Full Body. Week 3. Bench

BW - 206

Pause Squats -
BarX10
95X5
135X5
155X4
185X3
225X2
255X4, 2

Bench -
BarX20
95X5
115X4
135X3
155X2
185X1
175X7

BB Complex - 95X4; 4 sets
Clean, Front Squat, Push-Press, Front Squat

Everything seemed hard today.  However, 255X4 is an all-around PR in Pause Squats, but I'd hoped to do 2X4.  After the first set, I knew that wasn't going to happen.

Still being cautious with my left shoulder strain.  The strain didn't get aggravated in this workout, but it was really "tired" feeling afterwards.  I'll stay at 175 on Bench and try to hit 10 reps with it.  That would match me previous 10 rep PR.  Doing that with fewer carbs and calories in my diet than previously would be solid, I feel.

Complex was hard as hell today.  I did 10 sets of 3 last week, and that seemed super-human to me during this session.  I did come up with a wrist-saving compromise on the Front/Press/Front issue, and that is to use a rack position on the first Fronts, but use cross-arm on the second and let it drop to the floor from there.

5/3/1 Full-Body: Cycle 5. Week 2. Squat

BW - 200

Squat -
BarX10 (long pause at bottom)
95X5 (shorter pause)
95X5
135X5
175, 200X3
225X8

Front Squats -
BarX5
95X10, 10, 10

T-Bar Rows -
25X10, 10
50X10
60X10
70X12

Dips - BWX11, 6, 6, 5, 4

225X8 on Squats is an all-around PR since I reset my form.  Felt good.

Looking back, I realize that a lot of the times I've tweaked my back I was either front squatting, or I had front squats in my program.  This made me a little paranoid, so I did some research, and worked hard on my form in this session.  The two cues that I focused on were breaking with the knees, and allowing them to travel forward to make the descent, and leading out of the hole with my chest.  This seemed to work pretty well, and everything felt tight. 

I also changed my grip from cross-arm, back to hands under the bar.  I toyed around with this a few ways, gradually moving to thumbless, and then actually settling on pinkie around the bar for the last two sets.  This creates a sort of "neutral grip" that seems unlikely, but seemed to actually work out okay, and elbow pain I started to feel during thumbless sets dissipated by the last set.  Gonna keep the weight light on these, and use them as my BBB back-off sets beginning next cycle.

T-Bars are weak for some reason, but I think I need to go back to doing an over-warm up on these as that had worked well previously, and worked well for Pendlays as well.  If I do that, and they are still weaker than before I did all those Pendlays, then I may need to second guess either that movement or my approach to it.

11 reps at 200 is an all-around PR since I started pausing my dips at the bottom of each rep.

UB: Strong Week 3. Squat

Defranco Mobility

Standing Calf Raises - 285X15, 345X15, 365X15

Squats -
BarX5
135X5
155X5
185X5
205X5
225X5

Front Squats - 125X10, 5

RDL - 155X12, 8

Because I'm getting close to the whole stack on the calf raises, but it's also been getting hard on the top reps, I decided to move up the weight on the first sets and keep the top set at the same weight as the previous session.  So more total weight lifted, but no "PR."

Squats felt pretty smooth once I got to the top sets.  Giving myself plenty of rest between those last sets now.  225X5 is just shy of my previous 5RM, although my 5RM projects to 250.

5/3/1 Log: Cycle 2. Week 3. Bench and Squat

Defranco's Simple-6 and Agile-8

Bench -
BarX10
95X5
130X5
150X3
165X5

Squat -
BarX5
135X5
185X5
210X3
235X2

Chins - BWX5, 7, 5, 5, 4 (Gym BW 202)


BB Split Front-Squats - 85X8, 8, 5

Push-Ups - BWX10X5
super-set with
Face-Pulls - 4 sets of 15, final set of 22

Bench felt a little heavy, but 165 is a 5 Rep PR.  Good enough.

Squats are still rough with the TFL strain.  Moving my feet in has helped, but that stance may have a lower strength ceiling for me.  As long as I keep my feet in and KEEP MY KNEES OUT the TFL is OK.  Gotta keep the knees out, though.  Also had trouble staying off my toes.  Almost had a couple of GM's on my hands.