Pervertor, Anchor - c12w3 - summary
Finished up the final week of Pervertor, Anchor yesterday, and it was a pretty awesome 1s week. I hit two PRs for each of the main lifts except for press, where I missed on the 1+ PR set by half a rep. The other PRs this week came on joker sets at 105% of my TM for each lift (including press), for which I just did a single rep. Overall, I’m pleased with how things went.
The Pervertor, Anchor template isn’t much different than the other anchors I’ve run, but SSL and jokers were new to me. Running it as the anchor after BBB Beefcake may have itself been a bit perverted, but it fit the bill: higher intensity, lower volume, more assistance, 3+ and 1+ PR sets, and some jokers. It’ll be awhile, for sure, but I’ll run it again when the time is right (though I should probably run it after the Pervertor leader template next time).
I also finished up my first front squat tabata blitz yesterday: over the past 10 weeks, I did 5 weeks of once-daily tabatas and 4 weeks of twice-daily tabatas, but I took a one-week break during the 7WP, Deload between the end of BBB Beefcake and the start of Pervertor. I started with the first cycle of Beefcake to minimize fat gain while my calories were super high. They were so effective I decided to up the ante to twice-daily for awhile, to not only minimize fat gain but to help drive my appetite while I finished out Beefcake. That was killer, but it definitely worked: I typically did one just before lunch and the other not too long before dinner. And let me tell you—eating big was no problem! No problem at all. Anyway, I then scaled back to once-daily during Pervertor, Anchor, mostly because the volume for the main lifts was lower so I wasn’t putting away as much food.
Over those 9 weeks, I progressed the reps, I progressed the weights, and I progressed how often and for how long I held the rack. At no point, however, did I ever set the DBs on the ground: I always had them at my sides, if not in the rack position. There’s no doubt my quads got bigger and stronger as a result. I might have exceeded my 3-plate squat goal without them—BBB Beefcake is also effective, that’s for sure!—but I can tell you the extra squatting didn’t hurt! I think my shoulders got stronger, too, and I know I built some new mental strength, because many days I just didn’t want to endure the 4 minutes of pain, but I did. Every. Damn. Day. For 9 weeks.
Mostly, though, I’m impressed by how they affected my recovery: with only 10 seconds to “rest,” you have no choice but to calm down and get your breathing under control before you have to do it all over again. There’s definitely been carryover there to other conditioning, most notably the burpees + swings combo I love so much.
So thanks, @T3hPwnisher, for recommending these. I’m looking forward to a mental break, but I will definitely be using these again!
I’m now headed into 7th Week Protocol, TM Test ahead of the next leader cycle, and my goals are:
- Complete all 4 lifting workouts
- Complete 3 days of easy conditioning
- Do 50 burpees + swings every day
- Continue to eat right
I’ll be attempting to work up to 5 reps on the top set of each lift to see where my TMs should be for the leader, which is still looking like 5s PRO, 5x5 FSL.
So that’s that, folks. Let’s get after it!
