Back in Business

Week 2 Day 1

Reverse band squat 345x5 RPE 8; 315x5x5
Military press 125x4x5 RPE 7
Paused DLs 385x4x3
One-arm lat pulldowns 3x15 RPE 7
Leg extensions 3x15 RPE 7
Pull-throughs 3x15 RPE 7
Ab wheel 2x15

Feeling more confident under the bar with the reverse band setup. They aren’t helping at all for the first bit of the lift, so and might be taking off 40 or so at the bottom of the lift. That way I’m getting a good feel for the actual weight at the top and lightened enough at the bottom to keep volume a little higher. Not a bad day overall.

1 Like

Always impressive work.

1 Like

Week 2 Day 2

Bench press 235x5; 215x6x5
Belt squat 140x3x15 RPE 7
Box deadlift 275x3x12 RPE 7
BB rows 160x2x15 RPE 8
Concentration curls 30x2x15 RPE 7
Triceps kickbacks 20x2x15 RPE 7
DB lateral raise 20x2x15 RPE 8
Weighted situps Bw+5x2x15

It was hot in the garage and the belt squats and box DLs combined to kick my ass. Some serious sweating, huffing and puffing after this was over. Shewie.

Week 2 Day 3

Deadlift 435x4; 395x4x4
Floor press 205x5x5 RPE 7
High-bar squat 275x5x4
Feet up bench 185x3x12 RPE 7
DB curls 35x2x12 RPE 7
Band pushdowns average+mic-mini x2x15 RPE 8
Face pulls average+mic-mini x3x15 RPE 7
Banded good mornings avg+avg+light x3x15 RPE 7
Abs and calves (not at the same time)

Fairly low impact day today. RPE 10s slated for next week - should be fun in the hot ass garage.

My garage has been pretty hot lately too. It was windy tonight, so it was not too bad.

It was muggy as shit in there tonight. Squats and deadlifts cranked the sweat production up to a 9.

Good lifting. Try lifting in 100% humidity (w/o rain!!) and 90 degrees.

Ha, hard pass on that one.

Week 3 Day 1

Reverse band squat 365x5 RPE 9; 320x5x5
Military press 135x3x5 RPE 7.5
Paused DLs (below knee) 405x4x3
One-arm pulldowns average+mini x3x15 RPE 8
Leg extensions m-mini x3x15 RPE 8
Pull-throughs light+m-mini x3x15 RPE 8
Ab wheel 2x15

Good to get that amount of weight on my shoulders. Didn’t feel bad at all and though the reps didn’t move with great speed, they were steady and form was consistent. Paused DLs have been a good addition to the toolbox. They’ve really helped my mid-range.

Week 3 Day 2

Bench press 255x5 RPE 9; 230x5x5
Belt squat 150x3x15 RPE 8
Box DLs 295x3x12 RPE 8
BB rows 165x2x15 RPE 8
Concentration curls 32.5x2x15 RPE 8
DB kickbacks 25x2x15 RPE 8
DB lateral raises 25x3x15 RPE 8
Weighted situps

It was supposed to be an RPE 10, but after 255 didn’t see a need to add 5 pounds for the sole purpose of trying to hit a 5-rep max at this point. I did lower the fatigue rating a smidge to make up for it, but it only added 5 pounds from the baseline. All the reps during back-off sets moved with good speed even with pauses - nearly speed work type bar speed. Belt squats and box deadlifts nearly killed me, lol. Minimized the rest between sets and the higher level of reps had me huffing and puffing (and sweating like mad).

Week 3 Day 3

Deadlift 485x4 RPE 9 (rep PR); 425x4x4
Floor press 215x5x5 RPE 7
High-bar squat 295x4x4 RPE 7.5
Feet-up bench 195x3x10 RPE 8
DB curls 37.5x2x15 RPE 8
Band pushdowns average+mini x2x15 RPE 8
Face pulls average+mini x3x15 RPE 8
Band good mornings 2x15 RPE 8
Calves and abs

Nice day. DLs continue to make really good progress. Even though I rarely pulled more than 2 or 3 reps back in the day, getting 4 reps with 485 did represent an all-time DL rep PR regardless of bodyweight for me. I know the translation of reps into a max for DLs are the trickiest of the 3 competition lifts, the fact that this didn’t register a 10 on the RPE scale bodes well as long as I stay on track. Garage was hot again, so the rest of the session was conducted under a cascade of sweat.

Deload week

Not much posting this week since it’s just a deload week. Starting to hear the meet might be in jeopardy and it’s likely that my employer will make me quarantine for 2 weeks after returning. So it’s a wait-and-see kind of deal. I’ll make it a test day if worst case scenario happens.

1 Like

My meet this month was a no go as well. I figure I’ll just be that much stronger next year.

Yeah, that’s the way I see it as well. I’d like to do it in aperfect world and there might still be ashot at it if the Columbus area covid problem settles down. Also, the restrictions on out of state travel for university employees are a hindrance, though they could relax those as well. Hard to tell right now.

Keep up your good home workouts.

Possible after effects from the virus are a great reason to stay home. My 55 year old Judge friend presently on a ventilator agrees.

Sorry to hear about your friend. I (along with my wife) know 8 people that have been stricken with covid. One was a friend’s mom who was in a nursing home and unfortunately she died. One guy said he had fevers, aches and diarrhea for 2 weeks.

I live in a college town and we’re in the middle of a case surge and the majority of students aren’t even in town yet. Needless to say, people around here are…erm concerned - including me.

Week 1 Day 1

Squat 325x3; 300x5x3
Military press 120x5x3 RPE 6
Pause DL (below-knee) 385x6x2
2-board press 225x5x3 RPE 6
Underhand pulldowns 130x3x12 RPE 6
Leg extensions 50x3x12 RPE 7
Leg curls 30x2x12 RPE 6

Last strength phase of this training cycle, so I have to make it count. Squats were just OK at first, but started getting in a better groove by the second back-off set - could’ve gone to 10 sets if I didn’t care about time. Rest of the work was kind of ho-hum, nothing really note-worthy.

The school were I adjunct really does not care about travel. We’re small and going online anyway. I’m closing in on being around 100 infected people. I just tested negative for the fourth time today. I know it’s real, and people really do get sick and sometimes die, but of the 100 I have only seen one really sick person. I asked one or my employees who had it, how it was. He said he was really sick for one day, and then just tired. It’s strange how it varies.

Do you work at a prison or something?

Administrator at the county jail. We have had nearly 100 infected inmates and nine staff. One of my many hats it to oversee the Medical Division. I’ve attended more than I care to remember.