Block 18 (Exploratory). Cycle 1. Session A.

sRPE @5

BW - 218

Curls - 65X6, 11 @7/10

Bench -

195X1 @5

135X13 @6

Machine Flyes - X17X7.5

Deadlift -

375X1 @5

255X10 @4

SSB Pause Squat - 160X9 @6

Curls tend to have a bigger drop off between blocks for me than most lifts, but this was still a below average change.  Still only dropped me back to the early middle of the previous block, and presuming an average progression, might still end up above where I finished the previous block.

Bench strength was retained a bit better than usual, and DL a bit lower.

Paused Safety Squats felt good.  Didn't push them at all today getting acclimated, but looking forward to adding some effort and volume next week and seeing how they go.

Also, the scale I've been using at the gym had me at, like, 212 today, which just seemed low.  I grabbed a 10 lb. plate and tested it on the scale and it showed, like, 5 lbs.  There's a similar digital scale in another part of the gym, and I tried that with a calibrated 5k plate, and it came in at 4.9.  I'll use that scale from now on.  

Block 10. Cycle 1. Session B.

BW - 228

Waist - 43.75"

sRPE @ 6

Bench -
200X3 @7.5
170X7, 7 @7

CG Bench -
165X6, 6 @7/8
155X6 @7.5

Rack Pull-Ups - BWX5, 5, 5 @7/8.5

GPP Day -
- Circuit: Straight-Arm Pull-Downs, Seated DB Press, Hammer Curls - 7 minutes; 3 rounds; sets of 10
- Rower - LISS; 20 minutes

Nice little upper-body session. 

200X3 @7.5 is interesting because that's about at 99% of where my bench was at the end of the previous, aborted cycle.  That was back on 12/22.  So almost a month later, with minimal training, bench strength is about where it was.  Not sure if there are any take-aways, but if the lift trends upwards from here, and especially if I get a couple of larger-than-average jumps (my Bench tends to have those), I could end up with a good little bench block.

I had to drop weight on the last set of Close-Grips, as the RPE started jumping pretty fast.  All good (probably).

Rack Pull-Ups were fairly easy, especially as I'm still dropping a set from each movement in this first week.
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GPP Day went well, too!  Was able to move through this combination a bit faster and with more reps, resulting in getting a 3rd round in the same amount of time.  I think the prior GPP day's circuit probably had a lot more biceps involvement in each movement and that created more fatigue.

Also doubled my time on the rower with no difficulty.  Will probably switch to HIIT next week.

Block 7. Cycle 1. Session C.

BW - 228

Waist - 42.5"

Deadlift -
365X1 @8
370X1 @8.5
375X1 @9
330X4, 4 @~8
300X6 @8

Beltless Squat - 297.5X4, 4, 4 @~8

Single-Ply Bench - 230X3, 3, 3, 3 @8

Good session.

I had a feeling that DL was going to be better than my Training Max would indicate and it was.  This projects to be around the same e1RM as I ended the last block.  Not sure why this happened, or why I intuited it, but it was nice to have happen.  I did fatigue a bit by the end, and ended up only doing 6 reps on the last back-off set.  That set is meant to be 5-7 stopping @8, so that's fine.

I haven't done beltless worksets on Squat in a while so I had no idea what to expect.  This weight came in around 93% of Monday's belted Squat.  I was a little nervous about heavy-ish squatting with no belt, especially after DL, but it seemed fine.

A buddy at the gym gave me an extra single-ply, Inzer Blast bench shirt a while back, and I'm trying it out this block as my bench overload movement.  I cut open the back to make it easier to get on and off.  I thought I might get as much as 20% out of it, but starting off this is about 105% of Wednesday's regular bench.  Interested to see where this goes.

Video is of top sets and final work sets in each rep range.

Block 4 (Accumulation). Cycle 1. Session C.

BW - 216

Deadlift -
245X9@6
322.5X1@6
337.5X1@7
355X1@8.5
265X9, 9 @6.5

Front Squats -
135X7 @6
145X7, 7, 7, 7 @~7

Dips -
BW+10X7 @5.5
BW+15X7 @6.5
BW+20X7 @7
BWX12 @8

Not sure entirely what happened here.  I moved my feet back an inch or so on my deadlift set-up and ended up with my biggest DL in 6 months...at the beginning of a new training block.  So you could say it's the stance adjustment.  I also pulled Sumo for the first time ever earlier in this cycle.  When that came in at 112% of my Training Max (TM), I just assumed that I might be better at Sumo because I'm a good squatter.  But now my conventional pull comes in at 115% of my TM, but also with a slightly altered stance so....

I don't know.  We'll see.  I also got confused a bit by working on a bar pre-loaded with 100 lb. plates, and got it in my head that my back-off sets were supposed to be @7 rather than @8.  So I did less volume on the warm-ups, and less intensity on the back-offs.  Interested to see how it goes this week.

Front squats came in about where expected 53-58% of squat.  Movement felt very comfortable even though I haven't done them in a long time.  I think I'm just better at being "in my body" on squats than I've ever been.  How to move so that the fleet stay flat and the bar path stays fairly vertical.  Also, didn't have much trouble with the cross-arm rack position, but as weight increases, I expect the pressure on my chest to get uncomfortable like it has in the past.

Dips also came in about on target.  Expected 240-ish for the top-set weight, and ~15 reps for the back-offs.  Satisfied with where these are starting out. 

Video is of top sets and/or final work sets.

Block 3 (Transmutation). Cycle 1. Session A.

BW - 216

Squat -
297.5X3 @8
260X7 @7.5
255X7, 7 @7

Close-Grip Bench - 152.5X6, 6, 6 @7

45 lb. Plate Deficit DL - 210X7, 7 @7

First session of the new block.  Some up's and down's.  Projected starting weights were based of a TM based off last block's best lifts.  TM was set around 92.5%, and on this day, everything came in closer to 90%.  However, I also had some weird fatigue on this day due to some work stuff.  So we'll see what happens on the 2nd session.

I'm also doing a bit more work on warm-ups with warm-up set reps mirroring work set reps.  For the main lifts where there is a top set followed by back-off sets with different rep schemes, I'm trying starting warm-ups with the higher rep scheme, and then dropping to the top-set rep scheme for the last few sets.  So for squats, I did sets of 7 up to 245 @~5, then did a triple with 275 @~6.  I then went to 290, but 290 was suddenly @7.5, so I went up just a bit more to get an @8 which was the target.

Likewise, Squat back-offs were a bit harder to dial-in, but I got there.

Close-grip benches went a lot smoother.

I haven't done deficit DL in a while.  We'll see how these go.

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

LRB Diet - Day 6

BW - 199

Pause Squats -
BarX5
95X5
125X5
145X5

Klokov Press -
BarX10
50X5
55X4
65X3
70X2
85X1
90XFAIL
65X4

Deadlift -
135X5
185X5
205X5
235X10

Hypers - 5 sets of 20

Wanted to see what my true upper range on Klokov's is, so I did Paul Carter's Strong-15 %'s and worked up to my heaviest possible single, which turned out to be 85.  I'd been projecting in the 90-95 range, but 90 just would not budge off my shoulders.  All good as it lets me know that I'm working in the right range on 531, and not selling myself short.

Came in looking for 6-10 reps on the Deadlift and got 10 which projects the same max as last cycle when I was only getting 1-3 reps on my top sets.  Also a Rep PR.  Another guy watched my top set, and came over and mentioned that it looked like I was losing tightness after the first few reps and that I had motion in my low back during the movement.  I was thankful for the note, and I will be more mindful of keeping a tight arch on the higher rep sets in the future.

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

LRB Diet - Day 2

BW - 200

Hypers - 4 sets of 15-20

Squats -
BarX5
95X5
135X5
165X5
185X10

Pendlays -
75X10
135X8
115X15

Dips - BWX7, 16, 8

Chiro Crunches - 5 sets of 35

First day with the reset training max on squats.  I've lost the "feel" of going over 5 reps with this movement, and I'm happy to be getting back into it.  I didn't really know what I needed to hit for a certain max projection, so I just set my sights on 10 reps for the top set, and got it.  This projects a 1RM in line with what I was doing last cycle, but I'm confident the additional reps at this lower weight will help stimulate some growth to start building up to new, heavier weights down the road.  With 531, it will be several months before I get the opportunity to try and beat my parallel squat single rep PR with my new, ATG form, but I am very much looking forward to that and any other chances to break old PR's with the new form.

I got side-ways in my head, and went too heavy too fast on the Pendlays, but still hit a nice 15 reps on the back-off set.

BW of 200 for 16 reps on Dips projects a new 1RM PR.  Yayee.

5/3/1 Full-Body: Cycle 1. Week 3. Press/Dead

This was on Saturday, day before new diet starts
BW - 201

Hypers - 3 sets of 15-20

Pause Squats -
BarX5
95X5
115X5
135X5

Klokovs -
BarX5
55X5
60X3
70X12

Deadlift -
135X5X2
185X5
235X5
265X3
295X1
275X1X5

Chiro Crunches - 5 sets of 30-35

Well that's it.  Deadlift stuck in the mud just like bench and squat, so time to just reset everything for the next cycle.  Fuck it, it coincides nicely with the start of the diet anyway.  I'd hoped to pull 295 for a tough triple today, but I had to grind out the single.  I was frustrated, so I pulled a 10 off each side, and hit 5 more singles at that back-off weight to try and get some more volume in.  Did the same thing last week, but I guess it didn't make a lot of difference, heh.

Klokovs are still fine, and 70X12 is a Rep PR and projected 1RM increase, but it is still a very new movement to me, so no real matter.  Still a lot of fun.

5/3/1 Full-Body: Cycle 1. Week 3. Bench

BW - 201

Paused Squats -
BarX5
95X5
115X5
135X5
superset with
Chin-ups - BW, 4 sets of 5

Bench -
BarX11
95X5
135X5
155X3
170X1
superset with
Chin-ups - BW, 3 sets of 5, 1 set of 2

Pause Squats felt great.  Smooth and explosive.

I was in a rush this session because we had company coming over for dinner.  I skipped the hypers and crunches, and instead superset a ton of little chin-up sets across the workout.  By the time I got to that last set of 2, it felt like I had tweaked my mid-back a little on the left-hand side, so I did full-stop, feet on the ground reps with an overhand grip, and could only get those 2 reps.

Bench is what it is right now.  Much like adjusting my squat to go full ATG, and having to reset my training max for the next cycle to account for the lower strength curve, pausing the close-grip bench on my chest has significantly lowered my top weight on this movement.  I'm resetting my training max for the next cycle, so that I can finally get some reps in.  That being said, my form felt as tight as it has in a while, and these sets were all smooth, even if 170 was quite slow.

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

BW - 201

Hypers - 5 sets of 15-20

Squats -
BarX5
95X5
135X5
185X5
210X3
235X1

Pendlays -
BarX10
95X5
115X3
135X3
125X15

Dips - BWX7, 9, 12, 9, 7

Chiro Crunches - 5 sets of 25-35

Continue to like the hypers over the reverse hypers for now.  Interestingly, in the first few sets I feel the muscles really getting worked, and then for the last few, they just feel warm and "capable" for lack of a better word.

Squats actually went pretty well, and I possibly could have gotten another rep or two at the end, but I'm lowering my training max after this without a deload, so I didn't want to grind this out beforehand.

Tried something a little different with the Rows, and that was going back to something I did on Paul Carter's UB - Reps Strength program where I over warmed-up on rows and then did my rep-out set as a back-off.  Went great, and 125X15 is a Rep PR and projected 1RM increase.

For dips, rather than try to push a new projected 1RM, I went back to the ladder I ran 2 weeks ago, and tried to run it with 2 more reps per set in order to push the overall volume for the session up.  This worked very well, as I got all the reps on each set, but the last reps on the last two sets were all out efforts.

New diet starts on Sunday.  I broke it out into a table for myself yesterday, and will do the grocery shopping for the first week soon.  This will take a lot of pre-planning and vigilance to pull off over the next 2 months, and I'm excited about it.

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

BW - 201

Hyper-extensions - 3 sets of 15-20

Pause Squat -
95X5
115X5
135X5

Klokov Press -
50X3
60X3
65X10

Deadlift -
135X5
215X3
250X3
280X3 (Fail on 4)
280X1X3

Chiro Crunches - 5 sets of 30

I like doing the body weight extensions instead of the reverse hyper right now.  I feel the muscle working a lot more, and I suspect it will be better to build the mind/muscle connection this way so that I can get more benefit out of the reverse hyper down the road.

Pause Squats still feeling fine.  Because I'm squatting all the time now and yet it's still the first cycle, it feels like I should be upping the weights already.  At least one more cycle at these lower weights, before I jump to the next % tier.  Although, I guess if I feel good I could jump next cycle...

My shoulders seem to be acclimating to the Klokov presses pretty quickly.  I could have gotten a couple more reps here, but just wanted to bump my 1RM a tad.  Next week I will probably go for AMRAP.

Well, as my weight had been inching downwards, so has my strength.  Bench was the first to go, and it fell of a cliff about a month back.  Pretty quickly into the diet, actually.  Then I suspected that my squats weakened a bit as well, but it was hard to say for sure, because I also switched to Paused for a few weeks, and then came back doing ATG instead of parallel, so it was hard to say for sure.  However, not being able to pull this 4th rep with 280 was a real surprise.  I pulled 285 for 5 in February, and 290 for 3 last month, I intended to get a solid 5 reps on the top set today.  4 stopped just off the ground.  I was pissed, and so I pulled a few singles with it to try and make up the volume.  I held the last single at the top for a couple of seconds, and thought I was going to pass out when I sat it down.

I can't help but think I've lost more muscle than is optimal for a diet over the last month.  I'm not going to panic, though.  In fact, after this week, I'm hoping to implement a very regimented diet for August and September, but I've got to sit down and plan it out.  I'm hoping that if I plan well, and execute, that I can lean up a lot more, and maintain strength levels wherever they are.

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

BW - 200

Hypers on the GHR - 2 sets of 15

Squat -
BarX10
95X3
135X3
175X3
205X3
225X4

Pendlays -
BarX10
95X5
120X15

Dips - BWX6, 15, 6

Chiro Crunches - 3 sets of 30

Didn't feel like setting up the Reverse Hyper today, and really just wanted to get to the squats, so I only did a few sets of extensions on the GHR.  I did use some form tweaks that Paul Carter discusses in his new book, and I felt them in my back more, and my glutes less.

Squats were good.  Everything felt solid form-wise, and I probably could have gotten a 5th rep on the top-set.  I think my training max is still too high for a starting cycle, though, as I should be contemplating a 10th rep rather than a 5th at this point.  Now that I'm going ATG, the strength out of the very bottom just isn't there for many reps at this weight, BUT it's feeling better all the time.  One thing I found today is that, if I control my descent a bit more then I feel a tad more explosive on the turn-around.  I suspect this is a by-product of increased stability.  Still plan to finish out this cycle to establish a revised max with my new depth, then reset my training max for the next cycle. 

5/3/1 Full-Body: Cycle 1. Week 1. Press/Dead

BW - 204

Reverse Hyper - 5 sets of 10

Pause Squats -
BarX5
95X5
115X5
135X5

Klokov Press -
BarX5
55X5
60X12

Deadlift -
135X5
205X5
235X5
265X5

Chiro Crunches - 5 sets of 25-30

Really nice session.  Seems like the best in awhile.

Doesn't seem to matter how little weight is on the bar, full, ATG pause squats just feel like they don't want to go over 5 reps.  Weird.  These all felt good though.

Just my second time ever trying these "Klokov" presses.  No matter, I went ahead and based by 531 training max on the lone, other session and predictably got a lot of reps on the top set and projected an increased 1RM.  The way Squat and Bench day went, it was nice to feel like the first week of a 531 movement was easy for a change.  Shoulders were smoking after that top set, though.  It was great.

Deadlifts felt solid.  My top strength has certainly dropped off a bit since I pulled several PR singles to push up my 1RM a couple months back, but that seems to be expected, as top end strength peaks and drops off again.  The cool thing, looking back at my progress over the last several months is that my "baseline" pulling strength seems to have shifted permanently from an average max range in the high 200's to the low 300's.  Roughly from the 285-290 range to the 310 range.  The good thing here is that 531 seems like the perfect format to sit back a tad and, hopefully, allow that average to creep up slowly.  Of course, if I'm feeling awesome one day, I will go for extra reps.  In the meantime, I'm doing hypers, rows, and chins together with tons of squatting, so there's plenty of work for the support muscles of the pull, without having to push the lift itself very often.  That's the plan anyway.  Starting with this session, I'm also holding the last rep at lockout to test/increase my grip strength.

5/3/1 Full-Body: Cycle 1. Week 1. Bench

BW - 200

Pause Squats -
BarX8
95X5
115X5
135X5

Bench -
BarX8
95X5
115X5
135X5
155X4

Chin-ups - BWX5, 7, 6, 5, 4

Reverse-Hyper - 100lbs.; 5 sets of 10
super-set with
Chiropractor Crunches - 5 sets of 20-25

My gym isn't air-conditioned, but thank god it's in a basement.  Hot as hell this week.

Pause Squats were fine as they should be at this light weight.  Still, good opportunity to work on my form.  Kept well back on my heels on all reps.

Bench stalled out on me.  Couldn't get the 5th rep.  This is a bit of a bummer after all the OHP and Inclining I've been doing the last several weeks.  However, my weight is down at least 5 lbs. since I set my last 1RM PR, and that was almost 2 months ago.  I'm not happy about it, but my max may just be predictably dropping with my BW.  I suppose that's the best case scenario unless this was just an off day.  I will keep my training max the same through this first cycle, and then drop it if necessary.  Along with this, I'm also starting to track my current max vs. my all-time PR's so that I can be clearly aware of where I'm at in that regard.

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

BW - 201

Reverse Hyper - 5 sets of 10

Squat -
BarX10
95X5
135X5
160X5
185X5
210X5

Pendlays -
BarX15
95X8
110X8
120X8

Dips - BWX5, 7, 10, 7, 5

Chiropractor Crunches - 5 sets of 20-30

Now that my show is opened and my parents have left town, I'm finally sliding into the program I've been eyeing for a few months.  Namely 531 Full-Body.  Because I'm being an asshat, and not doing exactly the movements laid out by Wendler, this will probably take some calibration.  Case in point, I programmed Pendlay Rows and Dips instead of DB Rows and DB bench for squat day as you can see here.  The dips were fine, however I was going to try and do 8/5/3 for the Pendlays in the spirit of the 5/3/1 lay-out, and that just didn't feel like the way to do it after this first session.  If I had to do this again, I would have repped out 110 instead of working up to 120.  Some of this will be re-acclimating myself to the movement, and some just tweaking for what is going to work best.  Just because Jamie Lewis does heavy sets of 3 on that movement, doesn't mean it's going to work for me.  At least, not yet.

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

Defranco Shoulder Mobility
Incline -
BarX10
95X5
120X5
135X3
150X3
125X10

Klokov Press -
45X5
65X3
75X2
85XFail

Chin-ups - BW(206)X10, 4

Cable Rows - 3 sets of 10-12

Swiss Ball Crunches - 3 sets of 15

Not a bad session for having been out of the gym for over a week with a low back strain.  I used a different incline bench that's a little less vertical, and my pressing was predictably stronger.  I guess I'll just have to start tracking which bench I use in a session.  Still, because my incline was weaker than anticipated in my first week, for the next three weeks, I'm dialing back my training max in the hopes to get more reps on my top set.  Because I could only get 3 reps on my top set here, I decided to do the back-off set with 125.  Both the 150X3 and the 125X10 projected to increased maxes on this movement, but again, it was a shallower bench.

5/3/1 Log: Cycle 1. Week 1. Incline Press

Defranco Shoulder Mobility

Incline -
BarX15
85X5
105X5
120X5
135X5

DB Rows -
45X15
50X10
55X20

Standing Leg Curls - 3 sets of 10-20

Farmers Carries - 25 minutes
Handles (120 lbs.) X1 trip down and back
160X1
200X1X5; 60 second rests
160X1X8; 45 second rests
120X1X5; 30 second rests

Incline bench was a little heavier than I expected.  Not having done it in over a year, I thought I would try 80% of my bench as my training max, similar to what I'm doing with Pause Squats, and similar to Pause Squats the weight is probably heavier than it should be.  I'm going to try and get through the first cycle just getting at least the required reps if possible.  If training is generally going well and not interfering with my rehearsal process, I will drop the training max and continue with the 2nd 3-week cycle.  Again similar to the plan for the Pause Squats.