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.
