Glad to hear nothing’s bothering you. Haven’t watched it yet, will try to do so when I get home later. Sadly, been busy lately
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Friday, August 16 - Light squat/main deadlift day
Squat - low bar
315x2x6 - 45 sec. rest
I see that technique is an issue, I’m hitting depth no problem (which was a problem at other times) but I’m a bit uncertain of hip position at the bottom (likely due to all the SSB squats) and I’m also slowing down the last few inches of the descent. Not huge problems, but problems still. I think in a couple weeks this will be sorted out. And having this 2nd squat session should help with that.
Deadlift - conventional
465x3 - I was going to pull 435x5 but it’s light and also more reps makes it harder to maintain proper technique, and I barely even know what I’m doing with conventional. So I added a few pounds, dropped a couple reps, told myself I wasn’t going to push close to failure or past any sort of technical breakdown and I got this. Probably could have pulled another 2 reps without any problems, it was easy enough.
375x3x3 - 2 min. rest - Top set would put my estimated max at about 540, I rounded down to 535 and this is 70%. These were easy, I probably need to go heavier to get anything out of this but it’s technique work more than anything. With sumo I don’t really get anything out of submaximal work until it’s over 80% but I see this working for people who pull conventional, my guess is that it has to do with it being easier off the floor and harder towards the top (opposite of sumo) so more speed off the floor will make it easier to finish the lift. Maybe this will do me some good.
RDL
295x10x2 - Afterwards I was thinking that maybe I should just drop these so that I’m not putting too much strain on my back, I’m undecided at this point. These were fairly easy
Barbell row
235x10x2 - This was easy too, felt better than last week. I’m just going to slowly build back up to some heavy rows, I don’t want to get too ambitious too soon.
Inverted row
bw x14, 11, 10
So at least my deadlift looks like it might have some potential, and it’s conventional for now which is not what I planned but I will see where it goes. These numbers are still far from anything remotely good but it’s something. Its just my squat that absolutely sucks right now, need to fix that.
Woah 43 minutes! I’m gonna have to listen to these by segments. I’m too ADHD to sit through 1 whole podcast for longer than 5-15 minutes lol
I’ve only watched up to 9:30 as of now but I will say this though. He mentions that the natties need to practice their skill more frequently. I’ve talked to some competitive volleyball players here (college kids playing at the top level) and they said that even skipping training for just 1 week, they feel heavy, sluggish, and generally just feel something “off” when they get back the week after. That’s just one week without training!
I know, I hate videos. I watched it piece by piece too. The only thing that was new to me was the motor learning part, but that’s a huge thing. I would like to see the original studies.
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Monday, August 19 - Main bench day
Bench
335x4 - Failed 5th rep, 4th was a bit slow but I thought I could squeeze out one more, I was wrong. I did this for 5 a few weeks ago, looks like bench is slightly down for real.
Down set: 300x7
Floor press
300x6, 6 - On the first set I got the feeling that I was tucking my elbows too much, I tried not tucking so much on the next set and it felt better. Maybe that’s what I need to do on my bench.
High incline
240x6, 5 - Not sure if I could have done a 6th rep on the 2nd set so I cut it there
Chin ups - Close neutral grip
bw+10x12, 10, 8
It seems like all that wide grip benching I did was for nothing, I increased my wide grip bench but it did nothing for my comp grip bench. Training is frustrating these days, between making zero progress and getting injured. But last summer things didn’t go too good either, all my lifts were down after moving and my hips were tight so I couldnt even squat to depth. Maybe summer is just a bad time for training?
Tuesday, August 20 - Main squat day
Squat (low bar)
420x3 - This was decent, depth looks good and I should be able to do a couple more reps. I’m slow out of the hole though, and it seems like I’m hesitating to push my hips forward as I come up, I definitely need to work on that. But this was definitely better than last week, looks like I’m back on the right track.
340x3x4 sets - 2 min. rest - These were OK, could move faster but nothing else to complain about.
Pause squat
315x6x2 - Depth on these is not consistent, some are way below parallel and others are borderline, need to fix that. This should help improve speed out of the hole.
Split stance RDL
135x8x3 - I got sick of lunges but I figure some unilateral stuff would be a good idea, this is the least terrible option.
I’m going to keep volume on the lower side, I haven’t done a whole lot of volume in the last month and a half and it also seems like I do better with fairly low volume on squat and deadlift. Why work harder for less?
And about my squat programming, based on recent stuff I did I got the impression that I could do well with just a few hard sets but seeing as my squat technique needs some major improvements I decided to stick with lower reps and do some submaximal work. I made good progress like this in the past but more recently it looked like I wasn’t getting much if anything out of the submaximal work, but then I got injured and forgot how to squat properly so it seems useful once again.
Thursday, August 22 - 2nd bench day
Bench press
355x1 - This was easy but I feel like it could have moved faster
Slingshot bench
400x5
360x8
About the same as last week, just 5lbs heavier
Military press
210x8, 7
JM press
195x13, 10, 8 - 12 felt too easy on the first set so I just had to do another rep
Underhand band pull aparts
super mini x30, 22, 16
Barbell curl
75x16, 14, 11
Still haven’t finished the whole video but about this enhanced skill learning, I’m a little surprised too. If those were true, I’m not sure why it’s not as common knowledge seeing that it can develop and maintain high level athletes real quick. But then again you’d potentially have most of your athletes destroying ligaments and tendons and what not faster than they already do.
More research needs to be done to conclusively prove anything, but then again there isn’t going to be a lot of research done on long term high dose use of illegal drugs.
Not necessarily, more volume and frequency = more damage to ligaments and tendons so if anything low volume and frequency is safer for those on PEDs.
Friday, August 23 - Light squat/Main deadlift day
Squat
315x2x6 - 45 sec. rest - getting better but still need to work on the descent
Deadlift - conventional
480x3 - Kind of easy again, could do a few more reps. This is still 70lbs away from my best sumo triple, we will see how far I can get. My technique is still severely lacking, I fell like I don’t know how to brace properly or engage my lats, the starting position feels awkward. Hook grip conventional is way harder on my thumbs too since they are on the knurling and this deadlift bar has some sharp knurling.
390x3x3 - 2 min. rest - these moved real fast, to the point that I was off balance at the top on a few reps
Barbell row
250x10x2
Inverted row
17, 13, 11
Realized this too. I was thinking along the lines of muscles becoming stronger way faster than the ligaments and tendons, then again they aren’t moving crazy ass weights. And as you said, less wear and tear could off set that
Apparently steroids actually inhibit connective tissue growth, which is one reason why you see so many injuries among untested lifters. That’s also why a lot of them do crazy high rep sets, like 100 leg curls.
Cause that growth at 35% or 1RM is super cheat code us natty’s don’t have 
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That’s part of it, but some people like Louie Simmons actually talk about super high rep work for injury prevention. The idea is that tendons and ligaments don’t get a lot of blood circulation so by doing stuff like that you get as much blood as possible into them and stimulate some growth.
About growth at low percentages, from what Chavez is saying it sounds like even the warmup sets nowhere near failure stimulate growth in steroid users. There is some recent research that found that extremely high rep work (I think they did sets of 30 or something like that) can stimulate hypertrophy in normal people as well but it needs to be taken to failure.
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Monday, August 26 - Main bench day
Bench press
340x4 - Not sure if a 5th rep would have gone up so played it safe and stopped at 4.
305x7
Floor press
305x6, 6
High incline
245x6, 5
Chin ups - close neutral grip
bw+15x12, 10, 6 - maybe the 10 was more like 9.5, my lats died on the last set. Breaks were 2 minutes to get through this faster, which explains the abrupt drop in performance.
Tuesday, August 27 - Main squat day
Squat
435x3 - This was good, could probably do 2 more reps. Technique is still lacking, but it’s getting better. Before I injured myself I squatted 450x3 on the SSB so I figure I should be able to squat around 500x3 low bar (without wraps), in a few weeks that should be possible.
350x3x4 sets - 2 min. rest - Easy but not as fast as it should be. Seems like I just don’t know how to squat fast anymore, I need to fix that.
Pause squat
325x6x2 sets
Split stance RDL
145x8x3
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I’ve been doing some paused squat work in FSL, and I gotta say, they feel shitty and good at the same time lol.
Shitty because I don’t know why I’m making FSL harder after a topset AMRAP.
Good because it really forces you to focus on technique
I can’t say that I really enjoy them, I just find that they help my squat. It’s hard to go wrong with getting stronger at the bottom of your squat.
Chavez makes drugs sound enticing lol. He used a phrase there I really like though… “damage done per repetition” no matter what % they’re using. Really forces you to consider training economy.
Are you switching back to two squat/bench sessions per week?
Drugs obviously have their benefits, and a major one is being able to make better gains with less work. But there are some serious side effects too, so it’s a tradeoff.
I did already. It didn’t take long to figure out that once a week was not going to be better at all. Plus the fact that I’m basically re-learning how to low bar squat makes the 2nd session extra useful. Before I got injured I was doing my light squats with the transformer bar on a setting that is similar to my back squat, specifically to make the transition back to low bar squatting easier. Unfortunately once I injured myself it didn’t feel good to squat with so much forward lean so I was stuck with SSB squats.