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.

LRB Back & DL. Vertical Pulling

BW - 208

Chins -
BWX5
+10X5
+20X4
+25X3
+35X1
+45X1, 1, 1
BWX16

WG Pulldown - X10, 9
RG Pulldown - X8, 8

DB Shrugs - 100sX20, 15

Bumped up the weighted sets a bit on chins, and also hit an all-around PR of 208(BW)X16.

Pulldowns were also feeling stronger.

Grip was the limiter on shrugs, I just didn't feel like chalking up on top of my straps for these.  Probably either need to just do that, or get regular straps.

LRB Back & DL. Squats

BW - 210

Front Squats -
BarX10 (paused)
95X5 (paused)
135X3
155X2
175X1
135X5, 5, 5, 5, 5 (00:30 rests)

RDL -
135X5
175X30, 15, 10

Paused Leg Presses -
3ppsX8
4ppsX8
5ppsX8, 8, 8, 10

My hands were still sore from pulling double-overhand on most of my worksets on DL on Monday.  Threw on straps and used chalk and got WAY more reps on the RDLs than I have been. Why not?  Doing the movement to build hams and glutes, not palms and fingers.  175X12 was my previous best with that weight.  Clearly blew it away with straps.

LRB Back & DL. Deadlift

BW - 211

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

T-Bar Rows - 2 platesX18

Lever Shrugs (3 sec. hold at top) -
380X3
470X3
560X3
610X3
430X20

Hypers - BW+10X16, 16, 16 (plate behind head)

Rope Hammer Curls - X100

Speed feels okay on Deadlifts.

Upped the weight on shrugs and still got 20, but it was a hard 20, so I'll stay there.

Added one 1 rep per set to Hypers to start working up to multiple, weighted sets of 20.

LRB Back & DL. Pressing

BW - 209

Incline Bench -
BarX30
95X5
115X4
135X3
155X2
185X1
165X11, 6

Press - 65X17, 12, 11

Pushdowns - X100

+1 rep on both back off sets from last week on Inclines.  That's +4 total reps over where I was a month and a half ago, and only 2 reps off from a PR.

Similarly, while I got fewer reps on the first 350 set of OHP, I got 40 total reps.  That's +5 total reps over the last month.

I thought about doing different stuff for triceps, but since I showed improvement in both of the pressing movements, I though better to just keep doing the 100 reps of tri's.

LRB Back & DL. Vertical Pulling

BW - 207

Chins -
BWX5
+10X5
+20X4, 3
+25X2
+35X1, 1
+45X1
BWX16

WG Pulldowns - X10, 8
RG Pulldowns - X8, 10

DB Shrugs - 100sX20, 15


207X16 is an all-around Chin PR!

Used the super-wide grip pulldown bar.  Much harder.  Usually I'm all right with that, but I didn't love the way this felt.

Grip gave out on shrugs.  May be the Oly straps I'm using, or maybe grip was just fried from high-rep RDLs the day before.

LRB Back & DL. Legs

BW - 208

High Bars -
BarX10 (paused)
95X5 (paused)
135X5
155X3
175X2
185X1
155X5, 5, 5, 5, 5 (30' rests)

RDL -
135X8
155X23, 12, 15 (50 total reps)

Single-Leg Press - 2ppsX12, 13, 12

Almost 3 weeks since my last leg training session, and this one took a lot out of me as a result.  Nevertheless, the 155X5X5 were all focused and I was pushing for maximum acceleration despite the short rests.

Also upped the weight on RDLs with the 350 method.  I did these strapless, and grip was the limiting factor.  I feel like I should commit to straps for these until such time as grip proves to be an issue on deadlifts.

Also upped the weight on single-leg press, but wasn't going to get close to 20 today.  I will stay at this weight and try to push them up.

LRB Back & DL. Pressing

BW - 209

Inclines -
BarX30
95X5
115X4
135X3
155X2
185X1
165X10, 5

Press - 65X20, 12, 6

Pushdowns - X100

For the first time in a long time, I had an unplanned week off of training that didn't involve injury.  My schedule just unexpectedly started to collapse under it's own weight, and I couldn't justify cutting anything but training.

Picked up where I left off, and hit pressing on this day.  165X10 is 1 rep more than last time, but the last rep was 100% effort and is still 2 reps off my best with this weight.

On OHP, I did push the reps way up on the 1st and 2nd set before the bottom fell out on the last set.  I think 65X20 is acutally a Rep PR.

Needed to get home, so just did a 100 rep set for triceps.

LRB Back & DL. Week 4. Vertical Pulling

BW - 205

Chins -
BWX5
+10X4
+20X4, 3
+25X2
+35X1, 1, 1
BWX15

WG Pull-downs - X8, 9 (straight-weight; same weight as previous)

RG Pull-downs - X8, 9 (straight-weight; same weight as previous)

DB Shrugs - 100sX20, 18

Upped the weight a little bit on the singles.  Got an extra rep on the last set of both pull-down movements.

LRB Back & DL. Week 3. Deadlift

BW - 208

Deadlift -
135X5
185X5
225X3
275X2
295X3, 3, 3
315X1
335X1, 1

T-Bars - 90X18

Lever Shrugs (with 3 sec. hold) -
380X3
470X3
560X3
605X3
380X21

Hypers - BW+10X15, 15, 15 (plate held behind head)

RG Curls - 50ishX17, 15, 10

Decided to try the Fatigue Singles option on the Deadlifts today when the 295X3 were moving so well.  I thought 335 moved pretty well for being fatigued.

On hypers, I'd been doing BW+X20 but then my low back would feel to fatigued to use added weight on the next set.  On this day, I tried stopping the first set at 15, and found I felt able to use added weight on the 2nd set, and then felt good enough to do a 3rd set also with weight.  Neat.

LRB Back & DL. Week 3. Squat

BW - 208

Front Squat -
BarX8 (paused)
95X3 (paused)
135X3
155X2
165X1
135X5, 5, 5, 5, 5 (30 sec. rests)

Paused Leg Press -
1ppsX8
2ppsX8
3ppsX8
4ppsX8, 8, 8, 9

RDL - 135X30, 21

Single-Leg Press - 1.5ppsX20, 20, 20

Incline DB Curls - 25sX18, 15, 10

Good session.  Squat day geared towards building floor speed for Deadlift.

135X5X5 on Fronts was about as easy as I expected.  Focusing on maximum acceleration and shortening the rests made it a lot of work, but it doesn't seem like it would be a big deal to bump the weight a tad.

First time doing paused leg press.  Since I almost never do leg presses, I had no idea where the weight should be so I worked up.  4pps was moderately heavy on the worksets, but I was still able to focus on accelerating after the pause AND on keeping my back flat against the pad from my shoulders to my glutes.  That seemed important.  This was also done with a narrow stance a'la my deadlift stance.

Forgot to up the weights for RDLs and blasted through the 50 reps in only two sets.  Still, my glutes are way sore today.

Upped the weight a tad on single-leg press.  I might be able to go up to 2pps here.  Not sure.

LRB Back & DL. Week 3. Pressing

DB Inclines -
35sX8
45sX8
55sX8
65sX8
55sX8
45sX8
35sX12

Cable overhead raise - X15, 15, 15 (straight-weight)

Cable Face-Pulls - X20, 20, 20 (straight-weight)

Rope Pushdowns - X100 (R/P 50, 25, 25)

Another session at the hotel gym.

Pyramiding up and down on the DB Inclines worked really well.

The combo of overhead raises and face-pulls worked the hell out of my rear delts.

My triceps are still tender from the 100 rep set 2 days ago.

All in all, this was a really great session despite using a hotel gym.

LRB Back & DL. Week 3. Vertical Pulling

BW - 203

Chins - BWX11, 8, 5

WG Pulldowns - X10, 10 (straight-weight)

RG Pulldowns - X10, 10 (straight-weight)

DB Hammer Curls - 35sX10, 10, 10

I was in California for work, so I only head the hotel gym to work from.  Thus, no weight for the chins, and no DBs heavy enough for shrugs (didn't bring my straps anyway).

Still, my lats were fairly sore for the next day or two.

LRB Back & DL. Week 2. Deadlift

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

T-Bars - 2 platesX17

Lever Shrugs -
290X3
380X3
470X3
560X3
605X3
380X20

Hypers -
BW+10X20
BWX25

Reverse Curls - 50ishX18, 15, 18, 12

This was a week ago, and I don't remember too much about the session.  Guess everything went fine.

Of note, all shrugs are down with a 3 second hold at the top, and hypers are done with weight or hands held behind the head.

LRB Back & DL. Week 2. Pressing

Inclines -
BarX30
85X5
115X4
135X3
155X2
185X1
165X9, 5

Press -  65X15, 10, 10 (35 total)

BB Curls - BarX25, 25, 25
super-set with
Rope Extensions - X25, 25, 25 (straight-weight; heavier than last week)

Got one more rep on the back off set than last week.  Progress.

Reduced the weight on OHP to try and get closer to the 50 reps.  After all the inclines, I frankly feel like I could just use the empty bar.  35 total reps isn't terrible though.  I'll just stick with this weight.

LRB Back & DL. Week 2. Vertical Pulling

BW - 207

Chins -
BWX5
+10X5
+20X4, 3
+25X2
+30X1, 1, 1
BWX15

Wide-Grip Pulldowns - X8, 9 (straight-weight)

Underhand Pulldowns - X8, 9 (straight-weight)

DB Shrugs - 100sX20, 15

Reverse-Grip Curls - 40ishX25, 25, 20

15 chins at a BW of 207 is an all-around PR!  Since I just started this programming, the routine can't get the credit.  I suspect it's having Chins be the first lift of the session, after years of having them fall after something else.  Fatigue isn't masking strength in this case.

LRB Back & DL. Week 1. Squat

BW - 207

High Bar Squats -
BarX10
95X5
135X5
155X3
175X2
185X1
155X5, 5, 5, 5, 5 (135 - 155 sets done in 10:50)

RDL - 135X25, 18, 13 (56 total)

Single-Leg Press - 1ppsX20, 20, 20, 20

Incline DB Curls - 25sX12, 13, 10

I was very skeptical of this 5X5@60% from the LRB Basebuilding manual but the pace made it a lot of work.  I based this on an EDM of 255, although my best High-Bar Squat is 255X5 and I've done 155X20.  However, getting all the work-sets and the bulk of the warm-ups done in just over 10 minutes, all while moving the bar as fast as possible while keeping good form...well, I was sweating my ass off, anyway.  We'll see how it plays out.  It doesn't "feel" like strength work because all the reps were fast, and my conditioning seemed to be the only limiting factor.  May need to bump the weights; I'm not sure.

The RDLs are "350 sets," that is trying to get 50 reps in 3 sets.  Grip was the limiting factor here.  Next time I'll bring the straps out, and maybe up the weight slightly.

Haven't done single-leg pressing in almost a year.  Thought I'd go back to that here as the purpose of this day is actually to try and finally start building some more strength of the floor on DL.  Last April, I was up to 1.5ppsX18, so I'll start shooting to beat that immediately.

I'm throwing a smattering of biceps in on all my days to see if frequency can help make up for my lack of motivation to have a lot of biceps volume on any one day.

LRB Back & DL. Week 1. Horizontal Pulling

BW - 205

T-Bar Rows -
1 plateX8
1.5 platesX8
2 platesX16

Lever Shrugs -
200X5
290X5
380X3
470X3
560X3
380X20

Hypers -
BW+10X20
BWX20

Got in all my accessory work that I didn't get in the day before.  I thought about adding extra sets since it was on it's own day, but then I decided to leave sets/reps as is.  I did decide to try out the lever shrug machine for a while instead of doing BB shrugs.  Just to see what it's like.

LRB Back & DL. Week 1. Deadlift

BW - 204

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

Got to the gym 20 minutes before closing.  Managed to bang out all my DL sets/reps, but had to put off the accessories.

LRB Back & DL. Week 1. Pressing

BW - 207

Inclines -
BarX30
85X5
115X4
135X3
155X2
185X1
165X8, 5

Pressing -
BarX10
65X5
85X8, 7, 7

BB Curls - BarX25, 25, 20, 16
super-set with
Rope Extensions - X25, 25, 25, 15 (straight-weight)

My best with 165 is 12 reps.  Focusing on building muscle and strength in my back, etc. for a while so this is fine for now.

Need to back-off more on the front pressing.  The reps are supposed to be much higher than this.  I hadn't done any front pressing in a long time, so I wasn't sure where I would be with that; plus the fatigue from the Inclines.