Good jump on DL, especially on the back-off sets. I was working in with someone that had a 100 and a 45 loaded on each side, so I just did that and it ended up being solid despite adding a set.
Speaking of adding a set, I stopped the second set of GHR at 16 because I just spaced that I was supposed to be doing 17.
Tempo incline was interesting. I felt like I started picking up a lot more kinetic feedback in this session sort of "guiding me" in how to keep my elbows under the bar. It made all the reps and sets a lot smoother and easier to execute than the first two cycles when strength seemed to be dipping quickly throughout a set.
BW - 228 Waist - 43.75" sRPE @ 7 Bench - 207.5X3 @8 177.5X7, 7, 7 @~7 CG Bench - 170X6, 6, 6, 6 @7.25/8 Rack Pull-Ups - BWX7, 7, 7 @~8 GPP Day - - Circuit: Straight-Arm Pull-Downs, DB Press, Hammer Curls - 7 minutes; 3 rounds; sets of 8-10 - Rower - HIIT; 7 rounds; 14 minutes
Okay upper body day.
Right elbow was feeling a bit sensitive, and slowed down the lock out on my top triple, raising the RPE. I was able to increase the weight slightly on the back-offs, but all-told e1RM was relatively flat from last week. Expect a bounce back next week!
Closed-grips were a little better initially, but the RPE ramped up fairly quickly. This may be somewhat a function of adding an extra set to both bench movements.
I ended up not adding an extra set to the rack pull-ups because I always had this set a 3 sets for this program, i.e. I didn't drop a set for the first two weeks like I did with everything else. I'm also getting extra upper-back work on the GPP days, so no big.
sRPE ended up being right about on target, I think.
GPP Day -
- DB Circuit: One-Arm Rows, Upright Rows, Curls - 7 minutes; 3 rounds; sets of 10
- Rower - HIIT; 6 rounds; 12 minutes
Good session.
sRPE had been sub-target for two sessions in a row, and RTS' TRAC system also indicated an increase in volume, so I took their suggestion and added 1 set per movement. This is the volume I'd originally envisioned for the program, but gave it a couple of weeks for fitness/DOMS to get inverse. sRPE ended up being over target on this day, but this is the hardest session of the cycle, and is the only one that has rest days before it. That's all to say that increasing the volume felt good, though hard, on this day, and that I'll keep an eye on it, but expect it should be fine.
Surprisingly, e1RM for squat on this day is the 2nd highest of the past year. That result seems unlikely, but we'll see how it plays out. The absolute intensity is still well off from my highest of the past year which was, I believe, 380X2@9.
I was pretty sure DL was going to bounce-back strong from last week's DOMS-laden session, and that was accurate. Had trouble pulling 330X3 last week, but 365X3 was right there for me today on target.
GHR and Tempo Incline all felt good.
sRPE has been sub-target for 2 session in a row, which was going to be my trigger to add a set to everything. Not coincidentally, RPS TRAC system also recommends that as of today based on my perceived fatigue metrics.
GPP Day -
- Circuit: Straight-Arm Pull-Downs, DB Press, Hammer Curls - 7 minutes; 3 rounds; sets of 10
- Rower - HIIT; 6 rounds; 12 minutes
Solid upper-body session. sRPE was sub-target for the 2nd week in a row, so if I'm feeling well fatigue-wise next week, I'll be adding a set to each movement.
Bench took a 2% jump in e1RM this week, which is above average for the last year. In my best training 4 training blocks over the last year, bench jumped about 3% in week 2 on average, but the TM on the first week for those bench blocks was 92.7% on average (below the mean for the year), and this block started at 98.9% (the highest of the year). So year-best TM and an above average jump in week 2, are a combo that I haven't seen on bench in the last year, and an auspicious start to the block.
Last week, RPE on Close-Grips ramped quickly on the sets across, but this week I was able to both add weight, and maintain it at target RPE. Nice to have that on track in week 2 as well.
Added a rep to all the Rack Pull-Ups but BW was down, so whatevs. I'm not going to stress over these, even if the data says they were one of my top-6 DL accessories in the last year. They'll progress or they won't.
GPP Day went very well. Got another 3 round in 7 minutes on the resistance circuit. I added weight to all movements, and still hit 10 reps on all sets. Thought I would add 2 rounds to the HIIT, but only adding 1 felt right in the moment.
GPP Day -
- DB Circuit: One-Arm Rows, Upright Rows, Curls - 7 minutes; 3 rounds; sets of 8-10
- Rower - HIIT; 5 rounds; 10 minutes
Solid little session.
Went in expecting to get a lot more on LBS and Sumo than the previous session, and that turned out to be true. Just the way I felt on the previous session, and some experience of how this tends to go over the last year played into that expectation. Still, I used RPE on warm-ups to calibrate what the top set would actually be. I tend to go in with the assumption of a larger than average jump, but a 4% jump is WELL above average for me cycle-to-cycle.
First set of back-offs on the Squat were a touch harder than target, and so dropped back on the 2nd set. I expect to be adding a set to each movement over the next couple of weeks, so don't see any reason to push intensity on those now.
Front Squats ended up not progressing as quickly. Maybe just fatigue still from the low bar sets.
Sumo was a bit weird. This is actually the same e1RM as last week, but the RPE dropped slightly on the 2nd set. I think it's technical acclimation coming into play. Likely see a big jump next week if I had to put money on it.
On GPP Day, I still got a third round of the circuit. Switched over to HIIT from LISS on the rower. Last week was just an intro for that. Cut the total conditioning time in half, and will look to add a round or two every session until I'm up in the 7-10 range. Then maybe switch movements?
Adductor DOMS from Squats lit up HARD on my first warm-up set of DL. Made all of the subsequent sets incredibly difficult, and drove up the sRPE. Still, once the back-off set of DL got moving, the expected strength levels appear to be there, so I'm optimistic this all bounces back in Cycle 2 once the DOMS start to fade.
