Block 13. 7 Cycles. Recap

Starting BW - 221

Ending BW - 222

Overview:

Was out of the gym for almost 3 months avoiding the holiday Covid surge.  Did some BW stuff at home and on playground equipment in that time.  

The main purpose of this block was to just build work capacity back up on the gym lifts.  The layout was generally worst lift first on day one, 2nd worst lift first on day two, etc.  I started off only doing 1-2 sets of 1-8 reps in the first week, to 4 sets of 3-10 reps in the last week, and Toes-to-Bar and Press went from 1 slot per week to 2 slots per week.

Things went generally well.

Lifts in order of priority:

Toes-To-Bar - Went from doing hanging leg raises to just above parallel, to getting my first toes-to-bar in week 4, to doing sub-max sets of 3 in the last week.  Taking this up another level will be the focus of the next block.  Hopefully at the end of that block, I will be able to formulate some long term goals for this family of movements.

Press - Went from 117.5X1@7 (e1RM 132.5) to 135X1@7.75 (e1RM 147.5).  I also hit some volume PRs: 100X3X8 and then 100X3X10

Bench - Went from 215X1@7.5 (e1RM 237.5) to 250X1@9 (e1RM 257.5; I went for some #'s in the last week).   Volume PR: 165X3X10

BB Curls - 70X8@8 (e1RM 95) to 72.5X10@7 (e1RM 112.5).  Volume PRs: 65X3X12 and 67.5X4X10

Deadlift - 380X1@8 (e1RM 420) to 405X1@7.5 (e1RM 447.5; e1RM PR).  Volume PRs: 310X3X8 and 300X3X10.  DL continues to be the lift that has survived-and-thrived the most in all the tumult of the last year.

Squat - 345X1@7.5 (e1RM 382.5) to 365X1@8 (e1RM 420).  This lift struggled the most this block, as I got some lingering soreness in my right adductor that started making heavier sets painful.  I dropped top singles for the bulk of the block and just focused on ramping volume up to 3X10.  Volume PR: 250X3X10

Chin-Ups - Ugh.  BW(221)X3@9.5 (e1RM 245) to BW(223)X3@8 (e1RM 260).  The worst, but I can't bring myself to do another Chins focus block for a bit.

Dips - BW (223)X8@7 (e1RM 317.5) to BW+45 (268.7)X6@8 (e1RM 342.5).  

Block 9. Cycle 2. Session A.

BW - 232.9

Waist - 43.5"

sRPE @ 8

Chin-Ups - BW+17.5X4, 2 @~10

Press -
152.5X1 @9.75
137.5X3 @9.5
127.5X3 @8.25

Dips - BW+10X10, 10 @8,9

WG Pull-Downs (Myo-Reps; 30 sec. rests) - 85X18, 5, 6, 6, 6, 6 @8/9

Weak session.

Chin-Ups and Press just weren't quite there for me on this day.

With Chins, my BW spiked on this day, and that really does seem to make a huge difference even accounting for total weight.

But when Press also took a step back, I thought maybe it was just an off day.  I still tried to push for my target weights, but both the top single and the first set of 3 were clearly to heavy on this day and so I backed off for the second set of 3.

Dips were slightly better, but the RPE shouldn't have jumped so much on the second set.

Pull-downs were fine though, lol.

Block 4 (Accumulation). Cycle 2. Session C.

BW - 219

Deadlift -
245X9 @5.5
265X9 @6.5
330X1 @6
350X1 @7.25
365X1 @8
280X9, 9 @~8

Front Squat -
135X7 @5
142.5X7 @6
150X7, 7, 7, 7 @7

Dips -
BW+5X7 @5
BW+10X7 @5.5
BW+20X7 @6
BW+30X7 @7.25
BWX14 @8

Good session.  Nice to pull 365 off the floor again.  It's been over 6 months.  Because of that, the weight feels heavy in my hands, but objectively, I think it's good.  Deadlift is just flying since I made an adjustment to move my feet back a bit and get more knee extension off the floor.  At some point, I assume that adjustment will adapt out, and we'll see where it goes from there.

Front Squats felt good.

Miscalculated my jumps early on Dips and ended up doing an extra set or two.  This was nice in a way, because the first set or two of Dips always kind of feel like shit.  Here, after the +10 set everything was feeling really good.

Video is of top sets and final back-offs.

HLM. Week 9. Day 1.

BW - 221

Squat -
385X3
310X5, 5, 5, 5

High-Incline Bench - 150X5, 5, 5, 5

Chin-Ups - X3, 3, 3

BB Rows - 200X3, 3, 3

My quads are getting really achy.  Kind of a DOMS way, but kind of unusual as well.  They were distractingly achy during my first back-off set of squats.  And I woke up to them aching this morning.  For me, DOMS is usually a 24-48 hours later thing.  I would think it had to do with diet, but I don't see a reason why that would be effecting my quads and not anything else.  It may just be that back squat objective intensities are just the highest of any of my lifts.  I'm going to try using RPE to see if it raises the objective intensity of my Squat assistance movements so that my legs get more acclimated to heavier loads.  I started off this program with assistance at 80% of BACK-OFF sets on light day, and 90% on medium.  I've been saying they were too light, so I think that's biting me in the ass.

Anyway, top set of Squats felt @ 9.  Didn't get much sleep the night before.

Last back-off set felt @ 8.  Fatigue was tempting me to rush these AND get sloppy with them.  Really had to focus to be both patient and focused.

Last set of Inclines felt @ 8.  Looks fast though.  Again, poor sleep.

Had to use the shitty pull up station for neutral grips.  They were fine.  Was hoping my lighter bodyweight would make a noticeable difference, but I guess 3% isn't that big an off set, haha.

Rows were fine.  No straps.  Played around with hook grip a little, but finished with plain ol' DOH.  Gym was crowded so no video.

Maintenance / Rehab Block. Week 6. Day 2

BW - 226

Squat - 85, 95, 105X25

Bench - 230X3, 3, 3

Pull-Ups - BWX6, 5, 2 (13 total reps)

RDL - 225X5, 5

Pull-Downs (supinated) - X12, 10, 10 (straight-weight; same weight as previous)

Hammer Curls - 40sX7, 6

Starr  Rehab squats continue.  Lift feels fine.  Adductor still very tight in the AM.

Bench moved very well.  3X3 PR.

Pull-Ups were a bit tougher today, but BW was also higher than it's been for this movement in a while.  Had to finally add a 3rd set to increase total reps over previous session. 

Having discovered that I can do RDL without aggravating my adductor, I'll be putting those in until I can pull from the floor.  Starting off fairly light, but will do this every session, and make 10 lb. jumps as long as both of those things are feasible.

Got enough reps on pull-downs to up the weight next time.

Was basically fried out by the time I got to hammer curls.  Five less reps than with the same weight/sets earlier in the week.  Whatevs.  It's just curls.

Greyskull LP. Session 16

BW - 229

Bench - 202.5X5, 5, 9

Chin-ups (strict) - BWX5, 5, 4

Deadlift - 345X6

Blah session.  Super sporadic training schedule felt like it caught up with me a bit.  Really need to get back on track.

202.5X9 is a Rep PR on Bench, though not surprising considering the run of 10 rep PR sessions leading up to it.  On the 2nd work set, I felt that 10 probably wouldn't be there on the AMRAP set, and hoped to get 8.  Glad I at least beat that.

I was supposed to start microloading chins today, but everything felt so off, I thought I'd just do BW sets...and didn't even get all of those.  Blah.

Thought I might beat 6 on Deadlift, but I rushed a bit through the first 4 reps, and didn't have enough left in the tank to try and pull 7.

Greyskull LP. Session 15

BW - 230

Press - 140X5, 5, 7

Chin-Ups (strict) - BWX5, 5, 5

Squats - 345X5, 5, 5

Coming back from a sporadic couple of weeks of training capped by a trip to New Orleans, I decided to pull back on most of my lifts.  Backed Press and Squat up by two weeks, resetting the BW movements to be as strict as possible, and repeating the previous Deadlift weight.

140X7 is a Rep PR on Press.  Definitely didn't expect that on the first day back.  On the last few reps, I focused in on sort of "locking" my hips in place as the bar clears my head.  Kind of creating a more stable pillar to finish the press out after the initial movement to get the bar from chest to the forehead.

For Chins, I'm looking now for full elbow extension, and a breathing pause at the bottom of each rep, and chin over the bar at the top.  Reset to 3X5 at BW.  I was nervous I wouldn't get them all, but I did.  I've also built a calculator that will allow me to add ~2.5 to the TOTAL weight lifted after each time I get all 3X5.  Basically I just plug in my body weight for that day, and it will tell me how much weight to add.  I expect this to look a bit silly the first few times as I'll have a dip belt with a 2.5 hanging off of it.  Third set shown.

After everything, I'm very happy with 3X5 on squats.  I would have needed 8 for a Rep PR here, and that was unrealistic.  Although this final set was probably RPE 8.5.  I focused on letting the bar settle "back" on my shoulders after the breath.  I'd noticed sometimes I would take the deep breath and immediately descend, and the bar was rolling forwards a bit.  This seemed to help with that.  Also  continued to focus on a very controlled descent to make sure the bar path stays good.  Again, felt very good about the results here.  Keeping these points in mind for next week, I'm optimistic I'll feel good about getting some more reps in.

Greyskull LP. Session 6

BW - 225

Bench - 190X5, 5, 10

Chin-Ups -
BW+30X2
BW+25X3
BWX7, 5

Dips - BW+30X8, 8, 8

Deadlift - 305X8

190X10 is a Rep PR in Bench.  Everything felt pretty good.  Pushed this to the just about the limit, and should probably start getting a spotter for these AMRAP sets, as I almost hit the J-Hook when I went to rack it.  Tried a different video angle.  This might be the best one so far.  At least it was informative in that it showed I'm not centered on the pad, and that appears to be causing an uneven lock-out because the shoulder hangs over. 

Chin-ups did not go well.  Tried backing off the weight for the 2nd set, but it didn't help.  Time for some kind of reset.  Thinking I will drop back down to 20, and start micro-loading.  If I hit a wall there, I will possibly start over with body-weight and  a different grip, or dead-hangs.

Dips went fine.

305X8 is a Rep PR on Deadlift.  Primary limiting factor here is still fatigue.  At the end of the session, and having to breath hunched over, I just run out of gas.  Fatigue aside, I believe this is about RPE 8 for pure strength.

Greyskull LP. Session 2

BW - 225

Bench - 185X5, 5, 10

Chin-Ups - BWX7, 5, 5
super-set with
Dips - BWX10, 10

Deadlift - 275X10

Kind of a low-intensity, medium RPE day.  I'd been sick for a few days, and then really busy, and that kept me out of the gym for about a week and a half.  And I'm about to be out of town for a week for Thanksgiving.  So I didn't want to think of this as a "regular" programming day, and decided to push some lighter weight on the barbell lifts, and just get some volume in on the bodyweight movements. 

All that being said, 185X10 is a Rep PR on Bench.  Probably RPE 8.  One more rep without a spotter for sure.

No weight added for Chins and Dips.  Just getting some volume in, especially on Dips following a higher rep set of Bench.

I was really close to pulling 405, and I thought long and hard about what I wanted to do on DL.  With being sick and away from the gym, I didn't feel confident coming in and pulling a heavy double.  And about to be gone for a week, I was worried about how that would effect my training.  Ultimately, I decided to be conservative.  Reset the DL along with everything else, but also plan to advance with 10 lb. jumps for a while.  The goal is to try and get DL to pull even with squats on intensity, and then drop to 5 lb. jumps.

275X10 matches a Deadlift PR, hilariously, from October, 2012.  I didn't know that when I went into this.  The Greyskull reset was going to have me starting at 295XAMRAP where 9 would be a PR, so I just decided to do 275X10 today.  When I went to look this up later, it turns out I haven't gone over 7 reps on DL since May of 2014, and hadn't gone over 8 since 2012. 

What was surprising about the movement itself, was how fatigued my actual legs started getting.  I squatted 285X10 as recently as June of this year, so that was unexpected.  Still, everything felt solid, and looks okay.  I'll be gone for a week, and then I'll come back and really start the GSLP in earnest after the holiday.

Novice LP. Session 46 (Greyskull Squats and Press)

BW - 227

Press - 130X5, 5, 7

Deadlift -
355X3
315X3

Chin-Ups - BWX9, 5, 5, 5
super-set with
Dips -
BW+25X6, 6
BWX15

130X7 is a Rep PR on Press.  I discovered that I can cinch the belt MUCH tighter for this movement than for Squat and Pull since I don't have to hinge over.  It really seemed to help.

355X3 is a Rep PR in the Deadlift.  Felt pretty good.  Back-off set felt strong as well.  I would still like to find a way to get my upper back position stronger through the movement.

Dips are feeling pretty good.  I was nervous about these because my right shoulder was feeling pretty fried after the PR pressing, but it ended up being okay.

Conditioning and Bodyweight Circuit

Chin-ups - BWX2, 4, 6, 4

super set with

Dips - BWX4, 8, 12, 8

and

Intervals - 3, 1/4 mile intervals, 00:12:57 total, 00:02:35/interval

Novice LP. Session 37 (Greyskull Squats)

BW - 229

Bench -
215X5
192.5X5, 5

Deadlift -
345X3
310X3

Dips - BWX11, 11, 11

215X5 is a Rep PR.  Some form breakdown really started to show though here, although it was also totally do-able.  My spotter kept saying "drive your legs," and it made me realize how loose my legs were getting after the initial lift.  Something to focus on.

First week deadlifting with a belt.  Made a huge difference.  These lifts were all much easier that last time.  Almost zero back discomfort.  Video of the top-set below.

At 11 reps, dips are starting to get much more challenging by the end of the 3rd set across.  I'll take it up to 3X12.  At that point, if the final reps are grinding, I will reset and start adding weight.  If they're still very do-able, I may try to run up to 3X15.

Conditioning and Bodyweight Circuit

Chin-ups - BWX7, 5, 4

super set with

Dips - BWX10, 10, 10

and

Intervals - 4, 1/4 mile intervals, 00:09:05 total, 00:02:16/interval

Much easier to get both conditioning and a light/recovery/assistance day in if I can do them all at once.  I hate running on a treadmill, but luckily there's a little bodyweight station down at the beach near where I live.  I mapped out a 1/4 mile route around the paths that brings me back there, and I can knock this all out pretty quick.

Chin-ups felt much stronger going first like this (duh).

Dips were fine.  I capped the reps at 10.

Intervals feeling a little better as I acclimate.  Still hard to pull back on the throttle out of the gate and hit target pace.  

Novice LP - Session 25

BW - 228

Squat -
BarX5
145X4
195X3
235X2
275X1
302.5X5, 5, 5

Press -
BarX5
85X3
100X2
120X1
130X5, 5, 5

Chins -
BWX5, 3, 3, 3

Was feeling beat up and also had a bad head cold.  So I only went up 2.5 lbs. on the squat sets.  Got them all though, and feel fine about the decision.

Broke through the last plateau on Press.  Failed to get all the 3 sets of 5 previously.

Very humbling to come back to chins after having not done them for 2 months (and not having done them very often in 2015 at all).  At this new, heavier BW, these were quite difficult.  Also, laboring to get good extension but stay under tension.  At this BW, 9 reps would be a PR.  So we'll see what happens as I start to get back into the flow with these.

Shoulders and [bench] DIPS!!!

BW - 212

Bench Dips - BWX12, 12, 12, 12, 12

Side Lateral Giant Set - X2
10sX25
15sX15
20sX10
rest
20sX10
15sX15
10sX25

P.T. cleared me on this very day to start doing un-weighted bench dips.  BWX12 is nothing effort wise, but I wanted to take it easy because it used to be these would cause me pain.  Happy to say that the next day, I am still pain free!  So excited to be able to start adding dipping movements back into my programming.  One of my favorite lifts, and one I've really  missed doing.

This is the last week of the shoulder focus programming so this is the last time I will have to do this brutal giant-set of laterals (for a while anyway).

Legs and Back, and Shoulder Testing.

BW - 215

Leg Curls -
Warm-up - X10, 10, 10, 10
Work Sets - X10, 10, 10-10-10-15 (drop-set at end)

Hack Squat -
100X10
120X10
140X10
160X10
180X10

GHR (to parallel, and using a broomstick to maintain alignment) - BWX5, 5, 5, 4

DB Bench -
45sX10
55sX8
65sX12, 10, 10
super-set with
Chin-Ups - BWX5, 5, 5, 5, 5

Chest-Supported Rows -
45X5
90X10

Trying to make sure I get good hamstring work in while I can't Squat or DL.  Cut out leg extensions today in favor of more leg curl volume.  Also tried adding this GHR approach.  My P.T. has me doing bodyweight goodmornings like this: holding a broomstick against my tailbone, upper back and skull to maintain alignment.  That's not challenging and is for drilling the pattern.  Thought I'd try it with some BW GHR's to parallel to try and get some good, hip dominant hamstring work in.  They were hard as hell, but no back-pain.

Wanted to get a 2nd flat, DB bench work in before my next P.T. session so that I'd have some more feedback to provide.  Last time I worked up to 65sX5; basically just until it felt like real weight.  I checked my logs and saw that my best with the 65s was 15 reps, so I thought I'd push a little harder this time and see what was up.  Got within 3 reps of that, but I also MATCHED the total volume of my best session with the 65s.  That's not surprising because with my Incline having gone up, there's no reason that the strength shouldn't generally be there.

Kind of burying the lead because the main point is that my shoulder felt fairly okay throughout, and the next day.  I expect the P.T. to recommend moving on to light BB bench now.

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.

Vacation Prep. Week 1. Bench

BW - 210

Incline -
BarX30
95X5, 5
115X4
135X3
155X2
185X1
135X20

Incline DB Flyes - 20sX15, 15, 15

DB Rear Delts - 30sX20, 20, 20

BB Curls - BarX35

Treadmill - 30  minutes; high-incline walking

135X20 is a Rep PR for Incline and also would be for Flat Bench.  Moving up to 145 next week.

I went round and round on what kind of assistance I wanted to do for this Vacation Prep period when I'll be in a calorie and carb deficit.  For lower body days, it was fairly easy to just pick some BW stuff.  For upper days, chins are the only viable BW movement because push-ups and dips aggravate my shoulder.  I'll be doing chins on OHP day but I didn't necessarily want to put them right before deadlifting until I see what my recovery will be like on the diet.

I ended up deciding to go with all light shoulder work.  See if I can build up shoulder strength and stability as much as possible around whatever is wrong in there.  It was hard NOT to do triceps work, but fuck it, we'll just see what happens.

Reps and Volume. Week 5. Accessories

BW - 205

Chins - BWX10, 6, 5, 5, 4 (30 total reps)

CG Pulldowns - X16, 10, 10 (straight-weight)

Machine Pullovers- X15, 12, 10 (straight-weight)

RG Preacher-Curls - 40ishX22, 15, 12
super-set with
DB Press - 35sX25, 14, 10

DB Biceps Curls - 25sX15, 15, 14
super-set with
Rope Extensions - X16, 15, 13 (straight-weight)

BB Curls - 40ishX20, 15, 16

Ate a giant burrito beforehand, which accounts for the big BW jump.  May have cut into my chin-up reps a bit, but that's kind of beside the point as long as I get my volume in.  After the chins, got a pretty good BB session in.

BB Curls were "40ish" because I just slapped a 10 on either side of an EZ curl bar and grabbed it wide-grip out to the collars where it's a straight bar.

Full Body. Week 4. Deadlift

BW - 207

Bulgarian Split Squats - BWX15, 15, 15

Deadlift -
135X5, 5
185X4
225X3
275X2
315X2
325X6

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

Okay session.  Pushed up the reps on the split squat.

325X6 is a Rep PR on Deadlift.

Shoulder strain has come back with a vengence.  Made the ladder circuit brutal.  Next week is the last week of the fullbody and conditioning acclimation block.  I'll have to leave out pressing movements and sub in some shoulder recovery instead.