Conjugate W8D1: ME Upper
Wide Bench: 235x1, 255x1, 265x1 (PR), 225x7 (PR)
DB Bench: 100x3, 90x9/6
WGPU: 13/10/8
Spider Curls: 30x10/10/10
Machine Fly Drop Set: 210x9, 160x7
Like all my great bench days, this was conducted right as the gym opened after a night of zero sleep. Surely it’s more than coincidence at this point.
Spotter was a little overenthusiastic with helping the rerack, but I’m 1,000% counting this (plus I may very well have 270 next week). He touched the bar after I got through my sticking point, maybe two inches shy of lockout. Options for spotters are limited among the 6:00am crowd, so this shouldn’t be a recurring issue.
My gym PR’s in the powerlifts now add up to 1195 pounds, which will make my next PR extra satisfying. Gonna be grabbing brunch with a recurring side character later this morning, then I have basically nothing to do for the rest of the day.
Crediting @tlgains with the motivation for this one, your last few bench PR’s have been awesome and I need to catch up.
6 Likes
Also just checked my weight - 198.6.
Three months ago today (about when I started this bout of conjugate,) I was 206.4.
So that’s -0.65 pounds/week for three months, during which time I’ve PRed basically everything I’ve touched.
This programming, so far, has let me do that without pushing food very hard. I wouldn’t call this a “cut” so much as a “return to normalcy” after a really really long time spent eating my way through what was more or less a half-year accumulation block.
I love the idea of backing off on my food intake like I’ve been doing while using a setup like conjugate to hit some PR’s in low rep ranges, ultimately giving me a longer runway when I decide I want to go back to something like my Texish method and put some weight on myself and my fives.
One way or another, I’m definitely not complaining about going into the summer looking like this
4 Likes
Conjugate W8D2: ME Lower
SSB Squat: 2x358 (PR), 6x298
Power Shrug Drop Set: 455x5, 405x7, 315x15
Decline Sit-up (Arms Overhead): 15/10/10
Leg Extensions: Max (295) x7/7/6
Incline Walk: 15:00
This bar feels like it’s actively trying to kill me every time I unrack it.
Something I’ve forgot to mention is that the pad of this bar sits on top of my hair, which means that I can’t tilt my head to look down—my head position is fixed from the unrack until the rerack. A hat or ponytail/bun would probably be an easy fix, but I’m just going to treat it as another challenge of the bar.
6 Likes
Conjugate W8D3 DE Upper
Speed Bench: 145x3/3/3/3/3/3/3/3/3
Press: 170x5/5/5
NG Chins: 17/10/9
Reverse Curls: 50x10/10/10
Incline Walk: 15:00
Right shoulder/tricep feeling off today, hopefully will clear up soon. Still a pretty good performance here.
4 Likes
Conjugate W7D4 DE Lower
Speed Squat: 245x2/2/2/2/2/2/2/2/2/2/2/2
Speed Deadlift: 315x2/2/2/2/2/2/2/2
Leg Curls: Max (205) x7/6.5/4.5
3 Likes
Conjugate W8D1: ME Upper
Wide Bench: 225x2, 250x1, 275x0 (opps,) 225x5+3+2 RP
DB Bench: 100x3, 90x8/8
WGPU: 13/10/8
Poundstone Curls: Axle x50+30+20
250 moved easy, but I got overconfident with that jump. Also, I’m in South Carolina for the next two weeks. I’ll be training at an awesome gym which has a bunch of new toys for me to try out (an axle, a log, and a GHR are particularly noteworthy).
I think I’m gonna use my next two ME lower sessions to work up to a heavy regular squat, then go back to 5’s for a while.
4 Likes
Between Programs D1: Squat
Squat: Work to 415x1 (PR)
Leg Extensions: Full Stack x11/10/10
HLR (with arm straps): 15/10/10
Machine Shrug: 405x5, 315x8/8/8
Atlas Stone to Shoulder: Work to 175x1
Incline Walk: 15:00
I want one more crack at deadlifts before I go back to rep work, so that’ll be my next session. Depth here was borderline, but not bad enough to not count the rep. And it was 4:30 in the morning lol. I have no idea what I’m doing with the stones, but at least I got a cool photo out of it.
5 Likes
Between Programs D2
Deadlift: Work to 495x1
Incline Walk: 15:00
Picking back up with fives on my next session. Considering dropping deadlifts for a while - my last deadlift PRs came after an extended period of simply not doing them, and I set several squat PR’s during that time as well. Rows from the ground, good mornings, and front squats will fill the gap if I end up going that route.
2 Likes
A Bunch of Fives W1D1
Bench: 215x5/5/5/5/5
Press (Seated on box; BB-style reps) 95x15/14/15, into lat raises 5xFail
WGPU: 14/10/10
Pushdowns: Full x12/9/9
Poundstone Curls: Axle x56+29+15
Incline Walk: 15:00
All of my upper body supplemental/assistance work today was done bodybuilder-esque—slow eccentrics, cutting out the top/bottom of that seated pressing to keep tension on my delts, etc. etc. etc. (except the Poundstone Curls). It’s something I’ve never really tried sticking with, so we’ll see how I react to it. This was another 4am session—and I went to the beach right after, which makes it twice as anabolic.
4 Likes
A Bunch of Fives W1D2: Squat (4am)
Squat: 315x5/5/5/5/5
Feel bad for self; question ability to self-program; decide against ability to self-program
Leg Curls (BB style): 145x10/8/7
HLR (w/ arm slings): 16/10/10
Incline Walk: 15:00
This actually sucked bad enough that I’m just gonna go back to my old friend 5/3/1 for the sake of not having to do more of it. The very first rep felt slow and it just kept getting worse.
3 Likes
5/3/1 W1D1: Press
Press: 125x5, 145x5, 165x7
Pause Press: 125x5/5/5/5/5
Pull-Ups: 8/8/8/8/8
Pushdowns: Max x10/8/8/7/7 (V. Short Rest)
Poundstone Curls: Axle x105 (PR)
Incline Walk: 15:00
Almost done with 4am sessions for the time being (tomorrow is the last one). Will be better for my ego to put up bigger numbers lol. Plus I feel like these beat the shit out of me for some reason. The Poundstone curls were awesome though. Did an extra five in case I miscounted somewhere.
5 Likes
5/3/1 W1D2: Deadlift
Deadlift: 5x315, 5x355, 405x11 (PR)
Pause Deadlift: 315x5/5/5/5/5
Leg Extension: Max x11/9/7/6 (V. Short Rest)
Incline Walk: 15:00
Video’s too long to upload without messing around with YouTube, so instead enjoy this photo of my fucked-up shin.
6 Likes
5/3/1 W1D3: Bench
Bench: 5x155, 5x180, 10x205
Pause Larsen: 155x5/5/5/5/5
(Superset) Pull-Ups: 8/8/8/8/8
Reverse Curls: 55x10/10/10
(Rest-Pause) Single-Arm Pushdowns: 55x8/5/4
Incline Walk: 15:00
Didn’t feel strong today, left tricep and right shoulder pissed off. It’ll pass.
3 Likes
5/3/1 W1D4: Squat
Squat: 5x245, 5x285, 5x315
Pause Squat: 245x5/5/5/5/5
Leg Curls: Max x8/6/4
Incline Walk: 15:00
Shoulder/tricep made it painful to get under the bar, so I just did five for the top set. I think I’m just gonna Deload here to let it clear up - I went straight from my last cycle of Conjugate into this, so I probably should’ve just done it earlier. Then I’ll repeat this week and aim to beat all these top sets, which honestly shouldn’t be difficult (except maybe deadlifts). Lots of biking in the meantime.
7 Likes
Biking
3 Days of ~1:15:00
I think Saturday will be my first day back. Both problem spots are clearing up, but annoyingly slow.
Biking’s fun though. I’m going to make sure that I bring my bike with me when I go to law school so that it’s a consistent option.
I also finally landed a job, which is both remote and self-scheduled: an ideal setup for doing it alongside school. It’s AI-adjacent, which means I get another cool buzzword to throw in my resume.
7 Likes
Congrats on the job. Hope its everything you wished for!!
1 Like
Limbo W1D1 Press
Press: 125x5, 145x5, 165x5 (Painful)
Pause Press CG: 125x5/5/5/5/5 (Not Painful)
NG Chins: (Painful)
Bent-Over Rows: (Painful)
Machine Rows: (Painful)
Rolling Extensions: (Not Painful)
Curls: (Not Painful)
Bike: 2:00:00+
So it appears I’m going to be fairly limited in terms of upper body lifts for a little while. Close-grip pressing seems viable, and hopefully close-grip benching is as well. I really want to find a pulling movement I can get away with, but I may have to just stick to deadlifts for a couple weeks. This too shall pass, blah blah blah.
I’m probably gonna be posting pretty sparsely until I’m back to normal, this stuff isn’t going to be particularly interesting to read or productive to log.
5 Likes
Doctor’s appointment scheduled for next Monday. Dude was a team physician for the NE Patriots & Boston Bruins + studied sports medicine at Harvard. Perks of being near DC and on my parents’ insurance lol.
Limbo W1D2
Deadlifts, Pause Deadlifts (Not Painful, but notably weaker than a few weeks ago. Did some volume here)
Leg extensions
Limbo W1D3
Bench (Painful)
CG Bench (Not painful, but notably weaker than a few weeks ago. Did some volume here)
DB Rows (Painful)
DB Rows with elbow flared way out to the side (Not painful, did some volume here)
Incline curls (not painful)
Also played around with some light snatches and cleans, neither of which were painful. I’ve been reading a fair bit about oly lifting and this may be a good opportunity to focus on that for a little while when I’m healed up. Silver lining so to speak.
5 Likes
