Pivot. Week 2. Day A.

sRPE @6.5

BW - 227

Squat - 

-    up to 305X1 @6.5

-    275X3, 3, 3 @6/7

CS Rows - 115X9, 8, 7, 7 @~8

GHR (Westside/To-Parallel) - BWX8, 8, 7 @8/9

super-set with

Machine Laterals - X10, 9, 8 @8/9

Incline Rear Delt Laterals - 15sX9, 10, 9 @8/9

Rower - HIIT; 7 rounds

Low back felt fine the last day or so after tweaking it during Monday's DLs.  However, I felt some discomfort in my last Squat set.  I started warming up for BB Rows, and it didn't like that at all so I switched to Chest Supported and that was fine.

I started warming up on GHRs with my normal, "jack-knife" technique, but low back felt a little off still.  I switched to a Westside-style only coming down to parallel.  I'm not sure I've ever done those before, but they were much easier than expected; about 2/3 of what I can do jack-knife.  I didn't feel it in my glutes nearly as much, but the hamstrings were clearly the limiter.  A viable alternative for me to leg curls!

Vacation Prep. Week 1. Deadlift

BW - 209

Deadlift -
135X5
185X4
225X3
275X2
315X1
365X1
345X3, 3, 3, 3, 2

Bulgarian Split Squat - BWX20, 20, 15

GHR - BWX12, 10, 8

Treadmill - 30 minutes; incline walking

Odd session.  I misread my programming here, and I'd intended to do high-rep sets with a much lower weight.

I discovered last time that my deadlift form was set up with the shoulders well behind the bar and the hips fairly low.  I started playing around with adjust that here.  I didn't think to film it, which is dumb and a tool I need to use to fix this.  The good news is that my back felt strong and VERY stable in this position which helps reduce the yips I have from injuring myself a couple months back.  The bad news, is I still feel very slow off the floor.  The thing is that the first rep feels the slowest to break, and the subsequent reps feel better.  That screams bad set-up, so I'll just have to work it.

Got more reps total on the split squats which are still brutal as hell.

Really making the GHR a struggle for myself.  I'm dropping my upper body a little bit below parallel at the bottom of the movement and focusing on initiating the concentric with my glutes first before I start extending the knees.  Still pushing the glutes through hard right before the top as well.

Vacation Prep. Week 1. Squat

BW - 213

Squat -
BarX10 (paused)
95X5 (paused)
135X5
185X4
225X3
275X2
315X1
275X8, 3, 3, 3

Bulgarian Split-Squats - BWX20, 16, 15

GHR - BWX10, 10, 10

Treadmill - 30 minutes walking; slight incline

My target with 275 is 12 reps.  I got 11 last week, but I was strangely intimidated by the weights today.  Maybe that's must my subconscious saying, "you're in a caloric and carb deficit, you won't be able to lift this."  Whatever.  Before this last month, 275X8 would have been a Rep PR, so it's not terrible.

Oh my fucking God, I forgot how much those split squats can hurt.  Good stuff.

Still tweaking my GHR set-up and execution.  I feel plenty of 'H,' but not so much 'G.'  I started pushing my hips through hard close to the top of the rep and that seemed to help.

Reps and Volume. Week 15. Squat

BW - 213

Squats -
BarX10 (paused)
95X5 (paused)
135X5
185X4
225X3
275X2
315X1
245X15, 5

High-Bars - 225X3, 3, 3, 3, 3

GMs - 135X10, 10

Single-Leg Extensions - X20, 16, 15

245X15 is a Rep PR, and together with 19+ total reps meets my goal for this weight.  Moving up to 275 next week.

Also, my 315 felt like it may have been a touch high this week, however it was ridiculously easy.  That should boost my confidence for the 315X1 going forward.

High-Bars are juuuuust starting to feel like I might need to do more reps with 225 for the volume supplement.  Since next week's jump on Low Bar from 245 to 275 is larger than normal, I'll still plan on sticking to 5X3.  That's actually the last week of this phase before I start shaping up for a beach vacation in early March.  No reason to expect to push assistance extra hard in that instance.

Back to Good-Mornings and my low back felt totally fine.  I really, really hate this movement, but it felt better today than it has in a while.  In effort to feel a good stretch in both my glutes and my hamstrings, I ended up bending my knees a bit and letting my hips move down at the "bottom" of the movement.  That seems technically incorrect, but my hips and spine felt perfectly stable/neutral, and I was able to really feel the stretch all through those two muscle groups before firing back up into the starting position.  Both areas are fairly sore today as well.

Reps and Volume. Week 9. Deadlift

BW - 209

Deadlift -
135X5
185X4, 4
225X3
275X2
315X1
335X2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2

RDL - 185X15, 15, 15

Chest-Supported Rows - 90X15, 13, 11, 10

Single-Leg Curls - X15, 15, 10

Made a mistake on my notes for the day, and only thought I needed 14 reps at 335, but it was supposed to be 16.  Oh well, I could have gotten another set, and I was planning on staying at this weight next week anyway and just upping the reps-per-set.  Might like to start working toward 4X4 at this weight before moving up again.

Been awhile since I was able to fit in RDL.  The reps and volume were there much stronger than the last time I was doing these regularly.  That's a little surprising because my top end Deadlift strength has been off, and I thought it was because I hadn't been getting heavy hamstring and glute work in, so now I'm not sure.  The one caveat here is that I didn't have any chalk today, and so I strapped up for these.  It's possible that grip strength may have been limiting me on these more than I previously thought.  Regardless, as long as I'm pulling a bunch of volume sets on DL, I don't see any reason not to stay with straps for these for awhile and make sure I'm really getting the most work on the back of my legs.

Rows felt stronger, and single-leg curls continue to suck all the ass.

Reps and Volume. Week 9. Squat

BW - 203

Squat -
BarX10 (paused)
95X5 (paused)
135X5
185X4
225X3, 3
275X7, 2, 3, 3

High-Bars - 205X5, 5, 5, 5, 5

Good Mornings - 135X10, 10

Single-Leg Extensions - X20, 15, 15 (straight-weight)

275X7 is a +2 Rep PR, and an all around PR.  I stalled out on repping 275 in late Feb./early March before moving my focus to conditioning and fat loss for the spring and summer.  I'd been looking forward to working my way back up to the day when I could go for this one again.  I felt good walking into the gym, and the initial warm-ups felt good.  The 1st set of 225X3 didn't feel awesome, so I took a 2nd set and it felt good.  I needed 6 reps for a PR with 275.  The 6th rep didn't feel too slow, to I took a 7th, slower rep.  I also took some video for the first time in a while, and I see that I'm knee caving pretty hard.  That will be something to keep focused on, but I'm very happy to get this 275 goal well out of the way so I can continue the march to 315.

I also upped the weight on my High-Bar "volume" sets.  I didn't know if I'd be able to get 5X5 at the increased weight after all the heavy sets of Low Bar.  Feel good about those.

Now that my schedule has freed up and I can Squat and Deadlift on different days again, I'm able to add GM's back to squat day.  I hate GMs.  But I've felt a lot of soreness in my glutes after lower body days lately, and so I know I need to get some of this kind of work back in.

Was able to push reps on single-leg work a bit, as well.  Just one of those days where you're able to push on everything.

LRB 365: Big-15. Phase 1. Week 6. Squat

BW - 202

Squat -
BarX10 (paused)
95X5 (paused)
115X5
145X4
175X3
215X2
245X1

205X16, 6

Bench -
BarX10
95X5
135X3
155X2
175X2
185X2

Deadlift -
135X5
185X3
225X2 (mixed-grip from here)
275X2
315X2
325X2

I had to take three days off from the gym before this session, so I was hungry as hell to lift.  I've also got this next week off before I start the 2nd Big-15 cycle.  So I decided that doing leg curls and BW lunges after my squatting wasn't going to cut it.  I realized later that this is the first time I've ever done all 3 lifts in one session.

Squats were okay.  After looking at the videos I started taking recently, I think my mechanics are way off for low-bar.  I've been breaking hard at the knees and they've been traveling past my toes, my torso is too vertical, and my depth way past parallel.  Basically I think I've been high-bar squatting with a low-bar setup.  I started trying to correct that with this session and taking video of the low-rep work-sets (form breakdown is pretty common for me with high rep squats, and that's why I didn't video those):

A little bit of progress here, although these still "feel" high to me despite all being well past parallel.  I'll keep working on this.

For bench and deadlift, I looked at my rep records and decided that I had plenty of head-room to set 2-rep PRs in both.  This was NOT working up to a 2-rep max.  I simply could see from the data that I was much stronger than my best 2-rep lifts.

With bench the 185X2 was smooth and fast as hell.  It actually felt easier than the 175X2 before it.  Right now 185 projects to be around my 5 rep max, and it definitely felt strong.  This was great.

For Deadlift, it was a little bit different.  For one thing, the previous two lifts, particularly the squats, had taken some wind out of my sails.  For another, Pandora would only play hip-hop and punk on my gym station, and I really wanted some Slayer hahahahaha.  So 335X1 is my best ever deadlift, and I've hit that a couple of times.  However, I've done 315X5 also, and 315X1 a million times and fast.  So I was pretty sure that it should be there for me without much trouble, but Deadlift is such a beautifully enigmatic monster, that there was a niggle of concern.  I knew it would be mixed grip so I switched to it early.  Chalked up well for the last two sets.  315X2 was fast and easy, but my back and glutes were feeling fatigued, and the mixed-grip was feeling unusually foreign.  I wish I'd grabbed a video for myself though, because the 325X2 was smooth and authoritative.  I love deadlifting.

Next day, and I'm pretty damn sore from all this.

LRB 365: LRB Split. Week 3. Squat - Heavy

BW - 196

Squat -
BarX10 (paused)
95X5 (paused)
135X5
155X4
185X3
195X2
205X1
225X1
235X1

Fronts -
95X10, 10
115X10
125X10

Leg Press -
2ppsX12
3ppsX10, 10, 14

Lunges - BWX24, 22, 20, 18

Good session.  Squats felt the strongest they have in a long time.  Everything felt so easy, I was worried about depth.  I dropped the top set way down, thighs-to-calves.  That slowed it down a bit, but still felt strong.

Fronts felt solid as well.

On the last set of leg press, I moved my feet closer together to try and shift some more to my quads.  Maybe?

My glutes are sore again today, but I was still doing the short step out on Lunges.  Dunno.

LRB 365: LRB Split. Week 2. Squat - Light

BW - 194

Front Squats -
BarX10
85X5
95X5
105X5
115X4
125X3, 3
135X8 (Rep PR)

Leg Extensions - X33, 30, 25, 24

Lunges - BWX24, 22, 22, 22

Adductor Machine - X27, 20, 24, 20

135X8 is a Rep PR on Fronts, projects to a new 1RM, and I left reps in the tank.  The program calls for 5, 4, 3, 3, 3 to a top triple.  What I wanted to do for the cycle is hit a 3 Rep PR that also projects an increased 1RM on the last session.  Initially, I determined what that set would need to be (155X3), and programmed back to work up to it.  However, since this is more of a body-building day, I decided to hit the last set for reps, 531 style, and ended up with an all-around PR.  I'm going to keep the same weights that I've programmed, but keep going for rep maxes if I feel good like I did today. 

I kept the same weight as last time for extensions, and just got more reps.  I might up the weight slightly next time.

Adductor machine was occupied, so I did lunges next.  I played around with  my form to try to shift the emphasis from where it had been (my glutes) to my quads.  I kept my upright posture, but stepped out just far enough that my heel could stay on the ground at the bottom of the lunge.  This seemed to work well, and we'll see if I have any glute soreness again.

Jumped on the adductor machine after this and upped the weight from last time.  Had to drop it back down after the 2nd set, though.  Want to make sure I'm getting quality reps.

I programmed for sit-ups this day, but I was way short of time and had to bolt.  Same old story.

LRB 365: LRB Split. Week 1. Squat - Heavy

BW - 193

Squat -
BarX10 (paused)
95X5 (paused)
135X5
155X4
185X3
195X2
205X1
215X1
225X1

Front Squat -
85X10
95X10
105X10
115X10

Machine Leg Press - X10, 10, 10, 14 (to a Top Set)

Alternating Lunges - BWX30, 26, 24, 22

I'd been looking forward to the first leg day of this split for a few weeks now, and I'm not disappointed.

Squats are all strong.  The way I programmed the Strong-15 for this cycle was to hit the same top single, 245, at the end, that I've been hitting occasionally on the last two cycles.  I want to feel like I own 245 so that when 255 and 265 come along, weights I've shakily done before, I will feel more confident than ever with them.  My thought right now is to hit 275 again at the end of the upcoming strength cycle.  That would be 10 lbs. more than what I hit at the beginning of this program, and match my all time 1 Rep attempt.  Would love to smoke that.  It will all depend on how I'm feeling at the end of this cycle, but I won't program any higher than that.

115X10 on Fronts is a Rep PR.  Having trouble keeping the bar from rolling forward on the heaviest sets.

Regular leg press was mucho ocupado, so I had to settle for the machine leg press.  Whatever, it's all body-building.

Lunges were pretty brutal after all of the above.  I rest/paused sets 2-4.  I really feel my glutes today, and I think that's because of the way I do lunges.  Keeping an upright torso and shin i.e. not leaning forward or allowing my knee to travel forward very much.  Something about that must shift to my glutes, because they're often sore the day after higher-rep lunges.

5/3/1 Log: Cycle 1. Week 3. Deadlift

Defranco's Agile-8+

Deadlift -
135X10
185X5
205X5
235X3
260X3
155X10X5

RDL - 95X10, 7, 10

Great DL session.  I made a few changes, and I think they were good.  I opted not to warm-up with RDL's of the empty bar and 95 as I have been.  I jumped straight into 135lb. Deads because I wanted to focus on my form knowing that loose form caused my back strain last week.  Also, in all sets, I tried to give myself a moment between each rep to run through the checklist making sure everything was tight and reminding myself what do do on the pull.  As a result of all this, the pulls were all good.  I might have gotten more reps on the top set, but I felt my form starting to go so I stopped.  It's still a 3 rep PR for me.  I also had to use a mixed grip for the first time.  I felt my grip weakening on the 2nd work-set, so I switched to mixed for the top set.  No big deal.