Novice LP. Session 35 (Greyskull Squats)

BW - 226

Bench -
212.5X5
192.5X5, 5

Squat - 320X5, 5, 7

Band Assisted Chins - X7, 5, 5, 5

212.5X5 is a Rep PR on the bench.  Heavy, but moving well.

Day 2 of using a belt for squats.  While the long lingering back pain is still there, the belt is allowing me to lift through it.  320X7 is a Rep PR.

Failed again to get prescribed reps on sets 2-4 of assisted chins.  Will have to tweak the approach slightly.

Conditioning

Tempo Run - 3/4 mile @ 00:09:00

Slow and steady.  Just getting back into it.

Novice LP. Session 34 (Greyskull Squats)

Squat - 315X5, 5, 7

Press - 140X2, 1

SLDL - 185X5, 5, 5

Went and got a tune up yesterday with my old coaches at Kratos.  I wanted them to review my programming to date, talk about next steps, take a look at my squat form, and help get me acclimated to using a belt.

I've decided to start using a belt to see if it will help this lingering back pain.  I've used one a couple of times in the past, and it no doubt helps lift heavier weight in the squat.  But will it help with the pain?  I've found conventional DL to be really fucking uncomfortable in them, but I'll just have to work that out.

315X7 is a Rep PR in the Squat.  The low-back discomfort was there even with the belt, but no where near as painful or all-around limiting as it has been.

Crapped out on Press though.  I suspect some of this is reversing the order I've been lifting in.  I'll try it again next go-round with pressing first and see if I get it.  If not, I will give it a shot on the GSLP and see if I can break some walls down that way.

These guys would like to see me move to an HLM program sooner than later.  Part of that would be SLDLs.  I'm not ready to switch over whole sale just yet.  Current plan, per lift, is as follows:
 - Squats: Continue to run the GSLP.  If it stalls, reset ONCE and run up again, or switch to HLM.  Depending on how I'm feeling with the belt.
 - Bench: Continue to run the Advanced Novice LP.  That includes pushing into triples like I did with Squats.  If it stalls, try resetting to GSLP and go from there.  Eventually moving into HLM.
 - DL: Adding the belt.  I got all my reps this last time with the current programming of top-triple/back-off-triple, so I'm going to progress that with the addition of the belt.  We'll just have to see how the belt changes things.  If it's better, I continue on this path.  If it stalls, I will go ahead and reset to HLM, which is just the same old 1X5 per week.
 - Press: Try 140 again, but as the first movement of the day.  If I get it, continue.  If I fail, I will try resetting to the GSLP and see how that goes.  Eventually moving into HLM.

Now the question is whether I should try to incorporate the prescribed SLDLs sooner rather than later, and what would that look like.  One way may be to pull chins back to 1-2X/week, and alternate DL and SLDL every other week.

Conditioning

Intervals - 1/4 mileX3 @ ~2:00 per

super-set with

Chin-Ups - BWX1, 2, 3, 4
and
Dips - BWX2, 4, 6, 8

Looking to get back on the conditioning train.  These 3 intervals kicked my ass some.  Part of that was no pace control.  I ran the first interval in 1:40 when I just wanted 2:30.

There's a bodyweight training station at the local park, so I threw some work in between intervals.

Novice LP. Session 33 (Greyskull Squats)

BW - 227

Bench -
210X5
190X5, 5

Deadlift -
340X3
305X3

Dips - BWX8, 8, 8

Bench went well.  210X5 ties my lifetime PR.  After the slight pec strain last week, I decided to switch to a top set with back-offs.

Deadlift felt a little rougher.  Back was kind of bothering me on all the warm-ups.  Top set felt about as expected, but the back-off set was surprisingly hard compared to last session.  I don't really see any form issues here so I'm not sure what.

Stretched out my shoulders really well before dips, and tried to keep them more locked in and focus on loading the triceps.  Felt good at the time, shoulders aren't giving me too much trouble the next day.

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 31 (Greyskull Squats)

BW - 227

Bench - 207.5X5, 5, 5

Squats - 295X5, 5, 9

Band-Assisted Chins - BW+RedLightBandX7, 6, 6, 6

207.5 for 3X5 on Bench is an LP PR.  Strained my left pec a bit squeezing out the final rep.  May be time to switch over to top-set plus back-offs.  I'll Press next session, and plan on doing back-offs on Bench the following session.

295X9 is a Rep PR for Squats!  Conditioning felt a little bit better.  I could have gone for 10 here, but I knew 9 was a PR and my low back had been bothering me on warm-ups, so I didn't push.  Probably not the end of the world, but as my conditioning improves I should try to push on days when my body feels okay.  Here's the final set:

Got the 6th rep on the last set of chins that I missed last time.  Found the band I'd been using, but these actually felt harder across the board.  I think the pec strain was just fucking with me.  I'll go for sets of 7 across next time.