290 for 2X8 is a Volume PR on Squats, and I got it for a tough 4 sets. Rest time between each set was longer than the set before, and rest before the last set was >5 minutes. This all seems very hard, but I'm kind of tapping back into a variation of the old Starting Strength mentality: "You got all your sets and reps last week, so you might as well and try and add more next week." The caveat being that I'm keeping a very close eye on that sRPE creeping up along with other subjective markers. Plus, obviously, it I start substantially overshooting RPE in the first 3 sets (meaning close to +1 or higher), I'll pull the weight back for subsequent sets.
3 weeks to go in this training block, and it will pay to be conservative from here on out. I hit a 2X8 PR today, but it's almost certain I won't hit a new 8 rep PR by the end of the block, as my previous is 340. So there's no real goal left besides just kind of "staying in the pocket," i.e. trying to maintain target RPE and not let sRPE, stimulus-to-fatigue ratio, etc. creep out of a sustainable range.
Everything else was more-or-less flat from last week. Pin Presses felt a little better at the start, but then felt worse at the end.
NG Density: 1 rep every 0:15; 4:30 (18 total reps) @8
Machine Pullovers - X15 @10
Toes-to-Bar - BWX6, 5 @8/9.5
DB Curls (myo-reps) - 37.5sX15, 5, 5, 4, 3 @10/10
Stretching rests out now on Press to try and keep in target RPE range. I think I pushed it to 3:30 between 3rd and 4th sets. PRs still pretty far away on this movement, although there's a chance I hit a 4X4 PR by the end of this block. However, this is the first of 3 blocks with Press as my upper-body pressing focus, so I still have a few months to see if I can coax some PRs.
Chin-ups were...fine. First set is a little meh for the second week in a row, but the density work felt stronger.
Really enjoying hitting the machine pullovers with a BB style. Pause at the top, strong concentric, squeeze against legs at the bottom, slow-and-controlled eccentric. When I finished the last rep, it was like coming out of a tunnel. Any my lats were on fire.
TTB crapped out a little bit. That's slot 3 for ya.
DB curls continue to project as stronger than my BB curls, lol. I think that's just down to strictness. I'm fairly strict on straight-bar curls because I start to get wrist and elbow issues if I'm not. With DBs, I can "just curl."
I took about a 3 minute break between bench and even starting Chins, and another 5 minute break between rows and starting Squats, and that made a HUGE difference in the energy I had available for Squatting and keeping the sRPE down in general.
GHR (slightly higher setting than last week) - BWX12, 10 @~8
77.5X9 is a Rep PR for curls. As always, nice to get single-set rep PRs for sets across. As usual in the last couple of weeks of a training block, I'm letting rest times increase set-to-set to try and keep the same weight in target RPE range. I think I took 3:15 between the 3rd and 4th sets here.
Press single was a bit flat from last week, but 75X17 is a Rep PR.
Back was feeling better today*, and so I was optimistic about the training session.
Bench felt fine, but still got to @7 after only 3 sets again this week. Interesting.
HBS to a low box were super solid. Still trying to keep rest times to ~2 minutes, but I ran into one of the strongest guys in the gym who I don't see that often anymore, and we inevitably got to talking training between sets. With the longer rests, the RPE just wasn't going up very much on these, so I cut it off after 6 sets. Will still probably expect a higher intensity next week.
*Tried doing mat pulls, but felt my low-back twinge just a bit after 2 reps with 225, so I shut that down. We'll try again with pulls from the floor on Friday.
I'd done chin-ups instead of DL on Monday, so today I decided to do pull-ups. I already had my straps out for mat pulls, and I was stuck using my least favorite pull-up station, so I decided to try them with straps for the first time. Wow. I really didn't expect them to make as much of a difference as they did. These were only sets of 3, but for pronated pull-ups which I haven't done in some time, these felt much stronger than I would have expected. These were very strict with a swinging, straight-arm hang at the bottom and chest to the bar at the top. It never occurred to me that grip strength might be limiting my chin strength this much.
Since I'm dieting and have been having these weird quad pain issues, I decided to just open it up and go sort of full auto-regulation on my programming. Gonna try and stop worrying about the specific weight on the bar, the specific reps/sets, and just try to hone my ability to hit RPEs. I've missed enough reps anyway.
Generally, I know what movements I'm going to do that day (although I may need to change the order to make the "main" movement first), and I'll have a target rep range for each movement. Sets of 1-3, 2-4, 4-6, etc. And on the main movements, a top set range and then back-offs. The straight-sets and back-off sets will all be RPE Stop sets. For "light" movements like Pause Squats, I will shoot to keep rest times ~2 minutes to limit total number of sets. "Medium" movements, ~2-3 minutes. Main or "heavy" movements will have ~2 minutes between test /final warm-up set and top set, 2-3 minutes between top set and first volume / back-off set, and then ~2 minutes between volume sets.
So for Low Bar Pause Squats, I was targeting 4-6 reps around 275. Test set/last warm-up of 245X5@6 pointed me right at 275, and that worked well. My intent is to go for @9 RPE Stops, but I've only been doing 3 sets on this day, and figured a week to pivot into higher volume might not be terrible, especially since I'm still dealing with quad issues. So I hit a 4th set @ 8.5 and called that good enough for this week.
Bench was a little all over the place. Was looking for a top set of 2-4 reps in the 235 range. Went for a test set with 210 (90% of target) and felt like it was almost @8 after 2 reps. So I added 2.5% and tried again, but this time got X3@7. So either I wasn't fully warmed up for 210, or my technique was off. Anyway, this ended up being more predictive. Took the 5% jump to 225 and it was just a hair over @8 for 3 reps. Back-off sets ended up getting to @9 pretty quickly. This is why I might need to move the main movement to the beginning of the training session. Just in case adding additional volume to the initial movement of the day may negatively impact ability to do volume on the primary movement.
Block-Pulls went okay although I overshot the first work-set, and ended up with a top set and back-offs (not the plan, but whatevs. AUTO-REGULATED). 305 is heavier than the test sets I've been doing, but this felt @6 and this movement has been moving really well the last couple of weeks. But 335 was definitely not a weight I was going to pull for sets across. Backed down to 317.5, and that felt like a weight I was going to pull all day, but with the 2-3 minute rests, I got to the end fairly quickly, which is how I planned for this to work. So yay me. Tried to get video of all top sets and final volume sets, but missed the Bench top set.
Going to try tracking RPE "feels" after sets, so that I can compare them to "bar speed" RPE from the video.
Last set of SSB felt @8. Video says @ 6. Started dialing-in a new cue to "keep my triceps in my lats" on these. Felt like upper back looseness was making it difficult to keep my chest "up" coming out of the hole. I believe the lower arm position caused by this bar makes it less natural to keep the upper back muscles tight. Trying to push my triceps into my lats to open my chest up, and that seemed to help.
Top set of Press felt @9. Video says about the same. Was hoping this weight wouldn't feel so tough.
Last back-off set of Press felt @ 8.5. Video says about 7.5. These were all fairly easy, so my rating was probably due to keeping rests between back-off sets at 2 minutes or less.
For the DL, I rated both the first and third top-sets @ 7.5. Video definitely says they're at about the same speed. Not sure about RPE. May need to film my last warm-up set in order to get accurate bar speed RPE for singles. These all felt smooth, and relatively easy.
For the back-off set, it felt @ 7. Video says about 6.5.
