5 weeks, Deload time
Low bar squat A 275x4x3
Incline bench press 205x2x3
Snatch-grip DL 275x3x8
DB concentration curl 30x3x8
Overhead band extensions light x3x10
Nice change of pace in this session. Just punching the time card this week and building up the anticipation to starting the peaking phase next week.
Deload, Day 2
Spoto presses 245x3x3
Deadlift 405x3x3
BB hip thrusts 225x2x8
Band leg curls light x3x10
Not much to report. Just went in and got everything done.
Deload, Day 3
Competition bench press 235x4x3
Low bar squat B 285x4x3
Military press 95x3;115x3;135x3
SSB squat 245x3;265x3
This concludes the deload and Monday kicks off the peak. Looking forward to it.
Peak Week 1, Day 1
Low bar squat A 365x1; 335x4x3
Spoto press 250x3 RPE 7; 235x5x3
Snatch-grip DL 295x3x8 RPE 6-7
DB concentration curls 32.5x3x8 RPE 7
Overhead band extensions light x3x10 RPE 7
Well the peaking phase is underway now. Squat was kind of meh on the single with 365; wasn’t hard or anything but form wasn’t totally dialed in either. Could have been due to this being the highest poundage I’ve squatted with in several months. The back-off sets were good until the last one. I didn’t rest long enough and it showed on the 3rd rep. Not grindy, but sure wasn’t as easy as it should have been.
Peak Week 1, Day 2
Competition bench A 245x5x3
Deadlift 445x1; 405x5x3
BB hip thrusts 225x4x8 RPE 7
Seated leg curls 120x3x10 RPE 7
On the road today so I had to train in a commercial gym. Not a bad place and low on the douchebag ratio, but the bench was low to the ground and the bars were not the best for deadlifting. No biggie. Bench reps all had good pop to them and pulls didn’t feel like they were significantly heavier than using my fancy TX DL bar. I’m leaving town again on Friday to drive a looooooonnnnggggg way, so I’ll have to squeeze in training before we hit the road.
It’s very hard to find a gym with a low douchebag ratio. My gym is filled with them if I lift in the afternoons after work. That’s why I like the mornings. They’re still sleeping.
Peak week, day 1
Low bar squat A 385x1; 345x5x3
Spoto presses 265x3 RPE 7.5; 250x5x3
Snatch-grip DLs 305x2x8 RPE 7
DB concentration curls 35x3x8RPE 7
Triceps pushdowns 120x3x8 RPE 7
I’m on vacation this week so it’s commercial gym time. Luckily, the friends we are staying with go to a nice YMCA and the equipment is good. Heaviest squat I’ve had since the spring and it went pretty damn well, though the back-off sets were rough by the fifth set.
Peak week, day 2
Competition bench A 265x5x3 RPE 8
Deadlift 475x1; 430x4x3
BB hip thrusts 245x3x8 RPE 7
Leg Curls 110x3x8 RPE 7
Pullups BWx3x8 RPE 7
Gotta love the narrow benches commercial gyms have on hand. Have to use almost as much focus to keep steady than exert strength. I ended up having to use a fairly thick York bar for deadlifting and was worried that it would cost me some weight on the bar from what I had programmed. Nah, got it just fine. The back off sets were brutal though.
Peak week 2, Day 3
Competition bench press B 295x1; 260x5x3
Low bar squat B 335x4x3
DB military press 40x3x10 RPE 7
DB split squats 40x2x8 RPE 7
Face pulls 100x3x15 RPE 7
Rope extensions 100x3x8 RPE 7
A day late (actually more than a day) posting this, but this was the last training session from our Thanksgiving trip down to Texas. Had to do this in the am, which absolutely stinks because I hate training in the morning and add on a tight and sore lower back and I was definitely not looking forward to this. I was only supposed to work up to 285 for a single on the bench, but I said to hell with it and gave 295 a shot. Had to basically half-press the weight,
Peak Phase, Week 3, Day 1
Low bar squat A w/u 395x1; 345x3
Spoto presses 275x3 RPE 8; 250x4x3
Snatch-grip DLs 315x3x8 RPE 7
Pull-ups BWx2x10 RPE 7
DB concentration curls 37.5x3x8 RPE 7
Band pushdowns averagex3x10 RPE 7
Was a little hesitant with squats headed into today. The loads of driving I did over the weekend had my knees feeling tight and a bit achy. Working up to the single with 395 was fine and even though it wasn’t what I’d call fast, it was a smooth and steady lift. I was supposed to do 3 back off sets with 345 but my knees didn’t agree with that idea so I just did the one. No problem with the reps or anything, but I figured doing all 3 sets would just end up doing more harm than good since the meet is next Saturday. I’m targeting about 185kg at the meet though I’ll be fine with 182.5kg, just have to play it by ear and see how things go.
Peak Phase, Week 3, Day 2
Competition Bench 225x5x3
4" Block pulls 435x6x1 RPE 7
BB hip thrusts 255x3x8 RPE 7
Band leg curls light x3x8 RPE 7
Pretty easy day. I haven’t done block pulls since the spring, but past experience I knew they’d be harder than a full range pull - and they were, but still moved with good speed. Finishing out the peak on Friday with a heavy bench and some squats. Getting closer to the end.
Just checking in for a quick post. Wrapped up meet prep last week with a not-so-good training session. Ended up with a slight strain in my right pec and have just been resting it since then. Weigh-ins are tomorrow morning and meet is on Saturday morning. It’s feeling better, but I’ll probably start off with a low bench opener just to make sure everything is OK and that I get a total. I’ll just have to make sure the qualifying total for nationals comes from the other two lifts.
Good luck!
Good luck. Go get it.
Thanks everybody. It was a pretty good day, all things considered. This was the longest meet I’ve ever participated in as it lasted until almost 7 pm due to the 6 flights of lifters and only one platform. It didn’t affect me a whole lot, but there were some guys there that just had nothing left by the time deadlifts rolled around.
Squat
374 / 391 / 402x
-Don’t think I took the opener seriously and it got forward on me some making it harder than it should have been. Tightened things up on the second attempt and it came up nice and smooth. Unfortunately, by that point my knees were aching - lingering deal from that long ass drive over Thanksgiving - and I just couldn’t get much oomph out of the hole on 402.
Bench
242 / 264 / 281
-This was my biggest concern heading into the meet because of the pec strain I ended up getting one week before the meet. It wasn’t a bad one but it was bad enough that it hurt and was robbing me of some strength. I decided to open very conservatively just to be safe and though I could feel the pinch in my chest, it seemed safe to bump it up 10 kilos and see what happened. Pain was more noticeable but felt good enough for more. Well, the pec did not feel great with that 3rd attempt and I had to fight through some serious discomfort to get this one.
Deadlift
452 / 474 / 496
(works out to an 1169 total @ 190.0lbs)
-To qualify for the Drug Tested Nationals as a Master 40-44 in the 90kg raw division all I needed to do was hit my opener. Both the opener and 2nd attempt were pretty easy. I thought about making a slightly bigger jump for my 3rd just to get the 502 pull, but just stuck with 496. It came up slower, but I’m pretty sure I would’ve been good for at least 507 if I had tried it. Meh, I’ll save it for the next meet.
Biggest takeaways are to get in some consistent work on my squats and obviously to let the pec strain heal up because that hurt my bench by a good 20 pounds or so. Good news is there is plenty of time between now and the next meet.
Quick update - I did end up with a moderate amount of bruising on the right pec so there was definitely some additional tearing did occur during the meet. Good thing is don’t have any visible swelling and I’d categorize the feeling in the area as tender rather than outright painful. So the plan will be to take the core bench press and primary assistance lifts out of the rotation for a few weeks (keep in some light stuff for mobility) and then have it assessed.
Week 0 Day 2
Deadlift 365x5; 345x4x5
BB hip thrusts 225x3x8 RPE 7
Band leg curls light x3x10 RPE 8
DB curls 35x3x10 RPE 8
Band pushdowns average x3x10 RPE 8
I squatted light on Monday and did a couple of other things just to say I did something, but didn’t log it. Took the leftovers from Day 1 and added them on to today’s session since I’m not bench pressing. No residual soreness in the lower back from the meet so the pulls were not stressful at all, but made it nice to feel some weight in the ol’ hands again.
Week 0 Day 3
Low Bar Squat B 255x4x5
One-arm DB press 35x3x10 RPE 6
SSB squat 225x3x5 RPE 7
DB cleans 10x3x12 RPE 7
Lack of doing anything more than 3 reps on any squat variation for the past several weeks made this a little challenging and actually left me with some soreness over the week. Right pec is still in recovery, but bruising is beginning to fade out and the tightness is largely gone under normal conditions. After the holidays are over I’ll probably sprinkle in some light bench presses for a week or so and if that doesn’t cause any issues I’ll switch over to my full rehab plan.
Hypertrophy Week 1, 24 weeks out
High bar squat A 225x10; 205x5x10
Snatch-grip DL 275x3x12 RPE 8
DB concentration curls 25x3x12 RPE 8
One-arm pushdowns light x3x12 RPE 8
Pull-ups BW x3x10 RPE 8
I knew it was coming, but working through a hypertrophy phase is always brutal. I purposefully started at a very conservative weight just to make sure it didn’t kill me and have me moving around like I need a walker. The snatch-grip DLs had me gasping for air and felt like I was going to hurl, lol.
Good luck on your rehab. I’ve always found it really helps to baby something like that.