
255X1
265X1
285X1
245X5, 5

Deadlift -
185X5
205X4
255X3
275X2
305X1
315X3
285X3

LRB Short-15. Week 2. Incline and Rows

Inclines -
BarX30
95X5
105X4
125X3
135X2
155X1
165X1
175X1
155X8, 8, 8
135X12

Rows-
BarX20
135X8
155X8
165X8, 8

Underhand Pulldowns - X12

LRB Short-15. Week 2. Squat and Deadlift

BW - 212

Squat -
BarX10 (paused)
95X5 (paused)
135X5
155X4
185X3
205X2
245X1, 1
265X1
235X5, 5

Deadlift -
135X5
185X4, 4
225X3
255X2
285X1
305X1
305X3
275X3, 3

Solid session.  I dropped the goal weight back on squats after last week, and that meant my 2X5 weight was the same as last week's 2X8.  Everything was smooth

Deadlift is still feeling tough off the floor, but all the reps still moved fast and smooth.

LRB Short-15. Week 1. Incline and Rows

BW - ??? (worked out in street clothes, including boots)

Incline -
BarX30
95X5
105X4
125X3
135X2
155X1, 1
165X1
145X8, 8, 8
125X17

Rows -
BarX18
135X8
145X8
155X8, 8

Underhand pull-downs - X15, 9

Good session.  Everything was fairly fast on Incline.

On rows, I worked up until 8 reps felt heavy and did one more set there.

LRB Short-15. Week 1. Squat and Deadlift

BW - 208

Squat -
BarX10 (paused)
95X5 (paused)
145X5
165X4
205X3
225X2
245X1
255X1
265X1
235X8, 8

Deadlift -
135X5
185X4
225X3
255X2
275X1
285X1
295X3
275X3, 3

Running the LRB Short-15 as a 2x/wk. routine while I'm rehearsing my new show.  For Squatting and Incline benching, it's set up so that by the end I'm hitting the same weight for the top single that I was using prior to my vacation; 315 and 185 respectively.  For deadlift, I put in the old top single #, 365, as the goal for the cycle.  That will take me to 330X3 as my final lift of the cycle.

This may have been wrong thinking on the squat, as the 265X1 was heavy-ish, and the 235 for 2X8 was gruelling.  But I'm also running on 5 hours of sleep a night with rehearsals and work, and that doesn't help with the higher reps stuff at all.  So I'm going to back that back down and use 315 as my goal weight, which will only have me hitting a single at 295 by the end.

The sets of 295 and 275 on deadlift were all fast.

Training: High Bars

BW - 212

High Bar Squats -
BarX10 (paused)
95X5 (paused)
135X5
185X3
225X2
255X1
205X11, 9, 8

Hack Squats -
1ppsX10, 10, 11

Good session.  I went up to 255 for my last over-warm-up on High Bars just to see how it was moving.  My best ever High Bar Squat is 255X5, I believe.  This single moved pretty well, but the bar was positioned a little bit too high on my neck and so it was fairly painful resting on bone.  I also got 1-2 more reps per work set here for 4 more total work reps than last week.

Hack Squats felt a bit better this week as I got more in the groove.  I thought about adding more weight but said screw it, it's just extra quad volume.

I start rehearsing a new show next week so my schedule's going to go in the toilet.  I'm going to run Paul Carter's Strong-15 Short cyle as a twice-a-week program with a Squat/Dead day and an Incline/Chin day, and then get in some extras at the office gym or what-not as time permits.  Just stuff like biceps and leg curls, maybe some machine rows and that kind of thing.  Nothing crazy.

Training: High Bars

BW - 208

High Bar Squats -
BarX10 (paused)
95X5 (paused)
135X5
185X3
225X2
205X10, 8, 6

Hack Squats - 1ppsX10, 10, 10

First day back in the gym after a two week vacation.  Just gonna ease myself back into things with a couple movements a day.  My schedule is about to get fraught, which will limit my training opportunities, however I didn't want to kill myself coming out of the vacation gate just because of that.  I'll probably just cruise for a couple of weeks, and maybe try out Paul Carter's short peaking cycle as a twice a week program when my schedule gets tight.  As a way of coming out the other side with my strength at my recent baseline.

Anyway, High Bars were solid.  205X10 is a Rep PR, and it's possible I could have gone for an all-around PR of 13 reps on the 1st set, but, again, not trying to kill myself out of the gate.

On the Hacks, I kept my feet close together and as far back as I could, and had my knees going straight forward to try and get maximum quad activation.  My heel was coming off the plate slightly at the very bottom.  This is such a strange movement.  It doesn't feel heavy, but I still have to push hard coming out of the hole, and it's still slow to get back to the top.  Interesting.

LRB 365: Strong-15 Short (and LRB Split). In Review

My goals for the LRB Split and Strong-15 Short Cycle boil down to:
1)  Chase Rep PRs in assistance work to build supporting musculature.
2)  Focus on the Squat overall.
3)  Eat real food, prepared by myself as much as possible, and try to eat "normally."

More detail on each of these.

1)  Rep PRs.  I covered a lot of the Rep PRs under the LRB Split here.  DB OHP, T-Bar Rows, Fronts, GMs, RDLs. 

Under the Strong-15 Short, I had Rep PRs in Bench, Incline Bench, and more RDLs.  Additionally, the way Paul Carter programs Squats and Deads, you could look at my back-off sets as volume PRs.  5 sets of 3 for both Pause Squats and Deadlifts after working up to the day's single.  In my last Deadlift workout, I backed-off to 4 sets of 3 with 295.  Now I've lifted 295X8 before, but the density of volume is even more here, AND the bar speed was fast on all the reps.  For Pause Squats, at the end of the Strong-15 I did 1 set of 3 with 215.  At the end of the Short Cycle, I did 3 sets of 3 with that same weight. 

Leg Presses were also introduced and used in both cycles and the weight/reps were pushed throughout; you could say weight/rep PRs and volume PRs were set on that as well, but 1) it's a machine and therefore highly variable and 2) it's a seldom used exercise for me and so is ripe for improvement.

2)  Squat Focus.  For the LRB Split, I wanted to emphasize quad development as much as possible, so I did Front Squats on both leg days.  On the heavy squat day, I did 4 sets of 10 with fronts after my back squats, and on on light squat day, fronts were my main movement.  The program calls for working up to a few fast triples on that movement, however I over-rode that, and pushed for max reps on the last set 531-style.  I set Rep PRs every week on that day.  This was all in addition to Leg Presses, BW Lunges, and Leg Extensions.  Really trying to take what Dan Green says to heart.

For the Strong-15 Short, I decided to back all my goals down from what I did on the full Strong-15 earlier this year.  I decided for Bench and Deadlift I would program so that my top single at the end of the cycle would be my Everyday Max (EDM), 175 and 315 respectively.  For squat I programmed to hit 255, or 10 lbs. over what I thought my EDM was.

The culmination of the squat focus was that I killed my pause squats and top singles every week, including the EDM+10 in the last week.  And my legs are bigger.

3)  Diet and Food Prep.  Not a lot to say here.  I'm an avid cook, so the main thing was making time one day a week to cook a large amount of lifting friendly food.  This mostly consisted of a variety of grilled meat with some vegetables and rice on the side.  No supplements, and minimized eating out as much as possible.  Over the two cycles my weight slowly and steadily climbed from the low 190s to the low 200s.  About an 8-10 lb. swing, or about a pound a week.

Conclusion.  I had a great time running these.  I looked forward to every training session and felt like I got a lot of good feedback from what I ran.  I set modest goals and hit them.  Now I can only hope I'm setting the stage for continued progress.  It's been an awfully slow climb for me this last year and a half considering how light my weights are.  I'm pretty good about not comparing myself to what other people are doing, but because I like to read up about this stuff it's hard not to notice 175 lb. guys on straight linear progression squatting 450.  I want weight on the bar, but I've just got to be patient and believe it will come if I keep putting in the work and the time on a consistent basis.

LRB 365: Strong-15 Short. Week 5. Deadlift

BW - 205

Deadlift -
135X5
185X4, 4
225X3
245X2
285X1
295X1
315X1

295X3, 3, 3, 3

RDL -
245X2 (double-overhand)
245X7 (mixed grip)
245X14 (straps)

Shrugs -
455X5
365X17

Chins (neutral, shoulder-width)- BWX8, 5, 4

DB Curls - 40sX10, 7

Last workout of the Short-15.  Everything went pretty well, but as usual on this cycle's deadlift day I was exhausted by the end.

The 315X1 (my Everyday Max) felt good, and actually looked even better on video:

My grip on my left-hand got a little slippy double-overhand here, so I'm not 100% this lift would pass in a power-lifting competition.

I tried to keep going double-overhand on my back-offs, but it got dicey, and by my last set of 295X3, I had to go full mixed-grip:

Just like my last two sessions with Squat and Bench, this is my first time ever seeing myself deadlift, and to my eyes these look good.   I'm pondering if I should ask some Internet guru or other for a 'form check,' but the more I think about that the more distasteful it gets.

I wanted to go double-overhand strapless on RDLs to get more grip work in, but it was clear that wasn't happening today.  I ended up pulling a PR with straps at 245X14.

Since it was the last session I decided to go all-out and bump the weight up on shrugs by 50 lbs. for both sets.  Felt strong.

Chins and curls felt weak after all this other work.  I was able to use the adjustable chin station so I got that elusive neutral/shoulder-width grip I've been toying with.  My whole upper back is achy today from all this work, and it's impossible to say if any one movement contributed more than any other.

LRB 365: Strong-15 Short. Week 5. Bench

BW - 199

Bench -
BarX20
95X5
115X5
135X3
145X2
165X1, 1
175X1

145X14, 6

Incline - 115X14, 6

Dips - BWX13, 10, 8, 5, 5

Nice, PR-laden session.  The 175 felt good, and I videoed again, and it looks about like it felt:

The video just supports what I know, which is that I'm having a bitch of a time reconciling leg drive with keeping my butt on the bench.  175 is what I've got down as my EDM for bench.

The back-off set is an all-around PR at 145X14.  I videoed that as well, but didn't see anything particularly informative.

115X14 is an all-around PR on Inclines.  So Rep PRs that project new highs in 1RM for both flat bench and incline.  That's what the program is designed to do here, and hopefully the top end strength really is moving.

Nothing spectacular on dips, but I did get more reps per set that previously.

LRB 365: Strong-15 Short. Week 5. Squat

BW - 199

Squat -
BarX10 (paused)
95X5 (paused)
135X5
155X4
185X3
205X2
235X1
245X1
255X1

Paused Squats - 215X3, 3, 3

Leg Press - 3ppsX22, 20

Leg Curls - X16, 12 (same weight as last session)

Standing Calf Raises - X18, 15 (same weight as last session)

Last squat session of the cycle.  Pretty awesome, although I was out of gas after the 3rd pause squat set, so I shut it down there.  I filmed my squats, and this was the first time I've ever filmed my lifting.  I wanted to make sure I was getting depth (I reset my squats about a year ago to go deeper) and it turns out I may have been worried about nothing the last year:

That's my 235.  The rep actually felt really easy, like barely a warm-up easy.  I recorded the next 2 attempts as well from different angles so I could see which angle might be most helpful for the future.  Here's my last single at 255:

This felt like it slowed way down about half way up, but watching the video it looks pretty fast and smooth.  I think I need to adjust my perception of what is fast/easy and what is slow/hard.

For all the assistance, I stayed at the same weight as last time, but got more volume on everything. 

All in all, feeling pretty good about where my squat is at after the LRB Split and the Strong-15 Short.  Looking forward to how the high-rep back-offs will go on the upcoming Big-15 cycles.

 

LRB 365: Strong-15 Short. Week 4. Deadlift

BW - 200

Deadlift -
135X5
185X4, 4
225X3
245X2
275X1
285X1
295X1

265X3, 3, 3, 3, 3

RDL - 245X11, 6 (no straps)

Shrugs -
405X10
315X21

Chins (supinated) - BWX10, 5, 5

DB Curls - 35sX21, 9

Fun day at the gym.  Got drawn into some good conversation with one of the bigger/stronger guys at the gym after I started spotting his bench sets.  Meant longer rests between a lot of my sets, but this guy is friendly and eager to talk shop, and so I think it's best to roll with that and soak up as much information as I can.  I actually spotted him on OG T-Bar Rows (assisted reps) the other day as well.  Some interesting pointers from both conversations:
1)  He finds using a shorter bar on the old-school T-Bars to be easier leverage-wise.  He finds the full length bar sometimes seems to want to pull him forward, and it's easier to stay back with the shorter bar.
2)  He feels like once he started going touch-and-go with his deadlifts on rep sets he saw more improvement in his back strength.
3)  When he was body-building and squatting just to parallel, he felt like he strongly felt parallel like his hamstrings and hips would almost lock and bounce right there.  Since he's started going super deep with his squats that's completely disappeared.  I asked him if he thinks he's stronger since he started going deeper and he said he thinks so, but he didn't seem sure about that.
4)  After his main sets of bench press, working up to 330X5, and then backing off to sets of 5 around 305, he did sets of 5 paused with a cambered bar, and was singing the praises of that assistance exercise.
So right there are interesting points to keep in mind about 4 key movements.  Look forward to talking with him more in the future.

Deadlifts were strong today.  Honestly, I don't even remember much about the 295X1.  I set-up and before I knew it the pull was over.  I look forward to deadlifting all week and then don't even remember my top single.  Wtf?  The back-off sets were only okay.  They're doing some remodeling on the gym, and the new-ish platform I was pulling on wasn't level.  I kept shimming it up to try and fix it, but nevertheless the bar kept rolling away from me between reps. 

Instead of holding deadlift reps for time, I decided to save all my grip and attack 245 again on RDLs without straps.  So 245X11 is a Rep PR without straps.  The 2nd set was largely hampered by grip, so I feel this was the right choice.

Shrugs were a lot stronger this week.  Chins were weird because the adjustable station I've been using to do shoulder-width, neutral grips was unavailable due to the remodeling, so I had to do plain old supinated.  10 reps at 200 lbs. isn't bad for me lately though.

I don't track PRs on DB curls for god's sake, but curling was surprisingly strong today, and 35sX21 is certainly a personal best.

LRB 365: Strong-15 Short. Week 4. Bench

BW - 202

Bench -
BarX10
95X5
115X4
135X3
145X2
155X1
165X1, 1

145X13, 5

Incline - 105X12, 8

Dips - BWX12, 8, 6

Good session.  145X13 is a Rep PR.  The back-off sets for the last 3 sessions, 125X20, 135X17 and this 145X13 all have higher, projected 1RMs than any other in my lifting history.  Ah, but will I ever see myself stronger in the lower rep ranges?  Only time will tell.

Also, got a good tip from reading this post by John Phung about leg drive.  The basic take-away is barely keep your butt touching the bench as opposed to letting your body actually rest there.  I'll keep going with this and see if it continues to feel good.

105X12 is a Rep PR on Inclines.  This is on the shallower, curved incline bench. 

Dips were alright.

LRB 365: Strong-15 Short. Week 4. Squat

BW - 203

Squat -
BarX10 (paused)
95X5 (paused)
135X5
155X3
185X3
205X2
235X1, 1
245X1

Pause Squats - 205X3, 3, 3, 3, 3

Leg Press - 3ppsX20, 16

Leg Curls - X20, 16 (heavier than last week)

Decent session.  My right knee has been feeling wonky this week.  At first it seemed like squats were making it feel worse, and then by the end of the pause squats, it seemed to feel better than when I started.  Just wait and see.  Hope it's not a side effect of the weight gain.

Cuing hard with 'chest up' and pushing through 'heels.'  245X1 was good.  The 3rd reps on the last couple of pause squat sets were a little wild card as my form tried to break down, but there was no doubt of hitting them all.

Keeping my stance close on leg press, and quads continue to burn.

Hoping the leg curls will help with the knee.

Skipped calves.

LRB 365: Strong-15 Short. Week 3. Deadlift

BW - 201

Deadlift -
135X5
165X5
185X4
225X3
245X2
275X1, 1
285X1

245X3, 3, 3, 3, 3

RDL - 245X12 (with straps)

Shrugs -
405X7
315X18

Chins (neutral, shoulder-width) - BWX8, 6, 5

Curls -
65X16, 8
45X15, 12

Good deadlifting today.  Everything felt strong and smooth.  Held the 285X1, and the last back-off set for time at the top.

Was pretty tired after all this.  I was pretty sure I could get an all-around PR on RDLs if I did one all-out set with straps, and I did.  Up till now, I've been using my back-off DL weight as my RDL weight.  Possibly, I should stay at this weight and stop using straps for the extra grip work...

Loading and un-loading the bar for shrugs felt like it took years, I was so tired.

Chins felt okay despite the low energy.

Even though I was tired, I had a while to wait for the bus, so I did 2 extra sets of curls just with an empty bar.  Yeah, yeah, I know.  "If you've got energy for extra curls, you could have done extra RDLs or chins." 

LRB 365: Strong-15 Short. Week 3. Bench

BW - 199

Bench -
BarX15
95X5
115X4
135X3
145X2
155X1, 1
165X1

135X17, 5

Incline - 95X15, 10

Dips - BWX12, 10, 8

Solid session.  I was trying to cue 'Speed' hard on the singles and the back-off sets.  It definitely helped some, although sometimes it causes me to forget the pause on the back-offs.  135X17 is an all-around PR even including the days when I bounced the bar off my chest.

I moved inclines over to the less steep bench so that I could load the lift a bit more for the rest of the cycle.  95X15 is a Rep PR in incline on either bench.  The combination of the flat bench and the shallower incline angle caused more stress on my triceps.  They were really burning on the 2nd set here.

Pretty tuckered out, and so I cut the dips short after 3 sets.  Getting to that point in the cycle.

LRB 365: Strong-15 Short. Week 3. Squat

BW - 198

Squat -
BarX10 (paused)
95X5 (paused)
135X5
155X4
185X3
205X2
225X1
235X1, 1

Pause Squats - 195X3, 3, 3, 3, 3

Leg Press -
2ppsX30
3ppsX20

Leg Curls - X20, 12

Calf Raises - X13, 10

Walking - 30 minutes

Nice session.  All the squats felt well grooved as I was cuing "chest up" hard.  Both 235s felt strong.

Pause squats were more challenging this week and a lot of fun.  I'm going to try to keep the number of sets up next week, but that may require cutting back on some of the other assistance if I'm feeling wiped.

Leg Press was all narrow stance.  My quads were burning after the 2nd set.

Was pretty tired at this point so I just got a couple sets each on the curls and the raises.

LRB 365: Strong-15 Short. Week 2. Deadlift

BW - 198

Deadlift -
135X5
155X5
175X4
195X3
225X2
255X1, 1
275X1

225X3, 3, 3, 3, 3

RDL - 225X12, 15 (straps on 2nd set)

BB Shrugs - 405X6, 315X16

Chins (neutral, shoulder-width grip) - BWX10, 6, 4

Curls - 65X14, 6

Deadlifts were strong.  Cueing myself with 'Shins' and 'Speed,' especially on the back-off sets.  I've been tearing up my shins by starting reps off with them slightly above the bar, and pulling the bar into them instead of up them.  Held the 275 and the last back-off set for time.

Then my grip started giving out on my first set of RDLs.  12 was a Rep PR, but then I added straps for the 2nd set and set an all-around PR with 15.

Was getting pretty tired at this point, and my shrugging strength wasn't what it usually is.

At this point I was so tired I almost forgot about the chins and went straight to curls.  But I remembered.  A month or so back I did chins at an 'away' gym that didn't have a very good set-up, and I ended up doing neutral grip chins at shoulder width.  The next couple of days my mid-back was really sore from that.  I filed that away, and that's what I'm going to do for this cycle and see what the effect is.  With my scapula retracted, it almost feels more like a high row.

LRB 365: Strong-15 Short. Week 2. Bench

BW - 197

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

125X20, 6

Incline - 85X15, 10

Dips - BWX14, 8, 8, 8, 6

Was really tired today, and 155 felt stupidly heavy, but 125X20 is an all-around PR so go figure.  That's 2 sessions is a row that the top single has felt slow.  Here's hoping that starts to bounce-back next week.

Inclines felt a little more sturdy this week.

Dips were fine.