Pivot Cycle 2. Session C.

sRPE @4.5

BW - 215

530 Tempo Squats - 235X6 @6

1-leg horizontal leg press - X8 @6

X233 Tempo Chins - BWX8 @6.5

High Incline Bench - 85X12 @6

Last session of the pivot.  On to the new training block!

Pivot Cycle 1. Session C.

sRPE @6

BW - 218

530 Squats -

245X6 @8.5

225X6 @7.5

1-Leg Horizontal Leg Press - X12, 12 @~7

X233 Chins - BWX7, 7, 5 @7/8

High Incline Bench - 85X12 @6

Overshot the mark a bit on tempo squats and had to back up.

Eccentric-only tempo chins were a surprise.  I'm almost 15 lbs. lighter than the last time I did them, but still only got about the same amount of reps.

Pivot Block. Cycle 2. Session C.

 BW - 230

Waist - 44"

X-2-3-3 Tempo Chins - BWX9, 8, 7 @8/9

Bench Dips - BWX20, 20, 20 @6/8.5

Knee Raises (above parallel) - BWX9, 8, 7 @~8

DB Full Raise - 12sX12, 12 @6

super-set with

Hammer Curls - 12sX12, 12, @~7

Pivot Block. Cycle 1. Session C.

 BW - 230

Waist - 43.75"

X-2-3-3 Tempo Chins - BWX8, 8, 8 @7/9

Bench Dips - BWX20, 20, 20 @6/9.5

Knee Raises (above parallel) - BWX8, 8, 8 @6/9

DB Full Raise - 12sX12, 12 @6

super-set with

Hammer Curls - 12sX12, 12, @6

Pivot Block. Cycle 2. Session C.; Cycle 3. Session A.

BW: 228; 232

Waist: 43; ?

2C:

1-Arm DB Rows - 60'sX12, 12, 12 @5.5/8.5

Leg Raises on Knee Raise bench - BWX12, 9, 6 @7.5/8.5

Floor Rolling DB Extensions - 45sX10, 10 @~8

Straight-Arm Pushdowns - 10, 10 @8/10

3A:

X-2-3-3 Tempo Chins - BWX7, 6, 5 @7.8/8

3-2-0 Tempo Squat - 235X5, 5, 5 @ ~6

3-2-0 Tempo Bench - 150X5, 5, 5 @~6

1-Arm Pull-Downs - X10, 10, 10 @7/9

Pivot Block. Cycle 2. Session A.

BW - 228

Waist - 43.5"

X-2-3-3 Tempo Chins - BWX6, 5, 4 @8/9

3-2-0 Tempo Squat - 230X5, 5 @ ~6.5

3-2-0 Tempo Bench - 145X5, 5 @6

1-Arm Pull-Downs - X10, 10, 10

Pivot Block. Cycle 1. Session A.

BW - 232

Waist - 43.75"

X-2-3-3 Tempo Chin-Up Negatives: BWX5, 5, 5 @~9

3-2-0 Tempo Beltless Squats: 225X5 @6.5

3-2-0 Tempo Bench: 140X5 @5

1-Arm Lat Pulldowns - 60X10 @10

I've been working out at home with training from my old coach at Kratos Strength.  This was my first day back in the barbell gym.

Novice LP. Session 54 (Greyskull Squats and Press)

BW - 230

Press - 140X5, 5, 5

Chin-Ups - BWX7, 5, 4, 3, 3, 3
super-set with
Dips -
BW+25X8, 8
BWX17

Negative Chins (0/0/4) - BWX4, 4

CG Pulldowns - X8, 8, 8

I tweaked my back in the shower in the morning, and decided not to squat this day.

140X3X5 is an LP PR.  Needed 6 for a Rep PR, and that clearly wasn't happening.  Wasn't even sure 5 would be there for me after the first two sets.

Since I wasn't going to squat, I decided to obliterate lats and throw in some dips as well.

230X7 on Chin-Ups is actually a BW Rep PR.

BW(230)X17 is a Rep PR, and BW (230)+25X8 ties a Rep PR on Dips.  Last reps on 2nd weight set, and BW AMRAP set were all tough.

Getting a nice, full stretch on the negative chins.

To really pile on, I did some close-grip pulldowns to the sternum at a bodybuilder pace.  Straight weight for the first two sets, and then took off ~10% for the last set.  The combination of all this work had my rear delts in particular, and my upper lats and triceps in general, sore all weekend.

Novice LP. Session 51 (Greyskull Squats and Press)

BW - 229

Bench -
222.5X4
200X5, 5

Squat - 355X5, 5, 6

Chin-Ups - BWX5, 5, 5

Negative Chins (0/0/4) - BWX3, 3

222.5X4 is a Rep PR on bench.  5th rep just wasn't there.  Will give it a shot again next week, and either succeed and continue, or fail and move on with a top triple.  Forgot to film my top set, but filmed my back-offs.  Here's the 2nd back-off set.  Contemplating my elbow flare.  I thought I was keeping them in longer than this.

335X6 is a Rep PR, and 335X5X3 an LP PR, on Squats.  Squats were feeling very good today in practice, but under review, the bar seems to be drifting forward again at the bottom.  More work to do.

Chins weren't anything to write home about today.

Novice LP. Session 50 (Greyskull Squats and Press)

BW - 227

Press - 135X5, 5, 7

Squat - 350X5, 5, 5

Chin-Ups - BWX6, 4, 3

Negative Chins (0/0/3) - X3, 3

Cinched the belt super-tight and went for it on Press.  After struggling to get 6 reps on the last set last week, I got 7 today for a nice rep PR (thought not an LP PR).  6th rep was super shaky, but I regrouped and nailed it for #7.  I'm going to try and start filming my pressing movements to see what I can learn.

Was optimistic going into set 3 of squats, but I didn't get much bounce out of the hole on the first rep, and it took a lot of umph out of me.  I think I actually had the belt a notch too tight here, and that might have contributed somehow.  Still I've never gotten more than 3 reps with this weight, so 3X5 feels like a pretty nice volume/rep PR.

Trying to re-re-commit to stricter chins.  This session was done not only with strict, full elbow extension, but also bringing my chest to the bar instead of just clearing my chin.  Last rep on each set was when I could only clear my chin (still counting it!).  Threw in some eccentrics for extra volume.

Novice LP. Session 41 (Greyskull Squats and Press)

BW - 228

Bench -
212.5X5
192.5X5, 5

Squat - 320X5, 5, 8

Chin-Ups - BWX7, 3, 3

Negative Chins (0/0/3) - BWX4, 4

Bench went really well.  Warm-ups felt a little off-kilter, but the top set was fairly easy.

320X8 is a Rep PR in squats.  Was getting hard to breath by the end.  Focused on a more upright torso, and it felt good, and the bar path looks good:

Not a lot of gas left for chins, though.  Plus a little bit heavier.  So I threw in a couple sets of negatives to get good volume in there.

Novice LP. Session 32 (Greyskull Squats)

BW - 226

Press - 137.5X3, 3, 3

Squats - 305X5, 5, 6

Chin-Ups - BWX7, 4

Negative Chins (0/0/3) - BWX4X4

Press went pretty well.  Some of the reps REALLY slowed down over my head, though.

Squats were really hard.  Low back was giving me a lot of trouble.  I almost shut it down after the 2nd set.  Got over 5 reps on the "greyskull" set, but still:

Also, stalled out here on chins.  Really wanted a 5th rep on the 2nd set to beat the last session, but could only get about half way up.

Novice LP. Session 29 (Greyskull Squats)

BW - 228

Press - 132.5X3, 3, 3

Squats - 285X5, 5, 10

Chin-Ups - BWX7, 4

Negative Chins (0/0/3) - BWX4X4

Starting to mix in the Greyskull LP starting on this day.  One of the two pillars of that set-up is Pressing movements come first.

These triples on press were all heavy, but only the last rep of the SECOND set was in doubt.  All the others were there.

This is my first time going over 5 reps on Squat since August '16, and my first time hitting double-digits since April '16.  Really fucking hard, hahahaha, but looked okay.  Conditioning was clearly the limiting factor:

Added a rep to the first set of chins.  Progress!

Novice LP. Session 27

BW - 227

Bench - 202.5X3X5

Chin-Ups - BWX6, 4

Negative Chins (0/0/3) - BWX4X4

202.5 is a Novice LP, or 3X5, PR on bench.  First reps were strong, last reps were slow.  I'm optimistic about 205.

Chin-ups feeling stronger than ever.

Novice LP. Session 24

BW - 228

Squat -
355X3
320X5, 5

Press - 127.5X5, 4, 3

Chin-ups - BWX6, 3

Negative Chins (0/0/3) - BWX4X4

Top set of Squats felt the slowest yet, but do-able.  This ties my previous 3 rep PR.  If everything comes together, I feel that a PR can be there on Monday.  After running through video of the last session, focus here was on keeping heels flat.  Had the safeties a notch too high, and hit them on the first rep.

1st back-off set felt really hard out of the gate, but much easier by the end.

Failed again on Press.  Some of it is just having my gas and low back reduced by the squat sets.  The current advice for stalling on Press in the advanced novice program is too continue with 3X3.  I'll give that a shot.

Got another rep on Chins.  Slow but steady progress.

Novice LP. Session 21

BW - 227

Squat -
345X3
310X5, 5

Bench - 195X3X5

Chin-Ups - BWX5, 4

Negative Chins (0/0/3) - BWX4X4

After failing on Squats on Monday, I could have taken several approaches:  Repeat the attempts, reset to 90%, do 1 set of 5 followed by 2 back-off sets at 90%, switch programs.  My low back has been giving me low level achy-ness fairly continually for a couple of weeks, so I didn't want to try the sets again, and since I failed on the first set, I wasn't even stoked about the idea of a set of 5.  At the same time, the LP has generally been running so well, I didn't want to do a full reset, and certainly didn't want to jump to a different program.  So I settled on a slightly different approach.  I went UP in weight for the first set, but reduced reps to a triple.  Then followed with the two back-off sets of 5 @ 90%.  This felt really good.  This is the approach I plan to take as all the lifts stall out, and we'll see how it goes:

Bench felt fairly weak on the 1st and 2nd sets, but I get a lift-off for the 3rd set and it went well.

Chins also felt stronger.

Novice LP. Session 18

BW - 227

Squat - 335X3X5

Press - 125X3X5

Chin-Ups - BWX5, 3

Negative Chins (0/0/3) - BWX4X4

Whew.  Squats were hard and exhausting again on this day.  I'm in brand new LP territory here having set an LP PR last session, and never having had the 80% days before.  I'm gonna try and push this as far as I can: fail2X, reset, fail2X, top-set+back-offX2, 3X3, etc.
3rd set shown below.

1st set of press was really hard as well.  They got more do-able the further I got from the squats.

Little bit of progress on the chins.

Novice LP. Session 15

BW - 224

Squat - 325X3X5

Bench - 185X3X5

Chin-ups -
 - BWX4, 2
 - Negatives (0/0/3)X4, 4, 4, 4

Squats went really well.  This is my heaviest set of 5 since February of this year, and my heaviest 3X5 since January of 2016.  3rd set shown in video.

Bench also went pretty well.

Switching Deadlift to once a week.  I'll be doing chins 2X a week and using Niki Sims progression.  The negative chins were much harder than I expected, although I was jumping up to the bar instead of stepping off of a bench or somesuch.