03May24
High Incline Bench Press
165x4
165x4
165x4
165x4
165x4
Lever Rows
85x10
85x10
85x10
85x10
Low Incline CGBP
155x10
155x10
155x7
155x6
Taper/Peak starts this week.
III
4 Likes
06May24
Squat
395x1
340x3
340x3
Bench Press
185x4
195x4
205x4
2" Deficit Deadlift
315x4
335x4
365x4
III
4 Likes
07May24
Bench Press
225x1
200x3
200x3
Pin Squats (below parallel)
205x5
220x5
235x5
DB Press
40x10
50x10
60x10
III
4 Likes
09May24
Deadlift
455x1
435x3
435x3
Pin Bench Press (chest level)
165x3
180x3
195x3
Split Squats
85x10
Bad session. My head was nowhere near the weight room today. I didn’t even get the sets and reps correct on this very short workout. I’ve got to be better.
I also had to cut the split squats short, because as my wife turned on the shower upstairs, water started running through the ceiling of my weight room downstairs…
III
4 Likes
10May24
Low Incline Bench Press
185x3
185x3
185x3
Lever Rows
65x10
75x10
85x10
Dips
BW+25x10
+35x10
+45x10
III
4 Likes
13May24
Squat
405x1
350x4
350x3
350x3
350x3
Bench Press
225x4
210x4
210x4
2" Deficit Deadlift
375x4
335x4
At the risk of sounding all crazy positive about a workout like @davemccright, this one was awesome. Obviously low volume as I start to taper for the meet, this was as strong as I’ve felt yet, and by far the best training session of this prep. That top squat was maybe an RPE8, and while I’ll never brag about my ghetto bench press numbers, this was the best set I’ve completed in my life. I maybe should have skipped the deficit deads as my back was feeling really tweaked after the squats, but the program said to do them, so I did them.
As discouraged as I was last week, I’m that much more excited after tonight. Trust the process, I guess. Who knew.
III
Edit: Just to clarify, I was not saying this as a pejorative, @davemccright. I don’t comment in your log but usually read it, and am impressed by how excited you get over every training session. Didn’t want to offend.
5 Likes
I don’t want to get ahead of myself, but I have some time right now and am thinking about where I want to go with my training after this meet is over.
I really like the program I’m running right now leading up to the meet. I’d really like to run it while I’m actively gaining, which I’m not. I don’t see me wanting to really put in the effort to gaining during the summer like I’ll need to, plus these workouts take a long time. During the summer there’s lots of other things I’d rather be doing than training.
With all of these things considered, I’m thinking of a few things that sort of line up with some of the things @T3hPwnisher writes about. Right now I’m considering running a similar program to my current one, but using an axle for everything instead of a barbell. I’ll also cut back on rest times to shorten my time in the weight room. I think these two changes will affect the movements enough that they’ll be completely different, and I won’t feel the need to be chasing numbers in the SBD. That’s a “problem” I’ll run into when I try to change things up; if I’m still training traditional SBD I’ll be focused on nothing but improving those numbers. Keeping them in the program but switching to an axle with minimal rest times alleviates that concern and lets me continue to progress on those movements, albeit in a different context. It will translate when I return to traditional training.
The program I’ll run this summer with the axle will also include a decrease in overall intensity. The purpose of this is to prime my body for the next gaining phase. My thinking is that if I make these changes for the summer, my body will be chomping at the bit to grow (strength and size) when I dive back into this program with barbells in the Fall. This may also line me up with a meet I want to do next winter.
Finally, making these slight changes will be something different and interesting for me, which is probably a good idea. I’m really good at boring training. I can do the same exercises for the same rep schemes in the same order on the same days of the week for years on end. Since I don’t like training anyway, doing the same stuff over and over doesn’t bother me; I’m just there to do something. It’s probably a good idea to switch things up sometimes and try new things. This will force me to do that.
I’m just thinking out loud and not necessarily asking for advice, but if anyone wants to chime in, I’m all ears (as long as you’re not offended if I still do whatever I want to do…)
III
6 Likes
Hey I’m not offended at all! I know I’m always excited about training and from my perspective, if someone says that they’re sounding like me talking about training, I take that as a positive! Looks like you had an awesome session! That squat is STRONG!
2 Likes
14May24
Bench Press
240x1
215x3
205x3
195x3
195x3
Pin Squat (below parallel)
245x5
220x5
225x5
DB Press
60x10
55x10
55x8
I really tweaked my back at some point during the squat workout on Monday. It was a struggle to get out of bed Tuesday morning, though it felt better as it got warmed up and moving around. It was feeling pretty spicy going into this workout, though. I went conservative on the pin squats. They were really just to get some movement and get a load on my back to see how my it felt. It still doesn’t feel great, but I think we’re in a better place than we were 24 hours prior.
Today’s a scheduled rest day, so I’ll keep monitoring. My guess is that it will be fine in time for this weeks deadlifts.
III
4 Likes
17May24
Well the back tweak was really feeling better with each day. As soon as I started warm-ups for deadlift, though, I could tell we might have an issue. I took extra warmups at lighter weights to try and get it warmed up, but the warmups at 275 stopped me in my tracks. I can usually power through if it’s just pain, but these were a definite no-go. Now I’m back to square one.
The trick now, I guess, is trying to balance giving it rest, giving it movement and giving it load for the next two weeks. I generally heal very quickly, but this is a little different situation with the meet only two weeks away. So, we’ll see…
III
2 Likes
20May24
Squat
225x4
Bench Press
205x4
195x4
195x4
At this point, I don’t know if I’ll be able to compete next week or not. I warmed up very conservatively here, but just unracking 275 hurt to the point of re-aggravating my back. I’m trying to take this slowly, but that may mean not being ready for next Saturday. It’s obviously extremely frustrating to have such a good prep, but get hurt 3 weeks out from the meet. I was set up to smash some PRs there. I’m not giving up hope; I’m a notoriously fast healer. But we’re cutting it kind of close…
III
2 Likes
Fingers crossed for you, mi amigo.
1 Like
You aren’t getting any stronger in 2 weeks. Go get a massage and just rest. Trust in your training and as long as the back is alright you’ll be fine.
1 Like
21May24
Bench Press
225x1
210x4
210x4
DB Press
60x8
Decided not to push it with any squats. My back started hurting even just doing seated DB presses.
III
7 Likes