Chins, Hamstrings, Pecs, Biceps

sRPE @7

BW - 224

Chin-Up Partials w/Straps - BWX10, 8, 7, 5 @10

Leg Curls - 

-    X15, 11, 12 @10

-    Partials Drop-set X11, 9, 19 @10

Lying DB Curls - 15sX12, 11, 10, 9 @10

super-set with

DB Flyes - 15sX11, 9, 9, 7 @10

Historically, Chin-Up Partials are ~107% of my full chins.  Would be cool to come in next week and bust out a set of 8 clean Chins, but we'll see.

Dips, Leg Press, Shoulders, Triceps

sRPE @7

BW - 223

Lever Dips - 225X9, 8, 7, 6 @10

Leg Press Drop Sets - 270X11, 225X9, 180X7, 135X7 @10

DB Incline Laterals - 15sX10, 12, 8, 7 @8/10

super-set with

DB Incline Extensions - 15sX12, 16, 10, 12 @7/10

First day back after 5 day camping trip.  Everything felt good.

Went up to 5 total plates on Lever Dips.  Historically, this lift has been ~90% of Dips, so I'm cautiously optimistic about how the wave of regular Dips will kick off next week. 

Heard some of the science folks talk recently about promising studies on Drop Sets compared to Rest Pause approaches.  I did a lot of Rest Pause recently inspired by Mike Israetel, but haven't done Drop Sets much.  Thought I might give it a shot here and there on compound, low-specificity accessories.  

Between the Drop Sets and the Super Sets it was like 45 minutes in and out of the front door.  That basically demands I start doing HIIT conditioning at the end of sessions again, lol. 

3 Day FB Hypertrophy. Cycle 3. Session F.

sRPE @8

BW - 227

BB Rows - 135X8, 8, 8 @6/7

031 Tempo Work w/ Intensity Techniques:

-    BB Curls w/Lengthened Partials Drops Sets - 60X9/3, 7/2 @10

-    CG Bench Press w/ Rest-Pause - 120X10/4, 7/4 @~0

-    GHR w/Lengthened Partials Drops Sets - BWX15/3, 12/3

After a week of travel and emotional labor, I felt physically and mentally out of sorts heading into the gym today.

What I thought would be the last warm-up on Rows ended up being the first work set.  That's fine.

Hypertrophy work all went well though.  Some of that is the benefit of load not mattering nearly as much as result.  

I wasn't sure if Mechanical Drop Set or Rest-Pause was going to be the way to go with GHR.  I went ahead an tried the Drop Sets and it ended up being ok.  My hamstrings were quite sore afterwards. 

Next week, I go back to straight sets staring a bit further from failure and no intensity techniques.

3 Day FB Hypertrophy. Cycle 3. Session E.

sRPE @8.5

BW- 221

Press - 100X3, 3, 3 @5/6

031 Tempo Work w/ Intensity Techniques:

-    DB Bench w/ Lengthened Partial Drop-Set - 60sX9/3, 7/3 @10

-    Leg Press w/ Rest-Pause - 3ppsX10/4, 7/4 @10

-    Lat Pushdowns w/ Lengthened Partial Drop-Set - X11/4, 11/3 @10

Rower - HIIT; 10 minutes

3 Day FB Hypertrophy. Cycle 3. Session D.

sRPE @8

BW - 222

Deadlift - 325X3, 3, 3 @~5

031 Tempo Work w/ Intensity Techniques:

-    Leg Curls w/ Lengthened Partial Drop-Sets - X10/5, 8/4 @10

-    Pull-Downs w/ Lengthened Partial Drop-Sets - X12/3, 8/3 @10

-    Machine Flyes w/ Lengthened Partial Drop-Sets - X10/4, 9/3 @10

Stationary Bike - HIIT; 10 minutes

Wasn't sure how the reduction in set volume this cycle combined with everything being taken "past failure" would effect recovery markers.  Generally I feel as well or better recovered than when I was doing more sets further from failure, and the various trackers in the RTS app seem to agree.

I had provisionally conceived of this as "Deload by HIT," but I wasn't sure how that would play out in practice.  Jury is still out, but it's looking like a "maybe."

3 Day FB Hypertrophy. Cycle 3. Session C.

sRPE @8

BW - 221

Chins - BWX2, 2, 2 @~7

031 Tempo Work w/ Intensity Techniques:

-    Face Pulls w/ Long ROM Drop-Sets - X16, 13/5 @~10

-    Incline Bench w/ Rest-Pause - 95X11/5, 8/4 @9.5

-    Roman Chair Squats w/ Long ROM Drop-Sets - BWX10/2, 8/3 @9.5/10

Rower - HIIT; 10 minutes

Tried just doing rear delt row partials as the first drop set on Face-Pulls, but they were too easy.

Might need to move my grip out again on Inclines as it still feels primarily Triceps.  Also I keep tucking my elbows strength-style, instead of keeping them flared.

Wasn't sure if I'd get "stuck" in the bottom of the Roman Chair Squats when I hit failure or not, but turns out you can just lean forward and get stand up pretty easily. 

3 Day FB Hypertrophy. Cycle 3. Session B.

sRPE @8.5

BW - 222

Bench - 170X3, 3, 3 @4.5/5.5

031 Tempo Work w/ Intensity Techniques:

-    DB Press w/ Long ROM Drop Sets -

    -    40sX15/2 @10

    -    45sX8/1 @10

-    RDL (belt and straps) w/ Rest-Pause - 160X12/6, 12/5 @9.5/10

-    DB Curls w/ Long ROM Drop Sets - 25sX11/3, 10/3 @10

Stationary Bike - HIIT; 10 minutes

Pivot. Week 1. Session B.

sRPE @6.5

BW - 223

Deadlift - up to 365X1 @7

Bench - up to 205X1 @7

All movements below done with mechanical drop-sets where I took the full ROM to failure and then did long-ROM partials to failure:

Cable Rows w/ Thoracic Extension - X11/5, 10/5 @~10

Seated Leg Curls - X12/8, 11/5 @~10

Seated OH Cable Extensions - X14/4, 10/4 @~10

Much better pivot session and what I probably should have done in the previous session.

Just worked up to a smooth single on DL and Bench and then played around some more with the drop-set partials.  Lots of burn on all of these.

Pivot. Week 1. Session A.

sRPE @6

BW - 221

Box Squat - up to 345X1 @9

Wide-Grip Press, paused on chest - up to 125X2 @10

Pull-Downs with end-ROM drop-set - X10/6; 10/5 @~10

Been a roller-coaster couple of weeks fighting through a lingering cold, traveling for 3 days, then coming back with the flu.  Decided to stop trying to eke out gains from the prior training block, and just pivot and start a new block (hopefully) next week.

The planned new block would be lower rep work, so my plan here was to work up on some relatively novel variations to try and stimulate the skill of low rep work ahead of starting the block.

It's possible box squats are no longer novel enough for this kind of thing, as I pretty quickly aggravated my right glute.  So now I have that on top of everything else, lol.

WG dead-stop presses were fun if a bit awkward to figure out the grip width and walk out.

REALLY liked the mechanical drop-set on the pull-downs.  This kind of thing is becoming more popular in the body-building world as the literature around end-range partials for hypertrophy continues to grow.  What I did here was take a long ROM pull-down to technical failure then keep going only brining my upper arms down to ~parallel.  The burn on the drop-set partials was real.  

Small Session. Arms

Hammer Curls - 20'sX8, 8 (warm-up sets)

super-set with

DB Overhead Extensions - 40X10, 9

Chins - BWX5, 5, 5

super-set with

Dips - BWX8, 8, 8

DB Curls - 30sX8, 6,

drop sets - 30sX6, 25sX2, 20sX3 (no super-setting on the drop sets)

super-set with

Lying DB Extensions - 30sX8, 6

drop sets - 30sX7, 25sX4, 20sX4 (no super-setting on the drop sets)

Went a little further than harder than normal since I won't have another barbell session until after the holiday weekend.

No shoulder pain with either Chins or Dips!

Small Session. Arms

Chin-ups - BW*X5, 5, 5

Machine Curls -
3 sets of 8 (straight-weight)
drop sets X2, 2, 4 (one plate/set)

Hammer Curls -
30sX8, 8, 6
drop set 25sX3, 15sX5

Did chins on back to back days with no pain even though I upped the reps on day 2.  *Don't trust the scale at the office gym, so don't know what BW was on this day.

Last workout of the week, so I through in some more drop sets.  Just biceps anyway.

Small Session. Legs

Seated Leg Curls -
4 X8 (straight weight)
10 forced reps (same weight)
4X4 drop sets

super-set with

Leg Extensions - 4X20 (straight weight)

Small Session. Legs

Leg Curls -
warm-up X15
work-sets - X8, 8, 8, 8 (straight-weight), then drop sets, 1 plate-per-set X2, 2, 4, 5
super-set with
Leg Extensions - X20, 20, 20, 20 (straight-weight), then drop sets, 1 plate-per-set X4, 6, 8

Couldn't get in for a barbell session today at the regular gym, so did some legs at the office gym.

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.

Phase 1. Week 12. Bench

BW - 211

Bench -
BarX25
115X5
135X4
155X3
185X2
205X4, 3

Cambered Bench - 135X10, 5, 5

Incline Bench - 135X10, 7, 5

Dips -
BW+25X11
BW+25X5/BWX5 (Drop-set)
BWX10

Ab Wheel - X12, 12, 12

Great session.  205X4 is a Rep PR on bench and my phase goal for this weight, so I can move up next week.  Benching was strong this week, and I possibly could have gotten a 5th rep.  But I'm glad I was able to almost match it on my 2nd set instead.

As I noted above, my benching was strong this week, and this 135X10 on cambered bench came out of NOWHERE.  The other 2 sets fell back to earth, though.  Obviously, a big all-around PR.

Moved back to the shallower incline, and got some good reps in.

Added some weight to the dips.  Didn't want to labor on with low reps on every set, though, so I did a drop-set on the 2nd, and then backed off to body-weight for the third.  236 (BW+25)X11 is an all-around PR.

Upped the reps a bit on the ab wheel.