Mon Nov 23rd - Sleep 7/10
Upper right trap tender from Physio
Deadlift
10x135
5x155
3x190
3x225
16x250 ← PR
Accessory work
Deadlift
1x315
1x315
1x335
1x315
3x10x135
interleaved with HLR 3x10
Upper right trap hurting more. Heat pad seems to help.
Wed Nov 25th - Sleep 8.5/10
Upper right trap/neck very sore during bench warmup…mostly disappeared halfway through. Had to work/stretch it out I guess?
Bench
10x135
10x155
3x170
3x190
9x220 <— PR (for this set of cycles)
Accessory interleaved
Inc bench 5x10x125
DB row 5x12x65
Fri Nov 27th - Sleep 6.5/10
Experiment day for squats like dead last week, go heavy for accessory
Squats
10x45
10x95
5x135
3x150
3x170
12x195 ← my ability to rep out drops FAST…last week was 19x185, but it was a GRIND I guess
Accessory squat experiment
1x205
1x225
1x235
1x245 ← almost stuck at bottom, briefly scared me. Need to grease technique coming out of bottom!
3x225
3x225
GM 3x10x65 ← only 3 sets, enough lower back punishment for today
As I figured my 1rm squat is somewhere b/t 250 and 300, not the ridiculous formula calculated 400.
What is the best way to train squat coming out of the hole? When I do my normal accessory front squats on this day I go reallllllly deep. Those are good I assume. What else?
SP 143 ← maybe a touch high but close
DL 429 ← within imagination…technique needs to improve to actually do this I think
Bench 283 ← I’ve pushed this before. Probably a touch high right now but close
Squat 281 ← within imagination
Total 993 ← so figure 925 without imagination. Better than I figured I’d be!
Sun Nov 29th - Sleep 7/10
Start of Cycle 2 Week 3
Shoulder Press
10x45
10x45
5x65
5x80
5x95
3x105
6x120
1x130 ← tried to see what it felt like, upper back tweaked as per usual, weight was ok, 135# certainly doable, maybe 140#
Accessory
Push press
10x95
4x10x70
Dips
5x12
Physio - shoulder right angle extensions
3x20 w/ yellow bands as minimal as possible
Chins
2x10 <— not doing too many as I think they affect my deadlift on Mondays (back)
As of next cycle I am switching Shoulder Press to Push Press. Shoulder Press just hurts when I get too heavy and I’m in pain for a few days. Push press reduces the ‘stress’ right off the chest which I think is causing the problem.
[quote]BrockStone wrote:
What is the best way to train squat coming out of the hole? When I do my normal accessory front squats on this day I go reallllllly deep. Those are good I assume. What else?
[/quote]
I’m not in a place to know if it’s the “best” or not, but when I was getting stuck with squats at about the same weight (falling forward coming out of the hole with anything over 265), the two things that helped me most were switching to low bar and doing paused squats as assistance work.
For paused squats, I hold each rep at the bottom for about three seconds before bringing it back up. I prefer getting my training partner or a gym person count for me so I don’t cheat on time. From my limited experience, 3 x 10 with about 50-60% of 1RM seems like a good template for these, but of course other people have used them in different ways, too.
[quote]pkoad wrote:
BrockStone wrote:
What is the best way to train squat coming out of the hole? When I do my normal accessory front squats on this day I go reallllllly deep. Those are good I assume. What else?
I’m not in a place to know if it’s the “best” or not, but when I was getting stuck with squats at about the same weight (falling forward coming out of the hole with anything over 265), the two things that helped me most were switching to low bar and doing paused squats as assistance work.
For paused squats, I hold each rep at the bottom for about three seconds before bringing it back up. I prefer getting my training partner or a gym person count for me so I don’t cheat on time. From my limited experience, 3 x 10 with about 50-60% of 1RM seems like a good template for these, but of course other people have used them in different ways, too.[/quote]
Good advice! I’ll start giving those a try with my accessory work front squats.
What is ‘low bar’?
“Low bar” refers to the bar’s placement on your back. When squatting high bar you have the bar across your upper traps. When squatting low bar, you retract the shoulder blades more and pull the bar down your back until it is resting across your lower traps. Using a thumbless grip helps to keep the weight from shifting onto your wrists - just pull the bar down and into your back. It might take a couple sessions to get comfortable with this setup, but if you’re not squatting low bar yet you might be able to get a tighter back arch and better stability from switching.
Ah yes, that is what I thought you meant. It is quite uncomfortable when I try to put it down that low.
I will give it a bit of a try. Thanks
Mon Nov 30 - Sleep 8/10
Deadlift
10x135
10x185
5x210
3x240
10x265 ← poor, PR is 14…was NOT feeling it
Accesrroy
HLR 10,10,10=30 ← felt poor
DL 5x10x135 ← concentrated on powering up
Edit: a few hours later lower left lat quite sore (hurt), will see what it is like in the morning.
Overall not a good feeling workout. Not happy about it.
Wed Dec 2 - Sleep 6/10 - woke up at 5:30AM 
Bench
10x45
10x135
10x135
5x185
3x210
6x235
Accessory
Inc bench
10x115
4x10x120
interleaved with 5x12x65 DB row
Fri Dec 4 - Sleep 8/10 - Finally slept well.
Squat
10x45
10x95
10x135
5x160
3x185
11x205 ← in line 1rm formula wise with last week
Accessory
Deep squat ‘hold for 3’ as suggested by pkoad
5x6x95
GM
5x10x65
Not the best of workouts, felt weak, wanted to get out of there…looking forward to deload week. Not sure why, I’m not sore or anything. Just feel really weak this week.
Sun Dec 6 - Sleep 7/10 - drunk the night before, xmas party
Cycle 2 Deload week
Sh Press
5x50
5x65
5x75
dips 3x6
chins 3x6
Tue Dec 8th - Sleep 7/10
Got flu shot today so arm a bit sore
Still deload week.
Deadlift
5x100
5x140
5x170
HLR
10,8
I think I am going to bump deadlift by 20# again rather than 10#. I want to bring my rep ranges down a bit for it. Feel more satisfying doing 6 of something heavy than 15 of something not quite as heavy
Wed Dec 9th - Sleep 8/10
Bench
5x100
5x125
5x145
DB row 5x5x65 ← concentrating on really squeezing shoulder blade in
Inc bench 3x5x85 ← just to stretch it out
What is more important?
This deload week I’ve been really bad on not having a protein shake before bed. I usually have a slow absorbing mix of casein/etc. Normally I wake up to use the washroom 1-4 times a night. This week I’ve slept the entire night solid most nights.
Thoughts on what I can do?
Sat Dec 12 - Sleep 8/10
Squat
10x45
5x85
5x110
5x130
Accessory
Shoulder rehab
Squat 2x5x130 slow and deep
Sun Dec 13th - Sleep 8/10 - really drunk night before but slept a pretty solid nine hours
Cycle 3 Week 1
Lifts 1RM
Push Press 135
Deadlift 300 ← upped by double the prescribed
Bench 250
Squat 225
Push press (was shoulder press)
10x45
10x65
5x90
5x100
11x115
Accessory
dips 5x12
shoulder rehab
chins 3x10
[quote]BrockStone wrote:
What is more important?
This deload week I’ve been really bad on not having a protein shake before bed. I usually have a slow absorbing mix of casein/etc. Normally I wake up to use the washroom 1-4 times a night. This week I’ve slept the entire night solid most nights.
Thoughts on what I can do?
[/quote]
I think solid sleep is a lot more important. One option might be to take the protein mix 1-2 hour before bed and see if you can go through the night without peeing. Also, I try to get well-hydrated as soon as possible upon waking, and stay hydrated throughout the day so I am not drinking too much water the couple of hours before bed.
Mon Dec 14 - Sleep 3/10 - didnt fall asleep till god knows what time…figure I got 5 hrs ‘maybe’
Deads (ugh)
5x135
5x135
5x155
5x175
5x190
5x225
11x255 ← one 20-25s breather rest around 8-9
Accessory
DL 5x10x155
HLR 10,10,10
Needless to say this workout felt poor
Wed Dec 16 - Sleep 6/10 - Fell asleep fast (22:30) but woke up at 5
Bench
10x45
5x135
5x135
5x135
5x165
5x190
10x215
Accessory
inc bench 5x10x115
bent bb row 4x10x135 8x135