Tuesday 8/12
“915” Week 1, Day 2
Deadlift: 5x4 at 345
RDL: 5x5 at 195
Pull-ups: 4x6 at BW+30
Pull-ups were difficult because my grip strength was exhausted by the time I finished RDL’s. Though my pulls didn’t feel extremely difficult today, I did notice that my form wasn’t great; I may drop the weight a little next week to focus on my form. Also, the jump between weeks three and four scares me a little bit–hitting doubles (then triples) at 395 is a lot different than hitting one double at 375 (which is what I’ve previously done by working up to a top set). We’ll see how I feel next Tuesday.
Thursday 8/14
“915” Week 1, Day 3
Front Squat: 5x4 at 210
Front Squat (2 second pause): 135x5, 4x5 at 165
Bench Press: 5x2 at 205
Overhead lunge: 4x10 at 115
Probably could have upped the weight on the paused front squats, but this was my first time attempting them. Maybe 175/185 next week.
Saturday 8/16
915 Week 1, Day 4
Power clean: 5x2 at 145
Barbell Row: 4x5 at 185
Front Squat (2 second pause): 165x6, 3x6 at 175
Monday 8/18
915 Week 2, Day 1
Bench Press: 5x5 at 205
Front Squat: 5x2 at 210
Push Press: 5x5 at 135
Dips: 4x6 at BW+55
Kept the push press weight the same to really work on my form. I’ve had the bad habit of shifting my weight onto my toes when I dip…today I worked on driving through my heels. Felt different, but I think I’m getting better at it.
8/19
915 Week 2, Day 2
Deadlift: 3x5 at 345
RDL: 4x5 at 195
Power clean (kilos): 60x3, 65x2, 70x2, 2x2 at 75
Pull-ups: 4x10 at BW
Deviated from the plan today for one major reason: a much bigger, much stronger guy told me my deadlift sucks. I’ve always had the bad habit of pulling my hips up early and this causes my back to round way more than I’d like. This was very apparent today, so I cut the work sets short. Figured I should then work on my clean, and, by the time I got to my pull-ups, I was pretty tired.
Yes, I know the above is just a shit excuse. I’ll have a better day Thursday.
Thursday 8/21
915 Week 2, Day 3
Front Squat: 5x5 at 210
Front Squat (2 second pause): 5x5 at 175
Bench Press: 5x2 at 210
Reverse Lunge (bar on back): 2x12 at 175, 2x12 at 185
Really good day today. 205 began to feel very light and fast on the bench.
Saturday 8/23
915 Week 2, Day 4
Power Clean: 5x3 at 145
Hang Power Clean: 5x5 at 135
Front Squat (2 second pause): 4x6 at 175
Barbell Row: 4x6 at 185
Cleans felt fast. By the end of some of my sets of hang cleans, I had to drop into a full squat to catch the bar, but I’m not too worried about that.
Actually beginning to enjoy paused front squats, so I added them in again today.
Sunday 8/24
On the track
3x200m
3x300m
Slowest 300 was around 51 seconds.
Monday 8/25
915 Week 3, Day 1
Bench Press: 205x6, 5, 4, 4, 3
185x7, 6
Front Squat: 5x2 at 210
Push Press: 4x5, 1x3 at 135
Ring Dips: 2x8, 2x6 at BW+25
Tuesday 8/26
Power Clean: 4x4 at 145
Rack Pull (knee height): 315x6, 335x6, 2x6 at 355, 355x5
Pull-ups: 4x6 at BW+30
RDL: 195x5, 3x8 at 135
Two AWFUL days to start my week. The 5x5 at 205 last week felt very easy. Two days ago, I could barely get 6 reps on my first work set.
I admit that I didn’t do the programmed lift for “Week 3, Day 2” yesterday. My deadlift hasn’t felt good the last two weeks; even though I can get the reps from the floor at 345, my form just isn’t good enough right now. My clean needs work, so I figured I’d do that first. I used CT’s programming for deadlifts on rack pulls.
Thursday 8/28
915 Week 3, Day 3
Front Squat: 5x6 at 205
Bench Press: 5x2 at 205
Front Squat (2 second pause): 5x5 at 175
Reverse lunge (bar on back): 3x10 at 185
Incline bench press: 5x5 at 155
First day lifting at the gym at the school where I’ll be doing my grad work. Filled with a bunch of frat kids training strictly arms…gotta love it. I couldn’t find a 2.5 LB plate so I just did the front squats at 205 and took a shorter break in between sets. Added incline bench in because I’m still a little pissed at myself for Monday’s bench session.
Friday 8/29
Not supposed to lift today, but I was bored.
Barbell Row: 4x6 at 185
Strict Overhead Press: 115x5, 120x5, 125x5, 4, 115x5
Pull-ups: 4x10 at BW
Lots of band pull-aparts, facepulls, and rotational shoulder work/lat stretches.
[quote]MikeFitz3 wrote:
Friday 8/29
Not supposed to lift today, but I was bored.
Barbell Row: 4x6 at 185
Strict Overhead Press: 115x5, 120x5, 125x5, 4, 115x5
Pull-ups: 4x10 at BW
Lots of band pull-aparts, facepulls, and rotational shoulder work/lat stretches. [/quote]
Man, you’re running an intense program that calls for a fair amount of volume on several big lifts performed multiple times weekly that’s already seemingly running you into the ground. Adding extra days is probably not the best idea.
Enjoy your log, by the way.
@WhiteFlash Yeah, I’ve kind of messed up the past week doing this. Need to get back on track and just do what the program says. Thanks for the kind words.
[quote]MikeFitz3 wrote:
@WhiteFlash Yeah, I’ve kind of messed up the past week doing this. Need to get back on track and just do what the program says. Thanks for the kind words. [/quote]
It’s all trial and error, bud. In our nature to assume that if some is good, more has to be better. Sometimes it’s best to rein it in and trust the program. Interested in how this works out 'cause while the program looks fun, the deadlifting alone would bury me.
@WhiteFlash I’ve found the pulls to be the hardest part, by far. That said, I’m looking forward to moving some heavier weights this coming week.
Monday 9/1
915 Week 4, Day 1
Bench Press: 3x2 at 230
Front Squat: 5x2 at 215
Push Press: 135x3, 145x3, 150x3, 155x3
Decline Bench Press: 205x3, 215x3, 3x3 at 225
230 felt easy. Hadn’t decline pressed in years, but that also felt pretty easy. Will up the weight on decline next week.
Tuesday 9/2
Not calling this “915” because it’s not. See explanation/rant below
Sumo Deadlift (first time): 315x2, 335x2, 355x2, 365x2
Barbell Row: 4x5 at 185, 205x5
Pull-ups: 4x10 at BW
RDL: 185x5, 3x5 at 205
My deadlift is not good enough (form wise) to do the 915 program. Could I pull 395 conventional (90% of my 1RM) for three doubles right now? Probably. But my back will round and I know I won’t be doing it correctly.
Today, I tried sumo pulls for the first time. The only time it felt somewhat heavy was with my second rep at 365. However, I could still feel that I was leading with my hips and not with my shoulders–I really, really need to work on this. For the next couple of weeks, I’m going to try to hone both my sumo and conventional pulls with doubles and triples somewhere in the 85%-90% range.
I have a lot of respect for those of you who managed to train in college gyms. I was lucky–as an undergrad student, we had team lifts where we were often the only people in the gym. If I wanted to get in extra work on my own, I knew when to go so I’d have the gym (or at least a rack, bench, or platform) to myself; this was a major positive of being a student-athlete at a small liberal arts college.
Now, I have to deal with a bunch of ridiculous things as I’m training in a gym used by thousands of other people on a daily basis. Today, there were three kids half-squatting 135, barefoot, wearing belts. The other squat rack was occupied by two guys doing behind-the-back shrugs. I wanted to do rack pulls, as CT’s program calls for, but I wasn’t able to find the time or space to do so.
I apologize for the rant.
Wednesday 9/3
Little active recovery workout because I haven’t done anything all day and it felt like a waste.
4 Rounds
20 alternating lunges with 2 20# DB’s overhead
150 single-unders
10 pull-ups
Anterior Core Circuit
Thursday 9/4
Bench Press: 5x2 at 210
Front Squat: 3x2 at 235
Front Squat (2 second pause): 5x3 at 205
Incline Bench Press: 5x3 at 185
Reverse lunge (bar on back): 3x8 at 205
DB Chest press: pair of 80s X 8, 8, 7
Kind of added in my own accessory work after hitting the 3 main lifts today.
For the weekend
Saturday 9/6
Power Clean: 5x5 at 145
Clean Low Pull: 3x3 at 205
Pull-ups: BW+45x3, 50x3, 55x3, 2x3 at 60
Barbell Row: 4x5 at 185
Sunday 9/7
On the track
200-400-600-800
Times were 31, 1:10, 1:51, 2:36