Squat
4x3x236lb
1x7x236lb (RPE 8-9)
Hanging Leg Raise
BWx20,20,20
BW Plank
3x60sec
Bench Press
4x3x147lb
1x9x147lb (RPE 8-9)
Chins
BWx8,5,5
Dips
BWx10,8,6
Closing out the last intensification week with a good deadlift session. My forearms and grip are very taxed afterwards, making hanging leg raises rather uncomfortable. I think I’ll start putting planks exclusively on deadlift day and leave HLR’s to squat day. Likewise, chins on OHP day and dips on bench day.
Deadlift
4x3x267lb
1x8x267lb (RPE 8-9)
Hanging Leg Raise
BWx10,10,10
BW Plank
3x60sec
Week 15 - 3’s Realization
The last realization week, it’s finally here! I feel like I started this program forever ago. Overhead press went good. Set a 2lb PR this morning, but was hoping to get 8 reps instead of 7. Doing 5 sets of chin-ups instead of 3 sets each of chins/dips felt refreshing and allowed for more quality reps. This is a change I’ll probably be sticking with in the future, doing one assistance exercise per day with more sets.
Overhead Press
1x7x121lb (RPE 10); Projected 1RM: 149lb
Chins
BWx5x5
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13lb PR on Squat today. I’ll take it.
Squat
1x8x257lb (RPE 10); Projected 1RM: 326lb
Hanging Leg Raise
5x10
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Good stuff man, congrats on the PRs
Thanks man, they just keep coming with this program. 7lb PR this morning on bench!
Bench Press
1x8x160lb (RPE 10); Projected 1RM: 203lb
Dips
BWx5x5
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Set a 14lb PR this morning on deadlift. I’m pretty stoked. Based on the projected 1RM’s from 3’s realization week, the Juggernaut Program has added a combined 122lbs to my four lifts (108lbs to my S/B/D total) in 15 weeks. Keep in mind I was using conservative training max increases of 1lb & 2lb per rep above the standard. I think these results are great considering each lift is done once per week and the average workout duration, including warm-up sets, is less than an hour.
I plan to take a deload week and then test my 1RM’s. I’ll keep you posted.
Deadlift
1x8x292lb (RPE 10); Projected 1RM: 370lb
BW Planks
5x30sec
Week 16 - Deload
Overhead Press
3x5x80lb
Chins
BWx3x5
Squat
3x5x175lb
Hanging Leg Raise
3x15
Bench Press
3x5x105lb
Dips
BWx10,10,5
Deadlift
3x5x195lb
Planks
3x40sec
Final deload week is over. Next week I’ll be taking new 1RM attempts on all four lifts and hopefully setting significant PR’s. My goal is to work up to a single equal to (or very close to) the projected max for each lift set during 3’s realization week.
Stay tuned.
Week 17 - PR Test
I worked up to a new 1RM on overhead press this morning as shown below. When I got to 135 (my previous 1RM), it felt good, like I could have done a triple. But the next attempt at 145 was too much, sticking point was about half-way up and I couldn’t finish. I re-grouped, tried it again, and barely made it. I then went to 150lb (my goal) and to no surprise, got stuck half-way up and couldn’t finish the rep. I then backed down to 147lb and just barely made it, and I mean barely. The rep took 9 seconds to complete. Overall, set a 12lb PR on overhead press. A 3lb/month progress on OHP is good I guess, but definitely was hoping for a little more.
10xbar
5x65lb
3x85lb
2x100lb
1x115lb
1x125lb
1x135lb
1x145lb (fail)
1x145lb (success)
1x150lb (fail)
1x147lb (success)
Overhead Press 1RM: 147lb (increase of 12lb)
Squat PR test went great this morning. No failed attempts and met my goal. My projected max from 3’s realization was 326lb and I would say it’s accurate. 325lb was very tough, took me about 7 seconds to complete the rep. Overall, I’m happy with 10lb/month progression on the squat. Here’s how this morning went:
10x85lb
5x135lb
3x175lb
2x215lb
1x245lb
1x270lb
1x295lb
1x310lb
1x325lb
Squat 1RM: 325lb (increase of 40lb)
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Bench press… what a disappointment. I mean, progress is progress, but a 5lb PR in 4 months? Something isn’t adding up. Projected 1RM from 3’s realization was 203lb so surely 195lb would be attainable, but no such luck. Not sure what to do here. I may try it again next week. I could make plenty of excuses like not sleeping well, triceps being sore from heavy OHP earlier in the week, anxiety with all the things going on in the world right now but… I had no issue yesterday setting a massive PR on squat so I don’t know.
10xbar
5x85lb
3x115lb
2x135lb
1x155lb
1x170lb
1x185lb (success)
1x195lb (failed miserably)
1x190lb (failed)
Bench Press 1RM: 185lb (increase of 5lb)
Rounding this test week with the deadlift. Similar story as the bench press, unfortunately. Ramping up felt good, passed my previous 1RM slightly, then hit a brick wall on the next attempt. Backed up slightly, but still didn’t budge.
10x95lb
5x145lb
3x205lb
2x245lb
1x275lb
1x305lb
1x335lb (success)
1x355lb (failed)
1x345lb (failed)
Deadlift 1RM: 335lb (increase of 10lb)
All in all, the Juggernaut Method increased my 4 lifts by 67lbs in 17 weeks. It increased my powerlifting total by 55lbs.
I feel obligated to update my training log. I went for another bench press PR this morning and hit 195lb, which felt much more satisfying than the 185lb I did last week. A 15lb increase in bench over the course of the program… I would say that’s decent progress, but not great.
So all in all, the Juggernaut Method increased my 4 lifts by 77lbs. It increased my powerlifting total by 65lbs. If I were to do it all again (and I may), I would increase my training maxes more aggressively. I looked back at my numbers and noticed that while I consistently increased 1lb and 2lb per rep over the standard, this resulted in a wide range of percentages of my projected 1RM. The chart below illustrates this. In general, the closer my training max was to my projected max, the greater the gains were. Also, notice how my bench and deadlift training max never went above 91% PM, and how those lifts had the smallest increases. In contrast, overhead press and squat used higher training max percentages and saw better gains. I may figure out a way to better standardize the formula to ensure a more consistent TM/PM percentage moving forward.
I would also add-in some farmer’s walks or fat-grip dumbbell holds or something similar to increase grip strength for the deadlift. It only increased 10lbs in 17 weeks and I believe it’s mostly attributed to grip not really being tested via heavy weights until the last week. I think the program would benefit by reaching higher than 90% TM at the end.
Also, it feels a little strange to be treating each lift with the same volume. I always felt fully recovered after 2-3 days from pressing/benching but felt sore for a good 4-5 days after squatting/deadlifts. I would definitely increase the upper body lift volume next time around to take advantage of the week-long recovery duration that’s built into the program. Performing each lift once a week, while difficult at first for the squat, eventually felt normal. It also reduces workout time as there’s no secondary lift to warm-up. It also means you can focus 100% on that day’s lift.
Anyways, here are the video links to my new 1RM lifts:
OHP: 147lb 147lb Press 6-2-20 - YouTube
Squat: 325lb 325lb Squat 6-4-20 - YouTube
Bench: 195lb 195lb Bench 6-12-20 - YouTube
Deadlift: 335lb 335lb Deadlift 6-6-20 - YouTube