Whew. A one set increase in Bench volume, and taking most of my accessories to failure instead of to RPE 8 made this the most short-term fatiguing session of the block so far.
I have houseguests this week which mean I'll probably only get one more session in until next week. I probably need to be prepared to make some judgement calls on next weeks volume and intensity.
Using a mix of RPE targets and %'s this block on the strength movements. Assistance movements generally approaching failure. Autoregulating volume across the board to try and walk out of the gym feeling fresh-to-fine.
I called an audible and added in the Leg/Hip raises. I feel like since I've not been doing the Toes-to-Bar, I'm feeling more hip extensor discomfort following Squat workouts. However, this super-set also increased sRPE for the day.
Still tempted to take this approach on lower focus day of cutting Biceps volume and super-setting in hip extensor work. Just have to play it by ear.
GHR (slightly higher setting than last week) - BWX12, 10 @~8
77.5X9 is a Rep PR for curls. As always, nice to get single-set rep PRs for sets across. As usual in the last couple of weeks of a training block, I'm letting rest times increase set-to-set to try and keep the same weight in target RPE range. I think I took 3:15 between the 3rd and 4th sets here.
Press single was a bit flat from last week, but 75X17 is a Rep PR.
Solid session, thought it did run a bit long. That's a combination of this fully auto-regulated approach (initially) yielding a higher volume of work sets than I've been doing, and a bit more socializing with some of the die hards in an otherwise empty Friday gym.
SSB had 250 as the estimated weight for the day. Took 225 for my test set, and that suggested 250+, and when I took 250 it ended for being X6@7, so I made another jump. I meant to shoot for X6 on the work-sets, but I'm so conditioned to do 5s that I cut the first set a rep short. Whatever. Just happy to have been over the target intensity for decent volume.
As always with Press, I hope today will be the day it feels strong, but it never is. Nevertheless, 140X1@8 was the target, and was squarely hit. Volume sets got heavy kind of fast, and I overshot a touch with a 4th. No big, I don't think.
Deadlift was very solid. I might have done a 3rd rep with 350 to try and hit @8, but I'm more concerned with the back-off sets at this time. The weight felt just right on those, and rewarded me with sets of 6. It did get to @9 somewhat faster than I would have liked, but it was the end of the session, and already more volume than I've done pulling from the floor in...over 2 years according to my logs.
Since I'm dieting and have been having these weird quad pain issues, I decided to just open it up and go sort of full auto-regulation on my programming. Gonna try and stop worrying about the specific weight on the bar, the specific reps/sets, and just try to hone my ability to hit RPEs. I've missed enough reps anyway.
Generally, I know what movements I'm going to do that day (although I may need to change the order to make the "main" movement first), and I'll have a target rep range for each movement. Sets of 1-3, 2-4, 4-6, etc. And on the main movements, a top set range and then back-offs. The straight-sets and back-off sets will all be RPE Stop sets. For "light" movements like Pause Squats, I will shoot to keep rest times ~2 minutes to limit total number of sets. "Medium" movements, ~2-3 minutes. Main or "heavy" movements will have ~2 minutes between test /final warm-up set and top set, 2-3 minutes between top set and first volume / back-off set, and then ~2 minutes between volume sets.
So for Low Bar Pause Squats, I was targeting 4-6 reps around 275. Test set/last warm-up of 245X5@6 pointed me right at 275, and that worked well. My intent is to go for @9 RPE Stops, but I've only been doing 3 sets on this day, and figured a week to pivot into higher volume might not be terrible, especially since I'm still dealing with quad issues. So I hit a 4th set @ 8.5 and called that good enough for this week.
Bench was a little all over the place. Was looking for a top set of 2-4 reps in the 235 range. Went for a test set with 210 (90% of target) and felt like it was almost @8 after 2 reps. So I added 2.5% and tried again, but this time got X3@7. So either I wasn't fully warmed up for 210, or my technique was off. Anyway, this ended up being more predictive. Took the 5% jump to 225 and it was just a hair over @8 for 3 reps. Back-off sets ended up getting to @9 pretty quickly. This is why I might need to move the main movement to the beginning of the training session. Just in case adding additional volume to the initial movement of the day may negatively impact ability to do volume on the primary movement.
Block-Pulls went okay although I overshot the first work-set, and ended up with a top set and back-offs (not the plan, but whatevs. AUTO-REGULATED). 305 is heavier than the test sets I've been doing, but this felt @6 and this movement has been moving really well the last couple of weeks. But 335 was definitely not a weight I was going to pull for sets across. Backed down to 317.5, and that felt like a weight I was going to pull all day, but with the 2-3 minute rests, I got to the end fairly quickly, which is how I planned for this to work. So yay me. Tried to get video of all top sets and final volume sets, but missed the Bench top set.
