Block 9. Cycle 2. Session A.

BW - 232.9

Waist - 43.5"

sRPE @ 8

Chin-Ups - BW+17.5X4, 2 @~10

Press -
152.5X1 @9.75
137.5X3 @9.5
127.5X3 @8.25

Dips - BW+10X10, 10 @8,9

WG Pull-Downs (Myo-Reps; 30 sec. rests) - 85X18, 5, 6, 6, 6, 6 @8/9

Weak session.

Chin-Ups and Press just weren't quite there for me on this day.

With Chins, my BW spiked on this day, and that really does seem to make a huge difference even accounting for total weight.

But when Press also took a step back, I thought maybe it was just an off day.  I still tried to push for my target weights, but both the top single and the first set of 3 were clearly to heavy on this day and so I backed off for the second set of 3.

Dips were slightly better, but the RPE shouldn't have jumped so much on the second set.

Pull-downs were fine though, lol.

Meet Report

BW - 229 (in jeans and shoes)

Squat -

324.5X1

346X1

363X1

Bench -

203.5X1

220X1

231X1

Deadlift -

324.5X1

352X1

374X1

Total - 968

Wow, what a long day!  Got to the gym for weigh-in at 8:00 AM, and final trophies were around 7:00 PM.  

Quite tired today, but happy to have hit most of my goals.  In order: Do the meet, don't get re-injured, go 9-for-9, lifetime PR(s) on the platform, 1000 lb. total.

I let my coach put in my attempts for me, and I didn't ask what they were.  With the kilo plates, I couldn't tell by looking.  I trusted that he'd pick well, and all I had to do was execute.  363 ties my lifetime training PR in the Squat.  231 Bench and 374 Deadlift are both lifetime PRs.

I maybe had a little room to go up on the Squat, however the USAPL judges (one in particular) were calling the squat extremely strict.  When I'd done the 363 in training with commands, the gym owner (who was also a judge at this meet) thought depth was borderline.  That's why my coach stayed there for my 3rd.  I got three whites, but I believe that was a good call.

My final Bench attempt was felt like the single hardest rep I've ever successfully completed.  Looks a lot faster in video than it felt.  The bar got half way up and seemed to come to a complete stop.  From there, it was pure willpower and execution.  Keeping the pressure on, and slightly angling the bar back got it moving just enough to lock-out.  Props to my coach for his cue-ing, and to the judges and spotters for letting me finish it.

I don't know what was going on with the Deadlift, but I was significantly stronger on the platform than I'd been at any point in training.  As a result, my coach and I were both in unknown territory.  After my 2nd, he asked me how it felt.  "Great," I said.  "Easy?," he asked.  And I wasn't sure what to say, it did feel easy, but I wasn't sure how easy to call it.  He'd asked me earlier what my lifetime PR on the lift was (365X2), and he ultimately played it safe by just calling for a PR.  The way it felt, I probably  left at least 10 lbs. on the platform with that one.  That's, oddly, a good feeling.

Depending on what goes on in the coming year, I'd be happy to do another meet if it's reasonably convenient.  I would probably go more directly after numbers for that one.  I plan to drop a lot of the fat I put on for this one, so I'd love to get the 1000 lb. total one weight class lower in the 205s.  But I'll have to get well under that, so I can train back up to it, and the timing would have to be right, so we'll see.

Overall, I had a great time.  Hung out with some interesting folks, and got to see some valiant lifts.  My wife came out, and several friends did as well.  I feel very thankful for that.

Novice LP - Session 17

BW - 222

Squats -
BarX5
115X4
165X3
205X2
250X1
285X5, 5, 5

Press -
BarX5
85X3
95X2
105X1
125X5, 5, 5

Deadlift -
135X5
200X3
240X2
290X1
330X5

Solid session.  Squats and Press both moved okay.  Deadlifts just feel heavy as shit, but I got all the reps.

We're starting to get into what I'll call "moments of truth" with all the lifts.  While I've hit some awesome 5 Rep PRs in the Press and Squat, in none of the lifts have I hit a set of 5 that projects to a new, lifetime 1RM PR.  So the #'s I'm looking for coming up in order to get those new, projected maxes are:

Squat - 320X5 (35 lbs. away now; 10 lbs. away before last reset)
Bench - 210X5 (15 lbs. away)
Deadlift - 340X5 (10 lbs. away)
Press - 135X5 (10 lbs. away now; 5 lbs. away before last reset)

Squat and Press got closest, but I had to reset them.  I haven't had to reset Bench or Deadlift yet, but they're also further away from new lifetime numbers.  AND I've gone to alternating Deadlift with Cleans because they're getting so heavy.  The other kicker is that my previous lifetime, projected 1RM PRs happened at the following BW:

Squat PR - 275X11 @ 215
Bench PR - 155X17 @ 215
Deadlift PR - 245X4 multiple times @  209, 211, and 214
Press PR - 105X14 @ 213

So I'm looking forward to the extra 8-12 lbs. BW paying off with some new projected bests.

Reps and Volume. Week 12. Accessories

BW - 209

PBN -
BarX20
65X5
85X3
95X2
115X1
95X16, 8
super-set with
Chin-Ups - BWX12, 6, 7, 5, 5 (35 total)
and
CG Pull-Downs - X16, 15 (straight-weight)

Machine Pullovers - X15 (burn-out set)

RG Preacher Curls - 50ishX16, 13
super-set with
DB Press - 40sX16, 14

DB Curls - 30sX18, 12
super-set with
DB Rolling Triceps - 30sX18, 12

BB Curls - 50ishX15 (burn-out set)

Standing Calves - X12, 15, 12
super-set with
Seated Calves - 90X15, 15, 15

Incline Treadmill - 20 minutes; walking

Whew, that looks like a lot.  With the super-setting, it didn't take much time, though.  And a lot of those movements only had 2-3 sets so it's not THAT much stuff.

If you actually add it up, that's 9 sets of Pressing, 8 sets of Lats, 5 sets of biceps, 2 of triceps, then 84 non-stop reps of calves.  Compare that to my last full Squat day, where I did 18 sets of squats, 3 sets of quads, and 2 of hams/glutes.  That's 25 sets vs. 23 sets.  This is a day to fill in little gaps and therefore just has more variety instead of being focused on building one specific movement.

95X16 is an all-around PR for all OHP.  Together with the total volume goal of 18+ means moving up to 105 next week.

For the calf work I'm adding in to try and take advantage of BW gains, I did these super-sets completely non-stop just going from one machine to the other.  This hurt like hell, but combined with the high-incline walking immediately afterwards, my calves finally got sore for a few days.  So this will be something I stick with.

Phase 1. Week 5. Squat

BW - 212

Squat -
BarX10 (paused)
95X5 (paused)
115X5
135X4
155X3
185X2
225X2
255X6, 3

High Bar - 185X5, 5, 5

Fronts - 155X5, 5, 3

255X6 is a Rep PR, and beats my program goal of 255X4.  Moving up next week.

Felt a little gassed after the low bar sets.  Managed to get 3X5 on High-Bars, but by the last set of Fronts I was done, and could only get 3 reps.

Oh, and my bodyweight ties a lifetime high.  I feel a lot healthier and a tad leaner than last time I hit that weight; about 2 years ago.

LRB 365: Big-15. Phase 1. Week 6. Shoulders and Bench

Saturday -
BW - 202

Upright Rows - 60X15, 15, 15, 15, 15
super-set with
DB Rear Delts - 25sX15, 15, 15, 15, 15

Sunday -
BW - 207

Bench -
BarX15
85X5
95X4
115X3
145X2
165X1

155X15, 4

Chins -
BWX5
+15X5
+20X3, 3
+25X2
+30X1

+25X6, 3
BWX7

DB Incline - 55sX15, 12, 8, 8, 8

Ate my ass off all day Saturday and Sunday morning.  155X15 was the only goal for the cycle I hadn't hit, and this was my last chance to hit it.  I wanted to make sure I had plenty of fuel, and also hoped I might get a little leverage advantage as well.  The result was my heaviest weigh-in since April 2012.  Oh, and I also hit my bench goal, which is an all-around PR.  That's every goal for the cycle hit.

Weight gain made chins a bit rough, though, hahahahaha.

Was able to stay with the 55s for every Incline set, which was a minor goal for this session.  Happy about that as well.

LRB 365: Big-15. Phase 1. Week 2. Shoulders and Bench

Friday
BW - 199 (this seems inappropriate)

Upright Rows - 60X15, 15, 15, 15, 12 (45 sec. rests)

DB Rear Laterals - 25sX15, 15, 15, 12, 12 (45 sec. rests)

Saturday 
BW - 201 (1/2 a large pizza, 2 bowls of jambalaya, 4 chicken legs, and a bowl of orange sherbet between sessions helped a little)

Bench -
BarX15
85X5
95X4
115X3
145X2
165X1
155X12, 4

Chins (shoulder-width, neutral grip) -
 BWX5
+15X5
+20X3, 3
+25X2
+30X1
+25X9, 3
BWX6

DB Incline -
50sX19, 10, 5
40sX9, 9

Weight has been holding steady at 200 for a week or so, and then dipped down, so I ate it back up.

Both myself and my spotter lost track of the # of reps on my back-off set.  I lost track around 10 or 11, and then got 1 or 2 more.  My spotter said "Not sure, I think like 14."  But I told him I was going for 13, and I think he was just being 'positive.'  I'll just assume I matched last week and move forward.

201 (BW)+25X9 is a Rep PR.  Interestingly, my right triceps was feeling aggravated by this movement.  I guess the triceps does cross  the shoulder (see: Rolling Triceps Extensions), and my triceps have had a lot of soreness so far on this program, plus the bench beforehand...it was just weird.

I upped the weight on the DB Inclines a bit.  The effect here was like 50% sets with the 50s though.  Instead of stopping after the 5 rep set, or gutting out a couple more sets of 5-or-less sets, I decided to drop the weight and get some better volume.

LRB 365: Big-15. Phase 1. Week 1. Arms

BW - 200 (holding remarkably steady)

Incline DB Curls - 30sX15, 15, 13, 10, 10 (45 sec. rests)

PJR Pullovers - 50X15, 15, 12, 10, 8 (45 sec. rests)

Ab Wheel - 10, 8, 10, 9, 9

LRB 365: Strong-15 Short. Week 4. Squat

BW - 203

Squat -
BarX10 (paused)
95X5 (paused)
135X5
155X3
185X3
205X2
235X1, 1
245X1

Pause Squats - 205X3, 3, 3, 3, 3

Leg Press - 3ppsX20, 16

Leg Curls - X20, 16 (heavier than last week)

Decent session.  My right knee has been feeling wonky this week.  At first it seemed like squats were making it feel worse, and then by the end of the pause squats, it seemed to feel better than when I started.  Just wait and see.  Hope it's not a side effect of the weight gain.

Cuing hard with 'chest up' and pushing through 'heels.'  245X1 was good.  The 3rd reps on the last couple of pause squat sets were a little wild card as my form tried to break down, but there was no doubt of hitting them all.

Keeping my stance close on leg press, and quads continue to burn.

Hoping the leg curls will help with the knee.

Skipped calves.

LRB 365: Strong-15 Short. Week 1. Bench

BW - 195

Bench -
BarX15
85X5
95X4
115X3
125X2
145X1, 1
155X1

115X22, 6

Incline - 85X15, 7

Dips - BWX12, 10, 9, 7, 6

Session was good/OK.  The 155 on bench was curiously heavy, but 115X22 is a PR from 17 reps on up.  Grain of salt there because I've only pushed reps at that weight once before, and that was at the beginning of the Strong-15 last December.  But at that time, I only got 115 for 15, and noted at the time that the bar was moving slow.  That was not the case with the 115X22 today.  And this projects to be inside 10 lbs. of a perceived 1RM increase.  Feels on target.

As I mentioned in my last squat post, I'm doing additional back-off sets per a suggestion in the manual.  With Squats, the manual calls for 2 sets of 3 of Pause Squats, but I did 4 sets and when the last rep of that 4th set was slow coming up, I moved on to assistance work.  Bench is different because the back-off sets are AMAP, so I'm using one of Paul Carter's favorite techniques: 50% sets.  I would have liked to have gotten closer to 11 (half the reps from the first set) on my 2nd back-off set, but sometimes you're so gassed from the first 50% set, it's hard to imagine you'll get even 1 rep on the 2nd.  It was like that here, and that's OK.

I've got the option as well to do more than 2 sets on Incline, but this turned out to be another 50% set, and so I let it be.

There's no prescribed number of sets/reps for the Dips.  The manual just says "body x lots," and 5 sets felt about right.  These were all AMAP sets where I barely got the last rep or failed when I attempted the next one.

Also, should note that as I've pulled some carbs back out of my diet again, my BW increase has dropped back off to where I was about 2 weeks ago.  I'm going to try to up the protein/veggie intake and see if I can SLOWLY get it to start going up again that way.  If it stalls out, I'll revisit some additional carbs, but I was starting to feel a little sloppy over the last couple weeks.

LRB 365: LRB Split. In Review

This will be short, as I suspect the LRB Split and the Strong-15 Short cycle go hand-in-hand in a way that will result in a more complete picture emerging at the end of that 2nd cycle.

Generally speaking, the goals for this cycle were to maintain top-end strength on the main lifts relative to where they've been during the conditioning cycle, while allowing some more carbs back into the diet in order to stimulate muscle growth by going hard with the assistance lifts.

My bodyweight started out hovering in the 192 range at the end of the conditioning cycles, and by the end of the LRB Split was hovering around 195-196.

I set the following PRs on assistance work in chronological order:
RDL: 
205X8
225X9
245X10 (with straps)

DB OHP:
20sX25
25sX35
30sX28

Front Squats:
135X10
145X8
155X9

T-Bar Rows:
95X8
110X7

Barbell Rows:
145X9

Good Mornings were a new movement to me with this cycle and I progressed them as well:
135X8
145X7
145X8
145X10

Regarding Front Squats, I was doing them every week.  They were the first assistance exercise following back squats on Heavy Squat days, and they were the main movement on Light Squat days.  All the PRs were set on Light days, however it's worth noting that while I PR'd with 135X10 on a Light Squat day at the beginning of the cycle, by the end I was doing 135X8-10 for four sets across as assistance on my Heavy Squat days.  In addition to all that, I kept my stance narrow on all the Leg Pressing, and went hard to push reps on leg extensions.  Increasing quad size/strength was my primary goal for this cycle, and I feel good about the results.

I also got some good hamstring volume in with all the RDLs and GMs in addition to the maintenance Deads.  Had sore hamstrings every week.

Lots of shoulder volume on the cycle as well.  In addition to the DB OHP, my regular Press was getting within 5 lbs. or so of PR territory by the end.  Lots of high-rep Inclines, Upright Rows, and Rear Delt Flyes to round it out, all pun intended.  Although I honestly haven't noticed very much growth in my delts.  Hopefully, we'll see some of this work translate into Bench strength on the upcoming cycle.

All in all, I had a really good time through most of this cycle.  Hitting PRs on Fronts and RDLs was really fun, and seeing my wheels growing as a result was really great as well.  Near the end, I had a little bit of a crisis of confidence because I didn't instinctively know if my Every Day Max had improved, and was grumpy about what to set as my goals for the Strong-15 Short Cycle.  In the end, re-reading the manual, and reading an inspiring post by Carter along the lines of the Patience and Belief mantra that he and Brandon Lilly have been going over helped me get my head on straight.  I've decided to program lower for the Strong-15 Short than I did for the Strong-15 at the beginning of the program.  My final singles for the next cycle will be right around weights I've hit a million times before.  With the work I did on this cycle, and the extra back-offs I'm planning for the first few weeks of the next, I'm confident that I will be crushing the weights all the way up to the end.  And isn't that what we're supposed to do?